[center][h3] [/h3][/center][h3][hr][color=#38547C]Keaton Plasse[/color][/h3][hr]
While Keaton knew that there’d been a bloodbath outside the restaurant, knowing and seeing were two different things. She knew the skull-headed man had torn through multiple people and drank their blood, knew that Natalie might be around if she hadn't run off, but opening the door came with such a strong waft of the fresh, metallic tang of blood that Keaton was momentarily stunned, her brain telling her that it was at least five, ten, more people that bled out on this street. The shape of limbs and parts and red masses strewn along the pavement made her instinctively recoil, but a burst of heat behind her urged her out the door. 

Stumbling along with her back to the wall, Keaton turned the corner, pressing herself against the building as she peeked back out. Natalie was fighting the skull-headed man, her superior strength putting her on top in the power matchup. From the looks of it, Skullhead’s powers related to manipulating blood, which was too slow to stop Natalie from winning the fight. What concerned Keaton, though, was the almost animalistic rage that had possessed Natalie. It’d taken her over, given her actions an edge reminiscent of Skullhead’s.

Keaton turned back, wrapping her arms around her legs. She hadn’t gotten the best picture of what went down in the cafeteria, but she’d made some assumptions. Archie went lizard, Natalie tried to stop him, and Lynn stopped him by blowing the place up. Based on that assumption, Archie was the only one who had killer tendencies, but it was clear now that Natalie did too, despite her quiet demeanor. Lynn was more reckless than reasonable, and Amelia was a slightly less reckless question mark, but it was likely that Keaton was the weakest in the group. Even if Salamandra and Skullhead were in no position to kill her at the moment, there was Natalie and Archie. Whether their switch flipped today or tomorrow didn’t matter; staying with them was guaranteeing that Keaton would always be in danger. 

Her eyes drifted to a camera at the building corner. Right. On this ship, she was always in danger. From what, she wasn’t sure, but there was no doubt that something was brewing beneath The Promise’s shiny exterior. Whether or not all the rehabilitation claims were a farce had yet to be seen, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Her hopes of returning to Earth were as scant as her belief in her survival here, but neither could be zero as long as she breathed. The only difference was whether she’d prefer to take her chances with a crew of walking hazards or keep her head down and feign ignorance, and she knew exactly how easy, how falsely blissful pretending to be unaware was. Growing up, she’d learned quickly that Erica didn’t want to know that her dad was lying about getting better, that Stephen fared better not knowing that his mom left to go meet the stranger in the parking lot. She’d taken these lessons to heart at a young age, learning to lie before she even understood why, and though she pushed herself towards the truth as soon as she grew old enough to weigh the cost-benefits of the situation, the lies never stopped. But that was on Earth, where she’d been bound by social norms and expectations. She was on The Promise now, the ship that had sold her on lies, and she’d be damned if she continued pretending that everything was fine and dandy.

A twinge of pain prompted her to shake her hand out, glancing at the raw edge of her pointer finger. A bit of blood, nothing new The ironic thing was that she’d thought she’d gotten rid of the habit a year or two ago, but that was a thought for later.

Peeking out from behind the corner, Keaton watched as Natalie finished Skullhead off, watched as she started towards the people—escapees—closest to her. As long as Natalie didn’t notice her, Keaton could stay put. Hopefully Archie was about done inside, and hopefully the police arrived with nullifiers soon. Natalie taking down Skullhead seemed to keep the other escapees from attacking, but for how long, Keaton wasn’t sure she wanted to know.