Gorsepelt's Insanity

Chapter 8

Groaning, Gorsepelt fought her way out of sleep. Light filtered through the filthy, clear-stone openings in the Twoleg den.

She remembered what had happened the night before and hissed. They won't leave me alone! Struggling to get to her paws, Gorsepelt suddenly realized how hungry she was.

It was a crisp, leaf-fall morning when Gorsepelt stepped outside. She was in the small Twolegplace next to SeaClan and MoorClan territory. Gorsepelt felt her fur prickle when she saw horses stamping their hooves in a big, enclosed field.

Gorsepelt's mouth watered when she smelled the tantalizing scent of mouse. Looking around, she darted across the dew grass, towards a big wooden structure she believed was called a barn.

As she was about to squeeze through a hole in the wall, she heard a hiss. "Hey! Who are you?"

Tail-tip twitching, Gorsepelt looked through half-closed eyes at the cat who had stopped her. It was a plump brown tom, no doubt a kittypet, standing next to a small black and white she-cat. The brown tom shook his neck fat. "Yeah! I told you Betsy, it's one of those moor cats."

The cat tom would die of old age, and the she-cat would be struck by a monster.

Morningpelt.

Gorsepelt jerked her head to the side, "You! You die from a monster! And your companion will get old and ussless, then you both are maggot food!"

The black and white she-cat, Gorsepelt assumed was Betsy, stepped forward and unsheathed her pitifully tiny claws. She lashed her tail, "I've fought off a few pretty crazy feral beasties like you in my time. I could claw your insane ears off if I wanted to."

"I just killed a cat who was much bigger than you two mouse-brains combined." Gorsepelt flexed her claws, enjoying the sudden look of fear in the she-cat's eyes. Hawkcry was tiny compared to the fat tom, but they didn't know that.

"Hey, you can't talk to her like-" the fat brown tom stepped in front of Gorsepelt, but the speckled she-cat swiped him across the face.

The tom howled and ran away, the she-cat close behind him. Gorsepelt snorted, cleaning the blood off her claws. "Cowards."

After catching a mouse, Gorsepelt lay in the open sunshine. The two kittypets didn't return. Gorsepelt tore at the mouse's warm flesh, Hah! They know this is my territory now.

***

About a moon had passed. The two kittypets, who Gorsepelt soon knew their names were Henry and Besty, had left her alone. Ever since she had eaten that first mouse, Gorsepelt had woken up the next morning struck with an awful illness. The last moon she had been fighting it.

Gorsepelt woke up slowly. Her brain was fuzzier than usual, and her vision was unfocused. She looked around, Where am I?

Slowly, she remembered where she was an why she was there. She remembered MoorClan...Hawkcry...Pebblelake.

Hate filled Gorsepelt faster than water. She got to her paws, snarling. "They did this! They're the reason I'm living as a rogue!"

Gorsepelt looked down at her claws, they hadn't been sharpened for sunrises. She sharpened them on the walls of the Twoleg den, enjoying them the same way she enjoyed it before she killed Hawkcry.

Ignoring the fact that she felt like she was going to topple over, Gorsepelt padded out of the den, her claws itching for MoorClan to suffer.

She snarled at Betsy and Henry who were sitting on a Twoleg fence near the barn. "What are you looking at?"

Henry ran into his Twoleg den with a whimper. Betsy stayed for a moment longer, glaring at Gorsepelt hatefully before running into her Twoleg nest.

When Gorsepelt reached the MoorClan border, she paused. The scents that had once been so framiliar to her, strange and irritating. Gorsepelt held her breath, and crouched behind a bush, waiting for a patrol to come by so she could attack them. They all deserve it, Gorsepelt flexed her scraped up claws. All of them.

The day went on slowly. No patrol came. Gorsepelt hissed and got to her paws. I've wasted time! Now they've all had longer to live!

Gorsepelt heard a sharp squeak come from the bushes a rabbit length away. Three kits came out, not even noticing the fact that a cat was standing right in front of them. Gorsepelt recognized them as Sunfeather's kits. They were bigger now, more than a moon old and fairly large for their age.

Slatekit would die in battle, and his sister Mistlekit would become leader and loose her last life from greencough, but Bumblekit had the same red fuzz that hid her fate, the same as Hawkcry and that black SeaClan she-cat she had met moons ago.

"I told you rabbit brains that sage smells like wind, I told you," Bumblekit told her siblings. The tortishell was obviously the largest of the litter. "And-"

"Ack! Who are you?" Mistlekit squeaked. Her huge green eyes were even bigger when she saw Gorsepelt.

Slatekit wrinkled his tiny pink nose, "Eww, she smells funny."

"Do you know who I am?" Gorsepelt smiled, showing her sharp, yellowed teeth. "I bet you can guess."

Before Bumblekit could answer, Mistlekit stepped in between them. The grey and white tabby fluffed up her fur. "Listen! I know who you are, mama told us to stay away from speckled brown she-cats! You killed two cats!"

"Foolish," Gorsepelt snapped. She pinned down Bumblekit with one paw, making the tortishell squeal. "You should have listened to your mother."

Mistlekit and Slatekit ran away wailing. Gorsepelt snorted, So, I'll have time even if they go and get all of MoorClan. Gorsepelt looked down at the terrified kit. She unsheathed her claws, hate boiling up inside her. "Now, let's have some fun."