Stormscorch

I padded through the thick grove of trees, with no clear goal in mind. I had cuts all over my body from other rogues who seemed to like eating whatever meat I caught. Sighing, I sat down next to a tree as my stomach growled for the tenth time that hour.

I might as well try to rest, since I don't have anything to do but wait for death…

"Hey Stormscorch! You have to come hunt with us!" My head whipped around as I saw two of my clanmates calling to me. Begrudgingly, I stood up and headed towards them.

We walked for what seemed like hours without catching a single wiff of prey. "This place was rich with prey just the other day…" The elder warrior next to me stated, tasting the air.

I was about to make a remark, when the apprentice to my right lifted his head suddenly, ears perked up. "I think I hear wolves…" I stopped, listening intently for any sounds. Sure enough, there was a distant howling, barking, and pawsteps drumming across the ground.

"How many of them are there?!" My eyes widened in shock, and both me and the apprentice looked at the other warrior for guidance.

His eyes darkened. "That must be their entire pack…" He turned towards us. "Featherpaw, go warn the clan, I'll distract them." As he was about to tell me what I should do, we heard another howl, this time much nearer to us.

Featherpaw's eyes widened in fear, looking in the direction of the sound.

The warrior gulped, shaking his head. "Scratch that. You two, hide in those bushes over there, try to hide your scent with something. I'll lure them away."

We nodded, running off into the bushes, conveniently finding a puddle of mud. It didn't take long before we were both covered in the stuff, and we gazed through the bushes, almost shaking in fear. We looked at our clanmate, ready to run when the wolves appeared, when suddenly…

A wolf leapt down from the ridge above him, quickly grabbing him in its might jaws. Next to me, Featherpaw leapt from his hiding spot and raced towards them, fur bristling.

I wanted to call out to him, warn him that it was too dangerous, but I couldn't, otherwise it would notice me as well. The other wolves caught up to them, and I looked away as the apprentice's yowls of anger turned to fear, and then to shrieks of pain.

It felt like hours before the sounds finally stopped, and I could hear the wolves heading off in the direction of the camp. I waited a few minutes, before I headed out of the bushes.

What I saw almost made me vomit right then and there. There was blood splattered everywhere, along with the half mauled corpses of my clanmates…

I looked away, not able to bear seeing their dead bodies. I should have tried to help… But I'm terrible at fighting, I wouldn't have been able to help… I'm only good for hunting prey. I sighed, shutting my eyes tightly.

I lifted my head suddenly. The clan! The wolves must have gotten there by now!

I quickly ran in the direction of the camp. There must have been at least twenty more wolves in their packs than we have cats, judging by how many pawsteps I could hear.

I actually did vomit when I got to the camp. There was blood everywhere, the dead corpses of my clanmates were mainly just bones, and the meager prey heap didn't have a single squirrel on it. I wanted to run in and look for survivors, until I noticed the pack of wolves were still walking around, doing what I had planned to do, except they wanted to eat them as well.

With a heavy heart, I ran off, with the dried mud still on my fur, nobody could notice me.

I opened up my eyes. Great, I'm not dead yet? I groaned, hardly being able to stand up thanks to my weak body.

I stumbled forward, and started walking. Might as well see more things before I die, I guess.

There wasn't really anything spectacular to be seen, just trees mainly. Surprisingly, there were no rogues to be found anywhere.

I did stumble upon an small dead squirrel, which was nice. It seemed to have been killed by something other than sickness, due to the massive scratch marks on its sides. Or maybe it died due to infection? I don't know, I'm not a medicine cat… But I could tell that it had been killed quite a long time ago.

Thankful for the free meal, I quickly ate it, trying to ignore the stale taste.

That's the only food I've eaten in a while, and probably going to be my last meal…

Shaking my head, I continued on. I think it's been like two moons since my entire clan got massacred… Wow, that's sort of a long time.

I noticed that night was quickly approaching, and my stomach growled yet again. That squirrel didn't help much, and by now I was even hungrier than I was before I ate the squirrel. I would hunt, there was plenty of prey around here, but I didn't have enough energy to try to hunt anything. I just feel too… weak…

Doing my best to ignore the gnawing pain in my stomach, I arrived at what seemed like a clearing. Peering inside, I probably would have puked if I had any food left in my stomach.

It… It looked similar to my camp, except all the corpses weren't half mauled. They were all just… slaughtered…

Shivering slightly, I glanced around, soon noticing the sounds of someone's pawsteps.

I hid behind a nearby tree, seeing a lone cat looking around, seemingly shocked. Huh, this seems slightly familiar…

My stomach growled, and the cat's head swiveled in my direction. I was getting ready to run, before I realized that I had no reason to.

I sighed, and got out of the bushes, almost tripping. My vision slightly blurred.

"Why… hello… there…" I said, dizzily swaying back and forth, closing my eyes before I fell and hit the ground.