Chapter 28: Go!

I looked at Briar, and then I gulped. I was not going to lie to myself, I was a bit afraid... I knew what the outcome would be if we failed, and I did not even want to think about that. I wish that Mint was here right now to try and warm me up.

If I failed, it did not matter if Kettle got mad at me. Kettle would never see me again, and he would look to find his mate to only find out that she had passed on as well. He would leave Mint, and I knew it...

I had no choice but to do what Briar was telling me about though. If I did not do it, and I just sat inside this twoleg place and just waited for the right time to run away from my owner... At that point it would not matter.

Oister would be dead, Mint would be alone out there somewhere, probably already gone back to the life of being a kittypet. The rogues that I had been seeing in my dreams, their kits would die... Along with them as well, I could tell that they were sick as well.

If I could not step up and be a leader, then I did not deserve to bring back the clans in the first place. I could not fail, I could not suffer these consciences... I looked down at the ground for a few moments, but then I eventually nodded to Briar, to let him know that I understood the risk.

"What is this that I am hearing about? You have a plan to get out? Tell me more about it..." The cat named Shadow said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I squinted my eyes at him. From what I had seen from him so far, he was not a cat that I would want in any of the clans... It seemed like he would only be there the cause trouble.

I looked at the cat and then I nodded to him, I figured that I would play his little game for a little while. He looked at me a bit surprised, but I could tell that he looked fairly interested in what it was that I was thinking about doing with Briar.

"Scram off Shadow... We don't want you as a part of this..." Briar said to the cat. The cat looked at Briar a little bit frustrated, but then he looked over at me, he knew that I wad the leader of whatever the plan was. I looked back at the cat for a few moments longer.

I began to weigh in the odds, and the idea of letting this cat be a part of the clans. We had not even started yet to be fair... I had my small little group, and that was about it... None the less, he was a bit of a younger cat still, he had a lot to learn.

I may as well give him the chance, and if he cannot prove his worth to us, then he does not have to be a part of the clans. I turned my head back to Briar, he already knew what I was going to say it seemed. He turned away and then shook his head at me.

"I need to give him a chance Briar... If he can't prove himself to us, then we can just throw him out... There are 5 clans I need to make, and most of the time there are at least 30 cats in each clan... I have not started at all." I said to Briar. Briar looked at me a little bit confused for a few moments.

I had forgotten that I had not told him about the clans quite yet. As far as he knew, all he knew was that I lived outside of the twoleg place with a couple other cats. I rolled my eyes, I did not want to have to explain this once again right now.

"What? All you said to me was you are with a group of cats, what is this about clans? You are saying you are with a group of over 150 cats?" He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I shook my head to him.

It was now beginning to scare me, the fact that, yes... I was about to lead a large group of 150+ cats... I shivered for a few moments... Starclan, put a normal cat like me up to this task? There was nothing special about me, how was I supposed to do all of this...

I knew that I was not alone on it, I could do this for sure... I had Kettle, Oister, and Mint by my side... My best friends... My mate... I had this, I was going to be okay. This was all going to end good, I had to think of it like that, there was no other way.

"Not yet... I will tell you a little bit about it later. Right now, I have to find the cure for whatever disease my friend Oister has..." I said to him. He looked at me a bit confused once again, but he just nodded to me a bit more understanding as to what I was trying to say to him.

Shadow was looking right at me with a big smile, it was not the smile of an evil cat. Maybe this could end not so bad, I just had a bit of a bad first impression on the cat. I smiled to myself, this would end good for me, and for the other cats that were with me.

I then turned my head below Briar, I heard a cat begin to say my name, which kind of surprised me for a few moments... The fact that a cat would know me already when I had not even been near the lake for very long... But then I recognized the voice after a few moments.

"Moon... Is that you? How did you get here?" The cat said to me. I squinted for a few moments, the room was a bit too dark for me to see the face of the cat. But I knew who the cat was right away, because of the voice... But not only that, it was the only cat that I knew that was at this young of an age.

It was a smaller cat... I looked at the cat for a few moments. I then shook my head, there was no way... Surely right? But it began to make a lot more sense as I began to think through it more and more. It would be right around this time that she would have gotten here. I looked at the cat and then I shook my head at her.

"Limp... I got here because I was trying to help save the clans... Something that you are incapable of doing I suppose." I said to her. She flinched at me for a few moments, she was clearly a bit hurt at the words that I had just thrown at her. But it was payback for the words that she had thrown out at me just a few days ago.

She then began to get a bit upset, which did not surprise me at all, she tended to be like that. She did not say anything to me though. But I could see that she was hunched up and that her spine was tingling. I knew that she was angry at what I had just said...

But finally she managed to calm herself surprisingly, and she nodded to me and looked down at the floor of the room that we were trapped in for now.

"I am sorry for that Moon..." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I could tell that she was serious with the statement that she had just given me. But I really was not willing to believe it, she had hurt every cat in my group.

My group of cats was a happy group, that day was not a happy day for us at all. I turned my head away from the cat, and then looked up at Briar, who I could tell looked a bit surprised to see me talking to her. Once he noticed that I was paying attention to him, he nodded to me.

"I thought you said you were knew to this area, how did you meet this young cat?" He asked me. It was a good question, if I was going to be honest with myself. I shook my head and looked at the ground, I was thinking so many evil thoughts right now.

I was thinking about how, I wished that I had never seen her that day. Or I should have listened to Kettle and just left her... But I should not wish any harm on any cat like that. I thought I was close with this cat, but she had taken that relationship away from me.

"I found her out in the wild... But she couldn't grow thick fur, so she thought everything we said to her was an attack. So she ran off to who knows where, I guess to find a new owner." I said to him. Limp looked at me a fair bit upset at me.

I was ready for the flood gates to open once again and for her to run at me as she always did whenever she got mad. She managed to calm herself once again, at least she had learned to do that. But it was a bit too late, she had already lost me as a friend... Not even that, I thought of her like she was my kin.

"Why are you being such a jerk Moon? I came back to find you..." She said to me. I looked at the cat for a few moments, I could tell that Briar was very lost on what it was that we were talking about, the other cat was smiling, he was enjoying the satisfaction of two cats fighting with words.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to rush the anger from out of my head. But it was too hard, she had really hurt me that day. She had hurt Oister as well, and Kettle, even though he had pretended not to be. But most importantly, he had hurt my mate, and now my mate was alone with no way to cope with the pain... Now can you understand why I am angry?

"Well... Good job... You found me, and now we are both stuck here, and the only way out might be death." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, then she seemed to have a bit of a scared emotion on her face.

The same emotion that she had on her face, the day that she had told me what had happened to her mother, and her brothers and sisters. I assumed that she had been asleep to not understand what it was that I was talking about.

"Moon... There is a reason I found you, starclan took my to you... They found me the way to save them." She said to me. I looked at her a bit confused for a few moments, as to what it was that she might be talking about. "They gave me the cure, I know how to save them. It was sitting right under our paws this whole time."

I was still a bit confused as to what she meant. But then I realized the point that she was getting at. I looked at her a bit surprised for a few moments. Then I nodded to her, I now knew it, we had to get out of here as soon as possible...

"The medicine... We have to go, we have no other choice now, we have to save the kits, we have to save Oister." I said to her. She looked at me a bit surprised for a few moments, but then she nodded to me, saying to me that she understood what I was getting at.

"She's gotten worse? We do have to go now... There is no other way." She said to me. I looked at her and then nodded, I was glad that she understood what I was getting at. It seemed as if she had hit a sudden growth spurt in her brain in the last couple of days.

Shadow turned his head, he had gotten bored now that we were not arguing anymore, Briar still seemed to be a bit confused, but he was catching on to the point that I was trying to get out, it seemed like at least.

I then heard the door open to the room that we were in... I saw a twoleg walk in, I expected him to have another cage, with another cat inside, but it did not seem to be the case this time. He looked around at all of the other cats in the room for a few moments, and then he smiled.

He went straight towards Shadow for some reason. And then went up to his cage, he then began to twinkle his paw at Shadow. Shadow hissed back at his and tried to scratch at his paw. The twoleg moved back at bit surprised and then he walked back out of the room in a hurry.

I did my best to try not to laugh at the cat, he clearly did not like twolegs at all. I understood why he had gotten thrown out by his owners more than once. He did not want a twoleg anywhere near him. And neither did I, to be fair. I looked back over to Briar as he began speaking to all of us.

"They are about to come in, 2 twolegs. They will open up the cages and put us to the edge of the room. Then a few moments after that, the guy that gives us the shot will come in... When he opens the door, we need to run as fast as you can, I take the lead, and you guys follow me." He said to us. I looked at him, and then I nodded. I did not complain, he knew this place a lot more than me, clearly.

Shadow looked like he was going to say something, but thankfully he stopped himself from doing so this time. As we all sat there in silence, just waiting for the door to be opened. I still heard the other cats that were with us freaking out, they must have payed no attention to what we had just been talking about. That's their own mistake I suppose...

I sat there, waiting... The time began to pass, and I was beginning to wonder if Briar was really telling the truth about what he had just said, or maybe he might have just been a bit confused. But just as I looked away, the door to the room opened and 2 twolegs walked in.

These ones payed us no attention for quite some time, they just sat there, having a deep discussion with each other. I looked at Briar, wondering what was going on, he just nodded to me, as if he was telling me to just wait and to be patient.

I sat there for a little while longer, as I waited for the twolegs to open up the cage... Trying to do exactly what it was that he had said to us. We did not need to try to run yet, we had to wait til the door was opening, and then that is when we needed to scurry.

They then walked over to Briar, Shadow and Limps cages first, and they opened the door to them, and then began rushing them over to the corner of the room. It looked a far ways away from the door, we did not have enough time, surely right?

They managed to stay calm, as they followed two other cats to the end of the room as well, one of those cats just kept of mewing and mewing. The twoleg yelled at him loudly, and it managed to get the cat to shut up. For once I was able to manage to thank a twoleg.

Then they walked over to my side of the room, and they both opened the door for me, and the other cat that was sitting right beside me. Instantly the first cat sprinted towards the door, and then tried scratching its way through. I tried my best to keep calm while the other twoleg guided me to the end of the room with the others.

"If you were trying to get out buddy, that was not a smart idea!" Briar said to the cat. As the other twoleg easily scooped up the cat, and then he through him back into his cage. For a few moments, I thought that the cat had ruined that for us, but the twolegs walked back to us completely calm.

I looked at Briar, waiting for him to tell us what it was that we were supposed to do next, but he was just trying to keep his calm right now. I could see him shivering quite a bit, I could tell that he was a bit scared, he also was probably not used to having to step up as a leader.

"This is it... The twoleg is about to come in at any moment, be ready all of you." He said to us. I looked at him for a few moments, now I was the one shivering, I gulped to myself and then nodded to him. I looked over at Limp and Shadow to make sure that they were ready as well. They both nodded to him to let him know that they understood.

I then turned my head back, and then began to play the waiting game, I saw a twoleg walk through the window, and right away I knew that this was the twoleg that was coming in. My body stiffened for a few moments, as I sat there, just waiting for it to open at any moment.

Just as I thought about it maybe not coming true, the door then opened, and Briar yelled as loud as he could.

"Everyone!!! Go!"