Chapter 2
Littlepaw opened his eyes to see a light gray blanket of coldness over his body. He slowly stands up, pushing a heavy blanket of snow up and off of his body. He began to look around and his eyes widened, for all that was showing of the formerly big forest was the very tips or the very topmost branches of the trees, everything else was covered in a sheet of pure white snow.
How did I survive? Littlepaw looked down at his paws to see the dark, now scratched branch that he had clung to during the avalanche. It had held up during the disaster and actually saved his life. He gazed around the snowy landscape once again and he realized he would have to go home empty-handed.
He sighed and took a step into the snow and he almost fell straight down into the wet snow. Thankfully, with three paws still on the wood, he managed to pull himself back onto the dark colored branch. Looking up at the tiny branches above his head, Littlepaw saw a piece of tree bark wedged between a couple of twigs. He jumped straight up and, in one try, he yanked down the piece of bark, along with some twigs and small, dead branches. Shaking the twigs off of his gray, ruffled pelt, he laid the bark plank in front of himself, on the snow.
Littlepaw climbed onto the plank, which surprisingly didn’t sink even a little bit in the soft snow. He pushed off the sturdy branch and began to make his way across the buried valley, using the bark as a sled.
As he went through and past the tops of the trees, he saw the little black-tailed rabbit clinging to the very end of a thin branch, her eyes squeezed shut. Sure Littlepaw was the natural predator of this rabbit but he couldn’t just let her suffer and eventually fall into the quicksand-like snow. As he passed by her, reached up and gently picked her from the branch and with his teeth and set her down on the bark in front of him.
It took a minute or two but the little rabbit finally opened her eyes but when she saw Littlepaw, she immediately shut them again. “If you’re going to eat me, do it quickly.” Her high-pitched voice squeaked.
“Hey,” Littlepaw tried to say in a voice that would sound non-threatening way to her. “It’s ok, I’m not going to eat you. I promise.” Great, I have a soft spot for my food. There goes my spot on the food chain. You might as well give me a whole new niche. He thought.
Cautiously, the little rabbit sat up but she was hugging one of her paws to her chest. “Are you hurt?” Littlepaw said softly and the rabbit quickly nodded.
“You don’t have to worry, I’ll help you.” “H-how can I trust you?” Her little voice said. Littlepaw smiled darkly. “Because I would’ve eaten you already or left you back on that branch. Is that enough for you to trust me at least a little bit?” “I-I guess so.” “Good, because we’re at the end of our ride. I’ll bring you to my den.” The rabbit nodded as the sled slowly was brought to a halt at the edge of the loose snow.
Littlepaw stepped over the rabbit and onto the hard packed snow. He grabbed a branch sticking out of the front side of the bark and he began to pull the sled up to where his cave was.
As he approached where his cave normally was, he couldn’t seem to be able to find it. He stopped the sled by a pile of snow and small rocks and he began investigating it. Quickly a conclusion had been made that it was Littlepaw’s den that had been covered over by the avalanche. Littlepaw tried digging through the snow and rocks, but after almost causing another avalanche, he quit.
He went back over to the rabbit. “So,” He started his voice gloomy. “Apparently my cave had collapsed during the avalanche.” He plopped down next to the sled. “Then, what now?” The young and snowy rabbit asked, her ears twitching nervously.
“Well, I guess now, we need to find to find shelter and for me, a new home.” Littlepaw stood back up and grabbed the branch again. “Shouldn’t we try to dig it out again?” She called to him.
He shook his head no. “No, we should go. Anyways,” Littlepaw smiled. “This should be fun.” He said as he began his trudge along the mountain.
