Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)

[Fenris]

And then he was gone.

And Nia was alone, again.

She supposed she could take advantage of the opportunity, but to stay long seemed unwise. True enough that she knew now for certain she was within the danger zone, and true enough she knew now for certain that she was immune despite not being in the precise location where her prize was being held. Parker's collar had beeped and hers had not, after all. QED.

However.

She would not waste too much time attempting to ascertain the mindset of the terrorists who had brought them there. It was obvious that they did not wish to kill the students with their own methods if doing so wasn't necessary; if their only aim was to kill a hundred and fifty high school students they would have fallen unconscious on their buses and never woken up again. She could assume some measure of leeway. Likely given to prevent winners of their daily prizes from undergoing undue trouble in retrieving their rewards. As she had woken up here, however, she could hardly argue that wasting more time here was necessary. It was a luxury, one that could be ripped from her at any moment, and Nia didn't feel this was the time or place to be testing boundaries. Literal or otherwise.

She packed her belongings, unrushed, careful, her notes folded and slipped into her pocket. She checked her wound; the butterfly bandages had held firm overnight, though replacing the outer bandages would be necessary when she reached her destination.

She made only two stops. One at the room lined with maggot-filled intestines, the air heavy with decay, with salt and iron, a passing curiosity. Nothing more.

A second at the increasingly-desiccated corpse pinned to the hull of the ship.

She waved. It did not wave back. She giggled, a quick, sharp exhale.

She was sad, she thought. Something inside of her was sad. She could not find it. She did not care to dig it out.

It was fine. It was funny. Wasn't it?

>> "GOODBYE."