A New Life (warrior cats fan fiction)

Chapter Two

Goosebump's POV

I awoke to the familiar sound of birds singing in the trees. My first thought was, Firestar must have been joking, but then I opened my eyes to find a large medicine den with two cats sleeping on my side and two others on the opposite side. There was no longer the sound of running water or the sight of starry cats. Reality quickly hit: MentalClan was my new home.

After my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit den, I recalled the two cats beside me were Tuft, a pale ginger she-cat with spiky fur, and Pillhead, a silver she-cat with no tail. On the far side lay Whisperear and Mamabeatsmepelt; they both were the most paranoid of the Clan and disliked almost all of the other patients.

Sitting up in my nest, I groomed my speckled pelt and let out a sigh. What did those bee-brains sign me up for? I tried to remember everything that I needed to know about the patients. Well, there's Cannibalcorpse. He's a cannibal, clearly. He either is in his den or out with a muzzle on. Flame has major anger issues. Stormy has a personality disorder. McDick eats anything he can get his paws on... I spotted the prey pile beside the herb store.

I stood up and padded over to the herbs to investigate the stores. At least this is organized. There were several shelves with every herb I already knew on one side, and then on the other side had piles of round white and pink rocks. Those rocks I recognized as pills. On the bottom were random medications, but on the top were pills with labels. Below each pile were the abbreviated letters of each cats' name scrapped on the rocks. J for Jared, St for Stormy, Sp for Spark, W for Womencantvotetalon... An unexpected cry echoed from the clearing and immediately I stopped what I was doing to rush out of the den to make sure no cat was fighting or in pain.

Spark, the cream coloured she-cat, as well as Mr. Clean were already up even though the sun was only just making its way up the horizon. I dipped my head to the twitching she-cat, who returned the nod several times over, and then to the white tom, but Mr. Clean was too busy sweeping stray leaves away to notice.

I entered the patients den to find it was Bugs weeping in her sleep. Creeping around the other sleeping cats, I plopped down beside the brown tabby she-cats nest and ran my tail down her flank in an attempt to soothe her. I'm going to need a lot of patience to live in such a Clan...

It didn't take long for Bugs to stop whimpering. Though I was slightly frustrated that a grown she-cat needed to be comforted, I remembered the patient was once in DrugClan. "I think it was the acid... it changed her... she has freakouts and talks to herself... we can't have her in our Clan anymore." Chickenwing's voice, Bugs' sibling, played in my head as I stalked toward the entrance of the den. I glanced at the sleeping cats once more before leaving; a pang of pity pierced my heart. What a life to live... and now I'm a part of it.

Ducking out of the den, I emerged to find Spark pacing back and forth in the empty clearing. "Wow!" She spat, "T-Turtle!" Her head jerked one way and then her back leg kicked out. I could feel the annoyance burning in my chest like a forest fire. Spark let out a couple grunts as she sat down and itched violently at her ear.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clean was still clearing the camp of any and every stick, leaf, and rock. He had a pile off at the edge of the campground. "You don't have to clean that, you know." I padded up to the white tom but he dodged me and continued to sweep away any debris without making eye contact. My ears flattened to my head as a growl threatened to escape.

"It bugs me. I do this every morning and every night before I sleep, you know that." Mr. Clean muttered. I wanted to cuff him over the ear but I knew it would do him no good. Instead, I nodded and padded away.

With the sun rising fast above the treetops, cats began to exit the patients den. McDick was the first to wake. As soon as his head popped out of the den, fur messy and whiskers twisted, he laid eyes on me and rushed over. His big tabby belly jiggled as he trotted up to me. "Can I have the first piece of prey? I want to get to the best one before every cat gets hungry!" He begged, spitting as he talked.