Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself. This man had been his ticket out. It was all just about him now. If this wasn't handled to his satisfaction, his very life was in danger. With his hands still tied, Quiggly tried to sneak up on the man. From where he stood, he saw the light shining beneath the man's blanket, but he'd also been told the man was naked under there. This gave him an idea. He stepped as close as he dared without being spotted and crouched down low to the ground. All he needed was a little leverage. At the base of the man's blanket was the toe of his boot. He reached down and pulled it out, then tried to work it in between his fingers and under the knot.
"Heeeyyy," the man called out in a booming voice, "What's going on? What's going on in here?" The man struggled to a sitting position in bed. He peered around, looking everywhere for a sign of his intruder. He finally spotted Quiggly, ducking low to the ground, and pointed a finger in his direction.
Quiggly cringed in the bushes. He waited for what seemed like an eternity but was really just a second or two. The man shouted, "There he is! Get him!"
Quiggly squirmed through the bushes and bolted to the forest without a backward glance, all the while looking back over his shoulder to see if the other man was chasing him. The woods were just about as far as he could run without his lungs completely bursting. He crashed through the underbrush and broke out into an open space. Quiggly didn't know the area at all, but the smell of fresh air told him he was close to the sea. He could hear it crashing in the distance. He knew he should have taken the man's boots. The boots would have given him a chance to escape, but the man had already known Quiggly was there. Who knows what the man would have done if he'd had a chance to take his boots off?
Even if he hadn't taken the boots, Quiggly knew the man's skin would have been harder to slip past than his. He had to hope that the man was not a light sleeper and had known exactly when to wake up.
Quiggly made it to the edge of the woods, feeling his pace slowing with every step. The rain continued to pound him. His pants were full of water and were heavy on his legs, making it even harder to run. The only good thing was the wind was blowing the rain right in his face. It actually felt refreshing. It also provided him some cover. He had no idea how close he was to Black Water Head. As far as Quiggly knew, he could be anywhere.
When he reached the edge of the forest, he slowed to a walk. Looking back the way he had come, he looked at the ground, hoping to find some sort of trace that could lead him to the house. Looking down, he saw the man's boot prints and that was all.
Quiggly was lost. He was never lost, he was never stupid enough to get caught like that, and he was certainly not going to be stupid enough to get caught again. A cold pit formed in his stomach, but not from the chill in the air. What if he had to kill that man? He prayed he didn't, but if he had to, he knew the man's name, he knew what he looked like, he knew his profession and business and, worst of all, he knew what he liked to do with his danglers. When Quiggly started thinking about that, he decided to go the other way, deeper into the woods, and then turn around to see if he could make it to the house. At least he could hope to get inside the house first before he had to kill anybody.
Quiggly started walking as fast as he could and soon came to an open field. The rain stopped abruptly, leaving a thick fog that made the field murky. It was starting to get dark, too. Quiggly decided to just keep walking. The more he looked around, the more scared he got. How was he going to get out of this? He couldn't stay here forever. But even when he did decide to go back, which would be soon, how was he going to know which way was back? Quiggly knew he was in trouble and didn't have a clue what to do.
Quiggly walked aimlessly through the woods, stumbling through the woods, losing time and momentum. He came to a fork in the road and had no idea which way he should go. He didn't know which road led to the town, and he didn't know how he was going to find the house in the dark. He started walking along the road, hoping he would eventually come to a house, but he was quickly disappointed. After walking for hours and hearing nothing but the wind and the rain, he came to the end of the road.
Afraid to go into the woods, Quiggly was about to turn around when he saw a light. It was coming from down the road a ways. What was it doing there? When he saw a house up ahead, he felt like he was going to cry. In a few moments, he reached the house and went up on the porch. The house was still light outside, but it looked dark in there. Quiggly stood there and banged on the door a few times and after a few minutes, he heard footsteps on the other side.
"Who is it?" a voice called through the door.
"It's Quiggly," he said.
"Come on in out of the rain, Quiggly. It's not safe to be out here." The door opened and he saw his boss standing there with an open coat for Quiggly to put on.
"What happened?" the man asked. "Did somebody find you?"
"I don't think so, but I ain't about to find out for sure," Quiggly said, pulling the coat on over his shirt.
"You think somebody will try to come after you?" the man asked.
Quiggly shook his head no.
"I hope you're right. You didn't get your ass handed to you, did you? What happened?"
"Well, I'm in a little bit of trouble, but I'm pretty sure they'll leave me alone once they get what they want. Now, I gotta get back. I left my shoes and my horse at home and the rain keeps driving me off the road."
"Ain't nothing we can do about it, Quiggly," the man said as he went back to his coat and reached inside. "Let me take a look at them feet."
Quiggly's feet looked like they were completely wet through. The rain had soaked him from the top all the way down to his knees. He sat there in his wet pants while his boss did his best to fix him up.
"I got some salve, but it's gonna sting like hell. Do you have something to put on your hands?"
"I got plenty of hands," Quiggly joked, trying to lighten up the mood.
The man finally got him bandaged up. Then he put a jacket on him, wrapped a scarf around his head, and led him to a chair. When Quiggly was settled in, he pulled out his pipe and started smoking.
"You want something to eat?" the man asked. "And by the way, I'm George. I'm here with your dad."
"I know who you are," Quiggly said, "you're the man that's supposed to make sure everything is taken care of."
"Yeah, that's me," George said with a smile.
"Well, I'm hungry and I ain't had a thing since lunch," Quiggly told him. "I only live a couple of houses down."
George looked around, trying to figure out how to make Quiggly comfortable.
"It's not like I've been gone all that long. I don't know what the hell you guys are so worried about," Quiggly said.
"No, don't worry about that, it's not you," George said.
"Well, what do you mean I ain't gotta worry about it? That don't make no sense," Quiggly said as he got a little more comfortable in his chair.
"Your brother left with some of the men and another man came by. There was a fight and your brother got hurt," George told him. "The other man shot him, but, other than that, he's fine. He just took off again. There was no way to tell the man that your brother was left behind."
Quiggly's jaw dropped open. "If that ain't the weirdest thing I've ever heard in my life," he said.
"Yeah, but it don't end there," George continued. "The men were trying to find your brother, but they're not sure where he's at or even what he looks like. They told me that when you found him, you were out of your mind. You didn't even know who he was and they had to give you your clothes back. You were naked when you came home. I don't know why you couldn't go
