These days of dishonourable peace

[midnight_twelve]

That hadn’t been an invitation for DeMarcus to start spending his bullets right now. But as soon as Fred saw the door crack open and two other kids step outside, he knew things were about to escalate.

Fred screwed his eyes shut when the blast went off. The insides of his eyelids were red in the glare of the sun on the ice. He hoped beyond hope that when he opened them, the red would be gone, and not plastered on the walls of the infirmary. He hoped that the boy and girl he hadn’t had time to recognise would be gone too, not left there for him to memorise every inch of their faces.

Eventually, when Dominqua started talking again, Fred forced himself to look. It was just the three of them again, no one else, dead or alive. Dominqua had the rations out and ready to hand over. Fred just stood there, saying nothing and praying they could claw back the success they’d been having with their negotiations.

[Outfoxd]

DeMarcus took a deep breath and he felt some of the nerves drift out of his body as he exhaled. He glanced down at the rations in the girl's hand, pondered them for a moment. He held one palm out for her to make the transfer, letting the other hand fall to his side.

"Pistol stays pulled. I don't know either of you fuckers and some little handout ain't gonna change that. For all I know y'all are working with the people that put us here. Whole thing feels like a setup."

He looked over at the boy that was with Dominiqua.

"Goes for you too. I don't like being snuck up on. You or her get froggy I'll make you regret that you hopped. You feel me?"

[Ryuki]

Dominiqua handed over the ration to DeMarcus.

“You really think we’d be in league with the freaks behind this?,” Dominiqua said, annoyed, “If I wanted to be stuck on an island, I would have applied for Survivor.”

Whatever. As long as this turd wasn’t trying to put holes in there bodies with that gun of his, Dominiqua couldn’t care less what DeMarcus had to say.

“Now, could we please go inside?,” asked Dominiqua.

[midnight_twelve]

“I feel you, man!” Half true. Fred understood the sentiment, if not the frog metaphor.

DeMarcus’s paranoia was unnecessary. Fred had no intentions of trying his luck now that shelter was in sight. His companion wasn’t quite as compliant; he picked up on the annoyance in Dominiqua’s voice, and hoped DeMarcus didn’t, or would at least let it slide. It seemed he would, since he entered the infirmary himself with no attempt to stop them doing the same. Mustering his courage, Fred followed him in.

Inside, DeMarcus was doing a sweep of the room. Fred wasn’t sure what he was looking for. There were supposedly cameras everywhere, but nothing they could do about that. There was nothing else to worry about now the previous occupants had evacuated, nothing except each other.

It might take a while for his heart rate to calm down enough that he could truly rest, but he wasted no time taking the weight off his leg. He had food and painkillers; hopefully they could spend the day here unbothered, and get some sleep in the evening. They might have to sleep one at a time; Fred didn’t trust DeMarcus to watch over them, but Dom and he could surely figure a schedule out. It wasn’t like they had much choice.

[Outfoxd]

The joint was empty, a fact that DeMarcus confirmed as he moved through it. There were beds, that was good. Even better was the fact that the miserable cold was a lot less punishing in here, as it was away from the bite of the air outside. There was an examination room with a little curtain to afford patients a little privacy. There was an office with cabinets that didn't have anything of interest in them. He was thankful that the boy he had been yelling to that had run off had been bullshitting about his...well, bullshit.

There weren't, however, any medical supplies like DeMarcus thought there might have been.

"No fucking loot." He murmured. He was standing in the doorway of the office now after having looked it over, staring with disdain at the worthless room. He leaned against one side.

"All that shit and there's not a thing that was worth it." He growled, loud enough for his "companions" to hear. He turned and headed back into the room with the beds, plopping his bag down savagely on the closest one to the office.

"This is mine." He declared.

[Ryuki]

Now that things were thankfully settled, Dominiqua and Fred were free to enter the infirmary. After some investigation, DeMarcus concluded that there was nothing of use in the building. Regardless, they found a place to rest and Fred wouldn’t have to keep walking on his bad ankle. When DeMarcus claimed a bed, Dominiqua rolled her eyes.

“Well, on the bright side,” she said, “we can make this our shelter for the time being.”

Dominiqua sat on the bed across from DeMarcus, and laid her stuff down at the side.

“I’ll take the first watch for the time being,” she offered, “You two can get some rest.”

—————

The next morning, Dominiqua woke up at the sound of the announcements.

She was shocked by the death of Oakley York, someone who shared her love for Survivor. They had talked about how they wanted to make their own audition videos after high school before going on the school trip.

Constance was someone she had photography class with. Kiera and Dominiqua had hiked together a few times. She had watched Steve’s YouTube videos and found them entertaining. Chills ran down Dominiqua’s spine with the knowledge that these were students she had talked to, and she’d never speak to them again.

[midnight_twelve]

Fred was woken at 9 AM sharp, the first squeal of the speakers bringing the pleasant surprise he’d survived the night and the following announcement the less pleasant news of those who hadn’t. Grief for the death of his aquaintances was cancelled out by relief for the survival of his actual friends, and ultimately he was left just feeling numb.

Swinging his legs off the bed and onto the floor brought another pleasant surprise: the pain from yesterday had faded to a mild ache. Ready to flare up again at the worst moment no doubt, but for now he hoped he’d be able to hobble around without Dominiqua’s help. Speaking of, he cast a look her way, a sympathetic one just in case:

“Anyone you know? Or, uhhhhhhh… knew?”

He barely listenened for any response, thinking now more about the killers than the killed. There were nine murderers running around the island. Scary mean DeMarcus hadn’t shot them in their sleep, but tiny Kitty had already killed twice. It didn’t match up, didn’t make sense. Fred could feel already he’d be instinctively distrustful of almost everyone he met from here on out.

A puzzle piece fell into place, a name matched a face and Fred’s own face went even paler than usual.

“Oh, shit. That was her yesterday, at the door. Betty Quinn.”

[Outfoxd]

Cucks. Betas. People that probably didn't deserve their lives to begin with. That was what DeMarcus thought of those that had already fallen according to the morning announcements. Just a bunch of people who were waiting to be killed anyway.

That's what he told himself, anyway. He had risen shortly before they had cut on, the feedback serving to fully rouse him. With every name read off the disdain on his face grew, whether from the stupidity of the puns or just knowing so many from the schol had already put in work.

When it was done he looked over at the two with whom he had shared the infirmary. They had done nothing to earn his respect so far except for not killing him. He had spent the entire time he was sleeping with the gun close at hand. Once or twice he had roused to glare at them, or jump at and almost waste a round shooting at shadows.

"I knew nobody could be trusted." He pushed himself up from the bed he had claimed and dusted himself off. "I don't give a fuck about y'all but I'm not gonna be on next morning's."

[Ryuki]

"I knew a few of them," Dominiqua said to Fred, sadly, "This is...so messed up."

Dominiqua didn't have the words to fully express her despair at the situation. This despair turned into annoyance when DeMarcus opened his mouth.

"Sure, DeMarcus, whatever," Dominiqua mumbled.

It was easy to write off the students who killed as mindless murderers, but when you consider the fact that everyone on this island was thrusted into a deathmatch against their will...

[midnight_twelve]

Fred nodded at Dominiqua’s response and, eager to placate DeMarcus, repeated the same gesture when he spoke.

“Nah, you’re right bro. Can’t trust ‘em.”

It was always a relief for Fred to genuinely arrive at the same conclusion as someone like DeMarcus, since he was inevitably going to agree out loud anyway. He’d told enough lies in his time trying to make friends and allies and he wasn’t even good at it. He had nervous tells when he lied, he stuttered and broke eye contact and wrung his hands. But the announcements had already killed his trust in his classmates, so he didn’t have to lie here.

Validating him convincingly was just a small step in worming his way into DeMarcus’ good graces, though, and Fred still wasn’t entirely sure if that was the right idea long-term, as much as he naturally gravitated towards bullies for protection. Sure DeMarcus and his Deagle could keep Fred safe, but would they? Was it worth taking the risk? Alone, or even with Dominiqua, he couldn’t do much to defend himself. If he could convince DeMarcus to protect him, he stood a much better chance. But DeMarcus was volatile. He was just as dangerous to Fred as he would be to any players they encountered. It might be better to put as much distance as possible between them, slip away on good terms before things got a chance to sour. DeMarcus’s claim was that he wouldn’t be on the next morning’s announcements; they listed the killers too, so if they took him at his word DeMarcus had no murderous intentions. But taking him at his word was difficult when he’d already threatened to shoot them the day before. Hell, he’d snapped and shot at Betty and whoever she was with, it wasn’t much of a jump to expect a bullet coming his way if he made a single wrong step.

Whether they stayed together or not, he needed to keep DeMarcus and Dominiqua from getting at each other’s throats. Once again, she reacted to him with annoyance, and it was setting Fred on edge. Didn’t she see how fragile his tolerance of them was? Yeah he was being a callous dick about the victims, but at least the two of them weren’t victims, yet. If her attitude got herself killed and Fred was left alone with DeMarcus that might just be the worst case scenario. At least together they outnumbered him, and they might even have the advantage in an unarmed fight. He had to defuse the situation somehow, and after drumming his fingers on the bedframe for a while he decided to just change the conversation and hopefully nudge it in the direction of cooperation.

“So, uh, guys. What’s the plan?”

[Outfoxd]

DeMarcus's eyes narrowed at Dominiqua's dismissal, but before he could respond with something similarly acidic, the other boy chimed in. Maybe it was too early in the morning for him to get fully torqued, but being agreed with was enough to keep him "amiable" for now.

So when Fred asked what the plan was, DeMarcus made a show of looking at the boy's ankle that he had been favoring since they met.

"I don't know what kinda plan you're about to have with that gimpy ass foot, but I am going to move out of here with my good friend-" DeMarcus reached down and patted the gun, which he had set down on his own bed "-peep out the area, and handle anyone that gets in our way."

As if struck by a thought, DeMarcus looked to his left, toward where one of the windows to the building showed a truncated view of outdoors.

"I wanna know where're the best locations to post up as the map shrinks. I'm not a fuckin' camper and I'm not about to get wiped because I don't know the map."

[Ryuki]

Fred asked what the plan was, with DeMarcus deciding he’d be on guard duty. DeMarcus then said he wanted to know the best locations to post up were, so they should look at the map. That way when the danger zones activate, they’d know where to go.

“Not a bad idea,” Dominiqua said, “I wouldn’t want to camp out in the cold.”

Dominiqua brought out her map from her bag and scanned the major areas.

“Looks like there’s a town on the other side of this island,” she said.

She also noticed a small campground to the North, and another to the south.

“The announcement said we couldn’t go near the cave,” she continued, “So if we needed to leave here, we should head to the camping ground down south.”

Dominiqua’s stomach growled. She needed some food. She rummaged through her bag for an energy bar.

“Excuse me,” she said, “I’m gonna have some breakfast.”

[midnight_twelve]

Fred had to make a split-second decision on how to brand himself: whether to play up his injury or undersell it. Would it be better to convince DeMarcus that he was vulnerable, harmless, not a threat? Or would it be better to present himself as a useful asset rather than a burden? After waiting slightly too long to respond to him, Fred made up his mind.

“Uh, my leg’s better today. Still not great but like, uhhh, I can prolly move about just fine.”

If nothing else, at least he hadn’t come across as a threat. Fred had never been good at making himself look tough anyway, and again, he’d have needed more than sturdy legs to get a leg up on DeMarcus’ gun. Hopefully he didn’t come across as too weak either, despite having a better track record of appearing that way. Just so long as he wasn’t a liability he should be able to get by, right? This early in the game when it was still dumb to kill unless you absolutely had to?

He got to his feet to fetch his bag from where he dropped it last night. Sure enough, the pain had faded back to the familiar dull ache of the past month.

“Food sounds good, yeah.”

Fred took the loaf of bread out of his bag and started to eat. Mouth full, he realised he hadn’t resolved the question of what he was going to do with the day.

“So, what’th the plan for uth?” He said, sputtering crumbs at Dominiqua.

[Outfoxd]

Eating was the first good idea either of the two DeMarcus had been saddled with had come up with, so he grunted, nodded, and pulled his own loaf free from his bag and started munching. It was bland, but that was whatever. He just needed the strength.

DeMarcus eyed Fred's leg as he chewed. When he had enough of his bread down to talk, he said, "Good. If you can't walk we can leave your ass." He didn't deliver that with nearly as much of the feigned savagery or bravado from yesterday. Even he was disgusted with how unconvincing it sounded, so he tried to square his shoulders and look as big as he could.

As much as he was sure as his newfound companions were soft, and probably would start whining when he started telling it like it was about their situation, DeMarcus hated to admit it was good having them around. At least as meat shields. Or to have someone to walk ahead of him into new areas.

"Town might have shit that's worth using." He said. He didn't bother bringing up that the people that had already gotten the murder party started could also be there.

DeMarcus took another bite, a wide one that let crumbs spill from his mouth to the floor.

[Ryuki]

The boys joined Dominiqua in a breakfast of energy bars and bread. Fred said his leg was feeling better, so maybe it’d be safe for him to travel. DeMarcus however made a snide comment that he’s fine with leaving Fred if he couldn’t walk right. Dominiqua shot DeMarcus a glare then directed her attention to Fred.

“Don’t worry Fred,” she said, “If your leg acts up, I’ll lend you a shoulder again.”

DeMarcus brought up that the town could have some supplies. While that was a good point, Dominiqua wasn’t too sure if the town was safe.

“True,” said Dominiqua, “But there might be a lot of people in that town right now, including the killers.”