Every Success Involves Insanity

[VoltTurtle]

Maddie fired another volley, but to no avail. RJ had climbed his way back onto the dock only to get knocked into the water by Tyler. As they both went down into the water, she began running towards the hole in the dock, only to peer over the edge and see nothing but bubbles coming up from the water below.

No. Please no. This can't happen. Maddie panicked, what could she do to help RJ, to save him from Tyler? The water was at least her height below the dock, so bringing down a branch or something else short that RJ could grab onto was impractical. She wasn't the best swimmer, so trying to dive in to help RJ would likely be suicidal. She had to think fast and act quickly.

She looked around for anything nearby that she could use to help him. She turned her head wildly, looking for something she could grab. As she looked, her eyes passed over a cut extension cord that lay next to the wall of one of the decrepit buildings. She ran over and grabbed it. It was long enough to reach down into the water, but she needed some way of making it sink. She spotted a nearby rock, about the size of her fist. She grabbed the rock and hastily tied the cord around it. She ran back over to the hole in the dock and tossed the cord into the water, holding on tight, ready to pull RJ up.

But, she had doubts about what she was doing. It took her less than a minute to do all of that, or at least she thought it did, but what if it took longer? What if she was too late? What if she took too long and RJ had already passed out and sunk? What if the cord couldn't support RJ's weight? What if he couldn't grab it due to Tyler? What if Tyler grabbed it? All of these problems that she didn't think of in the spur of the moment, trying to be smart and save RJ. She couldn't change her plan now, though, she had taken long enough doing what she did already. If she changed her plan then RJ might drown, all she could do is hope that this plan worked, that she could pull him up and save him.

[Grim Wolf]

Boards gave way beneath his feet.  Tyler was still roaring when he hit the water, and found himself floundering within.

Then RJ started thrashing, legs smashing into Tyler's boy, and one arm clawing at the bullet wound.  Tyler roared under the water as blood flowed out around him, painting both boys in crimson clouds.

Then Tyler lashed out with his good arm, landing a solid blow into RJ's stomach.  A geyser of bubbles blasted out of RJ's mouth, and the two boys separated.  Tyler turned and began lunging through the water, until he surfaced near the sloping edge of a dock.

And his small eyes found RJ's discarded bag nearby.

A small splash hit the water back the way he'd come.  Tyler glanced over, took in Maddy and the extension cord in her hand, and then slipped towards it, quiet as could be.  He slipped out of the water with as little noise as possible, latched onto the bag, and pulled it close to him.  Found the gun inside, and lifted it towards her.

"Freeze," he said.

[Un-Persona†]

One strike was all it took.

It didn't hurt at first, rather slow to have any affect. But once it's build up was complete, R.J. curled over as he floated to the top, now only being aware of the pain in his stomach.  

He lifted his head into the air, taking in large silent gasps of oxygen. Disoriented and confused, R.J. was looking frantically for an opening to get out of here.

He saw Tyler, reaching up a slope. R.J. lurched after him, not really sure as to why. He watched as Tyler sneaked over to the hole Maddie was near, grabbing his gun and pointing it at her.

R.J. slowly grabbed a large piece of the boardwalk that had already broken off into the water, and began bending it shakily.

Crack

There.

Another distraction.

[VoltTurtle]

((Permission to insert Tyler's next action into this post approved))

Maddie froze as she heard the voice of Tyler Lucas off to her side. She turned her head slowly towards the direction of his voice, and was greeted by Tyler pointing a gun at her. Her hands released the extension chord, and it slipped into the water after the improvised sinker. She had to resist every urge to panic. One bullet from that gun could easily end her life, she's just as close to death as she was when she confronted Nina. She needed to act, to think quickly, but she found herself rooted in place, unable to think about anything other than the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her. She stared at him, wide eyed, wondering what he was going to do as she saw RJ approach Tyler from behind. He had a bit of the wood from the boardwalk in his hands, and he snapped it in half.

When her eyes flicked back to Tyler from RJ, his intense stare was still on her. Did he look towards the noise? Does he know RJ is behind him? She didn't know, and it likely wasn't important to her current situation. Then, he asked a question. He asked the same question he did earlier. Who's blood is that? She didn't understand this man. He asks her a question, gets shot accidentally, goes into a rage, nearly kills RJ, gets her at gunpoint, and now he's asking her the same question. She stammered out the answer to the best of her ability, trying to hide her fear. "N-Nina. Nina Clarke's." Her eyes looked towards the ground. "It... it was in self defense." She had no idea what she could do other than answer him. She couldn't move to pull out the gun-knife, she couldn't try to dive out of the way, she was completely at the mercy of Tyler. Her only hope was that RJ could distract him. Otherwise, she was hopeless.

And that scared her.

[Grim Wolf]

A brief flicker.  That was all.  A moment's glance away from Maddy, and nothing more.  Cold eyes locked on RJ, and the gun never left Maddy.

"Whose blood?" he asked, as his eyes darted between the two of them.  And then she answered, and Tyler turned his attention totally back to her, and studied her for a long time.

"Self-defnese, huh?" he said, and shook his head.  "Don't lie. You're playin' to win."  His broken makeshift bag was still around his shoulders; without moving he kicked RJ's over, spilling its contents into the dirt.  He knelt and grabbed at the bullets with his bleeding left arm, and the fragile ghost of a grimace traced its way across his face as he hissed in pain.  

Then he was on his feet again.

"You're playing right," he said, and then backed away slowly, with an unsteady smile on his face.  "Better than most of these fucks."

Back, back, back, until he was almost at a corner.  And then, "Good luck."

Then he was gone.

(Tyler Lucas continued in Thin RED Line)

[Un-Persona†]

R.J. dropped the split planks from his hands as Tyler left with his gun and ammo.

That just happened.

He took his time walking over to his bag and piling up the rest of his belongings into his bag again, legs and stomach sore. He jingled it around to hear and feel how full it was. Noticeably lighter.

He looked at Maddie again. She looked fine, probably wasn't.

"Are you..."

His voice was forcefully faint and whispered.

"I'm so sorry."

He knew that didn't help.

[VoltTurtle]

Maddie stood still and silent, still looking at the ground, as Tyler left. She thought about what he said. Was she really playing to win?

...

She supposed that she was. That was what she wanted, right? To win? To live?

At what cost? Her humanity? A happy life in the future? She moved her eyes to look at RJ as he came over to her. He said something. She wasn't sure what he said. She wasn't listening. Looking at him made her remember that in order for her to live RJ must die at some point. Who or what would be the one to do him in? Infection from his wounds? A player? Her? So many questions that, if answered, would probably raise more questions. She slumped and awkwardly sat down on the rotting boards of the abandoned harbor.

She had to really think, to consider, what she was doing here. She was trying to play smart, make it to the end that way. Playing smart, what a joke. There's no such thing as playing smart in this sick game, just not playing dumb. Now that she thought about it, the fact that she was playing at all was bad. A better person, a stronger person, would refuse to play. The people that this game deemed the most fit to survive aren't actually the strongest at all, if anything they were the weakest, the cowards. She was weak because she wanted to win, to play the awful game. She was a coward.

But, despite what she was thinking, nothing could change the fact that she wanted to live. She didn't want to die, she wanted to enjoy what little available time on this planet she had. She wanted it to last as long as possible. She didn't want to enter eternal dreamless sleep just yet. But in order to live sacrifices had to be made. That was the nature of the game. What would she have to sacrifice? Only time could tell, until then she had to keep pushing forward, making sacrifices, gaining a few more minutes of precious life.

And right now pushing forward involves getting her ally and herself out of here. She stood up and looked at RJ. "Let's get out of here. You lead."

((Madeline Wilcox continued in Affluenza))

[Un-Persona†]

Maddie didn't say anything else to him. That was fine. She didn't have to if she didn't want to. It should have been obvious that she wasn't alright.

There was, what felt like, a long silence between them. He began bandaging the cuts on his thighs, sulking over the lightly shredded pants. Of course, they had basically been mugged and assaulted and could do nothing about it. What is someone suppose to even do after that? They'd go the police or even the hospital, that's what. But those things didn't matter here. R.J. kept forgetting that. He hadn't forgot that is was entirely his fault anyway.

So, like Maddie said, they should just get out of this area. They. He grew a frown, remembering what he had thought of what couldn't have been, at best, a couple minutes ago. R.J. stood up meagerly hauling his bag onto his shoulders, and sauntered off somewhere else knowing for sure that this time Maddie was behind him, his cut leg dragging him down with a little limp. He sneezed.

A trickle of rain.

((Rutherford "R.J." Roger Jr: B032 -V5- Continued in Affluenza))