Jed Bailey (jokerandthief) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-10-02 02:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 21, gregory blair, jed bailey, thomas galloway, |* greg/jed/tom |
Week 21 - Tuesday
Characters: Tom Galloway and Jed Bailey
Location: On the perimeter of the Farm.
Summary: After noticing someone watching the Farm, Tom rounds up a posse to go find out who it is an what he’s doing. Greg turns out to be harmless enough, but he’s got shocking news.
Rating: PG-13
After getting everyone in place to surround their observer, Tom started forward and gestured for Jed to follow him up. He wasn’t completely sure what they were dealing with, but whoever had been watching them needed to be investigated and dealt with accordingly.
There wasn’t going to be a repeat of what happened with Jared on his watch, not a chance. If that meant he had to be a little paranoid then that’s what would happen.
Jed kept just behind Tom, shotgun held in front of his chest but the safety off. There’d be no messing around if things didn’t go smooth. Trying to keep each step quiet, they closed in.
The crack of a twig caused Greg to put down his binoculars and turn to the rear. At first he thought perhaps Abigail or Nathan had come to keep him company again, but instead he saw two men approaching, one of which he recognized from the group below.
His first instinct was to snatch up his bow and let fly, but he managed to refrain from the urge, letting one hand curl around the hilt of his sword instead.
Tom stared in disbelief as their observer calmly watched them, with a fucking longsword of all things hanging from his hip.
“Jesus Christ, he’s crazy,” Jed muttered to Tom under his breath. That would certainly explain the running around the hillside like a spy thing, too. On the one hand, Jed didn’t like dealing with crazy people in a fight. They always surprised you. On the other, shotgun trumped sword.
“Maybe.” Tom muttered back. “Stay close.”
He moved forward toward the stranger. “I’m betting you know why we’re here. We’ve got you surrounded so don’t think about leaving. We’ve got a few questions to ask, like why you’re watching us?”
Greg nodded. “I would imagine so. But would you not do the same in my shoes? These are dangerous times, better to have an idea of people before trying to make contact, wouldn’t you agree?”
Jed raised his eyebrows; there was definitely something off about the way this guy talked. “Yeah, well, that’s also a good way of gettin’ yourself shot. Some folks ain’t like us, they don’t ask questions first.”
“And some make a show of taking you in and being friendly until they try to slit your throat, or worse.” Greg retorted, turning toward the other of the two men. “Better to get a sense before attempting contact.” He wasn’t about to tell them about Abigail or Nathan, not yet, and he prayed that neither of the Texans decided to come check on him until this was resolved.
“Yeah, well, contact’s been made buddy, so why don’t you tell us who you are?” Tom responded, his carbine pointed skyward but ready to come down in a heartbeat if he felt it necessary.
“My name is Gregory Blair, once of southern California, more recently of Vancouver until the plague swept the earth.”
Jed stared. “That how they talk in Vancouver?” he asked, his lips quirking in a small smile.
“Mayhap,” Greg smiled back, purposely teasing the other man just a bit. “I’m afraid I’m not quite the same man I was once upon a time. Too much time alone perhaps. I was an instructor at the Acadamie Duello, a school for the western martial arts, which is why I carry my friend here.” He patted the pommel of the longsword affectionately, it had gotten him through several tough scrapes in the past year.
“What, you think you’re some kind of Jedi Knight?” Tom asked, not quite sure what to make of the stranger.
“Oh I’m no Jedi,” Greg replied with what appeared to be complete sincerity. “I have no ability in the force, though I’m told my chi is strong.”
Batshit crazy, Jed thought, though that didn’t explain how he’d almost snuck up on them. “You use your ‘chi’ to find us or you juss happen to walk by?” he asked, his grip tightening.
This will need to be handled carefully. “I encountered a man and a small boy while in search of my packhorse, who had spooked and run off. He asked for a hot meal for the boy, in exchange he told me of your group. I thought it best to investigate, as I’ve charges who are in need of good people to settle with.”
Tom exchanged glances with Jed. There was only one duo that he knew of that fit that description, and he wasn’t much interested in talking to the adult member of the team. “Mr. Blair, I don’t know what he told you, but we don’t do charity for charity’s sake.”
“Nor should you. They have skills that could be of value to you.” As did he, but Greg wasn’t looking for a place for himself, but for Abigail and Nate.
Jed didn’t care if they could make electricity out of shit, his focus stopped when Greg mentioned the man and boy. “Where’s the man who told you ‘bout us? How’d he know where we were? What was he doin’?” Jed didn’t even realize he’d taken a couple steps forward.
“Where they are is none of your concern.” Greg’s expression hardened at the hostility in the other man’s body language and voice. “He knew where you were because he’s been following behind you but too scared to try and make contact again. As for what he was doing? He and the boy were in the process of slowly starving to death. They surely won’t survive the winter on their own, as he has precious few outdoor skills.”
Tom frowned, but said nothing and gestured for Jed to take the lead on this one.
“Yeah, he better be scared, after how he left us,” Jed said, though most of the ire had gone out of his voice. He didn’t give a damn about what happened to Leo, but Walker was another story. He might have been a strange little kid but he didn’t deserve that kind of fate. And Alice had loved him. Alice loved Leo, too. The thought was like the twist of a knife.
Taking a long breath, Jed finally said, “You see them again, tell Leo he can bring the kid to us. He don’t deserve dyin’.”
“I doubt the boy will wish to leave his guardian, but I will pass the message on I assure you.” Greg nodded, though he frowned somewhat at the implications in the other man’s statements. “I’ve been kind enough to provide you with my name, will you both not do the same?”
“I’m Tom Galloway,” Tom gestured over toward Jed. “That’s Jed Bailey.” He stared at the man firmly. “Don’t spy on us again, Mr. Blair. You want to talk to us, fine. You come up to the front of the drive and we’ll send someone out, but we catch you skulking in the woods again and we’ll deem you hostile. Hostiles are shot on sight, you hear what I’m sayin’?”
“I do.” Greg nodded.
Jed felt sick and just wanted to get out of there. Gregory might be crazy, but he seemed harmless enough, and they had bigger fish to fry now. Raising his hand, he gave the others the all-clear. “And yer friends, or whatever. They wanna come, they come straight up, too. Though we got a pretty packed house. Ain’t gonna be room for all.”
“I understand.” He seemed to hesitate, then nodded to himself and looked at the two men again. “Since you have women about I feel I should warn you: There’s a group to the north of you, up around Eugene. A group of religious fundamentalists with a rather literal reading of the passage ‘be fruitful and multiply’, who enslave and gang rape women. Hopefully you’re far enough south to not need worry about them, but I’d not send your women out by themselves beyond your farm just to be safe.”
“Dammit.” Tom shook his head, angry and disgusted at the news. “Even the end of the world doesn’t stop the fucking religious nutcases.”
They had to get back home. The logical part of Jed knew that really, there was very little likelihood that anything bad would be happening there, but the rest of him didn’t care. They’d taken most of the men up here. It seemed like a good idea of the time but definitely not now.
“I’m headin’ back,” he told Tom, his voice clipped.
“Time to go.” Tom agreed. “Be seeing you, Mr. Blair.”