Animal noises the next sunset woke Brooklyn up, who had gone back inside after the sun came up and slept on one of the beds. It wasn't as comfortable as sleeping in the guest room in the Roberts' house, but he knew it was better than that tree hole.

Brooklyn looked through his bag and saw he only had four sandwiches left now, hoping he could get more when getting across the rest of the lake. But for the moment until he felt ready to, the beaked gargoyle decided to explore for a day or two since he'd never been on an island like this before.

After eating one of his sandwiches, he left the cabin again and went along the wildlife trail to see anything else interesting and to avoid any kind of predators or traps. He didn't need any trouble being caught in one without help nearby.

Brooklyn got bold at one point and decided to go off the trail when he heard rushing water. He had one of his empty bottles since he ran out of his water this morning. Brook came across a stream through the bushes. Not too big or little, but a decent sized river that flowed into the lake. He smiled a little when seeing it, knowing he was good with water for now until he found other water bottles in the official state. Taking his bottle, Brooklyn carefully made his way to the shore, first testing the water to make sure it was clean.

It seemed fresh enough so he uncapped his bottle and filled it all the way up, taking another drink then refilling it for later, scratching a mark on a tree nearby so he could find the river again. But then he heard a rustling. Glancing up, his breath stilled when seeing a mother deer with her baby; the pair walking down to get a drink. He smiled slightly at seeing the family. Sitting down carefully so that they wouldn't be scared by his sounds. The two deer drank water for a minute until the mother caught Brooklyn's scent over the scent of the water, trotting away, the fawn following her.

Wow! Brook thought, his heart feeling light from seeing close family in animals like that. It made him feel homesick again, deciding to move on somewhere else after that.

When coming back to the pathway, Brooklyn suddenly heard a chittering; two squirrels began running around. They were chittering and fighting over an acorn. It made Brook chuckle slightly. This was a nice change having animals around instead of humans. He just didn't feel so nervous around them.

But then he heard something that scared the squirrels away, making him freeze, shaking. It sounded terribly familiar. It was a sharp howl noise, like one a wolf would make. Brook swallowed, shaking a little at that horrible sound, remembering when he nearly got eaten by wolves on Anthony's ranch. It sounded close but as he heard it again it didn't sound so fierce this time; rather it sounded like it was in pain. Brooklyn frowned, smelling the air and he caught the scent of blood, making him flinch. But despite it being dangerous to go towards a wolf sound, he had to see what was going on.

Taking a breath, Brooklyn followed his ears, until he came into a clearing. He gasped softly, backing up and holding his bag close, wings out.

For it was a wolf, a scrawny but fierce looking one, howling and whimpering in pain. Taking a closer look, Brooklyn saw it was caught in a rope leg trap. It was whimpering in pain. The gargoyle saw why upon closer inspection. The rope had dug into its right forepaw.

The wolf looked up in concern at the creature before it, thinking it was a human going to kill it. It whimpered.

The wolf's color was a lot of black mixed with white and brown fur. It had yellow eyes.

Brooklyn was still afraid and wanted to back off from the wolf, but seeing it wounded and in pain, he couldn't leave it like that. If he was going to set this wolf free, he would need to tie its mouth shut so it wouldn't bite.

He remembered seeing on an old show about handling a dog or a wolf about you could use even gauze like a muzzle. He had some of that in his bag in his first-aid kit.

"It's okay, boy. I'll get you out of that trap, but I can't have you attacking me." Brooklyn said gently to the wolf to try to calm it down.

The wolf still watched him warily. Brooklyn opened up his bag and he got out his first-aid kit. He took out a piece of gauze. He spread it out and carefully and slowly, he got to the wolf and got the gauze around its mouth and tied it off behind the head. It whimpered. The red gargoyle still remembered his own muzzle but he wasn't keeping this one on for long, and Brooklyn would never zap this wolf, not like Anthony, making him tense a little at remembering that terrible man.

"Now I can help you better." Brook said.

He then sliced the rope with his talons, and he wrestled the rope off its paw. The wound was deep. Who knew how long that rope had been imbedded in its leg.

"This looks infected. I'll get some medicine for it." Brook stated. He dug around more in his bag and found some medicine and got out more bandages. He held the leg still and washed it off first, then applied some medicine to the wound before wrapping it up.

The wolf had seemed to know that this creature was helping it. When Brooklyn had a second look, he saw the wolf was a female. "Sorry I called you a boy before. I meant girl." He blushed.

Then he put all the materials away and he knew the poor wolf would need some more healing before she could get along on her own. He got up and made himself look less threatening as much as he could. Keeping her mouth tied up, Brooklyn gently picked up the wolf in his arms and carried her.

"I can take care of you better back at my cabin. It's just a short walk. I am taking you to my cabin." Brook explained.

The wolf wasn't too thrilled being carried but she wasn't going to walk on the sore leg. She whimpered and growled sometimes.

Brook talked softly to calm her down. His voice seemed to calm her immensely. She stopped fighting him and when he got her there, she didn't resist too much. He laid her on the floor a little distance away from his bed.

He next offered her a drink of water by pouring some into a bowl. He took off her muzzle finally and gave her the bowl. She smelled it and began to drink the water.

Brook knew she had to be thirsty. The wolf had the water gone in a matter of seconds practically. She must have been hungry too. One of the best ways to win animals over was to feed them.

As limited as he was on food right now, there was nothing else in the cabin to feed her. Brooklyn took out one of his sandwiches and he slowly began to feed the wolf.

"While I'm caring for your leg, you can stay with me. But I need to call you something." Brook declared. Then he thought about the season coming up. "Hey, how about calling you Winter?" he smiled at her.

She seemed to perk up more at the words. "Alright, Winter it is." Brook declared.

Brooklyn knew that he would likely have to muzzle her every time he would need to change Winter's bandages. He didn't want to take the chance of being bitten. But he would leave it for now.

He would need to get some more food somehow. His food stores were getting low again.

…..

The next couple of days had Brook and Winter sharing the food he had, and it wiped out all of Brook's food.

Winter seemed grateful for what the gargoyle was doing for her. At one point, she even licked his hand. That made him smile. He was glad to see that she seemed to trust him.

"Well, girl, I'm all out of food right now. I wonder how we'll get some now?" he said.

Brooklyn knew he could go for a few days without food if he had to, but not for too long. A wolf could go about a week or so without food.

Brooklyn went and got some more water. He had to keep himself and Winter hydrated. They spent a lot of time sleeping in the daytime. As much as being out at night seemed fun, he had to keep his wits about him.

…

The two woke up the next night with their stomachs growling and Brooklyn eventually knew he had to find food. But where? He knew he couldn't hunt deer here. But maybe there was fish in the streams somewhere until he could make it to a town in Michigan. He gazed at Winter, who was watching him curiously.

"I have to go and try and catch some food for us. But will you be able to stay here for me? I don't want you to reinjure your leg out there," Brooklyn said, holding out his hand to her again. The wolf gave another sniff, before eventually licking him once more then curling up. Brooklyn knew the wolf didn't want to be petted yet which he understood, going up and heading out.

He had discovered a bucket in the shed which he could put the fish in, returning to the river again. The gargoyle gazed out at the water and sometimes could see some big fish in there.

"Maybe I can try and catch them with my talons," Brooklyn spoke out loud to himself, setting the bucket down and sitting near the edge on a rock close by. He watched as close as he could until a good-sized fish caught his eyes. Narrowing his eyes, Brooklyn lunged with his claws to grab it; but the fish swam away, making him fall into the water. It was cold and hit his skin hard, having Brooklyn shiver and splutter, shaking the water out of his hair and eyes, pulling himself out of the water.

He grumbled a little from getting wet, trying to dry himself the best way possible. "Ugh, let's try again…" Brooklyn muttered, knowing he had to be smart, quiet, and quick this time.

Brooklyn climbed back onto the rock, positioning himself once more, watching for another one. This time he managed to get another good-sized one. Despite falling in the water again, he had a good grab on the fish. It was strong but eventually did a bite that killed the fish, panting heavily. He put the fish in the bucket after that, knowing he needed to catch several more of these things to last him and Winter a while.

….

An hour or two later, Winter, who was asleep, perked her ears when the cabin door opened; revealing her gargoyle companion returning with a bucket of fish, and wet. Her tail wagged a little but still felt scared from being in the trap.

"Hi, girl. Got us a couple fish. Hope you're hungry," Brooklyn said. He took one and gave it to Winter, who began gnawing on it. Brooklyn's stomach churned at the thought of eating raw things but he had done it before, so he gingerly took a fish, and took a cringed bite out of it.

Thankfully, it wasn't as horrible as he thought, chewing his fish down and swallowing it. Brooklyn sighed a little from it satisfying his stomach but looked forward to eating store food again when getting off this island. Winter had finished hers at the same time and stretched but whined a little from her hurt paw.

Brooklyn looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry you got trapped like that, girl. I too was in a tight spot with bad humans, but I was able to escape. Just trying my best to go home," he said, curling up his legs again, looking down. Winter whined again but not from pain. She saw that her strange rescuer looked sad. She gave him a small nuzzle. He looked up, still sad but held out his hand.

The wolf's ears flattened, backing up but Brook kept looking as gentle as he could. If the wolf licked his hand, she was sure to trust him enough to pet her. "It's ok, Winter. I promise I'm not evil. I-I haven't had any friends for a time while here. J–just really need some company," he said shakily, glancing down further. That made the wolf's ears go up slightly again. She too never had a mate but was separated from her pack while hunting. They never found her since getting caught. Maybe this creature really could be trusted.

She sniffed his hand, licked it again, then allowed Brooklyn to pet her. Brooklyn gasped softly, feeling her fur, which was scraggly but also soft. It made him feel a little teary again, memories of Bronx flooding him. For that moment, he just sat there with his new friend in that lonely cabin for the rest of the night, enduring each other's company.