cartels – Sillyfrog's Blog

This is an installment to a series of SIXES that I had abandoned for awhile. Below are links to the previous chapters, in order, if you wish to catch up. If not, I’ve tried to offer minor re-cap clues to make this one somewhat stand alone. Thanks!

https://sillyfrogsusan.com/2021/03/24/six-sentence-story-perilous-promises/
https://sillyfrogsusan.com/2021/04/07/six-sentence-story-perilous-promises-2/
https://sillyfrogsusan.com/2021/04/14/six-sentence-story-perilous-promises-3/
https://sillyfrogsusan.com/2021/04/28/six-sentence-story-perilous-promises-4/

PROMPT WORD: GRIP

Mig set Abria down as the three travelers entered the quaint little village that was yet to fully awaken to a sweltering summer sun.

The boys’ legs were agonizingly stiff from the, less than level, trail they’d traversed but their bellies cried louder than any aching muscle could.

Miguel Cabello was nearly eighteen and had lived on his own since he was nine, so what hadn’t been able to kill him had surely made him stronger, and his purple wristband was just enough to fend off cartel assaults, therefore he was chosen to find dumpsters, or -better yet- carelessly unsecured stashes of food.

Recently turned thirteen year old, Ernesto, sat in the shadows, with one arm around his frail little sister, and prayed for Mig’s safety and success while slipping easily into a long overdue sleep.

Suddenly, he was jerked upright by someone with a powerful grip and found himself face to face with the still “very much alive” Butch, whom he thought he had murdered-weeks before-when Ernesto had fended him off of Abria with an axe!

Abria squealed in terror as Ernesto dangled- as helplessly as Butch’s mangled left arm rendered useless since Ernesto’s axe attack- inhaling the stench of rotten teeth, whiskey, and pure evil, when a gunshot rang out and Butch, dropped like a rock, falling dead at the paralyzed boy’s feet.

https://girlieontheedge1.wordpress.com/2021/08/08/sundays-six-sentence-story-word-prompt-172/
https://girlieontheedge1.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/its-six-sentence-story-thursday-link-up-172/

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Link your post Wednesday night through Saturday late…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers

PROMPT WORD: PAWN

Ernesto tucked his sister under an outcropping of roots still courageously clinging to the winding, severely eroded, creek bank, then washed her face and gave her the last of their bread and cheese, hoping it wouldn’t rain and they’d remain safely hidden, but if it did rain, the danger of drowning in a flashflood was absolutely real so he prayed that Nature would cooperate.

The creek was running swiftly from the April mountain melt so Mig was practically on top of them before Ernesto noticed him approaching their encampment but his easy gait signaled a non-threatening approach and when his face came into view, Mig was a sight for sore eyes; there stood the tall fellow he’d distracted the police from arresting a few days before.

Connecting with people along this perilous journey was not a frequent pleasure, and certainly wasn’t done the usual way, it was all about the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ and telling the difference from body language, and direct eye contact, became a sharpened instinct he’d never known existed but one that had served him well, so far.

Abria had just fallen asleep so Ernesto met the boy, five years his senior, halfway with an outstretched hand before Mig introduced himself formally and started warning Ernesto about the men who appeared to want him dead and of their intentions to search this area in the morning.

Within the hour, they had come up with a plan to follow the creek further down to an outlying town off the route most heavily traveled by the caravans, Abria was stirred, and the larger, stronger, Mig carried her, while Ernesto followed with their backpacks also deeply relieved of an unseen weight by this timely new friend and advisor.

During their discussion, Mig had noticed the children’s white wristbands with sunflower patterns and had told Ernesto that that meant his father had not paid for their passage, at all, but had sold them to a cartel which would expect them to pay up at the border or work off their debt in many unpleasant ways- Ernesto now realized he had just been a disposable pawn all along and as the first tears streamed down his face since this nightmare began, he asked his Mama, in heaven, to continue watching out for them as he silently sobbed.

For other authors’ work on this prompt, click the prompt immediately below.
InLinkz – Linkups & Link Parties for Bloggers

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt! – GirlieOnTheEdge’s Blog (wordpress.com)
It’s Six Sentence Story Thursday Link Up! – GirlieOnTheEdge’s Blog (wordpress.com)