"Poppywind?" Someone whispered to me.
My head shot up. "What is it?" I whispered, dreading the news this cat brought me.
"Ashtail is complaining of a sore throat."
My eyes widened. "No…" I whispered.
Calm down, I thought to myself. Ashtail is probably suffering from a sore throat, nothing else.
Those thoughts vanished when Ashtail stumbled into my den. She had the same conditions as the other two cats lying in their nest, the same puffy eyes and streaming nose. As I rushed to give Ashtail some honey and lavender, I thought about the other two cats, and I knew only too well how this disease, which I now called the Twisted Disease, found its way into out camp.
-Flashback-
"Are you sure we can eat this?" I questioned warily, prodding the strange gray bird with my paw.
"Well, they're stupid, I'll tell you that. I pretty much walked up to it and killed it. It didn't even notice!" Dawnfoot meowed proudly to the growing crowd.
"I don't know if we should eat it." I meowed thoughtfully. "Look at the way the beak is twisted."
"I can see that." Fernflower hissed irritably. "But we can't just let this prey go to waste!"
Before I could stop her, she lunged forward and began to tear at the bird. After a moment's hesitation, Ashtail and Dawnfoot followed her and began tearing ravenously into the bird.
-End Flashback-
"Eat this poppy seed." I told Ashtail. She nodded weakly, licking up the tiny black seed on her paw before falling into sleep.
I sighed. Fernflower and Dawnfoot, the other two who ate the strange new prey, were sleeping in nests beside Ashtail.
It was a cold, hard leaf-bare, and I couldn't understand why there was a bird standing in the middle of the forest. My mind raced with questions. More and more of these birds were being brought back by hunting patrols, almost every cat had eaten one, Except for a couple of senior warriors, who were smart enough to listen to my advice and stay clear of these birds, and the apprentices, who I had given a good scare and they now refused to eat them. I settled into my nest. How long was it till all of ThunderClan was swallowed up by this strange new disease?