Forager (9781771275606) (33 page)

Me!

It was awesome.

“
The boy is guilty of killing a deer,” the mayor said. “All of
you know that we don’t let crimes go unpenalized. He has to be
punished.”

I saw my opportunity. Right here, right now. The mayor was
surrounded by the town. He wouldn’t be able to walk away. He’d have
to answer.

“
Mayor!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Why is it illegal to
hunt? Why is killing a deer wrong?”

Murmurs of agreement filled the crowd. It seemed I wasn’t the
only one who wanted an answer.

“
I’m the mayor! I don’t have to explain my laws!”

Fred gave me a warm, wet nuzzle on the back of my neck. I
turned around and looked straight into her big brown eyes. She
whinnied softly as if to say,
Hurry up already, let’s get this done and get out
of here.
Sawyer laughed out loud.

“
You!” The mayor yelled at Sawyer. “Get that boy up here for
his punishment. It’s your job to help enforce local
laws.”

“
I’m not sure that would be the best idea,” Sawyer said in
voice that sounded choked, like he was struggling to hold in
immense anger or great laughter.

“
I’ll have you fired! Once the governor hears about this,
you’ll be no better than a Scavenger.”

“
Nice try Harold, but we both know you won’t tell the governor
about this. If you did, you’d have to explain to him what you won’t
explain to these people. Why not get it out in the open and let
people decide for themselves?”

The mayor pointed at the crowd. “They don’t need to
know!”

“
If you don’t tell them, I will.”

The mayor turned to Eric, the Bull with a gun. “If he so much
as opens his mouth again, put a bullet in him.”

Eric spoke loud enough so that we could all hear him. “You
know full well I can’t shoot a Forager.”

The mayor’s face was so purple it was almost black. I’d never
seen him this angry. He turned to Eric and said, “Fine, give me
that gun and I’ll shoot him myself.”

“
I don’t think so.” Kurt stepped forward and took the revolver
from Eric. We all watched as he opened the gun and let the bullets
fall to wooden floor of the platform. “Now, mayor, I suggest you
tell these people what they want to know. I can only do so much to
protect you. If you continue to antagonize this crowd, Eric and I
can’t be responsible for your safety.”

“
I’m the mayor!” He stomped his feet, like a child having a
hissy fit. “I make the laws! It’s not for any of you to question
me!”

Someone yelled, “He can’t talk to us like that.”

Someone else shouted, “We’re not serfs, we’re citizens. We
have a right to know.”

More and more people spoke out. For a moment I was afraid the
crowd was going to turn into a mob. Sawyer spoke over the angry
murmuring of the crowd. “Harold, tell them about your brother.” His
words hushed the townsfolk.

I remembered Sawyer mentioning the mayor’s brother, something
about an accident. What did the mayor’s brother have to do with
this?

The mayor’s jaws were clenched and his lips were pressed
together in a thin line. “I told you to be quiet, Sawyer! This is
none of your business!”

“
If you don’t start talking, I will. Come on Harold, you’ve
carried your secret long enough. Tell these people about the
accident. Tell them how your brother died.”

The mayor closed his eyes and shook his head. I wasn’t sure he
was going to say anything until his shoulders slumped. The crowd
was instantly silent. No one wanted to miss a word.

He opened his eyes, scanned the crowd, took a deep breath,
closed his eyes again, and said in a quiet voice that still somehow
carried, “My brother, Charles…was seventeen…when…when he
died.”

“
Tell them about the hunt,” Sawyer said. His voice held none of
the anger, none of the goading from earlier.

After another deep breath, the mayor continued, “Charles was a
year younger than me. We did everything together, including deer
hunting.” Each word came out slowly, like he was dragging them out
of a deep hole. “We set out to get our bucks on a cold November
morning,” The mayor cupped his face in his hands. He shuddered and
slowly pulled his hands down. “Our blinds were set up a couple
hundred yards apart. I climbed into the first, while Charles headed
west to the second.”

He paused and looked out over the crowd. I don’t think he
saw us. He was lost in a vision from the past. A moment later he
wiped his forefinger between his nose and his right eye.
Was that a
tear?
There
was a soft hitch in his voice as he said, “I sat in my blind for a
long time, four hours, maybe five. Suddenly, there was a soft noise
in the brush behind me. Raising my rifle, I peered through the
scope, seeing a patch of brown fur, followed by a quick, white
swish. I pulled the trigger.”

He could have stopped there. We all knew how this was going to
end, but just like I couldn’t pull my gaze away from the wounded at
the Scavenger’s camp, none of us could stop listening. Anyone of us
could have told the mayor to stop. We could have told him we
understood, but no one did.

“
It took three days for Charles to die. They said I had buck
fever. That I’d been sitting in the blind too long…it was an
accident… Everyone agreed, but that didn’t stop the bile leaking
out of my brother’s stomach. Saying it was an accident didn’t stop
the infection that spread into his intestines. It didn’t give him
the strength to hold my hand after he made me promise that I’d
never let anyone suffer the pain of being gutshot. In the end, even
the morphine wasn’t enough. My brother died screaming.”

I remembered the whiteness in the mayor’s face when he had
pointed the gun at Rasp with Chane in the saddle behind her. Rasp
had asked him, “How do you think you’d do living with that guilt
the rest of your life?”

I now knew he already was. I remembered how flustered he’d
been after Josh shot Rasp. It was no wonder the mayor didn’t know
what to do about the ransom. The last few weeks must have been a
nightmare, and now I’d forced the mayor to relive a memory no one
would want.

I should have left with Sawyer. He’d offered to tell me the
truth. If I hadn’t been so stubborn, I wouldn’t be watching the
mayor wipe tears from his eyes. I wanted to say something, but I
knew “I’m sorry” wouldn’t cut it.

Sawyer reached down and cupped my shoulder with his hand.
“Don’t blame yourself for this kid. You didn’t shoot anyone. You
didn’t keep secrets. If he’d have been forthright and honest with
you and the rest of the townsfolk in the first place, none of this
would have happened.”

The mayor wiped his eyes one last time and squared his
shoulders. “Now you know. Don’t think this changes anything. The
law is the law. Dillon broke that law. He will be
punished.”

“
No he won’t!” Charlie Meyer said. “I’m sorry about your
brother, but I’ll not obey a no-hunting law because someone got
hurt. If that were the case, I’d a quit harvestin’ a long time
ago.”

“
And I wouldn’t be cooking your meals if I had to stop because
I cut myself with a knife,” Millie said. “I know it ain’t quite the
same, but an accident’s an accident.”

“
I’ll not hold the baton to him, not for this,” Eric said.
“You’ll have to find someone else or do it yourself.” Kurt nodded
in agreement.

Dr. White spoke up from the foot of the platform. “I suggest
we take a vote. We’re all citizens. Let’s act like it.”

The mayor screamed at the crowd from his place atop the
platform. “I’m the mayor! Does that mean nothing to you people? I
make the laws! Only I can change them!”

Ben, from the slaughterhouse, yelled back, “You’re only the
mayor because we allow you to be! All it takes is a majority vote
to replace you.”

“
All right everybody, calm down,” Frank said. “Clear a path so
I can get to the platform and talk to the mayor.” A path opened for
him, but only after everyone in the crowd knew exactly where I was.
After he passed, the crowd quickly closed the hole. The mayor’s
words hadn’t changed anyone’s mind about my punishment.

Frank talked to the mayor while the rest of us waited. After a
short discussion, Frank climbed down. He left an irritated, angry,
and defeated mayor standing with his Bulls.

The mayor said, “I will offer clemency to Dillon, and we will
vote on the hunting law at the harvest festival in two
weeks.”

The whole crowd cheered—that is, everyone except me. Sawyer
was clapping his hands when he looked down and noticed the
confusion on my face.

“
What’s clemency?” I asked.

“
It’s probably the best you could have hoped for from your
mayor. Basically, it means that he still says you’re guilty of the
crime, but he’s not going to do anything about it.”

“
You mean no jolts?”

“
Exactly.”

I couldn’t hold in the relief. I’m not sure how far away the
next town was, but they probably heard my shout of glee.

The mayor strode to the platform stair. “Clear a path!” he
yelled at the crowd.

This time, the townsfolk parted to let him pass. Kurt and Eric
followed in his wake. He came directly toward Sawyer and me. Sawyer
nudged Fred so that she stood on one side of me and Bonnie stood on
the other. He had placed the horses so the mayor wouldn’t be able
to get to me.

But it wasn’t me he was coming for. When he cleared the last
ring of people, he glared up at Sawyer. “Get out of my
town!”

Sawyer grinned. “It’s funny, I was just leaving. I only
stopped to get Dillon. He’s coming with me.”

The mayor threw his hands in the air and stalked off without
saying another word.

“
So you really want me to come with you?” A thought occurred to
me. “You’re not just doing this because I saved your leg, are
you?”

“
I am doing this because you saved my leg, but not for the
reason you’re thinking. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was my leg
or the mayor’s. You took it upon yourself to do the right thing. No
one thought you could succeed, not even me. Yet, you proved us all
wrong. And you did it by Foraging. You didn’t flinch when you were
asked to go find the alternator or the mayor’s daughter. You
survived an ambush, and you brokered a deal with Scavengers. That’s
something even I haven’t done. Trust me, Dillon, the governor will
definitely want to meet you.”

His words excited me. I really did want to be a Forager. Now
that I had clemency, the last strings that tied me to this town
were cut. I’d proved to Josh and Jason I wasn’t going to be
bullied. I’d realized Chane wasn’t the girl for me. And I’d earned
the respect of my neighbors. I was almost sorry to be
leaving.

Almost.

“
When I stopped by your RV to get Fred, I packed you some
clothes,” Sawyer said. “Millie was kind enough to give us some
rations. Is there anything else you need?”

“
I want to say goodbye to a few people.”

I found Millie in the crowd. Her blue eyes filled with tears
when I told her I was leaving. “Take care of yourself, Dillon. If
you ever make it back this way, stop in. I’ll have something warm
on the stove for you.” It was the same kind of thing she always
said, but this time her words carried more weight, more
love.

Frank shook my hand. “You’re a good kid, Dillon. After all
you’ve done for this town, I’m sorry to see you go, but I’m sure
you’ll make a fine Forager.”

Charlie ruffled my hair. “Just you listen to this Forager,
boy. He’ll teach ya good. Thanks for gettin’ me that alt’nator.
Best o’ luck to you.”

And that was it. For a brief moment I considered finding
Chane, but I blew that idea off as quickly as it came. I’d said my
goodbyes to the people that mattered. It was time to
leave.

After I mounted Bonnie, the crowd dispersed around us. When
the road was mostly clear of people, Josh hobbled up on a pair of
crutches. “Wait, I hear you’re leaving?”

From atop Bonnie I looked down at Josh. “Yes, I’m going to be
a Forager.” It made me proud to say those words.

Josh raised his hand. For a moment, I thought he was going to
pull me off the horse. Instead he took my hand in his, shook it,
and said, “Good luck, Dillon.” Then he turned and hobbled
away.

I was too surprised to speak. Sawyer nudged Fred into a trot
and I followed beside him.

We reached the highway, and my mind was abuzz with what my
future held. What would it be like to be a real Forager? How would
I feel when I saw the city? How long would it take to get
there?

I turned for one last look at the town.
Taking in the crumbling buildings
and fall foliage, Josh’s last words
came back to me. My mouth dropped open and a split second later a
huge smile lit my face. I turned back to the highway, toward my
future, savoring the fact that Josh had called me
Dillon.