Arrival
"Now wait just a second—!"
Still a touch wobbly but regaining his footing easily, Jake steps forward and does his damndest to look fierce and serious and Not To Be Messed With.
"We’re not resources, or commodities, or anything like that! We’re people, not property. And no matter who says otherwise- you, or him, or the boss lady even- well, you’re wrong. You’re all wrong."
Just under the rim of his helmet, grey eyes stare headlong at the Medic.
"We were getting on just fine without you. I’m pretty darn sure we can keep getting on fine without you. And if you’re not going to turn that train around, well we’ll just hike back through the desert till we get somewhere we can get back ourselves, if that’s what it takes!"
He grips Yiv’s hand.
Where he stands watching, the Sniper doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Oh, he thinks they can just walk out. How cute. Next he’d be thinking somebody was coming to rescue them.
"No, you can't."
The voice come from behind the Medic, a young man with a lean, wiry build moving toward them. While he barely looks like he's out of his teens, the boy's expression seems to age him by decades.
"You can't leave. At least, I'm pretty sure she can't."
He points to Yiv, then turns and nods in Joe's direction.
"And I'm willing to bet he can't, either. They won't let you. Your brain won't let you. If you wander out too far, it's going to start hurting. You think you'll be able to stand it; overcome it. But you won't. It won't get better; you won't get used to it. It just amplifies itself more and more over time until you'd do anything to make it stop."
He casts his crimson-colored colored gaze down to his shoes before looking up at the others again.
"Do yourself a favor and stay put. You'll just get yourselves hurt otherwise. Hurt and punished."
