A Tumble Through Worlds

Ow, ow, ow– "MOTHERFUCKER!" Flora screamed, clutching her twisted ankle from where she'd stepped onto nothing and fallen head over heels. In an attempt to catch herself, she flailed and caught her footing, stopping her tumbling, but spinning her anchoring foot in a direction that caused it to make a sickening crack. She pressed her head back against the tree she was using to try and stand, but her ankle was roaring with pain. She'd broken bones before and been injured in boxing matches, but this made her more frantic. Flora had never been badly injured in the wild… especially this deep in the wild. They were days from civilization.

Flora also had no idea where Cassie had gone. Whatever that light had been, it'd been nothing but bad news, blinding her from whatever ledge was trying to send her to her death.

Dawn was not far off and maybe she could find her way back to the camp. Her satellite phone was in her pack and she could phone the nearest ranger station for help. When she finally steeled herself to begin limping back uphill toward the direction she thought her camp was in, she heard a bone chilling noise. Wolves howling.

At first, this noise slid into her ears and while startled, Flora just shook her head. Wolves wouldn't bother her… Wait. There are no wolves in Colorado.

She didn't have an answer for the noise she heard. Maybe coyotes? No, that was definitely the sound of wolves, but she didn't know how. Hobbling up the hill, she followed the disturbed brush from when she'd fallen and then maybe her foot prints. Flora was versed well enough in forestry that she was confident she could find her way back, so long as she kept a cool head. Hopefully Cassie had just gone back to camp. A twisted ankle was no big deal, she'd heal from it.

However, when Flora crested the hill, she found herself puzzled over the trail. There was nothing. No disturbed needles where she had trotted down from hanging the food, nor broken twigs or markings from where Cassie had made her way to the same location. Her brows furrowed and Flora gazed out into the wood realizing a second, very disturbing fact The alpine forest she had just been in was not even remotely the same. Sure, it was a forest, but it was not the *same* forest. The cool mountain temperatures was replaced with a sublime humidity and as the sun rose and the light tried its hardest to penetrate the dense vegetation without too much success. Still, the illumination on the moss covered trees, thickets of ferns, and massive cedars, firs, spruces, and hemlock trees. They were ancient, reminding her of only one place she'd been before: the Enchanted Valley in the Olympic Peninsula.

Was this all just some insane dream?

The pain in her ankle told her it was not. There was no point in pinching herself and awed by what she stared at now, Flora tried to fathom how she had ended up here.

"Portal?" came to her lips, the only - insane - but logical explanation. Had that golden mirror of light been a portal? If this was the Olympic Peninsula, she had more than just bears to worry about now. She had heard wolves howling. They were so rare in Washington, there were less than 50 of them counted in 2020. Had they multiplied and spread this far?

If portals are possible, so are wolves getting out here, she thought sourly.

Flora had none of her equipment. Only what she had been wearing in her sleeping bag, which was her hiking pants, shirt, jacket, socks and boots, and a belt with a few survival items like a hunting knife and compass. On her neck, she always kept a throng of flint and steel, but she doubted she would find anything dry here. A place like this wasn't called a temperate rainforest for nothing. It almost always rained.

Even her cell phone and satellite phone had been in her pack where it would be safe in her dry bag. Growling beneath her breath, Flora tried not to lose all semblance of patience and panic. She should have. Honestly, this whole situation was mind boggling. But she had training to keep herself from buckling beneath the pressure of stressful situations - from her years training in fighting, to her years in veterinary school, or even her experience as a seasoned free solo climber and mountaineer. At least she didn't have nothing.

She had to try and find a trail. If her assumption was correct and she was somewhere in Olympic National Park, there were nearly 1,400 square miles of remote land. With this sort of injury, she could wander aimlessly and never be found. Finding some sort of lookout point might help her ascertain where she was, but with the dense forest, she doubted it would be much help unless she came across a mountain. It wasn't as if she could climb any of these old trees that were twenty feet wide, even if she wasn't injured, she didn't have the right equipment.

Most survival situations you were told to just wait in one place. Trouble was, it was the ranger station in Colorado that would look for them, not Washington. No one would even consider looking over a thousand miles away for her. There would be no help.

Where had Cassie gone? Even if Flora was injured, she had a plethora of survival knowledge when in comparison to her friend who only hiked on occasion and usually with Flora planning everything.

She couldn't be too far, right? They fell through the same portal.

I didn't take a Portals 101 class in college, I have no idea if we'd even get dumped in the same area, Flora thought desperately, deciding she'd have to find her way to help before she could get a search party to look for Cassie.

Flora created her plan and started hobbling through the damp forest, pausing every so often so that she could catch her breath. Her injury made it impossible for her to shift her weight to her right side, thus the left had to support all of it. The going was grueling. Even when climbing sheer cliff faces or hiking mountains like Denali, Flora had never found herself lacking confidence in her movements... then again, she'd never been injured without a back up plan or help within calling distance. The worst she'd ever sustained was a broken arm when she had slipped down a mountainside and fought to catch herself. A broken arm was preferential to dying and hadn't limited her movement despite hurting.

What Flora could have jogged or covered in a normal day was cut down to the tiniest fraction. While she didn't condone anyone doing this, she marked the trees with her knife to prevent herself from walking in circles. With no trail markers, she had to create her own. Even with how damp it was in the forest, Flora had no drinkable water. It wasn't safe to bend down in the nearest stream and drink deeply without boiling it.

A late afternoon shower soaked Flora through. Her coat was water resistant, but her poncho had been in her pack. Water trickled down her pants into her boots and she knew she had to find proper shelter and get out of her wet clothes and try to start a fire. Licking her lips, Flora limped toward a rocky outcropping. The forest had changed a little bit, but not considerably. There were more rocks, leading her to believe she might be approaching the coast.

Exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, Flora ducked within the shelter of the small cave. In her weariness, she didn't even consider that this alcove might belong to something. Instead, she continued further into the cave, pleasantly surprised that it went a good distance in and away from the rain. She dropped the soaked pile of wood she had taken, pulling out some kindling she had put inside her jacket hoping that her body heat would dry it enough to light.

She got to work quickly. Staying still while wet would be a killer. A fire was necessary as fast as she could get it going. This endeavor took Flora ages. She had managed to shelter the stripped wood as best as she could, but it was still wet. Eventually she caught her starter and kindling, carefully setting tinder on top, hoping the other pieces of wood would dry near the heat enough to be added soon. She stripped off her pants, jacket, and shirt remaining only in her sports bra and underwear.

Just about to assess her ankle better, she heard a crack at the mouth of the cave. Her head snapped in the direction, but it was too dark for her to really see what might be out there. There was no way it was salvation, she was too far out in the woods. Slowly, her fingers rolled over the sheathed hunting knife and she carefully removed it. A deep breath made her shudder as eyes reflected against her small fire light.

Scream. It's probably a bear and this is its den, Flora realized, sucking in a large amount of air to begin yelling. But the breath fizzled in the back of her throat when the animal lumbered into view. It was as large as a Kodiak bear, but she knew at once that it was a wolf from the pointed ears, long muzzle, and the careful planting of an enormous paw. Part of her was dazzled by the specimen for a moment, the silver tipped brown fur, brilliantly golden irises, and the sheer size of the glossy coated canine.

Then fear injected itself into her veins like a needle filled with a liquid dread. She had a great appreciation of animals and apex predators, but not when she was injured and cornered. Gripping her knife with white knuckles, Flora swung her hand in a warning, the blade glinting madly in the firelight.

"Get away!" she shouted, finally coming to her senses again. It had to be how she was sitting on the ground. There was no way a wolf was that big. Right... the angle from which she looked at it.

The wolf did not flinch, but it did pause in its approach. While continuing to make noise, Flora observed the beast's mannerisms. It was relaxed, the way its eyes followed her were intelligent, tracing the weapon she carried before it decided to move again. The wolf padded to the other side of the fire and laid down, sharing the warmth of the hearth Flora had slaved over to get built.

Shouldn't there be more nearby? She thought anxiously, glancing toward the cave entrance and then back to the wolf. Her eyes went back to it. The rest she had been hoping to get was replaced by anxiety. Closing her eyes next to the wolf could be fatal. While there were few modern day tales of people being attacked by wolves, this was also due to their significantly smaller numbers in the US than they had been before being eradicated. None had ever been recorded as being as big as this wolf either.

"Fine," Flora hissed, stabbing the knife into the earth beside her. "I'll share my fire if you don't eat me." Not that she had much to defend herself with other than the comfort of her words and that maybe the wolf understood them. For all she knew it was waiting for her to lower her guard or go to sleep before attacking.

Her attention went to her ankle, which she could assess while still keeping the wolf in her field of view. Clenching her teeth, Flora untied the laces and carefully wiggled the boot off. The sock came next and she could see her limp, dangling ankle. Air escaped her lips as she inspected the injury, realizing it was dislocated and not twisted. Perhaps it was fractured too, but she couldn't be certain without an X-ray.

"I have to set it," she muttered, maybe to herself, maybe to the wolf.

When she raised her eyes, she noticed the wolf was watching her, head set on the ground, but definitely observing what she was doing. It knew she was hurt. Flora was at the whim of the wolf. She was an easy meal, even if she didn't possess a lot of fat.

She picked up her belt and placed the leather between her teeth, fingers trembling as she reached for her ankle. She knew it was going to be excruciating, preparing herself mentally. She had been through worse than this. Right?

She had to turn it first so that it was in the correct alignment before popping it back into place. Each twist was white hot as if she were being stabbed, lancing up her leg, causing her hands to shake as she whined in agony. Finally, once it was in place, she tightened her arms and wrenched it back into place. Flora screamed, despite the belt in her mouth, sweat beading against her brow as she shook from the adrenaline coursing through her. Instantly, she felt the relief of her ankle being back in place. She knew she still couldn't use it fully for at least a week. It might feel good now, but it would begin aching again by morning.

No painkillers, no alcohol, she'd have to deal with this.

She still felt a bit faint from the pain that had shaken up her body when she heard a voice. "How did you do that?"

When Flora lifted her head, she saw only the wolf.

The animal had lifted its head. "How did you dislocate it?"

Flora's eyes widened and she passed out... from pain, right? Totally not the wolf talking; nearly flopping into the fire and smothering it.

–

Man, I had the wildest dream. Cassie will laugh when I tell it to her, Flora thought as she rolled over, feeling the warmth of her sleeping bag against her bare skin. Bare? She had gone to sleep with clothes on. Blinking slowly, Flora's eyes slowly adjusted to the dim cave, light trickling in from the entrance of the cave. Stirring, her ankle throbbed, causing her to catch her breath and groan. No, it had not been some crazy dream. Flora had passed out from the pain and exhaustion... and... the giant wolf.

Her eyes snapped across the fire where her strange evening companion had laid. It was empty, but she was alive. The fire had gone out, only embers remaining, and yet she was pleasantly warm, as if it were still toasting her. Flora glanced down and saw that she was covered in a fur blanket, running her fingers along it she realized it must have been a bear. Had her eyes been playing tricks on her? Had the wolf simply been a hallucination and there had been a bear skin in the cave?

This is cured... Someone made this, she realized, thumbing the tanned hide underneath.

It wasn't until the warmth behind her moved that Flora realized the wolf hadn't left.