I ran through the forest, my heart pounding with fear.

The image of my mother's broken and bloody body burned into my mind.

Foxstar was evil. He was an evil cat. He was the son of Dragonstar, the former leader of Onyxclan. When Dragonstar died, instead of the former deputy Featherfur becoming leader, Foxstar killed him and became leader himself. He was a strong cat, yes, and a good leader, if he didn't practically torture his own clan.

Foxstar insisted on training the apprentices as hard as possible, which resulted in many deaths. He also made sure to kill the sick and elderly himself, which is why there was no elders and no medicine cat. All he wanted was a strong clan, and that was an admirable goal for any clan leader, but he went about it all wrong. Even his deputy, my former father Blackfur, knew it was a bit much, but supported him anyway because he wanted a strong clan as well.

I continued to run as fast as possible, keeping my mouth slightly open and my ears sharp. I darted through the forest, away from Onyxclan territory.

I needed to find somewhere safe. Somewhere where Blackfur could not find me.

Soon enough, I found a small hole in the roots of a tree that was just big enough for me to fit into.

As I rested and tried to calm my nerves, an old memory of mine surfaced from back when I was actually a member of Onyxclan.

I was playing with an old friend of mine, freezekit, when I heard Foxstar's angry hiss from his den. Freezekit and I were curious and crept closer to the large stump of a fallen oak where the leader's den stood.

"Tigerfur! Do you want this clan to fall to the paws of sickness or weakness? Do you want this clan to die?" Foxstar Hissed angrily.

"No Foxstar. I don't." Said my mother's calm voice. ," I just think that you must stop pushing these apprentices so hard. Many are dying. Too many."

Foxstar laughed.

"Of course they're dying! The weak must fall. That stands for both other clans, and cats of this one. The runts, the sick, the elderly, they all must go if this clan wants to stay strong. Even your little brat should be dead. That little runt is a disgrace to this clan. Only reason she's still breathing is because of my deputy."

My eyes widened. Foxstar wanted to kill me? What did I do?

Freeze put a paw on my back and looked at me with a mix of worry and simpathy in his gold eyes.

A loud crack snapped me back to reality. I sniffed the air and caught the scent of rotten crowfoot. The signature scent of my father.

"She's got to be around here somewhere. She's a kit. She can't get very far. We have to find her." Blackfur said.

"Blackfur, is it really that important that we find this kit?"

"Yes, now shut your muzzle and come on!" He growled angrily in response.

Both cats fell silent, which told me that they were concentrating all of their energy on finding me.

I slowly crawled towards the back of the root cave and curled up. That was all I could really do if I wanted to survive.

I closed my eyes, concentrating on keeping my heartbeat steady and my breathing quiet. I sat there, too terrified to sleep, hoping that the fox dung I rolled in earlier would cover my scent.

Soon enough, I started to hear no voices or smell any cats.

Slowly, I poked my nose up out of the hole to see if I could pick up a scent. I opened my mouth slightly and the only strong scent that hit me was the smell of a rabbit.

I licked my lips. I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten since sunhigh, and now it was about moonrise.

I crept out of the hole carefully. Even if there were no cats near, there could easily be a patrol coming.

Keeping my mouth slightly open to keep the scent of that rabbit, I slowly made my way through the forest.

Every few fox lengths, I slipped under a bush or into an abandoned badger set to hide and make sure no cats were around.

After a little while, I managed to find the rabbit. Hiding in a bush, I could see the plump little brown rabbit standing alert next to its hole.

I flexed my claws.

I had to catch this rabbit. I've never hunted before, but I've seen my mom do it.

I crouched down and lowered my head, my eyes trained on the rabbit. I lightly flicked my tail in anticipation. I put my weight on my haunches just like mommy did. I was about to make my first catch ever.

Suddenly, the rabbit's nose twitched, and it scampered down its hole.

I sighed.

I stood and walked over to the hole and poked my nose in.

"Hello, rabbit! Come back so I can feed my belly!" I meowed into the rabbit hole.

As I expected, no one answered my call.

I looked up again.

There was a little white mouse looking straight at me.

I blinked at him for a second before leaping at the mouse.

He turned and tried to run, but I was on top of him before he could go anywhere.

Sadly, I had jumped so hard that when I landed, I tripped over my front paws and flipped over, landing quite a ways from the mouse, which sped off in the opposite direction.

I slowly stood. Two hunting fails in one night. I looked around and noticed that I was standing in the open.

Quickly I darted under a nearby bush and checked to see if there were any cats around. Lucky for me. There weren't. However, I did smell an unfamiliar scent. It then occurred to me that I might be at the edge of Onyxclan territory.

This was close to Rubyclan's borders.

I looked up through the canopy of the bush to the sky.

I wanted to look at silverpelt. I wanted to see the star that would mark the place of my mother, however, clouds covered the sky, stopping the beautiful glow of the stars above. I laid down. I needed sleep.

In the distance, could hear the meows of many cats. My stomach growled.

I laid there with my eyes open. I was tired, but I was unable to sleep. Every little sound in this forest terrified me. As long as I was here in Onyxclan territories, I was risking my life.

Just as my eyes finally began to close, I saw a dim silver glow around me. I looked up, and saw that a single star had broken through the clouds and was shining down onto me. Seeing it calmed me.

"Hi mommy." I said as I laid down again and slipped into a dreamless sleep.