City of the Adrift // A Warrior Cats Tale

Chapter One

 The she-cat awoke to the sound of clanking metal.

"Bring me more food," the tom below her yowled, nosing his metal dish against the bars of his cage. The she-cat got up from where she was laying down in the back of her containment, then poked her nose through the bars. She could barely see the silver paw below her, pawing the air outside his cell.

"What are you doing?" whispered the she-cat, her eyebrows furrowing in misunderstanding, though she felt more baffled than confused.

The tom paused, his paw slowly sliding back into his cage. "You awake, newcomer?" he meowed.

Newcomer? She wondered. "Answer my question first," she ordered, her whiskers shaking.

"Bossy, aren't 'cha," he muttered. The she-cat's back arched a bit. "Fair enough. I'm no tour guide, but it's just you and me who are awake. Jake said he wanted to give you the tour, but I haven't seen him in days," the tom coughed, almost laughing, "that little scandal. He probably escaped again."

The she-cat sighed. "I'm waiting."

"The name's Chandler," he meowed impatiently. "I've been here for as long as I remember. The Twolegs don't want me, I know they don't." Chandler purred. "But a beautiful she-cat as yourself would get adopted in less than a week."

She stiffened, not knowing what he meant by that. "And you were calling for a... Twoleg?"

"Sure thing," he mewed. "I may be as scrawny as a mouse, but I still eat."

The she-cat sat down at the edge of her cage, looking through the bars as much as she could. "What exactly is a Twoleg?"

"Goodness," Chandler scoffed. The she-cat could hear the surprise in his voice. "Any cat knows what a Twoleg is. What kind of place did you come from that doesn't have Twolegs at every corner?"

"I'm not sure," the she-cat murmured. Chandler pushed his nose through his cage, trying to look up.

"So, you don't remember anything? Not even your name?"

The she-cat didn't respond.

A long silence passed. Chandler moved a bit in his cage by the sound of it. Then, the she-cat heard a hook unlock. The entrance of Chandler's cage opened. The she-cat's eyes widened as she tried to look down to see what was going on. "Chandler?"

A scrawny, silver tom hopped out of the cage below her, then he looked up. It was dark enough in the room for her to not be able to see his face or body, but the flash of his green eyes alerted her where he was. The she-cat began clawing at her cage, looking for a way to get out as well. "How did you get out?"

"I told you," he meowed. "I've been here for as long as I remember. In my years, I've picked up a thing or two."

The she-cat continued looking for a way out. "Could you get me out as well?"

Chandler moved around her from all the way from the ground but sighed softly. "You're too high up for me to unlock you quick enough."

The she-cat blinked a few times, then backed up in her cage. She looked at the small latch on the right side of the door. That must be the key to opening these cages, she thought. Her tail flicked a few times as she crouched.

"You okay up there?" called Chandler's meow. "I'm sorry I can't get you out, but maybe you could try and kick the cage a little so that I could latch on--"

Suddenly, the cage above Chandler crashed out of the containment. As it plummeted to the ground, the gray tom leaped back and screeched in surprise. Finally, the cell clanked onto the ground, breaking the lock perfectly in two. It fell down onto its side.