The Lost Kits

Chapter 1

Alice burrowed farther under the brightly coloured No-Fur pelts that covered her black fur. Through a small crack she saw her sister, Ella, padding towards her. Alice froze and held her breath. It was all over if...
"Found you!" Ella meowed happily, throwing the pelts off Alice. Alice hopped up, trying to arrange the pelts back into the neat pile they had been in before, but it was no use.
"Can we play again?" Ace, Alice's brother, meowed. He was curled up on the soft pelt where the kits slept with their mother.
"You never pick a good hiding spot!" Ella teased. Alice could hear the worry in her voice as she padded over to Ace. They were supposed to play until their mother got back, but it had been a while.
"Don't worry, the No-Furs won't take me out for long." Alice remembered their mother meowing as the No-Furs put her in the horrible red cage. Alice shivered and went to curl up with her littermates.
Alice felt Ace quavering beside her and she pressed against him. Ace had always been the smallest of the three, and was the closest to their mother. Most days he was reluctant to leave her side, especially now that she was sick. His dark blue eyes were always filled with worry despite their mother assuring them that she'd be fine and that it was just a little cough.
"Will she be okay? Shouldn't she be back by now?" Ace asked.
"I'm sure it won't be long." Alice meowed before Ella could speak. Ella usually had a short temper and Alice didn't want her to get mad at Ace. It wasn't his fault that their mother wasn't back yet.
Alice scanned the familiar No-Fur nest as they waited. The pile of pelts that the No-Furs wore so they wouldn't be cold, The big wood table where the No-Furs sat, The door to the food place... Alice shuddered. She hated the food. Ever since their mother had told them they were too old for milk, they had eaten these disgusting little pellets that looked like the rabbit droppings that Ella had found once in the yard.
The yard... That was Alice's favourite place. It was outside the No-Fur nest and was surrounded by a big fence that towered over the kits. That was where their was all kinds of exciting scents and sounds and sometimes there were even other cats coming to talk to mother...
Alice was pulled out of her dream by the sound of the No-Furs returning from outside.
"Mother's back!" Ace and Ella squealed, darting over to the No-Furs. Alice approached a little more slowly and stared at the gigantic No-Furs as they took off their wet pelts. Where was Mother? The No-Fur kits weren't holding her, and neither were the adult No-Furs... Alice's head spun as she watched the No-Furs pick up Ella and Ace. She couldn't be... It wasn't that bad. Alice padded over to one of the No-Fur kits, and as she was lifted up she heard the No-Fur growling quietly. Alice couldn't understand much of what the kit was saying but she could make out one word, repeated quite a few times. "May..." Alice felt sick. She knew what the No-Fur was trying to tell her. Her mother was dead.