Chapter 13 - New Years Resolution

Luke Haggert woke up with two things running through his head. The first was a brain-splitting headache caused by the excessive amount of New Years Eve frivolities from the night before. The second was thing was a simple yet powerful conviction— it was time to go.

One of the last things Luke remembered from the night was being wrapped in a blanket with Annie on the cabin’s front porch, watching the distant fireworks from the town far below them. As Annie shivered from the cold, Luke shivered from an unpleasant and undeniable realization. He was back in prison. Worse still, he had dragged Annie, Dalton, Mickey and the McMurchys down with him this time.

They were locked up in the mountains, unable to go anywhere or do anything. They may have escaped the Governor and the Cobbler, but Jack Holley had stripped them of their freedom just the same. From the pounding in his head, Luke figured he must have drunk an awful lot in an attempt to rid himself of such thoughts. The morning had come however, and the thoughts remained. It was time to make things right.

Luke staggered to his feet and tripped over an unconscious Julian who lay sprawled half-naked on the cold cabin floor. Not the most dignified or inspiring way to start his quest to clear his name. Julian merely grunted and rolled over, sending an empty bottle rolling toward the front door.

Luke’s eyes followed the bottle until it bumped into Annie’s boot. Annie was leaning against the open door frame, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at him.

“The truck’s all loaded, you lazy arse,” said Annie, “we’re just waiting for you and Jule.”

Luke squinted in pain at the sunlight that poured in from behind Annie. He wished he hadn’t drunk so much. Part of him felt as though he should have some idea of what Annie was talking about, but he had no clue.

“Annie, we need to talk.” Luke pushed himself to his feet. “It’s time I made things right. It’s wrong that I got you caught up in all this.”

A bemused smile crossed Annie’s stern face. “Are you really going to give me this speech again? It was cute last night, but I don’t think I can stomach it this morning. You’re not the only one who drank too much.”

Luke was still confused. “So…”

“You told us all you were going to get us out of this mess,” mumbled Julian from behind Luke, still half-asleep on the floor. “Then you told us how you had to do it alone and how justice would prevail… It was a pretty rousing speech actually.”

Luke had no recollection of ever giving such a speech.

“Of course,” said Annie, “we told you outright that we were coming with you. You protested of course. Rather obnoxiously in fact, until Dalton pinned you down and Mickey gagged you with one of his socks.”

That explained the taste in his mouth, Luke thought. The truck’s horn started to blast. “Let’s go already!” Andreas shouted from outside.

Too hung-over to argue and too scared to go it alone, Luke gave Julian a kick in the ribs, grabbed his coat and followed Annie outside to where the rest of the gang waited.

“I didn’t happen to mention how I planned on getting us out of this mess, did I?”

“Nope,” replied Annie, “you told us you’d let us know this morning… You do have a plan, right?”

Luke frowned. There were only two ways out of this mess that he could see and neither stood a very good chance of succeeding. “Of course I have a plan.”

Chapter of Choice: What should Luke and the Pocket-change Gang do?
Cast your vote at the top of the web page!

Option A: Head back to Port Murkish and confront Jack Holley. He was the last person to be seen with the Governor’s daughter and the man responsible for setting Luke up in the first place. This would require infiltrating Jack Holley’s security and getting past the Gravehounds.

Option B: Head to the Capital, break into the Government Mansion and secure a pardon from the Prime Minister himself. With the new Safeguard Act in place, the only way a man like Luke can find justice is by the barrel of a gun pointed at the highest authority in the land.

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