Play Dead

[HELPful_Crow]

The voice of the crocodile-masked man crackled on a nearby intercom, loud enough for Sydney to hear. "Hey little lady, maybe remember the rules before you go destroying other people's property. Those things are expensive, and we wouldn't wanna make a mistake and start accidentally blowing up the wrong people now would we, dear?"

It crackled off.

[Applesintime]

Jacob took Stephen's hand and with a grunt, he was up on his feet. It only occurred then that it might have been a bad idea; he could have broken his wrist or something and then he'd be in a much worse position. Everything seemed to be good, though. "Don't apologise." It was understandable. This was all a bit... overwhelming, was one way to put it. They'd been awake for about ten, twenty minutes now, the sun was bearing down on them, they might still be groggy from whatever knocked them out, and of course, they'd been abducted by a bunch of furries and told to kill each other. Where the hell were they, anyway? It didn't look much like Oregon.

There were still bugs scuttling underfoot, and Stephen couldn't say he liked the faint feeling of stuff climbing over his shoe and the incessant sound of wings and buzzing. But Mercedes was there to explain. Just someone's Gift. To have bugs follow them? To control bugs? Sometimes, Stephen wished he could change Gifts. Breaking your bones all the time was painful, inconvenient, and expensive. But even then, he couldn't say he liked the idea of having bugs follow you around.

"Right. So she's just... able to command them? Get them to follow her. Right." Gifts were just kinda weird like that. Stephen didn't know any Isabelles, so she had to be in other classes, or maybe they shared a class and Stephen just didn't know her name. He prided himself on trying to learn about people's Gifts, as stuff like that always fascinated him, but it was a little weird to ask people you didn't know. That always seemed like a friends thing to Stephen. He screwed his eyes tight and took shallow breaths; he didn't want to attract something.

"Either way, I think we should get inside. I don't know about you guys, but I really need some shade. We can start looking for other people, try and-" Something buzzed past Stephen's face and he shut his mouth for a second. "Try to figure out how to get these collars off us and get out of here. Someone's got to have a Gift we can exploit, and then we can get out of here, get back home." He glanced back at the way they had come. There was another girl standing there. Stephen didn't recognise her, but the more the merrier. "Hey!" The flying bugs had cleared enough for Stephen to feel comfortable trying to beckon the girl over.

[EMPeace]

After using a nearby tree to regain her balance, Sydney heard the mockery over the intercom. She was already fuming from slipping down the hill, so between this and the ever-growing mental exhaustion, her mind was clouded in hopelessness and despair. She gnashed her pointed teeth before uttering an increasingly guttural growl towards the direction of the intercom, which ended in a loud, deep hissing noise.

She feebly pounded against the tree's trunk and whipped her tail, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears, and shouted at what might seem like nothing to a distant onlooker.
"SO KILL ME, YOU MOTHERLESS MAGGOTS!"

She held her breath and paused while she stood trembling, as though hoping they'd grant her request. In her mind, she'd be winning by not letting those shitheads make her kill someone, and generally wanted to minimize whatever sick pleasure they had hoped to gain from her torment.

Several agonizing moments passed, nothing. She let out a deep breath and wiped the sweat off her brow.

It was then she finally remembered the other people up the road, and realized that there was someone else watching; an actual person, and not one of the miserable specimens that had her thrown in here. Her heart dropped as she finally processed the sound of him calling out to her, and realized he'd probably witnessed that whole outburst. Her slit pupils narrowed and her natural frown deepened as she turned to face him, and she stood frozen, staring in his direction, unsure of what to do or say next.

She settled with a casual, but heavily delayed wave. Her face was still stuck in a nervous glare.

Smooth.

[Pippi]

Mercedes proffered a smile towards Jacob and Stephen, something small and simple to give them an immediate burst of reassurance. A fast food grin. Quick, easy, cheap, and enough to fill an immediate void inside of them. This situation was nightmarish, they all knew that, and a friendly gesture and some deep breathing wouldn’t come close to fixing it.but if it could help steady them, then it would help them prepare for the days, or hours, that they had left. It would help clear their minds some.

One of her questions wouldn’t be fair if they were still addled and panicked.

She nodded along with Stephen’s statements about Isabella’s Gift, not seeing any need to correct any inaccuracies about it; he understood the gist of it, and that was the most important part. She frowned a little at his suggestions about finding shade; she hoped that there would be plenty of space, and plenty of rooms, once she made it inside the building, her salvation just a few minutes away. She opened her mouth to let the questions scorching away at the roof of her mouth out into the sunlight.

Someone else had the same idea, though. Someone who was much, much louder than Mercy thought she could ever be, someone whose voice could probably be heard from the other side of the state. Whatever state they were in now, anyway. She followed Stephen’s line of sight until her eyes also fell upon the girl, returning her slow and rather awkward wave. It was too far away to see her facial features, but her prominent tail was impossible to miss, and the roulette wheel of which of her classmates that narrowed it down to began to spin in Mercedes’ mind.

It vanished in a puff of smoke as her frown deepened. She flicked sweat off of her forehead, and just about stopped herself from wringing it out of her tank top; she could do that later, when she was out of sight. This girl seemed as though she was in an even worse state than Jacob had been, and Mercy wanted to stay and lend a hand, offer as much assistance as she could, just as she would as if this were a particularly hot day out on the school playing fields.

But if she tried to lend a hand to every single person who needed help, then she would just walk around in circles until she died of dehydration, and without asking a single question of her own. This was the perfect time to leave. So long as Stephen and Kincaid didn't freak out, this group would be fine together. Two was company, three was a crowd, four was safety. And if not safety, a call to action.

“Listen,” she said, addressing the group at large. “I don’t think I can stay here any longer. I think I might pass out soon, and I’d rather do that after I’ve found the people I’m looking for. Have any of you seen Lincoln since you woke up? Or August? I need to see them again. And I need… I need to know…”

Mercy adjusted the strap on her bag, faltering for just a second.

“What are you going to do out here? All of you. What’s your goal?”

[EMPeace]

When it became clear that none of them currently had violent intentions, Sydney hesitantly allowed her legs to carry her in the direction of the other students as they talked among themselves while a couple seemed to be beckoning her over. She made her best attempt to not think too hard about the situation or the possibilities.

But what if these people were teaming up to lure some sap like herself into a false sense of security and butcher her when she least expected it? No, she was doing exactly what she had told herself not to. It was more likely they were as confused and terrified as she was. The least she could do was go over and say something.

She briefly tried to raise her voice, but nothing came out. She stopped to clear her throat.
"U-uh... hey!" She stammered as she approached.
She had just shattered any illusion of tenacity if they were going to be a threat, as her voice was noticeably jittery and distressed. If they had any foul intentions, she'd just have to play into that skittish first impression and bolt as soon as they looked the other way.

She gingerly advanced towards the group with her hands somewhat raised as a gesture of amicability. She recognized their faces and features as she drew nearer; she'd seen them around plenty of times in her four and a half years at Duniway High, though she was never good with names, and usually distinguished people by their faces and hair. She'd definitely seen the color-changing boy and the laser girl in one or two of her classes... Right, Jacob and Mercedes. She didn't know anything about the kid with black hair or the cat boy, other than that she'd seen them in the hallways and at lunch sometimes. She didn't know what to think of the others at the moment, but Mercedes and Jacob seemed like decent enough people, so she continued her approach.

Regardless of what she thought she knew about these people, she was unable to stifle her trembling or wild-eyed glare before approaching. She'd always done her utmost to maintain a silent and stoic disposition in front of other people before, especially when she was upset. Right now, though, she couldn't care less about other people's judgements.
Once she was in earshot of the group, she heard Mercedes asking about some names she loosely recognized. She then inquired about everyone's current plans; however, Sydney was unable to answer either of Mercedes' questions because she had no goal right now. She had no idea what she was doing here, or what she was going to do, and so she answered the questions with more questions.
"Are you all-... Is this- uhm..." She rambled at a near inaudible volume.

She paused and took a gulp, eyes darting around the lot of them, before allowing her arms and tail to go limp and letting out a bewildered exclamation, her panicked tone still readily apparent.

"What the fuck is going on?"

[Frozen Smoke]

Jacob's tongue felt swollen as the yelling started again, only interrupted by the even more terrifying voice of the people who were watching them. His eyes strayed from Mercedes, looking for the glint of a lens, or a faint red light. It wasn't worth him opening his mouth, it would only make things worse. If he couldn't calm himself down, how cold he calm her down?
He tried to move slowly, at first. Shuffling a few steps back, until he had backed himself onto the road - Where the bag they'd wrapped him in still laid, and quickly bundled it up with the rest of the meagre belongings they'd been given. The weight of it all hung awkwardly on his back, the heavy bottles of water pulling him to the left, whilst the bulge of the sleeping bag pressed into his right shoulder.

Jacob wondered, briefly, if it would be better to say something to them. To try and explain.

His skin pulsed a little brighter.

((Jacob Rowe continued Elsewhere))

[Pippi]

In an instant, she knew that this situation had gone as far as she could take it.

She had managed to, she hoped, bring some small measure of calm to the group with her reassurances about Isabella’s insect parade; the swarm had certainly looked menacing, she would fully admit that, but even the bugs they actually needed to be wary of, like the scorpions or the spiders, were doing nothing besides following the leader. So long as you didn’t provoke, there was no need to fear even the most dangerous weapon in the hands of somebody harmless.

But Sydney’s exclamation didn’t stem from Isabella’s gift; her panic and distress was due to more than just a simple fear of bugs. It was terror of the unknown, an instinctive reaction to a situation that shouldn’t have existed and yet was all too horribly obviously real, a need to know what was going on and what she needed to do and that she would be all right at the end of it all. And Mercedes knew she couldn’t start from scratch and soothe and solve those needs, not any longer.

Not least because the answer to the last one was ‘no, we won’t be all right.’

In the commotion of Sydney’s exit, Jacob had made an exit, and for the second time in a handful of minutes, Mercy barely moved to stop him. If he’d had any answers for her, then he would have said them. If he thought he would find them elsewhere in the desert, then she wouldn’t stop him. She was about to imminently become a seeker herself, after all.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” Mercedes said, looking at Sydney and speaking slowly. She hitched her bag slightly further up her shoulder, and wiped her brow in the same motion. “But I need to leave now, I can’t spend any more time outside. Just… stick with Kincaid and Stephen, okay? They’re…”

She flashed a glance towards Kincaid. Her brow furrowed.

“There’s safety in numbers. Stay with each other, find a goal, and… do your best. Whatever it is.”

Mercy gave a short nod to the other three, then took off down the road, once more with the building looming up ahead her goal. This encounter had been far from a perfect situation, but it also hadn’t been the end of the world. A lack of an answer to her last question still gave her what she wanted to know. It gave her a little bit more time to solidify her own decision on the matter.

Time that she would need to use to find August and her brother. She had so little of it left, after all.

((Mercedes Guenther continued in Self Inflicted, Mind Detonator))

[EMPeace]

Sydney wasn't expecting an answer; she already knew that no one would have an answer anyway. She didn't know why she even asked that question other than as a thinly-veiled cry for help.

Sydney stood in silence as Mercedes walked away, staring at the ground, considering the few words she was given. She glanced towards the others, then back down again. How could any of them even help her right now? Why would they? She'd be doing all these people a favor by offing herself right now so they could take her supplies...

Right, the supplies. Those were the main things still anchoring her to this awful world, that and the wretched survival instinct still forcing her to cling to this miserable, purposeless existence. If she passed her food and water on to someone else, maybe she'd be that much closer to accepting her death. Or maybe was going to chicken out again and just starve. Or worse, she may lose herself to those instincts and actually kill someone. This was the absolute last thing she wanted at that time, but she did not trust herself to stay that way once she started getting colder.

The cold, that was going to be a problem. Even with all the layers she was wearing, she was already starting to steadily lose heat. She barely felt it then, but knew that if she got cold enough, she would be little more than a feral reptile. She would be unconcerned with the effects her actions had on other people, and the "real" her would have to deal with the consequences in the morning. If she was hungry enough in that state, and found one of the other students, she might even... No, that wasn't going to matter; she didn't need to worry about night time because she wasn't going to be alive that long. By the time night did actually fall, this whole nightmarish situation would be everyone else's problem. She would no longer have to worry about hurting anyone, or being hurt.

Sydney glanced briefly at the boy who had beckoned her over, having finally confirmed his name. She remembered hearing him referred to as 'Stephen' before, which must have meant the other boy was Kincaid, right? Regardless, she rarely used names in conversation, most of her face-to-face communication skills being short, choppy sentences that required minimal effort to vocalize, and were therefore the hardest to fuck up by stuttering.

She took a deep, slow breath before pausing. She wanted to throw her supply pack to the ground and just walk away, but her arms tensed up as she tried to muster the willpower. If she couldn't even give up her bag of supplies, how was she going to find the nerve to end it all?

Sydney snapped to attention and realized she'd been standing awkwardly and not actually saying anything. She took a gulp and regained some amount of composure before turning her head slightly, not quite making eye contact with anyone.
"Look, I can't do anything to help. I think I should just keep my distance." She asked, her voice little more than a mumble.

She opened her mouth to speak again, but decided against it, her eyes still darting up and down. She shook her head and started walking down the road, towards the huge building. She turned her head one last time in Stephen's direction.
"Come along if you want, or go your own way. Don't care." Sydney grumbled.

((Sydney Stone continued in A Little Subterfuge))

[HELPful_Crow]

For fuck's sake.

Kincaid remained there, silent and ignored, watching this mess unfold around him. Stewing in his indignation at the madness and subconsciously flexing his claws as everyone slowly trickled out.

He didn't need to talk to any of them. He didn't owe them anything. All he wanted to do was join the others in getting the hell out of dodge.

((So Kincaid ran away.))

[Applesintime]

In the space of maybe a minute, the little group they had made fell apart. Jacob ran away, Mercedes made her excuses as she left, and Kincaid and Sydney followed suit in running away. It was a little frustrating, Stephen thought, standing there in the middle of the road. At least most of the bugs had cleared.

With nothing better to do, he shrugged and started walking, too.

((Stephen Sanders continued in Welcome to Hell, We've Been Waiting For You))