A Changed World - Book I | The Howling Winds

Chapter 4: A Warm Welcome

John had brought the shaken up Ren back to his truck and gently sat her back down on the passenger seat as his blood dripped from the nasty wound going down his eye, but he could care less about his own pain right now, he only cared about Ren in this moment.

He slowly moved his hand to her cheek, gently moving his fingers through her fur. "You okay?" He asked softly.

Ren was still shaking, staring at the ground as she replayed in her mind what just happened over and over. "I-I..." was all she could stutter out in her state of shock.

Aura stood behind John, her ears lowering as she looked at Ren. She hopped up, placing her front paws on Ren's seat so she could move her face over to hers, giving her one lick on her face.

Aura seemed to have some sort of ability to make Ren feel at ease, even in the worst of times. As soon as she felt that lick her shaking had stopped and she was able to think clearly, though she was still horrified with what just happened.

"You're safe now Ren." Said John, his hand still gently on her cheek.

Ren slowly glanced over at him, and her eyes widened as she only now noticed the painful looking gash going down John's left eye. "John..." she mumbled as tears started brimming in her eyes when she realized he was injured defending her... no, saving her.

He simply shook his head in response, smiling assuringly. "Don't worry about it, just a scratch."

"Just a scratch? John... we need to treat that..." Ren replied with deep concern for him. "I-I'm not hurt or anything... I'm okay." She said with her clearly shaken up voice, but she wasn't lying, she had no injuries... she was just in a state of shock that she was nearly torn apart by those things.

John looked into her eyes for a moment as his blood dripped to the snow below before he let out a sigh. "Alright... you just stay here and take it easy. I'll patch myself up." He said softly, slowly moving his hand away from her cheek as he walked over to the cargo bed of his truck.

"Wait, John... maybe I can help." Ren offered as she glanced back at him, clearly wanting to repay him somehow for... well... saving her life, again.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I've got it." He replied assuringly, searching around in one of his duffel bags for some medical supplies.

Ren wanted to insist that she would help but... with her shaken up right now she probably wouldn't do a good job. She let out a sigh and sat back on her chair, taking in deep breaths to calm herself down.

A few winces of pain could be heard from John as he got to work dabbing his wound with disinfectant, then moving on to stitch it up... which was not an easy task to do to himself and he ended poking himself with the needle more than he cared to admit. But eventually, he finished up and had stitched his wound closed so that it was no longer an issue and he let out a sigh of relief, walking back over to Ren.

"How's it look?" He asked curiously.

Ren hated hearing the sounds of pain John was in as he patched himself up and her ears were in a permanent lowered position through it all, but she glanced up at him as he asked that question and she frowned to the sight of his sloppy stitching, it was evident that he's not very experienced with medical stuff. But she nodded her head.

"It'll scar but... yeah it'll do. Probably a few weeks till it heals fully though." She replied softly, clearly wishing that John would've just let her help him.

John nodded to that and got a little curious. "Sounds like you know what you're talking about." He said with a slight smile, leaning his side against the truck.