I sighed and hurried along beside Lilypatch. She had a glare deep inside her eyes and her fur was on edge. Blood splattered her pelt and I wondered if she had swallowed any blood. If she did, I had a reason to kick her out.

Then I would be one step closer to being leader of them all.

Maybe I can convince Leopardstar to take a step down and let me rule? Maybe she'll go crazy sometime soon? Would killing someone she loves make her insane? Who would that be?

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I decided to just wait for that.

We pounded away from the flesh-eaters. I knew in heartbeats there would be more than any of us could handle. They'd eat us in heartbeats. We'd be forced to give our lives.

I rushed harder, my leg muscles screaming in protest. I ran hard through the forest, the pines deepening as we switched territories. My legs began to ache more than ever and just then I wished someone would carry me. I mean, I'm the leader. I need to be refreshed and strong, right? Right. But even so, I kept going, every now and again swerving by a flesh-eater. Leopardstar and the group had to move away quickly before it grabbed anyone.

Leopardstar ran in front of me and I swallowed a growl. I was doing just fine until she came along and took the lead. She led the way toward a tangle of thorns at the edge of her territory. It began to get harder and harder to swerve by the swelling amount of flesh-eaters.

"This way!" Leopardstar yowled over her shoulder, dodging a flesh-eater's bite. Lilypatch backed up and herded the cats through, kicking the flesh-eaters back and out of the way. Finally, we made it to the thorns; a tunnel was formed in it and Leopardstar stood in the entrance. "Go, go, go!" She hissed and I ducked in with cats on my heels.

Without realizing it, we came to a cave. A few cracks above made it bright enough to at least see where we were stepping. It started to get crammed up quickly. My fur stood on end.

A tiny squeal came from behind me and I flinched as a mouse tried scatter away. I had it by the tail and I made sure it didn't go anywhere. I nipped it in the neck and held it up. I can't eat it here, they'll all notice and probably feed me to the flesh-eaters... Play it cool. Give it to the youngest.

I spotted Heatherleg laying down with Sunkit at her stomach and Lighteningice and her two kits, Sootkit and Stormkit, laying on the other side of them.

With a low sigh, I gave it to Lighteningice. She looked up with shock and I dipped my head. "Thank you," she whispered and Heatherleg laid in behind her.

I didn't reply, just backed slightly up to where I could be alone. I muffled a sigh as the scent of Birdfeather came to me.

"I'm going to sleep, okay?" She trembled and I nodded. The swelled up she-cat nuzzled herself into my stomach as I laid down. Whatever, I'm going to sleep anyway. Birdfeather kept trying to move in closer but I didn't move to comfort her. Why should I make her feel good? It wouldn't work anyway.

Leopardstar nudged me - in what seemed to be only heartbeats, which was actually from daylight to midnight - and I groaned. "What?" I mumbled angrily, blinking my eyes open.

"Everyone is asleep other than me and Lilypatch and we can't keep the flesh-eaters back much longer. I know this is stupid to ask you, but we need an idea." She growled and I stood up slowly, careful not to wake Birdfeather.

"Look, I don't know. Did you put rocks in front of it?" I muttered, my voice slightly bouncing off the empty rocks. "We have thought of that but there aren't many in here. I cleaned them out for emergencies, like putting many cats in here,"

I sighed and looked around. My eyes caught sight of something hanging from the cracks in the ceiling. "Is there a hill or something above this?" I whispered, padding toward it.

Leopardstar padded in beside me. "Yes, I think ivy or some vines have grown down. I thought of that, but I don't know if it'll be strong enough," I nodded and jumped up, grabbed some with my teeth and broke it off, landing swiftly.

Moans came from the entrance and Lilypatch groaned. "Hurry guys, I think more found us!" She hissed and Leopardstar and I quickly grabbed more.

I picked them up from the ground and ran to the entrance. The cave was crowded behind me. The thorn tunnel was covered half way into it, giving us more room.

"We should cover more up when we finish entwining these with that." I suggested and they nodded.

Leopardstar took lead - again - and tightly put the vines from one side to the other of the entrance. It was up against the barrier holding the flesh-eaters back. Lilypatch took the other vines from her while Leopardstar held the barrier back. Leopardstar's claws dug into the cold mud underneath our paws. The cave was more like a burrow, a huge, wide burrow.

The moans grew stronger and claws reached through the deep thorns. Lilypatch finished and we backed up, grabbing the thorns quickly and crossing from one side to the other.

We used the vines I had to hold the thorns together and then took more from the dense thorn branches and twisted them together. The first barrier wasn't holding as well as we had planned and the two more we had done wasn't going to do either.

"We need an escape route." Lilypatch growled as we tied the vines into the thorns.

An idea popped in my head. I am brilliant!

"We should dig a deepish hole to slow them down right in front of the barrier keeping them out. Then we should dig a hole to get out and we'll be good to go if the flesh-eaters come in," I insisted, smirking inwardly at how smart I was.

"Okay, I'll get a few warriors to help," Lilypatch whispered, padding away.

Leopardstar and I turned away and started digging away at the muddy ground. I made sure the mud didn't go spraying behind me by putting it in my paws and into a pile beside the hole. Not long after we started, Boldfang and Mudpaw started to help.

We kept digging down until I almost slipped into the hole. It had to be almost my height if I were to be on my hind legs. I backed up carefully, putting my front paws on the other side of the hole and jumping back.

I left Leopardstar and Squirreltail to dig. Meanwhile, Boldfang and Mudpaw followed me to the opposite side of the crowded burrow. Lilypatch and Viperslash were already there. A pile of dirt formed at each of their sides. My paws ached from all of the digging and I could feel mud stuck in between my claws.

I started digging, but as soon as I got even a whisker length in, dirt would fall back down. I flicked an ear in frustration and turned to Lilypatch. They looked confused as well. "Maybe put mud over it?" I shook my head simply at Viperslash's suggestion.

"It wouldn't hold and it would take too long." I growled and we went silent.

After a few heartbeats of quiet, Lilypatch mewed, "Maybe dig up until the top of the hill comes to us and then make a pile of packed down dirt and use that as the trail to get out?" I rolled my eyes, turned around.

Okay miss smarty fur, take the lead! Looks like you have all the ideas, don't ya?

"Alright, good plan." I lied with a hateful grin. Of course, she would think it was nice, but really, it was not.

The three of us started digging frantically, just in case the flesh-eaters broke through. Throughout the night, Viperslash, Lilypatch and I made a tunnel to the top of the burrow and created a wide - yet steep - path up.

I finished it by packing it down, using my paw to pat it down thick. By then, the sun was creeping up the sky. Red and pink were mixed up and beautiful. I could see clouds dotting the sky above, seeming to be grey and filled with rain.

The moaning came from down in the burrow and I had to look away. Please don't be coming through... I thought, cringing as I opened my eyes to the sudden sight of nothing but cats peacefully sleeping and Squirreltail and Leopardstar finishing with digging. The hole was at least two cats tall, if they were on all fours.

I padded down the dirt trail and to Leopardstar. Her tail was out of the hole while the rest of her body was in. Dirt was piling up behind her and I had to dodge it so I didn't get any on me.

Squirreltail was at the bottom of the hole, bringing paws filled with dirt to the top. "I think you have made it deep enough," I mewed and the two looked up.

Leopardstar backed away, shaking her fur out while Squirreltail hopped out. "Just needed to make sure it was deep enough." Squirreltail muttered, cleaning her fur. I always adored her. Her eyes were bigger than an average cats' and her tail was a fluffy one, fur bright red like a fox or a red squirrel.

I turned away and sat down. The moaning of the flesh-eaters would wake everyone up soon, especially now that the sun was coming up. Leopardstar came to sit beside me.

"We should set out a patrol quickly." Leopardstar whispered. I narrowed my eyes, I'll announce it and they'll think I made the decision and then they would trust me more. Brilliant! Why thank you. I purred inwardly and nodded to Leopardstar, nudging Squirreltail and then Viperslash. I told them we should hunt before the cats woke up and they nodded, saying bye to Lilypatch.

We stalked out of the emergency exit and quickly and quietly stalked through the dense forest behind DarkClan. Here, we were close to Twolegplace but not as close as SpiritClan was. Luckily, back here there were more thorns than in a nightmare, wrapping around the trees and bushes forming everywhere. We would be lucky if we go back with only a few in our paws.

The apprentices had named it Dead Wood. There was barely any prey, no dangerous animals and no feral cats. Personally, I loved it, and we battled for it many times. DarkClan always won, though.

We trekked through the pointy woods, avoiding contact with the thorns sticking out of every edge of the Dead Wood. I parted my jaws in search of any kind of prey and pricked my ears up to locate any sound. Squirreltail stopped, sniffed around and stalked away. My instinct told me to follow her but I didn't want her to feel awkward.

I was sure Viperslash had her wrapped around his tail by now anyway. That little selfish cat thought he could take any she-cat. I narrowed my eyes at the tom's back and stalked toward the smell of a vole. We were lucky to find anything here.

My nose was suddenly whipped by smells everywhere. Big animals and small animals collided and were sent up my nose. Viperslash gave me a confused look.

"The prey must've gotten the same idea," I murmured, stalking toward a rabbit. You never see rabbits here.

"Collect as many as you can!" I hissed to the LightClan warrior.

He dipped his head and ran off, charging at a squirrel. I jumped at the rabbit and it ran. I tried to run after it, but its small body maneuvered around the thorns easier than any cat could. It disappeared.

I paused and listened for movement. A dove landed at least five tail-lengths away, pecking away at a seed. Stalking forward, I suddenly cringed as a thorn stabbed my paw. I lifted my paw slightly - ignoring the pain - and jumped onto the dove and killed it with a swift bite to the neck. I carried it away, burying it and stalking toward another smell.

A mouse was scrambling away from Squirreltail and I jumped at it just as she got caught in a thorn bush. I killed it and set it down. "Thanks!" She mumbled, untangling her red fur from the thorns.

I dipped my head and padded away.

*****

Throughout the morning, Viperslash, Squirreltail and I had lost more than we caught. The dense woods were harder than I thought to get through, especially when the prey would take off. Though we did catch an even amount.

I carried a rabbit, mouse and the dove while Squirreltail carried two mice and a vole. Vipeslash managed to catch a snake, a mouse and two pigeons. The thorn remained in my pad so I had to limp my way toward the den. I ducked into the den first and we were greeted by shocked faces.

"You three took all morning! Where were you?" Leopardstar hissed and I shrugged her off. Lilypatch sniffed the two warriors and I set down the prey. Viperslash and Squirreltail did the same.

"We kept getting tangled by thorns." Viperslash growled and Squirreltail nodded, shaking out her knotted fur. I could've sworn a thorn went flying as she did so. Redfur and Poppyheart examined Squirreltail, picking out the thorns from her thick pelt. I raised my paw for Poppyheart to pick out the thorn after she left Squirreltail to be treated by her brother, Redfur.

Birdfeather wobbled over, worry filling her gaze. I groaned inwardly. "I'm so glad you're alright!" She purred and I rolled my eyes as she nuzzled me. Poppyheart glared at me and I looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"You should eat," Poppyheart whispered to the queen. Birdfeather hesitated and I nodded, sending her off. Poppyheart tried to talk to me, but I spoke before she could.

"Eat up what we have. We may not have this much fresh-kill for a while."