"Mother, Mother?!" A small mew pleaded as a young gray-and-white kitten frantically pawed at his mother's motionless body.  "Please, say something!" he begged, his voice cracking as his eyes welled up with tears.  "Rolie, come.  Buttons is gone and you musn't worry yourself sick," a stern voice said from behind.  Instead of responding like a good boy he simply threw himself at his mother's cold fur and began to sob uncontrollably.  Suddenly teeth sunk into the scruff of his neck and he was dragged away from his mother and sternly dropped on the gr*censored* a good yard away from her body.

Rolie glared up at his aunt, "You don't even care about her!  You always said she should leave!"  The stern calico lowered her head until Rolie could very distincly scent the mouse she'd eaten for breakfast, "Buttons was everything to me!  She was my only sister!  To think that you've known her for only a few months and decide that you love her more than me, I should -" Suddenly, the she-cat's voice softened, "Come on, let's find someplace warm to sleep."  Alarmed by his aunt's sudden personality change, Rolie tried to scramble away, but he was already being picked up by the scruff and carried away.  Through teary eyes, he caught his final glimpse of his mother's lifeless body as the wind ruffled her gray fur.

"Keep your tail down!  Yes, that's it, now slowly move forward and...  You got it!" Rolie's aunt quietly instructed him on how to catch his prey, and he stalked out of the oats field with a plump mouse in his jaws.  "Good, now eat it fur and all," Rolie grimaced as his aunt told him to eat the fur - he often hid it under a rock, because he couldn't stand to feel it going down his throat.  He struggled to swallow his catch, and as he licked his lips he saw a rabbit leaping into the field.  Rolie immediately got to his feet and chased it, his aunt rapidly following, yowling for him to stop.  Ignoring her pleas, Rolie chased the rabbit to the other side of the field, then skidded to a halt as the rabbit hopped across a smooth gray surface.  He heard his aunt coming up from behind and shook himself, determined to catch the rabbit.  As he took a step onto the road he heard a roaring sound and turned to see a huge metallic beast coming towards him.  Suddenly his aunt shoved him back onto the gr*censored* and he winced as he heard a thud.