SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

“Er, Thomas, Thomas Buckley,” Zach responded to Willow, “We didn’t get along much, but, you know, it still hurts.”

Zach struggled not to stammer through his sentence, considering he couldn’t really call Thomas a friend. The only way he could have is maybe if Zach made more of an effort, and tried to work things out. Upon thinking this, feelings of guilt came crawling back, for Sean, and what he did to him.

“Ugh, dammit,” Zach mumbled, agitated, scratching his head. He couldn’t change the past, but he couldn’t shake these feelings of what could have been. Maybe if Zach hadn’t been so rash, Sean and Thomas would still be around. And Zach wouldn’t be so defenseless.

As he dealt with these conflicting feelings, Katrina mentioned that Yuka had her out of revenge. That made Zach think back on the events of last night. Zach had attacked Forrest, and Abe ended up shooting her because of him. Would Abe come after Zach? Damn it all! Zach needed to be prepared in case that happened. That’s the price for taking this game more seriously.

“Well,” Zach said to Katrina, “you can never be to careful. Someone might go after you, me, or fucking anyone out of just to leave.”

"I mean, I think everyone knows this," Willow shrugged, "like... we're on the tenth day, we kinda all killed a bunch of people at this point"

She turned to her ally. Katrina looked like shit, more than usual. Willow wasn't sure if it was pity or annoyance that was squeezing her heart, but it felt something akin to sadness. It wasn't something she was used to feeling, especially when she was around Katrina. Fuck, maybe she really did start to care about Katrina.

It was truly frustrating. She wasn't supposed to. Willow was a mean to an end and so was Katrina. Willow had her plans and they were clear: get out. If she couldn't get out: get someone that wasn't absolute garbage (read: Faith) out. That person, right now, was Katrina but she didn't sign up for this.

"Can we talk about this inside a house? Since, you know, it's safer," Willow knew it wasn't safer, but she still said it. She couldn't trust Zach, not one bit, "plus I want to sleep in a bed."

Katrina scratched the back of her head. Thomas Buckley was the person Zach was talking about. Katrina was stating to lose track of who was still alive or not. It'd help if the announcements at some point named everyone who was left or gave a number, but she wasn't going to expect anything like that. Names were just becoming stats, and that felt wrong.

Willow asked if they could move somewhere to talk. Katrina nodded.

"Yeah, if you want to, we can."

She looked over at Zach.

"Zach, we're not looking to start anything. Can we continue to talk in your house?"

She knew it wasn't his house, but Katrina figured it'd be fine to refer to it as such since he was squatting there.

Zach looked back and forth between the girls and the guns they had. Zach needed something better than this billhook. Something that can match others in fire power and range. Something to give him an advantage over other students. He needed at least one gun.

Willow and Katrina asked Zach if they could talk inside the house. Zach wasn’t too sure if he could trust either of them, but they haven’t tried to shoot Zach, so they probably just want to talk after all.

Golden opportunity right here.

“Sure,” said Zach, “I guess we can talk inside. Just, no funny business, okay? Okay.”

(Zachary Beack, continued elsewhere...)

"Yeah, yeah," Willow pointed Zach with her index, "no funny bee's knees yourself, young man."

Willow's attempt at making jokes were never really hitting the mark. It was probably due to her tone of the voice or her lack of facial movement when she said the lines as if she were reading off a script. It was problematic, but honestly, it was the best she could do. As she stepped forward toward the house, she turned back.

Kat still looked pathetic.

"Just leave the bike out honestly," Willow entered the home, "it's not like we got a chain or something."

She smiled, making a beeline for the bed.

((Willow continued to somewhere.))

Okay, it looked like the three of them were going to be cool. They were all going to go inside and chat. Katrina sighed in relief. Things still seemed a bit tense with Zach and Willow, but that just meant Katrina had to be the mediator. She couldn't just stay in a funk all day now. They were close to the end, and she had to at least be more engaged, or try to be more engaged.

Willow told her to leave the bike outside the house before going in. Katrina nodded and moved the bike over to the side of the house. If it was out front, someone dangerous might know they were inside the house and burst in like Tyrell did on the first day. She propped it against the side of the house. It wouldn't be as obvious as if it was in front of the home, so Katrina would have to hope no one saw it.

She took the bags off the handlebars and began to walk inside. A day of peace and nonviolence was what she needed. Maybe after some time ruminating, she'd know what to do now that she had lost her motive.

((Katrina Lavell continued in 7 Rings))