Episode 10: The Jump

Episode 10

"The Jump"

(Bay's Point of View)

I woke up startled. I was sitting on a chair, slumped over on a table. I had a bag over my head. I woke up with a start and thrashed around.

"Now now," said a menacingly voice, "don't hurt yourself princess."

The bag was taken off of me head, and across from me I saw Ryder sitting at the end of the table. He was smiling at me. I looked around the place and saw two guards standing with machine guns, making sure I didn't try anything. I was inside of a tent, I could hear the birds chirping outside, I knew exactly where we were, the old camp in the forest. Not too far from the mansion.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Just a talk for now, that's all."

"Why didn't you tie me up? You should be scared of me." I said, looking around my body, I was free, no ropes, nothing.

Ryder laughed.

"Come on Bay, you're not that tough. I think the first step to our relationship should be trust. How are you gonna trust me if I don't trust you?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing at all, I just want to talk."

"Then talk dickhead!" I yelled.

He smiled and wiped something off of his face, I must have spit at him when I yelled.

"I just want to know why you left me. We made such a good team together you and I, top notch bandits. You really had potential you know."

"You're crazy, you used me as bait to attack Lockwood. Screw you."

"Oh come on Bay, you didn't die did you? I would never put you in a situation if I knew you were going to be hurt."

"Well I was hurt, I hurt myself trying to get away."

"Pfft, you're fine aren't you? Come back Bay, I've known you've been living at the mansion with the old man for weeks now. I saw you outside, you're not very secretive. I decided not to engage, I don't need more enemies. We waited for you to make yourself available to bring you in."

"You have tons of other bandits, what use do I make? Leave me alone. I'm done being apart of your group." I said.

"Come on Bay-"

"No," I interrupted, "Tell me why you want me back in the group so badly. I'm only one person, I don't make a difference. There must be a reason."

Ryder sighed, he held the bridge of his nose with his fingers and closed his eyes. I could tell I was getting on his nerves.

"I don't know Bay, just come back and everything will be settled."

"I'm not coming back," I said, "I like living at the mansion, and we recruited a big group, so you better not mess with us."

"Oh come on Bay, you don't have that many people in your group, we were watching when the strangler horde attacked. You guys can barely fend off that place. We were going to jump in and help but we figured you'd get it somehow."

"You're still avoiding my question, why is bringing me back so important to you?"

Ryder sat up and headed for the exit of the tent, he turned to the guards before leaving.

"Don't let her leave, don't even let her move. She stays here until further notice."

He unzipped the tent and left.

Ryder's bandit group was big, they weren't very smart and they weren't all that powerful, but they were big. That's the only reason I don't bring everyone from the mansion over here and we wipe the bandits out for good. Their size. It would be a war that would never end. They have multiple camps set around the forest, and I was in the head camp. There had to be at least two hundred of them. Ryder was an excellent manipulator, he could convince anyone that joining the bandit group was a good thing. He was crazy though, and I still didn't understand why he wasted all of his time tracking me down. What did a one person difference do? I'll probably never get it, Ryder's actions never make sense. He is a maniac. I'm surprised he's kept this bandit clan running for so long. You'd think with him running it, it would last a couple weeks at the most.

I looked around at the two bandits in the room, they glared at me and tried intimidating me. It didn't work. All of these bandits were idiots.

(Kayla's Point of View)

I walked around the house, I needed to find Bay. My gun was acting up and I couldn't find her. She ran the armoury, I'm sure she'll be able to fix it. The only problem was that I couldn't find her. I asked everyone, and nobody seemed to know where she was. I had a bad feeling about this. I left the mansion and started looking around outside. I saw footprints in the snow that led all the way to the forest. They looked new, because they were still deep in the snow. I decided to follow it. I ran through the snow and made it to the forest. I started looking around, the footsteps stopped, I saw some other footprints in the same spot. It looked like a bunch of people were here at once. They footprints were scattered all over the place, like someone was moving around a lot, like some people were fighting. I walked closer to get a look and I heard a crack under my foot. I knelt down and saw Bay's golden locket shimmering in the sunlight. I picked it up and looked at it. It was cracked, I broke it. I stuffed it in my pocket. Now I was really concerned about Bay. Footsteps out here, and her locket left behind? What was going on?

I looked around the forest and saw Brandy walking towards the forest, he had Doug beside him.

"Brandy?" I asked, "what are you doing?"

"I saw you walking over here, decided to follow you and find out what you were doing."

"Go back home, and take Doug with you would you?" I asked.

"Come on, tell me what you're up to. Maybe I could help."

"Have you seen Bay lately?"

"Now that I come to think of it, no I haven't Kayla."

"That's what I'm doing, I'm looking for her. I think I might be onto something too. You got your answer, now go home."

"Well now I can't go home, I need to help you." he said.

"Dammit Brandy why-"

"I know you're a little mad at me for doing what I did, but I was protecting you. Ryan would have shot you otherwise."

"Yeah, sure." I sighed, I might as well keep Brandy thinking that.

"So what are you onto? Where do you think Bay went?"

"See these footprints?" I asked, "It looks like some people were fighting."

"It does, there are some more footprints that lead further into the forest," Brandy pointed, "they look new, wanna follow them?"

"Let's go, but keep Doug close. I have a bad feeling about this." I said, walking into the forest.

Brandy stayed behind me, keeping his pistol out and waving it around. I almost felt like I needed to tell Jess about this so she didn't worry, but she'd never let me leave. I needed to find Bay myself, it's bad enough Brandy is helping. I knelt down and let Doug sniff the golden necklace, hoping he would do something.

"What are you doing?" Brandy asked me.

"Maybe Doug will pick up a scent."

"What do we need a scent for? There's footprints on the ground, we'll just follow those and it'll probably take us right to her."

"Just shut up Brandy.

Doug started barking after sniffing the necklace, he was onto something. He started running and Brandy and I ran fast to keep up with him. Doug stopped on the footsteps, squatted, and started unloading right there. I looked away, Brandy did as well.

"Seriously?" I asked, "I thought he was picking up on a scent."

Brandy started laughing, I smiled, but it faded quickly. I needed to focus on finding Bay, none of these childish jokes. After waiting about ten seconds, we turned back and Doug was standing next to his droppings, looking proud of what he just did.

"Let's just follow the footsteps." Brandy started walking.

"Let's just follow the footsteps." I mimicked his voice and started walking behind him.

(Bay's Point of View)

I sat in that tent for a very long time, I wasn't wearing very warm clothing, and I started getting really cold. The guards in the room were starting to get bored as well, I could tell. All of a sudden I heard some gunshots. Then some yelling.

"Stranglers approaching Ryder!" I heard outside.

"How many?" he asked.

"I dunno."

"Count em! Then we know how much manpower we're gonna need."

"There's a lot Ryder, like thirty prolly."

"Thirty? Shit man, everyone get out here and help fend these bastards off!"

The guards in the room looked at each other and started running outside, I tripped one of them onto the ground with my foot, the other guard look at me and I pulled on her gun, she yanked it back from me, I kept pulling. I then lifted the machine gun up and smacked her in the mouth with it. She let go and I grabbed it. The other guards got back up and I pointed my gun at him.

"Put the gun down." I demanded.

He slowly put his machine gun on the ground, stood up and raised his hands in the air. The other guard tried snatching the gun from me, I kicked them into the side of the tent. They fell over and stayed there, realizing I overpowered them.

There was more gunfire, and I decided that maybe I could slip out of the camp while they were distracted with the stranglers. I didn't waste any time. I unzipped the tent and started running away from the camp, a bunch of stranglers were everywhere, I saw bandits getting mauled left and right. I was almost in the clear when I heard a bandit compromise me.

"She's getting away! The prisoner's getting away!"

I kept looking forward and kept on running, the bandits were far too busy with the stranglers, there was nothing they could do. I can't go back to the mansion now, Ryder will be angry I escaped and show up there. I need to leave this place, I've always dreamed of staying at Lockwood, but the only problem was that I've given myself a bad name. They know I was a bandit, when Ryder set me up as bait the outposts saw my face, and they'll never let me in there. Maybe I am just meant to be alone.