The Plague

"The Plague"


Dovepaw sat just outside the ThunderClan camp, listening.  Listening to the sounds of ShadowClan fighting amongst themselves.

Six cats had already succumbed to the Disease.  Three healthy cats had been killed.  One of them, Blackstar.  With the warriors fighting those with the Plague, including the deputy, Russetfur, no one had stepped in to be the new leader.

Littlecloud was tending to the four cats that had been bitten by the Infected.  They had already started losing patches of fur.  Dovepaw cold hear the medicine cat arguing with his apprentice.

"We can't kill our patients, Flametail!" Littlecloud meowed, shock in his scratchy voice.

"What else are we going to do?" the young tom replied.  "Soon enough, they'll become just like Ratscar and the others."

Littlecloud stared his apprentice in the eyes.  "Like your mother?"

Flametail visibly flinched.  "It doesn't matter that she's my mother," he muttered.  "We can't let them kill innocent cats."

The medicine cat shook his head and shoved a bundle of herbs toward the ginger tom.  "Just give these to Kinkfur.  She needs her strength if she's going to continue nursing."

The apprentice looked at the small tabby incredulously.  "You're suggesting she continue feeding her kits when she's contracting the Disease?!  Are you mad!?"

"She must!" Littlecloud argued.  "They're only a moon old.  They must grow or they'll die."

"If they drink her milk," Flametail yowled, "they'll catch the Plague!"

Dovepaw shook her head.  She couldn't listen to any more of this.  Now Tawnypelt was sick?  That made eleven cats, plus four that were showing signs of turning, and Kinkfur's three kits if they became sick from her milk.

"Dovepaw!"

The apprentice flinched when Jayfeather called her name.  She slowly crept into the camp, her eyes darting to the trees around her.  Any of the ten Infected cats of ThunderClan could be lurking in the underbrush, waiting for her to drop her guard.  Dovepaw had been attacked my Blossomfall and Thornclaw already, but had managed to fight them off with the help of Brambleclaw and Graystripe.

She flinched at the thought of the brave gray warrior.  He had become angry and bitter after Millie contracted the Disease.  And he had to fight off his own kit once she became ill.  His cheery nature had dissolved soon after Blossomfall's eyes became black.

"Jayfeather?" Dovepaw croaked when she entered the camp.  With all the sick and injured cats ThunderClan had, Jayfeather had been forced to make the clearing of the camp his entire medicine cat's den.  The apprentice could see the four healthy cats that weren't patrolling the forest passing out herbs to the bitten cats that lay on the ground.  Birchfall was laying near the warriors' den, gasping for breath as Ivypaw nudged a bundle of leaves toward him.

It pained Dovepaw to see her father struggling against the Disease, while her sister tried so hard to cure him.  She stretched her hearing toward them and listened to their conversation.

"You have to eat something, Birchfall," Ivypaw urged.

The sick tom took a wheezing breath.  "I-I..."  Suddenly, his mew turned hostile.  "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!"  He snapped his jaws at his daughter.

Ivypaw pulled back quickly.

Dovepaw jerked.  He was turning.  He was becoming one of the Infected.  It was too late for him.

"Jayfeather!" the apprentice yowled through the camp as she began racing for the herb storage.  "Jayfeather, Birchfall is-!"  She stopped short just inside the cleft in the rock when she saw Lionblaze speaking with his brother.

The tabby toms looked up as Dovepaw skidded to a halt.  Lionblaze's amber eyes were sad.  "He's turned, hasn't he?" he mewed mournfully.

With great regret, the apprentice nodded her head.  "He snapped at Ivypaw," she admitted.  "He's hostile and...and his eyes are black."  It was true.  She saw it when Birchfall lifted his head to attack his daughter.

The brothers looked at each other.  Although Jayfeather could not see, it seemed as if he could tell that Lionblaze's head had nodded as a silent agreement passed between them.  "Stay here, Dovepaw," Jayfeather commanded the apprentice as the toms began to make their way toward the certain of lichen over the medicine den's entrance.

"Why?" Dovepaw squeaked, attempting to follow them.  "What are you going to do?"

Lionblaze brushed his tail across her mouth, halting her.  His eyes were regretful.  "Just...stay."

She stayed.

A moment later, Ivypaw was shoved into the den, her indigo eyes full of terror.  "Dovepaw, what's going on?" she asked her sister.

"Shh."  Dovepaw closed her eyes and concentrated on the camp just outside.  She could hear her father hissing at Jayfeather and Lionblaze.  Lionblaze was slowly creeping around the sick tom as Jayfeather held his attention by mewing calmly at him.  Moments later, there was a sickening sound of claws tearing through flesh as Lionblaze attacked Birchfall.  The Infected tom fell to the ground with a thump and didn't move any more.

Dovepaw shook her head with agony, her head drooping.  "He's gone," she whispered.

"What?" Ivypaw cried in disbelief.  "Who is?  Our father?"

The other apprentice just nodded numbly and looked up at her sister.  "It was too late to save him anyway," she mewed softly, touching the tip of her pale tail to her sister's shoulder.  "He would have come after us or Whitewing first anyway.  It's what the Infected always...do..."  She trailed off as she spotted the the dark fleck on Ivypaw's nose.

No.  It couldn't be.  She was too fast.

But as Dovepaw looked closer she realized it was what she dreaded.  The dark fleck was a cut.  Blood slowly welled on the white tabby's nose and dripped down toward her lip.

Birchfall had bit her.

Ivypaw was Infected.

"Oh no..." Dovepaw mewed quietly as she slowly backed away from her sister.  "Ivypaw... He..."  She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"What is it?"  Ivypaw squinted and tipped her head to the side.  "Dovepaw– What?"

"He...Birchfall got you, didn't he?" she whispered.  "When he snapped at you– He got you."

Ivypaw jerked her head backward, trying to peer at her nose.  She swiped her tongue around her whiskers, smudging the blood across her nose.  Her eyes widened as she tasted the crimson liquid.  "No... No, he couldn't have...." she meowed in disbelief.  "I– I forgot– I nicked my nose on a branch, that's all," she stuttered.  "He-he couldn't have..." she repeated quietly.

Dovepaw swallowed and stepped toward her sister.  "Ivypaw...we have to tell Jayfeather–"

The tabby flinched away from her sister.  "No..." she mewed slowly.  "No... Stay away from me!!" she yowled, her voice cracking in fear, and tore out of the medicine den.

Dovepaw jumped up and ran out of the den.  "Ivypaw!" she shouted, but her sister was already gone.  The apprentice stared off toward the thorn with a mixture of terror, anguish, and determination.  As a cold, leaf-bare wind blew across the camp, Dovepaw decided what she had to do.

She had to find a cure for the Plague.