Forest's Fate

Chapter 5

I am back from fighting training, and right now I feel like my paw-pads are ripped off. It was brutal and tough, and I seemed obviously behind. Well, I expected to be behind, but pretty much everyone was stronger than me, so it wasn't fun being thrown around and beaten up, and since Little Miss Badass let us physically hurt each other "to get the real feeling of battle," I have scratches and bites all over me. By the way, speaking of Little Miss Badass, I finally found out that her actual name was Mirage.

        Whatever. Little Miss Badass fits that cat more than Mirage.

       As I stumble into the camp- of course, I'm the last to enter-, I finally see Name for the first time today. He's in the back talking to Little Miss Badass. I start to have the feeling that they are talking about me when Name slightly gestures his tail in my direction. He looks like he had asked a question about me, because Little Miss Badass answers with a shrug and an explanation that I can't hear. Ugh, they must be talking about my terrible progress in their stupid fighting method. I want to go closer to try to eavesdrop and give them a piece of my mind, but right when I take the first step, Name walks away from Little Miss Badass. For a moment, his eyes catch mine, and I narrow my eyes at him. He has no reaction, his cold blue gaze sweeping over me before stalking past me.

        Wait. But did I catch a glimpse of fear in his eyes?

A moment later, I hear Name's voice calling all of us. Everyone comes streaming forward, surrounding him. Little Miss Badass, or Mirage, appears beside him. How did she get there so fast? Last time I checked, she was all the way across the camp. Could she also have a power, like Name does?

"Hi!" I turn my head in the direction of the perky, familiar voice, and I see Stripe standing next to me with her tail up in the air.

        Huh, so that annoying cat hasn't given up on me yet. How interesting. I mutter a greeting, and before she could start a conversation, I vaguely hear Name. "The Enemies are near our area again. They must have found out about the Earth cats being here." His voice is like a mouse's squeak compared to the booming voice of Little Miss Badass, so I have to lean in and step closer to hear him clearly. "This is an emergency. We must go." With that, he gestures for us to follow him and starts to run. Everything is driven to chaos as we all start to sprint after him. I'm so confused, but I start to run as well. Who are the Enemies? I think back to my conversation with Stripe in the den. The rebels are challenging the power of the Superiors. Are the rebels the Enemies? Why do we have to fight them? Why are they even here?

        We don't run for a long time before we start to hear a sound that I will never forget for the rest of my life. We hear cats from the distance screeching and yowling, but I can't describe the emotion behind it. It's definitely deeper than anger. As I come closer with my group, I realize what it is. It's the battle-yowl for revenge.

        But I don't get time to think more when those cats suddenly charge at us.

         My heart starts skipping beats as I see two cats tackle Little Miss Badass from the front of the group. I hear cats screeching in surprise as those cats attack them. I want to run away, I want to save cats, I want to do something, but my paws are like boulders, and I cannot move them.

        Suddenly, something slams into my right side, and all of the breath is taken out of me. Panic overtakes me as a gray cat tackles me. She looks like she didn't eat food for a while. My mind screams at me to get up, get up, but my paws are boulders again, and there is that cat again, and claws rake my side. I finally force myself up and whip a claw at the cat, but she's too fast, and she whacks a paw on my nose hard with her claws out. The world spins around me, and I don't know how and I don't know why, but I'm on the ground again with pain everywhere. Red is starting to come in my vision. Then, the cat is not attacking me anymore. I can see from the corner of my eye that another cat has come to my rescue. But who?