Outcasts

Chapter five

Fox got into a crouch as he got to the coast of the lake. He stopped and looked out of the bushes and waited until he felt his sister’s short fur brush up against him.

                “What are we looking for?” She whispered to him. He didn’t answer and scented the air for Gale, but there was no sign of her or any cat for that matter. His fur lay flat on his back and his slipped out of the protective bushes and onto the sand. Bianco came next, followed by Amber then Scar. Scar looked at the water with hatred and he could tell he regretted coming. Fox gingerly put his paw into the water but brought it back out when he felt how cold it was. He shook the cold water off his paw and tried again. He dipped his paw slowly into the water, followed by his other paw and then his whole body. The sand was very slippery on the riverbed and Fox easily lost his footing. He flailed his paws around clumsily as he struggled to get his head above the water. The moment he felt his body go numb, something grabbed the scruff of his neck and pulled his body out of the water, then onto the shore. Fox sat panting and coughing up water for a couple of seconds until he looked up at his rescuer. He sprang onto his paws when he saw that it was a medium built grey dog standing in front of him. His instincts told him to pounce but he only bared his teeth at him.

                “Who are you?” Fox demanded. The dog tilted his head.

                “Shouldn’t we help your friends?” He replied. Fox turned and looked back to see that they were struggling as well. He jumped back into the water with the dog hot on his heels and grabbed Amber by the scruff. Luckily for him, she had enough footing to help him pull her onto the shore. She sat shivering and looked at him with horror. This wasn’t the first time she had almost drowned and it must have brought back memories. He didn’t have time to comfort her so he licked her head and dived back into the water. As he did so, he saw the dog grab Bianco who was unconscious. Fox saw Scar slowly trudging through the water, snarling under his breath at the current.

                “You want some help?” Fox called to him. Scar looked up at him with frustration, so he got on one side of his shoulders and help him keep his balance until they were on the island. Fox left Scar once he knew he was ok and bounded over to where the dog was placing Bianco. Fox stared at him in horror, as his white friend’s body lay unmoving.

                “Can you help him?” Fox asked the dog with alarm. He didn’t reply, but moved Bianco onto his back and laid his paws out. He then started licking Bianco’s chest and neck in rhythmic motions. Bianco didn’t respond. The group started to surround them with questioning glances at the dog.

                “Get the dog off him!” Scar demanded, but the dog just ignored him and continued licking his chest. Just as that happened Bianco jerked and coughed up a mouthful of water. He sat panting for a moment and looked at the dog with both gratitude and uncertainty.

                “Thank you.” He said hoarsely. The dog nodded and sat down. They remained quiet while Bianco regained his strength back. Fox’s stomach growled and he felt overtaken with hunger, but he ignored it.

                “Who are you and why did you help us?” Fox asked finally. The dog turned his head to face him.

                “I am Bonzo. I helped you because I know who you are and I know why you only sent three of your pride with you here.” He answered. Fox didn’t know what to say and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

                “You’ve been spying on us?” Scar growled. Bonzo shook his head.

                “I know a cat called Gale. I used to be a very close friend of hers.”

                “How close?” Scar demanded. 

                “We used to live with the same human.” Bonzo replied.

                “How do you know about us?” Bianco asked still struggling for breath.

                “She told me about you. She told me about what she did to one of your pride and asked me to join her. When I refused she gave me this.” Bonzo shifted his body to show a long scar running down his flank. “I thought that the only way I would survive is if I found you.” Bonzo finished. It sounded perfectly plausible.

                “Wait, how did you know we would be here, on the island?” Amber asked. Fox hadn’t thought about that and looked at Bonzo for an answer.

                “Before Gale propositioned me, she left for quite a while. I was hiding on the city border and told her that I would wait for her there. She came back quite late one night bleeding heavily from a gash on her head. I asked her what had happened and she told me that she had come across a group of cats going for the same island she was. That is when she asked me to join her.” Fox couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew that Gale had threatened him about the island, but he thought that he was the only one that knew.

                “That’s why you didn’t want to come here?” Amber asked Fox. Fox didn’t reply and quickly licked his white chest.

                “Well if Gale wanted this island so badly, why isn’t she here defending it?” Scar asked.

                “She is probably out gathering cats for her attack she threatened you with.” Bonzo said. Fox didn’t like the idea of Gale going out of her way to make his and everybody else’s life hell and he shivered. He didn’t want to do what he was about to do, but it was the only way to avoid panic.

                “When we get back, we are going to say, that we found nothing and that there was human activity on the island so we couldn’t stay. No one is going to repeat what happened here.”

                “You want us to lie?” Scar asked obviously not agreeing with his idea.

                “It’s the only way to stop panic.” Fox said. Scar was about to about to protest when Bianco silenced him.

                “We can’t tell them to be afraid. You are asking them to lose hope and that is the only thing that is making them go on.” Scar went quiet and glared at Bonzo.

                “What about the dog?” Amber asked. “How are we going to explain him?”

                “We will say that he helped us out of the water. We won’t be lying then.” Fox said.

                “Are you saying that a dog is coming with us?” Scar demanded ignoring Bianco’s silencing glance. “You can’t be serious!”

                “After he saved our lives that is the gratitude you give him?” Bianco rounded.

                “Thank you for your offer, but I would rather make the journey alone. I will meet up with you at the bottom of the mountains.” Bonzo interrupted. Scar backed off and looked slightly guilty.

                “Are you sure?” Fox asked him. Bonzo nodded.

                “It’s better for me and for you.” He said confidently.

                “We will meet you at the mountains then. Have a safe journey.” Fox said. Bonzo licked Fox’s ear and headed towards the inner island.

                “Make sure you leave near the rocks, it’s safer and you won’t fall.” Bonzo said over his shoulder and trotted out of sight.