Hunters - Act One (Read Desc.)

~Prologue~

The damp rain seeped into her fur, making her shiver. 

She fluffed out her fur and tucked her paws closer to her swollen belly, licking it to warm up her unborn kits. Her sister padded up to her and sat in front of her. 

"Hey, Nimbus, how are you feeling?" Her sister nosed one of her paws aside and sniffed her belly. 

Nimbus tucked her paws together again, keeping her belly out of the rain and shaking her fur a bit. "Cumuluussss..." she giggled. 

Cumulus, her sister, purred. "They'll be here before you know it!" She gently licked Nimbus between her ears. 

Nimbus sighed, huddling close to Cumulus. "I hope Cottongrass and Stratus finish repairing the nursery soon, it's freezing out here..." 

Cumulus started to respond, but broke off when a small dappled tortoiseshell she cat, Milkweed, ran up to them. 

"Nimbus may move into the nursery now, we've set up a few nests for the queens and nursery-keepers." Milkweed turned to Cumulus. "If you would like, you may rest in the nursery with Nimbus, as the den is not fully secure yet. It is not ideal to leave a queen alone at any times." 

Cumulus looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she nodded agreement. 

Milkweed flicked her soft tail in the direction of the nursery. Nimbus stood up and waddled over, Cumulus following at her heels. The rain started picking up quickly, and Cumulus hurried Nimbus inside. 

They both shook their fur dry before rushing inside. Nimbus settled in a nest in the far corner, wide enough to fit both Nimbus and Cumulus comfortably. 

Cumulus crawled in next to Nimbus, curling around Nimbus and covering her flank with her tail. Nimbus smiled, slowly drifting into a deep sleep.

                                                             ...

Paws grasped her shoulders and started shaking her. She blinked her eyes open to see her sister staring wide-eyed and panicked down at her. 

"Get up!" she sounded panicked, too. "The camp's flooding!" 

Nimbus shot to her paws. "WHAT?" 

She started to hear the panicked yowls of cats out in the clearing, and she peeked her head out. The rain was coming down so hard she could barely see a tail-length in front of her face. 

"Follow me!" Cumulus called to her, pressing her side to her sister's and making her way to the bramble entrance of the camp. 

It had been torn down in a panic by other cats to make the exit wider, and cats were streaming out of their dens and making a break for the exit. 

Cumulus and Nimbus realized they must have been the last cats in camp, and they slowly made their way to the bramble barrier. Nimbus froze when she heard distressed wailing coming from behind them. 

"Monarch!" Cottongrass wailed desperately. "Where's Monarch? WHERE'S WASP?" 

Cumulus whipped around, Nimbus doing the same. They saw the despaired queen dashing left and right, trying to find her kits.

Cumulus dashed over and urged the queen forward,  managing to push her out of camp while she wailed and sobbed about her kits. 

Cottongrass unsheathed her claws, trying to stand her ground but too weak with grief to have  a sturdy grip on the ground. "I'm not leaving my kits here to die!" She yelled. 

"They'll come around, but right now we have to go!" Cumulus managed to get the queen outside the camp and urged her to take Nimbus up the slope to their campmates.