Hello readers. New day, new chapter.
.
.
.
.
.
The next morning, Tristan got up early, smiling at the intertwined bodies of Alec and Connor. They are so cute together. He thought. He walked out into the halls. It was 5:00, the halls were completely empty. As he walked to get his breakfast he admired the art on the wall. He had personally always been more fond of realistic drawings and paintings rather than abstract art. The portraits were impeccable, the artist had even included the shine of sweat across the foreheads.
It was peaceful here. No zombies to worry about, no gunfire, no danger, no feeling that you're in constant danger.
It was so boring.
Tristan sighed as he reached the kitchen and took some frozen waffles and started toasting them. He had been turning Sakura's words to him over and over in his head. She had made several good points. This place did seem to be perfect. Alice and David would be happy here, and he had no doubt in his mind that they would drop everything to go with him. It really wasn't fair to them. And whether or not he wanted to admit it, these people were his family. It would be cruel to leave them.
But he had made a vow. A vow to bring the monsters of the world to justice. A vow to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. And besides, he hated towns. He couldn't stand being cooped up in the same place for years on end, it stressed him out.
It was overwhelming, he couldn't decide what to do. He jumped when the waffles popped out, taking them and pouring syrup over them and taking a fork. He moved to the dining hall, and to his surprise Butch was in there, eating a burger.
He moved to where he was sitting and sat across from him. "Made a burger, huh?" he asked as he started to cut his waffles.
Butch nodded as he swallowed. "Yeah. I started craving one after you mentioned them yesterday, so i made one for breakfast. Cheese, lettuce, and ketchup. The best combination in my opinion."
Tristan swallowed a bite of his waffles. "Sounds good. Personally, I like onions, pickles, and mustard on my burgers, with swiss cheese."
Butch finished his burger and stood up. "Nice chatting with ya. Gotta get back to the kitchen, the feast is tomorrow night." He said, turning to leave. Before he left though, he turned back to Tristan. "I hear you're going after Chen. Give that prick hell."
Tristan gave him a thumbs up as he left. He ate in silence, until he heard John sit down next to him, a plate full of sausages and toast with him. They nodded to each other, before continuing with their respective breakfasts. Tristan grinned, and stole a sausage off of John's plate. John glared at him, and without breaking eye contact reached over with his fork and took some of his waffles, drawing a laugh from Tristan, John's scowl being replaced with a small smile. "So, Sakura tells me you're planning on leaving."
Tristan's face fell. "I don't know. I really don't want to leave you guys, and Alice and David would be happy here. But I just can't stay."
John nodded. "I understand. Honestly, I want to leave too." Tristan's eyebrows raised at this. "I don't trust these guys. It's all…"
"Too perfect." Tristan finished for him. "I thought so too. Still do on a level. But, I just don't see anything wrong here. All I know for certain is that Chen is bad news, and he has to be put down."
John popped a piece of sausage in his mouth. "So what's the story with this guy? You said he defected to Russia?"
"December 2014. My squad was assigned to a top secret mission in Russia, another SEAL team accompanied us. Chen was part of that team. We never saw it coming. He went to do some reconnaissance, and when he returned he had a whole platoon with him. His entire squad was killed, my squad barely escaped with their lives. I was captured, and they risked the whole mission to save me. We managed to escape, and I thought Chen blew up along with the base, but apparently not." Tristan said, his face growing dark. "That son of a bitch betrayed us, betrayed America. Joined up with a terrorist organization plotting to overthrow Putin."
John was silent for a minute. "Then he needs to be brought to justice." He said.
"Absolutely. And I plan on being the one who delivers." Tristan agreed. They were silent for another minute. "So, if I decided to leave, you'd go with me?"
"Of course." John replied as he finished his meal. "Besides, I don't like being in towns, being cooped up isn't my thing."
Tristan grinned. "Exactly. I can't stand it, I need to move."
John smiled. "Whatever choice you make, you won't be alone, Tristan."
Tristan started to thank him when Ella sat down next to them. She looked slightly angry. "You two are seriously talking about leaving?"
John sighed. "Yeah, we are." He answered.
"With all the shit we've gone through, you're just going to abandon a blessing like this town? This is an answered prayer. If we take care of those bandits, we can be safe and happy here. We can…"
"We're just talking, Ella. We haven't decided if I'm staying or not. But keep in mind that everyone has their own paths to follow." John said, cutting her off.
She glared at him, and moved further down the table to join Rachel and Amber who had just walked in. Tristan glanced at John. "You two seem to be at each other's throats a lot." he observed.
"She's the one who tries to clash with everything I say or do." John grumbled, nibbling on his toast.
Tristan smirked. "You two certainly seemed to get along the other night. You slept together." He pointed out.
John glared at him. "There's a difference between that and passing out from alcohol."
Tristan raised his hands in mock surrender. "Just saying. You two can get along if you try, that's all I'm saying."
John was prevented from retorting by Jarod approaching them. "Change of plans. We need to leave as soon as possible. Get your friends that are coming and gear up."
Tristan rose. "Why the sudden urgency?"
Jarod had a grim look on his face. "Chen left us a message. Or more specifically, he left you a message."
.
.
.
.
.
Jarod had moved everyone away from the gate. Tristan stared in anger at the woman, beaten and bloodied, strung up on the gate with a message scrawled in blood across her chest. We meet again, West.
John had a steely look in his eye. "That monster." He growled.
Tristan remained stony. "He'll get what's coming to him." He turned to Jarod. "Let's move."
.
.
.
.
.
They split off into two groups. John, Jaina, and James led a group of guards to the ambush point, while Tristan, Sakura, and Diego took on the cave. Jarod joined Jaina's team.
They parted ways about a mile away from the camp, and Tristan and Sakura followed Diego to the cave. They stopped in front of it. It was certainly foreboding, it was literally impossible to see inside. A black void surrounded by moss and vines, and the squeaking sound of bats.
Sakura shuddered as Tristan moved confidently onward. "God, I hate bats." She muttered as she followed, Tristan switching on the flashlight.
He looked at her as she switched on her own. "You don't like bats?"
"It's the smell that I hate. Bat guano smells disgusting." She grumbled.
"Well, yeah, it's bat shit. But bats are awesome. They're such an amazing species. The only mammal capable of flight, one of the few creatures in the world capable of echolocation, plus they look badass and cute at the same time." he said as he aimed the light in front of Diego so the dog could see where he was going as he sniffed the correct path.
Sakura stared at him, but he failed to notice due to the blackness. "Cute?" She asked incredulously.
"Yes, cute. Like little rats with wings. I used to have a litter of rats for pets, they're so cute and fun to play with." He said, smiling. "Funny story, it started out as one rat for a Christmas present. Turns out, Santa wasn't very good about keeping the boy rats separated from the girl rats."
Sakura laughed. "Oh my God, seriously?"
He nodded. "Yep. My mom saw blood in her cage, and lots of squeaking, and we were hit with the surprise that she had given birth to a litter of eleven little baby rats. They were so fucking cute, their eyes actually don't open until they're like a month old, so they wandered around the cage blindly, it was adorable."
"I'll take your word for it." She said as the squeaks started to reach their ears, and the stench their noses. Sakura felt a drop of water hit her head, then another, and another. That's not going to get irritating.
.
.
.
.
.
Jaina led the group silently through the woods. A guard almost opened fire on a bush when a squirrel jumped out.
After ten minutes, they heard a squeal and a metallic snap. Jaina looked around, and paled at the sight of a rabbit decapitated by a bear trap. She looked closer. They were surrounded by bear traps. "Nobody move!" She hissed.
Too late. A guard had seen a trap by his feet and stepped back, and tripped over a branch. He didn't have time to scream as a series of snaps and the crunch of bone filled their ears. Jarod was scowling. "They will pay for this." He snarled.
John was poking around with a stick, trying to clear a path. Jaina grabbed a stick as well, and the guards, Grant, and Jarod followed.
James looked around for a stick to help, and spotted a particularly long one. He reached out for it, and without thinking stepped towards it.
John whirled around at James's hissing of pain. James was kneeling on the ground, blood flowing from his leg as he tried with great effort not to scream in agony as he frantically tried prying the trap from his leg.
Jaina made her way over to him, and searched for a release. She accidentally pressed into his wound and he let out a sharp yelp, then covered his mouth. "Get this fucking thing off me!" He whisper yelled.
John knelt down to help Jaina as the rest stood as still as possible, fearing the same fate as their fallen brother.
James gritted his teeth together as John and Jaina slowly pulled the trap apart. They got it open just enough to give James room to pull out, and he frantically crawled away from the bloodied trap, John and Jaina letting it snap back into place after he had gotten out.
John cringed at James's leg. The flesh was torn to the bone, and his pants were wet with blood. He was panting, sweat mixing with the blood. He glanced at their worried expressions and the wordless thought across their faces. "I can still fight." He insisted.
Jaina sighed. "James…"
"I can. Watch." he cut her off. He slowly struggled to his feet, gritting his teeth and hissing as he put weight on his foot.
"James. Don't be stupid. You need to get back to the manor, it's going to get infected." John said.
"I came here to fight, that's what I'm going to do." James insisted, starting to walk, or rather, limp. "We need to keep moving."
'
Jaina grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. He was about to angrily retaliate when she shushed him. "Then at least let us help you walk."
.
.
.
.
.
Sakura's eye twitched as yet another drop of water plinked against her head. She sighed as she followed Tristan's beam of light. It was entirely too dark in here. And the constant fluttering of bat wings didn't help her nerves. She felt something slide over her head, and she reached up to feel the rough material of a hat. A fedora.
"I find it keeps rainwater out of my face. Like a smaller and easier to travel with umbrella. I think it'll do the same with cave water." Tristan's voice said.
Sakura smiled to herself as the drops of water no longer bothered her. Diego suddenly barked, the sound echoing across the cave and riling up the bats. "He's found the exit. Let's double time it." Tristan said, in a stoic tone of voice that she recognized as his serious voice. She started to run along with them, and soon enough the cave started getting brighter, and then the glow of sunlight hit her eyes.
She squinted as they ran outside, her eyes adjusting to light. She looked over at Tristan and her breath caught. Latched onto his back was a fruit bat, it's claws digging into the leather of his jacket. "Uhh, Tristan…"
He angled his head, and grinned. "Hey there, cutie." He said, Sakura rolling his eyes as he slowly reached around to ease the bat of his back. It moved, startling Sakura as it crawled along his arm, much to his glee. "Aww, lookit how cute it is!" he said, reaching out to scratch its head like a dog. It fluttered its wings, and Tristan aimed his arm to the cave. "Off you go, fuzzball." he said. The bat screeched, and flew back into the cave. Tristan turned grinning to Sakura, who was very much not grinning. "What are you grumpy about?"
She rolled her eyes again as he led them to the cliff edge after she returned his hat. He set down the case he'd been carrying, and popped it open. Sakura whistled. Inside was a series of weapon parts, which Tristan started assembling to make a sniper rifle. She watched as he carefully assembled the weapon. He explained what each part was. "Adjustable scope. This knob here let's me zoom in and out. Bipod, that's obvious. Straight pull, makes loading the next shot easier, takes about five seconds off. Curved elongated magazine, stores more rounds, and it's curved so it doesn't take up as much space. Heavy silencer. Makes the shots more discreet without a drastic change in bullet velocity. Collapsible and adjustable stock, lets me adjust the stock to comfortably fire from whatever position I'm in. 7.62 x 51 mm rounds. These babies pack a serious punch. This rifle is bolt action to increase accuracy and stealth. This is one hell of a rifle." He said, grinning. "I have a serious gun boner."
Sakura smacked his head, grinning. "Alright, so what's the plan?"
He set up the rifle, and aimed down at the camp. "Contact the others, make sure they're in position. I'm going to scope this place out. That case I had you carrying has a grenade launcher with three grenades. Go down there and make them count, distract them so the others can move in for the ambush." He said, peering through the scope. He tensed. "I saw him. He just went into a tent. Chen." He growled.
Sakura popped open the case and removed the launcher. "How do I shoot this?"
Tristan got up from his rifle and crawled over to her. "It fires once then you have to reload. It's easy. Twist this, pop it open, and slide in the next grenade. Close the tube, you're ready to fire. Hold here to steady it, here's the trigger. Go nuts." He explained, crawling back to the rifle.
Sakura took her walkie to her mouth as she made her way down to the camp. "Jaina? John? Are you guys in position?"
.
.
.
.
.
John had to hand it to James, he was being a trooper. He kept his gaze hard and forward as he leaned on John for support.
Jaina held up a hand as they reached the ambush point. Jarod's breath caught. The camp was huge, he counted around twenty five sleeping tents, a dining area, a large tent he assumed was for supplies. There was barbed wire everywhere, along with more bear traps.
Sakura's voice came on over the radio. "Jaina? John? Are you guys in position?"
Jaina responded. "Yes. James is wounded and we lost one of Jarod's men, but we're so far undetected. When do we strike?"
"Give me a minute to distract them so you can sneak in for an ambush. Once you hear explosions and running, head in." Sakura said.
"Noted. Raise hell." jaina said before rehooking the walkie to her belt. She turned to James. "Are you absolutely sure you can fight?"
He nodded as he was handed a shotgun. "I can fight. Trust me, I'll be fine."
Jaina glanced doubtfully at the bloody improvised tourniquet they had made from a police baton and torn cloth. He was determined, but that didn't change the fact that he had the body of a human, not a superhuman. She wasn't confident he could make it through the battle. But they couldn't exactly force him back to the manor.
Her thoughts were cut off by an explosion.
.
.
.
.
.
Sakura made her way down to the camp, Diego following her. She hid behind a bush, spotting a sniper. She raised the walkie to her mouth. "Sniper, in the treeline. Around that big orange tent." she whispered. A few seconds passed by, and suddenly the sniper's head snapped back, and he fell just right so he stayed in the branches, not making any noise. She could see the hole in the center of his forehead. Pin point.
She snuck around to a good position,and set her sights on a large tent. She debated whether or not to blow up the weapons tent. If she did, it would leave them without more weapons to defend themselves. But if not, they could scavenge the tent for ammunition and supplies.
That thought made her mind. She ignored the weapons tent and aimed at the large tent. She took a deep breath, and fired. A shoomp noise, and the grenade flew towards the tent. It went through, and a second later it detonated, sending the occupants of the camp scattering in a panic.
She located her next target, a tower where men and women with sniper rifles were climbing. Before she fired, the first one to the top jerked, falling as Tristan had put down another enemy. She fired, and the tower went up in flames. Last grenade. She had to choose wisely.
Diego growled, and she turned to see him tear out the throat of a man who had discovered her position. She looked back at the camp, and selected her last target. She aimed at the center of the town where around ten people had gathered. They barely had time to scream as she blew up the crowd.
A man spotted her, and raised his rifle. Then his head was blown apart by a shotgun blast. Her friends invaded the camp, shooting and stabbing. The men and women of the group were quick to retaliate, setting up their defenses and fortifying their positions. Sakura took a deep breath as she drew her blade to leap into the fray. Time to kick some ass.
She let out a battle cry as she leapt out of the bushes, slashing the neck of a nearby women decked out in riot gear. She grabbed the riot shield to block a spray of automatic fire and retaliated as the man tried to reload. It briefly occurred to her that none of them were aiming for her head, in fact it seemed like they were just aiming for her limbs. And they were using blunt melee weapons rather than sharp ones. They must be trying to capture us. She thought as she sucked a swing from a metal bat. All around enemies would randomly jerk and drop, prey to Tristan's rifle.
She spotted James and gasped. His leg was soaked with blood, and he was limping, but he was nevertheless fighting like an animal, hacking and slashing and blocking and punching. All the while his face was contorted in pain.
She was snapped back to her own safety when she was grabbed and thrown into a tent, her sword flying from her grip.
She stood up to come face to face with a man in all black leather armor. He was Chinese, with sleek black hair and a goatee. "Aiguo Chen I presume?" She hissed.
The man smirked. "Pleasure to meet you, miss."
She roared and swung a punch at him which he easily dodged. She kept up her attack, but none of her guts landed. He was toying with her.
"Not that this isn't fun, but I need to talk to Tristan." He said as he sidestepped an attack. "I don't wish to fight you."
"That makes one of us." She growled as she drew her pistol.
She raised it, and after a blur of motion Cgen was holding her gun pieces, having disassembled it to her shock. "I won't ask again." He growled as he stalked towards her. "Where. Is. Tr…" He was cut off by a black blade slashing open the side of the tent and a leather clad arm reaching inside and pulling him outside.
Chen looked up to see an enraged Tristan. He grinned as he escaped Tristan's gold on him. "Tristan. Great to see you again."
Tristan growled in response, brandishing his blade. "I don't know how you survived that explosion, but I doubt you'll survive d capitation."
Chen narrowed his eyes. "I don't want to fight. You're on the wrong…"
Tristan didn't give him a chance to continue, roaring and bringing his blade down. Chen ducked, stepping away and drawing a short sword. "I don't want to fight you." he growled, "but I will defend myself."
Tristan grinned coldly. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't." He replied, lunging forward. Chen deflected his attack, stepping back and slashing at Tristan's legs. The blade scraped across the leather, but Tristan emerged unscathed. He hacked at Chen, who ducked and punched Tristan's gut, receiving an uppercut from Tristan at the same moment. They both buckled for a moment, then launched back into battle. Chen chopped at him, Tristan blocked and kicked out, Chen stepped away and threw a punch, Tristan ducked and went to elbow him, Chen slapped the attack away and went to jab Tristan in the side, and so on in a seemingly endless flurry of martial arts embedded into the soldier's minds, both men's Navy SEAL training paying off in defense and attack. Tristan managed to knock away Chen's sword, but a second later Chen swiped at his hand, causing Tristan to drop his own sword to be kicked away.
Tristan scowled, going to get Chen in a pin, tackling him to the ground. Chen squirmed to get out of it, managing to elbow Tristan's eye and wriggle away. He got behind Tristan and put him in a chokehold. "Listen to me! I'm trying to… AARRGH!" He screamed. Tristan had grabbed his knife, flipped it in his hand, and jammed it into Chen's side. Chen briefly loosened his grip, and Tristan twisted and grabbed his chestplate, throwing him against the wall. Chen clutched his side, and glared at Tristan. Then his eyes lit up, and he threw his hands out. "I surrender!" he shouted.
Tristan hesitated, but started stalking towards him. "You're dying either way, so go down fighting, Chen."
Chen sighed. "Listen, you idiot! I'm trying to show you the truth!"
This stopped him. Tristan picked up his katana, and pressed the tip against Chen's throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't impale you right now." He commanded.
Chen kept his glare. "How about the fact that I specifically told my men to look for your people and not kill them? The fact that I told them only to kill Jarod's men? The fact that I haven't been going for killing blows? My men are all ex cops and soldiers, former marines. If I wanted your people dead they would be by now." He said.
Tristan considered his words. He was right, maybe underestimating the abilities of Tristan's friends, but it was true they hadn't been trying to kill them. "I'll s=listen, but only if you answer a question."
Chen grinned and nodded. "Of course."
"Why did you defect? Why did you betray us? Why did you betray your squad?" He demanded.
Chen sighed. "Because I was fighting for what I believed in." he said finally. He held up a hand to silence Tristan's incoming protest. "Not terrorism. Tristan, you and I both know Putin was running a low key dictatorship. He rigged votes to keep himself in power, he was on the verge of attacking America. He hated us. I betrayed America both to protect it, and to spread its ideals. Those people you called terrorists? They wanted to overthrow the current government and instill proper democracy. And I wanted to help them. To make a difference."
"There are better ways to make a difference than killing innocents." Tristan growled.
"I hated that. I never said they were perfect, I despised them in my own way. But, in a fucked up way, their hearts were in the right place. I wanted to help shape a country into a proper place." Chen defended. "You can understand fighting for what you believe in, don't you?"
Tristan's hand was shaking. "Then why did you kill your squad? Why did you try to kill mine?!"
"I'm not a saint, Tristan. I know and accept that. I believed the ends justified the means, and I knew you and the others wouldn't stop until you had stopped me. I judged it a necessary sacrifice. But I have morals. They don't." He said, gesturing to the battlefield where Jarod's men were fighting Chen's.
Tristan had slightly retracted the blade from Chen's throat. "What are you talking about?"
"Tristan, you're on the wrong side of the fight. We were enemies before, but we should be allies now. I know you're a good man, which is how I know you're still under Jarod's charm. Don't be fooled." he warned.
Tristan's hand lowered completely. After a moment's hesitation, he held out a hand to Chen's surprise, smiling slightly when Chen took it as he helped him to his feet. "What is he doing?" he asked.
Chen breathed a sigh of relief. "It's bad, Tristan. They're…" he was once again cut off by yelling.
A man crashed into the room, red faced. "There he is!" he roared, raising his gun and firing before Tristan or Chen could react.
Tristan shouted out, "No!" as Chen fell dead, a hole in the side of his head. He gaped at the corpse, and turned in outrage to the guard to see Jarod already yelling at him.
"I told you to bring him in alive!" Jarod shouted at the stoic guard, yanking his gun away. "Tristan had him captured! He could be tried!"
"With all due respect, sir, that bastard and his men killed almost two hundred of our people. He got his justice." The guard said quietly.
Jarod sighed, rubbing his forehead. "That's not the point. The point is that he had to have a fair trial and…"
Tristan interrupted. "I'm sorry, trial?"
Jarod glanced at him. "I told you we try to keep the values of the old world at heart here. We have five former lawyers and and a former judge, and we've set aside a room to use as a court of sorts to settle disputes and pass on punishments. True, he was a monster, but even monsters got fair trials in the old world, did they not?"
Tristan glanced at Chen's corpse as Jarod continued to berate his man. He wasn't sure if he completely believed Chen, but he had had the feeling that something was off since they had arrived. Aiguo had just renewed his doubts.
He was brought back from his thoughts by Sakura waving a hand in front of his face. He turned to look at her, she was grinning. "We did it! No casualties from our own men, a few of Jarod's died though. You were doing a hell of a job snip… what's wrong?"
Her face had transformed into one of worry. Tristan glanced at Jarod. "I'll tell you later." he whispered, ignoring her confused expression and heading for the group.
.
.
.
.
.
The others were waiting for them outside the gate along with the friends and family of Jarod's men. Ella was the first to spot the convoy, tristan's familiar RV leading the way. She and the others grinned, but those smiles dropped at the sight of John with a bleeding soldier helping Tristan carry a pale and heavily breathing James, whose leg had definitely gotten much worse.
The people of the manor were busy looking out among the brave men and women who had gone to fight Chen to see who was alive and dead as the group rushed to help James. Jarod had called ahead and ordered a stretcher to be ready, and they helped raise James onto this.
As he was rushed to the medical area, Ella turned to look at John's wound, worry across her face. "What happened?!" She asked, trying to look for any signs of infection or major damage.
He sighed as she fussed over his wound. "Got shot. Bullet went straight through, hurts like a bitch but no major damage. I'm getting it bandaged, I'm fine." He said, moving to follow the people carting James off to medical, leaving Ella once again irritated with John's dismissals.
Tristan looked after James, deciding he would be okay for now and gesturing for Sakura and John to follow him. John looked after James while they started for their room, then sighed. He couldn't do anything to help now, might as well see what Tristan had to say.
.
.
.
.
.
Tristan locked the door, then quickly gazed around he room for anything that could be used to record sound or video. Seeing nothing, he sighed and turned to a confused John and Sakura. "I think something's wrong here." He said.
Sakura sighed, but John nodded. Sakura spoke before him, though. "Tristan, lease tell me you're not just trying to find an excuse to leave. What could possibly be wrong with this place? And why are you suddenly so convinced?"
Tristan hesitated. His answer wasn't exactly helpful to his case. "Chen told me."
John narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you actually talked to him?"
Tristan nodded. "Hear me out, both of you. Neither he nor his men tried killing us, only targeting Jarod's people. That's because he told them not to kill us. Because he wanted us to see what he believed to be true. He said that we were on the wrong side of the fight, that Jarod and the others were the bad guys."
"And you believed him?" Sakura asked doubtfully.
"Yes. No. Kind of, I don't know." He admitted. "But it definitely made some of my initial doubts resurface."
"I thought you said this guy was bad news? A traitor, evil. What's stopping him from lying?" John asked.
"It's complicated." Tristan answered. "Long story short, he isn't… wasn't… exactly good, probably, but I may have been wrong about him being bad. But that's beside the point."
"Tristan, these people have been nothing but kind, welcoming, trusting, and generous to us. I don't think they'd be like this if they were bad, or at least be more secretive." Sakura argued. "I think Chen was lying to you."
"I don't think he was." Tristan said. "Sakura, I'm telling you, something's off here."
John broke his silence. "I don't think we should be overly trusting of them yet, Sakura. But I also think we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on the words of Chen."
Tritaan sighed. "Yeah, maybe. You're right. I just can't shake the feeling."
Sakura glanced out Tristan and John's window at the backyard. "Well, I got pretty bloody. I'm going to go take advantage of that warm water again." She announced, turning to head for the bathhouse.
John looked at Tristan. "I'm going to stitch up my wound in here, so if you want to leave, go ahead." He said, pulling out a needle and medical thread from his bag.
Tristan grabbed the needle from him. "It will be cleaner if you have someone do it for you. I'll send in Ella, I have something I need to do." He said, ignoring John's glare as he walked out of the room.
.
.
.
.
.
Tristan passed Ella on his way to his destination, handing her the needle and telling her about John. She headed for his room without a second thought. Tristan smiled as she walked away. Alec and Connor finally got together, wonder how long it'll be before those two wake up. He thought to himself as he walked.
He walked back outside to the front yard, where as he knew Jarod was addressing the crowd, mourning those lost and celebrating their victory. He patiently waited as he finished, Alice walking up and standing with him. "Did you kill the bad guys?" She whispered.
Tristan stared at Jarod. "I'm not sure yet." He said. Jarod finally stepped away from the crowd, walking up and smiling at Tristan. "I can't thank you enough. We never would have gotten rid of that pest if it hadn't been for you."
Tristan felt a massive pang of guilt hit him in the chest at the words, but kept a straight face. "I had a couple questions for you." he said.
Jarod nodded, walking towards the front doors. "I have some business I need to get to, but walk with me and we can talk." He looked down at Alice and gave her a little wave, drawing a giggle and a returned wave. As they walked, he looked at Tristan. "So, what did you want to know?" He asked.
Tristan chose his words carefully. "I wanted to know… how Chen came across your place? Why was he terrorizing you? I knew him in the military, he didn't strike me as the 'terrorize innocent towns and try to take their supplies' type of guy."
"You seemed to be surprised by his defection to Russia, so how well did you know him really? Besides, this world changes a lot of people. Only the lucky keep hold to their past selves." He said sagely. "But to answer your question, he came across the town one day with a group of other soldiers. They made their way into our ranks, but once they were given the trust to the forbidden area, they turned and betrayed us."
He wasn't lying, Tristan knew that was obvious. But he got the feeling he wasn't being given the whole truth. So, if Chen had been telling the truth, then he had come here, felt it was like a safe haven, gained Jarod's trust, then saw or heard something that made him switch sides. Again. He had to pry more. "What made him do that?"
Jarod shrugged. "Who knows really? I suspect he was just trying to get close to our supplies, maybe stay in a warm and welcoming place for awhile before he showed his true colors."
There it was. A pang of doubt. It seemed, sounded, and felt like the truth. But that sentence caused just a flicker of doubt in Tristan. This man could be an even better liar than even Wade or McKenna had been. And Tristan had learned long ago not to ignore feelings he got in his gut.
Jarod had led them to a hallway marked with the forbidden red sign. He turned to Tristan. "Sorry, but I have to go now. Chen's supplies are being moved to our own depots, I need to help do inventory and decide where everything should be moved. I'll see you soon, hopefully at Butch's feast tomorrow night! Until then, have a good day." He turned and went down the hallway, Tristan gazing after him until Alice pulled at his sleeve, wanting to show him something she or David had found in the yard, he didn't fully listen. He was too busy trying to piece this puzzle together.
.
.
.
.
.
Alice and David had found a birds nest in a low hanging tree. Tristan identified the egg shells as robin eggs. No birds were around, they were probably gathering food, or had already flown south. Tristan found it oddly funny that even though the apocalypse had thrown human life into disarray and anarchy, the animal kingdom's habits really hadn't changed much. All they really knew was that there were slow, fairly stupid new predators that most animals could easily avoid. He grinned at the image of a family of deer eating grass in a meadow as a horde shambled past, a sight that would horrify nearly any human but to an animal as long as they weren't being chased couldn't care less.
He was drawn back to reality by Alice and David welcoming Alec. He turned, and saw Alec extremely nervous and red faced. "Hey, uh… Tristan? Can I talk to you? In p-private?" He stammered.
Tristan raised his eyebrow but nodded, telling Alice and David to go hang out with Liz who was sitting on a bench reading. He followed Alec to a bench a bit further away from the others and turned expectantly to him. Alec took a deep breath, and launched right into it. "I need your help."
Tristan saw instantly where this was heading. "With Connor?"
Alec nodded. "Listen, I've… never exactly… been…"
"I a relationship, sexual or otherwise." Tristan finsihed.
Alec nodded. "And… I figured that… since you were in a… ahem… same sex relationship before you could… help me." He finished lamely.
Tristan fought the laugh coming up. "Alright, what do you need?"
"Well… I don't want to screw up. So I was wondering if there's anything I should know, or any… tips."
Tristan sighed. "Alright, look. If you want tips for sex I can help. But if you want coaching through your relationship I can't and won't help you. Besides, same sex relationships really aren't all that different from opposite sex relationships. Only differences are you both have the same fun time parts and that you're both leaning towards one side of the feminine/masculine scale. Besides, you need to go through relationships on your own with your partner, otherwise it's not as genuine. You need to find what works, what you and your other are comfortable with. You need to discover what the relationship is going to consist of on your own. It just makes it all the better."
Alec was shocked at his bluntness, but nodded. "Oh. Um… thanks." He said awkwardly. "Look, just keep this between us okay? I think this was kind of pathetic of me."
"Not at all. Just go with the flow, Alec. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bird's nest to obsess over with the kids." he said, looking over at Liz picking out the shells with the excited kids. He smiled at Alec. "By the way, you two make a cute couple. If you were a couple in a story or something I think you'd be a ship. Calec or something like that." He said, going off in his head.
Alec looked at him like he was crazy, then began to laugh. "You're insane." He said, getting up to leave.
"Everybody says that like it's news to them." He thought aloud to himself.
Alec turned back to him. "So what would John and Ella be?"
Tristan grinned. "Jella." He and Alec both burst into laughter as they headed their separate ways.
.
.
.
.
.
That night Tristan went with John to visit James. He was allowed two visits a day, so they took the time to go wish him goodnight and make sure he was okay.
When they arrived, the nurse manning the desk took out a key to unlock a gate separating the waiting area from the patient beds. She directed them to James's bed. He looked better, but that wasn't saying much. He had an IV in his arm, and they were giving him blood. He was pale, and his leg was wrapped up tight. He grinned weakly at them. "Hey guys."
Tristan cringed at the green tint on his bandage around his wound. "You look like shit, dude."
"Yeah, I know. But it's mostly the blood loss. The leg wasn't infected, so I should be better by tomorrow morning." James said, his grin dropping.
"It not getting infected is a goddamn miracle." John said. "Seriously James, going into battle like that was stupid. Glad you're okay though." he added.
"At least we won, right?" James responded, getting a clap on the shoulder and a "That's the spirit!" from Tristan, who in turn received a glare from John. "So, aside from coming to tell me I look like shit and that I did something stupid, what did you want?"
"Mainly to make sure you were okay and wish you goodnight." Tristan answered. "So, how are you?"
"Well obviously I don't look it, but not as bad as I thought I would. They put me on some painkillers once they stitched up my wound, and I don't feel like passing out anymore." He responded. His eyes were droopy. "Well, I am tired as hell, but… you know what I meant…"
Tristan smiled. "Goodnight buddy. See you tomorrow morning."
"Bring me some cereal, the food they give us here tastes like crap." James said, yawning as they left, and heading off to sleep.
.
.
.
.
.
Sakura was brushing her teeth with Amber, Alice passed out in bed and Ella visiting them in their room and staring up at the ceiling. "So, Sakura." She called. "Has Tristan talked to you about his and John's plans?"
Sakura spit out hw water in her mouth. "About leaving? Yeah. I made him promise to consider staying. John wants to leave too?"
Ella sighed, sitting up. "Yeah. I can't believe them. We find this amazing place, and they want to leave. Can you believe it?"
Sakura stared at herself in the mirror, their earlier conversation coming back to her. "They think there's something dark going on here. Apparently, Aiguo reinforced his fears before he was killed." She said. "I don't feel anything off."
Ella huffed. "Neither do I. Honestly, I'm loving this place. It feels homey."
Sakura smiled and nodded. "Yeah." She dropped the smile as Ella looked away. She had to admit, it was suspicious that the man had shot Chen before he could finish speaking.
.
.
.
.
.
Ryan was in the mustang, looking at the engine. He removed a piece, replacing it with another. He heard a cough behind him, and turned to see Jaina smiling. He returned the smile. "Hey, what's up?"
She walked over, her smile fading. I've been wanting to to talk for a while, but things have been hectic. I wanted…" She sighed. This was awkward. "I wanted to talk about what happened with Rachel and the beer." She saw him tense up. "Hang on, let me talk. Look, Tristan said he asked, you didn't want to talk about it, and to let it slide. But I'm worried about both of you. We're friends, right? I can tell it's bugging you. You can talk to me, Ry." She said.
Ryan's shoulders sagged. "I… really appreciate the concern. But I can't."
She walked closer to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Ry, I'm listening. Please talk to me."
He looked at her eyes. He was conflicted. He had never, never in his life shared his past with anyone. He wanted to leave it as far behind as possible. So why was he talking now? "Our father was an alcoholic. An abusive alcoholic." He said. He noticed he was shaking. "He… was really abusive. To the point where he should have been locked up for decades. We both have scars."
Jaina had led him to the ground so he could sit while he talked. He was barely aware of her presence as he delved back into his past. "Especially Rachel, he hated her the most. Because of Mom. We never knew her, she died in childbirth. He blamed her."
Jaina was speechless. She worked to gather the words for a sentence. "God… Ryan, that's just… I'm so sorry."
He hung his head. "She has severe post traumatic stress disorder, he really fucked her up. That beer Tristan found was his favorite brand."
Jaina rubbed his shoulder. She couldn't believe he was opening up like this. But she was still confused about something. "So… why did she try to shoot you?"
Ryan took a shuddering breath. "I… take after my father. I look just like him, minus some gray hair and a really ugly sense of fashion." He said. He stood up abruptly. "I'm tired, i'm going to bed." He turned to Jaina. "Thanks, for listening." He said, heading for the room. She watched him go sadly, finally heading back to her own room after awhile.
.
.
.
.
.
Tristan had woken up early again, and was headed for medical to check up on James and give him his cereal for breakfast. The man behind the desk took out the key and unlocked the gate. Tristan walked up to James's bed. He was laying down, his leg in a cast and looking a hell of a lot better than he had last night. He smiled at Tristan as he walked up. "Hey." He greeted.
Tristan returned the smile, handing him the bowl of flakes. "Hey. You're looking good." He observed as James dug into the cereal.
James nodded and swallowed. He looked past Tristan, and put on a smile as the nurse walked up to replace his IV bag. "Morning Grace." He said. "Grace, Tristan. Tristan, Grace."
Tristan extended his hand, and she smiled and shook it. "I heard you led the attack against Chen. Thanks for finally getting rid of that scum." There it was again. The blow to his chest he knew to be guilt. He smiled and nodded though, dropping the face as soon as she turned away. To his surprise James had dropped his smile as well, and kept his eyes on the nurse until she had left the room. He turned to Tristan. "There's something going on here." He whispered.
He was hoping his suspicions were misplaced. Apparently not. "I got the feeling." Tristan admitted. "Chen said they're up to something dark."
James shrugged. "I don't know, but last night I woke up from the sedatives they gave me. I heard some rustling, and two of the nurses were carrying something out the door. Remember that man from last night with the huge gash in his chest? This morning, I ask where he is. Apparently he got better and was released. That's what they said anyway. But then his sister comes in, just ten minutes ago, and they tell her he got worse and he's been moved to isolation. Tristan, he's gone. And I don't think he's been isolated or released."
Tristan thought. "I'll see what I can find…"
James suddenly started grinning and chuckling. Tristan felt the eyes of the nurse on him, and grinned too. I'll talk to the others, I need to go soon. Stay safe. He mouthed.
James nodded slightly, but his eyes had a pleading look in them. Tristan felt the nurse approach. "Sir? I'm afraid visiting time is up. You need to leave." She said. Firmly.
Tristan rose and smiled pleasantly, walking for the door. He glanced at James one last time before leaving, giving a little wave before he closed the door.
.
.
.
.
.
Tristan walked into the garden, searching for the others. Sakura and Rachel were sitting on a bench, watching a squirrel foraging for nuts across the yard. He strode over to them, and they took notice of his urgent demeanor. "Tristan, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.
He made it over. "Sakura, I'm positive now. James reported suspicious behavior last night. There's something going on, Chen was right."
Rachel groaned. "Oh for fucks sake, Tristan! Let it go! These people have been nothing but kind to us!"
He glared at her. "Don't believe me? Come with me to visit James this afternoon. Talk to him."
Sakura stared at Tristan. He was absolutely sure he was right. She turned to Rachel. "We haven't visited James yet anyway."
Rachel rolled her eys. "Fine. I'll talk some sense into both of you." She said. "When can we visit him?"
"The nurse wants at least ten hours between every visit, I saw him at six. So we can see him at four." Tristan answered. "Besides, I want to make sure he stays okay, I'm getting worried about him being alone there."
Rachel nodded. "Fine. Four."
.
.
.
.
.
James's eyes fluttered open. These sedatives sucked. He noticed it was dark in the room, and he suddenly snapped fully awake. His eyes wandered, and he spotted three men heading for his bed along with three nurses.
His bed.
Oh crap.
As they drew nearer, he snapped into action, grabbing a knife from the first guard's bet, slashing his throat and causing him to fall to the floor, bleeding.
Another guard reached for his taser, and James sat up and grabbed him by the gead and smashed it against the wall. He tore at the IV, ripping it out, bending ti in the process.
He grappled with a third guard, determination in his eyes until he felt a needle slide into his neck. He clawed at the nurse behind him, feeling himself slipping… slipping…
Blackness… no thought…
.
.
.
.
.
Tristan led them through the doors of the infirmary. He immediately took notice of the heavy green drape around James's bed while Rachel went to the front desk. "Hey, we're here to see James and bring him some lunch. Can you let us pass?" She asked.
The old fat woman behind the desk lowered her glasses to stare at Rachel. Her next words snapped Tristan and Sakura's attention to her. "I'm sorry, I thought you had been informed. James's condition has gotten worse, and he's been moved to isolation. I can't let you see him."
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNNNN! Review! Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and what you think will happen next!