The Hunger Games - Warriors Edition

CHAPTER TWO - cherryblossom falling

CHERRYNOSE'S p.o.v

Echoing. The constant echoing of cats meowing was all I heard. The dizzying blackness frightened me. I was being violently dragged along, and I knew who by. Merca!

All he does, he and his little group of ragged street-fighters, is torture us four Clans! He never has anything better to do...

Suddenly I felt my body being dropped, slamming into the ground. I let out a gasp of pain, shaking my long, dirty fur as I found myself in extreme light. Then I blinked, and noticed I was staring up at the sun. "Ow!" I squealed. "What did you have to do that for?" Then I realized I had made a mistake at speaking at all.

Suddenly a huge tabby tom was pinning me to the ground, his breath foul as season-old crow-food. "You better watch it, pretty kitty," he snarled, baring his yellow fangs in a crooked, evil smirk. Yes, this is Merca, I thought, hissing. I ground my teeth. The tom leaped off backwards, landing beside his groupmate. It was a ruffled, mean-looking tom with flaming amber eyes. I stared, trembling, at his long, shimmering claws that were digging into the wet sand.

He turned, glaring at the tom. "Go on, take her, Blaze. There's no use in standing here just staring at each other when we've got work to do."

A thin black she-cat took the tom's place as he staggered towards me. "C'mon, Cherrynose," he said in a strong, unfriendly voice, pulling my scruff to direct me towards where I was supposed to go.  "You'll find your place over here by Mudpuddle." I squeaked, a quick jolt of pain running through my neck as I was jerked forward.

I glanced at the pale brown tom as we passed. He only stared up at me for a moment--his eyes dull and drained--then looked back down at the thing he was doing before--tying up bundles of leaves, I guessed. But for what?

Blaze was leading me into some sort of den. Only right now did I realize I actually hadn't gotten a good look at the place. "Where am I?" I meowed, hopeful to get an answer. It was too late now, thought, to see where I was, as the outside was abruptly cut off by shadow as Merca sheathed the entrance to the den with a layer of ferns.

Blaze only shrugged, shouldering me in to the corner of the den. Then he shoved me with his large brown paws, for no reason really, but I guess to just make the crowded she-cat behind me even more uncomfortable than she already was. Her blue eyes watered with pain and grief. And her dark gray sides heaved as she gasped for air. I didn't know why.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I whispered, nudging her flank gently with a paw. "Did they hurt you?"

The she-cat nodded vigorously, gazing down at a small gash in her thigh. She began crying, no words coming out.

"Okay, okay," I tried to calm her down. "What is your name, dear?" I could tell she was younger than I was, maybe an apprentice. Or just a young warrior.

"My-huh-my n-name is Nightstream. I'm fr-from RainClan. The t-tom that just b-b-brought huh-you in did this to m-huh-me," was all she replied. Then she began sobbing again. Aww...just a young warrior. Poor thing's probably frightened to death!

I spun around quickly, looking at the back of Mudpuddle. He had moved farther up towards the entrance to the den, I'd seen now, and he wasn't tying the leaf bundles anymore. Just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing. I padded up to him, very, very careful not to alarm Blaze, as I could see his silhouette outlined through the ferns against the bright orange sunshine.

"Hello, Mudpuddle," I whispered as I reached him. "Do you--" Suddenly  he shot out a paw, holding it in front of me and smacking my muzzle. I yelped in surprise, his fur muffling me.

"Shh..." he growled quietly. "Don't speak. The guards will hear you."

"Why?" I meowed stubbornly.

His only reply was a snort of annoyance as he looked the other way.

"Where are we?" I knew he wouldn't answer.

But surprisingly, he did. "The Hollow," he meowed gruffly, his fur bristling and limbs stiffening as he spoke. Was he scared? "The rogues--DeathClan, as they call temselves--are taking Clan cats...cats who are on patrols, who now get kidnapped. Like you, I suppose? Anyways...I overheard Blaze and Merca talking last night. Some black she-cat was there too, and I think her name was Blackberry. Along with a small white tom that Blaze called Snow."

Oh my, StarClan. Mudpuddle has been here all night?

Frustration was pricking my mind and my whole body tingled with fear at the same time. What were those crooked crow-food eaters planning now? And I wondered what my Clan was doing right now without me? Would they send out a search party to come looking? If they did, they'd get kidnapped too!

Memories suddenly flooded through me and my eyes shot toward one. I saw me! Walking. In the woods--LeafClan territory, I realized...and by the Twolegplace border, too! Then I heard pawsteps in the very back of my mind. And suddenly two of my Clanmates appeared. Bearclaw and Stonewing!

I looked closer. Something was jumping the fence as another one of my cats, my brother Moletail, in fact, was scent-marking a post. Then Stonewing was attacked! A large brown tabby cat, male, with scars all over and a dead-eye, rolled him over in the grass, clawing his ribs and chewing his ears. Nightshade, Stonewing's sister, leaped at the tom, snarling, but he didn't let go. Instead, he shook her off effortlesly, and she landed awkwardly, twisting one leg underneath her, it looked, breaking it.

She let out a loud screech, and the mangy tom fled, dragging Stonwing with him over the fence and into Twolegplace, as the gray flecked tom had been knocked out for many heartbeats.

Suddenly I realized I had vanished in my memory also.

Oh no! Some cat must've took me, too! Probably Merca himself, that ugly coward.

Then the vision was gone, and I was back in reality again, staring out the shimmering fern layer with wide eyes. I noticed that Blaze's silhouette was gone--he must have left to do other rogue, or DeathClan, duties--and the light coming in through the ferns was darker, fading, and almost no light at all. It was beginning to be night.

Ugh! Now I know I'll have to sleep here. Well...just maybe I'll be able to sneak out at like moonhigh or something...