After the Crash

I came back with supplies and got a report from Sam that Ren was probably in good enough condition to move, so we started our exodus. We walked for a few days without anything significant happening. We were probably not being pursued by anyone, no more than we usually were. We stuck to our deep forest. On our sixth day moving, we came across what looked to be an abandoned summer camp. There were eight cabins and a large river sat behind it. I sighed as I looked at the map, we’d need to find some way across and this deep in the forest there were not going to be accessible bridges. It was much more open than the other cabin, with obvious access roads that would lead to main roads. Dale came to my side, “if its clear, it might be our best bet for the evening and we can deal with the river in the morning.” I nodded my head and he looked at me, “you, me, and Alex could go down there and check it out. Its bigger than the cabin, so we might need more eyes. It might be a good, low stakes opportunity for Ren to test himself.”

I shook my head, “no, until he’s healed, nothing more strenuous than walking.”

“Ky,” Dale looked at me, “you can’t baby him.”

“It’s been less than two weeks,” I looked at Dale, “I’d hardly consider that babyin’.”

“You’d never let anyone bench you just cuz you got shot,” he looked at me.

I shook my head again, “you know very well that I’ve never sustained a bullet wound like his.”

He raised an eyebrow, “I know you’ve been shot point blank more than once, and you’ve stitched it up like nothin’, and moved the next day.” He nodded toward my shoulder, and I narrowed my eyes. “Besides,” he smiled, adding a little volume to his voice, “Ren can handle a simple scouting mission, right Ren?” He looked over, and Ren nodded. “Alright,” Dale said turning to the group, “this looks like an okay place for the night, but we’re leaving first thing in the morning.” He looked at me, before continuing, “Ky, Ren, Alex and I will go check it out. Given the large area, we’ll need to up our watch groups this evening.”

Ren approached my side, but I quickly moved away from him. I hadn’t really spoken to him since that night, “you and Dale can take one end, Alex and I’ll take the other.” He kept his expression steady, though I could tell it didn’t please him. He just nodded. I looked at the larger group, “stay here, Whitney’s in charge, and you don’t come down until I give the go ahead.” I gave the command and the four of us went down toward the open cabins. We got down and I looked at them. I looked at Dale and Ren, then pointed, “start at that end, Alex and I will start at this end, we’ll meet in the middle. Make sure to clear each cabin, if you run into trouble, make sure to yell a cabin number. This end,” I pointed, “is one and that end is eight.” Everyone nodded to confirm, and we headed toward our designated starting point.

I kicked open the door for the first cabin, then nodded for Alex to go ahead of me. “Clear,” he said, and I entered. It was small, still had the bunks from before the crash, four beds in total. There were two smaller rooms at the end of each cabin, a bathroom and one that looked like extra storage. There was another door at the end. I assumed each cabin would have a similar makeup. Alex looked at me as we cleared the first, “surprised you opted to be with me, not Ren.” I said nothing as we moved to the next cabin, but he continued, “especially since he’s still weak, figured you’d want to make sure nothing happens to him.”

I pushed open the second door, “Dale’s with him.”

I looked at him, nodding for him to go in first again. Still didn’t feel comfortable having Alex follow me with a rifle in hand. He raised his eyebrow, before moving forward into the empty cabin, “still don’t trust me?”

I maintained my ambivalent expression as I followed him in, “we’re not here to talk, let’s just clear these as fast as we can.”

We moved out of the cabin and to the next, “how long was it before you began trusting him?”

“Dale,” I raised my eyebrow, “not long, I’d been meetin’ with him well before he left the PCD and joined my people.”

“I meant, Ren,” he said as he peaked into one of the two small rooms. I said nothing. I was long tired of this line of questioning by this point, I poked my head into the other room. It was empty. “Was it the day you met him?”

I raised my eyebrow, “I voted against him.”

He mimicked my expression, “so how long?”

“Haven’t you asked me about this before?” He gave me a look. I hadn’t answered his question, yet. I held his gaze, “I don’t know, didn’t really time it.”

He was quiet as we finished clearing the third cabin and then I heard it. “Ky,” Dale yelled, “cabin six, help.” I shook my head and looked at him, before I ran over to cabin six. I came through the front door and found Ren on the ground, with two guns on him and two more gunmen, with their rifles pointed at Dale. I walked into the room, holding my rifle tight, with my eyes focused on the two with guns on Ren.

“Ky,” Ren said, “don’t trust Dale, he knocked me out from behind.” One of the gunmen hit him with their rifle and I glanced at Dale.

“Sorry, Ky,” he turned his rifle on me.

“What the fuck, Dale,” I said as I kept my guard up, now two guns on Ren and three on me. I let out a deep breath, “what could you possibly get out of this?”

“I’ve guaranteed his life, the dissolution of his warrant, and the safety of his family,” Alex walked through the back door with his rifle and two more gunmen, “all in exchange for you.” I glanced around the room, keeping my eye steady and then he went on, “you could try to shoot your way out of this, but my men have been ordered to shoot loverboy in the head at the first sign of hostility.” He walked closer and pointed his gun at Ren, “but if you wanna try, I’d actually really like to do it myself.” I took a deep breath trying to assess the situation and Ren made a move, but only got another blow to the back, “stay down, Ren, you’re my bargaining chip,” Alex smirked, “wouldn’t want to lose you before I get my prize.”

He struggled and then looked at me, “Ky, you can get out of this, one casualty for the sake of the rest.”

I sighed, “I surrender, and you don’t touch him?” Alex nodded. I raised my eyebrow, “and my people?”

“My orders are to bring you in at all costs, just you,” he said, “you surrender, and we leave your people alone, you have my word, but you make this hard and I can’t guarantee anything.” I tossed my gun forward.

“Ky, you can’t,” Ren said.

I let out a deep breath, “you said it, Ren, one casualty to save the rest.” I looked over at Alex, “besides, they won’t kill me, right?”

Alex smiled, “my orders are to bring you in alive if I can, but my superiors know the situation.”

I looked at Dale, “I understand why you did it and I forgive you, your family comes first, and I wouldn’t have you compromising that, but if you came to me, I could have gotten you out of this.” I then looked at Ren, who was shaking his head. He didn’t agree with my decision. “Ren, I’m trusting you,” I looked at him, “with the lives of my people, take care of them, make sure that they get to safety. That is your primary concern.” He shook his head and I gave him a stern look, “Ren, please, give me your word that they will be your priority in my absence.” I shook my head, “nothing else.”

“No,” he looked at me.

“I’m not gonna fight,” I looked at him, “I told you that I didn’t want anything worse to happen to you and I meant that, but I need you to make those people your priority, I need to know they’re in good hands.” He let out a deep breath and then nodded. I then turned toward Alex, putting my hands up, “I surrender.”

He approached me with a cocky grin, “never thought it’d be so easy to take down the infamous Kyla Danes.”

I scoffed, “your job’s just begun.”

He smiled and then ordered one of his men to bind me. “Make sure it's tight,” he said, “wouldn’t want her getting’ away.” Then he looked down and started taking my belt off. He tossed it aside, “you won’t need that.” He then found my knives, “or these.” Then he eyed me, “anything else I should know about?”

“Even without weapons, I’m more than you can handle,” I looked at him.

“Oh,” he looked down at me, “I think I can handle you just fine.” I rolled my eyes and then he looked at his men, “cuff those two to that pipe and knock ‘em out, wouldn’t want anyone to follow us.” I watched as they did what they were told and then he had his men push me toward the back door. “Make sure to keep your guns on her,” he ordered, “I know she doesn’t look like much, but everything you’ve heard about her is true.” I saw a few men pulling a boat out from the bushes and I cursed myself for not seeing it earlier. We got on the boat and I was pushed down to a seat and just glared at Alex as we moved from the shore. “You know,” he sat in front of me, “I didn’t know how I was gonna do this. I mean I’d heard you had a soft spot for children.”

“I suppose Luca wasn’t yours,” I said.

He shrugged, “caught him and his family a while back, promised him we wouldn’t kill his family if he played along.” I kept my gaze on him and he smiled, “it was an easy in, I mean, I lost some men in the process, but they knew the risk. Then I had to figure out your weakness. At first, I thought that you were probably starved for attention, so unpersonable that no one would possibly want to get close. Didn’t take long to figure out that you and Ren had a thing.”

I shook my head, “if you figured that out, why the hell would you still try to get close?”

“No one told me how attractive you were,” he smirked at me, “I wouldn’t of minded seducing you, in fact,” he put his hand on my leg, “I wouldn’t mind doing a few other things to you.” He moved his hand and I kicked my leg toward him. He caught it and threw it back down with a smirk, “don’t worry, I like them feisty.”

“You can’t touch me,” I glared at him.

“I’m in charge, honey,” he smiled, “I can do whatever I want with you.”

I raised my eyebrow, “your orders came from someone, someone who is above your head, and I’m sure I know exactly who signed my warrant.”

He laughed, “yeah, the same man who left his men with orders to rape and kill you.” He shook his head, “really think he cares what condition you come in? The only reason he wants you alive is cuz he thinks you might be useful,” he looked at me, “not because he actually cares about you.” I wasn’t going to let him affect me. We sat in silence for a little bit and then he smiled, “you know, your feelings for Ren made you weak.”

“Then you made a huge mistake taking me away from him,” I kept his gaze.