Another day, before all this, Jackson might have felt a pang of empathy for the boy he had shot. Even knowing the prior encounter. This just wasn't one of those days. Jackson doubted he ever would have one of those days again. Caring about people was something that was slowly burning away.
"Fuck him."
The smoothness of it almost startled Jackson, even as he jerked his head toward the direction he suggsted they start moving in.
Discordant
Open
Alice hadn’t mentioned their attacker out of any concern for him, the fact he hadn’t appeared yet was a blessing she wasn’t going to question. Her statement came more out of curiosity about why he still hadn’t made a move to attack them again and a lingering dread as she waited for the other shoe to drop.
Having heard her teammate’s response to her query however, how calm and unconcerned he sounded, she did begin to wonder what had happened inside the sports centre after she ran. There had been a gunshot but who had fired and who had it been aimed at? Was the sword swinging brute lying dead just beyond those doors? Was he bleeding out in there? Would she hear his name on the next announcement?
Should she care?
A part of her still wanted to feel concern over the wellbeing of other people. A boy could have just died or be dying right now and she wanted to feel bad about that. But she couldn’t. Not this boy who had attacked them. Not this boy who was planning on killing the both of them.
Her new ally, mariachi man, gestured with his head in the direction he wanted them to travel. Since Alice wasn’t inclined to argue at the best of times she fell in line and began walking.
If she had friends in the game she assumed she would care about what was happening to them, but when it came to strangers she couldn’t find the energy to feel worried for them. She didn’t know how many people they had started this game with, seventy or eighty maybe, or how many still remained. There had been a few announcements, dozens dead, but it was an abstract thing, hard for Alice to focus on or feel bad about. At least it was now, she was sure she had felt more horror at the idea when this had first started.
She was just tired and drained of so much she wasn’t sure how much of her there was left. And there wasn’t much to begin with. All she could focus on was the now and keeping herself alive.
Well, herself and her ally now. Maybe they could share the weight a little.
Alice glanced at the colourfully dressed figure beside her. She slowed her pace a little to allow him to walk in front slightly and felt better for it; better to be a follower than a leader and she had never liked having her back to people even before this started. Remembering Josiah just made that feeling worse.
She knew nothing about this boy, other than what she had seen in the past minute or so. She had the impression that his personality did not match up to his appearance, that even though he had apparently chosen to dress himself in bright colours and gaudy sequins that did not mean he had to be a bright and happy person in return.
They wore the same bandanna which in theory meant they had more to gain working together than attacking each other. But… you never did know with some people how their minds worked.
((Alice Young continued in The Final Curtain))
Having heard her teammate’s response to her query however, how calm and unconcerned he sounded, she did begin to wonder what had happened inside the sports centre after she ran. There had been a gunshot but who had fired and who had it been aimed at? Was the sword swinging brute lying dead just beyond those doors? Was he bleeding out in there? Would she hear his name on the next announcement?
Should she care?
A part of her still wanted to feel concern over the wellbeing of other people. A boy could have just died or be dying right now and she wanted to feel bad about that. But she couldn’t. Not this boy who had attacked them. Not this boy who was planning on killing the both of them.
Her new ally, mariachi man, gestured with his head in the direction he wanted them to travel. Since Alice wasn’t inclined to argue at the best of times she fell in line and began walking.
If she had friends in the game she assumed she would care about what was happening to them, but when it came to strangers she couldn’t find the energy to feel worried for them. She didn’t know how many people they had started this game with, seventy or eighty maybe, or how many still remained. There had been a few announcements, dozens dead, but it was an abstract thing, hard for Alice to focus on or feel bad about. At least it was now, she was sure she had felt more horror at the idea when this had first started.
She was just tired and drained of so much she wasn’t sure how much of her there was left. And there wasn’t much to begin with. All she could focus on was the now and keeping herself alive.
Well, herself and her ally now. Maybe they could share the weight a little.
Alice glanced at the colourfully dressed figure beside her. She slowed her pace a little to allow him to walk in front slightly and felt better for it; better to be a follower than a leader and she had never liked having her back to people even before this started. Remembering Josiah just made that feeling worse.
She knew nothing about this boy, other than what she had seen in the past minute or so. She had the impression that his personality did not match up to his appearance, that even though he had apparently chosen to dress himself in bright colours and gaudy sequins that did not mean he had to be a bright and happy person in return.
They wore the same bandanna which in theory meant they had more to gain working together than attacking each other. But… you never did know with some people how their minds worked.
((Alice Young continued in The Final Curtain))
The girl let him take point, and that was fine. She was silent, and that was fine too. Jackson doubted he had many words to spare. The thought she was waiting to kill him had crossed his mind, but then, she would have let him deal with that boy back in there if she really wanted to.
Jackson resigned himself to not thinking about it. If he was going to be done, then he'd deal with it. Until then, he was happy to be quiet for the moment
((Jackson King continued in The Final Curtain))
Jackson resigned himself to not thinking about it. If he was going to be done, then he'd deal with it. Until then, he was happy to be quiet for the moment
((Jackson King continued in The Final Curtain))