Dark Moon: Tell-Tale

Chapter 26

Tonks yelped as a weight landed on her shoulders. Turning her head, she recognized the dark, tabby pelt and gleaming amber eyes of Tell-Tale, his form blotting out the moonlight. The tom swiped at her face, drawing blood from her chin. Tonks growled, yowling wildly and kicking Tell-Tale off her back, lunging for his head and batting it madly.
Storm suddenly barrelled into her, his weight knocking her off her paws. A toothy grin was plastered across his muzzle as he prepared to sink his fangs into her throat.
Then a grey pelt flashed past her vision. Storm howled, falling off Tonks' exposed underbelly and landing with a loud thud on the stone. A grey cat batted at Storm, pinning him down with his hind paws, its bright blue eyes glimmering in the starlight.
Echo?
Storm growled, scrambling from under the speckled tom's grip, and racing for the trees. Echo glanced over at Tonks.
"You alright?" His familiar, high tone rang through Tonks' ears, a little deeper from age.
"Echo?" Tonks whispered in bewilderment. The raging battle around them seemed to disappear as she stared at him in awe. "But you died! You were crushed when the roof caved in on you."
"I almost did." Echo smirked. "It collapsed enough to hit me and knock me unconscious, but it was held up by the walls of the rooms inside. You see those two cats over there?" Echo looked over his shoulder, pointing with his tail to two more cats that Tonks hadn't even noticed, batting Toxic away from Venus, who seemed confused as to who they were.
The first was a small, lean she-cat, with a glossy, sandy yellow pelt and shining green eyes. Her underbelly was a faint shade of brown, but it was barely noticeable. She looked about a year old, perhaps the same age as Monty.
The second cat was a dark grey tabby, with a white underbelly and grass-green eyes.
"They're siblings." Echo continued, his gaze flicking back to Tonks. "The creamy she-cat is Pearl, and the grey striped tom is River. They stumbled across the ruins of the village and found me, and they looked after me and we set off to find you guys. I didn't expect to find you in a huge fight with a bunch of dogs and... Jasper..."
"Turns out he's working with them." Tonks growled, pouncing on Nightmare, who had Blizzard pinned to the ground. Echo looked around, noticing Monty cowering over Homer.
Is Homer moving? Echo thought worriedly to himself.

Monty opened his bloodshot eyes, which were narrowed to yellow-green slits. He whipped around, his teeth bared in an enraged snarl. His eyes locked on Tell-Tale, who was staring at the battlefield with a wicked grin.
Monty charged toward the huge tabby, letting out a blood-curdling yowl. Tell-Tale spun around a little too late as Monty barrelled into him, knocking him off his paws and hurling him to the stone floor. Tell-Tale hissed with rage as he lay on his stomach, trying to kick back at him, only to find his paws were pinned to the ground.
"How dare you." Monty hissed menacingly into his ear. "Would you like to know how it felt? Would you like to know what Homer went through, when he had his throat slit?"
This was the one time Tell-Tale had ever felt scared of someone else in his life. The fur along his spine rose with fear, his arms quivered under Monty's grip. The young cat had never acted like this before.
Time seemed to slow down as Monty lifted Tell-Tale's head with one paw, placing the other gently on his neck.
"This might sting a bit." Monty muttered malevolently, drawing his claws hastily across Tell-Tale's throat.