Interrogation

The straw-haired man was strong, lifting my unconscious doppelganger onto his shoulders; I've never payed any attention to his clothing before, but has he always been wearing a green buttoned shirt? It seemed odd.

"Hang in there, piggy, keep still and-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence.

"STOP! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" A female voice shouted. I turned my head and saw the blonde haired woman, panicked and furious - Again, I have not noticed her clothing, but she was wearing a brown t-shirt and jean shorts.

"WHY ARE THERE TWO OF HIM?!" She demanded to know quite loudly, she pointed to my doppelganger knocked out on the straw-haired man's shoulders.

"Because-?!?" He said, as if to find the words he was searching for. "Because-?"

"Tommy, you know what this means right? For all of us?" The blonde haired woman asked the straw-haired man, whose name was apparently Tommy.

"Yeah, like, I'm pretty sure I know why." He answered slowly, taking a deep breath. "Look, we're taking it back to camp - To ask this thing some questions, kay?"

"How are you sure this one isn't the clone?" The blonde-haired woman pointed at me, "What if we're making a mistake?"

"Look at him. Dude looks like he just came back from falling in a meat grinder. Safe to assume it's cause of the trials." Tommy answered, slightly jostling the clone around. Did I really look that bad? I didn't have much of a chin to speak of to start, and my face had collapsed like a flapjack. But for some reason I looked better than I felt; it was kind of like when you wake up after a bad fall.

"Allison, it'll be fine." He said, apparently not very convincing, "And we don't even have to carry the...this one back?" He asked, gesturing to me with his head. I didn't have much of a neck to speak of, and looked to be half-way between the neck and the shoulders. It hurt to move it.

"Tommy...?" She asked, looking at him like he was the most annoying person in the world. "Ashford's going to complain, you know how he views things like this."

"We have to do this, Alli." He said, taking her by the hand and looking at her earnestly. "I'm sorry." He said, obviously taking on some guilt.

"Are you serious right now, Tommy?" She snapped, "If that's the clone, then that means it's an Observer - Do you remember what the Observers have done to us? To you?"

"Well, I don't really know them that well, Alli." He said with an edge in his voice, "What is it you think we can do? Just go up there and punch their fucking brains in?!"

"What?!?! How dare you! That's not at all what I'm suggesting!" She said in disbelief.

"What if they have a point? What if we're doing the same thing that we're meant to be doing?" He asked her.

"Don't be so naïve." She said, but to my ears it sounded like she was talking to herself, "They want us to believe that there is no hope, they want us to believe that we're in this for nothing. If you want to believe that, then fine, but we're not going to do that, we're going to fight until the end. You and me. As soon as you wake up, we'll leave right now."

"Alli, we have to do this -"

"No. We are not doing this." She snapped and started walking down the path.

"It's for the best-"

"Listen to yourself!" She started running towards us, "You think the Observers are just going to give us the answers and everything will be fine?!"

"They would have to in order for us to fight!" He shouted, running after her.

"They don't give two fucks about us!" She yelled. "All they want is power, and we are the perfect tool to use to get that power!"

"We're the tool?!?!" He asked angrily, "How would we fight them?!? How?!?! I can't stand all this-" He stopped, a loud rustling sound echoed. It was the sound of many pairs of footsteps. Tommy and Allison froze, as did I. Ashford was leaning against a tree, his body language indicated that he was in charge.

"What's going on here, hmm?" He asked everyone there.

"Please, we're just going back to camp-" Allison started. She tried to move down the path, but Ashford stopped her. "Ashford, stop." She demanded, but Ashford would not let her leave.

"Don't be foolish, Allison. You can't fight me." Allison kept trying to move forward, but Ashford grabbed her wrists - He smirked at her, "Allison, I'm going to knock you out if you don't stop." He stated quite matter-of-factly. I could almost see the gears of his head turning as he pondered if he should do it.

"I said, stop." Allison demanded, "You are not going to stop me, and you can't kill me -"

"Maybe, I don't know - But I can hurt you, and maybe you'll even agree to do what I want." Ashford's face was stoic, his eyes were slightly narrowed.

"Let me go." Allison demanded, her voice starting to crack.

"Not yet." Ashford answered, "We need to talk, Allison. This is not a battle that we should be fighting. We should be trying to stop it from happening."

"What? You want to stop it from happening?!" Allison asked, shocked.

"I want to stop whatever Tommy is carrying, I overheard you guys speaking, talking without me - That thing's an observer, right? A clone?" He asked.

Allison nearly choked on her spit, flabbergasted that Ashford would hear a word that she and Tommy spoke in private. And yes, a clone. It was something she would never admit to someone, and certainly not to her friend.

"And what makes you think that I am responsible for this?" Allison asked, confused.

"I'm not claiming to, I'm simply asking a question, Allison."

Ashford said. "You know I wouldn't like to do what I'm going to do to you here, in front of the entire camp." He chuckled a bit, which he didn't appear to have any intention of stopping. "That is what you want, right? Tommy's friend doesn't know that you have been talking about him, Allison, or he wouldn't be so calm about this situation. You want him to be frightened, don't you? You want him to be scared, to think that what you're saying is real. That is what will happen, but not if we help you."

"I'm not scared of the Observers, Ashford." She said, "I'm not doing this for a fear of the Observer."

"But they have to be stopped. They want to see the world burn, they want to see us hurt, they-"

"No, you said it. You said it yourself - They want to see us hurt. If we get hurt, they get the power." She continued, ignoring the fact that Ashford spoke again. "What makes you think we can stop them? That you can stop them?" She asked, but Ashford was too focused on his next move to answer her question.

"Allison, if the Observers are right, then I need you to tell me - Why not us? I need you to tell me if it's safe for us to stop this, to do what we should have been doing in the first place - Fight this! And not just fight them."

"I won't fight-"

"That's exactly what the Observers want you to do, Allison. To stand up for what is right, but instead you do nothing. You are scared, of me, of this new future you seem to think you can control. You are scared of it because you don't understand it. Why would you take us down with you, why do you even want us to fight?" He asked, he seemed to be gaining confidence as he was going on.

"I didn't do it, Ashford! It wasn't me! I know what's going on!" She was becoming frustrated, he was distracting her from the conversation she wanted to have with Tommy.

"You know what Allison," Ashford let Allison go, but was still tall and domineering, "Go ahead and get yourself killed. Go and kill yourself by talking to that thing - That entity on Tommy's shoulders, go ahead! I'm done." He said as he started to walk away.

"Why? Why would you leave us?!" She cried after him, she reached her hands out, begging him, but Ashford did not respond to her words, "Why did you leave us?!" Allison screamed after Ashford. Ashford did not say a word, he was already walking away from her. Allison started to walk towards the trees, she heard Tommy begin to cry. She could not bear to look in his direction, she knew what she was doing, she knew the consequences, but the thought of him getting hurt and never being able to come back had to be worse.

"I was only thinking about you." She whispered, more so to herself than him.

We made it back to the camp in silence.