Wolf of the West

8.

The train continued to chug along throughout the night, the crew and passengers unaware of the werewolf, the boy, and the chicken even through sunrise. Much like last time, the sleeping beast let out whimpers and loud cries as it dragged its claws over its head, fur shedding onto the wooden floor and its body writhing as it shifted back to the familiar shape of Rudy Shepherd. Rudy was unconscious laying in a small pile of his own fur, some strands of curly fur still embedded in his skin and his brown claws now long on his hands. The hole in his ear was now bloodied and crusted over, and the bruises still formed on his body from yet another night of physical trauma. The boy was panting rather heavily as he slept, his hands and feet occasionally twitching as his mind raced from the night before.
Will slept through the transformation but, like usual,  was the first of the two to wake up, though it was about noon or so when he did so. After all, the night before was exhausting in the craziest way possible. Yawning as he moved Henrietta to the side, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, having to glance around to regain his surroundings. His back ached from laying on the wooden floor, and his typically neat hair was now tousled and sat messily on his forehead. "....Ru?" He asked groggily once he saw the unconscious boy. He stood up to head over to him and began to unbutton and take off his coat to toss over his bare naked body. "Rudy, you okay?" He asked cautiously, giving his shoulder a small shake.
Rudy's eyebrows twitched, turning his head as he let out a soft groan. His blue eyes hazily blinked open to see Will, "Mmmh— Will?" He practically slurred out as he gave a glance down at the coat draped across himself. "Wh—Where are we?" He mumbled as he held his head, feeling nauseous.
"All I know is that we're on a train. I dunno where it's takin' us." Will gave a stressed sigh, trying to push his stick straight hair out of his face as he took a seat near his friend. "I know it ain't what you wanna hear right now, but I'm guessin' you don't remember last night, so, u-um— My pa saw you and tried to shoot you, Rudy. He only nicked your ear, thank the lord, but— We I don't think we can go home now. I'm real sorry."
Upon listening to Will and realizing what had happened, the redhead pulled himself up to sit as he held his mouth. "He— He saw me?" His voice was hushed and cracking, but he just shakily raised his hand to feel his ear. He winced with a hiss through his teeth, feeling how hot the wound was and how sensitive it was to the touch. "Did I hurt you in here?"
Will shook his head and but a comforting hand on his shoulder. "N-nah, didn't even get close. Ate a boxcar full of food, though." He shook his head as he patted his arm, not wanting to tell him about how close of a call last night had been. "You didn't even get Henrietta. She's on this lil trip with us."
Rudy looked down to see the hen trotting over to nestle down in her owner's lap, now that he was himself again. He chuckled softly and pet the chicken's head, "Hey, ol girl." He smiled a bit before looking back at the rest of the boxcar. Every food item was practically gone, except for a few preserves that didn't contain any source of meat. "Golly. I'm sorry, Will." He told his companion as he looked back at him, a pang of guilt in his eyes.
"Well what in the world are you sorry for?" He asked, trying to help lift his mood a bit. "I'm the one who nearly got you shot, so I don't want you to feel a bit sorry, okay? We got bigger things to worry about anyway." Will assured him, knowing Rudy had been through so much in the past week. "Like gettin' off this train and findin' out where we are."
Rudy let out a sigh through his freckled nose as he rubbed his aching face, "Okay. You have a point." He muttered as he smoothed his clawed hands through his hair. "Damn— my body hurts." He groaned as he rubbed his lower back. "Is this gonna happen every night?" He asked Will worriedly before gently setting Henrietta down to the side, keeping the coat on his lower torso as he tied it around himself.
"Well I sure hope not. We ain't got any money to eat as it is, let alone feed Curly every single night." Will said as if that were their biggest problem in Rudy shifting into the beast every night. He realized then how stuffy it'd been now that daylight had shone through the boxcar and unbuttoned the neat cuffs of his white sleeves in order to roll them up to his elbows. He supposed he could take off his sleeve garters now that he wasn't using them, but decided that he didn't want to lose them. "But I guess we'll just have to find out at sunset, since that's when it likes to happen. I got no honest idea what's goin' on with you."
Rudy let out a soft sigh before catching what Will had said, "Curly? It's gotta name now?" The boy blinked in bewilderment as he tied the knot around the back of his waist. It made him feel... weird. Knowing that something was inside of him that now had a name, or supposedly did so? He didn't know what was happening to himself. It scared him.
"Oh— Well not really, it was more of an insult, but I guess it helps me differentiate when I'm talkin' to ya about it." Will tried to correct himself, not wanting to upset his friend. "But I won't call it that if it hurts your feelings, Ru." He told him, trying to be understanding for Rudy. Then he felt the train give a small lurch before beginning to slow from its fast-moving pace. Will had to steady himself a bit before he glanced out of the boxcar. "Hey, I think we're stoppin' at the station up here."
"Oh, good." Rudy commented as he peeked around the side of the door to see the station. "But naw, it don't hurt my feelings. I just wasn't too sure is all. I just dunno how to feel how there's a thing that isn't me... in me. If that makes sense." He stated as he leaned up against the wall and scratched the back of his scruffy hair, noticing a few strands of curly hair from his transformation in his skin as he plucked some out with a wince.
"Oh, most definitely. I can't even imagine how weird that's gotta be for ya. I just hope we up and get around to findin' out more about it so it ain't so weird and confusin'. I think that's the scariest part. I don't wanna be stuck worryin' when Curly's gonna come out next. There's gotta be some rhyme-n-rhythm to it." Will shared his thoughts, wondering if there was anybody else in the world who had gone through what they were going through, let alone documented it. As the train came to a stop with a hiss, Will poked his head out to check for the people running the engine.
Rudy listened silently in agreement, but poked his head out and muttered to Will, "We should probably get outta here. Especially with everything being broken into." He told him through his teeth, readying to get out of the car. He knew that they'd have to book it, but the thought of him being half naked made his face burn pink.
Will looked uncertain, but wasn't ready to be thrown in jail for theft and end up being sent back to their dads after Virgil had seen Rudy. "Alright, but there ain't hardly nothin' out here. Maybe we can just pretend like we've been waitin' at the station so we can think of a plan. Or at least where town's at." He thought, carefully getting down as to not hurt his ankles. "And walk in front of me so you ain't lookin' like a nudist loon with your behind out."
Rudy's freckled face burned red as he heard him, jumping off of the train with his chicken companion fluttering behind him as he tried to cover his rear with the backs of his palms. "Shuddup," He muttered at him, still trying to pluck out the strands of red hair that were patched on his body, beginning to creep out of the trainyard and toward the station.
Will couldn't help but laugh a bit at the embarrassment of his best friend, and while he walked behind him towards the main part of the outdoor station, he plucked a few bits of hair left on his back.
Rounding around the corner of the station's porch, Rudy muttered a small, "Ouch!" At the hairs being plucked from his back, but soon stopped when he saw a stout gruff-looking man sitting at one of the train stop benches. In the dirt in front of him was a small fired, atop of which a pot of bubbling, aromatic beans. Next to the man sat a saggy, old basset hound.
When the boys got close enough to be detected, the dog lifted its head and immediately stood to start growling and barking at the ginger boy, tiredly hopping in place as well as an old hound could. "Dammit, Hank, quiet now." The man muttered gruffly, his mouth barely visible under his thick mustache. The old dog continued to scream and be a nuisance at the boys, so the man reached down, grabbed the pot of beans bare-handed, and tossed it to the ground. Hank immediately threw his muzzle into the pot and began to lap up the man's lunch.
The freckled boy felt his arm hairs standing on end when the hound dog barked at him, feeling sweat bead his forehead at the intimidating man. "Sorry to make him bark— he's a cute dog." Rudy tried to apologize with an awkward smile, before trying to tone it down to not show his large teeth. Henrietta seemed to twitch her head defensively at the old hound dog, making a shrill cluck as she stood under her boy's legs.
The man gave a sniff and nearly replied to the compliment, but did a double take at the sight of the nearly naked boy and his well dressed friend. He momentarily seemed to consider letting Hank at them again, but decided against it.
   "Mm." He sniffed, glancing at his bean-covered pet, "That ain't the word I'd use, but I'm sure Hank 'ppreciates it." The man tried to close the conversation, though Will decided to keep it going. "Do you— um, maybe happen to know where we are?" He asked, just trying to get a feel of their surroundings. "Mm. I'd say yer at a train station right between Missouri and the frontier."
Rudy felt awkward as his ears burned red from embarrassment, folding his hands in front of himself as to even hide his nakedness more somehow. When he heard their location, he visibly winced. "We definitely don't wanna go into the frontier. Is there uh, a town nearby or somethin'? We're just lookin' for a place to stay." He explained to the man, glancing at the dog every now and then and trying not to laugh.
The sight of Hank was funny, but watching him binge on the food was kind of sickening to Will. "Yeeup. Just gotta walk that way." The man sniffed again, though he didn't signal in any particular direction.
   "Um...alright, welp—" Will said, cluelessly glancing at the horizon lines in search of the town. He doubted the man was gonna be of much help, and he was pretty nervous about wandering into lawless territory, especially with no food, no money, and a naked, semi-feral friend. After watching the seemingly more put together of the two look at a complete loss, the man let out a sigh and started opening his large bag and digging through it. Then he pulled out a long coat, balled it up, and tossed it at the naked boy. "Get dressed, boy. You'd be better off lettin' me shoot'cha here than walkin' into Idle Dune in yer best bib and tucker like that. But I can't help that one. He's gonna be treated like a tenderfoot til they can force 'im into some denim." The man grumbled about Will's attire as he packed up his things. Then he reeled his foot back and kicked the half eaten pot of beans so that Hank would forget about it and follow. "C'mon now, Hank."
The boy blinked in bewilderment as he caught the coat. "Thanks, sir. We really appreciate it." He stammered awkwardly as he tried to peer over his shoulder to see where they were going. "We'd better go, huh?" He turned back to Will with a slight sigh as he slipped on the long, dusty coat.
"We don't even know this fella's name, but I honestly don't think we really have a choice." Will sighed a bit, waiting for Rudy to finish getting dressed before following behind the man and his saggy dog, who actually made pretty good pace for their apparent age and size. If the man heard them, he didn't care enough to respond with anything other than a sniff and a grumble.
Rudy glanced down at Will as he wrapped his arms around himself, making sure he was fully covered as he followed the pace. Genuinely, he was curious about that the stranger's name was and even just a bit of information about what he was doing there. He hesitated in the silence, aside from the crunching of dirt under their feet, along with the small clucks and chirps coming from Henrietta. "Sorry for bein' so sudden— I kinda forgot my manners. I'm Rudy Shepherd. This is my buddy; Will Barkley." He introduced themselves as he gave a small hesitant, almost tense glance down at the hound.
"Yeeup." The man replied, still walking without so much as a glance to the boys. Will felt incredibly awkward and kind of wanted to just let the man take them to town without another word, but at the same time, he felt like they'd both be much more at ease following a stranger if they at least knew his name.
     "Nice to meet'cha— uh....?" He trailed off, clearly asking for his name. The man almost didn't say anything, and for that moment the sound of their walking felt loud and uncomfortable. Then he gave a sigh. "Rusty. Rusty Gunn."
The freckled boy's jaw fell open in practical awe at the man's name. Surely it had to be a fake name or something of the sort, or even an outlaw name— but then again he wouldn't expect less of a mysterious man with a name like that. "Rusty Gunn? Sir, I've gotta say that is the neatest name I've ever heard in my life." He told him in all seriousness, even giving a glance at Will to see if he was hearing this.
Will had a look complete disbelief on his face as he waited for the man to explain the incredibly strange name. "Mm." He only sniffed, "Earned it at the ripe old age of seven. And a half." Will stared as he urged him to go on. "What was your name before all that? And how'd  ya earn it?" He asked.
     "Shot a man dead in my livin' room for makin' a pass at my ma. All was left of 'im after that was a painted wall and his ol' rusty colt revolver. Still got it." Rusty answered only half the question, patting the the large, holstered gun on his hip. Will didn't know whether to be amazed or horrified by their guide, and thought about praying for him, but didn't even know where to start unpacking all that.
Rudy's wide eyes blinked once or twice as he gave a darting glance at Will then back at the man. Frankly, the story was baffling to him and he pondered whether it was authentic.
"Wow, damn that's uh— quite a history." He stated as he gave a glance at the holstered gun. "Wish I had a cool name like that. The kids at our schoolhouse say that Rudolf sounds like a Brit name and I ain't too fond of that." He awkwardly rambled as he wrung out his hands.
"Mm. You both look like you care too much about halfwitted things like that. Who cares if you got a Brit name or if you got a stick in your ass, or if you're two naked punks gettin' off a train together. Ain't any of my business." Rusty shrugged his stout shoulder nonchalantly, to which Will turned red and furrowed his eyebrows, tone turning suddenly defensive. "What in the world is that supposed to mean? I ain't naked! And I haven't been! Someone just— stole his clothes while we were sleepin' on the train." Rusty finally gave them a glance. Will had proven his initial point, and it was clear Rusty hardly cared enough to believe him in the first place. "I'm just rufflin' your feathers. I don't give a damn when the last time you were naked, boy."
Rudy's face also turned a bright shade of pink as he gave a small glance to Will, biting back a snort of amusement which was easy to do due to his exhaustion. "Will here ain't used to playfulness, sir— he's from a sheltered lil' family." He lightheartedly defended his friend as he gave Will a soft nudge to the shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Mhm." Rusty replied, having been able to tell it was something along those lines just by looking at him. Will's face sizzled with heat and he nearly steamed from his ears with embarrassment and irritation. He rolled his eyes and rubbed his shoulder where he'd been nudged. "No I ain't, Rudy, stop that." He muttered, kicking a small rock that had been lying in the path ahead of them. Of course, he appreciated being defended and comforted by his friend, but he couldn't help but still feel a tad defensive about what their acquaintance had said. "Town's right up here." Rusty informed them as they headed up a gentle incline, finally walking on what looked like an actual path.
Rudy looked down at the small trail below his feet before looking up ahead in the distance. He blinked in surprise as he saw the old sign that read 'IDLE DUNE' in bold letters, which was riddled with bullet holes. It made him gulp as he continued ahead alongside his partner. The town was rather large and busy, hearing the trot of horses from inside and the casual chatter. "Well, thanks for bringin' us here. We woulda gone the opposite way if it weren't for you." He thanked their guide as he continued to hold the coat around himself.
"Thank ya, Rusty. I guess it's goodbye now." Will slowed down in order to keep them from strolling straight into an unknown town, especially one as intimidating as Idle Dune. He also figured Rusty would much prefer going on ahead without them if that's where he was going. "Mm, I'll see ya around. Good luck." Rusty responded simply, still walking ahead. He was only walking through the town to pass through, but now had a new pep in his step to put distance between them. Hank gave one last growl at Rudy, but then gave a wet sneeze and seemingly forgot he was growling at the boy to begin with. So he broke into a trot to catch up with his companion. "Well, that was interestin'." Will sighed to his best friend as they were left at the town.
Rudy gave a small glance down at the old hound dog before watching it waddle off after it's owner. He blinked as he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah. What a strange fella." He muttered back to him before deciding to take a little look at the town around them. But as he did so, he felt his heart sink and his blood run cold. Gun and ammunition shops littered the streets and pelts of animals hung from rafters and doorways. He took a frightened step back toward Will, "U—Um. Will, look," He mumbled shakily, his blue eyes darting around in his skull in a frantic manner at seeing the rather murderous town— at least to animals.
Will nodded, having noticed it when they'd first gotten there. It made him nervous and made him want to leave. It was bad enough his dad had shot Rudy's ear, and getting him killed by taking him to a hunting town was the last thing he'd meant to do. "I know, Ru. We ain't gonna stay long. But we at least gotta find out where the nearest town is and get some decent food and shuteye." Will reassured his partner with a gentle pat to the back. Sighing, he began to walk forward again, but he was so on edge, he couldn't stifle a jump whenever a loud bell sounded from the nearby schoolhouse.
Soon enough, young children filled the streets as they headed home from their short school day. A young girl walked peppily on the outskirts of the crowd, happy to be on her way home. But she stopped when she saw the two strangers in town and turned to face them with a wide-eyed, bewildered look on her face. "Lord, we've been here for two minutes and we've already terrified a little girl." Will muttered, to which the girl broke into a near condescending laugh. "Who, you? Not to hurt your feelin's, buster, but I stopped to stare at ya because ya look like you crawled right outta hell itself. And because your cute friend ain't got no shoes on." Will's face didn't go as red as it had been with Rusty's remark, but he looked equally as irritated.
Rudy's freckled face turned beet red of embarrassment and from being generally flustered as he peered down at his bare feet, giving a bashful look to Henrietta who appeared to be tilting her head to get a better, protective look at the small girl. But he raised his head back up and tried to repress the remark. "We're uh, just travellin'. I can already tell we don't fit into this town." He tried to joke lightheartedly with the girl but also felt the need to hide from all of the glances at him from the townspeople, the gun shops, and the taxidermy.
"Obviously not! I mean look at'cha!" Kate giggled, daintily covering her mouth with her hand, sounding a lot more nice when talking to the ginger. Will blinked, wondering if it were simply a test of character, and he tried his best not to be fed up with it. "Is there anywhere in town we could go to stay for the night? Or get somethin' to eat?" He asked the small girl, who still seemed ready as ever to talk to his friend. "My big brother actually told me not to talk to strangers." She glanced at him for the second it took her to answer his question and then went back to talking with Rudy. "Well you look nice enough, so I guess I should introduce myself! My name's Kate Hunnicutt! You should tell me your name too so my bubba won't be too much of a stick in the mud when I get'cha somethin' to eat."
Rudy pursed his lips as he tried not to laugh at the little girl's sass. He knew that Will didn't like it, but talking to this little girl was probably the only way that they could find a place to stay without funds. "The name's Rudy Shepherd, miss." Usually, he'd politely stick out his hand for the other to shake, but with his long, brown nails, he didn't want to gross or weird her out. His teeth were already gargantuan enough as they poked over his lip. "This is my best pal, Will Barkley."
Will normally would've given her a wave when he was introduced, but he decided he didn't want to on the account of his politeness being ignored or made fun of. "Well it is certainly great to meet'cha, Mister Rudy Shepherd! And it's alright for you, Will Barkley." Kate held the skirt part of her school dress and gave Rudy a small curtsy. Her use of tone between the two boys changed her attitudes towards them drastically. "It's alright for you, too I guess." Will responded, trying not to sound half as rude or flat in tone as she liked to.
    "Well alrighty, come on then so I can show ya around town and let you meet my brother, Buddy!" Kate happily motioned for them to follow as she turned and began to walk her peppy walk again. "He can be a little stink sometimes, but other than that, he's just sooo nice! Buddy's just the best, he takes care of me! I think he'd get a real kick outta meetin' strange fellas like yourselves!" She blabbered on about her older brother, who she clearly seemed to idolize.
His eyebrows raised slightly as he followed along, continuing to tightly hold his clothes around himself. Surely the brother wouldn't be that bad, especially with a name like Buddy Hunnicutt. Even so, he anxiously picked at his long nails and found that they were much harder than the usual soft nails he once had. It made his heart sink to his stomach, but he hid it well. "We appreciate the hospitality, Miss Hunnicutt." He smiled softly as he gave his best friend a pat on the back as a way to tell him that he was doing a good job at controlling himself and letting the situation go smoothly.
"Not at all!" She she chirped as she led them through her hometown. "Over here you got the ammo shop, over there's the gun shop, over yonder's the big gun shop and then here's where lazy, stupid people take their game to get em skinned for em and stuff, even though I've cleaned game and I'm only nine and a quarter. Obviously Idle Dune's big on huntin'. But back to the tour—we got the general store, and then a lot of it is where people live and whatnot. We got the town hall too, where we get lil hoedowns that I'm only sometimes allowed to go to." She gave them a 'little' tour of Idle Dune as they walked through it.
The werewolf wiped sweat that had begun to roll down his temples and form in his hands when they'd walked past all of the shops surrounding them, along with the pairs of suspicious eyes that lingered on them. He noticed how that seemed to change once those eyes saw Kate, going back to minding their business. It seemed that she was the town sweetheart of some sort as everybody didn't mind that she was hanging out with two strangers.
    Will felt overwhelmed and anxious at the sight of all of the dangerous shops in town as well,  noticing how Rudy's face was practically turning green and pale at the sight as well, but both of the boys' expressions melted into awe as they approached the largest house they'd seen in their entire life. "What's that?" Will asked, pointing to it. Kate glanced back and snickered at him. "You never seen a house before? Well actually, I wouldn't be surprised." She snarked at him as she led them up to the porch and flung open the door, making it clear that it was her house.
Rudy's head turned back to the house as he saw the size of it. Sure, he lived in a pretty decent sized home with a farm, but this was enormous. He tried to not let his jaw fall open in surprise, walking up onto the porch before flinching at the door flinging open and hitting the wall behind it. "It's an amazing house— it's real big." He muttered in awe alongside Will as he stepped inside. But the awe once again melted into instinctive fear, seeing the heads of elk and deer mounted on the walls and above the mantelpiece. This wasn't the only thing, as various animal pelts, skulls, stuffed birds, and antlers were hung up as well. What frightened him the most was a large coyote head mounted up. It made him gulp as he felt his heartbeat quicken, freezing right into place. He felt the sweat roll down his neck as he stared at the head, practically seeing flashes of his own head being mounted on the wall in its' place. Surely, that's where it would be soon enough.