Strategize

"You think that the remaining twelve are somewhere watching us, just as we're watching those eleven people?" Orion asked me.

We trudged through bushes and trees until we reached a cliffside that spanned the entire forest. It was so tall that we could see the tops of all trees, and had a vantage point above anybody trying to sneak up on us. There were no blind spots from up here.

"What time is it? The sun hasn't changed position at all, but I'm feeling exhausted," I asked Orion.

"Don't count on the time here is accurate. This isn't real, we're still in the tower. It's probably nighttime by now if I had to take a guess," Orion told me, sitting down next to a pit he had dug out.

"You sleep, I'll keep watch. After you're done, I'll sleep for about six hours, and then we can start moving again. Careful, people like them are probably more inclined to hunt at night and sleep during the day," Orion told me. I reluctantly listened to him, lying on my back while staring up at the blue sky.

It was weird, sleeping during the day like this. It felt abnormal, but my body's exhaustion just didn't care anymore

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In a cold sweat, I shot upward and held onto my chest. I couldn't remember exactly what I was dreaming about, but it was something fierce. A reminder of what life used to be like.

"You're awake. Good. It's my turn. Nothing happened, no rustling, I don't feel any gazes, so we should be fine," Orion told me, lying down right next to where I was sleeping, and turning over so he was facing away.

I rubbed my eyes and got up. The sun was still in the same position, and the sky was still blue. What an illusion...

I started to think about everybody now that I had the time to rest for a moment.

I wondered what Mandi was doing right about now. If time serves me right, everybody should be in the middle of their nightly routine, probably going to sleep very quickly here.

Somebody had to have noticed that we were missing, but it would take forever for them to find us here. If Sky did end up sending somebody, or maybe even Ruby or Umbra, then we would have to push just as much as they are. We had to make it out of this forest.

I had tried to understand Carl's perspective, that maybe life is too valuable to just waste away and spend like this... but the more I was put into situations like this, the more I realized that it was naïve bullshit that was holding him back. If Carl understood how the world worked, and how our situation was playing out right now, he would kill everybody in this forest with no survivors.

Sky has done that before, and would do it any time again if it meant preserving his own life. If he's going to be my role model, then I need to stop questioning his ways. I don't want to think like Carl anymore, I want to think like Sky.

If Carl's thinking truly led us to the beach, then as soon as Raven busted our gates down, we would've all died. There is no peace with killers, they only want us dead. It hurt to think like that.

What would Mandi do? Would Mandi kill somebody in our situation? Has Mandi killed anybody?

What about Rin, Ren, or Ellios? They would kill people if they could keep themselves safe, right?

I hated this Tower with all of my heart. It took my leg from me, and it's causing me to lose myself in thinking like this. I had no time to strategize because I just had to keep justifying that other people's lives aren't worth as much as mine. The criminals of this wretched place don't deserve life, I just have to keep telling myself that over and over again.

I took some time to stare into the forest without a thought in my mind, just watching as the wind that sometimes blew through moved the leaves up in the trees. Then, I narrowed my vision with a stern look and began to think about strategies.

Solstice and the others had a map of this place. In the southern direction, nothing was explored yet, so we went there first. Down in the South, however, we ran more people and a new challenge. To be the last two remaining.

To me, that seemed awfully convenient. Everything did.

When I think about it, only seven people could be let through, and five of them ended up being all people that we knew. Now, only Orion and I remain. If our cells were left open this entire time, it had to be because they wanted us to discover this place. Just as Orion said, this was all one big filter to weed out a certain group of people, those who were intelligent, and those who weren't.

Now that I think about it, if I had the balls to turn the tables on Chi-Chi and Asoh, we wouldn't even be in this mess. I could've restrained them and kept them in our base, but in an ignorant attempt to keep the peace, I listened to them. I trusted them... and now, I'm here.

I couldn't trust outsiders anymore.

Anybody who I haven't known, I would no longer trust.

Hell, I barely even trust Orion, and I still don't know if I can.

I could end it all here if I just killed him while he slept. He's probably waiting for the right opportunity to backstab me anyway.

Is this just me going crazy? I don't think it could be described like that.

I would do whatever it takes to meet with Sky and my family once more, even if it meant killing my only teammate.

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Again, I stayed on the log Orion sat on to cover me, and slowly watched the forest, scanning all over for any signs of movement. I saw nothing, heard nothing, and didn't even get a glimpse of a fly.

The sun still hadn't moved, but the sky did get a little bit darker.

Orion slowly got back up and stretched, sheathing his axe onto his hip and standing up while looking around.

"Good, you didn't run off on your own. I appreciate you watching over me. Do you have any plans now?" He asked me.

I stood up off of the log and grabbed onto the handle of my axe, lifting it off of the belt loop it was sheathed on.

"My plan? I'm going to kill every last person in this forest, and get us both out of here alive," I told Orion.

"That's more like it, you finally understand how worthless the lives of our enemies are. You're going to do great in this Tower, Charlie," He told me.