S5, E3 | Leashing the Inlaws

Having spent the last hour and a half falling in and out of a slumber impossible to consider anything close to comfortable, Marta awakens with parted eyes and cheeks flushed a rosy red shade to the sight of a ceramic mug being placed beside her sleeping bag. “Good morning, sweetie” Adrian remarks, pulling his hands away from the steaming hot beverage as he watches his daughter’s eyes take toward him, his face easily made out from the cloudy daylight beyond their tent.

“It sounded like a burlap sack was being dragged through the dirt all night long. You wouldn’t stay still in that bag for longer than ten minutes at a time” the man remarks, watching as his daughter sits up, tossing the blanket covering off of her sweater-covered torso. “I couldn’t sleep and it was cold” the young woman answers calmly, gently taking the cup by its handle and lifting it toward her face, feeling the cold skin that covers her facial muscles be warmed by the steam within her drink.

“The heavy sweater and two pairs of sweatpants that you wore to bed didn’t help?” Adrian jokes back, watching his daughter’s eyes take toward his direction, her barely-present smirk presenting the man with a reply of silence. Amused, the father kicks the winter boots that his feet had called home for just the time it took to retrieve the hot drink off, allowing his sock-covered feet to slide comfortably underneath the cover of his own sleeping bag.

“Did Lou come back yet?” Marta wonders aloud, pressing her lips together and blowing on the steaming cup’s rim, trying to cool the plain tea down just enough for a reasonable sip to be taken. “No, he’s still out catching squirrels or something. I’m not really sure what he gets up to when he’s not around” Adrian explains, only able to work off of the information he’d been fed by his fellow survivors and the absence of the one-armed stalwart in the camp, “he’ll be back soon enough.”

Managing to take just enough of a sip from her tea to suffice, Marta shrugs in agreement before extending her elbows outward, rubbing her face with the palms of her hands while stretching the muscles in her back. “He seemed pretty mad when he left. I’m sure he’s just taking as much time as he needs to clear his mind” Adrian remarks, offering his daughter whatever reassurance he’s capable enough to provide, “according to Jenn, he got into an argument with Ally and stormed off.”

“Yeah, that’s what Terry told me. He said it had something to do with the Calgary plan, but he didn’t know much more than that” Marta replies, shielding her mouth with the inner elbow of her arm as she pauses to yawn. “They’ll figure something out when he gets back. I’m not going to worry myself over it” the young woman concedes, rolling her head to ease the tension in her neck before falling back into the comfort of her puffy slumber pad, letting her head fall back into her pillow.

From across the tent they share, Adrian watches his daughter’s eyes close and her head strike the cushioned support she’d rested upon the night prior, curious as to the dismissal she takes toward the situation spoken of. “Why didn’t you go after him last night?” the man wonders aloud, watching as the young woman keeps her eyelids together, her mouth barely moving as she attempts to catch up on whatever sleep from the night prior that she’d been unable to get.

“Lou’s a grown man. He can take care of himself” Marta replies, her rebuttal one that only serves to further puzzle the man who’d already looked to her curiously. “Oh, is that so?” Adrian questions back, not doubting the woman’s answer, but distrusting the reason she gives him, “you two have been stuck to the hip ever since you met. What’s brought about this change?”

Covering her body with the blanket she’d just recently freed herself from the coverage of, Marta remains intent on falling asleep, but continues the conversation with her father for as long as he’s willing to have it. “I don’t know that Ally would take kindly to another woman following her boyfriend into the woods for hours” the young woman responds, unable to see the smirk and nod that her father takes toward the reply, “and it doesn’t seem like a very friendly thing to do to her.”

“So, this ‘Lou will be Lou’ thing you’ve got going on is because of Ally, eh?” Adrian questions back, noticing the shrug that his offspring returns him with despite the heavy blanket that shields her. Nodding to himself, the father continues to wear his half-smile, accepting the rationale that his daughter provides him with before thinking to himself for a moment, remaining seated upright in his sleeping bag as he processes the claim.

“Lou’s a good kid, Marta. He’s trust-worthy, he’s dependable, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders” Adrian proclaims, all points that his daughter wouldn’t argue against even if she were in the mood to. “I’m glad you’ve found someone that’ll care about you as much as you care about them, even if I’m not pleased that it’s taken everything that’s happened over the last few months to make that happen” the man continues, beginning to make his own attempt at catching up on sleep.

“I just hope that the two of you keep fighting for each other as much as you have since you met...” he concludes, throwing the cover over himself as he turns away from the young woman, his head laying into the pillow, “...I’m sure he will.” For a few seconds, the claim is allowed to sit without a reaction before Marta parts her eyelids, staring up at the tent’s ceiling as the comment hits home, prompting her every intention of falling asleep once more to fall as quickly as it had come on.

= RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 =

“I don’t know, man. I’m not gonna drive myself crazy over it” Terry responds, leaning against the scrunched up blanket of his sleeping bag as if it were a lounge chair, his arms crossed around the back of his head. “We had a plan to go to Calgary before we got here. Whether that’s where we go if we’ve got to leave here or not probably doesn’t matter” the man doubles down, watched on by the group’s other shot-caller, who crosses his arms whilst standing in the opposite corner.

“Lou’s not gonna want to leave Ally” Elsie interjects, staring at the ground as she sits in the corner between Terry and Sebastian, her friend with the second tomahawk seated just a pair of metres to the side. “I don’t know what Ally’s association is with these people, but any move we plan has to take them into consideration” the blonde woman with braided hair assures, “we have to be prepared for Lou refusing to cut us off and Ally refusing to cut the others off.”

“It doesn’t really matter how many people tail along if we don’t know where we’re going” Sonya proceeds, sitting beside her sister with her legs stretching across the floor. “It does if we want to keep track of what we’ll need to be bringing along with us” Courtney replies, looking toward her left at the sibling she corrects, “there’s a difference between a trip with us and a trip with the others too. The latter leaves a lot of people starving.”

“I don’t like these jerks, I’ll be honest. My cards are on the table” Josie proceeds, making her own opinion heard, “they’re hostile and they’re jumpy. I can’t trust them to keep their shit together when shit goes south.” Pointing in the woman’s direction, Sonya throws her support in the column that the mechanically-gifted survivor presents. “I agree with Josie. There’s just something off about them” the younger Golden sister quips, “I’m not going hungry so people I don’t trust can tag along.”

“We’ve only known them for a day and a half. I’m sure they’re easier to get along with than they’re letting on at the moment” Courtney reassures, looking toward the blonde woman beside Josie, “we’re gonna have to get used to them.” Nodding along with the woman’s claim, Elsie accepts the support the elder Golden sibling presents to her case, doubling down on her stance.

“We’re not leaving without Lou, and that means we’re not leaving without Ally” the blonde survivor concludes, looking toward her group’s leader as the opposite team’s shot-caller bows his head, “if we’re not leaving without Ally, then we’re likely not leaving without the hot heads. End of story.”

“What’s on your mind, Sebastian?” Terry wonders aloud, having redirected his sights toward the man before Elsie had finished stating her case to him. “I think wherever we go can’t be here. I’m sure there’s gonna be violent people no matter where we go, but that doesn’t mean there’s gonna be a swarm of different teams of them” the man in question replies, lifting his head toward the man across from him, “Calgary doesn’t have to be ‘the plan’ anymore now that Lou’s found Ally.”

“I’m starting to like the idea you guys came up with a few days ago. Heading south where the weather is warmer” Sonya quips, looking to those seated across from her with a nod, “I don’t know what the border situation is looking like, but it seems like Val and Bruno got across alright.”

“I don’t even know what the government was doing back home when this all started. We were quartered up in the school while everything was unfolding” Terry carries on, shaking his head at a loss, “my home was empty when we got there. Aside from some helicopters, I’ve got no idea what kind of army shit is still standing.”

“Trudeau said he was setting up some RCMP outposts around the prairies last I heard, but we were already up in the cabin by then” Sebastian responds, their insight on higher-level matters proving limited. “Ally said Val and some others purposefully came up from Idaho because of the outposts but the border was packed” Terry explains, reciting whatever information he was forwarded by the woman, “she said he left and came back a few days later and the border was straight-up unprotected.”

“Did she say where?” Courtney wonders aloud, a slightly new leash on life afforded to her as the lifeline is thrown metaphorically, “if the protection fell after the few first days, we can use that station to cross into the ‘States.” Quietly shaking his head in refusal and uncertainty, Terry leaves the floor open for Sebastian to again take control over the conversation, his voice the only one projected amongst all others.

“We should consult the others before we make any plans. Terry and I just wanted to hash some things out in the meantime” Sebastian responds, letting his arms fall from their gathering together as the discourse appears to reach its end. Dispersing, the group begins to fan out in favour of what they had been intended to do prior to the gathering’s formation, allowing the Canadian side’s leader to depart the tent alongside the Golden sisters.

“Do either of you know where I can get a stick of metal?” Sonya wonders aloud, turning back to face the couple that follow in her path, their quiet shake of the heads implying the answer. “You looking to build a house out here or something?” Sebastian jokes, watching the slight smirk in the woman’s face react to him. “No, I lost the pipe I was using back at the arcade. I don’t wanna get caught with my pants down metaphorically” the younger sibling remarks, “I’ll see you two later.”

“Don’t wander too far” Courtney proclaims, watching as the young woman returns a thumb’s up to her before continuing on the stroll that she and her boyfriend take to their tent. “I’m glad she’s starting to warm up to all of this. I’m sure it’s not easy to just move on from what happened to your dad” Sebastian remarks, turning to watch his girlfriend’s head nod as he finishes her thought, the older sister watching as her younger sibling wanders off, “speaking of which, how’ve you been?”

Pressing her lips together to form neither a frown, nor a smile, Courtney continues to follow her only remaining family member’s figure as it grows farther away, letting out an exhale through her nose. “Better than if you weren’t here” the older sibling answers honestly, the only sound heard through their cold-bitten ears being the crunches of their footsteps in the snow and the contained fires crackling in the near distance.

“I’m just trying to be the strong big sister. I don’t want Sonya feeling like she can’t hurt just ‘cause I am” Courtney confesses, finally pulling her line of sight away from the direction of the woman in question. “Do you think that’s helping anything?” Sebastian queries, their strolling pace affording them more than enough time to have the conversation at large.

At first answering with a shrug, Courtney looks to the ground and follows the muddy shoe prints that she and her boyfriend follow, trying to fit her feet into the slightly-larger assortment of tracks that line the path ahead. “Maybe it’s just ‘cause dad was there too, but I feel like it worked a lot better after mom died” the woman finally emphasises, not sure what more to make of the results to this new trial of grief, “Sonya’s just holding it together a lot better than I thought she would.”

Taking Courtney’s hand into her own, Sebastian locks his fingers along with his girlfriend’s own as they continue their travels onward. “Little Sonya’s growing up, I suppose” the man mutters, putting a smile on the grounded pilot’s face that doesn’t take long to fade away, the amusement she takes in the remark finding itself replaced with a suddenly compelling inquiry of self-wonder.

“I wonder if she’ll need me around to keep herself going for much longer” Courtney murmurs, a gesture that provokes her companion to quietly look at her, opting not to speak against the claim out of uncertainty what is meant by it. “At least, I hope she won’t need me for much longer. It’d probably be best she didn’t in case we got separated for whatever reason” the paramotorist confesses, looking off into the distance of the wilderness they reside within, comfort taken in her own conclusion.

|

“Can I borrow this?” Marta wonders aloud, picking a piece of fabric wire off the top of a drum barrel before holding it toward the direction of a woman who occupies the tent beside it. “It’s not mine, I found it on the ground. Go ahead” the community member replies, watching as the Canadian girl smiles and nods. “Thanks. I’m Marta, by the way” the outgoing young adult greets, watching a pleasant expression take shape on the face of the camp’s resident.

“I’m Dawn” the friendly-appearing survivor responds, watched on by a well-known brunette just a short distance away. “It’s nice to meet you, Dawn. I’ll see you around” Marta replies, taking off just as quickly as she’d introduced herself, making acquaintances with the residents the situation calls for her to familiarise with, preparing to enter the woodlands before being called for.

“Marta! Wait up!” Ally’s voice calls out, her hand stretching into the air to gather the young woman’s attention before her feet follow suit, shortening the distance between herself and the member of her boyfriend’s group as the sky darkens even further than the clouds overhead had let on.

“You, uh... You going out for something?” the girlfriend of the survivor’s mentor questions aloud, only raising the inquiry when close enough to the woman in question, watching as the subject of her intrigue begins tying the slightly-frayed wire into a loop. “Yeah, I’m gonna see if I can find a squirrel around” Marta answers, pulling the cord into a tighter knot than what she’d initially fastened, “or maybe I’ll catch a rabbit. I’ll settle for anything Courtney can skin and toss on a fire.”

Slowing her approach down as the distance between them turns into centimetres, Ally leans her head toward her side with a friendly smile, appearing more welcoming than her contemporary setting out for a hunt presents. “Wow. I see Lou found some pretty capable company, huh?” the woman questions aloud, trying to extend pleasantries to the young woman who’d taken up such vast amounts of time with her boyfriend, only to find them unreciprocated in lieu of other ventures.

“I wasn’t until he taught me. My dad and the others would’ve preferred if I just sat around with a phone in my hands all day” Marta confesses, paying the woman opposite her less mind than the knots she attempts to undo from within the cord she sets out with. “Yeah, I heard he’s been helping you get acclimated with how things work out here” Ally responds, watching her Canadian pal squint with a harder focus on the rope she carries than the conversation at hand.

“Yeah, he’s my mentor. Taught me how to take care of the dead and where to look for shit” Marta replies, grunting as she finally frees the cord from the tie that had perturbed her, “now I’m gonna put those skills to the test. Hopefully I won’t have to come back a mooch off of you and your friends like last night.”

“Feel free to mooch if you need. We’re all better off working together than separately” Ally responds, watching as her eyes collide with those of the Simard child’s own. “Maybe, or maybe not. I don’t know anymore about you and your friends than you know about us” Marta responds, resuming the process of fixing the wire into a rope she can wear over her shoulder, “I could be wrong, but it’d probably take us getting to know each other before we can really work together.”

Flashing a smile that, at first, comes without an accompanying reply, Ally watches her boyfriend’s protege continue on with her tying of the wire before her amusement settles aside. “Well, you must at least know me better than the others, right?” the one-time resident of Los Angeles questions back, watching as the other half of her friendly chat shrugs the inquiry aside.

“He must not have told me enough about you over the last few weeks then” Marta confesses, finally fixing the cord into a suitable enough loop to throw it over her shoulder, “I haven’t heard enough about you to know why, after all that he’s gone through to find you, he’d be so mad that he’d walk off into the woods without saying why.”

Frowning as she looks away, Ally parts her lips to reply before finding herself having fallen silent, afforded another second or two to redirect her mind away from an outright dismissal. “I told Val about the plan you guys had made to go to Calgary. That was all” the member of the aforementioned man’s community confesses, watching as the girl across from her looks off to the side.

“Why would you do that?” Marta says in an unaffected tone, simply curious as to know the reasoning behind the camp member’s actions. “Because it’s not a big deal. I get that Lou doesn’t trust Val that much, but like you said, it doesn’t look like any of us have much of a choice in the matter” Ally responds, defending her actions without much of a belief that it’s necessary, “if we’re gonna leave this place eventually, we’ll have to have somewhere in mind, don’t you think?”

“That’s none of my business. I’m not the person who makes the calls for your friends or for mine. Wherever we go is wherever we go” Marta answers, seeing little reason in arguing one way or another. “Either way, it doesn’t really matter. Whatever business the two of you have has nothing to do with me. If you two have problems, they’re yours to deal with” she doubles down, pulling away to set her attention upon the hunt she’s bound for.

“That’s it? It’s just a ‘deal with it yourselves’ kind of thing?” Ally questions back, surprised by the dismissive and quick retreat that her new contemporary presents her with. “What else do you want me to say? He’s your boyfriend and you’re his girlfriend. I’m just someone he’s helping out” Marta replies, her own opinion on the subjects of her questioning being well-hidden and put aside.

“Sure, but everyone else says the two of you are closer than just ‘mentor’ and ‘protege’” Ally responds, the initial comment putting a slight concern in Marta’s demeanour, the young woman not certain over what’s meant by the implication. “They say you’re better friends with Lou than anyone else he’s met since we all got broken apart. I figure that’s got to count for something” the one-armed stalwart’s girlfriend explains, her follow-through easing the tension that had built in the protege.

“I don’t know. I guess I just figured you might be able to help me out a little bit more than ‘work on it yourselves’” Ally concludes, looking on defeatedly as she begins to lower her head, apologetic in her approach. Looking away, Marta battles with herself to put her feelings toward the woman away in favour of finding common ground, not wanting to create a permanent existence alongside the girlfriend of someone she holds rather close.

“He’s a different person from the last time you saw him. That’s what I’ve been picking up on, at least. I’m sure the two of you are going to need to get used to that over some time” the only Simard child explains, looking the battle-tested survivor in the eyes. “Just don’t start making problems with each other. If the two of you have a problem, then you’ll have a problem with my friends” Marta warns, holding out hope that no issue reaches the point she speaks of.

“If you have a problem with my friends, then you’re gonna have a problem with me...” she concludes, turning her body toward the woodlands she prepares her journey into, “...and I’d really rather not have a problem with you, Ally.” Making herself clear, Marta leaves the conversation off by stepping onward, carrying herself through the treeline and wandering into the unknown that lies ahead, watched on by Ally as she does so, leaving the woman little to read into.

|

“You have a problem we should know about?” Jules wonders aloud, dipping into the tent of the community’s general without being afforded an invitation, watching as the man tilts his head back to down a gulp of water. Caught by surprise as he downs a tiny pill, Val turns to face his unexpected visitor just as the man bows through the vestibule, licking his lips as the sip is finished off.

“It’s for a fever. I’ve been feeling off for the last few hours” the bearded commander retorts, setting the plastic water bottle down with a pair of squinted eyebrows, “I don’t remember hearing someone ask to be let in.” Hanging his head before seeing himself into a chair in the corner of the bivouac, Jules nods to himself with a smile, humoured by the man’s comment.

“That’s ‘cause I didn’t ask” the uninvited guest responds, watching in real time as the amusement he takes fails to find itself matched in the man he now sits across. Flaring his nostrils, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and planting his hands upon his hips, Val looks to the floor whilst trying to keep his composure intact, not wanting to stoke tensions between himself and the camp’s other half while they’re still running high.

“I don’t appreciate you and your buddies feeling entitled to just walk around doing whatever you want” he confesses, taking notice of Jules’ visage for the lack of interest in his feelings that it carries. “I admit my fault for putting a gun on your friend, but that doesn’t mean I’m alright with him just wandering off whenever he pleases” Val explains, remaining as well-spoken as his irritation will allow him, “I’ve got a responsibility to this camp. I don’t want you putting them in danger.”

“And my friends and I have a responsibility to keep each other safe” Jules rejoinders, matching the calm and collected tone that he’s spoken to with. “Ally may trust you, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us do. She came by and told Terry what the two of you suggested to Lou last night, so don’t think we’re not clear on what you and the others are hoping for” the travelled survivor doubles down, “if you want us sticking around, you’ve got to work with us just as much as we work with you.”

“And what exactly do you have in mind?” Val responds, continuing to speak as his visitor shakes his head quietly, “you want us setting some ground rules or something? What is it that you want?”

“First of all, I want you to consider yourself lucky that I’m the one coming to talk to you about this first instead of Terry and Sebastian” Jules answers, starting with the warning simple enough to offer without issue. “If they were the ones coming over here to lay the groundwork here, Sebastian would be cooperating in ways that Terry just would not allow” the young leftover of a bygone era explains, “if that were the case, there’d be no solution that you’d be too pleased with.”

“I’m sick and tired, what’s your point?” Val hurries, displeased to be taking part in these discussions in general let alone at this hour of the day, where the light begins to set in favour of night. “That you rock with Ally and Lou rocks with us” Jules responds, keeping his assertions simple and to the point, “as long as that stays the case, there’s not much either of us is gonna be able to do without the others. You might as well consider this a marriage we’re the inlaws of.”

“That might be the only thing about any of this that has already been made clear, so I’ll ask again. What’s your point?” Val retorts, wearing bags beneath his eyes from the exhaustion that leaves him sore and in need of sleep. “That we should start trying to get along and get used to each other while we can” Jules answers, taking the initiative he feels he’s far more ready to provide than the rest of his group is.

“If those animals back in town are as dangerous as you say they are and we’ve got issues with them, who knows how long we’ll have the kind of peace this camp gives us?” he reiterates, a conclusion that proves to finally be common enough ground to share with the community’s leader. “Where we go or what comes out of this camp can be decided later. Let’s first get on the same page” Jules declares, “no more guns in each other’s faces or running off without telling each other first.”

With a straight face, Val looks into his younger contemporary in the same stance that he’d assumed for the majority of their conversation, a subtle nod initially presented to the acquaintance across from him. “I can get behind that” the light-skinned, bearded and short-haired leader assures, watching as the man seated opposite him reacts accordingly, lifting himself out of the chair and extending his hand to the ill commander.

“We’ll start tomorrow. Have a party of four, two from your side of the camp and two from ours, go out on a hunt for whatever they can bring back” Jules proclaims, presenting a case that the leader can get behind. “Any other issues that need to be resolved can take the same shape, two per each side. No one does any of it unless they choose to so nobody feels forced into this” he finalises, “we’ll all have dinner when night falls, together, and get to know each other.”

Disregarding a handshake in the name of continued good health, Val gestures the younger man toward a closed fist he presses his own knuckles again, taking the place of a deal-closer. “You’ve got yourself a deal, kid” the hispanic man responds, watching as Jules turns away without saying another word, nodding appreciatively before going to leave.

“Can I ask you one question, though?” the community’s leadership inquires at the last second, watching as the subject of his interest turns back, waiting for the question. “The kid without the second arm seems to know a thing or two more than I thought he would. His girl- Ally- handles herself well, and then there’s you” Val leads in, lending up to his question with credit offered where it’s due, “what’s up with you young ones? I’ve never seen kids pick up their slack like the group of you do.”

Flattered, Jules looks to the side for a second whilst shrugging, unsure in what way he wishes to answer. Eventually sprouting a cheerful grin, the young man follows through with his departure amidst offering an open-ended reply, “I guess you’ll have to wait until dinner to find out, won’t you?”

Taking the non-answer as a fair enough reason to look forward to the following night, the community’s leader pulls his hand away from his side and gives Jules a wave. “Goodnight” Val concludes, dismissing the man with friendliness before their paths divert from each other, returning them to their individual journeys with a more peaceful co-existence forged, leaving the night off in a better way than the one prior had went and opening a more hopeful door for the sides to take toward.

== RISE and REVOLT ==