The Valuable

Chapter 7

As the moon is setting, I nestle down on some moss after running as far as I can from The Leader for about two hours. I pull the locket out and stare at its rusted metal again. I swear I've done this ten times since I found it. Stowing it away, I look up at the stars in the sky and wonder what's happening back in the city. Chaos, I'm assuming. As I'm dozing off to sleep, I hear a rustle in the bushes to my left. I slowly lift my knife out of my bag just in case. It's probably just some animal, but I don't want to take my chances. I tiptoe closer to the noise and notice a toe sticking out of the bush. That toe is much too large to be The Leader's, it looks more like a man's foot. I push the leaves aside and see an older man who looks to be about eighty years old standing with a large dog. The man has grey hair with a hint of sandy blonde, the opposite of my dark brunette hair, and blue eyes. He's got nothing but a pair of pants on and a stick in hand. As for the dog, he looks to be healthy other than a scar on his lower back.
"Hello.", I say cautiously while extending my hand towards him. The dog lets out a loud howl and licks my hand, but the man remains silent.
"Do you want to lie down? I have a blanket.", I ask. Without a word, the man turns around and walks away with his dog close behind. As I watch him leave, I notice a long scar across the back of his head. Puzzled, I drop the knife and touch his shoulder in attempt to turn him around. Instead he whips around on his own and pushes me to the ground.
"Hey! What was that for?", I yell.
For the first time, the man speaks.
"You are going to hurt me just like he did, like he did, like he did", the man says in a raspy voice. By the sounds of it this man is very mentally scarred and has gone a little bit insane, by the repetition of his words.
"Like who did?", I ask forcefully.
"The-the-the Master", the man shivers.
Master sounds an awful lot like leader. Could this man have lived in our country and been hurt by The Leader at the time? Needing more information, I decide to invite him to sit down again.
"I won't hurt you, I promise. Would you like to sit down. I have some food and water than you can have.", I say hopefully. Without a word, the man limps over to my moss bed and sits down.

The man, Rupert is his name, and I sit down and chat for a while. As I get to know him, he becomes less tense and starts speaking in full sentences. After a  little bit, I decide to cut the polite conversation and ask him what I really need to.
"So, who are you and what happened to your head?", I pester.
The man is quiet for a minute, nibbling a piece of bread. He eventually speaks up, spilling everything.
"As you know from living in the country of Alohara, every generation has a ruler from one large family. In the generation before yours, the ruler was called The Master. The Master held a decade-long search for The Valuable, just as your leader did. The Master eventually found that I was The Valuable of the generation before yours. I reluctantly agreed to allow him to remove the electronic chip from my brain because I wanted my life to return to normal. Little did I know that he was going to kill me right after the removal. While I was recovering in my room, The Master came in with a loaded rifle and aimed it at me. I managed to slip out without a scratch and I have been living in hiding for the past sixty-two years. I know that if I returned, I'd be killed immediately.", he spills.
"Wow", I mutter, thinking about the bullet holes in the wall of my room in the care centre. My mind is scattered in so many different directions and I feel as though I can't breath. Rupert is me. That's going to be me one day. I'm never going to see Anastasia again.