Disclaimer: I don't own Stay Alive, sad as that fact is.
Author's Note: Newly improved :]
Three.
"Yo," Swink's voice greeted the young heroine's ears as she stepped into one of the millions of tombs that resides within the realm of the game. It was dark, eerie - and Swink knew that there were one too many of the undead in there for Jack's character to handle. It had been three weeks since they had 'met' and a glorious three weeks at that.
"Shh," Jacklyn hushed him, walking cautiously around the tomb. With her AK-47 and a candle equipped. She, too, suspected her character's death was nearing if she didn't high tail it out of there. However, just as she turned to leave the door slammed behind her. She was trapped like a rat.
"Throw the water," Swink warned, "Throw the water before they devour your skinny body."
"SHHH!" She hushed him again - refusing to throw the last holy water she possessed. Besides, if she died Swink would bring her back to life, he always did.
He laughed a bit, in that boyish way, and then heard her cursing. He knew that she'd been killed off, but he had warned her. At least, he thought, they couldn't really die in this game. The painful memories came flooding back to him. A loud sigh came across to her end.
"Swink, buddy, are you okay?" She asked softly. Jack suspected he wasn't - in those three weeks she had come to know his different tones as well as she knew any one of her old friends'.
He blinked once, allowing his brain to send him back to reality, "Yeah - I'm good."
There was silence as the two continued through the game. The silence lasted a good two minutes, before Jack had to break the silence. She was almost afraid of the silence now; Jack equated silence with betrayal and she hated the feeling that Alex had left her with.
"Hey Swink," She said, quietly.
A pause.
"Yeah?" He asked slowly. They were both trying to get their minds off of what had happened to them and both were failing miserably.
"Where are you from?" She asked - making small talk for the first time since that first day of gaming with him.
There was another pause from the light-brown-haired man.
"Why?" He asked, skepticism evident in his voice. Swink was never one to give out his location - be it virtual or real - and even though he liked Jack considerably, he still didn't trust her enough not to stalk him.
"Just curious," She replied, softly.
"Louisiana," He found himself saying.
She laughed , "That's funny, you don't sound it."
"How do you know how people from around here sound?" He retorted, almost angrily.
"I live here too, jackass," She replied, still chuckling softly to herself.
A grin spread across her face. She killed a few Zombies with the AK-47. She still hadn't been lucky enough to come into Swink's good graces which would lead her to the rocket launcher – Bastard.
"Where at in Louisiana?" Swink's voice came through the head set.
She paused, "Why?"
"Just curious," He replied.
"Curiosity killed the cat," She said.
"Good thing I'm not a cat. . . besides, satisfaction brought it back," He noted.
She rolled her eyes at the monitor. She didn't know whether to love this kid, or to hate him. But, somehow she knew he wouldn't hurt her.
"New Orleans."
A tense feeling over came him. The painful memories again. Regardless of what had happened, he had stayed there. Hutch and Abigail married and moved north, but he, he stayed behind. He remembered now: Loomis, October, and Phineas. Of course, many more than that had suffered the wrath of Elizabeth Bathory and her trickery in that stupid game, but these were his friends. He had seen them die, and it had, in some way, affected him.
"We could be neighbors," He joked after another few minutes.
"Please don't say that," She replied, softly. Her response was immediate and more serious than he had heard her.
"Why not?" Swink asked, concerned.
"My last neighbor — well he hurt me pretty bad." Alex had been her neighbor prior to moving in together and seeing him in bed with another woman had all but destroyed her soul.
"Did you move here recently?"He asked.
"Yeah."
"Is he why you moved?"
The tension that had previously belonged to Swink, now belonged to Jack. Maine and the cheating bastard surfaced her memory pool. It left her in near tears, but she somehow found strength to hold them back.
"Yeah, yeah he is," She replied, softly.
"What'd he do?" Swink asked cautiously. He suspected that she didn't want to talk about it.
"I'd rather not talk about it," She replied.
"Why not?"
"Swink, shut up," She laughed.
"Seriously, what did he do?"
"I really would rather not say." Jacklyn was getting annoyed - she heard herself becoming annoyed - and groaned as Swink replied.
"Please, Jack?"
"Why, Swink?"
Swink himself couldn't find a good enough reason to make her spill her guts to him. He wanted to hear someone else's story, that was all. He wanted a reason to not feel so bad. He wanted a reason to feel lively. Most of all though, he craved a reason and a way to forget. Swink figured, in that cute little head of his, that maybe, just maybe Jack could be that reason.
