"I'm going to go hunting, who wants to come?" Oriole asked the group.

They had been traveling for many days now. The mountain was close, just another day or so. Closer to being the accepted leader. The terrain was starting to get rocky, and big outcroppings jutted out occasionally. It was almost dawn, after they ate, the Wanderers would sleep.

Junco was nursing an injured paw, she'd impaled a sharp stone on the same paw with the torn claw. Besides that, every cat was just a little tired.

"I'll go!" Static walked over to her. She seemed to be in a good mood, for the sour she-cat that is. It's good that she's not so angry anymore, maybe she accepted her loss.

"Come on, let's look at that copse, probably some prey over there."

Oriole began to head that way with Static following. The early morning was dim but the scent of prey was easy to find. Oriole quickly caught the scent of a mouse.

Placing her paws lightly on the rocks and soil, Oriole crept toward the small rodent. She caught it easily, swiftly snapping its neck. That was an easy catch!

Across from her, Static had caught a squirrel.
That's when their luck ran out. Stashing their catch far under a pile of leaves at the base of a tree, they ventured a bit further away from the group.

"Look, there are some more trees that way," Static mewed, "Let's go."

"I don't know how far we should get from the group, I'll go tell them."

"It's fine, they will still be able to find us, not that it will be necessary."

Oriole frowned. I guess they would be able to follow our scents. Static's right. Never thought I'd think that.

They left the copse and began running towards the trees in the distance. As her paws pounded across the field, Oriole hoped they would find prey there. A meager catch of just a squirrel and a mouse would not be enough for the seven hungry mouths that needed to be fed. I don't know why I'm so worried, it would be surprising if there wasn't anything in those trees.

As they reached the tree line with Static ahead of her, Oriole smelled something weird. It was slightly musky and also smelled of sweetgrass. She hesitated as she ran, tasting the air. Some animal we haven't encountered before. It's probably just a weird kind of prey, and we'll be leaving soon anyway. No reason to give it any more thought.

Mouse Catch
By KittyPeep on deviantART (me)