Lex and Jack had just been asked if they'd prefer their execution to be at sunrise or sunset. Both of them were terrified, captives of a strange tribe in a strange land.
"I don't understand," said Jack " Why do we have to die?"
The real Zoot and Ebony had visited Lex and Jack but Lia's arrival sent them back to their hut. Clearly they were hiding out on this island with their child, a boy just a tad younger than Brady. It all seemed so impossible but it was happening right here before their eyes.
"You've trespassed on sacred land and you work for that psycho, Blake," said Lia "You deserve worse than death."
Lex and Jack gave Lia a puzzled look.
"Blake?" asked Lex "Who is Blake?"
Lia crouched down and looked Lex in the eye. Then she turned to Jack and studied his face as well.
"If you didn't come from Blake's ship, where did you come from?" asked Lia.
"We were shipwrecked," said Jack "We have children and people that are seriously wounded, please. We need to get back to them!"
For once Lex let Jack do the talking. This was one situation he couldn't bully his way out of. Lia stood up and looked down at them wistfully.
"I'll speak to the Priestess on your behalf, but that is all I can do." Lia turned on her heel and left Lex and Jack to ponder their fate. Lex swore and stomped one of his feet.
"Well now what?" he glared at Jack.
"What do you want me to do Lex, magic us out of here?" retorted Jack.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps and Rain slipped into the jail hut.
"Hello boys," she held a finger to her lips "I need you to be very quiet."
Lex and Jack had already gone silent, mouths open. Every time they saw her it was like seeing Ebony. A moment passed and Martin joined them, he put his arms around Rain and held her. Lex flashed back to the first time he met Zoot, when he was trying to join the Locos. Zoot was just a boy then but he was terrifying, especially with Ebony by his side. Lex was seeing but still had trouble believing Zoot was alive and married with children.
"Did anyone see you?" Rain asked.
"No, my love but we should be quick," Martin turned to Jack and Lex "We're going to help you escape."
Lex let out an exasperated sigh.
"What's in it for you?" Lex knew what Zoot would ask for. The thing he "died" trying to get to.
"I found your camp we're going to take you back there." Said Rain.
"So you can capture more slaves for your tribe?" Jack said gloomily.
"What?" Martin snapped, "No, I need to see Brady. I need to make sure she's safe. We're going to help you move your camp."
"Why do we need to move?" asked Jack
Martin held Rain a little closer and uttered one word.
"Blake," Martin said gravely "The Mallrats aren't safe on the beach it's only a matter of time."
Sully knew it was time to wake up when the sweating and cold chills started. He was fully dependent on the pills Blake supplied him with and he hadn't had a hit since Jynx arrived on the rigger. For a day he almost forgot about his addiction and how he was enslaved to it. He rolled out of his bunk in the sick bay and looked at Jynx sleeping on the bunk across from him. He'd told Blake she was running a fever so he'd be able to keep her safe for a day or two. It had been such a long time since he'd seen anyone from his clan, it was almost surreal having Jynx with him now. She'd told him the story of how she ended up on the rigger and what happened on the Jzhao Li. It gave Sully hope that Venom was out there with Lithium and maybe one day she'd come for him. Sully brushed Jynx's braids away from her face and let his fingers linger on her cheek for just a moment. He crept out of the back room and into the office, closing the door behind him quietly. He sat down at his desk and took a key from around his neck. He used it to unlock a drawer and pulled out his kit. He unzipped the bag and laid out a needle, spoon, lighter, cotton and five pills. He usually only did three but this was a special occasion. He put the pills on the spoon and crushed them with the lighter, making him realize he didn't have water. He wheeled his doctor's stool over to a supply cabinet and got a bottle of water as well as a tourniquet. Sully rolled back to the desk and completed his ritual, dissolving the pills and cooking them before drawing the liquid up into a syringe. He looks at his arms and uses the tourniquet to tie off the left one, making his veins bulge. If Zoot could see what's become of me he thinks. Sully picks a vein and carefully inserts the needle, blood rushes into the syringe and he depresses the plunger. He watches the liquid disappear into his arm and realizes too late he'd done too much. A warm blanket of blackness floods his body and he blacks out almost instantly, needle hanging from his arm. A few minutes later Jynx discovers him.
"Sully," she slaps him "Sully wake up!"
Jynx carefully takes the needle out of his arm and pops off the tourniquet. He falls to the floor with a thump, dead weight like a corpse. Jynx rolls him onto his back and compresses his chest. "Sully oh my god, what have they done to you? What have you done to yourself?"
The compressions keep him breathing but just barely. Jynx plugs his nose and breaths for him, filling his lungs. After a few deep breaths the oxygen makes it to his brain and his eyes open. He must be dreaming because Jynx is kissing him…and slapping him.
"Jynx?" he says groggily. She stops slapping him and grabs him by the collar, pulling him into her lap. She wraps her arms around him and fights the tears.
"Sully, what's happened to you?" she demands, "This isn't you! You're a healer!"
Sully shakes his head and tries to sit up. The room spins and he sinks back into Jynx's arms.
"I'm not a healer," he mutters "I'm a slaver."
Jynx begins to realize that Sully won't be able to get her off this boat. She was on her own from here on out.
"Get up, come on," she pulls him to his feet and sits him down in a chair "I'm ready to go to Blake."
Sully looks up at her, heartbroken.
"If you don't sleep with him, you'll die," Sully scratches at his neck "He likes to rough up his girls I'm sure you'll be back here in a few days."
Jynx crosses her arms and stares Sully down.
"I think I can buy my way up the ranks," Jynx snaps, thinking of the book "Just get Karin down here and send me to him."
Sully gets up and crosses the room to the ship's intercom. He presses the button and waits for a response.
"Yeah?" comes a voice.
"The one Blake wants is ready, come get her." Sully returns Jynx's icy glare. He sits down at his desk and starts setting up another hit.
"What?" says Jynx "Is this passive aggression?"
Sully laughs a little to himself and looks up at Jynx.
"We have a saying here on the rigger," he pauses "Dead hoes tell no tales."
"I'm confused are you calling me a whore or telling me I'm going to die?" Jynx rolls her eyes.
"I'm telling you, watch your mouth." Sully doesn't get a chance to elaborate. Karin arrives for Jynx and takes her away. In his heart, he knows there's a good chance he'll never see her again. Maybe it was for the best, this was his life now wasn't it?
Now that the Fallen had Bray they bound his eyes and arms with masking tape. He was thrown into the back of a military vehicle with Kisenian, Emma, Tiffany and Shannon. They had been bound and blindfolded with tape as well. It was terrifying being in the dark like this, completely helpless. Kisenian and Bray were still reeling from Californium's presence. Their sister was back from the dead and not happy to see her siblings. Not happy at all.
"I think they're taking us to the Mirage." Emma whispers.
"What the hell is that?" asks Kisenian.
"It was a resort before the virus but now.." Shannon was cut off by one of the Fallen barking at him to shut up.
Cali, known as Wildflower to her tribe was riding in the front with Belle. Bray could hear Cali licking blood from Kisenian's kick off of Belle's face.
They were like wild animals, this Fallen tribe. Cali had been a normal kid once, what had happened to make her like this?
"I'm bored and this is a long drive," came Belle's voice "Why don't we take a trip down memory lane?"
The Fallen members began to snicker. They'd known about Wildflower's family but never imagined they would capture them. Cali turned around and looked at her prize, the siblings that had left her to suffer would suffer greatly at her hands now.
"Cali, how did you get like this?" Bray pleaded "Please talk to us we're your family."
The Fallen began to cackle like hyenas, louder and louder until Belle silenced them.
"Tell them the story, my love." Belle tangled her fingers in Cali's hair and pulled, exposing her neck. Bray could hear biting and giggling it appeared that Cali was this Belle's lover. After a moment they stopped and Cali began to speak.
"Well, after my family left me to die I was traded around quite a bit as a sex slave. I bounced around the Techno work camps until one day I am plucked out of the masses and I end up on an oil rigger in the ocean. They branded me," Cali pulls down her shirt and shows Belle the L-shaped brand "L is for laboratory. The rigger delivered me to this army base that had been converted into a Zootist compound. They ran all kinds of experiments on me, their leader tried to make me bear a child countless times but I always miscarried. One day I nearly died in labor, the doctors thought I'd bled out. They tossed me into a pit filled with bodies and that's where Belle found me."
Belle nodded and stroked Cali's face.
"The best day of my life." Belle almost sounded human.
"Cali, I was at that same compound," said Kisenian "They did the same to me, worse even. Do you know why?"
The Fallen began to laugh again. Emma could feel one of the gorilla-like males breathing down her neck and it made her feel sick to her stomach.
"Because the blood of Zoot runs in my veins," snarled Cali "Why do you think we captured you?"
The realization hit Bray like a ton of bricks.
"You work for the Zootists," said Bray "You're taking us back to them."
The chorus of terrifying laughter started again and Cali turned away from her siblings, facing the windshield. Belle snaked an arm around her waist and pulled Cali closer.
"Something like that," Belle replied, "It's up to Wildflower."
Bray and Kisenian went quiet after that. They were plotting their impending escape from Eloise and the compound already.
Author's note: Sorry it's been such a long time. I hope you guys liked this chapter. I really appreciate all my readers and I need your opinion. Which group of characters would you want to see in the next chapter? The Mallrats? The natives? Legion? Also, which characters would you like to get more screen time?