I looked ahead. There were no humans in sight but we still stuck to the side since skateboarders and bicyclers passed by every now and then. Birchpelt trotted on ahead. I shrugged my shoulders, there seemed to be no harm in that.

" Birchpelt!" Braveheart shouted.

   I looked ahead in concern. A big moving truck with the words UHAUL printed on the side was backing up. Birchpelt was headed right towards it. Her eyes were closed and she was humming. I ran forwards to grab her but she was going to hit it before I reached her. She stumbled slightly stepping quickly to regain her balance. Her eyes flew opened and a small scream escaped her lips. She stopped and took a step back. The truck rolled back right by the place where she had been.

"Birchpelt." Braveheart ran over and hugged her.

   Birchpelt started to cry. She collapsed unto Braveheart strong shoulder and wept. She had almost died and that had scared the life out of her. Me and the rest of them stood back and let her cry for as long as she wanted. She stopped.

"Sorry for that." She smiled and wiped away a tear that ran down her cheek.

"Don't worry." Sharptooth comforted her.

   I smiled at him. He looked hard and his name made him seem tough but under all that he was a big softie. The truck was long gone and Birchpelt came back to the group.

"We should stay together from now on." I suggested.

   They all agreed. From now on we would walk together. We reached a certain point where the houses started to look trashy. I realized that we were in the bad part of town. I was worried about staying the night here because of all the things that went on. The sun was on its way down and soon it would be dusk. The shadows stretched longer and soon when we were in the middle of the street the shadows still reached us.

    The sun was gone and the city started to light up again. We walked past the Bar and I could hear music and the sound of glass touching glass. People were shouting and one of them had a gun. My heart pounded when he pointed it at us.

"Look at what we have boys. Some target practice." He laughed

  The men around him smiled and stood back a little. He pulled back the trigger and I started to run. The other cats followed me. The bullet hit the wall above us. The man cursed and shot again. Bullets smashed the glass of the store and the man inside shouted. The other men took off running. I looked back at our group. Smokepelt was limping and some blood was dripping out of her paw. She winced with every step.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, it just hurts." She gasped "The bullet is out but it left a big wound."

  All of us crowded around Smokepelt. Braveheart and Sharptooth picked her up and carried her on their backs. We turned around. There was a big, black cat snarling at us.