A Wolf's Tale (Drafting)

[5] Fox Guide

"Ethan, wait! Where are we going?" Kate yells just before the brown wolf disappears over the hill. Ethan gradually begins slowing down as the adrenaline in his blood departs, leaving him out of breath to stand on wobbly legs. The painful throbbing in his wrist grounds him enough to bring him back to his senses. He collapses, no longer having the energy to take another step as starvation takes its toll. After moments of erratic breathing, Kate finds Ethan on his side helplessly clawing weakly at the dirt. Something is wrong.

Circling to meet his face, Kate asks worriedly, "Are you alright? Why were we running?".

Despite trying her best to sound comforting and help Ethan refuses. The threatening rumble of his growl is enough to push Kate back quite a few steps. He didn't mean to growl at her but is thankful for the space now between them. His heart is pounding heavily against his chest and with every thump against his ribcage came a burning sensation in his lungs. Ethan found it harder to breathe as the burning became more painful than his wrist.

"Are you...dying?" Ethan glances at the she-wolf with a questionable look, his maw now parted as he pants heavily for oxygen. He doubts himself to even be part of the living let alone on the verge of death, although if he were somehow alive in this hell world he'd feel pain, right? Thus making this reality real, this place and everything around him real... But that in its own right remains questionable.

'This very well can be a dream,' he thinks to himself. 'It's impossible to be a wolf that can speak and it's absurd that it is spring. I am dreaming.' He closes his eyes only to find the discomfort in his chest still there.

'Continuing to panic like that and you'll only be speaking in wolf tongue.' The memory of her words is helpful enough to settle his breathing.

"Rest," he exhales at last. The she-wolf hesitantly nods showing him she understood even though he can't exactly see her response. Kate makes herself a place beside him to sleep, perhaps out of her self comfort, until a rough snarl from the brown wolf forces her away again. She jolts away so quickly she nearly stumbles on her back paws, "Just let me rest for god's sake. I'll be fine."

Kate stares speechless at him for the longest moment. Her deep blue eyes hold a hollowness Ethan has never seen before, not even during those long hours staring at his reflection late at night wondering where the days have gone and what anchor is grounding him when there's nothing left to hold onto. Despite the vacancy in his heart, he can't understand her emptiness, but he knows it's there. The corner of her upper lip twitches as if fighting back a frown to which she smiles uncomfortably or otherwise unnaturally. At least it seems forced to him. Immediately Kate darts out of his view of sight but not back towards the farmhouse. Ethan knows he's upset her but he doesn't go after her right away. His thoughts are like a winding river that's constantly changing direction it seems at random. They keep running back to what he heard and witnessed inside that farmhouse. The longer he thought about it the more he needed to put as much distance between him and that dreadful place.

Clicking seizes the brown wolf's attention. He sits up still on shaky legs before suddenly, a small red bird flies past him, darting between a few close trees then vanishing.

"Kate?" He calls out with no answer but that same clicking sound. A flash of red darts again further into the trees before vanishing once more. Not entirely sure what drove him to it, Ethan runs after the red bird whenever it shows itself, but he always follows the clicking until he stumbles into a wide slow-moving creek. He hasn't been here before, which he's glad to finally be making some progress, and quickly he notices the she-wolf crossing its shallow waters. At her side, a small grey fox with some kind of satchel strapped to its right shoulder walks with her.

"Kate!" He calls out again while trying to catch up with the two of them. Both creatures turn their heads.

The grey fox stiffens at the sight of another wolf before settling his eyes on Kate with an unpleasant grimace. Each strand of fur stands straight up on the fox's hide, but Kate smiles softly and lowers her head down to him. "It's alright, he's a friend. There is no need to feel afraid."