Ghostglow's POV

The grey-and-white and white she-cats led us away from our fence without saying a word. Wolftail and I ran beside Marshstar while Tigerstripe and Crowflight took up the rear. The white one was for sure a kittypet in her past. You could tell by her bright pink collar that was wrapped around her neck as if she was just waiting to be choked by her Twolegs. The other one had a green collar. I assumed she was living with the white she-cat.

"Speed up or we'll get eaten!" Tigerstripe snapped loudly, glancing over his shoulder. Obeying his command, we took off harder and faster. The infected stumbled toward us faster than I had ever seen them go. They must be hungry. I figured, feeling my spine crawl with uneasiness.

The two she-cats ran over a patch of grass and went behind a Twolegnest. The left side of the fence had caved in and was broken off of the rest of the fence. It was lying on top of a ginger ball of fur. I wasn't too sure how the fence fell, but it didn't really matter. "Misty, Firefly, is that you?" The ginger cat murmured, straining to look at us. So that's what their names are. As we hurried over to assist the third she-cat, I noticed claw marks from in front of her. She must have tried to claw her way out of underneath the fence.

She was on her side, her hind legs and tail stuck under the fence. "It'll be okay, Foxtail, we got help!" Misty breathed.

"The infected are coming, we need to hurry." Marshstar demanded with unsheathed claws. Without any warning, Wolftail squeezed his lower back under the fence and gestured with his head for the others to follow. Crowflight and Tigerstripe went under on the opposite side while I joined Wolftail. Marshstar grabbed Foxtail by the scruff and began to drag her out as we slowly went from crouching to a standing position. Firefly and Misty stood back and watched with wide, hopeful eyes.

My legs shook as we lifted the heavy fence. I'm getting too old for this. Foxtail slowly climbed out from under the fence then we lowered the fence until we could safely leave from under it.

Foxtail shook out her long, dark ginger fur and dipped her head to Marshstar. Her tail was fluffy and had a white tail tip just like a fox. "Thank you." She murmured. Good thing she isn't whiny like her companions. Marshstar nodded once and began to take a different route around the Twolegnest to get away from the infected. We all followed.

I sensed the three kittypets following, too. I flicked my ear but didn't say anything. When I looked over at them, I saw Misty and Firefly letting Foxtail lean on them. No one said anything to them as we began to dash back to our fence.
***
As the others hopped over the fence, I let Firefly put Foxtail on my back. I leaped up onto the fence and then down onto the ground. Foxtail got off of my back and leaned onto Firefly again. "Thank you again for helping Foxtail!" Misty mewed to Marshstar with gleaming eyes. Firefly nodded from beside her.

Hungry and exhausted, we all traveled into the woods to the stream. I had to follow Marshstar because I wasn't sure where exactly we were going.

In a few short moments we were at the stream. My mouth watered. I jumped into the water gently and waded slowly through the water, savoring the stream. It felt so odd to have water slithering through my fur and the pebbles between my pads. I stopped in the middle of the stream and took in all the water I needed.

"So what are you wild cats doing here? The three of us used to come in the woods to play around... We've never seen you before." Foxtail asked, her eyes narrowed in curiosity. I glanced over at her as I finished drinking. Licking my lips, I listened from the stream.

Marshstar answered them. The three homeless cats were sitting around him since they knew no one else. "Well, you all know about the strange illness going around... Those "things" destroyed our kin and our home. We decided to leave when Lark came." The RockClan leader explained. Marshstar looked over at the scarred tom. He had his skull protector beside him, the muzzle pointing towards him. He glanced up quickly at the mention of his name, fresh-kill hanging from his mouth.

The three she-cats purred. Lark licked the meat from his mouth and blinked at them. They turned away and he kept eating.

"Do you fight them? Is it scary?" Misty asked, leaning in. "The last one we fought didn't seem to be wavered by our claws, so we just... ran away," Marshstar meowed, looking slightly agitated.

The three cats didn't seem to notice that he was slightly angry. "Let us stay with you! We don't have a home anymore! We can catch our own food and make our own bedding and-" Firefly whined, standing up. Her fur was on end; she looked frightened and desperate. "We will leave when everything gets better, we promise!"

The RockClan leader looked around at his few warriors. They only shrugged. Marshstar's face seemed to say, Do they really think this illness is going to go away that easily? Even with the flower prophecy - that had spread around like a wildfire among the Clan cats - no one was too sure about the virus just diminishing. "Maybe they could be a good use. As long as they carry their own weight, then I'm sure they would be a good addition to our Clan for the meantime," Silverfeather rasped from beside Shadowflower. Marshstar flicked his ear and then nodded to the three she-cats.

"As long as you three learn to fight and hunt and make your own nest, then yes," Marshstar didn't look too happy to be letting kittypets stay in his Clan but the kittypets were unbelievably excited.

I hopped out of the water on StreamClan's side and let out a loud purr. I could feel the glare from Marshstar burning through my back but I didn't care.

As I padded away from the stream, I shook out each paw to get rid of the water. I groaned in impatience as pine needles got stuck in between my toes. "For SoulClan's sake, it is a sign, Wildstar!" I heard Whitefeather snarl. I glanced up and paused. Wildstar looked astonished to be challenged so greatly by a young warrior. "She needs to be exiled or-or something! SoulClan sent a sign and we need to act on it!"

I hurried over. "What are you complaining about?" I looked from Wildstar to Whitefeather for an answer. I noticed the light purple flower with a yellow center laying at Whitefeather's paws. I confirmed it was deadly nightshade. "Your son found deadly nightshade on patrol and he thinks it's "a sign from SoulClan" when it is natural for it to grow in the forest!" Wildstar hissed, trying to keep calm. I realized it wasn't working too well for her.

"Whitefeather, come with me. We're going on a hunt. We will be back eventually." I announced, nudging Whitefeather away.

I could feel the tension coming from Whitefeather as he padded quickly away with his head down. "Whitefeather," I murmured, "You know Nightshade tried her best to save your sister. Ivysplash and Whisperecho would be disappointed if they knew you were holding such a foolish grudge." Whitefeather looked up and nodded once, but continued the silent treatment.

As we passed by a big oak tree with gnarled roots sticking out of the ground, I got a strong, new whiff of an unknown cat. Mixed with it was freshly killed prey. The sweet, tangy smell blew by in the breeze. Whitefeather seemed to have noticed it too because his nose was wriggling and his tail was fluffed up. Without even telling him to do so, he began to track down the cat beside me.

We followed it around the great oak tree and down a small hill to find a Bengal she-cat chowing down on a rabbit. Her tail tip danced around while her ears scanned for noises.

Letting my growl raise up my throat, I circled the small Bengal she-cat. She only glanced up at us with a clueless look in her green eyes. "Hello! Are you with Saw-a-Marsh?" She mewed. Whitefeather and I exchanged a confused glance.

"Are you a Rock-cat like Saw-a-Marsh?" Neither of us knew what she was talking about until it hit me that she was talking about RockClan and Marshstar. "Don't you mean Marshstar from RockClan?" Whitefeather stopped circling her.

The Bengal she-cat shrugged and took another bite of the rabbit. She looked merry and unfazed by our intimidation. "It doesn't matter! Why are you eating our prey?" The she-cat looked up at me and licked her lips. Bengal tipped her head to the side.

She purred, "I don't see your name on it, Snowball!" My ears went tight to my skull.

I narrowed my eyes at the she-cat and took a step forward, my claws unsheathed. "Are you alone or are we sitting ducks?"

"I'm alone. My family died to the sickness going around and when they came back alive I threw them into the stream!" She stood up and fluffed out her fur. I sheathed my claws. Beginning to panic, I almost bolted away to camp to tell them not to drink the water, but Bengal continued. "Downstream it is stronger so I threw them down there."

Bengal didn't look fazed at all by the topic. Something had to be wrong with her. Either she had so much trauma that she just bottled it up and became insane, or she was too young to realize her family was whipped out.

I narrowed my eyes and lashed my tail as Whitefeather sniffed around. My lip curled up in sudden hostility. We can't lose our stream to some stupid she-cat! We don't need a stray to come into our Clan! I don't want to be like RockClam, bringing in desperate cats just because you are low on them.

"Get out of here. Get out of the territory and if we ever see you again, we'll tear you to shreds!" I spat, unsheathing my claws again. Her ears went back. She glanced quickly at my son as he mirrored me and then back at me. Her eyes were gleaming with shock, confusion, and hurt. Whitefeather hissed at her and she bolted.

I watched her disappear before I let myself relax. "Different Clan or not, I am going to confront Marshstar about this. I will inform Wildstar and double the patrols." Whitefeather nodded, his eyes very serious and coldhearted. As we headed back, I felt a pang of regret in my chest for scaring the poor cat.