Karmic Backlash

[Lord_Shadow]

For a moment, time stood still around Jennifer, the crushing guilt of her actions suspending her perpetually. But that eternity lasted only a moment. The boy took off running, and that wouldn't do. "He's a witness, kill him." The thought rose to her head.

"WAIT! I didn't mean to. I just want to talk!" She yelled out after him, gun still in hand. When he ran out the door, she followed. The gun didn't lower.

"It was an accident! I reacted, I didn't think! Please come back!" She made her way to the entrance, she was far behind, and yet there he was. Slipped on a tree root.

Her eyes were like glass, reflecting the light with the tears streaming down them. "Please... don't go." Her grip on the gun tightened till her knuckles turned white. Her ears still rang from the shots, and her tears blurred her vision, but she couldn't afford to let go. She knew if she did, instinct would take over again.

So she hurt herself by gripping it tightly as long as she could. The pain helped keep her human. "I won't hurt you. I promise I won't." The words came out almost imperceptibly, a whisper drowned in sadness.

[Courtography]

Hell no he wasn't staying with this crazy bitch!

"I uhh..."

He stood up.

"No..."

He took off again into the humid confines of the jungle.

(Nick Simmons continued in Not Even A Tetanus Shot Will Save You Now)

[Lord_Shadow]

(Warning! Long post is long.)

The boy left, to no one's surprise. Of course he wouldn't stay. He had just witnessed someone be murdered in cold blood. And then, Jennifer did something she knew was of her own volition. There was no instinct to it, it was all her choice.

She let out the most primal, guttural scream that she could muster. She rang out three more shots in the boy's direction, ignoring the stinging loudness that filled her ears. Her gun clicked, clicked, clicked, it's chambers empty but her fingers refusing to stop pulling the trigger. Her scream continued till she almost turned herself blue, and only when she took her breath did her fingers relent. "FUCK YOU! FUCK! YOU! I DIDN'T WANT THIS! I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF THIS! FUCK YOU ALL! ALL OF YOU CAN JUST DIE!" She slunk to the ground, shaking. Tears streamed down her face but her eyes were wide and wild. She heard the sound of scraping metal again, and she finally understood what it was.

Her ears didn't betray her, the sound wasn't coming from anywhere around her. It was coming from inside her own mind. The gears slowly grinding against each other, until suddenly it clicked. She understood it all know. Her mother had taught her a wonderful sounding phrase as she was studying with her. Jennifer knew exactly what it meant, both literally and figuratively. Noblesse oblige. A phrase she knew quite well. But one meaning was lost on her until the very moment her facade of calm broke. She slowly rose from the ground. Her legs were still wobbly, her movement still shaky. The gun in her hands was lighter than when she first held it. She slung her pack to the ground, knelt down to open it, and took the bullets out. She refilled each round, making sure to be as careful as possible, no need to blow her hand off by clumsiness.

The scraping metal sound in her mind was replaced by the tick-tocking of enlightenment. When she first woke up, she had wrongfully believed she didn't deserve to be here. That it was some sort of mistake. But now she knew. There was no mistake. There were no accidents. Just as her mother had taught her that everything she ever knew was to be used to get her into the highest position possible, in order to make the best use of her talents, so was everything that she was needed in that very same position. She had believed that to be a position of authority, like a senator or president or something. But she understood now where her real talent lay. She turned to stare at the nearest camera she could find. She wiped the tears from her eyes, stared intently at it, as if it were some unknown thing she had never seen before. She wondered if they would really even listen, if they really even cared.

"I get it now. All our lives we thought we were meant for something great. Each and every one of us. But humans are nothing but animals, stupid apes with no idea just how wrong their notion of greatness is. Authority is not derived from consent of the governed, nor is it derived from fear-inspired respect. Authority, and by extension power, and further extension responsibility, is derived from one thing. The will to claim it by any means necessary. You people have authority here, power, and responsibility. Not to keep us safe, not to amuse yourselves with our deaths. No. Something far grander. Your responsibility is to awaken each of us to the truest potential of our wills. I can see it, if only just barely right now. I thought I was afraid of what I was becoming when I shot that girl. I thought I was afraid of being cast out of what's left of our society when that boy ran away. But all I was afraid of was losing my authority, my power, my responsibility. Noblesse oblige, as one of the privileged it was my responsibility to carry out the duty of balance between the have and have-nots. I believed it was through social constructs: economic differences, racial divisions, intellectual disparities. None of that was right. The haves are those with the will to carry out whatever their hearts are set on. The have-nots are opposite. I am one of the haves, and I will lead those others towards the heights of will we all must achieve. This gun of mine is burning hot, it's burning roar tells me to grasp my fate. And so I shall, with my iron will I shall fulfill my obligation." She spoke clearly, steadily, putting emphasis where needed just like any good speech should be like. "By pitting us to the death I understand that those with weak wills perish, and the noblesse survive. My only questions are: is it possible for me to join you in awakening people to their potential? And how many of the hopeless weak-willed that will never rise will I have to kill to do so? Please answer me when you feel I am ready to hear the response." She stood up, closed her eyes solemnly, and bowed. With that, she took her pack, readied her gun, and headed back inside.

---

Three more shots, so whatever had gone down was already over. Tim kicked furiously at the door now, trying to break it open. Some dresser of sorts was in the way, and if he could just make a hole large enough, he could maybe crawl out over it. He adjusted his hat before one last kick. It sent a small chunk of wood outside the blockage. This was hopeless. There was no way out of here by himself. What seemed like hours passed. He decided to just give up and sleep on the nearest mattress. That was when he heard her.

"Tim, are you still here?"

"Oh thank god! Jenny I thought you'd up and abandoned me, or died, whichever. But you're here now so that means that..." his smile turned to a grimace, "you were the shooter. Oh god, oh god. And now you're here and I'm trapped and an easy target and I'm gonna eat a bullet to the face and I never even got to buy that totally sweet replica Thompson that I always wanted and oh god damn you're going to murder me aren't you?"

She pushed with all her might against the dresser, slowly scraping it away from the door, just enough for her to force her way in. She shoulder charged it, and it gave. The damage it took from Tim's surprisingly not pointless endeavors was enough so that she didn't hurt herself too badly doing that. She leveled the gun at him. "I'm going to count to 3, and if you still have that ridiculous hat and those stupid glasses on I'm going to put a bullet between your eyes. Understand?"

He ditched them.

"You actually look better with them, now that I think about it. Doesn't matter. We're playing now, whether you want to or not. Ever played Russian Roulette?" She said coldly.

He was sweating and squirming. He had thought it would be easy to play this game. Just be a smooth operator and take out the bad guys. Be the guile hero and get all the swooning ladies. So seeing the reality of the situation made his head spin and his heart beat out of control. She handed him the gun.

"Put it to your head, pull the trigger. Just before I came up here I emptied all but one chamber. I just loaded them recently too but decided this would be better. If you live, you win. Simple isn't it? You always blathered on and on about games of chance so I thought letting your lady luck decide if you live or die was so you. Come on Tim, play the game. Pull the trigger."

"You are one sick motherfucker now, you know that fake girlfriend? Is this payback for accidentally brushing up against you that one—"

"NOW!"

He complied. The gun clicked empty. She took the gun from him, pointed it at his face. He stared down the barrel. She pulled and it clicked another 5 times. He never took his eyes of the barrel.

"I'm not cruel Tim, I just wanted you to understand how this is going to work. You will get every idiot stupid enough to think they can kill me and completely ruin their shit like you're so good at so that I kill them. They'll be gunning for me Tim and right now I don't know if they actually have the will to kill me. But don't take chances right? Get up, grab your bag. You run and I'll shoot you in the back. You'll be as dead as that girl downstairs." She titled her head to the side, smiled with her eyes closed and said, "Ya hear me flunky? Ya got a new boss and she ain't a pushover."

She reloaded each chamber, in full sight of him. Tim never moved. She then reached and put the hat and glasses back on him, tilting the hat to one side.

She kissed him on the cheek, turned and left the room.

Tim whispered a silent prayer, and followed.

((Jennifer Steinman continued in Thin Line Between Heaven and Here, Timothy Walker continued in Thin Line Between Heaven and Here. SCENE 1 COMPLETE.))