Chapter 11: I'm Okay

I woke up, I had a normal dream once again... It kind of saddened me, I wanted them to go away at first, but now that I wanted them there, they were gone. It kind of left me a little bit alone...

I had a dream last night, yes... Not a good dream though. I missed my old dreams, I would be hunting, but I would never catch anything. Those days were much more simple, but nowadays we were either running away from something, or we were running to something.

But sometimes, I had to think deep into that... If I was still stuck at my old home, I would never have met Mint... I would not have met so many cats I came to find as love on the way, I thought to myself as Kettle and Oister were together smiling.

I looked at Oister a little but closer, something did not feel right in her smile. She normally was a bit of a happy cat, much like Mint, she loved to make every cat around her, days feel much better. But I could tell that she was not feeling it today.

I thought back on the events that had happened just yesterday. Oister had been coughing up blood... It would make sense as to why she must not be feeling good. I looked up at the sky for help, but I saw no stars... Part of that fact was because it was during the day... The brightness of the sun that lit up the sky, often hid the stars from us.

I remembered a day, when I was really young... I was with Tristan, we were looking out the window, something had managed to block the sun. All around us, the sky darkened... I could see stars that day... That was a bit of a scary day for the both of us.

Tristan normally would always have a response as to why certain things happened, but that day he said nothing. I always wondered what it was, I often saw the moon in the sky during day time. Maybe somehow the moon had managed to hit the sun...

But at the same time, it did not make much sense... If that were true, then would they not just crash into each other and explode? I shivered thinking about that. That seemed scary to me, I could not imagine that happening.

The sky would be dark all of the time, at least the moon at night time seemed to at least somewhat manage to light up the sky. the moon, that was what I was named after. I don't know how I got that name or how I even remembered it.

I don't remember my mother at all really, besides one vivid memory, but maybe that was a dream. I shook my head as I felt Mint wake up from right beside me. At the same time I also saw Limp walk around in the little clearing to disrupt Oister and Kettles conversation.

"How are you feeling today? You think that you can get to the twoleg place with us? I need to help those cats..." I said to her. I felt bad about the way that I had said the second part, I knew now that no matter what Mint would want to go help those cats no matter how she felt.

"Yes... I can make it, I would be more worried about Oister, she does not look too good over there." Mint said nodding over to where Oister was sitting beside Kettle. Oister did not look like she was in that good of a condition either. I just really wanted to help those cats, they could be important down the line.

I looked at Oister and Kettle as Limp walked beside them. Limp let them finish their brief little stint of their conversation before she stepped in to start talking to Oister.

"Oister, are you feeling a bit better today? Do you think you are in good enough condition to go over and help those cats?" Limp said to Oister. Me and Mint then walked over to them to let them know that we were awake and listening.

I saw right away that Kettle lowered his head to the ground, he must have forgot what happened to his mate yesterday, I could not blame him. I often liked to drown out all of the bad thoughts that went through my head. Oister after a brief stint managed to respond.

"I am doing alright... I can make it, maybe if we find a cure to what it is, then you can help those cats as well as me." Oister said to Limp. The looked at Limp, which I did not blame her for, she was the one that found what we needed yesterday.

I could tell by the look on Limps face that she was folding a bit under pressure, but she still managed to keep her head up. I walked over to Limp and nudged her to make her feel a little bit better. I trusted this cat, we may have not known her for very long but she seemed special to me.

"I will try my best, I don't know all that much about medicine though, just a few simple things that my mom taught me when I was much younger." Limp said to us. I looked at her, now Kettle did not look all too sure about Limp, but both me and Oister I could tell believed in her.

After that, there was a few moments of silence, no one said anything, Kettle was looking at Limp. I looked over to where the Shadowclan territory was at, even though I could not see it, I did know the general direction that it was at.

I hoped that we were not too late, I did not understand Starclan that much. I could not tell if they wanted me to talk to the cat that would tell me about the clans or if they wanted me to help the kits first. I had to make that decision for myself I suppose.

I would choose the kits first, I had to save them before I talked to that cat, even though the cat did look fairly old I just had to hope that he did not die by the time I came back to talk to him. If I talked to him first, the kits were in greater danger of dying.

I could tell they were in terrible condition and I could tell that their parents were very worried about them. I remembered all exactly of what they had said, they were thinking about putting their kits up for adoption, the twolegs would save them.

If they did that, they would lose their kits for good. I felt bad for the cats, I even remember the day I was with Owl. The very first day I was out on my own, I had thought about putting myself up for that, but in the end I chose not too.

These cats were in a bit of a different circumstance though, it was either put them up, or watch them die. I felt bad for the cats for having to make that decision. I knew now that we needed to go help them first.

If I made the wrong decision, oh well... I knew where the cats were suppose to live, I would just have to try and rebuild them without help. Maybe Starclan would help me if they found out that Youngtail had died.

I closed my eyes not wanting to think about that, and then I turned and I looked at back at the cats that were with me. They were all resting, Limp was cleaning out her fur. But we needed to go as soon as possible.

"Alright guys... I've made the decision, I am sorry if you are upset at me for it Kettle, but Oister is right, we can help her and the kits at the same time. These kits could be important down the line." I said to all of them. I then looked at Kettle who seemed a bit upset.

But that quickly turned away after he took in what I said about the 2nd part. Then he nodded at me basically telling me that I was making the right decision. I looked at the others that were with us, mainly at Mint, and she nodded to me.

Once I realized that all of the cats were all ready, I then realized that it was my turn to take the lead. The cats around me I had only told them about the dreams, they did not know in great detail where we were going.

I nodded to all of them to make sure that they were all ready. Mint rolled her eyes and she took the first steps to find where the kits were at. It came to a harsh reality to me that it I did not know where exactly they were besides the fact that they were outside of Shadowclan territory.

I shivered and then I took the lead for them, I turned around a few times to make sure that they were all still following, I was still remembering the day that I had nearly lost Mint for good, but after about the 3rd time I stopped turning around every few moments.

All of the cats were paying attention to each other, the would tell me if one of the cats just randomly decided to veer off track. I sighed and just continued walking, it was a bit more of a grateful sigh.

After a few moments of walking I realized that all of the cats that were with us must be hungry, I noticed it the moment my stomach started to growl. Then I stopped myself along with the others to notify that we needed to hunt.

"I don't know about all of you, but I am hungry, let's split apart and find something to eat, meet me back here, we will wait for you... Mint come with me, Limp you go with the other 2..." I said to all of them. They looked at each other and they nodded.

They were obviously hungry as well, they did not ask questions as we gracefully split apart from each other. I felt a bit bad about it, maybe I would hunt something for the kits to eat, maybe they would be hungry, I was not sure how good those cats were at hunting.

I remember in my dream that the cats did all look skinny and frail, the kits they had with them were the opposite, I figured that they must be giving most of the food to them, they were probably out of the stage where they were getting milk from their mother.

I let Mint take the lead this time, she looked at me to see if I was sure about it and I nodded to her. She looked at me and then she smiled, then she began walking, not long after she stopped and began sniffing for any prey that might be around us.

I did the same and it did not take long to sniff out a couple of mice and a few squirrels was well. I looked at Mint and she looked at me and smiled at me. I smiled back at her, I was just happy to see her happy and in good spirits today.

"There is a squirrel not too far away, I will get that, then you can get maybe a mice or two for the kits... They are right behind the squirrel." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, sniffing in the general direction that she must have smelt those.

After a few more quick moments I smelt what she had smelt and I nodded for her, she took the lead once again without having to ask this time. I made a bit of a grin at myself and then after a few moments we walking right around the area that I had smelt the squirrel.

It was taking a few moments to find the squirrel, and I was about to give up, maybe it had heard us and it had run into the tree. But Mint stopped me, she did not have a good look on her face, and I looked around to see what she was looking at.

Maybe there was a dog, it might have gotten to squirrel before we did. But then I saw what it was that she was looking at. The squirrel was right beside us, on the edge of the roots, but it was already dead.

I sniffed around to see what it could potentially have been. But I did not smell any other scents, besides the mice that were not too far away. I did not even smell any scents anywhere nearby that I was not too sure of.

"Moon... What is this? It has blood on its face but no wounds, it must have died by itself... No other animal could have done that." She said to me. I looked at the squirrel a bit closer and I came to notice that Mint was right, I kind of shivered thinking about it.

Maybe it was an omen, just not a good one. It made sense, Oister had bled out of her mouth yesterday. That must have been the reason that the squirrel had died because there was nothing else anywhere nearby. I looked around one last time to see if anything was watching us.

Luckily I could not see anything, I sniffed one last time just in case. But there was nothing nearby. I then looked at the squirrel for a quick few moments.

"This is an omen from starclan, I don't know what it is, but I am worried... Let's just go get those 2 mice and then head back over to the others." I said to Mint. She looked at me for a few moments, she did nit like the way I said omen. She then looked at me and then she nodded.

We then began walking, but Mint was walking right over to the squirrel, I looked at her a bit confused but she was not looking at me, she was looking at the squirrel that was in the roots. She then walked over to it and then picked it up.

I was about to yell to her not to do that but as soon as she picked it up, she fell backwards in pain. I ran over to her to make sure that she was okay. She looked at me a bit scared but then she pulled herself up.

"I'm okay, it was just some weird convolsve shock." She said to me. I looked at her, I was just happy to see that she was not hurt at all. I still looked at her for a few moments not too sure, she was like that sometimes, she always worried about others before she worried about herself.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, she then brushed off the leaves that were on her and moved back away from the squirrel. She then shook her had at me, and I nodded gratefully.

"No... It just scared me, I was just trying to get food to bring back to the others." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments and then I shook my head. She must not know how important an omen was, it was definitely not something to be messed with.

"Sorry, I should have told you not to get that..." I said to her. She looked at me and then nodded, she looked at the squirrel for a few more moments and then she turned back over to me for me to start taking the lead over her.

I nodded and then I walked over to the where I had smelt the mice earlier, I was hoping they were still there. Right now I wanted to get back over to Oister to make sure that she was going to be okay. I was worried about the omen correlating to her.

After a few more moments I saw a group of 3 mice that were sitting side my side, eating something that I could not see and I could care less about, soon I would be the one eating them. I smiled and then I looked over at Mint. I would need her help if she was ready.

"Do you think you can help me with this Mint?" I asked her. She looked over at me, she looked happy and she nodded to me, at least she was not thinking about the squirrel like I still was. I shivered once again still thinking about the omen and what it could mean.

"Yes... I will do my best... How do you want to do this? If we get one then the other ones will be scared off." She said to me. I realized that she was right. I closed my eyes and thought about how exactly we could do this.

I thought then came into my mind, I remembered about the rabbit that I had missed the other day. I had scared it right towards Limp. She then had caught it and killed it, no one else knew the real reason on how she had caught it.

I remember Oister praising her for catching something like that at such a young age. Me and her both knew how she had actually caught it, but Limp I could say at least did the killing part just like I had told her to do before.

"Alright... I have an idea... I will sneak around to the other side, and I will catch one... You try to catch one of the others as the run over from me to you." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, she was trying to put the idea into her brain.

After a few more seconds she then looked back at me and then she smiled, she nodded to me.

"That sounds like a great idea... Let's get to it." She said to me. I looked at her and then I smiled. Then I nodded for her to stay still as I quickly and quietly began to walk around the small little clearing to try and sneak up on the mice.

I looked at the ground to make sure that I did not step on to any sort of stick or anything. I saw one directly were I was heading and then I stepped over it, looking at the sky thanking the starclan cats for teaching me about that.

Then once I was around the far side of the clearing opposite to Mint I looked at her and then nodded. She nodded back to me and then she smiled. I smiled back and then I paid attention to the mice that were sitting right in front of me. I closed my eyes for a few moments.

I had to do this right, I made a plan in my head about how to do it, and what direction they would run the certain way that I tried to kill one of the mice. I thought about it deeply, the thoughts seemed to go into my head like it was already happening to me as we spoke.

If I killed the mouse in the middle, the other 2 would more the liked split in different directions and Mint would not have time to run at either of them. I then thought about the squirrel that was closest to Mint on the right.

If I ran after that one first, the other 2 would run over to the left side, once again, avoiding making contact with Mint. I opened my eyes a bit upset, after a few more moments I tried thinking about how to do it once again.

I did not even thinking about the mouse that was on the left side, it was about the same distance away from me as the mouse that was on the left. I thought about the tragetury that I could get that mouse and make the other mice ran at least somewhat near Mint.

I then realized the way I was to do it, there was no way that I could get the mice to run in the direction that Mint was going to go. No matter what I did, Mint would have to be really fast to run after one of the mice.

I looked at Mint and then I nodded to the left side, she looked at me a bit confused at to what I was talking about, then I pointed my left paw over to the left side to signify that was were I wanted her to go at.

She then realized what I was talking about and then she nodded to me saying that she understood the point that I was getting at.

I smiled thanfully and then once she was in the perfect spot, I nodded to myself to get ready and go after the mouse that was furthest away. It would be the hardest to get for me, but it was the only way we could get 2 mice at the same time.

Once I sped after the mouse that was on the right, the mice that were closest to me now would freak out and it would cause a chain reaction that would freak the mice out on the right side. I had to do this at a perfect time to get this to work in our favor.

I was sure that Mint would be able to catch one of the 2 mice that ran over towards her, but I was not all that sure that I would be able to get the mouse that I was going after. I shook my head, it was time to stop thinking and start doing.

I often had a problem of thinking about something a bit too much and not being able to do what I was trying to do successfully. I blinked and then I slowly and quietly began going after the mouse that was on the far right.

After a few moments, luckily none of the other mice had not seen me go past them, I then took my shot, which was a far shot at getting the mouse. I did not want to take the risk of going any further and having the other mice see me.

I had to do this quick before one of the other mice turned over and saw me and freaked out, I then stopped thinking and then ran after the mouse. It heard me going after it and it instantly started running.

I was faster than the mouse though, I caught up to it before it had a place to hide and I put the finishing blow on the mouse. I then quickly turned over to Mint to see if she had caught one of the mice that had ran at her.

I looked around one of the trees and saw Mint smiling as she had one of the mice in her hand, I laughed and then I walked over to her to make her feel special about getting one of the mice. I smiled back at her and then sat down beside her.

"Good job Mint, mine was hard to catch, I had to run far to get it, but it was the only way that we could both catch one." I said to her, she looked at me and it made her smile get even bigger, she then nudged herself against me.

I loved this cat so much, I was so happy to have her by my side, she absolutely made my day so much better, that was all I could really say about it. She then looked at me and then began talking, I focused myself to catch what she was saying to me.

"Let's split one, we need to make sure that the other's got food as well. Limp is not the best at hunting." She said to me, I looked at her and then I nodded to her, it was a good idea and it was good to hear that she was thinking about the others as well, I had not even thought about it like that.

I then began biting into the mouse that I had caught, I wanted to make sure that Mint got more than I did, after a few more bites, than managed to tide me over for just a little bit, I pushed the rest of the mouse over to Mint.

She noticed that I had not eaten that much of it, but luckily she did not say anything about it. I smiled as she finished the last bite of the mouse and then I nodded to her as she cleaned herself up.

"Lets head back over to the others, I want to make sure that Oister is good, I am worried about her, it was a bad omen." I said to Mint. She looked at me remembering about the squirrel that we had found and then she nodded to me.

I then let her take the lead once again to head over to the little clearing place that we were going to meet back up with the others at. She thanked me for it and then we continued walking the exact direction that we had come from, sniffing the trail to make sure we were on the right path.

I sniffed once again, and I smelt a squirrel right near us. I turned my head over to where it might be at and whether I could catch it very quickly. I did not see it anywhere but then I realized where it was at.

It was the same dead squirrel that Mint had tried to pick up earlier. I saw it, the blood that was on its mouth, it had a bit of a weird smile as well. It kind of scared me, I had never heard about a squirrel smiling before.

I remembered what Squirrelflight had told me, she told me that Starclan was not the only place that clan cats went after they had died. I remember she had told me there was a place that evil cats went to. I shivered, and then looked away from the squirrel.

I did not want to think about there being evil cats already, I had not even made the clans yet. I then realized that Mint had gone a bit far ahead of me. I then rushed over to catch up to her. She noticed me running, she indeed did say something about it this time.

"You saw the squirrel too? I think it is best just to not think about it." She said to me. I looked at her a bit surprised that she knew what I was thinking about, but I did not say anything back to her. I just let it be.

She was right, best not too think about it, and the first step to that was to not talk about it. Once she saw that I was okay she then kept on walking. I closed my eyes, trying my best to drown out the thoughts of that, I had to put my mind to a better place.

I thought back on the time that I had first met Mint, yes... The coyotes that were running after us, that was one of the scariest days of my life. But that was a fun first experience to tell our kin about when the time came. I smiled and then I kept on walking with her.

It was better to have a positive outlook on things then a negative. If you think negative, negative things seemed to happen to you. That is what I always told Tristan, he always tried to scare me about living out in the wild, I just always told myself that to make myself feel a bit better.

I then saw Mint stop, I noticed that we were back in the clearing. The others were not back though, and my mind switched back to negative just as soon as I told myself not to think about things like that. I saw that Mint had the exact same look on her face.

But just as soon I thought about in I heard footsteps coming from not too far away, it was obviously Limps, she had the loudest footsteps out of all of us. That was something that I needed to teach her about. I saw that she did not have a good look on her face.

"Is Oister okay?" I said to Limp. Limp looked at me a bit confused but then she nodded to me, realizing why we might be worried about her. I then saw Kettle and Oister right behind her, Kettle had 2 voles hanging by their tails and Oister had a squirrel with her.

I thought back about the squirrel that we had seen, I shivered and tried to not think about it like that. Oister then dropped the squirrel and then she looked at me and Mint with a bit of a smile on her face. She then talked with a bit of a rasp for obviously being sick in her voice.

"Calm down you two... Im okay!"