Wolf of the West

21

The boiling Arkansas sun slumped down into the horizon soon enough, leaving the werewolf to sit in the stable to watch his demise tick ever closer. It felt like nothing short of torture, being forced to wait as he watched the shadows stretch with the sun. Frankly, he pondered why he had not been killed already—It would be harder to kill Curly than to kill Rudy, right? He thought hard about what that would mean for him as he heard the sounds of hammering and construction down the street. He hung his head in agony as the torturous wait continued on and on, his wrists and feet now numb from the burning silver. Though he was scared, hurt, and confused, he felt his heart ache over the fact that he hadn't seen Will yet. He at least wanted to tell him goodbye and share his final wishes with his companion. What he would do to just see him for one second before the world was put right again. But thinking about his conversation with Virgil, he knew it would be wrong.

Down the main road of the small town, Will easily got out of helping construct the small platform in the town square by telling Virgil that his ankle began to flare up again. Naturally he was told that if he couldn't work, he couldn't wander off and cause trouble either, so he was forced to sit and watch as the platform was built. The more it was finished, the more anxious and sick Will became. He still had no plan, but he was desperate to do something; he had to save Rudy. But the rejection from Chet was a hard blow, and he knew he'd be alone in trying to help his friend. He couldn't help but believe that it would end in fatal failure.
As the sun sunk further down the horizon line, Will could pinpoint the moment the platform was complete by the lack of hammering and the surplus of hoots and hollers from the men, excited to have finally finished the project. Soon after, as the sky was encased in dusk and twilight, Virgil gave the order for the men to retrieve Rudy from the stables.

Rudy, now returned to his human form from the lack of adrenaline and stamina, raised his head up as he heard the crunching of dirt. "Will?" His voice was cracking from lack of use, but he felt his heart sink to the pits of his stomach when the door opened up to reveal two men he had seen in Virgil and his father's group of bounty hunting friends. One man grabbed one of Rudy chains and grabbed a hold of the boy's arm, pulling him up. The other one helped, grabbing him as well to hoist him up and force him to walk in between them. Together, the two men led Rudy out of the stables and down the street to the temporary platform, which already had a small crowd gathered in anticipation. The ginger boy felt panic start to flare in his chest as men forced him into to the platform and chained him to it, and it worsened when he noticed Virgil standing near the platform. He was cleaning a silver dagger with a handkerchief as he waited for the moon to show her pretty face. Much of the crowd consisted of townsfolk from Fort Smith, who quickly recognized Rudy—they began to chatter with concern, though no one was brave enough to make an effort to help him.
As soon as Will saw Rudy being forced onto the platform, he shot to his feet and made his way through as much of the crowd he could. "Rudy!" He called out to his friend, teary eyed just by the sight of him all chained and burned like that. He watched as Rudy made no attempt to fight the men as they chained him up to the platform. He only let out a hiss through his teeth as the silver slipped down from his burnt wrists toward his hands. His ginger head raised when he heard his name be called in the crowd, "Will?" He muttered out as he looked out and saw the boy. His eyes flooded with tears of embarrassment and shame and he couldn't help but turn his head away. He felt that if he couldn't see him, it would be less painful to be up there. "I'm sorry," His voice sounded tired and broken, the sound of tears unable to be heard from how cracked it was.
   Will felt his heart fill with anguish at the sight of what was once his bright, happy-go-lucky best friend. He could only shake his head and force back tears long enough to make it to where his father stood. "Pa, you can't—! You can't hurt him, please don't kill him! Just let us go and we'll never step foot in town again, please, you'll never see us again!" He desperately begged as sobs began to wrack his small frame. He felt sick to his stomach as he felt the start of a fit ebb at his already exhausted lungs. "It ain't that simple, Will. Quit cryin' in my ear and makin' a fool outta yourself in front of half the town." The man responded, glancing at the moon that began to rise in the night sky.