The place looked abandoned. The vans and cars were all gone, and there were just a few
guards left marching about the property line.
I smiled meekly at Griff while Rocco watched poor Meatball dash for the first patch of green he
could find. “What’s Meatball doing here? He should be with the chief.”
I could feel my cheeks picking up color. “I guess he forgot to bring him,” I said, feeling
guilty for having forgotten to let him out at a decent time.
“Doubt it,” Rocco muttered. He coughed out smoke signals, his lungs refusing to inhale the
toxins from the cigarette he was trying to smoke. He quickly gave up the habit and put it out
with barely a puff’s worth gone from it. Griff had already finished his and snuffed it out with
his sneaker. He kept his twinkling eyes on me.
“Is everyone gone?” I asked, changing the subject and holding on to a miniscule glimmer of
hope that my intuition was flawed.
“Yep,” Rocco confirmed gloomily. “Everyone is gone.”
The sun was blazing. I was cold still. The melancholy had followed me outside and engulfed Rocco
too. Griff, who was cheery enough for the both of us, put his hand on Rocco’s head and shook it
about to mess up Rocco’s already messy hair. “Aw, cheer up, buddy. You’ll get your chance to
run with the big boys soon enough.”
Rocco shoved Griff’s hand away and stared dejectedly ahead.
Griff chuckled. “I don’t know why you want to leave so bad, Kid. This place is great when they
’re not here to boss us around.”
“It’s boring here, and I’m not a damn babysitter,” Rocco sulked.
I imagined that he was referring to me as the baby he had to sit for. I didn’t take it
personally.
“I can do a lot more than this, but they won’t let me,” Rocco said.
“Tell you what, Kid,” Griff offered, his eyes narrowing, “I’ll teach you how to fight,
toughen you up a bit. And I’ll talk to Tiny when he gets back. Maybe he’ll let you tag along
with them next time they go out.”
Rocco’s face lit up. “Really? You’ll teach me some stuff? You think they’ll let me go with
them?”
“Sure thing.” Griff got up, using his rifle as a stretch bar over his head. He then swung the
gun strap over his shoulder and sighed. “I better get back to my spot before another fly
escapes through the tree line.” There was a wink at my expense and he walked away.
Rocco went into the house, and I sat on the stoop to soak in some warmth. Griff hadn’t taken
two steps before I heard the crush of the gravel stop. “What are you up to today?” he asked
me.
I opened my eyes and shrugged in response. My options were looking pretty bleak.
Griff had a mischievous smile. “Wanna help me play hooky?”
I couldn’t help but smile back.
He strolled back and grabbed my hand, pulling me up like a string puppet.
“Won’t you get in trouble if you don’t go back to work?” I asked as we made our way down the
driveway.
Griff exaggeratingly scanned the landscape around us. “Tiny’s gone. Spider’s gone. There’s
no one here to tell me what to do.”
This made me laugh. “Couldn’t they just call Tiny to get you in trouble?” I observed, my eyes
on the other guards who were glowering in our direction.
“Have you seen any phones around here? Because I haven’t. All of our stuff like our cell
phones were confiscated before we got here.”
“What if something happens, like someone gets hurt, or there’s some kind of emergency?” I was
also assuming that 911 was an option in the middle of nowhere.
“Look at the guys with the big guns,” he said, pointing at one of the guards. “Do you think
anyone else can just waltz in here? If someone gets hurt here, they stay hurt … or they
disappear.”
I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“Don’t worry,” he said forcing a smile. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” Griff put
his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me in a one-armed crushing hug.
We kept walking down the driveway until we reached the tree line where the driveway became the
gravel road that continued into the forest—the same road that Rocco and I had driven through
when we first got to the farm. There were two burly men with machine guns standing on each side
of the perimeter. They looked like twins, wearing identical black T-shirts and jeans and
mirrored sunglasses.
As we attempted to walk past them, both men swiftly approached us and blocked our way.
“The girl doesn’t leave the property,” said the bigger of the two men.
“C’mon, man! We’re not going far. I won’t let anything happen to her. I’ve got my gun if
something happens,” said Griff.
“Sorry, Griff. Chief’s orders. The girl stays here.”
“No one’s around. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.” Griff was thickly laying down the
charm.