Fear and Consequence - Episode 9

Our journey continued for more time than I can comprehend at this moment. We had decided to follow the path left for us by the brutalwolves. Since the doctor had used his odd remedy it seemed as though the brutalwolves gave me a wide berth as if I had dominion over them. They could smell the remedy and maybe they feared their own mortality. Whatever the reason they would now only stare at me with their soulless gaze and keep their distance. We lived directly off of the land somehow finding the right amount of food at the right time to always keep us alive. We were traveling more slowly than ever before due to my wounds which now were beginning to finally heal. This morning I woke before Lou, my head in a bit of a haze. This had been occurring quite frequently, either since the blood remedy was applied or since my injuries, I am not sure which had caused this side effect. I smelled the cool morning air and caught wind of something that smelled good. Without allowing my vision to clear I followed my olfactory nerves and stumbled toward the origin of the scent. My vision blurred with light and colors, but depth perception was foreign to me at this point. My ankle was healed now so I could walk without pain, but I usually made sure to step cautiously to avoid reinjuring it. Not this morning though, I merely stumbled blindly on. It was then that I immediately felt all of my senses reawaken in a mad rush of adrenaline and fear. I had just stepped over the edge of a ravine. Water had cut the earth to a depth of about twenty feet below me. My body twisted as I fell and my hands made a mad scramble for anything on the ledge. I caught a small but thick root extending toward the ravine from a nearby oak tree. The soil had been washed free from this root just enough to afford me a handhold. Since I had come upon this predicament in such a hurry I lost all wind in my lungs and was now struggling with fighting the new pain in my wrist from holding the root and finding the air to yell out for help. Before I could ever make a sound I looked up at the ledge and a brutalwolf stood there looking at me. His demonic eyes stared directly into mine. Now I knew I could not yell for help. I was terrified. He inched toward me still gazing directly into my eyes. My mind was rush with ideas upon how I would be eviscerated by this terrifying creature. I began to loosen my grip on the root struggling with the idea that I would be better off trying to land inside the ravine than to face this animal. As I loosened my grip he lurched forward and grabbed me with his teeth. They pierced me in the left shoulder. His strength was amazing as I could feel his jaws bearing down into my shoulder. I screamed out in agony as he set his feet and pulled on me. I grabbed him by the nape of the neck with my right hand and he immediately pulled me from the ravine. He loosened his grip on my shoulder and backed away from me. He had saved my life, but now my shoulder was bleeding profusely. He came towards me and began licking my wounds. This action still disturbed me regardless of his intent. I struggled to get a look at my shoulder. The wounds closed almost immediately and the bleeding stopped. The pain in my shoulder remained, but at least I was not going to bleed out now. The brutalwolf merely lay in the grass staring at me. I did not know how to react toward the beast. It has saved my life, but my thoughts now turned back to the well-being of my partner and I ran to check on her…