A sad chapter. Well the ending is sad. Read and review lovelies! despite the chapters name, this ISNT the end. Dun dun dun...
Featherpool, Cannibals are worse! Zombies are mindless, but cannibals can lay traps...
The tribe cheered, my friends cringed, I was considered a hero but this was a suicide mission. Or was it? Stoneteller seemed to trully feel sorry for me, what he said next proved it.
"I won't let you go in there helpless though." He meowed. "I ask for three brave volunteers to take on her curse for a short period of time. You will be cured though!"
The cats murmured among themselves. Who would risk it? Who would join me in battle and give themselves up to the fog and possibly death? No one who was sane would risk it, so when a she-cat stepped forward she seemed to be doubting her own sanity.
"I will!" She said in a quavery voice.
"As will I!" Another female stepped up. From her creamy pelt and blue eyes she looked to be twins with the first volunteer.
"Count me in!" A small cat meowed.
"To-be's can't do this!" A cat from the crowd shouted at the last volunteer.
"Then why don't you step up?" The to-be hissed.
There was no answer, but Stoneteller meowed. "I am sorry, but he is right, you are to young. I need someone fully trained."
"Then let his mentor do it." A tom with a deep meow stood up. His muscles rippled under a short grey pelt that blended in with the rocks.
"Accepted." Stoneteller meowed and bowed his head. "I will let you get to know Redheart in peace, tribe dismissed."
The three brave cats walked up to me. "Greetings." The tom meowed.
"Hello, I am Splash where Water Drops." The first volunteer meowed.
"I am her sister, Squeak of Hungry Mouse." The second volunteer meowed.
"I am Thunder in Stormy Sky." The male meowed hastily.
I dipped my head in greeting. "You already know me, Redheart. So uh, how shall we go about..?" I trailed off.
"Follow me." Thunder ordered and walked to a tunnel. "We will do it in the prisoners tunnel, just for privacy. We are unable to keep prisoners for they just..." He shuddered in fear.
Cannibals must have been horrible, I was soon to find out. Either they would be supper, there blood of course, or I would be supper. We stopped in a small cramped place that smelled damp and was all around unpleasant. No wonder they tried to keep prisoners here instead of decent cats.
"You may bite me first." Splash offered.
I shrugged, it was all the same and would probably be awkward. My fangs slid out with a pop that was barely audible, only made louder by the stone around us. I leaned over and gently bit her front leg, feeling the venom slid out. It was weird.
It was done and Squeak approached next, I did the same thing. When Thunder approached he seemed reluctant. "This won't be pleasant will it."
I shook my head. "You will deal with this for only a day or two though." I assured him and bit him quickly. We all exited. "Be sure to get something to eat tomorrow, before done!" I meowed.
We entered the main cave and I didn't need to eat. I couldn't help but drink a little of Thunders' blood, the taste was maddening and tempting. Doing it three times in a row was hard, but I was sure he didn't notice. That night when I went to sleep I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth though, dear StarClan what had those twolegs done to me?
"It wasn't right of him to do this!" My favorite dream cat growled.
"He felt he had to Brambleberry." I meowed.
"You... I can't say you will regret this, the future is blurry!" He cried and the dream disappeared.
I was being awakened by a guard. He was to wake me and the other three two hours earlier then dawn. I got up and stretched, then went to go eat some prey. When I bit in it was pleasntly warm. I heard that they treated cats with impossible missions well before they had to go do them.
The other three joined me and we finished our prey. We were alone now, and I felt the need to talk to them.
"There is a chance we all won't survive, because we won't stop fighting until we are either dead or knocked out." I whispered.
"I don't regret my decision." Squeak meowed.
The other two nodded their heads along with her. They wanted to do this for there tribe. I grinned, it was nice to know there were brave cats like them. "Then I hope we all live." I meowed.
Around dawn a cannibal came with a message. "We attack at dark." He sneered. "So hide your females and your kittens!" He laughed while the tribe bristled.
Griz didn't like this and he approached growling. "Oh, so you put females down too?" He snarled.
The cocky cannibal nodded. "Damn right we do, they are good for kits once, then we eat them up yum!" He laughed insanely.
"The meat of your own kind has driven out what brain your had left!" Griz barred his fang and killed then at by swiping at his neck. The cannibal died quickly.
He straightened up. "We should prepare." He barked. The tribe rallied around him.
Hours passed and dark approached, the tribe hid in one cave, but all entrances were covered in brambles. If the cannibals got passed us those brambles would scratch them up if they choose the wrong cave. We paced in the front, and I began to worry as the fog slowly began to set in. I assumed it would of set in later, the sun was only starting to set!
With me pacing this worried the other three. They convinced me to sit down, but I was fidgety. I groomed my fur to pass the time, and it did help. There were a few advantages to having long fur.
Just as the sun set and dark came the fog had nearly swamped my whole brain, making it hard to concentrate. The others were already gone though, never have dealing with this before. As dark came with the fog, so did our enemies, but the three behind me were not ready. They accepted my control because I have been like this longer, but they didn't know there own hierarchy.
To settle this I growled with my remain control. "Kill most, second command!" They got it, the fog sealed it into their brains. My control broke as the first fighter stepped out from the brambles.
The brambles covering the entrance scratched him, drawing blood. We were attracted to him like sharks. We pounced and made short work, but not before tearing him up too badly to feed. We needed to feed now!
I let out a feral yowl that they copied. We wanted blood now! The need was great as it splattered our pelts and the cave. More cannibals entered, curious of the sounds. One by one they entered and died, but they had broken the bramble enough so more could come in.
Slowly they began to overwhelm us, and we were full, but now the fog stayed for the fight and the blood. We still couldn't control ourselves, just count the kills and see who was top cat. Three had the pretty Squeak pinned down and they looked like they wanted to do nasty things to her, but Thunders dominance kicked in. He killed one and the other two were quickly killed by both Thunder and Squeak.
Me, I am slicing, and frowning, a spark was in my fog. Something about this wasn't right, all the mindless killing. The fog made me like it, want it, need it even. It was the fog though, wasn't it? The fog that made me so mindless. I nearly stopped mid-kill, when I remembered that I needed to kill for my life. The fog took over again, but now I knew something important.
Thunder had been killed, in that state I could care less though. They had knocked out Squeak and Splash, all the cats rounded on me, and overwhelmed me. One hit my head and I saw black. He had knocked me unconscious.
When I woke up I felt sick, and barfed a waterfall of blood. I drank to much for even a monster last night. Squeak and Splash were crying next to each other, near a body that was lying still. Around me the stench of blood rose, but this time it made me queasy. It was dried and splattered all around so not even the roaring waterfall cleaned it all.
Stoneteller approached me with respect. "Thanks to you and the other three, the tribe is safe. Sadly Thunder died, and so did others when you had been knocked out. It was worth it though, they had sent all their males to conquer us. We found there females, which turns out most were prisoners. We set them free as they claimed not to have willingly eaten cat, only a few did and they were crazy."
I wrinkled my nose. "Just heal me and leave. I am sick to my stomach, literally." I spat.
Stoneteller only frowned deeper. "As you ask." He meowed and left.
Johnny approached me soon after. "You saved them all." He meowed awed. "Without you four, and your recklessness, we all would have died!"
I looked at him. "We lived because we were reckless!?" I snapped. "We lived because I am a monster and I can make monsters! I am thankful that I have no more venom!" I went on somewhat calmer. "You didn't see what we did, maybe you saw the aftermath, but throughout the battle we counted kills and liked it. We three females would have died if they didn't have plans to make us pregnant." I whispered.
Over and over again I saw the horrible battle! In my mind, there was no end to it! No wonder Squeak and Splash cried, I wanted to. I sniffed and Johnny pressed against me for comfort.
"Shh." He meowed. "We are here for you, Dusty understands."
He was right, Dusty understood. No, wait he didn't. He didn't kill like I did, he only attacked Dark, and she lived and was healthy. Only Squeak and Splash understood. They were there, they killed too.
"No," I meowed in a dismissive tone. "Dusty doesn't understand. Only those who were there do. We went in knowing what would happen, and yes we saved the tribe, but it was horrible. Griz wouldn't have been able to take on all the cats even." I growled.
Johnny looked a little hurt but nodded. "I guess, and speaking of Griz, he wishes to stay here. It is possible the females were lying and just wanted a taste of freedom. He wants to help protect the tribe."
I would truly miss Griz, but I knew he couldn't come with us to the clans. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea." I admitted.
"I am glad you agree." Came Griz's familiar rumble behind me.
I look up at him. "Yeah, the clans don't like dogs." I meowed apologetically. "They probably would attack first and ask questions later."
Griz sighed. "Yes, with good reason. Most dogs sadly can not think past their own species, also like most cats, but these tribe cats. They are different, and I enjoy their company."
I smiled. "I am glad. Those twolegs would never venture up here either." I purred. Yes, we were probably well away from those nasty twolegs.
"Stoneteller has given the cure to Splash and Squeak, and though it probably won't work for you, you could give it a try." He added.
My paws worked at the ground and I thought it over. Would it work the same? I had actually thought hard about it, and I might of figured out why it wouldn't work. It might just cure my mind, or just my fangs. The mind is not physical, but fangs are, this cure might be made to just target the mind. Should I try it? "I guess I could." I mumbled.
Griz set a leaf bundle in front of my. I removed the peace of grass and it opened up, revealing some herbs. I ate them up quickly and prepared myself for the possible pain of fng removal. One minute passesm two minutes, three. Nothing. The cure wasn't made for me. "It's ok Griz, maybe it cured my mind." I meowed doubtfully.
"Probably not." He sighed. "We will continue to search for your cure." Griz vowed.
I grinned weakly and head butted his chest. "No need to do that for me! It isn't like Johnny will desert me. I mean, Dusty might and Dark has no reason to stay, but Johnny won't leave."
Griz shrugged and walked off.
I felt pretty lonely, it was like these cats were missing the truth or something. I only lived because I was female and they wanted to make me pregnant with their cannibal kits. My blood ran cold at the thought, what if this thing could be passed on through genes? I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts. I didn't want kits soon, but I might have wanted them in the future.
I was forced to wait three more days to heal, and it nearly drove me mad. I wanted home right there and then, I still had to walk back to the lake! That took like, one whole day! Pacing didn't help much either and it only made the tribe cats leave me alone. They seemed to despise pacing.
Finally though, the day to leave had arrived. I spent one week more with the tribe then I had ever planned too. When cats talk of visiting the tribe to share important news, they say they are sad to leave. I guess I was the exception, staying was the last thing on my mind.
"Good bye." I meowed. "I wish I could have said this was a pleasure, but it wasn't." I added rudely. I felt I deserved the right to have one rude remark.
We left the tribe on a sour note, but I didn't care. Griz accompanied us to the border, and he pulled me aside. "Try not to grow bitter Redheart." He asked with true concern.
I sighed. "Perhaps my remark back there was uncalled for, I shall keep you in mind." I admitted.
He nodded. "Goodbye my friend. I wish the cure had worked for you."
"Me too." I left the mountains for good
The travel to the lake was short, and the whole way I was snappish. Truthfully, I was worried what my clan would think. Would they be angry, or would they listen to me? I was liked among ThunderClan, but held no position of power. No one expected me to amount to anything except being a great warrior. I only wanted to be a great warrior.
As we neared WindClan territory I stopped us. They had little idea of how clans could treat outsiders. Or cats from other clans. "Before we go further, before us lays WindClan." I began. "We have been traveling for about a moon, well probably a little less then that. Still, that means WindClan is probably still angry at my clan, ThunderClan. We can't reach ThunderClan without venturing through WindClan, unless you plan on swimming the whole lake distance. Luckily, there is a rule though, we can travel safely if we stay a fox length near the lake. If we are approached though, let me speak to the cats, and for safety we should try to sneak past any patrol." I finished.
"Yeah question," Dusty meowed. "What if they attack you?"
I stiffened, damn! "Then I control myself." I meowed cooly. "Now we cross at night, we only have to worry about the night patrol then."
It took a day and a night to get to the lake, now it would take the same time just to cross some territory. I wished I could have been faster, but I knew better then to rush. We hunted and waited for the sun to set, and when it finally did I couldn't wait any longer. Home was just beyond my reach, and I wanted to go there!
We set out, and walked in the lake to mask our scent. WindClan didn't need to think rouges were traviling on their territory. One patrol did come by but we just hid in the heather. When they passed we ran, and didn't stop running until we heard the stream, marking the boundary.
"Home..." I whispered and crossed into ThunderClan territory.
Johnny, Dark, and Dusty didn't seem to impressed with ThunderClans territory, but again, I could have cared less! I suddenly sprinted through the trees and resisted laughing, while my companions struggled to keep up. When I stopped, it was because we were nearing camp.
"Friends," I meowed, "we must be careful in case they accuse me of running away. Don't speak and we shall be fine. I hope." I meowed.
I approached camp and entered. It was quite, because it was midnight, but the rustling of my friends soon woke others up. The first to enter the camp clearing was my leader, Fangstar.
"Strangers, do not hide in the dark." She commanded.
I stepped from the shadows first. "Fangstar, I have returned." I meowed with a bowed head.
The leader looked startled, but it was gone quickly. "You brought others here." She accused.
"That I did." I admitted. "Meet my companions. Dusty, Dark, and Johnny." As I said there names each bowed there head in greeting. "Without them I would not have escaped the twolegs." I left out the part how Dark was actually attacked by Dusty.
Fangstar looked at the gathering warriors. "Back to sleep, I shall speak to her alone, with Maskface." She said, naming our medicine cat.
We entered her den, though it was a tight squeeze. "Do your friends speak?" The leader demanded.
"Of course we do!" Dusty meowed hotly.
"Hmm, ok. Redheart, tell me your tale. You claimed to have been taken by twolegs?" My leader meowd arrogantly.
I disliked how she said, claimed, but I let it slide and controlled my temper. "Yes, I was taken by twolegs. Didn't you smell them, or did the blood scent cover it?" I asked hurt.
"We smelled them, and you." She admitted. "Continue."
So I told her the tale, my friends filling in the gaps. I explained how I was experimented on and that I required blood. I told her how in battle I attacked everything. In the end I prayed she believed my crazy bloody tale. At the end I looked at her with pleading eyes, hoping for her to let me stay.
"I think we should not let her stay, she is a danger." Maskface meowed.
"I agree, if what she said is true, and it probably is because no cat could make up that, then she is too dangerous to have in a clan. I am sorry Redheart, but you are exiled." Fangstar meowed.
My heart broke, I couldn't speak. I was shocked beyond words. That journey, the escape, all for nothing!? "No..." I managed.
My friends didn't like this either, they saw how badly I wished to return.
"That isn't right!" Dusty protested. "She fought off cannibals, you should hail her as a hero!"
"She also escaped the lab, which is no small feat, just to come back here!" Johnny added. "You did not see her, she was desperate to return!"
"She saved my life." Dark meowed quitely. "I will vouche for her return. She must live here, she belongs here."
Fangstar shook her head no. "To dangerous, and though I know I give up an amazing warrior, she may only spend the night here. You four are welcomed to join her, but in the morning you all must leave."
My friends went to protest again but I silenced them. "The leaders word is law." I meowed, defeated. "Let's just be thankful she is letting us spend the night, and letting me say goodbye with grace." We exited the leaders den.
We entered the warriors den and slept in a corner together. I had the strangest dream.
My mouth was so dry, I needed water! The scent of Brambleberry hit my nose. "Brambleberry, I need water!" I cried out.
A dust cloud rolled over me and I heard a faint, poor child, in my ears. When the dust cloud settled I saw a roaring tidal wave. The water was unnaturally dark, and it hit me like a monster. Suddenly, there was to much water and I was drowning. "Brambleberry, help!" I spluttered and went under.
I woke up with a bitter feeling, and slightly confused. Where was I? Then I remembered last night, and my horrible exile. At the time I felt defeated, but now I felt angry, no furious! She had no right to exile me! Though I couldn't demand justice, for I knew I would get none, I still plotted revenge. I went through to much just to be exiled, and I would make them pay for my pain.
"All cats old enough to catch there own prey, gather before high ledge for a clan meeting!" The old call woke the rest of the cats. I angrilly walked out of the den, not caring if I stepped on there tails. Let them feel that pain, I had suffered worse!
My companions followed me, worried by my unusual lack of kindness. We sat together before the high ledge and my clanmates, sorry, ex-clanmates, gathered around us.
"Last night, the brave Redheart returned to us with an extraordinary tale. I believe her, and because I believe her, she must leave." The leader began. "Twolegs have messed with her mind, if she is hurt in battle or does not degest enough blood from prey, she grows insane. Sadly she can not control it, for her journey has made her an incredible warrior, but she endangers us when staying here. With great regret, Redheart, I exile you from ThunderClan. if you are seen here after sunset my warriors have the right to drive you off the territory. Say your goodbyes and never return."