Lake Creek

Chapter Twenty

Raven woke on the frosty earth at the foot of a fallen tree with a severe pain on the top of her head. Her vision was blurry and when she tried to make her eyes focus, she felt an unbelievable sharp pain behind her eyes. She reached for the top of her head with her hand and found a lump the size of an orange protruding from it. She poked at the lump and immediately rejected the action as she winced in pain from the lump and wondered to herself why she always managed to end up hurting herself. She removed her hand and noticed that her hair was stuck to her palm and as she brought her hand back into her blurred vision she noticed it was covered in blood. 

She managed to get herself into a sitting position and crossed her legs in front of her. She reached both her hands up onto her head and felt around carefully in her matted hair for more lumps and bumps but found no more. She felt her face and found that the left side of her face was also sticky with blood but she felt no pain so put this down to blood splatter.

She rubbed her eyes again with the back of her hands trying desperately to get them to focus in the dark forest as her body began shaking uncontrollably. She was absolutely freezing sat on the frozen ground and realised she was also completely naked except for her ever faithful bracelet. She was relieved that she hadn't lost it when she transformed but as she managed to carefully get herself on her feet, she realised she was naked and lost in the forest.  

It was still dark and she could just about see the stars above her through a small opening in the tree canopy. She had to find her way back home or risk catching hypothermia as her whole body was exposed to the elements and in her human form she was now shivering violently and missing her thick black warm fur coat of her wolf form.

It must be minus five tonight as there was clearly frost on the ground and the trees surrounding her glistened in the moonlight with frost that had made a home on their branches and leaves. The subzero temperature made her teeth chatter with such force that it hurt her jaw and she could see her breath like clouds of smoke in front of her. Her feet and hands were turning blue and she had no idea how long she had been out here for but she knew it must have been some time with the condition her body was in. 

Raven decided to set off running as that would warm her freezing body a little but she didn't know in which direction she should go, so she just spun around and set off running hoping the route she had decided upon was the correct one to lead her back to the reservation clearing. 

She ran for what felt like an age and her feet were cut and bleeding from the harsh ground attacking her bare exposed feet. She saw no end to the forest and nothing even remotely did she recognise. She was so deep inside the dense forest that she even wondered if she would ever find her way out and was now limping her way forward over the frozen ground but she could hear a thumping sound from somewhere around her. She had no idea what was causing the noise so she tried to pick up her pace and started to jog trying to block out the searing pain she felt every time she placed one of her feet on the cold earth. 

The thumping sound was getting louder and she slowed to a walk and stopped as she felt she knew what the sound was but couldn't place it. The sound was a like a beating drum, steady and strong and as she looked spun around examining her surroundings she tripped over a fallen tree branch and fell down rolling over and over on the icy ground.

She found herself laid on her front and as she glanced up from the forest floor she saw a large shadow up ahead growing in size as it came closer to her. Raven held her breath as she watched a large light brown tan werewolf pad confidently towards her. She was completely naked and helpless but in that moment she through herself at the mercy of the werewolf and stood up trying to cover her modesty the best she could with her arms and carefully took little steps towards it.