2

Elegant like cat and quiet as a lion Pride moved through the city on his way to the airstrip. He walked in the shadows, staying out of sight, afraid of being spotted by these new incomers.

When he reached the airstrip he jumped down behind some bushes to hide from all eyes. He peeped out through the green leaves and watched these masked men that had spread fear and wonder throughout the city. They wore black suits and big combat boots; not all of them had masks on though. Pride studied this one unmasked man that had bright blond hair. He walked straight-backed and firmly over the grassy area towards something that Pride could only describe as an old military truck. As soon as the man had gotten into the truck, it started driving and disappeared behind a hill. Pride got up and darted off in the opposite direction towards his temporary home; the Mall.

He walked in through the entrance and found that it was not as quiet as it had been earlier this morning. As he came into the huge hall he looked at all the people that had gathered just beneath the stairs, talking loudly. Some of them was shouting. When he looked up at the stairs he saw a very annoyed-looking Ebony stand with her arms crossed. She seemed to have no control over the situation and Pride knew that it frustrated her. Ebony always liked to be in control.

He pushed through the crowd, climbing the stairs two steps at a time and walked over to Ebony.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"What is happening is that the tribe leaders are a bunch of morons!" Ebony shouted the last word out loud down at the crowd below. Pride blinked his eyes at this exclaimation and then looked out over the people underneath him. No one seemed to take notice of Ebony's insult. They were all too busy yelling and arguing.

"I was just at the airstrip and I saw them get on a truck and head for the north city," Pride said, turning back to Ebony.

"The north city?" Ebony said with a frown, "What do they want there? There's nothing there."

"I don't know," Pride said, frowning as well. He stood for a while, pondering. Then he suddenly remembered, "There's only that one deserted building that the adults used as the thermal power station," he said, and his frown got deeper, "but since there's no electricity, I guess it's no use to them."

One of Ebony's guys came over to them and handed Ebony a megaphone. She took it angrily and put it to her mouth.

"LISTEN TO ME, ALL OF YOU!" her voice thundered, bouncing off the walls. Everyone immediately stopped shouting and looked up at Ebony who threw the megaphone down next to her on the floor.

"This might be a critical moment, but freaking out does not help!" she shouted with authority in her voice, "Now if you would just listen to me for a second, maybe we can figure out a way to get rid of these people!"

"Who are they!?" the leader of the Jackals yelled back at her. Ebony thought for a few seconds before answering. Obviously, she didn't know the answer to this question, but she couldn't lose face now.

"I don't who these people are, but I do know one thing; there have been rumours that they are the adults. Mark my words – this is not true. The adults are dead. We buried them ourselves."

"Then how are they flying that plane?" someone shouted.

"I don't know that either," Ebony said. Pride could hear her faltering slightly, like she was about to give up, but knew that she never in a million years would. "But I know that if we cooperate-"

"You mean surrender!" Moss, Queen of The Mozzies, interupted in a shriek. A heated mumbling broke out amongst the crowd.

"Of course not," Ebony hissed impatiently. Pride could see her nostrals flare with anger. He didn't blame her. These people were a tough crowd.

"We only need them to think that we've given up," she continued in a more calm voice, "It'll give us the chance to slowly and safely find out who they are and what their weaknesses are. You can't do that if you're taken away because you were fighting them. So just do as they say and don't get in their way, until we've found out who they are and what they want."

"So we should just let them take over our lives?" the Jackals's leader roared. His eyes bulged out in disbelief. Ebony eyed the megaphone like she wanted to pick up and throw it at him. But apparently she resisted the temptation and said instead, "It will only be a pretense. Only if we pretend to cooperate with them then maybe we have a chance to defeat them."

"And how are we gonna do that?" a voice said from the Mall entrance. Everyone turned around and looked at the person. It was a man. Dark hair, red jacket.

Ebony screwed her eyes up suspiciously, "And you are?"

"The name's Slade," the guy said, flashing them a wry smile.

"Don't you know, Slade, that this is a meeting for the tribe leaders only?" Ebony said, coldly.

"Yeah I figured that much."

"Then why don't you just leave, so we can get on with this meeting?" She waved her hand dismissively at him, like he was some oversized annoying bug or something.

"Sorry, I didn't know that tribe leaders should have a special invitation; looks like mine got lost in the mail. I'll just be on my way then," Slade said and turned around to leave.

"Hold it!" Ebony called out in an annoyed voice. Slade stopped with a mischievous smile and turned to face her again.

"Are you saying that you are a tribe leader?" she asked, sending Slade a look of disgust. Slade glanched at Ebony. She looked like she was getting tired of his little game and Pride knew that she hated being toyed with.

"Yup," Slade said cockily. He leaned back against the wall, one booted foot up and put his thumps in the front pockets of his jeans.

"Of which tribe?" Ebony demanded.

"Actually, it would be wrong to call me a tribe leader," Slade then said. Ebony glared at him, furious at his cockiness.

"The more accurate word would be city leader," he said, casually.

Ebony screwed up her eyes, "Excuse me?"

"I'm the leader of a city called Liberty."

"I've heard of that town!" Moz said, "The city of thugs, I've heard."

Slade just kept smiling, lazily, completely ignoring Moz.

Ebony sighed irritated, "Fine, you can stay!"

"How kind of you, ma'am," Slade said with a grin.

Ebony sent him a devastating glare before she said, "As an answer to you question, Mr Slade, if you had been here on time when the meeting started, you would have heard. But since you decided to make a late arrival, I'll have to fill you in. As I was telling the others, the best policy is cooperation. But only so that we can find out their weaknesses and then use it against them to defeat them. As for your question as to how we are going to do that..." She paused for dramatics and looked around at all of them solemnly.

Then she said, "We'll send in a spy." She looked immensely satisfied at her own cleverness.

"It'll have to be someone they won't suspect," she continued, "Who can go behind enemy lines and earn their trust."

She watched the other's reactions. No one said anything. They were processing it all. Even Slade apparently was at a loss of words, or maybe he decided that it would be best not to comment on this.

Pride was surprised himself. The Ebony he knew was known for fighting back fiercly whenever someone threathened her position as top dog. This was a very uncharacteristically move by her.

"We can defeat them," Ebony then said, almost softly, "Just like we defeated the Chosen." Pride hoped her words would work their magic on the others. They usually did.

"I'll send a word around in the city in a couple of days," she said, apparently satisfied with the general reaction to her plan, "Meeting over."

People started mumbling and then began slowly to exit the Mall.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Pride asked Ebony. She looked at him with a self-satisfied smile, "Trust me." And then walked away without another word.

Pride scowled after her, "Yeah, you would say that, wouldn't you." He mumbled to himself. He stood pouting when he suddenly spotted Amber at the café. He hadn't noticed her before. He strode towards her with long steps.

"Pride!" Amber said when she saw him, "Just the person I was looking for."

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Pride asked Amber in a low voice, nodding in the direction of where Ebony had gone.

"Please, it's Ebony we are talking about," Amber said with a roll of the eye, "Of course we can't trust her! That's why I have come up with a plan." She stepped closer to Pride and lowered her voice, "We'll assign her to do the job. She's gonna be our spy."

Pride's eyes almost popped out at her words. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What? That's crazy! She'd betray us without even blinking!"

"Scchh! Not so loud!" Amber hissed, looking around as if she was afraid Ebony stood lurking somewhere nearby.

"Don't you think I've thought of that? But she's our only chance to get close to these new invaders. You know how excellent her manipulating skills are. She'll have them charmed in no time. Maybe she can win someone important over or something. It'll split them up right away, I'm sure of it."

Pride started to object but Amber cut him off, "Look, I know that we can't trust her, so we'll send someone with her."

"But who? You know Ebony could easily fool anyone. You're forgetting she's the master of manipulation."

"Yes I know that!" Amber said a bit impatiently, "We need someone smart enough not to fall for her scam."

"Well who are you suggesting?"

"That guy," Amber said and pointed to a guy in a red jacket.

"Who? Slade?"

"Exactly!" Amber said, looking pleased with herself that she had come up with such a brilliant plan.

"How do you know we can trust him? If they hook up as a team, we're pretty much screwed," Pride said. He looked horrified at the thought of the two of them cahooting.

"I know this guy - he's Mr Honesty himself," Amber said while eyeing Slade, "And he's cleaver enough to resist her manipulation. He runs a whole city without as much as lifting a finger, he's brilliant!" She almost sounded devoted to this guy whom she had hand-picked for her plan.

"I hope this work," Pride said, looking sceptically. He wasn't feeling too sure.