I waited about five minutes after Avia left before stripping down. I hung my clothes on the tree, constantly peeking over my shoulder at every sound. The only thing there was trees, birds, and Tar Tar with his back towards me. Geez, that cat was sort of creepy.

I stepped into the crevice, and yelped a little when the water touched me. It was ice cold. My breath stayed in my lungs, refusing to move.

I quickly washed all the dirt off my skin and the grease out of my hair, then briskly dried off and got dressed. I was shivering despite the warm sun.

To get warm faster, I started a little fire by the edge of the clearing. Tar Tar decided to come near to me and sit, but he always stayed a few feet away. Whenever I reached out to stroke his silky pelt, he ran away. "Well, good, because I didn't really want to pet you either!"

Within an hour, I was warm and bored, poking at the dying embers of the flame absently. My legs had fallen asleep, and my butt was numb from the ground, so I decided to clear out the fire and look for Avia.

I stomped it out, then started calling for her in the woods, with Tar Tar a few feet behind me. "Avia! Avy!"

No response.

"Can you scent her?" I asked Tar Tar.

He didn't respond either.

I followed the cat into the woods, occasionally needing to run to keep up with him. Every now and then, he would cast a weird chirping noise into the woods, and listen intently as it echoed on the trees. He was a strange animal, even for a cat. But he was very well kept, as well. His coat was really silky, and looked like a silver marbled tabby's. Whenever he cast his head back to peek at me, I could see a flicker of amber on his eyes, outlined with black.

Tar Tar stopped, listened intently, then turned sharply to the right. I shrugged, then followed the cat. He must know where Avia is, right?

He walked in the same direction, then climbed up a tree and perched on it's branch. He peeked his round head out of the leaves, and looked at me impatiently. Did he want me to go up there?

His tail twitched, waiting for me to do something. Should I follow him up the tree, or just wait?

I decided that climbing up a tree to satisfy a cat was stupid, so I sat down on a small rock. What on Earth was Tar Tar doing?

He waited in the tree for about ten minutes, then leaped down and began running into the woods. I got up quickly and started sprinting after him, weaving between trees and bushes.

He slowed down and entered a clearing. Avia was there, kneeling down next to a small fire with a stick in her hands. The stick went straight through a large, silver, steaming fish cooking over the embers.

She looked at me, then gave a small smile. As usual, she didn't have her shoes on.

I sat next to her by the fire. "Where'd you get that fish?! It's huge!"

"I caught it in the river. From the same water you bathed in. And now I'm gonna eat it." She mocked.

I didn't say anything. The scent of cooked meat and fish filled the trees, making my stomach growl.

"Wait, but how did you catch it? You don't have a fishing pole, or a net or anything."

She flipped the stick in her hands, revealing a cooked underside of the fish. "I have my ways."

Avia waited for the other side to cook, then pulled off a piece. She threw it up into the air, and Tar Tar caught it with his teeth.

She then pulled the fish in half, and offered the tail to me. It's spine was sticking out of the meat, but it looked pretty well cooked.

I apprehensively grabbed it, and took a bite into it like a sandwich. Scales crunched in my mouth before I could taste the meat.

"Needs some lemon juice," I said, "but it's okay."

Avia wolfed her half down, eating everything but the bones.

Tar Tar looked up spasmodically, listening for something. He looked alarmed. Avia gazed up as well, a troubled look in her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Shh," she whispered, getting up slowly.

She stared into the woods, although it seemed quiet. She was really starting to freak me out. What on Earth was out there? And why didn't I hear it? The only sound was the crackle of the flames and the wilderness around us, but it was otherwise silent.

A distant bark sounded. Avia quickly stomped out the fire, then hastily kicked debris over it's remains.

"Run!" She barked. "There's something out there, coming towards us!"

She sprinted into the woods without her shoes, towards the river. Why was she running? It was just a dog!

But she was a survival master, so there must have been a good reason for her to run off like that. Getting up as fast as I could, I sprinted after her. I didn't feel the rush of adrenaline I usually get when being chased, so I felt slow. I wanted to stop and pant, like during PE, but the thought of Avia being woods-smart made me keep running.

The barking got louder. I could tell by the pitch in it's bark that the dog chasing us was large. It wouldn't be easy to outrun it. As the barks got louder, I ran faster. Not as fast as the flying woodland creature known as Avia, but you know. She runs like an Olympic sprinter.

Avia slowly got farther away, her long red and brown braid whipping on her back. Tar Tar was falling back, getting closer to me.

The barks felt close; at least a hundred yards or so. I stole a glance around my shoulder. The dog following us was long, thin and copper red. It's ears were low and floppy, but that didn't make it cute. It's jowls were covered in saliva, and it's sharp teeth were long. A crazed look danced in it's eyes, like a predator running wildly after it's prey.

I looked forward and ran faster than before, sprinting harder. The side of my lungs were in red hot pain, and my throat was dry. I was getting tired from running, but the dog wasn't.

Avia slowed down, then jumped and grabbed a strong tree branch. She heaved herself up, then continued climbing. Tar Tar ran up the tree as if the laws of gravity didn't apply to him. (which it didn't; he was a cat) I used my last bit of breath to run forward to the branch, and slowed down. The dog was now about a hundred feet away. I pulled myself up, trying to get on the branch. I wasn't able to pull myself into the tree like Avia; I wasn't strong enough. So like a kid on a monkey bar, I pulled my feet over the branch and hooked my legs on the tree. My arms gave out from pulling me up, then my torso and arms swung upside down. The dog was getting closer, preparing to jump for me. I had the feeling it wasn't going to be nice.

I pulled my torso up, then I grabbed a higher branch and pulled me up. My armpits were like, burning from all that pulling. I planted my feet on the tree branch, feeling it buckle under my weight.

The dog ran on underneath me, barking madly in confusion. It stopped a few yards away, then spun around looking for me.

From above in the tree, Tar Tar yowled ferociously then leapt out for the barking dog, claws un-sheathed. He landed clumsily on the dog's head, avoiding it's napping teeth by clawing it's nose. The brave cat was almost immediately flung off the dog's head, hitting a nearby tree with his flank. The dog's head was scarred deeply in many places, but it hardly yipped a complaint. Pieces of flesh had been clawed or chewed off.

Before Tar Tar could even get up, the dog sprang at him with open jaws, roaring.

As the dog came in contact with Tar Tar's flank and bit down, Avia sprang from the tree, howling madly. She landed with her feet square on the dog's neck, making it release Tar Tar. The dog's neck bent at an angle that wouldn't kill it, but I could tell it wasn't comfortable.

Avia started kicking the dog's side with the strength of a soccer player, cussing like mad. The dog was whimpering now, but I didn't think she could hear. She was too bent on avenging her cat. With each time she hit, the dog would howl in pain. She wouldn't let it get up.

"How dare you?! How dare you try and hurt my ... pet?!" She screamed. "Don't you ever try to touch him again! Don't ever touch any of us again!"

She paused for a second, listening to the dog howl sadly. "Because if you do," She panted, trying to get a breath. "I will kill you!"

She kicked the dog like a football, trying to get it to come up. "Get out of here!"

Obeying, it got up like a newborn faun, then limped away with it's tail between it's legs.

Out of surprise, I fell out of the tree and landed on my butt. A numb pain instantly flared up my side, but I was too curious about Avia's bloody feet to care. She was cradling Tar Tar's limp figure in her arms.

I got up, trying to get a better view. Poor Tar Tar was shakily breathing, as if his lungs were like old vacuums. The fur on his pelt was sticky and dark, and his Amber eyes were closed.

Avia choked back a sob and stifled a tear, not wanting to seem weak. Her voice cracked as she made a high pitched squeaking noise. Tar Tar feebly lifted his head at the sound of her voice, then let out a silent meow.

She cradled him more as I stood by awkwardly for several minutes. I tried to break the silence. "Do... you want me to like.... um, help or something?"

Her face twisted into something like a snarl at the sound of my voice, but she softened and cleared her throat. "Um, sure. Do you have anything we could bind him up with, or some water?" She said quietly, not looking at me.

"I've got duck tape and an old tent tarp, but I sort of need that for sleeping-"

"Do you want him to die?!" She barked, looking straight at me with her flaring red eyes.

I blinked, then shook my head. "Nope! We can't have that! But we'll have to clean it off pretty good."

"Whatever, just hold him as I clean it."

She shoved Tar Tar's bleeding body into my arms, then ripped my bag off my shoulders and searched wildly for the tarp, pulling out trash and other things as she went. She took one look at my pocket knife, then threw it to the ground. I wound have told her to pick it up, but it seemed like she would bite the head off whoever talked next.

She grabbed the tarp and my water can triumphantly, then opened the thermos and washed the tarp carefully. Mud slid down it in globs.

Once she got it clean, She took some of her own water from her bag and neatly washed the blood off Tar Tar, leaving soothing comments on how good of a boy he was being. The water flowed off my arms in orange, hairy cascades.

Finally, she dried the tarp off by waving it in the air, then folded it in half and wrapped it around his torso twice. She topped it off by securing it with duct tape.

"He won't like it when we take it off, but oh well. We don't have anything better." Avia took him into her arms, then sat cross-legged and put him on her lap to rest.

She didn't acknowledge the mess. I waited for her to pick it up or something, but she just sat there, muttering quietly to the dumb cat.

I sighed, then kneeled down and began cleaning the stupid mess.

"I swear, that dog will pay for what she did." Man, was she whacko. And how did she know the dog was a she? It looked like a guy to me, but whatever. Avia had a strange way of thinking.