by R A Doty
“Is that what you want? Meat? Because if it is, I know a place where there’s plenty for you and your sick friends. You can stuff your pitiful faces with beef, chicken, venison, or even pork if it’s not against your religion, which I highly doubt.”
Nicolas lowered the knife. The only other meat he had recently eaten, other than that of the body of sinners, was an occasional rat that he caught nibbling on the pile of burning corpses. The thought of beef, pork, or chicken aroused a craving that he had suppressed for far too long. He jammed the knife into the arm of the chair, just in front of Steinberg’s hand, and leaned close to his face. “Do not toy with me, sinner. For I will gut you like a pig if you’re lying.”
Thomas held his breath, avoiding the foul odor coming from Nicolas’ mouth. “I’m telling you the truth. I own a ranch just a few miles outside the city. If you release me I’ll tell you how to get there.”
Nicolas laughed. “You must take me for a fool. What if I release you and I find out there is no such place. And then what can I do when you’re long gone? I will consider your deal, but you yourself must take me to this place. If what you say if true, I will then set you free.”
JOSH LAY SHIVERING in a thicket of brush, as the sun rose above a calm, blue ocean. The sound of gulls circling overhead pulled his eyes open. His arms stung with blood-streaked scratches, and his stomach ached with pangs of hunger. He began to untangle himself from the tightly twisted branches when he first heard the growls. A loud bark followed.
A large black dog with saliva forming in the corners of its jowls crept closer to the brush pile. It barked again, followed by more growling.
Josh backed up and hid deep inside the thicket until the beast was barely visible. As he searched for an escape route, he realized the only way out was the same way he entered, and that was right in front of the dog. When he reached for a stick the dog bared its teeth and lunged toward him.
Chapter Thirteen
JOSH PULLED HIS ARMS to his face when the dog attacked. With no way to escape, it was his only option. He hoped his death would be quick. He remembered Dan telling him a story of how he once saw a wolf bring down a deer. The wolf circled its prey until the deer became disoriented and consumed with fear. In one quick leap, the wolf grabbed its target by the neck and shook it to the ground. When the throat ripped open, it backed away and watched as the deer kicked and writhed until its body was drained of blood. Josh wondered how long it would take for his body to become drained of all its blood.
With his knees pulled tight to his chest, and his face buried into his arms, he waited for the attack but it never came. Instead, he heard a thump and a yelp. He was afraid to look for fear that the dog would be right in front of his face. After twenty seconds of silence, and no attack, he slowly raised his head. The dog lay on the ground with an axe protruding from its skull.
A man approached and wriggled the axe until it slipped free. He wiped it on the leg of his canvas pants, just below the knee.
Josh sat still and quiet, his hands trembling in front of his mouth. Maybe the man hadn’t seen him. He was deep inside the thicket of brush, after all.
The man pulled out a knife and shoved it into the dog’s chest. He sawed through the ribs and sliced open the animal’s underside to its rear legs. Josh held his breath as the man reached in and pulled out a handful of entrails. When the body cavity had been cleared of its contents, the man peeled the black-haired hide from its carcass. The head was the last to be removed. Josh pushed his hand tight to his mouth when the man held it high in the air from between the ears.
“Are you gonna just hide in there and starve to death, or are you gonna get out here and give me a hand?” The man said, focused on the dog’s macabre smile.
Josh’s heart thumped in his chest.
“I ain’t got all day,” the man said.
Josh pushed his way through the branches until the dog’s insides lay directly in front of him. He nearly vomited when the odor hit his face. After carefully crawling around the entrails, he stood to his feet.
The man towered over him with the long knife still in his hand. “Bout god damned time. Grab the hind legs and follow me.”
Josh looked at the blood-covered hindquarter of the dog.
“Well go on,” the man said.
The dog’s rear paws were still covered with hair, so he grabbed them while the man grabbed the front.
“Lift higher,” the man yelled. “Don’t let it drag through the dirt. You might wanna chew on a carcass full of pebbles, but I don’t.” Josh lifted the dog slightly. “Higher,” the man growled.”
Josh raised the body with all his might. The rat-like tail slapped against his legs as he tried to keep up with the man. His arms began to fatigue, and just as he was about to release his grip the man stopped walking.
“This’ll work,” the man said.
Josh dropped the dog. His arms burned with fatigue as he wiped his hands on his pants.
“You ain’t afraid of a little blood, are you?” the man said.
Josh glanced at the man. The top of his head was bald and tan and the sides were covered with scraggly gray hair reaching down to his shoulders. His eyes were dark brown, and the few teeth that remained in his mouth were stained black. A foul odor passed through the man’s lips each time he spoke.
“Can you talk, boy? You ain’t deaf and dumb, are ya?”
Josh tried to speak but his mouth was too dry. He swallowed and tried again. “No, sir.”
The man looked down at the pathetic, skinny boy and wondered how the hell he survived without an adult.
“You gotta name?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well what the hell is it?”
“It’s Josh, sir.”
“Mine’s Gabriel.”
“When’s the last time you et, Josh?”
Josh didn’t understand Gabriel’s question. “Excuse me, sir?”
“I said, when’s the last time you et?” Gabriel raised his hand to his mouth. “Food, food.”
Josh tried to remember, but all that came to mind was the cup of tea his mother had made. Then he remembered the bath she had given him, and before long he remembered the stick of smoked sausage. His lip began to quiver and his eyes filled with tears when he remembered how fast the woman’s head disappeared right before his eyes.
“What the hell ya crying for, boy?” Gabriel pointed the knife at the dog’s carcass. “Ain’t no need to worry, we gots plenty to eat right here. Now go round up some of that driftwood over there so’s I can get a fire started.”
Josh wiped his eyes and headed for the beach. By the time he returned with an armful of wood, Gabriel had pierced the dog’s body lengthwise with a sapling and propped it in the air between two Y shaped branches sticking out of the ground.
Gabriel immediately grabbed for the wood when Josh dropped it. “That’s a good boy.” While placing it under the dog, he glanced up at Josh. “Well go gets some more. This little bit ain’t gonna cook a mutt this size.”
Josh rushed back to the beach. When he returned this time a fire was burning under the dog. He dropped the wood and stared at the flames searing the dark red flesh.
Gabriel tapped him on the arm with the knife. “Ain’t that a pretty sight? ’Nough meat there to fill both our stomachs and then some.”
Josh was sickened by the thought of eating a dog, but he couldn’t deny the craving for meat he desired so desperately. He watched as Gabriel spun the carcass until its feet faced the sky. His stomach growled when the scent of the cooked flesh made its way to his nose.
ALL THAT REMAINED OF the fire was a bed of glowing orange cinders surrounded by white ashes. Gabriel sat next to Josh, gripping the dog’s hind foot with one hand and a leg bone with the other. He tore off a mouthful of meat, chewed it until it slid down his throat, and repeated the process. He turned to Josh with the leg pressed up to his mouth.
“Good, ain’t it?” he said, his lips shining with grease.
Jos
h nodded, holding the dog’s other hind leg in his hands. Each time he removed the flesh from the bone, he tried to imagine it was the drumstick from one of the turkeys that were raised on his father’s estate. Although it did have a strange taste, eating the meat from a dog wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He tried not to look at the long tailbone hanging toward the glowing embers, because it reminded him of what the dog had once looked like.
“Might be days or weeks ‘fore we eat like this agin, so you better take in all you can while you have the chance.”
“I’ll be back home before then,” Josh said.
Gabriel laughed, quietly at first and then louder. “Home? You ain’t going nowhere until you pay me back for saving your skinny hide from this mutt.”
Josh stopped chewing. “But... I don’t have any money.”
Gabriel took another bite. “Did I say anything about money? What the hell am I gonna do with that? Maybe I can head on over to the distribution center and buy myself some new clothes.” He grabbed his tattered shirt. “Does it look like I need any clothes, boy?”
The obvious answer was yes, but Josh dared not say it. “No, sir.”
“Then what the hell would I do with money?”
“I don’t know of any other way to pay you back.”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to stick around and work it off until I figure your debt is cleared.”
“I’d like to stick around, but I have to get home.”
Gabriel stopped chewing and turned toward Josh. “Are you saying you ain’t worried about paying me back?”
“No, sir. It’s just that I wanna go home.”
“Well, hell, wouldn’t we all like to go home? I don’t know if you realize it or not boy, but there ain’t no more home.” Gabriel gnawed off a bite nearly big enough to fill his entire mouth. Some of it hung against his gray, stubbled cheek before he pulled it in with his tongue. He continued after a few seconds of chewing. “Your home is right here with me now so you might as well get used to it.”
Josh lost his appetite and placed the meat on a rock. “But my parents need me.”
“But my parents need me,” the man said, mimicking the boy in his best wimpy voice. “If your parents were still alive and needed you that bad you wouldn’t be hiding in a thicket of brush. I’m the closest thing you got to a parent now, so eat up so we can hightail it outta here before any more mangy mutts like this one comes along.” Gabriel lowered the dog’s leg and looked over at Josh. “You’re lucky there was only one of ‘em. If they were in a pack you’d be looking like this here carcass right about now.”
Josh stared at what was left of the dog’s carved-up body and new Gabriel was probably right. He sat quietly, listening to him chew bite after bite, until nothing remained of the dog but a framework of bones hanging from the stick.
After a loud burp Gabriel stood to his feet. “Let’s get moving along, boy. We’ll head down the coast and see if we can find anything worth keeping.” He laughed and smacked Josh on the shoulder. “Kinda like the way I found you.”
When Josh stood up, Gabriel grabbed him by the throat and pushed his face up to the remains of the dog. “You see what’s left of that mutt, boy?”
Josh nodded, Gabriel’s fingers digging into his neck.
“Well that’s what you’re gonna look like if you try to escape.” Gabriel released his grip. “I’ll hunt you down and gut you like a dog, and then I’ll eat what little meat’s on your bones until there ain’t nutting left of you but an empty carcass.” He bent down and stared Josh in the face. “You understand me, boy?”
Josh tried to talk but fear silenced his words. He quickly nodded.
Gabriel gently slapped his cheek. “Good boy. Now grab my gear and let’s get moving ‘fore I change my mind and eat you right now.”
Chapter Fourteen
AFTER NEARLY A WEEK without her husband and son, Monica finally came to terms with the fact that she would probably never see them again. She crawled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom, her pajama top unbuttoned and hung open, with the bottoms lying next to the bed. The tiled bathroom floor felt like ice beneath her bare feet as she walked up to the mirror and glanced at her tangled hair through red puffy eyes.
“You look like shit, Monica,” she said, prying open an eye with her fingers.
After a heavy sigh, she walked to the shower and cranked the lever all the way to the left. Within seconds a cloud of steam filled the room. She removed what little clothes she had on and slowly stepped under the water. It was hot, but not hot enough, she thought. The water pulsated her hair and body. There would be no more crying, and she had to be strong if she was to survive.
DAN SAT AT THE DINING room table dressed in a black silk shirt that belonged to Thomas Steinberg. He skimmed through a book about raising chickens that he got from the Steinberg’s library.
Luke stood in front of the cooktop flipping three steaks with a fork. A thin layer of melted beef fat coated the bottom of the frying pan, caramelizing a layer of onions until they turned a golden brown.
Monica’s stomach rumbled when she walked into the kitchen dressed in gray sweat pants and a pink tee shirt. “That smells good,” she said, pulling out a chair.
Dan and Luke both looked at the same time.
“Well look who decided to leave the bedroom,” Luke said.
Dan eyeballed the tee shirt. “You look good all cleaned up.”
Monica pulled her feet on the chair and wrapped her arms around her legs to conceal as much of her body as possible.
“I’ve got some potatoes baking in the oven and a bottle of red wine cooling in the fridge,” Luke said.
“Red wine’s better at room temperature,” Monica mumbled.
“What’s that?” Luke said, grabbing three plates from the cabinet.
“I didn’t say anything.” Monica stared at her kitchen. The countertops were filled with food-encrusted plates, at least twenty glasses were piled in the sink, and the dishwasher door was jarred open from being overloaded with pots and pans. “What did you guys do to my kitchen?”
Luke put the plates on the table after filling each with a steak and baked potato. He then put a glass of wine next to each plate. “Technically, it’s our kitchen now. Your husband gave everything away when he abandoned us.”
“He didn’t abandon me,” Monica snapped. “You kidnapped me.”
“We did not, Dan said.”
“Then why wouldn’t you let me leave?”
“Because it’s not safe out there, I said. You never would have made it through the city.”
“If you cared so much, then why’d you let Josh go?”
“We didn’t,” Luke said. “We tried to get him to stay, but your husband wouldn’t allow it. You can thank him for Josh leaving.” He pulled out a chair, sat down, and angrily cut through the steak. He pointed the knife at Monica. “Your husband doesn’t give a damned about you or Josh. If he did he would have left both of you here and came back for you with some of the people from that fancy island you were going to.”
Monica laughed. “Do you really think he would have voluntarily left us alone with you two?”
Luke dropped his utensils on the plate. “Why the hell wouldn’t he? I take offense to that, Monica. We’ve been protecting your asses for about five years, so why all the sudden you don’t trust us?”
“Oh come on, Luke. Stop acting so innocent. We all know why you wouldn’t let me go.”
Dan continued eating with his eyes bouncing between Monica and Luke. Whenever one of them spoke, he turned quick in their direction. He then turned to the other, eager to hear their response.
“And why is that, Monica?” Luke said.
“So when are you and Dan gonna do it?”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Do what?”
Dan sipped his wine, his eyes focused on Monica.
“Gang rape me,” Monica replied.
In one quick spurt, the wine flew from hi
s mouth and streamed from his nose. He coughed and hacked, trying to catch his breath. Monica and Dan had no choice but to smile.
Dan grabbed his napkin and wiped his mouth and eyes. When he composed himself, he turned to Monica. “What are you talking about? We’re not rapers.” He continued to wipe the front of his black satin shirt. “Come on, Monica, do I look like a raper?”
Monica studied him. His sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, exposing one of her husband’s gold watches; his hair was greased back into a wave, and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a large, gold-chained necklace entwined in chest hair. She placed her hands over her mouth and began to laugh. He was exactly what she would imagine a rapist would look like.
Dan and Luke smiled.
“I’m sorry,” Monica said between laughs. “I’m just so tired and worried about Josh.” The tone of her laughter changed and she began to cry.
Luke and Dan stared at each other and then walked over to Monica in an attempt to comfort her, although neither new exactly what to say or do.
“I’m sure he’s fine, Monica,” Dan said, stroking her back. “He’s with his father so what could possibly happen?”
Monica cried harder, and Luke glared at his brother. Dan held up his hands and made the what’d I say gesture.
“What my brother was trying to say,” Luke said, “is that they’ll be fine. By the time they reached the city it would have been dark, so odds are nobody saw them.”
Monica raised her head and spoke through quick gasps of air. “Then why has it been a week and they haven’t returned?” She looked directly at Luke. “You said yourself that we wouldn’t have made it through the city.”