18351003 02:16:18 Continued.

18351003 02:16:18 Continued.

"We collect here to ensure that you leave at once. You must leave now."
"No." Daron's hands curled into tight fists and he felt his feet press into the wooden floorboards of the porch. "Now what you gonna do?"
One of the men on horseback pulled up a rifle which was holstered in the saddle and trained it on Daron without saying anything else. The only sound which held in the air was the crackling of the lit torches. Daron felt his will quickly shrinking and decided to not try to argue against someone who had an armed gun pointed at him. He immediately turned to run back into the house and heard the men in the group laugh as he scrambled to the bedroom. Upon seeing Jesse in the bed, he yelled "Run away now! Away from me, go go go!", and frantically pulled out the dresser drawer to grasp at the property deed inside. He clenched it in a fist and slammed the shutters of the window open so that he could jump through. He hit the ground and buckled upon impact, but swiftly rose and started running to the field of wheat stalks. He heard Jesse hit the ground after him and ran away at an angle to separate himself. "Away! Away!" Daron yelled as he met the wheat field and began tearing through the vegetation. All he could see was an endless stream of stalks which were swept away from his arms as he braced them by his face so that he could discern where he was going. He was heaving in breath and the pace of running slowed as he became more entrenched in the wheat. Daron eventually met the end of the wheat stalks and dashed to the forest before him, and continued to run through the dried leaves and trees within it. He didn't stop until he found a depression to hide behind and was assured that nobody was following him. He looked around and saw nothing but trees in the moonlight. His heart raced and felt like it was going to explode through his chest.
Daron figured that this would be a good place to hide and knelt to the ground so that he could collect a pile of leaves which he could use to conceal himself. He accumulated the pile on the side of the incline and buried himself with the foliage when he felt he had enough collected. The moist dirt which clung to the leaves made Daron shiver as he panted underneath them. All he could hear was his breath. He remained in this position for nearly an hour in which each minute seemed to last a day. Daron was in a state of panic and had no way of knowing if he was seen running into the woods and if he was going to be persued by the group. He forced himself to remain as motionless as possible under the leaves. Then he smelled smoke. The smell was very faint at first and didn't become substantially stronger over time. Finally, after hearing nothing around him and smelling more smoke in the air, he rose from beneath the leaves and peered over the crest of the slope which he was behind. An orange glow was visibly reflecting off of the trees and the wheat field in front of him. He finally took a few steps up the incline to get a better view, and he saw what he had feared. The house and barn were completely engulfed in flame.