The cats had got themselves back into camp as they were processing the events of what happened. Brindleface didn't need to die like that. Cloudtail was filled with grief and rage but Lostface was the only one who seemed to be holding Cloudtail back. Fireheart began speaking to Bluestar.
"Bluestar, we've lost Brindleface in the ambush, we need to find these dogs and finish them off. We can't have many more warriors die like this. Tigerstar's forces are closing in on us. We don't know if we're prepared to resist them for very long." Fireheart tried telling Bluestar about this but she remained calm.
"Fireheart, we either die or survive at this point, we're cut off and I got the news that Patton is racing his way to relieve us with supplies, armor and fresh troops." Bluestar told Fireheart about the cavalry that was bound to come. Fireheart was skeptical about it.
"When did Patton say he was coming?" Fireheart asked. He wanted to know when Patton was going to rescue the besieged defenders of Bastogne.
"He said he was coming, his army should be here on the 25th at the earliest." Bluestar told Fireheart when the supplies was going to come. Fireheart was worried.
"That's another two days away, we'll be overrun by then. I say we withdraw to the other side and blow up the bridge. It will help with slowing Tigerstar down." Fireheart gave his two cents to Bluestar and he thought that the worst was going to happen and that Patton was going to arrive too late to do anything.
"That is something I am not willing to do." Bluestar mewed to Fireheart. Fireheart looked at Bluestar as if she was insane, they needed to get out of this mess if they were going to make it back to the other side alive.
"But Bluestar, we need to hold if we're going to get the supplies, we need to withdraw across the bridge and blow it up. We need to do it if we're going to survive." Fireheart told Bluestar that they needed to fall back and try their best to slow Tigerstar down if they were going to stand a fighting chance. Bluestar bowed her head down and she knew that couldn't try reasoning with him.
"Do whatever you please, I have no faith in the platoon, you're on your own." Bluestar told Fireheart that he should organize the defense and withdrawal of the platoon. Fireheart nodded as he got up and left. "Tell Cloudtail that I want to see him, I want to speak to him about something." Bluestar added. Fireheart nodded as he left. Bluestar waited around for a few minutes before Cloudtail entered the room. Cloudtail had gotten over his crying but he was still down over the death of Brindleface. He stood by Bluestar who began to speak to him. "Cloudtail? How are you feeling?" Bluestar asked.
"Still upset over Brindleface no longer being with us." Cloudtail sniffled as he wiped the tears away from his eye.
"I know this is going to be tough but I found something interesting, the reason why she got overrun so quickly, the action of her BAR jammed. We found dead dogs leading up to her path. So we assumed the action must've malfunctioned when she was slaughtered." Bluestar told Cloudtail about how Brindleface must've gotten killed.
"So did we find out that the snow and ice are locking up the actions? Is the BAR thawed?" Cloudtail asked Bluestar if the machine rifle had been warmed up to the point that it could be used again? Bluestar turned her head to him as she began speaking.
"Yes, it has and we fixed the jam in the gun." Bluestar told Cloudtail. She then walked over as she grabbed the thawed out gun and began walking back to Cloudtail. "Cloudtail, I trust you to become Thunderclan's next support gunner. I've heard about you handling automatic weapons so I've decided to make you another squad gunner after Brindleface." Cloudtail gripped the machine rifle and he was more than excited. He had to hide it however.
"Thank you Bluestar." Cloudtail mewed. He then left the place, leaving Bluestar all alone once more.
Fireheart had gathered everyone around him as Brindleface's death had hit them hard. They were preparing to evacuate but they needed to get their withdrawal organized so it didn't turn into a rout.
"Okay, Brindleface has been slaughtered and Tigerstar is preparing to use the dogs to overrun our position so I'm withdrawing everyone away from this camp. We're going to head over that bridge and blow it up. Some of our supplies are still being loaded and hauled across the bridge so we better hold until all supplies have been evacuated. Then we withdraw and blow up the bridge." Fireheart explained his plan to the rest of the group that they were going to make a fighting retreat to get themselves out of this area as it was deemed not safe to stay, especially with Tigerstar. Cloudtail arrived as he was holding the BAR.
"When did Bluestar say that help was coming?" Dustpelt asked. The entire group was besieged and retreating to Bastogne.
"She said a couple days from now." Fireheart replied. "A squad of irregulars are holding Tigerstar back for the time being but we got reports that Tigerstar is leading them in a tank he calls the Tiger. This beast is impossible to penetrate with any of our anti-tank weapons so the only way we can destroy it is by luring it onto the bridge and blowing it up, the tank will slip under the water." Fireheart told the group what this mission would be.
"So who's going to do that? I want to help." Cloudtail asked, he wanted to help Fireheart out with this mission. Fireheart turned to his nephew.
"No Cloudtail, with that leg of yours I think you should still take it easy. Whitestorm's organizing an evacuation of the remaining supplies and he needs help planting some explosives to the bridge." Fireheart told Cloudtail that he should not participate for his own safety.
"What about Bluestar, what should we do with her?" Longtail asked Fireheart about their leader. "She's willing to stay and fight but I don't know if it's the right thing to do." Longtail told Fireheart about what was going to happen.
"We're evacuating her to the other side of the bridge as she will be safer over there. We don't know how long those Paratroopers are going to hold out but we should be able to plant the explosives…" Fireheart continued to ramble about the plan while Darkstripe was sneaking Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw out of the camp. Darkstripe didn't want to get caught but Fireheart noticed something which turned out to be Darkstripe. "Halt! Where do you think you're going?" Fireheart asked Darkstripe.
"Ehh… a patrol?" Darkstripe lied. Fireheart looked at Darkstripe and knew that he was only making excuses to take the kits to see Tigerstar.
"I don't believe it, you have one more chance to behave or you're getting kicked out of the platoon." Fireheart told Darkstripe that this was going to be tolerated no longer. Goldenflower came forth and picked them both up from Darkstripe. Fireheart turned back to the group, now all they needed to do was get the group to lure the dogs and Tigerstar to the bridge. "Anyone want to participate?" Fireheart asked them.
"I'll do it." Graystripe was the first to answer Fireheart's call.
"I'll help you out." Sandstorm mewed to Fireheart.
"Count me and Fernpaw in." Ashpaw replied. Fireheart smiled as everyone was coming to his cause.
"I think Shadowclan has something more coming as we need to avenge Brindleface." Mousefur mewed as she gave her stance of a volunteer.
"Yeah. Shadowclan should have something coming for them." Longtail told Fireheart that he was going to volunteer. Fireheart tried looking for more cats to join them but it turned out that no one else was willing to join. Dustpelt then walked over.
"If you're going out to face Tigerstar, take this." Dustpelt mewed to Fireheart, he handed him a paw held radio so they could keep in contact. "Use it so I can know the situation."
"I got you." Fireheart told Dustpelt. He then turned to Whitestorm. "Whitestorm, get the others across the bridge so we can set up the explosives." He instructed him.
"Will do." Whitestorm mewed. He then turned and began to lead the others across the bridge. Fireheart turned with his group and began to head for the lines where the resistance was going to be expected.
December 23rd, 1944, Ardennes Forest, Belgium, 2 miles from Bastogne: 9:55
The next morning, Thornpaw and Whitestorm had moved all the way up under the bridge in the hope that the ice was thick enough to support their weight. Whitestorm then handed Thornpaw one of the explosive bricks and he placed it under the bridge.
"We shouldn't be on the ice, we could fall through any moment." Thornpaw told Whitestorm that he was wary. The water below was freezing and the ice acted as a shield to prevent them from getting air.
"That's the idea, the ice can't support Tigerstar's heavy tank but for us, it's safe enough." Whitestorm replied. Thornpaw grabbed another explosive brick and placed it somewhere else on the bridge. He grabbed the last one and placed it in the final spot. Whitestorm began rolling the wire away to a safe location so they could blow the bridge up when the signal was given. If they blew it up too early, Fireheart and the others would be trapped but if they blew it up too late, Tigerstar was going to make it to the other side without difficulty. Now all they needed to do was wait.
Fireheart and his group of seven were right by the position that was expected for Tigerstar and the dogs to show up, the scout force was going to pull back the moment they thought they were going to get overrun, they managed to set up defenses everywhere the first line was loosely defended. Then the mortars began landing around them.
"Here they come, be prepared to fire once and retreat. We're getting out of here." Fireheart instructed. He then grabbed the radio he could fit in his paw. "Dustpelt, Tigerstar's coming."
"Okay we just planted the explosives and we're waiting on you." Dustpelt replied. Fireheart nodded that the explosives had been placed onto the bridge.
"Okay we got you." Fireheart mewed. He braced himself for the attack. Three huge tanks came breaking through the forest as dogs followed up behind them. "Get ready, fire!" Fireheart gave the order, the few cats began firing away. The seven cats began firing whatever they had in their paws. Ashpaw got out the bazooka and fired it at one of the tanks, the rocket did nothing against the thickly armored beast.
"Fernpaw get me another rocket." Ashpaw mewed. Fernpaw passed him another rocket while firing the machine gun away. Two dogs were slicked down by the incoming fire. Once Ashpaw was ready, he fired his bazooka again, at the tank's tracks. The tracks were blown off, that was one tank disabled, two more remain. The cat inside of the tank popped his head out and began ranting. Longtail raised his Springfield and bang! He shot the commander in the head, the Commander slumped down, unable to say a word.
"Nailed him." Longtail mewed before he cycled the bolt. Fireheart knew the luring back plan needed to start.
"Fall back everyone, they got two tanks working and plenty of dogs, we need to lure them to the bridge." Fireheart mewed. The group began falling back as Fernpaw grabbed the machine with the intention of taking it with her. They continued to fall back as the dogs rapidly closed in from all sides, Fernpaw sprayed the Mg42 at the dogs, killing many of them as the rest of the group fell back further. Tigerstar and his group broke through the perimeter and were now threatening to overrun them. The tanks rolled on while they were chasing Fireheart and the group down. Fireheart and the group fell further back. He got out the radio he was holding. "Dustpelt, Tigerstar had overrun the first line. We disabled a tank but they are going to chase us down." Fireheart told him.
"Okay we've set up ambushes along the route, try getting back here as fast as possible." Dustpelt told Fireheart that they needed to continue fighting and retreating wherever they could. Tigerstar meanwhile was having a good day, they broke through the first line of defenses and were now threatening the rear. His tiger began to feel a rumbling sound that he wasn't comfortable with.
"What's going on? What's that sound?" Tigerstar asked. The tank driver looked up to him and he began speaking.
"We're out of fuel. We need more." He replied.
"Okay let's try taking fuel from this site, they haven't fully evacuated it." Tigerstar instructed the dogs. The two tanks came around the corner as an M4 Sherman was waiting in ambush. The first tank was exposing the weak side armor and the Sherman fired. The heavy tank was disabled as the track went everywhere. The tank skidded off to the side as Tigerstar looked on. The cats in the Sherman scattered out as the heavy Tiger's gun turned to face it. "Fire." Tigerstar gave the order. The heavy tiger fired and destroyed the Sherman. The ambush had disabled a tank as they only had one tank left.
The dogs ran all over, trying to find fuel for Tigerstar's tank. Fireheart and Sandstorm were waiting at the side of the wooden house, ready to ambush them. Two dogs came around the corner and spotted the fuel laying out in the open. Fireheart nodded and gave the signal.
"Fire!" Fireheart ordered, the two cats fired away with everything they had and the two dogs were shot up. "Okay let's continue retreating to the bridge." Fireheart gave the order. Sandstorm nodded and they continued to fall back. Graystripe was peppering the dogs away with the grease gun he had. "Graystripe, we're falling back, come with us." Fireheart called for his friend. Graystripe nodded as the seven cats continued to retreat. Longtail spotted a dog carrying a can of fuel to Tigerstar. He raised the scoped rifle and fired, bang. The dog dropped dead while Longtail continued to retreat.
It was about a few minutes later when the final canister of gasoline had been poured into the tank. Tigerstar grumbled as he was getting impatient.
"We're all gassed up and good to go." The dogs told him. The heavy tank rumbled once more and began to go forward.
"Okay, let's hope we don't run out of fuel again when we get to the bridge, gas guzzler tank." Tigerstar grumbled, they continued to press on while they didn't know about the trap that was ahead of them. Dustpelt was waiting first with Fernpaw as she got the Mg42 set up with whatever ammunition was left. They were going to fight, withdraw and repeat. The first few dogs came around the corner as Fernpaw began spraying them down with short bursts. The dogs were getting cut down as Dustpelt took turns with spotting targets.
"Yeah you go Fernpaw!" Dustpelt called out with excitement. Fernpaw continued to spray the machine gun as Dustpelt fell back, spraying his Thompson as he went. Ashpaw began firing in his place with the M1 Garand. Fernpaw used up the last of her ammunition and withdrew away, firing her BAR as she ran.
"Up to you Sandstorm." Fernpaw mewed. Sandstorm popped out, firing her M1 Garand as Ashpaw began to withdraw, Longtail fired next, taking shots from long range at the dogs. Then Tigerstar's tank appeared and it began to fire away.
"They're getting close." Sandstorm mewed, she turned and ran for it. Mousefur was next, firing her Carbine at the dogs that were coming onto the bridge. Longtail made a run for it next while Mousefur kept them occupied. Graystripe began firing next as the dogs were gaining ground but they were dropping. Mousefur turned and withdrew with Fireheart taking her place. Graystripe turned and made a run for it as Fireheart was now the only cat on the bridge.
"Your turn Fireheart. Come on." Graystripe told Fireheart. Fireheart then turned and began to run back but Tigerstar's tank fired. Fireheart froze in his tracks to see Tigerstar barreling down on him.
"You think you can run Kittypet? I'm taking you down with me." Tigerstar growled. Fireheart knew he wasn't going to win but he was debating what to do. He turned and fired his carbine, killing another dog but Tigerstar was getting closer. Suddenly there was a holler, Fireheart turned his head to see Bluestar jumping onto the bridge armed with some sticky grenades, she threw them at the tank and sprayed her thompson. The grenades exploded but it did nothing to slow Tigerstar down.
"Go!" Bluestar shouted. Fireheart made a run for it and jumped off of the bridge and into the snow. He ran over while Bluestar was going to try keeping them at bay. Fireheart came to the bridge exit and fired the carbine to hold the dogs off. Whitestorm turned to Thornpaw as they had their job to do. Mousefur joined them.
"Now Thornpaw." Mosuefur told seemed hesitant on doing it.
"But Bluestar's on that bridge, would it be wise to blow it while she's on it?" Thornpaw asked, but he wasn't so sure about doing it, especially with Bluestar still on the bridge.
"I said now!" Mousefur shouted at Thornpaw. Thornpaw continued to stare at the plunger but he wasn't taking action. "Fine, I'll do it myself!" Mousefur grabbed the detonator and pushed it. Within moments, the entire bridge blew up. Tigerstar's tank, the dogs and Bluestar were all affected by the blast, the tank entered the river and broke through the ice. Tigerstar and his friends tried to escape from the tank as it rapidly slipped under the river. Bluestar was injured from the blast and was hanging on. Tigerstar got out his luger and shot Bluestar in the back, causing her to lose her grip and slip into the river. Tigerstar climbed onto the ice and ran away with his cronies.
"Bluestar!" Fireheart shouted, he stripped his carbine and webbing off and ran to the spot and jumped into the freezing river. Tigerstar watched and he continued to speak.
"This ain't over kittypet." Tigerstar growled and began to run off. Bramblepaw grabbed one of the mounted M1919A4's and began firing it at Tigerstar, killing one of the tank's crew and shooting Tigerstar in the leg. They pulled Tigerstar along while Bramblepaw shouted at Tigerstar.
Fireheart was in the freezing cold river as he was looking for Bluestar desperately. He spotted Bluestar as she was barely hanging on. Fireheart swam down and grabbed her as he wanted her to stay alive. He then grabbed the butt of the thompson and began banging it on the ice. He wanted to break it as a means of escaping. The ice cracked in several places but they were being swept down river. Fireheart was losing heat and oxygen, he was going to drown in the river if something wasn't done. Suddenly, there was a hole in the ice and two paws came down, then another set. Fireheart passed out before he could be snatched up.
"Fireheart, wake up." A voice called out. Fireheart's eyes opened to see Mistyfoot and Stonefur right by his side. He gasped as he could finally breathe.
"Where am I?" Fireheart asked. Leopardstar walked in as she was trying to keep Fireheart warm.
"You're in our camp, it's a good thing we found you, if we didn't you would have for sure drowned in that river." Leopardstar told Fireheart where he was. She then began warming him up to get him to get some heat back.
"I appreciate what you're doing and I'm grateful to be here." Fireheart mewed. He was still holding his leader's Thompson in his paws.
"Much appreciated." Stonefur responded. Fireheart began thinking almost if a question had been lingering over his head for a bit now.
"Where's Bluestar?" Fireheart asked. Mistyfoot paused when she heard that question. Her paws began to shake as she didn't know how to respond to this but she knew she had to say it. She gulped at the thoughts that were running through her head. She then closed her eyes and opened them and began speaking.
"Fireheart… I don't know how to say this but…" Mistyfoot began. She paused to take a bit of a breath before she regained her composure. "...Bluestar died." Fireheart's eyes opened with grief, they slowly closed as he began to tear up. "She was killed from her wounds and she ended up drowning and freezing in the river. She is no longer with us." Mistyfoot decided to break the news to Fireheart.
"Did you find her body?" Fireheart asked.
"Yes, you were clinging onto it. I think I finally know why she said that fire alone will win this war, that fire is you." Mistyfoot told Fireheart that he was destined to help win it.
"Me? The fire? How did you know I am the fire?" Fireheart asked. He was confused and wanted some clarification.
"I remember it myself, when she said that the fire will help win the war, that fire was the one you are. I've seen you and Cloudtail do some crazy mouse dung this war so far and we need more warriors like you. Once you recover, Smallear wishes to arrange your promotion to a staff sergeant. It is now up to you to promote the next sergeant." Mistyfoot turned and began to walk away. She had faith in Fireheart but he was going to spend his time recovering.
Fireheart and Riverclan made their way to the new Thunderclan camp where the bodies of Brindleface and Bluestar were put to rest.
"You're going home." Sandstorm muttered to the fallen warriors. Cloudtail didn't speak, he just placed the helmet on his chest as he was still overwhelmed by grief. First Brindleface and now Bluestar.
"We will never forget what you two have done." Frostfur mewed.
"Honorable and courageous." Longtail added to Frostfur's words.
"We will never forget." Fernpaw sniffled. Fireheart was waiting after Graystripe who went ahead to pay his respects while Cloudtail signed the cross.
"You were good you two, much like my mentor Lionheart." Graystripe told the corpses. He walked away with Fireheart sniffling with Mistyfoot and Stonefur being by his side.
"Bluestar, Brindleface, I will never forget you two. You meant the world to me and to Cloudtail. As one leader passes the torch onto the next, I will say that my duty to lead is that I accept my responsibilities as the new leader. May Starclan light your paths." Fireheart finally concluded as he walked away. Mistyfoot and Stonefur were going to say goodbye to Bluestar and Brindleface. Fireheart sat down as Smallear sat next to him.
"Bluestar's gone." Smallear mewed.
"Yeah she actually sacrificed herself for me. I do appreciate what she did but since she is now gone, I don't know what I want to say." Fireheart mewed as he seemed puzzled and confused.
"Yeah but there is a silver lining to everything. Yes Bluestar's death has affected us all but who knows, someone better than Bluestar will take her place. I have trust in you. Let's rest for the next couple of days and reorganize our command." Smallear told Fireheart that rest and reorganizing was going to be needed. Fireheart nodded and he looked down to his paws. Bluestar was no longer with them.
Thunderclan was now in Fireheart's control.
[A/N]: I have to pick up the pace with making these fanfics as I want to get this done in the next month and move onto something else. Hopefully I should get my brain into overdrive now. Fireheart and his group are going to be reorganized starting in the next chapter. See you in the meantime.