Autumn's World

Chapter 24

Autumn felt the paw slam into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped for breath, but the wolf's claws started to dig into her skin, blood welling up.

"Wait!" one of the wolves said. The two others looked at him, surprised. He cleared his throat and spoke. "I mean, shouldn't we leave the final kill to Scarlet? She's the one who wants her dead."

The wolves looked at him suspiciously, then backed off, the she-wolf slamming her paw one more time into Autumn's belly, blood now starting to ooze onto the ground and leaving her gasping for air again. Just as the two wolves turned around to call Scarlet, the one who had spoken whispered.

"I want to help you." He picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Autumn felt dizzy and her stomach burned. "You need to go. Run as fast as you can away from here."

"But, what about my mat-"

"Don't worry about him." he interrupted. "Just go until you're sure it's safe to return."

"Bone!" Scarlet cried, noticing him talking to Autumn. "Are you helping her?!"

"Go! Run! Get out of here! Go!"

Autumn started to run but stopped to look back as Scarlet pinned the wolf down, her paw to his throat.

"Go!" he choked right as Scarlet took her other paw and slitted his throat.

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Autumn tried flapping her wings, but she couldn't get up into the air. So she kept running. Her legs ached, stomach burned and left a trail of blood behind her. She was so dizzy, everything seemed to swoop and dip around her. She had to stop, but she knew if she did, the wolves would kill her. Autumn kept going, even though her body screamed in protest.

She started to slow down, her paws unable to continue. Autumn took one last look at the open clearing she had ran into before she collapsed and blackness swallowed up her destroyed body.

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The sight of the Scarlet slitting the wolf's throat kept replaying in her nightmares. It just repeated in her mind. Just when Autumn had thought she had watched it the last time and tried to swim back into consciousness, she was tugged back down into the nightmare world and had to watch the scene replay several more times.

Finally, everything went dark and Autumn was able to just barely open her eyes and find light, safety, and warmth. Her pendant still hung around her neck, and she was lying someplace different than where she had collapsed.

Confused, Autumn tried to turn her head, but her muscles screamed and she had to let out a moan.

"It's alright. You're safe," a soft purr said.

Autumn tried to sit up, but a furry, black paw pushed her back down. Was she being held captive by another wolf? She squirmed and yowled hoarsely, "Let me go!" The creature put its other front paw down, pushing all its weight down onto her chest.

"Relax. It's alright," the creature said just as it shoved something into Autumn's mouth, forcing her to relax her muscles and fall back into the darkness of sleep and nightmares.

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Blood started to pour into Autumn's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears just as she came back into the waking world. Whatever the creature had shoved into her, it made Autumn drowsy and even weak. The nightmare had scared her greatly, and she kept shaking in fear even though it was over.

Autumn finally saw where she was: a large den with a few moss nests spread out across the floor, little dirt ledges with stocks of herbs that Autumn knew, although some were new to her, and a small opening on one side close to the ceiling of the den. A small boulder lay underneath it, providing help to get out of the den, kind of like a stair or ramp as Fall had called them. Fall. Autumn missed him so much.

Autumn couldn't even sit up. Her muscles hurt and her belly felt as if it were on fire. She worried if the kits were alright. Her stomach seemed to be patched up with cobwebs and leaves, which were wet with blood, but not nearly as much as the rest of her wounds. There were blood soaked cobwebs on her shoulder, flank, and her left front paw was bandaged heavily where one of the wolves had snapped at it. Whoever the creature that had rescued her was, they certainly knew who to heal.

The creature jumped into the den through the opening, landing on the rock first, then leaping off. Autumn saw what it was: a sleek black she-cat with sparkling green eyes. The cat saw Autumn was awake and ran over. "Its alright," she said in a soothing tone. "I'm not going to hurt you. You feeling okay?"

Honestly, Autumn wasn't feeling okay. She felt sore and weak, and she was worried about her kits. When she didn't respond, the black cat put a paw on Autumn's stomach, feeling around. "Your pregnant, aren't you?" she said.

Autumn tried swatting the cat's paw away, her instincts kicking in. "Don't you dare touch my kits!" she hissed, a little too harshly.

The other cat snorted, but with a hint of amusement. "Just trying to help." She then padded toward a small stock pile of fresh kill, picked up a mouse and dropped it at Autumn's paws. "You should eat."

"What's your name anyway?" Autumn asked.

"I'm Maddy," the cat said. "You're lucky I was around that clearing when you collapsed. Otherwise, you'd be still there or worse, dead."

"Clearing?" Autumn muttered. She had just gotten a glimpse of it when she had blacked out. Something had seemed awfully familiar about the clearing, something that Autumn had to find out.

Autumn shot up and struggled to her paws. "I have to go back. The clearing, Fall..." She felt dizzy, and as soon as she put her first paw down, she fell flat on her belly. Maddy bent down and nudged her up with her muzzle. "Rest. You need it."

Autumn just managed to lay back down in the nest when Maddy dropped shoved the mouse towards her. "Now eat."

Autumn took a bite and let the flavor wash a around in her mouth. It had been so long since she had eaten. She finished the mouse quickly, then dozed off, only to enter a new nightmare.