The Calm Before the Storm, Part 2

"Let us go!" Max shouted at the burly biker who carried him, and an unconsious Bron along through the forest.

"Shut up. Or I'll add some more injuries to your collection." The biker responded, grinding his teeth.

It was true, Max didn't want any more injuries than what had already been administered. In their small scuffle, Max recieved a black eye, a gushing bloody nose, and multiple bloody cuts and bruises.

"I still think I won that fight.." Max said groggily, his head swaying as he was carried.

"Uh huh. Whatever makes you happy, short stack."

They continued on in silence, knowing not where the two would be taken. Perhaps their main camp, or a small one. Bron needed to wake up. He was the only one who could possibly dominate the walking behemoth.

"Bron...Bron!" Max whispered through his lips agressively.

It was no use, Bron was still unconsious, being limply dragged on the dirt ground.

"Brrrooonnn....ugh..." Max gave up and went limp, sighing angrily as they finally arrived.

"Hey, I found some." The buff guy shouted to his comrades, who came into view one by one.

"Are those the bastards that blew up the East Divition's bikes?" said one of them.

"Yup. The next time they come rolling through we'll hand them over!" said another.

"Screw that. We're gonna keep this bastards and have fun with em'." The buff guy grinned deviously, striking fear in everyone, including his own comrades.

"Um...what do you mean by that...?" Max whimpered, looking up fearfully.

"Torture." His grin grew wider.

"Well, I'm fine with that." said the first one, who looked kind of scraggly.

"Wait..are you serious?" said the second, nervous looking one.

"Are you starting to go soft?" the scraggly one barked.

"No no...it's just.."

The buff dude smacked both of their heads together, generating a noise that sounded like two coconuts colliding.

"OW!" they screeched simultaneosly.

"Barns. Take these two and tie em' to the posts over there."

The nervous one, "Barns", stepped forward and grabbed Max, and dragged Bron to the post that were mentioned. This one, this guy seemed to be the soft one, and could possibly be persuaded.

"Hey..please. You don't have to do this." Max said to him, looking sad.

"I'm sorry." was all Barn's said, and made sure his hands were tied tightly to the post, and did the same for Bron.

Once finished, he took one more sorrowful glance and walked away. Bron finally woke up about an hour later, looking around nervously.

"W-Wha...What happened?"

"We got captured by these bikers."

"Oh! Max! Is it the same bikers that we blew up?"

"No. Apparently this gang is split into divisions. We bombed the East one."

"I see...this just keeps getting worse, who knows how far we are from camp now?"

Max looked up and watched the blue sky slowly morph into a light orange as the sun began to set.

"We've been gone long enough. The others will come looking for us soon."

"I hope so.." Bron sighed and looked around, "Now what?"

"We wait for an opening. The moment we get a chance, we're outta here."

~o~

"Go back? Why?!" Scott shouted obnoxiously.

Once Jess had managed to quiet him down, she grabbed him by the shirt and growled at him.

"Max and Bron still haven't showed up."

"It's only been three days."

"ONLY?! Three days is quite a while, they only went out for a minute, if they aren't here now, they haven't seen that note. Meaning?"

"Um..."

"YOU IDIOT IT MEANS THEY HAVEN'T RETURNED TO OUR OLD CAMP!" She boomed, shaking him like a ragdoll, "That's why I have to go back and look for them."

"Jess, I care about Max and Bron as much as you do. I know you think I'm an idiot," He began, pushing her so she'd lose her grasp on him, "But I'm not. If something happens to us, you're the only one capable of fighting. Once you leave, we're vulnerable. Sitting ducks."

"B-But.."

"Until we've recovered, you're our protection."

"I...Fine..I'll stay a little longer." She sighed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Thank you. It's very kind of you, seeing that you actually care about others."

"Yeah yeah, just be on your way."

Scott nodded and walked off to the barn, leaving Jess in the middle of the ranch's grassy fields. She didn't want to admit it, but she loved the place. The soft breeze with the smell of cattle and nature wisping her hair, and the soothing silence. Her suspicions of their situation being a trap slowly decreased. Lorrie sat on the bench near the path to the house, reading one of the books the Milton's owned. Jess decided she wanted to get on better terms, her recent conversation with Scott caused her to realize how rude she had been the past while. With a slight skip in her step, she strolled over and took seat beside Lorrie.

"Hey Lorrie.." She said calmly.

"Oh..Hey Jess." Lorrie replied, refusing to look up from her book.

"W-What're you reading?"

"This old book the Milton's own, 'The Chrysalids'."

"Oh! I read that! At the end, they - " Jess began, but managed to stop herself as she caught Lorrie's angry glare, "Oh..sorry."

Lorrie sighed and went back to reading.

"Lorrie....I know we aren't on good terms. With the recent events and, my rather insulting behaviour. I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out."

"If you haven't noticed, we're all stressed out. The world has gone to shit."

"I know...you're right. No need to be snarky." Jess sighed, "No one is to be blamed for being stressed. We're all going through stressful times."

"I guess you're right...I just wish you'd try to restrain your anger. You're allowed to be stressed, just don't lash out as much as you do."

"ok..I'll..I'll try that."

"Thanks Jess. Good to hear." Lorrie finally smiled, notifying Jess that she had succeeded.

"Well, don't let me bother you, I'll go and explore a bit."

"Ok! See you around I guess."

With a grin, Jess got to her feet and strolled off, no longer knowing what to do next. As she thought, she was suddenly startled by a low rumbling generating from the vast sky.

"Storm's comin' in. We better be ready when it does." Jim said, approaching her from behind.

Jess nodded and looked up, a feeling of dread washing over her.