Chapter 1: 117
They were about a hundred strong at the time, taking advantage of the plentiful food and warmth. Moving was a big ordeal, most wanted to stay, those who have never seen their home. But the elders and the leader decided that they were traveling back. Many wern't happy with this, but the tribe must stay together to survive. And now, no matter their feelings, they were on their way.
It was slow going so far. A little less than half of the tribe were children, and tended to wander and play. Cato was walking near the back of the group, and found entertainment in the mothers have to practically drag their children. There was one mother of three who's kids decided they were bored of this trip , and proceeded to climb up and down their mother' long, white fur. The woman turned, locked eyes with Cato, and growled, "What do you want." Cato only stared at the ground in front of him as a response.
This was a normal reaction to him. His father was not of the tribe so he was treated as a traitor. It wasn't because his tribemates wanted to, at least he hoped, it was part of the law ment to punish the parent. It worked, he could see the pain in his mother's eyes every time someone glared or snapped at him. It broke Cato's heart to see his mother suffer. But it also made him suffer, which he didn't understand. Why punish the child for the parent, it didn't make sense to him. As if he didn't already have enough on his plate.
Even without this nonsensical punishment, he still struggled. His father was from the south, so he inherited his thinner, dark fur. Everyone else from the tribe had thick, long white fur to camouflage them and keep them warm in the freezing snow of the north. But he also got his lean build from his father, making him a quick runner. He can't use stealth, but he can outrun the mostly starved prey of the north, a technique used in the southern grasslands. So he was assigned as a hunter. But it didn't keep him warm.
A cold breeze already blew through the crowd, sending shivers down Cato's spine. Only a few days into the journey, and the temperatures already started to drop. Snow and ice crunched underpaw, making Cato worry. Dark clouds gathered ominously in the distance, and whispers of a storm made it's way through the tribe.
"You see that?", Cato's best friend and pretty much an adopted brother, Theo, motioned at the impending doom." It doesn't look good.", Cato replied, " Shouldnt we lay low, and wait for it to pass?" " You would think." Theo said with a flat smirk, " Leader said we can make it though." " I wish I could talk some sense into him!" Cato stage whispered. " You and me both." Theo smiled, " But we can't even get close to him. I bumped into this one lady and she just said ' What, are you trying to steal something from me' and I was like ' Like you have anything good to steal', can't escape a bad reputation can you." Cato just smiled as he rambled, even with his confidence, Cato could tell Theo was nervous. That made two of them.
A few hours passed, and the dark clouds growled overhead. Snow started dancing to the ground in a steady free fall. Some were starting to converse nervously, and the younger children quieted down. An eerie silence fell over the travelers, the only sound that remained was the ever growing howling of the wind.
Cato felt a pit open in his heart, he tried to shake the sense of dread, but it was stubborn. He looked out to the horizon to find the end of the grey sky, but there was only the ever approaching wall of snow. "Well, it was nice knowing you.", Theo let out an unconvincing confident laugh. " Don't talk like that!" Ambrosine snapped," It's bad luck." Silence crushed them like a weight again.
One by one, the tribe started disappearing into the heavily falling snow. The snow was so thick that once it hit someone, they seemed to vanish. The wall started getting closer and closer to Cato. Ambrosine gripped Cato's tail as he walked towards it, not wavering. Theo muttered, " here we go.", and cringed in anticipation.
All at once the world became a blinding white blanket of howling wind. The cold tugged at Cato a chilled him to the bone. He couldnt see far in front of him and the wind resistance made it hard to make any progress. He could feel his mother tugging on his tail, trying not to loose him. He could hear some Kals calling out names a head of him, At one point there was a kid calling for her mother, her call slowly becoming more and more distant.
"Cato!", Theo called from somewhere to Cato's left. " Here!", he called back. " Come here!" Ambrosine called to Theo. " I'm here!", Theo yelled, closer to them. Ambrosine reached out and grabbed his tail too. This is how they trudged for what seemed like weeks. The three shivered in the cold, and Cato's limbs went numb. Cries continued to occasionally ring out and disappear.
Eventually, the skys cleared and the setting sun poked through the clouds. The snow died down into a gentle fall. Cato surveyed his surroundings and gaped with shock. A sizable number of the tribe was gone.
