Alley Cats Runaway

#28 Ice Cracks

In the abandoned underground train station, the cold from the outside world sweeps inside, creating tiny sheets of ice on the platform.
Irritating the silver-grey tabby. "It's freezing in here! Why do we have to train here Frost?" She grumbled, making puffs of air as she spoke. Her uncle looked over his shoulder and glared at her.

"Oh forgive me, so you want to take a break during winter and stay somewhere warmer while our enemies grow stronger and attack us unguarded? Nonsense! We will train here all winter, so when we do attack we will be able to stand the elements. Do you understand Shard?" Shard sighed. "I understand." She dipped her head.
Behind her Blake and Klaw snickered, Shard whipped around, though smaller than both, the two toms stopped not wanting to feel her wrath.

"Here is what we are going to do." He announced. Frost jumped onto a bench that had no ice and sat down with a wince of pain. His fight from yesterday with the four cats from the shelter left him bruised and quite beaten up. Though he could walk, it was painful. When he returned home, no one said a word, and he rather keeps it that way.

"Shard, Klaw and Blake," He started looking at each of them in turn. " You three are my top followers, therefore I trust you to be the leaders of this conquest. The other cats will be split into three groups and you three will be the leaders." He explained.

"Tomorrow you will find out who is in your group but for today you will be learning some fighting skills that will help you how to fight in the elements. There will be times you will be inside the Shelter but other times you will be fighting outside in the snow and on ice. Then you will teach your cats the same skills, understood?"

The three nodded. "Alright then, let's begin."

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Jay paced the entrance to the Shelter, his tail twitching. The cold wind ruffled his fur setting him unease.
Where are they? He wondered.

At last four cats, all covered in scars crusted with blood came staggering in. "What happened?" He said in alarm. The bluish greyish she-cat spoke first.
"Frost happened, we were winning until another tom came along and attacked us. We're fine except for Stripes that is." I turned to the striped ginger tom, only to remember how Nutmeg used to look after him and his sister, how carefree they were. Now their faces were gruelling with hate, robbing them of the innocence they once had.

Stripes glared at his sister and made an effort to stand straight. "I'm fine, Rain honestly!"Despite his confidence, his weight gave away, luckily Rain caught him and let him rest on her shoulders. " Yeah right." She muttered.
Jay sighed. "Alright, all of you inside. He ordered. Following behind the two bickering siblings was Raven, Scout's old friend and Ruby the Southern alley leader.

All of them walked into the back room where Peper waited along with the other alley leaders.

Once all settled the meeting began.
" Ruby, what happened today?"
The red she-cat replied. We were on a patrol when Frost turned up. He began mocking us, unfortunately, he managed to anger Stripes and he attacked." She said glaring at the young cat. She continued." He got hurt obviously and the rest of us managed to weaken Frost until another tom came to his aid, after that we ran away due to exhaustion."

Peper glanced at them. "Is that everything?" Rain replied. "There was a white she-cat who was with the tom who helped Frost. When I looked back I saw her approach him, she looked worried for him."
"Hmmm." Peper mused on the information.
Jay spoke up from his spot beside her.
"Well for starters I think it is safe to assume that Stripes and Rain are not ready."
The two gasped and began to defend themselves but Peper cut them off with a raised paw. "That is a fair judgement, Jay."

She turned to the two siblings. "You two are still young. I am not delaying your training but rather intensifying it. It seems that your anger issues are still present. There is nothing more dangerous than anger it kills cats. If you were by yourself Stripes and had not controlled your temper, you would have died. Frost knows no mercy, that's why we must not allow him to take over, we must take a stand. "

"But that is what I was doing!" Stripes interrupted. "A murderer should not roam the streets! I was teaching him a lesson! "

"A lesson that endangers you and your patrol?" Northern cat Sasha snapped.
"But-"
"You fail to see the line that separates us from Frost, Stripes. He attacks, but we defend. If we attack it will only infuriate him even more. Frost only lives by one principle and that is revenge. Anyone who angers him or hurts him will be attacked or even killed. So any attack we make now will only become bad karma. Our only hope is to defend what we have. " Sasha explained.

Stripes stood up, his throat growling in frustration.
"So you expect me to wait until he makes the first blow?"

"Yes," Peper replied.

Stripes lashed his tail."So we're the victims then?! You can't expect Frost to stop attacking us! For some reason, he's attacking us and take delight in it. We must take the fight to him!" Can't any of you see that?" He exclaimed.

Silence met his words. Jay looked around the room to find no one could look at him in the eye.
Beside him, he felt Peper's fur ruffle, her ears flattened against her head and she bared her teeth.
"I will not allow any more deaths on my part." She snarled.
"So what are you going to do about it? Stripes snapped.
Pepper's became a blazing green furnace.
" By defending at all costs. "

Stripes growled.
And that's how you'll lose, you'll see.
He turned to everyone else in turn."You'll all see!" He shouted.

"You are dismissed," Jay chided. They watched Stripes as he stormed out limping, the only sign of his injured pride. Rain rose to her feet. "On the behalf of my brother, I'm sorry he acted this way." Peper shook her head. "In a way he is right." She murmured. "Frost isn't randomly attacking us, he is doing it with a purpose. To get back at me." She whispered. Jay opened mouth in inquiry but Peper dismissed him and the grey she-cat walked out, leaving unanswered questions behind.

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A/N

Well, this took a while. :/
4 more chapters to go!