Injured
She lay there.
All alone, as the wind chilled her fur, making the crimson pools around her glisten.
She lay there.
Half unconscious, as swarms of flies were circling over her.
She lay there, in deep thought.
The ginger she-cat blinked once, twice. Her head felt swimmy, her mouth and throat dry, and her stomach empty.
Not that she wanted food. She'd retch.
As she was slowly waking up, she started taking notice of her surroundings. The sun hasn't quite risen full up, yet, making the morning a cold one. She was surrounded in morning fog, which was successfully clouding her already blurry vision. Even with her weak sight, she could still make out dark blotches filling the field all around her.
'Bodies. Dead bodies.'
The thought of lying midst a clearing of the dead made her mind sway from side to side as it threatened to shut down on her.
She tried standing up, only to fall down hissing in pain. She looked at her belly - the source of the throbbing pain which she hadn't noticed until now - and grunted with disgust.
There was a long gash on her stomach, staining the white fur black. It had a musty stink, which only could mean infection. The wound was crusted black in some places, but was still streaming with bright red whenever she moved - disgusting.
She tried not to look at it.
The pain was getting greater now, flowing through her body like hot fire. She tried ignoring it as much as she could, but it was useless.
'Useless. They're all useless... I'm useless.'
The ginger she-cat could vaguely hear noises coming from afar, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Even before the battle, Ruby (for she still remembers her name) trained harder than ever, continuously trying to prove her worth to her leader, continuously trying to gain his favor. And she has, or so she thought back then. She would always be by his side, going wherever he went, sleeping wherever he slept. Ruby would always tell him all about their band, what they thought of him, what they did, what they planned.
Back then, she thought they were inseparable.
When it was obvious a battle is inevitable, she tried to cling to him even more, as she developed feelings for their leader.
But here she was, balancing on the line between life and death, remembering how he had abandoned her.
They'd lost. Their band had fled with tails shamefully tucked between their legs. Her leader had told them they had to move fast enough for the enemy not to catch on.
That's when she fell. Her wounds had been to deep, everyone knew that. Raven, for that was her love's name, didn't wait for her. He'd snarled at her to either stand up and continue, or to be left behind like the useless weakling she is.
'But I tried. Oh, I tried'
She screwed her eyes shut, trembling as she tried to rid her mind of such thoughts.
Instead, she focused more on the noises which were now closer than ever.
She swore she could hear voices. Many of them.
Maybe they came back for me. Maybe they hadn't left me...
"Halli ! There's another one of them ! It's the red one from before."
Ruby flattened her ears to her head as she tried to shut out the loud, high-pitched voice of a young cat.
"Shut up, Basil, I know." Came the harsher, older voice.
The wounded she-cat gasped as she felt a small paw prodding her side, sending waves of burning pain lancing through her weakened body.
"She's alive ! She-"
"Idiot ! Are you stupid ? Get away. Bring me my cobwebs, lots of 'em."
"Alright, Halli."
She heard pawsteps shuffling away. She didn't dare open her eyes.
These cats...they weren't from her band. There is no hope...
"Mouse-dung. Her injury is worse than I thought. That'n will need many webs for patching up."
"Then why are you helping her ?" Came a new voice. This time it was a tom.
His voice was cold, angry. Even sad, somehow. Though most of all, it sounded familiar.
Ruby cracked open a green eye, instantly regretting it as the light streamed in. The fog seemed to clear off, and the sun was higher up in the sky.
"Because Jess ordered us to. Got problems with'at, Marble ?" The ginger she-cat could see a black cat standing over her, a she-cat, by the looks of it. It was she who kept snapping at everyone.
'Halli. She's Halli.'
Two other cats joined Halli's side, both of them the toms from earlier. One was a dusty cream tom, with a startling brown splash over his face. His eyes were a light blue. A nice, soft blue that went with his bright collar.
The other one was a dull gray, with black, snakey markings all over his pelt and face. The white fur around his eyes sharply defined his yellow eyes.
'Marble... Marble ! I killed his brother, what'sis name...err, scratch that. No wonder he wants me to die.'
"She murdered Dusk. Of course I have problems with that, Halli." The gray tom replied with the same amount of venom in his voice.
The two dislike each other, it seems.
As the black she-cat worked on her belly injury, Ruby gazed at the sky, her eyes clouded with pain. She didn't care anymore. Not more than she did before, anyway.
'Maybe it's better to die. Maybe being condemned for all I've ever done is better that living here.'
Yet something kept her light from snuffing out. The red she-cat would never know what.
"Will you take long ? We still have a long path to clear, and not with those two." Marble spoke again, impatiently indicating something behind his shoulder.
Ruby followed his gaze, almost widening her eyes in surprise as she saw an unconscious Flick on the back of some big, brown cat.
'That idiot survived, too ? What a shame...'
Flick was her band-mate. Since they were but younglings, Flick and Ruby were considered lifelong pals. They were inseparable, always doing everything together, always falling into trouble together.
Until he'd been promoted as Raven's Counselor. He'd grown arrogant then, always bossing around and looking down at cats. Even at Ruby.
Even after he was stripped of his position, he'd never lost his new spiteful attitude. He'd lost many friends that way, including the ginger she-cat.
'I hope he dies.'
"I'll take as long as I have to. Everyone will be safe under my care."
Marble sniggered bitterly, "Which is more than can be said about Dusk."
Halli ignored him.
The rest of the healing was carried out in silence.
Every now and then, Ruby's gasps of pain would be heard, but they'd quiet down again.
"Why...you..help...me ?"
Ruby finally built enough courage to croak out. Her throat was as dry as a desert, making it hard to speak. Halli seemed to pick on to that as she sent Basil to fetch a wet patch of moss.
"Don't you think highly of yourself, now, eh ? Jess just has a kind 'eart. Way too kind, if you ask me."
Further off, Ruby heard Marble snigger. She opened her eyes again, this time facing the black she-cat. She watched silently as the latter moved on to dressing the smaller wounds. With sick interest, Ruby noted Halli had a white blaze on her chest which sharply contrasted with her black fur.
"I'm done. Let's go."
Halli worked hard to get Ruby slung back onto the large gray tom's back. Basil tried to help, but was shooed away by an aggravated Halli.
"Off with you, pest. Those bindings are already slipping off ! Why did you bring me so few webs ?"
Then they went off. All the way, Halli and Marble were constantly complaining. Halli about her hard, tiring job, and Marble about having to help murderers (not to mention carrying one on his back).
Ruby tried to shut their voices out, but it was futile. Her mind was buzzing with ceaseless thoughts. She was hardly aware of the change of surroundings, but then again, she didn't care.
They'd entered some sort of underground tunnel, with a musty smell lingering onto the dirt walls. The path was winding and twisting this way and that, but the four cats knew where they were going. Ruby let out a gasp as Marble jumped over a small rock.
"Marble.." Halli growled as a warning.
Ruby remembered hearing voices, then seeing a bright flash of light when she fell into a black, empty void.
"Hmph, didn't think you'd be my first sight in the mornin'"
Ruby cracked open her eyes, wincing as the heavy lids peeled back, exposing her green eyes to the light. She blinked, trying to adjust them to the bright den, when she noticed the source of the annoying voice from earlier.
In front of her lay a dusty brown tom with intricate black tabby markings which stood out on his pelt. His whole flank and head were covered with a white, sticky material, though there was still black blood crusted all around his fur. His eyes looked dull and unfocused, very much unlike his usual sharp, arrogant expession. If not for his remark, he would have seemed very gullible and pitiful.
"Never asked you to open your eyes." Ruby replied wearily, looking around for any other presence than Flick.
"No one's here. They've all left. Reckon they'll kill us when they come back ?"
"Of course not. They would have left us back there if they'd want us dead."
"Are...are we the only one's alive ?" Ruby was surprised by the change of tone in the brown tom.
"No, I don't think so. There's still Raven and the others.. Flora and Lime too. I saw them before they..."
It hurt so much to say it, to say her fears out loud.
"Before they left me- us. They left us."
Flick was about to say something when the russet cat from earlier entered. She was too big for a she-cat, but her paws made nary a sound as she made her way into the small den. In her big muzzle, she carried a rabbit, huge enough for both Flick and Ruby to share.
She dropped it onto the ground and left, not before grunting good-naturedly.
"They're being too friendly." Flick said as the russet one walked away. His eyes were narrowed into slits.
"That's their nature, Flick. Unlike you."
Flick huffed, raising his muzzle higher.
After a moment of silence, Ruby cracked a smile.
"You know, maybe it's good we've been injured."