#oh no...!!!

And since it was a mistake he didn’t want to repeat until reaching his final objective, he was keeping himself busy. He had first groomed his horse, and that had taken him quite a while, then he had found himself something to eat, had taken a few minutes to breathe and relax his still painful shoulder, and he would now have to change the bandage on his leg and his arm, and wash the cut on his cheek. No way he’d let a flesh wound slow him down so close to his goal.

And for that, he looked for Lawrence, wherever he could be at the moment. William suspected that he’d find him with that little Behavior bitch. He shuddered as he thought back to that… that scene she had made in the farm.

Who the fuck did she think she was?!

Despite the anger and fear she had caused him — he hated to admit it — William found himself cracking a broad smile. He stifled a mocking burst of laugher as he kept going through the alleys formed by the block of buildings behind the awning.

The houses were on that side; William didn’t really know where they were going to be cooped up for the night but if it was with the locals, it’d be on that side. And that would also probably be where he would find Lawrence, showing that girl around…

Honestly, William would see no issue in leaving with other hosts to go finish the bucket list of his last tailored story. The issue — because there was one — was that after what Ford had done to their code before leaving in grand style, all the hosts seemed to be glitching.

Not all in the same way, but 'glitching' all the same…

And leaving with a crew of broken, absolutely untrustworthy hosts was an issue to William. Lawrence, on the other hand, looked like he still had his feet in his stirrups… even after the sort of episode his revelations had triggered.

It was bothering him to think that he might owe it to that code this girl had crammed in his head. But, no matter her pathetic reasons to do that, it was still working for William… If he had to leave with someone to hunt for Dolores, he’d put his money on Lawrence.

What was also nagging at him a little, were questions such as why Ford would let this girl pull this off, given what he was planning to do himself on the night of the gala and what did that old nutcase know of the code? Because he had to know — there was no doubt about it. What he doubted however, was that this girl could have anything to do with it. But what the hell was she doing in the park when the rules flipped? was another question adding itself to the pile, even if he had a few theories about that one.

Ultimately, William didn’t care too much about it remaining a mystery. At this point, he’d had his share of mysteries… But since Ford had made of Wyatt and Dolores one and the same character for this narrative fitting his hopes and expectations, then he’d know how to play this game. He had been waiting for this for thirty years!

Now, he’d catch up with Dolores, and would be done once and for all with this place. And everything it cost him. No matter the outcome… Death, ruin, victory — no fuck given.

An old woman sitting on a chair was shelling already empty pea pods in an already full plate, and William simply walked past her with a curious glance. He had never understood why some of the hosts were reacting a certain way to the errors in their code, and others in a different way… Like what had happened with Dolores, and that, still not so long ago. The thought made him grit his teeth and his fingers on his right shoulder, barely back into place. He’d been lucky she didn’t break his collarbone in their little Danse Macabre, the other day.

And his luck didn’t seem to have ran out yet as he heard a voice he easily recognized in the courtyard in front of him, behind the white sheets hanging from the strings tied to the houses’ roofs. It was Lawrence’s voice. And what puzzled William, making him slow down, was that he didn’t seem to be talking to his tech. Or if he was, she didn’t seem to have anything pertinent to say…

"Please…" William heard Lawrence beg. "Say something else!"

Behind the sheets flapping slowly on their ropes, he heard vague syllables in a woman’s voice… He moved so as to see without being seen from behind the sheets. Lawrence was talking to that host he’d been stuck with as a wife when they changed his narrative; she had a tense smile, and put her hands on his arms, saying something so low that William barely heard any of it.

"No!" Lawrence evaded her touch to hold her wrists, then her hands without forcing her. "I… I don’t wanna sit down, or drink somethin’! Why do you keep sayin’ that each time I…"

He stopped with a slow sigh. In fact, he wasn’t only nervous, William even found that he sounded flat-out frustrated.

Come on, he wasn’t going to laugh at him! He could get behind that; he too had the feeling of talking to a recording with some people at the office.

"I know you can’t remember, and that I have to be indulgent but… it ain’t so hard a question!"

In front of him, his "wife" looked like she was listening anyway, despite her still confused and tensed face.

"I’m askin’ you again. What do you want?"

She bobbed her head, negative, a muttered a sound or two. When the wind made the sheets flap higher, she seemed to spot William and turned her head to him, almost like she was begging for his help. He could’ve almost laughed! Lawrence turned too and let go of his wife’s hands when William walked up to them.

"The fuck do you want?" he spat at him.

"You’re repeating yourself, Lawrence."

Then, he reworded, a hand drawing closer to the colt at his belt :

"What are you doin’ here?"

The woman clung on Lawrence’s arm when William answered:

"I was looking for the place they they prepared us for the night."

"On the other side."

Lawrence didn’t give him any more direction other than a wave of his chin towards the next backstreet. Then, he told his wife go inside the house with a simple word; she stroke his arm and disappeared behind the door.

"Experiencing some family drama, Lawrence?" he then dead-panned.

And against all odds, William received no sarcasm, no snark… In fact, it even disappointed him a little. Lawrence furrowed his brows and mumbled an answer:

"I… I try talkin’ to her but… she… she doesn’t understand."

"Mmh," William muttered. "And what is it she doesn’t understand?"

He didn’t really give a shit… he was only curious.

"I tried explainin’ her why I won’t stay but, it’s like she ain’t hearin’ me…"

The opportunity to add to that all while getting his way was too good to miss.

"You’re planning to leave your shelter, then? To abandon wife and child…"

Lawrence glared at him, almost disgusted.

"You know very well what they really are."

"What you all are," William corrected.

Faced with his glower, he insisted:

"And where d’you think you’d go? Why leaving Pariah to come all the way here… and not stay?"

Lawrence clenched his jaw. But William could guess without issue that his little tech and him had daydreamed about eloping from the park.

"Also, you won’t be able to go anywhere as long as what’s happening out there isn’t over," he then added, as Lawrence wasn’t saying anything. "That’s why I need your help."

There was no real link between the two — stopping Dolores would still not allow him to get out of here. William was just trying to mess with his head to coax him into accepting.

"I need you to come with me stop Dolores! She’s the one leading Wyatt’s crew and she’s gonna come back here to finish off all the newcomers still in the park…"

Or at least, that’s what he had understood, that this was the task Ford had coded her, according to what he had seen… and what Angela had preached to Teddy. William groaned, frustrated not to remember her exact words.

He believed in Ford’s skill for premeditation, and that he had sowed a whole bunch of clues since the beginning of this new Wyatt narrative. Why else would he have come to face him in Rattlecreek, the other night?

"And can you imagine what she’ll do to your girlfriend, someone who’s working here?"

It was almost funny to see Lawrence shiver, and clutch his hand on the leather of his gunbelt. Then, William laid it on thick:

"You came across their victims on your way here, I’m sure. I saw the trap you escaped when I found you."

Lawrence held his gaze, still without a word.

"This is finally the game I’ve been hoping for all those years," William then went on, emboldened by his silence — he knew how Lawrence worked, and he knew that it meant he was taking what he had just said into account. "Each decision, each action matters now…"

"If this is a game for you, it ain’t for me," Lawrence then retorted, angered.

"Of course it is!"

At those words, Lawrence furrowed his brows, and William continued:

"It’s never been anything but a game! And if you had the opportunity to get out of this park, you’d realize that, out there, it’s not that different… You’ll be trading one hellhole for another."

Lawrence remained silent. William knew that what he still had to say would finally make him react.

"But we’re in this one for now, and if whatever you're feeling for that girl is… is real, you know you’re gonna have to get rid of her somewhere safe, don’t you?"

A wince and a silent word, muttered, and William knew he had all his attention.

"I can’t figure why but… she likes you enough to endanger herself over you," he stated. "And she will die because of you."

Lawrence winced but didn’t answer.

"Because that’s what it does to people to love men like us…"

"Men like us?" Lawrence noted as he raised his eyes on him.

"You and I aren’t good with family and loved ones," William explained, darkly. "They end up dead…"

His words seemed to struck a chord in Lawrence who chew on a few words he didn’t voice.

"The simpler would be to leave her here, tomorrow morning. She knows the town’s accesses, and response teams will certainly come sooner than later to recover the others guests who got lost here. She’ll be safe in the Mesa, with her own kind…"

Since Lawrence was still not saying anything and William was starting to get bored with this little mindgame, he provoked him:

"Apparently, you can finally make your own choices, Lawrence! Real ones, meaningful ones… Don’t you want to save her?"

Still no words.

"The girl will probably hate your guts!" William then laughed. "But at least, she’ll be alive to hold that against you…"

He didn’t even try to contain his large smile. For now, he wouldn’t add anything else; he would let that seep through his thick skull. At first, he had come to claim some plasters and bandages and, unless he’d attempt a visit to the healer later on, he would still need them. If not now, at least for future injuries.