Searching For Hope

Chapter 12 - Running

"It's time to get up Fisher, we slept for quite a while."

Fisher opened his eyes and stifled a yawn. What was hours of sleeping had just felt like seconds. His body ached from the swim and his ears couldn't adjust to the constant noise of the monsters.

"Come on now, I know you're tired, we all are, but we have to keep going. Swift is hungry." Ember let out a sympathetic purr and nudged Fisher to his feet. "Are you feeling up to a hunt? Tooth said he'd come but I'd rather he stay with Swift since they're probably feeling worse than us." Ember lowered her voice as she confessed her worries. "I just hope Tooth is okay. He's a lot older than we are."

Fisher glanced over at Tooth, and let out a huff of air. "Yeah, well I guess you're right. Maybe we should have tried to convince him to go back home when we got to that water. I hope he will recover.." He let a stretch ripple through his body and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I'll go hunting with you though. We all definitely need some food to get some energy, otherwise I think we will all collapse, regardless of how old we are." He halfheartedly joked, flicking his tail at Ember's ears.

Ember purred, and trotted off through the small patch of trees, trying to get away from the monsters. Fisher followed behind her, leaving a sleepy kitten and elder.

"Alright then." Fisher grumbled. "It's like there's no quiet places to hunt!" They had been wandering for who knows how long, and the monsters were still the loudest noise around them. "I can't hear any prey with them around, although who's to say prey would stick around near them." He snorted. "I miss our quiet homes. Even yours was quiet, the monsters only came by every now and then. They just never leave here I guess."

Ember stopped suddenly, ignoring Fisher's complaints and looked around. Fisher stopped to do the same, and his ears perked up happily. There were squirrels!

"Okay, look at that!" He whispered, crouching. "There's three! I'll go for that one," He flicked his tail towards a plump one. "And you go for that one!" Fisher couldn't believe how fat these squirrels were, what did they eat around here? There wasn't a lot of anything.

Ember crouched beside Fisher and nodded silently. She flicked her tail in anticipation, and they both stayed down and watched as the squirrels scattered about. The plumper of the two edged closer. "Now!" Ember hissed.

Fisher darted forward, leaping from his spot and pouncing right by the squirrel. The squirrel let out a wail and ran. Fisher gave chase, catching up with it and biting its neck. He gave a quick thanks for the fact that his housefolk had let him out enough times that he knew how to hunt. He turned to see Ember strolling forward, tail waving, with her squirrel in her jaws. Its tail swung limply, partly dragging on the ground.

"Nice job!" Fisher crowed, setting his down for a moment. "I thought I missed this one, my jump was a little short." He flicked his tail over his prey.

"Nonsense, you had it for sure! It was good how that worked out though, my squirrel was so shocked by you that it ran right into my paws basically!" Ember had set her prey down as well. "Should we bury these and find more, or do you think these are enough?"

"These will be fine, I doubt Swift eats as much as we do. We can each share with one cat, that should do it." Fisher picked his catch up and began his little trip back to the group. Ember followed behind with soft pawsteps. Fisher felt a warm glow as he realized how much he enjoyed hunting with Ember.

"Finally!" Tooth yowled, as the two cats came into view. "We thought you would never get back."

Swift bounced up to Ember, sniffing at the squirrel. "Wow! That's so big!"

Ember purred, dropping it under his paws. "Yeah, and you better enjoy it!" She watched as Swift crouched and took a bite.

"Mmm, juicy!" He mumbled around his mouthful.

"Uh, Tooth, why don't you share with Swift? I can share my catch with Ember." Fisher glanced at the old cat warily, and flattened his ears as Tooth scoffed.

"Alright then." His whiskers twitched, and he padded over to the kitten. "Scoot over now, let me have some too! You eat more than a grown cat!"

Ember crossed the distance and sat down beside Fisher. "Good thing these are so plump, who knew us house cats would be so eager to dig into prey when we are so used to our food at home."

Fisher nodded, crouching down and taking a bite. "I know, and somehow, this tastes better! I wonder if my housefolk could find some of this instead of those dry old pellets. I don't think I could eat those anymore."

"Have you tried live prey before?" Ember asked, crunching down on her bite.

"I used to hunt a little when my housefolk let me out, but I didn't ever eat it." Fisher admitted, looking down. "I wish I didn't waste it though. Look at us now, we need this to survive."

Ember let out a meow of agreement, and took another bite after Fisher. "I guess we don't realize what we have until it's gone."

Fisher glanced over at Ember and swallowed his food slowly. "Well," He said hesitantly. "I guess you're right. You know, when you were missing after King got to us, I was pretty scared. I thought you were gone forever. It made me realize how daunting this trip would have been without you." He spoke softly, and looked at the remains of the squirrel. "I'm glad you're here- uh that you guys are all here, you know?"

Ember broke out into a loud purr, and rubbed up against Fisher. "Me too. I'm glad we met."

Fisher was about to ask her about what was going to happen once they found his housefolk, but his words were cut off as loud footsteps sounded towards them. He looked up and panicked as he saw multiple twolegs heading his way. "Run!" He yowled, diving away.

"Quick! Into the trees! Run!" Ember darted forward and grabbed Swift by his scruff, and nudged Tooth to his paws. She dropped Swift in horror as she saw what Fisher was doing. "No!"

Fisher had turned from his dash away from the twolegs and began heading right towards them. "Just go!" He howled, still running. He watched the surprise in the twolegs eyes as he raced towards them. He glanced back to see Ember leading the group back towards where they caught the prey. As he got closer to the twolegs, one leaned down, reaching its long arms towards Fisher. He darted away at the last second, and ran under its legs. He listened as it yelled. He glanced back once more to see Ember and his group was gone, so he turned his attention to the twolegs racing towards him now, as he was running from them. He was surprised how fast they were, but he was faster.

He let out a huff of air and pushed himself to run a little faster. Going at his full speed, he took off into the bushes near the path of the monsters, ignoring the thorns and pushing his way through. Once he was in, he crouched down and breathed heavily. The twolegs pushed against the bushes. crying out with their foreign language, and stuck their hands in trying to reach Fisher.

Fisher let out a hiss, batting at a hand as it neared him, careful to shed his claws. He knew these twolegs were young, and he didn't think they would hurt him, but after what happened to his housefolk, he'd never trust them again. He could never be sure what they would do to him or his friends. His heart was slowly returning to its normal pace as he realized he was safe now. The twolegs couldn't get to him. He just hoped they'd leave, and that when they left, they went in the opposite direction.

Fisher watched for a few long moments before the twolegs finally gave up. As they padded away, he noticed they went past where his group had taken off, and he was thankful. "Great," He mumbled. They were all safe, but now he had to find Ember and his friends once again.