Silence Falls

Bam bellyached to himself as he followed behind Otep and Bert through the swamp to probe ahead for trouble. In normal circumstances this would be way too early for him to be up, but times were different. He was no longer in normal circumstances. Hell, he didn’t know if he’d ever be in normal circumstances again after this.

Bert drove the group through the foliage and mushy ground, a gun he identified on a dead soldier not too far behind was tucked surreptitiously in his pants, but it was the thick sharp stick in his hands that was on presentation for everybody to see. If he was going to get shot, then he was going to get shot, but if the chances of observing a stick in his hand rather than a loaded gun provoked his shooter to pause, then he’d embrace that postponement until he could seize his own stashed gun. At the moment, it was evident that in everyone's mind was how preposterous they all must look, slinking through the woods with sharp twigs as their only protection against these men adorned as SWAT teams, or members of some black ops squad! Otep rolled her eyes at the image of the imposing fellow that would come across them first, he'd absolutely laugh to death from this comical piece. Talk about easy targets in their all white barely swamped stained clothes.

After some time walking, the trio took a hiatus on a bed of moss behind a massive tree. Since none of them have ever been in a swamp, they were pretty surprised by the humidity levels that they were still trying to adapt to despite their dire situation. Otep perched with her back against the tree, Bam let himself disintegrate on the ample green moss to cool his sweaty back, and Bert stood with his hands on his hips, overseeing their surroundings. With a sigh, he mopped the perspiration on his forehead, a look of apprehension on his face. Otep considered him for a while before finally letting inquisitiveness get the better of her as to why he was troubled. “What is it, Bert? You look like you're ready to rip out your hair. And I mean ALL of your hair.”

“Nothing, I’m...I’m just confused as hell as what exactly is going on anymore.” Bert stammered softly.

Bam let out a whiny groan and scrubbed his grimy hands over his face before outstretching his arms and diving them back onto the mossy ground. He was not keen on hearing about all the peculiar phenomena they’ve flown through thus far, he just wanted to unwind on a nice refreshing bed of moss and overlook his pains for just one single moment. Damning himself, he implanted himself into the conversation anyway. “Guys, can we please not fucking talk about that crazy bullshit that we were lucky to live through and just lay here on the ground where it is nice and peaceful? Let someone else worry about it! Come on, you two need to take a fucking break for once, it ain’t gonna fucking kill you.”

“Shut up, Bam!” Otep snapped before reducing her voice as she reclined her head back against the trunk of the tree. Giving Bert her full attention again, she spoke quietly. “Go on, Bert.”

Bert fervidly whirl around to face them with the desire to fill them in. “They tried to kill us, you guys. Those men that were decorated in bulletproof vests with those monstrous ass guns...THOSE men do NOT exist in a small town like Silence Falls. Those men exist in some kind of undercover mission for the government, or safeguarding the President from peril, fucking sniping out terrorists, or in fucking video games for crying out loud! What the hell were they doing here prowling for us in the first place? Why are they here tracking down a flock of mental patients with mental complications when they should be supervising urgent threats? I have never seen those men before, not once in or out of church. I didn’t even recognize any of their faces.”

“NO SHIT, SHERLOCK, THEY WERE HERE TO OBVIOUSLY KILL US!” Bam growled, really preferring they weren't chatting about this right now. His head was starting to pulse with a headache. “WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?!”

“Aside from the obvious, you fucking bitch queen!” Bert threw his arms up in annoyance. “There’s more to this then that if you’d take less time being a bitch to think about it for once! WHY were they dispatched here to KILL a crowd of insane people!? What logic would they have to HUNT us down, shoot to kill?!”

“Bert, we've been underground for years now it seems, maybe some ludicrous law was passed to wipe out any insane people that escape from mental facilities in order to prohibit them from integrating into the innocuous and obtuse society of today.” Otep proposed unsurely, shrugging her shoulders. She had no idea why these men were firing at them instead of securing them and hauling them back to the facility instead. Ever since her own arrest, nothing has made sense to her since. “For all we know the world could have dramatically evolved since we were incarcerated, right?”

Bert shook his head, his mind firmly combating that notion. “I don't know about that. Something is definitely not right about all of this. I just can't get my mind past it. Ever since we took off from the facility, I've been feeling like something...had left with us.”

Bam sat up a bit on his elbows, glaring up at Bert with an eyebrow raised and a smile on his face. Was he alluding what he thought he was? “What, like a fucking ghost!?” When Bert simply scowled back, Bam let out a cackle before laying back down, shaking his head in amusement. “Jesus Christ, you really fucking think the spirit of one of the patients that died in the facility is following us!? You genuinely believe in that shit?”

Bert and Otep directly glowered at him, unlike Bam they had more self-restraint to not convey anything back. Besides, there were bigger things to worry about other than him. Calmer, Bert backed himself. “Look, I don't fucking know if I’m talking about a phantom or not! I just think it's fucking outlandish that we're not...dead yet. I mean, did you not observe how many of those patients were shot down like flies? None of those bullets tapped us, not a single one! Those men weren't novices with assault and snipes rifles in their hands, they were grown exceptionally equipped men. They undoubtedly had experience when it came to 'shoot and kill' their objectives with little effort on their end. So, why are WE left standing alive and well? How did we withstand being picked off like that when we were readily in their sights too?”

“Probably luck.” Otep spouted out, trying to come up with a plausible explanation to Bert's reflections.

“No way in hell, Otep.” Bert denied, shaking his head. “With the odd 'luck' we've been suddenly having in plethora lately, I doubt this was plain luck on our side.”

“Then what? You think there’s someone of higher influence serving us behind the scenes this entire time or something?” Otep probed, restless to know what his assumption is since nothing she flung out was well-received. “Someone outside the facility maybe?”

“Like the tooth fairy?” Bam snickered, once again deriving a glare from Otep.

“You know what, forget it!” Bert shouted after a moment of silence He needed to strangle Bam to death with his bare hands! His last restrain on retaliating with anything negative towards Bam finally snapped. He was only trying to get this enigma figured out and all he's been met with is Bam's rude remarks.

“Oh no no, please keep talking. Don't stop on my account.” Bam chuckled, sitting up and giving them a fictitious insipid smile.

“No fucking way will I give you the satisfaction, asshole! Cause if I say one more thing and it induces you to open that immature fucking cunt of a mouth and say something precisely to what a douchebag would say, I will LITERALLY put a bullet in your head before any of soldiers that find us can!” Bert seethed before stalking off into the swamps, smacking branches out of his way. Otep quietly joined him, sighing irritably while Bam returned to fussing along behind them just as before.