I've Got No Strings

[NotAFlyingToy]

Oskar advanced again - two steps forwards, more of a shuffle than an actual walk, adopting those stances that you saw on television. His lips twitched, eyes remained unblinking. Four good sized paces between them, now - nowhere to hide for at least half a dozen yards.

"Step back from it, Jane."

[Emprexx Plush]

She couldn't help but recoil a little as Oskar advanced. It was really happening, he was going to shoot her, or she was going to attack him, or...

What if Oskar lost?

Oskar couldn't lose. Then Jane would have a gun, and a lot of anger to work out, and she'd be pointing it right at her. Something had to be done, but she felt frozen, staring on in horror as the words caught in her throat. It was too late to move. Too late to say anything. Whatever happened next probably decided if she was gonna live or die, and she gambled it all on Oskar.

Fucking Oskar.

Her whole body tensed. If it came down to a struggle, if it looked like Jane was going to take the gun, or even get past him...she had to run, she had to make herself move, right? It'd be harder to hit her if she ran, and maybe Jane would be tired, and maybe, maybe, she could get away.

[Rorick Skyve†]

The smart thing was to just fucking do as he said. Take a step back, give up her stuff and get the hell outta dodge. She wanted to do it. To just run and hope she never saw any of these fuckers ever again, just run away and somehow escape from all of this.

But fuck that. That was her fucking stuff, it was all she had, all those terrorist shitweasels had allowed her to have. It was hers and only fucking hers, who the fuck was this piece of shit to think he could take it from her? Probably the first time in his life he felt like a big man, with that fucking gun in his hand. Not fucking fair.

She could see it though, she could fucking see it. She hadn't watched those people on stage for no reason all those years, no, she had watched them real good. She knew when people were putting up a goddamn act and this midget shithead had it written all over him. He was fucking bluffing.

"What if I don't?"

She tried to swallow whatever doubts where holding her back, no fucking time for those. She knew what she was doing. She could handle this, she could take control here, that fucker had no idea, he was just a tiny bitch with a Napoleon complex, nothing else.She had let herself be blinded by her fear of that fucking gun at first, but she was seeing it now. A gun couldn't do shit to her without the guy on the trigger having the stones to actually pull it.

She breathed out, taking a step towards Oskar, her lips still trembling slightly.

"What if I fucking don't, huh? Think about that, you fuck?"

[NotAFlyingToy]

The response had his eyebrows drawing down, teeth lightly gnawing at his lip just above the spiderbite.

"Jane," he said, and his voice quivered a little, "I've got the gun."

[Rorick Skyve†]

God, what if she was wrong. What if he was being serious, what if he was going to pull the trigger, what was she gonna do then? She'd be fucked. Dead.

She couldn't allow herself to even think that. She couldn't back down now. She could do it, she could make him back down. She just had to believe it, just had to push it all the way, it was gonna be fine. She fucking had this.

"So what, Oskar?"

She almost bit her lip, she didn't want her fucking voice to shake like that.

"You know there are cameras here somewhere, right? That people are fucking watching?"

God, she only realized it now. Her family, they were watching too. Oh god, fuck, what was she putting them through? Were they even able to take it?

She bit down on her lip, harder this time, until she thought she tasted blood. She took another step towards Oskar.

She could do this. She was gonna be fine, they'd see. She was gonna make them all proud. She had always wanted to be on a stage, right? Fucking irony, but she kinda was now. Everyone was watching her. She'd show them all.

Another step forwards. She was now directly in front of Oskar. Looking down at his fucking stupid face.

"You really wanna do this knowing that? You really wanna fucking kill me? Everyone is gonna see it, see what kind of sick fuck you are."

Almost there. C'mon, he had to back down any second now.

"Don't be a fucking idiot."

[NotAFlyingToy]

Oskar tilted the gun, then, pressing it against the soft flesh of Jane's neck.

"Back up," he said, and his tone made it sound like a question.

[Rorick Skyve†]

A massive shiver went through her the second she felt the cold press against her bare skin.

God.

Dear fucking god, please.

This wasn't right, this wasn't what was supposed to happen.

Mom, Dad, Cris, someone, someone had to step in, fucking god, she couldn't do this.

She couldn't fucking do it.



She cried out. Her hands moved purely out of reflex, shot up towards Oskar's shoulders. Trying to push him away.

[NotAFlyingToy]

With the barrel still at her neck, indenting the skin around it, he flinched.

His finger squeezed the trigger, and suddenly he couldn't hear, smelled burning, and everything was wet.

[Rorick Skyve†]

There was a bang.

Her cry was cut short.

Her jaw froze and then all she felt was heat.

Her ears fucking hurt. Ringing.

Why. Why was it like this?

She tried to say something. Shout for help.

A gargle was all that escaped her lips, followed by a short gush of liquid.

She was burning up. Everything was hot, she couldn't fucking bear it.

Her neck, her back, everything was hot. Heat running down her skin. She was fucking burning up alive.

She tried to see. Just see anything. See Oskar, see what he was doing.

She couldn't, her eyes wouldn't let her. Why the fuck not? Why was there only fog?

Jane stood there for a few more seconds, feeling like she was melting, heat dripping out from her mouth and neck and her everywhere.

She tried to fight it, but her legs gave out and she fell over, landing on her back.

She barely even felt the impact.

[Emprexx Plush]

He did it.

He actually did it.

It was hard to say how she expected it to play out before in all the whirling confusion of her brain as she flinched away. Maybe to just shoot her, and she'd grab her chest and fall down, like in the movies. When he started getting all close and personal, maybe she'd expected a fight. A struggle. For Jane to lash out at him and try to take the gun, not just stand there like that and try to talk him down.

She expected it to be more like Mr. Graham. Not so...personal.

It had happened in an instant, but they'd all known it was coming. From the second Oskar pressed the gun to her flesh, the only question was whether he'd have the resolve to pull the trigger. The crack of the gun firing resolved any doubt of that and brought her to her knees, holding her ears and staring at the ground. She didn't want to see it. She didn't want to smell the smoke or the blood. Not again. Both because this time, something was...different. The violence played out differently in her head, and she didn't wanna think about it, didn't want to examine it. It couldn't be helped though. The thoughts were there.

Jane wasn't helpless like Mr. Graham.

Jane wasn't a victim like Mr. Graham.

Jane was weak, and stubborn, and stupid, and she deserved to die.

That was an awful, awful thought, even for her. Like, she'd never really wanted someone to die before, sure she could be vindictive but she wasn't violent or anything. At least she thought so...but it wasn't just where they were or something like that. Jane didn't deserve to die here. Jane deserved to die, end of story. That's how her head felt, curled up on her knees and trying to block out the ringing in her ears with her cupped hands. No, that was wrong. She felt a lot more than that.

It felt like everyone else like Jane might deserve to die too.

She tried to push the thoughts from her head and struggled back to her feet, her eyes falling on Jane's bleeding body on the ground with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and disgust.

[NotAFlyingToy]

Slowly, Oskar lowered the gun, his hands hurting from the kickback, eyes wide as he stared down at Jane's gurgling form. The pistol hung limp from his fingers, swaying lightly from side to side, the fingers of dawn still growing, stretching, as if to embrace what had just been done.

He turned towards Caedyn, and there were tears in his eyes, gore covering his face, his eyelids, staining his teeth coppery.

He stared at her.

[Rorick Skyve†]

Jane stared at the sky.

At least she thought it was the sky. She couldn't tell. Everything looked the same.

She tried to breathe. She couldn't. Only more wetness and liquid in her throat, like she was drowning.

Why. Why the fuck did nothing work? She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't even see. Even her mouth refused to move now. Everything was betraying her.

Only heat, that was all she had. The only thing she felt.

She tried to wiggle her fingers, grab onto something.

Someone. Someone had to be there, please, someone had to. She didn't want to be alone like this. She was so fucking scared.

She could feel the burning sensation fading away, slowly, until it was replaced by an overwhelming numbness.

No, not the heat too. It couldn't go, she wanted it to stay.

She tried to move her fingers again. Just feel something. All she wanted was to feel.


Jane repeated this effort a few more times, until her fingers ceased to move as well and her eyelids closed halfway.



                                                                                                                       

   

      G054: Jane Madison - Deceased

                                                                                                                                                  96 Students Remaining

[Emprexx Plush]

Twitching, grabbing fingers reminded her more of the death throes of a squashed spider than something human, or the kicking legs of a rat when you hit it in the head with something heavy. She'd seen stuff like that on the internet before, when she looked around places she should or got hit with a light shock gif, though it wasn't something she'd seen all that much in real life. The resemblance was uncanny though, and kind of appropriate. 'cuz like all of that kind of stuff, Jane was vermin. A pest and a drain that had to be dealt with for her survival.

Actually no, that wasn't right. Jane was worse than vermin. Vermin tried to survive. Vermin fought. Vermin didn't just stand there bitching and get themselves killed. She didn't know what Jane was, but it was something lesser. Something more contemptible, that she could hate. That wasn't crazy. It was just, just fact. She wasn't like that. She deserved to survive and she was going to fight for it, and whatever Jane was, she was sure there was a lot more of it here. People were going to keep dying, because they didn't fucking know how to survive, but she did. She could be better than them, and that meant she got to go home.

Oskar was looking at her now, all doe-eyed and spattered with the evidence of what he'd done. Honestly, he kinda made her sick too. The way he was looking at her made her feel like he hadn't done this for himself, like he couldn't, and he needed her approval and support to keep going. If that was true, he wasn't much better than Jane in the end. He wouldn't be able to survive on his own, and eventually he was going to die here. That was okay though. He didn't have to survive forever. Just long enough to keep being useful to her. She could pretend for him, and he could keep her hands clean. He was a rat, but he could be her pet rat, her attack tarantula, her hissing komodo dragon, and gobble up anyone that got in their way.

"It's okay, Oskar," she said softly, her face twisting into false compassion. "It's over. She didn't give you any choice, okay?" Her hands spread slowly to invite him in. "Nobody's gonna judge you, okay? I'll make sure they know what really happened." Strong emphasis came down on 'really,' with a knowing look in her eye. "Jane was dangerous. Unstable. She tried to lure you in so she could hurt you, and you saved both of us. Right?"

Yeah. She could make this work. Everything was starting to add up now. She just had to keep him on board.

[NotAFlyingToy]

One eye twitched as he watched her - the smallest of movements - as the pistol still swayed from his fingers, gently moving from left to right.

"Y-" he started to say, before the coppery taste and scent of blood hit his tongue, forcing him to turn and cough - once, twice, before retching into the grass. Dry-heaving, really - nothing in his stomach to come up.

Oskar turned his head to spit, but stopped halfway, remembered himself, and used a sleeve to dab at his mouth, eyes trained now on his shoes.

"I guess," he said, unsure, shaky.

[Emprexx Plush]

Hey, they had something in common. Sort of. Vomiting wasn't really a hobby she'd clicked on before but like, people did it at school, they could make it work here. Oskar just needed her to be all...safe and nurturing and stuff, probably. Build him back up so he could keep taking care of problems. Like a little wind up soldier. It was kinda cute. Yeah, cute. Not totally fucked, like everything else here.

She couldn't focus on the fucked up parts. That would make her weak. Jane tried to make reality work and she was dead. Caedyn wouldn't make that mistake. She'd just roll with the punches. This was her world now. Her role. Everything else could be sorted out when she was alive and home and safe, like she deserved to be. For now, she moved a little closer to him, holding out her hands and walking slowly to let him see she wasn't gonna be a threat. "Of course. You had to do it. It was us or her, Oskar. You did the right thing, okay?"

For a moment, she looked down at the dead girl's body, then at her clothes. They reeked. The dress wouldn't fit her right, but...blood was better than vomit and shit. "Oskar...look, I don't wanna do this, but my clothes are..." A hand waved at the clear stains of bile across her top with a shudder. "I...I think I have to take some of her stuff, okay? So like, if you wanna look away, or, whatever..." She let the words hang. Keep moving forward and engaging him. That was the only way.