Hunted

Chapter Three - Growing Ranks

Chapter Three

Growing Ranks

With the use of Bailey, Nigel returned to his old self over the next few days. It seemed that with Bailey's knowledge and expertise that we'd be able to something much bigger and more destructive in the coming weeks.

Bailey was already blown away by the things we'd already done, having heard about the destruction of the bridge and the harbour after Nigel had given him an extremely long and thorough rundown of everything.

Even though I was elated by his presence, there was something odd about him being here. Given his role in the army, he would have been needed to continue his duties throughout the war and not go on house calls to see his sister. I was never given the chance to talk to him, given how much time Nigel was spending with him and the question slowly sank to the back of my mind.

It seemed that with Bailey by his side, Nigel no longer had a use for any of us and often ceased his in depth talks with Bailey whenever one of us came near. Eventually he let the boys in on whatever plans he was making with him and I'd bullied Jamie into telling me.

"So they want to go combing through the streets for people who aren't captured?" I asked, wondering whether I'd heard Jamie's words right.

"It's the main suggestion at the moment," he explained. "Bailey thinks that in order to do anything reasonable, we need bigger numbers and Nigel's practically idolising him at the moment so it'll probably be what we end up doing."

"We have enough people as it is," I groaned. "There's barely any food left back home for us and a group of our size is really easy to be spotted whenever we go anywhere. Not to mention, getting back into those mountains with the cars will be a nightmare."

"Try reasoning that with Nigel," Jamie laughed. "Or your brother for that matter."

"Why are they even convinced that there are people left to find?" I questioned.

"Well Bailey says the takeover was done pretty sloppy," Jamie went on. "The soldiers ransacked every single home and took them captive, but they never checked any outbuildings or anything, that's how Mel and I were able to escape being captured. Bailey also says because the takeover was at night, people could have just hidden in their backyards and evaded them."

"I don't think the soldiers are that dumb Jamie," I remarked.

"Well it certainly seemed that way when they didn't even bother checking our barn," he laughed. "I think we've got a fair chance of finding a heap of people if we're looking in the right places."

"I still don't think it's a good idea," I mumbled.

"You're very stubborn you know," he smiled, kissing me lightly on the forehead.

"Oh, I know," I laughed.

Since we'd arrived here, Jamie and I had pretty much spent all our time together. We were rarely apart, only being separated by the constant watches that we were forced to partake with. The strangest part was that no one had said a word about our sudden friendship, though I had the feeling that Candice was suspicious about us.

The more time I spent with him, the more I came to love him until I felt as though I was going to explode if I had to keep our relationship secret anymore. The bad things was, after Koby's little outburst, Jamie had been even more determined to keep things between us secret.

Koby had been keeping to himself a lot since we'd arrived here, which I found odd. Quite often I'd find him alone in peculiar places and he'd excuse himself before anyone had the chance to speak to him. I wondered if he'd seen something between Jamie and I and was just hurt – or maybe he'd finally seen all his wrong doings.