Unnatural Selection

[Shiola]

Too late for that, but I appreciate the thought.

Ty noticed his words hit the right mark, and Johnny walked off without any further conflict. He seemed resolved enough to put down Gervais the next time he saw him. It was hard to imagine Johnny getting the jump on him, but stranger things had happened already today. On that thought, he'd made a point of keeping an eye on Johnny until he was out of sight. The other boy continued to look back at him as he did so.

Smart.

After a few moments, Tyrell began to walk away from the Menagerie at a leisurely pace. There wasn't really any rush to get to...

Where, exactly?

He reached into the back pocket of his jeans, producing the map which he'd only skimmed over on his way to the Menagerie. It hadn't seemed very important then. Before the bullet which now sat heavy in his front pocket. Flipping it open, his hand left dirt and streaks of blood on the paper. There was still some residual debris near his eyes, and he had to blink a few times to get a clear picture.

"Menagerie? What a fuckin' name. Alright... a village."

Much as it might've been before, the village was likely one of the most populated places on the island. It seemed to be more or less in the center, and had plenty of buildings to take shelter in. Places to hide, places to fortify. He suspected if she wasn't somewhere deep in the woods, Erika would've been seeking shelter there. If they met, she'd be his priority. Outside of that, it was more than likely he'd run across someone else worth protecting, or someone worth putting down.

I don't really know which. I think I'd like to find out.

"The village it is." Ty awkwardly folded the map with his free hand and slid it into his back pocket. The way he'd phrased it to Johnny seemed to coalesce in his mind. A goal. It was nebulous, but a goal nonetheless. Something better to do than die. That seemed right, somehow. Initially he'd been inclined to end this all early, but it was becoming more and more clear to him that there wasn't any value in hastening an inevitability. That act of defiance would've just faded into the background amidst one hundred and fifty other deaths. If he kept the right people from advancing though, that might be worth something. People who'd win, or escape. People who'd tell stories of the kind of person he really was. Maybe he'd pay back the debt he'd incurred through all of the awful, petty things he'd said and done over the years.

Or maybe I'll just get blown away by the next person I try and play nice with.

After this particular encounter, it might've been easy to imagine that every person on the island who decided to play the game was going to be some gloomy, overwrought psycho who was just waiting for an opportunity like this; gleefully executing the enemies they'd made in the contrived social hierarchy of high school, all while whistling the tune to Pumped Up Kicks as they stalked their prey from one zone to another. It was important to remind himself that people might not be so forthright with their intentions. They might -

he's comin' for you ; yeah, he's comin' for you ; all the other kids with the pumped up kicks ; you better run, better run ; outrun my gun

Fuck, that stupid meme song is stuck in my head now.

- they might not be that obvious. People had never had any reason to show their ugly sides before, only the dishonest and shallow things they'd done to conceal them. Even people he'd thought were honest were no doubt capable of more than he realized. After all, he'd only thought good things about Lorenzo before they had spoken on that balcony. That his friend had been capable of what he'd confessed to hadn't ever occurred to Ty.





Tyrell stopped in his tracks.





He hadn't thought about Lorenzo since waking up.





It was too much to handle, in those first few minutes. Going out the "right way" had been too important.





Of course, he'd pushed it out of his mind on the trip. It wasn't worth thinking about until they got home.





Thinking about that betrayal hurt, of course it did.





It was impossible to stop thinking about it now, in this place.





Impossible to take his mind off of him.





Wasn't that what Lorenzo had always wanted out of people? To be thought of?





Ty left the Menagerie, humming the familiar tune to himself. Music was a necessary ingredient to a good long walk in his opinion, and they'd even deprived him of that small comfort out here. His own voice and a tapped rhythm would keep him on track, as well as the twisted chunk of lead that he felt in his pocket with each step.

...you'd better run, better run ; faster than my bullet...

((Tyrell Lahti continued in If You Must Fight))