Heโd been up for a while now, but nothing much came from that. The decision had been made earlier that Ray would leave in order to go search for Aur
while the rest of them waited at camp, and instead of taking one of them with him, he had left already to find her. And still, he hadnโt returned yet fro
m that search, the rest of them doing what they could with what was left undamaged. Christian still found the plan absolutely ridiculous - the forest wa
s huge, and one person wasnโt going to scour the whole thing - not that two people would, either, but at least it was safer if he came across some โฆ ani
mal, or chupacabra or. . . something.
Regardless, in the meantime that left them stranded in this off-the-road forest that was supposed to only be a nice amount of scenery until they got t o
the cabin further off. Had it not been for the sudden swerve had shot the group off the side of the road and totaled the car - and Ariโs ribs, and that ent
ire plan when none of them could get signal with whatever phones went undamaged - theyโd haveโฆ still not been there, actually.
And so while they stayed behind and waited for Ray and Aur to return, he began to rummage through the vehicle and gather the objects that were som
ewhat salvageable and within his immediate reach. At some point he managed to retrieve the bag of snacks he had packed in advance for their little jo
urney, since he knew the amount of grumpiness he didnโt want to deal with on an hours long road trip prior to setting out. Bet those chips were crunche
d to little flavored dust. But, still, flavor dust was much more nutritious than eating nothing and starving in the open land before the forest mouth.
He throws the bag off to the side somewhere.
Christian shuffles through other various bags of assorted whatever, not really paying them much attention as he pulls everyoneโs things out to sit beside
the broken vehicle, then getting to his own which he yanks out unceremoniously to plop next to the rest of them. A few bags are pretty beat up, and on
e of them has a tear going right through the side which, yikes, that sucks, but the majority seem pretty okay unless they have some breakable things ins
ide of them. He canโt vouch for the safety of those items in that case, thinks back to his phone with the new crack through the screen for a brief mome
nt before hopping into the backseat remains to reach for the rest of whatโs salvageable in order to get it out.
All the reshuffling and sorting takes him a little longer than he expects, although it isnโt as though heโs really rushing too much. Ray hasnโt returned (ye
t), and the others are doing whatever theyโre inclined to do (as always), and Ari isnโt awake (still) - not that he blames her. Itโs not that sheโs obvious, b
ut it isnโt hard to pick up on her hurting either. Still, it may have been a slight overreaction when they initially got out of the wreckage, that despite he
r not being too badly injured (in the greater scheme of potentials) he would quadruple check to make sure she wasnโt grievously wounded (and itโs only
now that he thinks, God, her brothers would have eviscerated him if she was, but not before he got to himself first, and isnโt that just a thought) and st
ill insist that she do literally nothing the remainder of them being stuck there.
Well, but sure enough, the rest of them had no problem agreeing with him anyways, with protests from Ari, who wanted to find Aur as soon as possible.
Oh well.
Itโs brightening quicker than heโd thought, and the crunching noise of the ground distracts him from what he was doing when Ariโs voice overcomes the
leaves. He turns to her and quirks a smile, although worry tinges the edges of his expression, as it had been since she was hurt. โIโm not sure you shoul
d be up - been awake for long?โ He asks, rather than answering her question.
It doesnโt matter at his evasion, or at her questioning, when the opposing noise catches their attention and he turns to greet Ray, only to find that ther
e isnโt really a human there to greet. And unless Ray was also some kind of large, snarling, black wolfโฆ well , this isnโt him. But of course itโs just their
luck that some wolf would find them while theyโre stranded out here, and God what if this wolf ate Ray.
Christian pulls back slightly, reaching across to pull Ari out of the way, more behind him than she was next to him. He tries to recall, briefly, what exact
ly you do when thereโs a random, large wolf trying to potentially kill you - and really, isnโt that just some odd odds, he wouldnโt have thought wolves w
ere ones to attack humans (or were that big, honestly) - and comes up rather blank on his camping 101 knowledge from being a boyscout fourteen years
ago.
He keeps his eye on the wolf as he gently pushes Ari back with him, stepping away from it and closer to the wreckage of the car, but even if they did st
ep back thereโs not much to hide by. Moving into the forest thatโs behind them is just as much a death sentence as standing in front of this wolf, but it
may be enough coverage if heโs able to get Ari (and, really, what ever happened to the others anyways?) at least away from the wolf and himself - canโ
t go after two people at once, after all, but her ribs.
What a bad situation. Heโs trying to come up with something, but they couldnโt even figure out how to get back, much less plan for this dog.
โHey, Ari,โ he murmurs, gaze briefly flicking to the side where he can barely see her in his peripheral vision. He looks back at the wolf, then at the wre
ckage that sits beside him, where, just on the ground, conveniently, is a loose piece of the bumper that's been crushed off. โLet go, itโs okay.โ He says,
and forces himself to sound sure about that, because heโs definitely not sure about that. Reaching over with his free hand, slowly, he pulls her fingers o
ff his wrist, holding her hand for a moment to gesture lightly at the part of the forest behind them with a light swing. โYou and the other two can go th
at way, yeah? Just go step back a little bit and get them, theyโll help you out and Iโll catch up with you.โ
He lets go of her hand and nudges her further back while he stands there, hoping that theyโre A) not surrounded and B) able to make sure Ari and them
selves are safe. Unfortunately, it seems like hope is what they have to go off of. Thereโs not really much of a chance for everyone- the wolf is large, fas
ter than them and with teeth that surely wouldnโt have trouble impaling any of the four. The car isnโt entirely wrecked enough that any real, useful pie
ce popped off, and Christian doesnโt even have the full intent to harm it more than necessary, if he even gets that far.
Really, it was such a nice day earlier.
A breath and he lets it out as a sigh, holds up a hand as he steps closer to the car, and ultimately, panicked, just says whatever comes to mind now. โI d
onโt suppose youโd like to calm down and just leave, would you? Would really save us all the trouble we arenโt causing you.โ Heโs down to the two opti
ons - the knife he keeps in his pocket, just in case, that wonโt do much to stop it from killing him, or trying to get some helpful piece of the bumper, wh
ich was plan number one, a farther reach but heโd have to pull it the rest of the way off first.
He canโt go back anymore, because the other three should be leaving at that point, canโt turn to look because the wolf might try to go after them inste
ad and heโd have to stop it from doing that somehow. Three or one isnโt a hard concept to choose between.
Vexed, he gives up on the car - itโd take too much time that he doesnโt think he has. He reaches his back pocket to grab hold of the very unhelpful, but
quicker, knife, already pretty resigned to whatever eventually occurs. He has to keep the attention, right? Thereโs the cave that it exited from, the fore
st behind, and the rocky wall they had fallen from initially. He just has to make sure it doesnโt pass him to the forest, thatโs it.
โLook, really, youโre lovely and probably great and Iโm sure all your little wolf friends love you or whatever, but this is really not the time.โ He hisses, p
ulling his (broken, cracked) phone out of his pocket and, maybe unwisely, absolutely pitching it at the wolf. Oh, forest Verizon, where are you when he
needs you?
He changes his mind entirely at that split second, letting go of his knife in favor of smashing his foot down against the loose piece of the car, successfull
y (painfully) breaking it the rest of the way off (there wasnโt all that much left to break off, at any rate,) and scooping it up quickly, putting his (actual
ly useful) baseball practice into reality, taking one step closer to it and swinging violently, once, at it.
Well, at least he never became a baseball player, because boy does he feel that in his shoulder later.
