Re: Don't go breaking my heart...
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:46 pm
Well, Rashid seemed to agree with Harun's idea. That was good. Convenient. Harun wasn't exactly comfortable setting out and exploring the island on his own, and having Rashid accompany him would make things a lot easier and a little less....lonely, yeah. Despite many of his lunchtimes walking unaccompanied and ignored around the school corridors, and much of his free time spent holed up in his room mindlessly browsing the internet, he'd never had to deal with the threat of being truly alone before. In the school corridors, there was always a chance of bumping into a friend, even if it was an obligatory hello and then continuing in their separate directions, and in his room he always had his various internet forums as a form of social interaction. A pretty sad form of social interaction according to his parents and half of his school friends, but still.
But here, the threat of being lonely was a bit more serious. Even if he did meet someone while venturing around the island on his own, half of them would probably try to murder him, either out of paranoia or just to add another name to their kill tally. Being alone back in St. Paul was often a relief when Harun was seeking to get away from others, otherwise it was a source of minor depression. On the other hand, being alone on an island home to a killing game could very well be a death sentence. Being with someone could be a death sentence as well, but Harun tried not to think about that. Rashid was a joker, but he wasn't dangerous.
And at least with Rashid travelling alongside him, he'd have some company, someone to talk to, someone that would hopefully prevent him from getting too bored and grouchy. And those of his classmates who'd lost their sanity (but still had retained at least a tiny bit of intelligence and tactical skills) were a bit less likely to attack a pair. And Rashid had iodine pills, which could be pretty useful in a somewhat mundane way.
Mia, on the other hand, seemed to disagree. "Why? What's so great about staying here?" The mansion was frankly giving Harun the creeps. It was an ugly building in a state of serious disrepair, and any tactical advantage it may seem to offer fell apart on closer examination. There was the pretty annoying fact it seemed to be a magnet for curious fellow students who were under the impression they could just waltz in and claim it as their own. The only way they could avoid that was if they barricaded each and every exit and entrance of the building up securely, which would take time and effort Harun just couldn't be bothered to give, even in this life and death situation, and would mean any disagreement in the group could easily escalate to all but one of them ending up dead. Supplies weren't infinite, and claustrophobia would get to them eventually. Not to mention that being holed up inside a ramshackle old mansion made them a big target for Danya's dangerzone policy. Hell, Harun had no reason to really want Mia to come with him, he didn't know her that well and he didn't know whether he'd be able to get on with her, especially as the impression he'd got from her island behaviour so far was an impulsive snarker.
"Actually," Harun said while massaging his aching forehead, cutting off any explanation she may have been making, "scratch that. I'm out of here. You can stay here and annoy Peter and whoever he's with, or run around playing the role of creepy butler." He was being uncharacteristically grouchy and snappy. The stress of the situation was beginning to get to him, and instead of manifesting itself in a deep depression and a state of panic (both of which would probably come later once the fact that he and everyone at school he cared about were all going to die had had the time to sink in properly), it was currently taking the form of a short temper.
"Mia, I'm going. You can follow us if you want", he picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulders, grunting under the weight as he did so, "or you can stay here and do whatever the fuck you want." Realising he'd probably just come off as incredibly rude and aggressive, he hastily added "Sorry for the rudeness, it would be great if you'd come with us, but I'm not staying here any longer. Sorry, but...yeah. Your choice." He was about to add free country, but that phrase probably wasn't applicable any more. For all the criticisms he had of the current US government, they had enough respect for freedom to not tie freakin' explosive collars around your neck and tell you to slaughter your friends.
Hell, what country was this again anyway? North Korea? The Caribbean? Some abandoned Pacific colony? An island Danya built himself? Hell, if Danya was loaded enough to be able to just kidnap a class of high school students and plop them on some island in the middle of nowhere and make them massacre each other for shits and giggles, he probably had enough money to build a couple of islands or too. How did Danya get so rich anyway? Drug smuggling, lottery wins, sensible investments in the IT industry?
Wait, why was he worrying about where Danya got his money from or where the island was? For now, that was irrelevant. He should be getting all teary-eyed about the fact he'd never see home again, or getting all panicky about how any one of his classmates could kill him at any time, but no, he was wasting his brain cells speculating about how Danya got his money. Mentally chastising himself for his off-topic internal diatribe, he turned to Rashid and Mia as he began backing out of the dining room. "Come on Rashid, let's get out of here. Find somewhere to rest for a while. Mia, come with us if you want. If not, good luck, bye."
Turning away from the dining room, he headed towards the mansion exit. Pushing the doors open and finally stepping into the open air for the first time in what was probably over twenty-four hours, he glanced back to see Rashid was following, then headed off into the island. These next few days would be a bitch.
((Harun Kemal continued in Calculations.))
But here, the threat of being lonely was a bit more serious. Even if he did meet someone while venturing around the island on his own, half of them would probably try to murder him, either out of paranoia or just to add another name to their kill tally. Being alone back in St. Paul was often a relief when Harun was seeking to get away from others, otherwise it was a source of minor depression. On the other hand, being alone on an island home to a killing game could very well be a death sentence. Being with someone could be a death sentence as well, but Harun tried not to think about that. Rashid was a joker, but he wasn't dangerous.
And at least with Rashid travelling alongside him, he'd have some company, someone to talk to, someone that would hopefully prevent him from getting too bored and grouchy. And those of his classmates who'd lost their sanity (but still had retained at least a tiny bit of intelligence and tactical skills) were a bit less likely to attack a pair. And Rashid had iodine pills, which could be pretty useful in a somewhat mundane way.
Mia, on the other hand, seemed to disagree. "Why? What's so great about staying here?" The mansion was frankly giving Harun the creeps. It was an ugly building in a state of serious disrepair, and any tactical advantage it may seem to offer fell apart on closer examination. There was the pretty annoying fact it seemed to be a magnet for curious fellow students who were under the impression they could just waltz in and claim it as their own. The only way they could avoid that was if they barricaded each and every exit and entrance of the building up securely, which would take time and effort Harun just couldn't be bothered to give, even in this life and death situation, and would mean any disagreement in the group could easily escalate to all but one of them ending up dead. Supplies weren't infinite, and claustrophobia would get to them eventually. Not to mention that being holed up inside a ramshackle old mansion made them a big target for Danya's dangerzone policy. Hell, Harun had no reason to really want Mia to come with him, he didn't know her that well and he didn't know whether he'd be able to get on with her, especially as the impression he'd got from her island behaviour so far was an impulsive snarker.
"Actually," Harun said while massaging his aching forehead, cutting off any explanation she may have been making, "scratch that. I'm out of here. You can stay here and annoy Peter and whoever he's with, or run around playing the role of creepy butler." He was being uncharacteristically grouchy and snappy. The stress of the situation was beginning to get to him, and instead of manifesting itself in a deep depression and a state of panic (both of which would probably come later once the fact that he and everyone at school he cared about were all going to die had had the time to sink in properly), it was currently taking the form of a short temper.
"Mia, I'm going. You can follow us if you want", he picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulders, grunting under the weight as he did so, "or you can stay here and do whatever the fuck you want." Realising he'd probably just come off as incredibly rude and aggressive, he hastily added "Sorry for the rudeness, it would be great if you'd come with us, but I'm not staying here any longer. Sorry, but...yeah. Your choice." He was about to add free country, but that phrase probably wasn't applicable any more. For all the criticisms he had of the current US government, they had enough respect for freedom to not tie freakin' explosive collars around your neck and tell you to slaughter your friends.
Hell, what country was this again anyway? North Korea? The Caribbean? Some abandoned Pacific colony? An island Danya built himself? Hell, if Danya was loaded enough to be able to just kidnap a class of high school students and plop them on some island in the middle of nowhere and make them massacre each other for shits and giggles, he probably had enough money to build a couple of islands or too. How did Danya get so rich anyway? Drug smuggling, lottery wins, sensible investments in the IT industry?
Wait, why was he worrying about where Danya got his money from or where the island was? For now, that was irrelevant. He should be getting all teary-eyed about the fact he'd never see home again, or getting all panicky about how any one of his classmates could kill him at any time, but no, he was wasting his brain cells speculating about how Danya got his money. Mentally chastising himself for his off-topic internal diatribe, he turned to Rashid and Mia as he began backing out of the dining room. "Come on Rashid, let's get out of here. Find somewhere to rest for a while. Mia, come with us if you want. If not, good luck, bye."
Turning away from the dining room, he headed towards the mansion exit. Pushing the doors open and finally stepping into the open air for the first time in what was probably over twenty-four hours, he glanced back to see Rashid was following, then headed off into the island. These next few days would be a bitch.
((Harun Kemal continued in Calculations.))