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Quietly shutting the door upon her departure from the room, Courtney’s eyes drift toward the pleasant-looking man that casually approaches her, his hands tucked into the pockets of his corduroy pants. “One big, happy family again” the woman remarks as Sebastian rolls to a stop, his eyes glancing to the door as the woman continues to speak, “dad apologised to Sonya and it seems like, for now at least, it’s water under the bridge.”
“Well, if I were to list the things you were good at, being an effective mediator would be among them” Sebastian replies, watching the woman lean against the hallway’s drywall, “you always knew how to stop our fights by telling me to go for a drive and bring you back a bagel.” “Ain’t nothing wrong with breakfast for dinner” Courtney replies with her finger pointed to the man’s face, turning away to begin joining him in retreating for whatever end of the lavishly-adorned building calls for their presence next. “I’d be incorrect if I suggested such a thing, which is why I didn’t” Sebastian retorts, stepping to the woman’s side as the spacious corridor affords him the opportunity to, “if anything, having breakfast for dinner should be normalised in our society.” “Yeah, I’m sure that’s a campaign slogan the zombies can get behind” Courtney jokes, matching the nonchalant pace of the man’s stroll as their friendly union displays, lightening the air that had gone tense, cold and cruel for too long to recall. “I may be barking up the wrong tree with that one, but I’m sure it’d enjoy broad support amongst the undecideds” Sebastian quips back, their shared chuckle putting the short thread of witty comments to the side. “Lou’s friends- or, I guess our friends- apparently got themselves a car before they found us. Josie appears to have gotten it running just so you know” Sebastian remarks, continuing to slowly proceed down the mostly-dark hallway, the only light that touches it coming from the windows within each room they pass. “Does that mean we’re gonna be on the move again soon?” Courtney wonders back, turning to look at the man as he shakes his head with a shrug. “Not sure. They seem to think this place can hold up a few days, so we might not need to pack the bags just yet” Sebastian replies, his eyes wandering to the end of the hallway he’d just departed from and now has his back turned to, “everyone seems to think the decision’s best left in Lou’s hands.” Widened for just a second, Courtney’s face sits in surprise before settling into a mostly-accepting visage. “Man, that guy’s gonna become the emperor of whatever world gets built out of this one, won’t he?” Courtney jokes, her statement not entirely backed by mere humour. “Eh, probably. The consensus seems to be that this world was sort of made for him, so I guess it’d be fitting” Sebastian confesses, arching his lip to give his physiognomy a comedic tinge, “honestly, it’s probably just a good thing we’ve gotten on his good side.” “Yeah, I can’t say I disagree” Courtney replies, smiling as the man lowers his chin to chuckle, the air again growing quiet as yet another short conversation falls to the past. By each other’s side, the long-connected pair of survivors continue to walk the halls, rounding the only corner that separates them from the stairs as the time their slow-moving pace extends as long as it can continues to dwindle away. “What do you think of the others?” Sebastian wonders, hands still tucked away in the slots at each side of his hips, the woman accompanying him quick to bob her head from one side to the other. “Aside from Theo, Lou’s got a pretty decent track record with who he trusts” Courtney replies, shrugging her shoulders as their stroll continues to lead them onward, “they seem fine- even if they’re a little more free-spirited than kids were when we were younger. I like ‘em so far.” “Yeah that’s pretty much the same way I feel” Sebastian responds, quick to rationalise his assessment, “it’s not that ‘free-spirited’ is a bad thing, it just makes it more difficult to gage someone is all.” Nodding as she verbally joins the man’s declaration, Courtney keeps the conversation moving with a few variations of ‘yeah, definitely’ before yet another short talking point discovers its end and trails off into the past. In silence, the pair exit the mostly void-like passageway and step upon the top-most step of the staircase they prepare to descend upon, its gradually-dropping ledge bathed in as much light as the depressingly-cloudy, western Canadian grey skies can provide. “We never really talked about it” Courtney blurts out, holding herself back from lowering herself upon the carpeted first tread that Sebastian does. “What was that?” the man innocently asks back, turning to face his ex-girlfriend with his hand pressed against the downward-sloped railing. “The breakup. We never really talked about it and I don’t know why” Courtney replies, her discovery not one with much gravity behind it to change the undisturbed look on her deeply cared-for ex-lover’s face. “Well, uh- I guess- I guess we haven’t” Sebastian replies, stuttering over his words as he tries to find the reply desired of him. “I mean, I know we never really had to. The mutual breakups just kinda leave stuff on better terms than they usually end up on, but they also just kinda sit there” Courtney explains, visibly confused in what it is that she’s trying to say. “I still feel like there should have been more than just ‘we’re better off as friends’ when it happened” she continues, given the floor as the man searches for a response he never expected would be necessary to make, “don’t you think?” Flying out as a gust of air leaves his lungs, Sebastian’s lips press together as he shakes his head, staring off into the distance as he organises his words into a reply that would make coherent sense. “Well, we work really well together, but-” the man explains, pausing as his mind struggles to hold together the answer he’d aligned to offer her, grasping the words with the might of an omnipotent god just to clear them from his tongue, “-but we just wanted different things.” “No, I know that. Of course, it’s just weird that we never really talked about it- ever” Courtney replies, aware of the awkward aura it brings over their persistent start-stop conversations, though seemingly more affected by it than her second half is. “Do you want to talk about it?” Sebastian quickly asks, watching the woman’s clumsy struggle to dance around the topic despite bringing it up at a loss for what’s to be gained, “if you want to talk about it, we can.” “It’s not that I want to, it’s- I don’t really know what I want to do” Courtney admits, still leaving the man little information to work with, “we’ve been around each other every day since this all began, and I just feel like it’s this awkward box that we just sat in the corner and pretended wasn’t there.” “Well, let’s unpack it” Sebastian replies, turning his back to the stairs as he climbs one step higher, sharing the same level as the clutter-minded woman he wishes to get on the same page with. “You wanted a family, I didn’t. You wanted marriage, I didn’t. You liked to explore and meet new people, I liked to hide out in a cabin in the mountains and read books” the man explains, smiling as he shakes his head with kind eyes, “we got along but wanted different things. I thought that was okay?” “It is” Courtney replies, crinkling her nose as she looks off to an unimportant side of the foyer she stands in, one hand pressed against the railing she’d yet to descend the staircase with, a second thought falling upon her mind as the rest of her face scrunches, “-or maybe it’s not?” Taken aback by the woman’s sudden turn, Sebastian looks into her eyes as she begins to veer her face back toward his, a hopeful gleam in their whites as she looks up at him. *pop, pop pop pop. pop pop* On the level they’d yet to climb down to, the sound of rapid gunfire and shattered glass kill the important conversation just beginning to wrap themselves around the once-couple’s conscience. Instinctively reaching out for the woman’s arm, Sebastian pulls Courtney behind the wall they’d just ventured down the corridor of minutes prior, putting himself between her and any direction the aimless-yet-intentional bullets could be firing from. Unable to make out what’s being said within the temporary moments of ceasefire, the couple listens into the muffled words shouted aloud by those responsible for the apparent attack. Unable to make out what’s being said, Sebastian keeps himself pressing against Courtney as a sizeable set of footprints march after them in the direction they’d recently walked out from. “What’s going on?” Lou calls out as Marta follows closely behind, Rudy and Sonya trailing by a few metres as the six survivors reunite. “I think we’re being attacked” Sebastian quickly replies, easing the squeeze he’d pressed Courtney against the wall with as reinforcements close in, “we heard gunshots, some windows breaking and now people shouting- they sound like they’re on the other side of the building.” “That’s where the others are!” Marta quickly replies, watching Lou hurry to the top of the stairs and glance over the bannister that overlooks the front lobby, unable to see any signs of intrusion spoken of. “Well what the hell do we do!?” Rudy asks aloud, looking to any of the other more well-equipped members that joins him for guidance that he and his youngest daughter appear mostly unexposed to. “We should make use of that truck you said Josie started- get out before we all become pincushions, right?” Courtney responds, looking around the room for answers as their friend with the rebar staff rejoins their ranks, “we’ll go get the others and make a run for it.” Shaking his head in refusal, Lou speaks to a crowd of silence, the five that join him letting the man roll out his plan of attack. “They’re already on the move, you’ll have to meet up with them” Lou replies, aiming his staff toward the side he believes the shots to be coming from, “they’re not firing back- that means they’re already making a run for it.” “No we’re not!” Terry calls out, sprinting through the doors of the rear stairwell right as the man’s beginning to speak, waving his hand for the six to join them in retreat. “How’d you know which stairwell to take?” Lou asks seconds later, Marta following closely behind him as he sprints down each concrete step the man ahead of him takes. “I didn’t, I just got lucky!” Terry replies, speaking freely as his voice is carried upward, floating to the top of the concrete tower their exit route sits within before throwing his hands at the door that spills them into the backlot. “Come on!” Josie exclaims, standing halfway out of the truck’s driver seat as the rest of her group sits patiently, waiting with the confidence that the rest would find them safely. Doing as instructed, Terry and the rest break out into a hurry for whatever seat is left available for them, the man responsible for leading the way squeezing himself into the cabin as the Golden family, Sebastian, Marta and Lou hop into the bed alongside Jenn and Adrian. “Where are we going!?” Elsie shouts through the window separating the cabin from those in the vehicle’s back, holding onto the bar attached to the ceiling just beside her door as the truck speeds forward. “East! It doesn’t matter where, just keep driving East!” Marta calls back, sitting closest to the cabin’s rear as the man beside her watches on at the building they make a break from, his eyes looking into every window he’s afforded a look into before widening at what intrigues him the most. “Stop the truck!” Lou calls out, immediately questioned amidst exclamations as Josie does as instructed, the tires dragging along the asphalt the vehicle slams to a stop. “What the fuck are you doing!?” Sonya exclaims as the man stands from his place in the vehicle, leaping out to disembark as he begins sprinting back to the chaos they barely managed to escape from. “Just keep going East, I’ll catch up!” Lou shouts, adding nothing more than that as he disappears around the corner, leaving his survivors in the dark for a moment as they try to figure out what he’s done. Their glances aimless and accomplishing nothing, the group simply gives into the sudden plan that’s presented to them, not wishing to question the man that had already proven capable enough of finding them before. For another few metres, the truck follows through with its departure before a second voice calls out for Josie’s foot to hit the brakes. Jolting forward for a second time, the group braces for the sudden inertia before Marta hops the wall of the truck bed, her feet dashing toward Lou’s direction the moment they touch upon solid ground once more. “Marta, what are you doing!?” her father calls out, pushing himself up slightly before ordered to remain seated. “There’s a water park about ten minutes north! Go there and we’ll meet you by sunset!” Marta barks, hurrying after Lou without a moment’s hesitation, brushing off her father’s calls for her return as Elsie calls out to anyone willing to answer. “Anyone else getting off!?” the woman exclaims sarcastically, quickly setting aside the bemused tone to raise a follow-up question rooted in genuinity, “what’s the call? What are we doing?” Pressing his teeth into his bottom lip, Sebastian watches Marta turn the same corner as Lou whilst Adrian watches on, taking account of the orders the woman had given them before speaking out. “We go to the park and wait for them!” the man exclaims, pointing at the woman behind the wheel and giving her the signal to proceed, “step on it!” Not needing to hear anything more, Josie stomps on the gas and keeps the car due-north, joining Sebastian in trusting the declarations made by their once-more departed friends. Begrudgingly and with a profound sense of worry deep within him, Adrian settles back into his seat and stares off at where he leaves his daughter behind, gritting his teeth as he tries to keep his mind aimed at the hopeful thoughts he conjures every other time they part ways- this time a little harder to deal with. = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 = “How did you see him?” Marta calls out, ferociously plunging her switchblade into the centre of a corpse’s chest whilst Lou holds watch, taking out one corpse after another as she digs into whatever much her hands can take hold off. “I didn’t, I saw his buddies” Lou replies, pausing to grunt as he sticks yet another rotting corpse with the sharpened tip of his staff, “I don’t know if they’ll keep fighting his war once he’s dead, but I know how you’re supposed to kill a snake.” Opening his mouth to finish his thought, Lou listens to the guttural scream the woman behind him interjects to let out, initially assuming she’d found herself in some unexpected danger. Turning back with his rebar readied, the man eases his fight-ready posture as he watches her stand from the ground with a smile on her face, looking up to him with eyes full of life as she holds the zombie’s head in her hand. “Yeah-” Lou replies, leaning back a fair amount with an impressed nod, a smirk forming in the corner of his face, “-like that.” “All clear in here!” a man shouts whilst aiming the barrel of his rifle downward, sprinting out of a room that overlooks the same staircase Sebastian and Courtney had shared to host their chat. “All clear this, all clear that!” Randal exclaims, staring at the window fixture adorning the wall he faces, stood at the top of the steps as he calls back to the man in question, “with all these rooms being cleared, you’d think they weren’t here!” “We’re looking everywhere, sir!” the man he shouts at assures, prompting his head to turn around with great haste. “Well look harder for fuck’s sake!” Randal barks, stepping down each stair angrily as he makes for the clearly once-occupied foyer, coming upon the unattended glasses of unfinished liquor that line the bar an equally-unfinished bottle of vodka sits atop- its cap left sitting beside it. Keeping to himself as he passes the remaining members of his enclave, Randal descends upon the mostly-dark concert hall and takes a seat at the one table lit with candlelight. Lowering himself into one of the pulled out seats, the man lifts one of the glasses left behind to his lips and enjoys the drink practically offered to him as a present. “All clear!” a distant voice exclaims, his words barely able to be made out by his superior, who rolls his eyes as the drink runs down his throat. Sat alone in his chair amidst what had just recently been the scene of a clearly-happy gathering, Randal runs his hand down the side of his face as he sets his rifle down, its stock gently lowered to the floor. Able to hear the distant footsteps and proceeding declarations of cleared rooms, the enclave’s leader closes his eyes and thinks quietly to himself, whatever colourful thoughts he envisions bringing a smile to his face momentarily before his ears catch what returns him to reality. *knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock* Staring into the distant wall of pitch black nothingness, Randal wonders to himself whether or not he’d actually heard the call for his answer or merely imagined it as he fears he had. Not reacting instantly, the enclave’s leader waits nearly a minute for the tapping to begin again, his anxious mind running with the thought that it must’ve been a figment of the same invention his tricky brain had concocted- though he cannot convince himself of such certainty. Squinting his eyes with both doubt and allure, Randal leans back in his seat as he gently lowers the glass back upon the table he resides at, continuing to wait for the sound’s duplication for just a few seconds before finally rising to answer. Taking his rifle in one hand and one of the five candles in the other, the clearly-exhausted leader slowly follows one foot in front of the other as his men continue to declare rooms cleared above, drawn into the beckon call that awaits him. Shedding light upon the black coat that envelops the room in his every direction, Randal continues to march forward as the faintest sight of a large, metal door emerges from within the sightless depths. Leaning his head to one side as the mental toll the last few days have brought upon him, the man continues to wonder to himself whether or not the reality he believes himself to occupy space in right now is really just that- reality. Seduced by a search for the answer nonetheless, Randal closes the gap between himself and the exit provided to him before resting his rifle against the wall, freeing his hand as the sight of the handle meets him. Wiping his eyes as he squeezes them tightly, the leader of his enclave- or at least what remains of them in his war’s aftermath- stares at the door intently as he steadies his breath, feeling an odd warmth in the face of the frigid winter air that just further confuses him. Forcing a gust of air through his teeth, the man refuses to hold off the inevitable for another moment, pressing his thumb upon the metal latch and thrusting the door open. His face bathed in light, Randal’s subtle silence is replaced with the groans of an undead army, his eyes falling upon the gore-covered faces of two young survivors, who stand unmoved at the sight of his presence as the feral monsters squeeze past them in search of their next meal. Shocked to see them in such awe-inspiring command of the dead, Randal struggles to disassociate himself with the theory that his fallacy-crafting imagination had yet to shatter, the illusion remaining before such a misconception can be shattered beyond any doubt. Taking one step backward as his arm extends, the enclave’s leader appears to reach out for mercy before his exposed arm is torn into by the teeth of the foremost zombie, prompting him to scream as he pulls away. His delusion fractured, Randal runs back into the same darkness-shrouded concert hall his fatal reprieve had been taken in as those seeking his destruction retreat into the ranks of their rotten army. “You still have that gun!?” Lou calls out, hurrying through the army that pays little mind to them, seemingly not thrown off by their open-discussion or hurried dash for the front entrance. “I’m way ahead of you!” Marta calls out, taking the lead as she sprints ahead of Lou, her pistol readied as she descends the next corner, rounding it before coming to a sudden stop and taking aim. Closing in just in time to watch the results of their grand plan, the girl’s mentor watches the transparent doors of their temporary home swing outward for a brief moment. *pop* Pulling the trigger, Marta fires at Randal the moment she catches sight of him, forcing him to dash back the way he came and disappear into the lobby once more. Remaining stood with a smirk on her face, the gun woman watches the man hurry ahead of her with a confused look on his face. “He’s bit, leave him to turn!” the man’s protege calls out, her command immediately refused by the man that turns back to respond. “I’m not letting him cut that thing off and come after us again!” Lou shouts back, demanding of himself that they finish what they started, “I’ve made the mistake of leaving someone to die before and it came back to bite me, I’m not-!” Before he can even finish voicing his refusal, Marta dashes back to his side and prepares to continue the chase, trusting the man’s call to go after their target once more without needing to hear his justification. “I trust you, now shut up and move!” Marta exclaims, retaking the lead as she cuts her mentor off and races through the front doors. Not a step out of line, Lou sprints off after her and prepares to put a decisive end to the conflict that had already seen two of his friends killed. Huffing and puffing as he sprints past those comprising his enclave, Randal dashes up the steps he’d initially grown tired of waiting for a response out of as the lobby begins to descend into madness. Roaring out of the concert hall it had initially started in, a blaze begins to make its way into the lobby that Lou and Marta burst through the entrance of, running past members of the enclave that succumb to the surprise attack of the horde that is set upon them in chase of just one man. Firing a bullet into the face of a foe that draws near, Marta lets her mentor assume the front of the chase, following him up the stairs as he swings his staff toward the next few soldiers that obstruct their path forward. “Stairwell!” the woman calls out, directing Lou’s sights toward the man he barely gets the chance to notice dip into the emergency staircase, firing another round at the nameless soldier that rounds the nearest corner as they carry on. “You’re not getting away!” Lou calls out, his shouts climbing the tower that they ascend, the three sets of footsteps that ring throughout the concrete box they scale only continuing to provide a backdrop for the final retreat the already-bitten thorn in their side makes. Climbing to the highest point, Randal dips through the only door made available to him and scurries down wherever it leads, those that shadow him not trailing too far behind. Their energy depleting, the young couple take advantage of their youth and complete their journey to the top of the once-luxurious tower that now appears to meet its fiery final moments. Taking the lead, Lou throws open the door as the rain begins to fall once more, the brief reprieve from stormy conditions having been nice whilst it lasted, though fading at a rather fitting time. Gasping for his breath as his back faces the young adults that emerge to find him, Randal lets his head fall as he realises that there’s no going back, his feet standing at the edge of the rooftop that affords him no further sanctuary to run for. Seeing that the man they chase so relentlessly has exhausted every last inch of room to run, Lou brings his run to a halt as Marta follows suit, the man’s hand pressing into her chest to keep her from stepping too far out from his shadow. Catching his breath, Lou glances out at the sky as it turns progressively darker before casually stepping forward, slowly decreasing the distance between himself and the man he intends to kill. “Jules is gonna be pissed when he finds out we found the roof” he quips, spinning the rebar staff within his fingers as Randal turns back to him, the bite wound inflicted upon his forearm continuing to bleed as he accepts his fate. “The Baby Problem” Randal remarks, looking Lou in the eyes as the younger man suddenly squints at him, his head leaning to the side as his target falls silent. “What?” the man replies, momentarily halted from living up to his moniker of the silver slayer as he calls the seemingly out of place statement into question. “The Trolley Problem. You asked me about the Trolley Problem before you lured us into your trap back on the island” Randal replies, speaking to the silently inquisitive man he entertains the presence of now that his back is against the wall, “I’m gonna assume you know about The Baby Problem?” Confused, the young man remains silent- a reaction that speaks volume to the newly-infected enclave leader, who soon realises the opposite to be true. “You, your baby, and the whole town are running away from a group of bad people intent on killing all of you. When you get somewhere safe, you realise the baby is going to cough” Randal explains, figuring he might as well offer some wisdom as he prepares to depart the world, “you can choose to let it cough and get you killed- or kill the baby.” “And you’re the baby in this scenario?” Marta asks from the back of the group, sharing the same squinted expression as her mentor, watching the shrug that the enclave’s leader responds to her with. “You saw me get bit back there. You knew I was dead but you came after me anyway” Randal replies, “I wasn’t suggesting it applied here, but I find it intriguing that you made that call. I just figured you’d want to hear it since you seem so fascinated by ethical dilemmas.” Nodding to himself, Lou licks his lips as he lowers his chin, stepping forward with malicious intent that the enclave’s leader can recognise. With a smile, Randal glances back at Marta and winks before turning to look at her mentor, watching him step closer and refusing to talk him out of following through with his action. Watching the rebar’s holder continue to gain ground, Randal allows him every fleeting moment to think he’s going to put an end to his solution before refusing him the pleasure of it, taking one step back at the very last moment to walk himself over the edge, vanishing below the gravel-topped surface as a very distant splattering sound hits the pavement below. With a frown, Lou looks on with disappointment as the tip of his staff falls into the uneven, rocky ground he watches from, eyes following the man every last moment of the way before closing tightly upon impact. Watching on from afar, Marta winces at the thud she knows their target to be the source of before waiting a few extra seconds, watching her mentor step away from the ledge and return to her side, his arm wrapping around her in silence as they begin the journey back to their people. == RISE and REVOLT ==
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As the sun begins to rise on a new day and the sight of the mainland quickly approaches, a mostly-silent night finds itself coming to a conclusion aboard the group, who’ve finally found themselves bidding a final farewell to Vancouver Island. Sat in the seat at the very back of the cruiser, Lou holds his head toward the ground as Terry, Marta, Adrian, Sebastian and Sonya watch on, the rest of the mixed-matched group having sought out the onboard cabin for reprieve from the uncomfortable hush.
“Am I gonna make it, doc?” Sebastian jokes in a low voice to the woman beside him, her fingers dropping the blood-soaked bandage she replaces into a bin off to the side. “I think you’ll fare well enough” Sonya replies, passing the man an awkward smile as she pats his shoulder, carrying the bin of discarded materials used to treat his wound to the vessel’s inner sanctum, taking down the total of rain-soaked passengers exposed to the elements by one. The confines she enters not faring too well against the uneasy quietude beyond their descending steps, Sonya passes her father as he sits on a chair unoccupied by the rest of the group- which watch on from their respective corners. “You shouldn’t have pulled the trigger” Rudy quips aloud as his daughter passes, earning a sigh the instant his voice cuts through the feeble mute. “I know, dad-” Sonya replies, continuing to stroll through the quaint-enough cabin that Jules, Elsie, Josie, Courtney, her father and now herself occupy, “-you’ve already told me.” Sat across the room from his now paramotor-less first born, Rudy refuses to change his tune from the one he’d carried with him as he boarded. “I just figured you ought to hear it again” the man replies, brushing off the woman’s visible discontent with the context of his statement. “You know what, dad?” Sonya asks after a few further steps, licking her lips as she turns the bucket over, emptying its dirty contents into a garbage pale beside a tiny side table, “fuck you.” His frown only intensifying, Rudy tilts his head to the side as he nods, reacting to the quip in the only way he feels most appropriate in the moment. “Yeah, fuck you” Sonya adds, not presenting anything new, but acting the way that comes most naturally to her in the moment, “fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.” “Are you done?” Rudy calmly rebukes, his hand pressing against the base of his chin as his daughter quickly argues otherwise. “No, dad- I’m not. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you” Sonya continues, watching the man nod again as he looks off to the floor beside him, “fuck you to the highest of hells, you stupid fucking asshole.” All with a calm voice that slowly raises in harshness the longer she goes on, Sonya watches her father press his back against the chair he’s spent the last few hours seated upon, unable to rid herself of the anger that continues to simmer within her long-suppressed core. “I’m so fucking tired of hearing you complain about everything. If it’s not me, it’s Courtney. If it’s not, it’s Lou. If it’s not him, it’s the fucking weather or something” she continues on, “I’m just tired of hearing it.” “The weather doesn’t fire a bullet at the crazy guy holding your sister at gunpoint” Rudy calmly tacks on as the rest of the room sits around watching the conversation unfold. “You’re right, I did. And you know what happened?” Sonya retorts, turning her sights to the end of the room that her sister occupies, her arms crossed and head down as the pair continue to exchange potshots at each other, “she lived. People may have died, but she lived. We all lived as a matter of fact.” “And it could have turned out very differently” Rudy remarks with the same unencumbered tone he’d carried throughout the discourse’s duration. “But it didn’t, and if I hadn’t taken that shot- who knows where we’d be right now” Sonya retaliates, continuing to speak in spite of Jules stepping off the couch he’d shared with Elsie and Josie in favour of taking his chances with the mood outside, “I made a choice. And to be honest, I’m happy to be at the point where I have the balls to.” “Well, I’m happy for you sweetie” Rudy sarcastically replies, returning his hand to the place below his chin as the woman continues to berate him, accepting it as it plays out. “Thanks, pop. I wish I could thank you for it, but I can’t. I can’t because it’s in spite of you instead” Sonya proceeds, walking past the man in favour of following Jules’ lead to the deck, “I’ve spent too goddamn long letting you hold me back. For fuck’s sake, it’s time I grew up and followed the others’ lead.” “And what lead is that?” Rudy calls back to question honestly, interested in hearing what the answer would happen to be. “That it’s time to get fucking used to how shit works now” the woman replies, seemingly deciding that the day she’d spoken of had presented itself, calling upon her to adapt to the surroundings her peers have slowly become accustomed to, “the world sucks, we’re all gonna die. It’s time to live while I can and learn to give a shit.” Moving to the corner of his mouth, Rudy’s puckered lips remain shut as his youngest daughter walks off to follow through with moving to the floor above. Letting out a sigh as he glances back to his eldest child, her unenthused posture and distanced demeanour the only thing presented to him. “You sound like you’re having a fun time down there” Sebastian quips as his tending caretaker ascends the steps he sits beside, her hand taking the bottle of vodka he gingerly sips on. “Bite me, bullet boy” Sonya retorts, thumping the man’s wound with her index finger with just enough impact to force a subtle wince over him. Formed in the corner of his mouth, Terry smirks as a gentle chuckle comes over him, his eyes glancing back toward the waves they leave behind as the woman sits. “And she said nothing?” Lou suddenly wonders aloud, prompting the man- amidst a rare moment of calm- that looks toward the seas to turn his eyes for him. “She didn’t ask about where you’d go after the hotel, she didn’t-” he continues, the subject of this line of questioning more than obvious to the boat’s entire collection of passengers, “-I don’t know. She just- left?” Nodding in silence at first, Terry rests one arm against the boat’s edge as the water reclaims his eyes. “Like I said, there weren’t many things we’d talked about farther out than a couple hours” Jules responds on his friend’s behalf, “we didn’t talk about the future. We never needed to ‘cause all we knew to do was wait for Jenn and Halston to meet up with us.” “And, while the thought had crossed our minds plenty of times, it’s not like any of us had firmly written you off as dead, either” Terry doubles down, unable to do more than shrug as the evidence-deprived mystery the woman’s disappearance shrouds itself in, “if there was anyone that thought the opposite most, it was Ally.” Pulling his head back as he works out the knots in his neck, Lou follows the pattern of rainclouds that continue to persist nearly two weeks after first forming overhead. “I guess it just doesn’t make sense to me” the man confesses, eventually sliding further into his seat to better lean against the edge that acts as his backrest. “Would I think she’d sneak off when no one was looking if it was something she truly thought was necessary? Yes” Lou continues, though he speaks to the present members of his group, the words he utters mostly seem to be intended for himself, “would I think she’d do it without leaving a note? Not really.” As half an hour passes, the sun begins to shine as bright as the group can expect it to manage behind the cover of the same plague-like clouds that take shape overhead. “Take my hand” Lou remarks, extending his palm to Marta as she struggles to disembark the boat amidst the choppy waters. “No, it’s okay- I don’t want to pull you in” the woman politely refuses, gently waving his offer aside as she tries to balance herself out. “I’m down half an arm, I’m not coordinately-challenged” Lou retorts, extending his hand for a second time with the best smile he can muster in lieu of the trivial happenings that loom over their first collective contact with the mainland. Looking at him with a blank face, the continued-extension he insists on providing brings a warm smile over Marta’s face, her hand taking that of her mentors as an especially-frigid gust of wind blows her head back. “The hotel’s about four blocks out, so what are we thinking here?” Jules calls out from the front of the mish-mash group, prepared to lead the charge to street level and embrace the undead that walk amongst them. “I don’t suppose anyone picked up Corinne in the middle of the night?” Sebastian wonders with a humoured tone in his reflexion, only to be met with the entire combined group looking back at him in confusion. “The meteorologist? The one from the camp?” Sebastian reiterates, casually looking throughout the group before realising not a single visage had shifted, “am I really the only one that cared to introduce myself back there?” Laying a firm slap to the man’s rear end, Courtney fastens the strap to a knapsack she’d picked out of a bucket below deck. “You’re the only one of us polite enough to, yeah” the woman replies, shrugging her shoulders as she wanders closer toward the front. “Well we can’t start camouflaging ourselves if the rain’s gonna pick up” Jules responds, keeping his voice contained enough so as not to draw attention from the level above, “if we take that option, it’ll be risky.” Slipping the switchblade out of her pocket, Marta follows Lou as he follows Courtney’s lead upon the head of the pack. “It’s been pretty cold out, so they shouldn’t be too fast to handle” the man remarks, slipping past Adrian and Sebastian before nearing Terry, “we should be good.” “What about the runners?” Marta asks from beside him, her question drawing his eyes toward her with a confused gleam. “Runners? Like people runners?” Lou replies, unsure of what she’s referring to, “are there other people out here?” Pulling her head back before letting a chuckle leave her lips, the rest of the group as confused as Lou in at the reason behind her humoured reaction. “What’s so funny?” the man inquires, looking back to the rest without certainty of whether there’s a joke he’s missing the punchline to, looking back to the girl as her amused reaction settles into one of genuine surprise. “You- wait, you don’t know about runners?” Marta asks back as she pulls back in shock, her laughter only intensifying as she recognises the authentic puzzlement he returns to her, “holy shit, I know something about the dead that you don’t!?” “What is she talking about?” Sebastian suddenly speaks up to ask, gently brushing the nub of Lou’s shortened arm as if he were able to provide context. Capable enough of handling business, Lou finds himself at the lead of the group as they walk out in the open, taking out the sluggish corpses that close in on them as he confidently strolls along. “How the hell am I supposed to know what I’m looking for if they’re not knocking on a door or talking?” the man calls back, nonchalantly passing corpses that stand no chance of grazing him, let alone tearing into him, his deadly staff prepared for the battles that await him. “‘Cause they’ll look like a fresh corpse” Jules shouts back, putting down another straggling corpse as the group calmly marches on, “and if you can’t figure it out by looking at them, you’ll figure it out when they start running at you.” Rolling his eyes as he shrugs his shoulders, Lou casually swipes his rebar weapon over the head of an undead pair, the second not straying too far from the first. “How you go four blocks without running into one of those things is beyond me” Marta murmurs, following Lou through the lobby of the hotel they now enter, “I couldn’t make it half a block before one of them caught onto me.” Unimpressed at the display the undead portrayed for him, the man and his rebar staff take a seat on one of the display seats left abandoned when the leisurely centre closed its doors to the outside world. “We’ve all got plenty of time for that to change” Rudy quips beneath his breath, relinquishing the rifle that wields fewer bullets than he’d like it to as his feet carry him to the nearest staircase. “There’s a gym, but most of the machines don’t work. There’s a jacuzzi but there’s no heat or jets, so it’s just a tiny pool. Speaking of which, there’s a pool table in the club- I’ll smoke you all if you dare challenge me” Jules sarcastically remarks, “welcome to fucking paradise, you pricks.” “Thanks, I feel so welcomed” Jenn responds acerbically, carrying her rifle in tow as she follows Rudy to the closest staircase, hoping for it to lead her to something worth writing home about. “Can I get to the roof from here?” Sonya calls out to anyone willing to answer, the best reply anyone can muster coming from the back of the lobby. “Most of the rooms have a patio, but I haven’t found a way onto the roof yet” Elsie replies, ripping a grape from its vine, “let us know if you do though.” “Would it really be important?” Adrian replies as the youngest Golden child follows the suit of her father and Jenn in searching for the building’s highest summit, “I thought you were only here waiting for the girls?” Stepping around the bar counter and reaching for the first bottle of liquor that his eyes stumble upon, Terry answers the question as the quest becomes one looking for clean glasses. “We were, but like I said- we never really talked about the future” the de-facto bartender explains, pulling one glass from below the oakwood finished table top in search for more, “this place hasn’t been too bad to us. It’ll do for now.” Casually strolling to the countertop before pausing, Adrian presses his hands into each side of his hip as he looks to the man preparing to serve him through squinted eyelids. “You’re American- aren’t you supposed to be three years away from this sort of thing?” Adrian inquisitively wonders aloud, immediately prompting an amused chuckle from the server, the witty hotel-introducer, and the rebar staff-wielding slayer. “He clearly wasn’t listening when I told the story of what we were doing when everything went to shit” Lou says between laughter as he takes a seat on one of the empty stools. “They were all getting shit-faced in the music room if I remember correctly” Marta proclaims as she takes the empty stool beside her mentor, earning an enthusiastic nod from the amused gentleman. “It was the most glorious way to ring in the end of times and you’ll never convince me otherwise” Lou replies, the bottle of aged scotch that Terry holds slightly emptied into the only cup he’s so far come across, which he wastes no time in sliding to his one-armed acquaintance. “Hey, Lou. Can I ask you a question?” Jules inquires, returning to the group with a pool cue in hand, joining Terry’s side before reaching to a cabinet and pulling its door open, revealing a stack of clean glasses waiting to be uncovered. “Of all the things you could use- a hammer, or a knife, or a gun, or whatever-” the man begins, gently guiding a stack of glasses to the counter for his poorly-inexperienced friend to fill with heart-warming booze, “-why is your go-to weapon a stick of metal?” Having to pause the lifting of his glass to his lips, Lou’s head hangs as he finds himself too humoured to not break out into a chorus of laughter. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, that’s a good question” Sebastian points out, joining the rest of the group in enjoying each other’s company for the very first time, sharing the laughter that fills the room with jubilation, “what the fuck is wrong with your taste in self-defence, dude? It’s literally just a thin bo staff.” “Leave my thin bo staff alone you filthy animals” Lou jokingly commands, animatedly slamming his fist against the counter as the rest of his peers join in chuckling. “Thanks” Adrian remarks in Terry’s direction, the next to be served a glass before Sebastian receives the next one. “Don’t thank me yet” the bartender- whose skills would likely have him thrown out the backdoor if he were applying for the position in the old world- warns as he fills yet another glass. “And why is-?” Adrian wonders back, unable to finish his question before Terry looks him in the eyes, placing his hand against one side of the glass before shoving it onward, letting it glide past the rest of his peers and right into Marta’s hands. “Oh, you motherfucker” the girl’s father remarks with a smirk, pointing his finger at the man before falling silent as his daughter puts down every last drop without a second thought, his face turning to one of amused shock. “Thanks” mocks, tipping her non-existent hat in Terry’s direction as she stares a hole through her father, who looks at her with a comedic look of shock as the rest of the group loses themselves in the hardest fit of laughter they’ve experienced all year. “What the hell?” Adrian giggles as a smile spreads across his face, the trust he’s found in his daughter over the past number of weeks proving to earn a different reaction than it would have when the dead first rose. Sharing the feigned exasperation with the gut-busted survivors that take glee in the suspense of his belief, Adrian shakes his head as he takes a respectable sip of the liquor he wishes to savour instead of guzzling down. “Dude, if Vinny and Fink knew we’d make it far enough to commandeer a bar- in Canada of all places- they would have been so proud” Terry proclaims, lifting a half-filled glass that Lou and Jules clink together with their own, “following in mom and dad’s footsteps- that we are!” “Here here!” the duo cheers, clattering their cups together as the sun rises over the city that feels a little more complete now than it ever has to anyone calling the abandoned inn home for the moment. Making it back to the lobby just in time to share in the conversation, Courtney, Elsie and Josie join the rank of the survivors just looking to make the best use of the time they share together, coming together as one group in spite of the world they call home. = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 = Stepping out onto the patio overlooking the English Bay, Courtney finds her sister’s figure with arms crossed beside the fully-transparent railing her hip leans against. “I see you settled for something a little less top-level” the older sister remarks, peering out at the grey skies that loom over the oddly-pleasant tower they call sanctuary. “I needed some air” Sonya replies, briefly looking at her sister as the woman joins her on the terrace, “I wasn’t looking for a scavenger hunt.” Nodding to herself as her sibling turns back to face the world that lays beyond one ledge barely over half the woman’s height, Courtney presses her elbows against the bannister the younger woman seems to trust enough to support her weight. “So you know that witty guy, Jules?” the self-piloting wanderer remarks, forced to tuck her hair behind her ear as the wind picks up, “apparently he’s pretty good at memorising showtunes. I wish he was as good at singing them, but what do I know?” Trying to subdue a small smirk that lingers through her lips, Sonya nods as she fixes the hair that flows freely in the same breeze that seems to torment her sister. “You wanna come down? Terry’s not that good at knowing how to keep a customer coming around, so you’re guaranteed to get more than enough of an overpour to carry you through the day” Courtney jokes, finally mustering enough good will to pull a full smile and a breathy chuckle out of the hard-to-please lady. “Maybe in a little bit” Sonya replies, letting go of a deep sigh that she pulls in as her sights fall back upon the waterfront, its coastline frozen whilst its long, thin centre flows freely. “What’s on your mind?” Courtney wonders aloud to the woman she knows to have something stowed away on, “I’ve seen that look before and the answer’s never ‘nothing’.” The humoured expression having subsided, Sonya’s eyes fall whilst the rest of her head remains taken by the bay’s freeflow. “Come on, sis. Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me about it” Courtney remarks, her expression falling momentarily as the woman beside her remains silent, her reluctant posture unchanged, “you know that, right? You know you can talk to me.” Looking back up, Sonya replies as hoped, quickly waving off that any such truth would be inaccurate. “Wh-? Of- of course I know that. No, I know, it’s just-” the woman begins to remark, stopping herself as she takes her eyes back to the waterfront that captivates her so greatly, extending a sigh as she clears her mind of all strife in an effort to speak freely, “-my mind’s just in a really weird place right now. I can’t figure it out- if it’s even an it to begin with.” “What do you mean?” Courtney replies as she backs away from the see-through balustrade, matching the crossed-arm lean as she presses into the glass. “I don’t really know, honestly. I just came out here to try and get a little bit of time to myself and it just sort of descended into this really weird self-reflection” Sonya confesses, shaking her head as her sister tries all she can to best provide. “That’s alright, I can leave if you want-” Courtney explains, apologetically backing away from the railing as Sonya laughs off her gesture. “No, you’re fine. It’s got nothing to do with you, I just- urgh!” the younger sibling groans, unfolding her arms as her hands press against each side of her face, closing herself off from the world for just a few seconds to clear her head. “It’s stupid, but after I spent a few minutes up here- I couldn’t stop looking at that fucking river” Sonya finally proclaims, admitting the sight responsible for stealing her mind the instant her face frees itself from the warmth of her palms. Confused, Courtney furrows her eyebrows and glances in the direction her back is turned toward, finding the bay that grips her baby sister without much clue as to its importance. “I know it’s not what we crossed, but it reminds me of the strait between here and home” Sonya admits, finally re-earning her sister’s attention as the woman remains silent, letting her sibling explain without her words having to be forced to share the air. “I keep thinking about the talk we had in the cabin a while back. I told you I wasn’t ready and it’s just really getting on my nerves” the woman remarks, watching her sister’s face sink as the difficult topic lays itself out in the open. “I was so fucking stupid to keep thinking I could kick the can down the road. I don’t even know why I kept fighting it, but it pisses me off when I think back to it now that I’m out here. It’s the same world I was so ‘not ready’ for” Sonya explains, looking down in self-pity, “it’s fucking stupid.” Shaking her head the moment such a declaration leaves her sister’s lips, Courtney refutes the statement without a second thought, arguing against it the moment the air silences. “No, it’s not. It’s not stupid and neither are you” the older sibling responds, taking a step forward to get closer to the woman clearly caught up in performing mental gymnastics with herself. “Listen, no one’s ready for any of this. No one goes straight from lounging back in a cabin to putting down the dead like that” Courtney explains, snapping her finger mid-pause, “even Lou- who we all kind of agree is better at this than any of us- started on a rough note.” “That doesn’t change the fact that it’s messed me up” Sonya rebuttals, looking past the woman that stands at her aid as the water recaptures her eyes, “look at Marta. We were in the same place when Lou showed up, but she got the bigger picture. Now look at us- two completely different stories.” “Yes, you are- and yours is just beginning” Courtney replies, wrapping her hands around her little sister as the woman’s face looks into her own, begrudgingly listening to the words spoken that go against the idea she’s moulded into a strangely-twisted version of the truth. “Think about everything you’re gonna do from this point on” the flightless self-pilot instructs, “think about all the life you’ve still got to live. It may have taken you some time, but you get it now.” “Yeah, but I didn’t be-” Sonya immediately begins to refute, her reply stopped before it’s offered the chance to speak itself into fruition. “Yeah, but I didn’t before- blah blah blah” Courtney mocks, mimicking the display her sister had presented to her ex-boyfriend earlier in the day by flicking her arm with the finger on her dominant hand, “everything that happened before is over. Boom- done. Finished, finito, hasta la vista, baby! It’s old news, time to make new. Now we move on.” “I don’t think it’s that simple” Sonya replies, again feeling the force behind her sister’s finger flicking her once more before rolling her eyes. “It is that simple. It’s very simple. I’m almost embarrassed at how simple it is” Courtney replies, the enthusiastic pep in her verbal step too comedic for her sister to disregard without the faintest smile, “yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away! I’m pretty sure that’s what the Beatles said, and if not- it doesn’t matter. It’s still true!” Tilting her head as her arms cross, Sonya looks to the woman with a curious face, “Court’, the very next line to that song goes- ‘now it looks as if they’re here to stay.” Her third attempt at refusal marking the birth of a third flick to her arm, the youngest sister continues to be broken down into her sibling’s friendly charm. “And then it goes ‘Oh, I believe in yesterday!” Courtney replies, struggling to not realise her choice in song proved poor, “okay, I admit- maybe not the best example.” “Look, the point is that it’s a fresh start. All of this is a fresh start. I get to start new, so do you, so does dad, so do all of us” Courtney proceeds, making her point as her hands fall from her sister’s arms, hanging by her sides as the words finish leaving her lips, “so what happens next is up to you. No one else gets to decide- only you. You can sit up here and rack your brain over stuff that doesn’t matter and hasn’t mattered in ages, or you can get up, make new, and move on.” Hesitant in nature, Sonya’s embattled eyes take to the waterfront that her sister’s words had managed to free her from the infatuation of, its sheets of ice to each side of the shoreline no longer much more than a pretty picture to snap a mental image of. “I love you, Sonya. I always have, I always will, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you” Courtney explains, shaking her head as it leans close to one side, “but I’m not gonna sit here and let you beat yourself up, hun.” Suddenly interrupted by the gentle and quiet set of knuckles tapping against the hotel room’s door, the sibling’s turn their attention toward the entrance their father stands at the centre of. “I hope I’m not involving myself where I don’t belong, you left the door open” Rudy apologises, watching Courtney’s face turn toward Sonya’s, whose eyes remain placed upon the man she’d been tied at the hip to since before following their adventurous family member to Sebastian’s cabin. | “What about a beach house somewhere?” Jules asks aloud, sat at a table in an empty concert hall with every survivor minus the Golden family, Josie and their metal stick wielding guardian angel. “As incredibly tempting as that is, it might be the last place we should set our sights on” Jenn replies, lighting a fifth candle to stage at the centre of the circular table top that sits amidst the otherwise dark entertainment room. “Yeah, the hurricanes and lack of places to make a farm don’t seem very ideal” Elsie replies, gently swaying the handle to her upside-down tomahawk from one side to the other. “By that logic, the best place to settle down would be Kansas” Terry replies, immediately prompting the woman to look up at him with a curious glimmer in her eye. “What’s wrong with Kansas?” Elsie rebukes, taking one hand away from her weapon’s grip to lift one finger for every advantage it offers, “good place for farming, open space people won’t usually be, no snow, plenty of lakefront property if we so choose.” With one finger raised, the subject to her line of questioning presents her with the fatal flaw, “here’s what’s wrong with Kansas-” Terry replies, pausing to take a sip from his glass before following up, “I don’t wanna live in Kansas.” “I agree with Terry- fuck Kansas” Josie exclaims, marching in through the building’s rear-entrance with a wrench in hand, the rag that’s draped over her shoulder stained with grease, “who the hell wants to follow the red brick road down tornado alley? Bippity-boppity no thank you.” Rolling her eyes as the good times roll on, Elsie throws her hand in Josie’s direction as the momentary laughter begins to fade, taking a backseat to the genuine intrigue her messy appearance induces. “What’s new, Bob the Builder?” Terry calls out, taking another swig of transparent liquor- the kind of which he doesn’t know or care to know- is pulled down from his cup. Without a word, Josie reaches into her pocket and digs out a pair of car keys, tossing them a few centimetres away from the set of open flames. “The engine’s running, the oil’s clean and the brakes seem to be alright” the woman replies, her words bringing an invested look upon the faces of her newest friends whilst the overwhelming joy come over the trio she’d spent most of the last few weeks with in waves. “You got the thing to run!?” Jules shouts with opened eyes, leaping out of his seat to patiently wait for the self-pleased nod the woman answers him with. “Josie, you are a fucking god!” the man bursts out as he lunges forward, pulling the woman into a tight hug as Terry picks up the keys to inspect them, no real reason for doing so aside from it feeling natural enough to do. “Wait, you guys have a car?” Marta wonders aloud to the only people she’d expect affirmation from, the reply given to her from the man seated across the table only furthering her excitement. “Not a car- a truck” Terry replies, setting the keys back down before taking another sip of his drink, the smile that appears in the corner of his mouth joining his face in following Jules’ hand, the man taking his turn to inspect the keys- again with little reason to do so. “Can it hold all of us?” Sebastian asks the same man responsible for the answer to Marta’s question, only to receive it from the lady responsible herself. “It’s got room for five people inside the cabin and another five- maybe six- in the truck bed” Josie responds, saying more than enough to assure the group that not a soul would be disallowed from climbing aboard, “as long as it’s not Kansas- that thing will get us wherever we need to go.” “Let Lou decide” Adrian suddenly responds, sat at the de-facto head of the table as he’s left the most arm room of anyone that shares it with him, “I mean we’ll argue amongst ourselves until a few people just cave and give into whatever the majority agrees to. But if there’s anyone I’m pretty sure we can trust with making a fair call- it’d be him.” “Listen, I still don’t know the guy as well as the rest of you, but if that’s what the rest of you are cool with- so am I” Josie replies, her only destination not preferred voiced beyond any misconception. “Someone go find him and stick a pin in it then” Terry replies, finishing the last of his drink before pushing his chair out in search of a refill, “the sooner we get this thing squared away, the sooner we can work out the kinks to what happens next.” “I’ll go” Marta replies, more than willing to do so as her lead is followed by her own group’s leader. “I’ll go with you” Sebastian replies, joining her in standing from her seat as he grabs the coat he’d rummaged out of the hotel room closet he’d picked out for himself, “I’ve gotta go look for Courtney anyway, so I met as well check in on him while I’m at it.” “Listen, as long as you keep her from downing half a bottle of tequila along the way, fine by me” Adrian jokes, his glass held in the hand that joins his arm in resting against the table, the other draped over the back of his chair. “That’s fine, I prefer vodka anyway” Marta replies, again prompting the group to point and laugh at the father’s expense, his rolled eyes and shrugging grin making its peace with being the source of the group’s mockery. “I thought this was the room you said, 52-A” Sebastian replies, pointing to the accurately-carved designation beside an open door with an untouched room beyond it. “It is. At least, that’s the one he told me he was staying in” Marta responds, leaning past the man to take a look at what lies within for herself, no sign of the man’s trace to be found. “Alright then, maybe he found a different room- one he liked better” Sebastian suggests, the implication bringing an inquisitorial look over the girl’s face that his following proposal only strengthens, “or maybe he settled into Terry and Jules’ room while they’re out getting hammered.” Slowly leaning back, Marta looks up at the man with a semi-convinced look in her eye, one hand tucked past the faux-leather jacket she now adds to her belongings. “Do you remember where their rooms were?” the woman inquires, following the direction of Sebastian’s finger toward the halfway point of the corridor. “They said they were at the end of the hall from what I remember” the man replies, giving Marta all the assurance she needs to pass through the abundance of open doors- one of which she peers through to find Sonya and Courtney talking amongst themselves on the distant patio- with only one thought in mind. Finally reaching her intended area, Marta peers through a few doorways before stumbling upon exactly what she’d expected to, Sebastian nodding to himself as he finds Lou sat on his own at the foot of a barely-touched bed, impressed with the woman’s investigative skills. “I’m gonna take it this was Ally’s room?” the woman inquires, her voice prompting the man to look up at her expected appearance, one that he welcomes kindly. “I figured you’d find me here eventually” Lou confesses, his rebar staff propped against the wall beside the front door, not having made it as far into the bedroom as he had, “it’s not because I wanted you to or anything, I just knew I probably wouldn’t leave this place before you came looking.” “Mhm, that’s why” Marta responds, the first to step into the room and join the same mentor she’s grown close enough to jokingly mock, “it’s not ‘cause we’re totally B.F.F’s now and read each other’s minds or anything.” Rolling his eyes as he shakes his head, Lou slides over a slight bit to free a space beside him the woman takes without hesitation, Sebastian remaining a fair distance away as he leans against the entertainment console at the front of the room. “I know it’s foolish, and maybe it’s misplaced because I went so long looking for friends I started losing the hope of ever finding, but-” Lou begins, the woman that sits beside him already aware of what he’s going to say, bracing herself for it to be spoken aloud, “-I have to find her.” Her eyes pressing shut, Marta bobs her head the moment his thought concludes, nodding to herself with her head hung for a moment before lifting it, her eyelids parting as she looks to him. “I’m gonna give you two a little space” Sebastian interjects, not wanting another word to be shared that he truly feels doesn't belong for his ears to hear, politely bowing out of the conversation that he reserves no right to be a part of. “I’m sorry, I know we just got here and started settling in, but-” Lou explains, trying to clear the air that feels more tense than it truly is the moment their friend departs for other company, kept from doing so by his impressive protege. “No, Lou, it’s okay. I’m-” Marta remarks, shaking her head vehemently as she hides an uncomfortable smile, the conflicting emotions that come over her proving to be difficult to contest with. “You’ve been nothing but the best to me ever since we met- aside from the brief spell where you wanted nothing to do with me, obviously” the woman remarks, quickly turning the tide to her original point, “if your heart belongs to her, that’s totally fine. I get it, and I get why you wanna go after her.” “But it’s not fair to you” Lou replies, looking away from her face as he speaks before being cut off again, his point not refuted this time around however. “No, it’s not. It’s not, and I won’t pretend like it is ‘cause I’d be lying and I think we can give each other more than that” Marta agrees, staring off into the depths of the room as the man’s eyes now take toward her, “but what’s fair to me isn’t the point here. Maybe- in a different world- I took your heart before she did, but-” Stopping mid-sentence, Marta’s eyes begin to grow watery, this reaction not one she feels needs to be spared from the man beside her, a breathy huff escaping her lungs as she shakes her head. “But we don’t live in a different world” the woman sighs depressingly, frowning as the man’s heart weighs heavy with the weight of her disappointment- one he knows himself to be the cause of, “we live in this world. In this world- Ally has your heart... I don’t.” Pulling a deep breath into his lungs, Lou opens his mouth to speak before seemingly freezing, the air he’d trapped within him kept held down as the words he wishes to use evade him. In one full thrust, every ounce of oxygen he’d pulled in waves forward without the words they were intended to carry, the silence he meets the girl- who leaves him honestly speechless- with only allows her to continue speaking. “Sometimes, when I’m having a hard time falling asleep, I think about what it would be like if we met before this. If we got to know each other like this before hell tore us apart- even if it’s the only reason we met each other in the first place” Marta confesses, staring off at the opposite side of the room as the salty tears begin to make their way down her rosy cheeks, “I imagine what could have been and- when I do that- I realise how much I’ve actually fallen for you.” Lou’s lips reuniting with each other just as he had with his friends against all odds, the motivation behind his search- and the effects it has on him and those he cares for by proxy- shown to him in full display. “That’s the truth honestly. It’s not some crush, or some fleeting young-love, wishy-washy thing” Marta concludes, wiping her nose with her arm as the tears truly begin to run, “it’s what you felt. That thing you know you never want to feel for anyone else ever again.” Nodding her head, Marta hyperventilates as Lou’s hand reaches out to wipe the tears from her face, her head shaking at his touch as she musters the strength to finish the point that sits at the tip of her tongue. “I have that kind of love for you-” the woman concludes, her head drifting all the way to her left shoulder as her voice falls faint, the smile she wears one that she depends on to ease the deep pain that her heart breaks through, “-and you have that kind of love for Ally.” Deeply wounded at his core, Lou’s face turns to various different expressions of guilt and sorrow for what he’s done before the woman’s best efforts to regain her composure manage to prevail. “I know you never meant to do this. You never meant to lead me on or depend on you or- or any of it” Marta explains, clearing her throat as she wipes the tears that still linger on the cusp of her eyelid, “so I want you to know that I don’t blame you. I get what you need to do and why- I get it completely.” His own wrought with regret and remorse, Lou stares into Marta’s eyes as his head sheepishly rocks from side to side. “Marta, I know how bad I’ve hurt you” the man explains, kept from talking further as the woman shakes her head vigorously, refusing to let his line of speech present itself. “No, I don’t want you to think about that. I don’t want you to look at me like that ‘cause you’d never be able to look at me any other way- ever” Marta replies, refusing the man the chance to slowly tear away what they’d built simply because of the feeling she’d fallen into, “I love what we have. I love the banter, and the friendliness, and the care- all of it. I need it ‘cause it’s the one thing that I’ve lived for since we met. I can’t not love you, but I can’t lose you as a friend.” Again forced to grunt as she clears her throat, Marta steps away from the bedside and turns her front toward Lou, the distance between them created as she makes her best attempt to clean the slate. “Part of that is being there. To be here and support what you want regardless of how it makes me feel” she explains, continuing to speak to the man that refuses to step out of line in her speech, “I know why you have to go after her because it’s why I had to go after you. I know. I know.” Standing up to join the woman, Lou slowly approaches her as he desperately searches for what to say, beating his own head as if it were a drum just to prevent himself from saying anything that could hurt her anymore than he already has. “I only came here to see if I could find a note. Maybe just find a piece of paper stuffed somewhere the others didn’t check” the man explains, trying his best to speak freely despite his mind’s eagerness to remind himself of what he’s caused. “It doesn’t make sense why she’d leave without a note, so I came here looking for one, but-” Lou continues, finding himself coming to a stop before actually finishing his thought, looking into the woman’s eyes as his expression starts to shift, adjusting into something that completely goes against the apologetic front it’d worn to that point, “-but I know I’ll never actually find her.” Smiling without showing her teeth, Marta refuses the man’s conclusion with a nod, another tear rolling down the side of her face before she speaks. “Yes you will” the woman replies, her soft tone catching Lou’s ears the way they have for as long as he can remember hearing them, “you will because you know her. You will because you’re gonna find that note they missed and you’re gonna go after her- we all are.” Confused, Lou shakes his head as it slightly pulls away, “there’s no note. I’ve looked anywhere I could think of and there’s no note” the man refutes, smiling off the woman’s kind words as just that- reassuring statements. “You know her better than anyone else. Everyone else seems to think it, and somewhere deep down inside of you- I think you know that” Marta replies, retreating slowly to leave him space, “if you think she wouldn’t leave without a note- she wouldn’t leave without a note.” Squinting, Lou struggles to ask the question that he wishes to ask, an uncertain feeling coming over him that forces him to stay silent- his mouth open without a voice to use. Again freezing as he had before, the man’s eyes widen slightly as the rest of his body eases up, the two halves of his mouth slowly drawing closer to each other as those same words he’d fought to find completely disappear. Almost as if gifted the key to all his problems, Lou turns toward the same piece of furniture he’d aimlessly taken a seat at the end of, the sudden thought that dawns on him watched on by the woman who simply smiles at the simple hope she knows floods through him within an instant. Walking to the head of the bed, the man reaches past the woman’s clearly-used pillow- the brief imprint of her head still presented in its sunken cushion- and to the unused one that sits beside it. With a gentle tug, Lou holds it by the pillowcase’s end and peers inside, overcome by shock as he reaches in to retrieve a folded piece of paper with the first letter of his name written at the very top. “So, BFF-” Marta murmurs, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she slowly approaches his side, looking over his shoulder as he unravels the paper, “-where are we all heading?” Opening the page to reveal a short, three-sentence body of text purposefully intended for him- and him alone- to find. As Marta looks over his shoulder and reads the note for herself, her face takes a slow turn from pleased for his revelation to surprised at words her eyes read whilst moving from one end of the page, looking back to the man’s face upon her completion, where he waits for her eyes to meet his before answering her question in one word. “East.” == RISE and REVOLT == Frigid water kicked up as he leaps off the speedboat he’d commandeered, Lou dashes back to the coastline with his rebar staff in tow, following the lead of the armed reinforcements he hopes to blend in with as the camp draws closer with each passing step. The gunshot that triggered his pursuit followed quickly by a flurry of additional rounds, the only noise- aside from distant shouts and terrified screams- the man hears as he hurries through the weather-beaten path are the sounds of war.
Matching the same stride as the men that race ahead of him, the handicapped survivor, branded with the moniker of the ‘Silver Slayer’, prepares himself to reprise the role as the apparent battlegrounds continue to grow closer. Still a fair distance away from his destination, Lou’s only chance to see for certain what awaits him at the end of his journey appears in the form of a fireball, its flames reaching high into the skies and serving to light the way- even if only for a moment. A gust of wind made through the quick, repeated exhales he allows to leave his lungs in favour of a clean breath of air, the man rushing in to aid his friends in battle watches as the flames steady, shooting out from within the gaps in the trees he momentarily gets to peer through. Beginning to make up ground on the forces he follows after, Lou takes his moment to strike whenever it arrives- swinging the pointed staff across the skulls of those yet to even take account of his presence. Picking off the opposition as if they were birds to his metaphorical stone-filled hand, those that wish to join in doing his friends harm find their fates sealed- eating the ground one-by-one as their slayer carries on. Nearing the soft turn, Lou watches a rag- the majority of it stuffed into a bottle of rum- catch fire from the lighter an unfamiliar foe holds at its end, joining the container in flying from his hand at the scrambling survivors- all in a mad dash to defend what’s theirs. Finally amidst the home stretch, Lou thrusts his staff upon the skull of one, final adversary before coming to a complete stop, staring out at all corners of the open field with his weapon readied. Shattering upon impact, the makeshift molotov thrust from the possession of one of the enclave’s many nameless figures lights another patch of the campground alight, setting a blaze that lifts to the sky just as the first had. In all directions, men with guns fire into the distance, striking each other almost as often as they themselves are shot- the only choices to make being to either fight or flee as it seems. Acting on his instinct, Lou takes the option that stands before him, marching into the field of battle with one certain target in mind, the man setting fire to a third bottle completely clueless to what approaches him. Setting the pocket lighter down, the well-covered enclave fire-starter prepares to swing his hand back as Lou finally comes into frame- the expression on the arsonist’s face turning into sudden horror before it’s pierced with the end of the man’s staff. Without the time to let his mind linger over the act he’d just committed, the grizzly-faced survivor leaves his rebar weapon in the man’s face and retrieves his molotov, seeking out a small group of those he stands opposed to before hurling it. With screams, his enemies meet the fiery demise their acquaintance had been intending for his people, feeling the flames surround them as the glass shatters- the killer paying their demise no mind. Pressing his boot against the chest of his first killed, Lou retrieves his staff and marches with unwavering confidence, no haste in his step as he simply seeks out his next target- accepting that any step can prove to serve him a surprise end. Continuing to glance in every direction the open grounds afford him, Lou’s eyes soon take to the centre of camp- the flames that gradually light the grass on fire barely illuminating the man that struggles to pick himself up. With a spring, the puzzled survivor sprints from his stoic position and races to the man’s aid, nonchalantly ending the life of another enclave soldier that just happened to be standing in his way before tossing the rebar aside, dropping to his knees to aid the wounded. “Come on, man- get the fuck up!” Lou groans, wrapping his arm around Lee’s back as the camp’s leader lingers on all fours- unable to find the strength to stand once more. “There’s no time! You have to go!” the wounded commander’s voice shouts back, forced up to a simple knee as he leans back at his friend’s guidance, a pair of bullet wounds- one to his chest and another to his midsection- quite easy to make out amidst the heavy blood loss that stains his shirt. “I’m not leaving you behind, motherfucker! Get up!” Lou barks back, paying no mind to the chaos that is waged in his every direction- drowning it out as he attempts to help his friend upright. “Lou, I’m fucking dead!” Lee shouts back, mustering enough strength to shove the man back, losing the ability to stabilise himself as he topples back to the ground, only able to muster enough energy to get by from the adrenaline he takes in the camp’s loss. “Wherever the hell you’re going- I won’t make it there” Lee doubles down, speaking a truth that his friend can’t deny regardless of how much he wishes to, “all you can do now is go.” Gritting his teeth as he looks at the man’s grave injuries, Lou kneels in silence as he shakes his head, trying to bring himself to accept the orders that have been presented to him as he reluctantly reaches over to reclaim his staff. “Where are they?” Lou asks as he releases a heavy breath, the side of his face- and the tired look of exhaustion on his friend’s- basked within the glow of an orange tinge- not put out by the light drizzle. “Theo ignored the signal- he was gonna let the deal go down. Don’t trust him” Lee replies, watching the man’s face sour with confusion, “I know- just don’t. One of your friends must’ve fired the first shot- I don’t know who. Courtney made it out- I don’t know about the rest.” “W- w- w- w- where did they go? Which way?” Lou asks, stuttering as he begins the question before Lee attempts to respond, unable to help as his friend is taken by surprise, stripped from the moment by the same man he’d struck moments before- yet to finish the job. “Ugh!” the slayer grunts, disarmed of his staff as the force of a fist catches him in the side of the head, ringing his bell as he falls to his back- forced to look up at the blood-covered face of his assailant. Only able to make out a scowl, Lou watches the man that stands above him swing the composite boot he wears into his side, striking at his victim’s ribs multiple times over before reaching down. “You and your friends are dead!” the wounded, yet in-control enclave soldier exclaims, picking the dazed, sole-armed survivor off the ground by the collar of his shirt and leading him toward the open inferno. “You don’t get to-!” the vengeful intruder begins to proclaim, cut short by the right hook thrown at him by the man he attempts to kill- both men stumbling back to opposite sides of the field. His scowl having intensified into the look of rage and lit by the fire he stands mere metres away from, the enclave member turns to Lou in a moment of pause, watching his planned-victim prepare for the counterattack that he knows to be around the corner. “You’re gonna regret that!” the enclave soldier growls, balling his hand into a fist before taking a few steps forward, watching Lou match the same posture before suddenly turning his head to the side. “Whoa-!” the man exclaims, stopping in his tracks and turning to the side, his balled fists turning into open palms as he throws his arms forward- almost as if to protect himself from what journeys toward him off to the side. Thrown feet-first, a man hurries in at the last second and thrusts his boots into the soldier’s chest, thrusting him backward and into the belly of the fire that burns- his screams the only thing to be heard as he disappears within the blaze. His face covered in shock, Lou stares at the fire as he watches the man descend into it, unable to look away from the scene he knows the bellows of suffering to emerge from- yet to take notice of the man that quickly comes to his aid. “Holy fuck, that’s one hell of a beard!” Jules shouts at the top of his lungs, taking his friend by the hand and helping him up, the survivor still too shocked to yet process the reunion occurring. “Ju- You’re-” Lou stumbles, his lip quivering as he stares into the eyes of a man he’d once thought was never likely to be seen again, “Jules?” “Lou, duck!” Terry exclaims from the same direction his newly-reunited friend had arrived, met with the same immediate-action he had anticipated- the pair lowering their heads to allow the man to fire his weapon, putting a bullet in the head of a pursuer neither had seen coming. “Lee!” Elsie screams, following Josie as she breaks away from the gunman’s side- hurrying to her friend as he turns onto his back, looking toward the sky with glossy eyes. “Oh shit, dude- that doesn’t look good” Terry remarks, cutting the heart-warming moment short as his attention turns to the camp’s mortally-wounded shot-caller. “No, no! You have to go!” Lee murmurs, speaking through gasps as he holds onto every breath he can capture, pushing away the girls’ hands as they reach down to aid him, “it’s not safe here! You need to go!” “Then get up!” Elsie commands, her orders not only the same as the man that had given them before her- but met with the same reluctance as well. “Lou!” a soft voice calls out, catching the survivor’s attention as he slowly pulls away from Jules’ side, reaching for his staff before looking up to the soul that calls his name. “Marta” the man responds beneath his breath, pulling away from the weapon below as the young woman throws herself into his arm- which wraps around to complete the embrace. Watched on by Terry and Jules as Elsie and Josie begrudgingly wait for Lee to respond to their plea, Lou presses his chin into the small of Marta’s neck as her eyes close tightly, taking in every second of the hug she can enjoy with a smile on her face. “I was so fucking scared you would be-” the woman whispers, her remarks cut short by the man as he holds her tighter, his whisper keeping her from having to finish the thought, “-I’m okay. We’re okay.” A partial smile held in the corner of his mouth as Lee looks toward the emotional reunion before lowering his voice to a near whisper- anything more beginning to hurt worse than his wounds. “Dragging me around is only gonna waste time- you don’t have time” the man whispers to Elsie, placing his hand on the hand that she gently rests against his chest, “I won’t blame you- just go get somewhere safe.” As her lip quivers, Elsie’s eyes begin to fall as she struggles to hold back tears, one of the only men she’d spent every moment since the end of the world with now spending his dying breaths at her helpless hands. “Are you alright?” Marta whispers to the man she slowly pulls away from, looking him in the eyes as he nods his head with certainty. “Yeah, I’m fine- I’m fine.” Lou replies, looking off to the camp’s depths as fires continue to burn. “Guys, we need to go” Terry proclaims, speaking to both sides of the conversations happening at once, making it clear to all involved that the time for departure has arrived. “There’s a path through the woods that leads into Victoria- take it for a few miles and you’ll be in the city” Lee replies, his efforts with good intention- but not needed. “We’re not going to the city, we’re headed to the coast” Elsie retorts, her second hand placed upon the one Lee rests with her, holding it tight as she prepares to bid him her final adieu. “Then go back the way you came and stick to the sides of the trail, they’ll be less muddy and the light will be better” the camp’s leader responds, his breaths slowly becoming more spaced out and hard to come by- his last moments just as near as he’d assumed. “Good luck” Lee whispers to the woman knelt before him, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before sliding it away, freeing her to continue her journey without him from this moment forward. With a nod, Elsie pushes herself off the ground and wipes a tear from her eye, nodding to the man as she follows through with his request- bumping into Josie as she turns back the way she came, steadying her breaths as the rest of the group follows, paying a last look to the dying man as they regroup. Beginning to grow distant as the warring sides take their fighting toward the same coastline they all set their sights upon, the gunfire seemingly begins the process of abandoning the camp- which now slowly consumes the ground just as quickly as bodies have. With his staff in hand and arm wrapped around Marta, Lou follows Jules as Terry walks beside him, patting his friend on the shoulder as Elsie and Josie occupy the front of the convoy- still more to do before they can catch up. = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 = “Ah!” Randal exclaims, his enraged scowl set aside as a bullet rips through the forest and imbeds itself within his shoulder, forcing him to spin around and put pressure on the wound. From one side of the camp, the gunfire that rings out prompts Theo to turn his head back, his aim of the rifle lowered as his eyes take to the confusing scene, surprised by the turn the confrontation takes. “Nobody-!” the man begins to demand, returning his attention to the men that he presides over before finding his orders to be futile, the man who’d held the confidence to question his call rushing to his feet before the command could even start. Cut off, Theo’s hands let the rifle fall to the ground just as he does- struck by the fist of the foremost soldier as his authority is disobeyed- the man responsible for his attack rushing the field to join his leader in combat. Betrayed by his subordinates, Theo holds his jaw as he lays on the ground, watching one pair of boots follow the next in storming past him, refusing to let their true superior fight the consequences alone. Watching the enclave momentarily duck at the sound of gunshots and realising their deal had fallen through, Lee lays his life on the line and accepts what’s about to happen, turning back to Courtney and placing his pistol in her hands. “RUN!” the man screams, spinning the woman around and shoving her forward, forcing her to take off in a sprint before eating two slugs to the back- one ripping through his chest whilst the other tears through his stomach. Immediately floored by the attack, Lee plummets to his knees and hits the ground without an ounce of movement, the two enclave guardsmen responsible for the proceeding shots joining the rest of their peers in combating the forces that now emerge from cover. Ducking behind the men that storm past him, Randal seeks cover in their dash through the grounds, watching their weapons fire at the men and women that now rise from behind the trees before making a call of his own. Now focused on little more than self-preservation, the enclave’s leader dashes into a retreat, hurrying the way he’d come to ensure that he lives to fight another day- allowing his men to sacrifice themselves for his own blood-thirsty quest for revenge to be enacted. Ducking behind the cover of an unfinished building, Courtney sprints to whichever viable plot affords itself to her, turning back when she can to fire a round into those that give her chase. “Courtney, over here!” Sonya exclaims, dashing away from cover before turning her weapon to yet another member of the enclave, pulling the trigger without a moment of hesitation before reuniting with her sister. “Who the fuck fired that!?” Courtney calls out, joining her sister in turning back the way she’d come, keeping their heads low and away from being spotted by those that wish to do them harm. “I did!” Sonya hastily replies, immediately earning the wide-eyed look that her sister gives back, their retreat to safer territory not slowing for anything- even such an admission, “I wasn’t gonna let them take you!” “Over here!” Adrian calls out to the girls, standing near the back of his group as what remains huddles together, his eye lowering to the level of the rifle he fires. “We’re still going to the coast, right!?” Jenn calls out, looking for direction from the man that follows closely behind her, his weapon guided from one side of the camp to the other in search of a threat. “Yeah, as long as-!” Sebastian begins to reply, cut short at the shot of a gunshot- one that forces the group to take cover. “Seb!” Courtney cries out, watching the group disperse to wherever the closest obstruction lays as Sebastian falls to the ground, taken out by the stray bullet that rips through him. Dashing away from the closest safety, the fabled-paramotorist rushes to the aid of the wounded survivor as the enclave member responsible takes notice of her presence, taking aim with his weapon before being put down by a bullet wound of his own- this time courtesy of Adrian. “I’m fine, I’m fine!” Sebastian exclaims, waving the nearing Golden siblings off as he reclaims the weapon that had slipped from his possession and crawls to the picnic table Jenn had set up shop behind. “Where the fuck are we supposed to go!?” Sonya calls out, bracing for impact with each gunshot that rings out closer than the rest, her slowly-evolving adaptation to this cruel world still presenting the kinks of anxiety over the type of scene that now unfolds. Whilst the chaos ensues away from his line of sight, Theo simmers on the ground of his hidden hilltop perch, rolling over to look at the warzone below with a rattled expression. Seething, the camp’s turncoat reclaims his rifle and composes himself, using his anger as a motivation to dive further into the forest, retreating from the battle as he sets his sights upon greater reward elsewhere- following the environment he understands like the back of his hand to greener pastures. “We can still follow the path, we just have to wait this out!” Courtney proclaims, emerging from cover with her gun drawn toward another stray member of the enclave, her finger prepared to pull the trigger before a sudden attack renders her target immobile. Falling to the ground, the subject of the woman’s focus collapses to display the rebar-wielding man responsible for his killing, Lou unknowingly stood a short distance from his friends as he moves onto the next victim. “L-!” Courtney begins to scream, only to fall silent as a bullet tears into the ground a few metres away from her, forcing her to duck back into cover as her father takes the initiative. With his eye to the head of his rifle, Rudy fires a shot in the direction of his daughter’s attempted assassin and narrowly misses- forcing the man to huddle close to the ground for added cover. “If we wait this out, we’ll miss our opening!” Jenn calls back, writing off such a suggestion as unfeasible, “we’ve already got one man wounded, it’ll only be a matter of time before another one bites it!’ Wincing with pain as he presses down on the bullet wound in his left bicep, Sebastian follows the woman’s warning with defence. “Jenn’s right! We went into this knowing what we wanted out of it- now we go get it!” Sebastian exclaims, the rest of his group- even if ideologically opposed to the plan itself- falling in line with his lead. “On the count of three, we’re gonna make a move to get back on the path!” the man proclaims, accepting the pain that comes with every slight movement of his fingers as he readies his rifle to return fire, “keep close together, move as a unit, and leave no stone unturned- got it?” “Got it!” Adrian calls out, lifting his chin toward the air as his voice overcomes the surrounding bombardment, the rest of the group- one after another- doubling down on the man’s lead. “One...” Sebastian calls out, pulling in a deep breath as he lifts the rifle off his lap, Jenn’s eyes falling upon him as she readies herself to follow the man out of cover whilst Rudy presses the back of his head against the stack of cinderblocks he leans against, closing his eyes as he prays to his god. “Two...” the number calls out, its utterance prompting Adrian to look back at the girls that share the same wall for protection as he does, a silent nod given to them as it’s reciprocated with equal assurance. Letting go of the breath that fills his lungs, Sebastian lets the cold touch of the mid-December, British Columbia winter run over his sweaty face, the lift of his rifle across his chest and the planting of his elbow against the table’s seat his only required preparation, “...Three!” Bursting out of cover, the six survivors flock to each other’s side as Adrian fires a shot in the direction of the huddled enclave soldier, his attempted slaying of Courtney proving him to be a threat. With pinpoint accuracy, the bullet connects with the man’s face as he prepares to take aim for a second attempt on the woman’s life, putting him down once and for all. “Where’s Lou!?” Jenn calls out, raising the obvious question before firing another shot off, connecting with her target with ease as the woman closest to the back seeks out an answer. “I can’t see him!” Sonya proclaims, firing another shot of her own at yet another dreaded foe, the bullet missing its target- but buying them time. “Keep moving!” Sebastian orders, squeezing past Jenn and ahead of Rudy, who’d momentarily taken over the front of the group to provide cover as his wounded friend tried to catch up. Firing a second shot at her prior target, Sonya connects with a shot that, whilst seemingly non-fatal, does enough to bring the enemy to the ground. Grunting as he lifts his rifle, Sebastian fires off another round at the back of a soldier that dashes for the camp’s most well-defined exit, bringing him to his knees before killing him with a second round. Lifting his weapon toward a second soldier drawing closer to the exit, Rudy prepares to fire off a round of his own before watching the man’s brains leave through the side he’d intended to fire at- the bullet having come from within the same darkness they seek the embrace of. “Lou!” Terry exclaims, the first to emerge from within the night’s cover in search of his friend, unknowingly sprinting past the man’s group on his way further into the camp. “Terry!” Jenn exclaims, sprinting ahead of the rest of her coalition as the rest of her lost group soon reunite. “Jenn!” Jules shouts aloud, the first to follow Terry through the camp’s opening as time for reunion clearly dwindles. “I see him!” Terry suddenly barks, pointing in the direction of an open fire as Jules’ eyes turn away from his long-lost friend- breaking out into a sprint toward the same inferno that captures his friend’s eye. “Dad, keep going- we’ll get Lou!” Marta shouts, able to spot her group before they have the chance to do the same, following Elsie and Josie into the same camp her closest allies seek refuge from. “Honey-!” Adrian exclaims, slowing momentarily to call out for his daughter, who fails to hear his plea for her pause as she continues dashing into the line of danger, his own stutter ending as suddenly as it started. Gritting his teeth before nodding to himself with confidence, the father turns back to the rest of his friends and waves his hand forward, ordering them to keep moving. “She’ll handle it, let’s go!” Adrian barks, accepting his daughter’s declaration and putting his trust in Lou’s teaching to pay off- recognising her progression as a survivalist and opting to put his faith in it. Their only reason to pause now handled, the group resumes their retreat and ventures onward, leaving behind the other half of their peers as they embrace the unknown path forward, united with their only intention being to move on and turn the page to a new chapter. | “Are they okay?” Lou asks, jogging alongside Marta as he follows the rest of his group to the coastline- able to make out the hint of moonlight that squeaks through the storm clouds to kiss the chilled waves and glisten beneath the empty night. “They were all together when I passed them” the young woman replies, keeping a tight grasp of the switchblade that she swings at her side with the back-and-forth motion of her arm. “Should we keep an eye out for any of these people?” Josie calls back, able to speak through the air as it seemingly quiets, most of the gunfire having ceased as the majority of the two groups have set their sights on what comes next. “I don’t mean try to look for, just to be clear” the woman reiterates looking past her shoulder to direct her words toward the close-knit pair following all the way toward the back, “is there anyone we should keep an eye on?” “Josie, there’s a time and place for that shit” Jules proclaims, speaking through bated breaths as he continues running, not a single survivor breaking away from the pack as the seaside appears closer. “Like I said- just Theo” Lou calls back, finally able to see the wet sand that separates the forest from the shoreline- the cold water that borders it on the other side left to host a number of boats still left unaccounted for- those that opted to escape the island having departed well before. “Lower your weapons!” Sebastian exclaims, sat on one of the seats to a moderately sized watercraft as Sonya presses a bandage against his wound with pressure. “They’re here!?” Adrian calls back, having taken a seat behind the boat’s wheel as he turns back, watching his daughter, her closest friend and a small group of their fellow survivors emerge from behind the cover of the forest. Disembarking the vessel for a moment, Jenn braces against the cold waters as Elsie and Josie are the first to enter it, their arms opening to welcome the embrace that she meets them with. Stepping ahead of Marta as he pulls apart for just a moment to reach for a rifle that lays unattended in the sand, Lou follows Terry and Jules into the frosty ocean, staring at the reflection of himself that he can barely make out when the group that had waited for him break out into a collective shout. “Shut up! All of you- shut up!” Theo exclaims from behind the man, his voice immediately prompting Lou to turn back with a look of confusion. “Lou, get the fuck back here!” the man- whose inaction was responsible for the extent of the damage that had ensued- calls back, one arm wrapped around Marta’s throat as his other holds the barrel of a pistol against the side of her head. “Woah, Theo- hold on!” Lou exclaims, extending his arm at the moment of recognising the threat that’s posed, the rebar staff held outward at the man he tries to keep from acting more irrationally than he had to this point. “Shut up and get over here!” Theo commands, spit flying from his lip as he shouts at the man that willingly gives into his demands, a cooperative posture taken as his once-friend attempts to reason with him. “Everyone lower your weapons- we don’t need to lose anyone else tonight!” Lou calls out to his friends- those both aboard the ship and still in the water- as he cautiously approaches the unruly gunman. “Let’s all calm down and think about the decisions we’re about to make” the threatened survivor pleads, watching the worried look on Marta’s face stare at him with hopeful eyes, her trust in him to keep her safe from the harm that looms over her unwavering. “We’ve dealt with bigger fish than this, so- whatever’s going on- it’s something we’ll all get through together” Lou continues, carefully stepping back onto solid ground as his unreasonable friend backs away, “-just like we always have.” Shaking his head, Theo visibly refuses the man’s words of encouragement, keeping half of his attention aimed at the people aboard the ship as he stands firm in the choice he’s made. “We’ve known each other for our entire lives and you’ve known these people for, like- a fucking month” Theo spouts with vigour, his face scrunched with anger as he sways forward and back with the girl still at his gunpoint, “and yet- whenever you had the chance- you went to them.” “I never chose them over you, Theo” Lou quickly replies, met with the man’s refusal of such notion with equal haste. “You’ve chose them at every fucking turn!” Theo screams back, prompting Marta’s eyes to squeeze shut in an effort to regain her composure as he presses the barrel against her head harder, “and at every fucking turn- every... fucking... turn...- you just keep getting closer to them, and farther away from me.” “So that’s what this is about?” Lou asks, speaking calmly as he nods his head, leaning it toward his left side as he shrugs his shoulders, “you think I don’t care about you anymore or something?” “It’s about you leaving me behind!” Theo shouts back, his trigger-grazing finger shaking with the rest of his trembling hand as he leans forward, “I’ve lost everything since you brought these people back with you! Lee’s trust, your friendship, the people I’ve spent every day after getting shot off the Euronam with- everything!” “And that’s my fault?” Lou replies, turning his outward-extended hand back toward himself as his voice lowers with his head, almost curious to know if that’s the point being made. “You’re saying I sent you into this spiral ‘cause I- what?- made some friends?” “I’m saying you’re all I had left” Theo replies, lowering his own voice to match that of Lou’s own, each word they speak barely able to be heard by the men and women about their waterbound ticket to a new start. “When I found you in those woods, I had hope” the man continues, his hold on Marta remaining as tight as it had been when he’d subdued her- if not tighter, “Lee and I- before you came, we figured it was over. Everyone- all of them- gone.” Remaining silent, Lou’s expression softens as he subtly creeps forward, closing the distance between himself, the hostage and her captor, all whilst letting his friend continue to vent. “But then I found you out in those woods. For the first time since Lee brought me on board, I had actual hope” Theo proceeds, rolling his eyes and rolling his head as he stares off toward the sky whilst he speaks, “I found a friend- one I never thought I’d see again. I thought maybe it was a sign.” Feeling the motion of her captor’s head, Marta parts her eyelids with hopes of capturing whatever look she can at the man, grasping her switchblade tighter with full understanding of the risk her implicating manoeuvre poses. Passing a look toward Lou as the man behind her continues to speak, the young woman prepares to take her chance before glancing toward the finger her mentor subtly lifts from his staff, quelling her intentions upon its gentle sway of refusal. Her lips pressing into a frown, Marta takes the man’s signal for what it requests and gives up on the hopes of catching her detainer by surprise. “And even though Halston wasn’t with her, I figured coming back with Jenn was just the icing on top- and it was” Theo continues, too caught up in his own monologue to recognise the subdued advancement of his friend as he continues, “but what happened when I realised that reunion I’d given up on was actually coming true?” “Tell me” Lou replies, interjecting his own voice to make sure the man he slowly approaches knows that deaf ears aren’t where his words are taken toward. “No, go on- tell me” the man doubles down, not wanting to appear ingenuine by cowering to the man’s actions, believing it to be out of character in ways more dangerous than what unfolds now. “You were gonna leave” Theo finally replies, listening to the faint shuffling of water as the rest of his true friends hop out of the bitter Strait. “Yeah, to go get our friends back” Lou replies, almost immediately earning the shake of vehement refusal from his friend-turned-adversary, “and then we were coming right back here.” “Not until you found out these people were coming- not when you realised this place was gonna be attacked” Theo replies, licking his lips as the cold air begins to chap them, “that’s when you decided to attack them and steal their boats.” “Yes, and bring everyone with us” Lou replies, continuing to maintain his facade as he continues his slow approach, the words he uses however- they don’t lack in genuinity. “Theo, the others made every point you could ask for! All it takes is one bad harvest and people starve. And when you can’t scavenge anymore, you can’t go to where the food is ‘cause you can’t get off the island!” the man hastily adds on, “come on, Theo- think with your head!” “That’s not the point! The point is- the second you had any doubt that the island could be a permanent home- you would never choose to stay!” Theo retorts, his voice raising into a yell as his friend rolls his eyes, “I know you, Lou! This camp- and everyone in it- always came second to your little friends here. It didn’t matter that those pansies refused to accept the fact that they couldn’t fucking hack it, the point was- they came first!” Turning his sights onto Marta, Theo’s eyes fill with rage as he glances toward the weapon he wields, the distance between himself and Lou still far enough for him to pull the trigger cleanly. “I see that look in your eyes” Lou remarks, prompting his new-enemy to look at him with a sadistic scowl, the calmness in his friend’s voice somehow more angering than when it’s amplified through a yell. “Of all the people you have a problem with, it’s Marta that’s got your riled up the most” Lou quips, a statement that the angered gunman refuses to argue against. “It’s not even necessarily because she does something the others don’t, it’s because- when you think of the others- she’s the first person that comes to mind” the one-armed soldier explains, opening his hand to drop his rebar staff in the sand, disarming himself as he draws closer. “Let me remind you that this war- everything that happened at the camp back there- is your fault” Lou adds, taking on the full weight of Theo’s stare as he steps closer, his freed hand still held out in an unimposing way. “Whatever your thoughts about Lee are don’t matter- he’s dead. He’s dead, and you killed him. So, if I’m such a bad guy for betraying you, doesn’t that make you just as bad?” the man continues to ask, “he trusted you, and you chose to stab him in the back.” Remaining silent in lieu of a dignified retort, Theo continues to watch Lou speak, one eye squinted farther than the other as Marta returns to readying the blade in her hand, waiting for the same opportunity she’d expect her mentor to anticipate. “If you’re gonna try to kill Marta for what I did, then who has to die for what you did, huh?” Lou dares to question, his head subtly tilting to one side as he steps even closer. “Is it Jenn? Does she have to die for your discretion?” the man asks, prompting the gunman to glance in the direction of the aforementioned lady whose presence had once certified his hope, her feet dangling off the edge of the boat she sits at the cusp of, watching the situation unfold just as the rest. “Maybe Terry or Jules? Elsie or Josie?” Lou proceeds to ask, the foursome- some kneeling whilst the rest stand- remaining by Jenn’s side as their names are mentioned, “do any of them have to die for it?” Looking toward their direction with his nostrils flaring, Theo listens to his friend continue to speak with captivated ears. “No, of course not ‘cause they’re not why you have a problem with me” the handicapped negotiator continues, “-it’s the others you hate, right?” Glancing back as he points toward the boat, the disarmed peacekeeper continues to devolve the conversation into a battle of accusations- challenging a dart to be thrown at the metaphorical board. “How about Rudy or Sonya?” Lou asks further, Theo’s eyes joining him in spotting the father and daughter stood closest to Sebastian’s side, “I mean, they’re the pansies that can’t hack it according to you- are they the ones that need to kick the bucket?” Remaining silent as he seethes, Theo continues to entertain his friend’s game as the upper hand remains within his possession. “I mean, if your actions are anything to go by, it seems like Courtney’s the one that has to go” Lou continues onward, the woman in question remaining stood firmly by the side of her remaining family, watching as intently as the rest of the group does, “if you’re willing to sacrifice your own damn friend, what more would putting her down do, right?” Taking a glance toward the ground, Theo continues to register the words that the conversation’s only other proponent wages before they begin again. “I mean, fuck it- Sebastian, Adrian, Marta- they’d all have bought the farm if you got your way, that point really doesn’t seem to be important anymore, does it?” Lou finally concludes, reaching the ultimate destination his remarks had intended to reach, reclaiming the undivided attention of his enemy. “The answer is none of them. It’s none of them, and it shouldn’t be. None of them should be who you point that gun at- Marta included” Lou declares, nodding to the man as a smirk comes over his face, “and do you want to know why, Theo? It’s because your problem isn’t with them, your problem is with me.” Furrowing his eyebrows, Theo looks his friend in the face as he extends his arm and a half outward, the only palm he has to present provided in full view. “You’ve done all of this now. You’ve got no camp, you’ve got no people, and you’ve got no hope” Lou proclaims, passing a smile toward the woman his every word intends to secure the safety of, “that gun should be pointed at me because- if anyone’s gonna have to die for your actions- it should be me.” Pulling back slightly, Theo’s face eases as he turns his sights away from the girl within his reach, gently pulling the barrel away from her head for the first time since capturing her. “As much as you hate to admit it, you know I’m right” Lou tacks on, reclaiming Theo’s attention as he keeps the barrel within millimetres from the woman’s head, the slight retreat of his weapon more than enough to prove to the once-star of the Euronam’s pit that his words have met their target. In silence, the deranged provocateur splits his sights from the woman at his hand to the man at his mercy, eventually setting his beady pupils upon his chosen target. Refusing to part for even the briefest declaration, Theo’s lips remain as steady as his aim does, moving away from Marta’s head with its ultimate target in full sight. Collectively calling out for a stop to the man’s motion, the group upon the getaway cruiser are helpless but to watch on as what is meant to unfold does so. Relinquishing his possession of her, Theo lets Marta fall from his grasp without realising what he’s allowed to unfold. Picking her spot at the faintest sign of it, the newly-freed survivor twists her body around and drives her blade into the gunman’s chest. *pop* With the instinctive squeeze of his trigger, Theo’s sights are taken elsewhere as his weapon slips from within reach and falls into the sand he soon tumbles backward into. Covering his face as the gunshot rings out, Lou feels sand shoot against his side as the stray bullet imbeds itself within the earth. “Ah, you f-” the wounded survivor cries out, tumbling back as he trips over the same rifle that had afforded him the opportunity to kickstart the showdown that now results in his turn of fate. Ripping the blade out of his pec as he presses down on the wound, Theo pushes himself off the ground behind the shot of adrenaline that courses through his veins as his advancement is halted before it can even begin- the barrel of his weapon now taken toward him at the hand of his best friend. With a stoic expression, Lou turns his eyes away from Theo and looks to the woman beside him, her unscathed appearance presenting him with enough reassurance to set sights back toward the man in question. Cornered and left with nowhere to turn, the bleeding combattant lets out a sigh and drops the knife with his head hung, not a word to share as the sudden loss of said adrenaline prompts him to fall to his knees. “Go back to the boat” Lou softly calls out to Marta, able to feel her stare take to him as he makes his orders known, “I’ll be on in a second, just get on the boat and get ready to leave.” Pausing for a moment, the woman in question looks back to the man that had threatened to end her life before following through with what’s asked of her, turning around to leave as her mentor prepares to take care of what he readies himself to leave behind. Closing his eyes, Theo keeps his head away from the man he listens to the approaching footsteps of, aware of what’s about to happen and accepting of it. “I’m not wrong” the man- whose sentencing has already taken place- mutters beneath his breath. “Yes, you were” Lou replies quickly, only to watch the man’s head shake in refusal as he doubles down on the claim. “I’m not talking about them, I’m talking about you” Theo responds in a sombre voice, the sweat glistening over his forehead and responsible for soaking his hair, which falls over his face as he finally looks up to his executioner. “You’re a good guy Lou, but you’re your own worst enemy” the man continues to speak, staring past the barrel of the gun that stares him in the face, shrugging his shoulders as he makes the declaration he knows will prove to be important. “Those people back there are gonna get themselves caught up in some deep shit, and when Lou comes to save the day-” the man quips, frowning as he clicks his tongue and meets the man hovering over him with a defeated grin, “-well, that’s when it comes back to bite him- doesn’t it?” Meeting his friend with silence, Lou stares into the eyes of a man he once thought he’d known but, as times have changed, became more than he’d seen before. “We both know you’d be willing to die for them just like you were willing to die for us, so- since we both know they’re gonna be the thing that gets you killed, I’ve got to ask-” Theo questions aloud as he shakes his head in bewilderment, “-what happened to you? What is it about them that makes them worth that?” His emotionless face soon touched by the gesture of acceptance, Lou’s eyes take toward the woodlands that serve as the backdrop to his intended action whilst his lips part, answering the question he believes Theo still deserves the dignity of getting an answer to. “I-” the man murmurs, lifting his eyebrows as he shrugs his shoulders, the rain continuing to pelt the pair as he looks back down, the content visage he now wears lending his answer all the credence it needs, “-I got attached.” As his answer is given, Theo’s face eases in the answer that’s provided, which only certifies his own theories that had been crafted along the way as his eyes shut, bracing for the moment that begins with the pistol’s barrel pressing against his forehead. “Good luck, Lou” the man speaks softly as a cold gust of wind wraps through the air, its faint whistle the final sound that separates his well wishes from his friend’s response. *pop* == RISE and REVOLT == “Get me a radio” Randal orders, pressing the palms of his hands against the windshield of his vessel, staring out at the waters ahead as the man beside him steers forward. The only other man aboard the boat, a slender young gentleman with a buzzcut and a long sleeve shirt races to the back of the ship, retrieving the handset from a toolbox and handing it off to his superior, not a word uttered beyond his response of ‘yes, sir’ at the order.
Pressing his thumb to a bright, red button, Randal presses his lips close to the microphone as the massive, tree-covered island across the Strait he travels looms closer, the daylight continuing to burn as night nears close. “Whichever one of the boats that’s furthest behind the rest, do me a favour and turn back toward the girl’s island” the man requests, “I know we’ve already checked, but I want people standing by in case she- or anyone else- decides to set sail for it.” At the helm of a much larger boat, a pale man with a bright, red beard reaches for the same radio that sits upon the desk closest to him. “I’ll set course for it right now, sir” the man responds, ultimately forced to switch the conversation, “and my radio is beginning to die- so if any of us don’t answer, it’s ‘cause the thing’s on the charger.” “Note taken” Randal responds, ending the dialogue there without another word, the man behind the wheel continuing to keep the vessel forward as he gazes out at the view ahead, gathering a mental note of his surroundings before adjusting the boat’s direction. With the flicking of a few switches, the bearded captain steps away from his wheel, rounding the nearest corner to descend further into the ship, the talkie still in hand as he approaches a closed door. Reaching out for the handle, the captain pauses for a moment as the hairs on his arms stand at attention, taking notice of the curious sound that originates behind him. Though initially sceptical at what his ears had convinced him of, the man listens to his surroundings before hearing an additional step be taken, almost as if he’d been followed. Remaining still for a moment, the man continues to keep his face straight as his hand slowly lowers to his side- lips parting as he attempts to speak. “Don’t say a word” Terry commands in a low voice, pressing what feels like a barrel against the back of the unnamed captain’s head. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore than you want to hur-” the weapon-wielding man begins to speak, trying to reason with the man under the guise of a merciless killing, only for his remark to be cut short as the vessel’s controller turns around with a weapon of his own. Taking a small pistol into his own possession, the jacktar turns to face his potential assailant, pointing the barrel of his weapon toward the man before falling unconscious- struck in the face with a copper pipe. “Fuck!” Terry grunts, listening to the pistol fall to the ground with the rest of his enemy, taking a glance at the weapon he holds in his possession with a disappointed gleam in his eye, “why was I convinced he’d think this was a gun?” Elsewhere aboard the ship- subtly turning the knob to a dark room- Elsie passes a glance at Josie, who kneels close to the ground directly beside her- intentions set on entering a completely different room. “Make it quick and don’t let them feel a thing” the blonde woman whispers, watching her friend nod as she creeps into the dark bedroom, following the same strategy as each other. For a few seconds, the hallway and the rooms to each of its sides remain quiet, as silent as the day that quickly begins to burn into night, still met with the same light drizzle from the heavens above as most days seem to be. With a sudden pair of grunts, the sound of visceral attacks emanate from either end of the lavish, oakwood-panelled walls each room sits within, the gross struggle of metal ripping free from bone and flesh proceeding the girls’ return to each other’s company. “That was a lot messier than I thought it would be” Elsie remarks, her hands covered in fresh blood whilst simple splatters of the substance stain Josie’s. Without another word, the girls turn around to shut the doors on their way out, returning the way they’d arrived with their ends of the job finished. Stood atop the crow’s nest, a man in a toque and long-sleeved sweatshirt watches the choppy waters ahead, his face struck with the harsh winds of winter as just the destination ahead takes his mind away from what he knows his peers to be amidst. Simply waiting for the day to pass, the man takes no account for the ladder that leads to his elevated position, the oversight he’s meant to provide completely undelivered to him as Jules silently ascends to his level. “You seem too young to want to die like this” the gunman speaks aloud, prompting the unsuspecting young shipman to spin around in shock, eyes immediately noticing the gun that points at him. “Don’t say a word and we can both make it out of this alive, alright?” Jules proceeds to wonder, not wishing to end a life in order to save others if the chance presents itself. Frightened and concerned, the young man presses his lips together and nods- both hands held in the air as his fate’s keeper looks to him with a slight satisfaction. “Alright. Now, what you’re gonna do is- walk past me, climb down that ladder, and lay on the ground- alright?” Jules inquires, aware of the risk he’s taking whilst being willing of the consequences it provides. “Okay” the young man responds, appearing more than pleased to oblige to what’s requested of him. Nodding to himself, Jules takes in a deep breath and leans against the bannister to the side, allowing the younger man to step past him without issue and follow through with what’s demanded of him. Careful not to step out of line, the ship’s overseer slowly steps up to the ladder and turns his back to it, kept at gunpoint as he appears to lower himself to the nest’s floor. To the effect he desired, the unnamed young man’s ploy works to fruition, allowing him to dive across the nest and collide with the tempter of his life, knocking the firearm from his hand and to the deck below. “Captain! We’re under attack!” the early-twenties man bellows from high above, throwing his hands forward with hopes of shoving his hijacker over the rail, a fierce resistance put up by the man who’d now been placed on defence. Throwing his head forward, Jules cracks his skull against the man’s own, knocking him back into the pole that occupies the platform’s centre, dazing both fighters involved as a momentary lapse breaks the altercation in two. The first to regain his mind, Jules lunges forward, taking his opposition by the collar and attempting to push him around the nest’s divider, unable to do so as his foe holds on for dear life. “What’s going up there!?” Elsie calls out, her voice unfamiliar to the young man, who- in a lapse of judgement- reproduces his cries for assistance. “Help! We’re-!” he exclaims, turning his head to face the voice’s direction before losing his grip, shoved against the railing before bouncing forward, lunging at Jules before a second strike puts an end to the brawl. At the might of his foot, Jules thrusts a kick into the young man’s abdomen and shoves him toward the open end of the platform, no guard rail set up to prevent him from toppling over. From the heavens and with nothing to spare him, the young man’s body falls recklessly over the edge and craters to the deck as Elsie and Josie watch from mere metres away. To the sound of shattered bounds and ungodly wails of pain, the girl’s promptly stare away from the mangled body that slams into the ground before their feet, screaming in bewilderment as they spin around in horror. Screaming with the fear of a man whose bones pierce through skin with the wherewithal to understand what’s happening, the young man remains living on the boat’s front deck, the sight of his grizzly-wounded body provoking a guttural response from Josie. “What the actual fucking fuck, Jules!?” Elsie screams in disgust as she looks toward the distance, her friend immediately turning around to throw up as the man above regains his composure. In silence, Jules drags himself off the platform after a few moments and descends the ladder, still listening to the lamentation of his victim- who remains scattered along the ground, the inhumane pain he exists within not phasing the man responsible for it in the slightest. Hurrying away from the scene, Josie rushes into the nearest confines as Elsie keeps her eyes from the horrific scene before her, watching Jules calmly stroll across the desk to retrieve his weapon. “What the fuck happened up there!?” the woman screams, begging for a reply as Jules recaptures the pistol, calmly returning to his victim’s side to put an end to the appalling screams with the pull of a trigger. *pop* “Nothing” Jules responds, too exasperated to be phased by the wounds that now die as quickly as his victim does, following Josie further into the cabin as Elsie does the same- mainly out of horror at the scene she’d otherwise be left with. Throwing the captain’s body out of the nearest window, Terry redirects his attention toward the direction his victim had been heading in, turning the door’s knob to enter a sight he hadn’t yet expected. Stood before the body of a man with a stab wound to the jugular, Marta looks up at Terry’s sudden arrival with her hand shaking- her eyes having been set upon the man laid before her feet up until his emergence from the door’s other end. “I- I-” Marta murmurs, her lip quivering as she looks back to the ground for a moment, registering the act she’d committed as she looks up, “-I’ve never killed someone before.” Letting the pipe he’d readied in his hand fall to the side, Terry cautiously steps the rest of the way into the room, patting the girl on the shoulder as his teeth press together, almost as if he despised having to admit what he says. “Unfortunately-” Terry begins to say, looking the visibly-shaken girl in the face as a look of guilt comes over his own, “-you get used to it.” = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 = “Are you crazy!?” Rudy exclaims, his eyes wide as his hands extend outward at each side, the expression held toward the leader of the camp he calls home for the time being, “surely you’re not too young to understand the phrase ‘live to fight another day’, right!?” With his arms crossed, Sebastian shakes his head with a hesitant expression, his head turning toward Lee just as the rest of his group’s- minus a few exceptions- do. “I don’t always see eye-to-eye with Rudy, but he has a point here, Lee-” the man remarks, uncoupling one hand from around his bicep to direct it toward the distance, “you’ve built camp here, there’s no reason you can’t build it elsewhere.” In vehement refusal of all alternatives, Lee’s foot sinks into the ground he stands upon as his head shakes. “I’m not leaving. We’re not leaving” the camp’s leader responds, “you can do what you want- stay or go, it doesn’t matter- we’re fighting.” “Make that declaration all you want- it won’t end well” Sebastian replies, not needing to understand the complexities of the apocalypse in order to recognise common sense. “There are too many of these guys- and they have too many guns- for you to keep this place up” Courtney replies, doubling down in the corner of what most perceive to be sensical, “if you stay here, you- and all of these people- will die.” “Well you leave me no choice” Lee responds, shaking his head as his shoulders shrug, “you started this thing with them, and you brought them to our door. If this is gonna get us killed, so be it- that’s on your shoulders.” Grimacing as she nods her head, Courtney redirects her sights toward the other end of the corner as Adrian interjects himself into the conversation. “I don’t care what call you guys make, I’m not dying here” the man responds, “my daughter’s not coming back to nothing.” “Who said your daughter was coming back to begin with?” Theo quips from beside his superior, immediately lighting a fire within the father unlike anything the group had seen in recent days. “What the fuck did you just say!?” Adrian shouts, storming forward as Sebastian and Rudy step in his line of sight, holding him back from progressing forward as the camp’s leader steps ahead, acting as the final pillar in the man’s path toward the leader of his army. “Good-fucking-lord, knock it off with the hostility you douchebags!” Jenn exclaims, stepping away from the back of the group to stand between the two opposing sides, “we’re all at risk here! Let’s act like we’re on the same fucking side!” “We’re not on the same side if it involves us all throwing ourselves in the line of fire for a suicide mission” Sonya responds, her arms crossed as she voices her preference to the side the rest of her group falls on. “If those fucks are coming back for my sister, we’re not staying here” the practicing medical worker proclaims, putting her own voice into the discussion with a newfound confidence in her remarks, “I don’t have to like what’s outside to know it’s better than certain death.” “And that’s exactly what it is- certain death!” Rudy shouts, joining his daughter’s opposition to the idea as Lee shrugs, shaking his head with his arms still crossed. “Like I said- you can all leave if you want to” the man declares, doubling down as he mentally prepares for the worst, in the obvious minority that he shares only with one other man- thus far. “Well, then we’re leaving” Adrian replies, pulling away from his peers as he takes a seat upon his daughter’s vacant bed, throwing one foot into a boot as the rest of the group talks amongst themselves. “We’ll leave, but it doesn’t need to stop at that” Sebastian replies, assuring his friend- though he doesn’t yet know how loosely he can use that term with Marta’s father- that such a direction has been agreed upon by most, “Lee, you’re a sensible guy. Think about how this ends.” “It ends in the way it has to” the camp’s leader responds, clearly refusing to budge from the stance he’s opted to take, “we built this camp and we’re gonna defend it- to the death.” Letting out a sigh, Sebastian rolls his eyes and turns his face away, his place of trying to reason with both sides of the argument taken over by their newest addition. “Lee, you know they’re out there waiting for us” Jenn explains, looking the man in the eyes as he remains silent, more willing to listen to her than the majority of the camp. “I already know you gave up hope a while ago, but you know they’re out there for sure now!” the once-leader of a group they’re bound for a reunion with pleads, “for god’s sake, if you want a permanent home- make one with all of us back together!” “That’s not the point, Jenn” Lee replies, his stance remaining stoic and unbroken, “they may be out there now, but this is still our home. We barely got this place in a good enough position to live in, and we still have to resort to theft. At some point, there’ll be nothing left to steal, and when that happens- we can’t be in a place where we’re rebuilding all over again.” “You don’t have to” Jenn replies, stepping ahead of the rest of her new assortment of people to rejoin the presence of an older acquaintance, both Lee and Theo trying to hear her out. “There are better places then out in the mountains of an island that doesn’t offer you anything once the supplies run out” the woman proceeds onward, trying to display his future as grim regardless of the altercation’s outcome, “what happens when another avalanche hits? Or when the terrain gets too bad?” “Or what happens when a freeze comes over and you’ve got nothing for heat?” Sebastian adds, only further strengthening Jenn’s case. “And what happens when your farm doesn’t produce enough to get you through the winter? You can only expand so far out here” Courtney speaks, only continuing to provide sources of doubt, “all it takes is one bad crop yield and you’re fucked. There’ll be nothing to scavenge and no way to grow more. There’s a reason no one farms out here.” “Add that to the fact that- after a few years- you won’t have any way off the island” Jenn proceeds, “gas will go bad, boats will become impossible to service, and you’ll be forced to starve out here.” Bowing his head, Lee takes the points made into consideration as Theo peers off into the distance, thinking to himself in silence just as his leader does- both of their faces soon coming to the same realisation as each other. “There’s no way off the island to begin with” Lee remarks, finally looking back up as he takes the cons into effect, unable to write them off when confronted by them, “even if we wanted to pick up shit and book it, there’s nowhere to run.” Letting out a sigh, Jenn takes her turn to lower her chin, one hand planted on her hip as the other lets the nails on her finger scratch at the side of her head. “Not necessarily” Lou mutters just loud enough for the rest of the tent to overhear, not a single eye left turned away from his direction as his voice finally introduces itself to the conversation. With the rebar staff to his side, the battle-hardened survivor looks up from the ground where his eyes had been stationed to take his place between each argument made. “The others are right, there’s no point in dying when the hill you’re going out on isn’t even at level ground” Lou explains, locking eyes with Lee as he speaks, “and if you cared about these people as much as you claim, you’d know it’s better to protect them than it is to get them killed fighting some pointless war.” His sights fully set on the man that speaks to him, the ground’s leader concedes his position to the man he knows to be right- tongue pressing against the corner of his mouth. “However, you’re also right that there’s no solution to the other problems at hand- there’s no way off the island-” Lou explains, receiving a nod from both Lee and Theo whilst the rest of his group sits in agreement. “-at least, not yet.” Tempted and intrigued, those that occupy the tent wait for the man to continue speaking, invested in the picture he’s painted thus far. “As far as I’m concerned, if we take care of these asshats- we get their boats” Lou responds, almost immediately met with reluctance from the other side of the room. “I thought we’ve been over this- fighting is pointless” Adrian remarks, tightening the laces on his second boot before standing up, turning his sights toward the conversation’s newly-appointed spokesman with equal hopes of a response as the rest of the group. “Not if we can force them into surrender” Lou responds, leaving his seat as he turns his attention to Courtney, head lowering as his eyes set upon her. “The last shipment these pricks brought you- some of them were guns, right?” the man inquires, met with the same response he’d anticipated. “Yeah, they brought in a few rifles and pistols” Courtney answers, crossing her arms as she steps out from the crowd, “it’s not enough to win a fight like this, though.” Pressing his lips together as he shakes his head, Lou steps away from his possession and draws closer to Theo, “it doesn’t have to be” the man responds, placing his eyes upon his long-time friend, “all it needs to be is enough to force them into surrender.” “I thought they outnumbered and out-gunned us?” Rudy questions aloud, prompting the man he speaks for the attention of to turn back toward him. “Even if so, if we can surround them in all directions- it should be enough to take out at least a majority of them-” Lou replies, shrugging his shoulders as his head shakes, “-at least enough of them to even the odds.” “And we’re supposed to expect them- when they come knocking for our heads- to just walk in peacefully without firing a single shot?” Adrian chirps back, refusing to believe such an outcome to be possible. “It is if we make peace with them” Lou retorts, his back now turned to the pair of men at the top of the food chain as far as the camp’s hierarchy is concerned, “if we explain the misunderstanding- let them walk through without bloodshed for something they want- they will.” “And what do you think they’ll-?” Rudy begins to ask aloud, the opening utterance of his question prompting Lou’s eyes to take from Courtney’s father to his own daughter, the silent stare they share serving as more than enough to get their point across. “I’m down” Courtney replies, staring directly back at the one-armed survivor she’d come to the defence of countless times, recognising the plan he’s presenting and trusting in him enough to put herself in harm’s way for it. “If I explain to them that Marta went out of her own volition and make it seem like there’s more reason for me to betray you instead of them- they’ll walk in without a fight” Lou explains, turning his attention back to his best friend, “and when they come to collect Courtney, Theo will have everyone in the camp- all armed with a weapon of their own- out of the woodworks to surround them. They’ll either surrender or be gunned down where they stand, end of story.” “End of story!? Hell no, it’s not end of story!” Rudy exclaims, immediately voicing his disapproval in the plan for reasons beyond obvious, “I don’t care what she agrees to- I’m not letting my daughter get put in the line of fire!” “You don’t have a choice, dad” Courtney retorts, letting her hands fall to each side as the rest of the group sits in silence, both Theo and Lee considering the option they’re presented with. “One way or another, we’ll have them dead to rights. If they chose to fight, we may lose some people- but your plan ends with that anyway, Lee” Jenn explains, her support thrown like the weight of a truck in favour of the only plan reasonable enough to pay off, “if Courtney’s willing, I’m not gonna argue.” “I don’t understand how you keep expecting me to warm up to this world when you keep putting my family in danger for it!” Rudy barks, spit flying from his lip as anger consumes him. “How about I put it to you this way- if these guys choose to go out firing shots, guess who’s caught at the centre of it?” the man shouts, waiting for a voice to speak up from amidst his hostility, “it’s not you!” he shouts at Lou, “-or you” he screams toward Jenn, “you don’t have to deal with it if things go south!” Bowing his head, Sebastian reacts visibly in the same way Lou rejoins mentally, accepting the point for the truth that it holds, joining the rest of the group in surprise as an unexpected voice speaks out in refusal. “Then I’ll stand in the middle with her” Lee interjects, throwing his life on the line for the same plan he’d nearly written off, “Lou will tell them the camp’s on a mission to find a new home, and I made a deal with him to hand her over. I’ll be right there when they show.” “Lee, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Theo asks, gently shoving his superior’s shoulder to earn his attention, the response he gets only souring the man behind him. “Protecting my people like I should be” Lee retorts, looking the man in the eyes as he doubles down on his oath, “if things go down, I’ll put myself in harm’s way too. If one of us goes down, so will the other.” “Are you serious!?” Rudy exclaims in utter disbelief, rolling his eyes as they dart from one side of the room to the other, only to veer back the way they came, “why the hell are you all so fixated on this!? We could all go up the coast- up to the place Adrian’s brother-in-law has on Swartz Bay- and not throw our lives on the line for something that’s much more likely to go south! All for what?- a couple boats and a rinky-dink camp in the middle of the mountains!?” “Rudy, we can’t stay here forever” Jenn responds, almost instantly finding herself interrupted by the sound of the man’s voice, his declaration finding more truth than the rest of the group cares to admit. “Yes, we can! The only reason you’re in favour of it is to meet up with a bunch of people that no one else- a few of us excluded- have ever met in our lives!” Rudy decries, “that’s what you’re risking my daughter’s life for! To help those two find their pals!” pointing at the obvious duo. Met with reluctance, Rudy peers through the crowd to set his sights on the only other man he believes would agree with him. “Adrian- if this plan had Marta in the middle of this instead of Courtney, are you telling me you’d be in favour of it?” the man calls out, prompting the rest of the group to dejectedly turn their faces toward the same man they’d labelled as everything from ‘friend’ to ‘murderer’. Peering across the camp for a moment in silence, Adrian looks at Rudy as the rest of the tent’s inhabitants veer their eyes toward him, his attention only set on being offered toward one man- his figure stood nearest Lee and Sebastian. With doubtful eyes, Lou looks back to the same man he’d taken the fall for, hoping he’d voice the same reply he wishes for- but under no means expects. Letting out a sigh, Adrian looks Lou in the eyes as he provides the same answer the rest of the tent’s occupants expect, not a soul able to blame the man for his answer. “No” Adrian replies, putting a look of satisfaction across Rudy’s face- the man having almost expected the subject of his question to respond differently, “I wouldn’t.” With a frown, Rudy nods in the man’s direction and turns his face toward Lou, the eyes of both men reconnecting as the much older gentleman responds with the only question more obvious than any other, “then why should I?” In silence, the group sits with their thoughts as the voices in favour of- and opposed to- the plan linger on each other’s conscience. “Then who makes the call?” Lee asks aloud, aware of his position in the camp- but refusing to use it to make such a call himself. With a gaze around the room, Lou joins Lee in wondering the same question, “I know what I’d prefer, but the call isn’t mine to make” the rebar staff-wielding survivor declares, leaving the rest of the camp to decide for themselves. Sharing the young man’s disappointment, Adrian hangs his head apologetically, “I’m sorry, Lou- I couldn’t say I would in good fa-” he begins to remark, interrupted before he can finish speaking. “You’ve got nothing to apologise for, Adrian” Lou cuts him off to speak, shrugging his shoulders in the man’s direction, taking the slightest bit of pleasure in the man standing up for himself honestly as opposed to feeling indebted to lie for him. As objective as her father is, Sonya remains silent in lieu of being as disqualified from making the call as he is, leaving only a small handful of people at the discussion’s table. With his arms crossed, Sebastian turns his sights away from Rudy and replaces them with a glance in his daughter’s direction, her face almost immediately turning back to meet his. “You know what happens if this goes wrong” the man remarks, a statement the woman nods at, gesturing her understanding beyond any doubt, “are you willing to do this- yes or no?” Her expression unchanged, Courtney’s eyes brush past Lou, Lee, and Theo and find both her father and sister, the expression she looks to them with instantly giving them the answer they dread. Pressing her eyes shut as her chin lowers with grief, Sonya’s reaction bears an uncanny resemblance to her father’s own, his weighted exhale preceding the reply she puts into words. “I am” Courtney responds, a slow nod coming over her as the only family she has left in the world turn away from her with an overwhelming flood of emotion, Sonya’s distress too great for her to remain in the tent she opts to walk away from- departing the group in favour of the cold, winter air that stands beyond the nylon flaps of their tent. “Then it’s settled” Sebastian declares, owing up to the demand he’d made of himself to take a stand as the group’s leader- putting an answer to the calls no one else provides clarity to, “this is what we’re doing.” | “And you’re sure you know how to drive this thing?” Terry inquires innocently enough, the assured tone in the woman’s voice filling him with all the confidence possible to muster. “No, but the buttons have pictures on them-” Josie replies, already having successfully redirected the vessel’s course toward their intended destination as she peers over her shoulder, looking back in the face of the man that asks, “-it should be simple enough.” “Alright, then- how do we stop?” Terry jokingly wonders, watching the woman’s face fall back toward the board of buttons and switches that light up before her, a look of concern coming over her face as she looks back, “we have to stop this thing?” His humoured expression suddenly sinking, the man overhead looks back toward the sea worriedly as the woman behind the wheel descends into laughter, taking glee in his reaction. Clued into the joke, Terry pats Josie on the shoulder with a slightly-shaky hand as he walks off, turning his sights to the boat’s deck as the daylight begins to fade fully. Coated in the light of an onboard spotlight, Jules drags a white sheet-covered corpse across the ship, a trail of blood forming in the wake of the man’s path. “At least you’re cleaning up the mess” Terry proclaims, watching Jules silently hoist the body over the railing and discard it at sea, taking the moment of relief to turn back to his friend with the middle finger raised. With a chuckle, the man just entering the ship’s outside peers to the other side of the yacht-sized cruiser, his eyes wandering over to find a girl with her arms draped over the railings that overlook the water, her isolation from the rest of the group understood for what it is. “Is this about the man you killed or is it just an ‘I don’t feel like I belong’ kind of separation?” Terry inquires, joining Marta’s side as he matches her posture- arms draped over the railing as he glances out to sea. “Does it have to be either of them?” the girl wonders back to the man, curious both for the answer and for the opinion it presents with it. “It should be” Terry replies, shrugging his shoulders as his eyes keep to the waves he can barely make out beneath the fading light of quite the long day. “Why?” Marta wonders back, her sights unable to be more different than the ones her contemporary holds, his view taken toward the water as hers rests directly upon him. “Because whatever the outcome of this excursion is- we’re all gonna be seeing a lot more of each other” the man responds, “at least- that’s what Lou would say.” Her head falling as a smile spreads across her face, Marta nods to herself with a slight chuckle, “that is something he would say.” Nodding, Terry lifts from his leant position just slightly, standing more upright as he continues talking. “I know it is. I’ve known the guy long enough to predict exactly what he’d say” the kind-hearted gentleman replies, opening himself more than he’s used to providing, “if you’re down- he’ll make you feel better. If you’re struggling- he’ll say it’s normal.” “Then what would he say if you weren’t sure what choice to make?” Marta wonders back, presenting her new friend with a challenge to his implication. “He’d tell you it was okay to be unsure, but the time was coming to grow a pair and make a call” Terry jokes, sharing a laugh with the girl of different background but equal-strife as Elsie watches on from the distance, occupying a deck higher up than their own, but close enough to make out the words shared. “He’d do it in his own, Lou-ish way- but that’d be the brunt of it” Terry explains, clicking his tongue in the corner of his mouth as he stares out to the farthest part of the Strait he can still make out, “he’s got his own brand of dealing with things, but that’s just who he is. Lou’s complicated and difficult to get to know, but when you break through with him- he’s one of the best people you could ever meet.” With a genuine smile, Marta looks out to the vast expanse of darkness that so captures her company’s eyes, watching the frothy white waves flow away from the propellers that their vessel moves forward through the aid of. “Everything you’ve said Lou is couldn’t be more true” Terry continues, patting the metal rail with the palm of his hand as he backs away, “if you’re cool with him- you’re cool with us. So- in the meantime- I’d start getting friendly with the others too.” Passing a warm welcome to their newest accomplice, Terry leaves the conversation there in favour of returning to Josie’s side, his departure watched on by the lady that soon glances upward. With her hair flowing in the breeze, Marta stares up at Elsie as the woman leans over the bannister of the upper level, a subtle nod shared to the young woman that now occupies the floor just below her as she proceeds to wander off, leaving Lou’s protege to take in the scenic outdoors alone. | Rolling up to join the small number of boats that already occupy the shoreline of Vancouver Island patiently awaiting their orders, Randal’s vessel comes to a stop before he disembarks it, eyes setting upon the small group that gathers before him. “Is it just you-” the older gentleman inquires, pausing to count the present heads with his finger, doing so twice over before standing firm in his count, “-twenty six?” “Yes sir. There are still more trailing behind, but most of them seem to be five minutes away- ten at most” a random man responds honestly, his answer prompting a distant-yet-familiar voice to introduce itself from beyond the treeline. “Does that mean we have enough time to talk?” Lou’s voice calls out, prompting the guns of each present member to draw toward his direction, the sound of the mechanisms shaking within their shells provoking his immediate explanation. “Don’t bother shooting- I’m not here with ill-will” Lou proclaims, unable to see Randal stepping ahead of the group he commands with a rifle drawn. “From the sound of it- you are” the one-armed man remarks from behind the cover of his forest, the bodies of his camp’s fallen soldiers from early in the morning scattered within the formerly-green pastures that had once occupied the place where his feet settle in. “I’m just going to jump straight to the punch- we have her” Lou proclaims, his declaration still incapable of stopping the leader of the group that looms closer, not an ounce of nervousness within his voice. “The person you went after- I didn’t realise it at the time, but it wasn’t her” the man continues to speak, his voice drawing the group closer- though the darkness that overcomes the sky remains too difficult for the newly land-touching enclave to see through. “The plan wasn’t to dupe you into thinking she left. The girl that did- Marta- took Courtney’s paramotor without telling her. She figured it would draw you away, and it seems like she was right” Lou explains, a firm hold on his rebar pipe held as the sound of footsteps begin to crunch upon the wet branches that line the forest Randal begins to lead his men through. “But I’m glad she did, because it gave me time to talk with the person in charge of the camp” Lou explains, his words continuing to capture the ear of the man that seeks him out, though still has yet to quash the advancement being led. “His name is Lee and the only thing he cares about is protecting the people in his camp” the hidden survivor continues to proclaim, the remark one that puts a smile on Randal’s face, “that’s why I struck a deal with him to give you Courtney in exchange for peace.” “I don’t believe you” Randal responds calmly, drawing closer to the man whose voice he follows the sound of, a smile coming over his face as the young-yet-rugged tone appears to draw closer. “You should- I have no reason to lie” Lou replies, the words he speaks being met with the response of various weapons being drawn within the darkness- the obvious firepower prompting the progressing enclave to cease their forward momentum immediately. “I’m going to remind you that you’re in unfamiliar territory against people you don’t have the first clue about” Lou continues to speak, reiterating his point from the prior morning, “so I’m gonna give you the chance to walk into the camp without having to shed a drop of blood, take your girl, and leave us alone.” “You’re lying” Randal responds firmly, his pale, white face and dark brown moustache-goatee combination barely lit from the raincloud-concealed moonlight that resides overhead. “I’m not, I just want the rest of my friends to be left alone. Like I said, you don’t know who you’re dealing with or what motivates them” Lou retorts, switching on a flashlight that pierces through the darkness he now steps out of the protection of, rounding the tree to come face to face with his opposition. “I’m willing to put my life on my word” Lou declares, holding the light to his face as he waits for the man’s response, using his own health as a gauge to determine how good the plan’s potential is. Pulling in a deep breath as he waits, the one-armed man speaks into the darkness, only able to look into the direction of where his adversary occupies, putting his trust in the idea that being left unscathed will assure him that the trust needed for the plan to work does exist. Spending the proceeding few seconds in silence and without response, Randal peers through the light to see the youthful mein behind the scruffy beard the negotiator sports. “I have important people in this camp that I promised to protect” Lou continues to speak, moving his lips within the beacon of light to prove that he is who he portrays, “the rest of the camp is looking for a new place to call home like Lee told them to. He’s there- with Courtney- and no one has to know what happened.” His rifle still aimed in the young man’s direction, Randal sits in silence for a few moments, unsure of how to react to the display he’s been presented with. “All I promise are two, reasonable things. The first- whatever you plan to do with her, I just ask that you get her off the island so there’s no trace of what happened for anyone to find” Lou proclaims, a shrug coming over his shoulders as his demands finish being presented, “the second is that you just leave us alone after that.” His rifle kept steady, Randal stares into the face of the man he now knows to stand opposed to him, the declaration he’d uttered at the start of the die beginning to seem less favourable than the one he’s offered at its end. With the squint of his eye, the enclave’s leader parts his lips to respond before actually knowing what he’ll say, making each reply up as he continues. “Why should I believe this isn’t a set up?” Randal calls back, recognising the signs of trust the young man across from him presents with high hopes, “you seem to be taking more chances than someone gutless enough to betray their own friend would ever dare to.” Hanging his head, Lou stares at the ground with a feigned expression of self-dissatisfaction as a defeated nod comes over him. “I don’t need to be proud of myself for making the right call” Lou responds, looking back up with hopeful eyes, “ever heard of the Trolley Problem? If a trolley was coming down the tracks to hit five people and I could pull the lever- redirecting the thing to the tracks where just one person is?” Flashing a slight smirk out of the corner of his mouth, Randal pauses for a moment before responding. “I spent fifteen years of my life as an ethics professor” the man responds, able to see the life that fills the youthful face that presents itself through a ray of light, “of course I’ve heard of the Trolley Problem.” With a nod, Lou looks back to where he believes the man’s voice to be coming from, “good-” he responds, placing a confidence within his voice as he concludes his statement, “-now you know which side I’d choose.” Pressing his lips together as his nostrils flare, Randal readies his rifle to be aimed as his head turns toward the men he continues to lead, still waiting for the boats that remain to catch up. “Don’t fire unless fired upon” the man orders of his armed soldiers, remaining concealed beneath the night as Lou turns out his flashlight, following the path he can still find within the break of the treeline that just barely presents itself through the guise of night. After about a half kilometre walk forward and with the night fully dawning upon the empty camp, Randal and his men approach a break in the treeline, the grounds they step into illuminated within the moonlight that just barely shines through a break in the clouds. The first to step out of cover, the self-described ‘former ethics professor’ appears before any other- his eyes falling upon the scene he’d been promised. Lifting the barrel of his weapon in the man’s direction, Lee’s voice raises the question that prompts the hands of the enclave’s leader to lift. “Repeat what the ground rules are and you can have her” the camp’s leader demands, the barrel in his hand held steadily as Randal removes one hand from his rifle, holding it in the air to prevent his men from getting an itchy trigger finger. “Easy there, champ. Let’s relax before we start doing things that get people hurt” Randal warns, holding his rifle toward the camp’s leader with the barrel aimed at the ground, not a soul besides his men, the man across from him, and his tied up prisoner to be found. “The first rule is to bring her off the island before we make ourselves even” the enclave’s leader replies, hearing the groans Courtney lets out from behind the duct tape that covers her mouth. “And the second?” Lee replies, almost immediately watching the man across from him let the rifle he’d held fall to the ground, his newly-freed second hand rising in surrender. “I do you- and your folks- no harm” Randal responds, displaying a patience and cooperation unlike anything the man across from him had expected. “Alright, let’s-” an inexperienced guard begins to whisper, his voice instantly hushed by his superior office, who hisses behind the cover of a single digit in refusal. “Shut the fuck up and stand the fuck down” Theo commands with a hissing voice, more than enough distance between his small cluster of armed guards and the transaction going down for their voices to rise slightly without being noticed. “Wh- what do you mean?” the refused guard asks with an equally-quiet tone, confused at the orders they’ve been given, “this is when we’re supposed to move forward!” His figure kept to the shadows, Theo stands from the slouched position he’d waited for the scene to unfold from, pressing his side against a tree as he directs his rifle toward the same men that stand at his order. “Where’s Theo?” Jenn whispers from the complete opposite side of the camp, lying in wait for the man to make the first move that the declaration of the second ground rule was supposed to initiate. “I thought we were sure he’d be able to know what the signal was, is he too far away?” Sonya whispers to the rest of her group, yet to understand what the miscommunication is down to. “No, he’s not-” Adrian soon remarks, his face barely lit by the moonlight as it turns toward Sebastian, the grey clouds beginning to produce a heavier rainfall than the drizzle that had spent the majority of the day falling. “Fuck” Sebastian murmurs, locking eyes with Adrian before coming to the same realisation the father beside him has, “-he can hear just fine.” Across the camp with his intentions made clear, Theo continues to hold his men at gunpoint as they frantically try to remain calm and concealed. “What the fuck, Theo!? What are you doing!?” the man responsible for proposing the advancement that triggered their superior’s reaction asks, earning the response that the man provides with complete honesty. “The deal was- he gets Courtney, and we get left alone- that’s what’s gonna happen” Theo replies, immediately met with innocent resistance. “No, it wasn’t!” the initial man replies, earning his superior’s eyesight once more, “the plan was to come out and corner them when he said the second rule! Then the others were supposed to come o-” “I know what the plan was, and now we’re doing a different one!” Theo proclaims, refusing to concede his men for the sake of just another cog in the machine he deems to be a problem. “He wants the girl- he can have her” the man orders, keeping the barrel of his weapon aimed at the men he’s supposed to provide for, “Lee wants to support this fallacy? Fine, let him! When shit hits the fan, he can go down with it too.” His weapon still wavering in the air, Lee looks into the eyes of the man across from him as he waits for the planned aid to arrive, playing the pause off as a moment of genuine interest. “Forgive me, but- I just have to know something” the camp’s leader says, watching the puzzled expression on Randal’s face as he lowers the barrel of his firearm, “it’s just- make it make sense. You’re going through all of this trouble just to get even with one girl- why?” “You ask the same question your friend back at the shore asked” Randal replies with a smirk, immediately presented with the leader’s reasoning. “It’s a pretty reasonable question, don’t you think?” Lee responds, waving his gun toward the distant ends of camp as he speaks, a strange way of talking with his hands aimed at the distance he quietly expects assistance to prevail from. “I mean, it’s just one girl! Yeah, she killed people you care about, but still! I’ve lost people here and haven’t mobilised my entire camp to go after them!” Lee proclaims, provoking a smirk and chuckle from the face of his adversary, “it just seems like more effort than most people would go to for such little return, that’s all I’m saying.” Kept on their toes without a signal to work off of, Sebastian’s group hides within the bramble they’ve been occupying patiently as Lee continues to make conversation out of nothing- obviously buying time. “What’s he doing!?” Sonya hisses, directing her question toward the man she and the rest of her people have always looked to for answers- aware that he and Adrian have uncovered something neither she, nor her father have thus far. “He’s buying time” Adrian whispers back, steadying the aim of his weapon as the man beside him shakes his head in refusal, turning his voice toward the confused sibling’s direction. “He’s waiting for Theo to make the first move, but it’s pointless” Sebastian whispers back, shaking his head as Sonya doubles down on her inquiry. “What? Why is it pointless?” The youngest Golden sibling asks back, met with a reply she hadn’t anticipated. “‘Cause Theo’s not missing the signal, he’s ignoring it!” Sebastian whispers back, immediately sparking a look of trouble across the faces of both the daughter and her father, “he’s letting the deal go down so no one else has to die!” “I see” Randal responds with a smirk, soon picking his head up to look Lee in the eyes, yet to pick up on the motivations behind the man’s sudden inquisition. “It’s just strange. It’s bad enough I have this on my conscience, but it’s another thing when I don’t even understand why getting back at her is so important” the ground’s shot-caller remarks, “is it an ideology with you people? Is it some sort of ‘eye for an eye’ oath? I just don’t get why you’d go through all the hassle.” “‘Cause they were my nephews” Randal quickly replies, watching Lee fall silent as the rain begins to come down harder, his face easing just as Courtney's does- the information that’s new to him exists as much the same to her. “Jae and Artie- they were my nephews” the enclave’s leader responds, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat as he continues to speak, his head tilting to the side the longer his lips move to defend his actions, “and I promised my brother I’d look after them.” His mouth agape, Lee turns his head to face the woman that stands behind him, a look of remorse worn across his face just as Courtney’s appears to hold. Extending a hand to the man that stands before him, the camp’s leader takes the tape that covers the woman’s face and rips it off, forcing a groan out of her mouth. “I don’t want to hear what she has to say” Randal remarks, issuing his declaration of care- of lack thereof- for whatever argument she can make, “she spilled blood, and now her blood must spill.” “Then why did you send them after me!?” Courtney proclaims, immediately bringing question to the motivations of a man that smiles as his head lowers. “Seriously, what did you expect to happen?” the woman challenges once more, pretending to wrestle against the binds that tie her wrists as she issues the question toward a man seemingly hesitant to answer it, “you sent them to kill me, and instead- I killed them. What happens if it were the other way around- would their blood be spilled?” “They wanted to take the initiative for your information. I figured you were just one girl, it’d be clean and easy enough for them to do on their own- but it cost them their lives” Randal retorts, lifting his finger toward the woman’s direction, the rest of his men forced to direct their weapons toward the ground to avoid breaking the deal made, “you had things we needed- so we sought out to take them. And for your information- they weren’t sent out to kill you.” “Bullshit! They pulled a gun on me and that was the first move” Courtney refutes, immediately argued against by the man that proves- in the end- to be correct. “They were only instructed to pull a gun if you didn’t get in the boat like they told you” Randal replies, the silence he’s immediately met with bringing clarity over the situation, “the plan was to hold you at gunpoint when you got on the boat and force you to drive off. They kept the land, you took the goods- end of story.” Closing her mouth, Courtney lets her chin fall momentarily as Randal watches on, his anger continuing to swell as he looks to the woman he knows to be responsible for their demise, forcing himself to keep his composure intact to not risk breaking the first rule. “If you’d done what they told you, everyone would be alive and this wouldn’t be happening” the man declares, nodding to himself as he lets free a deep sigh, “but it is. You spilled blood, and now yours will be spilled.” “Why didn’t they make that clear!?” Courtney exclaims, putting her foot down as even her feigned fight against the restraints that couple her hands together begins to cease. “He reached for his gun and I hadn’t even moved. Was I going to refuse? Yes! But had I refused yet? No” the woman continues to argue, looking the man in the eyes as he continues to grow more irritated, his composure still controlled well as she finishes her remark, “it’s not my fault your nephews were fucking useless.” “Oh shit” Sebastian murmurs from beneath his breath, the entirety of his group prepared to fire their rifles as they watch on with the conversation happening before them. “What do we do!?” Sonya whispers back, hoping for an answer from those that she shares the backup line of defence with, but not a soul speaks up to offer a solution. “What did you just say to me?” Randal asks back, prompting Lee to hang his head and casually drift his eyes in Theo’s direction, the grasp on the firearm that hangs by his side tightening as he begins to realise what’s occurring. “I’m not wrong. If your nephews were really ready to handle business, they would’ve known to make themselves clear, and they wouldn’t have been taken out by a girl” Courtney responds, knowingly increasing the tension that flutters throughout the air. From within cover, Sonya lowers her sight toward the top of her rifle as her finger rests gently against the trigger- the man Theo holds directly at gunpoint kneeling in much the same position. “I wonder what he must be thinking- your brother, I mean” Courtney continues to prod, escalating the situation to force those hiding within the treelines to make the call she realises Theo won’t make as the man beside her angrily readies himself to open fire. “I wonder what he would think if he were watching you right now” Courtney doubles down, speaking to the man that lowers himself close to the ground and picks up his rifle, his every inch watched closely by the man that stands between himself and the woman he yearns to get even with. “If there’s a hell, I wonder what he thought when he saw his kids walk through those fiery gates” the woman continues, nearly slipping out of the binds she’s held by, “I wonder how disappointed he was in you.” Hiding aboard the biggest boat he can get behind the control of, Lou watches additional vessels finally reach their intended destination, one crew after another disembarking their watercraft in search of following the trail of footsteps their leader leaves behind. Able to peer through the treeline, the man waits for his group to arrive, and for a signal of surrender or ceasefire to present itself before his patience finally pays off- the answer provided through the echoing of a solitary sound. *pop* == RISE and REVOLT == |
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