Waking From One Nightmare into Another

[Ruggahissy]

Tirzah wheeled forward, heart racing. She saw what had happened to the principal, she watched the video. After waking up her thoughts were starting to bring her up to speed on the situation. The thought of the trials ahead nearly sent her into a panic. People were going to try to kill her to make it to the end. She had an advantage, of course: the gun.

Perhaps it wasn't her only advantage. She was used to not having anyone to rely on. Her whole life was just her looking out for herself. People were great, sure, but there was no one on Earth she liked more than herself. She was the only one important to her and everyone could fuck off. There was the possibility that there were a few others out there in their class like her, and those were the ones she was going to have to worry about. That's where the gun came in.

The wheels of her chair tipped forward into the entrance to a room. There were four people standing around and one mangled bed. She looked at the kids for a moment. She knew Jeremiah, Ned and Violet mostly by name just from having to gone to school together for years. The last two were still at the threshold of the room. Out them, the only one she'd talked to was probably Aurelien. She pointed the gun at Violet.

[Pippi]

Aurelien shrugged, taking hold of the mace as Jeremiah handed it back to him, wrapping his fingers around the handle and stepping back into the stance he’d been in before, standing steady and adjusting himself for the new weight. Yeah, he hadn’t really expected either of the two newcomers to want a go. You needed to have a certain kind of anger inside of you to vent it in that manner, after all, a kind that he firmly believed neither Ned nor Violet possessed.

He nodded at Jeremiah, taking the trade offer on board but barely considering it. The claw hammer was a decent weapon, but it really did have nothing on the mace. The intimidation factor was great enough, but, well, the pile of bent and buckled metal was a good enough example of the damage it could cause. You hit a person with the same amount of force, they weren’t getting up again. Not that, y’know, he was planning on doing that, just… yeah. Yeah. He knew Jeremiah well enough from the basketball team. They’d gone camping together a couple times. He was big and strong. He was a good dude. He’d be just fine with the claw hammer.

God, he hoped he would be.

It was all kinds of fucked up that he hadn’t immediately just run out of the infirmary and chucked the mace into the ocean, but, again, he wasn’t dumb. Things would go to hell soon enough, and he’d need something to defend himself with out here.

Aurelien rolled his shoulders, working out the last of the stiffness in his joints, as Ned and Violet discussed what to do now. Which… great question, really. His only goal up to now had been smashing the bed to pieces, and now that he’d achieved that, he really didn’t know what to do. Did anyone? He guessed it was better that nobody did, because if there were people in his class that had a solid idea for ‘What to do when you’re trapped on an island with all of your classmates and also you have a gun and need to be the only person alive’ then that was extra specially fucked up.

But it did mean he felt real lost. Real uncertain. Real scared, now the adrenaline had totally worn off.

He needed more time to think, consider whether it’d be better to hunker down in the infirmary, or go outside as a pack. Safety in numbers, that was obvious, but which was less safe; roaming around outside where anything could happen, or getting trapped in the middle of a building when their collars started beeping?

He didn’t know, so he replied to the one thing he did have an answer for.

"No, uh, there's not... anyone I'm looking for. Not really."

Before he had the chance to elaborate further - not that he had any intention to do so anyway - he heard the same squeaking noise that Ned and Violet had, coming from the doorway they’d just walked through. He frowned, taking a step forward, and as he did so, all of his questions were answered and replaced by brand new ones.

He knew Tirzah decently, mostly from parties and from bumping into her around the gym and sports halls. She was friendly and cheerful, and Aurelien liked her, even though he knew all about her tendency to be unreliable, doing things on the fly and leaving everyone else in the dust with no chance to react.

Like now, sitting in a wheelchair and aiming a pistol directly at Violet.

“Woah, hey, shit, Tirzah!” Aurelien called out, running forwards as fast as he could with the heavy metal bludgeon weighing him down, instinctively brushing past Violet, standing between her and Ned, just in front of the two of them.

“Hey, could you… could you put the gun down? We’re not looking for trouble, it’s all… it’s all good.”

He wasn’t dumb. But he really didn’t wanna admit someone he knew, someone he liked, was playing. Not this early.

[Emprexx Plush]

Weren't far t' the door. Ten feet, maybe fifteen. Gun looked mighty heavy, 'specially for a twiggy girl like her. Might make it. Might not.

Didn't move or try t' back his bench buddy up. No beggin', no flinchin'. Weren't lingerin' on the gun neither. Dark brown eyes fixed on her face. Blinked once, slow an' lazy like. Let the hammer hang low an' loose, danglin' at the edge of his grasp. Could see up in his mind blood dyin' hair till you couldn't tell the color, bits a' skull flyin' through the air.

Stared. Nodded. Didn't blink no more.

[Ryuki]

A girl in a wheelchair rolled up to the door. Ned identified her as Tirzah, a volleyball player, not necessarily someone he hung out with, but not someone he had any negative thoughts on. At least up until she pulled out a large gun and aimed at Violet.

Another chill ran down Ned’s spine and his heart jumped. Aurelien stepped in front of him and Violet, trying to defuse the situation. Ned’s thoughts went to the rifle in his bag. On the one hand, he could use it to defend against Tirzah, but on the other hand, it’ll lead to a stand off and worsen the situation. Ned’s hand twitch as he contemplated his next action. Ultimately, he moved his fingers away from the zipper of his duffel bag, and he raised his empty hands above his head.

“Yeah,” Ned concurred with Aurelien, “you don’t need to raise your weapon at us. Let’s just talk things through.”

Ned glanced at Violet.

“We just want to find our friends and loved ones, and get the heck outta here.”

[Primrosette]

Violet had never suspected that the first girl that she would see would point a gun right at her face. She realized that it was one of the girls from the volleyball team and that it was Tirzah. Not that Violet actually knew her personally at all and now Violet really didn't want to have her head blown off by the girl. Luckily, Aurelien had gotten in front of her and Ned and it seemed that Aurelien actually knew the girl. Trying to make sure that the girl would calm down.

Ned was joining in on trying to make sure that Tirzah was calming down and then Ned was looking right at Violet. She guessed that she had to raise her hands as well and so she lowered her dufflebag to the ground slowly, raising her own hands up afterwards.

Please don't let this blow up in our faces....

Violet had to peek her head out from behind Aurelien's back to said something to Tirzah. "We just want to be nice and calm around each other. I don't want anyone to get hurt. I just need to find someone that I care about that is out there somewhere." She said calmly, trying not to think of how uneased she was by the gun and she gave a nod towards the other girl. "Please, Tirzah. I just want to leave here peacefully."

[Ruggahissy]

"Hey Aur," she said in a chilly, but upbeat tone. Her tone didn't match her face, which was stern and focused.

She stood up out of the chair hefting her bag onto her shoulder and put both hands on the gun. She shifted the weapon over to Aurelien and breathed deeply.

"No one's looking for trouble, like, real trouble. But we're here." She took a few steps back. Tirzah was furious and confused and she just wanted to get it out of her somehow, like these kids had with the bed. Friends, loved ones. Maybe she should shoot Ned or Violet first to put them out of their misery so they wouldn't have to find out what happened to friends and "loved ones" here. Loved ones...

Tirzah lowered the gun.

"You know that urban legend, it's not true I'm pretty sure, but that one where they would give Nazis a puppy and make them raise it and then kill it?"

She swallowed, chewed her lip and gave a half-way apologetic look.

Tirzah raised the gun and fired at Aurelien.

But the kickback was tremendous and she felt herself lose control of the thing as it happened. Tirzah could tell she missed by a mile and the gun flew out of her hands. She yelped and the gun clattered to the ground. Tirzah scrambled, grabbing it from the floor in a panic.

[Pippi]

Tirzah didn’t drop the gun. That, pretty much, was the one thing Aurelien had been banking on for her to do, in order for this entire thing not to go pear-shaped. In fact, the only movement she made with the gun was to swing it round and point it at him instead. He felt his heart, along with the hopes that the only thing in the room that wouldn’t escape unscathed would be the bed, sink and disappear, spiralling the drain before vanishing out of sight.

Worst of all, he could feel it getting replaced from that same feeling from before, as the blood pumping through his veins and his heart beating in his chest grew louder and louder.

There was still hope, slim but still there all the same. She was facing down four scared people, none of whom wanted to hurt her, none of whom were looking for trouble. Maybe she’d listen to them, listen to his and Violet and Ned’s pleas for peace. She could still drop the gun, still apologise, still… well, Aurelien wasn’t sure if he’d be able to forgive her, not immediately after she’d pulled a gun on him. But if that was the worst thing that could happen in the best case scenario, he was pretty sure he could live with that.

And, hey. No matter how spontaneous, how impulsive Tirzah could be… she still wasn’t gonna pull the trigger. She wouldn’t go that far.

Right?

He got his answer almost instantly, as the explosion rang out across the infirmary, and he flinched and ducked, running on instinct, the sound of the gunshot causing white noise to pierce his ears. Tirzah hadn’t gotten away from her attack scot free. The gun was on the floor. Small comfort. He looked down. Couldn’t see any blood. Couldn’t feel any pain. Didn’t mean anything. He hadn’t felt anything when he’d gotten the scar running across his nose. Not until he was in the hospital, long after the incident had occurred.

He stared at Tirzah for a moment, a split second. His head was pounding. He saw her scramble for the gun, felt his blood boil as she did so. Knew he was going to do something rash, and there wasn’t any way for him to stop himself.

His fingers tightened around the mace. Then he wrenched them open, letting it drop to the floor, the tiles underneath him crunching and cracking.

Good start. It’d have to do.

Aurelien burst forwards, charging towards Tirzah, dead set on her and her alone, so focused on his target that he didn’t see the wheelchair rolling towards him. It clattered into his legs, tangling them up in the metal framework, and off-balance, disoriented, he fell, flinging his hands out to break his fall. The smack as they hit the ground felt as loud as the gunshot had been, and they were already stinging like they were on fire, but he ignored them, pushing himself up, trying to free himself from the spokes his feet were caught up in.

“Tirzah!” he yelled. “Put the fucking gun down, Jesus Christ, you moron!"

[Emprexx Plush]

Mace been left behind. Jeremiah liked that mace. Shame to leave it outta the ruckus.

Metal scrapin' on tile jumped over the chatter. Weren't rushin' off like Aurelien had. Might do somethin' he'd regret if he weren't real deliberate. Stalked forward nice and calm, tried not to shake too much, keep his nerves steady. Weren't gonna hurt nobody. Leastways not too bad, not if they didn't deserve it.

Mm. Shouldn'ta thought that. Who deserved to get hurt felt like a might delicate concept here lately. Somethin' in him kept tellin' him there were folks who deserved to hurt, that'd it'd even the scales a bit. There were folks who, how'd that song go? Ain't never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix? Yeah. Ya'll knew the type. Loudest ones in every room they was in, always wailin' and squabblin' like they understood what it was t' struggle. Got these impulses now and then to grab one of 'em by the back of the head and smash 'em into a locker 'til you couldn't make out a face no more. Confused him more than it scared him, truth be told. Never meant to hurt nobody a'fore, didn't see much reason to start then. Wouldn't solve anything.

Now here was Tirzah, babblin' 'bout trouble and Nazis like either meant shit to her, firin' a gun bigger than what were tucked up in her skull at his friend for no reason. Way she looked at him, the tremor in her voice, even showin' up in a wheelchair, all looked near like she thought she were the victim in all this. Country club cunt probably ain't never seen anything worse than a broken nail, but he sure was gonna show her.

Mm. Didn't like that. Came from somewhere he weren't inclined to visit. Wouldn't let it have a whole thought t' itself any other day.

Tirzah scrambled for the gun. She weren't gonna quit.

Fucked up as it was, all them wild urges was startin' t'make some sorta sense.

Mace dragged along behind him. It screeched out just about everything he had t' say.

[Ryuki]

As soon as the shot rang out, Ned closed his eyes and covered his ears. His teeth clenched. His ears rang. His heart stopped. He was sure he was dead.

Wait.

He was still breathing. He opened one eye and looked at the action going on in front of him. He saw Aurelien on the ground, tripped over the wheel chair. Tirzah had dropped her gun and was quickly trying to retrieve it. Ned opened his other eye and saw Jeremiah with the mace in hand. What’s he going to do with it? Beat her to death?

Ned looked down at his duffel bag. The rifle. It had remained untouched. The thought of a stand off cropped up in Ned’s mind again. He didn’t want to end up risking back and forth gunfire. However, Tirzah had already fired at the group and that action literally backfired on her. There was a slim window of opportunity had opened. If Ned was going to do something, maybe be useful, it was now!

Ned was reluctant, but he made up his mind. He opened his duffel bag and took out the rifle. He handed it off to Violet.

“Hold this!,” Ned exclaimed. Maybe Violet would make better use of it, if things go south.

Ned then dug into the duffel bag and took out one of the tins of crackers. He aimed threw it in Tirzah’s direction.

“Get outta here Tirzah!,” he yelled.

[Primrosette]

Violet's ears had been buzzing and disoriented by the gunshot and her mind had gone into a state of shock over what Tirzah had done. She had really shot at someone who was her friend. How could someone just turn around and think that it was okay to start shooting at people who did not deserve to be treated that way? Okay, she understood that people would cracked under the pressure but this soon was just so unbelievable to her.

Violet felt herself coming back to where she currently was when Ned shoved a rifle into her hands and leaving her feeling confused and bewildered by everything that was going on. This was her first time actually holding a gun and she felt more uneasy with it in her grip. But Ned was asking her to hold onto it and she didn't want to let him down as he was trusting her to handle it. Aurelien was on the ground after tripping over the wheelchair that Tirzah had been sitting in beforehand, Jeremiah was now holding the mace, Tirzah was scrambling for her gun and Ned was trying to get rid of Tirzah with the power of crackers.

Everything was really spiralling out of control and they had only wanted to talk to Tirzah in a peaceful manner.

Violet made sure to stay back. Just in case, the others needed her help. She was making sure to stay calm and she let out a shaky breathe.

[Ruggahissy]

The gun clattered to the ground quietly, dimly. Tirzah's ears were ringing from the noise of the gunshot indoors, so close. Her matte black stiletto nails scraped against the dirty tile as she grabbed wildly for it, chipping the side of her left, index finger.

She looked up in time to see Aurelien's face twisted up in fury. He dropped the mace he'd been holding and came at her full speed. With a girlish grunt Tirzah shoved the wheel chair she'd arrived in in his path. It worked and he collapsed into a pile with another muffled crashing sound. Tirzah gripped the gun with her right hand, sticking the finger with the chipped nail into her mouth.

"Fuck," she muttered.

She turned tail and started running, noticing a bag landed behind her where she'd been. Tirzah hastily pushed her blonde her back as she ran, trying to see where she was going, hoping to go back the way she came. She held on tight to the strap of her bag that was resting on her shoulder.

"Sorry, but I'm not sorry!" she called back behind her.

((Tirzah Foss continued in Don't Stray Off the Path ))

[Pippi]

Aurelien’s palms and shins still stung like crazy. Ned’s tin of crackers was lying on the ground with a huge dent, a few feet away from him. The floor was covered in cracks from where the mace had been dropped, and he was pretty certain there’d be another crackling spider web radiating from where Tirzah’s bullet had lodged in the infirmary wall.

All things considered, it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Nobody was seriously hurt, that was the most important thing. Rattled, frustrated, on the verge of pissing themselves, maybe. But alive. Whatever it was that had stopped Tirzah from pulling the trigger again, he was thankful for. Part of him was real damn frustrated that she’d gotten away before they could stop her. Part of him wanted to chase after her and drag her back in here, kicking and screaming.

The rest of him was really glad he wasn’t making any real movement to do so.

Now that he wasn’t flailing about to try and wrestle the gun off of Tirzah, it was pretty easy to disentangle himself from the wheelchair. There was a brief moment of discomfort where he had to twist his leg in an awkward angle, but then it was free of the spokes, and he was standing once more, facing the other three.

The weapons had done a switcheroo behind him. Violet had Ned’s gun. Jeremiah was holding his mace. He took a quick note of that, before he let out a deep sigh and his head dropped.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

He wasn’t really sure what he was even apologising for. Getting knocked down by a goddamn wheelchair? Failing to stop Tirzah from running off so they could enact some kinda… vigilante justice or whatever? For just fucking knowing her and getting shot by her?

He didn’t know, but he said it anyway.

“Sorry.”

There was a moment of silence on his end, before he lashed out, slamming a vicious kick into the wheelchair, sending it skating and clattering a couple feet away.

[Emprexx Plush]

Hesitated. Never stopped walkin', but he hesitated. Coulda caught her, prolly could still catch her. Bigger, stronger, maybe faster. Hesitated, though. Could say he was afraid, but he weren't. Could say he didn't know what he'd do if he caught'er, but that'd be lyin' too. Came t' stop right by the chair she'd rolled in on. Aurelien was off apologizin' for who knows what. Near soon as his feet was planted he let out a growl.

Sound a' metal crunchin' metal weren't new in here. Happened four, six, thirteen...didn't keep count. Didn't stop swingin' til his arms trembled too much to hold the mace anymore. Crash carried through the whole buildin' when he let it go.

If he'd caught'er, Tirzah'd look about like the wreckage.

Didn't know how he felt 'bout that. Sure didn't like it. Not sure he disliked it anymore. Couldn't imagine feelin' bad if he did. She'd already got the whole world handed t' her. Lopsided for her t' get his pity too, for any a' them t' get it.

Brow furrowed real deep. Thoughts jus' kinda came as they pleased, hard to dig into 'em. Wished Nia were here, or Beryl, or anybody he could really talk t'. Shakin' right hand came up and rubbed circles at his chest again towards the reest of the group. Weren't no clarification comin' this time.

[Ryuki]

Tirzah was gone. Thank goodness, nobody was hurt, or worse. The gravity of this this weighed heavily on his mind. He or someone else, maybe even all of them could have died. This was the closest brush with death Ned had ever encountered and he survived purely out of luck. This really was a living nightmare.

Ned looked over at Violet, who was still holding his gun. His eyes widened a bit before shaking his head, trying to come to grips with his situation. Once he stopped shaking his head, he spoke.

“You... you can keep that,” Ned said to Violet, “You might need it more than me. I don’t want it anyway.”

Ned addressed Aurelien, who was apologizing.

“It’s alright,” Ned answered in a scratchy voice, “Let’s just be glad we’re all okay.”

Ned trudged toward the tin of crackers he threw and picked it up. It was dented but otherwise fine. He stuffed it back into his duffel bag and leaned against the wall, sighing heavily as his hands covered his face.

[Primrosette]

It was all over. Kind of.

Tirzah had ran off after her failed attempted-murder. Aurelien had managed to untangle himself from the wheelchair and he was apologizing to the three of them for some reason. Jeremiah had seemed to have taken his rage out against the wheelchair and now he seemed.... lost? Wanting to talk to someone? Ned was telling her to keep his gun and now he was trying to reassure the group that they were okay. That they were going to be okay.

And where did that leave her?

What were Violet's thoughts on all of this?

She honestly had no idea how she was supposed to respond to everything that had happened to them. It was very difficult for her to say to Aurelien that if he saw Tirzah again, that he might have to look past the fact that they were friends and that he might have to do something that he would regret. What if she had to make the choice of putting Tirzah down? What about Ned? What about Jeremiah? She knew that she might have to do the same to her other friends and her girlfriend. As much as she didn't want to see into that reality. She knew that there would be people hoping for an escape, she knew that some of her classmates would have faith that somebody would come to save them. She, however, did not think that that was the case. She had to think about what to do now. For herself. And for these three boys.

"Aurelien, you have nothing to be sorry about. Tirzah made her choice of trying to hurt you and for what? I won't forgive her for doing that to you. But right now...." Violet felt her shoulders slumping a little and she looked back and forth between the boys before her eyes focused solely on Aurelien. "I think that we all need to take a few minutes to calm down, talk things through and take everything in. Then we could try to make a plan of what to do next. How.... How does that sound to you guys?"

She wondered if she had been a bit too forceful with her words. Even if she could feel her heart still racing on the inside. She never really liked trying to take the lead but maybe the boys needed it for now. She felt like she had said the right thing. But she had to wait and see what they really thought.