Caught Between Hope and Despair

(Trial #5) Crackdown: Part Three

i highly recommend reading the reuploads of the crackdown trial since i changed and added some pretty important stuff oops sorry

I am hella excited for this chapter because I had this idea for quite a while (but warning: there's a really high chance I might have portrayed some people incorrectly, including myself. didn't know how that happened)

should I credit shane for every single idea still cause he basically planned out everything else after the start of the fifth trial?

eh let's just say his ideas were taken into consideration when planning the direction the rest of the plot was gonna take

enjoyyyy~

~

Katy's POV

We landed with a thud on the sands of the beach.

"Nice landing Saeko..." I heard Erin mutter as she sat up.

"Oh my gosh, don't blame me... I got us out of there and I just had to collapse the caves again so you better shut up and stop complaining." Saeko replied.

"Ugh fine..." Erin said as she lay back down. "You alright there Katy?"

I stayed silent for a moment, staring at my injured left hand. The wound was gone, but the despair still stayed. Although the Megan didn't have enough time to corrupt me, the despair managed to travel all the way down to the middle of my forearm. I traced the black swirls where the despair finally stopped. Before the two could notice I quickly pulled my sweatshirt sleeve up and tried my best to cover the hand as well. I luckily still have the gun Gordon gave me in my pocket.

"Katy?"

"Y-Yeah... yeah I'm alright. Let's head back to the huts for right now and see if we can find Samiksha. If there are other people on the island, we need to get them as well. We can't afford to stay separated." I explained.

Saeko gave a little thumbs up in reply.

"Are you guys ready to get going yet?" I questioned, turning towards the two.

"Just a few more minutes..." Saeko replied.

"Alrighty, if you guys say so."

~

Lauren's POV

"Shane's corrupted along with Megan as well... we've basically gotten nowhere." Allyson said as she replaced the bandages from my bullet wound.

I stayed silent as Allyson carefully unwrapped the bandages. Surprisingly though, I didn't wince.

"Where's the bullet wound?" Jeewoo asked as she held the replacement bandages in her hands.

I looked down towards my left arm, and saw that the bullet wound was indeed gone. No scar, no nothing. Just smooth skin where the bullet grazed my arm.

"How the heck did this happen? It shouldn't be possible that it suddenly just disappeared like that!" Allyson said as she quickly examined both of my arms.

"Are we looking at a different Lauren right now?" Jeewoo asked as she stepped away a little.

"Wait... but she's gone, Lauren. After the mansion, you said she left. She's not back... right?" Allyson questioned frantically as she started grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.

I continued to look down towards my left arm, not bothering to stop Allyson.

"Who's... back?" Jeewoo murmured.