Red Rock

Chapter 16: Labeling for Communication (Part 1)

Chapter 16 Labeling for Communication

The three of them thought of it simultaneously. Daire, Jacob, and Sasha were watching Nick manage two cabins at once. With a work force of forty-two, he was working at a ferocious pace. "So what do you think?" Sasha continued. "Should we do this?"

Daire was split down the middle. There was great risk in performing this plan. It seemed like there was no right choice. "There will have to be full commitment on this or we'll all die."

Sasha nodded. "Everyone here knows what our situation is like already. If we tell them that 'this is the price of freedom' I'm sure no one will back down."

Daire still wasn't convinced. "I don't know. You told me what happened when those organized military came in the forest and attacked. If everyone runs like they did back then, then we're all dead."

"That was different. They ambushed us and no one was prepared. There are only seven of them, Daire. We can take them. We outnumber them," Sasha said more convincingly.

"This is all so sudden. There's not enough time."

"Do you know how many people we have right now?" Sasha asked, already knowing the answer.

"No. I do not."

"Including us, fifty-five."

Daire shook his head in deliberation. Sasha had obviously been talking to Jacob about this beforehand or there would be no way Sasha would say such a number with confidence. "Is this number accurate, Jacob?"

"Fifty-five and rapidly growing," he confirmed.

Daire still wasn't sure. "Then what do you think?"

"It needs to be done," he said, agreeing with Sasha. "This thing ends with them dying or us."

"I agree with that, and I agree with what has to be done. But they're cannibals, they're killers, that's what they excel in, killing. I don't think the timing is right. And even if we do this and succeed, would it be worth the casualties?"

"If this is planned and executed properly, there is a chance not one person on our side will die," Sasha countered.

Daire looked at her unreasonably. "It can be done," Jacob chipped in. "If we swarm them at the right time, they won't be able to do anything."

Daire looked back at the cabin and saw Sam welcoming another newcomer to the family. That made fifty-six. Sasha was right; at this rate they would easily have one hundred people by the end of that night. "If we were to do this, how would we do it?"

"I've been thinking about this already," Jacob said, assuming control.

"What have you been thinking?" Daire asked.

"I say we relocate the rations back to the forest where we buried them. Then you and I meet the cannibals back at the cabin and give them the jerky from the shed. After we give them the jerky, we lead them to the forest, where the rest of us will ambush them."

Sasha shrugged. "That sounds like a good plan to me. They'll have no idea what hit them until it's too late."

Daire took a deep breath. "You guys both want to do this?" he said, making sure Sasha and Jacob both looked him in the eye.

Sasha and Jacob both nodded their heads.

"Then who is going to do what?"

"I'll hide everyone in the forest while you guys go meet them," Sasha started. "We'll leave some people out here to make our circumstances more realistic."