Lara was causing trouble. A lot of trouble. Hijacking ethanol trucks, liberating outposts and stealing loot was just the beginning and the day she dragged a bedraggled Thomas Rush through the gates I knew we were in big trouble. I watched her talk to Rush, Carmina and Kim in the courtyard from the veranda. The twins wouldn't approve of this. Walking down the steps, I perched on a bench and listened in on their conversation.
'We'll be fine, Prosperity is doing great. I've brought back enough ethanol for you to upgrade the garage and make better weapons.' Lara folded her arms, Rush patting her on the back proudly.
'As your resident psychopath, I'd suggest fortifying the defences. Mickey and Lou aren't going to be your biggest fans right now.' I butted in, the four of them startled by my sudden appearance.
'What would you know about it?' Lara asked, annoyed at me taking away from her glory.
'More than you know.' I stated simply. I threw Kim a glance before sauntering off. She knew exactly what I meant.
***
That early evening the smell of barbecue radiated through my office door. Salivating at the mouth, I poked my head out and watched as everyone munched happily on their food. It was then that fireworks exploded over the compound, sending everyone into disarray. Mickey and Lou. Kim caught my eye and I gave her a 'I told you so' eyebrow raise before stepping out of the room and heading down onto the grass.
'We're going together!' Carmina argued with her father loudly.
'It's too dangerous! Let the Captain handle it!' Nick replied, holding onto his daughter's arm. Lara mounted a gun onto her back and started to make her way to the gates.
'Let me go dad!' Carmina yanked her arm away, taking her chance to bolt and reach Lara's side.
'Damn that girl is so stubborn!' He exclaimed, uneasily watching her go.
'Wonder where she gets that from.' Kim suppressed a smile, shooting me a pleading glance whilst Nick was distracted. Sighing, I unfolded my arms and pretended to act good samaritan.
'I'll go with them. If anyone here knows how the twins think it's gonna be me.' Cracking my back, I trudged after the two girls cursing Kim Rye under my breath. When did I get so fucking soft? A few yards outside of Prosperity, a group of Highwaymen stood waiting. Mickey in her blue hoodie smirked when she saw me, Lou carefully tossing a grenade into the air. Fireworks exploded from the vans, the loud noises hurting Carmina's ears. She winced a little as they squealed upon released before banging loudly in the air. Lara held up her gun angrily, Carmina following suit.
'Better put those down. You don't want to scare the kids.' Lou warned, a sick smirk on her face. Raising an arm, I pushed both of the guns down before sliding my hands into my pockets. I knew that kind of smirk well. There was a time when it spread across my face too.
'Carmina!' One of the kids tried to run towards her but was halted by Mickey with just a glare.
'Everything's gonna be okay!' Nick's daughter reassured them but the shakiness of her voice suggested she wasn't so sure if that was the case herself. Laughing, Mickey strode up to her before slapping her across the cheek.
'I'm sorry. I just don't like it when people lie to little kids.' Mickey stared Carmina down menacingly. I took my chance to butt in, turning up the charisma that had lay dormant for many years.
'C'mon now Mickey, you think hurting these kids will make you look tough?'
'Is that a challenge old man?' She cocked an eyebrow at me. 'I know you used to run this town but you ain't got the power anymore. We do. So shut the fuck up.'
'Why are you doing this?' Carmina interjected before I could respond.
'Because of your hero here.' Mickey's gaze fell onto Lara, who stood confident and unfazed. 'Until you showed up everything was running smoothly. But you, you've become a fucking problem. Taking from us, throwing everything out of balance.' Mickey walked straight into Lara's personal space until the two were practically nose to nose. Lou hopped down from the back of the car, fiddling with the grenade in her hand.
'I think we should just kill 'em.' The woman in pink interrupted, tugging the pin out of the grenade violently.
'No. Hold on. We don't want any martyrs here.' Mickey waived her sister down swiftly before continuing to address Lara. 'What we want is to make sure everyone understands that your help is a curse.' Lara didn't respond, he face stoic. 'Every person you help, every child you inspire, every settlement you build we will take from you.' Approaching Carmina, Mickey stabbed a finger right into her chest. 'And when you've got nothing, we'll come for you.' Mickey glared at me but my eye line was drawn to Lou who had shoved the now active grenade into one of the children's hands. She paused for a moment, waiting to see if I would do anything but I stayed put with my hands in my pockets. A wry smirk flashed across her face and I could tell an idea had spawned in her mind. It was for later though.
'Don't drop it.' Lou smirked at the young boy whose fingers trembled uncontrollably. Tossing the pin in the air, Lou watched her twin catch it and headed back to the truck.
'The only currency in this world is power. You, you made us look weak. That ends now. We are going to take everything you hold dear.' Mickey yelled in Lara's face but still the Captain didn't budge. Mickey's gaze fell onto Prosperity in the distance. 'Starting with your home.'
'And if we can't take it, we'll break it.' Lou chimed in, standing in the back of car proudly. Mickey took a moment before chucking the key to Lara who caught it expertly in her hand.
'Don't be here when we come back.' She warned before joining her twin in the back of the car. As the highwaymen drove off, the tensions surrounding us dissipated and Carmina outstretched her arms to the kids.
'C'mere, c'mere!' She beckoned them to her and they rushed over, gripping onto her. 'Oh my God, oh my God.' Her breath was ragged and I could see the colour draining from her face. Placing a sturdy hand on her shoulder for support, I watched Lara secure the grenade in young boys' hands as frightened tears streamed down his cheeks.
'Get them back. This is far from over.' I instructed, leaning down to Carmina's ear before she could take off. 'Calm down, you'll freak them out more.' Taking in my words, she swallowed and nodded before ushering the children back towards Prosperity. Lara stood stock still, staring at the spot where Mickey had been right before her. 'We need to move.' Grabbing her by the back of her coat hood, I tugged her along without another word.
***
As evening arrived, Prosperity was busy with people preparing weaponry and fortifying defences. The children were shut inside the rooms on the veranda to stay safe. I'd taken the picture of Harlow that was pinned on the map in my office and placed it in my jacket pocket for safe keeping. Armed with a machine gun, I found myself waiting on the ramparts with Nick and Carmina. Rush had sent Lara ahead to check in with the scouts but we could already hear engines juddering in the distance.
'Carmina if you're scared-' Nick started.
'I'm not scared.' She replied, assault rifle already pointed out over the wooden boundaries. Her face was calm, collected and ready to fight.
Before long, Lara came running through the trees as fast as her boots could take her. Tearing the pin from a grenade, she threw it behind her and continued to sprint towards us. The explosion made my ears ring but I ignored it, preparing my gun to fire. Within seconds, groups of highwaymen on quad-bikes were zooming through the remnants of the blast. Lara flung herself up at the walls and Kim grabbed her hand, yanking her to safety. Bullets began to fly as we fought against Mickey and Lou's henchmen.
'The West side! They're coming from the West!' I heard someone yell. Pummelling my heavy boots across the wooden battlement, I dove down to avoid being wounded before popping up and spraying bullets across the grass. Despite our team effort however, we were soon over run. Retreating back towards the house, I did all I could to prevent any highwaymen planting bombs onto the main building. Nick was to my right using a shotgun to take out any of the bandits who got too close. To my left, Sharky and Hurk were throwing random explosives they'd made into the fray. Kim was just behind me, using the hilt of her rifle to knock one of the highwaymen down. Then I saw Carmina. She was struggling hard against two other women whilst a man began to approach from behind.
'Carmina!' Nick yelled in a frenzy, unable to leave his post due to the sheer influx of marauders running at him. Without even thinking, I bolted towards her. Letting lose a tonne of bullets, they splintered through one of the women's plastic armour and sent her spinning to the ground. Diving, I grabbed Carmina's body and pushed her away to increase distance between her and her enemies. But I landed funny, my entire weight shoving my leg the wrong way and twisting it out of place.
'John are you okay?!' Carmina seemed concerned but still managed to take out the other woman. A hard shoe stamped down on my back and I grimaced. That would ruin the fabric of my jacket for sure. The man who had been approaching Carmina had changed course and settled for me instead. The cool end of his baseball bat settled against my neck and I sighed heavily. Time to pull some old tricks out of the book. As the guy swung back, I rolled ever so slightly out of the way and threw my good leg up. My shoe connected with his crotch and he groaned loudly, falling to his knees. Before he could recover, I grabbed his head in my hands and twisted his neck so violently that it cracked. I'd forgotten how satisfying that felt. Finally the droves were thinning out as the highwaymen retreated and it seemed liked we had won for now. Flames licked at the floor and bodies lay strewn across the garden. 'Stay put, I'm gonna find mom!' Carmina said to me but I ignored her. Struggling upright, I sucked in a sharp breath at the pain searing through my leg. Hobbling, I made my way up to my room and shut the door on the mess outside.
'Fuck...' I hissed to myself as I sat on my bed and looked at my misshapen leg. A bullet wound had also torn through my waist so I tugged my jumper off of my head to inspect. As I was doing so, Carmina burst in.
'I told you to stay put!' She growled, medical kit in her hand. Black strands of hair trailed down my forehead as I looked up at her.
'I'm fine.' I said coldly, but she still approached anyway. Dismissing her presence, I stuck my fingers into the wound on my side and rooted around for the bullet.
'What are you doing?!' She squealed in disgust as I produced the small piece of metal. I didn't respond instead reaching over and taking the medical kit from her. Wrapping a bandage around my waist, I caught Carmina's eyes staring at the tattoos covering my torso.
'What are you staring at kid?' My disgruntled mutter made her come out of her daydream.
'Why 'yes'?' She asked, pointing at the huge YES tattoo that arched over my navel with two hands cupping each side. It was very faded now as most of my tattoos were.
'It's a long story.'
'That one doesn't look like the others.' Carmina pointed at the word SLOTH now fully healed across my chest. 'Or that one.' Her finger moved down to my hip where LUST was emboldened.
'Cause they're different.' I sighed, pulling my sunglasses up and pushing the loose hairs back up onto my head. She picked up on that I didn't want to talk about it and instead pointed to my leg.
'That doesn't look good.'
'It'll go back.' Placing my hands on either side of my knee, I pushed the joint back into place with a satisfying pop. Carmina cringed hard at the sound. 'I injured it a long time ago, still gives me gip.' I wasn't about to tell her it was her father's fault. Lying back onto the bed, the muscles around my stomach stretched out.
'Thanks for having my back.'
'S'fine kid. Just don't count on me being there all the time.' I replied, throwing an arm over my eyes. Carmina was quiet for a second before piping up again.
'Rush wants Joseph's help.' She said quietly. A sick feeling rolled through my stomach at the thought of my older brother. Clenching my teeth, I remained perfectly still.
'That's a dangerous idea.'