After | All15

Putting the Even in Revenge

"Alright," Kota said seriously. "If we're going to do this, we have to do this right."

"This may be our hardest mission yet..." Muttered Axel.

Half the boys were huddled together, the other half were distracting Zoya who seemed to have an unnatural talent of innocently interrupting their planning and ruining it. After all, if she heard even the smallest but if their plans for revenge, they had to scrap their plans. Otherwise, Zoya would catch on much too quickly. For being half zombie, she was quite smart and caught on quickly.

They stood under the trees at the edge of the campsite. The wind caused the leaves to rustle gently. The sound of a small animal scurrying could be heard as they all stood quietly.

"I still feel guilty about this," Corey mumbled, his face turning red as he ducked his head. "I mean she did save my life, ya know."

"Which is why we stayed with her in the first place," Kota stated.

"But since then..." Victor trailed off.

"Well, let's look at what she's done," Owen said stiffly. "She refuses to call me Mr. Blackbourne, brought someone into the home we were staying at and tortured them to death, and so much more. I mean the coffee incident last week is still fresh on everyone's minds."

They all fell silent, recalling the incident with a shudder.

Zoya had tricked Marc into giving her coffee, promising that the coffee wouldn't make her go crazy. Well, at least she didn't lie. Instead, she collapsed right away, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. They still couldn't figure out what she gained from drinking the coffee and passing out...

"However," Owen continued, "I do have a couple conditions if we are to go through with this plan of getting even. First of all, we will not cross the line. We want to get even in a similar manner to Zoya."

"Insanely?" Nathan muttered to himself.

"Light heartedly," Axel corrected, understanding what Owen was getting at. "Zoya doesn't do any of this with the intention of harming us or our feelings."

"It's just a lovely side effect..."

"Nathan? Are you finished?" Owen asked sharply, his steel Greg eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. For now."

After a moment, Owen nodded and said, "On that note, we must be sure not to harm Zoya. At least not too much."

"We should bring Wil into our plans," Corey suggested quietly.

"Good idea," Silas agreed. He didn't really like how close the two were, but he recognized that Wil understood and knew Zoya better than all of them. He would be aware of her triggers and could make sure they don't accidentally cross the line.

After all, no one wanted Zoya as an enemy.

"I'll go find Wil and talk to him," Victor offered.

Nodding, Kota fixed his glasses and announced that he would go with Victor. The two of them headed out together to search for Wil around the campsite.

Owen cleared his throat to capture their attention once more. "Finally, we cannot put off production even further. Going through with this plan cannot effect our deadline for completing this camp."

"Understood."

"The camp should be completed by the end of the week, anyway," Silas informed them. "We may even get done sooner."

"Alright," Wil said, startling them all. He dropped down from a tree above them and landed in a crouch, his hands reaching to the ground to steady himself. He smirked at their startled faces. "What? Zoya isn't the only to appreciate dramatic enterences."

"It would appear so," Owen replied in a clipped tone, Hus lips drawn downward ever so slightly in a frown. "I take it you eavesdropped on the whole conversation?"

"Overheard," Wil corrected, sliding his glasses up his nose. "I was in the tree running an errand for Zoya already when you guys started talking below me."

"Still you could've announced your presence or simply not listened in on the conversation of others," Owen stated.

"Why were you running an errand for Zoya in the tree? What was it?" Nathan asked, his brow furrowed.

Wil gave him a crooked grin that looked so similar to Zoya's it made Nathan's blood boil. "I don't think you're ready for that," Wil answered finally. His tone wasn't condescending, but that's how Nathan perceived his answer.

"Regardless," Axel interrupted quickly before things could escalate further, "You're on board with the plan?"

Wil nodded. "Stay away from anything related to her family. She's a wild card when it comes to reactions to her family. Oh, and no scars. Have at it. Do your worst."

"Our worst?" Corey stuttered.

"Yeah. Many people have tried to teach Zoya a lesson. Only her father has ever succeeded and look at her. Clearly she didn't learn all her lessons or else she'd be a cold hearted contract killer like the rest of her siblings."

"Siblings?" Kota echoed in surprise, him and Victor rejoining the conversation. As they were searching for Wil, Victor had glanced back and spotted Wil already speaking with the group. Zoya was still distracted with the other boys, but who knew how much longer that would last?

"Yes, but that's a topic for another time," Wil replied. "Now when do we get started?"

"Consider Operation Revenge in full swing as of this moment."

***

What do you all think of "Operation Revenge?"