Reign of Fire: Rising from the Ashes
Chapter Fourteen- Diversions, moles and traps
"The crops. The crops are on fire!"
Quinn immediately fired out orders, the women and children were to go to their rooms and stay there until told otherwise. The men, along with Holly who demanded to go also, were to go to the fields and do what they could to salvage the crops.
As the castle became a hive of activity, Holly made her way quickly back to her room, grabbing her trench coat and revolvers. The thing that worried her the most was that she felt fine- no stomach aches, nothing. Usually if things were really bad she wouldn't be able to move, the pain would be so unbearable. Sighting Creedy, Holly made her way to him, only seeing Kayleigh clinging to him too late. He had spotted her before she could duck out of the way, continuing towards him and his little chit, she pulled the Anaconda out of her waist band and thrusted it at him.
"Here. You might need this out there." She stated curtly.
"Thanks Holly. Kayleigh lass, stay in your room. I'll be back soon." He gave Kayleigh a quick peck on the forehead before she had a chance to protest. Watching Creedy and Holly walk away, she stood with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face, I'll take care of that girl by the end of the night; no need to worry about that.
Creedy noticed Holly look at the gun in his hand, a small hint of regret in her eyes; she hadn't meant to give him that gun. But she was so caught up in trying to be stoic that she hadn't realised which gun she had passed to him until it was too late.
The gentleman that he was Creedy looked at the gun and gave it to Holly who looked at him surprised.
"If it's all right with you lass I'd rather swap for the semi. I haven't really used one of these before and I don't want to be fumbling around if someone starts shooting at me." Holly flashed him a genuine and grateful smile before giving him the Beretta.
Splitting up when they reached the entrance, Creedy made his way to the trucks that were waiting; Holly opting to go by horse instead. Grabbing Scout, she threw on his bridle ignoring his saddle. Leaping on him she turned once more to look back at the castle as the men in the trucks flew through the gates. She wasn't sure what was happening. Half of her wanted to stay at the castle and the other half knew she had to follow Quinn; jabbing Scout in the sides she galloped after the sound of the engines, praying to God she wasn't making a mistake.
The young crops were ablaze, too young to be harvested they had been left to grow. The red and golden glow of the flames swayed too and fro, there was nothing they could do. Quinn, Creedy and the men stood around and watched helplessly as their food supply was destroyed. Holly trotted up to the back of the crowd, not getting off her prancing horse. The heat from the fire was magnificent, Scout rolled his eyes back in fear.
In the silence the only sounds that could be heard were that off Scout's fearful snorts and the fire raging. It had taken them half an hour to reach the crops in the dark; there was no way they could have gotten there sooner. The question now was, how had the blaze been started? It was a mystery to say the least.
The castle was eerie in its silence, Alex sat in with the children trying not to worry as they drifted off to sleep. Everyone had gone to their rooms as Quinn ordered, but that had not stopped the fear that sat on their hearts. The men had been gone for fifty minutes, though it felt like an eternity longer.
The sound of trucks entering the grounds, confused Alex. In the dark they could not have made it back so soon; unless of course they had been too late and turned back as soon as they got close enough to realise. Along with several other women, Alex ran down to the entrance to greet the men; only to find it wasn't them.
Holly peered around them in the glow from the fire. Each face show disbelief and fear, even Quinn and Creedy who never saw the bad side of things. Walking Scout around the group, she peered into the fire; something within the burning mass caught her attention. Kicking her horse on she headed toward the fire, intending to ride through it.
"Holly no!" Creedy shouted, but his voice was lost to her, as she had gotten closer the roar of the fire had grown and drowned out any other noise. The last thing they all saw was her black figure riding into the red flames.
Within seconds of Alex realising that the men weren't theirs; she screamed for everyone to get inside. As they dashed into the hall, the strangers ran in after, guns and knives in hand they grabbed the women and children who ran from them.
Screams of terror and pain filled the castle, some were knocked unconscious before being dragged back to the men's rigs; others bound and gagged- the unlucky ones killed.
Kayleigh sat calmly in her room, leafing through a book she had found lying around. She wasn't oblivious to the sound of women and children begging and crying around her; she could even see the chosen ones being thrown into the trucks. It hadn't taken as long as it sometimes did. Obviously Mark's report had been a very detailed one and they had chosen before hand those they would require. She glanced at her clock, 22 minutes. A record I think; these boys deserve a compliment!
Suddenly her door was thrown open and Mark stood grinning at her.
"Hello precious." She smiled at him.
"You boys nearly finished then?" Mark nodded, moving to sit next to her on the bed.
"Are you coming back with us, or has your plan formed yet?"
"Yes. After tonight Creedy won't want Holly anywhere near him. But I need your help."
"Do you now? And what's in it for me?" A wicked grin played around his face which Kayleigh chose to ignore.
Still not looking up from her book, she continued. "I need you to shoot me in the arm."
"What!" He scoffed, "You're joking!"
"No I'm serious. You have one of those black semi automatics don't you? The Italian ones."
"My Beretta?"
"Yes that's it. She has one too, if you shoot me in the arm with it then I can claim that she did it. Then Quinn will throw her out and Creedy will be all mine."
"Very clever- it will hurt you know...a lot."
She waved him off. "No pain no gain, right?"
Mark laughed. "You always have been a bit of a masochist haven't you Kay" She just smiled at him.
"I always get what I want."
Holly held her lapel to her mouth and nose, hoping to prevent herself from inhaling to much smoke. Scout danced and reared as she made him walk to the object she had spotted. It was a piece of cloth with a pattern on it, her head was beginning to get woozy so reached down and grabbed it; kicking Scout again she allowed him to gallop full speed out towards safety.
The crowd of men who had been waiting with baited breath parted frantically as Scout sped passed them, brought to an abrupt halt by Holly who jumped off his back. She pulled out the white piece of cloth, unfolding and holding it out in front of her. It was about the size of a child's jumper, a knot in one corner showed that it had once been attached to something; possibly a stick. Raking her gaze over the pattern, Holly took in what she was seeing. It was hard to distinguish at first in the light of the still raging fire but after a moment she knew. It was a dragon in mid flight, not particularly unusual in itself, but the rest of the diagram was what gave her the final recognition.
It was the symbol of a rebel gang, which one she was not sure. Passing it to Creedy who looked at it puzzled, Holly turned her back from the group and walked away, looking around up into the hills squinting at the darkness. What would a rebel gang gain from burning the crops? Surely they would harvest what they could; all their actions did was lure us from the c...the castle! The women and children! Holly gasped, which caught the attention of the others. Running to Scout she threw herself on his back.
"Holly what's going on?" Quinn shouted.
"It's a diversion! They're at the castle!" She screamed, pushing Scout into a fast gallop, ignoring the shouts of the men as they scrambled to the trucks. The ground was uneven and dangerous to cross without daylight to guide you, but the last thing on Holly's mind was her own safety- she had to get back to her friends!
Upon arrival the castle was deathly quiet and she knew it could not be a good sign. Leaving Scout as he was, she cautiously made her way up the front steps and through the large oak doors, her hand tightly clasped around the handle of her revolver. As she neared the hall she could hear soft whimpers, sobs and moans; too few to be that of all the women and children. Squeezing through a gap in the door, she had to close her eyes at the sight of the numerous bodies strewn across the flagstone. Some lay obviously dead, others just injured or unconscious. The children that had been left behind sat huddled with the older women- women that had been deemed to be too fragile and insufficiently pleasurable. There was only about twenty of them in the room, with no sign of Alex or Kayleigh- both absence bugging her for different reasons.
Stepping around pools of blood, dead rebels and victims of their attack alike, she headed toward a vague sound coming from the kitchen. It wasn't the type of sound she was expecting, no sobbing but whispers. She slammed open the door to find Kayleigh leaning against the table, her hand clasping a gun sot wound in her arm. Mark was the first to look at her, Kayleigh eventually turned to look at her smiling. Holly snarled and stepped forward not caring which one she shot first.
"I should have guessed you'd be moles."
"Yeah well maybe you should have guessed a little quicker sweetheart. Seems a bit pointless now, don't you think?" The smirk on the woman made her temples pound.
"You keep your fucking mouth shut from now on or I'll put another bullet hole next to the first and trust me, I'll aim better than whoever did that one!"
"Oh, I doubt that. See, you have to much to loose here baby girl." Before elaborating what exactly she was referring to, Kayleigh turned her attention back to Mark, wincing slightly at the dull throbbing pangs shooting up and down her arm.
"You'd better get a move on before the men get back."
"Right then, I'll be off. Do send me an invite to the wedding OK?" And with that he turned to walk, only to be stopped by the sight of Holly's pointed gun.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Mark raised his own gun, a Beretta, she could tell. Well, at least the bloke had a good eye for weapons. "I'm off to enjoy the harvest dearie. Why, were you thinking of stopping me?" As he spoke he pulled the trigger, never minding Kayleigh's hysteric screams. "No Mark, don't you dare, you p.." But Holly's flawless aim had hit him before his bullet exited his gun and he sank to the floor quietly.
"OK, explain this to me like I'm a five year old. Why would you have any problems with him killing me?"
Again the triumphant smile. "Wow, for a superhero your brains are not particularly quick are they? That would just take the fun out of things, silly! It's gonna be so much more fun watching you fall into my little trap than actually having your brains spattered across my face. I mean, you're enough of a mess alive, not looking forward to the dead visual, eeww…"
Trying to ignore the rage that was starting to boil in her veins, Holly raised her gun again. "Don't even go there Kayleigh. Answers first. The camp, where is it?"
Kayleigh casually shrugged her shoulders before remembering that was not a good idea with a bullet wound. "Damned if I know, why should I care anyway? The further they get away from me, the better…"
Suddenly a light dawned in Holly's head, and quickly lit up to a ball of lightning. "You were never planning on leaving with them, were you?"
"Good girl, our little Mary Sue's starting to catch up! I couldn't possibly leave Creedy all by himself now, could I? Whatever would he do without me? He'd be left to suffer your company till kingdom come!"
Black spots were now beginning to appear before her eyes. She wasn't making progress at all! Kayleigh didn't know a thing besides her own petty scheming, fooling Creedy as much as everybody else, and the one person that might just have known the location of the camp was lying in a pool of his own blood thanks to her! Good job Holly, how the fuck are you gonna rescue them now!
"I told you before, you even think about hurting him I'll.."
But Kayleigh once again interrupted her. "Hurt him? Oh Lord no! Unless he would ask me to of course, who knows what that man's kinks might be…No, I'd say in the hurting Creedy department you're still running way ahead of me sweetheart. Pushing him away so hard he stumbled straight into my arms! I guess I owe you for that one…"
Holly knew she was right. Of course she was. Kayleigh never stole Creedy from her, she had never even given him a chance to be hers in the first place. But she'd be damned if she would let that little blonde bitch laugh at her for it!
She aimed her gun more precisely now, determined to get more answers, as she suddenly saw Kayleigh drop to her knees. Squeezing her wounded arm just a little tighter to force some fresh tears from her eyes she started to sob: "No, Holly please don't, please…I didn't do anything, why won't you believe me?"
"What the f…! Holly?"
A strong hand grabbed her arm, turning it behind her back with such force she dropped her gun and fell to her knees. She needn't turn around to know who it was, and realised the lighting bolt had struck her too late: Kayleigh's trap had worked perfectly…