Chapter 2

Chapter 3

"Help! Help!" Flamepaw screeched as loud as she could. She listened for a response but heard nothing. She examined the trap. No matter what she tried the trap wouldn't open. After hours of trying to get out Flamepaw collapsed on the ground in despair and closed her eyes, awaiting whatever fate the night gave her. "Hey we caught another one!" said a Twoleg voice in the distance. Flamepaw blinked open her eyes in the early morning sun. Two twolegs were running towards her. The older one carried a trap like the one she was in, but instead of a cat it held a fox.

Flamepaw wondered if it was the same fox that had chased her the day before. The younger human stopped and looked at Flamepaw in confusion. "A cat? What should we do with it Pa?" he said. "Ugh, I almost though we had two foxes. Oh well, guess we best take it to the pound so it doesn't get trapped again." Said the older one. Flamepaw stared at the twolegs, not understanding a word they said. Obviously I'm not a fox... so you can let me out now. Flamepaw thought impatiently.

To her horror the twolegs grapped her trap and started walking away with it. "Hey let me out!" Flamepaw screeched and hurled herself against the wall of the trap. I response the twoleg jostled the trap until Flamepaw ended up on her back. With a yelp of surprise Flamepaw twisted herself around and wisely stayed still for the rest of the time. The twolegs walked to a thunderpath and threw the two traps into the back of a monster.

Flamepaw looked around in fear. Did I just get eaten? She wondered. Shouldn't I be dead? Shrugging, Flamepaw turned her attention to the fox. The fox's trap was uncomfortably close to her own, and for once she was glad neither of them could escape.

Then she noticed something else in the monster. It seemed to be another fox, but not inside a trap. As she walked over to investigate the Monster suddenly roared to life and started moving.

Flamepaw was thrown to the back of her trap. Painfully Flamepaw struggled to her feet. Determined to investigate the other fox she slowly crept as close as she could to it. Sticking out a paw between two of the silver meshes she flipped it over. There was nothing underneath. Flamepaw gasped in horror. It was a skin with no body.

Suddenly she remembered when her mother had told her about hunters. It had been a boring lecture so she hadn't really paid attention. All she remembered is that hunters killed animals, and that she must never go near one. The living fox yelped in terror as it saw the skin. Flamepaw couldn't help feel sorry for it even though she knew it would kill her if it had the chance.

The fox ran to the entrance of its trap and tried to reach the lock that kept it inside. Its paw was too big to fit. The way the traps were positioned Flamepaw knew if she reached out her paw she could reach the fox's lock, but not her own. I'm going to regret this. Flamepaw thought with a sigh. She stretched her paw as far as it could go and pushed the lock until it was lose. The fox stared at her in surprise and slowly walked out.

The fox barked in joy. It gave Flamepaw what she assumed to be a grateful glance. They sat like that for a long time until the monster slowed to a stop. As soon as the mouth of the monster started to open the fox burst out and ran past the two twolegs. They tried to grab for him but were too slow and the fox made it safely across the thunderpath and into the woods. The twolegs shouted angrily into the woods and at each other. Sorry you are just going to have to torture and kill something else. Flamepaw thought angrily.

When they had gotten over the fox they gave Flamepaw water and some brown pellets and went back to the front of the monster. I'm not eating that. Flamepaw thought looking at the dry, tasteless pellets and ignoring her rumbling belly. For what seemed like days they went through that pattern, traveling for long periods of time in the monster with the twolegs stopping to replace her water and food every now and then, though she never ate it. She became very depressed during this time, and started to miss the clans and her forest home. "Open your eyes, little bird." A voice whispered into Flamepaw's ear one night.

Flamepaw opened her eyes to see not the inside of the monster, but a starry forest. Her heart raced with excitement to be free once more. She was about to run around when a gray tabby tom with warm blue eyes stopped her. "StoneHeart!" Flamepaw exclaimed, choking with emotion. StoneHeart was her brother from an older litter. He died right before her apprentice ceremony from a snake bite. "Am I dead?" Flamepaw asked worriedly. "No, but you will be if you don't eat soon!" He lectured, pawing a freshly-caught rabbit towards her. "Rabbit, my favorite! Thanks!" She responded, quickly tearing apart the rabbit with famished bites. StoneHeart watched her eat with a worried expression. "Do you think you made the right decision by running away?" he asked.

"I don't know… I just wanted to have an adventure! Not become a kittypet!" She said in despair. StoneHeart nodded. "You have quite a destiny ahead of you now. But beware, your path leads towards shadow, eventually tragedy will strike." He said, his words ringing with that of a prophecy. "What?! Tell me more!" Flamepaw said as StoneHeart started to walk away. "I'm sorry, even I cannot see your future clearly, but I will be with you every step of the way." He said, his words full of brotherly love. "Wait! One more thing…can you tell mom and dad that I'm ok? Tell them not to worry." She said hopefully. "Of course little bird." He said, using again the nickname he had given her when she was a kit. She had gone through a phase where she was convinced she could figure out how to fly and would jump off everything in sight. He had called her little bird ever since.

Flamepaw felt her heart break as she watched her brother disappear into nothingness. "I miss you." She whispered as she started to lose consciousness. "I miss you too." A voice said as everything went black.