Survival is Crucial

Barefoot Desert

Sand shifts under the boots of two men, covering head to toe with cloth and the like, swaying back and forth, canisters of water hanging from their waistbands. One chewed on gum as the other scanned the area with their eyes, head swiveling slowly to one side and the other, staying atop a large desert dune as to get a better vantage point of the area. The one ahead of the both of them spun on their heel to look at the one behind, "See anything?" He asked, hand on a revolver hidden within his pants.

The other sighed, "Nothin'..." He paused, "We'll need to go back to town, find a vehicle."

"Alright."

"Yeah, we'll need to go back to America, take a plane, and shit." He sighed, scratching the side of his face as he placed a cigarette to his lips. "This f*****g sucks."

***

In front of Tyche was a fruit in the shape of a heart. It smelt sweet, too sweet. Jank smiled, "Eat it." Tyche glanced at him, disgust in his eyes before grabbing the fruit and putting it close to his mouth. He took a deep breath, bringing it closer and closer to his lips before opening his maw as wide as he could before taking a large chunk out of the fruit. It was crisp like an apple, even looked like one on the inside too. The flavor wasn't like anything he had tasted before, it was frankly... amazing. Saliva dripped out of the sides of Tyche's mouth as he chewed before swallowing what he had bitten, taking another bite shortly after until the fruit was left to its stem. Jank quickly took the stem out from Tyche's hand, "Save it for when you get withdrawals and take tiny bites. Goes on for the rest of the day until you sleep, and when you do, make sure to finish it off in its entirety, you should be fine by the morning after that."

"Okay..."

"You won't get withdrawals after that, but you'll start feeling a pain, sick, something of the sort, which is just you getting your powers, or your body is recovering from something, et cetera."

"Alright..." Tyche took a deep breath, sitting himself up as Jank placed the stem back into his hand.

"Remember, small bites."

Tyche nodded, leaving the room. A young man with light brown hair approached Jank, a quizzical expression on their face, "Why is the target with you? And why'd you give him a fruit?"

"The Boss betrayed us, and he's our bait, and the best type of bait is one that can fight back against its prey."

"I see... do you think this'll work?"

"I have no idea, but, what I do know is that he plans on killing all of us after this is over."

"Then..."

"But... we aren't too different, so I might as well ally myself with him for a while. More negatives than positives."

"Yeah, well. I'm glad that you're suicidal 'n all but I'm not." He paused, "Is what you said about Kobe true?"

"Yes, he was killed by a sniper that the Boss controlled."

"So..." He paused, glancing over to Jank, "The rumors were true?"

"Yeah, he was also acting as a rebel against the Escravos and his real name is Marshall Bishop. It seems that he can't die since the Balrog couldn't even do it himself. I don't really get it but I... it doesn't matter." Jank shook his head, "I'm going to sleep."

"Alright."

An unsettling silence filled Tyche's room as he laid there, staring at his ceiling as he has always done, nibbling at the stem of one of those fruits from before whenever he'd feel any semblance of craving it. A voice came through, a woman's voice, "Do you think this path will get you anywhere -- do you think you will get to where you want by doing all of this?"

"I will..."

"Would she do the same?"

"She would."

"How do you know this?"

"She went as far as to go with me to Brazil, she even dealt with all the deaths we caused along the way as well. She would do the same."

"No, she wouldn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because you know her better than that. All you are doing is telling yourself that she would do the same, turn out the same when such is just an unfound fallacy you made up in order to make yourself feel better about all of what you have been doing up until now. You understand this, correct?"

"She wouldn't have killed Nick, I know that, but she wou-"

"She wouldn't get revenge if you were to die, at least not in the way you have been doing it up until now."

"What would she do?"

"She would be patient. She would grieve, then she would find a way within a safe distance -- to take down the Escravos, the people who would've caused your death. She would do it in a way that would cause fewer deaths in the process because, well, to put it simply, she wouldn't be a wanted woman, she wouldn't be like you. Nobody is like you. You are a special spec in the grand scheme of things. You, shouldn't be possible. If it weren't for you organizing things, making things less loud in here, making thoughts more coherent and independent to one another if your brain was whole... you would be considered the smartest person alive... the strongest."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you understand how impressive it is that you're able to tell where people are, how they act, who they are as a person by just feeling the air around you? Do you understand that noticing a gun when you, yourself didn't pay attention to such a thing, and then stealing it and using it on your enemy is impressive? You are already superhuman, all this will do is make you even stronger, but then what? You get revenge and feel hollow after? Tell me Tyche."

Tyche's lips parted to speak but what only came out were whimpers.

"Do you want to feel hollow?"

"No..."

"Then... don't get revenge. Kill the man who had wronged you and go on your merry way. Don't even bother with the Escravos after dealing with Marshall Bishop."

"Killing Marshall still leads me to my revenge."

"Yes, but there is more to it than that."

"What...?"

"If you kill him, and the Escravos completely scrub you clean of the bounty, two in one -- but if you then go straight after the Escravos shortly after by either losing or winning, what do you gain by doing that?"

"I could... take over..."

"Oh...? That's actually a better proposition, isn't it?"

"Yeah... I could take over."