FSE

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Feline wars

A series by mavinator5

Take note in advance readers, this is a furry story that takes place at multiple peoples point of view. It will almost always be first person narrative, but the point of view changes between the main characters, Maverick (me) and the other, you'll learn about it soon. It might also enter a secondary characters point of view from time to time.

Any and all comments on anything, from the spelling to the length to the plot or others are greatly appreciated.

Chapter 1: A new beginning.

Sub-chapter 1.1: Setting up camp.

'Wow, am I ever a lucky guy' I thought. I am a 10th grader at Samuel-Genest. I had just managed to join a special class called 'the leadership program' and we were going on our first outing. We would be camping out in the wilderness for the next 2 weeks: enduring the elements, working together to survive and learning about each other. Normally things like this aren't my favourite activity, but I would be camping with two teachers and 19 girls, all of which were in the same programme and most of which have no idea how to survive in the forest. Needless to say, I would be there to help them out. I might not do this kind of thing much, but when I had, I had learned a lot, and I felt confident that I could handle myself well. I already had my eyes on two or three of them. They were cute, nice, and looked scared at the idea of camping. They would be easy to charm. One in particular, Maria, really appealed to me.

"We're here" shouted one of the teachers. Her name was Misses Cocora. She was a small white woman in her 30's with slim features and long hair. The other teacher, Miss Arro, was a bit taller with shoulder length hair. She was 24 years old and our new gym teacher, who had many years worth of survival experience.

"Let's pitch the tents" she said. I went to over near the forest and started pitching my tent. It only took 10 minutes. Afterwards I lay against a nearby tree, ready to relax. I would have, except for the fact that no one asides miss Arro had even planted one pole yet. So I slouched over to the nearest tent and started helping. Lucky for me it was Maria. After one hour, we finally had all the tents up. I had helped 6 girls, including Maria and the two others I like, and misses Arro had helped 10 others, as well as the other teacher. Only three of the girls managed to get their tents up without help.

"Thank you for helping everyone, Maverick" said Miss Arro while the others went to check out their new home for the next 2 weeks.

We proceeded to start a fire. The teachers said that they would let us give it a shot, and would only help us if we needed it. Needless to say, the girls looked towards me for help. With a cocky grin, I instructed them to collect some fire wood from the storehouse while I got the pit ready. In 15 minutes, we had a roaring fire. If anyone had doubted my survival skills, they were convinced. We roasted some hot dogs over the fire, and the teacher proceeded to tell us the day's schedule. First on the list was to show us the limits around the camp. We had about 1 kilometre in every direction before the forest started to thicken. After that, it was dangerous because there were wild animals, from little squirrels to deer and even sometime a wolf or a bear. They showed us the limit and a few landmarks to help us find our way if ever we got lost. Afterwards we returned to camp, and we had some time to do whatever we wanted. All the girls bunched together and started talking about this and that, so I decided to go exploring.

''Don't go outside the boundaries, Maverick'' misses Arrow called out to me when she saw me leaving. I waved to show that I had heard, and then I proceeded to discover everything worth seeing around our campsite.

So far, all you know about me is that I'm a 16 year old boy; so I'll tell you some more about me. First and foremost, I hate bugs and spiders, which sort of makes an interesting contrast with the whole 'camping' thing. But I also love to feel free, and there's no better way then to leave the company of other people behind. I'm sort of considered a semi loner at school, mostly because I only have a few friends, and I don't hang out with them all that much. That asides: I play a lot of video games, I'm a big reader and I'm a strait A student, except in French, where I have a solid B+. I go to a French school, but my mother tongue is English.

It was better then I expected. I love nature, more specifically animals. I have two cats at home and a dog. However, I'm also a rather spiritual person, and when ever I go camping, I like to meditate for an hour each day in the forest. It's a good way to unwind after having spent so much in the company of others.

I sat down and crossed my legs, letting my senses explore their surroundings: I listened to the chirping of the birds and the wind ruffling through the grass; I looked at the different green tints of the leaves and the grass, as well as the brown of the bark on the trees; I felt the grass and dirt between my toes and fingers; I tasted the air, the sweet taste of cleaner air from the country, and I smelled it as well. All of this reminded me of a poem that I enjoy. ( Note : I wrote this poem myself)

+INSERT POEM+

I could have stayed there all day, but after about 30 minutes I felt a buzzing in my pocket. I sighed and took out the pager. The teachers had given one to each of us, and when it buzzed, we were to return to camp so we could do something or another.

I got up and started the short walk balk to camp. 'This would be a great spot for a picnic while were here' I thought 'maybe I'll bring Maria next time.' With that cheery thought in mind, I picked up the pace and made it back to camp in about 10 minutes.

Sub-chapter 1.2: Teachers trust

I was the last one to arrive, although that's probably because I was the only one that took more then 5 steps into the forest.

Misses Arro came over and asked me "We are going to get the girls a bit more comfortable about being here by taking them on a tour of the forest. I was wondering if you felt confident about us breaking them into three groups and you would lead one of them."

I mulled it over for a minute, then said "Wouldn't it be better if you split us into two groups and I went with Miss Cocora? I don't mean to be mean, but she wasn't able to put up her own tent without help."

Misses Arro smiled and answered "She's never been any good at assembling tents, but don't worry. When it comes to exploring, she can do pretty well. This is her fifth year doing this camp, and she can handle it. Now, after I saw you put up your tent, I can tell that you have some experience and I think you got what it takes to lead a group. But if you accept, you've got to know that you're responsible to get them back relatively unharmed. So, what do you say?"

I mulled it over for another before accepting her offer. She smiled and thanked me, and then we proceeded to the centre of the camp where Miss Cocora was gathering the girls. They were seated on folding chairs and looked apprehensive. We stood next to Miss Cocora as she begun explaining the situation.

"We've decided to that you lot need to get used to living in the forest for the next two weeks, so were going to divide you into..." she glanced at Misses Arro, who nodded "Three groups, since Maverick will lead one." A few of the girls looked at me with fear, worry and distrust. I just smiled and waited.

Misses Arro and Miss Cocora both took 7 students with them, so I would only get 5. I was happy I didn't have as many cause it would be less of a bother to take them trough the forest. I was also pleased because Maria was in my group.

All the girls looked at the forest as if was going to bite their heads off. "Come on" I said "It's not going to eat you." I went a few feat in to prove my point, then waited to see if they would follow. One the more daring ones, Tania I think, took a tentative step, then another, and another. I smiled, but if it was going to take 5 minutes to cover the amount of ground I could cover in 15 seconds, we weren't going to see much forest.

The rest of them took their time following Tania, and soon we were walking, albeit slowly. I walked slightly ahead, stopping every few steps to make sure they were all okay, and I made them observe the beauty of nature every few minutes.

Eventually they started opening up, and we managed to get a good pace going, stopping to see as much as we could. I almost though I spotted a dear once, when we neared the limit, but it disappeared before I could say anything.

About half way around the forest, I spotted a large group of birds in the trees, and figured it was time for some interaction.

"So, now that we've seen about half the forest" I asked "who want to try feeding some birds?" They all looked pleased at the suggestion, so I pressed on. "Okay, I'm going to give you all some birdseed, and you're all going to get comfortable, cause this could take time. Once you have it, don't move and stay completely silent, even when you run out of seed, so every one can get a turn."

I proceeded to give all the girls some of the birdseed that I had brought with me, and I helped them into comfortable potions, giving suggestions about their arms so they wouldn't get tired. I then took off my own hat, inverted it, and poured some seed where the visor was, so I could lean against a tree and watch the others without my arms tiring or being forced into an awkward position like them.

We waited. We waited a lot. It took about 5 minutes before the first birds came. Some of the girls were getting bored and tired, but then the first one landed on the ground, about 10 feet away. It hopped its way across the ground, and ended up right next to Angelina, where it started peeking at the seed in her hand. When the others saw this, they became so still and silent, I don't think they were even breathing.

It made me so proud.

We all slowly got the chance to feed the birds. When everyone was out of seed, the girls got up and stretched, stiff from staying still so long. Only a few minutes after we had settled down, I had gotten the buzz again, which was the signal that we were to return to camp within the next fifteen minutes.

As soon as they started moving, I announced "Okay guys, we're behind schedule. We were supposed to be back 5 minutes ago, but I didn't want to interrupt, so we're going to head strait back from here. Can anyone tell me which way the campsite is?"

Ceria turn and pointed "I think it's that way."

"You're almost right." I said as I came over and corrected her by about 40 degrees "Let's go."

As we walked back I asked "How did you know where the camp was, Ceria?"

"Well, we left camp from the North-East exit, and you said we stopped about half way around the forest, so to get back, we just have to go North-East." she answered.

"Very nice, but how did you determine..."

"That North-East is that way? It's noon, so the sun is South. From there I just measured about where North-East would be."

"Have you ever camped before?" I asked.

"Well, not really camped, but I took geography in school, and I used to go to summer camp. We learned how to keep ourselves going strait if we ever got lost in the woods."

"Nice."

From there on, we returned in relative silence, since we were jogging.

It took about 15 minutes to make it back to camp, even with our steady pace. We couldn't have been more then 20 minutes late, yet somehow I got back to find the two teachers rushing over, clearly worried and unhappy. They demanded an explanation to my tardiness, which I provided promptly. The other girls, those not in my group, who had followed the teachers at our arrival, got envious looks on their faces when they heard about the bird feeding. The teachers told the whole group to go and talk while they dealt with me.

"Let me handle this one. I have something I need to straiten out anyway. Can you get the rest of the girls started on dinner?" Miss Arro asked misses Cocora. Misses Cocora nodded and walked off while miss Arro walked over to a fallen tree and sat down, indicating that I should do the same.

"You realize, of course, that what you did, although a very intelligent way to help the girls settle their apprehensions, was very irresponsible? Do you realize how much you made us, all of us, worry? What if one of you had gotten injured, lost or incapacitated?"

I really didn't have a counter argument to what she said, so I just kept my mouth shut. Miss Arro took this as an invitation to continue.

"I should punish you by removing privileges, such as leaving the camp without a teacher at your side, but I know that of everyone here, you're the only one who has any experience with this. As such I'm going to ask you this. I have a set of 4 walkie-talkies, which are only for us teachers. However, if you had had one today, you could have told us what was happening, and we wouldn't have had to worry. I'm not sure why I didn't give you one before we left, but now I want to know. This is a leadership class, so, can I trust you with the authority of a teacher? IF I give you this privilege, and the equipment that comes with it, can I trust you to act like a responsible adult, and lead more groups like this?"

I was confused. "I though you were going to punish me, but instead you're going to give me another privilege?!? How does that make any sense at all?"

She smiled. "Maverick, everybody makes mistakes. I'm sort of building this up past its actual worth. After all, if one of you really had gotten injured, the other would just have carried that one person back. And I doubt its even possible to get lost when every girl here is scared out of their wits about the forest. So I really wasn't all that scared. However, I do realize that you meant well, and we could use the extra help, so I still want to know your answer. Will you become a "teacher's aide"?"

Well, it was safe to say that this explanation caught me off guard, but now that I did think about it, there hadn't really been a way for anything bad to happen, beyond maybe a mass knockout caused by god-knows-what. "Um, okay, why not? I'll become a teachers aide. So, what perks and responsibilities come with it? Aside the walkie-talkie and having to help out with teacher stuff."

"Well" she answered "There isn't really much else to it, but if something comes to mind, I'll tell you.

Right then, we were called over to enjoy the fruits of the girls' labour, in the form of soup and grill cheese sandwiches. After that we roasted some marsh-mellows over the fire, and had a lengthy conversation, which revolved a lot about the first day, then bed.

Now, for the most part, everyone had a buddy with which they shared a tent. For obvious reasons, I was denied this. However, the girls are also an impair number. As such, the teachers decided that the extra girl would sleep right next to me, in the next tent over. Our two tent were much closer then the other ones. As I told you at the start, Maria had been the closest girl to me when we were setting the tents up. However, once the teachers realized the flaw with the buddy system, they moved the leftover girl, Hannah, over next to me, since she hadn't started her tent yet.

Now, being in the buddy system implied that we had to keep an eye out for each other. As you can imagine, this is much more difficult when you cant even see the other person. So, basically, if one of us randomly started yelling, the other person was supposed to run in and help them with whatever the problem was. Anything beyond that was pretty much impossible. So, as we all retired to our tents, I turned toward Hannah and said "If you need anything at night, just yell."

She smiled shyly (most of the girl here are pretty damn shy) and said "I wish I could do the same, but I'd be pretty useless in most situations."

We both chuckled a little, and then entered our separate tents. I have to say, these tents were probably better then most of the equipment we had in our entire school. Relatively waterproof, somewhat fire resistant, not too small, good bug resistance. Plus, they had three colours: red, blue and green.

I changed quickly into a pair of pyjamas, got into my sleeping bad, and basicly lay there for 15 minutes thinking about the day. Then I took out a book, The guardians of Ga'hool: Outcast, and started reading. After about an hour I got tired and put my book away, then I fell asleep.

Sub-chapter 1.3: The first encounter

I woke early the nest morning. Like, really early. It was so early, the sun hadn't even risen yet, although there was enough light to see. No one else was up yet, which wasn't very surprising, since I'm willing to bet half of them stayed up super late talking. Since no one was up, I decided to go meditate again, with my awesome new Walkie-Talkie (now shortened to W-T). It took 20 minutes to walk there, but I was in no rush. When I got there, I sat down nearer to the thick forest, which was very close by. I wanted to feel the grass and the underbrush. As I sat there, I stared into the thick forest, and thought "Hmmm, must be nice in there." I decided to go in, just a little, so I could REALLY feel the forest around me.

It felt wonderful, like the gentle caress of a pool as you dive in. I sat down again and continued my meditation. However, as time passed, I began to feel apprehensive, like something was about to happen, something bad. No sooner then the thought crossed my mind, I heard the caw of a raven. Now, I'm VERY superstitious, and the cawing of any member of the Crow family was cause for worry. I suddenly grew very still, straining my senses to the max. I heard the soft sweep of the wind across the leaves, I saw the swaying of the branches of a tree, I smelt the dirt on the ground. My sense of apprehension was off the hook. I waited for a minute, then 2, then 5. By 10 minutes I was so tense the sound of a twig snapping would have sent me flying.

Instead, I heard the sound of something hitting the ground. It wasn't very loud, but it also sounded pretty far off. I heard it again a few times, and then I heard a much louder version of the same sound, sorta like whatever it was had been walking in my direction, and then suddenly decided to jump and land on all fours instead of one at a time.

Now, obviously, I was no longer on the ground. In fact, the only reason I hadn't left yet was because I had forgotten how to move my legs. However, the sound had stopped after the big one. Now, I was curious. Most of my brain was screaming to run, or to stay perfectly still and remain undetected. But the little sliver that was left was saying that it wanted to go see. I was stuck there, warring with my mind. Because the sound had disappeared, I was considering going to see. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me, and I started to walk towards the sound, careful to remember which way was the way back to camp. After about a minute of walking I started to hear laboured breathing, which made me believe the creature was in pain. I picked up the pace a little, my protective instincts kicking in.

That's when I smelled the blood. It was a very powerful sent, almost as if the thing had gone for a blood bath. That slowed my step down, and I almost turned and ran.

Almost.

I, very slowly, one step at a time, kept going. I felt like the first time the girls had entered the forest, and realized just how scared they must have been. After a few steps my mind realized that if I smelt this much blood, odds were the creature was either on it's death bed or had killed another animal or two. This wasn't a very encouraging thought.

Finally, I saw the forest ahead of me begin to thin. The laboured breathing had worsened, as had the sent of blood, and I assumed the creature was probably just ahead.

How very right I was.

As I stepped into the second clearing, I saw it.

It was a tiger.

I quickly stumbled backwards and hit my back hard on a tree. The pain followed quickly, but I managed to keep on my feet, barely. I also succeeded in keeping the tiger in sight while I waited for the pain and dizziness to pass. That wasn't hard, since it appeared to be as shocked as I was.

The tiger was laying on its side with multiple wounds, although none were nearly as big as the huge tear it had on its exposed flank. It was also covered in blood, although I couldn't tell if any of it belonged to another animal. The tiger was clearly suffering, but after it overcame its shock of seeing me stumble in, it quickly started growling at me, showing off it's gigantic fangs and even bigger claws.

I tried to get my body steady. I had to leave before this thing decided it didn't like me and came over to slice my throat open. But my body was still too weak from the collision and seeing this great beast to move. I was scared. I was in pain. And yet the strongest emotion I had was pity. Pity at seeing this once great tiger reduced to a pool of blood, waiting for its death to come. As my strength returned, I managed to stand up straight and, quite to both our surprises, I started walking towards it. The surprise in it's eyes faded for a moment to be replaced with fear, and then hatred as its growling grew much louder. It even tried to stand, presumably to defend itself, but it fell back down quickly, defeated by it's loss of blood. The growling stopped. It had given up. The tiger just lay there, waiting for what it assumed was it's end.

Once I reached it, I knelt down beside it and tempted to evaluate the wound. However, it was clearly not happy at this act of kindness, and attempted to hit me, claws extended, with its hind paw. Lucky for me, I had anticipated this, and I hoped back quickly. Not so lucky for it, the movement caused more blood to spill form the wound, and it had to sit back down.

"Look, buddy" I started "I want to help you, but I can't if your going to attack me." I expected my words to have no effect whatsoever. After all, it was just an animal. As such, I was amazed when some of the anger in it's eyes changed to suspicion.

"Can you understand me?" I asked, bewildered by the fact that this animal seemed to have understood what I said. I stood there, expecting no response, but hoping that maybe it would give me one. It took a minute, maybe two, before it finally nodded, very slow and deliberately. I was so surprised I almost fell back down. No animal should be able to comprehend human speech. They just weren't intelligent enough. The best they could manage were growls and body language, and even that didn't go much further then "This is my territory, get out" or "I'm gonna mate with you".

"Can you speak as well, or only understand?" It shook it's head. "I'll take that as only understand?" A nod this time.

Now, normally I would have taken a few minutes to digest this information, but it's wound was too severe, and judging by the blood, it was probably gonna come down to a matter of minutes.

"Okay, listen then. That wound is too sever, and if you don't get at leased some first aid, you're going to die." It was already shaking it's head, knowing what I was gonna say next. I said it anyway. "If I went and got the first aid kit, would you let me help you?" It kept shaking it's head. "Why not? Is it pride, honour? Do you hate humans?" It nodded 3 times "Well, that doesn't change the fact that you need help, and I won't be able to forgive myself if you don't let me do SOMETHING." It gave a low growl that I assumed meant "I couldn't care less." I pressed on. "Don't you have friends? Family? Something worth living for?" Now it stopped growling. "I'm going to get the kit; Think about what you're losing if you say no. And don't you dare try and get away." Without waiting for an answer, I turned and sprinted back to camp. It took just over 8 minutes, much better then I had hoped, but still not good enough.

To my surprise, no one else was up yet. This worked out perfectly. I quickly reached into the food stores and grabbed a large steak, and then I ran to the medical tent (yes we have a tent for people who get hurt) and grabbed one of the three first aid kits. As soon as I got it, I heard some stirring in one of the tents. I moved swiftly but silently to the edge of the forest, and then I started running back to the tiger, moving faster as I got further from the camp. It took me another 10 minutes to get back. By now the sun had risen above the tree tops. I figured it was around 9:00 AM.

I was gasping for air and fell quickly to my knees. Since I'm not that athletic, sprinting for the better part of 15 minutes was way out of my ability. After I got my breath back, I look towards the tiger (whose sex I don't know). It hadn't moved, and it was staring at me.

"So... you've made up your mind I hope?" It nodded "Good. So, can I help you?"

So, not bad for my first ever story? Although I posted the other one first, I started writing this one first. Anyway, like I said, comments, criticism and others are much appreciated, but please try and make it constructive.