Survival Of The Fittest

"I suppose they would, yeah." Allie knelt down, unzipping her bag, completely oblivious to the fact that Annie was doing the same. She pulled out the first aid kit and rummaging through it's contents. "Wait, found one!"

Allie pulled it out and held it up in front of her. It was a cheap-looking Zippo lighter, one of the transluscent plastic ones you could pick up practically anywhere, but it'd be fine for lighting a fire.

Allie looked up at Annie holding her own first aid kit up at her, smiled awkwardly, and shoved the rest of her stuff back into her bag. She pulled herself up to her feet, took care not to put pressure on her bad arm, and looked at the rest of the slowly forming group. Jackie had the bag she'd been clutching since she'd taken it from the church, and was opening it up like a kid unwrapping a Christmas present. She pulled out some weird looking knife-thing. Crap. Now Jackie had a weapon. Was that the plan all along? Allie was pretty sure she knew the answer to that one.

Allie turned back around, to be confronted by... Lily, was it? She figured it was Li- Oh God, she was bleeding. All over the place. She was covered in blood. Allie looked around. She wasn't the only one to notice, either, from what she could hear of everyone else's reactions. The reactions to her were pretty mixed, though. Jackie, as to be expected, started questioning her.

Allie thought it seemed pretty blunt way to say hello to her, but she could kinda see where Jackie was coming from. Annie seemed to have shared Allie's reaction, however. Allie considered kneeling down, grabbing her first-aid kit and offering to patch Lily up, but Annie already had hers out so she figured it wasn't worth it.

"Uh, hey?" Allie put the lighter back in the pocket of her hoodie and decided to wait and see in regards to the food, considering Jackie seemed to have gotten what she wanted. "Anything we can do to help you, Lily?"

Lily had nothing to say, still struck mute by what had transpired in the woods. The words had died in her throat after "Hey". She didn't even respond until one of the girls (Annaliese? Yeah, that's it) asked if she was bleeding. For the first time, Lily looked down at her own clothes.

It wasn't just her face that had gotten Miranda's life on it. What she had worn, the white half-jacket with teal blouse, was stained with blood. She swallowed, hard, wanted to throw up, wanted to cry, wanted to...

She wasn't supposed to be part of the news. Lily was supposed to report on it, to remain apart. And here she was, with headlines splashed across her clothes. Her left hand rubbed on her shirt, tried to get rid of the blood, but it didn't work.

She didn't help Miranda, just watched, and here she was now with blood on her clothes and on her skin and on her face and Oh jesus it's everywhere!

Lily slung her bag off of her shoulder, unzipped it and reached in with a startling clarity of purpose, suddenly knowing what she had to do. There wasn't getting away from what she'd done, failed to do. Miranda was dead, and Miranda was all over Lily. Lily had to make things right.

She took a step toward the group. "Another high school girl was slaughtered today, found with her throat slashed by former high school journalist Lily Maclaughlin..." Her hand slipped in the bag, like she was going to pull something out.

"This was the beginning of a rash of murders plaguing Bayview Secondary School's students since becoming kidnapped for Survival of the Fittest, a terrorist game show where high school students are forced to kill each other over the course of several days."

Lily took another step forward, her voice a monotone. She was enacting living print.

"Maclaughlin is also implicated to be the killer in the latest murders of three more high school girls. All three were found shot multiple times by a high caliber handgun. It is suspected to be a crime of passion." Lily moved closer, her hand shuffling around in her bag as if she was having trouble finding what she was trying to grab.

"Bayview Secondary High School will hold a memorial service for the girls next week."

Annaliese kept her eyes on Lily, trying to figure out if the other girl was wounded. Allie was the winner in the ‘who has a lighter' game which was only a secondary concern now. Mostly because Jackie was brandishing a previously unmentioned weapon at Lily.

"Tell us where you're coming from and whose blood that is, and then maybe we can talk about food. We're not trying to die right now."

Fighting down the urge to smack herself in the face with her hand, Annaliese could only look incredulously between Jackie and Lily.

Seriously? Again?

*AGAIN* she had somehow wandered into a place where the people seemed normal and then revealed themselves to be psychos in sheep's clothing. Okay, last time, she hadn't wandered into them, they had wandered into her but same diff.

"Just..fuck me dead," she pissily muttered as she gracelessly climbed to her feet, her first aid kit and weapon forgotten on the ground. Raising her voice, she waved her hands in what she hoped was a soothing fashion. "Oh-kay. Let's just everybody calm down before this turns into a reprise of the Frankie and Ericka saga. I'm sure there's a perfectly sane and logical explanation for all of this."

She should have known better than to taunt Fate by giving it an opening like that. It was at that moment that Lily did her very best soulless robot impression, her monotone voice chilling Annaliese far more than her words. "Another high school girl was slaughtered today, found with her throat slashed by former high school journalist Lily Maclaughlin..."


Her jaw dropped at Lily's revelation. "Oh god," Annaliese moaned, shaking her head sadly. "Lily, what are you saying? You killed someone? Who, Lily?"

Lily continued as if Annaliese had never spoken, advancing on the group. As Lily rooted around in her bag, Annaliese broke out in a cold sweat. ‘Dude, she's serious. She cut someone's throat. That's someone's blood all over her. OH GOD!' Although terrified, she felt rooted to the spot. ‘Lily actually killed someone. Someone we all know. She has completely lost her shit!'

Lily took another step forward, still digging around in her bag as she basically outlined her plan to kill Annaliese, Allie, and Jackie in the same cold, expressionless monotone. Followed by the news of their memorial, like that somehow made it all better.

The sheer lack of emotion snapped Annaliese out of her stupor. 'Movement' had just jumped up to the number one slot on her brain's priority list, thoroughly displacing the previous front runner, 'understanding'.

"Well, fuck THAT," she yelped, trying to step back herself and tripping over her own feet. Her legs tangling, she landed hard on her rear end. Crabwalking backwards, she tried to remove herself from Lily's grasp.

WHATEVER had happened before Lily had met up with them had obviously driven her completely ‘round the bend if she thought that she could just explain her plan to kill them with her news ‘bot voice, discussing it like it was something unimportant like the weather or Britney's latest breakdown and they would just sit there and let it happen. Someone had to do something!

"Another high school girl was slaughtered today, found with her throat slashed by former high school journalist Lily Maclaughlin..."

Wait. Lily, THAT was her name.

She was ACTUALLY dangerous?

It took milliseconds for Jackie's mind to find the situation's new gravity. They weren't just swinging around wooden swords here. This was real, deep shit. Jackie hadn't expected this. She should have, and she thought she was expecting it the whole time- just not like this.

But Lily was still talking.

"This was the beginning of a rash of murders plaguing Bayview Secondary School's students since becoming kidnapped for Survival of the Fittest, a terrorist game show where high school students are forced to kill each other over the course of several days."

Jackie stood, keeping the blade in front of her like a tiny shield. "Lily, what the fuck are you talking abou-"

"Maclaughlin is also implicated to be the killer in the latest murders of three more high school girls. All three were found shot multiple times by a high caliber handgun. It is suspected to be a crime of passion."

"SHUT UP!"

"Bayview Secondary High School will hold a memorial service for the girls next week."

That was them she was talking about. This crazy bitch was trying to shoot them. Jackie watched the girl's hand, undoubtedly looking for the gun in the same way Jackie had just looked for her blade. She had seconds to act. She had to do something right now.

Before she knew it, Jackie was much closer to the girl. White knuckles clutched the blade that was now eighths of an inch from Lily's throat, with Jackie's other hand around the arm that rummaged in the bag.

"Get. Away."

Lily stopped, the blade that Jackie held seemingly impeding her progress. Lily didn't seem to acknowledge it, though, didn't look at it. She just kept reaching in her bag.

"There appeared to be signs of a struggle. One of the girls had apparently attempted to fend off Maclaughlin with a bladed weapon." She said, keeping her monotone.

Headlines. Making headlines. Making the news. Now I'm the news.

Lily's hand closed around the book stowed in her pack. She pulled the book up, fast, sudden, like she was quick drawing a six-gun.

Her other hand dropped the bag. Lily's eyes widened, and she staggered back a half step. Something warm was running down her neck, something that felt familiar. She had trouble standing, as it felt like bolts of lightning were shooting from her neck to her head.

"Wha..." She tried to say.

Our hearts go out to the Maclaughlin family.

Blood.

Blood on her face. Blood on her arms.




Blood on the knife.



Lily was on the ground now, making these digusting gurgling noises as though she was trying to scream. Blood on the grass.








I did this.

Jackie looked at the blade. Yes, that was indeed Lily's blood on the blade that Jackie was indeed holding. Blood on the knife. She wanted to turn around, explain that it wasn't supposed to happen. She wanted to stand still so they would never see the blood on her face.



She could feel it. She couldn't look at them, but she could feel the other girls' eyes staring at Jackie's crime. She could no longer make them believe she was a friend now that they knew how disgusting she truly was.

Disgusting. That's what people were when they killed other people. When they watched the news or Law and Order or read the paper, that's what they said about the people who take the lives of others. That was what her mother would say. That was what Rebecca would say. And they would never want her back, even if she made it home. But it wasn't Jackie's fault.

With a coarse, raspy shriek, Jackie pushed the girl backwards onto the ground. Kneeling over Lily, she saw the wound for the first time, or at least, the blood that completely obscured it. The blood seeped all over the girl's front and the ground below her. It was on Jackie's hands now. Blood on her hands. Tightening her grip on the blade, she brought her hand over her head, punching it down into Lily's throat like an axe. More blood sprayed out, but the gurgling finally stopped.

Blood on my hands.

She was on her back. The sky filled her vision. Lily still hurt, but it wasn't as bad

Shock?

as she thought. She felt better, though. Like she'd finally done something right.

Minimalism.

She's 13. Her mom missed her birthday.

"Where's mom?"

"Had to work late again, honey. She's on deadline." Michael tucks a cigarette in his ear, ruffles his daughter's hair.

"She's always late. Even today?"

"She's a journalist, honey. She's supposed to be out there changing the world."

Lily looks at her cake. Wonders if she can change the world by working late.



Lily saw the girl with the blade standing over her, looking shell-shocked, looking not much different than Lily when she saw the rest of Miranda's blood on her. She tried to say that it was ok, that this was what she wanted and deserved, but it only came out as a gurgle. She felt like she was breathing through her neck, if at all.

Clarity.

She's fifteen. Finishing up the touches on an article about basketball. Dad's watching TV. Mom's interviewing someone downtown.

"The Bayview team managed to pull out all the stops in the end, scoring a six point lead with two 3-pointers by..."

She forgot the player's name, but doesn't rifle through her notes. She doesn't like the sentence.

She crosses out 'pull out all the stops'. A cliche. Shoddy writing.

The front door opens. Soon, her mother opens her room, quiet. Denise doesn't want to wake her daughter. Finds her sitting at her desk.

"Hey, honey. Homework?"

"For the paper. Read it?" She leans aside to show Denise her work. Sometimes she's more copy-editor than mother.


The girl was coming down with the blade now, and Lily wished she could thank her. Thank her for doing what Lily couldn't do. She'd fucked up the headlines, turned in some bad copy, forgot to check her facts. Miranda was dead and Lily let it happen. Jacky was just her editor, teaching Lily a lesson about slowing down and re-drafting your work.


Details.

She's ready for the class trip. Bag's full of stuff; notepad, pens, camera. If something happens, she'll cover it.

Denise is there in the morning. A rarity. She catches her daughter on the way out.

"Want you to be careful, honey."

"I'll be fine. Nothing but a little class trip." Lily smiles, but stops. Denise isn't smiling back. Isn't a journalist, but a mom. Seems late.

"Seriously."

Lily nods and leaves. Can't shake the feeling something's wrong. Didn't see her mom crying with worry. Didn't see the fine print.


The blade sunk into Lily's throat.


G097: Lily Maclaughlin, Eliminated

Andrea emitted a brief, warbling squawk that she instantly regretted when Kevin whirled around, his shovel raised like he was about to whack Allen over the head in some ridiculous Three Stooges parody. That guy was on edge, and she was this close to just taking off in a blind panic when Kevin lowered the shovel. Well, that was good. Although his line about wanting to go pray at the church sounded like total BS to her. And then he had to go ahead and bitch her out about ruining whatever stupid plans he had.

"Oh, COME ON," she interrupted. "Look, I'm sorry about screwing up your plan to go pray or whatever, but give me a break." She gestured to the group of girls behind them. "I mean, you seriously think those girls 'won't let you pass?' Dude, have you seen who's there? Jackie Myrie? Those girls are about as dangerous as a herd of, uh gophers or... OK, that's a bad analogy but you get the point."

Andrea glanced back at the girls, still talking to Kevin. "Hell, the two of us were just about to go up and say hi, so if you wanna come along with us for protection so you can get in the church that's fine by me and OK what the fuck are they yelling abou-- holy crap."

Yeah, it hadn't been until she'd turned around that she realized her prediction might not be entirely accurate. Now Lily Maclaughlin was standing there looking pretty fucking crazy, and the others were trying to get away, and--- holy crap again.

"Oh fuck.. shit's going down. Uh, hey!"

Andrea had no real idea what she was doing by trying to get their attention. Whatever this crazy shit was, it wasn't her business. Maybe it was just a gut reaction. But in any case, it didn't matter, as Lily made a move to grab something from her bag, and just like that, Jackie had cut her throat open.

"JESUS FUCK!"

She'd- She'd-

The blood. Everywhere. Oh God, the blood. All over the floor. All over Jackie. All over her.

A split-second ago there was a girl standing there and now there was a broken corpse strewn across the floor. Jackie did this. The very Jackie she'd been travelling with since they'd woken up together. The Jackie she was almost starting to trust and she'd just killed her. Was she dead? She couldn't be dead. Just couldn't. No, no one was killing, she wasn't going to see any-

But they were and she did and there was a body right in front of her.

Allie turned away and slowly started to walk off, she wanted to go, to be alone. Think about what she'd just seen.

A cough. She hadn't noticed her slowly increasing breathing. Heart racing. Breathing heavier and heavier. Lungs tightening up. Harder to breathe. Oh no. Not now. A clumsy hand fumbled into her pockets, trying to find it. She needed it now, more than ever. Where had she put it? The one time she needed it and she couldn't find it. Why now? Why her? Harder to breathe.

At last. Allie grasped it, quickly pulled it up to her mouth.

Inhaled.

Relief. Breathing slowed. Slower, calmer breaths.

Allie turned back around. Better now. Scare over. Her eyes wandered, but she avoided looking to the ground. Avoided looking at the ex-student lying on the floor. Ex-student? Her mind was just making up as many ways to avoid calling it what it really was, wasn't it? She looked over at the others. Nobody could really believe what she just saw. Allie wanted to scream. Wanted to shout at Jackie for all she could, but the girl just couldn't manage it.

She looked to Jackie.

"Jackie...?" She shook her head. Disbelief, mostly. "What the hell did you just do?"

Allen inhaled sharply when the boy actually raised the shovel. He instantly backed into a tree and bumped the rear of his head against the solid bark. The back of his skull smarted a little from the impact, but it was a lot better than receiving a hard whack over the head with a shovel.

It turned out that he wasn't going to be receiving that hard whack round the head anytime soon. Kevin wasn't going to attack him after all and had instead lowered the shovel. 'Good,' Allen thought, feeling very much relieved and choosing to ignore Kevin's insult directed at his travelling companion (because, to be quite honest, Andrea did tend to be quite the chatterbox). 'Whatever, panic over, now let's all just go meet the girls and see if they want to join us. Nothing to worry about now.'

Allen spoke way, way too soon.

He noticed Andrea had just started to panic a touch after observing the girls' actions with Kevin. Allen walked up next to her so he could get a clearer view of what exactly she was talking about.

"Uh, what's going on out-OH MY GOD!"

One of the girls (he didn't know what her name was) had just lashed out and sliced open Lily's throat. 'Oh no... no, not another death, not again! What the fuck is going on?!' he mentally cried out, clasping his hands over his nose and mouth. Lily collapsed to the ground with blood leaking from her neck and staining the front of her clothes, her body unmoving as it lay sprawled on the sand. Allen may not have been one of the best students in his biology class, but even he knew that the slash to the girl's throat was a fatal one. If Lily wasn't dead already, she would be dead very, very soon.

'Oh god, they've gone mad, they're going to attack anyone who's getting too close!' Allen thought, having missed Lily's insane ramblings and threats to shoot prior to Jackie's strike. 'They're going to kill each other! They-they're going to come after us next! Me, and Andrea an-and Kevin!'

"We gotta get outta here! Now!" Allen hissed, hastily grabbing his bags and starting to dash away from the building. After six or seven steps, he turned back towards Andrea to make sure she was following him and that he hadn't left her behind. "Come on!" he shouted out, resuming the sprint.

((Allen Birkman continued in Burn the Louvre))

"Look, I'm sorry about screwing up your plan to go pray or whatever, but give me a break. I mean, you seriously think those girls 'won't let you pass?' Dude, have you seen who's there? Jackie Myrie? Those girls are about as threatening as a herd of, uh gophers or something, I dunno."

Kevin frowned in annoyance. This really wasn't what he expected to hear. He figured that she would take a hint and leave him alone, but that prediction of his was wrong. "I think I'll just go ahead with my own plan, and-"

"Hell, the two of us were just about to go up and say hi, so if you wanna come along with us for protection or whatever so you can get in the church that's fine by me and OK what the fuck are they yelling abou-- holy crap."

He would've lost his temper if she hadn't pointed out the struggle that had just begun. With a shocked expression on his face, he saw Lily try to pull something out of her bag and got her throat cut for her trouble. When her bloodied corpse fell to the floor, Kevin was reminded of the murder he saw in the woods earlier. With a heavy gulp, he forced himself to focus on the present. He didn't know why this happened or what the girls would do next, but this murder broke his plan. There would be no forgiveness for him today.

"We gotta get outta here! Now!" Allen had the right idea here. Getting caught and swarmed by these girls wasn't something he wanted to risk. Running would use up even more of his energy, but it was worth the cost. Escaping them was absolutely vital to him. He backed up a few steps and looked behind him. Allen was sprinting away with his bags in his hands, while Andrea was standing there like an idiot.

"Screw this. I'm not going with you guys, but I wouldn't stick around here if I were you." Kevin shouted at Andrea before he ran off. "Good luck, chatterbox! You're going to need it!"

((Kevin Harding continued Keep Yourself Alive))

Annaliese could only stare in horror as Jackie went all Conan the Barbarian on Lily. Her mouth moved several times as her brain tried to come up with an appropriate response. Apparantly, her brain had decided there was no appropriate response to watching classmates attack each other. Again.

She just stared at Lily's corpse, the only outwardly visible sign she was thinking was a lot of blinking as she processed the scene. 'Holy shit, Jackie went all Highlander on her. Just...fucking went for the head. Holy shit, dude. Holy shit. Not that Lily wasn't about to do the same to us. I think this place has warped the Golden Rule. It's not 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' anymore. It's more like, 'Do unto others before they would do unto you'. So Jackie went all medieval on Lily because Lily was about to go medieval on all three of us. AND, had apparantly gone all medieval on someone else. So Jackie was protecting us. But Jackie had pulled her weapon on Lily BEFORE Lily had apparantly turned sanity's corner. Unless Jackie could tell Lily was about to just lose it completely?'

Her thoughts circling in on themselves, Annaliese reached up to rub her forehead. Nothing here was cut and dry. There was no black and white. Just a billion shades of gray. Either way, perhaps this was not the best place to be anymore.

With that in mind, Annaliese scooted back until she was within arm's reach of her bag and quickly gathered her belongings. She heard Allie's question to Jackie and just shook her head. "Okay, you know what? This whole thing has just been entirely too real for me. I'mma get the hell outta here because...well, yeah. Much as I appreciate you doing your thing, Jackie, it's almost like there's a rage virus here or something. And I'm not looking to be next on your Quickening list. So I'm out. See ya."

Andrea sure as fuck was following Allen right on out of there. Kevin Harding had taken off too, but not before sending some stupid comment her way. Yes, because she was totally planning on inviting him to stroll around the island with her.

Anyway, this whole detour had been a godawful waste of time. Maybe she'd think before acting next time. Or not.

(Andrea Raymer continued in Burn the Louvre)

She was dead and you did it. No. Yes.

I'm not a- you are a murderer.






Jackie dug her knife into the ground. It rubbed off some of the blood, but in the end the knife had only gotten dirtier.


Finally, she turned around. Surely they'd forgive her. She didn't have a choice. They would be grateful. She saved them. Yes, that's what happened. She acted out of courage and compassion or pure bloodlust.

But that was not gratitude sprayed across Allie and Annie's faces. It was shock. It was betrayal. It was blood. They did not come up to Jackie, thank her, tell her it was alright, she'd done what she had to do. They simply stared up at her with those infuriatingly dumbfounded expressions.

Finally, Allie spoke.

"Jackie... what the hell did you just do?"

Fucking idiot. She could see what just happened. She had- she had- you killed her.

"Wait!" Surely she could still convince them she wasn't the enemy what a lie. "You guys saw! She had a gun! She was going to kill us!" She grabbed the bag and frantically looked through it. Books, pens... where the hell was that gun?! Jackie finally turned the bag upside down, emptying the contents onto the ground in front of her.

No gun. She wasn't a threat at all.

"No!!!" It had to be in there. There was no way this girl had said she was going to shoot them if she didn't have a gun. She kept looking, throwing aside the non-weapon items as she looked. "It's in here! Where the fuck is it?!"

Anneliese stood. "Okay, you know what? This whole thing has just been entirely too real for me. I'mma get the hell outta here because...well, yeah. Much as I appreciate you doing your thing, Jackie, it's almost like there's a rage virus here or something. And I'm not looking to be next on your Quickening list. So I'm out. See ya."


No.

She wasn't leaving. She didn't get to. Not like this. She wasn't getting the upper hand here when she hadn't done anything to earn it.


"DON'T FUCKING JUDGE ME YOU BITCH!" Harsh shrieks followed Anneliese Hansen away from the church. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!"

But she kept walking. Just like that. Left. Right. Left. Right.

"YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! You didn't do anything... you didn't do anything..." Jackie repeated these words as long as they still felt useful.

After all, she was the one who had done something.

The look on everyone's faces told the whole story. Allie was still struggling to figure out what had just happened when Jackie finally replied to her question. She shouted, turned the bag upside down and emptied it out. There was, according to Jackie, a gun there. One that the girl was going to use to murder them all.

"...A gun?" Allie couldn't see a gun, nor did she remember the girl having a gun... she had one though, right? Jackie wasn't losing her mind, right? She'd done the right thing for them. Hadn't she? "Jackie, what... what are you talking about?"

No. No justifications. Jackie had just murdered someone in cold blood. There was never a justification about that- Annie left. Allie didn't blame her. Jackie started screaming. Allie started backing up. She said nothing, she wasn't in a hurry to be next on Jackie's hitlist. No, that'd suck.

It'd been a fun ride while it lasted, really, but Jackie was losing her marbles and Allie was losing faith in her and what was she thinking Jackie just killed someone she had to get out of there. Just running wouldn't work. She'd get a couple steps maybe before she'd have a problem, but if she stayed with Jackie what was to stop her what was to stop her from killing her while her back was turned? Allie needed to get out, and it didn't take her long to figure out how. She decided to play it Bogart, part on "amicable" terms.

She said nothing while Jackie was screaming at Annie, opting to wait for her to finish. Didn't want to make her mad. Wanted this to end well.

"Sorry, Jackie..." She shook her head. "But I've gotta go. See you later, okay?"

Allie packed up her things. She would have gone for the awkwardest parting hug ever, but she decided against it. She just said goodbye, waved to Jackie and with that she was gone.

((Allie Walworth, continued in The Lord's Mercy.))