Blutbad Chapter 7 – Hello, I Love You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name

Slowly the pain of his existence crept into his mind as he drifted into consciousness, his eyes snapping open he wondered if being alive and not a member of the undead was a blessing or a curse. At seventeen years of age now, Kevin has seen more than his fair share of hardship in his short life, sleep being only a temporary release from it, but at least there he could see the blue-eyed boy again. Trying to sit up, the wound on his chest and back hurt and he hisses at the sudden sensation, a gentle hand stopping him from making the attempt any further, "Lay back down, you need your rest." Looking up, he peers into the gentle brown eyes of an older man who had a concerned look upon his face, "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," he groaned as he adjusts to prop himself up into a sitting position.

He pours a glass of water, "That's understandable after the night you had," and hands the glass to the boy, taking it, he drinks it down in two gulps, "What's your name?"

"Kevin," he pants and the man takes the glass from him to refill it, "Barr."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kevin, I'm Dr. Williams," he places the glass upon the bedside table for when the boy wanted it and gets up off the edge of the bed to retrieve his stethoscope. "You've been a sleep for nearly two days son," and the boys stomach growls, "And apparently very hungry, I'll have my new assistant make you something once he gets back," he sits again and starts to examine the boys heart.

"Thank you,' was the red heads simple response.

He motions for the boy to stay quiet so he could listen to the innerworkings of his chest, "Don't be thanking me just yet." He moves the instrument from the middle of his chest to the right side, "Take a deep breath, there will be a man coming here in a few short hours, and exhale." Moving to the other side, "And again, he's going to ask you several questions about yourself, and let it out."

The doctor puts his stethoscope down around his neck, "I understand," Kevin replies.

"I don't think you do son," the doctor beings to check his lymph nodes at his jaw line and neck, "At best you will be arrested and brought before the council for further questioning, but if he's in a bad mood you might just find yourself back out the gate with only what your wearing." Kevin became painfully aware that he wasn't wearing much right now, "Which unfortunately is only a pair of underwear right now."

The door bursts open as Edd comes rushing in, the doctor drops his hands into his lap and looks toward the door, "I'm sorry doctor, it took Marion and Anthony a minute to adjust the pants to the right size."

The doctor stands and heads in his direction, "That's fine, just hand them to Mr. Barr over there so he can make himself more presentable. Then go ahead and make our guest something to eat,"

Looking into the room he whispers as the man passed by him, "Oh, he's awake."

"Yes Edd, he's finally awake," he begins to climb the stairs in the hall, "I'm going to take a nap, call me when the captain arrives." Reaching the top of the stairs he whispers, "Please talk to the boy and get to know him, maybe he'll trust you enough to talk," as though he knew that Edd would be able to hear him.

Walking over to the bed, he places the bundle of clothes at the foot and nervously began to speak, "Hello, my names."

"Edd," Kevin finished for him while reaching over for the clothes.

"Quite right, you obviously heard that," the boy groaned as he pulled the shirt over his torso. Edd walked out of the room as the boy swung his legs over the side of the bed to put on the pants, "We don't have much to offer at the moment," he called back to the boy over his shoulder as he walked. Reaching the kitchen, he rifled through the cabinets and called out, "We've got cheese and umm bread and water."

"That's more than enough, thank ya," the red head replied as he shuffled towards the boy.

Spotting some butter he asks, "Would you like that grilled? It might take me a little longer to prepare it."

"What?" The voice came from behind Edd and he turned quickly to see that their visitor was standing at the doorway.

Collecting himself after seeing the tall handsome boy with the sad green eyes standing so close, he sputters out, "I asked if you wanted it grilled, you know grilled cheese." The boy's eyes looked confused, "Don't tell me you've never had a grilled cheese sandwich."

"No, I haven't," to be honest Kevin just got the scraps from his father's table mostly, and probably couldn't recall the taste of meat for the life of him, it's been that long since he's had any.

"Where have you been living, under a rock?" Kevin's eyes looked a little sad remembering where he was from and the life he has lead. Edd quickly seeing this, comes up to the boy and places a hand on his forearm, catching his eyes, "I'm sorry." And Kevin instantly remembers the boy in his dreams, though he has never seen his face, it was always obscured by shadow, it was the look in those eyes and the sound of his voice that reminded him of him. "That was supposed to be a joke," Edd motioned toward the nearby chair, "Come on, sit down and I'll make you one." Edd lights the stove as Kevin took a seat at the small table, "So why don't you tell me a little of what you have seen of the world," he was trying to keep the conversation going and break the ice between them.

"Not much to say really," he scratched the back of his ear, "It's big."

"Oh," he sits and begins prepping the bread and cheese, "I was hoping that you could tell me if it is as scary out there as some people around here make it out to be, or if it is as beautiful as my mother remembers it."

"I don't know what they make of it around here," he wasn't sure what to say or if the boy really would want to hear it, his trained fear of being noticed by his father was telling him to talk as little as possible. But a small part of him was reminding him that he wasn't around his old man anymore and that it was alright to speak, "But yes, it is scary out there, specially at night, and to be honest I haven't seen much of it, but what I have seen is pretty."

"Did you live in a town like this?"

"No, we moved around a lot," his voice was barely a whisper, "Most of what I can recall was of being in some old house, tidying up the place. Either that or I was cookin for my old man and his friends, and then it would be back in the truck to make our way to the next place."

"Is your father the one who," Edd stopped himself from asking about the scars on his body, he wanted to know, but felt it might be a tender subject from him.

He touches his chest with his right hand, "Oh, these," and his eyes looked sad again, "Yeah that was him. He didn't take to kindly to a burnt meal or a house that wasn't to his liken, or much a anything really. I just learnt to keep my head down and mouth shut," he visibly deflates while thinking about his father.

"So, is that what you were running from?" Now that the skillet was good and hot Edd puts the sandwich in it, and Kevin perks up at the sound and smell.

He nods, "He was piss drunk and as mad as an old badger last I saw him, nearly took my head off with the bottle. Caught me by surprise when he threw it, it did have some liquor left in it after all, must have been too plastered to notice." He pondered this for a moment as Edd gasped at the thought, but went back to his story quickly, "But when he swung at me, he missed and tripped over his own feet, hittin his head on the sink, I just thought he'd done killed himself. So, I ran for the hills, I feared what his friends might do to me once they done found his dead body and all."

"Dear god that sounds awful," Edd flips the sandwich.

"So, I ran and ran till I caught winda somethin, and I just followed it, ran into those dead heads along the way but never stopped makin my way toward that scent."

Edd perked up at that information, "So you are a wolf?"

"Born and breed," Kevin sounded and looked proud at this fact.

"I wouldn't be so boastful about that around here," he sits down quickly, putting his hand on Kevin's forearm, "If they find out, your life could be in danger."

"Your burning it," Kevin points at his lunch on the stove.

Edd cursed under his breath as he stood to retrieve the sandwich from the skillet, placing it on a plate he sits it upon the table in front of Kevin, "Sorry it got a little singed."

Kevin picks it up and takes a bit, and god was it a slice of melted goodness, "Lord boy, this is some mighty fine cookin, will you please marry me?"

Edd blushes mildly at the joking proposal, but quickly returned to his early train of thought, "But I'm serious here Kevin, they might kill you if they find out you're a wolf, so you might not want to tell them that part."

"Well lying aint a real nice way to start a new friendship, now is it. Besides being a wolf doesn't make me a bad person just like it doesn't make you a bad one," he taps the side of his nose, "The nose knows." He chuckles warmly at his little quip, "But if they wanna hurt me for who I am, then maybe I don't wanna stay here then, and just maybe you should leave with me, since they're going to find out about you too someday."

"But," Edd starts.

"I know, your families here," Kevin sighed slightly, "Then that means I got to stay to," he smiles devilishly, "For how else am I gonna get to know a cutie like you otherwise," he bops his nose then takes a bit of his sandwich.

Edd blushes again, unsure on how to take this charming boy, although he also wanted to get to know Kevin as well, his logical side wanted to ask him all sorts of question about his wolf side, to also learn more about himself and his own nature. His emotional side was definitely liking the flirty nature of the boy and found him to be quite attractive as well, an urge to find out how the boys lips tasted filled his mind at this moment, "Probably like cheese," he thought to himself. Edd cleared his mind and went back to the logical side of things, "You might want to take this time and think about what you're going to tell them then. The captain is not very trusting of outsiders to begin with, and most certainly not of wolves, having lost his wife and son to them all those years ago."

"Oh," Kevin now understood that it wasn't just a simple fear of the unknown with these people, it was the fact that they had been hurt by wolves in the past that made them fear them. But he had made a choice, he wasn't going to lie, for how would it look to them if he was discovered later, "You will save me if they try ayn' kill me, like Pocahontas done faw John Smith."

"I am not jumping in front of an axe for you," Edd said seriously.

"Hey, it was wortha shot," he chuckled lightly, he couldn't remember the last time he was so at ease and didn't have to look over his shoulder or watch what he said. Even though he knew that in less than a couple of hours he would be face to face with another man who would try and bully him like his father did.

A/N- Ok since I am not fluent in Redneckanies Kevin will have a mild accent, if it strays please don't hold it against me.