14 Injuries

John finds himself short of breath as his heart rate increases once more. The intoxicating smell trying to find its way into his claws. He has to dig his claws into a nearby tree to keep them from tearing into Cahal's unconscious body. He presses his forehead against the tree as he struggles to resist his rising blood lust.

"...J-John, what have you-!" A woman's voice calls out in his head.

He opens his eyes, finding himself back on that street, looming over the man. Their throat has been ripped open, blood all over their face, and his hands. The shaky breath of a terrified, crying, person comes from behind. He turns around, looking up at the person shivering in fear, but bright red and blue lights suddenly start blaring, blinding him. He closes his eyes, and opens them back up to find himself staring at the forest floor.

He can feel his heart beating in his chest as he slowly catches his breath. Despite the copper smell of the blood filling his lungs, he lets go of the tree and walks over to Cahal. He lifts him up and looks around for any sign of the campfire. He wanders around a bit, and manages to find the remains of it, grabbing Cahal's backpack before heading in the direction he thinks the road is. After some time, he realizes he's lost.

Rather than sitting still, he continues to trek on, figuring at least moving he might eventually run into a road or something. The smell of dog slowly creeps up from behind. He turns, seeing nothing, the stench growing stronger. He takes a defensive position as he hears something approach. A large, dark grey, wolf emerges from a nearby thicket. John glares at it as it comes closer, stopping a few meters away from him. It looks at him, than glances up seeing Cahal's head resting on one of his shoulders.

The wolf looks back at him, just staring at him.

"You gonna talk?" John asks. The wolf doesn't respond, merely turning around. It looks back at John, gesturing with its head for him to follow. Hesitantly, he follows it. They walk through the woods until it starts to become sunset, John becoming unable to ignore his hunger anymore. He stops, carefully taking Cahal off his back. The wolf stop and turns to him.

"Take him," John states as he holds Cahal's body forward. The wolf nods, walking over to him. John lays Cahal's body on the wolf's back, and the wolf takes off as John starts looking for something to hunt.

…

Ludmilla stands nervously at the tunnel entrance, looking out into the woods, the dark of the night making an impenetrable wall only a few feet from the other side of the tunnel. She's about to head to the barracks to go check on Aedanna, when Magnus suddenly emerges from the dark, an unconscious Cahal on his back.

She runs out to Magnus as he approaches the caern.

"W-What happened?!" She mutters to herself as she examines his wounds, "Come on, let's hurry to the infirmary,"

As they hurry, Rodko spots them, and sees Cahal.

"What the hell happened to him?!" Rodko exclaims angrily as Ludmilla and Magnus, whose now turned human, lay him in a bed, "It was that damn stranger, wasn't it?!" He asks Ludmilla.

"I...I don't know…" Ludmilla responds, too worried about treating Cahal's wounds to think about anything else.

"I believe this, John, was the one who hurt Cahal," Magnus states.

"What?" Ludmilla and Rodko ask.

"I found John carrying him on his back. He was also heavily covered in injuries…"

"Where's, John, now?" Rodko asks, "Why didn't he come back with you?"

"I don't know. He followed me till around sunset, then gave me Cahal to bring back here,"

"Magnus, would you mind going back and getting him?" Ludmilla asks, "We need to know what happened...what caused all these injuries,"

"Of course not," Magnus replies before heading out, turning back into his wolf form. Rodko walks up to the bedside, looking at Cahal. He glances at all the holes. They're slowly healing back up, but much slower than usual for a garou. Standing closer, he catches a strange scent.

"Wyrm?" Rodko mutters.

"What?"

"I can smell traces of the Wyrm on him...he must have encountered something...perhaps another Black Spiral Dancer,"

"Hopefully Magnus can come back with John soon, and hopefully he's in better shape in Cahal...he's our only chance of knowing what happened right now," Ludmilla lets out a tired sigh as she tends to Cahal's wounds.