The (Not-So) Silent War

04:00

Bright and early. The egg timer's shrill ringing is just a formality at this point: your adamantine discipline has overtaken its job to wake you up. Supplanted it. Taken power. You smile to yourself with satisfaction. That was only step one. There's still so much to come, now that the path has been opened for you with the red carpet rolled out and everything. Just as you deserve.

06:30

The pots and pans lie beside you, your hands still vibrating from the reverberations of repeated strikes. At least, so you think. Your eyes catch a dent in the bottom of one of them, probably from an unlucky misalignment as you were banging the utensils together. Oh well. You peer around at everyone who deigned to show up, and are pleased to find most people have. Even Clark, which is… surprising. No sign of Chris, however. Just as planned.

10:00

It's taken some time, but the chitter-chatter has subsided enough for all eyes to be on you. Just as they should be. You spring right into action, assigning this to that person and that to this person. Gathering them all up, placing your pieces on the board, optimising and shuffling for the perfect combination of people for each job.

This is what leadership is. No faffing around. No petty arguments from a time long past, no paralysing fear. Just efficiency and competence.

Just Dr. Kathleen Chambers.

Seeing the new glimmer of respect in people's eyes as your speech goes on is downright addicting. The vibrations in your hands grow even stronger, adrenaline coursing through your arteries as you can taste the power you've been given. Soon, off they go to do your bidding, as you have commanded them to do. You suppress a smirk… just barely. Your hands buzz. Not even Clark can ruin your stride right now. Only you and Jacob are left in the classroom as you prepare to draw up a plan of evacuation, since everyone else is busy fortifying the Bastion and getting to whatever other tasks you gave them. Only you two… until Naomi comes by. She looks skittish, eyes darting side to side like a dog surrounded by wolves. Your eyes gleam hungrily as she offers to help… not entirely willingly, it seems, but you'll take it. She can prove useful.

11:42

You're midway through drafting up the initial extraction plans. So far, you've got a couple on the table. Firstly, moving up north towards the mountains, as posited by Jacob. Natural defences galore, sure, but it's a very under-scouted area with few verifiable resources that you know of so far… and who knows what dangers hide there. Secondly, move south back into the city, as posited by Naomi. She argues, with her shrill and shaky voice, that losing the documents pertaining to the Contagion has rendered the Bastion impotent, and that it needs to fall back on available stores of information within the city proper. While it does have a wealth of resources, both staple and advanced, raiders and zombies galore make it a difficult prospect for migration. They're…. certainly ideas. Bad ones. Flimsy. Surely someone, especially you, can come up with something better.

Suddenly, you hear the heavy footfalls of military boots. You look up to see Chris, his wrinkles deeper than you've ever seen them, and he looks livid. Shit. This wasn't part of the plan. It's too early.

'What the hell do you think you're doing, Kathleen?!' he shouts, picking up the papers and tossing them to the side. 'Evacuation plans?! With these two? You told me of no such plans! Who gave you the authority, the right, to decide the future of the Bastion with an outsider and her?'

You can't help but freeze. Your jaw tightens as your eyes dart around, much like Naomi's were doing. In your peripheral vision, you think you see Clark slinking away back to the tents. Siobhan appears out of nowhere at your defence, but you can't hear what she's saying. Neither can Chris, or at least he doesn't care. Naomi also pipes up but gets immediately shot down with vitriol that seems undue, even to you. You can only catch one phrase through the ringing of your ears.

'You forfeited your right to lead when you abandoned the people of the Bastion, Naomi. So shut up.'

That snaps you right back to reality. That possibility, what happened to Naomi. It cannot happen to you. It must not.

Enough fucking sucking up. You're Dr. Kathleen Chambers.

You bow to nobody. People bow to you.

'Chris, you're being seriously unreasonable. First of all, what right do you have to treat Jacob as an outsider? Were we not all outsiders when we first came? Do they not have the right, same as anyone, to help protect their home? And, sorry, but second of all, this is a very busy time period and I don't have the time to constantly keep you up to date! I was going to come and report after we had made proper headway, but you saw fit to come stomping in here like you have all the power in the world. You gave me a job to do, so let me do it.'

You make sure to project as much as you can. It works: heads are turned, ears are listening as people watch the commotion, murmuring to themselves. Naomi looks awestruck, and not in the good way. Chris is downright stunned. Is that a hint of fear in his eyes?

Good.

'Let me do my fucking job and lead, Chris.'

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