In A World Of Shit

[ViolentMedic]

Wayne said he found it. Maybe he did. Clarice couldn't see a murderer leaving the bag behind, not when they had such few supplies to begin with. But maybe. Maybe it belonged to Abby, since... god. God, this was all so...

Clarice looked down. She heard Natalie talk. She hesitated for a moment before looking up again.

"I'm not doing anything stupid. Even if... even if he was a killer, I..." She trailed off.

If Wayne was a murderer, there was nothing she could do. What were the options on this island? She could kill him—or try, at least—but she wasn't going to play this game. Even if Wayne had killed, he didn't deserve it. And even if he did, Wayne probably had friends. Family.

Clarice couldn't be the one to make anyone else feel like she was feeling right now. She wasn't a fucking asshole.

She looked Wayne in the face, before straightening up some. "Fine. But if I find out you were lying..." She paused for a moment longer, then said, "I'm going to be real fucking upset with you."

She turned to where Ty had been. He wasn't there anymore.

"...Wait. Ty? Where'd—" Her gaze moved a little further. She could see Ty's retreating figure in the distance. "Hey! Ty! Come back here!"

He didn't turn back.

"...Fine. Fine! Be that way, you fucking murderer!" Clarice yelled after him. "Be that way!"

She regretted the words the moment she'd yelled them. She couldn't... she shouldn't blame Ty. It was Isabel who'd done it. But... fuck. She just wanted to hate him so much.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath.

With that, she turned back to Wayne and Natalie. She looked at Wayne for a moment, then turned her attention on Natalie.

"If you follow him... be careful," she muttered.

She left, going the opposite way of Ty. She could have caught up, perhaps, if she ran. But... but she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

((Clarice Halwood continued elsewhere.))

[Iceblock†]

Wayne replayed Clarice's words in his head even as she left. If she found out he was lying, she'd be upset.

Yeah. He was upset with himself, too. Join the club.

Not upset enough, apparently, even after all that he told himself. Not enough to tell the truth. Probably not even enough to change his ways. He was a liar, a thief. A regular piece of shit. Perhaps he was tempted to use that as some sort of excuse, too - he couldn't tell the truth or do selfless, noble things because he was a bad person, because that was just who he was - but that was a lie, too. There might very well be a natural instinct involved, an impulse to screw other people over just so he wouldn't die, but in the end he had made his own choices. He was responsible for everything that he'd done.

He watched Ty and Clarice go their separate ways, then spared a glance for the girl whose name he still didn't know.

"I don't know why you'd want to follow someone who loots the dead."

There was a moment's pause where he considered saying something more, but then he simply began walking again. He had a long walk ahead, and too many things he couldn't outrun.

((Wayne Cox continued in A Chef's Nightmare))

[PlatFleece†]

And there it is again. Alone once more.

Natalie took a deep sigh.

It's only been a while in this island and people are already acting like everything's lost. Why can't they just get their heads together.

Natalie had a mix of emotions as she rested against the railing.

People were dying, based on what that boy had said. That thought alone scared her. The announcements also confirmed that so many had died. Yet, she still didn't want to believe the fact that her classmates, her schoolmates, would be the ones killing them.

She won't believe it unless she sees it with her own eyes.

And if she did... well...

She didn't know what to do.

Her stomach was growling. There were rations in the bag. Maybe it's time to just take a small break and a snack.

((Natalie Winters continued elsewhere))