Dance Yrself Clean

[Primrosette]

Jonathan had been careless. He wished that he had been quicker in moving and hadn't got distracted by a branch. Not that it really matter anymore and Jonathan found himself standing up quickly and he saw the familiar rock hurtling towards him. He didn't have that long to think as he saw that Justin was heading right for him in the process as well and he only had seconds to react.

He took big steps backwards and he felt the rock hit the side of his leg, making a stinging pain go through it. But all he did for it was grit his teeth and he was waiting for his real target to come closer.

Closer.

Closer...

Now!

Jonathan raised the branch in an instant and he swung as hard as he could at Justin's face. He just needed to get away from this monster by taking him off-guard.

[Kermit]

"...because you're the one who wants him dead, Justin."

He stared as Justin stood up and belted the rock at Jonathan.

Some things Michael did just to see how bad they made him feel.

He stared as Justin ran at Jonathan. He stared as Jonathan swung the tree branch at Justin.

Other things he did for love; because he still cared.

Jonathan wasn't dead yet.

"Oh fuck! Blaise is here! Everyone run!" he lied. He pointed his gun into what he hoped was empty wilderness and fired twice at the alleged Blaise.

No matter what, though, every song he sang was about himself.

He turned, and without waiting to see what the other two boys were doing, he did what he hadn't stopped doing since the day he was born.

He ran.

((Michael Froese continued elsewhere))

[MK Kilmarnock]

Blaise was here? Like, Blaise, the frequent-flyer killer? It was like Quinn all over again, Michael's call-out sparking a vivid revisit to that moment there in the town square with Ned and Tanisha. He hatched a split-second plan that should have gone smoothly, a small road bump turned to a more substantial road block and then disaster. Everything was liable to turn to disaster here, just as it had now; Justin made a move to actually accomplish something and strike, only for it all to come crashing down around him as somebody pounces on the opportunity he created.

His lead foot planted the moment he registered the name. The carpet of soaked, dead leaves on which he stood carried it further than he wanted to go, throwing Justin back. Existence became a blur from that moment until his back hit the ground and if it weren't for sharp contact ringing the hand that still clutched his weapon while he was forced to blindly grope for a softer landing with the other, he wouldn't have been able to track that the branch had completed its swing at all. And, were it not for that intense grip, his weapon might have been knocked clean out of his hand.

But even if he wasn't disarmed, he had a problem. Actually he had several: he was now flat on his back, Jonathan probably still had a usable weapon - Justin was in the process of forcing his eyes open to confirm that little bit, and Blaise had seemingly appeared from thin air to kill one, two or all three of them.

[Primrosette]

Jonathan hadn't hit Justin in the face as he had planned in those few seconds of defending himself and it seemed that the earth had giving the other boy a taste of his own medicine. Michael had called out something about Blaise, fired off some shots and then he had booked it out of there. But all that he heard was the other boy's fading footsteps and nothing else was heard. Did Michael lie so that he could get away from Justin?

Jonathan still had the branch ready to use if Justin was going to try to move and he glanced around his surroundings as carefully as he could. Nothing. Not a peep from Blaise if they were here at all and Jonathan was more likely to believe that it was a lie. Why did Michael lie...? He had to worry about that question later as his main problem was Justin and he knew that he had to get away from him. He rather have Meka get to avenge his friend and that was why he was just going to continue on his way.

"Heh. Looks like Michael tricked you, Justin." He said with a small smile as he started to back away from him slowly and he was keeping the branch steady at his side. "Don't even think of following me."

Jonathan then turned away from him and he took off with a slight ache in his leg.

((Jonathan Meyers continued in Speaking Louder In My Own Voice))

[MK Kilmarnock]

No Blaise. Tricked again.

Michael got away and Jonathan started to tiptoe back, and Justin was not entirely compelled to follow him anymore. He could have, despite Jonathan's warnings, and he still had confidence in the tire iron's ability to mostly render that branch irrelevant. A lack of confidence in his trusty weapon was not the issue.

Man... he was just bad at this. Nobody really understood whether or not they'd be good at a free-for-all survival situation until they were thrust into it, Justin supposed, but in any situation he found himself thrust into, he generally didn't come out on top. It was enough to make him want to keep laying down in the mud and the leaves, staring up at the crowns of trees, until death from exposure took him.

"Maybe Blaise chased Michael..." Justin mumbled. If a boy mumbled in the woods and there were only trees around to hear it, did it make a sound?

He would feel a little better, if only he knew where to go from here.

((Justin Greene, continued in They Didn't Make It))