There's wild cats in there!

Smudge's warning rang though Rusty's head as he explored the forest beyond his house. He let out an annoyed grunt. The last thing he wanted to think about was his friend's paranoia. He wasn't going home until he was satisfied. Rusty had been a house cat all his life, barely ever being able to feel earth beneath his paws. Sure, there was his garden, but that wasn't the same. It was a small plot of land. With the grass always trimmed and the rocks smooth, it felt completely unnaturally and fake. Now, with the scent of oak and the mushy dirt below, it was real.

He was glad he could be here, even if it was just for awhile. He knew he wouldn't be able to live in the forest, even though he really wanted to. At least I can catch a mouse before I go he thought. He remembered his dream, the one that brought him out here, he remembered how his instincts kicked in to help with the hunt. He remembered how the adrenaline swarmed his body during the chase and he remembered how free he felt being away from his owners. He so badly wanted to try it in the waking world. No silly story of wild cats was going to scare him away.

He tried sniffing the air, but there was so many new and unusual scents that he couldn't pick up mouse scent. He relied on is eyesight instead. In the dream, the mouse had been eating in the roots of an oak. Rusty scanned the trees, but he couldn't find anything. He tried a different strategy, he tried looking through the bushes. Surely a brown pelt would stick out in all this green foliage. Joy leaped in his heart when he realized that he was right. He spotted a tuft of brown fur in the bushes near by.

The dark brown fur begun to move out of the bush, revealing the body attached to it, That joy from before quickly turned into terror. This was no mouse.

"What are you doing in Thunderclan territory?" The brown belonged to a cat. Or at least, Rusty thought it was a cat. It was huge, with fur sticking out in all different places. Tufts furs were missing uncovering red, tormented skin. It's bared teeth long and as sharp as the fences back at Rusty's home. He couldn't be sure if he and this monster-like creature were the same species.

When Rusty didn't move or talk, the tom got frustrated. He leaned up close to Rusty's face. "What are you doing here, kitty-pet?" Rusty felt his hot breath brushed against his muzzle. It was thick with a overwhelming stench of death. He wanted to shrink away but he was frozen with fear. The tom rage grew, with his massive paw he knocked Rusty down.

Rusty was too shocked to react. The tom pinned him to the ground with his monster paw. He unsheathed his unnaturally long claws. Terror swarmed through Rusty as he saw them. They're huge! For a moment he imagined them piercing his skin, blood rushing out of him until he died. The thought of that was enough to make Rusty start struggling out of pure panic.

The tom obviously didn't expect him to fight back, as his grip wasn't very hard. Rusty was able to squeeze out from under him. The tom let out a yowl of frustration and raked his claws into Rusty flank. Rusty screamed in pain and ran as fast as he could. Rusty could hear paw pounding the ground behind him. He began to run wildly, jumping over tree trunks, swerving under bramble.

His mind was blind with panic, he could only think about getting away. He didn't realize that he was getting farther and farther away from his house. When the soft ground turned back into to the hard, smooth twoleg ground, Rusty realized the wild cat had stopped chasing him. But he couldn't relax as he was faced with a new horror, he had no idea where he was.

It was a twoleg place, but it was nothing like where he lived. If was much dirtier, the air reeked of twoleg garbage. The gray pavement stopped in some areas and left a region of dark mud. Rusty was dizzy with exhaustion but he started walking around the unfamiliar territory. He needed to get home before it got too dark. But he couldn't go very far. His sore paws screamed every time he took a step. With the terror gone, he could now feel the scratch on his flank. It felt like hundreds of bees were constantly stinging him.

Finally, Rusty collapsed. His inner kit came out and he wailed in helplessness. He felt despair raising in his heart. Oh, why did he have to go into the forest? Why did that forest cat have to be so cruel? Why didn't run home? Why didn't-

"Shh, do you want bad intentioned cats hear you?" a hiss came from behind "Your waling is basically saying I'm defenseless kit". Turning around, Rusty saw a cat almost as horrifying as the last. It was a skinny, black tom with a ring of bones around his neck.

Rusty let out a gasp of astonishment. "W-who are you?" he asked, still staring at the collar of bones. The black tom didn't look aggressive nor enraged by Rusty's presence. Even with the bones this cat was more rational then the one in the forest. But Rusty did pick something up. He spotted curiosity glinting in the tom's icy blue eyes.

"I'm Scourge" he answered "Leader of Bloodclan."