Slow Motion Rocky Punches

[KamiKaze]

((Junko Kurosawa continued from Helvetica Standard))

Once Junko stopped running, far away from the library, she set down her two bags. Her breath was fast, so was her heartbeat. But it was disturbingly easy, that stunt. It turned out all she needed to do was hit her and take the bag. She hadn't looked through it yet, for obvious reasons, but you know. The familiar runner's high had come back, but her shoulders did ache a bit from the extra weight. It was somewhat faint, but she still reached up to rub her shoulders.

It looked like she was in some kind of cove area. There were boats, but one of them looked like it had ripped to shreds, almost like paper. The other boats didn't look too much in shape, either. One looked like it was sinking a little. There was a jetty thing too, but that didn't look so stable, either.

The memories of fighting Darius and robbing Jasmine were still fresh in her mind. She still couldn't get over how he dumped out her water for his stupid plan. Of course, since robbing Jasmine didn't happen all that long ago, it was about as fresh as you could get. Occasionally, another memory came back. The look of fear on Mr. Graham's face, how his head splattered around him. It was still a horrible way to go out, that Junko would never want. Other than Darius trying to slit her throat, she hadn't seen any other dead bodies or been attacked. She attacked, though, if that meant anything?

She didn't think she was a bad person, though. Darius was a dumbass, and while Jazzy wasn't that good she at least didn't kill her. Just set her back a bit, she guessed. But yeah, nobody died because of her, so it wasn't like she was just slitting throats left, right and center. And it wasn't like she didn't do it for a reason, either. Water was important, so was food.

Did she feel a little bad? Yeah. She'd never planned out highwayman shit like that, nor did she ever get into an actual fight before Darius. When she joked about fighting people, it was just that: a joke. She'd done dickish things in video games, some of it was like what she did to Jasmine. But real life and video games were different, obvs. Conscience was a little difficult to get rid of entirely.

Again, she wasn't a bad person, though, right?

Right.

In a way, fighting Darius and stealing from Jasmine was a bit of a reassurance. She knew she was capable of defending herself if someone were to actually fuck with her. She'd gotten into two fights already, if you could count Jazzy as a fight. She'd come out on top. She didn't know what she'd do if someone got a gun or something, but fighting people the way she'd been thus far? Was again, disturbingly easy.

So she let out a few chuckles. Maybe it was the runner's high, maybe it was the fact that she was actually doing well thus far. But the next few days were going to go over smoothly, if this kept up. Junko knelt down, and unzipped Jasmine's bag.

________________________

Some time passed.

Junko had emptied Jasmine's bag of anything useful, and tossed the rest into the tides. She had spent the night in this cave. Well, part of the night. She woke up at one point and realized that her butt was wet. Turns out sleeping in a cave near the tide was miserable. Who knew, eh? So she had silently cursed her decision and moved somewhere else.

She'd been awake on and off for the past few hours, until the sky started to change to shades of blue, pink, and yellow. That's when she stood up, and stretched.

Okay, so that's one day down. She wasn't sure what her end goal was, to be honest. Be the last to die? That idea didn't seem so appealing, actually. If everyone but her died, it'd suck. Hold out until rescue comes? Would rescue come? Survive. Yeah, actually, that was the closest to her end goal here. Survive, until... something happens. She wasn't sure what.

From the trail, she watched the sunrise and the waves moving in rhythm to her own breath and heartbeat. It was calm. She hated it. It was like waiting for someone to attack you. That had to be the worst part, come to think of it. That feeling of boredom, where you can't keep your mind off shit, while wondering if someone was going to come up and try to kill you. Junko even found herself wishing that someone would try. How fucked up was that?

When it was a little more light out, Junko remembered that one of her favorite things was when she was able to exercise in the morning. It was something she did every week. She needed to keep herself in top shape for a reason. She'd also always been an early bird, so most of the time she was up this early anyways. Usually she stretched a bit, did push-ups and sit-ups, jogged. Then she would reward herself with a shower before going to school. She'd done it on the morning of the trip too, actually. Maybe it would help a little bit. Something she'd always done, right?

For some time, Junko exercised. What made things trickier was that there was a shitload of sand, so it made stretching a little weird. Not something she was used to, stretching near the beach. She'd tried push-ups and sit-ups, too, but that was even worse. She got sand all over her. Maybe it would have been a bit better if she had laid something down beforehand.

Jogging, however, was the easiest part. It wasn't a secret that Junko loved running, jogging, and sprinting. She was on the track team for a reason, of course. Even had the 400m record for a while. Junko decided on doing a few laps on the beach before heading out somewhere a bit warmer. She re-tied her shoes, zipped up her hoodie, put on her shades, and went to work.

Junko didn't usually listen to music while she jogged. Normally it was just her and her own thoughts. It wasn't that she hated music or something, just that she liked to jog without. But here, here it felt like some kind of music was appropriate. Sadly, they'd taken anything that could be used to make music. They'd taken a snack bar she had in her pocket, too. Like, they literally reached in and grabbed it when she was unconscious. Bastards. She hoped that they'd choke on it.

Anyways, music seemed fitting. Junko hummed a bit of the Rocky theme as she jogged. They'd played it during practice and events a few times, and it was a damn good motivator. Upon her second lap back, she heard a sound. She stopped, feeling her muscles tense.

For a moment, Junko didn't know what it was, until she remembered. They were supposed to do announcements each morning or something, right? She wasn't sure where exactly it was coming from, but it seemed to be closer to the trail. She stepped closer.

"... live. I'll let that sink in for a moment, because if you can put two and two together, you'll conclude that means some of you aren't."

Junko leaned her back against a large rock and listened. She tried to keep a straight face. But, for a second, her hand clenched and her facial expression darkened. Then relaxed some. They meant a different Cris, than... the one she was thinking. His team mate. A shy boy, but pretty skilled in his own right. Kimiko got him. The same Kimiko who she once had a talk about comics during lunch. Some strange world, huh?

Tina, who she was pretty sure was related to the Cris she was thinking of, had died too. Tina was someone she'd thought she'd get to know a bit better, but the thing was, if she's dead, that can't happen.

Conrad, Joshua, and Harold, of all people, died too. She wasn't sure what to think.

"Last, but by no means least, the guys in the office were a big fan of Kimiko Kao out there and are pleased to announce her as the very first winner of the V6 Best Kill Award. Come along to the Helipad to collect your well-earned prize. See you all tomorrow, kids. Try not to die until then."

A clicking sound, and then it went silent.

Junko wrapped her arms around herself in thought.

Shit was getting real, wasn't it? Like... eight? Maybe ten. Let's go with nine people. About nine people died yesterday. At least.

Actually, Junko did have something to think about Joshua. Jasmine killed him. As in, the Jasmine she ran into yesterday. Well, there you go. A reason not to feel bad about robbing her. Apparently she impaled him on a sword. How she did that, Junko had no idea. But there was a chance that it happened before she'd run into her. Well, it was nice to know that at least she picked someone who might have deserved it, right? Just walked up, slammed the bat into her head, and took her stuff. She might have done that to a cold blooded murderer.

There was something satisfying about that.

What about the people who died? Was she sad? She guessed. These were people she knew, in some way or another. But she didn't want to be sad. It hurt a little, but she had a feeling being sad wouldn't help too much. She was going to try not to grieve too much. Even if she died here, she didn't want to die feeling sad for everything that had happened. It wouldn't help.

Maybe there was another way to look at it? If you're made it this long, it's an accomplishment. Period. She could have gotten her throat slit by Darius, and hell, Jazzy could've found a way to impale her too. She'd made it to see another day. As selfish as it sounded, she felt like she had to be happy that she was still alive, too. She still wasn't a bad person, though, right? Unlike some people, she hadn't killed anyone.

After what she'd experienced so far, Junko felt like she could take on anyone, and made her decision. She wasn't going to be sad, or guilty or whatever.

Junko pulled her hood up.

There was going to be someone else she had to deal with. Who, she didn't know. But there was going to be another challenge for her. Another battle, another enemy. Another day, too.

Junko shook her limbs a bit. Maybe she should continue jogging, get her going again, you know? Five minutes later, Junko went back to what she was going. Her humming followed.

((Junko Kurosawa continued in St. Patrick's Purgatory))