Dear Dad,

  Grace is still alive despite it all, all the blood, all the terrible, violent blood that was spilled from her. She’s still alive, even though I didn’t think she’d make it, even though there’s so much blood on me.

  She’s still alive, though, and the Healer who looked at her says she’ll recover. But it was so close that she almost didn’t make it. It was so scary, Dad. I thought she was dead.

  She was attacked by something, I didn’t see it, whatever attacked her, I have no idea, it just came out of nowhere, and then she was on the ground.

  But I managed to grab her, get on the horse, and get to something we’d already considered going to. Our plan at the time was to avoid going back to the town we’d take the map and horse from, and then maybe we could find our way to the city easier.

  I got there alone, asking for a doctor, which, I guess, isn’t a thing here, but there was a healer at the temple, and he took us in and had me help him. I mean, I mostly held Grace in place so the Healer could throw something together to knock her out, and then I nearly passed out, so I left. I think it was the best choice.

  Her back was just ripped open, huge, horrible, deep gashes. I could see her bones.

  You shouldn’t even be able to see a person’s bones.

  I’m covered in her blood. There’s so much of it, I don’t think I’m ever going to get it all over, get rid of it all. I think it’s going to be on me, staining my clothes forever. I don’t know if the others are safe or even alive, actually.

  Someone told me to run and hurry, but I don’t remember who. I don’t even know for sure if anyone said that.

  Grace is alive, though, and the others knew where we were supposed to meet. So I hope they’ll be here soon.

  I mean, they gotta be. I don’t know how Grace and I could survive on our own. We could, but we’ve been having so much trouble even getting here.

  We still haven’t even gotten into a city. We’re just, we’re still here and trying to survive, and now I might be alone. What if the others are dead? What if Grace dies? Dad, her wounds were so bad, there’s no way she’s coming out of this okay. I mean, really, I could see her spine and her shoulder blades. That’s so very way way way out there, way outside the realm of good. I mean, what if she can’t walk? What if she dies from an infection? Man, this is all so bad, bad, bad, bad.

  What if she never gets to see her parents again? What happens? What if I get back, and I’m the only one?

  What happens then?

  The Healer won’t let me go in the room. He says I can’t see her yet.

  I need to see her. I need to see how bad it is. I need to know if she’s going to make it. What if she doesn’t, Dad? What if she doesn’t make it? What if I lose her?

  What do I do?

  What can I do? I don’t know where the others are. There’s so much blood.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Dear Dad,

  It’s the middle of the night now. I didn’t know what time it is or where everyone else went.

  After dealing with the thing, the others made their way into the village earlier. Time has been kinda fluid since the attack. Luckily, everyone remembered seeing me and Grace and could point them in the right direction. So I’m sitting here now, with less of Grace’s blood on me, wondering what happened.

  The others said that they brought back a paw from whatever it was. I don’t know. It was tough and had claws as long as my fingers, and if Grace can walk again, it’ll be a miracle.

  Zunair and Riley are in with some of the “town officials” talking about it, whatever it is, and I guess there’s a hunting party being planned. I don't even know where we are.

  Willow went into the room with the healer. His name is Ben, at least, I think it is. I heard Willow say it, so maybe it is, maybe not. I think she picked up some things from her mom, so he approved her. Reese got hurt by the thing, too, but not as bad, so he’s been bandaged and left out here with me.

  It’s changed so much in such a short time.

  I can’t help but think about what would have happened if I had been attacked, or Zunair, or Riley, or any of the members of our group. What if I hadn’t been able to help them?

  Reese would have been too heavy for me to lift onto a horse, Zunair too. Really, if it had been anyone but Grace, I don’t think I could have done it. What then? Just let them die? Try to fight the thing myself?

  I couldn’t do it.

  Willow came out to update Reese and me on Grace’s condition. She thinks Grace will make it, but she seemed shocked about something, probably the damage to Grace’s back. To be honest, It shocked me pretty badly when I first saw it when I had to hover over it while running us into the village.

  It’s good that we’d planned somewhere to go next. Even if we didn’t expect anyone to get hurt or have another destination in mind, we should do that again.

  I mean, plan where to go if we separated again.

  I don’t want it to happen again, but if we plan for it, we won’t all be scattered to the four winds.

  I want Grace to be okay. Willow said she’ll probably be okay, but I don’t know. That wound was so bad. I don’t know if most people would have survived it.

  I’m going to tell the others that we need to have a plan for what happens next. When they get back from the meeting. I think that if we can, we need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again somehow.

  But I think they all need to take a very close look at how very close Grace was to dying. They need to help me come up with some kind of real plan, more than just getting to the city. We need to realize that it’s been a very long time since we’ve been home, and I have a terrible feeling it will be a very long time till we get back.

  And it’s going to be a while till Grace can travel. I don’t know how long it takes for wounds of that caliber to heal, but I think we’ll be in this village for a while at least, and we won’t be able to leave her behind.

  No stealing this time. No shortcuts. We’re going to have to stay here and have some very good plans.

  I remember when you got shot. It was almost a month until you could go back to work. Longer till you were back on regular duty.

  I think Grace's injuries are worse than yours were, too. And there's so much damage. It’ll be weeks until Grace is strong enough to travel and possibly longer until she can go more than a small distance a day. And that’s if she’s not permanently unable to walk from what happened to her. I’m going to help her however I can. But I don’t know what to do.

  I’m going to look at the map until the others get back so that I can make a plan about meeting places and see if we can agree on a list of towns and dates to aim to be places and what to do if someone gets left behind. We have to have some kind of plan.

  I’m trying to think of what you would say and want me to do, but it’s hard when you’re so far away, and it seems impossible to think of you in a situation like this. But, maybe you have been in a case like this, someone you care about got hurt, waiting at a hospital for any scrap of news. It happens on cop shows, but what about real life?

  You’d try to figure it out, though. Violence might not be the best answer for a cop. It isn't here either.

  I can’t do it, Dad, and can’t fight them. I’m not strong enough, but I promise I’ll do what I can to get Grace, myself, and the others home.

  I’ll try to do what I think you would, and I think that’s making a good plan and making sure to follow through.

  Love, Jack