Fast Eddie! Eddie the medic! Right. Sure enough son you just killed your first patient; done shot him up with too much stuff.

Eddie had checked his kit and found that he had not just shot up Jay with a lot of antibiotics, but had—in his panic at the end of the horrific eating of their friends—also shot up Jay with adrenalin and morphine. Jay wasn’t looking like a classic over dose case, but was acting more like someone in heroin withdrawal. His eyes were also rolling back in his head and blinking uncontrollably, his muscles contracting and causing him to snarl and moan in his fetal position in the plush stand of grass that Eddie had laid him in beneath the young tree. Eddie had carefully swept away the dry snow and laid his growling friend down in the long bunches of round grass still crisp from last summer.

You done killed the only friend you have in this wild world boy. At least make him comfortable. Shoot, he isn’t going to die. He’s Jay-Bone; man’s been in battles with medieval gangsters and survived worse than your dumb malpracticing ass!

Eddie sat with Jay as he lay delirious until the sun was above his left shoulder. He checked his hot-chocolate-honey watch and it was 9:07 AM. He thought he should have a look around but was not going far from the protection of Jay. Even though Jay was completely disabled Eddie felt safer in his presence, as if the crazy Whiteman’s testosterone level alone would keep predators at bay.

Eddie finally got the courage to get to his feet and have a look around. He could not see to the east behind them because of the hill—and there was no way he was walking around it for a peek! All that could be seen to the north and west was a flat expanse dotted with small trees like this, terminating in a close horizon where the land fell off into the huge valley that would one day become the English Channel. Jay had told them before translocation that they would not be far from the famous beaches of Normandy, where his grandfather had fought the Germans.

The sky above was clear except for some long wispy clouds that carried no threat in them, at least they did not seem like thunderheads to Eddie’s highly trained meteorological eye.

Feeling much better about their situation he looked south, stripped down samurai sword in his hands, and almost messed himself! In the distance, just above the horizon bobbed a group of two, no three, no, maybe four dots. They were not dots of course. By their movement he could tell that they had four legs but that was it. He did not know what they were. He bent to shake Jay. “Yo Jay-Bone we unda attack son! Your badass is on deck. Grab something deadly and start killing stuff. Jay-Bone!”

The delirious man snarled, chuckled and said something about a TV game show! He then passed out cold, fully decked out in all of his animal-slaying gear.

Shoot son it’s just your scared ass. They are coming straight for you. What are you going to do?

It was nearly 10:00 a.m.; actually it was 9:47. Eddie broke his ready stance to check the time often, nervous as he was. The dots had disappeared behind the hill to his right. Now he was nervous.

At 10:14 a.m. three animals appeared over the hillside, trotting tentatively down toward Eddie, stopping to sniff the air. They were the wolf cubs, one twice as old, and much bolder, than the others. They came on in a triangle formation. When they got close enough that he could see their icy gray eyes he became panicked. “Jay-Bone, wake yo ass up. The creep-crawlin’ kids coming back for revenge son!”

Jay snarled, now apparently in another fit of delirium, and the wolves backed up somewhat, sniffing the air, and looking inquisitively up at Eddie. He suddenly grew angry, “What’ ch’yall wan’ ‘round here? I got somethin’ fo yer punk asses! Ya need ta get.”

The wolf cubs came closer, sniffing at Eddie, looking nervously at Jay, and then looking up at Eddie. They were getting closer, too close. Eddie advanced on the big one with a c-step just as Sensei had taught him, fixing to slice it in half. “I warned ya chump!”

He did not want to kill this cub, it having just lost its parents and all. But it was them or him, and he was not going to have them biting into him for lunch no matter how sorry he felt for them. Eddie brought the blade down, trying not to think of the mess it was going to make. In reaction to this the lead cub just sat back on its hind legs and looked up at Eddie, a question seemingly in its eyes.

He could not do it. He stopped the cut and let the blade fall slack in his hands. With this the lead cub sniffed the blade, and then circled around to sniff Eddie. The other cubs came forward, looking nervously over at Jay as they sniffed Eddie. He had to say something.

“Alright y’all we friends, allies so-to-speak. You don’t eat me and this dude over here won’t eat you. Y’all look hungry—darn I can see the bones unda yo fur. Uncle Eddie will fix you right up. You get a taste of this shit here and you ain’t never gonna want raw meat again.”

Eddie reached into his pack and produced four Slim Jims, unwrapped his and put it in his mouth, and then unwrapped all three of theirs before he handed them out. The cubs whined and munched, sniffed and licked, re-tasting their salty greasy lips many times as they sat patiently and begged for more.

“Now y’all get just a half a piece now. Then you done ‘till dinner.”

The older cub seemed more impatient and actually got pushy, pawing him and yipping.

“Shit’s gotta last chump! Yeah, sure enough, you’re Chump, and that’s Baby Girl and Baby Boy there. You jus’ sit yo ass down Chump. There you go. You don’ eat off a Uncle Eddie’s table less you sit yo ass down. A piece for all of you.”

What are you doing fool? You are giving away the Slim Jims. What if Jay-Bone can’t hunt?

With the cubs around to lookout for danger Eddie busied himself making a proper camp. He used the case of bows to sweep away the snow. He then laid down a nylon sheet and canvas tarp beneath the tree. Next he used the tree and his aluminum stakes to string the other two canvas tarps to form a two-sided shelter that closed at the tree behind them, and was open to the west. The wolf cubs nosed around quite a bit during his work, seemingly inspecting everything. After a while Baby Girl got bored and curled up with Jay.

Next he cleared the surrounding ground of the thick grass, pulling up clumps and using them to line the base of the shelter halves. Finally, right in front of the shelter he made a ring of fire stones and filled it with some of the browner grass. Remembering what Randy had told him about dried animal dookie burning he gathered some big chips of that stuff that he found not far off to the north where a game trail followed a small stream toward the valley. He also broke some twigs off the lower portions of the tree.

He then worked his way around the camp, gathering all of the straw-like dried grass he could find, and binding it in bunches to serve as fire logs. Baby Boy grabbed one of the grass bunches and appropriated it as a chew toy. Chump though, never strayed far from Eddie, seemingly scrutinizing his every move and inspecting every object he touched or constructed. By dusk he was tired, hungry and stoked and it was time to eat.

“Gather ‘round y’all. Chow time: a beef stick for each of yah and a circus peanut for desert. I was going to share them circus peanuts with a friend. At least now I can share them with y’all since we friends now.”

He felt kind of proud, perhaps like a father would feel, feeding his family, as the cubs all munched away. By the end of their brief meal Jay-Bone was snarling and slathering again. Eddie patted him on the back as the cubs huddled within the tent and looked on.

“Don’t worry Jay-Bone, you just gettin’ cold. I’ll light the fire and warm you up.”

Eddie took one step over to his pack, got out a sterno can, and then laid the pack inside the tent, back up against the tree. He came back out and squatted before his unlit fire and sat the sterno can in the center of the dried grass and twigs. He then pulled out a lighter from his fire-starting pouch and lit it up.

The sky was now streaked with the coming shades of night and the wind was starting to nip. It was a fine time to start a fire he thought. When the sterno lit up Chump came out to investigate. When the grass and twigs roared to life Chump dashed back into the tent.

“That’s alright Chump. You’ll get used to fire. There’ll come a time that you’ll look forward to feeling its warmth. I don’t know myself, this being the first time I ever camped, but I can sense it. As long as we got fire we’re not alone.”

After tending the fire for some time Eddie remembered that he needed to secure his pack so that the little moochers back in the tent would not eat all of the Slim Jims. He got to it just in time, as they were beginning to sniff the side pouches. After wrapping his pack in the other nylon ground cloth he returned to the fire to see Jay-Bone squatting above it, drooling and slathering as he rocked on his heels, still all decked out in his combat gear, bow across his back, sword and big knives still in their holders.

You need to tend to him son. He doesn’t look right, not even for Jay-Bone. He might have lost his mind.

He pulled out two circus peanuts that he had saved for Jay, as they would melt in his mouth and he would not have to chew.

He approached the squatting man. “Yo Jay-Bone I got somethin’ for you to eat.”

The man waved him off with a snarl.

Eddie advanced to his side with a whisper, “Here ya go Jay-Bone. Circus peanuts.”

The man answered with a drooling snarl, “No.”

“Son, you got to eat else you’ll die out here. Remember…”

Jay responded in a distant liquid snarl, “Led me die!”

His eyes were wide and bloodshot, hardly blue anymore. The pupils were dilated completely, and seemed to look right past Eddie. The cubs whined nervously and huddled farther back in the shelter.

He’s your patient man. You need to take charge and straighten his ass out. Be bossy and don’t take no shit. It’s what he needs right now. You need to be strong for him.

It was nearing nightfall as Eddie made the decision to force treatment on his patient. He rose to his full height and Jay rose with him. They stood looking into each other’s eyes for a long moment but Jay seemed to see nothing.

“Jay-Bone, ya need to lay down over here; come with me.”

The calming hand that Eddie had placed on the man’s shoulder was rudely brushed away as the man turned his head and sniffed the evening breeze, as if he were tasting it, drool running down his chin.

Eddie decided to be more forceful and grabbed Jay’s arm by the elbow. “Come on Jay-B…”

Eddie heard his words sink to the ground as the rest of his statement remained unspeakable, caught in his pain-filled abdomen, as he hit the ground on his knees, doubled over in pain. He heard a snarl above him and then foot-steps receding in the night.

Oh no Jay-Bone, don’t leave me Brother. I love you man. That fucking hurt son!

When he gained the strength to sit upright, though he was not yet able to breathe, he looked up to see Jay’s shadowy form moving off to the northeast, receding behind the hill. Chump, Baby Boy and Baby Girl came out to sniff him, and sniff where Jay had stood. They stood around the fire, gazing out into the gathering night at the fading figure of the man.

Maintain brother. You got your little friends here, and your Afro Samurai sword. Jay will be back. He cares about you—is just going through something in his head.

When the man was finally out of sight it was truly dark, and Eddie could not tell if it was distance or darkness that made the man unseen. Chump looked up at him as Baby Girl whined a little—then they heard it, the howl of Mister Hide, drifting across the empty land.

Shit brother, why’d you have to go and do that.

The cubs all gathered around Eddie, the four of them huddling closely to the fire, where he shouldered his Afro Samurai sword against the unseen terrors of the night.

How long is one man going to survive on 90 Slim Jims and twelve bags of candy with a pack of wolves to feed? You better get your ass back here Jay-Bone or I’m taking up drug-dealing again. I got a whole pack of drugs to sell to whatever caveman junkies might be waiting.

“You get back here Jay-Bone. I’m scared man.”