graveyard part 4

[gamehead]

hunter's game the graveyard You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin. At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over. Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless. On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead.

Comments

[goddamnphonies]

[By this time Holden has found himself a seat; in fact, he may be wincing at Madoka's attempt to memorialize all eight people who died today on the television screen. He's learned his lesson about lying on the ground around here from Spain. So here he is in a chair and then this little girl's fist is flying into his face.

For some reason, his first thought is that if he were standing, she probably would have hit him somewhere else. His second thought is that composing a friendly demeanor towards this little bitch will be hard.]

Sayaka-chan! [Like the sayaka channel. He's hopelessly American even in death.] Long time no see, ehehe...

[fortissimos]

[ It's seeing Madoka on the screen that sets her off even more. She lunges again; this time, her hands are aimed for his neck. ]

Shut up! You... even after what you did, you kept talking to her like nothing happened! She trusted you! [ The strength goes out of her arms before she can do much of anything, and she sinks back to the ground. ] You weren't even brainwashed, but you could still kill people like that. You're worse than any of the others.

[goddamnphonies]

No. [His voice is hoarse, hallow, hollow - is it because he's tired of this game or smoked too much or confronted with the first person he ever killed? Probably all of those things. He glances at the screen before returning vaguely Sayakaward, though not meeting her eyes.]

Less experienced, mostly. That's why Ms. Carter could do a neater job on your accomplice.

[fortissimos]

I don't care. You didn't have to— you could have been faster.

[ Could have left her less mangled, made the video less awful for the others to watch. She laughs; a harsh, unamused sound. ]

Don't you get it? I'm glad that you stopped me, but I'll never forgive you for that. Madoka... she was always gonna be sad, but she had to carry what was left of my body out of there.

[goddamnphonies]

[His mouth twists; he's not sure how to squirm out of this one. Maybe he doesn't have to...] Never figured out where the bodies go. Did you ever notice that? They disappear after about a day.

Never's not a very long time anymore, though. I don't really deserve your forgiveness. May not have been a murderer before I became a wolf, but I am not that great a guy. So... [So he doesn't care.]

[fortissimos]

[ She wants to hit him again.

She really, really wants to.

But in the end, she's probably worse. She raises her fist as if for one last punch, but it falls limply at her side. ]

... Whatever. It doesn't even matter anymore. [ He's dead now, and nobody here can hurt Madoka. There's no point to taking her anger out. ]