Have No Fear

Cover

When my eyes finally open again the next morning, all I can hear the faint sounds of crickets coming from outside the cave,but no rain, meaning that the storm has finally passed over.

I was panicked when I became aware that I was completely alone in there and sit up to have a look around. Conan was nowhere to be seen.

After wrapping one of the blankets around my body like a towel, I go back outside and find that the dead body of the other werewolf is gone too.

Oh god, what if he wasn't really dead? What if he healed and then came to kill Conan in the middle of the night while I was still sleeping?

"Conan!"

I get no response at all except for the crickets chirping all around me. Where the hell is he?

There's only one set of recent footprints on the muddy ground, so I set off running in that direction, not caring that my leg is still aching from last night.

"Conan!"

"Ren!" he finally shouts back and comes running through the trees, covered in mud.

I don't know why I do it, but I wrap my arms tightly around his waist and bury my head in his chest. I was so angry with him for leaving me back there, but mostly relieved that he was okay.

"Where were you?"

"Sorry. I got up a while ago and decided I'd go and bury the body alone before you woke up, so you wouldn't have to see it again".

Well I can't be mad at him anymore after he did that for me, and it also explains why he's covered in so much dirt right now.

"Whose trousers are you wearing?"

"There no real way to sugarcoat this, Ren. I'm wearing a dead man's clothes" he sighs.

"Classy, Conan" I laugh and finally let go of my death grip on him.

"How's the leg, princess?"

"Not too bad. Probably shouldn't have been running around on it so soon, but it feels fine".

"Come on. We have to go bury the rest of that guys things before we head back to the cabin".

"Sounds like a plan".

Not how I usually like to start my mornings. I'd honestly prefer pancakes, but as far as things go, I'm sure this could count as a major bonding experience for us.

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It felt like we were out there in the forest together forever, but when we do finally get back to the cabin, it's only 7am. I was so happy to be back here after everything that happened.

Conan goes back outside and makes a start on getting the generator working again after he manages to repair the lock. It only just occurred to me that we both look like filthy cavemen right now.

No sooner does the electricity come back on inside the cabin, the phone starts ringing and it scares the crap out of me because nobody ever usually calls this early.

"Hello?"

"Oh Ren, thank goodness you're alright" Carol sounds relieved to hear my voice and I'm honestly thrilled to hear hers again after the night I just had.

"Yeah, it's me, everything's fine".

"I heard how bad the storm got out there yesterday. I've been trying to call you since last night, but the line was dead?"

Conan comes back inside and must be able to guess who's on the phone right now.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad, we're both okay though. The power went out and I told Conan not to go outside to fix the generator until the rain stopped, so that was technically my fault. Sorry if I had you worrying".

Quick thinking as always, Ren. I'm pretty sure I could sell shit to a fertiliser salesman by this point.

"As long as you're both okay, then it's fine".

"We're great. Do you want to talk to Conan now? I was just about to hop in the shower anyway?"

"Sure, put him on".

I hand the phone over to him and go upstairs to clean all the dirt off myself. It takes a long time, but eventually I look like my normal clean self again.

When I get back downstairs, Conan seems different somehow. Did his mom say something, or did he tell her what happened last night?

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll be better when I wash all this damn dirt off me" he definitely sounds like he's mad about something.

He's normally so upfront and annoyingly honest about stuff, so why would he be avoid telling me what's wrong now? Was it to do with his mom, or something else entirely?

I wait patiently for him to come back downstairs, and he's taking forever. All the while, I'm here trying my best to clean Carol's raincoat, but there's no hope for one of those rain boots.

It's easy enough to clean off mud, but explaining those deep bite marks in the rubber would be a lot more difficult. I'll go out into town right now because the stores will be opening up soon.

"Where are you going?" Conan asks, already coming down the stairs when he sees me grabbing my car keys from the bowl next to the front door.

"I need to go to town and get your mom some more rain boots because her other ones are ruined".

"You're not going out there".

"And why's that exactly?"

"Because I said so, Ren!"

Yeah, he's definitely pissed off about something and he's taking it out on me.

"Why the hell are you shouting at me?"

"This is all your damn fault!"

Whoa! What the fuck is his problem?

I don't appreciate being yelled at like that, but seeing as last night was so stressful and probably restless for him, I'll give him a while to calm down and I won't overreact.

Well I'm definitely starting to the see the similarities between him and Ambrose more and more, because he soon gets in his mom's truck and leaves me here confused, just like his dad did.