Surface Tension

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

[Camilla Bell continued from Hell is Other People]

When she realized spitting out parts of her teeth was hardly the worst thing to happen to her, she knew the day would not end well. Camilla had to admit there was nothing like getting chased by a murderer to wake one up, for as long as you were getting chased anyway. It would still be nice to sleep, though. If only she could find somewhere unassuming, maybe barricade herself in a- oh who was she kidding, she was on the business end of a barricade twice and both times it didn't go as planned for either of them.

She assumed, anyway.

Even though she knew Justin wasn't chasing her, Camilla couldn't help but look over her shoulder with every snap and thump she heard. It wasn't necessarily Justin she was watching for. But who would care enough to want her dead? Justin, apparently. But he gave up the chase after she got out of the infirmary, so he didn't care all that much it seemed, aside from what one hit to the face that- that hurt, yeah. It didn't seem all too bad, though. It probably wouldn't kill her, and nothing else seemed broken. That should have been good news.

Yet, she still argued with herself over whether she should live another day. The idea of being dead sounded a lot better than the part where she'd actually have to die.

Just to be safe, Camilla put her ear to the door of the house she was about to enter. No sound. She opened the door slowly, and walked in, with more hesitation than she really wanted or expected.

The first room had something on the floor, that trailed like she thought blood would, but it didn't seem like it was blood. It trailed towards another room, and the couch.

It would be dumb to announce her presence. It would be dumb to not announce her presence. Oh God, what should she do?

She mouthed a prayer as she slowly, quietly, followed the trail.

Camilla gently opened the door.

---

"Nononono-"

Camilla knew she shouldn't have done it, she shouldn't have touched anything, like the sign said. Yet, here she was. Once she placed the sheets back over what was left of Bert's face, she backed away from the bed.

Henry... he hadn't called. It would have been a disaster if he called while Justin was there, wouldn't it?

But seeing Bert like this...

Her fingers curled in on themselves as they grasped the walkie-talkie, and worry seeped through her voice.

"Henry? Are you there?"

The silence could not have been much longer than a couple of seconds- could it?

"Y-yeah, I'm here. What's going on?"

Camilla would have sighed in relief, if Henry didn't seem so... shaken?

"I... Bert's dead, I don't know who did it. I was calling to check in on you."

"Damn it." Another moment of silence, before she heard a breath. "Things are... not good here. We just lost Ariana here. Marco did it. She shot him, but he got away."

Marco, she remembered hearing that name. That guy obviously wasn't there now, but if he just killed someone then...

After a pause, Camilla asked "Are you okay?" and hastily added "Physically."

"I'm fine. Not hurt," came his answer. "Are you alright? You don't sound good."

Was she talking weird?

"Well... I ran into Justin. Greene. I got hit in the face, but I don't think anything important's broken."

"Oh. Justin's playing the game too, then? I'm glad you got away. I think - I think things are getting worse."

No kidding. "Seems like it to me. Justin, he- he killed Benny day one. Well..."

What was there to say to that? What was there to do about it? Well, she could say that.

"Now what are we gonna do?" she asked.

"I don't think we can just sit by and let this happen," Henry declared, stability returning to his voice, only for it to take a darker turn. "The faster they kill people, the less time we have. The really bad ones, the people who're enjoying this..."

He wasn't...

"They have to go."

He was.

"...player hunting."

The shock in his voice when he heard of Max's plan flashed in her mind. That was not two days ago, was it?

"Unfortunately. I've spent the last three days trying to figure out what else I can do. I even thought of taking this thing apart to see if I couldn't jury-rig something to get these collars off. I... I can't. We can't save ourselves. We have to buy the rest of the world time."

For a rescue? They couldn't count on it, and Camilla was sure Henry knew that too. But there was always a glimmer of hope, wasn't there? And besides, the killers, they- this was injustice. The cruelest of them all got a haven for their twisted desires and it was always the good people that suffered for it. It didn't feel right, or natural. Not after- Beryl of all people, she was dead on the very first day, that shouldn't be.

Bert... she wasn't on the announcements. How did she know that the gardening club, that they weren't dead, by the hand of one of the killers?

"That..." she took a deep breath in. "I understand that. So... that's our only option, then?"

"I think we have to realize this is going to get worse before it gets better. If it gets better," If. If we can gather as many like minded people, see if there's any way to slow things down - that's the best we can do."

It was the only option, then.

Camilla wasn't capable of it anyway- not in the physical sense. In the mental sense... she wouldn't be, she knew it. She could barely hold herself together to have a fucking conversation with some classmates at lunch back at school.

"...I see. I'll- I still don't have a weapon myself, but if you're gathering people together, I'll try to find you. Where are you now?"

"We've got two guns, I'm not sure what else. I'm with Jackson and Aurelien, I dunno if you know either of those guys. We're near the Shoe Tree, you?"

She might have heard the name Aurelien, but she couldn't say she knew anything else. "I don't know them, no. I'm at the village, west side I think."

"Okay. Things are still a bit... It was really messed up, Cam. I hope Ross doesn't see this. So 'we lost Ariana' wasn't the whole story, but it was unwise to push it any further, she felt. "Let me talk to the other two, see if I can get them moving. I'll get back to you in a few minutes. Stay safe."

"You too," she replied. "I should- I'll get moving too."

She'd be heading north then. Better than staying in this house- even though Bert's head was covered again, she couldn't get the image out of her head.

Camilla wondered if that was what would have become of her, if Justin caught her.

"Alright. I'll let you know once we're good, and we can meet up somewhere."

There was cackling, and Camilla put the walkie talkie away.

Her hand on the door, she took one last look back at where Bert was put to rest.

She wondered why it was her- why it was Beryl, why it was Regina. She'd heard the line about picking beautiful flowers so many times and it was hard to not be reminded of it, but it didn't give her comfort. It made God seem so selfish, taking the brightest lights for himself when the darkness closed in all around his children, when they prayed and cried for some form of mercy. For nothing. Their pleas fell on ignorant ears.

Yet, who was the first person Camilla turned to when she saw someone barge in with a gun? Who was the first person she turned to when a murderer knocked at the door?

And she got to live, that first time she prayed for life. And she had strength, when she needed it.

Damn it all. She would have mouthed a prayer on her way out of the house, but she refused to open her mouth at all.

[Camilla Bell continued in Evolving]