Reedstar's Selfishness (Zombie Warrior Cats)

Chapter 18 - Mudpaw's P.O.V.

I must've fallen asleep with Lighteningice and the four kits, because I suddenly woke up to moaning and a darkened sky. My heart lurched at the sight of flesh-eaters roaming below. At least four were clawing at the boxes. Luckily, we were high enough to avoid any confrontation.

"Lighteningice!" I hissed, prodding her sparkling fur. "Wake up!" I growled, shaking her awake. "Wha..." She mumbled, her eyes half open. Sootkit, Stormkit, Ebonykit, and Sunkit stirred but didn't wake. "Sh!" I hissed, pointing to the infected with my tail-tip. Her eyes widened and I covered her mouth. "Sh, I said!" I growled and her eyes darted from the flesh-eaters to me and back and forth.

I saw Cloudjaw, Squirreltail, and Heatherleg in the distance. I didn't want to attract more flesh-eaters, so I stood on my hind legs and waved with a paw to try to signal them. Unsure if they had got the message, I let out a hiss, "Watch out!" The trio picked up the pace. The four kits started squealing and I looked down to see them cowering into the queens fur. Lighteningice covered their heads with her fluffy tail and licked each one in an attempt to calm them down.

Cloudjaw departed from the two she-cats and padded to the left, away from where we were. "Where's Heatherleg?" Sunkit wailed and I felt a pang in my heart. "Shh, she's on her way." Lighteningice whispered, gazing down at the four with a hopeful gaze.

"What do we do now?" I growled and just like that, Cloudjaw was out in front of the fence, making noise. "What a mouse-brain," Lighteningice growled, her ears twitching. The dark, groaning figures turned around and staggered toward the noise. 

"Come get me, bags of meat!" Cloudjaw yowled. The flesh-eaters slowly made their way toward the white tom.

I shook my head and murmured, "I hope that mouse-brain has a mouse or something so they don't just go after him."

"He's going to get himself killed!" Lighteningice exclaimed. Glancing over, I caught a glimpse of her trembling. "Or half killed," I mumbled mostly to myself. 

The four flesh-eaters that had sensed us were gone by then, stumbling toward something that smelled like cut open prey. A bitter scent came from it, too. "Deathberries?" I murmured, tipping my head to the side. 

"Great idea. Lets hope they didn't get any of it on the other prey!" Lighteningice mewed, her eyes as wide as an owls. Squirreltail and Heatherleg dashed to the wall and made their way to the roof with us. 

The tall, light brown she-cat was looking at Squirreltail as if they were already having a conversation. "I highly doubt that will kill them, but we need to move anyway. Maybe to the roof? If we're quick and quiet enough, they won't even bother coming back," Heatherleg murmured though the crow she held.

The sound of paws coming from the other way made us all turn. We waited, our muscles tensed up and fur bristling. I let go of my breath as I saw Poppyheart, Redfur, and Lilypatch climb up. Cloudjaw followed. A mystery cat was with them, a pretty blue-gray she-cat with glowing yellow eyes. 

"Who's that?" Cloudjaw muttered in Lilypatch's ear. "This is Eclipse," Lilypatch announced a bit too loud. Cloudjaw whipped his tail onto her mouth, "Quiet! If you hadn't of noticed, I just chased off some flesh-eaters. They aren't too far from here so keep it down!" He warned. Lilypatch nodded and flicked her tail to the new-comer.

"Poppyheart saved her from Twoleg flesh-eaters. She might as well stay with us," Lilypatch mewed and Cloudjaw's ear twitched. I narrowed my eyes at Eclipse but didn't say anything. 

"We can introduce the group to you when the sun rises. As of right now, we each need to eat." Poppyheart explained and the two former deputies agreed. 

Sunkit hopped up and down and scurried under Heatherlegs' paws. I grabbed Sunkit since Heatherleg couldn't and waited for Cloudjaw to grab his starling and pigeon. As a group, we padded carefully over the slick Twoleg roof to the other side. 

The three warriors with prey dropped their kills into a pile. Heatherleg dropped her crow onto Cloudjaws' starling and pigeon. Squirreltail dropped a robin and a shrew. 

"Who eats what?" I murmured when everyone was settled. "Only to be fair, I will only eat what I catch." Eclipse mewed and I narrowed my eyes at her. My fur spiked up. Though the she-cat seemed friendly, I felt hostile with her around. As if she would pounce onto the pile of prey and throw it off the roof and then try to kill us. 

"Good idea," Cloudjaw responded. 

"Lighteningice, since you're feeding two kits plus Sunkit and now Ebonykit, you get to have your first pick." Lilypatch mewed and Lighteningice nodded, stepping forward and picking up the robin. "I got you borage leaves to, to help produce more milk." Poppyheart meowed, sliding a couple leaves toward the she-cat. 

She looked up at the medicine cat and then gazed at the leaves with disgust. "Thank you..." She sighed, and then chewed them up and swallowed. Quickly after she swallowed, Lighteningice dug into the robin. I envied her as she chowed down. I had a feeling I wouldn't be eating much tonight.

"Poppyheart, Redfur, you'll have to share one. Lilypatch and I will share and Mudpaw and Squirreltail will have to share. Eclipse, if there are remainders, it will be yours." Cloudjaw explained. Poppyheart grabbed the shrew, Cloudjaw grabbed the crow and Squirreltail grabbed the pigeon. Eclipse took the starling for herself.

"Here is some charomile. Eat it before the prey, just because." Poppyheart mewed and she passed along a white and yellow small flower to each of us. I lapped it up from the cold, bumpy Twoleg roof. It didn't have too much of a taste, so it went down easily. 

"What does it do?" Eclipse mewed, lapping the flower and swallowing. Meanwhile, everyone was tearing open their prey and eating it within heartbeats. "It makes your veins explode and your blood boil so hot it burns your muscle and skin to mush. Your fur with catch on fire and your eyes will melt from your sockets!" Redfur taunted, widening his eyes and lashing his tail.

Eclipse jumped up, breathing quickly and her yellow eyes grew round. "What?!" She gasped, backing away. Redfur and Poppyheart started to purr and everyone else did too. "I'm only kidding, don't get your whiskers in a knot," Redfur purred through a mouthful. "It keeps your strength up and soothes your mind." Poppyheart stated and Eclipse visibly relaxed.

"Good..." Eclipse breathed, taking a big bite of her starling. I had already finished my share of pigeon. Licking my lips and fluffing out my brown fur, I curled up and closed my eyes.

As uncomfortable and cold as I was, I managed to fall asleep in mere heartbeats, letting my body relax and my mind clear. Vivid dreams flooded my vision, nightmares of flesh-eaters and Snowpaw's screams.