"Noon, tomorra'." Nick talks from the doorway, leaning into the frame. His arms, crossed over and appearing far more relaxed than he should be.
Dalton, at Hannah's side when she woke again, felt these couple days passed far too quickly. They are pieces in Russell's game. If the guard could have gotten past Nick and Fisher, Dalton imagined Hannah would be at the mercy of those who had every intention to see her dead.
The colony under distress and attacked from forces within, from the forces with crumbling power. It had been what Dalton wanted all along, their goal here to set in chaos, to cause distrust in Russell, but with the lives here at stake, Dalton felt a pang of guilt in his deceptions.
"I know, Nick." Dalton replies in irritation as Hannah looks between the two men and adjusts to sit up on the bed. Dalton adds, "How are we going to stop all this? All these people are going to get killed when they go to trial, too..."
"And it's our fault," Dalton added in a guilty passing glare, one Nick heard louder than the spoken word.
"They arrested that nurse that was helpin' ya too. E'ryone's talking' about it. They took in the soldier, too. Tha sniper from tha tower that I sent tha signal from." He replies, knowing damn well who Sophie was since their awkward encounter in the medical center, and admittedly, having noticed her before with her assistance to Dalton's injuries. She made the house calls and Dr. Martin stayed stuck in that hospital doing God knew what for Russell.
If Nick didn't think Sophie to be rude and a touch too paranoid, he might have actually sought her out to help them in this. As it were, Dr. Martin was nowhere to be found.
"The soldier?" Dalton asks, trying to place who Nick's talking about.
Hannah pipes in, "Sergeant Doyle. He's a sniper. Really, the only one with a license to kill in this damn place. Russell's hated him since day one. I'm guessing the feeling' is pretty mutual by how he's probably second to me in making snide comments 'round here..."
"You know him?" Dalton asks.
Hannah replies, "No. Not really. I've just seen him around a lot. Noticed him. A lot of people have. A lot of people who hate Russell even talked about Doyle possibly taking a bigger role here when it came to protecting the wall and pretty much giving The Guard a friendlier makeover. He's a threat to Russell. Been a threat. Russell's been lookin' for excuses to take him out, to kick him out, to do whatever. That, I know for a fact. I've heard things from the horse's mouth."
"But he's just one person...?" Dalton asks, but it's more of a comment then anything.
"Yeah, a person people automatically looked to. A lot like how they looked to Russell, at first back on Tybee island....where we first came from...." Hannah looks to both men with questioning stares on the island, an island that fell, an island she'd rather not talk about. She continues, "A guy like Doyle gets attention by his presence alone. He's the person that walks in a room and ya can't stop staring at him. Almost like, he walks around with us, lives with us, but somehow, he's not one of us. There's just something about him...and he has the experience to back it up. Experience that Russell lacks."
"He's no good to us naw," Nick replies, straightening and taking a step toward them. "We gotta make a plan and make one quick."
"This trial..." Dalton starts, "How do they come to a verdict?"
Hannah rolls her eyes, stabbing at the mush on her plate that doesn't need stabbing. "Russell and a few members of his guard decide. And then there's Kate..."
"Who's Kate?" Nick asks.
"The pale, redhead vampire that sucks the life out of everyone. She talks a lot, but just to Russell. She won't even look at anyone else. Woman thinks she walks on water. They sent her here from the District in Atlanta. The new capital."
Nick interjects, "And the Districts are alright' with how Russell does things? What does the District have to do with this colony anymore?"
"Nothin' really," Hannah replies, "They send supplies occasionally. Kate's one of Connor's staff. An engineer or something. Originally sent here to fix some generators and electric issues, but when she arrived there were a lot of people that went missing. Some think Russell killed them like he killed a lot of others, some think she had them taken back to the District. A lot of women. Children. Gone. So, I guess that's your answer. They don't care what Russell does here. In the end, they still control this place and do what they want...even from states away..."
Dalton and Nick share a moment of passing, weighty silence that draws Hannah's attention. Though she presumes it's from fear of the districts, much like the rest of them who stuck to colonies over the feared rumors of Connor and his regime. Instead, the two men dwell on the safety here even after Russell is gone. Especially, when the claws of a spy more threatening than their own agenda are within the fibers of this colony.
"What about Abby? Do you know what they did with her?" Hannah asks.
"I don't know who Abby is and didn't 'ere nothin'..." Nick replies.
Before Hannah can respond, Dalton answers for her, "It's the little girl that lives with Sophie. She used to talk about her when she'd stop by."
"Is that her daughter?" Nick asks.
"No," Hannah says, "It's a kid they rescued with them when they escaped district one up north."
Not sure why Nick really asked that question, Hannah starts to suspect Nick took a lot of noticing to Sophie with the connections he was trying to make with all the nurse's relationships.
"Hopefully, they keep the kid out of it." Dalton mumbles, but Hannah's quick to reply.
"Nobody stays out of anything anymore. Lines are being drawn. Sides, more than before, are being chosen. Now that they arrested the sniper and the nurse, the colony is going to be more on its back than ever."
"It starts with you. Your trial. Town's already twisted with what the Sheriff did to ya." Nick says, and it's not lost on Dalton that his comrade chose her given title here and not her name. Ana Maria and Nick were thick as thieves back at the camp. The best scouts, their best protection. Isaac favored them and put the most value into them. They'd gotten along great, but Nick didn't take kindly to Ana's failure to return to them, to join forces here when there were others suffering outside these walls. Betrayal; they all felt it.
"If he puts her on the jury, I'm definitely screwed." Hannah says.
"Sounds like yer screwed no matter what. If they're under Russell, you got death or exile waiting for ya." Nick replied.
"Yeah, but if she's on that jury I'm definitely dead. I'll take exile over being killed, but something tells me I'll be dead no matter what they decide," It's here where Hannah fails to breathe in the moment, as the secret she's kept in protecting her former leader spills out to condemn her further, "He killed my brother. My brother was a scientist, a doctor, like that Dr. Martin that came in with Doyle and Sophie. Russell asked him to do some experiments and my brother couldn't find it in him to do it. I don't know the details, but it's something to do with the upper levels in the medical center. Like where the sheriff took me. There's the floor that bitch tortured me on, then there's the third floor. It's locked up, forbidden..."
Dalton takes the moment that Hannah takes in a brief pause to say, "Maybe if we find out what he's hiding up there we can get the upper hand once and for all."
"No," Nick replies faster than Dalton had ever heard from the slow-paced male, "We focus on gettin' through this trial first. I'm thinkin' we force ourselves on that jury. Get a neutral part in too. I think I know just the man for the job..."
Though Nick's brain constantly turned in the opposite direction, it turned quickly all the same.
"And maybe that's the perfect opportunity to go poking around. With the entire colony distracted with the trial, someone can get to the third floor and find out what he's hiding." Dalton adds and though both men thought of different plans, Dalton found a way to merge them.
"He's not going to let you on the jury." Hannah says, letting out a gusty laugh of opposition.
"Won't be up to him," Nick replies, "The rest of the colony's already callin' for a random jury. His power's only as good as the people under him give him and that power's gettin' sent to the grave quicker than he can dig a hole."
"I'll make sure of it, Hannah. Don't worry about that." Dalton assures her, but Hannah doesn't buy the rainbows and unicorns.
"No, no. You guys are being stupid. Russell might seem like he's the understanding guy who will back down when challenged, but he's not. He's not stable. Someone questions his authority and he'll have no problem shooting down anyone who's against him. You saw him the other day, he shot off his gun when you were talking all that crap! The guy is a dictator. Democracy has never been his thing. Trust me on this...he will find a way to get the outcome he wants, even if he fools the shit out of all of you."
"Well, Miss Hannah, if he shoots then we're just gonna have ta shoot back on 'im. They're picking' the jury in an hour's time. Dalton and me will head-on-down to the town hall and work on getting on that jury—random, or not." Nick replies matter-of-factly and Hannah's continuing to stare at them both like they're way in over their heads. They aren't listening.
"None of us have guns. Remember? Colony laws!" She replies.
"Don't ya worry about tha'. I've got an in. I'll be concealing during yer trial. I'll git Dalton a gun too." Nick tells her and Hannah, with eyes of fire, finds ice quickly in the deadest stare he'd ever met in his life.
"What about me? Don't I get a gun?" She asks.
Meeting her levelly, Nick replies, "No. If they search ya, we'll all be outed. Yer just gonna have ta trust us."
A thick hush fills the room. One, that causes Dalton to awkwardly shift, but the two at odds couldn't have been stiller.
"Alright." She says, relaxing at last when her spine take a different curve. "But if the shit hits the fan, you get me the fuck out of there."
"It's a promise." Nick tells her, crossing the distance and holding his hand out for her to shake in agreement.
She takes it with half the firmness that she might normally, not really giving a shit for this formality that clearly meant something binding to the man who had saved her life already. And, if it weren't for that fact, she wouldn't have trusted him at all.