| abstract
| - The shook was a carnivorous creature native to Carratos. The stealthy, silent predator would jump on its prey from above.
- I winced as the harsh sunlight met my eyes, making them fill with tears. I blinked them away, whipping my head to the side and away from the giant ball of light. But I knew what the sun meant; it was morning. And that could only mean one thing. I padded back inside my “den” and nudged my younger sister Heron. “Heron!” I hissed, touching my nose to her soft grey flank, “Heron, wake up!” She squirmed in her sleep, her bright green eyes opening slowly before closing again. She let out a stubborn mewl before turning onto her side and wrapping her tail around herself. I frowned, flicking my ears in annoyance, but decided to let her rest. After all, it had been a tough few days. Heron was my younger sister, and she was all I lived for. She was the sweetest thing, a little grey bundle of innocence, eager to explore and find out all that she could. From the minute she could walk, she was stumbling all around the Warehouse and making polite conversation with any cat she could, which mainly consisted of her asking questions that no cat could answer. But she was never unsatisfied. She was always positive, which helped a lot, especially with Orion's disappearances. There were three of us, actually. Orion, me and Heron. My name is Rio. I have short, light brown fur, with darker stripes running across my body. My eyes are amber, like my mothers. I look rather like my mother actually. It's a long and complicated story, and it all started with her. Our mother was a the best I could wish for, and she was beautiful. She had a long brown coat, with darker brown stripes covering her body, and wide amber eyes. But she'd had a bad past. Born as the eldest in her family, with two younger brothers, she took charge of everything that happened to them. So when their parents abandoned them, she took all matters into her own paws. They lived down an alleyway, feeding of rats and upwalker's waste, and all was well for a few moons, until the worst happened. The youngest got sick with a terrible cough, and they needed help. Our mother could only watch him die as he got weaker and weaker. Although hope wasn't completely lost, for she had heard kit tails about the magical place called “The Warehouse”, an apparent “refuge” for cats in trouble. It was their only hope. The other tom agreed it was best for our mother to stay with the youngest, and so he set of to find The Warehouse. A week later and he still hadn't returned. But he was too late anyway, for the youngest had passed away, in a mass of harsh coughing and spluttering. Our mother grieved for days, wandering about the streets with no intentions, no idea of whereabouts she was going. It was lucky, then, that she stumbled upon a handsome black and white tom. He offered her a safe place to stay, which turned out to be The Warehouse. She wasted no time settling in, having her first litter of two kits with the very same tom. One girl and one boy, the boy looking almost identical to his father, whom she named Orion. Unfortunately, the female kitten didn't make it past a moon, as our mother was still in a very bad state and could only provide for one of her her kits. She mourned for a while, but soon got over it and decided to try again, this time with a different tom, for she and the other had grown apart. He was a light brown tabby, with green eyes and gave my mother a litter of one. Me. She was not disappointed, but her heart yearned for more than two kits. But she was patient, suggesting to her new mate if he was interested in trying for another litter, but he refused every time. 12 moons later and she finally got impatient, causing an argument to strike out between the two, resulting in him deciding to leave. He didn't just leave our family, he fled the Warehouse too, claiming to have found a younger, prettier she-cat that wasn't interested in starting a family, elsewhere. Our mother was sad, of course, but she got over him pretty quickly. Just in time, for a bunch of new arrivals had turned up outside the Warehouse. She grew close to a sweet ginger tom, who was extremely patient with her. Within a moon of meeting him, she was pregnant again and gave birth to three kits this time, although one was a stillborn. She grieved for him, but focused on the two kits that she had, determined to keep them both alive this time. But she was weak, too weak, and tried too hard. Her new mate insisted she needed to rest, but she didn't listen. She died two days later, leaving two hungry kits with no mother. Their father tried his best, but the Warehouse only provides you with a safe place to stay, no cats trained in medicine, no guaranteed fresh kill. No, you had to do that for yourself. It was all too much for the new father, and he left without a word, leaving me and Orion to look after the two kits. It was hard, but we eventually persuaded one of the queens to feed only one of my mothers kits. It was a hard sacrifice to make, but there was no other choice. Of course, only one made it. A light grey she-cat with darker grey speckles all over her back. Heron. But we were thrilled that she seemed happy and healthy, and after a while we seemed okay. Orion, me and Heron, a nice, peaceful family living in the Warehouse. Or so it seemed, until Orion introduced us to Payton. He'd said he was going on the search for some fresh kill, which I whole-heartedly agreed with. It was the same most days, Orion going out for food and me staying home to look after Heron. Although that day went differently. Orion arrived back in the Warehouse with no fresh kill to be seen. I was suspicious and angry. He'd had all day to hunt! Surely it wasn't hard to come back with at least a mouse or two? I glared at him from across the Warehouse's dusty sand floor. He'd ignored my hostile stare though, and continued to trot up to me, his whiskers quivering excitedly. I bared my teeth, making my obvious annoyance clearer for him, but he still brushed it off, continuing to make his way over to us. He stopped when he got to me, a brief moment of silence occurring between us. I decided to break it, by stamping my paw on the ground and looking him straight in the eye. “Explain this!” I hissed at him, gesturing my paw towards the floor. For the first time since he'd arrived back, I'd made him look slightly uneasy. He looked down at where my paw was, then back up at me. He opened his mouth, before pausing. “Let me explain...” He murmured. “You best explain!” I snapped at him. He flinched at my rude tone and I felt a pang of regret. Perhaps he had a perfectly good reason for the lack of prey. He clambered into our den, before settling down onto the cloth we all used as a bed. After curling his tail around himself, he began to groom his fur. “I've met a wonderful she-cat,” He began, his tone of voice changing slightly, edged with a strong emotion. I could feel my stomach turning as I stared disbelievingly at my brother. My brother. My brother, rambling on about some random she-cat he'd met near the forest. My brother, coming home without fresh kill. My brother, choosing a she-cat over his family. With each word he uttered, I could feel him slipping further and further away from me and Heron. From his responsibilities to his family. From his true self. I simply stared him down, my lip curled back in disgust while he carried on complimenting this new she-cat we'd never even met. “She told me her name was Payton,” Orion continued, his eyes alight with admiration, “And I told her it was the nicest name...” He trailed of, resting his head on his paws. By this time, Heron had come back from talking to a few of her friends and was gazing at Orion in confusion. She gave me a look, cocking her head to one side. “Rio, why has Orion not got any food?” She whispered to me, but loud enough for Orion to hear, although he didn't pay any attention. I felt myself wanting to scream aloud. So I guess we were going to have to starve for today? Heron had turned her attention to her older brother, who had seemingly drifted to sleep and prodded his side. “Orion!” She hissed at him. I couldn't bear to see her like that, so I put a paw to the side of her head and turned her towards me. “Let's go Heron,” I murmured to her. She nodded simply, her head drooping as she curled up next to Orion on our bed. My heart broke as I saw them together like that, like brother and sister. Today Orion had broke my trust and it would take a while to rebuild. He may have been my brother, but it was our duty to protect Heron, who still didn't know the ways of the world yet. I padded to the far side of the den, confused and angry at everything that has occurred this day. My eyes began to go blurry and I blinked away the tears, sinking my head into my paws. I couldn't take it. From then on, Orion didn't hunt any more. He left early in a morning and arrived back home again late at night, spending all his time with Payton. I had to leave Heron inside the Warehouse on her own while I hunted. It has never occurred to me that perhaps my sister would be interested in hunting too. She just seemed too precious to bring outside with me, and besides, she had plenty of friends in the Warehouse. But that became our new routine. Our “family” had now been reduced to just me and Heron. Orion was just the black and white cat who filled our den with strange scents at night. I thought this was the worst it could get. I was wrong… so wrong it's painful. Strange people started coming, standing around the Warehouse, looking it up and down, strolling about. They hadn't gone inside, but we were scared. All of us. Few cats dared go out hunting and stayed inside. But I still went out. Heron was a thin cat, and I needed to feed her. My hunting skills were weak, and the few scraps of prey that I managed to find went to her first. I ate the leftovers. The strange people came closer. Cats began to leave. The safe sanctuary they knew and loved didn't feel so safe any more. The Warehouse's population started getting lower and lower, and the few cats that turned up left as soon as they saw why it was so empty in the first place. The drastic emptiness of the Warehouse began to effect the small amount of us that were left. Heron refused to eat some days, mourning over the loss of her friends. It made me angry and frustrated. I refused to believe something was wrong. The people hadn't caused any harm yet, who said they would in the future? At last, only five of us remained. Me, Heron, Tyron and Maisie with their kitten, Lyla. Maisie was a relaxed cat. She didn't get stressed too often and preferred to stay indoors and look after Lyla. Tyron, however, was headstrong. A day after the last family left, they parted too. I was devastated. It felt so wrong, walking round the Warehouse on my own, with only Heron for company. Even Orion looked worried when he returned home that evening, his eyes wide with disbelief as he gazed around the empty place. “It feels so… wrong.” He muttered quietly to himself one night. I simply nodded, curling up in my nest. I wasn't going to open up about my feelings to him. Not after what he'd done. I woke up the next morning to find he'd already left. No surprise there. I began to groom myself whilst waiting for Heron to awake, my whiskers twitching. I felt nervous, something felt wrong. I padded slowly towards the Warehouse entrance, my ears pricked for any sound. I picked up something, a low hum, getting louder and louder. Widening my eyes, I peeked round the empty doorway to see a group of upwalkers gathered around each other in fluorescent green jackets. They were surrounded by large yellow objects, which were shaking and moving a little. They were getting closer to the Warehouse. I swallowed a scream before backing away from the doorway. I pounded towards Heron, her little grey body moving up and down with every breath she took. I shook her gently with my paw. “Heron,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice calm, but it was edged with panic. “Heron, wake up. We need to get out of here. Now.” She turned to her side, opening her eyes and staring at me. “Why?” She mewed groggily, her tail flicking lazily. I sighed, not sure what to say. “Because I said, now come on.” She reluctantly pulled herself of her cloth bed and stood up, her mouth stretched wide in a yawn. I nudged her forward, determined not to waste any time. We were getting closer to the entrance. My body was alive with energy and the need to escape. I turned to Heron. “Now, when I say go, you're going to sprint out the door and follow me okay?” I whispered to her. The doorway was getting closer. “Okay,” She whispered back. I could barely hear her but I had to hope she understood. We were almost there. “Good,” I mewed calmly, before facing the entrance. We were there. I could see Heron's eyes wide with shock. Her mouth was open. She turned towards me, ready to speak. “Now Heron!” I yowled, rushing forward. The sunlight blinded my eyes and I couldn't see where I was going. I could hear Heron's tiny paw steps behind me and rush of relief surged through my body. I kept running, hoping that Heron could keep up with me. Catching sight of a bush out of the corner of my eye, I dove into it, keeping out of sight. A moment later, Heron joined me, her breaths loud and ragged. From the cover of the bushes, I peered through the green leaves. I could just make out one of the yellow objects crashing into The Warehouse's side.
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