Wolf: Pack Takedown

They had you down and working in shifts, forearms, calves, flank, each set of jaws taking a turn, and the world had gone quiet and warm by the time the rifles came. You wake on a table you don't remember reaching, packed and stitched in more places than the doctor cared to count aloud.

• Bedridden, no riding, no walking past the porch, no lifting anything for 7 days
• Bites on both arms, both legs and the flank, each drained and dressed in its turn, dressing changes take an hour
• /me surfaces from sleep with a jolt, hands up against jaws that aren't there

Recovery 7 days flat under a doctor's daily care just to stand steady; alone, the blood you lost decides it·Doctor, urgently

Two had your arms and a third your calf, and every one pulled a different direction like they meant to quarter you. You are stitched in five places, gray from bleeding, and the ground still tilts when you stand too fast.

• Weak from blood loss, stand slow, no hard labor or long rides for 7 days
• Five bite sites in bandages, arms, calf and hip, drained morning and night
• Head swims when you rise; the first few tries, you sit back down

Recovery 7 days of red meat, rest and daily dressings under care, weeks of gray-faced shuffling without·Doctor, urgently

One wolf feinted at your face while another came in low and took you by the flank, tearing a flap above the hip as you spun. That one wound is the deep trouble; the rest are nips that only sting when you laugh.

• Flank stitched in a long silk seam, no twisting, hauling or hard riding for 6 days
• Pulling your boots on has to be done sideways, in stages
• /me keeps an elbow clamped over the bandaged hip like a man guarding a purse

Recovery 6 days if the seam holds under a doctor's eye, far longer if the flap goes sour·Doctor required

You kept your feet and kept your throat, and paid for it with both forearms, every wolf that lunged met a raised arm and left its signature. Neither hand grips at full strength, and the doctor spent most of his silk on you by lamplight.

• Both forearms bandaged wrist to elbow, gripping, roping and shooting all clumsy for 5 days
• Buttons, buckles and bootlaces need someone else's fingers the first days
• Matching rows of punctures that will read like a tally for years

Recovery 5 days stitched and slung with care, 10 fumbling without·Doctor required

Of the half-dozen bites they left you, five are healing honest and one has turned, hot, tight and weeping at the calf. The doctor opens it, packs it, and makes you swear on your mother to leave the wick alone.

• Low fever, no hard travel for 4 days while the bad wound drains
• Six bite sites checked morning and night; the sour one flushed with carbolic daily
• /me limps to the fire, trouser leg rolled, sniffing at the bandage like bad milk

Recovery 4 days if the sour wound drains clean; blood poisoning is waiting if it seals·Doctor required

One took your calf and one took your shoulder in the same heartbeat, and for a moment you were the rope in a dog game. Both bites are deep but neither is ruinous, it's the sum of you that's wrecked, every muscle wrenched from fighting two directions at once.

• Shoulder and calf both punctured, no lifting overhead or running for 4 days
• Sore in every joint like you lost a wrestling match, which you did
• Sleeping position is a nightly negotiation between the two wounds

Recovery 4 days rested and drained, a week and more if you keep testing them·Doctor required

They came from behind as you ran, one hit your boot heel and one sank teeth into your hip, and the ground came up hard. The hip punctures ache to the bone, and the ankle beneath the ruined boot rolled in the fall.

• Limping on both counts, rolled ankle and punctured hip, easy pace only for 3 days
• Hip wound drained and bandaged where the gunbelt wants to sit, belt slung low or not at all
• Boot heel gouged with tooth marks and working loose

Recovery 3 days taken easy with care, 6 stumping along without·Doctor required

You never stopped moving and neither did they, teeth caught the backs of your thighs twice in the chase, tearing shallow and mean before you gained the rocks. Standing is fine; sitting is a wince, and the saddle is a punishment.

• Backs of both thighs raked, riding hurts for 3 days, meals taken standing
• Sleeping face-down, which you have never once liked
• Trousers torn past mending, seat and thigh

Recovery 3 days of clean dressings, closer to a week in dirty trousers·Doctor required

Somewhere between the fire and the counting afterward you collected them: a nip at the wrist, one at the calf, one through the shoulder of your coat. No single one is worth a doctor's ride, but each takes its turn keeping you awake.

• Three small bite wounds, each washed and bandaged, nothing strenuous for 2 days
• Bandages at wrist, calf and shoulder, dressing yourself takes twice as long
• Each scar small on its own, but together they make a story people sit down for

Recovery 2 days clean and covered, 4 careless·Doctor advised

One got a grip on your coat at the shoulder and hauled you off balance while the others circled, and the joint wrenched near out of its socket keeping your feet. Two shallow nips through the sleeve are all the teeth got, the coat and the shoulder took the rest.

• Wrenched shoulder, no throwing, roping or heavy lifting for 2 days
• Coat shoulder torn open at the seam, hanging like a broken wing
• Shallow sleeve nips whiskey-washed and forgotten by day two

Recovery 2 days in a kerchief sling, 5 if you keep hauling with that arm·Doctor advised

You came into camp painted red and folks reached for shovels, but under water and lamplight it's a dozen shallow nips and grazes, no single one deeper than a knuckle. Wolves in a pack test more than they commit, and every test left its ink.

• A dozen shallow bites and grazes stinging under clean cloth for 2 days
• Too sore all over for a proper day's work, everything twinges somewhere
• Enough small scars scattered about to make undressing an anatomy lesson

Recovery 2 days of smarting, then just the itching·Doctor advised

You backed out of the circle and your heel found a creek rock, and the fall cracked your ribs against another, but the tumble put a boulder at your back and ended the surrounding. The bruised ribs are the wolves' best work, and they never even touched them.

• Bruised ribs, deep breaths, laughter and lifting all cost extra for 2 days
• Two small bite marks, calf and forearm, cleaned with whiskey
• One elbow skinned raw on creek stone

Recovery 2 days moving careful, 5 if you keep swinging an axe·Doctor advised

The bites are small and clean, but there were five of them, and you have been doing arithmetic ever since, how many sets of eyes, how many were bold, whether the thin one moved wrong. Any one mouth of the five could have carried the hydrophobia, and the not-knowing multiplies.

• Small punctures at forearm and ankle, kept open and washed for 2 days
• You watch every wound for streaks, and yourself for worse, five times over
• /me stares into the dark past the firelight, counting shapes that may not be there

Recovery 2 days for the flesh; the arithmetic runs for weeks·Doctor advised

Heavy winter wool, chaps, and a saddle blanket snatched up as a shield: the pack got mouthfuls of everything but you. One nip found your wrist between glove and cuff, the rest of the tally is tailoring.

• One shallow wrist nip under a small bandage for a day
• Coat, chaps and blanket all chewed, you look robbed, not wounded

Recovery A day or two for the wrist·No doctor needed

You went over the corral fence a half-breath ahead, and the closest wolf's teeth clipped your calf on the way, a shallow tear you didn't feel until you were safe and shaking. The fence rattled all night, but nothing came over it.

• Shallow calf tear, cleaned and bandaged, a slight hitch for a day or two
• A small ragged scar to anchor the tale of the fence

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

All the circling and lunging never landed a real bite, your wounds came from the ground you fought on. Skinned palms, a bruised knee and torn trousers, plus one graze on the ankle you can't swear was tooth or stone.

• Skinned palms sting on rope and rein for a day or two
• Bruised knee that complains kneeling at the fire

Recovery A day or two of small stings·No doctor needed

You kept the fire at your back and your knife out, and all they got was cloth and two shallow grazes as they tried the edges of you. The wounds are nothing; the sound of that many feet in the dark, moving in step, will visit you again.

• Two shallow grazes, cleaned and near gone by tomorrow
• Sleep comes thin the first night or two, you count feet, not sheep
• /me sets one more branch on the fire than the night needs

Recovery A day for the skin; longer for the dark·No doctor needed

When the ring tightened you snatched a burning brand from the fire and swung it wide, and the whole pack broke like startled sparrows. A singed sleeve and a scorched glove are your only wounds, neither one from a wolf.

• Unbitten, one scorched glove and a sleeve smelling of smoke
• Small heat blister on the thumb from gripping the brand
• /me swings an unlit stick low across the grass, once, remembering the arc

Recovery The blister is gone in a day·No doctor needed

The first wolf's teeth were in your coat hem when the rifle spoke, yours or a friend's, you honestly cannot remember, and the pack turned to smoke in the trees. One heartbeat later and this is a different story; instead your only mark is a bruise from diving behind the woodpile.

• One bruised forearm from the dive, tender for a day
• Coat hem torn where the first wolf pulled

Recovery Nothing to heal past a day's ache·No doctor needed

They ran you down as a pack, and you went straight up an old pine like fear had built you a ladder. You spent the night on a limb trading insults with six pairs of eyes below, and came down at dawn to tracks, frost, and a story nobody tells better than you, without one drop of blood spilled.

• Untouched, arms shaky from a night of gripping bark, sap on everything
• Voice hoarse from insulting the pack until sunrise
• /me picks pine sap off both palms, grinning at nothing

Recovery A hot meal and a wash cures all of it·No doctor needed