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It lifted its head a bit, enough to nod, then it paused like I had, head tilted to the side. A moment later it looked up and over my shoulder, and I followed its gaze to the camera mounted on a post not far behind me. I remembered how careful it'd been to stay out of range, something I'd thought so strange for an animal to manage, but now I knew it'd been intentional.

"I guess if you're trying to hide, getting caught on camera isn't what you'd want," I said. Anxiety curdled in my stomach at the thought of keeping them all off. I couldn't do it, not even after almost five years of safety. "I can turn them off in the back while you're here, but I need the front ones to stay connected and recording, at least."

Even that compromise didn't do much to settle my anxiety. Logically, I knew that the only way to get to my house from the back was to go through the woods, and he wouldn't risk muddying his shoes like that. I knew that, but logic and reason stood no chance against the deeply ingrained fears holding me hostage.

The creature tilted its head again, this time so reminiscent of Rom's curious looks that it was all I could do not to laugh. I was fairly sure I bordered on the edge of hysteria at that point, and I needed to find some way to focus, or I was going to completely lose it.

"I just need them to stay on. But I'll keep these back ones down so you can come and go, if that's okay?"

Its nod was a little slower this time, and it still studied me with unnerving intensity, but there was no way I was doing a deep dive into all my past mistakes while standing in my yard with a creature straight out of a horror movie.

"Can you walk back to the house?" I immediately winced. "Of course you can. You already did it today, didn't you? Yeah, so if you want to come back with me, I can get you some more food. I'm sure you're still hungry."

Without taking its eyes off me, the creature carefully pushed itself upright. Rom growled quietly, but relented when I gently touched his back in reassurance. Seeing it standing at its full height, I couldn't blame my dog for getting nervous. As big as Romulus was, his head nearly reaching my chest, this creature made him look small.

"It's okay, Rom," I murmured, more to soothe myself than him. To the creature, I just nodded, trying to hide my fear, and said, "Alright, let's head back."

Rather than walk behind me, it took a slow step forward to walk at my side. Just that one move showed how bad its injuries were. It limped heavily, favoring not just its back left leg, but the front right, as well, leaving it struggling to balance. Both wings dragged the ground, the shattered right one more than the left. Smaller bites and cuts covered its belly, legs, and throat, the scabbed wounds showing through patches of torn fur. Whatever had attacked it had clearly been trying to kill it.

"If you're hurting, you don't have to walk. I can keep bringing you food," I offered quietly. It grunted once and shook its head, and together we made our slow, painstaking way across the yard and back to my house.

The problem with my plan became apparent almost immediately.

The creature was already winded by the walk back to the cabin. It tried to hide its exhaustion, but I'd spent enough time around animals to know when one was struggling. When we approached the deck and my chickens exploded into a riot of terrified noise, it didn't even react. It simply sank down onto the sparse brown grass and lay there in resigned silence.

I hadn't thought about the girls when I'd asked it to leave the tray earlier. They must have reacted the same way, panicking at the presence of what was so clearly a predator in their midst. It just lay there, doing its best to appear nonthreatening, while I gathered up the girls and ushered them back into their coop as calmly as I could.

By the time they were somewhat settled, the sun had well and truly set, and the lights around my property had kicked on.

"Why don't you rest on the deck while I see what I can find to eat inside?" I suggested. Bringing it in would just end in more chaos from the kittens, and those four were much harder to wrangle and settle than my small flock of chickens.

It warily glanced over at the coop, then belly-crawled forward, moving slowly so it didn't startle the girls again. It couldn't be comfortable, but it did it, just to keep from scaring them. That one simple thing eroded almost all my lingering fear.

"Rom, do you want to come inside with me?"

Rom's ears perked at the word 'inside', but he didn't follow me to the door. Instead, he sat down right beside it, putting himself between me and the creature again.

"I don't think that's necessary, but thanks." I scratched behind his ears and pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head. "You're a good boy."

His tail thumped against the wooden deck in delight, but otherwise he remained stoic, clearly in guard mode.

"I'll be right back, okay?" I directed this at the creature, who'd stretched out flat on its belly. I imagined that aggravated the wounds I'd seen, but it kept the pressure off its legs and wings, which were far worse. It nodded at me, then laid its head down on the deck, facing the back door.

Leaving them outside, I hurried through the door and into the kitchen, scanning my fridge for anything I could give it. I still had two rolls of ground beef in the freezer, so I pulled those out and tossed them into the microwave to defrost. I desperately needed to go grocery shopping if I was going to keep feeding it.

While the meat warmed in the microwave, I flew through my evening chores. The kittens had actually behaved, for the most part, only knocking over one lamp and a small plant. The lamp survived, and the plant was fake anyway, so setting things to rights only took a few moments.

By the time I'd fed the kittens, changed their water, and checked on Franklin and Priscilla, the microwave had done its job. The very center of the beef was still a little icy, but it would have to do for now. I cut open the packaging and put the two rolls onto a paper plate, which I carried back outside.

Neither Rom nor the creature seemed to have moved the whole time I was inside, though I noticed that Rom's ears weren't pricked quite so high. He was still watching the strange creature, but maybe not quite as aggressively as before.

"I guess I should have asked what you eat instead of just assuming, so I hope this is okay," I apologized, putting the plate in front of it. "Do you even like meat? Should I cook it? I probably should have at least cooked it a little; it was so rude of me to assume that you'd eat meat raw. Here, let me⁠—"

The creature had the first roll gone in two bites and the second disappeared before I'd even finished my rambling apology.

"Oh. So, raw meat is okay, then?"

Its features didn't allow it, but I think if it could, the creature would have raised an eyebrow at me. Or maybe I was just projecting. I was good at that. I sat down at the small table on my deck while it finished.