To Mend a Broken Memory - [Troy Otto]

Chapter XXVI

I keep laying down, resting on my toes, hand on my knife, ready to snap should the need arise. The steps are not noisy enough to be a man, and if it is, it's a small one. A shadow starts to materialise on the wall of the entrance of the cave, and it doesn't look like a person. So squeezing my eyes I wait, and what appears before me is very weird and slightly worrying. It's a wolf. He proceeds calmly inside, sniffing the air, although he's seen me already. I hadn't seen that coming. The entrance of this cave is a bit lifted from the ground, so it's odd that an animal can enter. For a second I freeze, thinking that perhaps she's a mother and I just violated her cave with her cubs inside, which would make her extremely violent. But she doesn't look menacing for now. She has her tail down, ears behind and walks uncertain. When the wolf starts walking a little faster, I notice it's indeed a female, and she's also wounded. So my instinct takes over, I approach her carefully, crawling not to scare her with my height. She lies down and grins at me, so I try to move as little as possible, but I stretch a can of tuna towards her and she eats gladly. With a good amount of fear, I move my hand towards her paw, and I notice a little piece of iron digging in her flash. Probably she's a victim of the traps outside too.

"Hey young lady, this might hurt a little. Just, don't tear my flesh apart, would you?" I push the can closer to her to distract her and with a fluid move I extract the thorn of iron in her paw. In return, she whines and tries indeed to bite me. But once the pain is gone, she seems to relax. I take some careful steps back and let myself go against the rock again. I wish I could sleep a little, but I don't want to end up like a steak, so I must keep a watchful eye. She starts licking her fur, apparently quiet, then surprisingly falls asleep. A little far further from me. But I still don't feel safe closing my eyes. But the tiredness wins over me, my eyes burn, so I realise I did fall asleep, and when I get up, panting with fear of finding grinned teeth in front of me, she's gone. With the corner of my eye I spot her at the end of the cave, she went in closer to feel safer and warmer, but apparently she still won't hurt me. Problem is, she might attract the others, so I get close to the entrance to check the situation and possibly leave the cave, but I crush into something and fall back on my ass.

"What the hell are you doing here" oh great, I didn't go far from him, did I.

"Nothing, I got tired from all that birdwatching and I wanted to take a nap" He ignores my sarcasma and gestures towards the rock walls. 

"Is this cave good?" I try to warn him about the guest inside, but he doesn't give me time and get in.

"So, you wouldn't help Joffrey but you're more than willing to use his tips I'm seeing" I gloat. He must have followed the yellow flower like me. 

"What should I have done, tap my ears?!"

"It's just that I didn't think that you of all people needed the advice of a teenager to survive out here" I blurt out, trying to hide a provocation. 

"You're insufferable, I wish there was another cave" he just mutters, after stopping his pace for a second. 

"No one's holding you here. On the contrary" I shrug. I wish indeed he could go somewhere else. 

"You might not know, but there is a pack of wolves outside ready to feast upon me" 

"I fail to see the downside" He'll be in for a surprise when he reaches the heart of the cave. 

"Is there a fu*king cave at the end of this corridor?" he's right, the cave comes after a long narrow corridor, but it makes it a safer place.

"Yes. Problem is, there's a guest inside"

"What the hell does that mean"

"See for yourself" Troy freezes on the spot, but he recovers immediately, he would never show he's scared. But I've learnt to understand it. He immediately pulls out the gun, but doesn't aim it. The she wolf looks on alert now, seeing another person. And I am already on the verge of scolding him for the gun.