My name is Smokepaw, and I am a medicine cat apprentice. I wasn't supposed to be, though, or at least I prefer to belive that. Had I not snuck out as a kit, I wouldn't be like this. I could've been a warrior. I should've been a warrior. I like to think I would be the greatest warrior in the forest if I wasn't the way that I am. I never should've snuck out. I never should've let that dog get near me.


"Wake up, Smokekit!" A kit hissed quietly at another, shattering the silence that held the night in its beauty. One, a big smokey gray kit, lay sleeping beneath a fluffy white she-kit with intense, icy-blue eyes. The smokey kit opened his leaf-green eyes. "Come on! It'll be moonhigh in a few minutes." She whispered. They rose.

The two kittens slid quietly out of the nursery into the StreamClan camp. "Are you sure about this, Swiftkit? What if Shellstar finds out? Our apprentice cerimonies will surely be held back! Or what if we run into a hawk? Or a badger, or a dog, or a twoleg, or a fox!" The gray-and-black smokey kit hissed.

"You worry to much! Apprenticeship is only a moon away, and there's no way Shellstar would ever find out. Unless someone decides to snitch." She fixed him with an intense glare. "You won't, right?" She hissed, her eyes narrowed and words dripping with a thinly-veiled challenge. Without thinking, he shook his head. "Of course not. Let's go."

The two padded over to the dirtplace, where a hidden tunnel under a pile of rocks was located. They slid in and scrabbled into the tunnel without hesitating. Smokekit paused for a second as his sister squeezed in from behind him, wondering if they should turn back now.

"I don't know about this. Something bad might happen." The smokey kit said uneasily. "Come on, scaredy-mouse! Nothing will go wrong. We're going to be completely fine! We'll be back before dawn and not a single cat will even notice we were missing. Now let's go, this tunnel is way too dusty!" Swiftkit hissed and began to walk out of the pitch black cavern.

Taking a single glance back at the entrance to the tunnel, he followed his sister, scrabbling up rocks to get out of the path that was almost straight upwards.

Swiftkit helped Smokekit up out of the hole. They were out of camp for the first time. "It's too dark to see anything!" Whispered the tomkit as he nearly fell into another dip in the earth.

As the two set out into the territory, ears pricked, eyes alert, tails raised, and whiskers outstretched, Smokekit realised there was no turning back.

After a few hours of walking around StreamClan territory, making sure to avoid the stenches of BirchClan and RainClan, their paws grew heavy, and they were ready to turn back. "We have a bit of time before the dawn patrol comes back to make our way to camp." Swiftkit observed, studying the slowly graying sky.

"W-which way is camp?" Smokekit asked, realization dawning on his face. "I thought you were keeping track! Wait! W-what's that s-smell?" The white kit hissed as a rotten stench hit them in the face, fear adding a worrisome edge to her voice.

"Come on, l-let's get out of here." Smokekit said, taking a step forward. "Y-yeah, lets go." Swiftkit replied, padding a few tail-lengths ahead of him.

They suddenly froze as a deep, menacing growl sounded from behind them. They turned thier heads back slowly to see a horrifying picture.

A massive canine, black-and-brown with a narrowed muzzle and pointed ears. Its round brown eyes were fixated intensely on the kits and its lips were drawn back in a terrifing snarl, revealing sharp yellow teeth that Smokekit could almost imagine stained crimson. Blood was dripping from its nose, and the beast appeared to have ran into a tree.

With a fierce bark it sprang forward. The kittens pelted away as fast as their small legs could carry them, but with the dog bounding forward on its massive paws, there seemed to be no escape for both kits.

A shriek tore through the air as blood sprayed from the tomkit's hind leg. The dog had plunged its teeth through the soft flesh. Pain shot up Smokekit's leg. A snap rang out as it sank its teeth deeper. Smokekit wailed in pain as he was jerked backwards. Swiftkit watched in horror as she heard a loud "RUN!" escape his lips before he was tossed like a dead rabbit to the side.

The last thing he saw was his sister's fluffy white tail dissapear into the forest before his skull smacked into the trunk of a willow tree and everything went black.