Bearclaw Valley and that was my fault, to not know how far down the hole i had fallen

aw! paging medics

eleven days.

eleven days since that monster had befallen her. it horrified her to entertain the notion that blights like that crippling creature existed; that there was an order out there unknown to her, with no covenenant save misery and malice.

fever had overtaken her in the preceding days, and while she struggled to keep the wound clean, it hurt immensely to contort her body to face it -- inflammation had seized her hind end and her legs were as thick as knobbly bows of elmwood. she was lucky it was winter; the cold numbed it to some extent and the snow kept the detritus at bay. it also made it immensely difficult for travel.

she had drug herself to a stream and thrown herself at its banks. she had come here to drink, but shivering, found no energy to lower herself into the water.