Chapter 5

She felt herself enveloped in warmth. This felt good… this felt very good. Strong arms were holding her against a chest. She could feel someone else's heartbeat. She didn't know how Bolt ended up snuggling against her, but she loved it. Her mind was too groggy to comprehend anything else. She gave a yawn and ended up rubbing her head against a chin above her. The body against hers became tense, but she didn't notice. She was busying rubbing herself against that chin and purring.

"Bolt," sighed Mittens as she buried herself into the warm furry body behind her.

"Not quite."

Every muscle in Mitten's body froze. That was not Bolt's voice. Suddenly it all came back to her. Finding another delusional dog. Being kidnapped and finding herself on a show. So she couldn't be snuggling against Bolt. And with that thought she slowly peeked an eye open to find Thunder staring down at her with an uncomfortable expression. She gave a yelp as she jumped a foot away from him.

"Could you please not roll over to me in your sleep and snuggle against me like I'm a pillow," said Thunder with a roll of his eyes. Crazily enough Mittens first instinct was to jump back to him because as soon as she jumped away she felt the icy cold winds. The sun was just peeking over the horizon.

"Hey who says I rolled over to you in my sleep? How do we know you didn't roll over to me?" asked Mittens with a huff. Thunder simply stared at her as if she had just suggested the world was flat.

"So… you and Bolt like to snuggle," said Thunder with a smirk. Mittens felt herself go a little paler. Then she began to wonder how she could even assume that she was snuggling against Bolt. Bolt always slept with Penny. He never got that close to her at night. Never cared about keeping her warm like that.

"No, not really," said Mittens. Thunder probably expected her to erupt with a bunch of insults and words. But she only said those three words in a dull tone. For some reason she suddenly felt more sad about the situation than angry. For the first time since they met, Thunder appeared ashamed.

"Hey I was just joking, forget about it," said Thunder gruffly. Suddenly they both heard his stomach growling. Mittens gave a sigh.

"Let me guess, you think I've poisoned you," said Mittens as she tried to prepare herself for a bunch of screaming and demanding an antidote. That was Bolt's first reaction to hunger.

"No, I think I'm hungry," said Thunder slowly as he arched an eyebrow. Oh great, he was giving her that look of wondering what insane asylum she came from again.

"I'm going to get us some food. Stay here," said Bolt. Mittens simply turned away from him with a snort.

"Hey I'm not completely helpless, I can get my own food you know," said Mittens. She didn't hear a response so she turned back to where Thunder was. Or at least where he had been a second ago. There was no sight of him. She looked around, not able to see him anywhere.

"Thund-"

"Back," interrupted Thunder from behind her. She gave a yelp as she turned. He had that insufferable smirk on his face again as he held a trout in his mouth.

"Where did you get that?" asked Mittens as she felt her own stomach grumble. Fish was one of the foods cats loved most. No cat could turn away seafood.

"There's a pond two miles east from here. Just went over there and grabbed a trout," said Thunder as he dropped the fish in front of her.

"And you did this in the thirty seconds that you have been missing," said Mittens with doubt lacing her voice.

"I'm quick," said Thunder simply as he grabbed the fish with his paws. With a loud snapping sound he broke it into two. Mittens stared at the fish torn apart for a second. Thunder had done it so easily, it was as if the fish was made of clay.

"Gotta love those special effects," said Thunder as he began chewing his half of the fish. Mittens simply gave him a glare before taking a bite out of her half. It certainly tasted and felt like a real fish. So how did Thunder break it in half? She had heard Bolt tell her though of some of the amazing things the crew did in order to fool him. Cause weapons to explode, bars to bend, and cars to fly in the air. It was just another trick used to make Thunder here think he was a wonder dog.

"I'm going to look around. If you happen to see a man with a gun, please at least pretend he might shoot you and hide," said Thunder as Mittens continued to chew on her food. Oh har har, he still didn't believe those agents were just actors. As she raised her head to respond, she once again saw Thunder gone.

"He does move fast," muttered Mittens. It was just more special effects. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. But the longer she was out here, the more she had doubts. Bolt had told both her and Rhino some of his life on the television show. He would go out for a couple of hours each day to help Penny and then find himself taken to a trailer. It's been way over a couple of hours now. And so far no sign of a trailer.

It just didn't make sense that the crew would film Thunder for literally a day doing nothing, but following her and taking a nap. And this was definitely not a set. Could it actually be real?

"Don't go there Mittens," muttered Mittens to herself. Bolt might have fallen for the whole charade, but he was a dog. Cats though were not the type who got fooled. And she wasn't going to fall for this setup.

"We've got to go."

Mittens nearly choked on a piece of fish as she turned her head. There was Thunder looking more serious than usual if that was possible.

"A search team is following our trail. They'll be here in an hour," said Thunder as he approached her. Mittens found herself taking a couple of steps back, not quite sure what he was planning. She stared wide-eye as he went flat on the ground.

"You're too slow and we need to get out of here quickly. Get on my back," said Thunder.

"E.. excuse me?" stuttered Mittens. Thunder gave a frustrating sigh.

"Get… on…. my… back," said Thunder slowly as if he was speaking to a three year old. That caused a rise in Mitten's temper.

"And what if I don't," said Mittens as she licked her paw. Let him get his tail into a twist over a bunch of actors chasing him. As for her, she didn't see any reason not to laze around and let them find her. Maybe they'd actually get her off this show. Thunder gave her a glare so fierce she was almost surprised that she didn't burst into flames.

"We don't have time for your delusions. Either get on my back or I carry you with my mouth, your choice," growled Thunder. She had a sudden picture of her being bounced around like a basketball as he both ran and kept a tight hold of her fur with his mouth.

"Fine," growled Mittens back as she slowly crawled onto his back. This was one position she never found herself in with a dog, not even Bolt. She felt Thunder's muscles flex as she rose up from the ground. She awkwardly grabbed hold of her neck with her paws.

"Don't worry about grabbing on too tight. In fact, you might want to use your claws to dig deeper into my fur. We're going to be going pretty fast," said Thunder. Mittens felt a stab of humiliation from that statement. Can't very well dig her claws in when she was declawed.

Without another word he began running. At first he didn't appear to be going any faster than a regular dog. Then suddenly his speed seemed to increase. Increase as in she felt like she wasn't on a dog, but grabbing onto a cheetah. And soon he was going so far that the bushes and trees became nothing, but blurs.

It's just special effects… It's just special effects…

At least that's what she repeatedly told herself as she tried to keep a good grip on Thunder's neck. But bit by bit she felt herself slipping. Finally with a cry of alarm she felt herself lose her grip. She had a sudden flashback of when Bolt pulled her out of a truck going eighty miles an hour. That sensation of being in the air before hitting the ground hard. It appeared that history was going to repeat itself.

This time hitting the ground didn't feel nearly as painful thanks to the snow that cushioned her fall. She simply laid there for a second breathing fast. Slowly and unsteadily she got up and viewed the cat shaped hole she made in the snow.

"Well looky looky, my dinner is here."

She slowly turned her head to see where that voice came from. She had never met a bobcat before. And now she had, she could see it was twice her size and scary as hell. He was a male by the sound of the voice and had spotted fur.

"Hiya fellow um feline. How's it going," said Mittens as she slowly backed away. But the bobcat followed her step for step.

"Hungry, I haven't eaten in two days. I was looking for a mouse, but you should do," said the bobcat as he licked his lips.

"What? But we're both cats. I mean that would be cannibalism technically," said Mittens quickly as she felt her heartbeat go faster.

"Hey these are the wilds house cat. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive," said the bobcat as he crouched. He was about to pounce on her, no doubt about it. Unfortunately she had no chance of outrunning him and they both knew it.

"She's with me."

Both turned to see Thunder standing only ten feet away. How he got there without either hearing him seemed impossible.

"Thunder run!" shouted Mittens. This wasn't some human actor who was going to pretend that Thunder got the best of him. This bobcat wanted food and Thunder made a bigger meal. Thunder simply rolled his eyes at her exclamation. Just great, the jerk of course was not going to take her seriously. She was going to have to do something drastic.