Horizon Ridge Blackfish

The brutal impact knocked her senseless for several moments, leaving her drifting in a black void several fathoms deeper than sleep. Slowly, though, consciousness crept back to her. She could hear the faint crash of the surf, smell the cold, salty air and... taste the blood on her teeth. As she began to rouse, Pied attempted to lick her chops, though her tongue wouldn't function properly and ended up poking out of her snout rather sluggishly and then dangling there.

In the moment just before her eyes slowly opened, Pied felt a wave of pain wash over her body and she moaned. She tried to move but only managed to jerk feebly on the ground. When her eyelids fluttered, only one—the right—could open fully, as her left cheek rested on the sand. She could see a sliver of lightening sky above the rapid tide, which slid up and over her bedraggled body.

Having missed Dublin's arrival and initial question, Pied only became aware of her company when she caught the other she-wolf's scent. "Dub... lin?" Pied rasped, her mouth still tasting metallic. She wanted to raise her head, yet the agony prevented her. "Blackfish," she whispered, her mental faculties fully intact despite the hit she'd taken and her momentary blackout.

She tried to overcome the pain and lift her head or otherwise move, yet she found she couldn't. Pied whined, panic rising within her. "How bad is it?" she whispered, afraid of Dublin's answer. There was blood in her mouth; the pain she felt now was like nothing she'd ever felt; and she couldn't even lift her head. "'m I going to die?" she asked, her voice so thin with fear that it almost couldn't be heard.