C Fletcher - A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

We can take Brand’s boat, I said quietly. She shook her head and leant in to explain why we couldn’t.

I don’t think he was listening anyway. But it was a wise thing to do.

He heard me later, when I jammed the metal pole across the room and used the jack against the other wall to push it against the block. The grating noise as it moved woke him and he came to see what was going on.

It worked well. As the jack opened, the block pushed back, and though it jammed a few times, all I had to do was slack it off and reposition the pole and before long I had opened my trapdoor to freedom.

Brand was sitting on the bed in the next cell as I crawled

through.

You’re going to get us killed, is all he said.

I asked him if he had a better plan.

Yes, he said. The one we agreed on. Where I save you once we’re out of quarantine.

You see the two reasons why mine is a better plan? I said. I mean, quite apart from not having to end up underneath Ellis before you get me out?

Well yes, he said. Well, one at least. You don’t have to trust me to save you.

That’s a big one, I said. And the other is bigger. I save myself.

Well, I know you can trust me, he said. But I can’t persuade you of that. And I certainly can’t argue with the Ellis point.

I just don’t see how this helps, he said, pointing at the hole I had come in through and then at the locked barred gate at the end of the hall.

I’m okay with that, I said. Good night.

And I crawled back and pulled the block back in place and rolled the jack and the pole lengthways under my bed ledge so the Cons would not see it if they looked in in the morning. And then I tried to pretend to myself that I wasn’t too excited to sleep.

I heard Joy whistling for the dogs in the middle of the morning and when I looked out of the window I saw she was appearing to innocently walk them past my window at a suitable distance. Jip was moving in a lopsided way.

Jip, I shouted, Jess! Good dogs!

She let Jip loose, seeming to accidentally drop the rope and chase after her. He lolloped towards me, his happiness making him ignore whatever was making him limp. One of the other Cons was visible in the distance.

Jip ran up to my window and barked happily at me.

Good boy! I said. Good good boy.

It hurt us both not to reach out and touch him, but I didn’t want to have the Cons think he was infectious, not when we might be so close to being free.

Come here! Joy shouted angrily as she grabbed Jip and made a show of pulling him away from the window.

Tonight then, she whispered, and winked.

Why is he limping? I said.

Ellis stamped on him, she said. Then kicked him hard.

Why? I said.

Because I like him, she said.

Then she stood up and waved at the distant Con who had turned and was walking towards her.

It’s all right, she shouted. Got him before she touched him.

The Con nodded and waved and turned away again.

That was a long day. And then night fell after they brought us food and refilled my water through the pipe. And then infuriatingly nothing at all happened as the darkness deepened. And I must have fallen asleep.

I woke with her tapping the bars.

Now, she said. We go now.

My heart began thumping with adrenaline as I jumped off the bed and scooted beneath, pushing the breeze-block aside and worming head first into the next-door cell.

Joy was moving fast, because she was at the barred gate and trying to open it when I emerged into the hallway. She was trying a series of keys from a big ring held in one hand.

Don’t worry, she said. It’s one of them. I’ll get it in

a second.

Jip and Jess were boiling around her legs and trying to get to me through the bars. I buried my face in their neck fur and hoped there was no one close by to hear their happy whines.

The horses are outside, she said. It won’t be long and we’ll be gone.

What about me?

Brand’s words came slipping sideways through the darkness behind me.

You can come too, said Joy after a beat.

Thank you, he said, though not like he meant it. He stepped out into the moonlight. He wasn’t quite threatening, but he did change the atmosphere in the room. But if I did, then I could never come back here and maybe there are not so many places with people in them who want to trade that I want to lose one.

Then we can leave you here, I said. Better that way.

And if they send you after us, and you do it, said Joy. I will kill you.

Joy, I said. This doesn’t have to end in blood.

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, she said. But that’s my choice. They’ve taken everything from me, but they have left me that one thing. Ellis deserves…

But we can escape without killing Ellis, I said.

No, she said. Voice low and suddenly flat. No, Griz. Killing Ellis is done. That’s why we have to go now.

I felt a cold pit open in my stomach. I stared at her. She shrugged. She didn’t look different. But because of what she had done, she was. She had to be. I didn’t care much about Ellis. I was worried that her having killed would hurt and change her, but she looked calmer than I’d seen her. Released even.

It’s done, she said. It was mine to do.

What? said Brand. His voice raw, filling the silence that seemed to have somehow imploded the room, turning it into a tiny, claustrophobic place.

He ate something he shouldn’t have, she said, carrying on trying the keys. Seemed a fitting end. He was always greedy about taking things that weren’t his to take.

Bar had been teaching Joy about herbs before she was taken. It was one of the things Joy was in a hurry to learn, always pestering her.

The moon caught the side of her face as she moved a little, steadying herself against the bars on the gate as she tried yet another key. I saw she was looking right at me. Watching to see how much this had changed things between us.

He was looking forward to taking something else he shouldn’t have too, she said.

Joy, I said.

I couldn’t allow that, she said. You know that, Griz. The others are all a little sick too. But they didn’t have enough to do any permanent harm. He had the special portion. They think it was the salted mutton.

But won’t they know it’s you? I said.

No, she said. They don’t know I know what I do. If they did, they’d stop wondering why I never had another baby. But it doesn’t matter. They’ll figure I’ve just gone to find my own private bush to be sick behind.

And then the right key clicked the lock open and she pulled it wide. I went through it fast and filled my arms with Jess, who I never thought I’d really see again, and who now bucked and curved around me, tail thrumming as she tried to lick my face and simultaneously nudge Jip out of the way as he tried to do the same thing. Even though we weren’t yet free and away, it felt and sounded and smelled like home.

Are you coming? said Joy.

I looked up to see she was looking at Brand.

I suppose I’ll have to, he said, otherwise you’ll steal the Falki .

Is that the only reason? she said.

Yes, he said. Well—

I closed the gate. He stared at me as I locked it.

Too late to steal your boat, said Joy. I’d seen to it before I knew Griz and I would be leaving.

What have you done? he said, bounding forward and grabbing the bars.

I haven’t burned your boat. Not like you burned the Sweethope , she said. Though when I read what you did I wanted to. But then I had a better idea.

Open the gate, he said. Let’s—

And I’ve left you your dog, she said. So there is no reason for you to follow us.

Griz, he said. What has she done?

I cut all the ropes from your boat. And the rudder-lines. Not as permanent as burning. So you can thank me for that, said Joy. I threw them in the water. And the anchors. You’ve a lot of work to do before the thing’s seaworthy again.