Minutes felt like hours, but I had finally managed to calm my breathing enough to hear my surroundings. In that time nothing happened. I played a million ways the monster would come for me. A million ways I’d die. Nothing. I was safe, but that did nothing to ease my anxiety and by the time I had worked up the couragemove again hours had passed me by.

It was midnight and in the wake of the all the adrenaline and life and death trials today I found myself exhausted. I loathed the idea of sleeping down here, but I had no good argument to purposefully give myself sleep deprivation. So, instead, I set about getting my lamp back in working order again. The loud whine of the crank terrified me, but I needed to seriously crank it if I was ever planning on charging it this century. To make things worse, it was a struggle to crank it without aggravating my burned hands. The troubling task at hand helped me set my anxiety aside. I ended up wrapping up the lamp with the towel I had draped over the entrance. It helped the noise a little. There was nothing I could do about the pain. I just had to grunt it out. So, with my jaw set and the odd tear I cranked it back to life.

Shakily I set down the lamp in the middle of the room and held my breath as I turned it on. The Towel was back in its place, but I couldn’t help fretting that it wasn’t enough. Maybe the beast was out there, just waiting for the light to help it find me… But after a moment I was still alone. I strained to hear anything out in the pitch black. Eventually I accepted that I was safe and set my attention to my pack instead. Hypothermia was a serious threat down here, but I couldn’t risk the sound of setting up my tent. More-over if I had to make a run for it there was no way to take it down fast enough. No. No tents.

Cold radiated out of the floor. There were no drafts here, but it was the cold stone underneath me that was the real problem. It would sap the heat out of me if I didn’t have enough insulation. My sleeping bag was rated to negative four, but I didn’t give that rating any weight. They were always grossly over-exaggerated. I rolled my mat out, then the sleeping bag on top of it, taking care to keep it from getting to dusty.

Next, I pulled out my notebook. In it I had a tally of all my supplies; I’d made it to account for my nasty habit of forgetting everything I’d packed. I had enough freeze-dried food for five days assuming I had three meals a day. I also had snacks, but my real concern was that I had counted on having access to a reliable source of water. Much of my food was freeze dried and if I ate it without rehydrating it it would certainly cause dehydration. I needed water. Tomorrow it would be my priority.

I smiled faintly; thankful I had a happy fascination with over preparedness. I had an excessively huge jar full of water purification tablets. Amazon was a life saver for those wishing to waste their money on things they’d normally never use.

I decided to limit myself to one meal a day. That would give me fifteen days to find a way out. Perhaps that could be stretched another two weeks even, but by then I can't say how my strength would hold up. I had heard people could last up too four weeks without food, but I doubted I could. It wasn’t like I was any sort of soldier. I was relatively over-weight and I’d never had to endure rationing in my life. At least tonight I didn’t feel hungry. Not after all I’d been through, so, instead I tucked in for the night. Throughout the night I kept waking but strain as I might I couldn’t figure out why. I felt haggard the next ‘day’. I barely had a half full water bottle, so I opted to skip breakfast saving my meal for the day for when I brought back enough water.

I didn’t let myself hesitate. I slid myself and my gear through the exit without giving myself the time to imagine all the things that could be waiting for me. After checking that the coast was clear I continued to the hall that would take me back to the creek. I needed to proceed as far as I could without relying on the lamp. It was just to dangerous being that it was the only source of light I’d found down here. It would attract the beast. It was one thing to know that, but entirely different thing to turn the light off. I felt my heart leap into my throat the moment I plunged myself into darkness. The sound of blood rushing through my ears was all that accompanied me down the pitch hallways. It was torture.

Back home I was a practicing pagan. A big part of my practice were meditation and visualization exercises. At home I struggled with chronic anxiety, so it was a keyway I controlled my condition. Here, it was near impossible to meditate as your fear of what will jump out at you in the dark snapped you out of any tranquility you could muster. Instead I settled for trying to visualize what the path looked like ahead of me. I trailed my hand along the right wall, counting the number of corridors I passed waiting for the right hallway. I could almost see blue light along the walls as I walked but every time the wall disappeared to make way for another hall, I was surprised. Of course, I couldn’t see, but visualizing the path like you could see was comforting none-the-less.

I passed through the halls unhindered. If the creature was following me, I couldn’t hear it. It was also big enough that I couldn’t see any reason that it would follow me. If we crossed paths again it would just snap my neck before I realize we’d stumbled into each other. It was still alive down here, where there was no light. My guess was it could hunt without it. It’s not a very re-assuring thought but at least I didn’t have to fear being followed in the dark.

I could hear the creek long before I saw it. I pretended I could see the water glow a pale blue hue and being able to 'see' it felt comforting. I followed it upstream for some time. I drank the last of my water. If I couldn't find the source then I'd settle for creek water; either way, I was doing myself no favors by rationing my water now.

The hall turned suddenly, heading off to the left. I flicked my light on, squinting to see the wall in front of me. Like I had imagined there were small streams of water running down the rock flowing down a crack that travelled up to the ceiling. The river certainly traveled above this section of the dungeon as all along the walls on the opposite side of the creek were tiny streams leaking through fissures in the rock. The hall to the left had no water and I had no interest in finding out what was down there.

I uncorked the foldable jug and positioned it below the stream flowing down the biggest crack in the wall. It was going to be a slow process. I shut off my light and waited in the dark. My hand hovered over the switch on my lamp, as if flicking it on before something were to jump out at me would scare it away. Being forced to wait for the jug to fill left me feeling vulnerable.

I finished filling the jug and blindly carried it back using the light solely to check whether I was turning the right way before shutting it off again. Once again, I saw or heard no signs of the beast in the dark before I reached camp again. I’d only managed to shove the swelled jug through the crawl space before I heard a dull thud coming from the trap door room. I considered what do to and decided to rush to check it out. If there was any chance of finding a friend to help me escape this place I was willing to take the risk of running into the beast. This time I had my knife ready in my hand as well.

I’d just rounded the corner to the first hallway I’d walked down when the screaming started. Whoever had just dropped likely didn’t make it unscathed. I switched my light on, knowing that the beast would be attracted here whether or not it was on now, and sprinted towards the bent door vaulting it in one great leap. There was a man crumpled on the floor screaming at his broken leg which was lying under him at an unnatural angle. He didn’t notice me over the pain, even when I yelled at him to stop. I holstered my knife to free both my hands to try and quiet him but it took a slap to the face to finally bring him back to reality. He was panting hard, “Who-Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re not alone down here so unless you want to die today I need you to shut up.” I sounded gruff even to myself but I was stressed checking all three doors for signs that the beast was here. “Is your other leg broken?” Can you walk? We need to go,” I was talking fast and attempted to pull him off the ground but he pushed me off him.

“Stop it hurts! Please, I need medical attention,” Tears streamed down the mans face. His light brown hair was just above shoulder length and a mess covering his face.

“And you’ll get it, once we’re safe.”

“Stop! Who are you? Why are you doing this, it hurts!”

“Shh! Shut up, god damnit, he’s coming.” This wasn’t working. The man shrugged any attempt for me to help him up and his voice was raising into hysteria. I checked the doors again and quickly switched tactics and crouched down Infront of him. I softened my voice like I were addressing a child, “look, I’m stuck here too, and I’m scared but we need to be strong. There is something out there in the dark that the king uses to hunt us. I don’t want you to die. Please, let me help you.” I held out my hand too him. He stared at it a moment, a moment I was reluctant to give to him, but finally he seemed to collect himself again and took my hand.

“My other ankle hurts too, I don’t think I can walk.” He thankfully began to whisper. The fastest way back to camp was to climb over the bent door but the man wasn’t in any condition to try it; his right leg was bent at an angle and his left ankle was either broken or badly sprained and couldn’t hold his weight either. I hadn’t explored the other paths yet either.

“Ok, first, I’m going to need to set your leg again. We won’t get far if it remains like this.” I moved towards his leg but he pushed me away again with his arm. Despite everything he was strong.

“Have you done this before? Do you know what you’re doing?” The hysteria was entering his voice again.

I tried my best to sound confident, “I’m going to straiten and align your leg, but I need you to be strong. Don’t scream. Here bite this or you might crack a tooth.” I pulled off my shirt and bundled it into a ball shoving it towards his mouth. He tentatively bit down on it and lay down squeezing his eyes shut.

I’d never done this and worked off of what I understood from movies to help me. I grabbed his leg doing my best to ignore his groans. Had I brought my phone I could’ve checked one of the books I’d pirated for instructions, but hindsight wouldn’t help me now. I had to not only straiten the leg back onto the bone but twist it as well so it was facing the right way. Moving fast I tried just that, but it took two tries to accomplish. You needed way more strength than I’d expected. The poor soul screamed through my shirt throughout the entire process. Still nothing showed up.

I reclaimed my shirt but didn’t bother putting it back on instead stuffing it into my back pocket. I helped the man stand and walked him towards the bent door sitting him on it and sliding him over the metal frame taking great pains not to bump his leg or ankle. All the while we moved he was muffling his sobs. “You’re doing good, I’ve got a camp, it’s far but its safe.” I climbed over the door and picked him back up on the other side practically carrying/dragging him down the hall. “I’m sorry I’m not much stronger than this otherwise I’d just carry you.”

“I don’t think I can bear to go much farther,”

“You’ll have too. I’m not letting you die.” I cut him off. We continued in silence. I checked behind us frequently but there were no signs of the beast. It must be preoccupied elsewhere. Who knows how many souls are down here?

We made it all the way to camp, I went in first telling him to wait while I dismantled the rock wall I had created so that I could pull the man in. After helping him prop himself up against the wall I remade the rock barrier and set the lamp in the middle of the room.

“May I know the name of my saviour?” The mans voice sounded weaker and it was only now that I noticed just how much he was bleeding. There was an obvious blood trail all the way to where he sat now and most likely all the way to where he originally dropped.

“Shit, you’re bleeding bad.” I ripped open my pack and fished out the first aid kit and rushed to assess his wounds.

“Your name,” His voice sounded firmer. I finally actually looked at him, my eyes meeting his grey ones. He was dressed richly with gold embroider tastefully sewn throughout his chest piece and soft velvet pants now stained blood red. He had pushed his straw brown hair out of his eyes and it resembled the common pompadour like hairstyle the nobles of the court all donned. His face was cleanly shaven and despite the sweat and strain he was still very handsome, if not quite older than me. He was a noble for sure, likely got on the bad side of the king and was sent to die.

“I’m Jazz, you?” I set about inspecting his entire body. “You need to take off your clothes hun, I need to see where you’re bleeding.”

“James. Its been a while since a beautiful lady’s said such too me,” He joked wincing as he helped me remove his pants. I smiled at him.

“And what brings you to my neck of the castle James?” Where his leg had broken, I could see now that the bone had poked through the flesh. It was a huge wound. His left ankle was bruising fast and swollen as well. I set about attempting to sanitize and close the wound. “This is going to hurt.”

“I-” He winced as I spritzed the area with alcohol, “I had abolished slavery in my land without the kings’ blessing. Thought I could get away with it given my position and how valuable the produce in my land was to the kingdom. Didn’t consider the fact that my cousin at court might have other plans if I did.”

“That is very noble of you; I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I’m not familiar with this kingdom, where do they get their slaves from?” I tried to make conversation to distract him from the pain I was causing while dressing his wound.

“No, I don’t imagine you are. You’re the Otherworlder from two days ago aren’t you,” He smiled, “You had some pretty colourful things to say about the king.”

I grinned sheepishly, “I… I was in shock I think. Otherworlder eh? What exactly do you mean by that though?”

“Exactly that. You’ve crossed over from the other world. You know about the crossing over there, don’t you?” He was considering me questioningly now.

I stopped what I was doing to regard him. “The crossing?” Remembering myself I went back to taping gauze to his leg.

“Ahh. Your world doesn’t remember then does it? A world full of humans… Must be so nice.” He gazed off imagining it before continuing, “There are many worlds you know, ours, yours, the spirits. Our two worlds have been intersecting for well over a million years. Every three or so millennia, no one can ever quite predict when it would occur, the crossing happens where creatures and people on both sides end up on the other. That’s why our people brought you to the king; had you played your hand a bit more… Tactfully it would only be I down here. There’s often quite a lot we can learn from each other, so the king doesn’t waste such a chance lightly.” I considered his words for quite some time and finished bandaging his leg. I moved to inspecting his torso but aside from some bad bruising and more than likely some broken ribs there was nothing else I could patch. I popped five water tablets into the jug to treat all five litres and waited for them to dissolve. All the while he watched my ever move with a cunning in his eyes I couldn’t quite read.

“I don’t mean any offence when I say this but… I find it hard to believe you. Where I’m from there’s no such thing as magic. At least not the kind that could actually warp reality or send you hurtling to another world, and if there was such a phenomenon like a ‘crossing’ you’d think our history would have some mention of it.” I reached behind me for my shirt but found it was missing. Must’ve fallen when we were walking…

“No, the magic would’ve left your world when the dragons did… but surely you have myths of what once roamed your world. Legends. We have the elves and other immortal races to help us remember our history but tell me, how much of your history does your world remember from three thousand years ago?”

He had me there. Not every culture had writing back then and those that did lost many of their works to the erosion of time. I myself knew that three thousand years ago was about a thousand years before Christianity but could I name what cultures were living then off the top of my head? Hell no.

“Are there were-wolves here?”

“The king keeps one down here,” he smiled ruefully, “and you sound like you’ve already met it.” He shifted his weight, fighting with the pain in his leg, “So, your world still does remember the myths.”

“Its all over pop-culture. Still doesn’t prove you’re not lying to me.” I crossed my arms as I started to feel the pinch of the cold and went searching for my hoodie again.

“What would I gain from lying now?” He spread his hands wide indicating our situation.

I considered his words for some time while I donned my hoodie and poured some of the water into my water bottle and more into my mess kit mug handing it too him. “I’m… Not sure.” I sighed frustrated. This wasn’t the news I was looking for and it was too crazy for me to willingly accept. “Honestly. I don’t think there’s really anything you can say that’ll lead me to accept your words. It just sounds way to crazy. No offence.”

“None taken.” He grimaced as he sat up and drank, “You come from a world where there is no magic so I can understand your skepticism… Tell me though, how does your lamp work then?” He eyed it wonderingly.

“With electricity.” He raised his eyebrow quizzically, “We use electricity to power it. It’s a hard question to answer to someone who supposedly doesn’t know what electricity or technology is. It’s a complicated process. We harness electricity from nature by burning coal, using hydro which is like... Using water to turn a turbine, and through nuclear power plants which I’m not even going to bother trying to explain. The switch right here completes the circuit so when I do this.” I turned off the lamp, “Electricity stops flowing and the lamp turns off.” I turned the lamp back on, “And completing the circuit allows it to flow which passes electricity though the led right here,” I pointed to the bulb, “exciting it so it emits light.”

He stared at it with childlike wonder and for a moment he seemed years younger. He must’ve been very handsome in his youth. I was finding it hard to believe this was just an act which I found very unsettling. “What is your world like Jazz?” He spoke softly. The distraction seemed to help him manage the pain he was in.

“Well… Its. It’s a hell of a lot safer than here, that’s for sure.” He closed his eyes, listening, “Most countries don’t have kings anymore, instead we have democracies where we elect our prime minister or president. We also elect the senators and officials that create and pass laws.”

“No monarchy?”

“Nah, the idea that some man is born special and therefore is the only one fit to rule is outdated and obviously wrong. I’m not going to say just anyone can be president, there’s so much work to do it and a lot of money needed too as well, but no ones born into it that’s for sure; and without convincing enough of the population to follow you, you can throw away as much money as you want and never succeed.” I shrugged. “Most countries have free healthcare too. We recognize a lot of human rights like the right to shelter, food, water, the right to vote and the right to live… The right to marry who you choose, the right to live where you wish, everyone must be educated, its not even a right its an enforced standard. It’s not perfect, we have a lot of problems as a society, but I count my blessings. Not every country is as progressive as mine.”

We sat in silence for a while. I was considering whether he’d fallen asleep when he finally moved and drank deeply again. “As a young man I used to debate what had happened to your world when it was left without magic. A world of just humans. The mere thought of living without magic lead many of my peers to believe you all lived in squalor without any culture or hope.” He seemed wistful about the subject.

“You say the magic left our world when the dragons did… What happened?” His reactions had intrigued me, so I’d decided to humor him.

“Your ancestors pulled off an eviction of sorts of all the dragons, not the last crossing but the one previous too it. By the last crossing we’d heard you’d hunted almost all of the other races to extinction too.” He managed a smile at the thought.

I grimaced, “I think we succeeded on that front then. They’re just legends now. Movies, books, and a lot of art depict or play with the idea of them, but no one believes they ever existed.”

“Well they may have to come to terms with that soon. The crossing works both ways my dear, and if you’re here then there’s no telling what replaced you on the other side.”

We sat in silence for a while while I absorbed what he’d said. “You should rest, here I have something for the pain. Sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.” I pulled out a pain killer from my pack and handed it too him. He considered the pill but didn’t take it immediately. “Don’t chew, just put it in your mouth on the back of your tongue and take a big gulp to swallow it whole. It tastes horrible otherwise.”

He regarded me suspiciously, “What is it?”

I had forgotten that he supposedly didn’t know about our technology. “Its medicine. We don’t have magic to relieve pain, so we use this instead.” He considered it but still didn’t take it. “Look, why would I give you anything else?” I mimicked his gesture from earlier spreading my hands wide. With a grin he took it finally, gulping it down before coughing. I tried to hide my laugh, “I was never really good at swallowing em either.”

“Anyways, you said you abolished slaves.” I cocked my head curious.

“I’m sure your world has long moved past such practices, but here all the races enslave each other. There are probably more human slaves out there than we have of all the other races in our entire country… But yes, I had the fool idea that we might some day be able to enter a more peaceful era in our history and took what I thought would be the first steps toward it. I was gravely mistaken.” While he spoke, I cleaned my hands of his blood with some of the water and donned a new shirt from my pack putting my hoodie back on top.

“It was a noble thought in my opinion. In my world all countries have abolished slaves, but I’d be overselling it if I said all governments actively try to enforce such laws or don’t take part in it themselves. Children and women mostly from what I know. It’s barbaric.”

“It’s easier to agree on such a feat when your slaves are your own kind. It’s Illegal to own a human slave here of course, but a were-beast? Its all but encouraged for manual labour. No one wants to see humans degrade themselves to such lows after all.” He didn’t sound like he disagreed with the notion though. “And if you can own an elven concubine it sets you above the rabble, even among nobles. I’ll admit I have no love for the other races and the atrocities they’ve done us, but I have the foresight to work towards a better world. While we may never mix with the other races at the very least, we could end the wars and perhaps even trade with them someday.”

A noble idea, perhaps not exactly for all the right reasons though. “Hates in our nature though. In my world we kill each other simply because our skin colours different and we fear the culture of other lands.”

“I’m surprised. We don’t have the luxury to fight among ourselves, so we don’t. I guess we are wrong to think ourselves above such things.” I shrugged again in response.

“Here, you should rest on my sleeping bag. I’m going to explore some more to find a way out of here.” He let me help him up and we shuffled to the other side of the room gradually lowering him on top of my sleeping bag.

“You won’t find a way out; they collapsed and dismantled all the original exits when the king decided to convert this place to a jail and torture chamber for our resident were-wolf. He’s a political prisoner from the country beside us. Some general or other. The only way in now is through the throne room or through the black room but its designed so no one can climb out. They use it to lower prisoners in through a rope that they pull out.” He sounded tired now.

“Why do they lower prisoners here through the black room?”

“Too feed the beast of course.” My face turned pale and it took a moment to recover myself.

“Well… I found a place where the water flows out, even if I have to dig my way out I will, but I ain’t giving up.”

He chuckled. “I wish you luck.” And with that he closed his eyes to rest. I hesitated a moment longer before collecting the lamp and venturing out again. With him here it halved how long my rations would last me. I’d also need to waste more time collecting water now.

Outside the camp I could see an obvious trail of blood leading from the trap room here. I needed to clean this otherwise the beast, or werewolf, would be led right too us. I racked my brain trying to figure out what I could do to clean this and finally came up with the solution. I retrieved my jug and proceeded to pour it, washing away the bloody trail. I kept the lamp on the entire way and frequently paused to scan for the wolf but still saw no sign of it. Where the hell was it? I washed the blood all the way to the bent door and stopped at that. Mainly because I was out of water.

Finished, I shut my lamp off finally and made the long trek back to the creek. The longer I went with no sign of the wolf the more nervous I became, as if the odds of finding it were increasing with every moment that passed. The urge to turn on the lamp grew, and I found I could only move forward by using the same visualization trick as before. My predictions of where passages were growing more accurate and I pondered whether I was beginning to develop a mental map of the path already.

I glanced in the direction of where the water was flowing out of this place. I’d need to submerge myself in it in order to inspect the opposite wall, but I had no means to warm myself up again. I risked hypothermia for only a chance of there being something there. Instead I proceeded back to the water source and filled my jug again. Instead of preceding back I took the left passage following along the outskirts of the dungeon. The submerged room would be the last resort, until I’d explored the entire dungeon and found no other viable option, I wouldn’t risk that water. James mentioned ‘the Black Room’ as well. It may be designed to thwart would be climbers, but I still had to see for myself before I ruled it out. Admittedly I didn’t own climbing grade rope, but I had brought a spool of cheap rope for camping. It could probably hold my weight.

Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I braved switching the light on. It took me a moment to figure out what was off with this passage. It was free of the normal dust covering the hall floors, instead the floor was well traveled and bare. I switched the light back off. Either I was near the black room or, more likely, I had found the area the werewolf denned.

I took a side passage instead of going forward, it was twisting but the chalk trail I was leaving would help me find my way back. I found myself in another section of the dungeon and found that it met up with trap door room. It was the door that all the blood trails led too, where I’d suspected I’d first seen movement. I was definitely close to where the wolf normally hunted. I almost lost my nerve.

Instead I continued forward for some time until I was sure I had made it to the other side of the dungeon. Here the passage opened. I felt my way through the entire room trying to visualize what I was to afraid to shed light on. It was huge, circular with no pillars in it. There were multiple other passages heading off in different directions leading me to believe I’d found the true center of the dungeon and what was perhaps the Black Room.

I waited in the inky blackness for some time until I grew confident enough to switch my light on. The walls all around were smooth and went stories up. At the very top there was a metal disk bronze disk in the center of the ceiling with strange rune like inscriptions circling the rim. I was willing to bet it was a door where they lowered the prisoners. The Black Room. There was no way out this way.

Defeated, and now starving, I headed back to camp in the dark. Glancing behind me frequently, as if my eyes could pierce through the void.

When I entered camp the metallic smell of blood greeted me, and I flicked on my lamp to asses the mess. There was a bloody imprint of where James had been sleeping before. He was passed out on the sleeping bag softly snoring, albeit he looked a bit cold. I woke him and unzipped my sleeping bag helping him in.

“Glad to see you safe, how was the search?” He whispered getting more comfortable.

“I found the black room. You’re right, we’re not getting out that way.” I considered our situation while I set about using a pot filled with water and his pants as a makeshift mop to clean up the blood. “Those exits they sealed. You don’t happen to know where they were do you?”

“He watched me work put off by me using his pants, but he made no complaint. “Arlaine, the court sorcerer sealed them. Unless you’re a sorcerer yourself you won’t be getting out that way.”

“We,” I corrected, “And no, I suppose not.” I scrubbed his pants with some soap from my pack, rung them out, and set them to dry by propping them up on the broken pillar while I worked out what to do.

"Part of the dungeon runs under the river, or moat, doesn’t it?” I’d been meaning to ask him.

“Yes… It was expanded under the river I believe. I remember hearing of a collapse shortly after it had been built.” He watched me work and when he realized I was making some porridge for him he stopped me. “I’ve already eaten quite enough before my fall. Save it for yourself.”

I watched him carefully but decided not to press it. I didn’t eat my first day either. “Well, I’ve explored the majority of this place save for one area now,” he raised his eyebrow, so I explained, “Where the werewolf dens.” He nodded, “And the only promising lead I’ve got so far is a section that seems to have experienced some collapsing. The stone on the walls fallen away and the earth looked like it was soft enough to dig through. The filling the dungeon exits there as well so it might open up on the other side.”

“Seems like a lot of maybes.” He voiced my thoughts exactly.

“Too add to that its on the other side of waist deep freezing dungeon water.” I scrunched my nose in distaste, “But I’m hard pressed for any other solution so I guess that’s what I’m doing tomorrow.”

“You’ll risk a chill,” he warned.

“I know, but the longer we stay here the weaker I’ll become. We only have rations for seven days together, then it’ll just be what I’ve stored.” I pinched my belly fat and winked, managing to fish a smile out of him.

“Since you’ll be doing all the work you should keep the food for yourself. I’ve stored up quite a bit myself, I’ll be fine.” He didn’t sound fine though. His voice was strained, and I could tell his breathing didn’t come easily.

“You’re healing a bad wound and fighting off whatever infection may have gotten past me. You need to eat, and I’ll be having none of that martyrdom.”

He smiled faintly, “Have you ever seen someone die Jazz?”

His question caught me off guard. Where was he going with this? “No… But I don’t plan on changing that any time soon either.” My voice was firm putting an end to that.

“Anyways, sorry for waking you. You looked cold.” I sat back and began to eat the cold porridge.

“You’ve apologized to me twice today for helping me.” He looked bemused.

“Uh, yeah. Canadian thing, I guess. Sorry.” He chuckled and closed his eyes to sleep again. I watched him slowly daze off and realized I was in for a chilly night.