The Phoenix Colony

"Joey likes being called Joey, so leave it that way. I have no clue what they'll taste like, don't have anything to season them with." Chrys shrugged, using a stick to stir the eggs. "Oh! Cut some flanks of steak, we can use it in lieu of bread."

 

Smith pointed out the strips of venisen he had already brought out. "Thouse should do right?" He asked and reached over and scratched Joey's head. "You could have told me earlier you where a girl." He scowlded Joey looked up and chirped back angerly. "You're right, you're right." He joked. "You're vary cute i should have known." He said and laughed at himself for haveing a conversation with a Rat-Roo.

 

Derek went out and plucked some handfuls of grass, carrying as much as he could, then walked back into the cave to see Chad calling his little creature cute. "You're gonna marry that thing aren't you?" he jested. "I got all the grass I could, but I only have one arm here. Oh and no eggs for me, Never liked 'em. Plus I'm not feelin' too good. Nausea comes with broken bones, so my arm definitely isn't in good shape."

 

Britney brings Raylene one of the guards bags filled with water. With some ripped up cloth she dabs the wound on Fox's head, cleansing the blood and dirt from the area. She uses the suture kit to close the wound and then dresses it with gauze and tape.

"Let's just hope she wakes up soon. Reva, what happened? All I remember is that damn ringing in my ears."

 

Viva yawned and got up, curling up her legs. Fox seemed hurt and Britney and Raylene had surrounded her. Reva was somewhere near too. She didn't pay much attention to it, as she looked for Pasha alone. He wasn't to be seen.
"Good. Now move it before anyone finds you."
She crawled out of the cave, and no one noticed her slyly go by. Even if they did, they were too wrapped up in Fox to attend to her. She breathed in the serene blast of wind which suddenly developed and then started tracing Allen and Ben. After a few random forages, she finally found them walking off to somewhere, with Allen the lamb to the slaughter. She sighed, and then tugged herself in the hold of a tree - well-hidden.
"So when do we aid him?"
When he aids us. Viva smiled.

 

"Well first we eat, then we weive." Chrys said firmly as she put some finished eggs, bird and deer meat on a seperate flat rock to cool and be eaten, and tossed some more meat and eggs on the hot flat rock.

Smith didn't waste any time he snatched up a strip of hell deer and a piece of chicken. He gave Joey a small pat on the head and ignored Dereks joke. He could call her cute if he wanted too, after all she had found more food than Derek had. He smiled as he took a big bite of the deer, it was actually really good, that and he was really hungry. "MMMmm" He said happily.

 

Britney sits there watching Raylene patching up Fox. She thinks "Please be okay. I....we need you. Your our leader. Just, wake up soon."

Britney hears her stomach rumbling. "Hey guys, since we're all awake, I guess we should go ahead and eat breakfast." says Britney.

 

Reva's stomach twisted. She was starving as if she had eaten nothing the night before but she couldn't face meat at the moment.

She didn't want to face people, either. The violent impulses of the situation with Allen that morning could have destroyed the group, killed people, and for what? Questions that had little to do with their situation now on this planet.

Reva only had two questions for Allen. What sort of 'business' did Ben and Allen have together? And did Allen actually plan to kill Reva and the others?

The bonus question, she supposed, was 'why?'

Reva forced herself to help Raylene answer Britney's questions and she gave her remaining two antiseptic plant spikes to Raylene for use on Fox. Detached from the three women as she was, Reva noticed Viva slip out of the cave as though wishing for privacy. Fair enough. Reva didn't exactly want a band playing everywhere she went, either.

Her stomach reminded her that it was empty, still, the odor and thought of meat was sickening. Reva went to her things and felt through them in her own shadow from the firelight that had been built up so that Raylene could see to tend to Fox.

She had nothing left of the fruit from yesterday. She and Ben had finished all of it.

Reva picked up the bedraggled sweatshirt 'bag' and retied it as best she could before tying it on bolero-style over the leather jacket. She took a long drink at the spring.

The others were still intent on Fox and Reva left them to it as she slipped out of the cave into the brightening dawn and made a left, carefully across the slope in the opposite direction from where she had found them interrogating Allen as though avoiding what had already happened that morning.

Reva had to find more of the plant spikes and some food that wasn't meat. She kept alert, watching and listening for anything that might try to attack as she foraged, nervous at being on her own and unprotected but at the same time relieved and at peace.

 

Britney goes over to the left over meat, and grabs a few pieces of it, for Raylene, Pasha and herself. Placing them onto sticks she puts them over the fire to cook. She also puts her hand into the fire again. "It still doesn't burn. What is happening to me." thinks Britney.

She looks up from the fire and says "Hey, um...Raylene, after we get done eating could you please work on making those cloaks that Fox asked about? And Pasha, if...if you don't mind, could you please continue making the gate after breakfast?" She was careful not to make it sound like she was giving orders. Raylene and Pasha probably wouldn't like taking orders from a guard.

Looking at Fox she thinks, "Don't worry, I won't let all of your hard work go in vain. I'll keep our tribe together, and hopefully I'll make you proud of me."

 

"I really don't know what she had against me, more than that, but somehow she knew me even though I've never met her before. As for why I was on the ship...I killed the director of intelligence."

Ben looked away, hearing something, but then shaking it off as nothing. They were in the middle of no where, out of earshot from the cave, what would want them? Ben didn't know or care. "Alright," he began, "You owe me your life, don't forget what I did for you today, but we better get back there, I'm not sure how warm a welcome we'll get there, but they have my-" he stopped for a moment, and then said, "Our food." He offered Allen a hand and a stern look.

 

Viva's eyes widened.
"They're going back. No, I'm not giving up this oppurtunity. Ben needs to take a slide."
She pulled off a branch from the tree she was camouflaged in, and then used it to make angular measurements.
"Let's see, 45 degree there and a 75 there...locked."
She picked up a rock which she had collected on her trek, and then aimed at the cliff covered with snow above the two men.
"Stay there Ben."
She prayed as the rock hit the snow, and a mass of snow fell on Ben, covering him completely. She then used another rock to knock him out. Or as she prayed. Allen eyed her fearfully as she dropped down on the snow.
"Question mark...why do you think you can just stroll away without answering some questions?"

 

Pasha sat at the far end of the cave, next to the water source. He looked up barely hearing what they had to say. He gave Britney a nod and went back to gently cleaning the blood from his arm. The deeper of the cuts pained him, but it kept him in reality. He could feel it pulling from him like it always did. He knew this was just many of the reasons he couldn’t keep friends. He always ended up killing them…

He brought himself up, and sat by the exit. Viva had left while he was gone, it was his fault. He sighed, his hands unable to concentrate on the work ahead of him. He looked over, the food not smelling good anymore. He didn’t want to eat… he wanted his princess.

He sighed, as the blood continued to rain down in slow droplets. He let them come as he went back to work on the fence, he knew soon enough he’d have to start putting it up. For now, he’d stick with making the surface of the fence, and deal with getting it up later.

He looked back at the girls, "Mind helping me while the food cooks? Might get done quicker that way..."

 

"Ok, lets go." He sighed and started heading back for the cave. He hated being dependent on others like this, it wasn't how he was trained. He looked down at his hand and thought, It looks like I'm going to be begging for food for quite a while.

"Don't worry, I wont forget what you did."

That's when the snow fell on Ben, covering him.

"Question mark...why do you think you can just stroll away without answering some questions?"


Allen smiled.

"What makes you think I can do anything without someones permission now? I walk away because I'm told to."

 

Viva nodded, and got on her feet, brushing away the snow.
"Okay, I have two questions for you. Then, you can go and do whatever you like. In fact, you can consider me your ally if needed."
She grinned, and then started:
"One, why in the world did you blow up the Chinese Dragon Festival last summer? I thought there was no political instability. And two - I thought you were never convicted for killing the General."
She looked down at Ben who was still unconscious.
I hope no one ever learns that I'm a spy. Especially not that I'm a government spy like Allen.
She thought.

 

Ben felt the weight of the snow, pushing down on him, pinning him to the ground, and then something nail him in the head. For a moment, he thought maybe he should just stay down. ****ing nothing goes to plan! he thought angrily. It's like an inconvenience ghost follows me everywhere! That anger is what drove him back to his feet, pushing up with all his might, pain shooting through his stomach, he managed to get the snow off his back.

Raising the gun to Viva he said, "What? You think I'm just some bitch for you to slap about? You think I go down so easy? I met a lot of idiots in my day but your special!" Ben backed up, not wanted something like that to happen again, but he kept his gun pointed at her. "Now I have a few questions for you. Who are you and why did you attack me?" Ben could only cringe at the pain in his gut, so full and hot and powerful, crippling even. He prayed to God that he could keep up the charade long enough to get what he wanted before falling over.

 

"Mind helping me while the food cooks? Might get done quicker that way..."

"Sure, I'll help." says Britney as she walks over to Pasha, "Oh, um...Reva told me what happened earlier this morning. Thanks for getting Fox's knife and gun back." Britney glances back at Fox before reaching the entrance.

Fox looks so peacefull. If it wasn't for the blood, it would be as if she was asleep. Raylene was on her knees bending over Fox, treating her wound, as the fire cast their shadows on the wall.

When Britney reaches the inprogress gate she asks "So what do you need me to do?"

 

“No problem.” Pasha muttered. His hands shook as he lifted a pile of sticks next to Britney.

“I’m trying to get the actual ‘links’ on the gate done. You see how I’m tying them here?” he pointed to the ‘links’ he had done. The sticks were weaved over one another and held together by the rope he had put together. He put the knife in between them.

“After you weave them, it’s not very stable. You have to tie the connecting corners together, Try and save as much rope as possible… You can use my knife.”

He started to work at weaving the current portion of the fence he had started last night, his hands never stopped shaking.

 

Reva had found some of the chocostrawberries and was busy eating, too hungry to put them in the bag, directly from the bush. As she chewed she looked out over the site of the wreck, ignoring it, and far beyond. A few of the pencil-beak birds sang an alien song in the bushes.

A moment later her reverie was interrupted by a low rumble that went on for about twenty long seconds before quieting. It had come from the opposite side of the cave and farther up the mountain.

Reva turned, looking but whatever had happened was blocked from her sight. Wiping her lips she decided to investigate. She climbed up, past the cave to where it became less steep and continued in the same general direction as earlier that morning.

 

Britney takes the knife and begins to weave the sticks. "I hope Fox will be alright. Hey, have you felt weird since landing on this planet?" says Britney.

She could hear the fire burning the wood. It seemed to call out to her mind. It was as if her and the fire had a kinship.

 

"I'm charmed, Viva. You always manage to get into trouble."
Shut up. The last thing I need is cribbing to my own self. Viva straightened, and made her puppy dog face come to light.
"I'm Viva, don't you remember? The Vee, Aee, Vee, Ai girl. You have a bad memory. And oh, did that hurt? I was just jumping from the tree to surprise you."
She blinked, and then giggled. You are a lucky man Allen. Believe it or not.

 

Reva stopped as she saw the landslide some distance away. Oh, so that had been it.

As she watched she was surprised to see the figure of a well-dressed man burst from the snow and point a gun at a tall slim figure. He stood out sharply dark against the white snow. Another man stood by, so that was where Allen had got to.

"Oh," Reva actually sighed out loud. Yet another instance where strife among them might just tear the group apart. More violence, more stupidity.

She shook her head, refusing to get involved, turned, and went back the way she came so that she began to descend a little to the left of the cave mouth once more.

 

"Well you could have ****ing asked!" Ben looked away and sighed, let the barrel drop, and walked forward a bit. "I don't want to hurt anyone, I'm just looking our for myself, and I can't do that alone." He pointed to Allen. "He was in trouble, I saved him from death at the hands of that . . . beast you befriended. Ask him what you want, ****s getting out of hand, its not like you can make it much worse."

He looked around, saw a big rock with a tree behind it, and walked over. After brushing the snow off it, he sat down and leaned up against the tree, shutting his eyes and reveled in the peace.

 

Pasha looked at Britney, biting his lip. He didn’t need them knowing about his problem. About the new voices that irritated Yuri and mumbled in his head. In fact, they didn’t need to even know about Yuri. He didn’t need to be shooed away because they thought he was crazy… he couldn’t afford to.

He sighed, and slowly lifted himself.

“Nothing beyond the weird fruit. Have you seen any blue fruits that look a lot like strawberries? Don’t touch them… they make you hallucinate.” He took his stick and headed out to the mouth of the cave.

“I’ll be back…” he muttered, “Back hurts from working all night on the fence.”

His eyes caught the spear he had made for Reva, and his hands wrapped around it as he walked out. He stopped, just at the left of the cave, as he heard movement. He looked up, noticing Reva sliding down. He walked closer, unsure of what to say.

“Just give it to her.” Yuri muttered.

“What if she doesn’t know how to use it?”

“Teach her then. Practice makes perfect… you should know that.”

Pasha looked at his hands, and the missing fingers from his own ‘practice’. He looked back up at Reva.

“I made you something.” He muttered.

 

Raylene gets up, confident that Britney won't let anything happen to Fox. "I'm going to go forage for more pods. Maybe I can find some veggies or fruits. I'm getting tired of just meat." She exits the cave and heads down the slope. They had been in the grass when Reva found those pods. The only clearing was a little farther down the hill.

Muffled voices raise from the trees. Raylene keeps walking. She finds some plants that look to have bulbous roots and she finds a stick and starts digging at the base of the plant.

 

Viva sighed.
That was close. At least Ben didn't find out I was a spy like Allen. Well, he wouldn't have hurt me, seeing he's helping Allen - but I don't think it's nice to blow cover when you're here to kill.
She thought and the looked sharply at Allen.
"Speak up, I don't have time."
It sounded almost ironic - who didn't have time when stranded on a foreign planet. Well, Viva didn't for one.