{"sf1_id":775118,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Deeper into the Wilderness","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2655,"posted_at":"2014-10-29T14:58:00.000Z","tags":["Amnesia","Bear","Feral","Human","Transformation","Werewolf","confusion","predator","prey","russia","wilderness"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/775118-deeper-into-the-wilderness","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/775118","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=775118\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#60 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                Maggie\ndidn't stray far from the second lake, heading back in an attempt to catch his\nscent again. She guessed that his transformation had subsided, hence the lack\nof a strong odor, but she couldn't figure out why his regular aroma, one with\nwhich she was quite familiar, was gone. It was like he had forgotten how to be\nhimself.                She was\nsitting at the water's edge in wolf form, her bag draped across her back\ncontaining her clothing and a few other things. She was tired of carrying it,\nbut she refused to give up and knew that there were times she was going to need\nto be human. Out of deference to the locals, she had been subsisting on fish,\nwhich were numerous and easy to catch. That kept her away from them, avoiding\nany unnecessary confrontations.                She got\na drink, lapping up the clear cool dater and quietly headed up to a nearby village. She had been looking in the\nwild for days, not thinking that he would have headed to anywhere close to a\nhuman settlement. Maybe she had assumed wrong. Just shy of the village she\nchanged, putting on her clothing and draping the bag back over her shoulder.                She was\ninstantly set upon by the other children, who danced around her at a safe\ndifference. Their chants were a little weird, and she wondered if she had\nstumbled into some sort of asylum. It was hard to say, here in Russia, what a\nstranger may find off the beaten track.                Their\nwords were jumbled, but she did pick up ghost,\nspirit and freak among the Russian words they were saying. It was like they\nknew her already! They fled when an older man shooed them away. \"Kysh! Udar\nyego vy malen'kiye khuligany!\"                \"That\nseems a little harsh!\" She said to him in Russian. \"I'd hardly call them\nhooligans.\"                He\nappraised her with a critical eye. \"Your Russian is poor. You are not from\nhere, are you young lady?\" answering again in his native tongue.                \"No.\nI'm looking for someone who got lost.\"                \"That\nhappens a lot. Who is it you have lost to bring you so far out here?\"                \"My\nfather.\"                The man\nstopped and squinted at her. \"There was a man here a short while ago, a very\nstrange man. But you look nothing like him.\"                The hairs\non her body stood on end and threatened to grow. \"Strange how?\"                \"I\ndon't know if I should tell you. I think he may be dangerous, despite his\nrelatively mild manner and words.\"                \"Words?\nHe spoke to you in Russian?\"                \"Of\ncourse. Why wouldn't he?\"                \"Because\nif it's my father, and I think it has to be, he doesn't speak Russian. What can\nyou tell me about him?\" She felt her heart racing.                \"He was\nabout this tall, and naked, and he had a strange mark on his forehead.\"                \"Did he\nhave on a ring at all?\" She held up her hand. \"One that looked like this?\"                The man\ndid a double take. \"Exactly like that. Who are you?\"                \"It doesn't\nmatter. I need to find him and fast. Where is he?\"                \"He\nleft in that direction,\" the man said, point to the north and west. \"He's following\nthat strange boy we had here. Apparently they can talk in growls.\"                \"He was\nable to speak wolfish in human form?\"                \"Speak\nwhat?\"                \"Look, I'd\nlove to stay and chat, but something has happened to my father and either he is\nin dire straits, or the whole of Russia is. If I don't find him soon, I fear\nwhat he may end up doing.\"                She\nturned and ran out of the village far enough to change,dropping the clothes in the\nbag and repositioning it over her back. Then she was off at a fast lope. She had\nto track and back track until she finally found two scents; one belonging to a\nyoung were in human form. It was odd, getting such a mixed scent, but she was\ngrateful for it. And overlaying it was a man's, and while it didn't smell\ncorrect, she knew it had to be Edward.                From\nthose thin smells she assumed that they had quite a head start. She was thankful\nthat for the moment he wasn't back in his feral form. He would be easier to\nfollow, but tougher to deal with. As it was, she was thinking of ways of\njogging his memory. That bullet to the head must have really caused some damage\nto his gray matter. Of course, it was silver, and it had been dipped in\nwolfsbane, but the bigger question was; why hadn't it killed him? She could\nonly hope that she had slipped the ring on soon enough to prevent his death.                And\nspeaking Russian and wolf; both fluently. She could speak wolf and he could\nspeak wolf, but only in feral form. So then, what the hell was happening to\nhim? It was a good question with no ready answer. She needed to find him, get\nhim isolated and find out. She wished she had talked more with the man in the village. She had been so excited to find word of her father that she had rushed off. Now\nthat she was away, she had a thousand questions for him. She would have to find\nthe answers on her own, for there was no turning back.                Ahead of her, the\nboy, the one from the village, was having trouble. He was feeling dizzy and\ndisoriented. The bite from that human was painful to the touch, and he knew it\nmust be infected. He stopped more often to rest.                The man\nhad been an odd one, that much was true. He smelled like the others; mostly. But he\ncould speak and be understood, and that was not like the others. He had to a supreme alpha. But if he was, why was he living with the humans? A supreme took\ntheir place at the head of the pack, though of course females were generally\nthe leaders, not males. But if he could find his old pack, maybe they would be\ninterested in this human. That is, if death didn't keep him from reaching them. He was\nfeeling just awful.                Edward\nwas racing along the best he knew how. He was agile; jumping over falling trees\nand fences like an Olympic hurdler. Of course, it felt natural to him. For all he\nknew, this was a day at the park for him. He kept feeling this urge to change,\nto become something else, but he didn't know how to grant this unspoken desire\nso he ran on and on. He instinctively knew he was on the boy's trail, though he\nhad no idea how he knew that. It was just like his brain was leading his feet,\nand he had no choice but to follow.                The\nboy's scent had begun to change over the course of the chase, and he would have\nwondered if his mind had opened up such things to him. But there was now a\nbackground program running his movements, and his thought processes were\nrestricted to working on the problem of who he was. He didn't come up with\nmuch. It was as if he had just been born, or maybe reborn. So was it better to\ndwell on who he was, or who he had been? Maybe the old man was right; maybe he\nbelonged under the waves.                He then\nthought about the other possibility. Fur. He remembered fur. Why did he\nremember fur? Would he have fur under the water? Maybe, but it didn't sound\nright. He knew of fish, and fish lived under the water. They had scales.                 As he\nwas thinking something kicked in. His arms sprouted hair and his body changed\ninto something strange. Yet it felt normal. He felt like a caterpillar becoming\na butterfly, skipping the cocoon stage. His clothing from the man split and was\nshed on the ground. Well, that explained why he had been naked before. One\nhardly needed clothing when you were already dressed.                His\nsniffed the air and caught the scent of the boy. This time the oddity that came\nto his nose was recognizable. He was turning into a wolf. How quaint! Why had\nhe never done it before? He looked at his own arms and smiled, showing scimitar\nfangs. It was a gorgeous feeling, and he felt the need to celebrate by killing\nsomething.                 But\nfirst things first. Find the boy. That was stuck in his head. He didn't\nremember why he had to find the boy, but he had to find him. So off he ran,\nleaping thirty foot stretches in a single bound. And he wasn't even breaking a\nsweat.                The boy\nheard the crashing from far away, and instantly panicked. It was his last\nmistake before being set upon by a huge hulking beast. But instead of it\ntearing him to pieces, it sat down and wagged its big black tail. \"Hi! I found\nyou? Why did you run off?\"                Now\nmind you, the boy was still looking human. The change that Edward's bite had\nstarted was still working through his system. \"Are you the man from the\nvillage?\"                \"I\ndon't know, am I?\"\"You speak like him. Why did you\nfollow me?\"\"I asked first! Why did you run\naway?\"\"Because the pack needs to know you\nexist, that's why!\"\"Ok. Why don't I come with you?\"\"I'm too sick to travel.  The bite you gave me is infected.\"The big wolf sniffed the wound,\nlicked it a few times and then morphed into some more frightening and picked\nthe boy up. He gave him a hug. He didn't know why, but he did. In the next\ninstant he dropped the squirming wolf to the ground. The boy had to orient\nhimself to his new proportions. \"What did you do?\"\"I hugged you. Least, I think\nthat's what it's called. I seem to remember something similar that involved a\nwhole lot more. Would you like to try that too?\"\"Uhh, no. I'm not sure what you\nmean, but I think you've done enough to me today.\"\"Ok. Suit yourself. How do you feel\nnow?\"The newly formed wolf was taking an\nappraisal of his new body. \"I feel great, thanks! And now I'm a real wolf so you makes you a supreme alpha!\"\"Whatever you say. I wanna go kill\nsomething. Is there something we can kill out here?\" It was made as if an\noffhand remark.\"Uh, do you mean you're hungry?\"\"No. I want to kill something. I\nwant to smell blood. I want to crush bone. I want to rend flesh. You know,\nkill.\"The boy knew the blood rage. His\npack's alpha female would go on one every full moon.  Why this alpha wanted to kill seem so random.\n\"Uhhh, there are deer and boar. Outside of that, everything is fairly small or\nbelongs to the humans.\"\"Belongs? It belongs to whoever\nkills it. Let's go hunting.\"Maggie was working her way from behind\nEdward's position, when a gust of wind blew several scents her way at once. The first was\nblood. It was animal blood, and she could only hazard a guess as to what it\nwas. But since it wasn't human and not wolf, she kept calm. And then the other\nscent came to her nose. It was a bit more familiar. It smelled an awful like a\nferal werewolf, and while Edward's normal overtones where gone, it was\ndistinctly male.She ran on, breaking out into a\nclearing were two male wolves, or rather one young male wolf and a huge hulking\nwerewolf were feasting on a  large boar.\nShe overheard the big one snicker in wolf tongue. \"Look, you bring down some food\nand wolves start coming out of the forest.\"\"Father?\"The big one paused, blood dripping\nfrom his jaws. \"Whose father?\"\"Mine you big idiot. What have you\nbeen doing this whole time? I've been worried sick.\"The smaller wolf snickered as well.\n\"Father? She sounds more like your mate.\" She came up panting. \"I'm both you\nlittle bastard, so shut the hell up!\"               Edward\nwas staring at her. He sniffed her. \"You do smell familiar. If you know me,\ntell me who I am.\"               \"You're\nEdward Peterson. And I'm hoping to the heavens that you still have your ring.\"               He\nlifted a front paw. \"You mean this thing?\"                She\nnodded. \"It's just like mine, see?\"                He\nlooked and agreed. \"Yep, just like mine. I can't take it off or my head hurts.\"                She\nnoted the puckered mark on his forehead, visible even in his present form.\n\"Yeah. I think it's the only thing keeping you alive right now. That bullet\nreally messed up your head.\"                \"Bullet?\"                \"You\nreally don't remember do you?\"                \"Now\nthat you mention it, I don't know who I am, where I'm at, or why I'm here. Bu\nthis food is good. I'll even share.\"                Maggie\nwas torn between being heartbroken and elated. She had found him, but there\nseemed to be nothing left of his personality that made him who he was. When she\ngot back to St Petersburg she was going to tear the town apart until she found\nout who was responsible. In the meantime she had to stay close and try to reach\nhis memories. It had to be that damn bullet. The ring was the only thing\nkeeping him alive, it had to be, otherwise his brain would have burned out\nthrough his ears.                \"I\nthank you for your offer, and I will accept. But I must ask that you believe me\nas to who I say you are, and who I say I am. For it is very important for you\nto regain your mind.\"                \"But I\nhave my mind. It's a wonderful mind. I can see all kinds of things in it;\" here\nhe squinted at her, \"Even you. I see you as a human I think; and I see us\nmating. He\npaused. \"Is that right?\"                \"Yes,\nit is.\"                \"Funny\nthat. You aren't old enough to mate.\"                \"I\nknow.\"                \"Oh,\nok. As long as you know it.\" He turned back to his food and grabbed huge bites\nof the pig meat.                She sat\ndown, feeling defeated. It was like he was a great big kid. When he had left\nthe bar he was consumed by rage and hatred. Now that had been replaced by a near imbecilic mentality that was almost more dangerous than the rage. Now he\nwas equally unpredictable, and his bearing was likely to throw others off until\nit was too late.                 As if\nto answer her fears, a brown bear came out of the woods to the left,\nsniffing the air. It stood on its hind paws and growled intimidatingly. Since\nthere were only three wolves around the kill, it figured it could scare them\noff. Edward paid it no attention until the young male backed away with his\nhackles up.                 \"What's\nwrong?\"                \"That's\nwhat's wrong.\" He said, looking at the massive brute.                Edward\nturned, glanced at the bear for only a second before grabbing it, and with a\nsingle heave, sent it crashing several hundred yards through the trees.\nBranches broke, leaves fluttered to the ground, and a very bruise bear landed\non its posterior, alive but very much bruised. Edward turned back to the kill.\n\"Next time he can ask nicely. Imagine that; him demanding that we give him the\nmeat.\"                Maggie's\njaw dropped. \"Are you telling me that you could understand that bear?\"                \"Barely.\nHe has the most atrocious pronunciation I've ever heard from his kind. His\nmother should have taught him better.\"               She stared open mouthed at him as he returned to eating his kill."}