Sorry this one took bit longer as well, things to do all the time and stuff. But anyway, here's how the rest of Fuli's night turned out and then the next morning. Enjoy.

Chapter 5

The desert was actually quite cold at night unlike the rest of the savannah. Even the sand was cold, which was kind of a relief for Fuli as her paws had been starting to burn on the hot ground earlier. Now the cool sand was beneath her feet and sucking the heat out of them quite pleasantly.

She'd been wandering rather aimlessly for at least a couple of hours now and it must have been nearly midnight. Still there wasn't a cave or another similar sort of dwelling in sight. Just sand, sand and more blasted sand. She was beginning to lose hope of finding shelter that night until there came a happy sight for sore eyes. A small cave in the distance came into view, not more than a minute's run away.

Fuli's eyes lit up with relief as she bounded towards it. Once there she was careful when checking inside. For all she knew there could already be a nesting animal inside. Thankfully the cave was empty, leading to her investigating it further. The walls were quite dry and it was rather cosy due to its small size. A small pile of wood was in the centre, obviously an unlit fire. Someone must've been there before but moved on. Quite a while ago too as the wood was nowhere near fresh.

Still, it would do. After traipsing around the desert for hours on end even the elephant graveyard was starting to look homely. But at least the graveyard had company. Sure it wasn't good company, but it was company nonetheless. Fuli didn't plan on staying long anyway. If she couldn't find a better place then she'd stay in this cave for a few days and then return to the Pridelands.

Fuli was getting very tired now and a heavy yawn signalled that she should be getting to sleep fast. The dreary cheetah circled round before sitting on the surprisingly soft ground and laying her head down. It wasn't more than a minute before her eyes were closed and she was sound asleep and pretty soon the only sounds to be heard were those of the light breeze outside and Fuli's slight snoring inside. Quite peaceful indeed.

The sun was already high in the sky when Fuli awoke the next morning. The very late settling down from last night had taken its toll on her as she was still a bit tired even now. But she couldn't stay inside much longer, there was water and food to find.

Fuli blinked away what remaining sleep she could as she stepped into the blaring sun, having to shut her eyes swiftly at the intense heat and light. A few moments later she had managed to adjust to it and was now able to get a much better look at the surrounding area. It was very dark last night so now was her first good image of the place in daylight.

The ground was rather cracked in places and behind the cave was a small pond of water with a few low down palm trees around it. Some grass was also spread out around the body of water.

"Huh, jackpot or what?"

Well that was the water sorted. Fuli rushed on over to the mini oasis, anxious to get a decent drink at last. She stopped at the edge of the water and lowered her head down to have a drink. After she had quenched her thirst Fuli stretched a couple times and went back to the cave. Now there was just the matter of food to contend with. Unfortunately there wasn't much choice as to what was on the menu out in the desert. Fuli looked up and saw that the trees by the pond had some fruits growing on them, so there was one option. But really it was meat that she was after.

She would probably have to search further away in order to obtain the right kind of food. Unless... Hang on, what were those markings in the dirt beside the pond?

Fuli headed back over there and searched on the ground. There were numerous markings that looked like hoof prints. Gazelles perhaps? Or some similar herd animal. The prints looked very recent too, no more than two days. Maybe herds came through here regularly?

Just then Fuli heard a noise come from somewhere in the distance. It was a snorting sound, one that she was certain came from an antelope. There was another, this time from a different antelope. It sounded as though there was a herd coming. Fuli quickly hurried to the cave and hid, allowing herself a sneaky view of the pond. A minute later a group of about twelve antelopes turned up and started taking it in turns to drink from the water source.

They stayed there for a solid ten minutes until finally the biggest one of the lot, presumably the leader, signalled the rest of them to move on. Soon the small herd was just a tiny dot on the horizon as Fuli emerged from her hiding place.

This was good news. If herds like that came through here on a regular basis then she was sorted for both food and water. She was fully kitted out to spend a few days in this place.

She decided to get into the shade of the cave to rest before the next herd came along for her to catch one of them. She went inside but stopped dead in her tracks.

"Do I want to go back?"

She still hadn't thought that over yet. Then again there wasn't much thinking to do because she wasn't sure why she was thinking it. It just came out of nowhere and now she couldn't get rid of it, couldn't make up her mind whether to go back or not, couldn't determine anything any more.

This was all because of the deaths she'd witnessed, wasn't it? That was causing these conflicting thoughts. She wanted to return home, to go back and sleep amongst her friends. But...

That was it! Friends. And the whole place in general. If Fuli went back to the Pridelands then everywhere she looked there would be reminders of the horrors of yesterday, always shoving themselves in her face. Rafiki's cave paintings of the guard would remind her. The lack of anything to do now that the guard was gone would remind her. Even seeing Kion would remind her. And it was a reminder she could do without.

Nevertheless her mind was still unsure. Whatever her choice in the end was, only time would tell.

I must really be annoying some of you by this point by doing this whole 'what will Fuli do' thing. Sorry about that, I'm just trying to keep you engaged long enough to finish the story, (Rubs hands together sisterly).

But anyway, I'm not sure how many more chapters there'll be as I haven't started writing the next one yet. Although I should think the next chapter will be the last. In fact I'm 95% sure of that. So I'll see you when that's complete.

Remember to review if you have time and bye for now.