Untold Truth

Chapter 22

I start with his house. Maybe he came back here last night, but I have doubts. I open the door and it's of course unlocked. It's not like he had time to lock it.

I step inside and see that it's been raided. It must've been his dad. Everything's thrown on the ground and some things are broken. The place looks terrible. Poor Jack... This was his home...

"Jack?" I call out risking someone hearing me. I hear a bark. "Jack?" Charlie barks again. My heart pounds against my chest. "Charlie. Come here boy!" I hear him moan but he doesn't come. "Charlie?" I call out again. He barks and it comes from the end of the hallway. I don't like this. My heart jumps out if my chest. The sound reminds me of something.

When I was younger I asked my dad where mommy went. He told me she was an angel. And that I was an angel to. He told me that she was inside me somewhere. That he could see her in my eyes and my smile. I asked if he thought anything could replace her. He told me I could. That night he brought home a puppy. Her name was Margo and she was a yellow Labrador. One day after about a month of having her we had a dinner party. John Mars came speeding into our driveway and Margo was out there. All I remember was her cries as the car ran her over. I never forgot that day.

I hear the wailing of Charlie and I know what this means. My eyes begin to tear up.

"Please no, please please please no." I whisper to myself.

I follow the barking and see a door slightly ajar. I open it up and see Charlie lying on the ground. I gasp. He has a missing leg. It looks like it was shot off. "Charlie. Hey boy." I say. He just lets out a cry and I can tell he's panting heavily. I look at him for other wounds and I see he's lying in a huge puddle of blood. It's coming from his side.

"Those bastards!" I say out loud to no one. They shot him and left him here. They killed an innocent animal for no reason. "I'm sorry boy." I whisper to him. "So so sorry."

There's nothing anyone can do for him. The best thing I can do is take out his misery. I take one of my knives and pet Charlie. "Goodbye Charlie," I say softly to him, and I stab him right in the chest. He goes lifeless within seconds and I know I've done the right thing, putting him out of his misery but I feel terrible. Jack will never forgive me. Poor Charlie.

I get up remembering that I have to keep looking for Jack. I have only an hour and a half to find him. I look through his house for something, anything that may be able to help but I find nothing. Everything is so ruined.

Maybe he went back to where he tried to train me. He's probably hiding there. I make my way over there running at a brisk pace. When I get there he is still no where to be seen. I look up the trees and around.

"Jack." I call out in case he's hiding around. When he doesn't respond I begin to panic. I can't face the Surge alone. What if I say the wrong thing? What will they do? And my worst fear of all, what if Jack is hurt?

I have less then an hour left and it'll take me at least 30 minutes to get back to Jack's house if I walk. I can't run anymore. I don't know where else to look. I don't know what to do. I head back to his house with no faith left in me. At least I'll have time to drag Charlie out of the house. I'd burry him but Jack would want to be there.

I look around. I wonder how many animals were caught in the traps since yesterday. I notice something strange on the ground. It looks like there's less leaves in that spot. It must be where one of the nets were at. I walk over to it and examine it.

I step quietly as I look down at where the net used to be. I wonder what was caught. I stair off into space at the ground. There's no point in hoping for Jack to come soon. I'll be facing the Surge alone. My eyes trace the foot prints leading to the upturned leaves. The foot prints that aren't mine. The male footprints.

I back away and look up. There's something in the net. "Jack?" I ask.

"Karlie!" I hear a yell.

"Jack!" I call back. Hearing his voice breaks my heart but also causing it to jump out of my chest.

"Cut me down. Just please get me down." He pleads.

I walk over to the rope holding him up and I unhook it. The net comes falling with Jack in it. They fall to the ground and Jack climbs out of the net, unharmed. He looks up at me, runs over and hugs me. His arms wrap around me completely and puts his chin on my head pulling me into his body.

"Karlie, I thought something terrible happened to you. I thought my dad, or your dad... What happened?" He asks me, hurt in his voice. He pulls me aways and eyes look into mine. I try to hide the pain but I know Jack sees it.

"I'll explain everything later but we have a meeting with the Surge." I tell him. "And we only have 30 minutes to get there."

"Wait what?" He asks me. "Karlie, no. We can't. They'll hurt you. To them, you're like gold. That's just ridiculous. No way. Not after I thought I just lost you." 

I see his worried face. "But Jack we have to. They said if we don't something bad would happen. They promised they wouldn't bring weapons as long as we didn't."

"No if we go we're bringing weapons." He tells me. No not tells me, he's just stating facts. "They'll bring them. They are liars Karlie."

I hesitate. I don't want to break a promise but he has a point. They've lied to me before. "Okay. How about we leave our bows but take our knives?" I ask. I don't want to make it obvious we have weapons, but just in case.

"Well, it's better then nothing I guess." He compromises. "Where is this meeting anyway?"

"At your house..." I say remembering Charlie. I look away not wanting to tell him.

"Karlie? What's up?"

"Jack, something bad has happened." Is all I manage. I twiddle my thumbs.

"You mean besides the bad things that happened last night?" He asks me with a little sarcasm.

"Jack seriously. It's Charlie."

His face drops. "What about Charlie?" He asks horsily.

Jack's sorrow is enough to make me cry. "I went by your house to look for you, and I found him. He'd been shot. The bastards shot Charlie, Jack."

Jack looks away. "It's my fault. It's all my fault. Karlie, if I would've just taken him with me." We make eye contact and I feel all of his pain. His best friend just died. We hear a branch break and Jack yanks me by my shoulder. It was only a squirrel. He keeps his hand there and I wince in pain.

"What's wrong?" Jack asks. I rub my shoulder remembering my dad digging his nails into it.

"Nothing. Just a bruise. Come on. We've got to get going." I say.

"Karlie do you want to talk about anything?" He hints. I do. But not now. I need to stay focused.

"Not now. Let's just deal with one thing at a time."