World in Tatters Ch. 21

Once Bertrand is out of sight, I cross the clearing and head off to find Alice. She didn’t go too far. I find her sitting against the trunk of a large tree uprooted by last night’s storm. Looks like she’s been crying, but she’s stopped now. She pulls her knees up to her chest, resting her chin atop.

“Hey.” I walk over to her and take a seat on an outcropping from the trunk.

“Hi.” She answers weakly.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah…”

I slip down to the ground next to her, wrapping my arm around her. She leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry…I know you two are close. I can’t imagine what’s going through your head.”

“Feels a lot like when you left actually.” She nudges into me, a smile and slight chuckle escaping her lips. Good to see she’s keeping her humor.

The two of us sit there for a long moment, taking in the warm morning air. “I know it’s rough, but we really need to get going.”

“I know we do.” She seems almost disappointed having to get up.

I stand up, offering my hand to out to her. With a smirk, she smacks it away. Once she’s up, we head back to the clearing where the others have been waiting. Alice keeps her face turned away from everyone, presumably so they can’t see the redness in her eyes. She quickly mounts her horse and rides off.

When she’s far enough away, she turns back to us, shouting through the trees. “Y’all coming?”

*****

The five of us ride hard for the next few hours. It’d be faster to take the main road between the cities. We’d probably have made it into Hattiesburg by now if we had, but the main road is far too populated. Plus there are armed checkpoints all through there. Instead, we try to stick to some of the old back roads to make for more private, if slightly rougher travel.

We’ve gotten pretty lucky so far today. We’ve only encountered a couple of other travelers. No one bothers us as we thunder through the countryside. About an hour or so outside the city, we decide it’s time to take a break. We find a small clearing just off the path.

I’m sure the horses are grateful for it. We find a little creek to water them. While Rachel, Alice, and Chris tend to the horses, Jason pulls me aside, out of earshot of the others.

“What’s the plan here?” Jason seems agitated. “Steven, you’re leading us into a potential trap. Please tell me you have a plan.”

“Actually…I don’t. I was hoping to figure it out on the way here, but no. I don’t know enough about the city to really plan anything. I just know that someone here has some answers.”

“Seriously? So, what? You just gonna wing it?”

“Yeah, probably. I mean, I know that I need to get to some government officials. Who will then, in turn either give us the information we need or direct us to the people who can. I know the city isn’t walled like Picayune. So if we’re careful, we can get into the city around nightfall without much trouble.”

“We’re going with you this time. I’m not waiting around while you and Alice go gallivanting.”

“You’re right.”

“Wait, you’re not protesting? That’s not like you.”

“Think of it as…precautionary.” I drop the snarky tone, turning almost grim. “Truth be told…This time, I think it would be more dangerous to leave you all behind. We’ll get a room in the city, as close to city hall as possible. I’m sure there’s plenty of inns around.”

“This is not a smart move, Steven. Just watch. We’re going to get caught. You, Rachel, Alice, Chris, and I are gonna get caught by those spec ops guys who attacked you. They’re gonna catch us, and probably kill us. You know that right?”

“Probably. But, we’ve always gotten ourselves out of trouble before. And, now we have Alice on our team.” Seeing Jason’s demeanor change away from his lighthearted banter to truly deep concern. “Seriously. We’ll be alright. We’ll be careful.”

Becoming genuinely agitated, “Steven. How can you be careful, if you have…No. Idea. What. You’re. Doing.”

“Well…I…”

“That was rhetorical.” Without another word, Jason storms off.

Suddenly, Rachel appears behind me, almost making me jump. “What’s his problem?”

“Jason? He’s just upset that I don’t have a plan. And that that in turn will likely get us all killed while still having no idea who is after us, or why.”

“Oh…wimp.” Rachel holds a piece of something up to her mouth, taking a bite. “Jerky?”

“Sure.”

“But, you are going to come up with something, right?”

“Really? You too? Jeez! Why am I always the one who has to come up with the plans?”

I know I hate to admit it, but they are right. At least with Picayune, we had some sort of a plan. I know it wasn’t much of one, but it was a plan. I usually have a plan. Planning usually goes well for me. I like having a plan. The problem is, I don’t have enough information. I really need to think of something.

We were able to get some coin from selling off the spare horses. That should get us a place to stay for a couple nights. But what do we do once we’re there? Who do we talk to? Where do we go?

“Hey.” A small voice approaches from behind me. I turn to find Chris standing before me.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“I…um…” The boy hesitates. “I overheard you and Jason.”

“Ah. I see. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to get him worked up.”

“It’s not about that…It’s… I want to help. You helped me out the other day. I…wanted to return the favor.”

“O…kay? I appreciate that, but unless you have some Consortium connections up your sleeves, I don’t know how you can. Hell, I don’t even know what I need.”

Chris is hesitant, but I can see the wheels turning in his mind. “About that… I may not have told you everything about me…”

“I mean I figured that, but…” It took me a moment, but I remembered something Chris told me. “Oh, yeah. You’re from around here, aren’t you? You’re telling me you know someone who can help?”

“You could say that.”

“You said y’all lived in a cabin outside the city.”

“And that’s true. Mostly.”

“Man, I don’t really have time or patience for vague and cryptic. Speak plainly.” My tone isn’t angry or agitated. I’m just trying to gently nudge him to get to the point.

“Sorry…”

“No time or patience for sorry either. Come on. Let’s walk and talk.” I put my hand on the boy’s shoulder, prodding him to join me as I lead us away from the others. “Now, tell me. What’s up?”

“I just want you to know, I didn’t lie to you about anything. Everything I’ve already told you is true. There’s just… more.”

“I figured there would be. Hard to learn everything about a person in just a couple days.”

Chris paces the ground in front of me, clearly hesitant to share his past. “I told you about the cabin with my family.”

“Mom, dad and siblings as I recall.”

“Yeah…well…Stepdad, as it turns out. My whole life I had no idea he wasn’t my father. I didn’t know my real dad. Didn’t even know who he was. Not until a couple years ago.” His frantic tone turns somber. “I left the day after my mom told me the truth. My fifteenth birthday. I think my brothers knew too. They’re older than me. I think they knew all along.”

“I assume, based on the fact that you’re telling me this, that your father is someone who can help?”

“Something like that. He’d never do it willingly.” Anger seeping into his voice. “He’s the one who had me sold.”

“Oh…I see. Chris, that’s horrible. I mean, we’ve all been through some rough stuff, but I can’t even imagine what that’s like…” I hesitate, not wanting to belittle his confession, but confusion and curiosity overtake me. “But I still don’t understand. How does it relate to our current problem?”

“My father…” His words are almost a hiss. “Is an advisor to the Consul of the Hattiesburg Consortium.”

His words hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s a hell of a coincidence, but if it’s true, what then? The wheels in my head start racing like crazy. I mean, if we could get to one of the advisors, or better yet, the Consul, we could get at least get some of the bad guys off our backs. Clearly Chris is not on good terms with his father, so asking for help is out of the question. So what? What can we do to get to him? I don’t even know wh—

“He raped my mother. When I left home, I tried to confront him. I found out where he lives. I got caught while trying to break in, and when I told his guards who I was…That bastard had me sold. Got rid of me just like that. He couldn’t even look me in the face first.”

“Again that’s horr…wait…You…know where he lives?”

“Yeah.”

“You know how to get in?”

“Well…Sort of. Did you miss the part where I got caught?”

“No, that did not escape me. But you have help this time.”

“Yeah…That’s why I brought it up. I thought if you could get to him, you might at least get some of your answers.”

“Well…you may be right. I guess we have ourselves a plan now. Or at least, the beginning of one… But you know, the others are going to ask questions. For this to work, you’re going to have to tell them something. Even if you don’t, they’re smart. They’re going to find out about your past. Well, some of it anyway.”

“I know…but I need to help you. Like you helped me…”

“Chris. You don’t owe me anything. If you think about it, helping you was only a side effect of helping my family. Don’t get me wrong. I am happy that we were able to get you out of a bad situation, but it wasn’t our original intent. You don’t owe us.”

“Maybe not,” He turns a sly smile up at me. “But you don’t have any other plan. Look, Alice already knows a lot of my past, and Jason’s been kind to me these last few days. Your sister’s been… well…Anyway, my point is that I want to help you. If that means I need to tell them everything, so be it.”

“Alright, then. Let’s get everyone.” I clap him lightly on the shoulder, leading him back to where the others care for their horses. “Hey, everybody. I think we have something to discuss. I think Chris and I have come up with a plan.”

“Him?” jeers Rachel, “What the hell does he know?”

“A lot, actually…I’ll just let him explain.”

Chris was hesitant at first, but after a moment, he found his voice. “I have a way to get the information you guys are looking for. And hopefully get the special ops guys off your backs. My…uh…my father is our way in.”

“Your father?” I really don’t get why Rachel is so standoffish with him. “And who exactly is he?”

“An advisor to The…The Consul of Hattiesburg.”

“WHAT?! Why are you just now telling us this?!” Rachel looks like she’s about to throttle the boy. Jason looks shocked, but keeps quiet. Alice turns her eyes to the ground. By the expression on her face, she just had a suspicion confirmed.

“Because it’s complicated.” I interject. “And you’re not exactly the friendliest person. Now pipe down. Let him finish.”

Rachel fumes, shooting daggers at me, but she stays quiet after. Chris slowly gets back into it, explaining some of his past in order to get the others to understand. When he tells them about what his father did to his mom, Rachel’s demeanor softens. She even appears ashamed. After that, she can’t look Chris in the eye.

Once everyone is up to speed on the background, we start to discuss an actual plan. This plan is going to take some time. Time we may not have a lot of.

We decide that after sundown tonight, we’ll make our way to an inn on the outskirts of the city. Chris told us about one that’s not far from his father’s place. We’ll stay the night there, out of sight. In the morning, we’ll do some scouting around the compound. Chris has offered to help me out with that. Tomorrow night, we’ll get in there and talk to the man himself.

It’s risky. Maybe even more risky than helping the resistance back in Picayune. But this time, we’ll actually have a direct line to someone with actual authority, and hopefully some helpful information. The security is going to be tricky, but I think we can do it.

I hope we can do it.