LifeWild

When Haley wakes up, she is warm and comfortable and it takes a few moments for her to realize she is not lying in her bed. As the importance of this realization hits her, the memories of what happened to her flood back in a wave of images. Looking around, she sees wooden beams overhead and wonders where she is now. She is wrapped in several blankets, but there is no question she is laying on the ground. The sound of water trickling nearby and the leaves rustling overhead lets her know she is outside. Looking to the left, she sees forest and guesses she is under some sort of bridge or old building.

The movement lets her know she is sore, but not in any great pain. A myriad of questions come to mind as she discovers someone has taken care of her. Her hands and arms are bandaged, the left one clearly more damaged than the right. Lightly examining her body with her right hand, she encounters bandages over much of her body and some sort of a lotion or salve over other parts. Judging by the medical attention she has received and the amount of healing already occurring, she figures it has to have been at least two days since she fell into the fire.

Flinching from the recollection of the fire pit, she reaches up to her face and is surprised to find aside from a large bandage right below her eye on the right side, it seems to be in pretty good shape. She does trace the shape of a pretty large lump on the back of her head, though, and notes it is still pretty sensitive to the touch. Pangs of hunger briefly draw her attention, but only as if she has missed one or two meals, not several days worth. Someone has obviously taken care of her.

Attempting to recall what she saw before she passed out, she only can bring up fragments and images. She remembers a huge shape, impossibly big with powerful arms, carrying her like she weighed nothing, but doing so with such care and gentleness he must have thought she was made of glass. Only for the briefest of moments was she able to focus on his face. It was a large face with very distinct features, a prominent jaw structure and a large squared off nose.

Definitely not Brent.

Her first reaction had been one of fear and awe. He reminded her of a wild beast, something you might see in a nature documentary. Thinking back to his eyes, she remembers feeling a calmness or a sadness in them as a stark contradiction to the rest of his form. She knew from those eyes this was not some mindless, wild beast.

Could this enormous creature be the one who has been taking care of her? It doesn’t seem possible, but judging by her memories, it seems most likely.

Deciding to sit up and get her bearings, she gently places her hands against the ground and attempts to push herself up.

“Be careful.” A low, gravelly voice warns her from behind. “You’re still recovering.”

She’s not sure if it is the shock of the voice or the attempt at sitting up, but a wave of dizziness washes over her body and she falls back to the ground and the world becomes dark once again.

Arthur wonders why he finds her so fascinating. In the four days she has been lying here, he has found himself wanting to do little else besides watch her. He has never seen such beauty in his life. Even with the limited exposure his sheltered existence has offered, she still must be the most magnificent looking girl in the world. Her hair is a dark brown, so dark it looks black upon a quick glance. It is long and wavy and rests gently upon her shoulders as if they were put exactly where they are just for the purpose of supporting it. He hasn’t seen her standing to make an exact appraisal, but he estimates she is a few inches short of six feet. Her skin is lightly tanned, not so pale as to indicate she has never seen the sun, but dark enough to reveal she spends quite a bit of her time outside. He finds this to be a pleasant contrast to the reddish brown tone of his skin. She is fairly slender, especially compared to him. He is quite wide and thick, so she seems very delicate in comparison. The other females he grew up with are also thin in comparison to him, though, so it does not strike him as too unusual.

Her face is very alluring to him. She has all of the same features he does, but he is intrigued by the slight differences they have from his. Her face is more of an oval shape as opposed to the circular shape he has always known his to have. Her nose is comparatively small and blends well with her face and her lips are small, but have a bit of a plumpness to them he finds attractive. He has only seen her eyes briefly and in the dark, but he constantly finds himself fantasizing of her gazing at him with the large dark pupils he saw for such a brief moment.

Arthur cannot believe how entranced he has remained day after day, almost never taking his eyes off of her. Well, except for the three times he snuck into Crested Butte, the town just down the road, for supplies. It would have been only two trips, but it had slipped his mind she might need some new clothes since the ones she’d had on were in pretty bad shape. He just hopes the clothes he “acquired” were the right size. Far too much time was spent in the store staring at what looked like twenty of the same pair of pants, trying to figure out which one would fit her. The difference between something called “boot-cut” and “low-rise” was beyond his limited experience. He had wished it would have been as easy as getting the rest of the supplies. First aid and food and how to keep someone warm were easy tasks, but apparently, clothes are not as straight forward as how to treat a burn. They will have to do, though; he doesn’t think he should go back to town again. After sneaking down there four times now, including the time he went there before he had found her, there is probably too much evidence of his presence already. As long as she wakes up before he runs out of food and water for both of them, they will be fine. He pauses at the thought of her waking up. It has been all he has wanted since he first found her just twenty feet from here, but it is the thing he has been the most afraid of at the same time.

Arthur had been hiding out for about a week before she entered his life. When he first awoke here, he spent the better part of a day sitting and thinking with no idea where he was or what he should do.

The first decisions became common sense. First, he needed to attend to his wounds. He had a healthy sized gash on his forehead and the self inflicted cut on his wrist to deal with. The blood had caked up and clotted pretty well so the areas were no longer bleeding, but he was pretty sure they would get infected if he did not clean them properly.

The next task was to deal with his hunger. He was not sure how long he had slept, or how long he’d been running before, but it felt like he hadn’t eaten in several days. Of course, he has always been pretty big and a healthy eater, so missing more than one meal tends to bring on those feelings. He had smelled a variety of smells to the north, ranging from oil and gasoline to cookies and bacon. He also smelled people. There was obviously a town in that direction, he’d smelled one before, and this smelled very similar.

Although familiar with the scents, Arthur had never been in a town before but still knew he did not belong walking among people. This had been drummed into his head many times before, so he had decided to go in at night and just take what he needed. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he didn’t want to become ill, or worse, and he knew going back was not an option either. He’d waited until well into the night and walked northward. He came upon the town and was fascinated by how many different buildings there were. So many different sizes, too. It was just like the pictures he’d seen. Nevertheless, time was of the essence, so he used his nose to find the nearest food source. He had come upon a rather large building, not as big as the compound he grew up in, but still bigger than most he’d seen. He followed the smell to a door only partially shut and pulled it open carefully finding himself bombarded with some of the most succulent smells he had ever encountered. He could not even name all of the aromas he was experiencing, although he knew he liked them. Still in a hurry, he followed his senses to a smaller room and grabbed a couple of boxes of food in cans, figuring they wouldn’t spoil and could probably be eaten without being cooked.

Soon after, he begrudgingly followed his nose to some sort of medical facility. The smell was not pleasant, not like the last place at all, but he knew he needed the supplies and he’d smelled their smell many times growing up. He had to actually break a window to get into this place. Apparently, not every body in a town leaves their doors unlocked.

Once equipped with what he needed, Arthur had headed back to the bridge he had taken shelter under and began dressing his wounds. It turns out the cuts were not too bad, but then, his body had always been fairly tough. It took little effort to clean and dress his injuries. Afterwards, he helped himself to a meal of sardines and olives, learning his jaws could easily rip open any can. He realized too late, however, the place that had smelled so good did not have a wide variety of canned goods.

Arthur spent the following several days eating sardines, olives and odd things like chick peas, trying to figure out what to do next. The decision was made to go back and try to help the others, but he had no idea where to go or how to help them when he gets there.

Then, four days ago, life got complicated. Right before choking down what had to be his hundredth sardine since taking shelter under the bridge, Arthur detected a familiar aroma. It was not Timothy or Jasele or any of the other residents from the Compound, but it was so close he was sure it had to be someone like him. Vaguely recalling James telling him of the existence of more compounds and others like them gave Arthur a chill of excitement at the idea of meeting the owner of this curious scent. As the smell became stronger it was joined by a rustling sound which was soon followed by a thump and then silence. He began to panic at first, thinking the ones he was running from had found him and were attempting some sort of trap with one of them as bait. The scent was not strong enough to indicate more than one individual, though, and it certainly didn’t smell like any human he’d ever encountered. The aroma’s similarity to the others like him also ruled out any wild animals that might have been in the area. Upon the realization this didn’t smell like the people he was running from, Arthur felt quite a bit of relief. There were others smells as well. On top of the familiar scent, there was a town smell, specifically the town he’d visited recently. Also, the smell of blood was fairly strong, along with the smell of ash and smoke. This didn’t appear to him like something to be afraid of.

He carefully walked out from under his shelter and headed slowly toward the smell. He didn’t have to walk far.

After about five or six steps, he saw her.

Momentarily stunned by the fact she appeared to be human and not like him, he stopped in his tracks. The scent filling his nostrils directly contradicted what he saw before him. Her lack of movement snapped his mind back to reality.

He wondered if she was dead. She certainly looked the part. He then heard shallow breathing as well as a faint heart beat and knew she was alive, at least for the moment. Suspecting something terrible must have happened to her, he began to act quickly. He scooped her up and carefully carried her into his shelter. It was then he had noticed she was awake and her eyes had enlarged with fear when he picked her up, at least until she passed out moments later.

“You are not like us.” He had heard this so many times growing up. “You can’t walk among us like you’re the same as us.”

Arthur had thought to himself she must have seen him as a monster and he assumed she was probably so scared because she thought he was going to kill her or eat her.

As sad as the thought made him, he couldn’t let her die. He gently placed her on the blankets he had gotten from the medical center and worked on figuring out what was wrong with her. She had a tear on her cheek below her right eye and several smaller cuts on her hands and forearms, but he determined the main problem was she had burns over large sections of her body. Third degree burns, based on the blisters. He decided he could bandage her cuts later, but she needed burn care right away. He tore one of his blankets into strips and soaked them in the nearby creek. He then placed the strips on the worst sections of burns and ran toward the town. He needed burn creams and salves and plenty of them.

He remembers saying to himself as he ran, “Monster or not, she’ll die if I don’t help her.”

That was four days ago and now she is starting to wake up again. Arthur wonders if he should leave her now so she doesn’t have to see him again. The last time she woke up, all he did was say five words to her and it scared her back to unconsciousness. Everything is telling him he should leave her now.

Haley first becomes aware of the sounds around her. The trickling of water and the sounds of rustling leaves remind her she is outside in the forest. She doesn’t need to open her eyes to remember where she is. The wonder of whether she had been dreaming or not, quickly subsided to the reality that surrounded her. The fight with Brent and being knocked into the fire had really happened. The pain has lessened, but it is still far from being a distant memory. In the midst of taking stock of her situation, she hears it; the slow, rhythmic breathing of another presence nearby. She is sure this must be the creature taking care of her. He seems gentle and caring, and obviously intelligent, but she is not sure how else to think of him other than as a creature. She remembers him as being enormous and having such a strange looking face.

Haley slowly opens her eyes. Trying not to move, she begins to analyze the surroundings to her right, the direction her head is facing. It is fairly dark out, but some degree of visibility is given to her from the dull blue-white light of the moonlight somewhere up above. The angle of the land beside her informs her she is lying slightly uphill. She is covered in blankets up to her neck and can feel there is another blanket folded neatly under her head. As her eyes adjust to her surroundings, she notices him. He is right in front of her about three feet away in a sitting position with his knees up near his chest and his arms crossed over the top of his knees. His face is resting on his arms at a somewhat cockeyed angle. She notices his eyes are closed and figures he must have fallen asleep in that position.

Fear is her immediate response. She feels unsure of what he is or what he plans to do with her and this might be her only chance to escape. Her eyes widen as she looks at him again. He is so big! Even curled up like he is, she can tell he is larger than most people. She figures he has to be at least seven feet tall. He is wearing nothing but what appears to be a pair of running shorts. His skin is quite hairy, not to the point where you would call it fur, like on a dog, but more hairy than the average man would usually be. It is not an especially dark hair either, it could be a light brown or reddish brown; it is hard to tell in the low light. His legs seem to be shorter than she would have guessed they would be judging by his height. Not ridiculously so, but definitely noticeable. They were certainly muscular, though. There was no denying that. His thighs looked as big around as her waist. She shuddered to think of the power in those legs. His arms were massive as well. She thought back to how easily he had lifted her. He had made her feel like she was lighter than air. His chest was mostly obstructed from her view by his arms and legs, but judging by the width of his shoulders, she knew his chest was just as massive as the rest of his body.

Turning her attention to his face, she decides this must be the widest face she has ever seen. Its widest point is at the jaw and the face becomes slightly more narrow the rest of the way up. The most prominent feature on his face is his wide, round nose, barely edging out the mouth below. His face has a feral edge to it reminding her of some majestic animal in the wild. She notices his ears are set further back on his head than she would have expected, but she is not sure if this is just the perception she gets due to the rest of his facial features. His eyes are slightly smaller compared to the rest of his face and set fairly close together. Although thankful he is sleeping for the moment, she finds herself missing the gentle look in his eyes. Remembering how safe she felt when she had looked into them; she decides the peaceful soul she had seen couldn’t possibly plan to do her any harm.

He has been taking care of her.

Haley decides she is not going to try to make a run for it and as if on cue, he opens his eyes and looks directly at her. She flinches slightly in surprise, but at the same time warmth flows through her body telling her everything is somehow alright while he is near her. She is not sure if she should say something or if she can even talk. It has to have been several days since she has last spoken. It feels like it’s been a lifetime since she was back home.

“How do you feel?” the voice a low rumble, like thunder in the distance. It sends a shiver through her body.

“P- pretty good, I guess,” her voice cracks in reply. She was hoping she would have sounded stronger.

“Are you hungry?” His words reverberate in her ears and she realizes the soft rumble of his voice is quite alluring. She believes she could listen to him speak for hours.

“I guess I am, a little.” The truth is she was really hungry. She did not know what he had been doing to sustain her, but she probably had not had a meal of any substance for a while now.

He gets up and walks a few feet deeper into their shelter. She notices a few boxes and several bags grouped neatly together. He takes a few moments to rummage through the boxes and comes back and sits next to her blankets. He hands her half a loaf of what looks like sourdough bread and a bottle of water.

She sits up letting the blankets fall to her waist and reaches out for the bread and water. She places the water on the ground and immediately takes a large bite of bread. She can tell right away the bread is at least two days old, nevertheless it is the most delicious bread she has ever tasted. Her stomach practically growls itself into frenzy as she takes a few more bites. She isn’t sure she will ever be sated. As she quickly finishes the bread and opens the water and takes several swallows, she glances at him and sees he is just sitting there watching her.

“Thank you,” she tells him, her voice sounding much more confident. “I feel much better now.”

“I am glad.” The rumble in his voice even seemed to have a pleased ring to it. “How are your wounds feeling? Are you very sore?”

“I really do feel pretty good now, not really sore at all.” As she answers she looks down to take stock of her injuries and realizes since she had sat up and pushed off the blankets, she has been quite naked.

Her face changes about five different shades of red and her arms automatically move into a shielding position over her chest.

Before she can say anything, he begins apologizing.

“I am so sorry. I had to take off your clothes to take care of you. Most of your body was burned to some degree or another and I was just trying to help and I tried to keep you covered but I had to keep changing the bandages and putting on the creams...”

“It’s okay,” she reassures him. It seems weird for such a low rumbling voice to sound so hectic and have almost a pleading feel to it. “I understand you were taking care of me, and I am thankful you were so very good to me. I would probably have died if it hadn’t been for you.”

He seems to relax a bit.

“Do you have my clothes, though?” She asks, trying to make it seem casual enough for his sake, but with enough urgency to show she is not quite comfortable continuing to be naked.

“I am afraid they were ruined.” He notices his reply causes a look of concern to spread across her face. He suddenly gets a sheepish grin on his face and rises to his feet. He walks quickly over to the boxes and pulls out a couple of items of clothing.

“I got these for you, but I don’t know if they will fit or not. I got so confused I finally just grabbed what I thought would fit for sure.”

He hands her a sweater with “Ski Crested Butte” printed on it, a pair of jogging pants, some socks, a pair of underwear and some tennis shoes.

“I know it seems a little late for modesty, but would you mind turning around while I change?” She feels silly asking since he has seen her up close and personal for several days, but she thinks she would feel sillier changing while he watched her.

“I understand.” He rumbles as he turns around and plops into a sitting position. She is amazed, even at the height of her own embarrassment, she finds herself drawn into his voice, wishing he would speak more.

She gathers the clothes toward her but before putting them on, takes a moment to look over her wounds. The cuts on her hands and arms are no longer bandaged and look to be healing very well. She feels the right side of her face and notices it is still bandaged, but the bandage is smaller than before. There are large sections of gauze wrapped on her midsection, thighs and the upper part of her back, and parts of her arms are wrapped in gauze as well. She figures those must be the more severe burns on her body. Other sections of her body have some sort of cream on them. She assumes the burns must not be as bad in these sections. All in all, she feels remarkably well considering what she has been through. He did take really good care of her. She hopes her modesty did not offend him.

She grabs the underwear first and puts it on. It is not the style she normally wears, but judging by the selection of clothes he picked out, she figures he has probably never been around women’s clothes before. The lack of a bra in the pile serves to confirm her suspicions. The underwear fits well enough and so do the jogging pants and the socks. The sweater is about two sizes larger than she would normally wear, but considering she is bra-less, she decides she is better off this way. Plus, the sweater will feel better on her burns than if it were tighter. The shoes are larger than her normal size, but after tightening up the laces extra tight, she figures they will do for a while.

“All done.” She holds out her arms for inspection.

He turns around and looks at her for a few seconds.

“You look really nice.” His reply comes easily enough, but she is sure she sees him blushing as he looks towards the ground.

“I don’t look too much like a tourist, do I?” She jokes, trying to lighten the moment.

His face keeps its color but his eyes flash with concern and sadness.

“I am sorry,” he replies, speaking again in those quick panicked tones that contradict the tone of his voice. “I did the best I could. You are very pretty and so much smaller than I am and I have never done anything like that before.”

“No, no, no,” she interrupts quickly. She feels like kicking herself. “These are perfect. I was just making a bad joke, because I got embarrassed when you said I looked really nice. You did really well, I promise.” As she says this she realizes he also just called her very pretty and turns a shade of red herself.

There are several moments of silence as each of them tries to figure out what to do or say next.

“My name is Haley, Haley Turner.” She figures he ought to know her name after all he has done for her, and she is hoping the gesture will make up for her putting her foot in her mouth a few moments ago.

“I am Arthur.” He responds in a friendly enough way. She notices he did not give a last name, but is afraid to ask. She does not want to make any more mistakes today.

“Nice to meet you Arthur,” she notices the conversation suddenly seems quite surreal, considering where they are and who she is talking to. She has dozens of questions she wants to ask him, not the least of which being if he is human or something else, but she does not want to risk offending or upsetting him anymore. True, he did most likely save her life and he seems to have good intentions, but she’s been wrong about people before. She decides she will play it by ear for a while and maybe he will open to her.

“Do you know where we are, Arthur?” She decides to test the waters a little with this question.

He is silent for a few moments.

“No,” there is sadness in his rumble. “I am not sure how I got here myself. I know we are near a town, though. I think it is called Crested Butte. It is to the north of here. I have been there a few times since I have been here.”

“I grew up in Crested Butte! I live there.” Memories of the recent past flash back into her head, causing her to wonder if she will be able to go back. “You must have been the one who was in our kitchen.” She knows it had to be him. Food and medical supplies, it all makes sense now. “You took a bunch of canned food from the pantry of my family’s resort. The police figured it was a bunch of kids.”

He suddenly takes on a defensive stance and she comes to the realization she has once again upset him.

“I had to do it. I am not supposed to be seen. People will think I am a monster. You did. I saw the way your eyes looked when you first saw me. You probably still think I am a monster!” His voice is more of a roar than a rumble now.

“You are not a monster! I never thought you were a monster.” She bends the truth with the last statement. She had thought something very close when he had first picked her up. “I was just figuring things out in my head. I did not mean to imply you did anything wrong.”

His posture shifts slightly.

“I owe you my life, Arthur. I wouldn’t try to hurt you. Please believe me. I have never been good at choosing my words. I tend to say what is on my mind and, believe me; I have gotten in trouble for it more times than I can count. I promise you I don’t think of you as a monster. You helped me when I had no one else.” She cuts herself off, realizing she has been crying for the last few seconds.

She takes a few moments to gain her composure.

“The truth is, Arthur, I have no idea what I am supposed to do right now. I don’t know if I can go home, I am not even sure what has happened to me, and I have nothing but the clothes on my back...and you gave me those. You took care of me, and showed me kindness when I was nothing to you. You are definitely not a monster to me, Arthur. As a matter of fact, I’d say you are probably the only friend I have at the moment.”

He notices she is looking at him like she is expecting him to respond to what she just said. He feels a slight panic as he realizes he is unsure of what to do next. There have been people in his life he has cared for and who were good to him, and he considers Timothy and the others his friends, but the idea is still very foreign to him. He was made to serve people, not be friends with them. This was always made very clear. He needs to decide what to say next. She will be upset if he doesn’t say anything.

“I am glad to be your friend, Haley Turner.” He says cautiously. He feels the importance of what he is saying, but he is scared he will mess things up somehow.

She smiles at him and a shiver runs through his body. He cannot remember the last time he has felt such joy. He is sure he has made the right decision and perhaps even the best one he has ever made.

Haley sits back down on the blankets. “Is it okay if I sleep for a while? I am still pretty tired.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I should probably rest, too.” He is so happy right now he is not sure if he will be able to sleep, but he wants her to be able to rest, so he will try his best to do the same.

She lies down on the bed he made for her and pulls the blankets around her body. Within a few minutes, he hears her breathing fall into the regular rhythm of sleep. He makes himself comfortable against the wall and tries to do the same. Unable to fall asleep he turns his head to see her. She looks so peaceful just lying there. He wants to make her happy. In the morning, he can help her find her way home. Right now, he is just glad she’s here.

He watches her sleep for a long time with a smile on his face. Even after he eventually falls asleep, his smile remains.