Survival Of The Fittest

((Skipping Hazel with permission))

His face was still red.

There was something he should be doing right now. He could be helping the girl up, checking for a first aid kit, doing anything apart from just standing there and watching her struggle to stand, his hand rubbing against the spot on his arm where he had been touched.

He barely registered the girl introducing herself, leaving an awkward pause before he made his own introduction.

"Um, I'm Jordan," he said. "Nice to meet you."

I guess, his thoughts continued.

It probably wasn't their first meeting after all. He was pretty sure he knew her from somewhere. Her name was familiar. He should have known her. From class? Theater? He couldn't remember. He should have been able to remember. There weren't that many people in school. But how many of them did he really know very well? Too many faces that he couldn't put a name to, too many names he couldn't put a face to.

Wait a minute. Time to back up a second. Had he heard her right? That was something a little more important than trying to remember who Tara was.

"Sorry, what did you mean by not alright?"

But the question was already dead when he even finished articulating it. Tara was already running off, and the figure at the top of the slopes seemed to be the reason for that. She'd even thanked them for helping her as she grabbed her bag, but Jordan could only feel as if they had done nothing to help her at all.

He had half a mind to follow, but there was no way he could catch up. But that seemed like it was too much effort to get the answer to his question. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"That was..." he turned back in Hazel's rough direction, "Weird."

The figure that Tara had pointed out was making their way down the slopes towards them. They didn't look armed, but it still paid to be wary.

"I'm not sure if we should stay here either. Wanna go?"

His eyes made fleeting eye contact with Hazel, but he turned away immediately.

(AHAAHAHAHA)

Hazel looked back at Jordan quizzically and back to Tara. She thought that more people, calm people, would have been better. It wasn't something she wanted to press, though. Hazel had Jordan at least and if Tara wanted to leave, she could. At least she seemed unhurt and wasn't in need of any additional assistance.

"Sure, good luck to you too" she called out after Tara.

Hazel sighed, letting the nerves out of her system. Taking a big breath was an old trick for stage fright. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled.

"It could have gone worse, I think?" she added.

Jordan made a move to go. Hazel took one last look around, and then noticed he'd already gone to leave. She took hold of the strap of her bag and nodded, following after him with a short hop to catch up.

((Hazel continued in We're Here Because We're Here))

The wounded girl saw Leslie, pointed her out, then ran. The boy and Korean Bitch saw, then they ran too after a few moments.

So much for interaction. Leslie was barely halfway toward them from the crest; the terrain was insanely treacherous. She had no chance of catching up at her careful pace. She was athletic enough to be able to practically leap and bound through here. But that would court a fall. Maybe a lethal one. But the question still lingered in her mind: where to go?

This state of near-numbness felt paralyzing to her. Why head anywhere in particular? The odds of students being in any place were about equal at this early stage of the game, so everywhere had about the same level of risk. The group that she'd just startled into fleeing probably wouldn't take so kindly to her presence. Especially not the Korean Bitch.

All of that meant it came down to which part of the island looked best from here. The asylum itself, as well as everything on the... East side of the island, judging by the map, required her to either cross the very precarious-looking suspension bridge connecting it to the Western compound, or move through the port complex to the South and up through the chapel.

In the end, Leslie didn't reach her decision to go to the Eastern bridge completely rationally. The southern port seemed foreboding somehow. Like it would be a mistake to enter the place. She couldn't help but feel as though it was trouble. Visually, the staff buildings due north didn't look much better. But words like 'bar' and 'gym' and 'dormitory' made them seem more inviting mentally. Maybe the terrorists had even felt merciful this time and left some utilities and amenities in place on this island.

And beside, she just didn't want to stay put; the terrorists would almost certainly declare the area a permanent dangerzone eventually, and she didn't want to just spend the following days just meandering aimlessly around on these slopes exposed to the elements. So she committed to walking.

And she walked.

((Leslie Price continued elsewhere!))

Hazel was following behind him. It was weird how normal everything had felt, even though they were on this island. Perhaps it was the weird veneer of normalcy in their conversations, even when Tara had fallen down the slopes. It barely felt different from talking to people at school.

The person up there had ruined that illusion though, a reminder of the potential dangers of the island, even if it was by scaring Tara off.

Maybe they were friendly, maybe they were not. But, it wasn't worth the risk. If Tara didn't want to stick around, he shouldn't either.

But what if they were just be looking for a friend. What if they were just lost or confused or scared.

He pushed his already tired legs harder, hoping that he would leave these thoughts behind.

((Jordan Green continued elsewhere))