The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles (10 page)

BOOK: The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles
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“‘Bobby,’ I said. ‘Stop.’

“But Little Bobby was screaming so loud
he couldn’t hear me. “‘Bobby...’

“Before I could plead with him to stop
again, the Bashir bolted toward Little Bobby. I frantically looked around for
something to stop it. I spotted a baseball size rock in the field, picked it up
and flung it at the Bashir. It hit the creature on the back of the head, but
didn’t seem to affect him at all. It stomped forward, drool hanging from its
clenched mouth. Little Bobby was about to be smashed to bits and there wasn’t
anything I could do about it. “‘Bobby,’ I yelled one more time.

“This time he stopped screaming, but it
was beyond too late at this point. The Bashir stopped and stood in front of
Little Bobby. It nodded its massive head frantically. A clacking noise emanated
from its throat. It circled Bobby. There was an unsettling sense of joy in its
odd display. It was ecstatic to see Little Bobby. It craned its neck back,
lifted its snout to the sky, and let out a sound like a bugle, which forced
everyone in the arena to plug their ears.

“When the cry ended it was replaced with
the swishing sounds of dozens of arrows flying through the air. I instinctively
dove to the ground pulling April with me. I covered my head with my hands just
as I heard the thwack, thwack, thwack of the arrows striking the Bashir. Most
of them bounced off their target, but a few found soft spots in the Bashir’s
otherwise impenetrable armor-like skin. It squealed. An odd sound for such a
brutish beast. Bobby stood stunned but unharmed.

“Carl and his soldiers stormed the
field, new arrows drawn and ready to fire. The Bashir turned to them and
snorted. It raised a fist and smashed the ground. The force of it knocked
several of his attackers off their feet, their arrows flying misguided throw
the air.

“The Bashir grabbed Little Bobby with
its other hand and placed himself between Bobby and the unfired arrows. Little
Bobby gagged. ‘Archie, help!’

“I bit my bottom lip. I hoped against
hope that he didn’t just call my name. Why me? Tank was bigger and closer.
Anyone but me. April nudged me. I rolled my eyes and slowly stood.

“‘Hey... Bashir,” I said.

“The grunting monster looked almost
puzzled by my attempt to communicate with him.

“‘Let him go.’ I wanted to laugh at my
own lack of leverage for Little Bobby’s release. How could I possibly convince
this obviously unthinking beast to release Bobby? I might as well have demanded
that it recite the Gettysburg Address in pig Latin.

“‘Bashirs don’t negotiate,’ Carl shouted
as he moved to a forward position.

“‘Yeah, I’m getting that.’ The Bashir
shifted its gaze between Carl and me. ‘Any ideas?’

“‘We kill it,” Carl said.

“‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Anyway you can do that
without hurting Bobby?’

“‘Probably, if we had time to formulate
a plan, but time is something we don’t have.’

“‘What do you mean?’

“‘I mean I’ve never heard that bugle cry
before. In fact, never heard a Bashir do anything more than grunt and squeak. I
got a feeling he just sent a message to his friends somewhere out there.’

“‘So?’

“‘So, I’m guessing the message is ‘Look
what I found.’

“I examined how the Bashir was holding
Bobby. I could only describe it as carefully. He had no intention of hurting
Bobby.

“‘What’s so special about, Bobby?’ I
asked.

“‘Must’ve heard he does cartwheels,’
Jerry said. This drew a series of chuckles from Carl’s group, which did not
please him at all.

“‘Don’t know what they want with him,’
Carl said. ‘Don’t care. I just want to put an arrow through the thing’s head
before he decides to call his friends again.

“‘You can’t. You might hit Bobby.’

“‘Not my biggest concern right now,’
Carl said. ‘I just want to keep a herd of these big uglies from knowing our
little community’s location.’

“‘But...’

“The Bashir raised its head in
preparation to let out another bugle call. Carl pulled back on the string of
his bow and instructed his soldiers to do the same.

“‘Wait, wait, wait,’ I said ‘Don’t...’

“Before I could finish, the Bashir let
out a garbled bark. I turned to see it fall face first to the ground. An arrow
was sticking out of its ear.

“On the top of the hill, still standing
where she was when we entered the little arena, Madison lowered her bow.

“‘Ease off, men,’ Carl barked. ‘Nice
shot, Maddy.’ He pulled out a large hunting knife and approached the Bashir.
‘That didn’t go as planned,’ he said kneeling down.

“‘You had a plan?’ I asked.

“‘Of sorts,’ he said as he jammed the
knife in the Bashir’s arrow-free ear making a sickening, slicing sound.

“‘What was your plan?’

“‘Maybe they were more like expectations
than a plan.’ He pulled the knife out and cleaned the blade on his pant leg.

“‘Okay,’ I said. ‘What were your
expectations?’

“‘That the Bashir would pound you into
raw meat.’

“I swallowed hard.

“‘Don’t take it personal,’ he said.
‘That’s the way these things usually go, but for some reason the Bashir took a
keen interest in Mr. Cartwheel.’

“Little Bobby examined the dead Bashir
with great interest. He was fascinated by it. More so than I think I had ever
seen him.

“‘Well,’ I said, ‘I once heard that
animals go after the weakest in the group.’

“Carl laughed. ‘Son, to the Bashir we’re
all the weakest. And just because this thing isn’t human doesn’t make it an
animal. No, sir, there’s something more to it than that. The Bashir wanted
Bobby. That sound it made. He was telling all his friends he found something...
maybe something they’ve been looking for.’

“Bobby tapped Carl on the shoulder.
‘Excuse me, Mr. Carl, but can I have the claw?’

“Carl looked at him perplexed. ‘What
claw?’

“‘The Bashir’s claw. I need it.’

“Carl shook his head. ‘Bashir’s don’t
have claws, Bobby.’ He returned to our conversation. ‘I’m not so sure it was a
good idea bringing you all into our camp.’

“‘Wait a minute,’ I said. ‘We didn’t
exactly come here by our own free will.’

“‘Well, you’re here now so I can’t let
you leave...’

“‘Yes they do,” Little Bobby said.

“‘What?’ Carl barked.

“‘Have a claw.’ Bobby leaned down and
picked up the Bashir’s heavy arm. ‘See,’ he grunted. There was a pouch on the
underside of the wrist. Bobby pushed the tough fleshy hide beneath the pouch
and a razor-sharp claw shot out like a switchblade.

“‘I’ll be a...’ Carl started as he
leaned in to examine the claw. He peered up at Little Bobby. ‘How did you know
it was there?’

“‘That’s where it’s supposed to be,’
Little Bobby answered.

“‘What does that mean?’ Carl asked.

“Bobby shrugged his shoulders. ‘Can I
have it?’

“Carl nodded and slit the pouch open
with his hunting knife. With some effort, he cut through the Bashir’s arm and
removed the claw. He handed it to Little Bobby.

“‘Thanks,’ Little Bobby said. ‘This will
help a lot.’

“Carl stared at Bobby for several
seconds. ‘I don’t like this.’ He turned to the punk I had knocked out earlier
and said, Take them back to the pens.’ He walked to the middle of the field.
‘The tests are cancelled for today.’ The crowd groaned with disappointment.
‘See your duty sergeants ASAP for your day’s assignment.’ The crowd immediately
began to disburse. ‘Captains!’ Carl barked. ‘The library in five!’ He stormed
off without another word.”

 

***

 

“They put us in separate pens after the
incident at the arena. They truly didn’t know what to do with us, and I guess
they thought that keeping us apart was the safest course of action. We could
still see each other and carry on conversations, but we couldn’t huddle
together and seek comfort in the closeness of each other.

“Little Bobby curled up in his pen
holding onto the Bashir’s claw. He was asleep shortly after they padlocked his
pen door. He had a strange smile on his face as he snoozed the late morning
away.

“The rest of us were pensive to say the
least. Tank paced stooped over in his pen. April rocked back and forth hugging
her knees to her chest. I picked at the ground and tossed scraps of dirt and
grass into a little pile in front of me. We didn’t speak to each other for a
long time. It may have had something to do with the other captives being so
close by, but I think it was more that we were afraid of what we might say.

“Tank was the first to break the
silence. He stopped pacing and propped himself up with his hands on the chain
link wall of his pen. ‘You ever catch your old man in a lie, Archie?’

“I looked at him puzzled. ‘What?’

“‘My old man was in Vietnam. He used to
talk about it all the time. The stuff they did. Not the bad stuff you read
about in books and see in movies. The good stuff... acts of bravery, you know?’

“‘Yeah,’ I said.

“‘By the time I was ten I thought the
only difference between Superman and my dad was that Superman could fly.’ He
sat down. ‘Then one day I caught my old man in a lie. I can’t even remember
what it was. Something small. Lied to my mom about how much he spent on
something, I think. My mom was pretty tight with the dollar. She had the old
man on a short leash when it came to the household budget. He was scared to
death of her when it came to spending money.’

“‘People lie,’ I said. ‘Some lies are
bigger than others, that’s all.’

“‘I know,’ he said. ‘I get that. But I
started thinking about all his war stories. All those brave things he’d done.
What if those were lies, too?’

“‘Just cause he lied once doesn’t mean
he lied all the time,’ April interjected.

“Tank shook his head. ‘It was more than
once. I started keeping count of the lies he told. He lied a lot.’

“‘C’mon, I think you’re reading too much
into it. I’m sure your dad was a good guy,’ I said.

“He nodded. ‘He was. I’m just not sure
he was the guy I wanted him to be. The guy in those stories he used to tell. I
want to be like that guy. If he lied about that, then that means I want to be a
lie.’

“I thought about what he said and
finally asked, ‘It doesn’t matter how much your dad lied anymore, does it?’

“‘Does to me,’ he said.

“‘Well, it doesn’t to me,’ I said
sounding too much like Carl.

“‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Tank
asked.

“‘It means the world where your old man
told lies is dead! It’s over! It’s gone! Along with every stupid little
insignificant lie he told. Be your own man, Tank! Stop moaning and crying about
the man your dad wasn’t and be the man you want to be! That’s what matters to
me and April and Little Bobby. Got it?’

“He gave me the same look he’d given me
when I punched Little Bobby in his bite wound. ‘You’re a real jerk, you know
that, Archie?’

“I kicked at the pile of dirt and grass
I had created. ‘Yeah, I guess I am.’ I could feel myself losing my cool so I
turned away from the others and closed my eyes tightly. I wanted this all to be
a bad dream. Maybe if I closed my eyes long enough, I would open them and the
world wouldn’t be this turned upside down crazy mess that it was.

“I opened my eyes at the sound of Little
Bobby screaming. Two of Carl’s goons had come down from the mansion and were
pulling him out of his pen.

“‘What are you doing?’ I asked. ‘Leave
him alone.’

“Tank started pulling on the chain link
wall of his pen. ‘Hey, get your hands off him!’

“‘Let go,’ Little Bobby screamed. ‘I
don’t want to go! Archie!’

“‘Hey, hey, fellas,’ I said. ‘C’mon,
have a heart.’

“The goons ignored us.

“‘Stop them,’ April pleaded with me.

“‘Take me,’ I said. ‘I’m the leader
remember? Take me.’

“Tank violently jerked on his chain link
enclosure. ‘I’m going to rip your head off!’ he barked.

“The goons chuckled at this threat. One
of them said, ‘Carl wants to see him do a couple of cartwheels, that’s all.’

“They jostled Little Bobby and pushed
him past the pens. I slapped the side of my pen. ‘If he gets hurt, I’m holding
you responsible.’ Upon hearing that, one of the goons slapped Little Bobby on
the back of the head hard enough to make him cry out in pain.

“They disappeared around the corner.
Madison appeared shortly after they had gone.

“‘Bring him back, Madison,’ I said.

“‘He’ll be all right,’ she said. ‘Trust
me.’

“Tank laughed sarcastically. ‘Trust you?
Sure, okay. You kidnap us and lock us in cages and we’re supposed to trust
you.’

“‘We’re just trying to protect the
community,’ Madison said. ‘You want to help him. Tell me everything you know
about him.’

BOOK: The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles
6.83Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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