'I'm alive?'

Every bone aches in Oakwhisker's body as the dark brown tabby stirred from what felt like a spinning darkness that would never end. Wherever he was now smelled strongly of herbs, could he possibly be in the medicine cat den?

'Thornkit, Poppyheart!'

Oakwhisker's eyes shot open as his heart raced, jumping up to his paws only to have one of his hindlegs cause him to partially collapse from his own weight. His breathing grew heavy as he looked around. Desperately hoping to see one of them beside him, alive and well as they should be.

But one thought quickly crept into his mind, the den he was in looked nothing like what he remembered of the RiverClan medicine den. The walls were made entirely of dirt and roots, none of the smells were familiar either. A heavy feeling sank in his heart as he turned and looked over his shoulder.

Thankfully there was no sight of any cat in the den, he could smell that they weren't too far gone now. His shoulders bunch as he becomes wary of his new surroundings, uncomfortably shifting in the bedding which was made of a different material. Though admittedly no less comfortable. As he scanned the den one more time, before looking back at his own hind leg. It was in some pretty bad shape from what he could tell, and stung with every twitch or movement he gave it.

Oakwhisker heard the sound of pawsteps coming down, and the smell of the unfamiliar cats filled his nostrils. The dark brown tabby's fur stood on edge and he quickly laid back down and tried to act like nothing happened.

"We can't be certain for sure, but it looked like the storm pushed him further than he could have anticipated." a she-cat spoke, "the poor tom must have taken a beating along the way, i wrapped what i could in cobwebs. But his leg might cause him pain when he wakes, I fear it may be broken."

"Nevertheless, we need him to be awake before we leave." a second voice spoke, "the last thing i am going to do is leave a cat behind to be snagged by a fox looking for a new den."

Oakwhisker opened one eye to see the two cats who had come in, one was a large dark gray tom with wide broad shoulders. And the other was a pale gray and white she-cat, who was busying herself with the herbs stored in the crevices across the walls. The pale gray she-cat turned and looked at Oakwhisker. Who quickly closed his eyes in return, but it seemed she quickly picked up on it.

"It appears that our guest here is awake after all." the pale gray she-cat spoke before gently poking Oakwhisker's side. The dark brown tabby tom turned and looked at the pair with both of his eyes open. "Good morning to you too." the she-cat huffed with a bemused look.

The dark gray tom stepped forward as the she-cat returned to the other side of the den. "Greetings traveler, you are lucky my colony spotted you in the river this morning, you may have wound up in even worse shape than you are now." he spoke softly as he nodded back to the she-cat, "Ivy here swam out to get you from the rock you were left draped across, half of us suspected you were dead."

"Where am I?" Oakwhisker asked, steadily raising himself back up onto his still good paws.

"You are in the camp of the Colony, we take in cats that we come across." the dark gray tom responded, "My name is Rock, and I am our current leader; And this is Ivy, our healer. Who are you?"

Oakwhisker took a deep breath as he raised his head up strong. "My name is Oakwhisker, and I am the current deputy of RiverClan." he answered politely, "we live by the river south of the Highstones." he added hoping to get some familiarity from these cats, but quickly realized that they might not have much of the same terminology. "Giant hills that reach high up into the sky, covering the sun on a warm day as it sets. With peaks like claws that raked the moon as it falls into slumber before dawn."

Rock looked over his shoulder at the pale gray she-cat. "We have heard of a few places similar to what you had described, however none of which are near here." the dark gray tom responded, "We had suspected that you may have come from somewhere distant, though just how far the river had taken you is unknown."

Oakwhisker sighed as his shoulders dropped. "I need to get home, and I will not take too much of your time here." the dark brown tabby spoke, as he turned to start heading out of the den. But his leg once more gave up on him, as he dropped to the floor Ivy quickly ran to his aid.

"By the ancestors, I am afraid that you're not in any shape to go anywhere just yet." the pale gray she-cat said as she tended to his shoulder. "You've got cuts and bruises across almost every inch of your body, and if we're going to get you home you need to be in the best condition."

"I need to see my family." Oakwhisker protested as he once again stood up and tried to walk out, this time getting as far as just outside of the den. The sun made his head dizzy as he hit the floor, and his eyes adjusted to the light. The camp outside was made up of a variety of dens, one was made from a hollow fallen tree. A few were from burrows in the ground like the healer's den, and others were from bushes and rocks like what he had seen back in the clans.

But looking overhead once again he found himself lost, the sky was unobstructed by hills or anything he might recognize. His breath caught in his throat as he thought back to his mate and kit, hoping that they were able to make it out of the river while he wasn't.

'Please be safe.'