Page 103 of Wandering in Darkness
The Oreo flops on its side and Brigs sucks it up without a care in the world, his curled tail wiggling in all of his delight.
“What the fuck, why’s there a pig?”
The guy near me looks over as he stops fantasizing about being probed by an alien long enough to go, “I did say I was hungry for chicken, but bacon sounds delicious as well.”
Everyone is staring at the pig while I realize that I have absolutely no fucking idea what to do. Am I just going to go gun down the bad guys to save Felix’s pig from becoming bacon? Yes, I love the pig too, but I would be risking the lives of everyone who came here to help by saving the damn pig!
I jerk my head back and look toward the tree line where Antonio and Grayson are lying there absolutely flabbergasted. They obviously don’t know what to do, either.
Quickly, I pull out my phone.
Me: Can someone explain to me what the fuck is happening?
Antonio: Lane needed something from the car and I guess Felix’s pig started screaming about Felix being gone and just like plowed Lane off his feet and took off!
Me: And you chased it through the entire woods without catching it?
Grayson: I love you.
Me: What!?
Grayson: Just thought you should know.
Me: Right now? You’re going to tell me that right now?
Antonio: Aw! You guys are so cute!
Me: Seriously?
Lane: Hey, guys. I know there are more pressing matters, but I don’t know where I am. Everyone ran off. I think I’ve tripped over this log at least three times. Tempt the pig with the Oreo, he’ll come back for that.
Me: You talking about the Oreo Grayson threw into the enemy circle?
Lane: …Yes.
Grayson: I didn’t mean to throw it into the circle. I thought if I threw one to him, he’d come back for a second one.
“He’s kind of cute,” someone says as I lower my phone to check back in with the pig dilemma.
Brigs is quite busy looking around, obviously curious about the situation he’s found himself in, and even more curious whether the bad guys with guns have food for him to consume.
“Should I shoot him?” asks the guy who is so hungry he’s prepared to butcher a pig instead of driving five minutes down the road to a McDonald’s.
“Is it like their pet or something?”
“What the fuck is it doing now?” a woman asks when Brigs begins bullying her for food. He only does that when someone has something in their pocket he really wants. She tries pushing him off and he starts screaming up a storm like she threatened to make him into kabobs instead of simply turning him away.
“Jesus, Jenna, what did you do to it? It’s just a pig!”
“I only touched it! Make it stop!”
The door to the container opens and Felix starts rushing people out until he hears the terrible racket his pig is making. His head snaps in that direction and then off he goes, forgetting all about caring for himself as he prepares to throw his life on the line for his pig.
The people he’s just saved are all confused, unsure whether they should follow the man running toward the screams of a pig or should flee to safety. Deciding thatnoone should willingly run toward those squeals, they take off in the other direction.
I wave at Felix to stop because there’s no damn way I’m letting him run out there for the pig. That is until Brig stills. I don’t know why, when there’s surely no way the pig could have heard Felix’s footsteps over its squeals of despair, but that pig’s head snaps up as it whips around, barrels one guy off his feet, and runs straight toward Felix.
And of course the whole group seems to questionwhythe pig is now running toward their prisoners.
