Travis was hidden behind a tree, following Nella with his sharpened knife. It had been dulled down a bit after his first kill of the day, a small girl with fire red hair, and her dry blood was still covering the knife. Travis felt guilty taking an innocent girls life, but he ignored the guilt and replaced it with pride for getting the first kill of the day.
Everything was quiet... To quiet actually. The sun was out for the first time in ages, and not a single scream ripped through the sky for hours. Travis didn't find out the news of the attack yet, and instead watched the girl with the pink weapons. Travis had spoken to her not many times, only saying a few words to her. Once was when he was helping her collect wood for her bow, and the other for saying thank you for the fresh cooked squirrel.
He watched Nella hit the ground and army crawl to Sode Z and shook his head. "You're crazy..." He muttered, but followed her anyways. Travis had heard about Nella joining that boy, Caleb's, alliance and that must have meant under that girls girl personality is a tough fighter. As he followed her, he heard twigs crack under his weight and the whispers of people from Side A.
Travis had the reputation of a weakling at first, but a mad man the next. He tended to be careful when the battles start, feeling bad for the people he could kill, but then when Travis gets pissed he goes crazy. Stabbing, clawing, throwing, anything physically harming them really. Nobody knew how bad it got because nobody lived to tell. All people know was to never underestimate or make Travis mad or he'll go crazy on you for sure.
Travis heard a crack and looked up and saw Julliete, or as Side Z knew her, tree girl. She had a mighty good aim, and was great at hopping from tree to tree, rumor was she lived in them, and he wouldn't be surprised. The thing that spooked him though was that Julliete was looking right at Nella. "Nella!" he whispered, "Nella!! Look up!" he yelled in a quiet tone.
Julliete was sensing something fishy was going on with Side Z. He had saw the four People who had always stuck together, Caleb, Daravia, Ivy, and Nella, whispering about something amongst themselves but Julliete couldn't get close enough without being caught. To be honest, the last thing she wanted was to be caught by Caleb and Daravia both.
While Caleb would take a few aims at her and then give up but vow to kill her, Daravia would chase her until she was dead. She heard about the two and their gruesome killing, and it worried her. Daravia had a nice swing with her fists, and was fearless while Caleb had great aim with a dagger and was very muscular, probably could throw a boulder at her if he wanted.
As Julliete was watching Side Z closely she heard scooting and shuffling. Well that was odd, Julliete thought. She looked everywhere until her eyes stopped at a rush of pink that quickly disappeared into the bushes. Julliete hoped to the next tree and peered her eyes closer and saw a pink bow and arrow, and then it was gone.
That was Nella, Julliete confirmed quickly. Julliete knew all the member of Side Z, so it wasn't hard to figure out the pink loving freak was Nella. She was the only one with the sense of having color on her bows, and it was stupid. Julliete thought only Nella was there until she saw Travis, and she could tell it was him by his farmers ran and airbus hair. He was the only one who would be stupid enough to follow Nella around like that, everyone else would leave her to die.
Julliete made a slight whistle sound, a call for Side A that they had made up. It called for back up, a sighting of a person on Side A. Julliete stared hard at Nella and Travis.
Oh, by the way, if any of you want to know a plan for Daravia and Caleb that Guard and I put together last night on tiny chat just inbox me.<3
Nella just kind of sits there, stabbing the ground with her spear and drawing pictures with her knife in the soft dirt. She even saw a flower growing in the dirt, but she picked it and placed it behind her ear. When she's drawing she hears something crack behind her, and she whirls around to see Travis. "Travis?" Nella whispers, tilting her head to the side. Did he follow her? Was he thinking of killing her too? He wouldnt. Not Travis! He had the reputation similar to her's, without all the princess business and stupidness. She had heard Caleb call him weak a few times, but then Ivy fought for him. Apparently when he got angry he turned into a monster, killing everything in his path. Nella looks him over and decides he doesn't look that angry, so he wouldn't kill her. She was safe for now. But then she heard him call her name, and to look up. So she did.
There was Julliete, looking down on her with eyes narrowed. On the ground she could hear footsteps, more people coming to help. Help her what? Kill them both? No no. That wouldn't do. "Travis. Gimme that." She points to her small handheld mirror on the ground, and she looks down at it. Daravia taught her this trick, figuring that she couldn't do much. Nella points the mirror at the sun and holds it flat, watching as the light shines in Julliete's eyes and blinds her for a few seconds. Nella throws her small pocket knife in her direction, and it doesnt do much but trace the edge of her leg. Hopefully this would distract her, and give her a few seconds to run. "Watch her." Nella says to Travis, and takes off.
In a second she is tacked to the ground, by a guy 2 times larger than her. "Well, look who it is. Princess. You are quite pretty, huh?" The boy muses, and Nella frowns. She spits in his eye, and he lets go of her one arm to wipe it off his face. She takes advantage of this, reaching for the spear she dropped a few feet over and lodging it deep in his arm. The boy jumps off the ground and looks at it, the blood squirting all over his face and clothes. Nella smiles and races up to him, kicking him in.. ;) Where the sun dont shine! You catch my drift. He is stunned for a few seconds, and she takes this opportunity to rip the spear out of his arm and push it into his chest. He falls onto the ground, but isnt dead yet. He will be, but not yet. The animals will get to him before he has a chance to recover, though. The boy looks in Nella's eyes, and she smiles coldly. "Who's a princess now huh? Oh yeah!" But even with this new found killer inside her, Nella still feels her heart break for the boy. So she takes the flower from behind her ear and places it on his chest, then takes off running. Back to Julliette, the real challenge.
Hopefully Travis wasn't dead yet. He would be fun to keep around, heck maybe she could even get Caleb to let him into their alliance. Doubtful though, based on the way he talked about Travis. "Travis! Travviiiiiss! Travie! Trav Trav!" Nella shouts, heading back to where she left him as fast as she could.
Travis has a knife in his hand with a fresh coat of blood and his eyes were going from crazy to slightly tame. A girl laid at his feet, her dark midnight hair wild and streaked with blood. Her eyes were open, and they were dull with no color in them now. Her face was ghost pale, almost a green color if you look closely at her, but if you did, you smelled the blood that was still seeping out of her wound.
Her wound was in her cranium, and chest. Her skull was smashed against the tree, leaving not only a dent in the tree, but the girls skull as well. It was noticeable, a big dent inside. Her head was cracked, sights of brains if you moved it around a bit, but I don't think anybody wanted to do that. Travis had stabbed her also, which finished her off, blood seeping everywhere, soaking Travis's bare feet. Travis made a disgusted face after realizing what just happened and looked at Nella.
"She must have accidentally responded to that whistle, whatever that was. She came hopping out of a tree, and attacked me from behind. Travis sighed shakily "Stabbed me right in the shoulder, I'm to scared to even look." The blood was soaking the shirt he wore, but Travis didn't want to remove his short because of all the bugs in the forest. "I couldn't get Julliete, she hopped off after getting over the sudden blindness. I think we should leave before she comes back, she looked angry. We need to tell Caleb, or Daravia, they will know what to do."
Julliete was hopping from tree to tree, her leg slightly burning from the semi deep cut on her right leg. Due to the little princess, she could barely jump without a fear of falling. She wa just a bit shocked, she would probably get over it. Well, Julliete hoped. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to climb the trees as high as she wanted to.
"Side A!" Julliete called high from her tree, far far away from Side Z, as far as she could "Side A! Warning!" Julliete started throwing out code words that would mean nothing to the opposite side. They had setup a secret language. What Julliete was saying was "Meet at the far end of the forest, take a right, to the large oak tree that leans."
She refuses to look down at the girl, knowing the sight of her head cracked open and all the blood will make her faint. "I got a boy too. He came at me from the front, and he must have responded to the whistle too. Whatever it means, we need to watch out for it." She says softly, trying to shake the image of the dying boy out of her head. She needed to get out of Side A, and fast. "Okay. Lets go." Nella agrees, taking a shaky breath before jogging back to the safety of Side Z. On the way an image of the boy flashes over and over in her mind, and then images of her too. How she probably looked like a diseased animal, her baby blue eyes turning dark and her hair all over the place. It surely wasnt attractive, however she looked. It was the first kill she had done all on her own, no help and no accidental shootings. To be honest, she was a little proud. But not that anybody would know that.
When Nella and Travis make it back to Side Z, the first thing she does is rip off his shirt. Oh well hello there;) But no. She wanted to check the cut, check the bleeding and make sure it wasn't too bad. "Here. Your shirt is ruined, unless you like blood all over it." Nella says, handing it to him and making her way to the back of him. She grimaces at the cut, the blood.. everything. Stretching out from his shoulder about an inch was a deep stab wound, at least a half an inch deep if not more. "Ooh. This dosent look very pretty." Nella says softly. She takes the backpack she had stolen from the dead boy and looks into it, finding a gauze bandage and some alcohol. "This is going to hurt really bad, but.. Here. Squeeze my hand when it hurts or something." She puts out her hand if he wants to squeeze the pain out or something, and pours the alcohol into the palm of her hand. She slowly dabs it along the cut, saying "Sorry!" about a hundred times while she does.
When she finishes, Nella wraps the gauze around his cut/chest too keep it in place. She ties the back into a tight knot, and smiles at her handy work. "All better!" She exclaims, and sits down on the ground next to where she made Travis sit. "So. Rest or Move? You can choose, since your the hurt one here."
Travis had bit his lip hardly when she had poured the alcohol on his shoulder, it burned. The burning sensation went down and he swore he could feel it in his toes, his fingers, all over his body. It hurt like hell, but instead of screaming like a little girl he squeezed her hand tightly, but made note not to do it to hard for her hands were half the size of his, and very fragile. One hard squeeze and he was sure he could break all the bones in her hand.
"I'm not hurt.." he muttered defensively, standing up and trying to move his shoulder, but failed. He ignored the pain and got up, and offered for her to get up as he walked around, out of sight of Side A, deeper into the forest. "Thanks.. For uh, you know, healing me up. I'm sure I could've gone without it, but still, thanks." He had his bloody shirt in his hand, and looked at it, and wrinkled his nose up at the smell of it.
"I just want to note the only reason I am keeping this is to show Caleb that I don't run away when a fight comes." Travis shook his head "That kid gets on my nerves. He's so cocky, and thinks that he can dominate anybody he wants to. I'm sure if we ganged up on him he would be defeated."
Caleb and Travis had probably the worst relationship on Side Z. They despisers eachother and have threatened, even gone after eachother one, several times. They have stabbed, thrown, punched, everything really. Travis has have Caleb a broken jaw before, but Caleb has nearly snapped his spine in two, so they don't physically fight anymore, just stab eachother with snide comments.
She puts her hands up in the air when he fights being hurt, and nods. "Okay. Whatever you say Mr. Bleeding half to death." She smiles up at him and follows him through the forest, listening to him ramble on about Caleb and their fighting and such. He was really bossy, but he kept her alive so the least she could do was listen to him. "Did something happen between you guys? Like, did one of you steal somebody's goldfish or something when you were little? Or a girl?" Nella questions, shrugging lightly.
When he asks her about the side being so quiet, she hesitates. Was she supposed to tell him? Ivy was told to tell everybody on the side, so i guess Travis should be a part of it too. "Were supposed to attack tonight. Caleb, Darvia, Ivy and I were talking about it, and we figured tonight would be the best. The element of surprise, you know?" Well, some of that was true. Nella hadn't helped much in planning, but it made her sound smart so she went with it. "Now that Tree Girl is hurt and 2 are dead, that might help us too. You never know." Nella shrugs and they walk in silence for a while, until she sees the silhouette of Caleb through the trees. "Cabey! Look who I found!"
Travis hesitated and looked at her, wondering if he should mention the first night here. "Well, the first night Caleb and I were here, believe it or not, and we're actually good buddies. He told me a lot about his home life, and he was scared... I was too. So we stayed together, fighting for our lives together. It was nice to feel protected. I mean, it was our first night and I had someone to depend on. No deaths had happen, and it was actually a bit peaceful with the fire crackling next to us as we discussed everything that we were worried about. He was worried about his family, his little brother to be more exact."
"That night, around one in the morning, I woke up to Caleb and another guy murmuring threats at eachother. Then, they started hurting eachother any way they could. The boy... His outline looked familiar as he took out his dagger. Caleb didn't have a weapon at the time, just his fists but that was enough. They fought on the ground until Caleb got ahold of the dagger. By that time, I got a closer look at the boy, I saw it was just an innocent ten year old." Travis shook his head "A ten year old, who the hell kills a ten year old?" Everyone knew Caleb had a younger brother, so that little boy had to remind him of the boy right? So why did he kill him? "He stabbed the life out of that boy... That's when I went after Caleb."
Caleb had overheard what Travis was saying, his brown hair was stringy and was in his eyes. "And you failed." Caleb shook his head chuckling "You can't kill me, Travis. You will never kill me, no matter how much you wish."
Caleb remember killing the little boy like it was yesterday, but he will never revile the moment to these two. Nobody knew the real story, and he wanted to keep it that way. It's not like anybody cared, did they? No. Nobody wanted to know why he did what he did, and what goes through his mind when he does it, and he wasn't even going to start.
He went to sleep thinking of that boy all the time. If the little boy wasn't in his mind he would have killed so many more people, probably even Daravia. But that little boy, his little pleas for help before he said his final goodbye, it haunted him everyday.
"You don't know what happened, Travis, you never will know. When every last member on Side A dies, you're next."
When Travis starts telling the story of Caleb and the little boy, it reminds her of someone. Her first friend here, Nathan. He was only 9 or 10 years old and on the first night being here they had paired up. He had hardly any fighting experience and neither did she, so they worked well together. On the morning of the second day Nella had awoken to find him gone, and only his pocket knife left behind as a memory of his being alive. He'd never come back, so she had guessed he'd died or joined another alliance. But as she was searching the woods for food the following day she had found his body, stabbed in the chest. Just like the boy on side A she had decorated his body with little yellow flowers, because back then there was still color in the now dull world. Maybe Nathan was the boy Caleb had killed. Not that it really mattered to her, but it did make her wonder a bit.
She was hardly listening to Caleb talk about the little boy dying and such, but when he mentioned killing Travis her thoughts all stopped. "No!" Nella suddenly blurts out, her blue eyes wide and cheeks flushed. "No killing Travis! I will not allow it." Since he had saved her life back on Side A, she felt like she owed him in some way. "He's a part of the team. When side z wins, Travis is a part of it too. Were like a big.. dysfunctional family!" Nella finishes, smiling at her use of dysfunctional. What a smartie she was today:) Her first kill and big words? It was like a smart fairy came down and sprinkled smart dust all over her!
"Okay girls. You done with the who killed who and who did what drama? Goodness, you could have your own reality show!" Nella smiles and pauses for a minute, and when none of them argue she continues. "So Caleb. I think the side has probably heard about the attack by now, and if they haven't Ivy will tell them soon. Anyway. So Julliete, the tree bow and arrow girl, is injured. I saw her when I was running back to Travis, and it looked like she was having trouble hopping from tree to tree or whatever she does. She's one of the strongest, and 2 are dead which lowers their numbers and greatens our odds." Nella pauses, and takes a breath. "We just wanted to tell you, so you could continue with your plans or whatever your doing."
She sleuthed around like a cool looking stalker and watched all the people walk around and do their normal daily stuff. Everyone was normal. Or what normal had become. See, normal used to be a happy family without a care in the world living in a nice cozy house with food on the table day and night and clothes to wear and a safe warm house to live in. Now normal was people roaming the streets aimlessly in dirty, ugly clothes with shifty eyes and guns and knives in their hands and pockets. That was daily life now and Daravia had all but became accustomed to it. The whole side thing started when she was about two years old, so she only had vague memories about what things were like back then, but she knew it had to be better than how things were now. She would rather have her parents alive and happy and live in a stupid fairy tale than be wary at every second of every day. Though this life was fun and exciting sometimes, the overall life was pretty bad. Daravia used to hope things would return to their normal normal ways, but that was a long time ago when she was little. After her dad killed her mom she knew fairy tales didn't exist so instead she picked out the things she did enjoy of this life. She picked a few berries and hunched over on the ground to eat them near two woman who were gossipping. Gossip was something evil that always existed and thrived in times like these with lots of violence and hatred. She eavesdropped on them. They talked about how a father took his two year old son and left in search of a better and safer place to live after his wife was killed. The older lady of the two mentioned that her husband was out of bullets and the younger lady said her brother had the same problem. They talked about the new knives that were being fashioned by people and given out late at night so the people still had things to protect themselves with. They didn't bring up anything about plans for fighting or anything about the last bloodbath, but they did talk about how a lot of people they knew were having sleep issues like they were. Nightmares and fears of another attack. Once the two ladies left to go back to their houses Daravia decided she had enough information to bring back to side Z. She hurried into the woods and picked a few berries before disappearing far enough into the woods so she could no longer be seen by side A. She headed for the boarder and decided it was safe to go across. She started darting across when there was a shout that startled her and she stumbled a moment. A knife lodged into the top of her shoulder and she screamed out in pain, her hand flying to the knife to see how deep it was. It was just a flesh wound, thank god, and she quickly scrambled behind a tree, listining carefully for the crack of a leaf or the shuffle of a shoe in the grass. She heard nothing and quickly ran behind another tree, making sure to look back at where the knife came from to try and see who had thrown it. She didn't see anyone so she ran from tree to tree to get back to side Z. She pulled out the knife and took off her side A jacket, cutting off a sleeve to tie over her wound. She wiped the knife clean and stuffed her jacket back into her bag. Then she hurried back to find Caleb and the others. She found Nella, Caleb, and some other guy all standing together seemingly in an argument. She smirked slightly and walked over to them. "Hi Nella," she greeted, purposely ignoring Caleb. "I got you this knife when I was spying on the other side. It's pretty sharp so it should be helpful for cutting stuff up to cook," she said, handing the knife to Nella. "Are you guys fighting about something? Whatever it is, I'm sure Caleb is wrong because he doesn't know shit," she commented, smiling sweetly at Caleb before turning back to Nella. "So you guys want to hear what I found out?" she asked, moslty speaking to Nella because she didn't know who the other guy was and she certainly wasn't going to be giving any helpful information directly to Caleb.
He heard Julliete's call and could sense some desperation in her tone. With that, Chris sprinted over to the meeting area, being careful to keep low. They were here. They were here. He had sensed it, but doubted his thoughts. Should've told someone. Should've told someone.
The heavy wind buffeted his face and body as he ran. This couldn't be good. Heavy winds meant that a storm was approaching. Out of all the days to attack, Side A chose tonight? What was their plan?! Did they care to watch the weather pattern lately? If anyone had a brain, they would know that a war in the rain did no good for either side, for they would be soaking wet, cold, and at risk for lightening.
When he had arrived, Chris noted that only a few Side Z members were there. Those were all people in close range of her call. The distant side must've called as well, for the streets and homes were empty, and he didn't run into anyone on his path. A taller, well built boy was barking out orders. Someone had named him in charge of the population count not too long ago. His face had hardened from the months in the position, rarely ever bearing a smile anymore. Although he was young, close to the same age as Chris himself, he was level-headed and authoritative. "A natural born leader", some named him.
With that, he fell silent, shaking his head no. Chris nodded, acknowledging his answer. "Don't worry about it," he was told. Zipping his jacket up all the way, he reached for his radiation mask in his pocket. The rain was going to wash up the dirt, exposing the dangerous substance. The mask was thin, almost gauze-like in texture. In appearance, one would mistaken it for a scarf. Tying the material around his face, Chris leapt to his feet and advanced towards the border, strategically picking his path and staying near the covers of the forest.
Ivy met back up with the group. "They're coming," she whispered sharply, "they saw someone and alerted their whole side."
She glanced around at her 'team mates'. She might never see their faces again after this. They could die out there, and so could she. But they had to do this. They had to take down side A fast to be in their advantage. This was their best shot at surviving. Ivy's words processed and Daravia spoke, "Fuck. Okay guys here's what I found out. So they have mostly knives and they are low on bullets. They weren't anticipating an attack before I don't think so there will besome hecticness probably. And a guy left with his kid to try to find a safer place since his wife died, so that's a few less opponents. "Also a lot of people haven't been getting the best sleep so they will probably run out of energy fast and get tired easily so try to wear them out by running and climbing trees and stuff. That's everything in a nutshell, now let's do this shit."
She was in a tree, right in the middle, anouncing the fight that Side A was planning on doing on Side Z. Julliete gripped the tree trunk tightly, and her eyes were wide, dark circles under her eyes. "We can't let them win. We don't know when they will strike, but be perpared tonight! Get your weapons, get food, whatever you can! We don't know how long this fight will last." Honestly, Julliete was scared, she was shaking slightly, but inside she was dying inside, shaking biolntly, her heart thumpingvery fast. What were Side A going to do if they attacked suddenly, out of nowhere? Hundreds of people had already died, but more people will die if they didn't try and perpare fast.
Next to Julliete was a boy, no older than 13, up in the tree next to her. He hung with his feet scraped up and dirt covering hs face. He was swinging his feet and humminga light tune of a song, but Julliete couldn't think of it. "Julliete. What is going on?" He zoned out a lot, tended to daydream. Julliete figured he was to busy wondering what his parents were doing, who had packed up and left him, but forgo about him. Jullite thinked his name was Ben, but everyone really refers to him as Dreamer, because he always dreams.
When Julliete was going to answer, a dagger flew through the air, brushing against her cheek, causing a sudden burning on her cheek. But she didn't get the worst of it... She heard a cry and a thud. Julliete shut her eyes, for she knew what had happened. She didn't want to be right, but she knew she was. As Julliete peeked through, she found Ben's body laying on the ground, and knife pierced through him. He was still alive, but barely. He was breathing heavily, his eyes loosing life slowly.
"Ben!" She screamed, jumping down delicatley, slighting staggering though,and pulling the knife out. "Ben.." She said agan, biting her quivering lips as she watched he innocent boy die right before her eyes. "It's going to be ok Ben.." Julliete knew it wasn't going to be okay, she knew she couldn't make the pain go away, or heal him quickly. She held him in her arms as everyone stared and watched as Ben's color drained from his face, turning into a ghostly pale.
Julliete knew he was dead when his breathing was cut short and his heart stopped beating. Everyone was eerly silent, silent enough to here the ruffling of bushes, and saw a boy with brown hair run away with a group of 3 girls and she knew who they were.. "The bastard dagger boy." She murmured and grabbed the dagger, balancing it between her.
He had lost one dagger, but he had a whole belt full of five more. His smirk was gone, for he wasn't aiming for the little boy singing so lightly. Caleb was aiming for tree girl, the one good with the bow and arrow. But Daravia wouln't shut the hell up and he finally lost i, shaking from anger, and it must have thrown off his aim. Caleb was running with his gang, hiding deep in the trees because they needed the figure out what to do quickly.
"Okay, that's one down.." He murmured, messing with his daggers on his belt. "Go after whoever you can find, kill them anyway. I don't care how, just kill them." He pulled out a dagger and ran his finger down the blade, cutting his finger slightly but not flinching or anything. "I want that tree girl dead, and if none of you do it, I will strangle the life out of her."
He bit his lip, looking at Daravia, "Daravia, you go with Nella. You're tough with everything really,and extremly fast, and Nella, you're good with a bow so that will be good. Long distance, short distance. Ivy an I will go together since I can throw long and short, and she is... smart." Nobody had seen Ivy kill anyone, but they were sure she had to at least kill one person, right? "Ready? Let's go."
She narrowed her eyes at Caleb. He KNEW she hated being bossed around. She hated when he acted like he was in charge. But they both knew she couldn't start up a fight with him now, but she made sure to remember to get him back later. "Okay Nella, lets stick together. You kill anyone who isn't looking, and anyone who is I will take down, sound good?" she whispered quickly, eyes darting around to see where people were positioned. Tree girl was high priority. Daravia wanted to be the one to kill her since she was like the leader of the other side. Then Caleb outta show her more respect. She dropped to her knees in some bushes and looked around. "If you see or hear something tap me once if it's near me and twice if its near you, okay?" she asked in a hushed voice. She slipped her hand into the pocket of her hoodie and gripped her switchblade tightly in her hands so it was ready for use. She very carefull scanned her surroundings, looking mainly for tree girl, and her ears twitched slightly with the dead silence of these woods. Not a sound could be heard. A sound gave off location which could be deadly. But someone would have to move at some point. She glanced at Nella to make sure she was prepared too. She had her bag only on one shoulder for easier access to her other knives and ninja stars. Her breathing was slightly shaky with the anticipation of the fighting and killing that was to come. Her eyes slowly scanned the trees for any human like figures before dropping again to the ground. Her eyes hovered over a particular bush that appeared to have some broken branches. She thought back to the last bloodbath and remembered how the other side was so good with cameoflauge. "They are cameoflauged," she whispered to Nella, looking hard at that bush trying to see if someone was hiding in or behind it.
Well, not hopping along. It was more like one of the fastest paced ninja darting that Ivy had ever participated in. He moved so quietly, yet so quickly. As she mimicked his movements, her gaze whipped around, scanning for any danger that might be present.
The hesitation was obvious, at least to her. Ivy knew that Caleb counted worthiness by kills, and she had very few under her belt. Actually, she had none. The girl had only ever assisted in kills or pulled someone out of one; she never killed anyone herself. It wasn't that her heart was getting in the way of her mind, no. It was the fact that she couldn't. Physically, she couldn't take someone alone. They were always so much bigger, taller, faster--
A projectile flew right over their heads, narrowly missing. Ivy didn't look up to see what it was, for she didn't have the time. But as she dropped to the cold, damp ground, a single thread became noticeable. Carefully running her finger along the string, Ivy found that it led straight to another trap. "Caleb!" she hissed, but it looked like he must've just found out himself.
A girl jumped down from a neighboring tree, landing with a thud onto Ivy's back. Another boy ran out from the brushes. He must've called some command, for he spoke in a foreign language to her ears.
Caleb was running, his feet taking him as quick as possible and he heard his name called. It caused him to trip on his own feet, and he belt a brush against his ankel ad he knew excatly what it was... It was a string attatched to a tree that let down a trap. "Shit!" H screamed, tumbling down ad getting mixed up in a net that clapsed him tightly. He moved around, but his feet were tangled deep in, his arms in loops between the holes.
"God fucking dammit Ivy!!" He screamed loudly as he saw her pushed to the ground by a girl and he saw the way she landed perfectly on Ivy with such balance, but stumbling just a bit.. just like... "Tree girl." He spatted, shaking his head. "God dammit." He repea shutting his eyes. If his hands were useable, he would give himself a big punch in the face. He should have been more careful, he should have been on the look out! What was he thinking of running away like that, not looking at the ground for little strings, something that looks a little abnormal. "So fucking stupid!" He screamed again, shaking harder trying to escape.
Caleb glared at Iv, his eyes full of hatred. He knew how intimidatin he looked when he did this, and he shook his head. "Fucking should of brought Nella..." He muttered. Atleast Nella woul have warned him, or at least hopped over them.
He was taken away from his thoughts when a boy poked his back with a spear and chuckled, his black hair in his eyes, blood staining his hands. His hair was in sticky strands, and his shirt was covered in fresh mud. "Take a nice mud bath, you pig?" Caleb spat, spitting at him.
"Shut it!" The boy screamed, threatning him with the of the spear. "Hey, Julliete. Can I kill him?" He asked it nonchalantly like he asked to kill someone everyday, which was probably true. So tree girl was in charge, eh? Interesting, Caleb would have to remember that for next time. He knew who was in charge, now he just had to kill her and the whole team would slowly crumble.
Julliete chuckled lowly, shaking her head, and pulling out a small knife, good for throwing. The blade was a bit dull, but that would mean she could stab more. Her bow and arrows were being borowed by some small girl who would probably die without them since that was the only thing she could use, so they traded weapons. "Well look who it is.." She muttered, smirking and dangling the knife above the girl's face. "Are you one of Caleb's little whore folowers?" Julliete and the boy laughed at that and she held Ivy's arms above her, putting all her weight on the small girl who resemblanced a stick compared to Julliete.
"Don't kill him yet. I want these two to suffer for killing Ben." She looked at Caleb, hatred enflaming her eyes. "The little boy in the tree. You remember him don't you? Or do you kill and forget? You fucking heartless bastard, can't wait to see you in hell." She turned back to Ivy and let the knife hit her forehead lighty, cutting down her face and her cheek. Julliete could smell the fresh blood smeel reeking from Ivy's face. She dropped the knife to Ivy's neck, pressing only slightly, enoug to cause a small ounce of pain."Are you ready to die small girl?" She whispered coldly in Ivy's ear, laughing evily "I've been waiting to kill one of you." She pressed harder.
Julliete's brown hair hung in her face, and it looked untouched in the slick ponytail. Her face was blotched with some dry mud, and her dark circls were noticeable from Mars. She had cuts all over her legs, but they were fading. She had burns from swinging on trees and blisters as well. She wore loose black shirt that hung lowly with bggy army green pants.
Caleb screamed curses, but that was all normal to her ears. Ivy gasped for air as the girl pressed her knee down on her chest. Out of instinct, she struggled to push her off, jabbing at joints and pressure points, but it was useless. "Tree girl", as lithe as she seemed hopping from tree to tree like that, was a good few inches and had at least twenty pounds to use to her advantage.
The cuts must've stung under normal circumstances, but fear and overtaken her senses to feel any pain at all. Ivy hated it...being so helpless. It was her own fault, winding up in this position. As the mockery continued, rage began to replace her fears. It wasn't rage at the insults, themselves, but at herself for not lasting any longer in this war.
She couldn't find tree girl at the moment but she heard the crack of a leaf or a twig coming from beside Nella and Daravia jumped towards the noise, hoping to get whatever was there to show itself. A guy covered in cameoflauge sprung up and lunged for Daravia but she pulled out her switchblade and flicked it open right into his stomach. When he screamed another guy about his age started running towards them. "NELLA!" she managed to shout while strugling on the ground. She had pulled her knife out of him so he could bleed to death if she didn't kill him and she rolled around the dirt trying to keep his knife away from her. Her bad shoulder ached and she grimaced, taking her knife and managing to stick it in the guys stomach again. To do this, she left only her weaker arm from the knife in her shoulder before to keep him from stabbing her. He aimed for her chest but she grabbed his throat and rolled out of the way so he made a big cut down her arm instead. Daravia held his throat with one hand and while his knife glided into her skin she reached down her good arm, barely able to grab her knife. The guy started to lose the fight in him when he had lost about half of his blood and she pushed him off her as the life left his eyes. daravia got up and quickly pulled the knife from the dead guy, turning to nella who was looking around frantically. "What?" Daravia asked in a quiet voice. Nella froze for a second and thats when Daravia heard it. Loud obnoxious laughter echoing from the left. She ran to the noise with Nella following close behind her. They found Caleb and Ivy about to be killed by tree girl and some dude. Daravia almost smirked when she saw Caleb all tangled up in net. Stupid cocky dickhead. Her eyes traveled to poor little Ivy. Immediately fury spiked in her. Ivy had no chance of surviving against all them yet tree girl wanted to avenge the death of the young boy about Ivys age. She tossed her swittchbalde to Caleb so he could try to cut the net and escape. Daravia quickly pulled her bag onto her chest, kicking the guy near caleb square in the chest. he stumbled back and Daravia reached into her bag and flung a ninja star at tree girl, hitting her right in the hand holding the knife to Ivys throat. When tree girl dropped her knife to tend her hand Daravia quickly lunged for it, grabbing it and stabbing it in tree girls other arm so she would be somewhat disabled. Then Daravia felt a spear pierce her in the leg. She shook a moment before falling to the ground. Then the guy with the spear fell to the ground, stone dead. Nella stood behind him with her pink bow shaking in her hands.
Caleb cut though the ropes strategically, seesawing the blade. He had rug burns on his legs from twisting and turning, trying to escape this net of hell that he was tangeled up in. He glanced at Daravia and groaned whn he saw the teasing and taunting smirk that was played against her lips delicatley. Caleb was never going to hear the end of this, was he? He tried not to think of when they were done here, how she was going to tease him every day for the rest of his life.. or as long as he will live, which won't be long judging from what has happened, I mean, it's been an hour and they are good as dead until Daravia and Nella came.
He finally cut the net down, and he fell to the ground with a large "Oof.." when he landed on his stomach and he groaned a bit when he dd, shutting his eyes in pain. The fall knocked the wind out of him and he turned on his back, his head rolling to the side and he flickered his eyes open and saw the boy that poked him with a spear fall to his knees and then face forward. Caleb looked to the other side and saw Nella standing there, her eyes popped out of her sockets, and her face a bit green as she held her pink bow tightly in her right hands. "I.. I only did it because he was going to hurt you." She said, and then bit her lip "Did I do the right thing?"
Caleb felt the pain go away from amazement and he got up quickly, running to Nella, placing his hands on her shoulder. "Nella! That was amazing, truly amazing!" He looked at the woods, and saw Julliete quickly run away, her hand in her other hand, and he saw her glare back. "Yeah! That's right, run away tree girl! We're coming after you next!" He screamed after he, and laughed and went after Daravia and felt a sudden emotion fill him of happiness and hugged her, even though he knew she wouldn't like it. "We did it! You did it! You both saved us, wow, never thought I'd see that day coming."
The happiness quickly rushed away as he looked at the dead body and looked at Daravia, Ivy, and Nella, "How many kills has it ben so far? We got the first little boy, spear boy was Nellas kill, did you guys gt anyone else one the way?"
Julliete ran as far as she could, fighting back the groan of pain that seeped through her hand that the girl, Daravia she recalled was her name, threw a ninja star at. Who has ninja star's in this fucking battle? They must have really good weapons at Side A, and she wanted some, but how would she sneak by herself and get some? She needed multiple people, a group from Side Z, she was sure a few brave people would come up and help her.
Automatically, when she was safe and in right grounds,far away from anyones reach she screamed out "Chris!" She said helplessley, and noticed how she sounded like a maiden in trouble. She shook her head, not thinking about that. Julliete knew it was risky to give away where you were during a battle like this, but she needed someone, and Chris came to her mind.
Though Chris and her weren't excatly buddy buddy, they had helped eachother with this kind of thing before, and this was one of the times where she needed assistance.
"What happened?" Chris said, narrowing his eyes. As quickly as their physical abilities allowed, the two of then retreated to a safe location in a room underground. He closed door, making sure that it was secure but not blocked. A blockage from the outside could mean that the two of them were stuck there to starve to death. Noticing her bloodied hand dug out a strip of neatly rolled up cloth, intended for use as bandage, and toss it to her.
A run in. This must meant that Side A was advancing closer and closer to the main town. It was always dangerous to have enemies so close in the territory because that meant Side Z must relocate their injured and weak members. Plus, they could just burn down the town, causing destruction to the supplies.
Especially supplies essential for life, such as food and shelter from elements. It was true, rarely did anyone ever retreat back to their homes during a bloodbath, but this was a reference to survival in the long run. Without shelter, food, and medical supplies, Side Z could never recover from the effects left behind from the battles. Deprivation of these things could actually wipe out the town faster than the war itself!
"Who was it? Dagger boy?" Julliete didn't waste her time killing unimportant people. Unimportant people could be used as baits, which could lead her to her demise, and she knew that quite well considering the event from last bloodbath. "Was he alone?"
"What are you thinking right now?" Side Z was known for their clever strategies. A good one could lure--
Julliete leaned against the wall tightening the cloth around her wound, even though it stinged more when she put pressure on it. She knew it wuld feel better sooner or later, or at least she hoped. It was a ood thing this was her left hand, if it was her right hand the whole Team would be in trouble, for her right han was her best hand, her killing hand, and her throwing hand. She thanked him for the cloth and shut her eyes, listening to his questions, but taking minutes to respond. Her heart beat went down and she breathed in an out slowly and on command, murmuing to herself. "Stupid.."
She finally looked up and looked at Chris, who was processing everything that was happening at the moment. She knew Dagger Boy and all of hem owuld quickly get up and go furthr into their Side, which was bad news for Side Z. Each and every one of them knew that while Side Z was clever, and can kill at short distance, Side A was more physically built,almost as they were seperated some how.
"No, no. It wasn't Dagger By this time. We actually had him tied up and tangeled up in a net, we were going to kill him. We had the other girl, I'm not sure what her nme was but she as the smallest in the group, pinned down. I was just about to kill her when that girl, Daravia, threw this at me." She grabbed the ninja star from her pocket and showed it to him, her blood still stained on it. "She has more, but I got the one she aimed for my hand."
She looked at him and sighed, "I think we need to make a plan. The reason I called you is because.. what if we went over to Side A?" To this, she ignored his expression "Just wait, I'm not finished. They have amazing weapons, all we have is knives, bows & arrows, and our hands themselves. They have oher built objects, and these little ninja stars. If we go over here, we can steal a few things, most of them should be gone anyway. And while doing that, we can collect some of the weak members and bring them back here, kill all them off or something."
"IJNELFIKHBALJUHJGIUJKELNDGIBVLUKJNSJLNGFUIVNK GET YOUR FUCKING FILTHY DIRTYASS SCUMBAG HANDS OFF ME WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!!!!!" she flipped out, spazzing in his arms. She hated every form of affection and NEVER let someone touch her, much less HUG her. Then she froze for a moment. "I saved you," she repeated to herself. She didn't even think about it. She had saved the lives of the two people she planned to someday kill. How did that make any sense. She decided not to think about it because it was...weird. "You're welcome now get the fuck off me," she said, shoving Caleb away voilently. She flinched when she pushed him off of her and pulled the spear out of her leg. She rolled up the leg of her sweatpants and made a face at the gash in her leg. She pulled off her sweatshirt so she was in her black tanktop and tied the sweatshirt around her disgusting leg. Then she looked up at Caleb "Nella and I got two more guys before we came to save your ass," she said, smirking when she remembered Caleb in that net. "Nice carelessness, getting all caught up and helpless in that net," she teased. "I guess the big bad boy isn't as manly as he pretends to be since he can't even escape a little net without my help." She turned to Ivy. "So Ivy, how many do you think is left?" she asked her. Daravia clenched her fists as she forced herself to stand. The spear had really cut into her leg muscle since it was thrown hard from a fairly close distance. Blood seeped into her sweatshirt and ran down her arm from her cut before in the fight with the two guys. Her arm didn't hurt like her leg did though, and thank goodness it was the arm that already had a wounded shoulder. The left side of her was pretty beat up, but her right side was a bit dirty and bloody from her fights. Her vision blurred for a moment from blood loss but she got her balance and regained herself. She tested her weight on both legs and tried to walk. She could walk, but it was more of a limp. "Okay, what's next?" she asked them. "Splitting up obviously isn't working so I think we should stick together now," she commented.
He stopped to think, before making an input. Crossing that border was a big risk because they were not familiar with Side Z land and would have to watch for Side A's traps. It's like playing at an Away game, but this game involved putting your life on the line.
But the prize is well worth it. Seriously, who has ninja stars?! "How many do we have in on this? I know I can recruit a few more people, but I don't know how good they are," Chris informed. He knew Lucas would probably be up for it. Thing is, he had not spoken to him for quite a long time, so Chris wasn't even sure if the boy was still around. Of course, they needed more than just one other maybe-no-longer-living guy. "Don't call a meeting on this one. We'll draw too much attention."
A minute's pause interrupted the two. "Do you think they'll risk their people if we go take hostage their weak members? We're baiting them, right?" But we'll kill them anyways. It puts numbers on our side. There, Chris answered his own question. "Maybe heading out tomorrow morning is a good idea. They'll be tired if they run on no sleep." They needed to eat, too. If those Side A people are stupid enough to stay on foreign land, then it'll be so easy to get across the border. Heck, all they needed to do was to rope around the crowd! Chris knew that Side A never spread out very much; they only advance forward. Plus, Julliete was a smart girl. She'll put together this whole scheme in ten minutes or so.
"I don't think anyone else can rack kills that fast. Maybe another two or three at the most," Ivy said, brushing off the leaves and dirt and pulling herself to her feet. She coughed--that was a brutal impact...well, at least to her it was. Someone like Caleb could've probably just thrown Tree Girl. "That would make around seven down. Nella's boy must've been one of their keys because Tree Girl doesn't work with....weaklings." Weaklings wasn't the word that she was looking for. Weaklings can't fight; they're useless....
"Yeah, sticking together sounds good." It had to sound good. Without the other two, she and Caleb wouldn't be breathing. Hard to say that Caleb would've been dead... Ivy couldn't imagine that. That would break Side A's reputation. Side Z didn't know Daravia yet, but they will. Yeah, they definitely will by the end of this war. They'll both definitely be rememberd for their kill streak, but what about everyone else? Will everyone else just die anonymous? It was a scary thought. Most people didn't have anyone left. Ivy herself didn't have anyone left. It was the radiation, the bloodbath, and every kill afterward. Considering her position now, aligned with a powerful group, she should feel safe.
"What should we do? Do you guys think it's safer to stay over here? We've already made it this far and turning back would mean Side Z can advance on us. If they push us over our border, then they'll definitely take out our supplies for sure. That's what they did to Side X before we ran in and finished it up." Side X was a long time ago. In a smaller battle, Side Z had managed to take the property from Side A, balancing out the amount of land between the two. It didn't hurt Side A too much, for they captured and killed off Side B right after. Nobody held captives. They killed them all. Captives always found a way to rebel and revolt. It was never a good idea, even if one swore his loyalty to the new side. When was that loyalty ever true? Side B made that mistake with Side X.
KRL’s year end falls on the Sunday closest to September 30th in any year, and as a result, approximately every fifth year contains 53 trading weeks of operation. KRL’s fiscal year ending October 3, 2010 will contain 53 weeks of sales and related costs, and the period ending January 3, 2010 therefore contains 14 weeks of sales and related costs. System sales generated during the extra week of operation were $8.6 million and Royalty Pool sales generated during the extra week of operation were $8.1 million.
KRL’s total system sales for the 14 weeks ended January 3, 2010 were $126.9 million compared to $116.8 for the 13 weeks ended December 28, 2008, an increase of $10.1 million or 8.6%. For the 53-week period ended January 3, 2010, total system sales were $473.1 million compared to $457.4 million for the 52-week period ended December 28, 2008, an increase of $15.7 million or 3.4%. Royalty Pool sales increased by 11.4% to $117.9 million for the quarter, and by 5.0% to $454.9 million for the year. The increase in gross sales reflects the addition of net new sales to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2009, and the extra week of sales, net of a decrease in same store sales.
The Keg’s same store sales (sales of restaurants that operated during the entire 14-week period of the current year and the 13-week period of the prior year) increased by 7.3% in Canada and decreased by 2.9% in the United States. Same store sales for the year (sales of restaurants that operated during the entire 53-week period of the current year and the 52-week period of the prior year) decreased by 1.2% in Canada and by 10.6% in the United States. After deducting the additional week of sales for comparative purposes, same store sales increased by 0.1% in Canada and decreased by 9.6% in the United States for the 13-week periods, and decreased by 3.1% in Canada and by 12.3% in the United States for the 52-week periods. After translating the sales of the U.S. restaurants into their Canadian dollar equivalent, consolidated same store sales decreased by 2.5% for the comparable 13-week periods and by 3.4% for the comparable 52-week periods.
“We remain very pleased with our sales performance, particularly considering the difficult economic conditions of the past year,” said David Aisenstat, President and CEO of The Keg. “Close to ninety percent of our sales are in Canada, and that part of our business has experienced very little negative impact. In the United States we have felt more downward pressure, but are satisfied that our position relative to our competitors remains favorable. We believe that our company-wide commitment to delivering the same high levels of quality, service and value that our guests have enjoyed at The Keg for many years remains the cornerstone of our success.”
This press release may contain or refer to certain "forward looking" statements reflecting the Fund’s business, operations and financial condition. These forward looking statements are based on assumptions that management of the Fund believe to be reasonable. However, investors are cautioned that all forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expected or projected, including changes in the foodservice market, competitive developments, potential downturns in economic conditions generally and currency fluctuations. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and additional information on these and other potential factors that could affect the Fund's financial results are detailed in documents filed from time to time with the provincial securities commissions in Canada.