Chapter 20

Natalie woke up staring at the ceiling in her bedroom. After getting home the night before, she just instantly locked up and collapsed into her bed. She did not remember cleaning off or even getting out of the clothes she had on before, plus she felt sore all over. When she looked down however, she was still just as unsure of her current state of apparel and functionality. Her chest was covered by the seven wolf pups, and her limbs and stomach were all being laid on by the adult wolves. Was the soreness she was feeling from all the movement she did yesterday? Or did the pain come from the dog pile that was laying on top of her all night long. Either way, she was completely done with just laying in bed and being unproductive. The sun was shining brightly through her window, signaling that the day was long past beginning.

It took a few minutes to rile all of the wolves up from their slumber so she could get out of bed. Really, the problem was the one cautious wolf pup from the office, who refused to get up as she was comfy. It was hard to tell whether she was asleep or awake though, as the arguing sounded like it could have been sleep talking. While the argument over it being time to get up raged on, the rest of the pups bounced around the room, inspecting every little thing in the room. Most of the items being completely foreign and new to the small bundles of fur and morning energy. From exploring the dark area underneath her bed, to her closet filled with colourful clothing the pups spared nothing in their investigation of the new stuff.

As Nat finally got up, she noticed she was still wearing the same clothes that she had started yesterday in. Sighing, she quickly got out of them and walked to the bathroom. Walking into the room, she hit the light switch on the wall. Then immediately hit it five more times in confusion. Realization dawned on her that the green wave not only knocked out her flare gun and made it inoperable, but it also disabled all forms of power. Walking over to the tub, she tried to turn on the water, only to be met with nothing. She turned back to the bedroom full of inquisitive wolves, "Hey guys, can I please get a hand here?"

Bryden walked in, unsurprisingly flanked by a couple of curious pups who were trying to see everything they could. "Could you help me out with this. Water is normally supposed to come out of here, but apparently nothing is working anymore. Could you please fill this with water from the Soulscape?" Nat asked, gesturing to the tub. All she got was a slight nod before Bryden set one paw into the tub, and then one into Natalie. Then like a weird garden fountain, water came pouring out of Bryden's paw. When it was filled up enough, Nat signaled that it was good and thanked him for the help. He gave a solid lick to the side of Nat's face, before heading out of the bathroom to continue exploring the residence.

One quick, cold bath in the dark later, Natalie walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and clean. She was glad to no longer have dried blood covering her, with dirt taking root in her hair. As she was getting changed into jeans and a comfy hoodie, Nat saw that Kali was lying on the bed, not moving around. Remembering about her leg, she quickly exclaimed, "Oh right Kali! How is your leg doing?"

Looking over to Nat, she responded, 'Better. Does not hurt unless standing.' Nat walked over and looked over the leg. As she did, she had to do a double take. After letting Kali know, she started removing the bandage and splints and inspected the injury. It had happened just a day and a half ago, yet it was showing signs as if it had been healing for a week. Startled by this discovery, she called over the energetic pup that had the lesions around its mouth and took a look at his mouth. Despite it being two days since she last checked him, there was a measurable difference in the size of the lesions. The had reduced slightly, almost as if a couple of extra days had gone by. The only reasonable explanation was the green wave.

It had changed so much. Nothing technological worked as it should have, she now had wolves that could enter and leave her body that she could talk with telepathically. And apparently, these wolves that had bonded to her now healed much faster. What else had changed with her directly that she had yet to find out? Natalie decided that these questions were better left for later, and started bandaging back up Kali's paw with a fresh bandage and some medical splints. They weighed about the same as the sticks, but were stronger and far more durable. After finishing that, she conscripted the pups once again to move things into her Soulscape. While this was her home, she did not want to stay in a town where she was the only person left alive.

As she got downstairs, she pulled out a map of southern Alberta, and got all of the adult wolves to gather around. Gesturing down to the Waterton area, "This is where we are. My current plan is to follow highway five here up past Cardston and Magrath and go straight toward Lethbridge. There we can hopefully meet up with my friend Shannon, and go from there. Any questions? Concerns?" Looking around the group of wolves, none of them raised any complaints. There was more of a sense of excitement, to be able to meet someone who is close to their Alpha.

Doing one last check through her house, Natalie was sure that they had picked up everything that could be of use. Anything tech related was left alone, but books, food, and all other sorts of supplies were taken. They even grabbed her bed, though that one wasn't her idea. One of Kali's pups had grabbed it almost immediately for the Soulscape. Before she even noticed the bed going in, Kali was already relaxing upon it in the Soulscape. Satisfied with their looting of her own stuff, she headed out the front door. All of the wolves moved back into her Soulscape, since none but Kali's pups were at full health. They did not know if being in the space helped with recovery, but they all felt as if it would not hurt to be on the safe side. Moving towards the northern side of town, Natalie moved forward cautiously, still wary in case there were any more goblins or creeps lurking in the town.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times.