Rising to Fall

Chapter 2-6

While Adam and Billy draw up a list of the larger villages in the Squid's territory, Jordan goes around the army, splitting them up into ten teams of five to spread graffiti around the chosen villages. As they assemble themselves to the side of the clearing that makes up Kay's Anchor, Adam watches them, biting his nail slightly.

"It's too many," he mutters to himself. "Way too many."

It is true. The force assembled to go out to the villages is made up of 50 men, over half of the force here. Adam watches them and then shakes his head slightly.

"We'll have to have five groups, not ten," he says to Jordan, a slightly bitter tone in his voice. "We can't send out over half of our force on something like this."

"You said that we could double our numbers," Jordan reminds him.

"I might have been a bit optimistic," Adam admits.

So the group is split into half as the rest of the recruits gather up the few supplies they carted from the Capital. The broad Nicene river behind them runs shallow over the smooth stones that lie at the bottom, making it an almost ideal fording location, except for the thick woods on one side and on the other, woods that gave way to tall plains of grass, according to General Mitchell.

"I had actually never been here before until Cassandra lead us here," he had admitted. "There was just no real reason to come over."

Around an hour later, the two groups say goodbye to each other as they head in two different directions, one beginning the wade across the river that used to be an ideal fishing place before the forest grew up (hence the name 'Kay's Anchor') while the other dives into the forest, heading back into enemy territory, laden with the supplies that they absolutely need and dozens of cans of yellow spray paint.

The next month is chaos for the Squids. The exact same slogans that were sprayed all over the Capital reappear almost simultaneously in several different villagers all over the Squid's territory, all written in the same signature yellow paint: SKY ARMY LIVES, THE SQUIDS LIE and, of course, the SKY ARMY UNITE which bears the location that the recruits should run to. Each group of five recruits spend a maximum of a few days in each village before moving onto the next, trying to get through as many villages as they can before the Squids begin to increase their security.

By the time Adam's group reach their 4th village, things are becoming too dangerous. It is easy enough to get in, but Squid patrols are everywhere, walking the streets and watching the gates. On the first night in the village, Adam and his team of four get dressed into their blacks and head out to the streets, keeping their distinctive yellow cans close to their bodies. Splitting into a group of two and a group of three, they head to two different ends of the village to cover as much ground as possible.

Adam watches the street while the other two in his group start painting, writing quick words before moving on to a different part. Squid patrols pass them, marching in a neat and strict group of six, spears leaning on their shoulders. Adam swallows as he sees the sharp head flash in the light cast by the torch that the men carry. As they walk past, the three slip forward from their hiding place in the shadows, their hearts beating fast in their chests.

Adam picks a wall and, after making sure that one of the men is on guard, starts painting the same SKY ARMY UNITE that he has written in every single village so far. He barely finished underlining before a shout comes from his right. His head swings in that direction and he sees a Squid patrol running towards them, readying their spears to throw.

"Book it!" Adam orders in a half-whisper, half-yell. The three men instantly start running, their cans clanging metallically with every step that they take. The sleepy village stirs as the yells and warnings of the Squid patrols wake up the residents and alert the other patrols of the intruders. Adam grits his teeth together in frustration as he hears the shouts of more patrols.

"Dump the cans," he says to the two men on either side of him. "Split up, get out of the village, get the other two if you see them. Run to where we were this morning."

They each drop their cans and run off down three different streets. Adam dives down the dirty road, exchanging stealth for speed as he tries to put as much distance as he can between him and the patrol. He slides to a stop, the gravel crunching under his feet as he hears another patrol coming from the other side of the street, pinning him between them and the one behind him. There are no streets around him, only the dark shadows cast by the awnings of the neighbouring houses. He dives into the shadows and presses himself against the wall, trying to fade into them.

He sees the shadows of the two Squid patrols as they meet and he holds his breath as they pause, looking around for him. At any moment, they can turn and find him, crouching in the shadows, his heart pumping wildly.

"Come on, he probably went down a side street," one of the men orders and the two groups swiftly march off.

Adam breathes a sigh of relief and then slips out of the gap, heading in the opposite direction to the patrols. He runs down streets, being as silent as he can. He sees the small village wall up ahead and, after checking that the coast is clear, runs to it. The wall is only a few metres tall and a metre wide, with sturdy beams going across it, made to keep wild animals out than people. Adam scales up the wall with ease and drops down the other side, instantly sprinting away, trusting the darkness of the night to cover him.

Miraculously, all five men managed to get out of the village safely and met together in a rocky plain area about half a day's walk from the village. They have no spray cans now, having left them behind in the village.

"We've done as much as we can," Adam says to the group. "It's too dangerous to keep painting with the Squids on guard. It's time to head back to Kay's Anchor."

Throughout all of this, the widely scattered recruits slowly begin to trickle into Kay's Anchor from their hiding places all over the Squid's territory. The Benjas bring them across the Nicene river and to their base in groups of around 10. When Adam and his group get there, almost a full month since they had left, there is a group of 7 getting ready to set off on the trip. The five join them and the group of 12 plus a few Benja warriors cross the Nicene River.

On the other side of the river, Adam glances back at the forest, some strange feeling tugging at his chest. For the first time in his life, he is out of the territory he swore to protect, heading to an area he had no knowledge of, with people who he's not entirely sure he trusts. 

I feel like this is a really crappy chapter, but I have no idea how to make it better, so sorry.