Exploring the forest

"it wouldn't hurt to do a little exploring." You've never really explored the forests around your home, which is a but wired considering you've lived here for almost your whole life.

You eagerly trail off into the forest, the sounds of the wind flowing through the maze of trees is like a natural symphony your ears and the glow of the sun-struck leaves is very beautiful. you pick up speed feeling more comfortable with your environment and your athletic abilities. The deeper you go the darker and denser the canopy becomes the more wild and rough your trek feels, you're feeling a bit uneasy. The trail curves down a small hill and starts to run along a rocky gully of sorts. Your eyes and senses are focused upward and around you and not at all on the narrow foot path. Out of one ear you hear a crackle and the rustling of leaves, this scares you so you pick up your speed to an easy sprint, but you don't notice the thick root protruding from the side of the path. You snag your foot on the root and fall through the air and tumble down the steep rocky slope.

Your body picks ups a fair amount of speed as you are scratched by rocks, twigs and bushes. when you come to rest at the bottom of the gully your arms and legs are quite scratched up, the wounds leave small traces of blood on your shirt. "I gotta get out of here" you think to yourself, but looking around you can't see a way back to the path and everything looks really unfamiliar. The movement you heard earlier is louder a just feels closer, out of the corner of your eye you see a dark figure walking on all fours, it slowly walks toward you, "a beast" you say softly, "no no go away" you shout, your heart starts racing. When the figure gets closer you realize its a feral wolf and it doesn't seem to be aggressive, its tongue hangs out of its mouth making it look to be smiling as it trots up to you. It sits in front of you, ears perked up and a playful look in its eyes, you slowly stretch out your hand to pet the creature. His thick black fur feels slightly rough to the touch as you pet and scratch his head, you had heard somewhere that they can be very sociable creatures but also very dangerous so you don't get too close. You take your hand back and the feral gives a strong woof and then licks up the side of your face. He trots off a a few steps and gives another woof in a kind of "follow me" way.

"Maybe he knows a way out" you think. you get up being careful of your scratches, they don't look bad at all, just a couple of bandages will be needed. You walk towards the feral and he runs a bit further, he's defiantly leading you somewhere. "This way boy" you call, he lets out a loud woof. After a few minutes of walking with your new feral friend you come across a cave, "is this your den" he trots inside turns you you and gives a short howl, he then goes inside and you follow. You can see surprisingly well inside of the cave as you enter a few steps. A handful more ferals emerge and start sniffing you all over, one sticks his noes right in your crotch getting him a quick "no" from you. After a few seconds of sniffing and licking the ferals disperse about the cave, "well this wasn't what I was expecting, but i guess its a place to rest," you can her the faint sound of a car horn, "I must be close to the road" you say to yourself feeling a bit at ease. "I could get home or I could stick around the cave a bit."