Chapter 7
Should I really stay with this cat? Can I really trust him? What if this is all a trick… Confusing thoughts clouded River's mind, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear them.
Before she could reply to Thunder, her belly let out a loud growl. She hadn't eaten since before the fire burned down her home, and her stomach seemed to be persistent on reminding her.
Thunder twitched his whiskers in amusement. "I'm assuming you're hungry?" He purred.
River nodded. "I haven't eaten since before the fire."
"Really?" Thunder seemed surprised, "I ate yesterday; I actually managed to catch a pigeon."
River's pelt felt hot with embarrassment. "Oh, well…I've never hunted."
Thunder nodded in understanding. "Me either, until yesterday at least. Want me to catch you something?"
I'm not a kit! River lifted her chin indignantly, but she bit back the retort. Instead, she politely mewed, "Thanks, but I'd like to try to catch something myself." Now that she knew that Thunder could hunt, she figured she could too.
Thunder dipped his head, turned around and squeezed out of the gap in the lantana bush. River soon followed, and once she was outside she parted her jaws to let the scents around her bathe her tongue. She soon smelled the scent of prey drifting towards her from a willow tree a few tail-lengths to her left. She lowered herself to the ground, trying to keep her fur from brushing against the dead leaves on the ground. She slowly and silently stalked towards the willow, and as she neared it she could see a rat nibbling on a seed among the roots.
River's mouth watered and she licked her chops at the sight of her prey; its scent was even stronger now that she was closer. The rat was very plump as a result of the abundance of food during green-leaf. River continued to stalk closer, and fortunately the rat turned its back to her. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, River pounced on the rat and gave it a fatal bite to the back of the neck.
"Good kill!" River heard a voice pipe up from her left. With a paw pinning her kill to the ground, she looked up to see Thunder congratulating her. He had been watching her the whole time.
He's awfully nice for a stranger, she remarked to herself, but I guess I'd rather him be nice than hostile. Shrugging, she mewed cheerily, "Thanks."
She picked up her prey in her jaws and padded over to Thunder. "Would you like to share?" She offered, though her mew was muffled by the rat's fur.
Thunder purred at her generous offer, but declined. "Thanks, but I think you need it more since you haven't eaten in so long. I'll go see if I can catch anything else and I'll meet you back here."
River nodded as Thunder bounded off behind a lantana bush to hunt, and then she proceeded to lie down to eat her kill. When she took a bite, all she got was a mouthful of fur. Yuck! She grimaced and then spat out the fur. She looked back down at the rat, hesitant to take another bite. But there was now a bald spot where she had ripped the fur out, revealing its flesh. She sniffed at it and then took a bite. It was juicy, tender, and flavorful. Much better! She thought with delight, and continued to eat.
When she was a little more than halfway done eating her rat, Thunder returned with a bundle of fur in his jaws. He padded up to River and dropped the bundle on the ground in front of her.
Curious, River asked, "What is that?"
"A gopher." Thunder answered.
River tipped her head to the side, "What's a gopher?"
"It's kind of like a squirrel, except it's bigger and instead of trees it lives in underground burrows." Thunder explained.
"Oh," River nodded, "How did you manage to catch that?"
"Well, I found its scent trail and followed it until I reached a small plant that smelled like some kind of herb, and underneath the plant I found a hole. So I crouched behind the plant until I saw a gopher come out and then I pounced!" Thunder lifted his chin with pride and puffed out his chest with excitement.
River purred with amusement at his enthusiasm. "Well, good kill."
"Thanks," Thunder replied warmly and then lied down across from River to eat his kill.
Both cats were silent as they ate, but when they had finished, River asked, "So, about that whole finding a new home thing…" River paused.
Thunder looked up from grooming his paw. "Yes?" He prompted.
"Where do you think we should go?" River finally asked.
Thunder was silent for several heartbeats before he replied, "I'm honestly not sure where exactly we'll end up. But for now I think we should continue following the path up north." He motioned with his tail to the strip of stone floor that was to the left of them.
River nodded, agreeing with him because she didn't have any better suggestions. "Maybe Rock will tell us where to go eventually."
Thunder nodded back at her, and then changed the subject. "Well, for now, we should keep moving." He rose to his paws and motioned to River with his head to follow him.
The two cats padded to the stone floor that Thunder had followed the previous day, and, side-by-side, they began following the stone path. After what seemed like ages of walking, and the sun had risen high in the sky, the cats stopped at a split in the stone path. The path they had been following broke off into two more stone paths: the one on the left gradually turned in a west-ward direction, while the one on the right continued to head north.
"Which one should we follow?" River wondered out loud.
"I'm not sure." Thunder answered. Squinting his eyes so that he could see better, he peered at the left path, and then the right one. "I think the left path leads to more Twoleg nests. Look," He motioned with his paw at the distance beyond the left path.
River looked in the direction he had pointed out and responded, "Yeah, I think I can see them too. But we don't want to live with more Twolegs, do we? I don't think that's what the prophecy is telling us to do."
Thunder nodded, and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but stopped. Closing his mouth, he instead pricked his ears. "Do you hear that?" He finally spoke.
River tipped her head to one side, confused, but proceeded to prick her ears just as Thunder had. It wasn't until then that she realized she could hear something in the distance.
"By the sound of it, it's very far away." Thunder remarked.
River listened harder, and meowed, "I think it's coming from the left path."
Thunder nodded, but said nothing. Both cats were staring into the distance beyond the left path, concentrating hard on the sound. It was a strange sound; it came continuously in short, sharp, bursts. Then, River realized that it was getting louder.
"Is it just me or is that sound getting louder?" Thunder spoke her mind.
"That's what I was just thinking!" River exclaimed. "Wait, couldn't that mean that it's getting closer?" She began to grow concerned.
The sound continued to get louder and louder, until it was loud enough to the point where River knew exactly what was making the noise.
Her green eyes widened with fear, and, turning to Thunder, she suddenly yowled, "Thunder! We have to go!"
Thunder snapped out of his concentration and turned to her, looking at her in bewilderment as if she had grown as second head. "What? Why?"
"I know what the sound is coming from!" She hissed, panic beginning to tighten in her chest. "We need to—"
A loud, low growl coming from the left path cut her off, and River realized the sounds from before had ceased. Since both cats had stopped paying attention to the path, they hadn't seen it coming. River snapped her mouth shut, frozen with fear.
Finally she managed to turn her head to the left, and that's when she saw it. As she gazed up at it, she saw how its mouth was curled up in a snarl, revealing sharp, white teeth, and saliva was dripping from its jowls onto the stone floor.
There, looming over the cats only a mere tail-length away, was the biggest dog River had ever seen.
