The Path (A Warrior Cat Story) (Book 2)

Chapter 20: I'll take care of her

I looked at the cat, she said she knew of the name Oister... Said she was friends with her... I looked at her for a few more moments, was she tricking me? I could not be too trusting after the group of rogues that we were with before. This could one of those exact same instances.
Unless there was another cat named Oister, that just so happened to be where Oister was at. Those odds in my head were slim to none, why would she have just randomly disappeared the exact same time this cat said she was with her "friend" Oister.
For a few moments I thought about weighing in the odds, for all I know, there could be 100 other cats on the other side of that fence like that 1 day. I thought of my best odds, and my best chance of getting out of her with Oister alive as well.
"Where is my friend? She does not know you, she has never been here before... If you are trying to trick me it is not working." I said to her. She moved back a little bit, almost as if she was a bit scared, I wanted to feel bad for her, she looked like a Kittypet... But then again, so did the rogues.
There was a such thing as trusting a cat you had never met before too much. The cat did not look to do any harm, much unlike the rogues. I never really know anymore, this could all just be like 1 big trick.
"I'm not trying to trick you... She is just on the other side of the fence. She is eating some of my food, I've got plenty if you want some, you look hungry." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, it was exactly what the rogues had told us when we were struggling to find food.
I looked at her for a few more moments, surely... Starclan would not let this happen again, especially when I was trying to find out where those other cats were... And the kits. I counted all my eggs, and then I looked at the cat and nodded.
Something was telling me that this cat was not like the rogues. I could see it in her eyes, and she was confused as to why I was not trusting her back. I looked at the cat and then nodded, if worst came to worse, and I saw a bunch of cats on the other side of the fence... Then I could just run far away.
This cat could not stop me, she was a much smaller cat, and if she attacked me I would expect it, and she would not stand much of a chance. But then again, the fences were not very steady ground... All it could take, was one push and I could fall into a pit of other cats.
Either way, I had to trust this she cat, I could not just go back to Kettle and Mint, empty handed with no Oister with me. They might think that I failed, and she had passed... Or worse... That I might have killed her. I could go back and get Kettle and try to get him to come and help me as well.
"Are you sure? There is not a huge group of rogues on the other side of that fence? They aren't just waiting to catch us and try to teach us their ways?" I said to her. She looked at me a bit confused for a few more moments, it was a lot to take in and I could not blame her.
The look on her face told me that it was going to be okay, she seemed to have no clue as to what I was talking about at all, or why I might even be thinking anything of that matter. She then looked at me with a weird grin, and then began laughing at the same time.
"No... I live on my own, I have twolegs that feed me a lot. But I live in an abonded house, like the rest of these houses that are beside us. If anything, you guys look like the rogues... I think I should be the one worried, not you..." She said to me. I looked at the cat for a few more moments, still not willing to be to trusting.
She could just be tricking me, I looked at the ground. I had to find the kits by sunrise tonight, or it would be too late for them, if I didn't then all of this that we had done to get here, might as well be for nothing... I looked up at the she cat and then I nodded to her.
"I'm sorry... We came from a long ways away, we were attacked by a group of rogues, that looked just like you... Well, not really attacked, they just tried to take us into a group that we did not want to be with, and then they attacked us when we tried to leave." I said to her. She looked at me a bit surprised for a few moments.
I did not blame her, she was probably wondering, how it could even be possible that something like that were to happen. She then looked at the fence below her and then she hopped down from it and I lost sight of her.
After a few moments, I thought that it was going to be okay at first. But then, as she was gone longer and longer, I could not help but think back on what had happened with the rogues those nights once again, and I shivered, this cat did not seem to be evil like them, but you never know.
Evil can easily trick the good. I looked at the fence, waiting for a group of cats to hop up on it and run after me, but I heard 2 cats hop up, and then I saw both of them land on top of it, I recognized one as the cat that I had just been talking to, not too long ago. And the other cat was Oister.
I thankfully nodded, we were safe, maybe it was kind of stupid for me to think of the rogues. Surely Starclan would not stop me in my tracks when I needed to be somewhere as soon as possible. Oister was smiling at ne, U smiled back at her.
"Thank you, for keeping my friend safe, what is your name?" I asked the cat. She looked at me, nodding at me and smiling just like Oister was. She then responded to my question after a few more moments.
"I am summer, my parents named me that before they died... To coyotes, and now I stay safe in this twoleg place." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, a bit surprised at the same time. She was saying that she had lived out in the wild at one point?
There was no way she was old enough to be a part of the clans, she did not look much younger than Oister. No more than 40 moons of life span, but maybe her parents might have had some ties to the clans. I could see that she still had her claws as well, much unlike Tristan.
"Were your parents a part of the clans?" I asked the cat. She looked at me for a few moments, and then her face turned to a lot of confusion, so it clearly told me that she had never heard of them. "Sorry, let's go ahead and get over the other side, I am hungry."
The cat looked at me, still a bit confused at what I was talking about, but I could tell that she was also a bit curious at the same time. Either way, I was starving at this point, and I really wanted to get something to eat before I went to go look for the other cats.
Even if it was dry food, I would have to deal with it. Oister seemed to be okay with it, maybe the dry food was not as bad as many of the others, I had different types of dry food as the exact same time. Maybe it was not, maybe it was something completely different.
She had said that she was not a kittypet, but also at the exact same time, she said that she was being fed by twolegs. I did not really care at this point, any food was better than no food. I looked at the cat nodded to me, and her and Oister hopped down, Oister had a big smile on her face, I could tell she liked this cat.
I was still not all that sure about her, if she was meant to be anything to us, surely she would have come into one of my dreams right? All the other cats were? Why not her? I shook my head anyways and hopped to the top of the fence.
I looked over into the yard, this the place that I was looking at look fairly bad, but it was better than the place that me and Oister had stayed at last night. The fence was easy to get over, it was not as big as the actual fence was to the twoleg place.
I saw Oister eating into something, I could not tell what it was. It did not look like dry food at all. I hopped down from the fence and began heading over to her. I would eat it no matter what, I was starving at this point.
I thought about Kettle and Mint, I knew that Mint could not hunt right now, but I also knew that Kettle would take care of her. A lot better than I was taking care of his mate at least. I was lucky that I had not lost her. I did not even think of there potentially being other cats watching us in this twoleg nest.
I looked over and saw it was wet food, and there were about 4 other bowls full of them sprinkled all around the yard as well. It sure seemed like this young cat was living like a Kittypet if you asked me... I mean, her fur was not fluffed up at all, she even looked like one.
I remembered the taste of wet food, I loved it so much when I was younger. Back when I used to have twolegs as my owners as well. I was not sure how it would taste now that I had eaten actual prey. It looked like Oister was enjoying it, so surely it could not be too bad right?
"Where did you get all of this from?" I asked Summer. She looked at me for a few moments before nodding as she finished a quick little bite of her wet food as well, she nodded over to me to go eat some just like the other 2 were doing right now.
I nodded back to her and went to one of the bowls, I began eating into it. I could not feel the taste for a few moments, but then it began to settle in. It actually did not taste half bad at all, it was nothing like prey to me. But it still was not too bad.
I began finishing off the rest of what was left on the plate, almost wanting even just a little bit more. But I did not want to be too greedy, we were lucky enough that this cat was taking us in and feeding us. It sure would save me a lot of time to find the cats.
Speaking of those cats, we had to get out of here as soon as possible, I had put the medicine somewhere down in the other yard. I was just about to head over and get it when I suddenly began to hear Summer's voice and I turned around to catch what it was that she was trying to say to me.
"Your mate looks sick, seems like she has white cough... You might want to take her to a two leg place so that they can save her... White cough is really dangerous." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I then nodded to her.
I remember hearing the word from one of my dreams. I was not sure what it was that I needed to save them with though. It was such a foggy time in my past, I was not even sure if Jayfeather had told me in the first place. I just remember him teaching me the basics.
I heard Oister snort and then she began laughing her tail off, I turned over to her. She had a big smile on her face, and it was good to see from her. Life had been a fair bit tuff on her lately. I smiled back at her, happy to see that she was in good spirits once again.
"This cat isn't my mate! We are very good friends however, my mate is somewhere out there... We are trying to find the cure of said white cough, do you know what it is?" She said to Summer, Summer looked over at me and her a little bit embarassed and then she began laughing as well.
"I'm sorry, it just seemed like you 2 were, the way you looked at each other and talked to each other. But no... I am not too sure if there is a cure, I have only heard of it." She said to us. I looked at her a fair bit disappointed but I nodded to her, understanding... For a few moments I thought there was going to be some hope, but it disappeared down the drain like that.
As I was staring at the ground a bit sadly for a few moments, I remembered the question that I was about to ask Summer earlier, it had just completely managed to slip off my mind. I then looked up and nodded to Summer to get her attention over to me, as she was staring at Oister a little bit worried.
"Summer... Where did you get all of this from if you are not a kittypet?" I asked her. She looked at me for a few moments, and then she looked at the ground, with an almost look of embarrassment on her face at the same instance.
She then looked over to me, the embarassed look on her face was still there. But she talked to me as best as she could, and I nodded to her happy that she was clearly a strong willed cat, hopefully she would join my clan. I shook my head once again, trying not to think those thoughts.
"Twolegs bring them to me, I live here with one of my friends, but I have not seen him in a while. He said he was going off the check if his parents are still okay... I hope he comes back soon." She said to me. I looked at the expression on her face, I could tell that the cat she was talking about was more than a friend to her.
Her head dipped low to the ground, I went over to her and I nudged up against her to make her feel better. She looked at me and I managed to get a small little smile from off of her face.
"It is going to be okay... Me and Oister are just about to head at and find some cats with their kits... Have you heard anything about them?" I said to her. Hoping agaisnt hope that there may be some chance that she knew about the cats and she could tell me where they were.
Surprisingly she actually looked at me with a bit of an excited look on her face as she nodded. My hopes began to fly up to the sky, maybe we had some sort of chance now! This twoleg place looked so big, I thought there was no possible way that I could find them.
"There were 2 cats and 4 kits that came by here the other day... I don't know where they went, they were a bit scared of me hurting their kits so they headed off." She said to me. I looked at her and nodded, my hopes went down at the same time that she said it to me.
She had said she did not know where they might be, this was going to be so hard... Starclan was supposed to help me and so far they had not, and we were nearly a quarter of the way through the day. I looked up at Summer and I began talking to her.
"Well... I hope we can find it, thank you for your help... We have to go, but if you are interested in something, we will come back and tell you about it... We don't have much time I am afraid..." I said back to her. She looked at me a bit surprised that we were already leaving, but she nodded to me.
She then looked down at the ground, I remembered that I was supposed to go and get the tansy that I had left in the other yard. I began walking over to go get it, but once again I heard Summer speaking distracting my thoughts as I turned around to hear what it was that she was trying to say to me.
"Can I come with you? My friend has been gone for 2 moons, I want to see if he is out there anywhere, I am very worried." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, and then I looked over at Oister as she began stepping up for me.
"I... I... Feel sick, can I just stay with you Summer?" She asked Summer. I looked at Oister a bit surprised at the exact same time. She began coughing, and just like a few days ago, she began spitting out blood once again.
I needed to get that tansy as soon as possible, I saw Oister fall down to the ground. She was not unconscious, but I could tell that she was weak... She was in a lot of pain... I needed to find the cure, I could tell that she did not have much longer... She sounded worse than the kits...
"Summer, you take care of her... I need to go get some tansy." I said to her. She looked over at me, still a bit surprised. She nodded to me, I then began running over to the fence as I hopped straight over, not even bothering to land on the top.
I landed in the other yard, and saw the tansy put down on the other side. I quickly ran over to go pick it up, once I was over there to go get it. I ran back over and then hopped over the fence and landed on the other side. I saw Summer holding herself close to Oister.
I ran over l, crushing up the tansy, and giving over half of it to Oister. Oister looked at me thankful, she looked so tired... She then began eating into it, I looked over at Summer as she began talking to me.
"You go find those cats... I'm not sure why you are looking for them, but I am sure it is for a good reason... I'll take care of her."