Head to the forest

You wander deep into the forest, enjoying the cool breeze on your face. Your strength is definitely better than it was yesterday, but you begin to feel tired. Within the shadows of the trees you see the silhouettes of dogs. You call to them, until you see them up close.

Wolves.

You start running, only to end up gasping. Your heart racing. You collapse. Is this the end of John Doe?

You hear gunshots. The wolves begin scattering. A lone, brave wolf tries to drag you with them, biting into your leg. You grimace at the pain. Your hero smashes the butt of the rifle against the wolf's stomach. It grunts, letting go of your leg and fleeing into the woods. "Get out of here." she shouts. You look up at your saviour. It's Nala, her brow is sweaty, and you see a defiant look in her eye. She speaks softly to you.

"What did I tell you about going into the forest? Now I have to carry you all the way back to the hospital."

She looks disappointed, and can you blame her? She literally told you this would happen. You respond apologetically.

"I'm sorry Nala."

"Did you think I was joking?"

"I don't know. It was stupid of me."

She picks you up, and carries you over her shoulder, grunting.

"Oof. You're a lot heavier than I thought. I'll have to call for backup. But you wandered so far off trail I wonder if they'll be able to find us." She speaks into the walky-talky. An incomprehensible response is heard. "They can meet us at the sign, where the trail splits."

You test the leg that the wolf bit, by putting a little weight on it. Nope, that hurts way too much. Nala notices you grimacing.

"Don't put weight on it. Here, put your hand on my shoulder. I'll walk you back to the trail."

She puts her arm around you, and you hold her closely, using her as a crutch.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" you ask.

"My Mom. She was a sniper in the marines. She was kind of crazy."

"How so?"

"Well, she wanted me and my sister to be really self-reliant. So she would go on these survival hikes with us. She taught us how to read maps, then had us memorize them. We learned how to hunt and live off of the land like guerillas."

"That doesn't sound so bad. I'm grateful you knew this. You saved my life."

"Let me finish. She was called back into duty, as a security consultant, because there was an **** threat against some senator."

"She's a hero." Nala looks at you.

"But she was the shooter. Let me finish stop interrupting." She waits to make sure that you won't interrupt her story.

"Anyways, Mom ended up taking out a foreign diplomat. She claimed that it was a set up, and that the government used a robot to mimic her shooting. She fled, killed a traffic cop and some security guards that recognized her, and then hijacked a plane and defected to North Korea."

You politely wait for a pause so that you're not interrupting her. She continues.

"Every once in a while, we'll get an email from her, asking her if her name is cleared yet, and she can return. She says she's proud of us." Nala sighs afterwards.

"Wow."

"I really do miss her. She says she's a trainer for the Korean Peoples' Army. This is selfish of me, but I wish she had just went to jail. I could visit her at any time. I can't have a relationship with someone through email."

"That must have been very hard on you and your sister."

"It was... I feel awful for saying this, but-"

She pauses, and ushers you into a cave. She points the rifle outwards. You try to look out, and in the distance you see the wolves.

You whisper to Nala. "Can you take them out?"

Without taking her eye out of the sights, she responds. "Four wolves. Three bullets. Even if I scare them off, it puts us in a position of risk."

"Can't you do some marine style shooting, like shoot through a wolf, into another wolf?"

"It's not that simple. These are low caliber rounds. One bullet may not be enough to kill a single wolf. Please refrain from speaking until I say so."

You're tempted to remain quiet, but you remember advice from an old friend. In order to get a girl to like you, you have to annoy her. Then again, the stakes are pretty high here.