Chapter Text
Above the group, heavy footsteps echoed against the floor. The accompanying faint sounds of wheezing screeches occasionally made her freeze, ears perked.
The Warrior ducked her head down after a moment, shuffling quickly through the tunnel. Behind her, The Hollowed and Little Shadow followed on her tail closely.
Traveling near the surface was always dangerous, and this trip was no exception.
Her spear scraped against the ground, clutched tightly in one paw. She knew her siblings held theirs as well, the quiet sounds of them hitting the walls in metallic tones.
A few steps in front of her, light filtered into the dark space. An opening in the long crawl space.
Cautiously, The Warrior paused below it. Sounds still filtered in from above, idle fights and arguments between the creatures already living there. None of them sounded too close, and she took the chance to peek her head out.
Ears twisting around, neck extended to its full length, she peered out into the open space.
Layers of slats and pillars greeted her, overgrown and half-destroyed by time. No new sounds met her ears as she pulled herself upwards, that fact making her move less cautiously than before.
Below her, The Hollowed and Little Shadow peeked up at her, heads squeezed together to see out properly. The Warrior gestured for them to come up, tossing a paw over and behind her head.
As her siblings struggled to crawl out of the tunnel, she peered more around at her surroundings. They were in a more shadowed section of the surface, strange constructions built above where the ground opened up. Vines twined with the metal pipes, gray rocks littering the floor from where they’d crumbled off.
A soft touch at her arm made her look back, meeting The Hollowed’s dark eyes. They tilted their mask-like head to one side, pointing their horns towards a tall plant nearby. The Warrior patted their own paw in thanks, already heading towards the food.
Head jerking up from where they’d been playing idly with a blue, ball-like plant they’d found already plucked, Little Shadow followed after the pair. They walked awkwardly on two legs, still holding onto their spear tightly in one paw, along with the rotted food in the other.
The Hollowed clacked their horns against the other’s head quietly, scolding their sibling in their own strange language.
The Warrior flicked her tail in amusement at their interaction, though looked back towards the large plant before her after a beat. She hadn’t found one of these in a while, not having had the chance to feast properly after the last… accident on a surface visit.
She looked up for a moment, squinting into the sun. Its warmth felt nice against her skin, soothing a deep-set desire hidden in her brain.
The Warrior shook her head, huffing out a breath. Wasting time was a bad idea.
She pulled her arm back, readying to throw her spear towards the food. She hadn’t eaten it much, or even recently, but remembered how to reach the center of it the quickest.
A horribly familiar hissing sound made her freeze, the noise coming from above and echoing down.
Behind her, she heard the clattering sound of a pebble falling onto the hard floor.
Vulture.
Quickly backpedaling, another hiss made her jolt, going onto all fours as she retreated back under the cover of shade. The Hollowed and Little Shadow reared up onto their back legs as she bolted past them, startled by the sudden movement.
The Warrior spun around for a moment, flopping onto her stomach before waving a paw frantically above her head. Her siblings thankfully seemed to get the message, following after her lead quickly.
The Hollowed reached her with a dip of their horns, spear pointed upwards and held tightly in both paws. Both of them ran towards the tunnel’s opening, darker shadows covering their bodies as they came closer to the escape.
A sudden, sharp clack of metal against stone made them both spin around, startled out of their focus.
The Warrior felt a rock sink into her stomach at the sight before them, her own spear dropping in shock.
Little Shadow clawed against the ground roughly, face tilted up at an angle to reveal the true body usually shielded by it.
Their mouth was open wide in pain, tiny fangs bared.
And behind them, the Vulture perched against the ruined structure, wings splayed awkwardly in such a way that the sunlight was almost completely blocked out by them.
Its sharp mouth was clamped around Little Shadow’s tail, back legs scrabbling against its mask violently.
A sudden memory made her mind lose focus, thoughts pulled away from the current situation instantly.
Little Shadow kicked out at The Warrior’s chest, playful wiggles nearly making them squirm right out of her grasp. She bopped them gently on the head with one paw, the other pressed into their torso.
They loved wrestling with her, often seeking out The Warrior more than The Hollowed to play with. She found it odd. They’d only met a few cycles ago, yet were so comfortable acting like a kit with her.
A few feet above, the aforementioned older sibling laid draped across a ledge, tail flicking slowly. Maybe Little Shadow just liked having somebody new to play with, rather than the same slugcat over and over again.
She snorted as a barrage of dull hits smacked against her stomach, making her jerk back. Little Shadow wobbled their head at her in amusement, back paws braced into her flesh. The Warrior returned the attack with her own, letting her claws clack against their hard face in a mock slash.
They dug their feet even further into her stomach, only a dull ache rather than the instinctively expected sharp pricks of talons hitting her flesh. She forgot how young they were, sometimes. They’d only managed to grow claws on their front paws, the short nubs hardly being able to do any damage at all; while their back paws had nothing but gentle pads to slap with.
They couldn’t attack the Vulture. At least not with the position they were in.
The Warrior began to sprint forwards at that realization, scampering on all fours with her spear clutched in teeth. The Vulture was flapping its wings now, hissing steam into the air loudly. Little Shadow was lifted up momentarily, before they managed to grab onto one of the smaller pipes branching upwards. Their tail was being stretched horribly, flesh taught and covered with grime from the Vulture’s mouth.
It was either lose a limb, or die.
The Warrior was determined to make sure they didn’t have to make that decision.
She leaped upwards as she reached the Vulture, hooking claws into its weird, nubby legs. Its body shuddered as she climbed upwards, ears pinned back. Little Shadow was losing their grip on the pole, small paws just barely managing to hang on. It wouldn’t be much longer till both she and them went up into the sky with the Vulture.
A spear just barely soared past the creature’s shoulder, landing somewhere in the landscape beyond. The Hollowed was trying to help rescue their sibling.
The Warrior staggered onto three paws once she reached the Vulture’s neck, spitting out her own weapon into the now-free paw. She didn’t even pause before sinking it halfway into the thing’s flesh, just barely below its face.
It hissed out even more steam directly into her face, making her reel back at the burning sensation that followed. But her attack hadn’t been in vain.
The Vulture began to jerk sporadically, wings spasming as it struggled against the pain to not release Little Shadow. The Warrior nearly got bucked off as it did so, clinging on for dear life to the rotted skin.
Another spear suddenly came whistling past her, embedding itself into the creature’s eye socket with a sickening thunk! It was thin, a pale white that The Warrior had never seen before on a spear.
The Hollowed had clearly found another weapon, and the Vulture released its prey swiftly after a last, feeble tug. The Warrior dropped off onto the ground as it started to attempt flying away, neck swiveling back and forth as it struggled to see where to flee.
The Warrior left it behind herself as she ran to where Little Shadow had fallen, slumped to the floor. Their tail was badly injured, indents pressed deeply into the flesh. It wasn’t one uniform bite mark, instead an odd, irregular pattern of where the Vulture had bitten repeatedly.
Little Shadow curled up as she attempted to touch their shoulder, tucking themselves around their tail. Their breathing was ragged, laced with pain and remaining fear.
Pawsteps neared them quickly, almost sounding like a doubled set with how quickly they were moving. The Warrior turned around, expecting to just be greeted by The Hollowed’s form rushing towards her.
And she wasn’t wrong with that assumption, though another slugcat seemed to be following after them cautiously; bloodied, pin-like spear held in one paw.
The one from before.