Survival Of The Fittest

Jimmy was surprised when the two girls obeyed his directions without complaints. He also noticed that the apparent leader, Melanie, now sounded noticeably shaken up.

Dang, I've already let the game get into my head. How could I have been so suspicious of these girls? I want to make it off this rock alive, but there's no way I could kill someone so innoce--Axe? Axe. Why does that stick out? Wait...Danya said someone had been "axed". It was...Jeff! Jeff Somebody. Shit! Okay, but there could be more than one person with an axe on the island. But there's only one person with an axe in this fucking tree! Yeah, but their names weren't mentioned on the announcement. You used a different name, why couldn't they? And the other girl still has her bow! But she said herself that it would be useless without arrows. Which is why she's hidden some! You idiot, you've lost already!

As the two distinct voices debated the girls' innocence in his head, the forced smile faded into a look of desperation. Then, a new girl showed up, startling him out of his inner dialogue. Jimmy did not want anymore possible killers around him right now. He had a habit of over thinking situations, and his mind was already at it's limit. He was never more relieved than he was when the first two girls left, making some excuse about finding the third member of their party.

I hope you bitches burn.

He twisted his face into something resembling a smile.
"Okay then, good luck!"

He turned to the new arrival. She didn't look familiar. Then again, no one really did. Jimmy knew that trusting others had caused him to share his hideout with a pair of killers, and he did not want to take a risk like that again. His previous pretense of politeness now left him completely. He pointed his rifle at the girl. His jaw tensed up. When he spoke, his voice was very low and his sentences were clipped.

"I thought we were alright. Turns out, I was wrong. It happens. I only have two questions for you. And please be honest now. Who are you? And. Have you killed anyone?"

((Meh, writer's block))

"Ahh! Fuck you!"

Dacey scrambled away from the swing of the axe as best she could. This was just fucking fantastic wasn't it? Somebody had mistook for a guy, and the result? It was a psycho who hated boys! Could things have backfired any more on her? Figuring that it wouldn't be the best if she allowed her erstwhile ally to get killed, Dacey grabbed him by the collar and tugged him back too, trying to stop Melina decapitating him or something equally gruesome.

"Psycho!" Dacey yelled as she tried to increase the distance between herself and her attacker. "I don't want anything except to make it to graduation or something - I'm not interested in you!" that was entirely true without quite telling her everything, but at this point, attempting to maintain the shroud wasn't really forefront in her mind. Frantically, Dacey backpedalled yet further away, the next swipe missing by quite some margin.

Well, what else was she supposed to do? From where Dacey was standing, Melina didn't look like butter.

((continued from She Bop))

Jessa was late for the party. Again. She'd stopped for a moment to grab her map from her pack on the way there--trying to figure out where the new dangerzones were--and the two scuzzy bitches had just pushed on without her. It had been a pain in the ass to catch up with them, chiefly because the trail was full of forks and twists and Jessa had been forced to peer through the brush to spot her new travel companions a few times.

"Mel! Renee!" she finally called in frustration, breaking into a jog down the trail. Her hand gripped the handle of the knife tightly. "Fucking wait up!" The two of them were up ahead, and there was something going down. She hastened her approach.

(OOC: Since LaZ hasn't posted for Renee yet, I'll just assume that she's lagging behind.)

Laeil quickly dropped and opened up her duffel bag, reaching in and unwrapping one of the molotov cocktails from inside. Dammit, if I only had something to light it with... She soon corrected herself, realizing that a flammable weapon just wouldn't work as well out in the rain like this. Holding the bottle (by the neck) in one hand and her sword in the other, she was just about to rush out to attack when she heard another voice.

"Mel! Renee! Fucking wait up!"

She looked over quickly at the source of the voice. SHIT! It was 'Brandy.' She was seriously hoping that she wouldn't show up until she got a chance to get to the job done. She had trouble with two prey before, but now she had the element of surprise on her side. But three...

She briefly considered just ditching the attack and waiting for a better opportunity. No! She quickly corrected herself again. She's right there! She's distracted, and she's got her back to you, you can do this!

Laeil nodded to herself and gathered up all her strength, bursting out of the trees and running straight for Melina, taking a hard swing with the molotov cocktail at the side of her head. Best case scenario, it would break open on impact, giving Melina some nasty, gasoline-soaked facial lacerations (and that's not even counting if it gets in her eyes.) Even if it didn't break, well, it was still a blunt object, and somewhat heavy.

((Sorry, I was waiting for Cyco and SL was the last one to post last time I checked. Didn't notice SL posted again. =_=))

Renee made a brief step toward the arrows as Melina decided to hastily leave to seek the group's next prey...and look for "Brandy." The boy seemed okay with letting her take the quiver back even though she'd slipped most of the arrows into her supply bag, which was not fastened closed right now for easy access.

Without another word, she turned away and started jogging out of the tunnel, toward the fight going on. She passed the girl she'd seen coming in, but the newcomer seemed more interested in going back toward rifleboy. She hesitated in one of her steps...wondering if she was going to regret not putting an arrow between the boy's eyes right then and there...but the screams distracted her. Renee was breathing very heavily. The rain wasn't going to help her accuracy any more than her condition.

"Wait up, Jessa! I'm coming!" she shouted as she left, slowing down a bit to catch what was left of her breath from that exertion. She was fumbling to arm her bow before taking out an arrow...but in these conditions it was hard enough just trying to pluck one out of the supply bag, let alone arm it. Her run slowed to a fast walk as she headed toward Jessa rather than Melina, partially because she didn't want to be caught by herself at close range (having nothing more than the arrowheads if she were caught at close range), and because from that angle Melina was blocking the view.

At least until she saw someone running out of the bushes, wielding what looked like some kind of blunt object. She aimed and fired...the arrow exited the drawstring properly, but the accuracy was going to be a bit if not way off...

Madison really wasn't sure what to do. As she saw the fight progressing from the corner of her eye (she figured it had to be a fight, from the sounds being made), her first idea was to rush in and attack them. It wasn't the smartest idea she had ever had. That boy with the rifle though... who was that? Madison couldn't remember his name, although she HAD seen him in school. She knew she had seen him... Madison rose from her position in the bushes, her lips curving into a frown. She made her was to the boy, making no movements to attack him at all.

She began to speak. "Excuse me. My name is Madison Conner, age 18, and I killed two people in cold blood." She shook her head. "Doesn't mean I'm a threat to you. Just figured you should know that someone on this island is honest about it. I'm not going to lie to you, I think it's the only thing I can promise anyone now."

Madison turned and ran away to where the fighting was happening. She saw someone lunging at Melina (it WAS Melina) and this wouldn't do at all. Not. One. Bit. I won't allow anyone to up and kill that bitch. She's mine. Darnell, Jacks and Melina are my targets, and hell I don't even care if someone else takes out Darnell. Not Melina though, no way in hell. I want to make her suffer.

She didn't have much more ammo left, but this didn't matter whatsoever. She saw Renee off near Jessa but Madison ignored them for the time being. Most likely they wouldn't see her right away if she kept away from them. Madison really didn't care whether she was at close-range, she was the only one with a gun that could hit someone indefinitely. She clipped the safety open on her MPK5, growling under her breath as she let loose on Laeli.

"Get away from her, you bitch!" Madison growled, shooting at Laeli. All of those bullets weren't wasted. Madison was close enough that missing was only judged by mere chance and chance alone.

Jimmy could hear some sort of altercation coming from the direction Melanie had run off to, but right then all he cared about was the answer to his question. He was surprised to hear Madison admit that she had killed two people and was even more surprised by the calm tone she spoke with.

Wow. Either she's being honest or she doesn't quite understand the purpose of lying.

Jimmy knew Madison from a few of his classes in his career at Southridge. She didn't say much, but she didn't seem like a bad person. He was about to tell her that she was forgiven as long as she would take care of Melanie and whoever was actually traveling with her when she took off through the opposite end of the tunnel. Ironically, the sound of several gunshots moments later put Jimmy's mind to rest.

A proven killer is doing all the dirty work for me and I didn't even have to ask.

"Fight hard, Little Warrior."

Jimmy sat down with his back against the wall and put down his rifle at last. He rubbed his shoulder. He hadn't realized just how tense he had been around all of the unexpected company.

I bet they're gonna put on quite a show. Too bad I won't be able to see it.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. He was intent on getting a little rest despite the nagging voices in his head.

Just because you're not pulling the trigger, it doesn't mean you're innocent. I'm half blind! How am I supposed to break up a fight between murderous lunatics? They're not lunatics, they're good people in a bad situation. Whatever. I'm too tired for any moral debates right now. Let them all kill each other. I'll clean up the mess when it's over.

Herman watched wide-eyed as the red-head from the tree approached. He could see the blood on her shirt much clearer now in the morning's light, even through the rain. But it wasn't that that sickened him. No… it was that smile… that horrible smile that she wore. She approached them so cheerily… it disturbed him to no end. What was wrong with these people? How could they lose themselves so easily?

She quickly began to berate Dawson and himself, and as she spoke, her words becoming more dark and disturbing with every sentence, he fumbled with the zipper to his daypack, opening it and getting a grip on the handle of the Remington 11-87 Shotgun inside. He wasn't fast enough to pull it out before her assault began though.

Thanks to Dawson's quick thinking in pulling him back by the collar of his shirt, the axe only skimmed by him, tearing his shirt but doing no bodily harm to the boy. He fell to his backside, losing his balance in the backward pull. He quickly pulled out the Remington and aimed it with shaking hands at the rampaging red-head.

He felt himself quivering.

Could he do it? Could he shoot her? He had to. She was going to kill both him and Dawson if he didn't fire. He had to. It was the only way. He-he had to fire. He squeezed his eyes shut and was about to pull the trigger, but the RAT-TAT-TAT of another gun's ammo made him jump and pull, firing away from his intended target, the buckshot missing her head just barely.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Melina growled as her first slash missed its mark on the taller boy. She swung again, this time aiming for the boy she saw flee from the tree. The tall boy once again foiled her by grabbing the boy's collar and pulling him away from the strike. The axe slashed his shirt, but it didn't look like any blood was spilled. That made Melina pissed as hell. She swung at them again for the hell of it, and then readied the axe in her hands for another strike.

"Y'know, you're only delaying the inevitable… I don't understand why you can't just give it up. You men and your pride. Is that it? Don't want to have your pitiful little life taken away by someone with breasts? It's a fucking waste of time to try and get away. I'm going to enjoy ripping that worthless pride from your trembling bodies as I kill you. That's right. I'M going to end that miserable little thing you call a li-"

But her rant was cut short by a scream from somewhere behind her, followed by the sound of bullets being fired. Melina turned, to stare into the eyes of a approaching female. One whom she knew well. Lyn Burbank, a common victim of her and her friend's verbal attacks. Was this attack for revenge? Most likely. Melina's eyes went wide as she saw the incoming bottle.

But it never connected. The bullets weren't for Melina after all. They were for Lyn. A few bullets hit the bottle, shattering the glass, and splashing the liquid inside it all over the right side of Melina's face. She winced and yelled out as whatever it was got into her eye, burning her cornea. That wasn't all though, no, not by a long shot. Melina's one open eye widened at the next sound.

The boy who fell to the ground now had a shotgun in his scrawny little hands. She heard the shot before she even knew it was fired. She turned her head subconsciously. The buckshot missed her, but it didn't have to hit. Grazing by her did the trick, because the moment it passed, the liquid still in the air and on her face was set ablaze.

The only thing known to her now was her own scream. It pierced through the air, even over the downpour of the rain. Melina felt the flames eat through her skin like it was a hearty meal, and felt the horrible fire burn her eyebrow off, and enter into her eye socket. She screamed even louder as the flames attacked her cornea, and she slammed one hand to her eye, in attempt to rid herself of the flames.

The fire quickly died out because of the heavy downpour, but before it was erased completely it left behind a horror.

Melina's entire right side of her face, from cheek to ear to eye to forehead, was covered by burns. Her hair had been scorched, and some of it burned away in the fiery accident. Her eye no longer had color. It was pure white, and she could see nothing from it. Was this how Paul Smith felt? She only wondered that little notion briefly. Her pain had dully subsided, and she was aflame with rage.

"MY FACE! MY FUCKING FACE! GODDAMN YOU ALL!" She screamed. She thrust the axe foreword, and into the unsuspecting chest of Herman Johnson. He yelped in surprise and fell backward, the axe impaled into his chest. His reflexes sent another buckshot into the air above him, and then the Remington rolled out of his dead hands.

Melina's anger however was far from quelled. She tore the saw from it's previous hiding place, and slashed at Lyn with it. She quickly sprinted over to where the shotgun lay, and scooped it into her arms. She spun to face all her opponents, teeth gritting in the agony that was her face. She tossed the saw into her open pack and pointed the shotgun in the general; direction of the three living students in front of her.

"THAT'S FUCKING IT! YOURE ALL FUCKING DEAD NOW! ILL KILL YOU ASSHOLES!" She screamed in utter rage. She turned towards the tall boy and fired the shotgun at him. She didn't care if she made contact.


B90 - Herman Johnson - Eliminated

((I know you shouldn't really post OOC but I kinda feel like I've been left in the dirt here, because a whole lot of stuff happened in that last post without Dacey having a chance to react at all. Case in point: Weaponry. She was standing literally right next to Herman when Melina took him out, and remember she then tried to slash at Lyn too. Seems to me there's no way anybody would have been able to get to the gun before Dacey. But eh, now it just sounds like I'm whining - just wanted to tell everybody about my concerns. I'm struggling for a post here because it's pretty much assumed she did nothing the entire time all of this was going on y'know?))

((Not trying to slip you through the cracks there, Clue my boy. Just posting. You guys work it out.))

Renee's arrow sailed past Laeil and planted itself deep in Jessa's shoulder.

"Waaeoowwahhh!" Jessa screeched as she spun mid-step and toppled over sideways, landing on her daypack off the side of the path with a clunk. She writhed in a fit of stinging pain for a moment, clutching at the arrow and yelling furiously at the redheaded friendly-firing bitch.

"Aargh! Jesus Christ Renee you did NOT just fucking shoot me!!"

((Sorry for slowing up the thread guys))

It was around about that time that everything decided to go to hell. Then back again. Then to hell once more, just to top it off. Dacey had saved Herman's ass once before, but when the horrific explosion occured - setting Melina alight like some kind of human candle, she was too stunned to do anything but gape for a moment, and before she knew it Melina was charging towards them again.

Dacey once again made to drag Herman back, but as she tugged at him, he suddenly became deadweight, collapsing to the ground. Dacey pulled him a little further before realising what had happened, and turned around to be horrified by the sight of a gaping wound in Herman's chest. She also noted he was no longer holding his shotgun, and threw herself the floor immediately.

Fortunately, although obviously buckshot had a fanning effect, Herman's body took the brunt of it, and Dacey moved swiftly to tear off his pack and swing it onto her back. Not because she wanted supplies - but for protection if Melina shot at her again. And with that, Dacey ran like the blazes, because there was a shotgun toting maniac on her tail and Dacey really didn't feel like dying today.

((Dacey Ashcroft continued elsewhere))

Laeil's eyes went wide as she heard gunfire, followed soon after by bullets flying by her What!? One of them had a GUN!? She thought, thinking it was one of the members of Melina's group. As the bullets whizzed by, everything went into slow-motion. Shit! I let myself get caught by surprise! Why did this have to happen!? I can't die yet! There's still things I have to do!

For a brief moment, it seemed that Lady Luck was on her side, as bullet after bullet missed her. Well...at least I have some luck le-

She was cut off by the final bullet hitting the molotov cocktail, shattering it. She winced in pain as shards of glass flew into her hand, scoring a multitude of somewhat shallow, yet painful cuts, made all the more painful by the gasoline.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

A miss from Herman's shotgun suddenly lit Melina's face aflame, and consequently Laeil's hand too. "AAAAH! SHIT!!" Laeil stumbled back, dropping what was left of the bottle. The fire went out a lot quicker than the one burning Melina, but still lasted long enough to do some damage. Laeil clutched at her wrist with her good hand, gritting her teeth at the searing pain. "God dammit..."

It took her a moment to realize the full extent of what had happened. She looked up, seeing Melina's burning face and hearing her agonized screams. She was only just going for a some facial lacerations with a nice coating of gasoline. But this.

But THIS.

A twisted smile crept across her face, turning into a full-on grin as the fire was finally extinguished, showing the damage it had done to Melina. "Looks good on you." She finally said. "Now you're just as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside." She finally started laughing, loving the karmic justice, and only stopping when Melina planted her axe in Herman's chest, then turned around to slash at her with the saw. She quickly tried to step back out of range, but it was too late as the tip of the saw dug right into her face, just above her left eye, cutting deep enough to hit the bone underneath. She let out a cry of pain and stumbled backwards again, grateful to still have her eye, though the flow of blood seeping from the wound ensured that she wouldn't be able to use it at the moment anyway. As Melina dove for the shotgun and aimed for Dawson, panic started to overcome Laeil. No no NO! This is getting out of hand! I've got to get out of here! She found, though, that she couldn't will herself to run. She was so close! If she ran now, there's no telling if somebody else would do Melina in, and she just couldn't allow that.

She quickly picked her gladius back up off the ground and sprinted towards Melina as her attention was turned towards Dawson, reaching to grab hold of the barrel of the shotgun and try and keep it from being pointed at her, doing her best to ignore the pain in her left hand. If she DID manage to grab it, she'd quickly give a swing of her sword in the direction of Melina's neck. If Melina wanted to keep her head, she'd let go of the shotgun. That's what she hoped for, anyway.

The arrow was a misfire, but it may have well represented the direction that what was left of her life would be taking in the next few seconds. As she approached Jessa, trying to draw another arrow, she could hear a shotgun blast and the smashing of glass followed by the glow of a small explosion and a lot of screaming, some of which was her own as a few shards of glass and flammable liquid slashed into the left side of her face, neck, shoulder and arm. She could feel her arm twitching a bit as she was thrown to the ground with a loud yet interrupted "SHITF-", bow tumbling from her grasp onto the soggy grass and mud.

She spend the better part of the minute writhing and seething from the pain and catching that famous "second wind." The sound of Jessa suddenly cursing and shouting as if wounded by the explosion garnered her attention after a while though.

As Renee got up to her hands and knees, she could very easily survey the damage the damage that had been wrought in the past few seconds. And it wasn't so much the damage from the molotov's explosion she was focused on than it was where her misfired arrow embedded its tip.

Now...I'm fucked.

Renee had just shot Jessa in the shoulder with an arrow. Melina had been disfigured by a molotov and now had two different kinds of blades and a shotgun to complement her murderous rage. That now meant that if these "Poison Angels" were going to eat each other up, she'd be the first prey. And that she had almost completely lost the use of one arm meant that it would be much harder just to try to stab someone, let alone use the bow and arrow.

"GodfuckingDAMMIT no..." the pain from the shrapnel and her fatigue was causing even her speech to become unstable as she forced herself to continue toward Jessa, her supply bag slipping off her shoulder. Helping her was a spontaneous decision that she found better than getting into the middle of Melina's violent rage. Renee was still clenching an arrow in her wounded hand though, just in case.

It was funny how a few unrelated events could lead to something much bigger. Burning Melina's face was not what Madison had intended to do: she had meant to kill the bitch and the fat girl attacking her. Shoot her down without the least amount of fuss. It didn't really matter though, at least she got a feeling of satisfaction from watching Melina burn. Unfortunately the fire was put out very quickly and for a moment, Madison felt pity for what happened. A slight twinge of pity. Nothing to get mad or upset about.

This was the point in which Madison saw Melina blow a lid, and kill Herman.

This made Madison scared, and she gulped. Oh no... She's going to know I SHOT HER. Jesus, she's going to come after me next. No no... I-I've gotta do something. What should I do? WHAT should I do? Oh no....

What should she do?

Well... Madison did the only thing she would do in a situation such as this, The only thing she, for the past few days, knew how to do. She took out the Lazer Dazzler from her right pocket and lit it up in Lyn's eyes. You've got to get on Melina's good side... yes...Wait... why do I want to protect Melina? Why the HELL am I protecting her? I HATE that bitch!... I... yes... play along for now, it'll help you in the end. OH GOD, why can't I make up my mind? Do I want to kill her or do I want to side with her?

Do both

... You stay out of this.

As much as he wanted to, Jimmy knew it would be suicide to fall asleep so close to a gun fight. He settled for closing his eyes, relaxing his mind, and listening to the music of the jungle. He had expected to hear screams, but the explosion was a nice surprise. Jimmy knew it was sick, but he got a twisted sense of satisfaction from knowing that so many of his "opponents" were willing to contribute to his eventual victory.

Survival is the only important thing, right? It doesn't matter if a couple hundred have to die if it means you get to live? Hey, I already tried to work out an escape plan! The best I got was building a raft and crossing my fingers. At least this way, I have a chance. There's no escape for anyone except the winner. Why shouldn't it be me?

Jimmy's continuing moral dilemma was interrupted by a nearby loudspeaker crackling to life and booming: SHORYUKEN!

Jimmy jerked his back from the wall of the tunnel sending himself into a full crouch with one knee on the ground. He reflexively grabbed the rifle and pointed it at the entrance of the tunnel that led to the nearby brawl.

"What the fuck!?"

As he calmed down and his heartbeat slowed to a reasonable pace, he thought about the sudden intrusion on his troubled meditation. It sounded kind of fuzzy and it was louder than any person could possibly yell. He concluded that it came from one of the speakers Danya had placed on the island.

Shit. The game wasn't bad enough? You thought it would be fun to give us all an extra little scare? Maybe you could drop some flesh-eating spiders on the island for an encore.

"Wow, Danya. You got me. Unexpected loud noises. That's some high class terrorist shit."

Jimmy took up his familiar spot against the tunnel wall and set the rifle back down. He refused to even close his eyes now. He was determined to stay vigilant until the fight was over and he could gather his rewards.