THE SURVIVORS || Warriors

Chapter 3 - { Changed }

I can feel my blood running in you.
I can see myself, staring at you.

Darkriver still struggled a little in the movement of her head from the scarring wound on her neck. Sometimes it felt tight and sore, preventing her from turning her head too far around. Ivystripe reassured her that as time moved on it would begin to be less painful and give her more movement, Darkriver only hoped that day would hurry up and come along sooner. The thin tortoiseshell she-cat was at her wits end with the restriction in her movements, it made doing her day to day tasks difficult.

Crouching low, she fixed her gaze on a starling as it shuffled about in the thin layering of snow. Carefully placing one paw after the other, she stalked lightly over the snow, her movements smooth and calculated as she crept ever closer to the dark feathered bird. Pouncing, the she-cat was only in the air for a few moments before she came down on the small beast, her neck twisting to clamp her jaws around it as she caught it mid flight. A sharp pulling pain in her neck made her crash down into the snow, landing without the regal grace she normally seemed to hold herself with.

The she-cat hissed as Roanstorm bounded forward from behind the bracken where he had been crouching to tend to her. She was back on her paws in a matter of moments, her thin pelt spiked along her spine as her tail lashed with frustration.

"You still caught it." Roanstorm mewed in a simple tone, his tail swaying back and forth as his emerald eyes reflecting the pale sunlight.

Darkriver looked down at the limp bird, spats of scarlet blood lay across the snow. Shaking the icy flakes from her pelt and whiskers, the ill-tempered tortoiseshell feline gingerly picked up the small creature with no reply to the tabby tom who accompanied her. Taking her catch to the base of a birch tree, she scraped away some of the snow and earth before burying her kill so that it could be collected later on.

"Rough sleep?" The brown and white tabby asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

The dark tortoiseshell she-cat turned back to face the tom, her pale yellow green eyes locking with his evergreen gaze. She grunted, flicking one of her pointed ears as she gave a sharp exhale through her nose. "A bit. I just don't like the cold."

"Perhaps you should move your nest next to mine then." Roanstorm purred with an awfully charming grin, a well humored look in his gaze.

Darkriver raised a brow, holding his gaze before sighing and rolling her eyes. Turning back around, the skinny she-cat waded through the deepening snow, shivering slightly. Roanstorm bounded forward, keeping pace beside her as the two felines bade their way through StormClan territory. Their hunting expedition could be going better. Suppose Darkriver had been in a better mood she'd be more inclined to work more collaboratively with the tom who still seemed to tread on her toes and get on her nerves no matter what he did.

"Hey, Darkriver?" Roanstorm mewed, looking at the shorter feline from the corner of his eye.

"What?" She replied in a largely disinterested tone, a frown creasing her facial features as her sharp eyes raked over the thin forest around them.

"Why couldn't the Leopard play hide and seek?" Roanstorm mewed with a small smile creeping at the corners of his mouth.

"No." Darkriver replied in an unamused tone.

"Because he was always spotted." Roanstorm purred with amusement to himself.

The dark tortoiseshell she-cat groaned as she flattened her ears against her head. "Aren't you clever." She rumbled in a sarcastic tone as she paused and scented the air.