Mute.

The girl is mute.

I only noticed when she was sketching something on dirt with a stick while I was skinnin the rabbit the snares caught. I had no idea what those things she drew were, but I guess they were supposed to mean something to me, because she kept nudging me and pointing at them.

"What is that supposed to be?"

I saw disappointment dawn on her face. I guess whatever that was, it was important.

It felt strange sharing a campfire with someone for the first time since my dad died. More so when she acted so strangely.

"Why don't you just talk to me!" I exclaimed. At first, I just though she was just preserved, but that was confirmed wrong when she agreed to come with me without asking anything.

Unless.... she couldn't speak.

That made sense.

I offered a leg when I was done cooking it, biting back tears. It was perfect. One of the best I ever had. What a shame I couldn't have it for myself. She didn't have the same reaction though, she looked like she wanted to complain, really.

What, she didn't like it? How is that even possible, it's like a million times better than bugs.

Ahh I could've sold it for so much. I would've bought a cloak. A big warm one with many pockets. I almost fell asleep fantasizing about cloaks, which reminded me that there wasn't

Enough space to fit us both. And we definitely weren't sharing, I barely fit in that tiny cave myself.

Well, I could always sleep on a tree...

I was about to suggest that, when I saw a couple of red eyes staring at me from the bushes.

I stared back, frozen now, into his challenging gaze. It was a wolf. A big one, bigger than me at least.

It walked around, still staring at me, and I knew that if I made any movement at all, all hell would break loose.

Slowly, I reached my hand into my pocket, and held the axe tightly. If everything goes wrong like I thought it would, I was definitely going to need it.

By now, she noticed something was wrong, and only when she looked at it, did she do the one thing I feared.

She ran.

We both reacted instantly. I withdrew my axe and held the knife with my other hand, quickly forming a fighting stance. The wolf lunged at me trying to end me with one move, as if I was a simple prey. I sacrificed my knife, then, throwing it on his face. It wouldn't do much damage, I knew, but hopefully, it buy me enough time to dodge. And it did just that. Throwing myself left, I swung my axe at one of its legs using the momentum.

Too weak. I thought. I'm always too weak.

It turned around, and lunged again, barely giving me a second to recover. I jumped back this time, hitting my back to a tree. Thankfully, the fight wasn't over yet, as its deadly claws, that missed me and hit the tree were stuck in it now. I stared up, meeting the wolf's gaze.

And I understood it, looking deeply at its eyes up close. It was the predator, and I the prey. Nothing I could do would change that. The wolves are the mighty hunters of the forest, always hunting in a pack. Always together. But that was no longer, as bandits wandered every piece of land looking for food and income. There was a battle, between the wolves and a group of bandits where none emerged victorious. The bandits scattered, earning nothing. The pack however, suffered most. She was the only survivor out of the whole pack.

She was alone, just like me. Forced to survive in this world without any companions.

I swung my feeble axe, returning to reality, at her jaw, then slided underneath her, swinging blindly now, exchanging precision for strengh. Her black fur was covered in blood now.

Just like then

My heart was thumping in my chest as I retreated, still facing her. she had gotten free now, and she was stepping closer slowly, as if wondering what to make of me. It has, like many before it, underestimated me. And I looked into its soul.

I saw her grief, her anger, her despair, all biting her soul, leaving barely nothing behind. She survives on nothing but insticts now.

In an instant, she ran, and I dropped to pick up a sharp stick, barely in time to hold in front of me with both hands, my axe dropping with loud clung on the hard ground. My stick hit one of her paw, deflecting it as it broke.

Her second paw hit me right at the shoulder and the pain stole the breath out of my lungs.

It was a nasty wound, I knew without even looking at it. But the fight wasn't over, it seemed never-ending at the time, even though it was barely two minutes.

she was the one staring at me now, and we shared a moment there. We shared the pain i felt when my dad died, we shared the anger she felt towards humans, we shared, pouring everything we knew into this bond that tied us.

Both abandoned.

I raised my head, and embraced the unknown.

And I died. That was it.

It was swift, I didn't feel a thing.

I knew, there was no second chances now, no lakes that leave you barely alive, no restarts.

My life as a war orphan ended here.

My story ended here.