Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt people!)

A Vampire Picking Flowers Out in the Sun

"Doc, what exactly are we doing here?" Wesley asked, following behind Doctor Gordon. For a guy with one foot, he got around pretty damn quick. A week after Wesley had finally been allowed to leave the confines of the concrete room they'd woken up in, Lawrence had taken them to a room in the upper floors of the abandoned school Jigsaw had set Lawrence up in. Wesley was mostly pissed off that the doctor had set them up in the fucking basement.

The room had a small desk with three monitors set up, all showing various angles of security feed broadcasted from an empty classroom, not dissimilar to the one Wesley had been tested in. A lone man was chained by his wrists and unconscious in the middle of the room, large hooks buried into the meat of his calves. One wall was covered floor to ceiling in razor wire and large chunks of broken glass

"You're going to be monitoring a test with me today," Doctor Gordon replied. He pulled a second folding chair toward the desk and motioned for Wesley to sit next to him. Just as they did, the man woke up. "Meet Joseph, a perfectly healthy forty-two-year-old man. He's spent the last two years dipping into the welfare for his son, Daniel, a seven-year-old boy with a muscular disorder that causes atrophy in his legs."

"So he's a motherfucker," Wesley nodded. Lawrence mostly ignored them, but Wesley swore they caught him snort.

"His test is to tear the hooks from his legs, or in two minutes, the hooks, along with the chains on his wrists, will pull him into the razor wire," Dr. Gordon said. Wesley hissed through their teeth.

"Ouch."

"Yeah," The doctor said. "Now, this is the first test outside your own that you'll be witnessing. It's important you understand that eventually, you will be assisting in the orchestration of future tests, and eventually creating your own. You need to know what happens during a test, and what's done after. I need you to watch closely, do you understand?"

"I understand," Wesley nodded, biting back a reply that would have frankly been way funnier. Dr. Gordon seemed more serious about this than he did when he demanded Wesley remain dressed in a constant state of business casual. It was horrible, a constant barrage of button-ups and fucking slacks- Wesley almost missed their ragged, crustyass jeans. Lawrence said something about keeping them presentable, whatever that meant. It made standing in this dimly lit room feel all the more uncomfortable.

In all honesty, they'd been hoping to put this part off for a little while longer, but here they were. When they'd agreed to John's offer, it had mostly been fear for their life. But the fact that they were actively fearing for their own life gave them pause.

Before their trap, Wesley wouldn't have been worried about the potential threat of denying their captors. Before, Wesley was stumbling from life event to life event, with little care about what was going on around them, and little regard for their own safety. It was a miracle they'd made it as long as they did.

It was like Wesley had died with Officer Bretman and come back as something different. They'd killed, they'd survived- and Wesley was going to keep surviving. Old Wesley was dead, long live Wesley, or some shit.

So maybe Jigsaw was onto something. He'd helped Dr. Lawrence, and if the talk of others in some warehouse was true, he'd successfully helped them too. So there were multiple examples of John Kramer's philosophy working.

Wesley was hellbent on survival, but maybe helping people like John and Dr. Gordon had helped Wesley would give Wesley a reason to live.

Wesley's attention turned back to the staticky screens as Joseph began to wake up. The audio crackled on and Wesley jerked back at the sound of the wailing that started as soon as the man caught sight of his legs.