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It all started when he randomly fainted in the middle of the street.He was on his way to work after finishing his final class of the day. He doesn’t drive since he doesn’t own a car so he was walking there, and he remembers feeling really dizzy all of a sudden, like everything was spinning and he couldn’t see properly. That’s when he fainted, or at least that’s when he thinks he did. Can’t really remember what happened after that.Craig didn’t even realize that it had happened until he found himself lying in a hospital bed with his mom in the chair next to him sobbing and his younger sister, Tricia, hugging her tightly.He tugs the white blanket over his face, the bright lights of the hospital room being too much for him. His mom and sister didn’t seem to realize he had woken up just yet, why not sleep for a bit longer?Unfortunately for him, he had moved a bit too much so now he’s forced to listen to his mother yelling for the doctor repeatedly until he hears people—presumably the ‘doctors’—rushing into the room.He moves the blanket out of his face, seeing as it’s too late to catch up on any sleep, and is met with the sight of two doctors standing at the end of his bed waiting. His mom rushes to his side and hugs him so tightly that he thinks he can feel his organs being rearranged. He glances towards his sister, who is now on her phone, and then back towards the doctors. One is an old, white, man with practically white hair, the other is a much younger-looking black woman with a buzzcut.“My poor baby! Doctor, what’s wrong with him? He’s going to be okay right?” She says, clutching onto him even tighter as if she’s scared he’ll disappear any second now. He tries to fight her grip but soon realizes it’s pointless.One of the doctors leans towards the other one and whispers something in his ear before grabbing a brown clipboard from the table at the door. He seems to be reading off of it as he speaks,“Have you been experiencing any kind of headaches recently?” He asks, furrowing his eyebrows.To say he was experiencing headaches was an understatement. The past few months have been in-fucking-sufferable for Craig. It definitely started as headaches, but after a few days, they progressed to.. something else. Just imagine a constant, sharp, and pounding pain in your head every time you move because that's what he's experiencing.He remembers when he was making breakfast for his sister before she left for school when one of his "headaches" hit, it was the worst pain he’d ever felt. He dropped the whole carton of eggs in the process and had to sit down for a little bit. After that, they just got progressively worse until.. well, you know. The weird part about this though, is the fact that the doctor should already know this. He had gone to a different doctor about his headaches around two months ago and that's when they prescribed him these weird pills that he's supposed to take twice a day. That surely should've been on his medical record, right? Especially since he pays a pretty penny for each refill. Craig looks at the doctor cautiously, suddenly becoming very suspicious of this whole situation. He shakes it off, though. It's probably nothing.But what if it's not? Now that he thinks about it, this medication seems to be doing more harm than good. Ever since he started taking them, his headaches have only gotten progressively worse. If it's hurting him instead of helping him, he needs to know this now. Craig isn't going to pay for something that isn't doing anything for him."You should know this. I've been taking the pills I was prescribed for my headaches for months now.." He says sharply. Craig eyes the doctors who seem completely unfazed. "And honestly, they haven't been working. So what's actually going on here, then?" "Craig, sweetie, they're just trying to help you. Please don't be like this.." His mother pleads with tears still running down her face. She turns to the doctor with an apologetic look on her face, "I'm so sorry about him. You know, he's going through a really tough time right now." The female doctor leaves the room and shortly later returns with a weird-looking machine and pulls up an image before the other speaks, “It's fine. Craig, this is your CT.” He points towards the image on the screen.The monitor shows a few tiny images of what he presumes to be his brain. The left side is largely highlighted in white, which cannot possibly be good news. He points directly at it while looking at Craig, “This mass, right here, is an aggressive tumor. It’s malignant, and, unfortunately.. inoperable, due to its location.” He says, looking at Craig expectantly. Craig just stares at the doctor, confused. Malignant? What does that even mean? He thinks for a few seconds in silence, then it hits him.No, wait. Malignant. He does know that one. It means that he has cancer. Craig has cancer, and inoperable cancer at that.His mom looks from him to the doctors, then back at him, confused."What does that mean? Is that bad?" She asks, concerned. He stares at his mother with apologetic eyes. He hates the fact that he has to tell her this. "Mom, It means... it means that I have cancer," Craig tells her softly. His heart breaks at his mother's reaction. Her breath hitches in her throat for a second and her expression is one of disbelief. She doesn't say anything. As if she's expecting this to be some sort of sick prank. After a few seconds of silence, reality seems to hit and she looks at him through glassy eyes.Craig turns away from his mother, unable to handle watching her cry any longer. He sneaks a glance at Tricia, who is no longer on her phone. “No, no, no. That’s not right! it- that can’t possibly be right.” Tricia argues, standing up quickly, “He goes to the gym like every day! I know he does! He comes home sweaty and gross after!” She looks at Craig expectantly, as if they're getting yelled at by their mom and she needs him to cover for her. Except this is much different. He doesn't respond because he can't lie to her. "Tell them, Craig! You can't have cancer, there's no way... right?" She stares at him with wide, glassy, eyes. “Miss Tucker, it’s right. Dr. Collins is one of the best oncological surgeons in the city.” The woman says, placing a hand on Tricia's shoulder. "Don't call me that and don't touch me!" She raises her voice, shoving the woman's hand off of her aggressively. Tears begin to flood her eyes, giving her a look similar to his mother's. She has her eyes when she cries. "You're all liars!" She yells, storming out of the room. Craig doesn’t say anything. In all honesty, he doesn’t know what to say, or what to feel. What can he say to comfort his family after receiving such horrible news? “I’m so sorry. We wish we were wrong, but we’re not.” He tells them. He doesn’t remember what happened after that. One minute he’s lying in his bed with Tricia back in the room right next to him while his mom speaks to the doctor, and the next he’s being wheeled out of the hospital by a doctor. He doesn’t know why he needs the wheelchair. It feels kind of unnecessary, but he doesn’t mention it to his family. His mother and sister walk right beside him, his mom still sobbing as they walk to the car. Tricia isn't crying anymore. She just looks numb, like she's in shock. “Craig, baby. I don’t care what they say. We’ll go to every doctor. Every single doctor. In the state. I don’t— I don’t care. You’re not going to die.” She says in between sobs, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth. “Not like.. not like this.” “Mom.. I don’t have insurance, that would be crazy expensive and you know we can’t afford that.” He reveals. “What..? Yes, yes you do. You're on my insurance policy, remember?” His mom argues, crossing her arms over her chest. He doesn’t want to tell her that he removed himself from the policy. It would just break her heart even more, but lying to her would be even worse. They’re already struggling as it is and having to pay medical bills in full without insurance would ruin everything. “Mom.. I- removed myself from the policy.” He says, looking away so that he doesn’t have to see her cry. Instead, Tricia is the one to speak next, “Craig, why? I mean, why would you..“ She doesn’t finish her sentence. His mother hugs her tightly as she cries into her shoulder. It hurts. It physically hurts him to be the reason for his family's pain, and he knows it’s not gonna be much better once he’s gone. He works two shitty jobs while being enrolled in college and even then, all the money he makes goes to his mom for the bills. He was lucky enough to get a full-ride scholarship to the University of Denver, he doesn’t want Tricia to have to start working once he’s gone so that she can afford to go to college. His mom will have to start working more and he doesn’t want that, she already works so hard as it is. If he— when he leaves.. it’ll break his family. Tricia gets into the car without another word, and his mom follows suit. He stands up from the wheelchair about to leave when the doctor taps him on the shoulder. “Hey, man. I’m real sorry you’re going through all this,” He says before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tiny card. “Here, there's this company always leaving those at the hospital. They say they help sick people in trouble, maybe they can help you.” He hands him the card before walking away and Craig is left standing in the street staring at it. It’s a tiny black card and written in bold blue letters is;THE TIRO FUNDButters Stotch He turns around the card and there's a slogan written under the logo. ‘Assurance for those without insurance.’ Huh.
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It’s been a few days since he was diagnosed with cancer, and right off the bat Craig can definitely say these have been the worst days of his life.The first two days, Tricia wouldn’t speak to him at all. She wouldn’t leave her room at all, not even to eat dinner, the only given confirmation that she was alive was when she would leave her room to say goodnight to their mom. If she was going to leave her room for anything it would be to say goodnight. Tricia has not gone one single day without saying goodnight to everyone in her entire life, except for that day.In her defense, though, it’s not like Crag himself was making much of an effort to talk to anybody. What can he say anyway? There’s nothing he can do or say to make this all better, and even though Tricia’s just barely talking to him now, it’s left this uncomfortable tension between them. He can’t tell whether she’s mad at him or not. Does she even have a right to be mad? Is it even him she’s mad at?At the end of the day, though, he doesn’t blame her. Craig understands that it must be so hard for her. She’s only seventeen. Tricia hasn’t even graduated highschool yet and she’s going to lose another member of her family all within the span of four years.He doesn’t know why he expected things to just go back to normal after finding out. Things will never be the same for however much time he has left. Like, how is he supposed to pretend that he doesn’t have a tumor eating away at his brain right now? Is he just supposed to continue going to work everyday like nothings wrong?After they left the hospital, Craig asked his mom to drop him off at Clyde's to which she reluctantly agreed. The entire car ride was spent in uncomfortable silence, with Tricia leaning against the window, her music blasting through her headphones loud enough that everyone could hear, his mom paying no attention to anything at all but the road with a blank stare tainting her face, and then there's Craig, who is completely lost in thought. It’s like he can’t focus on anything. So he stays completely still and unmoving the whole time. He’s not really sure how he’s supposed to feel about this whole thing. Like, he feels like he should cry, but he can’t. He can’t feel anything at all right now. The only thought going through his head right now is how the hell he’s supposed to tell his bestfriend that he only has a few weeks left to live. He’s half expecting Clyde to start laughing when he tells him, and he wouldn’t even blame him if he did. It sounds like something straight out of a movie.It just doesn’t feel real. Like, there’s no way he actually has cancer, right? Wouldn’t there have been some kind of symptoms? The only real possible sign would be the headaches and even then, is that a symptom for brain cancer? Was there any way he could’ve prevented this? What caused it? He has so many questions that the doctors wouldn’t answer.And they’re going to have questions too, questions that he doesn’t even know the answers to himself. Honestly, right now Craig is contemplating on whether or not he should even tell them. Maybe he should just spend as much time as possible with them and let someone else tell them the news when the day inevitably comes. But he knows he can’t bring himself to do that to them. They deserve better and to know what’s gonna happen, and it’s better they hear it from him then his mom or Tricia when it’s already too late. He has known Clyde Donovan since they were five years old, back when they would fight on the playground and play in the park. He’s seen Clyde at his worst and best. They’ve been in the same friend group since the fourth grade together with Jimmy and Tolkien. They’ve cried in front of each other, fought with each other, been through hell and back with each other, and still, after everything, they’ve remained friends. Craig thinks that, besides his mom and Tricia, he’s definitely gonna miss Clyde the most. He’s gotten so used to having Clyde around for everything, that now he can’t imagine what it’s gonna be like without him. Wherever he’s going after he dies, it’s gonna be real lonely without him. Craig likes to believe that when he dies, he’ll become a star, floating around in the dark cold universe with the thousands of others. He’d also like to believe that heaven is real, and that he’ll hopefully be reunited with his family and friends one day, but he’s not sure if he would even be let in. The reactions he received when telling his friends were certainly not what he expected though. At first, they all didn’t believe him. They all thought that he was playing some kind of sick prank on them even though they know that Craigs not the type to joke about something like this. After he had finally convinced them, though, was when it all really started to kick in.Clyde is a crybaby, so he definitely expected him to cry, as mean as that sounds. But knowing that he’s the cause of his bestfriends sadness hurt. What he didn’t expect was for Tolkien to cry. Craig has always seen Tolkien as the more mature, responsible, and overall put together one of the group. Like, he’s always offering out advice. So, Craig had figured that he would’ve had some kind of comforting words or solution to this, but that’s when it really hit him that this can’t be fixed. It’s not a math problem that can be easily solved if you try hard enough, it’s a tumor that’s literally bringing him closer to death’s door everyday. Tolkien crying might’ve been the one thing to send him over the edge. It completely broke his heart to see him cry like that.And if that wasn’t bad enough, even Jimmy was crying. As crazy as that sounds, Jimmy was infact sitting right infront of him while crying. The same Jimmy who would crack jokes at every little thing, no matter how serious it was. He had tried to reassure them, to make them feel better about this whole situation, but nothing worked because nothing he was saying could make them feel better about losing their friend. That was the moment that he realized that his friend group would never be the same again once he was gone.To try and lighten the mood, Craig started talking about his favorite memories they made together. And surely enough, Clyde joined in, then Jimmy, and finally, Tolkien. They spent the rest of the day like that, sitting at the bar taking turns as they remembered some of their best moments together.After the others left, Clyde pulled Craig to the side to talk to him privately because even though they had a good time that night, it didn’t change the fact that it would be one of the last times they ever hung out again. After a lot of convincing, surely enough, Craig decided to let it all out to Clyde. And for the first time in years, he started to cry.But Craig’s not crying because he’s sad. He’s crying because he’s angry. He’s angry he’s gonna die. He’s angry that he’s being forced to leave his family and friends. He’s angry he’s never going to see any of them again, wherever he’s going. Craigs angry he’s never going to see Tricia graduate. He’s angry he never got to start a family of his own. Craig’s never been big on kids, or girls as a matter of fact, but he has the rest of his life to make those choices. Had the rest of his life. And he had told all of this to Clyde, who let him vent to him while he cried.Because Craig is angry that this stupid tumor is taking him from his family.And it sucks. It really sucks that this had to happen to him so young, but it’s not him that he’s worried about, in all honesty.When their dad left four years ago, Tricia was so upset. She wouldn’t leave her room for days,stopped trying in school, and wouldn’t speak to anyone. It made sense for her to be sad. The two of them were closer than him and Craig ever were.Craig didn’t cry when his dad left. Even now, it’s been four years and not once has he cried over his dad, and that’s because he had to be strong. He didn’t have time to grieve over his fathers abscence, he had to step up and take his place. Keep this family together, and he did it. Craig did it, not his dad, and he did it by himself.But right now, he feels like he’s failed them. Everything he’s worked so hard to do. It was all for nothing.He’s broken out of his thoughts when Tricia loudly knocks on his door to come down for dinner. “Uh.. give me a few minutes!” He yells, rummaging through the mess on his desk. Without looking, he pushes all of the garbage into his trash can. He gets up from his chair, about to turn around and leave, when something catches his eye. Craig leans in and looks to the trashcan to see a black card laying perfectly on top of the mess of garbage. He bends down and picks up the card, ignoring his sister angrily yelling for him to come downstairs.Craig recognizes it as the card the guy from the hospital gave him. “Hey, man. I’m really sorry you’re going through this.. Here, there's this company always leaving those at the hospital. They say they help sick people in trouble, maybe they can help you.”Holy shit! How could he forget about this? He jumps up, carefully shoving the card in his pocket, before heading downstairs for dinner.He eats dinner fairly quickly that night, getting scolded by his mother multiple times and being told to ‘slow down’. Once he’s finished, he thanks his mom for the dinner and tells her he’s going to sleep early tonight. She doesn’t argue with him, just watches as he flies up the stairs.When he finally reaches his room, he rushes inside, locking the door behind him. He grabs his computer from his backpack and sits down at his desk before googling the address listed on the card. It’s only nine minutes from his house and they don’t close until 10 p.m. What’s strange though, is that he can’t find anything about this so-called ‘Tiro Fund’ online. There’s absolutely nothing. But why would a doctor lie to him? Fuck it, it’s worth a shot, Craig decides. He really needs this money. He grabs a random jacket from his hamper, slides on his shoes, and runs downstairs. Just as he’s about to grab the keys to the car, his mom appears.“And where do you think you’re going?” She says, grabbing the keys from his hands, “I thought you were ‘going to sleep early.’ What happened to that?” Shit. Think of a lie quickly.“Uh.. I mean— you know..” She looks at him expectantly, her hands on her hips.“No. I don’t know. Where are you going?” She demands sternly.“Clyde!” He blurts out, “Err, I’m going.. to Clyde’s!” It was messy, but it was good enough. He’s always with Clyde, Tolkien, and Jimmy anyways. His mom, on the other hand, does not seem to believe him.“Mom. I'm just trying— um.. to.. spend as much time with them as I can!” He says, feigning his sadness. He feels bad lying to his mom like this, but if this ‘Butters’ guy is legit, then it’ll all be worth it. Just as he expected, his mother’s face softened and her whole demeanor changed.“Oh wow.. I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t even think of that. Of course you can go, text me if anything.” She says with a sad smile.Craig hugs her briefly before running out of the house. He connects his car to the GPS on his phone and types in the address. He really hopes that this works.The drive there only takes six minutes, thanks to Craigs very smart decision to speed. He only has a few weeks left to live, might as well have a little fun with it.When he arrives, he is greeted by a very nice, young woman who shows him to Butters’ office on the last floor. The elevator ride there is very nerve racking for him. What if this doesn’t work? Is what repeatedly goes through his head the entire ride up.Nevermind. He can’t think like that, he just has to hope that it does.When he reaches the floor, he searches for room 109B, which is not nearly as hard as he thought it would be, and knocks on the door politely. The door opens and reveals a blonde man standing behind it.He doesn’t know what he was expecting this guy to look like, but it definitely wasn’t this. He was blind in one eye with a long scar running throughout the entirety of it and was wearing a nice, black, tuxedo and black shoes. He looked pretty serious for a man literally named ‘Butters’.“Craig Tucker, I've been expecting you.” Butters states.‘Cause that’s not creepy at all.“Uh, what do you mean by that?” He asks nervously.Butters smiles at him before motioning him to follow as he walks.“Nothing. Sit! Sit.” He does as told and sits in the extremely comfortable sofa-chair in front of his desk. His office is huge, it’s almost bigger than his house! He has a collection of baseballs in a display shelf on his wall and Craig can’t help but stare. He absolutely loves baseball, besides Stripe, it’s one of the only things he still cares about. “Dude— Sorry, Sir, your collection is literally insane!” He exclaims.Butters chuckles before standing up to show him one of them. He opens the display glass and grabs the one in the first row before pulling it out to show Craig.“First one I ever caught. I was seven years old and my father made sure to get tickets in the best seats possible so that I could catch one.” He says, zoning out for a brief moment, “But that’s old news. What about you, fella? You collect?”He doesn’t, but the question itself makes him tense up a little. Him and his dad used to always go to baseball games together before he, y’know, hit the road.Just like Butters, his father had taken him to his first game, and somehow he had managed to catch the ball for him. After the game, his dad even miraculously got him a signed jersey from his favorite player. Craig tucked it away the moment he got home, it was his most prized possession.Unfortunately, things got rough and eventually he ended up selling the jersey. He had given the ball to Tricia a few years ago, hoping it would cheer her up. He never saw it again.“Yeah.. I even had a signed jersey. Had to sell it though.” He sighs sadly.Butters expression suddenly changes to something much more serious. He sits up straight and pulls out a few files in front of him.“While we’re on that topic, I.. uh, had a look at your medical file.” He says, “Seems like money’s been tight and lucks been bad..”If ‘luck’s what you wanna call it then sure, but it’s more like cursed if you ask him.“I’m really sorry you’re going through this, Craig.” Butters says genuinely.Craig gives him a sad smile before speaking again, “Look, Butters. You know my story. If I just had some money I could maybe get some treatment to buy me more time..” He stares at the baseball once more, “And uh.. maybe.. see my little sister— graduate.” His voice cracks as he fights the tears threatening to fall out.It’s like Butters can sense the incoming tears, so he stands up and walks over to his large display of wine.“That’s the kind of conversation that requires alcohol.” He says to try and lighten the mood.He won’t lie, this cracks him up a little.Craig scoffs in response, but doesn’t argue or say anything. He just watches as Butters pours him a drink from an expensive looking bottle. He turns around and holds out the glass for Craig to take before saying, “It’s the good stuff, I promise.” Butters watches as Craig grabs the glass and takes a sip. “See?” Craig chuckles before speaking again,“Yeah.. I’d ask where you got it but I don’t have the money and I'll probably be dead by the time I finish the bottle.” Butters apparently doesn’t find this funny because he frowns and puts down his glass.“Don’t talk like that, buddy. Pessimism is not going to help you.. or your family.” He says, placing a hand on Craigs shoulder, “Good news is you're not the first person to come to us in a tough spot.” Craig lights up when he hears this, maybe he’s not so cursed after all..“You think a loans possible?” He asks, his voice full of hope.Butters smile fades away once again, and he’s back to that serious expression. He sits down in front of Craig and leans onto his desk.“I don’t think so, buddy. I just can’t loan the kind of money we’re talking about to someone who very likely might pass away before he can even think about paying me back.” He says.Ouch. Hit him right where it hurts.“Now— I know, that makes me sound like an asshole. I promise i’m not. It’s just.. I’ve lost people to cancer. I can see how unforgiving it can be.” So this was all a waste of time. Great. He’s back to the conclusion that he is cursed.“But, I can still help you.” Butters says, turning away from Craig to put the files back in his drawers.Craig rolls his eyes in disbelief.“You think so?” Craig asks, unbelieving in Butters’ ability to help him.“I do, but I can’t do it alone. I need your participation.”Participation? What the hell is he talking about?“You see, I represent a very exclusive and wealthy clientele who pay extremely large fees for a one-of-a-kind experience. In the highly intense sport of..” He lets out a breath, “hunting.”Craigs eyes widen, as he’s suddenly hit with a very unsettling feeling.He looks away from the blonde and instead seeks comfort once again in the baseball still sat on Butters’ desk.“And that’s when your participation becomes crucial.” What the actual fuck did he just get himself into.“You want them to hunt me?” He scoffs, Butters just nods in response.Craig stares at him in disbelief before speaking again, “Like— like paintball? or.. tag? Or something?” Butters shakes his head and just smiles at him. But it’s not the same smile from before, it’s something completely different and it’s fucking terrifying.Craigs face drops and he pales, “Like.. you’d hunt an animal?”Butters smile stretches even wider and he leans in close again, “You got it. A hunt to kill.” “Fuck. You’re serious.” He says.“Now, hear me out before you run away screaming. You could definitely leave right now if you wanted too, but you’d still be poor with not even a few weeks left of your life,” Damn. “Or you could just listen to what I have to say, and be richer than you could possibly ever imagine.”This guy is insane.“You could have your family set for life! Your mother could retire, your sister.. she could go to any college she wants! Your family would be set for generations! Fucking generations, Craig!” He’s right. If he did this his family would never have to worry about money ever again and he thinks he could die peacefully knowing that they’d be okay without him. But this is fucking sick. They hunt innocent people for— for what? Money? This is crazy. No fucking way.“You know what? Fuck you, I’m going to the cops.” He says, standing up. Butters just calmly smiles before speaking again,“And tell them what? You can’t prove anything!” He stands up with Craig, “You’ll sound crazy.” “Yeah.. well. We’ll see.” He says, beginning to walk away.“You could leave behind millions!” He stops in his tracks and turns around slowly. Now he’s listening.“Craig, how many times have you told yourself that you’d do anything to make sure that your family is safe after you're gone?” He says, looking right at him. “This is your chance to do anything.”Craig doesn’t say anything.“If you want to hear more, I'll be on the balcony.”
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Eventually Craig decides to meet Butters out on the balcony.Now, before you say anything, he knows that this is fucking insane, but you only live once, right? Plus, it’s not like he has any other options. It’s either this, which could possibly buy him more time and leave behind something for his mom and Tricia, or go home and wait out his eventual death.He can’t believe he’s actually considering this, getting hunted like a fucking animal! On the other hand, though, we’re talking millions of dollars. That's a lot of money, and for what? To get chased around by a crazy person for just one day? Sounds easy enough.Unless they catch him, of course, that would be unfortunate. So, because of this, Craig has thought of a pro’s and con’s list of going through with this in his head. Okay. A pro to agreeing to this would be.. the money. Obviously. A con? The likely chance that he’ll get stabbed to death an hour into it.Another pro, being able to spend more time with his family, even if it’s just five more minutes. Or he could, again, be stabbed to death and never see them again, and without the chance to even say goodbye. Damn. That would really suck.But they really need this money, and he would rather die trying than die for nothing.So. It’s because of this that Craig finds himself walking up those stairs and onto the rooftop balcony with Butters, who looks more than happy to see him here. “I see you’ve finally came to your senses, buddy!” The blonde exclaims, his drink still in hand.“If that’s what we’re calling it, then sure.” Butters turns around and leans against the fence, looking down into the cold streets of Denver. He doesn’t say anything for a while, leaving Craig standing awkwardly and awaiting more information.He just lets out a loud sigh, still leaning against the fence, before speaking again, “In my experience.. it’s best if you just listen and hear me out.” “Wow. It’s almost like that’s exactly what I came here to do.” Craig says snarkily. Butters looks unfazed by the sarcasm though, the ghost of a smile still on his face as he speaks,“Here's how you’ll be hunted.” He begins,“So, it’s a 24 hour hunt around the city. Every hour you survive, the more money you earn. This continues until the game ends.” He takes a sip of his drink before explaining further, “If you survive the full day, you’re rich. If you don’t.. then well, at least your family will be stable.”“Alright, but.. why me?” He asks, not being able to shake the question out of his mind. It's all he’s been wondering since he arrived. This whole hunting shit clearly isn’t legal. The hospital must not know what this guy is offering, and since he’s never heard of ‘The Tiro Fund’ and there's nothing about it on the internet, he’s a little confused about how they found him.Craig has been on edge ever since Butters said that whole bit when he arrived, you know.. the ‘Craig Tucker, I’ve been expecting you’ shit. He hadn’t even realized until now, him being too distracted by everything going on, that he never told Butters his name.And he had— or has files on him. He’s in deep shit.“Craig. In highschool alone, you did track, ice hockey, and baseball, not to mention you were so good at track that you won a full ride scholarship to the University of Denver and multiple offers to other schools in the country.” When you’re constantly on the verge of getting your electricity turned off, paying for college isn't exactly ideal. So, it’s not like he had a choice. It’s either win a scholarship and go to college, don’t go to college ‘cause he can’t afford it, or take out a student loan and be swimming in debt for twenty years.Wait, hold on. How the fuck does he know that?“You’re the first terminally ill person we’ve found who’s actually fit enough to be a runner.” He explains.“How the hell do you know all this?” Craig says, now standing next to Butters, “I mean, next thing you know you’re going to tell me you know my fucking address or something.”“I do. But that’s not the point.” Oh okay. Nope, definitely not creepy.“Listen, Craig. You’re a good young man. You’re just.. unlucky.” Or cursed.“If i’m a good man, what does that make you?” Craig asks.“Your only hope.” He tells him very matter of factly. Butters doesn’t say anything else after that, leaving them both in an slightly uncomfortable silence.Craig hates to admit it, but he’s right. He doesn’t have any other options here. He swore he would do anything to make sure his family would be stable once he’s passed and he intends to do just that. No matter what it takes.“There are rules to the game. My clients want a fair hunt. Once you commit, there’s no backing out. There is no going back, Craig.” He says, “Now, here's a little tip. Don’t trust anyone. Hunters could be anywhere and everywhere and I mean it. They could be anybody, men, women, donkeys, whatever.”“Wait a minute, there’s multiple hunters?” Craigs eyes widen. Okay, he’s officially starting to rethink this whole thing. Trying to hide from one guy for 24 hours without dying is easy, but trying to hide from five people for 24 hours without dying is definitely impossible.“There’s five lined up for you. Next rule, the hunt takes place in Denver and Denver only. Once you leave the city lines, you’ve broken the rules and the game goes on forever and they will find you.” He says. Any trace of a smile is wiped from his face and replaced by a terrifyingly serious expression. He is not fucking around.“Go to the cops? You’re dead. Get arrested? You’re dead. Tell anyone, your sister, mother, Clyde, and you’re dead.” He says.“Don’t talk about Clyde, dude. Seriously.” He warns. Butters throws both his hands up in defense before smiling, which just pisses Craig off even more. He lets out a frustrated sigh before speaking again, “Just tell me about the money.”Butters lets out a chuckle and pats Craig’s back before speaking again, “Now we’re talking! You survive the first hour, you get fifty thousand dollars in your bank account. Survive the second hour, one hundred thousand and so on. Each hour you’re alive for wins you fifty thousand until you reach hour twenty, where you’ll get one million each hour. Final hour you win five million and this all adds up to be—““Twenty four million dollars?!” He almost screams out. Holy shit! He wasn’t expecting twenty four million! How does he even have that kind of money? Not that he’s complaining but what the hell? Craig is pretty sure that his soul actually leaves his body for a second upon hearing that.Craig begins to picture all the things he could buy with 24 million dollars. For starters, they would be able to pay the bills, obviously. Actually, scratch that, he would be able to move his family somewhere nice for not even a tenth of the money. Tricia would be able to go to a nice college somewhere, his mom could retire, he could give some of it to Clyde so he could invest into his bar, maybe open a new location somewhere. They could all go on vacation somewhere nice together for one big final party before it’s time for Craig to hit the bucket. That sounds nice. Just him, Clyde, Tolkien, and Jimmy going on a plane to some island, maybe in the Caribbean, probably the Bahamas or the Dominican Republic. He’s always wanted to travel ever since he was little, but he’s never left the country for the obvious reasons. If he gets this money though, it could change everything. He could give Tricia everything she’s never had, and hopefully buy himself some more time.It’s a nice thought but realistically speaking, theres no possible way he has that much money just lying around to give out to people who are on the verge of death. This guy is definitey messing with him. Is he getting scammed? Maybe they’re actually a group of high-tech hackers that stole his information and thats why they know so much about him. Ew, when did he become so paranoid? Craig hadn’t even realized that he had zoned out until Butters’ voice is breaking him out of his thoughts.“Oh, uh. Sorry.” He tells him apologetically. “You’re good, Tucker.” He chuckles, “But don’t get too excited here. There’s still a few more rules. No guns, my guys will only be carrying close range weapons, like knives.”Great way to ruin the mood.All his excitement leaves as fast as it emerged and the image of him getting stabbed to death reappears in his mind. He thinks he would rather be shot. Sounds quicker, and less painful.“You also..” Butters pulls out a black phone from his suit, “Have to have this on you at all times. This can only call me, so if you need to come into contact with me, you would use this. It will also reveal your exact location to the hunters at every hour for fifteen seconds. So you have to keep it with you.”Craig scoffs, “And what if I just throw it in an alley? Or a plane or something?” “No offense, buddy, but can you even afford to buy a plane ticket?” Okay, ouch. “And anyways, then, like I said before, the game goes on forever until you die.” Butters says with slight annoyance in his voice, before pulling out a fat wad of cash from his suit, “Here. Take this so you know I'm serious.”Craig reluctantly takes the money from Butters and quickly inspects it before shoving it into his jacket.Butters reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card before handing it to Craig, “Seriously, take this card. It’s my number. If you decide to go through with this, give me a call and we’ll talk.”“Fuck you.” Craig says, snatching the card from his hand before walking off.As if Craig would ever risk dying any quicker than he has to just to fulfill some weirdo’s sick murder fantasies.The whole thing is probably some kind of scam, or something. No way they just happened to know all that information about him. Despite all this, Craig still keeps the card Butters had given him. Just in case, he tells himself.When he gets home, he finds that all the lights have been turned off and the kitchen is clean, which means Mom and Tricia are already asleep. It’s probably better that way anyway.His stomach lets out a loud, and quite frankly embarrassing, grumble, so he decides to make something to eat. Craig makes his way over to the fridge in search of ingredients to make a sandwich. After he gathers everything together on the kitchen island, he begins to put his sandwich together.Just as he’s about to open the bread, he notices a big stack of envelopes and mail poorly hidden behind his mother’s obnoxiously large flowers. He moves a little closer, inspecting the papers.He grabs the one laying flat on top and carefully rips it open, inside is a bill for $300. Shit. Okay, this is fine. The cash he got from Butters was around $1,500, he can make this payment. He opens the next envelope, which is revealed to be another bill, but this time it’s around $500. Craig continues to open the others one by one and finds that they’re all bills and missed payments. He quickly adds up the money in his head and comes to the conclusion that the money Butters’ gave him is still not nearly enough to cover any of this. Craig begins to worry because there’s no way they’re gonna be able to pay even half of this, and eventually worry turns to panic and his panic eventually evolves into a full on breakdown in the middle of his kitchen at dead midnight.He finds himself on the floor sitting smack in the middle of the kitchen and all of a sudden he feels hot tears running down his face. When did he start crying? If he wasn’t so distressed right now he would be a little concerned of that fact that this is the first time in a while that he’s actually let it all out, which is saying something because he didn’t even cry when he was diagnosed with cancer. If he’s being honest though, he is a little embarrassed for breaking down like this. He’s just under so much stress and pressure every single day, and he never gets a break. It’s the same thing everyday, it’s like he works so damn hard, and nobody notices. The worst part is that it was all for nothing because he’s going to die, and just in case you were wondering, it doesn’t get any better either. Anybody who says any different is a liar because he’s been supporting his family since he was sixteen, and nobody’s ever tried to help him because nobody cares.Hell, his own dad doesn’t even care about him. Craig was supposed to be his favorite. He promised he would call, that they would see him every weekend, but even he couldn’t be bothered to shoot him a call, or a text, or even a fucking letter tied to a messenger bird to see how his own family, his children, his flesh and blood, were doing.Craig knows he’s selfish for thinking like this. His mom is trying really hard and he loves her so much. More than she could ever know, and he’s a selfish, pessimistic, asshole who doesn’t deserve her or Tricia. He’s just holding them back.If Craigs being completely honest, he just can’t do this anymore.Maybe it would be better if he were dead.“Craig?” He’s broken out of his thoughts when he hears a voice call him from the stairs.He looks up, his vision blurred with tears, and makes out who he believes to be his mother standing at the stairs wearing her pink pajama set and holding an empty glass.Craig quickly wipes his tears on his sleeve and turns away from his mom so that she doesn’t have to see him cry. It’s no use, though, because she’s already rushing to the kitchen to hug him.“Oh, baby.” She says, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug. He doesn’t fight it though, instead hugging her tight because he’s scared that he’ll disappear any second now.“It’s okay, Craig. Let it all out, sweetie.” She whispers, her voice soft and comforting. He does as told and the tears begin to fall again. He tries to speak, but his voice betrays him so he just continues to cry, his mom rubbing circles into his back as he sobs.“Everything will be okay, honey. It’ll be alright..” She says, but it sounds more like her trying to convince herself rather than Craig.“Mom, I don’t wanna die. I can’t..” He manages to get out through sobs and overly embarrassing voice cracks. His mother rubbing circles into his back gently.He thinks shes crying too, but he can’t really tell right now. Right now, though, he feels like he’s five years old again, crying in his mothers arms. And for a moment, he almost believes that he is.They stay like that for a few more minutes before breaking apart. Craig looks at his mom. Her eyes are puffy and red from crying, and her face is wet. He can’t say much though because he knows he looks the same if not worse right now.He wipes a stray tear from his Mothers face before running a hand through her hair.“I love you, mom. I know I don’t say it a lot, but I do.” He confesses. He can see his mom fighting the urge to cry again and he gives her a sad smile.“I love you too, kid. Everythings gonna be just fine. I promise.”As much as he hates being vulnerable, he will admit that he really needed this. He sends his mom back to bed a few minutes after they’ve calmed down and is now laying awake in his own bed, genuinely rethinking his life decisions.He begins to try and think of a solution. Maybe he could take up another job? Fuck, no. Nevermind, he doesn’t have enough time with all his classes for three jobs. He could try and ask for a raise, but his boss is a money-hungry bitch who would probably laugh in his face if he asked.He runs all the probable options through his head multiple times. But deep down he knows that there is only one true solution, he just can’t bring himself to admit it. Butters words replay in his head over and over again like a broken record.“Craig, how many times have you told yourself that you’d do anything to make sure that your family is safe after you're gone?” He says, looking right at him. “This is your chance to do anything.”‘This is your chance to do anything.’He’s right.Craig pulls his phone from his nightstand, and jumps out of his bed in search of his jacket. It takes him a little while due to the fact that his room constantly looks like a zoo, but he eventually finds it under a pile of.. something.He searches through the pockets until he finds what he's looking for, the tiny, folded up paper card Butters had given him.He types the number into his phone, not caring about the fact that he might not even be awake right now, and presses the call button.It rings for a few moments, but Butters finally picks up. “Craig.” He greets through the phone, his voice sounding the same as earlier. How is he not tired?“I changed my mind. Let’s do it.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Decided what you want to eat yet, buddy?” asks Butters, still looking down at the menu in front of him.If he’s being honest, he doesn’t think his stomach can handle any food right now. They’re both currently sitting in a booth inside of the local diner, which is strangely busy even though it’s literally six in the morning.Last night, he had called Butters after his little ‘heart to heart’ with his mother, if you could even call it that, and decided he was going to go through with this.Apparently, Butters decided that they’re not going to waste any time here, so he told him to meet him here at six in the fucking morning so they could start this dumb ass game.Craig would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. He doesn’t really know what he’s dealing with here. Getting hunted by five weirdos was never on his bucket list, but oh well.He made sure to leave the house before his mom or Tricia woke up, mostly to avoid having to explain where the hell he’s going when the sun isn’t even up yet. He doesn’t have classes today and even when he does, they’re all in the afternoon anyway. (Fuck all of you early birds.)Craig continues to stare at the menu in front of him, searching for something to eat, but finding nothing because he genuinely feels like he’s gonna be sick.“You know what? I’m actually not that hungry.” He decides, pushing the menu far away from him. Butters looks at him strangely before sighing, folding up their menus, and placing them on the table.“I really think you should eat, Craig. You need fuel for all the running you’re about to be doing.” He suggests, motioning the waiter over before speaking again, “It’s kind of hard to stop for a meal when you’re on the run.”“It’s fine. I used to run everyday.” Craig says.“You’ve never run like this before, though.” Butters argues, Craig just rolls his eyes in response before taking a sip from the glass of water that he had ordered. “In all seriousness, nothing can be worse than running the 400m in track,” He tells him, putting down the glass. “If anything I’m overqualified for all this.”Butters ignores the comment, looks at the clock, and then back to Craig.“Empty your pockets.” He orders.Craig doesn’t listen, he just looks at him instead. He didn’t really sleep last night, just spent the whole night laying awake in bed instead, rethinking his decision to do this. Honestly, he doesn’t know if he wants to do this anymore. Maybe it was just the heat of the moment yesterday giving him the confidence to call up Butters, but he’s actually scared right now.And he has every right to be! What if he doesn’t make it? There’s a 70% chance he dies before the sun even sets, and then what? What are they going to tell his family? ‘Oh, your son died in a mysterious accident but here’s a million dollars!’ This makes him laugh out loud, even though nothing about this is funny.Butters doesn’t seem to have him funny either, though.“Listen, dude. I’m having second thoughts, maybe we should just call this off and I’ll just go home—“ He begins before being rudely interrupted.“No offense, Craig. But home to what? In a few weeks you won't even have a home.” He whispers loudly, leaning in closely so that Craig can hear him, “You’re really gonna leave your family like that because you’re, what, scared?”Okay, what is it with this guy and the poor people jokes? Always hitting him right where it hurts.Despite this, Craig doesn’t try to argue back, he just accepts defeat and empties his pockets instead, which earns him a pleased smile from Butters.He drops his phone and wallet on the table and Butters take them and puts them in his bag. Craig then searches through his pockets again and pulls out his medication that he was prescribed for his extreme headaches, but Butters doesn’t take them, he just hands them back to him.“Keep those, buddy. You need to be at your strongest.” He suggests, “Now, stand up.” “What?” Craig asks, confused.“Stand up. I need to pat you down.” He tells him quietly, looking him up and down.“Do you have to do it here, though?” He says through gritted teeth, embarrassed. Butters just looks at him blankly in response.Craig sighs and does as told, standing up in the middle of the diner, which earns him some strange looks from people. Butters also stands up and begins to pat him down, Craig’s face flushes red and he begins to look around the diner as he does so.In their defense, it is an unusal sight. It’s not everyday you see a six foot college student being patted down by a tiny blonde billionaire wearing a tuxedo at 6 a.m. in the middle of a diner.This goes on for a little longer than needed but Butters seems completely unfazed, like this is normal to him.“How many people have you done this to?” Craig asks, his face still red with embarrassment.“You’d be surprised.” Butters replies before pulling up Craig’s pant leg and searching his sock and shoe, “You’d be even more surprised at the amount who actually live.”“Because that makes me feel soooo much better.” He says sarcastically. Craig taps his feet repeatedly, growing impatient. “Are you done yet?” He nods and they both sit back down. Craig decides that he might just take up Butters’ offer to buy him food, so he flags down the waiter and orders a sandwich, fries, and coffee.Butters pulls out his phone, types something, and then he apparently calls someone. Craig is about to ask who he’s calling right now, but Butters puts a finger to his mouth and shushes him before speaking to the person on the call,“Hey, it’s me. Could you wire fifty thousand to the players account for me?” He’s silent for a moment before speaking again, “Awesome, thank you, buddy.” He ends the call and puts the tiny black phone that Craig is supposed to use for the hunt on the table.“Here, open the dollar sign app.” He tells him.Craig examines the phone for a few seconds. It only has two apps, the one to call Butters, and the mentioned dollar sign app. He clicks on it and finds.. his bank account? What the hell?“How did you— That’s my bank account..” He says, shocked.Butters smiles before speaking again, “Look how much is in it.”Under his name is.. fifty thousand dollars! What the hell?“What— I mean.. What is this?!” He almost yells out.“For the first hour, whether you live through it or not.” Butters tells him. Craig could actually cry.. again. “Now that you know how the set up works. Listen to me, I want you to get through this, Craig. I want you to have a shot at leaving something behind, so i’m going to give you some tips.” He says, Craig nodding in response.“Firstly, crowds are your friends. The hunters don’t want to kill you publicly— I mean, they will if they have to, but not in an extremely open space. They don’t want to spend the rest of their lives in prison, you know.” He tells him.“Okay. Crowds are good. Got it.” Craig nods.Butters looks at the clock again, and then back to Craig.“Don’t trust anyone. I mean it. Be alert at all times. Anyone you meet could be out for your head.” He says.This makes Craig feel a little uneasy, but it’s what he signed up for. There’s no going back now.“Alright. I understand. When are you going to tell the hunters?” He asks before going to drink his water.“Craig, they’re in here right now. All five of them.” Butters tells him.Craig chokes and almost spits out his water when hearing this. He coughs loudly and, again, earns weird stares from the people around them.“I’m sorry— what?” He gets out while coughing.He begins to sweat and looks around the diner, everybody here looks completely normal! How is he supposed to tell who’s a hunter and who’s not? Butters places a hand on his shoulder from across the table in an attempt to calm him down.“Listen, buddy. Don’t panic. You’re just making it worse for yourself.” He says.Because that’s super helpful.“Okay.. okay. Uh.. when does it start?” He asks, staring at the time on the phone that was given to him.The clock hits 6:46 a.m. and the phone begins to loudly ding.“Right now. You get a three minute head start. I don’t suggest using your time trying to remember the faces in here, the hunters could’ve left already. You have three options, fight, flight, or freeze.” He tells him, “Third one gets you killed. So, you better run like your life depends on it, because it does.”Craig gets up without another word and runs out of the diner, phone in hand, and out into the busy streets of Denver.He makes sure to make as many turns as he can when he’s running so that he can get far away from the diner. Craig pushes through many groups of people ignoring the curses and scoldings he earns in response until he finally finds a bus. He quickly runs onto the bus but is stopped by the driver,“Fare is a dollar fifty.” He tells him.Craig searches through his pockets and jackets in search of his wallet, only to remember that he had given it to Butters at the diner. Fuck.“Uh.. I lost my wallet. Could I just pay you back later? You’ve seen me before..” He says.The driver looks at him hesitantly, before nodding. “Just this once!” He tells him.Craig thanks him and walks to the back of the bus. He sits down on an empty two-seater and looks out the window. Just as the bus is about to leave, a man yells from outside,“Hey! Hold the bus!” He yells, holding an old and rusty looking metal box as he runs.Was he in the diner? Craig can’t remember. But he’s not taking any chances. He looks around and spots an old guy in the seat behind him sleeping, he’s wearing a red sports cap and a pair of black sunglasses. Craig bends over the seat and reaches for his cap and glasses carefully. Luckily, nobody says anything or even bats an eye. He quickly puts the glass on and then the cap, making sure to cover his face completely, when he hears the man step on the bus.He expects him to go for the open seats in the front but he instead walks right towards him. The man stops at his seat before speaking,“Mind if I sit?” He asks while smiling, his voice kind of smoky with a slight rasp to it.Craig hesitates for a moment, before moving over so he can sit. He uses this as a chance to memorize the man's face. He has dirty blonde, neck-length, hair, half of it being tied up in a bun while the other half is loose. He is definitely on the taller side, looking to be at least 5’10. Not quite as tall as Craig himself, but taller than average. He looks strong, though, and very toned. The man has a gap between his front teeth, it’s a weird thing to remember but he noticed that when he smiled at him.Craig thinks he could take him in a fight. Well, that is if he doesn’t get stabbed to death before he can even throw a punch, which is mostly why he’s uncomfortable with this guy sitting next to him.He normally wouldn’t have even bat an eye at him, but considering the fact that he’s walking around with this nasty ass metal toolbox full of, what he assumes to be, weapons like he’s the fucking clown from the Terrifier movies, he’s not very calm right nowHe studies the blonde sitting next to him, watching him closely. Just in case he tries anything. The toolbox is now on the floor, which puts him a little more at ease. Obviously he’s not completely relaxed because this guy could still be one of the hunters just waiting for him to let his guard up so he can choke him to death or something, but he feels the tiniest bit safer with the death box farther away from him.“So, Craig. Where ya heading?” The blonde says suddenly. Craig’s eyes widen and he almost jumps out of his seat upon hearing his name. He shuffles himself closer towards the window before taking a quick glance at just how many people are in the bus. It’s not very full, but definitely full enough to the point where an attack on the bus right now would not go unnoticed. He slowly glances back towards the man, their eyes meeting in an instant. Craig's body completely tenses up, now determined to get as far away as possible from this guy. Fortunately for him, he knows exactly how.“You’re one of them, aren't you?” He finally asks, hesitantly, “You know you can’t kill me here, right? Too many witnesses.” What he didn’t expect, though, was for the man to start laughing. Craig narrows his eyes at him, not exactly understanding what’s so funny about anything he just said. “Ah, i’m sorry..” He manages to get out through his fit of laughter. The blonde pats Craig on the back as he laughs, causing Craig to jump back even closer to the wall. After the laughter dies down, the man speaks again, “I’m sorry. That’s just the first time I’ve ever heard that one. No, i’m not one of them.”Craig stares at him expectantly, waiting for more information to be given to him, because right now he’s not exactly believing this whole act. “You know my name. How? If you’re supposedly not a hunter?” He questions, eyeing him suspiciously.“Easy, i’ll show you how!” The blonde says before reaching down to grab the toolbox sitting on the floor.Craig begins to panic and as soon as his hands touch the box, he gets up, pushing past the man and running to the front of the bus. He glances back at the man, who is weirdly still right now, then back to the front of the bus.“Stop the bus!” He yells, the bus driver ignoring him.He pushes past the people standing and a few of them even fall to the floor, “Stop the bus! Please! I need to get off right now.” He pleads.The bus driver gives him a nasty look before yelling back, “Sir! Sit down, now!” “I said stop the fucking bus!” He screams. The people on the bus begin to yell and gasp at the commotion, but the bus driver does as told and stops the bus, opening the door for Craig.“Get your crazy ass off my bus!” He yells, and Craig does.He runs out into the streets once again, still having no idea or plan of what to do.10 minutes into the game and he’s already been found out by one of the hunters. What’s to say the others don’t already know exactly where he is? Oh, he’s fucked.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Craig severely underestimated how hard this whole thing was going to be. To be honest, he doesn’t know what he expected, but it was not this. After getting kicked off of the bus, he decided that going into very open and public places was his best bet. So, he walked, very cautiously he might add, to the mall which he predicted to be about a mile away. A 16 minute walk isn’t so bad, plus it leaves him with about 35 minutes before his location is revealed to the hunters. He made sure to heavily analyze the people around him and their faces just in case he sees them again, that way he knows who to look out for.Craig ended up telling his mom that he was going to spend the day with some of his friends, party a bit, and probably end up sleeping at Clydes, which was completely believable to her or at least believable enough to the point where she didn’t question him at all.He has to say though, getting around like this is really hard. He can’t use GPS because he doesn’t have his phone, can’t take the bus because he could literally get stabbed and we saw how well that went the last time, and he can’t use the car because he doesn’t want to leave his mom and Tricia without any transportation. Which is why he’s currently walking around the mall, just stalking behind groups of people instead of shopping. Craigs been staying in groups for the past 30 minutes because he’s decided that if he just slowly trails behind large groups of people, it’ll make it harder for anybody to try and find him, though it’s probably better he goes into a store. Craig thinks he might go into Victorias Secret because what are the chances that the hunters go into a lingerie store looking for him? The only problem with that is that he doesn’t really want to be seen lingering around a store full of women like a creep. He’s currently just slowly trailing behind this group of kids, well not kids. They definitely look to be in their late teens, probably around sixteen or seventeen years old, so around Tricias age. He secretly hopes that if he’s spotted by any hunters, that they’ll have to leave him alone because theres kids around, but you never know. If these guys kill for fun, and pay actual money to hunt people, then they probably don’t care about morals. Craig hadn’t realized how zoned out he’d been until he walks right into one of the girls in front of him. He’s fairly strong, if he does say so himself, so he quickly regains his balance, but the girl was not so fortunate. She falls face first onto the floor, spilling her probably newly bought drink all over her clothes and bags, which are now everywhere.“Shit, sorry. Let me help you up real quick.” He apologizes, feeling bad because he just ruined her clothes.He bends down and right when he reaches his hand out to help her get up, Craig is roughly pushed onto the ground with her. Before he can even look for the culprit, he feels something cold and wet being thrown on him. He looks up to find one of the guys of the group peering down at him, empty cup in hand, although it’s not very intimidating seeing as Craig is twice his size. He looks to the side and finds that the girl he had collided with is now crying and he is met with some nasty looks from the people passing by, especially from her friend group.“Look what you did, you asshole!’ One girl yells, pointing at her friend.“You’re such a creep!” Another says. But the worst definitely came from the guy in the group.“Don’t ever touch my girlfriend again you fucking pedophile!” He yells in his face. Craig just stares at him in disbelief at, one, being called a creep and, two, being called a pedophile. He doesn’t know which is worse. Actually, he does, being called a pedophile is way worse.Craig gives the kid a nasty glare back, “What are you even talking about? I’m just barely the legal drinking age, and it was an accident!” He argues, earning scoffs from the entire group.“Sure, grandpa. What are you, like fourty?” The boy says, completely ignoring his still crying girlfriend in the back. He tries not to be offended by that, because he’s pretty sure he doesn’t even look close to being fourty, but it still stings a bit.“Alright, kid. You’re dragging it.” Craig tells him, now growing frustrated.“You’re literally pushing fifty and preying on young girls.” He says very loudly. Craig looks around to make sure that nobody else heard that, especially security. He really really doesn’t want to be arrested right now, since that would be breaking the rules. Craig brings a finger to his mouth and shushes the boy, “Say that a little louder, why don't you? I’m not quite sure everybody heard it right the first time.” He hisses.“Don’t touch me, old man–” The boy yells, causing everybody in the vicinity to look.“What? I didn’t even touch you, you little shit.” He seethes, which earns him a cocky smirk from the boy, he looks back at his friends and signals something to them, but he can’t quite tell what. They all start laughing, seemingly at him.“I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you.” He begins, “Isn’t it a school day? Why aren’t you guys at school? Wouldn’t it just be so funny if I just reported you all to security for cutting class? Because let me tell you, truancy is no joke, kids.” At hearing this, every single one of their faces go pale and they all stop laughing. Craig smirks and picks himself off the ground to leave but just as he’s about to walk away, one of the girls starts loudly screaming and sends that same signal to the other kids, who follow suit shortly after.“Help! This man is trying to kidnap us!” She screams from the top of her lungs. He begins to panic when he sees that security has already noticed the screaming teens, and so he takes off into the crowd of people. Craig lowers himself so that he blends into the crowd more, unfortunately another con of being freakishly tall.And on top of all this, his phone lets out two high pitched dings, signaling the end of the first hour. He should be happy because he just earned another fifty thousand dollars, but that means his location is being revealed to all five hunters for fifteen seconds, so there's no time for that.He has to get out of here, and fast.Craig begins pushing through the crowd, ignoring the protests and curses that he earns in response, and quickly heads for the exit. Just as the door comes into sight, he notices that same man from the bus earlier walking through the door with one hand in his pocket.He begins to panic as the blonde makes his way closer. The man seems to finally notice him and they make intensely creepy eye contact for a few seconds before he cracks a weird and crooked smile at Craig, causing him to feel uneasy. Right as Craig’s about to run in the opposite direction, he’s being tackled by a large man right into the nearest wall.Now, Craig’s gotten into his fair share of fights, mostly in middle school. You might even say he was well known for his fighting skills. He remembers the other kids used to set up events at recess so he could fight the biggest and strongest kids in the grade. Craig would win every single time. He was undefeated. In fact, he was so good, that his classmates began charging the other grades to see his recess and lunchtime fights. They actually made a good amount of money charging five dollars a person, and he even got a cut too. That was until highschool began. You see, Craig didn’t get out of these fights completely unscathed because every single time that he fought, his guidance counselor, Mr Mackey, would send him straight to his office so they could “talk about his anger issues.” He began getting suspended for these fights after he broke a kids nose. So, when highschool began, Craig quit his day job at his little illegal recess fighting ring in order to save himself from getting suspended. He really needed a scholarship, and the four hundred dollars a month that he was making were all going to his mom anyways. The point is Craig has fought all kinds of guys, big, small, weak, strong, tall, short, etc, but he’s never fought one this big. He tries to fight the security guards grasp, but it’s no use, he won't budge. So, he allows him to take him to the security office while trying to ignore all the horrible looks and whispers he’s getting.Craig looks around for any hunters, but the blonde from earlier has now disappeared, and it’s not like he knows what any of the others look like. He just knows he needs to be cautious.The guard sits him down in the chair inside of the security office and fights the urge to run. He’s really contemplating it right now, he can't lie, but he can’t get arrested or they’ll kill him. The feelings of hopelessness arise inside of him again. How the hell is he supposed to get through twenty three more hours of this if he can barely get through the first? He doesn’t even know who he’s supposed to be running from, and it doesn’t help that they can see where he is every hour. Craig seriously considers giving up at this point. One hundred thousand dollars seems like more than enough to give his family a steady income.. but he can’t. He needs to do this. He needs to be there. He needs to see Tricia graduate highschool, go to college, get married, start a family of her own, she deserves it the most, and his mom, he wants her to not have to worry about money once he's gone, and doing this would guarantee them both that. Everything he does is for them and that is why he’s doing this. There’s no going back.He looks around and finds the security guard typing something up on his computer, his back facing Craig. He decides that he's going to make a run for it, because what other choice does he have? He quietly makes his way to the door, but right as he touches the handle, an extremely loud alarm goes off, alerting the guard of his attempted escape. He turns around and sees the man charging right at him but before he even gets close, he suddenly pauses. The guard lets out a loud gasp, his breath hitching in his throat before slowly grasping his stomach and falling face first to the ground. Right there, in the middle of his back, is a knife deeply plunged into his skin. Craig almost screams and falls into the wall behind him as the blonde man pulls the knife out from his back. The blood squirts and gushes out from the wound, and Craig looks up to see the blonde man looming right over him with a bloody knife in his hand. The same knife he used to stab the security guard. Craig stares at the man bleeding out below him in shock. He’s no doctor, but that looks lethal. The man gasps for air but can’t seem to find any and the blood is now pouring all over the floor and his clothes. Craig bends down and without even thinking, removes the man's jacket. He wraps it around his stomach tight, putting the man's hand over it.“Shit.. you’re okay dude, just– just apply pressure to it, okay?” He says, his gaze switching from the blonde and the man bleeding out on the floor. The man is just staring at him, not moving, not saying anything. Just looking at him with an unreadable expression and that knife in his hand. Craig moves closer to the door, ready to make his escape before yelling out,“Hey!” He pauses, his entire body shaking, “It’s me you’re after! Just leave him alone, please.” The man gives him another confused look before speaking again,“Craig, for the last time, I’m not a hunter. He was going to arrest you.” He explains. Craig glances at him, then to the security guard who’s no longer moving or breathing, his body lays limp on the ground. He feels tears welling up in his eyes and the feeling of guilt begins to overwhelm him.He decides not to take this moment for granted and runs out of there, despite feeling guilty for leaving that guy in there, he feels even worse knowing that there's probably multiple hunters at his location right now. Just as it’s about to close, Craig rushes into the nearest elevator, making it in by just barely. He lets out a sigh of relief, just grateful to have made it out of there.There’s another guy inside the elevator, he’s young and also blonde, but not the same as the crazy one who just killed someone. No. His hair is lighter and looks much softer in comparison to the other guys crazy and wild hair. He has a bunch of freckles scattered across his face, you can see them from far away and even in this lighting, which amazes him. He’s wearing a tight-fit, black, long sleeved shirt, some black baggy sweatpants, and green sneakers.“You know it’s rude to stare.” The guy pipes up, crossing his arms together.Craig snaps out of his trance, ignoring the blonde man and instead clicking the button that takes them to the fourth floor, which will take them to the parking lot.“Hey, didn’t I just see you get arrested for trying to kidnap a group of kids?” The man asks, his voice filled with curiosity, but not judgment. Still, Craig’s face goes red and he struggles to find the right response.“It wasn’t me!” He gets out, earning him a suspicious glare from the blonde.“That’s what they all say, dude.” The man shrugs.Craig thinks for a moment on what to say, but just decides to stay quiet for the time being. No use in socializing at a time like this.Wait.Actually, maybe there is.“Weird question, do you have a car?” He asks the blonde out of the blue.The man leans against the elevator wall and smiles,“How do you think I got here, genius?” He jokes.Perfect.“Okay, I know we just met, but could I please catch a ride with you? I’d pay you but I literally have nothing right now.” He pleads.The guy glares at him suspiciously before replying,“Why? So, you can kidnap me too, stalker?” Craig’s face flushes red once again, and he awkwardly turns away from the man, struggling to get any words out once again.“Relax, I’m just joking. Sure.” He reassures, giving Craig some much needed relief, “My name's Tweek, by the way.”