Crossfire

Chapter 2 - The Return

"Starglider? That's a unique name." Zachery started to tremble from the cold.
"Shouldn't you be heading back to your den, or wherever you live?" Starglider asked, wondering where he came from in the first place.
"Um," Zachery looked around, and scanned the area before returning to Starglider's gaze. "I ran away from home. Where I'm from, our parents leave us to see if we're strong enough to survive on our own. The parents where I'm from are cruel, and then the pups become cruel and heartless just like them." Zachery flattened his ears, as he stared down at his paws below him.
Starglider approached him and slid her light blue bandana off from around her neck. She tied it around Zachery's neck, and hoped it would keep him a bit warmer. Zachery looked up at her, and softly nodded as a way of saying "thank you." She shrugged and gave him a small smile.
A piercing screech and a howl echoed from the cave her mother had entered a few moments ago. Starglider, now startled, began to panic as the wind roared through the air and rustled the trees. Zachery jumped down from the rock, and landed next to Starglider, baring his teeth toward the cave entrance. Starglider started forward to enter the cave until Zachery stopped her with his paw. "Don't go in there, I sense a dark presence. If your mother is in there, she's not alone." Starglider lowered her head, frightened by the unknown scent. Fear started to cloud her mind, and suddenly, she bolted into the cave, regardless of whether or not there's something else in there. Zachery chased after her as he called her name several times, but she ignored him.
She halted to a stop. Below her, in front of her paws, lay her mother's dead body.
She froze, and began to feel like she was unable to breathe. Her eyes began to tear up until they started to fall as she stared at her mother's bloodstained fur, unable to look away. Something ripped a massive hole through her side, blood continued to rush out of the giant wound and onto the cold rocky ground. Zachery looked down at the body when he finally caught up, he remained silent, unsure of what to say. The smell of blood began to fill the air around them. Starglider still couldn't move, she felt as if her paws were glued to the ground, and her eyes forced her to stare at what was once her mother, the only thing she had left.
"Starglider, I think you need to move, now," Zachery shouted, quickly shoving her out of the way as a dark, faceless beast dashed out from the shadows that lie deep into the cave. "I told you not to go in the cave, come on, we need to leave now. I'm pretty sure that beast is responsible for her death." He growled at the shadows, the air felt even colder now. Starglider remained silent, following close behind him, both terrified and upset.
Another piercing screech echoed throughout the cave, startling the two of them. Star and Zach rushed out of the cave, and desperately ran out of the dark, ghostly woods, overwhelmed with fear.
"What was that thing?" Starglider asked, after reaching the den underneath the roots of a tree. Zachery sat across from her, still catching his breath. Starglider waited for an answer, and while doing so, she tried to forget her mother's lifeless body. She flicked her unfinished flower crown with her paw. Zach moved closer to her, and sat there, wrapping his tail around her to comfort her.
"That creature in the cave?" Zachery asked, he looked out at the Moon and the starry night with a worried expression on his face. Starglider nodded, and then he sighed. "That was a Shadron."