Survival Of The Fittest

The combined threat of the two hidden behind the log might have been more credible if they'd actually produced a weapon. As it was, all they had to go on was the tough act they were putting up. Oh, don't get him wrong, if was very frightening. It might have been more so if he didn't have Wolverine claws readily available. Sure, one of them might have a gun, but if they did they would have already used it. Or, at the very least, made it visible. There was an off chance they didn't mean any harm, but just the same he'd keep his claw in reach. Suspicion was without a doubt the best policy here.

Sofia's reaction was a little less mild. It was understandable, no question. Two people jumping out of cover when they were found it was certainly shifty. Maybe they had the same idea that was passing through his head now. Sofia with her pipe and him with his barely hidden claws and all. If he were in their shoes, he'd be hesitant about revealing himself too. Maybe it wasn't even that? Maybe they were just two friends and were both very opposed to the idea of outside contact with people who may very well have already snapped. Sofia did almost hit him, hadn't she? It was a justifiable concern, no question.

Considering no one was dead and every one was still playing it close to the chest, Sofia had the right idea. Even with the halfhearted threat, the two girls were probably more scared of them and so on and so forth. Maybe not the nicest that he viewed them like two corned animals, but he would err on the side of caution. And that meant letting Sofia take the lead. He at least had the pretense of a hidden weapon, she couldn't really take back swinging her pipe around. It was nice that she hadn't smashed his skull in, but that didn't mean he needed to play the valiant. This wasn't Halo, as much as he might like it to be, he wouldn't respawn if he got shoot, nor would his shields flare to life after a suitable pause from combat.

Even so, he could at least back her up verbally. And back her up verbally he did. Once he started talking, it was hard to stop. Even if he ended up putting his foot in his mouth. "Go on, listen to the girl. We're not going to hurt you. I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't even be worth much xp if we did kill you or something like that and I'm going to shut up now. So, yeah. We're cool. Uh, not going to hurt you that is. Maybe she's cool, but whatever. No hostility here, so you can put down your, uh, rock, and we'll just talk like the nice friendly people we are. "

They were smiling. Joking, even. Where the fuck did they think they were?

Oh, I get it. They both had weapons. Stuff they could actually bust some brains with. They thought they could get all cocky just because they had the upper hand here against that short weird girl no one liked. Fucking assholes.

Jackie had been pretty stressed out already, and now she could feel her blood rising to a steady boil. They think they're better than me. That's how it had always been. That's how it was at home, that's how it was at school, and that's how it would be here. And now it was going to cost her her life if she didn't do something about it. She felt a familiar swelling in the upper part of her head- No no no no no. Don't cry. No weakness. Not now don't cry don't cry don't cry-

"DON'T FUCKING PATRONIZE ME!" Her voice had broken as she filled the air with her shrill, shrieking command. Shit. Now they're going to laugh and they'll think she's a total baby and they'll just hit her in the skull with that fucking pipe because no, of course someone so stupid and weak isn't going to make it here, we're practically doing her a favor here seriously, fuck those guys all they do is sit in the quad probably smoking or some dumb shit and talk about sex and makeup and all those things teenagers are supposed to like they'll never understand her because she's not like them and she doesn't even want to be like them but this is why she can't have friends and shit like this happens.

"FUCK YOU!" And she grabbed her bags and took off into the woods. Her name was Jacqueline Myrie, and she clearly was not supposed to be here.

[[Jackie Myrie continued elsewhere]]

((Celeste Beaumont continued from Words Can't Bring Me Down))

Celeste was lost.

God damn it, how deep are these woods?! she wanted to scream, but she grit her teeth and endured it. No sense yelling and screaming, scaring off the only person so far who had bothered to come with her. But damn, Celeste was tired of forest! She wanted...Fuck, I dunno, a beach! Or a mall, that'd be even better...stuffed animal store, that'd be the best. She suddenly smiled, laughing a little in amusement as she imagined the game taking place in a giant Build-A-Bear or something. Teddies being blasted apart, bombs in the clothes section...fluff and stuffing flying everywhere. Be pretty funny, but an undignified place to die.

The sudden shout snapped her out of her amusing daydream and back to harsh reality. "You hear that?" she mumbled, slowly putting her hammer down, leaning on it as she massaged her aching shoulder. "...Think someone died over there?"

Allie sighed. They didn't think they were a threat then. At all. Further from it, in fact. They were joking about them. Great start. Great start. Jackie looked really hurt by it, Allie thought she looked like she was about to tear up. Allie wondered if she should, y'know, do something, but only managed a quiet whisper to her.

"Hey, Jackie?" Allie briefly paused, wondering if using her name might creep the smaller girl out. "You okay?"

That mustn't have helped matters though, cause the next thing she knew Jackie was cussing at them for no reason. Screaming her lungs out. They were trying to help right? Tell her that didn't happen. God, tell her Jackie didn't just throw away both their chances of living by screaming profanities at the people with weapons. Allie peeked over the log, trying to get a better view of them.

They were armed but they hadn't tried to like, murder them yet or anything. Why was Jackie shouting at them? Allie lined up a shot, throwing the rock at the nearest figure, honestly not expecting to actually hit anyone with it, really. She threw her bags over her shoulders as she noticed Jackie getting ready to get the hell out of there.

"Wait!" Allie fumbled for her inhaler, it'd gotten lost on the grass in the confusion. "I'm Asthm-!"

Too late, she'd already gone. Allie grabbed her inhaler, tucking it into the pocket of her hoodie. She thought her options through for a second. Jackie seemed impulsive, but Allie got the feeling there was more to her than what she'd seen. The other's... well, they'd come across as patronising, and jerks. Allie got to her feet, not caring not that she'd been seen by them. She took a couple of deep breaths before rushing off as fast as she could in the general direction Jackie ran in. She even flipped the other jerks the bird as she was running.

((Allie Walworth, continued in Jesus Loves the Little Children.))

She had been smiling, she had been nice, she'd tried to appear as non-threatening as possible while Micheal spoke; Of course, as she listened to Micheal speak, it probably would have been better to shut him up as fast as possible. Maybe stomp on his foot or put a hand over his mouth, or even just interrupt him before he ended up swallowing his foot; But she hadn't done anything to stop him, hadn't done anything to interrupt his well meaning if awkward little speech. There wouldn't be much point to it, she thought, since is was quite obvious he was just putting hit foot in his mouth; He couldn't come off as threatening the moment he opened his mouth, even to these girls... right?

And then he finished.

Perhaps she should have stopped him from talking, kept him from continuing his awkward fumbling, kept him from ever mentioning the thought of killing them or saying the absolute dumbest things; Instead of appearing non-threatening and kind, appearing normal and offering no signs of participating in this 'game', they came off as more than a little disturbed and apparently looked like potential threats. Sofia couldn't help but turn to Micheal with a questioning look, tempted to do something to smack a little sense into the boy beside her, but before she could do anything Jackie shouted and screamed with all her might; Something that surprised Sofia more than their sudden appearance, sending a chill down her spine as soon as it happened.

It all went wrong.

It all fell down around them.

"We weren't--"

She was set back by another shout from Jackie, another shrill scream coming from the small girl in front of her, only snapping back when she saw Jackie grab her things and begin running as fast as she could in the other direction; She wanted to stop her, to call out to her, to apologize and prove she wasn't going to do anything, but all she could do was stand and watch as the other girl stood up and followed after Jackie. The parting gift of a rude gesture only made things worse as Sofia stood in disbelief, cursing herself and her futile efforts, beating herself up for just standing there and doing nothing; Should couldn't help but doubt her decision to relax and let her guard down, looking to Micheal and doubting her decision to stay there, to stay near him. She should have just run when she had the chance, done what Jackie and Allie had done and put as much distance as she could between herself and the source of potential danger.

"Damn it..."

She lowered herself back down to the ground, sitting down and running her hand over the length of the lead pipe that she held; As long as she had this, she could defend herself, but she would always appear as a threat to people who weren't as well armed or people who were filled with even more fear than she was. She tried being angry and keeping all that rage she had earlier, but failed. She tried being kind, smiling and extending a hand when she could, but that failed. She was starting to doubt if she could do anything right, but she pushed aside her doubts and brought a hand up to the hairpin holding back her hair; She had promised to get back home, so that's what she had to do. She wanted to find Tony and that is what she was going to do.

She still had a road to follow.

"I'm going to try and find Tony..."

She looked up at Micheal with glassy, tear filled eyes and a weak smile; Despite this, however, her voice wasn't weak or soft. She knew what she had to do and had long since made her decision to follow the path she'd chosen; This had been an obstacle, but she had to push beyond it. She had to. She wasn't going to let anything get in her way, she wasn't going to let anyone keep her from her goals. She had to get home, to see Tony again, to have the time to figure out what it was she really wanted, to life her life as she wanted to. She might need help, she might run into problems, but she would push past all of them as long as she could; She had to keep her promise.

"You going to go after them, see if they might need help?"

She stood up.

"You could always come with me, so long as you don't put your foot in your mouth again."

She touched the hairpin once again.

"But I've got a promise to keep."

Turning, she started to walk away.


Her path was chosen.



Nothing would stand in her way.




"Oh yeah... fuck Danya."

[Girl #101 - Sofia Martelli. Continued in Cleanliness and Loneliness.]

((Kayla McArthur continued from Words Can't Bring Me Down.))

Kayla was becoming a little short tempered. She wasn't fond of walking across rough terrain, the announcement earlier that day had grated on her nerves, and she still wasn't out of this fugging forest. To top if off, there was a smell of wood smoke from somewhere. That caused additional stress. Her traveling companion was thankfully quiet most of the time.

And now something changed. There was a scream, which caused Kayla to jump slightly. It was a scream made in rage; she had heard enough of them to recognize it. Her traveling companion apparently hadn't. Kayla turned slightly, setting the point of her sword into the dirt as she considered her reply.

"I heard it. I don't think someone died. The scream seemed to be more angry than hurt, although I couldn't make out the words."

[[OOC: Whoop--gotta keep going...]]

Celeste shook her head, picking up her sledgehammer again. Her shoulder protested, but Celeste tried to ignore it. "Even if it sounds more angry than hurt, it prob'ly means someone's gunna die soon. And I'm getting far, far away from that..." she grumbled, backing up and then walking off. "Come on..."

[[Celeste Beaumont continued in Living In The Aftermath.]]

((Nothing to say, Kayla McArthur continued elsewhere.))

"No no, hang on a second!" Micheal tried calling out after the pair, maybe try and explain himself a little better. But, no. They kept walking, throwing in a few parting gifts as they did. Maybe it was for the best? If he kept talking, he'd probably end up making a rape joke or something equally painful. No, maybe it was the best for everyone involved if they ran off. Well, maybe best socially. He'd seen enough of the show to know that you wouldn't go far armed with only good intentions. Well, Micheal and Sofia would be okay at least. They'd tried to show the two girls they meant well, and it wasn't totally his fault they ran off.

Still, it didn't feel too good, being perceived as that sort of threat. He didn't look too intimidating, right? A little overweight, unkempt hair, attire that could only be called geek-like. Who the hell was he going to scare? Maybe if he was decked out with his Wolverine claws, but he wasn't. Maybe the two of them together, Micheal in his geek clothes, Sofia with her pipe, maybe they sounded alarm bells? Whatever the reason, they'd taken off. Fine, so be it. They wanted to get ganked, bully for them.

Micheal looked over at Sofia, shrugging his shoulders in an apologetic gesture. He didn't understand what they were scared off, but he recognized that it was probably his fault. Sofia took a seat on the path next to him, and he was tempted to join her. Instead, he remained standing, awkwardly shifting on his feet next to her. He felt like he should say something, maybe comfort her? Possibly do then make the shrug equivalent of 'my bad'. He looked down when she spoke, but it was directed more toward herself then it was him. The name didn't ring any bells either. There probably had to be a dozen Tony's at Bayside.

When she did look up, it was almost a different woman. Well, maybe not that big of a change, but she deed seem more determined. Having a destination would do wonders for someones self-esteem, he guessed. On the opposite hand, he had no frakkin' idea where he was going. Maybe find Mady? He'd talked with her on the way down, so he knew she was kicking around at least. It was nice to have a friend on the island. Less nice when you remember that meant they were going to die horribly along with you. Yeah, that would work. Sofia could go after her Tony, he could go after Mady.

It was better then his current plan at least, his current plan being wander around until someone attacked him.

"Right, sure, yeah. I'll, uh, I'll try and find them and make sure they don't, you know, walk face first into a zombie or something. Wouldn't that be just like that Danya guy? I mean, some sort of bioengineered monstrosities running around? Turn the corner and see frakkin' Nemesis standing there? Going all 'STAAAARS'?" It finally occurred to him he was rambling, and rambling about something that would go right over her head. "Uh, bad guys. So, yeah, good luck, I guess? Don't die horribly?" After offering a feeble wave, Micheal started down the road in the opposite direction.

((Micheal Raynor Continued in I Swear I Won't Shoot))