SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

She froze.

She didn't look. She couldn't look. It would be so easy for her to just lift her head up and see how the two people in the distance reacted, but she couldn't. She couldn't put her mind into doing it. There was something, on the edge of her. A feeling.

A feeling that if she looked up there would be something far worse than Toby looming down on her.

It was fear. The feeling was fear. She had made too much noise. She had blown whatever sort of cover she had, and whatever advantage she had on these two. And they would notice. They would be deaf not to. And then they would see her. And then they would do something to her. She didn't know what it was, but she knew that it was something she wouldn't want.

She didn't know what that was, though.

And she was scared.

But she could talk, couldn't she? She was Jasmine King. She could talk. She was good at it. She knew she could do it.

But there was a feeling. On the edge of her skin and crawling up her arms. Fear. She couldn't do it. She couldn't do it and then they would get mad at her for trying to sneak up on them. She knew she could do it, but...

It was a risk.

One Jasmine wasn't willing to take.

She ran back down the stairs, hoping that they wouldn't follow and that the feeling would go away.

((Jasmine King, concluded in Dreams and Reality))

"Yeah, of course it's peer pressure. How does anyone ever start smoking, huh? This shit works."

They walked up to the balanced helicopter. As they stood someone opened the door behind them. He looked back and by the time he had, the girl had turned on her heels and ran back down the stairs.

He looked at Maria for a moment and shrugged.

"That was weird. Ok, whatever. Get in there and I'll be out here. Go team."

Maria edged into the helicopter, one feet on the edge of the metal, then two. The stucture shifted and groaned as she stepped on it, and she froze.

As slowly as possible, she inched her way across the floor until she reached the bundle of rope hanging out of a locker. Carefully, she kneeled down to take it out, then froze as the chopper adjusted itself. Carefully standing back up, she reached for the rope without bending over. One finger slipped inside the loop, then another one. It was like playing a game of pick-up sticks, except pick-up sticks that could end in your death.

As she pulled it out, the entire chopper groaned and turned, sending a blanket spinning out into the sea. Panicking, she scooped up the thermos flask and dashed across the desk, practically jumping onto Caleb.
"That."
"Was."
"The most impossibly fucking scary fucking thing that I've ever fucking done."
"I'm pretty sure I've just about used up my allotment of fear, forever."

Caleb waited as close to the helicopter as he could, biting on his index finger and holding his breath. The helicopter groaned and he instinctively reached out, but stopped, and Maria continued to move. She must have decided she had pushed her luck far enough and Caleb wasn't disinclined to agree.

She jumped out and he grabbed her by the arms, helping guide her back on to the helipad's concrete floor.

"Good work!"

He took the cigarette out of his pocket and traded it for the rope she'd recovered.

"You earned it."

After setting up a trip wire at the one entrance they started to get settled in for the night. There were no watches or shifts, Caleb would stay up by the door because he had no other choice. They said their goodnights and he was alone again.

It was positively maddening. At least at home he had the internet and video games to district him when he couldn't sleep, prior to being properly medicated. There was nothing now. For some time he looked up at the clear sky to the constellations and tried to find as many as he could. It was quiet except for the sound of the ocean and the occasional seagull cry. He would doze for a short time, but slept incredibly lightly. By the time the sun rose, he had hardly ever been happier to see anything in his life.

Caleb sighed and rubbed the bottom of his eyes. They were half-lidded and his head hurt a little bit. While he was stretching, he heard a voice wash over the island. He listened, noting the murderers and shocked to hear Kimiko's name among them. Even more surprising was that A) She'd won the "best" kill, B ) She was supposed to come to where he was and C ) If he stayed where he was he'd be executed immediately.

"Maria, wakeup. We have to get out of here," he said shaking the girl.

He started throwing his supplies back into his bag and rolled up the rope, putting it in his pack and zipping it up.

He had to find Kimiko, talk to her at least. They were friends, good friends. But what if that didn't hold any weight?

You're going out on a limb here, he though somewhat groggily.

He thought about he and Kimiko hanging out together after school and felt gutted and nauseated. It was undoubtedly a risk to go find her. Thinking that he might put his trust in her and have her reject it was more painful than the idea of being stabbed.

People never pass up the opportunity to take your faith, put its teeth on a curb and smash its brains in when given the chance.

He wanted to be able to trust her.

"I'm going to wait nearby for Kimiko. If you don't want to, I totally understand."

((Caleb Diamond continued in Robber Barons))

((Maria Cucinotta continued elsewhere))