Protection

NO! This isn't in the warrior code! The she-cat yowled to herself. But if I don't, he could destroy us… Part of her countered back. She snarled silently and bared her teeth, tearing up the moss and bracken in her nest.

She had watched the gray spotted tom leave the den into the camp.

Sliding out her claws, she stood and slipped out of the den, out of camp from the dirtplace, and into the forest. The she-cat then saw the gray spotted tom look around and raced away. Narrowing her eyes, she bounded after to him silently.

You can't do this! She screamed silently. Her ears pressed against her head. She slowed to a stop and crouched down, hiding in the bushes. The tom was hunched over, looking into the waves lapping toward his paws. The she-cat stood slowly and silently, her gaze resting on a twig. Maybe I could give him a head start, then he could kill me…it would be safer…no. He needs to die. His death will be protection for me and my brothers.

Yes, you shall die under my claws, the she-cat thought, silently edging forward.

She leaped toward the gray spotted tom and bowled him over. He snarled and flipped onto his back and turned to face the she-cat. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

The she-cat snarled, "Your death shall protect us!" The gray spotted tom lashed out a paw, catching some of her black fur in his claws, but didn't cut the skin. She snickered and leaped forward, pinning the gray spotted tom down. "Say good-bye," she snarled and her head flew downward and latched onto the tom's neck, swift as a viper.

He yowled but she it down harder and his yowl ended abruptly. "H-how co-could y-yo-you?" He rasped, blood gurgling from his wounds on his neck.

She raised her head and hissed, "You were going to tell every cat, I couldn't let that happen. Killing you was protection for us." Her green eyes glinted coldly as the gray spotted tom gasped in a last breath and his eyes glazed over.

Snickering, she got off of the tom's dead body and pushed him into the waters, washing away her scent and other evidence. The she-cat even realized that his body was next to the WindClan border. She smirked. Perfect, she thought, but guilt called her belly.

Too late, a voice inside her head rasped. Too late now.

The she-cat shuddered and licked the blood off of her paws and muzzle.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Wait! Please stop!" A golden tabby tom yowled after a she-cat.

A mottled gray tabby tom raced after the golden tabby and the she-cat, wailing, "Please stop! Don't go! We forgive you!"

The she-cat stopped and whipped around to the toms, her eyes dull. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

The golden tabby tom cried, "We forgive you!"

The she-cat shook her head slowly. "You don't understand." She murmured. "I killed him. I killed him for protection." The two toms stood there in shock, trying to register what she just said. "Good-bye," she meowed and turned around. The she-cat bounded forward and into an opening to an underground tunnel.

The rocks above her shuddered and started to cave in, covering the entrance and burying the she-cat.

"No!" The mottled gray tabby wailed. "No! Why did you do it? Why did you do it Hollyleaf?"