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Chapter 29 - Encounter

-W-

My eyes flicked open suddenly, like I had snapped out of a daze. The room was dark, save for a small set of blinking lights and a solid set of glowing symbols. The dark did not bother me, I could still see everything clearly. In the near silence I could hear everything too. A low hum came from the food box. The sound of light breathing crossed the room in a relaxing rhythm. My human.

Sadness filled my chest once more as I awoke to the memory of the last things he'd told me. There was a reason he was across the room, that he could be across the room. Our link was broken. What this meant for me, for us, was unknown.. but it was reality. The pain in my shoulder was another reality, a dull throb at best and a searing, burning jolt that blurred my vision at worse. It felt better than it had before my rest, my body was resilient. For that I was glad.

I did not care to be a helpless pup. Not when I needed to protect my human, connected or not, I had no intentions of deserting him. If he would have me, I would stay.

It hurt to shift and move, but I was done laying there on that hard table. Maybe I could get comfortable again next to him. I could see him sleeping on the couch, it wasn't far away.. but it felt insurmountable. The pain I could fight through to get to him, but the lost connection made me feel truly alone for the first time, even with him laying right there. There was no anger towards him for breaking the link.. only hurt, even if he did not act in malice

Swinging a leg slowly over the edge of the table I let out a soft groan, trying to muffle the sound and the pain itself so as to not disturb my human. I had already put him through so much. My paw touched the ground and I tenderly put weight on it, feeling the cool tile beneath it as my toes spread and squished some under my weight.. I followed it with my other leg and closed my eyes to block out the pain of sitting up. Every action was pain. The closer to my shoulder the movement was, the more I was punished for it.

The glowy symbols kept shifting and changing in regular intervals as I pushed myself step by step into a sitting position. The symbols almost seemed to be tracking the time it was taking me, shifting every few moments as I groaned and ached, as I panted and tried to still my breath.

Everything ached, I could feel the bones within my chest each time I moved, my ribs almost seemed to creak and cry out to me each time I took a breath, and the muscles in my shoulders fought against the heavy limbs they needed to move. My weight shifted forward, relying on my strong legs to do work my arm could not.. and luckily didn't need to. My good arm gripped the table as I stood and nearly hit my head on some of the hanging implements on the ceiling.. but I stood. Even on wobbling and tired legs I managed to stand, tall and proud. This wound would not keep me on my back.

My vision blurred and I had to wait for it to refocus, my muzzle wrinkled in strain and agony.. but I had my sights set on the couch. On him. My legs began to move me towards him as I let go of the table in favor of the wall, leaning against it some as heavy feeling footfalls drew me closer to my goal. I was lucky my pads were soft.. otherwise my steps would have been thunderously loud. To my ears they certainly seemed it.

My claws dug into the couch a little as I reached it, it was not on purpose.. but I steadied myself a little too firmly against it. He didn't wake, sleeping soundly as I stood over him, looking over his messy hair, matted in different directions and looking rather silly. I sniffed at him a few times and smelled.. blood? His blood. It smelled fresh, though it was a small amount. Had he hurt himself? Had the cut I'd inflicted reopened? Leaning in over him I sniffed around his hands.. there were a few little bloody pricks along one, not by my claws. Sniffing more I recognized that familiar scent, the white creature I had killed had a similar aroma.

Lifting my nose to the air I realized that I could smell more of that scent, it was faint but it lingered in the air, down the hall.. towards my human's room. My eyes narrowed in a mixture of curiosity.. and admittedly some anger. Did he have another of those little animals in his home? Had it hurt him? My legs were already moving as I sniffed about, making my way towards his room, towards that door and towards that strange smell.

I tried not to claw the walls too badly as I pressed against them for support, I was weak.. I was in pain, but I could not rest properly if there was the tickling thought in my head that something had happened to my human.

The door got closer, the scent grew more apparent. Something was here.

My fur bristled up and stood on end as I stopped in front of his room, even through the pain my muscles were flexing across my body, my heart thumping, I was ready for a fight against some unknown thing. My claws circled around the door's handle and with a twist I pushed it open.

A billowy fabric fluttered around my human's window, the wind was coming through. Was that what was bringing the scent in? His room looked a bit disheveled, his bedding wrinkled up and bunched around. An empty bowl lay on the floor near the faded blood stain. Stepping inside slowly, cautiously I let my nose lead me, angling each breath to a different part of the room as I smelled that scent again. Feline. Yes.. A cat. The small animal, this smelled larger though.

A few more steps put me in the middle of his small bedroom, scanning around for a clue to what I was smelling, what had me so on edge. What had my heart pounding in my chest and my claws itching for some unseen opponent. All was quiet however.

I sniffed around my human's bed and found some white fur from his dead animal lingering here and there, even some of my own dark fur, but no traces of another. The fabric shifted and waved in the wind every few moments before settling along the walls. I made my way to the window, looking through the open section and out into the cool night air, taking a few deep breaths. It smelled different from the forest, it smelled interesting. I could parse through the vast array of different scents all at once but It was almost calming to let myself focus on one or another for a while as I closed my eyes.

When I opened them I saw a human.. a young human. A small one, a pup with very long hair. The small human looked at me with wide eyes from their room in the building across from ours, just staring at me as I stared back in silence. Then they lifted a tiny hand and waved it.. so I did the same. It made them laugh. There was such wonder and curiosity in their eyes, that it made me forget what I'd come in here looking for. Their smile was infectious. I tried to return the expression.

The tiny human ducked down and disappeared from sight, leaving me a little confused.. Did I scare them? Maybe my fangs were scarier than their blunt little teeth. I felt my tail and ears sag a little, feeling a bit down for frightening the pup.. but a moment later that smiling face popped up and peeked.. then ducked down again. A game. When they poked their head up again I made sure I was hidden behind the wall, just a single eye peeking enough to see them looking around for me. The small human didn't have to wait long for me to pop out and show myself again, setting them into a little fit of laughter.

Movement behind them. Danger? No, a taller human.. likely the pup's mother. I quickly ducked out of sight, not wanting the older one to see me as they questioned their pup. The small one pointed out the window, but I was no longer in sight, leaving the pup and mother both a little confused. Each for different reasons. I crouched out of sight, wincing as the movements pained my entire upper body, trying to make my way back out of the room.