4 The Boy, in a Cage

Fen's limbs lay spread out, body close to the floor, ears back, his snout pointed like a quivering arrow. The animal emanated a low growl as the known threat approached the two. Behind him, Boro lay leaned against the wall, erratically gasping for air as his senses tried to make out what just happened and regain their function. His vision was shaky and the sound pulsed in and out, but even then he easily recognized the weighty footsteps lumbering towards him. Even though his mind pleaded him to move— to run— his legs only trembled in response.

"Damn, 'at dog 'a yours e'er shaddap?" Jon asked, picking his ear in irritation. He stepped past the dog and, before it could react, swung his leg sideways in a powerful and brisk manner that didn't fit his size at all, sending the animal crashing into the wall.

"Move it, mutt."

Feeling the fragile wood wall behind him shudder against the impact, Boro forced himself to move in his companion's direction as he watched his friend's body twitch against the dense mist in his eyes.

"Fen…"

Boro tore his hand off his throbbing chest, commanding it to drag him even through the searing pain. Breathe, he told himself. MOVE, he told himself.

"Huh, did'ja say somethin'?" Jon said, squatting over the prone child as he cupped his hand behind his ear, "looks like I wen' a l'il easy on ya if ya can still squirm aroun', eh?" He laughed as he formed a fist in the air, before striking it down like a guillotine.

Kent looked over at the brutal scene as he bent out the creases in his cigarette. "Now this is something you save your smokes for." he said, dipping the tip into the candle flame. Once a sliver of smoke seeped out, he put it up to his mouth and held it there, before whispering out a thin gray wisp over a long exhale. "God, that's nice."

"This is some good stuff." said Lucius, examining his findings as he felt further around the inside of the bag. He took a small coil of frayed material and laid it out alongside the other rewards. There was the food— the wrapped bread, some dented tins, a white-plastic package— a canteen, empty of course, and a shoddy blanket composed of bits and pieces. "Rope. Industrial, too. And we were just about to resort to using weeds. I guess this is what you call 'luck,' huh?" He said as he scraped around the bag to see if there was anything he missed.

Then, for a second, the cover of composure left Lucius' face as his calm eyes widened, but he soon returned to his regular self, looking inside the bag as he slowly pulled out his hand. On his index finger, pierced through the flesh, there stuck the sharp gleam of a metal fishing hook. Blood was already leaking from the wound, spilling into the bag and now the table. With his other hand, and a swift inhale, he ripped out the offending object, whipping a streak of dark blood across the table. He examined the hook. Even past the blood, the hook had a humble shine, and certainly a fine point. "Looks clean enough." he said, before sliding the hook into the tableside and putting the bloodied finger into his mouth.

"Shit, Lucius, you 'aight?" said Kent as he used his free hand to toss the man a rag from his pocket.

"A metal fishing hook," Lucius said as he wrapped the hastily cleaned wound with the rag, "-pretty nice find." He passed his attention over to Jon, who was sitting on the side, taking a smoking break while humming. "Just make sure you wrap it up next time, got it?"

Upon hearing this, Jon quickly snuffed his cigarette, putting it back into the special "smokey-time" pouch on his belt while getting up. He glanced down at the kid on the floor. "Oi, Boro, did'ja hear 'at?"

Boro didn't respond.

Jon picked the boy up by his collar with only his left arm. "Shit, ya really 're thin as shit, aren'tcha?" He croaked, throat still recovering. The boy's body dangeled wordlessly.

"Ya better not be ignorin' me." growled Jon, but there was still no reply. Jon took his giant palm and swat Boro's face between words. "Did. Ya. 'Ere. "Dat."

Lucius shook his head. Kent smirked, and then proceeded to go through the food on the table.

Mustering together what he could of his energy, Boro began: "I'm sorr—" but he was soon cut off by Kent's annoyed voice.

"The hell is this? It looks half-eaten… " muttered Kent, unraveling the remaining soaked layers that sealed the bread. Throwing the exterior to the side, he examined it slowly in the flickering flame. Then, after something caught his attention, he stopped rotating it in his hand. With his finger, he gathered a bit of it and rubbed it in between his fingers before studying it again. "Is this mud…?"

Time seemed to stop as veins erupted from the sides of Jon's thick neck. Boro suddenly found the energy to try and shake loose as he saw Jon's fat face contort and darken. "Mud…? You want us to eat mud…?"

"No! No, that's not what I—" Boro choked on the words forced back down him as he was flung against the wall.

"Ah, so we 'been too nice to ya, so now yer fuckin' wit' us, huh?" Jon cracked his hands with malice, but let out a scream as he looked behind him: Fen was biting deep into his rear ankle, holding on with determined aggression as the wound began to stain the floor red.

"YA SHITTY DOG!" screamed Jon, as he swung at Fen. The dog sidestepped the arm, then the following kick, all the while biting deeper. "AGHHHH! YOU—" Jon tried grabbing him, but he couldn't get the right angle to do so getting attacked from behind. Lucius and Kent got up from the table and stepped forward to intervene, but Jon launched himself backward onto Fen, who stopped gnawing and tried to avoid the body-slam. However, the heavy attack still caught one of Fen's paws, and the force of even the glancing impact was enough to knock the animal down for a second.

Before Fen even had the chance to get up, Jon unleashed a relentless fury of fists down on the dog. " 'OW DARE YOU! YOU! FUCKIN'! MUTT!" Showing no signs of its former resistance, the animal yelped helplessly as it was pummeled viciously.

"STOP!" yelled Boro, who managed to get in between the two during a lull in the attacks. He wrapped his frail arms around the dog as Jon stopped with a look of furious bewilderment. "Please, stop, Mr. Borga. Fen… Fen's gonna die…" He barely managed to get the words out as tears seeped down his face. In his lap, the animal seemed to gasp for its life, only able to manage long, weak breaths.

The man stared at the boy with absolutely nothing in his eyes. His expression in the candlelight's faint backdrop was as dim as death. "'re ya fuckin' kidding me righ' now?" he said, coldly.

The boy yelped as he was seized by the hair. "Now yer defying me? Startin' to a gro' a real big pair 'a balls, ain'tcha?" He slapped the boy, tearing off some of the hair in his hand with the sheer force of the blow.

"Please… please…" cried Boro, with greater volume this time.

The man stared silently with his wide, black, glare. His face, with its dark nose, seemed almost to resemble that of a skull.

"Maybe I shoul' just kill the both of ya." Jon said, partly to himself whilst staring up at the ceiling. The man said this in a manner as if it was no different than a troublesome chore.

At once, Boro fell silent, and with a shiver, loosened his grip on Fen.

Upon seeing this, Jon's expression eased, and he let go of Boro's hair before patting him on the head. "'at's better. Gud boy." He looked at the dog, then back at Boro before giving a large smile that showed off his terrible teeth. "Don't worry, you'll 'et yers soon, boy. Just be a l'il patient."

The boy clenched up motionlessly in the corner as the room was filled with blood-chilling yelps. He closed his eyes and blocked his ears, so hard that his head hurt, but he could still hear Fen's cries clearly. Then, they stopped— and his hand was roughly dragged away from his ear.

The man towered over the boy, filling his entire vision. "Your turn." he said, gleefully.

He began to call for help even though it would never come. The man covered the child's mouth and whispered into his ear. "If someon' 'ears you, I'll really kill ya. OK?" So he stopped protesting even. As Jon let go and did a small ritual stretch, Boro's eyes met those of Lucius. They were cold, grey, almost alien. It was a gaze not of a human, or one not beholding of a human.

What was he looking at, even?

"Don't get him in the legs." said Lucius, as he started to re-store the items into the bag.

And that was all Boro heard. Then there was the pain of being hit again. Then nothingness.

-

-

-

Boro woke up first to the cold, then from the pain, and finally, hunger sobered him up from sleep. He looked around restlessly. "Fen…?"

The dog was lying on its side, quite still. Boro began to panic as his head rushed with horrible thoughts, but he noticed the slight rising and falling of the chest as he inched closer. He made a slight sound of relief. He crawled toward the dog. "Hey boy… YOW!" he retreated his outgoing hand as the animal snarled and snapped at it.

"Why…?" asked Boro, sadly, as he rubbed his hand. It was shallow, but a long cut was made. The dog huffed before turning around, and remained lying down with its back facing the child.

"Oh… I see. You're hurting too, huh?" Boro said. The boy flopped his back onto the ground as tears and shame slowly welled up from inside him. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I should have fought harder for you. I'm sorry, Fen… " he whimpered.

As the boy kept crying, the blood from his hand stained his face as he tried to wipe the tears away as they came. He tried to stifle his emotion, knowing he'd get beaten again if he woke the men up, but it just wouldn't stop. After some time, the dog slowly got up and licked up the tears as they fell. "Fen… Fen… sto- stop… stop, hehe…" Eventually, the boy's crying became a tiny laugh. Once modest laughter had fully replaced the boy's cries, the dog sat next to him. Boro ran his fingers through Fen's patchy fur, some areas covered by scars, others having just fallen out and never grown back.

He gave the dog a small hug. The dog sat still, staring straight.

"Fen… why don't you leave me?" asked Boro. The boy let go to look at the dog. Fen let out his tongue and began panting.

Of course, no reply.

After staring at each other for a bit, the dog leaned down and licked the blood from where he had bitten the boy. Once it stopped bleeding, Fen put his head on the boy's leg and they laid together in silence.

Boro stared up at the cracks in the walls.

"I know, Fen… I know… there isn't anywhere to run to."

Outside, every one of those lights in the trees is an enemy. Outside of the forest, there is a ring of desert, and even if you get past that, there are guards who will shoot you on sight. And if you get past that too, there are miles and miles of water. And within all this, and beyond, surely no one will help.

There is nowhere to go.

The boy knew since the beginning.

This world… is a cage.