Chapter 2: Those Less Fortunate

Bridgette and DJ both wandered around the inside of the sanitarium, looking at sick and injured children, widows, and senior citizens, healing them with the staves they held. Bridgette sighed. DJ turned to her and asked, "Bridgette, what's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just…" Bridgette said, trailing off. She closed her eyes and looked like she was going to cry.

"Bridgette, if you're worried about our friends, I can understand that; but in times like this, we have to try to keep a smile on our faces," DJ said, "Because we need to keep people's spirits up. And if you get depressed, then we won't be able to do that."

"You're… you're right, DJ," Bridgette said. Then, outside the door a loud noise was heard. Bridgette turned to DJ, and asked him, "What was that?"

"I don't know," DJ said. He and Bridgette boarded some horses and rode outside. DJ noticed that there was an ambush. "Oh no!"

"What are we going to do, DJ?" Bridgette asked, panicked.

"I'm sure something will turn up," he assured. Courtney's Resistance showed up from the southwest.

"Need some help?" Courtney asked. Bridgette turned to face her.

Overjoyed, she said, "Courtney! I'm so glad that you guys are here." She and DJ rode over to greet them. "We definitely can't fight off this ambush. Neither of us has any fighting skills to speak of. But we can help you guys out."

"Don't worry, my dear," Alejandro said, "We'll take care of everything." Bridgette squinted, and noticed someone standing in a group of the soldiers. He wore a cowboy hat and carried a sword.

"Is that…?" she asked.

He turned to the man who appeared to be his leader, and asked, "Uh, what was I supposed to do again?"

The boss was an intern, although he was frustrated with the business, and wanted to resign. He sighed and said, "Idiot! You've been told time and time again what you were supposed to do! Why didn't I just kill you while I had the chance?"

"Like, because I said that if you spared me, I'd invite you to my luau…" he responded.

Katie and Sadie teamed up to fight a group of soldiers, and managed to beat most of them, but as a result were injured fairly badly. Bridgette and DJ stood behind, waving their staves at the girls, which made them feel better. Meanwhile, Courtney and Alejandro began attempting to clear a path to reach Geoff.

Alejandro put his sword away, so that in case Geoff attacked him, neither of them would die. When Geoff spied Alejandro he rushed over to him, and yelled, "You! You tried to steal my girl!"

Alejandro responded to this comment by saying, "Well, now your girl and I are in Courtney's Resistance, and you're getting in our way."

Geoff was annoyed. He responded, "You can't be telling the truth! Bridgette would never side with you!" He swung his sword around and hit Alejandro hard with it. It wasn't enough to kill, but it was enough that it warranted DJ's immediate attention.

Bridgette rode over to Geoff as quickly as she possibly could. Before Geoff had a chance to attack Alejandro, he spied her, and headed toward her.

"Geoff!" she called.

"Bridgette!" he responded.

She asked in confusion, "How did you end up getting mixed up with the enemy?"

Geoff responded, "I dunno, Bridgette, but now I can get back to the side of the righteous."

"Good," Bridgette said.

Geoff swung his sword around, cutting down most of the soldiers surrounding him.

While they were doing that, DJ had other business to take care of. It happened that DJ and Bridgette had founded the sanitarium right near his mother's house, and so he went in to warn her.

"Momma!" he shouted. "You should get out of here before something terrible happens to you."

"Oh, no. No son of mine is fighting in a war! Even if it is for the sake of the world," she responded.

"But, Momma… people I love could die if I don't help. Please… you must understand…" he said, starting to cry.

"Oh, alright," she responded. "But promise me that you won't die!"

"I promise, Momma," DJ said.

"I won't let you," she said.

"Thanks, Momma," DJ responded, and then he left, going over to heal Courtney, who had gotten herself wounded by a couple of axe-fighters.

Alejandro reequipped his sword and with the codependent girls, he went to fight the leaving intern. Katie attacked first, and he said to her, "No one passes through here alive!" She did some damage to him, although it was certainly not enough to frighten him. He tried to harm her, but unfortunately missed.

Courtney and Geoff, due to being on foot, had to take more time to catch up. Courtney approached him, and said, "Chris has got to go! And I have to stop him!"

"I can't let you do that Courtney. He's much too dangerous. What I'm doing now is for your own good," he said before she shot an arrow at him, and she didn't entirely believe him as he swung an axe in her face. He missed, but barely. She shot another arrow at him.

Geoff decided to take the lead. He approached the leaving intern.

"You were supposed to stop them!" he said indignantly.

"And you were supposed to stop me," Geoff countered.

"I still can…" the intern said. Geoff landed the fatal blow, although he was not as fancy with his movement this time as when he attacked Alejandro and some others. He muttered out, "Why couldn't I have resigned earlier?" before dying.

"Is everyone okay?" Bridgette asked.

"I think so!" Courtney said. "That was close."

"Agreed, but we can't let up. This is proof that the world is in a state of dangerous warfare," Alejandro said. "We'll all need to work together in order to stop Chris's army."

"Yes," Geoff said. "I hate to admit it, but Ale-jerk-dro is right."

"But what can we do?" Courtney asked.

"I heard that some of our old friends were being held hostage in Camp Wawanakwa," Bridgette said, "It might have been a false rumor, but, is it really worth risking?"

"I don't think so," Courtney said, "If there is a danger that someone is being held prisoner, we have to do everything we can to help them."

"Plus, going to Camp Wawanakwa could lead us to Chris," Sadie reasoned.

"Excellent point!" Katie responded.

"Alright, so I guess, to Wawanakwa we go," Courtney said.

Author's Note: Goodies available in this chapter include unit descriptions (Bridgette; DJ; Geoff), death quotes (Bridgette; DJ; Geoff, player; Geoff, enemy), alternate battle dialogue (DJ's mother's house w/ someone other than DJ; someone other than Alejandro fights Geoff), and alternate versions of the ending dialogue (didn't get Geoff; someone other than Alejandro is dead).