Call of the Alpha - Part 1(6)

“Do you think you can walk again?” she asked. “Just a few feet until we’re inside?”

“Yes,” he said. “The weakness is coming and going.”

Jessica opened her door quickly and helped him out. The distance between her car and the front porch was fifteen feet. They made it ten before the strength went racing out of him again. He slumped over, nearly taking them both to the ground. Jessica’s work had forced her to haul motionless bodies several yards at a time on occasion at accident scenes or when a patient collapsed on the ward, so it was nothing new to her. She used her back and shoulder muscles to lug him onward. They stumbled up the porch steps, his legs barely making the steps upward and nearly causing them to tumble.

With him propped against her side, she felt his heat for the first time. Not only was he tired and injured, but he was also burning up with a fever. She quickly inserted her keys into the front door and unlocked it. She then brought him inside and helped him through her small foyer. She almost gave up right there, feeling her strength waning, but she found a reserve somewhere in her guts that allowed her to help him stumble blindly into the living room.


She laid him carefully on the couch, not worrying with the streaks of mud and dirt he was placing all over it. She then turned on the overhead light as well as the reading lamp on the end table. The man winced at the glare from the lights but did not complain.

Jessica looked him over for a moment, once again searching for any obvious injuries. All she could find aside from the gash she had already bandaged up were a few superficial bruises and various minor scrapes and scratches. Other than that, there was nothing of concern other than his shortness of breath, his extreme exhaustion, and the fever. These were symptoms that could come from any number of things, but she was pretty certain being struck by a car was not one of them.

“What’s your name?” Jessica asked him.

A look of shock came over his face, and he paused in thought before finally slowing saying “I…I don’t…know.”

“You don’t know?” she asked, stunned.

He shook his head.

“Any ideas why you were running across the road without any clothes on?”

“I was…being chased, I think. I don’t…remember.” His breathing was getting more labored now and the tightness of it made Jessica wince.

“Don’t talk right now,” she said. “I’m going to ask you questions, but try answering with just nods or shakes of the head. Got it?”

He nodded, trying out a thin smile as he did so. It looked pained and forced.

“I want to wash you off but don’t really want to even try moving you to the shower just yet. I need to catch my own breath from getting you inside. I’m going to run to the bathroom and get some wash clothes, water, and other supplies. You need to be cleaned so I can get a better idea of your injuries. Are you okay with that?”

It took him a moment before he nodded. When he did, he gave her that skeptical look again. Jessica wasted no time, she ran to the bathroom and grabbed up all of the supplies she thought she’d need. She filled a pan with warm water and while that filled, she gathered up peroxide, Neosporin, aspirin and all of the bandages she could find.

When she went back out, he was lying as still as ever, drawing in those short, pained breaths. She soaked the cloth and wrung it out in the pan.

“Let me know if I wash over anything that hurts, okay?” she said.

He gave another nod and she started to clean him. She started at his chest, pleased to find that the grime and mud was coming off easily. She supposed most of it had come off during their climb up the embankment and in the back of her car. As she wiped it off, she revealed a few more scratches, but nothing so bad that it needed immediate attention.

It all went well until she tried rolling him over onto his side to get a look at his back. There, she saw three large scratches that looked like claw marks. He said he was being chased, she though in alarm. If so, maybe these claws were probably from whatever was doing the chasing.

The marks were big, but not quite large enough to be from a bear. She wondered again about a wolf, but the possibility of outrunning a wolf seemed a little ridiculous.

She washed the marks as well as she could and was impressed that he didn’t at least moan or cringe when she touched them.

“I need you to stay on your side,” she said. “You have some marks back here that are pretty nasty. They’ll need stitches. I could get the supplies and do it here, but I think a hospital would be better.”

“No,” he said. “Please. Thank you for your help. But no…hospitals.”

As she did her best to cleanse the wounds, Jessica realized just how off this whole situation was. And even though it had been her deepest instincts that had told her to go along with his fears and to bring him here rather than a hospital, she was starting to regret it. He was naked, refusing medical treatment and was obviously a little odd. There was no telling what he might be capable of if he got angry or scared.

“Fine,” she said, already hatching a plan in her head. “Then hold still. I need some better disinfectant. Please, really, don’t move.”

He groaned and nodded. As he stretched a bit, Jessica was rather embarrassed to catch herself staring at him. He was well-built and discounting his cuts and abrasions, his skin was smooth and flawless. She caught herself staring at his wide shoulders and well-defined abs and turned away quickly.