I wasn't sure if it was the walking or just time, that thing humans were in such a habit of saying cured all, but by the time I got back to Cutter's Bend I was able to think clearly again. I felt like shit, but my head was clear.

And I considered that a good thing. I'd somehow managed to effectively drag my ass all the way back to town without falling down a gully and breaking an ankle on top of everything else. That had to count for something, didn't it?

I hoped so, but my hope was distant. I had other things on my mind. My thoughts were a swirl and who could really blame me? There had been a lot going on in a short amount of time. A measure of distraction was to be expected.

Perhaps that accounted for Maddie's look of horror when she opened her door and found me leaning on the frame like I was half dead. Nice one, Joel, I mused. You could have thought this one through before rapping on her door.

"It's not as bad as it looks," I grumbled in response to her near shriek of distress and wide eyes.

"Well it better not be because it looks like you had a run in with a lawn mower! Shit, Joel, what happened?"

"I ran into a little trouble in the woods," I said, swinging my sore self off her doorframe and letting myself in without an invitation.

"The woods? Joel!"

"It wasn't the Ritualist if that's what you're thinking. Would you just calm down?" I said it rounding her kitchen table, aiming for some water from her tap, but ending up wobbling and catching myself on her counter instead. Palms flat on its surface, head tilted up while I breathed.

A whine brought my eyes back down and there was Newt, one of Maddie's German Shepherds, nudging at my thigh. "Hey, Newt," I grunted, reaching out a hand to touch him, only for the dog to scent the dried blood on my limb, flatten its ears back, and growl before backing away. "Yeah," I said, leaning back on the counter again, "that was my reaction, too."

"Joel."

Maddie had come up beside me and I turned my head to look at her, the woman not in the least perturbed by my usual glare.

"You need to start explaining. Now, please."

I could only nod at that. "You remember that oak fall where we had the windstorm a couple years back?"

"Do not tell me you were out there crawling around under those logs. Joel!"

Maddie's ire was almost enough to raise my spirits. She'd always had fire and probably that was the only reason she'd put up with Seanmháthair and I as long as she had. As it was I took in a long breath and let it out again.

"Something was chasing me. Didn't have much choice. Not that it matters much anymore. The oak fall's impassable now."

"Chasing…" Maddie trailed away, bright specks of thought and color moving in her eyes. Then she spun away from me and yanked out a chair at her table for me. "You need to sit down now. And explain. You're not making enough sense to even tell me where you're hurt, and it's obvious you're hurt."

I managed to get myself to the chair, shaking off her offer of help along the way. I'd made it out of the woods, I could make it to a damn chair…

Once there I propped my elbows on my thighs and scrubbed at my face. "There's something in the woods."

"We've established that."

I looked up at her, remembering why humans were hard and talking to them was difficult.

"Not human," I iterated, and as expected Maddie didn't even question it, just narrowed her eyes in a way that said I'd better keep going. "It started following me as soon as I got in the woods. Might have been waiting for me. Chased me all the way through the oak fall and into Jared's Wash. We had a little tussle…"

"'Little tussle.' Joel, you look like shit."

"Thought I was dead," I admitted.

"And yet you came here instead of going to the hospital. Typical."

"You're the best doctor at the hospital, Maddie," I returned, leaning back in the chair and mostly letting my head loll. I was still fucking tired…

My physician of choice just shook her head at me, though, chewing the corner of her lip thoughtfully. Maddie had always been assessing. And fiery. And willing to take things at face value and evaluate them before judging. It was why she was the only doctor Seanmháthair had let look after her near the end. It was why she was the one I went to when I finally made up my mind transitioning was what I wanted.

It was a good thing for me Maddie was versatile…

Cutter's Bend didn't have a big medical facility and several of its resident doctors had various specialties. I was lucky in the ones Maddie worked in. Lucky also she tolerated me…

"Don't you try sweet talking me, Joel O'Kelly," she snapped. "I've known you too long to buy your shit, or let you get away with it. If you're here it probably means you should have gone to the hospital. So please do tell me where you're hurt before I give you something to really complain about."

I actually smiled at her. If you could consider the grimace I worked up a smile… Gods, I'm bad at this…

"Don't know right now. Kinda too tired… I think my ankle got it when the oaks came down. It… doesn't really hurt right now, though. The fuck."

I leaned down and was about to start shoving at my pant leg when Maddie slapped my hands away.

"I'm the doctor here. Keep your hands off. They're filthy for one thing and you don't know what you're doing for another."

I all but snarled at her and she pretty much growled right back. Figured.

It also figured she made me sit there while she went for a few of the medical supplies she kept around the house. I was itching to find out why my damaged appendage wasn't fucking aching like it'd been when I'd blacked out, but I knew better than to disregard Maddie's "doctoring." I'd shown up at her door and basically let myself in.

I was her problem now and she wasn't going to let me forget it.

Which wasn't entirely a bad thing. It all gave me a moment to slump in the chair and get a handle on myself before Maddie got back and none-too-gently started "doctoring" me.

As it turned out, my ankle still did hurt. I hissed when she took my shoe and sock off, and only wondered after, as her fingers began sliding up my skin, where the bandage I'd applied on the fly had gone.

"Joel…" Maddie's quiet, careful voice didn't let me think about it for long, though. "You said you did this when the oak logs came down."

"Yeah," I agreed, trying to shift so I could see without moving into a position Maddie wouldn't like. "Thing got stuck and I had to rip it out before the hunter found me. I took a big patch of skin off."

"That was, what? A couple hours ago?"

"Not sure, but probably."

"This doesn't look like it's a couple hours old. This looks like it's at least a week old. Maybe more."

"What?"

"Here." Maddie moved so I could see finally and her fingers traced the outline of my injury. "The skin's already grown over where it was scraped off. It's new skin, obviously, and I'd guess from your pain reaction that some of the tendons are probably still bruised, but… this is practically healed, Joel."

"That shouldn't be possible."

"You're telling me? I'm the doctor here. And what's this?" She skimmed her finger over the tender new skin on my ankle and I hissed at her again. "Did you put some kind of salve on it?"

"No," I grunted. "Only thing I had on there was a scrap off my hoodie, and I don't know where that went."

But it was clear something had been rubbed on me. The skin was tacky with a drying gel that glistened over my flesh.

We both just looked at it thoughtfully. Then I grunted, "Think you can get a sample of that, Maddie? Run it through some tests? I think the hunter sedated me after he choked me. I'd like to know how."

"Excuse me?!"

"What?" I bit off, annoyed by her practically dropping my foot and glaring at me.

"Choked, sedated, Joel! What the hell?! You should have gone to the hospital!"

"It's not that bad," I returned, thinking being treated was giving me more of a headache than fighting with a god.