My first mistake was trying to sleep. The second just happened to be succeeding to do so. Oh stars, why did I want to sleep? I felt the branch through my chest first, then I noticed that I heard whining. I could barely breath and I felt faint from the blood-loss, Nana had somehow made it down to me and had curled up over my lower body, keeping me warm. I noticed that my head had been resting on something soft-ish, possibly cushioning me from the fall. I opened my eyes to see that I had landed (Comically I might add) in a thicket of bushed, or more specifically alder bushes. Just like the piece in my chest. That had somehow not killed me. I could feel my heart beating, albeit lightly, right damn next to it. I had gotten very luck or unlucky here, cause I'm pretty sure that was where my left lung goes and attaches to the airflow thingy from my earlier years in Biology.

I heard Nana whine a little more persistently now that I was awake. That was when I also noticed that I was lying on top of the bear that had hit me over the edge. Apparently we had been speared by the same stick, first by it creating the sharp edge necessary to get the surgical precision needed to get this close to my heart without killing me, then followed nearly immediately by me cushioned by the bears body. Pretty damn miraculous if I might say so.

I reached down to her with my right arm to pet her when I noticed that I still held the pistol, it felt like the damn thing weighed a damn ton! I relaxed my death-grip (heh, "Death-grip") on it and dropped the damn cannon. "O-h, 'cough' Nana, I had the weirdest dream, I was some sort of bird-cat thing, and I was in some sort of weird place where most of the population except for me were related! The females were damn near tearing each other apart for a chance at me!" I scratched her ear, getting her to lean into it and stop her whining.

I looked at the piece of wood sticking out of my chest again. "Well... I guess I have to get off or take this with me, what do you think Nana?" She gave me a yip and a whine, pitching her two scents in. "Well, alright, I guess I should wait till we get back to a town before I try and take it out then... Whelp, l-cough-lemme get the saw out first, I kina neee need iiii-"

My vision blurred and darkness crept around the edges, apparently I had spent too much time talking to Nana. I tried to draw in another breath before I blacked out, my strength ebbing away. Right before I blacked out, I finally managed to draw in a breath, the starbursts in my sight slowly disappearing. I slowly unsnapped the clip holding my backpack, thanking that it was one of those weird ones that had one strap. It had apparently shifted while I had fallen and had come around to sit on my stomach, the strap right below the branch. I fished out the handsaw that I had packed, opening the sheath that held it. With that task finished, I gripped the branch and slowly began to saw through it a few inches away from my chest. As I was half way through I shifted my cutting angle, opting for a smooth edge in case I had to pull off of it. After a minute or so, I had finished sawing through it, I put the saw away and gripped it with both hands, bracing for what I had to do next. I reached down and patted Nana off my legs, needing the extra leverage.

I grimaced as I prepared to twist the branch into breaking . Before I could try and talk myself out of doing so, I twisted and forced the branch to snap off below me. After a few seconds the pain registered and made me black out.

I jolted up in the bed, the covers clinging to me like an old bloody bandage. I was breathing hard, the pain still lingering. I peeled the blanket away from my chest, revealing the wound that I had thought had closed fully open and profusely bleeding. However, I noticed that my heart had not been savaged this time, the side of it peeking out from inside.

"Doctor! Doooohhhhh" I began to black out again due to the fact that blood had pooled out of my body. apparently, I had been bleeding out on the bed for some time now, since all it took to get me back into the realm of dreams was to sit up. Spots began to dance at the edge of my sight as I struggled, I tried to get out of the bed, my sight caving in as I leaned over the edge of the bed. As the floor rushed up to greet me, A pair of claws grabbing me as I faded out of consciousness again.

My eyes flew open as my heart thrummed in my chest, the night sky sprawled out above me. I could see all of the stars out tonight. The willow that I was next to had a sturdy enough branch that I could use to stand up. I felt fine, but I didn't want to take any chances, the ease of which I seem to get knocked out was frightening. I chose to crawl on the tundra that surrounded the willows I was in, grateful that the small gathering of the bushes had saved my life. I pulled out my compass, the road that I had come from was to the north of where I had been hiking.

Well... since I had fallen off the southern edge of the mountain that I had been hiking on... I was going to have a very long way to walk. In the wilderness. Without any sleep gear or water. And only two granola bars. 'At least the mountain isn't that big around...'

Every time I breathed in and out, it felt like my ribs were trying to scrape on the piece of wood sticking out of my chest. My once pristine green shirt now had a small red circle around where I had been impaled. 'At least I didn't bleed out too much, hopefully my lung isn't too bad either.' I was finding it harder to breath as I could only fill up one side, the chunk of wood keeping me from bleeding out (physical) hopefully wan't causing internal problems. Hopefully... Well, I really need to get to my mode of transportation. Either way, I'm in for some serious hospital time!

I slowly began to crawl my way off to my bike and portable shed, Nana running around for stuff. What I had failed to notice was the fact that the sun was setting, not rising, and the moon had not risen tonight. It had taken Nana and I till what felt like around one am to get back to the bike and shed, having to stop every now and then to catch my breath. I was thirsty and tired, but I knew that if I stopped, that that would be the last time I slept. I had one epi-pen in my emergency pack for allergic reactions, hopefully it would be enough to get to someones place or a passerby. I was at the edge of the willow line when I heard a truck pass by, Nana had begun to bark at it as it had gotten closer.

I groaned and tried to whistle for her to come back, barely staying awake as I crawled to the road side. the shrill sound that I had made nearly rendered me deaf, Nana quickly came to my side and whined at me. I looked up to her and smiled, my knees and hands hurting from the crawl here. "Nana, you need to stay close. Ahhh, I have a greater understanding for people with one lung now. eh.."

My breath was labored and unsteady as I dragged myself over to the back end of the trailer. As soon as I was within grabbing distance of the step up to the door, I had latched onto it with all my remaining strength. I slowly began to raise myself into a standing position, careful not to make myself not black out. As I opened the door, I almost collapsed into the door way. I was shaking from the effort of keeping myself going for this long, the pain nearly unbearable by now. My chest felt like I had a red hot poker slowly digging into it, the days effort compounding onto me. I had what felt like mere moments before I would pass out, luckily I had stashed the pack right next to the door for such emergencies. the epi-pen sat right on top of the rest of the medication that I had for various other emergencies.

With a shaky hand, I slapped the damn thing down on my thigh, waiting a few seconds before I couldn't feel the needle again. As soon as the epinephrine hit me, I felt like I had put my had on a horse fence again. I sucked in a huge amount of air, my head cleared all except for the pain, the night sky came into around me as I sat there.

I dropped the pen and yelled at Nana to get inside as I rounded the shed and pulled out my keys to get my bike started, thankful that I knew how to get it roaring from a cold start. As I revved the engine I let the clutch go and began the ride back to the last town we were at. I could barely remember what it was called, only remembering where the hospital had been at.

After what felt like a few hours, I suddenly felt like I had a weight lifted from my shoulders. I could breathe fully and for some reason, I felt cold. The night sky lighting up like a party. I felt suddenly lonely and very weak, my grip on the bike slaking until I fell off to the left. I barely felt anything as I tumbled on the road, rolling a few times before coming face up on the last roll. I was barely able to lift my head and find that the piece of wood that I had was no longer in my chest, leaving a small gap where it had been. Nana ran up to my side and was whining, nudging me, trying to get me to get back up.

'I don't want to die..' I began to cry, Nana curling up next to me as I tried to fight what I knew was going to happen for real this time. "N-n-n-na-n-n-na... I-i 'm-m s-s-sor-r-ry..." Light slowly fading as I lay there the stars shining losing there luster. The last thing I heard was her howling.

Author's Note

Life... life has meaning to everyone. Losing someone you love hurts more than anything in the world. Losing yourself... hurts more than just yourself.