Strays Ch. 2

I WAS going to wait until I finished completely, but short little scenes keep turning into three pages and let’s face it, you want an update before Christmas. I don’t know HOW much I’m going to split this, honestly. I promise to figure something out. It’s not the writing that confuses me- it’s the splitting things into chapters so it doesn’t take years for you to see!
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Two months had passed since one of the biggest snowstorms Bakersfield had ever seen. Winter’s chill was finally beginning to fade and make way for springtime warmth. Outside the Cramdilly household, a gray cat was taking advantage of the heat. Waffle crouched down on the lawn, his eyes focused on an orange butterfly sitting on a blade of grass.

“Creep...” he said softly to himself, slowly inching towards his prey. After the previous year’s embarrassment regarding the Mouse Hunters’ Ball, Waffle was determined to learn how to hunt properly once and for all. He’d never actually kill his catch, he swore to himself; just catch it between his paws and then let it go... but being able to get that far had been eluding him all his life. True, his technique of just scooping up whatever it was with his paw had worked a few times, but not only did Blik insist that this was “wrong”, mice and other common animals of prey had a tendency to bite.

“Creep...” he whispered again, moving a bit closer. Once he was sure that he was near enough and that the butterfly was none the wiser to his presence, he made his move.

“POUNCE!” he shouted and did so, but the butterfly had chosen that moment to fly away.

“Wait! Come back!” Waffle called, running after it and matching its own slow pace as to not go under it. The butterfly finally chose another resting place; the rim of a glass root beer bottle. Grinning wickedly, Waffle crouched again, repeating his earlier routine.

“Creep... and... POUNCE!” he cried, launching himself across the lawn. The butterfly once again made its escape, but the bottle was not so lucky. Its entire contents spilled all over the grass. Waffle looked up in fear at the beverage’s owner, knowing just what to expect.

“WAFFLE!” Blik shouted, glaring daggers down at his brother. “What did you just do?!”

“I... thought maybe I could catch it without touching the bottle...” Waffle murmured, staring down at the grass. Being yelled at by Blik is one of the last things anyone ever wanted, and for someone as easily hurt as Waffle, it was downright devastating.

“Catch- you know what? I REALLY have no care to know what it is that you were doing.” With a sigh, Blik reached into the cooler next to the beach chair he was sitting on and withdrew another drink. “Just go busy yourself elsewhere, would you? And get rid of that bottle! You spilled it, so you’ll throw it out!”

With a dejected nod, Waffle picked up the thankfully intact bottle and sped off to the nearest recycling bin. After watching him leave, Blik removed the cap of his new bottle with his claw and began to guzzle.

“Slow down, Blik, you’re gonna drown yourself with those things.” Blik looked over towards the speaker. In the beach chair on the other side of the cooler sat a yellow cat with her brown hair pulled back into pigtails with purple ribbons. She too clutched a half-full bottle, her first one of the day.

“I’m wondering how you can drink it so slowly, Katilda. Don’t you think it’s one of the greatest drinks on Earth?” Blik asked.

“It’s OK, I guess. Nothing special.” She took another swig and leaned back. “It’s so nice out today...” she commented wistfully. “And to think, two months ago we were rolling around in the snow.”

“Two months...” Blik repeated. “It’s been that long, hasn’t it...” He looked over at Katilda and smiled. She smiled back with her eyes narrowed slightly, making for a rather devious grin.

“So... Blik...” she started, her tail swishing. “What are you doing all the way over there, exactly?”

“Now that you mention it, I’m not really sure.” He drained the root beer bottle and chucked it across the yard. “How about we fix that little fact?” With a smirk and a purr, Katilda left her chair and took a place right next to Blik on his.

“Fixed,” she said, still smirking. “So now what?”

“Oh, I have some ideas...” Blik replied. He edged closer to Katilda...

“I threw it out!”

“WHAAA?!” Blik jerked up in shock, not expecting any sort of sound. He looked around for the source of the voice. Waffle was standing behind the chair, leaning on the back.

“I threw the bottle away,” he repeated. “Just figured I’d let ya know.”

“That’s... great...” Blik growled through his teeth. “Could you go now? We’re kind of BUSY, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Busy? With what? Whatcha doin’?” Waffle pried.

“None of your business!” Blik snapped.

“I bet you were KISSIN’...” Waffle giggled, apparently not noticing Blik’s seething.

“LEAVE US ALONE!” Blik screamed at the top of his lungs. A few birds flew out of a nearby tree; even the city’s pigeons knew that a place with an angry Mr. Blik was not a place to be. With a final snicker, Waffle wandered off, still stifling his laughter. With a final eye roll, Blik returned his attentions to the most important task at hand.

“Ignore him,” Blik told Katilda, his suave tone slowly returning to his voice. “Now... where were we...”

“I kinda like Waffle’s idea,” Katilda suggested, climbing on top of Blik. His smile wider than ever, he closed his eyes and slowly moved closer...

“I KNEW IT!”

“YAGH!”

“OOOF!” Blik jumped in surprise at Waffle’s exclamation, causing Katilda to topple off of his chest and onto the ground.

“I knew what you were doing!” Waffle snickered.

“Waffle.” Blik started. “I. Told. You. We. Were. BUSY-”

Waffle was far too lost in his discovery of Blik’s activities to even notice. “Blik and Katilda, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“CUT IT OUT!” Blik shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to ignore the fact that he was blushing beet red.

“Waffle...” Katilda warned, attempting to raise her voice over the two of them. “Waffle, you really shouldn’t, Blik’s getting mad-” Her warning went ignored. All three cats began to scream over each other, none of them truly being heard by the others.

“First comes the love-”

“STOP!”

“Waffle, please-”

“Then comes the marriage-”

“ONE MORE WORD, WAFFLE-”

“Blik, Waffle, stop it, you’re both being childish-”

“Then come the kittens in the-”

SMACK.

Being slapped by Blik was nothing new for Waffle, but usually it was just a quick swat that would snap him back into reality or serve as a sign of “you’re doing something stupid, so stop”. Very rarely did it actually hurt, and never before had it been so hard that Waffle was knocked to the ground. For the first time in his life, Blik actually managed to stand over someone and glower down.

“I told you to SHUT UP, you ridiculous hairball!” Blik shouted. “Why did you not LISTEN?! Why, why the HELL don’t you ever LISTEN?!”

Katilda tapped Blik on the shoulder. “Aren’t you being a bit harsh-”

“YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!” Blik swiveled around and shouted, not even thinking about what he was doing. He then turned back to Waffle, angrier than ever. “For the final time! Leave us ALONE, Waffle! Your little idea of fun has been getting on my nerves for the longest time, but I dealt with it, and you know why? Because you’re my brother and I’m SUPPOSED to tolerate your blathering! But I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, WAFFLE! DO YOU HEAR ME?! ENOUGH!”

Waffle pushed himself to his feet. “Blik... Blik, I’m sorry...”

“I. Don’t. CARE.” Blik said, seething. “Just get out of my sight.”

Whimpering, Waffle nodded and walked off. Blik expected him to head into the house, but he instead walked out of the yard and headed down the block and out of sight.

“I’m really sorry about him,” Blik said, turning to Katilda and smiling. “But now we can return to what we were doing... he’s not around to bother us...”

“No thank you,” Katilda replied.

Blik’s jaw dropped. How could anyone turn him down? Especially his own mate! “But we were just- come on, Katilda-”

“No. Not after that display...no,” Katilda said. “Blik... didn’t you notice anything... familiar about what you just did to him?”

“What do you- ...oh.” Blik drooped as he realized that what he just did to Waffle was what almost lost him Katilda two months ago. “But... you don’t understand, he always does this... it was about time someone scolded him for it...”

“Not like that, Blik! No one deserves that!” Katilda sighed. “Look... I’m just gonna head home now... I’m not in the mood to hang out anymore...”

“Look, I’m- I’m sorry about this- I just- I-” Blik stuttered, desperate not to screw everything up with her.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Katilda replied coolly. “So long.” And with that, she walked away. Blik didn’t dare follow.
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"Stupid Blik...”

Waffle headed down the street without a clue in his head where he was going. He kicked a pebble and groaned.

“He didn’t have to yell at me...” Waffle muttered to himself. “I was just trying to have some fun... Katilda didn’t seem to mind, so why...?” He began to sniffle. “Am... am I really that annoying?” Waffle turned and looked behind him in the direction of the house; at least, where he thought the house was. Not only did he not know where he was headed, he couldn’t even guess where he was currently.

“Maybe I should... no. I’m not going home. Blik’ll just yell at me again. He doesn’t want me there...” He dropped to all fours and looked down at his stomach. It had begun growling loudly.

“I’m hungry...” he muttered. He continued down the block slowly, as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Perhaps this was an over-reaction on his part, but the rich didn’t tend to deal with these things so well. And besides, he rationalized, maybe someone would take pity and throw him something...

“Well. Hello there,” said a voice.

“Huh? Where-” Waffle looked around wildly, forgetting his ‘I’m hungry so pity me and give me a scrap’ act.

“Right here.” Waffle looked up. A calico cat was sitting on an alley way wall. She leaped down and walked up to Waffle. “You OK there?”

“N- no,” Waffle lied, which laid heavily on his conscience. “I’m so hungry... I haven’t eaten in- in days,” he came up with a fake length of time. “Would you happen to have something for me to eat? Please? I don’t have anything to offer, but... I need food...”

“You’re a bit pudgy for someone who’s starving,” the calico observed. She then smirked. “Of course, you must be so used to food that you can’t take being without it.”

“Erm, yeah... that’s it...” Waffle replied, caught in his lie.

The stranger started to laugh. “Whatever to steal a meal, eh? You seem like a clever one.” Waffle had never heard the word ‘clever’ in a sentence involving him, except maybe ‘he’s not clever enough to make his way out of a cardboard box’.

“You actually think I’m clever for doing that?”

The stranger nodded. “You know, you seem like the type I’d like to introduce to my little pack out in the woods. It’s getting to be feeding time... wanna come and get a bite?”

Waffle nodded enthusiastically. “Listen, I don’t have anywhere to go, so... could I stay? Please?”

“Of course, little guy,” she responded. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“I’m Waffle,” Waffle responded with his first smile since leaving. “Waffle Cramdilly-Quid.”

The stranger froze in surprise. “Erm, I’m sorry, I... didn’t catch your last name-”

“Cramdilly-Quid,” Waffle replied. “Cramdilly was my mom’s and Quid was my dad’s. Neither of my brothers use both names, but I do. It’s respectful. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, respectful, right,” she said, not quite paying attention past “Quid”. Could he possibly be...? And he said he had brothers? Interesting...

“Well, I bet it’ll be great to have you in the pack, Waffle. My name is Camilla.”
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Blik had been outside alone for hours. He leaned back in his chair, clutching the final bottle of root beer. Its contents had been drained a while ago, while it was still light. Now Blik was sitting under the moon and stars, thinking about the day’s events.

“What did I do? What the hell did I DO?” he groaned to himself. Yelling at Waffle had become daily routine; a day without doing so was a day undone. Problem was, after the initial tears, Waffle tended to come out of his scoldings relatively unharmed. He was rarely affected too negatively by Blik’s screaming, and even then he’d bounce back eventually. Only once had it caused him to actually run away... and that time...

Blik shuddered. He knew full well that his brother was far too friendly and dumb as a post when it came to telling which people he should befriend and which he should get away from quick. Last time he got himself landed in a pound and almost devoured. What if something happened again...? Maybe Blik screamed and belittled Waffle on a daily basis, but the truth remained that he did care whether he lived or died and preferred the former choice for him. Not only that, but Katilda was very obviously displeased with Blik’s behavior.

“And... I yelled at her...” Blik said to no one in particular. Even dumber than yelling at Waffle was yelling at Katilda like that, telling her to stay out of things.

“She was just trying to help...” he scolded himself. “And you probably just destroyed every single ounce of respect she had for you. Way to go, Blik.” Thanks to one rant, his brother was possibly in mortal danger, his mate had lost all interest in him, and there could have been one more potential problem...

“Mr. Blik?” a heavily-accented voice came across the yard from the front porch. “Are ye still out here?”

And there it was. If Gordon found out that he had chased Waffle off again... Blik needed another lecture on honor and kindness from an overweight delusional faux-Scotsman like he needed a hole in his head. But as out-of-it as Gordon could be, he’d surely notice Waffle’s disappearance. Blik had to say SOMETHING about it.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” Blik called.

“And what for, laddie? It’s almost midnight. Are ye not coming inside at all?”

“I’ll be right in,” Blik replied, dropping his empty bottle back into the cooler. He slowly rose from the chair and made his way up to the house, dreading the inevitable conversation with Gordon. It wasn’t the scolding he feared; it was Gordon’s tendency to not shut up about things only he cared about. Maybe he could escape from the stupid lecture...

“What were ye doing out there alone, anyway?” Gordon asked as Blik made his way up the steps.

“I was with Katilda, she left, and I just decided to stay out there a bit longer,” Blik replied, though he wished to add more to this sentence; ‘I just decided to stay out there a bit longer because I did something that I know you’re going to yell at me for and I’m seriously not in the mood for that right now. Or ever, come to think of it.’

“I see...” Gordon replied, slightly suspicious as Blik’s actions, but decided to let it slide. “Oh, and another thing... have ye seen Waffle? I saw him go outside and that was it. Did ye happen to notice where the lad went off to?”

Blik chuckled nervously. “Erm, yeah... about that...”
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Camilla had been leading Waffle through the woods for hours now. Her originally friendly demeanor was quickly beginning to deteriorate; if she didn’t need this kid to find the other Quids, she probably would have strangled him within the first five minutes of the trip.

“I told you, down on your front paws,” Camilla hissed at Waffle.

“But I’m slow that way...” Waffle whined. “Why can’t I walk like this? It’s how I always walk. C’mon, what’s it matter?”

“Strays don’t DO that! If you want to be an alley cat, you’d best do it properly!” Camilla tried her hardest to be patient with him, but she was beginning to question whether this was truly Daniel’s son. Irritating as he was, Camilla had to admit that Daniel was very clever for a human lover. How could any offspring of his be so whiny and brain dead?, she wondered to herself.

Must come from his mother’s side of the family.

“But there’s rocks and sticks and thorns and stuff on the ground,” Waffle protested, that grating whine still present in his voice. It HURTS.”

Camilla stopped dead. “Do it, Waffle. I am not taking another step forward until you do as I say, you hear me? You said you wanted to join the pack, didn’t you?”

Waffle didn’t reply in words. He just nodded weakly.

“Then as a member of my pack, that means I am your boss. You will do what I tell you if you don’t want any... problems.” Camilla unsheathed her front claws at the final word and scratched at the dirt beneath her paws. “Do I make myself clear, Waffle?”

“...yes, Camilla,” Waffle responded, wondering if he was making the right choice... then again, it was better than going back home... having made up his mind, Waffle dropped to his front paws as he was told.

“Good boy,” Camilla praised him as one would praise a worthless mutt. Her tone, however, flew completely over Waffle’s head.

“How much farther do we have to go?” Waffle whined yet again. Camilla waited for the urge to pin him against a tree and choke him to death to subside yet again before answering.

“Not too far. Now shut up.”

Waffle nodded and continued the trip in silence.

She’s worse than Blik, Waffle thought to himself, not daring to even mutter this opinion out loud. But at least she’s letting me stay with her. I should give her that much, I suppose... Gordon does always tell me to be grateful no matter what...

“Max! Den! I’m back!” Camilla called out. Waffle looked up to see just who Camilla was talking to. The two cats had arrived in a clearing with three others. The first one Waffle noticed was a big hulking animal that he couldn’t surely identify as a cat. He was covered with gray fur darker than Waffle’s, and his bright yellow eyes held no pupils. The beast was eating something that he held between his paws; Waffle had a feeling that his meal had been alive not too long ago. After choking back the bit of vomit caused by that thought, Waffle’s focus fell on a little brown tabby kitten that had just ran up to Camilla.

“Hey, Cam!” he greeted, tail wagging. “You were running a bit late, so Max and I already started eating. I hope you don’t mind...

“It’s OK, Den,”Camilla assured him. “I’m sorry about taking so long, it’s just that I found someone in need of our help. This is Waffle Quid, our newest member. From what I understand, he’s a runaway housecat. I suppose we should let him stay for a while. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Den said with a nod. The significance the newcomer’s last name was not lost on him, but he knew better than to say anything about it.

“Waffle?” Camilla said, turning to him. “I suppose I should introduce the members of our little pack. The little one here is Dennis...”

“DEN,” the kitten corrected.

“Yeah, don’t call him Dennis, he’s none too fond of that. And the big guy over there is Max,” she continued, waving a paw in his direction. “He doesn’t speak much.”

“And who’s that?” Waffle asked, pointing at the third cat sitting in the clearing. This one didn’t seem as if she was very interested in Camilla at the moment. “She looks kinda like you...”

“She’s my twin sister, Olympia,” Camilla replied, a hint of contempt in her voice. “Hey, Lym!” Camilla called. “Are you going to come greet Waffle over here or are you just going to sit there and be rude?”

Although it didn’t seem as if she truly wanted to, Olympia rose to her feet and ambled over. “Hello... Waffle, is it?” she greeted.

Waffle nodded. “Waffle Cramdilly-Quid.”

Olympia’s eyes widened. “Did you say Cram-”

“Aaaand no one cares about that,” Camilla cut her off. “Lym, would you lead Waffle to one of the sleeping quarters? Den’ll be around with food for the two of you in a bit. If there’s any left, anyway.”

Olympia nodded. “Come on, Waffle. This way.” She walked off into the trees with Waffle closely behind. The other three watched them leave. Den waited for them to be out of sight before speaking.

“Cramdilly-Quid... like Audrey and Daniel?” he asked, making sure his memory wasn’t failing him.

“That’s right,” Camilla replied. “I didn’t ask his parents’ names, but he has to be their kid. I know Daniel went and got the little twoleg lover pregnant before Max took care of things... This is it, Den. We found him. We found one of the remaining Quid cats.”

“So do we get to kill him now?” Den asked, a bit too eager.

“No. Not yet. He mentioned that he has siblings, after all... I think we should wait for him to lead us right to the others, don’t you think?”

“And how do we do that?” Den queried. “Ask him where his family is so we can slaughter them before his eyes?”

Camilla ignored this bit of sarcasm. “I don’t think we could convince the boy, of course, but we know someone who could. For once, Olympia may be good for something...”