night six - kill log.

[foxhounds]

Who: Killers and Matt Mattson
When: The sixth night
Where: The jungles of Ship-Trap Island

[ It's the dead of night when you first hear it. It's the distinct sound of baying hounds barking nearby. This must be the Hunt that you were warned of, and though it seems impossible, they sound very close. You can try and run, but The General and his foxhounds are hot on your trail... And oddly enough, even if you do try and run, you'll feel yourself growing more and more tired with every step. It seems this wasn't a completely fair hunt from the start. ]

Comments

[ghettobatman]

[And on it goes. Matt takes his beating without a simple complaint - every snarl, bite, crunch or ripping is met with grunts or stoic silence. He sure as hell can hold his own, but it's a hopeless battle. The longer this goes on, the more distressed those kids yet.]

[Why are they still here, watching? He should've knocked them out. They shouldn't have to watch this.]

[Finally, he rolls away away from the dogs long enough to snag his gun. It's loaded, of course he is, and at the back of mind, he doesn't want to do this. He doesn't want to die. He doesn't want someone to have to tell Foggy, or Karen, or Claire - that's he's gone, just as two of them expected. Just like Foggy warned him.]

[Suicide was a sin in the eyes of God, wasn't it? Not that Matt hadn't do anything but sin. And now, priestless, in this last moments, he can't confess. It doesn't matter. He wouldn't ask for forgiveness even if he could - he can only pray that these two are right to believe in their plan, that they aren't being tricked, that they can still make it out alive. That they won't be trapped in a fate worse than death.]

[A few mantears well up, unbidden. He raises the gun to his forehead, squeezing the trigger---]

[---And of course the damn thing jams.]

[hopefragment]

[No--!

The whole time, the dogs had been going for the throat. Thirty seconds for someone to die from having their throat cut, one of the other Generals had told Hinata once. Unconsciousness within seconds, but thirty seconds to die. Is it the same from having a dog rip it open? He doesn't know.

Once Matt goes for his gun, Hinata's scrambling to his feet, as if maybe he can stop this, or maybe-- he can do something. He can't stop this, though. Everyone's counting on him; Matt too, he thinks.

There's only an instant's difference between the sound of a gunshot, and the dogs taking advantage of Matt's distraction with his own pistol to descend on him. But while Matt's gun might have jammed, Hinata's doesn't, and unless Matt moves, that bullet will blow through his brain. But if he does somehow manage to foresee that and dodge, it's the dogs.

Not that Hinata knows anything about what God could want either way, at least Matt can take comfort(?) that it's not suicide.]

[unrulyprincess]

[In the end, she really is weak. When it gets to that point, when it gets that bad, when it's clear that Matt is going to die, Clarine buries her face in her hands, because she doesn't want to see it. She doesn't want to see Matt die, not when she was the one to ask him to survive for her in the first place.

The gun goes off, and she flinches, but she doesn't lift her head to look.

Hinata has it covered. She'll have to thank him for it later.]

[ghettobatman]

Hinata---! [HINATA, NO.... Dad didn't want this....!! He said not to watch, he said to let him take care of things!]

[But he's too far gone to move, even if he can hear the bullet going. His fight has lasted quite a while, and they hadn't been wrong about the dogs. Absurd that animals were finally the ones to do him in, and Matt has a split second of regret, thinking about what his death will do to them, and Foggy, and Claire, and Karen. Royce knew their names; to say goodbye for him if he couldn't, but Royce was dead, too. And these kids didn't have anyone else to protect them.]

[In the end, he couldn't even protect these two having to bloody their hands, or suffer. Just what the hell had he been doing here, the whole time? What did he even manage to accomplish?]

[He'd like to say something to them before he goes, but Hinata's shot rings true: he goes limp, and it's over.]

[GOOD JOB, GUYS.]