Chapter 02: Regret
July 28th, 2007
They exchanged wolfish grins.
"Grab her, man," said Ben, nodding toward the dead woman. "Let's get this thing started."
"Wonderful," said Jack. "Why am I the one that has to get all bloody?"
"I'll buy you new clothes. Just get her."
"Fine," muttered Jack in a put-upon voice. Further utterances that Brandee couldn't hear continued as he walked around the body and slid his gun into a holster hidden beneath his duster. Then he knelt down and started to heft the flopping dead weight of the corpse into his arms.
"Come on, gorgeous," Ben said as he started off for the forest's edge, his grip on her arm urging her along before him.
Or at least that's what he tried to do. But Brandee locked her knees and dug her heels into the soft ground. "No," she said, her voice thready and quivering. Then she stood there with her mouth hanging open unable to believe the word had come from her mouth. Was she nuts?
Ben seemed to be asking himself the same thing as he rounded on her, incredulous lines etched into his face. His eyes shone hard and cold in the light of the moon. "What did you say?"
"Um…" For an instant she considered pretending confusion in hopes that he might think that he had been hearing things, but then her shaking voice betrayed her again. "…N-no?" God, shut up! she told herself.
"That's what I thought you said. Listen, lady," he said, his large hands coming down hard on her shoulders, "We can do this one of two ways: the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice." She heard a muffled thump as something heavy hit the ground behind her and she noticed Ben's gaze stray over her shoulder. The soft swoosh of grass blades behind her warned of the other man's approach.
Brandee twisted out from under Ben's grasp and spun around to find Jack blocking her way. The body of the dead woman lay off to the side. A cold breeze kicked up in the glade, cutting through Brandee's thin shirt and blowing a lock of Jack's midnight hair across his forehead. With an unconscious flick of his finger, he hooked the errant strands behind his ear then slipped his hand into his jacket pulling out his gun.
Gasping, Brandee stepped back only to stumble into to unyielding length of Ben's body. His breath was hot against her ear even as his whisper took on the chill of the autumn night, "That's the hard way."
Jack brandished his gun and shook his head in warning. Her stomach curdled with fear.
"But if you kill me then you won't get your ransom," said Brandee, her voice still unsteady. This was surreal—she couldn't believe she was trying to reason with killers.
"I never said it wouldn't be hard for us too," said Ben as he moved to stand in front of her. "But it's a sacrifice we're prepared to make. Right, Jack?"
"You're the boss, man," said Jack with a shrug.
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. ^^