All Good Things To Those Who Wait

[ViolentMedic]

((Clarice Halwood continued from Death Is The Only Freedom...)

Clarice hadn't done much since the fire. The fear that her collar would detonate, and the elation concerning the smoke rising into the sky, they'd both tired her out. She'd ended up hiding. Watching the smoke and hoping that maybe it would bring someone.

The elation died down after a while, and the grief that she hadn't had time for set in. And that had locked her in one place for the rest of the day once she stopped. She hadn't been fast enough, if she'd thought to burn the library sooner... perhaps...

And now it was the next day, and the announcements had come and gone. More dead. Not friends this time, but people she'd seen. People she hadn't helped. Maria and Natalie gone.

But there was no use in ifs and buts. Clarice couldn't help them now. And the announcements had brought something to think about.

Clarice paced across the bridge. She passed bloodstains, and they looked shiny and fresh, but she didn't want to look where they trailed to. There were too many bodies as it was, and the dead had always been an uncomfortable concept even before now. She wasn't like Scout, who found graveyards interesting.

She wouldn't want to be whoever investigated this island once the game was done. Too many ghosts here.

Clarice stopped, and turned to stare at the ocean. Still glittering peacefully while those on the island rotted away. Nothing to be seen on that horizon.

Clarice knew it was to be expected. The sort of rescue that could bust the terrorists wide open would take more time than a day, even if someone had seen the smoke. But each day that didn't bring a rescue meant less people to rescue at all.

And even if rescue did some, even if the events of so many years ago saw fit to repeat themselves... there was the difficulty of 'what happens to the murderers?'

A difficult enough question when it'd been Kimiko. Although given that her latest victim was Nancy... Clarice couldn't bring herself to mourn that particular death. She rubbed near her bad shoulder. The itch was back, but not as bad as before. Like it knew Nancy wouldn't be coming back for seconds, or for anyone else on the island.

But then... there was Scout.

Clarice had forgotten about Scout until her name came up on the announcements. There'd been so much going on, and... and Scout hadn't been part of her life for all that long. Today... there'd been one split second of heart-stopping terror when Scout's name came up, lessened immediately when it turned out Scout was a killer, not one of the dead. But with that came a new fear.

It was the news that rescue might not come for her sister-to-be that made her stop and think.

If rescue didn't come—no, even if rescue did arrive—how did she want this game to end?

That was something that she had yet to figure out. So Clarice stopped staring at the ocean. She turned away and walked on.

She hoped she had time to figure that out. And in the meantime...

Well, in the meantime she should probably start with actually doing her sisterly duties.

((Clarice Halwood continued in The show starts at five. Bring snacks.))