Everything had fell tense in the coming days. Nothing seemed to quite work the same. Gentle gossip had been replaced with out right hatred as the cats bickered back and forth trying to decide whether to stay or go. Long silences rang through camp after such arguments leaving giant patches of awkwardness as the cats stared at each other from across camp.Yet nobody left and everyone seemed to stay collectively firm in their place regardless on what their opinion of the decision may be. Nobody wanted to abandon their family and nobody wanted to disobey their leader. So there they all sat,frozen in time as if their impending doom would never catch up.
Mouse seemed to not even think there'd be any doom. From the way he was talking, Butterfly couldn't help but wonder if he thought there was any problem at all. Sure, everyone was starving on what should have been the most life filled of newleafs and it seemed as though certain cats were willing to bite off each other's head at any given moment (she only had to glance across the clearing at Leap and Patches to see that) but the small cat seemed to not be the least bit aware of all that. It had all simply flown over his head. That was until the next coming moment where he seemed to finally notice the argument brewing at the other side of camp.
"Go on then, say it!" Leap growled, glaring at the younger tom. "You think I'm far too old to move."
"I do not, I was only saying tha-"
"That I'm too old!"
Mouse glanced at Butterfly, his head tilting to the side in curiosity. "What's going on with them two?" He asked, not quite being able to take his eyes away from the fighting cats.
For a brief second, Butterfly was a little taken aback. After all arguments like this one had been a common sight all week but then she remembered this was Mouse she was talking too and all such incidents had not been noticed by the little cat. "It's to do with what Sunrise said about moving," she explained.
"What about moving?" He asked.
Now Butterfly was really was shocked. So shocked her mouth couldn't help but fall open, he really does live in his own little world.Surely someone must have told him though... Looking at the cat though she couldn't help but think it didn't matter if they did. Some things he just simply didn't register. "We're staying but some cats thought we should move because of the whole upwalkers and their monsters thing." Her head turned away after that, letting herself draw her eyes back to Leap and Patches. Their yelling seemed to have come to an end, once again falling into one of those patches of awkwardness much like many other members of the group. She glanced towards Sunrise at the edge of the clearing to see a glimpse of his reaction to the whole ordeal but he seemed too invested in his conversation with Forest to even notice.
Her eyes didn't stay there long though as Mouse stated with a rather discombobulated expression, "Monsters aren't real." Forcing Butterfly to fully turn her attention towards him yet again.
"These kind are though," she said, trying to conjure up the best way to explain it. "The upwalkers keep them as pets and then they use them to destroy the land which is why we have no prey."
"If they can keep them as pets then why don't we do the same?" He questioned.
It took Butterfly a couple of moments to even manage to digest that question and she could do nothing but stare at the cat in disbelief as the words finally started to sink in. "Because they're monsters," she answered, completely dumbfounded by such a question "And they're like a hundred times our size."
"Then how are the upwalkers able to tame them and keep them as pets?" Mouse asked.
"Because-because-" She stammered a little bit this time. How could the upwalkers tame them? "Because they're upwalkers." Not much of an answer but who knew how they did anything.
"I reckon I could tame a monster," The sound rather surprised her and her ears pricked on the top of her head as she spun round to see whose voice it was. One of Sunrise's kits,Beech,seemed to have joined the conversation and was now standing over them. "I am the future leader of the group after all so I should be able to handle anything."
"Are you? I thoug-Ouch!" Butterfly cut Mouse off, harshly nudging him in the side. There was already enough arguments going on these days, the last thing she needed was for his oblivious nature to get them involved in one themselves. He gave her a hurt look but was interrupted by Beech before he could form any words.
"Yep! My dad is Sunrise after all and I'm clearly the most competent cat around here," He went on, not the least bit bothered by Mouse's question. "When I'm leader I'm going to completely solve and vanquish this monster problem."
"How?" Mouse asked, looking at the older tom with the most curious of expressions.
"By jumping inside their bellies and taking control, I will then be able to-" Something else caught the tom's attention as the three of them all turned their head towards the incoming cats.
They seemed to have captured Sunrise's attention as well and Butterfly could hardly take her eyes off him as he padded across the clearing. There was something wrong. They all knew that there was something wrong, even Mouse seemed to be aware of it as he gazed across at them with much intensity.
"What's wrong?" Their leader asked as he approached the cats. There were three of them all together, Flower,Yarrow and Night. All three looked exhausted as if they'd ran throughout the whole territory, Butterfly wouldn't have been surprised if they had.
"There's no prey," Yarrow snarled, dragging out her words,letting the venom hang. Clearly someone's not happy about staying.
"Then we'll send out another patrol," he answered. No rage or retaliation was shown yet the tension still seemed to ripple between the two siblings.
"We don't need another patrol you mousebrain," She snapped back, the fur along her spine beginning to bristle. Butterfly felt her heart thunder in her chest as she considered the likelihood of an attack.
"Then what do you need?" He asked, calmly.
"We need to move." A silence followed as Yarrow was given everyone's sole undivided attention. It seemed to hang in the air only to be broken by one long exasperated sigh.
"We've already been through this Yarrow," he replied, not seeming at all unsettled by her act of open defiance. He must be used to it by this point Butterfly figured. "We're not moving. We just need more cats to hunt." Yarrow glared back but did nothing to protest as Sunrise cleared his throat to make his announcement so that everyone around could most certainly hear. "From now on every single cat in this group needs to hunt!"
Now it was Flower's chance to speak as she suddenly seemed to jump to life at the sound of the announcement. "Well my kits won't be," she fought back and Butterfly felt herself begin to shrink as Mouse and Beech turned towards her. "It's not safe out there. Those monsters are getting far too close for my comfort and I cannot in good conscience take them out to hunt. From now on they will both stay confined to camp where they will both be safe."
You've got to be kidding me. Confined to camp! How was she expected to manage that level of boredom? Desperately, she looked towards Sunrise wishing him to come to her defence but the tom looked too tired to argue and only gave a slight nod of the head before turning back round to return to his conversation.
The boredom was indeed hard to manage. She seemed to spend most of her time sitting around doing absolutely nothing. She was too old for kit games and hardly anyone was ever around, all out desperately searching for any sign of prey. That's what I should be doing! Not sitting around here helpless. Alas though it didn't matter how many times she brought it up, her mother always refused to listen. This was what was best for her, apparently and once Flower's mind was made up on something like that there was no changing it.
The day was nice though at least. The sun shined bright in the sky radiating waves of light. Only the odd gentle cloud ever seemed to pass, covering it with its white fluffiness. She supposed she could cloud watch however she never regarded it to be the most interesting of things. Unless if you were doing it with someone else of course but there was nobody here to do it with. Mouse had...Mouse had...Mouse had left?
"Hey Butterfly!" Or apparently not for here he was right in her face. She had to try to rewind her mind so that she could notice where he had came from and reassure herself that he didn't just appear out of thin air.
Still though she couldn't have been happier at the sight of her friend and seemed to beam from ear to ear. There was never a dull, boring moment with Mouse. "Hi," she greeted him, her tail curling with pleasure behind her.
"Do you want to come hunting with us?" It was then that Butterfly seemed to finally notice that the small tom was not alone but that several other cats were standing not far behind him.Squirrel and his two littermates. They smiled at her as she stared, nodding encouragingly for her to come join them.
She swayed a little on her paws as she considered the option. Flower wouldn't be happy about this, that was practically a guarantee yet the group needed to be fed and there was no-way she'd be able to help with that by just sitting around camp. I'll deal with her wrath later. And with that it was decided "Sure, I'll come."
The cats padded across through the fields in a collective group. Squirrel took the lead, her eyes darting across the land back and forth searching for any form of life. It was worse then the last time she was here. The grass had grown brown and barren. There was no whistling of birds, no rustling of mice, no fluttering of winds, no buzzing of bees. All that was heard was the clanking and roaring of the monsters as their echoes raged across the land. It sent a buzzing sensation down her ears so strong that she had to flatten them.
"Do you see anything?" Wind yelled, spinning his head round in circles trying to see anything himself.
"Nope!" Squirrel called back, her voice barely scraping above the roars. How is anyone supposed to hunt in this? And then by nothing more than a stroke of luck a brown blur bolted across the field. "I do now!" She shouted,the excitement inherent in her voice. Then all as one, as if they were all of the same mind the cats gave chase.
Wind and Shell split off taking the one side to cut it off. Their paws pounded on the ground as the dust erupted behind them. Butterfly and Mouse took the other, charging through the grass together as a singular pair. Then finally Squirrel went straight forward,chasing it on its tail. Butterfly's heart thudded in her chest as she fought to cut it off. I can't let this catch fail. There's no way I can let this catch fail! Prey had become so scarce that this was practically a matter of life and death, her whole entire group's survival rested on this catch and they...and they made it. They succeeded! The rabbit was trapped, completely and utterly trapped by the circling cats. Frantically, it darted back and forth desperately searching for a way to break through their little makeshift wall but it was to no prevail. In a matter of seconds Squirrel was upon it and its neck was broken.
"We can take it back to camp-" She stopped mid speech and her mouth more or less dropped to the open. They were eating it, right then and there. The whole unit of them had launched themselves upon the rabbit, completely devouring the little creature. Even Mouse seemed to be taking his fair share. Butterfly could do nothing but stand in shock as she watched. "Shouldn't we be taking this back to camp?" She murmured, a little bit to taken aback to even speak properly.
Squirrel's head popped up, her tongue licking the blood off her whiskers. "We need to eat,Fly," She answered, gazing at Butterfly with rather sympathetic eyes. Am I being naive?
"But the group needs to be fed!" She cried, not even bothering to cover up how appalled she was. Have all of our values been stripped from us? The other three cats lifted their heads up too now, all looking at her with wide concerned eyes. It sickened Butterfly, they think I'm overreacting. They're pitying me for being too naive to realise that this is how we are now.
"There's not any left now anyways," Mouse chimed in, staring at Butterfly as if she had completely lost the plot. She couldn't believe this! They were a group, a community, they were supposed to stick together in times of hardship like this!
"He's right," Squirrel went on again, kicking the carcass away with her back paw. She couldn't even begin to comprehend this, the speed they all ate the thing and without the slightest bit of hesitation as if what they were doing was completely acceptable. "Everyone's been doing it, Fly. We need to protect our own families first, I don't like it much either but if we only ever brought it back to camp then whose going to feed us?"
There was reason in that, Butterfly had to admit that there was reason in that. Still though, it left a bitter taste in her mouth. "We're a group, we're supposed to look after one another," she mumbled, her heart sinking in her chest. Her only response was Squirrel's wistful sigh.
They entered camp and the first thing they saw was her mother. Standing at the edge of the clearing, eyes ablaze and fur bristling with Vole hiding behind her. "What were you thinking?" She screeched, only it wasn't directed at her but rather at Squirrel. Slowly, her mother began to take more steps forward until she was face to face with the younger molly. "Taking my kit out like that. Are you really that irresponsible?"
"I was only try-"
"Only what?!" She yowled again, her tail violently lashed behind her and for a moment Butterfly's stomach dropped as she feared an attack. Her mouth started to open in order to jump to Squirrel's defence, to calm her down but she was interrupted before the words even came out.
"Flower," the low snarl came and Flower's whole entire expression seemed to drop. Her gaze fell, her tail came to a halt, her paws took a step back and her claws stayed permanently unsheathed. It was obvious who the cat was, Butterfly didn't even need to turn round to know. Only one cat seemed to ever get her mother to drop like that..."I will not have you speak to her like that," Poppy hissed, positioning herself in between Flower and Squirrel.
"She was taking Butterfly out when she knew that she wasn't allowed," Flower lifted her head back up again but her words lacked all of the their previous fire. If anything it sounded more like a plea. "What if something happened to her?"
"But it didn't though,did it?" Poppy replied, the hiss still hanging onto her words as her tail lashed with impatience.
"She's right, nothing happened," Butterfly said finally gaining the confidence to to speak up and stand up for herself. "I need to hunt and I'm gonna whether you want me to or not! I can't just spend all day lying around camp and Vole finally needs to learn how to hunt too." She nodded encouragingly at her brother, expecting him to stand up and take a stand as well.
Instead though he cried out. "No! No-no I don't need too. I'm fine-I'm fine really." He seemed to edge himself further into Flower, looking at her for reassurance.
She turned to him, lightly licking his forehead. "Don't worry," she soothed, gradually walking away from the other cats and nudging him as he did so. "You don't need too. I'll keep you safe right here."
And Butterfly could do nothing but watch as she took him back into their den...
Thankyou for reading. I'll try and get a new chapter out as soon as possible but I'm going back to school tomorrow so my update rate may be a bit slow.
