Aer

25

'He was my baby brother you know?' Conor says, after an hour or two of sitting in silence with Daisy, the night begins to fall and they can hear the distant screams of Freaks.

Alex has been buried and the rest have carried on with their day, but not Daisy and Conor, they haven't moved.

'I always knew there was a darker side to him, he was scared but too scared to tell anyone,' he continues 'I genuinely don't believe he'd do this maliciously Daisy, I think he was just scared, he didn't know what to do, maybe he thought Aaron would help him. I don't know what was going through his head, I really don't'.

         Alex was pushed onto the ground, his hands landed on the hard muck, he looked up at Aaron.
'No need to be so rough,' Aaron sighed.
'Just tryna keep up the act,' one of the boys said.

Alex stood up and brushed himself down, they were outside the bunker, he took his radio from his bag and handed it back to Aaron.

'Thank you, Alex,' he smiled 'I'm not going to hurt any of them you know that, I want to help'.
'I just want them to be safe,' Alex said.
'I know, I know,' Aaron put his hand on Alex's shoulder 'I just want them to know that they can't take our supplies, I'll get your friends back together but I have to make sure they know this is our part of the mountain'.
'Okay'.

'And everything you've told me has been helpful,' he said 'I know you don't know where Aoife and Lily are but I've a good feeling they were at that camp Daisy was telling you about, a couple of my boys saw them in the woods. And don't worry about the horde, we've managed to direct them back onto the road'.
'We just want to be safe,' Alex said 'That's all we want'.
'And ye will be, did you not hear me say we got the horde back onto the road?'.

'How?'.
'That doesn't matter'.
'Conor's with you yeah?' Alex asked.
'You can bring them up,' Aaron turned to his boys.

Conor and Cian were brought up from the bunker. Conor smiled widely when he saw Alex, but Alex looked away, he couldn't handle the guilt.

He only wanted them to be safe, he thought by telling Aaron everything that was going on that Aaron would stay away from them. He knew Aaron was only going to warn them but he had a horrible gut feeling.

In all honesty he was doing this for Daisy, a stupid part believed he could win her back, but he left her down once before, there was a strong chance she'd never forgive him for this. This was a betrayal of their trust, Alex knew this, but he was scared, he couldn't hide it any longer.
But this was for Daisy.

           'I don't know Conor,' Daisy sighs 'I really don't know why he would do this, I just can't believe he's gone like that. After everything, he's just gone. He'd so much potential, so much life to live, and Aaron just threw it all away'.
'I just wish he'd spoken to one of us,' Conor says 'I wish he told us what he was doing'.
'Aaron knows everything now...'.

Lily calls them from the tower, she tells them to come up and that everyone needs to talk. The two of them slowly get up, it feels as if they've no energy to climb the stairs, every step is a struggle.

The others are already gathered around, Daisy sits next to Charlie on the bed, he looks at her but Daisy looks away, she doesn't want to talk to anyone. He gently places his hand on her knee.

'We know Aaron is aware of everything we've been doing, he knows about here, Brooke's camp, what's been going on in the town. He's aware of everything. We need to get out of here, because you can be sure he'll be back again,' Lily says 'The bunker needs supplies and I think he won't stop at anything in order to remain looking strong and capable, his worst fear is mutiny so I think he'll be back to make sure we don't interfere with his power'.

'So what's the plan?' Aoife asks.
'The other camp,' Lily says 'the one with the guns'.

'Hell no,' Cian looks around at the others, waiting for them to agree with him 'They shot at ye before'.

'Yeah and?' Charlie shrugs 'We know what to expect this time'.
'That literally makes no sense,' Cian frowns.

  'What we mean is that we can approach the camp with more caution, come up with some plan that might stop them from opening fire on us, last time we didn't expect them to have guns,' Lily explains 'It's the last place Aaron will go'.

'Can I say something?' Conor stands up.
'You're already standing, be pretty embarrassing if we said no,' Charlie smiles slightly.

'Thanks for that Charlie, but anyway, I just want to apologise for what Alex has done and the trouble he's put us in, I know he wouldn't have meant it but I apologise on his behalf'.

'There's no need to apologise,' Daisy says 'What's done is done and there's nothing we can do'.
'Don't worry about it Conor,' Lily smiles 'We've got to think about the future now'.

'Did ye think of a plan for the camp?' Aoife asks.

Charlie and Lily look at each other, Charlie sighs 'We did think of one, one of us turn up to the camp injured, the rest of us wait back and see what happens'.

'So if one person gets shot it's okay?' Cian shakes his head 'I don't know guys'.

'It's not that,' Charlie says 'they won't be as cautious with one injured person approaching, that person tells them about the rest of us and then we get in'.
'Can we just not go to another safe house?' He asks.
'No, sure Aaron will know we're at one, you can be sure his boys will be at all of them'.

'I'll go,' Daisy says.
'Ah no,' Charlie turns to her.
'Well, a girl will look a lot less threatening than one of ye lads coming up to them'.

'You are the smallest girl,' Lily looks her up and down 'the least threatening looking too'.
'I'll do it,' Daisy says again.
'We'll go tomorrow, should get there within an hour,' Lily says.

The group disperse, nobody seems to go to bed, they all wander off in their own direction, too lost in their own thoughts to talk to anyone else.

Daisy sits on the steps of the watchtower. She rests her head in her hands and sighs. Her mind is at war with itself, trying not to overthink about Alex and what he did, she's trying to find that part of her that believes his heart was in the right place but it's hard, she's not sure what to think.

'You sure about tomorrow?' Charlie sits next to her 'It's Lily's idea she can do it'.
'No Charlie,' she looks at him 'I want to do this, I feel like I owe the group'.
'Owe?'.

'Just with Alex you know? I told him so much'.
'And?' He frowns 'None of us thought he'd do that. They shoot and you're dead'.
'I know that,' she sighs 'You guys...are important'.
'Daisy...'.

'No,' she says firmly 'you're fast, Lily's smart, Conor can talk his way out of everything, Aoife is so kind and Cian's...Cian, I don't know him but he knows this life, I don't have anything yet, I want to do something and feel worthy of still being here, I don't want to go out doing nothing'.
'I get that,' he says 'but you've proved yourself enough, never don't feel worth it'.
She smiles slightly 'thank you but I want to do this'.