She totally would!
You’d Better Watch Out
Written: 2008
Synopsis: A quiet year for the Tribe community so this fic is based on TheTribe.co.uk’s ‘Sector 4’ fan series. As the Strays prepare to celebrate Christmas with Breeze, it’s not Santa Claus but the Chosen who are coming to town. Can they reach the farm safely?
(I recommend watching both series of Sector 4 to get the most out of this one!)
**
‘I still say this is a bad idea,’ Alexandra sniffed.
‘Give it a rest, will you?’ sighed Zander, slamming the grille shut and then checking to make sure it was secure.
‘I’m just saying,’ Alexandra said in a put-upon tone. ‘That flimsy bit of metal didn’t stop us from getting in; it won’t stop anyone else who wants to get in either. We could come back and find the place trashed, and for what? It’s not even Christmas!’
‘It might be,’ Grace argued. ‘It’s not like anyone has calendars anymore, and it’s the right time of year for it. Anyway, it was really nice of Breeze to invite us over, and it’ll be good to see Blaine and Syan again. Don’t let’s spoil it now.’
‘You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,’ Drake added, folding his arms.
‘I never said I wasn’t coming,’ replied Alexandra, holding her hands up defensively. ‘Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Duly noted,’ Zander said sarcastically. ‘Now let’s go, we don’t want to be late.’ He took Grace’s hand and set off, with Drake following behind pushing a barrow full of presents they were taking to the farm, a few batteries and bottles of water. Alexandra looked back at the Youth Centre, shook her head, and followed.
Their first port of call was the Trading Post, where they were greeted by Jaz and Esme. Grace shivered as she saw the empty stall at the end of the row. Evidently the Traders still hadn’t found anybody to take over the running of Tobias’ stall. Turning back, she saw Zander and Jaz hugging and unconsciously twisted the engagement ring on her finger, the way she always did when the two of them were in close proximity.
‘Have you set a date yet?’ Esme asked her. ‘For the wedding?’
Grace forced her hands back down to her sides. ‘Not yet,’ she replied. ‘Things have been a bit hectic lately.’
‘Of course,’ Esme nodded. ‘You’ve made a wonderful recovery. You’d never guess, looking at you, that, you know…’
‘That I had the Virus? It’s ok, you can say it.’
‘Yes, well,’ Esme continued. ‘It’ll be nice to have something to celebrate, won’t it? And don’t forget, if you need caterers…’
‘You’ll be my first choice,’ Grace said, smiling weakly.
‘Excellent!’ Esme smiled, turning back to her stall. ‘Jaz! What are you doing?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve paid for them!’ Jaz replied, slipping some tins of food into Drake’s wheelbarrow. Esme nodded, and Grace went to join the rest of the Strays.
‘It’s quiet at the Trading Post today,’ Zander noted.
‘It’s been quiet all week,’ Jaz replied. ‘People are scared of something. Esme reckons there must be some new tribe throwing their weight around.’
‘The perfect time for us to leave our home and take a walk in the woods,’ Alexandra said, but Zander ignored her.
‘It’s early days yet,’ he told Jaz. ‘It could just be a rumour.’
‘Better to be careful though,’ said Drake. ‘Everyone keep together; no wandering off.’
Zander nodded. ‘We’d better get going again,’ he said. ‘Get there while it’s still light.’
With a little less enthusiasm than before, the group rejoined the road that led out of the City. ‘Have a nice time!’ Esme shouted, waving them off.
‘She’s not coming with us?’ Zander asked.
‘I did ask,’ Jaz replied. ‘But she said somebody had to stay and look after the stalls.’
The Strays carried on walking, reaching the edge of the woods by midday. Jaz and Zander led the way, followed by Grace, Drake and Alexandra.
‘You’ve finally accepted it then?’ Alexandra said to Grace after a while.
‘What are you talking about?’ Grace replied.
‘Why, those two of course.’ Alexandra motioned in front of them with her head. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed? If he were my fiancé, God forbid, there’s no way I’d let them carry on like that.’
‘They’re only walking, Alexandra,’ Grace sighed, twirling her engagement ring.
‘If you say so,’ the other girl smiled. ‘But…’
‘Alexandra,’ Grace interrupted. ‘Just shut up.’
‘Charming!’ Alexandra replied. ‘I was only trying to…ow!’ Grace looked around to see Alexandra rubbing the back of her leg where Drake had run into it with the wheelbarrow.
‘Sorry,’ he said to her with a flat-eyed stare. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
As Drake and Alexandra argued, Grace walked into the woods for some peace and quiet, though staying close to the edge so she could still see the others. It was warmer in the wood, with the cover of the trees, and she found herself relaxing muscles she hadn’t realised she had tensed. Birds chirped above her head and she saw squirrels darting behind the trees as she passed. Just then a twig snapped behind her, deeper in the woods. The birds fell silent and she froze, tensing up again. Slowly she turned around, searching for the source of the noise. She saw nothing, at first, then a flicker of movement drew her eyes to a dark shape – a shape that resolved into a crouching figure in a dark robe. Then the figure stood up and she screamed. Within moments the rest of her group were there, but the man in the cloak had vanished.
‘What is it, what’s wrong?’ Drake asked.
‘Are you alright?’ echoed Jaz.
‘What were you doing on your own?’ spluttered a worried Zander.
‘I saw someone,’ she explained. ‘Behind that bush, watching me.’
‘Just stick with me, ok?’ Zander said, putting his arm around her. ‘In fact everyone, stay together. It’s not far now.’
They continued on their way, but closer together and moving more quickly than before. A short while later Alexandra walked up to Grace’s side and, with a look that took in Zander’s arm around her shoulder, gave her a wink and whispered ‘Nice work!’ Grace just shook her head. Before long the party was completely surrounded by trees, and it was beginning to get dark. Every sound made them turn their heads and quicken their step. Finally the clearing where the farm lay came into view and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Then a rustling in the bushes made Grace turn around, but this time it was Alexandra who screamed as robed figure after robed figure emerged from the trees and started to walk towards them.
‘Run!’ Zander shouted, grabbing Grace’s hand, and everyone ran for the farm. It soon came into view, with its welcoming lights, and the smoke from the chimney bringing the delicious smells of farm cooking. Drake was last to the gate, struggling with the wheelbarrow that he hadn’t abandoned, but a look behind showed that he was in no immediate danger. The blue-hooded figures, eight in total, stood watching from the edge of the wood, then one by one they returned to the darkness.
‘Who are they?’ Drake asked, panting.
‘I don’t know,’ Jaz replied. ‘But it looks like Esme’s rumours are true. No wonder people are afraid to come and trade with those creeps about.’ She shivered, and looked to Zander, but all his attention was on Grace. Instead, Jaz knocked on the heavy oak door, eager to be safe inside the farmhouse.
‘Breeze!’ she cried as her friend opened the door, wearing an apron and covered in flour. ‘It’s so good to see you!’
‘Jaz! You made it!’ Breeze beamed. ‘But you all look like you’ve seen a ghost! What’s the matter?’ As the Farm Girl led them inside to the warmth of the main house, the Strays told their tale, with Breeze looking more and more worried by the second. ‘Dawn thought she saw something in the woods yesterday,’ she said. ‘But I had no idea…If I’d known how dangerous it was out there I’d never have asked you to make the journey. If you want to stay a few days until it’s safe…’
‘Thanks Breeze,’ Zander said. ‘But we’ll just stay the one night like we planned, then we really should get back and check on the Youth Centre.’ Alexandra gave a self-satisfied smile but Breeze just nodded.
‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I’ll ask Dawn to take you to the City in the cart tomorrow. There’s a route that cuts off the woods altogether.’ The Strays and Jaz murmured their thanks. ‘Well,’ Breeze continued. ‘Now that’s all sorted, there are a couple of people here who are going to be so pleased to see you!’ She opened the door to the kitchen and two black dogs appeared, barking happily at her feet. The noise caught the attention of the other occupants of the room, Blaine and Syan, who instantly stopped their preparations for dinner and came to greet their friends. There were hugs for all, even Alexandra. Syan was soon drawn to Grace’s engagement ring, then loudly asked Blaine when he was going to get one for Breeze. His cheeks turning a bright crimson, he was spared from answering by a knock at the door that made the Strays tense up and give each other worried glances.
‘It’s ok,’ Breeze cried, slipping through the crowd to answer the door. ‘I invited a couple more people, that’s all.’ Sure enough, a familiar voice soon came from outside.
‘Breeze, Happy Christmas!’ Vanessa greeted. ‘How is Ellie?’
‘A complete recovery!’ Breeze replied. ‘She’s in the City with Alice at the moment. Come in, come in! How is…your friend?’
‘Oh, much better,’ Vanessa replied. ‘Still not talking, but calmer.’ The muffled tone left her voice as she entered the kitchen, followed by the blue-haired kid she had taken under her wing the last time the Strays had seen her. Grace and Syan were particularly pleased to see her, since it was thanks to her that they had found out about the antidote to the Virus. She spent some time talking to the pair of them, enquiring as to their recovery, while her companion latched onto Blaine, who he seemed to have taken a liking to, and started poking him. It was quite a chaotic scene with so many people in the kitchen, but before long Breeze had control of the situation, sitting everybody around the table where they were joined by Dawn and the remaining Farm Girls for a dinner of goose, potatoes and vegetables, followed by Christmas pudding and mince pies.
‘That was the best meal I’ve had since before the Virus,’ Grace said, holding her stomach, and everyone agreed. Blaine and Syan, either side of Breeze, smiled at each other, proud of their involvement in the cooking.
Afterwards they exchanged gifts, with the Strays and Jaz each receiving a basket of fresh vegetables, bread, milk and cider from the Farm Girls, and a First Aid kit and medicines from Vanessa. Breeze used one of the batteries she had been given to set up some music, and soon everybody was talking and dancing and having a good time, even Alexandra. Vanessa’s companion amused himself by chasing the dogs around the table, Drake spent time talking to one of the Farm Girls, and Blaine finally managed to get a few moments alone with Breeze.
‘Merry Christmas,’ he said to her, holding up a slightly withered piece of mistletoe.
‘Blaine!’ she giggled. ‘Where did you get that?’ She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘Merry Christmas to you, too.’
The party continued long into the night, until finally Breeze showed her exhausted guests to their beds. In the morning, fog shrouded the woods, and the fear of what might lie in wait there returned to the Strays’ minds. As promised, though, Dawn readied the cart and took them back to the City by a different route, waved off by Breeze, Blaine, Syan and Vanessa, who was staying at the farm an extra day.
When they were well clear of the woods, and the more substantial buildings that signalled the outskirts of the City came into view, Dawn stopped the cart and let them off, wishing them well. As they said their goodbyes to her, and then a short while later to Jaz, back to the Trading Post, the Strays started to think about their home and what might have happened to it while they had been away. Zander tried to keep their spirits up by reminding them of the night before, but even he looked worried. When they got back to the Youth Centre, though, they found the grille still shut tight and the building secure, with no sign that anybody had tried to get in or even been in the area. Settling back into their normal routine, they soon forgot about their run-in with the hooded strangers, and the Farm Girls never saw them in the woods after that day. In fact it was to be many months before anybody on the farm or in Sector 4 met them again.
And by then the whole City would know of the Chosen.
3 Likes
Okay… That’s a good write… But of course it’s confusing for I sat there like “Huh?! Who are they?!”
So Sector 4 is a fan made series? Those Strays live as a Tribe there and their paths sometimes cross with those of the Mall Rats?!
1 Like
Thanks! Yeah, this is quite a niche story!
Yup, Sector 4 was the first fan series from what became Tribe Sector 4 Productions. I joined the later ones but wasn’t in Sector 4. They’re mostly set in the same timeline as the Mallrats so they do get referenced, and later on some of the Tribe cast got involved with some voice acting, which was really cool!
The productions can all be found here.
1 Like
That is just the special thing on that series… It inspires people and opens them for creativity!
1 Like
I Saw Three Ships
Written: 2009
Synopsis: Alice experiences her perfect Christmas, but everything is not as it seems.
**
Alice hummed happily to herself as she placed the tray of mince pies in the oven, and adjusted the scarf that held her hair back from her face, leaving traces of flour amongst the auburn curls. She checked on her sauce and the potatoes, then removed her apron and hung it on the peg on the back of the door; a few minutes to relax with a glass of wine, then she would return to her Christmas dinner preparations. She didn’t notice the person sneaking up behind her until a pair of large hands cupped themselves over her eyes and a man’s voice jovially barked ‘Guess who!’
Wriggling free from her captor she turned to face him, her smile turning to a confused frown when she saw that it was Ned. This can’t be right , she thought to herself.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, then gave a cheeky grin. ‘Were you expecting somebody else?’
As soon as he smiled at her she forgot whatever had been bothering her and smiled back. ‘Of course not,’ she said warmly, kissing him on the cheek. ‘Why don’t we go through and see the others?’ A small voice at the back of her head told her that something was wrong, but she quickly suppressed it, like swatting an irritating fly. Taking Ned’s hand she opened the door to the farmhouse’s main living area and walked through. She beamed in delight at the scene that greeted her. The long oak table in the middle of the room was decked with wreaths of holly and pine cones from outside, and the light of candle flames flickered from the large iron candle holders hanging from the ceiling. The whole place had a warm, welcoming glow. At one end of the room Tally and Andy sat dozing by the fire, their paper hats sitting skewed on top of their heads as they rested against each other. Next to them Ellie stood halfway up a stepladder, pausing in the act of placing a star on top of the Christmas tree to smile at her sister. A moment later her attention was elsewhere again as she playfully slapped Jack’s hand as he reached for one of the candy canes hanging from a branch below her. Only KC seemed out of place, staring at Alice with sad eyes from a stool in the corner of the room, his face smeared with dirt and sand, and his clothes torn. She sighed regretfully as the voice at the back of her head returned. This time she knew why.
‘What’s the matter?’ Ned asked, putting his arm around her. ‘I thought you’d like it. I thought you’d be pleased.’ Ellie, Jack, Tally and Andy were now all looking at her with disappointment on their faces. KC was nowhere to be seen.
She turned to face Ned. ‘It’s perfect, love,’ she said, a wave of sadness washing over her. Gently raising a hand to his face, she stopped herself short of touching him. ‘It’s too perfect.’ A flash of anger passing through her, she strode to the centre of the room, turning on the spot and shooting accusing looks at the walls, ignoring the people in the room who now only stood looking dumbly ahead of them. ‘Congratulations!’ she spat as she turned, the whole world suddenly flickering queasily. ‘You nearly had me that time! What next? The Virus never happened?’ The world flickered ever more violently and she heard voices around her; voices she recognised as the enemy. She cried out in pain and anger as the world was suddenly ripped away from her and she was left in darkness.
With a gasp she sucked in air as if she had surfaced from underwater just short of drowning. It seemed to take forever but gradually her rasping subsided and her mind remembered the reality she was in. With a sigh of resignation she lowered her head, her hair falling sweatily in front of her face.
‘Again!’ a female voice somewhere above and in front of her demanded and a bright light came on, illuminating the previously dark room and revealing a man standing in front of her, dressed in the black uniform of the Technos and holding the Reality Space headset he had removed from her. Though she was tied and bound in her chair, he looked worried. She made a show of lunging towards him, snarling, and he leapt back as if she would break through her bonds. I’m safe as long as they’re afraid of me , she told herself.
‘Again!’ the voice repeated, impatiently. Alice tossed her head to move her hair away from her face and glare at the half dozen or so Technos on the dais above her. They all ignored her.
‘I…I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ the Techno in front of her stammered. ‘She’s practically feral already!’ She snarled again and the Techno yelped.
The female Techno on the dais sighed in vexation. ‘Very well then, take her away,’ she snapped. ‘Bring the next one in.’ Immediately two guards dressed in samurai-like armour appeared at her side and undid the straps that held her to the chair, though not the chains that bound her hands and feet. Native islanders, they had been gathered up by the Technos when they set up their prison camp here. Her attempts at switching their allegiance had remained unsuccessful, however; they had completely thrown their lot in with the Technos.
Letting herself be led away by the guards, she forced herself to concentrate on each step, of the feel of her boots on her feet, and the weight of her chains; the friction of the cuffs around her wrists and legs. It was the only way she could distinguish between real life and Reality Space. As she emerged from the concrete building that housed the Techno garrison, the muggy heat of the island hit her and she averted her eyes from the glare of the sun. Light glinted off the armour of the Islanders she passed as she was taken down the rocky path that led to the beach cells, and she began to feel dizzy. By the position of the sun in the sky she judged that she had missed the prisoners’ midday meal, and it would be hours before they would be brought food and water again. They had never kept her that long before, but she tried not to think about what that might mean. Before long she reached the huge cage that housed the prisoners. The guards at the gate stirred as the gate was unlocked, ready to repel any resistance from inside, though that had long since been driven out of everyone’s minds. One of the guards who had escorted her back from the cliffs gave her a rough shove and she tumbled inside the cage, falling to her knees as the cage door clanged shut. She felt as though she would never stand up again.
She felt a shadow falling over her but didn’t raise her head. Then a hand placed itself gently on her arm and she heard a familiar deep voice.
‘Here,’ KC said, pushing a water skin at her. ‘I saved some for you, but don’t let them see.’ He meant the other prisoners as well as the guards, she knew. He spoke in a determined whisper, sympathetic but not about to let her wallow in her own self-pity. It was the way they spoke to each other each time one of them returned from that concrete building, and it spurred her to stand shakily and let KC lead her to a more secluded part of the beach. There, resting against the cage wall, she wet her parched lips with the water before pouring what was left down her throat. KC took out a squashed piece of bread from his pocket and gave that to her, too. ‘It’s all I could hide,’ he said apologetically, but she ate it ravenously, making noises she hoped passed for thanks as she did so. Their eyes met as she passed back the empty water skin and she looked away quickly. It always pained her to see KC’s eyes. Captivity had hardened them all, it was true, but she remembered KC’s cheeky smile and the mischievous glint in his eyes he had had before the Technos arrived, that had so much been a part of him. He was physically older too, of course, and as tall as she was now. Even in his dishevelled state he had grown into a handsome young man, except for those eyes.
At the flicker of movement they both tensed like coiled springs. A group of prisoners shuffled past them and sat down in the sand. One of them had blood on his face. At the sight of their tribal markings, two clock hands, one on the forehead and the other on the cheek, KC relaxed. It wasn’t just the Technos and the Islander guards you had to look out for here; there had been many fights among the prisoners too, but the Timekeepers wouldn’t dare start any trouble, certainly not now. Alice did not relax, however, but stared at them through narrowed eyes. They noticed, and became visibly nervous.
‘It’s not their fault, Alice.’ KC said softly, putting a hand on her arm.
Almost a fortnight ago the Timekeepers suddenly became excited. As a tribe they held to the old calendar where others had forgotten it, and they had announced that it was the start of Advent, that soon it would be Christmas. They had meant it as a way of keeping their spirits up; after all, everyone had to hold onto something. Indeed for that first few days the mood in the camp was lighter, but the Technos noticed. It didn’t take long for them to ferret out the reason, and since then their Reality Space experiments became even more twisted, torturing the prisoners with visions of celebrations they could never have, then turning them into the stuff of nightmares. It was even more unfortunate for the Timekeepers that the Technos chose this time to introduce their upgraded headsets.
‘It’s worse than you can imagine, KC’ she said. Her fellow Mallrat hadn’t yet been subjected to the new experiments, but this was the second time she had been taken. At first nothing had seemed any different, apart from the new headset, a lightweight visor over the eyes rather than a helmet. But then some of the prisoners started talking about seeing impossible things in Reality Space, dead parents and long lost friends, and it soon became clear that the Technos weren’t just using virtual copies of people they had scanned into their systems anymore. These new headsets could pull someone out of your very memories. Anyone who was ever close to you, anyone you had ever lost, could appear to torture you in Reality Space. The first time it had been her mother, so disappointed with her, weeping and blaming her for Ellie’s death. Only the belief that her sister was alive and well out there, somewhere, had kept her sane during that one. And this time, Ned. The life they could have lived, together, at the farm.
‘It’s not real,’ KC said in the guilty way of someone who knows it is easy to say. ‘We just have to keep telling ourselves.’
‘Every time it gets harder to tell,’ she sighed.
‘That’s why we’ve got to be there for each other,’ KC pointed out. ‘All of us. We have to stick together or the Technos have won.’ With that he stood and walked over to the group of Timekeepers. At first they exchanged nervous glances among themselves and cowered from the advancing Mallrat, but KC just knelt among them, talking softly. Alice couldn’t hear what he was saying, but a nod here and a pat on the back there and soon the Timekeepers were beaming and looking up at him in awe. One of them looked over to Alice and smiled, and she forced herself to nod back. The pain of what she had seen was still too fresh to do more, but KC was right. It wasn’t the Timekeepers’ fault.
The smiles soon stopped at the clang of the compound gate. The escort of Islanders and Technos returned, and Alice felt relieved when they headed for the opposite end of the camp. Soon after they came back, with the Guardian marching alongside them as if they were his personal guard. The supporters he had somehow gathered since his arrival cheered as he was led away. It was a mark of the Technos’ contempt that they tolerated his having followers at all. With another clang of steel they were gone, and everything was back to normal. KC came to sit beside her once more.
‘No prizes for guessing what he’ll be seeing,’ he muttered.
‘Almighty Zoot in a manger no doubt,’ she replied, her mouth twisting in distaste. ‘At least all this Reality Space testing doesn’t seem to affect him. I almost envy the guy.’
A sudden commotion made her look up, to where a crowd was gathering at the other end of the camp, where the Guardian had just passed through.
‘Another riot?’
‘I don’t think so,’ KC frowned, taking a step. ‘Something else.’
‘Look!’ One of the Timekeepers cried, rushing towards the mesh followed by her comrades. Alice joined them, peering out of the gaps in the direction they and the rest of the prisoners further up the beach were looking. Out to sea.
‘KC!’ she gasped, disbelievingly.
‘I see them,’ he replied in the same tone. He was also at the mesh, pressing himself as close as he could.
Ships. The first signs of human life they had seen from off the island for months. These weren’t the familiar Techno transport vessels either, but two large fishing boats heading for the cove, and one smaller boat chugging along a short distance behind them. The whole compound was gathered along the beach watching the shore now, including the Islanders and the few Technos who were outside. The Guardian’s escort, halfway up the cliff now, had also seen the approaching vessels and were making their way back down, apart from a lone Techno who was racing up to the headquarters building.
‘They weren’t expecting this,’ she whispered. The Timekeepers murmured excitedly among themselves, but KC just kept watching the boats.
‘They might not be friendly to the Technos, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be friendly to us,’ he said flatly.
It seemed to take an age for the first ship to reach the shore. When the first figures disembarked the mood in the camp darkened. It was more Technos, bringing a large amount of prisoners. From the way they were dressed Alice thought they were from the City. The guards on the beach relaxed and went to meet them, then suddenly everything started happening at once. The Technos from the boat began to fire their weapons at those on the beach, and the ‘prisoners’ let out a war cry and rushed forward too, their bonds actually bats and clubs and flails. Soon the beach was awash with the noise of battle, clubs and chains against Islander spears, and zapper against zapper. Alice and KC stared at each other in disbelief, and some of the other prisoners started cheering and throwing stones over the cage walls at the guards, who were torn between staying where they were and joining the fight. After the initial advance of the invasion force, the Technos and Islanders had regrouped, and reinforcements were rushing down from the cliffs, but already the second boat had landed, bringing with it another wave of City forces and a small number of Technos. Alice didn’t understand it, but right now she didn’t care. Soon she and KC were cheering just as loudly as the Timekeepers and everyone else in the compound.
‘Power and Chaos!’ the Guardian cried from the middle of the beach, raising his arms above his head. He brought them down again so that the chain that linked his wrists wrapped itself around the neck of the one guard that remained with him. The Islander made a choking sound and tugged vainly at the chain with his hands, before the Guardian let him fall to the sand. He then grabbed the loop of keys from the guard’s belt and freed himself, dropping to his knees and muttering to the sky, talking to Zoot. Bringing the keys over to the cage, he tried each one in the lock in turn, laughing to himself as he did so. Finally he found the correct key and the gate swung open under the force of everyone pushing their way out.
‘Come, my children!’ he shouted triumphantly. ‘Join the Chaos! Zoot has delivered us!’
KC took a step towards the gate and Alice put a restraining hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, confused.
‘Tell me this isn’t Reality Space!’ she pleaded.
‘It’s real, Alice!’ He gave a cheeky grin and suddenly he was the old KC again, and she knew it was all really happening. She grinned back and they stumbled forwards in their chains to the now open gate. Another of the prisoners, one of the Timekeepers, had wrested the keys from the Guardian, now giggling madly by the cage, and was removing the chains from everyone who wasn’t impatient enough to leave still bound. Most of those were being taken down by the guards, though some, like the Guardian had, were using their bonds as weapons. Flexing her wrists as her chains snapped open, she laughed and clapped the Timekeeper on the back so hard that he almost toppled over.
‘Come on KC,’ she told her friend, who was rubbing his liberated ankles. ‘We can’t let the others have all the fun.’
The pair of them strode out onto the battlefield, Alice’s fists itching for a fight and KC’s eyes scanning for any incoming zapper fire. It was KC who saw them first.
‘Alice, look!’ he yelled over the noise. ‘The boat!’
Alice looked, and laughed in delight. The final boat, the smallest of the three, had finally landed, and some of its passengers looked very familiar. Two Technos stood on deck still, their weapons ready to fire at anyone who approached. Behind them stood Amber and Trudy with their children. The rest of the Mallrats, and others Alice did not know, were already joining the battle. Ebony fought side by side with a man in a red leather jacket, bringing down Technos and Islanders alike. Close by, Lex and another young man were fending off a group of the Islander guards, struggling against the enemy’s weapons but soon bolstered by the arrival of May and Salene to even the odds. Others had come off the boat too, but Alice only had eyes for one. Ellie stood on her own, fighting against two Islanders, but giving as good as she got and soon despatching both of them and moving on in search of her next quarry. As the next one fell she looked up and saw her sister. Utter shock and then delight crossed her face and she started towards her. Alice did the same, leaving KC behind for the moment and swiftly dealing with anyone who got in her way. Two Islanders stepped into her path and she cracked their heads together, pushing them in opposite directions to clear her way. A Techno aimed a zapper at her but she kneed him in the groin and stepped over him as he lay doubled over in pain. Then the female Techno who had ordered her to be tortured again that afternoon was facing her. Surprise crossed both their faces, but only for an instant.
The female Techno gave a satisfied smirk. ‘Oh, this will be a pleas…’ she began, then fell to the floor unconscious as Alice punched her in the face.
‘Blah, blah, blah,’ Alice muttered to herself, without breaking her stride. ‘Write me a letter if you have so much to say.’
‘Alice!’
‘Ellie!’
The two sisters reached each other and embraced.
‘I was afraid I’d never see you again!’ Ellie said, her words muffled by her sister’s body pressed tightly to her.
‘DUCK!’ came a shout, and somebody careered into them, knocking them both to the floor just as the pulse from a Techno weapon flew past Alice’s ear. She turned her head in time to see KC hitting the owner of the weapon with a baseball bat before she landed on something uncomfortable.
‘Can’t…breathe,’ the thing wheezed.
‘Jack!’
They all three stood up and brushed the sand from their clothes, and Ellie hugged Jack. It was clear that the battle on the beach was nearing its end now, with the City invaders the clear winners, though not without casualties. The Mallrats were heading towards each other again; May was supporting an injured Lex, while Ebony looked as though she was nursing a broken arm. Elsewhere Salene had found KC and looked like she would never let go of him, and Amber was making her way onto the beach. One of the Technos had his arm around her.
‘What’s wrong Alice?’ Ellie asked, and Alice realised she was crying.
‘They were right,’ she laughed, wiping her eyes. ‘It really is Christmas.’
Ellie and Jack looked at her in confusion, but she gathered them up with an arm around each and walked along the beach towards the rest of her friends, laughing all the way.
2 Likes
Absolutely! There’s a reason it’s stayed with so many of us for so long.
EDIT: Oh, and just as a fun fact - I also referenced the Strays in Light of Day, when Link was investigating Sector 4. So they’re canon in my world too! 
2 Likes
@MallRatMatt This is all putting me in the festive mood even though I’ve tried to sworn it off! Happy to see my gal Trudy get herself two Merry Christmases, though hoping they won’t be the last 
!
I also enjoyed the last one with Alice.
Awwwwwwwww… That Alice one is the best 
looooove it
*Write me a letter… * God that made laugh sooo hard! Just absolutely perfect!!! 
Thanks both! Glad it’s getting you in the festive mood @Timberwolf! The next one is also a Trudy one but less fluffy.
I love Alice but don’t get to write about her much.
A Winter’s Tale
Written: 2010
Synopsis: Mega is up to his usual tricks as winter comes to Tribeworld, while old feelings resurface in the mall. One-shot Trudy/Jay pairing, written for the Tribe Revival Secret Santa event 2010.
**
Original challenge:
Characters: Amber, Trudy, Jay, Brady, Bray Jr.
Pairing: Trudy/Jay
Props: (Three items that should be in the fic) Candy cane, mistletoe, and teddy bear
Words/ Sentences: (Two or three words or sentences that should be in the fic): “We’re under the mistletoe”, “Ever seen Santa Claus Conquers the Martians?”
Set: (Is it set in the Tribe world or the real world): Tribeworld
**
Trudging through the snow, Trudy sighed, once again wishing her coat had a hood like Amber’s. Walking on the other side of Jay, to her right, her friend’s face was buried deep in her cowl, with only her mouth occasionally visible when the wind tried to tug at the heavy material, lips curled into a frown. And well they might, after this morning. The meeting with Mega had not gone well, though Trudy hadn’t realised quite how bad things were until Jay explained it to her afterwards; she was not as skilled in politics as the other two. In truth she shouldn’t have been there at all, as it was a meeting for the tribe leaders. Not that the Mallrats had leaders as such, but Mega expected Amber and Jay, and had been irritated at her presence. The Techno was irritated at anything that deviated from how he thought things should be, which meant he was irritated a lot of the time. Despite that, she had been determined to attend. She was sick of finding everything out second hand like one of the kids, and on top of that it was like Jay and Amber had no time for her since they had got together. She wouldn’t go so far as to say she was jealous of the time they spent together, even though her own split with Jay was still fresh; she wouldn’t quite go that far, but if nothing else she would remind them she existed! At least, that had been the plan. Even now they weren’t walking as a group of three, rather as a one and a two, with Jay and Amber always that step further away, arm in arm. She sighed again, and brushed away the snowflakes that had settled on top of her head.
‘I can’t believe we walked straight into that!’ Amber said at last. Her face was hidden again, but her hood moved as if she were shaking her head vigorously inside it, and as she walked she kicked up the snow around her a little more forcefully than was necessary, almost sulkily.
‘You couldn’t have known,’ Jay replied soothingly, squeezing her shoulder. Trudy stifled a grimace, then let it out anyway when she realised neither of them was paying her any notice. ‘He probably had it all planned out before we arrived,’ Jay continued. ‘You know how sneaky he is.’ Trudy had to agree. She may not know politics but she knew Mega, and what he had done was very sneaky indeed. She could not remember the last time it had snowed in the city, and likely some of the younger kids had never even seen it, but after two days of it Mega had certainly seen how to use the situation to his advantage, summoning the tribe leaders to one of his “council meetings”, plying them with food and drink and suggesting a three day holiday from work parties for Christmas. It had seemed a wonderful idea to her, but of course it was too good to be true. Jay and Amber pointed out the obvious problems. What would happen if there was a power failure? What if a dispute needed settling? Like it or not, Mega’s regime was certainly efficient at keeping things in order. By that time, however, the tribe leaders were already sold on the idea, and Amber as President had the final say. How could she refuse? Of course if anything did go wrong, Amber would now bear the brunt of any bad feeling, while if things went smoothly Mega would bask in the glory. Not to mention an official holiday would further legitimise his work parties when they started up again after the three days. Yes, he had been very sneaky indeed.
Amber shook her head, but seemed to take comfort from Jay, and the rest of the walk back to the mall was a jollier affair, from exclamations at the snow, to jokes about Christmas, to delight at seeing children playing together rather than fighting as they passed by various groups on the way. One kid had even found a sledge from somewhere, while others had cottoned on and were bringing out cupboard doors and tea trays or anything they could find to make their own. For something that must have been alien to some of them, they certainly adapted well enough!
The mall itself looked something of an ice fortress as they approached it, standing tall in the snow with its white walls and icicles hanging from the sign above the entrance. In fact she was so engrossed by the sight of it that she failed to notice the ice on the ramp leading to the grille, where feet had trampled the snow to slush that had frozen overnight. Her feet flew out from underneath her as soon as they touched it and a high-pitched noise escaped from her mouth as she slipped, but halfway to the ground she stopped, caught. By Jay. Their eyes met as she looked up at him, one arm around her waist to support her and his free hand holding one of hers. He looked as surprised as she felt! Unable to convince her limbs to move, all she could do was lie there staring at him, and it appeared he could only do the same. In the end she suspected it was the colour rising in her cheeks as the seconds ticked by that finally pulled him to his senses and her to her feet.
‘Thanks,’ she said, a touch too breathily, and the world seemed to turn at full speed again, the tension broken. Or nearly so; glancing at Amber she noted that her friend quickly suppressed a frown before ostentatiously linking arms with Jay and carrying on into the mall. Jay himself half turned his head to look at her before being pulled into conversation, laughing at whatever it was Amber had said. Trudy shook her head ruefully and allowed them a few steps before following. She knew she still had feelings for Jay; she couldn’t just turn them off, even though part of her wanted to be able to. But part of her didn’t, and if he still had feelings for her too…No. She couldn’t allow herself to think along those lines. She might decide to act on those thoughts, and that would be like stumbling blindfolded through a minefield. Instead she followed meekly behind, and tried not to think about how his arm had felt around her waist.
Thoughts of Jay were instantly swept out of her mind as she entered the mall and saw Brady playing in the entrance hall. Her daughter was pushing Bray around in circles in a toy car, and thoroughly enjoying herself from the look of things. Trudy smiled. Seeing the three older Mallrats come inside, Brady pushed the car through one more circuit before coming towards them with it, making siren noises at the top of her voice. Inside poor Bray looked half delighted and half petrified, but on seeing his mother he giggled and flapped his arms out of the windows excitedly.
‘We’re Locos!’ Brady cried, and made the siren noise again, which set Bray off giggling even more. Trudy’s smile slipped momentarily.
‘That’s nice!’ she lied, wondering who had been talking to Brady about the Locos.
‘This Loco needs his rest!’ Amber announced, picking her son up out of the car. Bray clutched the folds of her coat with his tiny hands as she hoisted him up. ‘And we need to tell the others what happened at the meeting,’ she added to Jay – specifically to Jay, not to Trudy. ‘Come on.’ She headed further into the mall without looking back, and Jay flashed a quick apologetic smile to Trudy before following.
‘Why don’t we go find you something new to play with?’ Trudy said, smiling down to Brady and ignoring Amber’s snub. Something that doesn’t involve Locos, she decided, taking Brady’s hand and walking her back to their room.
Mega’s announcement of a Christmas holiday brought mixed reactions in the mall. While the older tribe members understood the problems Amber and Jay had pointed out, the younger ones were excited. In truth despite the problems some of the older ones were excited too, and since there was nothing to be done about it while Mega still ruled, it was decided that the Mallrats might as well celebrate Christmas too. A huge artificial tree, its branches slightly skewed from years in storage, was pulled down from the holding area, along with a number of boxes of dusty decorations, and a sound system was set up downstairs, blasting all the old festive tunes around the building. Trudy listened to them from her room, tapping her foot and occasionally singing snatches of them for Brady, who clapped along in time. She had found a teddy bear in among the decorations and had given it to her daughter for Christmas. While she was sitting on her bed, watching Brady dress it up in baby clothes and thinking how much more wholesome it was than playing Locos – she had yet to discover who had planted that idea in her little girl’s head – a knock on the doorframe announced a visitor. It was Jay, standing there looking at her with a conflicted expression on his face. After a few moments he averted his eyes and smiled at Brady instead.
‘Hey Brady, look what I’ve brought you!’ he said, waving a small box in the air. It looked like a DVD case. ‘Ever seen Santa Claus Conquers the Martians?’ Brady squealed with excitement and dropped the bear, bounding from the bed to jump up and down in front of Jay, trying to grab the case. Jay laughed and gave it to her. ‘Why don’t you go find Jack and see if he’ll put it on for you?’ Brady laughed and ran out of the room without looking back, while Trudy sighed at the abandoned teddy.
‘Should she be watching that?’ she complained, though half-heartedly.
‘It’s a classic!’ Jay shrugged. ‘And besides, I wanted to talk to you in private. About earlier.’
‘Does Amber know you’re here?’ she asked carefully, gesturing for him to sit on the other end of the bed. He made no move to do so, so she stood up instead.
‘Amber was…upset,’ he said, skirting around her question with what she expected was an understatement. ‘She says you’ve been giving us looks.’ So she had noticed after all; she would have to be more careful in future. ‘And that there was no reason for you to be at the meeting today. She thinks…she thinks you’re trying to get me back.’ He looked at her for a while, expecting her to say something. ‘Are you?’ he added, when it became clear that she wasn’t going to.
She laughed, though there was no humour in it. She had imagined this moment several times since she and Jay had split up, but she knew that this couldn’t happen. ‘No,’ she said, reluctantly. Very reluctantly. ‘I’m not, Jay.’
‘Oh,’ he said simply, with a touch of disappointment. He shifted his feet, but didn’t move from the doorway. ‘Didn’t you…feel anything before? Outside the mall? Because…because I think I did.’
She sighed and moved towards him, stopping a short distance away. She didn’t want to encourage him, but she couldn’t lie to him either. ‘Of course I did, Jay,’ she explained. ‘But we can’t do anything about it, not now.’ In reply he reached out and took hold of her hand, pulling her, gently but firmly enough to take those last two steps towards him, where he suddenly smiled and looked upwards.
‘We’re under the mistletoe,’ he said softly.
She looked up and saw it, hanging above the door. Somebody had been very thorough with their decorating, she noted. Rolling her eyes, she rose onto her toes and gave Jay a peck on the cheek to emphasise what she had told him, then opened her mouth to wish him a happy Christmas. He intercepted her, however, closing his mouth around hers to cut her off. There was a brief moment of startlement on her part, before she found herself unable to fight her feelings any longer, returning the kiss.
Abruptly she realised where they were, standing in her doorway where anybody could come across them. Breaking away to arm’s length once again, she tried to regain her composure. ‘We can’t do that,’ she said. ‘Not here.’ A spark of guilt flashed through her, but she stifled it. This might be her last chance with Jay, and that kiss was too fresh in her mind to worry much about Amber.
‘Go up to the roof,’ Jay told her. ‘I’ll join you in a little while.’ He smiled at her, a full grin that lit up his face, then he was gone, marching off down the corridor. Laughing in surprised delight, she smartened herself up in the mirror before hurrying out.
To get to the stairs that led up to the roof, she had to pass through the main hall downstairs, where everybody was busy getting into the party mood. She shared a smile and a joke with those who stopped her, but only briefly before moving on again. That is until she got to the tree. Standing tall beside the phoenix fountain, it was now fully decorated and an impressive sight, though that was not what made her stop dead in front of it. Standing there was Amber, holding Bray up to look at the decorations. His little hand closed around a candy cane hanging from one of the branches and he shook it, causing the bells further along the branch to tinkle. That was when Amber turned around and saw her. Trudy flinched, but gave what she hoped was a friendly smile and a nod before walking briskly on. Amber gave her a suspicious look before freeing the candy cane from Bray’s grasp and walking off in the opposite direction.
Trudy felt less sure of herself now than she had in her room but decided to press on, knowing that if she stopped now she would lose her bottle completely. It wasn’t until she hurried up the back stairs and opened the door onto the roof that she paused and allowed herself a small sigh of relief that turned into a shiver as she stepped out into the snow. It was getting dark now, and the snow shone a pale white in the streetlights. Moving to the edge of the roof she watched the flakes fall silently over the city and smiled. It was beautiful.
‘Trudy?’
She turned around to see Jay standing at the door, the line of her footprints already half-covered in snow between them. He walked out towards her, making fresh impressions deeper than her own, but stopped short of reaching her. She was suddenly aware of the sad look on his face. Amber had spoken to him.
‘You were right, Trudy,’ he said, reaching out gingerly to take her hands. ‘Maybe I’ve been too hasty.’
‘What do you mean?’ she said quietly, knowing exactly what he meant.
‘What we had…it was great,’ he explained. ‘But I should have listened to you earlier. Maybe we just weren’t meant to be. You…you deserve someone better, and I…’ he paused for a moment. ‘Amber and I share the same dreams for the future,’ he continued. ‘That’ll always be important to me, to both of us, and I can’t just let that go. I’m sorry. I’ve handled this badly, and you have every right to be angry with me. I’ll understand if you never want to speak to me again.’
Trudy sighed. Were those his words, or Amber’s? ‘It’s fine, Jay,’ she said. It wasn’t fine. It was anything but fine, but she couldn’t face an argument, and they had both made a bad call on this one. Besides, she could hardly go round avoiding him for the rest of her life. The mall was a big place, but not that big. She would just have to accept things – again – and carry on as she had been doing until today. And so would he. ‘Just go back downstairs,’ she added. Just because she was resigned to the situation did not mean she had to face him right here and now. He nodded in understanding and let her hands drop. Instead of watching him leave she turned to stare at the snow over the city once more. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there but when she turned around again the snow had filled in Jay’s footprints as if he had never been there.
With a rueful smile she shook her head, scattering snowflakes from her hair as she did so. She was disappointed, but not devastated. Deep down she had known that earlier with Jay, like Mega’s holiday, had been too good to be true, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it for what it was. The same with Christmas. She decided to go back downstairs and enjoy herself with the rest of her tribe. Besides, she had seen Salene earlier, wrapping up a winter coat with a proper hood, and she was sure the tag had had her name on it.
3 Likes
God and now I hate Jay again!
This story is a good example why I dislike the s5 Jay 
Neither here, neither there… I still think girls should have stuck together and kick Mr Surfer techno boy faaaar out of the Mall 
And that’s why I also would never be with such a man…he swears love to one and still flashes at the other…blew.
But great inside of Trudy! (I first thought Jay had told Brady about the Locos and hoped Trudy would beat him up
that would have been some treat for me )
The writing style here is very excellent!
Aw, thank you!
Yeah, even in a Christmas fic I couldn’t bring myself to have Jay and Trudy get back together. He should have stayed with her in the first place!
A Tribal Christmas Carol
Written: 2011
Synopsis: Amber resolves to change Lex’s attitude to Christmas, with the help of the rest of the tribe.
**
‘It’s a bad idea,’ Lex said for the fourth time, slowly, as if by emphasising each word he could drill it into everybody’s heads. He stood at one end of the meeting table the tribe had put together in the café, gazing around the room at the assembled Mallrats gathered around it. At the opposite end, Amber also stood, her arms folded in stubborn defiance at his words.
‘Well, I think it’s a great idea,’ Trudy enthused, getting up to stand next to Amber. ‘Think about it,’ she said, addressing the rest of the group. ‘We could use a good celebration around here; why not Christmas? It’s been years since the last one, and it was always such a happy time. We need more of those around here, especially now that Mega’s in power.’ Her lips wrinkled in distaste at the mention of the tyrant.
‘Exactly,’ Amber agreed. ‘We might have no choice but to go along with his plans at the moment, but this will show him, and the rest of the city, that he can’t break our spirits.’ As City President, Amber was no more than a figurehead appointed by Mega, a scapegoat to take the blame for all his unpopular actions. It galled her that, because of his threats against her baby, backed up by the numbers and weaponry of his Techno forces, she was powerless to stop him. ‘Shall we have a vote?’ she continued. ‘Who wants to have Christmas again?’ She and Trudy both raised their hands, as did Sammy.
‘I remember at school,’ the youngster said eagerly, leaning forward in his seat to address everyone, his free arm resting on the table. ‘The teachers told us that, when the baby Jesus was born at Christmas, the angels sang that there would be peace on all the Earth.’
‘That sounds lovely,’ Lottie said longingly, having never experienced a great deal of peace in her lifetime, and raised her hand too.
‘That’s the message we want to send out, Sammy,’ Amber smiled. ‘Peace, and hope for the future.’
Lex scoffed. By now he was the only one without a hand in the air; in fact, he had deliberately stuck both of them in his pockets. ‘Cute,’ he said. ‘I’m sure Mega’s trembling in his Techno boots as we speak. Even if we ignore the fact that it’s about as useful a way of fighting back against the Technos as using a confetti cannon, how are you even going to pull this off? You’ll be wanting a tree, I suppose? Are you going to brave the Zootists and all the other crazies outside the safe zone to go out to the country and chop one down? And what about food? Do you know how hard it is to get extra supplies these days? Not to mention that inviting other tribes in here is just going to be an excuse for them to trash the place. We’re hardly flavour of the month after Amber’s little CityNet broadcast about the extra work parties yesterday. Well, you know what? If you guys want to have yourselves a merry little Christmas, that’s fine, but don’t expect any help from me!’
‘You’re just a Scrooge, Lex!’ Salene accused. ‘A little hard work never hurt anyone.’
‘Well I think old Ebenezer had the right idea, personally,’ Lex grinned back at her. ‘Christmas? Humbug!’ And with that, he stormed off to his room. The rest of the tribe grumbled to themselves over his attitude, but Amber simply stood and smiled. Talk of Scrooge had reminded her of one of her favourite Dickens novels, A Christmas Carol, and she had come up with an idea to make Lex change his mind.
‘Darryl, do you still have that Zoot costume lying around?’ she asked her fellow tribe member.
Darryl nodded. ‘I think so,’ he answered.
‘Go fetch it,’ she said. 'And I’ll need help from the rest of you too. We’re going to bring Lex to his senses.
‘That’d be a Christmas miracle if ever there was one,’ May joked.
That night, Lex lay in his bed, sleeping peacefully. All of a sudden he was awoken by a chiming clock. His eyes shot open; where had that come from? There were no clocks in his room. Had he been dreaming? He was about to close his eyes and go back to sleep when the unseen clock chimed a second time, then a third, and it kept chiming. There was no denying the reality of it. At the twelfth, the whole room was illuminated by a bright light and he scrambled to a sitting position, shielding his eyes and wondering what was happening. A distinct chill filled the room and he slowly lowered his arm, gasping in shock as the unmistakeable figure of Zoot rose from the foot of the bed.
‘What’s going on?’ Lex called hoarsely. ‘This can’t be real. You’re…you’re dead!’
‘Yes,’ Zoot answered simply. ‘I am. And this is very real.’ He raised his arms, and Lex saw that there were chains around his wrists. ‘Do you like them?’ the spectre grinned. ‘I made them myself, by my actions in life. Every night I am tortured in the blackest depths of Hell!’ A blood-curdling scream filled the room, and the light surrounding Zoot turned blood red. Lex threw the bedcovers over his head to drown out the noise. When he finally plucked up the courage to emerge, Zoot was still there, but the light had reverted to its original colour. ‘But you can escape my fate, Lex,’ Zoot informed. ‘I’ve been sent to warn you.’
‘Warn me about what?’
‘About what will happen if you keep distancing yourself from your tribe,’ Zoot replied. ‘Come, let me show you.’ He beckoned for Lex to follow him.
‘Show me?’
‘Yes,’ Zoot grinned evilly. ‘Show you your future. And the doom of the Mallrats.’
Lex got out of bed, fearing what would happen if he didn’t follow. Zoot led him out into the darkness of the mall. As they approached the Phoenix statue, the ghost clicked his fingers and an eerie light lit up the grille area. Even from where he stood Lex could hear the howling of the wind outside, a wind that blew snowflakes into the entranceway.
‘This is Christmas Day,’ Zoot intoned. ‘Several years from now. It seems that the Mallrats have started something of a tradition.’
‘Wonderful,’ Lex muttered sarcastically.
‘Only, you didn’t help them that first Christmas,’ Zoot continued. ‘And they couldn’t do it on their own. They kicked you out and instead had to turn to Mega for help.’
Lex snorted. ‘They wouldn’t do that,’ he argued, then fell silent at the phantom’s accusing look.
‘They had no choice,’ Zoot explained. ‘By that point the city was expecting a party, and the Mallrats had to deliver. Mega provided everything – food, decorations; he even had a tree flown in over the barricades. Instead of the passive resistance to the Technos it was intended as, Mega made Christmas into a celebration of his rule.’
Lex spun on his heels at the sound of a scream behind him, and saw another pool of light illuminating Trudy, kneeling over a motionless Brady at the foot of the Phoenix fountain, a look of despair on her face.
‘Trudy!’ Lex called out to her. ‘What is it? What’s wrong with Brady?’ She didn’t respond, so he took a step towards her, then jumped in shock as he was restrained by Zoot’s hand grabbing his arm. He hadn’t expected the ghost to be so…solid.
‘She can’t hear you,’ Zoot explained. ‘Or see you. This is merely a window into the future. Without you to find food for them, the Mallrats came to rely on the gifts Mega provided. After all, with Amber as President, they could have whatever they wanted. But before long the people came to trust Mega and the Technos fully. He didn’t need the Mallrats as figureheads anymore, and the gifts stopped coming. The tribe found that they couldn’t compete with the other tribes for food anymore. They didn’t have the bargaining power they had once had, and they had lost the skills needed to find food outside of the city, too. Starvation set in. The little ones were the first to go.’
Lex watched in horror as Trudy placed a blanket over her daughter’s body, but had no time to think or speak before Salene and Amber rushed down the stairs to join her, closely followed by Sammy and Lottie.
‘They’re here,’ Salene said, sounding frightened.
Amber nodded. ‘This is it,’ she said determinedly. ‘Our last stand.’
No sooner had she spoken than a group of masked Technos burst in through the grille entrance, their weapons drawn. The surviving Mallrats charged into battle, but didn’t stand a chance. Lottie and Sammy were easily overpowered and carried away, while the older tribe members were no match for the Technos’ zappers. Before long only the Technos were left standing, and the fallen Mallrats were gathered up and carried away, leaving Lex and Zoot alone in the pool of light once more. Frozen by the fear of a dead man’s hand on his skin, Lex had only been able to watch in stunned silence as his friends were taken, and now his mouth worked soundlessly, unable to form words.
‘As the Technos grew stronger,’ Zoot said. ‘They needed more and more power, and that meant more slaves to work the power stations. Every so often there would be a raid on one of the weaker tribes, one that nobody would miss. This time it was the Mallrats’ turn.’
‘How did we come to this?’ Lex wailed, finally regaining the power of speech. ‘This can’t be the end of the Mallrats; there must be another way, a way to stop all this from happening!’
‘There is,’ Zoot said simply. ‘But only you can stop this, Lex. You have to make sure this first Christmas is remembered throughout the city, for all the right reasons. You have to keep the resistance alive.’
‘I will,’ Lex promised, falling to his knees. ‘Anything! Anything but this!’
Zoot laughed, and the laughter reverberated through the mall, booming louder and louder. Lex curled himself up in a ball with his hands over his ears, trying to escape the awful sound. Suddenly it stopped. Lex carefully uncovered his ears, then got to his feet when he realised that Zoot was gone and he was alone in the dark once more.
A throat cleared behind him and he spun around in fright, only to come face to face with Sammy.
‘Lex…are you alright?’ the boy asked, looking puzzled.
Lex ignored the question, instead running up to Sammy and grabbing him by the shoulders. ‘You’re still here!’ he exclaimed. ‘That must mean I’m back! Back in the present! Wait…what day is it?’ The intensity rose in his voice. ‘What day is it?’
Sammy wriggled free of his grasp and shrugged his shoulders. ‘How should I know?’ he replied. ‘Nobody’s known what day it is for years!’
‘I’m talking about Christmas, kid!’ Lex clarified anxiously. ‘Have I missed it?’
‘Are you kidding?’ Sammy asked incredulously. ‘We only just decided to have it!’
‘I’m not too late!’ Lex laughed, doing a little dance, before stopping abruptly and holding his head. ‘So much to do…Listen Sammy, I’ve got some food stored away at a place in the city. I was saving it for an emergency but…well, this is an emergency. Anyway, I’ll give you directions, can you fetch it? There’s something else I need to sort out.’
Amber smiled as she watched Lex and Sammy from the balcony overlooking the ground floor of the mall. She could hardly believe that her plan had worked! She was sure something would have gone wrong, from someone missing their cue, to Lex seeing through the whole thing, but they had actually managed to pull it off. As the two boys left the mall, she was joined by Gel, still clutching her hairdryer and a handful of paper snowflakes, and by Jay, Ruby and May, each wearing a Techno uniform. Everyone had played their roles well, especially Jack and Ellie, who had been in charge of the sound and lighting, and of course Zoot himself – Darryl.
‘Amber! Amber!’ Darryl cried while bounding across the landing towards the others, wringing his hands and looking very apologetic. ‘I’m so sorry, I’ve looked high and low but I can’t find it anywhere! I’ve ruined the whole plan.’
‘Darryl, what are you talking about?’ Amber asked, confused. ‘You were brilliant out there! The plan worked!’
‘But…but I couldn’t find the costume,’ Darryl explained, looking just as confused. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
Just then, the mall was bathed in a bright light and Gel screamed, throwing her paper snowflakes in the air and pointing wildly across to the other side of the balcony, where Zoot stood clutching the railings. Gel regained her senses long enough to turn tail and scarper, and she was soon followed by the rest of the assembled Mallrats.
Across the balcony, Ellie stepped out from behind the spotlight, switching it off as she did so.
‘That was really mean!’ she complained to Jack, dressed in Darryl’s Zoot costume, before giving him a kiss on the cheek. ‘But I still love you.’
Jack smiled. ‘What’s Christmas without a few practical jokes?’ he shrugged.
On the day of the Christmas party, Amber wound her way through the crowds of people packed into the mall, greeting people as she passed. She caught a glimpse of Jack and Ellie kissing under the mistletoe and smiled. She had just about forgiven Jack for his Zoot prank; after all, it had had such good results. Lex had completely thrown himself into the Christmas preparations, returning from his foray into the city after his ‘haunting’ dragging a real Christmas tree behind him – she still had no idea where he’d found it – and even helping the kids to decorate it, and the rest of the mall too.
‘Amber!’ the man himself called out, jostling his way past a couple of Gulls with a drink in his hand. ‘Great party!’
‘Thanks to you,’ she replied, and then, feeling a little mischievous, innocently added: ‘What made you change your mind anyway?’
Lex looked serious for a moment. ‘Let’s just say I saw some festive spirit,’ he said eventually. ‘Anyway,’ he added jovially, producing a sprig of mistletoe from his pocket. ‘How about it? It is Christmas after all!’ He held the mistletoe up in the air between them and puckered his lips.
Amber rolled her eyes and walked away, but couldn’t help smiling as she did so. Despite the Christmas miracle they had performed, there were some things about Lex that would never change, and she didn’t think any of them would have it any other way.
2 Likes
Again… Awwwwww! A Christmas Carol is my all time favourite Christmas story! How you used it as inspiration and pulled it off into a tribal version… Just great!
But poor Darryl when Jack has played Zoot so splendid
And Lex was just Lex… “Mega is trembling in his techno boots…”
The end made me smile, just like Amber!
1 Like
Thanks!
I’ve never actually read A Christmas Carol, just seen the Muppets version. It used to terrify me. 
1 Like
Wells it’s supposed to be a bit of scray… Dickes usually comes of really “teaching lessons”
1 Like
Home For Christmas
Written: 2012
Synopsis: In the wake of Mega’s Virus, Tai San returns to the city in search of the Mallrats. Meanwhile, in a remote Techno facility, Jack and Cloe are also on the hunt for their missing friends. Written for Tribe Universe’s Secret Santa challenge 2012. AU - Jack didn’t return to the city in S5.
**
Original challenge:
Three - Five characters to appear in your story: Jack, Sasha, Cloe, Tai San
Couple/s you want in your story: Jack/Cloe; Sasha/Tai San
Three items you want to be in your story: santa hat, jewel pendant necklace, remote control
Two lines you want to appear in your story: “That’s the point, isn’t it? People see but don’t actually look; people hear but they don’t listen.”; “Please tell me you’re not spending christmas in your workroom.”
**
Tai San coughed as she left the mall, and pulled the dust mask back down over her mouth and nose, wincing as the strap tried to tangle itself in her braids and around the mouthpiece of the headset she wore hooked around one ear, in her haste to cover her face. Not that having the mask in place offered much protection either; the material around the filter was already grubby with the same ash that fell around her like snow, making a soft carpet on the street. The fire that had engulfed the hotel and at least two sectors of the city had burned itself out by now, but it took time for everything to settle.
She sighed. This had been a wasted journey. She should have known that the Mallrats wouldn’t be here. Even they must have seen that the city was a lost cause now. Still, she had had to know. The doubt would always have been there, otherwise, and doubts like that had a way of nibbling at a person’s soul until it was all you ever thought about. What if she had gone to the mall? What if her tribe were still there?
‘Are you there?’ she asked, adjusting the frequency of her communicator. Slender fingers with blue-painted nails moved delicately on controls she no longer needed to see to be able to work.
Crackling noise and the clumsy thud of fumbling fingers through her earpiece spoke of someone less well-versed in the radio’s use on the receiving end. ‘Tai San? Is that you?’ her companion asked, his soft voice hesitant. ‘Yes, I’m here. How did it go at the mall?’
‘It’s empty,’ she replied, surprised at how calmly she could say it. ‘Dead, just like the rest of the city.’ She thought she caught a faint sigh on the other end. Commiseration? Or could it have been relief? She hated having to use this device; communication was about far more than just words, in her book.
‘What now, then?’
She answered that question with silence. What could they do now? She had fled the city, what seemed like a lifetime ago now, for the good of her tribe, after feeling Mega’s trap for the Mallrats being woven around her and knowing she was powerless to stop it. Reprogramming, the Technos called it, and she shuddered even to remember the shell of herself she had become then, barely more than a puppet for the tyrant to guide and use as he chose. Somehow she had managed to summon up enough willpower to break free, just long enough to start running, and once she had started she realised just how close to the edge she had come, how close to betraying everything and everyone she cared for. She didn’t stop running then for a very long time, not until she was sure Mega’s hold over her was broken. Everything she had done since then had been to bring her here, to fight her way back and confront Mega, to rejoin her friends and her family. But now they were gone, and with them, hope.
A shrill piercing noise whistled through the speaker like the screech of some demonic eagle as her companion did…something. Fiddled! ‘Tai San? Are you there? Can you…read me?’ His tongue tripped over the terminology, his voice barely distinguishable then suddenly deafeningly loud as he pushed and pressed and twiddled at the controls.
‘I’m still here!’ she cried hastily, holding the speaker away from her ear until the volume returned to normal and the noise disappeared.
‘What do we do now?’ came the question once more, but this time she had an answer, or at least she hoped she did.
‘There might be a place,’ she said thoughtfully. She had been there once before, the last time everything had seemed lost, and in the midst of desperation, hope had blossomed, small and fragile. It was the one place she could think of where the spirit of the Mallrats might still be present; a link to her family, however small. It was a slim chance – she was afraid the place had already given up all its secrets – but it was a chance she had to take. She was tired of running, now. It was time to come home. Only, she wasn’t sure where home was anymore.
‘Are you willing to make another small journey?’ she asked hopefully. The jingle of horse harness answered her and she laughed in delight. Sometimes these communicators told you all you needed to know after all.
The radio on the table was not large, but it was hooked up to all the transmitting power the Technos had been able to offer; and here, in this former military base spread over the plateau of the tallest hill on a remote island – more recently a secluded Techno work camp, and now home to only a dozen or so former captives with nowhere else to go – that was a lot. Even with most of the satellites this place was linked to now redundant, the reception should have been huge! But as Jack slowly and methodically turned the tuning knob all the way in one direction, and then all the way back, all he picked up was a big fat nothing. Nothing at all! Nobody in the whole monumental radius he had worked so hard to make the machine cover was broadcasting a thing. Feeling that same wave of despondency he had in the early days back in the mall, when he had been desperately searching for a signal from the surviving adults he was sure were out there, he shoved the radio across the table sulkily. He instantly regretted it, of course, standing it back up again and giving it an apologetic pat. It wasn’t the radio’s fault after all; he was just a sore loser. He had never liked failure.
‘Please tell me you’re not spending Christmas in your workroom,’ a voice came from behind him, making him jump. Swivelling around in his chair to face its owner he gave an abashed grin when he saw that it was Cloe. She was trying very hard to give him a serious look, with her arms folded and one foot tapping on the floor, but the way her teeth chewed her bottom lip at one corner of her mouth spoke of suppressed mirth, and under those lowered brows he recognised the warm look in her eyes as fondness. He was no longer surprised by that; he was very fond of her, too. He hadn’t expected to be reunited with any of the Mallrats, much less Cloe, when the Technos had captured and brought him here, soon after their invasion of the city. Some months later, though, and suddenly there she was, being dragged into the compound kicking and screaming that she was supposed to be in the Game and calling for somebody named Ved. She had been very relieved to see him there, and he had done his best to help her adjust to a life in captivity. In turn, she had been a great support to him when the Technos found fault in everything he had been forced to make or program for them. She was the only person on the base who understood him, and she had said the same about him, the night they became more than friends.
He stopped gazing at her like an idiot and finally registered what she had said. ‘Wait, Christmas?’ he frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’
She shook her head and laughed softly. ‘How long have you been up here?’ she asked. ‘Have you even stopped to look outside?’ She gestured to the row of windows along one of the walls, and he stood, leaving his imprint in the back and seat of the leather desk chair he had been sitting on, and went to stand by the window. Outside a thick blanket of snow covered the facility and the surrounding hillside. Most of the other residents of the base were out there too, rolling around in the snow or throwing snowballs at each other, or even just standing there watching. One boy was even blasting off snowmen’s heads with an old Techno zapper.
‘I can’t remember the last time I saw snow,’ he murmured. He felt Cloe’s arm around his waist and realised she had joined him at the window.
‘Me neither,’ she agreed delightedly. ‘They’re saying it’s Christmas.’ He looked down at her and saw such an expression of joy on her face that he couldn’t help himself; he bent towards her and kissed her.
‘Well Merry Christmas, Cloe!’ he laughed as he raised his head again. She giggled and threw her arms around him, burying her head in his chest.
‘Merry Christmas, Jack,’ her muffled voice replied, and she sighed contentedly.
Jack studied the rest of their companions outside while he held her. They certainly looked to be having fun, but here a young woman stood shivering, stamping her feet in the snow, while there a child rubbed hands red from the snowballs he had been handling. This weather would provide its own problems if it continued.
Cloe felt him tensing and pulled away. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, looking concerned.
‘All this snow,’ he replied with a gesture. ‘We’ll have to make sure the heating systems are up to scratch.’ Distracted, he moved away from Cloe, making his way to a set of plan chests on the other side of the room, opening and closing drawers and shuffling through the plans and diagrams of the layout of the compound. ‘And we’ll have to find all the water shutoff valves,’ he continued. ‘What if a pipe bursts and floods the place?’
‘Then we’ll skate down the hallways!’ she laughed, twirling her way towards him as if gliding on ice. ‘You worry too much, Jack.’
‘I’m serious, Cloe!’ he chided. ‘A leak in the wrong place could frazzle the electrics, and we’d be even more cut off from the world than we are already! We’d never get in contact with the rest of the Mallrats!’
Cloe stopped, halfway towards him, folding her arms. There was no fondness in her eyes this time. ‘Sometimes I think that’s all you ever think about!’ she snapped. ‘You spend more time with that stupid radio than you do with me! Why are you in such a rush to go back? Is it really so bad here? Is my company that boring?’
Jack blinked, laughing nervously. ‘Don’t be silly, Cloe!’ he replied. ‘You know we can’t stay here forever. And you’d be coming too. Wouldn’t you?’ He realised he was sounding more and more unsure as he went on, and forced his mouth to close.
Cloe narrowed her eyes at him, the atmosphere in the room seeming suddenly chillier than it looked outside. ‘So I’m silly, am I?’ she said frostily. Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stormed out of the room.
Jack sighed heavily. Why did girls always take the least important part of what you said and find the gravest insult in it? He had thought it was just Ellie, but Cloe was the same! Frowning, his eyes fell to the plan in his hands. Fortunately, there were some problems he could fix. Muttering to himself and scribbling annotations on the plan, he soon became absorbed in his work, forgetting Cloe and their argument altogether.
Sasha pulled his hood tighter around his face and shivered in his saddle. His horse whickered and shook its head, jingling the bells tied to the harness straps. The only other sound was the crunch of hooves breaking through fresh snow. There was a lot of it, this high up in the mountains, all unbroken apart from their own trail behind them, and more fell the higher they rode, making visibility poor.
Tai San shifted against his back, and her arms around his waist were a comforting presence. ‘Not far now,’ she murmured in his ear, and he turned around to smile at her.
It had been a chance encounter that had brought the pair together. He hadn’t recognised her at first, not dressed as a Techno, but she had remembered him. They had both been travelling to the city; he had heard ever more terrible stories of what was happening there and, though he hadn’t really thought of the Mallrats for some time before the rumours, was hoping to find reports that they were well. She had been secretive of her reasons at first, not fully trusting him, but after a while travelling together, her story came out, and it was the most terrible he had heard so far. A cold-hearted despot ruling in the city. Kidnapping and slavery on a massive scale. Turning friends against each other using cruel brainwashing techniques. He didn’t think he would have believed it coming from anyone else, but Tai San had always had a calm about her, a self assurance and a way of grasping the important points of a matter in terms of people rather than politics that made him trust her absolutely; and those qualities were still there, but interwoven with a deep sense of weariness, loss and determination that rang so true with the incredible tale she was telling. He had become caught up in it all, caught up in her, and it was exhilarating. He thought he would do anything for this woman. He felt the drawstring bag hanging from his belt, checking it was still there, and smiled as its contents clinked metallically. They had spoken one night, camped beneath the stars at the side of the road, about fate, and whether a person’s life was already written out fully, or whether someone could write their own destiny, and to what extent. Watching her eyes sparkle in the firelight, he had thought that if ever two people had been brought together, it was them. Pulling his hand away from the bag, he clutched his reins tightly. If only he could find the right moment to tell her.
‘We’re here!’ Tai San exclaimed at last, sitting up straight and pointing ahead and to the left. He frowned, unable to see anything at first through the snow, then it appeared, a great white dome sitting atop the crest ahead of them like a giant snowball. They reached the foot of the building it thrust up from and dismounted, Tai San untying her small case of equipment from the saddle and slinging the strap across her shoulder as she trudged almost knee-deep in the snow towards the door.
‘Where exactly are we?’ he asked as he tied his horse to a rail nearby and caught up to her, dragging himself awkwardly through the freezing snow, teeth chattering. ‘And what are you hoping to find?’
‘Hope,’ she replied simply, smiling at him, before continuing as if to herself. ‘Eagle Mountain has always brought hope to the Mallrats, but can it give us what we need a third time?’
She pushed against the door with her shoulder but it was frozen stiff. He squeezed in beside her, her breath warming the back of his neck, and pushed alongside. After a few attempts, the door gave a groan and stuttered open in noisy stages. If anything it was colder in the dark hallway than it was outside, and a draught came from somewhere, making his wet trousers feel like ice against his shins. Tai San, determination strong on her face, appeared unaffected, pressing a button on her headset that shone a pale blue light ahead of them, partially illuminating the corridor, before striding out purposefully and taking the lead.
‘Let’s hurry,’ she said. 'I don’t have much battery power left in this thing.
Sasha hurried along in her wake, still unsure as to what she expected to find here. It certainly wasn’t the Mallrats; this place hadn’t been occupied in a long time, possibly since before the Virus, and some of the walls appeared to have suffered smoke damage, the worse the lower down she took him. Eventually she led him into a narrow room with a table in the centre filling most of the space. There were computers on that table, with wires leading off into power sockets or peripheral devices that Sasha couldn’t even begin to describe. Large monitors covered the walls, as well as maps, some of which he didn’t recognise. He tried flicking a light switch but nothing happened. He hadn’t really expected it to.
‘The fire gutted most of the basement, including the power generators,’ Tai San mused, still half to herself. ‘But the equipment in the observation rooms should still be in working order.’ She set her equipment case down on the desk and opened it, lifting out a large black oblong box, which she connected with clips and wires to one of the computer towers. Hesitantly she pressed the computer’s power button and gave a small sigh of relief when it lit up. He supposed the black box must be some kind of backup power supply. Tapping the power button on the monitor, however, Tai San made a frustrated noise. ‘It’s jammed,’ she explained, then started searching amongst the junk on the desk. ‘I thought I remembered…aha!’ She pulled out a remote control, but of course its batteries were long since dead. ‘Bear with me,’ she said, plunging them into darkness as she turned off her head torch. He heard her remove the batteries and replace them in the remote control, then the monitor sprang into life, bathing them both in its soft glow. As if she had expected no less, and perhaps she hadn’t, she began typing away on the keyboard, her fingers moving nimbly as screens appeared and disappeared on the monitor in rapid succession. Sasha was impressed, but slightly saddened. He didn’t think she had been so proficient with computers before the Technos had her.
Abruptly she turned to face him. ‘I’ve accessed the main communications link for the observatory,’ she told him excitedly. ‘And any satellites it’s still in contact with. If the Mallrats are out there somewhere, I can find them.’
He smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘If anyone can do it,’ he said encouragingly. ‘It’s you.’
She beamed up at him and his heart melted. Neither of them noticed the tiny device on the side of the monitor, which had begun to emit a flashing red light.
Cloe sat on the bed in the room she shared with Jack, irritably kicking her legs. It was quite a comfortable room, having previously belonged to one of the Techno commanders in charge of the base, but right now she paid no attention to the furnishings. Her mind was occupied with the spat she had just had with Jack, but it wasn’t him she was irritated with; it was herself. She did want to find the rest of their tribe, more than anything. After all, who could want to stay somewhere that held such miserable memories? Not to mention where supplies were hard to come by. As much as she and Jack had formed a family of sorts with the other former Techno prisoners, it was the Mallrats who were their real family. But she was also afraid; afraid that if they managed to find their old friends – and they could be anywhere if rumours from the city were anything to go by – then she would lose Jack. Ellie would be with the Mallrats and the two had loved each other. Perhaps they still did. How could her own relationship with Jack, born amid the stresses and strains of captivity, possibly compare? She wasn’t sure that she was ready to find out.
Hopping off the bed, she gathered her courage. None of that was Jack’s fault; she would have to apologise. Leaving the room, she made her way back up to the communications tower where Jack spent most of his time. Her heeled boots echoed in the clinical corridors that hadn’t lost an inch of their military feel, and she was glad when she reached the bottom of the staircase. The walls there were no less stark, but at least the ringing of her footsteps took on a faster pace as she trotted up the stairs, lessening the oppressive feel.
When she opened the door, Jack had abandoned the plans of the compound and was once more fiddling with the radio. He didn’t even notice when she came to stand behind him at the desk, her footsteps masked by the sound of static from the speakers. Perhaps it was the snow, and all the talk of Christmas, but to her ears the faint sound of bells could be heard among the static.
‘Jack?’ she said, announcing her presence. He gave a jump and turned around.
‘Cloe!’ he spluttered. ‘Listen, I’m sorry, I don’t think you’re silly at all.’ He spoke in a rush, as if determined to get his apology in before she could say anything, but trailed off when she raised a hand gently to stop him.
‘No Jack,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I do want to find a way home, back to the Mallrats. I’m just…frightened.’
‘Frightened?’ he frowned. ‘Of the Mallrats?’
‘No,’ she replied. ‘Not that. It’s just that, we’ve been here so long now. If we ever manage to find the others, how will we fit in? It’ll be so…different.’ There was no need to mention Ellie specifically, not yet.
Jack stood up and clasped her hands together in his. ‘I’ve worried about that too,’ he admitted. ‘But even if it is different, the two of us will still be the same. And whatever happens, there’ll always be one other person who understands what either one of us has been through.’
She hugged him. What he said had been reassuring, but she didn’t think he had fully understood her concerns. Or perhaps he had, and was just trying to let her down gently. Taken one way, he could have been saying that they would always be friends. She tried to work out the meaning of his words, but it was hard to concentrate with the noise of the static ringing in her ears. And it was ringing, she realised. She wasn’t mistaken; there were definitely bells among the buzzing, and she said as much.
Jack frowned, bending closer to the speaker to listen. She thought he was going to dismiss what she had heard as a fancy, but suddenly he grinned widely. ‘You’re right, Cloe!’ he said excitedly before becoming more serious. ‘You might just have found our way out of here’. Donning a large pair of headphones, he carefully tuned the radio until the ringing of the bells was as clear as he could make it, before tapping the end of a stalk microphone and clearing his voice.
‘Hello? Hello, is there anybody there?’ he spoke urgently into the microphone. He waited for a reply, but none came. ‘Is there anybody out there?’ he tried again. ‘If you can hear this message, please respond.’ Again he waited.
A crackling appeared on the airwaves and the pair squeezed each other’s hands tight in anticipation.
‘Hello Jacky boy,’ a familiar voice spoke at last. Cloe’s heart sank.
Sasha didn’t know exactly what Tai San was doing at the computer, but she was focussed intently on her work, barely looking up from the screen apart from to rub her eyes occasionally. He, on the other hand, found that he couldn’t stop pacing the short width of the room. He was impatient, though not for her to find a signal; no, he knew that the discovery of this place might just have spelled the beginning of the end of their journey alone together, and he was trying to work up the nerve to say what he needed to say to her before that end became a reality.
‘Sasha, you’re ruining my concentration,’ Tai San said, though not unkindly, turning around to address him. ‘Whatever is the matter?’
He stopped, swallowing to wet a throat that suddenly seemed dry, but perhaps fate was handing this moment to him. Perhaps now was the time. Crossing the floor to her chair, he unfastened the small bag from his belt. ‘I have something for you,’ he said, pulling the drawstring open. ‘A present, to show you how much I’ve valued this time we’ve spent together. I was looking for the right time to give it to you and, well, I think this is it.’ He lifted out a delicate chain that glinted in the light of the monitor, a necklace ending in a pendant studded with tiny jewels, all nestled around a polished oval stone, shining green and with something in its structure that reflected the light along a vertical band inside it, resembling the pupil of a cat’s eye. ‘Maybe it will help you find what you’re looking for,’ he told her. Inside, he hoped that would be him.
Tai San accepted the gift wordlessly, holding it gently in one hand while tracing that dark band inside the stone with a finger. Her lips moved as if on the verge of forming words but for a long while, or what seemed like a long while, she was silent.
‘This is a very powerful symbol,’ she said at last, looking up at him. ‘Thank you, Sasha. I think now is the perfect time.’ She turned around to let him put the necklace on her. He fumbled a little with the clasp in his nervousness but eventually it was done.
‘This means a lot to me, Sasha,’ she said, turning to face him again. ‘I won’t forget this.’ She kissed him then, a small peck on the cheek, and disappointment flared inside him. He had been hoping for so much more.
He opened his mouth to speak, to make clear his feelings for her, but at that moment the sound of a dialtone started ringing from the computer and a message box flashed red and green on the monitor.
‘How…how can anyone know we’re here?’ he asked, nervously.
Tai San touched the pendant hanging from her neck and smiled. ‘Perhaps it’s working already,’ she murmured, returning to her seat and accepting the transmission. He didn’t have a clue what to expect when the video feed filled the screen, but a Techno in a Santa hat had surely been at the bottom of the list.
‘Ho ho ho, neighbours!’ the face chuckled smarmily.
Tai San wrinkled her mouth in distaste. ‘Ram,’ she spat accusingly. ‘I should have guessed.’
‘Nobody ever does,’ he sighed, steepling his fingers. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me how I found you?’ The man was clearly eager to impress them with his genius but Tai San just stared back expressionlessly. Disappointed but undeterred, Ram told them anyway.
‘If I remember correctly,’ he boasted. ‘And I usually do. It should be just about…here.’ He pointed somewhere off to his right. Sasha frowned, but Tai San’s hand went immediately to the left of the computer screen, to touch a small black dome mounted on the monitor and flashing a tiny red light.
She turned to look at him apologetically. ‘It didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary,’ she explained.
Ram just laughed. ‘That’s the point, isn’t it? People see but don’t actually look; people hear but they don’t listen. The best place to hide something is in plain sight, and I’ve made sure to hide a little something everywhere I’ve been.’ Tai San whipped her head back to the screen angrily, braids flying, clearly unimpressed by his quasi-philosophy.
‘What do you want from us?’ she demanded.
‘Me?’ Ram exclaimed in surprise. ‘Absolutely nothing! But I’m with an ungrateful bunch called the Mallrats, and they’ve given me a great big list of people they expect me to find.’ It was his turn to look unimpressed. Tai San looked…excited.
‘Anyway,’ Ram continued. ‘This time you can do something for me. It seems not everyone I’ve spoken to believes my honest intentions.’
Tai San sniffed. ‘I can’t think why,’ she noted.
Ram grumbled under his breath, but didn’t reply. ‘Well,’ he conceded. ‘Perhaps they’re not without cause, but you can explain to them for me. They’ll believe you. Putting you through now.’
Nothing appeared to happen, but Ram waved his hand impatiently, motioning for her to start. ‘Hello?’ she said hesitantly.
‘Tai San?!’ a familiar voice replied. ‘Tai San, is that you?’
‘Jack!’ she cried. ‘Jack! Yes, it’s me!’
‘Tai San!’ another voice chimed in. ‘It’s Cloe too! Is there anyone else with you?’
‘No,’ Tai San replied. ‘None of the others, but I have Sasha here with me.’
‘Hello Cloe, hello Jack,’ he greeted, coming closer to stand behind Tai San’s shoulder. He smiled, but sadly. It was good to know they were well, but already he was starting to feel like a spare part.
On the screen, Ram opened and closed his hand as if operating a mouth. ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ he sighed. ‘Get on with it already!’
Greetings aside, it was time to get serious. ‘Is Ram really telling the truth?’ Cloe asked. ‘Does he know where the others are?’
‘Can we trust him?’ Jack added.
Tai San paused for a moment before speaking. ‘The last thing I heard from the city,’ she said eventually. ‘Was that Ram had helped the Mallrats to overthrow the rest of the Technos. As to whether he stayed with them afterwards, or if we can trust him, I don’t know.’
‘Hey!’ Ram complained.
‘Can I trust someone who made me into a Techno?’ she replied calmly. ‘Mega may have been worse but you started it all.’
Ram muttered something under his breath, then stood up – something Tai San seemed shocked by – and moved out of sight. ‘Fine!’ he grumbled. ‘If you won’t listen to me, maybe you’ll listen to someone else.’ The transmission fell silent, with only the view of Ram’s empty desk remaining.
‘I have to see this,’ Jack announced excitedly, and his microphone clicked off too. Sasha smiled and put his hand on Tai San’s shoulder. They were alone again.
‘We’re so close now,’ she smiled up at him, patting his hand. ‘I can feel it.’
Before long Ram returned, and with him came a stream of others. Some of them Sasha didn’t know, but some he did, and one face in particular he knew all too well.
‘Lex!’ Tai San cried, pulling away from his hand as she pressed herself closer to the screen. The cat’s eye pendant dangled in front of her. ‘It’s really you!’
‘Tai San!’ Lex replied. ‘I’ve found you at last!’
Sasha sighed and took a step back. He really could see the end of their time together now, if there had ever been any doubt before. Even so, he knew that Tai San would ask for his help again to reach her friends, and he knew what his answer would be. He would do anything for her.
Cloe bounced on her toes excitedly as Jack finished connecting wires from the radio to his computer. ‘Here we go!’ he told her, sitting back down in his chair. He took a deep breath then turned on the power. A fuzzy image gradually cleared into a view of Ram’s empty desk as Jack made some final adjustments, just in time to see a group of people gathering in front of it.
‘You did it, Jack!’ she gushed, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
‘And it’s them!’ he laughed in reply. ‘It’s really them!’
‘Do you believe me now?’ Ram asked bitterly as he twisted the camera to look down the line of smiling Mallrats.
Abruptly Cloe noticed Ellie and removed her hand from Jack’s shoulder, but just as quickly he grabbed it back, replacing it and holding it with his own. A burst of warmth rushed through her and she grinned, just as pleased to see him smiling back up at her.
‘We’re going home, Cloe!’ he declared happily. ‘Home for Christmas!’
‘Together,’ she added, placing her free hand on top of his and looking into his eyes.
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Wooohoooo
Excellent, excellent, eeeeexceeeeellent!
Cloe and Jack could absolutely work! Never liked Sasha but I do feel sorry for him now… A little
Great to work EAGLE MOUNTAIN in!
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Thanks very much!
This was a really interesting one to write. I don’t have much experience writing any of these characters, and I had to think of creative ways to make the pairings believable. I think it has quite a different feel from the rest of these stories as a result, which I kind of like!
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