Wolv

15 - Dying of the light

The setting sun found me at the river leading to Brad Lake, exhausted and strained from an endless day of paddling. Nadie had refused to wake up; she still lay in a pile at the back of the canoe, sleeping. Behind the canoe, the kayak Trish had given me trailed: I'd lashed it to the canoe with a rope I'd found in Nadie's supplies.

"C'mon, Nadie. Wake up." I mumbled to myself as I continued through the glassy waters. I didn't want to take her with me back to the island, but I didn't want to leave her until I knew that she would, at the very least, be okay. So far, she hadn't uttered so much as a peep...and I didn't know how much longer I had left to babysit.

I hugged the rocky shoreline, looking for a place to leave her and her canoe. I rounded a bend in the river, and Brad Lake shimmered on the horizon at the end of the river. Abruptly, the shore to my right dropped away, revealing the presence of two more rivers.

I had reached the fork.

This is where it all went south. If only I'd just taken the this river, instead of the one in the center the first time around! I stopped paddling and stared apprehensively at the central river. I had to go back down there to reach my island.

Reluctantly, I swung the bow over and paddled forward, heading back towards the rapids that had so viciously broken me just sixteen days ago.

So much had changed since then. I felt like I'd been thrown into a strange new world, one that had no right to exist. Werewolves, no matter what anyone chose to call them, were only supposed to exist in the imaginations of story tellers, or in old legends from days long past.

Yet, here I was, undergoing an impossible transformation, while being hunted by a grief-crazed doctor. I'd been plucked from my world, thrown into this one so violently, without my consent or my knowledge, and then left to fend for myself.

Thunder began to rumble in the distance as I approached the rapids once more. The water began moving more swiftly, and I paddled over to the shore, looking for the clearing where I'd tried to land the first time. It slid into view, and I beached the canoe.

I looked over at the raging waters ruefully, smirking dryly. I knew what lay beneath those foamy waters; I knew what it felt like to traverse the torrent below.

"Unnnnnh......" A groan sounded from behind me, and I whipped around to face Nadie. She groggily lifted a hand to her face, and blinked her eyes open, staring at me through glazed pupils.

"....Humfrey? What happened...to your face?" she mumbled, slurring her words like a drunk. I didn't answer; instead, I pulled the canoe up onto the rocks, then grabbed the tow line and reeled my kayak in.

"You look...different. What happened to your lip?" she continued babbling from the canoe, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "What's with your lip?" I bristled at her question, and frowned briefly at her. I always got a little testy whenever anyone made a comment about my cleft.

"Go back to sleep, Nadie." I untied the tow rope from my kayak, and prepared to heft the boat over my head. I guess I'll leave her here. She's awake, after all. I let go of the boat and walked over to her. She pushed herself into a sitting position, only to collapse back down into the canoe, giggling loudly at her own failed attempt.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud." I snatched a map of the park from her canoe and circled our position on it. In big letters, I wrote "You are here" on the map, then tucked it under her arm. She lifted her hand up to brush me away, and grazed her fingers on my claws.

"Ow!" Her eyes sprung open, and she shook her head, no doubt trying to clear it. When she looked back at me, her eyes were sharp once again. She cocked her head and smiled weakly at me. "You've...changed."