Wolf of the West

4.

Will sat in a chair near the bed his wounded friend slept in, the freckled boy still knocked out from whatever had happened the night before. The smaller boy had practically been up since he was informed that Rudy had been hurt, and now it was well into the morning. Chet was kind enough to let him stay in the house with them after the doctor had left, so there he sat holding his best friend's hand as he stared off into space and waited and hoped for him to wake up and be just fine. The doctor bandaged him up and stopped the bleeding, but Will was a bit of a pessimist in comparison to Rudy and couldn't stop coming up with worse and worse worst case scenarios. At that point, the only thing keeping him out of what they liked to call a fit was thinking about how bad it would be for Rudy to wake up to that.
Rudy's eyebrows seemed to twitch occasionally within his deep, catatonic sleep. His breath would increase in pace too, his fingers twitching. It was pretty clear that he was dreaming a nightmare. Though, inside Rudy's head, it made no sense. Flashes of color, darkness, bloody and almost distorted images flashing in his mind as he struggled to escape the nonsensical flashes. His body was even presently covered in a cold sweat. Within the nightmare, a loud growl that seemed to echo deep into his buzzing head shocked him awake. The boy let out a horrific scream as he jolted up in bed, tears filling his eyes as he gasped for air, not even noticing his fingers gripped into the bedsheets. As soon as he felt the deep pain in his chest, he winced and let out a pitiful cry and slowly laid back down. His eyes were still as wide as moons and tears flowed down his face. He didn't even notice Will there. The nightmare was still too real and the growl was still ringing in his ears, making his head throb with an aching migraine.
Will jumped at the sudden panicked motion and quickly retracted his hand, staring at him in wide eyed concern. "R-Rudy?" He finally spoke up in a gentle, concerned mutter. The last thing he wanted to do was scare him further. He knew what he'd gone through must've been pretty rough, coming home with the wounds he'd suffered. "It's okay, you're at home now. The coyote's gone. A-and Amos is alright." He tried his best to comfort him based on what he assumed Rudy had woken up panicked about, even adding in the status of his horse since he knew how much he cared for his animals.
Rudy's eyes seemed to flutter for a moment as he tried to process what had happened before letting out a soft, pained groan as he looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and swallowed, "G—Good. Okay. Thanks, Will." He muttered as he kept his eyes closed, breathing through his nose before opening his eyes again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you o—out," He stammered as he gave a small, exhausted glance at Will. His eyes trailed down to his bandaged torso and he winced at the deep pain in his shoulder. "I don't— I don't think that was a coyote—" He started in a soft tone, but was interrupted as Chet entered the room.
  "Oh, thank the lord." Chet sighed softly under his breath in pure relief as he approached the bed and knelt down by his son. "Are you okay?"
"I-... I dunno. I just woke up, Pa, I'm just trying to process it all." He groaned as he rubbed his eyes with one hand, not wanting to move his injured arm.
"I understand, Rudy." Chet looked the most worried he had ever appeared to be, his frown lines deep with concern on his face as he smoothed his hand through his son's tangled locks. "I'm sorry, son, I should have been with you. I coulda' gone— I knew I shouldn't have been sending you out to do chores that late." He apologized as he held Rudy's face before sighing. "You just got clawed up is all. Your rib got fractured too, but it's nothin' serious. The doctor left not too long ago and Virgil's here as well." His father said as he caught him up to date with their predicament.
Virgil entered the room soon after Chet had, arms crossed. "Mhm. Whatever it was got you good." He told him once Chet had finished filling him in. "But you're tough. We all knew you'd pull through as soon as you got here. Well, Will was being himself." He gave Rudy some words of comfort as he nudged his nervous son.
Rudy, even through his exhaustion, glanced at Will when the joke was made and smiled. It was really funny coming from Virgil, but he didn't even have the energy to get one of his good hearty laughs out. Will glanced up at his father, much too nervous to take the joke. "Pa, he says he doesn't think it was a coyote." He told him, to which Virgil shot a quick glance to Chet before looking back to Rudy. "Well what else was it, son?"
Chet glanced right back at the pastor before looking back at his bedridden son. Rudy furrowed his brows as he tried to remember, pressing a hand to his head. "I dunno. I admit, it looked like a coyote. But it... it wasn't?"
The boy's father looked confused as he watched his son, so Rudy tried to elaborate further. "It was strong. I mean, Amos has fought off coyotes before and won but he was scared. Y'all know how sweet that horse is— and he bucked me off because of one coyote. I dunno, he is getting older. Maybe I'm just thinkin' up random things and gettin' the wrong idea. I barely remember much of what happened as it is."
"Well it's okay," Will spoke up before another question could be asked. "We don't wanna hound you with questions as soon as you wake up anyway. Maybe you'll remember more when you recover s'more." He suggested, silently asking their fathers to lay off for now.
Virgil didn't think they were gonna get much more out of him for the time being anyway, so he complied. There was only so much time until they'd find out what they wanted to know. "Well, come straight to us if you remember anything important. We don't want the thing that nabbed you and Amos runnin' loose."
"I will, sir, I promise." Rudy agreed as he closed his eyes again with a small, soft groan of pain. He was afraid to fall back asleep, but he was utterly exhausted.
"You should get some more rest, Rud. I'll be back with some breakfast in about an hour or so, okay? Get some sleep, son." Chet sighed to him as he pulled the matted blanket back up, since Rudy had pulled it off when he woke up, and gave a small ruffle to his son's hair. "Behave now, y'hear?" The father joked lightheartedly at Will before turning back to leave out of the room.
"Will, we're headin' home as soon as I'm done talkin' to Chet. I don't want you keepin' Rudy up more than he needs to be, and you need your sleep if you ever wanna get any bigger, boy." Virgil told him sternly as he exited the room. "Yes sir." Will responded, just happy that he got to stay with Rudy a bit longer.
When the door closed, he sighed in relief as if he'd been holding in air that entire time. "Are you alright, Rudy?" He asked, still worried for him.
Rudy glanced back at his best friend and let out a soft sigh, "I don't know, Will. When I woke up, I was having a really bad nightmare. It's probably just the trauma from last night but..." He closed his eyes again and swallowed, trying to get his words out. "I don't know. I'm just all nervous, I guess. I don't think these are gonna heal any time soon." He stated as he glanced down at his bandaged body. "Sorry to worry ya, Will. I shouldn't have gone that far into the pasture."
"No, no, it ain't your fault. I shoulda just let you finish your chores early and had supper with you and your pa. You wouldn't have been out so late." Will shook his head, not wanting him to feel bad. "I'm real sorry all that happened to ya, Rudy, and that it's still got you all messed up and scared to your wit's end. But I'm here if you need anything at all." He offered his best friend, reaching out to take his hand in his own once more out of comfort.
"Thank you, Will. I dunno what I'd do without ya." Rudy thanked him quietly as he gave a small squeeze to his hand, voice still shaky and soft. "It's not your fault, though, and I hope you don't think it is. Cause it's not." He shook his head slowly as he spoke. "It's in the past, okay? Now I just gotta recover." He stated as he shakily put his hand to his head, feeling a pulsating migraine. "Then we can go back to our sarsaparilla and cobbler Tuesdays, okay? It'll be alright. I'll be alright."
Will gave a slow nod as his friend spoke, and felt incredibly comforted by the time Rudy had finished speaking to him. "I know you'll be alright, Rudy. You always are. And if you say it'll be alright, I know it'll be. But I have a preposition for our sarsaparilla and cobbler future if you'll hear me out." He said, figuring it was his turn to cheer Rudy up. "When we're older, we gotta tell all the young'uns that you got those scars from a band of outlaws. You'll be the coolest sheriff in Arkansas."
Rudy's eyebrow cocked as Will said he had a new idea for their imaginative day that would happen in the future. He smiled and burst into a his casual laughter, usually loud was now exhausted and soft but it was good to get a laugh out of him. Achingly, he put his hand over the bandages on his chest as he calmed down. "Good lord— the ginger sheriff of Arkansas with the legendary scars. Perfect. That just made my day and is now going to be added into the event." He shook his head with a smile still present on his face. "Better story than a coyote, anyways."
Will couldn't help but grin when he heard Rudy's laugh, grateful to be blessed with the sound, even if it was quieter than usual. At that point he decided that the sarsaparilla root was actually the second best thing God had graced the earth with. "Oh for sure. I could get a knick in my ear and say I got attacked by a coyote. But look at your chest, Rudy! You're gonna have ladies all the way from Delaware fawnin' over you left and right." He gave a small chuckle, though it was the one part of their future he didn't close his eyes to picture.
Rudy's freckled face turned a shade of red as he heard this and sheepishly batted his hand away, "Damn, when you put it like that it makes me sound like some sorta hotshot." He rolled his eyes as he shook his head, "I've got more important things to focus on than ladies right now, so that'll just be a future thing to look at." He chuckled in agreement. "The only ladies that fawn over me are the little ol' ladies from the general store. I'd much prefer that than some little teenage girls chasin' me down." He chuckled.
"Nah, I'm strictly talkin' about future Sheriff Rudy, when you don't have more important things to focus on than ladies. I'm not too worried about ya runnin' off all love sick to get eloped right now." Will chuckled, begrudgingly taking his hand back once it was swatted. "Not that you ain't loveable as you are."
"Gee. Thanks, Will. You just tryin'a butter me up to do a chore or somethin' later?" He teased as he sleepily blinked, his voice getting softer once again as he nestled his turned head into the pillow.
"No, not exactly, but— when you start feelin' up to it, do you wanna help me organize the general store?" Will half joked at him, standing up when he heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. "No I'm foolin'. But I think it's time I stop givin' ya a hard time and let you rest. Get some good sleep for me, okay?" He said as the door creaked open as Virgil stood in the doorway. "You ready, son?" He asked, to which Will nodded. "Yes sir, I was just saying bye to Rudy."
Rudy bit back a goofy smile at his best friend as he rolled his eyes at the comment about the general store. "I will, man. I'll see ya tomorrow." He told him goodbye, voice seemingly growing sleepier and sleepier along with his eyes trying their hardest not to close. As much as he fought the drowsiness, he felt his body relax and his consciousness seemingly fade into darkness.