Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)

[Lord_Shadow]

Everyone was being calm and friendly with each other. They were all trying their best not to let the situation they were in affect their demeanor and mentality. That, Kyle thought, was a good thing. The less everyone dwelled on the Program itself, the better. Just focus on finding people and staing alive. Kyle caught himself thinking that. When this all began, thos priorities were reversed. He never thought that he would ever be around people so long, and talk as much as he had. Not a loner like him.

Was it the Program? Was this who he really was underneath his exterior demeanor? Kyle couldn't be sure. Maybe he would never know, He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something about where other people were. Amanda was asking if they had seen Ahley, Jasmine, or Aaron. Once again, Kyle would be no help in that regard. He shook his head in response, thinking that when it came down to it, he really wouldn't be any use tracking anyone down. He half smiled at that thought.

But Amanda didn't just ask if they had seen her friends. She asked if she could tag along with the group. Kyle was stunned, he actually hadn't expected that. He had maybe wished that she would offer to team up, but he never seriously expected that would happen. He was happy when it did. "Of course you can. The more people like you we have together, the better chance we have of keeping this crazy situation from getting worse."

He looked expectantly at Carlyle and Louisa. "I mean, that's why we're still together right? Stand together? And hang together" Kyle pushed that last thought away. Best not to dwell on death, especially thanks to the encounter with Gwen. He smiled, even though it was forced, he hoped everyone else could smile as well.

[Pippi]

Carlyle stayed quiet as Louisa asked how Maxim had appeared to Amanda. Obviously she was going to be concerned about him and his wellbeing, and, depending on what she’d heard about him, whether said rumours were true or not. Carlyle knew first hand that you couldn’t trust what people said about you at all. And even if what Louisa had heard was true, whatever it was, it wasn’t conclusive proof as to Maxim’s mental state. The Program messed with your head, messed with what you stood for, and until Carlyle had spoken to anyone first hand, he was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

He didn’t think many other people would see things the same way, but that was just a risk he was willing to take. He’d always been like that, giving people the benefit of the doubt. He wasn’t gonna change now. Hopefully.

Unfortunately, Amanda’s reply wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence in regards to Maxim’s current state. She didn’t seem sure about him, but what she said definitely wasn’t positive. Still, that proved very little. He could still be coping with being thrust into the Program, or a whole number of things.

Amanda then asked whether they’d seen Aaron, Ashley or Jasmine, and also whether she could tag along with them. The latter request was easily dealt with. Of course she could come with them, there was no way they were gonna abandon her, right? The former, though was also easily dealt with, but not in the way Amanda was probably hoping for.

Kyle quickly said what Carlyle was thinking; that Amanda could join up with them, or, as he put it, stand together. It definitely fitted, though. They were looking out for each other, helping one another through everything, and they themselves had gotten through it all physically unscathed. There was little they could do about mentally, but... one out of two wasn’t that bad, right?

“Yeah, we ain’t gonna just up and abandon you here,” Carlyle piped up, ready to speak now. “United we stand, yeah? And, uh, sorry ‘bout Aaron and Ashley and Jasmine. We haven’t seen anyone else, ‘cept Jose of course... and... yeah...” Carlyle trailed off, his will to speak evaporating again almost as soon as it had returned.

[Laurels]

Something wrong with him. It'd be really strange for Amanda to lie about that. Still, Maxim is apparently not doing so well. Maybe shooting Dylan really got him. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe he saw someone die.

Louisa was staring at the ground, digging her loafers under a pile of leaves. She began to run all the possibilities of what was wrong with Maxim through her mind.

Carlyle and Kyle were both assuring Amanda that she could join them. Amanda had some friends to look for as well. Louisa looked back up.

Aaron, Ashley, and Jasmine. More people to find. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has someone to trust. So let's see, us four, plus Amanda's three, then the three I'm after, that's ten strong. We might be able to easily handle the dangerous students. Once our group is all that's left, then we can finally fuck with the government bastards. We might be able to pick the winner.

Louisa nodded to Amanda.

"Yeah, the four of us should get back to searching. We've got six people to find and we've only got so much daylight to work with."

Louisa approached Amanda. She held her hand out to Amanda and smiled at the girl.

"Come on, let's find our friends."

[Bikriki*]

[My apologies for this late and crappy reply]

Things were going to be good again, or so Amanda thought. Nevertheless, the welcoming support of Carlyle, Louisa and Kyle made her feel very good. Maybe they haven't seen Amanda's original seeked persons, but at this point, she was actually happy that she had a companion. A person that is able to hold off minorities, too, which maked it even better. She had to make sure that she won't be getting lost again. Maybe a chain would be nice, but alas, not avaiable, so Amanda had to be sure that she won't trail off for more than 10 feet, at most.

She then noticed that Louisa approached her, offering her hand. Amanda first moved her right arm before remembering that shaking hand with that one would be rather hard. Thus she shaked Louisa's hand with her left one, smiling back at the ginger girl.

"So, where do we go now?"

[Lord_Shadow]

((Let's finish this up now shall we?))

Kyle was glad things were going as they were. Wait... scratch that. He wasn't glad about the Program, or Gwen's death, or the inability to find anyone they were looking for. No, he was just glad to be among friends. Comrades. People he knew he could trust to always be there for each other no matter what. That was who they were. That was who they would always be.

Forever. No matter what.

"Well, why not head where our feet take us? I get the feeling that our sense of direction won't be very good in thhe forest anyway. Luck led everyone here. I think maybe we'll get lucky again and find one of our missing companions."

With that, he started walking, he knew not where. But somehow, he felt that things would be alright.

((Kyle Williams continued in Destroying Soda: The Most Heinous Of Crimes))

[Laurels]

((Permission to move Carlyle out of the thread granted by Pippin))

Louisa realized how awkward her friendly her gesture to Amanda was when she saw how Amanda struggled to properly shake her hand. Louisa had completely forgot that Amanda's arm was broken, something that seemed pretty minuscule compared to the death and missing friends. Still, Amanda's smile assured her that it was all fine.

The current plan seemed to be that they would just continue walking around and hope they found any of the people they were looking for. Louisa would have preferred something a little more focused, but she had to admit, there really wasn't any strategy to form.

"Yeah, let's head off," Louisa said to the others.

Louisa picked her bag off the ground and slung it over her left shoulder. She put her hand in her right coat pocket, putting her hand around the Beretta.

We got lucky with Amanda. I hope our luck doesn't run out soon.

Louisa began to walk along with the group. It just had to get better.

((Louisa Bloom and Carlyle Shotton continued in Destroying Soda: The Most Heinous of Crimes))

[Bikriki*]

Trusting luck seemed like a good idea. The last time Amanda did that, she walked around the valley for hours and ended up finding Carlyle and his group. Okay, it was kind of exhausting after a while, but maybe eating some food along would help.

Amanda stretched and yawned before moving on, looking at the other people.

If lady fortuna smiled on them now, then maybe she will continue smiling on Amanda. Being in the Program was bad, but things weren't bleak anymore. Everything could, everything would turn to the better. Right?

[Amanda White, continued in Destroying Soda: The Most Heinous Of Crimes]