Day 535: "-the water is always free!"

 

Three and a half fingers were the first thing I saw when the words registered in my head. I opened my eyes to a half-naked, hairy, grinning man standing over me, reaching for my face.

 

As I have said before, adrenalin is a hell of a thing.

 

I rolled to my feet and hopped across the room sending flares and cans of coffee scattering. They were stacked up on the main counter and I was using it to pull myself away from him, thus knocking many carefully stacked display items to the floor. This had a chilling effect on the man who I would come to know as the Quonset manager.

 

[EDITOR NOTE: In the margins of the page are written the word "sorry" at this point. It does not fit in with the rest of the writing for entry 535. It is accepted belief by scholars in the field that this apology was written by the quonset manager. It is one of the few times that the manager seems to have altered a copy of an original document. Otherwise I believe the rest of the entry is entirely the work of Jennifer.]

 

QM's eyes bugged out at the merchandise falling and he howled as he dived to try to catch as many things as possible. I must admit I'd be pissed as well if someone just spilled the only coffee left on the planet. I grabbed a storm lantern and held it up to defend myself. If I had the time, I think we could have resolved it peacefully, but at that point he looked up and with eyes wide and spit flying from his mouth, he stabbed a finger at me and shouted, "SPIKES!!!"

 

And that's when I ran.

 

I ran into the back room where I saw a back door and ran for it. I was moving as fast as my bum leg would let me. I was rushing so I didn't notice that night had fallen and that the reason I could see everything going on was because of the aurora was lighting everything up. If I had the presence of mind, I would have stayed inside. No telling what a crazy man might do, but I know what aurora wolves WILL.

 

I slipped on a pile of raw meat right outside the back door. The smoldering remains of two fires were next to it. I didn't have time to think as I was in a blind panic, so I just bolted. Should have locked myself in the truck, in retrospect. But I ran right past it. I saw a house in the distance, so I ran for it. Just as I passed a burned out house between me and what seemed like safety, a wolf came jogging around the corner of my destination.

 

It was big. It was glowing greenish-blue. It was pissed.

 

I turned around to see that a second was behind me. Glancing about, I saw a third that had hopped up on the roof of a nearby snow covered car, the only other possible refuge. I reached for my knife, only to remember that I had it in my hand when I passed out on the floor, and I didn't hold onto it when I ran.

 

It was at this point that I just gave up.

 

I honestly was at my limit and I really just wanted it over with. I was cold. I was in pain. I was exhausted. I just wanted to die.

 

I fell to my knees and just stared at the closest wolf who apparently knew when he had run prey to ground. He broke into a run and leaped. He fell on me. Not, fell upon me. He fell ON me. As in, he collapsed. It took a second to figure out the wolf wasn't attacking me. In retrospect, I believe the arrow sticking out of his eye was the most likely culprit for his cessation of hostilities.

 

I should have struggled, I think. I should have make the effort to push it off and try to escape. But I meant it when I said I had given up. I just laid there with a dead wolf on top of me. I heard another yelp and a thud, then a growl and a charge. I looked over to see that wild man, wearing nothing but ski boots underwear and a massive leathery cloak. He was fighting with the third wolf hand to hand, er... hand to claw? It leaped at him as he twirled and the wolf got tangled in the cloak before they both went down. A moment latter I see a flash of steel in the halogen light and the wolf let out a whimpering howl before it went scampering off.

 

He laid there on the ground not moving. The cloak twitched in a gust of wind. I had just about given him up for dead when he finally said in a strangely soft voice that cut through the air...

 

"I'm getting too old for this."

 

He turned his head to face me, then scowled. I had thought for a second I was going to be okay, then my heart sank, 'Now he's going to deal with me.' but then I noticed he was looking past me.

 

"Of course." He mumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, "Must be Tuesday." He slowly reached over, trying to pick up bow without taking his eyes off whatever was behind me, "I really hate Tuesdays." That's when I heard a chuffling snort.

 

I turned my head to look at what was behind me and that's when I got to see my first Aurora Bear.

 

Now, if you have never seen an aurora bear, Let me explain something. An aurora wolf is terrifying. Whatever makes them glow also messes with their heads. They are stronger, tougher, and more aggressive then the most rabid pit bull you can imagine.

 

An Aurora BEAR is a whole other level of terror that you cannot even BEGIN to imagine.

 

And just as what I was seeing was registering in my brain, I saw an arrow fly over me and hit the bear square in the nose.

 

And all it did was piss it off.

 

It reared up on it's hind legs to howl as a second arrow hit it in the chest. The bear didn't even notice. I looked back at the wild man who was looking around for more arrows. I thought I had lost hope before, but when he said, "Shit." I knew my death had only been postponed. He was out of ammo.

 

I heard the bear lumbering towards us, but instead of wisely running away, the wild man was charging to meet it. As he stepped over me, he yanked the arrow out of the wolf's eye socket, knelt down, and took aim just as the bear was on top of us..

 

I closed my eyes at that point.

 

I also pissed myself.

 

And then there was a thud and a spray of snow and ice landing on my face.

 

When I opened my eyes, the bear was dead. A third arrow had flow true and was in his right eye. The other eye was looking right at me and I swear it was full of pure, raw hatred.

 

The man stood up. He walked over and pulled the arrow out of the bear's nose. He looked at it, "Huh... I don't think this arrow is going to last much longer." Then he nocked it, aimed high into the distance, and fired. A second latter I heard a yelp and a crunch. I would later learn he finished off the wounded wolf. It had circled back to sneak up on us.

 

"A-yup." he said to himself with a slow confirming nod of the head. Then he turned his attention to me.

 

Abruptly he pulled out my knife and threw it at me. It was so fast I didn't even have time to flinch. It landed next to my head, blade buried hilt deep in the snow, "You left your knife." He walked past me to the truck and pulled some lighter fluid out of the back and picked up some scrap wood from a pile next to the truck. He dumped the wood on one of the smoldering fires and sprayed the lighter fluid all over it. Almost casually he pulled out a matchbook and with one smooth motion, lit the match and tossed it onto the firewood. In seconds a fire had started.

 

"You any good with it?" He asked without looking at me, "The knife." He added, "Skinning animals, I mean."

 

He stoked the fire and put on a few sticks, "The wind is going to pick up so we need to act fast. I'll pay you, of course." He looked at me finally, "In matches." There was a long pause, "We uses matches around here as money." Then with a surprisingly cheerful voice, "It's the new economy!"

 

I would like to point out I still had a dead wolf lying on me, two more dead wolves lying nearby, and not ten feet from my head was the largest, formerly living, most hostile thing I had ever seen and it was STILL GLOWING. Despite all that, this guy was offering me a job.

 

I stared at him for a long moment before I took a deep breath and told him, "I think I broke my leg."

 

He blinked, looked shocked and said, "Well don't do that. Breaking your leg is bad. Didn't anyone ever tell you that?"

 

I blinked back. Then I got angry. How dare he? How DARE he imply I did this to myself ON PURPOSE!!! I remember cursing at him and him backing up. I shoved off the wolf and tried to stand up.

 

Now, the human body can do some amazing things. For example, a few hours ago when a wolf screwed up my knee, it swelled up to immobilize the joint so it was more stable. Makes it easier to run. Your body assumes that with that sort of injury, any long term damage is nothing compared to dying, so it does what it can to keep you combat effective. I remember learning that somewhere. My brother was in the army. I'm sure it was from him.

 

Eventually the swelling goes down and when it does, broken parts are free to move again. And well, the fear adrenaline had worn off along with it's pain dampening effects.

 

It felt like my knee exploded.

 

I went down face first into the snow screaming in agony. It all caught up at once and all I could do was clutch my knee and scream. My screaming very quickly turned to crying. I'm not ashamed of it. I cried like a baby. I have never known a greater pain.

 

I don't remember much, but I do remember he rushed over and started yelling at me, "Why Are you CRYING???" He started to pace back and forth, flailing his arms about, "Stop Crying! Why are you crying! This isn't helping! How is this Productive?" On and on he went. He was berating me for suffering.

 

Even with all the pain clouding my mind, I suddenly realized what was happening. I was wrong. There wasn't a community of people here. There was only one guy. This guy. He was alone. Alone for a long... long time. He wasn't being rude, or sarcastic or making fun of me or implying I hurt myself on purpose. No. He simply had no idea how to deal with another human being. He had no concept anymore of basic human interaction. That's how long he had been alone. Long enough to forget what compassion was, at the very least.

 

This salvation I had been running towards didn't exist. Instead of hope, I found some lone survivor going crazy by the sea.

 

And realizing that made me cry even harder.