The Paths We Choose
Ryan sat in his spot for a long time. He didn’t want to move at the moment; he wasn’t sure he would ever really want to move again. His friend was gone, along with Discord, both at his request. He hated that he had done that, but he knew that it had to be done.
The Woman stood over by the table, shaking her head slowly. “Ryan, Ryan. You’re so foolish, you know that?” Ryan didn’t move, only sat on the ground sulking. “Harris doesn’t want you to kill Narendra. He doesn’t care that I’m gone. Can’t you see that?” Ryan stood slowly, glaring at The Woman. If looks could kill, his would have stabbed The Woman over and over until she fell to the ground and bled out. She didn’t seem to care that he was glaring at her. “He’s going to try to stop you.” Ryan shook his head.
“No. He’s not. I know that.” He looked at her, a calm demeanor suddenly taking over. “I sent him home, with Discord to guide him there. He’s going to be safe. From this... from me. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” The Woman laughed. God, was that frustrating.
“You naive young man.” Before she could continue, Ryan interrupted.
“No, I am not.” He turned and started to walk out the other door, the one Harris didn’t leave through. It led back to the driveway.
As he walked down the hall, The Woman continued talking to him. He did his best to ignore her. “You’re making a mistake.” she said to him. Ryan laughed this time. The Woman glared at him.
“I’ve already made lots of mistakes. Number one being listening to you.” He stopped, and she halted behind him. “I won’t pretend that I don’t regret a lot of what’s happened.” he explained. “But I sure as Hell won’t let it stop me now.” He turned and glanced at The Woman. She looked pretty angry. “Now. Piss. Off.” He turned back around and kept walking.
After a short time, he got outside to the driveway. Looking around, he could tell Harris hadn’t been here; he was probably going to get a boat. Discord could easily guide him back, then get him home to Australia. Ryan actually felt at ease about that. He knew that his friend would be alright, but he felt sorrow about not being able to send him off on a better note. All along, Ryan knew that they would wind up separating, but he had thought that it would be by... other methods, to say the least. He looked to where the car had burst out from earlier. There was a lot of debris from the garage door that was smashed open, spread about all over the driveway. He walked over to the garage.
On his way, The Woman appeared before him once again. Ryan sighed impatiently. “Didn’t I tell you to piss off?” The Woman shook her head vigorously.
“You won’t get rid of me that easily.” Ryan sighed once again, this time, all patience gone. He passed right through her into the garage and scanned the room. Around him, there were a bunch of cars, presumably those which belonged to the dead guys inside. He had quite the selection, although he wasn’t that familiar with cars. He figured he would just avoid the huge ones. After a few minutes, he spotted one in particular that caught his eye.
“That should work.” he said to himself. He walked over to it; it was a seriously tricked out Toyota Prius. It had custom paint, and on the inside, it was all very comfy looking. The key was even on the dashboard. He went to open the door, but The Woman put her hand on the top.
“The only way that you’re going to be able to finish this game is by taking every piece off the board, Ryan. EVERY piece.” Ryan looked The Woman dead in the eye and held the gaze unwaveringly.
“As long as the king piece is safe, I win.”
He yanked the car door open. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He turned to The Woman with his hand behind his back. “No one,” His hand shot out from behind his back, his knife clutched in it. It went straight into The Woman’s torso. She gasped in shock. “NO ONE, hurts my friends.” The Woman fell back and disappeared. Ryan looked at his knife; no blood. He looked back up. “And you weren’t my friend.” He sheathed his knife as he got into the car and drove off.
Harris trudged down the hall, leaving a trail of tears in his wake. He was being sent away, against his will, from that which he cared so greatly for. His best friend had to send him away to protect him. He felt like he’d had his sense of security ripped open and thrown up in. It stank, like rotting food. He just walked down the hall, trying to avoid thinking about everything.
Discord floated up next to him, but Harris didn’t notice at all. Rather than startle him, Discord figured that he would just wait for Harris to notice. He and Ryan always had before.
Harris turned around and yelped when he saw Discord behind him. Falling to the ground, he flailed his arms about, seeking something to grab onto. He hit the floor with a resounding thud. “Hi Harris.” Discord said. Harris looked up at Discord, mild annoyance in his eyes. He took in a deep breath and released a drawn out sigh.
“What do you want?” he asked, getting back up and dusting himself off. Discord fidgeted his fingers.
“Well, Ryan said to help you.” Harris looked up, sudden interest clear and present. He looked Discord over once, then again, and remained totally silent.
“With what?” he asked, suspicious. Discord stood on the ground.
“Well, with whatever you want to do.” Harris looked him over again.
“Fine.” he turned around and walked back down the hall, Discord in tow.
At the end of the hall, they found themselves before the door to the greenhouse again. Harris walked through and looked around. After taking a quick scan, he walked about and took some of the edible plants in the room. Discord floated on in. “What are you doing?” he asked. Harris pocketed what he could and went to the broken window.
“Food for the journey.” He stepped through. Discord followed.
Outside, Harris started to walk in the direction of the first area where they infiltrated the compound, around where the boats were. As he made his way there, he thought about what he was going to do. “I want to go home.” he knew. He looked in the direction that he came from. “But Ryan can’t possibly do this alone.” But then, how could Harris help his old friend? Ryan had killed over a dozen people in cold blood, something that would get him the death sentence in most legal systems. He no longer cared who he killed, as long as he got to Narendra. “He told me to leave before I died too.” he thought chillingly. Did he imply that he was a danger to Harris? No, no, that couldn’t be it. Ryan cared too much about his friends to be dangerous to them. What did he mean? Harris decided to ignore that and think about other factors.
Like his ability to help. Throughout the whole journey, Ryan had done the vast majority of the work. He had killed all the people, which no doubt screwed him up something fierce. He had thought up almost all of the plans, including how the attack on this compound. Ryan had done so much. Harris did save his life right before Narendra got away, but Ryan had saved him from slavery when he could have left for home. That was hardly an even trade. “I never provided him enough support.” he concluded. The thought made his stop in his tracks.
“Harris?” Discord asked. Harris wasn’t listening.
“Is it my fault that Ryan is this way now?” he wondered guiltily. “I... I could have done more to prevent this...” His jaw quivered.
“Harris.” Discord said loudly. Harris turned around, eyes glassy and red.
“This is my fault, Discord.” he said suddenly. Discord visibly flinched at hearing that, he was so shocked. “I... I could have done so much to help him... but I just didn’t. Ryan is lost now, and I could have shown him the way.”
Discord was flabbergasted by Harris’ words. He digested them for a moment. “I suppose that is slightly true.” he thought. “But it’s more my fault.” Discord looked down at Harris, who was now sniffling and sobbing. He crouched in front of Harris.
“No, it’s not.” Harris said, confused. “It’s mine. You’re in a situation where you have to make decisions on the spot because, if you don’t, you die.” He made Harris look into his eyes.
“You aren’t at fault for not knowing what to do.” Discord let Harris’ head go, then turned away. “It’s my fault. I tried to force my ways onto the two of you, and it has cost you dearly. If I had just helped you from the beginning, this could all be over and you two could be home.” He turned back to Harris, who looked at Discord, astonished. The Spirit of Chaos, admitting fault? Well, guilt is one powerful force.
“So I guess that everyone’s at fault here, eh?” He added a humorless laugh. Harris smirked.
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Harris turned around to look in the direction of the river. “So what are you going to do now?” Discord asked. “Just tell me what you need to do, and I’ll help you out.” Harris opened his mouth to speak when he heard dialogue in the distance. Afraid, he started to run in that direction, hoping that there were no more enemies left around. As he ran to the driveway overlook, the voice he had heard became more clearly one voice. One person was talking to someone who wasn’t responding. And in English.
“Is that Ryan’s voice?” Harris wondered aloud. When he got to the overlook, he peered over the edge. Sure enough, it was Ryan there. But there was no one nearby.
“Didn’t I tell you to piss off?” Ryan said to the empty air in front of him. A moment of silence. Then, he sighed, and went on over to the garage. Harris looked on, sorrow befalling him. Discord floated up behind him.
“Who’s there?” he asked. Harris shook his head sadly.
“Only Ryan.” Discord looked confused, then muttered, “Oh.”
Ryan kept on talking once he was inside the garage, though what he said could not be discerned. A few minutes of silence came. “What do you think he’s doing?” Harris asked.
Discord looked with narrowed eyes, then replied, “I think he’s getting a car.” An engine roared into life. “Yep.” Discord declared with a hint of pride. Harris got low behind the wall as a car came out of the garage and slowly drove off.
He looked on after it. He had done that a lot with Ryan lately, looking on from behind, not being actively engaged like him. He looked over to the garage, then down to the ground. It was probably about a fifteen foot drop. He could make it easy, if he rolled. He stood on the rail. “Harris, what’re you-” Harris hopped off the rail and fell to the ground, rolling as he landed to minimize the impact. Discord flew down after him in a fluster. “Harris! Why?” Harris dusted himself off and looked to Discord.
“Minimize time consumption.” He went over to the garage, Discord following in a conniption. “Calm down, man.” he ordered. Discord breathed in deep and stopped.
“Why are we in here, Harris?” he asked leerily. Harris took a look around. There were plenty of cars.
“We’re taking a car.” He walked over to a smallish one and opened the door. It was unlocked, and he hopped in.
“Wouldn’t a boat be better?”
Harris chuckled a bit, surprised as himself for what he was about to say. “We can’t follow him as easily by boat.”