Chapter 2
This is just foreshadowing what will happen. I know that these are people and not warrior cats or anything, so I will update two chapters today. I thought that this would be a good thing to include in the story because it gives insight on what really happened. Enjoy!
"Alex! Wait up!" Alex turned to see his friend, Sam falling behind. Rolling his eyes, he replied, "Keep up slowpoke! I'm not waiting!" With that, he turned and continued jogging around the lake. "I'm not in cross country!" Sam complained. "You're in track," Alex pointed out, "Isn't that a sport where you run?" Sam groaned in response, "I sprint the 50 meter hurdles and do long jump. I don't do distance, and if I did, I would have done cross country." Sam hiccupped and Alex slowed his pace to match his friend's, "We can take a break at the edge of the dam." Sam nodded and they continued on in silence.
The dam came up faster than expected and Alex slowed to a walk, barely breathing hard. Same bent over, his hands on his knees, and continued huffing as if he had just run a marathon. Alex laughed and bent down to scoop up a few stones. He turned to Sam, "Can you skip rocks?" Sam rolled his eyes as he wiped sweat off of his face. "You don't skip rocks, you skip stones," he replied, but scooped up a few as well. "Whatever," Alex muttered, "Let's have a competition!"
The boys began skipping stones, but were oblivious to the sign that they had passed before stopping at the dam. The sign said: DO NOT THROW ANYTHING IN THE LAKE NEAR THE DAM! NO TRESPASSING!
Alex and Sam continued throwing stones and laughing; doing what all teenagers would do, hanging out and having a good time. Soon, the dam started creaking. Alex threw another stone and the creaking grew louder. The boys stopped and exchanged looks. The stones were no longer sinking to the bottom. They weren't even below the surface. They were piled on other stones that had been thrown into the lake. Cracks appeared in the wood and the dam started to shake. Within a minute, the shaking stopped and the boys let out held breaths. "Bet you thought it was going to fall!" Alex laughed breathlessly, his face very pale. Sam opened his mouth to respond, but the boys turned when they heard a bell. It was Amanda, from next door. "Uh, oh," Sam whispered, the grin sliding off of his face. "Hey, stupid heads!" Amanda yelled as she rode her bike closer, "Eat this!" she chucked a stone at them. Alex and Sam hit the deck, and the stone went sailing over their heads. It landed right on top…of the dam. Nothing happened after a few seconds, but after those few seconds, it exploded. The dam burst outward and water flew over the side of the cliff. "Oh," Alex said. "No," Sam finished. The boys turned and ran, leaving a stunned Amber in their wake.
Night licked her kits as they fell asleep against her. As she was drifting off, Night heard a sound. It sounded like dripping water. It was probably nothing, but she slowly stood up, careful not to rouse the kits. Silently, she crept out of the den and padded up to the dam. A trickling of water was running down its side. Her heart twisted and fear almost empowered her. "Kits! Kits!" she yowled, racing inside of the cave. Frost and Jay slowly sat up. "Get out of the cave! Now!" she yowled urgently, shoving them out of the nest. Jay started protesting, but Frost got the idea quickly and scampered out of the cave. "Meet me at the special tree!" she called after her kit, and heard an almost inaudible squeak as Jay raced out of the den after her. Night shook Feather awake and took Willow in her mouth. They raced out of the cave and met Jay and Frost at the tree. It was more inside the forest than other trees and taller.
"Not wasting any time, Night swung Feather and Jay onto her back. She gripped Willow firmly in her mouth and had Frost cling onto her tail. Then, she started the climb.
Halfway up the tree, Night heard the groaning of the dam and knew that she needed to hurry. Poor Frost was flying about as she leapt in strong jumps up the tree. They would all have made it to safety if a hawk hadn't decided to drop in at just the wrong time. There was a nest at the top of the tree. It was probably the hawk's. The hawk dove at the cats and Night desperately tried to fight them off. Willow tumbled into the nest, followed by Feather and Jay. This left Night's paws free and she easily beat the hawk.
The hawk scratched his talons along her back. She grabbed its foot as it tried to get away and swung it powerfully down to the ground, way below. Right as she picked up her kits and began to climb again, the water was on them.
Sadly, I wish I could say that they made it. Everything would have been fine and no heart breaking, sorrow, and awful terror, fright, and fear would have occurred. A family wouldn't have been broken apart, but I'm sad to say that didn't happen. The water crashed overhead and that was the end of Night's perfect life.
Willow POV
Willow awoke to the sound of frantic words and cold. Nothing but cold, cold, cold. She shivered and hiccupped. Opening her eyes, Willow saw two cats standing near her. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, but Willow couldn't pick out what they were saying. She took a deep breath and to ask a question. It had been throbbing in her head since she found herself here, "Where's Night?" She caught the attention of the two cats and they looked over at her. "It's day right now," the brown and white patched cat said. "My name is Patch," he continued, "This, is Dove." Patch gestured towards a plump all white she-cat with curious, amber eyes. "Who are you, and where have you come from?" he asked. Willow tried to sit up, but ended flopping over and coughing up mouthfuls of water. Dove looked concerned and Patch watched curiously.
"I'm guessing that you don't know how to swim," Patch stated. Willow, although weak, was able to narrow her eyes at the two cats.
"Well, seeing as though you aren't helping me any, I'm going to leave." Willow turned up her nose and meant to stalk away, but her legs weren't working, and she flopped to the ground. "You poor thing," Dove cooed, "My Twoleg can help you." Dove padded over to Willow and prodded her with her paw. "Follow me!" Dove said rather brightly considering the situation. Willow hissed and tried to bite at the paw. Dove gasped in horror and leapt backwards. "Have you no manners? I was trying to help you!" she sounded aghast. Inside, Willow smirked, but she was too tired to move.
"What's going on?" Willow heard a new voice. It was deeper than the other two cats', but much kinder. "We just found this little thing and were trying to have her come with us to Dove's Twoleg," answered Patch. Willow heard the new cat huff. "Like that would help," she heard him mutter. He spoke again, "Is it a half drowned rat or a cat?" Patch tried to answer, but the new cat cut him off, "You would never have found out if you didn't try to even help the poor thing."
"Well we-"
"No, 'We were trying'. You two go off to your Twolegs and when you learn how to properly care for a cat, come back and talk to me. Then, I'll send you right back and tell you to do it four hundred more times. By then, you might learn how to be a real cat and not some undignified Twoleg robot!" Patch and Dove gasped, apparently taken aback. Willow had her eyes closed throughout the conversation and finally opened them. She saw a red furred tom with warm amber eyes. Patch and Dove padded off in a huff, just leaving her and the tom.
"Hello," he said, "My name is Red. You look a little washed up. I'll take you back to my place. When you're better, you can leave or stay, your choice." Willow nodded and he started rasping his tongue over her fur the wrong way. Willow squeaked and Red told her, "If I lick your fur this way, you will get warmer faster." Willow only nodded and Red was soon finished. Willow felt so much warmer and he picked her up by her scruff and padded to somewhere unknown.