Wolf of the West

14.

Late in the night, Will clung onto Rudy in his sleep as if he'd melt through the bed if he didn't. Yet another stressful day led to yet another night of deep, uninterrupted sleep for Will.
Meanwhile, a creature crept outside. The beast barely made a sound as it stalked around the dark, empty town in search of trouble. And upon creeping into the empty, closed saloon, it found what it was looking for. In the kitchen, there were still hot, orange embers from an entire day of preparing foods (for mostly employees, but sometimes a customer) in the open stove, and on the table across from the stove stood an open, half empty bottle of wine.
All it took was a hard kick to the bottle, and the stove was quickly engulfed in flames, which were swiftly spreading through the kitchen, and soon the entire saloon. By the time the creature escaped the establishment, the wooden building had flames lapping at its windows. It knew it had done what it needed to, but it also knew that it was hungry.
There were very few people living in Dry Point, so when Will heard thumping, he thought it was just his imagination. But when he heard a shrill scream from outside the house, his eyes shot open and he quickly raised up out of bed. "Rudy? Did you hear that?" He asked nervously in a hushed tone, listening closely in case it was just his imagination.
Rudy's eyes already flashed open at the scream from outside, his head whipping over to look at Will with tired, still dazed eyes and a head full of frizzy orange hair. "Wha'?? What was that?" He asked, sleep stuck in his throat as he sat up, ready to climb out of bed.
    Almost on cue, Cibil entered the room in her nightgown with a candle in her hand. "Boys?? Are you alright?" She asked in a rushed manner, panicked about the condition of the two from hearing a scream.
"We're fine, Cibil. I heard a loud thunkin' noise next door, but I thought it was my dream. And then it sounded like screamin'." Will quickly and hoarsely explained as he slipped out of bed and pulled his shoes on. Taking a breath of air, he realized it smelled faintly of smoke. "Somethin' ain't right...." he said anxiously.
"You're damn right about that." Rudy muttered under his breath, already having smelled the scent of smoke from his newly heightened senses. In an act of worry and panic, he looked down at the hen who walked into the room alongside Cibil and picked her up. He slipped on his boots and headed toward the door, where Cibil momentarily left to go check what was happening. But before he exited, he glanced back at the photo of Cibil's family and grabbed it.
    "Oh my God!" The woman gasped from one of the windows at the front of the house, covering her mouth as she saw her beloved town beginning to go up in flames. "What is it?" Will asked, hurrying to her side to see what was wrong. When his eyes landed on the large fire cascading its way through Dry Point, his jaw dropped. "Good lord—" He muttered in disbelief. Then he recalled the scream they had heard and realized that someone had to have been hurt, and someone close.
Mistakenly, Will knew some poor woman nearby was hurt or stuck in the fire nearby, and before he knew it, he was jumping off of the porch and racing towards the fire. "Will—!" Rudy tried to stop his friend from running outside, Cibil even attempting to stop the boy as she ran after him out the door.
  Upon seeing a figure run from the targeted house, the creature leapt from the shadows and darted out after him as if on cue. It tackled the boy to the ground in seconds, and as he hit the floor, he let out yelp. The creature kept him pinned to the dirt with a clawed hand to the head, and though he couldn't move well, Will could just barely see what held him out of the corner of his eye. Upon first glance, he thought it was Curly, but as his vision steadied, he could see it wasn't. It was a large animal that looked like him, but nothing like him all the same. The dust kicked up from his fall forced Will to break out of his frozen state of shock and begin to scream for help. "Rudy!" He cried out for his friend, too petrified to try to squirm from the beast.
    Cibil let out a horrified scream as she watched the boy get tackled to the ground by the large creature.
Rudy raced to the door to see what Cibil was screaming about, still clutching the chicken and the photo tightly. But when his eyes landed on his friend laying in the road with the beast on top of him, something inside of him seemed to snap once his name was screamed. It echoed through his mind and made his heart lurch, dropping both Henrietta and the photo to the ground. Luckily Henrietta simply landed on her feet, but the photo shattered as it hit the porch. Deep inside of him, he felt a burning anger which lashed out almost immediately.
    His teeth bared and eyes glowed a sparking yellow, growling as he sprinted full force toward where the creature was. As he did so, his body channeled the anger that pulsated off of him which caused a near instant transformation into his large, beastly form. As he ran on all fours, clothes somehow holding on by their seams, he didn't even realize his consciousness slipping away and being replaced by the fueled anger of Curly. Lunging out with a furious roar and tackling the other creature off of Will, he furiously burrowed his teeth into the creature's shoulder as soon as he made contact.
    Will instinctively covered his head at the sound of the roar. He desperately tried to get away from the skirmish as soon as the weight was lifted off of him, but the dust in his eyes and nose proved it to be difficult. The creature screeched in pain at the feeling of Curly's teeth sinking into it's shoulder and whipped around in attempt to snap at his face, green eyes burning into his golden blue ones. It was much smaller in comparison to him so reaching his face was a challenge. Curly seemed to tackle it into a position where its jaws just barely couldn't reach him and to where it couldn't bend its arms enough to claw at his eyes or face. It quickly realized and began to squirm in attempt to get away.
"Rudy, stop!" Will choked out though the dust that stung his throat and lungs, blinking and wiping away tears and dirt from his eyes. He broke into a fit, gasping for air as he scrambled to his feet, feeling an intense pain in his ankle. "P-please, you can't get hurt!" The wolf's head moved forward with a loud snarl, his jaws parted to bite into her throat, but his ear twitched as he heard Will. This made Curly's head turn to look at Will, throwing his guard off as his paw let go of his opponent's torso. It seemed to be processing, or at least trying to process, Will's words. Even for just a moment, the golden color seemed to fade from his eyes as he stared at him.
    "Will—! Get away from them—!" Cibil cried as she began to run over to grab the boy and pull him to safety, not wanting either of the boys getting hurt, yet knowing that she couldn't stop Curly even if she tried.
The other werewolf took the opportunity and thrashed away from Rudy, turning tail and darting back into the deep shadows where it'd come from.
"I-I can't, Cibil, I can't let him g-go after it!" Will said, gently pulling away from her. "Curly, Rudy, whichever one you are, please! We gotta go, the town's burnin'!" He begged through choppy breaths, now coughing from the smoky air.
    The wolf's head turned to watch the other wolf run off before looking back at Will. He still looked hostile and rather angry at whatever had just attacked him, but he padded forward towards the two with a snort through his nose.
Cibil put her arm out in front of Will in a protective manner, watching the wolf lumber closer and closer. The woman stared as the wolf looked down at Will before letting out a growl. It was evident that Curly had decided to take over. "Y—You, you boys need to go. I'll be just fine here, but y'all need to get out of here before you get yourselves sick. I'll catch up with y'all but for now, I need to help the town." Cibil told Will quietly with her eyes darting between him and the large wolf.
    Will glanced to Cibil, pain filling his heart at the thought of not taking her along. He didn't know where they were going to go, or when or how she was going to catch up, but he could tell that she felt a duty to help those in her home town. Will sniffled and nodded his head. He felt the need to hug her, but he didn't want Curly to get angry. "Alright. Thank you, Cibil. We'll see you again real soon, I swear on my life." He promised her, begrudgingly stepping away and turning his attention to the werewolf. "Curly, listen—I need Rudy back, just for— for a second. Please don't bite at me." He begged putting a hand out to show that he wasn't going to hurt him, and that he trusted the wolf to reciprocate.
  The wolf's eyes flicked down to look at his hand, letting out a soft snort and a snarl. It was clear that the wolf still didn't trust the boy, practically ignoring his hand entirely. Though, it didn't seem to matter at that moment, as his eyes melted into a pure blue. Something about Will's words and demeanor seemed to pull Rudy right back into control. In charge once again, Rudy let out a snort as his body stumbled backward. Although his mind seemed to be in place, his emotions and adrenaline seemed to keep his body in a transformed state. The wolf let out a whine as he pressed his face into Will's shoulder, afraid of his own self and still startled about what happened.
  "You'll be alright, love." The woman told Rudy as soon as he seemed back to normal, giving his curly shoulder a pat. "I'm so sorry but I must go. Remember to stay safe and that I'll see y'all soon. I love you, boys!" The woman told the boys before running off to go help her neighbors fill water pails.
    "We love you too, Cibil! Please be safe too!" Will called out to her. Once she'd gone, the shorter boy gave a small, upset sigh and wrapped his arms around Rudy. "It's alright, Ru. I'm sorry for scarin' ya. But is there any way you can transform back? You can't get on the horse like that." He asked quietly, heart full of fear, guilt, and disappointment as he gently petted his curly fur. "Oh—! Are you hurt, too?"
Rudy seemed to let out a snort as a no in terms of injuries, overlooking his body just to make absolutely sure. He let out a soft growl as the smoke seemed to grow thicker, knowing that it wasn't healthy for nor himself or Will. With this, he made the quick decision to not try and run all the way to the stable to get the horse. The large wolf circled around behind the boy and slipped itself underneath his legs, forcing the boy onto his broad back.
  Will yelped in surprise as his balance was thrown off by his friend. He immediately clung onto him as to not fall off, and grew a little nervous when he realized what the purpose of the movement was. "U-uh— Lord, Rudy, okay— Just— Just don't go too fast or tire yourself out—" He muttered to his friend, holding onto his thick, ginger fur and holding onto him tightly.
Rudy heard him, of course, so he only started going with a flick of his ear as a response. He ran forward into an alleyway, letting out a small noise of surprise as a burning board broke and fell down right in their path, continuing to run as he leapt over the beam and out toward the desert. As he ran, he let out snorts and pants from running, knowing that he had to get away from there as soon as possible, especially when his body was stuck like this and he could gain more speed. His eyes focused on the sandy ground as he ran over the hill they had come over, leaving the flaming down behind them.
    Will couldn't help but close his eyes and bury his face in the fur of his friend, feeling his adrenaline begin to pump in his body from how fast they were going. The smoke from being in the burning town burned Will's lungs, and he coughed even as they left it behind. The further they got from the town, the more his chest hurt. This was from both the smoke and thinking of the poor woman they had to leave behind. He missed her already and he wondered and worried where she was going to go.
Rudy felt the same pain in his chest from missing Cibil already, wishing he could just turn back and go help the woman. But she had good intentions in telling them to go on, not wanting their lungs to be harmed from the flames or letting Rudy be seen in his wolf form. It was a motherly thing to do, which they both appreciated.
   
    The wolf continued to run and run for who knows how long, feeling rather blessed that his limbs were only growing a bit sore,  not yet close to aching. It felt like an hour to him, but supposed that it could have been longer. His eyes adjusted to the dark sky around them as he tried to see what was up ahead. After miles of desert, he felt a relief wash over his body as he saw the shapes of trees and grass up ahead. Keeping his quickened pace, he ran ahead from the sandy earth to the cool grass.
As soon as Rudy reached the forest's edge, he felt his limbs tremble and the ache start to settle in. He panted loudly as he collapsed into the grass, Will still on his back.
Will hadn't paid any attention to where they were going. His chest hurt and his throat ached, and for the most part, he kept his face in Rudy's fur. It wasn't until he felt his friend slow and collapse to the ground that he lifted his head and observed their surroundings. "Rudy?" He asked hoarsely, slipping off of his back to sit next to him, ankle still aching from rolling it. "Are you okay?" He asked, putting a concerned hand on his friend's heaving side.
  The wolf continued to pant and tried to breathe heavily, the exhaustion overwhelming his body more than his emotions did as he started to revert back to his human appearance. He let out a few whines, his body turned away from Will so that he wouldn't have to watch. After a brief moment he mumbled out a, "I'm okay." Through a shaky voice, feeling as if his body could just melt into the grass.
Will gave a small sigh and sat with him, hand still on his side although he was now human. "You didn't have to run that long. I told you not to wear yourself out." He said, though it was more out of concern for his being rather than a scolding. "The sun isn't up yet, but it's going to be soon. Can you move?" Will asked him, not wanting either of them to have to sit in the middle of nowhere, exhausted and with no means of getting back to civilization.
"Yes, I just need a second." He mumbled back to his companion as he continued to lay in the grass. He shakily glanced down at his hands which were scuffed up from running over rocks and sand before closing his eyes again. "I needed... to get us... somewhere safe," He muttered through soft, short breaths. "This looked like... the best place." He explained quietly to Will, his eyes closing tiredly again.
    "I know, Ru, I know. You did good. Thank you for lookin' out for us like that. But don't be talkin' too much til you catch your breath." Will nodded, knowing that getting them away from the fire and that creature was the best possible course of action Rudy could've taken. "I know you said you're fine, but. That thing. It didn't getcha, did it?" He asked, turning his head away to let out a gruff cough.
Rudy's eyes seemed to flash open at the mention of the creature, suddenly remembering something from deep down in his brain. Green eyes. He sat up and turned to look at Will, eyes wide as the moon and full of concern as he overlooked Will— turning his wrists over and even trying to inspect his face. "No it didn't— but did it hurt you?" He asked in a rushed manner, practically frantic in making sure he was okay.
Will tilted his face away from him, a little taken aback and a little flustered by how frantic he was about inspecting him. "Naw, Ru, you got it off of me before it even really had the chance to get at me. I think I rolled my ankle when it tackled me, though." He said truthfully, relieved that neither of them had been harmed. "In fact, I barely got to see it with all the dirt in my eyes. I only saw enough of it to mistake it for Curly and then realize it wasn't. What's got you on edge?"
"That— that thing had green eyes, Will! Green eyes!" He frantically explained as he stopped inspecting him, standing and beginning to pace in his tattered clothes. "That was the thing that got me. Back at Fort Smith—out in the pasture—that was it!" He exclaimed as he held his head, feeling a surge of panic and anxiety as his mind kept repeating the image of the green human eyes of the creature's body.
  Will stared up at him wide eyed as Rudy paced, trying to process what he'd been told. It sounded completely insane to him. What would that thing be doing all the way in Dry Point and away from Fort Smith? It was a lot to unpack. "It was the— the same thing? Are you sure?" He said as he stood up, a little wobbly as he tried not to put too much weight on his ankle. He could feel the anxiety radiating off of his friend, and he desperately tried not to absorb it. "No, nevermind, I believe ya. You'd know better than anybody, but— I need ya to take a breath and get ahold of yourself so we can talk and think about this before we freak ourselves out."
Rudy continued to pace about the field, but took a deep breath through his mouth as he held the back of his neck with his hands, "Okay. Sorry." He rambled out as he calmed down some, before slowly exhaling out of his nose. "I know that was it. I'd recognize those damn eyes anywhere and they were right in my face. Again!" He exclaimed as he sat back down in the grass to keep his energy. "As long as you ain't hurt from it, I'm fine. But what in the hell is it doing all the way out here?" He wondered to himself as he put his hand over his mouth in thought, "We can narrow it down. The moon wasn't full last night so it had to have been a born werewolf, right? Like, unless it snapped and changed because of the fire but I dunno." He rambled on and on.
    Will thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah I think it was a born one too, since it didn't seem like it turned because it got emotional. It'd make sense cause it wasn't a full moon when it gotcha, neither." He said, though he couldn't exactly pinpoint why it was there. "But I can't think of any reason it should be so far away from Fort Smith other than the fact that we're away from there. But I ain't too sure I like what that implies...." He said, shuddering at the thought that their fathers weren't the only ones tracking them down.
"You think it's trackin' us? Why would it even do that?" He asked with his eyes wide, biting his long thumbnail as he turned his head to look at Will once again. "I dunno," He sighed, defeated as he put his head into his blistered hands. "I'm too tired to think about it." He muttered to himself.
Will nodded in agreement. Not only was he aching and tired, but it scared him and made him feel nauseous and paranoid. "Well, do you wanna try to walk until we find somewhere safer to sleep?" He asked, not necessarily wanting to sleep in the bug filled grass out in the open, though he supposed he would if Rudy was too tired to go any further.
"Mind if we just find a tree to sleep under? I dunno if I can walk quite a ways." Rudy told him truthfully in a soft tone, picking at the grass out of exhaustion and just pure sleepiness. "My body just really hurts." He stated.
"Yeah, of course, Ru. I just don't want neither of us to be sleepin' out in the open. There's a little tree right over there." Will nodded over to a nice spot under a tree right by the tree line of the forest. He held his hand down to help his friend up so that they could make their way over there to settle down.
    Rudy grabbed a hold of his hand and shakily pulled himself to his feet, noticing that his boots had torn open from his paws ripping through the leather. It made him wince uncomfortably as he sorely limped over toward the tree alongside Will. "I sure do hope Cibil is okay," He muttered.
"I do, too. I wish she coulda come." Was all Will said, heart still hurting for the woman they had to leave behind. The journey to the tree seemed to take forever, both boys limping and trying to support each other's weight. But they eventually made it and when they were close enough, Will plopped to the ground with fatigue, leaning his back against the tree.
Rudy's back slid down the tree trunk before he planted himself at the bottom of the tree, letting out a sigh as he rested his head on the trunk in exhaustion. Rudy sat there in silence before a realization hit him, letting out a gasp and covering his mouth. "Oh no— Henrietta!" The boy turned his head to look at Will. His eyes flooded with tears as he thought about his beloved pet who was left on Cibil's porch.
Will looked confused for a moment, but then he realized what he'd meant and his eyes widened a bit. Internally praying that the hen was safe with Cibil, Will grabbed Rudy's hand and held it to comfort him. "Shoot, I forgot to pick her up. But at least we know she's with Cibil, right? And if Henni can avoid gettin' eaten by Curly, I bet my life she can get away from a fire." He tried to reason with him in hopes it'd keep his morale high. He knew the chicken wasn't stupid and that she loved Rudy, and he seriously doubted she was even hurt.
"But what if something happened to her!" He got out, though he returned the handgrab with a small squeeze of appreciation. His hand covered his watery eyes in embarrassment as he couldn't help but think about if something had happened to the hen. "What if that thing got her, Will? I—I don't know what to do." He mumbled through a mopey voice, almost on the verge of tears.
"Rudy, I don't think that thing was even thinkin' about chickens, seein' as it got me as soon as I stepped foot off of the porch. Especially if it's a born werewolf that's been after us." Will tried to comfort him, returning the small squeeze to his friend's hand. "Listen, Ru, I think she's gonna be just fine. I bet right now, Cibil helped evacuate what was left of the town and grabbed Henrietta and got to safety. But if it'll help ya feel better, we can head back as soon as we get to feelin' rested. Hurts my heart to see you cry like that." He spoke genuinely, knowing that the ginger boy must've been so worried, upset, and stressed about everything.
    Rudy shakily wiped both of his eyes with his hand, sniffling with a soft sigh. "Yeah. She's a smart chicken." He muttered before resting his head back against the trunk as he let out a shaky sigh through his nose. "We should get some rest before sun-up." He commented, staying silent before muttering, "Thank you for carin' so much, Will."
Will gave a small nod before he rested his head on Rudy's shoulder, feeling the exhaustion and fatigue start to creep up on him. "Course, Rudy." He said softly, though the deep care for his friend felt natural, and he felt he didn't need to be thanked for something like that. He said nothing else after that as his thoughts began to melt away alongside his consciousness, eyes falling shut as he fell asleep for the second time that night.
As exhausted as Rudy was from his journey, his tired eyes opened to glance up at the stars. He couldn't wrap his brain around his abundance of feelings. Missing Henrietta and Cibil, fearfulness of the werewolf after him and their fathers, disgust of himself— but one emotion seemed to resonate the most as he glanced down at Will who slept soundly on his shoulder. He felt his freckled cheeks heat up as he tried to find the word to describe it—watching him rest so calmly and closely.
He slowly and carefully leaned his head in to rest it on top of Will's and closed his eyes once more. The moment before he slipped off into slumber, he thought of the perfect word. Love.