I Don't Want to Die (CLOSED)

Storm looked around at the skeptically charred landscape. He had noticed earlier when he asked for Bat and Pepper's blessings when he was leaving, and a strong smell of smoke coming from all four winds. He had honestly hoped that fox-heart had caught on fire or something, strutting into their Barn and acting like a jerk. But this was a lot more serious than he had expected. The moor, once packed with heather, grass, and hares was a charred black wasteland for a long time. Looking to the south, where he was used to seeing the gorge where Bat found him and the river filled marshes beyond it was the same- black soot covering everything. He started to panic when he saw the pine forests and the oak forests heaps of ash too. Yet beyond where the Clans lived, the mountains and the twolegplace where he met Annabeth everything was completely normal. Something, someone had been targeting those Clans. And Rockthorn's sudden disappearance from the Barn and his obvious hatred of the clans made him suspicious.

He had been walking not too long beforehand. The Barn wasn't far from the first Clan, Windclan. Mist had told him some facts about Windclan she knew from her former life as a Clan cat, but he still felt uninformed. Will they even accept them into their camp? Even more prominent in his mind was are they all still alive, after whatever happened?

Looking back at Annabelle behind him he asked, "What in the world happened here? It's like the whole area decided to go up in flames!" it made him very nervous, the burnt smell of death, the black ash and soot covered ground, and the dead rabbit with its fur and skinned both burned off altogether. The area was also as silent as night.


But then he heard a rustling. As clear as a summer's day he heard something sneaking up to him. Was there some predator behind him? Whipping around he saw nothing. Strangely though an even stronger scent of smoke, mixed with a cat's scent, wafted by. The scent was familiar. Rockthorn! Turning back to Annabelle he tried to hide his fear. "H-hey, how about we pick up the pace? We have to get to Windclan as fast as possible to find Hollowfang, you know!" he stuttered, sweat condensing on his paw pads.

"Yeah, this must have been one heck of a fire. I'm just glad that we didn't have to experience it," Annabelle replied, walking alongside Storm. She felt happy with him, as if this was where she was meant to be and fate had led her here. She wondered if WindClan had even survived the fire, and hoped not for Storm's sake. Due to her little experience with the wild, Annabelle didn't question what had caused the fire, just that there was one and it had died out.
At Storm's second remark Annabelle frowned. "Okay, we can speed up. But is there something that you aren't telling me?" Annabelle knew a suspicious voice when she heard one, and Storm was definitely hiding something from her. Even so, she switched her pace to a bit faster, if not a full-on sprint.

Storm let out a sigh of relief when Annabelle agreed to speed up. But then she asked why. Looking around, he then leaned towards Annabelle. “I-I think somethings following us. Someone, probably. There was a cat, Rockthorn, who briefly lived at the Barn. He was missing when I went to get my blessings from Bat and Pepper. It was really obvious he had a deep hatred of the clans, and he suddenly got up and walked away right before we started smelling smoke a little from inside the Barn. I just smelled him, and he's following us, I think. His scent is mixed with fire a lot too, but not like from the area. More like he was holding fire or something. I don't really know." His voice was panicked, but he still kept it a whisper.

"Oh. So a psychopathic fire-starting clan hater is following us on our journey to find your family, which happens to be part of one of the clans he hates and tried to burn," Annabelle summarized, keeping her voice low as to not be heard by this Rockthorn. She sped up her pace even more to a sprint, suddenly worried for Storm's safety. She doubted that Rockthorn would attack her unless she attacked him, but he might try to attack Storm.

"I guess I am extraordinary. The reason I am with you is because it can get boring when my housefolk aren't home, and besides, you are way more important to me then some twoleg." Annabelle realized what she was saying was true, and she didn't even mind admitting it. Before she met him, she wouldn't have imagined she would enjoy sprinting across a moor with a wild cat, or like the thrill of danger. Something had made her into a different kind of cat entirely. Was it... love? Annabelle pushed those uncomfortable thoughts out of her head and focused on the current task, getting to find Storm's family before an evil cat named Rockthorn caught up to them.

OOC: Guys pls wait for me to post ;u; I'll be slow for a couple days because I'm 3 hrs away from home on rugby business.

It was too late, Rockthorn was there and racing beside them. His claws were unsheathed as he struggled to keep unseen, but it wouldn't be much longer. Rockthorn knew that Storm was suspicious of him, and with him running to Windclan made his blood rush. All he'd have to do is put the tom in his place and he wouldn't have to know.

As soon as the tom was ahead of Storm he made his move. Swivelling on his back leg he twisted and fired into Storm, claws wrapping around the toms shoulders and digging his teeth into the toms scruff. Heaving the tom until he was on his side, Rockthorn turned to look up at the kittypet with a snarl. Claws unsheathed and horribly mangled face scrunched into a snarl.

Storm screeched as something hurled into him, forcing him to the ground. The nauseating scent of ash and soot filled his lungs as his face was pressed into the ground. Rockthorn! He wasn't ready to die at this cat's paws. Rearing up he slashed at the tom's neck, feeling his claws only barely penetrate his skin. Scrambling back, he yelled at Annabelle "Go! Go back to your twolegs and house. He's targeting me, not you. You'll get hurt if you stay any longer, and I can't bear to see that." digging his claws into the ground he turned to run away. He only covered a small distance when he tripped over his own paws, landing on his side with a yelp. Cursing he tried to stand up, the heavy wounds in his throat and shoulders ringing with pain as they bled onto the charred ground.

Annabelle froze when the rogue leaped on top of Storm. But when he looked up at her, she suddenly felt her blood begin to boil. "You ugly rogue! It's because of your own stupidity that you're ugly, not because you were born that way! Not even the low leveled clans want you, meaning you are way worse than the worse cats I know! And targeting a cat who did nothing to hurt you is more than just cruel, it's stupid!" Annabelle hissed at Rockthorn, her anger pushing over the edge when he brutally attacked Storm. She might not be able to fight, but she had a tongue sharper than a knife, and that may put off Rockthorn long enough for her to help Storm. She sprinted Storm's side, grief suddenly clouding her senses. She couldn't go on with her life if he died.

Rockthorn snorted and rolled his eyes, the kittypet's words hardly even mattering to him. "Your words fall flat, kittypet." The tom spat, flinching as the toms claws barely penetrated the thin skin around his neck. Growling as the tom shot away, only to fall onto his side. Firing after them he was on Storm into an instant, paws pinning down his legs as one pulled up and collided into Annabelle's chest.

Rockthorn's teeth wrapped around Storm's maw, his head thrashing until a chunk of it came loose. Pulling back he snapped, towards the both of them. "If you speak of me, or my location.. I won't be letting either of you off so easy." Rockthorn hissed, spinning on his foot and firing away from one brutally attacked cat and a weak kittypet.

Annabelle flew a tail-length back, the wind knocked of her by the rogue's attack. She was kind of disappointed he wasn't at all bothered by her words, but couldn't help firing back a retort. "That's strange to hear, coming from someone with the worst insults of all." His words didn't scare he at all, but his actions did. When he attacked Storm and ran away, Annabelle stopped even hearing them.
"Storm! Are you okay?" Annabelle couldn't care less where Rockthorn was going after he ran away, only caring if he was okay. She felt a strange emotion bubbling in her chest, some mix of love and grief. "Storm, I love you too much for you to die." With sudden determination, Annabelle grabbed his scruff and started leading him farther into WindClan. "That's why I'm going to save your life."

Storm thrashed uncontrollably as Rockthorn thrashed his maw, watching in horror as part of his lower jaw came flying off, landing next to his eyes with a sickening thud. As he spun off onto the moor he couldn't help vomiting blood onto the ground next to him. As Annabelle dragged him away and said she loved him he dazedly said, "You jest...jest mut muh and you alruddy luve muh. I luve yuh too." His head lolled as he was dragged away.




OOC: mobile