À Tout le Monde

[Sunnybunny]

Screaming. Gunshots.

But none of that was happening up on the roof. There was just a lone girl, waiting for the chance to be a... hero? Killing wasn't really heroic.

Under that girl, though, was a roof.

Perhaps it had been the covering of a truly happy home, for mad cultists. For now, it was part of the stage of a tragedy. On and off, rain had beat on it. Weakened it. Caused it to groan in pain.

It couldn't take it anymore.

All Sakurako had time to do was give a surprised squeak as she suddenly fell into the bedroom, surrounded by pieces of wood. Though she landed in an odd way, half on half off of the bed, somehow the gun didn't discharge. The bed was no better prepared for the sudden intrusion than anything else, and collapsed.

Moving was... rough, it was rough.

Her back hurt. Not like her leg, which was screaming for her to be still, but enough to make getting up a trial.

Crawling would be ideal, but the gun had to be in her hand and ready to fire. Slowly, she pulled herself against the wall and shuffled her way to the sound of the shouting.

"Where's Sean?" The desperation was there, naked. "Give him back!"

"Give. Him. Back."

[Catche Jagger]

Justin’s response was a bit of a garbled mess of feeling sorry for himself. He wasn’t acting deliberate about any of this, wasn’t determined to fight Thomas, but doing nothing to really talk his own way out.

The attitude only made Thomas angrier. Justin had just killed an unarmed and injured classmate and now he was whining about the consequences he faced. He was a scared, selfish bastard that needed to fucking die.

Thomas made sure to bite back those thoughts, though. He needed to be careful about this, needed to lure Justin out.

“You… you’re fucker, you know that? But…” Thomas held the pause for a few moments, needing to make it seem like there was genuine consideration there, “... but if we both die then what the fuck is it even for?”

Thomas hoped this next part would land right.

“M-Maybe we, just for today- what the fuck???” Just as Thomas was in the middle of speaking, there was a loud crash from another part of the house.

He nearly discharged his gun in a panic but managed to keep his cool just enough to shout at Justin, “That wasn’t me! I don’t know what that was!” His voice quick and panicked, as the plan started to feel like it was unravelling.

What could it be though? Sakurako? What the hell was she doing?

It was then that his suspicions were confirmed as he heard Sakurako’s voice cut through the air, shouting about Sean.

Thomas’s gaze lowered to the floor as he could feel himself well and truly panicking now. The element of surprise was gone and both he and Sakurako were now injured.

“Shit shit shit shit…” Thomas hissed once more, knowing he needed to take the gamble, now that Sakurako might have at least distracted Justin for a moment.

Leaning out of cover, Thomas aimed for the table he had seen Justin behind and fired.

[MK Kilmarnock]

It sounded like somebody had upended the entire other room. The most immediate experience Justin could call back on was the time a bad thunderstorm caused a tree to fall on their house back in Franklin. He was just a little kid when it happened and it frightened the daylights out of him when it came through. It would scare anybody, wouldn't it, to hear a loud crash just outside your bedroom when you were trying to get to sleep? Despite it being years ago, the sound had remained imprinted on him for years and years.

Now he heard it again, and it was enough to stun Justin for the moment. He thought he heard a girl's voice...

BANG!

Preceded by some motion out of the corner of his eye, Justin snapped to attention almost immediately and it still proved to be far too slow. A small chunk of the table's edge just four inches to the left of his head exploded into splinters and dust. Splinter or dust, Justin wasn't sure just what of the debris got into his eye, only that he shrieked in retreat back behind the table and huddled low, furiously rubbing at the side of his face.

What happened to talking, just letting today be the day, and going their separate ways?

Justin, you idiot. It was a lie. Everything was a lie, and these people were here to kill you no matter what you did or said. And, in realizing that, the next vocalization out of his mouth was a growl. It started as a growl, anyway, and quickly morphed upward in pitch to a shrill cry of desperation with a significant portion of anger mixed in. He opened his right eye and though his vision was blurry through tears, he deemed it enough. Enough to poke out the barrel first, enough to straighten himself, enough to pull the trigger, still screaming, and sweeping the barrel back and forth until bullets stopped pouring out, leaving a jagged dipping and looping line of bullet holes in a wide arc across the cabin's interior.

[Sunnybunny]

More bullets. That weird animal noise from before.

The closer she got, the more frightening it became. Sure, running in guns ablazing had been what she wanted but...

Her body moved against the wall as if she were the living dead. Maybe that was true, except the the aches and pains. Zombies didn't feel, or hurt. Just hungered. Maybe that's what had kept Sean waylaid.

Hands shaking, Sakurako made it to the doorway of the kitchen, the Cave of Wonders.

"Wasn't planning to drop in like that, s-sorry. But it's my fault we were even in this stupid village, so if you could just let my friend go we'd be happy to leave."

What else?

"It's Sakurako by the way. Haven't been in any announcements and I don't think I want to start today so you should know I have a gun. When I come in I'm going to leave it by the doorway and sit down. Then my boyfriend can stop going all Rambo too, as long as he can move and sit with me."

She hoped he wasn't hurt. What if he'd been shot? Paralyzed? Couldn't wiggle his big toe?

"I won't lie and say I'm happy to be civil right now, but I'm willing to play at it. If you are... whoever you are."

[Catche Jagger]

Thomas managed to duck back behind the wall in time to avoid the next spray of bullets from Justin. Some debris was blasted free, though, Thomas needing to bury his face in his knees to avoid the damage.

The wall served as better cover than a table, but that didn’t mean it was bulletproof. Enough damage and it’d come down all the same.

Shortly after the firing stopped, Sakurako’s voice returned and she began to step closer and closer to Justin, still trying to talk sense. It frustrated him that she’d try to earnestly be civil with Justin after what he’d done.

Negotiation, talking things out, those were tools meant to be used with functional, rational people who wanted to engage. Justin was basically a spree killer who was acting like he was some kind of victim, like he was forced to kill Sean.

“Sakurako! Stop!” The frustration bubbling up inside boiled over into the tone of his voice which was overly harsh and forceful.

You need to calm down.

What was the point of being calm anymore, though? The ruse had failed and there was no point in hiding how he felt anymore. No point in pushing it down.

How he felt was distraught, furious.

“Sakurako, he killed Sean! He fucking killed him!” He shouted, feeling the tears finally come to his eyes that he had held back earlier.

Thomas had just been trying to keep himself, Sakurako, and Sean together and safe. That’s what he wanted. And now Justin had bungled his way in there and just murdered Sean, who had nothing to defend himself with but a stupid, smelly fruit.

“What was it for, huh Justin?” He cried turning his attention back to the killer, his throat starting to feel a bit sore.

“What do you fucking want? You want a fucking truce, right? To just walk away from the shit you brought on yourself?”

Thomas almost jumped out and began firing again, but Sakurako still wasn’t in proper cover leaving Thomas to impotently bang the back of his head against the wall.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Justin tried not to shuffle around too loudly in his bag to make it obvious he was reloading the Madsen, but speed was his first priority. Thankfully, the... TWO people up his ass now, they were more concerned with talking or shouting at him than listening intently. It was his only saving grace; The moments of having no bullets in the Madsen, even just ten or fifteen seconds, were hours of naked vulnerability in his bowels. He had the handgun for an emergency backup, but he only wanted to abandon reloading in an absolute must-case.The more options he had to him available, the better. When he was knocked down to just one, that's when death came knocking. And then he'd be knocking on Heaven's door.

Or... you know, considering...

"The th- the smart thing," Justin gasped, feeling oddly cold. Why else would he be shivering so much, as his trembling hands loaded the next magazine. "It's the smart thing, to g- just leave, get out of here!" Justin shimmied about six inches to one side and peeked up, back down... like a gopher sticking its head out of a hole. He wanted the flashing image of the scene and to let his brain do the rest. No point in giving anybody a good shot for free. He'd seen what he needed to: girl, coming closer. Guy, still by the door, practically over Sean's body since he was maybe just a foot off the doorway, maybe closer.

"BACK UP! BACK! UP! OR A-A-SH-I SHOOT!" Justin yelped. He regretted it and couldn't tell himself why. Why warn them what he was going to do? What if he was giving info they could use against him, info he wasn't even thinking of, or he was goading them into attacking him before he could get ready. "Tell her to back up! Ge-ue-eh get the b-fuck back!"

The answers to Thomas's questions, while silently acknowledged, didn't verbalize. Even if they could be answered, he intrinsically understood WHY Sean had to die, they were hard reasons to actually say.

The magazine slid in. He was alive again. With the weapon in both hands, he slid back on the safety lever and tucked the stock to his chest like the world's deadliest stamped-steel teddy bear.

[Sunnybunny]

Oh.

They'd both said things, important things she was sure. Thomas's pain and Justin, she guessed... terror was palpable. Some part of her understood.

Blood stained her shoes as she moved toward the doorway, despite all the shouting. A glance down proved the truth of Tomtom's words, Sean's body lying by her feet in a way she couldn't justify as anything else.

That wasn't how he slept at all.

Agony!

Misery!

Woe!

But even those feelings had abandoned her for now.

When Sakurako gazed into the room, her expression was unnaturally blank. Redness still lingered in her eyes from the tears she'd shed earlier that day, and it seemed she hadn't run dry just yet.

"I've never understood how people want to be the last one. Every time I hear how many of us are gone it's like I'm going crazy."

Her face screwed up before she let out a gasping, near-sob.

"He died all alone. Did it have to be like that?"

Everything just felt so heavy, weighted down like the pistol hanging by her side.

[Catche Jagger]

Justin started shouting a bunch of threats that he would, in all likelihood, follow through on.

But Sakurako still remained in the open, only moving forward and glancing down to see the truth of things with her own eyes. Still, though, She didn’t get back, something that both he and Justin had wanted for different reasons and instead began… Thomas didn’t know. She began breaking down?

Sean died alone. The words were bleak enough on their own, but the way she said it, it twisted up in Thomas’s gut and wouldn’t let go. Justin needed to die for that, then. He’d done it here and before and he’d do it again. Hell, Justin would do it to him and Sakurako.

He just needed to wait for Justin to fire again or something. Hit him while he reloaded. There was still a way.

“Sakurako,” Thomas spoke to her, much softer than before, though his voice remained coarse, “please… just get behind something.”

[MK Kilmarnock]

Justin had a response ready to go. Ready to blast her down with words before he tore apart what still stood with bullets, and he would have let her have it to.

The whole point was to be the last person left, and he wanted that just by the virtue of wanting to live while understanding there was no way out. How many times did Danya say it on the announcements, that kids had tried to find another way, an alternate solution to this problem? And what was waiting for them at the end of that tunnel? Death. The burnt house nearby was a charred testament to that stiff truth. If this girl couldn't understand that and she was really asking that question, maybe she should just die and get it over with, like Sean.

It was the followup question to that which hurt and left Justin at a loss for words. He clenched his teeth and felt the tension carry through his neck and even down into his back.

She deserved an answer.

He didn't want to give her one, but she deserved him at least trying. Sean probably deserved that too, some small recompense for what simply needed to happen.

"He died qu... I made it as quick, c- as I could," Justin said between shuddering breaths. "I n-... I don't... know about you guys. But I wanna live. Like... I'm sorry he had to die, but-" There was no sugar coating it. Sean had found his things and was a serious threat to Justin's own survival. But even then, Sean was willing to remove himself from the equation and run... Justin could have just taken his things and gotten away, but he pursued Sean. Why? Why'd he done that, and risk getting the trouble he ended up finding anyway? Maybe it was to avoid another Aliya, and maybe he'd just fabricated that reason to make it seem even the faintest bit noble.

These two would have to die too. Even if either one of them fancied living, they should have known the other one would have to die.

"Nuh-o-ah-ow I mean it, back f- the fuck off!"

[Sunnybunny]

To be heard but not understood.

Was that hell?

Bitter comfort that Sean's quick death was, rationally she knew it could have been so, so much uglier. At the very least, Justin hadn't wanted to make some kind of disturbing installation of him. Still, she couldn't...

Believe it!

He had to die, Justin said. He had to die, as if he hadn't been running for his life, hadn't just been abandoned by the most useless person on this damn rock, hadn't been willing to risk his life to get people like this chucklefuck home.

It should have been her to set that fire.

From the start.

Cowardice was human, but she just couldn't relate to the crumbling child in front of her. Or maybe she could, but didn't want to.

Ice and lava dueled in her veins.

Sakurako started to speak, to berate and debate, but what came out was the ugliest wailing she'd ever heard. Snot ran down her nose. Her head pounded, her shoulders shook. There was never any time for grief, here, but it seemed to be making time for her.

"N-need to say... let me say goodbye? I..."

She tried to make eye contact with Thomas, but that just made the crying even worse.

[Catche Jagger]

Justin was just spouting some bullshit about how he had to kill Sean and just wouldn’t stop trying to pass the buck on how him killing an unarmed classmate somehow wasn’t that bad, acting like he actually gave a shit how painful it was when Sean died, like he knew that what he’d done hadn’t been so painful.

Thomas clenched his teeth.

If Justin was such a straight shooter, so much more honest, then why not just keep trying to kill him and Sakurako right now? Something about the way Justin acted, tried to justify himself, just made Thomas sick, it made him angry.

And why is that?

It was because Justin was stupid, and a coward, and a liar both to them and to himself. That was the sort of person who’d killed Sean. It wasn’t a psychotic thinking killer, but a idiot too scared of dying.

But Sakurako… Sakurako was just going to let it go?

“We’re… you just want to say goodbye? This asshole killed Sean. He will kill us sooner or later! We can’t just-!” Thomas tensed up as he started to get riled up, and even this motion in his left shoulder sent a surge of pain down the arm.

It was bleeding worse than Thomas had originally thought, his shirt had soaked through red and blood trailed down his arm from the wound.

It was bad and needed some treatment as soon as possible, but how? He couldn’t go now. He couldn’t let Justin just walk away from what he’d done.

And still Thomas sat there, impotent, unable to do much of anything.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Justin took a chance. He pushed all the way up on his knees, not standing but enough to poke his head beyond his cover. The gun came with him, and it was trained on Thomas. He finally got a good look at them both now.

Thomas. Sakurako.... or just Saku, because Justin always had difficulty with the full name, but he couldn't remember ever talking to her directly, now that he thought about it. He knew of her thought, and might have mentioned the name to other people. Naturally, he would 'know of' everybody on the island... moreso the few who were still left as the numbers dwindled down, which had this strange effect of making each face seem more significant and precious, as if their lives meant something more now based solely on scarcity.

Maybe him and Saku weren't the best of friends. But he heard her as loud and clear as he would anybody else. They were several feet apart, but with all of them in this one room, it felt every bit as intimate a situation as when it was just him and Sean. So much for being easier... Aliya'd already blown that stupid little theory out of the water, as if life itself was having a laugh at his expense.

"You can say goodbye..." Justin mumbled solemnly, trembling.

This wasn't smart or easy, but her tears told him it was the right thing to do. A right in a sea of wrongs fueled by his will to live, the very least he could do.

[Sunnybunny]

What was wrong with her?

What was wrong with them, collectively?

It almost seemed farcical, some actress she was. If she was thinking clearly, speaking clearly, communicating to Thomas would be easy. After all, they shared a language of dancing around their issues. But a whole magazine's worth?

It took a bit to settle enough to speak again, though she simply nodded at Justin. If Sakurako was truly alone with Sean's killer, there was no way she wouldn't be trying to maul him to her very last breath. It wouldn't even be throwing her life away.

But-

"You owe me."

Thomas looked like shit, and if he went out like this-

Looking at her boyfriend, once more with feeling and loaded with meaning, she moved out of the doorway and sat by Sean's cooling body.

If this did all end in the worst way, would he still be alone?

[Catche Jagger]

Justin caught Thomas off guard by stepping out into the open, gun still at the ready.

Even so, Thomas still held his own weapon in hand. The chance remained right there before him. He could still kill Justin and he probably wouldn’t even expect it.

So, why aren’t your arms moving? Where’s the rage? The righteous fury? Wasn’t it here just a moment ago?

Thomas wanted it back, but nothing came, nothing but a lump in his throat and a pit in his stomach.

Why couldn’t he do it? Thomas felt his knees quiver and he knew the answer.

Because you’d die too, and it’d all mean absolutely nothing.

Thomas felt a bit sick, scared. What the hell was he doing? What was he trying to do? He’d already failed and Sean was dead. Was he going to just throw himself on the pile too?

Sounds like you’re trying to justify something.

He wasn’t justifying anything. This was being rational. What would he even be justifying? It was being right.

Sakurako spoke up then, told Thomas that he owed her. She was right, of course. Thomas had already fucked things up with Zach and Violet. He said he’d listen to her and she wanted to go. Maybe that’s what he wanted too?

“Okay.” Was all Thomas said in reply, looking down at his hands, not acknowledging Justin and hoping that would suffice.

The boy tried to rise to his feet, but felt another rush of pain from his left shoulder as it brushed up against the wall, causing Thomas to let out a pained grunt. It needed bandaging badly. Another reason that Sakurako was right. They needed to go.

Balancing himself, Thomas began to wordlessly shuffle to the door, not looking at Justin and finding himself unable to look Sakurako in the eye. Was that shame? Why was he ashamed? He was doing the right thing, the smart thing.

He considered saying something to Sean or about Sean but he didn’t want to look at the corpse again.

He didn’t want to think.

“I’m… I’m going to be outside.” He said quietly before shuffling out the door, head low.

((Thomas Buckley continued elsewhere...))

[MK Kilmarnock]

The intensity in the air mostly diminished with Thomas's departure. Justin took just a single step to the side so he could get a better view of the doorway when Thomas went through it, ensuring that the boy wasn't just ducking out of sight but truly leaving. When he felt comfortable that it was just him and Saku, he inched back to his original place and bent his knees as if he intended to crouch. He thought better of it though, still standing with all of his attention on Sakurako. The gun's barrel stayed down, though. He didn't feel a need to aim at her and while adrenaline still soared through his veins from the kill, there was a strange steadiness in his hands now.

They were separated, and Justin knew he could probably kill Saku now, then finish off Tom when he tried to come back in to avenge her. It was just these two; a third person should have made their presence known by now. That would be two less... rather, two fewer competitors down the line. So he didn't really understand why he wasn't firing, because it wasn't just out of sympathy anymore. He felt bad, he did, and not for killing Sean, but because the girl in front of him had to suffer with that loss, and people were still somehow suffering even this far in, like they hadn't given up. It was confusing, maybe even a little unsettling, but more than that Justin felt that killing somebody like this would have been pointless.

His gaze fell off her feet and to a particularly interesting floorboard. He couldn't bring himself to fully look at her when Justin finally voiced his surface thoughts: "It doesn't mean anything."


"I mean... dying. His death. Or like... a-anybody's. D-... nobody's dying here for any good reason." He cleared his throat. It still itched him even afterward, but he could drink some water later. "Cuz... because you asked why."