Independence is A Dead Stick

[Gundham]

((Karin Han continued from We Can All Agree Snow Kinda Sucks, Right?))

Two nights had come and gone. Karin had spent sizable portions of them keeping to herself. She took guard shifts wherever possible, spent them standing by the doors and windows, looking up. It was better to keep an eye out, just in case there was anyone up there willing to lower a friendly tractor beam and go, “I can only take you as far as Alpha Centurai, after that you’re on your own.” It was a big universe, and they couldn’t all be bastards up there, right?

The announcements had provided a treasure trove of interesting information. Day eight revealed that Karen+ and Wholia, both of whom had last been seen screaming their heads off at Karin for accidentally killing someone in self-defense, had each committed murder. Had they screamed at themselves in the mirror? Nah, of course not. This was probably one of the many, many things in life that fell under the acronym IOKIYNK: It’s Okay If You’re Not Karin. See, Karen+ and Wholia had definitely had fantastic reasons for murdering someone; they were blameless. Karin? Nuh-uh. Karin was still a bitch.

Other highlights, Molly Oliviera had ganked her own brother. Cool. Fratricide was underrated. It was a shame that Charlotte wasn’t here.

Juanita Reid had scored two more kills, bringing her total up to four. An impressive underdog arc, to be sure. From handi-capable to psycho murder lesbian. Love to see it. She’d shot Daniel Ozanne, which was nice of her. Served him right.

Day nine started off with a banger: Kitty Graves had shanked her own sister. Sibling killing sibling, age-old story, one of the classics. A real “Cain and Disabled” sorta vibe there.

And hoo boy. Victor Grail had blown Karen+ away. The small sliver of satisfaction she got from the knowledge that she was now officially the superior Karen was dwarfed by the humongosity of the "I told you so" factor. Gee, Karen. Wish someone had warned you that Victor was dangerous. Ten to one the big galoot had meant the bullet for Karin herself, but his stupid racist ass couldn't tell which Asian Kar*n was which.

Juanita Reid scored another kill and Skeevy Evie notched up three. Doubtlessly someone out there was shipping the two of them and making fanart of them kissing on a body-strewn battlefield. Yuck.

But the big takeaway was the buried lede: Josh James was dead. Really and truly dead. He’d taken out Madeleine Molliqaj with him, which Karin didn’t really care about. Aside from her surname giving a really fantastic Scrabble score and that rumor she’d started about Madeleine’s dad having committed wartime atrocities in the Balkans, Karin didn’t really have thoughts about Madeleine Molliqaj.

No, what Karin cared about was that Josh James had died in a mutual kill. Which almost certainly meant that Josh James’ gun was lying wherever he fell, free for whoever came along and took it. She liked the sound of that. Had a nice poetic irony to it that he’d probably enjoy if he chanced to look upwards from the lake of sulfur Satan was probably boiling him in.

Decision made, she headed out into the snow. Didn’t make a big pronouncement about it, didn’t say goodbye. Just took her bag and left. None of the girls attempted to follow her, which meant they either didn’t know that she was leaving permanently or, more likely, didn’t care. Fair enough. Karin didn't care about any of them, either. And once she had a gun, well... she didn't plan on getting to know anybody for longer than the time it took to pull the trigger.

((Karin Han continued in Houston, We Have a Problem))