Hello! I'm really sorry for the late chapter. I'm still doing a couple of mock exams but have finished all of my main ones so should have time to commit better.
An argument was striking again, it was always striking. She wondered how some cats even had the energy to throw themselves into such screaming matches. All that tension had boiled and bubbled for so long that now it had finally exploded. Vole's death seemed to have pushed everyone over the edge as the group was divided into two. Those who wanted to stay and those who wanted to leave. All desperate to have their opinion heard. Butterfly felt nothing but frustration and annoyance as she watched them bicker. Her brother, her wonderful, loving brother was dead and all these cats could think to do was toss around blame and yell until the day's end. She had to escape it, just had to.
She dragged herself to her paws and pushed on through the bickering cats. Her ears fell flat on the side of her head as she tried her best to ignore and drown out their words. She needed some relief, a way to escape all of this. It had all grown constant, far too constant for any cat to bare, she needed the silence of the meadows.
Only the meadows weren't silent, that stopped long ago. Her ears still remained firmly flattened against her skull as she tried to desperately drown out the clanking and clattering of the monsters. She could hear them all over now, as soon as she left the chaos of camp she was met with the wretched sound. It plagued her wherever she stepped, a reminder of what was to come and a reminder of what had came. Vole is dead because of this she thought bitterly,her ears pressing against her even harder. It didn't change the sound, it was too loud to ever go away but it reduced it to a low drumming hum.
As she wandered on through the fields she wondered if there was any point even searching for prey. With noise like that how could any still be there? But it wasn't just that, her other senses too had fell to the monster's mercy. She could not smell through the sickening stench of oily odour nor could she feel a change in the wind through all of the chaos that it brought to the moor. Foolishly, she had thought nature could never be challenged but it now seemed she couldn't have been more wrong. Her brother was dead,the moors were dying and the prey had simply disappeared. Vanished from existence. Everyday everything got worse and everyday the ominous presence of the monsters grew closer and closer to camp.
Something else drifted through the air, winding itself around the stench of metallic oil. It was venomous, poisonous and the scent of it left a sting on her nose. She felt herself going to vomit with each breath she took. Lots of vile scents had been passed round and round in the past few moons but this was different to any of them. Far more disgusting, far more evil. Caustically, she went to investigate searching for what could possibly cause such a stench,when she found it lying on the floor.
A small fragile body of a field mouse lay stiff on the ground, the life drained from its eyes. Flies swarmed around the carcass eating away at the flesh. Butterfly inclined her head further over it, her nostrils glaring at the smell. This was no normal accidental death, that much was clear. Carefully and with much hesitation, she prodded it with her paw in an attempt to flip the tiny body over so that she may further inspect it. She leaned in her eyes squinting as she examined each and every part of the poor creature, until finally her eyes landed in on the mouth. Her nostrils briefly flared. Whatever had killed the little animal came from that, something it ate. Poison? Why would it be poisoned? It made no sense to her why anyone would ever want to harm an innocent and defenseless creature.Especially if it was not to be ate afterwards. However they were monsters, she supposed, monsters owned by upwalkers and who knew what their motivations were.
It was worrying, though; dreadfully worrying. It made it clear, if nothing else, how much danger they were in. If our prey is poisoned, then what will we eat? She thought of countless cats staggering for the last bit of prey, only to take their first bite and realize the truth, the sickening realization hitting them. The tightness gripping her chest, she had already lost her brother; who else would she lose? Mouse, Flower, Leaf, Forest. So many good, decent cats to lose! I need to do something! We need to leave. She gulped, letting her head drift in the direction of camp. Her muscles bunched as she pushed off her hind paws into a full-on sprint. She knew what she had to do; there was only one thing she could do. She was so sick of always sitting in the background, letting the other cats do the arguing; it was now her turn to make a stand.
"Where is he?" she yelled, skidding into camp, her sides heaving as she panted for breath. She had certainly made quite an entrance; all conversation dropped and all heads turned. Curiosity and surprise lingered in their eyes as light murmurs of confusion began to echo around the clearing. Butterfly took no notice, instead letting her eyes dart from face to face in search of the one cat who could solve all their problems if only he wished to do so.
Leaf spoke first, his voice gentle but his head tilted slightly as he spoke. "Where is who?" He questioned, his eyes following her gaze. "Where is Sunrise?" She yelled, her voice louder and harsher than she had intended. Luckily, Leaf was wise and mature enough not to show any hurt, but she still couldn't help but wince inside at her words. This is urgent though, she reminded herself, now was no time for feeling sorry.
"Where is he? I need to speak to him?" The cats were unsettled, shuffling around and exchanging glances. Butterfly's heart began to drop; is something wrong? One cat opened its mouth to reply before being replaced by that all too familiar sound.
"I'm here Butterfly," Sunrise said, walking across the camp. His voice was as cool as water and it was as if he was talking to a frightened kit rather than one of his older cats. Fury rumbled in her chest.
"We need to leave!" She bellowed, trying to keep her composure under his steady gaze. It felt strange yelling at someone when they gave so little anger back. It made her feel like a massive idiot and she couldn't help but glance around the camp to see if the other's agreed.
"Why?" He asked. What does he mean why? Even without the poison we have reason enough.
"Because we've got nothing to eat!" She cried, the desperation cracking her voice.
"There is something to eat. We just need to hunt more," he answered. Was that frustration in his voice? She couldn't quite tell for when she looked in his eyes nothing but calmness met her.
"No," Butterfly said, her head shaking with the heaviness of it all. Our world is falling apart. "It doesn't matter how much prey we eat now. Some of it's getting poisoned." A small gasp rippled through the camp.
"You must have been mistaken," he replied as if she was just some kit telling a tale on a littermate. "How would the monsters poison the prey? Why would they even want to?" Reasonable questions and Butterfly didn't have the answers.
"It doesn't matter why or how," she reasoned, the exasperation hitting her. Now I know how Yarrow feels. "They're doing it and if you don't believe me go and check for yourselves. We're being poisoned and it's only a matter of time before another one of us dies!"
"We can't move, Butterfly," he said again, that same patronising tenderness to his voice. It made her skin burn. "How would we have the strength?"
"We'll never have the strength!" How could he not see something that was so blatantly obvious? Why did he refuse to accept it so much? "We're dying Sunrise and everyone knows it!"
He seemed slightly swayed by that, for one hopeful moment she thought that she might have won, that all of this pain had finally came to an end. His mouth opened though and his head began to shake letting that sort of foolish thinking dwindle, he's more stubborn than Flower. "And you think we'll somehow last longer out there? This is our home, we're supposed to stay here. We wouldn't last a day out there."
"Yes, we would you're just lacking in faith," she retaliated her fur bristling. How do you change someone's mind when it's already so firmly made? What could she possibly ever say to change his mind? "We need to take that chance. After all isn't it better to try, we won't last if we stay here. Just think of my brother."
For a moment she thought she'd won again as the steadiness in his face seemed to drop. Come on, you know I'm right. "We can't risk it, we'll just get some food from the two-legs."
"How are they going to feed all of us? And aren't they the ones causing this problem? The place where the upwalkers live is too far!" Her voice was a cry again. She wasn't sure if she should just lie down and beg but she couldn't do that. That wouldn't work, she needed to stay firm. "We're dying Sunrise. How many times do we need to tell you? We need to leave and if you can't see it we will leave without you!"
The world fell silent. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart as it battered against her chest. I shouldn't have said that. I really shouldn't have said that. Then someone else spoke, their voice breaking through the air.
"I agree, we need to go with or without you."
Then slowly one by one more and more voices came
"I agree"
"We need to leave"
"It was bad enough but poisoned prey is different"
It was a rhythm. A wonderful sounding tune of unity, something the group hadn't felt for a long, long, long time.
"I agree"
"I agree"
"I agree"
Sunrise looked across each and every one of those faces. His eyes in a panic, the first bit of panic she had ever seen on the cat before he turned back to face her. His gaze softened and his head bent as he sighed "How do we do it?"
And the first smile in weeks formed on Butterfly's face.
Hello! I hope you enjoyed that. I'm sorry that a lot of these chapters have been slow moving, I'm just trying to set everything up. Anyways thankyou for reading! It means a lot.
