Our story pt2

Chapter 12: Blow by Blow

It was getting late by the time Mark returned with the mercenaries they had made sure to stock up on enough fresh fruit to feed the entirety of the US armed forces for a month and he was anxious to know if Caesar and the others had returned to the woods safely after their apparent incursion in the city despite the fact that it had happened mere hours before his wife their baby and the apes were already headline news on every station that was running after checking in with GreyStoke and insisting he had no idea why the apes had caused such a commotion he made his way to his prison tent and was disheartened to find Erica waiting for him the radio he had asked her to give to Caesar was resting in her clenched fists as she paced a white frantic expression on her face

"Did you speak to him" Mark asked knowing the answer was no Erica's eyes filled with tears as she opened her mouth closed it and then opened it again and spoke "I went to the clearing you told me to I waited till it got dark but they didn't show I was coming back when" Erica cut off and Mark realised at once what must've happened holding out his hand he was enraged to find bruises on her wrists and neck "Bastards who was it" Mark asked quietly but firmly Erica shook her head and sobbed in fear which only made Mark angrier "tell me who it was and I can protect you" Mark said trying to control his outrage as the terrified woman threw herself at him and folded into a sobbing heap as Mark rested her on her sleeping bag an unexpected visitor chose that moment to make an appearance

"Am I interrupting something" a sarcastic familiar voice asked Mark froze for a second shaking with rage before bringing himself under control standing up he made no attempt to hide his enraged expression as he turned to face their visitor Jordon Smiled sarcastically as Mark turned to face him not at all surprised by the angry expression on his brothers face for it faded into confused surprise as he realised who had walked in "if you two are busy I can come back another time" Jordon mocked looking between the two it took Mark a minute before he took a step closer to his brother and embraced him joyful tears coming to his eyes "good to see you man how'd you find me" Mark asked as Jordon rubbed his knuckles on the top of Marks head

"A friend of ours told us you'd be kidnapped said you'd be here" Jordon revealed Mark cackled a little and patted Jordon on the back before going back to being serious "did you bring your phone" Mark asked the thought of his wife and baby suddenly sprung to the front of his mind Jordon smiled and took his hand from his pocket producing his phone Mark chuckled and went to dial Trish's number before stopping himself after what had happened in the city Mark was almost certain that his wife and their adopted son were together and they were supposed to be in a no outside communication zone and if the mercenaries tracked his call the apes and his wife and child would be found quicker than the snap of a finger "will you let Trish and the baby know I'm ok if I call and they're listening it'll be a homicide" Jordon frowned and returned his phone to his pocket

"Sure thing so any idea how your getting out of here" Jordon asked reluctantly changing the subject Mark nodded and ran a hand over his stubble reminding himself he hadn't been able to shave since he'd been snatched "I'm not" Mark said simply looking Jordon dead in the eye Jordon's face dropped in an instant and he started stuttering "go home tell Trish to take the baby and go into hiding I'll hang around here and take Anvil out of the picture I'm not raising a daughter with a target on our backs we tried that with Caesar and it got us nowhere" Mark said fighting the anger he felt every time his father in laws killers were mentioned Jordon sighed and shook his hand

"CPS are on our backs and Gensys released some kind of contagion that they're blaming us for no matter where we go there's heat on us Caesar and his posse are starving out there in the woods and he clearly didn't plan for what happened after they left the city I'm done sitting on my ass I'll take the others into hiding and then I'm going to gensys and I'm going to blow the place to bits" Jordon said there was a cold emptiness in his eyes that reminded Mark of why they hadn't turned their backs on Trish and the responsibility she had shouldered when everyone else said it wasn't worth it on the ground behind them Erica went into shock the panicked flash backs from being attacked in the woods took her over the feeling of having her head smashed against a tree stump and feeling a mans hands closed around her neck were threatening to give her a heart attack