They were close to him, Luis could tell. He could hear the sounds of their dogs nearby, and could see the light from their gas lamps. He was hiding in between two boxes in a warehouse by the harbor, his small form getting crushed by the crates. His dark hair and brown eyes didn’t reflect light very well, and neither did his brown t-shirt and his muddy leather pants. He was sure that they wouldn’t find them. He wasn’t used to running from the police, usually they just passed him by. Just a farm boy, he didn’t arouse much suspicion. Though he had a small frame, he was quite muscular from working on the farm all day, and was having a hard time staying in between the boxes. He was damp with sweat from running from the police, and he hoped that their dogs didn’t smell him. A sharp noise sounded from a long ways away. He figured that was a gunshot. He hadn’t heard one before, as his father discouraged the use of guns, but he had heard them described as a “very loud crack sound; kind of like a whip but louder”. He didn’t remember how he got here, but he knew that he was in trouble. Something had gone horribly wrong, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

The barking grew louder, and all of a sudden a figure appeared in front of him, pitch black despite holding a lantern. It shouted in a deep voice, almost demonic, “I found him, he’s over here”!
In a panic, Luis burst out of hiding and started sprinting down a row of boxes as fast as he could. “Get him!” the figure yelled, and when Luis looked over his shoulder, he saw the police dogs running at him.
The man, along with his companions were chasing after him as well, shooting at him. He let out a small yelp, and tried to increase his speed. He could hear the dogs barking, growling, and panting. bullets were flying around him. The dogs got closer and closer, until they were only a few feet behind him. He looked behind him once more, and then he tripped. Time seemed to slow down as he fell to the earth, watching the hounds lunge towards him. He felt the teeth tear into him.

Luis woke up on the floor, tangled in his blankets, screaming into the night.

“I heard that there was another riot in the market today.”

“Yeah, it was quite the sight.”

“You were there”!?

“Yeah”, said Luis. He reached down to gather more rice.

“That must have been exciting to watch!” Exclaimed Paco, loyal farmhand and luis’ friend since birth.

“It would have been if we hadn’t been right in the middle of it”, laughed Luis.

He remembered the panic he felt when the market erupted into chaos. He and his family had fought to keep people away from their wagon, while they tried to escape the crowd. They had to avoid the police officers swinging left and right with whatever they had on hand to “calm people down”.



“Will you be well enough to come to the meeting tonight?” Paco said bringing Luis back to the real world, picking rice on his family’s farm. A small farm off the side of a road, it provided a lot of rice for the town.

“The meeting is tonight?”

“Yeah, didn’t you remember the date the leaders gave us last time?”

“No.”

“Well now you know. Again I ask though, are you well enough to come?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Luis looked up at his friend.

“Well, you were just in the middle of a riot. I thought you might be... traumatized or something.”

“Me? Traumatized? Hah!” Luis said. “I’ve been in things more dangerous than that.”

“Oh, like what?” Paco inquired, giving Luis an interested look.

Luis stepped close to Paco, “Remember that gun shipment that was meant for the police, so they could join in the war?”

“Yeah... what about it?” Paco asked with a worried look in his eyes.

“Guess who was the one that put it in the harbor?”

“You’re joking!” Paco all but yelled.

“Hey keep it down when we’re talking about these kinds of things.” Luis whispered. He looked around, happy to see that the farm was deserted right now. “No, I’m not joking. I am completely with our cause, trying to overthrow Diaz. I hate how he rules, and I want to help in the rebellion any way I can. In this case, it was destroying vital supplies for the enemy.”

“Do you know how dangerous that could have been!?”

Luis could tell that Paco was really worried.

“Ok, just drop it Paco. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’ll see you tonight at the meeting. Where is it taking place?”

“The warehouses by the harbor.”

Luis looked around at the other people. At least thirty others, mostly men but a few women mixed in. He had walked to the warehouses with Paco. Suddenly Paco grabbed his shoulder.

“Hey Luis.” He said.

“What?”

“Do you hear dogs?”