Fantasy Land

Chapter 7

Werewolves?!

Jayna

The sun awakens me the next morning after a dreamless sleep. The fire from last night is still burning shockingly. I don't remember waking up to feed it. Maybe Gabie did it because she got cold. Gabie is currently packing up her sleeping bag, she's changed into jeans and a sweater.

"Why so warm?" I ask her, motioning to her clothes. She looks from her clothes then back to me.

"The temperature seems to have dropped." She tells me. "It's misty out and the wind is biting." I nod as I get up, changing into some warm clothes and rolling up my sleeping bag. I take a look at Lest. He's still sleeping, a film of sweat covers his forehead as his non bandaged eyebrow scrunches. His breathing comes out in heavy pants. Gabie moves to his side, water bottle in hand with a bandana.

"I'm going to wake him and clean the wound." Gabie tells me. I nod, packing up my bag then hers. She shakes Lest gently, but he doesn't wake. She shakes him a little harder, but he still doesn't wake up. Worry floods me as I stare at his sweat covered face. Gabie opens his sleeping bag, allowing the cool air to touch his skin. He seems to find a bit of comfort in the cool air. Gabie pulls the bandages from his face as I soak the bandana in cool water. We both share a look of horror as we see Lest's face.

The claw marks haven't scabbed over yet. There is a green tinge that makes the skin around the scratches look ill. The green tinge spreads around the scratches, some of the veins in his face highlighted a deep green. The scratches exude puss and clear plasma, soaking the bandages that were there. Gabie gently takes the cool bandana and cleans the wounds. Using the other side of the bandana she wipes the sweat from his forehead and other cheek. She finds a clean towel and dries the area, applying new bandages. She looks at me, fear and worry clear in her eyes.

"We need to find help." I voice her thoughts. She nods. We both shake Lest, waking him quickly.

"What?" He lets out as a groan. He blinks a couple times before lifting his hand to rub at his good eye. He looks bad, exhausted, and tired.

"We have to get going. We have a long way to go today." I tell him. He gets up very gingerly. Gabie helps him pull on a new shirt and sweater. She leaves him in his joggers. Her and I take some of the heavier things from his pack before helping him stand and get his pack on. I lead us again, slower this time, as Gabie helps Lest keep upright. I leave the hut first, my attention grabbed by something on the ground. There are two long nails there, both a bright green in colour. I grab them, slipping them into a side pocket on my pack.

We continue down the river as we had the night before. There're likely miles between the end of this river and where civilization is. We walk for a while, until Lest asks us to stop and we eat. Lest clutches his head, sipping slowly on his water. He stripped off his sweater long ago, his body drenches in sweat. He takes slow nibbles of the granola bar he has in hand.

"Lest, are you okay?" I ask him softly. His harsh eyes suddenly turn to me. His features look harsher than I'm used to them being, his eyes harder.

"What do you fucking think?" He spits in a tone I've never heard. I flinch instinctively at the tone. He notices but doesn't seem to care.

"Lest." Gabie says warningly. Her sweater sleeves are balled at her elbows. Her arms are wrapped protectively around herself as if she's shielding herself.

"I've had my hand stabbed through, watched people be brutally murdered, and almost had my eye cut out by some psycho bitch in the past day." He drops the half-eaten granola bar, his voice getting colder. "And now, now I feel like my body is being torn apart from the inside out. So, you tell me Jayna, does it sound like I'm fucking okay to you?" He shouts the last bit at me as he stands suddenly. I fall back onto my pack in fear, whimpering unconsciously as I curl into myself.