Sociable Sunflower #9
The footprints in the snow suddenly ended, just beyond the trees. He had to be close.
“Frank, you sick fuck,” I yelled from the bottom of my lungs. “I know you’re out here!”
My mind was not where it should have been. I imagine any man who found his dead wife in a bathtub with her throat slit wouldn’t be quite right. I fit that profile.
“Frank” I screamed. “There’s no more footprints! I know you’re here!”
I scanned the tree line, looking for a clue. I hoped he would stick to our code – if you ever had to kill a fellow member, you did it with your hands, no weapons. When you kill a brother, you don’t cheat.
“Okay, you found me,” a deep voice from afar said. “It was nothing personal. Orders are orders. You know that.”
I thought about what he said. And I knew he had a valid point, but we were trained together. Sometimes we’d even do missions together.
“And what of friendship,” I replied. “Does that mean nothing?”
“It would if my allegiance with you was more important than my life, but it’s not,” Frank said. “You know what they do if you refuse an order.”
Finally, he showed himself, walking from behind one of the largest trees. His appearance was different from the last time we met. The new him had a thin brown beard and brown-eyed contacts. He wore dark hiking pants and a thick wool coat.
He had evolved (or one might argue, devolved) from a suave city type to an outdoorsman in just a few months.
“How did you know where to look?” Frank asked.
“I knew you’d head for Mount Rainer,” I said. “You told me a long while ago that you went there sometimes to hide, sometimes to think. And I remember details.”
Frank slowly walked toward me, removing his gloves. “I know you’re not going to stop coming after me. Friend. We gonna do this?”
“Absolutely.”
He took the first punch and hit me square in the jaw. I had no idea he had become so fast. As I fell to the ground, I used my right leg to undercut his legs. He fell hard and hit his head on the ground.
“Ahhh!” he screamed. Something must have broken. His scream was music to my ears.
We both scrambled to our feet, only seven feet from each other. Frank held his head and writhed, breathing hard. But it was not over. We were trained harder than this.
Frank took the next move again, trying to kick me directly in the knee. I dodged the kick and swung at his head. If I kept at his head, I could end this. The hit connected, but it wasn’t a full punch.
“You fuck!” he screamed. “You did this to yourself. If you wouldn’t have gone off and married as they advised against, none of this would have happened. You did this.”
“You were my friend!” I yelled with the fury an exploding star. “Betrayal equals death. You know this.”
He screaming and then grabbed my neck quick, from behind me. The hold was incredibly powerful, and I could barely move. If I don’t do something soon, I thought, I’ll pass out and my life will be over.
I cranked my elbow in to his side three times as strong as my body could give, with all the energy I had left. He screamed in pain again, grabbed his side and most likely broken ribs, and fell to the ground.
Unfortunately, he had sapped all of my energy by strangling me, and I could barely breathe. I jumped on him, grabbed his broken body and punched him as much as I could, trying to end it all. He wouldn’t stop and grabbed my neck. This time, I was sure, it would end in his favor.
My consciousness drifted from me, and I was out. Gone.
--
Dear diary, March 8, 2006
Today was a strange one. While doing a daily check up on one of the northern passes, I came across a badly beaten man. It looked as if someone or some thing had attacked him. I immediately helped the rugged man and carried him back to my cabin. We’ve had so many lost hikers as of late that I thought he might be another one. Thank God those media monsters didn’t find him first. But as I treated him, he kept babbling on about a man he had fought with. He said the other man had escaped and needed to be caught. I told the rugged man that I would call it in even if it sounded strange to me. As a ranger, I have to take precautions even in weird circumstances. I treated the man and let him sleep. I pondered what he had told me and I came to the conclusion that something was missing. But I don’t know what. He said that he had been fighting a man, but when I arrived on the scene, I checked for animal tracks first to make sure something wasn't on the loose. But I only found an easily visible single set of human footprints in the snow. A very strange occurrence indeed.
“Frank, you sick fuck,” I yelled from the bottom of my lungs. “I know you’re out here!”
My mind was not where it should have been. I imagine any man who found his dead wife in a bathtub with her throat slit wouldn’t be quite right. I fit that profile.
“Frank” I screamed. “There’s no more footprints! I know you’re here!”
I scanned the tree line, looking for a clue. I hoped he would stick to our code – if you ever had to kill a fellow member, you did it with your hands, no weapons. When you kill a brother, you don’t cheat.
“Okay, you found me,” a deep voice from afar said. “It was nothing personal. Orders are orders. You know that.”
I thought about what he said. And I knew he had a valid point, but we were trained together. Sometimes we’d even do missions together.
“And what of friendship,” I replied. “Does that mean nothing?”
“It would if my allegiance with you was more important than my life, but it’s not,” Frank said. “You know what they do if you refuse an order.”
Finally, he showed himself, walking from behind one of the largest trees. His appearance was different from the last time we met. The new him had a thin brown beard and brown-eyed contacts. He wore dark hiking pants and a thick wool coat.
He had evolved (or one might argue, devolved) from a suave city type to an outdoorsman in just a few months.
“How did you know where to look?” Frank asked.
“I knew you’d head for Mount Rainer,” I said. “You told me a long while ago that you went there sometimes to hide, sometimes to think. And I remember details.”
Frank slowly walked toward me, removing his gloves. “I know you’re not going to stop coming after me. Friend. We gonna do this?”
“Absolutely.”
He took the first punch and hit me square in the jaw. I had no idea he had become so fast. As I fell to the ground, I used my right leg to undercut his legs. He fell hard and hit his head on the ground.
“Ahhh!” he screamed. Something must have broken. His scream was music to my ears.
We both scrambled to our feet, only seven feet from each other. Frank held his head and writhed, breathing hard. But it was not over. We were trained harder than this.
Frank took the next move again, trying to kick me directly in the knee. I dodged the kick and swung at his head. If I kept at his head, I could end this. The hit connected, but it wasn’t a full punch.
“You fuck!” he screamed. “You did this to yourself. If you wouldn’t have gone off and married as they advised against, none of this would have happened. You did this.”
“You were my friend!” I yelled with the fury an exploding star. “Betrayal equals death. You know this.”
He screaming and then grabbed my neck quick, from behind me. The hold was incredibly powerful, and I could barely move. If I don’t do something soon, I thought, I’ll pass out and my life will be over.
I cranked my elbow in to his side three times as strong as my body could give, with all the energy I had left. He screamed in pain again, grabbed his side and most likely broken ribs, and fell to the ground.
Unfortunately, he had sapped all of my energy by strangling me, and I could barely breathe. I jumped on him, grabbed his broken body and punched him as much as I could, trying to end it all. He wouldn’t stop and grabbed my neck. This time, I was sure, it would end in his favor.
My consciousness drifted from me, and I was out. Gone.
--
Dear diary, March 8, 2006
Today was a strange one. While doing a daily check up on one of the northern passes, I came across a badly beaten man. It looked as if someone or some thing had attacked him. I immediately helped the rugged man and carried him back to my cabin. We’ve had so many lost hikers as of late that I thought he might be another one. Thank God those media monsters didn’t find him first. But as I treated him, he kept babbling on about a man he had fought with. He said the other man had escaped and needed to be caught. I told the rugged man that I would call it in even if it sounded strange to me. As a ranger, I have to take precautions even in weird circumstances. I treated the man and let him sleep. I pondered what he had told me and I came to the conclusion that something was missing. But I don’t know what. He said that he had been fighting a man, but when I arrived on the scene, I checked for animal tracks first to make sure something wasn't on the loose. But I only found an easily visible single set of human footprints in the snow. A very strange occurrence indeed.
posted by Sean Ludwig at 10:21 PM
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