"If you know of somewhere better, I'm all ears," he shot back. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. The foxes would love the chase, so they'd have to be fast, and lucky. They were closer to the thunderpath than the camp, but that had its own dangers: the area around it was clear and open. If they didn't lose their tail by then they'd be in trouble. But what else was there? "If you find another way, take it," he told her softly, "maybe we can distract them and they'll get lost." Then she wouldn't be hampered by trying to keep him safe, either. Soostep didn't want to see her hurt, especially not because of him.

"Let's go." Eyeing the hungry predators, he suddenly spun around and raced for the path. Pain immediately blossomed in his side, throbbing as his sides heaved for breath, as his muscles tightened and released and his body shook from the impact of his paws on the ground, and he staggered; but he ran on, finding his balance as he went. He couldn't stop, not now, so he ducked his head into the wind and hoped she was following.

Sootstep was waiting for her to catch up him, she should be much faster, and when he didn't his heart constricted in fear she had been caught. He didn't hear her scream, though, and as he heard her paws pounding behind him he realized what she was actually doing. If it wasn't such a tense situation, if he wasn't injured, he would have chewed her out for putting herself in unnecessary danger.... but he had to save his breath.

As she peeled away he swallowed hard, terrified she might not reach the thunderpath, or that she couldn't find the monster, and he'd never see her again. He watched her go, afraid he would never see her again, tempted again to race after the fox and take it down himself, assuring she could escape, but a snarl from behind set his mind right again. Sootstep shook his head and raced on. The pups were fast, faster than he was on flat ground, but he still had the territory advantage and wove deftly between the trees to keep them lagging behind. He was starting to feel sick and nauseous, the trees tilted in a little bit, but he ignored them and the starburst of light from the sun and kept going.

As Sootstep turned a corner he found a newly fallen tree blocking his path and panic rose in his chest. He tried to stop and tripped and fell, his back legs sliding ahead of him as he sprawled on his side, but in an instant he was up and scrambling into the brush. He couldn't keep going ahead, he couldn't jump the tree and it would be too slow to try and crawl under it. He could heard the sniffling of the foxes as they stopped and investigated, he'd been just far enough ahead of him they hadn't seen him dive into the bushes, but they wouldn't be distracted for long. To his own alarm he saw a long smear of blood on the ground where he'd slipped.

Sootstep backed up, carefully slinking along the edge of the bush and behind the foxes, then sprinting off again. If they heard him, it was too late; he raced through the next set of woods until it turned to long grass and on toward the thunderpath.

i absolutely love it

There! The monster was just ahead of him now. He could hear the foxes yipping behind him as they started to follow his scent trail again, but it didn't matter now, they weren't close enough. He didn't notice Dawnmemories' arrival as he darted across the path, grateful no new monsters had come, and skidded down the hill. His legs trembled with the effort of holding him up against the steep rocky slope that crumbled beneath his paws, and he knew he needed to descend carefully, but there just wasn't the time.

The monster had fallen off the path and become wedged in the ditch. The front had buckled under the force of slamming into the earth and the monster's muzzle was crumpled, the eyes shattered with glass fallen dangerous all around them, one large black paw flat and bending inward. The large, clear forehead had been broken as well, but it didn't occur to Sootstep to jump through the windshield into the belly of the beast, so he dove underneath it instead. It was a cramped space, lying flat on his belly it was still uncomfortable close, but there was no way a fox could get in after them. It was too tight of a fit.

He twisted around to face the front again, surprised to hear growling so close, and spotted a flash of fur above the surface. Dawnmemories! "Down here," he hissed up at her— already inching his way toward the gap again, prepared to throw himself at the fox if it made a grab for her.

Sootstep heaved a sigh of relief as she slipped in beside him and retreated slightly to give her more room. He was tense and wary as he watched the foxes pace around them. When were they going to leave? He knew they couldn't fit under -- well, he hoped -- but he couldn't relax until he knew they were gone. It wasn't until their pawsteps finally faded the dark gray tom slumped to the ground with a sigh. It was possible the foxes were still nearby, guarding them, waiting for them to escape, but in the moment he didn't care. They were safe for now.

He shifted to look at her when she spoke and it was then that he became aware of just how close they were. Curled up in the small space there wasn't enough room for them to sit apart; his body was pressed close enough to hers he could feel the warmth beneath her soft fur, could hear her breath beneath his own labored pants, tasted her scent in the air between them. His blue gaze drifted over her and lifted to find her eyes, silent, suddenly unsure, until he saw her ear.

Sootstep cursed lowly as he took in the blood running down her face and wounds in her flank and tail. He tried to shift closer to her but the space was limited, so he stopped and shook his head slightly.

"Turn around," he muttered, softly in case the predators were still nearby, "I want to look at your ear."

For once in their lives Dawnmemories wasn't arguing with him and he was grateful. Even if it was just an ear, he wouldn't relax until he was certain it was a minor injury and she wasn't going to bleed out sitting here beside him, starting with one injury and working his way down. Sootstep was silent as he peered at he ear and touched his nose to it briefly, inspecting the ragged edge, and gave it a quick lick to clean some of the blood away. The damage didn't seem too extensive, that was one less problem to worry about. He was quite aware of how close they were still, and as soon as he was done he quickly pulled away from her and glanced off into the distance beyond the monster.

"If you want to go out there and get eaten, be my guest," he muttered. After a short moment of hesitation, thinking this really is a bad idea, he shifted closer to lean into her as she suggested. He wasn't convinced the pressure would help... but it was worth a shot, right? Just so they could survive. He focused on stopping the blood flow, not the feel of her pelt against his, certainly not the little shiver down his spine, that she was worried about him, because they didn't have a choice but to be so close and frankly he didn't want to move anyway— because of the foxes.

ME STOP? WHY DON'T YOU STOP SMH

Sootstep knew he should be finding them a way out. It wasn't safe to stay here forever, they were both in pain and bleeding and needed a medicine cat, and what if the foxes found a way in? This wasn't the first time he'd had trouble with foxes and he had always hoped to never run into them again, but here they were. Here they were, trapped, in danger, he reminded himself firmly, but he couldn't find it in him to get up and look around. She was warm and comfortable and he tentatively nestled in closer, resting his head on her back and closing his eyes.

It was the blood loss, probably, that made him so relaxed here even with foxes right outside; probably, he was bleeding out, and his last moments were going to be spent here with her. That was probably why he suddenly wasn't worried about fighting with her anymore, because they were running out of time.

But then again...... he wasn't sure his wound was even still bleeding.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep; when he started to wake, he shifted and buried his muzzle deeper into her fur, squeezed his eyes tighter as he sought sleep again. He could sense a darkness outside that told him it was too early to wake up, but then he remembered vaguely it had been later afternoon when they set out, so it must be the sun setting out there. Well, though his legs were cramped from being holed up in the tiny space, he was surprisingly relaxed still, and warm despite the chilling outside air, so he could stay here the rest of the night without issue. His clan wouldn't be worried, he had spent nights out alone before, and— oh.

Oh, yeah, that warm under his head meant he wasn't alone; worse, he knew who it was. Sootstep tensed, then pulled away, eyeing her in hopes she had drifted off and hadn't noticed. When he looked quiet awake he quickly pulled away from her with a cough. The foxes must have given up by now, so he scrambled for the gap under the monster and squeezed back out into the evening light, the air cold against his side. At first he thought it was just from being away from her warmth, but then he realized the rapid movement have re-opened his wound, so just a few drops of fresh blood began to run down his crimson-stained fur agian. Great.

“I’ll be fine,” he muttered, brushing off her concerns, uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze. He watched her leave before he tried to proceed any further, and winced at each agonizing step as he limped awkwardly to the edge of the clearing. Without the threat of foxes nearby there was nothing to distract him from the agony of his injury, and even as he clenched his jaw and walked as straight as possible he knew it wasn’t a convincing act.

By the time she returned he was laying down waiting, and he said nothing as she started to treat him. He flinched at her touch, a little out of habit but mostly from the pressure, and turned his head away and forced himself to hold still. His claws dug into the ground. It didn’t help that the fox had ambushed him from his blind side, either, so he couldn’t see Dawnmemories trying to help him. Not that he wanted to watch her... he just would have preferred to see what she was doing. Besides, having her so close made him tempted to lean back into her touch, and that wasn’t happening, so yeah, this little healing session was over.

“It’s good enough. We’ll be back soon,” he muttered gruffly.

"I'll be fine," he huffed for the third time that day, growing annoyed that she was so fussy. Her wounds must not be so bad if she was ready to act like this again already. Why couldn't she be nice to him for just a few minutes? He wondered if she was upset he'd slept on her. She could have just moved if it bothered her so much. Sootstep shook his head with a little growl of frustration. He would never understand her.

Still, the dark gray tom stalked after her, because there was no way he was walking back to camp alone. He was in no shape to be fighting off foxes and neither was she. With some effort, he caught up to her, careful not to disturb the pieces of cobwebs still on his side, and trailed a few steps back. They didn't need to talk but like it or not, they did need to stick together.