Spreading Darkness

Chapter 3

     Lark mewed. A beam of sunlight poked through the hole of the rabbit den, and awakened the curious kit. She felt alone. She poked her elder brother, Panther's shoulder, and shoved him. "Wake up!" she whispered. "I want to talk..." she mewed. Panther growled and opened his eyes. 

     "Shouldn't you be sleeping...?" he moaned. But Lark knew he would get up. And he did. Panther rubbed his eyes with his paw, and was about to wake Crow and Snowflake up, when Lark shook her head. 

    "We can wake up later. And let Crow sleep. He's the one who found all of this. He needs rest. And Snowflake would insist on her... beauty sleep... right?" She nuzzled her elder brother. "Let's just talk." 

     The two walked a bit, until they were back at the same clearing their parents had died in. Panther lowered his head in agony, and took a few deep breaths. "Why don't we dig a small hole down there... for our parents. Maybe we can get a few flowers." he said, looking down at his paws. He heard sniffling, and Lark was crying. "I-um... don't cry. It's ok... it'll be ok. We're going to find these... clans, and stay there for a while. Then maybe they can help us find our home!" Lark growled. She hissed. Then she exploded. 

     "Don't you see?! WHATEVER WE DO! WE'RE NOT GOING BACK! OUR TWOLEGS WON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH US! WE DON'T HAVE OUR PARENTS-I... they're gone. You know as well as I do that we can't go back." she whimpered and leaned on her older brother's shoulder. "Let's go to mom and dad." 

     The two walked into the clearing, the one gray blob- wait. Panther ran up, and his eyes immediately widened. "Lark!" he called. "Where's mom?" he asked. Lark's heart started to race. A faint smile appeared on her face.

     "Mom got away..." she whispered. "Mom's ok... but... we don't know where she is... maybe she got away! Maybe she went to the clans! Maybe- oh! Maybe-" she looked up at Panther. "Maybe we can go back home together?" she walked over to her father. "I'll miss you dad." she said, tears of pain and joy splattering on the leaves, and mixing with the morning dew. "But us and mom can go back. And we can all be happy." she nodded at Panther. The two started to throw mounds of dirt on their father and bury him, and Lark insisted that she run and find a few flowers for Smoke before they went to wake Crow and Snowflake up. As they reached the rabbit hole they had slept in for the night, they woke up Crow and Snowflake, and sat down and all had a talk. 

     "Well then." Panther said, looking at his littermates. "We know it's not too far from here. As far as we know, it's somewhere past the clearing... and we've got two mice. Since it's almost dark, we'll search 'till moonrise. Then we eat, and try again in the morning. Ok?" he asked.

"Ok!" they all whispered.

After they passed the clearing, they found five large stones, and cat scent was all around them. The quad all felt hopeful, and decided to split up. 

     "Wait- what?! Why do we have to?" Crow complained. "We might get hurt, get hit, evil animals or twolegs might take us, or-" 

    "Stoooooopppp!" Snowflake said, rolling her eyes. "If you feel so scared, then we'll go together. Panther?"

    He sighed. "Fine." 

     The four walked to a clearing, and Snowflake quickly walked up. They heard a chatter behind a small moss wall. The four looked at each other longingly, and nodded to Snowflake. She took the signal and parted the moss so they could get through. What they saw was amazing. It was wonderful... so many cats. It was like- like a clan.