Troy's plan sounded decent. Get ready for the attack by being a few steps ahead of Walker. Give them the idea they were scared and couldn't fight because of the people's division and departure. Walker wanted the land so they would answer his demand with a carefully planned ambush on their turf. Cristine leaned against the edge of the small table and with an eagle view divided her attention between the people present in Jeremiah's office.
Troy stood in front of father's oak desk to present the information and his plan. Jake stood near the window with eyes fixed on his younger brother balancing between worry and hesitation. From the corner of her eyes stood Vernon. James was able to placate him to come. It wasn't a secret he and his family were packing and told anyone willing to listen to heed Walker's warning and abandon Broke Jaw Ranch. Heed his advice to flee to the other 'safer' Prepper communities. As inauspicious as she could Cristine's slightly narrowed gaze landed on the last person she expected to be amongst this gathering; Madison Clark. To her surprise then immediate suspicion her father apparently invited her. He respected the woman's opinions and insights. Cristine didn't know what to think of this little coalition Madison and her father started. She only ever advised Madison to prove herself to the people who weren't sheep. Her father didn't fit that label and Madison successfully managed to loom around James like a shadow. Rolling her fingertips between her palms, Cristine decided to reserve the questions for after.
"We draw them to the Ranch. Let 'em think we abandoned the place and attack them from the front, rear, and flanks." Troy's piercing eyes were plastered on Jeremiah's pensive face after finishing his proposal. It was something he came up with while he and Cristine left their prisoner cabin. They lost more than a few people and after thinking it through, properly this time, Troy came to the conclusion that going to the Nation guns blazing wasn't the best idea. He believed they had a much better chance to beat Walker on their turf and with the illusion they were scared.
Jeremiah looked to his companions. "What do you think?" James scratched the underside of his grey beard and Vernon had this air of hesitance around him. That was good. At least Vernon was wavering his steadfastness to leave with his family to who knew were.
"It's a good plan son," James gave Troy an impressionable look to which the younger man replied by tipping his chin down. "We know the Ranch and the area better than they do. It's a lot of acres. We know where to hide, where to set traps and lure them in."
"And the ones who can't fight? Where do they hide from the battle? The women, children and elderly?" Vernon asked worriedly, thinking about Gretchen and Kathy's safety, "we don't have a time stamp of when this attack will be... they could be coming now as we speak."
"A few of us have RV's. We use those for the vulnerable members and have part of the able bodied protect them. We place them away from the fight, but with an escape route if they need to move," Cristine suggested.
"So this means negotiations are off the table?" Jake packed the courage to be the voice of reason in response to them discussing declaration war plans. Their right to fight was valid, but it left Jake's conscious with a discomfort that no one even considered an all out war as the last resort. They beat Walker before and there was more at stake than just the Ranch... what about the future they were trying to build? This place was supposed to be more than that. A chance for humans to live together. At least be tolerant of the other while fighting their enemy; the dead. Jake looked at his father then Troy. In this moment, he felt like the odd one out in his own family. It was Troy who was even "What about what we discussed yesterday? Why would Walker even attack when he doesn't have the means to? Our family handled him before and like dad says we won each time."
"When there were courts and laws," Troy didn't hide the frustration in his voice, "the rules of the old world don't count anymore brother. Walker killed our people and our response is to break bread with him? That's the same as us waving the white flag."
"No. That's us making sure both sides stop further bloodshed and reason what's best for our and his people." The answer made Troy snort and look at the ceiling, but he said nothing else. He didn't need to. It was Jake's sentimental ways that would get them killed. Troy loved Jake, but his brother was too soft. That's why he didn't understand why their father would entrust their family's legacy in Jake's hands. Calls like this was going to get them eradicated.
"We don't have anything Walker wants other than the Ranch." Cristine voiced her disagreement. In what world, especially this one, was turning the other cheek even an option? They had the arms, the people, and much more to defend the Ranch. From what the others reiterated in the infirmary, Walker wasn't interested in coexisting. Let alone in peace with them. What he wanted was clear as day and as old as human nature itself. Take what you can to survive and to hell with everything else. "I'm with Troy. This will unify our people. They're scared and are looking for solutions. This is one... even if it results in bloodshed." Unconsciously, she glanced at Troy. The eye contact brief with a silent appreciating glint inside of them. Darting her eyes from one pair of blue to the other, she lowered her voice to emphasize, "they killed Charlie. Killed Phil and his crew. Sounds to me Walker made it perfectly clear what he wants. Which is death if we don't leave. Why not give him what he wants and return the favor?"
Jake sighed, defeat cut through his expectations of anyone giving negotiations a chance. Jake at least expected Cristine to be open to what he was trying to accomplish. But he remembered that when it came to something as base as survival, Cristine was ruthless and unbending. The young medic wasn't that different from the rest of his family in that regard. After a bout of silence, Jake's hands clamped around his biceps. A sign he would accept the unanimous decision. He was the only one against it.
"That settles it then." Jeremiah's heart glowed with the verdict. His dark brown eyes alternated between James and Vernon. While Vernon showed a mixture of emotions that were as clear as day he was anxious, James was the opposite. Outwardly the usually amicable man was just indifferent. Once it became clear Walker and Black Hat Reservation were involved in this and brought back their shared pasts, their thirty plus year friendship shifted for the good and bad. Exhaling, Jeremiah bobbed his head up and down, accepting that this was it was how it was going to be.
-
"You trust Troy to lead the mission?" The question caught Cristine off-guard. She stared in the bluish-green eyes of Madison Clark. With the unanimous decision, they were the last ones to exit the big House. Cristine was on her way to help with some fence mending and Madison followed. The view was peaceful. This scene was as real as the chaos, death and destruction further behind their fences.
Cristine nodded her answer, voice confused. "You don't?"
Madison inhaled deeply, breathing in the fresh oxygen. She watched the high lush green of the hills. During her time here, Madison had time to observe the dynamics of the Founding Father's and their children up close. Jeremiah, Vernon, and James had families and children, same as her. She used that relatability to her advantage. But so far, the Otto's were her priority. James landed in her path when she realized the man was more militant compared to Jeremiah. A welcome surprise. Then there was Cristine, his eldest child. Madison spoke to Cristine once or twice. It was superficial at most. Nick, however, was charmed when he mentioned her. Even Alicia was impressed with Cristine's work as a medic. She was closest to Jake, her sister, and Blake. Her relationship with the Survivalists wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but sometimes there was a distant feeling. A solemnity she didn't fully belong. At least, that was what Madison picked up and she didn't pay Cristine any mind. Until the Big House just then. Madison spotted the, perhaps unconscious, interaction between Cristine and Troy. It wasn't much, but enough it could mean something in the long run. Something Madison could use to her advantage in the future.
The young medic seemed to have faith in Troy's capabilities as a leader. So different when Madison herself experienced that, under pressure, Troy was a tyrant and could be a loose canon. Gulping, she remembered the cold steel of his blade against her throat. It wasn't her intention to taunt him, but Troy's first response fit the tics of an individual with a social disorder and sociopathic tendencies. A troubled young man with mostly mommy issues and who had a strange fascination with her family. Madison was curious about one minor detail and instead of answering Cristine's wary question asked, "is there a reason you asked Troy to help you with the prisoner?" Eyes flicking to the dark polished onyx of her unwavering ones, Madison expectantly waited for a response to a relatively easy question. So when Cristine took a while to reply, Madison narrowed her frowning eyes.
Shaking a hand through her loose curls that hung loosely over he shoulders, Cristine pursed her lips, voice sure, "Cause I knew he could get it done and he did. With men like Walker at our doorstep, we need someone like Troy." Madison not giving her a slither of emotions made Cristine's skin itch. It was difficult to place a pattern, but it didn't feel right. It felt like the woman was trying to pry into her mind. Filter from their conversation what she could use for her own gain, so Cristine tried to let as little as possible slip. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"I do." Again, Madison was unbending, using logic rather than sentiments for what they were about to do. "I thought about what I would do if I saw my husband's killer. The man who took something of mine and almost took my daughter. When I did, I wanted to kill him right then and there, but I came back for my kids." Madison's fingers dug around the wood, the only visible sign to her resenting anger and sadness over the loss of Travis. But even that emotion was fleeting.
"Your children are strong. Smart too." Cristine complimented and the corner of her lips arched in a faint upward curve. "Jake and Alicia, Nick and Jeremiah. They picked the right people-" A pause. "You and Troy," Cristine whispered. "That's why I'd like it if you keep my father- my family out of what plan you have in mind for the Otto's." Cristine didn't wait for Madison's to reply. She silently took the toolbox with her and walked away to do her last chores of the day.
Thoughts?