From the past? ...I shouldn't be surprised, hm. I hadn't met anyone here from the future or past, most of us seem to have come from other worlds entirely. Though I guess you could say the past is another world.
As for what's going on, a tornado--apparently they're called vortexes--has taken you from wherever-you-were and replaced someone who was here with you. There is no going back, apparently. Though truthfully, I don't want to go back. Here I'm not hunted. That makes things much easier.