I'm very unhappy about this last chapter. No reviews? Thats a bad sign... usually without any reviews for two whole chapters I'd stop a story dead in its tracks, but since this a brand new story, I won't. Unless there are no reviews for this chapter, then this story will be deleted and I won't be continuing it at all.

But, I'm gonna let it go... for now.

Chapter 2?

CHAPTER 2

Squirrelpaw leaped forward, trapping the creature in between her claws. As she was leaning to deliver a killing bite, a wail made her jump, and the mouse skittered away underneath a rock.

"Mouse dung!" Squirrelpaw spat, and lashed her tail. Who had screamed while the Clans were trying to hunt? She stalked back to where the rest of the cats were resting, some eating meager kills, some with lucky finds, and some snoozing in the scorching sun.

The group had made it to the middle of a small desert, and the sun was up almost 16 hours a day, making the travelers overheat if they journeyed during the day. Now, the four Clans traveled only at night, trying to find any shade to sleep in during the day, away from the sun. The kits could hardly take the heat if they were to walk.

Squirrelpaw looked to Whitepaw, who was on her paws, ears alert, standing next to Spiderpaw. "What was that?" Squirrelpaw meowed, trotting closer to the white she-cat.

"I don't know, but it sounded like Tawnypelt." Whitepaw breathed back as Crowpaw, Brambleclaw, and Firestar raced toward the sound. Squirrelpaw swallowed and raced after them.

Please don't let her be hurt! The ginger she-cat was relieved when they found Tawnypelt, though eyes wide and sides heaving with pants, was alright. "What happened?" Brambleclaw gasped, resting his tail on his sisters shoulder.

"I-I-" Tawnypelt could hardly speak, and finally after a long moment of silence, the she-cat, green eyes still wide, lead the group away, trudging through the sand. Squirrelpaw noticed the tortoiseshell was shaking.

"Look." Tawnypelt angled her ears toward where a hill sloped toward them, and a hole was at the bottom, tunneling through.

This place has millions of secret places. Squirrelpaw thought as she remembered seeing a cave leading from a sand dune to the ledge of a cliff, burrowing underground and coming out to blue skies. A few tail lengths away was a dangerous ledge, leading to a cliff face where hundreds of feet down was a sure death.

Firestar shook his head to Crowpaw and Squirrelpaw, and he and Brambleclaw padded forward into the hole. Tawnypelt seemed to traumetized to follow. Squirrelpaw lashed her tail in frustration as she watched the two cats walk into the cave. She dug her claws into the sand in impatience, and it seemed like an eternity before Firestar and Brambleclaw emerged with troubled faces.

Brambleclaw's striped tail lashed angrily. "Who would do that?" Brambleclaw snarled, looking as if he was about to claw the closest cat, but istead the tabby tom dug his claws into the earth below him, as if trying to control his rage.

"What is it?" Squirrelpaw asked, looking to her father, who looked as if a tradegy had just unfolded. What if it had? Was some one dead in that cave? Would they have to stop the journey?

Firestar didn't answer, just trudged past the two apprentices, murmuring something. Squirrelpaw caught something like, "He was right..."

Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw followed side by side, heads bent down in conversation. No cat said anything to the two apprentices.

"Lets go check it out." Squirrelpaw meowed, bounding toward the cave, Crowpaw following without hesitation. Usually the two argued about anything possible, but they both silently agreed this time. They needed to know what was in that cave.

Squirrelpaw slowed when they reached the entrance, excitement running through her veins. She ducked her head into the hole, Crowpaw following. They emerged into a tunnel, leading backward. When the tunnel opened up, there was a puddle, and then piles of... fur? This was the biggest fresh-kill pile she had ever seen.

Squirrelpaw then noticed, as they approached closer, that this was not prey. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"Oh, great StarClan!" Crowpaw exclaimed.

They were cat bodies, piled up like prey around the tunnel, just thrown mercilessly into the cave to be forgotten. The closest cat body to them was a white she-cat, who was torn to pieces. Squirrelpaw nearly wailed as she turned and raced out of the cave, stomach heaving. This was un-cat-like!

When Crowpaw and Squirrelpaw arrived back, Squirrelpaw got a strict glare from her mentor, Dustpelt. Firestar looked at all the cats. Squirrelpaw looked away from Dustpelt and padded to her sister, Leafpaw. "What happened?"

"Firestar just announced we have to extra careful. They found... bodies, nearby!"

"Yeah, in that cave over there." Squirrelpaw flicked her tail the way she and Crowpaw had just came from, the sight of the dead bodies replaying over and over in her head. What killed those cats?

"You saw them?!" Leafpaw exclaimed, glaring at her sister.

Squirrelpaw lashed her tail. "Yes. So what?" Squirrelpaw trotted away from her 'always-do-good' sister to join Sorreltail, a young warrior who was a good friend of Squirrelpaw and her sister.

"Can you believe that something would kill those cats and disrespect them by throwing their body away like carcasses of mice?" Sorreltail hissed, though sadness sparkled in her eyes.

"No... but that something needs to be killed, before it kills us..." Squirrelpaw whispered, feeling sick again.

This journey was about to get very hard.

Well, thats it for Chapter 2! Review, Review, REVIEW! Thanks every one for reading this.