A/N: This is the beta'd Chapter 7, hope you guys like it. :) If anyone is reading this, chapter 15 will be up possibly next week sometime.

(Present, Riley's POV)

'Aris, Devon! He's here.' I call out to them through our connection, running after Santana then past her, reaching Rachel first as she yells out to her in complete shock. I charge toward the rogue wolf that has Rachel by the arm, teeth clamped down on it. I quickly change into wolf form and waste no time in sinking my own teeth into his furry neck. He lets Rachel go with a growl and uses his bigger body to throw me off.

"Oh my God."

"Somebody get Rachel out of here!" I hear Santana, and then Aris, the latter ordering them to take Rachel as she runs to my aid.

I make the mistake of turning my head to make sure that she's taken care of and end up getting clawed in my side for my distraction. I growl out, bringing my own claws down and along his face. Aris, now in wolf form, slams into his large body. He takes hold of her neck as she rams him, and they both hit the ground hard. I run over and prepare myself to jump on him but he bolts up quickly and meets me half way. Our claws slice at each other.

"Don't just stand there and watch, get the hell out of here. Berry needs a hospital, damn it!" Quinn hollers at the others, sounding further away, but I don't chance a look in anyone's direction.

I can hear Devon helping them carry Rachel away from the area, they need Dev more than we do right now. 'Why are you here, Gabriel?' I ask the rogue beast as I dodge his attacks.

'For fresh blood.' I can hear his laughter fill my head. 'You can't stop me from being who all of us are meant to be, we're wild animals. We are supposed to eat the weak.'

'Wrong.' Aris growls. 'We're only part animal, you shouldn't let the beast control you. We control it. The innocents you're killing don't deserve to be ripped apart like a chew toy.'

I charge again while they're distracted, clawing at his face. I shred his snout and he growls in anger and pain, moving just the littlest bit away.

'You bitch! I am going to enjoy tearing you apart piece by piece until you beg for me to just kill you.'

'Oh, I'm so scared, please no, don't.' I deadpan, not bothered by his lame threat. Okay, maybe just a little, but me and Aris can take him… right?

He jumps up, reaching for Aris' throat, but I swat him away easily enough. His heavily muscled body doesn't move far before he's jumping again, this time toward me. I dodge, but not fast enough to move away from his second attempt, his teeth bite down on my side and he sinks his claws in, trying to overwhelm me. I try to shake him off, but he's holding steady as he takes me to the ground. 'A little help would be nice anytime now, Air.' I thrash around and call out for help, but silence is all I get in return.

'I bet your scared now, bitch.' His voice sounds in my head, along with evil laughter. 'Looks like your little friend ran away from the big bad wolf. Just you and me now.' He taunts but then he lets me go with a rough shove to my shredded side.

I whimper out in pain as I land on the ground. I try not to laugh back at him though as a figure appears behind him, holding a gun.

"I don't run from anything, and unlike you, I care about my friends. I wouldn't dare leave her here with you for anything." Aris smirks as he whirls partly around to face her in surprise. She pulls the trigger before he can either run away or charge for her. The tranquilizer dart flies through the air with a whoosh and easily finds the fleshy part of his exposed flank. He hits the ground a few seconds later with a loud thump.

(4:00AM, Rachel's POV)

I startle awake by someone screaming.

"Rachel, baby, you're okay. It's okay."

My eyes snap open and I close my mouth, the screaming stops. It's then that I realize that I was the one who had been screaming. Tears spring to my eyes as I remember what I was dreaming and the reason for it. My arm throbs in memory as strong arms wrap around me.

"Shh. I've got you now. You're okay." My dad's voice and the gentle rubbing on my back soon soothe me back to sleep.

The next time I wake up isn't as traumatizing, but I want to cry anyways. My arm hurts so badly and I have never experienced such pain before. Both of my dads are asleep in the chairs surrounding my bed, and I frown when I see that no one else is here. I guess that I shouldn't really be surprised. Who cares if Rachel Berry actually gets physically hurt?

I turn my attention to the door when it opens, hope fills me, but gets squashed when a nurse walks in. "Oh you're awake. How do you feel, honey?" Really? How does she think I feel after having my arm almost ripped off? "I know, stupid question, sorry. How bad is your pain on a scale from 1 to 10?" She apologizes sheepishly and asks, coming over and checking my vitals.

"An 11." I answer croakily, without hesitation at the sharp pains and throbbing ache settling in my injured arm.

"Okay, vitals are looking good. I'm going to go get your doctor and see about upping the dose on your pain meds." She smiles at me sympathetically. "He will be able to tell you more about your arm and answer any questions you may have." She squeezes my good shoulder.

"Good." I cough and clear my throat. "I certainly wish to know how bad it is so that I can go back to the campsite and kill the thing that did this to me." I almost snarl, so very angry at the wolf who almost took my arm.

She chuckles before she turns to leave me with my sleeping dads. A snore has me turning my head to daddy; he's sound asleep, head lolling to the side. "He's always been a heavy sleeper." Dad pipes up from his chair, his brows furrow as he looks at my daddy and then me. "I'll never know how he can sleep through so much, especially now, when our little girl is in a hospital bed." It's still dark out, but I can see him clearly as he stands up and comes over, pulling me into a gentle hug.

"As soon as you're out of here, I'm driving us back where you were so I can help you kill that damn wolf."

"Dad!" I gasp at him, shocked at his use of a curse word. He never cusses.

"Nothing hurts our baby girl and gets away with it."

The door reopening cuts off my reply to that. Dad pulls away and we give the doctor our full attention. "Hello, Rachel. I'm Doctor Evans; I worked on you when you were rushed in earlier. Do you remember what happened to you tonight, Miss Berry?" He introduces himself, shaking my hand then inquires.

"Yes sir. I was bit by a huge wolf in the woods at our camping site. How bad is my arm?" I answer quickly, trying to get to the information on my arm.

"It wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be." He smiles down at me. "The uh… wolf bit you deep enough to tear through muscle and there was some nerve damage, but we're confident that the surgery was a success and that, given time and physical therapy, you should gain full use of your arm. However, since it was a wild animal and we don't know if it had rabies or not, we are going to have to give you a series of three more shots. You've already had one when you arrived." Rabies? He's joking right? I can't have rabies!

"You don't have rabies, baby girl." Daddy must've seen the fear on my face and takes a gentle hold on my hand. "The shots are just a precaution."

I nod and lay back against my pillows. I wish Santana was here… or Quinn or even Riley, well maybe just Riley, at least she's nice to me.

"Nurse Jenny is going to give you some pain meds and you should rest as much as possible to help the healing process along. I'll check back in a few hours. We'll take a look at your arm, change the bandage and barring any complications, we'll decide then whether or not you can go home sooner rather than later." Dr. Evans lets me know; smiling softly at me. He then turns and walks out of the room.

I slump further into the bed with a sigh, too tired to process the information given to me. "Where, where is everyone else?" I ask my dads as they both come up and tuck me in.

"Honey its 6:15am." Dad sighs. "I'm sure your classmates are tucked away in their beds now. I sent them all home around 3:30, it didn't go without it's troubles though… you had a few of your friends try and stay, one of them even snuck in here while me and your dad went on a coffee run. I'm sure they will be back today, just get some rest okay?" Dad tells me, smiling and squeezing my hand.

Who tried staying? Who would do that for me? It must have been Riley. I hope she and Aris are alright. The nurse comes back in with my meds and I sigh in relief. She shoos my dads away, telling them that I should rest as she's smiling at me, and then proceeds to shoot the liquid heaven into my IV.

"Hey, little one." I'm woken up by a soft voice and a head leaning against mine. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. Fuck, you didn't deserve this, Rachel."

"Riley?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" She whispers in my ear, hot tears land on my cheek, but they aren't mine.

"Riley, this isn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done. I was too far away from any of you to stop him." I tell her, lifting her head up to look at me. She pulls away though, wiping at her tears.

"I could have warned you! But now, now it's too late." She yells out angrily, throwing the cup of ice chips that she must've brought for me, at the wall.

I jump, startled at her behavior.

"Hey! What the hell is going on in here? Riley?" My head jerks to the door, where an equally angry looking Santana is standing, arms crossed.

"I have to go. I can't… oh god, I'm so sorry!" Riley runs out of the room, heavy tears streaming down her face.

I frown in confusion and worry. "You okay, Yoshi? What was that all about?" Santana uncrosses her arms and walks slowly over, standing by my bed.

I have to be dreaming, there's no way that Santana Lopez is willingly in my presence, checking up on my well being. She's probably here to be mean to me because I couldn't go camping without causing a scene. "Why are you here? Have you come to rub my injury in my face? This is probably something that you've wanted for a long time… well now that you have seen me hurt, you can leave." I feel my anger and hurt increase as she stands there staring at me. I point to the door, asking her to leave, not willing to believe she is here because she cares… yeah, right.

Her jaw clenches and she looks away. "I'm not here to rub anything in your face. Just because I'm a bitch doesn't mean that I want you for real hurt, Berry. I just witnessed you being attacked by a fucking wolf! How can you think I would be happy about that? You really do see me as the Devil, don't you?" I'm stuck on the first part, images running through my head of her rubbing her… no, don't even go there Rachel, like she would ever rub anything on you, no, she certainly wouldn't. Not that I want her to. "That's what I thought. Whatever, I'll leave you alone. Then you won't have to worry about me showing back up." Her voice startles me from my thoughts. I look at her, but she's already halfway across the room.

"San, wait. I didn't even say anything, and you didn't give me a chance." I try stopping her, but she ignores me and continues to the door.

She stops, pausing at the door for a second. "Silence speaks volumes, Berry." Then she's gone.

I slump down into the uncomfortable bed, curling up as best as I can with my hurt forearm, missing her presence more than I should. I feel bad at how things are left between us, not that they were good before, not even close, but now… now it's worse.

Before I can even get comfortable, Nurse Jenny strolls in with a cart. She smiles at me in greeting, "Morning, Rachel. I've come to check your bite and change the bandage."

"Yeah. Good morning." I sigh in response. There really isn't anything good about it, not at all, and it only gets worse when I take a good look at the damage done to my arm. Once the bandage is off, I can't help but gasp, seeing it for the first time. I was expecting the angry red bite marks and punctures on both sides of my forearm, but the wolf had also torn through the flesh with its sharp teeth. I would be left with horrific scars from the attack and my mind was having trouble processing anything past those scars.

"You're lucky, you know that? I know it looks bad, but you have to think positive. Just remember that it could've been so much worse." Nurse Jenny talks to me softly as she checks out the cuts and stitches as she applies ointment. "You survived a wild animal attack fully intact. These scars will heal and lighten up, and yes you will have to live with them for the rest of your life, but guess what? You're alive." She gently wraps a fresh bandage around my arm, and tears cloud my vision as I think on what ifs. What if Santana and Riley hadn't run after me? I would be dead.

Wait, Santana ran after me… she was the first voice I heard before Riley saved me from death. She thinks I see her as the Devil even after helping to save me and coming here to see how I was doing. She's right, she may be a bitch but that doesn't mean she would want me hurt like I am and she did come and see me at 8:00 in the morning. Oh wow. Santana Lopez got up before noon to come to the hospital for me? Maybe she isn't as much of a bitch as I thought she was. Maybe.

"I'm all done. Are you okay? You zoned out on me, did I upset you?" The nurse breaks me out of my serious thoughts.

I look to her and shake my head. "No, you made me think. Thank you. Do you know when I can go home?"

"Oh, um, you're welcome, sweetie." She grins at me. "I'm not sure yet on when you can leave. I put your arm in a temporary wrap until Doctor Evans gets in to see you, he'll inspect it and let you know when you can go home. But to me, on the outside appearance, everything looks like its healing just fine. He should be with you soon. Just hang in there a little longer." She pats my shoulder. "Your fathers are nearby; I'll let them know you're awake." I give a small smile back and another thank you, with that, she is gone, leaving me again with my thoughts.

The rest of the day is spent in and out of sleep, being medicated for the pain, inspected by the doctor, and having sporadic visitors. I've been given the okay to head home tomorrow morning and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. It feels like I haven't been home in forever. Three days is a long time without the comfort and safety my queen sized bed provides me with.

8:00AM the next morning. I'm dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, arm wrapped up snugly, ready to go home. There's a knock at my door, followed by Nurse Jenny popping in, she smiles when she sees me all ready to go.

"Hey, sweetie. I was told to come tell you that your dads won't be able to take you home just yet, they both got pulled into emergency surgeries." I slump onto the bed, pouting at her words. How long will I have to wait? I want to be at home, in my own bed, in my own shower. Oh, how I desperately need a shower. "Don't worry, we got you a ride and someone to stay with you at home until you fathers can join you. They know how much you wanted to get out of here." She laughs at me knowingly, seeing the look on my face.

I perk up at her reply, but have to wonder who agreed to take me home. She opens the door wider and a familiar, surprising face walks in.

"Hey, Rachel."