A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm down with a viral fever and a killer headache. So this chapter is a little short. Please bear with me until I get well and I promise the next chapter will be longer.
And, a quick headcount of the survivors:
Jim Rice
Eli Molson
Tom Leighton
Ashley Renner
Julia Cunningham
Priya Anand
Yui Lowenthal
Max Rice
Kevin Riley
T'Val
Shannon Kenton
Danny Eames
Chapter 9
Star date: 2248.157
JT dropped the phaser in his hand to the ground and stumbled backwards. He couldn't believe what he had just done.
He saw Ashley and Priya coming out of their hiding place. They both looked at him in open-mouthed horror and JT felt disgusted with himself. He saw Ashley making her way to him out of the corner of his eyes. She reached out a hand and JT shrugged away from her. He didn't deserve her comfort. Ashley's mouth thinned as she pressed her lips. She looked at him for a couple of seconds and turned away from him. JT couldn't help but think that he had let her down somehow.
Priya was next to Tom attempting to wake him up. He didn't even twitch his eye in response.
Ashley spoke "Let's take the hover-car."
JT nodded and with both the girls' help hoisted Tom into the open hover-car. Ashley took to the wheel and drove, nobody uttering a single word to break the silence.
"JT and I will take Tom up. You have to hide the car, Ashley" Priya said, tossing her Tom's communicator.
JT and Priya, backpacks on their shoulders, led a limp Tom between them, as they climbed up to the cave.
As soon as they entered, Eli and Julia came running with the kids in tow.
"Oh my God! What happened to Tom?" Julia gasped, as she helped to lay him on the floor.
"Where's Ashley?" Danny Eames, one of Max's friends asked. He seemed to have a small crush on her.
"She's gone to hide the hover-car that we stole from Kodos' guards." Eli and Julia broke into too many questions, when Priya spoke loudly "Guys, please, we have to help Tom."
This effectively silenced them. Julia asked how the injury happened and Priya told them of the guards hitting him with a phaser butt. Julia then felt Tom's head for any cracks. "There's just some swelling in his head. I don't think there's a fracture, hopefully" she muttered the last word to herself.
JT shrank away from them and walked to the opening of the cave. His hands were shaking and he dug them inside his pockets. He sat on the floor, leaning by the cave and stared into the distance.
About twenty minutes later Ashley entered the cave. She stopped dead when she saw Jim and slowly came up to him.
She sat next to him and when he didn't protest, lay her head on his shoulder. A long five minutes passed before she whispered "It's not your fault."
JT didn't even turn his head in her direction. He continued to stare into the distance when she tried again "Jay, don't blame yourself. I don't think any less of you for what you did. You did what you had to do and if you hadn't, you would've died! Please, don't blame yourself."
She turned to look straight at him, when JT said slowly "I can't change the fact that it happened. I can't change the fact that I murdered someone! What does that make me?" his voice rose and shook a little, angry and terrified in equal measure.
"It just means that you would do anything to protect us. You might not like it Jay, but I feel safe with you. I know you wouldn't let harm come our way, and I'm grateful" Ashley spoke low, looking straight at his eyes.
He turned to look at Ashley and she was startled to find moist blue eyes. Her heart broke when he whispered to her "Forgive me."
Tears glistened in her eyes "You don't need my forgiveness Jay, but I do forgive you, if it can make you feel better" she said and leaned to hug him. He gave in, hugging her tightly, face buried into the crook of her shoulders.
They sat like that for hours as the sun slowly set in the horizon.
Star date: 2248.162
Though only five days had passed since Tom's injury, it felt like weeks. Tom had come around and had had severe bruising with a killer headache, but it had been nothing to worry about.
They had been nearly out of food and had visited the lake again, only to find it surrounded by guards. With barely enough food and no water, they were dehydrated and had refrained from going out of their caves.
JT had been very silent since the day he had killed the guard. The others noticed this pretty quickly and asked about it to Ashley. She had told them the incident and they had understood. Nobody could have it in them to feel angry at him. Tom had developed a newfound respect to JT. JT had killed to save him after all and he felt he owed his life.
The days wore on and JT decided that they had to scavenge for food, consequences and risks be damned. They were all too starved to argue and had agreed readily.
JT came up with a plan to find the place where the 4000 survivors were being kept. Hopefully, they could find some sort of food and also find some answers to what was going on.
JT, Eli, Priya and Julia were agreed upon to travel to the city in their hover-cars. They had set off in two hover-cars and got to the city by the middle of the night. Guards patrolled the TCIA building and the streets were deserted. They edged their way closer when Eli said "Let's just stun everyone, grab hold of one of the guards and ask him where they are. I'm too drained to be doing stealth."
JT had agreed having no other plan in mind. When they got to the TCIA building, JT took out the phaser that the guard who had helped him escape had given and stunned the three unsuspecting guards patrolling the building. Only one of the guards remained who randomly shot in all directions, trying and failing to hit his assailants.
Julia threw a rock to one side of the guard to distract him, when JT and Eli nabbed him from the other direction. He yelled when Eli gave him a good kick to the shins, hands pinned behind him on the floor. JT straddled his back and asked him roughly, jostling him "Where are the survivors? Where has Kodos kept them?"
Even in his inescapable position, the guard sneered "You think I will answer a bunch of stupid kids?!"
"I know you will answer a bunch of stupid kids! Let's not forget the phaser behind your back, shall we?" JT sneered as Eli pressed the phaser behind his back.
"What're you gonna do? Stun me? Go on!"
"Stun you?" JT laughed derisively "Oh no, I've got something better planned."
Saying so, he took out a knife hidden inside his socks and brought it close to the guards' face. Though initially he registered shock, he sneered again "You're joking!"
JT pressed the knife harder to his cheek and a thin cut traced it as the guard whimpered "Alright! They're kept in separate rooms in the Science and Research Facility. I swear!"
"Oh, I believe you" JT said, while nodding at Eli. He triggered the phaser, stunning the man underneath him.
JT got up as Eli said "Man, you were scary! Brilliant, but scary."
JT smiled smugly. The girls, who had been hiding behind bushes watching the whole thing, came running forward. "God! So, where to?" Priya asked.
They had made their way to the Science and Research building to find guards outside. It was not unexpected. What was unexpected was the thought that nearly 4000 people were all kept hostage in one building.
They had to get in and out within thirty minutes before the stunned guards could awaken and alert the rest of the guards.
They shot at the guards patrolling the building, when one of them suddenly held up his hands and yelled "Wait! Don't shoot! I'm on your side!"
JT stopped shooting and shared a look with Eli, who shook his head. This was interesting.
JT yelled back from his hiding place "How can I trust you?"
"I lost my son because of Kodos."
JT motioned for the others to stay in their place, as he jumped out of the bush and walked towards him.
The guard dropped his phaser rifle in a show of solidarity. JT didn't drop his phaser however as he slowly inched up to him. The guard spoke again "I can help you."
"What's your name?"
"Timothy Carson."
Jim blinked. He had heard that last name somewhere. "And your son?"
"Brian Carson."
Jim's insides ran cold. Brian! He was Jim's classmate in Physics and Math. They weren't friends exactly but they had always got along fine.
Jim lowered his phaser. "What happened to Brian?"
The man's eyes welled up with tears. "He's dead" he said simply.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Carson. Brian was my classmate. I'm JT" Jim introduced himself as the man sniffled, wiping his eyes in his sleeve.
"You're JT! You were his Physics project partner, weren't you?"
Jim nodded. "It's good to meet you, son" he said, patting him on the back.
"I don't exactly know what is going on, son. All I do know is that the crops have been infected. Some fungus destroyed all the wheat that was to be harvested this month" Mr. Carson said.
"And Starfleet supplies didn't arrive, so we're out of food" Jim finished.
"Didn't arrive? No, no. They arrived all right. They were one week later than scheduled, but they arrived just fine."
"What?" Jim asked incredulously. "But, it was on the news that they hadn't arrived yet!"
"The news reports are lying. Kodos made us swear to not tell it out. I didn't know why at first. I'm not one to question the higher-ups."
"But, that means there is enough food for us!"
"No, son. There's enough food for only half of us. We've always depended on the wheat that we produce locally. That's what sustains us. The Starfleet supplies are just additional."
"So, why doesn't Kodos request Starfleet for more? Why does he decide to kill half of the population instead?"
"I wish I knew the answer to that" Mr. Carson said solemnly.
Jim blew out a breath. If Kodos showed his face right now, Jim was sure he would gouge out the madman's eyes.
The thirty minute-mark was almost up and he had to get going. "Mr. Carson. I have to get back to my friends. But, I have to ask this. Do you have any food to spare for us? Anything at all?"
The man looked at him for a long moment before giving in and sighing "Son, I'll try to smuggle some, but there's no promise of how much. I'll leave it someplace where there will be no guards around. You know of any place?"
The sirens wailed and a number of guards arrived from the TCIA. Jim thanked Mr. Carson and ran back to the bush where his friends were hiding. Eli hissed "JT, we have to run, quick!"
The four kids ran as fast as they could, slinking behind shadows, to their hover-cars and zoomed off into the distance, away from the TCIA and the guards who reported the intruders to Governor Kodos, himself.
A/N: Thank you all for the alerts and faves. See y'all soon!
