The Stand By Me Experience

[Lilith]

"Good idea," Jill said, hugging herself. The supplies she had were in the pockets of her AI-generated clothes, and she felt them sway around as she moved a bit too quickly for their taste. Two grenades and some food seemed to be the only thing that she had to her name - if you ignored the massive welt on her face. "Let's- let's go find somewhere quiet."

She said that and understood, midway through her sentence, that there was nowhere quiet here. Everything was fucked, everywhere was buzzing with anticipation for a new layer of red paint, and everyone could be next. Gillian swallowed, her eyes darting to the ceiling and then back down. Instead of saying anything, she bit down on her tongue.

[EllisWilson]

“Good ideas all around” Ray muttered, backing to the door. This room was a bad idea anyway. Who thought it would be a good one to go here? His eyes drifted down to Sunny’s avatar as he backed up, lingering on her head, on the matted blood.

Jesus fucking Christ there’s a DENT!

Ray whirled around, breaking into a kind of speed walk to the door, his stride gimped slightly by a refusal to let his left heel, the one that had sank into Sunny’s side, touch the ground. He palmed Ripley’s shoulder— the one attached to his uninjured arm— for a brief second before continuing. On his way out, he turned his head a bit to mumble at Drea.

“Welcome to the team nice hair.”

Then he was out of that weird ass, creepy ass, dead body having ass room, hurrying into the direction he saw Jill heading in, calling after her to wait up. Being alone right now was the least appealing thing Ray could think of.

((Ray Sullivan continued in Border Zone))

[MonteCristo]

As he watched the others prepare to leave, Ripley wondered if they knew where they were going or what they would do next. But he quickly pushed those doubts aside when Ray laid a hand on his shoulder. Ripley reminded himself he should at least have some faith in Ray—they’d been allies since the start, after all, and no matter how bad things got, they were supposed to trust each other. Still, Ripley had to be prepared for the worst.

Andrea, Jill, Ray, Ripley—any one of them could end up like Sunny if they weren’t careful. Someone had to be on guard, keeping the group safe amidst the chaos and confusion that threatened to collapse in on them. Ripley rifled through his belongings until he found his axe and lifted it out. It wasn't the worst weapon, and he was lucky to have anything at all, but it was a lot slower—and a lot messier—than something like a gun. He hoped he wouldn’t need to use it; he could already feel how much it weighed just resting in his hand.

Ripley slung his bag over his shoulders and followed Jill and Ray outside, his knuckles whitening as they gripped the axe’s handle. The dread and shock that had washed over him when he first saw Sunny's body hadn’t died down at all. It felt as if he was still in his homeroom, gazing at the picture of death within, trying to disregard the reality he saw for the reality he wanted.

((Ripley continued in Border Zone))

[Spindarene]

Drea almost smiled at Ray's comment, but her face couldn't muster up anymore than a slight upturn of her lips. Even that almost felt wrong in this situation.

She had no idea where they were going or how long they were going to stay together as allies, but for now at least, she was glad to not be alone.

((Drea Patson continued in Border Zone))