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The Chases

I looked around urgently to find my lucky feather. My mom and I ran around the den like squirrels. We rushed to get ready to go hunt. I was finally old enough to go hunting with Mom and didn't have to sit inside and pretend to hunt on a fake mouse thing. We ran about through the trees ending up at a hard, black stone pathway with yellow markings in the middle.

"Okay, sweetie. Make sure to get across this as fast and carefully as possible. You could get really hurt if you don't," Mom explained with a worried look.

"Is something wrong, Mom?"

"Well...this...this place just brings Mommy not good memories. About your brother," she muttered.

Immediately, I could tell what happened. I thought for a moment; that night, that one terrible night...my mom and dad were crossing the path with me, and they waited for my brother, Corrie. He was too slow and got crushed. We couldn't sit there in sorrow since the giant things jumped out of the car thing. Ever since we all have not forgotten that one fateful night.

Mom began running across. I looked around with fear in my eyes and swiftly ran, my tail getting slightly crushed by a car. I yelped and began running without my mom since it hurt so much. I ran and ran and ran, and even when I ran out of my own breath, I kept going. I looked around, realizing I was lost. There was nothing I could do at all at this point. I had to keep going forwards now.

A while later, now being nighttime, I came across a human area. I heard something coming from in front of me. I started backing up slowly and growling. A little figure jumped down from the wooden fence. He came up to me. Surprisingly, I was small, even for a runt of a litter. I was the size of the cat. He looked at me with his large blue eyes. We stared at each other until we heard a voice. We both looked behind him and I noticed two other cats slightly bigger than him.

"A wolf! Stay away from it, Kei!" the two cats shouted at the one in front of me.

"Wait-"

"She doesn't seem like she wants to hurt me." He looked back at me. I realized he had a very fluffy tail since it accidentally hit my paws.

"She doesn't seem like a normal wolf - her eyes are purple and...wait a minute, why does she have glowing markings...?"

"I'm lost..."

"Look at her tail - it's bleeding. What happened to you?" the little cat asked me.

"My tail got crushed...I ran all the way here from fear and pain. I didn't know what I was doing. I left my mother with a human. W-what if she got caught! What's gonna happen to me! To her! To my father! What...what does Corrie think of me."

"Corrie-"

"Corrie was my brother. He died like how I almost did."

"Rule number one: Never rush to get across the road. Take your time, but keep going fast. Don't focus on what's gonna happen. A second rule you might want to know: Avoid the catchers."

"The what?"

"The catchers are humans who capture animals and take them to a place that...isn't good," the cats explained. "We have heard rumors that some animals were killed."

"Mm. My parents told me stories about those who got captured by the evil twolegs - some never seen again."

"You wanna stay with us for a while?" Kei asked.

"Mm - dear, you might want to wake up for this is-"

"Mom, I know. She's a wolf, I get it. But...haven't you ever thought that some species are not always as other ferals call them?"

"Don't worry, I-I promise I won't hurt you guys at all. But sure, I'd gladly take the offer," I said with a happy glance at the family of cats in front of me. I looked behind me as I heard something. I stepped forward to catch a whiff of the scent. "Hide, quickly!" I whispered loudly to the cats.

They ducked behind some crates and boxes and watched.

"M-Mom?" I said as I stepped towards the bush. I got quickly trampled by my mom as she pinned me to the ground on the hard rock.

She looked at me with fear and sorrow with a slight taint of happiness in her eyes. "We gotta run!"

"What? Why?"

"Catchers!"

The cats jumped out.

"This way!" shouted Kei as he began to guide us all, the first one I had met. We all leaped over the fence and began running towards the shadows and streets and stayed quiet and hidden as the capturer walked past us.

I looked towards the twoleg and growled. I couldn't resist - I jumped out and dragged the twoleg onto the ground. He threw a rope-like thing around my neck. I pulled away, dragging him around. I began biting his feet and arms. He cowered away in pain. "We need to get out of here - I know he's gonna come back with the calvary."

They all looked at me as if I were a wild dog, then nodded in fear. My mom looked at me, hesitant. She sighed and nodded with determination. "We should go to Dad."

"What? We can't we're too far away-"

"Your father will be worried, Fayte."

"I know," I argued, "but the journey would be not only risky but dangerous and fatal! We can't go."

Mom nodded with sadness. "Let's go." We all began running into the forest that was across the twoleg area. Mom and I heard a familiar howl and we stopped. The cats looked at us. A fast blur past us then stopped. It was Dad!

He kept running. A noise started up behind us. We all scattered further into the forest until we lost whatever was chasing Dad. We met back up by a large tree that seemed old, and if it could talk and such, wise.

Kei was teaching me how to climb while our parents spoke to each other about what to do. I fell a couple of times, twice falling on my back, once on my paws, and six times on my side. Finally, I had managed to climb the tree. I jumped down and began climbing more. I climbed up higher than Kei was going to. I climbed all the way up to a very high branch.

I looked down, which was a terrible mistake. I began to back up, forgetting about the fact that I was on the branch of a very tall tree. I heard a crack; the branch fell. I was stuck in the air, having no reaction. My fur blew around as I fell. I was stuck in my thoughts, thinking about what I had done. I thought about how I would finally see my brother again. But I didn't hit the ground; instead, I was floating in the air. All of them, including Kei and my parents, stared in awe. My white swirly and stripey markings were glowing in the dark forest, providing light for us. I set myself on the ground.

"Wha..." Kei stared in amazement.

"Did I do that?"

"Well, I didn't..." Mom trailed off.

"Neither did I," Dad said.

The cats shook their heads.

"I thought I was gonna see Corrie again..." I admitted.

A bit later, we all began setting up an area to stay for the night. I had dug two holes; one for my parents and me, and one for Kei and his family. Kei and I both couldn't sleep. We laid outside on our backs, gazing out at the stars.

"My name's Kei, by the way. We never actually got the chance to introduce ourselves before."

"True, true. I'm Fayte."

Kei nodded. "Your name is...pretty," he said with a grin towards me.

"Oh, thank you."

Suddenly, I heard a small thing reminding me of waves. I caught a whiff of smoke from the air. I turned to Kei. "Fire." I looked around with wide eyes. "Fire!" I turned to Kei. "We need to get out of here, quick!"

"What? Wh-"

"Fire!"

Kei stared at me with wide eyes for a moment. We both went to our parents to wake them up. By now, the flames had started reaching towards where we were. A tree crashed down almost in the entrance of both little caves I had made. We all scrambled to our paws and ran. My dad tripped. My mom turned around and ran to him. I tried to join them, only to burn my paw and crush it from a tree that fell. We were separated; I didn't know what to do. Then I thought of how I could float - the only problem there was that I didn't know how to do that. Kei ran to help me to get my paw unstuck.

My parents stood there.

"Go, leave us. We can shelter in the dens," my mother said.

"No, you can come with us! I know it!" I shouted over the flames.

My father shook his head sadly. "No, sweetie. We can't. Go."

Kei began pulling me away from the fire. I stared back at them in tears, then began running away from them.