"The Holy Trinity" (Nature)

In the time which had passed, Erica had taught Andy and Annabelle how to fish. They still used the same river which they had crashed into a year ago. “Oh it’s a big one!” Andy struggled to keep hold of his rod. “Not a rock again is it, Andy?” Annabelle joked. Erica rushed over to help him reel it up. With all their strength, they were knocked back, as the force on the other hand ceased suddenly. Reeling the net quickly back in, Andy’s catch had escaped. He sighed out of annoyance, looking in his still-empty bucket. Annabelle however could not help but laugh at him. “Well we’ve been going for forty-five minutes now. Annabelle has…” Erica counted the amount of fish in her bucket, “Nine! How impressive! Andy on the other hand has…” She mocked him by pretending to count the non-existent fish in the empty bucket, “Wow! A grand total of zero! A distinct winner here!” Again, the two women had to laugh at him. Andy however looked annoyed still. “Cheer up Andy, you can have two of mine for dinner. No trouble for me.”

Although it seemed like a joke at the time, Annabelle had actually given Andy two fish to eat. Still sitting at the river bank, they watched as the sun set over a bridge in the distance. “Two for you as well Erica,” Annabelle handed her the bucket as Erica took her pick. “Not sure if I can get through all of these remaining fish. If anyone wants the leftovers, you’re welcome to them. Especially you Andy,” She couldn’t help but taunt him again.

As they continued to tuck into the fish and watch the epitome, Andy had to mention what the other two were thinking. “What do you reckon Gwen and Elliot are doing right now? And Vincent of course,” Annabelle shrugged. “My mum is probably worrying about me still, even now. Imagine if she knew that over the past year we’ve raided: an entire city,” she began counting on her fingers, “an entire zoo, an entire hospital, an entire warehouse, and even an airport terminal.” Upon hearing it put like that, they all felt impressed with themselves. “I bet Elliot just happens to know a safe-zone in Paris or something,” Andy jokingly referred to how Elliot knew about London. “Maybe there’s a fantastic medic there,” Erica compared a hypothetical nurse to herself. “Vincent… I’ll be honest, I doubt he’s alive right now,” Andy accepted this possibility, “Given what he did to Olivia and what he tried to do to Elliot, I would imagine justice was served. I still hope that maybe Elliot showed him mercy, or he escaped perhaps.” For the first time today, Annabelle communicated with Andy outside of a comedic manner, “I’m sorry Andy. Just have faith that maybe, just maybe, wherever Vincent is now, it’s where he deserves to be. If he deserves to be in hell, then let us hope Elliot swiftly ended his life. If he deserves to remain alive on this planet, then let us hope he was indeed granted mercy.” She rubbed his back, “Do you think we’ll ever see them again?” He had to ask this as well. “My mum always had something special planned for my nineteenth birthday for some reason. She must be absolutely gutted she’s missed it now. It could’ve happened at any point in the past year, and we don’t even know when.” The other two opened up about their ages as well. “I’m just shy of fifty now, as is your mother,” Andy confessed. They turned to Erica now, “Alright fine… I’m forty” Both of their jaws dropped, “Forty?” She looked at them sarcastically, “Oh, thanks…” Andy shook his head to defend himself, “Oh no, no! I don’t mean it like that. I mean the opposite! You look stunning for forty!” She slightly smiled at that remark, “Heck yea I am.” As Andy and Erica looked at each other, Annabelle felt slightly awkward by their interaction. “How old is Elliot do you think?” She changed the subject with the first question that came to mind. “Didn’t he say he was twenty-six?” Andy responded, “And Olivia is the same age as him to. So given that around a year has passed, they’re both twenty-seven now.” Annabelle remembered this, but Erica never knew, “I thought he was younger than that. He looked more like Annabelle’s age to me. Same with Olivia as well. Actually, now that I think about them… I mean I don’t remember their faces too well, but I can kind of see them being that age… yea actually, I suppose he was telling the truth about that.”

“Annabelle… honey,” Gwen’s voice echoed in a black void. “Mum?” Annabelle called out, but she couldn’t see herself or her mother. “There you are sweetheart, I found you!” She tried looking around, but everything was black. “It’s ok, you’re going to be just fine now. Elliot and I are here again.” She breathed out in relief, but then tensed up again. “Why can’t I see you?” Her mother hushed her, “Don’t worry. Even if it’s all your fault, I still love you dear.” She could feel her heartrate increasing, “Mum? Do you blame me? For what happened in London? Because I killed the Bandits?” Her mum laughed, “Oh honey, I don’t just blame you, I condemn you. All those innocent people, killed,” She could feel herself crying as well, “And you believe that Vincent belongs in Hell… you can’t really speak though my dear. After the things you’ve done, perhaps it should be you in the fiery inferno as well…” Annabelle’s own tears echoed out…

…Jumping up, she let out a low grunt. Feeling tears running down her eyes, she dabbed them away. Slowing down her breathing rate, she looked to her left. Erica and Andy were still in the super large tent with her. Upon noticing that they were alive and well, she laid back down; but was too scared to fall asleep again.

Back in the airfield, Elliot had followed Zach’s request. He waited for him outside the tiger cage, taking caution not to wake them up and draw attention. Before Zach had arrived, Elliot could see his silhouette approaching. “Zach. Tell me what’s going on. Please.” Elliot begged. Firstly, he looked around to make sure there was no one else nearby, “I would imagine you’ve suspected it already, and it’s true. Foxtrot is on to you.” Elliot sighed, and thought to himself ‘I knew it’. There was more however, “The speech earlier, it was a subtle attempt to deter you from vengeance. He knows that at any minute, you could turn against all the agents. He’s given permission to the soldiers to kill you if they suspect anything. It’s worse than that though, if just one of you acts out of line, the others will all be executed as well. You just have to act casual for the next week, and he might recollect his qualms. I wouldn’t count on it though…” Elliot put his hands on his hips and looked up, shaking his head, “Some form of living this is – an omnipresent threat of execution.” But Zach had a solution for him, “Listen, Elliot. I know a way to get you out of here without drawing any attention. But just you. Any more people, and we’ll be seen. I promise to get at least one other of your friends out later tonight as well.” Elliot shook his head to deny the request, “Are you mad Zach? I can’t just leave my friends here! It’s too dangerous! He was whispering rather loudly now. He was worried that one of the tigers may’ve woken up, but it turned out to just be stretching in its’ sleep.

“Ok listen, you need to be silent. If we draw even the slightest attention from anyone, Foxtrot will likely send a slaughter squadron after you. Maybe even a gun-mounted helicopter.” Elliot looked confused and curious, “What reason would he have to do that though?” Zach pulled out a map, “This is the best I can do. I’ve lived in this country for all fourteen years of my life, I know this area like the back of my hand. It’s a rough drawing, but it’s good enough. Make sure you get to the point marked as ‘X’. There’s people living underground. Find the manhole cover with the star-shaped rock ornament next to it. It’s a big giveaway for someone on the ground, yet it blends in for someone not looking for it – like the government agents.” It made sense to Elliot now, “You mean, every time you snuck out and I suspected you… You were actually trying to help us?” He nodded in conformation, “Correct! I’ve developed quite a bond with these people. They’re stocked food and water wise, but when it comes to weapons, they don’t have anything beyond knives and hatchets. Hence why they haven’t tried taking this armed and fortified place yet. Tell them I sent you, or even just say ‘Zach’ if the situation is dire. They’ll sort you out.” Elliot smiled warmly, “Thank you Zach. I guess there really are good people left in this world.” He smiled back at him, “Oh and by the way, only two of the five of them speak English. But don’t worry, they’ll sort you out language-wise as well.” Elliot sighed, “Fluent in English, Conversational in Spanish, yet I know nothing in French beyond ‘Bonjour’.” Wasting no more time, Zach guided him to the secret escape route.

The following morning, Annabelle still had not slept. The entire time she had been watching Erica and Andy, partially hoping they would wake up to comfort her. Outside, a bird was tweeting. Initially, the chirping had annoyed her, but not too long after she realised how grateful she was for that bird to be there – it was a remnant of the old days. Even birds had become rare now due to a lack of food. The beautiful sound of the chirping was interrupted however, as Andy woke up and rustled his sleeping bag obnoxiously loudly. Once he had stopped moving, the bird was no longer chirping. Presumably, the raucous had caused it to fly away. The worst part was that Andy had fallen right back asleep again, causing Annabelle to sigh in annoyance at him.

Once they were properly up, they had gotten right back to fishing. There were only a few left for breakfast that morning, therefore more were needed. “Alright Andy, let’s see a few more catches from you today,” Erica taunted him. But for Andy, it was his goal. He was determined to best Annabelle’s number of catches. He was rather unnecessarily tense. Looking over at Annabelle, he noticed how relaxed and casual she was. Interpreting this as advice, he flexed and loosened his shoulders, throwing the rod into the water. “I got one!” Annabelle called out. Andy noted how she carefully wound the rod to reel it back up, without any opposition. He took a deep breath, prepared for anything to launch at the bait on his rod.

Zach’s map was not too difficult to read. It was rather small and the directions were blatantly obvious. Yet still, he had not found the manhole cover with the star-rock next to it; in fact, he had not even come across a single manhole cover. “This is hopeless!” He went to rip the paper, but then refrained himself. Looking at it even more closely, he began to realise his mistake. Flipping it around, he noticed he had been looking at it the wrong way. “All night… So many hours… So tired,” He felt rather stupid. Up ahead, there was an engine noise – sounds which he had become familiar with now strangely. Except this engine was more ‘raw’. As the vehicle in question came in to view around the corner, Elliot looked bewildered to see a motorbike. The rider nodded at Elliot to greet him, then carried on going straight past him. He wasn’t sure what was stranger: The fact that a motorbike had just zoomed past, or the fact that the driver didn’t care there was another living soul around. As the motorbike was headed in the direction Elliot actually should’ve been going, he followed it on regardless, hoping for answers.

Gwen had called another group meeting in the morning. “Look around guys,” She sounded worried, “Me, Olivia, Tina, Zach, Pierre. Who’s missing?” Pierre raised his hand, “Reed?” Everyone looked at him completely bemused, “No, idiot. I mean, well yes, technically. But he’s never here anyway. Who else is missing Pierre? Really look hard at all of us.” He let out the words “Um” and “Ah” quite a few times, as everyone continued to look at him in a bemused way. “Oh for crying out loud. It’s Elliot!” Gwen couldn’t stand Pierre any longer. “Oh, right! Yes, so he is! Where is then?” Finally, he was caught up with the rest of the group. “That’s why I summoned you all here. I couldn’t see him in his bunker this morning, nor could I find him anywhere. None of the agents here have seen ‘Agent November’ as they refer to him either. “I know where he is,” Zach confessed, “I snuck him out of the airfield last night.” They all looked at him daringly, “Why did you do that?” He took a deep breath, “Foxtrot is on to you guys. He knows you’re working against him. I sent Elliot to another group of survivors, a friendlier group. I wanted to send at least one more of you outside, but I couldn’t reach any of your bunkers without being noticed. I’m pretty sure someone saw me reach Elliot as well.” Everyone moved their hands closer to their knives, or in Olivia’s case, her axe. “I tried telling Elliot this, maybe one of you will understand: We must act now.” Hands hovering over their melee weapons, everyone looked outside the bunker windows.

Andy was having a successful run with fishing for once. Already there were three in his bucket. For once, Erica was actually impressed with him; and not in a mocking way. “Have you been hypnotised by a professional fisherman or something?” Erica couldn’t believe how well he was doing. “Don’t break my concentration Eri’.” She looked at him strangely, “Sorry, what did you just call me?” He turned to her, and noticed her jokingly-stern look, “Sorry, I mean Erica. Now if you don’t mind, I have fishing to do.” She headed over to Annabelle, still looking at Andy, waiting for karma to take its’ toll – perhaps his rod would snap. “What’s going into him?” She asked her, but she responded with a shrug. “He’s only two away from as many as you’ve got, and we’ve only been at it for twenty minutes.” Annabelle shrugged again, “Guess he’s just doing the best he can.” Backing away, Erica looked back and forth between the both of them, she could tell that something was wrong with both of them.

-The title is a reference to Annabelle, Andy and Erica. They are a cutaway group of 3 characters - a trinity. The use of "Holy" was just a little bit of creativity on the writer's part to 'flavour' the title.