The Spirit World

[Frozen Smoke]

Faith's eyes were still dry and she took her head out of her hands. Somehow, that was even worse than crying, and the thought joined a few others that echoed through the hollowness she felt.

Why wasn't she crying. She was a terrible person. She'd cried earlier, but now, with everything in front of her, nothing.

Regina was dead. Another person who'd tried to help. Just like Dante.

We're all going to die here.

Faith looked on as Matthew tried to do something. It probably should have been heartrending, as he shook her body, desperately asking her to say something. But it was too obvious she was dead. The blood that coated her chest had already begun to congeal, bright red turning burgundy, with no heartbeat to keep it moving. It felt like she was watching it from a distance, like she was watching a film, as everyone and everything moved around her.

She wanted to tell Matthew that she was dead. To leave Regina's body alone. But she didn't.

Faith turned her head to look over at the other two, Jeff doing his best to intimidate the girl, and succeeding at it. She felt like she could almost see it playing out, as the girl dropped the shotgun, and crouched in the mud. Jeff was going to stir some shit - like he always did, according to Wyatt - and then there was going to be a fight, and either him or the girl were going to end up getting shot. It all felt so predetermined, and she wanted to shout at the two of them, tell them to stop it.

But she didn't.

Things took a different path, for a moment, and Jeff pulled the stick at least an inch out of his ass. Maybe whoever had put his arm in a sling had taught him some humility. He tried to stir up a round of introductions, as if they were just going to have a friendly chat, surrounded by corpses.

Faith stayed silent as she looked back to Matthew.

[Super Weegee]

-it missed her organs, maybe the bullets didn't go that far in her, maybe...

...Maybe...he can...

...She...

...

...She's not coming back...

...She's dead.

Soon enough, Matthew stopped shaking Regina's body and gently laid her bullet-ridden body on her back. He took a second to look over at the second body again to see if he recognized her, and he did.

...Caroline? Isn't she Regina's...

His arms went limp as he looked down at Regina's body again. Why the fuck would somebody, anybody kill her?! What the fuck happened?! As he was cycling through the possible answers, Jeff walked up to him and Faith and said his name to them. What, he's introducing himself to a guy who just found out that one of his close friends was dead? As if Jeff didn't see what he was doing with Regina?!

Matthew stood up and glared at him.

"Great to know, asshole," he said with a raised voice, "now can you leave us the fuck alone? Can't you see the bodies next to you?"

[Namira]

Why'd she pick this up? Why was she here? She was the worst, the total, actual worst. She should have stayed away. Far away. Her being here hadn't done any good anyway, and even if she'd come sooner then like, then Caroline probably would have killed her instead of that camera over there and then that'd be a dead Shauna.

Oh god, she was holding the thing that probably would have killed her. She had to cling onto it with her other hand, holding the whole thing awkwardly mostly by the stock, barrel pointing right at the ground. Shauna felt as if she was gripping a live python, only if she threw it away, someone could grab it and python her right back in the face, probably while laughing at her for being so dumb and cowardly that she couldn't even hold a python.

Apparently, she needed it more than they did, which was uhm. Well, accurate, yes, but Shauna felt like not a nice or sensitive thing to say about the two dead people who were just a couple of feet away from them. Regina and Caroline didn't need a weapon any more because they were dead, actually, factually dead. Callous and cruel to say it like that. Shauna didn't respond, kept the remonstrations out of her mouth. Just cause he wasn't doing anything this second didn't mean he wouldn't, given provocation.

She was about to mutter her name in reply and then the chunky guy who was--she swallowed down a lump in her throat--was trying to revive Regina just went off on Jeff. She didn't say anything then, either. What were you supposed to say to someone whose friend just died, when you were the first person along to pick the bones?

Shauna felt sick.

[blastinus]

Jeff would have pinched his forehead if he had a hand free, but this was about the kind of response he was expecting, honestly. He'd said it, hadn't he? He'd been right on the mark. No reasoning with these folks while they were still feeling sorry for themselves. He'd never understood this behavior, but maybe that was because he'd never lost someone. He'd figured that if he ever died, he'd want the folks he loved to move on and live happy lives, not break down in tears and depression. This was the kind of pathetic warbling that, if he were one of these girls, still and cooling on the ground, would inspire him to rise back from the dead, throttle the mourning idiots, and scream in their faces about how they were whinging so much.

But whatever, Jeff couldn't control who he ran into on this island. Especially ol' Dickhead here, whatever his name is, who thought that he could be all intimidating when he looked like he'd never seen a gym in his entire life. Jeff couldn't fault his bravado, though he wondered if he'd be singing the same tune if he wasn't staring down a guy with one good arm.

He could break this kid, could slam his face in and turn all his features to mush. It was really tempting, even considering everything else. Not the time for it though, nor was there a good reason for it, other than to put an overconfident moron in his place. The last time he flew off the handle, he'd paid for it in blood. He couldn't do it again, not for something so petty.

So he just stared, cold and hard, then shook his head at the kid's audacity, his face as blank and unflinching as a machine, a machine carefully calculating the many ways he could have destroyed him in a matter of seconds.

"My bad, I guess." he said, minus any actual remorse. "Sorry if I bothered you."

He turned and began to walk away, keeping the shotgun in the corner of his vision as he did. It seemed like he'd just have to keep walking. That's fine. He was getting used to it.

(Jeff Greene continued elsewhere)

[Frozen Smoke]

Jeff sure knew how to make what should have been a sentimental sentence sound like an insult. But, credit to him, he did make good on his word.

Faith let out a long breath from her nose, as she looked at the girl in front of her, wondering if she could remember her name. She looked just a little bit familliar, as if Faith had seen her at some point, but never been formally introduced. It wasn't like it really mattered in the grand scheme of things.

Her legs felt weak as she stood up. Well, really, everything felt weak. Her legs were just the part of her that she was asking the most of right now.

"So, you going to give me a bag or just like, shoot me." Faith joked. Tried to joke.

It wasn't very funny.

[Super Weegee]

If the prick was sorry, he sure as hell didn't sound like it. At least he listened though, which spared him getting decked in the face. Matthew didn't need this right now.

It didn't help calm him down, however, even with Jeff's presence disappearing from sight.

Looking back down at Regina and Caroline, he returned to his thoughts. Thinking about why this happened. Thinking about who could've done it.

Faith said something about if he was going to give her a bag or shoot him. What the fuck was she talking about? Who-

Looking back up, his question was immediately answered upon seeing another woman in front of him. He barely even knew her, could barely recall her name. Shauna something? Just like Faith implied, the woman had a bag in one hand...

...And a shotgun in another.

Upon seeing it, he shifted his eyes between Regina's bullet-riddled body and Shauna. There's no doubt about it, that's the gun that was used to kill her. But why the fuck did Shauna have it? It didn't take that long to get over here! As he was putting the pieces together, Matthew felt himself getting hotter, his jaw clenching.

He looked over to Regina.

Then back to Shauna.

Back to Regina.

Back to Shauna-

Oh.

And just like that, he realized it.

"You." Matthew growled as he took a few steps towards Shauna, his hostility written all over his face.

She fucking killed them. Had to be. Caroline wouldn't kill her, so who the fuck else would it be?!

[Namira]

Jeff peaced right on out of there with about as much tact as he'd shown already. That left her with the boy and ahh that was Faith. Vice President Faith. Popular, pretty Faith, AKA the kind of person that Shauna tended to duck associating with in the interests of not self-immolating out of embarrassment and/or foot in mouth syndrome. A people person, AKA the opposite of her.

Faith tried to joke about, um, Shauna wasn't really sure where the joke was coming from. She thought it had to be a joke because she was smiling, or well, trying to? Shauna probably would have tried to respond with a smile of her own but she'd overthought it way too much at this point and maybe probably Faith would think she was laughing about the prospect of shooting her and then this whole thing would get even messier, which was seriously not what it needed to be right now.

"Um..."

Then the boy spoke and that blew any idea of responding to Faith out of the water.

"W-wait, what!?" she squeaked. "That wasn't⁠—I didn't⁠—I would never!" she skittered backward a couple of steps. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

Oh nonononono.

[Frozen Smoke]

The absent flatline that her expression had reverted to contorted for a brief moment into a look of confusion, as Matthew stepped forwards, in front of her. He spoke with certainty as he approached her, spitting out a single word like it was an insult, without explanation. Was she missing something? Had Matthew run into her earlier and forgotten to say anything?

Faith couldn't see Matthew's expression, but she could see it in the girl's reaction as she backpedalled, protesting the unworded accusation. The fear in her eyes, despite the gun in her hands. It all made her mouth dry. If she tried, she could see what he was thinking, Shauna had blood on her hands - literally but not figuratively - from scrabbling to get the gun. Matthew couldn't see the difference, or maybe he didn't want to, or maybe he just wasn't thinking clearly.

Either way, she could see it playing out, so vividly. Matthew charging forwards, Shauna reacting, another body on the ground. It was hard to not look for a way to run, to get out of what seemed so obviously about to happen, what she'd seen so many times. Too many times. It was pointless, but that only made it matter more, as she pushed herself to jog those extra few steps to stand beside him. Her hand clasped onto his shoulder.

"Woah, woah, woah." she heard herself say, before swallowing, and looking back over towards the other girl for the moment. Faith needed to bridge the gap. Find the common ground.

"No-one else has to die here." it sounded hollow to her, but she squeezed Matthew's shoulder, trying to keep his attention.

[Super Weegee]

Matthew was halted when he felt Faith's hand on his shoulder. She mentioned about how nobody else had to die, which pissed him off even more. Did she suddenly forget what happened to Regina and Caroline?!

He pulled away from her hand.

"They didn't have to die!" He said, motioning towards the two bodies, "Am I supposed to let that slide-" he then pointed towards Shauna, "-and let this son of a bitch walk free?!"

It seemed obvious to him. Letting someone like her go was an insanely stupid move. Yeah, Shauna, go ahead. Pretend to have nothing to do with this. Pretend to be afraid. Act all innocent. It isn't going to help.

Faith's words did somewhat get through to him, though. Shauna had a gun in her hands while Matthew had nothing. If he just kept walking up to her, he was just asking to get his head blown off.

Barely managing to stop himself from just tackling her, he clenched his fists and spoke again, glaring at Shauna all the while.

"Why the fuck would you kill them?! What did they do to you?!"

[Namira]

Nobody had to die? Yes! Yes, this was a statement that Shauna very much agreed with! She shouldn't have come here. She should have known better. She should have left well enough⁠—or not well enough but the situation had already happened⁠—alone and let the bodies rest in peace. This was what she got for disturbing them, for being dumb and bad and awful enough to pick up a murder weapon. Shauna never thought she'd had cause to be grateful to Faith but in that very moment she could have hugged her.

The boy bearing down on her stopped walking but didn't stop talking, and in a way that was almost worse, because fists weren't the only things that could crumple her defences like tinfoil.

She quivered in the face of his rage.

"Just let me⁠—"

He pointed at her, filled with hate and anger. He despised her and she didn't even do anything.

"Please⁠—"

His fists clenched, his face twisted with loathing. A pit opened up in her stomach, fear and just⁠—this wasn't fair.

"IT WASN'T ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her shoulders shook. "I heard gunshots, I came to look, and they were dead! They were DEAD WHEN I GOT HERE!" tears started streaming down her face, but Shauna rubbed them away with the top of her arm. "I'm sorry, okay! I'm sorry about your friends, but leave me alone!"

[Frozen Smoke]

Faith stood for a second, waiting for it, after Matthew jerked away from her reach. He was going to rush forwards, and she was going tackle him from the side, and try and take him down. He might have only had 10 pounds of muscle on him, but the 200 pound rest of him was still going to be a hell of a job to shift, but if she went for it she was sure she could do it. Hopefully that way Matthew wouldn't get the both of them seasoned with buckshot.

Fortunately, the moment never came, and Matthew's only attack came from his mouth. He was so worked up, his fists clenched by his side as he almost shook with intensity, determined to get an answer from the wrong person. At least, Faith was pretty sure it was. She forced her eyes back to the pair of bodies, taking in the scene just confirm it all again, one body smeared in blood, the other nearly decapitated, now moved from lying side-to-side by Matthew's ministrations. She was sure that wasn't a shotgun blast that had killed the other girl, it was too neat, like a line around her neck had just been removed.

Faith became acutely aware of the metal ring that was around her neck as the pieces clicked together.

"Matthew. She ain't your killer." she stated, firmly, eyes flicking from the girl to the back of his head.

[Super Weegee]

Shauna screamed about how she just stumbled upon the bodies, like that was somehow enough to get him to back off, and he saw the tears running down her face. If she's still acting, she's doing an admittably good job of it. But acting is still acting. Her lies are still lies. That's what Matthew wants to believe...

...

...

...So why was he starting to doubt himself? Why was he starting to feel like she's telling the truth?

Faith saying that Shauna really wasn't the killer only increased that possibility as he crossed his arms and stopped glaring at Shauna. Taking a deep breath, he turned his head to look at the bodies. Briefly looking over at Regina, he mainly focused on Caroline's body. It was obvious that she wasn't shot at all. Her splayed open neck seemed to be the fatal injury and-

At that point, it hit him. The answer was right there in front of him, but he could barely believe it. She didn't really kill...

Turning to Faith, he spoke in a quiet voice, his harsh tone noticeably absent.

"I think I understand now, but I need to be sure. What do you think happened?"

He had to know.

[Namira]

Faith continued to stampede her way into Shauna's good books by backing her up some more in the face of the accusations from the boy, Matthew. He visibly calmed, which was good, and stopped fixing her with a look like he wanted to kill her, which was even better.

Instead they started talking.

She hesitated. She didn't want to be there, but if she fled, would that make them think that she really had done it? Would they chase after her? She didn't know if she wanted this shotgun, but if it turned out... if it turned out she did, then would she regret running off and not picking up some ammunition?

Would it be a bad idea not to loot the corpse some more.

[Frozen Smoke]

It was a reasonable question, on some level, Faith supposed. To give her own explanation as to what had happened. But it was aggravating, having the burden of properly thinking it through, having to lay it all out for him. She'd just seen enough for reasonable doubt to kick in, and reacted, but now she had to stitch things together.

"Alright, well - it looks like..." Faith didn't know her name. She hadn't looked at the face of the girl who'd been laid back, hadn't wanted to, the wound alone had been enough to make her divert her attention. Faith turned around a second time, looking to the base of the tree under which the both of them rested, trying to make it out. It was familiar, but no name stuck out to her. She supposed she'd find out in the morning.

"I- I don't know her name." she sounded a little defeated as she admitted that.

"But, the other girl seems like she shot Regina, or she ran into a shotgun shell trap or something. The shots we heard before we came running over." her speech halted every few words as she struggled to figure out how to phrase it. She reached up to rub at her neck as she continued, the metal band around her neck feeling far too tight all of a sudden.

"Then, for some reason, her collar blew up." she continued.

"After that-" Faith pointed at the girl nervously standing a few paces away from them, to make the subject of her statement clear "-She came in, hearing the same things we did, just ended up being closer. So let's all just calm down a bit."

Faith then pointed to each of them in turn as she made her point. "Cos you don't wanna to get shot, I don't wanna get shot, and you don't wanna shoot us, right?"

[Super Weegee]

"Caroline." Matthew said, looking at her corpse, "That's her name."

Most of what Faith said was pretty much what he was thinking. It was getting a tad bit more clear what happened.

Looking around behind her, he saw something...mechanical on the ground. Squinting his eyes, he focused on the individual parts, the twisted bolts and screws...

...Ah. That's how her collar exploded.

"The two of them were practically best friends..." he said, "...Caroline must have shot Regina by accident and she...couldn't handle it and shot that camera over there." He pointed towards the scraps. "Those fuckers detonated her collar after that...Fucking christ. This really is hell on earth."

To top it all off, he was reminded of that one goal. The one thing that he had to do if he wanted to go home. Kill at least one of his classmates or he'll just be tossed into the next game...

Rubbing his face with his hand, he stayed quiet for a few seconds. These past days and whatever's coming in the future can go fuck themselves.

Turning back to Shauna, he spoke again with sincerity.

"Listen, I'm sorry. All I saw was you holding the shotgun and I got pissed. You're free to come with us if you want. Safety in numbers, right?"