Erin Hunter - Dawn

Wild with fear, she writhed harder, trying to pull herself free. “Brambleclaw!” she shrieked. “Help!” She expected a tree to crash down on top of her at any moment. Would she be killed trying to help ShadowClan, with no chance to see their new home?

Suddenly Squirrelpaw felt strong teeth sink into the scruff of her neck and haul her forward. The thorns raked her flanks like claws, but she did not care. She leaped to her paws.

Brambleclaw was staring at her, his sides heaving.

“Thank you!” she breathed. She pressed her muzzle against his, but they weren’t safe yet. Another tree groaned overhead, and Squirrelpaw looked up to see a shadow loom slowly over the camp. A huge sycamore was tipping toward them, its branches spreading across the sky as it began to topple.

“Where’s Tawnypelt?” she cried.

“I told her to go,” Brambleclaw meowed. “Everyone has left but us. Let’s get out of here!”

The two cats pelted toward the camp entrance and shot through, almost crashing into Dustpelt, who was waiting outside.

“You’re the last,” he yowled. “Come on!”

Looking over her shoulder, Squirrelpaw saw the sycamore crash down onto the camp, crushing everything beneath its heavy branches. Another of the Clans’ camps had been destroyed. The home that ShadowClan had lived in for uncountable moons was gone.

Dustpelt led them away through the forest. Tallstar and Onewhisker were waiting on the path, staring with wide, horrified eyes as the forest fell about them. Firestar, Leafpaw, and Tawnypelt were with them.

“Hurry!” Onewhisker urged. “The others are already heading for the Thunderpath!”

“I thought you hadn’t heard my warning!” Firestar gasped.

“I got stuck,” Squirrelpaw explained breathlessly.

“Where’s Crowpaw?” Brambleclaw asked, looking around.

“Heading for the tunnel.” Firestar flinched as another oak smashed into the ground nearby.

“Did all the queens and kits get out?” Tawnypelt demanded.

“Blackstar had a kit,” Onewhisker answered. “And there was a tortoiseshell with two kits…”

“What about Tallpoppy?”

“I thought Tallpoppy was the tortoiseshell!” Squirrelpaw gasped.

“Tallpoppy’s a tabby!” Tawnypelt’s voice rose in panic.

“She’s got three kits, not two!”

The cats gazed at one another in dismay.

“I thought everyone was out,” spat Dustpelt.

“The camp was definitely empty,” Squirrelpaw panted.

“They must have run off into the forest!”

Squirrelpaw pricked her ears, listening for the mewling of kits.

“Over there!” Onewhisker cried. He pointed with his nose to a clearing surrounded by fragile, pale-barked saplings. They raced over, Squirrelpaw scrabbling to get a grip on the slippery leaves.

“Hurry!” Tallstar hissed behind her. She felt Brambleclaw nudging her flank. As she struggled to find her footing, a crack sounded above them and a tree smashed down onto the forest floor only tail-lengths ahead, separating them from the others. Squirrelpaw gasped and shut her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Brambleclaw demanded.

Blinking, she opened her eyes and saw the tree lying in front of them. Had Leafpaw and the others escaped? She darted forward away from Tallstar and scrambled onto the newly fallen trunk with Brambleclaw beside her.

“They’re okay!” she yowled in relief. Tawnypelt and Leafpaw were standing in the clearing with Tallpoppy. Onewhisker was trying to round up her three kits, who were darting about in terror, their little tails stuck straight out behind them.

Firestar was at the edge of the clearing, scanning the forest for the best escape route. Looking down, Squirrelpaw saw Tallstar squeezing through the branches of the fallen tree and limping quickly over to join the ThunderClan leader.

Through the trees, Squirrelpaw could see monsters on all sides, munching steadily closer. Suddenly she heard a terrifyingly familiar creaking sound. “Look out!” she shrieked.

An ancient birch tree was toppling toward the clearing.

“Save the kits!” Squirrelpaw yowled to Firestar as the tree cast a shadow across his orange pelt. Tallpoppy heard her and grabbed a kit; Tawnypelt picked up another, and, with Leafpaw and Tallstar fast behind, they pelted out of the way. But Onewhisker was still diving for the final kit, and Squirrelpaw stared in horror as the tree hurtled toward him.

Her heart seemed to stop as the moment stretched into a lifetime. Firestar leaped forward and hurled himself against Onewhisker’s flank. Squirrelpaw just had time to see the WindClan warrior flung clear, the kit grasped safely between his jaws, before the tree hit the ground with a deafening crash.

“Firestar! No!” Squirrelpaw bounded down from the trunk and pelted over to the fallen tree. Brambleclaw kept pace with her, swerving away toward a brown tabby shape staggering at the edge of the branches.

“Got you!” he cried as he dragged the WindClan warrior and the kit out from where they were tangled in the branch tips.

Leafpaw was stumbling, dazed, from underneath a buckled sapling that had protected her when the tree fell. But there was no sign of Firestar. A Twoleg howled, and another splintering groan made the air tremble.

“Get out of here!” Brambleclaw screeched.

“I’m not leaving without Firestar,” Squirrelpaw cried.

“We’ll find him!” Brambleclaw promised. He looked at Onewhisker. “Get the others to the Thunderpath!”

The earth shuddered as another tree crashed down behind them.

“We’ll wait for you at the tunnel,” Onewhisker promised.

As the WindClan and ShadowClan cats fled, Squirrelpaw ran over to where Leafpaw was scrabbling beneath the branches.

“I can see him!” she cried, clawing desperately at the earth.

Brambleclaw pushed past her, using his head to thrust aside the tangled splinters of wood. Squirrelpaw could see her father’s orange pelt, slumped beneath a heavy branch.

Brambleclaw stretched forward and grasped Firestar in his jaws. Trembling with effort, he dragged him out and laid him on the leaf-strewn earth.

A shaft of pale sunlight sliced into the clearing and lit up the ThunderClan’s golden pelt. He lay very still with his eyes closed.

“He’s losing a life,” Leafpaw whispered.

“Firestar…” Squirrelpaw’s tail began to tremble. “Father!” she yowled. Around them, monsters shook the ground, their yellow eyes blazing between the trees.

“We’ve got to get him out of here!” Brambleclaw hissed.

“We can’t risk moving him,” Leafpaw warned.

Squirrelpaw pressed her belly against the earth. “I’m not leaving without him.”

An earsplitting crack exploded above them, and she screwed up her eyes as the forest suddenly went dark. Images flashed through her mind—Sandstorm, the old camp, the Tribe of Rushing Water, Feathertail… StarClan! Don’t let me die yet. After everything we’ve been through, I need to know that the Clan survives!

“Squirrelpaw!” Brambleclaw’s call sounded muffled under the fallen branches that covered them. “Where are you?”

Squirrelpaw opened her eyes and took a long, shaky breath.

The fallen tree was lodged on the trunk of the other, forming a tiny cavern. Brambleclaw’s dark brown pelt was just visible through the twigs. She twitched her tail and flexed her paws one after the other. “I’m okay,” she called. Nothing was broken, but her pelt stung where branches had scraped against it.

“Brambleclaw, are you hurt?” With a grunt, she hauled herself toward him and stretched out her head to lick his flank.

“It’s all right; I’m fine,” Brambleclaw muttered, struggling to sit up. “Can you see your sister anywhere?”