Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 32- Hannah: Hunting Alone

How could Spirit do this to me and Fallan ?

Two more days had passed, and we were still stuck in this barren wasteland; no scent of sight of wolves, and barely any more of prey.

She hadn't spoken to us, so me and Fallan had stuck to our own conversations, with Diamond by our sides.

"She really does like Midnight more," she'd whispered to me after the incident, and I snuck glares at the little she-cat who thought she had the power to defy me and Fallan. I regretted even speaking to her a few days ago at the small waterhole, and now had a particular dislike for the black kitten.

I mean, she had no right to stand up to us like that, being a kit and all. And Spirit had betrayed Fallan by letting her speak those words to our sister.

I'd felt bad for Fallan, and had tried to comport her. But she'd always been one to run away from pain, and not accept comfort, so she was quiet when I got sympathetic and emotional.

So, instead, I stuck to speaking quietly and out of ear-shot from the rest of the group without apologizing for their actions. They didn't deserve it anyway.

"I never even wanted her to join the group," I told her yesterday, and the cheetah had agreed.

Which was true, because Midnight hadn't seemed of any particular interest from the start. Yeah, she could hunt pretty well, but why had we invited her? Besides having no mother-cat to look after her?

Why did we invite the kits in the first place? I wondered, and knew I didn't regret bringing Diamond into the group but still couldn't guess why Spirit had wanted them to come along. Perhaps her mother-cat never condoned interesting with other species. Was that reason enough to take in some kittens on a whim? It wasn't because Spirit was motherly, she didn't act that way towards any cat.

But I couldn't come up with a reason why no matter how hard I thought, and just gave up on wondering what was so interesting about these two kits out of all the other ones at the barn.

If anything, didn't we want to bring cheetahs to Cheetah Pride, rather than cats?

Ugh, it was all so confusing... I shook out my fur, and my aching paws, too, which didn't help; it still hurt to set them down and I had to force myself to keep walking.

It was a little after daylight now, the fourth day we'd been stuck out here, and I wondered if it would go on forever. My stomach growled at the thought of prey, fat and juicy like the rabbits we'd found in the barn not so long ago.

I peered over at Storm now, who was about a tail-length away, and then towards Spirit, who was next to Midnight at the front of the group. Storm had only spoken to me once since the watering hole, and told me he was sorry for what had happened, but I'd blown him off without remorse and watched him approach Spirit not long after.

He'd come up beside her to say thank you for saving me, so I guessed she'd dragged him away from the fire outbreak and then they'd both passed out from exhaustion. Of course, Spirit had just shrugged, and moved away to be closer to Midnight and ignored him.

It had been quiet for awhile now, because everyone was tired and no doubt in a stiff mood. It was now very different from we'd gotten first gotten the kittens.

Fallan, me and Diamond. And Spirit and Midnight. It felt like two different, smaller prides in a bigger one, and Storm was just by himself, probably freaked out by all the she-cat, silent-drama stuff. My whiskers almost twitched but I forced them not to.

We walked, and walked, and ran sometimes, and walked into mid-day in complete silence (except for the occasional Diamond asking questions) until finally, the silence was broken.