Red Sun

[Wham Yubeesling]

((Michael Robinson continued from Blue Moon))

He had walked onto the beach from the northern end, and started walking southwest.  He wasn’t entirely sure why they had decided to go to this area. It was open, easily accessible. The two weren’t under any sort of cover, and they had no natural camouflage, the colours that they were wearing standing out in the white sand.

All it would take was one madman with a gun, and the both of them would be dead.

But he kept walking down the beach, down the length of the resort, where it seemed that silence would reign.

This silence gave Michael time to think, time to consider, time to reminisce.  He knew what path he had to take, he knew what he had to do to get out of this place, what he had to do to get home again; but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it, to potentially kill one of the people that he had spent the last couple of years knowing and talking to. Would he still be seen as a good person if he were to become a murderer?

Was he still seen as a good person even now? He had teamed up with someone who was clearly fine with the prospect of killing someone else, and he himself had attacked someone to steal their weapon. The person in question was still alive, according to the announcements, and nothing that he did would have done any damage to him; but the act still lingered in Michael’s mind, made him unsure about himself.

He stopped walking, looked at the horizon.

The thought of his parents sprung into his mind. Were they watching? And if so, what did they think of him? He didn’t know. For all he knew, they could be packing their bags and lying about ever having a son. If he remembered correctly, that had happened with one of the earlier winners. It was an overblown possibility, and one that wasn’t likely to happen considering what he had actually done so far, but it could still happen, and the chance of it happening would rise higher and higher if he continued down the road that he might have to take.

He tried to think that it didn’t matter what others thought of him now, had to try and live in the moment. He had to get out of the resort first and formost. Nothing else mattered. He had to try and find Norma and Panther 5, get more allies, keep the one that he had, find a better weapon, survive.

Win.

They would think of him as a victim of circumstance; someone who only did the things they did because of the situation they were in. They would understand. They would sympathize with what he had to go through. Maybe they would welcome him with open arms when he came back, maybe they would realize that this was all a big, giant misunderstanding.

Would they?

[Ohm]

((Zoe Walker continued from Blue Moon))

They had walked away from the casino after the announcement, the news of Lukas’s death had jolted them into leaving to find their last two teammates, and they already knew who one of them was so all they had to is find the last one.

They had not talked to each other at all while moving, it let Zoe think over things, such as how did it end up like this? With Lukas killing himself, Pia being killed by Vahka and their general lack of effective weapons. It was all starting to get to Zoe and the silence was making it worse.

Michael stopped to look out at the sea, Zoe wondered how he was holding up, Lukas dying and one of his friends running out on him happening on the same day can't be good for a person, specially not someone who has the same problems regarding their goals like him.

"Everything alright Michael?"

[Wham Yubeesling]

Maybe they would. He hadn’t done anything bad yet, and who knew, maybe he could get through without doing anything bad. Maybe he could hide behind Zoe, Norma, others, get them to do it for him, get them to pull him to victory, get-


Wait, somebody was talking to him.

It was Zoe. Asking him if he was okay. He turned.

He didn’t know what to say. Just like the Casino, with Lily, he had two options. He could tell the truth, coming clean with the fact that he wasn’t okay with killing. Maybe it would work. He might be able to slink himself behind her, hide. Play the role of the brains while she fought and killed.

It could work. She was concerned for him, and she would understand if he didn’t want to kill. She wanted to win as well, and him suddenly choking when in a fight could mean the death of both of them.

It was the better option. The correct option. The one he had to pick.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

[Ohm]

He was lying, it would not take a genius to figure that out, the phrase "It's nothing" was always that, but he must have good reason for it and she could not just force it out of him no matter how much she wanted to. Awkward silence filled the area again; Zoe felt she had to say something back.

"Alright...just tell me if something comes up."

She was looking out over the beach as the words came out, the whole place was covered in ice and it was freezing. She briefly wondered who’s bright idea it was to have them fight in the freaking cold, whoever it was they should be fired.

She looked directly at Michael as the next words flew out, funny that she was saying this to a person who a few days ago she barely knew.

"You're all I've got at this point."

It was weird to think that, but he truly was, most of Zoe's friends were dead or killers, Lukas had killed himself, Norma had run off to who knows where, Ike and her family was at home, probably watching and they hadn't even found the last one. Michael was here and he was willing to help, right now, that was enough for Zoe.

[Wham Yubeesling]

He lied.

He didn't know why. He was ready to tell the truth and come clean to Zoe, but his body decided that it felt like lying to her, to himself.

But why?

He asked the question to his mind, and again, he didn't know. Was this going to happen again, him lying to people that he considered his allies, people he once called friends, people he didn't even know?

But it was for the greater good, his own greater good, right? Continue on the track he was going with Zoe, get a better weapon, kill somebody else, outlast everybody else, and win. Simple as tha

No no no, he couldn't think that way, he couldn't fall to the game, he had to keep himself above it, But that wouldn't work, doing that would get him killed, he had to fall, had to

Nonono, why was he thinking this way? He couldn't do it, he couldn't kill someone, he couldn't make it home.

He was losing it.

He realized it, just now. He was losing his mind to the game. A poor boy had a complex moral decision he had to make and he wasn't up to the task. Soon it would take him over completely, probably make him lose his sanity.

That couldn't happen, he had to stay focused, sane, upbeat. He had to live. Had to get out of here. Had to meet his family again.

Wait, Zoe was talking to him again, wasn't she.

She said something about how if something came up for him, he should tell her. Sure, telling her would probably be for the best, but in all likelyhood his body was going to change what he said again.

The next thing she said surprised him. She said that he was all she had left.

Well, there was another reason to not lose it on the resort. Somebody was relying on him. Not at all a reason to excuse what he might have to do in the future, but it was something that he could maybe use to hold  onto himself for a little while longer.

He didn't quite know how to respond to it, though. He settled with a simpler response.

“Understood”, he replied, nodding. “Shall we go?”

One step at a time, Michael continued down the beach, to an unknown location.

((Michael Robinson concluded in The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway))

[Ohm]

She had let the cat out of bag about him, it felt awkward afterwards as if questioning if it was the right thing to say, but Micheal seemed to take it in stride which was good, can't have him in a funk the whole time.

Michael was ready to leave, Zoe just nodded in response, there was nothing for either of them here.

Silence filled the area again as they left, they had no specific destination in mind, just that it would be better than this place.

((Zoe Walker continued in The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway))