Foxfire

Chapter 2

I made a lame excuse for a camp that night, I got the fire mostly set up but I was too tired to finish it. I fell into a fitful, cold sleep on the bag that still held the parachute. When I woke in the morning the first thing I saw was two big, bright, green eyes. I thought I was looking into a mirror at first, but then they blinked when I didn't. I knew something was up. I started to sit up but the thing over me let out a low growl and a short, sharp bark. So I laid back down and looked around with my eyes, what I saw shocked me, it was a red wolf. I gasped and made a strange noise between a whimper and a squeak, at the sound the wolf ran off.

I sat there for a second then sat up, highly confused. I looked around to see where it ran off to, but I didn't see anything except a rabbit on the side of the clearing. My stomach growled so loud I was surprised the rabbit didn't hear it, so I grabbed a rock a threw it with all my strength. Which was very little, but surprisingly enough, it bounced off the rabbit's head and landed about three feet away from me. The rabbit sat there for a second then fell on its side. I walked over to it, made sure it was dead, then dragged it over to where I had started making the fire. I found that the bag had a book of matches in it so I finished making the fire and cooked the rabbit. Thank goodness the bag was waterproof. While I was cooking, the wolf that found me earlier came to the edge of the clearing and just sat down. I looked over at him and saw that he was incredibly skinny, I took pity on him and tossed him a rabbit leg. He stared at it for a second, looked up at me then wagged his tail and ate it.

After I finished eating the rabbit I heard a rustling in the bushes. I looked and saw the wolf walking out. In his mouth was a small bundle. He slowly walked up to me looking sheepish and scared. I sat completely still. When he reached about a foot away from me, he dropped his bundle. It was a branch full of small red berries. I later found they were rowan berries. I slowly reached over to grab the berries and the wolf slowly backed up. I picked them up and looked over at the wolf, "thank you." I tell him knowing deep down he could understand at least my tone of voice. He lays down and rests his head on his paws. "I think I should give you a name if you keep showing up" I said to him, Realizing I was getting a little lonely and the urge to talk to someone or something was getting a little overwhelming, I thought if the wolf hadn't shown up I probably would have started talking to a tree.

I think for a moment. "How about Rolf it means red wolf and you are obviously a red wolf." He gives a bark then rolled over. "I will take that as a yes" I said chuckling. For the rest of the time I was in the woods I hunted with Rolf. Rolf usually killing the animals because I didn't have a knife or anything sharp other than a few rocks. So I put myself in charge of cooking and keeping the camp clean.

One day things went different, we started the day the same, boil some water to drink, eat some meat and berries, clean up and go hunt for food. But while we were out I saw a forest fire on a mountain nearby and Rolf ran off to it. I called out to him but he kept on running. So I finished up and went back to camp and waited for him to come back. The next day I looked at my little calendar I had made out of bark and saw next week was my birthday. It would be the second birthday I spent in the woods. That meant I have been out in the forest for about 2 years. I thought it would be a great 16th birthday present if somebody human found me.

While I was out hunting the next day, Rolf came up to me right where he left. "Just where have you been?" I ask him. He looks at me and keeps walking. He looked just like he did when he left, except he had a few singed hairs. Rolf was walking towards the camp so we headed back to camp. While we were goofing off and wrestling Rolf forgot to curl his lips around his teeth so he wouldn't bite me and he got me right on the leg. That's when things started to get weird. I could have sworn I heard him say sorry once or twice. 'My imagination must be running away with me again.' I think.