Ranger

Chapter 4

Kroger

I saw some deer nibbling on grass and ran after them.

"Hi! Can I pet you?"

They looked at me with crazy eyes and ran away. Jewel laughed at me. It was the best sound in the whole world.

Soon after that we came to a small town. Jewel took out a piece of paper and looked at it "We should stop here for the night. I don't think we can make it to the next town before dark."

"Let me see that," I said. Jewel handed it to me. I looked at it. It looked like a drawing of the land like it would look from high up in the air, with mountains, trees, rivers, lakes, and all that stuff. There were dots, squiggly lines, and words all over.

"You're holding it upside down," said Jewel.

"Oh." I flipped the paper over. It looked about the same to me. I handed it back to her. "We can make it. It's not that far."

"I don't know."

"Come on, Babe, let's go."

***

We kept walking. And walking. And then it was night.

"Sorry," I said.

Jewel sighed.

I froze. Something was out there in the trees.

"What is it?" asked Jewel.

I put a finger to my lips. I turned around every way trying to see whatever it was. A shadow was moving low to the ground between the trees. I got the knife I had borrowed from the church kitchen in my hand and waved Jewel back. Then something shot out from the forest at me with a snarl. I heard a yelp as it slammed into me, knocking all my air out.

Then I was on the ground with something big, heavy, and furry on top of me. It wasn't moving any more. I must have stuck it with my knife without thinking.

"Kroger?" said Jewel. She sounded worried.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

I was still a little dizzy, but I seemed to be all in one piece. I felt some blood trickling down my arm. Thinking about it made it start to hurt.

"Sure, Babe." I squeezed out from under whatever it was and went to Jewel. We stood there staring at it. It looked like a wolf, but wrong, like a stuffed animal someone had kept cramming cotton into even after it was full. Seeing it gave me a bad feeling. "We should get out of here."

***

We finally made it to the town and went to the inn. It was small and old. Jewel paid for a room for us and two bowls of soup with some bread. We sat down at a table to eat. Whatever had happened in the woods had made forget how hungry I was, but now I remembered. I grabbed a spoon and started shoveling soggy vegetables in my face.

"Kroger!" Uh oh. Jewel sounded mad. I guessed it was my manners again. She always wanted me to do things like taking slow, small bites so I could be civ-il-ized or whatever. She grabbed my arm. "You told me you weren't hurt. This is serious. What were you thinking?"

I hung my head down. "Sorry."

"Hold still," she said as she dug through her travel bag.

I stole a peek at my arm. It did look kind of bad. It was ripped open on two sides between the wrist and elbow with blood all over. The cuts were kind of lined up in rows.

Jewel rinsed my arm with water, dried it, rubbed tree sap in the holes, and then wrapped up my arm in bandages. I liked it when she fixed me. The way she did everything slow and careful to make sure it was right made me feel special, like she really cared about me.