BT612L; Night 005; audio; private to RE419S, LO431Y

[ichoosefight]

In case you guys are still worried, I'm not out looking for Sameen. Sorry if I scared you.

[ Her voice is entirely businesslike, not annoyed or smug... or particularly apologetic. ]

She seems stable enough that I don't think she's going to shoot anyone accidentally. Intentionally I'm not sure about, but I'll be keeping an eye on her. From a distance.

Still heading south-east. Can you give me any specifics on your location?

Comments

[aluminumandash]

Dehydrated, hunger's not so bad. I'm being stingy with the fruit, figure I've got a couple days before it starts to spoil. [ As for his mental state, he's not particularly keen on getting into that with her, but: ] Thanks for checking in.

You hear the announcements, where you're at?

[ichoosefight]

Yeah, it started today. I guess that means I'm close. Or at least, closer than I was. I'll have to start working my way up the steeper terrain in the morning. If I can figure out how to pinpoint your location it'll be a lot faster.

[aluminumandash]

[ He breathes out. ] I don't want you coming after me. [ His voice is steady but slight. That sentence out, it dissolves into static.

When he speaks again, his eyes are fixed on a crack in the cell wall. The words sound hollow. ] My pops, my dad, he was in Nam. I don't wanna drag you through the jungle. Be worse than dying.

[ichoosefight]

Nobody's dragging me anywhere.

[ Her voice is gentle, reasonable. ]

I'm going where I choose to go because I think it's the right choice. Besides, I've survived worse than the jungle. I know what I'm doing.

[ She can't say if the gang war was worse than Vietnam, but it was a hell of a lot worse than this place. ]

[aluminumandash]

Survival ain't the point. [ Travis Cohle'd survived, made it out. Gone to a place ruled by cold and dark.

Still, that jungle lived in his head. Inflamed his imagination. ] I don't want this, alright? Can you respect that?

[ichoosefight]

Not if it might make the difference in you surviving. I'm sorry. That's just who I am.

cw: suicide/ideation

[aluminumandash]

[ A long silent spell. It's a test. There's an easy way out, if he weren't too chickenshit to take it. Bullet to the head versus a girl wandering alone in the fucking jungle.

He closes his eyes. Dull, defeated: ] Listen, listen. I think it's winding down. Some of the lights around here, they're dimming. Announcements're getting sluggish. [ Unless that's him hearing things after hours of confinement, understimulation. ] Another twelve hours, a day [ —extremely generous estimates— ] maybe the whole place is out of commission.

[ And maybe that means the cells pop open, but maybe it means they're rendered incapable of doing so. ]

[ichoosefight]

Another 12 hours and your kidneys might shut down. I can bring you water.

[aluminumandash]

[ He at least knows better than to ask if she's even within twelve hours of him. ] I've got mangoes, this other fruit that's real watery. I'll tough it out.

[ichoosefight]

And you'll need help getting more. Food and water nearby does no good if you're too weak to reach it.

Why are you being so weird about this? We've been here 5 days, if the drones could spot us through the brush we'd all be in there right now.

[aluminumandash]

Yeah, and Shaw died. [ His voice sputters, a little, on the last word. Like a boat run aground. ]

I'm being realistic. You're young, you got skills all these other people need. My life ain't worth that.

[ichoosefight]

I've got skills you need.

[ She continues to explain gently but firmly, not a teenager arguing that they're an adult, but an adult laying out the training she's received. ]

One of those skills happens to be finding the enemy before the enemy finds me. Another is reacting to the first sign of an attack to minimize damage. If I'm careless enough to be spotted I still have to be slow enough to get hit, and crossbows are much slower than bullets.

Sameen has Marine training, I think. They teach you to fight. I was taught to make sure nobody dies. That includes you, me, and everyone else.

[aluminumandash]

Who the hell's Sameen? [ He asks, kneejerk, before it clicks.

Rust goes quiet. There's no point appealing to reason, he learned as much when she set her sights on Shaw, but that doesn't stop him from marveling at the arrogance. She doesn't know the terrain, doesn't know what the enemy looks like or how many of them there might be. ]

Everything dies, though. Just my turn to look that in the eye.

[ichoosefight]

God, what is it with cops and last names?

[ She says, as if Batman hasn't been calling her 'Miss Brown' since she was 15. ]

Stop it, okay? You're not dying. This isn't even a difficult mission. I have supplies and time and I'm not going in blind. The only risk I face getting to you that I don't face out here is an unmaned facility that Martin walked out of without a problem. He was starved and dehydrated. I'm not.

[aluminumandash]

Keeps things in perspective. [ He says it as much to remind himself as in answer to the question. ]

You going on about how easy it's gonna be isn't, it's not soothing me. What it's doing is telling me you're not making an accurate assessment of the situation. And that's happened before, yeah? With Shaw.

[ichoosefight]

[ She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She needs to make some decisions, and being irritated when people underestimate her isn't helping. She's being underestimated because that was her goal. That's not his fault.

When she starts up again her voice is quiet and steady, her irritation under control. ]

I lost my temper with Sameen- with Shaw. But the only thing she was consistent about was wanting to protect me. I used that to keep her talking. The only thing I could hold over her head was my own wellbeing. I was never going to wander aimlessly through the jungle without rest, and I was never going to put finding an ex-marine ahead of my own life. I'm sorry that I made you think I was, but I needed to know how dangerous she was going to be. I was assessing the situation.

Here's my assessment now:

I have enough food for 4 more small meals. I can boil about half a gallon of water. The spear I made is sturdy enough to kill at a distance of about 7 feet with my current strength. If the weather holds, I can cross this jungle at about a mile an hour. That means I can reach you and have plenty of time to gather more supplies if there are no interruptions.

The people that got Shaw have been keeping a low profile. That means they're traveling in relatively small groups. That's good for stealth and mobility, but not strength. They have the advantage in numbers, terrain, equipment and energy. Most likely they're also physically larger and stronger than I am. Sound about right?

[aluminumandash]

[ He asked for it. But it leaves him more off-balance than expected, thinking of her creeping through the jungle, stretching her supplies thin. Taking an arrow to the throat while boiling her little bit of water, and all on his account.

He switches off the walkie. Goes ten minutes before he turns it back on. ] You know what the range on a crossbow is? Conservative estimate? Forty yards. They got a base out here, you don't know where it is or how big. [ Because she was too busy anointing herself the only one who cared about Shaw's supposed mental break—but he clamps down on that thought. ] Maybe they got watch stations too, communication methods. Could fill a book, what we don't know.

And you have a stick.

[ichoosefight]

[ She expected him to need a minute. After all, the odds are against her. If she was a normal 19 year-old they would be deadly. She knows her odds, and they're pretty damn good. ]

Listen. Nothing I say is going to convince you that none of that is a huge problem for me. And nothing you say is going to stop me from travelling around the big scary jungle until I find a good, reliable source of food and water. That in itself is just as dangerous as looking for a holding facility.

Maybe you should just conserve your energy for now, yeah?

[aluminumandash]

Knowing you're out there, you're doing this— [ The sentence dangles there, off a cliff. His hand tight on the walkie. ]

How many times I have to tell you I don't want it?

[ichoosefight]

If you're planning on going for the record, it'll take at least 4 years. But those guys finally caved, so I think it'd be a big waste of time.

[aluminumandash]

[ No response. ]