The Phoenix Colony

Ben looked away from Allen, he had better things to do than mess with some guy with a superiority complex, like gutting a deer. Kneeling down and beginning to tear away at the soft fur on the creatures belly, revealing black scaly skin, he answered Chrys's question. "Well good old society decided she didn't want some Lawyer writing books about injustices, ever read read The Midnight Whistle? I wrote it, it was about impoverished citizens being used as slaves by the good old government, so here I am, a regular old modern day Lincoln Steffens, except I'm not a commie and I don't live in a country where freedom is valued."

 

Allen caught Ben's arm. "What are you talking about? I told YOU to watch him, right after you pulled the seat over to him and sat down."

Allen shook his head. For some reason his memory of that was fuzzy. He had said that hadn't he? Focus, he couldn't lose couldn't lose concentration here. The way he was now a sixteen year-old working at a McDonalds/KFC/Taco Bell restraunt would do a better job at manipulating someone. Heck the kid would do better even if someone threw their fourty two ounce Coca-Pepsi back through the drive through window and hit him in the head while trying to help a customer see that they had in fact ordered onions on their burger.

"I think you're right. Man, this is playing hell with my mind. I've got to get some sleep or something."

Allen offered his hand. "I'm sorry."

 

Ben looked up from the deer, already making the first incision in the chest to see Allen offering a hand and an apology. Ben grabbed it with a kind smile. "Hey forget about it, its been a rough day, just lie down for a while while we get some food going, once we get a little nourishment things will start to clear up." He shook the hand twice and looked back down at the beast. Its anatomy was fairly similair to a White Tail, inside the ribs it had a stomach, a liver, everything. He grabbed the intestines and began to pull the whole thing out in one package, a trick his dad had taught him. Tossing the pile of bloody tissue into the fire, he began to rip more skin away and clear up a little meat.

 

Smith climbed steadily up the ship, the trip seeming a lot closer now that he had traveled it once, and now had a clear head, and the lack of smoke. To easy. At least until he made it to the prisoners quarters. The smell of dead fleash over whelming his senses, it was like being punched in the face, and then laughed at. He fought his way though it and up the hallway, into the room and this time unlocked the cages locks to the wall which would allow him to move it out in the cage. It took him a second to realize how to do it and then he just let it slide down the hallway, and then followed after.

Fifteen minutes, tired arms, and several bruses later he was back to the exit, dragged out the locked cage of weapons and sat down out of breath. "Well that went better than i exspected." He said and looked over at Chrys. "Mind if i take the rifle back?" he asked smileing.

 

Raylene pushes past Reva and the guy smoking. "We'll have time for talking later. They storms comin' and we need to find some blankets and food." She glances behind to see if the rest of them are following.

 

Chrys didn't know whether she was disgusted, or in awe at Ben's agility with the deer-thing. She decided not to care, and nurse her ankle instead.

She pulled out her lighter, and placed it in a higher pocket, she eeded the cuffs of her jeans to create a bandage.

Ripping awaay strips of jean, atying tem together, and winding them around her now swelling ankle, Chrys began to long for home.

Does Mom even miss me, or did they already alert her to my arrest? And my sibs, man, what are they gonna do, you can't repfogram a human not to care....

She continued to nurse her ankle, fading back and forth between her past nad what was certainly an unexpected present.

Then she heard CHad, "He wah?" She said, mid wrap, "Oh, the rifle, take it, I didn't touch it."

 

"Hey Reva. Who's your friend?"

Fox's voice broke in between Reva and the cigarette smoking man. Reva glanced up at the clouds and then back at him, then to Fox and the other two women.

"We can chit-chat later," she called down to he and Fox dryly, "right now I need help levering this door open."

Reva motioned to the other women, and to the cigarette man if he wished, to scramble up the berm of earth beside her. She didn't wait for them but disappeared over it from their view, and half-slid down to the door. She studied it.

The door was built to slide up and it looked like it might still do so if they could apply enough pressure. It was open about six inches and she crouched, curling her fingers around the bottom of the door.

Her fingers brushed something and she looked down then let go of the door as though it was red-hot. The tips of someone's fingers showed under the door, unmoving.

 

"I've only got one good arm, but it's strong. Let's see if we can pry it up."

The sight of the fingers were alarming, but what was inside was more important.

Raylene grasps the bottom edge of the door with ther left hand and Reva uses both of hers. They tug. Again. It moves an inch or two. Tug again and it slides up along the track.

The carnaige inside is worse than she thought. The smell overwhelms Raylene and she rushes around the side and wretches.

 

Smith thanked her anyways picked up the rifle and slung it on his back. He then dragged the weapons rack over to where Ben was cleaning the "deer". "Hey Ben, can you keep an eye on this i'm gona head back to the prisoners quarters and grab some blankets and pillows." He said and then turned to Allen. "Hey want to come help me gather some supplies?" He asked the man hopeing to keep him and Ben away from each others throats.

 

Fox helped the other three girls open the door. They managed to pry open the door. Fox was the first to go inside. She called out the other three, "There are some dead bodies in here. The beds of the crew appear to be mostly intact so we can spend the night here." Fox began taking the bodies out of the ship and dumping them on the ground. She had been in many battles so death was nothing new to her. She looks at the other girls and says "I figured that you three didn't want to sleep with a bunch of corpses."

 

Reva winced at the thought of spending any more time in the wreck than they already had but she knew Fox was right. That was the best possible shelter they had.

Like Raylene, Reva hated the sight that met their eyes when the door was open. But priorities were priorities.

"C'mon," she said, stepping firmly over the body in the doorway, "we'd better find what we need quick. That storm won't wait."

 

"I don't think we want to sleep in there, Fox." Raylene wretches again. Stomach acid burns her throat. "Not unless you like laying next to burnt up bodies."

 

Allen felt a thrill inside. This is why he did what he did. Everything always went completely against the plan, but if you kept your head something always turned your way.

"Yeah, lets go. While we're at it lets see if we can get something to make a shelter out of. I don't like the looks of those clouds and I don't want to stay inside tonight."

 

"Ya sure Chad," said Ben, ripping the first of the meat off the deer. Venison was always a favorite food of his, right up there with duck, blue crab and Chilean sea bass, but this meat was tough and stringy. Any port in a storm. he thought, grimacing as he tore more of it off. "Hey Chrys, mind tossing a few strand of meat on with your eggs?" he said tossing over some of the crimson steaks.

 

Chrys finished badaging her ankle. Then she grabbed a couple of vension flanks and began to seperate the muscle into strips, laying it next to the eggs. She laughed inwardly at the outlandish looking meal. As the eggs had heated up, tey slowly tinged green, but didn't turn rancid. She feared the bird would do the same.

 

"Sure thing." Smith said to Allen and climbed into the ship once more. "Watch the smell once we get into the prisoners quarters. The bodies have ripened." He warned and went deeper into the dark ship, darker still due to the waining light outside. He moved slower this time, carful not to want to fall down ontop of Allen.

 

Raylene enters the ship cautiously, stepping over bodies. Above the doorway to her left is a red cross, medical supplies! Using her hip, she bangs into the door. It opens, but with a thud on the other side as it hits another body. Raylene searches through the cabinents and finds a number of sheets. She uses two of them to pile all of the first aid supplies into it and bundles them up. She takes them back outside and drops them on the ground and heads back in to see what else can be found.

 

"Listen Raylene, we don't have a choice. We don't have enough time to build a shelter. Tonight, we have to stay in here. Tomorrow we can go into the woods and build a stronghold for the four of us." says Fox as she looks around the crew quarters. Underneath one of the beds, she finds three automatic handguns. Only one of them is still usable. Fox thinks to herself, "This could come in handy." She tares off the bottom of her shirt and ties it around her waist to make a belt to hold the gun. She takes the clips out of the other guns and puts them in her "belt". She thinks to herself, "Lets see, eight bullets a clip, and three clips. So I only have 24 shots. I better make them count."

 

Pasha looked at the oncoming storm, and ran towards the food. The limbs were done. He quickly grabbed two the sticks, devouring the warm flesh. As tough as it was, he didn’t care much.

“You need a shelter too Pasha.” Yuri sighed. He nodded his head in agreement and went for the woods. He searched for the largest tree he could find. He quickly stripped branches from it, using one of his sharp rocks. He piled them 5 or 6 meters from the flowing water. He quickly began to dig a large ditch, long enough for him and another to lay in. He found as many rocks as he could as he made room for the fire. He then lined them around where he would be resting. He quickly built another fire, in the side of the ditch. He then piled the sticks until there was a semi-roof over his head. He ran around finding as many large leaves as he could. He then weaved them into the roof. He looked at his new shelter. The fire would warm the rocks, and keep him warm at night, he’d just have to keep a good supply of wood nearby, and would have to hope the storm wouldn’t put the fire out.

He had learned to make a simple shelter when he was a boy, and this style was always his favorite. Though he knew his father wouldn’t approve. Though, even he knew lean-to might fall over from a storm. This shelter was a bit more secure.

He took a few more sticks of the rabbit, putting out the fire. He let the rest sit on the rocks for the other prisoners. He walked back towards his shelter, not really sure what to say to the others. After all, he was a loner.

“You should help them you know.” He heard Yuri say. He brushed it aside, he wasn’t sure how he really could help anyways.

 

"This ... this isn't right," said Harold as he leaned against a wall.

"Of course it is," said Juan. "Think of it this way. Did you survive?"

Harold nodded.

"Well," asked Juan. "are you going to answer me?"

"I nodded."

"I'm blind!"

"Sorry Juan. Yes, I survived."

"Then God must want you to live."

"I guess ..."

"No guessing about it. So what do you need to live?"

"Food, shelter, and water."

Juan spread his hands. "Food and shelter. It would be wrong not to use them. Trust me, the time is coming when there won't be any food and only those of us who ate this food will survive."

Harold was quiet and finished eating his ... sausage. Yes, he thought, it's sausage.

 

Ben finally finished carving up the deer, as much as he was going to for the day at least. Each piece was stuck into a pile on the rock, steam rising from the flanks. He let out a deep sigh, picking up a stick and using it to pull off a piece that was already done, it tasted good, a little tough, but it was food, and it definitely tasted like venison. Stretching out a bit, Ben started to walk down to the stream, yawning, splashed a little water on his chest, washing away the sticky blood all over his torso and hands. Things seem to be calming down now. He thought looking around the ravine, people eating and nesting up. For tonight, the tribes sleep in peace, I think my tribe faired better than most. Several other groups had been feasting on the ration bars, many of them throwing up blood, a few already dead. Oh well, natural selection right? Its not that Ben didn't feel empathy for the others, as a good God fearing Christian man he felt for them, but it was the human condition to think for one's self before one's others, wasn't it? He had helped plenty, given his allies food, they would live and remember his actions, remember his skills, and so should he live on to help them another day.

Looking up at the sky, Ben noted the weather now. All anyone seemed to talk about was rain, as the sun finally started set he could see why. Frantically, Ben looked around for something to protect him from this new problem, his eyes passing over everything near by. People, bushes, pebbles, sticks, nothing of use. "****," he mumbled, walking back towards his chair, when the tip of his shoes struck something hard and metallic. Looking down, he saw it. A thing piece of sheet steel, half buried, about 4 feet by 6 feet. Ben quietly thanked God as he reached down and grabbed an end of the thing and began to drag it back to the others.

 

"We don't have enough time to build a shelter. Tonight, we have to stay in here. Tomorrow we can go into the woods and build a stronghold for the four of us."

Reva hadn't realized until that moment that she hadn't intended to return to the larger group, either. Ordinarily she was caring and giving...should have been taking supplies back to their fellow crash victims. But what was the point?

She had no idea who those people were but she was sure that there were some authentically dangerous people among them. People who wouldn't put stock in her offering of a blanket (even if they could find enough for all of the refugees) but would cut her throat as soon as she was asleep for hers.

Reva tugged a blanket from where it had been pressed between the hull and the bed. Thank goodness no body there.

And what of those who were less dangerous? She frowned as she remembered the guy in the suit giving her the brush-off. Obviously they didn't need any help.

Reva glanced sideways at Fox, noticing the woman collecting guns. She certainly hoped she could trust Fox not to shoot her. Then again, she considered as she pulled a small bag from under the bed, if she did, she did. There wasn't much Reva could do about it.

Reva pushed through a mostly collapsed section of hallway, tearing her sleeve in the process, and emerged into a largish room. The outer hull was crushed in but there looked to be room for the four of them. And no bodies.

"I think Fox is right," Reva called back through the gap, "and I might have found a place for us to stay."

A peal of thunder rolled outside and spatters of rain began to fall on the high curved window above Reva. It was broken so they wouldn't be entirely dry but they wouldn't suffocate, either.

"Come see what I've found." she called again to Raylene, Fox, and Britney.

 

Chrys saw Ben dragging the sheet of metal over. She searched for boulders to place it on top of. She found them a little bit in the ravine.

Limping quickly over to Ben, she asked if he wanted help. As they dragged the metal the rest of the way to camp, she commented, "Just below the ship. not like under, but below, there are some huge boulders we can use as support, but I can't say I can push 'em by myself."

 

"No need." said Ben, looking up to the woods again. "If we find a few good sticks we can set this thing over the fire." he said dropping his end. The metal made a loud and blunt whuwhuwham as it landed on the gravel. Without waiting for Chrys, Ben started to jog back to the woods, rain waited for no one, not even Chrys, so neither would Ben.

 

Allen followed Smith into the ship and up the slope, trying to figure out how to ask the right questions without raising suspicion. He began to rummage through the lower cell where the non-dangerous prisoners were kept, looking for blankets, and anything they could use for shelter.

"How long do you think it'll be untill help comes? We were about a week out right? So, they probably would be able to get a ship ready in a few days and be here in a week or two right?

His hands closed on a broken and bent piece of bulkhead that would probably make a good shelter for four or five people to hide under. Allen didn't tell Smith though, it was heavy enough that they would need more people to move it. Allen would tell him later.

"I don't like this world."