Wild Desperation

Chapter 25

                                    Sang

I slept like the dead, until a pounding ache in my head woke me around 4 in the morning, I still felt exhausted even with the 7 hours worth of sleep. I knew the next destination the guys were shooting for and I wanted to just be there already so I could rest. I lowered Arrow down from the tree before clamouring down after him slowly, I stretched slightly but my body protested by aching even more. I drank some water before going off to check my traps from last night, shivering at the slight chill in the early morning air. I found some birds and rabbits in a few snares and after Arrow okayed them I cleaned them before stuffing the meat into a bag for later.

 I knew the guys were still sleeping now but I had no intentions of waiting another 4 hours to start traveling when I could get a head start now. I decided to scribble out a quick note, well carve it out in the bark of the tree I'd spent the night in. When I finished I put my knife away with a quick nod to my handy work before mounting up to start out for the day. I knew by my map I was heading towards some Johns Mountain Wildlife park of sorts about 40 miles away and every step that Nightmare seemed to take brought a flash of pain to the pounding headache behind my eyes, but I could handle pain easy enough. By the time 6 o'clock came around I had enough of the riding and decided to dismount and walk alongside the stallion to stretch my aching legs, Arrow nosing my thigh with a whimper.

 "I know big guy, I'm tired too but we should be there in another three or four hours." I sighed, hopefully sooner. I walked a few miles before pulling myself back up on Nightmare's back a bit reluctantly as I urged him on, the pounding in my head was only getting worse and my whole body ached no matter how I tried to sit atop the stallion. I finally just accepted that the pain was here to stay and kept moving, I was so tired that I was finding it hard to keep my eyes open. I knew I needed to stay awake and alert in my unfamiliar surroundings but that didn't stop my eyelids from drooping as I fought away my exhaustion with the shake of my head. At 7:30 I about fell off my Nightmare's back from nodding off, it wasn't a hard decision for me to make up my mind to walk the rest of the way.

 I was starting to feel a little dizzy but shook it off knowing it was probably from not eating much last night or anything this morning. I jumped slightly when Arrow yipped, the sound startled me since I'd never really heard him yip like that before. "What's the matter big guy, what's wrong?" I asked as I rubbed at my tired eyes, he whined and nudged me with his muzzle again and again in response. "Hey! What's the big idea, are you trying to knock me over?!" I yelped out when one of his shoves had me stumbling a few steps, he whined back softly. "Arrow will you stop already, please!?" I hissed out as he tripped me up after a particularly rough shove with his head against my leg, I yelped out in surprise as his nose brushed against my cheek.

 "Sheesh big guy, your nose is freezing!" I shoved him away before regaining my footing, I steadied myself with Nightmare's flank when another round of dizziness swept through. It was a long long walk after that, with Arrow's pestering and my aches and pains but at half past 10 we finally stumbled into the little part of forest I'd heard the guys mention last night. I sank to the dirt at the base of a nearby tree with a sigh, Nightmare came over and sniffed at my hair which I found a bit unusual since he usually went straight to grazing. "What has gotten into you boys today hmm?" I puffed out as I struggled to keep my eyes open, reaching out my aching arm to pat the stallions nose. 

I sighed as I let my arm drop back down into my lap, it was strange how the sun was up so high but I still felt so cold. A whine accompanied by Arrow nudging at me again made me smile slightly to him despite the pounding pains in my head and body. "You going to help keep me warm, big guy? That's nice. I think I'm going to take a quick nap until the guys show up. You keep an eye out, okay?" I yawned out as I scratched his ears lightly, a soft whimper was the last bit I heard before darkness enveloped me into nothingness.