‘What are you cooking for dinner, mom’ Jonas signed.
     ‘Rice, veggies, but I forgot eggs. Help Matty and Nana collect them, please. They are easily distracted.’ Jonas nodded and left his mom in the kitchen, out the house and to the chicken coop with his dog following behind. Before entering the pen, he cringed as he watched the daily struggle of his little brother reciting the names of each chick to their grandma.
     “Chickens? You had chickens?” Nana exclaimed.
     “Nana, I jus told you yesterday an’ the day before! Okay, so those two are rainbow chicks named Calsipher and DinoDuck. They’re twinies, like the lellows. And the lil one is-” Jonas placed his hand on his brother and gestured, ‘Matty, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell Nana. She will forget,’ Matty’s shoulders dropped in disappointment, then he replied. ‘I wish she didn’t forget everything…’
     “I wish we had mac n’ cheese for dinner!” He pushed his food away for emphasis. His older brother and mother had finished supper and were already sitting in the living room watching TV while dad was stuck watching Matty eat.
     “You’re just like Jonas when he was younger, now eat,” He sternly demanded.
     “Hey, hun. You should come watch this,” Mom called from the other room. As his father left, Matty sank in his seat and whispered to the dog, “Tidus, c’mere,” and dropped a few carrots on the floor. When he resurfaced to the table, he noticed his mother jump in her seat. He focused on the noise and heard the National News playing, but only saw the electric light bouncing off his family’s faces. One by one, each of their eyes widened and shifted into expressions he’d never seen before. Frightened, Jonas tapped his mom on the shoulder and signed, ‘Is this it? Is this a war? Are we going to leave?’ Frozen in fear, mother was silent, but dad responded with, ‘Backpack… food… chickens… brother… grandmother.’ It wasn’t complete sentences, but Jonas understood.

     The backpacks weren’t an issue, as they’d been packed years prior. The canned food was already prepared and only needed loading into the truck. Now, Nana gleefully watched the boys and dog chase their chickens across the pen, attempting to secure them inside the coop.
     “So… what’s goin’ on,” Matty asked, then corrected himself by signing it. Before answering, Jonas hesitated on what he would say, and vaguely left it as, ‘We are going to Nana’s house.’
     ‘But why,’ Matty urged. He knew by their faces that something was terribly wrong, and felt disappointed that he wasn’t yet seen as responsible enough to know information. He turned to Nana instead.
     “Do you know what’s happenin’?” Honestly, he didn’t believe she would, but Nana responded with, “I don’t… remember. I was just inside. But look at those lights, I think the UFO’s are comin’ back home.”
     “What duh,” was Matty’s only response, then Nana pointed to the house. It's dark silhouette surrounded by bright flashing lights from behind- they were too close to home. The dog began to howl. Matty panicked and stumbled to the coop where his brother had been and dragged him by the arm outside to see. Jonas gave that same frightened look as before and pushed Matty inside, then returned moments later with Nana and the dog. He shut the doors and shushed his brother as he held down Tidus to reduce his movement and howling. Then they waited.
     Matty could hear what Jonas couldn’t. It started with angry voices, then quickly transformed into gunshots and yelling. He was so terrified, he jumped into Nana’s arms, who rocked him back and forth. They waited until there was silence; Jonas didn’t know that, but Matty told him. He released the dog from his grip and stood before the doors, hesitating again, and opened them only wide enough to view the surroundings from a crack. He saw his home, the same as it was before only with different lighting, and pushed the opening and stepped forward. Tidus, who had leaped ahead, detected an odor with his senses and scurried around the pen, searching for its source. Once everyone had left the coop, he returned with what he found. Matty cried out loud, “Is that DinoDuck?” He jumped back into his grandmother’s arms and wailed. Jonas crouched beside the dog and silently held the innocent chick’s corpse in his arms, broken hearted. Then rose to check for survivors. All but one chick had been slaughtered, punctured with bullet holes. After seeing the remaining chick, Calsipher, alive, Matty left Nana to hold his small friend tightly, and Jonas rested the body beside another and ran for his parents in the house, praying he wouldn’t find them with the same. He entered through the back and found the front doorway destroyed and cabinets emptied. Divots and scrapes in the walls, vehicles with slashed tires left in the driveway, but no parents and no blood. Jonas realized they had been taken. It wasn’t a surprise that this household would be a target. He would find them, rescue them, but right now Jonas needed to protect his family.

     The convertible was still hidden under tarp behind the coop, and Jonas relocated the canned food hidden underneath the seats in the truck there. Now that they had only one chick to account for, he didn’t worry about chasing them, only Matty. Jonas met with his brother and Nana within the pen, both their hands and laps coated in soil. He sat beside Matty and held his small hand, convincing his body not to be bothered by how dirty it was.
     ‘Graves. Kind of you and Nana to make them. They were so lovely,’ Jonas told him, but was aware that he couldn’t numb Matty’s or his own pain with words. Matty simply nodded.
     ‘Where is mom and dad?’ Jonas hadn’t even thought of how to answer that question.
     ‘It is time to go,’ he signaled, ‘We will see them later.’ As confused and hurt as Matty was, he followed his brother’s instructions and seated himself in the backseat with Calsipher and the dog. Jonas turned the key and started her up and thought to himself: I don’t know how to drive… I don’t even know Nana’s address. He tried communicating with his grandma about the drive, but failed.
     ‘Nana can not read sign language,’ Matty reminded him.
     ‘Then you tell her,’ he said back, and Matty did.
     While Matty was busy speaking with Nana and keeping the animals under control, Jonas, winging it, drove out from their neighborhood, feeling so much loss as he looked back at what he’d left behind. Just beyond the houses and trees was a highway the boys called ‘Busy road’ that headed North. 
     Jonas drove slow, being cautious of his inexperience and focused on the path ahead. Once they drove into the next province, he saw the same flashing lights and hit the brakes abruptly. Calsipher flew from the backseat into Nana’s hair and Matty banged his head behind Jonas’ chair. He apologized, explaining what he saw.
     “Oh no. The car got tired. Maybe we can walk instead- ooh! I love walks” Nana exclaimed.
     “But Nana,” Matty argued, “We can’t jus walk, that’s dangerous, right Jonas?” Jonas was hesitating again, then answered.
     ‘We will walk through the National forest. It spans to Nana’s house’ He pointed to the woods to the left of their car. Jonas aided his grandmother while she stepped out from the convertible and began to rearrange the contents of their backpacks, replacing clothes with canned food. Then each person took a load and they left for the forest.

     They didn’t stop walking until dusk the next day. As energetic as Matty was, he could barely stand; even the dog struggled with keeping up. Nana, however, was full of spirit.
     “Phew! I haven’t had a walk like…?” She watched one grandson faceplant into grass and the other observing his arm.
     “What’s that hun,” She inquired. Jonas showed her the compass on his watch and signed, ‘Home. Your home,’ and pointed North. Nana struggled with the sign, and assumed.
     “Food? You’re hungry? Yeah, I haven’t ate corn since last summer.” Matty awoke from his faceplant and blurted, “Me too! I wanna eat! What’s for dinner?” Jonas hesitated about using the canned food and analyzed the surroundings. A river.
     ‘Fish?’ Matty panicked at the thought, and tried to convince Jonas to eat something else.           
     ‘Eggs. We can eat Calsipher’s eggs,’
     ‘Calsipher does not lay eggs yet,’ Jonas responded, ‘There is only fish.’
     ‘Maybe you could catch a bird or a squirrel, there is more than fish.’
     ‘I am not killing anything but fish.’
     ‘Why not?’
     ‘I do not want to kill anything, but fish feel pain differently.’ Matty didn’t understand why Jonas cared whether he killed a fish or something else. After digging through his backpack for a hook and fishing line, Jonas signaled to his dog to fetch a stick and used it as a fishing pole. He and his pup left to sit along a fallen tree that lay across the river. Matty followed, thinking the tree-bridge was fun and carefully balanced himself as he took each step.
     ‘Leave,’ Jonas ordered.
     ‘But why?
     ‘You are loud and will scare the fish.’
     ‘You would not know if I was loud!’
     ‘Everyone knows you are loud. Leave. Build a fire with Nana,’ Jonas ordered again. Matty hopped back on land, stuck his tongue out at his brother, and kicked nearby stones into the water. 
     “Nana! Do you know how ta’ make a fire? ‘Cuz Jonie was bein’ a meanie and told me to, but I dunno how.”
     “Yeah, I know how to make a fire…” She said.
     “Well, how,” Matty reiterated.
     “How what?”
     “The fire, Nana! Stop forgetting everything!” She was startled by his anger and whispered back, “Oh, I’m sorry, Jonas, I just-”
     “No, no, no! I’m not Jonas, Nana, I’m Matty. Jus- Why can’t you…” he was upset, but didn’t want to yell at his frightened grandma. 
     “I need a fire, Nana. With sticks and, well, fire… I’ll go get sticks and when I come back, I’ll ask you again to turn it into a fire, ‘kay?” Nana smiled at him.
     “Okay, hun. You do your thing and I’ll just watch this chicken I found in the woods.”
     Jonas returned with two fish and his dog at the camp Matty and Nana had built. The dog excitedly pounced onto the small boy and licked him.
     “Tidus, get off, get off!” Jonas laughed but quickly changed to disappointment when he saw no fire. 
     ‘What went wrong with the fire, Matty?’ He shrugged his shoulders and said ‘I do not know how, and Nana forgot. We did find sticks.’ Jonas examined the sticks leaning in a teepee shape and stated, ‘These are wet, find dry ones.’ Matty groaned and ran into the woods to find more. Once he reappeared with more sticks, he noticed Jonas had recycled the damp ones into a flat surface to rest the fish upon. He observed their bloodstained bodies and lifeless eyes that reminded him of the baby chicks. Then, Matty sat beside Jonas and signed, ‘I know why you did not want to kill them.’ Jonas used one hand to cover the fish’s eyes and only nodded, continuing his work with shaky hands.

     “You know, I had a daughter once…”
     “Yeah, Nana, she’s my mom.”
     “Yesterday, somethin’ funny happened. She told me she was pregnant again, so I’m gonna have two grandbabies!” Matty thought about laughing back, but felt only empty as he rocked his chicken friend to sleep. Across the fire, his brother did the same with his dog. Matty raised his arms high so his brother could see and asked, ‘I want to know what happened to mom and dad.’ Jonas stared into the center of the fire, like his eyes were crying without tears ‘I… do not know, but we will see them again.’
     ‘What did you see in the house? Did they leave? Were they killed?’
     ‘They were taken.’ Matty was relieved that they weren’t dead, but so afraid about not knowing what was happening to them.
     ‘Was it because we said something weird at school and the police took mom and dad away?’ Jonas laughed and told him it was unlikely. 
     ‘We are not hiding in the woods because of something we said. It is not our fault, it is much bigger.’
     ‘Than what is it?’ But Jonas didn’t answer, he only looked deeper into the fire. Matty urged him to speak and shouted, “TELL ME!” Jonas still hesitated.
     ‘It will hurt you to know…’ Again, Matty grew angry with the child treatment. He spouted, ‘I am old enough,’ But Jonas shook his head and said, ‘No. Not even I am old enough.’
     ‘Then why do you get to know?’
     ‘To protect you.’ Matty was both confused and embarrassed. He wanted to keep arguing with him, but found no more words to say. Then, Jonas turned from the fire to dig through his backpack. He pulled out a device and threw it to Matty, who observed, pressed buttons, and shook it. Jonas signaled, ‘Speak,’ and Matty did. He whispered, unsure of what he’s doing, “Echo?” Then Jonas signed back, ‘Echo.’ Now, Matty understood what it was.
     “It’s a mica-phone, but I thought your ear thingies were broken- and why are you giving this ta me?” 
     ‘To call for help, so you do not get taken away, too.’ Matty did not know what to say. He was worried for his parents, grieving his chicks, hungry and tired from the journey, afraid of being hurt, and left out on the information. He was angry at his brother the most, but deep down knew why he does what he does. Matty didn’t know what to feel, so again, he hugged the small chick and closed his eyes.

     “Are we there yet,” Both Matty and Nana asked in unison. Matty counted on his fingers the number of days they’ve been walking and realized he didn’t have enough. Then, the dog began to bark.
     “You hear that? Tidus hears it, too…” Nana remarked. Matty tried to focus on the sound, but needed to hold Tidus down to listen.
     “Oh, there it is again,” she said, “It sound just like people! I don’t know why, but I feel like I haven’t seen people in a while… I’m excited,” And Matty was too. He eagerly jumped ahead the path to where his brother was following the compass and signed, ‘We hear something. It sounds like people. Can we see?’ Matty thought Jonas would be excited, too, but instead he whipped out his knife like it was a reflex and asked, ’Where?’ Tidus grew impatient and darted forward, followed by Nana and the rest. Eventually, the dog was so far, they couldn’t see him anymore until he came running back. He hid behind Jonas, who told his family to stay back while he scouted. He crouched down and peeked around the bushes, and then he saw the source of the noise. Matty hadn’t stayed behind, as asked, and once he found his brother he exclaimed, “Is that a horse!?” The horse was startled by the small child and Joans backed up before it sprinted away.
     Matty realized his mistake and apologized, ‘Sorry. I did not mean to, but can we find it?’ Jonas shook his head and pointed to his compass.

     “A horse!? How big? What color?”
     “A big brownie with white spots, but Jonas said we couldn’t look for it.”
    “Well, I have to agree with Jonas. One time at my girlfriend's farm, her hubby went out an’ tried riding the horse but got kicked. He couldn’t breathe.”
     “Oh… that’s really bad, Nana. Is… he good?” She looked upwards in confusion.
     “Y’know, I don’t really remember. I sure hope so.” What Nana said sounded pretty scary to Matty, but he still contemplated if he would listen. He only wanted to pet it once.
     “Hey, Nana,” He called, “I’m gonna take Calsipher and get her some food for her belly, ‘k?”
     “‘K, lil boy. Catch me some fairies while you’re out.” Matty waved as he held his chick and left to hop across some stones to the other side of the river, which he knew to always keep in sight. As he stood on his tiptoes to view over shrubbery, he noticed some man-made things on the ground. He set the chick down to pick up a grocery bag full of silverware. Matty pulled out a fork and recalled the story of a mermaid that used one to brush her hair and did the same.  The chick had found another object, a candle holder shaped like a house. He chuckled and exclaimed, “Calsipher, you found a fairy home! Maybe Nana’ll like it-” 
     *Whistle* 
     Matty knew it was Jonas, calling him back from afar. He groaned and called his own chicken back, “Calsipher? Eeeer, eer, err. C’mon, les go.” Jonas whistled a second time and Matty, tripping over a rock, spouted, “Yeah! I’m here! What is it…” His question was answered when he looked up at his brother. Nana helped the boy to his feet and told him, “Look at what this young man found!”
     “The horse! You found her, Jonas!” He nodded, and outstretched his arm to Matty. With Jonas’ help, Matty pets the great being. Finally up close, he now realized exactly how large this creature was- he could walk right between its legs without bumping its belly. The horse was so powerful, yet showed him gentleness, and Matty embraced it.

     That night, Jonas taught Matty to make a fire before they slept. The horse never left, but stayed far from the flames, lingering nearby. Matty glanced at her from the fire and asked Jonas, ‘Can we name her?’ Jonas shrugged his shoulders as his way of saying I don’t care, then Matty fingerspelled, ‘F-L-I-C-K-A,’ And Jonas gave a thumbs up. Remembering what he’d found, Matty pulled the candle holder from his backpack and announced to his grandmother, “I found a fairy home! I know you wanted fairies, but maybe they’ll come back home someday.”
     “Oh, a fairy house? And fairies? I asked for those? Ah, I was probably gonna put ‘em in my fairy garden at home.”
     “Huh? I didn’ know you had one a those, Nana.” She gave the same expression she always did when trying to recall something.
     “Yeah, I… “ She couldn’t find it. Matty was aware how difficult it was for Nana to think about time and memories, but despite that, she has great wisdom. 
     “Nana…”
     “Yeah, hun?”
     “What do you do… when you’re feeling… hopeless?” Nana looked at him concerningly.
     “What d’you mean, baby.” Matty took a deep breath and uttered, “When you… when you feel like nothing’ll ever be the same. That it’ll jus be bad. That you’ll get hurt ‘n stuff, an’ there’s nothin’ you can do…” Nana took time to empathize and scooched closer to him to say, “When I’m feeling hopeless… I like to smile and think about what I’m grateful for.”
     “Like what?”
     “Well… there’s my daughters and sons, grandbabies, too. There’s pretty flowers and skies- I like going on walks. In the woods, I like that. I'm grateful for good food and God who’s always watchin’ us. And I like… yellow.” Matty laughed at his grandma, who nudged him back and said, “What’d about you?”
     “Uhm,” He thought, “I like… good food, too. And I miss mom an’ dad. But I really miss the chicks…” His eyes began to water. He spoke even quieter to say, “I don’ get why they died. Like, they did nothing… an’ now Calsipher’s all alone and sad, an’ I’m sad, too. They didn’ ‘eserve it.” Nana cuddled him close, soothing his back.
     “I’m sorry bout your chickens, hun. I wish I could’ve met them.” Matty nodded. Nana was forgetting what they were talking about, but still knew she couldn’t leave the conversation with Matty sad, so she smiled and said, “What do you hope for?” Matty thought long and whimpered back, “I hope we get home okay. I hope… I’ll see mom an’ dad again, and Calsipher lays and egg. I wish everything would go back to normal, and that you’d remember stuff, and maybe that Jonas could hear me when become a singer someday.”
     “A singer! I didn’t know you wanted to be a singer!” He chuckled and responded with, “Well… I only jus ‘ecided that now, but it sounds cool.” Nana lifted Matty’s chin and smiled.
     “You’ll make a great singer someday, and I can’t wait to see you. Don’t let anything stop you, only let it push you forward. We’re all gonna be just fine.” Matty didn’t exactly understand how singing should give him hope, but Nana’s kind words made him hopeful anyway.
     Jonas, across the fire, had been watching them and signed, ‘What are you saying?’ Matty gave a thumbs up and signed, ‘We know that everything is going to be okay.’ He looked up at his grandmother and said, “Thank you, Nana.”

     The next morning, Matty woke before the others. He silenced his footsteps as he walked around the camp to avoid waking his sleeping grandma and brother, but the dog and chick were quietly waiting for Matty. He smiled and whispered, “Hey, lil buddies! Should we explore?” He glanced around the camp for some kind of motivation for his morning adventure and spotted Jonas’ compass.
     “Hey Calsie and Tidusie,” He whispered, “I got an idea! What’f we started findin’ the way home an’ then we come back and tell Nana and Jonas about it? I think he’d be real happy about it. Alright, les go!” Matty led the way of his small crew and followed the needle of the compass along the river. He skipped, so ecstatic just for the fact that he was leader and smiled because he’d hoped he would be the one to find home. As he jumped over rocks, his dog got eager and ran ahead. Matty saw it as a race and picked up his chicken to dart after him. He and the dog were so focused on running, that Matty forgot he was supposed to be following a compass. 
     *Whistle*
     Jonas was awake. Instantly after hearing it, Tidus quickly turned backwards and dashed back to camp. As he did, the dog bumped into Matty and he toppled into the river.
     “Tidus, no!” Matty had fallen on top of the chick and pulled her from the water to dry her.
     “‘M sorry, Calsipher. You’ll be okay, ‘K? We gotta get back home now..” And Jonas walked parallel to the river back to his family.

     ‘Where were you?’  Matty was nervous from his brother’s angry tone and vaguely told him, ‘I was only walking next to the river.’ Jonas shook his head and ordered, ‘Where is my compass?’ Realizing he’d been caught, he opened his hand and found it empty, then he searched his pockets. When he looked up, he could tell how pissed Jonas was and stupidly blurted, ‘It was not me!’ But Jonas wasn’t fooled.
     ‘It was not you? You just searched your pocket for it. You *******-” Jonas facepalmed and Matty knew what was coming next. Jonas irately signed something at him so fast that Matty couldn’t read it, so he closed his eyes and felt his brother’s slap instead. Nana was busy packing her bag, but watched everything. The moment she saw Jonas hit him, she jumped to Matty’s rescue.
     “Woah, woah, woah, young man! What you so angry for that you’re gonna hit my grandson!” Matty slyly smiled at how Nana was always on his side, but Jonas slapped him again anyway. Nana screamed at him, “I said don’t you touch Jonas! He’s my grandson and you better leave him alone!” Matty couldn’t help but correct her and say, “No, Nana. I’m Matty and he’s Jonas.” But she didn’t understand.
     “No, he’s trying to hurt Jonas, and he’s my grandson! He can’t do that!” While trying to tell Nana the truth, Matty also had to read what Jonas was signing at him. Nana kept screaming, Jonas wouldn’t stop flashing his hands, the dog was barking, and Matty didn’t know what to feel. He couldn’t keep up with everything at once, so he ran. Jonas tried going after him, but Nana pulled on his shirt to knock him down and held him there. Matty didn’t stop running, and he was far out of sight.

     The sky darkened and they still hadn’t found Matty. Nana wasn’t too worried, she had forgotten that she was on a journey with him and that he ran away. Jonas, however, had never been so terrified. He sprinted ahead with his dog, leaving the chick with his grandma who was walking. Jonas followed the river until his legs gave out. Eventually Nana reached where he lay and asked, “Hello, there. Are you okay, young man?” He didn’t respond, so she helped lift him to his feet. He was crying.
     “Oh, it’ll be alright, baby,” she told him as she pressed out her bottom lip. Jonas hugged her, so frustrated at himself and afraid. Then, he pushed himself away from Nana and began his hunt for his brother again. Because he hadn’t fully rested, one of Jonas’ legs went limp and he fell. This time, he didn’t get up.

     The next morning was cloudy with fog. When Jonas woke, he found himself bundled in Nana’s jacket. She was sitting along the river with the dog and chick, playing in the water. Jonas still felt the urge to keep running, but realized he had been neglecting the company of his grandma. He sat beside her on the sand and used a stick to write, Matty is gone and I need to find him. Nana said something, but Jonas couldn’t understand, so he wrote again, I am going to leave, and I need you to take care of the dog and chicken. I will be following the river, remember that. Jonas didn’t delay anymore and left. Nana noticed he underlined remember that, so she pulled out a pen from her pocket and wrote it on her arm. Now, she was ready, too.
     *Whistle*
     Jonas tried getting Matty’s attention, but had no idea if there was a reply. Everything seemed hopeless, Jonas hadn’t been there to protect his parents and now his brother was gone. Then, Jonas heard something. Startled by the sound, he glanced around. He heard it again, but it was close, it was in his ear. Matty’s microphone. Jonas closed his eyes to focus on the message. “Jonas… I need you. I’m in a house right now, but there’s a bad guy outside, ‘cause they had flashing lights. I shouldn’t have gone there, Jonas, I’m sorry.”
     Jonas Could barely make out words, but he definitely heard flashing lights. Where he was now, no lights were in sight, but he knew east of the National Forest was the highway. Without a compass, he needed to use the sky for direction. It was morning, so he would follow the sun. Before leaving, he wrote another message in the sand for Nana and left a blaze orange ribbon to catch her attention.

     Matty was hiding in a closet with the microphone, but it lost all battery. He peaked between the crack for the man with the gun. He felt so stupid for getting close to the cabin lodges, and so stupid for getting caught. Matty felt helpless in the closet, and hopeless about escaping. All he could do now was wait. 
     Shortly after his signal to Jonas, Matty heard a man’s footsteps. He whispered to his partner, “I think he went in here. Check behind the couches and stuff.” The two uniformed men searched every hiding place they could think of, and Matty knew there was no way they wouldn’t check a closet. His only effort was to shut the doors completely and hold his breath. Then they found him.
     “Hehe, what’d ya think you’re doing, little boy,” he taunted as he pulled Matty by his hair from the closet. He tried to fight back by punching and kicking, but that only pissed them off. Now Matty was held by his throat against a wall, struggling to breath. Matty thought this was it, that no one would save him, but he was wrong. A knife flew from the outside entrance and hit one of the uniformed men in the skull. He crashed to the floor, lifeless.
     “What the **** was that” the other hollered, squeezing Matty’s neck even more. The man reached for his handgun, but was interrupted by a flying lamp that hit him from behind. He released his grip on Matty and turned around to see a boy taking the pistol from his partner’s corpse. It was Jonas. As a reaction to the man drawing his own gun, the boy shot it from his grip, wounding his fingers. The man couldn’t restrain his anger. He ripped the decorative axe from the wall with his good hand and lunged at Jonas who tried to dodge but failed. The axe caught hold of his shin, severing the bone in half, and the man used the axe to drag the boy closer to him. He was ready to land the final blow with the pistol he dropped, but instead fell to the floor in pain after being kicked between the legs. Jonas crawled away with the axe halfway through his leg and tried to stand, but this wasn’t finished. Once he regained his strength, the man hobbled to the struggling boy and forcefully bashed his head into the floor as he tried to get up. He turned Jonas’ body  overand began to rapidly punch him in his face.
     Matty watched the fight silently, unsure of what to do. His brother was immobilized from the axe and now suffering constant blows. Matty needed to stop this, he needed a weapon. There were two guns on the floor that he didn’t know how to use, but Jonas’ knife was stuck in the forehead of the corpse. He felt disgusted as he pulled it out, trying not to get blood on himself. Then Matty looked back at the awful man hurting his brother and knew how he felt: Ire. Ire that these men stole his parents, ire that his world was forever changed, and ire for the man who touched his brother. He didn’t quite know how to use it correctly, only that knives stab, and he did just that into the right shoulder of the uniformed man, and matty pushed it deeper with everything he had. The man ceased his assault on Jonas and reacted to the smaller boy behind, elbowing him in the stomach, but that was enough for Jonas, and he didn’t hesitate this time. In the split moment that man was distracted, Jonas yanked the axe from his shin and chopped him in the neck. It was swift and bloody, the man was over instantly and collapsed on Jonas. Both he and Matty took a few moments to breathe and let their minds process everything.

     After Matty finished replaying everything in his mind- the lifeless bodies and still eyes, just like the chicks- he snapped his attention back to his brother buried under the body, seemingly just as lifeless. It was difficult, but Matty shoved the corpse off of Jonas and wiped the blood out of his eyes. He opened them slightly and tried to sit up. Both his face and his leg were ruined. Matty began to weep again cried, ‘Are you going to die?’ Jonas shrugged and said, ‘I do not think so, but I may not be able to walk right. We need to leave before someone finds us. They heard the gun, I think.’
     ‘But you said you can not walk. How will we leave?’ Jonas lifted his leg from the ground and immediately regretted it. The bone was broken through, cleanly, but felt agonizing as it hung limply. He thought about telling Matty to leave him behind and run, but Matty found him good news.
     ‘Look there, through the window. It’s Flicka! You can ride her.’ Jonas shook his head and said, ‘Horses are not meant to be ridden.  And I do not know the horse well enough to try.’
     ‘But he needs to,’ Matty urged him, ‘It might be the only way.’ At this point, Matty didn’t care what his brother told him. He pulled on Jonas’ arm, pressuring him to stand on one leg. To help, he snatched him a fire poker to lean on and opened the back doors. Matty left first and signaled to Jonas that no one was there, then they met with the horse. Jonas saw Matty speaking to the horse and laying her down, and offering his hand to help him onto her. Jonas didn’t like feeling weak, but he couldn’t walk and his head was spinning, so he was forced to depend on his little brother.

     Back by the river, Nana sat by Jonas’ message on the river side waiting for someone to meet him. She’d been in the woods holding a chicken with a dog but didn’t remember why. Then she heard a a whistle behind her, sourced from familiar faces.
     “Baby boy, is that you?! I feel like I haven’t seen you since… I love you!”
     “Hi, Nana! We’re back… and Jonas is hurt, like… real bad, an’ ‘m sorry for runnin’ off.” She was glad to have them both back, but needed to focus on the wounded child. As the horse kneeled, Nana and Matty both aided Jonas to lay down. Nana was terrified and ordered, “What happened to you?! Who did this?!” Jonas wasn’t conscious to answer, so Matty explained what happened and pleaded that Nana could fix his leg and face. There wasn’t much she could do but splint the bone and wash the blood from his nose. Matty eagerly watched and asked Nana, “He’ll be okay, won’ he?” Nana sank her head and whispered, “I don’t even know if he’ll ever walk again, babe… this is… terrible.”
     “Can’t walk,” Matty whimpered with despair, “Y’mean he’ll need a stick or- or a wheelchair for the rest of his life? An’ it’s all ‘cause of me…” Nana tried to comfort him.
     “He’ll do fine, he’s a strong young man. Now, let’s take him home.”
     “But Nana, we don’ have the compass to get to your house an’more…”
     “Don’t you worry about a compass, I think I found one by the river a little bit ago. Now, where is it?” She slid it from her jacket’s breast pocket and handed it to the small boy and requested, “Won’t you lead us?”

     Jonas woke and opened his eyes to see a cloudy sky, still blinding, and the leaves from trees. It smelled like rain, and he could taste blood in his mouth. He felt pain from his nose that made it difficult to breathe, and his leg felt much worse. Although there was nothing to hear, he could sense the vibrations of walking and realized he was tied onto the horse with no way of moving, so he whistled. The horse stopped instantly and kneeled. He saw Nana, Tidus, Calsipher, and Matty. They untwove the ropes tying him to the creature and helped propped him to a sitting position. First, Nana hugged him, then said something to Matty before the boy walked forward.
     ‘I am sorry. You are hurt because of me, and I did not care for the things you did for me, the food, keeping me away from bad men. I am sorry.’
     ‘I am sorry that I hit you, and told you nothing,’ Jonas signed, then he lifted his pinky, index finger, and thumb to sign I love you. Nana pulled Matty into her arms and leaned to hug Jonas, too. She repeatedly kissed them until Matty begged her to stop. Then, Matty showed him the compass, extending his arms so Jonas could take it, but he pushed his hand away.
     ‘Where are we going,’ Jonas asked.
     ‘Nana’s house.’
     ‘Which way?’
     ‘It is North?’
     ‘Then, take us there.’ Matty’s eyes beamed with glee. He swiftly hopped to stand before the horse and told her to stand. He picked up his own chicken and pointed a stick North for Nana and the dog to see, and they began the end of their journey.

     The National forest had finally come to an end, and now there was flat farm land. This was the part where they needed Nana’s memory.
     “Do you reg-onna-nize- I mean- know any of the big signs, Nana?”
     “Hmm,” She squinted her eyes, “I’ve definitely seen that one before… Oh! I think it’s right by my house! Wait, what game were we playing, again?” Matty chuckled, “Just… findin’ home n’ stuff, so we can save mom an’ dad later. So les go that way!” He threw a stick as far as he could in the direction of the sign so the dog would chase it, and he raced him. Nana stuck by the horse, not afraid of being patient and brushed her fingers through Jonas’ hair. The anticipation was unbearable for Matty as they at last reached the winding road Nana lives on, so he ran the rest of the way. Nana and Jonas were only halfway to her driveway when Matty returned, waving his hands and urging them to come faster.

   Finally at the driveway, Nana and Jonas gazed at the opened garage of the pole barn. Inside was their family, waiting for them. Matty and Jonas both knew it wasn’t everyone, but they did know what to do next. To protect their family.