Bitch: Transformation #WATTYS 2018

Chapter 13 - Long Walk

Apoc barked.

I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

Ok sure, I'm probably safer with him, than without. Not many forest creatures want to tangle with a timber wolf - apex predator and all. I tried to run towards him but had to settle for a fast hobble instead. He watched until I had closed the distance and then set a slightly slower pace. He was following a tree line. He would trot off ahead from time to time and would come back to see how far I'd gotten and to wait for me.

Several times when he came back I was resting up against a tree.

He would whine at me or nudge me with his nose to get me moving again.

I lost track of time, it felt like we moved this way for days. By the end of the day I was delirious with hunger and so sick of eating snow... it made my lips cracked and chapped. They burned all the time now.

I collapsed under a tree. Snow flurries floated down silently making the world small and quiet again. When Apoc came back he sniffed around for awhile, then satisfied, he dug a hole in a small drift next to some trees and came to drag me in. I tottered to my feet - I was determined to do it on my own. I got into the small den and lay down. Apoc put his head in and looked at me.

I awoke to Apoc next to me with part of a rabbit dangling from his jaws. I looked away, I was starving but I couldn't do it. Apoc backed out of the den with the rabbit still in his mouth. I heard the unmistakable crunch of bone. And as much as I hate to admit it, I was salivating.

What was wrong with me? Raw rabbit? Maybe Dr. Shen had been successful after all. I was no longer human.