Does Reality Apply? Part 3

He could hear something hushed and echoed. It came in bursts, each time bringing with it a blur of color. First all he saw was a murky orange but as it separated itself, various shades of grey and black became visible. As the outlines of the objects before him became recognizable, so did the words of the voice.

        "Wake up Tom, wake up."
        "Susan, is that you?"
        "Oh course Tom."

He shifted himself onto his side and managed to prop himself up onto his elbows. He cringed slightly from the pain in his head and blinked. In front of him, Jason was sitting cross-legged with his eyes focused on the fluffy object being dangled before him. He turned to face Tom with a look of irritation on his face.

        "She's been taunting me, trying to coax me into playing like a common house hold cat with these stupid fluffy balls"
        "Just because your balls aren't fluffy doesn't mean you should speak badly of this   oversized toy Jason."
        "Has she ever told you that she's a bitch?"

His left eyebrow rose slightly as he said this. His tanned was face lightly illuminated by the fire which only intensified the contours of his face.

        "It was for your own good Jason, if I had not taunted you, you surely would had gone mad with confusion and fear."

At this his mouth gapped slightly, perhaps caught off-guard. He leaned back and propped up his rifle beside him. The fingerless glove on his left hand got caught on a jagged rock in the process. Instead of carefully removing it from the point he simply ripped them both from his hands and threw them to the ground, their impact misplacing a layer of dust.

        "That, that is a good reason. A very good reas-Wait, what am I saying? Am I really  talking to an invisible person? I can't think, I can't think, I can't think. None of this makes sense."

He pushed his palms against his head then got up and began to pace the concrete hall. His military boots thudding against the stone floor as TicTac worriedly shuffled after him. He scoffed when he finally noticed, happy to finally gain attention it sat down and looked up at him.

        "I'm god damn sick of being played with. Everyday, every week, every month, every year. The guys in charge won't tell us what the fuck is going on because it's classified. Classified my ass, we're the ones out here risking our lives, we should get to know what the hell we are fighting for. And right now? Boy, it just got better. I don't know where the fuck I am, who the fuck I'm talking to, or if any of this is even real. All I know is that this little piece of shit is goddamned cute."

Tom had managed to sit up by now and was resting against a wall. His half opened eyes followed the pacing sniper and he sighed as he pulled the black jacket from his back before plopping in on the ground beside him. As he refocused his attention on the young man he spoke.

        "My, my. And now, we are graced with the story of Jason Brown, the almighty sniper of the metal rifle. Here, take my jacket, I don't have any panties to give you. Trust me though, I'm totally swooning for you right now. That was one damn sexy rant, almost sexy enough to be a rant of my own. I have to say, very impressed."

He smirked as a hint of arrogance showed through his eyes. Not enough, however, to hide the fact that his clothes were dirtied and his face seemed worn. Perhaps even emancipated, like he had been deteriorating in his unconscious state despite that he was been at full health just earlier that day when he had awoken from his coma.

        "I would suggest sex but I haven't had any in such a long time that my vagina has somehow become a penis. Sad to say, I'm not gay so you're not getting any tonight but you know what? Maybe you can get some later, I bet we can find some desperate whores around here somewhere."
        "You're an ass."
        "Yes but I'm beautiful so that makes up for it."

His smiled smugly and crossed his arms across his chest before something suddenly occurred to him. He reached up to feel the space that should had been between his eyebrows then cringed slightly and sighed.

        "Susan, lose the unibrow."
        "Yes sir."

He waited a few moments then smiled largely and stretched out his arms as if to show off his face before pouting and checking to see if the unibrow was really gone.

        "Ok, NOW I am beautiful."
        "You don't trust me Tom, I'm hurt."
        "Don't worry, that's life. In life you get hurt. It's kinda like getting punched in the face, you know, but with gusto. Those are two things life and getting punched in the face have in common: a kind of gusto and pain. Remember that kid. Important life lesson. You know, I should write a book."
        "A good author would know better than to throw in so much dialog, bet your book wouldn't sell."

By now Jason was seated back in front of the fire. He had simply been watching Tom with a certain kind of ambience but had grown bored of his antics. Tom, taken aback by the comment smiled at him and laughed.
        "This kid Susan, he's sharp."
        "I'm aware Tom."
        "So then, what does the great Jason Brown suggest."

Jason sneered at him and narrowed his eyes in irritation.

        "Stop calling me that and I still have a mission to accomplish."
        "Those guys that you were supposed to make enter the afterlife so that their bodies could help fertilize the trees and bring back some scenery correct? I can help with that. Susan!"
        "On it Tom."

The setting swiftly changed. The two and TicTac landed squarely in an enclosure. The dark, musty settlement was inhabited by a group of sleeping figures that had been awakened by their entrance. The people quickly either rushed to escape or lunged for their weapons. A rustle of fabric filled the air as they moved from their make shift beds. Shouting ensued as well as swearing, there was an bewilderment that had taken the people. Then, just as a bullet flew by Jason's head, they all collapsed.

       "There were alive and now they're dead. Done, what's next?"
       "Holy shit."
       "I'm afraid none of the shit in here appears to be holy but on the bright side we can do some corpse robbing now, it's a great pastime."
       "You're got of your fucking mind… Who did you just kill?"
       "Whoever was with them shooting guys you were aiming at earlier."

Tom sneered at Jason. Then proceeded to scan the cluster of corpses for anything amusing to play with, before placing it back as it were. He had no intention of taking anything, he didn't need to and he never took souvenirs.

       "What is yours' is yours'," he murmured while crouching in front of a corpse, it was a young woman wrapped in ratty cloth, her black hair peaking out alongside parts of her face.

Jason finally snapped back into reality and moved his head to refocus on Tom. His brows were crunched and his arms stayed limp at his sides.

       "Wait, how do you know these are the same people."
       "I don't," he grinned and sing-songed, " But Susan does."
       "How does Susan know?"
       "Susan knows everything kid, try to keep up."

He snapped his fingers then got up to move onto the next one. This time a young boy clutching a small stuffed animal. His uneven hair suggested that the person who had cut it was inexperienced.
       "You just killed a group of people you don't even know anything about?"
       "Well some of them are merely almost dead, those are the ones that didn't aim a weapon at you comrade. I can't bring back the dead but I can revive the almost dead. Go on, take a lookie, tell me who dies."

Tom nudged his head in the direction of the people to suggest Jason move and look. Jason moved accordingly, strolling through and stopping at each person to look. Finally he stood up and turned around.

       "There's no way I can tell who should live or die simply by looking at them."
       "That's fine, I got an idea. Susan. Revive the almost dead people, stick them in a giant cage, create some excuse for what happened the way it did and get us out of here."
       "Anything in mind Tom?"
       "No."
       "Would you like to know what I will do?"
       "No."
       "Done."

The scenery changed again. A bomb went off in the distance, creating a deafening crash. A dismembered arm smacked onto the nearby wall, Tom smiled as he watched.

      "Corpse party," he mused.
      "That was very anti-climactic Tom."
      "Well not the arm, it's an arm… that's now on a wall, come on! And as for Jason, I can't stand people too long Susan, you know this. He was starting to bore me, keep an eye on him for me though. I'd like to show up whenever he mentions me to his comrades."
      "As you wish, you strange child."
      "Trust me Susan, it's better this way, I'm poison. My parents, my friends, my exs… they all suffered great misfortune by my hands."
      "You care about this one."
      "Yes, I feel like I owe it to his mother."
      "Is this compassion? How cute," she crooned.

Tom scrunched up his face and gave an exasperated sigh before strolling into the battle field.

      "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt… or it's not fun and games UNTIL someone gets hurt. However you like it, it's all good. And now, it's time for the party."