The rain continued to fall when Jim awoke the following morning.  The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and the wind was gently blowing.  Rain had accumulated in the trench, but Sam had dug through and built drainage at some point during the night.

“They’ve already done ‘job assignment’.” Sam said, relaxing and peeking occasionally.

Jim lifted himself up and peered over the trench as well, scope in hand.  He panned, instantly, over to where he had drawn the symbol.  The symbol had survived the night, It washed away slightly, but it was still strong.  The footprints were even more pronounced.  There was no mistaking them.  Jim followed the footprints in reverse to make sure there weren’t any obvious return tracks.  He had planned it perfectly.

The symbol was something that he knew, if word got around, his crew would see it for sure, and would know Jim was out here and alive.  They would probably know there was a plan being formed to set them free.  Once free, get as far away from here as possible.  Surely there were other colonies out there that didn’t hold stray prisoners.  Surely all these prisoners had to come from somewhere.  Surely there was a colony missing citizens somewhere.  Regardless, the bait was set, and Jim only needed to ensure the safety of three people.

“It survived!” Jim said excitedly, in a hushed voice.

“That it did.” Sam replied. “Tell me what happens next in your plan.”

“Would it surprise you to know that I’m sort of improvising as I go?” Jim asked, looking at Sam, with hopeful anxiety.

“Not even remotely, it's how you seem to function.” Sam chuckled. “Just don’t do anything too crazy.”

Both men turned their attention back to the fortress.  The sorting had already happened, and prisoners were doing their assigned jobs.  Jim couldn’t help but notice that no one did the same job two consecutive days in a row.  It was also difficult to see anyone specific among the sea of faces.  He didn’t specifically need his crew to see it at first.  He needed anyone to find it and bring attention to it, they’d hear about it and figure it out soon enough.

One of the guards to their right approached the wall.  He appeared to light up a cigarette and was smoking off the edge, flicking his ashes occasionally to the ground below.  The guard wasn’t looking in any particular direction, merely gazing about, studying the trees.  Jim knew they wouldn’t be seen where they were, but there was always a feeling of unease whenever he glanced in their general direction.  The guard then glanced over to the other tower to their left, perhaps checking on the status of his fellow guard.  The guard finished his smoke and snubbed it out on the rail.  The butt was tossed using his left hand toward the other tower.  He moved a foot back toward the center of the tower and paused.  His head turned back toward the edge part way.  After another moment, the guard shifted his whole body back to the edge and peered down where he had tossed his cigarette butt.  He stared for a moment, studying the ground and noticed the footprints.  His eyes went wide and he grabbed a pair of binoculars.  Jim knew that guard saw what he was supposed to.  

The guard then began to motion with waved hands for the other guard in the opposite tower.  The other guard finally noticed the attempt at attention and threw his arms in their air with a ‘what do you want’ motion.  The initial guard pointed down toward the tracks, and the responding guard saw them too.  The first guard then used his thumb to motion toward Machete’s Max’s room and the second guard nodded his head hastily.

The first guard nearly jogged his way to the building and knocked rapidly.  It wasn’t too long before he opened the door and entered.  It was only a few moments before the guard left the building and notified other guards.  Machete Max emerged from the building very shortly after, and made his way over to the tower.  He looked to the other tower guard who then pointed downward.  Machete Max looked down and saw the tracks.  He looked back up at the guard and made a swirling motion in the air with his hand.  The guard nodded his head.  Machete Max then went down into the center area with haste.

The prisoners inside must have noticed something was happening and a very low murmur of chatter could be heard even from where Jim and Sam were perched.

A few moments later, from around the left hand corner, emerged Machete Max, a few guards, and the man in black.  They walk in stride, expeditiously toward the symbol.  They followed the footprints that Jim left.  

They reached the fence where the symbol lay.  A combination of things happened next.  Machete Max was obviously saying something to them rather loudly.  The guards were full attention, the man in black stood there, very composed.  By this point, prisoners from inside the fortress began to funnel toward the fence, probably to hear what the commotion was about.  Machete Max continued looking toward the guards and pointing at the foot prints.  The guards were obviously frozen in fear at the fury of their leader.  Machete Max noticed the crowd gathering.  Jim quickly scanned the crowd while Machete Max was looking at them and pointing angrily at the footprints.  The man in black held out his hand to get Max’s attention, it was obvious to Jim that the man in black was trying to redirect Max’s anger away from the prisoners.  Continuing to scan the prisoners from front to back, hoping to get a steal of a glance of one of his crew, he barely noticed a familiar face in the very back.  Connor! 

It was impossible to see whether or not Connor could see the symbol, Jim could only hope that he did a good enough job with it, and enough of it survived the rain for Connor to get the message.  Connor was just so far in the back, Jim couldn’t be sure he saw it.

Machete Max, obviously done with being at the scene and dealing with screaming prisoners motioned for his guards to take care of them.  The guards moved immediately and started banging against the fence for the prisoners to get back, some were hesitant, but most grudgingly left the area.   When all prisoners had left the area, The guards then followed Machete Max and the man in black away from the scene and back toward the inside of the fortress.

Jim wasn’t sure what to think.  He knew he saw Connor, but did Connor see enough of it to know what it was.  His heart sank, knowing full well that those who needed to see it may not get the information as quickly as he’d hoped.  Jim began to lower his scope when something caught his eye.  

From the inside the fortress appeared Connor.  Jim’s heart rate rose.  Good ole Connor, always the curious one, always the bullheaded one, he wasn’t taking no for an answer on witnessing the new fascination.  Connor, checking his surroundings, approached the fence.  Upon seeing the symbol, he fell to his knees and Jim could see tears falling from his eyes, as well as a big smile.  Connor then looked up and began studying the treeline. Jim could only imagine what was going through his mind, but he had a pretty good idea.  Jim knew there was no way Connor would be able to see where they were, and it was far too risky to stand up and make his presence known to Connor without risking anyone else seeing him.

“Everyone in the center, Now!” Machete Max screamed into a bullhorn.

Jim quickly lifted his scope to look at the parapet where Machete Max stood.  Jim quickly returned his focus to Connor.  Connor’s head jerked backward at the announcement and knew he had to obey.  Connor turned back to the fence and scanned the treeline again, he had something up his sleeve.  Just before turning around and going to line up with the rest of the prisoners, Connor made a very familiar motion.  He used his right hand, and while scanning the treeline, scratched his jawline three times.

Jim smiled at this gesture, it almost brought a tear to his eye that he remembered.  Sam, who had seen enough, noticed Jim getting choked up.

“We’ll get ‘em back Jim, don’t you worry about that.”

Machete Max continued to shout into the microphone.

“Someone in this camp considers themself a jokester, no? A prankster?” Max asked, interrogating the crowd.  “One of you left this camp last night and drew some kind of ridiculous symbol in the mud.  I want to know who.”  Max continued his interrogation, scanning the crowd from left to right, right to left. “No one did it? No one knows?”

The crowd was silent.

“Lord, we have us a bonafide miracle!”  Max shouted, sarcastically.  “The good lord himself must have come down in the middle of the storm and drawn an unknown symbol in the ground, must have been!  There's a cross in the symbol, there’s no other explanation right?!” Max asked, extremely sarcastically.

Machete Max suddenly, rapidly, pulled a pistol from somewhere and fired it in the air.  The sound broke the dead silence of the prisoners, it even caught Jim off guard and he flinched at the sound.

“Now that everyone knows just how serious I am, I want either the perpetrator to come forward and you’ll receive a mild punishment; or anyone who has any knowledge of the person who did this to come forward, and receive a reward.”  Max announced, almost sounding sincere. “I understand.  You have learned to fear me, and rightfully so, for I have killed many men.  You’ve all heard the rumors about me, and the man that I cut down with my faithfully and very sharp machete.  Yes, that rumor is true.  Some of you even know me by my nickname, ‘Machete Max’ because of it.  Please, don’t focus on such things.  I am a fair man, and like any fair man, I have rules!  When those rules are abided by, everything is as it should be.  When they are broken, there are consequences.  I make the man or woman who drew that silly little thing out in the mud a simple promise.  You will be judged fairly, and treated accordingly.  Is that such a bad thing? Am I such an evil man for upholding the rule of law? Without the rule of law, we are no better than the creatures of the wild, lawless, chaotically moving about their pointless lives killing each other until they are served up to us, mankind, to eat.” Max continued, his ‘nice guy act’ very convincing. “I’ll tell you what.  To show you just how fair of a man I am, I’ll give you twenty four hours to decide how you want this to play out.  As you all could imagine, the consequences may be more severe if I have to find out who did it myself.” Max said, his demeanor changing suddenly to menacing. “Don’t make me do this, I would prefer to end this mystery peacefully, so you can all return to your jobs without this silly little hiccup dictating the fear that you will feel with every passing second.  Your twenty four hours begins now.  Guards, get them back to work.” Max said, before walking back inside his building.

Sam glanced upward at the sky and saw that the sun was approximately in the dead center, noon.

“Well, Jim, our timeline from your little stunt has moved up significantly.”  Sam spoke with a sense of disbelief.

Jim couldn’t be sure what Machete Max had in mind for punishment because he wouldn’t find the culprit down there.  The culprit was him.  Only one person, soon to be three, knew who was responsible for it.  He knew Connor and the crew wouldn’t give him away, but he didn’t know how they would react if something started happening to any of the other prisoners there.