The Original Fire has died and gone...

[Cactus]

((Continued from: Major Tom))

The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on

Stepping out of the bushes for what seemed like the unpteenth time since he'd been fighting for his life, Adam Dodd had to admit to himself that he was getting pretty damn good at moving silently. He'd had a good ten days to practice it, and aside from the practice that he was getting with weapons, it was as good a thing to become proficient in as any. He attributed a lot of it to the wear and tear that he'd placed on his body throughout the ten days. After the immediate pain from his wounds had subsided, he'd almost seemed to get used to it, and while it still pained him deeply at times, he was able to live with it a lot more, and more far more naturally once he was used to his wounds. Truth was, he'd been lucky.

The biggest wound that he had was the one that he had on his shoulder, courtesy of Blaine Eno and his handaxe. Of course, his most recent wound at the hands of Kaige involving the essential destruction of his ear was; in a visual sense, at least, as bad as the other. The blood had pooled out of his destroyed ear, and down the side of his body. He'd attempted to half-heartedly stop the bleeding once he'd gotten up and left the Woods, but for all of his efforts, he hadn't been able to do much good for it. The bleeding'd stopped eventually, but Adam knew that it probably wouldn't take much to reopen the wound again.

With a pen in one hand, taking us and burned on kerosine
Headed for a fire would find us something to believe
Wallowing round with dirty hands on wires
Singing songs in dischord choirs
Screaming in brail, your temptresss dies
and you'll ever yield and it feels so real

As he slipped into the area around the Hillside Cliff, he did his usual mandatory glance around the area. Seeing nobody, he slung his shotgun back around his body. He'd been carrying it, but since there was nobody in the viscinity, he figured that he could probably get away with using a pistol instead. As he wandered up to the edge of the cliff, Adam peered into it, taking note that there were, indeed, several corpses at the bottom of it. This was a place that people'd died, and he'd have to be wary.

"Then again, when do I not?"

There was a really good point. There was not one single point during his time on the island that he would be able to relax and not worry about a grenade going off, bullets flying over his head, or knives looking to cut his flesh. That was just his life now. For everyone else, that had been the last moments of their lives: worrying about dying, and then ...proceeding to do so, most probably not even realizing that they were. Adam couldn't help but ponder whether it'd be good to know, or not.

On one hand, if I knew, I could probably manage to say something really witty, and go out with a bang. Then again, I'd have those last few agonizing seconds where I knew that I was going to die, and it'd probably just be an intense fear - not knowing what's going to happen next, and if I'm even going to open my eyes again as Adam Dodd, or if I'll be someone else. Some little kid who's just been born in Asia somewhere, or something like that. Then again, if I don't see it coming, and I die instantly, then does my life really come to it's climax? In fact, such a thing is almost anti-climactic, in a way.

The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on

"It'd be like if the Shawshank Redemption ended when they're on the roof drinking the beers. You'd be sitting there asking yourself what the fuck just happened."

After musing to himself a bit, Adam turned away from the cliff face and glanced around the rest of the area. It was a pretty bland area, all things considered. Of course, the bodies and the blood on the ground made up most of the colour that wasn't green, and he knew that the island was really beginning to look like something out of a macabre renaissance painting. If he were feeling facetious, he might quip that "it was the shit that nightmares are made of", but for the time being, he didn't say much. Instead, he made a slow circle around the area, looking around it. While he didn't see anyone in plain sight - at this point, hiding in plain sight would be the stupid thing to do. It was clutch time. There were ten people left standing - and if the gunfire and explosions that he'd been faintly hearing were any indication, that number'd probably already dropped quite a bit.

Not seeing anyone hiding in the cliff, he pondered it more in-depth. In all likelihood, he should be able to figure out who the remaining ten were.

Okay, so...ten people. Firstly, we have me. I'm still alive, last I checked. Sidney Crosby's still alive, again, thanks to me, so that's two. Kaige...is that her name? That fucking whore of a terrorist...she's still going. That guy that I met, Drew...he was still alive, so...I guess that's four. Lucinda Garnett's name hasn't been mentioned, and I'd assume that she's still kickin'. Cody Jenson's name hasn't been listed off as being dead yet, either, unfortunately. Then again, maybe that's a good thing, for I'll get to kill him.

Plunking himself down on the hilltop, Adam used the knife that he'd been carrying around to write the names of those remaining in the dirt. So far, he'd listed six names. That left him with four.

"So who the hell else?"

Golden soldiers born much older than they'll ever live to be
Diving into a sea of hands in a long forgotten city
When the rain falls ever after
the swinging vines hang dead in rafters
Blood rush to hear your head induces of laughter and i'll see

His eyes narrowing, he recalled the boy who'd patched him up in the woods.

"The guy who may or may not have been Cody Jenson. Drew something..."

Adam shook his head as something tugged at the back of his mind.

"That's seven. There was that guy who had the same name as that guy on That 70's Show...Hyde, or something. I don't think he's dead yet. And...Jeremy Torres? Haven't heard about his death yet. But he was in the last announcement. Then...that French chick who fucked somebody to death, or something. Clemence, maybe? Guess that's ten..."

Back at the warehouse...

Adam's eyes went wide. At that very instant, he knew.

The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and long gone, but the riot inside moves on

"Son of a BITCH! I was right, I was fucking right ALL ALONG!"

In anger, mainly at himself than at anyone else, Adam stabbed the knife into the ground beside him. Jumping to his feet, he extracted the knife as he went, and looked at the blade, glistening with the brown dirt that'd stuck to it. Cursing loudly, Adam wiped the knife on his jeans and stuck it back into the pouch that he'd ransacked from Jacob's body, that was currenly around his back. Cursing again, Adam spit onto the ground.

"Jack O'Fucking-Connor."

It was here that Adam'd remembered meeting up with the boy when he'd killed Jason Andrews, after Jason had murdered Gilbert. He'd seen Jack, Jill, and Martyn at the warehouse, and had left, reminding them of his oath to kill Cody. As of the last announcement, it seemed as though Jill and Martyn had both died at the warehouse, but Jack...Jack was still alive.

Which meant that his count was off by one - that made eleven. Which meant that Cody Jenson was one of the two Drews.

Drew Lynn, or Drew from Minnesota. That was the choice. But Danya had made some sort of scathing comment about Drew Lynn killing his best friend. Which could only mean...

Can't explain it, it was something to see
Can't contain something ever real
Ever Real

"But why would he help me, why would he fix me up? It doesn't make any sense..."

Thinking to himself, Adam shook his head. It DIDN'T make any sense. Cody Jenson knew that Adam was coming after him - he couldn't NOT know after the way that Adam himself had ranted to him, unknowingly telling the person that he'd sworn vengeance upon all about his plans to do just that. It was no wonder that the boy had gotten up and started pacing.

What was it that I'd said? "Fuckin' guy was probably just the next Aki Berg. Nothin' special." I compared him to Aki Berg? Shit, I might as well have called him Daigle to his face and watched him squirm. Jesus. It's a wonder he didn't kill me right there...

I also have to find a certain other person, and end his life too. These are both things that are very important for me to do before I die.


"It was me...the fucker was talking about me..."

Can't explain it, it was something to see
Can't contain something so ever real
Ever Real

A look of awe on his face, Adam couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe his rotten, shitty luck. He'd been face to face with the one person that he'd been searching for this whole time, and he hadn't even known it. He'd felt it, he'd alluded to it, but he hadn't come out and accused him of it. And now...now it was turning out that it was all true. He felt like an idiot, and he felt angry. Of course, his emotions, after running all-out for the last ten days, were so dulled, that his anger was no more than a dulled sensation of discomfort. No, he'd know real anger when he found Cody, this time knowing full well that he WAS Cody, and took his anger out upon him. Got revenge. For Madelaine. For Amanda. For himself.

As Adam Dodd walked away from the Hillside Cliff, trying to collect himself, he looked up at the sky, and mumbled to himself.

"What a fuckin' week..."

The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on
The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on

((Continued in: Revelations))