Ellie didn't know what to expect for these little gatherings in the barn's hayloft, but as far as she was concerned, it was pretty low key. Five others arrived in ones and twos, and including herself and Jason, that made seven. Hailey came with her friend Olivia, a mouse-haired girl in shorts that left too much exposed for the chill in the summer air as twilight settled in. She held her prize in a paper bag; a bottle of red wine, apparently swiped from the cafeteria down the street. Ellie figured it was easy to hide in the dark under Olivia's ratty gray hoodie.
Next came two brothers, both with almost-black hair, one of which being the infamous Derek which obviously made Jason on edge. He didn't even shake his hand when Derek offered it. His brother Julian eyed him with a glare as he passed to go up the narrow stairs to the hayloft, and Jason easily returned it with just as much harshness. He held a stack of plastic cups and although harmless, he managed to make them look a little more threatening.
The last girl to arrive was Nicole, a dark-skinned girl with curly black hair that reminded Ellie of Marlene's. She also had the same chocolate-brown eyes. Once Ellie and Jason, the last to ascend the stairs, had settled in the circle they had formed in the hayloft, Hailey explained the rules of Spin the Bottle and wine pong. Ellie had a feeling it was mostly for her, but she wouldn't be surprised if this was the first time Jason had actually paid attention to these peoples' games. After all the introductions, Spin the Bottle started.
Apparently, an added rule was to take a swig of the wine each time you were paired up with someone during Spin the Bottle. Ellie was apprehensive about kissing people she didn't know, and she never had experience kissing a boy. She prayed each time the bottle was spun that it wouldn't land on her. But, after a few rounds of watching couples kiss each other, and Jason looking bored out of his mind, the bottle landed on her. Ellie shrugged, keeping her rising anxiety quelled as she spun the bottle. It landed on Nicole.
"Drat, let's spin again," Nicole giggled, reaching for the bottle to take another swing. While she did, Ellie fidgeted a bit.
"What's the matter, Ellie?" Hailey gently elbowed the redhead, smiling a little too widely for her liking.
Ellie shrugged, "I was just wondering, why do we need to spin again if a girl is paired up with another girl?"
Hailey clapped Ellie on the shoulder, laughing despite Ellie's concerned expression. The rest of the group joined in, sniggering along with Hailey. Only Jason remained silent, his face unreadable like always. "Ellie, you're so funny! You're not serious, are you?" Hailey drawled, erupting in another small fit of giggles.
"I don't see anything wrong with a girl kissing a girl…" Ellie mumbled, feeling heat creeping up her cheeks. She expected Hailey to laugh more, but she suddenly went silent, a disgusted expression replacing her grin. Looking out at the rest of the group, they wore similar expressions of concern.
Olivia broke the tense silence that had settled on the group, "Ellie, that's gross, why would anyone do that? That's like Jason over here kissing Derek."
Derek crinkled his nose up at the suggestion, but Jason, as usual, appeared unaffected. Ellie threw a helpless glance at Jason, but he remained still, a statue carved from stone. His penetrating stare didn't help either.
"Have you kissed a girl?" Nicole asked Ellie, her tone mirroring her slightly horrified countenance. Everyone seemed to lean in a few inches, eagerly awaiting Ellie's answer.
Ellie rubbed her upper arm with her opposite hand, biting her lip as she cast her eyes downward. Why was everyone having such a problem with that? It felt perfectly natural with Riley… "Yeah, once…" Ellie mumbled after a moment of quiet. When she looked up again, everyone looked at her like she had just grown a second head.
"How was it?" Julian breathed, and his twin brother ribbed him, silencing him.
Hailey erupted into laughter again, but she poorly hid the strain in it. "Ellie, stop kidding around! Isn't she so funny, guys?" The rest, with the exception of Jason, all joined in with a little too much effort after a few moments. The game resumed with a new tension in the air, and Ellie caught furtive glances from Hailey's friends every now and again. Ellie wished she could melt into the hay behind her, disappear from view, or just make everyone somehow forget what she just said.
To Ellie's despair, the bottle landed on her during Julian's turn. Ellie had no idea how Jason hadn't been picked to kiss a girl yet, the lucky devil. A wry smirk curled Julian's lips upward, and from across the circle Ellie barely noticed Jason's fists clench as his shoulders tensed. Ellie resisted the almost overwhelming urge to scurry backward, away from the advancing Julian.
"Let's see if I can't change your mind about kissing girls, eh?" Julian chuckled seductively, and the urge to escape finally overrode Ellie's mind. Men advancing on her never sat well with her, especially in cramped spaces. Ellie's eyes darted around as she shrunk back, looking for an escape route, swearing the teenagers wearing expectant expressions around her could hear her pounding heart and quickening breath.
Julian's jeans scrapped against the wood, the hay crunching underneath his hands and knees as he came ever closer. When Ellie swore she could feel his breath on her neck, and the heat radiating off his body, she let out a tiny whimper. Not only did she not want to kiss him, she couldn't kiss him without infecting him. She squeezed her eyes shut and awaited the worst.
Then, the heat was gone, and Ellie opened her eyes one by one as she heard a skirmish ensue, everyone giving cries of surprise as they broke ranks and congregated by the wall, which turned into pleas to stop. Jason had Julian by the collar of his faded black polo shirt, slugging him across the face as Olivia and Hailey struggled to hold Derek back. Jason forced Julian to his feet, pushing him back until the latter was tipping perilously over the edge of the hayloft, prevented only by Jason's fist bunching his shirt.
Ellie watched them in shock, and although the height of the fall wasn't fatal, landing improperly would surely break a few bones.
"If I see you take advantage of a girl like that again, I'm letting you fall. Do I have your word?" Jason growled menacingly, his eyes cold, harsh, and devoid of emotion. He wasn't bluffing.
Julian clutched Jason's wrist, like it was his only lifeline. Literally, it was. "Ye-yeah, totally! I won't, promise! Ju-just don't k-kill me, okay?" Julian stammered, his pale face contorted in pure terror as he glanced down at the distant concrete floor of the barn. Sweat drilled down his face as Jason glared mercilessly at him for a few more moments, like he was toying with the decision to let him fall anyways. Finally he hurled Julian onto the wooden floor of the hayloft again, spitting derisively at him. His eyes still harboured that dead glare, like even if he let Julian fall and snap his neck, it wouldn't affect him.
"What the fuck, man?" Derek breathed, helping his twin brother to his feet. Julian's nose was bleeding. The others wore similar ghastly looks, their eyes full of fear.
"Fucking freak!" Nicole hurled the insult at Jason, but when his icy stare snapped to her, she immediately clamped her mouth shut. She and the others filed down the staircase, hastily leaving until only Jason and Ellie were left in the hayloft. Silence settled upon the barn again, the laughter, cheering, and playful teasing gone.
Jason hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his dirty jeans, scuffing bits of hay away with the heel of his boot. If anything it was like how he acted when Ellie watched him train after dark-subtly awkward, but still maintaining his composure. He chanced a glance at Ellie, who hadn't left from her place by a small tower of hay bales.
"Are you…alright?" Jason raised an eyebrow at the redhead, cocking his head at her. The words sounded out of place coming from his mouth; like concern for other people was foreign to him.
Ellie threw him a concerned look in reply, "You almost let a guy fall and snap his neck, and you're asking me if I'm alright?"
Mild surprise replaced Jason's seemingly even milder worry, and he coughed once as a bit of hay dust entered his throat. "Guess you're right…we've all got our quirks," he said as he cleared his throat.
"That's not a 'quirk', that's kind of scary," Ellie pointed out, finally getting to her feet and brushing the hay from her pants.
One corner of Jason's lips twitched, and then he was back to his usual emotionless expression. "Do I scare you?" he queried after a moment of silence. By his open tone, Ellie knew it was an honest expression.
Ellie shrugged, making her way towards the stairs. "Not a lot really scares me anymore, I've seen freakier," she said.
Jason nodded to himself, following her lead. He remained quiet and contemplative until they reached the barn door. During the short walk, Ellie couldn't help but wonder if he had always been like this. Isolated, extremely reserved, distrusting of everyone, prone to letting his violent side take over at a moment's notice…having an unspeakable sorrow hidden deep within himself, but which was painfully obvious whenever he zoned out.
"I'm…kind of glad you got Julian away from me," Ellie admitted, standing under the barn's lamp hanging from the post. It lit Jason's features from overhead, casting the slight hollows under his cheekbones, brow, and jaw in sharp contrast. It was impossible to tell what the look in his eyes was, but Ellie could guess.
Jason nodded again, casting his gaze downward so his bangs covered most of his face. If Ellie wasn't mistaken, she could see bits of orange at the tips. "I hate it when guys try to force themselves on girls. You were clearly freaking out, I could tell," he murmured, "It's okay to say no, they won't judge you too harshly for it."
Ellie narrowed her eyes in disbelief, "So now this is suddenly my fault? You're the one who threw the first punch."
"Maybe if you stood up for yourself, I wouldn't have had to. That's not like you, just cowering like that," Jason observed in deadpan, looking at Ellie from under his lashes.
Ellie grit her teeth, trying to restrain herself from punching him across the face. He picks now, of all times, to be an asshole? What a dick! She thought to herself. But then she took a step back, and realized he was right. If she was ever cornered, she knew she would fight tooth and nail to get out, and she had numerous times. Why was tonight so different? Was it because she wanted to make a good impression on Hailey's friends? Hailey's friends can go to hell…Ellie growled mentally.
"I just…I don't know, okay? Maybe it was Hailey's friends, or their jokes about girls kissing girls, I don't know!" Ellie said in exasperation, flinging her hands up.
Jason sighed through his nose, switching his gaze to the night sky. Beyond the floodlights of the town, a few stars here and there were visible, twinkling on black velvet. The ugly, jagged scar on his neck was thrown into sudden relief. "You were serious about that, weren't you? About kissing a girl?" he asked after Ellie had finished stammering excuses.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ellie shot back, now on the defensive.
Chewing his lip, Jason brought his attention on Ellie once more. He studied her for a moment, and then finally replied after too long of a lull, "Nothing." With that he turned on his heel with military precision, and casually waved her off with a, "G'night, Ellie."
Ellie muttered a few insults after him under her breath, wondering what he could have possibly been thinking in those few moments of silence. She shivered, hugging herself for warmth as the crickets in the tall grass by the paddock fence resumed their concert, stalking off back to Tommy's with no intention of enjoying the free nightly entertainment.
"Can we break for lunch? We've been walking around for hours and we haven't found shit…" Jerry complained in his Southern drawl, readjusting his position in the saddle for the umpteenth time that morning. He was riding Chester, the chestnut Quarter horse gelding, while Ian rode along a few meters ahead on Jasmine, their Appaloosa mare. Maybe if they ever took over Jackson, they could add a few more horses to their lot.
"Not until we find these guys' livestock. I'm following their trail," Ian snapped back at him, aggravated by his constant whining. He hated working with Jerry, he never stopped annoying him. Whether it was endlessly complaining about how tired or hungry he was, or just being incompetent at the simplest survivalist things, he always found a way to get on Ian's nerves.
Jerry made a derisive snort, "How the fuck do you know we're on their trail?"
Ian rolled his eyes, pointing at the ground. "Maybe if you looked at the ground instead of at my horse's ass, you'd figure that out," he quipped irritably.
Jerry made a face at the back of Ian's head, casting his gaze downward to study the forest floor. He ran a hand through his brown, sweat-slicked hair. Sure enough, they were on a slightly worn trail, marked here and there by a bovine hoof print in the dried mud. There were horse tracks too, though not made by their own. They did look a little old, maybe at least a few days.
For once in his life, Jerry quieted down as he plodded along behind Ian on his horse, traversing the endless forest floor while the conifers around him towered above his head, acting like a formidable wall. Birdsong filtered with the sunlight through the trees, adding a tiny reprieve to the repetitive, boring scenery.
"Say, what's Riley like in bed?" Jerry asked after a few minutes of quiet, filled in only by birdsong and the whispers of the wind through the branches of the trees around them.
Of all the fucking stupid questions…Ian growled to himself. "Like I would ever tell you that, dumbass," he scoffed in reply.
"Haven't you fucked her yet? You've known her for like, what? Three years?" Jerry chuckled in disbelief. Ian remained silent, and Jerry broke out into cackles. "Wait, you really haven't? What have you been doing all this time with her, man?"
"Shut the fuck up, Jerry," Ian spat back at him. Of course, Jerry didn't listen to him, and just kept taunting him. "No seriously, shut the fuck up. I see 'em," Ian lowered his voice, his gaze fixed on something beyond the treeline. Surprised, Jerry actually followed orders for once. They both dismounted, tying the horses up in a nearby stand of spruce trees. If Jerry was competent at anything, it was two things: sneaking around and fleeing like a coward at the first sign of danger.
The pair quietly half-crawled, half-crouched their way to the edge of the treeline, where they looked unseen at the small herd of cattle grazing in the forest clearing, oblivious to any danger. They were mostly black, like the Angus cattle Ian remembered sharing the barn with the horses back in Denver. They also spotted a couple of men on horseback, calmly patrolling the edge of the clearing, yet alert for any sign of trouble. They cradled rifles in their arms, and pistols in holsters, no doubt loaded.
"There can't be just two of them…C'mon, let's see if we can find their camp," Ian suggested, and Jerry nodded, following his lead as he moved in a slow circle around the clearing. Jerry winced every time a twig snapped under their feet, which was almost every step. Eventually, painfully slowly, they came upon a tiny, extinguished campfire with three bedrolls spread out a few feet away from the charred, black fire pit.
Ian cocked his head at the third bedroll. "There're three of them…so where's the third one?" he thought out loud, speaking under his breath. He saw Jerry lift one shoulder beside him. Being a veteran of spying, sneaking, and combat, Ian wasn't afraid to engage people if he had to. In fact, he found it exhilarating. It was like a deadly game to him, one of strategy and skill.
"How badly do you think Dale wants a war with these guys?" Jerry queried.
"Dunno. I saw these fuckers first hand, I want them dead too. We need to be sure they're the right people, though. Don't want to go waging a war when we don't have to," Ian shrugged.
Jerry was quiet for a moment, contemplative. Then he said, "But they have to be these guys. They're the only ones with horses for miles around. They have to have that firepower you described, they're the only ones who could get it," he pressed.
Ian pursed his lips, flicking his bangs out of the eyes. "It's likely, but we can't be a hundred percent sure until we get some info from them. Hence the hostage, idiot," he quipped back.
"There can't be anyone else, Ian. How'd you like to be the first casualty?" Jerry wickedly smiled from behind him. Ian half-turned to give him a quizzical look, wondering what had gotten into him.
The realization dawned in Ian's eyes, but before he could get a hand on him, Jerry had already inserted a knife into his abdomen. Fortunately, it was a short dagger, and Ian's Cobra jacket prevented a lot of the damage due to the thick Kevlar lining.
"I should have done you in a long time ago, just like I did your brother. The Rowland family is nothing but a scourge, traitors responsible for the suffering of everyone in the Denver QZ," Jerry hissed, retracting his knife.
So this is what he's playing at…he wants to finish me off. Bet he's wanted to for a long time, the little fucker. Ian thought, going into fight mode.
He slugged Jerry across the face, making him release the knife. Jerry fell flat on his back from the impact, and Ian wasted no time pinning him to the ground while he proceeded to furiously punch him. The old anger and sadness at his brother's death fueled Ian's strength, and he wanted nothing more than to watch Jerry suffer for it. He hadn't felt this type of unbridled anger for a very long time, and it felt good to let it consume him, to throw logic and caution to the wind. It sang in his veins, snarling and snapping for more.
He wanted blood.
He wanted death.
However, he quickly came back to reality as a sharp pain erupted from his side, causing him to double over. Jerry easily kicked him off, somehow still conscious despite his obvious head trauma. He was bleeding from his nose, which was broken, but surprisingly Ian hadn't dislocated his jaw yet. Jerry removed a longer hunting knife from Ian's right side, half covered in crimson blood.
Ian clutched his side, lips curled back in a snarl. He quickly got to his feet, staggered a few steps, but managed to stay standing. "You bastard…" he growled, the pain making him unaware for a few seconds that he had left himself wide open. Jerry took the opportunity without hesitation, kicking Ian in the gut a few times. The Kevlar absorbed a lot of the impact, making them less effective than they could have been. Still, they sent Ian reeling back a few steps.
Ian drew his sword, Bahamut, the tarnished golden hilt and silver blade glinting in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees. "I'll kill you," he spat, rushing a practically defenseless Jerry. There was no way he could use a knife to defend against a sword. However, that wasn't what Jerry had in mind. He sidestepped Ian at the last second, before he could bring the blade down on his head. A gunshot cracked across the forest, no doubt catching the attention of the people guarding the cattle, if the ruckus of the skirmish hadn't already.
Jerry holstered his smoking semi-automatic Five-seven pistol, watching Ian fall to one knee. Only by digging his sword into the ground could he keep from falling on his stomach. Pain ripped through Ian's abdomen, and his hand came away red where the bullet had easily shredded through the Kevlar lining at point blank range. Hearing shouts from far-off behind him, Jerry kicked Ian's sword out, caught him by his neck, and dragged him to a dead log the enemy probably used as a saddle rack. Weakened and injured, Ian provided little resistance as Jerry shoved Bahamut through his left shoulder, watching his face contort in agony as he let out a few pathetic cries of pain.
"I'm doing Dale a favor. I'm getting rid of you and I'm starting the war he so desperately wants. Thanks for volunteering as martyr, bud," Jerry chuckled, patting Ian's cheek before he disappeared into the undergrowth. A couple of minutes later, three horses crashed through the brush from the clearing, and three men dismounted, pointing their rifles at Ian. He blacked out just as he saw them lower their guns, slinging their packs off their shoulders.
A/N: Excited now? I know the last few chapters have been slow to get things going, but I hope this one piques your interest, guys! What do you think about the repercussions these events will have on Jackson, and Dale's town? Are you surprised by Jerry? Let me know what you thought, and what your predictions are!