House Made of Sticks

[JamesRenard†]

((Garry Villette continued from No Such Thing as a Perfect Plan))

Garry didn't have a clue what exactly had happened to the group after they were forced to leave, but things didn't sound good. They'd heard a faint beeping and a muffled explosion, which sent him and Sunil racing off as fast as possible. But then considering their apparent 'leader' liked to shoo other bystanders away by way of a bullet, someone dying was to be expected realistically.

As he and Sunil made their way eastwards away from the group of four (well, now reduced to three), the sawmill that the boy had been talking about came into view.

What was left of it, anyway.

"What the Hell happened?" Garry exclaimed to no one in particular as he and Sunil approached the smoldering wreck. Charred wood was scattered all over the place, along with the odd glowing ember that was still managing to keep itself hot. The thick smell of smoke was heavy in the air. 'Yeah, sure, this was a real great place to seek shelter, thanks a bunch ya bastard,' Garry angrily thought. Things were getting worse and worse, and he didn't know just how much more he could take. Aside from all the terrible crap he'd had to face, Rena had died, he'd been shot at, and he still hadn't found Saul. How long had it been since they split up? Several days? A week? Two? He'd completely lost count of how many days had passed since the very beginning.

"This... this royally sucks," Garry muttered, tossing his bag and weapon on the floor in disgust and sitting down next to them. The sun was on the verge of rising; it would be announcement time in a little while, and Garry had a horrible feeling that Saul was going to be on the list. 'Please not, please not him.'

[General Goose]

((Sunil Savarkar continued from that thread as well.))

Sunil considered himself a kind, benevolent person. He liked to think that, while by no means perfect, he strived to put the needs of others before his own needs and wants, and that he was seen as others as a polite, friendly guy. Before the island, he would only wish death on a few certain individuals, namely mass murderers like Osama bin Laden (and Danya, rather ironically), but never someone he knew personally. So, it was a sign of how much the island had changed his worldview that he was now wishing death on people he once shared classes with.

Top of that list was Fucktard McDouchenozzle or whatever his name was, the guy with the gun. Sunil had been spending most of his time since leaving the group imagining more and more brutal deaths for him to suffer. The current favourites were a rescue helicopter landing on his head, and an elaborate plot involving Maxwell Lombardi and a vase. The last one was particularly amusing and in no way arousing. Nope. Sunil wasn't into that shit.

As he and Garry fled from the group, they'd both heard what sounded like a beeping explosive (similar to those timed bombs he'd always see in his sister's films) followed by a small explosion. Sunil could only hope it was Cuntgurgling Cocklicker on the receiving end, and not one of his poor teammates who were probably forced to endure his unique brand of obnoxiousness on a more frequent basis.

They soon found themselves at the sawmill. Why they followed Dickhead's advice, Sunil had no idea.

"The sawmill..." Sunil uttered, his eyes scanning the small complex. "Been here before. Was with two guys. John Smith and Jojo something or other. Someone got shot, I think." Swinging his arms from side to side to try and release his pent-up frustration, he turned to Garry and asked "Well...what now boss?"

[JamesRenard†]

Garry didn't know that Sunil had been at the sawmill before. For him this was his first, and most likely last, visit to what remained of the building. And according to his companion, someone had been shot at. That didn't sound good. Of course, Garry had seen his fair share of bloodshed. He'd seen the aftermath of Reiko's attacks on Sally and Cyrille. He'd been standing not far from Luke when he got shot several times by that maniacal bitch.

He'd killed Jake Crimson.

All of that served to worsen Garry's mood even further. He'd lost friends, acquaintances and had even contributed to the spiraling death count.

And now Sunil was asking what they were going to do next, and had even called him boss. He didn't feel like he deserved that title. He was a failure, a massive failure. Violetta had died before he could find her, Rena had died before he could find her. And the way things looked, Saul was going to die before they could find him as well.

"I don't know," was all Garry could reply with, looking up to Sunil from his position on the floor. "I really, honestly, don't know. I... I am just sick with all of this shit. Nearly everyone I knew from school is dead. And if they're not dead, they'll be dead sooner or later. Why do I even bother? Saul's just going to die and I'm not going to see him again. I might as well accept that now, save myself from totally losing it when I hear Danya confirming it for us over the announcements. He's probably dead already! I've let him down! Just like Violetta! Just like Rena!"

Garry flopped onto his back, the beret spilling off his tangled dark hair and landing on the ground. He stared up at the morning sky. "I give up. What's the point in continuing?" he spoke in a hushed tone, tears rolling down the sides of his face.

[General Goose]

Well, Garry didn't know what to do.

Sunil was about to suggest going back to Doucheface and beating more information out of him until he remembered that said Doucheface had a working gun, had fired it before and probably had no particular qualms about firing it again. Before he could voice an alternative suggestion, Garry went down the all-too tempting route of useless self-pitying and bemoaning their current situation instead of adjusting to it. Sunil sympathised; he too had lost people close to him, and suffered some rather horrific experiences, but Sunil knew all too well that whining didn't get you anywhere.

However, he also knew all too well that sometimes, in shitty situations like this, having a good cry was all you could do, and so let Garry be for a few minutes before stepping in.

Yesterday, before Rena had died, she'd had a break-down, much like this, albeit with slightly less silent crying and slightly more semi-psychotic giggling. The whole pessimistic ranting aspect was very much intact, however. Back then, Garry had been the one to take the first steps in calming Rena down, bringing her back down to Earth, attempting to restore her sanity and sense of hope, and Sunil had just followed with his own minor pep-talk. For reasons obvious to anyone with a single functioning brain cell, Garry was unable to take the first steps in calming Garry down, and so that duty fell to Sunil.

Bending over Garry, Sunil cleared his throat, and, his voice shaky and his attempts to hide his nervousness and suppress his own urge to burst into tears not as effective as they should have been, he tried to calm Garry down. "Garry, you remember when Rena had a breakdown? Do you remember what we told her? That all hope is not lost, that giving in like that will just be giving a victory to Danya, there's no point in just lying down and taking it?" Sunil hoped Garry'd remember. Repeating that speech was not something he wanted to do. "I know sometimes you just wanna cry, but...hey, you didn't let Rena have a breakdown did you? No, we...you stopped her, and..." And straight afterwards, she ran off and got killed.

No. Happy thoughts.

"You stopped her. Now, I really hope you wasn't talking shit that even you didn't believe when you convinced Rena to calm down and be less...cynical. Pessimistic. Do you think Rena or Violetta or any other of your friends would want you crying like this? No. They'd want you going down with a bang. Or a smile on your face. Or whatever. So...cheer up." He paused. "If not for yourself, at least for Saul's sake?" And Sunil's sake, too. Looking after a tearful werewolf-wannabe wasn't high on his to-do list.

[JamesRenard†]

After hearing Sunil's words, Garry felt like the biggest hypocrite in the world. He'd taken the initiative to calm Rena down with the speech he gave her. And there he was, just lying there having a mental breakdown, just like she was. "Look, I know it's tough, but you can't just give up like that," his words to her.

Wow, he really was a fucking hypocrite.

And Sunil was right, oh so very right. Imagine how everyone would be thinking if they saw him now. Cyrille, Violetta, Rena, Dougal, the team.

His family.

Oh God, his family were probably watching him on their TV right that second. Praying for his survival, praying that someone could intervene and let him come home in one piece. The way he was acting, it wasn't the Garry they knew and loved. The Garry they knew was strong and wouldn't let anything bring him down. Garry slowly sat up and placed the beret back on his head. "You... you're right. What was I thinking? I can't give up. I have to stay strong, for everyone's sake."

Garry brushed away the drying tears, and then nearly jumped out of his skin when the loudspeakers came to life. The announcements, he'd nearly forgotten about them. The names came, Garry hoping and praying from the bottom of his heart that Saul wasn't among the dead. When Adrian Staib's name was read out, as horrible as it sounded, Garry felt like an enormous weight had been taken off him.

'He... he's not dead,' Garry thought. All of the worrying, the stress, the freaking out and crying for nothing. Saul was still alive.

"I'm... I'm sorry for freaking out like that," Garry apologized to Sunil. God, he felt like such an ass the way he acted.

[General Goose]

((Argh shitty short post. Sorry, have writer's block))

As Garry apologised for his outburst, Sunil felt compelled to apologise back. "Hey, no, no need to apologise. Sorry if I came off as pushy or anything...so, should we get to doing something?"

[JamesRenard†]

(Agghhh writer's block. Must... fend off... inactivity)

"No, it's alright, I just... well, it was stupid of me," Garry said. "We should get going, really. We're not going to find Saul just by sitting here, are we?"

Garry looked around the place and saw there was nothing much they could do. The torched place was pretty much uninhabitable, so rest and relaxation was out of the question. "Yeah, let's go," he announced, grabbing his bags and getting to his feet. "Unless you want to look around for anything you might need to defend yourself? Like a piece of wood or something like that?"

[General Goose]

((Lets end this thread. Last short Sunilpost in a while, I promise.))

Giving Garry a slight nod in response to his suggestion, Sunil briefly scanned the area around him to see if he could spot a suitable weapon, or some kind of object that would make a decent improvised weapon. The only notable thing he saw was a discarded plank of scorched, twisted wood, probably thrown up into the air by an explosion or something. It looked like it would make a decent offensive weapon, one that would give any attacker a nasty splinter or something...but its greatest strength was also its greatest weakness. It would also probably give Sunil at least one nasty splinter if he picked it up, and all in all was not a desirable weapon for the circumstances.

Not exactly eager to continue exploring the sawmill complex to look for another viable weapon (that would probably also give him splinters), Sunil shrugged his shoulders, scratched his head and said to Garry "Nope. Nothing. Zilch. Nada." Stopping himself before he could read out any more synonyms for zero, he pointed in a random direction away from the sawmill.

"Well, I say we go find Saul now."

Sunil was grateful for Garry's company. Without him, Sunil would have no-one to talk to, and would probably end up going insane, and Garry's search for his friend was the only objective Sunil had, the only thing keeping him from adding "bored shitless" to the list of negative emotions he was feeling.

And so, he left the sawmill. Hopefully, never to return.

((Sunil Savarkar continued in Livebait.))

[JamesRenard†]

Garry watched Sunil, his eyes following the boy as he traipsed around the wreckage in search for some kind of weapon. A few planks of wood lay not far from Garry, but they'd been scorched and seemed too weak to be effective. He picked one up just to be sure, but lo and behold, the piece of wood just snapped in two where it was charred most.

Sighing to himself, Garry just dropped the broken plank at his feet as Sunil returned to him empty-handed, saying that there was nothing that could realistically be used. Garry nodded in agreement, looking down at the discarded board. "Yeah, the building took a massive toll from the fire, or whatever happened in here," he said. "Let's go find Saul, he's still alive and he's probably looking for us," he announced, hanging his bag from his shoulder and following Sunil away from the ruined building.

'I just hope he's still alive by the time we find him,' Garry thought afterwards, looking back to the sawmill one last time, and then faced the front again, glancing up to the sky as he trudged through the grass.

((Garry Villette continued in Livebait))