Crimson Stains

Chapter 1

The night is silent. Stars twinkle from outside the camp. I can hear owls hooing in the trees as leaves trickle down in the crisp leaf-bare air.

I stand from my nest, careful not to stir my clanmates. Darktail grumbles with annoyance and I murmur an apology. I walk into the camp and shake out my fur against the icy wind. The stone beneath my paws feels like ice. I hurry outside camp to a crowd of bushes the clan uses and a dirt place. As I enter, an acrid stench fills the air. I blink away sleep and turn, trying to see the cause.

I jump the sound of a cat's yowl and am thrown to the floor. I land with a thud. Pain stings my pelt as a cat attacks me. I hiss and claw at my attacker, but I grab air. As I attempt to stand, the cat turns and grabs my leg with my teeth. I hiss and hit them but they bite down harder and twist my leg. A loud snap cracks through the air.

Pain spirals down my leg into my torso. I let out an agonized yowl as the cat mangles my leg. I try to push them off but they hold on, too nimble for me to grab. I see swaths of black, green, and the dark brown tabby fur of the mystery cat. Through my desperate fighting, I hear cries from the camp. Sounds of screaming cats and fighting fill the air. The shrill sound of a kit's cry hits me. Bubblekit? Bubblekit?!

I push the cat away from me, ignoring the terrible noise of my fur tearing away from my pelt. I turn and let my rage lead my actions. I tear at the throat of the cat. Blood pools on the floor of the dirt place. The cat twitches and squirms but I dash away to the camp.

The camp is filled with cats fighting. And bodies. So many bodies. I stand there horrified and identify the mangled corpses. Minnowwhisker. Yarrowpaw. Darktail. Applefoot. Oh starclan. No, no no no no no-
My legs tremble and the pain in my leg fades as I spot three bodies. Floatingcloud, Bubblekit, and Fernkit. I can't move. The bodies of my mate and kits lay gored on the stone outside the nursery.

Rage fills every bone in my body. Rage and sorrow. My eyes blur. I run, ignoring the pain in my broken leg as I leap onto the killer. He deserves it. He will die. He will suffer. I tear at his fur just as he kills the last kit. I'm too late, but I don't care. I drag him away and mangle him. Blood covers the floor. It drips from my muzzle as I tear at him, even after he stops screaming and lays there spasming. His grey fur turned crimson. The world around me disappears.

As the screaming dies down and one of the rogues calls the rest off, someone drags me away from the cat. The killer. I turn and hiss, but stop just before I claw them to death. It's Spiralpoppy. Tears stain the fur under her eyes and blood spills from a wound on her side. She sighs.

"Scamperstep. It's okay. It- it's just me. It's over." She says, sorrowful. She dips her head sadly. I breathe unevenly and look around the camp. Blood is splattered across the Rocky walls. So many bodies. So much blood. I can't look any more as my eyes spot my family again. Dead.

I fall to the floor, destroyed. I lay there, sobbing, clawing at the stone. I scream angrily and look at the maimed body of the murderer of my kits. I then stare at the floor, defeated. Nothing matters. My kits are dead. My mate is dead. This is it.