BlackWatcher1234: Shout out to you for giving me some sick ideas. Might steal some of them.
FriggleBerry: It's an excellent idea to have Maynard build a sword. I'll probably put that in some time. Also, I'm glad you like the story.
Silentmayhem: Actually I agree, but I'm not really sure how to implement a Reaper conflict. If you have any ideas let me know.
Chamberstaneshia69: I'll keep that in mind.
Finshadow212th: Thanks for your feedback. If it was Star Wars it would be prequel era and focus heavily on a few OCs. I'm sure other characters would make appearances, though I'm really that aware of Star Wars stuff, so you'd have to bear with me as I figured it all out. As to TWD, that would be a 100% original story. I think there's a lot of fun to be had there.
Williams1996: I'm sure he will get a name from them, though I haven't exactly decided what name that would be.
Scurra71900: You're welcome!
Another exciting chapter of The Man Who Belonged on Earth.
My eyes opened to view the inside of a bar. It was a cozy kind of place where all types of people would come to unwind after work. There were numerous band posters on the wall and instruments laying the corner on the opposite side of the room from the bar. They leaned against the wall on a slightly raised stage.
Tables were scattered around the room on the right, while the actual bar was on the left. Bottles of liquor stood in glass cabinets behind the bar. There were multiple kinds of whiskey, brandy, scotch, and other kinds of drinks. Light from the bulbs in the ceiling refracted through the brown liquids and glittered golden against the walls.
"Hey again," A voice spoke from an area behind the bar. "I see you're back, less confused this time."
My eyes flicked over to the door behind the bar. It appeared that it led back to a kitchen. Next to the door was Chris Cornell. I was back in the dream world.
"You look surprised," Chris commented walking calmly.
"Maybe a bit," I said slowly, still standing in the doorway. "I wasn't tryin' to meet ya."
"No…" Chris said slowly but thoughtfully.
A wistful expression crossed his face as he sat at the bar. I approached and sat next to him. We sat in silence for a moment. I noticed that I was wearing my jeans and flannel again, but this time I wore a Nirvana shirt, just like the one I owned before. It was odd that I was wearing clothes that I owned in my previous life.
"If I wasn't tryin' to meet ya then how am I here?" I asked turning my head to face Chris.
Chris sighed. He looked different from last time I saw him. His hair was longer, and he had on a gray button up with some sort of Japanese character on it. It seemed that everything was different from last time, the location, our appearances, and the weather outside wasn't rainy. For all I knew we weren't even in Seattle anymore.
"Yes, we are," Chris said suddenly.
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. Chris turned to me with a light smirk on his face.
"We're still in Seattle," Chris said.
I laid my head back in frustration over my own stupidity and groaned loudly.
"Mindreadin' asshole," I quipped.
Chris laughed lightly like he found my comment funny but didn't really care what I said. The half-hearted laugh reminded me of someone with depression issues. It was like Chris was aware of my joke, but he was so busy dealing with his own mental state that he didn't have time to laugh at jokes.
"Seems like you're in better control of your life now than when we first met," Chris said.
"I guess I am," I agreed. "But there's a lot goin' on right now. There's a lot of relationship shit I'm dealin' with right now."
Chris hummed in response. He nodded slowly considering my statements. Deep in thought, Chris continued nodding, but remained his slightly despondent silence.
"This about a girl?" Chris asked finally.
I was a bit surprised by his question. Casting my mind back to the events I had experienced, I didn't think it was about a girl at all. I knew that I had worked out my issues with Clarke personally. I hadn't spoken to her yet, but I knew that conversation was coming in the near future. As for the others though, I didn't consider whether or not I was interested.
"I'm going to go with yes on that," Chris answered his own question.
I looked up finding Chris with my eyes. It was a sudden movement, a confused face, and a mind curious to know Chris' perspective.
"Look," He said turning in his seat to face me squared up. "If you have to question it. You probably are thinking about a girl."
I groaned and plopped my head down into my hands on the bar in front of me. I was so sure that this wasn't about Clarke, but maybe I was wrong?
"Just tell me what you're thinking about," Chris said.
"You know what I'm thinkin'," I said sarcastically.
"I want to hear the story," Chris said softly. "I know what you're thinking of, but I don't know the context."
Well," I huffed. "She's called Clarke, and I liked her for a while, but I lost those feelin's. Seeing every side of her just tells me we won't work. I don't want her."
Chris stayed silent for a long moment. Then suddenly, he stood and walked to the cabinet behind the bar. Chris looked through the bottles, occasionally grabbing one and inspecting it. At last he withdrew a bottle of dark brown whiskey. It had a label on it, but I didn't recognize it. He grabbed glasses and the bottle bringing them over to the bar. He sat and poured the brown liquor into each glass.
I snatched my glass up and swallowed all the liquid inside in a single gulp. Then I immediately grabbed the bottle and pulled it closer to me, wanting to have easy access to the alcohol. Chris chuckled at my behavior.
"Are you sure?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," I answered honestly. "She's just too," I paused to think of the right word. "Controlling."
Chris nodded in understanding.
"She makes a great leader," I admitted. "The rest of the hundred would follow her lead anywhere, but after bein' around her for a while…I just don't feel the same anymore."
"I'd keep an open mind if I were you," Chris advised. "Feelings are complicated, and you might not be able to understand them. I can see your feelings though, there's someone out there. You just don't know it yet."
I narrowed my eyes in confusion, "Can we talk about somethin' else?" I asked.
Chris stood from the bar stool, draining his glass of whiskey.
"Come on," Chris gestured for me to stand as well.
We walked out the door to see a gray overcast sky. Dark clouds gathered ominously in the distance. Thunder rumbled and a blue mist fell below the clouds, rain from a distance.
"You see it?" Chris questioned.
I nodded. It was obvious and evident to anyone who had eyes. Chris walked off down the street and I followed sipping from the whiskey bottle as I did.
"The next few weeks are going to be hard," Chris said. "There's a lot going on. Many of you will die."
He stopped by the side of a building and slid down the wall to the ground. I stood for a moment watching Chris as he ran a hand though his hair.
"Sit," He encouraged holding his hand open over the spot of ground next to him.
I sighed and sat next to him.
"Maynard," He began seriously. "A storm's coming. The best you can do now is make it through alive and try to rescue the people you care about."
"That's morbid," I commented.
"The future's dark," Chris agreed. "Find whatever light you can now, because there won't be much later."
"Great," I said sarcastically. "There anythin' ya can do to help?"
Chris stayed silent for a moment, contemplating my question. He whispered something unintelligible to himself. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to my enhanced senses in the dream realm. After a long moment, Chris reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a gold object.
"It isn't much," Chris said looking at whatever was in his hands. "But not much is better than nothing."
He closed his hands and placed the gold object into my hands. It felt like some kind of object on a gold chain, a necklace maybe. I held the end of the necklace while the chain dangled out of my fist down towards the ground. I met Chris' eyes.
"Thank ya," I said genuinely.
Chris smiled lightly then looked back to the sky again. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
"Try to stay alive," Chris said as my vision began to darken. "Find your girl too and keep her alive. You won't forgive yourself if you don't."
The thunder rumbled again, but this time it was much closer. I joined Chris in looking up at the rapidly approaching clouds and took a swig of the whiskey as I returned to reality.
"So how many were there?" Bellamy asked. "Not how many captured you, but how many were at the barracks? Twenty? Thirty?"
"I'd say more," Maynard answered leaning back in his chair casually.
Silence greeted Maynard's words. No one was comfortable with that idea. There were about ninety of the delinquents, and none of them, save Maynard and Bellamy, were capable enough to fight a war. Sure, they finally had actual weaponry, but no one really knew how to use them. Plus, a good portion of the available ammo was defective.
"Do you have a guess?" Clarke asked, vestiges of concern creeping onto her face.
Maynard crossed his arms and sighed in thought. He brought one hand up to the golden necklace he wore, rubbing his fingers over the ornament attached there. On his necklace was a six-pointed star, the star of David. It was a curious object for a man like Maynard to own.
Still looking down to the ground Maynard answered, "At least a hundred."
Every face in the tent blanched. To her left, Clarke cupped her hands over her mouth with wide eyes. To her left Bellamy swore explosively. Across from her Finn stood motionless, exhaling heavily.
"It's a pretty rough guess," Maynard commented. "But that's about how many I could sense from inside a damn cell." He dropped his hand from the star of David necklace and ran his hand through his hair.
"At least we can defend ourselves now," Bellamy said trying to be optimistic. "We have the upper hand, at least as far as weaponry goes."
"Yeah," Finn jumped in. "About that, I'm not really sure it's a good idea to have guns around."
Maynard groaned audibly.
Finn, who stood next to Maynard, turned towards the sitting man looking at him with serious confusion. It didn't look like Finn actually understood why they should have guns.
"Why?" Clarke asked.
"They're dangerous," Finn said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah they are," Maynard said. "But that don't mean we shouldn't have them."
"You seriously trust Bellamy and his lackeys with guns?" Finn questioned to the rest of the group aside from Bellamy.
"W-" Bellamy tried to speak, but Clarke interrupted him with a raised hand.
"I trust Bellamy," Clarke told Finn. "And we need the guns, otherwise we don't have a chance against the grounders."
"Why do we even need to fight the grounders?" Finn questioned. "Why are we ruling out a discussion?"
"Did ya miss the part where the assholes kidnapped me?" Maynard asked.
"Were you in their territory?" Finn asked hotly.
"No," Maynard answered calmly contrasting against Finn's anger. "They crossed the river."
Finn sighed and threw his hands up in the air angrily, slapping them back down against his thighs.
"Back me up Raven?" Finn questioned the young woman who had yet to speak on the topic of guns.
"Look Finn," Raven started slowly. "I know you don't like it, but we need the guns. How else can we defend ourselves from the grounders?"
"Thank ya," Maynard responded holding an open hand out towards Raven in appreciation.
"There's no reason why we need to keep them around unless they attack us though," Finn argued.
"When's that gonna happen?" Maynard questioned.
"He's right," Bellamy spoke up. "We don't know when they'll show up. They could attack in the middle of the night. If they do, then the patrol needs to be able to defend themselves long enough to warn the rest of us."
"I don't know about any of that," Finn returned. "But something's going to go wrong. I can feel it."
"Yer feelin's ain't an argument," Maynard said. "If ya don't got a logical reason why we shouldn't keep our guns around, then we're keepin' them."
Raven had to agree with that point. Logic was paramount in this situation, but she hated that it turned out that Finn was the only one arguing for his side. He had no support in this situation.
"Look," Clarke said. "Finn, we need these guns. I respect what you're saying, and I get it."
"I don't," Maynard quipped over Clarke's voice.
Clarke inhaled trying to keep her composure, "Guns are dangerous, but so are the grounders," She said.
"There's not much to worry about anyway," Maynard assured Finn. "It'll only be a problem if people do stupid shit with the rifles."
Finn looked skeptical. Raven actually agreed with Maynard, though it seemed inevitable that people would do 'stupid shit', as Maynard had put it.
"So…" Bellamy started. "Do we want to put it to a vote?"
"What's the point?" Finn asked. "We already know what the verdict is going to be."
"What if someone's lyin'?" Maynard asked unhelpfully.
"All in favor?" Raven asked wanting to stop another argument before it started. They couldn't sit around and bicker about the ethics of guns all day.
Raven raised her hand as she spoke. Maynard's hand was in the air only a split second later. Bellamy's followed, and Clarke was last, reluctantly raising her hand.
"Well that's that," Maynard commented.
"You're all wrong about this," Finn said shaking his head in frustration. "This will come back to bite us in the ass. It will."
The spacewalker turned and left the tent, pushing the flap aside with a vengeance. He was pissed, and Raven didn't even need any of Finn's usual tells to notice that.
Clarke sighed placing her hands to her face and looking up at the ceiling of the tent. Light filtered through it faintly, leaving the inside slightly darkened, but not black.
"What are we going to do about the bullets?" Bellamy asked obviously wanting to move the conversation on to something more constructive. "Most of them don't work."
"I'll figure that out," Raven volunteered. "I can mix new powder and remake the bad ones."
"How?" Clarke questioned.
"Just got to find the right chemicals," Raven said simply.
"Potassium Nitrate and Sulfur," Maynard nodded, naming the necessary elements to create the explosion in gunpowder. "The rest's just charcoal."
"Okay where do we get those?" Clarke asked.
"Potassium Nitrate is in the soil, caves, and a bunch of other places," Raven said. "Won't be hard to find."
"What about the Sulfur?" Bellamy questioned.
"Caves again," Maynard answered this time. "There're deposits in the walls. We can just burn wood and bury it to make charcoal."
"Great," Clarke said. "So Raven, you can handle that."
"I'll help ya," Maynard spoke up as he fiddled with his necklace again.
"You'll need to train everyone with the guns," Clarke pointed out.
"Yeah," Maynard agreed. "I'll do that." He turned to Bellamy, "Help me out?"
"I got you," Bellamy responded.
"Great well now that that's sorted out, we have to plan for the Unity Day celebration," Clarke said. "Jaha wants us to listen in on the radio."
"Stick some of the speakers on the outside of the dropship," Maynard said. "I'm not party plannin'."
With that the redneck stood and left the tent unceremoniously. He wasn't much for dramatics.
"I guess the council is disbanded then," Bellamy remarked.
Voices floated to my ears from all different locations in the camp. They discussed our progress, the grounders, but mostly they talked about the need for a break.
Unity Day was today. Personally, I didn't put much stock in holidays, but that didn't mean I wouldn't appreciate the break just as much as the rest of the delinquents. Even still, Unity Day held no significance for me, as I hadn't lived aboard the Ark my entire life. This could be their equivalent of Independence Day, my personal favorite holiday.
Independence Day held the most actual significance of any holiday. Obviously, Christmas did as well, but it only held such a significance to Christians, otherwise it was just an excuse to get and give presents. Besides, Jesus wasn't even born on Christmas, he was born in the spring sometime.
I didn't do well with all the hoopla occurring. We currently stood in front of a tiny television, smaller than my laptop monitor had been, watching Jaha give a Unity Day speech. I had a front row seat, standing in front of the TV and off to the left next to Raven. She was the only reason I was in front of the TV now.
Raven and I had become much closer after spending the last week or so making bullets for hours a day. It gave time to talk about stuff and to spend time in each other's company in close proximity. She had found out a great deal of things about me. She'd learned about my parents that I had somehow forced into existence, some of my favorite things to do, and even some of my personal values and beliefs. One of those beliefs centered around the necklace I now wore.
After Chris gave me the necklace, I had found knowledge of things I never understood in my mind. Somehow, through giving me the necklace, Chris had converted me to Judaism.
It didn't make much sense, but I had learned to quit questioning this weird world months ago. Now, I found myself thinking about Shabbat, Rash Hashanah, and other Jewish traditions. Ingrained in me now was the desire to practice my faith, although it was difficult. I had actually missed my first Shabbat, the day of rest performed on the Sabbath from Friday night to Saturday night, as a newly converted Orthodox Jew.
After sharing this fact with Raven, she questioned me about my parents. I didn't look like a Jew, that was certain, so I had changed my past by telling her that my mother was Jewish, and my father had converted to marry her for the sake of tradition. Then I told her I took after my father in both my appearance, and in my way of speaking.
To her credit, Raven also pointed out that I wasn't practicing anything currently. I excused this by saying that I had been far too caught up in trying to stay alive up to this point.
During our conversations, I had learned things too. Raven shared events from her childhood, good memories mostly. Those good memories involved Finn most of the time, and I could understand why Raven had fallen for him. Finn had saved her life, which just made his betrayal all the harder to swallow.
After those discussions surrounding Finn, I slowly grew to not like the guy so much. I had been okay with him thus far, and had even saved his life once, but now, he was among my least favorite people around. I hated how he had treated Raven, but without that conflict, the two of us probably wouldn't have the friendship we now had.
Raven had dragged me from her tent, where we made the bullets, to the TV. She told me this was important, so I went.
"My friends," Jaha said. "This is an historic Unity Day."
I snorted. 'An historic', while technically grammatically correct sounded incredibly pretentious. I guess I didn't really expect anything less from Jaha though.
"Every year we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the Ark," Jaha continued. "But this is the last time we do so while aboard her. Next year…on the ground."
"Right," Miller said sarcastically. "After we did all the work."
"Ya'd rather be up there waitin' to die of oxygen deprivation?" I asked turning my eyes to the beanie wearing man.
Miller huffed, "Someone shut him up," he said. I wasn't sure whether that comment was directed at me or the Chancellor.
"You shut up Miller," Raven defended me. "No one's forcing you to watch."
Miller huffed again.
"Spoken like a true Libertarian," I commented leaning down to speak to Raven.
Raven rolled her eyes and I smirked before turning my attention back to the screen.
"For ninety-seven years we have eked out an existence, hoping that someday our descendants would return to Earth," Jaha said through the TV. The man had a way with words.
I tuned out the broadcast at that point. Instead, I sat on the ground and started playing with one of my knives. I twirled it back and forth in my hand, holding it first inverted, then forward. Taking a few experimental slashes and thrusts, I considered new techniques I could use to dismember somebody.
Looking up from the dirt, I saw Raven staring at Clarke and Finn, who conversed quietly on the dropship ramp. That was one subject I hadn't had the heart to bring up. I just couldn't bring myself to talk to Raven about Clarke, and she wouldn't bring up the blonde either. A week ago, I had put to bed any questions of my relationship with Clarke.
The conversation had been surprisingly short and simple. I told Clarke I didn't exactly have any feelings for her, and Clarke had reciprocated this. Shockingly, we'd cleared the air fairly quickly. One side effect of this was it opened the door for Raven to question her boyfriend's loyalty further. I knew Clarke and Finn hadn't slept together since the night before Raven's arrival, but Raven didn't. My best bet to help Raven was to wait for her to bring up the subject of Clarke to me. I didn't want to force her into anything.
Clarke locked eyes with Raven, and after a moment's hesitation she left Finn while Raven's gaze smoldered after Clarke.
The problem with this disagreement was that I wasn't sure whether I was an involved third wheel, a minor cog, or a total outsider simply consulting on the love triangle. Or maybe it was a love quadrangle? I didn't have a damn clue.
"Whoooo! Yeah!" The sound of Jasper's cheering broke me from my thoughts.
I flicked my knife back to an inverted position and turned my head towards the sound simultaneously. What I saw was Jasper, wearing his goggles, holding a small cask of some liquid. It smelled like drain cleaner.
"Monty strikes again!" Jasper shouted happily as he lifted his goggles off his eyes.
Moonshine. Monty and Jasper had made some bootleg moonshine. Sniffing the air again, I questioned if the liquid in the cask was even safe to drink. It smelled more like rubbing alcohol than a beverage. Hopefully, we wouldn't all be wasted tomorrow morning, though with this group, that was unlikely.
"Call this batch unity juice," Jasper said in a rush as he jogged into the crowd whose attention was entirely on him. "Who's thirsty?"
The whole group turned into a throbbing mass of amalgamated energy and excitement. People walked up to Jasper holding out their canteens eagerly awaiting the moonshine. Today was a holiday. There was no work to do, so they were going to party.
I ducked my head to avoid being ran over by the stampede of alcoholics. Many passed around me, and thankfully I wasn't touched a single time in the first wave. For a moment there was an opening to stand up, so I did, putting myself in a much less precarious position. I sheathed my knife to avoid accidentally cutting anyone who wasn't paying attention.
Looking around, I saw that the only other people who weren't happily running up to Jasper were two of the three gate guards, Finn, and Octavia. It was the dark-haired girl who drew my attention as she capitalized on the confusion and quietly escaped camp. Finn too watched her go, though he was much more confused about her disappearance than I was.
A little over a week ago, Octavia had explained to me her relationship with Lincoln. Or more accurately, I noticed something was up with her and wouldn't take no for an answer. She was a little conflicted at first, but I had encouraged the relationship so long as she avoided revealing any secrets to the grounder. Octavia had correctly pointed out that there wasn't much for Lincoln to find out and had explained that Lincoln would likely be cast out by his own people for his relationship with Octavia.
The crowd continued to throb around Jasper and his cask of moonshine. Everyone wanted a piece of that action. The voices in the crowd had become an unceasing drone, much like Jaha's speech. That's when I realized Jaha wasn't speaking anymore. All I could hear was radio static. My eyes confirmed this, as I turned to look at the tiny TV. The screen was now a flickering gray.
Stepping towards the screen, I picked up the radio from next to the TV.
"Ark?" I questioned into the mic. "Come in. Come in Ark station."
I let go of the push to talk button. Only static answered.
"Come in Ark," I spoke again.
Still no answer.
I dropped the radio and turned the screen off. You had to conserve power where you could.
"Fuck," I swore. "Fuck. Shit. Fuck."
"What happened?" Finn stood next to me. "You're cussing like a sailor."
"The fuckin' signal dropped," I hissed. I pounded a fist once against the wooden table supporting the TV.
"Didn't think you cared about Unity Day," Finn said. "Not being much for Unity and all."
"It ain't about the pretty speeches and shit," I shot back. "There's somethin' wrong. Somethin' happened up there." I pointed towards the sky.
"Or it could just be bad connection," Finn pointed out.
"You try it then," I said accentuating the pronunciation of the word you.
Finn raised his eyebrows and proceeded to fiddle with the TV for a minute or two. Nothing happened.
"Okay…" Finn said slowly. "That's weird."
"Exactly," I agreed my tone still holding threatening tones.
"Look Maynard," Finn said turning towards me with false confidence. "I don't know what your problem is with me, but whatever it is you should probably get over it."
"My problem is that ya strut around like some entitled shithead," I said. "I saved yer life a few weeks ago, and it don't mean shit to ya." I threw my hands out gesturing aggressively. "Well, newsflash, I didn't have to do that. Now I'm even startin' to regret it a bit."
"Regret it?" Finn questioned frustration pouring out of him as well now. "You only regret because I'm closer to Raven than you are."
I made a confused expression and shrugged like what he said made no sense. Raven and I were good friends, but that was all.
"That ain't it at all chief," I responded. "It's just you. First, ya didn't want any guns in camp at all. That's stupid as hell. Second, ya want us to try and make peace with the grounders?" I referenced a meeting we had a couple of days ago when Finn tried to persuade us to the side of non-violence.
"Yeah!" Finn shouted. "Only because you and Bellamy just want to fight them! Bellamy can't get over the fact that Octavia got kidnapped, and you can't get over the fact that you got kidnapped."
"Gettin' kidnapped was a minor nuisance," I responded much calmer than before. "Plus, I got a sword out of the deal." I opened my hands in a gesture that told Finn he should acknowledge my point.
"After you killed the woman who owned it," Finn shot back coldly.
"What did ya expect me to do?" I asked. "Sit there until they executed me? 'Cause that's what they were gonna do."
"Maybe we'd be better off for it," Finn said making no attempt to hide his words.
"Great," I said sarcastically. "Because I haven't done jack shit so far!"
"Hey!" I whipped my head around to see Clarke barging through the crowd, Raven hot on her heels.
She looked pissed.
"What the hell is going on?" Clarke asked while Raven crossed her arms behind the blonde.
"Communication's out," I said truthfully.
"Huh?" Clarke was caught off guard by my comment. It was always good to have a curveball to throw someone to get them off your back.
"Yeah," I continued. "TV went out just like that." I snapped my fingers for emphasis.
"Did you try to make contact with the radio?" Raven asked walking towards the TV.
"Yeah," I answered. "Nothin' from the other side."
Raven continued past me but glared at Finn as she passed him. I smirked evilly at spacewalker. She's pissed at you and doesn't care about my involvement.
"Tell about the shouting then May," Clarke spoke. "Where'd that come from?"
"My mouth," I said sarcastically.
"I came over to see what was going on," Finn explained. "He obviously wasn't in a good mood, and he never has liked me. He said he regretted saving my life."
"And yer so innocent," I shot back. "Ya were the one who said I shoulda waited patiently for the grounders to execute me!"
"Enough!" Clarke shouted over me as Finn prepared to clap back.
Clarke sighed audibly. She rubbed her hands over her face as groaned in frustration.
"Today is Unity Day," Clarke said. "We're trying to have a good time on our day off, and you two are totally ruining it for the rest of us."
The whole crowd had gone silent now. They watched the drama in rapt attention.
"Yes mom," Finn said rolling his eyes.
Clarke smiled. That was favoritism if I had ever seen it. The fact the Clarke still found the spacewalker funny even after all his lies and deceptions was unbelievable to me. It was like unfailingly supporting a politician.
"May?" Clarke prompted me.
"Fine," I responded with a shake of my head. "But if that asshat comes anywhere near me, I can't promise that he'll leave uninjured."
Clarke huffed. I looked over my shoulder to observe Raven's reaction. Her attention was totally on me. She mouthed the words, 'talk later?' I nodded discretely in response. Raven smiled at me despite all the bullshit.
"What are ya'll lookin' at?" I asked to the crowd provocatively.
The members of the crowd looked back and forth at each other with concern on their faces. My eyes lit on an object I thought would be very useful right now.
I pushed my way to Jasper and his cask of moonshine. When I reached goggle boy, I snatched the cask from his hands and poured the moonshine, one-handed, into my own canteen. I gave the cask back when I finished and took a long draught of the odd smelling substance.
It even tasted like drain cleaner.
"It's just," Maynard paused and looked up and to the right. "It's like he's overly controllin'. He's kinda authoritarian."
"Well," Raven spoke up wondering how to defend her boyfriend's actions. "I know he can be…overbearing, but it's because he cares."
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," Maynard said leaning back in the dropship seat in Raven's tent. "They said the same thing in Russia when the Bolsheviks overthrew the Czars. Lenin told the people just how much he cared about them. What happened?" Maynard shrugged his arms and shoulders at once. "Years of poverty and millions dead all in the name of helpin' the people." Maynard made air quotes as he said the people.
"Yeah but Finn's just one guy," Raven said. "And he's not a psychopath like Stalin."
She saw the logic in Maynard's argument, but she didn't see how that twentieth century history applied to Finn specifically.
"Everybody thought Stalin was alright until he started sendin' his people to death camps," Maynard pointed out.
Raven huffed, not understanding why Maynard was comparing Finn to Joseph Stalin. She agreed that Stalin was a horrible human being, and that authoritarianism was usually bad, but that didn't have much to do with Finn individually.
"I understand that," Raven said leaning forward on her cot and resting her arms on her knees. "I just don't get what it has to do with Finn."
"It's not Finn," Maynard explained. "It's his ideology. He wants to take the guns so we can't defend ourselves. He expects us to reason with people we don't know shit about who also declared war on us."
"He doesn't want people to die," Raven tried to defend Finn, but her resolve to do so was failing.
Finn had broken her trust so many times, and she could only defend him for so long. At some point she had to say enough was enough, plant her feet in the ground, and not let Finn control her anymore.
"I don't either," Maynard assured her. "But conflict's unavoidable. They hate us merely for bein' here. How does that not end in conflict?"
"I don't know," Raven said softly.
They sat in awkward silence for a moment, but Raven barely noticed Maynard's presence. All she could think about was Finn. His misconceptions didn't make him a bad person. That wasn't the problem. Finn was a good guy, and Raven loved him, but under these new circumstances, many of his flaws, which had previously been hidden to her, were revealed.
"Sorry to do this to ya right now," Maynard broke the silence. "It's supposed to be a holiday. We're supposed to have fun today, and I'm just ruinin' today for ya."
Raven breathed slowly in and out as she rubbed her left eye with the back of her hand. She didn't know what to do about Finn. With his cheating and lack of commitment to her recently, Raven felt like she didn't even know her boyfriend anymore. The quiet moments he shared with Clarke really bothered her because he looked just like he had when he was with her a year ago. Raven wondered if Finn still loved her.
"Ya want me to get ya some of that shitty moonshine?" Maynard asked.
Raven started and looked up to see the short man standing over her. He moved like a ghost gliding over the ground, smoothly and soundlessly.
"Yeah," Raven sighed. "I probably need it."
"Figured as much," Maynard smiled laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
Raven watched him go feeling something indescribable as his fingers receded from her skin. She was struck by the contrast between the feeling she had and the rough and scarred texture of his hands. His hands weren't big or beefy, instead they were wiry but strong and covered in scars. Maynard touch was surprisingly gentle despite his sort of dark exterior. It actually reminded Raven of how she felt when Finn would go out of his way to help her not even a year ago.
Then, despite the depressed feeling inside her, Raven found herself smiling.
In the darkness torches lit up the camp. Voices around me talked loudly and happily. I could practically feel the buzz of drunkenness in the air. It made me smile for some reason, though that could just be the moonshine talking.
I sat alone outside, having left Raven alone hours ago. She didn't seem to be in the right state of mind to have fun right now. Raven hadn't left her tent since I'd spoken to her. Based on the smell wafting from said tent though, she was making bullets. I'd thought about going to help her but had decided against it. If she didn't want to talk, she probably wouldn't want to see me either.
"Yo Maaayyyy!" I turned my head at the sound of my nickname being drawn out way long than normal.
Standing behind me was Jasper, his goggles set haphazardly on his head. I raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction.
"C'mon man aren't you having fun?" Jasper asked belligerently.
"I was," I muttered under my breath. Then, speaking louder, I asked, "Whaddya want?"
"A couple of us are going to play a game," Jasper revealed his reason for coming. "Wanna come?"
I narrowed my eyes at the skinny guy. He was too drunk to squirm under my harsh gaze. I looked back at Raven's tent, wondering when she would come out and if she'd want to speak to me. I sighed audibly.
"Yeah sure," I answered finally standing to my feet. "What're we doin'?"
"I'll show you when we get there," Jasper said slurring his words. "I'll have to explain everything again otherwise."
I followed Jasper to a low-lying table where multiple people sat. Clarke was there, as were Monty, Darius, Monroe, Miller, and the Arabic guy that was stuck in the cave during the acid fog. I'd forgotten his name.
"He's here guys," Jasper cheered as he paraded me around like a show dog.
"Just let me sit man," I pleaded with the skinny drunk.
"Fine," Jasper let go of my arm as I moved to sit in between Miller and Darius.
Miller nodded as I sat, and Darius gave me a grin of epic proportions.
"So," Jasper sat next to Monty. "Want to do the honors Monty?"
"Basically," Monty opened as he pulled evenly cut slips of paper from his pocket. "It's a lying game. There are two teams, the werewolves and the villagers."
The group nodded along with his explanation, but I quickly tuned it out because I knew what he was talking about instantly. Werewolf was a game I had played in my previous life. The wolves had to kill all the villagers before the villagers discovered and executed the wolves. People at the table questioned Monty after his explanation, but nobody asked anything I was unaware of.
"Ready?" Monty asked. "I'll moderate the first game, but after that we'll pick the mod randomly."
The mod? If Monty had been a kid in my universe, he probably would be doing weekly Dungeons and Dragons games. That thought made me snort humorously.
Monty passed the cards around the table and I took the time to look carefully at everyone's reaction when they received their card. Jasper looked up excitedly, but he was drunk, so I imagine he'd be excited with whatever role he got. Clarke's face was smiling, but not in any telling way. Miller and Monroe both showed no emotion. Darius raised an eyebrow and pushed his lips out. The middle eastern guy, who I'd remembered as Thomas, swore under his breath.
I received my card last. Turning my slip of paper over so I could see it, I found that scrawled on the paper was the word 'seer'. The seer could point to a player and instantly learn whether or not that person was a werewolf. If yes, the moderator would hold up three fingers forming a W, but if no, the moderator would hold up two fingers in the shape of a V.
"What're the roles again?" I asked Monty wanting to be sure of what was in the game.
"Two werewolves," Monty said. "The seer, tough guy, tanner, doppelganger, and one villager."
"Right," I nodded my understanding. "I guess I'm ready."
"So, everyone knows what their role does?" Monty asked.
Sounds of ascent echoed from the group at the table. I felt like I was back in high school again playing stupid games and having fun, though this time I was doing it with alcohol.
"Ok close your eyes," Monty began the instructions. "Werewolves wake up and point to who you would like to kill."
I tried to feel the air moving around me, searching for the position of the wolf. Unfortunately, the duo of wolves was discrete and kept their movements well disguised.
"Are you sure?" Monty asked the unknown wolves. He paused for a beat then continued, "Wolves go back to sleep. Tough guy wake up so I know who you are."
There was a scratching sound against the paper Monty held.
"Ok tough guy close your eyes," Monty ordered. "Seer wake up."
I opened my eyes to see that a few of the people at the table had shifted positions. Clarke who previously had sat back in her seat was now leaning her head into her hands, her hair spilling over her shoulders and onto the table.
"Who do you want to know about seer?" Monty asked as he marked something on his paper.
I pointed to Thomas. His swearing earlier could indicate that he was a wolf and didn't want to be one. I looked back to Monty to see him flash up a V with his fingers. I pulled an annoyed face.
Monty chuckled, "Seer close your eyes."
I did so and felt a shift to my right. Miller bumped my shoulder accidentally. I huffed in annoyance.
"Doppelganger wake up and point to a player," Monty said. "When that person dies you take their role. Okay doppelganger close your eyes." Silence held for a moment then Monty spoke again, "Okay everyone, wake up."
I opened my eyes to see the people at the table acting as if they had woken up from a night of rest. I supposed they thought it was funny. At least they thought it was.
"It's Maynard," Darius said pointing to me.
The group laughed, including me.
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"You just look like a wolf man," Darius said.
"Hey," Monty pounded the table. "Shut up and let the moderator do his job."
We all had a good chuckle at that. The alcohol combined with the stupidity of playing a game just made everything funny.
"So, the werewolves showed up in the village tonight," Monty said dramatically. "And a body was found outside this morning." Monty paused for effect. "It was Monroe."
Half the table laughed at Monroe, while the other half made overly loud 'ohhhh' sounds.
"But," Monty interrupted the voices. "Jokes on the wolves, because Monroe was the tough guy, so she survives another night."
The tough guy role allowed the player who had been killed to survive an extra night beyond what they normally would be able to.
The table erupted with more 'ohhhh's. People were so stupid, but I didn't care. It had been a while since I had let myself go like this to enjoy a bit of fun.
"Now," Monty said interrupting everyone again. "You can debate all you want. Remember a person needs a nomination and a second to be voted for execution."
"You going to nominate Maynard?" Miller questioned Darius.
"No," Darius slapping his hand against the table. "I was just bullshitting because I got the fucking villager, and I can't do shit."
We all laughed at Darius's expense.
"Sounds a bit fishy to me," Miller said through his laughter.
"Oh my god bro," Darius lamented. "Don't put this on me."
I smirked, "What proof do ya have that yer not a wolf?" I asked.
"This damn paper," Darius said holding the paper up. "You want to look. Promise you I'm not the wolf." He slammed the paper back down on the table.
"Okay okay," I said holding up my hands in a gesture of surrender. "What about the rest of ya'll? Anyone wanna claim a role?"
"I'm the tanner," Jasper slurred.
The tanner role required the player to be killed to win. I found it funny to claim tanner, but generally it wasn't seen as serious.
"Oh yeah?" Darius whipped his head around to look at Jasper. "Or are you just a wolf pretending to be the tanner."
"No, I'm the tanner," Jasper assured us. "It says it right here." He pointed to his card.
I didn't think he was lying, also I couldn't detect any difference in his smell or heartrate. That might've been the alcohol though. Jasper was pretty wasted.
"Well that's helpful," Monroe quipped. "We haven't found out anything."
"I don't think Jasper's lyin'," I spoke. "His heartrate's real low and he smells normal."
"Wait," Clarke jumped in the middle of my phrase. "That's cheating."
"Why?" I asked.
"That gives you an unfair advantage," Clarke argued. "No one else can do that."
"So?" I questioned egging her on slightly.
"So?" Clarke questioned. "You unbalance the game that way."
"I wanna win," I responded simply.
Clarke huffed and shook her head.
"There somethin' wrong with that?" I asked chuckling at the whole situation.
"Why don't we change topics real quick," Miller interrupted. "I want to know about Maynard. What role do you have?"
I couldn't exactly say I was the seer without being eliminated from the game. That was the logical choice for the werewolves. Once they find the seer, they increase the odds, because at that point it becomes a guessing game.
"I'm the doppelganger," I lied.
"I see," Clarke jumped in just a little too quickly. "So, who's role did you take?"
"I ain't tellin' ya that," I said quickly wanting to keep my options open.
The conversation continued in this way for a short period of time. I was nominated and seconded by Clarke and Miller. I nominated Clarke and Darius seconded my nomination. We couldn't reach a consensus on anyone else that should be nominated.
"Okay we're going to start the voting with Monroe," Monty said.
"Clarke," she said pointing at the blonde.
"Okay," Monty made a tally mark on the paper. "Thomas?"
"I think it's Maynard," Thomas said.
Monty made another tally mark on the paper.
"May," Clarke spoke unprompted.
"Jasper?" Monty prompted.
"I dunno," The goggle wearing boy said. He sat silent for almost a whole minute. Then he started snoring.
"Fuckin' hell," I slapped my hands on my thighs as I leaned backwards in my chair.
Monty poked Jasper in the shoulder. He snorted and raised his head confused.
"What?" He asked.
The whole table laughed at his expense. Over Jasper's shoulder I watched as Bellamy approached our group. I smiled at him and gestured him over.
"You have to vote Jasper," Monty explained.
"Oh that," Jasper then sat in silence for another thirty seconds.
"Jesus man," I said as Bellamy stopped behind Clarke. "Ya vote Darius."
"Clarke," Darius said.
"Maynard?" Monty questioned as he marked another tally next to Clarke's name.
"It's Clarke," I said confidently.
"Okay," Monty said marking another tally down. "Miller?"
"Maynard," Miller pointed at me. That wasn't a surprise, seeing as he was the one who had seconded Clarke's nomination of me.
"Yer the decidin' vote Jasper," I said encouraging the guy to come out of his drunk stupor.
"What's going on?" Bellamy asked confused.
Clarke jumped about a foot off the ground at the sound of his voice. I started dying laughing as she did. That was one of my favorite parts about my newfound skills, my ability to sneak up on people was just too funny. Bellamy was taking after me.
"Werewolf," Monty answered. "And Jasper needs to vote." He turned on his friend with a look of fake anger.
"Okay okay," The drunk said huffing in annoyance.
Then he started doing eenie meenie miney moe. He pointed back and forth between Clarke and I then finally settled his finger on Clarke.
"Sorry Clarkey," He slurred.
"What?" Clarke asked incredulously. "So that's how this works?"
"Looks like it," I said, breathing an inward sigh of relief at my luck.
"So, Clarke has been executed," Monty said returning to narrator mode. "What role did she have?"
Clarke sighed and flashed the piece of paper to all of us. It read 'werewolf'.
"Hey, we got one," Darius said happily.
I watched across the table as Thomas seemed to squirm. He was obviously calculating something, but I knew he was on the village team I had seen that. That left only one option as to why he'd look and smell so nervous. Thomas had the Tanner card. That left Jasper, Darius, and Miller as potential wolves.
"So how does this work?" Bellamy asked.
"Pull up a chair and watch with me because I'm dead," Clarke said sullenly.
"Ya were a fuckin' wolf," I said. "I'm glad yer dead."
Clarke just crossed her arms and shook her head. Bellamy reappeared at the table moments later with a chair. He forced himself in between Clarke and Thomas, and Clarke quickly began to whisper the rules to him so he would have some idea of what was going on.
"Okay everyone, time for night two," Monty said. "Go to sleep."
Once again, I listened for sounds of people moving during a certain role, and once again, I heard nothing. During my turn I asked for Monty to reveal Miller's role to me. The Asian held up three fingers. The guy in the beanie was a fucking wolf. All I had to do now was reveal that I was the seer and name Miller as the wolf. Due to my conflict with Clarke last round, I would be clear of most suspicion.
"Everyone wake up," Monty said.
Across the table from me Clarke and Bellamy tried to hide their smiles. They were both staring at me. Please tell me Miller hadn't killed me.
"Alright," Monty started his monologue. "Last night was eventful to say the least. Monroe died of her wounds."
"Shit," The girl swore but said nothing more.
"And," Monty continued. "Our one remaining wolf killed Maynard."
I dropped my forehead onto the wood table heavily groaning.
"God damnit," I swore loudly.
Clarke and Bellamy laughed at me. I shook my head back at the two of them. I had just found out the last wolf and it was smooth sailing, but now only two of the last four players were villagers, and one of them was drunk out of his mind and incapable of any logical deductions. All my hopes rested on Darius now. That is unless, Thomas actually wasn't the tanner, but that seemed unlikely given his strong nervous smell.
"So, who are we voting out now?" Thomas asked those still in the game.
I sat back in my chair crossing my arms. Now that I was dead, I couldn't say anything or help the village team win the game. It sucked.
"Woah," Darius started. "That was a pretty quick accusation there buddy."
"I just uh," Thomas slowed his speech for a second to think of what to say. "Want to win the game quick."
"Uh huh," Darius nodded slowly and skeptically.
"I think you're bullshitting," Jasper jumped in belligerently. "It's you isn't it Thomas?"
"What?" Thomas didn't do much to dissuade them, further supporting my idea that he was the tanner. "It's not me."
I looked to Clarke who was doing her best to hide her excitement at the situation. Darius and Jasper were jumping down the rabbit hole of accusing Thomas instead of Miller. Though she didn't know that Thomas was the tanner and that if he was voted out then he would win.
"You've been awfully quiet Miller," Darius suddenly switched his attention to the actual werewolf.
"Yeah," Miller shrugged ambivalently.
I smirked and chuckled at his response despite myself. That reminded me of my own reactions to things.
"Are you trying to hide the fact that you're the wolf?" Jasper accused loudly. The goggle wearing boy had become Darius's hype man at this point. He just jumped on whatever train of thought Darius was pushing.
"No," Miller said calmly. It was actually impressive how well he was able to keep himself under control during this duress. I could tell he was lying by the change in his smell, but if my sense of smell wasn't as strong as it was then I wouldn't even know.
"Man, this is bullshit," Darius swore. "One of you needs to just come clean."
"How come we're not questioning you?" Miller questioned in return.
"Because I'm the goddamn villager," Darius complained loudly.
"You're lying," Miller said. "Because I'm the villager."
"What? That's crazy," Darius said disbelievingly.
The rest of us who were dead or not involved in the game were laughing uncontrollably at the whole situation. I held my head in my hands rubbing my hands over my eyes to clear the tears from my eyes.
"You guys have thirty seconds," Monty reminded them through his laughter.
"I nominate Miller," Darius accused instantly.
"I nominate Darius," Miller spoke much calmer than his opponent did.
"Okay," Monty said. "Do we have seconds at all?"
"Yeah," Jasper spoke, his head falling into his right palm. "I second Miller."
"You want to second Darius?" Monty asked Thomas, who was the only one who would second Darius at this point.
"Uh," Thomas thought for a second. "I don't know." He dropped his head into his hands thinking of who to believe. "I don't know who to believe."
"Believe me bro," Darius said.
"Alright then," Thomas agreed reluctantly.
"So that's a no to seconding Darius?" Monty asked for clarifications.
"Yeah," Thomas sighed closing his eyes.
"Well," Monty spoke. "It looks like Miller has been unanimously executed. What role did you have?"
Miller flipped his card over to reveal the second werewolf card.
"Yes!" Darius cheered turning his card over to reveal the villager.
"Let's go!" Thomas joined in revealing the tanner.
"Hell yeah!" Jasper also cheered at the village's victory.
"Jesus that was too close," I spoke calmly as the cheering died down.
"We did it though," Thomas said.
"No, you lost," Monty pointed out.
"Huh?" Thomas was looked very confused.
"The tanner needs to die to win," Monty said. "You lost."
"Seriously?" Thomas questioned loudly.
We all laughed at Thomas's expense then. It was actually kind of funny that he forgot the purpose of his role.
"So, I had to die to win?" Thomas questioned.
"Yeah," I said.
Thomas shook his head annoyed. He crossed his arms and lolled his head backwards.
"Are we playing again?" Monty asked.
He received a unanimous yes. Even Bellamy wanted to join in on the game. I smiled happily at the simple joy of playing a stupid game. Once again, we were coming together over basically nothing, and I loved it.
Sorry not a whole lot happed in this one. Think about it like the calm before the storm though, because next chapter's going to be a shitshow.