Beyond The Tribe - alternative and parallel stories by the fans

Tribal Instincts

Episode Twenty Six

Enna was running out of time. It was dark already and the power supply in the labs had failed ages ago. She ran down to Ellie and Jack, who were armed with torches, scouring the rooms one by one.
‘Hi, Enna!’ Jack called as Enna put her head around the door, ‘We’ve got some great stuff.’
‘Er.. sure.. where’s Ellie?’
‘She’s in the other labs. Isn’t it getting a bit late now, can we crash at your place until the morning?’
‘No!’ Enna shouted too quickly, she saw Jack’s confused face. ‘It’s just, I’ve got something to show you first…’ She led the way into another one of the rooms. Jack shone his torch up an down the walls to reveal a huge storage room with boxes on all sides. ‘I was just wondering if you could get some stuff from here first and I’ll, er… make dinner.’
‘I could help with dinner,’ Jack said eagerly. ‘It’s too late to start here anyway.’
Enna had to keep him there. She only needed a few minutes. She smiled sweetly at him. ‘Just ten minutes Jack? Please, do it for me.’
Jack’s heart leapt, he couldn’t refuse! She liked him, despite the age and everything, she’d given him a sign. Reasons why and questions flew out of his head. He mumbled some sort of an agreement.
‘Thanks a million, Jack; I knew I could count on you.’ She swept out of the room, grinning to herself, guys were so easy to control! One flutter of her long, curly eyelashes and they were under her spell. Enna laughed to herself on the way back up the stairs into her hall and to the bedroom. Now she was gonna have to deal with the body in the bedroom. It was hardly recognisable as her father any more, she only knew it was because of the plastic ID card with his picture still clipped to the front of his shirt. The rest was just bones. Thank god it had decayed, she thought, a bit of skin on it might have finished her off. She stepped slowly into the pitch black bedroom keeping the torch firmly planted on the floor where she was walking. She grabbed one side of the bed cover that the corpse was lying on and pulled it over the body, trying to keep the torch from flitting over the skull with remnants of hair still clinging to it and where no eyes stared from the hollow eye sockets. She threw the cover over the body and then, sliding her hands underneath she slowly rolled it up. When she tried to lift the bundle , to her horror, the joints fell apart hopelessly within in the cover. So she folded it in half and with one hand managed to open the slide window by the bed. She heaved and the body disappeared into the darkness below. It landed with a dull thud on what must have been the concrete patio, the bed covers adsorbing most of the sound. She pulled the window shut and breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Jack?’ called Ellie. ‘Have you finished yet? It’s getting really late.’
He looked at his watch. It had been half an hour since Enna had gone up. ‘Yeah, it er should be OK now.’
Ellie helped him drag some boxes of lab equipment out into the corridor. She noticed how quiet Jack was. ‘Is something up Jack?’
‘No.’ Jack looked embarrassed. But he moved quickly on towards the reception area. ‘What could be up?’ he gave his little half laugh. That made Ellie really suspicious. Up in the flat both Jack and Ellie noticed the smell - Enna had gone overboard on the air freshener.
‘What is that smell?’ Ellie said to Jack as they entered the hall.
‘Oh it’s just air freshener!’ called Enna from one of the rooms. ‘Come on through!’
They pushed open one of the doors to see Enna laying a whole load of food out on the a large table in the middle of a room beautifully lit with candles. ‘Sorry about the light,’ smiled Enna, 'this was all I could find. Come and sit down, I’ve found loads of food in the kitchen.’
They all sat around the table as Enna glanced at her watch. It was 11:00pm and her brother was coming at midnight. So she hurried them through the meal, threw them a couple of sleeping bags, and directed Jack towards her brother’s room and Ellie towards Leanne’s room.

Enna shouted good night across the hall and shut the door of her room. It was strange to be back there. She rustled through her wardrobe to see what clothes she’d left behind. Her brother had been really strict about the amount that they could take with them. She found all her smart clothes left behind. She’d only taken the tough clothes, clothes that would last, practical clothes as her brother had said. She found her old silk nightdress still under the pillow. She slipped it on and started looking through the rest of the room to see what she could take back to the Mall with her. She checked her watch again, it was 11:45 and her brother would be here any minute. She looked at her self in the mirror, it was so nice to be back in something flattering that she felt good in unlike all the borrowed stuff she’d been wearing over the last few weeks. She got out the piece of paper with the chemical formula for the antidote on it so that it would be ready to give to her brother. He wouldn’t know what to do with it, but it was just for safekeeping. Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. He’s here already? she thought. ‘Come in quickly and shut the door,’ she said, turned away from it fixing her hair in the mirror.
A slightly confused but happy Jack appeared in the mirror behind Enna.‘You look… er…. gorgeous.’
‘Jack???’ Enna spun round.
‘Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry Enna. There’s something that I really need to talk to you about.’
In the semi-darkness Enna rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for declarations of undying love, unless he could get it over and done with in five minutes…

Episode Twenty Seven

Enna tried to look serious. ‘What is it Jack?’
‘I erm….’
‘Go on,’ said Enna wondering how she should play it.
‘Enna, I er… I feel… I feel really…’He’d had this all planned out! The words just wouldn’t come into his head. This was terrible.
To his relief she said ‘Jack, I er… know how you feel about me… ‘
‘You do?’ Jack was surprised.
‘And I just want to say that I feel the same way.’
‘You do?!’ Jack was shocked.
Enna had to rush this along a bit, her brother would be here any second. ‘But we can’t do this Jack.’ She tried to sound hurt.
‘We can’t?’ Enna tried to ignore Jack’s useless ramblings, they were putting her off. Jack looking desperate said ‘Is it the age thing I mean….’
Enna cut him off, ‘It’s not that. It’s Ellie.’
‘Ellie? Oh, I don’t love Ellie, I’m not even going out with her.’
‘It’s not that, it’s that everyone thinks you two should be and soon will be. And I’d hate to stir up bad feeling with them.’ She saw the look of despair on Jack’s face so she moved closer to him and took his hand.
‘But what can I do?’
‘Just leave it a bit, make it clear to Ellie that you’re not interested, but in a nice way; let her down slowly.’ She kissed his hand. ‘In the meantime, we’ll just have to keep this quiet.’
‘But… but….’
Enna put her finger to his lips. ‘Ssshhhhh, now go.’
Jack, still in a daze, headed for the door. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ she called after him.

Enna sat on the bed and tried her hardest not to laugh; that was the funniest declaration she’d ever heard! She almost felt sorry for him! She was interrupted by the almost indistinct sound of the fire escape door in the kitchen being quietly opened. Quietly she picked up the paper at the end of her bed and moved silently out of her room and across into the kitchen. There she saw her brother. He signalled for them to go outside and he lead the way down the metal fire escape and round the corner of the building. She leant against a wall. ‘It’s good to see you…’ she smiled.
Out of the shadows emerged Shaun, her boyfriend. ‘And it’s even better to see you! Have you both missed me.’
‘Like hell,’ said her brother with an air of sarcastic impatience. ‘Now what have you got on them?’
‘OK, so I only happen to have the formula!’
The guys gaped at her. She held out the paper and they snatched the formula off her. After studying the sheet under torchlight they looked up at her. ‘What is this Enna? These letters and numbers, are they meant to mean anything to us? Is this some kind of a joke?’
‘Not at all. Just look after it for me till I get back, will you? Then I’ll tell you all about it.’
‘Tell us now.’
‘Not a chance,’ Enna laughed. ‘How stupid do you think I am? If I gave it to you, you’d take it and I’d never see you again!’
‘Come on sis, would I do a thing like that to you?’ Enna looked at him. ‘OK so I would. Come on Shaun, lets go.’
Without saying goodbye, the three turned and walked in opposite directions.

Episode Twenty Eight

Salene woke up in Enna’s room and it was a few moments before she realised where she was and why she was there. Her feelings hadn’t changed one bit, but still, she thought, it’s best to sort it out. She left the room and headed to the dinning room. She put the kettle on and sat down at one of the empty tables.
‘Sleep well?’ asked Tai-san from her side of the room.
‘No, actually, not at all.’
Tai-san, seeing that something was wrong, came and sat at the same table. ‘What is it? Can I help?’
‘Oh, Tai-san, it’s Ryan. I don’t know what to think any more.’
‘Ryan?’ Tai-san was confused, him and Salene had been getting on so well recently.
‘Yes. It’s this thing about Enna, you know?’ Tai-san nodded. ‘Well he keeps standing up for Lex and trying to protect him. I can’t see why, it’s as though he’s denying what Lex did to Enna, either that or he doesn’t think it was that serious.’
Tai-san nodded sympathetically, ‘Ryan and Lex used to be such good friends and I think Ryan still fells a strong bond and a duty towards him.’
‘I know that, but Ryan keeps saying that Lex never could have done anything like that, as though Enna’s lying. Enna’s been through too much to have this dragged up again. I think Lex was perfectly capable of it, don’t you Tai-san?’
‘Lex has been through such a disturbing time and he must be feeling so many conflicting emotions. We all know what Lex is like and I believe he was capable. Anyway I trust Enna, deep inside her I see a troubled inner self and there is something of innocence about her which penetrates her very soul. She has a good aura.’
Salene smiled, it was nice to have someone who agreed with her.
‘Still, I think you and Ryan must try to reconcile your differences, over time he will realise Lex’s true self.’
Tai-san and Salene talked for a little longer until Salene felt she really must try and patch things up with him. She hated all this bad feeling but she saw it was only because of Ryan’s naļvety. So she got up and made her way to their bedroom. She looked inside but saw the bed was made and Ryan was already gone.
She had a quick look around the mall, but the only one around was KC. ‘Hi! KC have you seen Ryan?’
‘Lost him, have you?’ he teased.
‘Look, have you seen him?’
‘He asked me where I could find Lex and I told him so I guess he’s gone there.’
Salene walked off, furious.
‘No need to thank me then!’ called KC after her.

Back at Enna’s house the three of them were waking up after a good night’s sleep. Jack was the last up and arrived to find Enna and Ellie sat around the table having a breakfast of cornflakes and mandarin oranges. His cheeks burned with embarrassment as he thought of the night before. He wasn’t sure whether he’d dreamt it, then Enna gave him a wink when Ellie went out to get her stuff.
The three of them ransacked the house, taking useful things for themselves and as gifts for others in the tribe. Enna managed to find the keys to the car and the garage in her dad’s jacket which was still hanging over the end of the bed. Jack and Ellie went down to the labs and dragged up all the things they’d found into the reception. Ellie watched Jack closely but he didn’t seem to notice, he was too preoccupied with something…

Meanwhile, Ryan was wandering down the alley way which led to the gambling den that KC had told him about. He knew that Salene would be really angry, but he had to find this out. He stepped into the dimly lit room past two bouncers on the door who looked suspiciously at him. Soon he caught sight of Lex in a corner; he was engrossed in some sort of game. As Lex caught sight of him he threw down his cards, got up and left the table.
‘Er.. hi Lex’ Ryan said as Lex came towards him.
‘Ryan!’ Lex was genuinely pleased to see him. They went over to a table at the back and sat down. ‘So what are you doing here?’
‘I came to ask you something.’
‘OK,’ Lex leant back in the chair and put his feet up on the table in a relaxed way. ‘Ask away.’
‘Lex, I want you to tell me everything that you know about Enna.’ Ryan was deadly serious.
‘I’ve told you it all before.’
‘Just tell me, Lex.’
Lex sighed and started gave the story about how he’d seen Enna outside the Mall and how she got her eye. Then about her blackmailing him and then setting him up.
‘Lex, you know when me, you and Zandra were travelling round after the virus hit, before we came to the Mall. Did you visit any gambling dens?’
‘No, there were hardly any around then,’ Lex was confused.
‘Not ever.’
‘Oh, yeah we went once together, don’t you remember? We won all that credit and then they refused to pay and we had a fight and got thrown out,’ Lex laughed.
‘And you never went back there?’ Ryan was still serious.
‘No. They wouldn’t let us, why?’
‘It’s just… it’s something Enna said about you.’
‘What? Don’t you see Ryan, it’s all lies. What did she say?’
‘That when she was a… a…’
‘Prostitute, Ryan, you can say it.’
‘Yeah, anyway, she said that you went to visit her, if you know what I mean.’
Lex laughed again. ‘Really?’ Ryan nodded. ‘Ryan, you were with me the whole time. You know that I never went to ‘see’ anyone. I was too engrossed with Zandra anyway.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Ryan murmured, still deep in thought.
‘So you believe me? This is great! But what can we do now? You have to tell Salene about this Ryan, she’ll believe you.’
‘Oh, erm…’ Ryan looked embarrassed.
‘What is it? It’s not you and Salene is it? What have you done now?’
‘It was about you, Lex.'
Ryan explained the situation too him. It wasn’t too hopeful for Lex, Enna still had a firm hold on the others in the tribe. He found out that she was back from her trip tomorrow so Ryan left with instructions to watch her every move. Lex predicted that she’d suck up to the important people big time, namely Tai-san and Bray. In the meantime Lex went back to consult with Ebony, at least he’d won one supporter!

Episode Twenty Nine

The journey back was hair raising to say the least! Ellie and Jack clung onto their seat belts as Enna swerved in and out of the debris lying all over the road. Enna had only just got her provisional license when the virus hit and it was a good year since then, but she’d been driving for years before that. When she was 12 her brother had taught her how to drive in one of his stolen cars, but she was never that good and despite the amount of fun she had, her brother always insisted on driving.
Enna swept in to the Mall’s underground car park, using the bull bars to clear away all the blockages. She brought the car to an abrupt halt by the stairs. The others had heard the car arrive and rushed downstairs to meet them. It was strange having a car around again, the only one they’d seen in a long time was the police car of the Locos.

Jack and Ellie exited the car, still shaky but glad to be back on firm ground again. Everyone was pleased to see them, especially when they saw the amount of stuff they’d got. Tai-san was overjoyed (well as overjoyed as Tai-san ever gets!) with the equipment and the gas cannisters for power. The three of them had also managed to detach some of the solar power panels from the roof to give the mall a little more electricity. The rest of the girls were delighted with the huge range of clothes and make up the girls had brought back and everyone was pleased to see some more interesting edibles added to the food stores.
“Enna was amazing!’ gushed Ellie. ‘You should have seen her, she could clear a whole room in five minutes and she found stuff that Jack and I would have glanced at without noticing.’
Bray was a little confused, he knew what a skill it was to raid houses and it took time. Enna was obviously a quick learner, or well practiced…
Ellie took armfuls of stuff back up to the Mall and Jack ran off immediately to show Dal the new tool kit and things that he’d found for him.

Jack could see that Dal was restless, he’d only been there a couple of days and already he had drawn up a complete plan of the new lab facilities with Tai-san. They immediately set down to integrating the new equipment that Jack had brought into the system. Ellie appeared hopefully in the doorway. ‘Can I help?’
‘Er… no thanks Ellie, we’ve really got nothing for you to do,’ Jack said quickly before Dal could invite her in.
Ellie looked a little put out as she turned and walked away quietly.
Dal stopped work and looked up at Jack. ‘What is it? I thought you liked her?’
‘No, not really anymore... I mean, I do like her,' said Jack flustered, ‘just not like that.’
‘But I thought she was the one.’
‘Yeah, well she’s not.’
‘You mean there’s someone else?’ he paused. ‘Enna?’
‘No!’ Jack said shaking his head then realising that Dal had said. ‘Enna,’ he repeated more firmly. ‘No! No way, I mean she’s like way older than me.’

Enna breathed a sigh of relief, it was the first free moment she’d had in ages. She was almost about to crack, the pressure of her act was really getting her down and she needed some form of release. She thought she’d spend an hour or so on the roof where she could be on her own.
She was heading for the stairs around the back of the Mall when she caught sight of KC leaning against a pillar. He called to her, ‘Hi Enna.’
‘Er.. Hi. It’s KC isn’t it?’ she smiled sweetly using the last of her energy.
KC, with Lex’s warnings still ringing in his ears, thought that’s he’d push her a bit and see how far she stretched. ‘Yeah. How was you trip?’ he tried the same sweetness right back at her. It was obvious he wasn’t being genuine.
Enna wasn’t quite sure how to take it. ‘Fine, fine,’ she murmured.
KC continued in the same tone, ‘And how are you liking life with us here at the Mall?’
‘It’s great, everyone’s so nice.’
‘Anyone in particular?’
‘Not really. I mean Salene and Tai-san are my best friends…’
‘What about Jack?’ KC didn’t really suspect anything but he’d seen the way Jack looked at her.
‘I’m sorry?’ she acted confused, not up to her usual standard. All she wanted to do was to kick the squirt out of the way and get on with some rest and relaxation on the roof.
‘How do you feel about Jack?’ KC smiled, he could see she was strained.
‘He’s nice too, very sweet,’ Enna stared him at him, her fierce eyes telling a different story to her sweet voice.
‘Nothing more?’ KC went all out on the patronizing voice.
‘What do you mean?’ Enna’s voice was loosing her sweetness and she was struggling to control the anger rising inside of her. It was her greatest enemy. ‘There’s nothing going on.’
‘I mean if there was,' continued KC, ‘Ellie wouldn’t be very happy. I’ve seen the way Jack looks at you.’
That was it, Enna cracked. She spun round and grabbed KC by the neck against the pillar, the anger squeezing her fingers tighter and tighter around his neck. ‘I said, there’s nothing going on. Understand?’ Enna smiled at him sweetly, her voice mocking him. It was far easier when she had her hands around his throat.
KC, struggling for breath, nodded.
‘Enna what are you doing?’ Chloe asked innocently from behind.
Enna panicked, dropping KC who immediately put his hand up to his throat. ‘He’s just getting what he deserves!’ she said in a light hearted way before playfully punching him in the arm and walking off. But Chloe didn’t see it as a joke as KC was coughing and spluttering, but it was so unlike Enna.

Episode Thirty

Enna opened the door to the roof and walked out into the cold morning sunshine. She paced up and down the narrow stretch of concrete trying to control the rage inside of her. She was angry at herself, that outburst at KC was unforgivable. She just hoped that the rest of the tribe found him annoying as she did.
‘Why?’ she said to herself, ‘Why am I so stupid?’ She felt the need to scream but she couldn’t be sure that the other members of the tribe wouldn’t hear.
‘I’m sorry?’ she heard a voice from behind her and turned to see Bray sitting on he parapet looking confused.
‘Oh, God, I’m sorry,’ said Enna. ‘I didn’t realise anyone was up here.’
‘I often come up here, I like it, just being on my own once in a while.’ He smiled at her, ‘I guess you feel the same?’
‘Yes,’ said Enna sincerely, it was the first genuine thing she’d done in ages. Apart from the KC thing of course.
Bray continued, ‘It’s just every now and then you need to take time out from the others.’
Enna was sad her rest had been interrupted but she saw that this really was an opportunity too good to miss for ‘bonding’. ‘Is it Amber?’
Bray gave a little laugh, ‘You know about her?’
Enna put on a comic voice. ‘I know everything! So do you miss her?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I know what it’s like Bray, to lose someone you love.’ Enna paused for a moment trying to remember whether she’d told them her brother had died in one of her sob stories. ‘I mean, I lost my brother just a few months ago to the virus and then I lost my sister. To make it worse, I don’t even know if she’s alive out there somewhere, waiting for me to come and rescue her. What happened to Amber, Bray?’ Enna knew but it was a good talking point.
‘We were researching the virus but the building we were in blew up and Amber was… she was… caught in the blaze.’
‘All for the virus.’ Bray nodded.
‘Well,’ said Enna more cheerfully, ‘It was a good way to go.’ Bray looked at her, ‘What?’ His forehead tensed.
‘From what I’ve heard about her, I think she would have liked it. To think her death will serve millions of others. The antidote, if only we had it now, my brother would still be alive and with the bill of rights thing my sister might still be with us.’ Bray couldn’t help smiling at her twisted logic.
Enna relented, ‘OK so I know that it doesn’t exactly make sense but the point is that Amber would be so proud of what we’re doing now with the antidote and everything.’
Bray and Enna talked on for a long time. They were interrupted by the door opening and Ryan coming out. On seeing Enna he was a little embarrassed and stuttered something.
‘What was that Ryan?’ Bray asked confused.
‘I was um… looking for Salene.’
‘Sorry we haven’t seen her,’ Enna replied.
Ryan muttered something else and ducked quickly out through the door.
‘What was up with him?’ Enna asked.
‘I hope he didn’t think we’re an item or anything.’
‘Oh, no, I hope it didn’t look like that. But they don’t get suspicious easily here do they?’
‘No one except L..’ he stopped himself. ‘No, no one.’

But that wasn’t the reason Ryan was embarrassed, it was just as Lex had predicted, Enna was in with everyone. Now she was going for the leader and antidote maker, Bray. He had to tell Salene.

Episodes 31-->
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