After being injured by the elk, Wander is grounded by debilitating pain. Bleeding and already weak with hunger, he drifts in and out of consciousness and falls each time he tries to stand. He longs for Warm’s companionship and fears what might happen if rival wolves were to find him in his incapacitated state. During the night, he is awakened by the smell of a wolf: a female who is unknown to him. Although he longs for the companionship of other wolves, he fears that she might belong to a hostile pack that intends to do him harm. Mourning the loss of his family, Wander decides that he will never call himself Swift again. He is forced to remain still as he heals and a coarse scab grows over the deep cut in his chest. Watching the birds that flutter around him, he eats grass and bugs for lack of other nutrients and becomes so hungry that he risks howling, hoping that his pack will help. When vultures begin to gather around him, Wander knows that he must regain his strength by any means necessary. When he spies a rattlesnake slithering by in pursuit of a rodent, he carefully dispatches it despite the danger and consumes it, rodent and all.