If he hadn’t, Dodge might have ended up doing life since, a couple of times, he’d been close to shanking some motherfuckers. More than a couple.
So, yeah, he owed Rook. He also owed the man shouting out their new proposed motto.
From the ashes we rise,
For our brothers we live and die!
At the end, Trip pumped his fist in the air and everyone once again hooted and hollered. Once it quieted down, he asked, “Anyone opposed to that? Anyone got anything better?”
Of course, nobody did.
It wasn’t the motto that made their brotherhood, it was the men he stood among.
Dodge’s gaze circled the group. Family. All were now his fucking family. And, like it should be, they’d die for each other. Unlike the Originals who, in the end, did each other dirty.
“Let’s do this again. You all know how this works.” Trip shouted, “From the ashes we rise…”
Everyone yelled in unison, “For our brothers we live and die!” also raising their fists into the air.
Another loud “Fuck yeah!” was shouted out from somewhere behind Dodge. More stomping of boots and pounding of chests erupted around him, causing a chill to run through him.
“Haven’t we already risen from those ashes, though?” Whip asked.
Trip found him in the crowd. “You never stop risin’. ‘Cause the moment you do, is the exact fuckin’ moment you begin to fall.”
“So, I guess that’s settled,” Deke began. “I’ll get the Amish to make up a sign and install it above the door.”
Trip nodded and turned back to the rest of them. “Now, in other fuckin’ news…” He handed the floor over to Judge.
“Speakin’ of risin’, as you all know, the Shirleys are definitely tryin’ to rise out of their own sludge. The activity up there’s increasin’ every fuckin’ day. These past coupla days the clan had a crew up there doin’ a shitload of repairs on the remaining structures. Seems like they’re in a rush to move back in before winter hits hard. This is a problem we’re keepin’ a close eye on.”
“What are we gonna do about it?” Cage asked, his tone as sharp as a blade.
“Like I said the other night, we don’t fuckin’ know what the feds are doin’ yet. Right now it’s a wait and see,” Trip answered.
“Anybody spot any federal pigs lurkin’ around?” Easy asked.
“No, but that don’t mean they ain’t lurkin’,” Judge answered. “They ain’t gonna be settin’ up a lawn chair at the bottom of Hillbilly Hill to monitor those inbred motherfuckers.”
“So, we’re just gonna wait and let them return instead of takin’ them out as they come in?” Rook asked, just as sharply as Cage. There wasn’t a lot Rook gave a shit about but his niece, Dyna, was one of them. “They’d be easier to deal with in small batches than a whole fuckin’ clan at one shot.”
“Agreed, but again,” Trip sighed, “if the feds are watchin’ them and we go up there, guess who’s also gonna get caught up in their fuckin’ net? Us. We want that? I don’t. I gotta life outside of concrete walls and razor wire that I kinda like. We also don’t wanna land on their radar. Last thing we want is them keepin’ track of us. That could get messy for those times we need to stay under that same damn radar. You catchin’ what I’m puttin’ down? What if we need to take care of business and agents start sittin’ on the crematorium ‘cause of suspicious activity? Then what? We’re fucked. We gotta be smart about how this is gonna be handled. Nobody wants to wipe those fuckers out more than me.”
“Sig and Cage,” Shade reminded the prez. Dodge doubted Trip needed that reminder. None of them did.
Trip continued, “Look, when Red was taken, she was taken from all of us. Same with Dyna. Dyna is our child, not just Cage and Jemma’s. Just like Daisy, Jude, Ry, Chelle’s girls, now Dane and soon my own son are all of ours. It’s our duty to protect and love every fuckin’ child no matter whose fuckin’ loins they came from. I’ve said this before, but gonna say it again, your child is my child. Mine will be yours. We raise these kids together. And if we do it well, they’ll be the next generation of Fury. I want them to be better than us. I wanna be proud of them. Sure you do, too.”
Silence descended over the group because no one was going to argue any of that. Anyone who did didn’t belong as part of the Fury. The family connection was strong within the brotherhood. Just like Trip strived for and just like it should be.
Without the Fury, Dodge wouldn’t have shit. He’d be back doing the same old, same old and none of that “same old” had been any good.
He’d been on a straight path to nowheresville.