Two Birds/Chapter 2

Talonkit's POV

The days were growing colder. It was strange and exciting for Talonkit. She sat beneath the bramble thicket where her mother had made her nest. She peered out from underneath the thorny branches, sniffing at the chilly air, and flinching when a cold breeze tickled her whiskers.

The cold seemed to wake something inside her. She felt like she had so much enegry she would burst! It's never been this cold before! I want to go out and feel it! I want to drink the air and roll on the ground and get all dirty!

She pulled herself back inside, glancing over her shoulder. Her mother lay in the back of the woven thicket, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling as she dozed peacefully, but her ears were still pricked and alert for any sounds. Aganist her flank, Talonkit's three siblings were still sleeping.

Talonkit scrambled over them, causing them to wake up and whine in protest. She ignored them and climbed up onto her mothers back, kneading her thick fur with her little paws. "Mama, can I please go outside? I'll be super good, I promise."

Clearpool opened one pale green eye to gaze at Talonkit. A flicker zipped through them. Worry. Clearpool always seemed to be worried, but tried to hide it from the rest of the kits. But Talonkit noticed, even if her siblings didn't. Why are you so worried?

She never let the kits leave the den alone and watched them like a hawk. She always said "Once you're old enough, kitlings, we're going to leave this place and move far far away. It's not safe here... we should have been far from here long ago."

Why was it so dangerous? Clearpool never told them. "Hm..." Clearpool grunted thoughtfully. "I don't know..."

Frustration made the fur along Talonkit's spine prickle so she looked like a hedgehog. "I'll be ok, I promise. I'll be quiet, I won't go far at all."

Talonkit really wanted a chance to be alone, to prove she could take care of herself. She couldn't do that if Clearpool was always hovering and freaking out over a leaf falling.

Clearpool relaxed a little. "I suppose..." though the worry still swam in her gaze. "Why don't you take one of your siblings with you at least? Look out for each other."

"Ok, thank you. I won't let you down," Talonkit lashed her tail happily and walked her siblings again, who kicked out in protest. "Who want's to go outside with me?"

"No one," her sister, who was curled up in a perfect circle, her tail covering her nose and eyes closed, meowed lazily.

"What if I'm not asking you?" Talonkit demanded, letting out a huff, and looking at her brothers. "I'll go," her biggest brother mewed, standing up and stretching his tabby legs. "Can I go too?" The runt of the litter, tiny black Creekkit stood up where his brother was just sitting. By the looks of it, he was probably sitting on Creekkit.

"Just stay very close to the den," Clearpool murmured. Creekkit climbed out of the nest, followed by their brother.

Talonkit led the three kits out from under the brambles, to be met with the cold wind outside. Talonkit shivered. The sky up above was cloudy and gray, and there was a strange scent tickling her tongue. Not rain, but more chrisp and sharp.

Creekkit let out a little squeak, dancing around the hard, frosty ground on his little paws, then attempting to climb up his brothers tabby shoulder. "Claykit, let me on your shoulders, please? The grounds so cold!"

Creekkit had this thing he liked doing if he got lazy or just didn't like being on the ground. Since he was the smallest, he could easily fit on both Talonkit and Claykit's shoulder, so they could carry him around.

Before Claykit could answer, something strange happened. From the thick gray clouds, fell small white... speck things. It was the most amazing thing Talonkit had ever witnessed, and when she turned to look at her brothers, she could tell they felt the same. Claykit stared at the white specks with huge eyes, while Creekkit forgot about climbing onto his bigger brothers shoulders. Instead, his mouth hang wide open. Talonkit could see the sparks of wonder in the depths of his icy eyes.

"What is it?" Claykit asked as the flakes began settling on the ground around them. Creekkit ducked away as it began turning his black pelt to white. "It's cold!"

It felt like only a few heartbeats had passed once the landscape was covered in a thin blanket. Talonfang dabbed a paw at it. It sure was cold, but it didn't hurt her at all. Her mind suddenly zipped back to Clearpool murmuring worriedly to herself. "Snow will fall soon. I hope to be gone before snowfall" When Talonkit had asked what 'snow' was, Clearpool answered that it was very cold white stuff that fell from the sky as the earth grew cold during leafbare. This must be snow.

Talonkit explained to her brothers what it was, and after a few moments of hesitation, the kits grew comfortable and wanted to explore their new snow covered environment. Plus, snow was really fun the play in.

Talonkit hid behind frost bitten ferns, alert and tense, a sly grin on her face as she poked her head out to try and catch a glimpse of her brothers. As the day went on, the snow kept falling, getting thicker in the sky and deeper on the ground. They discovered that they could roll up balls of snow and try slamming each other in the face with it. She spotted a wisp of Claykit's puffy tail and flicked a ball of snow at it. She was satisfied with hearing an outraged shriek.

They didn't know how late it was. The sun had begun setting.

Claykit let out his most fiercest growl and charged at Talonkit. Talonkit laughed and raced away, Claykit hot on her tail, while Creekkit chased after his bigger siblings, a snowball tucked between his chin and neck.

With the cold air whipping through her fur, snowflakes slapping her in the face, and her paws thundering over the white blanket, Talonkit felt alive and wanted to scream it out to the world. For once she didn't have to worry about her mothers overprotective eye on her, she was just free.

Her sense of freedom was replaced by something different. She halted in her tracks, panting out clouds. Claykit let out a startled mew and veered out of the way just before he could run into her. Too bad he just ran into the path of a tree, running face first into the bark. Creekkit stumbled to a halt, dropping his snowball and throwing it at the back of Claykit's head. He grinned excitedly. "Does this mean I won?"

With a bruised nose, Claykit turned to Creekkit, a furious look on his face, and he towered over Creekkit, lifting up his paw as a threat to scratch him. Creekkit peeped, ducking away and hid behind Talonkit, peering over her fluffy tail and sticking his tongue out at Claykit.

"What the heck, Talonkit? What the HECK?" Claykit yowled, rubbing his nose dejectedly with a paw. "You don't just stop mid chase. That's not cool. I broke my nose because of you."

For the moment, that odd sense she had vanished, replaced with annoyance. Talonkit rolled her eyes. Claykit was always such a drama queen. "Oh please. Your nose is not broken."

Claykit reeled his head back. "WELL then. I guess I'll just leave, huh?" He turned around, his tail and head held high and smug. "I'm telling mom," he mewed, before tottering away back to the den.

Now that her idiot for a brother was gone, Talonkit had the chance to think. The odd feeling she had returned... the feeling that something wasn't right. She could feel it in her gut. She frowned.

"What's wrong, Talonkit?" Creekkit asked curiously. Talonkit searched for the words to explain, but she couldn't find any. "Something doesn't feel right..."

Creekkit glanced nervously up at the darkening sky. "Um, is it because we've been out the entire day." He paused, blinking thoughtfully. "And the fact we're like really far from home?"

Talonkit realized he was right. She never noticed the sky until now, or the area they were in. Everything looked unfamiliar. Anxiety started up. Was Clearpool angry? Was that why she had a bad feeling? "Uhh, let's get back to the den," she meowed, already beginning to lead the way home, following Claykit's scent trail.

They walked along in silence. Creekkit was obviously nervous, jumping at every sound, and Talonkit was on the verge of losing her nerve too.

Something was wrong.

Urgency took hold of her and her walk turned into a quick trot. They needed to get home fast. She didn't realize she had started running until Creekkit called after her, his voice sounding a few tail-lengths behind. "Can we slow down?" Talonkit turned to him as he caught up, opening her jaws to speak, but the words dried up in her throat and Creekkit's eyes went wide with fear.

uh Crash! Crinkle noises! Crack crack crack. The sound of someone walking on snow. Scary stuff.

From somewhere nearby, they heard something. It sounded large. Followed by something that sounded way too much like a shriek, which was was cut off with a distant snap. Then an eerie silence gripped the area. No birds called, no wind howled, no one spoke or dared to breathe. A dead silent peace with growing snowfall. Talonkit and Creekkit clutched each other, both shivering from cold and fear. She strained to hear it again, to see it maybe even. Nothing was disturbed.

We're almost home, Talonkit tried reassuring herself, her legs wobbling badly and her heart thundering in her chest, threatening to explode. Creekkit appeared to be no better. Talonkit wanted to curl up and hid here under the snow forever, but she obviously couldn't do that. The sound had come from the exact path they needed to take to get back to the den. If it had just been her here alone, she would have given up. She glanced at Creekkit beside her, who was looking horror-stricken. For him.

Putting on a brave face, Talonkit gave her little brother a reassuring glance, her eyes saying We're okay, let's go. Creekkit nodded, and together, they began a slow and catious walk through the snow.

They walked in silence, breathing quietly to not alert anything that might be lurking nearby. A new scent tickled her nose, making her want to vomit. It was sharp and thick in the clean air, stabbing at her lungs. It made her want to turn tail and run.

Turn around! Turn around! her mind screamed.

A shape was beginning for grow in front of them. It didn't strike too much worry in Talonkit. It looked like it might just be a rock jutting out, a thin coat of snow on its surface. But as they drew closer, the awful scent grew sharper.

They stopped once they reached it. It was hard to make out through the gloom, but when she finally could, shock and horror filled her heart. Creekkit swayed beside her.

Snow had begun to lightly dust Claykit's pelt. His neck was twisted in an ugly angle and a thin line of blood trickled from his jaws. The world began spinning.

Tracks were around Claykit's body - huge tracks. Creekkit gaped at them, shivering violantly. "W-what happened? Wh-what is that?"

Talonkit couldn't answer. She couldn't tear her gaze away from Claykit's neck, or his face, which was frozen in terror. Screaming came from nearby, the direction of home. Without another thought, Talonkit dashed toward it.

Mother! She's in trouble! Galaxy!

She stumbled a halt, struggling to control her breathing as horror swallowed her up. A large, distorted shadowy figure stood over Clearpool, long fangs dripping with dark liquid. Clearpool's expression was terrified and horribly broken. A tear dripped down her face. "Please. It's me. Please," she whimpered.

The distortion of the figure flickered for a heartbeat, showing Talonkit it was a cat. She felt a wave of horror and grief roll off from him. His flickering figure strained, as if trying to fight back against something, but he couldn't. The flickering stopped and in a quick movement, it lashed its horrible talons across Clearpool's throat. Grief and agony clouded Clearpool's eyes as she let out a held back yowl, which only made more blood pour out of her throat. She coughed and choked, trying to breathe in air but was only gifted with blood.

Talonkit was frozen in place. She couldn't even shake with fear. Her eyes fixed on Clearpool. All of her emotions sky rocketed so she couldn't even feel them. Was this really happening or was it a nightmare?

"Talonkit?" Creekkit's voice called very quietly from behind her.

"Run!" Talonkit raced through the snow, as fast as she could go, Creekkit close behind. Everything was numb as she ran. Her eyes remained wide open and shocked. She couldn't think. All that mattered was getting our of there.

Once they finally felt safe enough to take shelter and rest, the snow had reached full blizzard. Creekkit shivered badly so Talonkit sat on him to keep him warm. He drifted off, but she couldn't sleep. Her body trembled and she could hardly even blink. She remained alert to sounds outside. Now that nothing was going on her thoughts began to play out.

Shock, horror and grief engulfed her.

She was drowning. She drowned in her own blood.