The night was cold and filled with the promise of snow. The leaves on the trees were falling off of their branches, and the wind was as sharp as the claws of a warrior. The rocky earth had given way to the soft, mossy floor of a pine forest that smelled vaguely familiar, and that eventually gave way to the undergrowth of a forest of deciduous trees. A wave of guilt swept over the small, grey-brown she cat as she fled from her clan. She had never felt this way before; she had always been wanted by at least one other cat. Now, she was alone, alone and helpless. The three tiny kits that walked beside her were her only family now. And one day, maybe even they wouldn't want her, as her so called "sisters" before them, her mate and her friends. It was difficult to leave everything behind that she knew and loved, but it was what she had done for herself and her kits, and there was no going back now. But no matter what, leaf-bare was still coming, and if they didn't find shelter soon there was no hope for her or her kits. She prayed to StarClan for a miracle as they padded on through the night.
A young amber-and-brown she-cat crept across the forest floor. Her paws moved noiselessly over the ground. Only a few more feet and she would have the mouse. Then, suddenly, a twig snapped under her paw. The mouse scrambled into a hole and did not reappear.
"Damn, not again! That's the third time today!" The young cat yowled.
"It's okay, I'm sure you'll get the next one. My mentor in the clan taught me everything I know, and I wouldn't want to be the one to tell her that she didn't teach me right," an older, grey-brown she-cat replied. She was no more than 20 moons old and had a dark secret that few knew. Then the younger cat, who was about 8 moons old, asked the question she had been dreading for many moons.
"Summer, why do we live here, alone, when you speak of the clan as though it was the greatest time of your life?"
"Because, dear one, it is... best that we stay here, where it is safe..."