Things have been getting worse, the silence from the Highwaymen is absolutely foreboding. When a group is as loud as these Locusts, the silence can be much worse. The people of Prosperity can feel the anticipation crawl in their skin. The tension is ready to reach boiling point.
In Prosperity, Ellie returned with the Judge right behind. The Judge noticed Hunter crafting arrows at the corner of the camp, Carmina was in the main base with Jerome, Mike, Marcus, and Kim. Ellie broke off to go help Hunter, but the Judge decided to regroup with the Captain. Whatever the captain is planning he needs to be there. New Eden is at stake just as much as Prosperity.
"Whatever the Highwaymen are doing I'm not liking it one bit," Marcus said.
"Any intel?" Kim asked.
"Nada, whatever they have they're keeping it airtight." Marcus replied.
"What about Rush, have you heard from him?" Carmina asked.
"No he's still scouting up north, haven't heard from him so far." Marcus is running out of options.
"Hey Rabbit." Marcus's radio suddenly went off with Mickey's voice as soon as the Judge stepped inside the room, "You got a hard head Rabbit. We told you to stop causing problems. You didn't listen. We got your people. We got Rush. Come down to the old fertilizer plant. Ya'll gonna learn a lesson, big dog Kreese is gonna give you a taste." Mickey closed the transmission leaving the meeting in silence.
The Judge spoke first, "SHIT."
Everyone in the room turned to Marcus.
"Those bitches!" Carmina spat as she slammed her fist on the table.
"We have to get him back." Jerome suggested.
"I don't think it's gonna be that easy." Marcus said.
"A trap." the Judge spoke again.
"Ja- the Judge is right, we need a plan." Nick spoke up.
The Judge looked over at Nick and noticed the halt of his name, Nick gave him a nod and smile.
"May I offer a suggestion?" Hunter walked up. "How about we go but sneak in and rescue the prisoners under their noses."
"Hunter, the twins will be expecting us to do that. Stealth has been our main weapon against the Highwaymen." Marcus added.
"Unless we distract them." Ellie suggested.
The Judge looked over at Ellie in interest. The idea Ellie gave took everyone a moment to realize what she was implying. Some more than others, Hunter knew exactly what she meant.
"No, we can't risk it." Marcus declined the idea. "The tables have changed indefinitely. Kreese is an even more dangerous man than the twins."
"You are not wrong there," The defector Mike said, joining the conversation. "Before all this started Kreese was US Special Forces, and he was the absolute best at getting the job done."
"So we either do what they say or Rush dies," Marcus said in defeat.
"Basically yeah, Kreese doesn't play around, especially when it comes to people like you. Compassionate, kind, and merciful." Mike added.
"Alright, I need to do what they say. Kim, you're in charge until further notice." Marcus ordered.
"We're going with you cap," Hunter said.
"NO! You're all staying here," Kim shot down that proposal in an instant.
"Mom!" Carmina argued back.
"Don't mom your mom Carmina. If this hardass is as dangerous as they say we can't risk you kids." Nick hesitated for a moment to add another comment, "Judge I don't care who or what you are under that mask, but I am asking you as a father to keep these kids from leaving this camp." Nick said quickly.
"Nick!" Hunter yelled.
The sudden tension in the room directed to the Judge drowned him in a barrage of imminent stress. All he did was nod without a grunt.
Hunter's spine rose in heat, the anger and frustration of everything threatened to explode out of himself. To think Nick had the guts to demand this masked killer to look after him and the rest. The Judge may be his father by blood and Nick may not know that to begin with, but they have crossed a line. In spite of what's happened, Hunter's rage bubbled in just one sentence.
"Like Hell, you're gonna have that thing watch over me!" Hunter said in a grim stern tone and walked off.
Carmina and Ellie followed Hunter just as frustrated with them as he was, leaving everyone, especially the Judge, dumbfounded.
"What?" The Judge asked.
"I'm sorry about that… Judge, he didn't mean it. Typical teenage stress, don't dwell on it." Jerome assured.
"The boy… Who is he?" The Judge asked.
"He's my son… well not by blood, but I've raised him ever since he was entrusted to me by his mom." Jerome explained.
"Who?" The Judge asked.
Jerome was hesitant, but he had to remain cryptic, "Hunter's had it tough with a mother who abandoned him and a father who doesn't even know he exists. Most of the time it doesn't seem to bug him except for when someone asks him about it."
The Judge remained quiet for a moment to understand what Jerome has said, "Tragic. Though you raised him… Well. You… Good man, Jerome."
Jerome actually felt a little relief from hearing that and a little pride, "I wish I could tell you Jake, but I can't be the one."
The Judge took his leave in the opposite direction of the boy. He knew he needed space, so he went down to the nearby lake to meditate.
"Right well, I'll leave now and go meet the twins. Make sure no one follows me." Marcus ordered before departing.
Later in the evening, Hunter gathered his gear and hunting knife to go help, Marcus. He didn't care if Kim ordered him to stay as he knew Marcus needed help. As Hunter prepared to follow he suddenly heard two sets of footsteps coming into his room.
Carmina and Ellie stood at the door. "Hunter, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to help Marcus and Rush." Hunter said.
"Hunter, they told us we can't do anything on this one. I don't like it any more than you do, but that's just the way it is." Carmina said.
"I'm not staying while Marcus could be in trouble. He needs us whether he wants it or not." Hunter said while hauling his quiver.
"This is about the Judge, isn't it? The fact he doesn't know who you are and he's tasked with watching us."
"Kind of. I want to get to know him, but I'm not sure I want to when I look at him." Hunter explained.
Ellie nodded in understanding. "I understand, the people here acknowledge the Judge as their deputy, but he's not that anymore. Just a shell of his former self."
A mix of pain and grief turned over his anger, knowing the depth of how much the Deputy has changed. "If I tell him I'm his son what will he see me as?"
Carmina placed a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "Maybe you'll never see him as your father and he'll probably won't see you as his son but that doesn't mean your relationship needs to be… I don't know. But you can't let this hang over you forever, sooner or later you're gonna need to talk to him."
"I know, but I don't even know how I'd tell him." Hunter said.
"Look, I don't wanna offend you, but I think your people need to learn to accept that their friend isn't their Deputy anymore, he's New Eden's Judge," Ellie spoke the cold truth much to her reluctance.
Hunter's expression was blank with no emotion, Carmina on the other hand wasn't as much. Hunter stood and collected his gear, "C'mon we need to help Marcus."
"Alright, I'm with you let's do this," Carmina said, grabbing her rifle.
"I don't like this, but I'm in too." Ellie grabbed her bow. "But there's one problem, the Judge."
"Don't worry we'll find a way past him." Hunter assured them.
Ellie shook her head in disagreement. "I don't think we will because he's here with us,"
Carmina and Hunter turned to look in Ellie's direction to see the Judge standing firm in his place.
"Oh shit," Carmina mumbled.
"Going somewhere?" The Judge asked.
"I get why you're here but we can't just sit here all night, we're going to help the captain." Hunter stood before the Judge.
"Then… You're not going." The Judge said sternly. Hunter's steadfast determination was diminishing in his bones, "Not without me. The captain is future… future must be protected."
Ellie and Carmina were shocked but happy, Hunter was able to breathe easier. Hunter smiled warmly for once, "We must go on foot to avoid detection and then steal one of Locust's cars. Do any of you drive?"
"What kind of stupid question is that, of course, me and Carmina can drive, Nick taught us how to." Hunter boasted.
"Good man… Good pilot." The Judge complimented. "Let's go."
Marcus arrived at the old fertilizer plant and soon enough he received a transmission on his radio.
"There you are, Rabbit. You were warned." Mickey's voice was heard in the Captain's radio, "But you and Rush kept making too many problems for us. So finally we had to take things into our own hands, and call the cavalry."
"Now its our turn to make problems for you. Your people here are counting on you. We're gonna show them just how much of a curse you really are." Lou promised on the other end of the radio.
The surviving hostages were being locked inside the remains of an old silo. Locked behind a rigged door with an electric shock.
"You're on the clock, Rabbit." Lou said.
"Look at'em Rabbit. That door isn't gonna open itself." Mickey gloated.
Marcus groaned his frustration and followed the twin's instructions. The fuse of is along the pipeline connected to the main building. Climbing along the crates and on the terrace, Marcus found the fuse box covered by wooden debris. As he switched off the electricity the twins popped back in his radio.
"You ready for more? Got no choice. This is what happens when you fuck with us." Mickey laughed
"We warned you, too. We fucking warned you." Lou reminded Marcus.
"You live and you learn. That's what Pops always said. You and Rush gotta learn. Should probably say that to the rest of those kids of yours." Mickey brought up Carmina and Hunter. Marcus's blood is boiling.
Rushing over to the hostage's location, Marcus sprinted back to the silo as fast as he could.
"You thought you could throw your weight around. You thought you could make us look weak. Look at you now." Mickey spat.
Marcus made it back to the silo to open the door and find all twelve hostages strapped on each of them was a remote bomb.
"Don't stop now, Rabbit. Keep jumping." Mickey responded.
Removing each of their bombs Marcus escorted the hostages away and pointed them to the direction of Prosperity. All of the hostages were rescued thanks to Marcus, luckily his powers made rescuing them easy.
"We told you the only currency in this world is power. And you… You think you're swimming in it. But you'll see. You're gonna do exactly what we say, or Rush dies. Come meet us inside, hero."
Marcus approached the door but before he could his radio crackled. "Leave your weapons in the bag or we kill Rush now.
Seeing as how he had little choice in this matter, Marcus complied putting his weapons away. "OK, I put them in the bag."
Luckily with the Gift of Eden, he didn't need guns. Marcus then kicked in the door and charged into the room. "Rush! Rush are you here!"
"Captain!" Marcus looked in front of the room and saw Rush in the middle, on his knees and his arms cuffed behind his back. "Don't worry Rush I'm getting you out of here,"
"NO!" Rush screamed out before the captain could do anything. "Captain! Get out of here! Now! It's a trap!"
Suddenly the door behind him closed and then noticed one of the Twins, Mickey looking out one of the windows with her arms crossed.
Mickey then turned around to face the Captain. "Hmm… This feels real familiar. Like we've been down this road before." Mickey said casually strolling over to Rush.
Lou then appeared to the left of the Captain and Kreese appeared on the other side in front of him.
"Relax. Stay awhile." Mickey chuckled, while pointing at the cuffs dangling above Marcus.
Seeing as how the captain wasn't gonna willingly restrain himself Lou delivered a hard punch to his stomach then Kreese grabbed his arms, cuffing them.
"You got balls kid, too bad we gotta rip'em off a'ya." Kreese said.
Mickey walked closer to the Captain, her glare becoming more menacing with every inch closer, "You just keep asking for it, don't you? You want it? You want the stick? Here's the fucking stick."
Mickey moved out of the way to see Kreese killing Rush. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marcus screamed in horror.
"Oh Fuck. Gonna spend all night wiping those hopes and dreams off my boots." Lou laughed over Rush's corpse.
Kreese walked up to Marcus, ready to shoot him next, but Mickey stopped him before he could pull the trigger. "Hold up Kreese, we wanna have some fun with him."
"Not a good idea, we need to finish him now so he can't try anything." Kreese argued.
"What's he gonna do? We got the Rabbit tied."
Lou then walked over to the table grabbing her helmet. "You know, before you showed up, everything was fuckin' great." Lou said, delivering a hard bash to Marcus's face with her helmet.
Lou then continued. "Then you came along with your fancy train and fancy people - trying to make this place into something that it's never - gonna - be." Mickey explained hitting the captain again between those words.
"And when we tried to be reasonable, you thought it'd be a good idea to stir up the pot." Mickey added.
"Over and over and over!" Lou bashed Marcus in the helmet twice and then kicked him in the face.
"All because you thought there was a hope for a future. There's no hope for you, no future. All of us and Kreese have made sure of it." Mickey spat.
"For any of you!" Lou threw her helmet over the captain's face.
Marcus was swelling with anger, grief, and rage. The smoke around his hands have shown his power is ready to break through. The twins were too occupied in their laughter to notice but Kreese could see it. With one final pull Marcus broke free from the cuffs screaming in pure rage.
"What the hell?!" Kreese didn't have a moment to react before Marcus delivered a hard punch to his face. The impact was so hard that Marcus knocked Kreese's right eye out of his socket.
"Kreese!" Lou ran up to Marcus to try and pull him off of Kreese but she was pushed to the corner. Walking over, Marcus pulled her by her one braid and smacked her twice in the face.
The sound of a cocked shotgun shell got Marcus's attention and Mickey was seen pulling the trigger. Sending Marcus out the window and onto the hard ground with a chest full of buckshot.
Arriving at the fertilizer plant, the teens and the Judge found the facility empty. Along with a trail of blood leading into the plant.
"Oh my god are we too late?!" Carmina exclaimed.
"Come on," Hunter ordered.
The group followed the blood upstairs to find Marcus and Rush both bleeding on the floor. The four stood in horror at the sight before them.
"Rush!" Carmina yelled, running over to him along with Hunter.
Ellie and the Judge went over to Marcus to check on his wounds. The two turned over the Captain to see if there was any hope he could be alive. The Judge checked his pulse. "He…lives."
"Thank you God," Ellie said graciously, but her relief was short at the sight of Rush's corpse.
However Rush wasn't as fortunate as the captain in this moment. Hunter and Carmina stood to confirm his death with the others. The two of them stared at Rush's head splattered across the floor.
"NO! No no no no." Carmina repeated bursting into tears, bringing her hands up to her eyes.
Hunter slammed his fist onto the floor. "GODDAMNIT!"
"We need to call for help, Marcus doesn't look like he has long." Ellie said.
Hunter pulled out his radio to call Prosperity, "Nick Rye this is Hunter, we need a lift."
"Hunter? Where the hell have you been, the Judge was supposed to be watching you, where is my daughter?" Nick yelled.
"Shut the hell up, we're at the Fertilizer plant! Rush is dead and the Captain is dying!"
"What?" Nick's anger went silent.
"The Judge is with us, we need a lift back to Prosperity."
This didn't seem possible, it had to be a dream and yet the reality of the situation is laid all over the floor. Thomas Rush is dead and the Security Captain is bleeding to death on the floor. This is where everything will change for the worse.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, if anyone sees anything wrong message me.
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