Chapter 4

We lived in that den for a few months, but it became a bit boring after a while. Mostly because my hunting skills were trash, and I couldn't really do anything besides that... I heard Sally yawn inside the den as I tried, yet again, to hunt for some prey. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦! This time, it was a robin, high up on a tree branch. Alright. I got it this time! I thought to myself. Oreo leaped, his claws digging into the tree. I climbed up slowly, being very cautious. I didn't want to fall and alert it.

I carefully clawed up to the branch the robin was sitting on and crept forward. It didn't seem to notice me. 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥. I pounced, my heart racing with excitement, but the robin turned its head and it suddenly flew away. I yowled something as I fell, my paws hitting the ground with a thud. Not again! I sighed in annoyance. There was a thorn in my paw. It got between my paw pad perfectly as I landed on my paws. 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘸... 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯...

As I walked back, I saw... what? Oreo turned his head. The blue-gray cat and a brown-and-black tabby! They both padded up to me. I was a bit surprised. She must have found her friend, then, I thought as I smiled. But.. what were they doing here? "Hi! I see you've found your friend." The she-cat nodded. "What brings you here?" I asked. "We've been looking for a place to live --- like a den. Are there any abandoned dens around here? Or a hollowed-out tree?"

I was about to suggest maybe living in the alleyway, which they would have to find themselves because Sally apparently couldn't find, or a rabbit burrow. But Sally walked out of the den and yawned sleepily, "No." She stretched, putting her paws out in front of her. "But you could share a den with us until you find one. We wouldn't mind, right Oreo?" "No, yeah, good idea!" I exclaimed. Sally was better at coming up with ideas than I was at times.

The blue cat thought for a moment. "Well, Zach, how would you feel about it?" The female cat asked her friend. "Hmm..." He looked a bit hesitant. "Sure, why not? I just hope we're not intruding or anything." He looked like he didn't want to be a burden. "No, it's fine!" Oreo purred. "There's plenty of prey and den space to go around." "Thank you," the blue cat bubbled happily. "So, what's your name?" Sally asked her, sitting down. "I never got it." "My name's Windy," the blue cat said. "It's nice to meet you, Windy," Sally said with a smile.

"I'm Sally, and this is my brother, Oreo." Oreo just stared, wondering why Windy was named after a gust of air.

"Great to meet you, Oreo and Sally," Zach enthused, smiling at Sally. Sally yawned. "You two go on into the den, I'm going to catch us all some prey," she said as she walked away from the den, sniffing the cold air for some new kill to eat. I watched sadly as she scampered away. Despite my desire to hunt with her, I lacked any hunting skills whatsoever. At the least, I'd scare off all the food in the forest!

.

...

You know what? I thought. I'm not going to waste my time sitting here sulking about something I can't do, watching someone else do it. By doing so, nothing was accomplished. I would focus on what I could do. I knew I had to find another way to help... I should get some bedding for our visitors. If you used a rock to get all the fuzz out of cattail weed and pat it down on some bush vines, it was pretty comfortable.

I padded off to the stream a few yards from our den, picking cattails from the stems. As I picked my third one, there was a growing fog, and I could tell it was growing thicker. A rainstorm was likely to occur soon. As I got the last one, a shiver ran down my spine as the cold intensified up. I could feel that it was getting brisk out here... As I brought the cattails back to the den, some fluff already starting to come off of them, I saw Sally trotting towards me with a sparrow in her mouth and a limp rabbit on her back.

I couldn't help but feel a little sad, watching her as she padded closer. She was so good at hunting, but it was always Sally that got the prize. She seemed to be the luckier one.

I ran to the den, dropping the cattails and running up to her to help carry the catches back to the den. I got to carry the rabbit. "You sure are talented at that, aren't you?" She smiled and nodded, her eyes twinkling in the sunlight as she swished her tail. "Let's go," she said. We made our way back to the den, chatting as we went. Sally dropped her sparrow. "Ok, bring that rabbit to Windy and Zach while I work on getting the fluff out of these cattails."

I nodded, crawling to another section of the den that they were both in. I brought it to them as they mrrowed at each other. "Here, guys." I dropped it next to them. "Did you catch this?" Windy asked. "No," I sighed, "it was Sally. She's pretty skilled at that." "Well, tell her we said thank you!" Said Zach, beginning to purr. "Me and Windy will catch prey next time. Don't worry, we're not moochers. "Glad to hear it. I'll tell Sally you said thank you. Enjoy the rabbit!"

I crawled back to Sally. I saw her playfully swiping at them with her claws extended, fluff flying everywhere. "That's... not... how you do it..." I sighed. She turned her head, looking guilty. "Oh, uh - sorry... I knew that, I just... kinda got carried away.." I murmured, looking at the mess she had made with all the fluff. I laughed and said, "It's okay, I'll help you clean it up." We both started picking up the fluff, and soon had the room back to normal. We made a pile with all the fluff in it.

There was a bit more to clean up, but I was starving. "I'm going to go eat. When I'm done I'll get some bush vines outside for the base of the beds." "Ok!" She purred. "I'll be there to eat with you in a minute, just let me finish this. I nodded. I crouched next to the sparrow, taking a bite out of its neck. The taste was... disgusting. I stood up. "No way, I'm done here. I'mma get those vines now," I said, spitting. I heard her laugh as I walked away. "If you want to get vines in the rain, be my guest," she laughed.

"Wait, It's raining?" I asked, the sound of rain dripping at the trees starting to fill my ears. "You betcha." Sally nipped at her right paw pad. Great… I might as well nap, I thought. All the rainy weather was making me tired. As I began to walk towards my bed, my legs suddenly grew incredibly weak. "What-" Was all I could manage to say before I fell over in pain. I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me and my vision grew-pitch black within three seconds.

"Oreo, are you okay?"

"Ths is't th tmm fur jex."

..

"Ohheow?"