Hunt

Chapter 78 (Kyle): Lunar Hangover

"The sun's already up. You're in control again. It's time for you to open your eyes."

Sunlight blinds me as I come back to consciousness. Slowly beginning to open my eyes I'm forced to shut them again under the blinding glare of the bright morning sun. Groaning as I put a hand up to fend off the oppressive light. My body ached like nothing I've ever experienced before, every motion I make sending dull throbbing pain through my muscles like bolts of electricity. My bones felt like jelly. W-Where am I..?

As my eyes begin to slowly adjust I open them again, finding myself staring up at a bright blue sky. Trees swaying in the warm morning breeze above me as beams of light cast down across my face. I could hear running water nearby. When did I get outside..?

Flashes of memories come to me. Sitting in the bathroom of the cabin. The sudden, violent pain of my transformation and the eerily calm lullaby of the full moon. But another memory comes to me. Well... more of a feeling. Freedom. A weird sense of fulfillment in my soul that I haven't ever felt before. But other than brief flashes, I can't recall anything of last night after I began to change. My mind was completely blank.

I begin to notice it first when I sit up. Blood was covering my body. My hands were covered in it, the red liquid smeared up my arms and down my chest and sides having long since dried. The heavy and sticky feeling also seemed to cover my face as well, the faint taste of iron on my tongue. Panic quickly rises up in my heart as I rapidly begin to hyperventilate, my chest growing tight as I begin to feel like I'm being choked out. Staring down at my blood soaked hands I begin to rapid fire questions in my head, desperately trying not to throw up. Who did I hurt? Did I kill someone? I thought everything was going to be alright! They said it would be alright!

There's a loud thud from somewhere behind me, partially snapping me to my senses. Reyna's familiar voice calling out through the haze in my head, "Oh hey! Good, you're awake!"

Spinning around slowly I spot the white wolf form of Reyna sitting behind me. A duffel bag on the ground at her front paws. It was hard to focus on her, but she looked exhausted. Panting hard, like she had just run a marathon before arriving here. But her relieved expression upon seeing me quickly fades to worry as I try and fail to talk, tears stinging my eyes as my vision grows increasingly blurry.

Reyna quickly crosses the distance, leaning her soft body against me in a sort of hug. Her fur warm against my bare skin. "Hey, hey it's alright. Everything's alright. I'm here, just breathe."

I still can't seem to find words, my mind a cluttered mash of numbing static and overwhelming painful emotions. All I can do is lean against the wolf in front of me, burying my face in her fur. Her body leaning back on me was a calming and reassuring presence against the angry torrent of emotions swirling though me. My heart slowly begins to calm, the panic choking me less as I begin to breathe better.

"W-who did I hurt?" I whisper as I pull away from Reyna. The only volume I can muster. "Who's blood is this?"

She looks up at me, her green eyes glistening in the sunlight. "Nobody got hurt Kyle. I promised you that we would keep that from happening..." Reyna hesitates, backing up as she gets a better look at the blood that covers me. "Well... there was the rabbit... It didn't make it. And a bear you tried to pick a fight with... the bear got away though."

"A... A what?" I ask, not sure if I heard her correctly over my panicked thoughts.

Reyna's tail thumps against the forest floor as she begins to recount a story, "When we finally found you, you had managed to catch a rabbit. You were carrying it around so proudly, like a trophy. But you got spooked when we tried to corner you in, and took off into the forest with it. By the time we caught up to you it was already gone."