Chronicles of the Unknowns: Control

Chapter 19

Jake POV

I scrounged up some rations of food and found a table to sit at. Everyone seemed on edge. Everywhere there were tense shoulders, shadows downcast over eyes, flinching at the slightest thing out of place. The entire situation here was extremely fragile. Order could collapse into chaos at a moment's notice.

The good thing was that everyone seemed to be eating at the moment, even if they antsy. A full belly meant we could have a calm discussion about what to do next. I tried to think of some possible solutions so that I could be prepared to bring something to the table when it came time to talk.

We hadn't been going for the element of surprise to begin with. However, we had been relying on valuable intel we'd received from the reconnaissance mission. The chances of the rally happening now were slim but that didn't mean that Giovanna wouldn't boldly go forward with it. Her death hadn't been confirmed so assuming that Celeste's attack had failed wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

On the other hand, what if the rally was cancelled? Assuming she wasn't dead, what would Giovanna do next if she wasn't going to hold it? And if she was dead, what would her subordinates do?

I mulled those questions over while I ate, trying to come up with an answer. The thing was, I knew next to nothing about Giovanna. I had no insight on how she operated, how she got from point A to B. In some ways, she was just like the Supreme - an all powerful being that you knew existed and that you had to obey, but you otherwise knew very little about.

Still, as a leader of this camp, I had to try to think of something so that I could pull my own weight. I was determined. Just because our society structure had been dismantled, that didn't mean my desire to become an Enforcer disappeared with it. In fact, it gave me that much more drive to prove myself. Especially with my brother's life in question. He'd been an Enforcer  before all of this happened.

It was a hard pill to swallow. I wondered if I could kill my brother, my own flesh and blood, in order to defeat the enemy. If that was the price I had to pay, would I be able to pay it?

Just thinking about it made my stomach lurch. How could Celeste do something like that? Even if it was to win, how could I trust someone who held the lives of the people closest to her in such disregard?

I shoved the rest of my food down my throat and swallowed roughly. Several tables down I could see Alex, Scott and Stella sitting together eating. People who Celeste hung around quite a lot. Unlike everyone else, they didn't seem all too bothered by our most likely doomed situation.

Something warm pressed against my shoulder.

"Don't be so down, Jake," it was Daisy Lynn, her hand resting on me. She stepped around from behind me and sat down on the seat across from me.

There was a soft smile on her face. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder to get it out of the way.

"Whatever Giovanna was going to do, we have no leverage now that the plan's been blown to pieces."

She gave a thoughtful look.

"This isn't the first time in my life I've had a situation blow up in my face and not go the way things were planned. It sucks, but we have to adapt. Sometimes life throws curveballs that you just have to deal with."

"True, but it's a little different when the person throwing curveballs is someone you trust. Or at least thought you could trust."

"Jake, you're one of the few people here who knows her best. At least, you two seem close. Can you think of any reason why she would do something like that? Besides betrayal?"