Thin followed close behind Caramel as they walked up to the Humantrail that ran alongside the Wheeltrail. Caramel looked both ways.
"Clear as usual," he said and ran across the Wheeltrail with Thin close behind him. "We need to cross two more Wheeltrails to get to the berries Cloud needs."
"Two?" Thin asked. "Are they usually busy?"
"Sadly, yes," Caramel answered.
"Ugh. This will take forever."
The two cats navigated through the many human wheel-homes until they found a lake with bushes full of purple-blue berries. "We are here," Caramel whispered. "But be careful. There are strays around here that are really protective over these berries."
"What strays?" Thin asked looking around but seeing no cats.
"Be quiet!"
"Too late for that," another voice purred.
Thin turned to see five cats. The cats all had multiple scars all over them. The cats all had their ears pinned and were hissing or growling except one. She was dark red-orange with slightly darker dapples all over her. Her eyes were a cream orange.
"Redwood," Caramel hissed.
"Nice to see you, too." The cat's voice was calm but it had a trace of anger in it. "I see you've brought a friend this time."
Caramel growled. His ears were flat against his head. "What do you want?"
The cat's - Redwood, Caramel had called her - position changed along with her voice. She pinned her ears. "Well, we'd like to know why you're thinking of stealing our berries!" she hissed.
"We were trying to get some to help our friend," Caramel growled.
Thin foresaw a fight and decided to stop it before it happened. "Let's talk about this. We just need a few to help our friend, Cloud. He's been unconscious for multiple moon cycles and we need these berries to help him."
"Does it look like I care about your friend?" Redwood hissed loudly.
"No, but we are taking these berries and you will like it." Thin turned around and grabbed a vine before running off. Caramel did the same.
She didn't look back to see if the cats were chasing them though she was pretty sure they were. They ran to the first Wheeltrail.
"Come on, they won't go past this Wheeltrail!" Caramel ran out into the middle of the Wheeltrail. Just as he got to the middle, a Wheel zipped past him.
He looked at Thin with widened eyes. Thin rushed across the trail to him.
"You ok?" she asked.
"Yeah," he gasped. "I'm fine."
They were more careful crossing the next half of the Wheeltrail. Thin looked back to see Redwood put one paw on the street only to take it back when a Wheel flew past her. She growled and ran off. Her cats followed her.
Thin ran away with Caramel beside her. She held the berries in her mouth, careful not to drop them.
"He should only need one," Caramel said. "But if any of the juice escapes they'll be useless and we'll have to go back for more."
"The sun's setting," Thin said. "We should find somewhere to rest."
"Ok, but we need to hide these." Caramel dug a hole beside a small bush and dropped the berries inside it. "In here."
Thin looked around to make sure no one was looking before placing her berries inside. Caramel pushed the dirt back over the berries and went under the bush. "We can sleep here," he explained.
Thin curled into a small ball and went to sleep. She didn't dream. She just slept through the night.
***
They grabbed the berries out of the hole and walked off torwards the next Wheeltrail. Thin was excited to get back to the thicket. She really wanted to get the berries to Cloud. Him and Wave were her closet friends. Hopefully, these berries would make him wake up.
Caramel got to the Wheeltrail and stopped. The trail was empty without a Wheel in sight. Caramel dashed across. Thin followed close behind but she was trying hard not to ruin the berries.
"One more Wheeltrail..." Caramel said.
Only one... Thin thought. Only one.
The cats got to the last Wheeltrail without trouble but the trail was extremely busy.
"What are we going to do?" Thin asked.
"We wait."
And so they waited. It wasn't until almost mid-day that the Wheeltrail had finally cleared up enough for them to cross.
Thin ran across.
"Here, take these berries, too," Caramel said, giving Thin the berries he'd been carrying.
"Thanks, Caramel!" she said, running off to the thicket.
She faintly heard Caramel say "You're welcome!" from his wheel-home before bursting into the thicket.
"Thin!" Wave called happily. "You're back!"
"Yup," Thin meowed. "I have the berries!"
Wave ran off to the healing hole and called to Chestnut, "Thin's here!"
Chestnut came out and let the two cats in. White was still there with her kittens.
Thin pulled off a berry from one of the vines. I only need one. She thought. Only one...
She carefully picked it up by the leaves and placed it into Cloud's mouth where Chestnut then stepped in to help him eat it.
A few moments later Cloud gasped.
Finally, Cloud was awake.