What A Rush

[MK Kilmarnock]

"Damn it Joseph..." Jessica sighed, trying to keep her voice low. "I got this, alright?"

The people outside weren't crazy. They were people she knew, that they all knew. They were her friends, or acquaintances at the least. That means that they could be reasoned with, and reason was having its way at the current point in time. She hated to usher them all away, but there were only so many supplies in this cramped store.

"Alright, cool," she spoke up again to the people outside. "Hate to be the bad girl here, you know? We're safe in here, though, and we're obviously not a threat to others when we're in here. You guys stay safe though, okay?"

[Ciel†]

Carlos could not resist a smarmy comeback.

"Yeah, it won't be so safe in that cage of yours when they turn it into a Danger Zone."

Neither Alice nor Casey could hear that, let alone anyone inside the shop. Carlos delivered it in a low growl, petty and benign, like a vindictive cheerleader. He did not smile either. The corners of his lips simply stretched into a line, neither pleased or upset.

If Jessica had not spoken up again, telling them that she "hated to be the bad girl", Carlos would have had the balls to say it loud and clear. But it was clear that she wasn't turning them away just to cause annoyance. Carlos understood why they were weary to let him, Alice and Casey in. Still, Carlos had never been a fan of holding his tongue, especially when someone was telling him what he could or could not do.

It wasn't worth the trouble to argue though. Carlos turned back to Alice and gave her a nod before facing Casey.

"Don't worry about it," he said to Casey, seeing her with a pale expression. "Forget them. Let's just find a place to crash."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders and motioned towards the. It wouldn't take them long to find shelter.

(Carlos Lazaro continued in A Safe Rest)

[Arscapi†]

Logan stood from where he'd been peering through the window. "You go girl," Logan said in his best accent. He accompanied the gesture with a finger snap and a hand on his hip. He grinned widely at Joseph and Jessica.

"Seriously thought, it looks like they''re taking you seriously. Hopefully the girls will follow soon after and we can get back to organizing our supplies."

He stood by the window not wanting to write the two girls off, especially not after Theo had appeared brandishing a gun. "You know this is the second set of visitors we've had. Maybe we should rotate staying awake and sleeping, just in case someone comes by."

[Tagabasa†]

It made sense that the group inside the building wanted them out of there as soon as possible, it really did. Casey could certainly understand where they were coming from. But at the same time, she did feel a sting of something like annoyance at the resolution of the venture.

They had gained nothing but the tiniest sliver of information, hadn't they? Then again, at least the only thing they lost was time. Maybe Casey could be satisfied by the whole of their little investigation after all.

She couldn't be mad at the others for looking out for themselves. "Yeah. You be safe too, Jessica. And whoever else is in there."

Maybe she should have added something else. Those could be the last words that Casey Malkovich would ever speak to Jessica Sanders, and the their fellow classmates inside. But nothing came to mind, and the finality of the situation would not hit Casey until later. So that was that.

Instead, she turned to Carlos and nodded at his words. If he was going to leave Casey's fuck-ups alone, then she wasn't exactly going to press the subject. "Alright, good idea. It's going to get pretty hard to see out here soon."

She pulled her hat into a comfortable position, and headed after Carlos, hoping Alice would follow. They probably weren''t going to sleep well, weren''t they?

((Casey Malkovich continued in A Safe Rest))

[dmboogie]

The situation had been resolved about as well as it could possibly have, though the pointlessness of it all still annoyed Alice. At least she could take solace in the fact that she'd probably be dead before running out of supplies ever came close to being an issue.

Alice doubted that the group in the store would last very long. Even discounting the issue of danger zones, (which really wasn't that much of an issue anyway as long as you have some way to escape) it wasn't exactly a defensible location at all. Alice's group may have been turned away, but that was only because they were unarmed and unwilling to fight. The fortifications just wouldn't be enough against a full assault. All in all, Alice was half-expecting to find the store broken and littered with corpses if her group ever made its way back.

There really wasn't anything more that needed to be said, though, and no particular reason for Alice to care for the group barricaded in the store. She silently trailed behind Casey and Carlos as they set out to find shelter for the night.

((Alice Gilman: Continued in A Safe Rest.))

[ChainmailleAddict†]

Joseph simply nodded to Jessica, started walking, still crouched, to Logan. He didn't want to talk. Jessica had it under control, what he had said was unnecessary.

He didn't want to upset Logan or Jessica, as he strongly agreed with the latter in regards to their plan, and he'd hate to ruin it by saying the wrong thing. Joseph figured that he could stay in the store for a few days, perhaps longer, before they'd be forced out by a Danger Zone announcement or a hostile group. If it was the former, he would be content in that he'd have a few minutes to gather his things. In the case of the latter, he could only hope that the three of them would get out alive.

Logan had started talking. He didn't respond verbally, though he paid attention and nodded. He'd also agreed with Logan. Someone would need to stay up through the night, making sure nobody came knocking.

Joseph finally spoke half a minute after he was sure that the other group had left. "That....is an excellent idea, Logan. Night time is....well, it'd be much easier for people to sneak up on us.....though, first things first." He gestured to the back door.

He was rather tired, though it didn't mean he couldn't help bring in a few things. He'd wondered who would be the one staying up. Should it be him? First things first., he reminded himself.

[MK Kilmarnock]

((There's a world of GMing here. Surely you have it in your hearts to forgive me.))

Hearing her 'teammates' concocting what seemed to be a pretty good plan came as music to Jessica's ears. The inevitability of sleep was something that had not occurred to her, and presented itself as a serious flaw in her plan of having them all hole up in this far-from-impenetrable fortress, using the brick walls and barricades as a fleeting tool to attain piece of mind.

"If nobody minds..." Jessica weakly raised a hand as she walked back over to the counter, not far from where she had woken up to begin this exercise in monotony. "I would really like to catch a bit of sleep. Even when I got up, I felt sore and restless and... honestly I'd really just like to sleep. You boys okay with watching the store?"

Truth be told, she didn't care about the answer. All that mattered was the sleep and, as Jessica found a semi-comfy spot nestled up against the cigarette counter, she knew she was pretty much banking on a few uncomfortable possibilities rather than facts. She hoped that the two wouldn't try to off her in her sleep. She hoped nobody would try to break in, or succeed in breaking in, and kill them all. Well, that's what the sleeping in shifts was supposed to help with. Most of all, she hoped that when she went to sleep and she woke up, all of this would go away.

She wanted to be home in her own bed, next to her own bass guitar, holding her own goddamn hedgehog. Fuck this store, fuck crazies with guns, fuck the stupid people who did this to them.


It was only a few hours of shut-eye, marred with a few dreams of home before Jessica awoke once more to face reality. As she struggled to keep up with the reality of her surroundings as well as the reality of her fatigue, she took up her shift to let somebody else sleep. The three of them did this throughout the night, napping, snacking, otherwise trying to relax. It worked out rather well as a system until the morning, when they heard the worst noises of their stay so far.

With almost jovial fanfare, a list of dead classmates were read out to them, and they had to deal with the ultimate reality: kids were dying, and they could be next.

[Arscapi†]

Logan stretched and found himself wondering if this had been a smart idea on his part. Holding up here, left him with little options to amuse himself. Jessica and Joseph were okay as far as roommates, but he didn''t think they'd be too happy with the practical jokes he'd thought up. Of course practical jokes might cause conflict and then they'd be doing something besides just eating and sleeping. He was debating the pros and cons of breaking the monotonous hours when the announcement had come started.

He recognized all the names, but didn''t know many of the well. Not that his friendship with them made their deaths less tragic or less important. It was just that wasn''t Logan's primary focus. What struck him was that his classmates were actually playing this game. There were actually members of his class that were now murderers.

To take his mind off of these murders and practical jokes he'd begun to rearrange their supplies. He was working on building a castle at the moment. Maybe the next time, he'd try a boat. That would give him a challenge at least.

He looked down at some of the cans in his hand. "Hey, do you think we could use some of these to darken the windows? Make it harder for people to see in. Maybe we could just peel the labels off the cans and stick them to the window. Don't know just an idea."

[ChainmailleAddict†]

"Probably....not, Logan. There are, well, much better things to use as barricades. Perhaps...when the cans have been emptied, though...."

Joseph was next to Logan making small talk, saying this as if he hadn't just heard the names of several classmates, people he'd grown up with, dead. What'd especially concerned him, however, was that Theodore Fletcher was the killer in two of those cases. Oh god, was that why he was so panicked? he'd thought to himself. I'm lucky to still be alive.....Though he'd tried not to, he spent much of the night pondering his own mortality.

He'd been awake for most of the night, too scared to sleep for more than a few precious hours. Every time he thought he'd seen something in the distance, his heart raced as if his life were over. When the "threat" passed, he was relieved. You...can't be too safe, right?

Joseph crossed his fingers about the store. It wasn't exactly well hidden, though the defenses helped with, well, defending. Hopefully, he'd be able to outlive enough of his classmates in that time that he'd be able to get a weapon. Though his textbook wasn't useless, it wasn't useful for combat. The weight bars could have possible uses, but most useful would be a gun. If, no, when he'd need to kill someone, he'd try to do it quickly and painlessly; he wanted to live, but it didn't mean others had to suffer.

That, however, wouldn't be for a long time. Joseph put it in the back of his head for the time being, no need to accentuate the negative.

"Alright.....these cans are all expired, though it doesn't mean the food inside has gone bad. They have enough preservatives in them to mummify a small dog." Joseph chuckled. A bit of humor always helped him when he felt down. "I'd...refrain from consuming them until, well, we have to, though."

Perhaps everything would turn out for the best. Always look on the bright side of life...

[MK Kilmarnock]

((One more, just to force us to day 3. Shouldn't happen again, guys.))

"There's only one problem with that," Jessica said through half-slurred speech derived from a groggy mind. "You block out the windows with the labels or... whatever... then yeah, they won't be able to see in." She slowly stood up, straightening a tangle in her hair gained from her uncomfortable night's sleep only out of reflex. Straight hair was a sign of normalcy, one tiny hook holding up the curtain that showed everything was alright when everything else tore it down little by little.

"Buuuuuut..." Jessica swung her legs over the counter and then sat at the edge of it, her favorite spot for talking to the two boys. "... we won't be able to see OUT, either. Don't get me wrong, you had the right sort of thinking, just... I'unno..."

Jessica's brain froze up as she tried to further her thoughts. Instead, they just stuttered and flopped about, punishing her for her lack of sufficient sleep. She thought waking up early for high school was bad. What she wouldn't kill to have a normal bed once more.

If they wanted to sticky label the window to block it out they could, but Jessica wasn't sure if she could stay cooped up here as well as be completely deprived of the sun. No, that might push her over the edge into full-on stir crazy, and she'd probably throw everything out of the way to bust out the door and do snow angels on the pavement. Minus the snow. And probably a lot more impending death. For right now, she'd just go on living.

Living, as it turned out, was currently very boring (but still worlds preferable to death). Much of her time was spent pacing the store, cleaning shelves to try and remove some of the crushing boredom, inspect the place for security flaws... no holes in the ceiling, imagine that! When she went to use the bathroom, she checked for supplies. No paper on the roll, but the convenience store had a few rolls on the shelf, so that was a real lifesaver. The water ran too, which was pretty kickass. She was considering using it as a non-expendable drinking resource until she realized even the water coming out of the faucet was grimy as all shit. Washing her hands practically left them dirtier than they were before.

The biggest sink of time was sleeping, but it was the one that Jessica was most nervous to do. She guessed Joseph and Logan trusted her to not brain them in their sleep enough that they took their shifts of napping (even though there was never just one person awake), but she always felt the slightest bit nervous that maybe the two were going to gang up on her and drop a soda cooler on her head or something.

Lovely image, that.

Was she supposed to feel regret for feeling this? Wasn't such caution understandable and excused when people had apparently already died? As she reasoned with herself before her semi-scheduled nap, she was sure to leave a disconnect between herself and those who had perished. As long as she didn't have to see the bodies, it wasn't like there was any real proof anybody had died. She just had to keep it together. Just had to...



When Jessica awoke once more, it was morning. There was no talking man this time to bug the hell out of her, at least not yet. She wondered what in particular had woken her up, until she was granted her answer in the form of a searing pain right in her gut. In a motion that could only be described as 'completely fucking spazzing out', Jessica clutched her stomach to make sure Logan hadn't shanked her with a toothbrush or something. She didn't find a wound, but that's when the pain became much more familiar. She'd felt this before.

"Oh, motherfucker..."

[Arscapi†]

Logan lay on his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. He lay in a corner where he wasn't in anyone's way. He tossed the empty can he'd been holding in the air and caught it, repeating as he waited to see who would fall for his trap.

He'd been way too bored trapped in here with nothing electronic to amuse him. Actually at this point he didn't need something electronic. He missed his sketch pad. He missed being able to sketch or decorate.

So he'd finally given into temptation and poured some of the cooking oil they'd collected in front of the bathroom door. It wasn't a great deal, just to enough to send them sliding across the floor. He smiled at the image forming in his head. He sighed and hoped the others would be up and moving soon.

[ChainmailleAddict†]

While his classmates were fighting for their lives, the only enemy that Joseph seemed to have at the moment was boredom. In a sense, he felt lucky; happy that he'd been lucky enough to start out in such an advantageous location, not to mention that he hadn't seen anyone for the entire day, avoiding potential conflicts. At least he would spend his last few days in relative comfort. No, stop thinking like that. You're not dead. You don't need to act like it. He'd been trying to make himself feel better as of late, with varying degrees of success.


He heard the announcement.


More names. More killers.


Fletcher was at it again.


Joseph would've nearly gone into a state of shock, had it not been for his sane, rational mind. He WAS scared; Of death, of having to kill, and many other things, but he knew that to dwell on that fear was suicide.


If he saw Theodore, he knew what he'd have to do; he would try to disarm him without warning, though running wouldn't be such a bad idea, either. Fletcher had dispatched three people, already. He was more than certainly a threat, though killing.......that had to have taken a toll on him, mentally if not physically. Theodore wasn't a sociopath.... He'd HAVE to have lost some sleep over what he did. Perhaps if he got a good enough jump on him, he could successfully take his gun. That'd be a nice advantage. He could tell him to leave, and hopefully end it without conflict. He could do it, right? He was significantly larger than Theo, and Joseph had the advantage of being well rested not to mention physically non exerted. But......three? If he could recall correctly, nobody else had even killed two. Could this merely be out of paranoia and misunderstandings, instead of bloodlust? If they were, Fletcher was the standout example. If he was killing for notoriety, however, he was doing a damn good job at it.


Wait, what is Logan doing.....


His thoughts were put into halt by none other than Logan Cadagon, apparently.....what?


"Logan......what are you....doing?"


Logan was....well, he couldn't quite tell from his angle, but whatever it was....it was just something that Joseph would have to deal with for the time being. He was an ally. The way he saw it, allies were a precious commodity, and he REALLY didn't want to mess up what he had going for him; especially not over something as trivial as irksome behavior.

[MK Kilmarnock]

"He's lying down, Joseph," Jessica said without trying to mask the irritation in her voice. This time, the source of her annoyance didn't truly lie with Joseph. At least, it mostly didn't lie with him. Poor guy probably didn't understand what was going on with her, so ripping his head off would leave him thinking it was his fault, not the fact that her uterus was angry at her.

"You're gonna have to keep on watch for a little longer, okay? I, uh... need to use the bathroom." She didn't bother waiting for a response from him, quickly pulling up her bag, opening it, and rummaging through it.

Flashlight, first aid kit, rations, some extra clothes... those could come in handy if she fucking took too long... Jessica grew a little frantic as she neared the bottom of her bag until a plastic wrapping touched to her fingertips. "Fuck yeah," she muttered to herself as she pulled a single tampon out of her bag, and slipped it into her pocket as she stood up.

She took the long way around the counter rather than vaulting over it as usual. Opening the first door from the back room to the sales floor, she took care to close it quietly as to not disturb the boys (mostly Logan, who was still asleep and less annoying overall). Doing such was a trying task with the way her stomach was murdering her, and yet in her infinite skill, she managed. She knew the bathroom was relatively clean, having checked it before. Water ran, too, it was just kind of icky. It just didn't have light. That wouldn't matter, she could pretty much do all of this with her eyes closed.

She just had to reach the door to the bathroom, a short walk away from the one she had just exited. She reached out for the handle, taking a few brisk steps. Then, before she knew what was really happening, her feet were out in front of her, and the world was falling back.

"SH-" Jessica only got a sharp, partial yelp of the word before colliding with the cold, hard floor of the store. Her back took much of the impact, and the back of her head cracked against it not a moment later. She immediately rolled onto her side and clutched her head, shaking. Everything burned, went black, stirred around for a bit and then returned a full moment later.

"FUUUUUUUUUCK!" Jessica roared, moving herself into a sitting position with one hand still firmly on the back of her head. At least she could say that the throbbing in her head was getting her mind off of her stomach. Oh, no wait. That hurt too.

Fuck the world.

[Arscapi†]

Logan tilted his head up to look at Joseph and tossed the empty can back into the air as Jessica answered for him. Sometimes he wondered about the intelligence level of his classmates. It wasn''t like he was attempting brain surgery.

He turned his head and watched Jessica walk through the door. He hopped up and placed the can on the floor, before stepping into the doorway. He opened the door slightly to watch Jessica's movements. Sure, enough she was heading towards the bathroom. Logan wished briefly for his phone, so he could record the moment. Then Jessica was slipping, her feet shooting up into the air. His laughter rang through the quiet store.

"Are you okay," he asked coming towards her shaking with laughter. "I didn't think your feet could get that high."

[ChainmailleAddict†]

Joseph noted the irritation in Jessica's voice, though he wasn''t sure as to why. Best not to dwell on it, he thought. I don't know too many people who'd keep it together. He'd woken up a while ago, his sleep schedule having miraculously survived intact. He was going to keep watch anyway, so Jessica's words were a bit redundant. "Right..." he said, almost inaudibly as she began walking towards the bathroom. Almost before he could stand up properly, he heard a thud along with the laughter of Logan. Unless Logan was a deranged sociopath who reveled in the misery of others, it probably wasn't anything serious.


He turned to see Jessica on the floor, clutching her head. From what he could see, she wasn''t bleeding or on fire, so she....fell over? You want a medal, Sherlock? He began walking over to investigate, to see if what his mind told him was actually the case. And, because, well, there wasn''t much else to do and he'd come off as rude if he didn''t help her up. He didn''t pay much attention to Logan as the inner gentleman in him brought his hand out for Jessica to pull herself up with, half afraid that she'd bite it off.