Butterflies in Winter

::Chapter 37:: Below

The group did what they could to force the growing feeling of dread away. Trying to concentrate on the words of their leader as they continued towards their destination. Listening carefully to every word he said.

Soon the plan was set out, and they had their roles.

By no means was it the best plan that they could have come up with, but with the time they had available, it was the only one they had.

"You guys know the island best, and you're arguably the strongest of us."

"Arguably?" snorted Vic, not aggressive, more trying to add some humour to an awful situation.

Ignoring the bear shifter pointedly, he carried on. "You will go underground, to the centre of..."

"Lookout hill," Max interjected where the leader paused, uncertain of the name of the place which had ruled the survivor's lives for the last five years.

Giving a glare to Max, Matthew clearly growing frustrated by the constant interruptions. Even if they were done with the intention of helping him. Max ceased and desisted, backing off under the heated look of the older man. Biting his lip, wise.

Once silence had fallen on the group once again, the only sound was the distant songs of bird and their footsteps. Matthew continued once again.

Continuing firmly, "So you twelve will be working bellow ground. Whilst the rest of us will gather what supplies we can find to create some kind of protection for it, a box, a room, it doesn't matter. Just make something which will ward the beasts away."

A child could have come up with a better idea, Kit couldn't help but be pessimistic. It practically danced off his tongue at this point.

"Ok," Max was the one who spoke when the absent of speech became apparent on the part of the others. "We can do that," he said decisively. Not needing to look at the others to know that they were probably in the same

Kit's mind was racing as he began to think about how all of this was going to work, thinking desperately as to what the best course of action was going to be. But the simple matter of the fact was that the would only have one chance to get this right.

If it went wrong, that was it, the beasts would return to the mainland, and this time they didn't have the means to stop them from destroying everything.

No pressure at all.

"You're best bet," Jess said, thinking out loud rather than putting much thought to her words. "Is to go to the main part of the power plant, most of the metal which it was made up of is still there. A lot of it will be broken or rusted, but I cant think there's much else other then the lookout camp."

"For the love of god don't start taking that apart above us, that goes down and the hill goes down with it." Vic warned almost immediately.

"If it gets to that, we're already dead, Vic." Max retorted, running his fingers through his hair, agitated. "You do what you need to do to get this done, we'll figure ourselves out." He said with a stern tone. More mature than Kit remembered ever having seen him.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kit knew there was meaning behind what had been said. The world was worth infinitely more than the group, and it was a sacrifice Kit was willing to make if it came to that.

But right now they had to do what they could to ensure that it wasn't going to.

Matthew nodded, listening carefully as though he was making mental notes. "Ok, thanks, will do." He said, making no comment regarding the look out camp.