Ulva

Chapter 3 - In the Cave

She and Aubrie ran to a place they knew well. They had first come across it in their first year at secondary school, when they'd been forced to do a cross country run as part of their PE class. Neither of them were particularly athletic. Along the route, Aubrie stumbled and fell off the path, tumbling down a small hill. Worried for her friend, Ceyla ran down after her. Luckily, Aubrie was fine, as it hadn't been a big fall, but she was looking with excitement at a small cave that was out of view from the path and clear as day from down there. As they had been at the back of the class, no one saw the fall, or the two girls creeping into the cave beneath the footpath. They stayed there for half an hour, before coming out and taking a shortcut across a field to meet the rest of the class at the end of the route. The cave became their hide out every cross country session.

It had served them well in their school years, and it was where they headed now. Their cross country route wasn't far from town, but it would be far away enough for them to feel safe.

The shops and market stalls they sped past had been abandoned, as had most of the houses just out of town. Houses beyond them looked full from through the windows – families a little further out of town had opened their doors for the terrified people fleeing the attacks. Ceyla's arm quickly became numb as she ran, though she had been trying so hard to ignore the pain that it might have happened from sheer will alone. Only when the girls' surroundings changed from houses to trees did they slow to a jog, lungs burning from lack of oxygen.

They moved further down the path before turning off, running down a small hill and entering their cave.

"Ceyla," Aubrie gasped softly, "Your arm."

For the first time since the café, Ceyla looked down at her arm.

From below her shoulder to above her elbow, there were large puncture wounds in the shape of the wolf's jaw. Blood was still trickling out of them all, running down her arm and over her clothes, before dripping onto the floor. Presumably from when she'd tried to escape his teeth through her own strength, parts of the skin around the wounds hung away from the bone, tattered and torn in a way that she'd never seen before. She couldn't move her arm. It hung limply at her side, leaving blood from ripped flesh and muscle wounds that were deep enough to see the bone.

Ceyla wished in that moment that she'd been able to act badass, shrugging her shoulders and reassuring her friend that 'it was only a scratch'. Instead, she leant over and was violently sick in a corner. Aubrie didn't look as though she was far off doing the same thing.

Wordlessly, Aubrie ripped off a sleeve from her top, pulling it off her arm. Why she was wearing a long sleeved top during a heatwave like this, Ceyla didn't know. She was grateful for it, though, when Aubrie took the scrap of fabric and carefully began to tie it around Ceyla's upper arm, apologising if Ceyla winced from the pain. Ceyla found herself cringing a lot during the process – the makeshift bandage had to be tied tightly to stop the bleeding.

For a while, they sat in silence, thinking about what had happened.

"This isn't like them," Aubrie said finally. Her voice was quiet and rough, as though she'd been crying, but Ceyla hadn't noticed if any tears had actually been shed. "This isn't what they're taught."

"What do you mean, 'what they're taught'?"

"The Ulva are raised from children to protect humans, not harm them. For all intents and purposes, they exist to defend us."

Ceyla scoffed slightly. "Our very own werewolf guard dogs."

Though there were no Ulva around, Aubrie looked offended on their behalf. "Don't call them that, they're people."