Chapter 10

The first time he woke, it was dark. Groggy from the medication, he almost didn't register the bed he was laying in, or the figure by the window, illuminated by moonlight. She was sitting in a chair next to the open window, staring out of it almost wistfully. Though he could not make her out clearly, he could make out her shoulder length hair, the dirtied dress, and her waif-like frame.

He realized that he was looking at Wendy moments before falling back to unconsciousness.

...

When Wolf awoke next, it was morning. At first, he kept his eyes shut, getting a feel for the room using his other senses. While he felt pain across his entire body from the cougar attack, he could tell that he was on pain killers, as the pain itself was not nearly as sharp as it should have been, manifesting instead as a dull throb going throughout his body. He was lying on a bed, covered with a soft blanket. His head felt strange, and he had the urge to touch it, but resisted. He could feel a metal band around his left wrist, and deduced that he was handcuffed to the bed. He felt something hard next to his hand, and lightly pushed it off. It landed with a thump, and Wolf identified it as wood. There was another weight on the bed, but he could not identify what it was. Finally, he could tell from the sounds coming beneath the floor that he was at least in the second story of a house, but possibly higher.

He waited a few moments, counting the seconds in his head, before cracking his eyes open slightly. He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction, seeing that he had been right on all accounts. His head was tilted towards the left, and he could see, along with the wooden floors and drywall, a night stand, on which sat his mask. It had some new marks, and seeing them reminded him of the cougar attack. Another wave of satisfaction came when he remembered finally killing the cat before falling into unconsciousness.

Sitting up, he was just about to try and get out of the handcuffs when he remembered the weight by his feet. Looking down, he gasped when he saw that the weight at his feet was a little girl. Her hair had been cleaned and brushed, showing more blond than when she had been rescued, but there was no doubt in his mind that it was the girl he had saved and sent to Jackson.

His mind worked quickly, piecing together what must have happened. After he had killed the mountain lion, he had fallen unconscious. Some of the Jacksonites must have been near and found him. Seeing his injuries, they must have made the decision to take him back to their town. He was vaguely surprised that they had decided to help him, and not just leave him to freeze. However, he put it out of his mind for now, assuming that it would come up sooner or later.

As he watched, the girl at his feet started to stir. Slowly she sat up on the bed, shaking the sleep from her eyes. In the morning light, she seemed to glow with a youthful light. It seemed to take away all of the worldly fatigue and depression, and show the little girl that she was. She slowly shook her head, trying to wake up, before looking at him. When her eyes met his, he didn't make any moves, trying not to startle her. It was too late, however, and she fell out of the bed, surprised that he was looking back. Before he could say anything, she ran from the room, leaving the door wide open and Wolf alone.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps on hard wood stairs and then his floor. A man came into the room, watching him closely. He was tall and gaunt, and wore jeans, a T shirt, and a stained lab coat. His face was angular, and had a rough stubble covering it. His hair was cut high and tight, and was black with splotches of grey. All and all, the man looked like an underground doctor.

The doctor approached Wolf easily, unafraid of him. When he reached him, the doctor took down the blanket, examining Wolf's bandaged chest and left arm. His poking and prodding caused Wolf to grunt, which caused the doctor to chuckle and call him a wimp. After a few moments poking, he started to take off Wolf's bandages, and spoke while he did. His voice had a southern accent, and seemed to have a gravelly tone to it.

"So, tangling with a cougar was your idea of a good time, eh?" He said with a smile, his jest for some reason putting Wolf at ease. It was a harmless joke, and made the doctor seem like less of a nameless, hostile stranger.

"Not really." Wolf said shortly, surprised by the lack of pain from speaking. He must have been out longer than he had guessed. "It wasn't very fun at all." As an after thought, he asked, "Is the girl alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine, just got a scare was all. I sent her to fetch her, well, daddy I guess. He'll be along in a minute or so." Jericho wondered at this, curious to see who had taken the girl and boy in. The doctor finished taking off the bandages, and said more to himself than Wolf, "In the meantime, let me look you over."

He ran his hands along the cuts and stitches that Wolf had suffered from the cougar, and a few that he hadn't and he'd had to bind himself. The doctor remarked a few times about the sloppy stitch work Wolf had done, to which Wolf would simply shrug. After a few minutes of this, the doctor stood and gave his prognossis.

"Stitches are looking good. Had to take a few of your old ones out while you were asleep, so no need to worry. Just rest for a few days, and the stitches should be ready to come out. Afterwards, your skin will be fine, but you will be sore as a mother-fucker, so try not to fight anyone." He spoke into a note pad, writing as he talked. Picking his head up, he seemed to remember something. Looking at Wolf, he said coolly, "Sorry about the hair cut, by the way. Had to stitch you up, and your hair was too clumpy and matted with blood."

Confused, Wolf brought his hand to his head, only to find that it had been shaved down nearly to the skin, with only a couple millimeters of hair left on his head. Following the now-cut hair down, he felt the hair suddenly change once he got to his face. Feeling around, he discovered that they had left his facial hair intact. When he sent the doctor a questioning look, the man simply shrugged and said, "We wanted to let you decide to keep or lose the beard."

"We?" Wolf said, curious as to how many people knew he was there.

"That would be me." A voice spoke, belonging to a tall man standing in the doorway. He walked in easily, his work boots thudding on the floor heavily. He was dressed in jeans, and overcoat, a scarf that was pulled off of his face and draped over his shoulder, and was covered in a light dusting of snow that the heat of the house had yet to melt completely. His face was aged, but held a certain optimistic quality to it, making the man seem younger.

"Sorry about the snow doc, was in a hurry." The man apologized, receiving a glare and short nod in response as the doctor left the room to clean up the mess. Left alone, the man then turned and looked Wolf up and down, searching for something.

"So, you're the famous Mr. Wolf." He finally said. He would have gone on if he wasn't cut off by the man to which he spoke.

"And you're the leader of this place, Tommy." Wolf said this in a voice that was not threatening, but still managed to stop Tommy in his tracks. Wolf wasn't finished, however, and asked a simple question. "Now that we both know each other, tell me why I'm here."

Tommy was initially taken aback by Wolf's brashness, but shrugged it off quickly. "Well," He began, trying to put forth a serious air. "A week ago, we had a couple of our people out hunting, and they found where you had your tussle with the lion. Good work, by the way. Them things have killed a couple of us over the years. Less of them the better. Anyway, they found you and dragged you a couple of miles back here, where we patched you up. You've been out for about a week.

When Tommy finished, Wolf took a moment to digest the information, the pieces falling into place just as he thought they would. There was, however, one question he couldn't guess at.

"So, why?" He asked, causing Tommy to tilt his head in confusion.

"Why what?"

"Why help me?"

"Why do you think?" Tommy chuckled, having a little fun at Wolf's confusion. "You helped us, why wouldn't we help you? If it matters, the town was asked to vote on whether to kick you out as soon as you could walk or to let you stay for a while, and they picked option B. Everyone here knows what you did for us, and we don't just abandon good people."

"How close was the vote?"

"About 70/30. Some were kind of skeptical about letting a trained killer into the camp, but Ellie, Kevin, Joel and I brought most of them around."

Wolf was silent, surprised at the response. They saved him, and wanted nothing in return. It seemed too good to be true, which meant it probably was. He would have to be ready for when the time came.

"So, with that said, welcome to Jackson!" Tommy said with a smile, raising his arms wide and walking around the room theatrically. "Some rules; no killing, help where you can, don't steal, don't be an asshole. That's it, pretty much. You'll learn the rest as you go."

Tommy was turning to leave when he remembered something. Turning back, he spoke. "Your clothes were pretty well shredded, but I will have some sent over for you. You probably won't be able to get out much yet, but they're there when you need them. The handcuff key is in the drawer to the left of you. Wouldn't have put them on, but the doc was worried that you would thrash around and rip out your stitches. Sorry about that."

As Tommy turned to leave, Wolf remembered something this time. "Why was the girl in here with me today?"

"She's been in here every day with you." He said without turning. "She won't tell us why, but we thought that it might be good for her. She hasn't seemed to take an interest in much else. Her name is Juno, by the way." With that, he left, his boots thudding in the hall and down the stairs until Wolf heard the none-too-gentle slam of the house door.

...

It had been a couple hours since Tommy had left, during which he questioned the doctor about his status. As it turned out, most of his injuries were minor flesh wounds, aside from the concussion he got while tumbling down the hill. Afterwards, he tested for himself how well he was.

He got up and stretched, moving and contorting each limb to find out how far was too far for the stitches. He was pleased to find that he could move rather well with only a small degree of pain. As long as he didn't over do it, most of the stitches would be out in a couple of days. He stretched for a few minutes, looking out of his large window into the town. Everything was covered in a few feet of snow, and many of the towns inhabitants busied themselves shoveling. Those who weren't walked around the courtyard of the town, went in and out of what looked like a bar, and skittered back to their homes, trying to stay warm. It was definitely a strange sight, and one that he would have to get used to, if he was going to stay here, which he was still debating. Finished with his stretch, he was overcome with a wave of exhaustion from the exercise, and he had to lay down and rest.

He was dosing when his next visitor arrived.

The knock at the door woke him from his near-sleep, causing him to bolt upright and momentarily forget where he was. The pain reminded him, and he sunk back into his bed with a groan. Taking this as his accent to come in, the door opened to reveal a red faced, bundled up Ellie holding his cloths. Walking in, she slammed the door, stomped off her boots, and took off her coat, and exclaimed "Christ is it COLD out there!"

She reached down and grabbed the bundle of cloths before throwing it at him. As he reached up and caught it, his stitches again roared in protest. He grunted and set the bundle down onto his bed before slowly relaxing back, hoping to not cause the stitches any more issues.

"Sorry!" Ellie squealed, realizing her error. "Totally forgot about the cougar thing! Still hurting pretty good, yeah?"

"I'm fine." Wolf said, vaguely annoyed that she thought that he was hurt, even if it was true.

"Really?" She said incredulously with a sarcastic smirk. "Because, if I were you, I would probably be feeling like a mountain lion just kicked the shit out of me. But, hey, that's just me."

Wolf sighed, defeated. He couldn't hide his state from anybody. For the first time he could remember, he felt embarrassment.

"Then again, most people who get ambushed by a mountain lion generally don't feel much afterwards, so you got that going for ya." She finished with a wink, taking away some of Wolf's embarrassment.

"I suppose so. You one of the people who dragged me here?"

"Yup. How'd you guess?"

"Most people would have been frightened of the mask. Joel help too?"

"No, it was me and Kevin. Found you and dragged you a few miles out to the main road, then I stayed with you while Kevin went back to town to grab a car."

"I thought Kevin was scared of me." Wolf said, confused. The last time that Kevin had seen him, he thought Wolf was a monster who was literally about to eat him.

"He got over it." She said with a wave. "He realized that he would probably be dog food if it wasn't for you, and felt pretty shitty about the way he acted."

"Tell him that he doesn't need to."

"Well, I already did. Doesn't help. If you run into him, patch things up, yeah?"

Wolf nodded in agreement. He bore no ill will towards Kevin, and didn't want the boy to be concerned for his feelings. The sentiment was nice though.

"So, is that all you came for?" He asked as Ellie lingered in the room.

"No, not quite." She spoke with ease, indicating that the news, whatever it was, wasn't bad. "I was also supposed to tell you that I was going to take you for a tour of the town when you're up to it. Just to, like, show you around and get you more familiar than you already are." She emphasized the last part, alluding to Wolf's spying on the town.

"Sounds good." He said

"Great." But still Ellie didn't leave. There was something she wasn't saying, and it started to bug Wolf.

"What?" He asked, impatient at being kept in the dark.

"Well, this is kind of awkward, but the town doesn't want you to have your weapons." She cut him off when he tried to speak, wanting to get the message delivered. "Just give them some time, and they will let you have them back. They're just nervous of you man. And don't freak out, you are totally safe here. Your gear is safe too! I talked Tommy into letting me hold it at my house, 'cause I figured that you would be more comfortable with that. Please don't be mad."

Ellie was visibly uncomfortable, and waited for Wolf's response with dread. When Wolf was sure it was his turn, he spoke easily. "I figured that you guys would do that, and its fine. As long as they are safe, I'm fine."

"Really?" Ellie sagged, visibly relieved that he wasn't pissed.

"Sure. I mean, I've killed people with bricks, pencils, books, rocks, cinder-blocks, rope, knives, shovels, glass, road pavement, chairs. I think I'm fine without my guns. Especially since I know where my things are." He looked at Ellie, only to see her standing there looking mortified. Despite himself, he let the corner of his mouth curl in a small smile.

"Did you just tell a joke?" She asked, suddenly seeming angry.

"Yes, I believe I did." Wolf held the small smile on his lips, barely making the corners of his mouth curl. Ellie, meanwhile, was grinning widely.

"Well, miracles happen every day." She said, laughing. They talked for a bit longer, about nothing in particular, before she finally bid farewell.

"Night." She said, turning and walking out the door. Just when Wolf thought that he was alone, however, Ellie popped her head back in the door. She looked at him for a moment, and then smiled as she yelled, "Glad you're not dead, by the way!" And then she was gone.

...

As he lay in bed that night, Wolf stared at the ceiling, thinking. He wasn't nervous about sleeping, as he had taken some precautions to make sure nobody would enter his room without waking him up. After all, better safe than sorry. He thought about perhaps trying to leave though the window, but killed the idea quickly. He had no winter wear or weapons, meaning he couldn't make it back to his house if he ran. Plus, he didn't feel very threatened here.

Putting his safety out of his mind, he thought back to Juno. He wondered why she would want to be around him so much, and he could not figure it out. After all, if Ellie was to be believed, most people here were afraid of him. Maybe she was grateful for the rescue? Or maybe it was something else. He had already been able to tell that the girl had been through a lot, enough to damage anybody. The fact that she could still function was in its self was amazing. Maybe she thought that they were similar, and gravitated towards him. Whatever the case, he needed to watch out for her.

Confused and troubled, he drifted off to a fitful sleep, haunted with his bad dreams, as he was whenever he slept.

...

The boy woke in pain. Pain in his chest, in his head, in his back. He could see nothing, and felt nothing except pain. It was a fire that scorched his skin and bones. It surrounded him like a dark fog. He tried to move, to escape, but could not. He was tied down to something and his bonds would not break. He screamed, hoping that someone would hear him and make it all go away. He screamed and screamed, and eventually, a hand covered his mouth. He still screamed, the fire unbearable. And then he felt something enter his arm, and the pain seemed to leak out of him, like water from a punctured bottle.

He slipped into unconsciousness as the fire receded to embers, not gone, only appeased for the moment.

Not dead. Just a short chapter to help get back into the swing of things. As always, thanks go out to Leider Hosen. As always, please feel free to leave a review. See ya!