Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Fourty

In the end, we were all victims of a game, where there could only be one winner. And that was looking more and more like the president.

That was never more obvious than when Tyler got shot and fell and bled so much-

Deep breath. Concentrate. Let's go back to the beginning of the end.

Tyler had been talking - trying to console Korey. He was in the midst of making him conscious to the web of lies he was entrapped within. Korey's self-awareness was practically non-existent. The path to having his own thoughts had never been on the president's agenda. Ever. Why would it? A self-thinking son? Even the notion!

Khanye-Knot observed it all. She came up with a plan to get rid of the problem the best way she knew how: with chaos- with destruction-
With murder.

I hadn't noticed her plan in time. Khanye-Knot wasn't in my field of sight. I'd been watching Korey's face be distorted with varied emotions. He didn't know fact from falsity- and it was torturing him. Not knowing where your loyalties should lie causes a trauma of a distinct nature. The reverberations of it left a deep scar remaining long after your bones become brittle. The steady current that moved within you became rapids with whirlpools and tidal waves thrashing wildly. It made you unsteady, wary of all that was in front of you.

It was awful to watch, knowing fully well I'd been there. I wore the scars. I knew the troubled waters he drifted in at that moment. I was going to butt in, say something to clear his head. To calm the sea. To heal the scars. Tyler's tactic wasn't working. It's weakened Khanye-Knot's hold but for how long? A different approach was needed. If nothing else I had to try.

I had the words at the tip of my tongue. I inched forward. The weight of the simple metal contraction brought me down, but my conviction in his redemption compelled me to carry on. "Korey, you need to-"

The gun fired. It lurched sporadically in the hands of a petrified Phil. His face wasn't what was important. Not when the trigger had been pressed. A dull, dead orb sped past me. Faster than any warning cry I could make. The bullet made a sound a moment later. When it was all too late.

Tyler's body jerked a the impact. As if his puppet master had dropped the handle. His legs started to buckle beneath him. He looked bewildered. Then in agony. Then his eyes rolled. Whites going black as he floated down. Silently. The way night descends upon a sunset sky. The way sleep descends upon a child. The way a boy who'd been fighting his whole life decends into defeat.

He hit the floor.

I didn't react immediately. It's not like the films, where a person screams out and sobs hysterically. I was frozen, watching the very last breath leave his body. I stood with eyes wide, mouth dropping open as death leapt into my heart.

Then I was charged with an affliction more intense than I could ever comprehend. As if there was a tear in my heart, and it was being turned inside-out. It burst apart. Along with a scream that escaped my chattering lips. A scream that had the guard holding me flinch.

They're weakened grip was my chance. I lurched out the arms of the guard. I felt the hooks of the device pull out the detector, but the hooks themselves remain latched onto my neck. I didn't care. I just ran. Over to the fallen body. Over to the lifeless body. Over to the one person I'd give my own life to if I could.

Dead dead dead dead-

I ran for a lifetime. A cycle on repeat. Feet pounding against the tiles. Heart pounding in my chest. Sweat pounding down my face. The crack of smile rise on the president's face. The fall of Hannah as she lost another hope. The blank expression of Phil that shielded the hell within. The shock of Connor's face as he began to see it has his fault.