The Phoenix Colony

After seeing Raylene deal with Allen, Britney walks over to him and grabs his throat. She whispers to him in a low, angry tone "The Watts family is a proud noble clan. We have served as soldiers, agents, and cops for over ten generations. Many of us have even given our lives for justice. I serve as a guard out of tradition. And as for Fox, I don't follow her because she's strong. Fox is....um." She lets go and sits there for a second looking at the floor of the cave. She blushes a little and whispers "Fox is special to me. I'm going to wait until I learn more about her to decide if she fights for evil, or for justice."

She goes back to the fire and sits down.

 

Ignoring the racket behind them, Viva grinned and started to help Pasha. She had learned the art in army training, but that had been long ago.
"You're so good at so many things."
She said happily, though she couldn't get herself to smile enough. The previous incident had scarred her.

 

Pasha couldn’t help but smile as her nimble fingers quickly learned. She did a decent job, the robe being pretty tight from end to beginning.

“I’m not very good with people…” he said, “If you hadn’t noticed. Maybe you can teach me.”

He gently bent over, his arm reaching next to her body as he reached for some of the finger-thick sticks. He quickly began to weave them, as she helped him hold them still. With her help he started tying the fence together. After a few sticks were up, he sent them down, the smell of the food sending him towards the fire. He grabbed the rabbit and quickly brought out his knife. He began to clean the rabbit. He caught the site of Allen, and gave him a toothy grin.

“You’ll get food once you learn to behave.”

 

"It wasn't a joke." Derek said. That the guard distrusted him made him distrust the guard even more. "Seriously, we could be killed if we aren't careful. Or haven't you seen all the crazy wierd guys runnin' around this place?" Derek shook his head.

"I got taken in for sellin' some illegal contraband to the wrong guy. I'm on this ship for tryin' to steal some cigarettes from a guard. In retrospect, it totally wasn't worth it." He laughed. Having mentioned cigarretes, he could not resist the urge to pull one out and light it, taking a couple drags before continuing. "We gotta hurry up. If we don't find food soon we might as well head back. It's gettin' dark, and after seein' all the crazy s**t that goes on during the day I don't wanna get stuck out here at night."

 

Viva grinned. Dealing with people was all she had learned in her entire profession.
"I can teach you, I think."
She giggled, and then spoke softly:
"You see, you should always try to act innocent and sweet. Then you might get your way."
She whistled to Raylene, and said:
"Yuhoo, I hope you're doing good down there."
She then turned back to Pasha, saying:
"Like that. And if someone really gets on your nerves - start laughing. Like this."
She then laughed, her dimples manifesting.
"Sure, teach him table manners too."
She heard a voice at the back of her head, but shoved it past. She then imagined attending a dinner with Pasha. Cute.

 

By the dint of much pulling, grunting, and more than a little swearing the three got the ram-thing up the hill about eight feet from the mouth of the cave. Juliano peppered them with his life story, Fox paced gravely alongside, Ben was doing an inscrutable act that meant he was probably in agony, and Reva inwardly kicked herself for telling the Fox not to help.

They stopped and Reva wiped sweat from her forehead. The sun was down now and darkness was following swiftly behind.

"Shouldn't this thing be skinned and cleaned far enough away from the cave so that the offal won't attract scavengers?" she asked. Hey, just because she wasn't a survival expert didn't mean she hadn't read novels and watched movies.

Just then she saw a slight figure, silhouetted against the royal blue of the sky, racing from the cave. Raylene?

 

“You’ll get food once you learn to behave.”

Oh, like I haven't heard that one before.

Allen wished he could cradle his hand against his chest, or scream, something to lessen the pain. The straps made him unable to move, and his training made him unable to scream. It serves you right. Whatever happened to trying to make them lose their guard? He couldn't just keep quiet though. It was people like her who gave terrorists their power, people like her who let themselves get brainwashed into believing anything they are told.

Something the other woman said worked it's way to the front of his mind. She heard me?

At that moment Allen's stomach decided to let him know that it still hadn't been fed yet.

 

Pasha’s eyes blinked madly as he looked at his surroundings. He was at a restaurant or so he assumed. He could hear the chatter of the other people, but he couldn’t see them. A candle was in the middle of the table, and green satin tablecloth touched his very dirty hands.

He watched as a water basin was placed next to him, and he looked at Viva. She was in a beautiful gown. He blushed madly, trying not to look at that certain area.

“Y-you look lovely.” He said, not able to help the giggle that followed. He looked at the food on his plate, a simple lamb dinner, then back at the water basin.

“Do I drink or wash?” he asked, a bit confused. It left just as quickly as it came. He had the rabbit in his hand, the knife motionless inside the creature's skin.

"You should dress up more often." Pasha said with a grin.

 

"What crazy ****?" Smith asked, the only animal he'd seen was Joey and the little weseal that had tried to eat him. "Anyway's I think Joey's found something." He said changing the subject. Joey was climbing a tree nimbly and once he got to the top he picked a nut happily and threw it to the ground. It hit the ground and broke open. Joey did this several more times and ran down the tree and picked up the broken nuts and ate the insides. "Just like a penut." Smith said happily and then scratched his head for a way to get up high to get the nuts. "Now any ideas on how to get the food? i'm not keen on climbing."

 

Viva eyed him worriedly as he spoke nonsense.
"Oh, so now he sees hallucinations of you. How sweet."
Viva did find it a normal thing for a schizophrenic, but his mention of 'lovely', 'wash or drink' and 'dress' confused her. She thought of a dinner, and there he saw it that way. She shook her head, believing she was just very hungry. She pulled a stick of antelope meat, barely fresh and started nibbling on it.
"Thanks, I'll one someday."
"Yeah right. We're in Switzerland on a honeymoon, aren't we?"
Viva had to agree with the voice.

 

"I'll climb up," Derek volunteered. "I'll throw 'em down, you catch 'em." He walked over and reached for the first branch. It was just above where he could grab it. He stepped back a bit, getting a running start and jumped up for the branch. He somehow overshot it, however, and hit his head.

"What the..." he said. Derek pushed it to the back of his mind and decided to think about it later. It was getting dark and he was hungry, he may have just imagined it. Derek tried again, jumping from the side this time. He grabbed the branch with his arms, swung a bit, and pulled himself up. He proceeded to climb up until he was eye to eye with the small kangaroo rat, and began to pluck the nuts from the tree. "Here they come!" he yelled down, plucking the tree until it was empty while throwing down the nuts. He kept the last two, eating one and putting the other one in his pocket and saving it for a special purpose.

 

Pasha blushed and went back to work on the rabbit. He couldn’t get the image of her in the dress out. He smiled to himself, and finished the rabbit off, setting the skin to the side. He quickly sliced the animal up, weaving it around on a few of the sticks and sitting it next to the fire. He picked up the intrails, and sat them in the fur. He wasn’t sure what to do with them just yet. It wouldn’t be smart to dump them anywhere nearby. He looked at Viva, she was a lot cleaner then him. He frowned.

He quickly went to the water, washing off his hands and arms. He stopped next to Allen, almost feeling sorry for attacking him.

“I don’t understand you…” he said, “If I was in your predicament, I’d be making friends. Yet… you haven’t even tried.” He shook his head and leaned against the cave wall, his mind full of confusing thoughts.

 

As Fox walks along with the othere back towards the cave, she sees Raylene come running out. She quickly goes running up to Raylene, when she gets closer she sees that Raylene had been crying. "What happened?" asked Fox.

 

Viva smiled, seeing that Pasha was softening.
"Go talk to Allen. He so needs to explain his acts in the Chinese Dragon Show last summer."
And his acts which got him here. She got up, pretending to sit by Pasha's side when she actually meant it for Allen.
"Hey...uhh, Mr. Huggles, why don't you go build the fence? It'll be sundown soon, you know."
She grinned, a sooting aura whirling around her. Pasha nodded and walked off to the fence. She then grinned towards Allen who seemed to be in agony.
"We'll have dinner ready soon, so don't worry. Though, you have some explanation to give."
She then giggled, and winked, whispering:
"Agent Allen Kiro."

 

Smith caught all the nutts and packed them away into his pockets and looked up and was about to say how this wouldn't feed them much when he heard a sound. "SHhh." He said to Derek and looked around the tree to see a helldeer standing near some bushes eating some leaves. He raised the rifle quickly and careful not to shot the horns put a round into it's head, and thought to himself that he had better find out if it's heart is in the same place as a normal deer's so he could shoot it like normal and be sure it'd drop.

 

Upon being shushed, Derek crouched down in the tree and looked at where Chad was facing. It was one of the deer that had fallen on him before. After Chad shot it, he went to climb down another branch and slipped, falling towards the ground. He thought he felt his left arm snap, but when he landed he somehow managed to land perfectly on his feet without damage his legs.

He tried to straighten his left arm, then groaned in pain. "Ah f**k. I think I broke my arm. Hey, help me cut my shirt up, I need a sling." Derek removed the right shoulder with ease, then winced as he used his good arm to remove the other side of his shirt. He was cold, now having nothing but a wife beater to protect his upper body from the cold. "Here, wrap it up and I'll help you carry that deer with my good arm." He stood wating for Chad to help him.

 

SON OF A BITCH!

How is it that he'd managed to have his cover blown more times in the last two days than the entire agency had in the last two years? He was supposed to be the best!

Allen looked around to see if anybody was listening, then turned his gaze warily back to her.

"You know me?"

 

"Can't say I know you, but yeah, heard of you from my boss many times. You're one dose of heroin, aren't ya."
She whispered. Her accent was naughty and womanly, not the childish kind. She then extended her hand towards him, looking into his eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you more. I think you've had quite a hand full. But I have a few questions. You might've heard of me - Viva Franks?"
She whispered even lower, careful not to get to Britney or her friend.

 

Smith slung the rifle over his shoulder and went over and carefully helped out Derek. Once he was done he picked up Joey and put him on his shoulder and walked over to the deer. It was a young one compared to the monster Ben had shot. Probably only about a hundred pounds. "Not a very big deer but it should feed us with some left overs." He said and looked thoughtfully at Derek. He still felt that the guy wanted him out of the group, if not dead. "Well, I guess it could have been a bigger deer but atleast we eat tonight, plus some breakfast." He said cheerfully.

 

"Yeah, and if it was any heavier it'd be hell gettin' it back." Derek walked over to the end by the legs and slid his good arm under. His left arm hurt like hell, but he bit his lip and bore the pain, knowing that some food would be worth it. He lifted a bit, testing the weight. "Well, come on. This is still gonna be a b***h. God I hate these things. I got trapped under the last one."

 

Fox ran after Raylene as she exited the cave. "What happened," she asked?

Raylene stopped about 100 feet from the cave and sat down. She put her head in her hands and sobbed. "I broke his hand. He was yelling at Britney and I lost it. I ran over and stomped on his hand. I just feel like I'm going crazy. I can hear all these voices in my head and I can't make it stop. I am going to end up like the psychos in there, I can just feel it. Fox, what's wrong with me?" She looks up and Fox, pleading for answers.

 

Harold walked into the cave and sat in the dark. In the distance, he could hear the caw of those thin beaked birds. He stared into the inky blackness and watched his eyes form shapes out of the varying shades of darkness. In the silence, he could hear the Godfather’s voice.

The Godfather walked over to Harold and put one of his bear like hands on the enforcer’s shoulder. Thick, calloused fingers reached in between the muscles and squeezed. Harold winced.

“That’s your problem Harry,” said the aging mafia Don. “You are weak. You look weak. Everyone who sees you can tell you are weak.” He stood in front of Harold. “Hit me.” Harold stared at the old Italian. “Go ahead,” said Godfather,” take your best shot.” Harold just shook his head silently. The Don smiled. “You’re scared. You’re bigger and stronger than me. No one else is here and you are too scared to take out an old man.”

The enforcer looked straight ahead. “Maybe I just don’t want to have someone play wishbone with all my bones and bits.”

Don Merluca laughed and took a glass of wine. “That’s what you never understood. You always thought it was enough to be one of my boys. You let that carry you. It isn’t enough. You have to become someone people are scared of, otherwise you’ll always be a nothing, a parasite, some fat slug sitting on the stands at the Super Bowl cheering like a fool thinking that he won something just because his team won. Now either figure it out or don’t ever come back.”

There were voices outside the cave. Other cons were carving out their own territory. What had he done? He roamed aimlessly with a blind idiot. He felt the thick, thorns of the branch. Even the lightest touch made his skin burn. He could smell the flesh singe. Something brushed his foot. It was a second thorn branch. Harold smiled. They would fear him. The former enforcer’s shirt hit the cave floor as thick thorns rubbed across his chest. Not enough to cause any real injury, but just enough to bring the blood to the surface.

The waning light hit the figure that left the cave. A think sprinkling of blood covered the left side of his chest. The convict rubbed the gore over half his face. He took a thorn and pushed it through the skin just below his eye.

“Harold?” asked Juan.

Harold swung the unpoisoned club, crushing the blind man’s leg. He lifted Juan up. “You can see.” It wasn’t a question.

“Sometimes … sometimes but just glances and it’s not through my own eyes.”

The bloodied con dropped him. “So I have a reason to keep you alive. Where’s the rest of my tribe?!”

 

After hearing Raylene talk Fox looks back at the others and says "You guys go on without. I want to speak to her alone." The others agree and continue pulling the gaint ram towards the cave.

After they get out of hearing range, Fox sits down on a rock and pats the ground next to her, "Sit." says Fox. Raylene does so. "I think something weird is happening to us. For most of the day, I've been able to sense the movement around me. Its pretty weak right now, but it feels like its getting stronger. Hell when you sat down, I could sense exactly what all of your biggest muscles were doing." says Fox. Fox feels the scar along her face and then continues "And when that ceader jumped at me earlier, I didn't see him. I could sense his movement and my body reacted on its own, in an attempt to dodge its claws. I'm fast, but not fast enough to have been able to dodge that, by all rights I should be dead. Hey, I think I might know were those voices are coming from." Fox looks at Raylene and thinks "Can you hear me right now?"

 

Raylene's eyes open wide and she looks up from pulling the grass at her feet.

"Can you hear me right now?"

"Oh my God!" Her hand flies to her mouth as she gasps.

 

Viva Franks. He had heard the name. She'd been with the agency for a while, and she was pretty good from what he heard. Instantly the protocall that had been instilled in him by years of training took over. First, establish truth of identity. He uttered a code question. Let's see if she really is who she says she is.

"Do you think it'll rain again soon?"