Wolf of the West

15.

   Will only got to sleep for a couple of hours before the sun crept its way through the branches of the small tree they were sleeping under. A beam found its way to his tan face, making it scrunch up as his sleep was bothered. With a sleepy yawn, the small boy blinked his eyes open to find himself still cuddled up next to his friend under the tree. Sleeping nearly upright left him feeling with an achy pain in his neck, and the tree had dumped a few leaves in his hair in the middle of the night. With a small groan, he carefully sat up and rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced to his friend. "Ru?" He asked quietly, as to not disturb him right away.
The freckled boy laying asleep beside him had seemed to fallen over into the grass in the night, letting out soft snores as his chest slowly rose and fell. Leaves littered on top of him and even a small beetle was crawling its way up his arm. He stirred for a moment when his name was said, but seemed to slip right back into his sleep.
   Will felt a small jolt of fear upon spotting the bug, but he quickly and disgustedly (and maybe even a in a bit of a panic) flicked it off of his friend before giving his shoulder a steady shake. "Rudy, it's time to get up. You got bugs on ya, and— lord I might have bugs on me—" he realized, quickly rising to his feet despite the aching pain in his ankle. He began to worriedly shake out his clothes and hair, trying not to pay attention to the aches all throughout his body that urged him to lay down and go back to sleep next to his best friend.
Rudy's blue eyes groggily blinked open as he let out a soft yawn, giving a sleepy glance to Will who was shaking himself out. "Mmh?" He mumbled as he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and wiping the small amount of drool on his chin. "I'm up, I'm up." He sighed as he cracked his back, letting out a soft groan at how loud the pops were. He looked down at his clothes to see how tattered and torn they were, remembering what happened that night. He sighed and shakily stood up, holding onto the tree branch for support.
Will tugged at the collar of his shirt in order to look down it and check his own torso for beetles and ticks. "Mornin'. You woke up with a bug on ya so you might wanna check yourself cause I don't think I can handle tick bites on top of how bad my body hurts." He said in a sleepy, half joking tone, feeling relief wash over him when he felt satisfied with his bug inspection. After that, he glanced at his friend as he stretched his limbs. "You alright, Ru?"
   Rudy overlooked his arms and legs, peering down the collar of his shirt to see that he was clean of bugs. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just waking up." He stated with a stretch of his arms. "Sorry that I didn't pick the most comfortable spot, Will, I was just tuckered out last night." He apologized.
"Naw, I know that. I didn't want ya to push yourself any further anyway, so don't feel sorry. I just don't like bugs." He told him genuinely, feeling his tense shoulders give a satisfying pop as he stretched them. "So, what's our plan?" He asked after a moment of silence. If they returned to Dry Point, he figured they'd better not go the way they came in case that thing actually was tracking them, on top of the mob.
   "I'm not sure. Hell, I don't even know which direction we came from." He stated as he scratched the back of his head, looking out at their desert-like surroundings. He opened his mouth to continue to speak, but turned his head as his ear caught a shrill sound. His blue eyes scanned the forest, trying to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from. "Y'hear that?" He asked Will, not taking his eyes off of the woods.
Will turned to look in the direction Rudy had. "Only barely." He said, straining his ears to listen for the noise again, not immediately being able to pinpoint where or what it was. "What was it?" He asked, growing a bit nervous as his mind came up with things that could have been the source of the noise. "Should we go look?"
   "I'm goin' to. It might be a person, or maybe an animal. If you wanna stay here, you can. I don't wantcha gettin' scared or anything." He stated, glancing back at Will. "I mean, unless you wanna come." He commented. More than anything, he just wanted him to be safe.
   Will shook his head and shuffled closer to him. He was a little scared, but he'd made up his mind. "No, if you're goin', I'm goin'." He responded immediately, not wanting to even lose sight of him, let alone accidentally get separated from him. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost Rudy at that point in time. "I'm followin' you." He said, motioning for him to lead the way.
Rudy gave a slight nod before trudging through the grass toward the forest's edge. He hesitated only a moment to find where the noise was, stepping into the brush and looking around the dense forest. The noise seemed to grow louder, then softer, then louder than softer again. It confused him. As he stepped around a tree, he heard the noise much louder. The noise clicked in his head. Harmonica. "Will, it's a harmonica." He told his companion over his shoulder, now knowing that it was a person playing the instrument.
   As soon as Rudy pointed it out, it seemed to click in Will's mind. "Yeah— I hear it now." He said with a small nod as he scanned the forest for any sight of the source, following closely behind Rudy. "But who's playin' it?" He asked quietly, hoping it wasn't anybody dangerous—especially not the werewolf that was hunting them down.
   Rudy peeked his head out from around a large oak tree, his eyes locking onto a figure that sat on a log by a small campfire.
The figure had black hair that was tightly braided and put over their shoulder, copper skin, and rather dirty clothes. They continued to play the harmonica with closed, calm eyes as they heard the fire crackle. A small stove was set up on top of the fire, cooking a small pot of beans.
    "Looks like a traveler or somethin'." Rudy muttered to Will, stepping back from the tree to look at his companion and not be seen.
   Will glanced for a moment at the stranger before he met Rudy's gaze, still a bit on edge about the potential danger. "Yeah, looks like it.....Should we leave......'em alone?" He asked, realizing that the only thing he could really pinpoint about the stranger was that they were about their age, if not a tad bit older.
Rudy once again opened his mouth to respond, but felt his hairs stand up on end as he heard a voice ask from behind the tree.