Coming Dawn

Chapter 04: Great Escape

"C-Come on." Dawnkit ushered quietly, as they trotted wearily through the forest. In the first couple minutes Rosekit had stepped on a thorn and then Brindlekit had slipped onto his face, but they were now at a steady pace. It felt like they had traveled a great distance, but when Dawnkit looked back the camp was still in view.

Dawnkit pressed forward despite the lack of progress, managing to drag herself up a muddy slope, plastering her legs in a thick layer of mud. Kestrelkit was right behind her, but he had to turn around half way to help his brother up. Once they had helped everyone up, and they were all thoroughly a coat of brown, then they heard a screech. It was most assuredly Dovestar's and it sent chills down Dawnkit's back.

"Go. Run. Now." She whispered urgently, but her voice was strained with the sting of dried vomit and now mud. Dawnkit started to sprint and only hoped to Star Clan that everyone else followed. When she shot a look back, all of the kits were heaving behind her in their poor attempt to sprint through the brush. For the smaller cats it was harder to push through the leaves and branches, but they did it. Somehow they did it.

"Find them! We cannot let the taint spread through our forest." A faint yowl echoed through the forest. Dawnkit felt her heart thundering in her throat and the blood pulsing through her ears.

"Faster. Hurry." Dawnkit begged the kits who had begun to falter, she couldn't bear to see anymore death. Not when she could help it.

"I-I can't." Rosekit had begun to cry, and Dawnkit could see the strain that Rosekit was putting into her leaps. Every time she stepped forward her body shook with effort.

"A little more. We just need to find a place to hide. A little more please." Dawnkit begged. The nearby rustling of leaves and the growls of cats followed them through the forest.

"I have their scent trail. They're only kits, they shouldn't be hard to find." Dawnkit was so scared, and she could feel vomit fill her throat again. She swallowed it with a reluctant shiver, it tasted awful but she couldn't afford to. The scent of garlic hit her nostrils and her nose scrunched. It was so powerful and nasty... That was it.

Dawnkit veered to the left toward the thick smell of garlic, and then landed herself in a blooming garlic patch. "Quick. Roll in it. It'll hide our scents."

None of the kits questioned her, because they were to paralyzed with fear to question the only voice that could sound like an authority. They all began to roll violently in the herbs, and Dawnkit even pulled up a small clove of the white root to carry with them. Maybe it would throw off the warriors, it had to. The warrior's voice echoed through the brush, getting closer... And closer.

It a couple minutes of frantic panic she spotted a stream that stretched as long as the eye could see. The stream was deeply embedded into the earth, a couple fox tail lengths of a slope leaning sharply down to it. There was an alcove that Dawnkit was just barely able to make out, and it was protected by a thick array of roots.

"Down there. We'll hide down there." Dawnkit ordered, but her own voice didn't trust herself. What if it couldn't hide them and they all were caught? But she steeled her features and began to slide down the muddy slope that was so deep and mushy into the earth that her paws slide against clay too.

She inspected the alcove and found it was an old den of sort, for what had boringly had inhabited she did not know. But it had been dug deep and had old moss and dried grass covering the floor. The roots must have grown to block the entrance over the years that it has been left vacant. Kestrelkit was the first one to slide down next to her, and she could hear the warriors closing in. They only had so much time now.