A/N Wow, thank you guys for helping us reach five hundred reads! It means so much to me when you comment, vote, or even read this. Keep on reading (for more suspense :P)!

I whipped around to see a black figure, amber eyes glinting in the moonlight with harsh anger. "I. . ." It was as if StarClan had made it so I was unable to talk. The warrior, Spiderleg I realized after closer inspection, roughly yanked me off my paws and carried me back into the camp, which I had just left, by my scruff. When he reached the middle, he threw me down as if I was a piece of fresh-kill, and the landing knocked all of the air from my lungs. Before I could gulp a breath, he had me pinned down on the ground, one paw on my shoulder, one on my throat. Blood welled up in the spots his claws sank into my fragile skin. He fiercely growled something to me, but I didn't hear him. A loud ringing was blocking my hearing.

I tried sucking in air, but realized with panic that the long-limbed warrior was not-knowingly blocking my windpipe. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was my mother's pale gray pelt sprinting from the Warriors' den, and the fear in Spiderleg's eyes as he realized he was literally choking me to death.

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I sucked in air and opened my eyes to a bright den. For all I knew, it could have been my first breath in hours. It sure felt like it. "He's awake!" I heard the excited meow and looked to the left to see Honeypaw sitting beside me. I groaned, because whenever I moved, my shoulder ached. Every breath was painful. To my right, Stormpaw and my mother and father were sitting and worried glances were getting exchanged between them.

"What happened?" I mumbled. "Where's Birchfall?" I remembered the scene from when I was last conscious, and tried sitting up. To my surprise, my left forepaw slipped out from under me, and I was back on the ground in an instant. Everyone seemed on edge and reluctant to answer my question.

"Careful." I looked up to see Jayfeather, blind blue eyes staring out of focus at me. "We wouldn't want to reopen the wound, now would we?" Something about the way the medicine cat meowed this was wrong. Just then, I swore I saw him nod, but it was so tiny I could have imagined it. What's going on? I looked to my mother for help, but she turned away, as if ashamed of me. My father and brother both blinked sympathetically at me, but didn't give me an answer. Sitting at the entrance to the den, Hollypaw looked guilty. Slowly, she got up and stalked away, tail raised, as if in defiance.

At last I turned to Honeypaw. She leaned in close and licked me between my ears. Her eyes were pools of sorrow now. "The other cats think. . ." She broke off, and turned away. When she turned back, she burst out, "Everyone thinks you tried to murder Birchfall!" I stared in disbelief at the golden she-cat. How could that be? "I honestly think you would do no such thing, and it had to have been a rogue." With this, my friend curled up next to me in a sign of comfort.

I lay my head down and tried to go to sleep. It was kind of as if I was half-conscious, asleep, but awake at the same time. I squirmed around, too hot, or too cold, and I kept seeing images of the broken and bleeding Birchfall. Finally, I opened my eyes to see a grassy meadow. Snow was on the ground, and everything looked peaceful. But then, to my horror, I realized that the snow was turning red. The scent of blood and death rose into the air.

I turned around at a thumping sound, like tons of cats running at once. Tons of cats, were in fact running straight towards me. I scanned the cats running by. Mothwing, Sorreltail, Mistystar, Dustpelt. They were going by too fast now. I almost yowled aloud as i looked down. These cats were running through my body! I turned to see what the group of cats, all the Clans, I realized, were running to. Opposite the clearing, another stampede of cats were running towards the Clans. They were dark pelted and they showed their fangs as they approached.

The two crashed together in a flurry of blood, teeth, and claws. I saw Sandstorm murdered by one of the dark cats. Onestar was on the ground, blood pulsing from a wound in his side, and his eyes were glazed open. Stormpaw was there too, his dark gray pelt stained with red. A dark cat, at least twice as high pounced on him as if he was a piece of prey.

None of this I saw, though. The one cat who was leading the dark cats that the Clans were fighting against was. . . No. I couldn't even bring myself to think of them. Not them. It couldn't be them. This was all just a bad nightmare that I would wake up from any heartbeat now. I closed my eyes and waited.

When I opened them, though, I was still there, but there was no noise. The battling cats made no sound when they were injured, no sound when they beat an opponent, and not even a sound when they were killed, though they opened their mouths as if they were. I could only hear a loud ringing, coming from somewhere inside my head. It felt as if my head was going to explode from the ringing it was so loud.

To my rising horror, every one of the Clan cats were picked off, their bodies left in the middle of the clearing as. . . the lead cat . . . gathered up their cats and left the clearing. Triumph showed on every one of their faces.

"No. ." I whispered as I stared at the body-littered clearing. Cloudtail, dead. Lionblaze, dead. Even Stormpaw and Honeypaw, dead. But there was one cat who still lived on.

I turned and ran as far as I could, away from the nightmare, as far as my legs would let me travel, until finally, I wasn't running. I was falling. I looked down to see myself plunging into the stone hollow to certain death. The moment I hit was the moment I woke. This time, the sky was just turning bright when I looked up. No one was with me, except for the sleeping Jayfeather a few tail-lengths away. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was just a bad dream after all.

I stood up, and stretched, and felt my brown legs beneath me feel sturdy for the first time in what felt like days. The ringing was still echoing in my ears, but it was not as loud now. As I was picking my way to the entrance, planning to go for a run, and to shake all the bad things that had recently happened off, I saw a sight I wished I hadn't. Birchfall was sitting opposite of the den from me. There were claw marks all over his tabby body, and a deep long scar stretched along one flank. His throat fur had been ripped away, revealing pink raw skin bandaged in cobwebs. I could hear his unsteady breathing now, hoarse and rough. Some cat had obviously tried to murder him.

Hurriedly, I padded over to the camp entrance. Bumblestripe was guarding. "I'm just going out for a run," I meowed.

The stripped warrior nodded. "Don't get lost," he replied evenly. I headed out into the woods. When I had reached my destination, I stopped. I was at the border between ThunderClan and WindClan, but I hadn't really decided in my mind I was coming here. My paws took me here. I gazed out across the moor, and saw the in the brightening sky, clouds off in the distance. Leaf-bare was coming, weather the Clans liked it or not, and they had to be prepared.

When the sun had fully risen, I decided it was time to go back. As I was turning around, there was a rustle in the bushes. Instantly my dream came rushing back, as if called by some invisible force. I unsheathed my thorn-sharp claws, ready to fight. I felt the blood rushing through my veins at the prospect of a fight. But all that came out was a small hare, that had seemingly strayed across he border. I stalked it, not daring to breathe. This will be a good meal for Cinderheart and the other queens.

I pounced and easily caught the brown hare between my front paws, and took its life by biting its throat. But as I set the hare down to get a better grip on it, I saw a cat, not a hare laying on the ground, lifeless. A gap was in its throat where I had just bitten. I backed away, startled, and lost my footing on the bank. The weight of my body was too much for the bank, and it gave way, showering me with tiny flecks of water, then I was plunged into it. My claws sank deep into the grass on the bank that had held. For a moment, I just hung on, afraid to do anything. Finally, I heaved myself out of the water, and onto the grass. I started to shiver, realizing how cold it had become since I had caught the rabbit. A tiny snow crystal landed on my nose as I pushed myself up into a sitting position

I picked up my catch and growled, "Stupid rabbit."