Claimed Read Free Page B

he was there. Sometimes I think Wolf, you’re an actual wolf.” 
    He slapped the dog’s back gently and rose up. “Come on, then. Let’s get this meat to the butcher and get back home.”
     
    He strode casually as he could through the sector village. Children played about him in tattered clothes. Their laughter carried into the air, infecting him. He couldn’t resist a smile.  This gloominess was all these children had ever known. They weren’t aware of another world other than the one they presently lived in.
    He crossed the dusty street over to the deli store.  “Stay,” he told Wolf as he pushed open the door. The tiny bell above it tinkled, announcing his entry.
    “Duncan,” he greeted the butcher.
    “Jared,” the butcher replied. “Come for the usual?”
    “Yeah.” Jared leant onto the counter, watching him serve the two old elderly customers in the store.
    “Here’s your steak, Mrs. Roberts,” the butcher handed over a bag of wrapped meat. “Will there be anything else?”
    “That’ll be all,” the woman croaked and then turned to her husband. “Come on, Patrick.”
    The couple held onto each other as they dawdled out of the store.
    “You can never be too careful,” the butcher said, watching them walk down the street. “So, what have you got for me, today?”
    “Quality venison.” He laid the parcels onto the counter.
    “Yeah?” the butcher grinned. “Was there another one crossing the highway again?”
    “Something like that.”
    “I’ll give you five hund red for them,” the butcher said thoughtfully after inspecting the meat.
    Jared frow ned. “Come on Duncan, you know you’ll get far more than that for the quality I give you. All lean and very little fat. It’s not just Central that buys from you, right? The more affluent of Sector 8 does too, don’t they?”
    The butcher scratched his brow. “How much do you want?”
    “Nine hundred.”
    “ Seven, and we’ll call it even.”
    Jared nodded. The butcher opened his till and began counting out his money.
    “I don’t know how you get away with it,” the butcher shook his head in bafflement.
    “I don’t know what you ’re talking about. I’m just a trapper.”
    The butcher watched him over his eyebrows and then called out to his assistant, “Eric.”
    A younger man walked in from the back of the store. He stopped abruptly on seeing Jared.
    “Eric, Jared’s got some meat for us. Take it to the back, will you?”
    “Yes, Mr. Duncan,” Eric stammered.
    “Well, don’t just stand there, gaping at the man. It’s not the first time, is it?” he hollered.
    “Yes, sir.” The boy meekly gathered up the parcels in a bag and carried them to the back.
    The butcher shook his head again but this time in frustration. “You can’t get good help these days.” He handed over the bills.
    “Can you trust him?”  Jared asked cautiously.
    “Eric?” the butcher huffed. “Of course. If he had to squeal, he would have done it long ago. You’re still alive, aren’t ya?”
    Jared stuffed the money into his pocket. “Just being careful, Duncan.”
    “Well, then stop wrapping the meat in leaves, will ya?” he growled. He bent down and gathered a fistful of paper. “It’s a dead giveaway.”
    Jared pursed his lips. The butcher was right. Those leaves could only be found in the forest. But he had been too proud to ask for any paper. It was a risk he had taken all these years. It was only fortunate that he was never searched. He somehow felt that it was Wolf’s presence that deterred any sentinel from approaching him. But there was no law against having canine pets, was there?
    “Your dog is sure scary,” the butcher muttered, watching it march anxiously outside his store.
    “He’s only a husky.”
    “Have you seen its teeth when it snarls? That thing looks no dog to me then,” the butcher spat out.
    “ He’s a dog. That’s what dogs do.”
    “ Just keep it away from me is all I ask,” he grumbled. The bell