The Phoenix Colony

Smith smiled, this is the Ben he had remembered, but there was no way he could be sure that Ben was up to the job, he'd just recovered from a mental break down. "Ben I hope you're not suggesting you take over." He said kindly. "In a week maybe but after yesterday..." He didn't finishe his sentence, he didn't have to. "Ben, you're talking about a leader of thugs, and killers, i'm trying to lead people, and a leader is nothing with out his people. When they tire of me, they'll get a new leader, untill then i'm going to maintain things, keep things togeather, find the middle ground when nessisary." He said and shook his head. "You're still stuck on earth Ben, this is a new world no need to mess it up with street polotics, when I can hold things togeather like this." He said confidently.

 

So how do you hunt anything with the arm being broken?" She asked him. "That must have been a terrible time, when those two guys got killed. You think those guys want to kill us?"

"I don't know," Derek shrugged. "Those guys weren't too friendly, and even though I hate to admit it some o' these convicts are just bad through and through. I don't wanna trust 'em is all."

Moving on to the discussion of those who died, he said "It would've been worse if big ol' Harold hadn't tried to rip my head off. Juan, the one Harold killed, he was blind, and kinda kept to himself anyway. All in all, I think it's just easier to move on."

Derek was quiet for a moment, just a small moment, honoring his fallen comrades with a moment of silence. Then he pushed it to the back of his mind and opened up with a jest. "What d'you need two arms for? Only reason you have two is just in case you lose one. I don't see myself at a huge disadvantage."

The pair was now approaching the edge of the woods, traveling somewhat slowly because of the rather high snow. Derek glanced around yearningly for his package of cigarettes, but pushed his craving to the back of his mind.

 

"I don't trust those strangers either," Reva shivered, shrinking into her jacket, scanning for food in the snowy landscape. They would have to get farther out from the cave, she figured, Chad's tribe was likely to have already picked over a lot of things close to it, "They were too nice to us...like they had to concentrate to do it...and the way they were yes-men to the leader. I think they were scared of him."

To Derek's joking comment about only needing one arm Reva grinned and shook her head.

"Suit yourself but I like having two. Helps when you're picking...hey...there are some of the pods I found yesterday!"

The scrubby bush was barren of leaves but loaded down with the dry-husked pods. Pencil-beaked birds flew up, making their odd sounds, disturbed by Reva and Derek's invasion of their food source.

Reva began gathering the pods quickly, placing them in her sweatshirt sack, then paused, inspecting a pod as she felt its papery outer layer and the fat bumps of the legumes inside.

"I wonder if you can smoke these pods," she grinned, "then maybe Ben wouldn't have to smoke everyone's shoelaces."

 

Derek laughed. "Maybe. Don't tempt me though, that kinda stuff got me here. Then again, if it brought me this new life how bad can it be?" He laughed some more.

"Well, you can't live on that stuff. Wait here for a second, I'll be right back. Snow is the best time to find tracks and the worst time. Hard to tell how old they are." Derek left the site of the bush for a moment, walking a small circle in the area around the bush. There was a slight breeze, blowing some of the lighter powder off of the ground against his face. He winced for a moment then looked back down and finished his circle. No tracks.

 

Reva chuckled at his comments about smoking things landing him here, for the moment unwilling to think about drugs or drug dealers.

She continued to strip the pods from the bush while Derek walked away to look for tracks. She lost sight of him and felt uneasy. He's not far, though, she told herself.

The sun was a cold grayish-yellow lump in the sky through the lacing of tree branches. Reva was glad for the activity to keep her warm and wondered how long they were stuck with the wintry weather. The buds on the trees seemed to indicate spring but they were tightly closed with no sign of blossoming.

She sighed and broke off a few buds, too. Even they might be good to eat.

Reva shot a glance uneasily around the empty forest.

 

"Ben I hope you're not suggesting you take over." He said kindly. "In a week maybe but after yesterday..." He didn't finish his sentence, he didn't have to. "Ben, you're talking about a leader of thugs, and killers, I'm trying to lead people, and a leader is nothing with out his people. When they tire of me, they'll get a new leader, until then I'm going to maintain things, keep things together, find the middle ground when necessary." He said and shook his head. "You're still stuck on earth Ben, this is a new world no need to mess it up with street politics, when I can hold things together like this." He said confidently

"Is this place so different from earth? Are the murderers and savages that populated the earth not people? Everyone does what they must to keep themselves alive, communism doesn't work because at the end of the day it isn't about you or Reva or Fox, it's all about me. That's why there are killers, that's why there are governments, that's why when things are good and people live comfortably everyone smiles and says yes to whatever you want, but when **** gets tough . . you need to be tough. I'm not stuck on earth Chad, I'm stuck on humanity, and if you don't mind, I'll be having my gun back."

 

Smith frowned and reached a hand around his back and gripped the metal handle of the night stick. "Ben, give me a few days to make sure you're back to normal. I won't risk you shooting yourself, or someone else." Smith said softly, his eyes pleading with Ben to give in. He was not getting the gun back yet. "I hope you understand, it's to great a risk for you to have your gun back now." He said and gave Ben a weak smile, he hoped this would end well.

 

"Chad, there are a hundred different ways to kill myself, a hundred different ways to kill you, and hundreds of ways they could have happened since my . . . breakdown. Why I could take a stick and ram it up your nose, it would pierce the brain and you would die. I could slam a large rock into your spine, that would at the very least paralyze you. Hell, I could just plain choke you to death, and as for my own death . . . have I made my point?" Ben wasn't about to relinquish his one bit of power left.

 

"No, You haven't Ben, I told you, two days, and i'll even give you some more shells I have with me, i'm asking you this as a freind Ben, give me two days." Smith said knowing the difference between killing some one the easy way with a pull of the trigger and trying to kill some one close up, or your self for that matter, most suicides fail. Smith could feel his will faultering, he still wanted to trust Ben, but it was impossible for now, soon hopefuly but now it was impossible.

 

"Why? Do I look unstable now? If I don't get that gun back I might die! There are scary men out there apparently. How am I going to hunt without my weapon, how am I to trust you if you don't trust me? Your going to hand over my weapon, Chad, the weapon we saved, the weapon I used to help us fend of the savages. Have you forgotten so soon?"

 

Derek walked back to the bush. Just before he broke into view, he called out so he wouldn't scare Reva. "No good. There's no tracks around. I'll walk you back if you want, but I'm not goin' in that cave without some kinda meat." He was right next to her now, and stopped approaching. "There's no way to know how long we'll be trapped in there if this storm keeps up, so we need to find some kind of food source. Then, when we get back, I think I'm gonna find a couple people that wanna go with me to keep an eye on those men."

 

Smith sighed hoping it wouldn't come to this. "Ben, I asked you, and now i'm telling you, back down." He said his expresion changing from regreat to anger. This was just more proof he was unstable. "Plenty of other have hunted with out a rifle i'm sure you'll manage, I dragged the weapons rack from the wreakage." He corrected, Ben had helped with the men who had attacked but only Smith had went back into the wreak. "Ben you say i'm to weak to lead? Well I'm going to lead you, and you will follow." He said and smirked. "Don't become just another convict Ben, you're better than that, but I will do what I see as nessisary to survive."


Chrys had been meaning ot go and get food but after four people had left she really saw no reason to strain herself. She streatched out on the grownd, let out a long lazy Meeoow, and curled up for a cat nap.

 

Britney took the lead, melting the snow in their path. They find the pink, purple spoted fruit and decide to sit their for a little bit and eat.

Fox stares into the sky and says "The clouds aren't likely to go away anytime soon and without sun light the snow isn't going away either." "Are you going to try to get back to Earth?" asks Britney. Fox responds "Ofcourse I am. Lonan and the others will need all the help they can get fighting the government. Besides, I have to much to do back on Earth, to just be willing to rot away on some alien world."

 

"No good. There's no tracks around. I'll walk you back if you want, but I'm not goin' in that cave without some kinda meat." Derek stopped, standing next to Reva. "There's no way to know how long we'll be trapped in there if this storm keeps up, so we need to find some kind of food source. Then, when we get back, I think I'm gonna find a couple people that wanna go with me to keep an eye on those men."

Reva unslung the spear from her back and showed it to him.

"I have to tell you, I can't hit the broad side of an elephant's butt with this," she grinned at him, "Honestly, I planned to use it to dig if I had to. And I'm better at running away than killing anything. Still, if you want me along to flush quarry out or something, I'm game to come along. For the men, though..." She shivered, "I think you might want someone else. They gave me the creeps."

 

Derek smiled. "That's why I'm gonna keep an eye on 'em. I just plain don't trust 'em. I wasn't plannin' on having you help me hunt, just wanted to see if you wanted to tag along. Ah, I'll just walk you back to the cave. It'll be easier to hunt alone anyway."

Derek turned and started walking towards the cave, stopping for a moment at the bush to grab one of the nuts and take a bite. "Let's go," he said, pausing.

 

"Now, wait a minute," Reva said, "I just said I was game to go hunting with you. It was the men who I don't want to have anything to do with."

 

"It doesn't look like any of the animals are out and about in the snow. We should go back to the cave." says Fox. The two of them head back, following to trail of melted snow. After about four of five minutes they return, and pass by Ben and Chad at the entrance. Apperantly Ben wanted his shotgun back.

"This is interesting, so much for this tribe being peaceful. Well Chad, lets see if you can step up and be a real leader, or if you'll continue to bend over backwards for every strong personality you encounter." thinks Fox and she enters the cave.

 

The sounds around her came rushing into Chry's ears, "Mrooow!" She yawned stretching fer back and fingers, "Mrow?" Where is the food? Chrys walked aound, entering the cave, a new smell inside.

"Who are ya'll, I'm...Kat."

 

Britney looks at the cat person. "Hey Kat, its good to see you again. This woman behind me is Fox. She's a rebel fighter who was being transported to the mining colony with you guys." says Britney as she points to the red haired woman behind her.

"Hey Kat, its nice to meet you." says Fox.

 

As Derek and Reva had been discussing the possibility of hunting they walked into a wide, open space in the trees filled with virgin snow. The shadows were faint, the sun brighter now, teasing with the possibility of breaking through the clouds that veiled it.

Derek turned to Reva making another of his infamous jests when she saw the first flicker of something odd. Shapes that seemed to displace the tree trunks briefly before they were gone.

She frowned, distracted. Was it just a natural play of light and shadow? Derek was saying something that she didn’t hear, he was about six or seven feet from her, trying to move her along, impatient.

The pencil-beak birds had gone quiet. Reva swiveled back and forth, looking to see…

There it was again. Not just a play of lights and shadows but a slice of emptiness that made her eyes hurt as it raced across the backdrop of vertical trunks and then disappeared…almost, completely, almost…in the sky.

“Reva.” Derek was still trying to get her attention, to snap her out of it. And then she saw the huge prints in the snow, appearing as though by magic, headed straight for Derek’s back.

“Look out!” Reva shrieked and tackled Derek into the snow with the strength of desperation. There was the sound of shears grinding shut just above her.

She closed her eyes, pressing her face against Derek’s furs. She felt the warmth of the sun as it broke through the clouds.

A familiar growl sounded, a puff of hot air blew over them where they lay, half-covered in snow.

Nothing happened for a long moment and then there was the sound much like a helicopter blade cutting the air above them. A great pressure seemed to lift from around them.

Instinct told Reva that they were alone once more.

Reva lifted her head warily and was dazzled by the hard, bright light of the sun on the white snow. She blinked away the afterimages of white, white, white and looked hard for the elusive shapes dancing against the trees.

When she raised her head she saw there was churned, disturbed snow, spattered with dug-up earth right beside them.

“I guess you found some tracks,” she told Derek, nodding to the huge clawed foot marks broken by long slithers like a snake track.

 

"Oh, I was, well...Look, I haven't been myself since I got here." Chrys said, extending her hand, "Nice to meet you, have you been here for awhile?" She grinned.

Looking around, Chrys muttered to herself, "Where in Cat's blazes is Chad?"

 

Britney says "Um...yeah I have. I have been here since last night and Fox has been here since this morning. Since you seem to have forgotten some stuff, I'll re-entroduce myself. I'm Britney, I was one of the guards on the ship. As for Chad, him and Ben seem to be arguing over the shotgun."

 

Eying one of her hands, Chrys glanced up at Britney, "Are you the girl I was stalking about a night agao, you look oddly familiar." Licking one of her finger tips, "Aw well, I guess my nose does know omething, you smelled like a n ally, if that means anything."

Getting closer to the person behind Britney, Chrys sniffed the air, "I'm, well, I don't know how to say this, but I'm not so sure about you."

 

"Ben, I asked you, and now I'm telling you, back down." He said his expression changing from regret to anger. "Plenty of other have hunted with out a rifle I'm sure you'll manage, I dragged the weapons rack from the wreckage." He corrected, Ben had helped with the men who had attacked but only Smith had went back into the wreck. "Ben you say I'm to weak to lead? Well I'm going to lead you, and you will follow." He said and smirked. "Don't become just another convict Ben, you're better than that, but I will do what I see as necessary to survive."

"No, I didn't say you were weak Chad, I said you were nice. But I will not follow someone who doesn't trust me enough to give me my own weapon. Hand it over, I'm not about to back down." Ben held out his arms and backed up a few steps. "Give it to me or shoot me, go on, I'm not giving up until you give me what is rightfully mine. I fed your sorry ass with that gun. Give it to me or hit me right between the eyes." Ben laughed weakly, "Honestly, I don't want to die, and you don't want me to die, but until I'm in the ground or that weapon is in my hand I'm not backing down."

 

Derek was in the middle of trying to talk to an unattentive Reva when she tackled him into the snow, the sound of some kind of collision of flesh above him. A bright light hit the meadow, and there were tracks of something that walked on two legs and had a tail leading in the other direction.

Derek groaned in pain once the shock of the moment passed him. That tackle had saved his life, but it didn't do too much to make his arm feel better. He suppressed the groad and gritted his teeth, trying not to show that he had a weakness even with a broken arm. "You alright?" he asked Reva. "I owe you one." He smiled in an attempt to hide the grimace that must have been evident on his face.