Sorry for the delay in uploading this, but I've been busy. There's been a recent peak in my amount of homework recently, plus some other things that have been taking up my time. I do have stuff going on in my life other than writing, you know. Anyway, after a long while's absence, enjoy!
A moon and a half later...
Ashpelt yawned and blinked open her yellow amber eyes. Then suddenly, not recognizing her surroundings, she bolted upright, causing scraps of moss to fall off her flank and drift gently to the floor. She glanced around, and then, as she began to recognize it, her heartbeat slowed in her chest. It was the warriors den. Despite having been a warrior for an entire moon and a half, sometimes it still seemed to good to be true.
With her composure back, she began licking her fur, still sticking upright from her night's sleep, into a nice, straight, smooth pattern. When she was done, she turned to her left and saw the customary heap of ginger fur, sticking out all over the place, rising gently up and down beside her. What a messy fuball, she thought, watching Blazetail sleep.
She had never risen earlier than him before. Come to think of it, she had never awoken earlier than anybody, even the kits managed to get up before her! But that wasn't important at the moment. Looking down upon Blazetail's peaceful face, she felt a bit jealous. He must have had plenty of time to watch her sleep without her knowing, although she was not quite sure he ever had. From what she'd heard, she was a noisy, restless sleeper. Blazetail was the only cat willing to curl up next to her at night, and from what she had heard, he had been kicked awake by her more than once. If fact, he had once told her that she was the reason he was always up so early.
Ashpelt smiled. Well, at least if she was already credited with kicking him out of bed, what she was going to do next wouldn't really be a point against her, now would it?
Raising her paw, she brought it down onto his flank. Not particulary hard, but with just enough strength to jolt her friend from slumber. And that it did flawlessly. His head jerked up, his green eyes open wide. Rolling over, he scrambled onto his paws and demanded, "What's the big idea?"
Ashpelt wasn't put off by his grouchy mood, though she was surprised. This was the first time she had seen him wake up. Usually he was all nice and put together by the time her eyes opened. Smiling, she purred, "Oh, nothing. I just thought that the rest of this lot would really appreciate it if we went hunting and replenished the fresh-kill pile."
Blazetail immediately brightened. He loved hunting, even more so when it came as a surprise. Sliding out of the den, he paused and asked, "Are you coming, or what?"
Purring in amusement, Ashpelt darted off after him, and the two bounded through the entrance and into the forest, neck to neck. They skidded to a halt at the edge of the tree-line, ears pricked and fully alert. The forest seemed unusually quiet for this time of the day. It the early morning. The forest should have been alive with the sounds of birds singing and the scampering of small forest creatures as they went about their daily business. Instead, all that greeted the ears of the anticipating hunters was silence.
Twitching her ears in apprehension, Ashpelt turned to Blazetail to see what he thought. The ginger tom looked as nervous as she felt, but when he turned to face her he smiled and meowed, "Well, I guess you're not the only one who sleeps in late!" He laughed, and she followed, but soon their laughter trailed into nothingness. The loud noise sounded unnatural in the silence surrounding them.
"I guess this will make it a little harder to hunt, huh?" asked Ashpelt, looking around.
Blazetail, who was already sniffing around, replied without looking away, "I think I scent a vole."
"Oh, whereabouts?" she asked, padding forward. Instead of answered, he twitched his tail, telling her to be quiet. His ears were pricked forward, and his eyes were glued intently on the bush in front of him. Wriggling his hindquarters in anticipation, he gave a short run forward and then pounced, his claws flashing in the early light. There was a slight scruffle, and then Blazetail emerged out of the bush, a medium-sized vole dangling from his mouth by it's scruff. Setting it down, he scraped some leaf mold over it, to cover the smell, then grinned at her and meowed, "Your turn."
Ashpelt hid her laughter and instead pretended to be indifferent. Huffing in mock anger, she lifted her head and her tail and stalked off further into the forest in search of her own prey. Smiling widely, Blazetail followed after her.
Lifting her muzzle, Ashpelt scented the air. There wasn't really all that much to smell, besides leafmold and soil. She was really starting to rethink this early hunting idea. So far the only sniff of prey they had had all day had been the vole that Blazetail had caught. Thinking about him reminded her that he was watching her, waiting for her to catch something. She had to find some prey. Even though the two had been warriors for over a moon, Ashpelt had yet to say a word to him about her feelings, and she found it harder to imagine every day she waited.
She shook her head rapidly to rid it of these distracting thoughts so that she could concentrate on what she was really supposed to be doing: hunting. If she really wanted to impress him, she shouldn't let stupid things like that get in her way. Taking a deep breath, she tasted the air again and, to her delight, caught the fresh trace of a mouse between the roots of an elm tree not far from where she was.
Her confidence returning to her, she slid into a hunter's crouch and practically slid acr oss the forest floor on her belly, not making a sound. Slyly, she brought herself up to get a good look at her quarry.
It was a small brown mouse, too busy nibbling on a seed to notice it's closest surroundings. Ashpelt's grin widened. This would be so easy!
Taking her time, she padded cautiously closer. Only stupid hunters stalked their prey with too much confidence. Her paws didn't even make a rustle as she moved forward. It was as if she was air; able to go anywhere but never leaving any sign of her prescence.
She was almost upon him when a loud rustling noise sounded somewhere behind her. The mouse, ears perked, turned, saw her, and, abandoning his seed, took off at a run. Ashpelt didn't even bother to try to run after him. It was faster than she was, and small enough to fit into places that she wouldn't even be able to get into if she had been a kit. Instead, she whirled around angrily and found herself face-to-face with Blazetail. Before she could even begin to tell him off about how his reckless behavior had sabotaged her hunt, he burst out:
"Ashpelt! Ashpelt! Come quick! There's something horribly wrong!"
Ashpelt looked into Blazetail's eyes and saw the horror there. All thought of rebuting him vanished, and instead she asked, "What is it? What happened?"
Blazetail was gasping for breath, as if he had just run an impossibly long distance. Ashpelt knew he was one who liked to joke around and exaggerate things. For all she knew, he could be talking about a rabbit he had mistaken for a mouse. Only the haunted look in his eyes made her believe otherwise.
"A- A little while after you left to find some prey to hunt, I got bored waiting for you, so I went off to see what I could find by myself. I went looking over by the camp entrance, around where I caught that vole, and it was there that I stumbled upon it, the most awful stench in the whole world! It was like a mixture of fox and badger, but also a tiny bit like a cat, and it was all one creature! And, even worse, it was heading straight for camp."
Ashpelt, who was feeling a little peeved that Blazetail hadn't even bothered to stay and watch her hunt, was jolted back to reality by his last sentence. Her Clan was in danger, and it was her duty as a warrior to do all she could to protect it. Not waiting for Blazetail, she turned and began running back to camp. The sound of his paws thudding urgently after her comforted her. This was one battle she would not have to face alone, and for that she was glad.
They were nearing the place where Blazetail had said he had scented the creature, and indeed, a foul stench hit Ashpelt's scent glands. The rankness of it was so powerful it made her stop in her tracks, trying to find cleaner air to breathe. But not only that, the very smell of it, fading as it was, was enough to make her freeze. If such a creature caught ThunderClan unawares...
Her fears were addressed, as a sudden loud screeching rent the air from the direction of camp. Forcing herself to forget her fear, she shook herself and ran on, even faster than before. She could hear Blazetail tiring behind her, having already made this journey, but it soon faded from her awarness. All she could hear now was the sound of the blood pounding in her ears, and the suddenly increased beating of her heart. How could something like this happen? she thought to herself. Nothing even remotely like this had ever happened to ThunderClan before in her lifetime, it was a bit too much for her to take in all at once.
Skidding to a halt at the entrance to the camp, she felt her fear stealing over her again. It was evident from the powerful reek that the creature had passed through here, and the screams from the cats in camp didn't help. This was nothing like what she had imagined. In all of her daydreams, she had always been brave and daring, taking on even the most impossible of opponents and managing to make it through. But now, faced with the reality of the situation, she realized it wasn't at all like that. She wasn't brave, nor was she powerful. She couldn't move, and found herself rooted to the ground. She had never experienced true terror before. So this is what it feels like..., she thought.
Seeing Ashpelt unmoving in front of him, Blazetail slipped past her inside the tunnel. In the close space, the smell of the creature overwhelmed him, and he almost passed out. It was when he felt his conciousness slipping away that he reached the end of the tunnel. The sight that greeted him was anything but pretty.
Blazetail had to swallow hard to stop himself from vomiting all over the place and just adding to the mess and carnage. It was a massacre, the entire clearing of his beloved home turning into a graveyard in front of him. Everywhere he looked lay the torn apart bodies of his Clanmates, some so bloodstained and mangled that he couldn't even identify them. The stench of blood was everywhere, washing out even the scent of the creature that had wrought such carnage.
As far as he could tell, there were no survivors, and he wasn't particularly inclined to keep looking. Glancing around on the off-chance that he might find someone, he caught the quick rustling movement of brambles outside what used to be the warrior's den. Feeling his heart fill with hope, he only just stopped himself from calling out in joy, remembering suddenly that the enemy must still be somewhere in here.
As if brought out by his caution, a warped, misshapen figure emerged from the den. At first, Blazetail just thought that it was a multitude of bodies being pushed out, but then he saw. It was a weird, lumbering creature, its' limbs contorted every which way, with its' mouth twisted upward into a ghostly smile. It looked so unnatural and-- wrong. And then he saw what it was dragging out in it's mouth.
He couldn't help it. The sight, combined with the horror surrounding him, was just too much for him, and for him to actually recognize the body. Overcome with grief and too shaken to remember his surroundings, Blazetail lifted his muzzle to the sky and let out a small, short wail of grief, a kit crying for its' dead mother. He instantly realized his mistake, and shut his mouth, but it was too late.
The creature's ear twitched, and, letting go of it's prize, it turned it's dark, dead eyes upon the ginger warrior. Immediately, Blazetail felt himself paralyzed with fear. It was too much, seeing all of this, and facing certain death on top of it all. He just wanted it all to be a bad dream. Blink once and it'll all be gone, back to normal, to the way things were before. However, this wasn't a dream, and the creature was running towards him, ready to kill. Pressing his eyes shut, Blazetail prepared for his inevitable death.
Suddenly, there was a surprised cry from the direction of the nursery. "Blazetail! Blazetail! Help!" Blazetail opened his eyes and saw to his horror a young kit, quite possibly the only surviving member of ThunderClan, stumble out of the nursery and head towards him and the monster. It was as if he was all she could see. She was so convinced that, upon hearing her cry, he would, he could help her. Kill the monster and make everything right in her world. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't the only one who had heard her cry.
The monster turned and, seeing her heading his way, seemed to forget all about Blazetail and headed for her instead. Blazetail almost cried out to warn her, but he felt as if he was choking. His throat wouldn't work properly, and so all he could do was stand there and watch, helpless.
Not seeing him move, the kit stopped and tilted her head in confusion. "Blazetail?" she asked, taking another unsteady step forward. That was the last thing she would ever do. All of a sudden the monster was there, and had crushed her skull between its' powerful jaws. Blood and brains splattered everywhere, and bone shards from her fragile skull flew and imbedded themselves in the ground a short distance away.
It was the shock from this action that returned movement to Blazetail. Turning tail, he disappeared back up the tunnel before the monster would have a chance to catch up to him. Running into Ashpelt, he pushed her forward, telling her, "Come on! There's nothing we can do, they're all dead! Murdered by that monster! And we'll be too if we stick around here much longer!"
Mobilized into action by his words, Ashpelt joined him in the run for their lives. Far away from the lake, the Clans, and most of all, from ThunderClan and the bloodsoaked memories that lay there. As he ran, moving as a fast as his paws could carry him, all Blazetail could think was: Forgive me, Petalkit!
Okay, here it is, the last chapter to this story. I hope you enjoyed it. If enough people like this, I may do a longer sequel, but I have to know what you think before I do. Oh, and just so you know, I actually have no personal experience with romance, I just watch a lot of TV.