The Crazy Kids

[Grim Wolf]

(Tyler Lucas continued from Oh... Hi...)

Tyler did not sleep that night.  He stomped across the island, pausing only to check his map (and once to freeze as his collar beeped, hastily retreating from some invisible border).  Whatever he was looking for, he did not find it, and his steps grew more and more sluggish as dawn began to brighten the horizon.  His nose was still swathed in bandages, and his left arm was still wrapped tight.

As the Announcements droned to life once more, sealing them in a smaller area, Tyler made his grimacing way into the schoolyard, weary eyes raking all sides for any sign of danger.  His grimace deepened when Danya said his name, and his eyes kept searching the shadows, looking for any trace of danger.  When none seemed apparent, he shouldered his way inside a school bus, and slumped down into the crook between two seats, so that no one could see him through the windows.  

For several minutes, he simply stared up at the ceiling.  Then he pulled out his scotch, took a long pull, and then curled back over, closing his eyes.  

A few hours later he opened his groggy eyes and sat up.  The bottle of scotch was in his left hand, and sunlight was leaking through his windows, golden light washing the dusty, rough interior.

He grimaced, then took another pull from his bottle, rubbing at his forehead.  Then he rose to his feet, and shoved his way out through the crooked bus doors, stuffing his bottle in his bag and grabbing for his gun as he went.

[Laurels]

((Rachael Langdon continued from Norwegian Wood))

Rachael made her way to the exit of the school building. She was standing in the parking lot. There were a few buses nearby. She sighed as she looked outside.

Well, I guess I better get moving.

Rachael sniffled as she walked away from the school and into the parking lot. Her head hung low as she kept one hand around the strap of her bag. She wasn't sure what to do now. Her friends were nowhere to be found, and she didn't have any strategy to survive the game. She wiped her eyes as she walked into the lot.

Rachael was about to keep walking when she saw a figure emerge from one of the buses. He looked pretty dangerous: covered in bandages all over and holding a gun. She froze in place and stared at the boy. Tyler Lucas. The announcement said he killed Cassidy Kant. Cassidy was one of the nicest girls back at school, and he gunned her down.

Rachael remained in place and stared at the boy. Would he treat her the same as he did Cassidy? If he did, she hoped he'd make it quick.

[Grim Wolf]

As Rachael emerged from the school, Tyler's head jerked towards her, and the gun jerked in his hand.

But then he saw the girl, and his face fell.  His half-raised gun fell back to his side.

"Sorry," he called, lifting his gravelly voice.  "You're not playing."  He turned to go, stopped, then turned back to her, keeping a respectful distance.  "You, uh...have you seen Travis Webster?"

[Laurels]

Rachael let out a gasp when Tyler pointed the gun towards her. Now she knew: he really would kill her. She was prepared to close her eyes and wait for him to fire, but he dropped the gun almost as quickly as he raised it. Rachael let out a small whimper when he did.

Sorry, you're not playing.

Rachael wasn't sure how to respond. True, she wasn't playing like Hansel, but what did that say about Tyler? Was he trying to kill all the players? Why? Her lips quivered as she stared at the boy.

Tyler was about to leave when he turned back. He was looking for Travis Webster. He was on the announcements, wasn't he? He killed twice. Did Tyler have some connection to Travis or the people Travis killed?

Rachael had to know.

"N-no. I haven't seen him," Rachael said.

"W-why are you looking for him?"

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler had already started to turn before Rachael posed her own question.  Her hesitant voiced reached him ghost-like on the air, and Tyler froze in mid-motion.  

"He cheated," Tyler called back after a moment.  "He..."  But he trailed off, and stared at his feet.

He started walking towards her, though he kept the gun down.  His eyes didn't quite see Rachael.

"He used his friend," Tyler said.  "Used her a fuckin' shield."  Tyler stopped several feet away from her, now fairly close to the school.  "She's dead because of him," Tyler said.  "So I'm gonna find him, and make him pay."  He shrugged, but there was something heavy in that gesture, something deeply weary.

[Laurels]

Rachael remained in place as Tyler explained his issues with Travis to her. Travis apparently used Cassidy as a human shield, and Tyler accidentally killed her. She couldn't believe it. Her classmate had apparently dropped his morality so low that he would sacrifice someone else like that. How could something like that happen.

Tyler said he was going to make Travis pay, then shrugged at the notion. Did he really think so little about killing someone? She couldn't fathom how difficult it was to kill someone. She couldn't kill Miranda when given the chance, and she had no idea how Stacy could have killed two people. Tyler seemed completely okay with the notion of killing someone. Was this how the island changed him?

"So you'll kill him, if you get the chance?" she asked. "I don't understand. Was Cassidy important to you? Is that why you want to kill him?"

Rachael swallowed a lump in her throat.

"What will you do after you kill him?"

[Grim Wolf]

Her questions seemed to pass over him like water, without quite reaching him.  He didn't react.  It didn't seem like he was quite looking at her.

"After?" he asked.  "Keep going.  Fighting.  See what's out there.  Play the god damn game."

He took a deep breath through his nose, tightening his bandages.  It gave him a slightly demented look.

"Cassidy..." he said, then trailed off.  "She trusted him, get it?  She...I don't know if she was playing.  I don't know if she got the game or was trying to fight or...I don't know.  I didn't get a chance to see.  Didn't even see her, 'til...  

Tyler grimaced and lifted his eyes to the sky.  "But she trusted him, y'know?  She was standing there with him.  And he..."  He spat to one side.  "Fucker played.  Ran into him a couple days ago, and he tried to act like he was above it, y'know?  Tried to act like he was above it all.  Two kills to his name say otherwise."

He shook his head.  "He's a fuckin' traitor and a fuckin' hypocrite," he said.  "I ain't just gonna kill him.  I'm gonna make him pay."  His eyes fell back to Rachael, and there was a flinty hardness there, cold obsidian rage.

[Laurels]

Rachael listened carefully as Tyler answered her questions. He really was furious with Travis if he had all these issues with him. She didn't know what it was like to hate someone so intensely, but clearly Tyler felt that way about Travis. At the same time, Tyler had figured out how to compromise any morality he might have had outside the island to put himself on this quest. She wondered how he was able to do that.

"Alright," she said, "but there's one thing I don't understand. You say he acts like he's 'above it' with two kills. But if you kill him, then you'll have two kills, and people might assume you're playing."

Rachael held her hands close to her chest as she looked Tyler straight in the eyes. She needed to understand this guy. If her time left on Earth was reducing at a faster rate, then she needed to make some sense of how this place worked and why people did the things they did.

"How will you be any different from him? I mean, if you kill him then keep fighting, when will it stop?"

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler cocked his head at her.  "You ask a lot of questions," he said, but his tone was light, casual, always joking.  He rubbed his chin with his left hand for a moment, considering her.

"It stops when we're dead," Tyler said.  "You get that, right?  You get that we ain't getting of here.  One fucker might.  The rest of us are dyin'.  That's just how it is.  So yeah, I'll kill Travis, after I've made him pay.  And then I'll kill anyone else I have to, or want to, and then I'll fuckin' die."  But there was a grin on Tyler's face as he said this, and his words bubbled with good cheer.  A little joy gleamed in his eye.

But the glint faded when he said, "As for Travis?  It's not about the kills.  I'm not...I'm not hunting him 'cause he killed."  His grin bent into a severe frown.  "That'd be fuckin' stupid.  It's about..."

He trailed off, searching the ground.  "He wants to kill, fine," Tyler said.  "He wants to hide, fine.  Doesn't fuckin' matter.  But you can't have it both ways.  You can't play innocent when you're fuckin' killin'.  You can't act like you're better.  And you can't treat your friends like meat.  They ain't fuckin' tools.  They're people.  You owe'em that."

He shrugged.  "We're all gonna die," he said.  "But he's not actin' like a person.  He's actin' like a fuckin'...like a leech, y'know?  A fuckin' parasite."  He nodded.  "Can't let that go."

[Laurels]

Rachael continued to listen as Tyler explained more and more of his island philosophy, which she was starting to have trouble believing. To think that someone might have reached this conclusion in just seven days was something she never could have fathomed happening to her. He was completely aware of his mortality, but was still willing to kill those he had issues with. That was where he started to lose her.

"I don't understand," she said. "If you're planning on dying, why do you need to kill before that happens?"

Rachael swallowed another lump in her throat. She really needed to voice her concerns to this guy.

"I-it sounds like you've taken a nihilistic approach to this game, but what good is killing more people before you die? I mean, isn't that just as parasitic? You're taking their lives just to prolong a finite existence."

Rachael's jaw began to quiver.

"A-a-and I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm far from okay. I've lost so many friends, I've seen people die, and I've lost all my allies. A few minutes ago, I was prepared to dig a knife into my wrist just to get it over with. But I couldn't do it. I can't even kill myself."

Rachael started to feel tears well up in her eyes.

"I feel like such a parasite, too. I'm alive, but I'm doing so while other people are dying, and I don't see why I get to live and they don't. I don't understand anything about this place."

Rachael sniffled. She didn't know if this guy would understand what she was talking about, but part of her really hoped he would. If was at least nice to talk to someone, even with such a morbid subject at hand.

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler started to form an answer to her questions before she was done speaking, but Rachael kept talking, and his half-open mouth closed at once.  There was something a little gentle in his face, but as she finished a trace of confusion marred his face, and his frown deepened even as his eyes searched her face.

"What's to understand?" he asked, and there was a note of earnest sincerity in his voice reflected in his face.  He was honestly baffled.

"Place like this doesn't make sense," he said.  "You're not okay?  Good.  That means you're not crazy.  You want to kill yourself?  I get that.  You want to hide?  I get that too.  You want to fight?  Do it.  It doesn't fuckin' matter, get it?  One person lives, and it ain't skill.  It's fuckin' luck."

But still, there was an awful gentleness to his face.  No malice, no anger, just a quiet insistence.  "We're stuck in this fuckin' game.  We didn't choose to be here.  But we're here.  How you gonna play it?  Fight?  Hide?  Give up?  Doesn't matter.  It's all gonna end the same.  Play the way you have to.  Play the way that makes you feel right."

"But you're not a parasite," he said.  "What, you were weak?  So what?  So's everyone.  You're alive?  No reason for it.  You chose to hide and you decided not to kill yourself.  Don't mean you're better, or they were worse.  Just the way it fuckin' goes."

His voice hardened again, and his dark eyes flashed.  "True parasite is decidin' you're better.  Ture parasite is grabbin' your friend and usin'em as a fuckin' shield so you can keep your worthless lyin' ass alive."  

The dangerous gleam faded.  He looked strangely gentle again.  "Sorry," he said.  "I'm ramblin'."

[Laurels]

Rachael wiped her eyes as Tyler gave his rebuttal. To her surprise, he didn't seem to think poorly of her. His approach seemed pretty neutral. If she was doing what she thought was right, then that's fine. Clearly, he thought that hunting Travis down was the right thing to do. She didn't necessarily agree with that, but it was what kept him rational.

Tyler then apologized for rambling.

"No, it's fine," she said. "To be honest, I haven't really talked to anyone this week. It's kind of nice."

Rachael's gaze fell to the ground.

"Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do now."

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler cocked his head.  "What do you want to do?" he asked.

[Laurels]

"I don't know," Rachael said. "That's the problem."

"I mean, I don't know where anyone is or how I'd find them. I don't want to play, and I don't know if I can really go through with ending my life. At the same time, I don't know if I can spend the whole game hiding. I mean, I don't really pay much attention to the people who left this game alive, but I doubt any of them managed to hide the whole time."

Rachael wiped her eyes and looked at Tyler.

"Tell me: how did you reach your decision? How did you know that hunting people down was the right path for you?"

Rachael sniffled. Part of her wondered if hunting people was really "the right path" for anyone, but if it's what Tyler thought was right, then she needed to know how he was sure it was right. He had a lot of conjecture for it, but what and when did he decide to go through with it?

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler shook his head.  "It ain't," he said.  "I didn't choose to be any one way.  It's just..."  He trailed off, frowning, and then continued, "They brought us her to be their fuckin' gladiators.  We're stuck here, and we're gonna die.  One guy gets to live, maybe, but even that ain't for fuckin' sure.  They want us to fight and kill.  So, hell, why not?"

His mouth twitched a little, as though torn between frowning and smiling.  "You get it, though," Tyler said.  "You get what a shitty place that is.  You wanna hide?  Make sense.  Maybe you'll live a little longer.  Hell, maybe you'll even fuckin' make it.  You ain't pretending this ain't a fuckin' awful game."

His eyes hardened.  "But I've seen too many people doing it the other way.  Pretending they don't understand.  Acting like they don't get it.  Travis did, but he decided he was gonna fuckin' live.  Like he was better than her.  Travis has gotta pay for what he did."