The Phoenix Colony

Chrys smiled down at Joey and scratched her head. "She's going to have babies." She said and scratched Joey's big stomach. Then turned back again to her work, Joey chirping happily as she chewd on some friut.

Smith worked hard and quietly on the meat watching Allen and Ben carfully, worried about Ben hurting himself, and worried about Alle hurting someone else. He got an arm full of meat and brought it in setting it on a cleanish flat rock by were Chrys was cooking. "So Britney who'd you manage to survive?" He asked and took a seat on one of the rocks, motioning for her to sit too. "Oh, and could you toss me some fruit? I'm starved." He asked before she could start talking.

 

Ben slimly avoided suicide and had slipped into a sort of depression, moping in the darkness, hidden. But the sight of Britney had struck a certain something in him, something that swept the depression away, anger.

"Well look who turned up," said Ben bitterly. "Did Fox send you? Wait, of course she did, you have no will of your own. Tell that c*** to **** off when you next see here for me, just another grudge for her to hold and another reason to defy logic."

 

Britney tosses him a piece of the fruit. "Well basically I had a black out when we crashed. When I came to, I found out that the convicts took my gun, luckly they left me my stungun. I quickly met up with that rebel leader, Fox, as she and a few other of the female convicts were walking toward to nose of the ship. i joined them and eventually we headed to the mountain. Along the way this girl named Viva and that serial killer Pasha joined us. We have our own cave to the right of this place. Also these guys named Cull and Juliano joined us. Ben and Allan were with us for a little while but there was an incident. So what have you been up too since the crash?" says Britney as she sits next to Chad.

Just then she heard Ben speak up. She sighs and says "Look Ben, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kicked you out. Though I still think we shouldn't trust Allen, and Raylene seemed to agree with me about that."

 

Frank slammed the man's forehead into the snow covered rock, the hot blood melting the white sheet. "I'm not going to tell you again ****hole, don't use that ghetto babble in my presence," he said impatiently as he turned the man around and brought one foot down into his groin.

"Ahh! Jesus, *cough*, I won't do it again Frank-"

"That's sir you ****ing trash," he spat at the man, bringing the back of his hand across his face on the word 'sir'. The sound of skin on skin rang out in the quiet day. He tossed the man aside, him limply falling onto his side and struggling for breath. Frank panted and looked at the four others watching him, a bit frightened, and at the same time amused.

"Well what? You dumb bastards want some too?" he said raising his arms to his side. The convicts looked away and backed up a bit. Frank spoke again, putting an arm around the nearest one's shoulder, a short guy with a long beard. "Now now, I'm just kidding with you, doing a little . . . palling around, we're all friends here, isn't that right Tommy?" His eyes landed on the man he had just finished beating, now on his feat and wiping the blood from his face.

"You are completely right sir," he said quickly, sniffling a bit.

"Please," replied the cop, an evil grin on his face, "Call me Frank."

_______________

"Sorry? What have you got to be sorry about?" Ben laughed a little in a hysteric tone. "You didn't kick me out, Fox did, I mean you can't make decisions on your own. I'm surprised you managed to toss me this fruit without her ok. I'm not mad at you dear girl, oh no no no, its that bitch who controls you I'm sore at." Ben ate the fruit happily, his eyes never leaving Britney. He might not have killed himself, but he was still far from right in the head.

 

Reva was surprised when Britney showed up. She knew she should help the others prepare the food but there was something off-putting about Britney. Perhaps the way that she hadn't really acknowledged Reva.

Perhaps just that Reva felt invisible to these people all of a sudden. She would have liked to pet the Rat-roo but Britney seemed everywhere, to know everyone, and Reva just stayed put and quiet while life flowed on around her, never touching her.

Ben looked to be in a dark mood and she had the impulse to go try to talk to him. But then she remembered him giving her the brush-off at the ship on that first day. She remembered the stream of invective that he had aimed her way the next time they had met. Now he and Britney were exchanging acid remarks.

Reva sighed and forced herself to get up and approach Chrys and the others. Digging in her sweatshirt pouch she pulled out a handful of the pods.

"I'll contribute to the dinner," Reva said, showing them to the others, "shell them like this," and she showed them the plump legumes inside, "and they're pretty good."

 

Smith looked at Ben, he usually didn't get this angry, well not that he knew him long but Ben had seemed a rather mellow guy. "Ok, before I get my exciting, adventure story started I'd like you two to eaither agree to leave the past in the past, tell me whats going on so at least i know what happening, or anything else besides bicker, tribes don't need bickering right now, to new and loose, we need to stick togeather." He said softly to both Ben and Britney. He hoped Ben would let it go, he knew that Ben would fit in great here, but he also knew long term survival depended on females. He had come to figure out that his guns no longer meant long term survival only short term, he wanted to get this place safe and sound for the long haul.

Then Reva spoke up. He smiled over at her, even in his jacket. "Thanks Reva." He said with a smile. She was reliable it seemed, but he still needed to handle this problem first.

 

Britney looks at Chad and says, "Reva was the one that was there when the incident happened so she can tell you more than I can."

She shoots Ben an angry look and says "And as for Fox holding a grudge and defying logic. Wouldn't you hold a grudge if someone had the police arrest your father when you were a kid? How about if he killed you mother in cold blood right infront of you? Or maybe if that same person had one of his henchmen slash your back open and nearly kill you? That is what Allen did to Fox when she was only eleven years old. If he would have done that to me, I would have killed him the next time I saw him."

 

"I'll tell you what happened, I'll tell you my whole ****ing story!" yelled Ben and ignoring Britney. "I grew up as an average little white collar white boy, I learned to hunt and did well in school I obeyed the law, I helped my friends and they helped me. I went to law school and I put bad men away. Then I saw that the people above me were bad men and wrote a book about it. Then they sent me here, I tried to make the best of it like you, some happy little leaf in the wind, then some dumb ****s, lightning and Satan's invisible dog ****ed me up. But you know what? I remained positive, I stuck with it, found new people, and when I tried to save one of those people from the rest this bitch decided to kick me out!"

He panted madly, his eyes were wild. He got to his feet and picked up the shotgun. "I'm not mad though, you helped me realize something you wonderful little ****, you helped me realize this is all pointless, that nothing ****ing matters!" Ben looked around at them, breathing hard, his heart pounding faster than a jackhammer, and he rose the barrel of his gun to his forehead and screamed, "**** you world, you big empty ****! **** your children, **** your friends, and most of all, **** YOU!"

 

Ben started screamming and Chrys really doubted that he was worth keeping in the group now. She didn't hesitate, she pulled out the tazer and fired at Ben, hoping to knock Ben out and work this out after Dinner.

 

Reva smiled shakily at Chrys as the voices rose. This kind of strife had been what had driven her from her first tribe, she realized.

"I'm sorry, Chrys," she told the young woman, "but I think I brought all of this here."

Reva turned, leaving the shattered peace behind and walked out of the cave. Not far from the entrance she sat down and put her head in her hands.

She had no idea how to free someone from the prison of their own mind.

 

Britney follows Reva outside. She kneels down behind her and puts her hands on Reva's shoulders, "You didn't bring all of this here. You're one of the kindest people I've ever met. Please don't blame yourself, Reva. Its not your fault."

 

Smith watched as Ben calapsed the Shotgun landing on the ground by his side. "Um, I guess thats one way to handle the situation." Smith said and scooped up the gun. "Now I think we should all sit down and have a nice meal before Ben wakes up." Smith said looking sadly over at his knocked out freind. At least she didn't set him on fire, he thought glumly. He smiled weakly at Reva and Britney. "The meats pretty good and I recomend the Choco-Strawberries they taste wonderfull."

 

In that old tale, the three bears left and Goldilocks came in. Well in the new tale, Goldilocks and her troop left for the day and so entered not three, but 8 bears and one pissed off lion.

"One of you pry this damn thing apart, whoever built this didn't do it for fun." scowled Frank as he pointed at the gate. Immediately, two men ran forward and started swinging their tomahawks at the fence, tearing it to shreds. The scrap iron did well against the wood, much better than stone would.

When the whole thing was torn to bits Frank raised a hand and the two halted. "You two get to keep watch, the rest, in." on that, the six men followed the cop into the cave.

"This place is kind of nice sir, maybe we should settle down a bit." said one, warming his hands by the fire.

"Ya, there's fresh water at the back," called another, drinking from the stream.

"No, we take what we can get and trash the rest. Settling down is just asking for attack, isn't that how we found you Floyd?" he said, sniffing at some fruit lying on the ground, then eating it.

"Well ya Frank, but-" began one of them, a man behind the officer.

"Did I stutter?" asked Frank as he whipped around and landed a punch into the man's stomach. Grabbing him by the collar of his denim jacket, he whispered, "And to you, savage, my name is sir. Understood?" He nodded quickly as fear filled his eyes, staring up into his master's. Frank released him and said, "Good good, just remember, all of you remember, this is all a means to an end and if any of you get in the way . . . I'll ****ing kill you." He pointed at the man he had just released, Floyd, and said, "Gather up this fruit, it's edible, and a couple of you get some of that water to douse this fire, then clog the stream. This place will be unlivable."

 

Reva shook Britney off as politely as she could, "Sorry, but the drama just got to me. I'll be in after a few minutes. Go ahead without me."

 

"Alright, if that is what you really want." says Britney as she turns around and goes back inside the cave.

She sits down next to Chad. "So what have you been up to since the crash?" asks Britney.

 

Derek just sat and watched everyone yell at each other. Even after his rant outside, no one seemed to learn anything. Once he saw Reva go outside, followed closely by Britney, he decided that the new additions weren't worth the trouble. Unfortunately, he didn't think that leaving was a viable option either. He decided to speak up and try to take control of the situation. "Alright, somebody take Ben's gun away from him before he wakes up and tries to kill himself again. Really, who didn't think o' that the first time?" He shook his head. He was beyond the point where he could even jest, and that meant that Derek had been pushed far over the edge. "Why have none of you learned to leave what happened on Earth on Earth? We aren't there any more and we never will be! Who cares if you left something important behind? You can't get to that now and that's what matters. I'm gonna go for a walk." Derek stood up, grabbing a handful of chocostrawberries and eating them all, then picked up a slab of venison with his stake and walked out the door.

He had forgotten that Reva and Britney were out there as well. He paused for a moment to look at them; he felt sorry for Reva, who seemed to blame herself for bringing all the trouble here. He decided there was nothing he could do for it in his current state, however, and simply walked by both of them, taking a bite of his meat-on-a-stick. He walked towards the stream that was off to the side of the cave, leaving a clear trail in the long grass in case somebody wanted to come talk to him.

 

Smith smiled weakly glancing over at Ben. Derek stormed off now, he'd be fine, he was a tough guy. Then again so was Ben. "Well I freed the perisoners, helped Kat out of the ship. Then met Ben, Dragged the weapons out of the ship, fought off some group trying to steal them with Ben's help. Then I was on my own, Chrys had wondered off and so had Ben, Found Joey." He said the last part and gave Joey a nut. "Then wound up getting with this group just long enough for the leader to kill some one and then try to kill Derek, had to shot him." He added the last bit as sort of an apology for shooting him. "Now here we are, nice cave shelter, plenty of food, and company." He said with a weak smile. He looked unhappily at Allen. No one seemed to like him, and it caused way to much trouble.

 

Allen brought himself up out of his thoughts. He watched as the people around him disintegrated their own safety and sanity. Ben was unconcious after now after being tased during his breakdown. Chad didn't trust him even though he had saved the life of the first person who had helped the guard when no-one else would. The puppet had arrived and destroyed all semblence of order. She was Xare's influence spreading like a dark disease even without her presence. Reva, well Reva had walked outside to get away from it all.

These people would get what they deserved. They could have a life free of influence or controll of the government. Their life would be a living hell. A glorious new life arising from the ashes of all that is gone before. Some creatures don't deserve to be reborn.

The walls in the cave began crushing in on him. He couldn't stand these people. Let them die. Let them kill themselves one by one until the only ones left realized that they had killed one too many people. He stood up and walked past the others, out the opening to the cave.

Outside it felt good. This was his place, the place where no-one else was. Looking down at his arm and hands he wondered what he would do. It didn't matter though. He would make do.

On his way into the wilderness he passed Reva. Allen paused for a moment and looked at her eyes. They were green.

"Goodbye Reva. Thank you for fixing my arm."

With that Allen walked out into the woods.

 

"Goodbye Reva. Thank you for fixing my arm."

Reva watched Allen walk away.

"Allen." Her voice wasn't loud but the night was quiet now that nobody was yelling. She wondered if he would even notice.

She shrugged and looked the way Derek had gone. He was one of the very few sensible people she had met so far. Maybe she would go find him.

 

"Allen."

The sound rustled through the night air, barely audible, but it was enough to catch his attention. For some reason he stopped unable to keep going. He didn't know why, but he turned and answered.

"Yes?"

 

"It sounds like you're doing pretty good for yourself." says Britney. She looks down at Joey. She gives her another quick scratch behind her hear. Joey gave a happy chirp. "And you're really lucky to find her." says Britney with a smile. "Hey Chad, do you think we're going to be stuck here? The government might not want to get all of the criminals back, but they are at least going to come for the guards, right?" asks Britney.

Fox and the others have thier fill of fruit. Fox stands and stretches, "Hey guys let go home." Her and the others leave the serene grassland area and head back toward the cave.

 

Reva stood, walking a few paces toward Allen, stopping with her hands in the pockets of the jacket.

"I need to know," she said simply.

She let the words soak into the moment before going on.

"Your government masters put you on a convict ship and sent you to a place you were never expected come back from. And you weren't in the Common Hold with the white collar prisoners, either. I noticed the bruising and swelling at your wrist from restraints in the crash when I set your arm."

Reva withdrew her hands from the pockets and pulled up her left sleeve, displaying the deep bruising on her own wrist.

"Only the dangerous prisoners." She said, locking eyes with him, "The people who sent you here have no loyalty at all to you. Do you still have so much loyalty to them? Why?"

 

Smith frowned, he didn't want to give her the harsh awnser but it was the only one he knew. "It costs the government less to replace a transport ship and a few gaurds than it would to take care of these inmates, let alone a rescue operation. The government made money off of this crash, whether it was on porpuse or acident, they will not come to get us." He said stareing into the fire.

Chrys grabbed a peice of meat and began to eat it quietly. This was one of those times that silence might be best, She thought. She gave Joey another nut, and he chirped happily.

 

Derek sat next to the stream, enjoying the tranquility of the rushing water. He was relaxing, which felt nice for his sore muscles and broken limbs. He was thirsty, so he bent down to sip some water from his hands when he noticed a fish! Wow, they look just like any of the fish from Earth! I guess evolution had to have randomized the same somehow he thought. He laid back against the cool pebbles that formed the edges of the river and relaxed, truly at peace. I think tomorrow I'll go fishing.

 

Cull showed Cody the way back to his group. They had come to an agreement that if they helped each other their tasks got done quicker. The evil bikers from space weren’t so bad once Cull had gotten to know them and they had realised he was useful. He’d even been invited to stay with the group. Cull had turned them down, he remembered the warm sweater and kind words of the people who had taken him in.

Cull frowned as he saw the ruined gate and fence. He walked through dropped the wood at the side of the caves mouth Cody carried fruit scooped up in her shirt. They smiled at each other before Cull walked in and waited for her to follow.

"Woo, what the hell happened here?" Cull let out a shocked cry. The cave was ruined and everyone one had just up and left