sooty travels

Chapter 2: The Rustles

Sooty stretched out, laying down comfortably. He and his mother rested nicely near the top of the stream, by the berry bushes. The other calves and their mothers had just awoken or were still sleeping. He flicked his ear, listening to the tune of birds. He wasn't feeling in the mood to be playful. His mother thinks he might be a bit under the weather. He lays his head down on the grass, he wasn't tired; just relaxing. His mother was relaxing by him. Suddenly, he stopped hearing birds. They just..stopped singing. Silence. It seemed the other elk noticed it too. No buzzing of flies, no chirping of morning songbirds. Just. Silence. He kept listening. He heard a rustle; like something had brushed up against a bush while walking. It came from the tree line. The others heard it too. His mother got up. "Come on sooty, let's move away from the tree line." She said, and he nodded. Is mom scared? The other cows shifted nervously, all shuffling away from the trees. Suddenly, above the silence: a loud CALL! It was deep, as if bouncing and echoing in a deep-tone. Right after, he heard a Ccclck! . The cows all began to panic, bringing their calves close. His mother included. "What's happening?" He asked nervously. "We need to go! Where's branch?!" Everybody was panicking beyond belief. Suddenly, a cow stepped up above everyone, and hushed everybody down. "I'll alert the bulls! If it comes, hit it hard and hide the calves!" The cow bounded off into the trees. Sooty began to tear up, what was happening? Why was everyone so scared? His mother kept him close. Not long after, the cow came bounding back. "The bulls have been told! Eat and drink quickly!" Everyone shuffled to either bushes, grass, or the stream. "Come on now sooty, eat and drink.." she hurriedly said so. After everyone had filed together, with the calves all smushed together in the middle, the cow ahead of them all called out: "FOLLOW ME AND KEEP UP!" The cow began to bound off, and everyone followed. It was hard to keep up; the other calves were tripping over other calves and the cows were smushing them further together. Tears tugged at Sootys eyes, he was worried. What was happening? Where are we going? Was this my fault? It felt like a whole day before they stopped moving. They had arrived at a big lake with a waterfall, mushrooms and reeds. He ran to his mother, who was relieved to see him. They huddled together as sooty laid down. He was exhausted, his legs shaky from running. He looked around for a second, and saw more elk across the lake. They were quickly moving out of sight however. He looked at the sky, and nighttime was upon them. It had taken them a whole day. He grazed momentarily, before laying down next to his mother. They fell asleep.