CHAPTER 45-Sell Me the Infection

A dull, thudding feeling was suffocating my brain. It felt like I had a second heart up there, beating away the pain and heat. I felt a burning agony on my side and neck, and something sticky coating my fur. I kept my eyes closed, feeling them burn red behind my sockets.

I heard voices.

"Thank StarClan you two got here in time! You chased the Darkling away right before it got a chance to kill her."

"What are you even doing here?"

"Is she alive?!"

They were frantic and sounded oddly familiar. I couldn't place where I heard them before.

"Shadefrost? Shadefrost!"

I slowly opened my eyes and groaned against the massive headache. It felt like someone had cracked open my head and took the brain out, and then popped it back in with a few pieces missing. My head felt empty.

I saw three cats standing above me: a grey tabby, a white tom, and another grey one. They huddled over me, the worry and shock evident on their faces.

I scrunched up my brow. It seemed as if I had known them before. They looked so familiar. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't place their names.

I didn't know myself either. That was what scared me the most.

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Third Person POV

"She's alive!" Dewstep exclaimed with relief. Shadefrost peered up at them silently with a strange look on her face.

Snowstorm gazed off in the direction to where the Darkling had run off. "So they're real then. I knew that the Boneyard existed. I knew that ever since I was an apprentice. But the Darklings...I had no idea."

Jayfeather leaned down to sniff the deep gashes running from her neck all the way down to her side. She flinched at the contact.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?" he murmured.

She only gazed up at them with a confused look.

Snowstorm grew worried. He padded closer and asked urgently, "Shadefrost? Say something. Please."

She scrunched up her brow, as if she was concentrating hard.

She asked, "Who...are you?"

All of them stepped back in surprise at what she said.

Dewstep choked, "It...it can't be."

"Don't you remember me?" Snowstorm asked urgently. He felt a wail rise up at the back of his throat, but clamped his jaws tight around it. The she-cat that lay before him thought he was a stranger.

She didn't remember. She didn't remember anything about them, about all the adventures they had, about the secret meadow, about Pip.

She didn't even remember herself.

Snowstorm stood there in shock, his legs trembling and barely supporting him.

Dewstep whirled around to face Jayfeather, snarling. "What happened to her? What did the Darkling do?"

Jayfeather flattened his ears and whispered, "I'm sorry. The Darkling...it feeds on the souls and memories of the living. Once it clamps its jaws on you, it steals your memories away. It kills you afterward to get to your soul, but you two arrived just in time and chased it away in the last second."

Snowstorm just stood there, his amber eyes wide and sad as he stared down at the trembling cat that lay before him.

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Shadefrost's POV

What were these cats talking about? Darklings? Souls?

Memories?

The Darkling must've stolen my memories. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember what had happened. I had just woken up here.

I shuddered as I stared at the jagged rocks surrounding me. Something hard and spiky shifted underneath me, and I stared down in shock at the bones. This was a bad place to be in, I knew instinctively.

I looked back at the cats. They were arguing among themselves furiously, their lips drawn back to snarls and their eyes stern. Only the white one stood there silently, staring down at his paws with something like sadness in his eyes.

Well. I couldn't stay in this place any longer. What if the Darkling came back?

I needed to find out who I was, who I used to be, and who I will be. What did they call me again? 'Shadefrost?' It had a nice feeling to it as I felt it on my tongue.

At least I knew what my name was. Everything else was just a thick fog, a thick blanket that buried everything from view. I felt so hollow.

The gashes stung with a red-hot ferocity as I tried to heave myself to my paws. Blood splattered onto the dust.

The grey tabby bounded over to my side and hissed, "Don't try to move! You'll hurt yourself more."

I shoved him away and stood up on shaking legs. My vision was blurry.

"Shadefrost—" he began, but to my surprise, the white tom suddenly shouldered his way forward and pushed him away.

"Leave her alone!" he growled. He turned to me and gazed at me sorrowfully, the anger fleeting from his amber eyes.

As I stared into his gaze, my breath caught in my throat. Those eyes looked so familiar...

I wanted to remember who this cat was. I wanted so badly to know.

"Shadefrost," he said gently. "I need you to try hard to remember. Do you remember anything?"

I flinched away and said nothing. Shyness overwhelmed me. I always felt this way in front of strangers.

And besides, I needed to go. I couldn't stay here any longer, in this place. The bones underneath me made me feel intensely uncomfortable.

"Who am I?" I whispered.

The grey tabby hissed quietly, "She doesn't have any memories left. The Darkling took them all."

The other grey cat with amber eyes snarled viciously, "How do we get them back? You have to tell us!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. That's the one thing that I don't know."

The amber-eyed grey tom dug his claws into the earth, and I could tell he was struggling not to lash out at the grey tabby.

They were fighting because of me. They were worried about me. But why? What did I mean to them?

The white tom unsheathed his claws and gazed off into the distance. All of his emotions had drained from his face. His voice was cold as he spoke.

"I have to find the Darkling. Even if it's the last thing I do, I have to kill it. I have to avenge Shadefrost."

The grey tabby muttered quietly, "You're thinking about revenge? Don't take the Darklings lightly. They are stronger than you think."

The white cat started to walk away. "Dewstep?" he called. "Are you coming or not?"

The cat with amber eyes, Dewstep, unsheathed his claws and hissed, "You bet I am."

I stared after them as they left. A bit of feeling stirred inside my heart as I watched them trudge bravely away.

"Be careful," I whispered. I wanted them to be safe. I knew that they had somehow been important to me, but I just didn't know why or how. It was like trying to catch goldfish in a stream, trying to catch them over and over again but having them slip through your fingers every time.

Wait, fingers?

I held up a paw and studied it. No, no fingers. Only paws. Why did it feel like I used to have fingers?

The grey tabby called after them, "Snowstorm! Dewstep!"

The white tom (his name was Snowstorm?) replied coldly, "I'm sorry, Jayfeather, but you can't stop us. Shadefrost might as well be dead, and it's all because of the Darkling. I have to avenge her, and there's no power in this world that can stop me."

The two of them continued on, side by side into the distance, and none of them were looking back.

I stared after them with a mixture of pity and sorrow. Why should I feel this way toward them? I didn't even know them.

Jayfeather, the tom who had stayed behind, looked down at me and sighed tiredly. His shoulders sagged.

"I should have stopped you from coming here. I'm so sorry," he murmured.

"Don't be sorry," I replied softly. "I'll be fine."

I took a staggering step forward and nearly fell down as my wounds screamed.

Jayfeather rushed forward and let me lean on his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "I'll take you back to ThunderClan. I'll fix you up as best as I can."

As we limped further and further away from that dreaded place, the sky grew clearer and birds began to sing from the treetops. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

I asked slowly, "What is ThunderClan?"

Jayfeather stared ahead, padding slowly to match my pace. His blue eyes were dull, and for the first time, I realized that he might be blind.

He meowed, "There is a Lake here, in this forest. It is more than two hundred pawsteps wide, and it is so blue that it almost glowslike a jewel. There are four Clans that live next to it: ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan. I am Jayfeather, the medicine cat of ThunderClan, and you, Snowstorm, and Dewstep are warriors. Does it sound familiar?"

I shook my head, no. But I was fascinated. I wanted to know more. What was a warrior?

As if reading my thoughts, he continued, "Warriors are the cats that help to run the Clan. Without them, there would be no one to defend it and no one to care for it. They are noble, brave, loyal, and proud and protect their Clans with their life. There is nothing more honorable than becoming a warrior."

He glanced at me. "You are a warrior, Shadefrost."

"I am?" I gasped in surprise.

"Yes. You are Shadefrost, a warrior of ThunderClan, and the prophecy's chosen cat. Whatever you do, never forget that."

I tried to remember, repeating the words over and over again in my mind. My name is Shadefrost. I live in ThunderClan next to a lake. I am a warrior.

"We're nearing the ThunderClan camp," he said, his whiskers twitching.

It made my stomach churn and my wounds began to ache again.

I asked quietly, "Jayfeather?"

"What?"

"Um...I don't remember this, which is why I'm asking, but...did I have any friends in my Clan? Are you one of them?"

He hesitated, his blind eyes distant.

He mewed, "Well, I'm not exactly what you'd call a friend. I'm just one of your Clanmates. But..."

The tom continued, "Yes, you had friends. Snowstorm and Dewstep. You three were always together."

My heartbeat echoed with sadness with every breath I took. Snowstorm and Dewstep. I didn't remember any of the time we spent together. That just made me yearn more for my memories.

We squeezed past a thorn tunnel, my fur snagging on the brush, and we pushed our way into the camp.

The chattering of cats stopped and turned into surprised mews and shocked gasps as they got an eyeful of my wound.

I looked at them nervously. Jayfeather ignored them and led me to a den that smelled strongly of herbs. It was dark and warm inside.

I curled up on top of a moss nest just as a light brown she-cat came into view. Her hind legs seemed paralyzed and she was dragging herself along.

"Hey, Jayfeather, where have you been? I—" Her eyes widened when she saw me. Her ears flattened as she ran a gentle paw over my gash.

"What happened?" she whispered.

Jayfeather replied coldly, "Look after her while I go see Bramblestar."

Before he left, he turned and mewed, "She lost her memories too, so she doesn't know who you are."

He exited the den without any more explanation, his tail disappearing from view.

The she-cat furrowed her brow. "You lost your memories? What happened? Did you hit your head?"

I shook my head. The worried look left her face and she began to chew some herbs into a pulp.

"Well, let's not worry about that," she sighed. "Minor head trauma isn't permanent. With enough luck and time, maybe your memories will come back to you."

I flinched away as she spread the cold herbs thickly across my gash. The pain seared up again and I resisted the urge to push her away.

"This hurts a lot, doesn't it?" she smiled kindly at me. "Don't worry, the herbs will make it heal faster. I'm Briarlight, in case you don't remember."

Briarlight. I liked her name. I liked everything about her. She seemed to be a nice and caring cat.

While she was busy tending to my wounds, I turned my head around to peer outside. Where had Jayfeather gone? He said something about going to see Bramblestar.

A hoard of cats pushed their way into the den and hid the opening from view.

"Shadefrost?" a she-cat gasped. "What happened to you?"

Another cat snarled, "Was it another fox? Those brutes are causing too much trouble."

"Are you okay?"

"Where are Snowstorm and Dewstep?"

Briarlight stepped in front of me and meowed sternly, "Leave her alone. She needs to rest. Jayfeather is talking to the leader right now, so I'm sure you'll know soon enough."

She shooed the cats away and turned around to face me. Gathering some cobwebs into her paw, she gently applied it to the chewed-up herbs caking my pelt.

With a soft sigh, I rested my chin on my paws as she massaged my side. I was worried. With my memories gone, how could I continue on? I was Shadefrost, a warrior of ThunderClan, but I needed to know more than that. What was my past? What was my future? Who am I?

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" someone yowled.

Briarlight mewed, "Stay here. You can listen to Bramblestar while you're resting."

I couldn't see this cat named Bramblestar from inside the den, but his strong voice was loud.

"As you might have noticed, Shadefrost has been critically injured by a Darkling."

I heard several cats outside gasp. Someone hissed, "But Darklings aren't real! They're only stories!"

Bramblestar replied, "They are real. The Boneyard is real. Everything that I'm telling you is true. One of them wounded Shadefrost, but hopefully, she will make a fast recovery. Jayfeather has also informed me of where Snowstorm and Dewstep are. They are only out on a patrol, so don't worry about their absence."

A lie. But a good one. I knew that Jayfeather was only trying not to get the two toms in trouble for running off.

"But the problem is, the Darklings are growing stronger and more resilient. We will have to build up our defenses and train harder. Toadstep, gather a hunting patrol and make sure the fresh-kill pile is well-stocked. Dovewing, Blossomfall, and Foxleap, mend the gorse barrier and make sure that it is sturdy. Icecloud and Cherryblossom will guard the entrances. The rest of you, sharpen your fighting skills and train the apprentices. We have to be prepared for the dark times ahead of us."

The clearing echoed with silence as the cats processed what they heard.

Bramblestar hissed, "Well, what are you waiting for? I'm certainly not lying to you. This isn't some kind of fairy tale with a happy ending. Now move!"

Cats immediately rushed off to perform their tasks. The camp was quickly filled with panicked voices and the sound of frantic pawsteps bustling back and forth.

Bramblestar pushed his way into the den with Jayfeather by his side.

He said, "Briarlight, I need to have a word with Shadefrost alone."

The she-cat nodded understandingly and hurried outside.

I got into a comfortable position on the moss nest and waited for what he would say.

Bramblestar looked intimidating. His shoulders were wide and broad, and muscles rippled underneath his thick pelt. Yet, I relaxed when I saw that his eyes were soft.

"Jayfeather told me everything that happened," he said quietly. "I am Bramblestar, the leader of ThunderClan. And you, Shadefrost, are part of a prophecy."

Wait. This was happening too fast. What prophecy?

As I stared at him blankly, he sighed and looked helplessly at Jayfeather.

Jayfeather murmured, "If she doesn't have any of her memories, then she won't be able to fulfill the prophecy. She doesn't know who she is and what she has to do. The Clans will be doomed."

He hung his head. "I'm sorry," he said again.

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Snowstorm's POV

Bracken and ferns crunched underneath our paws as we traveled further and further away from the Lake.

I scented the air, crouching low so that no one would be able to see us. The scent of forgotten dust and ash entered my nostrils.

"It's nearby," I hissed quietly. My brother nodded.

As we trudged forward, a ripe anger flared up inside me. I shouldn't have let this happen to Shadefrost. I should've listened when she told me that the Darklings were real. And now, I had lost her forever. I choked back a sob.

At least I would be able to kill the Darkling that tried to murder her.

"Wait," Dewstep whispered. I immediately stiffened and crouched lower when I smelled a hint of his fear scent.

It's here, I realized. Somewhere here, hidden in the undergrowth. The landscape was dark as clouds moved in to block out the sun.

We crept forward slowly, inch by inch, our hackles rising.

All of a sudden, the tall grass in front of us rustled. I drew in a sharp breath as the scent of the Darkling blasted me full in the face.

Hidden underneath the tall grass, we watched as it came into view, its head swinging around as it observed the forest.

It crept closer and closer, and I flexed my claws as I waited for the perfect chance to strike. A sharp, nagging doubt was urging me to turn and flee, but I brushed it away. I had to do this for Shadefrost.

My eyes widened in disbelief when more Darklings stepped out of the bushes. There were four or five of them, sniffing the air and grumbling to eachother.

I glanced over at Dewstep. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were drawn back to a silent snarl. If he wasn't backing away, then neither was I.

Which one stole Shadefrost's memories? I couldn't tell. They all looked the same. I had to take a lucky guess.

I glanced over at my brother. He was staring at me, slightly nodding.

I narrowed my eyes.

We unsheathed our claws and bunched up our hind legs, and with a vicious yowl, we flung ourselves at the nearest Darkling.

The Darklings screamed. I sank my claws and teeth at the neck of one, anger blossoming inside me like a flower. I blocked out their sharp yowls and focused on the task at hand. Maybe I should just kill them all while I had the chance.

One of them slammed into me and I lost my grip, tumbling onto the ground with a few light claw-marks crisscrossing my back.

The black creatures yowled and swung at me with their long claws. I quickly leaped to my paws and dodged their blows. One of them snapped their jaws at me and swung its claws.

I gasped as I felt a burning pain lance through my pelt.

Dewstep bounded over to me and we fought side-by-side, unleashing all of our rage and anger. The Darklings, however, were a lot stronger.

I yowled and scratched at them with all my fury, but my claws only seemed to meet air. I blinked away the blood that had leaked into my eyes, clenched my teeth, and forced myself not to back down.

This battle had been lost as soon as it started. I suddenly realized that it was a mistake to come here. It was dreadful, awful mistake to fight the Darklings. We were losing.

At least I would die honorably, fighting against them in Shadefrost's name.

Blood splattered everywhere. My muscles shrieked in protest and my legs grew heavier.

The echoes of the Darkling's screams sounded again and again in my ears.

Fear suddenly stabbed my heart. I didn't want to die.

One of them pinned me down and glared at me, saliva dripping from its jowls. It raised its claw as it prepared to rake it down my stomach. I grew limp, watching it through half-closed eyes. This was the end. I just wish you hadn't forgotten about, me Shadefrost...

I pictured her in my mind, her brilliant hazel eyes, her pelt as black as the night.

Slowly, the clouds in front of the sun began to crawl away. The golden rays peered over the edges as it tried to wiggle away from the cover of the clouds.

The sky grew brighter as the sun slowly came into view.

The Darkling released me and screamed. However, this time, the scream was different. It wasn't harsh or fierce. Instead, it sounded fearful and weak.

I forced myself to stand up and stared after the Darklings as they began to flee. They rushed over to hide in the dark shade of the trees, but most of them perished. The sun got to them first, scorching holes in their pelts and wafting the smell of smoke high into the air.

The light was burning them. Two of them had escaped into the shadows of the bushes and I heard their claws clacking frantically against the ground as they desperately tried to run away from the peering gaze of the sun.

The others were not so lucky. They howled in agony as they were ripped to shreds, slowly burned into nothingness by the soft light. My heart pounded as they writhed across the ground.

One of them took the longest to die. It screamed again and again, trying to drag itself into the shade, but failing as more and more of its body was scorched away into the air. I clenched my teeth and forced myself to slowly limp toward it.

My muscles were shrieking in protest. More blood trickled down into my eyes. I urged my body not give up on me as I slowly crawled toward the dying Darkling. The vision of Shadefrost was strong in my mind.

I raised a claw and brought it down onto the Darkling's throat as hard as I could. It sunk deep into its melted and murky flesh and I pressed it in deeper, my hatred glowing against the wounds that I left in its dark hide. With one last, echoing shriek, the Darkling collapsed and grew silent.

I watched in confusion as it exhaled a pale grey breath from its lungs. It floated into the air like mist, and I watched as it quivered gently and sailed away from the body.

Was it the Darkling's soul? No, Darklings didn't have souls. They didn't even have true, beating hearts.

My eyes widened as I watched the strange mist disappearing over the treetops, in the direction of the ThunderClan camp.

Could it be...?

My gaze grew hopeful as I collapsed back onto the ground, a small grin slowly appearing on my face. Shadefrost was going to be saved.

The pale mist seemed to have a life of its own, swirling and zigzagging across the vast expanse of the sky. It finally disappeared into the distance.