It felt as if Lex had barely closed his eyes when he was
rudely awoken to the sound of a soft tapping on the wooden door that he had
securely locked after he had tucked Amber in. The storm was still raging
outside and it took Lex several seconds for him to orient himself with his
surroundings.
The quiet knock sounded again and a cold fear swept through
Lex at the thought that it might be Bray trying to come and have it out with
him again, but then his logic kicked in and he realized that if it were Bray he
would have been banging on the door, shouting threats, not knocking softly.
“Just a minute.” Lex called, looking over to make sure that
Amber was still safely covered up and resting somewhat peacefully. “I’ll be
right there.” Lex rose to his feet and padded over in the darkness to the door.
He undid the lock and held it open just barely enough to see the person on the
other side.
“Ocelot!” He recognized the beautiful young blonde Gaian,
her hair still short and stubbly, but steadily growing back. “What are you
doing up this time of night?”
“Amber.” Ocelot mumbled, her whole being numb with fear.
“I’m looking for Amber. Have you seen her?”
“Amber?” Lex looked at her in surprise. “Yeah, she’s in
here.” He held open the door a little further so Ocelot could peer inside. She
smoothly moved past him and dropped to her knees at Amber’s bedside. Her body
language spoke the relief that came over her when she saw that her leader was
safe and sound asleep.
“Where did you find her, Lex?” Ocelot, suddenly much more
herself now that she knew her leader was alright, came back to the doorway and
spoke to Lex in a low whisper. “We’ve been searching the whole house
frantically trying to find her.”
“I, uh…” Lex trailed off, not sure how much Ocelot knew
about what had taken place and just why Amber was sleeping in his bed now. “I
found her with Bray.” He said finally, not wanting to admit to what he had seen
his own leader trying to do to the woman he still claimed he loved.
Ocelot nodded, biting down hard on her lip, though she did
not appear surprised in the least. “We were worried. Ebony, she didn’t see
everything and didn’t know if he had been stopped.”
“What are you talking about?” Lex frowned, confusion
furrowing his brow. “Ebony?”
“Eb-Ebony saw what Bray was doing to Amber in her dream.”
Ocelot’s voice dropped so low that Lex had to strain to hear her. “She normally
doesn’t remember the dreams, but this one she did. She raced out of her room,
waking up Panther, and the two of them found Bray on the veranda, but Amber was
no where in sight.”
“That’s because I got her out of there as quickly as
possible.” Lex explained.
“Thank you.” Ocelot breathed out, though her eyes were
lined with worry. “Was it, was it too late when you found them?”
Lex shook his head, vivid pictures of Bray kneeling on
Amber’s prone form flashing in his memory. “No. I stopped him just in time. Or
more like I distracted him and Amber stopped him. I brought her out of there
and into my room so I could cover her up. I would have brought her back to her
own room, but she was in shock.”
“You did good, Lex.” Ocelot complimented. “You did real
good. Come, we must tell the others.”
“The others?” Lex’s brows shot up. “Is everyone up?”
“Mostly.” Ocelot affirmed. “The children are still asleep. We
thought it best not to disturb them. But everyone else is out on the veranda
trying to decide what we’re going to do with Bray.”
A sharp stab of anger twisted in Lex’s stomach as he
visualized the man he had once looked up to. He hadn’t thought Bray capable of
something so heinous, but apparently he was wrong, wrong about a great many
things.
“Let me check on Amber really quick first.” Lex told
Ocelot, ducking back into the room. He crossed to the other side of the room
silently as possible, but he noticed that Amber’s eyelids were fluttering open
when he reached her bedside.
“Hey you.” He smiled down at her, dropping to his knees.
“How do you feel?”
Amber blinked at him in confusion, clearly not
understanding where she was or what had occurred to bring her to this place.
“I’m a little confused.” She admitted at last. “Where am I?”
“My room.” Lex replied. “I, well, I brought you here
after…” He trailed off, unwilling to stir up unpleasant memories for her so
soon. “Well, after.”
“After Bray tried to rape me.” Amber finished for him, her
voice tinged with pain. “I remember now.”
“I’m so sorry, Amber.” Lex gently brushed his fingers
across her forehead, all the while wondering if he had caused this much
distress for Zandra and Salene when he had tried to do the same to them.
However, something in his gut told him that it wasn’t the same. He was
interrupted with Zandra before he had even gotten a quarter as far as Bray had
gotten with Amber and with Salene, he had tried to seduce her and had barely started
to kiss her before Ryan burst in on them.
“Please, Lex. It’s not your fault. I owe you my life.”
Amber mumbled, freeing one hand from the blankets she was wrapped in. She
rested it on Lex’s arm and made a feeble attempt at a smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.” Lex shook his head. “I don’t deserve
anyone’s gratitude, least alone yours, Amber.”
“Yes you do, Lex.” Amber protested as her eyelids began to
droop.
“Never mind that now.” Lex brushed it off. “You need your
rest. Ocelot is waiting for me. We need to decide what to do with Bray.”
Amber’s eyelids suddenly snapped open at the mention of
Bray and his impending punishment. “No.” She gasped, her face full of fear.
“No, you can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“You can’t do what I know everyone will want to do to
Bray.” Amber’s lower lip trembled and Lex could tell she was extremely close to
tears. “He didn’t rape me, Lex. He tried, but he didn’t succeed. The others,
they’ll want to kill him for what they think he did to me. Don’t let them, Lex.
Please, Lex, promise me, you won’t let them hurt him.”
“I…” Lex trailed off, all thoughts of different ways he
could torture Bray before he finally ended the other man’s misery suddenly
began to fade away as he held Amber’s gaze. “I promise, Amber. Not for his
sake, though. For yours.”
“Thank you, Lex.” Amber breathed out, this time she was
successful with a small smile. “That makes two I owe you.”
~*~*~
Ebony stared over at Bray’s unconscious form in disgust.
She wanted to kick him. Hit him. Hurt him, hurt him like he had hurt Amber, but
she couldn’t. The room was full of people and last time she had tried, Hawk had
pulled her off him kicking and screaming. She knew if she made another attempt
at it she wouldn’t just be put in the corner and ordered to behave herself
until they figured out what they were going to do with the slime.
“They found her.” Panther walked over to where Ebony
sulked, offering a cup of freshly brewed coffee. “Apparently Lex stopped Bray
before he could really do any real damage. He took her to his room and kept the
door locked until Ocelot found them.”
“So that’s what Bray meant when he mentioned Lex.” Ebony
frowned, taking a sip of the steaming liquid. She normally hated coffee, but it
had been an extremely short night for her and she knew she would need the
caffeine in the brew if she was going to make it through the day. “Lex didn’t
have any part of it, did he?”
“No.” Panther shook her head, causing her long black braids
to spill out of the loose ponytail she had secured them in a few hours before.
“At least that’s what Ocelot says. I don’t know how much I trust Lex, but I
know I trust Ocelot and her judge of character and if she says Lex didn’t have
anything to do with it, he didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“I agree.” Ebony nodded. She knew Lex was constantly doing
stupid things because of his hormones, but she somehow doubted he was capable
of helping Bray in trying to take advantage of Amber. Besides, in her dream Lex
wasn’t even there. He had no part of it.
“So, what do you think we should do with him?” Ebony
followed Panther’s murderous gaze to where Bray was still laying, rendered
unconscious by one of Panther’s earlier blows.
“Strip him, shove bamboo under his fingernails, then leave
him in the woods for the wild animals to find him.” Ebony grumbled. “Or the
Chosen. Either one, I don’t care. They’d both kill him.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Panther nodded in
approval. “Though I was thinking something more along the lines of burying him
alive. I hear that’s quite painful.”
“I’d imagine. But they won’t do any of that.” Ebony shook
her head, well remembering the Mall Rat’s sense of justice – or more
specifically Amber’s sense of justice.
“Why not?” Panther scowled crossly. “He deserves it.”
“Does he?” Ebony frowned. She thought so, but she was too
emotionally involved in this. Amber was her best friend and she had once
fancied herself in love with Bray. Somehow, seeing him in her dream had killed
the last of that love and she found herself not missing it in the least.
“Of course!” Panther exclaimed, her eyes widening. “That
scumbag deserves whatever he gets. Flaying him alive would be too kind.”
“He didn’t actually rape her, Panther. You do realize that,
don’t you?” Ebony pointed out.
“But he intended to. That’s just as bad.”
“I intend on killing the Guardian, but does that make me a
murderer?” Ebony proposed.
“No, because the Guardian is evil. He deserves to die.”
Panther snapped. “He’s one of the bad guys.”
“But who sets up the definitions of the bad guys and good
guys?” Ebony sighed heavily. “You? Tell me, Panther, am I a good guy or a bad
guy?”
“You’re one of the good guys, of course.” Panther
exclaimed, a little startled that Ebony would even ask her that.
“There are some who wouldn’t agree with you.” Ebony shook
her head, a bittersweet smile spreading across her lips. “I’ve done so many
things in my life that I’m not proud of. I stood by and watched as Zoot took
the life of innocent after innocent.”
“But you couldn’t stop him.”
“I didn’t try, did I?” Ebony’s eyes were flashing with
anger, the little girl’s voice from so many of her dreams coming back to her
over and over in her head. “I’m one of the bad guys, Panther. To most of the
city anyway. And Bray, he’s one of the good guys. So if we kill him, what do
you think that will make all of us?”
“It’s not like that, Ebony.” Panther argued, clearly
frustrated by Ebony’s logic. “Bray deserves to be punished—“
“Yes, he does. But he deserves a fair punishment. Not one
that is delivered by a bunch of emotional worked up teenagers. Even if we’re
some of the oldest people on the planet, we’re still teenagers, Panther. We’re
ruled by our emotions. We give so little thought to the consequences of our
actions and so many times we’ll live for the rest of our life regretting a
decision we made in a span of ten minutes.”
“I won’t regret it if I kill Bray.” Panther stated evenly.
“You might not, but I would.” Ebony told her softly, her
gaze flickering back to Bray’s body. The others had crowded around him and
Ebony realized he must be awake, or pretty close to it. “Come on. I think
everything’s getting ready to begin.”
~*~*~
Pride surveyed the room with cool aloofness. Ebony and
Panther were in a heated discussion in the corner while Ocelot, Lex, Hawk and
Manatee where standing near Bray, watching him and making sure neither of the
braided females made another attempt on Bray’s life. Not that it would matter.
If things went the way Pride wanted them to, Bray would be morning before the
sun rose.
“Well,” Pride cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s
attention. “It looks like we’re all here. Let’s get this done with.”
Slowly, everyone began to gather around him, their faces
set with grim expressions. He could tell just by looking at Manatee and
Ocelot’s eyes that they would be the two most opposed to ridding themselves
once and for all. He did not know Lex well enough to know where the Mall Rat
might stand, but he knew that if the majority voted that Bray be executed, Hawk
would follow. Pride was counting on Ebony’s and Panther’s votes to seal Bray’s
fate.
“Before we start discussing different ways to kill Bray,
why don’t we figure out what exactly happened here first.” Lex began before
Pride had the chance. “Ebony, Panther was telling me you had a dream?”
Ebony nodded slowly. “It’s a little hazy now, but I
remember most of it. I saw Bray and Amber talking, then suddenly Bray was on
top of her, hurting her. Then I woke up.”
“That’s it?” Pride looked at Ebony dubiously.
“Yes, but it’s exactly what happened, isn’t it?” Ebony
snapped defensively, crossing her arms against her chest.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Lex shot Ebony a
grateful smile. “Did anyone else see anything?” There were blank looks all
around. “Well, I saw something. I didn’t see them talking, I came in after
that. But when I came in Bray’s intent was clear. He was going to rape Amber if
I didn’t stop him.”
“Going to rape.” Ebony quickly jumped in. “He didn’t
actually do it.”
“But he intended to.” Pride unknowingly echoed Panther’s
earlier statements. “And he attacked her. Eagle could be scarred—“
“Amber.” Ocelot interrupted softly and suddenly. “She wants
to be called Amber again.”
“What?!” Pride exclaimed, a sharp pain hitting him in the
chest. She had said nothing to him but he had assumed she still wanted to be
called by her Gaian name…
“Does it really matter what we call her?” Hawk jumped in impatiently.
“That’s not what we’re trying to figure out right now.”
“Thank you, Hawk.” Lex nodded at the taller man.
“Basically, what we first need to decide is whether Bray deserves to be
punished or not.”
“Of course he deserves to be punished.” Panther exclaimed.
“Even if he didn’t actually rape her, he wanted to and if you hadn’t stopped
him he would have. And for that, the slime ball deserves to die.”
“Death is a pretty strong penalty for attempted rape,
Panther.” Lex’s voice was cautionary and Pride could tell that he would not get
this man’s vote.
“All the same,” Pride cleared his throat. “It’s what he
deserves. I say that man is guilty and should be dead before Eagle wakes up.”
“But that’s not what she would want.” Ocelot protested,
noticeably not using her name at all. “She has always tried to instill in us a
sense of justice. Killing Bray for this is not justice.”
“I agree.” Manatee’s voice squeaked as he rubbed his hand
through his drooping dark purple spikes. “I think he needs to be punished, but
killing him isn’t right. If we kill him we’d be going right back to the old
ways, only worse.”
Ebony and Lex both echoed their agreement and Pride could
tell that Hawk was beginning to lean in that direction as well.
“I can’t believe you guys!” Pride felt himself begin to
lose control of his emotions. “Who knows what that monster would have tried to
do to my Eagle if Lex hadn’t intervened. He might not have stopped at raping
her. Have you thought of that? He might have killed her, just like his brother
would have.”
“Zoot is nothing like Bray.” Ebony stated, her tone even
and menacing. “They were brothers but they’re nothing alike.”
“We’re getting nowhere with this.” Panther sighed angrily.
“Look, let’s just take a vote on it. Do we kill Bray or not? All in favor of
doing justice and killing this waste of human flesh, raise your hands.”
Only Panther’s and Pride’s hands shot up.
“Alright.” Pride frowned, glancing around the circle. “All
in favor of letting Bray get off scott-free?”
No one raised their hands.
“So what do you guys want to do with him?” Panther
exclaimed in frustration.
“I don’t know. But not kill him.” Ebony shook her head.
“What if we try and exchange him with the Chosen? Try and
get some other prisoners in return?” Hawk suggested.
“The Chosen would kill him.” Ocelot whispered. “They
already tried once. If we hand him back over to them they wouldn’t hesitate to
do it.”
“Besides,” Lex put in. “The Chosen are notorious for going back
on their deals. If we try and exchange Bray for prisoners they’d probably take
us all captive. That’s the way they work.”
“Then what do you suggest, Lex?” Pride narrowed his eyes at
him. “You want to have him punished, but you don’t want to kill him. We can’t
exchange him with the Chosen because they’d kill him and we might be taken
prisoners ourselves.”
“I don’t know what to do with him.” Lex admitted. “But I
know Amber wouldn’t want us to do either.”
“I agree.” Ocelot smiled over at Lex, offering him her
encouragement. “Amber would want to do something just, something fair. An eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
“Are you suggesting we rape him?” Panther eyed her evilly.
“No!” Ocelot paled. “Not at all, but don’t you think maybe
you girls punished him enough already? I mean, you beat him within an inch of
his life. He most likely won’t remember why he’s getting punished when he does
finally wake up.”
“No, that’s not right either.” Ebony shook her head. “But
you’re right. Panther and I deserve to be punished for attacking him. He didn’t
know what he had done or had not done. All we knew was his empty words and my
strange dream, and everyone knows that dreams can’t be used as evidence.”
“Ebony, what are you saying?” Pride scowled over at her. He
had once thought she would be in support of his desire to end Bray’s life, but
he had obviously misjudged her. “You want to be punished for giving Bray what
he deserves?”
“No one deserves what we did to him.” Ebony stated
bitterly.
“Well, I think he deserved what we gave him and then some.”
Panther crossed her arms and frowned. “Bray has been nothing but a problem to
this tribe since he arrived. First he ran off and got captured by the Chosen,
then we had to rescue him, lug his big ol’ body around on a stretcher, and now
he tries to rape our leader. I say if we don’t kill him, we throw him out.”
“No, Panther.” Amber’s sudden voice jerked everyone to
attention. She was leaning heavily against the doorframe, a pair of way too
large trousers hanging loosely on her hips and a large, over-sized tee shirt
draping over her lean frame. “We need Bray. Besides, he wasn’t in control of
his actions. That was.”
Every eye followed where Amber pointed to – a nearly empty
bottle of vodka, the rest of its contents spilling onto the floor. Pride
wondered how they had missed that when they first came onto the veranda, but
then again, they had all been pretty intent on hurting Bray and finding Amber.
“Amber!” Ebony leaped to her feet and raced to where her friend
stood. “You should not be out of bed.”
“Yes, I should.” Amber argued, though her face was lined
with exhaustion and weariness. “I couldn’t sleep knowing that you guys might
want to try and kill Bray no matter what Lex tried to argue.” She shot Lex a
grateful look and Pride felt a twinge of jealousy.
“So you’re saying Bray was drunk and that’s why he tried to
rape you?” Hawk questioned.
Amber nodded. “Bray isn’t the sort who normally drinks, but
he obviously drank quite a bit and when I came down here, not realizing, well…”
“Don’t, Eagle.” Pride argued, his voice dropping, “He tried
to rape you. Don’t you want to see justice done?”
“Justice, yes. Vengeance, no.” Amber told him softly. “Bray
once told me that it was the alcohol that turned Martin into Zoot. After their
parents died, Martin began to drink, and drink heavily. He went insane and
though when he was sober he would once again be Martin, he wasn’t sober very
often.”
“That’s true.” Ebony spoke up. “I only saw him sober a few
times, but whenever he was it was like he was a completely different person.
Obviously Bray reacts the same to heavy drinking as Martin did.”
“But you said they were nothing like.” Panther pointed out,
using Ebony’s own words against him.
“Personality wise, maybe not.” Amber silenced Panther with
a look. “But maybe Bray and Martin inherited a low tolerance to alcohol from
one of their parents.”
“Even if they didn’t,” Manatee, who had crossed the room
and picked up the bottle for closer inspection. “This is more liquor that I
think anyone could handle. It’s a wonder he’s actually still alive.”
“I don’t know about that, mate.” Lex chuckled a little.
“I’ve drank quiet a bit in my lifetime and I’ve survived it all, though I don’t
remember most of it.”
“Alright.” Amber pursed her lips together in a thin line.
“So now we know why Bray did what he tried to do. Shall we take a vote?”
“We’ve tried that.” Pride told her, trying not to be
annoyed with the beautiful vulnerable blonde. “No one can agree on anything.”
“Let’s try again, shall we?” Amber shot him a soft smile.
“All in favor of killing Bray, raise your hands.”
Again it was only Pride and Panther who raised their hands.
“All in favor of throwing Bray out of the tribe, raise your
hands.”
This time Ebony and Lex raised their hands.
“Alright.” Amber frowned a little at Ebony’s and Lex’s
decision. “Everyone who thinks that Bray has received just enough punishment
already by being beaten near to death, raise your hands?”
Amber slipped her hand up at this option as did Ocelot and
Hawk.
Pride scowled, unable to mask his anger. “Looks like
another criminal gets off scott-free thanks to the justice system.” He turned
and stalked away, not even bothering to find out how Amber was feeling.