Sandstar's Journey (COMPLETED)

Chapter Ten

Sandstar paced back and forth, standing on the scene where Dart had been taken. 

What would she do now? 

Was Dart even still alive? 

She wondered, continuing to pace even as questionable twolegs wandered past. 

She had to go find Dart.

Without Dart, how would she get back home to stop Raintail? Thunderclan was in danger, and she needed to get back, fast. 

Sandstar padded over to the sausage cart, and plopped down on the rocky pavement to think. She laid her torn pads out in front of her, and started to think up ideas. What would the clan do? Oh, right, they would panic. Sandstar sighed heavily and shut her eyes, and suddenly she drifted into a deep sleep. 

A shadowy cat stood over her, and she blinked open her eyes in surprise. The cat circled the confused Sandstar, and behind the cat, she saw a sickened Raintail. Soon, more cats started to appear, she saw Shadowfang coughing up blood, and she saw fire. 

Lots and lots of fire. 

It surrounded the sickly cats, as they yelped in terror, she watched Oakleaf horror-stricken as she huddled dead kits close to her. Cats were screaming, pieces of matted fur and dark, velvet blood stained the wet grass. The shadowy cat then spoke. 

"Sandstar, you must return home to Thunderclan before the next gathering, or Thunderclan will fall underneath the wrath of a terrible sickness." The shadowy cat spoke gently, but strongly. She circled the image of Raintail, blood soaked and terrified. 

"Raintail has already learned her mistake." The shadow cat spoke in snarling mews. The shadow cat sat down and curled her tail around her paws, and her eyes stared soulfully into Sandstar's. "Sandstar, you are the only hope of saving Thunderclan from the terrible wrath Raintail has brought down on it. You must return, or Thunderclan will topple like a tree after a thunderstorm." The shadow cat said, smoothly, but terror flashed in her gaze. Sandstar didn't know what to say, so she nodded. 

"Go now, you must retrieve Dart, and you must come back before the moon is full! Or Thunderclan will fall apart through blood and loss!" The shadow cat yowled. Before disappearing into the darkness. 

Sandstar woke with a start. 

She was not under the sausage cart, where was she? The room she was in was full of the desperate mews of unknown cats. "Sandstar!" Dart yelled. Dart was here?! 

"Where are we?" Sandstar yelled back, through the blaze of cats yowling. 

"We are in what the humans call a 'shelter!'" Dart yowled back. Sandstar tried to run up to him, but she crashed into something. It was some sort of grey vines, and they were hard. "What is this stuff?" Sandstar mewed back at Dart, her meows full of anger and frustration. "It's some sort of wire that the humans use to trap us in!" Dart replied. 

"Well, how do we get out of here?" Sandstar asked. "The only way is to be adopted by a human, then we escape." Dart explained. Dart turned to the wall and curled up to sleep. Sandstar did the same.

But she couldn't sleep, not through the blaze of mews of the other cats. Clawing and pawing at the wires of the chambers. Sandstar shut her eyes hard, and pressed her ears to her head, trying to block out the sound. She curled into a tight ball in the corner of the chamber, and tried her best to fall asleep. 

She couldn't. 

So she spent her time staring into the rocky walls, where ledges jutted out, leading to a small vent just the size for her to fit through, she tried jumping up on the jutting ledges, even as the ledges jabbed at her vulnerable belly, she continued grasping the ledges as blood started to trickle down from her underbelly. 

She nearly made it up, except one of her claws slipped on the wall, and she slammed into the side, causing a large yelp of pain to emerge from her body. She kept trying to unlatch her claws as she slammed over and over into the jutting side rocks, when she had finally managed it, she smashed down onto the ground where she heard the sounds of cracking, she managed to take in a few breaths, as she lifted herself off the ground. 

Her underbelly had been ripped on the sharp edges of the rocks, and large gashes crisscrossed over.  

She was still determined, so she hooked her claws on the rocks again and began pulling herself up, she began to push herself up the side, as her face hit one of the sharp edges. She let out a yelp as blood trickled down from a tiny gash in her cheek. She pulled herself up to the vent and bit by bit, was able to open a tiny space to put her head through, she began using her hind legs to push herself through until she felt a tug on her leg. 

She tried turning her head to see, but as she tried something was latched under her neck, not allowing her to breath, she pushed herself out of the vent, and landed on the cage's ground, then she was able to lift her head to see...  

A twoleg! 

The twoleg grabbed her by her scruff and pulled her to a door, they opened it and set her on a ledge, she looked down to see the floor was too far of a jump, she let out a yelp as a needle was pushed into her, she fell over, as her eyes darted around nervously as she scanned her surroundings. 

Soon, her vision started to become blurrier and blurrier, and she saw a large needle being poked into her underside. Her breathing was getting shallow, and her vision darker.

Was she going to die here?