Dark, Darker, Yet Darker

[carduinal-cyn]

Raymond knelt down to hoist the fallen backpack onto his shoulders, keeping his eyes on the other two boys. The nuclear vomit-jock was still gagging; Raja had lost his voice again. He pointed up, as if that was supposed to be some meaningful signal. Raymond stared at him, bewildered. What was that gesture? A thumbs up? Upstairs? (Was there an "upstairs"? It was too dark to tell.)

He briefly considered making a break for it. They'd all received the same owl-masked briefing from Hell, and Ray wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell if it ever came to blows between the three boys. Oh, he might be able to frighten them with his Gift, but the vomiting boy looked like about 200 pounds of solid muscle, and Raja could reduce him to a quivering mass of slime in an instant just by screaming at him. If they knew how vulnerable Raymond was in that shape, he would never make it out of this dim hallway alive. Running seemed sensible... but, then again, he had no idea where he was supposed to flee, and the very thought made his sides begin to ache. No, he'd have to ally himself with these two. This was "survival of the fittest", and the horrified boys were obviously fitter than he.

"Uh... truce? Alliance?" he started, the words turning into cringeworthy mush as soon as they'd left his mouth. What do you think this is, dodgeball!? he screamed at himself. You're embarrassing yourself in front of the jocks!

"My name's Raymond. Or just Ray. My Gift's, uhh... that... looks a whole lot worse than it is," he stammered, eyes wide and nervous. "But, if you guys wanna try getting out of here, I'm not interested in playing Hunger Games with those psychos in the rubber masks. Won't hurt you. Promise. I'll even shake on it... once I'm 100 percent sure my hand is shakeable, that is."

[backslash]

Raja went through an interesting range of expressions as Ray stumbled through proper greetings, so it was kind of a shame that it was too dark for Ray to make out his face in full. For one thing, after what he'd seen, he was kind of doubtful that Ray could hurt anyone. For another, he'd just done this whole bit about people hurting other people with himself mentally, and he didn't really feel like trying to go over it with other people that he could barely communicate with in the first place, all so they could mutually come to the conclusion that they didn't plan on hurting each other because they weren't psychopaths.

That conclusion, the not-being-psychopaths thing, was why calling anything a truce or an alliance didn't sit well with him. If he had allies, that implied he also had enemies. Raja struggled to bring anyone he went to school with to mind when he thought seriously of the word "enemy." He'd prefer to keep it that way.

This whole situation was fucked up and sick, in ways that he couldn't bring himself to think about for too long if he wanted to keep his composure, but one thing he could say about it for certain was that starting to divide people into the categories of ally and enemy sounded exactly like playing into the hands of the freaks who had done this to them.

Again, all of that was stuff he couldn't convey to other people through vague gestures, so instead he just nodded emphatically in agreement to the proposal. He knelt again, setting the flashlight on the ground by his feet so that he could roll up his sleeping bag, and yep that was a chunk of vomit that he just touched gross gross gross gross.

Raja swiped it away and quickly wiped his hand on his jeans with a grimace. The inside of the sleeping bag was probably going to be pretty rank too, but that was his lot in life now, he guessed. He let out a controlled exhale through his nose in lieu of sighing loudly and resumed rolling the sleeping bag up so he could stuff it into the bag of supplies. He slung the bag over one shoulder, retrieved the flashlight, and stood.

Dan still wasn't looking so hot, but Raja wasn't sure what else to do for him besides loiter uncomfortably nearby. He guessed that Dan could keep the water bottle, because Raja didn't want his backwash after all of that. He waited for Dan to look up and then wiggled the flashlight to indicate moving along.

[Jilly]

"I know who you are," David muttered under his breath again and more to himself than to Raymond. He took another swig of the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and subsequently swiped that on the edge of the table.

Allies were nice. Or like, the concept of it. But that was just a word. David liked "temporary partnership" better; that way it was more clear that if this truly was war, all you had were pinky promises.

Could he have a temporary partnership with Raymond and Raja was the question though, wasn't it? Not that he was gonna start murdering just because they were told it was legal (he'd seen The Purge), but stumbling around in the dark wasn't working out. And maybe he should've done something nice for Raja considering yeah, looked like his sleeping bag got fucked up. And it was kinda fucked up vomiting because of Raymond, and frankly, he didn't look like he could handle this shit on his own if his Thing was blobbifying under pressure. So, begrudgingly... maybe.

He wasn't gonna cop to it though, not on official terms. Maybe after they got out of this pit first.

The water bottle was empty. David chucked it at the darkness behind him. The only sign of its existence in the black void was its faint slap against the floor.

When he turned around, Raja was spinning the flashlight a bit, like they worked in air traffic control. Maybe he had a similar idea. David knew he wasn't much of a talker or maybe his Gift made him mute or something, but that was about it. David wasn't gonna complain about that.

David took his hat off and flicked the sweat out, spinning it around and putting it back on his head backwards. "Tell ya what, Ray-Ray; this place is a fucking maze and I already ran into some other weirdo I didn't enjoy the vibes of, so get us outta here and I'll consider that truce."

If they found her along the way, that'd be cool too.

[almostinhuman]

((Austin Greene continued from Induction))

Goddamn, where the fuck's this? Why's it so dark in here?

And who's this? It's uh... glowy blood boy, right? Daniel or whatever? Not really on his priority list.

...

... Raja? One of Sayuna's friends. He'd keep it in mind that he was around, though he wasn't sure he'd respond well to Austin chatting straight into his head.

Well, he rarely got it on the first go anyway. Moving on.

((Austin Greene continued in ❶))

[carduinal-cyn]

Raymond immediately concluded that in order to win over Raja and Vomit Jock's trust, he'd need to do as the latter said. What better way to buy loyalty than an arbitrary guess that might help the hapless trio stumble upon the exit?

The backpack slid down one of his fat arms, and he unzipped it, rummaging around to find his own flashlight... and various other items the villains had deemed appropriate, as it turned out. Protein bars, bottles of water Raymond already considered drinking, a map, a compass, a first-aid kit. How long do they think this is going to last? the blob boy thought, however briefly. He needed to act, and quickly.

"I think we should head that way," he suggested, pointing a bratwurst-hued finger in the general direction of the nearest door, directly behind him. Hopefully the others were paying attention. He switched his flashlight on, and a beam of light cut through the dimly lit hall.

[backslash]

Any way was as good as any other, as far as Raja was concerned. Hallways were a reassuring constant: they had at least two ends, and one of the ends always had to lead somewhere. It would take time, but the three of them could find their way out of here via process of elimination, and that would be that.

As he was adjusting his grip on the bag over his shoulder, a sudden feeling of unease washed over him and made him start. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, like someone was standing behind him and he'd just now become aware of their presence. Had he heard something-? No, he was sure he hadn't, but then what?

Raja swung his flashlight around, making a slow rotation and trying to look casual about it. Nothing but furniture and two dudes. Nobody there. The feeling was already fading. He'd been sitting in the dark for too long, and it was making him jumpy. That had to be it.

Exhaling slowly and willing his heart rate back down, Raja decided to act like nothing had just happened. Instead of acknowledging his random small freak-out, he began picking his way around the obstacles in the hall to reach Ray's side, nodding at him encouragingly when he got there. He did glance back over his shoulder to make sure that Dan was following, easily finding the faint glow in the darkness.

And to make sure he didn't see anything else creeping through the shadows. Just in case.

[Jilly]

Any door was good, unless it led back to whatever mess was going on with Meat Lady.

"There's probably stairs somewhere," he threw out, but mostly muttering to himself again. If David had to guess it would probably be chilling in the middle. From all the rooms he already managed to stumble through this place looked like it came straight outta one of those science fiction kinda movies. Big spooky science buildings always had to have giant ass staircases in the middle, as a rule. Though that was assuming they weren't just in a long ass one story building, but that'd be disappointing.

...Nevermind, he needed to get his head in the game, or at least enough to not be the expendable one of the three, which he wasn't. David readjusted the daypack on his shoulder when he felt a weird ping in the back of his head, not really a headache thing or whatever but just... weird. It passed as quickly as it came, so whatever.

It was the first time he actually looked down when he saw the bile splattered on his shoe. He tried to swipe his toe against the table and just sorta made the stain worse before turning around and following Raymond and Raja, who seemed to be taking in the sights for a hot second. Maybe he was one of those odd fellas super into brutalist architecture or some shit.

He kept his flashlight off.

[carduinal-cyn]

Raymond said little beyond a nod as he bent down to pick up his sleeping bag, thankfully untainted by Radioactive Jock Boy and his vomit. He was still a little incensed about it: the stench, the telltale puddle that gave away their location to anyone else who might step down into the pitch-black hall. It was evidence. No one wants to leave behind evidence. To top it off, it was Ray's fault — no cookies to toss if he'd stayed a normal, flesh-and-blood human for the guy. What a shame.

The back of his neck simmered with frustration. He slapped his free hand onto it, as if about to scratch his head in confusion, to hide it from his cohorts. They'd think him unreliable if they thought he would melt at the slightest inconvenience. They'd leave him for dead, or worse, kill him themselves. Raymond couldn't allow that: he actually had a shot at attending college and doing something with his life, unlike the big glowing meathead behind him.

The shadows beyond the door swallowed him up. For all he cared at the moment, he might as well be alone with his disturbing train of thought.

[backslash]

No new figures appeared, but Raja kept his head cocked just slightly, listening in case there were more sets of footsteps than there ought to be all of a sudden. Once they started moving, he could keep track of the different rhythms of Ray's, Dan's, and his own steps without too much trouble. If any extra beat introduced itself out of time with the rest, he'd hear it.

He made sure to train the flashlight slightly over where he thought Ray's shoulder would be when the other boy melted into the darkness. Not literally melted again, hopefully. He was only out of sight for a few seconds, but it was still a relief to locate him again quickly. On they went, an awkward, spread-out conga line weaving through the furniture on the way down to the end of the hall.

It was hard to tell what this building was meant to be, with the miscellaneous objects scattered about. It could have been the school basement for all Raja knew; he'd have liked to convince himself that it was. Empty schools were creepy as hell, especially after dark, but it still would have been something familiar. He wanted out of the dark, but as they made their way closer and closer to whatever exit there was, an apprehensive knot tightened in his stomach as to what could be waiting on the other side.

[Jilly]

Onwards they marched, the shoes of the three guys being the only sound echoing in the black, slightly chilly void. David liked it that way; the less chatter the better. Just vibes and breathing. Just guys being dudes.

David couldn't think of anything to think about, so he defaulted back to that owl bitch's speech, to Ms. Duffy getting got. She was a real one, better than a lot of those other adults that didn't know shit. Whenever the police or FBI or Men in Black found and rescued them, they'd better get all of those furry freaks unless David got to them first.

It was lucky he hadn't found some drywall to punch through. But for now, lay low, see if these dudes were duds before bailing on them, let everyone else fuck themselves over while waiting for help, that was the plan. God, he was so smart.

They eventually made it to their destination-for-now, the door at the end of the hall, though it might as well have been the last door in the whole universe with the darkness swallowing everything that wasn't in the flashlights or being barely illuminated by David. He put his hands on his hips like he was a middle-manager before speaking to Raymond.

"So, you gonna open it or what?"

[carduinal-cyn]

"Obviously," Raymond scoffed, his hand immediately closing around the doorknob.

Typical glowing barf boy, putting his hands on his hips like the smug jerkwad he probably was. Just who did he think he was, ordering people around like a king? Ray already disliked the more athletic boy's attitude, and this display of ego did little to dampen his distaste. Already he missed Sayuna and Austin and poor Ms. Duffy, whose head had splattered all over the bus.

Slowly, his hand twisted to the side.

Once the door was fully open, he propped his body against it and ushered the other two through. (The sooner he'd eventually lose them, he thought, once he had the opportunity to split up.) He'd seen students of every stripe with him on that bus. He was certain to find someone who wasn't an untrustworthy, arrogant imbecile.

((Raymond LaSalle continued in The Dream Machine Takes All of Us.))

[backslash]

Raja did the nose exhale again instead of sighing at Ray and Dan's sniping back and forth, but fortunately it faded away instead of becoming a full-blown argument. He glanced back at the hallway one last time before stepping through when Ray gestured at him.

You weren't supposed to do that. Looking back, that was. That was the way it always was in movies and shows, even the verisimilist ones. The characters think they're home-free, but then one dipshit goes and looks back over his shoulder, and he's grabbed by a tentacle or a skeleton arm or whatever and dragged off-screen, never to be seen again except for some gore effects. It was always the brown guy who died first too, so Raja was really tempting fate here.

But the hallway was empty, like it probably had been for months, if not years, before they ever set foot here. Raja thought about it standing empty for that long, nothing but dust and settling foundations. Everything left in its place because nobody cared to come back to it, so there was nothing for it to do but rust and rot away.

He shivered and turned his back on the hall, stepping through the door.

((Raja Narang continued in The Dream Machine Takes All of Us))

[Jilly]

David cocked an eyebrow as Raymond opened the door with his little "ObViOuSlY". He played it back in his head, each time with a higher and higher vocal inflection much like that little nerd dude on Family Matters.

Little punk, what was his problem? Just because David blew chunks in front of him? He already wasn't gonna kick his ass, did he want a framed apology, too?

Tch. Whatever. He'd let it go, but that was strike one.

David huffed to himself and followed behind Raja, his foot almost getting caught in the door.

On the other side was a big staircase leading up for what looked like quite a few stories, or at least a story or two before being eaten entirely by the cold darkness. Only one way to find out.

((David continued upstairs.))