A/N: Hahahahahaha... this is me and Katie's English project. We had to rewrite chapter 6. We changed part of the end of chapter five to make it work. Parts in italics are quoted directly from the book. One shot. Don't like, don't read.

Chapter Five

Curley's face reddened. "I'm goin'," he said. "I'm gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I'm gonna get 'im."

Slim turned to Candy. "You stay here with her then, Candy. The rest of us better get goin'."

"It'll be okay. Nothin' more bad gonna happen," George said to Candy as they stood by the dead body.

"I think I gonna go wit' ya. I mean I can't jus' stay hea wit' the body; someone migh' get ta thinking' that I had something' ta do wit' it. Or I'll jus' go crazy lookin' at the poor thing."

Curley called after the two men. "You two get ova hea! That bastard's gonna get away if ya don't hurry up."

The men walked out of the barn together in the dark. They walked in silence most of the way, except for Curley who cursed a few times.

Chapter Six

The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the sloped of the Gabilan mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun. But by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen.

Suddenly Lennie appeared out of the brush, and he came as silently as a creeping bear moves. The heron pounded that air with its wings, jacked itself clear of the water and flew off down river. The little snake slid in among the reeds at the pool's side.

A few moments later George pushed his way through the brush. "What was ya thinkin'? I'll tell ya what yous was thinkin': nothin'. You neva think, Lennie. Do ya not like holdin' a job?"

"No George. I wants a job. I wants the rabbits," Lennie said. His left hand moved in his pocket.

"Lennie!" George exclaimed.

"Whats George?"

"What do ya got in ya pocket?" George said as he pointed to Lennie's pocket.

Lennie took out a little mouse. "I jus' want ta pet it."

George's eyes opened wide, he face got red, then he exploded. "Ya jus' wanted ta pet it! Ya always wanna pet somethin'. Look at where that got us! We are runnin' again!"

"I sorry George. I didn't mean ta hurt her. She said I could pet her hair if I wanna. It looked so soft."

George looked at Lennie. His anger melted away when he looked at Lennie's face and how bad he felt. George knew that Lennie didn't mean to hurt her, she probably asked for it anyway. Lennie was like a little kid who didn't know his rights from wrongs quite yet.

"George?" Lennie asked as he petted the mouse and looked up at him.

"What Lennie?" George answered in a voice more frustrated than angry.

"We aint neva gonna have the rabbits, are we??" Lennie asked with his eyes glued to George's.

"Lennie, course we…" George started. He stopped when he heard the crunches of the leaves in the brush. Curley appeared behind Lennie.

"Why aint ya killed the bastard yet!" Curley demanded, looking at George.

"What ya doing here? Ya were s'pose ta wait back there wit' the others?" George asked as he stood up.

"The others are back there. I jus' got impatient."

"I told ya I'd come back when I was ready."

"Well I'm ready now. I'll do the damn thing myself!" Curley yelled. He pulled out his Lugar and pointed it at Lennie's head.

"No ya don't," George said angrily as he pulled out Carlson's gun. A shot resounded through the woods, and Curley lay in a lifeless heap.

George turned around to look at Lennie, who was in shock and covering his face. "It's okay Lennie. I wont let anythin' happen' ta ya."

George bent down to look at the body. Lennie sat still and pet the mouse.

George looked up from Curley's breathless body to see the faces of Slim, Candy, and Carlson looking at him. Slim had a stern look on his face that he always had that made everyone around him feel cautious, but he did nothing. Carlson's expression was unreadable. Candy stood in the back of the two men with his eyes glued to the body, in shock that he was dead. "I hadda do it. He woulda killed ol' Lennie if I hadn't."

"He's dead," Slim said.

"Well now what we gonna do?" Carlson asked with fury in his voice. He kicked the body. He knelt down in the mud by the body on his boss's son and picked up the gun. As he stood up he stretched his arm out to Lennie, with the gun gripped tightly in his hand.

Lennie stayed seated in the mud by George's feet. He held the mouse a little tighter and killed the poor thing.

"Look at that he can't even keep a mouse alive!"

"I didn' mean ta hurt 'im," Lennie said as he held the little creature close to his heart.

'I know…I know Lennie," George said looking at Lennie then turning to talk to Carlson who now had the gun pointed in his face.

"Now stop all that foolin' round. No one needs ta be hurt," Slim said as he stepped between George and the gun and took the gun out of Carlson's hand. "How do you s'pose we take care the body?"

Candy, who for the first time since he arrived took his eyes off of the body, looked up at the others.

"We could jus' hide the body in the brush, and jus' not talk 'bout it."

"We could go live in the mountains wit' the rabbits then, George," Lennie said as he watched a mouse scurry through the mud.

The men stood around the body looking at their surroundings. Carlson was cooling down as he looked out for other people who migh' be wandering around. Candy was once again looking at the body. Slim and George were watching Lennie who was watching the mouse.

"Go ahead, Lennie," George said, "Pet the mouse. There isn't no more damage you could do round hea."

Lennie let out a small foolish smile as he picked up the mouse, "Thanks you George."

"What are you doing?" cried George.

Candy looked up from the muddy body, "We'll we can't jus' leave the body lyin' round for people to see. We migh' jus' as well bring him around wit' us and show 'im off."

The men looked at each other and gave one another a little nod in agreement. They picked up the body and went through the brush; leaving Lennie alone with the mouse to watch for other people. In a few more moments the men were back rubbing their hands on their pants to get the dirt off.

"Nota' one of ya all tell anyone what happened, ya hea?" Slim said looking at Carlson.

"I hea ya," Carlson said.

"Good. Now what is going on wit' you two?" Slim asked George and Lennie. "You can't jus' as well come back to work. Ya'll be in trouble wit' the boss."

"You two gonna run?" Carlson asked uncaringly.

"I s'pose so. We'll go up in the mountains for now and maybe move somewhere else to work on gettin' those rabbits," George said as Lennie's face lit up.

"You means we still gonna get the rabbits?" Lennie said with his eyes opened wide.

"Yea we still gonna get the rabbits. You haven't done nothin' wrong."

"Do I still getta tend ta 'em?"

"Yea, ya still getta tend ta 'em," George said. Then he turned to the three others who were now walking away, "Candy?"

The men all stopped in their tracks and turned around.

"Yea?"

"We ain't there yet wit' all the land and the rabbits but we'll get there. Ya welcome ta come wit' us. That is, if ya still wanna."

"I'll come wit' ya. I'm gonna get sacked anyways. Migh' as well go wit' ya now," Candy said as he trailed behind George and Lennie and disappeared into the woods.

"So Curley's dead," Slim said, slightly amazed.

"I neva did like the God damned son of a bitch anyway," Carlson said as he and Slim walked into the brush and disappeared.

A/N: Hahahahaha, that last line was our favorite. I know happily ever afters suck, but we wanted to kill Curley.