Greene's Gulch

D/N · #1

(Kaitlyn Greene continued from Miasma of the Dawn)

Kaitlyn liked odds. Thinking about them. She'd never given a ripe fart about math in general, but when it came to poker at least, knowing how likely it was her hand would improve post-flop and stuff like that came pretty easy to her. And not just with cards, she found herself using the odds to make her choices in life. Odds that the other team's jammer would break away from her pack and try to sweep around them? (Low) Odds that her dad would miss $20 bucks from that jar in his bedroom he kept cash in? (Medium) Odds that Clarice Halwood would take offence to Kaitlyn's joke about what you call a white guy surrounded by 20 angry Indians? (High -- and the answer is... bartender! Ah, she fucking loved that one).

"So I'm here!"

Odds that the terrorists would've actually kept to the deal she'd offered, though? Yeah, not great. Worth trying. After all, what she loved most about the odds was skirting them, wasn't it? Hehehehehe. She could still remember the look on Clarice's face.

"You fucks. Seriously."

But going into that much detail about it on the announcement? Did they seriously -- what were they trying to fucking do with her here?

"You know I got a bomb now? Maybe I blow up all your cameras, huh? Huh? You..."

Wait, no. There was a--

"...That, that was a joke. OK? Sorry... I, yeah, I've got a lame sense of humor. Ha ha ha. Hey, did you hear, uh, about the winner of the terrorist beauty pageant? Yeah, me neither."

Better.

---------

The door creaked open under protest and Kaitlyn peeked into the entrance hall. She took a quick glance around.

...And then waited a second and felt like smacking herself. There was obviously no one else here. Dangerzone. Award. And maybe for as long as she was here she could forget about anything but that, no matter how much she hadn't asked for it, huh? Fuck, she could do anything she wanted here.

"Well."

She dropped her bag on the floor and didn't give a thought towards someone else coming by and stealing it. That felt nice, at least. She stepped into the main hall and saw her prize, such as it was, sitting on the corner of a bench. Maybe it should have been up there on the pulpit as a big symbolic gesture, but hey.

There were two cardboard boxes there and she opened the smaller, thinner one first. Cause she could smell it. And see a faint grease stain on the corner. There was a big foil-wrapped bundle inside and a bottle of Coke, and when Kaitlyn unwrapped it it was doubly fine because not only was that cheeseburger large and still warm, but it was loaded with chili that dripped out the side and gathered on the wrapping. It was the greatest aroma she'd ever inhaled in her life. She dug her fingers in the bun and tried to stop her hands from shaking as she lifted it up, holy shit, holy shit.

...Don't just scarf it all down try to savor it anduuuuuuahugha.

She took an enormous bite and let the juice dribble down her chin, some landing on her shirt, some dripping on the ground. And she gave serious thought to licking those juices off the floor when she was done.

---------

A while later Kaitlyn was finishing off the Coke when she glanced up and saw a camera there. She tipped the bottle to it.

"So hey, this is for you, Mia. I owe you one. Seriously, I'll... look I, we, whatever get out of here I'll do something real nice. Uh... you know what I mean."

She belched, tossed the plastic aside, and thought more about the odds and going against them. And when it was time to start actually playing them.

Ugggggh. She didn't know. Yet at least. Cause the straight up odds were snoresville. You had to ride the rails, take the chances. You didn't make it to Vegas as a pure goddamn grinder.

She opened up the other box.

And it wasn't a gun at all.

...What the hell was this?

Kaitlyn pulled it out. It was lightweight metal and shaped like a cross and had some bizarre big box on the top. It looked like a weird crossbow or something but that couldn't be it, cause...

Custom Repeating Crossbow, Instructions Included

Well, uh, ok then.

--------

"Hey terrorists, how long do I have here, anyway? Can I like stay all day if I want?"

What, she wasn't expected an answer or anything. Besides. That'd be said grinding. Just... just long enough to take a nice breather and enjoy feeling free.

"Cause I doubt you'll just explode me if I do, really. Umm... fuck it. I'll probably get a warning. I'm gonna chill a while longer."

And get that thrill from not knowing how long you had.

In the end, she guessed she'd stayed about an hour. She'd practiced loading the crossbow, it came with about 20 bolts and looked like you could fit ten in the chamber. So apparently you just pulled back the string and could keep on doing that to fire a bunch of them rapid fire.

Well, she guessed she'd have to use at least one here, right?

She stretched back the string and let it go and the crossbow damn near jumped in her hands as a bolt flew wildly out and buried itself in the wall.

''...Christ."

Kaitlyn stared at the arrow. Did... did they give her like some weird medieval version of a gun she already had on purpose or something? She was thinking on that when her collar suddenly gave a single beep.

And she froze.

"I hear ya, I hear ya."

She wondered if she could stretch it a few more minutes, but pushed that thought away, gathered her stuff, and jogged out. But it wasn't blinking this time. No way. It was just smarts. She could be smart. She could play it.

She stood outside the crematorium and stared north, at the asylum. It spread out before her, massive and foreboding. She'd wondered on and off the last couple days what was in there. It drew and repelled her at the same time. But was it that kind of smarts, going in there? Or was it more...

Behind the aslyum, she saw the bell tower's tip, jutting up like a giant fucking middle finger to the sky and everyone and the asylum in particular. Yeah. She snickered at the buildings, and turned and went the other way.

(Kaitlyn Greene continued in Dark Necessities)