that they are invisible, they can talk. The escapee is eating some cold
potatoes and fish and a tomato, with gusto. Finegan says,
I’d cook you a proper breakfast but if they
have dogs, that’d give us away.
Finegan looks around him to double-check their location.
99
As is, they can’t sight us, and if they weren’t
looking this way when we left, they’re
clueless.
Joey says,
I was watching, and I seen no activity. I think
we’re clean away.
The escapee starts to cry, not sobbing but just tears running down his
face as he stuffs the food into his mouth and chews away. Barney comes
up and sits by his feet, looking up - an attempt to comfort the
escapee. Finally, Finegan can wait no longer and picks up the story
line where they presumably left off earlier.
So these guys chasing you, they’re guards?
Guarding what?
The escapee looks at him incredulously, as though everyone has guards
and should understand what he has been through.
The workers. Wait, I though you knew. Aren’t
you both runaways too?
The escapee glances at Joey.
I should’a figured. The first thing they did
was kill the kids . . and the sick . . and the
old . . ah, anyone over 50 is considered past
their prime. . . threw em off a cliff to let
them rot.
The escapee hands his empty platter to Finegan, who is looking aghast
at this systematic extermination. Joey has become very quiet. The
escapee continues with his story.
We were told to come to a military base where
some wealthy folks had set up with supplies. It
was like they were gonna share their supplies,
and like the military would protect us.
The escapee lets out a guffaw at the absurdity of his expectations,
compared to what happened afterwards.
Soon as the phone lines went dead and the roads
were ripped up, things changed. . . The
commander was in thick with them rich folks,
always going up to their bunker and all. . .
Next thing you know they were herding us all
into that yard, behind barbed wire. I thought
that was gonna be for criminals, ya know, but
we all got sent in there. . . Then they pulls
out those from 15 to 50 years of age, healthy
men and women not pregnant, and we got sent to
put up new homes for them wealthy folk.
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I was a plumber, so knew a thing or two about
putting in plumbing. . . When we came back that
first day, everyone else was gone.
The escapee falls silent. Finally sighs and continues.
We learned what happened when the guards
bragged about it. Who shot how many and all.
They liked it, the murders.
The escapee sits up straight, looking Finegan in the eye, as now the
story is getting personal.
They were drawing straws for who was gonna do
me, last night. The long straw gets to do it.
So, ya know, what’d I have to lose? . . I went
over the top and ran like hell.
Finegan asks,
The whole base is like that? Wanting to shoot
civilians, kids?
The escapee realizes he has left out part of his story. He waves his
hands in the air, as though to say “wait, wait, I missed a part”.
Oh no, no. Most ran off to see about their
families. Went AWOL long before the troubles
hit. They saw what was coming. We’d see ‘em
walking by, through the woods, every day,
sometimes in bunches. Those that was left
became the guards, and if they objected to the
plan, then they got put in the work camp too. .
. New rules. . . I think it was the plan all
along.
Finegan asks,
So how many people left in that camp, and how
many guards, you recon?
______________________________
Finegan and the escapee are preparing to take the canoe to shore. The
canoe has been loaded with a couple backpacks and the rifle. Finegan
says,
Joey, you know what to do. I expect I’ll be
back in a day or so, but if five days pass and
you ain’t seeing me, you head off back down the
coast the way we came. Stay to deep water, and
only at night, and keep Barney muzzled. . .
Look up that woman taking care of the old
folks.
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And hey, they do eat rats, and there’s nothing
wrong with it. . . Them folks in Memphis
weren’t too bad either.
Joey says,
Yes sir.
Finegan and the escapee have pull the canoe up on shore on the rocky
coastline. They both put on a backpack, Finegan carrying the rifle.
They set off through the woods, picking their way carefully, the
escapee in the lead.
______________________________
Finegan and the escapee peer out from the woods at the edge of the
internment camp. The wood frames of the new homes for the wealthy can
be see in the background. There are no lights, but dogs are guarding
the edges of the barbed wire internment camp, staked to the ground. Two
guards are sitting around a fire at one corner of the yard. Finegan
says,
Here’s the plan. I’m setting this dynamite off
under the guardhouse. That takes out most of
‘em. When that happens, those two are going to
be looking in that direction. You shoot good?
The escapee nods his head.
Never missed, hunting.
Finegan continues,
OK. You take this rifle and shoot them dogs
right off. Those guards ain't gonna be looking
your way, they’re gonna be running to the
guardhouse. If they’re looking your way, stop
shooting, so’s they can’t place you. If it