by Ryan Casey
Jack saw that smile again and he knew this was no ordinary conversation. It was an interrogation.
And he was going to have to start talking, or this wasn’t going to end well.
But there was something else bothering him. “The man you saw in the woods. The one with his throat cut. That wasn’t you?”
Yuri frowned. “It wasn’t us. Of course it wasn’t us. What—”
“And the smoke,” Jack said. “The shout.”
Yuri looked bewildered. Then, his eyes lit up, just a little. “You’ve really no idea what kind of people lurk around your farm at night, have you? Be grateful you ran into us and not them. ’Cause if you’d run into them, you wouldn’t even be alive to argue your case right now.”
Jack’s heart raced. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Could it be possible? More groups? More threatening groups than Logan’s and Yuri’s just waiting out there to strike?
“I did whatever I did to protect my people,” Jack said. “Whether you like the way I did it or not… whether I like the way I did it or not… I did it. And here we are. Here’s where it got us.”
Yuri stared on. It was at that point Jack realised he had a sharpened spear in his hand. He was pointing it at him.
Jack spoke on. “But right now, more important than anything else… we’ve got a deal to make. A transfer to make. I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious but we need to get this girl beside my son back to her people by midday. If we don’t… well, I don’t even want to think about what it might mean.”
Yuri’s smile widened. “If I told you you’ve been unconscious a couple of days, what would you say?”
Jack’s stomach sank. “I… It can’t be—”
“I’m just messing with you,” he said, laughing. A few of his people laughed too. “Ah, Jack. Wayne here’s told me a lot about you. He’s told me all about this deal of yours, too. This exchange. And you know what? I think we might be interested. I think we could help you.”
Jack frowned. “What?”
“That farm of yours. It’s a nice place. A real nice place. I think we could use some of it ourselves.”
Jack shook his head. “Not a chance.”
“You should hear me out first before you make bold statements like that.”
Jack held his breath. He was shaking.
Yuri leaned closer, spear in hand. “We’ve spent a lot of time out here, living alone. Surviving in the wild. Trading. Doing deals with those willing to talk. But then we ran into your lot, and oh boy, let’s just say you’ve landed on your feet with that home of yours. We might’ve been willing to do business. Might’ve been willing to talk. But we want something else; now we’ve got a chance to talk properly, face to face. You let us join your farm. We’ll do our bit. But we want the farmhouse. You… We’ll find somewhere for you to stay. You can keep on working, too. Think of it as a reward. Compensation for the shit that’s gone down between us. Might even let you borrow a mattress in the barn between you, if we’re feeling generous.”
A few more laughs from Yuri’s people.
Jack gritted his teeth. He looked up, saw the sun getting closer to the midpoint.
And then he looked at Wayne and he shook his head.
“You shouldn’t have run,” he said. “We could’ve avoided this. We could’ve…”
And then he stopped.
He remembered why they’d even ended up in this mess in the first place.
“You shouldn’t have run,” Jack said. “But I shouldn’t have shot Jean either. I’m sorry for that. And I don’t blame you for trying something other than what I was proposing. I realise how that was difficult for you to take. For both of you to take.”
Wayne looked back at him. His eyes were tearful.
Out of nowhere, Yuri clapped.
“Wow,” he said. “Wow, folks. Isn’t that sweet? A real father-son bonding moment. A proper reunion, hmm?”
And then he launched his spear right to Wayne’s throat.
Jack lunged forward instinctively, but was pulled back by the ties around the tree.
Yuri held that spear tip to Wayne’s throat.
He looked right at Jack.
“This is what happens when you don’t compromise,” he said. “This is what happens when you can’t come to agreements with other people. When you can’t do business.”
He moved the spear tip further into the skin of Wayne’s neck. Blood started to trickle down towards his T-shirt.
“Please—”
“You know our terms,” Yuri said. “The farm. We want it.”
He moved that spear further into Wayne’s throat, and Jack felt all his defences dropping.
“Okay,” Jack said.
Yuri halted. The men around him glared at Jack.
“What was that?”
Jack stared at the ground before him. “I’m sorry. The farm. It’s… it’s yours. Take it. Take it all. Take everything you need to. Just… just don’t hurt my son. Please don’t hurt my son.”
Jack looked up.
But his eyes didn’t meet the bald man’s.
They met Wayne’s.
A tear fell down Wayne’s cheek.
And for the first time Jack could remember in so many years, Wayne didn’t look back at him with hate.
“Don’t hurt my boy.”
Yuri sighed. He pulled that spear away.
“Shame,” he said. “I was looking forward to using this thing.”
He lifted it. Examined it.
And then he turned it to Candice. “Still. I guess there’s still a chance to test it out.”
He launched the spear at Candice’s neck.
Time stood still.
Everything went still.
The spear hurtled towards Candice’s throat.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jack watched Yuri’s spear inch towards Candice’s neck and for a moment, he thought everything was over.
Time slowed down. He saw the surprise in Candice’s eyes. He saw the fear growing on Wayne’s face as he screamed out behind the tape. He saw everything unfolding, piece by piece, step by step, and he wanted to jump in and stop it. He wanted to prevent it. He wanted to—
A blast.
A blast from nowhere.
And then another.
Jack didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t know where the shots were coming from.
Just that they were firing towards Yuri and his people.
Yuri stood there for a few seconds, spear wobbling. He looked around as his friends all backed away, as their resolve slipped.
And then Jack saw someone appear out of the trees and he felt a jolt of excitement and pride fill his body.
Hazel was standing there. Rifle in hand.
Villain and Mrs Fuzzles were by her side, like a scene from some kind of far-fetched movie.
But shit did it look badass.
She stood there a few seconds. Looked at Jack, at Candice, at Wayne. But mostly at Wayne.
Yuri looked back at her. Spear in hand. Surprise on his face. The tables had been turned. He thought he had control, thought he was in power.
And now, suddenly, that had been taken from him.
He looked around at Candice and he went to move his spear towards her once again.
“Don’t you dare,” Hazel said. She pointed that rifle at him. Her hands shaking. Then she turned to his companions. “Drop your weapons. All of you. Or I’ll gun every one of you down. And don’t think I won’t.”
The four men on the ground, sheltering from the bullets, were all still. Two of them held their spears. Two held their rifles, pointed at Hazel.
Yuri stared on. Spear in hand.
“Drop them,” Hazel said, laser focus in her eyes. “Now. There doesn’t have to be any bloodshed. Please.”
Yuri looked around at Jack.
And Jack knew how risky this was.
Yuri could nod his head and order his people to put them all down immediately.
&n
bsp; But he did something else.
He shook his head and sighed.
“I would never have hurt her,” he said. “We do deals with people, not slaughter people. What good is a dead girl to us? But go on, guys. Prove it. Drop ’em. No need for any bloodshed.”
His people all dropped their weapons, somewhat reluctantly.
They knew their time was up.
Jack could tell that Hazel wasn’t comfortable with any of this. But at least now she’d see. Sometimes, you had to do things you weren’t comfortable with to survive in this dangerous world. Sometimes, you had to do things you never thought you were capable of, even if they seemed like the worst things imaginable.
He wanted her to finish Yuri and his people off. To eliminate the threat.
He could see her teetering closer to it.
And then he found himself saying something he never expected.
“Don’t,” he said.
Hazel looked at him. So too did Yuri.
“Don’t do it,” Jack said. “Just… just let us free. We need to get… There’s still time. To get to Logan. To finish this.”
He could see the look of protestation on Hazel’s face. “Haven’t we been through enough today already?”
“I wish it were as simple as that,” Jack said. “But you need to let us free. We… we can still act. I have a plan. An idea. Something different we can try.”
“You’ll never forgive yourself if you put me and my people down,” Yuri muttered. There were more people on their knees, weapons on the ground now, awaiting a fate that seemed inevitable. “You’ll never sleep at night.”
“Just cut us free, Hazel,” Jack said. “I’ll keep my eye on this lot.”
Hazel moved over to Wayne and cut her son free, removing the tape from his mouth. She hugged him, held him, then moved on to Candice, and then finally to Jack.
“Thank you,” Jack whispered. “I know that wasn’t easy. But thank you.”
She didn’t say anything in return. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting.
Jack stood, then. He grabbed one of the fallen spears from the ground. Wayne was holding one of the fallen rifles now, pointing it between the men. Five of them. Enough to be a problem. Enough to be a threat.
Jack put the spear to Yuri’s neck. He wanted to cut his throat. To eliminate this threat, and get on with the exchange with Logan. He knew there was going to be pushback, especially since Wayne and Candice had escaped. He knew there were conversations to be had.
But that was a whole other battle in itself.
It was irrelevant right now.
Yuri perched on his knees. He looked up at Jack, beads of sweat dripping down his face. “We’re not bad people,” he said. “We’re survivors. Just like you—”
“Shut up.”
But Yuri didn’t. “We lost our families. Escaped the city. Made our way out here. We didn’t mean to fall into this life. It just kind of… happened. It seemed like the better way. Profiting from others rather than doing the work ourselves. We were strong. We were a unit. Now we’re just… broken. We have to trade. We have to appear strong. ’Cause it’s all we have left.”
“If you want me to sympathise, you’re going to have to do better.”
“I’m not asking for your sympathy,” Yuri said. “I’m just asking for your mercy.”
“Mercy? I think you gave up that right when you tied us up and threatened to kill us.”
“We would never have gone through with that.”
“Easy for you to say that now.”
Yuri shook his head. “Like I said. We do deals. We… negotiate. Find ways to get the best deals for ourselves. Up to now, it’s worked. But it looks like our actions have finally caught up with us, hmm?”
Jack scanned these people, kneeling there, lined up. He looked at Candice, Wayne, Hazel. At Villain and Mrs Fuzzles.
And then he looked back at Yuri. “Have you got any last words?”
Yuri shook his head. “I did what I had to do. I made some mistakes, sure. But I don’t regret it. I don’t regret a thing. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Jack nodded. Pushed that spear closer to Yuri’s throat. “Good.”
Yuri’s eyes widened, just for a moment.
And then Jack pulled the spear away and braced himself to do something he really didn’t want to do—but something he knew he had to do.
“I want to make a deal with you,” he said.
Yuri frowned. So too did Hazel and Wayne.
“What?”
“You said you do deals with people. Well here you go. Let’s do a deal.”
He found his heart pounding as he got closer to offering this deal. His chest tightening. This went against what he did. It went against what he was comfortable with.
But he saw an opportunity before him.
A chance to make a difference.
“What do you want?” Yuri asked.
Jack smiled. “You said… you said you wanted our farm,” he said, struggling with every word. “Well you can stay in the barns. You can work. And… and you can have a cut of what we produce.”
“Jack?” Hazel said.
He spoke over her. “But you don’t bother us again. You don’t try to bite the hand that feeds. We’re allies. That’s how it happens. An allegiance.”
Yuri’s eyes narrowed. He looked both surprised and suspicious. “What’s the catch?”
Jack took a deep breath and looked around at the rifles on show. “We have a job for you. A very important job. Are you interested?”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Logan watched the sun creep past its highest point and he knew the time for waiting was up.
It was a gorgeous, suffocating day. The heat was intense, and sweat dripped down his face. He stood in the neutral ground between the place they’d been camping and the farm and he watched for signs of life.
But still there was nothing.
No movement whatsoever.
An opportunity.
He looked at Emma and saw the resignation plastered across her face. He looked around at Bella. She looked much the same.
He knew they’d all come to the same conclusion.
For whatever reason, the exchange wasn’t going ahead.
Which meant they had to make their move.
“Time’s up,” Logan said.
Emma shook her head. “Just a bit longer.”
“We can’t keep saying that. We’ve waited. We’ve met your deadline. There’s nobody there. Either that or… or there is somebody there and they’re planning something.”
“I just… I don’t think he’d do this. He seemed serious. Like he really wanted things to work.”
Logan looked at Emma. “Me too. But we have to look at what’s in front of us. Jack killed one of our people. He doesn’t trust us. He has Candice. He has the upper ground right now. We can’t let him keep it. We need to make a move.”
Emma opened her mouth, like she was on the verge of protesting.
Then she just shook her head. “I don’t want to be a part of this.”
Logan walked over to her. “It’s not ideal. But that farm… once we get it, we can change. We can do things differently.”
“It’s not ours.”
“And it’s not Jack’s either. You think he lived there before? You think he just walked up there, knocked on the door and moved in with the farmer? That’s not how things work, Emma. He took that place, probably by force. And he’d do the same again. That’s what we have to be willing to do if we want to be safe. Even if it’s not comfortable.”
“But it’s not about the farm, is it?”
Logan looked away. “Emma—”
“It’s about Jack. It’s about what he took from us. It’s about you wanting revenge over him. The farm’s just an excuse. The exchange… it was never going to go ahead like he said. Was it?”
“Of course it was—”
“Don’t lie,” she said. “You’ve already lied to me before. You sound the
same as you did then.”
Logan knew the mask had well and truly slipped now. There was no hiding his true face from Emma anymore.
“I’ve only ever wanted the best for you,” he said. “For all of us. I’m sorry you’ve got caught up in this. I’m sorry for the things you’ve had to witness. But I’m not sorry for trying to get the best for our people.”
He looked at Bella.
Then he looked back at the farm.
“It’s time to make our move.”
He walked towards the farm. Walked out into the open, rifle in hand. He could hear flies buzzing all around him. The smell of dried manure clung to his nostrils.
Every step he took, he scanned his surroundings. He felt like he was being watched.
But nothing was happening.
There was still no movement.
He kept on walking.
He heard footsteps behind. When he looked back, he saw Emma and Bella following him.
“You should hold back,” he said. “Keep your heads down.”
“Logan—”
“It might not be safe. You should wait until I’ve searched this place. Until I’ve scanned it for myself. It’s not safe out here.”
But Emma didn’t stop walking.
Neither did Bella.
Logan saw what she was doing.
What they were both doing.
Emma was putting herself out in the open—putting herself in danger—to try and deter Logan.
He stopped. Turned and stood up to her. “Emma, go back.”
“I won’t go back.”
“It’s for your own safety. No playing games. Go back.”
“Why can’t you just trust them?” she shouted.
Her voice echoed across the field.
Logan was silent.
“Why can’t you just take them by their word? Why can’t you just… why can’t you just get over your past?”
“Emma—”