Survival Of The Fittest

Anna looked down at the mud covering the ground. She frowned for a moment, but only a fleeting moment before her usual lazy smile found it's way back again. Normally she would think twice about sitting down on the dirty ground but her clothes were already messed up as it is. It only took a minute for her to reach the two, swinging the two bags she had around her back onto the ground, closing up her small umbrella. There really wasn't much need for it in any case, the rain wasn't nearly as heavy as before. Anna smiled, putting Amanda's tie into the pocket in her skirt for safekeeping.

She looked down at the bags. Amanda's comment towards the cameras confused Anna, but only enough for her to say something about it. "Ahh... I'm sorry if I'm being daft, but what do you mean about 'detonated'?" Anna put two and two together and she suddenly noticed something. "Oh! I think... Well, if you wish for me to be honest, at around the beginning of the day I saw two girls walking around the forest. Their heads exploded, I'm afraid to say. I wouldn't have the slightest clue as to who they were, but they weren't going to be using their weapons anytime soon. It's where I got that weight and a bunch of papers... rather useless I agree, but I still don't understand why they were killed in the first place."

It made sense that Anna was confused. The rain made it nearly impossible for her to hear the last announcement, even through the screaming and loud bombs. It confused her a great deal. "All the same..." she said suddenly and abruptly, looking from Amanda to Lulu. Taking the initiative, she sat down delicately on the wet patch of grass facing the other two girls.

"A plan?" Anna chirped, looking at Lulu. A plan... why, I've just been floating like a balloon since I woke on this island. In fact, I haven't seen anything other than long foreboading trees. Such a boring landscape, surely in need of improvement. "Why, my plan has been to not get killed all this time. Surely you weren't thinking of an..."

An escape plan? Hmm... I wonder if that's actually possible.

"No..", Lulu said sadly. "No, not an escape plan..", She nearly whispered, sounding a tad bit disappointed. Lulu was just too scared to think of anything so daring. She was always the type who was afraid to take risks. Afraid to think beyond the confines of her mind. Lulu was just too...boring, for lack of a better word.

In a way, she knew there was no way out. This was way too well thought out. All she could do was further postpone her inevitable death. She definitely didn't aim to win. She didn't want to. How could she live with herself? Living, 'nor dying, sounded too appealing. This was just not Lulu's kind of game. Why couldn't she have been picked for another game? Monopoly? Life? Hm. She wasn't too shabby at monopoly.

"I guess that is my plan too. Not to get killed until...later, I guess.", She said, letting her eyes drift down. She picked a flower and began plucking petals off of it, somewhat nervously.

"Has anyone ever escaped before?", Lulu asked, looking up from her flower, which was just a green stem now.

It wasn't working. The pair were still apathetic and depressed. "If anyone's gotten away, I haven't heard anything about it." She couldn't leave it at that. "But that doesn't mean that we can't. There's a first time for everything, and I see no reason why that can't be us." Empty promises, but Amy didn't let her smile fade. "Until then, we'll stick with that. Who knows, maybe the Marines will show up. Someone's got to be able to trace the broadcast somehow, right?"

The broadcast. It was the first time that Amanda really thought about the fact that her family could be watching. All their families could be. Her smile faded, as her eyes lowered, beginning to water. Who would make a game where parents have to watch their own children die? Amy only let her vulnerability show for a moment, not wanting anyone to see her weakness. Anna and Lulu had to be able to depend on her, and she didn't want to give Danya the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Amanda wiped her eyes with her arm, no make-up left to smear. I never have been good at hiding my emotions. I guess I'm going to have to learn. She looked to her friends. I'm needed now. "Let's make a pact, just the three of us. We're all leaving this island together." The teen held out her hand in front of her, hoping the words didn't sound as hollow to them as they did to her. "All for one, and one for all."

((G75 Start))

"We're all leaving this island together"

Lauren watched the three girls from what she considered a reasonably safe distance. She had come accross the meeting by chance as she wandered through the jungle, doing her best to avoid any confrontations. Now, she had at last found a group of people who seemed trustworthy. It sounded too good to be true.

Would they let her join? She didn't know any of them that well, and one of them had more or less announced that they didn't plan on including other people in their plan. Still, the worst they could do would be to confirm that Lauren couldn't join up with them (in this game they could actually do much worse things to her, but Lauren tried not to dwell on that for too long). Lauren was unarmed and hadn't killed anybody.

If they let her join, she could get out alive. She could see Alex again. She stepped out toward the group and took a deep breath. Best to just come right out and ask.

"Um... if you don't mind, could I come with you?" she asked. It sounded stupid, it sounded lame, and everybody who was watching from the safety of their houses were probably laughing their asses off, but if it worked, it would be worth it.

Lulu listened to Amanda. She was so positive. Everything she said made Lulu want to have hope, but in a way, she knew that she couldn't. Lulu wasn't the most positive in this situation and she didn't exactly want to rain on everyone's parade, so to speak.

As Amanda made a pact that they would get off this island together, Lulu's heart nearly dropped. She wanted so badly to believe what Amanda was saying. If she tried hard enough, she could fall into this delusion and truly believe that she could escape. She didn't want to kid herself but she didn't want to put a damper on this situation either.

Lulu stuck out her tiny, frail hand and placed it on top of Amanda's. Lulu's nails had gotten a bit long and were crusted with dirt, but it didn't matter now. Hygiene? Forget about it. She supposed in this sort of situation, no one would care if her fingernails were a little long and gross. It's not like she had any clippers to clip them and she wasn't a nail biter. Never got into that habit.

Lulu suddenly noticed another girl. There sure were a lot of girls, or maybe it was just hers. Girls tended to flock together after all. She seemed much like them however, the trustworthy, non-hostile type. When she asked if she should come with them, Lulu smiled. "I don't see why not...What's your name?", Lulu asked, trying to figure out if she had ever seen this girl before.

(OOC: I think it's time to establish a post order. For simplicity's sake, should we go in order of arrival, so Zombie, Me, Ciel, and Muninn, then Zombie again?)

(OOC2: I'm not missing the questions ("Stay or go", about the collars, etc.), Amy's ignoring them.)

Amanda noticed Lulu's nails, but didn't give them much thought. She didn't look much better, optimistic smile looking slightly out of place on the dripping teen, still dressed in a sports bra and muddy khakis. She pushed some hair away from her eyes with a free hand, tucking the lock behind her ear, only for it to defiantly fall in front of her face again. She was contemplating asking for her tie back when the fourth girl to enter the jungle on this day announced her presence.

"Um... if you don't mind, could I come with you?"

Apparently, Lulu had picked a very high-traffic spot. That, or their voices were drawing others. Amanda withdrew her hand from the circle. She wasn't entering into a pact that left anyone out. Especially not another scared, unarmed classmate. "I have no problem with it. There's as much safety in four of us as there is in three." Hopefully. "I'm Amy. You're... on the volleyball team, right?"

"I don't believe anyone could escape." Anna laughed softly. "If you want my opinion, there's always a hole in a system. All we have to do is find that flaw, and presto! We're out. Then again..." It was slightly scary, how she could be apathetic and cheery at the same time. "That begs the question if it were that easy, why hasn't anyone exploited it yet? Makes one wonder if there's any chance at all."

Anna looked over at the new girl, sighing softly. "That depends. Can you keep up? If you can then I've no complaint: we won't be leaving anyone behind anytime soon." Anna shrugged, looking over at Amanda's clothing for a brief moment. "I know this may sound strange, but are you two thinking of getting dressed? Walking around in mud in this weather is bound to get you sick."

"I-I'll keep up," Lauren assured the rest of them. It was a relief to be accepted into the group, although it was a little intimidating to be 'the new girl' in the group, even if the others didn't seem like they'd been together long. "My name is Lauren," she added after a moment of hesitation.

Now what?

"Do you really think we'll be able to find a flaw that would let us get out?" she wondered. "Like, a way to take off the collars without setting them off?" Or without access to a whole set of tools? she added mentally. Besides, there was no way for them to test something like that. Unless... it was crazy, it was dangerous, and it was revolting just thinking about it, but it wasn't like she had any other ideas. The crazy ideas might be all they were left with.

"Do any of you know how big the explosions are when the collars go off?"

((B123: Carson Baye, start.))

Carson woke up from a rather restless sleep.

Goddamn, I overslept a bit. I need to quit playing my DS so much, Carson thought to himself. He had spent the past few days going around the jungle, surviving; he hadn't run into anyone else just yet, but he knew his days were probably numbered. The corkscrew was handy for killing small animals, like rabbits; he'd jam it in their heads and twist a bit, then take it out along with their brains. He'd then cook them over an open fire and eat their flesh right off the body. If he had a knife he could make a sandwich, but his way would do for now.

If he could kill a rabbit with the corkscrew, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to kill a human; he highly doubted that a person would end him. It was more likely to be starvation or dehydration.

He felt around for his DS, which he found turned off, with his CycloDS Evolution still in the cartridge slot. He wasn't averse to pirating games; quite the opposite, actually. He had recently been playing Contra 4, which he got completely gratis off of BitTorrent and put on his 4gb flashcard to play over the senior trip; it kept his reflexes working well, he thought. He had also been playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, which he presumed kept his mind working fairly well. Those weren't the only things he had, though; he had about 300 games on there, total. He just didn't play all of them. He also had a solar charger that he had sprung for in case of stuff like a plane crash or... this. It worked. He hadn't worried about power for a while now, even though it added about 10 pounds to the weight... potential bludgeoning tool, although hardly a conventional one and hardly one he'd want to use, for obvious reasons.

He put the DS back in his daypack and got up.

He was quickly coming to terms with his situation. It was kill or be killed, and he would trust no one. Judging by his personality, not many people were likely to trust him. He thought back to when he bitch-slapped the coach's son across the lunchroom for the fun of it.

Good times, he thought happily. He was in a good mood; no one would be able to tell, though, as he was still a complete bastard when he was in utter ecstasy.

He saw a group of girls pass by. He slung his daypack over his shoulder.

"G'day, bitches!" he yelled in their direction right while one of them was asking how big the explosions were when the collars went off. This reminded him of the odd lightness of the collars; if they were really explosive, why the hell weren't they ridiculously heavy? Carson needed to do a bit of reading on explosives to find out what the fuck was with the collars. He noted the animal blood all over his KMFDM jacket; didn't cost him a thing, but Uncle Sascha would be peeved that Carson's birthday present from a year back got fucked up.

((Yes, I know it's a bit of a dick move for Carson to interrupt your post order, but this is completely in-character and normal for him. It would be uncharacteristic of him to wait..))

((And it is in Amanda's nature to immediately respond to any threat. Sorry, Zombie. D:))

"The fact that no one else has done it is the very reason why we will. As soon as the first flaw is found in the system, SotF will start taking place in areas where it'll be literally impossible to escape. We still have a chance, because, as far as Danya knows, his system is perfect." Amanda was going to argue with Anna about the difference between wet clothes and dry ones, but that would just create hostility. She shook off the tee, pulling it back on. "Nice to meet you, Lauren, and I think I know what you're getting at. From what we've seen, there's probably just enough explosives to ensure decapitation, and no more. So, anyone working on them might lose their hands, but they'd live." But, if the owner's already dead... "I think I may have an idea. This may sound gross, but next undetonated body we find, bring it with us. Then, we can-"

"G'day, bitches!"

Amanda's response was automatic. She was up in a moment, and, with a well-placed kick that brought the tube upright and into her hands, so was her grenade launcher. She wouldn't have reacted so violently in a normal case, but this one was wearing a very bloody jacket. He had killed, or been very close to one, and not traumatized. "Who are you, and what the fuck do you want?"

((It's all good. :3))

Lulu grinned at Lauren. "Nice to meet you, Lauren.", She greeted in a genuine nice tone. She listened as the other girls spoke of the whole collar ordeal. Lulu wasn't too sure about the specifics of these things and she honestly didn't want to mess with them. Lulu, from this point, had been way too afraid to even touch it! When Amanda mentioned bringing a corpse with a collar with them, Lulu wasn't sure if she should be disgusted or amazed. She'd never thought of that. Tinkering with the collar of someone else...

The scratch however was growing unbearable and Lulu decided to face her fears of this thing and just touch it. She lightly touched it, breathing a sigh of relief that it didn't explode or anything. Then again, it wasn't supposed to. Not unless you tried taking it off. Lulu immediately scratched the small mosquito bite that had welled up from an area near the collar. Then, she immediately lowered her hand, as to not intimidate the collar. This thing was like a human...

That's when Lulu realized another person had come along. And it was a boy! For some reason, while Lulu felt safe around girls, boys had frightened her up until now. And he had blood on his clothing. She immediately stood up, dusting the dirt off her clothing and grabbed for her war scythe. It was all she could do not to run off.

(sorry... didn't know what to put here. D:)

"Yeah..." Anna retorted as kindly as ever. "Whatever you say Amanda. Feels like forced optimism to me, but that's fine." Anna looked over at the new boy. Blood didn't disturb Anna but moreover it was a rather large eyesore for her. She scooted away from the boy, not so much in fear but.... for reasons she didn't know. "Oh... hello." she greeted, slightly annoyed.

Lauren looked at at the boy who had just appeared. Around her, two of the other girls (she would have to learn their names later, but right now was hardly the time to be worrying about that) had quickly readied their weapons, and the third moved back a reasonable distance. She realized that she should have probably been preparing herself in case the newcomer turned out to be hostile, but for some reason she had a hard time thinking of this boy as an enemy. Maybe it was because she had been alone until very recently, maybe it was because she had a hard time thinking of people as bad so soon after she had found three other girls who had taken her into their group with no questions asked.

Then again, a boy with blood on his shirt (the greeting "G'day bitches" hadn't helped, either) was not someone she would be calling a friend anytime soon. Instead... a comrade. Someone who was neither friend nor enemy, but was under the same circumstances. Someone who she could let her guard down around... at least visibly. The new boy didn't seem to be carrying weapons of any sort, but blood doesn't just appear on people's clothing spontaneously.

"Th-there's blood on your shirt," she commented. She stammered a little because, despite her excellent reasons not to distrust this boy right away, theory and actuality were seldom the same thing. Had she always been like this, or was it the result of five days spent jumping in fright every time she saw her own shadow?

Lauren used some breathing excercises that she remembered from her martial arts classes to calm herself down. The boy must have had a weapon that caused the bloodstains, which probably meant a melee weapon small enough to conceal. Probably a knife or something.

She had to take control of the situation. The other girls had responded to the boy with hostility (not that she could blame them for that, Lauren would have loved to walk up to him and beat some manners into his skull). Tension between them and other people was the last thing they wanted. If the boy was provoked into attacking things could turn out messy. Being the new member of the group, she was a little hesitant, but it was necessary.

"Is there something you need?" she asked, trying to be as cheerful as possibly under the circumstances without seeming totally fake (she had a nasty suspicion that she was failing at that. Even the question seemed stupid given their present situation, but it was the best she could do. It was the only thing she could do).

Carson addressed Amanda first.

"Um... why are you pointing a grenade launcher at me? For one, the blast radius would kill all of us, not just me."

He then addressed a concern everyone in the small group seemed to have.

"For two, this isn't even human blood on my jacket. I've been hunting small game as a way to make my rations last longer," Carson explained in a slightly annoyed manner.

"Frankly, I'm just glad to see some sort of human beings after 4 and a half days of not seeing a single person; you're in no danger from me, although I can't speak for anyone else on the island. So, what's this shit about the collars?" he asked.

Lulu breathed a sigh of relief when he admitted that the blood wasn't from a human, just animals. Also, it helped that he hadn't seen anyone, which means that he hadn't killed anyone. Lulu felt a little relieved, even though she knew she should still be on guard. But for now, she was just tired.

Setting down her scythe in the dirt, Lulu sunk down to the ground, her back against a large tree. She vaguely wondered if they were going to let him in their group as well. He hadn't done anything wrong but...Lulu was just suddenly feeling very suspicious of guys. Maybe it was the blood. Deciding to get over her small bout of hostility(grabbing the scythe even though she knew she wasn't going to use it against anyone) she decided to be social with the new guy.

"Hello. I'm Lulu.", She introduced herself, half-grinning at the boy. She adjusted her glasses, taking them off for a second to clean the lenses which had fogged up with humidity again. She suddenly regretted not getting contacts. They would have been so ideal for this situation!

The guy seemed very blunt. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Was he being rude? Was this just his nature? Lulu wasn't sure, she had never seen this guy around at school.

"We..we were just thinking of..ideas and stuff.", She told him, vaguely.