Chapter 1
It was dark, but I could still see it all. My family, and their blood that was splattered all over the clearing. My Mother was panting, her bloodstained fur matted, and a small trickle of blood spurting out of her mouth and nose. My father's ginger tabby legs were all battered and broken and he was he was yowling like mad. My second brother, Frost, seemed dead, his small fluffy head lying in a pool of blood. My sister was standing beside me, hardly even touched by the weapons. Me, I was covered in blood and didn't have a single clue where I was hurt, I was already so numb.
I hissed at the twolegs that towered over me and Falcon. They made loud mocking screeches, swinging painful objects at us which we barely dodged. We seemed to be being surrounded, in a smaller and smaller circle each moment.
"We have to go!" Falcon nudged me.
I started to agree with her, but then I realized that our first brother was nowhere to be found.
"Wait. We have to find Birch. Follow me." I told her.
"Just leave him, Foxx! He's probably already-" Her eyes seemed ready to burst with sorrow, but I wouldn't take it.
"NO!" I took off around one of the twolegs, the huge objects grazing my fur as they swung it at me.
I nearly tripped over birch when I found him. He was lying in the middle of the stone path, eyes glazed and a few of his thorn-sharp claws bleeding from where they had ripped.
Falcon burst around the corner, scaring the dirt out of me. She barreled into my side, almost making me crush Birch, but I put a paw out on the other side of him to steady myself. I didn't know where he was hurt, and I didn't want to make it worse. My ears pricked to the sound of the twolegs searching for us, and I inwardly groaned. When I turned to snap a sharp retort at her, I gasped. She had been hit by the twoleg's things and had a deep gash over her shoulders, a hint of white visible amid the bloody mess. I parted my jaws to say something, but her eyes stopped me. Don't worry about me, worry about Birch.
"… Help me with him, then." I growled as I snatched up his white black-dappled scruff.
She quickly supported Birch's haunches and we maneuvered him back to the bloody stone clearing. I was relieved when we didn't cross any of the twoleg's paths, even though I could still hear them yowling at each other.
I crouched in front of Mom and whispered, "I'm so sorry…"She opened her beautiful hazel eyes and gazed at me.
"I couldn't find them, but I know you will."
I didn't need an explanation for her words.
The Clans.
And we ran.
~~~~~~~~
The forest was big. Bright. There was a nice stream with fresh water unlike the twoleg's tap water. That stuff sucked. The only problem here was that we could barely catch any food. And we needed food.
Between the three of us, we could only catch a mouse every one or two days. Falcon's shoulder was somehow getting better, and Birch was recovered from when the twolegs hit him with those weird things.
We haven't had prey for a while so all of our stomachs were groaning and scaring off all the prey, so that didn't help. Or the fact that we were all exhausted. It's been almost a moon since we left the city, so me and Falcon and Birch are five moons old, I guess.
I sniffed the air. No prey, except for that annoying blue jay that had been teasing us from the tops of trees for a long time.
By the time it was sunhigh, I'd had it with that thing.
"Falcon, Birch, you stay down here. I'm catching that bird." I meowed, staring up at it through orange and brown leaves
Falcon stared at me with sad eyes. I could easily tell what she was thinking. (I guess I do that a lot. She's too easy to read. Okay, back to the somber mood-)
Frost could catch it better….
No… Could have. He was gone now. But I couldn't help but imagine him flying up the tree in a blur like a bird himself, plucking it out of the sky with an amazing leap as it tried to escape.
I shook the thought out of my mind. He can't catch it today, so I will.
So I slithered up the tree as stealthily as I could manage, not wanting to disturb the blue jay. Finally, my tiny claws brought me to the branch directly below the bird.
Closer…
Just so you know, it's not exactly easy to creep up on an animal on the second-thinnest branch on the very top of a tree without falling to your death.
I unsteadily balanced as I crept closer, craving to see what Birch and Falcon's faces would look like, watching me, but I was scared to look down.
When I was almost under the unsuspecting bird, a crazy grin helped itself to my face.
I leaped out of my crouch, my thornlike claws catching on soft blue feathers. I let out a large breath, thankful that I had actually caught it. I pulled it up to my muzzle and bit down hard on its spine with sharp fangs.
I didn't hesitate before tossing the dead bird downward to my littermates. I imagined how good the bird would taste…
Until I realized I was falling.
