Reedstar's Selfishness (Zombie Warrior Cats)

Chapter 17 - Poppyheart's P.O.V.

I padded beside Redfur in the rear, making sure Heatherleg, Lighteningice, and their kits didn't fall behind. "We should make sure we find herbs, too." I mewed to Redfur. The tom nodded without looking over at me and responded lightly, "Of course." Redfur then called up to the three in the front of the group, "Cloudjaw, Poppyheart and I need to collect supplies before we go to the Twolegplace!"

Cloudjaw called back over his shoulder, "Alright. Lilypatch, you should go with them. I'll keep Mudpaw with the queens somewhere up high so we can hunt as well,"

I suddenly felt energetic, realizing we were finally making up for all the bad things that were happening. 

We trotted along, toward a place we didn't even know existed. "Are we even sure the Twoleg nest is secure enough? What if there are Twoleg flesh-eaters?" I fretted, my eyes narrowed. Cloudjaw, Lilypatch and Squirreltail didn't reply right away.

"All we know is that their nests are better than what we've had. We'll have to just go along with it and raid their stuff for food when we run out of prey." Cloudjaw replied. I nodded, even though I knew no one would see it.

We began trekking up a semi-steep hill when we realized we had found ourselves just outside of LightClan and in Twolegplace. A small mudslide had pulled down the fence, making it wide open.

Cloudjaw halted and turned to face us. He flicked his tail toward a large box up beside a Twoleg nest. Mudpaw left with Lighteningice, her kits scrambling at her paws to be in front. He had Ebonykit in his jaws. Heatherleg padded in behind, Sunkit dangling from her mouth as well. Her body was small and shaky. 

Thyme for her anxiety... If I can't find that, I'll get juniper berries, they will help a bit. Burnet maybe? No, charomile is in Twoleg gardens... Perfect! That will soothe everyones' minds and keep everyones' strength up. I'll need to get plenty of that. Catmint is also a necessity. Poppyseeds will be needed for sleep, I'm sure of that... Sorrel if anyone needs an appetite... And I'll need borage leaves for Lighteningice... I thought things through, narrowing my eyes at the Twoleg nests. 

Cloudjaw turned to me, his gaze serious. "Poppyheart, Redfur, Lilypatch will go with you," Lilypatch nodded to us and stood up to leave. "Heatherleg, you're coming with Squirreltail and I to catch fresh-kill. Mudpaw, I'll leave you in charge of the kits. Lighteningice will be here, too." Cloudjaw instructed and I nodded, padding off with Lilypatch and Redfur.

"I'm going to grab charomile. It's always in Twoleg gardens. Would thyme be around, even in this weather?" I mewed and turned to Redfur. Redfur narrowed his eyes in thought. "It might be. I'm not to sure though, with all this rain."

I nodded and faced forward again. "Do you think we'll be able to survive this?" Lilypatch murmured, avoiding eye contact. I blinked, unsure how I should reply. Redfur cleared his throat and replied, "I can't promise you anything, but if we stay strong and stay together, we might just be able to pull through and make a new generation of cats."

I nodded and Lilypatch met eyes with Redfur, searching them. Redfur looked away. "You don't really think that, do you?" She mewed and I sighed, "I think something is going to happen, but its never okay to give up hope. You just have to hold on. Never give up,"

Redfur looked over at me and Lilypatch did, too. "Now, can we look for herbs? We don't have that much time." I mewed after a few long - excruciatingly long - heartbeats.

***

We padded away from the outside of the Twolegplace. We had managed to grab thyme, goldenrod, poppyseeds that were held in an ivy leaf, plenty of charomile, enough catmint to treat a few cats, and borage leaves. We had left the Twolegplace completely through a hole in the fence. As much as I worried we'd get killed by thousands of flesh-eaters, it seemed they had all fallen into the gorge. We only had spotted maybe ten flesh-eaters, no huge herds.

I squeezed through the hole in the wooden fence, Redfur right after me and then Lilypatch. "I think StarClan has a plan for us, maybe that's why we are still alive?" The suggestion came out of no where, but I felt like it needed to be said. Redfur and Lilypatch shrugged, their mouths too full to respond.

"Hey! You three, help!" A voice called from beside us, in Twolegplace. My heart lurched and I scanned the Twoleg nests. "Up here! In the house!" It called. House? What? I wondered and then I caught sight of a blue-gray cat with bright yellow eyes.

"Up there," I mewed, putting my herbs down. "Stay here, I'll get her." I ordered, turning to them and then running up to the transparent box above. The transparent square was thin and in two halves, one half was overlapping the other. The blue-gray she-cat scrapped at a dark, mesh screen. The screen was torn up in several slices where she had desperately tried to escape.

I hopped up to the small ledge to find the she-cat was panicking. "I can't get this off, and there are humans below me! They're trying to get to me, I've been waiting here for two days! Please help," She pleaded, clawing at the mesh-screen.

Through the transparent square, I wearily looked her over. "Are you bitten?" I meowed, narrowing my eyes. 

The blue she-cat looked offended. "Of course not! I ran up here when I heard a live human come in. They attracted those... things!" She hissed and I was taken aback. "What language are you speaking?" I mewed as sniffed the transparent square. 

The she-cat tilted her head to the side. "Uh, cat language?" She growled, looking me up and down. "We say Twolegs and Twolegplace and Twoleg nests, what's a human and a house?"

The transparent square was lined with white wood, and the bottom square was open just enough for me to fit my paws under. Together, we slid the square open just enough for her to squeeze through. I let it drop with a slam. We jumped down to the hard, Thunderpath-like ground. "Well, humans - I'm guessing - means Twolegs to you. A house is the den where they live in. I guess to outsiders, I speak like a human. It rubbed off on me when I lived with my housefolk." The she-cat explained, licking her paw and drawing it over an ear.

Before I could say anything, she kept talking. "I'm Eclipse," The blue-gray she-cat greeted, dipping her head, "And you are...?" I nodded to her, "I am Poppyheart, this is Lilypatch-" I flicked my tail to the old LightClan deputy and then to the dark orange medicine cat, "and this is Redfur. Redfur and I used to be medicine cats, before the outbreak happened." The two cats padded over with the bundles of herbs.

Eclipse nodded, sitting down. "Is it just you three?" She mewed, glancing at the three of us. I shook my head. "We used to have Blackpaw, Boldfang, Viperslash, Venomsoul, Snowpaw, Otterkit, Ebonykit, Birdfeather-" I listed off as many names as I could. "Whitetooth, Leopardstar. Oh and that selfish Reedstar. They were the ones who survived with us, but didn't make it. There were many, many more that in our Clans - may they rest in peace - before the infection." I explained and Eclipse nodded, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"It's heart-wrenching to lose kits. I mean, I haven't had any before, but I get it. My sister had three. I don't know what happened to them, though." Eclipse murmured and Redfur stepped up, "We still have four. Sunkit - who is always carried and cared for by Heatherleg. Lighteningice has Sootkit and Stormkit. Birdfeather had two kits, Ebonykit and Otterkit. Ebonykit survived, while the other two did not," Eclipse's eyes went dark and kept listening. "Cloudjaw and Lilypatch are our leaders right now, since Reedstar and Leopardstar are gone. If you stay with us, you will meet the others." Redfur explained. 

"Reedstar was selfish. All he wanted was leadership and power." Lilypatch growled, "But why are we telling her about our group? We can't just let a stranger in!" Lilypatch exclaimed. I noticed the two had put down their bundles of herbs. I shrugged and Redfur did too.

Redfur snorted. "Who would she tell? She's been cooped up in a Twoleg nest for a few sunrises, she said. And where would she go? We can't just leave her," He insisted and Lilypatch narrowed her eyes at the blue-gray cat. Her bright yellow eyes glowed, seemingly clueless. I looked over at Redfur and he met eyes with me.

Eclipse seemed to be in a trance, day dreaming. I prodded her chest and Eclipse shook her head. "Sorry. Lets go!" She squeaked and stood up to pad away. Lilypatch grabbed her herbs and so did Redfur and I.

Redfur rolled his eyes. Lilypatch took the lead and soon Eclipse padded in sync beside her. The old LightClan deputy took a step to the opposite side, looking annoyed. The blue-gray she-cat didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't let it phase her.

Padding away, we headed toward the boxes where Mudpaw and Lighteningice were waiting.