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- >You crouch there in the bushes, never more confused on what to do
- >Why the hell did it just fall out of the sky?
- >Gus is the first to make a move
- >Slowly, the white hound leaves your side and approaches what, in his mind, could be an early lunch
- “Gus!”
- >You give a hushed shout
- “Get back here now…!”
- >The wolfdog is not listening, but pauses for a moment and looks back
- >He’s inviting you to join him for the snack
- >How honored you must have felt sarcasm
- >He continues closing in
- “GUS!”
- >Your voice has some authority in it this time
- >The hunger mutt somewhat obeys
- >He plants his hindquarters on the ground but his eyes remain locked on that thing
- >You sigh
- >Might as well feed your own curiosity and check it out
- >You begin to climb out of the bush but stop halfway
- >You don’t know what this thing is... err was
- >Probably died on impact
- >Probably.
- >…
- >You turn back to the sled
- >Reaching in between the basket and the base of the handlebar, you search for something tucked away in the construct of the sled
- >You find and pull out an odd shape, covered with thick grey cloth
- >Unwrapping it, you look at the revolver in your hands
- >Your father had gotten it for a good deal a few years back, seeing how it was black powder and everyone wanted the new smokeless automatics
- >From what the dealer said, it was an old Germanic sidearm
- >Due to a designer’s deflect, the cylinder was too small to fit a big enough cartridge to fire the gun’s high caliber
- >As a result, the thing was barely sub-sonic
- >It was also a pain to reload
- >But it wasn’t totally useless
- >Despites its limited range, it was still able to push out a large enough clunk of lead that could easily kill a man
- >You had almost done it once.
- >You look away from the gun and back to Gus, who was still sitting and waiting
- >Borg Gallarson, the Swedish musher in the race, had attacked Gus in order to slow you down
- >Ned had given you the gun to take care of any dog that had gotten too sick or injured
- >And after what Borg did, Gus was knocking on Death’s door
- >You had been so close to putting a bullet in that dog
- >Instead, you put him on sled and rode to the next checkpoint
- >Then when you got there, you stormed into the mess hall (which was full of mushers and reporters) and punched Borg right in the fucking mouth
- >When he got up, he whipped out a large knife with the most sinister grin on his face
- >You?
- >You just pulled out the gun and stuck it right in his face.
- >His smug little grin quickly vanished and his face turned paper white
- >You’ll never forget how powerful you felt; pulling the hammer back while starring into those fearful eyes
- >When it had gotten quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop, you told him that if he ever came near you or your dogs again, you’d kill him outright
- >Then you left.
- >Walked right out of there
- >For the last few days of the race, everyone did their best to avoid you
- >It seemed that threatening a man with a gun wasn’t an everyday occurrence to them
- >You open your eyes and bring yourself to face the revolver again
- >Twisting the gun around, you fit it firmly into your right hand
- >Putting it back to half-cock, you at last immerge from the brush
- >You make your way slowly into the clearing
- >Gus takes your advance as permission to go and scout the …thing out
- >As you draw closer, he begins to encircle it
- >When you are less than five feet away, he sniffs and then sinks his teeth into one of its front limbs
- >You see it sub-consciously twitch in pain
- >It was alive
- “GUS”
- >He backs away, thick crimson fluid seeping from the wound
- >God, even its blood was bright and flamboyant
- >You move in closer
- “What… are you?”
- >With its body prostrated out on the ground, you could see it features could be used to describe it as…
- >… more mammal than bird
- >Its wings were now folded against its back, giving you a figure that roughly outlined something that would normally walk on four legs
- >You notice its head is positioned face first into the ground, covered by its ruffled hair
- >…A mane?
- >Four legs, long neck with a flowing mane and a hairy tail
- >An equine...
- >With wings
- >Great.
- >You bend over to flip the mane off its face but stop yourself
- >Instead you give it a solid kick to the stomach, gun at the ready, to make sure it was out cold
- >No response.
- >You bend down again, pushing the mane away with the barrel of the gun
- >You almost pull the trigger in surprise
- >Its face… wasn’t really one of an equine
- >Its two eyes were shut at the moment but there was no doubt they were huge
- >Its snout wasn’t elongated like a horse’s face, but only protruding a few inches out
- >You step back and look at Gus’s recent act of kindness toward the creature
- >Damn Gus, you went in deep
- >The cyan colored fur was helping clot the blood but it was a deep puncture wound
- >How had he done that much damage from such a small nibble?
- >What was this thing made of?
- >You poke it
- >Nope, its good old flesh and bone alright
- >You strafe your hand down the creature’s leg until its changes texture
- >It was hard like bone
- >Your hand makes its way around the sole of its leg
- >It’s had the same fur all around it, but the bottom most part of the leg was hard
- >Like a hoof, underneath the fur
- “Ok then… You’re definitely a… something”
- >You didn’t really like calling it an equine when it had fucking wings
- >What were you going to do with it?
- >You hear Gus let out a yelp of annoyance
- >He’s really hungry
- >You were really hungry
- >And there hadn’t been any sign of any other animals in this god forsaken forest
- >You look back to the broken animal
- >You couldn’t eat it, could you?
- >It was, for all you knew, a whole new specie
- >Never before seen by mankind
- >You couldn’t just
- >*grumble*
- >You can’t…
- >*grumble, grumble*
- >You clutch your stomach
- >It was food
- >You and Gus needed food
- >You take the gun off half-cock, putting it down next to you
- >Getting comfortable on your knees, you draw your bowie
- >You put the blade over it throat before you stop yourself
- >What if it was the only one of its kind?
- >Surely, something as abstract as this wasn’t a common occurrence
- >You gaze over the creature again
- >You fall back on your ass and think
- >To eat or not to eat?
- >Suddenly, you hear something rustle in a shrub adjacent from you, on the edge of the clearing
- >Out pops what looks to be… a chicken?
- >Nope, a chicken’s head alright
- >But with a lizard’s body and tail
- >Frankly, you couldn’t be caught by surprised anymore with this colorful winged equine laying in front of you
- >Still you couldn’t shake that this… chicken lizard wasn’t friendly
- >Or, more importantly, something that would be missed if it died
- >Something in its eyes…
- >Guess you didn’t have to worry about cutting up the horse bird anymore
- >Gus is crouched and motionless, waiting for the command
- >You give it
- “Get ‘um Gus!”
- >The mass of white fur and fangs makes a b-line for that thing
- >At first, the chicken lizard jumps up and looks shocked
- >You were sure it was going to retreat
- >Instead, it decides to stand its ground
- >…What is it doing?
- >Its just staring intensely at Gus
- >It didn’t even stop gawking until Gus’s teeth lock around its tiny head
- >You hear it shriek, as if it hadn’t seen that coming
- >The shriek dies out shortly to some loud crunching sounds and muffled growls
- >Soon, Gus happily skips back to you, dragging along his kill
- >Jesus, that thing had a long tail
- >Ok, you both could definitely eat this for tonight
- >You turn back to look at the equine on the ground
- >It looked too majestic to be a threat
- >But, you were going to have to survive in this place
- >Least till someone came and found you
- >Balancing the knife in your hand once again, you reach the crossroads that a hunter must face
- >Kill or not to kill
- >…
- “Nevermind”
- >You stealth the knife before retrieving your gun
- >Gus continues to drag his kill back to the sled, you walking beside him
- >When you make it to the sled, you put the gun away back in its secret compartment
- >Then you begin to cut up the chicken lizard
- >You didn’t trust consuming something so… foreign
- >But you had to eat
- >Doing your best to throw away any pieces that looked a little funny, you’re able to make out with three big chunks of meat from its tail.
- >As much as Gus was eyeing his piece up, you couldn’t let him eat it raw
- >Could be poisonous or something
- >You would cook both your pieces for tonight’s meal
- >You throw the carcass into the bushes, putting the raw meat in the preserved salt satchel
- >It wasn’t a lot
- >You could last about 2 days on it
- >Your attention is again drawn to the equine thing in the clearing
- >It probably wouldn’t survive the night in an open area like that
- >Completely exposed to any other chicken lizards out there
- >You could take it with you into the forest
- >Find a cave or something
- >Ultimately, you would just be saving it one day to eat it the next
- >You sigh
- >Maybe when it was able to walk again, you could use it as live bait
- >That’s what had attracted the chicken lizard, right?
- >Yeah, that’s what you’ll do
- >Use it as live bait when it gets better
- >And if it doesn’t, you could always eat it
- >Confident in your new plan, you pull the sled out next to the downed creature
- >You decide to cut the mending rope attached to the sled into two pieces
- >This gave you about five feet still secured to the sled so you could pull it
- >Leaving about fifteen feet left of rope to tie up the equine thingy
- >You try at first doing a hog tie but it doesn’t really work with its weird shape
- >So you eventually do a series of tight lopes around it legs, coming around across its back to bind its wings
- >While securing its hind legs, you spot a weird looking colored birthmark on its hind quarters
- >It... it looks like a cloud with a weird lightning bolt going through it
- >Honestly, you don’t pay much attention to it because you’ve dealt with enough crazy shit already for one day
- >When you get to tying its wings, you notice one of them doesn’t seem to be resting quite right
- >You use your hand to try and flatten
- >Its feathers were even softer than you had imagined them they would be
- >But you also felt something else you hadn’t suspected
- >Its wing was cold
- >Like, ice cold
- >Had this been the cause of the crash?
- >You force the wing down, wrapping the rope around its barrel tightly
- >When you’re finished, you had a bit of slack left over
- >You decide to secure a little loop around the equine’s muzzle
- >Didn’t need it snapping at you when it woke up
- >If it ever did…
- >You pick it up and heave it onto the sled
- >It’s not very heavy but it wasn’t going to make the sled any lighter
- >With your game/live bait secured, you look off into the woods
- >Frankly, in between the crash and field-dressing the chicken lizard you had lost track of time
- >But somehow you knew it was going to get dark soon
- >You needed shelter
- >For three occupants now
- “Ok Gus, let’s get moving”
- >Gus takes his role as lead dog and continually surveys a few yards ahead as you pull the sled
- >Farther and farther, you march on
- >You had no idea whether you were heading out or deeper into the jungle
- >It only took a half hour for the Sun to come down
- >This time you were able to watch its course
- >It only took five minutes to fall behind the horizon
- >Nothing natural about it…
- >There was nothing natural about anything in this place
- >You were starting to get hot, so you ripped off the most outer layer of your fur coat
- >Leaving you with a thin jacket over your long johns
- >It helps you to stay cool, but now you were getting tired again
- >Best part?
- >You couldn’t stop and rest
- >The forest had gotten so dense with vegetation and trees that your only option was to keep pressing on
- >If you stopped, you wouldn’t even find a comfortable place to sit down
- >Each tug on sled’s cord felt heavier
- >Damn this thing
- >It was only becoming a burden now
- >You should have just fielded-dressed it with the chicken lizard
- >Who were you kidding?
- >A tiny equine with wings wasn’t going to attract any game
- >What the hell was it?
- >A she?
- >A he?
- >Or just an it?
- >Shit.
- >That’s what it was
- >A big pile of shit that was slowing you down, on some false hope it could serve a purpose
- >http://youtu.be/uezqOnmJpnk
- >The first thing you hear is the sound of a twig snapping
- >So quietly that you initially think the wind had caused it
- >But as it drew darker, the snapping of twigs and rustling of bushes became more numerous
- >Seemed you weren’t alone anymore…
- >Gus sensed their presence too
- >He had since fallen back to being at your side, ears darting all over the place
- >The noises were still far away enough for you to know they were only studying you
- >They weren’t planning to attack just yet
- >Well that what you HAD thought,
- >Until you head the bone chilling snap of a stick, eight feet from your right side
- >Before you could even process the sound, Gus leaps into action
- >As Gus jumps and is lost in the thick green foliage, you hear something give a low, feeble growl
- >Its quickly retorted by Gus with a booming bark
- >The animal quickly changes its tone and begins to whimper
- >It stops for moment when you hear it
- >*CRUNCH*
- >It was as if someone had broken a heavy branch over their knee
- >Gus comes running back to you
- >He seems to be unhurt but it looks like he’s trying to spit something out
- >Shaking his head with his maw ajar
- >Meanwhile, you hear little patters of feet running away in all directions
- >Guess whatever Gus attacked and his friends didn’t want anything to do with you anymore
- >You get down on your one knee and examine Gus’s mouth
- >Nothing out of the ordinary
- >Wait…
- >You look at the roof of his mouth and see a thick splitter of wood
- >Positioning yourself to pull it out quickly, you give it a yank
- >You hand barely makes it out as his jaw snaps shut
- >He continues to muzzle the ground and whimper softly
- >He’ll live
- >Examining the splinter, you try to place it with any of the surrounding trees
- >It didn’t match anything, too dark in shade
- >Just some random timber wood
- >You flick it away
- >For reasons unknown, the splinter flies off in a different direction from where you were originally shooting for
- >That was… weird
- >Fate and Destiny maybe?
- >You pull the sled for about fifty yards in the splinter direction and find a small knoll
- >With an opening just big enough to fit your sled through
- >A cave
- >Finally, a break!
- >Gus goes ahead to take a look, you following close behind
- >It had a five by four foot opening, height and width respectively
- >Squatting your way through it, you find yourself in a large cavern
- >It was almost perfectly spherical, a dome of stone and tiny stalagmites above your head
- >You could make do with this
- >You exit your new found shelter and retrieve the sled
- >But you stop yourself when you reach the sled and its passenger
- >You were going to spend the night here
- >Did you really want to be sleeping next to some wild animal?
- >Regardless of it being bound, it was still an unnecessary risk
- >You needed to deal with this thing now
- >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbiJHVtfiA
- >You pull the creature off the sled, tossing it onto the ground
- >Its body with a solid thud, motionless, still unconscious
- “Sorry, but regardless of how interesting you maybe…”
- >You draw the bowie
- “I can’t take any risks right now”
- >You get on one knee, while holding the thing’s body steady with your free arm
- >Its heart (considering basic psychology) should be right there
- >Placing the tip of the knife on its chest, you feel its faint heart beat
- >You pull your shoulder back, so you’d have the full force your whole body moving in with the knife
- >It would be as quick and clean as possible
- >…It wouldn’t feel a thing
- >Just as you prepare to bring your knife down, you feel its heart beat getting faster
- >It was pounding so loud you would have probably felt it without even touching it
- >Someone was watching you, too
- >You could feel it
- >…
- >You knew who it was, too
- >Looking over your left forearm, you see its face
- >Eyes wide open
- >You had been right, they were big
- >Enormous pink orbs staring back at you
- >Staring into living thing’s eyes can tell you a lot about them
- >Looking into its, you could tell it was a ‘she’ after all
- >And ‘she’ was terrified
- >For every second passing second, her eyes began to jitter more unnervingly
- >At first, she was scared stiff
- >Then panic set in and she tried squirm
- >You bring your left hand down with enough force to make her still again
- >What was this?
- >Her expression of fear… wasn’t animalistic
- >When you normally put down game, their eyes would show fear too
- >But it was a different kind
- >Theirs was always more empty
- >An instinctive fear, leaving them with blank expressions
- >Her eyes…
- >It was as if she was trying to speak to you
- >Plead with you
- >You break the stare
- >Pity was the last thing you needed to survive
- >It had been cruel of you to drag her all this way
- >She was just game
- >You should have done the deed when she was unconscious
- >You sigh
- “Sorry, but it’s either you or me…”
- >As calmly as you try to make those horrible words sound, she fidgets around again
- >You swear she could understand you
- >She tries to wiggle the bindings off, especially the one around her snout
- >You weighed your options for the 100th time today on what to do with her
- >Killing her right now would give you and Gus enough food to last a couple more days
- >Even if you did keep her, you doubt she would make good bait anyway
- >So… were you resolved?
- >You were still knelt, knife at the ready
- >It all felt so painfully nostalgic to when you had almost put down Gus
- >But you couldn’t just let her go
- >After hailing her miles in this god forsaken place?
- >…
- >You raise the knife…
- >and bring it straight down
- >The creature’s eyes shut tightly as you did so
- >Only to open a few moments later to see it was still alive
- >You had plunged the bowie into the soil next to you instead
- “To hell with this”
- >You’d find other food eventually
- >Eventually…
- >You begin to move to undo its bindings
- >At first, she flinches but remains stiff as a rock when your intentions of releasing her become clear
- >As soon as you get the first hind leg loop off, it happens
- >A blue, furry hoof
- >Right into your face
- >Hard.
- >You're thrown back onto your ass
- “SHun of hA biSHch”
- >The hate speech is muffled by your palm covering your bleeding nose
- >How had that happened
- >You had released enough animals on the farm to know hind legs only could deliver a kick backwards
- >But she had been able to wipe her leg completely around
- >Driving it right into your nose
- >You try to regain your composure
- >Looking up, you see she’s already out of her bindings
- >Clever girl, alright
- >Definitely smarter than the average farm animal
- >Just then, you hear the scuffling of paws coming behind you
- >Gus was sprinting from the cave
- >You could tell she heard it too
- >She has trouble getting to all her hooves, especially with injured front limb
- >Gus’s bite hadn’t been kind
- >She somehow pushes through the pain and fueled by either utmost fear or determination, leaps into the air
- >Gus was only a few meters away from you now
- >Feathers outstretched, she begins to clap her wings with enough energy that would have clearly pushed her clear through the forest’s canopy
- >But the one wing falters and fails
- >She begins to fall again
- >You see her wince, but she ignores the obvious pain and tries to flap again
- >Its weaker, except she is now able to stabilize
- >She gains about 6 feet of air when you see something white flash past you
- >Jumping off a nearby stump, you see Gus is going to make a connection with her
- >You don’t care anymore
- >All sense of regret or compassion were temporary pushed from your mind by your throbbing nose
- >Lose of blood was never good in these survival type scenarios
- >You’d try to help her and she socked you right in the face
- >Dammit.
- >Gus could do whatever he wanted with that bitch
- >You watch on as Gus manages to grip his fangs around her limp front hoof
- >Talk about salt in the wound
- >She clutches her teeth, giving a hushed gasp
- >Falling back to earth, she begins to open her mouth
- >You frown
- >Despite your lack of concern for to it now, you never ‘enjoyed’ hearing an animal screech or cry
- >However that’s not what you hear
- >Nothing prepares you,
- >For what you hear…
- >???:“Somep0ny hel-!“
- >Her speech is cutoff as both her and Gus slam into the ground
- >Gus lands on top, effectively knocking her out again
- >What.
- >She could… talk
- >English.
- >You understood it
- >As your brain begins to go on meltdown, Gus is rearing back
- >Going in for the kill…
- >No, wait!
- >You had to act fast and words were too slow
- >Without wasting time to take another breath, you push out any remaining air in your lungs into a hoarse, loud whistle
- >Gus hesitates and looks to you, body still over his prey
- >You quickly inhale and speak before he has a chance to move again
- “No Gus…”
- >You manage to say, woozily
- “Stop..."
- >Holding your nose, you make your way over to them
- >Gus withdraws at your approach, taking to sitting a few feet back from you
- >She’s out like a light, head smashed against an unearthed root in the landing
- >Gus’s teeth had been pulled brutally across her leg by the fall as well
- >Blood was pouring out of it
- >She had talked
- >This…thing had opened its mouth and formed words
- >Words that you had understood
- >An intelligent, talking animal
- >You couldn’t kill it now
- >You couldn’t let it go either
- >This thing had been surviving in this forest before that crash
- >It knew where clean water was
- >Knew where food was
- >And it could tell you all of it,
- >Including how you could get back home…
- >The growing pool of blood reaches your knees, shaking you from your train of thought
- >Only if she lived
- >Rushing over to sled, you desperately look for the first aid
- >You no longer feel nor care for your nose, filled to the brim with raw excitement
- >Quickly you find it, all of its goodies sealed in a tin box
- >You pull out a roll of tightly woven cotton as well as a container of mushed herbs
- >The herbal paste needed to be warmed before it could be used
- >You remember back when you had to use this stuff on Gus, back when he was half dead on your sled
- >Stop it.
- >You need to focus
- >There’s a talking mystical animal that needs to be saved
- >Putting the bandage and paste aside, you search for your reel of flint
- >It was only a few inches long, but it would do the trick
- >Darkness had fully engulfed the forest by now
- >You needed a fire for her and to keep any potential predators away
- >First you get the sled into the cave, moving the blue creature and first aid to the mouth of it
- >’Blue creature’… That didn’t really sound right
- >She could fucking talk… was it correct to refer to her like another wild animal?
- >Shut up and focus!
- >You can worry about that later
- >With the sled safely stowed away, you go scavenging around nearby trees for sticks and fallen branches
- >After putting together a descent pile about 15 feet from the front of the cave, you begin gathering some nearby rocks
- >After making a protective circle around the wood, you retrieve you flint rod and knife
- >Using the back unsharpened part of the blade, you begin to strike the flint rod over your collection of timber
- >Eventually, one of the dry leaves catches a spark and lights up
- >With controlled blowing and shielding the flame from the wind, you get a good fire going
- >Using a stick, you hover the herb paste (in its metallic container over) the fire
- >Within a few minutes, the stick begins to blacken and you pull back
- >Careful as to not burn yourself, you remove the lid and dip your index and middle finger into the paste
- >Its at a toasty tone of heat
- >Good.
- >You look over at her…
- >What had she said? Or at least tried to say?
- >’Someone help me’?
- >No, that wasn’t it
- >It was someP0NY
- >P0ny.
- >Her height would fit that label, as her head came up to your stomach
- >Its was just… everything else that threw it off
- >Then again, she HAD said p0ny
- >Satisfied with a name for her, you take your fingers and rub the paste onto the surface of her wounds
- >Her skin naturally retracts from the medicine, but the tremors soon subside
- >You use up about a quarter of the paste
- >Damn Gus, you meant business
- >Content with the translucent film of cream over the wounds, you begin wrapping the leg in a thick bandage
- >It crosses your mind to try and help her wing
- >But not knowing anything about birds, you probably just make it worse
- >As soon as you finish, you redo her bindings
- >You had questions and she had answers
- >She wasn’t going anywhere until you got them
- >You look up when you are finished
- >The moon’s lifeless light shined through the canopy
- >You would cook the chicken lizard’s meat tomorrow
- >Kicking out the fire, you haul yourself and your p0ny captive into the cave
- >You desperately need some rest to prepare for tomorrow
- >Things… things were going to get interesting
- >Only seconds after slipping into your sleeping bag do you drift into sleep
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