Chapter 2
Just realized that I never stated this before, but right now I am looking at releasing a chapter daily. I have not had a creative outlet in my life for over five years and am making writing that new outlet. In that regard, I am writing a minimum of 1000 words a day, which I personally will not count towards my goal until I post it. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Heading down the hallway towards the back of the facility, Natalie starts to review her job for the day to ensure everything was done properly. "These wolves were found about five months ago, on the brink of starvation. Still territorial however repeated exposure to me has allowed me to get in and help reduce the damage. Reason for starvation was Severe swelling of lesions from Oral Papillomatosis in the mouth and nasal regions, causing a change in attitude and lack of hunting. Over half of the pack was found dead when we got to them, with the remaining adult wolves in a stable position. Quick surgery managed to save the two remaining pups who were in critical condition, as these lesions expanded enough to restrict airways." Shaking her head, she sighs and steps through the door to the separating room between the offices and the enclosure. She still has the occasional nightmare just from walking into that den, and seeing the poor state that pack was in. From the original twenty-two in this pack, only seven had remained.
Pulling out a dolly, she sets up meat, medications, some small veterinarian tools, and puts on plastic gloves. After going over a checklist to make sure she did not have any excess items that could cause either distress or violence from her patients, she got behind the dolly and pushed it out of the doors. "All right, time to go and 'meat' the patients." She said while laughing lightly to herself. Just outside of the doors, she came across a series of metal bowls. Acting quickly, she deposited the meat between all of the dishes, then retreating back to the cart. As the vastly important informational videos have shown, getting in between a wild animal and their food is generally a bad idea.
Her waiting time was minimal, very much unlike the DMV, since she saw movement as soon as she got back to the dolly. While not making any sudden moves, she waits patiently as three gray wolves come out. They move slowly, yet methodically, as they check to see where the delicious smell of elk meat is coming from. After they go around the area, one positions themselves between her and the bowls, while another yips out softly. Then, from out behind come 2 more full grown wolves, who the whole while are escorting two wolf pups. They take a lot of time, but spare nothing in the pursuit of protecting their young.
When the pups got to the bowls, the two did very different things. The first one got up to the side of the bowl, positions themselves, and does a little pounce onto the meat, which made Natalie just want to access the security cameras just to get a loop of that. The second pup sticks their head into the bowl, grabs the meat, and starts dragging it over to Natalie. The adult wolves hang back, however, and decide to just watch what their pup does. Two of the other adult wolves do stop eating and position themselves around her. Slowly, she sits down and crosses her leg, already prepared for what will happen. Its only a given that they would feel safer and more comfortable with her after being looked after for 5 months almost exclusively by her.
When the pup finally gets the meat in front of her legs, so close its actually up against her legs, they walk up onto her lap, get comfy, and slowly start to dig in on their meal. Taking slow and calculated movements, Natalie grabs a small dental mirror and a flashlight from the cart behind her and starts to examine the mouth of the pup on her lap. "Look at that healthy appetite! You are almost back to full health from the look of it, the swelling is dying down nicely and should be gone in a month or two at most!" she says, almost as if she is praising a baby. Cute small animal syndrome can make anyone dumb down their words and vocal tone. No one is safe from the cuteness! As if to respond to her words, the puppy looks back at her, wags their tail, and barks out in joy. Smiling, she reaches up and starts lightly rubbing the top of the puppy's head, doing her best to keep it soft as to not disrupt eating time.
Looking up, she notices one of the adult wolves who just finished eating walk over to her. Realizing its both of the pup's mother, she just keeps as she is until the wolf gets close. The female wolf sits down right beside Natalie, looks her in the face, and slightly opens her muzzle. Switching the focus to the fully grown wolf beside her, Natalie continues with the check up. "Starting to look good there, maybe a week or two at most and all of your swelling will be non-existent." With a slight wag going to her tail, the wolf moves her head forward, and grabs her baby by the scruff of the neck just as they finish off their meat, and heads back to join the rest.
One by one, the wolves come up to her, though the mother of the two brings her other pup personally, all to get checked over. This was a more recent thing, but after noticing how calm, collected, and passive that Natalie was, they all just started to trust her implicitly as she has shown she wanted nothing more than for all of them to recover as fast as possible. It all went smoothly and efficiently, which is the nice thing about this disease, as usually all it takes is time to heal from. Usually it would take 6-12 months to heal naturally, and only 3 months for the disease itself to regress. The issue only comes up when it alters feeding and hunting behaviour or restricts eating, drinking, or breathing, and that it generally targets younger canines. The virality of it just happens to allow it to be passed on to other, more mature members of their pack.
As she was finishing cleaning up everything on the cart and getting ready to head back in, she hears the click of the door. She looks over to see a blob of fur, blonde hair poking out of the top, eating what seemed to be a BLT. All of a sudden she yells out, "Hey Natalie, there you are! Do you know what we need to work on today?"
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