WARRIORS: THE STORM AHEAD

Chapter 2

Barktail found it hard to sleep.
One, because the moon was almost a full circle, two, StrayClan, now known as The Strays, had witnessed a horrific act by a Clan cat to one of their own.

The cat, Snowflower, had been too weak o explain what the Clan did to her, but The Strays had assumed it was very bad.
The whole of The Strays now had lost all faith in Clan cats, and they forced every cat that had a Clan name in there, except Snowflower, to change it to just their prefix.

Barktail, however, refused. He still believed that not the whole of the Clan was responsible, just one cat. Patch, his father, gave him his 'warrior name' very early because he didn't want to waste time on 'warrior ceremonies'. And now, every other cat in The Strays stared at him as if he was a moldy berry.

Barktail peered out of his family's den, seeing that the moon was never being covered up by clouds. How strange. the stray thought before he drifted into sleep.

...

Barktail woke up. No one was there to greet him. The tom slowly crept into the clearing. Whisker, Straw, and Valentine, Barktails littermate, were ready to hunt in the barn at horseplace.

As the brown cat watched, another stray, Briar, brushed past him.
"Hi, Briartho- I mean Briar." Barktail maganaged to say. He was still getting used to non-Clan names.

Briar shot a look of disgust at him and stormed off into her family den. Barktail felt a pang of sadness, knowing that him and the she-cat had been very close before the Snowflower incident.

Then another cat passed by him, this time she actually sat next to him. It was Barktails closest cat in The Strays, not counting his parents,
Fox.

She was staring at Briar, and then stared at Barktail, like she always did.
"I didn't do anything to her." he protested.
"I know." Fox muttered back to him. "She just doesn't seem like her normal self right now."

Barktail didn't know how to respond to that. Say he also hated Briar? Fox had always been open to hating any cats that got in her way, and Snowflower coming back did not help.

"Fox... don't hate Briar for this." he pushed out.
"She's....a cat...."
Fox was still staring at him, waiting for something.
What am I supposed to say? Can't she see I'm confused?

Fox snorted. "Thanks for watching out for me. And also thanks to your legendary response. Really helped." The ginger stray then just looked at the ground, and then toward the nursery, where Snowflower and her mate were being guarded.

I know how you feel.

Barktail trudged off back to his family den.
I'm just being stupid, as usual. I didn't even need to respond to that.

He watched pretty much all the cats in The Strays walk past him, talking to friends, eating food, and going to check on Snowflower once in a while. Most reports said that she was either exhausted, curled up in her nest, or drowsily eating fresh-kill.

Barktail shivered as he realized the same thing could happen to him or Fox, even though strays now strictly avoided Clan territories.

Just then, Fox came up to Barktail.
"Hey, Barktail, do you wanna get some mice at horseplace with Patch?"
Barktail hesitated, then said, "Okay." The mice and the cozy straw of the barn would be a good thing to clear his mind.

Patch walked up to the two. "Are you ready yet?"
"Yes." Fox said before Barktail could say anything. Together, they went to horseplace.