Night Crawlers

by Ron L. Carter

When Justin started going out so often Joshua realized he was all alone and also became frustrated and angry at being left by himself. He missed being outside the walls of the property, just like Jed and Justin. He missed the attacks on the animals that he had trained Mister to kill. He was feeling trapped and much like a caged animal. It was summer time and the temperature had reached around 110 degrees during the day. It was hot and muggy inside the house without any air conditioning. Even the night were hot. The frustration of being alone, along with the miserable heat caused mounting pressure on Joshua and he wanted to do something about it. He was angry with himself for making a promise to Jed and his mom that he wouldn’t take Mister outside the walls of the property ever again. The more and more he thought about it, he was having a hard time fighting the urge to take Mister out to kill something. He knew Jed would be angry with him if he found out about him leaving the property, but he knew when he was ready, that wasn’t going to stop him.

  That night while Jed was at Chelsea’s and Justin was out peeping in Red Mountain, Joshua decided he was going to have a little fun with Mister. He hadn’t forgotten about the time Brutus tried to kill Mister during their last fight. He had come up with a plan that he believed would satisfy his desire to have Mister accomplish what he needed him to do and that was kill something.

  He took Mister outside the house and pretended he was outside the walls of the property as he crept slowly around the yard and looked for Brutus. He had Mister by his side as he slowly combed the entire property until he found Brutus curled up and sleeping next to Sophie. When he saw Brutus, Joshua approached Brutus like he was stalking a wild animal and he had a loaded gun getting ready to shoot his prey. When Joshua got closer to Brutus, Mister began to growl. Joshua knew that Mister wasn’t going to let Brutus get too close to his master. It was a game Joshua was playing in his mind, but it was a deadly game for Brutus.

  When Mister started viciously growling at Brutus it only took a few seconds and Brutus stood up snarling back at him. His hair on the back of his neck bristled up and he went into a fighting mode. He balanced himself on all fours and took a fighting stance. Brutus wasn’t going to let his young sibling whip him once again. He growled back at Mister and showed his teeth as they edged a little closer to each other. Brutus was just hoping that his defensive posture would be enough to get Mister to back away but it wasn’t. Now father and son were locked in a stare down that would soon turn deadly.

  Mister bristled and showed his teeth and neither, he nor Brutus were backing away from each other. Joshua was getting a real thrill out of the entire stand off as he laughed and clapped his hands with excitement. After a few minutes Joshua stopped laughing and it then became real serious for him. He looked at Brutus and said, “You shouldn’t have tried to kill Mister the last time you got in a fight. Now you’re going to pay for it.” He made the clicking sound of attack with his tongue and Mister instantly plunged toward Brutus. The fierce impact of it knocked Brutus down and Mister bit down hard on the first thing he could get his teeth into. It was Brutus’ left front leg and when he bit down on it the bone snapped and Joshua could hear a popping sound as it broke. Joshua just stood there, not saying a word and watched the fight. He smiled with pride for what Mister was doing to Brutus. Even with the broken leg, Brutus continued to defend himself because he knew he was fighting for his life.

  Before Mister realized what had happened, Sophie had joined in the fight against him and bit down hard on his back. Now Mister was fighting both dogs and he was fighting for his own survival. He turned his attention away from Brutus for split second and sunk his long fangs deep into Sophie’s neck. He had her down and ready to kill her when Brutus attacked him from behind once again. Brutus had a grip on Misters right thigh when Mister let go of Sophie and spun toward him and Brutus lost his grip. Mister was now focusing his attack back toward Brutus as Sophie limped away hurt and defeated. That’s when Joshua had enough of the playing around and gave Mister the signal to kill. Mister then immediately went in for Brutus’ throat and it was just a few seconds and he had him down. There was nothing Brutus could do because Mister was just too big and strong. Brutus tried with all his strength to wiggle loose, but the death grip Mister had on him was too tight for him to get away. It was as if his neck was in a vice. In an instant, Mister jerked his head sideways a few times with Brutus’ neck in his mouth and his neck snapped. Joshua smile when he heard the bone crack and Brutus went limp.

  When the fight was over Brutus lay motionless on the ground and Mister was standing over him panting deeply. His tongue was hanging out and he kept licking it and taking deep breaths. He had some flesh wounds that Joshua would have to take care of, but nothing that wouldn’t heal. Joshua was angry with Sophie for joining in the fight against Mister and he went over to her and said, “It’s your lucky day, Sophie, I’m not going to have Mister kill you yet. He’ll get you another time. You should’ve stayed out of the fight.”

  Joshua didn’t waste any time as he dug a hole about four feet deep in the back yard and pulled Brutus’ body over to it and pushed him in. As he was covering him with dirt he said, “Good-bye Brutus, You were a good dog. You shouldn’t have tried to kill Mister.” He wanted to make sure he buried Brutus before Jed or Justin got home because he didn’t want either of them to find out what he’d done.

  It wasn’t until a few days later that Jed and Justin came into Joshua’s room and asked him if he had seen Brutus around the yard anywhere. Jed went up to Joshua and said, “Hey Joshua, I saw Sophie outside, but I couldn’t find Brutus. Have you seen him? I’ve looked everywhere. Do you know where he is?” When Jed asked Joshua that question, he just looked up at Jed and said, “I found Brutus dead a few days ago. I buried him out back. Right next to mom and dad.” Jed was shocked as he said, “What? How did it happen? Could you tell what killed him?” Joshua turned away from Jed with a grin on his face as he said, “No, I couldn’t tell.” Jed shrugged and replied, Wow! That’s really bizarre, I didn’t know anything was wrong with him.” Jed was wondering, did he get into some of the rat poison that I put out on the property to get rid of the rats? I wonder why Joshua didn’t tell us about Brutus.

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  Chapter 13 – Justin’s Mistake