Banished

"Ngggh," Francesca groaned, as she stretched and let out a tired yawn.

I smirked, as it was the second time in the last minute.

"Admit it. You're sleepy," I stated flatly, but she shook her head with defiance.

"Am not," she shot back, and I regarded her child-like resistance with curiosity.

Just a few short hours ago, I was marveling at how quickly she'd matured, but two hours of drowsiness and-

"I'm not tired. You're tired!" she asserted, reaching at my face, and I swatted her hand away playfully.

-the child in her was alive once more.

"That's it. Time for bed," I chided, and she pouted, but as another yawning sigh slipped from her lips, I could see her resistance dissolving.

"Fine. But only if you carry me."

She winked exaggeratedly, and I rolled my eyes, as I reached for her hand, and hoisted her up to her feet.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, then giggled, and I placed a hand on her shoulder, and guided her to an empty blanket, and as soon as she lay down, she was fast asleep.

I stroked her hair, studying her, as soft little sighs came from her partially open lips.

She really didn't want to leave me alone with Cameron, did she,

I thought, with some amusement.

I made sure that she settled in, before turning to Cameron.

Nolan had barely lasted an hour, and though I was supposed to wake her when he went to sleep, I opted to let her get the extra rest, which I knew she sorely needed; but as I approached her sleeping form now, an interesting experiment came to mind.

I reached for the back of my shirt, and unbuckled the belt, on which hung the hunting knife that I'd relieved Nolan of, then crept upon her sleeping form.

I paused, making sure that she was out cold, then slowly, gently, I shook her awake.

"Hey," I whispered, as her eyes fluttered open, and as I held the weapon out to her, her eyes flashed quickly between it and me in a moment of panic, before she came to her senses.

"That is

not

funny," she croaked, her voice still gruff in its post sleep state.

"Tell that to the look on your face," I teased, and she grabbed the knife.

"Fucking psychopath," she cursed, shoving me in the chest, but as I fell backwards, smiling, I noticed that she was smiling, despite herself.

"You scared the shit out of me," she complained, but I was unapologetic, and for all of her complaints, she still had a huge grin on her face.

She buckled the knife belt on, then hid it under her t-shirt, as she rubbed at her eyes.

"I look like a mess, don't I?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Can't exactly expect you to wake up from two-hour naps looking like sleeping beauty, can I?" I replied, and she sighed.

"A simple yes would have sufficed."

As Cameron fixed her medium length, dirty blonde hair into a pony-tail, I couldn't help but note that this look, although simple, quite perfectly suited her.

"You look fine," I offered, and as she looked over at me, half-expecting my comment to be in jest, she seemed suddenly taken aback by the sincerity in my eyes.

"Uh, thanks," she replied, quickly looking away. "So, what's the plan?"

I turned my gaze away from her, and to the now sleeping, injured guest, that we'd more or less left unattended for the night.

"We talk to her," I answered.

***

"Time to wake up, sleeping beauty," I called, and Cameron rolled her eyes as I glanced, subtly, in her direction.

"Ugh," the girl groaned, clutching her injured arm, as she stirred.

But as she looked up, her eyes met my own, and she slumped back down with a groan.

"Are you here to kill me, finally?" she asked, and I let out a sigh.

"Look, I'm not gonna hurt you," I offered, and she shot me a dubious look.

"Wait, you're not?" Cameron cut in, her tone of confusion so perfectly delivered, that for a moment, even I felt genuinely confused. "I thought we were gonna..."

She quickly looked away, as if she'd accidentally jumped the gun, but our captor seemed unperturbed.

"I know he's not gonna kill me until he gets what he wants," she countered, folding her hands, and stifling a grimace. "He's not gonna kill any of us; not until our usefulness has expired."

"Look, I think we're getting off on the wrong foot here. How about we start with something simple, like your name?" I asked.

It seemed like a pretty harmless request, yet the girl angrily gnashed her teeth at me.

"I'm not giving you

anything

," she growled.

I sighed, and she immediately turned to Cameron.

"You need to understand. Everything they do is an act of manipulation. He'll act nice, ask all sorts of thoughtful questions, but that's all it is. An act. A show. To get what he wants."

I was about to signal for a strategic retreat, but Cameron shot me a look that said 'hold on'.

"He's trying to be nice, but I'm going to be blunt. If you don't tell us how you were injured, we're going to have to assume that whoever hurt you, is still looking for you, and eventually they're going to track you to here. So, we'll have no choice but to pack up, and leave what seems to be a pretty good starting base, and find somewhere else safe to camp out. Now trust me when I say that if it comes to that, I am gonna to tie you to that fucking console and leave you to the mercy of whichever otherworlder ends up wandering back here first. So, is it gonna be that, or are you gonna talk?"

The girl stared at Cameron for a moment, seemingly defiant, but the subtle shaking in her hands was unmistakable.

Cameron signaled to me, then stood up to leave when-

"Casey," her voice finally came, shaking slightly. "My name is Casey."

Cameron nodded, and we made a quick retreat from her space.

"I might be a psychopath, but you are fucking terrifying," I whispered, as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Thanks!" Cameron replied, a huge smile on her face. "I have to say, that was exhilarating," she confessed, a veritable hop in her step, and I studied her with curiosity.

"Can't say I know what you mean."

She stopped, and studied me, questioningly.

"You've never threatened anyone?"

I shook my head.

"Scout's honor," I replied, raising a hand, and she smirked.

"You know, I'm starting to doubt your psychopath credentials. Are you one of those 'be all quiet, then just go berserk on some random person one day' psychopaths?"

"I'm not sure that's a psychopath," I replied, with some amusement, and Cameron rolled her eyes at me.

"Should we wake Jordan?" I asked, and Cameron glanced over at him.

"I dunno. I'm still pretty beat, and he got just about as much sleep as I did."

I nodded.

"Okay, well just watch her for a sec. I wanna see how it looks outside."

I quickly opened up the panel, then cautiously stepped out, and after a few short minutes, I was back inside.

"That was quick," Cameron noted.

"No lights, and there's no sign of a moon, so it's a pretty dark night. Although, there might not even be one here... I dunno, but I haven't been able to make out any stars in the sky that I recognize."

"Looking for stars?" Cameron asked, and I nodded.

"It'll help when we start moving around, for navigation, and even telling time, I think. I'm not big on astronomy though, so I don't know if I'm even looking in the right places."

"You know, I think Jordan's pretty big on stargazing. Maybe we can ask him?"

"Is he now? I'm not even gonna ask how that came up in conversation, but yeah, I guess we can get him to take a look sometime."

I stifled a yawn, and Cameron shot me a worried glance.

"Need to get some sleep?" she asked, and I sighed.

"It depends. You and I have an important mission today, so we need to synchronize our waking hours."

"Oh? Do we, now?"

I walked over to the console, which thankfully, displayed a sort of clock, that we'd been making use of.

"From this timer, I think we might have roughly four hours left before dawn."

"Okay."

"We need to wake through to that time, then wake the others. You and I can then sleep for about four hours, then it's time for us to head out and try to make contact with whichever locals that we can."

"Sounds good," she noted, but I could see her fidget a bit. "Actually... I could keep watch on my own, you know, and you could sleep? Four hours? After waking all night? That might not be good enough, and we're gonna need you at your best."

It was a decent suggestion, but Cameron seemed fidgety.

"That's not a bad idea," I lied, as if giving the idea some thought. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

Cameron quickly shook her head, and again, I noted her mannerism.

"Alright then," I said, as I made for the blankets, and I quickly bunched a bit of the material at my head, then lay back, keeping my head propped up by resting my hands on them.

Cameron was definitely fidgety, and as I pretended to close my eyes, I could see her casting constant, furtive glances between me and Casey.

So that's what you're thinking

, I thought.

Cameron was a smart girl, and obviously, I knew that sooner or later she'd ask Casey more about me.

Maybe about my past, or for confirmation that I was telling the truth about my own non-violent history, and I had no qualms about that because I knew my own record was impeccable.

After all, that was intentional on my part.

The thing is, I'd already planned to give her the space to have that conversation, eventually, but her actions right now were hurried. Rash.

And if she doubted me enough to act with such carelessness, then maybe she'd be susceptible to whatever Casey had to say, even if it were half-truths and twisted lies, which could be problematic.

Cameron's influence within the group was significant.

As I continued to feign restlessness, I could see Cameron was becoming impatient, and eventually she began to approach me.

"Can't fall asleep?" she asked, and I sighed, as she plopped down next to me.

"Nope."

"Want me to sing you a lullaby?" she joked, and I snickered. "Well, that's as much as you'll get out of me. I'm not gonna come cuddle with you."

"Actually," I replied shooting her a wry smile, and she shot me a mock expression of shock.

But as she looked away, nervousness creeping back into her smile, an idea came to me.

I slowly moved my hand, over to where hers rested on the ground beside me, and she shot me a questioning glance as my fingers brushed the sides of her hand.

"Do you mind?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as I could while maintaining some semblance of plausibility, and she quickly nodded, though seeming somewhat flustered.

I let my hand trace the outline of hers for a bit, before covering her hand with mine, and I quickly saw a flash of guilt cross her face, as she kept her gaze firmly cast away from me.

I let my hand move gently, in a steady rhythm, over hers, until eventually she took my hand in hers, and I let it rest there for a while, before delivering the deathblow.

"I think you should go talk to her," I mumbled, doing my best to sound half-asleep.

"What?!" she exclaimed, before quickly regaining her composure," Uh, I mean... why?"

"You made progress... before. I think you can get through to her," I continued. "Just find out where we can stay... where's safe."

I let my hand slip from hers, as I rolled over onto my side, feigning sleep, and I silently wondered if this 'peace offering' would be enough.

Cameron remained still for a while, and as she got up to leave, I rolled over again, still feigning sleep, but hoping to get a better idea of what she was doing.

At first, she seemed torn between heading straight for Casey and waiting a bit, as she turned back to check for signs that I might not be sleeping, but her hesitation quickly gave way to curiosity, and she headed over to Casey.

Casey, however, seemed agitated, and their talk quickly escalated into an argument, which quickly got heated.

I raised a head, pretending to stir at the disturbance, and Cameron shot me a panicked look.

"Is everything okay?" I mouthed at her, from across the room, and she quickly shook her head, so I rose, with some effort, and headed over to them.

As I got there, I rubbed at my eyes in a show of shaking off my sleepiness, and Casey shot me a wicked stare.

"What's wrong," I asked.

Cameron seemed momentarily flustered, and to my surprise, Casey was the one to speak.

"This idiot keeps threatening me," she spat, and I raised an eyebrow at Cameron.

This one is quick, but her lie, too obvious.

Cameron on the other hand was smart, but she really needed to work on her reactions in these clutch situations.

"Well, she wouldn't have to threaten you, if you'd be in the least bit helpful."

Casey quickly glanced at Cameron, who I noted was looking on with a helpless, pleading expression.

Play along? Is that what you're trying to tell her?

Part of me wanted to just out the plan and be done with the whole façade, but that would be a stupid move.

A word of advice to the youngsters out there; even if you're right, it doesn't matter, because unless you've got hard, physical proof to back up what you're saying, people will lie, and you'll just end up looking like the crazy one.

But... maybe there was another way to handle this.

I guess this was a good time as any to see if Casey really would 'play along'.

"At least tell us how safe it is to stay here?" I asked, and Casey's gaze, again, flickered between me and Cameron.

"It's risky," she finally answered, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"There. That wasn't so hard, now was it?" I asked, and she frowned, her expression glum. "So why exactly is it risky?"

She had a glum look on her face, as she considered the alternatives, and after a moment of deliberation, she spoke:

"There are two types of guild halls. Starting halls, and random halls. This one is a starting hall, because new otherworlders appear here. There are otherworlders, newbie hunters, we call them, that hunt new recruits for quick profits. They like to frequent starting halls like this one."

Fuck.

How many people were they sending here?

The two percent survival rate Casey mentioned had me thinking that otherworlders were fairly rare, but if there were numbers enough to go around newbie hunting, then this was way worse than I thought.

"So, where can we go? Are there places in the towns where we can stay?"

She shook her head.

"Locals hate us... fear us. You'd be lucky if they didn't attack you on sight. Otherworlders have done more terrible things to them than you can imagine."

"So, our biggest worry is others like us..."

"Others like

you

," she corrected, and I sighed.

I pulled Cameron aside, now that she'd had some time to regain her composure.

"This is worse than I thought. We need to leave here as soon as possible."

"So, what's our next move then?" Cameron replied. "Do we take our chances, and find a camping spot somewhere, away from the towns?"

"I dunno. The area outside of this hall is just open fields and sparse patches of wood; nothing to provide us with ample cover. We might have to do some serious trekking to get to a good spot, and even then, without maps, it's basically down to luck. Plus, we'll need to spend everything we have now, since we won't know when next we'll be able to have access to a guild hall."

"That sounds bad," she agreed.

"Yeah. I'd wager our odds of survival would be less than ten percent. That would have to be our absolute, last resort. We'll need to push forward with our plans. You and I need to get some sleep."

"Is this for our special mission?" she asked, and I nodded.

She bit her lip, glancing back at Casey for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

"Okay. Let's wake up Jordan. He can take the rest of the watch."

As Cameron went over to wake Jordan up, I headed over to the console to check on a few things, but as I set about my task, I noted something interesting.

Cameron was whispering something to him, and he quickly glanced in my direction, a worried expression on his face.

Star gazing,

I thought, suddenly remembering my earlier conversation with Cameron.

I'd suspected that there was a connection between Cameron, Nolan, and Jordan; but now I was certain.

Judging from Jordan's reaction, though, maybe he wasn't entirely a lost cause, but I'd have to remember to be careful around all three of them, nonetheless.

So... Francesca is all I have?

That's not bad. I could work with that.

Still, this was an unnecessary annoyance.

Our situation was dire enough without conspirators within the group to worry about.

Maybe I would have been better off on my own? I wondered.

I made a mental note to consider re-visiting that plan.

As Cameron came over, I noted that she was now holding a rope coil in her hand.

"Easy, cowgirl. I don't usually do the kinky stuff until at least the fourth date," I teased, and she rolled her eyes at me.

"If Jordan's gonna keep watch alone, I think we should probably tie her up. I don't want her making off in some distraction, or something," Cameron explained, and I gave a nod.

"Did that come with the survival pack?" I asked, and Cameron responded with a quick nod.

Casey wasn't happy about it, but Cameron kept shooting her looks that said 'please, behave?' so we managed to get her tied up, without a hitch.

As we settled down to sleep, I noted that Cameron was trying, again, to get a word in with Jordan, but I was careless this time, and she caught my eyes on her.

"I'm really not cuddling you," she called, and I replied with a shrug.

"Your loss."

It was probably okay to leave them to chat, I thought, as I got myself into a comfortable position next to Francesca's sleeping form.

You know, if you didn't wake for so long last night, I could have probably woken you up to help me right now!

Well, the chances of them killing me in my sleep were slim anyway. I was more worried that Casey might try something if the person watching her got careless, but now that she was securely tied up, I could sleep with some sense of ease.

Not to mention, I couldn't wake Francesca to watch over me without alerting Cameron to the fact that I was on to her.

It'll be fine, I thought.

...probably.

And if not?

Well... then, I had a good run anyway.

I turned towards Francesca as I closed my eyes, and drifted off into a troubled sleep.

***

"Sir. I have a call from Joanna."

"Joanna? It's a bit early for an update, isn't it? Patch her through," the man replied.

"Very well."

A space on his desk opened up, and a little glass tube rose up from somewhere under the desk's surface.

A blue light momentarily filled the tube, before a projection of his new assistant flickered to life.

"Joanna! I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"We have a problem," she replied.

"Problem? What kind of problem?"

"Uh, I've just found out that an undesirable was shipped out with the asset."

"What kind of undesirable?"

"A former employee."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Which moron authorized that?"

"I haven't been able to find out. The operative came from a source with a class four or higher level of authorization, but she's already revealed the asset's nature to his placement group."

"Fucking fuck!"

The man went berserk, grabbing a glass from his desk and hurling it into the wall across the room.

"Sir... there's something else," the girl added, with trepidation.

"What?!"

"A newbie hunter seems to be on the move in the asset's placement zone."

"Who is it?"

"Raul Garcia-Hernandez."

"Christ. Don't those Hispanics have their own planet to fuck up?"