Layne was still laying half asleep on the mattress Victor had provided for him. He had to admit, it was more comfortable than his old pallet. When asked about the unusual generosity, he was told he was 'a guest.'
Victor was already long awake and had walked in and out of the cabin several times, each of them disturbing Layne's sleep.
"You won't be eating breakfast, again?" he asked, standing at the doorstep.
Layne rubbed his eyes and yawned. "No."
"You should start doing that, just so you know."
"I eat the dinner, don't I?"
Victor returned inside and closed the door. He sat at the table, right next to Layne, which could only have meant one thing – there was going to be another annoying conversation. In preparation for that, Layne sat up and looked the man in the eyes.
"You're still not over it, are you?" Victor wasn't smiling. He never smiled when they were alone in his cabin. Layne had guessed that it wasn't humanly possible to keep it up all the time.
"Not over what? You killing my friend? You dragging me over here and forcing me to lie to everyone? You keeping me prisoner? You planning to do something to those people?"
"Even after everything, you seem to have a very good opinion of those people."
Layne shrugged. "They may not be great but at least they don't lie about some made-up beasts in the forest and as far as I know, they don't kill just to instil fear to others."
Victor's smile returned and he laughed. "And that makes them the good guys?"
"Yeah, I think not killing people makes them the good guys."
"Really?" Victor's face showed genuine amusement. Layne raised his eyebrows at him. He couldn't understand how else could the man distort it. "Why are you here?"
"What?"
"In the Land. Why did they send you here?"
Layne crossed his arms and turned away. "That is none of your business."
"From your reaction, I guess something bad." Victor stood and moved closer. He sat on the mattress next to Layne, making his scoot away until he was almost touching the wall. "I, for one, was caught hiding my friend, Adan, from the RCI. They say he's done messed up shit to his wife. Of course, he denied it. I believed him. Probably, still do."
"How the hell does that connect with anything?" Layne started shaking and grabbed onto his pillow just to have something in his hands.
"Remember, in the forest, you said something in the lines of 'we're all Rejects for a reason'?"
"Mhm. You were quick to disprove it."
"Well, you weren't actually wrong. We really are here for a reason. Some just have a better reason than others. We can't forget that a large part of the population here are thieves, rapists, murderers... And whatever else."
Layne gulped. When he glanced at Victor's face, it was once again serious. He still couldn't get used to seeing him like that. As much as he hated the smile, that's how he knew the man. Anything else was just weird.
"You've actually forgotten," stated Victor.
Layne thought for a little. He had indeed forgotten it. Of course, he wouldn't have admitted it. Not to Victor, at least. So, he shook his head and locked his eyes with those of the man.
"Don't lie to me." Victor chuckled. "I can see it. Not gonna blame you for that, tho. It's easy to forget something like that when there are other things to worry about. More threatening things. Right?"
"Like speakers in the forest?"
The elder didn't react to the comment. "See, sometimes, you have to use fear to keep up the order. If they think that they need each other for survival, they are much less likely to act up against each other."
"And then you just kill some people off, anyway."
"Every once in a while, yeah. You can't rely on some sounds at night all the time. Sometimes, they start questioning. Like you. It spreads fast, and well, we need to give them something real."
"That doesn't justify it," Layne snapped. "Nothing justifies it. Those other people do fine, too."
"Do they, tho?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "You don't know anything about them. For example, did you know how do they deal with people who don't follow the rules?"
Layne shook his head.
"They do, actually, force them to leave. They're doomed there on their own, in the wilderness. Some try to come for help here, but, well, up until now, we couldn't take them in for obvious reasons. So, they die. Alone, cold, starving, dehydrated and more than likely in pain."
Layne's breathing slowed down. He watched the floor with empty eyes. A part of him said that Victor didn't deserve to be trusted in the first place. He lied about the animals, he'd lie about anything. The other part, however, couldn't find a reason not to believe him.
The third part disregarded him for being Victor.
"Anyway, I got a busy day." Victor stood and turned towards the door. "See you around."
Layne didn't react. He waited to be sure the man was gone and got up.
Victor's cabin was smaller than the one Layne lived in before. Though up until then, the elder lived there alone and no one else had such a luxury.
He dressed up as fast as he could and stepped outside. The cabin was located near the centre of the village and surrounded by those in which the other residents with higher status lived. As soon as he was out, he felt people watching him, but that was nothing new.
He had another day to pass and he sure as hell wasn't going to do anything different than he normally did. Just as always, a man whose name Layne didn't care to find out, provided him with a bucket of water from the lake. He wasn't allowed to go there by himself. Too far for someone to watch him there.
Upon cleaning himself up a little, just as always, he took a short stroll around the village just to check if anything would be different. It wasn't. Finally, just as always, he retreated to the usual place and laid down on the cold ground. That's how he'd usually spend the rest of the day – laying around, listening to the birds, the wind and Victor's people passing by to check on him.
Except that time, it didn't go like that.
"Hey, Layne?" a soft, girly voice called.
Layne frowned. "I don't have the time to talk, Malia."
"Really?" She came closer and squatted next to him. "Yeah, I see. You're doing important stuff here. Alana told me you came over yesterday."
He sighed and didn't answer. Malia, however, wasn't quick to give up. She stayed silent for a few minutes and even with his eyes closed, he knew her staring directly at him.
"You can't keep doing this," she finally said. "We deserve to know. I won't leave until you talk."
Layne sighed and sat up. For a moment, he just stayed in silence, looking around to see if anyone else was around. There wasn't. At least as far as he could tell. Malia looked at him with a determined stare. She really wasn't going to leave, he knew that.
"I can't talk to you," he whispered. "Victor doesn't want me to and he's having me watched."
Malia tensed up and looked around. "The fuck?"
"I haven't seen Remy around since I came back. Is he dead?"
At first, she only looked at him. Her eyes turned dull. Then, she nodded and pressed her hand to her lips. Layne took a deep breath and bit down on his lip.
"How'd that happen?" he asked after a while.
The girl's shoulders started shuddering. "He- he ugh... After you and Coden disappeared, he- he went to look for you..."
Layne put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "Coden won't like that. They were close."
Malia cleared her eyes and pulled away. "The hell, Layne? He died. That's all you got to say? What the fuck has happened to you?"
He lowered his gaze and remained silent. Layne wished to care, he did. Yet, he's seen the death of both of his parents. He's seen his closest friend's mangled corpse. He only knew Remy so much. Barely ever talked to him – the guy has always been at least slightly scared of him.
Remy meant nothing to him.
He was just another Reject, just like anyone else he knew from passing by in the village. He even tried to feel bad for Coden, at least. He couldn't even do that.
Malia stayed only a little bit longer before she stood and walked away. Layne watched her figure disappear to the direction of the village and laid down again.
In a way, he knew that part of his apathy was because he had prepared himself to hear the news. He had noted Remy's absence ever since his first day back in the village and although he kept coming up with explanations, deep inside, he knew.
Even if Layne couldn't get himself to feel too sad about it, though, he could still feel the anger rising. Unlike Malia, he knew Remy's death wasn't some accident involving wild animals. Victor's people have murdered another person. One of the most innocent people he knew.
* * *
Victor only returned halfway into the night. He set his lantern on the table and looked at Layne, who was still laying on his mattress wide-eyed.
"Did I wake you up?" he asked.
"Haven't slept yet."
"Is something bothering you?"
Layne thought for a little. Indeed, something very specific was bothering him. He just didn't quite know how to put it in words that wouldn't be harmful to him or his friends. "There was this guy who lived in the cabin with us. I haven't seen him ever since you dragged me back here and I'm getting worried."
"Really? That's it?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for the caring type, to be frank."
Layne clenched his teeth. "Why'd you take me for any type? You don't know me."
The old man laughed, making the rage heat up inside Layne once again. How dared he laugh after being – almost – confronted about murdering another person.
"So about that guy, Remy." Layne tried his best to keep his tone as calm and formal as possible. There was no need to give himself out, as difficult as it was to contain himself. "Do you know anything about him?"
"Remy..." Victor looked up into the ceiling and played around with his lips. Watching that, Layne only wanted to strangle him. The asshole was pretending – that he was sure of.
"A tall guy, blonde, curly?"
"He'd always hang out with Coden, right?"
Layne sat up. He had to move his hands and fingers around to distract himself enough to hide his inner emotions. He was sure they seeped through, either way – the amusement was showing in Victor's face, as well, although faint in comparison.
"Yes, he got along with Coden," he spat out, locking his eyes with Victor's. There was no point in hiding it anymore. He had already noticed.
"I think you already know what happened to him."
"You killed him, didn't you?"
"Not me."
"Yeah, that's what you keep saying."
Victor sat next to him and had the audacity to put his hand on Layne's shoulder. After only a second of sitting there frozen, he slapped it away and jumped up.
"Don't you dare to fucking get close to me again," he yelled as he ran to the door. "You're a freaking psycho! A damn murderer!"
"I was trying to be sympathetic to you." Victor stood up and moved further away. "Of course, you two disappeared and everyone got crazy about it. Something had to be done to give them a distraction."
"A distraction? A fucking distraction?"
"Keep your voice down."
Instead, he raised it. "A fucking distraction!"
Victor just shook his head. "It's late, you're tired. Get back to bed and try to sleep."
Layne stood there, hyperventilating. You're tired, Victor dared to say. As if he was overreacting. As if he was overreacting about him getting someone killed for a distraction. Victor gave him a stern look and he was forced to lay down again.
There and then, Layne decided that he had to stop being that man's puppet.