Chapter Fourteen – Wounded

“Danger, Unknown creature…. ten feet” Philomena had already been warning Jasmine of the approaching menace since it reached the fifty yard range.

Jasmine was frozen staring at the thing at the entrance of the shelter.  It was about four feet tall, standing on bend legs with arms which ended in claws.  She could see the hideous image of it as a shadow against the dying embers of the fire she built.  The most captivating thing about the creature was its sinister blue orbs for eyes.  Jasmine could not pull away from them.  She shifts herself up into sitting position and her left leg brushes against the gun.

“Danger of attack… ninety nine percent…”

The thing shrieks a loud and murderous scream and flies into the shelter right at Jasmine.  At that instant she grabs the gun and was able to fire a shot, but it missed its mark.  The thing was upon her, its claws clinching her arms and pinning her to the ground.  Its mouth dripping with malice, opens up and was about to bite her face, when a loud howl echoes in the shelter.  A second later the creature on top of her gets pushed to the side and away from her.  As the claws let her arms go, her sleeves are torn and deep scratches on her arms begin to bleed.

A large wolf shape was on top of the evil creature biting and ripping at its dark flesh with its fangs.  The evil creature started to fight back in the corner of the shelter.  growls and shrieks go on for a few minutes as flesh is ripped open and blood was dropping to the ground, finally the wolf manages a mighty bite on the evil creature’s neck.  It holds on tight, while the dark creature attacks back with its claws, but it keeps squeezing until it finally breaks the neck of the evil creature and it falls silent.

During that battle Jasmine is in awe and shock at the scene before her, but she manages to sit and watch.  After the battle was done she notices the large wolf turn to her with its golden red eyes and slowly approach her.  She notices that it was badly wounded from the battle as it was limping and then makes a weak sound and lies down and closes its eyes.

Jasmine thought it was dead, but then saw its chest rise and fall as it was slowly breathing.  She begins to move towards the wolf but she then realizes her arms hurt and she looks at them and sees the blood.  She then looks at Gregory and thanks God that he was not attacked or injured by this attack.

“Philomena, I need medical assistance.”

“Checking your bio signs, medical attention needed.”

“Provide medical information.”

“Analyzing resource for medical use…”

Jasmine looks at her arms again and looks at the scratch marks, they did not seem deep but initially the amount of blood had scared her.

“Rinse injuries in sodium chloride solution…”

Jasmine thinks for a minute, then she realizes that Philomena was talking about the sea.  Jasmine gets up and moves out of the shelter and head towards the beach.  She notices that a reddish glow was starting to appear in the horizon, “it is almost daylight that is good.”  She then enters the water and lowers her body into the water.  At the instant her wounds hit the water she feels the pain rush through her and she jumps out of the water.  “It burns, but it has to be okay, Philomena has not given me any false information as of yet.”  She then removes the torn sleeves from her suite and goes back in the water.  It takes her a few times to not feel the burning on her arms.  After that she looks at the wounds and they seem like long scratches and were not bleeding at this point.

She then goes back into the shelter, “okay that part is done.”

“Analyzing your injuries, I find no other resource available.  Injuries seem to be minor, normal body healing function should be sufficient.”

“Well that is good I guess, it still hurts a little.  You could have warned me about that”

“Sorry, but pain data not available.”

“I was kidding.”

She pauses and then looks at the dead evil creature at the end of the shelter and then at the wolf.  “Check bio signs of wolf.”

“Checking… Wolf alive, Injuries are moderate, need to rinse wounds in sodium chloride solution.”

“hmmm, I don’t think I can carry it to the water, how do I bring water to it?”

“Checking, multiple options are present.  Use empty cans for small amounts at a time or see images on screen…”

Jasmine grabs the device and looks at the images, it showed her a few options on how to use large leafs to carry waters as well as using a few types of wood, carved out to carry water.

“I will get a lot of water at one time, it will be easier.”

She then takes the small axe and the device with her and goes out into the morning and heads towards the jungle.  She starts to look for large leafs and big pieces of fallen branches.

“Variety of Prunella plant detected, they have healing properties.  You can use the oil from that for your scratches and to assist the wolf’s healing process.”

“Well that is good news, show me picture please.”  Jasmine looks at the device, “how far?”

“Plant is ten yards from your current position.”  With the help of Philomena’s directions she was able to find the plant.

“That is a beautiful plant, how much do I need?”

“A few steams will be enough to extract oil.”

Jasmine takes a few branches of this strange plant, which had green leaves and small purple flowers on it.  “Okay now for something to get the sea water.”

“Tree bark can be effective at this time.”

“Okay, show me how to get this tree bark.”

A few images appear showing her how to use the axe to chip the bark of a tree.  She manages to get a few pieces of bark and with a few large leaves was able to makeshift container to carry water in.

“Okay I think this will work,” Jasmine breathes out after the hard work.

“It will be sufficient at this time.”  Philomena responds.

Jasmine than goes to the shore and collects the sea water and comes back to the shelter.  She slowly pours the sea water on the wolf’s wounds.  The Wolf flinches a little but does not move.

“Okay, now how do I get the oil out of those plants?”  Jasmine grabs her device and starts reading and watching.  She manages to follow the instructions of crushing the leaves of the plant into fine pieces then mixing it with a little water.  At that point she used it on her wounds and then the wolf.

“Hmmm now what do I do with that ugly creature?”  Jasmine asks as she glances at the corner of the shelter.

“It is advisable to drag it to the water at this time.”

“I think I can do that,” Jasmine gets up and goes to the creature and the more she looked at it the more hideous it seemed.  She grabs its legs through it black fur.  Then she begins to drag it out of the shelter and towards the shore.  She decides to move it forty yards to the left of the shelter so she does not have to see it in front of her every time she comes and goes from the shelter entrance.

She comes back to the shelter and sits down for a few minutes to rest, but her stomach starts to ache again, “this has been an eventful morning, and now I am very hungry.”  She begins her routine of giving Gregory his food and doing her morning prayer.

“Philomena I guess we move on and continue our tasks, but can you run analysis on the wolf first?”

“I have completed analysis while you were praying, Wolf species unknown, and three times larger than normal wolf species.  No indication of hostility considering it saved your life.”

Jasmine looks at the wolf more carefully this time and notices the beautiful fur, they varying dark colors and the tip of the fur was a purple color.  “I do not think it is a danger to us either, I did not sense that from it.”  Philomena pulls out the container of purified water, which did not have much in it left.  She slowly drips some water into Gregory’s mouth and over his lips as she gently lifts his head to avoid him from choking.  She then drinks a little herself and the realization hits her that there is not much water left for them and she needs to get some more.

“God, time has been flying by and I forgot to refill the water container, we have been busy with other distractions.”  Jasmine complains to Philomena.

“Chance of precipitation is approximately ninety two percent, and water can be gathered at that time.”

“What does that mean? Rain?  Would that be safe?” Jasmine asks those three questions in quick succession.

“That is correct, rain water.  Chance of safety is very high.  I will examine more as it happens.”

“Enough of that, I guess we will hope rain comes but now my stomach is telling me I am hunger.  We need gather some more food.”

“I suggest we gather some of the berries and then proceed on gathering protein source.”

“I agree Philomena, let’s go.”

Jasmine grabs the water container and puts it in her backpack, which had all the items they brought with them, including Mr. Bill’s gun.  She wears it on her back and walks out of the shelter and towards the tree line.

“Berries within twenty five yard range, follow arrow on display.”  Philomena directs Jasmine to the berries.  Jasmine reaches the bush and finds it full of berries, and they looked bright and plump.  She grabs a handful and eats them right away, they satisfy both her hunger and thirst, “those are really good, better than the other ones we collected.”

“The more time and days they are allowed to grow and ripen the better the will taste and be more nutritious.”  Philomena responds.

Jasmine grabs some more and puts them in her backpack for later, “now time for the protein we talked about.”

“We will have to make the spear first, we will need branch to use, see display for example.”

Jasmine looks at the display and sees the image, and immediately stars looking around and as she is doing so she notices that the suns light was diminishing.  She stops and looks up and sees the clouds are spreading from the mountain and covering the sky.  This was the first time since they were on the island that clouds covered the sky.  “Looks like rain.”

“In approximately one hour there will be one hundred percent of rain expected.”

Jasmine continues looking as she is walking back towards the shelter and finds a long fallen branch that looks like it will do for the spear.  She picks it up, “I think I found it.”

“Scan confirms that that branch will be adequate enough to make the spear needed.”

“Good, what next.”

“Need to find a vine to complete task, see display.”

Jasmine looks at the display as it shows her an image of vines around tree trunks.  She looks around at the trees and see a few strands of vine near her.  She grabs her axe and cuts a four foot strand, “will this be enough?”

“Yes that will be sufficient, now we need to create the spear.”

“I will head back to the shelter and we can do it there as you showed be before.”  Jasmine starts to head back to the shelter.

She reaches the shelter, enters and sees that both her husband and the wolf lay still and quiet.  She sits down with the branch and vine on her lap, “Philomena show me the instructions again.”

Jasmine starts to follow the instructions as makes the four pronged spear.  As she was working she hears thunder, she looks at the entrance as a lightning bolt strikes the ground in the distance and thunder, louder than the first, follows.  Jasmine waits in silence and waits.  A few seconds later it starts to pour as slow rumbling thunder is heard in the background.

“Rain water has been analyzed and it is safe to consume.”

Jasmine does not hesitate but grabs the purified water container and the empty cans and holds them outside the shelter one by one and fills with water with water.  She places them on the edge of the shelter and drinks a whole can full of water.  She has been very thirsty but has been trying to conserve for the sake of her husband, but now she can drink her fill.  The water tasted different but very good.  She then sticks the can back out, fills it to the top and drinks again.  She then remembers the makeshift container from bark and leaves.  She grabs them and fills them as well, drinking some more as she fills them.  She washes her husband’s faces and body with water, and helps him drink some water as well.

“That was very refreshing, thank God for the rain, otherwise I would have to walk some distance to get some more water.  I might still have to later but for now we should be okay.”

“That is correct water resource should be sufficient for three days maximum.”

“Now back to the task at hand,” Jasmine starts working on the spear again.  It takes her longer than she thought, and as she finishes she notices that the rain has stopped.  “The spear is done I think it looks pretty close to the picture.”

“It will be sufficient for the task needed.”

Jasmine stands up with the spear and walks out of the shelter.  It was getting darker, she could not see the sunset because of the cloud cover but it was getting late, and she was feeling tired.

She turns and walks back into the hut and sees the wolf standing on all fours looking at her with those golden red eyes.