Willy, the Cat

Traveling To A New Home

"This is unbelievable!"

I woke up from my deep sleep and dragged my paws outside. Mother was staring at the 'city' that we were imprisoned in for years.

"Looks small from up here, isn't it?" Smokey- I mean...my dad said.

"I can't believe we've lived there our whole life...and haven't been in this grassy land!"

"It's called a 'plain' and it's a type of terrain."

"Oh..."

"Now look over here, you too, Willy."

I padded over to Smokey and Snow. Me and my mother both gasped.
There was a giant land of trees with all different leaves and shapes in the distance.

"Is that..." I was almost speechless.

"The other forest," Smokey nodded.

"I want to go there now!" I jumped with excitement.

"Let's go!" Father said and started to pad down the hill.

The journey to the forest was actually quite small. I gazed with wonder at the leaves making shadows that kept us from the sun. They rustled quietly as we walked deeper and deeper in.

"This forest is like nothing I've ever seen!" My mother exclaimed.

As we kept moving, we encountered a thin, wide pool of water.

"What's this, Father?"

"I believe it's called...a river."

"Do we drink from it?" I asked.

"Yes, of course."

We all crouched and leaned in close to the water. I took a big sip of the water. It's so fresh!

Snow raised her head up and said, "Alright, we've got water. What about food?"

Smokey replied, "Don't move and watch me."

Me and my mother stared in curiosity as Father suddenly started to go into a crouch and crawled towards a squirrel. In an instant, he pounced on the prey and chomped, hard. He dragged the dead animal over to us.

"Dig in," he said.

"What?!" Mother replied, shocked.

"Are you saying we have to kill to get food now?!"

"Yep."

Smokey tore a piece of the squirrel off and tossed my mother one. He then tore another piece and handed it to me.

"Eat, unless you want to starve."

He began to bite into the prey. I sniffed my piece of the squirrel before sinking my teeth in it and chewing. Mother looked at us in disgust.

"It's not bad at all!" I said with my mouth full and hungrily ate more.

Snow didn't touch hers for a while before sniffing it and biting into it. Her frown turned into a very pleased expression.

"It is quite tasty..."

We finished up the squirrel before exploring more of the forest. The dead leaves crunched under our paws. Hearing the sound was soothing to me.

I was enjoying our stroll until Smokey stopped rapidly from his pace. He perked his ears and was sniffing the air.
Soon, me and my mother did the same.

"What is that scent, Dad?" I asked.

"I don't know..."

We stood there being as still as we could. It wasn't long before a giant beast with sharp claws and teeth sprang at us.
Father hissed, "Run!"

We scrambled as fast as we could, still hearing the red-furred creature behind us.

"Quick! In here!" Father said pointing at a hole near some roots. It looked similar to the one on the hill we slept in before coming here.

I leaped into the hole with no hesitation and felt my mother's pelt next to mine.
We sat in there for only a few seconds before catching a new scent.

"Who are you and why are you here?!" A voice snarled.

We wiped out heads around, surprised to see a black fur cat next to an orange cat.

"W-who are YOU?" Snow shot back.

"I'm Shadow," said the black cat, "and you are NOT welcomed here..."

"Relax Shadow, you fur-brain! Look at them. They're scared to death!"

A moment after, Father came in.

"I think we lost him."

"Oh great! More of you!" Shadow hissed.

The orange cat batted at the black cat before speaking in a calm voice.

"Don't mind him, we are happy to help with anything you need. I'm Acorn."

Father stared at them confused, but spoke anyway, "We were just chased by a wild animal!"

"You must be talking about that fox..." Acorn said in a troubled voice.

"That thing has been nothing but trouble!" Shadow chipped in.

"It scares off all the prey!"

"It tries to attack us!" Acorn added.

"And it keeps coming back!" Shadow said.

"Have you ever...tried to kill it?" I asked.

"Kill? THAT thing?! You're crazy!" The black cat snickered.

"He's right though, Shadow. We haven't done anything about this," Acorn replied.

"Then let's do something now!" I exclaimed.