Into the Cold Indifference

The icy wind kept whipping my long brown locks over my face in torrents I couldn’t see whether that or the constant fall of snow, my neck frozen from the below zero temperature that even the scarf I wear was freezing stiff. Even my hands curled into my chest and covered with snow gloves grown numb with cold.

White. Everywhere was white. There was nothing I could identify telling where I was, no shelter to save me. Slipping down an unseen slope I fell to my knees in sheer exhaustion, I fear that I realized with dread; I’m going to die here. I chuckled to how pathetic my death is gonna be, I ran away to escape that prison of an army camp and now I’m dying trying to run.

The wind kept beating against my back, I could feel my will slowly slip away. My cut on my calf had coagulated some distance ago, and the cold numbed it completely, there was no pain to struggle to. There was no way to tell time at the moment, the sky was all white and nothing else.

Even my insulated survival wear won’t protect me from this fate. I bent forward crouching so far that my face was nearly buried against my knees, I ignored the discomfort, it doesn’t matter. Fatigue winning out against thought. Darkness was beginning to creep into my vision until I swore I saw something.

I would have stood in a defensive crouch ready for anything if it wasn’t for me going on the verge of unconsciousness. It was a shadow amongst what little visibility of the tree trunks, it crept slowly, appearing and reappearing.

Looking up into two lake-blue eyes. I realized something stood before me, maybe someone. But in my position it was hard to tell apart who or what it was from the blizzard and there was no way of telling if it was there to threat, a possible predator or help. But then I wasn’t in any state to object to whatever scenario is to come. Sleep came in and then I remembered nothing else.

Forcing my eyes open, I sworn I was dead, but then I curled my fingers and can actually feel them shifting. My entire body was no longer numb and I was staring at the stone ceiling of a cave. As much as I wouldn’t care now and just idly stare up I wondered, why am I not dead?

I heard a small crackle and shifting from my left, and I quickly turned to the sound. In the center of the adjacent opening was a small fire being tended by oddly a large, furry animal. It rapidly turned towards me and I caught myself staring back at the same lake-blue eyes that had saved me and I swallowed in pain as I tried to lean to my side.

It hurried over towards me, as I backed away cautiously it laid an enormous paw on my chest holding me down as it tried to murmur something calming in a thick slur failing to speak clearly, as it crouched its brows in worry. My savior was a werewolf; a level one lycan I never had thought of meeting all the way out here.

It had thick fur dark to light grey, had this Henna pattern that wasn’t hard to miss dance across its legs, chest and back. Wore a pair of protective leather heel cuffs and had three stripes lining under its eyes, how I can tell it wasn’t an ordinary wolf. I could see lines of ebony teeth when it spoke.

It looked down at my calf where, I instinctually moved my hand to towards the pain, I realized my thawed cut has been reopened, but bandaged. With that barely pose-able paw it grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away, “Try not to touch it.”

It was a girl, through the harshness of speaking past those fangs and tonsils hardly allowing her to make out clear words I could tell. The tone had some softness to it. I muttered to myself, “Okay.” And asked, “Why did you save me?”

She cocked her head and sighed, “You may have had the same reason, to leave that army base.” Turning around, she was back to tending the fire and watching the few of my clothes drying close by. I then noticed that she removed my coat, scarf, my outer-pants, gloves, and boots.

I frowned and asked, “You know where I came from? How?” It was a brief moment till she finally made a response, “I can easily smell that nasty food they feed ya right off you, and I know where it’s served.”

I could still hear the howling of the blizzard at the cave entrance so I didn’t bother myself with a need to escape. Closing my eyes I relaxed and whispered, “For what it’s worth, thanks.” She made a sound that sounded like a confirmation, and I once again felt myself drift into sleep, laced with a welcoming pain.

Whatever she did, I barely felt a staggering pain from walking the next day and I had the energy to leave. Without the proper bandaging I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long while. The blizzard outside calmed to a light flurry. The werewolf was nowhere to be seen, but there was no doubt that if she didn’t want to be seen, I would never even know she’s there.

There was no way I was gonna radio someone for help out here without base catching it, so it was back to just walking on. I had no fear of getting lost, wherever I go will be far away, it’ll be a town with someplace I can take vacancy in. But all I know is which way the army base is, which is behind me going straight out of the cave.

Started miserably trudging through the deep snow, tying my hair out of my eyes making sure it doesn’t bother me. I was all focused on planting my feet into face and staring at the ground for a moment to realize I was being followed. The atmosphere was disturbingly quiet, and that only happens when everything around knows there’s a predator.

I spun around to see the same lake-blue eyes fixed on mine. She didn’t bother to crouch because there’s no real reason for us to fight, but she stayed several yards away. The snowfall began to cease and she wasn’t coated with a layer of snow, fully visible now.

I stared at her for some time, but she gave no indication of either coming closer of leaving, so I turned my back on her, and continued back to where I’d left; trudging. A frown froze on my face and after a few hours passed I looked over my shoulder to see her the exact same distance away as before.

This gone on until nightfall, she never got any closer and never left my back. She just watched me, emotions impossible to pick out from her expressionless stare. I turned around and yelled back, though I’m sure all she would need was a simple whisper, “Why are you following me?!”

She didn’t bother to answer me, but her head cocked slightly and ears perfectly squared towards me, her tail curled up and over her backside. I scratched my head in confusion and annoyance and curled up under a pine tree to sleep. I felt myself wary, even though the one thing had saved me, that didn’t mean I was going to trust her.

I gone back into consciousness when the sun rose again, the light shined thick through the morning fog. It was still, quiet as ever, but I didn’t see my werewolf stalker anywhere.

There wasn’t much I could worry about, because hours later she was there again, but this time closer. This was more than just a little disconcerting, but I paid no attention while I tromped through the snow. This went on for several days, not that I didn’t try to intimidate her or anything, and she still didn’t leave or explain herself.

Then, one night as I sat down against the tree trunk, I saw her eyes glitter to me through the moonlight. She blinked and vanished among the shadows. When she opened her eyes again I realized she was lurking past the trees towards me. I tensed in case she was looking to fight, but truth be told, I didn’t have any idea what she wanted.

I was impressed about how absently silent she was as she came closer. She briefly stretched her front legs forward and arched her back. Then stood about three feet away. She just stayed there like there wasn’t a grudge, like we’ve known each other for years.

I shifted under her intense scrutiny and nearly jumped when she ask, “You’ve been asking what I want? Well I couldn’t say anything meaningful to you till now.”

I stared blankly at her for a moment before I exploded, “What the hell are you talking about!?”

She folded her ears down and dipped her head in admitting, “You never noticed my surrogate collar? I used to have a partner, and apparently you were going to. Not by choice. For someone who’s never been connected to another, yours is transmitting.”

Now I was just annoyed, “You read my thoughts?!?!”

She grimaced under my tone, knowing that I could take her on she shuttered, “I promise, I didn’t look far enough to compromise you, just enough to know where you came from.”
I was still miffed, but there was another question I was dying to have answered. I leaned forward, my hunter’s knife halfway out of its sheath and I snarled aggressively, “Why are you following me?”

Her eyes narrowed briefly and she sighed, lowering her head and staring pointedly away from me. “I didn’t just save you only because I could. You-“ She cut off, almost guiltily, but my glare prompted her on, so she continued awkwardly, “I need you to understand that it wasn’t my choice, it has hardly anything to do with me. It’s completely random and-”

“Get on with it!!!” Her ears flattened at my words and said, “I don’t want to leave your side, you remind me so much of her I-I just don’t wanna leave you.”

I stood up in frustration, glare still plastered to my face as she looked up at me with fear washed across her expression, “You would have died if I hadn’t saved you, I could of just let you die, but I didn’t, curiosity got the best of me and what I saw….. Interesting.”

Her voice grew subdued at that last word and I asked, “What do you mean; interesting?’

She exhaled shakily and backed away before she spoke, “No matter how I put this it’s gonna sound stupid, or just simply won’t care. While I do.”

I snapped my arm out, grabbing a good chunk of skin behind her neck and pinned her to the ground. A small grunt of pain escaped from her as I said, “Cut the crap. I don’t want you following me anymore, so just-“ I leaned closer as I breathed, “leave.”

She squirmed under my weight forcing her down and rasped, “You need to understand, you are such a remarkable person who reminds me so much of the love I’ve lost. I couldn’t resist. I had to save you, if anything out of sympathy, your life was incomplete.”

I snarled, my lips curled, “Don’t tell me about my life.” I backed up, releasing my hold over her and hiss, “stay away from me.” Panic flashed in her eyes and she knelt down to me in a low crouch, desperation clear on her face, “Don’t make me go.”

I jerked away from her direction, angrily moved away. She turned to face me again, my eyes widened in surprise when she begged me, “Please don’t send me away.” Her eyes were glassy with tears while I regarded her with cold indifference.

“What’ll happen to you if I leave you?”

She whispered, head hanging, her eyes focused on the ground, “I can’t live another day alone, I’ll grow deeper into depression and lose my sanity, I have no one to go to, I’ll go rogue and become feral if I continue on being alone. I’ll die as a common animal.” I shivered at those words, despite myself.

I asked another question, “What was it you were saying about surrogated?”

“I have nobody to share my thoughts with, ever since my partner passed on, with my transmitter still feeding I’m free to hear all who wears a collars thoughts. From a certain distance. You came by and I felt your pain, you were dying and I looked into you to see what reason why I should have to save you. You were just like my old partner, someone lost and nowhere to go. But strong to create her choices, you created the choice to leave the army and escape force surrogating.” She laid down in the snow, pawing at the surface as she waited for a response.

I stood there in silence for a few moments, thinking. The werewolf had saved my life, no matter how foolish the decision was. No doubt about that, the least I could do was let her live the life they way she wants to in return, “you can stay.”

Eyes and ears shot up in surprise, “Really?”

I snapped, “I said it didn’t I?” The something hit me, “How did you know I was forcefully getting surrogated?”

She lowered again and replied, “Rummaging through your thoughts, I came across the reason you were out here. Sorry.”

I frowned again and asked, “If you’re gonna follow me around, can I at least know your name?”

She stood up straight and apologized, “I’m sorry, I’ve never introduced myself. My name is Delilah Henderson.”

I shrugged, “Okay, Delilah. This collar and surrogating is all new to me, tell me if you know any side effects of having no other to connect to.”

She twitched at the words, side effects, being regained to her composure so it was hard to tell it had bothered her at all, “Should be like me, how I explained. Free to hear others thoughts, whoever wears a collar also connected or not. Sorta like telepathic really.”

I crossed my arms, “So why can’t I read your thoughts?”

“Maybe because your new to this, if you try you can. Caroline,... sorry I caught that too.” ,she nodded.

That piqued my curiosity more than it should have, “I can read your emotions?”

“Of course, whenever you want.”

I grinned, “Now that’s interesting.”