The Hunger Games - Warriors Edition

CHAPTER FOUR - the strategy

Dawnpelt's p.o.v

I shuddered as we all lined up against the high wall. Some cat I didn't recognize sat beside me on my right, but she smelled of heather flowers and had the stale scent of a rabbit still clung to her whiskers. SunClan maybe? Lucky, I thought. I hadn't eaten for days! And this cat still smelled of food? That just wasn't fair.

And...are they going to feed us anytime soon? Probably not. They're so heartless, they barely feed their own kin.

"Ahem!" Har's loud cough broke the silence. "Attention, Clan cats! I am about to start."

Oh, yeah, like we're happy about that, sir.

"RainClan, come forth," I was decently surprised when he called my Clan first. Both me and my Clanmate Nightstream, somewhere far down the line of us she-cats, stepped forward unwillingly. "Go to the guards, tell them your names, and take and remember your numbers."

When I whispered the large brown tom my name in his ear, he just grunted and gave me a leaf. A leaf that had the one claw-mark on it.

Now, I'm assuming Nightstream got two claw-marks. And when Har called SunClan, three, and four. Then ShadeClan?

Wait, what?

Surprisingly there was no she-cat from ShadeClan. Then a thought struck me. Where are the toms?

Like, toms have been being taken, too, haven't they? I could've sworn that Tulipstar announced a tom called Stonewing being kidnapped with his Clanmate Cherrynose, who I noticed here a while ago.

I glanced around the dome-place eagerly, just looking for one pelt and that pelt only. Then I saw it--a small white tom with orange tabby patches.

Smallberry! He's still alive!

I had been captured with my older son while we were out hunting about a day or two ago. I missed him so much. Plus, I had younger kits to deal with, but no! The DeathClan rogues took me away from them. I wondered how Blackkit, Specklekit, and Troutkit were doing without me. When I looked harder to see Smallberry, I noticed a line of other Clan toms standing beside him.

Oh! They must be doing the same thing we're doing....but wait. What are we doing?

When Har finished, he told the toms to lead RainClan and SunClan to their dens. Robin would lead us, the small white tom named Snow would lead SunClan, Har would lead ShadeClan, and then he would come back for LeafClan.

I shrugged when I saw Cherrynose make eye-contact with me. I think she was going to say something or call something to me, but when she opened her jaws to speak, the leaf she was holding fell to the ground and without hesitation she picked it back up, embarrassed, glancing around vigorously to see if anyone else had seen.

*****

"Alright, RainClan. This is your den from now on," Robin growled as he nudged us all into the tight space.

Moments before, he had led us along a narrow dirt path, winding around all the sides of the dome. There's an entrance, I saw, to this place, and it's just a long muddy tunnel that I guess leads up to the outside world. I think that's where we've all come from, us Clan cats. Although I know that when we're brought down here we're knocked out because the kidnappers drag us through and our heads hit things on the way. And in the center there is a vine-tied branchy-cage. Also, on the way other side of the dome-hole-thing, I know it's where the toms are kept. We, RainClan, are the last den, at the very back of the place inside a part of the wall. Right beyond our den, on the inside of the walls, is a huge, tall rock that I guess Merca or Har sit on, since they're basically the leaders of DeathClan.

"So, just slide your leaf-numbers under your pre-built nests for now. And when you're done getting settled, which better not take you too long, come and join me to hunt. I'll be waiting outside here." Robin left us alone for a bit, and all I could think about was prey. And my kits! were they hungry too? Or was Voleflower treating them nice now that I was gone?

I also thought about the other Clans' dens here. When we passed it, I noticed some skinny silver she-cat laying silently in the ShadeClan den.

So there was a she-cat from ShadeClan. Hmm..I wonder who else is here?

Her name was on the tip of my tongue.

Oh Yeah!

Silverfrost was her name. I had met her at a Gathering once, and she was very friendly--wanted to talk to nearly everyone!

When me and Nightstream turned to leave the den, I noticed a dark blue-gray figure standing out beside Robin already. Had another she-cat just been brought in?

Then I saw her as we made it through the ferns..."Dewfoot!" I sprung to meet her. "You're here! How?"

The little blue-gray she-cat's eyes glittered in the pale half-light of beginning-dawn. "I was just brought here, along with Timbersong and...I'm sorry to say...but Smallberry. In time for this, I guess. Isn't it special? Yeah, it's wonderful here, being trapped like dead mice in a cat's stomach." She growled quietly, just so that Robin couldn't hear her as he led Nightstream away.

"Aww..." I purred, trying to comfort her. "I know. We'll get through this, I promise."