Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 25
25
Where his left foot touched down on solid ground for the first time since he was pulled out of the river, his right leg just ended a few inches too short, the bandaged stump hovering in mid-air. He didn't like that asymmetry. His eye was just as bad, but at least he could still see with just one. Walking, however...
Well, there was only one way to find out.
Banno put his weight down on his left foot and started to raise his body off the bed, but he plopped back down almost immediately, shocked by how... weak he felt. Lying inactive for so long was taking its toll. He felt hot and feverish, and he was already breathing heavily even though he had done nothing but sit up. The option of wrapping himself up in his nice warm blanket and going back to sleep never even entered his mind. He had a job to do, and do it he would, because that's what he wanted, and if he wanted something, then the world itself would bend to his will, even if the 'world' in this case was his own body.
He tried again, pushing off the floor with his one and only foot, straightening his knees, forcing his body upright. He planted his palm down on the little bedside table for support, and what do you know? He was standing. A bit shaky, yes, but he was standing.
He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and looked down at his stump. The white bandages created a jarring contrast against his black fur, even more asymmetry he couldn't quite ignore.
Damn, this was going to be so annoying. Banno took a deep breath, steeled himself, and put some of his weight down on it.
Annoying was a bit of an understatement. Pain shot all the way up to his knee: a dull, throbbing pain, as if a big stake of wood was slowly being pushed inside his leg like a rat on a skewer. The pain itself wasn't what bothered him so much. Most of the time he wasn't even aware of it, the same way he wasn't aware of the air around his body unless the wind blew. No, what bothered him was the message the pain was giving him, and that message was that his leg was damaged, and damaged quite badly. It told him that he wouldn't be able to interact with the world as he once did, because he was less than he once was.
He eased up on the pressure a little bit until the pain died down to a more manageable sting, but now there was something new going on, something he hadn't anticipated. Weird, creepy, and insanely annoying, it somehow felt like his foot was going right through the floorboards. His foot that wasn't there anymore.
"Damn you, Ander," Banno whispered, so softly he could barely hear it himself. "Damn you, damn you, damn you..."
And now he was wasting time. Banno twisted his body a bit and looked down at his comfy little prison, so enticing, but in the end he decided against it. There was a little Fox brat up there who's long overdue for a good mauling, and he didn't want to miss any of it.
Let's try this again, Banno thought and pushed his stump down against the floor, his raw stump squelching inside the bandages. The pain was just another part of him, just like everything else. The air, the earth, even this house and the Foxes scattered about, they were all a part of him.
"A week, James? Really? I'll show you a week, you crazy bastard..." Banno let go of the table and started walking as if he still had two feet to stand on, hobbling along on his aching stump, his left leg bent slightly to even out the height. It would have been so much easier (faster too), to just hop around on one foot, but he couldn't afford to make that much noise.
He made it to the window, grabbed hold of the little ledge thing beneath it, and stopped for a rest. Nothing major, just a little breather, that's all.
He looked back and was dismayed - no, that's too strong a word. Irked. Yes, he was _irked_to see that he had used up so much time and energy to travel a grand distance of three strides from his bed to the window. He's never been able to run down deer like Hezzi, but this was ridiculous. Maybe...
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?
He turned back to the window and came face to face with a deathly apparition, staring back at him from within the strange, unmelting sheet of ice. It was the same face he saw every time he lowered his head to take a drink from the streams back home, but it was also different.
The cheeks were gaunt and the fur was matted and straggly. There was a wide ring of bandages around the head, slanted slightly so it wouldn't cover the single, staring eye, so tired and ghostly even in the light of day.
Banno bared his teeth, and the apparition did the same. A low, simmering anger started to flow, and Banno gladly drank from it, but it only intensified his thirst.
Ander would pay for this. He would pay in blood. Lots of it. All of it.
But that could wait. Right now there were more pressing matters.
Banno hobbled his way over to the door, lurching with each step, yet moving with the almost supernatural stealth that had unsettled his father on so many occasions.
All right, now how to open this thing? He watched James do it a dozen times, so it couldn't be that difficult. He grabbed the metal protrusion, slowly turned it and -
Click!
That was louder than he would've liked, but the door swung open nonetheless. Good, good. He sniffed the air wafting in from the hallway to make sure that none of them were standing right there, then ducked his head and carefully poked it through the rectangular hole in the wall. He could see the tunnel stretching out before him, so much longer than it looked from his bed, and at the end of it was... what was that? It looked like an incline of sorts, but made of wood (of course, everything was made of wood in this crazy place), and they were arranged like stubby, zigzagging teeth. For climbing, maybe? There were voices floating down from that weird incline, not angry voices, just regular old speaking voices. James and the brat, father and son, having a quaint little palaver.
What in the Cora's name were they doing up there?
Banno looked back at his bed, then down the long, long hallway. He had planned to go this far, but no further. Just standing here doing nothing was already pushing his luck, but he couldn't hear!
Banno growled, a soft, deep rumble from the depths of his throat. He could feel the seconds slip by, every moment standing here in indecision a moment wasted. Go back to bed and try to listen as best he could? Or go a little further...?
The reason he concocted this massive farce was so that he could work his way into the family like a maggot would bore into a carcass, becoming one with its flesh. Jeopardizing all his hard work just to eavesdrop seemed like such a slanted risk.
Oh, but this feeling... this wonderful, tingly feeling... He couldn't ignore it. It felt almost like... hunting.
He ducked his head and stepped out into the hallway he had only glimpsed from his sickbed up until now, a sense of triumph and accomplishment coursing through his veins. And excitement. So much excitement, knowing he could get caught at any minute. And if that happened, well...
He knew what to do if the prey caught wind.
If you enjoy my story, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation.
Thank you! ^_^
Paypal: [email protected]
Donation Progress $95 / $100 (Unlock Wednesday update)
How and Why: The Story behind "Ander" (Journal): https://www.sofurry.com/view/517234
Special thanks go out to the following furs for helping me keep this project afloat with their generous donations. I couldn't do it without your support.
- Mystery fur
- PyrePup
- KmlRock
- Faan
- Sunny-Fox
- Mystery fur #2
- Sky Star
Thank you! You guys are the best! ^_^