Red Skies, Red Hearts

[randomness]

(Continued from This Ain't No Make Believe)

After the first thirty minutes or so, Grace had given up all hope of finding the Jacquilyn. Besides, what was she supposed to do when she met her? Confront her with a pistol? That would only have led to her being killed.

She had tried going back to the clearing, Leona and Matt were friendly after all, but when she did find it, two hours of blundering through the woods later, it had been empty, only trampled grass telling her that people had been there before.

She was scared. She was alone again and she had no idea what to do now. Should she stay here and camp for the night? Or keep moving and look for shelter? Should she continue searching for Jaq? Could she? Wracked with indecision, it had taken Grace a while to compose herself. Now there wasn't anyone to help her make the right choice. There wasn't going to be someone to help when she screwed up. She had to count on herself.

The map had ended up useless, after all, what use was a map when you had no idea where you were? She had ended up wandering, hoping to stumble upon something, someone. Somehow, she managed to reach the town, but the empty streets and abandoned cars had unnerved her and she continued on.

At one point, she had heard a gunshot far in the distance, from then on, she began holding the pistol in her hand. Just for safety, she had told herself, but she couldn't entirely believe her own words.

In the end, she stopped at the docks. The ocean was tinged slightly green, algae and barnacles coating the surfaces closest to the water. It had been reminiscent of home, the constant sea breeze bringing the smell of brine towards the shore.

Grace had looked around a bit, hoping to find a boat, or some method of escape. In the end though, the search was futile and whatever materials there were looked like they were on the verge of breaking apart.

The announcements had ended an hour ago. She had managed to fall asleep before them, a troubled sleep in a small room that she assumed was some office. She was on the edge of the docks now, looking out at the ocean, wondering what she should do. She looked behind her at the island. It didn't look very small, but she knew that it would still be difficult for them to be found. Wouldn't it be nice though, to think that there was someone on the way to save them? But wishful thinking wouldn't get her anywhere. Of that much she was sure.

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

((Gavin Hunter continues his search from That's Crate!))

In retrospect, the waterfront had probably been the best place to start searching all along. The storage yard had had it's prospects, but the idea of searching amid the maze of containers for something he wasn't sure would even be located there hadn't been very appealing to Gavin even before he had almost stumbled into a potential lynching. The pickings provided by the docks might be sparser, but they were also safer and easier to find.

From a vantage point midway between the storage yard and the docks, Gavin could clearly make out the rows of salt-streaked bollards that lined the waterfront. Some still had ancient coils of rope knotted around their bases, the thick synthetic fibres having weathered the years of neglect with little more than a bleaching effect from the constant exposure to sunlight. Further down the docks he could see intact fenders hanging off the sides, secured in place by yet more lengths of rope.

The old ropes and bollards weren't the only things about the docks that caught Gavin's attention. There was also a girl standing there, apparently staring out to sea. Her drab clothing blended in against the equally drab colour palette of her surroundings, and the only reason Gavin noticed her at all was due to the white blouse which poked out under her black cardigan.

Gavin thought carefully before moving any closer. It was doubtful that the girl could have seen him even if she had turned around; he was still far enough away to be missed by anybody but an exceptionally keen-eyed or attentive observer. It was still possible to slip away unnoticed if he really wanted to avoid a potential confrontation.

But to do so would be to forfeit the very prize he had came here to claim. Gavin had avoided entering the storage yard because it had been a volatile atmosphere and interacting with it would've been a pointless waste of his time, and dangerous to boot. Yet here there seemed to be no danger, there was just one girl staring out to sea with nobody else in sight.

With a heavy sigh, Gavin stepped forward onto the waterfront. Come what may, he couldn't afford to pass up this windfall of potential resources. Treating everybody like a potential enemy might help keep him alive longer, but it wasn't a particularly productive style of thinking. He made no attempt to hide his approach, keeping his lead pipe balanced jauntily on one shoulder with his right hand while his left swung loose at his waist. He knew he still looked rather imposing, but there was nothing that could be done about that.

Instead of marching straight towards the girl standing at the end of the docks, Gavin instead halted just before stepping onto them and whistled softly, the low sound calculated to draw the girl's attention without startling her. Then he just waited for her to notice him, letting her make the next move.

[randomness]

The sound was almost lost in the midst of the crashing waves, but somehow, Grace managed to hear it, the soft whistling much akin to wind flowing through a pipe.

She turned around, taking a moment to realize that the source of the sound was a person. At that, she fumbled, struggling to pull her pistol out of her bag, finally managing the bring the weapon to face him.

The boy was tall, he must have been over six feet,  and his broad shoulders made him look exceptionally  intimidating to Grace. But that wasn't his most distinctive feature. He was wearing a leather jacket that came down to his knees. That made him instantly identifiable.

There was no way for her to run. She'd have to get past him first. Jumping into the ocean could get her killed. Especially since his weapon was still hidden.  She trained the pistol on him, ensuring that the iron sights kept him in the center.

"Y-You're Gavin, right? Gavin Hunter?" Crap. She had stuttered. There went every bit of authority she had in the situation. She took a step forward, ready to run if need be. All she had to do was get past him and into the maze that was the shipping containers. Once she got there, she would be safe. Hopefully.

"What's your weapon? And...Um... What are you doing here?"

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

Oh. Shit.

There were two main ways to respond to a loaded firearm being pointed in your general direction; abject panic or professional panic. After a few seconds of loudly soiling itself in abject panic, Gavin's subconscious regained enough sense to decide that professional panic was probably the more productive of the two mental states to adopt.

There was no cover out on the dock, so Gavin remained absolutely still as he stared at Grace, trying to avoid looking at the M1911 she had trained at him. He thought her hands were shaking, which was a bad thing. One slip of her finger and he would be lying on his back with eyes watering and a large crater in his chest where his heart would normally be located.

Praying to whatever god felt like listening at the moment, Gavin took a deep breath and lightly waggled the end of the lead pipe on his shoulder to draw attention to it.

"This is all I've got, this and a cigarette lighter in my pocket." He kept his voice as calm and level as he could manage under the circumstances, maintaining eye-contact with the girl as he spoke.

"I'm here to look for supplies. I'm all alone, and I'd honestly prefer it if you didn't point a gun at me. I'm not here to try and harm you, or I wouldn't have announced my presence before stepping onto this dock. I don't think you're going to shoot me, or else you'd have done it already, but that's no reason to court danger by keeping it trained on me without reason. Please, put it down."

He used the same tone of voice that a police negotiator would use during a stalled bank heist. It was respectful, yet authoritative, the kind of voice designed to reassure a dangerous, scared person uncertain if they should resort to violence or not. It took a deal of effort to maintain throughout the whole speech, but concentrating on it helped to take Gavin's mind away from the reality of the cold steel barrel aimed directly at his chest.

[randomness]

"Oh." Grace sighed in relief. A little part of her mind told her that he could have been lying, trying to take down her guard but she  didn't really care. Instead, she siimply trusted him and lowered her weapon.

She stood there for a second, unsure of what to do. After all, she just pointed a pistol at him, not exactly the best way to start off. At the very least she should apologise gor the whole fiasco.

"Um. Sorry 'bout that. Guess I kinda panicked. I'm really sorry. If you're looking for supplies, well,this isn't exactly the best place. Nothing particularly useful if you ask me. Try your luck if you want, you might actually find something."

Of course the terrorists had probably taken everything of use from here. Sure, there was some rope, and the odd loose plank but they seemed useless in her mind, or at least not worh the effort of getting them out. She decided to wait and ser what Gavin would do. Perhaps find some unorthodox use for something. After all, he probably had a trick or two hidden up that jacket of his.

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

Gavin would never cease to be baffled by how casually people took the entrance of a firearm into a situation. Far from the tense interrogation at pistol-point he had anticipated, Grace had been quite happy to lower her pistol and carry on as if it were nothing more than a mild hiccup in the conversation. It was a disconcerting sequence of actions, to say the least.

Now that Grace was no longer pointing the gun at him, Gavin let out the breath he had been subconsciously holding in all this time. His shoulders slumped forward, his mind no longer capable of restraining the visible signs of relief at the situation being so easily diffused.

"It's alright." He lied. "Just please don't do that again, not even with the safety on. It's most disconcerting, to say the least."

He coughed awkwardly, unwilling to take his eyes off Grace. He knew that had she wanted to shoot him, she could have done so a moment ago. Yet all his training told him not to let his guard down, no matter how much the situation called for a more flexible style of thinking.

"Now you know why I'm here, might I ask why you're here?" Gavin inquired in as tactful a tone as he could muster; still keeping an eye on the loaded gun Grace was now holding loosely at her side.

[randomness]

Listening to Gavin berate her wasn't at all what Grace had expected. She knew not to point a weapon at someone. Her father had told her that long ago, to treat a weapon as if it was ready to fire at any second. But she had panicked. What more was there to say? People were dying on this island and here she was getting a lecture on gun safety.

"Don't worry. I won't." she replied, pouting slightly. Gavin was still eyeing her carefully and she was rather aware that the stare was aimed not at her but the object in her hand. She wasn't sure what to do with it. She wanted to put it away but she didn't want to have to unceremoniously stuff it back into her bag as if she hadn't embarrassed herself enough by taking the pistol out in the first place.

She almost started another apology but she stopped herself. Why was her first instinct to say sorry over and over again? She was sure some people found that sort of thing irritating. In any case it wasn't going to help her out here.

"If you want to know what I'm doing here, well, I kinda have no idea myself. Sorta just wandered about and found myself out here. I ended up just looking at the ocean, that is, at least I was, up until you appeared. I've tried looking about but I couldn't find anyone. You're the first person I've seen since yesterday."

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

Now that he was sure Grace wasn't about to bring her gun back up to the ready position and shoot him, Gavin let himself relax a little. He was still somewhat tense, but by now he was able to supress the instinct to keep his gaze fastened onto Grace's right hand in case it twitched towards him again.

"Were you looking for somebody in particular?" He asked politely, seeking to draw the conversation away from anything relating to firearms for the moment. As he searched for potential topics, he suddenly remembered Megan.

"Did you by any chance happen to come across a girl called Megan Emerson while you were travelling yesterday?" He added hastily. "She's my... girlfriend. Well, it's complicated. I've got to find her, she's... important to me. I'm sure you can understand."

The words came out hesitantly. They sounded wrong to Gavin somehow. But he doubted that Grace was interested in him describing his quasi-romantic, potentially one-sided relationships in detail. It was best not to give details unless they were asked for.

[randomness]

"Emerson? Haven't seen her about. Wasn't part of the announcements either, was she?" Grace could see how much she mattered to him. Grace thought back to yesterday's confrontation. It was possible that he was faking it, but the face Gavin was making didn't suit what she knew about him, and his uncertainty here didn't match his reputation at all.

"You asked if I'm looking for anyone right? I was actually looking for a Jacquilyn, she's with a guy called Joachim. She conned me, wait no, she conned Matt and me, and then ran away with a gun. I tried to follow her, but you can see how well that went. God, I wouldn't even know what I'd do if I found her. Like a dog chasing a car, really. I really need to think ahead more, don't I?" Despite everything, Grace laughed a little.

If she kept this up, she was going to find herself dead. Gavin probably knew enough to think that she was an idiot. And given what she had done, who would blame him? In fact, at the moment, she wasn't even sure herself that she wasn't one.

"Anyway, if you want to find your girlfriend, I don't mind helping you out. I mean, I haven't got a clue what I want to do myself. Might as well help someone else out, right?"

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

There was something positively refreshing about listening to Grace talk about her time on the island. She still seemed able to trust people without constantly looking for an ulterior motive like Grey or Ruby.

When Grace made her offer to join up with him, Gavin didn't reply immediately. He had been thinking of asking much the same thing, and had fully expected the offer to be politely rejected. But the idea that she wanted to join him had come as a complete surprise. Cassidy had wanted to join him, but she had bailed after only an hour and rushed off to god-knows-where. Could he really risk that happening all over again?

He decided to analyze the situation from a different perspective. Cassidy had come along with him because it was obvious she disliked Andi and distrusted Grey. He hadn't been the optimal choice, merely the best of limited options. Grace on the other hand seemed to be making her offer in a spirit of genuine cooperation. She could go it alone with the gun she possessed, but was choosing to take the risk of proposing an alliance anyway.

"I think... that I'd be delighted to have you come along with me." He said slowly, a genuine smile spreading across his lips as he spoke the words. He glanced from Grace's gun hand to her daypack, noting how much lighter it looked when compared to the bulging one he'd left back in town. Pistol magazines weren't exactly bulky even in large numbers, and there looked to be plenty of room left in the thing. That would do nicely.

"I was at the shopping centre yesterday. There were plenty of supplies and food left there, but since I was alone I couldn't really gather much. If you wouldn't mind contributing your daypack, we could gather a good deal more together. I've got a stash in town as well, so we won't have to lug things very far. Sound like a decent plan?"

[randomness]

"That sounds great." Grace returned Gavin's smile. Gavin had some idea of what he was doing, and seemed to have a plan.

"Trawling the mall and searching for supplies sounds more like zombie apocalypse material, but I guess this is sort of the apocalypse for us anyway. Just that instead of zombies there are-" She wasn't even going to finish that thought in her head and she stopped there, leaving the sentence hanging in midair.

"So, you've just been spending your time collecting supplies?" Grace changed the subject, not wanting to think more about what her other classmates were doing on this island. "Sounds much more productive than what I did. Gathering food would be really nice. The rations they gave us, they taste like crap."

"So you wanna get going, or do you have something you wanna do here?"

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

"Yes I did, actually." Gavin had actually almost forgotten why he had originally come to the docks, and it was only by thinking hard for several seconds that he remembered clearly. He had come for rope. Rope that could be used

"Please, wait here a few moments." He instructed Grace politely, turning away from her and walking across the jetty to one of the fenders that hung from it, edges trailing in the calm waters. It was large and obnoxiously heavy, but with some effort he managed to haul the damned thing out of the water and lay it on the wooden planking beside him. The knot was stiff after years of being exposed to salty seawater, but after much coaxing and prying, Gavin managed to work it loose.

He worked quickly, uncoiling the stiff rope and wrapping it around his torso underneath his trenchcoat. Once his torso was covered, he looped the rest of the rope into a harness about his shoulders and tied a loose knot under his right arm. Compared to the daypack he had lugged around yesterday, the rope was a small burden to bear. In addition, the tough synthetic fibres would provide good protection when combined with the thick leather of his trenchcoat. Poor man's kevlar, so the speak.

Standing back up, Gavin turned his attention back to Grace and gave her another smile. He was feeling upbeat again, another tool added to his slowly-but-surely expanding arsenal. He wasn't quite ready to tell her about the letter tucked in his pocket, but if things continued the way they were going, he anticipated Grace to be a valuable ally.

"Well, that's it." He said. "If you'd like to grab some rope yourself, the more the better, but I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

[randomness]

She pondered getting a rope too , but agreed with her initial opinion after watching him pick apart the ancient knot. Too much effort for too little gain. Besides, she didn't quite want to touch the rope at all. Gavin probably had more than enough for anything short of actually constucting something. And as far as she could tell, he wasn't planning on building a boat.

"I'm fine without any, " she said, she took a step towards the maze of shipping containers. "Let's go. You know where we're going next, right? Lead the way." Grace didn't seem to understand the meaning of her own sentence though, and without so much as a look behind her, she was already on her way out of the docks.

((Grace Faraday continued elsewhere.))

[Ghost Of Ravenstar†]

There was little else to be gained by sticking around in the shipping yard, so Gavin was quick to follow Grace when she began to make her way out of the area. Although the docks themselves hadn't yielded any great material rewards, Grace and her M1911 were probably the best assets to his cause that he had so-far managed to recruit. Plus, it was always good to have a partner he didn't feel the need to constantly watch out the corner of his eye. All's well that ends well.

With his business in the area concluded, it was time to start the long, annoying walk back to the shopping centre. Joy. Still, at least this time he would have some pleasant company to help wile away the trip with. Day 2 of Gavin Hunter's stay on the island was well underway, and all things considered, it hadn't been that bad of a time thus far. It was just a matter of staying productive.

((The quintessential wanderings of Gavin Hunter continue in The Red Shoes.))