S4, E5 | Blood Will Be Spilled

“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 ==