The Great Escape

by Anh Do

  I lowered my head, letting my tangled hair fall over my eyes. I thought about my dogs, wondered where they were. What if they stumbled across some soldiers? Would they attack, or have the sense to hide?

  Thinking about them made me anxious.

  ‘What about these dogs you were with?’ said Fran, as if reading my thoughts.

  I could not help but glance at her angrily.

  ‘Are they trained?’ said Fran. ‘Are they attack dogs? Did you all escape from another camp?’

  I remained silent.

  ‘Hmm,’ said Fran. ‘Perhaps I should send the hunters out to look for them. They could take their net gun, maybe capture them all?’

  I scowled at her.

  ‘And then,’ Fran said, leaning forward, ‘we could throw them in a river.’

  I sprang at her.

  I scratched her face and she yelled with rage. She grabbed me and held me at arm’s length while I lashed at her.

  Baldy raced back in with another guard and they hauled me off her, forcing my arms behind my back.

  ‘Back to her cell!’ Fran shouted, as she touched a finger to her reddened cheek. ‘No food until she talks!’

  As Baldy dragged me out of the room, Doctor Andrews said, ‘At least you’re in the right place to get a bandage.’

  I almost thought he winked at me.

  I sat in my cell trying to ignore my rumbling stomach. I hadn’t had anything to eat since that morning – back when I was free in the forest with my dogs.

  I thought about them then. Was Nosey able to pick up the scent? Would Sunrise be leading the pack now that I was gone? Was Tiny able to keep up? I missed them.

  It was dark outside now, and I could no longer hear rocks being smashed. Then came the sound of many feet shuffling across the floor downstairs, and children speaking in low, tired voices. Would I be put to work like them?

  I had to escape this place!

  I heard footsteps on the nearby stairs. Cautiously, I slipped into the shadows at the back of my cell but it was impossible to hide. A small group of kids appeared in the corridor outside, slouching along together. They stopped when they saw me.

  ‘That’s her,’ whispered one.

  ‘Her hair is crazy,’ said another.

  ‘And her clothes are weird and covered in patches.’

  I felt like telling them how they looked themselves – scrawny and underfed, covered in dirt and dressed in rags.

  ‘I heard she doesn’t speak, only howls at the sky.’

  ‘What’s your name?’ asked a boy with big brown eyes and floppy hair, about my age.

  I said nothing, just stared at the kids in front of me. Had they been here the whole time? Had they been stuck here for four years?

  The boy stepped closer. ‘I’m Rupert.’

  I thought about answering. These kids were prisoners like me. They might all be from towns like mine, they might have all fled in the night like I did. I wanted to know how long they had been kept here, and what was actually going on at this place.

  But I wasn’t ready to trust anyone yet. Trusting without thinking was what had landed me here.

  I just wanted my dogs. They were the only ones I could trust.

  I turned and howled at the window.

  ‘Wow,’ said a little girl. ‘She really is an animal.’

  Rupert shushed her. ‘Don’t be rude.’ He turned back to me. ‘Maybe that’s how she communicates. Let’s see . . .’ He gave a little cough to clear his throat, then opened his mouth to attempt a howl of his own.

  It came out all strangled and weak, and the other kids laughed.

  I crouched deeper in the shadows so they wouldn’t see my eyes. They were treating me like some kind of freak. Teasing me. I had been right not to trust them.

  A door slammed open down the hall.

  ‘What’s all that racket?!’ came Baldy’s shout.

  The kids took off in a hurry, scurrying back down the stairs. I wondered if I would soon be as thin as they were. No, no, no, I told myself. I’m going to get out of here.

  I smelled food – fresh food! Baldy arrived outside my cell, holding a plate of hot bread and cheese. My mouth watered.

  He peered through the bars and held out the plate to show me.

  ‘Here’s what everyone else is getting,’ he said. ‘None for you until you start talking.’

  It made me so mad I leapt at the bars, my hand shooting for the food. Baldy jumped in surprise and dropped the plate.

  He tried to cover his fright by scowling as he bent to pick up the food.

  ‘You’re not doing yourself any favours, Wolf Girl,’ he said.

  He quickly walked away. I sank back to the floor and lay down in the dark, trying not to think about food.

  All I wanted were my dogs.

  Where were they?

  Nosey led the pack along the road, following the scent of truck exhaust. To him, the trail was as clear as a line drawn in the dirt.

  They had been running for hours and were all panting heavily.

  Where is she? asked Zip for the fiftieth time.

  We will find her, growled Sunrise.

  Tiny yapped with determination. We’re coming, Gwen!

  They pushed on throughout the heat of the day, only slowing down to lap up water from puddles.

  When evening finally fell, the cooler air was a welcome relief.

  Nosey ran out into a clear area where the trail got all muddy, seeming to spread in different directions.

  Sunrise growled. What’s wrong?

  Too many smells, barked Nosey. Different paths ahead.

  I don’t know which way to go, muttered Nosey.

  He began sniffing around, moving in ever wider circles. Sunrise joined in, carefully combing the ground, searching for any clue.

  Let’s help, said Tiny, staring up at Brutus.

  Fine, said Brutus.

  You look high and I’ll look low, said Tiny.

  Duh.

  Together they sniffed and sniffed, all around the crossroads. They smelt rubber and fumes and earth and forest. They circled until they began to smell themselves.

  Maybe we could try splitting up down the paths? said Zip.

  No, growled Sunrise. We stay together.

  They sat down and panted for a bit, while Nosey ran up and down the paths.

  Maybe she wants to be with the two-legs? said Brutus.

  She wouldn’t leave us! yipped Tiny.

  They are her own kind, barked Brutus.

  That’s enough! snapped Sunrise. We are hers. She is ours. We are a pack.

  Sunrise walked up to Brutus and looked him square in the eye.

  When Gwen found you, you attacked her. But still she fed you and accepted you.

  Brutus bowed his head and retreated away.

  We must find her, said Sunrise.

  Suddenly Nosey gave a loud bark from down the path to the right.

  What? What? called Sunrise, racing ahead of the others.

  Her hair! said Nosey, prancing happily around a single brown hair.

  As the others rushed over to the single strand of hair, Nosey was already off further down the road.

  I can smell another! he barked. And another!

  Come on, yelped Sunrise. Let’s find Gwen!

  The others barked excitedly, and they took off into the night.

  I woke with my face pressed against the mouldy pillow. The bits of straw I’d pushed together to try and make a bed had left marks all over my skin. It was so much more uncomfortable than sleeping against the soft fur of my four-legged family. My heart sank as I remembered where I was.

  I was hungry and thirsty, and wondered if Baldy would soon taunt me with more food. I listened out for him, but there didn’t seem to be any noise within the building. Outside I could hear the now-familiar thunking.

  I stared up at the cell window. If I could get up there, I could hang onto the bars and look out.

  I backed up as far as I could, and with a good running sta
rt, I leapt up at the window. By bracing against the wall with my legs and holding onto the bars with my hands, I could see outside.

  I could see the entire mountainside quarry. There were many large chunks gouged from the cliff face. How long, I wondered, had the kids been working here? There must have been around fifty of them, all heaving hammers, lugging rocks and pushing wheelbarrows.

  Below my window were piles of rocks. I saw Rupert at one, filling up a wheelbarrow. He was a skinny kid and was working really hard just to lift the rocks.

  Once his wheelbarrow was full, he wheeled it away, across the field towards the outer wall. There, a couple of soldiers were standing on either side of another gate. They inspected Rupert and his wheelbarrow, then opened the gate and let him through.

  So, there was more than one way out of this place.

  I kept watching, hoping for more information. I was light and strong, but soon my hands got sore from hanging onto the bars. I ignored the pain.

  Soon Rupert returned through the same gate with an empty wheelbarrow. Where had he taken the rocks?

  Rupert made his way back over the field towards the piles below my window. Would he go back and forth all day?

  His eyes flickered upwards, and he caught me staring at him. I felt suddenly exposed, and let go of the bars. I landed lightly on the floor of my cell, trying not to panic.

  Would he tell the soldiers he had spied me looking out?

  I heard a quiet thump on the outside wall. What was that? It wasn’t enough for Rupert to tease me? Now he was throwing things at my cell?

  There was another thump. Then, a moment later, something flew through the window. I stared, disbelieving.

  It was a hunk of bread.

  Without thinking, I bit into it. It was hard and stale, but I didn’t care. I was starving and it tasted amazing. I chewed and chewed until it was gone, then looked up at the window.

  I sprang up again and grabbed the bars. Rupert was still below, piling more rocks into his wheelbarrow, but deliberately being slow about it. When I appeared in the window, he smiled up at me.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said.

  Rupert’s smile widened with amazement. I’d forgotten that I wasn’t supposed to be talking to anyone.

  ‘So you can speak,’ he loud-whispered at me.

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  ‘Would you like some more food?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  He took another piece of bread out of his pocket and broke it in half.

  ‘Hey!’ someone shouted.

  Rupert spun to see a soldier striding towards him. The man grabbed Rupert roughly around the neck, snatched the bread from his hand, and looked up at my window.

  I quickly let go of the bars and dropped down onto the cell floor.

  I could hear the soldier outside. ‘So, you’re not hungry, huh? You’ve got so much food you can just give it away?’

  I heard scuffling and then a thud as Rupert whimpered.

  ‘Let’s go see what Fran thinks of this,’ said the soldier.

  For the rest of the day, I wondered what had happened to Rupert. I climbed up to the window and looked out, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see the soldier who had taken him away either.

  Finally, as evening fell, footsteps sounded from down the corridor. The soldier appeared, along with Baldy, pushing Rupert along. They opened the cell opposite mine and shoved him into it.

  ‘You have a good think about the rules,’ said the soldier. ‘Maybe next time you’ll mind your own business.’

  Rupert started to cry, and the soldier turned to me.

  ‘As for you, Wolf Girl, I hope you enjoyed your crumbs. You won’t be getting any more.’

  The soldier walked off. Baldy took a moment to sneer at me and Rupert before walking away too.

  I padded over to my cell door and peered into Rupert’s cell. He was sniffling on the floor.

  ‘I’m sorry you got in trouble for helping me,’ I said.

  Rupert wiped his nose and tried to hide his tears.

  ‘Where were you all day?’

  ‘In Fran’s office. She was out of the camp for some reason, so they just left me there, tied to a seat.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘We’re going to get out of here.’ I tried to sound more certain than I was.

  ‘How?’

  It was a good question.

  ‘I’m thinking about it,’ I said.

  I thought about it for a while – long enough to hear the sound of Baldy’s snores drifting down the corridor. It was also long enough for Rupert to stop sniffling and start asking questions.

  ‘Say,’ he said, ‘since you aren’t as wild as you look, why were you howling before?’

  Should I tell him the truth?

  Should I tell him about Sunrise? About Nosey? About how I’d spent the last four years living with a wolf and dogs? How we’d hunted, ate, played and slept as a pack? How I hadn’t seen a single human until the men from the truck grabbed me and brought me here?

  ‘I was calling to my family,’ I said.

  The dogs ran under the light of a full moon, the hairs on the road shining to them like beacons of hope. Every time the road split, Nosey looked for another strand – and every time he found one.

  Tiny struggled the most, as he had to work three times as hard to keep up and it was all starting to get a bit much. He huffed and panted along, but after a while he began to fall behind.

  Sunrise lowered herself down before the little chihuahua.

  Tiny, she gestured with her head, get in the backpack.

  Thanks! Tiny yelped. He collapsed gratefully in the pack, and they started off again.

  They followed the road until even Sunrise was starting to weary.

  Suddenly they turned a bend and saw a break in the trees. There were lights shining through!

  I smell two-legs! barked Nosey.

  Into the trees, said Sunrise. We must not be seen.

  They ran off the road into the forest, their tiredness forgotten. Soon they reached the tree line bordering the camp, and peered out at the wall. Up on top of it, figures were moving about.

  This is where Gwen’s trail leads, said Nosey.

  We cannot jump that wall, said Brutus.

  Maybe there’s another way in? said Nosey.

  Staying hidden within the tree line, the dogs prowled around the entire camp. As they neared the cliffs on one side, they came to a place where the forest was closer to the wall. Things seemed quiet on the other side, and there was no one moving about above.

  Look there, said Tiny, from his high vantage, pointing his snout towards the wall. The earth looks loose.

  Could we dig our way in? said Nosey.

  Perhaps, said Sunrise. But we must be quiet.

  They slunk from the trees and slipped into the shadow of the wall. Zip dug a paw into the ground and raised it up. Dirt fell from his claws.

  It’s soft, he said.

  Excited, he started to dig, and sent dirt spraying into everyone’s eyes.

  Zip! said Sunrise. Move aside and make room.

  She nodded to Brutus and they positioned themselves beside Zip. Together they began to dig a hole under the wall.

  Finally, there was a space under the wall big enough for even Sunrise to fit through. She went down on her belly and clawed her way under. One by one, the others followed.

  They emerged behind a shed. Sunrise looked around the corner and saw a field covered in rocks.

  How do we know where to go? said Brutus.

  Nosey? said Sunrise.

  Nosey sniffed around for a bit but couldn’t find Gwen’s scent.

  She has to be somewhere in this place, said Sunrise. We just have to look.

  Sunrise kept low to the ground as she led them out into the field. In the distance, torches flashed about as a patrol of two-legs made their way around the quarry.

  Don’t let them see us, said Sunrise.

  Hide behind that thing! said Tiny, running tow
ards a dark shape ahead.

  The others followed, running quietly into the shadow of a tent. The patrol turned in another direction, and for a moment the dogs were relieved. Then, from inside the tent, came the sound of voices.

  Sunrise tensed, her eyes shining . . . but the two-legs in the tent were only laughing. A smell wafted through the air that made every dog’s mouth water. It was meat being cooked.

  Food! suggested Brutus.

  It’s too dangerous, said Sunrise.

  I’m hungry, said Brutus.

  The two-legs must not see us, said Sunrise firmly. Gwen feeds us. We keep looking. We eat when we find Gwen.

  They moved on, trying to ignore the intoxicating smell.

  Soon they found themselves among piles of rocks alongside a big, long building.

  Such a big place, snarled Brutus. How can we...

  Wingbeats flattened the fur off their faces, and they spun towards the gusts with teeth bared.

  Just then, Eagle landed on a rock pile before them!

  Eagle! said Sunrise.

  Eagle! said the others.

  We thought we’d lost you! said Tiny.

  Eagle nodded her head at him, as if to say, It’s good to see you too, little guy!

  Do you know where Gwen is? said Nosey.

  Eagle gave a low croak and turned to look at the building beside them. Then she took off, landing on the roof above a window.

  Does she mean Gwen is in there? said Sunrise.

  ‘Your family?’ said Rupert. ‘What do you mean? Why would you howl to your family?’