Stranded Together

Chapter 1
So tired...

Darkstream walked with the MountainClan cats to the Gathering, her yellow eyes drooped. Her black pelt was matted, and her whiskers were curved. They went through the forest, stars shining above them. They reached the Gathering place, which was a river with a tall rock in the middle. Lower-ranked cats sat by the shore, and leaders sat on the rock. The two other Clans were there, MistClan and StormClan. The MountianClan leader, Eaglestar, a dark brown tom, swam across the river, climbing onto the rock with the other leaders.

Darkstream walked to a bush with some violet plants on it. She walked behind the bush, and lay down. The aroma of the plants was keeping her awake though, the stench hitting her nose. And another stench, too. Blood?

"I'm really tired too." A voice mewed. Darkstream looked up. A gray she-cat with darker gray spots was sitting beside the bush.

"Ach! I'm sorry! This was yours!" Darkstream's yellow eyes were wide as she pointed her tail at the bush.

"No, no, not that," The she-cat rolled her eyes. "I was just saying how tired I am too. But everything keeps me awake, the smell of plants, the cats chattering their brains out, all that stuff. And also," She sniffed the air. "Blood?"

Darkstream looked at her shoulder. She had a bleeding cut. "But there's no cobwebs!" She tried wiping the cut clean.

The she-cat flicked her darker gray tail. "Over there. Another cat!" She whispered in a panic.

A dim-gray cat was standing on a rock, looking at the two cats. "Rainsplash. Darkstream" The cat mewed.

Rainsplash, the gray she-cat, stepped back. "W-what do you want?" Her fur bristled, making the darker spots on her pelt look like fire sparks. She bared her teeth in a snarl.

The gray cat jumped off the rock and stood his place in front of the two cats. He lifted a paw and put it on Darkstream's shoulder. She guessed the cat was holding a cobweb, because the cut was touched by something that felt like it.

"So you cats say you're tired?" He hissed quietly.

"Very." Darkstream yawned.

"Come with me. I can get you away from all of this. You'll be back at camp in no time." The dim gray cat made the two cats stand up, and they followed him through the forest.

"So, who are you anyways?" Darkstream asked.

"My name is Shade," He replied. "I'm a loner."

"Hm..." Rainsplash pricked her ears. "Really?"

Shade nodded. "Here." He pointed at a object with empty space at the front, boxes at the back.

"What is that?" Darkstream asked, staring at it.

"It's a.... uh.... Sleep Enhancer." Shade stuttered.

Rainsplash put a paw in it. The object was at the shore of water.

"Yes. Sleep in it, and when you wake up, the Clan cats will walk by, and you'll be able to come back with them to home." Shade ordered.

Darkstream, more cautious, watched as Rainsplash stepped into the strange object, and curled in one of the boxes. Darkstream followed, getting in another box.

"Yes. Very good." Shade meowed, walking away.

Chapter 2
Dawn rose. Darkstream was still in the box, along with Rainsplash.

"Did.... did we miss the cats?" Rainsplash yawned.

"I don't think so." Darkstream mewed. But she was alarmed when she woke up.

"Oh no.. oh StarClan, no...." They were in a whole different place. In a Twolegplace. But not the Clan's Twolegplace. This one was different. Twolegs walked around, eating their prey, padding the ground, very happy.

"Where are we?" Rainsplash yowled.

".... I don't know."

A cat walked by them, a light brown tabby tom. "Hola!" He mewed.

"Wait!" Darkstream called as the cat was about to leave. The cat had a collar on; he was a kittypet.

The kittypet stared at them.

"Where are we, and how do we get back to the Clans?" Darkstream asked.

"Que?" The kittypet asked.

"He's no use, Darkstream." Rainsplash muttered, nudging her side. "He doesn't understand us."

The kittypet shrugged, walking away into a Twoleg nest.

The scent of food hit Darkstream's nose, as the two cats walked towards a piece of food. Eating it with famished bites, they got up, going back to walking.

"So how will we get out? We need to get back to camp. We're completely lost!" Rainsplash yowled.

"We-" Another noise cut off Darkstream. A dog barking.

"Dog!" She snarled. "Run!"

Rainsplash and Darkstream ran through the Twolegplace, the scent of dog sharp.

"Follow!" Another cat yowled. A calico she-cat ran in front of Rainsplash and Darkstream. "Follow!" She repeated.

It seemed like forever the cats ran.

Finally, they ended on a forest surrounded by water. There were trees, sand, and a large cave. Water was all around it. The calico she-cat nodded. "Stay." She mewed, in an odd accent. With that, she walked away.

"We're supposed to stay here?" Rainsplash asked.

"I guess so." Darkstream replied flatly.

The barking began again. Darkstream's fur bristled, dread clouding her eyes, when she looked around. The dog was ''very small. ''A little gray dog with two fangs sticking out. He was about as tall as a cat.

"THAT was the barking dog?" Rainsplash scoffed. "I thought he'd be bigger."

"Ssh!" Darkstream hissed. "If he stays with us, he can do all kinds of work for us, NOT kill us and we can Clan train him! Maybe he'll get us away from here. The kittypets that speak some other thing don't help."

Rainsplash sighed. "Fiiiine."

"Because at some point..." Darkstream turned to look at the water. "We'll get back to the Clans."

Chapter 3
"What type of prey is here?" Rainsplash asked. She was sitting under a tree as Darkstream brought in prey for their fresh-kill pile.

"Well, I found some squirrels, mice, that stuff. I saw a beaver, too. I might catch one at some point." Darkstream dropped some prey into the pile.

"That dog is good at hunting, too." Rainsplash reported, staring at the prey.

"I can go out and look for some Twoleg food." Darkstream meowed, walking out of their forest.

She padded into Twolegplace, and the smell of food caught her quickly. She looked around, and saw a place where people sat down, eating their prey.

She went to one of the objects, where two Twolegs ate their prey, meat with a sticky liquid on it. Darkstream stared at them, with big yellow eyes. She meowed quietly.

"Lindo!" One Twoleg gushed, breaking off some food for Darkstream.

Score!

She walked off to get food from other Twolegs. She and Rainsplash needed it.

"Ay!" A voice called. Darkstream turned to see some cats standing at the alleyway.

"Here!" Another called. Darkstream walked up to them.

"What is it?" She asked, her black tail flicking.

"You want food?" A brown tabby tom growled.

"Yes. And I need to get away from here. I'm completely lost, and confused." She replied, nodding.

"Be glad that you know me," The tom narrowed his green eyes. "I speak the same that you do. Come with us." The brown tom led Darkstream and the other cats into a dark alley between two places.

"My name is Spice." He mewed, climbing on top of a fallen trash can. "So tell me, is there anything you remember?"

A cold shiver went through Darkstream's spine. "I fell asleep in a box on a boat. Woke up here with another cat, Rainsplash. We found a place on a forest surrounded by water. But I couldn't understand any cat, they didn't speak a word of what I knew."

"Those cats speak in Espanol." Spice replied.

"What?" Darkstream asked quietly in confusion.

"You may have come from somewhere else," He began. "I know that boats always bring stuff from where you must be from, and bring them here, to México. I'm no house cat, I lead these cats. We know this place street by street." He unsheathed his claws.

"Really?" Darkstream meowed excitedly. "You can get me back to where I came from?"

"Yes." Spice's green eyes glimmered. "But on one condition...."