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ZachariahJohnston

Zachariah Johnston

Name: Zachariah Andross Johnston
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: Junior
School: Silver Dragon Academy
Hobbies and Interests:Video Gaming, SOTF-TV and Mathematics.

Appearance: He sports a light buzz cut, his raven hair managing to walk the line between attempting to intimidate and being purely practical. He did at one point sport a light beard, but resumed shaving after one comment too many made him realise how weird it made him look. His skin is a pale shade of white, as too many days and nights under artificial light rather than the sun has given him an almost complete lack of tan

His light green eyes are rarely seen unframed by either his distinctive black, square framed “General Purpose” glasses, or Aviator sunglasses, these are technically reading glasses, but he constantly wears them as they have become part of his routine, as they help to cover the bags he often has from spending nights watching SOTF. The nose upon they rest is slightly longer than average, though not enough to be considered freaky.

Other than this he is fairly average in appearance, sitting close to the average for height and weight; He stands at 5’9 and weighs in at 169 Lbs. Overall he is not exactly most handsome of men, but far from what one would call ugly.

On the day of abduction he wore a black Nike baseball cap on top of his hair, which was spiked slightly at the insistence of his dad. He also wore some old, scruffy jeans that are just slightly too big for him, and a t-shirt with a tea stained British flag with the words “Tea Is For Mugs” emblazoned on it.

Biography: Zack was diagnosed with high functioning Aspergers Syndrome. This affected him in his early life, leading to him attending various “Special Schools” during his initial education. Thankfully the delay in social interaction was less severe than the norm, though he still struggles with the concept of introductions and non verbal communications (Body language, Eye contact. Etc.).

His middle name comes from his father, or more specifically, the arch-nemesis of his gaming persona in one of the old games few enjoy: Star fox. His father is a self confessed gaming freak who, as he puts it, “Games for a job and works 9-5 in his spare time”. Whilst many teenagers would’ve never forgiven their parents for such an embarrassing name, Zack in fact never cared. As such he always had a great relationship with his father, in fact, telling his dad the best strategies and equipment on the go during many nights of gaming was the first hallmark of his savancy.

At around 8 years of age he discovered SOTF TV, which spiked his interest on many levels; He loved the mathematical challenge of working out what the most beneficial course of action present within SOTF TV, aswell as the drama on a human level. Soon he began to compile a list of “Mistakes” made by the contenders, ranging from the most banal of things (Mistake No.512: Not repacking your bag immediately to prioritise things) Through the obvious (Mistake No.9: Committing suicide) To things which would take the most calloused of people to avoid (Mistake 79: Burying your recently deceased friend). Whilst he claims to see no problem with SOTF TV, after all more people die walking to school than in the Contest; he is deeply horrified by what it represents, though he would never tell anybody this and does not entirely realise it himself.

He has deeply researched into all areas of the "sport", from winners backgrounds, to weapons, and even looking through a survival manual once or twice. He did go through a period of extreme fascinations with the weapons of SOTF, though he never gained any practical experience with them, as both of his parents were horrified by the thought of their son handling firearms. This has given him a basic knowledge of gun maintenance and safety. However, he feels like he knows more about them than he really does, which may lead him to be a lot less cautious around them than other students.

It was when he joined mainstream school at the final year of primary schooling that he was found to be talented at mathematics, especially probabilities. Whilst this was big enough to be considered extraordinary, it was no enough to warrant a place in one of the Worlds Best Academies, something that mars his pride to this day. During this time he was bullied intensely, for being “different”. The coping mechanisms taught to him failed, though instead of lashing out as one would expect, he reverted back to bottling everything up inside of him.

This state of mind was his saviour and his bane. It allowed him to ignore anyone else, but at the cost of him ever “clicking” with normal people, even the geeks that he had more in common with. He hated this, wanting at this point nothing more than to be accepted for who he was, as everybody told him they should. In a roundabout way he thought that doing what everyone else was doing (Watching SOTF) would make him more popular. He was wrong. At the age of 10, his hobby became a full blown obsession, with printouts and posters covering his room. This continues to this day.

His grades showed this, going from straight A’s to barely keeping above C’s whenever SOTF was being aired. Whilst he was forced to attend various programs, he slept through them, having stayed up to well into the early mornings to keep track of his favourite characters. This has given him a sort of taught insomnia, not feeling the effects of sleep deprivation until around midnight.

When he entered 9th grade at school he made an effort to re-invent himself, attempting to transition from a socially inept math freak to a shy –if geeky- normal person. This was mostly successful, as though he failed to garner the inner circle of friends he desired, he managed to slip below the radar of all but the occasional bully. This goes someway to show how well he can lie or “embellish the truth”. Of course, even he could not keep track of everything he’d said, making sure to write it all down. Of course, were anyone to find these notes, the few friends he has fought tooth and nail to gain may just slip out of his grasp.

His outlook towards life is a unique blend of cynicism, naivety and hard logic. These qualities stem from his sheltered early life, choice of viewing and reading material and his obsession with facts and figures. The consequences of this are that he is normally happy, if heavily sarcastic. However he is prone to bouts of unfettered logic that would not seem out of place as a quote from Paul Redekker. On the flipside of this, he lacks the empathy to be a good team player; In fact sometimes he doesn’t understand his emotions.

His humour often reflects this, preferring to sling high intelligence insults and watch the gap between people hearing the words, then decoding the meaning behind them. He also has a very dark sense of humour, having very little sense of taboo. This leads him to coming off as quite the little jerk to anyone, and downright offensive to anyone easily offended.

One of his most deep fears is, ironically, the fear of being alone; However it is important to note that “Not alone” doesn’t constitute social interaction, it literally means near people in his mind. This phobia, as with most, has a story associated with it. When Zack was 1 and a few weeks old he was left to his own devices as his parents went to a party. He was of course, left with a local teenager who was assumed to be mature and responsible enough to take care of him, however, she decided to go out with her boyfriend after around an hour of being bored by Zack's rather irritating habit of crying for apparently no reason. It took all of an hour for him to become bored of his cot and try to escape after she had left him alone. During this he managed to catch his wrist in between the bars, which after some wriggling became stuck. In his panic he attempted to use brute force to get himself un-stuck, this dislocated his wrist. With no-one around to hear his crying he was left for almost half a day, when the babysitter came back to find him. By this time he had come to associate loneliness with pain. This leads to him being recognised by the majority of his peers, if just as “The person who sits at our table uninvited”.

His driving ambition is surprisingly simple, he wishes to have a girlfriend. Whilst this is not a long term goal and one fuelled primarily by envy, it is his focus of the moment. He also (As previously explained) hates being alone, something he (perhaps mistakenly) believes a girlfriend will forever solve.

Advantages: He is in a fairly decent condition physically, aswell as understanding the basics of firearms. Also he is able to keep cool in situations he has accounted for, as long as he is not rushed. He also, due to his various boredom induced experiments, knows how to make dual use of many objects. His theoretical experience with the show may help him to doing better than he has any right to if this was a fair fight.
Disadvantages: There is a difference between knowing what to do, and doing it. This is something he doesn’t understand, and will likely be the source of his downfall. As well as this he struggles to meet and work with new people and has precious few existing friends. In addition to this, he lacks the creativity of many of his peers, as he has trouble thinking outside the box under stress, as being out of his comfort zone is something he cannot cope with. His fear of loneliness will rule out a long term strategy of hiding for him, and his need to be near people may lead to him approaching a player, despite the danger.


Designated Number: Team 13 A.

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Designated Weapon: Monkey Wrench
Conclusion: Once again in Zach, we have a fan of the show who might not necessarily be able to translate knowledge into practice, can his teammates fills his desire for companionship?
Mentor's Comment: Teams need balance. Zach's not a fighter, but they don't all have to be.

The above biography is as written by FrozenSmoke. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.

Evaluations[]

Kills: Harold Finston Smythe, Marion Clayton, Sean Davidson, Eloise Winterburn, Alicia "Ali" White

Killed By: Karen Ruiz

Collected Weapons: Monkey Wrench (designated weapon), Corded Circular Saw

Allies: Mae St. Clair, Jacob Langston

Enemies:

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes: "I'd do anything for you. I'll keep you and Shawn safe, whatever it takes, whatever the cost." - Zach's promise to Mae St. Clair.

Other/Trivia[]

Was, technically, the first killer on the island, as he smashed a snake's (Shawn Morrisons Brian Eno) skull in during the events of ...Brings Mae Flowers

Threads[]

Below is a list of threads that contain Zachariah, in chronological order.
Sandbox:

SOTF-TV:

Your Thoughts[]

Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Zachariah. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!

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