One of Three

[MK Kilmarnock]

Oh yeah, he had definitely read this comic before. The ending and, in particular, its details escaped him, but he was pretty sure it didn't end well for the heroes. Craig wasn't sure how to react when the shovel was brought close to Trent in an obviously threatening gesture, because it was Kevin Harding that was doing it. Kevin fucking Harding, one of his former teammates. Maybe he was stretching his faith in the parallels between real life and comics a little thin, but Craig was pretty sure that teammates weren't supposed to be pulling weapons on each other. Well, okay, so he was threatening Trent directly, but this still wasn't exactly the most kosher thing ever.

Then there was Vera... she didn't seem to like Craig so much, but she had accepted himself and Trent, and Rosa had even allowed them in. This was something powerful to the large boy, really. In such a trying time where tensions were running through the roof, the two girls had tolerated Craig's presence, even though he was a boy that neither of them knew particularly well. Kevin, however, had barged in. He knew Craig, and yet he was being a supreme dick by threatening to kill Trent. Craig wanted to ask him if any of it was really worth whatever the hell his goal was, but the towering linebacker was far too busy cowering at the head of his friend, over in the corner with his back to the wall.

Hardly a page in time had turned before many things happened. Way too many things for Craig to keep track of happened, but he made his best effort to try and absorb it all, and try not to tuck his head away in scream in fear. Rosa was getting the hell out, Kevin was heading forward, then Vera pulled some real talented moves, something in terms of agility and insanity that would make Deadpool proud. Craig let out an unwarranted (at least, he HOPED it was unwarranted), swine-like squeal of fear when Vera slammed the gun full of what had to be a clip of ammo. If there were any doubts about the gun being used because it may or may not have been loaded, those doubts were unfortunately a thing of the past. The gun was loaded, the gun was able to kill things, and Vera was pointing it at Kevin.

Well, things could be worse, and Craig was more than just a little aware of this, since the gun could be pointed at Trent or himself. Trent could have already been beaten to death with that shovel. However, things could also be a lot better... Craig could have some manner to protect himself and his friend. He looked to the two daypacks, his and Trent's, but quickly looked back to Vera as he didn't want to call attention to himself and the fact that he'd like to be equipped. No... for now, now that Vera was in control, being harmless was the best way to go about stuff. Craig had two options, but both of them involved interaction, and neither of these people really seemed like the sort that really wanted to converse at the moment.
Option one was to try his hand at talking to Kevin, but Craig found that to be a bust. Kevin had been the guy to senselessly threaten to attack his own teammate and his friend. Even if he COULD be reasoned with, frankly, Craig was a little hurt and not in the mood to talk back, so... that left Vera. Finally, the large boy spoke up with his mello, timid voice, trying once again to be as unthreatening as possible.

"Um... Vera, maybe a good start would be getting him to put the shovel down? Yeah... ask him to do that. I don't wanna hurt anybody, I know Kevin doesn't want to either... Don't you, Kevin?"

[ET.Requiem†]

Heh. Victory is mine.

And then everything went to hell. Before he knew it, his prize was snatched out of his grasp by that little bitch, Vera Osborne. To further add insult to injury, it turned out that the Tec was unloaded. Kevin gaped in horror as she flicked the safety off, slammed a new magazine in and aimed the gun at his chest. His plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. But now wasn't the time to get angry. He was staring death in the face, and he wasn't enjoying it at all.

"Move so much as a fucking muscle, and I'll drop you were you stand! I am SO fucking close to just wasting you on the spot right now, so don't give me any more reasons to pull this fucking trigger!"

This was obviously a bad situation. Kevin couldn't see any way to get out of it, not with Vera keeping her finger on the trigger and her eyes on his every movement. It was almost unreal how she managed to pull that off in the first place. He both hated and admired her for robbing him like that. The scenario was perfect for her. He wasn't fast enough to attack or run away before he got turned into swiss cheese. Only her refusal to kill him outright kept him alive, and that could change on a whim.

The pressure was on now. Sweat poured down his neck, his damaged face throbbed painfully, and he started feeling faint. But he was used to high-stress situations. Even if this eclipsed everything all of the other events by far, he managed to stay on his feet and thinking instead of running on instinct.

What the fuck am I going to do? I'm dead if I try anything, but there has to be a way. There has to be a way to escape.

Luck might not have been on his side, but an opportunity presented itself just then.

"Now then... Tell me why I shouldn't just snuff out your existence and get it all over and done with?"

He saw her. He saw that girl run out. What was her name? It was... It was... Fuck, don't faint.... Keep it all down, don't forget that name- "Rosa!" He looked straight at the window she escaped from. "Because Rosa's leaving you behind!"

[T-Fox†]

As much as she didn't want to move, she knew she had to.

As much as she didn't want to face her actions, there was nothing she could do. She knew she would have to live with what she had done and move on. That didn't mean that she had to repeat the same mistakes again. She didn't even know her victims name, but it's something that she couldn't let get to her.

If she felt sorry for herself, she was going to die. But her arms wouldn't respond to her mind. As emotion and understanding began to mix with fear, she wanted to run and hide. That's exactly what she would do. Hide from everyone else. She couldn't bring herself to kill ever again, but she did not want to die. She couldn't die. Not here, not on this island. Maybe if she could make it to the last two she could bring herself to fight for her life. But not this. She realized now that this wasn't right. That wasn't fair to anyone involved. And she had been the one who had done it.

She couldn't face anyone else. At least not right now.

After a small eternity, her head finally raised and surveyed the scene which she had just wrought. The crimson stained earth, surrounding the body of the angel which she had just sent home. The trees and bushes, leave straining in the breeze... and the bile which sat on the ground not feet away from her. The strange smell that the bile and the death combined to assault her nose. The feeling of the dirt, grass, and tears caked to her body. Her head swiveled, just in time to catalog the steel tip of a shotgun disappearing behind a bush.

And her strained voice forced words. However, to anyone who knew her, she sounded absolutely nothing like before. The harsh, cold feeling you got when she spoke in the real world was replaced with a softness. A compassion. An understanding that she had never had before.

"I... I see you back there." Her throat was dry and constricted, and her nose stuffed. But even through the sounds of sick, she still sounded a world different than she ever had before. "I'm not... not armed. Anymore..." She trailed off for a second, still unable and unwilling to move. "If you shot me where I sit, I would honestly understand. I kind of deserve it. But... Let me teach you something I just had to learn the hard way. You'll have to live with that kill for the rest of your life. It will change you. And whether or not you think it will... It will hurt."

She sighed, the pain of what she was about to say actually surfacing in her throat and her chest. "She didn't deserve this. Life wasted... I just wish I had realized sooner. I'm so sorry..." No longer was she staring at the bush behind which her potential assailant sat. No, her eyes had wandered back to Maria's body. She needed to say her apologies to Maria. "You'll go to heaven..." Yet another tear forged down her cheek. She pushed herself to her knees, not bothering to fix her hoodie, it haphazardly wrapping itself around her form.

"I'm sorry."

[Hallucinojelly†]

But nothing came.

All around him blew the silent winds of the dark world, but not one carried the breath of the man who had thrown him into his current position. Cautiously, he opened his eyes, careful not to catch his stepfather's own looking right back at him. Only, as he did so, he noticed something terrible had occurred while he sat there, bracing for the next strike.

"...Ron?"

The man was nowhere in sight. Not a whisper of him remained, not even a single stitch from his tacky-looking suit. As Trent began to relax, he realized what was happening. Looking down at his own body, he could see that all his wounds and tears and scrapes were beginning to mend themselves, as though they had never existed to start with. The agonising throbbing he'd been feeling was calming down, and his mind felt like it been washed clean.

A song began to play through the air, as the demons came to greet him, and he paused for a second, sitting perfectly still as the lyrics danced upon his tongue.

"I... feel safe. I... feel scared."

His eyes glossed over as the words lit up the sky, blazing out across the clouds as the darkness dissolved away from the world. As he sang - in a voice reminiscent of a young, troubled prisoner - the ground and the earth peeled itself apart, like the skin of an orange, and it kept on going until the boy was left spinning in the depths of an endless, black abyss.

"I... feel ready."

The demons swam towards him now, struggling to breathe in the crushing expanse that lay out ahead. Taking Trent by the shoulders, they dragged him down, towards a spiralling red light, and once they were close enough they let him say his farewells. After all, this was no time to be emotional. He'd be back before they knew it.

"And yet... unprepared."

Rolling their little demon eyes back into their heads, they gathered together and gave him an almighty push into the descent.

----

"Nngh..."

Trent awoke with a start. The memories of that place would never bother him again, which meant that he now had to come with answers for a few little questions he had. Like, how the fuck did he get here? Where exactly was here? He assumed it was the cabin he'd met Craig near earlier, but his vision was blurred and he couldn't quite tell. Oh, that was a point. Where the hell was Craig? Had he left him all alo-

"Because Rosa's leaving you behind!"

That sounded like... shit, who was that voice? It sounded familiar, definitely. But then it sounded so panicked, so frantic. What was happening in front of him? Dammit, he couldn't even think properly with all this drumming in his head. The throb throb throbbing persisted, banging and booming inside his skull like the march of a soldiers' parade; bang, bang, bang, thud, thud, thud. God, it was all he could do to stop himself from breaking apart his cranium piece by jagged piece.

He twisted around in his spot, quietly and angrily behind the others, until the pain became too much for him to bear. He needed to get out of this intense atmosphere, away from whoever had a fucking shovel pointed at his face, and luckily enough he'd been dropped right next to the open door.

Holding on to his head with one hand, he hoisted himself up with the other. He knocked over his bag as he got to his feet, but he didn't care about making a fuss. All he wanted to do was get somewhere less... bright, and fast. Lazily scooping up his daypack, he dragged it out of the doorway behind him and began his struggle through the thicket - missing the huddled figures that watched him as he ran, hazily, away from the station.

((Trent Savage continued in Laurel and Hardy Got NOTHIN' on Us))

[General Goose]

As Jay began impersonating a commando in the Vietnam War and going off on his own fun little imaginative adventure, Sunil decided to hang back instead of following him. John and Jojo did decide to go along with Jay on his little scouting trip, but Sunil decided against joining them. He was keeping an eye on them to see they didn't do something stupid or went too far away, but, frankly, if there was a player around the corner, Sunil had to admit to himself that he'd, rather selfishly, prefer Jay or Jojo or John to be in the firing line. And if it was another student who wasn't playing that the three came across, Sunil was sure the Js would be able to handle it better than he would be able to. Of course, if a player decided to come to Sunil, then he'd be fucked, but staying here was overall the safest and most pragmatic option.

So, leaving them to their little search, Sunil resumed staring at the foliage around him, losing himself in his thoughts.

Just as Sunil's thoughts were beginning to turn to thinking about what his parents would do with his stuff if he died (Sunil had quite a lot of expensive possessions that he quite liked, but he had earned it via hours of doing chores and part-time jobs and behaving well, not just by asking for it and giving his parents puppy dog eyes like most kids of his social class), a passing bee decided it would be a great idea to try and intrude on his personal space. Sunil wasn't allergic to bees, and he wouldn't say he was scared of them, he just had had more than enough encounters with them in the past and being stung right now was something he'd rather avoid. Being stung was not only a painful experience, but the pain often reduced him to a gibbering wreck, and that would just be embarrassing.

So, jumping to his feet and quickly scooping up the few possessions he currently had, an anxious Sunil began backing away from the buzzing pest. Being stung in this situation would really just be adding insult to injury.

Unfortunately, the bee seemed persistent in following him, so Sunil turned and began to walk away at as fast a pace as he could manage. He began heading towards the direction where his teammates wandered off to, in some vain hope that the bee would be scared off by them or decide one of them was a juicier target. Eventually, he heard talking from a girl's voice. Reassuring them that she wasn't armed, that if they shot her she wouldn't blame them, but they'd feel guilty afterwards. Apologising.

What the hell was she babbling about?

Now wishing he'd followed them initially rather than hanging about until a player (or in this case, a bee) made him move so he'd know the context of the girl's little monologue, he continued fast-walking, getting increasingly agitated and a little bit fearful. Did that voice belong to this Maria? And if that was the case, why was she apologising so much to her allies? Maybe someone had already died and this Maria girl they trusted so much was the murderer?....no, that wouldn't have happened. As quickly as the possibility of death occurred to Sunil, he had pushed it back into his mind, ignoring it, trying to come up with more positive answers to what was happening.

So, when he emerged into the area where the body was, standing between the dumbstruck Jay and Jojo, Sunil really had no way of preparing for the morbid, distressing sight he saw. On the bloodstained ground lay a body, a girl. Next to it was another girl. The murderer. The one who had been speaking. Trying to save her own skin by acting all sympathetic and saying a long little diatribe what pretty much amounted to "Oh, I feel bad now, and you'll feel bad too if you kill me."

Sunil had no idea how to respond, no idea what to do, he didn't even know what to think. People had already started killing. He had been spending the past few years in classes filled with students who were just one little prompt away from becoming a cold-blooded murderer. He felt sick. Burying his head in his hands, partially to cover his eyes and keep them from staring at the horrific scenario in front of him, Sunil stood there, unable to talk, move or do anything.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Craig had awaited a response from Vera, or Kevin, or anybody, really. Rosa had already given him the response of running away from the whole situation, and Craig honestly wished he could do the same. There were two things that kept him from doing exactly that, however, and the both of them were big problems. Trent still didn't seem like he was going to be able to go anywhere, which served as the main problem at the moment. After all that work to help him out, Craig couldn't just leave him here. Vera could possibly shoot him, but more likely, Kevin would just be a dick and hit him in the head with that shovel.

Speaking of Kevin, Craig wasn't sure why everybody was acting up. Yeah, some terrorists had told them to kill everybody, but the boy was still absolutely convinced that nobody was actually up to do the deed. No... it just wasn't right. They were all normal people, just kids. Besides, everybody he saw so far was alive, so... surely, nobody had died. It was impossible. Kevin sure was being an asshat, but that was Kevin. Vera was also being suspcious, but that was because Kevin was being such a ridiculous... well, asshat. Then there was Craig's girth. The boy inwardly sighed as problem number two brought itself up in this seperate train of thought. Not only would it keep him from running, probably, but it always made everybody think he was threatening. Normally, that wasn't much of a problem but if girls like Vera were going to freak out every time they saw him, what if-

Craig's worries were interrupted when, against all expectations, Trent sat up. Then, Trent stood up.

...
...

Then Trent began to walk out the door, daypack in hand.

Craig was stunned for a little bit, but the period passed when he realized... holy shit, Trent was leaving! Without even thinking of anybody's reactions, Craig grabbed his own daypack and powered out for the door after Trent, not caring if he had to push by Kevin to do it. What was the kid gonna do, hit him with the shovel when there was a gun pointed at him? Even he wasn't that stupid, even if he was a typical football player of the non-artistic variety.

At least, Craig hoped that.

((Craig Hoyle, continued in Laurel and Hardy Got NOTHIN' on Us))

[Fiori]

She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Kevin tried desperately to distract her attention by alerting her to Rosa's desertion. Why the hell should SHE care that Rosa decided to do the sensible thing and make a run for it whilst the going's good? It was already becoming pretty obvious by now that she'd never trust her in million years after her little stunt, so why should she continue to waste her time trying to hopelessly earn it? All that it's achieved so far is Vera nearly losing her only weapon to some asshat with a football for a brain...

From the looks of things, Craig and the suddenly conscious Trent seemed to have the same idea as Rosa and fled too, leaving her all alone with THIS bastard of all people. A bastard who'd just burst in unannounced and started threatening to bash hid own teammate's friend's brains out. A bastard who'd of probably tried to just waste them all on the spot anyway if he ever got his hands on the gun Vera currently had trained on his chest. Come to think of it, what exactly was stopping her from filling him with lead on the spot and getting it all over and done with? Kevin's presence on the island would only makes things worse for other people, so if anything killing him now would solve more problems then it'd cause in the long run. Plus, with Kevin dead she could have the house all to herself, which was pretty much her original goal to start with. To find a place she could actually call home for a couple of days...

...So why hadn't she pulled the trigger yet?

I...... I can't... I Just can't do this! It's against everything I've always believed in! Sure, I'll be the first person to admit that I'm something of a hypocrite. I've indulged in typically capitalistic pleasures on more then one occasion in the past... But damnit, this is going too far! Murdering people in cold blood is wrong, not matter what way you look at it. I'm not going to let myself die here, but I'll be damned before I reduce myself to HIS standards!

Despite her decision to spare Kevin, her weapon's sights still remained firmly on his chest. She wouldn't kill him in cold blood, but if he DID try to pull a fast one on her she wouldn't hesitate for a second in gunning him down on the spot.

"Listen here asshole... I'm leaving now, and if you're actually stupid enough to try and follow me I'll fill you with more holes then a fucking tea bag, GOT IT?"

On that note, she slowly but surely backed off into the office, keeping her gun aimed at Kevin at all times as she quickly slung her bag over her shoulder. She paused for a moment, feeling relieved that of all the windows Kevin smashed it had to have been the office one, before quickly clambering through the open gap whilst she still had the chance. After landing on the grassy floor outside (Cutting her hand slightly on one of the many shards of glass that had fallen onto the ground) she quickly got back up onto her feet and made a run for it into the surrounding foliage, barely even noticing the small group of people who'd shown up nearby. Who the hell are... Oh whatever, they're Kevin's problem now. Not mine...

What a curious day it had been... First she'd awoken to find herself in the most infamous reality TV shows on the planet Then she discovered that she'd been lucky enough to receive one of the deadliest weapons in the game. Then she'd ended up in a pointless Mexican standoff with somebody who didn't even have a gun to start with. And NOW she's running as fast as she could from a house containing a borderline-psychotic dipshit threatning people with a freaking shovel!

Geez, I can hardly wait to see what surprises tomorrow will bring...

((Vera Osborne continued in Walk The Line))

[ET.Requiem†]

"Damn." That's all he could say at this point. He had just been thwarted and saved by luck at the same time. Kevin watched with resentful eyes as Vera escaped with his prize. His plan had failed only because he didn't pay more attention. If he had noticed her, he could have knocked her back with his shovel and grabbed the gun. From there, all he had to do was escape through the window he had smashed earlier.

Next time, he would have to think things through more carefully. His passion might have been his strength, but not here. Not in this game of life and death. Rushing in blindly against a gunslinging maniac would only prove fatal to him. Speaking of gunslingers.... "I might not get you, but the island will. Trust me on that, Vera. You're going to die very, very soon." He growled at the empty room.

She was his opposite. She didn't have enough drive. He wasn't about to complain about that, but it would prove to be her downfall. If she didn't have the will to gun down a potential threat when she had the chance, then a player would be able to take advantage of that. After all, 19 students had died today. 8 had been taken down by the Two-Kill Club. It wouldn't be very surprising if one of those four were to encounter Vera and snuff her out.

"Not good for everybody else, though...." Especially not if one of those slashers got a gun. This sobering fact reinforced his need to get one to protect himself. He wasn't about to get killed because of one artist who decided to resist. He picked up his dusty shovel and forced open the door, leaving the now-empty cabin behind for good.

"Eventually. It'll come eventually."

((Kevin Harding continued in instinct· algorithm))

[Little Boy†]

Jay stumbled forward, his heart thumping in his chest, John had taken the lead after his discovery, his behavior suggesting he was just about fed up with Jay, either that or he was having really uncomfortable bowel movements. Jay was betting on the former.

Am I being annoying, or just really cautious? Is that a good thing? Shit, he's pretty fucking brave...

Jay continued crouching for a minute as Jojo edged past him, to join John in approaching the distant figure. Jay scowled before standing and heading towards the group.

Well, I thought I was doing a pretty good job. If that kid had a shotgun Johnny would've definitely taken my advice more, y'know, readily.

He looked up towards the sky as he walked, it was getting dark. He stuck his hands in his pockets and glanced over towards the nearby building as he followed the others.

I hope no one's up there. I sure as fuck don't want to sleep outside...

Jay's thoughts once more swung back to John. He could feel himself becoming increasingly paranoid despite his best efforts, evaluating every emotion his companions displayed towards him, as well as each other. He was beginning to feel rather sketchy.

Just because he thought my idea was stupid doesn't mean he's going to kill me. Johnny isn't a killer. I stood there in front of him, pretty much fucking dancing in front of his shotgun for all the good it did me. He didn't kill me. Would he really pick Sunil over me, if it came down to it? When it came down to it? He couldn't kill anyone, neither could I. I know I can't, fuckin', my gun, it's in my bag. I can't do shit all with it there. I don't even need to think about tha-

"Aw fuck..."

Jay felt as if time had slowed down as he raised his head, viewing the scene in front of him. His feet hadn't stopped moving and he stumbled into the dumbstruck John, his mouth a gap as he looked at the scene before him. He hadn't even noticed Sunil's arrival, his teeth chattered and his eyes seemed to pop out of his skull as he viewed the sight before him.

Holy fuck.

She was laying on the ground, blood leaking from her neck, or, somewhere. Jay wasn't exactly sure. A girl crouched down next to Maria, equally blood spattered. She stared at the group, a blood drenched hacksaw in her hands. Jay felt his stomach churning, as if he were on a roller coaster.

She's gone. She's dead. She was there, and then she wasn't. Out, gone, into the great beyond. Freddy Krueger'd, right in the neck. 10 points. And that means I'm not going to come in dead last.

The fuck is wrong with me?

Jay opened his mouth to speak, as well as he could manage despite his chattering teeth. Jay was barely aware that it wasn't just his mouth chattering, he was shaking crazily, backing up towards the edge of the clearing. He suddenly felt extremely far away, as if looking down on the scene from a great distance. His throat felt raw, as if something had been clawing at the inside of his windpipe since he had awoken to the nightmare only a few hours earlier.

This is the shit right here, I'm in THE SHIT, Jesus fuckin' Christ my balls have only just dropped and now someone wants to hack them off!

Jay turned and bolted.

((Jay Holland continues in The Various Downsides of Becoming "Paranoid as Balls"))

[Acelister†]

((Permission to control of Jojo has been given))

John stared at the speaking girl, but none of her words were registering. She murdered Maria... Why? Maria wouldn't have harmed a fly, he was sure of it... She never even got involved in the arguments he and Jay shared...

Of course, they spent a total of less than an hour together. Even factoring in the amount of times they may have met in the hallway or cafeteria, it couldn't have been more than a few days in total.

But since waking up on this island, she had been one of the few sane people he'd met and started to trust.

Now she was gone.

"Sorry..."

"No..." John said softly, shaking his head as he looked back at Maria. "You don't get to be sorry... You should be the dead one. Not her..."

He felt cold and the forest hadn't stopped spinning, but at least it wasn't giving him a sea-sick feeling any more.

"I hope someone fucking tortures you..." he told Jackie, backing away slowly. "Something quick... You just need to suffer."

He almost fell when he backed into Jojo who was still near-catatonic knelt on the ground. John glanced around to see who it was, then back at Jackie. He didn't want to take his eyes off of her.

"Come on, man." he told Sunil, not having noticed that Jay had made good on his escape. He put his hand under Jojo's arm and pulled him up. The weight of his shotgun didn't help with the weight of the shellshocked boy. "I'll keep an eye on her - you grab my bags if you can... We're getting the fuck out of here..."

He had no idea how he was being so authoritative - probably all of the practice he got around Celeste. She loved him asserting himself. He'd have to thank her when he saw her again.

If.

"We're out of here." he told Jackie. "You have any sense - you'll stay here or fuck off in that direction or something..."

((John Smith continued in Living in the Aftermath))

[Whirlpool531†]

Words, Jojo kept hearing the others but the words had no meaning. Everything jumbled up and didn't get through to him. John helping him up finally woke Jojo a bit more as they made their way away from the ranger station. Just enough so he could support himself slightly as the other boy supported him. He had no questions as to where they were going, deep inside Jojo knew he just wanted to be as far away as possible from the sight of Maria's corpse.

[Joss Joiner continued in Living In The Aftermath.]

[T-Fox†]

Jackie hadn't expected a warm welcome from these apparent friends of the person she had slain in cold blood. Hell, she had even expected a chest or face full of buckshot from that shotgun that was pointed so unceremoniously at her. Two of them spun and fled in pure terror. However, one of them stood their ground. For a moment. His face looked familiar somehow.

"Something quick... You just need to suffer."

Her mind began to shut out the words that just rended her soul asunder.

"You have any sense - you'll stay here or fuck off in that direction or something..."

"I just want to forget..."

The tears began to fall. She didn't hear them all spin on their heels and run away from her, fearful that she would attack them as well. She didn't notice the others leave from the ranger station not a tenth of a mile away. The crash of the window, the sound of leaves and branches breaking underfoot her peers, her classmates.

She was alone with the body of a fallen, broken angel.

Maria Santiago.

She couldn't stay here. She had to go somewhere that people wouldn't recognize her. She had to go somewhere that she could be alone for a while. Her mind was racing with so many feelings that she had never felt with such intensity before. Anger, fear, regret, sadness, depression... She needed to clear her mind.

She knew she regretted killing Maria. She knew that she could never do that again. Beyond that, she had no idea what to do. She didn't have a plan, and couldn't think to create one. She didn't have a soul anymore, that had spilled into the earth with Maria's blood.

She didn't know who she was anymore. And so she turned. And she began walking, in a straight line. The farther she could get away from this place, the better.

It was time for her to finally learn for the first time in her life how to truly be a good person. How to feel, how to care, how to love.

((Jaquard "Jackie" Broughten" continued in Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows....))

[General Goose]

Staring mouth agape at the corpse in front of him, Sunil still had no idea how to react, standing in a catatonic stupor. Having a mental breakdown or blindly charging at the murderer in front of him both seemed like tempting if somewhat stupid and badly thought-out ideas. Even though the more logical parts of Sunil's mind had temporarily shut down, leaving him only to rely on instinct and basic emotion, he knew he had to resist the urge to do those things. Having a mental breakdown there and then would just make him look like a burden to his potential allies, and would leave him open to any attacks, muggings or abuse. And charging an obviously mentally unstable girl with just his fists would be a pretty stupid strategic decision to make, and the inevitable death or serious bodily harm that would result would only be his own fault.

Instead, Sunil's instinct decided to come up with a somewhat better plan, one so obvious he should have thought of it earlier.

Run away.

The idea had already occurred to his three allies (John had even suggested it to Sunil, but Sunil hadn't even noticed that), and as Sunil quickly glanced around, he noticed he was alone, aside from a corpse and the girl responsible for that corpse. Carrying his bags with him, Sunil turned away from the body, urging himself not to look back at the traumatising sight, and sprinted away as fast as he could, in the same direction as his allies, not saying a word to the girl he had left alone with what used to be Maria Santiago.

((Sunil Savarkar continued in Living in the Aftermath. I believe that the thread is now over.))