Survival Of The Fittest

((<_< >_> ))

Mary-Ann took a deep breath. She reopened her one eye, bit her lip and tightened her grip on the gun.

"I can do this. I can do it. I can," she whispered to herself.

She could hear her heart pounding; blood was rushing around her head. It felt like her hands were freezing against the gun. Cold tingles and sweat were starting to make her fingers jittery.

The sound of her nervous pulse was suddenly interrupted by the crackling of forest brush. Her eyes flew open. Her heart leaped into her throat and reflexively she spun around. It was all so quick that it felt like all of her actions happened at once. She turned, gave a little involuntary squeak and pulled the trigger. The trigger fell back with an empty click.

Mary-Ann hadn't been looking at her target. After the initial few seconds of action she realized she was looking down at the ground while her gun was aimed up at her would-be attacker. She let out a breath; apparently she hadn't been breathing.

Slowly Mary-Ann lifted her eyes and saw R.J. Her chest fell and rose with the rapid breathing that was catching up to her just now.

"Ohmigod, R.J.! Don't do that! You scared me!" she shouted, forgetting for a moment to be quiet.

Her eyes started to become glassy. She drew one of her hands away from the gun, letting the muzzle hit the dirt.

"I'm not dumb. I get what you were trying to do."

She closed the distance between the two of them and hugged him, burring her face into his chest.

"I'm sorry I yelled. You only want me to know how to protect myself. But please don't leave me alone like that again. Don't leave."

click

R.J. tossed the stick aside. He dropped to his knees and clutched his chest, overacting violently. He sold his "death" like a Loony Tunes character, falling flat on his back, tossing his legs in the air, face in all manner of silly contortions, before laying out flat, eyes closed, tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Ohmigod, R.J.! Don't do that! You scared me!"

...Was his performance that bad? He opened his eyes to see Mary-Ann tearing up, before sitting up, a worried look overtaking his face. "I'm not dumb. I get what you were trying to do," she continued, letting the gun fall to the dirt, before rushing toward him. She threw herself on the ground next to him, wrapping her arms around him and crying into his shirt. He sighed, gently reciprocating Mary-Ann's embrace. They were only just starting, and she'd done as well as he could've hoped given the circumstances. Maybe even better. She really was stronger than she gave herself credit for.

"I'm sorry I yelled. You only want me to know how to protect myself. But please don't leave me alone like that again. Don't leave."

R.J. pressed his lips against the top of her head. Without looking, he dropped his left hand to the dirt next to them, using his index finger to scrawl out five simple letters.

Never

((R.J. Lowe and Mary-Ann Warren continued in Feral Intelligence.))

((Thread concluded))