Laeil the Warrior

[Super Llama†]

Numb.

That how Lyn "Laeil" Burbank felt as she sat leaning against the wall, just by the front entrance. It surprised her; after everything that had happened, she expected to feel something, anything. Fear, anger, despair. But nothing, she felt absolutely nothing.

It was the same at the presentation. Coach Whittenburg's getting shot off, Danya, the general panic of the students. The whole time she did what she does best, sitting in the back and being invisible. The whole thing didn't seem real, though. Like it was just a strange, morbid dream. "You've got a really sick imagination sometimes, don't you?" She thought as she lost conciousness. This was definitely real, though. She held the gladius she was given in her hands, and it sure as hell felt real to her. She had read through the survival guide, and it felt real. The collar around her neck felt real. This cold hard floor felt real. The smell of death coming from the other room felt real.

The smell of death.

She looked over in the direction of the shower room. She had already seen the bodies. She thought she recognized Viktor; who else at her school looked like he did? The other body she couldn't recognize, seeing as the head had been blown apart. She still didn't feel any sadness or anything else; She didn't really know, or really care, much about the other students. Well, there was one. Once. One that she had cared about, even loved. One that she'd confided her biggest secret to, the secret that had suspiciously became known to practically the entire school within the next couple of days. "Stop it." She said to herself. She didn't want to think about that girl anymore, she'd already transferred to a different school, and the sooner she forgot about her the better. Her train of thought passed back over to the corpses. It seemed the game was real too, and it already had its casualties.

She'd heard of it before. Survival of the Fittest. She never watched TV that often (she preferred to just go to her room as soon as she got home) so she never saw anything that happened, but she knew the general idea of it. The whole thing seemed like an elaborate farce to her. Killing real people on live TV? Bullshit. Like the networks would actually allow something like that. Looks like she was proven wrong, though. Not that she really seemed to care.

Why don't I feel anything?

She sat there pondering this for a while. It's not like there was anything else she could do. The storm that had been raging for what seemed like forever was still going on, and she knew better than to go outside. She was lucky to find shelter before it rained. It was best to just sit here and wait it out.

----------

Anthony Burbank was pissed.

He was foolish enough to leave his previous shelter, despite all the rain, hoping to find somebody who could confirm his hopes that this was all just an elaborate prank. Survival of the Fittest isn't real. He kept thinking to himself. It's all a load of bullshit, and anyone who thinks it is is just a delusional idiot. He had already looked through the survival guide and seen his assigned weapon. Handcuffs. Fucking handcuffs. It HAD to be a prank. Sooner or later one of the students was going to jump out from behind something and yell out "Oh, man! We got you so good!" And then they'd share a laugh, and then (if the student was smaller than him, of course) Anthony would beat the crap out of him for humiliating him like that. This isn't funny. This isn't goddamn funny at all. He thought. He was soaked, and he was miserable, and he was fucking pissed.

His shoulder gave another painful throb. Dammit, it was almost healed. He thought to himself. Unfortunately, having to trudge through the jungle this whole time had taken it's toll on his injured shoulder Oh, I'll definitely beat the crap out of whoever's responsible for this

He noticed a building coming into view. "Finally." He said to himself, heading towards it. He'll head inside and wait for the rain to pass like he should've done to begin with. He approached further, and finally entered the front door.

----------

After a while, Lyn moved to look out the front door, watching for anyone who might be crazy enough to still be outside in this weather and looking for shelter. She didn't want to be caught off guard if someone who had decided to play the game came in. Eventually, a figure indeed came into view, and she hid behind the doorframe, trying to make out who it was. Finally, she felt something, a twinge of disappointment. "Fuck, it's Anthony." She said to herself, finding herself wishing that he had become one of the game's casualties. She quickly set down the sword against the wall and covered it with her duffel bag, taking the position she was in before.

Finally, Anthony stepped through the front door, dripping water all over the floor and lugging his duffel bag over his good shoulder. He took a quick look around the room and noticing Lyn.

"Oh, it's you." He said, in that condescending tone of voice that always got under Lyn's skin. Suddenly, his face twisted up in an expression of disgust. "God, what is that smell?"

"That's the smell of dead people." Lyn said simply, giving a slight nod towards the direction of the shower room. Anthony gave a confused look, and headed over in that direction, looking through the door.

"What...What the fuck!?" Anthony blurted out as he saw the bodies. "Are you telling me this shit is real!?"

"Yep. Looks like it." She said, keeping the same expression throughout as she watched Anthony's horrified reaction.

Anthony took a moment to register all of this, before beggining to circle the room. "This can't be happening...this can't be happening...hell, this can't be happening to ME!" Lyn let out a sigh of annoyance. Typical Anthony. Always looking out for number one. Granted, that's how she was, too, but with Anthony it always seemed to annoy her.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Anthony shouted out as he heard the sigh, clearly agitated. "How the hell can you be so calm about this!?"

Lyn simply gave a shrug. "Dunno." She said, wondering the same thing herself. She paused for a moment before continuing. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know...dammit, I don't know." Anthony said, still circling. "Okay...the goal of this whole thing is to kill everyone right?"

"That's right."

"Alright, then that's what we do. We wait until the rain stops, and then we go out, and we play the game. We start killing everyone."

"Are you sure about that?" Lyn asked. "Those people out there are your classmates. You go to class with them every weekday, you eat lunch with them, you play baseball with some of them." She already knew what his answer would be, but she decided to ask anyway.

"Man, fuck them!" Anthony said. "Those last times, only one person got out alive, right? Well, if it's gonna be them or me, then it's sure as hell gonna be me! The fuck if I'm gonna let somebody kill me over this bullshit!" He looked over in Lyn's direction. "What kind of weapon did you get."

Lyn sat there in silence for a moment. "So..." She started, dodging the question for now. "Does that mean you'll kill me, too?"

"What the fuck are you...just show me what you got!" Anthony dodged Lyn's question as well, but then again he didn't really need to answer. Lyn already knew.

Anthony looked down at Lyn's duffel bag next to her, noticing something shiny and metallic peeking out from underneath it. "There! That's it, isn't it? Show it to me."

Lyn hesitated.

"God dammit, show it to me!"

Lyn sighed. There was no point in trying to hide it know. Knowing him, he'd keep this up until she showed the sword to him, and if she kept resisting he'd probably try to take it from her. She got up, picked up the duffel bag and set it aside, then picked up the gladius.

Anthony gave a scowl upon seeing her weapon What the fuck? She got a better one than I did? He had to get his hands on it. "Fuck, like your scrawny ass could use that thing properly. Give me that thing."

Lyn gave a scowl of her own. That wasn't true and she knew it. It was a reasonable size for her. "You've got your own weapon, why don't you use that?" She answered, suspecting foul play.

Anthony cursed himself silently. He screwed up, and now Lyn was on guard. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Look, we'll survive longer if we work together. I've got a gun in my duffel bag, I'll trade you for that." Damn, looks like I'll have to kill her now. He thought to himself as he lied. He was hoping he could've at least used her as a meat shield if the need arose.

Bullshit. Like the concept of working with her ever crossed his mind. He just said if it's going to be them or him it's gonna be him, and since only one can get out of here alive, she was in the way too. Lyn worked all this through her head, and finally arrived at a conclusion: He must have got stuck with a bad weapon and now he's trying to get mine.

"Dammit, give it to me!" Anthony was beginning to look more angry now

"No." Lyn responded flatly.

"YOU FUCKING USELESS DYKE BITCH, GIVE IT TO ME!" He shouted, finally losing his temper and lunging forward to grab hold of her wrist.

Lyn gritted her teeth. She'd had enough. As Anthony lunged at her, she ducked to the side, turning the gladius around in her hand into a stabbing gesture, lunging forward herself and bringing it down on him.

Anthony's eyes went wide as he felt a sharp pain in his back. The source of that pain twisted around inside the wound a couple of times before being pulled out. Suddenly, his legs gave out on him and he collapsed to the floor face-first. He tried to move his legs to get back up again, but couldn't seem to move them, or even feel them.

Lyn looked down at her handiwork. She had managed to plant the blade right against Anthony's spine, and though it didn't go very deep, she managed to sever his spinal cord. Her eyes shifted to the red on the tip of her sword, shocked at what she had just done. Meanwhile Anthony managed to roll over, staring up in disbelief. "What...what the fuck did you just..."

Lyn looked down at Anthony. Any anger, arrogance, anything she associated with Anthony was gone now. Now there was only disbelief, slowly giving way to fear.

A twisted grin finally crept across Lyn's face.

"Where's your ego now?" She asked calmly. "You were such a hotshot a moment ago.'If it's going to be them or me, then it's sure as hell going to be me', right?" She stood over Anthony, unable to stop herself from grinning. At least if she wanted to. She was enjoying it, reveling in it.

Her first taste of power.

It was Anthony's turn to look horrified now. "What are you talking about?" He said, his voice shaky. He tried to crawl away, as futile as that would be, but he found himself too frozen with terror to move. He met Lyn's eyes, and suddenly realized what a bad idea that was. It's usually hard to tell anything from those dead-fish eyes, but one thing could be gleaned from them now.

Madness.

Lyn had led what could best be described as a shit life. Her dad shot and killed her mom when she was young, and when she came to live with Anthony and his family, they seemed to make every effort to let her know that she wasn't welcome. She was belittled, mocked, and even beaten on a couple of rare occasions. Anthony wasn't exactly innocent in all of this, either. He pushed her around and verbally assaulted her from the moment she arrived, letting her know that he was top dog, and she was to just shut up and stay out of the way, and to take his abuse when he was in the mood for it. When Lyn was revealed to the whole school to be a lesbian, he was one of the worst of the lot that bullied her. It seemed obvious now that things would eventually come to this. That after all the crap she had taken from everyone her whole life she'd finally be driven right over the edge. She'd either break and kill herself, or she'd snap, and...

"You were always the favorite, weren't you?" She said, circling Anthony like a wolf circles her prey. "All the adults loved you. They showered praise on you because you were SO good at sports and school. You were SO gifted." She finally crouched down at his feet. "You could've taken all of this in stride and turned out to be a perfectly respectable citizen, but did you?" She raised her sword slowly into the air. "No. You didn't. You let all that praise go to your head, and you turned into an asshole." She brought the sword down, driving it deep into his leg and pulling it back out. "An egotistical..." Stab. "...arrogant..." Stab. "...asshole." Stab.

Anthony watched as Lyn brought the sword down into his leg, over and over again. Of course, it didn't hurt at all, but somehow the fact that it didn't hurt was worse than if it had. "H-hey...Lyn...s-stop it." He said. "I-I'm sorry abou-"

Stab.

He winced and shut his eyes tightly as the sword was brought down on his crotch.

"Shut up." Lyn said. "I'm not finished yet." She stood up again, Anthony's legs and crotch a bloody mess at this point, his pants soaked red. "It's really rude to interrupt someone when they're talking, you know?" She said as she begin to circle Anthony again. "You really liked to push me around, too, huh?" She looked around Anthony's body, as if deciding where to strike next. "As if bullying someone worse off than yourself somehow made you stronger. As if it told everyone around you 'Hey, look everyone! Look how much better I am than this pathetic loser!' Of course, it wasn't just you that picked on me, but still..." Anthony finally decided to do something. It probably wouldn't work, but it was still better than doing nothing. He reached out quickly and grabbed hold of Lyn's pant leg and pulled hard, trying to pull her down.

Big mistake. Lyn's sword swung down hard, and with another sharp pain his hand was no longer attached to his body. Anthony stared at the stump, what just happened taking a moment to register, before the nerves began to burn fiercely and he screamed in a mixture of pain and horror. The scream was met with a black sneaker across his face.

"I said shut up." Lyn answered. The tone of her voice was enough to shut him up. Lyn couldn't seem to stop herself. While a small part of her brain held onto it's sanity, begging her to stop, the rest drowned it out, reminding her of every wrong Anthony ever committed against her her, reminding her every moment that this is justified, that he's had it coming for a long time, that it would be a crime not to do this. It was too late to stop her now, and this would only end in one way.

Finally, Lyn pointed the tip of the sword at her throat, not saying anything, not moving for what seemed like the longest time. Tears finally started falling down Anthony's cheeks as he sobbed uncontrollably.

"God...help me..." He pleaded to whatever higher power governed the universe.

"No." Lyn said finally. "No god will help you. No god will help any of us." And with that she plunged the sword right into his throat. Anthony twitched for a few moments, his mouth open as if he were trying to say something, but failed as he finally lay motionless on the cold floor, the last of his life draining out of him.


MALE STUDENT NO. 86 - ANTHONY BURBANK - DECEASED

Lyn stood there for a moment, the blade still protruding from Anthony's neck. At first, she simply felt numb again, staring at her cousin's now-lifeless body. Then suddenly, what could best be described as an emotional explosion hit her. She began to tremble uncontrollably, tears falling down her own cheeks now.

"Oh God...what did I do?"

You did a good thing

She froze, a rouge voice sounding in her head. She took a moment to answer.

"No...that can't be true."

You did a good thing

"HOW THE HELL CAN THIS BE A GOOD THING!?"

You wanted him to go away, didn't you?

She was silent for a moment.

You wanted him to go away, and so you made him go away.

"No...no, this wasn't supposed to go like this."

But it's a good thing, right? Now he won't be able to pick on you anymore.

She considered this for a moment. "Yeah...yeah, that's true...b-"

There are others, too. They made you suffer. And there were others who saw you suffer and did nothing to help you. In a way, they made you suffer, too.

"..."

Wouldn't it be a good thing if they went away, too?

"..."

And since you were the one they made suffer, shouldn't you be the one to make them go away?

"..."

Shouldn't you?

She looked down at the gladius again, reaching out and pulling it from Anthony's neck, staring at the bloodstained blade.

"I...I'm going to die here, aren't I?"

Probably

She agreed. There were others out there who were certainly better off than she was. Those who were better suited to places like this. People with better weapons than she had. Those who were better fighters than she was.

"T...that's okay, I guess." Throughout her life she never really felt like she had a purpose for living. She had no plans once she left college. In fact, going to school, reading her comic books (well, Anthony's comic books, anyway), her drawings, they were all nothing more than things to do to pass the time between getting up in the morning and going to bed at night. Living could be such a chore at times. She had considered just ending it all on a few occasions, but even that seemed like such a chore.

Then she remembered Laeil.

One of the comic books she managed to steal from his cousin was a fantasy-themed work that featured a heroine named Laeil. She had grown up with her abusive father, who regretted that she hadn't been a boy, and let her know that with every opportunity. She felt worthless and depressed most of the time, but then one day she found a magic sword by the side of the road, one that told her that it was her destiny to wield it and defeat an evil sorceror that was threatening to destroy the entire world. Although she was sure that the sword was talking about someone else, it convinced her that she was the only one that could do it, and she set out on the quest. From this quest, she gained not only a great deal of courage, but a real purpose in life. For once she felt useful. People cheered her name. Anyone who talked ill to her, who stood in her way was soon silenced. And when she finished her quest, people would remember her forever as the heroine who saved the world. The story was horribly cliched, and Anthony probably just bought it because Laeil was pretty scantily clad on the front cover, but she couldn't help but relate to Laeil. Someone who had come from nothing and barely had any of it left by the end suddenly gaining a purpose. A reason to live. She had wanted to be like her ever since she read it. She wanted to be able to stand up to those who had wronged her. But she was too set in her ways. She couldn't bring herself to do it, and once again found herself trying to fade back into obscurity.

She stared at her bloodstained gladius for the longest time.

Are you going to make them go away?

"...yes. I'll make them go away." She said. "I'll make them all go away." She swung the sword a few times. "I'll slaughter the forces of evil. I'll kill the evil sorceror, and then everyone will remember my name. They'll all praise me as a hero. Forever." She said. She was tired of being invisible. She wanted everyone to know who she was.

Lyn was dead. The rest of her life would be lived by Laeil, the warrior.

[Super Llama†]

Laeil opened up Anthony's duffel bag, digging through the spoils of war for anything that might be useful. The first thing she pulled out (being right at the top) was a pair of handcuffs, confirming her suspicions that he had gotten an inferior weapon. No use in holding onto these... She thought to herself, setting them aside. She continued to pull out other things: Anthony's copy of the survival guide, what was left of his rations (which she put into her own duffel bag), a few changes of clothes (which were too big for her anyway) with a couple of packages of condoms mixed in (Oh, like someone like you would ever get laid, you arrogant prick,) and a heavy duty jacket at the very bottom (this one really got her going. If you were going to go walking around in the rain, why didn't you bother putting this on? You stupid fuck.) Granted, in all this confusion, maybe he had forgotten he had it, but still...

She shook her head, choosing not to waste her time thinking about it as she put it on. It was too big for her, but it would help shield her from the rain until the storm died down. She couldn't wait here any longer; she finally felt truely alive for the first time in her life and she didn't want to waste that time sitting around here with nothing but mutilated corpses for company. After she claimed what she wanted, she slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and took another look at Anthony. For a moment, she considered taking her gladius and triggering his collar with it, just as a final insult. She decided against it, though; she didn't know how exactly how powerful the blast would be and she didn't want to get injured from it. Besides, the collar was probably deactivated now that it's wearer was dead.

"So long, asshole." She said to the corpse before setting out, eventually disappearing into the brush.

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