Fox

Chapter 2 - In Their House

We reached their house within 30 minutes of leaving the forest. As soon as the car stopped, the boys in the front seats got out and rushed to the doors on either side of me, holding them open for Doc and North. Doc got out first, as North had the majority of my body curled up on his lap. He smiled at me as he lifted my head up and replaced it on the car seat. North gathered me up in his arms and carefully stepped out of the car. Surrounded by the others, he carried me into the house. Doc had gone on ahead and was ready for us when we all walked in.

"Nate, I need you to grab me some more lukewarm water, get as many different bowls and pots as possible. Luke, you help him. Silas, go get me some kitchen roll or anything to try to absorb some of the blood coming out. Gabe, Vic, go grab some food and a bowl of cold water for our little patient here. North-" Doc was cut off by me growling. He grinned at me. "North, I need you to stay here with me, Kota and Owen and keep the little lady calm." I relaxed, my body sagging because of the amount of energy I used to simply growl and sit up straighter. Doc seemed to notice this at the same moment as North.

"Doc, we've gotta do something!" North growled out. I was impressed. I didn't realise humans could make that noise.

While I was musing, North had moved me over to a table that had been cleared of everything but the simple white tablecloth. I winced involuntarily; I was going to make a mess of that pretty fast. North felt me wince back and looked down at me in concern. I tried to smile at him, pulling my lips back from my teeth. He looked shocked, then gave me a soft smile in return. Then, he gently placed me on the table. I squeaked when my injured leg hit the table, and he quickly picked me back up again. The other men in the room were watching us closely. Doc came straight up to me when he heard the noise of pain.

"What's wrong, hmm?" He asked. It was meant to be rhetorical, I'm sure, but I moved my left back leg to bring his attention to it. His eyebrows raised, but he walked around North to get a better view. When he did, he cursed. "Shit. We need to get that wound sorted out ASAP, or she might not pull through this." When the others looked at him in confusion, he elaborated. "She's got a cut going down her leg, and it's bleeding very heavily. I think an artery may have been nicked - we need to patch this wound up first, then we can work down the list of other wounds." The others nodded.

"Wait!" Kota called out suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him, but he continued unperturbed. "What about the wound on her side?" Doc turned pale. He rapidly moved up my body, checking for the wound that Silas had mentioned earlier.

"Bollocks." He cursed again. "Right then, here's what we're going to do. Owen, you need to stop the bleeding from her side. Currently, the leg wound is slightly more pressing, but they both need to be stopped. Just treat it like a human laceration, you have First Aid training so just do the best you can until I've sorted out her leg. North, once you put her down I need you to hold her down, but stay where she can see you - for some reason she likes you more than the rest of us." I whined and shook my head restlessly, making Doc laugh slightly at me. "I'm kidding Pookie, don't stress over it." He turned to Kota. "You need to hold her down as well, but wherever North isn't." Nate and Luke walked slowly into the room as he was telling everyone what to do, each burdened with two large bowls filled with water. Doc smiled tightly. "Good. I need you two as support for Mr. B. and I. Pick a person to stand behind and grab things for. Everyone move fast!"

With that last statement, lots of things began happening at once. North softly lay me down on the table, making sure I was leaning on my uninjured side. He then walked around the table to crouch in front of my face, large arms wrapping around my body. Kota moved to the opposite side and placed gentle hands on my back leg and hips. Doc moved to grab some of the sterilisation wipes and began to clean my leg wound, pausing every time I flinched. Owen - or Mr. B. - knelt down in front of my exposed stomach. I shifted restlessly, and he looked me dead in the eyes.

"Don't worry. I promise I won't hurt you." He told me, so seriously that I found myself nodding to him slightly. He gave me a millimetre smile and turned back to his work. The others had stopped to watch the interaction but quickly moved back to what they should've been doing when I relaxed again.

I tried to keep quiet while they were patching me up, but when Doc poured some water on my leg to get rid of most of the dirt and dried blood, I couldn't help making a long, drawn out whine in pain. North kept his eyes locked on mine and his arms around me, trying to keep me from moving about too much, but it didn't help very much. It was only when Silas returned and added his arms to the effort that I finally stopped moving as much.

Owen was carefully bandaging my stomach wound by the time Doc had finished with my leg and moved on to my head wound. Doc had already told the boys surrounding me that they needed to clean off my paws and other legs, and to tell him if there was anything particularly nasty-looking anywhere. North went to stand and help them, but I started whining and struggling to go with him, so they decided it would be better for everyone if he just stayed where I could see him.

North kept eye contact with me the entire time the others were working on me, not looking away even when he was talking to people. I tried my hardest to fight the drowsiness that was beginning to hit me, but I couldn't stop my eyes from closing. Listening to their soft voices around me was relaxing me more than I thought was possible. I felt safe with them, something I don't think I'd ever experienced before.

I felt myself continuing to relax as they continued to help me and talk to each other over my head. My eyes fluttered open and closed a few times, but in the end, the tiredness that I'd been fighting the entire time defeated me. The last thing I remembered was North's face, the small smile that he gave me when he saw me finally give in to sleep, his whispered words in my ear.

"Sleep, honey, you're safe here."

----

I came into consciousness slowly. I could hear voices coming from somewhere near me. I tried to move, to subtly slink away before someone noticed me, but found I couldn't move. My eyes shot open. I looked around the room frantically before I remembered what had happened. I looked down at myself and found I was encased in blankets. I struggled to work out where they could have come from, but I was too confused and sleepy from the mixture of drugs and blood loss. Slowly, the words coming from the room next door began to penetrate my tired brain.

"...Honestly, it looks like someone has been deliberately hurting her. There's no way those wounds are from living in the woods. Her ribs have been broken before and haven't managed to heal right, she's got scars all over her body, and there are bruises on her face. I didn't even know that foxes could get bruises!" One voice said. It sounded like Doc, but I couldn't be sure because of how high his voice got at the end of his sentence.

"Foxes can't bruise." Another voice claimed. I flinched at the words. If I stayed here, they would definitely find me out. I needed to leave. Now. I struggled violently with the blankets that were surrounding me, making more noise than I wanted. There was nothing I could do about that. I kept my ears perked, listening to where the boys were. It sounded like they were still in the other room, continuing with their conversation.

I tried to shift back into my human form, but I was too weak. I sighed regretfully, mentally apologising for what I was about to do to their blankets. I unsheathed my claws and made quick work of cutting through the bundle that stopped me from escaping.

When I was free, I paused for a second. Was it really worth running away from these people? They seemed nice, and they'd saved my life. Running away seemed... rude, almost. It was certainly no way to repay my saviours.

"We can't just keep collecting stray dogs, gentlemen." One of the boys said, cutting through my thoughts. Instantly, they all began to yell. I froze, my mind flashing back to my mother. Pulling myself out of the memories, I found I was shaking violently. That decided me. I needed to leave, and they didn't really want me with them, so I didn't need to feel bad about leaving.

I stood on shaky legs, then jumped down from the table that I was laying on. My legs collapsed when I hit the floor, and I let out a pained grunt. I stilled immediately, listening to see if they'd heard me. They were all still yelling at one another, so I assumed I was in the clear. I slowly stood up again, then began limping to the open door at the back of the room.

With one last look back, I stepped out of the door.