Survival Of The Fittest

Ruby seemed to get it … part of the way. He wanted to cover her mouth, to get her to stop being so obvious, but then she stopped talking. For a good second, nothing happened. Good. Collars were on good, so nobody was going to die … for now.

Then Ami spoke up. About how Mr. Davidge had been killed, and about the long term. Great. How did he defend that without blowing his cover.

"Yeah, Ami. That's what I'm thinking about. The long term. I'm trying to get some way for us to make sure this doesn't happen again, at least. But, as for actually surviving, we just keep our heads down, and be properly wary of anybody that we come across. High kill counts likely mean they're not going to give us any quarter, so at least we should make it clear that we can take them …"

"AHOY, THERE!" Zubin flinched for a second. "Uh... what sortie's going on here?" Zubin looked to the source of the voice. Sean the Pirate Boy was standing there. If they were at Disneyland where they SHOULD HAVE BEEN, that might have been funny. Now, though, it was slightly annoying.

"Uh, nothing, Sean. Just trying to figure out our next plan of action. It's, ah, controversial to say the least."

((Sara Corlett continued from Prepare to be Boarded))

Sara followed behind Sean as they made their way to the freighter. They were getting close, at least she thought so, as she remembered walking through this general area on the way to the airstrip from the freighter. As they traveled Sean seemed to have gotten his energy back, as he was a small ways ahead of her, saying more pirate lines in his captain's voice. Perhaps the incident back at the tower will just be happily ignored. She hated the thought of pretending that another person dying never happened, but she needed to keep her mind off of it. She didn't want the island to take her sanity, she would die before that happened.

The two of them began to approach a large lagoon on the beach, and she quickly spotted about three or so people nearby. Apparently, so had Sean. He addressed them with his usual vigor, alerting the three of them to their presence. Sara would have preferred to pass through without anything really happening, but it was too late now. The two of them approached the group of three. Three people she didn't really know at all. She remembered their faces, having seen them all around school in the halls, but she didn't know their names.

As Sean addressed them, she remained quiet, a few feet back from the conversation. She didn't want to let her nervousness show, with so many people that she didn't know around.

It occurred to Ruby that she might not have been as subtle as she had intended to regarding her thoughts on Zubin's plan. It also occurred to her seconds later that she didn't really care either way, as long as she let Zubin know that she had no intention of putting her life in danger for some vague escape plan.

Although, the thought had crossed her mind that if escape wasn't an option, then what the hell should she do with herself? Just wonder about aimlessly like she had been before, randomly shooting at anyone who looks at her funny? So far all that's achieved is getting her best friend murdered right in front of her. Maybe she and Ami could find somewhere to hide it out, wait until everyone else has finished killing each other? That plan had two fairly major flaws, the first being the whole dangerzone thing, and the second being the fact that even if they did manage to both survive up to the end only one of them would be allowed to leave the island alive. As much as Ruby didn't want to die, the thought of killing one of the few people left on this island who she actually liked didn't sound any better.

Besides, what reason did she have for being the sole survivor on this island? Because she had a family waiting back home? So did pretty much everyone else. Because she had a girlfriend waiting back home as well? A lot of her classmates probably had lovers praying for their survival as well. The harsh truth was that none of them really deserved to return home any more than anyone else. Everyone had people waiting for them. It was just a case of which lucky family will get to see their child return safely.

In any case, right now Ruby's main concern was the fact that they were now being addressed by a pirate.

Her hands instinctively gripped her gun, although she resisted the urge to aim it in Sean's direction. Partly because Sean didn't seem that threatening, but there was also the fact that every time she had reacted defensibly towards people up to this point it only ended with her making unnecessary enemies. And right now, the last thing she needed was more people on her shit list.

Of course, whether or not Sean (And Sara from the look of it) would make for a good ally was a completely different question. They were acquaintances at best back at Aurora High, and her knowledge on the guy could be summed up in a single sentence: "Guy who really, really likes pirates." Not that it prevented her from being ever so slightly confused when he actually started talking like a pirate, although she at least had a very vague idea as to why. He kind of reminded her of Steve the Pirate from the movie Dodgeball, only much younger and not played by Wash from Firefly.

"You don't say..." was her reply to Zubin's initial statement, before quickly turning her attention to Sean. "You are aware of the fact that we've all been kidnapped, dropped on some island in the middle of nowhere and forced to kill each other to prevent the collars around our necks from exploding, right? Just want to make sure we're all on the same page here."

A summary of the reality was fair enough to receive, but it made Sean visibly flinch all the same. He didn't see what was so unreasonable about trying not to think about a bunch of people, most of which he liked quite a bit, having... really, really horrible things happen to him. It sounded childish if he tried to articulate it even in his mind, but thinking about his classmates dying made him sad. Who wanted to be sad?

Not Sean Mulcahy, that's for sure. Not today!

"Hahaha..." he laughed, rubbing the back of his head and pushing up a little on the bandana set on his head. "Y-Yeah, Ruby, I know. Trust me, the ol' noggin's still working. I just like thinking about things a different way, you know? I mean, marooned on an island in the middle of the ocean? Take off these big clunky metal things and it's treasure island all over again." He giggled again, trying not to let the nervousness show. Granted, that was probably already a giant pile of fail considering he had let up on the pirate voice already.

"SooooooOOOOOOOOooooo," Sean crooned, "what's so controversial about this plan, again?" He began eyeing the general direction of the freighter. He was really rearing to just get going by now, but it'd be rude to leave without another word.

"SooooooOOOOOOOOooooo, what's so controversial about this plan, again?"

It involves putting a bullet into your leg if you don't stop with that dumbass pirate crap.

The fact that Sean had to actually explain that he was mentally clear wasn't very assuring. Zubin just took a deep breath as he started to go over the decoy plan again.

"Okay. So there's no way to actually do anything to these collars, right? So I got the brilliant idea of how to cheat the game - essentially we impregnate the winner. Thus two people leave where one person entered. I actually have the details on the notepad that Ruby's holding …" he gingerly took the notepad he had written on and, after peering at what he had written, handed it over to Sean. "Sorry, Ruby. This means that we can organize something to actually get this plan off the ground."

It took Zubin about two seconds to realize that he had most probably doubled down on his plan and turning back may be becoming less of an option.

The notepad may as well have been radioactive for as much as Sean wanted to touch it. Indeed, once Zubin told him the coarse details of this 'plan' of his, Sean did not touch it or so much as look at it. Who knew if the dang thing had some sort of... visual aid.

Sean controlled the urge to shiver and took a step back, laughing meekly. "Aaaaaaalright, then! Well, Zubin, best of luck to you and your... uh... imp-... pregn... plan, thing!" He looked to the two girls that were there, wondering if they were willingly going along with Mr. Creepy's plan. Judging from some of the faces Ruby was making, she seemed fairly adverse to it. He thought maybe she might like to come along but in the end, that was her prerogative. If she did, she did; if she didn't, she didn't. Pirate's code and all that junk.

"Um, so! Sara!" Sean said, all hints of his pirate voice having dropped for the time being. "I was thinking we got back on track to the freighter, yeah? That place? ... That isn't here?"

Sean gave a last little polite wave... and began walking briskly onward.

((Sean Mulcahy, continued elsewhere))

Ami pressed index and middle finger to temple when she saw who was in the distance. It was like a shock, a surreal little jab at her chest.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph."

What was Sean even doing here? She didn't even remember him being on the bus! And why was he talking like a pirate? Like. He had a thing for pirates. This was obvious. Anyone who knew Sean even a little bit was well aware of how much he loved pirates. Out of all of the kids in her class, Sean would be the one most likely to dress up as a pirate for Halloween.

But this wasn't Halloween. They were on an island? People were dying? And he was wearing a bandana and going Ahoy Matey?

Somehow hearing Sean call out to the three of them snapped Ami out of her worried state of paranoia and sent her careening into 'confused wreck' territory. She started rubbing her fingers against both temples. This had to be a joke, Ami thought. He was joking, or gone completely insane, something like that! He couldn't be serious!

And he wasn't, at least not to the degree Ami feared he was. However, as Sean grew closer and talked about what 'sorties', and as she noticed Sarah standing nervously behind him, Ami began to realize that it wasn't just a joke. It was serious? Like, personally, Ami barely knew Sean. She thought he was really cute but it wasn't like she had a crush on him. Yeah, he had his own 'pirate ship' apparently and that was kind of weird but everyone had their interests. He wasn't creepy-obsessed with it. Not like this. She didn't remember Sean ever talk like this!

Just... what?

"Hey, Sean." Ami deflated suddenly. "Uhh..."

Zubin had to talk over Ami. He just had to talk about his fake plan. Ami shot him a nasty look, almost told him to be quiet. Inside her head she was screaming at Zubin, telling him no, for gods sake don't talk about the orgy plan it'll make us look really weird. But she didn't say anything, the words never came. So she sat there, twiddling her thumbs because apparently even though both she and Ruby decided to say no to the plan, Zubin had to tell just about everyone about it.

To think, she had been so focused moments before. But every ounce of assuredness left her the second she saw Sean Mulcahy wearing a bandana, hearing him call out to them like a Captain calls out to a passing ship. The frustration remained though, aimed directly at Zubin's insistence, heating her from the inside like a tea kettle.

Sean began to respond to Ruby. What Ruby had said, Ami had not the foggiest. He looked awkward, as if he had something else on his mind and he did not want to answer the question. Something about it all made her less nervous, like she could see just a little bit of the Sean she thought she knew underneath. It gave her enough courage to finally speak, at least.

"You, you're a friendly pirate, right?" Ami stammered. "Not the type that robs innocent ships?"

... It was a joke. She wasn't being suspicious. But one would not be mistaken for thinking otherwise.

Of course there was an awkward pause after that. Of course. Ami turned her head away from Sean and just sighed as he asked how controversial the plan was.

"... don't say anything."

She wanted to slap Zubin. He was going to tell them. If he told Sean, if he said one word about sex or pregnancy she was seriously going to...

Jesus Christ.

She watched Sean's face the entire time, up until it changed into an ugly expression she could not place. Ami felt something inside of her sink, most likely her heart though it could have been her entire body collapsing in complete shame.

Sean turned to look at Sarah. He started talking about leaving. What was he thinking? Did they seriously believe Zubin was telling the truth? Did they think Ruby and her were in on it?

Ami rose to her feet sharply as they both started to fade into the distance again.

"Sean," Ami started. "Sean, Sarah. wait. It's not what you think! We - "

Yeah, she... yeah. No use. They couldn't hear her.

Ami stumbled back. There was white noise in the back of her head. The tea kettle was blowing.

After standing still for almost a moment, Ami finally turned back. She stared at Zubin with a scrunched up, seething glare. He had no idea how much self-control it was taking to stop her from screaming. Her fist was balled up so tight that she felt her arm going numb. She had never been so mad in her entire life.

In the end, she didn't scream. She didn't even mention anything about his plan. She just turned to her friend.

"Ruby," Ami said. "I think we aught to leave."

Then she reached for her gun and bag and started walking away. No explanations, no apologies. She just had to get away from him.

There was a chance of her being completely stubborn and irrational. It wasn't Zubin did anything to deserve it. But, in that moment of weakness, she didn't care. Zubin had completely, utterly humiliated her, both on live television and in front of several of her classmates. That alone overruled any sort of strategic planning.

Even in a life or death situation, Ami Flynn was totally willing to leave someone just to save face. She was still in high school, with all the anxiety and emotional baggage that came with it. It's as if she never left Seattle.

(Ami Flynn continued in Tell No Tales.)

Okay, so maybe Sean hadn't completely lost his marbles just yet. Maybe not necessarily 100% sane either, but he wasn't trying to make people walk the plank just yet, so for now Ruby considered him to be on the level.

To a certain extent, she actually kind of admired Sean's approach to handling the amount of stress the island must be putting him under. Instead of wallowing in self-pity about how doomed they all were like she was, he was making the most of his last few days of life by running around pretending to be like a pirate. Who the hell was she to judge the guy for wanting to enjoy the last week of life living out his greatest fantasy? As long as he didn't hurt anyone, he could run around going 'Yo ho ho!' and 'Shiver me timbers!' for as long as he liked. Heck, she felt half-tempted to join in for the sheer hell of it.

Then Zubin had to go ahead and open his stupid mouth.

Well, so much for making new allies. Zubin just had to go ahead and start talking about impregnating people again. It was one think talking about that kind of thing to two girls he barely knew, even if it was meant to hide his actual intentions, but then reiterating the plan to an unsuspecting third party who hadn't a clue what was going on? Way to make all three of them look like the complete weirdos in front of the entire island.

She understood fully why he was saying that stuff. After all, if you go around discussing how you were planning doomed escape plots, you wouldn't last particularly long now would you? At the same time, surely pretending to discuss plans for a fake orgy was just going to put off people who would have otherwise been interested in escaping? People like... Well, pretty much everyone he had spoken to about it.

Speaking of which, Ami seemed to take off not too long after Sean did, leaving Ruby with Zubin for a few seconds before she got up to follow her friend.

"Hey, look..." Ruby began, feeling that she needed to say something before she ditched Zubin. "Nothing personal, I just don't think this is going to work out. I'm sure there's someone out there who would be more than happy to take part in your... Uh, orgy type thing, but me and Ami are going to go do things our way. Take care, and stuff..."

On that note, Ruby turned and left after giving he camera she had nearly destroyed one last look.

Now she just had to figure out what exactly they would do next.

((Ruby Forrester continued in Tell No Tales))

Sara awkwardly stood behind Sean as Zubin spoke. She overheard the "escape" plan that Zubin had and was telling Sean, and she didn't want any part of it. She saw Sean avoid the notepad that Zubin had, and she couldn't blame him for it. She would have avoided it in the same manner, if not simply turned and run away.

Sara looked at Ami and Ruby. From the looks of it, the two of them looked adverse to Zubin's plan as well. She began to get curious as to why they were hanging around Zubin if they didn't want to go along with his plan, but the more she thought about it the more she didn't really want to know. She just wanted to get out of this awkward situation her and Sean were in and go back to the freighter.

Sean turned to her and talked about getting back to the freighter. She couldn't agree more. As he walked off she began following him, giving an awkward wave before turning and following Sean out as quickly as she could muster.

((Sara Corlett continued in Tell No Tales))

And … fuck him.

It had occurred to him that maybe he should have handed the notepad first, or that Zubin should have possibly made absolutely sure that they would be willing to hear this, or quite possibly even delay the reveal until they were comfortable. Sadly he didn't, and now he was alone for the first time since he had woken up. Ruby had the decency to try to understand, hopefully he thought, but the others weren't so receptive.

Me and my big mouth … hey, wait what's she doing?

Ami reached for the gun, picked it up and walked out. Crap. Now he was back where he started - alone and with a two by four as a weapon. If he didn't find a decent weapon or another group, and fast, he wasn't going to be long for the game.

((Zubin Wadia continued elsewhere ...))