Wasteland- A new line of hope

sandy home

(Art by cloud)

A few hours passed in complete and utter silence. There were a few whispers and giggles from Koiwish and Melonpoppy, but most of the walk was quiet. A little too quiet for Koiwish.

She glances around at everyone. Sorrwfang walked in front of everyone and Gia was in the back with Shadowpaw, so she and Melonpoppy were in the middle.

"Sooo..ah..Are you going to miss your family Melonpoppy?" She dragged out her sentences a little, feeling a bit awkward from the silence. Melonpoppy just smiles and speaks softly.

"Of course I would, wouldn't you miss your family on a journey like this?" Koiwish laughs at herself and the silly question, just trying to break the silence.

"Haha yeh I guess I would."

Melonpoppy giggles, continuing to walk, but there was a question on Koiwishes mind, how come Melonpoppy never said goodbye to her mum? I mean, she might have, but the conversation she had with her father, Hazlestar, made Koiwish think against it.

"Hey Melonpoppy, how come you didn't say goodbye to your mother?"

Melonpoppy clearly got tense. She tried to speak, a stutter in her word, but before she could say anything Shadowpaw spoke up, pushing past them both.

"H-hey what's that!" Shadowpaw motions his tail to a cave near a sandy dirt hill, it was deep and dark looking, even some moss clung to the rocks, but most seemed to have burnt or been blown off by the blast.

Koiwish gasps, speaking with a burst of excitement. "It's a cave!!" Koiwish runs past Sorrowfang and Shadowpaw, Sorrowfang giving off a little growl yelling as she runs past.

"HEY!" He yells, a small growl in his voice followed by a sigh of annoyance.

As Koiwish reaches the cave, her excitement grows more. Now they don't need to worry about a place to sleep! The sun was going to set soon, and they didn't want to disobey the warnings the leaders had given them, so with Koiwish feeling even more excitement building in her throat, she spoke.

"Annnd! We don't need to struggle with finding a place to stay! Shadowpaw you're amazing!" She draws out her words slightly, her tail swishing side to side, almost like a dog, looking between them all as the group made their way over.

Sorrowfang growls slightly, feeling annoyed with hunger and tiredness made it worse. Melonpoppy praises Shadowpaw and Koiwish sees him blushing like a rose, his stutters getting a bit worse than they were before.

But after a while, Gia speaks up before they even enter the cave. "What if there's a giant worm thing that lives in there that eats us all?"

Everyone physically tenses, but Gia. Glancing at her, Gia has an emotionless expression.

Melonpoppy coughs a little, giving out an awkward laugh. "W-well that IS a possibility yes, heh...."

Koiwish sees her glancing around her ears going down slightly as she smiles.

"Weee just have to be..you know careful I guess hehe,"

Koiwish goes to agree but Sorrowfang chimes in, standing up proud with his head up high and chest out. "Yeah! Besides I'M the strongest here, so even if we found a weird creature, I'D be able to take it on!" He huffs after emphasizing certain words, and Koiwish can't help but feel a giggle bubble up in her throat. She covers her mouth and coughs a little.

"Y-yeah of course." Koiwish glances at Melonpoppy as she glances down at her both smile a sheepish cheeky smile letting out a small giggle. Koiwish notices Sorrowfang giving her a small glare and straightness up glancing away, holding back more of a giggle than before.

Sorrowfang just huffs glancing at the cave. Walking towards it and entering it, Koiwish and Melonpoppy glance at each other, nodding then glancing at Gia and her brother. They nodded as well and Gia sighs slightly, following along after Sorrowfang.

Walking through the surprisingly dark cave it's quite cool. Koiwish feels a sense of relief feeling the cool stone against her burnt paws. She knew it would get better over time, but her and everyone else's feet were still pretty sensitive to the heat.

Sorrowfang didn't stop even though Melonpoppy and the siblings had, so she used the last bit of energy she had left to run over to him.

"Sorrowfang you can stop walking now, I think we're pretty safe." Koiwish smiles, standing in front of him. He gave a small hiss, he wasn't looking at Koiwish, though it was like something was behind her. Something only he can see or smell, maybe even hear, and the others can't.

Koiwish began to get worried, a knot fixed in her stomach. She steps forward with a small stutter.

"S-sorrowfang?"

His claws dug into the cold stone, leaving small dust of claw marks. Then he huffs, turning around and heading back to the others. Koiwish turns around squinting her eyes trying to see if there truly was anything behind her but there was nothing. All she saw was moss and stones and probably the end of the cave. To make sure though Koiwish starts to walk over when Melonpoppy calls her over. She glances at her best friend and sighs, mumbling to herself, looking back at the mossy end.

"Sorrowfang probably just saw something thinking it was a threat... it's probably nothing..."

Koiwish heads over sitting herself down with a thump. Melonpoppy giggles and starts putting a green and clear paste on Koiwish's burnt paws, she squeals a little feeling how cold this substance was. It seemed to be very sticky yet bubbly? What the hell was Melonpoppy putting on her paws?

"It's something called aloe, or the spiky plant."

'Oh well all right then' Koiwish thought laughing a little then speaking up.

"Heh it's almost like you read my mind, I was wondering what this weird stuff is." Once Melonpopy finished, she went on to do everyone else's. Some protested to the medicine Melonpoppy was offering.

"I'm fine, thank you."

Koiwish glances at Gia who's keeping her paws away from the sticky cold substance.

"Are you sure Gia? I don't mind, this plant seems to grow a lot around so there won't be a shortage."

Melonpoppy smiles down at Gia but she keeps protesting, even turning her head away slightly to ignore her. Koiwish sees Melonpoppy sigh with a slight smile and talks with a bit of a sarcastic voice.

"Fiinne then but if you get more hurt because yooouu refused my help, then don't blame me.

As Melonpoppy starts to head over to Shadowpaw, Gia stops her with a big annoyed sigh.

"Fine, I'll let you put that WEIRD stuff on my paws."

She huffs, looking away as Melonpoppy happily skips over putting aloe on her paws. Koiwish giggles a little as Gia shivers and leans her head away. It was pretty obvious she didn't like the mixture at all.

"They're all done," Melonpoppy giggles, smiling down at Gia's almost uncomfortable expression, Shadowpaw seems to giggle at her face then she shoots a glare back. Shadowpaw shutting up sitting up straight, glancing away pretending he doesn't see her gaze.

Koiwish lowers her head onto her paw's. She started to feel the rush of exhaustion through her body to the point where she could hardly keep her eyes open, her breathing slowed down to a calm slow pace.

As the talking from the group around her blurred into tiny quiet sentences that she could hardly hear or understand. It felt like the world dimmed and slowed for her as she slowly fell into a deep sleep.