They Think It's All Over...

[ViolentMedic]

Marley rubbed the back of his head with his free head absently, his ears going slightly red. Yeah. Threatening people with this was pretty pathetic. Then again, he couldn't really blame Johnny for laughing. This entire situation was bizarre. Standing among pine trees in a battle to the death, with a weird-looking womanizer and his tea-loving best friend, armed with naught but a musical instrument and the patriotic penetrator.

What fresh hell is this? ...Okay, it was kind of funny, in a really black, not-that-funny kind of way.

“Whole situation ain't exactly an everyday thing, Johnny,” Marley murmured.

Dan was out of the bushes. He announced his intention not to play, that he was sick of it, blah de blah blah.

“Join the freaking club, man. I mean... I'm usually down with America, but this?” Marley gestured around them before shrugging and shaking his head. “But what-the-fuck-ever. No point thinking about it.

“For now... well, I got nothing in mind but finding my girl—Ashley Sydor, you seen her?—but after that, who knows. Uh... Johnny, anything you wanna follow up on?” Marley shot a look at Johnny that said, 'For the love of god, think of something, because my plans suck.'

[Pippi]

Jonathan shrugged and nodded in response to Marley, in a ‘Yeah, you’ve kinda got a point there” sort of way. For some reason, his simple statement was enough to break Jonathan out of his brief amusement at Marley’s weapon, and back into thinking mode. ‘Everyday’ was the key word. Back home, homework and chores, things like that, they had been part of the everyday routine, stuff Johnny had simply become accustomed to. And now, there was no going back to it. No matter what happened, even if he did manage to get out of The Program, that old everyday life and routine? It was completely gone. Life as he knew it had changed, starting from today.

It was a sobering, rather depressing thought, really. Exactly the thought Jonathan had tried to stop himself from thinking before Marley turned up. Yet somehow, he felt a little better about the situation. Well, no, better probably wasn’t the correct word there. Secure or confident was more like it. Jonathan didn’t want to think too deeply about the Program, but like he’d thought earlier, he couldn’t be naive about the whole thing. There was no harm in believing he could get out alive, no harm in thinking none of his classmates would play right off the bat. But thinking that no-one would get hurt, and that everything would stay fine and dandy all the way through would just end up hurting him in the long run.

At the same time, it was still a little difficult for Jonathan to believe these thoughts were actually going through his head though; something Dan seemed to agree with. The guy spoke the truth; it was hard to swallow. And yet, here they were. Jonathan didn’t want to play either, but he didn’t want to die. And somehow, they would have to find a way, to adapt and to live.

Man. Talk about freaking juxtaposition, there... I guess this is how the whole thing’s gonna turn out, isn’t it? Feeling okay one moment, the next... who knows?

Jonathan had been so engrossed in his thoughts that for a few seconds he didn’t notice Marley staring at him intently. When he finally noticed, he let out an “Oh, uh... sorry”, and felt his cheeks redden slightly. Again.

“Uh, I think that right now the most sensible thing to do would be to get out of here. Preferably sooner rather than later. Seems to me like the worst possible place to get attacked in. We can think of further plans once we’re safer.”

Jonathan followed Dan in crouching down and opening his bag, fumbling as he did so. As he’d been speaking, he had remembered again just how impossible it would be to defend yourself in these woods, and the fear he’d had straight after waking up had returned. Man, he was just a huge cluster of emotions right now, wasn’t he? After a short while, Jonathan stood back up with his map.

“... This really isn’t helping much.” Jonathan admitted after a short pause. “I dunno where exactly we are, aside from, uh, ‘The Pine Stands’. And there’s three different sections of that.” Jonathan sighed, rolled the map up and put it in his pocket.

“I guess the best thing to do would be to... pick a random direction. And just start walking. Right now, what else can we do?”

[GameMaker*]

It was cold. This had been Dan's first thought in opening the pack, removing the jacket and putting it on. It was a nice buffer against the cold, and as he put the jacket on, he opened the first aid kit. Where was it, where was it... Ah. The scissors. Small, not very effective as a weapon, but still, could prove useful. Dan slid them into his jacket pocket and closed the first aid kit.

Taking saltines and a bottle of water out before closing the pack, Dan listened to the two boys talk. Marley spoke up, something about a girl. That was right... he had a girlfriend, didn't he? A vague memory of her face came to Dan. Some girl that went to school, he had seen her and Marley together once or twice in the halls. She was cute, if Dan was thinking of the right girl.

Johnathan began talking, something about walking away from there, getting into the right position. Pointless. A waste of time. Someone would kill all of them, or at least two out of the three. Sure, they could guard each other, he supposed. Then, by some miracle, they could fend off every other kid, and since they weren't playing, somehow do it without killing anyone. Guard each other. But the real question was Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, who would guard the guards? Because when it was the three of them left, only one would survive.

No, no, they would die. It was merely a question of how to live their last moments. Walking around, making aimless small talk? Dan had had his whole life to do that. He hadn't wanted to do that when he was in highschool. Why would he do it when they were killing each other? No, this was his chance to find out who they really were. Who these kids were under their masks. Were any of them as empty as he was?

"You're looking for this girl, huh, Marley?" Dan opened his saltines, eating a few quickly before taking a gulp of a water. Was he using her? Dan doubted he was using her knowingly, Marley seemed like too idealistic of a kid. But if you love someone merely because it's convenient to love them, is that truly love? His mother loved him when she was in front of company. When he needed her help, she wasn't there. Would Marley do the same thing if he was forced to sacrifice to love her?

"What are you going to do when you find her? What are you going to do if she's killed someone? What are you going to do if she tries to kill you?" Dan spoke, chewing on a few more of the saltines. He grabbed the water bottle and took another swig of it, looking directly into Marley's eyes. "Kidding, of course. If she's your girlfriend, I can imagine she's not the person that would do something like that."

"But what are you gonna do if it's just you and her at the end? There's only one winner. That, or you both die." Dan finished the bag of saltines, and took another drink of his water. He put the water bottle back in his bag, zipping it up. He envisioned it in his mind. Marley killing her. Her killing Marley. He knew he should feel sad, or horrified, or some appropriate emotion. Instead he felt... interested. He wanted to see it. Wanted to see their true sides.

He glanced over at Johnathan. The two of them, really trusting each other not to stab each other in the back? They were fools. Humans were inherently selfish creatures. They couldn't be friends enough to the point that they'd rather die than kill the other. No one would do that for another person...

Or do you just think that because no one would do that for you? No. That wasn't true. He wasn't flawed. Humans were selfish creatures, they just put on faces. Social masks, as they used each other for their needs. He knew it. They just used each other. He could prove it. He could prove it now. He stayed looking at Johnathan, and spoke one more time.

"More importantly, what are you going to do if it's you, her, and Johnathan?" He laughed inside. Bet you didn't think of that, did you Johnny boy? We'll see how your little fucking pow wow goes with that hanging over your fucking heads. You'll show me what you truly are.

[ViolentMedic]

“This piney area is kind of a clusterfuck for seeing shit in, isn't it?” Marley mumbled, peering over Johnny's shoulder at the map. He looked at it and wondered where Ash would go. Of course, neither of them had ever been camping together or anything, so he didn't know where Ash would go in this sort of situation.

If only there were a music studio or something. She'd go there like a fly goes to really stinky horse poop.

“Pick a direction... alright. Yeah, guess that's what we got, isn't it? Whatever, I'm fine with that. Er, she wasn't at the slopes, though. That's where I woke up.”

And then Dan started talking. And what he said made Marley want to do more than smack him in the face. It made Marley want to punt him off a goddamn cliff.

What the fuck? Ash wouldn't... and so what if... what the... oh, you are a fucking motherfucker!

Marley was always only a small poke away from anger. But Dan's words were less a small poke and more a violent shove from 'calm' to 'want-to-kick-you-in-the-balls' anger.

“You shut the fuck up, asshole!” Marley yelled, taking an angry step forward. “The fuck does it matter? If I don't know if Ash is dead, I'ma keep looking for her! If she is dead, I'll find who killed her and shove this goddamn dildo down their throats! But right now, she ain't dead, so I'm gonna look! And who the fuck cares if she shoots me in the back? I don't give a shit if Johnny stabs me in the back right now. Er.” Marley turned to Jonathan. “Dick move if you do. But whatever! Not the point here!

“I'm not fuckin' retarded, alright? I know the odds of any of us getting out are, like... nearly nothing. But us three stick together, ups the chance of one of us getting out. And if it comes down to us three that's a fucking golden opportunity there, because then it's 100% chance of one of us leaving! As for how the choice goes down, I don't fucking know! Maybe one of us will shoot the other two! Maybe two of us will shoot ourselves! Maybe we'll flip a goddamn coin! Who the fuck cares? We're not there yet!

“The point is... quit trying to psych me out about how, 'ooh, they'll betray you and you'll have to kill one of them.' Because I ain't shooting them in the back, and I'd hope they'd have the decency to shoot me in the face rather than the back if it comes down to it. Because that's fucking... I dunno, loyalty or something! And if the alternative is being... whatever the fuck you're doing, then goddammit I'm being the thing that... isn't you or whatever!”

After that tidal wave of ragey word-vomit, Marley took a few breaths and added, in a slightly quieter but still furious tone, “By the way, by us three I mean me, Jonathan and Ashley. And maybe anyone we meet up with who isn't a goddamn assface. Sorry to say, but you don't fit that fucking criteria at the moment, so get the fuck outta my face before I kick you so hard in the crotch that your nuts end up in your throat!”

[Pippi]

Okay, so, any direction except the direction of the slopes, as Marley had apparently been there before meeting with Jonathan. A sound plan, under normal circumstances, as the slope was clearly marked on the map. Only problem was, Jonathan had no idea which way they were all currently facing, which meant he had no idea where the slope was either. So it looked like wandering in a random direction was still the plan. If they found the slope, well, they’d have burned a decent amount of time and would have to head elsewhere. Then again, what else was there to do except burn time, in some way or another?

Jonathan looked round at Dan to see whether he had anything he wanted to contribute to the discussion. After eating a few saltines, the boy did indeed speak up with his two cents. And very, very quickly, Jonathan wished he hadn’t. He started going on about what would happen when they found Ashley; what would happen if she had killed, or if she was planning on killing? What would happen if it ended up as just Marley and Ashley, or if it ended up as just them two and Jonathan?

Jonathan could only stare down at Dan, mouth open slightly in disbelief, trying to process what had just been said, and more importantly, why it had been said. Why the hell would anyone say something like that? They had teamed up, they had all been ready to head off and make the best of the situation, and Dan just had to ramble on about paranoid theories, theories Jonathan had had in the back of his mind but had dismissed, because there was no way Marley was going to betray him. It just wasn’t going to happen. They’d been through too much to end up killing each other out here.

Jonathan had already been paranoid, though, and Dan had managed to plant a seed of further doubt in his mind. Not about whether Marley would betray him at some point. Not even about what would happen if they were the final two. As Marley was yelling, they weren’t there yet. The time to decide that was in the future. Marley’s enraged yelling had further proven to Jonathan that he wasn’t going to betray him, and the opposite was also true. No, Johnny had a small bit of doubt in the back of his mind about what would happen if Ashley was playing. What would happen then? Would Dan’s prophecy turn out to be correct?

No. No, forget that, no. He’s an idiot. No-one’s going to be playing so early into this, especially not Ashley. He’s just trying to... psyche us out or something, for whatever reason.

For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Johnny shook his head to clear his thoughts, and bring himself back to the here and now. Marley was still yelling, after a pause, and Jonathan knew he had to try and calm his friend down. This was exactly how the game truly started; someone getting angry over something, anything, and the high pressure situation finally causing them to snap. He repeated Marley’s name over and over, trying to get through to him. Eventually, after Marley made his rather violent threat, Jonathan managed to get a word in before he could say anything else.

“Marley!” Jonathan said loudly, yet nowhere near as loud as Marley had been, and with a level tone to his voice. “Snap out of it! Just... calm down, okay? There’s no point in getting so worked up over this. Because, uh, Dan?” Jonathan turned to look at the other boy. “Marley’s right. Shut the fuck up.” Jonathan rarely swore normally, almost never to be precise. This was decidedly not “normally”, though.

“Look, for whatever reason, you’ve decided to mess with us, or psyche us out, or something.” Jonathan said, staring straight at Dan, as he had done to Marley. “That or you really are that cynical. Either way, you’ve been useless to us so far, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be any more help along the road. And hey, seeing as you’re so certain we’re going to backstab each other, surely it’s for the best you stay away from us, huh?” Jonathan turned back to Marley, trying not to look at Dan again.

“Right. That direction look any good?” Jonathan pointed in a random direction, away from Dan.

[GameMaker*]

Dan watched as Marley reacted. It was a perfect reaction- the cursing, the violent threats, the "if at least one of us survives" rationale. He wondered what reaction Marley was expecting from him. Fear? Was he supposed to cower? Marley wouldn't kill him, for all that posturing. And ultimately, neither would Jonathan. Speaking of which, his reaction was quite a bit calmer to Dan, but still ended with a nice little quip. Dan smiled.

"What are you going to do, Marley? Kill me?" Dan spoke, and laughed a bit as he did, putting on his day pack. "My apologies, that was a little far. And if you've already got your plan worked out, best of luck with it. You've got passion, and friends... hopefully that will work out."

He looked at Jonathan. Did he have the same stupid view as Marley? How much were they just lying to themselves? They looked down on him, both of them. Marley had outright called him a monster. What right did he have to say that? He was better than both of them. Smarter. By what fucking right did they look down on him?

"Jonathan, I don't think you're going to stab Marley in the back. I don't think Marley will stab you in the back, either. But sometime soon, kids are going to start killing each other. Paranoia's gonna set in, and sooner or later, one of your classmates will try to kill you." Dan thought that it had probably already happened. If Marley had had a gun, he probably would've shot Dan. Or maybe he wouldn't have, the way he was acting like he was the fucking hero of the story.

"You think I'm a dick, don't you, Marley? A real fucking cocksucker, right?" Dan looked at him, looked right in his eyes. "So here's my last question to you- if it was me, you, and Ashley, would you kill me? Even if I wanted to live, would you gun me down regardless?"

Dan turned and walked away from them, leaving Marley with that question. At the same time, he pulled his pair of First Aid scissors out of his jacket pocket. He'd have to be careful here... he gripped them tightly, and plunged down at his forearm with the blade.

"Fuck!" It hurt like hell, but it wasn't a disabling wound. It just looked pretty bad. Well, a story's not good without evidence, is it?

(Dan Orvall continued in In which it is ascertained that danger zones do, in fact, make you blow up)

[ViolentMedic]

Marley hadn't even noticed Jonathan trying to interrupt his ranting until Jonathan half-yelled for him to snap out of it. Marley went quiet pretty quickly, having been unaware that he'd been running his mouth that much. But then again, he never really noticed how much time had passed when in an angry rant like that one.

But Johnny was definitely on his side for this. That was a load off. And there was no way Johnny was faking it, because he swore and he usually never... well, barely ever... swore. That's some freaking indignation coming through right there, even if he was chill like he always was.

That's probably good. Leave the decisions to someone chill. Johnny at least wasn't going to go around kicking people because they were asshats. ...If he really needed to, Marley could do that for him.

Not that it mattered. Dan cheesed it pretty fast. Of course, not after saying that people would try to kill them. Well, no freaking shit! And then the last question, which was basically the old question if you replaced Jonathan with a guy that Marley currently fucking hated.

“Fuck yeah I would, asshole!” Marley yelled after him, but Dan was out of sight pretty fast. Marley thought he heard some swearing afterwards, but whatever. Not his problem.

Turning back to Johnny, Marley said, “Uh, whichever direction you wanna go in is fine, man. Just, yeah, as long as it's far away from that dick.” Marley shifted a little, dumping the dildo back into his bag. In truth, he wasn't sure why he was still carrying it around. Wasn't like he could defend himself with a rubber wiener. But better than nothing. Sort of.

“Look, uh... I'll just follow you, alright? I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing and you're, you know...” Marley gestured at Jonathan. “You're together and chill and shit. Really, I don't care what happens as long as I find Ash at some point, but no clue where she'll be, so... you know.”

[Pippi]

Dan didn’t seem annoyed at Marley or Jonathan. In fact, he almost seemed amused by the whole thing, laughing softly as he put his bag back on. That, really, made the whole thing worse. The guy seemed totally full of himself, with words that would have been pleasant coming from anyone else, but from Dan’s lips, they became edged with sarcasm and arrogance.

Jonathan tried to ignore him. He seemed to be leaving now, anyway, and what he was saying was either stuff Jonathan already knew, or complete bollocks. Of course Jonathan knew that people were eventually going to kill one another, seeing as he’d been thinking about it earlier. He wasn’t stupid, or naive. He knew what would happen sooner or later. But why the heck should he just accept that as the norm, that he or Marley would have to kill someone to survive? Surely there was some other way out of here, some path of innocence or something? Even if there wasn’t, what was the point in thinking about that now? Right now, Jonathan and Marley, and hopefully Ashley, were a unit, a team. Only time would tell what they would end up doing, but for now, they were going to try and stay safe and alive. And hopefully warm; even with the trees clustered so close together, it was still pretty chilly.

Marley responded angrily to Dan’s parting words, and Jonathan felt sure he heard Dan say something or swear, but thankfully, it went no further than that. Marley stuffed his “weapon” back in his bag. The thought of his first sight of it, before Dan had turned up, brought a weak smile to Jonathan’s face. “All right, cool.” Jonathan said, after Marley gave the a-okay to choose a direction

Jonathan stretched out a little in preparation to leave. Hopefully they’d find somewhere less tree infested soon. It was still a little eerie, still a little nerve-wracking. Marley mentioned something about Johnny being “together and chill and shit”. Was he really? He sure didn’t feel that way. He felt the complete opposite, actually, as if any more conflict would cause him to break down. But then again, what you felt and what you expressed were often two completely different things. Jonathan knew that well enough; at school, he’d sometimes become completely worried about his dad, yet to anyone who spoke to him during those times, he seemed exactly the same as normal. Maybe that was part of being a good leader; keeping your head when everything goes wrong, something like that.

“Hey, thanks.” Jonathan mumbled as he made to leave, an earnest smile appearing on his face. “I do my best. C’mon then; let’s go find Ashley.”

((Jonathan Roberts continued in Wandering the Crystal Blue))

[ViolentMedic]

“No problem, man, just saying what's what.” Marley trotted after Jonathan as they started to make their way out. “I got your back, let's do this thing.”

Because they were gonna fucking do it. Gonna... gonna find Ash, and then... well, Marley still didn't know what came after that, but one thing at a time, right? And it'd be great—or at least as great as it could be on an island of death—because he'd at least be with his buddy and his girl and they'd live for as long as possible until—

Until one of you has to shoot the other two?

That little voice in the back of his head sounded a lot like Dan. Fucking asshole. No, he just had to stay focused on the present and not think about anything else.

Marley shoved all the negative 'what happens later' thoughts away and continued after Jonathan.

((Marley Jenkins continued in Wandering the Crystal Blue.))