Authors: Chad Leito
“What are you doing? You should be in bed.” I said.
“I was packing ye’ some stuff for yer’ trip. And I feel fine,” Burl said. He bent over coughing until his face turned red. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled at me. He didn’t look fine, but he did look better. He was standing upright with the help of his cane and his face was pale and sagging in between the bundles of red hair.
“Drink this,” I said, handing him the purple vile.
He opened it up and chugged it, gulping down all the way passed the last drop. “Uggh, what was that?” Burl looked at the bottle in disgust.
“You should probably ask that
before
you drink something. That was the second half of your medicine.”
“Well, I trust ye’, you’ve given me no reason to be suspicious,” he said.
We sat down at the table and had a quiet breakfast. Burl ate some, but mostly he just shoved his eggs around his plate with his fork. His chin rested in his hand and after some time his face crumpled and his shoulders began to jerk up and down.
“I don’t want ye’ guys to go,” he cried. He shrieked like a hurt dog and then began to wail through his open mouth.
“Oh, Burl, we’ll be back,” said Saul.
Burl sniffed and whipped his sleeve under his nose, “I have faith that ye’ will, it’s just scary, ye know? I love ye’ so much! And I’m gonna miss ye’.” At that he broke into another sobbing cry.
After breakfast Saul and I gathered up our things. The satchel was strapped over Saul’s shoulder and I was in my old clothes except for the leather Salyer shoes that I had worn to town. They were comfortable and Burl said that I could have them so I decided to keep them. We stood outside on the lawn with Snuggles barking and thrashing at us and Burl crying profusely and telling us thank you for helping him get well and pleading that we be safe. We told him goodbye and then we were off.
Saul had talked to Burl the day before about where exactly Burl’s house was situated on Mungus in relation to the town. With that knowledge he looked up at the sun for guidance and we walked off into the woods. “And you’re sure you know where to go?” I asked.
“I hope that I do.”
That whole day we spent walking through the forest. When night fell, even though we had been moving for many hours, I felt as though we hadn’t covered a lot of ground. Much of our energy was spent crossing over dry creek beds and then climbing up dirt banks or zig zagging around the trees. Even though we became hungry while walking under the sun we never stopped to eat. After running out of food twice while wandering through the woods before, we knew what real hunger felt like and so we knew that our bread and jam were precious. It was only after night fell that we ate, and even then, we did so sparingly.
Saul was motivated to get a good start the next day and while we were still both groggy from sleep we began to walk. Around noon, the land changed and we were walking over grassland instead of forest. Over the fields we were deprived of the blanket of leaves and tree branches ahead. It was hot and we were dripping with sweat. I began to think that I was a fool earlier for getting upset about the forested terrain and would have traded the cool shade with zig-zags for the blistering hot straight-aways if I could.
Night fell and again we stopped and ate a light dinner. I covered a piece of bread with jam and asked Saul, “how far away do you guess we are?”
“Not very far. We should get there a little after noon the next day.” Saul gobbled up his last bite, took a few gulps of water, and lay down in the tall grass. “I am tired, though,” he yawned.
“We should keep going and try to reach the farm tonight.”
He sat up. “Why?”
“Because, if we do that then we can sleep all day tomorrow. We were planning on sneaking in at night, and this way we’ll get to sleep before we have to climb those fences.”
Saul grumbled and got to his feet. “All right,” he said, and we began to walk again.
As we moved over the grass I thought about the last interaction between Saul and I. I had asked him for permission to keep moving instead of telling him to. Since when did he become the leader? It didn’t bother me, I thought that he was a fine leader. I looked up at his face, tired and big in the starlight. He had grown so much more mature since that day on the ship when I shared my meatloaf with him.
We made it to the farm quicker than expected. Flames flickered in the distance beside the gate and the dogs barked in the moonlight. Being around Snuggles gave me a new appreciation for that type of dog. They were mean, uncivilized creatures. Burl was crazy for keeping one like he did.
We climbed up into a swanness tree in the forested area beside the farm. Once we were safe and in the trees Saul talked to me about Cy Young and how he changed the way baseball was played. We ate fruit and talked until the sun rose. When the day began and the workers on the farm rose for the day, we went to sleep.
“Saul, wake up!” It was dark out and the moon was high in the sky.
He sat up, thrashing his arms throughout the open air. “What! Who’s there?”
“Shhhh, it’s me.”
He turned and a smile broke out over his face. “Oh, hi Walt!”
“I think that we should go,” I said.
His smile vanished and he looked around. “What time is it?”
“I don’t know, but it’s been dark for over an hour. No one seems to be moving on the farm. Should we leave the bag here?”
“Really?” asked Saul. “You think that we should go
right
now?” He looked over the farm scratching his head.
“Yes, really,” I said. “Now let’s go.” I climbed down a few branches before realizing that Saul hadn’t moved. “C’mon,” I whispered up at him.
He peaked his head over the branch and looked down at me. “I don’t know if I can.”
“What?”
“I’m scared.”
I sighed and climbed back up the branches to have a meeting with Saul.
“It’s just that it’s dangerous,” he said. “And I don’t know if we can do it.”
“Saul, we can do this. And even if it is dangerous, it’s the right thing to do.
You
convinced me of that.”
“That’s true,” Saul said. “And you don’t think that anything will happen to us?”
“Saul, what did I promise you that night in the cabin?”
“What night?”
“Right after we got on the farm. What did I promise you?”
Saul’s forehead wrinkled in concentration. “Oh! I know! You promised that you would keep us alive.”
“Right,” I said. “And I intend to keep that promise.”
Saul and I made our way down the branches to the forest floor. A warm breeze stirred through the trees to our faces.
“Can we go over the plan again?” asked Saul.
“Yeah, it’s easy. We’re just going over the fence the way we came out, opening cabin doors and leaving.”
“And what if they catch us?”
I shook my head. “They won’t catch us. Didn’t I tell you about running over the farm at night?”
“Yeah.”
“And I never got caught them. No one patrols the place at night. Let’s go.”
I led the way. We jogged out of the tree line and over the high grass towards the tall farm fence. As soon as we were a few hundred yards away the guard dogs either heard, smelled, or saw us. They jumped up onto the fence, snarling and biting at the metal. We kept jogging and I could hear Saul’s heavy breath puffing the night’s air in and out of his body.
I was determined to go as quick as possible. I got out the knife when we got close to the fence and as soon as we reached it I stabbed it through the gaps, penetrating muzzles and open jaws. When the dogs had stopped snapping I put my fingers through the holes and began to climb. I got to the top, pulled down the faux barbed wire and made my way onto the center fence separating two groups of angry dogs. I looked over the sleepy farm for any sign of life. None. I shimmied over. “C’mon, Saul,” I called.
“Coming,” he said. He stabbed his knife through the fence and when the dogs retreated he started to climb.
By the time Saul made it to the top I was already on the ground on the inside of the farm, waiting. The stalks swayed behind me in the breeze and as I looked around I felt as though I hadn’t been to the farm before in real life, but in some strange dream. Saul shimmied over a few feet and then he froze.
“C’mon,” I whispered. “Hurry!”
Even though I was relatively sure that there were no guards on duty, the incessant barking of the dogs jumping up and biting at Saul’s heels made me nervous.
“Hurry!” I repeated.
He didn’t move. “I can’t.
“Why not?”
“I’m scared.”
I heard an unmistakable noise behind me: horses. “Hurry, Saul.”
He looked out over the farm and saw something that I couldn’t. His eyes widened and he began to shimmy over the fence as fast as he could. The horses were getting closer.
“Hurry,”
He shimmied.
Even closer.
Bang! A shot rang out in the quiet night and blood exploded from Saul’s back. His body was thrown backward onto the top of the fence and then he rolled onto his side where he fell into the mouths of hungry dogs. I was too terrified to scream, but Saul wasn’t. He filled his lungs to the max with air and then threw his vocal cords around with all of his might. The sound broke out over the still night, found its way into my ears, and shook something inside of me. The dogs ripped him apart and spilled his blood under the stars.
I was so caught up at watching him, so disturbed by his screams, that I hadn’t even heard them coming. It wasn’t until much later, and through the help of many nightmares, that I was able to remember what they said. I was in a trance. This isn’t real.
Di and Lauren were behind me on their horses. They had heard noises and had come out to investigate. Di had the riffle and had shot my brother, killed him, in fact. And then, he pointed the gun at me.
“Don’t shoot him!” Lauren cried. She sounded scared like a protecting mother.
“Why not?” demanded Di. “He killed Glen!”
Lauren cleared her throat of all of the fear and said in an angry voice, “because… because…because I want to see him rot in the Cell.”
Di pointed the gun, getting my head in the sights. Saul had stopped screaming at that point and for some reason I was on my knees. “But it would be so easy just to, BANG, pull the trigger.”
“But look at him,” Lauren said. “Can you see his pale face, the way his hands are shaking?”
‘My hands are shaking?’ I thought numbly.
Lauren continued, “He wouldn’t feel a thing. He probably doesn’t even know what’s going on. Don’t you want to make him suffer? Don’t you want to make an example out of him?”
The dogs were
eating
him, actually eating him! The dogs in the cage over begged and whined. They were hungry too.