Dark Sky

34 - Showdown

Chapter Thirty Four

"It's done." Sam lied, standing nervously before Travis.

He was initiating the first part of Joe's plan, which was to deceive Travis into thinking he had been successful.

Joe had been a bit vague when he explained his plan to everyone and Sam wasn't at all pleased with the mission he had been entrusted with. He had to lie to Travis and tell him everyone was dead except Joe. That was what Travis was expecting and for Joe's plan to work that what Travis had to believe.

Sam was scared that Travis would see through him just like Joe did with the coffees. The only difference was, where he wasn't sure if Joe would have killed him, he was positive Travis would and without hesitation.

"They're all dead?" Travis couldn't help but smirk. "Except Joe?"

"Not yet," Sam added thinking it added a bit of authenticity, "I dropped the pills in and snuck out."

"Then how do you know you were successful?" Travis scowled.

"I made sure they all drank before I left." Sam assured him. "I wasn't gonna stick around for them to start dropping."

"I suppose not." Travis frowned, squinting into the distance. "Would have made things easier if you saw them dead though."

Sam shifted uneasily before Travis hoping the rogue was actually buying his story as he seemed to be.

"No matter, they'll be dead by now." Travis gazed back at the boy. "Those pills only take a few minutes to work."

Travis looked around the broken supermarket complex knowing his men were dotted around covering the area incase Joe tried to escape. Until then he could sit and mourn the death of his friends before Travis enacted his revenge.

"Your free to go." Travis told the boy after a short silence.

He had pulled it off, his part of the plan was accomplished. Now he had to find somewhere safe to wait on the outskirts of the area until he was reunited with the others.

***

"No I won't let you!" Leila screamed hysterically at Joe.

"It's the only way Leila." Joe took hold of her and pulled her in close.

"No." Leila began to sob. "No it's not. There has to be another way!"

The plan wasn't quite what Leila had hoped for and she was by no means happy with Joe's idea of ending the Travis problem. When he had explained how he was going to lure Travis into the supermarket alone, her heart had skipped a few beats and she had pleaded with him not to do this on his own.

"They'll kill you there's too many of them." Leila pleaded with him. "There's too many even if we all go after him. So how do you think you'll do it on your own."

"I have to do it alone." Joe explained. "He thinks you are dead and so while he's chasing me, the rest of you can make your escape."

Leila shook her head in despair, "why do we need to escape if your gonna kill Travis?"

"Well," Joe smiled, "there is a lot of his men out there as well."

In reality Joe didn't like his odds much and there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it. All he could hope for was to buy Leila, Floyd and Bill enough time to get away to the bunkers.

Even if circumstances were different he felt it should be him anyway. He had radiation poisoning and it was a little worse than he first thought. He didn't feel ill or anything but the hair loss was getting worse and he had noticed a couple of blemishes appearing on his skin. It was possible his time might be short anyway and so he was the obvious choice to face Travis.