"Hoarfrost, Hoarfrost wake up," the large tom cat's eyes struggled open against the weight of sleep, making out the blurry face of Light. His green eyes were baring down at him, and the tabby groaned. It was barely sunup, he could tell from the lack of sunlight through the glass windows of the old shop.

"It's so early, stop it, let me sleep!" He batted away Light's face, the other tom pulled away and twitched his whiskers. "I'll move when I want." The cat curled back up in his nest of stained old blue upwalker pelts. His bones cried for a bed of hay and moss, but the memories were too painful.

"You'll move because I say, mouse brain, you've been laying here for nearly two days now!" Light was prodding him again, and he felt the tom's tongue began to lap furiously at his pelt. "You're covered in dirt, when was the last time you washed?"

Hoarfrost sighed, but didn't stop his friend from washing his messy pelt. The brindle coloured cat washed his head and his back, finally he again shooed Light away.

"Alright alright I'll do the rest myself, what are you my mother?" He lapped his own striped fur, grimacing when he found his tongue dry and the mud taste to be most displeasing.

"No, but I might as well be! If I didn't say anything you would of slept the entire day away," Light was washing his own fur, licking a paw before the black cat drew it over his neat tall ears. "I thought we'd go hunting today, together? Since we kind of don't have any food."

"We... don't?" Hoarfrost blinked, glancing to the spot they normally stashed away food. It was under some old worn stairs, a door that used to cover it was busted away to make the perfect little hiding hole. The tom rose from his nest, padding over to see for himself. The scent of stale pigeon greeted his nose as he poked his head into the dark space. Light was right, all that was that was a few sad feathers and a bit of what Hoarfrost assumed to be a bit of a mouse tail. The tom pulled his head back out. Light gave a soft mrrow, his green eyes held amusement.

"Where do you think the food came from? The sky? Huntings been scarce for some reason, you helping should fill our bellies and maybe the kill pile." Light jumped up onto an old upwalker structure, dust fled in all directions. He jumped again, landing on the ledge that had the broken window they used to get in and out of the old abandoned warehouse they called theirs.

Hoarfrost gave one more sigh and one more quick lick of his pelt, before launching himself after the other tomcat.

Soft wet grass met his paws as he stepped outside, the ground still damp from the warm day storm that had passed overnight. He bent down to lick at the dew, favouring that over the oily puddles that he knew they would come across.

The morning was crisp and the scent of moist earth met the back of his throat with each lap, before off the tabby took after the black and brindle coloured cat. The upwalker place was big, but quiet. In the distance a drooler barked, and he heard the roarings. His pelt rippled with a shutter, but they avoided the roads, Light knew well his friend was unable to cross the paths the roaring raced upon.

"What are you feeling, the old barn by the river or the dump?" Light looked over his shoulder. Hoarfrost's blue eyes lifted from where he had his head down.

"The dump, it's closer, and rays are plentiful there regardless." It wasn't that it was closer, the tom just couldn't bring himself to go to a barn, not when it brought back memories. Light watched as his friend's head lowered once more, his eyes softened. Hoarfrost felt the brindle coloured cat's eyes lay upon his fur like leaves. Soft, but still felt on his thick tabby pelt. Why the other put up with him when he only moped around and complained all day he didn't know.

Hoarfrost smelled the dump before he saw it, a sour smell mixed with the scent of rats and seagulls. The cawing of the noisy birds filled the sky above, which was soon blocked out by a mound of waste. The sun was starting to come up, turn the sky a soft blue. The tom's paws fell onto a well beaten path leading down to a small hole in the chain link fence, due to the steady rat population it was a frequently visited place by the upwalker place cats. If one couldn't hunt the rats that made their nests in the mounds, one could be sure to find leftover chicken or other upwalker food things.

He squeezed through the hole, he felt the metal run against his spine, a shiver passed through the cat. Hoarfrost's paws met squishy pelts and hard edges, he carefully picked over them, Light was already ahead sniffing for rats.

"I think there's some here," he heard the green eyed cat whisper, and his ears perked up and strained to listen. Hoarfrost's bearing wasn't as good as Light's, but soon he heard the squeaks and scurrying claws, the sound of high pitched cries. His eyes widened slightly, and he unsheathed his claws.

"I'm pretty sure there's a nest under this," his claws slightly dug into something wet and pelt-like, wet from the rain. "I'm going to lift it and flush them out, grab what you can, be ready to run if there's too many." Hoarfrost meowed softly.

Light nodded his head slightly, dropping into a crouch, his claws out. Hoarfrost braced himself, before gripping the squishy white pelt, pulling it towards himself as he yanked it upright. A angered squeal was cut off as Light shot forth, he saw the tom struggle away, a large rat in his jaws. It's beady eyes stung with hate as it tried to claw the cat, but Light's teeth were fastened deep into it's throat, and soon the movements became stiff, then stopped. The body fell limp and Light let it drop. Hoarfrost padded around the pelt, eyeing the nest he had uncovered.

"She was a mother," Light licked the blood from his muzzle, joining Hoarfrost as he stared at the tiny wiggly rat kits, only days old, squealing from the cold and exposure.

"These are at least easy to kill, they'll starve now anyways," the tom recited, grabbing as many as he could carry in his jaws, crushing their spines with quick crunches. "You don't honestly feel bad for the rats do you? They certainly don't care about us, remember what happened to Cleo?" His mind flashed back to the soft brown tabby, a kittypet who was just a little bit too adventurous for her own good. She had been a sweet kind cat, and although only he ever knew, she had quite the admiration for Light. He had never told the other tom, not when she was found three sunups later, belly ripped open by the sharp claws of rats.

Light's gaze cast itself to the ground, Hoarfrost instantly felt a tingle of guilt using Light's kittypet friend as the reason why cats should never feel bad for the pesky rodents.

"Never mind, I'm sorry, let's just get back to the warehouse and fill our bellies, while the meats still warm and before Stark and his gang of flee brains show up." He picked up as much as he could carry, Light helped him and raced after the tabby. The way back was still quiet, they walked through an alleyway with tall fencing on either side in silence, before a new voice come to his ears.

"Look friends, buddies, pals, I didn't steal your prey, this here mouse? Caught it just over there I assure you, I would never steal anything from such fierce, admirable cats."

"Liar!" The second voice was more recognizable, it was Ferret, a flea bitten patchy furred cream coloured tom who, if his irritable voice didn't give him away, the stink of his mangy pelt that made Hoarfrost's look good did. "Strangers like you should think twice before taking things that don't belong to you, this is our turf and that's our prey!"

He set down his rats, peering through the thin gaps between the fence to see Ferret and another one of Stark's other cats cornering a tall but thin black and brown tom that Hoarfrost had never seen before.

"We got to help him!" Light whispered harshly in Hoarfrost's ear, his ear flicked. He narrowed his eyes, why should we help? He thought bitterly. Light's eyes seemed to reply with why shouldn't we help, and Light's good caring heart won him over. He leap on top of the fence, teeth baring.

"Leave him alone!" Hoarfrost spat, fur fluffing up until he was twice his actual size. The fence shook again as Light leapt to his side, his tail lashing.

Ferret blinked at the sight of the two toms, he stepped slyly away. The tom had a single green eye that Hoarfrost found to be a sickish colour, the other was sealed shut under layers of crust and ooze.

"If it isn't Hoarfrost, why we haven't seen you in so long we thought you were dead! Now some cats thought a roaring had gotten you, but please, we all know you're much too afraid of them to ever go near the road! No, I thought you must of choked on a hairball, but I see from your filthy pelt that's not true either."

Hoarfrost's ears flattened against his head, a growl rumbling deep in his throat.

"At least my pelt is better then yours, fox breath," he spat back. "You have the rest of your entire pathetic life to be a piece of upwalker trash how about you take a day off?" he saw a flash of anger in the tom's eye. The she-cat with him, a burly calico with a flat face hissed.

"We should shred both their pelts and leave them for the crows," she hissed, but Ferret was already backing up. He was a cowardly cat, never would fight. It turned out he wasn't a complete fool to send the she cat against two other cats.

"Don't bother Liz, it's just a mangly old mouse anyways, probably rotten! I hope you all get food poisoning!" The patchy cat sharply turned his back on the three cats, walking away as if it was the ultimate insult. The she-cat grumbled and slowly turned to follow, with them jumping over a fence and vanishing over the other side, Hoarfrost let his fur fall flat and his held breath out.

"I'm glad a fight didn't start," Light breathed heavily in relief, then jumped down to greet the tom. "Are you okay?"

The tom snapped out what seemed kind of like a daze. "Woah, that, that was crazy how you sent those two packing! Oh me? I'm totally fine, I could of handled that!" Light tilted his head slightly.

"Um.. sure," the brindle coloured cat didn't sound convinced, but this stranger didn't seem to notice. "I'm Light, and this is my friend Hoarfrost, what's your name?"

"Haha if only I had my death stick! They'd really be sorry then, they're lucky you shooed them away before I killed them just like I killed my death stick! I mentioned I had that right?" He spastically jumped a bit at the ground in front of him, as if acting out exactly how he'd show Ferret and Liz a thing or two. "I'm Sheer, obviously, I'm surprised I'm not better know here being so fabulous and the best mouser on the farm!"

"Farm..?" Hoarfrost questioned from where he still sat on top the fence.

"You know the one out that way?" Sheer pointed with his tail. "And I was told you town cats were clever." He sounded disappointed, Light slightly puffed up his fur.

"Hey we didn't have to save you, a thank you would be nice," Light growled, but stopped when he noticed Hoarfrost jump back down the fence, back to their rats.

"Hey where's he storming off to?" Sheer bunched his hind legs, rump shaking before he launched himself up to the fence. The brown and black cat landed a bit short, scrambling hastily, huffing a bit when he made it up. Noticing Light was staring at him he simply aloofly twitched his whiskers.

"Meant to do that," he assured, looking at Hoarfrost as he stalked back towards the warehouse. "No way, you guys caught rats? All I caught was that runty mouse," he flicked a disappointed gaze to the catch that had started the whole event. Light sniffed it, flinching back when he smelled something sour. Indeed it was not fit for eating, Ferret was right, eating it would probably give them food poisoning. He turned and jumped up the fence, down to his own rats. He grabbed them and trotted hastily after the frost coloured tabby. "Hey, hey, hey, you can't just leave me here! Wait for me!" Sheer raised after them, Light cast him an unsure gaze, but Hoarfrost didn't give him a second glance, ears simply flattened in attempt to try to block out the tom's constant chatter.

"You know I've never actually been to a town before, it's bigger than a farm, and there's so many dogs!"

Light squinted a bit, what was a town? What was a dog? He couldn't ask, not without dropping his kills. They couldn't even ask him to stop, and Sheer kept up talking even if he got no answers.

"Oh woah do you guys live here?" He poked his head through the broken window when Hoarfrost and Light slipped inside. "It's way different from where I lived, I lived on a deck, it was kinda open but hey it was that or the truck's insides and you know Hazel went in one and it turned on and it ate her! Like, it was messed up!"

"Do you ever stop talking?" Light finally freed his muzzle to speak as he dropped the rats, jaw flexing slightly.

"Why'd you ask?" Sheer jumped down after them, looking around. "this place is huge, it echos like the grain bins! Echoooooo!" He shouted into the empty space.

Light's whiskers twitched, although it was Hoarfrost flopping back down in his nest of old pelts that caught his attention.

"Hoarfrost, aren't you going to eat..?" Light picked up one of the young rats, dropping it in front of his muzzle. His blue eyes looked at it, then to Light. "Come on, you caught it, just eat this one!"

Slowly he reached out with a paw, and sat up slightly to eat. Light gave a satisfactory nod, before jumping slightly when Sheer poked his head over Light's shoulder.

"Hey can I have one? Please? I'll catch you something tomorrow to pay you back and all that but right now I'm so hungry."

Light sighed, but batted a rat kit over to Sheer, which the tom hastily bent down to practically engulf. The way he ate made Light question if this cat even knew how to hunt. The brindle coloured tom bent down to eat himself, feeling the bones crunch between his teeth and the warm meat fill his belly.