Theme: Injuried

Words: 2,011

Notes: This is written for those who wonder what happened after Chaos and Black arrived in AlleyClan and changed it to BloodClan. For those who like this, it is a conclusion to The Darker Legend, Chaosheart: The Psycho. I suggest reading it if you haven't. It doesn't need to be read to understand this story.

My rough paws scrapped against the crumbling thunderpath. I heaved another breath as the pounding in my head became worse. It throbbed uncontrollably.

A stone lodged itself between the scraped brown pads of my paws. I winced as it dug into my soft, unprotected flesh. I shook my paw, hoping to dislodge the stone, but it stayed put.

My speed began to falter as I hobbled along trying to stay off my front right paw to save myself from some unneeded pain.

Risking the lead I held over whom ever was chasing me, I ducked into an ally. I stopped off to one side under a destroyed stone wall.

The need for a gulp of water consumed me, and I took a long swallow from a stagnant puddle that was swarming with flies. I saw gulping down another sip when I heard the sound of stone rumbling from behind me.

I perked my head up, and my ears twitched as they tried to pick up any unusual sound. I relaxed and bent for a third drink when I was confident I was safe for the moment.

Than the sound started back up. The rumbling and rustling seemed to come from everywhere. I couldn't pinpoint the exact location.

I quickly unsheathed my claws and crouched down in the defense position that had been drilled into my head since I was an apprentice. The sharp pebble tore apart more flesh, and I wonder why I hadn't removed it earlier.

The falling stone had stopped for a moment, and I slowly brought my right paw to my sharp teeth. Feeling the cause of my pain, I clamped my teeth around it and pulled.

Tears sprung to my eyes and ran down my face as blood dribbled down arm and splatter onto the thunderpath. It ran into cracks and slid down the alley.

My vision blurred for a second, and I had to wipe my eyes on my shoulder if I wanted to be able to see around me.

When the drab stone ans bricks came back into focus, I found my self staring into beady, yellow eyes. They were peering out of a whole in the overhanging stones.

I jumped back in surprise and tumbled into the fly infested puddle. Those eyes burned into my pelt as I shook the water out of my fluffy brown pelt.

The flies I had disturbed swarmed around my head. My paw was raised to swat at the pesky creatures when something moved in the corner of my eye.

It was the yellow eyes; they had moved. I looked to its original location; the beady eyes were looking directly at me again.

I turned back to the second pair; they were still there. I whipped my head back and forth between the two pairs, trying to figure out who they belonged to.

Then more started to appear. They peered out of crates, boxes, odd pieces of metal, and cracks in the crumbling rocks of the surrounding Twoleg places.

Starting to feel uncomfortable, I slowly shifted from paw to paw. A cold wind blew against me, and I shivered violently under my damp fur.

Another gust blew past me and flipped over a decaying box. Underneath, rats with small, beady, yellow, eyes were watching to see what I would do next.

I looked on in shock as hundreds poured out of every whole and crevice up and down the entire length of the alley. They all stood calmly like they were awaiting an unspoken order.

Blood pumped through my weary arms as I tensed myself to run out of here. I needed to get out of Dead Cat Alley as soon as possible. If I moved to slow, I wouldn't be alive much longer.

The bravest rat made its move just as I started my running escape. Its razor sharp teeth tried to bury themselves in my back leg.

I bucked my hips and felt the rat go flying. I turned around just in time to see it slam against a wall and vanish into a flume of dust and debris.

My feeling of triumph vanished when hundreds of yellow eyes blinked. It went dark for a moment, then, the alley seemed to be basked in a sickly yellow glow. All pairs of eyes were trained on me.

I slowly picked up a paw, then pounded my way down the thunderpath. For the second time toady, I was on the run for my life.

Pain seared through my body with every tooth and claw that found its mark. The scent of my fresh blood seemed to increase their aggression.

Slowly, the pain became too great for me to move my paws even a step farther. My legs collapsed under me, and the rats poured over me like water over the bottom of a river.

'Oh StarClan,' I though as the pain slowly faded into one giant, stabbing pain. My eyes drifted closed into the last sleep.

At my last moment int life, I felt the mass of rats shudder as a howl split the air. As it sounded a second time, the rats climbed off m body and raced back into Dead Cat Alley.

With my blood spilling all over the rocks and gravel, I weakly turned my head to see who had saved me from a sure death. The face blurred before my eyes until a face of a cat appeared.

I found myself staring into soft amber eyes. "Stoneflower," I managed to choke out through my parched throat.

"Shh," she shushed while applying something to my cuts and bleeding wounds. I felt like like StarClan because I could slowly feel the pain fading away into nothing. "I was lucky to get some herbs for you when I did. Chaos and Black were right on my trail."

"You bet we are," said a voice that seemed to be coming from an abandoned Twoleg place. A small black tom leaped into an open window. "I would like to thank you, Stoneflower." applauded the sleek black tom. "We might have lost Dirtclaw if it wasn't for you. I knew medicine cats were good for something."

I loved at my beloved medicine cat with tears and blood running down my face. "What does he mean? What happened to Fangstar? You just told me to run. Stoneflower," I begged. "What happened?"

Stoneflower started to cry. Her tears fell down her face until they splattered on my mangled pelt. "They killed him, Dirtclaw. Fangstar is dead."

"No," I shook my head, refusing to believe what I knew was the truth. "He still had many lives left. You must have seen it wring."

"That is where you are wrong," grinned the tom. He seemed to be greatly enjoying our suffering. "Chaos ripped all four lives right out of him. Fangstar is enjoying his hunting with StarClan or where ever you dead cats go."

That is when I noticed a crazed white she-cat standing to his right. Her fur was standing on end, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Stoneflower has already seen what Chaos can do if I command her to. She is without mercy." My hope that he was lying vanished when I saw the bloodstained claws that were caked with mud and crimson blood.

"What did he do?" I begged to Stoneflower. "I have no clue what he is talking about. Why won't you just tell me the full story?"

"Clawblaze and Flamestorm are dead; they were killed." she shouted to me. Tears were once again rolling freely along her cheeks. "Black ordered Chaos to slaughter them like they were just rats."

"That is right. I, Black, am now the ruler of BloodClan." Black let out a hysterical laugh at the look of horror on my face.

"What are you going to do to Stoneflower and I? Both of us will fight like ten warriors." I attempted to back up my words, but my legs refused to cooperate.

Stoneflower bent over to whisper into my ear. "You know I can't fight for my life. I'm a medicine cat, not a warrior."

I turned my head the littlest degree to whisper back my response. "Black and Chaos don't know that though, right?"

Black leaped down from the shattered window with Chaos on his paws. "I know Stoneflower can't fight. Why do you think I choose her out of all the other she-cats? I had several others offers."

"I didn't tell him," answered the medicine cat before I could even ask the question. "Petalfrost told him. The monster threatened to kill her beautiful kit. You know how much she loved little Brightkit. Her heart would have broken into a million pieces."

"As much as I love this heart felt conversation," interrupted Black, " I feel like I have to stop this one. Chaos, you know what to do to those who threaten you."

"Please," cried Stoneflower. "Have mercy on us. Dirtclaw will join BloodClan and so will I." Her pleading voice was filled with utter desperation.

"Let me think about this for a moment," said Black. He paused for a second like he was really considered letting us go before he snapped, "No!"

The whole time we were paying attention to Black's charade, Chaos was slowly creeping closer to us. I could feel her eyes sizing up how much of a fight I could put up.

Stoneflower took a couple steps backwards and jumped with surprise when she ran into the wall. Her eyes darted back and worth to Chaos as the clattering of stone caused the killer to stop her pacing.

Chaos removed her eyes from me and focused them on poor Stoneflower. Her white fur spike up, and I saw that some of her patches were actually dried blood.

I tried once again to stand up on my paws, but my injuries burned and I was forced to give up for the moment. I could feel my scabs tear as I failed to move. Fresh blood splattered on the ground.

Nothing I had ever seen could prepare me for the next scene. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't seem to pull my eyes away.

Both she-cats had their claws drawn, but Chaos already had the upper hand. She had supreme confidence while Stoneflower was quaking in her paws.

Stoneflower tried to lash out, but Chaos numbly leaped out of the way, though not before landing a painful blow on the medicine cat's ear. I winced in pain for her.

I'm sure Stoneflower was thinking of the herbs and plants she could put on her ear, not how she could to the same to Chaos.

Chaos lived up to her name after the first blood was spilled. Her claws moved so fast that I couldn't even see them. Blood and gray fur flew everywhere.

Black looked on the spectacle with a cold smile. He didn't seem to care that an innocent cats was dying before his very eyes. If anything, he liked bored.

Soon, Chaos turned to me, and I could see the mangled body of Stoneflower. She was maimed beyond recognition.

I finally found the power to shut my eyes. Even with them closed, I could picture Black laughing as rats with yellow eyes picked apart our bones as we lay in on the thunderpath.

"Chaos," called out Black. "Let's get going. Thus scrap of fur will be dead soon without our help. There is no need to waste our time."

I opened my eyes just in time to see Chaos leap into the window and disappear after Black. The two didn't seem to give me or Stoneflower a second glance.

So, there I lay on the edge of Dead Cat Alley with flies eating and my open sores and rats nibbling on my rotting legs. The rest of my injuries festered under the heat and lack of water.

Afterwords: If you haven't realized, this is a response to Prin Pradus's 100 one-shot challenge. To those reading my other stories, this won't slow down my updates. I write this in my notebook 30 mintues a day as I wait for my brother to finish his swim practice. I hope you review and stay tunned for the next 99.