Full Boar

Chapter 4: A Very Early Breakfast

Adrianna was a pretty sedate person.

The wildest she had ever been had been in college, where she used a fake ID to get a few beers at a bar with a friend. She remembered laughing a bit too much that night, hitting on a guy more than she should have, and waking up the next morning with a headache that felt like someone was trying to tighten a vise around her skull. That she had an 8 AM Calculus class that morning didn't help much. But that was four beers, and Adrianna was a lightweight back then (she had a bit more experience with alcohol since, swapping Pabst for Pinot Noir, though she was still in light shape).

She had never woken up outside of her bed, but this seemed to be a morning for new experiences.

Normally, she wore some flannel pajamas to bed, and an old T-shirt that was light enough to breathe; she liked to huddle in the blankets and keep the air cool. Right now, as she stirred into wakefulness, she became aware of three things.

One, she wore a man's overcoat, and it had been used. It smelled of whiskey and cigar smoke, reminding her of her grandfather. Underneath that, she wore nothing, and her skin felt oddly tender and tingly, as if every inch of her had been rubbed raw. Her left arm felt colder than her right; when she glanced at it, she saw three large gashes in the sleeve... almost like clawmarks.

Two, she was ravenously hungry. It was almost all-consuming, this hunger. She needed to eat something, and felt like she had just run a marathon first thing in the morning.

Three, she wasn't alone.

Adrianna looked up from where she lay, barely moving her head, peering at him through half-closed eyelids. He sat in front of a small fire, and the sputtering flame cast a glow on his thick beard and tangle of dark hair. In the pale light that filtered through the trees above, she couldn't tell if he was wearing a shirt or not, but she thought she saw a pile of rags about his waist.

Trees?

She sat up, and the overcoat nearly slipped open. "Where am I?" She paused. "Who are you? What happened?"

The man regarded her, before poking at the fire with a stick. "Well," he half-rumbled, half-growled, "the second question's easiest. My name is Mason. I'm... let's just say I'm a friend. It's simpler that way."

"Where am I?" Adrianna repeated. "And what happened to my clothes?" She paused. "You... you didn't take them, did you?"

Mason shook his head. "Your outfit, unfortunately, didn't survive last night. You're wearing my coat, meanwhile, until we can find you something more suitable. As to where we are..." He glanced about, before shrugging a pair of massive shoulders. "My best guess, judging by how far it felt... the New Jersey Pine Barrens."

"What?" She glanced around. She saw the pine trees, the brown carpet of needles that had been her bed, the soft dawn light that filtered through the trees. "How did I get here?"

"It's going to be hard to believe, but you ran. Well, ran... or galloped, or loped. Loped is probably the best word."

"You're insane... that's about—"

"Fifty miles." Mason nodded. "I imagine you're pretty hungry."

"Yeah... but... no, this is crazy." She stood up. The shed pine needles were soft beneath her feet. "It's more likely that you drugged me, or something. Slipped something into a drink, brought me out here." She began to back away.

"That's a scenario, but there's one other thing. You were bitten about a month ago. Bite never healed well. Sound familiar?"

Adrianna glanced at her leg. Her perfectly smooth, healthy leg. "So it was a leg bite? Arm for me."