Astronomy

When the Dead Roam

The moonlight barely illuminated the forest floor, blocked by the thick canopy above. Only small flecks of pale silver light poked through, dappling the dark path that stretched endlessly in front of them.

"It's too quiet," one of their patrol mates — Whistlebird — muttered from their right. The silver and black molly's voice was tinged with unease, and Blazedust could picture her tail tip twitching wildly. "Where's the bug song? The bats?"

Blazedust had to agree with her; it was definitely too quiet, even with how late the patrol was. "I don't know. Do you think that there's something roaming around? A fox or a dog maybe?" It wouldn't be good for a predator to be this deep in their territory, but it would explain the eerie silence at least.

"No one mentioned fox or dog scent," another warrior — Swiftcall — piped up, this time on Blazedust's left. The tomcat sounded exhausted, as if he had been up for moons. "If anyone had found anything, the queens would have been panicking. When we left, no one else was up."

A twig snapped somewhere in the vast darkness in front of them. Anything he or Whistlebird wanted to say died on their tongues, instead replaced by tense silence. Blazedust narrowed their eyes as they peered into the night, trying to see if anything would appear.

For a while — what felt like it anyways — nothing showed up. There were no more sounds, and no one said anything. "What was that?" the silver and black molly whispered eventually, her voice beginning to shake.

"I-" Blazedust started, only to trail off as something finally emerged from the darkness. They heard Whistlebird gasp, heard Swiftcall suck in a startled breath.

A pale, white light began to make its way towards the patrol. It was too solid to be moonlight, that much they knew. Moonlight didn't float above the ground like mist, didn't move in a solid, rolling cloud. As it grew closer to them, Blazedust could make out a figure from within the light. It was almost as if it was the source for the unnatural glow, as if this figure was something plucked straight out of the sky.

The figure had unusually long, thin legs to hold up its equally skeletal (and oddly shaped) body. From where it stood, it appeared to have sleek, furless skin; though, Blazedust couldn't be sure of anything with how bright the light had become. It was blinding, and they had to force themself to keep their eyes trained on whatever was coming towards them.

Another twig snapped, this time much closer to them. One of their Clanmates let out a shaking hiss as paws scuffled against the ground. Blazedust felt something brush against their flank, but couldn't pull their eyes away from the light.

The warrior realized much too late that whatever was approaching their patrol hadn't been facing them directly. It moved as soon as the twig had snapped, revealing twin lights framed into what must have been eye sockets, cold and menacing as it stared at them.

"What is that?!" someone cried out from beside them, though they weren't sure exactly who anymore. Something buzzed in Blazedust's ears, much like flies around the dead. Even as the sound increased, making their head throb painfully, the warrior couldn't look away.

The creature became clear all at once to them, as if it was emerging from under water.

It had been a cat at one time, that much was obvious. Its body was vaguely cat - shaped, with just enough left over to make a comparison. A short muzzle, perked ears, long whiskers.

They noticed that something was off about it, though. It didn't move like a cat. Its movements were too smooth, almost as if it was gliding across the ground instead of walking. The creature's head was tilted too, just a little too much to be normal.

There were also the jagged, red wounds that covered almost every inch of its body.

Pale slivers of bone poked through its sides, barely hidden by the ribbons of flesh that covered them. The not - cat's bottom jaw hung open at an unnatural angle, revealing sharp teeth and a lolling tongue.

A rough nudge to their side finally broke whatever trance they were in. "Come on!" Swiftcall hissed at them, his voice reflecting the panic that they felt. "We need to go. Now!"

Blazedust turned, barely registering that Whistlebird had already run off. They tensed as a voice rose over the buzzing static in their ears, one that they didn't recognize.

I'm not ... a kit...

"Did -" Blazedust trailed off as the rest of the words died in their throat. Swiftcall seemed to understand though, as he pressed against their side.

"Come on," the black and white tomcat said again. His voice was still high with panic, though it sounded more controlled than when he had spoken earlier. "Let's go back to camp."

I'm not a kit!

Blazedust nodded in response, forcing their eyes to watch the ground in front of them. They took one step, then two. Swiftcall was beside them, his pace matching their's.

The journey was a blur to the warrior, though they thought they had stumbled through a lavender patch at one point. Sometime during the journey, the buzzing had faded into an empty silence.

Eventually though, Blazedust and Swiftcall made it back to camp.