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mess you made!”
    Carter flinched. He always flinched when his father got that close, but if the man noticed, he didn’t show it. Carter wanted to cry out for his mother, but caught himself before he made the fatal mistake. It would only make the beating that much worse.
    “My truck.” Carter picked up the broken pieces of his plastic truck and began to cry.
    “I’ll give you something to cry about!” His father yelled without the slightest hesitation or restraint.
    Carter cowered in fear, holding his hands up in front of him, but his father just slapped them away. Tears ran down his face and he screamed, knowing what was to come, but despite his screams, no one would come to his aid. No one ever did.
    His father snatched him off the floor by his upper arm and held him in place. Without so much as a word, his father pulled off his belt and began to beat him with it on the back, ass, and legs. Carter screamed in pain with each whip of the belt. He squirmed and he flailed as the leather slapped his back, leaving welts. The pain was unbearable, but the betrayal at the hands of the one person who was supposed to be protecting him was torture.
    Carter awoke in a cold sweat, back in the safety of his cabin. Leaning forward and stretching his aching back, Carter ran his hands over his face before flopping back down in bed. The nightmare had shaken him to the core. He would find no more sleep this night, instead he lay in the dark counting the minutes until the sun finally came up.
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    The following week
     
    “ Another Death By Mysterious Street Drug ” The article on the cover of the Seattle Daily Newspaper said in big bold letters. Carter had to consciously steady his hand to keep it from shaking in rage. He folded up the paper and threw it on the table, unable to read the article any further. The longer he spent at the compound, the longer he was away from the city’s ever growing drug problem.
    He pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, popped the lid, and like a true pro, he swallowed a couple without taking so much as a sip of water. Carter closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for the pills to take effect. A moment later he sighed and opened his eyes. Judging by the thermometer on the wall the fall morning air was a tad bit on the nippy side to be sitting out on the patio, but Walt didn’t seem to mind, and Carter surely couldn’t tell the difference despite the clouds of hot breath that wisped from his mouth every time he exhaled.
    Carter and Walt sat on the porch watching; Barber was up and walking around the compound grounds finally, albeit with a limp. Carter had spent the last week working out with Evan and Walt while Barber recuperated, but he had mostly spent his time alone in his cabin deep in thought. He had done a poor job as Barber’s sponsor, a mistake he meant to rectify. Sure he had provided a roof over the kids head, but he hadn’t realized how deep seeded the kid’s problems were until he was about to die, and all he could think of were his parents or lack thereof. That was another problem that Carter was going to have to remedy.
    But first he needed to have a talk with Walt. If Barber was using Pow, Walt would be the only one to get the truth out of him.
    “Looks like he’s going to be okay,” Carter said.
    “Looks like it.” Walt nodded in agreement.
    “We should talk,” Carter said. “It’s about Barber.”
    Walt turned to face Carter, showing he had his full attention.
    “I think he may be using a new drug that has hit the streets recently, it’s called Pow.”
    “That would account for his irrational behavior.” Walt agreed “What else would make him pop his spikes in the middle of a crowded street and try to stab a man?”
    “Maybe you can talk to him today. Find out how he’s getting his hands on it,” Carter said.
    “Not today. There will be plenty of time for me to talk it out with him after he’s fully rehabilitated,” Walt