Horror Business

[peregrineink*]

He had never really had a thing for blondes, but he loved long limbs and experience, and this girl had it going on for days. The light streamed in weakly through the windows of her studio apartment.

She stared at him fearfully over the rim of her coffee cup, watching as he dressed with meticulous care, the pocket watch here, the boot on just so, not a crease out of place, not a hair incorrect. He could feel his pulse even and steady through the cuffs of his shirt, enjoying the attention she was giving him.

Her hair was messy, her eyes glazed with a sort of aroused horror. He did love making an impression.

"Brian," she had told him.

"Yes, sugar?"

"We can't do this again." He enjoyed the tension in her body as he crept over to to, taking the cup of coffee from her hands and raising it to his own lips. Taking a slow, lingering sip, he refused to break the eye contact first.

"Who said we were going to?"

He savored the taste of her horror as he shouldered the leather laptop case he used for a backpack.

"I'll see you in class, Ms. Tremblay. I can't wait to start discussing negative space."

As he left her apartment, discreet as always, he took pleasure in her secret horror. No one would ever know about her transgression. Brian Larke just wasn't that kind of guy. However, he was shocked to discover that she would only give him a B+ for the marking period that year.


(M18: Brian Larke: START)

To be fair, it was the first sleep he had gotten in days. Brian opened his eyes to stare up at what seemed to be a forest. Such a shame, he thought sadly, to ruin such a beautiful dream. Ms. Tremblay had been a personal favorite of his, however brief.

He seemed to be in some sort of forest, but a particularly shitty one. He saw a railroad, and sad trees. Brian was supposed to be on a train.

He thought for a minute. There had been a voice, the sheriff, yes, everyone was supposed to be his enemy now? Brian Larke had never particularly hated anyone in his entire life, now he was supposed to murder enemies? There had to be a reason, right? He pondered this for a moment, wondering why he even really had to worry about the why when he was given a what.

He sat up and noticed the pack beside him, resting gently next to it was his fedora. Perhaps it had been knocked off in his transportation. How polite of the people running the game to still include the hat even though he had lost it. He reached for it now, his fingers brushing the canvas of the bag.

Something metal was in there. He could feel the hard smoothness even through the course material.

Resting the fedora on his head, he turned his thoughts to the task at hand. Weaponry? Whatever it was, it didn't matter. Brian knew that he could probably commit murder with any number of objects, he had complete and utter faith in his own ability.

However, he was delighted to find a shotgun.

"Oh yes," he whispered to himself, his eyes growing wide with childlike delight. "This is precisely what I need."

But there was still the matter of why. Of course murder was a delicious prospect, possibly in line with sex in the ways of control and execution in terms of delight. However could he truly go about murdering his fellow man, for what? He idly played with a shotgun shell, making it disappear and reappear in his hands.

"Perhaps there is a monetary prize," he said outloud. "As though this were hunting."

Brian Larke did so love winning prizes.

He cradled the shotgun in his hands like a beloved child.

"We are going to have so much fun together," he whispered. "For the money."

[Courtography]

(Rebecca Clark continued from Rebirth)

Rebecca had been thinking as she walked through the woods of stunted trees and short bushes. Her friends wouldn't turn on her no matter what, would they? No, she could count on the theater people and others without having to worry about anything.

The other people would have to be enemies, but could she do that? Just kill people? She really didn't have a plan, but the Sheriff guy, the idiot, had said they had to kill each other. And while Rebecca wasn't big on following tons of rules, she had to admit she was in a bit of a bind.

Okay, so her friends were good to team up with, and everyone else could go fuck themselves.

She fitted an arrow to the string of her bow, not that she had any idea of how to use it. Well beyond the pull back and it flew thing, but actually hitting someone? Nah.

That's when she spotted the figure resting against the tree. Brian Larke. Rebecca felt her face getting flushed at memories of making out in his bedroom, okay not what would be helping her survive here, but shit happened, right?

"Hey."

You see a guy you've made out with how many times and all you say is hey? Pathetic.

[peregrineink*]

"Hey."

Brian glanced up, almost embarrassed at being caught talking to his shotgun. Deftly, he palmed the shotgun shell up his sleeve before she could see him, maybe he could load it without anyone realizing it quicker...maybe..

OH. It was Rebecca.

Me gusta, Brian Larke thought.

A slow burning smile rose to his lips as he thought of the many times he had managed to get her into her bedroom, the flailing of limbs and the mashing together of lips. He liked listening to her whimper whenever he bit her on the collarbone just so...

Focus, Brian.

His smile at full force, he got to his feet. "Rebecca!" He moved towards her, making sure that the shotgun wasn't pointed at her or anything, that wouldn't be polite, not at all. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a welcoming hug.

Who else was here, if she was? Was it only people in her grade? Did that mean Vivian was here? Renee? Did it extend to other grades? Was Heather, that senior he had slept with at her senior prom when he wasn't even attending there? Man, was her date angry that night...

All that Brian Larke noticed were possibilities, just as long as he realized the talent.

Pulling away from her after a lingering kiss on her cheek, he noticed something wrapped around her throat. A collar. Rebecca wasn't kinky like that. Surely if she had been kinky like that he would have been able to get farther then just making out. Not that it wasn't fun of course, but still.

"What are you wearing?" He asked her, reaching out a finger to brush the leather circling her throat.

[Courtography]

The first thing Rebecca noticed was the shotgun Brian was holding. Well somebody got lucky. Well Brian got "lucky" a lot anyway, but not with her. They still had fun without that, just not as much "fun" as he'd like. Of course she knew he wanted to. But she wouldn't, not yet. Brian didn't make her feel special like she wanted, desired maybe, but he desired everyone. It wasn't the same.

Of course she was probably going to die.

Not if I do this right.

The kiss was nice, Brian knew how to win her over. Well, most of the way. She felt his fingers brushing her neck, but like something was in the way. He asked about it, and she was about to shrug when she noticed the leather wrapped around Brian's neck. Collars? She must have had one around her neck, actually she knew she did now. She could feel it, just there.

She probably couldn't take it off.

"A collar? You've got one too..." she trailed off. Whatever they were for, it had to be bad. This whole thing was bad.

[peregrineink*]

Brian's face grew dark as he reached up and touched the leather collar around his neck. That did not work with his current ensemble, but then again with the distinct Wild West feel to the entire place, it wasn't as though any of them actually fit in.

He checked his pocket watch. At least it wasn't set to high noon.

"It might not be so bad," he said hopefully. "Maybe it's just to track us." He remained close to her, enjoying the proximity, as he leaned in close to look at the construction of the collar. It didn't seem to be anything particularly threatening. However who knew at this point?

He remained close. Waste not want not, right?

It would have been easy to point the shotgun at Rebecca and blow her clean away at this point, but...this was Rebecca. She was a good kisser. There was really no reason to kill her first, or any of the girls whose company he enjoyed, at least not first anyway. He just enjoyed being in her presence...Maybe he could see what would happen with her...

When he saw it.

"Is that a bow and arrow!?" Brian asked her, taking a step back in order to see the quiver possibly. "They gave you a bow and arrow?"

If they didn't want him to win, how come it looked like they were setting everyone else up to lose?

[Courtography]

Tracking? Well that wasn't good either. "Well you know, I like to do what I want. Don't want any stupid Sheriff asshole telling me what to do." Yeah she definitely did not like the idea of some creep tracking her every move. Not that she had much choice. Still, she didn't like letting her parents tell her what to do all the time, and definitely not some weirdo kidnapper.

He noticed her weapon, yeah it wasn't good. Definitely not as good as that shotgun that Brian had. But he was the lucky one. Always. "Yeah it's stupid, I mean I guess I could shoot someone, well try to. Or I could stab someone with an arrow or some stupid shit like that."

Well there was a plan.

"I mean yeah you've got a freakin shotgun, and that Holly chick has some handgun or whatever." Of course she had no clue what Clair had, but remembering Holly and her gun was still pretty fresh. But good thing she had gotten away from there.

[peregrineink*]

Brian tried to suppress his smile as he tried to picture her successfully taking down anyone from their school with a bow and arrow. What was she, some sort of amazon or something?

"I think a better bet for you would be to definitely to stab them with it," he said with a careless and easy breezing. "Just make sure to go for an artery first. So they bleed out."

He watched her face carefully. Brian wasn't 100% sure that Rebecca was planning on playing, and what if he offended her in some way by talking like this? This would greatly cut down on the probability that he was going to be able to make out with her in the near future. At this point he was kind of all about doing that.

So he laughed.

"HAHAHA. I'm kidding. Of course. Sorry, sugar, off color joke."

Nailed it.

He lapsed into a sort of expectant silence. Surely this talking was going to be wasting valuable minutes doing other, far more amusing and entertaining things. That's basically how Brian Larke rolled.

[Courtography]

Well there was another point for stabbing people with arrows. Brian supporting that plan was...interesting. Rebecca had almost thought that Brian would just want to make out the whole time and not fight anyone, but knowing he was open to it was nice. And he had a shotgun, and a nice tongue.

Oh but he was kidding. Well scratch that, maybe. It all depended, was he really sure about not going after people or was he open to suggestions? He could probably be pulled into it if she did it the right way. And maybe both of us can enjoy the 'negotiating'.

She pulled Brian into a hug, resting her head on his upper body. He was pretty tall in comparison to her.

Now to figure out how to get this done.

[Frozen Smoke]

( Eoin Harper continued from: Ain't Hotter Than Hell, But Just as Bad.)

Eoin's breathing was heavy, and sweat was dripping from his forehead into his eyes, but that was okay. He knew this feeling, this feeling was normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Was was out of the ordinary was the fact that he had taken a route that wasn't straight, the fact that his eyes were scanning constantly, and the fact that instead of his good hand being a simple fist, or holding a relay baton as he had done exactly twice before, he was holding a very simple hunting knife.

He had wanted to rummage through his kit, and just see what they had given him to "Play their game" with. Sick Fucks. What the hell was this? He couldn't kill anyone! No-one in Alderbrook could kill anyone! They were all a bunch of try-hards and half-asses, the lot of them!

So why was he fucking terrified?

Oh? The big collars that's probably like, a nail bomb or something, the fact that he'd seen some one with a big fuck-off Rifle, and the fact that he was probably in Afghanistan or Iraq or some shit like that. That was probably why this place wasn't already swarming with Seal teams and SAS and Mounties.

They'd be here soon, of course, but for now, everyone except people he knew were absolutely massive threats. He just had to find someone he knew and didn't really dislike that much, hole up with them for a couple of days and then be on the second helicopter out. The first one always got blown up by a counter measure, if Hollywood had taught him anything.

He began to slow his pace as trees appeared infront of him. Not exactly tall ones, about waist height, perfect to trip him up and break his leg, or send him into a rusty nail or barbed wire fence.

With the heartbeat in his ears diminishing, he began to hear some thing faintly in the distance. Voices. No stealthy footsteps or bolt actions being pulled, just voices. Better than that, friendly voices, no shouting or anything, just chatting, as if it were lunch break. Fucking A, some sane people.

He slowed to a walk, and controlled his breathing a little better, the gasps becoming fewer and further between, as the voices got a little clearer. A girl and a guy. The guy even sounded a little familiar, which was either really good or really bad.

Then a laugh, a really distinctive laugh that could never be forgotten no matter how little you heard it. Brian Larkes laugh.

Perfect.

Well, perhaps perfect was an overstatement here, Brian was a bit of a ass clown, and a massive womaniser, but I their was a girl around, he'd be on his best behaviour. And anyways, from what he'd heard from a friend of a friend, he was an absolute bitch in a fight. He could probably take him out if he went crazy on him.

The girl was a wild card, but meh, he was fairly sure he could take out any girl in Alder, there weren't any butch girls of note as far as he could remember.

He turned the corner.

"Hi Brian, ho-"

It was at this point he saw the large shotgun he was in possesion of. His body shifted quite obviously into a defensive stance and he stopped approaching

"Oh god; they gave you a gun"

[CondorTalon]

((Vivian Cathwell continued from Out of the Wilderness, Into the Wild.))

They had reached the forest after a while, walking northward from the river. In that time, Vivian's clothes had dried enough that she was able to walk faster without the extra weight of the water slowing her down. Vivian found the sight of the trees ahead comforting, reminding her of home.

Home...

"What's say we rest here?" she said quietly to Sam, who was presumably behind her.

She set her pack down. She hadn't eaten since she awoke, and that ordeal at the river had left quite a lot out of her. She opened up her pack, and was just about to take some beef jerky when she heard something. Voices. Familiar voices.

She slowly stood, tomahawk in hand, walking towards the voices. As she got closer, she hid behind a particular dense cluster of shrubs. She held a hand behind her. If Sam has following, she didn't want her to go and get them discovered.

She sat there for a while, listening in to the conversation. She knew one of the voices! It was Brian. Brian, who came and caght her attention with his sleight-of-hand. Brian, who stole her first kiss.

Brian, who tried to go too fast.

Vivian left him after that, but not on bad terms. She liked to believe that they still had a good platonic relationship going.

When another person came along, mentioning that Brian had gotten a gun, Vivian peeked through a hole in the shrubs, just small enough for her to see the gist of the situation. Brian did indeed have a gun, and the girl beside him had a bow and a quiver on her back. This wasn't good. What if they were playing? Vivian wanted to turn around and get out of there.

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.

It turns out that the incident at the river had not only soaked her clothes, but had also left a bit of a nasty surpr-... a nasty... surp- ah... a nast- ahh... AHHH...

"ACHOOO!"

[Jadedflames*]

(Samantha continued from Out of the Wilderness, Into the Wild.)

Samantha had heard the voices as well. Many of them, just behind the line of bedraggled trees and bushes. Sam saw Vivian rise, moving towards the voices, tomahawk raised, holding a hand behind her. Sam pulled her pack on, circling the other direction, staying out of sight.

She peered through a gap in the brush. There they were.

Rebecca. Nice girl, definitely not one to play. Samantha had never spent too much time with her, but she had nothing but good feelings toward her. She was holding a bow. Seemed to have no idea how to use it. Important information for later. Samantha knew bows. Could be useful.

Eoin. Strongman. Sporty. Didn't know much about him. What was that he had said? Who had a gun? Samantha shifted to take in the last person in the lineup.

Samantha took a breath in. Brian.

Brian Larke.

He was an issue. All the girls loved him. Most of the boys wanted to be him. There he stood, with his cocky fedora and the shotgun propped in the crook of his arm. He had asked Samantha out once, but she had rejected his advance. He probably did not even remember it, and that left even more of a sour taste in her mouth. If anyone would be playing the game, it would be him. She started to shift, trying to take in the rest of the surroundings before returning to Vivian, when on the other side of the clearing came an immense sneeze.

Samantha groaned under her breath. Vivian could not have chosen a worse time and place for this. She slunk back a couple of steps, keeping out of sight in the branches. Couldn't help Vivian now. Best watch.

[peregrineink*]

Brian leaned towards Rebecca, brushing his lips against hers. While no one was here he was more than willing to past the time making out for a bit. Rebecca was good at it, and it had been a while since he focused on her.

He wasn't going to let a little death game get in the way of that, of course.

As he kissed her lightly he heard a couple of footsteps, and a semi-familiar voice say something. There was a pause, and then he heard...

"Oh god; they gave you a gun"

Brian swung around, pointing the shotgun at the newcomer who had decided to ruin a particularly nice moment with Rebecca. The nerve of some people. It was that soccer kid or something. With the weird mick name. Brian frowned as he tried to remember it. He had a problem with names most of the time, especially weirdo ones. Evan...Eadoin...Eoin!

"Hey buddy," Brian said slowly. "Howya doin'?"

He kept Rebecca behind him, cracking the gun and slowly loading two of the shells he had hidden up his sleeve into the double barrels.

Fucking murder time, hopefully Rebecca could forgive him. Or not. He was sure there were plenty of girls still around that he could talk to. All the same he turned around and gave her a little wink, a sort of "trust me" wink.

"Wanna...come a little closer, buddy?"

A sneeze from the bushes interrupted him, but he paid it no mind. One murder at a time. He had plenty of shells and a feeling that one shot would do it. Maybe the leprechaun would think he was joking and walk right into the line of fire. Brian Larke wouldn't do something like that, but then again, he wasn't an idiot.

[Courtography]

Damn it.

Seriously? Some random had to show up right when she was getting private with Brian? And with the ever popular "oh damn a gun dur dur dur." Yeah people had guns, heck Rebecca knew of two people who had them at this point.

Sure, she knew that the gun was better than this kids weapon, she could see the knife in his hand. And the shotgun was definitely better than her own bow. But she wasn't shocked by it or anything.

Brian was greeting him all nice, couldn't he tell that it wasn't all happy fun time? Seriously. Then he winked back at her. Winked? She saw his hand slipping the shotgun shells in. Well maybe he gets me after all. He was standing in front after all, protecting her or something like that.

Then she heard a sneeze, but Brian didn't seem to notice. "Brian," she whispered quietly. She didn't want to freak this guy out and whoever was watching, just needed to get Brian aware.

[CondorTalon]

((Skipping FrozenSmoke for now, to give enough headroom to the others to avoid inactivity.))

Crap.

Why now? Of all times? The sneeze had definitely caught their attention, and there was no way it couldn't have. Vivian's mind was racing. What now? Should she run? Come out and surrender? Continue to hide?

If she ran, someone would probably see her. The rapid motion culd surprise him, and Vivian really didn't want to get shot in the back.

If she came out, hands in the air, tomahawk on the ground, would the others let her live? She was hoping Brian would, but what about the girl, what about the other guy? She had no idea what he had for a weapon.

Maybe if she hid behind the bushes,someone would come over, to look. She could catch them by surprise and swing the-

No.

She wasn't going to kill someone. That's...

She put the tomahawk on the ground, handle under her foot. Then, slowly, she stood up, her hands up at about head-level.

"Ehh... um... hi, Brian."

[Jadedflames*]

Samantha cursed under her breath, as she saw Vivian start to rise from her hiding place.

Damn it, Vivian! I know you think you are doing the right thing, but don't walk in! Don't you see the gun?

Samantha looked at Vivian, at Brian, at Eoin. Brian had yet to acknowledge Vivian, but Rebecca had noticed. Samantha watched in horror at the ever so subtle motion that could only be the insertion of a shell into the barrel of the gun. Why wasn't Rebecca stopping him? She was supposed to be normal! They were all supposed to be normal!

Samantha ran through everything she had in her bag, trying to think of something to save the situation. Tent pole would be no good against a gun. She had thought before of using it as a javeline, but...

No. No way that would really work.

Canteen. Truncheon?

No.

Medkit... Bandages. Face shield. Thermometer. Epipen.

Epipen. Epinephrine. Given to shock the body out of anaphylactic shock. Muscular injections only. Gave something similar to a dog one time. What was that Doc Sampson had said?

Never give it as an intravenous injection, that can cause heart strain and even hemorrhage.

That would make him put down the gun, wouldn't it? Could she really do that though?

Purposefully injure him with her knowledge?

Well?

Yes. Yes I could. To save Vivian, Eoin, and all the others that shotgun may get pointed at, yes I could.

She crept around slowly to her right, moving to get behind Brian and Rebecca.

Just hold it as a threat. He won't actually shoot. Get him to drop the gun, talk some sense into everyone. Everyone will be fine.

She held the Epipen in her right hand, getting ready to enact the plan.