Warriors: Flesh-Sickness

Chapter 3

After the attack. Shocktail and Volewhisker officially announced that they were mates. The Clans were ecstatic- this was great news! After Anteye's mate, Birdstep had a very hard kitting that night and her son and very small and weak. However, the four leaders decided to wait a few days and gave her son half a moon to get stronger before he would be sacrificed to the Infected. 

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Shocktail laid by the nursery, a paw on her stomach. It had been two moons since she had moved to the nursery, and she could feel the kits growing in her belly. Her stomach was huge, and it really wouldn't be long now. A few days at the most. Shocktail's eyes wandered to where Birdstep was laying on her side on the sunning rocks, her son Harekit laying beside her. She was glad the kit had grown stronger within a few days, but like his mother, he was still rather meek. Shocktail got to her feet, grunting at the weight from her belly, and began to waddle towards the other queen. Birdstep's eyes lit up.

"Hello, Shocktail! Everything alright?" The brown queen asked her, curling her tail around Harekit. "Whoa- your stomach is huge! The kits will be here soon, won't they?" Shocktail purred and smiled, sitting next to Birdstep. 

"Honestly, I just want them to be born already!" The tortoiseshell queen joked, her whiskers twitching in amusement. Birdstep mrrowed in laughter, her eyes bright. "Well, I can understand that. And they must be healthy kits, too- look at the size of your belly! Trust me; it hurts a lot, but I was always told that labor pains bring a mother's love." Shocktail chuckled, curling her tail around her paws. "Very true! I just hope there won't be that many kits; I don't think I could handle more than three!" 

As the two queens talked, Shocktail spotted Stormfire bringing herbs back to camp with Bulletleaf and one of the other medicine cats, Badgerstripe. Surprisingly enough, Stormfire became a medicine cat about a moon ago after he was getting non-stop visions of prophecies and terrible omens. Shocktail stood up, her pelt itching as she said goodbye to Birdstep and approached her half-brother. "Hey, Stormfi-" 

"Can't talk now." The tom responded curtly, pushing past her into the medicine den. Badgerstripe pressed against Shocktail's side apologetically. 

"Don't worry dear; he just has a lot on his plate. Bulletleaf and I have been trying to teach him all we know, and you know just how stubborn he can be." Shocktail smiled softly, looking at the medicine cat thankfully. "I guess so. Thank you, Badgerstripe. I don't know what I would do without you and the other medicine cats. Especially with these kits on the way!" Badgerstripe purred loudly, batting at her ears. "That's what we are here for, dear."