The Wild Ones - Part 2 - The Catalyst

15.

"Can you hurry up already?" Tom grunted between his teeth, looking back at Max.

"It's a ruddy tight knot. Whoever did it must've been a sailor or something."

"You didn't think to bring a knife?"

"No, turns out I left my stabbing knife at home this morning," Max retorted.

"Uh, Max."

"Yeah?" Max looked up at Tom who nodded to something behind him.

Max swiftly turned around to find Vince, who had previously fled, standing over him. Max snorted and stood up.

"Oh c'mon, give me some credit Tom. I think I can take him."

Something hit Max's head and he felt himself stumble under the weight. He turned around and saw two more men surrounding him. They had apparently thrown some kind of metal wire mesh over his head.

"Why don't you try changing now kid?" Vince laughed, arms squarely folded.

Max briefly tried, before the weight of the heavy metal dragged him to the ground. He didn't have the strength.

"Rope," Vince barked, and one of the two men tossed across a length of rope that was immediately attached to Max's arms.

"Got two more for you," Adam called, approaching them with Lily and Becky and tow. Tom rolled his eyes. Lily mouthed 'sorry', so he forced a smile.

Soon the three of them were attached to the tree, all five sat evenly spaced around it.

"Nice try guys," Adam said, before heading back to a now slightly calmer camp.

There was silence as no one particularly knew what to say. Lily blew a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and Max kicked at the dirt. Tom looked across to Daniel who he noticed had woken up.

"Hey. Been awake for long?" Tom asked.

"I don't think so. I heard some noise."

"Yeah it was these bright sparks botching a rescue attempt," Tom said, mostly on purpose.

"At least we tried. And failed, admittedly, but the trying part was good," Becky shouted back.

"That's Becky by the way. You'll learn to tell from the voice and wrong opinions," Tom said. Becky grumbled something under her breath. "And back there's my brother, Max. He's typically not this stupid. And you already met Lily."

Lily leant around to face Daniel and smiled, "Nice to see you again. You OK, that bruise looks nasty?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think. Does anyone know what time it is?" Daniel asked.

"Not the easiest moment to look at our watches right now," Becky said.

"Get that bozo to tell you," Lily suggested, nodding to Vince.

"Na he won't, I tried earlier. Probably to keep us on edge," Tom replied.

"Hey, Becky. Why don't you give it a shot?" Max said, trying to think it through. Everyone was confused, including Becky, until she twigged as to what he meant.

"I dunno. I mean, I still don't quite know how to."

"At least give it a try. Consider it practice."

"What's going on?" Tom asked.

"You'll see," Max replied.

Becky let out a deep breath and called Vince over from a stump he was sat on nearby. She closed her eyes and regulated her breathing, and immediately fixed him a piercing stare. Her eyes shimmered gold. "You couldn't tell me the time, could you?" She asked, somewhat robotically.

Vince stared back at her, almost captivated by her eyes, before looking down at his watch, back at her, and then "It's 3.46 a.m.," he said, before returning to sit on his stump.

"It actually worked. Wow," Becky said, smiling to herself.

"What just happened?" Lily asked.

"We think Becky has some kind of...honesty-making power thing. She can seemingly get anyone to tell her the truth," Max chirped.

"Sounds pretty sweet. And useful," Tom said, wandering off in thought.

"But, Lily, you should know, I kinda accidentally used it on you," Becky said, not looking anywhere near Lily.

"When? I mean, how? Actually, just when."

"On Friday, when we were going to Joe's house. You...told me about your sister, and your mum. You might not even remember, I don't--"

"No, no, I remember," Lily interrupted, her voice sounding icy.

"But the key point is I didn't do it on purpose. Like, a day ago I didn't even know I could, so..."

"But you still did. You made me tell you something I rarely tell anyone, at least not in that much detail."

"I know the feeling," Max added under his breath.

"Lily, please," Becky's voice was drowning in remorse.

"Not right now, OK? Let's get through this and then I rip you apart," Lily said, gritting her teeth.

Tom squirmed slightly, still not overly sure what the hell was going on. He dared not speak, and everyone seemed to follow his lead. They all sat in silence for the next four hours. No one speaking. All pretending to be asleep. All aware no one actually was.