Chapter 7

A roughly prodded paw woke Ginger from one of the most peaceful dreams she had ever had. She just grunted and turned her back to who she thought was Fern. The prodding stopped, instead viciously slashing her back. Fern was in a bad mood.

Rolling over to face Fern, Ginger meowed, "Was that really necessary, Fern? I mean, I was having a really ni-"

The words stopped there as she realized it wasn't Fern that had been poking her, but rather some menacing looking cats. One was a light golden tabby, while the other was brown. The dark silhouettes glared down at her, making a shiver run up Ginger's spine.

"This is our territory! You're not welcome here!" The brown cat growled.

It was a deep low growl that scared Ginger a lot. She tried to slip out of the bush, but the two cats blocked her way.

"No you don't," meowed the tabby, "We can't just let you leave. At least not without playing with us."

A slow, evil grin came over both of their faces and their claws slid out. Ginger tried to concentrate on getting out of there, but her thumping heart kept interrupting her thoughts. She tried backing out from the other side of the bush, but all around her brambles barred her way. The only thing Ginger could think of doing in this life-and-death situation was risky, but it was her only hope.

Ginger closed her eyes tight and ran as fast as she could toward the cats. She heard a yelp of surprise from one of the tomcats and felt fur and whiskers brushing past. Ginger was too scared to stop. She just kept on running blindly until one of her front paws fell into the stream.

Ginger jerked away from the cold water, still frightened from her last encounter. She turned around to see both of the tomcats a fox length away. Ginger darted to her right, racing down the stream. The tomcats were fast and caught up with Ginger. Soon they was a rabbit length away. She then saw the lone figure of Fern out of the corner of her eye. The tortoiseshell then realized she had gone in a circle running away and they were right by the heather! She then realized something; she was leading the cats straight towards Fern!

"Run! Run, Fern!" Ginger yowled but Fern just stayed rooted to the ground. Ginger slowed down and stopped to see them veering to their left over to Fern.

They both advanced on him. Fern gave one quick glance at Ginger, then turned to the toms.

"No Fern! Use your mouse- brained head! They are much bigger and stronger than us!" Ginger yowled back and at her yowl, it began to rain.

Fern turned around and lashed out with his back legs, surprising the cats. The two tomcats were sent backwards, but they collected themselves into a battle stance. It seemed a bit clumsy. Fern slid into something similar, but it looked much more practiced and refined. He was bending his back legs so he was almost sitting on them, so that he could prepare to spring quicker. A single paw was posed so it would be kind of held up, in case he had to bring it up in a hurry.

The brown cat leaped at him, and Ginger shut her eyes tight. A yowl of pain echoed out into the sky. The she-cat slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see a battered grey tom, barely clinging to life. But instead, she saw the brown tom collapsed on the ground, twitching. A flash of gold caught her attention. The tabby was coming straight for her! When he was just about on her, he turned around to meet Fern. The grey tom slashed his face, and the golden cat ran away howling.

Fern turned to Ginger, "Are you alri-" He didn't get to finish what he was saying because the brown tom had clamped his teeth on Fern's tail. In a blink, the grey chomped down on the neck of the poor creature. Frightened, Ginger dashed away. She didn't care, as long as she was away from Fe- that thing!

Ginger's thoughts froze and a pang of guilt pierced her heart when the rest of her mind caught up. 'Did I really just think Fern of as a thing?'

The tortoiseshellwas jerked back to the world when a familiar vioce yowled, "Need any help?" Fern had caught up with Ginger in a flash and they were both running side by side with the rain pouring down even harder.

"Thanks, but I don't need saving," Ginger meowed back, bitterly.

Fern just ignored her comment and meowed, "We're losing them." Ginger glanced back to see that what Fern was talking about. The remaining tomcat had stopped and was sitting down, watching them leave with a terrified look on his face. But a few other cats were approaching him. Bigger, stronger cats. Ginger and Fern finally slowed their paces when they could no longer see the cats. Ginger stopped, out of breath. They both sat there in silence trying to get their air back. Dawn was breaking and Ginger had no more energy to even lift one paw. She collapsed on the stubble of grass and closed her eyes.

A paw nudged her and she heard Fern's voice meowing, "Hey, I know you are as exhausted as me, but we can't just sleep in the open. We have to find shelter."

Ginger knew that she had to get up. Her eyelids felt very heavy as she opened them. Ginger followed Fern sleepily as they made their way behind one of the very large hills. They found a skinny, withered tree with barely any leaves but it was enough shelter. Ginger and Fern curled up underneath it and shortly fell asleep.

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Ginger woke to the sun shinning through the leaves of the tree, dappling her tortoiseshell pelt. Fern was not beside her and the only trace of him was the long indentation in the grass where he slept. Ginger got to her feet and stretched. She stepped out of the shade of the tree and found the sun was pleasantly warm. Ginger had slept in and it was already sunhigh. A bright blue sky with no clouds stretched over her head. It was a perfect day but something was wrong. She could just feel it.

"Fern is probably out hunting." thought Ginger. So she just waited underneath the tree for him. Twenty minutes had passed and still no Fern. In that time the tortoiseshell had given herself a thorough bath. A strong breeze blew her way and Ginger could pick up a scent of blood.

Ginger followed Fern's scent trail. With every paw step she got more worried and more worried. His trail led back to the stream and he had crossed it. Ginger started to run and leaped over the stream. Fern's trail wandered on a bit and then went back over the stream.

"He must have been following some prey." Ginger thought. Fern's trail was leading toward a forest but Ginger stopped abruptly when the scent of badgers was overpowering. She looked to her right to see them. Five huge black badgers with claws as long as rabbits, and teeth as sharp as snake fangs. The badgers were hovering over a limp figure of a cat. As Ginger got closer she saw that the cat was gray with some familiar features on it...

Ginger's heart stopped short when she realized that limp grey cat was a certain friend named Fern…