The Phoenix Colony

Reva raked her still-damp red hair out of her face and reassessed him. He was being friendly and he did have a problem with that arm. She shifted the bundle of her prison uniform to the crook of her left arm.

"Sure, I'll help," she said lifting an end of the carcass, "Looks like between the two of us we have two arms available."

She wondered if the next question was acceptable and decided to ask it anyway.

"So how did you hurt your arm?" She sincerely hoped it had nothing to do with the dead bodies.

 

"Eh, I climbed up a tree to get some seeds, slipped on the way down," Derek said, picking up the other end of the deer. "Banged my arm up on a branch. What'd you do? And why're you out here all alone runnin' through the woods?"

 

Oh, well...that made sense if he was telling the truth. Reva figured he couldn't attack her really efficiently with a dead deer between them and walked on.

"As for what I did...I was present when two people died but I had nothing to do with it. Didn't keep me from being convicted."

She took a fresh grip and went on.

"As for why I'm on your part of the mountain, I didn't plan to be. I was looking for food and went farther than I expected to."

Her sweatshirt pack was full of the pods that she'd found, some fallen nuts, and a few of the antiseptic plant spikes.

"So...you're part of a group? How many? Oh, I'm sorry," Reva said, "I didn't get your name."

 

Derek chuckled. "Name's Derek. I was askin' what it was you did to your arm, I could care less what you did to get in jail. We're all startin' over here. Way I see it, new world, new life. Right?"

Derek turned for a momen to look where he was going, and saw that the edge of the forest was just a few feet away, and their cave would be on the other side.

"There's three of us. One o' the guards came, he's got a shotgun and a pistol with some ammo, so he's useful, plus we got a girl that can weave. Made me this," he nodded towards his woven cloak. "It doubles as a blanket." Derek smiled.

 

"Damn it!!!" Roared Juliano as he awoke.

He was right, he had missed half the day, AGAIN. He was beginning to like the idea but still, with everyone ambling about, half the camp missing he had to get someone to fill him on with what was happening. He looked around the cave looking for nobody in particular, then he remembered the knife. Where was it now? He doubted that Raylene still had it after the totalitarian Fox had returned. He couldnt be bothered to ask, Raylene looked asleep, but he wasnt totally sure.

He grabbed the last edible looking piece of meat from his own carcus, which strangly had been left untouched during the morning. After a few minutes of silent eating he grabbed the head of the goat and dragged it towards the gate for disposal.

 

Cull was enjoying the feel of his fresh sweater. He probably looked stupid feeling it the way he was. He didn’t care this was heaven. He was supposed to be gathering things for the group but had stopped for a rest on the grass.

Nearby a woman was gathering pieces of wood from beneath a tree. Every now and then she’d look up at him before bobbing down to gather more pieces. She was pretty even with her hair dirty and tussled. her eyes piercing blue. Cull finally sighed and walked over to her stooping down to collect some wood and put it in her pile.

“I’m Cull,” he said with a smile.

She eyed him in silence and nodded her greeting hands to full to shake. “They call me Lordly, my names Cody though. Another day in paradise aye?”

He let out a laugh. “Oh yeah, this place is crazy and here I was worrying about prison.”

She nodded again and dropped the wood sitting besides it. “Yeap I still say this joint has nothing on prison.”

Cull couldn’t agree more. She seemed cold to him, her face like stone. He wondered if that had always been her way or if the planet had changed her. If the planet had at least she hadn’t turned into a giant cry baby.

 

Derek chuckled, a pleasant unexpected sound after so much yelling.

"Name's Derek. I was askin' what it was you did to your arm, I could care less what you did to get in jail. We're all startin' over here. Way I see it, new world, new life. Right?"

"Derek," Reva acknowledged his name, "My arm? Oh," Reva had to chuckle in her turn, the way that the sweatshirt bag wrapped around her and the way she had found to carry her bundle did look a little like she had hurt it. "I didn't do anything to it. Just carrying too much stuff."

Derek turned for a moment to look where he was going, and Reva looked where he did at the edge of the forest just a few feet away.

"There's three of us. One o' the guards came, he's got a shotgun and a pistol with some ammo, so he's useful, plus we got a girl that can weave. Made me this," he nodded towards his woven cloak. "It doubles as a blanket." Derek smiled.

Reva couldn't help smiling in spite if the looming question of who might have killed the men she found. It weighed on her thoughts but she said nothing in case 'starting over' might come to mean cheerfully knocking her over the head.

"It sounds like an accomplished group," Reva replied.

She followed him through the trees, making sure to keep a good grip on her end of the deer. The dead animal didn't bother her as much as the dead men had but it reminded her of them.

I'll have to be careful, Reva thought, Derek seems nice but I'm not sure it's safe here. She walked quietly after that, feeling a little stupid for having ranged so far from her group and more or less getting lost.

 

Derek turned back to Reva, still walking backwards. "I'm surprised you didn't ask me about my face," He said. "Our old leader went coocoo, killed one of our other members and was goin' after me. Big ol' bastard popped me right in the face, broke my nose." Derek chuckled. "It was too bad, he was a good guy before he went all Vietnam War vet on our asses. Well anyways, the guard saved my ass n' killed the bastard."

Just as he said that, he stumbled out of the woods and into the open, cave in sight. "And that's what we call home," he said. "Care to stay for supper?" he invited, smiling.

 

Allen had been thinking about Ben. It seemed he wasn't as weak as he thought at first. He had stood up and helped him even when it probably would have helped him more if he had helped Xare.

"I think we might have found ourselves a new home."

Allen heard it too. It was Chad. It was looking like the group was coming back together just like it had been right after the crash. How fortuitous. He was all but helpless, and still hurting all over from the storm and Xare. He needed some friends right now if he was going to get Xare, more than just Ben.

"Hey Chad! Is that you?"

 

As Britney and Fox sat around the fire, the map caught Fox's attention. "Hey Brit, I want you to do me a favor." says Fox. Britney says "Sure, what do you need." "I want you to scout around the other side of the mountian. I want you to see what other kind of animals there are, if there are any more tribes and see if there are other types of food. Oh, and here, take my knife, just incase." says Fox, as she hands Britney the sharp piece of metal.

Britney goes to the gate and exits the cave. She goes around the left side of the mountain. Fox moves so that her back is against the cave wall. Her ears were ringing and it was getting hard to think straight. "Bastard probably gave me a concussion." thinks Fox. Her stomach growls, she thinks "When the hell is Pasha getting back with some food."

 

Raylene had been laying down, awake for hours, waiting for everyone to leave the cave. She needed to talk to Fox alone. Britney left the cave and Raylene finally sat up.

"Fox, I heard something else. I don't know what to do. We know that Allen is a government agent, right? Well, yesterday, Viva cornered him after Britney sent them away and was asking him questions and I was in the trees nearby and I heard her in my head. She.....she said that she's a spy TOO! I'm so afraid that I'm going to have to leave camp when everyone finds out about the voices in my head. No one will trust me to be around them if they can't even think about something when I am near. What am I going to do??"

 

Fox could see that Raylene was really panicking. Fox walks over, kneels down in front of her, places her hands on Raylene's shoulders and says "Raylene, its ok. Take a deep breath and calm down. First off, they better not try to make you leave, and if they do, I'll make them regret it. Now, I need to know, what exactly did you hear."

 

Ben climbed awkwardly over the little thatched door, holding his breath as his face passed through a cloud of smoke. Inside the cave sure enough there sat Chrys and Chad around a fire. That explains the smoke. he thought dryly.

"Well no ****, Chad! Good to see you, but . . . uh, what happened to your skin?"

 

Raylene sat back against the cave wall and thought about what she had heard before the ringing took over her mind.

"She said, er...thought, '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.' Then I passed out."

 

"Here to kill, huh? We need to find out who she is here to kill. If its not one of our tribe then its ok. I personally don't like the idea of working with a spy, but considering our situation its not a bad idea. You and I need to have a talk with miss spy and try to learn more about her. I want you along to make sure she answers my questions honestly. Will you help me with this?" says Fox.

 

"I'll try Fox," Raylene replies, "but I've never tried to control this. It just sort of happens, and when it does, my head hurts so badly and I hear this insane ringing in my ears. It's made me pass out twice. You have to promise that you won't let anything happen to me." Suddenly, she laughs. "How are we going to pull her away from the other psycho long enough to talk?"

 

Smith looked down at his Redish skin and shrugged. "I think i'm alergic to something in the air." He said and Joey chirped happily off in another direction. Smith turned to see a new girl and Derek. The new girl had his JACKET! He smiled, his lucky jacket!

Chrys looked awkwardly at Ben, "So I guess we've allready meet." She said and Smith jumped in to exsplain.

"She's lost all of her memories about the crash and after." He said quickly and looked over at Allen. "Where'd you two get off to. Lost you during the storm, and" He looked at ben. "You dissapeared the morning after the fight, I had waited till noon before i finaly took off for the woods." Smith said.

Chrys looked over at Derek now. "Oh, another new comer." She said rather cheerfully. Joey followed her lead and chirped happily at the two.

"Oh," Smith realized that everyone was going to need introducing so he started with Joey. "This is Joey, she's been helping me find edible foods." Smith said patting her head gently.

 

"I'll just ask her if you and I can talk to her for a moment. If she wants to avoid looking guilty of something, then she shouldn't object to it." says Fox.

She gives Raylene a smile and says "As far as I'm concerned, the members of this tribe are my family while we're stuck here. Well, okay, its a rather dysfunctional family, but family none the less. I failed once before to protect my family, but I'm not going to fail ever again. I swear to you, I won't let anything bad happen to you."

 

Pasha stood directly behind Viva as they heard the hopping footsteps. They held his hand over her shoulder as they both waited silently. She held the bludgeon in her delicate hands, they both bent their knees just barely as the noise came closer. He closed his eyes, he could almost see it on the leaves on the other side of the tree, though he knew that was just his imagination. He smiled as the leaves crunched again. The barely audible sound of it’s teeth tapping against one another could be heard, only if listened intently.

He bent down, opening his eyes and getting close to her ear.

“Do you hear it? It’s eating.” He said in a barely audible whisper. In a sudden noise, he could tell the animal was just inches from them now. He gently patted her on the back. Her movements were quicker then he could have imagined as the stick came down with a good amount of force on the side of the tree. The sound of cracked bone could be heard, when he suddenly heard the noise. The noise of a terrified rabbit, almost like a pale scream. He quickly lunged forward, and dove as he saw the rabbits dashing from their first hole. He landed on them, his large hands barely stopping them as he broke their necks. He came up, a look of anger on his face as he noticed the bite on his finger.

He sighed and quickly tossed the four rabbits over his shoulder and went back to Viva, pride in his eyes. He took the stick from her hand.

“Beautiful job.” He said with a grin. They took the long trek back, as they followed their footsteps back to camp. He couldn't get the joy from his face, the joy of having someone that was so much like himself.

 

Derek heard Chad and Chrys's voices, accompanied by some others he didn't recognize. Before turning around, he said to Reva "Looks like you're not the only one stayin' for dinner." He smiled for a moment, then turned his head. He recognized the two men that were there from when they had the fire on the first night after the crash. "Hey Chad, what's goin' on? I brought dinner!"

 

Reva accepted Derek's invitation to dinner and suddenly it seemed like they had stepped into a hive of activity.

"Looks like you're not the only one stayin' for dinner." Derek smiled.

He was right. The guard and the smiling girl she didn't recognize but as she caught sight of blonde hair and and incongruous suit she reflexively said his name in surprise.

"Ben!" Reva colored a little. She had said his name more warmly than she had intended.

Then she saw the brown-haired man with bandaged arm and hand not far from him.

"Allen." Her voice was much cooler this time. Then she turned to the guard that Derek had called Chad and the girl she didn't know.

"Hello, I'm Reva," she said simply.

If Raylene was to be believed Allen wanted to kill Reva (although somewhat reluctantly). Ben, on the other hand, had stood up for she and Allen both in the interrogation clearing. She was pretty sure she couldn't trust Allen and since Ben seemed friendly with him now she doubted him as well.

What 'business' had they been up to? And how odd that they were here together.

 

Hearing Reva yell Ben's name before Chad had a chance to respond made him curious. He turned back to Reva, now getting close the entrance of the cave, and said "You know those guys? Well, that'll make introductions shorter. Why do you look so worried?"

Derek was slightly confused, but at the same time he was worried that he had mistakenly brought even more trouble on his camp, which had been so serene and comfortable, almost civil since the death of Harold.

 

Raylene looks up and sees Pasha and Viva walking to the cave. Something is slung over his shoulder. Her stomach gurgles, reminding her of her hunger. She stands and puts fresh wood on the fire.

"What did you find Pasha? Fox and I are the only ones here right now. Cull, Juliano, and Reva have all wandered off and Britney is on a mission. So, it's just the 4 of us. I'm starving!"

 

"Its good that you two are back. I was starting to wonder if a predator got to you guys. So what are we having for breakfast." says Fox.

As Britney walks around the mountain, making sure to take note of her surroundings, she comes upon some weird fruit. They were bright pink with purple spots. "I remember on one of those nature shows that dad likes to watch, that bright colors often means that something is poisonous." thinks Britney as her stomach growls, "But this isn't earth, so who knows if they are or aren't." She pulls out Fox's knife and cuts the tough skin off of one of them and bites into it. It has a sour taste, similar to a lemon. "These are pretty good." thinks Britney, as she hungerly devours the fruit and grabs another.

 

Pasha let the smile leave his face finally, as he took the rabbit from Viva’s hand, letting it fall next to the fire limply. He sat down next to it, placing the other rabbits on his lap.

“We got five rabbits.” He said, as he began to clean the first of the rabbits. He first sliced the chest through the ribs, taking out the innards and placing it onto the side. He quickly grabbed the skin from the nape of the neck, and used his knife to pull it off in one pull. He sliced it up, and quickly laced it on the sticks. He finished the other rabbits up just as quickly, and placed the furs close around the fire as the meat cooked.

“We’ve got 8 furs now, enough for a good sized blanket.” He smiled at Viva and looked back at Raylene, “Can she have one of those bone needles I made you?” He quickly went back to wash his hands off, and ran off with the innards and the extra unused parts in a makeshift bag from the antelope skin. He stopped at the door, the carcass of a demolished goat. He growled, knowing who had done this. They would need a talk, he obviously hadn’t share and would obviously be getting sick that night… He quickly ran to the woods to dispose of the remains of it all.