The Scared Cheetah

Chapter 5

"Couldn't he have just asked a friend or something?" I asked the old elder trying to learn more about the story.

"He had no friends. He pushed everyone away except for Freezinghope. He almost pushed her away too. Now, let's get on with the story. So, as I was saying, he was going crazy with his thoughts alone. Slatekit and Jumpingkit were made apprentices and Shiningjaw couldn't handle it anymore. He was going insane. He killed his own mate. He killed her in cold blood just because of his thoughts.

"He turned on his kits next. He started out with Slatepaw who he realized was a lot crueler than any other cat he knew. He was with the Dark Forest and buried his cats alive. He would make traps for them and lure them into it. They would fall and he would shove dirt onto them until they couldn't breath and the hole was filled us.

"Shiningjaw killed him next. It was his own son so he did it quickly. Junglestar found out about the killings of Shiningjaw and before he could murder another cat, he killed him himself. Junglestar would never admit to that, but I saw it with my own eyes. He clawed his throat and pushed him in the river." Heavyclaw explained with my eyes wide.

"What if he got away?" I asked him scared. If he was still alive, he could come back for revenge.

"No, we found his dead body the day after that happened. Junglestar said that something must have had attacked and pushed him in there. He never said it was him. Shiningjaw is in the Dark Forest now." He told me. I just nodded trying to think.

"The Dark Forest. They recruit cats. I heard that if they kill you in there, you will die." I said quietly hiding in his fur utterly scared.

"You will be fine. You are a strong tom and I haven't seen them recruit a cat since Slatepaw, or Metalpaw now, died along with Shiningjaw, or also Shiningdeath." He told me.

"They changed their names. That's weird." I said looking up to him. I wouldn't ever want to change my name. It was the best name I could have!

"Most cats do that when they get in the Dark Forest. There is another one, the story I was going to tell you. He changed his name to Rottenmask since most of his flesh and fur is gone on his face." He said quietly wrapping his tail around me.

"That sounds creepy." I sighed before peeking my ears as I heard something.

"BoneClan and MistClan are attacking!" A yowl in the distance sounded before I saw one of the warriors run into the camp. My eyes widened and I stayed close to Heavyclaw.

"Go to the nursery now. Your mother will be worried that you got hurt if you aren't with her." He said as he got up. I got up too.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I'll fight until I die." He hissed and charged toward the intruders.