HI! Again, apologies for the delay! So impressed with Home and Away's return!

Now, back to my fiction, I did create the Boy's that now lead the River Boy's however, for those of you that remember, Brodie was an original River Boys way back when Brax, Heath and Casey first came to Summer Bay!

For some reason, my computer changed the spelling of Brodie in the 2nd chapter, so apologies for that!

Chapter 3:

Andy quickly hurried over to the waiting Braxton's,

"What's going on?" Casey blurted,

"Get in the car, I'll fill you in when we are away from here." Heath drove them back towards the Bay and pulled over in a rest stop. Getting out, the boy's formed a circle,

"Right, Barrett, everything" Heath said in his decisive blunt way,

"Okay. The guys from the restaurant is a dude named Brodie,"

"Yup, yup" Heath said impatiently,

"Well, he swapped me for Brax so Brax could take him and his mates to a secret plantation," Heath stopped fidgeting and went deep into thought, Andy didn't notice and carried on, however, Casey saw the slight change in his brother, "The other guys that entered were River Boys"

"What? Who?" Casey demanded pulling Heath back into the conversation,

" A Stacey Keech, Tully and Gavin,"

" I know Stacey," Casey said,

"I know Gavin, he was a newbie just before I left. He was a brute," Heath said quietly,

"Alright Heath, what about this plantation?" Casey said folding his arms and leaning against the car.

Taking a deep breath, Heath faced Casey, "Way back when Brax took of the River Boys', we went bush, with heaps of stolen weed plants. We planted them in this totally remote part of the bush that takes several days to hike too. It's way off the normal track and too dense to get there for hunters to stumble across it. The idea was that we had it there as a backup plan if we ever needed an escape."

" It's still there?" Andy asked in surprise,

"It's massive and worth a lot, it would have re-seeded over and over again and well, Brax and I wouldn't be able to harvest it on our own"

"Why didn't I know?" Casey asked a little hurt,

"Cause Case, nobody else was supposed to know about it"

"Brodie knew" Andy said,

"He's a dog, must have heard a conversation but if neither me or Brax told Casey, we sure as hell wouldn't tell Brodie!"

"Arguing isn't going to solve anything," Andy interrupted, "We need a plan"

"Cops?" Casey suggested before Heath rolled his eyes,

"We know where they are going, let's get there first,"

" And then what?"

"I don't know Case!' Heath yelled frustrated, "Let's just get their first and see what happens!" The boys jumped in the car, "We are going to need stuff, it's a long hike" Heath said as they took off.

xxxxxx

Spencer, Brax and Kyle were led out back to the waiting vans. Brax eyed up his 'captors' he only knew Stacey and Brodie, the other 8 River Boys' were all new to him,

"Put Brax and the kid in thee, your coming in here" Stacey said pulling Kyle to the second van.

'What? Why?" Kyle protested pulling his bound arm out of Stacey's grip. Stacey just smiled and nodded at Tully who suddenly punched Spencer in the stomach,

"Oi!" Brax, he wasn't bound, pushed the Tully away from Spencer. Kyle had gone to help too but was now held by Gavin, who had a massive forearm across Kyle's throat, restricting his airway,

"Down boy" Gavin whispered in Kyle's ear,

"Sorry!" Stacey said comically smacking his own forehead, "did I forget to tell you! If Brax resists, Kyle gets it, if Kyle resists, Spencer gets it," Stacey watched Brax pull Spencer to his feet, "Now get in the bloody vans." After they were all loaded in, Stacey quickly sent a text to Tony Morgan. Climbing into the front seat of the van with Spencer and Brax, Stacey stared intently at Brax who returned with a glare,

"What?" he demanded as the van drove away towards the rural forest outside of Mangrove River."

"Anybody else know where this crop is?"

Brax pretended to think before shaking his head, "I was the only one that made the hike,"

"With what? All those seeds?"

"Something like that,"

"How long did it take you?"

"Almost 3 days to get there and 2 and a half back. It's a long hike Stacey, Kyle's shoulder.."

"Kyle will make it or else he will end up being fertilizer in that bloody forest for the next crop." Brax didn't answer, just clenched his jaw. the trip to the forest was still half an hour away. Brax noticed a lull come over the van, he leant over Spencer to look out the window,

"When we arrive, ask to go for a piss and leg it. No arguments Spencer, you run and find help" he whispered, Spencer just nodded once he had heard and understood. After a while, Brax ordered them to pull over, "Up there" Brax pointed to a clearing to the right. They had travelled as far into the forest as the road went before it ended. It was pitch black all around them and at least 7 trails were visible. The second van with Kyle, Brodie and the camping equipment pulled up next to them. Brax, Spencer and Kyle were led to the entrance of the trail Brax indicated. Finally the two boys were untied, Brax waited until they were all unloading the gear leaving only Tully guarding them before nudging Spencer,

"I need to go toilet," Spencer said quietly, only loud enough for Tully to hear, Tully hesitated for a moment and turned to see where everyone is,

"Come on mate, what's he going to do? Run?" Spencer struggled to look calm as Brax carried on," It'll be a look hike with wet pants," Tully looked back at Brax, then at Spencer,

"If you run, I'll kill them" Nodding, Spencer stood up and looked at Brax, who half smiled and nodded.

After 5 minutes, Tully started to get anxious waiting for Spencer and was about to call for help,

"Did you jokers remember the abseiling gear?" Brax called quickly, desperately stalling for time,

"What for?" Stacey called back,

"We've got rocks to scale and what you go up, you have to come down"

"Why didn't you say earlier!" Stacey said frustrated walking over, Brax knew the more he stalled them, the more chance Spencer had,

"You never asked" by now, Tully was beside himself,

"What's your problem?" Stacey demanded,

"He needed to go for a piss! I threatened to kill them if he didn't come back" Stacey then realized a hostage was missing,

"Shit!" he screamed pulling his gun out, instantly Kyle and Brax were on their feet, "You idiot" Stacey spat at Tully before turning the gun on Kyle, Brax instinctively pushed Kyle behind him, wedging him between himself and as tree, he heard Kyle hiss in pain but didn't care,

"If you kill him, I won't take you anywhere" Stacey was panting with adrenalin, he knew Brax had played Tully to get Spencer away and he knew Brax was right, if he killed Kyle, he was signing his own death warrant with Tony. Putting his gun away in frustration, Stacey called Gavin over. He whispered something which neither Braxton heard, but saw the smile on Gavin's face.

He then called 4 river boys over, loudly, so all could hear, "Go and find that kid, when you do, kill him and bring me his ears to hand around Darryl Braxton's neck."

xxxxx

Spencer ran for all his might. He had worked his way through the forest back the way they came, hoping to eventually find the open road. He had stopped running and listened for signs of pursuit and sighed in relief when all he heard was crickets. He looked around his surroundings and didn't realize how dark and cold it was. Taking a deep breath, and praying he wasn't going to get lost he carried on. He had travelled quite a way, getting deeper into the forest and had now lost the road altogether when he froze, he was sure he had heard a twig snap nearby. Quickly he hid behind a tree, he was about to run when a hand clasped over his mouth, stifling his scream and pulled him to the ground.

xxxxx

Brax and Kyle were handed a backpack laden with essentials the River Boy's had packed. Everybody had one but both brothers knew they had the heaviest. Brax slid his on easily and then helped Kyle whose wound was still raw and uncovered.

"We walk until the sun comes up. Brax you lead, Kyle at the back with Gavin." Gavin grinned at Kyle who simply rolled his eyes and started to walk.

"Hang on Princess," Gavin held Kyle back while Brax watched, "Wrists" Kyle shot Gavin a confused look but Gavin ignored and quickly tied Kyle's wrists in front of him. He then left a meter hanging off the end as a lead to lead Kyle through the track,

"You can't be serious" Brax said watching, "he can't hike a 3 day trek like that!"

Stacey took a moment to look at Kyle and then at Brax, "Then I guess he's going to be dragged" Stacey then pushed Brax down the trail. Brodie was at the end of the line following Kyle, he quickly sent a text before losing cell phone reception, then hurried along to join the others.