by Chad Leito
As if to prove him wrong, the Greco man was then taken down by the neck. The Beardsley man was strangling him as he brought him to the ground. The Greco man whirled and kicked while a woman in the group ran after the Beardsley and plunged a sword into his torso. And it began. An hour went by and the sand was crimson red with blood. The game was a hit. The crowd yelled and screamed and stood in their seats. They were invigorated by all of the excitement.
Teddy and I held hands until we were torn apart. Two guards pulled open his cell on squeaking metal hinges and ripped him from my fingers. He looked back at me with pleading eyes. He was the sixth man to be pulled out in his group and I would be the next to go. I looked around at who would be my competition next round. Four grown Beardsley men and a little Greco boy of two or three. The men were thick with heavy backs and strong shoulders. I breathed in the air and knew that I was going to die.
The guards pulled the contestants to different places around the Theatre. Teddy fought and writhed in the guards arms, but couldn’t get loose. He would have to kill a tall blond haired Greco man, two Beardsley little girls, and two old arthritic Grecos if he was going to save his life. He was the tallest and the best built. I thought that he had a shot.
”Go!” shouted Georgie with a shrill laugh and the contestants were released. Teddy was off to a sprint the second that he was free. He sped into the center of the sand where all of the weapons sat. He reached the weapons before anyone else had. Georgie was jumping up and down and clapping his hands with excitement. Teddy grabbed an axe and ran off, the axe securely wrapped in his slender fingers. He was running straight for an old woman who had closed her eyes shut to brace herself for death. But, to my surprise, he ran right passed her. She heard him go by and then looked around, baffled.
By the time the guards realized what he was doing it was too late to stop him. He ran right up to Georgie the clown and, despite Georgie’s shrieks for help and frantic attempts at dodging, Teddy lodged the axe deep into his skull.
Georgie collapsed into the sand. The crowd cheered louder than they ever had. They weren’t looking for justice, they were looking for blood. They had gotten it.
That was the end of the show that day. Guards rushed over and killed Teddy. He didn’t scream, he didn’t fight, he just took it. It was bizarre. The other contestants on the sand were ushered back into their cells and me and the rest of the waiting prisoners were saved for the time. There was not a torture show that day and the president did not make an appearance. After Georgie was killed the auditorium was cleared and the fans were asked to leave. Still, they had seen enough and I thought that everyone of them was surely satisfied with the show that they had seen.
After the people left the Theatre it got lonely. The other prisoners in the Theatre didn’t talk often, and when they did it was in slow quiet whispers. The wind blew specks of red sand into my cell and I wondered if it was Teddy’s blood that made the grains red.
I couldn’t get the look of Georgie’s face out of my head while I lay there, wondering when the next show would be. They had drug the clown’s carcass right passed me. Its eyes were open and a sick smile covered its face as it stared at me in my cell.
When the sun went down we were brought dinner-moldy bread and water. I ate in my cell alone, ripping the mold off of my bread and drinking my water. There were no prisoners around me and I wondered how long it would take before the cells were filled with more innocent people waiting to die.
Two guards stayed on duty at all times, walking in circles around the facility. Their boots echoed off of the cold stone walls with every step that they took. I watched them for hours while my mind wandered. For the first time since I had been taken in I wondered if Lauren and Burl knew about my situation. I suppose it didn’t matter. It would be better if they thought that I was dead; it would save them some anxiety.
The care package was still going to go up to the Greco ship. Despite my efforts and despite Teddy’s death, the Grecos were not going to be saved. I thought about the future and what it would hold. Whenever the Grecos became addicted to that drug, which I was sure would happen, they would be powerless. The nation of Ramus, no, the Salyers in charge of the government, would then have control of every human alive. The only free people would be Burl, Lauren, and Julia. They weren’t even guaranteed their freedom and with Burl making frequent trips to town it was a wonder that they weren’t yet caught.
I looked up at the stars and into the black of night and thought about earth. It was thought to have become barren hundreds of years ago. The most popular prediction was that the planet was a desolate spinning ball of matter in the sky with people, plants and animals mummied under layers of harsh chemicals. Why hadn’t there been rules written up before we left? Why are the Salyers allowed to act this way? Why do they even want to?
I ran my hand over my head. My hair was starting to grow back and soon I would look like my old self. What then? Would they discover that I was the boy in the wanted posters? Would I be tortured?
“Hey,” I heard a voice say and I looked up. Hank was standing before my cell, his face dark under the stone tunnels of the Theatre. He took a key off of his hip and unlocked my cell. “Thanks for helping me that day on the farm.”
I was dumfounded. Speechless. Before I could say anything, he was gone, his feet echoing off of the walls of the corridor and the door to my cell was ajar. I looked over at him walking and then saw from across the sand that the other guard was on his way. Before the other guard could have a chance to apprehend me, I pushed the metal door open and ran out into the night.
20
Into the Night
I ran on light feet, careful to make as little noise as possible. As soon as I was off of the hard stone of the Theatre I sprinted over the dirt roads in town, running in a straight line for the nearest trees. The houses sped beside me as I sprinted and when I finally made it into the forest I slowed to a stop, resting my hands on my knees.
I looked behind me into the town and saw no movement. It seemed as though the town was still asleep and that no one had noticed me running over the roads.
The night was clear with silver light coming off of the moon and falling through the trees. Crazy black shadows spidered out into the forest. The leaves and branches seemed to be the color of moonlight themselves and rustling leaves made noises that sounded like whispers.
I turned around, trying to find my way. I decided that I would go to Burl’s; I had nowhere else to go. I looked around, got an idea for the shape of the town, and set off into the woods in the direction that I suspected would lead to the cabin.
Starting off on a journey in the middle of the night was not a good idea. The forest looked different in the night. Out of every bush my eyes thought there was a pair of hungry jaws. In every breeze my ears thought that there were hunting footsteps behind me. I was scared and the deeper I walked, the more certain I became that I was lost. I kept moving, each clearing looking more strange and bizarre than the last and each tree that I passed as unfamiliar as the one before. I wasn’t recognizing anything and after a few hours I decided to go back to town so that I could start my journey in the morning light the next day. I found though, in my attempts to back track, that I didn’t know which way town was. I had been turned around twenty or more times, changing direction at bushes, trees, and clearings that my instincts told me were ‘good signs.’ My instincts had gotten me lost and then whenever I needed them the most they were quiet and offered me no advice.
A snarl came from behind me and I was sure that this time my ears weren’t confused-a predator was coming. I froze hearing the sniffing and the snarling come closer. I didn’t turn around as I heard the leaves and grass move behind me, but remained still until I felt the warm breath on the back of my neck.
“Walt?”
I turned around. I had hallucinated my name and now I was staring into the face of a huge beast, it’s black nose puffing warm air into my face.
“Walt?”
&
nbsp; There it was again. I wondered if everyone hallucinated before death.
“Walt? What are ye’ doin’?”
I took a step back and saw that the beast who had been stalking me was Snuggles. The huge dog was smiling with its tongue hanging out of its mouth to the side. It stepped forward and licked my face, covering me with warm saliva. On top of the dog was Burl and Lauren. Burl was in front and holding a saddle.
“How did ye’ escape?” asked Burl.
I wiped my face off with my shirt. “How did you get Snuggles to act like this?”
Burl laughed and pointed a thumb at Lauren behind him. “That was Lauren’s deal. Turns out that after a certain surgical procedure Snuggles became quite nice.”
Lauren smiled and nodded.
“So how did you get out?”
“Hank let me out,” I said.
“Hank?” Lauren asked. “From the farm?”
“Yes,” I said. “He works at the Theatre now. He let me out and told me thank you for saving him that day.”
“Well isn’t that just wonderful?” said Burl grinning. “Now hop onto the dog. We’ve got te’ get ye’ in one of those barrels!”
“What?” I asked. “I thought that I was going back to your house.”
Burl ran a hand over his beard. “Well, ye’ can if ye’ want, but Lauren and I just assumed that ye’ would still want to help. The package is going to be taken up any day now, ye’ know!”
I looked from Lauren to Burl and then to Snuggles. “Wait, why are you guys even out here anyways?”
“We were goin’ te’ get ye’, of course.”
“Going to get me?”
“Yeah,” said Burl. “From the Theatre.”
“How?” I asked.
Lauren shrugged. “We hadn’t figured that part out yet, but we were going to try.”
“We love ye’, and that’s what ye’ do for people that ye’ love,” Burl added.
“Where’s Julia?” I asked.
“She’s with the Wilks. After Teddy was put into the Theatre, Burl put them in his house. They’re there right now, and Julia is staying with them.”
My mind reeled. I wanted to go back. I didn’t want any more adventure. I hadn’t asked for any. My thoughts returned to images of sunken in eyes of drug addicts and of Ramus controlling the whole human race. “I’ll do it,” I said. “So what’s the plan?”
I hopped onto Snuggles in between Lauren and Burl and as we rode Lauren told me how they were going to try to get me into a barrel. Snuggles was fast, sprinting across the forest floor. I held on tight to his black fur all the way to town. Burl navigated the dog by turning its reigns until we walked up to the same place that Teddy and I had been sitting just 24 hours ago.
We sat on Snuggles looking through the branches of the trees. To the right was the landing strip where I had stepped foot onto Mungus for the first time. Straight ahead, two guards were standing in front of a tent of barrels and sacks of supplies.
“I don’t like this plan,” I said. “We should think of something else.”
“We got no time,” whispered Burl. “We got to do this now! Hop down.”
I hugged Burl’s thick back from behind, putting my face into his tangles of red hair, and then I leapt off of Snuggles and onto the ground. As soon as Lauren and I were on the ground, Burl took off. He snapped the reigns and Snuggles sprinted off towards the supplies before I could get one last look on his face. Lauren gave my shoulder a tight squeeze as I watched Burl running over the grass.
He was yelling profanities at the guards and calling them names. “Come and get me ye’ sack of useless animals!” cried Burl. It was an odd insult, but it worked. The guards drew their weapons and chased after Burl. Snuggles ran by the tent, Burl bent down and grabbed a sack of grain, and then they sprinted off across the fields with the guards chasing them.
“Now,” said Lauren. We ran over the fields side by side until we were under the tent. Lauren looked over the wooden barrels and sacks. “Which barrel is it?” Lauren asked.
“It’s this one. Teddy was going for this one.”
With shaking, nervous hands Lauren opened up the barrel and I jumped inside. She gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then I ducked down into the barrel. Before she closed the lid on me, she dropped a wooden block into the barrel. The block landed on my knees and Lauren closed the lid above my head, covering me in darkness. I heard her muffled footsteps as she ran for cover and then I was alone.
When she was gone, my heart dropped in sorrow. The corners of my mouth fell down and I began to cry. I ran the block that she had given me over my fingers. It was 2 inches by 2 inches by 2 inches and along the sides I felt engravings. It was one of the wooden blocks that the huboons had given to Saul and I. I pulled the block up to my cheek and felt it. In the distance I heard gunshots. They were low and muffled. I couldn’t tell what had happened.
I had been put into the barrel just in time. A few hours later, I was jostled around and thrown into a new location. I couldn’t see where I was, all I knew that I was hot. As I was being moved, I was afraid that the lid would come off, revealing me to the guards. I would have been killed had that happened, but it never did.
The Grecos found the barrel and I was pulled out in time to warn them about the tea. President Strunk wrote a letter down to the Salyers letting them know that the two people groups were not on good terms.
Miss Marianna’s son adopted me, although I never could discover why. He was a thin man with sallow skin and had no interest at all in playing boyish things with me. He was depressing. Miss Marianna came over often though, brought her son soup, and told him that he had to cheer up. He would mutter something under his breath about how life is meaningless and disappear to his bedroom. Miss Marianna made it her mission to keep me up in my studies and taught me different subjects every day.
Besides school, though, I had little to do. There were no people on the ship who were my age because all of them were forced in to signing the contracts. I was the youngest person on the ship by seven years. I spent a good amount of my time in the auditorium, watching old baseball games on the big screen and remembering how I used to be annoyed at Saul dragging me there. I missed him.
At night I would sneak out, climb over the counter and scale the ladder to the projection room behind the auditorium. I sat in the room where Saul, Blaine and I had first heard about Mungus. I wished that the Greco ship had never made it. I felt like a ghost, wandering the halls at night. I looked out at the planet, glowing in blue, green, and white and I thought about when Saul told me that he was going back to Glen’s farm to try to sneak people out. The more I thought about that statement in my mind, testing it and running it over, the more convinced I was that it was the noblest thing that I had ever heard. Saul had been a good person, and if more people wanted to help then maybe Ramus could be brought down. As I watched the clouds glide over the planet I vowed to become one of those people and to try to save as many as possible. It was a promise that I wouldn’t break.
Hello Reader,
I hope that you have enjoyed Mungus. I wrote this novel over the course of 10 months in 2011: This was my third novel to write, and my first that I was proud of.
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Chad Leito