Watchers in the Woods

Chapter 6: A familiar stranger

"Um Sean.." He was still so ever glued to the Journal. I tugged at his shirt to grab his attention.

"what is it Rac-  Holy shit..." We were both staring at a red pooled puddle that was growing steadily every second on the ground.

"ugh.. help.."

"what was that" I said as I jerked back.

"Someone's at the door" Sean was staring at the trapdoor.

"somebody... please..." There it was again.

We bored into each other's wide opened eyes. It was then I took notice of his. He had blue eyes, not just blue, but blue like the ocean a soothing colour. And his face?It was gorgeous and his...

"Uh Rach?" He waved his hand back and forth over my dazed face, which I swore a creepy smile was plastered on it, with a confused look. I broke away my intense gaze and I wiped my mouth with my hand just in case i was drooling or something. HA what a joke.

"And for a moment I thought u were in love with me or something" he burst out in laughter.

"har har har, very funny Sean" I replied with a hint of surprise. Not at him, but at me! what was i doing just staring at him...

" we gotta help him or her or... whatever's saying that" Sean spoke as he gestured me to climb up the trapdoor.

"We?" I shot him an are-you-ridiculous look "Yea genius, I can totally climb with my leg like this" I proclaimed sarcastically as I pointed to the horrible state that my leg was in. The bandages were already soaked in my own blood and were a bright crimson.

He flushed and finally went up by himself.

"I'll be back soon, babe" he looked back and winked at me.

"Gross! Go try that on someone else, dork."  I teased with a hint of satisfaction and my victorious mock. But it felt good to be called that...

You have to stop this habit Rachel.. "you're right" i caught myself talking to no one but that voice in my head. Getting into a relationship seemed like a good idea, but so was getting on the titanic and look what happened there.

"Yea yea, whatever" were his last words and he disappeared into the night.

Night? Whoa its gotten so dark already... I thought as i caught a peak at the pitch black sky,without a star in sight, through the open door. Alpha's probably got his pack back to hunt. That can't be good...

I waited then the thought of Sean getting ambushed by the wolves or who knows what that's lurking in the bushes of the woods... stop it rachel, think about something else... something happy...something nice... like you and Sea-

Thump.

The trapdoor opened sightly ajar and the first thing I saw was a lifeless hand.

" Help me out here asshole?"

I rolled my eyes instinctively and let out a "tsk" before I  limped my way to the ladder. More and more water was beginning to enter.

"If you hold that door open for a while longer, soon enough we might just have a death by drowning rather than death by those wolves out there which I'm not prepared for." He let out a snigger but  adhered and shut the door. "Well at least I'll get to see you wet before I die" he said wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"The only thing your gonna see wet is your dick after I kick your sorry ass till you bleed Sean" I pulled off the 10-year-old-can-I-please-get-that-dad, puppy eye face " So why don't u stop messing around and get your head straight here Sean" with a more serious tone.

He held his hand to his lips, obviously to hold in his laughter and blurted "you look hot when your angry" then he immediately cupped his mouth and apologized for saying that. I rolled my eyes for the second time that day but couldn't help releasing a tiny smile. Why did I feel a prickling sensation all over my body when he said that?

The sight before me almost made my cheeseburger, from earlier that day, to resurface. The man that we have brought in was drenched with rain water and stained by blood. I could barely make out his face as it was so badly scarred and was literally layered with dried blood with some fresh stains of new blood.

"I found him not too far off from here. He was definitely heading somewhere." Sean said as he pointed to a map in his hands.

I struggled to take the map out of his hand. He had it clutched in his hand as if he was protecting it. I opened it and to my utter shock, it was a definitely the same map that we had.

*cough* *gag*

Sean and I stepped back as the man started to regain consciousness.

"wa...ter..." adhering to his words, I swiftly grabbed a bottle of water that was from our supply cabinet and handed it over to the man.

He drank in big gulps and had downed the bottle in a matter of seconds. Damn where did this guy come from? the sahara? 

He did leave a little bit of water which he used to wash his face and after a few curious squints and mulling,i could make out his face. He had a beard which he clearly hasn't had the equipment or the time to shave or to comb through it. It was as long as well, it was really long, Definitely would take a few years to get that length of a beard. His hair was tangled in a mess which even Einstein couldn't solve, and his eyes... there was something in his eyes that struck me. It was filled with despair, loneliness, loss, anger and fear paramounts it all.

He stared at me with a cold hard look in his eyes. I could tell, i didn't like him that much, and neither did he. I glanced up at Sean who was getting some bandages when he stopped dead in his track. He just stood there, with my mouth agape, his eyes a little teary and he said one word:

"Dad..?"