All characters referred to in this story are copyright Daniel Pering. Any unauthorized alteration, or distribution constitutes as theft and will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. Enjoy but don't mess with this stuff.

CHAPTER VIII

Lillian slowly returned to the conscience world. She opened her eyes carefully and tried to move, to remove the cold stiffness from her body. She could just barely move her limbs and her vision was blurry. She could see the fire was still burning and there was wood laying nearby, so she placed several more small pieces of wood on the fire to begin the re-heating of her icy, stiff muscles and joints. Lillian had never felt colder in her life. Her stomach was none too happy about the burnt meat she had consumed the previous night, and was making its statement in a most aggravating way. Lillian felt as though she might vomit. she fell to her knees and moaned as softly as she could, so as not to wake the humans. She saw light from a large hole in the wall on the opposite side of the den. She crawled through it on her paws and knees, and finally emerged in the forest.

Lillian felt the pang of pain again and realized it would be a matter of seconds before her stomach forced her to purge her system. She found a nice spot and wretched. Her head finally began to clear. She sat down and shivered for a moment,

"Urg, it's so cold! I wish I knew where my sleeping skins are." she shivered to herself. She coughed softly and sniffed the air around her,

"Well, no predators around, I guess that's a good thing. Oh, what do I do now?" she wondered to herself. Lillian heard a scuffling sound from nearby. She looked and watched as the eldest human came scrambling out of the den looking rather perturbed. He spied Lillian and breathed a sigh of relief, 'At least she didn't bring the others back here.' he thought to himself. Lillian cocked her head to one side trying to figure him out,

"I wish he could speak. That would make this so much easier." she mumbled to herself. The human shivered then motioned for Lillian to follow him back into the den. Lillian stood shakily to her feet and followed him back down the hole.

The younger humans were already awake and moving about. Two young females were burning some meat for the others, while the eldest male cut a large piece of raw meat for Lillian. Lillian accepted the meat but waited for the others to receive theirs. The humans were always watching Lillian as if suspicious of her, which made Lillian very curious,

"I wonder if there is any connection between them all staring at me and the younger male trying to kill me?" she decided to put the thought out of her mind for the time being since she could not ask anyone. She decided to explore the den while she waited on everyone else.

Lillian was particularly curious about the strange devices hanging all over the walls. Some were shaped like the upper-case "L" while others took more after the lower-case "k". Lillian had learned to read and write, the same as most furrs chose to, so she could read the lettering on them. She stood up and walked over to one examining it without touching it. She heard a scrambling noise behind her and turned around just in time to see the Sam running toward her. Lillian dropped to the ground and covered her head shaking in fear. Sam however did nothing to harm her. He picked her up by her armpits and carried her back over to the fire area. Lillian was amazed that such a young human could so easily lift her. After he set her down he looked to the eldest male then turned around , pulled out Lillian's paw and slapped it harshly, like a parent would a kitten. The blow stung being, from such a strong individual, but Lillian's curiosity was totally aroused now. She looked longingly at the strange objects for some time. An eating noise made her to realize the humans were finally eating, so she joined them.

After breakfast Lillian carefully padded over to the eldest male. He stood when she came near, and Lillian finally realized just how much bigger he was than her. She looked up at him then pointed back to the strange devices. The male got the picture. He walked over to the wall and carefully pulled one off the wall. He pushed a button on the side of it and an oblong cylinder popped out of the bottom into his other hand. Lillian watched carefully,

"He seems to know every part to this device. Maybe he even knows how to use it." her concentration was broken by one of the younger ones running back down from the hole leading up to the surface. The eldest seemed agitated, and followed the younger one back to the surface, Lillian followed. On the surface they emerged to find most of the younger ones behind a tree facing the hole. Lillian heard screaming not too far away. She ran toward the screaming with the male at her side.

They rounded a tree to see one of the youngest ones backed up to a tree by a wild wolf pack. These wolves were not furrs they were natural creatures, Lillian recognized the markings as some of the same ones the village had to chase off several times for eating their chickens. The eldest human was holding a long strange stick, into which he was inserting some strange shiny objects. Lillian's attention turned to the wolves just as they attacked the younger one. Lillian had no weapon so she did what just came naturally, she charged. She screamed and ran into the wolves' midst. She found the child and shielded it with her own body as the wolves thoroughly tore into her hide. Lillian could feel them tearing at her skin and fur as she cradled the bleeding child in her arms. Suddenly she heard a thunderous noise, and one of the wolves fell dead. The other wolves all ran, baying, off into the forest. Lillian collapsed in a bloody heap, still clutching the child to her body. She could see the eldest human run over to her just before she blacked out.

Lillian awoke some time later. Her first thought was for the child. She looked around trying to locate it but she could not see well enough. She was lying on the ground inside of the human's den. She could hardly move, and didn't really feel like she wanted to either. She could just barely see but realized she was naked. She was however covered with one of her sleeping skins. She looked down thankful for the skin and noticed that two of the human kittens were snuggled up to her small breasts, one to each. She was extreemly embarrassed but slightly comforted by the fact that, at least, two of them felt comfortable around her. She coughed roughly and spat out some blood. She ached all over and wanted nothing more than to die. Death actually seemed inviting, an ending to all the pain would be a comfort. She moaned and did her best not to vomit on the kittens. She tried to look around but could not see anything specific, just blurs. Suddenly she felt strong hands lifting her head and laying it on another skin. She tried to speak, but it just came out as a helpless sounding and weak,

"Mew." Lillian knew that infection would set in soon and doubted severely that the humans knew how to fight infection, 'I will have to try to convince them to take me back to the village or I will surely die out here.' she thought to herself. She could stay awake no longer and quickly fell back asleep.

Lillian awoke to the cries of one of the human kittens. She opened her eyes slowly and could just barely make out the forms of the eldest male holding the screaming infant. Lillian could see that the child had many injuries and obviously suffered greatly from them, thus the cause of the screaming. Lillian tried to speak but only managed a whisper, which no one seemed to hear. She was soon asleep again.

Lillian awoke again, this time to a quiet room full of sleeping forms. She felt unusually warm for some reason, then realized that someone was snuggled against her back. Lillian felt rather good for once and was just able to sit up. She turned to look who it was snuggled up to her when she noticed it was the eldest male. Her paws immediately shot up and covered her breasts as he slowly awoke. He looked shocked and embarrassed, to have been found out. He reached out and stroked Lillian's shoulder, which made her rather uncomfortable, considering she was naked. She was upset but managed to control herself. It was only when he became bold enough to try to touch her muzzle that she shied away from him. She looked around for her clothes, and noticed a pile of bloody rags on the ground next to her,

"This must be what is left of my clothes." she mumbled to herself. She leaned over and snatched up the skins to cover herself. She was beginning to feel weak and knew, from experience, it was infection,

"I may be able to survive the infection, but the kitten is far too young to survive." she said to the human. He only tilted his head as if trying to understand.

Lillian knew that if she didn't get the child some serious medical attention she would die. She desperately attempted to communicate with the eldest human. Lillian had an idea. She unsheathed one of her claws and drew pictures on the ground. The human seemed to understand. Lillian drew a picture of herself as a stick figure with cat ears, and the humans as regular sticks, she then drew several triangles in the rough shape of her village's huts. And finally she drew pictures of a stick figure with antlers, and one with robes, the first signifying Roy and the other signifying Ruth. The human pointed to the cat figure then pointed to Lillian. Lillian nodded then pointed to the human then to the stick figure. This he also understood. Then she drew another picture; this one of all of them together in the village. Lillian looked up and noticed with grim satisfaction that the human seemed to understand; and he looked none too happy.

The human looked at Lillian with a saddened expression, and shook his head "no". Lillian was becoming upset,

"No, you have to come. Or else your little sister will die! Please!" she asked. The human heaved a huge sigh and shook his head in a "no" fashion. Lillian was weak but determined. She lay back down and went back to sleep with a desperate plan in her mind.

Lillian awoke to a room that was buzzing with activity. All the humans were surrounding the young one that Lillian had saved, and they looked extreemly worried. Lillian managed to stand up under her own power. She padded over to the infant and looked on as each human took turns feeling the child's forehead and looking at its injuries that oozed small amounts of puss. Lillian had rarely seen such a bad infection. The child coughed hoarsely and Lillian felt truly sorry for the humans. Lillian knew that without help, the child would perish. Lillian suddenly didn't care weather she was naked or not. She grabbed her sleeping skin, she tore holes in it for her arms, and then she walked over and took the child from the arms of the eldest male. The humans were dumbfounded, but Lillian answered their questioning glances by pointing to her earlier drawing. The eldest saw it and tried to grab the child. Lillian evaded the grab but instead grabbed his arm and held the child's next to his. She pointed to the child's arm indicating its unhealthy color then pointed to his own arm indicating health. She finally pointed from his arm to the drawing on the ground. The male stood in place staring at the drawing for a long time as if contemplating.

Finally he released Lillian and cleared a path, for her, to the hole that lead to the surface. Lillian could hardly believe her eyes. She began walking toward the hole, but stopped when the human grabbed her arm. He pointed to the child then to Lillian and linked his fingers. He then pointed to the child and slid a finger across his throat indicating, "If she dies," the pointed to Lillian and did the same thing, indicating, "Then you die." Lillian nodded and quickly left.