Chapter 02: Regret
July 28th, 2007
The weight of their scrutiny sickened Brandee and she dropped her gaze.
"I don't understand." Jack said.
"Don't you see it? Look at her face. Jesus, Jack, I think you need to get your eyes checked. First the warning shot and now this…"
"Shut up, I see it!" He brought his face close to hers and grabbed her chin. His leather clad fingers were warm against her cold cheek as he tilted her face back and forth before letting her go. "Her eyes seem kind of…soft, I guess, but other than that she looks exactly like that Taylor bitch." He said the last part while nodding toward the woman lying dead in the rain-damp grass beyond.
Brandee's eyes snapped back up when the gunman Jack said "Taylor." That was her last name. Was it the woman's last name as well? Or her first? A shiver racked Brandee and it had nothing to do with the cold.
"Maybe she's her twin?" continued Jack.
"Oh, really. That's one fucking big coincidence that her twin would be out here wandering the woods at the exact time Taylor was making a break for it, don't you think?"
"I guess, but then—"
"It doesn't matter. She could have come from another world for all I care."
Brandee stiffened in surprise and his hand tightened on her bruised flesh.
Ben continued, his teeth flashing whitely as he smiled, "Don't you see what this means? God has smiled on us, man. He put her right in our laps."
Understanding seemed to dawn on Jack as he said, "We can go through with our original plan?"
"Exactly. We ransom her back to her pirate crew. If we play it right—get her some new clothes and do something with her hair—they'll believe she's their leader long enough for us to get the hell out of the country. Brazil should be quite nice this time of year."
In an attempt to stop her fidgeting, since Ben painfully tightened his hold on her each time she moved, she grabbed her right wrist in a grip so tight she could feel the tendons leap and twitch beneath the palm of her left hand.
"I like it." Jack turned and walked over to the dead body. "And we can still turn this"—he nudged the corpse with his foot—"into Kimbrough as proof that we fulfilled the assassination contract." He looked up, the moon casting his face in its cold light. "We'll make double the money we had planned on."
Ben barked in hard laughter that set Brandee's teeth on edge. "Brilliant, man. I knew there was a reason I kept you around." He paused, his brows bunching in thought. "It's dangerous—Kimbrough will kill us if he finds out we double-crossed him—but if this works we're not going to have to do any more jobs for a long time."
19 Responses to “Chapter 02: Regret”
July 28th, 2007 at 9:16 am
This just totally keeps me wondering… BUt then again, that will have been the plan all along, right?
The pictures are wonderfull, I can't wait for the next installment!
July 28th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I love that Alec has my phone 😉 Fantastic chapter as always and I will be sitting on pins and needles until the next chapter is up! Beautiful forest by the way.
July 28th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Yay! I'm so glad this chapter was released quickly but now I want to know what happens next. 😀 It must've taken you hours upon hours to play with all the animations to get the right ones to set up the shots as you have- they were effective and convincing. Great job.
And I thought that was Nate! I recognized his cheeks of all things. He looks great in this and he looks completely different and appropriate for this role- not at all like the sweet Nate in AinD. How fun to see him in my favorite sims story!
July 28th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Alec! Alec! Alec! Alec! Yaaaaaaay! 😀
I've missed him since the last time I saw a new shiny piccie of him – but phwoar, it was worth the wait. Even if you can't really see his face – hint hint. When I saw the chapter was called "Regret" I thought that maybe…just maybe…he might be in it. Then my heart sank when I flicked back a bit because I'd remembered one of your dolls had Regret in his name. But it is Alec! Huzzah!
Ahem…enough about Alec (I never thought I'd type that, lol). The forest is gorgeous, and I loved the lighting. Poor Brandee – she must be scared witless! I wonder what will happen next?
July 29th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Wowowo, Ben is Nate? *flicks back a few pages to look at Ben's face features* Oh, yes, there he is, I would have never guessed. No wonder I find him cute
Great chapter, I was wondering if veil-Brandy was the girl from the prologue or it is was yet another Brandy. I really want to now what's coming next. Your story's plot is getting thicker by the second. Oh, and outer colonies? *does the sci-fi geek dance*
Your use of animation really feats the action. Your forest set is gorgeous (and forest set are hard to make convincing). I love the framing of the first pic on page 2, with a worried Brandy on the foreground. And I think this is enough rambling for one comment 😉 Good luck on making chapter 03
July 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Poor Brandee, she really should have made a run for the veil 🙁 I love the veil by the way! I have to confess that I didn't make the connection between the chapter's title and Alec at first though *ooops!* Can't wait for Chapter 3 and finding out what the possible rescue plan involves – and who's going to be involved *coughTahlvincough* 😉
July 30th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Brilliant chapter. Poor Brandee. If she wasn't rooted to the spot I think she would have made it, but where's the fun in a smooth getaway? 😉 Can't wait to see what you cook up next.
July 31st, 2007 at 4:35 am
Hi. Great chapter. ok so now both Brandees are in trouble. I can't wait to see how Brandee is rescued.
Keep Simming!
See ya.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Totally love this chapter. Finally something to look forward too. So hard finding great stories on the internet that obeys the English grammar.
August 4th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
WOW, awesome!
I have to admit I am a tad confused but your writing skills and pictures are soo worth all of it!…amazing work…
August 9th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Fantastic story line so far! :O
Amazing pictures as well.
I just started my own blog not to long ago, and I put your site on my blogroll if that's alright. ^_^
Keep up the good work.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Omg… totally hooked… when's the next post *grin*. It's not looking that good for Brandee, might be a little awkward to try and pretend she's the leader of a crew. But at least help is on the way.
Btw… I find the gun-toting guy totally sexy too. Something is wrong with me as well 🙂
August 20th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
OMG! Alec's phone looks exactly like mine. And by that, I mean that we have the exact same wallpaper. Ain't that a coinky dink? We ARE meant for each other. Haha. I loved this update, and I finally got to read it quickly without having to wait for pictures to load. Now I can look forward to updates!
February 6th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Brilliant update. Action packed, pumped with a nice balance of fear and mystery. You ended on a cliffhanger that has me chomping at the bit to see what happens next.
And a nice twist. I am beginning to suspect Brandee from the Veil is from a different world to Brandee the Pirate Queen.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
wow, i mean, it's like you take story telling with sims to a whole new level. everytime i finish a chapter, im left asking, how did she do this? how did she do that?
I have to say, im in love with brandee. her expressions just tickle me to death! i assume either you use a face overlay, either that or Brandee is just a really animated sim 😀
would you mind telling me what you use to take screenshots? i use Fraps, but I feel like your screens are much more vivid!
anyhoot, on to the next chapter!!
September 26th, 2009 at 9:15 am
September 28th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
haha thanks for letting me know. you do a great job with your screenshots!!
December 13th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Fantastic storyline, and wonderful pictures. I'm starting to get somewhat inspired, I've just started doing a story of my own, I have to admit, it's a lot of work. It takes me a while to get the right picture of the sim/s that I want. And keep up the good work. ^^