Hollyleaf POV:
The tunnels. They are my only hope. My last chance.
My paws are pounding on the forest floor as I speed through the trees. I pass the hollow but I don't look back. I crash through the trees not caring that my pelt was being torn into pieces.
Nothing will ever be the same. The warrior code is done, there is nothing to it. I was born breaking the very oath I took. The one thing that I have upheld my whole life. Until I killed him. That stupid cat who tried to destroy my life.
My brothers will never understand. No one will. They just don't get it. I've worked for everything and now I am a murderer. I guess breaking the code runs in the family.
I am not part of the Three. I should have known that. Lionblaze and Jayfeather have gifts. I am just a regular cat. I don't even deserve to be called a warrior.
I hear them behind me so I push forward harder, nearly tripping at the speed I am racing. I can see them. My only hope for a new life.
"Holyleaf, stop!" Lionblaze yells.
I do. I've reached the tunnel. I turn around to face them as they round the corner. Jayfeather, my poor brother. He always wanted to be a warrior and now I'm throwing away his dream. It makes the guilt even worse.
"Hollyleaf," he says quietly. "You've got to listen to us." I ignore him.
"I'm sorry," I meow. "I was only trying to do what was best. I couldn't let Ashfur live! For all our sakes! You understand that don't you?"
Jayfeather stiffens and Lionblaze doesn't understand. "You killed Ashfur?"
I nodded my head but don't respond. Jayfeather is staring at me with those sightless blue eyes. I felt him probing in my mind. I open up my memories, I let him see what I did. He deserves to know.
"He should have been swept into the lake and never seen again. But they found him, and now everything is ruined. I can't stay here."
You don't know how many nights I've spent trying to figure out my life. To plan this horrible thing, and leaving you is the hardest thing I will ever do. I want to tell them but I can't. I can't explain it.
"I know I did the right thing, but no cat will ever understand."
I can't bear the pain anymore. I look at them both burning there picture into my memory. I turn and race away down the tunnel.
Suddenly I feel the tunnel tremble. Then dirt and mud, thousands of rocks are pouring down on me. They are crushing me, suffocating me. My lungs need air.
"Hollyleaf NO!" but his voice is lost behind the rocks.
I can't see. The darkness, the rocks are too much.
I'm sorry, I really am.
But you are a warrior a voice says. One that seems familiar, but one that I haven't heard in moons. You don't give up.