Survival Of The Fittest

"Oh, the concert's tomorrow. We just finished our last practice for it today. We're gonna see you there, right?"

"You bet!" That was exactly an answer, Maxwell wanted to hear. Another concert. Another chance to rock yourself. Oh, and another chance to get your ears explode. There was no way, Max would have miss it.

The next few moments were little chaotic. Firstly, Maria introduced her friend from the old times, Duncan. Then the conversation went in money, or rather in lack of money direction, but before Max could open his mouth to end their cash problems, the other girl introduced herself as Tabi, and the other guy as Wayne. Again, Max didn't even said a word to them, before for some known probably only to Maria reason, she ordered him not to move.

"Huh?" Of course, the first law of stupidity. When someone tells you from out of nowhere, NOT to do something, you'll probably do it immediately. And so, the first think Max did, was rapid move of his body, especially his shoulder and head to see, what's the thing Maria is looking at with such a terrifying look. And then he felt the little sting piercing his shirt, and then his skin. Maybe it wasn't some really excruciating pain, but still enough to make Max hiss.

"Damn... I hate bees."

At least that yellow bastard was dead already. After losing it's sting (or rather leaving it in Max's body), the bee went down to the floor, and after few last convulsive movements, finally went to the land of eternal buzzing. Meanwhile, Maxwell located the sting on his shoulder, and with quick move he pulled it out. Another hiss.

"Those bastards... Good thing, I'm not allergic to them."

Max turned to Maria.

"All right, now we've ended the bees problem-"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"..."

"Or not..."

Max carefully looked behind him, only to see another 2 bees flying around, probably in search of another victims. Damned bastards.

"Christ... There is entire hive of them here or what? Why none of the janitors took care of it by now?"

Oh no. No way, this yellow guys will ruin his good humor today. Simply unacceptable.

"All right. This place isn't safe. No false movements, and we're fine, but I think we should definitely retreat to some safe zone, where bees are not allowed to enter"

Hah... Sounds almost like we were on a minefield or something.

"Oh, and one more thing" Max slowly turned in Maria's direction with mysterious smile. "I heard everything. You refused me last three times to buy you a lunch. Looks like I'll have to make you an offer, you can't refuse this time. Of course that includes you guys as well."

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Shit..."

Uh oh, too late. Max turned to look just as Maria said not to, and the bee, looking for any excuse to strike did, driving its stinger through his shirt, piercing through his skin and delivering its dose of deadly bee venom. Like the kamikaze insectoid that it was, it then dropped to the floor, satisfied in its death throes that it had taken its target down with it and defended its queen against a potential threat.

"Damn... I hate bees."

Well, fuck. The bee thought as it's life slowly bled out of it. Is that it? Is that all there is to my life? The bee had always dreamed of serving its queen well. Bringing back plenty of pollen, and one day maybe going out in a blaze of glory against a serious threat to the hive. Instead it had gone and gotten itself killed stinging a human who wasn't even vulnerable to an isolated attack like it had given.

I guess...life's a bitch, isn't it...?

B436: BEE - DECEASED

Meanwhile, Maria breathed a sigh of relief as the attack proved futile. "You gotta watch out, Max." She said. "Those things are dangerous." Maria certainly wasn't kidding. Ever since she had chucked a few rocks at that beehive when she was a kid and provoked its full fury, it seemed like she was on the shitlist of every bee in existence. Of course, the fact that she couldn't help but freak out at every bee that came her way nowadays probably just made it worse, but it couldn't bee helped.

That was a horrible pun...

Just as she finished that thought, though, the distinctive buzzing of a couple of new bees looking to avenge their comrade made itself known. The bee threat was still very much real.

"Uh...y-yeah, we should definitely get out of here." Maria agreed, noticeably agitated now.

"Hey Maria." Duncan spoke up, noting her agitation. "Remember, they won't do anything if you move slowly and don't spook th-"

"Lunchsoundsgreatinfactlet'sallgorightnowImeansomewherethat'snotherewhereallthebeesare." Maria blurted out, looking to be on the verge of just breaking into a sprint and running far, far away.

"Uh, yeah, I don't mind." Duncan nodded in response to Max's proposal, looking a little bit agitated himself speaking up so much in such a large group, consisting mainly of people he'd never met before until now.

Gone.

"Maria wait!" Duncan chased after Maria, who had finally reached her limit and ran off towards the nearest excalator, away from the deadly bee menace.

{continued elsewhere (I think? Are we changing threads for this?)}

Tabitha Gweneth was not afraid of bees. So what if they stung you? It's not like they were going to bother you unless you bothered them. If you leave well enough alone, bees weren't any threat.

Sadly this wasn't the case for Max and the gang, and the poor little bee was forced to sting him. Naturally she felt bad for Max, but the bee was just defending itself from his rapid movements. Alas nothing could be said for it now as it fell to the floor.

However her spirits rose with the prospect of a meal courtesy of Max Crowe. She loved hanging out with anyone and everyone and the fact that he was being kind enough to offer something for all of them sounding wonderful. Not many of her other friends were always so keen on doing something like that.

"Hey! I'm up for some food!" Tabi said, tossing her old juice cup and grabbing her skate gear, "We better catch up before we loose em!"

With that, she sped off after Maria and Duncan and followed them to the escalator.

((Tabi Gweneth continued in Sky's the Limit))

In the aftermath of the bee sting, Max had offered to treat the group to a nice lunch. As tempted as Wayne felt to take him up on his offer, he felt as if he should probably just grab his game and head home to get a little bit of game play in before Justin Corrigan's party.

"Normally, I would never turn down a free lunch. But I've got to split." Wayne replied with a nod. "I'll see you guys another time."

And with that, Wayne headed off by himself. Finishing off his pretzel, Wayne went down the escalator and, instead of following the others to the food court, headed off to a near-by EB Games on the first floor.

He was in and out within about ten minutes. After quickly picking out a copy of Final Fantasy III for his DS, Wayne headed on home with a smile on his face.

(Wayne West continued elsewhere)

((One liner, here I come!))

"Hey! Maria! Wait!!!!" Max could only see dust from under Maria's (and Duncan's, who was running after her) feet, as she ran away from bees. Tabitha ran after them, while Wayne went somewhere else.

Max checked, if his new precious vinyl is still in mint condition, and followed Maria to the food court.

((Max Crowe continued in Master Exploder))