Survival Of The Fittest

Maynard nodded vehemently, signalling his agreement with Natali. "I think we should keep moving as well. I mean, there're plenty of other places and I don't wanna end up getting shot over something as ununique as a slum."

He raised a hand to his brow thoughtfully, trying to scratch it. The weight of the dufflebag proved too heavy, though, so he was unable to relieve his itch. He was about to use his other arm, but then remembered that he kinda had a massive sword-stick in that hand. Impaling his forehead didn't seem like the most enjoyable thing to do. Ugh. I need to do something helpful.

"Uh...if you want, I could carry something for you, Adam." He said, gently waving the arm that carried his dufflebag. "I'm not the strongest kid in the world - understandment of the decade right there - but I'm sure I could. Maybe. I just wanna help somehow."

Me - carry something? Aww jeeze, now they're gonna think I'm going crazy. Still, showing that I want to help won't exactly be unbeneficial, will it? Maybe?

Okay, big guy was getting back up, and the other two with him were doing something. Given that there had been a bit of swearing just before, Kat wasn't too sure that the situation had been resolved. Plus, she just noticed that the big guy had a goddamn sword, and now some girl was holding up something as if it were dangerous, and a smaller guy with a blade attached to a long-ass handle. So she had three quite jumpy people within fifty feet of her, each with a more dangerous weapon than a combat knife. So, she had two choices: attempt to approach a trio of jumpy, armed people who could likely kill her before she could get a cut in, or she could back out.

Allies, or safety?

Kat stepped back, took her bags, and walked out of there.

No way was she getting stabbed.

((Kat Tolstoff continued in Rebel Diamonds))

"Right. We'll move on, then," Adam said. "Find a better patch of land."

It was decided. It was for the best. This had been an amusing little adventure, but he was quite ready to bury it and never speak of it again. Adam was all for keeping moving, getting out of this whole little rubbish town. He'd thought that it might be a good place to stay, but who knew what sort of person could be lurking in the other buildings? His face was sore enough for the day.

Maynard offered to help carry stuff. He sounded really desperate to be useful, which slowed Adam down for a second, pushed what simmering irritation was still bubbling in the back of his head even further into the darkness. The boy was pretty much right in that he wasn't doing much of tangible value, but it wasn't like everyone was built to be good at the same things. He was probably real good at school-related things, tests and the like, the sort of thing that had Adam waking up in a cold sweat wondering if he'd forgotten to study. At least, he hoped Maynard had been good at school. It wouldn't be fair at all to look like a nerdling and be stupid to boot.

If they were going to travel together, though, it was important that, smart or not, Maynard didn't feel useless. Adam didn't want anyone getting depressed on him. It'd tank his own spirits way too fast, and besides, incessant whining was a terrible thing to face even when death wasn't on the table.

"I'm fine with my load now," he said to Maynard. "Got an idea, though. You can do me a big favor."

He shot the smaller boy a smile and a wink.

"Now, normally, I'm good with carrying my stuff. If things get ugly, though, I'm gonna have to drop all my shit to deal with it. I mean, besides this."

Tap, went the sword against Adam's leg.

"Anyways, it'd be just like some punk to sneak up and jack everything. So, Natali or I have to ditch anything anything, you zip in, grab it, and keep it safe for us. That way, we don't starve after winning the battle. You'll need to keep your energy up 'til then, though."

That was quite a mouthful for telling Maynard he could basically play caddie when everything hit the fan and Adam and Natali were trying to paddle them out of shit creek, but it'd needed some phrasing to sound passably nice. It was even a legitimately useful function, since Adam knew how easy it was to get distracted when stuff wasn't going well. He didn't want to be halfway across the island before he figured out he'd left all his food under a bush somewhere.

If Maynard was fine with that, they could get moving again, get away from here. Somewhere better. Somewhere without any doors.

So he waited. And waited. And then he went to pee. And then he waited some more.

...

Where the hell was the sound of doors being broken down? The threats, the fighting...they were surprisingly absent. Was getting the jump on R.J. the only plan those three and possibly more had? Either they really didn't think this through and were too scared to do anything else, or they were waiting outside for an ungodly long time.

"Screw it, no one's that patient..."

He had been waiting here for a long time, or what felt like it. R.J. couldn't tell right now. It was definitely a bit darker by now, he noticed as he sat on the windowsill, head and eyes checking if un-friendlies were about. Not seeing any, he leaped out, only to be pulled back by the duffel bag, which had gotten wedged between the opening of the window. Pulling it out, he checked to see if his SMG was still in the bag.

"Good, can't lose this right now."

Checking both the back and front side of the little building, he wondered where the group who tried to attack him had gone. It was better for his health and theirs if they didn't run into each other. R.J. didn't even know the direction from which they came, forgetting the possibilities of where they could be. His eyes ventured around his map, compass in hand. Putting his glasses on, he looked around the area he was in.

It was a little cramped area, houses too close and too small for most's comfort. He squinted at a tall structure, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. This didn't help though, only knocking down a few areas where he could be. Removing his glasses, he put away the map and headed north, not knowing where it would lead besides not whatever was behind him.

"Better somewhere then nowhere..."

With that in mind, he ran, the only thing he knew for sure is that his feet were going to hurt, slowly realizing these converse all-stars were terrible to run in.

((Rutherford "R.J." Roger Jr.: B032 -V5- Continued In Don't Know How to Have Fun))

Natali nodded absently while Maynard and Adam talked. Step One of the plan was obviously to find some shelter, preferably in a place with no jumpy people.

Step Two... could wait until they'd found a safe place and Natali was maybe able to take a nap or something.

She spoke up, "I think we should keep looking around in this part of the island to see if we can find anything useful before moving on. Not in this particular neighborhood, of course, but down the road a ways."

She still felt a little twitchy about the guy in the room - if he was even still there - but that probably couldn't be helped. Better that they moved on quickly before that guy or anybody else came along and got some kind of idea about attacking them.

"There's got to be some kind of store around here or something. I'd feel better going around looking for it - at least we'd be doing something besides hanging around here like sitting ducks. And if we run into somebody... well, we'll have to be more on our guard now."

God, was this really Natali Greer? Was she really standing here with two guys from school that she didn't really know, making battle plans?

"So, yeah." She finished somewhat lamely, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "We should get going, I guess."

Maynard's eyes widened in surprise as Adam took notice of his question and actually reacted positively to it. Gathering supplies together while the others fought against any potential attackers didn't seem the most desirable of jobs, but if he could help the others in any way, shape, or form then he was up for it. He just hoped that he'd be able to complete it (and any further tasks relegated to him) satisfactorily.

"Oh, um...yeah, yeah, I'll be fine with doing that!" He breathed, adjusting the strap of his dufflebag. He hoped that his stitch wouldn't return for a few more minutes at least. It was getting harder to pretend that it didn't feel like someone had stabbed one of the shards of glass that littered the street right into his stomach.

"Checking out stores doesn't seem like it could be too bad of an idea, I guess. I mean, it's up to you, Adam. I'll go with whatever ideas you have. Your leadership's worked so far."

He started to move forward. He didn't know where their little trio was going, but every second spent lingering in the street made him feel more and more uneasy. And it's another second not spent looking for Gwen or Daniel or anybody else.

((Maynard Hurst continued in Now I'm radioactive! That can't be good!))

"Alright. Let's go, then," Adam said. Maynard was already going, and Natali seemed set to follow, so he got moving himself.

Adam wasn't really sure how he felt about being referred to as their leader. He just sort of did whatever felt right at the moment, and the others had tagged along so far. He didn't mind them following his lead, but he sure didn't want to have total responsibility for them. He was just doing what any decent person would.

"If we see a shop, we can take a look. Don't think we should go too far out of our way for one, though, 'cause people might already be set up, and everything's probably spoiled anyways."

Maybe they'd be able to find some Twinkies, though, or some other shit that kept forever. Adam wasn't sure if anything still edible could possibly manage to be less disgusting than what they had been assigned, but that was a ways off from being relevant, so he didn't bother over-thinking it or mentioning it to the others.

For now, he kept moving, hoping their next stop would work out better.

((Adam Morgan continued in Now I'm radioactive! That can't be good!))

As they made their way out of the building, Natali's mental "to-do" list became a sort of mantra in time with her steps.

Step, step, Find Shelter.

Step, step, Find Supplies.

Step, step, Don't Die.

It was hard to concentrate on anything else, which was probably for the best; thinking too much beyond her list would probably just result in some kind of hysterical breakdown like she almost had on the beach.

She tried instead to think about what a funny, odd trio they made, Adam with his tapping sword and Maynard dragging his blade-on-a-stick, and Natali herself walking and swinging her crowbar like it was a picnic basket or something as they made their way down the road to who knew what.

Be calm. Be the planner.

Step. Step. Don't Die.

((Natali Greer continued in Now I'm radioactive! That can't be good!))