Ken Lawson Checks Out

[Cactus]

It wasn't a day that he'd ever forget, even though it had started off like any other. To think of that, in itself, might be seen as a thought that was somewhat cliché, but it was by and large the truth. Nobody could have expected that anything like it would happen (again), and Burton Harris didn't give it much of a second thought when he'd taken the steps that he had. He WOULD, on the other hand, smarten right up once he realized just what had gone down.

The day in question, of course, was June 10th, 2006.

There'd been absolutely no way in hell that Burton wanted to go on any kind of a field trip at all. It just wasn't his style, to actually shuck the carefree lifestyle that he lived and take a week out of his ridiculously lax schedule to be responsible. That wasn't the Burton Harris way. He'd signed up to be a TA so that he could do as little work as possible, while working on writing his school play that was more of a social commentary than an actual school play. But he'd get away with it, just like he got away with everything.

As soon as he'd heard that the class would be taking an end-of-year trip, Burton had grimaced a little bit, and had immediately tried to think of ways to get out of it. He researched ways that he could manage to fake sick, to get out of the trip, but as luck would have it, it didn't appear that anything would work. The teachers were very strict on the fact that if he didn't come with them on the field trip, he'd not get a passing grade for the year.

That, of course, was when the plan unfolded in Burton's mind.

He'd been walking back home from school on a Wednesday, a sunny day where many people were out and about, and he'd overheard a friend of his talking with another girl in the smoking pit, trying to convince her to take him with her on a family vacation. His friend; Ken, was whining that he never got to go anywhere, and that the "vibes were beginning to razz on him". Burton passed by without saying anything, but the gears in his mind immediately began to start working.

Two days later, Burton approached Ken with his idea. It wasn't a foolproof plan, not by any stretch, but it might be a hectic enough time that it just might work. Ken had the good fortune (for Burton, that is) to be several things. One was a virtual marijuana addict. Having dabbled in it himself a little bit (no, that was a lie, it was more like a lot), Burton always had his hands on a constant supply of the stuff. The second thing that Ken was happened to be a very close look-alike to one Burton Harris. Ken was initially a little hesitant, but when Burton promised Ken a virtual fortune in marijuana for the trip, Ken was more than happy to go along with the class. The one prerequisite that Burton had for Ken was that he had to tone it down, and act like Burton so the teachers wouldn't get too suspicious. Ken's long brown hair and beard masked his face, just like Burton's did, and Burton made the necessary arrangements to make his plan happen.

Now, that plan wasn't complex by any stretch of the imagination, and that was mainly due to the fact that Burton was lazy at heart, and lacked the real drive to make his plan work. The other fact of the matter was that if the plan fell through, the odds were that nobody would notice until it was far too late, and by that time, nobody could force him to go.

And it all worked perfectly, without a hitch...Burton Harris traded identification with Ken Lawson, and the two went their seperate ways, Burton happy to be relieved of his responsibility, and all that it had cost him was a week's worth of weed - not a bad trade-off at all. Burton had given Ken the trip information and his own identification the day prior to the trip, and had thanked him for what he was doing. Ken had, naturally, thanked Burton right back, as his desire to escape the "bad vibes" was being accommodated by his buddy, good ol' Burton.

Of course, this all led up to the afternoon of June 10th, and a day that would rock Burton's world more than anything ever had before.

~~~

*BZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"Ughhh...."

The ringing sound of the alarm was the one sound that Burton Harris figured that he hated more than anything else in the whole world. What 'better' way was there to be shocked out of your sleep by a sound that might have been a cross between a rocket launching into space and a woman's screams as she gave birth? He certainly couldn't think of one. Half-forcing his eyes open, Burton gave his alarm clock a look, and saw that it was just after noon, 12:04 to be precise, and as it HAD actually been the time that he'd set the alarm for, the ultimate culprit in this case of 'who was the dastardly villain' was, for the time being, himself.

Without much of a word, he dragged himself out of bed, brushing his sheet off of his back, where it had been half-lying on him, and half on the floor. Like his outward appearance, the room of Burton Harris was cluttered. Posters lined his walls, and his shelves held many interesting items of all different origins and varieties. At first glance, the room would be seen to belong to an ordinary suburban rock fan. But looking closer, the posters on his wall weren't the ordinary posters that a high school student might post. Things like Stonehenge and a 'Where's Waldo' poster adorned the walls, lending credence to any kind of theory that the occupant of the room might not be the usual high school student. And indeed, as Burton crawled out of bed and tossed on a pair of grey track-pants that he found on the floor, the inhabitant of the room might have reminded some of your typical hippie.

Brushing the brown hair out of his eyes, and not thinking much to put on a shirt, Burton groggily sauntered out of his room and down the hallway into his living room/kitchen area. Nobody else was home, but that was absolutely no surprise. Blearily making his way into the kitchen, he effortlessly threw on a pot of coffee, the actions almost independant of the person who was doing them. Seeing the little LCD display let him know that his coffee would take a few minutes to prepare, he lazed back over to the couch, plopping down beside the remote control, turning on the television in front of him. The first thing that came on was something Burton himself considered "a step above Jerry Springer", which was a re-run of Dr. Phil. Flipping the channel, he half-heartedly glanced out the window in front of his house, which looked out upon his school, Hobbsborough High School.

"Hmm."

That, and a raising of the eyebrow were all that the near-fifteen police cars in front of his high school got as a reaction from the semi-coherent high school student, and he flipped on a news program as the beeper on the coffee pot went off. Dragging himself up off the couch, he returned to the coffee pot, and poured himself a steaming hot cup of coffee. After adding the appropriate milk and sugar to the coffee, Burton turned back towards the television, at the same time taking a sip out of the mug.

The scalding-hot coffee ran down his throat quickly, and Burton could feel his body responding to the new fluid appropriately. His awareness increased a little bit, and he turned his eyes towards the tube to see what was making news at that current afternoon. Not a lot would surprise him - after all, it had just been a few weeks prior that he himself had discovered a corpse in the men's washroom. Murderers and all, Hobbs had everything, it seemed.

But the report on the television screen in front of him managed to do something that very little did to Burton Harris - send a chill right down his spine. His mouth dropping in shock, he shook his head a little and woke right up, setting his coffee down on the table and making his way over to the couch to listen to the news report.

"...sources are saying that the plane was hijacked as early as 9am this morning. The intended targets of the hijacking are a class of students from the local Hobbsborough High School, that were scheduled to attend an end-of-year field trip. This ties in with two seperate, yet thought to be related incidents involving the abductions of classes from two other schools in the area; Bathurst High School, and the PJ Gilroy Academy. More information will be reported as soon as it comes available. The current number of missing stands at approximately one hundred and twenty students, and ten teachers. While local and federal authorities refuse to comment, some are believing this to be the work of the infamous "Mr. Danya" who was responsible for mass abductions last year in the 'Survival of the Fittest' incident, that lead to the deaths of just under one-hundred and twenty students earlier this year. When asked for a comment, the sole survivor, Adam Dodd replied with a very brief but clear message..."

Burton looked at the television in a state of shock as the view switched to a picture of Adam Dodd, one that Burton himself had been familiar with, having researched the SOTF craze and written numerous articles and a play on the subject. Beside the picture, a quote was displayed.

"If Danya's done it again, the fault lies squarely upon the shoulders of the mass media industry. You make too much [explitive deleted] money out of this whole thing, and where do you think half of that is going? Sponsors? [Explitive deleted] no. It's going to that [explitive deleted] little [explitive deleted] [explitive deleted] [explitive deleted] himself. If it truly is him again, and we didn't learn anything about how to stop him the first time, then how the [explitive deleted] do we expect to rescue those poor [explitive deleted] now? If that truly is the case, we've all damned those poor kids to death, and the United States government and media ought to be completely [explitive deleted] ashamed of themselves. If it is him, action needs to be taken, and it needs to be done really [explitive deleted] quickly."

"...those strong words are an insider scoop from his news station. We'll give you more information as it develops. For channel six news, this is Shawn Stasiak, reporting live from Hobbsborough High School."

Burton sank into his sofa, his mouth having stayed completely ajar throughout the entire thing. Was it truly possible? Had the class trip that he'd attempted to escape out of a want to escape his responsibility been taken hostage by the man that some people were calling a mix of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler? He couldn't believe it, and yet in his mind, he knew it to be true. There couldn't be any other explanation. He couldn't move, so many different thoughts were blowing through his mind at that moment. And of course, there was one, very distinct one...

...which was the kicker. The kicker was that on that class trip, if it was indeed Survival of the Fittest, part two? The kicker was that Burton Harris would very soon be declared legally dead. If there was one thing that Burton knew about Ken, it was that Ken Lawson was no survivor. The kid was barely able to sustain a passing grade point average in school. No, Ken wouldn't last very long in a battle royale, of sorts. And that fact meant that Burton Harris would cease to exist, even though the genuine article sat in his living room, wearing a pair of grey trackpants, his mouth still ajar.

This was the first time that Burton realized that this mistaken-identitiy might present a small problem for him in the future.

~~~

The guilt hit Burton pretty hard, one his worst fears were confirmed. Danya did the same sort of thing as before - taking over the satellites of the American public, broadcasting his sick game on every channel. Television companies fought to keep it off the air, but fought a losing battle. Television shows shut down. Actors were forced out of a job. DVD sales skyrocketed across the country. All because of the kidnapping of just over a hundred kids. For Burton, all that he felt for the first day was guilt. Guilt over the fact that he'd sent one of his closest (and only) friends to his death, all because of the fact that he didn't want to be responsible for a field trip. It was lazy, it was inconsiderate, and worst of all, it would likely cost Ken his life.

In the end, it did cost Ken Lawson his life. Ken lasted all of four days, likely hiding out as much as he could before he basically snapped and got caught in a danger zone, laying down to die, just giving up on the game, and on his life. Burton watched it happen, forcing himself to watch it for any trace of his friend. He couldn't help but think - 'Burton Harris' went out 'like a sucka' (like Samuel L. Jackson might say) and not anywhere close to how the real Burton Harris might act.

That, of course was attributed a little to the fact that it wasn't the real Burton Harris.

As soon as Ken died, Burton turned off the television, and began to start work on a new plan. This one would require effort on his behalf, and not any kind of half-assed effort, either. To pull this off, he'd need luck, and skill. Burton liked to think that he had both.

~~~

So when 'Ken Lawson' strode into Southridge High School and applied as a transfer student for the next year's classes, nobody thought anything of it. He had all of the proper identification, all the transfer papers, and everything seemed to be in order. The principal accepted him and he was all set to go to school in sunny California once the year resumed again.

Burton couldn't think of any other plan for himself. California was out of the way, it was a peace-loving city, and nobody knew who he was. That was just fine by him. Burton Harris was starting anew, albeit under a different name and in a different city. To the world, Burton Harris died in Survival of the Fittest. The real kid knew that he could never go back under the name of Burton Harris, for fear of reprisal from the terrorists. He assumed that if they realized they'd missed someone, he might get a special invitation for the next go-round. The government had never apprehended Danya, or any of his helpers, and that frightened Burton just a little bit.

But he figured - under the guise of Ken Lawson, he shouldn't have to worry, right?