At the first sign of light, they were up and moving again, everyone happy and chatting.They'd had a big breakfast, and were all comfortably full.

Spiderpaw was trotting alongside Ravenpaw, who was flanked by Argyle.

Dewmelody, Deerspots and Ripplestrike took the lead and Birchpaw walked right behind them, with Brookstorm and Primrose taking up the back.

"Guys,"Spiderpaw raised his voice so everyone could hear. "Do you really think Shakenpaw is going to wreck havoc in the Clans? He's so...."

Birchpaw frowned. "I hope not.I mean, he seems to be pretty upset but..."

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as it seems, even when the Shadow Paws and everything."Primrose smiled, bouncing over a root.

"But it's worry-worthy!"Spiderpaw huffed, sidestepping as Ravenpaw slipped, nearly falling into him. He steadied her with his tail.

"Calm down,"Deerspots chuckled lightly. "Everything will be fine.The Shadow Paws aren't they deadly."

"Uh huhhh.."Spiderpaw sighed, mumbling a quick, "whatever" under his breath.

Argyle suddenly let out a hiss, freezing in her tracks. "Wait! Do you guys hear that?"

Spiderpaw angled his ears, trying to hear the slightest noises. "Ummmm- no."

Brookstorm glanced at a bush as it rustled, letting out a scoff as everyone flinched, staring at the bush with wide eyes. "Calm down guys, it's probably just a rabbit."he took a few steps closer to it.

"Brookstorm....be careful!"Primrose whimpered, Ravenpaw standing next to her with narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry, careful is totally NOT my middle name."Brookstorm took one last step and peered into the bush.

Everyone held their breath as they watched, no one moving.

Suddenly Brookstorm let out a blood-curdling scream, causing everyone to leap five feet in the air, fur bristling.

"OH MY HOLY STARCLAN ITS A KIT!"

Brookstorm burst out laughing, scooping a small bundle of fur with his paw and wiping his eyes with his other.

Everyone glared at him, Spiderpaw's the fiercest of them all.

"You jerk.."he grumbled.

The kit let out a soft yawn, burrowing into Brookstorm's chest. It's light gray fur was matted and dirty, and it looked barely old enough to be on its own.

"Great, now we've got a kitten to take care of."Spiderpaw huffed, walking over to sniff it.He wrinkled his nose at the sour smell of infection that was pulsing out of the kit's small body.

"Don't worry, it'll probably die soon, since it's infected."he then added with a shrug.

Birchpaw gasped, rushing over to stand beside Spiderpaw. "We can't let it die! It needs some herbs to stop the infection! He must be in so much pain!"

Spiderpaw squinted and saw that the sour smell was coming from a bloody, puffy slash on the kit's right shoulder.

"What should we do, then, Ripplestrike?"Brookstorm tilted his head slightly, setting the kit down gingerly.It let out a squeak, crawling underneath Brookstorm and wrapping its paws around the tom's bent leg.

"We can't leave it,"Ripplestrike frowned, her tail flicking as she thought. "We'll take it back to camp with us and get Spiritflight to do whatever she can to fix it up."

she decided.

Dewmelody padded over to the kit, lowering her head. "What's your name, sweetie?"

The kit blinked up at her. "B-Bubble.."she stammered, lip trembling.

"Well, Bubble, we'll get you fixed up, come on."Dewmelody reached out a paw to pull out the kit, but she cried out, crawling backwards deeper underneath Brookstorm, who let out a loud sigh.

"No! I won't leave until they're here, too!"Bubble whimpered, squeezing her glazed eyes closed.

"Who?"Spiderpaw blinked in confusion.

"My littermates!"Bubble whined, glancing back at the bush. "They were right there with me...."

Spiderpaw trotted over to the bush and stuck his head in, frowning as it was empty. "Nobody is here.."

"But...that's not right...they were!"

Bubble wailed, wincing as she leaned on her shoulder.

"Ummm...I think I found them..."Birchpaw whispered, eyes trailing up into a tree.Spiderpaw followed her gaze and nearly hurled as he saw two limp gray corpses hanging from the branches.

"We better get going!"Dewmelody laughed nervously, blocking Bubble's view of the tree. "I'm sure we'll find your siblings on the way..."

Tearing his gaze away from the kits, he shuddered, joining the rest of the patrol which was crowded around Brookstorm and Bubble.

"Come on, get on Brookstorm's back and let's try and find a river to wash you up."Primrose smiled sweetly at Bubble, who nodded slowly, crawling out from under the gray-blue tom.

Primrose bent down and grasped Bubble's scruff, gently lifting her and plopping her onto Brookstorm's back, despite the annoyed grunt that sounded from his throat.

"Okay, it won't be that long of a journey, but we have to move fast.We don't know how long Bubble has left, she's small, the infection could kill her."Ripplestrike meowed, already starting forward again.

Spiderpaw trotted alongside Primrose and Brookstorm, his pelt prickling uneasily. What if whatever stuck those kits up in the tree was still close by?

What if it was following them?

What if it was the Shadow Paws?

That thought made Spiderpaw shiver, and Ravenpaw who appeared by his side and pressed her fur against his in an act of comfort, did nothing to sooth his fear.

He'd always felt they little feeling they someone was watching him, but it had never been so strong before.

This place creeped Spiderpaw out.Something was totally wrong here.

But let's not stick around to find out just what that may be....