Wolf: Bite: Neck & Face

A fang opened the side of your neck a hair's breadth from the vessel that matters, and the blood came in a sheet that soaked you to the belt. Somebody's fist pressed against your throat the whole ride to the doctor is the only reason there is a rest of this story.

• Neck packed, stitched and bound, no riding, shouting or turning your head quick for 7 days
• Gray-faced from the blood left in the snow, you tire by mid-morning
• /me keeps two fingers resting against the bandaged throat, feeling for the beat

Recovery 7 days flat on your back under a doctor's watch; alone, the vein finishes what it started·Doctor, urgently

The jaws closed on your throat and only found the side of it, four punctures around the pipe, none through. Swallowing feels like passing a live coal, and your voice comes out a ruined whisper that frightens children.

• Voice a whisper and swallowing painful, soup, whiskey and silence for 7 days
• Throat punctures drained daily; the bandage winds from collarbone to jaw
• A neckerchief worn ever after, to cover what's coming

Recovery 7 days of soft food and quiet with care; untended, the swelling makes every breath a labor·Doctor, urgently

A fang went through your cheek and into the mouth behind it, you could put your tongue through the hole before the doctor sewed it. The silk stitches pull with every word, and drinking without a dribble is a skill you're relearning.

• Cheek stitched inside and out, no shouting, tough meat or grinning for 6 days
• Meals taken in slow, careful mouthfuls on the good side
• /me talks out of one side of the mouth, a hand cupped over the stitched cheek

Recovery 6 days of silk and slop under a doctor's needle, a ragged hole in the smile without·Doctor required

It came in from your blind side and took the ear, tore it half from your head, hanging by a good-luck strip of hide. The doctor sewed it back where it belonged, more or less, and swears it will take if you leave the bandage be.

• Head bandaged over the ear for 5 days, hat sits crooked, hearing muffled on that side
• Sleep on one side only; the wrong pillow is agony
• A notched, ragged ear to carry for life once it heals

Recovery 5 days bound and untouched with a doctor's stitching; without it, the ear heals wrong or not at all·Doctor required

The punctures along your jaw looked clean until the third morning, when the whole hinge went hot, tight and sour. Wolf spit is filthy stuff, and this close to the brain the doctor takes no chances, he opens every hole again and flushes them raw.

• Jaw swollen and feverish, chewing on the good side only, no hard labor for 4 days
• Wounds reopened and flushed with carbolic, you gripped the chair through all of it
• A low fever that makes camp feel too loud

Recovery 4 days drained and watched by a doctor; this near the skull, a festering wound is nothing to gamble on·Doctor required

The grip never broke skin worth mentioning, but the crush of it left your windpipe bruised the color of thunderheads. Your voice cracks and dies mid-sentence, and swallowing anything tougher than broth takes planning and courage.

• Hoarse, cracking voice, no shouting orders or singing for 4 days
• Soft food and small sips; big bites lodge and panic you
• /me winces mid-swallow and sets the plate down, unfinished

Recovery 4 days of rest and warm broth, a week of croaking without·Doctor required

The teeth raked over your ear and opened your scalp above it, a flap the size of a playing card that bled like a slaughterhouse floor. Head wounds lie about their size, once the doctor shaved and stitched it, you were more scared than sunk.

• Scalp stitched and bandaged, no hat until day 3, no brawling for 4 days
• A shaved patch with a bold scar in it, on show whenever the hat comes off
• Dried blood in your ear and collar for days, no matter the scrubbing

Recovery 4 days bandaged and clean, twice that with dirt in it and no needle·Doctor required

It got you from behind, teeth sinking in where neck meets shoulder, the grip that prey dies in, except a friend's rifle spoke first. Four deep holes in thick muscle, and a stiffness that turns your whole body when someone calls your name.

• Neck too stiff to turn, you rotate at the shoulders for 3 days, no glancing behind you
• Punctures kept open and draining under a high-collared bandage
• Cold sweat whenever something moves at the corner of your eye

Recovery 3 days drained and rested, a week of wooden-necked misery alone·Doctor required

The bite landed low, where neck runs into shoulder, and the collarbone turned the worst of it. Two honest punctures and a bone-deep ache whenever you raise that arm above the shoulder.

• Shoulder aches raising the arm, no hauling or climbing for 2 days
• Punctures cleaned and bandaged beneath the shirt collar
• A pair of scars your collar will hide, mostly

Recovery 2 days clean and bandaged, 4 rough·Doctor advised

A fang dragged across your cheekbone and opened it to the white before glancing off. The doctor put five neat stitches in it and told you, not unkindly, that you'd be handsome in a different way from now on.

• Five stitches on the cheekbone, mind them for 2 days, no fistfights
• The eye above it blacked and puffy the first day
• A dueling-grade scar once the silk comes out

Recovery 2 days if the stitches stay put; the scar is yours either way·Doctor advised

You pulled your head back and the teeth plowed up your chin and jaw instead of into your throat, three ragged lines through the stubble. It bled down your shirt in a way that emptied the road ahead of you.

• Jaw and chin scabbed, shaving is off for 2 days, or a week if you're honest
• Shirt front stained rust-brown past any washboard's help
• A raked line through the beard where hair won't grow back

Recovery 2 days to scab clean, 4 if you pick at it·Doctor advised

You snapped your head aside as the jaws came, and the teeth only combed your neck, but the wrench of it pulled something in the muscle. Shallow scratches under a stiff neck that turns like a rusted weathervane.

• Stiff neck, turning to look means turning your whole chest for 2 days
• Shallow tooth-scratches painted with whiskey and left to scab
• Riding at a trot jars it; you keep to a walk without thinking

Recovery 2 days of liniment and care, 5 of creaking without·Doctor advised

The punctures under your jaw are shallow and honest, but you were close enough to smell what lives in a wolf's mouth, and you can't stop cataloguing it. Every tale of the hydrophobia you ever half-listened to now recites itself at moonrise, word-perfect.

• Small punctures under the jaw, washed and open to drain for 2 days
• You check your reflection in still water for something wrong behind the eyes
• /me falls quiet when the water dipper passes, then drinks slow and deliberate

Recovery 2 days for the wounds; the wondering keeps its own calendar·Doctor advised

The teeth closed on your coat collar and bandana together, and all that wool and cotton left just one tooth-point under your ear. A dab of whiskey, a small bandage, and a bandana chewed to lace.

• One shallow puncture below the ear, tender for a day
• Favorite bandana ruined, the replacement never sits right
• A tiny pale scar, right where a curious eye finds it

Recovery A day or two, kept clean·No doctor needed

A single fang drew a line from ear toward chin, shallow as a razor slip and twice as dramatic. It closed clean in a day or two, and left the exact kind of scar that makes strangers guess dueling before they guess wolf.

• A thin scabbed line along the jaw, stinging in the wind for a day
• A fine white scar that draws questions in every saloon

Recovery A day or two, no more·No doctor needed

The lunge landed short and the wolf's bony muzzle hammered your throat like a thrown fist. No punctures, just a bruised gullet, a coughing fit that bent you double, and a new respect for how heavy a wolf's head is.

• Throat bruised, talking above a murmur rasps for 2 days
• Swallowing hot coffee needs a careful moment

Recovery 2 days of quiet and it clears·No doctor needed

A tooth clipped the top of your ear as you twisted away, a nick the size of an oat grain that bled like a shot man. Head wounds are liars, and this one lied loudly all down your collar.

• Notched ear tip, scabbed and tender to the hat brim for a day or two
• The little notch stays, and everyone will ask about it
• /me tilts the hat off the nicked ear without noticing anymore

Recovery A day or two; the notch stays for free·No doctor needed

The jaws snapped shut on a mouthful of bandana and coat collar and tore both away from your throat, leaving one thin scratch like a shaving nick. You stood there with your bare neck in the cold, alive by the width of a knot.

• A single thin scratch on the neck, scabs by morning, leaves a hairline scar you'll show anyway
• Bandana and top button gone to a wolf's stomach or the snow

Recovery Nothing but the scratch, gone in a day·No doctor needed

You dropped your chin at the last blink and the teeth clacked shut on your hat brim instead of your face, snatching it clean off your head. There is a thin graze along your temple from a fang's tip, close enough to leave a mark, small enough to brag about.

• Grazed temple, cleaned with whiskey, a faint scar that'll stay
• Hat has two holes in the brim you refuse to patch
• /me pokes a finger through the hole in the brim and holds it up as evidence

Recovery A day for the graze; the hat wears its holes forever·No doctor needed

It came for your throat across the firelight and you caught it, both hands under its jaw, its breath on your teeth, its weight swung past you into the dark. Your knife met it before your fear did, and the pack melted away from the sound it made. Not a mark on your neck, and a wolf fang on a cord to prove there ought to be.

• Untouched at the throat, hands ache from the grip, nothing more
• A wolf tooth on a cord around the neck it never reached
• /me turns the fang on its cord once, then lets it fall against the collarbone

Recovery Nothing to heal, just a story the scars-that-aren't tell better·No doctor needed