Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

I look all around the town, but I can’t find Pop or Mama. I start to peek through the windows, and even go into one building. There are no shrieks, so I assume dogs are allowed indoors. But, no luck, because there’s no familiar faces in here. I go in each and every store (including one with a very upset owner who apparently did have a no dogs policy), but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I keep walking until I come onto other people’s property. Maybe one of these houses is Uncle Henry’s or at least Mr. Stevens’. I walk on another person’s farm with a big, cherry red barn. There’s no one in the house, but I hear a big ruckus in the barn. I’d better hurry; it’s starting to get dusky and I don’t want to be out here when it’s dark again. 

I peek inside of the barn. Whoa, there are a ton of people inside! Probably 50-75 total! They all are sitting down on small chairs and are holding paddles. I have heard of these before, it’s called an auction, I think? People bid on items that are for sale, and whoever is the highest bidder receives the item, while the other people weep. Yup, it looks about right. I never have attended an auction before, plus, maybe I can warm myself up a bit. There’s torches lining the walls, and it looks mighty cozy in there.

I squeeze in through the crack of the barn door. Ah, much warmer in here! I settle in the middle of the aisle, but in the back. Yeah, if push comes to shove, I know where I’m sleeping tonight. I lay my head down and watch the auction lazily. Hey, don’t judge me! I haven’t stopped working myself to the bone- I deserve a lazy moment! Someone comes up, auctions a thoroughbred horse, sells it, and walks off. Another person comes up, auctions five wheels of cheese and a vat of honey, sells it, and walks off. Once more, another person comes up auctions some slaves- Wait, what?! I stand up so fast I become dizzy. I quickly shake off the spots from my vision and look harder at the platform. Oh, no. This is worse than I thought. On the bright side, I found the Walkers. On the not-so-bright, dark, stormy, disease-infected side, they’re the ones being auctioned off. And the auctioneer- a fat guy. And next to him- Mr. McNeil!

My mind blanks. What. In. The. World. Am. I. Going. To. DO?!?!?! I could have never guessed this would happen, thus I didn’t formulate a plan for it! Okay, I didn’t formulate a plan at all, but I still can’t believe this is happening! It just keeps getting better and better.  What could I possibly do? I can’t attack McNeil without him seeing me coming first since I’m all the way in the back. I can’t sneak the Walkers’ away without at least one of these 50-75 people seeing us, obviously. 

While I’m busy panicking, I look up and see Pop staring straight at me. Well, at least I can comfort in the fact that Pop will watch me totally bail when I try to save him from whoever wants to purchase his family. Totally reassuring. Yet, there’s something about the way he was looking at me. There was mystery behind his eyes and awe, mixed with a bit of excitement, like he knew everything would turn out fine. I could see a confidence, almost bordering on cockiness that we would get out of here safe and there was nothing anyone could do about it.  I got a shot of adrenaline. There was just a fire that I had never seen before behind his eyes.

Fire. The answer hit me. I don’t know what I was thinking, but it was like I was saying before- adrenaline clouds your thoughts. I glance over at a small stack of hay. It was funny; the hay was stacked like a small flight of stairs. Coincidence, coincidence.  I jump from hay bale to hay bale until I reach the second to top one. I plant my paws firmly on the stack beneath me and push off the top hay bale down below. The hay bale hits a torch and sends it flying into the air before coming back down… and landing on the hay. Oh, yes, I’m bad!

The flames shoot up so fast; I barely have enough time to leap off of the haystack. Unfortunately, the flames singed my back paw a bit. I’ll worry about that later. Right now I have to worry about not getting trampled by people.

And then the anxiety hit me. I SET A BARN ON FIRE! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! Clouded judgment is the last thing I need right now. I have to get Pop, Mama, Mara, and Joel out of here! Pronto! 

   ***

While we were in the back with all the livestock, McNeil marches in and grabs the rope.

“It’s time for your special surprise, cretins!” He laughs nastily.

He yanks the rope and we all follow him to the inside of the barn, with two men on each side of us. I look inside and see quite a few people sitting down, all with paddles. One of them is going to be our future owners. That’s utterly disappointing.

We slowly wait our turn to be auctioned off. I savor every second of it while it lasts. Finally, much too soon, it’s our turn. We’re shoved onto a platform and are forced to watch how much we’d go for. After a little while of bids being placed higher and higher, unusual movement catches my eye in the back of the barn. I squint my eyes, trying to get a better look. No, it couldn’t be…

And suddenly, the barn catches fire. 

   ***

I try to wrestle past the frantic mob, which ends up being hopeless. People just kept almost trampling me. Hey! Watch out for the poor, helpless dog, people! I dash to the wall of the barn and stay close to there. All of the people are pooling in the middle aisle, which is closest to the barn door, so I just have to stay on the far end. Walking close to the edge, I make it to the platform. But Pop, Mama, Joel, and Mara’s hands are bound by a rope. I start to bite at them until they become frayed enough to break apart. Whoa, it’s really getting hot in here. The flames are starting to eat away at the barn’s foundation.  I run along the edge again, trusting the family to follow me. As I glance back, I see them trailing very closely behind. But it’s still bottlenecked at the barn door. I let out a loud growl and a few fierce, menacing barks. A patch instantly cleared and I led the family through it.

I turn around, panting and happy to be out of the unbearable heat. But then I notice something was not right. The smoke must have gotten to my head because it took me a few moments to realize that Mara wasn’t here.

 “Jack! Mara’s still in there!” Mama screams.

“I thought she was next to you!”

“She was!”

I bolt back into the barn and look around frantically for Mara. I scan the barn and don’t see a single person. Wait! I squint and see a figure through the smoke. I think it’s a person, but I can’t really tell. I start to walk toward it, but then I hear a small cry and run to the noise. I see Mara underneath a small beam. Luckily, it isn’t on fire, it’s just weakened. The ends start to catch flames and travel toward the middle, where Mara is. I stick my head underneath the beam and push as hard as I can. It was a small, weakened beam, so it gave way a bit. I pushed harder and harder until it gave Mara just enough wiggle room to squeeze out. She stands up, but quickly falters and collapses on the ground. I shove her as hard as I can, but she just doesn’t budge.  I wiggle my head under her arms, but her weight is too much to handle. I try to drag her across the barn floor, but I’m feeling weak after inhaling so much smoke. I stumble onto the floor next to Mara. I guess we’re both dying here, because I can’t carry Mara, but I’m not going to just leave her. I look at Mara one last time and slowly close my eyes.  She smiles at me sleepily. It actually felt peaceful. I was drowsy and unaware of almost everything, now. I knew that I would see Mara soon. 

I jerk awake, suddenly. I look up slowly and see Pop pick up Mara and carry her out of the barn. He whistles, and I wobble up on shaky legs. I start to follow him, but then I hear a gunshot.

A staggering pain shoots through my side. The force knocks me across the barn floor and I slide to the wall. My vision slowly clears, and I see McNeil marching up to me.

“You have been a thorn in my side for too long now!” He spits. He shoves the gun under my nose.

“I am going to kill you,” McNeil says, but then turns the gun around, “and then I’m gonna kill these stupid slaves, next!”

I see him point the gun at Pop and Mara. Pop swiftly moves in front of Mara, and puts on a face that would have cowed a rhino. But just as he c***s the gun, I lunge forward and chomp on his ankle. There was no mercy this time. He tried to kill my family! I bite down as hard as possible and McNeil shouts and drops the gun. He turns to me and kicks me savagely. I skid across the floor and slam into a weakening support beam. It topples over and pins McNeil to the ground. He struggles, but the beam doesn’t move. Then everything blurs and my eyes close.

   ***

Yep. The barn’s on fire, alright. I smile fondly as I see a silhouette of a dog hoping off of the hay bales. That’s my boy! But I start to get nervous as he’s lost in the confused mob of auction attendees. I frantically search for him among the crazed wave of people, who are quite possibly trampling over him this minute! While I’m thinking of this, I glance down and yelp! Choco was standing right there. I save my emotions for later; right now, we had to get out of here. He chews on our ropes until they become frayed. I watch Pop snap his ropes in half, and start helping Mama with hers. It must be the adrenaline, because I can’t seem to do anything with my ropes. I strain and yank, but eventually, I give up and wait for Pop to help me. Pop snaps my ropes, and I massage my wrists briefly before getting a move on.

We all start running toward the exit. Woah, I’m feeling dizzy. I stumble and knock into a support beam. I shake the fuzziness from my brain and glance up at the now falling beam. Oh, crud.

I am about to start running, when the beam falls on top of me. All of my air escapes my lungs at once. I try to inhale, but gag on the smoke while my burning lungs cry out for fresh air.

I start to think the worst when suddenly, Choco comes running back in. He seems to be searching around for me. He must not see me. I try to call out to him, but the only thing that comes out is a small whimper. He seems to have heard though, and I see his ears perk up. He dashes over to me and tries to lift the support beam. It gives way just the slightest bit, and I wiggle out from under it. I spring up, and then instantly collapse. My legs just can’t work. No matter what, I just can’t summon enough strength to do anything. I’m hardly aware of Choco trying to haul me out of the barn.

He finally lays down and looks at me sadly. I give him a small smile. Then my eyes slowly start to close…

My eyes pop open as I see, well, Pop. He lifts me up and whistles to Choco. Choco wobbles up on shaky legs and starts to follow him. Then, I hear a gunshot ringing in my ears. I see Choco skid to the edge of the barn.

I feel too weak to scream, and too dehydrated to cry. I watch in agony as McNeil points the gun to Pop and I. Pop sets me down gently and guides me behind him. I clutch onto his shirt for a moment to steady myself. Then I hear McNeil scream. I peek around Pop and see Choco biting down full force on McNeil. Then, McNeil brings his other foot back and kicks him savagely. The force is so hard, that Choco smashes against another beam. The beam teeters for a moment, and then comes down full force onto McNeil.

I see him struggle just like I was only moments ago. All of my life I hated this man. We should just let him stay there and feel what it’s like. To be rejected, mistreated, and tortured. And yet, everything in my body that’s telling me to do that is what’s making me not. I’m the monster if we just leave him here. Everything I’ve ever hated about this man, I would become. Pop reads my thoughts and starts toward him.

“All my life, I’ve always been you’re worthless slave, and you’ve always thought that you were better than me. You tortured me, whipped me, and mistreated me. I should have every right to leave you here and die. But I don’t have every right to leave you here. So that’s why I’m doing this. And for the rest of your life, you will never forget that I, the worthless slave, never stooped down to your level.”

And with that, Pop musters all of his strength and shoves the beam off of McNeil. He grabs his arm and drags him to Mara.

“Joel! Joel, git in here!” He shouts, his voice strained.

Joel crashes through the barn door and searches around frantically.

I cough out his name, “Joel!”

He looks over towards the noise and squints his eyes. Then he runs to us.

“My gosh, it’s hard to see y’all in here. Mama was getting’ worried.”

“Joel, grab Choco, and help your sister to the barn door. She’s too weak to get there by herself.”

Joel grins, “I coulda told you that!”

Even in the absolutely, positively, dangerously worst of times, Joel still has to be the most annoying person on earth.

He grabs Choco with one arm and supports me with the other. We slowly hobble over to the door. When we’re about five feet from it, the barn door ignites in flames.

Joel hesitates for a moment, and then shoves me through before I have enough time to think about it. I land on the grass outside, and I slowly inch away from the door. Well, I made it through relatively unscathed. I’m gonna have to take a closer look when we get out of this mess, though. 

   ***

I am shocked to be waking up again. I really didn’t think I would be, but here I am, being clutched in Joel’s arms, running out of the barn. How did that happen? Everything is still a blur. I remember something about Pop calling Joel and McNeil... Something about McNeil. I see Joel shove Mara out of the barn door, hesitate, then crash through the barn door himself. He quickly hurries and sets me on the ground. I try to focus, but everything blurs and suddenly, it’s dark. 

   ***

I wake up in a soft bed somewhere I don’t recognize. Is this heaven? Mmm, no, I don’t think heaven has deer and rabbit heads hung on the wall. Where am I? I hop off of the bed and immediately yelp in pain. I remove the weight off of my back left paw and glance down at my stomach. I have a white bandage wrapped around it several times. Huh. Okay, it’s for sure not heaven. I limp out the door and go into what I’m guessing is the living room. I suddenly get tackled and yelp again in pain.

“Ooh, sorry, Choco.” Mara grins. Then Joel sprints over and hugs me around my neck.

Pop and Mama come over with another man I don’t recognize.

“And this, Uncle Henry, is this infamous Choco, dog hero!” Pop chuckles.

Huh. I like the sound of that! Wait a minute. Uncle Henry? We must have made it to Pennsylvania! Uncle Henry comes over and gives me a warm pat on my head.

“Well, I’ll be! He’s even cuter when he’s awake!” Uncle Henry wheezes.

“Yup, and Mara will tell you the whole story for the fiftieth time at the table. C’mon you guys, it’s supper time!” Mama calls. She puts a fat salmon in my food bowl. Meh, it’s not trout, but I’ll take what I can get after not having a proper meal since Bethany McKinley’s house. I gobble it down before everyone takes their seats at the table. They say their prayers and then dig in.

I listen attentively to Mara’s story. I was pleased to hear that Pop saved Mr. McNeil. Even though I extremely disliked him, he didn’t deserve to die. No one does. And I was astonished about the integrity of Pop. Not everyone would do such a big thing, saving the person who hated you. But the actions of Mr. McNeil did have consequences, and he was injured. He had two broken ribs and a fractured leg. 

Apparently, I was knocked out cold for quite some time, as well! Once we made it to Mr. Stevens’ house, after hearing what we’d gone through, he offered us all a ride in his wagon for the next 40 miles to Pennsylvania! And I’d slept the whole time. Everyone laughed, joked, and even cried a bit. I even added in a doggy whine, receiving almost half a dozen pets on the head. It was an adventure of a lifetime. And now we’ve arrived!

I’m glad I have a chance to really slow down and thing about the past couple weeks, mainly about the Walkers. I started to think about the reason of this whole adventure. I’d never been made fun of by the other dogs because my fur was brown, let alone abused, neglected, and forced to be a slave. It’s appalling, really, that these things did happen to the Walkers, and I’m certain that it happened to many more. And that shouldn’t happen to anyone, however they look, dress, think, or talk. Were there times in this adventure that I just wanted to give up? Yes. But I’d made a choice that I will forever be satisfied with, because I know I did the right thing. But just because it’s the right thing to do, doesn’t make it easy. I did face trials and have a few bumps and bruises along the way- literally. But if you set your mind to something, for the right cause, there is nothing you cannot do. Yes, my goal, ultimately, was to track down the Walkers’, but in the end, I did something else. I found something that should be available to everyone, and I do mean everyone. I was tracking down freedom.