Don't Fear The Reaper

[xylophonefairy†]

((Neill Robertson continued from The Magi

Also this is actually day SIX at noon, I can't count))

Apparently, they had gone in the wrong direction.

This wasn't anyone's fault, when Ray had disappeared into the black hole of nowhere after they had made their escape from Mad Alex and the logging road they had met him on, he and Bobby had made a decision as to what direction to go in. They'd had no idea which was the correct one, and had chosen on a whim. It was the wrong one. They had gone south, and just kept going, not wanting to deviate from their course in case Ray was only just ahead of them. "We'll keep going South, at last then we know he's not South!" But, as Neill stood on the clifftop and stared out at the sea beyond them, his heart sank. Now they would have to make another decision, and that would quite possibly be the wrong one too. The further they got away from the logging road (which was now a very long way away), and the more time that passed, the less likely it seemed that they would find him.

"We should stop for a bit here, try and figure out what to do next," he said, turning away from the sea. It only served to remind him how cut off they really were, only served to confirm that this was real, they were alone, and there were people out there trying to kill them.

Neill sat down and leaned his back against the wire fence that was the only barrier between them and the sea. He rifled around in his bag and extracted his water bottle, taking a grateful sip. They had been walking almost constantly since they had awoken that morning, and he wasn't used to the pace they had been going at. This was the first time in their five days on the island that they had faced any sustained period of stress. The first time they had needed to be on high alert all the time, warily watching at anyone they passed, not because they were trying to hide from someone, but because they were trying to find someone. They had barely seen a soul in their travelling south, the saw more bodies of their classmates than real living people. According to the announcement over a hundred were now dead at the hands of their fellow classmates. People like them. If only he'd known when Sarah Atwell interviewed him in the canteen that she would turn into a ruthless killer, he might have been able to do something about it. What, though? Kill her there and then. That would stop her killing, yes, but you'd be in jail. But... in jail and alive... Somehow, Monty Pondsworth being Monty Pondsworth had managed to have his own life by being the bully that the whole school hated. How was that fair? He had voiced these views more than once on this trip, and using an unusual amount of self restraint as he looked at Bobby, didn't bring them up again.

"Where do you think we should go from here?" he said, spreading his hands to indicate the whole island. They were literally at the end of their little island microcosm, and they could go anywhere, be anyone, do anything. Roles were undefined, routes unplanned. It was beautiful, in a twisted kind of way. "North?" he said jokingly.

[Killer_Moth†]

((Bobby Barron cont'd from The Magi))

Bobby had been able to catch up with Neill in short order, and had gotten out of dodge as swiftly as the tow of them were able. Of course, that meant that Ray wasn't there. They'd abandoned him. Or he'd sacrificed himself to make sure that the others could escape. Bobby was worried that he'd left his friend to die for him, knowing that Ray was ultimately more likely to survive to the end than he was.

With nothing better to do, they had travelled south, eventually reaching the very edge of the island. Neill spoke up, suggesting what to do next. Bobby took the opportunity to stop, sit, breathe, work his knee. Generally taking the time to relax, recover from the stress and exertion of the past days. He hadn't had a good nights rest since they'd been ejected from the infirmary.

"To be honest, I think we could stay here for a while. It looks reasonably easy to defend, and it's nice. Pleasant. Besides, what else can we do? Wander round the coast until we find the way off this place? Try and build a raft and sail to freedom? I think we could both do with some time to recover from everything. Here's as good a place as any."

[blastinus]

(Rachel Gettys continued from False Hope)

As Rachel had been traveling onward, she had been examining her newly acquired uzi for its relevant parts, namely the safety. While she had no ammunition for it, once she received some, she would need to know how to use the gun. She was a marked woman after all, and if she failed to convert anyone, the Lord might simply decline to take her up with him. How many days was she on now? Had her time already passed? In all the excitement of the last few days, she'd completely lost track of what day it was. Had she even been drinking enough water? Such disorganization was simply not appropriate for the leader that she was.

If there was any good news to this whole business, it was that her leg was starting to hurt less, or perhaps it had merely gone numb. She still had to hobble on a cane to avoid having pain shoot up in the leg, but now...how to describe it? It was as if the pain took just a little bit longer to set in. Perhaps in time, she'd be able to make a full recovery, but that would take longer than the amount of time she had left on the island. Not that it would matter how pained she was when she came to Heaven.

Walking along the cliffs, Rachel came across two gentlemen. She knew their names, but did not know exactly where she had seen them before. Of course, if she knew who they were, they probably knew who she was, and then they'd bring up the two killings, and then the accusations would start, and then there would be cries of 'murderer'...

Oh well, nothing ventured and all that.

"You two look a little lost," she said, taking care not to accidentally slip on the rocks as she approached them. Her uzi was stowed for now, so she was stumbling over to them whilst unarmed. "Perhaps I may be able to give you some guidance."

[xylophonefairy†]

Neill agreed wholeheartedly with Bobby about settling down for a while. From where they were it was fairly easy to see who was coming towards them, not that either of them were particularly equipped to deal with anyone coming at them. They had a skateboard, half a broken drip stand (that Neill was persisting in carrying, despite the fact that he lacked the physical strength to deal a significant amount of damage with it) and Bobby's can of liquid nitrogen. He stretched his legs out in front of him and extracted the loaf of bread from his bag, eating one slice slowly and with relish. He had never appreciated a plain slice of bread ever in his life until this trip, and now, every mouthful was like nectar from heaven.

From their vantage point, Neill saw Rachel walking towards them about a minute before she reached them. His eyes widened, and he glanced at Bobby with a concerned look in his eyes. Their last meeting with her hadn't gone spectacularly well, Neill wasn't sure what Bobby had said to Rachel at the time when he and Ray had ventured off to the path where he'd had that beautiful, rationed cigarette, but he had a feeling that whatever it was might come back to play now.

"We got company," Neill said in a low voice to Bobby, trying to be cool, and at the same time feeling sickened at himself for playing up to the cameras. He watched warily as Rachel approached, weighing up the possible ways of going about this. He could be friendly, he could be mean, he could be a scaredy cat and run away really quickly. The last was looking like the most tempting, and had he been on his own, he probably would have. Rachel didn't look like she'd be able to catch him up, he was, somehow, still in fairly good condition, whereas she had a limp.

"You two look a little lost. Perhaps I may be able to give you some guidance."

Neill looked nervously at Bobby, entirely unaware of how to react. He wanted humour, a mild quip along the lines of if you guide us off this hellhole of an island I will go to Church every day for the rest of my life, but he'd heard the announcements, he'd met Rachel by the Groundskeeper's Hut, there was no way in hell that he was going to risk antagonising her in any way. So he decided, on a whim, to go along with whatever she was saying, and hopefully somehow indicate his running away plan to Bobby while she was talking.

Also, she might have seen Ray. That would only be helpful to them at this point in time.

"Sure, guidance is always useful," Neill said with an honest shrug.

[Killer_Moth†]

Bobby was just beginning to relax, when his world exploded again. He heard the voice before he knew she was there, but it was unmistakeable. It was Rachel.

What was he supposed to do? She had been his best friend, his prom date, his confidante throughout much of high school. Now, she hated him on account of his sexuality, and had even killed in front of him. He had tried to reach out to her, and she had pretty much spat in his face. Combine that with her obviously stressed out state and mental problems, and he wasn't sure how to react.

She seemed calm just now, but why? Maybe she hadn't realised it was him. Or maybe in her problems, she had forgotten their previous meeting. Or maybe it was all a trap, and she had decided to kill him for his sins. Bobby felt his heart thumping, and the urge to run was strong.

He turned round to look at her as she offered them guidance. She had seen better days, and was not in a fit state to be a serious threat to them. Unless she was armed with a gun.

Neill was calm about the whole situation. In many ways, that made it worse. He knew the history of Rachel and Bobby, must know what he was going through. And Neill wanted her to hang around?!

He gulped, took a breath, and got himself under control. In the end, no matter what had happened recently, Rachel was his best friend. He couldn't abandon anybody else. Not now. With Ray still missing, and so many others dead, he knew that he had to stand by Rachel. But he wasn't going to be stupid about it. He stood, slowly, and kept his face stern.

"Rachel. What do you want here?"

[blastinus]

(Apologies for forgetting who the characters were. Let's just roll with it, I suppose)

Oh yes, Bobby. Now she remembered. What with all the other things that had taken place on the island, Rachel had nearly forgotten the man who had betrayed her and gone back on his own faith. And what was worse, the man clearly still believed that he was right in what he had done, otherwise he would have come crawling back to her, begging for forgiveness. Not that it mattered anymore, she supposed. He had already said his piece, and she, for one, did not want a repeat of their prior conversation. She wanted to hurt him for what he'd done. naturally, but her list of allies could have fit on one finger, counting herself, so she had no recourse for being snooty about her choices.

"Hello Robert," she said in a forced casual fashion, feeling somewhat sick just talking to the man. Giving a short pause, she leaned on her cane and said, "I just want to say that...that..." This was difficult to say. "...I forgive you. I forgive you for what you've done. You hurt me badly that day, yes, but that's past. We have other concerns now, and if we do not work together..." She paused a bit before saying the next part, as her stomach was aching quite fiercely. "I still feel for you, you know, even with what's happened."

Rachel was disgusted with herself, being forced to pander so much to the enemy. Still, there was a degree of sincerity in her words. At the very least, she was speaking the truth about how much Bobby had affected her. Here she was now, unable to support herself, and forced to come begging to the man who she had threatened to kill just a few days before. This was the ultimate humiliation, and she hated every moment of it. But if this was the only way to get ahead in this twisted game, then she would have to swallow her bile.

[xylophonefairy†]

Guess I'm not getting any 'guidance' then, Neill mused to himself as Rachel seemingly recognised Bobby. Frowning, he didn't want to know what must have happened to her over the last few days, Bobby had told them of his history with Rachel and Neill didn't think it was one even he was going to forget, and he wasn't even directly involved. He looked nervously from Rachel to Bobby, and back to Rachel, as she seemed to... apologise? for what had gone before. Well, she said that she forgave Bobby, which struck Neill as a little unfair as Bobby hadn't actually done anything wrong. In fact, having heard most of the story, he reckoned his friend had behaved in an exemplemary fashion.

Still, he wasn't going to bring this up. While Neill usually prided himself on being as manly as possible (he'd been among the first to need to start shaving), and thus not afraid of girls, he was a little bit scared of Rachel. Even though she was now a lot calmer than she had been when he'd seen her last, he didn't know if it was genuine calmness or just further insanity masking itself. He had a horrible feeling it was the latter. Why did they have to keep running into crazy people? Rachel was crazy by default for being a devout Catholic in Neill's eyes, and the island had just further solidified that fact. And Alex, he had been crazy too, talking like he might explode any second and threatening them so that they had to run away and lose track of each other. Crazy people were making their last few days stressful; all Neill wanted to do was lie on one of the beaches they had yet to come across and read his book.

He didn't want to say anything, this was just the sort of situation he usually put his foot in it in, and that tended to end with Chris Carlson getting beaten up, or Rachel turning into a psycho and throwing them off the cliff (why oh why had they stopped in such a vulnerable spot? Now he knew why nobody else was here). Instead, Neill looked at Bobby and raised his eyebrows with a faintly amused expression at Rachel's proffer of forgiveness, as if to say 'how could you refuse?'.

[Killer_Moth†]

She was willing to forgive him? He had to give her credit, at least, for trying to mend fences. And even though it was clearly difficult for her, she was willing to make the effort to be nice to him. Oh well, baby steps. After all, he'd hate for one of them to be killed before they'd had the chance to mend fences.

Neill seemed to be encouraging him as well. This was probably a good sign, given that he knew the history, and had been present the last time he saw her. To get a real second chance like this was all he'd hoped for.

"OK Rachel. I still feel for you too." He was genuine is his words, and moved towards her, slowly. "Now, let's have a look at your leg. I know a little something about how to deal with knee injuries." He smiled at her, glad to have her back at his side once more.

[blastinus]

That was easier than Rachel had expected it to be. To think that prostrating oneself towards one's peers would be such an effective tactic. Perhaps she had been going about this game all wrong. Perhaps all that had been needed for these days and days had been a little humility. Or, at the very least, a good facsimile thereof. Rachel would have to remember that for when she ran into somebody else, though it was questionable how well it would work on somebody who wasn't her one and only in the past.

Future planning aside, Robert wanted to look at her leg now, and she couldn't say that she minded the favor. She'd been feeling stinging pain for the last few days that made it difficult to think, let alone operate, and anything that would alleviate that pain would be greatly appreciated. And so, sitting down against the fence, she said to him, "Thank you. That would be wonderful." She wasn't sure whether she was seeming too suspiciously friendly, or even whether or not the two of them would care. Bobby and his friend were temporary allies at best, and the instant she got the means to do so, she'd be off on her own again.

"This is so pathetic," she mumbled to herself, as she prepared to put her trust in a man who had betrayed it once before. This would take some getting used to.

[xylophonefairy†]

Feeling distinctly like the third wheel in this strange situation, Neill watched the pair of them with some curiousity. He watched Rachel more closely, wanting to know what was going through her head. Not for the first time in his life, he wished he had the power of telepathy, reading people's thoughts would be extremely useful in this game. While they talked, and Bobby offered to tend to Rachel's knee, he picked dirt out from under his fingernails. Don't fix her knee! Currently that's the only thing we have; if she turns loopy we can run away and she can't catch us! Rachel accepted his offer graciously, and then suddenly she was sitting with them as though she had been with them all along. It was bizzarre, unnatural, and just didn't feel right. Still, Neill reckoned that Rachel was someone you'd rather have on your side than as your enemy.

"So, Rachel," he said, in an effort to make conversation. There was an awkwardness in the air that he couldn't put his finger on, and being one of nature's talkers, he tended not to leave them hanging. He could already percieve the inappropriate comments that he would probably make. "What have you been up to since we last saw you?" That was a good question, open ended, would give her the chance to talk for a while which would pass the time. Also, it might reveal something about her psyche that Neill would be able to utilise. That was, if he actually picked up on any useful comments. Still, his trying to decipher her personality did give him the appearance of being interested in what she was saying.

[Killer_Moth†]

Bobby kept smiling as he knelt down beside Rachel. Slowly baring her knee, he moved gently, both to make sure he minimised her pain and to ensure that she didn't think he would try anything. Well, that last wasn't likely, but given their history, he didn't want to risk upsetting her if he could avoid it.

Having probed the area, gently, he announced "I'm not entirely certain what's wrong here, but I'm going to try taping it up. That should give you some stability but let you keep it mobile. It's not perfect, but hopefully it'll help."

Neill was trying to pump her for information. That was good. Anything they could learn could be useful. After all, they'd been here for days, and another few seemed likely. He was convinced that once a week was over, the government would have tracked them down somehow, and he'd be back home.

He retrieved his own supply of surgical tape from his rucksack, used to help his own knee if he needed it. Still half a roll left. Good. He began unwinding it, and wrapping it around Rachel's leg. He wanted to ask her about Erik, if she'd seen or heard anything, but realised that that conversation would likely lead to more problems. Instead, he waited until he'd finished his first aid attempt and asked. "How does that feel now?"

[blastinus]

Seeing as she was stuck on the ground until Robert finished whatever he was trying to do, Rachel saw no issue with answer Neill's question. Since that incident...since she had had to fulfill the Lord's will, she hadn't been doing anything that any person would consider to be wrong, so, with her conscience freed, she set about describing the people who she had met and talked to. She'd recognized quite a few of them, and she was astounding with names, so in short time, she'd supplied them with a good list of people who she knew were not playing the game at the time she had met them.

"And I have to say, people have been nothing but rude. What have I done to deserve such contempt, really?" Robert tightened the wrap that he was tying around her knee, and she paused to gasp in pain. He asked her how her knee felt, and she tried flexing it. It still hurt, quite certainly, but the surgical tape provided a degree of stiffness that made it feel..."Decent. Thank you, Robert." She tried to stand on it, and she immediately stumbled before catching herself with her cane. Obviously, taping up the knee wasn't going to be a magical cure-all, but it was a step in the right direction.

"I'm sorry," she said after her balance was secure again. "But aside from names, I haven't learned much. People haven't been willing to share."

Unwilling to dwell too long on why that might be, Rachel looked around and said, "We're quite obvious here. We should probably get moving." Not that she was willing to go first. Allies or not, she wasn't quite comfortable putting her back to these two, and she got the feeling that Neill still felt that she was unreliable. This would prove to be an interesting alliance.

[xylophonefairy†]

((I guess we should make our exit! GMing of Rachel Gettys approved by Blastinus))

Well, Neill hadn't expected her to be quite that forthcoming. Apparently it was of importance to Rachel who was 'playing' the game and who wasn't; it was of less importance to them. He and Bobby (and Ray, his stomach twinged realising that their friend was still missing) would definately falling to the category of 'not playing the game'. Their tactic so far had been to avoid trouble, and to run away as soon as they saw any. Some people might have thought that they were cowards, wusses, babies, all sorts of derogatory terms. But the fact was that they were still alive, and a lot of those people weren't.

He focussed on not smiling when she asked what she had done to be regarded with contempt. Instead he gave a fairly decent impression of a confused shrug, and instead turned his attention to what she said next, looking down from the cliffs tot he island below. They had a good view of the surrounding area here, but everyone in the woods and things that were just out of their sight had an excellent view of them too. It would be all to easy for them to be picked out one by one by someone sat in a tree not too far away from them. Neill regarded the tree with suspicion.

Still, he realised that Rachel might be a good person to have with them. As far as he was aware she was more widely disliked than either he or Bobby, there must be a few friends of the people she had killed still running around at least. And Neill wasn't aware of any mortal enemies of his, excpet perhaps Monty Pondsworth, who hadn't even been allowed of the trip. This still grated at Neill, because the guy had been a dick in high school he was now spared what was looking to be almost certain death.

"Yeah, we should," Neill said, standing up and collecting his belongings together, deciding to take charge of the situation and move before they were snipered down. Rachel hadn't mentioned Ray in her list of people she'd met, not since the encounter at the Groundskeeper's Hut anyhow, and they weren't going to find him here. "We," he indicated himself and Bobby, "still need to find our friend, Ray. We lost him yesterday," had it really only been yesterday? Felt like a month ago...

Picking up his now packed bag, Neill was the first to start walking, keeping his head turned over his shoulder until the others started. Partly to make sure that they were with him, and partly to make sure Rachel didn't pull a gun from her pocket and shoot him in the back. After a couple of seconds, Rachel started to follow him, limping. That was comforting, at least he could still run if required.

((Neill Robertson and Rachel Gettys continued in Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly))

[Killer_Moth†]

With Rachel patched up the best he could, Bobby paused to breathe. She was walking, still unsteadily, but it would be easier for her, he hoped. And she was right. The three of them were targets here. She had proven that much by her own approach. If she had been intent on killing them, instead of converting them, then who knows what would have happened. Bobby didn't like to think that Rachel could have killed him, but he remembered the sickening crack when her stick had connected with Edward.

Neill agreed, it seemed. And he was still concerned about Ray. Bobby prayed inwardly that he didn't hear his friends name when the announcement was made tomorrow morning. Ray knew enough to keep his head down and out of trouble, a tactic which had served them well so far. Hopefully, by sticking with this plan, it would keep them alive until they met up again.

And there was still Erik to consider. He still wanted the chance to let him know the truth before it was too late, a scenario that was becoming increasingly unlikely. At any rate, he hoisted his backpack upon his shoulders once more, and decided that as he had done so far, he would play his cards how they landed, and try to avoid getting lost in the abyss.

((Robert Barron cont'd in Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly))

((And thread closed))