Beast of the Sea - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

I sprinted towards the thorn tunnel, eyes narrowed to slits. Behind me, I could hear the rapid breathing of the rest of the Sea Wolves, hot on my tail. I swerved to the left, then darted into the dark tunnel which would lead me straight into the heart of OceanClan camp.

I heard the steady pounding of paws behind me, but kept all my attention focussed on where I was going. Within another few bounds, I broke free of the barrier, and found myself in the middle of camp. Instantly, the scent of dozens upon dozens of cats bombarded my senses.

I scarcely took a heartbeat to analyse what was ahead of me. The camp was teeming with cats, far more than I had ever seen in my entire life. As I halted, all the cats turned to stare at me with wide eyes. Dewstar was nowhere in sight. For several moments, we stared at each other, then, without warning, Applespot yowled.

"GET THEM!"

I braced my muscles to spring into the air, narrowing my eyes on the ginger she-cat. The time for silence and peace was over. The quiet night air was broken by a screech which I myself emitted.

I leaped towards Applespot, and in that exact moment, the former ShoreClan camp, a place of so many tranquil wanderings, became a bloody battlefield, as cats sprang forward, aiming for one another's throats.

Calculated and controlled. I exhaled in midair, not letting the fury penetrate my calm mind. I narrowly delivering a fatal blow to Applespot. The dark ginger she-cat swerved at the very last heartbeat, and, with a smirk, disappeared into the hissing mass of cats.

The world seemed to slow around me as I struck out at the enemy cats. My mind began to move into the steady routine of dodging, striking, defending, attacking, and then dodging again. Full of energy and vigour, I felt the desire to strike out viciously into the throats of all my enemies, but tried to restrain myself, not wanting to sink to Dewstar's level.

I soon found myself nose-to-nose with a small dark grey and white tom. His eyes were wild with terror, yet he managed to land a powerful blow on my side. I let out a screech of fury, which seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then, I realised that it was because yowls of agony were sounding all around me.

As I sliced open my enemy's ear, I felt my own blood, warm and wet trickle down my side. It fell to the ground, mingling with the kicked up sand and blood of countless other fighters. The pulse of my heart ringing in my ears, I leaped on the smaller tom, bowling him to the ground.

"Sharkpaw!" A she-cat somewhere close to me yelped in terror, her voice soon being drowned away by the barrage of snarls and curses and screeches.

I dug my claws into the dark grey tom's chest, feeling his blood begin to seep out around my claws. He squirmed and thrashed, managing to slash at my tail with his back leg. Then, a weight bowled into me. I tumbled to the ground, and felt a cat pinning me.

Am I about to-I barely had time to register what was going on when I realised that the she-cat was one of the Sea Wolves; Morningpaw. With a sudden flash of memory, I recognized the tom as her littermate, Sharkpaw.

"DON'T KILL HIM!" Morningpaw had to scream to be heard above the ear-splitting battle cries.

Suddenly, two massive cats, locked in combat, came rolling towards us. I hooked my claws into Morningpaw's pelt, swinging the two of us away just before we could be mauled by the massive shapes.

"Hey!" Morningpaw began angrily, only to notice that the sandy earth where we had just been laying was now taken over by the two massive toms.

I recognised the snaggle-toothed brown tabby as Fang.