Were all MAD here

"Hmm...Should I?"

—Feng—

The girl with a pet bird had left, leaving me and Wren paralyzed in shock. What had she meant by it's not safe for people like us? Why did she empty out my pockets, only to not take anything, but tell me to get rid of a blue crawly thing?

"I wonder who she's related to." Wren said with a depressing undertone in her voice. "Guess I'll never know." She sighed and looked at me. "I don't suppose you know." She snorted, clearly still livid at me.

"Not everyone is related to someone in your books." I scoffed. This wasn't a world she invented, we had a society, and regular people too. Why was it so hard to understand that we weren't a figment of imagination? She processed the words I had presented her with, and glared at me slightly.

"Ok then. I'll ask her." She said walking farther into the trees. I grabbed the collar of her dress, but she didn't stop walking.
"I've never been in there before." I Said.

"And?"

"I don't know if it's safe."

"And?" She said again. She continued to stride into the red trees, daring me to stop her. I didn't, wanting to see how far she could actually go before she got hurt, scared, or wanted to know what wanted to kill her and what she could pet.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1." I said. Nothing happened. But If something had happened by the time I got to one, it would probably sound really cool. Purple birds shuddered of the trees at a distance. A Yelp soon after followed them. Here I would be, saving her once again until she was back home. I sighed and leisurely took a stroll into the forest. It was probably just a scary looking Spin. I came into a clearing, but didn't see anything. She must have made it pretty far. Good for her, she was getting better at running away from things.

"I'm up here." Something squeaked as I walked under a tree. I looked up to see her face centimeters away from mine. She was dangling from a rope of some sort, probably a snare to attempt a catch at food. She was tugging at her anklet of rope, not meeting my eyes.

"Caught in a bit of a pinch now aren't we." I gloated, flashing a grin.
"Just get me down."
"Hmm...should I?" I stepped forward and began to walk away jokingly.
"Fe-"
I stepped forward, but air wooshed into my face, catching me off guard. I was dangling upside down by my left leg. I had a burning sensation ride through it, sending shock and erasing my adrenaline packed feeling.

"God Fucking damn god damn shit!" I strung out. My leg was twisting around itself, doubling the already crippling agony. Wren opened her wide eyes in shock, staring into my soul.
"You know, darn it could suffice just as well." She said simply, hair swinging back and forth on its end as she tried to get down. Her shock quickly turned to anger.
"Why didn't you let me down while you could?" She demanded, Pulsing anger throbbing at her cheeks. I shrugged.
A growl roar through the awkward silence like a knife. Wren looked away from me, but I had seen the look enough to know she was terrified. A colossal beast emerged through the trees, fur blackened with ashes and teeth almost as sharp as its gnarled ears. I hastily fumbled with the rope, trying to get myself out. The beast sent another roar that rippled through my body, sending shivers up my spine. I curled my tail around the rope, anxiously holding on.
"Awww!" Wren said, staring wide eyed at the monster with admiration. I stared at her, scrutinizing her every move. "It's so cute!!" She said swinging forward to try to pet it. It growled at her, stepping closer. It was around three times her size, and I could probably smell its rancid breath from a mile away. Wren wrapped her arms around its neck and burrowed her face in its sooty fur.
It pounced into her, biting a chunk of her wrist, not enough to tear it off, but enough for it to leave it dangling by a thin layer of flesh. She cried in pain, holding her wrist onto her chest, the beasts eyes turned a scarlet red, seemingly appetized by the crimson blood it drew. It slashed a paw, aiming to slit her throat, but stopped a quarter inch away.
"Easy there Shiva." A raspy voice called out from a distance. "

Wouldn't want our guests to get beat up to much, now would we?"

A figure in torn ashen garments came to greet us. He walked slowly, making an entrance like he had all the time in the world. He grabbed the scruff of the beasts neck, presumably Shiva, and dragged them backwards, claws digging into the dirt. Shiva, for some undecipherable reason, stayed there, eyes fading back to a putrid yellow. He walked under Wren, grabbing ahold of her hurt wrist.

"Don't you touch her!" I shouted. Glaring daggers at the man. He chuckled a low, ugly laugh.

"Looks pretty bad, eh missy?" He said making a clucking sound and shacking his head. Wren nodded helplessly. The man pulled out a yellowed bandage from his pocket and stuck it on the gash, but the blood leaked right through it. He reached his slimy hands up to her mouth and stuck them inside, parting her lips to show bone white teeth.
"Nice and healthy now aren't you." He mused, making his voice smoother. I made an uncontrolled growling sound deep within my throat.
"I'll get to you shortly unnatural." He said with a grin, striding over to me in that slow way of his. Unnatural? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He prodded my ears with his yellowed fingernails, making them twitch back and forth until he put his hand back.
"These outa be worth extra, maybe look nice mounted on a wall." He pulled a knife out of his tattered pockets and held it to my ears. He quickly made a motion with his hands, I winced as he cut the rope above me, sending me flying down and face planting into the dirt. I scrambled off the ground, and took off as fast as I could.
Shiva skidded to a stop in front of me, curling its lip up in a nasty snarl. I quickly sprinted back to the man. Even if I somehow survived getting torn to bits by Shiva, I still couldn't bring myself to leave Wren alone with him.
"C'mon unnatural, don't make this harder than it has to be." He said, draping a shoulder over Wren and leadings her back into the trees.

As I followed them, a rusty brown cart leaked its image through the trees. Two people were in there. A feminine figure shrouded by a torso length cloak, a rope and a piece of fruit in hand, and Bird-girl, bird still perched on her shoulder, with a rope around her ankle and a feather in her hair.
"Make room and get comfortable, you'll be here a while." The man laughed, voice like gravel.

How long was 'A while?'