Out There

Chapter 9: Onward

"I still can't believe we didn't notice they were rogues," Lianna says.

We were back into the city in our human forms. Our wolves were still pretty injured from the fight, and our human forms were pretty banged up as well.

"I know. It must have been whatever they were cooking in that kitchen, it just smelled so good we didn't think about the possibility of danger. But at least we took care of those guys so they won't hurt anyone else," I reply.

"Guys, look," Jake says. He points to an appliance store where a TV showed a news anchor standing in front of the cafe.

The subtitles read, "...escaped the scene. The three suspects are believed to be early 20's. One suspect is a man, about six foot three inches tall with dark brown hair and a partial beard. The other male suspect is about six foot tall with lighter brown hair. The final suspect is female, five foot seven with blonde hair. If you see these people, please call the police immediately, do not approach they are considered armed and dangerous..."

I watched the program with dread. I glanced at the other two and sighed as I looked into the store. I saw a man behind the counter talking into a cell phone. He was staring at us as he talked on the phone.

"Hey, we need to get out of here, now," I say as I turn around. Jake and Lianna notice the man and agree. We began running back towards the forest, where we could make a fast escape. We began hearing sirens getting closer and closer to us.

"Almost there!" Lianna says from the other side of Jake. She was right, I could already feel the air getting cleaner the closer we got to the edge of town.

After a few minutes, we were deep into the forest. I was breathing heavier than normal, most likely because of how polluted the city air was.

"Let's stop for a minute. Thomas, I think you should change your shoulder bandage," Jake says. I look at my shoulder and see the shirt a bit red from where the bandage bled through.

"You're right. Lianna, would you mind?" I ask her.

She nods as she gets more bandages from their pack. We usually asked Lianna to help with injuries, mainly because her mom was the pack's doctor. Naturally, Lianna would have learned some tricks of the trade from her mom.

"I think we can all agree to stay out of cities as much as possible. What do you think?" I ask them.

"I agree. That was chaotic, and we only made it about a fourth of the way there," Jake says. He was more of a map guy, so of course he knew that as he looked at the map in his hands.

I guess you could say I was more the leader, but I felt more unsure of myself than either of them did. Or at least, I assumed so.

After a few moments, my bandage was changed. I stood up and looked at them.

"Guys, if you don't want to stay and help me anymore, I understand. We aren't even a fraction of the way there and we already got into a huge fight. Plus, we're fugitives now," I say while looking at my hands.

Lianna sighs. I could practically hear the eye roll in her tone.

"Thomas, say that you want to do this alone one more time, and I am going to rip off your ears," she says. She wouldn't actually do that, but I got the point.

Jake chuckles and says, "she's probably crazy enough to do it."

"You're next," she quipped back.

Their argument made me laugh a bit. I already felt much better. Just then, my stomach growled loudly. Lianna looked at me.

"We should keep going. We can stop in a little while and find lunch. But we should get away from this town," she says.

I nodded as Jake said, "I agree. Let's go that way." He points in a direction.

I stood up without a disagreement. I was smiling a bit. Jake and Lianna were loyal friends.

We walked for about an hour before stopping to hunt. Lianna insisted I stay in my human form so I didn't make my shoulder start bleeding again. I protested, but she ignored me.

Jake set off to find food while Lianna and I started gathering wood for a fire. We didn't go far from each other, still a bit shaken from the encounter with the rogues.

Jake came back shortly after we got the fire going. He had a deer in his jaws. He set it down and left to go shift behind the bush he had left his clothes behind earlier. Lianna and I set to skinning and cleaning the deer.

"Thank you," Lianna says out of the blue.

I look up and furrow my eyebrows "for what?" I ask.

"If it weren't for you, I would probably be dead. That rogue that you and Jake pushed off me...he was big. I don't think I could have taken him," she says. She was probably only three fourths of the size I was, and Jake was a couple inches bigger than me when we were in our wolf forms. She was right, that rogue she had was probably about the size of Jake, if not bigger.

"Of course. It's like you two coming with me. It's what friends do," I reply.

She smiles as she says, "you're more like a brother to us. Definitely the annoying little brother, but still our brother."

"Hey!" I protest with a grin. "Don't insult my ability to annoy." I joke in return.

"That sounded like a compliment to your annoying abilities," Jake says as he comes back to the fire, now dressed. I laugh, as does Lianna.

We finish cleaning the deer and then set some of the meat to cook. Whatever was left we would have for dinner later in the day.

Two hours later, full and satisfied, we started walking again. We were so far from our goal, and I felt like we were slowed down now by my injuries. Jake and Lianna only had minor cuts and bruises that were healing much faster than my wounds were.

By the time the sun began setting, we had only put about twenty miles behind us. For our fit wolffish bodies, that was slow. We stopped to set up camp. My bedroll had been destroyed in the fight, so I made do with the grass and leaves I made a pile with. Jake offered me his, saying he could sleep in his wolf form, but I declined, telling him that his human body needed rest too. Besides, grass was relatively comfortable.

After starting a fire and laying down, I looked up at the stars. I wondered if everything was ok at home. We were far enough away that we didn't need to worry about being followed by the pack. I sighed softly and rolled over on my good side, and drifted off to a welcome slumber.