Black Hearts

[umop-ap!sdn†]

Jaq nodded. He got the point.

"We are both going to get out of this."

She didn't know how they were getting out, but she knew it wasn't from suicide, homicide, or collar explosion. They were too prepared for it to come to that.

"Just... don't do anything stupid, okay Jo?"

It was odd, calling him by this nickname. While she'd never been friends, and probably would not have been friends, with him at school, she'd known him enough to know some people called him this. Now she was calling him by it, just out of reaction. She'd used the name before in the forest, but she was faking it then. She was trying to sound like a concerned friend worried about her sick pal to hide that they were really just cleverly taking an unwanted gun off a kid's hands.

Now that she'd said it in regular conversation, she realized that she had become the concerned friend she'd portrayed earlier. He couldn't die. She couldn't have that. She would have to make keeping him around worth it in the end.

She started walking back towards her bag with the gun. There was no need to leave it unattended so it could be stolen back.

"Okay... So now where do we set up?"

[Riki]

Joachim did not responded when Jaq told him that they both would get out, or when she told him not to do anything stupid. He wondered what Jaq defined as stupid. Was it something like that little slip-up back in the forest, when he crushed into her? Or was it something more serious, like killing? Likely both, he figured.

Joachim watched Jaq as she went back to her bag. She asked where to set up. Joachim walked towards his own bag to get out his map. They could go to the club house now, just as they planned. It would provide shelter for the night, which definetely would be a good thing. Then again, a lot of classmates could think that. And then he'd be in a closed place with potentially dangerous, or at least annoying people. At that point, Joachim considered everyone who was not Jaq to be superflous company.

He noticed one thing as he searched for the map in his bag.

"It'd be useful to get a water bottle, as I left one of mine with these people at the forest, it seems."

A smirk appeared on his face.

"Well, so much for not being stupid. Good that we have experience in robbing people now."

[umop-ap!sdn†]

A smirk appeared on Jo's face as he suggested they retrieve a water bottle. Jaq smirked back,  he looked so pleased and cocky. She'd never seen him like that before.

"good that we have experience in robbing people now..."

He might be serious. Jaq stayed quiet for a moment. She choked on her breath and looked up at Joachim. There was a second of silence as she gazed blankly.

Who was he, really?

She could revisit every fact she knew about him in less than thirty seconds. None of what she knew if him had happened before today, back when things were normal.

She went through the usual checklist she used to decide who was important or worth getting to know deeper. There were few
requirements, but they were specific and demanding.

Maybe Joachim was a special case.

...

....

"Alright.... You gather, I'll hunt."

[Riki]

...hunt? Interesting.

Slowly, Joachim understood Jaquilyn's intent. Insisting on him not playing so that he can escape. But she wanted to be the 'hunter'. Somehow, Joachim knew that Jaq cared about him. She did not want him to die, she wanted him to escape. These feelings were mutual. Joachim has grown attached to her in this short time frame. Seeing her die would be something he would not like to see . The question was whether Joachim would disobey her wishes if she was in danger. Could he kill for her?

His face was stern as he read the map.

Could he kill for her? Or would he stay 'clean'? Wasn't this whole inner debate a waste? They did not know each other for too long, but did time really matter here? They worked together. They formed a bond already. Was this bond strong enough? Or maybe he's interpreting the whole thing wrongly?

Joachim sighed. He tried to focus on the map, banishing such thoughts. They confused him.

"We could go to the club house now... or we could use the day to explore the island. Maybe we'll find something...  or someone useful."

[umop-ap!sdn†]

The clubhouse. It was close. It was relatively small. Not much seemed to be going on around it.

And she had a big freaking gun. If anybody was in the building, they could be armed with anything between a laser beam and a roll of Smarties.

Jaq's current weapon, her assigned weapon, Joachim's weapon, that girl's Chinese finger trap... There was no telling what else had been assigned. One of the girls in the forest had said she had a gun, so Jaq's wasn't the only one in the game. It would be hubristic to think her gun was the best.

It wasn't all about weapon though. She could use a gun more effectively than she could a bag of skittles, that was for sure. But if she were to run into somebody else with a gun, it would be about who had faster reflexes, who had better aim, and, most importantly, who had bigger balls.

The girl who had run away, Jaq hadn't shot her. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She didn't have the mind of a killer, not yet at least. How the hell was she going to protect herself and Joachim if she couldn't even make herself use this fucking gun.

Fuck these terrorists. Fuck them for taking abducting her and trying to force her to do anything. Fuck them for giving her skittles. Fuck them for thinking they were so funny.

She'd overcome one of those obstacles, but the rest seemed impossible to counter. Then again, a few hours ago she never thought she would be holding such a weapon...

She thought about Joachim. What could the two of them do to outwit the terrorists. They could take out the cameras, they could try to build a boat, why hadn't any of these options been thought of before?! Jaq put her hand under her chin as she thought, her knuckles brushed her collar as she did so.

Oh. That's fucking why.

Her fingers touched the metal. It wasn't worth trying it. She'd have to wait to see if anybody else tried to get theirs off, and whether they had success or lost their heads. There was being brave, and there was doing exactly what the terrorists said not to do. They fucking shot that teacher in the head, they weren't kidding around.

She shivered and decided she had to stop thinking about the collar. It was scary, but standing around scared would get them killed. She turned to Joachim.

"Alright, clubhouse is good. It's right there, why no-"

His ballistic knife caught her eye. An idea. A crazy idea, but one worth running by him.

"Before we go..."

His idea of finding someone useful might work out.

((Jaquilyn Locke continued in The Visionary))

[Riki]

Joachim touched his own collar as Jaq reached for her own. He had to commend the terrorists for these. Not because he liked wearing them, but because they made them feel almost natural. Well, he did not notice them when he was busy with something else, but the moment he thought about him, he got irritated. They restricted his freedom, they made him a pawn of the terrorists. That is a good reminder though. Death by having your head blown away might be not that painful, but it was still something Joachim wanted to avoid. Simply because he felt that he had something like pride.

Then again, it could be questioned whether it was much more prideful to be killed by their class ma- to hell with these questions.

Jaquilyn had a plan. Joachim listened to that plan. He shook his head and said that their class mates had to be either really idiotic or really panicked for it to work.

In other words

"We might try it."

The plan, in his eyes, was absolutely senseless, but it sounded like it would be amusing, so there would be that.

[Joachim Lovelace, continued in The Visionary]