It was midday as Clover-Sun and Smokepuff made their way further through the woods towards the Freeway, trees shading their backs from the sun's heat. This patrol was their most frequent, as its closeness to the South Hills and the humans' street left it most open to troubles whether it was foreign cats or the humans themselves.
While Clover-Sun and Smokepuff had both been born in the territories, they'd dealt with humans to some extent and were not unfamiliar with dealing with outsider cats. But it was always a dangerous place to frequent, so the pair kept themselves alert as the trees became sparse and the roar of the Freeway came into earshot.
All seemed well for a moment, until the sound of a screeching car was heard. While the two cats couldn't yet see over the ridge, they could hear the slamming of doors and chatter of the people came from it. Then, a yowl.
"Was that a cat..?" Smokepuff looked at Clover-Sun with worry, but was cut off by more yowling.
"Probably the human's pet." Clover-Sun replied, carefully watching from the distance.
Both she and her leader were turned to silence as they cautiously made sure they were out of range of the humans, but Clover-Sun could not deny the anxiety of hearing what sounded like a cat in distress. They approached enough that they could see a large red vehicle parked on the edge of the road, blinking with lights at the front and back. One of its doors was open, and not far from it lay a metal cage on the ground, partially broken. The two people that had come from the car were some leagues away from it now, calling out and frantically looking around.
"I think their housecat escaped." Clover-Sun loudly whispered, pointing her head towards the metal cage. "I don't know where it went, it… may be best to leave before we're spotted."
Smokepuff still looked ahead at where the car was, eyes narrowing. Suddenly, her ears perked up. As she stared at the broken cage near the car, her eyes caught something more noteworthy-- the housecat itself. She could make out its small form hiding under the car, watching the humans intently as they explored in the entirely opposite direction.
"Clover-Sun, look--" Smokepuff dipped from the bushes suddenly. "That must be the cat we heard. We should go help it…"
Clover was quick to join the black tabby's side, if only to protect her. "It got out of its cage, Smokepuff. I don't think we should risk getting closer now."
"The humans aren't paying attention right now-- we should tell it that it can find safety somewhere," Smokepuff looked to Clover. "With us, or South Hills. Maybe the humans hurt it, and it escaped on purpose?"
Before Clover could try and caution her friend once more Smokepuff padded off swiftly, slinking low under the brush and towards the street. Clover-Sun hung back, keeping watch of the humans. As the black tabby got closer, the stranger cat started to bristle as it hid under the metal vehicle.
"Get- Get away!" It hissed at Smokepuff, eyes wide as it glanced back at the humans. "Get away, they're going to see you! And me!"
Smokepuff was startled by the cat's aggression, but the fear it was laced with was understandable. "I can take you somewhere safe--"
Smokepuff was speaking quickly, but not enough. The stranger darted out from under the car suddenly, and Smokepuff turned to where she last saw the humans. Right on cue with noticing the tall people looking straight at her, she could hear Clover-Sun's distant meow. There was hardly any time at all beforethe humans were close enough that they tried to reach out for her and the other. Smokepuff ducked under the car and around one tire, but the scramble was chaotic as the two people attempted to grab their own housecat as well.
"Smokepuff!" Clover-Sun was running in their direction, but she cautiously lingered down the ridge, pacing from one side to the other as she tried to spot Smokepuff.
Smokepuff tried to look for a way past the humans, and just where she thought she'd found a clear opening to dart between their legs, two large hands grabbed her sides. She writhed in its grasp, but could not wriggle free. Clover-Sun watched with wide eyes as the one human held her friend up. The second human still seemed to be looking for their own cat still, but seemed like it was giving up. Suddenly Clover-Sun noticed movement a ways off. A dot of pale grey and white darting through the bushes, not stopping for a moment to notice Clover-Sun before vanishing from sight.
The humans cooed at Smokepuff, holding her for quite a long moment as they spoke in confused, unsure tones. Eventually though, Smokepuff heard the clanking metal of the cage on the ground as they picked it up and set it in the car. As hard as she tried, Smokepuff could not scramble out of their grasp, or out of the cage before its door snapped shut.
Clover-Sun could only hear the desperate yowls of Smokepuff as she held back below the slope of the Freeway, frozen in place. It was not her first troublesome interaction with humans, nor was it the first time she'd seen a cat get taken. But it was never any less stressful to watch a cat get taken by them when they had no choice or power to escape. The leader took a moment longer to survey the area-- no humans, no stranger housecat. No Smokepuff, either. She noticed the bright red of the car move along the Freeyway. It was unlikely they'd ever find the molly again.
Smokepuff was taken by humans while out on patrol.
The colony has encountered Dappled.
🙇🏻♂️ 🦉🌵☁️Had a Blast Painting Walls with the Homies on Saturday!☁️🌵🦉 🎥 @wokeface Thanks to everyone who came out and showed support! X X X X X X X X X X X X X X #paintingmurals #muralist #muralists #paintingamural #artprocess #artprocessvideo #70sstyle #freehandspraypaint #hyperlapse #coloredsmoke #smokepuff #spraypaintartist #bestofpdx #oregonart #oregonartists #artoforegon #traveloregon #contemporaryartists #contemporaryartdaily #contemporarygallery #contemporaryart #contemporarypopart #pdxart #pdxartist #pdxartists #portlandart #portlandartist #portlandartists #acetroy #oregonized (at Old Taylor Electric Supply Co Building)
