Wolves

Chapter 8

Time flies; before I know it, a whole week flies by. I am no closer to finding a way home; I don’t even know where to begin. Though I have walked many miles in this forest, I still have no direction. I sat on the rock and thought maybe I should make a map. Start with the bear den, then the wolf den, the fish water stream, and continue from there. I wonder how Taylor and the kids are doing; I know they are looking for me. Taylor will be so worried; I hope he is keeping his composure and not drinking again. He has come too far, and he has to keep it together for the girls; they need him now more than ever. I hear a rustle that snaps me back to reality. I look behind me, and I see wolves coming out of the bushes. Since the day I helped them, they have been by our side. The cubs love playing with their pups,

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He bowed his head and made a circle. He wants me to follow. I get up to follow his lead. I thought we were going back towards the den, but to my surprise, he took a different route. I heard a faint growl; I started to worry it might be one of the cubs or their mother, injured. I started to run towards the sound with the wolves behind me. To my surprise, it's not the cubs or mother but a white tiger. Lying down, just staring at me. I circled to get closer to see the creature's paw under a rock. I inched closer to him when it roared at me; I jumped back as the wolves behind me started to growl. It's as if they knew there was danger: the mother and cubs came from the bushes. The mother rose to her feet, ready to attack; the cubs mimicked their mother. I calmed them with a nod as I looked back towards the tiger. I looked it in the eyes and said,

“I’m not here to hurt you; I want to help. You are stuck and injured; I can help if you will let me.”

I bow my head to show I am no threat; at first, it tilts its head to the side. Like it was deciding whether or not to trust me. After a few seconds or so, it lets out a sigh and bows its head. Slowly, I walked towards the rock to see the damage. The rock’s not large but not small either. Definitely putting heavy weight on this tiger's paw. I look up at it and see it’s a female; I can tell by the weight in her belly she's pregnant. I look at her and say,

“I will get you out of this.”

I have to remove this rock. I get up to push the rock as hard as I can; it barely moves, and I shake my head.

“How am I supposed to remove this rock?” I say.

I feel a nuzzle on my right arm; I turn to see it’s the mother bear. She nods her head as if she understands that I need help. At that moment, I looked over to my left and saw the wolves next to me. They also nodded their heads; I nodded, and we started to push. It took us a few tries, but we got it off. The tiger immediately shifted as it was free. I jumped back, the wolves and bears ready for an attack, but she didn't attack; she just moved to a better position so I could see the wound. I looked at it and could see that there wasn't any blood, but the paw was definitely going to be sore for a few days. I needed to wrap it. I looked towards my dress, but so much was torn off from treating wounds; I had to think of somewhere else to rip. I looked at it and tore some of the front, took a stick and ripped my middle area, leaving my stomach exposed. I took the pieces and wrapped them around the swollen area; thank goodness it isn’t too big, otherwise I don’t think I would have a dress left.

“It won’t take long to heal. It was a small wound,” I say.

She nods as if she understands. After warping her wound, I sat and rested for a moment. I look towards the sky as it starts to turn purple. We need to make our way back to the den. The wolves, I could tell, were going to stay with us, but I worry about this tiger now. Will she make it through the night? I get up and say,

“We need to get back to our dens; it’s going to be dark soon.”

They nod their heads. I turn back towards the tiger and say,

“I will come check on you in the morning.” She tilts her head. I nod as I turn to leave; I hear her get up. She starts to follow close behind me. She wanted to go with us. I wasn't sure if she would be comfortable with the others. I looked towards them as they tilted their heads at me.

“Is the den big enough for her?” I ask.

The mother nods her head. "Thank you," I say.

I turn back towards her and say, "Come."

I turned around to walk towards the den. It was dark when we got to the waterfall, but the moon, even though it wasn't full, shone so bright that it reflected off the water. Beautiful, the cubs were the first ones to run inside the den. I led the tiger into the den; she circled the area a few times before she lay down. She must be tired too; I’m surprised we all fit in this den. The bear lies in front of her cubs and the pups. The wolves lie on both sides of the bear, circling their babies, as always there's a hole in the middle for me to lie in. I lay down. I like it out here. When I get back home, I have to bring the girls out here. They would enjoy all of this; I have to find my way home.

Everyone is still around me when I wake up, except for the tiger. She wasn't in the den; she may have left to find herself some food. I slowly got up and decided to go to the waterfall and clean myself a little. I reached the entrance of the cave to see the tiger standing there. I went to her and said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She looked at me. I looked down at her paw and noticed she had taken off the bandage. The wound must be healed. I smiled as I patted her head again and said, “It’s almost healed. I’m glad you weren't injured too badly.”

I moved to wash myself under the water. I moved slowly to the pool part. I looked back towards the tiger and told her to "Come."

She hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked in. She came to my side. I looked up at the cloudy sky; the first thing I saw was my girls in one of them, then Taylor. In the third one, I see all of us together,

I start to tear up as I say, “I miss them so much. My girls, Taylor, my family. I wonder what they are up to. I hope they are well.”

I look towards her. “I need to find a way home to my family. My family needs me; without me, we could lose the girls. It would devastate us both.” I let out a sigh. “But I don’t even know where to begin going from here. It’s been a week, and I still haven’t found a path to take. My head hurts to even think about it.”

I look back towards the tiger as she just stares at me, then I rub her head and say, “I hope they find me. If they find me with you all, they could see you as a threat. I will make sure they don't see you that way; I won't let them hurt you."

I rub her head some more as she nuzzles up against me. "My girls would love you, all of you."

Suddenly my stomach growls; I only ate one time yesterday. It's no wonder it hasn’t growled sooner. She must have heard it, as she looked up at me.

“I guess it’s time we all go get food.” I smiled.

We get out of the pool and head back to the den. The others are already up; of course, the cubs and pups are playing together. It’s really quite adorable. As I’m watching them, the mother bear comes into my hand. I rub her head and say,

“Ready to go get some fish.” She nods her head and calls for her cubs; they come immediately to her. I look towards the pups and see they are already near their mother. We each hunt separately, as the wolves have a different food group. I looked towards where the tiger was, but she was gone; she must have wanted to get a head start. On that note, we walk to the waterhole with all the other bears. At first, the others didn’t really notice me at first, but now they all let me pet them and talk to them. The mother bear always caught two fish, and her cubs would catch one each; with my spear, I at least try to catch two, but my skills aren’t as good as the bears'. Once we get our food, we head back to the den, but it looks like we were late to the party. The wolves and the tiger are already back with their food; almost like a family dinner. I kinda laughed at myself because it's silly, but precious. Four different species joining together to eat a meal sounds crazy but is really peaceful. Just like the day, it goes by fast, but it is so peaceful at times. At times like these, I don't want to leave, but then I feel guilty. I want this peace, but I also want my family. Can there be a balance? I hope so; with these thoughts racing, I joined the others at the feast we gathered.