Badgerfur stood in shock. All other thoughts had been blown out of his head. His paws felt like lead, and there was a funny buzzing noise in his ears. Leafheart let out a sort of strangled cry, and stumbled backwards into Shadowheart, who jumped, fur on end and his eyes wild.
"Quiet!" hissed Badgerfur. "It's a bear! It could kill us all with one swipe of its paws, but they can't see well, so just stay really still . . ."
All of them held silently still. Badgerfur noticed that Leafheart's eyes kept flicking nervously towards the crumpled body of Bluepaw, who was oozing blood from the wound in her chest. He tried not to think about that and shut his eyes tight.
There was no breeze. Everything was absolutely still and quiet. The bear withdrew its paw. An odd snuffling was coming from the other side of the bushes. A small furry brown bear cub toddled out, sniffing around eagerly, batting at flowers and voiced excited cries.
The mother bear gave an anxious call and immediately poked her head through the bushes—and caught sight of the patrol. Another bear cub appeared beside her.
The mother bear's beady black eyes narrowed and giving a roar of fury, she charged.
"Run!" yowled Icestorm, and the ThunderClan cats bolted. They dashed through the trees, away from camp, lest the mother bear find the rest of the Clan.
The bear bellowed and lumbered behind the, crashing through the undergrowth.
"Everyone up a tree!" snarled Shadowheart, gasping for breath. He, Icestorm, and Badgerfur shot up into the bard of a tall oak, and deftly climbed up into the safety of the braches.
Leafheart leaped after them, and her front claws caught on the tree trunk, but was unable to get a firm hold with her bad leg, and hung from her claws, wildly seeking a hold.
The bear skidded up, and viciously ripped Leafheart from the tree, flung her across the clearing.
From a patch of clover, Leafheart struggled to get up again.
"Go!" she gasped her body trembling from the strain.
"What do we do?" whispered Icestorm from the sheltered branches of the oak. She had a torn claw and was bleeding. Her face had a pained scrunch to it.
"We have to help Leafheart!" Badgerfur meowed urgently. "If she dies, Jaggedclaw will become deputy, and take over the . . .," he trailed off, and Icestorm and Shadowheart peered quizzically at him.
"That doesn't matter!" meowed Shadowheart quickly. "We can't just let that bear kill Leafheart! We can run, and get the bear to chase us across the Thunderpath. Maybe a monster will hit it."
"But what if a monster hits us?" Icestorm snapped at her mate, her eyes wide with fear. "And what if it gets across? Then the bear will be loose—"
"—Yeah, on ShadowClan territory. Look, we've got to do it; it's the only way. Ready? One, two, three—!"
They jumped. Twisting in the air, Badgerfur managed to latch onto the bear's shoulders just before it got Leafheart. Badgerfur tried to jump off, so he could flee with the other and lure the bear, but his claws were snagged in its matted fur.
The bear gave a deafening roar, and with a mighty shake, flung Badgerfur off. Dazed, he shook his head blearily.
"Badgerfur!" It was Leafheart. He had landed about a foxlength away from her. He had never noticed it before, but she was very pretty, even when her eyes where wide and fearful, and she was shaking.
Badgerfur shook his head again. The fall must have addled him.
"Come on!" he screeched, leaping to his paws, while the bear stormed lividly around the clearing, roaring.
"I'm trying—my paw!" Face tight with pain, she held up her right front paw. The bones inside had clearly been snapped in two.
"We've got to go!" he caterwauled, and grabbing her by the scruff of the neck, half-dragged Leafheart after Icestorm and Shadowheart.
The bear was right behind them—they were almost to the Thunderpath! Monster zoomed past, their unnaturally shiny pelts catching the sunlight and flashing blinding glared at the cats as they sped past.
Without pausing, Icestorm and Shadowheart streaked across the Thunderpath, and shot up another tree on the other side.
Badgerfur, still half-supporting Leafheart ran after them, the bear right on their heels. He could feel its hot breath on his tail. Monsters were coming, faster than it seemed possible!
There was an earsplitting screech, and an even louder blaring sound, and Badgerfur pulled Leafheart clear just in time. The monster bowled into the bear, swerving crazily as the twoleg inside stomped on the breaks, and crashed into a tree on the ThunderClan side, sticking out half across the Thunderpath.
Two other came tearing up and smashed into each other trying to avoid collision with Badgerfur and Leafheart, and the other monster. There was the horrible tearing sound of metal screeching on metal, and one more monster went rolling through the air, and as part of its front erupted in a ball of flame, rammed right into the tiny tree Icestorm and Shadowheart where in.