The Missing Clan

Chapter 25

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Rabbitflight saw a white fence with strange animals trapped inside. It had curly, fluffy white fur, and baaahhhed. Their paws--no, their hooves--trampled the grass, and they ate the grass. They're both eating and destroying the grass? That's weird. 

"What are those?" Rabbitflight peered at them cautiously. It's a good thing they're in a fence! They could be trampling all over us in seconds! Aspencloud laughed, setting Cloverkit down. "They're sheep," she meowed. "When you see sheep, there's bound to be a barn."

"Barn?" 

"That red Twoleg nest, over there," Aspencloud pointed with her tail. "Troutstar! Why don't we aim for the barn? It'll be nightfall when we get there, and that's on the way to the Clans." Morningwhisker called. "Sure thing!" Troutstar veered off to that direction.

Rabbitflight eyed the sheep warily while following Troutstar. "It looks like it could easily jump over the fence and trample us all," he whispered to Hawk. 

The brown tom let out a mrrow of laughter, twitching his whiskers doing so. "If they could, they would!" he meowed. "Yeah, I guess," Rabbitflight shrugged. "Hmm, maybe they can do it, but they're just too dumb to know they can."

"Possible too." Hawk meowed. "But, let's not fret on the sheep, they are harmless to us, they seem like gentle creatures." Rabbitflight shrugged, and they padded on and caught up to WaterClan. 

They walked until they reached the red Twoleg nest, and sure enough, like Morningwhisker predicted, it was almost nightfall. The barn was lit up with chattering noises of other cats, and tiny squeaking noises. A small, brown she-cat turned around, and her eyes lit up.

"WaterClan! Troutstar! Morningwhisker! It's so good to see you again." Mink purred, and her eyes gleamed with surprise and eagerness. "I see there are more cats here," she nodded at the small group of which was made up of Rabbitflight, Hawk, Leafwhisker, Whitestripe, Lizardtooth, and Lightpoppy. "And I know what you will ask," Troutstar opened his mouth to say something, but Mink cut him off. "Of course you can stay."

"So I'll leave it all to the rest of you to catch your own prey," Troutstar meowed. "We don't need to organize patrols because we don't need to search. The prey is right here." As if on cue, a mouse skittered in front of him, and he slammed his paws on top of it. "See, it's literally running right into our paws."

Rabbitflight sniffed the air carefully, pinpointing the closest mouse. There! Beside the haystacks, there was a gray mouse scurrying about. It seemed aware of the sudden change of atmosphere, and was searching for a place to hide.

Its nest must be far away. Rabbitflight observed. He stalked close to the messy hay, hoping his pelt would blend in with his surroundings. There wasn't any wind in the barn, so Rabbitflight didn't have to worry about him being downwind, but it was clear to the mouse Rabbitflight was there. 

He made some quick but quiet steps toward the mouse, and its ears sprang alert. It squeaked in fear, and scrambled for the nearest hole. Fortunately, Rabbitflight acted fast and aimed at where it was going to be. His claws reached the mouse's tail and he pulled the mouse toward him, the mouse trying to get away but his grip was too strong. 

He dealt the gray thing with a quick bite to the neck and began searching for another mouse. He was vastly starving, and he was sure one little mouse wouldn't put out the burning fire of hunger in his stomach. This time the mouse was white, with beady red eyes. It was kind of creepy, seeing that type of mouse. Rabbitflight was so used to the white or brown colors of his prey, rabbits. 

Nevertheless, he crept toward the piece of prey that creeped him out. Just a little bit. It creeped him out a little bit. Go! Rabbitflight leapt toward the mouse, and it squeaked in alarm and tried to get away. Next time-if there's ever going to be a next time-try zigzagging. Going straight forward is so easy for me to catch you. The mouse rolled onto its back, trying to slip underneath Rabbitflight. 

Predictable! Rabbitflight purred. The last moments of the mouse's eyes were staring at him in hatred. He nearly yelped as the intense stare shocked him. Quickly he slammed his paw at the mouse's head, both covering the eyes and draining the life out of the creepy eyes. "Yikes," he whispered. "Great StarClan, next time remind me to leave a white mouse with red eyes alone. I think I'm going to have nightmares!" He went back and retrieved his gray mouse, padding over to Leafwhisker and exchanging the white mouse for a brown one. 

When he explained that the mouse had creeped him out and he was going to have nightmares, Leafwhisker had let out a bark of laughter and had gave him a brown one in exchange. "Sure, I was scared too, but I got used to mice, since my territory is plentiful of the mice," Leafwhisker meowed. 

He gulped down the two mice he had ravenously, and made a comfortable but poky nest out of hay. Once he settled down in it, he closed his eyes, but he couldn't sleep. All he could think of was the white mouse. Great StarClan, Rabbitflight, get a hold of yourself! he replaced the mouse's picture to his beautiful mate, Honeyfur, and his kits, Emberpaw, Oakpaw, and Amberkit. 

We're coming soon, my loves. One day... very, very soon. Thank StarClan I can go see Amberkit's apprentice ceremony. Rabbitflight thought of his loving family until he fell asleep, feeling very comforted and happy.