Chapter 35: Crossing Lines
Fireheart and Graystripe managed to track Windclan's scent to a highway before the scent of tar and gas fumes buried it. It was just turning to evening and the road seemed semi-active. My personal guess was that the highway was one of the lesser used exits to the city. The cars would pass with usually a gap of five to twenty seconds. The main traffic flowed inward, so they were likely those just getting off work going back into town. Exit traffic was much rarer, but it didn't seem to correlate with the time pattern, so an outward moving vehicle could catch a cat off guard easily.
"They must have crossed here. The scent trail ends here." Mewed Fireheart.
I nodded in agreement. "Most likely. Tell you what. I'll watch for monsters and call for when to cross. With the tall grass, I might miss something, so stop in the center if you hear a monster too close. They usually avoid it."
Fireheart and Graystripe lined up at the edge of the road as I patently waited for the gap. There were two inward moving cars coming, and a noticeable gap was after them. Unfortunately, with my short stature and the way the road curved into the city, I could not see any vehicles moving out of the city. I just made a guess and called.
"Now!"
Graystripe and Fireheart crossed like their tails were on fire, but they stopped when they reached the other side. A leaving vehicle then passed immediately after. It had been far too close for my comfort. I didn't want to risk crossing with that blind corner.
"Hey! I'm not crossing this! You see if you can catch a scent of Windclan. I'm going to look for a culvert. This place is too close to farmland for there not to be one." I shouted across, ignoring that I just said a lot of terminology that a cat wouldn't usually know.
While those two looked and scented around, I traveled the edge of the road until a cement structure caught my attention. Right at the start of some farmland lay a ditch that followed alongside the road. Fortunately, this ditch had a feature I planned to exploit. It had a culvert, an under road pipe designed to move water from one side of the road to the other without running it across the road. It was, thankfully, dry. The autumn season meant farmers didn't need to water their fields. I managed to slip through easily. Seeing how I could fit through; I was sure we could reuse this crossing later.
"Smudgefoot! How'd you get over here?" Asked Graystripe.
"There's a tunnel under the road over there. It's big enough that we can use it on the return trip. Did you two find anything?" I responded.
"We found a border marker. Windclan is definitely here. We should wait for daylight though, so we don't catch them unaware." Fireheart said.
Graystripe and I nodded in agreement. The last thing we wanted was to accidentally start a fight or chase them even further away. I set to hunting while the duo looked for a suitable shelter. I got lucky and managed to catch a couple mice, the road having concealed my scent and paw steps. I returned to find the pair by a hole from either a fox or badger. I was unsure. It was at least scentless, so whatever dug it wasn't coming back.
"Nice catches Smudgepaw. You always seem to have better luck by the Thunderpaths." Fireheart mewed.
"Eh. With how noisy and smelly the monsters are, the local prey gets used to the noise and sense dampening smell. If you move at the same time a monster is passing, they don't seem to notice you at all." I answered.
"So, it's because they're stupid enough to live here?" Graystripe commented.
"That's putting it bluntly. Yes." I responded in a slightly irritated tone.
I didn't really appreciate how Graystripe accidentally put down my hunting skills. I may not be a good hunter, but to imply that the one time I could catch well was because the prey was dumb rubbed my fur the wrong way. Fireheart must have noticed my irritation, so he decided to try and calm me down before I said something rash.
"Smudgefoot. You did good. You caught a lot, and it's because you worked hard, not because the prey was dumb. Don't overthink it. Graystripe's just a bit vocal on his thoughts." Fireheart reassured.
Graystripe's ears flattened as he realized he'd inadvertently insulted me. "I'm sorry Smudgefoot. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that something would have to be crazy to live this close to a Thunderpath. The constant noise and scent is just constant. I can barely stand to stay here a night."
For once, I was the one to groom myself in embarrassment. I knew Graystripe hadn't meant it as an insult, but something about this journey set me on edge. Even with these two I felt… lonely. I missed Ravenfeather's constant presence. He may have been quiet, but he was always at my side, giving me the occasional brush or comforting look. Without him, I felt like I wasn't just alone. My paranoia was also slightly heightened. I knew it was nothing, but I usually counted on Ravenfeather's sensitivity to danger to help keep me out of trouble. Graystripe and Fireheart didn't have that natural sense, so I felt exposed. Regardless, I forced my heart to calm itself. Irrationality wouldn't do out here.
"It's alright. I'm just… not to used to being without Ravenfeather. Again, we aren't mates, but, given Bluestar's and Tigerclaw's efforts, I've grown dependent on him. Now I just feel on edge." I said, trying to justify my behavior.
Fireheart knew he could reassure me, but he gestured for Graystripe to do the job. "Don't worry. We'll be back at camp before you know it." Graystripe tried to reassure.
It was a decent token effort to comfort me, but Graystripe would be winning no awards for his counseling skills any time soon. At least his actions were more successful than his words. He laid beside me as he tucked in to one of the mice I caught. Fireheart laid down on my other side sandwiching me between as he started on his own. I let the feeling of warmth on either side of me drown out my anxiety, pretending that we were in camp at the moment as I ate my own mouse. It was a little sad to resort to escapism to settle myself, but my two companions didn't seem to notice. As I curled up in the burrow beside the two, I pretended the sound of passing cars was just some annoying warrior's snores, probably Tigerclaw's. I had to suppress a chuckle at the thought.