Chapter 3: Day 2
Barnacles spent all day dragging himself across the canyon floor, the adrenaline slowly wearing off. He was exhausted, but he had to keep going. Night had already fallen and the temperature dropped, 20 degrees ferenheit.
"Polar bear instincts." Barnacles laughed. "Keep me warm over the night."
Barnacles groaned, he was so tired.
"Maybe a small rest won't hurt." He said to himself.
Barnacles sighed and laid his head on his paws. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
The next morning, Barnacles woke up with a start.
"Mhf." He groaned, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "I must've actually fallen asleep last night."
Barnacles looked around and found that he was lying on his back. He must've flipped over in his sleep.
"I've better flip myself back over," He said to himself. "I've gotta get back to the Octopod."
Barnacles took a deep breath. Using all his strength once more, Barnacles flipped himself back onto his stomach. When he flipped, he screamed bloody murder. The adrenaline, had worn off.
"Ngh." Barnacles coughed, tears forming in his eyes. "The adrenaline must've worn off overnight. Now I've really gotta get to the Octopod before the pain is too much."
Barnacles pulled out his water bottle and drank what was left in it. He sighed and put the bottle back to his side, then continued to drag his body, two miles, out of the canyon.
The effort to drag himself was a lot of pain to Barnacles body. Each time he dragged himself, he would have to wait another minute before the pain went down. It was a mere 24 hours after the accident, and Barnacles was facing the dangers of dehydration.
Barnacles continued to drag himself, ignoring his need for water, since he knew he drank what was left in his water bottle that morning. Finally, Barnacles had dragged himself to a puddle, filled with water.
Barnacles was weary, but he knew that if he did not fill his water bottle now, he would most certainly dehydrate. Barnacles dragged himself closer to the puddle. He brought out his water bottle and dipped the cap into the water. Bringing the cap and the water back out, he poured the water into the bottle.
Barnacles continued this until the bottle was halfway full. He brought the bottle to his lips and drank some of the water, coughing back up silt and dirt.
"I better not drink too much." Barnacles coughed. "I can't risk having an accident in these cold temperatures."
The reason why polar bears don't get hypothermia is because their bodies have a lot of blubber and fur on them, keeping them warm against the cold waters. But Barnacles was one of those skinny, less fur polar bears, a rare baby. If he were to get wet in cold temperatures, he would imediately have to dry himself off before he caught hypothermia.
With noway to dry himself off, having an accident could be risky.
Barnacles coughed, wanting to take a break from dragging himself. He dragged himself up to a rock near the puddle and laid against it. Barnacles sighed and placed a paw on his stomach, this is when he noticed something weird.
"What is that?" He asked himself, poking his midsection.
With each poke, his midsection sloshed around. Barnacles was confused, why would his midsection be soft and squishy and all jelly like?
"Is it... inflammation?" He thought to himself.
Barnacles poked his midsection again, listening closely. His eyes widen when he heard liquid sloshing around.
"No," He shook his head, eyes wide with fear. "It's much worse... internal bleeding!"
Barnacles started breathing heavily, hyperventalating a little. He was frightened now that he knew he was slowly bleeding to death.
"Maybe I should call the others for help." He said, getting ready to grab his Octocompass and call for help, but then he stopped himself. "No. The others must come first. I can't think of myself. Why, I bet they're already out on a mission already."
Barnacles sighed and laid there, tears in his eyes. Night had fallen again and his eyes were starting to get droopy. Barnacles yawned and his eyes slowly closed, drifting off to sleep again.