Chapter 23

I walked into the den Jay and I shared, and I lied near the entrance, looking at the clearing. Rooster and the other started digging, and Grace's kits were coming, but I was too stunned and tired to move, so I just fell asleep.

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I heard screaming from the medicine den, and I said, "I'm glad I can't get pregnant. It must hurt a lot." Smoke smirked and said, "What if you can?" I flattened my ears and said, "Please don't give me nightmares. It might hurt in those too." Smoke looked around and asked, "Where's Yuna?" I perked my ears up and said, "Lu must be teaching her about kit birth."

I looked at Moe and Oliver. They were digging, and they were already almost submerged into the ground. Rooster was nowhere to be found, and Salt was arguing with Echo about snakes give birth. There was too much noise going on for my sensitive ears, so I walked into the forest, with, as usual, Smoke following me. He said, "There is an awful lot of things going on today."

I said, "Yeah, it's hurting my ears." As we walked through the forest, we saw more signs of other cats, but they were stale, and there were tracks I've never seen before. I said, "Hey Smoke. What are these tracks?" There were two, and both of them had a strange pattern. Smoke took a look, and he said, "Hm... I think I remember our other mother say that these belong to what humans ride in. She said that they're four-wheelers."

I froze. Then I said, "Humans are roaming the forest! They may find other cats! They might even find Rudy again!" Smoke started to panic as well, so we rushed back to camp to tell either Jay or Birch what's going on. When we got there, we ran into Birch's den, and Smoke woke him up. Birch muttered, "Wait... oh what is it?"

Smoke explained the tracks, and he said, "Humans... in the forest?" He stood up and walked out of the den. Smoke and I followed him, and he made sure that absolutely no one saw us. We started running through the forest, and I asked, "Where are we going?" Birch said, "To Molotov's camp! I need to talk to Rudy!"

I was unsure of this, but we continued to follow him anyway. Then I heard many cats and I saw a clearing up ahead. Birch ran behind a den so no one could see him, and he signaled us to stay in our spots. He looked into the clearing, and then he said, "Okay. I need you two to stay hidden until I get back, alright?"

We both nodded, and then Birch walked out of our sight.

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I snuck behind Rudy's den, and I looked through a small hole. He was in there, so I made the hole bigger, and I whispered, "Mom!" He turned around, and a look of surprise and relief washed over his face. He walked over and said, "It's been a while, but what are you doing here?" I said, "Humans are roaming the forest!"

He said, "That's not good. It's bad enough that Ace and Crow are at war." I couldn't believe what he just said. "War?" Rudy nodded, and he said, "Crow claims that Ace tried to kill his cats. He also said that Ace was sending spies to his camp." This made me regret my actions. Crow is a young, and careless one, so it was a bad idea to tell him what's going on.

I said, "Wait what about the humans?"

Rudy closed his eyes and said, "It's time. Only you and the rebellion can do anything. Now go!" I licked his face in thanks, and I ran back to Bandit and Smoke. I said, "Let's hurry back. I have to tell everyone what's going on." The three of us ran back to base, but there was a strong scent of blood, and shredded fur covered the ground.

There was no one in sight. Not even a fly.