(Note: this last entry contains animal violence, mentions of spaying, animal death and trauma. Harvey By Alex G is recommended while reading)
Thank you so much to our guest artist- @rooted-clangen !! Please check em out!
His legs were already exhausted from the walk back from Appleclan, but weed pushed himself to move faster as he ran. Ajuga was sick, Kudzu may be hurt, and the damn cutter is here. The last time a cutter came, weed watched as his sickly mother was taken away..and brought back dead. Buried. The lady had pet the hissing kittens, Telling them that it was just “her time”. Which was just bull to weed. His mother was strong, sure she was slowing down but that was no excuse to take her away. And he wouldn’t let them take his siblings too!
As he reached the farm, he darted around the side of the barn, searching. A plank was out of place on the left side, hidden by weeds and overgrowth. With effort, the bluish gray tomcat wiggled his way through the gap, weaving around strange twoleg objects and exiting into the main area of the barn. The recovery nest was destroyed, hay and foam dotted the wooden floor.
A cry broke his gaze away, and he stared at a horrible sight. Kudzu was trying to claw her way up the ladder, fur fuzzed up and eyes wild with fear. And at the bottom, was ajuga. Ajuga, who had nuzzled under weeds form during thunderstorms. Ajuga, who happily sang and pranced during hunting trips. Ajuga, who had such big dreams and a bright future.
Ajuga, whose eyes were now impossibly wide, foam and spittle drooling from his jaws like a salivating dog, screeching and trying to climb up to kudzu. Weed felt like the world was spinning. Winterberry had warned him before, that those with the “sickness” would turn on their own friends and family, and tear them to shreds if not stopped.
“HEY!” He snarled, catching the rabid cats attention. Ajuga stopped trying to climb the ladder, giving kudzu just enough time to scramble to safety. Weed craned his head up, keeping his eyes on ajuga. “What happened?!” He mewed desperately. Kudzu trembled, the fluff over her eyes had been slicked back, showing the absolute panic she held.
“T-the farmer came in- ajuga just attacked him out of nowhere! I held him down but- he started trying to bite me! H-he was fine a while ago!” Kudzu yowled. Ajuga screeched, words a garbled mess of nonsense. To weed, it sounded like hell. He had to get kudzu away, he had to fix this. Behind him, he heard the Twolegs squawking , the farmer had run off somewhere.
“Run across the beams and go out the top! I’ll hold ajuga!” Weed hissed, rushing to his baby siblings side and swiping a paw at their side. The smaller cat hissed, attention on them as they leapt to attack. At the distraction, kudzu raced across the wooden beams above, and vanished into the dark. A soft thud of hay outside gave weed momentary relief. Which was quickly taken as ajuga tackled him.
Teeth gnashing wildly, ajuga screeched and sunk their claws into the dirt near weeds head, trying to snap into his throat. The loner hissed, he didn’t want to hurt ajuga but he had no choice. If he was bitten, he would be a threat to kudzu too. Rearing his back legs up, weed kicked them off, and righted himself. “AJUGA! Stop! It’s me, it’s WEED!” He cried, desperation cracking his voice.
Ajugas head cocked to the side momentarily, morbidly reminding weed of a dog. That stalled them, and they sunk their claws into the dirt with a pained hiss, hacking. Weed used this chance to back up, trying to lead the other back into the stall. “I-i know you’re hurting. I know you’re scared, it’s okay! I’ll help you! We don’t need starclan, we don’t NEED the clans! I’m the best healer you’ll ever get! Just calm down!”
Weed inhaled a breathe to continue, looking out at the barn doors. He saw the lady and the cutter, the cutter seemed to be getting something from their truck. A small metal cage. Rage built in him, he wouldn’t let them take him! His pride blinded him, he could fix ajuga! Not some stupid Twolegs! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the farmer leaving the house holding something.
Before he could focus to see if, a screech caught him off guard. Ajuga had leapt at him again, only for weed to swipe his claws at their side as he dodged. A pained noise came from the smaller cat, and weed wanted to weep. He never used his claws on his siblings. This felt wrong. Ajuga wasn’t a threat, he was a patient. A scared, hurting patient.
Finally he got ajuga in the center of the barn, backing away as he faced them. “W….” A gurgle came from ajuga. Weed’s ears pinned back, but he tried to force a smile. “W…ee…d..” ajuga croaked, eyes showing a flicker of realization for a moment. The larger Tom retracted his claws, staying on guard. “That’s it…that’s it ajuga. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Ajuga wobbled, hissing lightly as he stalked slowly to them. Foam dripped onto the wood, staining it a whiteish red. Weed’s jaws opened to say something- when he saw a glint in the light on his left side. A terrified yowl rang through the air, and he looked away from ajuga to the barn entrance. The lady was yowling something that weed couldn’t hear, waving her paws at one of the others. His eyes traveled to the farmer.
The farmer had the odd slender object pointed at them. The metal glinted in the setting sun. Weed had only seen it once, when coyotes had gotten into the farm and the farmer ran off after them with it. His eyes widened in confusion, and he looked to ajuga to say something, anything. Ajuga opened his mouth and-
..weeds ears were ringing. The smell of blood and burning filled his nose. His mind felt dizzy, paws felt disconnected. Slowly, his eyes traveled down and landed on ajuga. Or, what remained of ajuga. Something warm rolled down his muzzle, and to his growing horror it wasn’t tears. It was bits of ajuga. He didn’t scream. So many things in his mind wanted him to, to yowl, to claw himself away from the body, to flee to the darkest part of the world and hide but…he just stared.
A shriek broke his trance, and he jerked his head to the barn entrance. Through his fuzzy vision, he saw the farmer being hit by the lady. And the cutter throwing kudzu in that little cage. She yowled, her paw darting through the bars to weed, a plea for help. Numbly, he stumbled towards the entrance.
“Leave…leave her alone! Let her go!” Weed yowled, but it merely came out like a weak kit whimper. The cutter tuned to him, reaching into the back of the monster. A smaller object was pulled, less metal than what the farmer had. Was it to scare him? If it was, it wasn’t working, weeds mind was far gone.
Something stabbed into his side, making him stumble a little. The tomcat looked at himself, a odd sharp thing had been stabbed into his fur. Red fluffy feathers stuck out of it. He wobbled, paws feeling heavy. His mind that had been spinning before only worsened. He collapsed onto his side, wheezing. The cutter stepped over, grabbing him by his scruff.
He couldn’t hear kudzu. He couldn’t see what was happening. But as he faded to unconsciousness, he could smell. And all he smelled, was ajugas blood on his face.
The world felt like a dream.
Occasionally, he would almost wake up to hear twolegs squaking. He would hear dogs bark, other cats hiss. He smelled so many animals, and things that made his nose wrinkle. And then he would be dragged back under the water of sleep. Weed believed he was dead, that had to be the only answer.
When he awoke and could feel his paws, he realized he was in a metal den. He could see blinding painful lights outside, and it smelled like the weird chemical stuff. Weed’s fur was gone on his right side in a odd patch, he licked at it gingerly.
There was tiny holes. What had they done? Where was kudzu? Where was he? He felt so sleepy, so confused. A voice cut through the haze, he recognized it as the lady. Another voice clashed with hers, weed tried to listen despite his twoleg understanding being fuzzy.
“No, y—don- ha— to ——— him.”
“I l—-hi— cute li—- jowls. Is hi- vacc—- one?”
Weed didn’t understand. A part of him didn’t want to. So, he simply laid his head down and willingly let the water take him, dragging him into the deep of sleep once more.
Weed awoke in a smaller cage. The roar of a monster had stopped, and so did the rattling. He felt less groggy, able to stretch his paws! The container was grabbed, and through the gaps he saw the farm. His ears pinned back, eyes wide. They had brought him back alive? Why? A twoleg paw reached and opened the cage. Weed hissed, puffing himself up as much as he could.
“Oh hush puss, you’re okay”
The lady. Weed calmed, trembling as her wrinkled paws picked him up, and sat him on the dirt. He looked up at her, almost confused but grateful. A paw went behind his ears, scratching them. She said something else, and strided away back into the den, leaving weed alone. Immediately , he took off towards the barn.
His legs cramped a bit from lack of use, but he managed to limp his way inside. The barn seemed cleaned, things washed and smelling odd. And to his dismay, ajuga wasn’t there. The body was gone. He couldn’t even bury his brother. A sniffle broke his thought, and he rushed up the ladder- to see kudzu. The smaller she was laid in the nest, curled up.
“KUDZU!” Weed yowled, relief flooding his mind. He hadn’t lost his entire family! He rushed over, trying to ask her a million questions at once- only to stop. Kudzu had sat up, keeping her legs close to herself. Her eyes red from tears. He lowered his voice, concerned. “..what’s wrong? You’re not hurt are you?”
Kudzu didn’t say a word. Instead, she moved her front paws and tail, revealing her belly. The fur was shaved, a line with odd stitching on the skin. No. No starclan please. Weeds blood went cold, his face must have dropped too, because kudzu simply began to cry harder.
The night air didn’t feel comforting anymore. It felt harsh, sharp. Weed had stayed by kudzus side until she fell asleep, licking her fur clean and promising he wouldn’t leave her alone until she was okay. She sobbed for him, she sobbed for ajuga. She begged him, asked why. Why this had happened. Weed couldn’t answer.
The tom slipped from the nest, climbing the beams to the break in the roof. Paws dig into the wood as he hoisted himself up, staring up at the night sky. His mind drifted to winterberry, who had mentioned that when clan cats die, they become stars. Would they make ajuga a star too? Or were..were they not wanting him?
“..what did I do..” weed croaked. His claws sunk into the roof, fur bristling. “I did everything you wanted! I did more! I begged you for help, PLEADED for help!” He hissed at the stars. That fear and sadness and anger had built up, exploding out as he screeched to those he blamed.
“I asked you to help, and he’s DEAD! And My sister will NEVER have kits, she’s heartbroken!..or is this your version of helping.” He hissed. Starclan. Thought they were everything and more. I bet they refused ajuga entry because he was a loner, weed thought bitterly. His sweet brother didn’t deserve this. His kind sister didn’t deserve this.
“If this is the kind of thing a cat gets by asking YOU for help, I never want you help again!” Weed screeched, scaring a flock of birds from the trees below. The stars were silent, almost judging. The silence only made weed angrier.
“Do you hear me?! I hope you all rot! You and your entire clans! You want to cherry pick who’s good enough for you, to reject those who are no different than your stuck up clans, then you’re no better than crowfood. You’re not even gods! I REBUKE YOU STARCLAN !” Weed screamed, voice raw and hoarse.
“I REBUKE YOU…I hate you…I hate you..” the tom collapsed down, paws in his muzzle. Sobs wracked his form as he curled into a ball, continuing to declare his hatred. The stars never answered.
He didn’t need the stars.
