SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Keith coughed several times. His eyes watered. A foe search crew. It was a crazy idea. The killers were probably going to die anyway, like he had said.

He took another hit.

It was a crazy idea, but to Keith it sounded like it could be a workable idea. Not because he actually wanted to kill Nancy, not really. Sticking with these two though would be smart though. It was simple safety in numbers. He briefly wondered if killing the killers would slow down the death toll enough to give them better chances of being found and rescued. It was possible, but he hadn't kept track of how many people had been announced dead, or even how many people had been going on the field trip to start with. He was pretty good at math, but he couldn't just pull numbers out of mid-air to figure it out.

He didn't have a weapon anyway, so he doubted anyone would expect him to just jump in and start trying to kill people either. There could be something there with this plan.

"Sure, guess I could."

[Wanna wrap-up and segue into Day 4 when Announcements come around?  We can just continue here or new thread, whatever]

"I'm in," said Ty.

"Sure, guess I could," said Keith.

Lizzie's head was beginning to feel light, as though she'd put a pillow in between her nerves.  High, was the term.  She hadn't understood it the first couple terms, but she understood it now.  Like you were above yourself, above this meat and all its placid unpleasantness.  Like you were transcendent.

She stared up at the ceiling for a little while.  She floated in the smoke, along with these two men she didn't really know.  Yazzie, who she'd sought out because he'd lost, just like she'd lost.  And Keith, who...

Who...

She looked at Keith.

"I'm sorry," she said.  "About..."

She shrugged.

"I got cousins out there," she said.  "I should really...I should..."

Lily was out there, for one. Emma, for another.  Who else?  Who of their stupid, huge, always-fighting, always-absurd, always-wonderful family was here?  Who would be dead?  Who would she find.

"We're gonna die, right?" she said, staring back up at the ceiling.  "We're gonna...yeah."

No mad dancing vertigo, even through her high.  She didn't feel the same exhilaration.  She just felt calm.  Also, she was talking way too much.  Had been for awhile.  She was just so...so...

Like there was something in sight she could see.  Like a mountain.  Like the roof of a building spied from afar, a place she had to reach, however she could, whatever it required of her.  That feeling she'd had since she was a kid.  That you weren't really free, weren't really alive, unless you could reach that place.

"I gotta know," he said.  "Before I...I gotta."  

She lowered her head.  She smiled at each of them.

"I'm trying to say...thanks."

"Buncha jackasses, standing in a circle." Ty chuckled to himself. Bee dragged him to see that one some night. Another comic thing that he couldn't quite keep track of, but it was pretty fun. That scene had stuck with him, and it felt real appropriate now. Here they were, buncha strangers getting stoned and dumping their emotional baggage, running off to probably die doing god knows what, and they seemed halfway happy about it. Life was a fuckin' trip.

"No need, Liz. We all got reasons to be here." Shot her a weak smile back and took another drag. Stared at the wall for a second before letting the smoke out and scratching his chin. "Gotta ask a favor though."

How much should he say? The idea of violating Bee's privacy twisted up his stomach, but goddamn, he wanted to light a fire here and make sure they understood he wasn't just chasing her 'cuz he loved her. Bee was in real danger, more than most of 'em, and if they didn't find her...hell. He didn't wanna think about what could happen. "Bee-uh, Bernadette. Bernadette Thomas. I gotta find her." God it hurt, asking for help like this. Wasn't how he did things. "She's just...she's real sick, and if anything happened to her-" His voice cracked. He hadn't really talked about Bee the whole time he'd been here, and trying to put it to words made it much more goddamn real.

He had to find her. He had to get her out of this fucking place. There wasn't another option.

Keith was busy staring intently at the toe of his right sneaker. He didn't remember where the large scratch in the rubber came from. It was bugging him a bit. He knew that there were bigger things to worry about, like what Lizzie and Ty were discussing, about needing to find people, but damn, he just could not remember what had happened and he couldn't stop thinking about it.

He adjusted his glasses with one hand before taking another drag.

"You're welcome," he muttered quietly in response to Lizzie. He wasn't quite sure what she was thanking him for, but that was fine, not a big deal at all.

The scratch looked kind of crooked, maybe it had hit the corner of a curb or something. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Ty sounded really emotional, but Keith was having trouble focusing on the words. Plus Keith wasn't touchy-feely like that, so he just nodded his head.

[I'm just gonna assume we stick together at least until the next thread, so if either of you wants to start that one, feel free.]

Lizzie listened to Ty. Her eyes widened slightly. She didn't know there was anyone left he cared about. She'd assumed...

Well. That was kind of an asshole thought, wasn't it? Of course he cared. How could he not? There were people she still needed to find. Answers she still needed. Lily, at the very least. Maybe...

Hell. Maybe a lot of people.

She stood up, and dropped the spliff, and ground it out beneath her boot. She stared down it, and lifted her too-light head up to stare at him, and grinned a little, and stopped grinning, because Lettie and Tina and Rina were dead, and there was still so much they could lose.

"Okay," Lizzie said. "So let's find her."

She moved towards the door, not sure if she meant Nancy or Bernadette, not sure it mattered. She was in motion again, a Doctor with Companions, and a strange quest on the horizon. And for the first time in two days, she felt like it might all turn out okay.

Maybe that was just the weed talking. Rolled by the burned handler of her brother.

"Thanks for the weed!" she shouted to a camera in the corner of the room, and giggled, and kept walking.

(Lizzie Luz continued in Drip)

Welp. That was that. Buzzed up, holding back tears, ready to go rip the arms off some assholes.

Sounded like an okay way to go out, really.

Ty flicked the joint, got up with a groan, and stomped out while trying not to think about how bad every inch of his body still ached. He had work to do.

((Ty Yazzie Continued Elsewhere))

Oh shit. So they were actually going to try and find people right then and there. Keith unsteadily got to his feet. Usually when he smoked weed he just lied around on a couch or a beanbag chair until it wore off. But whatever it was fine. He took a few steps forward before looking back.

He had left his bag on the floor.

"Fuck."

He turned around, took the few steps back to the bag, picked it up, and then, finally, followed after the other two students.

(Keith Bauer continued in Drip)