A tired groan escaped Tobias as he groggily started to wake up, his sore body being the first thing that he noticed. Every part of his being ached with such a ferocity that he was surprised that he got any sleep at all last night. Despite the growing headache he was beginning to feel, Tobias tried to recall what happened.

Felix... running... wolves...

His thought process instantly halted there, and rewinded.

Abnormally huge wolves...

The memories in his head were so absurd that Tobias snapped his eyes open to see if he was still in the forest. Since that was the last scene stored in his memory banks before his blackout. His racing heart gradually slowed down when a blurry vision assured him that he was safely indoors. Except... the apartment ceiling wasn't built of wooden planks. Nor did his room have a pristine white ceiling fan, or a fan at all for that matter.

Where am I? What the hell happened to me?

"Tobias?"

He jerked his head to the left so fast that his neck audibly cracked at the sudden movement. The man who'd just spoken stood a respectable distance away from the bed Tobias found himself on. His eyes darted swiftly over the man's appearance, noting the familiar white coat he wore, and the unnervingly casual clothing underneath it. Blue eyes set in a friendly face met his own, but oddly, it was the cautious smile that served to slightly lessen the tension in Tobias' muscles. Relaxing a bit into the soft mattress below him did wonders to alleviate some of the soreness.

"Where am I?" Tobias demanded, choosing to ignore the fact that this stranger knew his name for the moment. He attempted to sit up on the bed that definitely wasn't his by the sheer softness of it. A futile effort, seeing as that Tobias' arms felt as limp as soggy noodles.

Hands touched his shoulders, instantly causing him to flinch at the contact and lean away from the invading stranger. Either the man was blind or immune to the piercing glare Tobias sent his way, because he didn't stop. The hands only fell away when he'd been comfortably propped up against the wall at the head of the bed.

Instead of answering his question, the man made a worried expression and said, "you really shouldn't be moving around, you know. Your body is still weak, and needs time to recover. As your doctor, I order you to rest and to take it easy for a while to recuperate."

Tobias stared at him evenly, face void of any emotion. "Am not in a hospital, am I?" he spoke with absolute certainty, hands folded on his lap in a false calm manner.

His words made the man's lips twitch into a wider one than before, taking a step back again. "No, you're not," he confirmed. "You are in my clinic though, but technically it's the hospital ward. And I'm the resident witch doctor, Landon."

"Why aren't I in a hospital?" Tobias questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowing. "What happened to me for me to end up here of all places? Wherever the hell I am." The doctor, Landon, to his credit, didn't look in the least bit nervous by his line of questioning. Only, he appeared to be concerned with Tobias, even going as far as to place a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He let him do it, though he made his displeasure quite obvious.

"Don't you remember anything? Can you tell me everything that you remember?"

Tobias nodded sharply. "I was... attacked by a wolf. I lost consciousness when another wolf attacked the first one, just when it was about to kill me."

Landon grimaced at his description, running a hand through his blonde hair. "That sounds about right. Thankfully, you don't seem to have a concussion after that ordeal." The man shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly uncomfortable. His patient didn't fail to take note of that.

"How long?"

"How long what?" He raised a questioning brow, crossing his arms.

"How long have I been in a coma?" Tobias deadpanned, peeved that this so-called doctor couldn't take a hint. He wasn't one to beat around the bush and didn't appreciate his obliviousness.

Shouldn't that be the first thing he tells me the moment I woke up?

There's something off about this man...

"A few hours?" The confusion was clear in Landon's voice.

Now it was Tobias' turn to be confused, but only quirked an eyebrow outwardly. His hands felt the expanse of his chest over the oversized t-shirt he found himself wearing, that clearly belonged to someone else, and then frowned. He distinctively remembered having his chest clawed open by the ginormous black wolf, and his own shirt was ruined in the process. Except, Tobias felt no bandages in that area or anywhere else for that matter. Nor did he feel the injuries that had been deep enough to cause severe bloodloss.

Is this guy for real?

"Very funny," Tobias said in an unamused tone, crossing his arms over a bandage free chest. "I'd assumed that a person with your level of intellect would act professionally, but it appears that I was sorely mistaken. If I wasn't in a coma, how else do you explain the lack of injuries?"

The doctor looked confused for a second more, until his words seemed to properly register in his mind. Which then twisted into an expression of pure horror. Landon stepped backwards till his back bumped into a table. "Do you mean to say that you didn't... consent to it?" He appeared utterly horrified at the notion.

I'm beginning to doubt whether this stranger is an actual doctor...

Tobias scoffed. "Of course I did. I fucking consented to being mauled by wolf. What do you think, genius?"

"That's not what I..." Landon trailed off and cursed in a foul manner. "Damn it Felix!" He muttered under his breath and starting to pace the room in visible frustration. Tobias was pretty sure that his muttering wasn't meant to be heard, yet he did. Despite the low volume.

Felix? What's he got to do with this? Was he the one who brought me here? How on earth did he get past the wolves, and manage to carry me to this place?

Something is not adding up... Tobias stared intensely at the only other living being in the room with him, trying in vain to get a grasp on a situation that was way out of his league. He was well beyond simple confusion, and on the verge of panic.

Where's the damn coin when I need it?

Just as his right hand was twitching in search of it, the distant sound of hurried footsteps reached his ears. And he wasn't the only person to notice it either. Landon paused in his frantic pacing and pinned a glare horrendous enough to scare away children, on the doorway. Standing in a military pose with his legs shoulder width apart and hands crossed behind his back.

Peeved at the clear dismissal, Tobias clenched his fists tight. Glaring daggers at the back of the doctor's head as his anger steadily rose due to being so rudely ignored.

What is he even waiting for? The person who's running could be heading to a different room for all he knew. How is he so sure that person is going to barge in here?

He expected the owner of the footsteps to reach the room they were at and pass it any second. But it took at least a full minute, and even then they didn't pass the room. They came bursting in, panting and sweating profusely. And without a shirt on, wearing only a pair of low hanging shorts. Their eyes instantly landed on him, completely bypassing the enraged doctor in their face.

"Felix?" Tobias was utterly bewilderment at the entrance. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Tobias," he breathed, a relieved expression overtaking the once crazed look on his face. Felix slumped against the doorway, holding a hand over his heart with closed eyes. "Thank the goddess that you're alright."

Landon cleared his throat loudly, grabbing hold of Felix's bare arm and yanked him closer. Leaving a mere inches gap between their noses. "You reckless idiot! You didn't think of asking him before you turned him? Did you even mention anything about our kind to him?" he yelled in his face.

"There was no time for that!" Wrestling himself out of his grip, Felix faced him once again looking guilt striken. "He only had a few more minutes and I couldn't waste a single second to explain the process! He was already unconscious for crying out loud! What else was I supposed to do?"

Then he turned to Tobias, who had been silently listening to their exchange, getting further confused with every word they spoke. "I'm sorry, Tobias," Felix pleaded. "I had no choice but to resort to that." When he continued to stay quiet, Landon sighed harshly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"The reason why you're already perfectly healed, Tobias, is because Felix was forced to turn you into one of us due to your circumstances."

A/N

Yeah.... I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to finish this story in time for the submission date for round 3, if I even make round 2... but I'm not really bothered, I still have a great story in the end!

What did you guys think of this short scene? Because the fun is just getting started...

-RL-

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