Nutmeg licked her ruffled fur, her eyes closed as she listened to her surroundings. The murders had seized for a while, which only made her more and more wary. She finished grooming the last bit of uneven fur and sat up, blinking away sleep from her eyes. She glanced up the sky. The sun was setting slowly.

Nutmeg stretched and padded to her fence. She jumped onto it and sat. Nutmeg stiffened as she saw movement in the bushes and relaxed when she saw it was a mouse. She tilted her head as it looked around, squealed as it saw her on the fence, and sped into the forest. She shrugged and jumped off the fence, deciding to walk along the edge of the forest for a bit.

Nutmeg flattened her ears as a warm breeze blew past her, brushing through her fur like water. She purred softly and flicked her ears as she heard a rustle. She ducked as a cat shot out of the Bushes, eyes wide with fear and a deep wound in his shoulder. She hissed as another cat crashed into her.

Nutmeg lay dazed for a moment. She was snapped back to reality when she heard a yowl. She rolled onto her paws and saw a large black cat standing over a orange she cat. Its muzzle covered in blood and sharp claws in the she cats fur. Nut meg hissed and leaped at the cat. ~Not this time ~ she Thought. She crashed into the tabby.

She couldn’t even break the tabbys skin, for she was immediately knocked off of him. She rolled out of the way as the cat leaped where she had been, his claws digging into the ground as he whipped around to glare at her. From the corner of Nutmeg’s eye she could see that she cat bolt away deeper into the city. She only relaxed for a heartbeat when she felt a a force on her front legs as she was tripped.

She hissed as she bit her tongue, the salty tng of blood in her mouth. Suddenly claws raked down her side. She hissed and used her hind paws too kick out at the tabby. She heard the wind get knocked out of him. She stumbled to her paws and whipped around to face him.

The black cat snarled and bolted at her, much quicker than she expected. She tried to sidestep but her paws slipped on something . The tabby struck her with powerful force. She screeched as claws tore through her shoulder . She crouched as another paw was swung at her. She could feel her injured shoulder going numb from pain.

Nutmeg growled and spun around, racing into the forest. She could hear the cat charging after her. She leaped over a fallen tree and felt her paws slide on mud. She lost her balance and tumbled into a bush, twigs snagging in her fur. The tabby leaped over the tree a few seconds later and looked around, his tail lashing behind him in annoyance.

Nutmeg stayed silent as he sniffed the ground and his eyes followed the trail of mud that had been left behind when she had tripped. His eyes met hers but half a second later a blur of orange fur shot at the cat. Nutmeg stared in shock and fear as the tabby’s screams were drowned out by the blood thirsty snarls of the fox. She watched in horror as the fox tore apart the cat.

A few moments later the most of the tabby was severed, only his body containing his limp head, tail and hind leg remained, the rest scattered across the forest floor. Nutmeg watched the fox leave with its prize, her entire body trembling with uncontrollable fear. She hadn’t realized how cruel life outside of the city could be.

Shaking away the thoughts she tried to stand but stumbled on her injured shoulder, clenching her teeth in pain. She lay in the bus,, licking the blood away from her shoulder. She flattened her ears as she realized it was injured pretty badly and that she probably wouldn’t be able to get back home tonight.

Sighing, Nutmeg lay her head on her paw, listening to the chirping of crickets and croaks of frogs. She was soon lulled into sleep by the soft murmur of the forest. ... End of chapter