A Continuation of The Journals Nobody Reads

There Are Apparently a Lot of Ambulances in our Horoscope

There would be no pack this year; Case and I were officially on our own now, and the territory that once belonged to over twenty wolves was now ours alone. That didn't men shapeshifters weren't in the area; there were some small mammals, and Trev was with us, but wolves, other than us, had seemed to disappear.

We were hiking parallel to a backroad at around one in the afternoon when a wail made Case look to her left. A young ermine shifter was in the road, seemingly oblivious to the danger as an SUV sped towards him; the driver either not seeing him or not caring.

The ermine's mother was dancing on the side of the road, simply lacking the strength or speed needed to at least get the kid out of the way in time. In a flash, Case was down on all fours, in her red, black and white panda shepherd form, and racing right out into the car's path.

She crashed into the ermine, throwing him almost into the woods on the other side, right before the screech of tires and a sickening thump brought my attention back to the road. Another bump and a click were heard, before the screeching tires stopped and the driver for out of the car.

Time stopped when I saw Case's form on the asphalt, blood seeping out from her mouth and nose, eerily still. Trev later told me I'd screamed her name, though I don't remember doing so. What I do remember is racing out into the road next, the skin coming off my knees as I slid down in front of her, checking her breathing and heartrate.

I didn't find either one.

I'd spent around 9 months studying nursing before giving up in the realization that I didn't have the commitment to take on the medical field, and my mentor's words echoed in my mind as I worked.

Words like spinal injury and shock were most helpful though, and in the back of my mind I pieced together possible problems even as I closed Case's muzzle, wrapped my mouth around her nose, and blew.

I felt rather than saw her chest expand as I did so. I continued, struggling for my own breath as well as hers, stopping to avoid passing out and to pump whatever was left of her heart- I couldn't help remembering that her first pet as a child had been a german shepherd, and it had been hit by a car so suddenly that its heart had literally burst.

I shook the thoughts away and kept going, while in the background my mind barely registered Trev talking and the driver of the SUV calling someone or something. Trev must've given him the number to someone at an actual hospital, who was trained to deal with shapeshifters, because an ambulance and everything arrived and EMTs, rather than question why they were picking up a do, just went on as if they were treating a normal person. As if they knew they were.

My vision was blurry. My lungs and tongue hurt. Probably from the oxygen deprivation, said the medical nerd in my head. I stooped over just long enough to heave up everything I'd eaten in the past twelve hours, then sank down a few feet away, unable to stay conscious any longer.