Medical Terms [Carlisle Cullen]

4 - Carlisle Cullen [Twilight] Pt4

[ Part Four] 

"Blood is really warm,
it's like drinking hot chocolate
but with more screaming."
― Ryan Mecum, Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry for your...Brains

A medical professional would probably term my pain as "shock". That is, an acute medical condition as a result of a rapid fall in blood pressure due to severe burns, allergic reactions, sudden emotional stress or a loss of blood. A loss of blood. I had all the symptoms - cold, pallid skin, rapid pulse, dilated pupils - except I was too busy screaming to notice it. 

I still hurt inside - everywhere in my anatomy there seemed to be a hollow ache. An absense. The thick, moist forest air invaded my nose until I was choking on the scent of pine needles and animal smells. It was a sensation that surrounded me, claimed me and left me dizzier than an addict after a hit of Ketamine; I staggered drunkenly through the forest and my mind remained uselessly blank : how did I get there? Where was there? 

My chest was weak and clogged, but I didn't care about it. The only thing that worried me was the sharp constricting pain in my throat. I was so thirsty . I had tried to drink from a babbling stream but when the water hit my lips, the remains were vomited up before it could cool my throat. I was so desperate for liquid, for a cold transparent relief - and hungry, too. But there wasn't a thing in this forsaken forest for me to eat - and the trees stretched out endlessly like the teeth of some enormous beast about to devour me. No end in sight. I continued along with my punch-drunk swagger, shivering but not cold. 

Time had no dominion in this wilderness, but I intuitively knew it had been about an hour until I heard something - and smelled something, too. A foreign, heady stench that wobbled in the air as if it was rushing toward me at an unimaginable speed. Something primal kicked in and I reeled on my feet, pounding my heels into the loamy soil until the foliage around me started to blur. The experience was bloodcurling! I shrieked and tripped on a careless root, tumbling onto a carpet of leaves that did nothing to soften the blow of my fall. Over my distressed whimpers, a low rugged howl pierced the air and I moved desperately to limp away from it. Eventually, my foot started to feel better and the numbing turned into pins-and-needles, but the hideous scent of the unnameable beast intensified in my nose as I struggled not to dry heave. Suddenly, something large and furry pounded the earth in front of me. I froze as the enormous beast turned around and stared me straight in eyes. Its eyes were golden, but not like the element Au - it was a gold of cataclysmic eruptions of suns as they swallowed entire universes. 

The beast howled. 

I screamed. 

Falling backwards onto my hind and scrambling away from the monster, whose bared fangs were ringed with foam, I shaked uncontrollably. The creature - who resembled a gargantuan wolf - only tilted its head, either in a gesture of confusion or pride at the discovery of its weak prey. I skittered to my useless feet and the wolf released a spine-shattering growl. I grimaced and took off running, trying my hardest to run as impossibly fast as I had before. The wolf was never far behind me but eventually I could smell and hear the sound of an entire wolf pack following in the hunt. 

This part of the forest started to thin out, which meant that less animals should be hidden, but my nose detected other scents - less earthen, lighter and more fragrant - like immortals roses that never lost their scent. Suddenly, I collided with something invisible and screamed blue murder as it electrocuted me like a wiry net of eels. When the invisible power detracted and shoved me to my feet, I could only stumble. My head was turning too much. . . 

The wolves crowded around me suddenly, howling so loudly and fiercely that it hurt my ears. I was forced to breathe through my mouth because their "wet dog stench" was so bad - overbearingly rustic and earthy, like inhaling dust. They neared me proudly, noses thrust to the heavens and shaggy coats gleaming with pride - their prey had sunk to its haunches, back pressed against tree as it whimpered in defeat.