The Phoenix Colony

Pasha breathed in deeply as he struggled to get the wind back into his lungs. He couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he tried to look over his shoulder at the girl atop him.

“Yes…” he blushed, “It was.” He gently got up, helping her up with him. He looked at her with unsure eyes, letting go of her hand.

“We should go finish taking care of breakfast.” He mumbled under his breath. He stopped mid-track when he noticed a patch of wild flowers. He left her behind, as he went back to work on the animal. By the next 20 minutes, he had sliced the animals flesh into many large steaks. He cut most of them into strips, weaving them onto sticks and setting them out to roast. He lay down, enjoying the smell and thinking… of that girl. If only he could understand.

 

As Reva ran up to her, Fox says "It looks like something was after you last night. Oh, and who is your friend over there?" Allen was still too far away for her to recognize him.

 

What happened? Allen wondered as he watched Reva jog away. He would have liked to run after her and ask, but the most he could manage was a quick stagger. He looked at the people who she was running towards, they were too far away for him to recognize them, but you never knew. Reaching into his pocket he found the packet of files and found one that was long, slim, and pointed on the end. Once he found it he moved it to his back pocket where he could reach it quickly if he needed to.

 

Reva slowed as she approached Fox and Raylene.

"What do you think it was?" She looked back at Allen, "Oh, him? I fell over him and ended up splinting his arm. He was a drug dealer named Allen."

She looked back to Fox, "And he's NOT my friend."

 

When Allen got withen twenty feet of their group, Fox's eyes open wide with shock. She pulls out her gun and points it directly at Allen. Her eyes grew dark with rage and with a hint of bloodlust. She says in a very serious tone, "This guy is no f***ing drug dealer. He's one of the goverment's trained dogs, that helps them to make people disappear." She lets out a maniacal laugh. "How ironic that you would end up here, among common scum." says Fox. She tilts her head to the side and says "Aww, what happened. Did you p*** off the wrong politician. Or perhaps you found out a few too many of the goverment secrets. Its must have been your turn to disappear." in a tone that was a cross between playful and psychotic. She lowers her gun and says "Lucky for you, I can't go around wasting my bullets on scum like you." She turns toward Reva and Raylene and says "Come, were going back to the shelter." in a commanding tone.

 

Reva wasn't entirely sure what she had just seen and didn't much like Fox's commanding tone. However, Fox had been a decent ally so far and their shelter was good. Besides, the woman hadn't been obligated to search for Reva.

But what was Allen, exactly? She gave him a curious glance before setting off a tad reluctantly after Fox and Raylene.

 

"What just happened?" Raylene asked Fox. "How do you know that guy? And maybe we shouldn't go directly back to the shelter if he's that bad. We don't want him to follow us."

 

Smith had been through the rack throughly and now had all the ammo boxes stacked in a little pile, all the tranks in another, and then all the rifles Minus their bolts at the bottom of the deepining river. Now, he thought, how to disarm the shotguns. He looked up to see Ben on his way over. He smiled and motioned to the rather large pile of ammo. If used right it could last them a year.

"Hey have you found anything to carry all this with yet?" He asked and then looked over at the shotguns. "Hey I've once we each grab another one we need to break these ones somehow." He said and motioned to the bolts in their own small pile. "The rifles are all worthless and sunk." He smiled, except his of course.

 

Allen just stood there as they walked away. How did she know who I was? I know who she is, but we've never met before. When they dissapeared into the trees he started moving. It didn't matter how she knew him. He needed to get to that ship, and he needed to cover his tracks. Now there were witnesses. It was a shame, he didn't want to kill Reva. She was nice.

Allen moved for the trees as fast as he could, stopping every once in a while to pick up another round stone. He didn't head for where they dissappeared though, they would expect that. The Fox would expect him to follow. He'd seen their direction, they were probably heading for the ship. Allen dissappeared into the trees a half-mile to the side of where they had gone.

 

"What just happened?" Raylene asked Fox. "How do you know that guy? And maybe we shouldn't go directly back to the shelter if he's that bad. We don't want him to follow us."

"When I was eleven, my dad was accused of stealing tax money. He probably knew a few of the goverments secrets, since they decided it was better to make him disappear than to have a trial. Allen oversaw the arrest and made sure there were no witnesses. He killed my mother on cold blood as she tried to protect me. As I watched my mother die, another one of the goverment agents slashed me in the back. Hell, I still have the scar. As I laid there, I decided to play dead until they left. While doing so, I heard that bastard Allen call in a "clean up" crew. Luckely for me, the Warriors of Ares had been doing operations in the area. The decided to check out my house after Allen left. The last thing I remember of that day before passing out, was their leader Lonan asking me if I was alright." says Fox.

 

Reva felt the blood drain from her face as she listened, realizing that she had just spent a lot of time in the presence of Fox's mother's murderer. Then she blushed deeply because she had probably saved his life by keeping him warm and had patched up his arm.

"Dammit, Fox," she said as they hiked, "I'm really sorry. I didn't know."

She probably should have left him to die but how could she have done such a thing? It was one thing leaving people on the ship who were too injured to make it. But her encounter with Allen had been personal.

Feeling very embarrassed and slightly bemused, Reva trudged on.

 

"Oh." Raylene looks at the ground, unsure what she's supposed to say. She decides it's better to change the subject. "How are we getting rid of him?" There as no way she was going to allow a creep like that near her. Who knows what he'd do.

 

Juan’s body was still asleep as Cull examined Harold’s now lifeless arm. The doctor tapped and prodded the mobster’s flesh looking for even the slightest response. Neither of the two paid the blind man any mind and Mercerdo’s screams never escaped his own mind.

For the last three hours, the cult leader had jumped from body to body without rhyme or reason. Men, women, birds, fish, even a dead carcass with a convict trapped underneath. The last was the worst. His soul kept traveling back and forth between the convict and the dead beast. Over and over, the scene kept switching the two like a cruel child with a celestial remote control.

Everything went dark and he was slithering through the grass chasing red and green insects. Darkness. Now he was watching helplessly as a pair of convicts hid a cache of weapons. Darkness. He was in a cave. Large claws toyed with an animal carcass. The creature’s skin blended in with its surroundings making it effectively invisible. Only the sticky gore from its dinner gave even the slightest clue to its shape and form.

The scenes kept changing. Each time Juan hoped to return to his own body. His screams grew louder each time his soul ended up in a strange body. No one heard a thing.

 

Allen wasn't searching for the women's tracks. It was too dangerous. Xare Aldrich. She would be cautious. She would probably set a trap. It was always better to have your quarry come to you unsuspecting. A small smile creeped onto his face unaware. It'd been a long time since he'd gotten to play this game. Allen had never lost at it either. Only once had he even come close to losing, that was in Brazil.

Flitting like a shadow between rock and tree, brush and hill, he moved towards the furrow the ship made when it landed. His injuries slowed him down, but he was still almost invisible. This was his element.

 

"Now there were witnesses. It was a shame, he didn't want to kill Reva. She was nice."

"Who wants to kill Reva? Which one of you said that?? Wait, it didn't sound like a girl....it was him! He plans to murder us. I heard him in my head!!!!" Raylene knew they were starring at her. Her head was spinning. "Don't stare at me like that, I'm not crazy. He's going to kill us. He called us 'witnesses'."

 

"Hey I've once we each grab another one we need to break these ones somehow."


A figure watched from a distance. He smiled. "That's right boys ... do all the hard work for me." Fingers tightened on crude knife as the figure signaled for his followers to spread out. Ten sets of eyes stared down at SMith and Ben just waiting for the signal to attack.

 

"Raylene, calm down. I don't know what you heard but you're probably right. With him and the other criminals around here, we need to be careful. There are a few basic rules we need to follow. First, any travel we do, we should do in open terrain. Its hard to ambush someone in an open field. The second rule is, we need to have an easily defended shelter." says Fox. As she looks around she sees a mountain. It was east of the forest, on the other side of a large open field. She points at the mountian, "There should be some caves that we can use over there, and with all of the snow at its summit, there are probably some streams near it. So that will be our shelter and water source. The third rule is find anything that can be used as a weapon. We have my handgun and Brit's stungun. We should look for anything else that can be used. Don't worry, I was trained by one of the best strategists that Earth has to offer. Come, we should hurry up and get back to the ship."

As they walk, that odd feeling came back to Fox. Once again she could sense all of the movements around her. She could feel the muscles in Raylene's and Reva's legs tense up and relax as they walk. She could feel the movement in the grass, as the light breeze blows through it. "Raylene, I believe you that you heard his thoughts. Something wierd is happening on this planet." thinks Fox, as her odd feeling goes away.

 

Joseph's eyes flickered open, a headache from hell following the initial burst of light that assaulted his eyes. It took him a few minutes to get a bearing on where he was exactly. There seemed to be a large blank spot in his memory.

"Huh...must've been that damn fruit. Some kind of drug. Well...better get back to camp. It was really nice of Pasha to just leave me here."

Joseph pushed himself to his feet and brushed the dirt and grime off his face and clothes. It wasn't to long before he reached the camp. Something felt off though...couldn't quite figure out what. He made his way over to where Pasha was.

 

The stranger raises a gnarled fist and quickly opened his hand. As one, the group broke. Some had knives and clubs. Others are simply hold rocks. A few carried cruel looking things that defied description. Everyone had metal plates hanging from their bodies forming a crude but effective armor. The leader called out to the two below.

"I wouldn't be too quick to fire old hoss. There are eleven of us and only two of you. Now I'll admit, you may get one or two of us, before we reach you ... but we will reach you. So, why don't you just walk from the guns while you can still walk."

 

Pasha stood up as he noticed Bardon coming his way. Viva appeared to be playing in the field, munching on some of the breakfast nearby.

“Sorry about leaving you…” he muttered, as he turned some of the food on the fire, “We’re suppose to have company… but I haven’t seen them since Ben left.”

He tossed a stick of food at Bardon, “Maybe we should go check on them.” He grabbed his large stick, and slid the knife into one of his pockets, and started towards Ben’s camp.

 

"I wouldn't be too quick to fire old hoss. There are eleven of us and only two of you. Now I'll admit, you may get one or two of us, before we reach you ... but we will reach you. So, why don't you just step walk from the guns while you can still walk." said one of them, the same massive black convict from before, his eyes just as yellow as before.

Ben backed up a couple of steps, looked to Chad, on his feet as well. Ben no longer liked the weight of the shotgun, though he did like the feeling of the trigger, his index finger caressing it like a cat. "Now now now, we can work something out, can't we? I mean even dumb ****s like you have to have some sense." said Ben in a sympathetic tone, one hand out away from his gun, the other one straining to lift it, never letting the barrel down. "Just back the **** down and we'll step out of the picture with what we've got. How does that sound you inbred porch monkey? Dem words makin any good sense huh?"

 

The large black man's muscles rippled as he blew out a plume of smoke and replaced the cigarette for another drag. He could tell the white boy in the suit was a lawyer...lawyers didn't lose their stink, not even in this hellhole.

He stood with the grace of a jungle cat, dropping the butt in the dirt and motioning with his head. Several other convicts who had been sitting with him got up immediately and joined him as he strode toward a line of men who had metal hanging from their bodies.

He paused a little distance away, crossing his arms and watching.

What was lawyerboy up to? It looked like he might be in a bit of trouble.

 

Joseph nodded as he took a bite of the food and followed after Pasha. "Maybe they got jumped...we are cons after all," he said jokingly. It was a joke that didn't seem so funny once Joseph and Pasha neared their destination. It seemed that their "guests" had been surrounded.

"I wouldn't be too quick to fire old hoss. There are eleven of us and only two of you. Now I'll admit, you may get one or two of us, before we reach you ... but we will reach you. So, why don't you just step walk from the guns while you can still walk."

"Now now now, we can work something out, can't we? I mean even dumb ****s like you have to have some sense." said Ben in a sympathetic tone, one hand out away from his gun, the other one straining to lift it, never letting the barrel down. "Just back the **** down and we'll step out of the picture with what we've got. How does that sound you inbred porch monkey? Dem words makin any good sense huh?"

Joseph and Pasha stood a few yards behind the main force of attackers. He looked at Pasha who was already taking out his knife. "Well my friend...it looks like our specialties will be useful here." Pasha's only reply was a quiet yet psychotic sounding laugh.

 

Smith had brought the rifle up and had it sighted on the leader when Ben spoke. "Now now now, we can work something out, can't we? I mean even dumb ****s like you have to have some sense." said Ben. Smith lowered the rifle, he trusted Ben, and he hoped his trust worked out. "Just back the **** down and we'll step out of the picture with what we've got. How does that sound you inbred porch monkey? Dem words makin any good sense huh?"

"Sounds like he's makeing you a good deal!" Smith added and smiled as evily as he could. "How many do you think i could take out? Certainly you!" He said to the leader. It'd make him think more about his own life.

 

A man stepped out from the rest. "It sounds like you got a hearing problem. I said walk away while you can. By the way, I wouldn't get too much closer to that river. They got a fish here that kinda likes people ... if ya get what I mean."

Four men pulled out bows, set the flint arrows on fire, and aimed.

"You really are running low on time."