The Winter Tyrant-Chapter 25: The Price of Betrayal
Avery and Richard returned to the community as quickly as they had left. After stumbling into the scouts, they were given food, fresh water, and emergency blankets with heat packs to sustain them.
The two of them devoured the daily rations in a heartbeat; the sheer flavor was the greatest they had ever tasted in their lives. Not because the food was particularly high quality, but because it was food, and they had eaten little more than beans and rice over the course of the last week.
Neither they nor the scouts knew that Dean had witnessed their transgressions, recorded it, and was now actively plotting against them. And throughout the day they acted as if everything was normal.
All the while secretly watching the community’s preparations unfold, recorded the information on pen and paper before placing dead drops in the woods outside Paradise Falls.
But things didn’t quite sit right with Richard who sat at the table as the brightest hours of the day, which were already so dim, began to fade.
"I don’t know about this, Avery... These guys... What are they going to do to my neighbors when they finally act? I mean you saw them, right? Who is to say they even live up to their promises? Did you see a single woman among them? What if they turn on us the moment our use runs out?"
It was a real fear to Avery; she was the type of person who used people and then discarded them when she could no longer extract value from them. And she recognized those traits in others the moment she saw them manifest.
But... she also knew that there was no future for her left in Paradise Falls, or with Dean. That bridge had been burned the moment he had seen her for what she truly was.
She still didn’t know how Dean had figured it out, and had spent the better part of the last two months trying to deny that reality. Frankly speaking, she was upset with herself for not seeing the truth earlier.
Avery bit the top of her finger when reflecting on how much time she wasted clinging to Dean when she could have found someone else, someone better to take care of her during these trying times... If only she had known they were coming....
But her mind quickly switched back to the world outside of her head, and the flames into which she gazed , when Richard called out to her.
"Avery, are you even fucking listening to me? I swear to God...."
Avery looked over at Richard; whatever intensity she had been thinking about vanished, and her face instantly grew soft. Reaching over to his hand she grabbed it, providing what little warmth and comfort she could.
"It’s okay... I know it’s a risk, but it’s a risk we have to take. Besides, you’re strong and capable. I’m sure you can find a way to protect me if they go back on their promises to us!"
Richard was just about to say something when both of their attention was forced towards the door.
A loud blast forced Avery and Richard to their feet, as they saw men pour through their doorway armed with rifles and covered in winter camouflage from head to toe. These men did not look like the mismatched kits used by their contacts with the outside world. Instead, they wore uniform and tactical body armor, helmets, comms systems. All of it was integrated while they aimed down their sights at Avery and Richard.
Behind the balaclavas and the ballistic goggles, neither Avery nor Richard could parse their identities; that is, until the leader among them spoke.... They instantly recognized his voice and the man behind it.
"I’m afraid this is the end of the line... Please come with us...."
Avery’s pupils shrank to the size of needles; the warmth in her body, or what had managed to stay off the cold entirely evaporated in an instant while the strength she had preserved until now faltered.
She fell to her knees in silence, staring at the floor beneath his feet.
"Dean...."
Richard knew he couldn’t fight what was about to happen, and simply surrendered, placing his hands in the air, while Dean’s ad hoc militia stepped forward and zip-tied both his and Avery’s arms behind their backs. Leading them out of the door at the end of a barrel.
Dean and the boys led Avery and Richard into the treeline, particularly in the exact spot where they had met with the Scouts from the marauding war band the night before. Avery’s expression shifted from horror to smugness to absolute defeat the closer they got.
And there was a reason for this, she thought perhaps the Scouts would ambush Dean and the boys, but when they approached the precise coordinates where they left their dead drop. She found the scouts bound and bloodied, alive, but clearly beaten into restraint.
Richard realized it too; he was quick to call out Dean for his actions.
"So this is it, man? After everything I’ve done for you... After all the years as your friend, you’re just going to put me down like some kind of rabid stray?"
Dean said nothing, not at first. He simply nodded to the boys, who lined Avery and Richard up in a horizontal stack, forcing them to their knees, before returning to Dean’s side.
"Weapons check..."
Each boy clicked off the safety of their AK-74ms, racked the charging handle back just enough to ensure a round was properly seated, before switching the selector to semi-auto.
Dean didn’t make any grand speeches; instead he flashed a glance over to the Scouts who were forced to watch the scene unfold before them. He then returned his gaze to Avery and Richard, never raising his ballistic visor, or its opaque black lenses. His voice was as cold as the world around him.
"This is nothing personal Richard... A boundary was placed, and you violated it repeatedly. And now you conspired with our enemies. This is a matter of survival, not retribution. You have chosen your side, and we must defend ourselves...."
Avery did not break out into tears; she did not try her usual manipulations on Dean. Something inside her had truly broken the moment she realized this was it... This was the end.
"You sorry sack of shit! I met you when you were at your lowest! When your parents were dead, and you were half a step into the grave with a bottle in your hands! You had nothing without me! And after all of that, you threw me aside like some common tramp, and then left me to freeze and starve once the snow bean to fall! I hope these boys you’ve brainwashed into being your thugs eat you! You miserable, vindictive fuck!"
One of the boys, whom Dean instantly knew to be Daniel shifted his head towards Dean. They couldn’t see each other’s faces, or their eyes, but the gesture between them was enough communication. Dean nodded his head, and Daniel raised his rifle in response.
"Present arms!"
All of them, Dean included, raised their rifles and aimed down their sights squarely towards the chests of the two targets. Some of the boys’ fingers trembled; others stood there like granite.
In the end, it was Daniel who gave the orders.
"Fire!"
A burst of gunfire echoed across the neighborhood. Tight, cohesive, uniform. If it hadn’t been for the severity of the blast, one might have thought it was a single gunshot.
Avery and Richard’s bodies crumpled into the snow. But nobody dared to look at their remains. One boy instantly pulled his balaclava up and vomited; another dropped his rifle to the ground, his fingers no longer having the strength to hold it.
But Daniel simply lowered his muzzle and flipped the safety back on. Turning over to the bound scouts who watched the execution unfold. Without a shred of guilt or remorse in his voice, Daniel raised a simple question, one that forced the group out of whatever state of inner turmoil they were in.
"What do we do with them?"
