Half the characters might be dead, but this story isn't! It may have been a long time to wait, but I'm finally back with another chapter! I had a very strenuous, busy couple of months but hopefully that's settled down and I can get back to consistently updating this fanfiction. I'd like to take a second to thank those of you who reviewed and/or private messaged me during the hiatus to express your interest and hopes that I'd continue writing. It really helped inspire me to get back into it. Let's hope the momentum continues, eh?
Last time out (since it's been so dang long) the run team consisting of Alejandro, Duncan, Trent, Courtney, Jo and Brick got attacked by mysterious people wearing black hoods. Turned out Gwen was one of them and Trent was captured. This chapter largely picks up where that left off and introduces a few new characters! And you'll finally learn what happened to our beloved cliff divers...
But enough of all that, let's get into the meat of this and enjoy the chapter!
WARNING: This story may contain scenes of swearing, violence, sexual activities and character death.
Trent had to blink several times to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Gwen really was standing before him, decked out in a thick black outfit that made her difficult to see in the flickering light of the shadowy chamber. But there was no mistaking the hair; the midnight blue shone through the darkness as she lowered the hood and faced her former lover with a haunted face.
"You're alive." Trent said the only thing that came to his muddled mind, forgetting for the moment that he was shackled to the wall, "I can't believe it."
"Believe it." Gwen said simply as she neared closer to him, "For better or for worse, I'm still alive."
"What happened to you? And the others?" Trent asked, remembering the last time he'd seen her was when she'd helped cause a vital distraction that led to his reunion with the group.
A darkness flickered over Gwen's face and she did not meet his gaze as she spoke, "You're lucky I convinced the others to patch you up, but soon enough they'll come asking questions. Questions I hope you have answers to."
"W-what?" Trent asked in bewilderment, slowly coming to note the cuffs digging into his arms, "Where are we? What others? Gwen I don't understand-"
"There's too much to explain with too little time." Gwen softened again, finally looking with fondness at the man she once loved, "I have to go, but just promise me something."
"Anything." Trent said instantly.
"Don't get yourself killed." Gwen told him, and before he could ask any further questions she melted back into the shadows, maneuvered her way to the exit door, and fled the scene.
Once outside, she had to readjust her vision; though she still felt obligated to put a hand up to shield her pale skin from the sun's rays. Once she had reset herself, she started off. Her boots crunched on the gravely ground beneath her as she moved about through the ghost town her group had raided mere hours ago. The same one they'd found Trent in; and she thought she'd seen Duncan too...
"Well?" An irritated female voice snapped Gwen out of her thoughts and she looked up to meet the gaze of the girl, "Is he conscious?"
The Goth wasn't too surprised to see her standing nearby the house they'd locked Trent up in. The girl in question was calculating, craft, and never one to miss an opportunity to learn something. Unlike Gwen, she didn't seem to be suffering any possible sun burn; a fact aided by her natural tanned tones. Her shoulder length black hair seemed to be in one massive curl, but oddly enough it seemed to be perfectly manageable: definitely by design. The girl pushed up her glasses and looked expectantly at Gwen; impatient.
Gwen considered not responding for a moment, but finally emitted a simple, "Yes Ellody, he's awake. Just don't hurt him, he's a good guy."
Ellody cocked her head to the side, as if she were studying Gwen, and gave a sad knowing smile, "Don't you know by now Gwen? There are no good guys anymore."
"We need to jump!" Harold's words echoed in Gwen's ears. Her heart was pounding as their small group stood atop the iconic Wawanakwa cliff; the ravenous zombies continuously pouring towards them and snarling, reaching for another meal.
The rest of Harold's words were a blur; Gwen saw Sierra get bit while protecting her beloved Cody, but she felt like she was numb to the pain. She should care, but she couldn't even concentrate on it. She vaguely made out LeShawna jumping off the cliff, and that seemed to at least spur her towards the cliff's edge. We need to jump, Harold had said.
Gwen ignored the ringing in her ears from the gunshots and jumped. She realized she was screaming, but the sound was muffled by her thoughts. This endless, horrific nightmare was surely about to end. Once she hit the water, she'd bolt upright in her cabin bunk bed and realize it wasn't real. Heather would be there to make a snide remark about her hair, LeShawna would defend her. Life would return to the way it was, the way it should be.
So she gasped when she hit the water, unwillingly allowing the lake water to enter her lungs. She felt her organs twist inside her body, the blood pooling in her brain as she struggled to keep consciousness and sank to the bottom. She desperately tried to kick her legs, but her body was shutting down. She couldn't breathe, she could hardly move. It was all real; she was disillusioned to reality. And reality was death.
She had resigned herself to her fate, and was nearing a full black out, when she felt hands pulling her up. Through her foggy vision, she couldn't see what was happening, but soon enough they broke the surface of the water and she could see her savior.
"Not today sugar." LeShawna was panting as she held Gwen up alongside her, "We ain't dying today, you hear?"
Gwen managed a weak nod, but LeShawna was now focusing on the splash nearby. Harold and Izzy had jumped, and like the former two they'd survived. Neither of the redheads had an issue keeping themselves afloat and looked, roughly, alright.
"Chef and Cody are still alive up there." Harold wheezed as he spat out a little bit of water, "Sierra..."
He didn't need to say more. Izzy, who was also panting but looked in the best shape, said, "We're all eventually going to die if we stay in the water. We need to swim to shore."
"Girl you crazy." LeShawna shook her head, "That island is a death trap, we're trying to get away remember?"
"We're in the middle of nowhere." Harold actually agreed with Izzy, "There's nowhere for us that's close enough we can swim to and actually survive. We'll all drown."
"There's canoes on the beaches." Izzy added, "Well theoretically, that's where they usually were and Chris was way too lazy to move them when we were done using them."
"Then we just have to hope our luck doesn't get any worse." Gwen stifled a bitter laugh, "That'll be a miracle."
There was another splash close to where Izzy and Harold had landed. Unsurprisingly, the four already in the water saw that it was Chef Hatchet: and he was carrying Cody. Chef's strength allowed him to propel the pair above the surface of the water, and they could breathe easy again.
"You left her!" Cody shrieked, his face covered with a mix of lake water and salty tears, "We could have helped her!"
"Your stalker was dead fruitcake! Dead!" Chef hollered back, his voice hoarse, "Ain't no saving someone from death."
"We're swimming to the island to try and get those canoes." Harold explained to Chef, "We don't have much of an option."
"Then let's-" Chef began but stopped as the group heard another splash. Then another, and another. And as the military veteran slowly looked up the cliff, he realized the zombies had finished with Sierra. And they came tumbling over the side of the cliff, into the waters below.
"Swim for the shore!" Chef barked, adrenaline surging through his veins once again, "And let's hope these fuckers are shitty in water."
"LeShawna," Gwen coughed out her name as her friend continued aiding her to keep afloat, "just leave me. Don't die for me."
"Girl, get a hold of yourself." LeShawna reprimanded as she kicked through the water as fast as she could, "I saved you back at Chris' manor, I saved you just now. And I'm damn sure I'm going to keep doing it as much as I need to. That's what sisters are for."
Gwen looked appreciatively at her, nodded, and then attempted to help as best she could. Given that the two had landed closer to the beach than the others upon their initial dive, they were the furthest away from the zombie threat. But the others were having difficulties.
"Chef lookout!" Harold shouted a warning to the cook as he saw one zombie plummeting right towards where Chef and Cody were making slow pace through the water.
The zombie hit the boys dead on, surprising them in the process. They all temporarily went under the water at the force of the impact, and when they emerged it was clear that Cody was looking a little woozy. The undead remained unaffected and was crawling all over the back of Chef; trying to bite both of them.
"You piece of shit." Chef snarled and reared back his fist to punch. His knuckles connected with the zombie's face, rattling loose a few teeth. But the zombie felt no pain, and it lunged forward and forced Chef to let go of Cody. Dazed, it was all Cody could go to keep himself above the water.
The zombie took another lunge at Chef, and this time the slipperiness of the water caused Chef to lose his grip on the creature. But he ducked and the zombie went past him, and found itself practically right on top of Cody. It didn't seem to be able to swim on its own, but whenever it attached itself to someone who could, it was able to attack. So it reached its arms out towards the unprotected, vulnerable Cody and prepared to bite down.
And bite down it did, though not on Cody. Chef Hatchet had propelled himself forward and wrapped the zombie in the best chokehold he could manage in the water. The infected's teeth crunched down on Chef's muscled arm instead, inciting a painful grunt from the veteran.
But then a blade pierced through the side of the zombie's skull and it's struggles ceased. Chef glanced over and saw that Harold had come to the rescue with the only functional weapon he had left. Harold looked briefly at the bite on Chef's arm, but elected not to comment. Right now, it was all they could do to make it to shore.
Cody was sobbing as the group finally made it to the sandy shores of Total Drama Island. Not only had Sierra perished for him, but Chef Hatchet had been bitten on account of saving him.
"My fault." Cody choked out as he stared at Chef, "You're infected because of me..."
"You think I don't know that?" Chef asked, "I don't need you reminded me every damn five seconds. Now help get the canoes into the water."
"It's a good thing Izzy used these canoes during her RCMP avoiding days back in season one." Harold commented as he and the girl in question shoved one of the canoes towards the water, "We can use these to paddle to the mainland."
"Just hurry it up y'all." LeShawna said as she and Chef began pushing a second canoe, "Those zombies are dealing with the others at the dock but it won't be too long till they're coming back for dessert."
"The mainland is too far for us to paddle, we're gonna be exhausted." Chef told them solemnly, "We can make a pit stop at Boney Island. Not ideal, but hopefully those zombies haven't gotten there yet."
"Well hope aboard the Izzy train!" Izzy called as she and Harold successfully got the first of the canoes in the water, "Come on LeShawna, it'll be like old times canoeing together!"
"Girl, that was the challenge that eliminated you the first time." LeShawna recalled, though she didn't hesitant to climb into the boat that would hopefully increase her survival chances.
Chef had gotten the second canoe in the water, and without words he plucked Cody up off the ground and shoved him into the middle spot of the canoe. Gwen silently climbed into the back, and didn't voice her own memories of paddling to Boney Island with Cody as Chef climbed into the front part of the canoe. It nearly tipped due to his weight, but the other two were able to steady it and they were ready to set sail.
"You're very lucky." Ellody observed as she paced around the room Trent was being kept in, her shoes echoing as she walked, "If Gwen hadn't pled with us, we wouldn't have thought twice about killing you."
"Are you expecting me to thank you? You shot me!" Trent remarked, understandably outraged.
"You are conspiring with our enemies, which makes you our enemy as well." Ellody told him icily, "Now, answer some of my questions and you will continue to live. Fail to comply with this simple request, and I'm afraid you'll soon be pushing up daises. Am I understood?"
Trent didn't deign to respond. Ellody took that as affirmation, so she cleared her throat and began, "According to what little the tight-lipped Gwen has told us since joining, we know you are Trent and were originally with her on an island. And with others. How many of these others are still alive?"
"How did you find Gwen?" Trent countered with a question of his own and she frowned, "I thought she was-"
"Dead?" Ellody finished his sentence for him, "Because you rode off on a yacht without her? Yes we know that much, thanks to her more talkative friends."
"So she wasn't the only survivor?" Trent realized with relief, "Who else?"
"Perhaps I'll be kind enough to give you an answer, but only if we return to the original exercise." Ellody looked a bit miffed, "Fortunately for you, I'm in a good mood today. But I'm done with pleasantries, so answer my question."
"Nine." Trent almost laughed as he momentarily thought of his old obsession, "Aside from me, nine of the others from the island are still alive. As far as I know anyway, maybe you shot more of my friends today."
"Don't expect sympathy, you're the ones who chose to work with those freaks." Ellody said with a vicious venom that made Trent falter in his attitude.
"Why do you hate them so much?" Trent inquired, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion, "What happened?"
"I'm the one asking the questions here." Ellody snipped, "And how many of Jo's group are still alive?"
"Eleven?" Trent sounded unsure and her eyes narrowed, "I don't know exactly, okay? We haven't been there all day, literally anything could have happened."
"What of Mal?" Ellody asked suddenly, an edge creeping into her already commanding voice.
"Mal? Never heard of them." Trent told her genuinely, but before anything else could be said on the subject, the door to the room was flung open and in stepped another familiar face to Trent.
His jaw dropped, "Cody?"
In spite of himself, Cody grinned and ignored the two who had followed him inside; neither were recognizable to Trent.
"I'm glad you're alive man." Cody said earnestly and then turned to Ellody, "Any reason why he's been chained up?"
"Because he's in league with the enemy." Ellody answered simply and turned to the other two with a withering, hateful look, "And I thought I told you two useless peons to guard the door and not let anyone in unless I said so. So what happened Leonard?"
"Well," The scrawny one wearing an odd looking green cloak, began, "I cast a hold portal spell on the chamber entry, but our magic did not have the proper time to set and thus the Codemeister was able to seek passage beyond!"
Leonard's assistant, a larger girl wearing what appeared to be a Viking helmet, randomly threw confetti into the air while Leonard raised his hands dramatically.
"I know I'm not supposed to ask questions," Trent began as he stared, "but are those two seriously live action role playing at a time like this?"
"You should not mock us, mortal." Leonard frowned at Trent, "We are followers of Myrcellius the dragon and he has granted us magic powers beyond your simple comprehension- ow!"
Leonard's monologue was cut short as Ellody kneed him in the balls. Leonard sank to his knees, his eyes beginning to water, and his pal Tammy did nothing more than just throw more confetti into the air.
"Get. Out." Ellody hissed at Leonard, and then at Tammy once again, "Now!"
With a fearful look at Ellody's legs, Leonard scampered out the door with Tammy close behind. Ellody still seemed rather annoyed, but she turned to Cody and said, "What are you doing in here Cody?"
"I heard the rumor about one of my old friends washing up." Cody answered and looked over at Trent again, "Seems the rumor was well founded. You can let him down, he's not dangerous."
"It would be foolish to assume anything of the sort." Ellody quipped, throwing a distrustful look at Trent, "No one is the same as they were before this apocalypse began. Friends are now foes, strangers are now allies. The dead walk among us. Don't assume anything, ever. There is no safety in assumptions; only death."
"Just let me talk to him then." Cody attempted a compromise, and when Ellody gave him a suspicious look he added, "You can be right outside and even have some more reliable guards than the wizard. There's no possible way we could get out, even if that's what I was planning on doing. Which it isn't."
After a long, painfully drawn out moment, Ellody relented, "Fine. I'll have Sky and Rodney standing watch outside and I'll be nearby. Don't try anything Cody. I have hope that you won't, but if you do you'll wish you hadn't. Clear?"
"Crystal." Cody answered, and gave her his signature gap toothed grin. She shot Trent one more hateful look before she swept out of the room, and the sounds of her presence being quelled as she closed the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Cody's smile vanished. He crossed the threshold quickly until he was right alongside Trent. He immediately began prodding Trent's shoulder, which prompted a cry of pain from the guitarist.
"Hey, hey easy!" Trent protested, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure your gunshot wound isn't infected." Cody murmured and he looked relieved, "Thankfully it isn't. You're lucky to be alive."
"You're one to talk." Trent snorted, still almost in disbelief that this was happening, "How the hell did you survive the island? And Gwen too, what about the others? What happened to the others?"
Cody looked a bit saddened as he said, "It's kind of a long story..."
Harold, LeShawna, Izzy, Chef, Cody and Gwen had been forced to paddle the canoes for a few hours before they finally saw the unmistakable mountain formations of Boney Island. The face of a demented skull outlined by the jagged rocks only added to the fuel of terror and death they'd experienced in the past twenty four hours. They hoped this rest stop would at least put a stopper in their demise.
"You." Chef grunted at Izzy after they'd pulled the canoes onto the beach, "Get some firewood. You're all staying on the beach to sleep in case you need to make a quick getaway."
"Don't you mean we?" Izzy asked but stopped as she realized Chef had in fact been bitten, "Right, I'll go get firewood."
Izzy disappeared into the trees, but it wasn't too long before she'd returned with sufficient wood to light a small campfire. No one seemed interested in talking while Izzy set about gathering rocks to make a little circle around the fire. They were all transfixed on the happenings of the day; the terrors and turmoil they'd suffered. Silence stretched for a good fifteen minutes before it was finally broken.
"We're all going to die, aren't we?" Gwen asked bitterly, sitting with her legs curled up to her chest, "There's no way to beat death."
"Sierra's dead." Cody added glumly, "Owen's dead, Tyler's dead. The others are dead. And we will be soon too."
"Cody-" Harold began but the shorter boy was continuing to speak.
"I didn't love her." Cody's voice was broken glass, "That's all I can think about. How much she was willing to sacrifice, how much she did sacrifice for me. A boy she couldn't help but love, but who couldn't love her back all the same."
"You cared for her." LeShawna insisted, giving a sidelong glance at Harold as she spoke, "That counts for something."
"I did." Cody nodded, tears slipping down his cheeks, "A lot of good it did, huh? And now Chef-"
"Boy listen up." Chef interrupted him, and the teenagers all went silent, "I knew damn well what was going to happen when I saved you from that fucking zombie. I knew the risks, I did it anyway. Shit happened. Now I'm going to die, but you lot aren't. Unless you give up like a bunch of pansies."
None of the total drama contestants replied so Chef barreled on, "I have known all of you for years, years I would have rather spent doing nearly anything but be on this stupid reality show. But you know what one of the best things about doing it was? Teaching you all. I ran you guys through military training exercises, I taught you survival instincts. You may just have thought of it as grueling challenges, but those were essential life lessons. Now you have the chance to put them to good use."
"And you know what?" Chef asked rhetorically as he leaned back, allowing the kids just to see his face through the crackling flames, "I'm ready. I been ready to die for years. Ever since my war days...I've been cheating death. Always outrunning it, keeping it at bay. But eventually it catches up with you. And I can't even say I'm disappointed. But I will be if all of you just go up and die without even trying to fight your way through this shit world."
"Chef," Izzy blinked back unexpected tears, "that's the most thoughtful thing you've ever said and it still sounded like your usual barking."
Chef gave her a toothy smile, though the pain was definitely starting to set in, and he said, "Y'all all thought I hated you; nah. Only reason this job was bearable was cause I got to pass on some stuff to a future generation. Something that I thought I'd lost since I never got to have kids. The woman I cared about...I lost her in the war."
The contestants were all staring back and forth between themselves and Chef; all seemingly stunned at Chef opening up in his final moments.
"Everyone thought my war stories were bullshit." Chef snorted, "I told you, twenty five of us went into the jungle that night. Only five came back out. I was one of the five, my girlfriend was not. I still see her face, even now. She's always been sad, worried, disappointed. Right now, she's finally smiling again."
The others realized Chef was staring up at the moon and smiling, "This time, you will be the five that came back out. And I'll fall with my platoon, the way I should have all those years ago."
Chef's attention returned to the group around him, "Alright? Good. I'm ready then. Put me out of my misery, I ain't becoming one of those shit bags you hear?"
"We hear you." Izzy found her voice again, and she put a hand on Chef's shoulder, "Thank you for your valiant service Chef Hatchet. We will never forget it."
Chef and Izzy locked eyes and seemed to have a whole other conversation in the silence of their facial expressions. Then Chef leaned in to whisper something to the girl, something the others couldn't hear. Once that was accomplished, he nodded and leaned back.
Izzy looked at him with overwhelming pity, but she withdrew the knife she still had and drove it through the side of Chef's skull. It was an instant death, thankfully, and he felt no pain.
Izzy looked around at all the sullen faces around her and she said, "Now he can finally rest."
"Holy shit dude." Trent said once Cody had concluded that part of his story, "I can't believe Chef is gone. Of everyone, I thought he'd survive this."
"It was my fault." Cody said, anger flashing onto his face for a moment, "Had he just let me die, he would be alive here and now. But I'm trying to move past it, I try not to dwell on it. I may as well live, right?"
"So what happened from there?" Trent pressed, "How did you end up...wherever we are?"
"We made it through the night, the five of us." Cody admitted, "And in the morning, we got in the canoes and rowed like hell for the mainland. It took us...God I don't even know how long. Must have been the whole day, but eventually we made it."
"Did you dock in the marina?" Trent asked but Cody shook his head.
"We didn't have any sense of direction of where we were going." Cody explained, "When we saw land we almost cried. Probably would have if we weren't already emotionally and physically exhausted. From there, we didn't know where to even start."
"How did you run in with these people?" Trent asked, his face souring as he was reminded of Ellody.
"We saved them shortly after we landed." Cody told him.
"How did you manage that with no bullets?" Trent asked.
"We distracted the dead long enough for their reinforcements to arrive." Cody answered, "We stumbled upon a few of their group being swarmed so we figured helping was the best thing we could do. It didn't take us long to realize that these zombies had been wreaking havoc for more than just the day or two we'd experienced. While we were on the island, doing promotional videos and photos for weeks...I think that's when the world really went to shit. We were just late to the party. We needed someone to take us in and explain what was happening. And they did. And with that, came the explanation of an enemy group. A group you've fallen in with..."
"Hey, that group took us in." Trent defended, "And they aren't bad."
"Really?" Cody asked, his pleasantness seeming to fade a bit, "What do you know of the feud between these two groups?"
"Not much, but this group attacked and massacred half of Jo's group after pretending to be nice to them." Trent said, distrust creeping into his tone, "Doesn't sound like a bunch of people I want to be around."
Cody actually laughed for a moment, "That's the lie they told you? Wow, not really close to the truth."
"So what is the truth?" Trent didn't seem like he was going to believe Cody's answer, "Enlighten me."
"Your 'friends'," Cody put air quotes around the term, "took in this group under false guises and pretenses. Fake assurances that they could work together. And the moment their guard was down, they struck. They killed members of this group and...used them. Used them in ways I don't even want to imagine. I told you, we're the good guys here."
Trent seemed a bit confused at Cody's vagueness, but he responded to the last part, "Yeah, cause chaining me up to the wall and threatening me with death is truly outstanding. Ellody deserves an award."
"Yeah? And how did Jo's group treat you when you first arrived?" Cody countered.
Trent faltered for a moment before saying, "It was a...tense initial encounter. But they were just doing what they had to-"
"That's what we're doing here. Caution goes hand in hand with survival." Cody told him, before emitting a long sigh, "Look Trent, I don't want to fight with you. I'm honestly still shocked the five of us aren't the only ones who survived the island. Just cooperate and they'll release you in due time, I'm sure."
"So your new pals can roll up to where the others are and shoot them up? No thanks." Trent told him, "I already have blood on my hands, and until today I thought I had yours on mine too. I'm not going to sit by and be the reason the only people left in the world I love and care about are slaughtered."
"You think I want that?" Cody asked, clearly hurt, "I'm searching for a peaceful way to end this feud. But we got here after it started, the pieces are already in play. There's not much we can do."
"Then try harder." Trent offered coldly, "You can't let all of them die. Or I'll kill you myself."
Cody was a bit taken aback by the ruthlessness in Trent's voice, but he sensed the musician was being fully honest. Cody nodded sternly and said, "I'll try to think of another solution. For now, this is goodbye. One last note though: don't piss Ellody off too much. She's suffered a lot."
"We've all suffered." Trent said, turning his head to the side so he no longer was looking at Cody, "She's nothing special."
Ellody moved through the neighborhood of houses her group had claimed a few days after their falling out with Jo's group. She'd made sure Sky and Rodney were guarding the house the prisoner was being kept in before taking her leave to deal with other matters. As she walked the row of houses, she was glad to see signs of life inside as her group had taken up residence. It was a normal enough neighborhood, though importantly it was a gated community. And some of the houses were more defensible than others. The gate itself was a golden metal, that glinted strongly in the sunlight. Though as the sun began to set behind the horizon, Ellody found herself walking along the gravel road in just a sliver of daylight left. But she wouldn't be out much longer, her destination was approaching.
The final house at the cul-de-sac was the largest and nicest of the bunch. A fresh coat of white paint gave it a pristine, perfect look to it. Untouched by the apocalypse and the bloody horrors that came with it. A safe haven; a peaceful place. It was where the leaders had established their base of operations.
Ellody saw no guards, but she knew the door had a code that was required to be imputed before one could gain access. Once she typed in the four digit code, she heard the bolts moving out of place and she was able to open the door.
She was barely through the doorway and closing the front door when her ally was speaking, "What did you learn?"
Ellody turned to face her co-leader, who had her red hair neatly done up in bun. She studied Ellody with intelligent green eyes, that were framed by the circular glasses she was always seen wearing. Despite being relatively mousy, though, this girl had always had a commanding presence about her; and a bit of a radiative fear.
"The prisoner is opening up, slowly." Ellody admitted, "Based on a rough estimate, and an approximation of possible standard deviations of his response, we have sufficient evidence to believe that our enemies have somewhere from eighteen to twenty four in their group."
"So we're roughly even in terms of numbers." The red haired girl mused, "Did you ask him any specific questions about the people who recently joined up with Jo?"
"I didn't." Ellody felt her face heating with annoyance, "He wasn't answering to me."
"That's why I sent Cody." The red head waved a dismissive hand, "Hopefully he extracted a bit more information. We need to know what we're up against if we're going to defeat them."
"We have to defeat them Scarlett." Ellody implored her co-leader, "After what they did..."
"Never fear my friend." Scarlett smiled, though there was no mirth in her face, "I've been formulating a strategy that should aid us substantially in the vanquishing of our foes. All I need is a wolf in sheep's clothing. And I know just who that person should be. Max!"
Scarlett barked the name, and scurrying in came a comically shaped boy with odd purple hair, "Yes minion, what is it? I'm hard at work constructing my evil-"
"That's great Max," Scarlett's eye twitched but she kept it together, "I'm sure that's very important. But right now I need you to go find someone for me, can you do that?"
"Maybe if you ask nicely. You've gotten rather impudent haven't you, minion." Max harrumphed and crossed his arms.
Scarlett's eye twitched again and she looked like she was close to blowing a gasket, but she took a few deep breaths and calmly said, "Please, go and find Gwen. Then bring her to me, I need her to do a job."
"Fine." Max submitted and waddled out of the room, much to Scarlett's relief.
"I swear, one day..." Scarlett said ominously, purposely not finishing her own sentence.
"What exactly is Gwen going to be useful for?" Ellody asked.
"Oh my dear Ellody, I thought you were a genius. Surely you already figured out my plan?" Scarlett had a mocking amusement to her now.
Ellody took just a moment longer before it dawned on her, "You're going to use her relationships with the people in this Trent's group to-"
"Infiltrate Jo's compound and wipe them out from the inside." Scarlett concluded before giving a wry, malicious smile, "Like I said, a wolf in sheep's clothing."
There you have it, the main plot of the next several chapters is officially up and running. I'm curious what you guys think about the new group (those we've met anyway, I promise the rest of the group will be introduced soon it just didn't seem necessary this chapter). And are you upset by what happened to Chef Hatchet? I have to say that wasn't the original plan for his character, but I felt like it was a good way for him to go and force the others to survive without him. Let me know what you think!
DEAD: Sadie, Owen, Justin, Eva, Ezekiel, Lindsay, Tyler, Beth, Chris, Sierra, Blaineley, B, DJ, Cameron, Sam, Staci, Geoff, Anne Maria, Katie, Chef Hatchet
Group 1: Heather, Duncan, Bridgette, Courtney, Noah, Alejandro, Lightning, Zoey, Scott, Jo, Mike/Mal, Dakota, Brick, Dawn
Group 2: Gwen, LeShawna (presumably), Izzy (presumably), Trent (prisoner), Harold (presumably), Cody, Sky, Max, Scarlett, Rodney, Leonard, Ellody, Tammy, others not introduced yet