Rabid Mate (REWRITING A FEW CHAPTERS)

Chapter 4

I didn't wake up because I was fully rested - I woke up because my violent shivering got to the point where I couldn't sleep through it any longer. I was so cold.

I opened my eyes to nearly pitch black darkness. My only savior was an almost full moon on a cloudless night filtering it's light through the hole in the top of the cave.

I started to stand slowly; the cold had stiffened my joints, I felt much older than I was at this point. I wanted to explore now that I was awake, but the limited light made that impossible. That, and the fact that I couldn't feel my toes.

"What now?" I asked my wolf.

Now we make fire. Go back to the opening and gather sticks of all sizes, but don't go more than a foot or two from the opening, we don't know what - or who - may be out there. Get as much as you can of the smallest twigs as well, we need those to start the fire. The least amount of trips to the top as possible, the better. If you must, use your shirt as a bag of sorts.

Going back up, the trip didn't seem as long as it did coming down, but it used up more of my energy. After I got as many sticks as I could hold, using my shirt as my wolf had suggested, I made my way back and dumped my findings on the ground in front of me.

Move it to the middle of the chamber. Good, now take the thickest stick - there the one with the dent in the middle. Take another stick about the same length and put the point in the dent, like a T, and put it between your palms, fingers out. Twist the stick back and forth as fast as you can until you see smoke in the dent, then as fast as you can put a small bundle of the smallest twigs in there and blow until there's fire and throw it on the pile of sticks you gathered. Keep the smaller twigs out of it though, in case you need to restart it.

I was very doubtful that the instructions my wolf gave me would make a fire, but she had kept me going this far. Doing as she said, I was very clumsy at first. She had to give me some pointers, but eventually I got into it. After twenty minutes of no results and plenty of splinters, I almost got it. The smoke appeared and I put the twigs in and blew, but I blew too hard and the twigs flew out of the now decent sized hole and the embers I'd created died.

Forty minutes after that, I had a small fire going at last. I sat as close as possible to warm up and put my shirt back on as I tended to my tortured hands.

I don't sense any danger nearby. I believe we will be safe here.

My eyes teared up in relief. I don't think I could have handled any more running right yet.

"Ok, so what do we do now? We need food, clothing, and water. And I want to explore the cave."

After we figure the other things out, you can grab a stick from the fire and explore. About the food and water, we should be fine until morning. I don't sense danger but I don't want to risk it. With the clothing, I feel like I should be strong enough for us to Change tomorrow. I've been gaining strength every hour since I first got through to you.

My heart started pounding in my chest at her last words. To speak to your wolf and have some of their abilities at my age was one thing - but to Change? I couldn't wait. But... it's supposed to be extremely painful with a small chance of dying in the process. Does my age make that chance bigger? I asked my wolf about it.

I'm not sure, but being able to talk to you and do everything we've done together so far this early seems like more of a sign of strength, not weakness. I think we'll be fine.

Reassured now, I stood and grabbed a stick from the fire, one end of it ablaze for light. I turned and walked to the wall that held the opening, starting from there and going to the right to check out the cave. When I had almost completed my walk around, I saw that the wall jutted out, hiding another passage. It was impossible to see standing by the cave opening. it was pretty narrow, but more than enough to get my small frame into, and I was just shorty enough that my head brushed to ceiling of it. I had to go in sideways, holding my stick in front of me to be sure of where I was going.

The passage went about thirty or so feet in, with an even steeper decline than the passage to get into the first chamber. I slipped a few times, which was very uncomfortable sideways, almost making me do a full split. When I finally stepped into the new chamber, I noticed it was so much warmer than the other, and I stood relishing the feeling with my eyes closed.

A few seconds later I registerd the sound of dripping water. I opened my eyes and walked further into the room, paying so much attention to the walls looking for the source of the noise that I almost fell over the raised ground before me. Holding my stick further down to see what it was, I saw it was an incline that led to the lip of a pool of water a little less than a foot above the level ground. It wasn't huge, maybe two bathtubs wide and one bathtub long, shaped almost like a teardrop. Steam rose up from the surface, and I wondered if it was safe to get into.

It will be fine to bathe in, I smell nothing dangerous. We can also drink from it if we can find something to take some water out to cool down.

"That won't be necessary, though, right? We won't be here long enough to set up that sort of system, and we can just find a stream or lake nearby."

I got no response, and shrugged it off. I was too excited to wash myself after all this time to worry about her silence.  Getting out of my clothes, I dipped a foot into the pool. It was a little too hot right off, having been so cold before. It scalded my skin and I felt like giving up on the idea for a moment. When my foot got used to the tempature, it was actually a very comfortable feeling. Slowly I eased in completely, giving my body time to adjust. After I was in fully, I saw that the pool was actually pretty deep. The water came up to my chin if I stood on my toes. I made a round along the edge of the pool, and at the tip of the teardrop shape, the wall jutted out below the surface, making an almost perfect place to sit. I just had to tip my head back against the lip to keep my face out of the water.

Almost an hour after getting in, I stood on the makeshift seat to step out. I felt so much more relaxed it was almost unbelievable. Putting on my dirty clothes didn't make me feel any better, though. I couldn't wait to be rid of them. I rung my hair out and twisted it into a bun to let it dry without soaking my clothes completely. Picking up my stick, which was still lit, miraculously, I did a round of the chamber. A few feet to the right of the tunnel to this chamber was a small doorway type opening. I didn't have to turn sideways or walk through any tunnels, but I did have to crouch pretty low to get in. The room I entered was on the small side, no bigger than 8 feet long and 9 feet across, but was warmed by the steaming pool I just came from. This would be a great place to sleep.

I left that room and went back to search the rest of the chamber with the pool. There was nothing else, besides some spiders and other bugs. I didn't mind them, the basement had been full of them.

"When do we leave? And where should we go next? I have no one I remember that would take us in."

Actually, I don't think we should leave. This place is perfect, and safe. I was thinking that we could take one of the larger rocks in the first chamber and drag it to the entrance down here so that while we sleep, no other animal can enter, and we can hear an intruder.

"But.. why? I want to go out into the world. I don't want to hide the rest of my life! I want to be normal."

Did you ever question why I came to you so early? Why I had us risk everything to escape those vampires, finally?

"I thought you came to protect me, to get me out so we could live a happy life."

That's part of it, of course. But it took a lot more than that to help me break through to you. Much, much more. I came to you so we could escape... and protect our pups.