Bulletproof Heart

[Fiori]

It was a quiet afternoon on the island. Moreso than usual, all things considered.

In the early days, it wasn't unusual for that silence to be broken up by sounds of conflict. A gunshot here, a distant scream there. Echoes of the horrors going on around them, infrequent but ever present.

It was a lot quieter now, ten days after the game began.

((Lillian Larsen continued from Live Deliciously))

Lily wiped her brow, pausing for a second to catch her breath, before continuing to trudge her way up the snowy hill she was ascending.

It was the third she found herself climbing within the past hour, hoping to finally discover the view she was seeking out. According to her map this was the best spot on the island for it, close enough to her target to get a clean sightline without making her presence too obvious. She couldn't risk getting too close after all, frequently checking her map to make sure she didn't find herself stumbling down the wrong road. She didn't know if she'd get a warning if she did, nor was she keen on finding out.

She wanted to rest. To lie down, call the whole thing off, go back and seek Julia out whilst there was still some daylight left. Of course, the fact that it was still bright out was precisely why she couldn't do just that. She had to look now, whilst she still had a window of opportunity. Sure, there was always tomorrow, but it seemed wasteful to throw her chance away when she was already this close.

Her foot slipped slightly, Lily falling to her knee, her body forcing her to take a two minute breather. Taking a quick swig from a near-empty water bottle, Lily found herself reflecting on the train of thought that led her out here in the first place. The question she asked herself back when she was talking to Julia, that set her out on the path she now found herself walking.

How come the BKA meals were so fresh?

It seemed like such a pointless question, one she barely gave much consideration at the time. And yet... The more she thought about it, the more questions she found herself asking. Questions with implications she couldn't overlook.

Up until now, a part of her just kind of assumed that the terrorists had a boat somewhere offshore, where a dedicated catering crew made their meals before sending them off to the island... Somehow. Via drones, maybe? No, impossible, several of the BKA drop-off points were in places that'd be inaccessible via such a method. They had to be delivered by hand. So did that mean they just ferried people back and forth every night? Maybe... Yet, surely that'd be highly impractical too? And wouldn't the meals get cold by the time they travelled all that way, especially in weather like this? She'd ordered takeaways in the middle of summer that were colder than her BKA meal the other day. It just didn't make any sense, unless...

Unless they were getting made somewhere on the island.

When that thought embedded itself, there was little Lily could do to shake it off. What if they were out there, somewhere? Would save having to travel back and forth from wherever their HQ was located, make delivering BKAs much easier if they prepped them on the island instead of shipping them out every night. Christ, after the big escape a decade ago, it also wouldn't surprise her if they had a team on standby to nip any future insurrections in the bud as quickly as possible.

That of course left her with one obvious question: Where on the island would be the best place to hide?

The answer: The one place none of them would ever dare to explore.

As Lily reached the top of that hill, she finally laid eyes on what she was seeking. In the distance, beyond the treeline, was a long rocky shore. A small formless shape could be spied just off the coast, which after laying prone and gazing through her scope Lily confirmed to be a crashed airplane, No doubt about it, this was the beach that had been declared a dangerzone. The one nearest to that morning's BKA drop-off, not including the less isolated research station buildings.

And as Lily scanned the rocky beach through her rifle's scope, her chest tightened in shock.

There they were.

The bastards were on the island with them all along.

Her heart began to race, unable to believe what she was seeing. Here they were, the people responsible for putting them all on that godforsaken island, hiding in plain sight beneath their noses. No wonder they were able to deliver the BKAs so quickly without anyone noticing, they had probably been using the dangerzones to hide amongst them this entire time. Maybe not for the first few days, sure, but as the game went along...

Lily gulped, watching as they went about their business, a bead of sweat dripping down her brow. She had been so preoccupied with whether or not she could confirm her hunch, she never truly asked herself what she'd do if she DID confirm it. Go back and tell somebody? No way they'd hesitate to blow her collar if she revealed their little secret like that.

Besides... What reason would they have to not do that anyway, risk letting their presence on island get revealed?

Lily's face turned pale as a horrible realisation sank it: They were going to kill her for this, weren't they? They likely hadn't noticed yet, it wasn't like the terrorists were omniscient after all, but sooner or later someone was going to check and realise that she knew too much. Even if she somehow got that info out there, it'd only put her classmates at risk, assuming they'd even let her leave that hill with her neck intact.

Lily was already as good as dead.

Just as well then that she trusted her gut and didn't ask Julia to follow her. A part of her knew this would be a risk, one way or another. That confirming her hunch would likely doom her, like gazing into the fiery heart of Chernobyl. At least she hadn't condemned Julia alongside her.

She took another look through her scope, heart racing as she focused in on one of the terrorists out in the field. 

If she pulled the trigger, her fate would be sealed. Moreso than it already was, there's no way they would let her get away with more than a few shots at most. For what, exactly? To try and kill a handful of grunts? She knew doing so wouldn't achieve much, that field operatives like this were likely seen as expendable. Firing on them wouldn't bring Amaryllis back, or save her surviving classmates, or prevent future atrocities like this from happening again. She'd be throwing her life away for nothing.

Then again, if they were likely to kill her anyway... What did she have to lose? Hell, even if she somehow managed to walk away from that hill alive, what next? Wander around aimlessly again, until someone either killed or or she finally cracked under the pressure? She was already well aware that she didn't have what it took to win this game, not without giving up her humanity anyway. And especially not without dooming her other classmates.

If it came down to her and Julia, would she really be willing to shoot her? Did she want to see the version of herself who was capable of making that choice? Would her friends and family back home welcome that version of herself with open arms?

She'd already caught a glimpse of that self, back when she tried to kill Kitty. Back when she abandoned Amaryllis. Back when Janice died choking in her arms.

No. She didn't want to become that person again. She didn't want to convince herself that her classmates deserved to die. If winning this game meant accepting that she'd need to kill her friends, then to hell with it all.

The people through her scope, however? No... Not people. They didn't deserve that distinction. They were the ones who kidnapped them. The ones who murdered their teachers. The ones forcing them to commit these atrocities. The ones who thought it was funny to have them start trapped in a grave, or perched dangerously on a rooftop. The REAL monsters that were plaguing the island. If anyone out here deserved to die, it was THEM.

Lily scowled as her eyes bore into that scope, lining up a shot. If they were likely to kill her anyway, then she may as well take some of the bastards down with her. Better to go down swinging and giving their oppressors the middle finger than it was to die by their rules.

She could almost picture Amaryllis laying next to her, advising her on how to line up her shot just as she did back with the snowmen. Unlike then, she wouldn't get another chance after pulling the trigger. She had to make her shots count. Not just for herself, or even her fallen friends, but for everyone whose lives were affected by this game over the past decade.

There was a moment's hesitancy as her finger rested on the trigger, as she thought back to all the faces she'd never see again after pulling it. Mom, Dad, Jerry, Brynn. Julia. She found it odd how it was that last name that upset her the most, likely because a part of her had already long accepted that it was unlikely she'd ever see her family again.

Sorry that we never got to spend more time together, Julia. Would've made one helluva team.

Her target in her sights, Lily took a deep breath, before finally pulling the trigger.

[SOTF_Help]

From where Josie was sat she looked at the rest of the team breaking down the cameras and pack them into cases. She’d been instructed to help, but was on a water and ‘lookout’ break.

“Are you going to help?” Haskins called over, as Josie had the bottle up to her lips.

“Shut it Haskins,” she said casually, “I’m delegating.”

“Whateve—”

The gunshot rung out, familiar to Josie Knight as a bell. Haskins went down, quick and bloody and more like a buck than Josie had ever considered him. Still, for a person always looking for a fight, a bullet was a gift. Quickly and more efficiently than Haskins had been shot down, Josie ended up in position. Bottle on the floor, spilling out liquid. Instinct and practice put the target in her sights with a deadly speed.

A student. A goddamn kid. Taking a shot at them? Against those odds, against this circumstance? If she wasn't so pissed and if Haskins didn't look so dead, Josie might've been impressed.

“Oh,” she grunted, “you’ve fucked up now little girl.”

Knight returned fire with a huntsman's aim.

[Fiori]

Lily's eyes widened with shock.

For a microsecond she couldn't believe it, barely acknowledging the pain shooting up her arm from the rifle's recoil. After so many failed shots, she finally managed to land a hit on her first attempt.

A bullet whizzed past her head, snapping Lily back to reality.

Realising she had seconds at most to live, she pulled the trigger again without a second thought. Quickly followed by a third shot, tears streaming from her eyes as she let out a primal howl, unleashing all the anger that she'd been bottling up since the game began in one final moment of defiance.

Thanks for the rifle, mother f-

She'd never get the chance to pull the trigger a fourth time.

S058: LILLIAN LARSEN - DECEASED