- Jan 15, 2023
- 608
- 168
- 43
It’s good to be back to work, leading her patrol through their duties within the tunnels that lead into ShadowClan’s damp, garbage-swathed territory. The other clan only recently beat WindClan in a fight, took one of Sootstar’s lives, and the patrol can’t risk being caught on the wrong side of the territory line right now. They could all meet their deaths here, and Scorchstreak’s job is to keep such an event from happening.
The patrol has been making their way around in the dark for a while when the scent of the land finally begins to change, when the dirt beneath their paws gives way to the slight squish of damp marshland. They will surely be caked in it when they return, wearing the humid stench of the marsh. But such is the way of the tunneler, forever coated in dirt and smelling strange.
Scorchstreak has already given her customary lecture about covering their scents at each exit to the land above, and warned every cat to stick together. She leads them through the tunnels even though most of them don’t need to be shown the path, and her tail flicks as they reach the first tunnel exit that leads to the surface of ShadowClan’s territory. She prepares to check the exit, wants to ensure that the leafy covering is still intact. But something stops her, leaving the calico frozen in her tracks.
A terrible scraping sound cuts the air, so loud that it echoes through the tunnels. So near. Her ears pin themselves against her head, and Scorchstreak hunkers down to make herself that much smaller, less noticeable. She’s almost afraid to breathe for fear of alerting whatever the source of that noise was to their presence. The scraping noise stops at last after a number of tense heartbeats, but what comes next is even worse. Heavy footsteps, plodding and more massive than any cat could be, practically shake the earth itself as whatever is up there moves around—moving closer to the tunnel entrance. Wide golden eyes shift to look back at her patrol, the most expressive the she-cat has been so far during the patrol. "Stay silent," she warns her clanmates with a low hiss, retreating backward until she’s with the rest of the patrol.
She straightens when she reaches the other cats, taking up a position at Redrumble’s side. When the shuffling of massive steps moves farther away, quieter now, she dares to speak once more. "I don’t know what that was. We’ll finish up this patrol, and we can tell Sootstar about it when we return." With a flick of a dark ear, she calls the other cats to keep moving—slower now, more thoughtful of where she placed each paw. She will move silently, a ghost of the underground. Whatever is up there, it’s nothing that the patrol should mess with. But they cannot abandon their duty simply because it may be dangerous. "Do any of you know what that could have been?"
// @" BUNNYPOUNCE " @cygnetstare @curlewnose @REDRUMBLE @BURNETPAW @cottonpaw they don’t know that the source of the noise is a bear, just that big scary sounds are coming from aboveground!!
The patrol has been making their way around in the dark for a while when the scent of the land finally begins to change, when the dirt beneath their paws gives way to the slight squish of damp marshland. They will surely be caked in it when they return, wearing the humid stench of the marsh. But such is the way of the tunneler, forever coated in dirt and smelling strange.
Scorchstreak has already given her customary lecture about covering their scents at each exit to the land above, and warned every cat to stick together. She leads them through the tunnels even though most of them don’t need to be shown the path, and her tail flicks as they reach the first tunnel exit that leads to the surface of ShadowClan’s territory. She prepares to check the exit, wants to ensure that the leafy covering is still intact. But something stops her, leaving the calico frozen in her tracks.
A terrible scraping sound cuts the air, so loud that it echoes through the tunnels. So near. Her ears pin themselves against her head, and Scorchstreak hunkers down to make herself that much smaller, less noticeable. She’s almost afraid to breathe for fear of alerting whatever the source of that noise was to their presence. The scraping noise stops at last after a number of tense heartbeats, but what comes next is even worse. Heavy footsteps, plodding and more massive than any cat could be, practically shake the earth itself as whatever is up there moves around—moving closer to the tunnel entrance. Wide golden eyes shift to look back at her patrol, the most expressive the she-cat has been so far during the patrol. "Stay silent," she warns her clanmates with a low hiss, retreating backward until she’s with the rest of the patrol.
She straightens when she reaches the other cats, taking up a position at Redrumble’s side. When the shuffling of massive steps moves farther away, quieter now, she dares to speak once more. "I don’t know what that was. We’ll finish up this patrol, and we can tell Sootstar about it when we return." With a flick of a dark ear, she calls the other cats to keep moving—slower now, more thoughtful of where she placed each paw. She will move silently, a ghost of the underground. Whatever is up there, it’s nothing that the patrol should mess with. But they cannot abandon their duty simply because it may be dangerous. "Do any of you know what that could have been?"
// @" BUNNYPOUNCE " @cygnetstare @curlewnose @REDRUMBLE @BURNETPAW @cottonpaw they don’t know that the source of the noise is a bear, just that big scary sounds are coming from aboveground!!
[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]
