Venom's P.O.V.

After a while of training, I sent a patrol out to hunt. Soot, Slash and Adder agreed to go see what was to hunt by WindClan's border while Kink, Brindle and Fawn went out to twolegplace to scavenge and hunt for rats. I've heard of rats and how they aren't very tasty but good in the winter.

Dusk was setting in and the wind was getting even cooler then it had been through out the day. I shivered and fluffed out my fur. Midnight seemed a bit more cozier then me because of his long fur; I envied him greatly at that moment. Narrowing my eyes at him for a few heartbeats, I decided to take my mind off of his warm pelt and check out Mini and how she's doing. I padded up the trail and into the nursery. They six kits were feeding. Mini was half asleep but jolted awake at my presence. "How are they?" I whispered. "They're feisty but they're settling well." she replied in a soft tone. I nodded slowly and eyed the golden one, Sunshine. She seemed to be the boss of the three, pushing Raven, the black small one, away and the tougher, more built black one, to the side to get a better place. Mini's three kits must've gotten first share because they were asleep.

"I'll go grab one of the hawks for you," I meowed, my voice echoing. "No, I'm fine. I had a half of one already. Whip had brung one into me a while ago and I filled up on it," she replied softly. Her eyes were half closed and I dipped my head. "Tell me if you need anything." she nodded and I left.

The snow was still coming down in huge clumps, piling and piling. I had to practically hop around to get through the camp. I dug up the fresh-kill pile and revealed a rabbit, one of the hawks and a scrawny sparrow. I decided to leave them for the apprentices and Shadow - who was recovering well now.

I shook out my pelt and hopped through the snow, heading to the edge of camp where the hole was to go to the river. The snow here was piling up as well, covering the hole. I shook out my paws and started digging. Not even half way into it my paws were freezing. I pushed on until I could stick my head through, squeezing my body through and kicking the rest down. The dew had frozen over night and made it icy. Hopefully the snow would stop soon. I shivered and hopped over to the river.

It was covered in snow, meaning it had a sheet of ice under it. 'Easier for Jagged Rocks to invade...' I padded closer to the river and slammed my paw onto the river. My paw went through at least a tail-length of snow before shattering the ice below. The snow barely fell as I created the hole in the ice. I smashed the ice a few more times until I got to the edge of the mountain. The snow would fill in my paw prints.

The ice would be thick enough soon for cats to come across so I shattered it down the rest of the way until I came to the small waterfall that came from the Gathering Pool. I looked around; I could see barely ahead of me. The storm wasn't dying down anytime soon.

Sighing, I watched my breath cloud in front of me. Surprisingly I saw it through the weather. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see in Jagged Rocks's territory but the storm wouldn't let me see across the icy river.

My body trembled in the storm, I was visibly shivering in the cold blizzard. I turned and hopped through the snow over to the hole I had recently dug. Already there was snow piling up in the hole.

I dug a hole further down so the snow wouldn't close the hole as quickly as it would. I stalked through the hole and shook out my pelt again, the snow was seeping through my pelt and onto my skin.

I hopped through the snow and to the center of the clearing. I wasn't sure what I should do. With the sun going down, the air was freezing my whiskers off. I wanted to cuddle up with Sunny and my three kits and fall asleep in my cave but I knew that would never happen again. She was gone, and I had to get over it.

Taking a deep breath, I headed out of camp. I bolted up the trail to the Gathering Pool, warming up my muscles. I slowed down to a stop when the big pool of frozen water came to sight. Icicles hung from above where the roof had dripped with frozen water days ago, the snow was hard and crunchy, few paw prints were scattered around. I tasted the air, a whiff of a crow washed over me and my eyes narrowed to slits. A grin crossed one side of my face. Unsheathing my claws, I looked around.

Even in the storm, the black bird stuck out. My eyes widened and my heard skipped a beat. 'Not just one, but two! Three!' I stalked forward, sinking low to the ground, letting the flakes of snow touch my warm, rumbling belly. I crept forward and the smell of death hit me like a rock. I tried not to gasp as a black and white figure came into my field of view. I shook my head and focused on the three black birds that were feasting on something. 'Probably a stoat.' I thought to myself, wiggling my haunches in preparation to leap.

The crows kept eating the mysterious figure and when they all ha their heads down, I leaped for the one closest. I jumped on it and snapped it's neck in one quick motion, kicking off the ground again and fishing another out of the sky. I brung it down and killed it with a quick, snake-like bite to the neck. The last one called in alarm as it flew off, its black body going out of sight.

The smell of death was filling my mouth from where I stood. I looked behind me and my ears went flat. The black and white figure that I thought was a stoat, was Mystery. His curled ears ripped and crusted with frosted blood, his black and white coat stained with dark red patches and blood was pooled around his body. His neck was torn, stomach ripped open so his guts hung out, tail was snipped to nothing and legs slashed from toe to shoulder. "Who... who could've done this to you?" I whispered, my eyes narrowed and my head shaking in disbelief. My heart thumped so hard and my mind was whirling with possibilities of who or what could've done this.

The paw prints that had been around were only mine and the three crow's, no sign of anyone elses. My searched for clues in the air, no scent saying Jagged Rocks or WindClan. I panicked, bolting with the two crows dangling from my jaws. I haven't seen such a gruesome scene sense Killer was alive. And even what he'd done hadn't been like that!

I burst back into camp and dropped off the two crows, looking around the camp for someone. Fox, Thorn and Lily were feasting on the rest of the hawk Mini had and Bella and Blossom were eating a sparrow. I headed to where Thorn sat. The three looked up at me in confusion, my emotions must be showing up on my face. "Thorn, Lily, Mystery is gone." I gulped.

This was the first time I'd actually cared about someone's death that hadn't been Tricki's or any of my family's. 'Whats going on with me? Get it together! I can't be emotional!' I ordered myself. Lily and Thorn looked taken back, confusion and rage in Thorn's gaze and surprise and fear in Lily's. "Your joking right? Because if your joking it isn't funny, Venom." Thorn demanded, standing up and unsheathing his claws. Thorn had never spoken or acted like that that I had seen, so I was quite surprised. I was kind of glad this wasn't a joke. I could feel everyone's eyes locked on me. I shook my head, my gaze going hard and serious. "I went to the Gathering Pool to check it out and I found Mystery dead. Come with me," I explained, padding out of camp without another word.

I heard their paw steps in rhythm behind me as I climbed the steep trail to the Gathering Pool. I slowly trekked through the snow and to where Mystery's body laid, untouched and with snow just starting to cover his battered and beaten body.

Lily gasped behind me and Thorn stepped back. His ears went flat to his skull. "What happened to him? Who would've done this to him? He did nothing wrong, he didn't have deserved this! What will Mini think? How will she raise her kits alone?" Thorn's mouth rambled and rambled out questions I couldn't answer. I felt symphony for the two cats who used to be happy in their farm.

"If we hadn't of agreed to come here, we would be sheltered and warm, fed with mice still and a big, happy family! None of this would've happened! No thanks to this stupid Tribe, now my brother is dead and I give the award of fault to you and your deputy." Thorn spat, fur on end. I prepared for whatever he was about to say. I knew it was out of grief. "We were strangers and you let us in! Come on, were you that desperate? Is it because of my scarred face? You think I was tough because of my features? Well thanks to your desperate Tribe, we lost our brother. And now, I hope you loose your three puny kits who don't deserve this life. They would've died if Mini hadn't of had Mystery's kits! You didn't even thank Mystery and I and all of our kin for coming here! Without us, your three kits would've been dead by now." I wasn't sure he was making sense anymore. But I let him keep going. "So, no thanks to your suggestions and 'shelter and protection', we've lost another kin. I knew this was a bad idea when you asked!" His voice was raised so loud, I was worried the snow above was going to cause a snow-drift.

I nodded and said nothing. I tried to stay calm as he rambled loudly, his fur spiked along his spine and his claws unsheathed. Lily's face was looking worried too, her tail whipping. Lily being Lily, her voice was too low to stop Thorn from his loud mouth. I was beginning to start being very, very irritated.

"I know your mad but it isn't entirely our fault!" I interrupted him, my voice just as loud as him. "You said you wanted to and we let you in! You didn't seem to care when we asked and you shouldn't care now! Mystery died of an unknown cause and it has nothing to do with my Tribe! If your going to hold a grudge on my Tribe because of something we didn't do, then feel free to leave!" Thorn breathed out and shook out his fur, looking away.

The ground rumbled and I looked up. "Snow-drift!" I yowled, and I dashed away. I was being slowed down by the soft snow. It was making it almost impossible to make my way through it! Looking over my shoulder, I caught a glimpse of Thorn and Lily hopping over to me through the snow, large clumps of snow, bigger then me and Thorn combined, raining down behind him. Mystery was being drug behind Thorn. I knew he was going to be buried within heartbeats if I didn't grab him.

The snow started pelting down closer to them and I stopped just at the edge of the trail. I ran at Thorn and jerked him toward me, grabbing his scruff. Mystery's torn up body went flying down to the bottom of the trail while Thorn rolled down. I pushed Lily down and she rolled a bit, too, until she caught herself.

I gasped and looked behind me, the snow was right there. I wanted to run to safety but my muscles wouldn't move, I was frozen to the cold ground. I watched as the white, sparkly snow pelted down onto me and all I did was blink.

And in that small heartbeat, the snow covered my scrawny body and everything went dark.

I tried to gasp for air but I was covered in a cold cloud of snow. I couldn't move at all, my body felt like millions of hard, cold clouds were burying me. 'I'm being buried alive!' I frantically moved my eyes but all I could see was black. I pushed up but all I was doing was losing oxygen. My body was being crushed, no air was coming in and I was trying to calm down. "Help! Help! Someone, help!" I called, but I could barely move my mouth. It was half frozen, have crushed. My mind whirled and I fought to stay awake. Someone had to of heard me.

I heard digging a bit away and more and more paws started making noise just tail-lengths away. "Over he-" snow filled my mouth and the air in this tight place was gone. I tried to breath in but snow filled my mouth and my instincts kicked in.

I made an awful sound and I used every last bit of energy into trying to kick free, but the weight of the snow was keeping me from breaking free. I looked around and I felt my head getting lighter and lighter and all of a sudden, my mind went blank and dark. Not dark like the snow around me had made, but an eery black where the silence ached my ears and I felt like I was asleep.

I had fainted.

*****

Thorn's P.O.V.

I felt my body being cut open and bruised from the rocks under the tail-lengths of snow. I rolled down the trail and saw the cloud filled sky and then dark then cloud filled sky then dark. I crashed into something extremely hard and felt other things fall over top of me. My nose was instantly filled with the faint stench of death and rotting meat. I opened my eyes and saw that skulls were burying me. I gasped and burst out of the pile. Shaking out my fur, I gaged. The thought of other cats skulls sitting on me was horrific. The rumbling stopped and I looked at my surroundings. Shocked faces, the nursery opening covered by tons of snow, Lily laying on the ground trying to stand, Mystery's disgusting body laid beside Lily with guts hanging out and a blood trail following to where he was and no Venom. 'Had he actually saved me?' I wondered, looking around. No sign that he got out.

A muffled cry broke out in the utter silence. It sounded like, "Help! Help, someone help!" but I wasn't to sure because is sounded like feathers and moss were stuffed in its mouth. I broke free of the skulls and took a mad dash toward the voice. I had no idea where Venom was buried but all I could do was hope for the best.

Lily, Bella, Blossom and Fox rushed over an started digging in random places. 'Come on Venom... Yell again...' I begged silently, but no such luck. Then, a call came from a few whiskers away, but it was cut off short like someone had shut his muzzle to keep him quiet. Fox and Bella rushed over to two different spots close to the voice and I went beside them. Blossom was already almost underground, her tail waving just in sight.

My paws were starting to numb with the cold snow. The snows surface would be getting crusted more and more and soon it would hurt even more to dig. I could barely feel my paws by the time Soot, Adder and Slash padded in with a dove and a mouse. Their eyes widened to the size of an owls when they saw the amount of snow in the camp. "Soot! Slash! Help dug out the nursery! Adder, drop the prey and help find Venom!" I ordered and just then Kink, Fawn and Brindle padded in, also stopping in shock at the entrance. Fawn held a rat and Kink as well.

They were wordless as well. "Fawn, help Soot and Slash dig out the nursery, Brindle, Kink we need you two to help dig out Venom. I'll explain later!" I ordered them. Without a word, they obeyed. Midnight rushed over and Leaf as well. Shadow tried to come out to help but Strike pulled him back in. The storm wasn't helping at all with this situation. The snow kept piling up our holes we made, making it harder and harder for us to find Venom. He'd suffocate if we didn't hurry. Just then, in the dim light I saw Soot drag a limp black body out of a hole. I ran over to help and everyone else did too. Leaf took him and Midnight and Lily rushed by her side.

"Now, explain what happened to Mystery." Fox demanded, his voice accusing. I rolled my eyes. My face was beginning to become colder and colder as the wind blew in my face; and since I have one side of my fur torn off and scarred, it's hard to keep my face warm. "Venom went out to hunt and check out the Gathering Pool and he found Mystery dead, no trace of the killer," I meowed, it felt strange for those words to roll off my tongue. "Oh?" Fox prompted, stepping closer. "And it never occurred to you that maybe Venom was the killer? Oh, he found no trace of the killer and he was alone when he found him? How are you not suspicious?" I searched for something to say. Fox was right, he had a great point. "Venom would never do that to Mystery. How could you just criticize your leader like that, Fox?" Blossom growled, her eyes narrowed. "Maybe it was you, Fox. You've hated all of us so I wouldn't be surprised to find out it was you." Kink rasped, her greeting muzzle was curled in a snarl.

"Alright everyone, calm down. No one knows for sure who or why did this. It could've been a hawk for all we know. We cannot just turn on each other. A battle is coming up and we can't go on WindClan's side and abandon The Tribe of Rotting Skulls," Soot fretted, stepping from his job while Blossom and Bella rushed over to take his place. Fox glared at him, his fur raising in hatred. "Who says we'll abandon our Tribe because of what Venom could've done." Something in his eyes were telling me he knew something none of us knew. I narrowed my eyes to slits but said nothing. "Settle down and stop acting like kits, will you? This is non-sense. Criticizing your own Tribe mates? What's next? The whole Tribe dies? It was only Mystery and we will grieve deeply for him but life will go on. I understand, Fox, your point but Venom is our leader and he had no grudge against him for all we know. You cannot just say something like that, for he is your leader. Soot, you as well. No one will be leaving the Tribe hopefully and I'm pretty sure it won't be because of this event," Shadow meowed, padding forward from the medicine den. "Settle down and grieve for Mystery, not fight over who did it. This is your home and your Tribe mates your speaking to. Not WindClan flea-bags," "What a wise cat... Why wasn't he made deputy?" I whispered to Slash. He looked at me and sighed, "Well his mate Blizzard had drown in the river and he had gone crazy. He was the deputy but his mental state was bad and he was forced to go back to being a warrior," he replied. I nodded. I'd probably do the same if Lily died, especially in such a tragic way like drowning in a river, never to be found again.

Shadow had disappeared by the time I looked back up. The sun was almost gone now and I could barely see in front of me. "I'll bury Mystery tomorrow," I yawned. I rushed over to the nursery entrance and helped dig even though I could barely feel my paws.

Finally, just as the sun was completely down, we broke through. Mini was huddled at the wall with her kits close to her. "The snow above the nursery is a danger, we need to move you and your kits." I meowed. "I know it isn't my place to say but I know it's the best for you and your kits," Mini nodded and grabbed Sorrel while I grabbed Ash, Bella took Froya, Blossom took Sunshine and Crow and Fawn took Raven.

Taking them to the apprentices den, we set the kits down gently into a nest. Mini sighed and sat beside the nest. Slash padded in, squeezing through the crowd of cats in the den. "You could take someone of my nest to expand your nest so you can sleep with your kits." Slash offered, grabbing his moss den and patting it down in Mini's new den. She dipped her head, "Thank you," Slash nodded once and left. "Where will he sleep now?" Mini fretted as he left. "He'll probably steal his brothers," Bella purred, her whiskers twitching in amusement.

Mini didn't reply, she just settled in the nest with her kits, letting them feed. Feeling awkward, I left the tight space and hopped through the snow and over to the medicine den. Leaf was rummaging though the herbs, her fur raised and eyes wide. "Need any help, Leaf?" Strike mewed softly. I looked over to where Shadow was sleeping peacefully and where Venom was laying. "Is Venom alright?" I asked softly. Strike looked at me, surprise filling his eyes. "He's fine but Leaf can't get him to awaken. He's breathing again, luckily, but he won't warm up." I sighed and nodded. "Couldn't you just get Shadow to to lay on him or breathe on him?" I suggested, knowing it was stupid from the start.

"Well that would suffocate him and it wouldn't work with us breathing on him." he replied simply, looking away. "We don't have anything to help warm him up. Maybe Sunshine, Raven and Crow could lay at his stomach?" She sneered half to herself. "That would probably freeze the kits to-" Strike started but Leaf silenced him with a hiss, "I know!"

She seems to get stressed easy...

Backing out slowly I decided to keep watch of the mountain while everyone else went to sleep. This was my cause after all. Though it seems odd that a snow-drift would happen over arguing...