oh noes

Chapter 7

I wake up to see Birch lightly shaking me by the shoulders. “It’s time,” he says. Then he coughs into his elbow, a rattling noise that just makes me more concerned for him.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” I ask. Birch nods and beckons for me to follow him. I shift out of the hammock and walk out with him. As we walk, I get the feeling that there’s a word at the tip of my tongue that I just can’t say…
The rest of the crew are gathered by one of the tables in the dining area. I can hear the Captain giving out orders to the members that aren’t going (“Turner, don’t you dare try to follow us. Stay in the sick bay, please. Daniel, there might be a few more pistols in the gun deck, so you and Nova can go look.”)
Once they’re all gone, I inch closer to the table. The Captain looks up from a map spread out across the surface, smiling at us when he sees that we’re here.
“Did you rest well? Are you ready?” he asks.
“For the first question, yep. As for the second…well, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, but yep anyway!”
The Captain laughs. For a second, the atmosphere feels brighter, almost as if I was sitting down to dinner with the other crew members. But, then, the smile wears off and we’re back to reality.
“This is a map of Falt. Or, at least, the city itself. Not the harbor. The warehouse has two exits - one at the front and one at the back. There’s a vent on the right side of the building that leads to the middle of the warehouse. No windows at all, and it’s constantly being patrolled.”
“How many guards?” Alicia asks. “It might be difficult to take them down…”
“We won’t be attacking them directly…but if worse comes to worse, we’ll distract most of them with your aptitude for battle. Besides, you should be careful - even if you still have your powers from the blessing Hindralia gave you, they might just wear out at random.”
That seems reasonable enough. “So who’s sneaking in?” I ask.
“Birch will be the one going in. Meanwhile, you’ll be here-” the Captain points to an X-mark far away from the warehouse- “and you’ll use the walkie-talkie Birch gave you earlier to communicate if you see anything suspicious.”
I breathe an internal sigh of relief. I won’t be going anywhere near the warehouse and I won’t have to directly engage in battle.
“If you see any of us in trouble, make sure that we’re actually in trouble, and then support whoever it is with those arrows of yours. Alerting the enemy to the presence of a fourth person might put you in trouble. If you do wind up shooting any arrows, make sure to move to a different spot.”
I nod. The Captain turns to Alicia, who’s clearly holding back some sort of insult. “You’ll do a light distraction so that Birch can get in - which, by the way, means you won’t be killing anyone. Remember?”
Alicia huffs. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
Then, the Captain turns back to Birch. “There’s a good chance that Lily’s locked up in a cage somewhere inside. Alicia has something that should be able to cut through the bars - you do, right? Alicia?”
“I wasn’t unreliable, last time I checked.” She hands Birch a weird-looking tool with a switch on the side. As she shows Birch how to use it, the Captain walks over to my side and takes us to the other half of the room.
“You don’t have to come with us, you know,” he says quietly. “We can always bring someone else.”
“That wouldn’t be very fair. I picked the short stick, so I should go.”
“Is that really worth risking your life over?”
“No, but Lily is.”
“You hardly know her.”
“I know her enough to want to protect her.”
“What if this mission fails? What if we die or get sold with the others?”
I shrug. “It is what it is. By the way, are we going to free the other people who’re locked up?”
“That depends on whether we can find their keys or not. If we can’t, then we’ll have to leave them behind.”
I feel like arguing against that. Maybe say that it’s wrong or something along those lines. I would, but…I just can’t summon up the words.
“What if we do find their keys? How would we get them out? And…as unlikely as it is…what if some of them want to stay? Would we still take them?”
“We’ll sneak them through the vent and take them to…”
“You don’t have a plan for that, do you.”
“I do. It’s just that Birch suggested we take them to a person that I don’t know.”
“Wesker?”
“He told you?”
“No. Just had a guess.”
“Well, you’re right. Does this Wesker of yours seem reasonable?” the Captain asks.
“He’s creepy and he sells Birch illegal stuff.”
The Captain coughs, probably put off by that statement. “This doesn’t seem like a very good idea all of a sudden,” he remarks.
“To be fair, being anywhere near an assassin isn’t a good idea.”
“Sure…Does Wesker at least seem like he wouldn’t take advantage of them?”
“...Ehhhh. Kinda.”
“Taylor, that’s not really helping.”
“If Birch said to let Wesker take care of them, then let’s trust him. Birch does have a moral compass, after all.”
“I…that’s…ugh. I really don’t like this, but what can I do? Either send them to the corrupt law enforcement or send them to some criminal who Birch trusts. I guess I’d rather go with Birch’s judgement on this one…”
“Let’s hope that it works out, then.”
The Captain sighs. “You know, you’re really…calm. Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s rather strange considering the circumstances. I guess your former personality is returning to you, bit by bit…”
Just as I open my mouth to reply, Alicia calls out to the Captain. “We’re done over here! How about you two?” Beside her, Birch coughs.
“We’re good.” He makes his way back to where he was before. I follow behind him.
“When will we be leaving?” Birch asks.
“As soon as we’re ready. Are we all set?” the Captain asks
I nod. Birch turns to leave. Alicia pats her daggers and pistol before saying, “Yep!”
“Off we go, then. We all know where we’re going?”
“No,” I mumble while the other two say yes. The Captain looks at me and then seems to realize that while we all know where the warehouse is, I have no idea where I’m supposed to cover the rest of us.
“Heh, sorry. Here’s the map.” He grabs it off the table and hands it to me.
“Good luck, Cap. Birch, Alicia, Taylor - you guys, too. Don’t die on us.” Marie and Lowell stand by the entrance of the corridor leading to the gun deck.
“If my calculations are correct, this mission has a twenty-percent chance of all of you coming back alive with Lily right behind you,” Lowell states from behind Marie.
Marie swats him. “Ignore him,” she says. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
The Captain smiles. “We’ll be back soon,” he responds.
-----------------
After searching for quite a bit, I finally found the place where I’m supposed to go! Huzzah for not getting lost! But…still, though…why is the roof of this place so damn dirty?!
A few rats scuttle past. I inch further away from the vomit stain a few feet next to me. A few flies buzz around a lump of crap on the ledge to my right. If Alicia didn’t pick this spot, then I’m not a boy.
The warehouse lies right ahead. It’s a worn-down place - some of the roof shingles are falling off and others are bleached of color. Vines scale the grey walls, their white flowers bringing pops of light to the top. Metal plates are tacked over some places, the shine of their silvery color contrasting with the dull colors below. The vent is almost completely covered in rust. Do they really keep slaves in this place?
Birch is here. I take a deep breath, planning to focus, and then immediately regret my decision as I cough and splutter. A small wave of bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it. Note to self: Put smelly trash on Alicia’s hammock later.
I take another deep breath (through my mouth this time, thankfully) and aim my bow, ready to shoot. I hope no one comes along. Or, well, if some guards do come along, I hope Birch takes care of them fairly easily. I wouldn’t want to shoot and accidentally hit Birch…
I glare at the rats chewing on some dead bird next to me and try to not think about the bad things. After nothing happens for a while, I twiddle my fingers and study my bow and arrows.
The rats are almost done with the bird when I hear a few voices on the street next to the building I’m on. Grabbing my bow, I shuffle over to take a look.
There are two people. Actually, make that three. One is lying on the ground…moaning? I can faintly hear some low noises. The other two seem to be staring at him. Are they beating him up?
Right as I think that, one of them reaches out their hand, presumably to help the guy up. The man on the floor cautiously takes his hand, and then, just as the guy is off the ground, he punches the man in the face. I wince. Ouch.
The other person grabs the man’s neck and pulls him up, lifting him into the air. As he struggles to breathe, the mystery man laughs.
Then, he throws the guy back onto the floor and stomps on his face. Just what did this guy do to deserve that?
“Tokos weill naut beh puhleasude,” the first person mocks. Or, at least, I think he’s doing that. “Tokos this, Tokos that. How about ‘Tokos can suck my dick!’” The two guffaw with laughter. Who’s Tokos?
The first guy bends down and grabs the poor man’s face, forcing him to look him in the eyes. “Look, you worthless trash, I don’t care about who this Tokos is. You get in the way of our business and I’ll smash your front teeth in.”
“And I’ll break your kneecaps,” the second guy chimes in. The first guy turns his head, supposedly glaring at the second guy. “Sorry,” the second guy mumbles.
The first guy is pretty…good-looking, judging from his figure. Lean shoulders, blond hair, nothing too fat. His clothes look pretty expensive - they’re filled with fancy decoration thingies. I don’t want to keep calling him First Guy, so I guess…I’ll call him Blonde?
Meanwhile, Tall’s sidekick looks pretty buff. Despite the snow around him, he’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt. His muscles are a bit disturbing to look at, but he’s also kinda dumb(ish?), so I’ll call him Brute.
“So, Gustav,” Blonde says, “how about this? You go on your way and forget about the Pristinum girl, and we’ll leave you and your family alooooone.” Did he just say ‘Pristinum girl?’ Oh, geez, is this about Lily? I inch a little closer to the edge, ignoring the sense of vertigo that comes with it.
The guy - I mean, Gustav - spits on Blonde. Blonde rears back in disgust, and then kicks Gustav in the stomach so hard that Gustav coughs up a lot of blood.
“Last warning, Gustav,” Blonde growls. “Forget about that girl or forget about seeing your family alive, ever again.”
“I never had a family. It was all a lie. NOW, ASTRID!” How exactly does one go about faking the fact that they have a family?
All of a sudden, two arrows fly out and pierce both Blonde and Brute through their heads, splattering blood all over the street. I retreat from the edge, hoping that whoever did that didn’t see me and think I was an accomplice.
When no arrows come soaring up at me, I cautiously peek over the edge. A man is helping Gustav up as a woman taps her foot. They’re wearing identical jackets that say “FTS” on the back. Broken chains cross together behind the words.
Are they the mafia? Or some major group who’s like the mafia…crap. The woman is looking right at me. I scramble away from the edge and head towards the staircase on the side, only to find that another man is staring right at me…and he’s wearing that FTS jacket. I am soooo doomed.
When I lurch backward, he reaches out to me. “Hey, wait - I’m not gonna hurt you.”
I take a look at the street. It’s a long drop from up here. I probably won’t make it if I fall. The group from before is gone, which would be a relief if it weren’t for the guy in front of me.
“Well, uh, first of all, hi. Second of all, I would really appreciate it if you just, uh, you know - turned around and left?” I inch backward, feeling uncomfortable. What if something happens while I’m stuck up here? I can’t just turn around and hope that he won’t kill me…
The man holds up his hands, almost like he’s surrendering. “I think you’d be more of a threat to me than I am to you. You’ve got a bow, remember?”
“You could also have some hidden weapons on you.”
“I - ugh, nevermind. Look, I’ll head down the stairs now, alright? Don’t mean any harm and never did. Just wanted a vantage point.” He sounded so genuine that I would’ve believed him if it weren’t for a woman’s voice saying, “Hey, did you kill him yet?”
Wonderful! I’m trapped on a roof with a…supposedly violent man and even if I make it past him, there are still his friends to worry about. Great! I hate you, Fortuna!
I reach towards my pocket, hoping to call for help using one of the walkie-talkies, but the man lunges at me and I drop it as I dodge. When I look, I see that it’s the brown one - which means the only person I can call now is Birch. I pull out one of the arrows from the quiver on my back and brandish it like I would a dagger while I pull out the other walkie-talkie.
Would Birch be troubled if I called him now? What if he’s in the middle of sneaking around? If he is, then I need to take care of this myself. But…how?
“Goddammit, Birch, you shouldn’t have bothered giving me this stupid thing,” I mutter. I shove the walkie-talkie back into my pocket as I watch the man…and he gives me a strange look. Which is definitely better than watching him charge me, but still concerning.
“What did you just say?” he asks.
“None of your business.”
“No, really. I’ll let them engrave those words on your tombstone,” he snaps.
“Ha! Oh, that’s funny. Birch would be damn pissed if he saw.”
I step backward, toward the edge. If I wasn’t on a rooftop, I would very much like to shout something hero-like - maybe “I’m not going to go down without a fight!” or “I’d like to see you kill me, you bastard!” - but there’s really no hope for me. I could try to get him to charge off the roof, but he might get his friends’ attention, and then I’d be screwed. In fact, I’m probably about to get sniped-
“ASTRID!” he yells. “HOLD FIRE!”
Oooooh, I knew it. The guy turns to me. “Would you - kindly - repeat what you just said?” He takes a step closer as I take one backward. I’m almost at the edge. Two more steps and I’ll fall.
“Why?”
“Because, depending on your answer, you might have a chance at living.”
“What, does hearing me curse do it for you? Want me to do it again?”
“The name. Repeat the name.”
“Did Birch do something to you?”
He makes a choked noise. “How do you know Birch?”
“I, uh…It’s complicated.”
“Fine, then. How about this - why are you here?”
Should I take a risk and mention Lily? Or were they also after Lily? I guess I should play it safe…
“One of my friends is inside that warehouse.” I nod in its direction. “Me and a couple of my other friends are planning to break her out.” I snatch the brown walkie-talkie before the guy can react.
“So what are you doing here?”
“I wasn’t exactly prepared for close-quarters combat last time I tried.”
“Is Birch one of those friends you mentioned?”
“Erm…” I still don’t know whether Birch is on this guy’s good side or not.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
“Uh…”
He lunges at me again. Startled, I jump back - and find myself falling. Ohhhh god this is NOT good I’m aboutta die.
Surprisingly enough, the guy catches my arm and pulls me back up. I’m a bit confused until my brain conjures up several images of what might happen to me and I shiver.
When we’re back on solid ground, I stare at him. He scratches his head and sighs as he looks up. “Look, I’m taking you with us until we can confirm, okay? I get that you don’t want to tell me about how you know Birch because I’m an absolute stranger, but just hold on. We won’t hurt you - just yet, that is.”
“Wow, that’s reassuring,” I mutter.
“I’ve never really enjoyed killing people, alright?” It’s almost as if he’s trying to justify his actions. I, for one, don’t really think anything he says could redeem him.
“So,” he says, “are you going to come with us willingly? Or…” He offers me his hand.
I grumble, but I take his hand and get up. “Fine.”
We descend the fire staircase, him behind me, as I make my way down. Four people are waiting for us when we get down there - Gustav, the man who was propping him up, and two women.
The women are talking to each other as Gustav and the other man lean against the wall, smoking. They all turn when they hear us. One of the ladies makes a face.
“What the heck, Jaun! I told you to kill him, not recruit him. What part of kill don’t you understand?” she snaps.
“He knows Birch,” Jaun says.
Gustav gives me a look, so I give him a look, too. He tries to laugh but winds up coughing instead. When the hacking subsides, he says, “Dat certenly compleecetes dings.”
“We could un-complicate things by killing him,” the woman from before points out.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t,” I say.
“No one cares.” Ouch.
“U-um…the Pristinum girl takes p-priority?” The other woman’s voice pitches up at the end, almost as if she’s wondering if she does or not…Hey! Wait! I completely forgot! That’s right, Lily’s in danger!
“What do you plan on doing with her?” I ask, trying not to seem too curious. The man beside Gustav also gives me a look, but I ignore it this time.
“Looks like someone’s curious. Hey, kid, what would you do if I told you we wanted to sell her for ourselves?”
Dammit. I whip out one of my arrows and try to stab Jaun, but someone tackles me. The other man, I think?
The mean lady scoffs. “See, this is what happens when money gets involved. He clearly wants to do it himself.” Tch. They’re all horrible people. I should’ve known better than to trust them.
“You’re not gonna get Lily,” I snarl. I squirm about, but the man tightens his grip.
“...Lily? Who…Wait, Ivan - he might be…” Jaun lapses into mumbling, but it still works - Ivan gets off. Oh, Jaun - I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you people take her. Not when she’s so important to the crew…
I grab the arrow from before and try to stab him again, but Jaun catches my arm before I can. “Is Lily the friend you and your other friends are trying to save? The Pristinum girl?”
“Damn straight,” I growl. Jaun’s expression softens…or does it?
“Then…that means you’re Birch’s friend, right?” I can hear the mean lady mumbling something behind me.
“More reasons to murder me. Wonderful. Get on with it.” I reach for another arrow with my other hand, but Jaun lets go of my arm. Huh?
“Look, uh…I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He gets down on one knee as I finger the arrow. “Listen, we’re trying to free the slaves in that warehouse. If we save them, especially the Pristinum girl, then we might be able to start a rebellion against the slave owners. You’re a foreigner, right? I should explain.
“This city - it mostly relies on slavery. One out of every four people you see is a slave. The slave shipments have been a little low lately, so the slave traders have started kidnapping people from within the country. Falt is right on the edge right now. It just needs one more push before it falls over. That push is going to happen today.
“The rest of the FTS - which stands for Free the Slaves, by the way - are going to hit other warehouses, including the homes of influential or well-known slavery supporters. The economic issues will be solved after the mission is over.”
I glare at him skeptically. He smiles at me nervously, and then he pats me on the back. “Well, if you didn’t catch all that, then here’s a simplified version - we’re Birch’s other friends and we’ll help you and your friends get Lily back. Got it?”
I’m still glaring at him, but the intensity is pretty much gone now. Someone laughs, and then Gustav says, “Melodee was lyeeng, chaiuld.”
“What?”
I can literally hear the mean lady smirk from behind me. “He says I was lying, you dolt.”
As I get up, I ask, “Can I still stab you anyway?” I would reeeeeeally enjoy it.
The girl who was stuttering seems to suppress a laugh as Ivan chuckles. I guess the girl is Astrid, considering how the others have all been named already…
“Anyway, do you want to come with us?” Jaun asks. “It’ll be Birch’s last mission, anyway. We’ll send him off with a bang.” So Birch is quitting their group? Interesting…
“No, I’m good. I’d rather stay up here-”
Birch’s walkie-talkie crackles. “Taylor! Can you hear me?” He immediately bursts into a coughing fit.
I fumble for the walkie-talkie only for Jaun to nab it once it’s out of my pocket. “Birch! It’s us! How are you holding up in there?”
Bzzzt. “Jaun. I would ask, but now is not the time. Listen - they found out about the plan. We have to move quick if we don’t want-” Birch lapses into a series of coughs.
“What do you need?” Jaun asks. The walkie-talkie fizzes.
“There’s about twenty guards by the door. Some might be heading towards Taylor’s location, assuming that he’s still there. They found out about him.” He gasps for breath.
“Right. We’re on our way. Any last pieces of information?”
“No.” With that, Birch goes silent. Wait, what about Alicia and the Captain?
Jaun gives me a look. “You coming or not?” The rest of the group is already running.
I nod. He grabs my wrist as we break into a sprint. I’m starting to feel the effects of the cold - my legs are aching and a slight shiver runs through my body at some points. It’s not much of a run to the warehouse - unlike the harbor outside, the streets are barren and snowy, so I won’t have to worry about being seen.
I recognize the large doors of the warehouse by the sight of the guards Birch described. They’re pretty easy to spot - especially since they’re uniform-wearing, gun-bearing, and ripped.
“Jaun, are you sure it’s a good idea to just charge them?”
“Heh. Don’t worry about that, ‘kay? Two of our members are god-blessed. They’ll have them down in no time.”
“But-”
“I said don’t worry about it. Gods, are you always this pessimistic?”
“Mehhhh.” Occasionally.
When the guards notice the group running at them, they start firing. The loud bangs of gunshots fill my ears. Jaun pulls me into an alleyway. “It wouldn’t do for you to get hit,” he explains. Surprisingly enough, Astrid and Gustav are already further down the alley, huddled by some rotting newspapers.
“Shouldn’t we leave Gustav here?”
“That’s what we’re doing. Or, to be specific, we’ll get Astrid and Gustav up on the roof.”
The snow is pockmarked with holes, most likely made by stray bullets. My breath makes little puffs as we stand there. Yells sound out, wordless yet full of meaning. After they stop, Jaun pulls me back out of the alleyway and we continue sprinting.
The doors to the warehouse are wide open, revealing dozens of rusted cages within. Birch and a group of people are standing by the entrance.
“Birch!” Jaun yells. “We got rid of them!”
We come to a halt beside the group. “I…can see,” Birch says.
“Where’s the others? Are they inside?” I ask. That was easier than I thought. A little anti-climactic, to be honest…
“They went to check to see if there’s any left,” Jaun replies. Then, he checks the group of people standing around. “About…fifteen men or so? Twelve children and twenty women…hmmm,” he mutters.
I turn to Birch. “So where are they going to go? And where’s Alicia and the Captain?”
“Did you not receive the last few transmissions? They sent quite a few.”
“No, I didn’t…” I pull out the brown walkie-talkie out and give it a look, only to find that it’s broken. “Oh. Uhhh…”
I hear light footsteps running in our direction. When I look up, I see Lily running at me and Birch. “Tayloooooor. Biiiiiiiirch. You came for meeeeeeee,” she says in an unenthusiastic voice.
“You don’t seem particularly happy about it,” I remark. In response, she gives me a short hug. “Yaaaaaaaaay,” she mumbles. She lets go a couple of seconds later.
“So, Birch, where are the other two?”
He shrugs. Very helpful. Ten out of ten. Amazing.
“Well, you could use your brown walkie-talkie to look for them,” Birch suggests. Lily wanders over to Jaun.
I pull the brown walkie-talkie out of my pocket, only to find that the antenna is gone. No wonder I haven’t heard from Alicia or the Captain…
But still, though - they should be close by. After all, the plan centers around the warehouse, right? There’s no way they would go out too far.
“Do you have one? Mine is broken,” I say. He shakes his head. “I lost it,” he replies. Welp, great.
I stand there, unable to think of something to do. After a few moments of silence, Birch says, “Maybe you should escort Lily back to the ship.”
“Will you come with us?”
“No. I have…matters to attend to. I will contact you when I am done.” He coughs, the sound muffled by his elbow.
“Oh.” I stare at the floor for a few more seconds. “By the way,” I ask, “do you have any spare daggers?”
“You would be better off without one. Your close combat skills are only remarkable due to the lack of said skills.” After a few seconds, he adds, “Should worse come to worse, you could always use one of your arrows.”
Ow. “Well, uh, okay.” Lily trots towards me. “So, uh, see you later, I guess?” I mumble. Birch nods.
I place my hand on Lily’s back and tug her hood on a bit tighter. I don’t want anyone to see her hair or eyes. The pale skin is already suspicious enough…
“Let’s go, okay?” I lightly tug on Lily’s wrist. As the snow begins to fall harder than before, I take one last look at Birch, ignoring the sense of anxiety that comes with it, and then lead her away.