Survival Of The Fittest

Bart wasn't worth even considering hurting. What could he possibly have that either of them could want? Food, maybe, but he wasn't that desperate yet. Still, he could relate to Bart, somewhat - separated from his friends. Who knew where he'd be right now if he hadn't ran across Jerry and Toby? Dead, maybe, or maybe he'd have found someone else. He didn't have the time to consider that sort of thing, not right now.

He narrowed his eyes at Alan and raised the gun ever so slightly more, towards his head.

"So, what? You're saying you'd be doing something stupid if you had the drop on us, or something? That it?"

This was crazy. Where'd you see yourself in a week, Matt? Pointing an empty gun at Alan Banks in a dark warehouse? No, not really. At home, probably, that's where he saw himself at about this time, a week ago.

He let out a deep sigh. He didn't take his eyes off Alan. "Sorry, Bart. Can't do anything for you."

"Oh, uh... that's all right." Bart said, still keeping his hands above his head. "I was just hoping that maybe you'd, uh... seen Kizi or Clarice somewhere. We, uh..."

He caught himself before explaining any further. Should he spill the beans about the plan Kizi came up with? If he could get them to sign on with it, then it could go a long way towards creating the sort of community that they had been aiming for. But at the same time, he wasn't the talker that the other girls were, so he wasn't too sure about his ability to sell the idea to the other boys.

Well, there was going to be some risk involved regardless, so he might as well bite the bullet, hopefully not in a literal sense.

"We were hoping that we could, uh... make a big peaceful group." He tried to explain his motivations. "You know, so we could keep everyone alive until, uh... " Crap, how was he supposed to word this? He really should have had a speech prepared in case he ran into a situation like this.

"... You know, until someone came to save us, or something."

Jerry's lips sputtered into an impromptu laugh with his palm pressed against his temple.

"Holy shit, Matt, you're sounding like a total dickhead!" Jerry said with a full grin. "Not gonna lie, I kinda like it. 'Ain't one of y'alls try nothin', ya hear?'" Jerry imitated with his flashlight, pointing it right in Alan's eyes before dropping it back to his feet. "Whoops, sorry bro."

"Also who the fuck is Kizi? Is that some sort of weird nickname? Because I'm not very good with nicknames," Jerry said, casting a glance Bart's way. "Chances are we haven't seen her, though. Haven't seen too many people who are still alive. We tend to sorta cut a path, Matt n' me." His jaw worked like he was chewing on a really big piece of gum. "And uh, don't think anybody's gonna be saving us any time soon, either. Wasn't that news story from like, 2008? And the next game after that, nobody was rescuing shit. They all died."

Beat.

"Well, except the one girl. Mary something or other."

Now aiming to the head? Huh. That nearly made Alan hold his breath and break his smile, but you know, that never happened. Not even when Jerry cheered his mate and completely forgot he had a flashlight. He just took two steps back rubbing his eyes. He took his time, but sure he was listening. And you know what? He didn't like what he heard. He was a little mad.

"If I had the drop on you all by myself and armed with just this pipe you'd be like, the stupid one, don't you think?"

Boom. Now, our main attraction.

"And you."

He then looked at Bart. An idealistic. Well, that would be a little bit gentle considering what kind of words were popping on his mind. Not like they really made sense or something. He was reminding old days at school where he would've laughed and teased Bart just enough to make him think about his plans in a deeper way. Helping him in his own way. But thinking about school only pissed him more.

"You've been all these days thinking about saving people while all your classmates were dying? Really? Hear him. Hear his words.All the people they've crossed paths with are DEAD. You can't ask that other guy cuz he's been rotting for God-knows-how long. Some other guys have been through all this shit and nobody came and you're here planning to make a fucking "big peaceful group"."

He looked calm and his smile was as fresh as ever, but he was getting heated and it didn't look like he planned to stop his speech.

"Look around you hero wannabe, all the people you may have seen sleeping in class, laughing together or getting straight A's are now killing each other. This is hell. And here we're all condemned to live and die as monsters no matter how hard we try. Or what would your group do? Would you stay "peaceful" letting the carnage continue until there's only you? And what about Isabel Ramirez? And Alessio Rigano? Would you take care of them personally or would you invite them to take part on the daily Russian roulette to avoid exploding once nobody has any intention to kill? We're not sure if they're coming to our rescue. Are you prepared for that?"

So many questions and not enough time to answer them before Alan charges again. This time pointing at Bart with his pipe.

"I could make this encounter a carnage too. I could beat your face right here and right now. This man with the gun at my right could shoot me and be the coward that waited until he found an excuse cuz he decided to kill his schoolfellows under the futile excuse that moral code is. Or he could stay silent and become the jerk that preferred to make his way to the top while letting others get their hands dirty. And you know what's the best part? It wouldn't mind if I decide to start the show, cuz at this moment someone else must be perishing. Maybe one of your friends."

Well Jerry can take the dickhead crown from Matt and give it to Alan. He did his best in order to make him think it twice and fix everything with his charisma five minutes later, but those days were never meant to come back. Why keep using pedagogy?

This entire situation was just absolutely absurd. Here he was, standing with Jerry Fury - practically his only friend right now on this island - aiming a gun at Alan Banks of all people while Bart Capotelli is begging for help. Maybe the pressure was starting to get to him. The pressure to finally kill someone, to be able to walk away when he won this thing. Jerry grinned and told him he sounded like a total dickhead. Matt shot him a glance of confusion before turning back to look at Alan.

He needed some god damn sleep.

Bart started explaining what he wanted to do. Get a big group and sing Kumbaya around the campfire until the terrorists detonated all their collars. Great plan - he could come up with a better one in his fucking sleep. Matt shook his head. Bart was delusional. That wasn't happening, not in a million years.

"Do you have any idea how.. not.. possible, that plan is?" Sounded like he was almost feeling sorry for Bart. "There's not gonna be an, uh, rescue, Bart. We're stuck here until this thing's over." Of course, the only way it could be over is if everyone was dead. He was hoping that Bart hadn't slept through Danya's fruity little seminar on how things worked.

Then Alan went off.

Went off on this weird, Ayn Rand-ian rant - who did he think he was, John Galt - and he started pointing that pipe around at people.

"Hey." said Matt. "Put that thing down." If you know what's good for you. He didn't need to say the rest.

Okay, things definitely weren't going too well in terms of his attempts to sell the whole community idea. He was receiving some pretty harsh criticisms, and to be honest, he didn't have an answer for most of the things they were saying. He shrank back a bit once the one with the pipe started to act kind of aggressive. He wasn't in this for a fight. He was just trying to get some help.

"Uh, I mean, we wouldn't just be waiting around..." He tried to come up with some way to salvage his pitch. "I mean... if we got enough people together, then someone would probably, you know... come up with something..." His voice became smaller and smaller the longer he tried to argue his point. He eventually just trailed off and sighed in disappointment. He was pretty sure that we wasn't going to get anywhere with these guys. Damn his public speaking weakness.

'So, uh..." He mumbled. "You're sure you haven't seem them around then?"

"Yeah, kid, we're fuckin' sure."

Jerry didn't like being asked to repeat himself. Shit, was Bart even paying attention? Of course not. This is the dude who didn't notice soap being hucked at his head. Jerry clicked his tongue and whistled through his teeth as a final show of irritation but, in truth, he felt a small part of him wanting to apologize for having been so rough to Bart just then. By all accounts he was a chill kid, and Jerry didn't have a ton of problems with him around school. Maybe a bit of a butinski at times, Butinski Bart, but nothing worse than that.

Welp, if Bart wanted that apology for real, he better start learning how to read minds. In the meantime, Alan was a more pressing concern.

"I'd do it, dude," Jerry warned, pulling the switchbade from his pocket. The weapon was still in the closed position; he'd wait another second or two to see what Alan did before pressing that button. The little 'schwick', the blade popping out... ugh, it was so cool. SO COOL. He desperately wanted to do it again. "Either Matt shoots you, or Ass Stabber here comes out. And so far every time it's come out, it draws blood. Ask Noodz. Ask Trav."

Here it comes, the big delivery. 'Oh wait, you can't. I KILLED THEM!'

"Oh wait, you c-HUAGH!"

Jerry's throat ran dry and he coughed into the inside of his elbow. Damn it, in the middle of his cool line, too! Why did this place have to be so fucking dusty and shitty and abandoned!?

((GM-ing of Jerry Fury approved))

Some weapons won't scare Alan Banks. Those two steps were just preventive. See? He didn't put the pipe down. He wasn't scared.

Evaluating the situation, he took a deep breath. He would look even more confident if he looked directly to Bart, so that's what he did.

"Haven't seen them. But you know... Look at this."

He chuckled. Here we go again.

"How unexpected. You just kept talking while these two idiots here couldn't stand a simple hi-"

-A simple hint of a fight.

You know. Alan was trying to make the other two look completely violent so he could look nicer by comparison. Too bad he was kinda right and Jerry reacted punching him. And knocking him out.

Look who's the idiot now.

((Alan Banks Continued Elsewhere...))

((Skipping for flavor reasons; regular posting order may now resume))

"STEVEN SEGAL!"

Jerry wasn't sure why he screamed it, but it made the impact between his knuckles and Alan's temple all the more satisfying. The punch had no thought behind it; it was purely reactionary and on an instinctive level, like most of his actions or decisions today. Alan clearly wasn't expecting things to escalate as quickly as they did, because he dropped like a wet sack of bricks on the warehouse floor, pipe clattering out of his hands. Jerry was quick to scoop it up in his left hand, his right still stinging from a little knuckle-dusting. That, and his right fist was still clenched around the closed switchblade. He supposed Alan should count himself lucky that he wasn't stabbed instead.

"The fuck you calling an idiot!?" Jerry spat, waggling the pipe down at Alan who likely couldn't hear him. "I told you - Matt and I, we aren't to be fucked with." Jerry peered up at Bart, fairly sure he had his point made, then looked back down to Alan. "Think we just leave him there to think about what he's done, Matt?" Jerry asked. "He might be pretty fuggin' mad when he gets up, but I took his weapon and... I'unno. It feels kinda wrong to kick a man when he's down."
[+] Spoiler

Matt opened his mouth to say something but by the time he had said it, Jerry had punched Alan straight in the face. Whatever he had said was drowned out by the pipe clattering to the warehouse floor and the sound of a body hitting the floor, hard. He took a step back, surprised, before turning to look at Jerry. Steven Segal, he screamed. Matt wasn't a fan of Steven Segal - he couldn't really name a single movie of his he had seen - so he decided to hold off on saying anything.

He stared down at the unconscious man, circling him like a vulture. He squatted down. Still alive. He guessed that Jerry could kill Toby with one stab, but he couldn't kill Alan with one punch. Disappointing, maybe. "Well, I guess that solves that problem."

He had already started rifling through Alan's bag when Jerry had piped up that it was wrong to kick a man while he was down. Kick, sure, but steal food from him? That seemed fine from where he was standing right now, and he was standing in a warehouse on Shitfuck island. "Yeah," he said, whatever food Alan had left into his bag. He stood up. "Let's just leave him."

Matt turned to look at Bart. "Well, Bart, uh.. you need, anything? Anything else, I mean."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

It was difficult for Bart to come up with words to describe what he had just seen. The angry guy started yelling about killing people, and the guy with the pipe started taunting him, acting like he was trying to start a fight. Then the angry guy yelled again and laid him out with one punch before continuing to yell at the newly-unconscious guy. The bearded guy started going through the first guy's stuff, then both remaining guys seemed to remember that he had been standing right there through that whole incident.

If Bart hadn't felt nervous about sticking around before, he was terrified of the prospect now. He felt that all it would take was for him to say the wrong thing, and they would descend upon him just like they had gone after the other guy. Bart had no intentions of being that aggressive, of course, but he still feared that he may wind up accidentally sending the wrong message

"Can I just, uh... go?" He requested shakily. "Please?"

Jerry twirled the pipe idly in his hands, peering back up to Bart. All this looking around was making him a bit dizzy.

"Dude. Just stay cool, chill the fuck out." He smirked, taking a step to the side. "You're cool, kid. Matt and I, we're just making a point here. On this island, either you're the scariest badass in the room or somebody's trying to kill you." He lowered his hand, extending the other- whoops, that still had a knife in it. He tucked the switchblade in his pocket, then held the empty one out.

"We're just trying to stay on the good side of that. I'm not a bad dude, kid," Jerry continued. "Both times I killed somebody, it was in self-defense. Matt and I aren't gonna draw more attention to ourselves than we have to. 'Cuz like..."

Shit, where was he going with this?

"Think about it for like, a second. Remember how they said somebody had to die every day? As long as we got people like... I'unno, Kimiko runnin' around, then we just have to stay by ourselves. People don't fuck with us, they don't die." He shrugged, patting the pipe against his palm. "Of course, once we hear that Kimiko and the others are dead... well, that might be problem. Might have to start being more active."

Jerry pressed his shoulder against a shelf. He didn't take a look at it but 9 to 1 odds said it probably held more of the same goddamn soap. "So you could go out there and probably die horribly, or stick with people who at least know what they're doing. Tough choice, I know. Don't be an idiot, you don't get knocked the fuck out. We're not gonna kill Alan, okay?"

Turns out Bart - no one watching his back, no weapons Bart - just wanted to go. That was fine by him. He could go off and die for all he cared. Slowly, Matt lowered his gun, just shortly after he had secured anything of worth from Alan's bag. He stood back up, glancing between Jerry and Bart. Looks like Jerry wanted Bart to come with them.

That was fine by him.

"Yeah," Matt said. "Uh, listen, just.. you're unarmed. You've got no one watching your back." And you smelled like fish, but given the choice between one person and two people watching his back, he'd gladly choose the latter. "Yeah. Listen, Alan was about to.. uh, flip out. And attack Jerry. He could've killed him. He could've killed me." He looked down at Alan. Still unconscious.

"I think it'd be justified if we killed him," he mumbled, not loud enough for anyone else to hear. He started talking again. "So, uh, yeah. There's that, I guess. You can leave and get killed by some psychopath or stick with us."

Bart had to admit that these guys had a pretty good point. The island was only getting more dangerous as more people wound up killing, and he was definitely not intimidating enough on his own to make someone stand down. At least if he stuck around these two, he would have a decent numbers advantage should things start spinning out of control.

In addition, considering that one of them had just knocked out an armed man with his bare hands, Bart was fairly confident that he was not negotiating from a position of power.

"Okay, uh... I guess I can stay with you guys." The words practically fell out of his mouth in shaking, disjointed fashion. "Um... if you're all right with it, I mean."

He was going to end it off there, but he realized something else that would probably be important if he was considering sticking around for a while.

"So, uh... what are your names again?"

"Bart. Come on, kid." Jerry stepped over Alan (while doing his damndest to resist the urge to step on the kid's stomach and make a big show of it like he was Andre the Giant or something) and drew closer to Bart but, more importantly, closer to the center of the room where it was easier to have a conversation with flashlights abound.

"Not only do we go to the same school, but we just gave our names like, a minute ago. Well, 'cept Alessio because whooops, we might have been fibbing about that one." Jerry shrugged. "Sorry, not sorry. Aaaaanyway, I'm Jerry motherfuckin' Fury. Maybe you've heard of me. Cracker of skulls, martial artist extraordinaire, seasoned killer, eventual winner of this game. Uh, assuming nobody busts our ass out, I mean," he tossed the last bits as an aside.

"Oh and that's Matt."