One Of Few

Prologue

I was only five when it happened, so I don't remember much. Most of what I know about that night comes from others.

It was a night like any other, or so I'm told. The only thing out of the ordinary was the gathering. What is the gathering, you may ask? Well, I can't say I really know myself. All I do know is that the 'cats', to use the slang term, got together. To do what, I'm not sure. To talk, to socialize, maybe. What I do know is what someone thought they were doing. Someone thought they were rebels. That they were plotting to overthrow the Masters. What I also know is, they weren't. But someone thought they were, and tipped off the enforcers. It wasn't pretty, what happened.

This part I do remember. It would leave a mark in anyone's mind, no matter their age. It was fire. Fire everywhere. Fire above, and fire below. It mesmerized me for a moment. Then I remember wondering why. Why was there fire? Why wasn't my mother there beside me? Why were the enforcers here?

I remember looking around, trying to find my mother. I yelled for her, I screamed. Where was she? But all I could see was the fire. Everyone was gone. Where were they? My grandmother, my uncle, my sister. All gone with my mother. Even the enforcers were gone. All that was left was the fire.

I heard a loud crack. After that, everything went black.

                                                                             ~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When I awoke, I was someplace I didn't recognize. I remember beginning to panic. Where was I? Then someone came into the room. I didn't recognize him either. Why was I here? Where was my mother?

Then it all came flooding back. The fire. The enforcers. My mother. I looked to the man who had come in. I watched him for a moment, wondering who he was. He was young, maybe in his late twenties to early thirties. He looked like he hadn't shaved in some time. Most important to me at the time, though, was the fact that he wasn't a malkin. Then he noticed me watching him and smiled.

My questions all came rushing out then. I couldn't stop them if I'd wanted to. Where was I? Where was my mother? Who was he? What had happened?

He held up his hand, stemming my flow of questions. He then pulled up a chair beside the cot I was laying on, and told me what he knew.

His name was Alec, and he was an enforcer. This made me panic again, and it took several minutes to calm me down and convince me to trust him. He then told me what had happened the previous night.

Apparently, the enforcers had received a tip that there was a rebel meeting in the woods outside town. Some of them hadn't believed it, especially once they were told it was a group of malkins. Malkins had always been peacable; why should that change now? So, the captain took the tip to the Masters, asking what they thought. But the Masters didn't care if it was for real or not. Whenever they caught a whiff of rebellion, they stomped it out. Thus, they gave the orders to the enforcers to find this gathering, and kill any malkin they saw.

Alec didn't know about my mother. He didn't even know who she was. As far as he knew, I was the only survivor. As young as I was, I couldn't believe that my mother was gone. That I would never see my baby sister again.

As it turns out, the only reason I was still alive was because it was Alec who came across me. Had it been any other enforcer, I probably would have either been killed, or left to the fire. When he had seen me lying there, unconscious, he hadn't been able to do it. Instead, he had carried me out of the fire, and back to his house. Which was where I was now.

I asked him then, why? Why had he saved me, but not the others? He just smiled down at me as my eyes began to close once more.

                                                                          ~.~.~.~.~.~.~

That was 12 years ago. A lot has happened since then, half of which I couldn't manage to tell you even if I wanted to. I suppose I should tell you who I am, though.

To start with, my name is Owen. Owen Blackfild. And I'm the last known survivor of the Massacre. Yeah, I know, dramatic introduction, right? But it's the truth.

You see, despite what Alec thought, I wasn't the only survivor that night. There were others who managed to get away. But they're gone now.

Not to say that I'm the last of the malkins though! Certainly not. You see, not all the malkins were there that night. Just like at any party, not everyone showed up.

Of course, that doesn't mean there are a lot of us, either. We are the minority these days.

You know what? I just realized something. You probably have no idea what malkins are. Gosh I'm dumb sometimes.

Alrighty then. Malkins. To put it bluntly, we're cat people. Part cat, part human. We basically look, to most people, anyway, like 'overgrown cats'. Don't ever use that wording around me though. This is just so you can get a picture, okay? 

Right, now we've got that straightened out, we shall continue. Like I was saying, we look a lot like cats. Upon closer inspection, however, we do have human characteristics as well. For example, we have hands. Actual hands. Not paws. Except, instead of fingernails, we have claws. Like cats, see? Unfortunately, unlike cats, ours aren't retractable. We also have pads on our hands, like cats paws.

And we have hair. Yes, yes, I know we're covered in fur, but that's not what I meant, okay? Right.

Moving on. Sorry if I'm boring you. I think that's about it. Well, besides for... ahem... uh, less mentioned areas of the body.

An advantage of having fur: no one can tell when you're blushing.

A/N: Hello all! This is my first book on Wattpad, so I hope you're liking it. Well, vote, comment, fan maybe (though that's probably wishful thinking on my part)? Tell me what you think, please! I would really appreciate it. I like to hear other people's opinions! LIke it/ hate it/ suggestions?