“What else is new? It isn’t the first time, and I doubt it’ll be the last. Would be worth it, too, if the rest of this group could see him for what he is. What happened to your gear?”
“That’s one of the issues that your argument with Whittier brought to the fore. A majority voted to give Whittier some temporary discretionary power for inside the colony area. Everyone voted, but he got only a slim majority. First thing he did was to appoint Burns and Collier as the police department.”
“Don’t think I know who they are.”
“They are the two burly . . . gentlemen—and I use the term loosely—with little or no neck,” Rose reminded him. Murdock nodded. “First thing Burns did as head of the police was decree that no weapons be allowed in the colony area. They confiscated all the gear from the rest of us.” Rose paused as all this sank in. Murdock had stopped eating and now looked at her in a way that told her that he knew what to expect next from that quarter. “This is really good chicken,” Rose said changing the subject. “It’s a lot better than that oatmeal crap we’ve been eating.” Rose looked at him seriously, “Mind if the rest have some?”
Murdock looked over at the rest of the group. He didn’t see Whittier, Burns, or Collier anywhere.
“What are the two stooges plus one cooking up?” Murdock asked.
“Don’t know. We’re in adjournment for a while.”
“Why are you telling me this? Won’t you get into trouble with the leaders? “
“I’ve never had to look for trouble,” Rose stated between bites. “It’s always been right there, waiting, whether I needed it or not.”
Murdock started to choke and almost spit out the meat. “I know what you mean,” he laughed.
“Besides, you did save my bacon this morning, and you tried to be of some help, even if the rest don’t appreciate it. I’m just returning the favor.”
“It’s always nice to know trouble is coming and be prepared for it.”
“What about the others?” Rose asked.
“I’ve had enough for now. I suppose the rest might as well enjoy while they can.”
“It would be better if you made the offer,” Rose suggested. “You might need the goodwill. It couldn’t hurt!”
Murdock thought for a couple of seconds. He walked over to the rest. “Soup’s on,” he yelled.
After the group had eaten its fill, Murdock saw someone, he assumed it was Burns, come out of the transport pod. He stood at the base of the ramp, arms crossed, scowling. As the others spotted him, they began nudging each other and walking sheepishly toward the transport pod. Rose was the only one who thanked him.
Left alone, Murdock slung his empty water skin across his body, replenished the skewers, and set off to the stream. As he returned he saw that the colonists had lined up between himself and his campsite, facing him. Whittier, Burns, and Collier each had a skewer and were helping themselves.
“That’s close enough, Murdock,” Whittier yelled after swallowing.
3
Murdock stopped.
“The Colony Council has judged,” Whittier intoned, “that colonist Murdock is a danger to himself and others. Further, it has judged the aforementioned person to be guilty of the unprovoked assault and battery upon the duly elected leader of this colony.”
Murdock looked at the others’ faces as Whittier spoke. No one looked back. He saw more than a few bruised cheeks and bloodied lips in the group.
“Further, he has been judged guilty of sedition, insurrection, and treason. How say you?”
Each one of the group looked at Murdock. One at a time, they responded, “Aye.” However, only a few seemed eager to express their vote. Murdock remained standing, stoic, looking each in the eye, his hands rested loosely on the hilts of his machetes. When everyone in front of him had spoken, Burns and Collier, who stood behind the group, voted.
“Aye!” Collier yelled.
“Aye!” Burns yelled with relish.
“Aye!” Whittier shouted around a mouthful of meat. After swallowing, he continued. “It is the sentence of this court that Murdock be stripped and banished. Should he ever be seen at any time by any other member of this colony it will be that colonist’s sworn duty to execute him. Mister Burns! Carry out the sentence!”
Murdock hadn’t moved or flinched at any time during Whittier’s recitation of the charges. As Collier and Burns came through the group, Murdock remained still. Collier and Burns took a few steps beyond the line of the group and then stopped to see if the rest followed. No one else moved. Both men looked to Whittier. Murdock noticed that neither man was armed, at least not in a way that showed.
“It looks like your hired thugs need your help, Whittier,” Murdock scoffed. “Why don’t you quit hiding and come out here and show them how it’s done!”
“Burns, you better move,” Whittier warned loudly.
Each of the men took another step. Then they split up, both taking on a semi-crouching stance.
“Two on one hardly seems fair! Why don’t you come out and help, Whittier? It would even the odds a little more,” Murdock taunted. “Or are you a coward?”
He waited.
“Collier, you are now in charge. Execute the sentence!” Whittier commanded impatiently.
Neither man made another move.
Murdock continued his taunt. “Personally, I think you’re all cowards. Are you two afraid of these?” He indicated the two machetes by tapping his index fingers on the hilts. “I’ll wait while you two arm yourselves, but I should warn you that if you do, I’ll give no quarter.”
The two men looked at each other, then back to Murdock, who still hadn’t moved.
“It looks to me as if your two slugs have no backbone, Whittier,” Murdock taunted again. He watched as Collier inched back slightly and straightened up a little. “I bet they are good at beating up women, children, and small pets, but they seem spineless against someone who’ll stand up to them.”
Collier and Burns exchanged glances again, then looked back to Murdock. Murdock hadn’t moved. The men inhaled, then looked at each other again. Slowly, they retreated toward Whittier.
“Whittier, I think you’ll find it easy to establish laws or rules, but it’s quite another matter to enforce them,” Murdock chided.
Collier, Burns, and Whittier began a heated discussion. Murdock couldn’t hear what was being said, but he was fairly certain that Collier and Burns were going to lose their positions. After a few minutes of arguing, Collier and Burns joined the rest of the colonists in the line.
“I put the order to the entire colony. Execute the sentence. All of you!” Whittier yelled.
Still, no one moved.
After a few minutes, Murdock shifted his stance a little.
“Are we going to do this or not?” he asked everyone, but no one moved or spoke. “Guess not! All of you have made your feelings and intentions plain. I’m leaving, but before I go, you need to be warned. Do not let me catch you across the stream over there!”
Murdock indicated the stream he had just visited, then slowly backed away from the group. He wasn’t so foolish as to turn his back on any of them.
After he had widened the gap to forty or fifty yards, he turned and walked normally, though still alert for sounds of an oncoming attack. He didn’t relax until he had entered the trees and crossed the stream.
Although he was in unfamiliar territory, a weight lifted from Murdock. Now he was on his own and responsible for no one.
He continued down a wide path into the woods — an animal highway. A few yards from the stream, the trees formed a bower like a high, leafy tunnel over the path. He judged it to be fifteen or twenty feet from the ground to the tree limbs above. A lot of large animals have walked this path for many years. If I have to take an animal, this could be the place to do it; by ambush from above, he reasoned, considering the tools he had to work with.
After walking a little over a mile, Murdock found a hidden boulder off the path. It looked like to g
ood place to rest.
As he sat drinking water and watching for animals, Murdock thought he heard talking in the distance, but the longer he waited, the more clearly he heard the voices. He stood and grabbed a few low branches on the side of a tree away from the path. As he climbed, staying close to the trunk, I hope I’m hidden well enough, he thought. As soon as he saw the two men, he recognized them: Burns and Collier, both armed as he was.
“. . . not sure any more. What do you think?” Collier asked Burns.
“I think we’re going to be next if Whittier thinks we let him down again,” Burns responded. Both closely watched the path.
“Maybe so, but what can he really do? I mean, Whittier can do nothing on his own. Like I said, he needs us. Murdock backed him down,” Collier continued. By this time they both walked right under Murdock.
“What the . . .,” Burns exclaimed. “Who the hell is this guy?”
“What’s wrong?” Collier asked.
“His tracks just stop. He couldn’t have just disappeared, so where did he go?” Burns asked.
“Why are you asking me? You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him,” Collier said accusingly.
“I distinctly remember telling you to keep your eye on him!” Burns responded.
“That’s not how I remember it,” Collier chided, chuckling.
“Damn it! We’re really screwed if we don’t find him,” Burns appeared more worried than Collier. “Find his trail again!” Both men searched the ground intently, trying to pick up Murdock’s trail. Murdock watched from above, hoping they would continue their conversation. Then both men backed up a few yards, retracing Murdock’s trail several times. Without his realizing it, Murdock had left the path at a spot at which a lot of leaves lay on the path.
I can see my own footprint in the leaves from here, but these two boobs lost my trail. More than once his pursuers looked right at his tracks in the leaves, yet failed to see them. Murdock had a very hard time containing himself.
“Now what do we do?” Burns asked after they had searched for quite a while.
“What do you mean?” Collier asked.
“It’s obvious that we can’t find Murdock’s trail. Do we go on? Or do we go back and tell Whittier that we lost him?” Burns asked.
“I don’t see that we have a lot of choice in the matter,” Collier responded.
“Damn you Murdock,” Burns yelled.
Both men turned around to go back the way they had come. Murdock waited until they were out of sight, though he could still hear them talking, before climbing down from his perch and following them. When the path made a turn, Murdock cautiously closed the distance between them and him, and it wasn’t long before he could just see their backs. Soon he noticed the bower thinning, indicating their proximity to the stream. He started running toward the two men as quietly as he could.
When Collier, who had been bringing up the rear, started to turn, Murdock jumped. He’d caught Collier’s back squarely with his feet. Collier was knocked forward with all the momentum that Murdock could impart and he, in turn, ran into Burns. Burns, who was only a couple of feet from the stream bank, was knocked face first into the cold water. Murdock thought he made a satisfyingly large splash.
Murdock, still on his feet, stood over the prostrate Collier with his eighteen-inch machete poised to strike. Collier rolled over and froze. His eyes were wide in amazement, and his mouth hung open. Burns, meanwhile, got to his feet and turned around then stopped. Too stunned to react, Burns hesitated, oblivious that he was still standing in the stream.
“Apparently, my original assessment of you two was wrong,” Murdock stated coldly, not taking his eyes off either man. “I had thought you two were smart enough to heed a warning when you heard one.”
Burns’ hand moved toward one of his weapons.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” Murdock warned. Burns froze.
“Let’s not be too hasty! Can’t we talk about this?” Burns asked, voice trembling.
“I thought I made it plain enough so that even someone of your limited intelligence would understand. You two should not have come on this side of the stream!”
“Be reasonable, Murdock,” Burns pleaded as calmly as he could. “We had our orders. You shouldn’t have embarrassed Whittier.”
“Whittier is an embarrassment. So are you two,” Murdock chided.
“We did elect him as our leader,” Burns responded, shrugging as if the statement required no explanation.
“Maybe you did, but why is that? Is he better than you?”
“We felt that he was the most qualified to lead us. So, I guess, yeah, he is better than me.”
Murdock saw that Burns was both trying to give an honest answer and placate him at the same time.
“You know, you two have put me in a difficult position,” Murdock stated.
“What position is that?” Burns asked warily.
“Do I let you go? Or do I remove your heads and stick them on a pole?” Murdock asked coldly. “Nothing personal, just as a warning to others, you understand.” Both men swallowed hard. “I suppose I could strip you both and hang you upside down from a tree, like so much meat, and let the animals finish you.”
Collier, upset, looked from the machete to Murdock and back again. Murdock could see him licking his lips continually and saw he was breathing heavily. Murdock fixed his eyes on him.
“I could take your head and give it to Burns to take back to Whittier,” he stated flatly to Collier.
A splash sounded. He jerked up to see Burns scrambling up the bank on the other side. Running back to your master, Murdock supposed. He looked back at Collier, who was trying to get up. Murdock kicked his arm out and Collier fell back to the ground. Murdock resumed his posture with the machete, threatening Collier.
For the first time, Murdock got a good look at Collier. Early twenties, two fifty at least, well over six five, and scared to death.
“I guess you’re not very valuable to your buddy,” Murdock said with a cold smile on his face and a piercing glare. “Weapons! Over there!” Murdock indicated a spot beyond Collier’s reach. Collier started removing his weapons, but then hesitated. Murdock could almost see the thought run across Collier’s face. “Don’t be any more foolish than you’ve been already,” Murdock warned and was pleased to see that Collier grasped the folly of such an action.
“Get on your knees,” Murdock ordered roughly once Collier had relinquished his weapons, “Hands behind your back,” he ordered his captive. As he bent down to pick up the rope Collier was carrying, he laid the flat of the machete on Collier’s shoulder. Being unable to find an escape, Collier hung his head and complied.
After securing Collier’s hands, Murdock pulled Collier’s shirt over his head from the back, so that Collier could see only the ground right in front of him. Murdock slowly drew the eighteen-inch machete again so Collier could hear the metal-on-metal scraping of machete and sheath.
“What . . . what’re you gonna do?” Collier asked, the big man physically trembling.
“Do you really want to know? Too bad you didn’t heed my warning. Now, I really don’t have a choice,” Murdock said quietly, no emotion in his voice.
“Please! Please, Mister Murdock, sir! Don’t do this!” Collier pleaded. He sobbed and trembled all the more.
Murdock said nothing and pulled his shirt up further, exposing Collier’s neck. Collier still couldn’t see what was going on. Murdock pushed Collier’s head down, stretching the skin on the back of his neck, and then pulled the edge of the machete across the flesh, making a thin red line in the skin.
“Oh, God! Oh, God, no! Please, sir!” Collier pleaded. “Don’t do this! Please!”
Collier started to rock back and forth a little, still sobbing.
“I’ll try to make it as painless as possible,” Murdock said softly, “but if you move, it’ll just be more painful. If you have any last words, I’m listening!”
“No! Please!” Collier wep
t. Murdock heard Collier’s bladder empty. “Oh, God! Oh, God! Mercy! Have mercy, please!”
As Collier made his pleas, Murdock quietly gathered up all the weapons and the unused portion of rope and ran off just inside the bower. He could still hear Collier’s pleas as he climbed a tree high enough to be able to see the stream and Collier, who still wept and still pled. Not a minute later, three men approached the stream. Collier’s pleas, in turn, became more intense.
Murdock recognized Whittier and Burns, but not the third man. Burns pulled out his knife to cut Collier’s bonds when Whittier stopped him.
“You’re pathetic!” Whittier spat at Collier. “I have a good mind to leave you right here! Maybe I should continue what Murdock started and didn’t have the guts to finish!”
Collier’s weeping and pleading became louder again as he rocked back and forth on his knees.
“What the hell? Did you pee yourself? You really are a coward!” Whittier continued, deriding Collier.
Whittier slowly paced, hands behind his back, around Collier.
“You’re totally useless, Collier!” Whittier yelled. “Burns, kill this coward!”
Murdock saw the other two men jerk their heads from Collier to Whittier. From his perch, Murdock could almost hear their disbelieving thoughts.
“What about the others?” Burns asked.
“We can take his head back to the others and say that this was all we found after Murdock finished with him.” Whittier’s coldness had sent a shiver up Murdock’s spine. “It will help keep the others in line and keep them from seeking asylum with Murdock.”
Murdock saw Burns start to take out his eighteen-inch machete. At the sound of the blade leaving his sheath, Collier started his pleading and weeping all over again.
“Whittier, don’t do this,” the third man finally spoke up. “It isn’t right, and you know it!”
Burns looked at Whittier, who said nothing.
“Burns, you do this, and I’ll kill you myself!” the third man stated. When Murdock heard this, he knew the man meant it.
Burns seemed to think about it a while. Finally, he threw his machete down at Whittier’s feet, sticking it in the ground.
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