Here is the next chapter, bear with me i know it is a little strange but i think it is very powerful and well written if i do say so myself lol. I found this chapter very easy to write, it just took on a life of its own. I hope you guys like it, please review what you thought. RRR 3
The sickness came quickly like lightning but remained evident within the camp for moons. Amberstar chose to avoid the past two gatherings and thank starclan none of the other clans took this as an opportunity to attack. The sickness swept through each den, quickly infecting but slowly claiming it's victims.
Icedapple used every herb and flower combination she knew but mostly in vain. The warriors den became quarantined for all of the sick cats and everyone else moved into the apprentices den.
The kits went first, almost mercifully. They simply fell asleep and never again awoke. Shadekit joined starclan first; she was quickly followed by her brother Redkit. Amberstar held a mourning ceremony and the kits were buried beside their ancestors.
Shadowsplash's health deteriorated quickly after the loss of her kits. Her cough worsened until she began choking on her own bile and seeing the faces of her lost children instead of reality. As her fever rose her mind worsened until she no longer recognized Shimmerlight's voice or the name of her last surviving kit.
She only sought comfort in the solemn words and comforting mewling of her mate. Sunvine stayed with her in the medicine den, soothing her and calming her down when the night terrors and hallucinations began, as her mind slowly betrayed her.
After Shadowsplash was buried, Sunvine sat by her gravesite every night for almost a moon. The tom's yellow eyes dulled with grief and his coat grew dusty. Icedapple began to fear he would contract the illness. After some time alone grieving and some words with his father Duskheart he slowly began to recover.
Next the sickness crept into the elders den, claiming the lives of Featherspots, Leafray and Darkfur. The elders went almost as quietly as the kits had.
From the apprentices den both Spiderpaw and Skypaw fell ill. The fever took Spiderpaw first, first his mind gave out then achy limbs and damp coughs which quickly lead to him choking to death. Skypaw stroked his brother's flank weakly with his tail as he died.
Skypaw recovered enough to leave the quarantined warriors den soon after his brother's death.
The last cat to join starclan was Ashenpelt. Shimmerlight cursed the day that the tom woke up coughing in the middle of the night. It was bad enough they were all being packed together into the apprentice den, but now they weren't going to get any sleep.
Not soon after that night warriors fell ill. Stoneshine, Squirreltail, Raindapple, Silverstreak, and Shimmerlight all became infected.
They joined the others in the warriors den and settled down, preparing for a moon of pain and agony or possibly death.
The wails in the dark began a few nights after being diagnosed by Icedapple. Shimmerlight found it hard enough to sleep, she felt like her body was on fire. Just as the pain became practically unbearable the heat would leave her limbs and no amounts of warmth cold stop her teeth from chattering.
Coughs racked her body and her vision fluctuated from blurry to nonexistent. A strange pricking pain coursed through her veins and limbs. It felt like teeth gnawing on her skin and insides, like she was being eaten alive. She constantly tried to fight away the rats she was so sure were gnawing at her flesh but fatigue kept her nearly immobilized.
She was ever aware of Stoneshine's hot feverish pelt pressed against hers. His cries of pain in the night kept her up and failed to distract her from her own pain. The gnawing continued to torment her.
How could Stoneshine just let these rats eat me alive? She thought to herself, unable to voice her concerns.
All sense of time vanished in the hot sticky darkness that was the warriors den. The only clue that time was passing was the arrival and more often than not, the departure of her clanmates from the den.
Eventually she was joined in the den by the comforting scent of Bluecloud. She didn't know how long she had been in the den, all she was that she was the only one left.
Bluecloud's familiar scent and pawsteps comforted her as he lay down beside her, pressing his cool pelt against hers.
"I brought you this" he murmured, pushing something damp up against her nose. Shimmerlight blinked repeatedly as her vision went from black to blurry. The scent of fresh water hit the roof of her mouth and she slowly lapped at it, hating how much energy it took.
"Icedapple said I could come visit you" he purred "She said you're not contagious anymore but she doesn't want you leaving until your fever is gone"
Shimmerlight sighed resting her head on her forepaws, satisfied by the cool water on her tongue, she flicked her tail tip back and forth enjoying the sound of Bluecloud's voice.
Bluecloud began grooming her and Shimmerlight felt her fur grow hot in embarrassment. I must look horrible she thought I haven't exactly had the energy or the time to groom. Her embarrassment quickly subsided as she was soothed by Bluecloud's calm even strokes.
"Lionkit opened his eyes while you were gone" Bluecloud meowed "He has beautiful ice blue eyes like you do. I've been telling him all about you and all the mischief you used to get into" he purred "Well you still get into plenty of mischief"
Shimmerlight purred, her heart aching, she missed Lionkit terribly.
"I would bring him to see you but Icedapple is afraid he may still be able to catch it" a deep purr rumbled in his throat "But I promised him you would be back out soon and he could meet you then"
Shimmerlight felt a small smile tugging at her lips I would like that very much she thought, drifting off to sleep beneath Bluecloud's soothing strokes.
I really enjoyed writing this lol, it was interesting to put myself in a sick cats mind, i had to think about what would it feel like? and how would i explain things? I hope you like it and thought it turned out good, and i kept my promise to have SHimmerlight get sick. Thanks for reading see you guys soon.
PS. I know its confusing to tell how time passes in these stories so the sickness lasted between two and half and three moons but the clan only missed two gatherings. In the next chapter they will be a few days away from the next gathering. This chapter explains the the happenings of the past two and half to three moons and the next chapter will take place exactly a half moon from where this chapter ended which will take us to like 3 days before the gathering.
If anyone is confused about the timing just PM me, the reason i am explaining this is to keep track of how old Lionkit is and how long before he is apprenticed because important things happen around his apprenticeship.