Chapter Text
"I said stab, not tickle!"
"Keep your tailed tucked behind your legs! If a titan mutt were to grab hold of it, you're finished!"
"For wall's sake, keep your claws sheathed!"
Marlo felt like every muscle in his body was screaming in agony, his legs mere seconds from crumbling beneath him. His chest heaved with the effort to keep air flowing through. Beside him, Hitch and Floch looked just as bad as he did, their eyes bright with exhaustion. Finally, their instructor waved his tail for them to stop and they all collapsed in a heap of hot fur. Marlo lay on his side, wheezing, eyes closed to regain some of his composure. He felt a paw prod him between his ribs and his eyes shot open. Hitch was standing over him, her paw raised to poke him again if he decided to ignore her.
"Come on. Get up." She mewed, prodding him again despite his protests. " Let's go see if the officers left any prey in the Prey Den."
The Prey Den was the equivalent to a typical mess hall for humans. Since the Military Police Cats lived mostly in the interior, they occupied abandoned houses for their camps.
Marlo dipped his head and, struggling to stand on shaky paws, made his way alongside Hitch towards the abandoned house. A small group of cats were already settled down beside the pile of prey, murmuring quietly to each other as the younger cats approached. They both grabbed a piece of prey and took a seat next to a small beech tree outside, a few others relaxing in the hot sunlight.
Hitch hummed as she swallowed a mouthful of her prey. "Prey seems to taste so much better when you're at the point of death by exhaustion." She joked.
Marlo snorted, swiping his tongue over his jaws. "Guess I'll tell the instructor to work you harder next time, slacker." He teased.
She faked a surprised gasp. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Keep trying to give your work load to other recruits and I might have to." The black and white tom threatened playfully.
The cream brown she-cat used her tail to whack Marlo across the back as she finished her meal, giving her pelt a good wash. Marlo winced as his muscles protested against her playful hit, but he eventually shrugged it off and finished eating, sharing tongues with Hitch, her purrs sending him into a quiet doze.
The day seemed to go by much easier as they basked in the glow of the sun, which was shining its rays right onto them. Since it had gotten so hot now, they started their training earlier in the mornings, using the time when the sun was at its highest to recuperate before patrols were sent out later in the evening. More cats began to appear as the time for patrols was nearing. Hitch nudged Marlo awake as Nile and a few other high ranking cats entered the clearing from a nearby bush.
Nile's gruff voice echoed in the silent clearing as he gave out orders to every cat. Hitch got assigned to a hunting patrol, while Marlo was sent on a city patrol. Marlo admitted that he was quite relieved; he didn't think he'd have the strength to go hunting after that unusually hard training exercise. He noticed Hitch waving her tail in goodbye as she disappeared around a corner, her patrol following. Marlo heard his name being called and turned to face Boris, the grey violet colored tom padding over to his side.
"Looks like I'm with you today." He meowed, beckoning Marlo over to where the rest of the patrol was waiting.
Marlo nodded, happy to have a friend to go with him since Hitch was sent out elsewhere. They headed into the city area, passing by humans that strolled the brick streets, careful to avoid getting to close. As they patrolled the area, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A few rogues here and there, maybe a few house cats, but other than that, it was rather quiet. Too quiet.
They back tracked down a different back road, only stopping when the sounds of a trashcan being tipped over alerted them. A group of skinny, mean looking rogue cats strolled around the tipped trash bin, their claws looking rather sharp and hooked, easy to kill anything with, Marlo took note. There were only four of them, which meant that the patrol outnumbered them by one more cat. The leader of the patrol, a tall grey cat by the name of Jack, stepped forward. But before he could speak, he was bowled over by one of the rogues, the others following suit. Marlo forgot his exhaustion as he sprang forward to defend his leader. Just as he was closing the distance between him and the rogue battling his patrol leader, a weight slammed into him, sending him straight into the walls of a house. The breath was knocked out of him, his vision swimming.
Before he could get up, teeth latched onto his shoulder, biting down hard. Marlo let out a yowl as he felt the skin break beneath the teeth. He shoved out a paw, slamming it into the throat of his attacker. The rogue gagged as it was practically throat punched, releasing his shoulder, backing away. Marlo staggered to his paws, his shoulder burning as blood pulsed from the wound. He faced the rogue who happened to be a light ginger she-cat, who gave out a cough before facing him again. Marlo fluffed out his pelt, a snarl on his face as the she-cat hissed back. Before he could pounce on her, she lifted her head and let out a yowl, spinning around and pelting away through the alley. The other rogues shoved themselves off of Marlo's patrol members before shooting off after her. They all disappeared over a wooden fence, their pawsteps fading away.
Once they were gone, the patrol gathered around, all breathing heavily. Jack looked around at the rest of the patrol. "Is everyone alright?"
Marlo and the rest nodded, though his shoulder was screaming otherwise. He turned to give it a lick, curling his lip at the metallic taste on his tongue.
"That looks like a nasty bite." Marlo lifted his head to meet the hazy yellow eyes of Boris; there was a cute on his cheek that was slowly welling with blood, but he didn't seem to have any other visible injuries.
Marlo nodded. "Yeah. It felt like she was going to tear my arm off."
A small brown and white tom flicked his tail. "What was that all about? They looked as if they wanted us to find them."
A large brown tom gave his pelt a shake, small tufts of fur floating off of him. "You don't know? They're Serial Killer Kenny's cats."
"Serial Killer Kenny?" The small cat tipped his head. "He's real?"
Marlo could understand his confusion. They only heard about Kenny in stories that they told each other in their trainee days. Now to see that it was all real was nothing short of a nightmare.
"Oh, he's real." A black she-cat joined in. A long cut across her back shone a bright red against her dark fur. "It's even been said that he wants to get rid of the king. He's even killed at least one hundred Military Police cats."
Boris and Marlo exchanged looks of dread. "One hundred?!" The former's eyes widened in shock.
"There's no telling how many cats he's got on his side." Jack joined in, though his eyes scanned the clearing for any signs of the rogues. "Some even say he's got more cats on his side than in the entirety of the MP."
A large brown tom scoffed. "Next thing you know, he'll be the new king."
"That's awful!" The small tabby shook like a leaf.
Marlo had to agree, though his thoughts ran wild. Would Kenny really do something like that? Is there a possible way to stop him? Is it even possible to do that? His mind reeling as Jack beckoned with his tail for them to follow.
"Let's not stick around, less she return with backup." The grey tom quickly led the way out of the area.
Marlo couldn't quite stop himself from looking over his shoulder every few paces. Just the thought of Kenny out on the loose, killing MP members like prey, was enough to give him nightmares.
The sun was just above the horizon when they made it back. They were all dragging their paws through the camp entrance. As soon as they had emerged into camp, cats swarmed them, wondering why they smelled blood and what had happened. Marlo felt ready to collapse, his shoulder still dripping blood as a cream brown pelt brushed against his.
"Marlo! Are you ok?" Hitch sniffed his pelt as he sat down, giving his shoulder another couple licks.
"Does he look ok?" Annie mewed starkly, even though she still leaned forward, sniffing at his wound.
Hitch ignored her and gave the wound a lick. Marlo wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed it when her soft tongue rasped against his pelt. She leaned back after a couple licks and nudged him forward.
"Let's get you to a medic." She meowed, following after Boris as the grey violet tabby headed inside the medic's room.
Once inside, Marlo laid down on his side on a sort of makeshift nest, shoulder throbbing as a tortoiseshell tom made his way towards him. Hitch stepped back as the medic set down some ointment and black seeds beside Marlo.
"That's a mean looking bite you got there. Looks like you'll be in here for a while." Marlo sighed, letting himself go limp on the makeshift bed. The medic glanced at him with sympathy. "Don't worry, once I apply this to your wound, you'll be back out there in no time." He then nodded to the ointment. "This is a herbal salve. It'll stop your wound from getting infected." The medic then pointed to the seeds with a delicate paw. "These are poppy seeds. They will make you sleepy, but will help your wound heal faster." The medic then began to apply the salve as Hitch stood by. Annie must have turned back to whatever she was doing, since she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"There, all done." The medic wrapped his wound in some sort of human made wrapping called a bandage. "Make sure to take the poppy seeds after you eat." Then the medic was off to join the other medics as they treated the other members.
"Guess this means you'll have to let someone else do your workload." Hitch's whiskers twitched.
Marlo glared half-heartedly at her. "Yeah, and I'll make sure to request that you get to do it."
She purred loudly. To Marlo's surprise, she leaned forward and rubbed her cheek against his. "Thank the walls that this is your only injury." She murmured before leaning back.
Marlo just stared at her, a feeling he's never experienced before rushing through his veins. She then rolled her eyes and made her way to the room's entrance. "Just rest up and get better soon. It'll be boring with just Annie to hang out with." She gave him one last look before vanishing out of the room.
Marlo felt his tail curl as a warm feeling swelled in his chest. He didn't know why he felt this way and towards her, but he begrudgingly like it. He leaned forward and lapped up the poppy seeds, letting himself fall into the void of sleep with thoughts of a creamy brown she-cat gazing at him with beautiful hazel green eyes..