The Phoenix Colony

Cevin watched the little creatures played around the river mewing and sniffing the air. He gripped the ape beast's horn tightly. Suddenly he felt very alone. A huge wave rose from the river.

Cevin's eyes went wide. No, not a wave. There was someting in the river - something really big. As the water fell off of it's body, all the convict could see was the rocks and trees beyond.

"Oh hell no! Invisibile monsters?!" As Cevin crawled backward he noticed the last drops of water were easily as high as the tree tops. "I'm going to need some help."

 

"If there's one thing I hate more than anything, it's liars. My father and uncle are liars, my husband was a liar, and you are too Miss Viva. Exactly how many people are in there talking to you?"
"Let's see, right about five to ten?"
I said shut up. If she can read minds, which she can, then SHUT UP!
"Fine, we'll shut up. But tell her that you're not crazy, but you've got a very interesting brain."

She frowned as Raylene left, and then Fox gave her a piece of her mind.
"I should have known, there was something about you that didn't seem right. Listen, in all honesty, working with a government agent rubs me the wrong way. But when you consider the situation, it can't be helped. Listen as long as you don't harm anyone in our tribe, I don't care about your past. Actually its probably a good thing that you're a spy, atleast then you'll be useful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to go find Raylene."

Viva kept stiff until Fox left, thus isolating her in the cave. She then groaned, slamming her head against her hands.
"Your cover is blown thanks to a girl who reads minds. Now stop acting, and play fair. You are an assassin who's refused to kill her goal."
One of my goals, yes.
"Yeah..."
Now what? I'm pretty much the same not acting, I hope Pasha won't mind a little saner me. But what about her?
"Let her trust you before you attempt murder."
Fine.

Viva lifted her head from her legs and walked outside the cave to find Fox, Juliano and Raylene. She sighed and twisted her neck a little.
"Plan B it is. Confess. Cry. And keep your stupid mind blank."
Look who's talking.
Viva cleared the voices from her head and walked to the trio.
"I'm...sorry. I lied to you all. It's just that...I was afraid. I knew Fox wasn't all for the government, so I kept my mouth shut. I don't mean harm to any of you."
She smiled, adding:
"Though I am...pretty happy!"

 

Pasha stopped just a few meters from where he had placed the remains the other day to catch his breath. The lack of good sleep, and the pain of the hard floor and the uncomfortable positions was getting to him. His back ached as he left the remains fall momentarily to the ground. He sat against the tree, his hands over his head as the breaths came in deep, tired breaths. He let himself catch his breath and stood back up. His back cracked painfully, but he ignored it as he trudged onward.

He stopped suddenly, not taking notice of the creature in front of him until he was too close for comfort. It blended in with the flora, it’s feathers a constant green, similar to that around it. It gave a gentle shine, almost as if there was a metallic blend in them. It’s eyes were small, and had the look of a predator. It’s beak was rather large, but still had that point at the end. Inside it lay a small piece of the old meat he had left there the other day.

In a swift movement, and a screech the beast took off with a speed that was beyond him. He dropped to the ground, falling onto the remains with a painful claw-catch to the back. He yelled, quickly grabbing his knife from his pocket as he heard the bird swooping around. The feathers ruffled in the wind just feet above him. He growled thrusting himself up, with his bludgeon stick. He ducked, putting his arms over his face. Claws scratched out him as the bird began to attack his head with the large beak. Pasha took his chance and flung down on the bird. It attempted to fly off, but he quickly grabbed it’s talons with his hands. The bird let out a screech, as they both fell to the ground. He took the knife from his mouth, struggling to keep a hold of the bird as it struggled violently.

He yelled out as the bird came from his grasp, but he knew it was too late as he stabbed at the birds chest. The creature yelled out, much weaker this time as it tried to take flight, it’s massive wingspan unable to help it as it fell to the ground. He pounced back at the creature, slicing it’s throat. It bled out as it took it’s last breath.

 

Fox listens to Viva confession. "Thats a bunch of bull and you know it. You lied to keep your cover. But, I don't blame you, there have been times where I had to lie to protect my identity as well. Hey, want to come with us as we scout around." asks Fox.

As Britney continues to follow the drag mark on the ground, she begins to hear voices. She crouches down and hides in a bush. Suddenly she hears Reva say "Ben. Don't you dare." Brit grabs Fox knife and tries to get a little closer while staying hidden.

 

Raylene refuses to look at Viva. She doesn't know how she'll react now, knowing that that Raylene is a threat.

"We have to use these changes to our advantage, you know that right? I don't want to know what's going on inside everyone's mind, but I can't help it. Please just be honest with us. That's all we're asking."

 

"Ok guys, lets go." says Fox as they begin to scout. After walking to a few minutes, along the side of the mountain, they come across a waterfall. There appeared to be a cave behind it. Behind the water, in the cave they could see glowing mushrooms. "Wow, those are actually kind of cool." says Fox.

Britney gets even closer to the origin of the noise. She sees a cave that has a mesh of branches covering it. "I guess some other tribe is here. That is where I hear Reva's voice coming from." thinks Britney. She goes to the side of the cave and kneels down, listening closely to anything that was being said inside.

 

Allen ran over to Ben and gave his hand a good crescent kick, sending it flying.

"You might not want to go home, but that doesn't mean you can just go and screw the rest of us. We need you."

He looked around at the others challenging them with his eyes.

"He's a much better leader than Fox."

 

Chrys stopped, looking at this guy,Allen was it? "Okay, Allen, let's get sothing clear, Fox is not our leader. He or she may have been for your old tribe, but in this one, he or she is not. Is that understood?"

Chrys could hear rustling in the grass, but wasn't sure if it was the wind or not.

 

Smith smiled as he walked over to Ben, watching Allen carefully. He had struck out at Ben, even if it was to protect him, he had over stepped his bounds. "He's right Ben." Smith said putting an hand on his shoulder looking kindly down at him. "I need you to help us out here, we might not ever go home but that doesn't mean we should just die." He said softly and looked up at Allen. "Allen, we will probably never leave this planet, and you need to understand that, survival is the first step, contact and rescue are secondary objectives, we need to live long enough to fix the radio on the front of the ship if possible." He said frowning slightly at the man. He looked over at Chrys, and Derek for support. "We need a fence to keep wild animals out and us safe. I haven't encountered anything dangerus but Derek has said something about being attacked."

 

Chrys was starting to hear breathing along with the rustling, okay, it's not just wind...

"Derek said something about being attacked." Chrys heard Chad say.

"He did!" She walked over to Derek, "WHen were you attacked, why didn't you ssay something?!"

 

Upon hearing that last voice Britney thinks "Is that Chad? I thought he would probably be dead. That is him isn't it."

Britney stands up and yells into the cave "Hey Chad, is that you in there? Its me, Britney."

Fox's stomach rumbles. "Man, ever since landing on this planet, I get hungry a lot faster. Hey guys, we should grab some fruit and have a snack while were out here." says Fox.

 

"Yeah," Derek said. "There's some dangerous stuff on this planet. But you know what? It beats the hell outta jail." He surrendered the deer to Chad, his good arm tired and sore from the day's work. "We get to do what we want here, start over. It's a rebirth o' sorts. Sure, we don't have all that technology, we have to run out of cigarettes at some point, but you know what?" He took his cigarettes out of his pocket and threw them to the ground. "I don't need them f**kin' smokes! I have all the freedom in the world here. I get to hunt, I get to relax. I get to enjoy life with good people. Best part is, there ain't no government to screw us over. Escape would suck. You go home, you go right back to jail. Now, I don't know about all o' you, but I'm exhausted. I've been out hunting all day and I'd love to relax and have a good meal. Who gives a s**t about havin' a leader. Isn't that why all of us are here? Some big-man leader made some rules that threw all of us in jail. I say screw rules."

Derek left everyone outside and walked into the cave, throwing a couple more sticks onto the fire to keep it going, then removing his cloak and taking a seat.

 

Oh, my, GOSH. I can hear! Whoa Chrys's suspicions had just been confirmed by the voice beckoning Chad.

She stalked away from Derek, approaching the source of the voice, wanting to test something...

Chrys was able to come righ behind the person, unnoticed, and tap her on the shoulder.

 

Upon feeling the tap, Britney turns around and holds up Fox's knife. She sees that its a teenage girl. Britney puts the knife back into her belt.

"You know, its probably not a good idea to sneak up on someone when we're on a planet full of predators and killers." says Britney.

 

"Mrow. And you are?" Chrys asks, pawing at her pockets. "You, you," she stammers sniffing around the figure, "you smell like...an ally. Who are you?"

 

Smith nearly dropped the deer when he heard her voice. His good mood at haveing Ben in camp again returned and he looked out towards the source of the voice. "Britney?" He called back. "Come over here we're just about to start cooking." He called and noticed Chrys was gone, he shrugged and assumed she wouldn't get into to much trouble. "Wow everyone's coming out of the wood works today." He said happily as he dropped the deer near the entrence of the cave. Hmm, Chrys had her knife still, he have to borrow that again.

 

Britney looks at the weird girl. "Are you like some kind of cat person?"

She then hears Chad call out. She walks over to Chad and says "I'm shocked that the convicts didn't kill you, you were always kind of soft." with a smirk, "Smells good. Sure I'll join you guys for a meal."

 

Fox had found some of the blue peaches nearby and returned to the group. They sat down and began to eat.

Fox looks around, inspecting the area. It was a grassland area with a river going through the middle. The northern and eastern side are cliff walls, probably around sixty yards high. Other than the grass, there were about four or five trees. Fox smiles and thinks "This place is perfect for my plan."

 

"Hey, I'm tougher to kill than I look." He remarked back with a smile, and motioned towards the rifle on his back. "Plus I had a little help." He said looking over at the depresed ben. "Hey, Kat can i borrow your knife again?" He asked and looked over at the deer. "and if you'd be so great as to start cooking with the meat we have, we've got quiet a few to feed tonight, I'm sure some one will help you." He asked with a somewhat pleading tone, she did say she liked cooking. He glanced sidelong at his jacket, well, at least it was close by.

 

Chrys scowled. "Why does everyone keep calling me a cat? I'm not a cat!" She said annoyed and stalked back into camp, tossing the knife dangerusly hard at Smith who some how managed to catch it clumsily. She looked at Smith for a moment and then sighed. "You're lucky I like cooking." She said and entered the cave where the fire was to start the meal, pausing in the entrence to look at Britney. "Want to help?" She asked freind with a smile. Chrys didn't know why but she trusted her sense of smell.

 

"Wow Chad, I think you upset her. Sure I'd love to help." says Britney. She looks around their cave "Wow, you guys did a pretty good job fixing this place up."

 

"Thanks," Chrys said looking around the cave. The fire was placed near the front, several large rocks had been moved around it as makeshift seats, and in the back of the cave on some weave blankets was the friut and nut supply, with a small amount of meat left. Their wern't beds yet but extra cleared off areas where they had sleapt. "We really just moved some rocks out and added a door." She said truthfully. She walked to the back of the cave and grabbed the remaining meat and walked over to the constantly hot cooking rock and slapped a few slices of meat down. They sizled nicely and she looked up at Britney. "Could you get some of the fruit and nuts over here?"

 

Britney goes over and grabs some of the nuts and fruits. "My tribe's cave has a door, a fire pit, a spring, and some blankets. Oh, and we've drawn a map on the wall." says Britney.

She walks over and hands Chrys some of the nuts and fruit. "So do you think any other tribes have survived?" asks Britney.

 

"A map?" Chrys asked interested and then awnsered the question. "I'm not really sure." She said and flipped over the first piece of meat, the aroma filling the cave. Joey hopped inside the cracked open door and over to were Britney had the friut and began hopping up and down in front of her chirping. Chrys smiled and patted Joey's head. "She wants something to eat." She said and went back to cooking.

 

"Aww, you're a cute little thing, aren't you? Here you go." says Britney as she hands Joey a piece of fruit. She scratches Joey behind the ear, as Joey lets out a happy chirp.

"At least there are some animals on this planet that aren't trying to eat us." says Britney.