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The ginger she-cat was back. She never said anything; she just looked, as if she was waiting for Cherry to do something. Cherry watched as she sat across the backyard, just like she did in every other dream. Only one thing was different.
This wasn't a dream.
"Hey!" Cherry began to head toward the mysterious she-cat. As she did, she she-cat rose to her paws, turning as if to leave. "Where are you going?" Cherry wanted to know who this she-cat was. She was bored; she had been alone for two weeks. Not even "Jenny" had been there to pester her.
The ginger she-cat slipped through the metal bars of the fence surrounding the garden, disappearing into the shadows. Curious, Cherry followed, sliding through the bars with slightly less ease.
"Wait up!" The she-cat slowed, but only for a moment. Cherry wound her way through the forest, barely able to keep up with the silent figure.
After a little while, the she-cat cat turned around a tree and – disappeared. In her place Cherry found a small canyon, and a gruesome battle.
Three raging dogs were attempting to climb a tree, where four cats sat hidden among the branches. Two other cats lay on the ground, one barely breathing, the other so covered in blood you could hardly tell out its dark fur. Across the way, two other cats, a gray tabby and a small cream-colored on, fought off a massive, fur-covered dog. With a vicious bite, the furry dog grabbed the smaller cat and tossed it into a rock, a blow that more than likely severely injured, if not killed the poor cat.
"Palepaw!" a cat yowled, her bloody white fur standing on end. It was one of the tree cats. The she-cat then leapt down on one dog, a small scraggly mutt. The other cat, a dark tom that Cherry recognized as Barkfur, jumped down on a black dog, claws digging deep into the dog's back. I've got to help! Cherry thought and she ran full force into the side of the third dog, toppling it over. She began to bite and scratch, trying to recall tactics that Acornfur had shown her.
"Attack!" A deep caterwaul rang through the small clearing, and several cats joined the remaining cats in fending off against the dogs. A pretty brown tabby teamed up with Cherry.
"Go for its muzzle!" the she-cat hissed. Obediently, Cherry began swiping rapidly at the dog's muzzle while the she-cat attacked his legs. Crying out, the dog bolted tail between its legs. As the battle began to die down, the she-cat turned to Cherry. "Are you a clan cat?" she murmured, panting.
"Uh…" Cherry paused for a moment, staring past the she-cat at a black and white tom that was driving off the furry dog from earlier. After scaring it off, he bent down over the cream cat that had been thrown. A tortoiseshell Cherry had seen hidden in the tree joined him, burying her face into the matted fur.
"Poor Palepaw" mewed a thin black tom. A silver/gray she-cat nodded before going to check on the other cats.
"We lost Oakpaw and Molestrike too" said a brown tabby tom. Cherry turned to look at the other two bodies that lay nearby. The black and white tom stiffened, and then padded quickly over to the bloody cat.
The silver/gray she-cat was examining the last downed cat, the gray tabby. "Maplepaw, go fetch Jaggedburr and Sedgepetal, quickly!" A ginger and cream she-cat turned and ran off into the woods.
"She's still breathing?" the she-cat Cherry had been fighting with sounded relieved.
"Barely." Cherry padded quietly over to the injured she-cat. The silver she-cat gave Cherry a glare before stepping back, and allowing Cherry to examine her. There was a deep bite mark on her stomach, and she was losing blood quickly.
"We should-" out of nowhere, a scarred dark gray tom knocked Cherry aside.
"Move!" he hissed, giving a look of anger to Cherry, who was just as stunned as the silver tabby. The she-cat stepped away and gestured for Cherry to join her.
"Thank you for the help. Now, who are you?" The tabby mewed.
"My name is Cherry. I live in a house not too far from here."
"She's the cat Acornfur was talking about." Barkfur padded over. His flank was cut and bleeding, and a gray-and-white she-cat was trying to place a cobweb on his wound.
"Well, I am Minnowclaw, the deputy of the clan. The she-cat you were fighting with is Larkpaw. Her mentor is Mintwhisker." She pointed her tail to each cat in turn.
"It was Mintwhisker." The scarred tom padded over, a look of sadness in his eyes. "She's dead too." Larkpaw let out a wail of sorrow and ran over to her deceased mentor.
"Tawnythorn, Maplepaw, take Palepaw. Larkpaw and Barkfur, take Mintwhisker. Nutfur and Tanglepaw, take Molestrike. Minnowclaw, help me with Oakpaw." The black and white tom was ordering the other cats, and if Minnowclaw was the deputy…
"Are you the leader?" Cherry immediately felt stupid asking. But the black and white tom turned to her not in anger, but a solemn curiosity.
"Yes. I am Badgerstar. And you are?"
"Cherry."
Badgerstar nodded. "You know Barkfur and Acornfur. Good. Thank you for your help, but you may want to return home." He turned and prepared to pick up the corpse of his dead clanmate.
"I actually, I wanted to… I want to join you." Badgerstar turned to Cherry, contemplating her statement. A snort of mocking laughter came from a black tom across the canyon.
"We don't need any more warrior wannabes. We have enough as it is." Barkfur's fur began to stand on end; obviously this was an insult he had heard before. But a scrawny black tom smacked the other across the head with a firm paw.
"We need as many warriors as we can get, Archpaw. She clearly can fight well. I say we let her in." Badgerstar nodded.
The scarred tom stepped forward. "We do need warriors. That's true. But how do we know you will last? Acornfur says you are happy with your life in the Twoleg world."
"I can't live there anymore. My twoleg has died and I have been fending for myself for many days." Cherry saw looks of interest in the cats around her, but also looks of doubt.
Badgerstar nodded as Cherry spoke. "Barkfur says you caught on well when he and Acornfur taught you. But I will not make a decision until we return to camp. Cherry, you will come with us." A flicker of hope filled Cherry as the cats picked up their lost clanmates and carried them into the woods. As she began to follow, Archpaw gave her an irritated look before padding up beside Maplepaw. Maybe things will change… Cherry thought as she entered the darkening forest.