Chapter 1007 Sad Truth > False Assumption
We should've been pulling up the anchors right about now but the next couple of hours became a civilized—though sometimes heated—exchange between me, Jesus, Artem, etc. Everyone else was free to say their thoughts out loud too and we leaders made sure that they were heard and not just nodded at and their ideas swept under the rug.
Obviously, almost all of Artem's group wanted to get back at the same area to exact revenge but even if Kuzma, who was for the idea, and Tatiana, who was actually against the idea, joined them to fill in Mikhail and Alexei's spots, a lot of things could go wrong if they followed the quote that told them to strike while the iron was hot.
But yeah, Artem wasn't that dumb for a suicide run and had plans of his own but what made the discussion far longer than it should've taken was Jesus telling them to compromise and work around a way so that both parties wouldn't shed as much blood.
Because the full context was that Artem and his group finally convinced the group who had Alexander working for them as a soldier—and even a captain of a small squad—to be "returned" back to us in exchange for material things.
So, Artem and his group won themselves a lot of those material possessions from the people who frequent Cuervo Heights and from the biggest game night I was a part of through betting everything on me—and them, obviously—all-in, every single fucking time.
It included a couple of vehicles, weeks worth of food and water, guns, ammo, handheld weaponry, medicine, gas—and whatever the fuck you could use or trade for in the apocalypse plus a few luxury items like sweets, tobacco, and liquor.
With that said, the deal went swimmingly well—but a little too well, as Katya mentioned and it was on their trip back that Alexander straight-up went berserk out of the fucking blue.
Nikolas stated that Alexander just started shooting from the back, and Mikhail and Alexei got clipped a few times, and they had to quickly plug the bullet holes while trying to figure out what Alexander was actually aiming for. He then stated that Alexander was sleeping at the back before the whole thing started but there weren't any particular details as to why he'd just react like that.
But even before then, the first time they discovered him, he actually recognized his comrades—despite the refusal to come back with them—which made them think he owed them his life or some sort like what happened with Ilya and Kuzma. However, it was totally different this time because not only he couldn't recognize everyone else, but he was also acting like a deranged mutt who'd just attack anything it laid its eyes on.
It could've been PTSD or something similar that triggered him to do just that but we weren't experts on the matter—making Jesus' advice to take him to a professional all the more important.
And going back to the topic with Jesus, he did know some people around those parts and he was asking for a bit of time to get to know about the other side of the story because in his words:
"I'm sorry but as much as I would hate to say this, that might be one of the glaring reasons they let him go easily. They could've been working around him because he was that useful to them but they could only take so much and they just needed to cut their losses…"
Jesus saying that struck a nerve among Artem's group not because it was just hurtful but because it also had a grain of truth that most people wouldn't want to admit or accept if it was being experienced by someone very close to them.
Even I had a few things I found hard to accept from myself—even towards my late parents—but if what Jesus was saying were to be true, there wasn't an actual need for a revenge plot for that matter but instead, a time—for lack of a better word—to cut their losses and focus on healing then moving on.
But yeah, everything's contingent on his assumption and ours.
If Jesus was actually right, it'd be best to avoid more bloodshed but if the worst thing came to be true, we should be prepared to deal with it as well—fully prepared and the other side not knowing what hit them for the shit they put Alexander through and made him do.
I'll personally hash out a plan to avenge someone I barely knew who tried to mad-dog me the first time we met but that's on the premise we take down the actual bad guys that caused him to be like that. The last thing I wanted to do was raze down a group of potential allies and sources of all kinds of resources then knowing they actually did nothing wrong.
That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and one recent example was the people we mowed down while they were blocking the road.
Granted they still posed a threat at that moment but in this case, we should be really safe than sorry. I've said it many times before—quoting a particular bat covered in barbwire-wielding dude:
"People are a resource."
And yeah, we ended our talk on a good note and said our goodbyes but to compromise a bit with Artem's group regarding their situation, I let Nikolas stay with Ilya but Jose would also stay behind. Jose did request a change of pace because things were a little rough back home so he jumped on the first chance I gave him though he would be responsible for the actions of the two.
Bogdan wanted to stay too for some reason but I wouldn't let the so-called "Demolitions Expert" be with a group that had access to explosives because I might just blink a few times and this community we were trying to bridge a connection with would just a be a huge-ass crater when we come back. It'll only take one intrusive thought for Jericho to feed his own curiosity so that's a fucking no-no.
But yeah, after everything was said and done, mostly, I just plopped to our room and jumped in head first.
'I need a fucking break… Zzzz…'
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