The Phoenix Colony

Smith groaned as he got up. He grabbed some meat he had cut the night before and chased a few flies away. "We really need to weave a door and partial wall onto this." He mumbled loudly and carried the meat out side to the fire. "If we can get a partial wall biult we can light the fire inside, the cave roof slopes to the entrence so the smoke would go right out the top." He said to anyone interested in his plans. "We don't know if winter is comeing or spring, or this might even be summer so we sould prepare for a hard winter." He added.

 

"You seen all the frest shoots and the buds on the plants? It's pretty clearly spring, big guy." Derek chuckled a bit. "You look like a f***kin' tomato."

 

Smith looked around and nodded, he had never been much for the out doors but then again that was obvius. "Then i'd say we go for a partial wall, we'll need the warmth untill the weather starts getting better, plus the wall will help keep the insects out of anything we try and store." He said and smirked slyly. "You'd better hope what ever's effecting my skin isn't contagius." He said reaching out towards Derek.

"But right um, flat rock theres got to be one somewhere."

 

Chrys looked at the two of them, "How did I end up with you two? Can someone remind me? Anyway, I've got a nest to attack."

Chrys stalked into the forest, then realized she was being followed, "Joey, go back to Chad." She said, not checking if he did.

SHe found a sturdy looking tree, scaled it, and perched herself on a branch watching a bird's nest near by. Four eggs, let's hope they're fressh, otherwise there'll be feathers in our eggs.

Chrys sat motionless, her tazer poised for the return of the mother.

She was rewared a god ten minutes later, two pareents arrived! ZIPPPPPZAPPPP Went the taxer as she took them both out with its charge. They fell on the ground, so she sheathed the tazer in her pocket, and grabbed the nest, falling out of the treee, and onto her feet. She picked up the birds and headed back to camp.

 

Smith found a big flat rock and moved it over to the fire and waited for Kat to return. "Well I helped you escape certain death if it makes you feel any better, I'm not sure how you meet Derek, but you abandoned me back at the old camp and I caught up with you guys by pure luck here, at which point you nearly takled me." He said and thought that about summed it up.

Smith slapped a strip of the hell deer meat onto the rock. "We should find a use for the horns." He said thoughtfully. "They exsplode so they should be useful."

 

"We should stockpile 'em outside the cave," Derek suggested. "We don't want them in here if they explode, but if one o' the other groups decide they want our shelter or somethin' it'd sure be useful to have 'em around.

 

"What are you two talking about?" Chrys asked as she planted her catch on the rock that Chad had found for her. "Okay, I think the tazer has already fried the birds, but they could take a little fire for a bit, as to the eggs, I can fry them, ot mock fry em, anyay."

 

"Agreed with both of you. Horns outside the cave and eggs sound good." He said with a smile. "As for the door, Kat if you could show both of us how to weave blankets we can have a wall and door up before lunch. As for the fence, well i'm not sure how to make one." he admited hopeing one of thee others had a good sugestion.

 

"Forget about the fence, just booby trap our area. I'll show ya'll how to weave, but after breakfast. And while were at it, Machismos, I happen to like to cook, so don't get all 'women's place' on me. Kay?" Chrys sadi as she heated the rock in preparation for the eggs.

"Is Joey omnivorous, or strictly an herborvour?"

 

Smith looked down thoughtfully at Joey who in turn looked up thoughtfully at Smith. "All i've seen him eat so far was nuts and fruits, i don't really know though." he said as he watched Joey chew happily on a nut. "He'll probably find something on his own if he wants. Or he'll beg for it." Smith said and patted Joeys head. Smith let out a quick laugh. "Don't worry i've seen you kill a man so I know you can handle things besides cooking, and weaving, but i'm really glad you can weave." Joey chirped happily as he stole another berry and chowed down on it. Smith swore that Joey was getting fatter. "You'd better take it easy on those berries Joey or your gona look like a round ball soon."

 

"Hey," Reva stepped out of nowhere, talking to Fox, "has he told you anything?"

So, she was completely on Xaire's side. Allen's head hurt, his hand hurt, his arms hurt, his chest hurt, his back hurt. It hadn't been a good two days. Now it looked like he was going to die. He wouldn't tell them anything though, and hopefully they wouldn't be smart enough to figure out what they already knew.

I heard you.

That's what that woman had said. Well I never said it out loud, so you couldn't have heard me. Can you hear me now? I hope you hear every last word they say, and feel every time they touch me. Bitch. Allen laughed, it was already happening and they had only hit him once. If this kept up he'd be crazy enough to tell them everything in the first ten minutes. He wouldn't though. I won't let them know about Jacob.

 

Pasha had let the woman Reva walk by, but very reluctantly. He almost laughed at her words, but he wasn’t in the mood for laughter, he was only in the mood to tear flesh from bone. He wanted the screams to come, he missed the screams. He hadn’t heard them in a long time, not since he had landed here. Not since… her. His heart gave a flutter, but he quickly set it aside.

"She'd hate you..." Yuri muttered.

"Don't you start that again." he growled.

He continued watch, only half listening to what was happening behind him.

 

"Can you hear me now? I hope you hear every last word they say, and feel every time they touch me. Bitch."

Raylene woke with a start. The cave was nearly empty. Britney and the new guy are asleep near the front of the cave and Viva is asleep somewhere in the middle. Who had screamed then? Raylene slowly arose and walked outside the cave and to a nearby bush to relieve herself.

"I won't let them know about Jacob."

Again, she heard it as clear as day, screaming at her inside her head. A sudden, intense ringing started to bounce inside her ears. She clapped her hands over her ears and tried to block out the sound. That's when she saw the group of people in the trees, haloed by the predawn light. Reva and Fox were near Allen who was tied to a tree. Pasha was standing back a little ways, ready with a giant log, which she was sure he wanted to use on Allen's skull.

Slowly, she walked into the circle of people. Her hands still over her ears, the ringing becoming more pronounced, she said just one thing before collapsing on the ground. "Ask him about Jacob, and yes, I can hear you."

 

"Pasha, grab her." says Fox. Fox looks at her with cold, empty eyes, "You don't understand. You don't know what its like to watch agents carry away the limp body of your father. You don't know what its like to watch someone put bullet holes in you mother, while she tries to protect you. You don't know what its like to be a child, begging them to stop, only to have one of them slash your back wide open. I don't just want answers, I want him to suffer for what he's done. If you really want to save him, then you're going to have to convince Pasha not to kill him, when I give Allen over to him."

Fox walks back over to Allen. She could sense to movements of two other people nearby. Fox calls out "And to the other people, you aren't going to stop me either."

Fox pulls out the metal peice that she had been using as a knife and holds to blade up to Allens eyes. "Do you see the blade. Its knicked up. So any cut I give you with this is going to take a long time to heal. I am Xare Aldrich. You arrested my father and murdered my mother. So now you're going to answer my questions. Do you understand?" says Fox.

Allen doesn't answer. Fox's anger rises. "No, no, no, no, NO!" yells Fox. With each no, she slashes his abdomen. Making sure that the cuts weren't deep enough to cause serious damage. She didn't want him to die. She only wanted him to feel pain. As she stands there, with blood dripping off of her knife, she says "I waited nine f***ing years for this, you don't get to stay silent. So my first question is, was my father Edward Aldrich, the official in charge of census and taxes in North America, guilty of stealing tax money?"

 

"Fox, STOP!"

Reva didn't realize she could sound so forceful. She darted forward before Pasha could grab her.

Reva threw her whole weight behind her shoulder as she crashed into Fox yelling like a banshee.

"Back off! This is not right."

 

"Ask him about Jacob, and yes, I can hear you."

A chill ran down Allen's spine. She could hear him. She could find out. It would be better for him to die than to let her in his head.

Is that all she wanted to know? Could he tell her that? It was classified, but hardly secret. He was very suprised that she didn't already know.

Suddenly Reva charged Xaire, nocking her away from him. "This is not right!" She...didn't want this? That made up his mind. He decided to answer.

"No, he wasn't. I never met your father, but he worked for our department. I heard that he started selling state secrets to the Cavelieros de morte, double dealing. I heard what happened to his family, to you"

 

Fox and Reva didn’t have time to say anything else when he grabbed her shoulders with a painful grip. He lifted her up, pinning her arms down at her side. His mind screamed for the pain and screams but he knew Reva wasn’t the answer, it was Allen he wanted.

He stood to the side, not looking down at the woman now in his grip.

 

Reva didn't often curse but she cursed Pasha and Fox roundly with every word she'd learned in prison then she went on to make up a few. Then she quieted, shaking, tears running down her face.

 

Fox looks up at Reva. "Right! This bastard made me suffer, I have every right in the world to make him feel pain. And you won't interfere again." says Fox as she stands. She raises her knife and starts to lunge at Reva, when suddenly she hears Lonan's voice inside of her head. "This is the most important things to remember. Never ever allow you emotions to rule you. If you do, then you wll not be a freedom fighter anymore, you will be a mere terrorist. You'll be no better than the people we fight."

Fox falls to here knees and begins to cry. She puts her hands on the sides of her head and cries out "But he deserves it. He's evil, he deserves to suffer."

She then hears Allen tell her "No, he wasn't. I never met your father, but he worked for our department. I heard that he started selling state secrets to the Cavelieros de morte, double dealing. I heard what happened to his family, to you"

Fox looks at the ground, as the tears begin to fall faster. "No daddy....daddy would never do that. That can't be true." says Fox.

 

Allen found his control again. He was completely calm and cool-headed. It looked like he still had something to fight back with, but he had to be careful, very careful. The slightest mistake would kill him, or others. He looked around him, at Xaire, at Pasha, Reva, the woman on the ground. He might get out of this alive yet. He took a deep breath before speaking. This was his biggest gamble, Either way it went, disaster lay ahead.

"I think I can get us home."

 

Reva looked at Allen. He was freaking insane.

Didn't he realize that these people had nothing to return to? That she had nothing to return to? They were convicts for crying out loud!

 

Pasha could almost feel the laughter inside as he looked at Allen. Was he an idiot? Pasha would rather fight for life on this planet then return. There was only hard labor and death that waited him elsewhere. Here he had freedom.

“I say we just kill him.” Pasha growled, “Why would we want off this planet? We have freedom here!”

 

Ben struck, jumping out of the shadows, gun pointed at the group, yelling, "Freeze mother****ers!" He slammed the butt of the gun squarely into the back of Fox, knocking her to the ground, and then pointed the barrel at Pasha. "No moves big guy, I don't want to hurt anyone, so don't do anything stupid. Just let go of Reva."

 

"Wait Ben! Just...wait.

He looked Xaire in the eyes.

"You don't want to go home though, do you. You want a world free from the government for the Warriors. I can give you that too if I get home."

 

Fox takes her knife and stabs Ben in the foot. "If you want to shoot me, go ahead and try, but I'm getting the answers I want from him." says Fox. She quickly puts the knife back into her belt and stands up. As she stands, her body seems to sway back and forth. She was clearly not in the right state of mind at the time. She walks over to Allen and looks him in the eyes as her mind races. "Kill him now, remember what he did to mom. No, I need more answers. Screw answers make him pay. I can kill him for justice, but not for revenge. Who cares why, just do it. No, Lonan wouldn't like that." thinks Fox.

"Is....is he still alive and if so, where is he?" says Fox.