For several seconds, he looked into her eyes, consciously noting they were deep green with flecks of gold. There was no deception in that gaze, just a deep concern for another living being that was hurt. He took a deep breath, slowly releasing it through his nostrils, creating little bubbles of blood.
Taking this as a sign that he would let her treat him, she reached for her backpack and removed the first aid kit. He watched her intently as she removed several packets and tubes. She opened one package of gauze and tentatively reached towards the wound, watching for the first sign that this giant wolf might change its mind about sitting still for this.
When he didn't move, she touched the lower edge of the hole and began to soak up the blood. When the gauze caught on the edge of one of the shattered ribs, he grunted in pain but didn't move his head.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you."
She continued to clean the wound with the gauze, taking extra care not to get the loose threads caught on the jagged edges of the rib bones. Once that was done, she opened a tube of antibiotic cream and carefully rubbed it into the edges of the wound.
"I don't know what to do with this size of wound. I've never had to deal with anything like this before. There's too much missing for me to try and stitch it back together."
She knelt there next to him, hands resting on her thighs, staring at the wound with a look of utter desperation on her face. He slowly raised his head, carefully inching his muzzle closer, and licked the back of her hand. She jumped and jerked her hand away as she suddenly realized he had moved. Her attention had been so centered on the task before her that she hadn't noticed the movement. When she realized that he had simply licked her hand and hadn't tried to bite, she relaxed a little and met his gaze.
"I don't know what to do."
The desperation in her voice was clearly matched by the look on her face. He moved his muzzle under her hand and lifted it, slowly shifting it back over to the largest packet of gauze she had removed from the first aid kit.
Her first reaction was to jerk her hand back when he made the move with his muzzle again, but something in the look he gave her made her pause. She let her hand be moved, and when he laid it on top of the extra-large gauze pad, her reaction was one of utter amazement. This wolf seemed to know exactly what she had laid out and knew what it was for.
How could this be? What sort of wild animal could ever learn what a first aid kit was, let alone have any knowledge of medical practice? It had responded to her voice and questions as if it understood perfect English. Was this some sort of bizarre dream? Had she accidentally eaten some bad mushrooms and now she was hallucinating?
When she didn't immediately pick up the gauze pad and her eyes glazed over like she was going into shock, he nudged her hand again and pushed the gauze pad towards her. She shuddered and looked down at her hand, picked up the gauze, and then met his gaze.
"What ARE you? You're not real. This is some sort of messed up dream I'm having."
After this last statement, the wolf just looked at her and chuffed, blowing little flecks of blood all over her hand and arm. He carefully opened his mouth just enough to grab the edge of the gauze packet and tore the corner open. Looking down at the packet, she shuddered again and removed the gauze from the wrapper.
"Alright, alright! I get it. I'll cover the wound with gauze. Now stop blowing blood all over my clothes."
She unrolled the gauze, folded it into a square patch large enough to cover the entire wound, and taped it into place.
"I don't know if this tape will hold with all that fur, but it'll stay there as long as you don't try to get up."
She gave him a stern look that a mother would give a child, and the wolf rolled his one good eye in response. Upon seeing the expression on his face, she laughed for the first time since meeting this strange beast. Taking a closer look at his face, she grimaced and hissed.
"There's a splinter of wood in that eyeball. God! I bet that hurts!"
He just gave her one of those 'Duh!' looks and lowered his head to the ground. She twisted around and reached into the first aid kit to retrieve the additional items necessary for this next bit of treatment. Sliding over to his head, she sat down and crossed her legs. She patted her thigh to indicate where he should place his head.
"Come on, let's get this over with. That splinter needs to come out or it will get infected, and then you really will be in a bad way."
He rose up, and she scooted forward so his massive head would lie on top of her thigh.
"Shit! I must be crazy to let you be this close to me."
Funny, I was thinking the very same thing, the wolf thought to himself as he laid his head in her lap. She twisted the cap off the bottle and, just before pouring it onto the wounded eye, she met his gaze.
"This might sting a little, so don't freak out and bite me or anything, okay?"
He grunted and closed his eyes. Gently, she poured the saline solution into the wounded eye, washing out the blood and mucus.
"This is the part that's really going to hurt, but I have to do it."
He grunted again and kept his other eye shut. He felt the tug and then the sensation of the long sliver being pulled free of the eyeball. Finally, it was over, and the relief was immense. He released the breath he had been holding and gave a giant sigh of relief. She poured more saline into the eye and then began to put a gauze patch over the wound.
"Now you look like a pirate."
After she said it, she laughed. He opened his good eye and looked up at her. Then she really started laughing as she realized how totally bizarre the whole situation was.
He started to get mad over the fact that she was laughing at his pain. Then he stopped and soaked up the sound of her laugh. It was so nice to hear a female laugh, especially one that looked this nice. He finally let go of his tension and slowly closed his eyes, slipping down into unconsciousness.