Kyle stopped walking, and just stood there for a long moment. Then he turned away from me, and ran off, full speed into the woods.
I stayed where I was, as I was for an unknown amount of time, just calming myself down, slowing my breathing and trying to make sense of what had just happened. It had been a rough day so far!
By the time I got myself in a calmer state and had shifted back to a mountain lion form, the adrenaline had worn off and my shoulder hurt in a way that brought my attention to it. The punctured, torn flesh was red and swollen, I saw some early signs of bruising in the surrounding skin, above the muscles, and when I tried to walk or move it, the dull fire became a burning pain.
Suddenly, I heard a far-off howl in the distance. It sounded like a sad, lonely wail slicing through the relative quiet of the forest. I couldn't shake the feeling it was Kyle's howl.
I shook my head I had no time to worry about that. I needed to get out of here and get home; to be back in human form with clothes and take care of this shoulder.
I looked around me. 'Which way is out of the forest? Which way is home?' I thought. I tried and tried to remember, but I couldn't. Maybe it was the stress, or I simply hadn't paid enough attention earlier? 'Ok. Don't panic,' I thought, 'My house is most likely East or West of here, so all I have to do is pick a direction and go.' I checked the position of the sun, and how the shadows it created fell and combined that with the data of moss growing on one side of a tree, to determine which way was north. Knowing North, I located East, and began to walk in that general direction.
Each step that jarred my shoulder, hurt with a fresh spike of pain. I moved at a walk, pausing every once in a while. 'It will take forever for me to get home.' I thought. I looked at my wounded shoulder again. The bleeding had stopped, and it was almost dried, so the wound was almost scabbed over with blood. I silently prayed that I would not have to reopen it to get it cleaned properly later.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, indicating it was around noon, I felt sick to my stomach and lay down on a patch of grass to rest for a moment. I held my muzzle near to my injured shoulder. I could feel the heat coming off it. Between that and the general fuzzy condition of my thoughts, I knew things weren't good. I didn't need to be a doctor to know there was at least some infection festering in my shoulder and I had a low-grade fever.
I lay my head on the grass and closed my eyes for a moment. 'How could I walk for this long and not be anywhere near the edge of the forest?' I wondered.
I heard a twig snap nearby and opened my eyes and lifted my head. I saw a wolf come into view. I growled for a moment, until I realized it was Kyle; he had returned.
'Oh,' I thought, mind-linking him. 'I didn't realize it was you for moment.'
'Hey.' He thought to me, taking a few slow, careful steps closer.
'I got lost somehow.' I thought. 'I don't know where I am or how to get back…'
I tried to get to my feet, but once I stood on all four paws, I winced at the pain of moving my shoulder anew, and an involuntary shudder went through me, and I dropped back to the earth.
Kyle rushed over to me, tail wagging and head lowered (a non-aggressive, non-dominant display of body language). When he got close to my shoulder, he sniffed and then let out a whine.
'I don't feel very good.' I thought.
'I did this. This is all my fault!' He thought with bitterness. 'I'm so sorry.'
He gently touched the flesh and fur next to the wound with his nose, all the while not touching the wound itself.
I still let out a hiss of breath.
'I am so sorry. I know it hurts.' He thought, trying to be soothing. 'You need medical attention right away.'
'It would be easier if I could think clearly; I hate fevers!'
'I am so sorry I did this; I shouldn't have been so hot-headed. It's no wonder you have trust issues with werewolves, I am such an idiot…'
'…please.' I thought.
'What did you say?'
'Is there some way you could just help me please?' I thought again. 'I…'
But, I never finished the thought, as I could no longer fight the darkness at the edges of my vision, and as my head dropped back to the earth, the blackness took over.
[3 hours later…]
The first thing I became aware of were sounds. My eyelids were too heavy to open, but I could hear distant sounds. I heard the steady, quiet beep of a machine, that was somehow familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Sleep and unconsciousness threatened to pull me under again, but I fought against it. I instinctually felt I was no longer in the forest. I concentrated on my hearing. The machine sound, and a voice talking to someone in a low whisper. 'Who was whispering?' I didn't recognize the voice.
After another struggle, I finally managed to open my eyes. It took a moment for the world to come into focus.
I realized I was in a hospital room; the heart monitor was the beeping noise I heard earlier, a curtain was around the hospital bed I was lying in. So many thoughts jumped around my brain at once. 'What hospital was this? Did my mother know I was here? How did I get here? Am I safe? Where was Kyle? Should I try and run away from here?'
I sat up suddenly and feeling a pinch in my inner arm, I looked down. There was an IV in my arm. I followed the clear tubing with my eyes up to the bags that were suspended. One was a general hydrator, the other I thought sounded like an antibiotic.
'I must have needed an antibiotic for the infection.' I thought, unconsciously placing my right hand on my injured left shoulder.
That's when the realization hit me- I had human hands, and my human body. The loss of consciousness must have forced me to change, like a restart of some kind. A blush creeped across my cheeks and ears. That meant, I had been naked, in my human form in front of at least two people today, if not more. Kyle must have carried me out of the forest and surely a doctor had seen me, as some expert had hooked me up to this machinery. 'Had Kyle carried me through the emergency doors and through a waiting room full of people?' I wanted to sink through the hospital bed, down through the floor and into the ground and stay there.
As the hospital curtain opening distracted me from my thoughts, two people walked in.