Convalescence (MxM)

BONUS CHAPTER+ANNOUNCEMENT

•TW•

The seasons had changed and summer was starting. The snow had melted and the days began to grow warmer.

"Moooom, we've been walking for hours! I'm tired! And hungry!" Vanessa laughed at the whines of her child, ruffling his hair as they continued walking through the dense forest.

"I understand baby, you want daddy to give you a piggy back ride for a while? I'm sure we'll find somewhere to rest soon." She smiled at her son, glancing to her husband, Flin, who was already looking at her with a warm smile.

"Yes! Up!" Fixten raised his arms in the air, hopping up on his tip toes and making grabby hands towards his father. Laughing, Flin picked up Fixten and placed the boy gently on his shoulders before kissing his wife's forehead.

5 years ago, just after Fixten had been born, the Pack they were apart of had fallen to pieces. There was a murder spree that took place in the Main House of the Pack, causing everything else to slowly fall into disarray. The small family, the mother, Vanessa, the father, Flin, and their beloved son, Fixten, had been moving from town to town in their efforts to find a new place to call home.

As they continued walking, Fixten still on Flin's shoulders with Vanessa clasping her husband's hand lovingly, Flin noticed a rather putrid smell beginning to fill the air around them.

"Watch your step, honey. Something doesn't smell right. It could be a dead animal caught in a trap and if there's more around, I'd rather none of us got caught in them." He offered his wife's hand a squeeze, smiling to her. She nodded, glancing around to see if she could spot any of the traps.

The trees were dense and overgrown, the sunlight barely casting through the leaves as they continued walking.

"Daddy! Mommy! What's that?!" Fixten gripped at his dad's hair, practically jumping on his shoulders as he pointed off to a structure in the distance.

Vanessa smiled, looking towards the small cabin hidden within the forest before glancing hopefully to her husband. Flin looked skeptical, though still offered his wife a smile.

Raising his arms up, Flin pulled Fixten off of his shoulders, setting him down gently at his mother's side.

"Mommy and I are gonna go take a peak, can you sit right here like a big boy? You promise not to wonder off?" Flin spoke firmly to his son, the corners of his lips tugged lightly upwards in a smile. Fixten beamed to his father, glancing between him and his mother before responding,

"Yes! I promise not to wonder off!" Vanessa ruffled her son's hair once again, offering him a kind smile before walking hand in hand with her husband towards the small house.

Flin, having the best sense of smell out of the three, noticed how that awful smell from earlier seemed to grow stronger and stronger as they got closer to the building.

"Something doesn't feel right." He gripped his wife's hand tightly, glancing to her in his concern. She squeezed his hand back just as tightly, offering him a reassuring smile before turning to glance towards their son.

He had broken his promise, having disappeared from the spot they left him.

Panic swelled in Vanessa's chest as she dropped her husband's hand, using her hands to cup her mouth as she shouted out for her son.

"Fixten! Where are you! Come back here right now!" Flin turned to search as well, walking back into the tree line.

Closing his eyes, he focused on his son's scent, allowing it to guide him.

•

"Vanessa! Here, quick!" The sight Flin walked upon was devastating. His son had fallen to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed in horror. There was a man hanging upside down, his ankle caught in a bear trap, his flesh half rotted and face entirely disfigured. The animals in the area had eaten what they could reach.