Chapter 12

Cedar and the dogs had waited until nightfall to leave the alleyway, when they could slip through the town hidden in the shadows. They reached the tree line of a small wood, which ended at a field with an abandoned barn in the middle. They made their way in through a hole in the wall, and spent the night there. The floor was covered in several inches of straw, and every now and then it would rustle and a mouse would poke its head out. Cedar caught several of them for everyone to eat, and then they fell into an exhausted sleep in the thick mounds of hay.

It was nearly dawn when the shuffling of hay woke Harley up. He opened his eyes to see Quicksilver heading out of the hole in the barn. She sat down on the ground, and glanced up at the pink and purple sky of early morning. A few faint stars twinkled overhead.

"Is something wrong?" Harley whispered, poking his head out of the hole.

"No, it's just…I haven't seen the sky in a long time," Quicksilver replied. "Almost all my life I've been shut up in a kennel. Back when I was a racing dog, I'd spend my whole day locked up, only to come out for a few hours to win money for my owner." She sighed. "I thought I might never see the outdoors again."

"I know what you mean," said Harley. "Until recently I belonged to a man who kept me chained up all day, and his other hounds used me as a punching bag." Looking closely at Quicksilver, he could see a few thin scars showing through her short fur.

"My owner was a drunken idiot who would kick me if I didn't place first in races," Quicksilver sighed. "I took a chunk out of his leg once. I hate humans."

"Well, you won't have to deal with them anymore, as long as I'm around," Harley reassured her.

"I used to dream of escaping. But I never thought I'd be on the run with a bunch of mutts and a fox." Quicksilver gave a small smile. "But it should be more interesting than life in a cage."

"The forest is a beautiful place," Harley told her. "Cedar has shown me all sorts of cools stuff, like how to catch fish and berries that are good for healing wounds."

"How did you become friends with a fox anyways?" Quicksilver asked.

And so Harley told her the story of Tod and Copper, and how Cedar had helped Harley, and their fight with Bugler and the other dogs. She listened closely, growing more and more interested as the story went along.

"Wow, poor Cedar, losing his father and sister like that." Quicksilver said when he had finished. "I don't remember my family. I was sold away from my mother when I was very young."

"I was sort of an outcast in my family," Harley admitted, gazing up at the stars. "My mother was a purebred show dog, my father was one of the best trackers around, and my siblings were good trackers too, especially my brother Riker. But I was the runt of the litter, and not very good at anything."

"You seem pretty competent now," said Quicksilver. "I've mean, you brought down a dog twice your size. That's something."

"Getting to know each other, hm?" said a teasing voice behind them. Harley turned to see Cedar emerging from the hole in the barn. He had a smug grin on his face. Harley shot the fox a glare, his face growing hot. "No, we were…just admiring the sunrise."

"Sure." Cedar scratched at his ear, still grinning. Thistle poked his head out of the hole.

"Are we still heading to the woods in the east?" he asked Harley.
Harley turned to Quicksilver. "Do you want to go there?" he asked her.

"I don't care where we go," said Quicksilver. "I just want to get as far away from the pound as possible."

The three dogs and the fox continued their traveling. For two days, they made their way through small woods and past several farms. One of them had a guard dog that spotted them and barked noisily, and they had to dodge a few bullets when its owner shot at them, but other than that they had little trouble. They reached the eastern forest by dusk of the second day. It was a thick, dark forest mainly consisted of pine trees, which wrapped around the base of the local mountain chain.

"This place feels kind of spooky," said Thistle nervously as they padded through the shadows of the forest. Indeed, it felt quite different from the other forest. Not only was it darker, but it was very quiet, too. So far, the only sounds they'd heard were the padding of their own paws and the occasional caw of a bird. Overhead, the treetops appeared black against a blazing orange sky.

"I smell a lot of animals, though," said Harley, sniffing the musky air. "They're probably not very active in the evening."

"I heard that humans avoid this place because of bears," Cedar sniffed the air as well. "I really hope that's just a rumor."

"Well, I haven't smelled any so far," said Harley.

"I heard your father fought a bear once, Cedar," said Quicksilver. "That was pretty damn brave, seeing as the bear must have been at least ten times his size. He'd be proud of you for coming into this forest." The journey seemed to have had a positive impact on Quicksilver, for she'd become less cold and more sociable.

"Thanks, Quicksilver, but it was just a stroke of luck that my father survived." Cedar shook his head. "I wish he were here with us…"

"Well, he isn't. I don't mean to sound rough, but that's what everyone has children for, to carry out their legacy," said Quicksilver. "If it's anything I've learned these past few days, it's that life sucks, but you still have to look for hope." She gave Harley a warm gaze, and he felt his face grow hot again.

"Hey! I smell rabbit!" Thistle hissed. The animals had reached a clearing illuminated by the dying sunlight. They crouched down, keeping themselves hidden from a rabbit, which was sitting by a fallen log and munching on the grass. Thistle crept forward slowly, placing his paws carefully on the ground so they wouldn't make much noise. When he was about five feet from the rabbit, the creature perked up its ears, stamped its hind foot, and shot off, but Thistle was faster. He pounced on the rabbit and killed it with a quick bite to the neck.

"Great catch, Thistle!" Cedar called out. He'd been teaching the dogs some of the stealth techniques used by foxes, which they'd picked up quite well. The rabbit was nice and fat and the animals tore into it hungrily. Feeling quite full, they nestled into a clump of bushes and fell asleep as darkness grew. When morning came, the forest was significantly brighter, which encouraged them to head further up the mountain.

"I can't smell a single trace of human," said Cedar happily. "We've come to a good place."

"Let's hope so," said Quicksilver. "But do any of you know what a bear smells like?"

"I do," said Thistle. "My old pack took one down once." He shuddered, as if just remembering the bear scared him. "They can kill you with one swipe of their paw, if their stench doesn't first. They're big and black and horrible, and they let out this deafening roar…Bugler managed to wound it pretty badly, but he got some bad wounds himself and couldn't hunt for a month."

"Let's see if we can find a place to settle into," said Harley, changing the subject. He didn't want to think about a creature more brutal than Bugler.

It was afternoon when they found it; an old abandoned fox set. There were several holes around a clump of big oak trees, which led to several tunnels that Cedar went down into and explored.

"It's really big!" he said, leaping out of one of the holes. "There's only a faint scent of fox—nobody's been here for a long time. Thistle, you and I can go down in here and dig around to make the burrows big enough for Harley and Quicksilver to fit into."

"It seems like there were a lot of foxes here." Harley frowned. "Do you think something drove them out?"

At that moment, as if on cue, a nearby bush rustled. Everyone stood still with their hackles raised, and then a small black head poked out of the bush and stared at them with big, curious eyes. A strange smell wafted through the air, sort of a sickly sweet odor that made Harley gag. Thistle let out a frightened squeak.

"A bear! It's a bear!"

The creature emerged fully from the bushes. It was about the size of Thistle, and had two curved ears and a stubby tail. Its body was covered in fuzzy black fur, save for its muzzle, which was tan.

"It's just a baby," said Quicksilver, but her hackles remained raised.

"Its mother is probably nearby," Thistle moaned, his entire body shaking. "We need to get out of here!"

The baby bear stood up on its hind legs and let out a little noise. It came over to Quicksilver and began pawing at her.

"No, shoo! Go away!" she barked sharply.

But the cub didn't show any fear, only more curiosity. It darted over to Cedar and began to bat at the fox's fluffy tail.

"Hey, stop that!" Cedar swept his tail away.

The cub then came over to Thistle and sniffed him. Thistle snarled and bit it right on the nose. The baby let out a loud wail. Suddenly, there was the snap of a twig and violent rustling of foliage. A much more powerful and disgusting scent spread through the air.

"Oh no." Thistle's voice was barely audible. He urinated and then crouched down in fright.

"RAAAAAAAAWWWRRRR!" a bellowing roar shook the air, and a massive figure leapt out from the trees. Towering above them was a full grown bear, about as tall as the pine trees, with jaws at least three times bigger than Bugler's. Drool dripped from its long, yellow teeth, and long, sharp claws stuck out from its paws.

"RUN!" Thistle screamed.