Sadly, the last good meal that I could remember was at a mental institution when I was dealing with my hallucinations and hearing things. It was sometime in the spring and they were serving Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes.

Frankly, I'd still be in the institution if I hadn't figured out a way to keep myself somewhat sane. They kept saying that the hallucinations and voices weren't real. It took me a bit to just accept that and took a little longer to actually ignore what I see and hear and just react to the circumstance.

The nurses with the red demonic tails would force multicolored bugs down everyone's throats and were just nurses giving pills to people. I remember seeing and feeling the squirming bugs in my mouth and how they refused to go down. Once they got past my throat though, I didn't feel them scurrying in my stomach. I'd guess that they were hibernating or eating me from the inside, or my stomach acids killed them off. Either way, I am still alive and that's what counts.

But I digress, I was in a mental institution. I was released because I was deemed fit to rejoin society. The doctor said I was cured of my hallucinations and I wasn't about to imply that they didn't. It was hell dealing with the orderlies who worked there just for the pay and not the compassion of actually helping the patients. The institution was getting sloppy with security and quality of care with some orderlies have taken advantage of the womenfolk. I've gotten into trouble with some of them for interfering with the women's "treatments". I guess that the doctor was in on it.

Now I live in the streets. Everyone just sees a homeless bum with a shopping cart filled with cardboard and odd things. No one sees who I was and what I did. It was 2004 Afghanistan and my unit ended up in a bad firefight. I got shot a few times, but what got me down was trying to flee with wounded soldiers when I ran into a land mine.

I remember waking up in a cot with bandages before they gave me more pain medication. I barely remember being airlifted. I was medically discharged and shipped back home. Except there was no home to return to. My parents died a long time ago. I had no siblings. My girlfriend broke up with me when I shipped out because she couldn't handle the idea of me being hurt or becoming a prisoner of war. I found out that she died in a car accident three months after I shipped out with her drunk new boyfriend. I had burned through what savings I had for treatment and still owed medical bills with no way to pay for them. My veteran check isn't going to cover that and the application for mental disability keeps getting denied because I was released as cured. The mental institution I was with had an unfortunate fire that got most of the building including their records room, which means there was no record of me being in there at all. I just happen to be an unclassified schizophrenic with perpetual hallucinations according to one of the doctors that I saw and I am aware that I am not well. She was one of the doctors that I might consider going back to since she understood enough of my situation, but then she moved to California. My name is Oliver Wolfe and I am a marine and always will be. Semper Fi.

I saw from the TV sets in the store windows that a storm was coming. I pulled up beside the trash bin and sorted through for anything that I could use while watching the news. The weather girl had tentacles and was pointing at the lightning bolts on the map that signify areas of rain. A sound like gunfire caused me to quickly squat down using my cart for cover. I looked around and saw an old demon woman pick up a can that had fallen out of her grocery cart. She took one look at me and then proceeded to act like she didn't see me. Sometimes I feel that the world is filled with demons and I'm the last human on the planet. If I just keeled over right now, there would be no one to mourn for me. I don't have a future. I don't believe in suicide and would never use that as a way out, no matter how hard it got. I'm a stubborn Irish red-headed survivor. And the rain comes pouring down hard against my back like it was trying to make me kiss the ground.

I barely heard a girl's cry through the sound of the rain. I looked up from my wet soaked introspection towards the alley where the old demon woman had just passed. The shadows show movement but I couldn't see from this far. I walk over to the alley and hear two hooligans taunting a huddled girl on the floor. One of them pulled out a gun and my instincts took over. Even if I was hallucinating, two guys and a girl in the alley still meant the same thing. They have bad thoughts that they intend to make into action. They just didn't expect me to be in the picture.

I disarmed the gun-holding hoodlum who hissed with a reptile's tongue and tried to swing at me. I threw him over my shoulder and heard him thud behind me. I looked at the remaining hoodlum whose face was blue, he yelled something that I couldn't make out. The one I threw got up and bolted out of the alley with a mister blue face.

"Are you ok?" I asked the girl. Now that I could focus on her. She was small barely five feet tall with hooves and antlers. She looked up at me with a look of fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I repeated with my hands up, the kind that everyone uses when a cop has a gun pointed at you.

She doesn't seem to understand. She just kept staring at me. Finally, she got up on her hooves, and I was right. She was barely five feet without antlers. She makes a frown and makes a deer-like sound.

"What did you say?" I asked pointing at my ear.

She flinched and recoiled. Stupid me, my hand gesture mimicked the gun. I quickly changed to cupping my ear and pointedly turned my head so that my ear was in her direction. She made a deer-like sound again.

I sighed to myself. Of all the times for my hallucination to go auditory, it was right now that I needed to communicate.

She looks up at the rain and then makes a motion of something over her head. Years of being homeless taught me the universal sign of shelter. Maybe she's a homeless kid or possibly a runaway. Either way, I can't leave her alone out here in the rain.

I waved for her to follow and she tentatively followed me back to the cart. I pushed the cart several blocks away from the alley in question. I pulled up the cardboard boxes and made a makeshift shelter against a wall.

She huddled inside wet and shivering. I tossed her a clean towel and sat right outside the shelter. She looked tired.

I motioned for her to sleep. I passed her the trash bag with my dry blanket and turned my back to her. I kept watching outside while she slept.

The rain had stopped. I must have dozed off. I felt a movement behind me and I turned around. My instincts took over and raised my hands in defense when the antlers came close. I felt the antlers hit my hands. It scratched me and just like that, I was able to understand her.

"I can't stay, I need to go back," she said.

I looked at my hands and saw a couple of them had some blood coming out. Maybe I just needed the pain to snap my brain back to normal.

"What was that?" I asked.

She looked surprised and then excited. "You can understand me?"

"Yeah I was just a little disoriented with the fight earlier," I said.

"I need to go back, I need to find my herd.  They need me," she said.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't hearing that right but I understood enough to figure out that she needs to go back.

"Well, if you could tell me where you are from, I'll help you in whatever way I can to get you back to your family," I answered.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough but I will try. I thank you for your offer and I will accept it. I do not know if I will run into more trouble," she replied with a little more confidence in her tone but her mouth still quivered.

"What are you?" she asked.

"Me? I'm a marine..." Before I could finish she interjected excitedly.

"You are? That's why it rained. You were using that to find me," she animatedly answered.

"No, I don't use the rain. I heard you cry out and that's how I found you," I answered.

She looked confused then shook it off.

"I am called Yefela of the Reed. What are you called?"

"I'm Oliver. Oliver Wolfe."

She paused seemingly to consider her next words.

"The people of the Reed do not have any quarrels with the Wolf. I accept your offer of help to return me to my pack. On your word of honor, you would escort me back. Is there anything you would ask in return for this favor?" she said sounding as formal as she could.

"Nah, I just want to make sure you are safe," I answered. "So where do I need to take you?"

She hummed and a glowing purplish portal appeared in the air.

I walked from one side to the other. It looked two-dimensional. There was no thickness. On one side there was this purple hole in the air, the other side showed nothing and I could see right down the alley.

"Shall we go, Oliver of the Wolf?" she asked with her hand outstretched towards me.

I blinked a few times. If this was real, the world doesn't have anything for me anyway. If this was a hallucination, I might as well play it out and hope I'm doing the right thing.

I take her hand and let her lead me into the portal.

My stomach felt like I got put into a blender on puree. I landed with a thud on my knees and vomited the meager contents of my stomach. I wiped my mouth and stared at the partially digested Kit Kat and most likely coffee.

Yefela looked around, "I should have warned you. Portal jumping was something to get used to. You are unlike any Wolf I've met. You don't have the hairy features that your kind should have. Were you born that way?"

I took it in stride, "Yes I was born this way."

"So was I, I was born with the power to create portals that allow me and someone I touch to cross," she said.

She had tears in her eyes and started to look from one body to the other. With each one, she put her face close to their necks and nudged like an animal would.

I looked around and noticed burnt homes and several claw-marked dead faun people.

"What happened here?" I asked. I looked up to see a very big and bright full moon. No sign of rain clouds.

Yefela continued until she nudged each of the fallen and returned to sit beside me. "I will tell you so that you know what you have gotten yourself into."

"For as long as I could remember, the people of the Reed have been having fights with the Raeb, The Raeb would attack and kill the faun people. Sometimes it's for territory, sometimes it's for the resources that we had. And sometimes they attack us for our meat.

When they found out that one of us could create portals, they wanted it for themselves. So they attacked tonight when the moon was bright and they could see. They slaughtered a lot of my people. I barely escaped with my Portal jumping but something went wrong. One of the Raeb had raced towards me when I was portal-creating and swiped at me with his claws. He knocked me off my feet and hurt one of my antlers," she summarized and showed her damaged antler.

"My portal somehow led me into that place where you found me," she finished.

"So I need to escort you to the ... Deep Forest, right?" I asked.

She nodded while looking sadly at the fallen fauns.

"Which direction is it?"

She looked at the moon and then pointed in a direction. Based on how the moon was moving on the skyline, the direction she was pointing was northeast.

"I'll take the lead, you stay behind me," I said. I took stock of what I had on me. She mentioned trouble and we are in the forest. I will need to make sure that I have a weapon. Just in case.

As we walked, I pulled a branch off pulled out my old trusty combat knife, and whittled an edge to a point.

Yefela walked behind me and when I was making the spear, she walked slower as if trying to stay as far away from me as possible.

An hour into our hike, she paused. I looked around and my training told me something was wrong. I motioned for her to crouch down and I did the same.

A movement to our left caught my attention, something huge moved within the trees. I glance at her and the look of fear returns.

I motioned for silence and kept my eyes on the huge moving shadow. Something growled and I heard the words through it, "Have you found the scent yet?"

"The faun herd must have gotten deeper, and they know of ways to mess with our smell," snorted the other.

"Well, we need to find a scent. Maybe a lone one so we can feed," growled the first.

"We can't eat any of them until we find the portal maker. Or do you want to be Urson's next meal?" growl laughed the second.

The sounds fade off as the two things move out of range.

"Are those the ... Raeb?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"They kinda sound like Bears," I said. As I stared back toward the southeast, I reviewed what I knew.

Yefela was from the people of the Reed. The enemy is Raeb. If the Raeb are bears, the Reed are... deer. Makes some sense. I just don't have a clue how we got to a forest when I was walking around on the west side of Manhattan near the Chelsea Market. Remember to focus, forget the confusion, ignore it, just focus on the circumstances, and react to it. The mission is to escort the girl home. There might be trouble and I need to remember not to kill anyone. I don't need the murder rap on my back when the hallucinations go away.

We moved forward about twenty minutes before I heard her cry out, "Run."

I looked back in time to see two bearlike humanoids running on all fours. She didn't need to tell me twice. I ran forward crashing into bushes and branches with her close behind. She grabbed a hold of my shoulder and then I felt the blender feeling again.

We crashed into the water and I swallowed a few mouthfuls before I broke the surface. I looked for her and didn't see her, she didn't come to the surface. I dove back into the cold water and saw her sinking. I pushed to get to her and pulled her to the shore.

I'm glad I know CPR even though I haven't used it at all. I checked for a pulse and started to breathe into her mouth and pump her chest. She didn't respond and I kept at it, all the while muttering under my breath telling her to not give up.

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She finally bucked and coughed up the water in her lungs.

I sat down breathing heavily.

"I drowned. How did you bring me back to life?" she asked reverently.

I looked at her with a tired smile, the adrenalin faded from me and I passed out.

I feel a hand patting my face when my eyes open. I saw Yefela staring down at me with concern. She had some berries nearby. "I didn't know you were starving, and all this time you just kept going. I gathered some food for you."

"I learned to do what I had to do to survive. Hunger is just another obstacle. I always look forward and keep moving," I answered weakly and popped what looked to be a blueberry into my mouth.

Ok, I've had visual hallucinations. I've had auditory hallucinations. I know I can even think that I'm swallowing a bug down my throat, but this is the first time that a blueberry tasted like a cantaloupe. I didn't get to think much more than that when I started to eat more of the cantaloupe berries. I finally decided my visual hallucination must be acting up making me see blueberries when they were pieces of cantaloupe.

Yefela watched in amused surprise when I finished the last berry.

"I'm sorry, I was so hungry I ate it all," I said embarrassed.

"It's ok, I just never saw anyone eat three people's worth of food in one sitting," she giggled.

I didn't think more about it and looked around.

"Do you know where we are?"

"I can't portal to somewhere that I haven't been to, except for when you found me. Even I can't explain that. I believe we are by the Nosduh River," she said.

I try to contain my laughter. There was no way that was the Hudson River. I swallowed some of the water, there was no way I would be feeling refreshed from the water like the Hudson. My hallucination was still working obviously since some of the words are completely backward. If I were to use what I knew about Manhattan, the closest wooded area would be Central Park. And if this is the Hudson River, I'd need to go east, maybe northeast.

"Let me guess, we need to go northeast now?" I asked.

She looked at me with a tilt in her head, "You have been here?"

"No, but I am catching on quickly," I answered.

Assuming the Deep Forest is Central Park, her tribe... family must be where the Children's Zoo is. At least now I know we won't need to travel days to get there. It must be the last place she knows her family will go looking for her.

"We need to keep going. I need to find my herd before the sun rises," she said.

I got up and began to head northwest, grabbing a new branch to turn into a spear. "What happens when the sun comes up?"

"There is no darkness or shadow to hide in unless you are in the safety of sanctuary," she said matter of factually.

It made sense, deer hide from predators and graze at dawn or dusk. I blazed a path and imagined that Manhattan was overrun with weeds, kind of like the old Planet of the Apes movies.

The terrain was different than the concrete streets. The walk to Central Park was going to take a while. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I can feel someone watching. I hurried Yefela along while scanning behind us for movements. I don't like the idea of the bears tracking us again.

A movement caught my attention and I threw my spear out of instinct. The growl was different, not as big as the bear.

I held my hand out for Yefela to wait as I took slow steps toward the sound. I could hear the thing pull out the spear. "Did you have to skewer me?" it growled.

"You are not a Raeb?" I asked as the hairy humanoid came out of the bush cover.

The wolfman lunged and knocked me down, pinning me against the ground. I was about to throw him over when I heard Yefela.

"Drom?" Yefela asked as she approached.

"You know this... person?" I asked.

"Yes, he's one of the Wolves. How can you not know one of your own?" Yefela asked me.

I stared at the wolfman who got up and limped, his leg was bleeding.

"He's no Wolf. I was worried that you were taken captive and I was following to determine if he was a friend or enemy," Drom growled and nodded in my direction.

I sat up, "You two talk, let me see if I can do something about your leg." The puncture wound was minor, he would heal in time. I'm no expert in veterinary medicine but I can bandage the wound and put a splint in to help his movement, but he will need to use a walking stick to help him.

"What happened? I came to your village and it was already attacked and you were gone," Drom asked.

"The Raeb attacked. I used my magic to jump but something went wrong. I met Oliver and he gave his word to escort me back to the herd. What do you mean he's not a Wolf?"

"He doesn't act like a Wolf, he doesn't have hair, and his scent stinks. I could track him by the scent he leaves in the wind from his sweat," Drom growled eyeing his bandaged leg.

I went to look for the spear while they continued talking.

"Can we trust that hairless thing?" Drom asked in a whisper thinking I couldn't hear him. I picked up the spear and wiped the blood against the bush leaves and stabbed it into the ground a few times to get the scent off the weapon.

"He has protected me so far even if he isn't a Wolf like he claimed," Yefela answered.

"I'm not a Wolf. My last name is Wolfe, with an e at the end," I explained as I walked back.

"Why would you claim to be a Wolf?" the wolf man asked.

"It's kind of like a family name. Like when Yefela said she was of the Reed." I tried to make the connection for them.

They both nodded slowly.

"So if you are not a Wolf, what are you?" Drom asked.

"Well if Darwin is to be trusted, I evolved from an ape," I said with a little more annoyance than I wanted to convey.

"Can you walk?" I continued before they started to ask more questions.

Drom took a few steps and I handed him the spear and started to head northeast again.

"We better take this girl to her family before the ... Raeb comes tracking her again," I said.

"You are better off without me, my wound would attract them. I'll go a different way and lead anything that uses scent away from the two of you," he said and started to head east.

Yefela looks at him walking away, "Be safe."

Drom glances back, "Be well. And if any harm comes to her, I will come after you, hairless Wolfe." The threat was mild, the disrespect in how he said my last name stung more especially when he deliberately pronounced the "fe".

I led the way northeast again, but it didn't take long for us to hear noises to the east. We began to run hoping to be missed by whatever was making the commotion. We heard a howl and both of us knew that the bears must have found Drom.

Yefela was starting to get anxious as we moved. We were getting close. There was another hill and we were both climbing it when I stopped Yefela from continuing. I motioned for her to stay put.

I crawled on my belly up to peek over the hill. There were three of the Raebs. One of the bear men was facing a cave entrance.

"Since you do not have the portal maker, we will wait here for her," the bear man growled.

"She disappeared when you and your pack attacked the village Urson!" yelled a voice from inside the cave. "One of your own must have eaten her already."

"If that was so, that one would have come challenged me for my leadership, No I'm inclined to think that she is still alive," growled the Bearman named Urson. Urson was bigger than the other two by about half their size.

I crept back to Yefela and whispered, "We have a problem. The Raeb are there and Urson is with them."

"I can't portal yet, my antler is still mending. It will take weeks maybe months before I can do that," she whispered back.

I scratched my chin and pulled out my knife. I went back down the hill and looked for fallen branches and started to cut off the leaves.

Yefela came down and watched, "What are you doing?"

"I'm making antlers," I said and measured hers against the branches.

"What for?"

"Well, they don't know you can't do the portal magic. So we are going to make them believe that you still have it and hope the three of them will chase me," I said with as much bravery as I could muster but inside my stomach was in knots. I'm about to have three bears chase after me because I wanted to help this faun girl.

She looked at me confused and I told her the plan while trying to get the antlers just right, then I cut off half of my shirt from the solar plexus down and folded it over a few times for thickness. I cut holes for the fake antlers to go through and tied them on my head under my chin.

I made a fake smile at her, "How do I look?"

She covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud, "You look silly."

"Remember, you wait til all three of them are chasing me and out of your sight before you go to your family," I instructed. "And don't speak, just let me do all the talking."

Yefela nodded and headed to the spot that I planned with her.

She picked up a branch and waited for my signal to get to my position. When I got in place, I took a deep breath and nodded to her.

She snapped the branch and then walked to appear over the hill.

"There!" growled one of the bear men.

She moved back and I jumped up to the far side of the hill. "You were half right. The other portal maker is dead, I'm the new one. You want me, come and get me you slow-footed fat useless animals."

Well, I wasn't sure what other insult to throw at them and I didn't wait to see if they ran up, I turned tail and started to run. The farther the distance I get, the better it would be for me to outrun them while still gauging how fast they can travel.

I gauged wrong, the three moved faster than I expected. Urson was definitely in the lead and catching up very fast.

I swung to the west, the Hudson River would be my safety net. I can dive in and... no that won't work. Bears can swim.

I was already running west and I kept going. I heard a sharp growl and glanced back to see the other two bears branch north and south. I'm going to get cornered if I'm not careful.

Urson glared at me and growled as he pumped his feet faster.

I let myself fall into my memories of running from enemy fire. My body moved in a zig-zag through the terrain then I made a mistake. I kept running under the assumption I was in Manhattan. There were no cliffs in Manhattan. There was one here. Urson goes onto his two legs and growls, "You are not one of the Reed."

"Doesn't mean I am not the portal maker," I yelled back and snatched the antlers from my head and am now using them as two spikes in my hands.

Urson's claws extended out of his paws, "I'll humor you little hairless thing. I'm going to watch you choke on your blood."

I've fought bigger and brawnier men. Urson reminded me more of Andre the Giant when he was doing judo in a French kung fu film. He was big and fast.

I barely dodge out of his claw swing but that was just a setup. He bit into my shoulder. I yanked myself at an odd angle and felt something stay lodged in my shoulder.

Urson lunged forward again and I took the opportunity to roll under him, but I misjudged that he could use his back claws and he raked at my back.

Urson was against the cliff and I knew that if I didn't take him down, he would go after the rest of the fauns.

I ran up straight against him. He didn't expect me to charge and I rammed the two spikes into his chest.

Somehow I managed to catch him off balance and we both fell off the cliff.

Urson was heavier than me and he was falling faster. Maybe it was the trick of light or the pain I was feeling in my shoulder, but I swear I saw a black aura around him.

I wished my hallucination would go away so I could make sense of what was happening and be back in Manhattan.

I felt the blender feeling once again.

I landed knees first into solid ground, the contents of my stomach rushed out and splattered onto the ground before my face confirmed that it was concrete. I must have passed out.

The sound of a siren woke me up and I felt myself getting wheeled on a cot. I opened my eyes to the bright light and saw the two paramedics.

One of them looked down, "He's waking up. Do you know your name?"

I barely croaked out, "Oliver Wolfe."

"Do you know what animal attacked you?"

I stared at him trying to figure out what answer to give him, then I heard the other paramedic. "That bite is too big for a dog."

I looked at my shoulder and saw the bite. Urson wasn't a hallucination? He was real?

I blurted out, "Bear."

"Well, it looks like the bear lost two of his teeth. We'll take one for a sample, and we'll let you keep one just between us, okay buddy?" the paramedic said trying to make light of the injury.

I just nodded and went back into unconsciousness.

I don't know how long I have been sleeping. I remember waking up and shielding my eyes from the bright fluorescent lights. It took me a few moments to realize I was in a hospital.

The dull ache on my shoulder throbbed reminding me that I have an injury. When the nurse came looking like a human, I stared.

She wrapped the blood pressure monitor around my arm and checked with her stethoscope. She glanced at me and recorded the readings. She had the look of someone annoyed but she hasn't said a word to me.

"How long have I been out?" I asked and it came out raspy.

"You have been asleep for twelve or so hours. And drink some water, you are dehydrated," she briskly said as she moved the tray with the plastic water pitcher and glass closer to me. Before I could ask anything else, she walked off.

An old man coughed beside me, "She has a bad bedside manner."

I nodded as I poured myself a drink and looked around from person to person. They weren't strange creatures and I could understand them.

"People watching? I like doing that too. I do that in the park most times but I fainted and I ended up here. This ER isn't so bad. There's a broken leg opposite of us a little past the nurse station in the middle. There's some teen who oded on something to the far left. My daughter is waiting for the doc to give the ok for me to be discharged before she comes to pick me up." He continued to overshare.

"I'm sorry, I am really out of it. I'm going to close my eyes," I said to excuse myself from entering a conversation. I haven't had a real conversation in years. I was not ready to engage nor felt like I could talk to anyone.

"It's ok. I talk enough for both of us. I heard you were brought in for a wild animal attack. The paramedics said they called animal control but there were no reports of bears getting loose from the nearby zoos. And since we live in the Big Apple, it is unlikely that a bear would just hail a cab." chuckled the old man.

That's right. Urson and I came back from that other place. Where is he? He's a bear man. He would be very noticeable if he were walking around in the streets. Yefala couldn't have opened a portal. Can Urson open portals?

I'm so confused. Was I hallucinating the whole thing and then somehow ran into a bear? Maybe I ran into a stuffed bear and that's how I got the teeth. The tooth! I reached for my pants and looked through the pockets and pulled out the tooth.

This is... real. The blood on it must be mine and the base of the tooth is Urson's. The light flickered for a moment when I gripped the tooth trying to remember details of the last day. I put the tooth down and looked at my hands. I made a fist and squeezed. The light didn't do anything. I picked up the tooth and gripped it hard like the first time. The light flickered for a moment.

What's going on? Did Urson have some ability? It isn't a portal, but it seems to do something with electricity. I glanced at the old man and noticed he had fallen asleep.

I looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to me. I closed my eyes and tried to think of the portal while I squeezed the tooth in my hand. I felt something odd but no portal appeared.

I flagged down a passing nurse and asked if I could use the restroom. She checked my chart and told me that I didn't have any restrictions and I just had to be careful with the IV drip that was on the rolling stand. I thanked her as she walked off to continue her rounds.

I got back in bed and tried to sleep. I could feel that my body was still tired and slowly dozed off into sleep.

The commotion of yelling and crashing objects woke me up with a start. A loud growl that I somehow understood as Urson yelling, "I can smell you, Wolf!" For some reason, Urson was stuck in bear form and walked on all four paws.

I jumped up and ripped the IV out of my arm. I got my pants on and looked back to see the bear taking slow steps as he growled at the nurses and patients. The presence of the bear was enough to keep everyone away. Maggie was on the phone at the nurse station frantically telling the 911 operator that there was a bear in the ER.

I glanced around and saw another exit sign. I know I was weak and probably couldn't run far, but I needed to lead him away from these people. This wasn't their fight, it was mine. I didn't have time to think about it and ran for the exit. "Leave them alone. Come after me, I'm your prey!" I yelled to catch his attention.

The movement and yell made Urson look over and he started to run. Unused to the linoleum floor, he slipped a few times and slammed into the nurse station before regaining control and continuing after me.

I glanced back to see Maggie shriek when the bear slammed into the nurse station.

I burst out of the exit and ran shambling down the street. I was on 59th and Columbus. I need to get Urson to the park. I ran knowing that the bear could smell me and had the advantage of size and strength.

My advantage was I knew my city. I ran across the street with cars honking at me. When I got to the entrance of the park, I took a quick look behind me. Urson was doing the start and stop on his way across the streets, hesitant about the metal beasts that were honking at him.

I ran past a custodian and grabbed a street broom, I broke it into two to get a sharp point and tried to put more distance between me and the bear.

It didn't take long for the bear to follow and catch up. I had stopped at the angel fountain and braced the makeshift spear against the side of the fountain. I hoped the patient gown billowing in the wind was covering it enough to hide it.

Urson growled as he slowly emerged from the terrace. He was conserving energy for the eventual sudden rush at me. I stared back defiant to egg him on. My thumb scratched at one of my itchy fingers and felt something caught at my nail. The feeling was familiar. It was similar to a splinter.

Urson charged, roaring out that he was going to kill me. Cop sirens were too far away and most likely a group of them were coming on foot, but it wouldn't get here in time.

Urson crashed into me. The spear lanced into his large body. The weight was completely on me as we both fell into the fountain. It was at that moment that I saw the brightness of his eyes. They were glowing and my splintered finger flared like a flame. The pain shot through my arm and that's when I felt my stomach lurched.

I felt my body slam into the earth. I should have been drowning, but I felt grass and earth. I tried to open my eyes but the pain raced across my whole body. It was a pain, unlike anything I have ever felt. My bones were twisting and I could hear the joints popping.

I guess this was how I would die. I could see the headlines in the morning, "Man drowned by a bear at Central Park Fountain."

It was the last thing I thought when I blacked out.

"Who is that?" said a feral-sounding female voice.

"I'm not too sure, but the scent is familiar," responded a male voice.

"Drom, is that you?" I groaned.

"Wolfe?"

"Yeah, it's me. Where's Urson?" I asked and opened my eyes.

There was a female wolf person and Drom staring at me. Drom looked perplexed as he stared at me.

"I know I look like a mess," I said and brought up my furred hand to check for wounds.

I frantically checked my body. Something was very wrong. I had fur all over.

"Urson isn't here. The last time we saw Urson was when you and he fell off a cliff and disappeared. That was six months ago." said Drom.

"SIX MONTHS?" I yelled in surprise.

"Easy Oliver," said a gentle voice as she came out of the bushes bearing fruit in her hands. Yefela smiled at me.

"Yefela, were you taking care of me?" I asked.

"Yes, I have been watching over you for the past six months. Your body was changing when you came back. I think Urson's blood infused you with chaotic energy and it changed you. I also sense that you can create portals somehow," she said tilting her head.

I sat up and stared at the ground. The shaft of the broom with dried blood was nearby. I picked it up and was bombarded with images.

Urson slammed into me. The spear rammed into his chest. Blood spilled down into me and I ended up gulping for breath beneath the bear. The water and blood were swallowed during the gasping for breath. The splinter that was in my fingers created a portal, but the power was not strong enough to bring the two of you through. Urson didn't make it through and died from suicide by cops. My body was there in the fountain, very dead.

I blinked and saw the stick disintegrate.

"It's ok Oliver, the sage wants to see you. He will answer all your questions. At least you look like a wolf now," joked Yefala.

"The sage?"

"Yes, his name is Suma Dartson. He came many centuries ago and foretold many things. We will leave at sundown. It will be safer to travel in the Wild." replied Yefela the fawn girl as she fed me those delicious cantaloupe berries.

I closed my eyes and held my head. Nostra fucking damus. I guess I live here now. I'll learn what I need from Suma and figure out the rest.

I am a Wolfe in the Wild now.