Adrift- Draft 2

The howls were unbearable. The wolves, not twenty metres away, would not cease this night. Reluctantly, she got up and started walking again.
An hour later she found the river she had taken a bath in a few days ago, and she knelt down at the bank to take a drink. The water felt refreshing on her face, and she indulged herself. When she was done, she looked beside her and saw she was not alone. A cub, not unlike the one she had seen previously, was lapping gently, oblivious to her presence. It stopped, looked around cautiously, and resumed drinking.
She lay down on the riverbank and slept again.

She awoke the next morning to stare at a pair of yellow eyes looking into hers. At first she panicked, but that feeling went away as quickly as it had come. She had grown used to being frightened.
She got up and saw the cub she had seen at the riverside the day before. She welcomed the company, but thought it strange that it would approach a human like this. Perhaps it was as lost as she was. Now that she looked at him in the sunlight, she noticed that it was a scrawny little thing. It looked like it hadn’t eaten in days. Its fur was thin, and she could see it’s skin showing in many places.
If it was going to accompany her, it should have a name... Patchy. That was appropriate enough. She proceeded to call out to it with its name many times, but it seemed not to take notice of her. Soon its thirst was satiated, and it sat at the edge of the river, grooming what was left of its fur.
She got up from its side, chose a random direction, and went off into the trees. She did not know where she was going; she did not even know where she was.



A few hours later, she heard a few yips coming from behind her. She turned and found Patchy, close on her heels, running excitedly as if it had been looking for her. She welcomed it back, patting its head when it arrived. For a wild animal, this cub was eerily tame, but any friend she could find in this forest would do.
She realised she hadn’t eaten for days, so, keeping her eye on her new pet, she began to search for some food. Some berries perhaps, or some other kind of fruit… surely there would be fruit here? She couldn’t remember how long she had been here, or when she had last eaten, so it must not have been more than a few days at the most.
But worst of all, she did not know where she came from, nor why she was here. The cub jumped playful at her heels, seeking attention. She knelt down and picked it up, stroking it under its chin. Perhaps Patchy was in the same situation she was in. She put it back down and continued walking.
The trees were getting thinner now, and she took that as a sign that she was nearing the edge of the forest. Suddenly delighted, she sprinted forward, the cub following her all the time. She would be clear of the forest soon.
*

It was daylight again. She opened her eyes to the glare of the sun, clearly visible in the clear sky. She could hear the birds singing their songs. She felt safe for now, after many days of fear. She yawned, and slowly got to her feet. She turned to the river she had found the day before and decided to take a refreshing bath, after which she would try to find a way out of the forest.
At the river edge, she stripped of her clothing and gently slipped into the river, thankful for its coolness in the heat of the afternoon. This was a familiar feeling… had she taken a bath here before? She had only seen this river last night . It was not possible.
Later on, as she reluctantly decided to finish her bath, she saw some sort of animal at the bank, lapping at the water. At first she felt frightened, but then realised that it just a baby animal. She waded closer to the bank to get a better look, but it got startled and darted away. From what she saw, it could easily have been a puppy; more likely, though, it was probably a wolf.
After she had dried herself out in the sun, she went looking to see if there was anything to eat. She did not find anything.

As nightfall came, she found a soft patch of ground to lie down on, and prepared for the cold night. In the distance, a lonely wolf howled at the moon, then stopped momentarily, as if waiting for an answer. It occurred to her that she might be in danger with wolves in the area, but she could not do anything about it. After a while, the howling ceased, and she fell asleep.
*
Marie… wait! Come back… it’s too risky. Marie… they will find your father…

*

As if from a strange dream, she awoke. She had been sprawled face down on the ground, covered in dirt, her dress in tatters. She wondered who it was that had called out to her. She also wondered where she was. Standing now, she looked around and saw nothing but trees. She was lost. No one would be able to find her… but who did she know that would come looking for her?
It must have been late in the afternoon, for the sky was turning red, and the sun would set soon. And she was all alone. She felt tears come to her eyes, and she suppressed them. Some distance away, a group of animals were gathered around something, and she decided to get away from them before they noticed her. With some amount of determination – and fear - she faced in an opposite direction, and started walking.
As it became increasingly dark, she stopped walking and leaned her back against a tree to rest. How soothing a tree can be when one is as exhausted as she was! She began to feel better, convinced that someone would find her soon. As she prepared to sleep, a sound came from far behind her, a distant howling that filled her heart with pity and sadness. How miserable a wolf was that would produce such a cry! And to think she had been frightened of these sounds as a young child. However, she was deeply exhausted, and promptly fell asleep, carried away by the wails in the night.
*

She awoke. Where was she? This was not where she had slept the previous night… then she remembered. She had been near to escaping the forest. She looked around her and confirmed this: the trees were scarce in this area. She stood up from her sitting position, and called for Patchy, but the cub was nowhere to be found.
She decided to move on.
But before she had taken a few steps, she heard the cub, and it was wailing. It was a sound unlike anything she had heard before. This was the true sound of sorrow, of sadness, incomparable to the nightly howling of the wolves. She headed in the direction of the noise, and came upon the cub. It was nudging what appeared to be another cub, very similar to it, a dead one. She gently knelt down and saw that it had been shot. Horrified, she stood up at once, and something else caught her eye. She looked ahead and saw more corpses. Two wolves, both with gunshot wounds, and beside them… her heart leapt to her throat. It was a man. She ran to the corpse’s side and looked at it. It was face down, and appeared to be hugging something.
She turned it over, unclasped the man’s arms, and stared at her lifeless body.