Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Day 13, early afternoon, on the road between the Inner Circle and the Temple. Private.

The leadership houses, while smaller than the manor house, are no less extravagant. Each one of the six seems to be competing with its neighbor to be as eye-catching as possible, with many different multicolored designs painted across and decorations adorning them. While the insides all share the same layouts, many different modifications have been made by the former occupants; some have added different furniture items, while some have gone so far as to redecorate the entire interiors of their houses, including one where the interior wall was removed and all seating and beds replaced with cushions.
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Shiola
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Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

#1

Post by Shiola »

((erika stieglitz continued from Madness in the Method))


Erika’s path through the rest of the Inner Circle was winding, as she evaded the few signatures that did appear on the collar radar’s screen. As she travelled, she clutched the small device in one hand and her pistol in the other. At least one corner of the Manor House was occupied, as she expected, and so was one of the Leadership Houses. There enough of them for Erika to feel safe in her decision to leave the so-called “Inner Circle” behind.

With no more than a dozen or so of her peers left on the island, it seemed to validate her instinct to head for the Cliffs, which should’ve been less populated. Moving around and away from the nauseatingly blood-soaked Gardens helped her spirits slightly, but did nothing to alleviate the persistent malaise that hounded her.

It was a little bit of everything. Malnutrition, lack of sleep, being off her medication, and more stress than she’d ever experienced before. Injuries she knew could’ve been infected, which worried her the most. Plus, the fact that they’d clearly been dropped in some tropical hellhole with none of the vaccinations that people might typically get travelling abroad. At no point in her time on the island had she been free of the presence of mosquitoes, save for when a rainstorm passed through.

Waiting out the rest of them never felt like an option, but it seemed like even less of one at this point. All of these maladies made it that much more difficult to turn away from the signatures on the collar radar, to resist the urge to try and accelerate an end to her time on the island. Each time was an exercise in reminding herself what kind of end she had in mind. It wasn’t dying of a fever in the middle of the night, but it also wasn’t fumbling an attack on one of the others and ending up unceremoniously shot in the face. Whatever ended up happening, she wanted to feel like she had some agency in it, even if her body seemed intent on rapidly depriving her of that small dignity.

So she headed for the Cliffside, trying to put most of her focus in avoiding the others, watching the radar, and keeping exhaustion and fatigue at bay. Anything to keep the thought that she was going there to die from taking root.

Something about setting a destination helped, and the location itself felt like a smart move. With the open air to her back, Erika knew she’d only have to worry about confrontations from the north. It was familiar ground, too; she’d hidden the Martini-Henry on a tree that had partially grown over the edge of the cliff. The sight of the ocean from up high was beautiful, and one of the few positive sights on the island that she could remember clearly.

I just need to make it there.

Erika stopped for a moment, looking back at the road behind her that led to the large houses and overgrown gardens of the Inner Circle. In the distance, she could only just make out the upper floor of the Manor House, which loomed over the whole area.

There was a flash through one of the windows, after which all of them quickly blew outward along with several large chunks of the building’s outer wall. Erika flinched at the sight, instinctively taking a step back as the sound of the explosion and shattered glass reached her ears. Smoke rose from the crater blown through the hole in the building. After a brief pause, Erika witnessed bright flashes within the haze, followed immediately by the distant sound of automatic gunfire.

A chill ran up Erika’s spine, her mind’s eye fixed on the mental image of the grenade launcher pointed towards her. She’d been right to leave Diego to his own devices; it sounded like he was wasting no time getting to work.

“Well, shit. Alright. Give ‘em hell, dude.”

She gave a mock salute with the hand clutching her pistol, before turning and pressing further up the road as quickly as she was able to. That same nagging voice within her pleaded to stay on the road, to wait to see who emerged victorious and to finish them. Once again, she ignored it.

Don’t be stupid. Let them fight.

Walking on the road was faster, but risky. There were a few spots where there was space outside of the radar’s range where she was still visible, and more than enough spots at either side to stage an ambush. It still seemed preferable to potentially tripping and falling over the dense forest at either side.

She reached a bend in the road, past the fork that led back to the Village. To nowhere, really, now that the area was off-limits. The relatively open ground still made her feel uneasy, and Erika couldn’t help but nervously check the collar radar one more time.

Like before, she pressed down on the power switch. The device came to life, briefly illuminating the radial distance markings for a moment before they disappeared. In place of what she’d come to expect, the entire screen went white, flickering a few times before shutting off.

“Fuck. No, no, no! God-fucking-damnit!”

Erika flipped the switch off, and then back on again. And again. And again. The same result came each time - the readout appeared, followed by white flash on the screen, and then nothing. She thought she could see a few dead pixels on the device, as well. Since she’d taken it off of Lucas’ body, she’d been careful to turn it off whenever it wasn’t in use; thinking that, at the very least, she’d be able to stretch whatever battery life it had as long as she needed to use it.

Didn’t occur to me that it’d just stop working out of nowhere.

She sighed, staring down at the screen as it flashed white once again. The air around her felt heavy, oppressive even. The long gravel road felt even more overexposed and open than it had before. The plastic case of the collar radar creaked in her hand as her grip on the device tightened.

Erika wanted to smash it. Standing, staring at the blank screen - it made her feel stupid, and weak. She shouldn’t have been relying on some tool of the terrorists instead of her own instincts. Maybe it was why she’d been feeling so indecisive, so complacent. It had been foolish to tie her survival to it as much as she had. She couldn’t trust it, or even the weapons she carried. She wanted to trust herself, and her instincts; they’d gotten her this far, at least.

Looking down, she could barely recognize the clothes she was wearing, given how thoroughly stained in blood and dirt they were. Her skin seemed wrong, paler than it should’ve been after two weeks in the hot sun. She was standing awkwardly, heavily favoring her right leg over the left.

All she told herself to trust in this place were her skills, her will to survive, and her body. What had come of sacrificing everything else was that all three had found ways to fail her, and to betray that trust. It was hard to look at herself and find anything left to put faith in.

I’m walking to the cliffs. I’m going to spend the night there. Make a stand there if I have to. There’s still time.

Erika tucked the collar radar into a pocket of her duffel bag, and then continued walking up the road.

If it’s still fucked by the time I get there, then I’ll pitch it off the cliff.

As she walked, she made a point to stick to the edge of the road, where gravel began to give way to the forest floor. She’d never walked a tightrope before, but it was hard to imagine anything else.
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#2

Post by Jilly »

((Katelynne Kirkpatrick continued from the other side of the road))

The walk back to the mansion felt twice as fast as the other way around, or so it seemed to Katelynne. Maybe it was because of her talk with Princess, or her newfound conviction, but she had more pep in her step. Maybe that wasn't the right words, though.... maybe more like, she knew where she was going, and what she was doing now.

And so she kept walking, with the rifle held firm between her hands. She kept walking, through the cries of the damned and the stench of death. She'd keep walking until she got back to Marco.

That explosion earlier..... no, Marco could take care of himself. He wasn't in danger, even if where it sounded like it came from ended up being true. He was fine. She could take her time.

And so she kept walking.

And so she kept walking.

And so she kept walking.













She stopped when she saw her.
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Shiola
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#3

Post by Shiola »

Erika froze.

It was almost on cue. Too perfect, that she’d run into someone without expecting it only moments after the radar cut out.

Katelynne. Erika wasn’t used to seeing her without hearing her, first. They bonded a couple of times over nature photography. A picture Erika had taken of an inchworm had apparently inspired Katelynne to want to make something called Long Furby. She never thought to look it up, but the way Katelynne talked about it made her laugh. The way she stood in the road now looked still enough to be a photograph, almost.

There was enough distance to make things interesting, to leave some things up to chance. Little cover on the road itself, though. To her right, Erika saw a small copse of trees. Nothing thick enough to stop bullets, and a steep incline in the land further into the forest. To the left, she saw only open air.

Her finger tapped on the slide of her pistol, and then fell gently to the trigger.

The rifle was unmistakable in Katelynne’s grip. Erika would recognize the profile of an AR just about anywhere. Its presence meant she was outmatched. Thirteen bullets to thirty. Fifty yards of effective range, to over two hundred. Bullets moving at eleven hundred feet per second, to those travelling at over three thousand.

None of that mattered if Katelynne couldn’t use it. Erika had no reason to think she was especially proficient, but it almost didn’t matter, not with such a stark disparity in the guns they held.

Katelynne didn’t look like herself. She looked worn down, broken. Like everyone else. Like Erika.



No,



not like Erika.


She reminded herself she wasn’t like any of the others, not anymore. And she wasn’t dead yet. Taking slow breaths, Erika let all that still belonged to her fall motionless; she didn't let her eyes look anywhere other than ahead.
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#4

Post by Jilly »

It was her. Her. The girl.The girl that killed twenty other people. The girl that killed Lucas. The girl that killed Lucas's friend. The girl that killed Yuka, one of the first people from that first day; one of Yuka's sisters, too. The girl Tyrell tried to hunt down. The girl from the photography club, the girl that gave Katelynne the time of day other than Princess.

It was her.






Katelynne didn't move, neither her feet nor her gaze, nor her hands on the trigger.
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#5

Post by Shiola »

Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't move.

The index finger on Erika's left hand tapped against the side of her leg. The other hand was completely still, holding the pistol by her side.

One good hit, was all she needed. It would take more than one. Advancing would've made sense if she was more mobile.

No, she'd have to shoot and move at the same time. Straight to cover, and hope the first shots landed true.

It was far, and she was tired, and it was going to happen quickly. The odds of making the shot were good, but not a sure thing.

What are you waiting for, Katelynne?

Erika wasn't waiting, only moving as quickly as she had to.

Her left hand clenched into a fist, and then released. The right stayed still. She dug her right heel into the gravel, feeling the loose material crunch underneath her boot.

The wide-eyed look of surprise gave way to a glare, to determination. Erika cocked her head ever-so-slightly, as if to make her own intentions clear.
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#6

Post by Jilly »

Everything was dead quiet. No wind, no rustling trees, no nothing. The world might as well've been just the two of them and the road.

Katelynne kept watching her every move, and Erika the same. Maybe if Katelynne just stood down, kept walking the other side of the road, they'd just pass like two ships in the night. Just have an unspoken truce, an "i-don't-see-you-you-don't-see-me". Let Erika go, wherever she was headed. Let someone else take care of her.

Just like Lucas probably tried. Just like Blaise, wherever or whoever the hell they were. Just like Marco, taking care of Abraham.

Just like Quinn.

Katelynne hated Erika and her smug face and her attitude and her everything.

And so, she fired.
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#7

Post by Shiola »

Katelynne seemed to get the message. She moved to take aim, and Erika drew forward both hands to take aim, herself.

As the sounds of the island once again gave way to a high-pitched ringing, Erika took off laterally off the road and into the forest; she fired back at Katelynne, forgoing any kind of aiming as she did so. The first, second, and third shots clearly missed, and so all she needed was Katelynne to keep her head down. Bullets from Katelynne's rifle zipped past Erika, kicking gravel out of the road and hewing splinters out of nearby trees.

Doing her worst impression of a baseball slide, Erika landed down behind a pile of rotting logs and deadfall. She didn't bother to suppress the barely-audible cry of pain she let out as she fell. Attempting to aim at Katelynne through the tangled mass of fallen branches, she was only able to manage a single shot before the pistol locked open, empty.

"Shit!"

Flicking her wrist as she dropped the magazine, the little box flew aside and off into the bushes. What was once something of a flourish while shooting for time was now a necessary act of expediency. Quickly slotting a fresh magazine into the pistol, Erika then fired a pair of blind shots over the rotting log. Painfully adjusting her position behind the disconcertingly soft cover, Erika leaned out and took careful aim towards where she thought Katelynne was. It wasn't clear where the other girl had taken cover, but Erika prepared herself to fire at any sign of movement ahead.
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#8

Post by Jilly »

"Shit!" Katelynne called out to herself as Erika ran off the side of the road for the woods. Katelynne dropped the duffel bag and did the same, running just in time to avoid the return fire and fired a few shots of her own blindly.

She backed up against a tree and flashed quick glances to her right. Half a second at a time.

No more bullets fired. Her breathing was so heavy, her heart the only sound reverberating through the woods. Watching war movies and the like, you'd have thought everything would've been so loud. But it wasn't. It was a vacuum.

Still no bullets. Did... did she lose her? Katelynne just about turned around, narrowly missing a couple more shots by fractions of a second as the bullets pinged past.

She turned around from the other side of the tree. Where did she go?

Through the foliage, she caught just a glimpse. Over yonder, by some sorta debris, probably from the storms so long ago.

Katelynne turned back around in time to see another bullet, this time way closer to the road.

...

Katelynne made another break for it, moving to the next tree on her right, stopping twice just to return fire.
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#9

Post by Shiola »

Erika flinched as bullets ripped through the loose debris, plunging into the ground nearby and kicking dirt high into the air. Shuffling back to the left, Erika pressed herself behind one of the larger rotting logs. There were trees nearby that might've been thick enough to take cover behind, but she wasn't confident enough in her ability to get behind one of them to try for it.

The Martini-Henry slung on her back was constantly a problem, dragging against the ground and threatening to snag against the fallen branches. She thought for a moment about drawing the rifle, and using it to try and land a more accurate shot on Katelynne. Reaching down for a moment, Erika stopped herself. There wasn't time. The weapon was large and cumbersome, and more trouble than it might have been worth right now. That Katelynne was firing single shots, rather than extended automatic bursts like she'd been hearing across the island, said that she had at least some idea of what she was doing.

No room for fuck-ups, here.

The pistol would have to do. It felt more familiar in her hands, anyways.

Looking ahead, she spotted a tiny sliver of fabric sticking out from the side of one of the trees. The sundress Katelynne had been wearing was unmistakable, even as it was caked in dirt. The seafoam green standing out from the darker greens and browns of the forest.

Trying as best as she could to aim properly over top of the tangled mess of ferns and rotting wood, she focused on the edge of the sundress. It wasn't the first shot that would get her, but the second. If she could hit, and send her stumbling out from behind the tree.

As she focused on the white bead of the front sight, she felt a drop of blood run slowly down her abdomen, out from underneath the bandages she'd wrapped around her side. Exhaling through clenched teeth, she suppressed the shiver running up her spine and slowly squeezed the trigger, twice.
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#10

Post by Grim Wolf »

(Daria Bhatia continued from This Carousel Called Life)

Once again, Daria was racing towards the sound of gunfire. Once again, Daria was plunging into danger like she was hungry for it, Stephanie's bat clutched tight in her hand. The surprised part of her that had first marveled at her behavior was gone. Now there was just a focus, an awareness, that exceeded even her brightest moments on camera or on stage. That, and perhaps a hint of relief.

Because Daria wanted to leave her house.

It wasn't Willow's fault (another little cycle, repeating over and over in her head: it's not her fault it's not her fault it's not her fault). The ways Willow were annoying her were just part of being human. Her still-tender injuries, this (malaise? Depression? Does it even count as depression when you're on Serial Killer Island?) constant state, whether explicit or implicit, of uncertainty...it all jabbed at Daria in just the wrong way. But that wasn't Willow's fault.

The problem was Stephanie.

Any idle moment--making her rounds on the peripheries of the Leadership circle, or fixing rudimentary comforts in the new house they'd holed up inside--Daria would catch herself looking to the house where her friend's body was rotting. And anytime Willow spoke, the thought would linger in Daria's head: how long until it happened to her? Until Blaise, or someone else, came calling? How long until Daria was alone again.

Willow wasn't annoying her. Not her smell, not her complaining, not her lack of hope. Because whenever Daria felt a stab of annoyance, she would feel an answering (not stab. Stab wasn't the right word. It was the opposite of a stab, a hollowness where a knife had once been. A wound? Whatever, Daria wasn't a writer, wound's fine) wound of absolute terror.

What if Willow died, like so many had died? What if Daria was alone again?

No one came to the houses. There were so few people left on the island. Just Daria, and the killers, and so many corpses of people she'd failed to save. And Willow, too. Willow, still alive, even if Daria couldn't make her believe she mattered.

She was preparing a paltry portion of their rations (served on plates in the living room, because if Daria was killing time she might as well pretend everything was normal) when she heard the gunshots. Her head snapped up, that zeroed-in part of her that had awoken after Stephanie had died coming alive again, so that the world around her seemed faint and far away.

One gunshot. Then another. Tinny with distance, but loud with danger. A gunfight? Or someone being hunted.

"Will," Daria said, without looking at her. "Stay here. Stay safe." The wound in her psyche clenched again, and she gave her friend a feral smile. "Stay alive. Okay?"

Then she grabbed her bat, and pounded out the door. More gunshots in the distance, and Daria raced with all the strength she had in her legs, her teeth still bared in that feral smile.

It would not happen again. Whether it was Blaise or someone else, whether it was someone she cared for or someone she hated or someone she barely knew, she wasn't going to allow Danyuh and his fucking game to claim anyone else. Not them. Not Daria. Not Willow.

"Stop!" bellowed Daria, as she raced out of the Leadership Circle. "Fucking just...stop it, god damn it!"
Those Whose Time Has Come]

Terra Johnson (female student no. 73, DECEASED): Oh...duh...Abel's...dead...the one who...lives is...

Tom Swift (male student no. 60): It didn't matter what he wanted anymore.

Daria Bhatia (female student no. 56): "I pity you, and everyone who knows you. Because if you can live with this, I don't...I don't think you're human anymore.”

[+] Those Who Have Gone Before
[/url]

V6

Alex Tarquin (male student no. 32: "No more...masks..."

Tara Behzad (female student no. 12): "They don't get to decide how I die."

Lizzie Luz: "I don't want to go."

V5

Tyler Lucas: "I had fun. You?"

Karen Idel: Game over.

Xavier Contel: "G-gotta...trust people, Arthur. G-g-gotta try. C-can't be afraid."

v4

Naoko Raidon (male student no. 54): Dying like...this isn't...so...bad...


Mirabelle Nesa: "I'm a weak little girl who couldn't save anyone, even myself, but god damn it I beat you and god damn it you are going to remember that because I am Mirabelle Nesa and I am a hardened goddamn warrior and I am not going to fucking give up now!"

Simon Grey: "I never was a hero, but, God help me, I tried."

David Meramac: "Running towards nothing. Running from nothing."
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#11

Post by Jilly »

Katelynne's hands shook so much. Fear, anger, determination; all these emotions mixed and swirled together like a kid experimenting with watercolors until they were left with just a dull, shapeless black.

More bullets zooped into the tree she was hiding behind; wood cracked and fractured off.

Erika found her.

Katelynne looked to her left. It was too late to go back now, for sure. Erika was probably watching that direction. Even if Katelynne aborted and made it back to the road, she was a sitting duck being out in the open like that. The risk was too much.

She looked to her right... maybe if she worked her way around, she could flank Erika. But the next tree over was so far away. If she ran over there, there was no telling how clear of a shot Erika had.

She looked straight ahead. Everything was one big hill. If Erika found her now surely running straight ahead would be suicide.

Katelynne was stuck. She... she was stuck. She was done. She couldn't even run away like she always did. She needed a miracle, but she already had so many miracles happen to her. She was out of second chances.

...Wait, yelling? Who was-

DARIA?!?
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#12

Post by Shiola »

Copper and lead struck wood, blasting splinters into the air but hitting nothing that bled or screamed. It wasn't enough to punch through, or even send Katelynne scrambling.

Erika watched the tree over the sights of her pistol. The little white bead of the front sights trembled along with her hands. The high-pitched ringing in her ears continued whining atop of the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. Every second felt like an eternity, and every pause in this confrontation was unbearable. Every second counted, every single moment in time was spent in the service of buying a few more. Erika expected her actions would buy only minutes, but she wanted years. Even as drops of blood ran down her chest, even as she anticipated another lapse in awareness that would give Katelynne the opening she needed to end it all.

The voice inside wasn't an ember anymore, it was so much more. It was going to burn until there was almost nothing left. In this moment Erika knew she'd kill every living thing that still walked the island if it meant one more, if it was only a matter of willpower, if she only had a body that wasn't failing her.

Don't look away. She has to move. There's nowhere else to go.

Nowhere else. Nowhere to go but through whatever they all had left to throw at one another. Erika adjusted her grip on the handgun, the plastic grips uncomfortably slick with sweat. Only then she noticed the cut on her hand from hammer-bite, something she would've noticed at any other time. Too many parts of her felt numb.

A voice called out from behind her, shocking Erika out of her laser-like focus on the tree Katelynne was taking cover behind. A voice she didn't immediately recognize, demanding they stop. Shuffling down behind cover and turning around to face the source of the noise, she saw a figure holding a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it. For a second, she did try and process what she heard. It didn't amount to much; all she thought to ask was, why should I?, and Erika didn't expect to receive an answer she'd actually believe.

Instead, she turned her pistol on the newcomer and fired once.
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Grim Wolf
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#13

Post by Grim Wolf »

"Stop!" bellowed Daria, as she pounded down the trail winding south of the Leadership Circle. "Fucking just...stop it, god damn it!"

She hadn't known she intended to talk. She hadn't known she intended to shout. That small, distant part of her that watched her actions--the part of her that kept her conscious of what she looked like to her audience, whether on stage or through the camera--was baffled. What if it was Blaise, Daria? You gonna warn her you're coming? And even it's not Blaise, it's mostly killers left. You and Willow are as alone as you and Stephanie were. As alone as you've always been.

But the restlessness was back, a wildness that spread like fire across her skin and filled her belly, her throat, her veins with heat. She was so tired of letting Danyuh win. She was so tired of the same mistakes repeating themselves endlessly before her eyes. She was tired of guns fired and bats swung and bloody wounds. She was tired of hearing about how her friends had died in Danyuh's preening, gloating voice. She was tired of finding corpses--on the beach, or in the gardens, or on clifftops where they'd died in the night.

She wasn't going to let it happen again. She was Dhairyalakshmi Bhatia, she was a force of god damn nature, and before this game was over she was going to-

Wait.

She skidded to a halt, narrowed her eyes. A human figure, just barely visible. Not much more than greasy hair and a shoulder, but that was enough to trigger an almost comical moment of deja vu. For a moment, she wasn't Daria Bhatia, warrior of peace, who had seen so much death. For a moment, she was the headstrong girl who'd woken up, thinking she could break the game. For a moment, she was helping another girl up from where Quinn had attacked her, as Carrie spoke of demons in the eyes of their classmates.

"Kate?" Daria said, in disbelief.

BANG

A roar like a lion leaping for her throat. A slash of scarlet agony in her head.

Daria fell.
Those Whose Time Has Come]

Terra Johnson (female student no. 73, DECEASED): Oh...duh...Abel's...dead...the one who...lives is...

Tom Swift (male student no. 60): It didn't matter what he wanted anymore.

Daria Bhatia (female student no. 56): "I pity you, and everyone who knows you. Because if you can live with this, I don't...I don't think you're human anymore.”

[+] Those Who Have Gone Before
[/url]

V6

Alex Tarquin (male student no. 32: "No more...masks..."

Tara Behzad (female student no. 12): "They don't get to decide how I die."

Lizzie Luz: "I don't want to go."

V5

Tyler Lucas: "I had fun. You?"

Karen Idel: Game over.

Xavier Contel: "G-gotta...trust people, Arthur. G-g-gotta try. C-can't be afraid."

v4

Naoko Raidon (male student no. 54): Dying like...this isn't...so...bad...


Mirabelle Nesa: "I'm a weak little girl who couldn't save anyone, even myself, but god damn it I beat you and god damn it you are going to remember that because I am Mirabelle Nesa and I am a hardened goddamn warrior and I am not going to fucking give up now!"

Simon Grey: "I never was a hero, but, God help me, I tried."

David Meramac: "Running towards nothing. Running from nothing."
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Jilly
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#14

Post by Jilly »

Another bang. This time, nothing cracked near Katelynne. She peered around the tree, towards the mass of debris.

She could barely make out Erika among the browns and the greens she was camouflaged behind, but.... Daria. Daria fell.

Daria got shot.

This wasn't a miracle at all.

...She started running again. Back to the first tree.
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#15

Post by Shiola »

One shot looked like enough, as Erika's target fell. She only had so many loaded magazines left to switch to, before she was out. By her count, Katelynne had a long way before she'd have to reload. Thirty to thirteen. Erika still felt outmatched, and the fact that their altercation was drawing in others only intensified the sense of panic that was starting to smother her.

The barrel of Erika's pistol followed Daria to the ground, lingering for only a moment. The sound of rustling leaves from behind drew her attention back around, where she could just barely see Katelynne running between cover. Firing after the other girl, she knew well enough that she'd hit nothing but air. A brass case bounced up and off of a nearby sapling, falling down Erika's shirt and carrying a searing pain with it the whole way down.

Hissing at the pain, she tried to ignore the hot piece of metal against her skin - to no avail. Forced to reach down and pick the spent casing away, Erika's eyes widened at the blood that was slowly dripping out from underneath the bandages around her midsection. It looked worse than it felt. Then again, she didn't seem to be feeling much of anything right now. So much of her reality was discounted, ignored, tossed aside, just so she could focus on making sure she was the only one to walk away from this confrontation. Making time later to live in pain, to feel cold in spite of how relentlessly stifling and hot this place was. If her heart wasn't racing so much, she thought, maybe she'd have just let it stop.

There was no stopping until she had to. Katelynne was behind the first tree again, with a good position to break from cover and outflank Erika. Wasting no time, she continued firing around the tree, carefully trying to draw Katelynne into making a mistake.
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