Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Emotional Turbulence
Wolf Man Damien knew that he didn’t have forever to decide. The blade of the knife was already leaving a track of blood in his neck. He could feel blood and smell it. [Ping! Drop! Drop!) The system suddenly popped up. “Drop?” He said out loud. Could the system be telling him what he ought to do? “Did you hit my brother? You’ll feel so sorry for your life.” Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
The brother of the poacher yelled, more of gloating. Damien realized that it was now or never. Though his left hand was trying so hard to ease the pressure of the knife on his neck, but it was just a little time before he’d be hurt. He wasn’t holding a firm stance.
Going by the system’s instruction, Damien pushed his body backwards swiftly, losing his balance. On his back he fell. He fell on the chest of the man, the back of his head hit the big fat nose of the crazy poacher. He quickly rolled away from the man. “You fucking retard, you’ll beg me to spare your life in vain.”
The poacher boasted. Even though blood was beginning to come out of his nostrils because of the former impact, his eyes were still dark and mean. His face tough, jaws stiffened. Damien looked around him, he didn’t have much time to stand. The poacher would roll over to him and stab him in the chest.
He noticed the rifle of the poacher he killed few moments ago; he was lying adjacent to the corpse.
THIS SHOULD DO. He quickly picked the gun. He knew it would take time and effort to cock it let alone release a bullet. He swung the rifle to the other side an hit the poacher in the left jaw with the base of the gun.
Damien could hear bone crunching at the contact. The poacher who was almost gaining on him before Damien hit him fell forward, his knife almost driving through Damien’s chest. But the poacher missed.
Damien swiftly pushed him away from himself and stood up. Damien pressed the sole of his left shoe to the hand of the poacher which still held the knife.
THIS BASTARD IS SO TOUGH.
Damien didn’t want to waste much time. He hit the poacher with the rifle on the other side of the face and kept doing it till he heard the man whimper.
“D–don’t… g-go… t-to… m-my… boat.”
Turunnse/ Wolf Man
The man warned Drake, having hard time to choose his words. It seemed like he was choking on the words, drowning in the ocean of syllables because of his unpleasant condition; his face had been beaten to pulp, disfigured. Seeing that the man had no strength to do anything. Damien cocked the rifle and sent a bullet through the forehead of the poacher. No doubt, the poacher was dead now. – Damien dropped the rifle first. Then he dropped on his butt, near the corpse of the man. [Ping! Rid the territory of Poachers and gained 200 experience points and a system gem.] Damien kept breathing heavily, staring blankly at the bark of one of the trees opposite him. His thoughts were assorted. He had never been that near death. The truth was that he had killed several predators and those who wanted to kill him first. But he had never seen death that closely.
“I thought I was gone to die.” He swallowed, sniffing. “That bastard.”
He couldn’t believe that his voice was beginning to break. A sign of swelling tears? He sniffled again and stood up. He wouldn’t be caught crying.
As tough as he was and as powerful as he was becoming. The softest part of him was still sensitive. The soft part which also was responsible for why he couldn’t help but keep thinking about the girls’ safety even though they’d all wronged him before.
“The boat.”
Damien tried to distract himself from the numerous thoughts stalking his mind. He would need to pull himself together as soon as possible. The knowledge that he had just killed two men kept sending chills down his spines. “They are not humans!! They were evil men, they wanted to kill me first. The had no respect for life. They were monsters.”
As soon as he was able to convince himself, he felt a wave of strength hit him. Was he back to his old self?
He wanted to start going in the direction of the boat, one of the palms to his neck which had been cut slightly, just a thin straight line. Then came the weak growling of the wolf. “Oh, you’re still here.” The wolf was still lying on its side. Damien had almost forgotten that there was any wolf there. He flipped the system window out and called out the jungle wit skill. The skill led him to a nearest plant whose leaves, if squeezed, could slowly heal the scratch on his neck. Letting three drips of the liquid drop on the scratch sent a stinging pain through his neck, which raced to the back of his head. DAMN, THAT’S TOUGH,
It suddenly hit him that he could heal the wolf also with the leaf. The only problem he had now was convincing the wolf to stay calm. He had never even dealt with dogs before. He wasn’t a guy of pets. He feels uncomfortable easily around them. But this seemed strange that he wanted to have the wolf for himself. Yes, have it!
Damien moved closer to the wolf which kept growling. He wanted to touch the wolf but the wolf snapped. The pain in the limb of the wolf wasn’t enough to stop it from making an attempt to catch his hand in its merciless jaws. (Ping! Jungle Wits: Get a bone or match her rage. Tame a wolf and unlock the FEARLESS WILDLIFER skill.]
“Tame her… she’s a girl. Get a bone.”
Damien shook his head. Getting a bone would be quite difficult, he was sure. He couldn’t guarantee what might happen in the next few moments, so he couldn’t leave the wolf on her own.
“Match her rage.”
Damien thought of the second option he had. “But how do I match her rage? What am I supposed to do. How am I supposed to do that?”
You know, at first he thought that he already had all the skills necessary for survival, but the system had just surprised him that he still had a long way to go. Trying to help the wolf also helped him with dealing with the recent emotional turbulence he got caught in after the ugly experiences with the poachers.
He walked closer and closer to the wolf now. The wolf growled at him, but he didn’t flinch. He bent towards the wolf.
WHERE’S THE RAGE?
He thought. He suddenly realized that the eyes of the wolf sent more chills than her fangs.
“The eyes.”
He got it. He bent closer and closer to the wolf which kept growling. Damien held up his gaze at the wolf, looking straight into her deep cold eyes.
I HOPE THIS WORKS.
As he took the risk, giving a tough and mean stare at the wolf, bending closer and closer, though much slowly; he had to be careful. At the same time, he squeezed the leave from the healing plant with his other fingers and let few drips drop around the shot leg.
Grabbing the other end of the arrow, he suddenly pulled it out and the wolf cried in pain. Damien had no choice but to jump back at that, because the fangs of the wolf almost claimed his face, especially his nose. He was too close to it.
“Sorry, girl. I’m so sorry. That was the only way to save you.” He had enough leaves in his hand. After the cry, the wolf passed out. “She couldn’t die… no, I heard that wolves are tough. Especially when they are deprived
Lunas… wait, how did I know that she’s a Luna?”
He squeezed the leaves and made sure that they dripped in the wound. When the liquid seeped into the wound, the wolf whimpered softly then blacked out again. Damien sighed. It was quite an exhausting task. “What now? I can’t possibly leave her here.” That was the fact.
(Ping! Jungle Wits: Lift her. Carry her home to complete the TAMING TASK.) “Carry her home, are you shitting me right now?” He chidded like he could see who was behind the system. There might be one, and he hoped to meet such soon. He needed to get to the boat of the poachers. He needed to make a quick decision.
“What if she wakes up while I carry her?”
He shook his head. It was a hard decision to make. He walked to the corpses of the poachers. He looked down at himself, his clothes were not in good shape. He bent to take the clothes of one of them, his hands froze. He stood back up and turned away.
“No… I’ll find some other.”
Taking the clothes would only remind him of the guilt he shouldn’t feel. He walked determinedly now to the wolf and lifted her up. “Come let’s go girl.” He made her seat around his shoulder. “I’m the host, I can’t die.” He promised himself and kept walking on.