: after story

[Cicada]

"Got it."

Dawn was a trained medic. They had this. Tenshi would be fine. Cedar didn't have space for other thoughts.

She held up her best offering for something to constrict Tenshi's arm. The one scarf she hadn't bothered to wear because a fashion statement didn't keep away the cold, held up for Dawn to take. Functionally thrown at her- Cedar couldn't tell the difference. Her eyes had followed Dawn's, reached the same conclusions at the same time. The dressings already needed changing. They were soaking wet.

"Tenshi. Tenshi, you can hear me, right?" They were all huddled close together, they had to be when visibility was zero. She put her lips almost right against her friends ear, all the while, her stony face continued to passively search Dawn's for direction.

"Stay with us."

Their hands connected a moment longer.

"Fitz. Fitz, where are you?"

There had been two gunshots. Only one gun that she knew of. Maybe he was in danger, and maybe there was another medical emergency waiting out for them there in the fog. Tully, Alex, Fitz. She didn't even know who'd started the nightmare they were currently living in. Maybe if she thought about it harder- no time.

"I have to check on the guys. They might need help- we definitely do. Dawn, I'll be back. Tenshi. Wait for us. We're here for you."

Each word had carried her farther away by just an inch. She didn't want to go, but eventually Cedar could steal her own hand back from someone who was on her way to being dead. That thought lingered as heavy as the smoke.

"Fitz? ... Tully? Fitz!?"

[Applesintime]

He'd been outplayed. Simple as that. As much as Alex didn't want to die, it seemed to be the logical conclusion of losing a fight on Survival of the Fittest. Tully's hand wrapped around his throat, squeezing him like one of those tube yoghurts, and Alex clawed pitifully at him. A million thoughts went through his mind — go for the eyes, go for the crotch, go for the spear — but none of them seemed to be something that would get him out of this alive. As Tully let his throat go, Alex breathed what he assumed would be the last few breaths of his life, a jolt of horror shuddering through his entire soul as Tully's thumbs hovered over his eyes. "No-" An eclipse blocked out the sun.

The last thing he was ever going to see was fucking Tully.

Bang.

The eclipse ended, Alex freed as Tully collapsed to the ground. It took his pain-addled brain a few seconds to work out just what had happened, but then it all came to him.

Fitz was as bad of a shot as him, it turned out.

Wasting no time whatsoever, Alex reached backwards, grabbed the spear, and started to run for where he thought the exit was. He had been given another chance, and he sure as shit wasn't going to waste it. The ithacaconspiracy guys were probably screaming at him right now, but tactics from a computer screen were much more different.

[ViolentMedic]

Fitz lowered the gun an inch, eyes shutting tight for a second after the shot. He quickly opened one eye again in time to see the damage he’d wrought.

Tully crumpled.

It was much quieter. No screaming, no threats. Alex backed off.

Despite everything, the quietest exhale of relief escaped Fitz’s lungs, but seized up halfway as he looked over what he’d done. He lowered the gun further and slid over to Tully with one movement along the floor. Never standing up, glass and teeth catching on his stockings. He opened and shut his mouth for a moment, and a nervous giggle escaped it.

“Ah… aha, uhm…”

His mouth flapped silently again for a moment, the gun lowering more as one hand reached out to touch the nearest part of Tully that wasn't bloody or destroyed by the shot.

“...oops.”

Someone was calling for him through the smoke. He didn’t answer.

[ItzToxie]

Tully tried to grab onto Alex's legs as he stepped over him, running away like the bitch he was. "Get.. Back you-" He puked red. Rolled over. "I ain't- I ain't done with you-" More red came out.

Even more blood burbled out of Tully's mouth as he tried to climb away from where he was, dead weight that was everything below his ribs dragging behind him. He couldn't breath, it felt like water was filling his lungs- He rolled to the right side and a waterfall of red dribbled out his mouth and out of the back of his ribs. Expelling his guts out of his mouth mixed with what used to be in his veins should've been more painful than this; Yep. He was dead.


Bummer dude...


He expelled more red on the floor. He felt like he was going blind. He knew he was dead; and all he had were two choices. He rolled onto his back from his side again. He could stay around longer, let the blood pool in him and drown in it, or he could roll on his side, breathe, and let it all pour out of him. Kinda funny that all it took to calm him down was a gunshot to the spine. He gasped for air as his lungs rattled with fluid. He rolled to his side again, letting it pour out, as he saw his killer approaching. Guess it was about time for Fitz to finish him off then, eh?

When Tully heard what he'd had to say, he'd done a double take. "You..."

It was an accident.

"You dumb sumbitch..."

He spit more blood to the side. He was going blind again, so he fell on his back. Laughed despite the pain, if you could call it that because it didn't hurt all that much, least not as much as Tully expected getting his ribs blown out should.

"Shoulda..."


"Shoulda aimed a lil' bit to the right."

[ViolentMedic]

“...yeah.”

At the spitting, Fitz turned his head away sharply. His eyes landed on the teeth scattered about, and his mouth tightened.

“Yeah, maybe I should’ve,” he said, not looking at Tully as he reached and rested a hand on his arm. He shut his eyes for a moment. The smell of thick, spit-slick blood filled his nostrils. Fitz covered his nose and mouth with his other hand, letting the gun sit gently in his lap like that hadn’t started this whole mess to begin with.

The smell of that stinking fish still lingered on Fitz’s hand, the one in front of his nose and mouth, and he inhaled the rotten scent. It mingled with the smell of the blood, making something else. His eyebrows scrunched together and he lowered his hand again, putting it back on the gun.

“Sorry, man.” His hand tightened on Tully. “If you got anything... to say...”

He left the obvious second half of the sentence unsaid.

[ItzToxie]

Tully laughed as best as he could.


"I don't... I don't blame you. Day two- day five; It was gonna happen. Shoulda died like a minute ago, but Alex can't aim either..." He laughed, then gagged and rolled over to his right again. Puked, sputtered, tried to get as much oxygen to his brain as he could before rolling to his back again.

"Don't- Don't blame yourself. You tried. You probably did the right thing; I was having too much fun anyways- I-I'd have gotten worse if I made it farther. I think..." Tully looked at Fitz. "Can you blame me though? Shoulda- Shoulda seen the look on that sumbitch's face..."


"Just- Just tell Mildred about this. Don't let Danya say it first, I don't want her going after you like you're some sort of psycho." Tully started gagging, blood bubbling up his throat. He turned his head and let it spill out. He forced himself to roll to his side again. Looked up at Fitz.

"Whatever happens though- we're all gonna die anyways. Thems the fuckin' breaks. It don't mean shit. Just choose how you wanna go in the end, alright?" Tully thought about that last part pretty hard. This was a blessing in disguise; going out early. He didn't have to see his friends transform into a bunch of animals at each other's throats over who killed who. The piece of shit that was gonna win was in for their own form of hell, hopefully it was all worth it for them.

"One last thing... Kinda petty of me; but can you grease Alex? Even that weasel can hurt someone when he's got the chance. Don't let him have it..." Tully's eyes looked up shakily at Fitz. He could barely see, tunnel vision and stars filling his eyes. Nausea and vertigo spinning his head. "Go help your friends- they need it more than I do."

Tully forced himself to roll to his front. He felt blood spilling out. He felt it crushing his lungs. He was choosing option 3. He wasn't picking which way to suffer through; he'd take it all and be out by a minute. His arms shook as he buried his head in them, his last gasps of air sounding like a distorted snoring. He wasn't gonna let nobody see him like this. This shit wasn't pretty, even if he deserved it, retroactively.

Tully thought about his friends again. This game would change them if they stick around. It would have changed him if he stuck around. That was the scary part, discovering something about yourself you wished you never see. He didn't want to think about the ways he'd end up hurting other people, even if some of them like Alex would've deserved it. He knew some of them wouldn't have; and in the end none of it would've been worth it.

At least going like this, he could pretend he was a good person in the end.


Tully Talbott- Eliminated

[Cicada]

Not a sound. Even her own heartbeat ran too cold to be heard. She already regretted leaving Tenshi and Dawn behind. No time to feel that regret. The silence was a metaphor for the possibility that one of her best friends, one of the only ones she'd trusted herself to in body and soul even if he'd only been lukewarm towards both at times...

She'd never imagined having to bury a friend even a week ago. She'd been preparing for the possibility from the moment she'd taken her first steps closer to oblivion, and she still wasn't ready. She'd always thought she'd go first, health problems and all.

Selfishly, she kind of hoped she'd live long enough to mourn all her friends. Better she suffer than they.

The smoke continued to hang, thick like curtains over everything. Like a room not intended for human use, every bit of furniture sealed away, covered. A room for the dead and the dying. The occasional shadow jutted out at her, and she'd startle, but it'd be too boxy or square to be human.

The first shadow that was definitely a person, she immediately ran at.

"Fitz? Is that-?"

[Applesintime]

A spear tore into Cedar’s stomach, twisted, and ripped upwards and out.

[Cicada]

She was used to pain, of course. But not like this.

The only reason she didn't scream was because her ribs locked like a vise. Her body trying instinctively to hold onto the blood. It failed, and the scent of iron and bile painted the floor under her.

Cedar fell to a knee. She only didn't want her last words to be nothing at all. The way the smoke billowed around her, erasing all shapes but her own rapidly deflating one, even that simple request would probably be asking too much.

[ViolentMedic]

To Tully's last words, Fitz only bowed his head slightly. Maybe it was a nod. He never said anything to confirm that it was, and if Tully found any comfort in the gesture he rolled over - Fitz's hand yanked away from Tully at the abrupt, suicidal movement - and died before he could express it.

He just stared at his handiwork. The bullet he'd fired sat on the ground, still warm, alongside all the glass and debris of their fight.

He didn't properly register that someone had called out to him until several seconds later, and even later that the owner of the voice hadn't reached him.

"...Cedar?"

He got to his feet, ignoring the stinging of all the debris caught where he'd been kneeling. The hand that had gripped Tully moved back to the sniper rifle.

But he didn't raise it. He kept it aimed at the floor as he walked forward, barely able to see a foot in front of him in the direction his name had come from.

"Cedar?"

[DerArknight]

Cedar's scarf was a good thing. It looked sturdy and wide enough to do the job.

Cedar talking to Tenshi was also a good thing. Keeping the patient conscious could go a long way.

But Ceddar instantly taking off? That was a bad thing.

Dawn only had two hands, and both were occupied with applying pressure on the wound. If she took her hands off to make a tourniquet, Tenshi might very well bleed out before she was done. She couldn't do this alone.

Even worse, the bandages were starting to get completely red. Dawn used one hand to grab some more out of the open first aid kit and put it on top off the pile. The blood wasted little time before spreading to the new layer.

"Cedar?" Dawn asked into the fog. "Please come ba-"

The wet sound of somethings sharp entering something fleshy interrupted her. As an aspiring doctor, Dawn had spent some considerate time watching videos of accidents on the darker parts of the web. Nothing too graphic, but she had figured getting a little desensitized to seeing blood and carnage couldn't hurt. She recognized this sound.

In the middle of the room, Dawn could make out the silhouettes of two persons.

"Cedar?" This time, the panic in her voice was replaced with worry.

[Applesintime]

Alex didn't know who he'd stabbed, but he knew it was fatal. This wasn't Evie, he'd hit somewhere center and dug in deep. There were two people unaccounted for, Cedar and Dawn. It didn't matter either way, but he was curious as to who he'd just killed. Dawn's voice cut through the air, and he glanced down at the bloody spear.

One kill.

He didn't pause to think any more about Cedar's death. The smoke was beginning to clear, and if Fitz got another shot on Alex it was all over. So he vaulted over a desk, knocking flasks and tubes and equipment to the ground with a clattering smash, went along the wall until he found a door, ripped it open and escaped into the snowy wilderness below.

((Alex Avanesian continued in ooh wee a dead body))

[Cicada]

"Fitz."

She trembled and struggled to keep her face from hitting the ground. Her outline vibrated heavily as death's touch gave her chills, right through the bone. One hand clasped over the weeping gash splitting her side open, that hand already humming in time to her too close to the surface heartbeat.

"You're." She needed to gulp, gasp, force herself to keep working for each breath. "You're. Okay... ahh. ah. ah-I'm... mmph. I'm glad."

Face to face now. Kind of. She tried to force herself back to standing. The floor's hospitality only seemed more pleasant by the second.

"Tenshi's... hh-huh...hurt. F-nngh... Fitz. She... nh-she needs... help."

Maybe he'd leave her and she'd be forgotten. It'd be best if they forgot her.

[ViolentMedic]

He found Cedar in the smoke.

“Oh… ohhhh no.” That was all that came out initially, more of a exhale than proper words. He knelt by Cedar, putting out an arm to try and help her upright, but breath whistled in through his teeth as he inhaled again at the sight of the deep spear wound.

His eyes darted briefly in the direction that Alex had fled in, highlighted by the smashing of equipment and the slamming open of doors. But then his gaze returned to Cedar.

“You... need help, too. C’mon.”

He scooped her up. It wasn’t a hard task to pick Cedar up, as she was a foot shorter than him and weighed almost nothing. His jacket was heavily flecked with Tully’s blood, his hands even more so. Not far, only artificially made far by the smoke, to find Dawn tending to Tenshi with more skill than most could manage here.

“Cedar’s hurt,” is all he said as he put Cedar back down again and stared around for one of the first aid kits. “I don’t… what do I…?”

[DerArknight]

Dawn watched in horror as one of the two shadows darted away while the smaller one fell to the ground like a puppet that got its strings cut.

Then a third shadow appeared, picked up the first one and came close enough to reveal their identities.

Fitz came running, carrying the wounded Cedar. A quick look made Dawn shiver. Her friend had a large opening in her torso. It looked like it might open wide and swallow someone any second. It didn't look like something that bandages would fix, and wrapping a tourniquet around the torso was impossible. And that didn't even factor in any damage to the intestines Dawn had no clue how to treat.

If she didn't get help right now, Cedar would be dead in under two minutes. But just as Dawn wanted to rush over and help, her fingers got wet. Tenshi's blood had fully engulfed the second layer of bandages. If she now went to save Cedar, Tenshi would bleed out.

"I-I-I..."

Dawn gulped, quickly looking from one patient to another. Cedar was a friend, but might die anyways, so patching Tenshi seemed safer. But to do so, she would need to ask Fitz for help, which would doom Cedar for sure.

Was she really in a position to assign the black tag to a friend?