Survival Of The Fittest

Go somewhere else? Melissa blinked in surprise as she heard Jennifer's suggestion. It was true that they had been there for while...but it hadn't seemed to be that long. It seemed kind of sudden to start moving after they had just gotten settled down but...well, it's not like Melissa really had anything against moving. Every place on the island was the same as another...all that mattered was who they came across in their journey. Just as long as they didn't go anywhere a killer was...Melissa was perfectly fine moving where Jennifer wanted to go.

Then again, it's not like either of them were psychic and could tell where killers would be lurking. In the end, it really just depending on luck like...everything else in this whole damn thing.

"Yeah uh, sure, no problem." Melissa said as she began packing things up into her duffel bag. She hummed softly to herself as she stuffed the bread and cracked back in between her clothes and gently tucked in her portable stove after that. Next was the yearbook and she blinked at it a couple of times, her fingers tracing across the still faces of her classmates. Some of her friends were still alive. That's what mattered. With a silent nod, she tucked it in and zipped up her bag. "All right. If...uh, if you want to leave a note, that's fine. Hopefully they'll um...be able to find it, right?"

"I'll be waiting outside, okay? I kind of want to get some sun, I guess..." She offered lamely as an excuse as she got to her feet, hefting her bag over one shoulder as she left the Hall of Mirrors. She shielded her eyes as she stepped out, blinking several times as she tried to get used to the sunlight streaming out. It still wasn't that late in the day, at least...probably had a few hours left of brightness before they had to get paranoid about shadows again.

The outside was such a morbid scene. One person, standing in the middle of a field of death.

Could have been worse, she guessed.

Melissa was fine with moving on. That was a good thing. Jennifer was starting to feel like she couldn't breath. The stench was all around her. It wasn't fair. She shouldn't have ever had to know what bodies smelled like. Now wasn't the time to bemoan the situation, though. Now they were going to move. Jennifer was going to find somewhere without any corpses, for a fucking change. There had to be somewhere. It was a big island.

Melissa wanted to go wait outside. Maybe she smelled it too. This wasn't a good place to be.

"Go ahead," Jennifer said.

Then she took out the little pamphlet Danya had left them all, and tore off a page. She had a pencil with her still, in her backpack. Looks like it'd been worth carrying after all.

She sat down, and quickly wrote:

Nick, Melissa and I were here, but we had to move on because of all the bodies. We're sticking together, and have had no problems so far. I think we're going to try to find somewhere a little bit cleaner and safer and maybe try to ride things out there for awhile. Right now, I think the groundskeeper's hut may be our best option, so I think we'll check there. If it seems unsafe or becomes a danger zone, though, we'll head to the mountain. I hope you're doing well and are safe. Please don't stay here too long. I have a bad feeling about this place. Also, please stay safe and out of trouble. I'm sorry we couldn't keep up with you before. If we can all link up again, maybe we can find a better place to lay low and wait things out peacefully. I think you'll be safer with us. - Jennifer P.S. If you are not Nick, please leave this note for him to find. It would mean a lot to me.

With that done, Jennifer exited the hall of mirrors, leaving the note under a shard of shattered glass. There was no way to know if it would reach its intended audience. She was making the same fucking mistake all over again, leaving a secondhand scavenger hunt across the whole fucking island when peoples' lives were on the line. Now, though, there was a bit more justification. Melissa's life was on the line, too. Nick could take care of himself. He was probably more equipped to survive than both girls combined. He'd be fine.

She hoped he'd be fine.

No time to worry now.

Jennifer waved to Melissa, gesturing in the direction they were going to go. It wasn't that far.

"Um, I think we should check out the hut," she said. "It looks, um, better."

More defensible. Less fucking creepy.

She got walking.

((Jennifer Perez continued in And A Buck Short))

She didn't notice Jennifer coming out of the Hall of Mirrors. She was too busy just staring out at the scene in front of her, basking in the sun and just...staring. Nothing else. She heard the voice and her hand tightening over her sword for just a brief second when fear overwhelmed reason. Basic fear...fight or flight. That was her choice. Then recognition set it and the brief adrenaline rush faded away and Melissa turned, smiled, and nodded. "Yeah uh...sure, just lead the way, I guess."

She didn't know what Jennifer meant by saying that the hut was better. Every place on the island was probably chock full of bodies like this one...the only thing that would change is that they'd be at a hut instead of inside a shattered hall of mirrors. Perhaps that's all that they needed to make it better...besides, carnival attractions always just seemed way more creepy when placed on an abandoned island and littered with the bodies of dead classmates.

Jennifer started walking towards their next destination.

So did she.

(Melissa Li continued in And A Buck Short. And this thread is closed, I believe.)