The Thirteenth Colony (State Humans/Country Humans)

Chapter 22: A Gallon of Water And a Cup of Blood

A tense silence filled the air as Virginia and the Carolinas pondered their situation. "Well, might as well bite the bullet and point out the fact that we only really have two options here. Either we get on that ship, leaving Georgia and this city as whole to die, or we stay here and fight a battle we're most certainly bound to lose." Virginia said, cigar in hand.

"Loving the optimism buddy." North mused, A look a frustration plastered across his face.

The state in question shrugged, "Would you rather hear the truth or that you want the truth to be when lives are on the line?" Turning towards the other twin present, he motioned with his cigar, "As South said, the British Fleet plans to leave us high and dry, and we're unable to mount a proper defense without them."

Finally South cut in, "Then there's the fact Georgia should have been back at least an hour ago." Another moment of silence enveloped the room before North spoke in a quick and uneasy voice disturbingly unlike his usual jovial demeanor, "If neither of you are gonna say it than I will, there's no way in hell we're leaving our brother behind to die. If he was here with us, maybe we'd leave the town to die. But as it stands, we have a cup of blood and a gallon of water on the line. If they our positions were swapped, he'd stay behind for us, for any of the colonies. So instead of pretending we have a real decision to make, how about we start to get ready to travel the bridge we're being forced to cross."

Both Virginia and South looked at him for a second, before a smile grew on the face of Virginia, "And here I thought there was no hope of you ever being mature." North slyly grinned back at his older brother, "Was that a compliment towards me? From you?"

"Don't get used to it." The oldest sibling quickly returned. South snickered and sat up from her chair, "Guess I'll go tell Admiral afraid to fight that we're staying."

Same Time

Georgia didn't know what to do. Infront of him was his enemy, someone he was supposed to want to kill, yet he felt no desire for bloodshed. And it seemed as though his opposite number felt the same way, since they could have shot him before he'd even seen him ride over. Finally, he said the only thing that came to his mind.

"Why?"

Missouri crooked his neck in a questioning manner, "Why What?" Georgia continued, "Why tell me this. I get that you hate him now but why do I need to know that. Are you trying to swap sides?"

The French colony's nose wrinkled in a sign of disgust at that, "No, I still love the empire I serve. But if I hate Florida, and you hate Florida, then perhaps we can put aside our differences, for now at least."

"You mean team up to kill him? You sure we're gonna be able to pull that off? Even working together." The colony nodded his head vigorously, "I beat my cousin once in a fight, and if anyone could beat him, she could. With me and you working together, there's no way we can fail."

Georgia felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Maybe he should go get help, wish his siblings in the fight there's no way they could lose. And yet, this was a golden opportunity. He could cut off the head of the army before it even arrived. If he waited for help, who knows how long it would take. Nodding his head, he stuck out his hand, "Alright then friend, lets shake on it."

Five Minutes Earlier

Florida gazed through the barrel of his spyglass out at the small party of horsemen. They were colonies or countries, but they didn't look like the ones defending the place. One was riding in front with a pistol at their side, well the other's rode in a wagon with a injured guy in the back.

"Looks like more players wanna get dealt into the game."

Connecticut's Diary

We passed through a small town today. I remember once riding down town's main road with Georgia year's ago. Back then, these streets were teaming with life, little kids playing outside, happy couples walking the streets holding hands, people trying to haggle prices in the general store.

And yet, when we passed it by today, all I saw were children ordered to stay in their homes by their parents, couples to afraid to go outside on a date, and a general store with it's windows smashed and a dried splatter of crimson on door.

This village is a key point for most roads in the area. Holding this town should be second only to defense of Savannah itself. But there were no soldiers or even militia readying themselves for a defense of the town. Instead, there was only a sad parody of a once pleasant little town.

What happened? Those four aren't stupid, and Virginia is as skilled a commander as they come. They should know the importance of the town, but they haven't sent a force to secure it. So that means either a massive problem is happening that requires all of their manpower, or they simply don't have any manpower.

At the next town we stop at, I'll ask the locals for a rundown of the situation.

I know I said this would be out two weeks ago but I got sick to the point where I couldn't focus on writing, and then I had pre finals to do. So that's why it's delayed.

On the plus side, I think I've ironed out most of the wrinkles in my storyboard and I know how to end this. Should be smooth(er) sailing from here. Hopefully that translates into more frequent uploads.

A lot of stuff happening this chapter, and a lot of separate plotlines starting to go in the same direction. It's been a while since I've done one like this.

If anyone is still reading this and has a guess as to what happens, I'd love to hear it. Anyway, I'll get to the joke since I know that's why most people are still here.

Last 'Week's' Joke: Three vampires walk into a bar. Two order blood and one orders plasma. Bartender says, "Ok, so that's to bloods and one blood light?"

I don't know if this aged like milk or wine but oh well.

This Week's Joke: How does a penguin build a house?