Rourke paused for just a moment to look at the man against the tree. He was clearly an Other, if nothing else his lack of attire gave him away. Even with the light colored pants Illume used to wear, Illume knew not to wander around in the darkness dressed like that. Not anymore. When he was little, maybe, but now, it was a sure way to get killed.
The Other looked up at him, eyes wide with fear and relief as he dumbly nodded at Rourke. Knowing the other Wolf was still lurking about, Rourke turned back to the trees, listening for anything besides the rain that was pouring down around them. Even though he'd killed the first Wolf, the second one wouldn't have fled, instead looking to kill both the Other and himself. Rourke wasn't about to let that happen. He had fought more than two Wolves at once before. He wasn't worried at all.
"What's going on? Who the hell are you? Where are we," the Other stuttered, voice hoarse and broken. Rourke could hear the shake in his words, most likely getting a chill from the air and rain.
"Quiet," Rourke scolded as he searched the trees around them. He didn't move very far from the Other, knowing damned well that if he did, the Wolf would attack.
"Is — is it really dead?"
Rourke looked over his shoulder down to where the Other was still sitting leaned against the tree, water pooling in the turned up mud he sat in. He was shivering, lips turning the same shade of blue as his eyes. Water dripped off the end of his nose and his short yellow hair was stuck in odd clumps to his forehead. Lightning flashed and thunder grumbled, giving Rourke the instant he needed to spot the Wolf lurking in the trees just a few paces away. "Don't move," he ordered the Other, wondering if he was smart enough to listen.
Without giving the Other a chance to answer, Rourke ran for the Wolf, hoping the driving rain would give enough cover for him to not be noticed. The tree leaves were no help in shielding the rain, it was coming down that hard, and he slipped here and there as he ran, but he managed to make it close to the Wolf without being seen. Partly hidden behind one of the larger trees, Rourke watched the Wolf in order to plan an attack. The monster's red eyes were searching for the Other, Rourke could tell from the way its head moved, and he waited until the beast walked by him before he struck.
As soon as the monster's back was to him Rourke moved, thrusting his blade through the Wolf's back into its chest, same as he had done to the first. The Wolf yelped in pain, jumping forward and twisting at it moved away. Rourke lost hold of his weapon thanks to the rain, but that didn't stop him. He ducked under a weak slash of the Wolf's claws, pulled his knife from the sheath at the small of his back and slammed it into the side of the beast's jaw, right where it hinged with the skull. Dark blood erupted from the wound, pouring down Rourke's arm, as well as the Wolf's body. It tried to yelp again, but the knife had severed the muscles of the monster's jaw. Twisting the knife, Rourke pulled it free, jumping away as the beast crashed to the wet ground with a heavy thud. With a sigh, Rourke knelt down next to the Wolf, careful of its claws as it twitched in its death throes. Wiping his knife blade relatively clean on the monster's matted fur, Rourke returned his knife to where it belonged at his back, then rolled the Wolf over so he could pull his sword free of its body. His weapon was covered in mud and blood, and Rourke knew it would be a lot of work to clean it properly.
Repeating the motion of quickly cleaning his sword, Rourke slid his weapon back into its scabbard, then turned to the Other, impressed when he found him sitting in the same spot Rourke had left him. "Come on," Rourke started, reaching out a hand to help the Other to his feet. "Let's get out of the rain. You are not going to last long if you stay like that."
The Other reached up to take Rourke's hand, nodding dumbly at him as Rourke helped him to stand. He was cold to the touch, which wasn't surprising at all to Rourke, even he was feeling the bite of the weather through his clothing. As he was getting his balance, Rourke noticed a dark mark near the Other's eye, and he reached out, touching the spot briefly before the Other jerked away. "What are you doing?"
"You okay," Rourke asked. He knew from his former companion, Molly, an Other herself, that Others had it pretty rough when they first appeared, but this Other looked like he'd gotten hit pretty hard at some point along with everything else that had happened to him. His eye wasn't too swollen yet, possibly thanks to the chill in the air, but the mark around his eye was dark, and would become a horrible bruise.
"No, I'm not okay. I'm wet, and I'm cold, and I just want to go home." Still shivering, the Other wrapped his arms about himself in a feeble attempt to get warm. "What is going on? Where are we? What time is it?"
"Time," Rourke repeated, the word sounding weird as he said it. "I don't know what that is."
"Ha ha, real funny," the Other rolled his eyes at Rourke.
"I wasn't joking." Rourke frowned, turning and pointing off toward where he knew his little cave was. "This way. I have a fire and shelter, as well as some food and clothing you could wear." Rourke didn't even hesitate to offer help to the Other. Out here in the darkness, Rourke knew he could use all the help he could get. Rourke took a couple steps, but stopped when the Other remained standing by the tree.
He was looking down the dead Wolf at his feet. "What about your friends?"
"My friends," Rourke asked, raising an eyebrow as the Other looked up to him and nodded.
"Yeah, some prank. I was totally freaking out. The blood looks so real, too."
"That's not — what?"
"What kind of bullshit game are you playing anyway?"
Rourke choked out an ironic laugh. Others: wherever they came from, Rourke was sure it was a very weird place. "This isn���t a game. That Wolf could have killed you; would have if I hadn't been nearby. What are you talking about?"
"It's cool, you can drop the act now." Despite the shivering, the Other smiled, reaching out with his right hand. "You must be part of the group of media majors Ashli hangs out with. I'm Sammy; what's your name?"
Rourke looked down, noticing several cuts across the Other's hand, and he reached out to examine them better. "Rourke," he replied idly, attention on the wounds to Sammy's hand. There looked to be shards of glass in some of the cuts and if that large gash on his palm wasn't cleaned, it would surely get infected. "What did you do to your hand?"
"I think I punched my bathroom mirror." Sammy frowned. "I know it sounds crazy, but I really do. It's the last thing I remember before waking up here in the rain."
Rourke nodded, thinking back to something Molly had said about a mirror as well. "Let's get back. I can clean your hand when we get to the cave. We need to hurry though. I may have killed those Wolves but that doesn't mean something else isn't nearby, and I don't want to be here if it catches the scent of the blood."
Still holding onto Sammy's wrist, Rourke turned to start walking again, tugging Sammy along, and thinking about Molly. For an Other, she was much more put together than Sammy, but Rourke had to remind himself that the situation had been vastly different. One thing he could remember very clearly though was how much Molly had rambled constant nonsense and needed to be reminded that she wasn't where she thought she was; that these lands were her new home, and that she needed to make the best of them.
Letting go of Sammy's hand, Rourke turned to look at him. Sammy was following along behind Rourke, and from the looks of him, the shivering was getting worse. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Rourke made the quick decision to do something right then, shrugging off his jacket and handing it to Sammy. Instantly, Rourke felt colder, and the heavy rain soaked his shirt, but he would be fine for the short trip back to the cave; Sammy wouldn't be. "Put that on, it's warm."
Sammy looked at Rourke dumbly for a moment before he reached out and took his jacket. He carefully put it on before pulling it tighter around his shoulders. "Thanks," he said through his shivers. "You didn't have to do that."
Rourke shrugged. Sammy was right, he didn't, but he wanted to. "I've met someone like you before," Rourke offered, not sure just how much about himself he wanted to tell Sammy. "Come on, we can talk more in the cave where it's warm and dry."
"I still don't understand what's going on." Sammy stepped up to Rourke and the two walked side by side as they made their way back toward the cave. Sammy was a little shorter than Rourke, but that could have been because he was barefoot while Rourke had his boots on. He was sure the two of them were just about the same height. Sammy was a little thinner than he was in the shoulders, Rourke could tell by the way his jacket hung off of him, but that just reassured Rourke that his extra clothing would fit Sammy, maybe even be a little too big for him.
"It's okay," Rourke started, answering Sammy's worries. "It will take awhile for you to really get used to the situation, but I'm sure you will."
"What situation?" Sammy's voice was starting to sound a little stronger now. Rourke looked over to him. He was still shivering, but there was a different light in his eyes, something more determined than what had been there just moments before. "How long are we going to stay out here before we head back to the city?"
"There are no cities." Cresting the top of a small hill, Rourke could see the large tree that marked the edge of the little valley clearing he had been calling home. "Just over there," he pointed and started to walk down the other side of the hill. Overhead the thunder was beginning to lessen, and the storm beginning to move away. Things would hopefully be calm in the woods for a little while longer before the animals decided it was safe to venture out again.
The little stream was swollen with water, easily overflowing its low banks and flooding the ground around it. Deciding to walk around instead of cutting across and jumping over the water, Rourke led Sammy around the side of the valley and up the slope toward the cave. "Are you able to climb," he asked as they came to the base of the cliff edge. Rourke pointed to where he could see the edge of the mouth of the cave above them with the makeshift door covering the smallest hint of fire glow. "It's just up to there. Not too high."
"I don't have much of a choice, do I," Sammy asked, tipping his head back to look before frowning at Rourke.
"Not really, no. I will go first and help you." Speaking as he moved, Rourke easily climbed up the rock face, sitting on the edge of the small ledge and leaning down to help Sammy up. He was already soaked from the rain, so he didn't even bother with trying to stay dry at this point. He could just dry out his clothes once inside. Rourke could see Sammy wince in pain as he reached up with his right hand, and Rourke decided that he really needed to take care of the injuries to his hand as soon as he could. From the little he had seen of Sammy's movements, he seemed to prefer that hand, same as Rourke preferred his left, so Rourke felt it was important to get his cuts cleaned, and bandaged quickly.
It didn't take much effort between the two of them to haul Sammy up onto the ledge, and then Rourke stood, moving to the brush door and pulling it aside. Warmth flooded out into the chill air, and Rourke ushered Sammy inside, moving the door back into place behind them both before too much of the heat escaped. The fire was still going, but had burned down considerably, and Rourke walked over to the pile of wood he had stacked, taking a piece and tossing it onto the bed of coals.
Rourke moved about the small space easily as he began to settle in, adjusting from tasks outside to tasks inside. Removing the food pouch from his shoulder, Rourke set that down next to his pack before opening it and pulling out the change of clothes he had. It would put some stress on them both, only having the one change of clothing, but it was a lot better than Sammy walking around wearing light pants and no shirt. Shuffling all the clothes into one arm, Rourke picked up the large bowl he had. Turning to Sammy, he pointed to where his pelts were on the rock floor. "Here's the clothes I have, and you can use one of the pelts. I'm going to get some water so we can wash out your cuts."
In the light, Rourke could see just how bad the bruise to Sammy's eye really was; a deep rich purple ringed around blue. He was still shivering, water dripping off his body the same way Rourke was sure it was dripping off himself. Sammy nodded, but didn't speak, and Rourke set the clothes down on the edge of his umbra hide. "I'll be right back. I suggest getting out of your wet clothing, you will warm up faster." Walking passed Sammy for the door, Rourke heard him sniffle and move, but ignored it as he made his way back out into the rain.