Get Ready to Fly

[Macha*]

((Corrina Landrey, continued from Crayola Kids.))

The wind brushed past Corrina’s ears as she walked, her hair providing little protection from the coldness that accompanied it. Corrina had, once again, found herself slowly wandering along, her shield scraping the muddy ground. It was getting easier now, she kept telling herself. That it was fine. She'd get used to it eventually.

She paused for a second, coming to a halt near a cordoned off area filled with targets- alternating between bulleyes and cutouts of people.

The realisation washed over Corrina, sending a chill down her back, right down to the base of her spine. This wasn't her. She wasn't some scared puppy, whimpering in the corner. No, She was sick of this. She was sick of hiding, of running away. She was sick of dragging this shield around, sick of relying on it. This wasn’t who she was. Corrina was better than this. She tugged at the shield. Stuck again.

Corrina, this isn’t you. You don’t need to do this.

Corrina lost it.

Taking a running start, Corrina ran forward, kicking the shield loose from the ground. Corrina stared downwards at it. Her breathing was heavy, her heart a constant drum beat in her chest.

She stomped, driving her foot down onto the plastic. Nothing. Again she brought her foot down. Again, and again, and again, and again. A flurry of stomps, and still no impact. Corrina screamed, stomping again, and again, but it was to no avail. Of course, the thing was designed to stop bullets, supposed to be an impenetrable defense.

One that was useless to her.

Corrina knelt down. Grabbing the plastic by both hands, she got up and swung the lump of the plastic, using the momentum to move faster, the anchor that had tied her down. It had kept her grounded. Now it was time to leave the ground. Time to fly.

With all her strength, Corrina swung the shield, releasing it at the peak of the throw. The little she’d learned in hammer throwing in her compulsary gym classes paid off as she watched the shield hurtle through the air, crashing into a nearby bush with a cacophany of sound, the dull thud of the shield combining with the rustling of disturbed leaves and the crunching of crushed twigs.

Corrina, the people at home must think you've gone insane.

Standing there, alone and sick of the world, Corrina didn’t care. It didn’t matter what they thought any more. It never mattered. She was Corrina Landrey, and she was better than this. Better than all of this.

Corrina slowed her breathing. Needed to calm down. She searched for somewhere she could sit, relax for a bit. Her eyes met one of the targets, a red and white bullseye. Perfect.

Corrina pulled the tape down and put one leg over. She glanced around before following with her other leg. Corrina slumped down, resting her back against the wooden target. Liberated.

Welcome back, Corrina.

[Courtography]

(Louis Johnson continued from Calm Like A Bomb)

He had run from the jailhouse with Kendra like crazy. They hadn't wanted John Ferrara to catch up and shoot them. He was breathing a little harder now, but not too bad, he was in good shape from swim team.

He tossed his duffel bag off of his shoulder onto the ground. "I think we lost him," he said to Kendra. "Now where are we?" He looked around at the assortment of bulls-eyes and human cutout targets. "I think it's that firing range I saw on the map. Let's take a look around," he continued as he picked his bag up again.

He walked behind a row of the targets, people probably wouldn't spot them from behind them anyway.

He continued along the rows when he notice a person sitting, a girl. From the odd assortment of clothes he recognized her on sight, Corrina Landrey. He didn't know her too well, but he had seen her at a few of the art things he did. "Hey, uhh Corrina, it's me Louis."

[Carrion Queen]

((Kendra Jones continued from Calm Like A Bomb))

Kendra stopped after having run at full speed for several minutes along side Louis. Maybe she had been a bit rash in her actions back at the jail house but she didn't regret anything. Shifty bastard had it coming; he was probably planning to kill the the whole time. Kendra heard Louis asked where they were. She looked around at the targets placed around the area.

"I think it's like, a shooting range or something," she said, now having caught her breath. A stray shell on the ground clinked softly against her foot as if to tell her that she had guessed correctly. Some ways off there was a girl sitting, resting maybe. She looked familiar but Kendra couldn't quite remember the right name. She decided to hazard a guess.

"Karina?"

[Macha*]

For a while, Corrina lay there- eyes shut- in a blissful silence, just listening. Listening to the sound of crickets chirping off in the distance, the quiet whisper of her breathing.

Corrina focused on her breathing for now, rather than whatever bugs were lying everywhere. She hated insects. Always had, since she was a child. Entomophobia? Something like that. Couldn't remember. What did it matter now anyway? It wasn't as if she had a use for the word now, lying on the ground waiting to die.

A thought crossed Corrina's mind.

Maybe, she wondered, maybe if she just sat there long enough, they'd forget about her. It sounded like a good idea in her head. If she just stayed quiet, stayed in the same place for long enough, eventually they'd have to let her out, right? Corrina frowned. She'd gone on and on for hours now about how she wasn't hiding any more, only to lay down and decide to die. Was she hiding? No. No she wasn't. Was she giving up, though? Accepting that the program had won? The answer was clear to Corrina now. It always had been.


Yes.

She was.

Huh. That was easier to admit than Corrina thought it would be. Telling the truth to herself, apparently, had worked wonders. How'd that happen? Corrina managed a weak smile. She felt a whole lot better now she'd gotten that out of her system. Accepting?

No. Content.

Corrina, don't give up. You can do this. Please, you just have to try. You can win this.

No. She wouldn't comply. That nagging little voice in the back of her head could- Corrina hated using this term, but it was necessary in this circumstance- fuck off.

"Mom, Dad?" Corrina breathlessly muttered, "I'm so sorry."

Sorry for what, though? That she was giving up? That the last time they were ever going to see their only daughter again would be on TV? That she’d been left to die “for the good of her country”? That their last memories of her would be a YouTube clip of her horrible murder and a telegraph through the mail? That the best luck they could wish her was a painless death?

For that, Corrina had no answer. Only more questions. The questions were starting to pile up.

Corrina sat back up. Lying on her back was starting to hurt her head. Besides, there was no one around; it wasn’t as if anyone would hear what she was about to say.

“Thomas.” Corrina spoke aloud this time. “Not sure if you can get this wherever you’re stationed, but… please, one of us needs to stay alive, alright?”

Alright. There. Done. Not wanting to dwell for too long. Corrina pulled her cardigan back over her shoulders. She could see a couple of people approaching.

Crap.

No time to lie down and play dead. They’d probably already noticed her. Looked like, for the first time, Corrina was going to have to interact with people. Great. When the two approached. Corrina could roughly identify them both- after all, they’d only been in school together for like what, 2 years? Maybe longer?

Kendra. That was her first name. Corrina remembered that perfectly. Kendra Jones? If she remembered right, it was. Dancer. Kind of a bitch, but Corrina wasn’t exactly one to talk herself. She was with a boy. Louis? Yeah, Louis. Swimmer? Corrina occasionally went to the pool, and was sure she’d seen him there a couple of times.

Wasn’t sure, though. Never could be.

They came closer. Corrina put on a brave face. They both said her name- Kendra mispronouncing it.

“You’ve only known me for years, do we really need to introduce ourselves?” Corrina said, with a sigh. “…but hello, I guess.”

[Courtography]

She didn't need to be such a smartass about it, sure he had been a bit mouthy to people on occasion, but he wasn't bad mouthing them in the middle of a deathmatch. "Just being polite," he grumbled.

Probably a bad choice of words, he didn't need to start out with making an enemy out of her. John Ferrara probably wasn't the only one with a gun after all. Might as well break the ice with a simple question, "What'd they give you?"

On one hand he hoped she didn't have a weapon so she wouldn't off him. On the other hand if she had a weapon, she had decided he wasn't worth killing. Yet. So if she did have a weapon she'd be a nice addition to the Louis/Kendra duo.

Besides it would help to have someone else to take the edge off Kendra, he wasn't a big fan of threatening to blow everyone up, even if she was right to suspect John.

[Carrion Queen]

"Right. CO-rrina," she said, arms crossed. She was willing to bet Louis had said it correctly. Still she didn't like her tone and she would have said something to that effect but Louis interrupted, asking about her weapon.

It still didn't matter terribly to her what Corrina had or what anyone had for that matter. She had her grenade and that would have to be good enough. It wasn't like she would survive this game anyway. Realism, she could face facts. Oh well, she tried not to think about it for the time being.

She threw her bag down and sat down on top of it. Kendra needed to sit for a few minutes after running from the jail.

[Outfoxd]

((Bryant Carver continued from Strange Fruit))

That asshole that had put them all in this compound had come on a PA system or something while Bryant was leaving the area by the administration building. Not a whole lot of news to report, except that Matt Gourlay, white boy and grade-A prick had already been put down.

"Score one for the good guys, huh?" He had muttered to himself after the announcement happened. The guy making the announcements had seemed disappointed, like he expected all the kids to be sorting each other out right away. Bryant knew better. A lot of the kids picked were white, and if Bryant knew anything about white people, they were little pussies that couldn't fight if they didn't have a higher power (like school administration or the government) backing them up.

Maybe that's how Bryant could win. He could fight. He would fight. Anybody fucked with him, they were getting worse than he gave to that snitch Karl. He was fairly certain of it.

Be nice if he had a gun, though. He knew all the white people were probably strapped. He'd just have to get the drop on one of them.

Bryant's wanderings had taken him to an area that he didn't immediately identify. It was laden with bullseyes, man shaped targets, and because guns weren't exactly allowed to civilians, it took him a minute to know it was a firing range. That and there were people at the front, talking.

He was sure he didn't know any of them, might've seen them around the school once or twice. Two white girls (maybe? One looked kinda off-white) and a white boy. It was like a fucking snowstorm in here, and he was the one patch of black ice. They didn't look armed, looked tired, maybe a little scared. One of them was sitting down.

Bryant smiled inwardly, started walking over to him. He wondered if his reputation preceded him, really didn't give a shit anyway. Maybe they had some information he could use, maybe they'd be good for a laugh or someone to take a bullet for him if it came down to it. As much as he hated the Program, he felt liberated by it. He felt like, for once in his life, he had some measure of the control that the government did over him.

It felt GLORIOUS.

"Why HELLO there my brothers and sisters. How's this fiiine fucking day treating you all?" He said, with a wide-toothed grin more reminiscent of a shark than a teenager.

[Courtography]

(Breaking post order because Louis hits two weeks tomorrow)

Kendra had calmed down from their encounter with John. That was good, he didn't want to receive more death threats from her. They weren't directed at him, but the end result was the same. He'd have died if she had gone through with her threat.

The question was back in his mind again: should he stay or should he go? On one metaphorical hand, or was it simile? He was terrible at English class. Kendra and her grenade gave him a threat against others, but on the other hand she was a threat to him even then.

Of course if he tried to make a break for it she might blow him up out of spite. If he was going to go he would have to choose a good moment, need a distraction.

Then that distraction appeared. Bryant Carver was there, yelling a falsely happy greeting. This was his moment. Already a bit tired from his run to the firing range his legs were slow to start up, but then he was off and then the range was behind him.

(Louis Johnson continued in Live Wire)

[Carrion Queen]

Kendra turned at the arrival of a new person. He seemed jaunty. She tried to recall a name, Bryant. That sounded right.

She put a hand on her hip and shifted so the hip stuck out.

"Fuckin' peachy. Me and her were just gonna play a game of hopscotch."

Next to her the sound of rubber on dirt crushed against each other and when she looked Louis was gone.

"Cock sucker," she sighed, ever so slightly crestfallen.

Kendra shoved her hands into her pockets and kicked at a small rock on the ground, sending it skittering a few feet away near one of the targets.

[Outfoxd]

The boy among the group had took off, like he'd seen a ghost. Kid was laying down so much leather it was a wonder he still had shoes. Bryant watched him go, the shark-grin gone from his face in the confusion.

He turned back to the two girls. "Boy acts like he never seen a happy nigger before." He bet that statement was true. Kid probably only knew black people when they were under his boot. Punk motherfucker.

Off-Whitey answered Bryant's question, but not in a particularly satisfactory way.

"I ain't ask you all that. I wanted sarcasm, I woulda motherfucking asked for it." He said, a little fire in his eyes, the same fire from when he punched out Chalmers. "We ain't at school, honey. Ain't gonna be no teachers around to stop it if I wanna throw you a beating."

Bryant looked from Kendra to the prone girl, figured they had no weapons worth worrying about.

"Fuck this shit. Fuck you. Suck a dick. I'm out." With that, Bryant spun on his heels and headed back out the way he came, through with the two girls.

((Bryant Carver continued in My Own Summer (Shove It))

[Macha*]

Corrina threw her head back, hitting the metal post at the sight of Bryant Carver wandering over, smiling like some kind of deranged crocodile who'd fallen into a pot of black paint. The pain wasn't necessary or welcome. She didn't care. Just trying to take her mind off of things, somehow. It didn’t work. Now her head was pounding along with her chest in some kind of deranged drumbeat. The steadythump-thump was growing louder and faster, both in her head and her chest. Closing her eyes numbed the pain in her chest a little, but just made her head worse.

Eyes open for now, then.

That’s when it came back. That nagging little voice in the back of Corrina’s mind telling her not to give up hope, to keep on fighting until she got to the end.

Giving up was hard work, really. She thought it would be easy but there were just those little nagging things that tried to draw her back in.

They were succeeding, too.

This was the problem, really. No matter what she tried to do, what she tried to say, Corrina kept getting dragged back into that mind-set. Whether that was instinct kicking in or just her subconscious primal thoughts of fear trying to wrestle control, she didn’t know.

Corrina sighed, realising she’d forgotten her unwanted guests.

She opened her mouth to speak, especially at the arrival of slave-in-chief Bryant Carver, but before she could, Louis left. That was good for Corrina. It showed that at least one of them got the message, had the right idea. Now if only the rest of them could fucking leave. Then she could sleep. Try to forget this whole mess until she got carried out or someone put her down.

Huh. Corrina was taken aback by how she'd just mentioned that. Like it was nothing. Like she was a wounded beast, just waiting to be put down. Was that all she thought of herself? Corrina was stunned.

If she was honest, a little frightened, too.

When Corrina snapped out of her self pitying, Bryant was gone. Good. He was lowering the property value. Was that what she was supposed to say? Didn’t matter much now. All the propaganda shit didn’t- couldn’t- help them now.

Still, Bryant was gone. That left her and Kendra. As much as Corrina just wanted Kendra to leave, she felt compelled to say something to her. Really, anything would do. Corrina paused for a moment as she searched her mind, trying to think of the right word amidst the constant thumping.

"Hey," It was all she could muster right now through the throbbing and the tiredness. Corrina hoped it would be enough. “Guess it’s just us two.”

[Carrion Queen]

"Nice meeting you too," she muttered after Bryant. She wasn't scared of him. Though, that wasn't really something to be proud of. A reasonable person would have been right to be scared of him, but Kendra was too prideful for fear and sense.

Kendra looked back at the girl on the ground again, Corrina. They'd found her just sitting around, waiting for what?

The lack of company had really hurt Kendra. All the people having run off, even Bryant, it hurt her. She may not have been scared of Bryant's threats, but she was afraid of being left alone. Kendra wouldn't give Corrina the opportunity to ditch her like the rest had. She'd find someone. Someone she knew would stay.

"You're a liability," she said flatly.

((Kendra Jones continued in Splatterworks ))

[Macha*]

Liability.

That was funny, really.

Corrina thought the same. Not of Kendra, no. She'd done nothing to Corrina, surprisingly. No. Kendra was right, Corrina was the liability. Kendra vanished and Corrina was again alone in silence.

She sat up, her head still throbbing from hitting it against the wooden target. Corrina let out a sigh and looked down at her bags. As much as she wanted to just stay where she was, just lie down and wait, some kind of survival instinct kicked in, screaming at her that she had to move. Not safe here any more. She'd been found out. They'd found her, and they'd tell other people where she was. Not intentionally, maybe just a quick mention of the quiet girl they'd walked past in the firing range, but it'd still happened.

And that meant she'd have to move. Fast. Find somewhere else for herself to hide. Maybe a building somewhere. Shelter for when it got dark and she'd be less alert. Somewhere she could sleep would be a bonus. Bed. Running water.

She sighed again.

Corrina struggled to her feet, hefted her bag over her shoulder, and walked away.

((Corrina Landrey, continued in Out of the Darkness, into the Night.))