Kat's POV

I'm petrified at first, all the air knocked out of my lungs as I'm slammed to the ground. I clench my eyes closed, expecting a crushing hoof to shatter my ribs and possibly end my life.

I wait. Nothing happens. That hoof was there a second ago. Am I already dead?

"Easy, easy boy," I hear Jason murmur in a soothing tone. I open my eyes, finding Jason in front of me with a protective, wide stance. The horse, who seems to trust him, has stopped freaking out.

"How'd you do that?" I ask.

"What's this, the third time I've saved your life?" He says, glancing at me from behind.

My face flushes red. "No! And even if that were true, I don't need saving!"

"Really? Because I feel like you'd be dead if I didn't just now..."

"I had it under control!"

"That's no way to talk to your rescuer. Knight in shining armor and all that."

"Knight in-! You're ridiculous!"

This makes him flash a smirk and chuckle. He's trying to get on my nerves.

I take a deep breath and stand up. "Thanks."

Both of the horses had bolted, but Jason said not to worry about them. They know their way back home.

The warm breeze whistles through the trees, creating a peaceful, yet almost eery silence. I've never heard such a beautiful sound in my life. We sit and listen to it for a while without talking. I don't want it to end. I could stay like this forever.

Eventually, the blissful silence is broken. "What's it like there?" Jason asks. His voice makes me jump slightly. It seems so loud after sitting so quiet for so long.

"What?" I ask.

"I mean inside The Walls. What's it like? Are you guys rich? Pampered?"

I smile a little. "Depends on how you look at it. I guess if you could see it, you'd probably resent me for leaving. We don't have to worry about sickness or if we have enough food for the winter. Nothing like you guys deal with here."

He raises an eyebrow. "Then why did you leave?"

"I'm not like them. I can't be happy with the same routine everyday, or memorizing the thousands of rules we must follow to maintain order."

"Are they happy?"

"I guess."

I open my mouth to say something else, but Jason grabs the collar of my shirt and abruptly shoots up to his feet. He yanks me behind a tall oak.

I yelp. "What are you--"

"Shut up!" He growls, his gray eyes flashing with such an intensity that my mouth immediately closes.

Something graceful and deliberate is heard as paw steps on the forest floor. I peek and see a massive, cat like creature with a tawny coat. I stare at its paws covered in blood, down to the last razor sharp claw.

We stand there stiffly in silence for minutes, each one passing like an hour. When Jason thinks that it's far enough away, he let's out a deep breath that he's probably been holding for a while.

"What was that?" I question.

"A mountain lion. Let's make sure it didn't just kill one of us," he replies. I nod and follow him. A sense of dread fills my stomach for the massacre up ahead.