103. Observing fauna, 1

(Rose)

Evening. We camp. I gather wood and paper for the fire.

I still feel nothing unusual. Ann is drinking by the fire. She's still puzzled I think.

We eat strange fruits found in cans in the odd city. They're products of a country we do not know.

Ann is cleaning the wine bottle with some of our water. I don't mind.

I excuse myself for a minute. I think my periods are starting earlier than usual. I need new clothes. We both do actually.

It doesn't hurt too much when I urinate. Good thing I guess. I've never been truly worried about my health or infections before all these events.

We still have a long way to go before I'm home. I want to make it. I want to see her again...

When I'm back, Ann tells me she'll put her milk in the bottle now. It's a little funny to hear someone say that. She turns her back to me and begins to do so. I take a walk.

I wear the gloves that I found. Maybe it'll leave my body now that it's in the dark.

I gaze at the stars. They haven't changed as far as I can tell. The moon is still the same too... Wait. It's the full moon? I thought we should be around the third quarter... Well, another thing to the list I guess...

At least, from the look of the moon and stars, we're still on Earth, and in the northern hemisphere. Despite reading English around and seeing London on a map, it doesn't look like the Britain we knew.

I saw a very tall shape lean over me suddenly. I'm running back toward the fire.

Something cold grabs my left wrist. I pull it for a few steps and shake it off. I think it's that same beast again.

I reach the fire and turn around to find the shape just a few steps behind. I gasp. It's a wolf!

It's easy to recognise one. Though I didn't expect one to be almost as big as a horse and so quiet. It's not attacking, and everyone is standing still, looking at each other.

The wolf looks at us and at the fire. Ann and I are on our guards, a little shocked. The horses do not seem to care?

The wolf opens its mouth slightly, but doesn't seem concerned with us. It's not after us? Given its size, maybe it's after our horses... But it stands there, looking at us and the fire.

Is it curious?

I ask Ann if she has some meat in the stocks.

She complies and get herself to open a can. It contains a jelly that barely looks like meat. She throws it in front of the giant beast.

The wolf looks at it, takes a whiff, and loses its interest about it.

I clench my fist inside the gloves I'm wearing. I don't think I could defeat such a best by myself should it attack.

It makes a few slow steps closer. It's looking at me. Because of the fire behind me, I can see it clearly in its entirety. I can see that some overlong hair is shaping strange wavy limbs onto its back. Its fur is wavy, the colours changing softly. The fur on its back shapes tentacles of hair or wings. It's eerie.

It's not a wolf. It' only looks like one. And now that I think about it, it didn't look like there were much preys around here, to sustain a beast this size.

I make a step closer. It's only looking at me, calmly. I take my gloves off and show it my hands. My father taught me that most animals and men understand that as a sign of peace and good faith. I won't harm you.

When it sees my hands, it reacts. Its ears rise, its big eyes are opened wider. Its pupils are dilated.

Is something wrong with my hands? Something wrong for that thing?

There's a stain on my damaged flesh. It comes close enough to me to bite me if it wants to. It's curious about my left hand.

I feel uneasy being at its mercy, powerless. Being looked at by a strength I cannot match is unpleasant.

It opens its mouth slightly, but there is something weird inside. It's breathing in, engulfing air. It's dark and I don't see teeth but darkness.

Suddenly a great drooling tongue licks my arm as shivers run wild across my body.

My bandages are gone on my arm, now covered in slick saliva and don't know what to think anymore. Well, at least it didn't bite me.

Ann asks if I'm okay. I nod. The giant tongue of the beast seems to like my wounded hand. Then it's gobbling my arm, as if to nibble on it with its toothless gums. It tickles so much I begin to laugh.

It feels strange inside its mouth. Not as uncomfortable as I would have thought. It's warm, soft and tickling all over. Is it just being friendly, or was there on my skin something it likes? Alcohol perhaps?

In a final glorious lick from hand to my shoulder, it releases me. I feel a bit dizzy, as if its saliva was made of strong liquor.

I fall on my bottom. Ann comes closer. I'm drenched but not feeling cold. The beast shows it has a snake like tongue. It has many tongues inside its mouth actually, that are all that way. It looks like a pit filled with moving snakes inside there. The main snake tongue is surrounded by a swarm of smaller ones. It looks very strange, a bit shocking, but not too frightening. Because it's toothless on the other hand.

Then it gets closer to the fire, and sets itself comfortably next to it. It's not even looking at us anymore. Its eyes close themselves as it goes to sleep without a care in the world. It truly was interested by the fire.

We don't disturb our guest too much, and finish to prepare our tent for the night. After I'm wiped from all that saliva though. It doesn't smell much oddly. My left hand may even look a little better now. I think the stains are gone.

The wolf look-alike is sleeping peacefully, very close to the fire, almost sheltering it. Ann tells me that I smell weird now, neither like a human, nor a dog, nor any beast she knew.

I promise her that I'll wash myself at the next town or stream we find tomorrow. That makes her giggle for some reason. It doesn't seem I smell that bad.

~