me.
“We have Lukas, and they want him back,” I explain. It’s my best guess.
“Then why not just come and take him?”
“I don’t know. People do stupid things when they’re scared. They have a girl who was with us and now they know how to get to Lukas.”
“No time to talk, let’s take care of these guys,” Jax says, raising his arms, rallying the crew he has led here. There must be a hundred cowboys with him.
I watch as they ride toward me, toward the group of men on the other side of the bridge. I’m sure none of the Councilmen are out here. They won’t want to get their hands dirty. The thought angers me, for my brother. For the brainwashing they did to him, making him into the person he is today. They need to pay.
My rage swells to the surface, and I whisper to Lucky, “Go.” And we ride to the men, standing in their pristine robes. I raise my gun, as I’ve practiced so many times before and prepare to shoot.
But out of the fray, she is there.
Standing in the middle, in between the men she’s chosen as her own. Selected over us. She runs toward me, and strangely the Humbleman don’t stop her.
“Charlie!” she screams. I ride closer, wanting to understand why Perfection is calling to me, still, after all these years. It’s clear what side she’s on.
She chose The Light the moment she chose to run away.
“Charlie, stay here. With me. It’s not too late; they’ll let you come. It’s the right way.” Her words bind her to the life she’s chosen.
“Never, Perfection. I was born to be free,” I say, meaning my words.
“I know you love me,” she says, playing with time. The cowboys are gaining ground, and they won’t hold back.
“We were kids. We grew up.” Callously, I raise my gun and shoot the Councilman behind her, no longer caring what the repercussions may be. Only caring that they don’t follow me back to where my brother is, where Lucy is.
As a man drops, Perfection screams in horror, in fear, in reverence.
In regret.
I see it cross her face, but then she’s running away. In that instant I know I’m done waiting for other people to decide when we should start this fight. I realize The Light waged war years ago; I was just too scared to fight back.
But I’m not scared anymore. So I shoot again. I shoot the men who have been accomplices to brutality. And I shoot the men who put my brother in chains. And I shoot the men to avenge for Lucy’s mom and all women like her. I don’t do it for fun, for pleasure, for joy.
I do it because justice isn’t served out here in the wilderness, not unless men and women like me are willing to raise our guns, with blood on our hands. The Cowboy Coalition joins me in the front line.
And the Humblemen fall. Their white robes soaked in red and I want grief to overwhelm me for the wasted lives of these men.
But there are no tears.
It has to be this way otherwise more lives will be wasted, ruined too. With the cowboys help we take down the men, and in the far away distance I see Perfection’s blond hair swirling behind her as she runs.
Runs away from me, from freedom, from herself. As she runs right back into the belly of the whale.
For a second I let myself remember our game. The game where Perfection and I chose mates. In the game she chose me, and I chose her, and we imagined a life with windows, a life without walls. A life of freedom.
A life Perfection is never going to find.
20.
Lukas
The afternoon passes painstakingly slow and soon evening falls over the compound. The anticipation of Charles returning with Perfection eats away at us, and we’re all anxious.
We sit in the study and Colton has his bottle out again, passing it around. We ate a big dinner thanks to Duke’s kill this afternoon of five rabbits. Without his hunting skills, we’d be nibbling on the random assortment of food we’ve gathered from our packs.
Lucy and I have been moving chess pieces around the board for over an hour. But
“We have Lukas, and they want him back,” I explain. It’s my best guess.
“Then why not just come and take him?”
“I don’t know. People do stupid things when they’re scared. They have a girl who was with us and now they know how to get to Lukas.”
“No time to talk, let’s take care of these guys,” Jax says, raising his arms, rallying the crew he has led here. There must be a hundred cowboys with him.
I watch as they ride toward me, toward the group of men on the other side of the bridge. I’m sure none of the Councilmen are out here. They won’t want to get their hands dirty. The thought angers me, for my brother. For the brainwashing they did to him, making him into the person he is today. They need to pay.
My rage swells to the surface, and I whisper to Lucky, “Go.” And we ride to the men, standing in their pristine robes. I raise my gun, as I’ve practiced so many times before and prepare to shoot.
But out of the fray, she is there.
Standing in the middle, in between the men she’s chosen as her own. Selected over us. She runs toward me, and strangely the Humbleman don’t stop her.
“Charlie!” she screams. I ride closer, wanting to understand why Perfection is calling to me, still, after all these years. It’s clear what side she’s on.
She chose The Light the moment she chose to run away.
“Charlie, stay here. With me. It’s not too late; they’ll let you come. It’s the right way.” Her words bind her to the life she’s chosen.
“Never, Perfection. I was born to be free,” I say, meaning my words.
“I know you love me,” she says, playing with time. The cowboys are gaining ground, and they won’t hold back.
“We were kids. We grew up.” Callously, I raise my gun and shoot the Councilman behind her, no longer caring what the repercussions may be. Only caring that they don’t follow me back to where my brother is, where Lucy is.
As a man drops, Perfection screams in horror, in fear, in reverence.
In regret.
I see it cross her face, but then she’s running away. In that instant I know I’m done waiting for other people to decide when we should start this fight. I realize The Light waged war years ago; I was just too scared to fight back.
But I’m not scared anymore. So I shoot again. I shoot the men who have been accomplices to brutality. And I shoot the men who put my brother in chains. And I shoot the men to avenge for Lucy’s mom and all women like her. I don’t do it for fun, for pleasure, for joy.
I do it because justice isn’t served out here in the wilderness, not unless men and women like me are willing to raise our guns, with blood on our hands. The Cowboy Coalition joins me in the front line.
And the Humblemen fall. Their white robes soaked in red and I want grief to overwhelm me for the wasted lives of these men.
But there are no tears.
It has to be this way otherwise more lives will be wasted, ruined too. With the cowboys help we take down the men, and in the far away distance I see Perfection’s blond hair swirling behind her as she runs.
Runs away from me, from freedom, from herself. As she runs right back into the belly of the whale.
For a second I let myself remember our game. The game where Perfection and I chose mates. In the game she chose me, and I chose her, and we imagined a life with windows, a life without walls. A life of freedom.
A life Perfection is never going to find.
20.
Lukas
The afternoon passes painstakingly slow and soon evening falls over the compound. The anticipation of Charles returning with Perfection eats away at us, and we’re all anxious.
We sit in the study and Colton has his bottle out again, passing it around. We ate a big dinner thanks to Duke’s kill this afternoon of five rabbits. Without his hunting skills, we’d be nibbling on the random assortment of food we’ve gathered from our packs.
Lucy and I have been moving chess pieces around the board for over an hour. But
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