Survival Of The Fittest

When Mara joined in, Finn had to try and fight back a smile that was trying to form on his face. He loved a good argument, especially when his friends joined in. Although, he doubted that it would be a good argument, it was Nina Clarke after all.

As Nina began her speech, Finn just stared at her with a smug grin. There was no use in trying to argue back with them, she'd only make it worse for herself. His grin began to vanish when Nina pointed out that they were all going to die. She was right; the rules of the game were simple: kill until only one remains, kill or be killed. It was only a matter of time before they'd all be dead, whether it be in the next hour, the next day or the next week.

Finn's grin dropped even further when Nina brought up a point that irked him. Could he trust Mara? Friendship can only be stretched such a long way and would it even matter in a life or death situation? How would he know how Mara would react if it was just the two of them left? For all he knew she could quite literally stab him in the back with no problem. Finn didn't think that he'd need to worry about her just yet, there would no reason for her to kill him at this point anyway, but he'd need to be cautious around her the further this went on.

After Nina left, Finn turned back round to his original position and sat in silence as he thought to himself. As several moments passed, Finn spoke up.

"Do you think we'll be able to get off this island? People have been saved before, so they should be able to do it again right?"

Nina started giving some speech or something. Everyone dies, being really hot wasn't going to help her. She disagreed with that last point as being hot had already saved her life once. The rest was not new information.

"And yet she does what I asked and leaves anyway." She felt her shirt, which was now dry enough. She picked it up, carefully put her injured hand through the sleeve and buttoned it halfway up. Mara
didn't want the semi-damp cloth to be very tight against her skin.

"Thank God she's gone. What is it with these people? I'm stuck on an island of morons!" she groaned.

The truth was Nina's rant had the opposite effect of what she intended. Only one could go home. Mara wasn't as scared as she was before. She'd proved she was capable. She had no idea what she'd faltered, why she thought she wouldn't be able to take care of herself. She always had. She would be just fine.

Mara swept the hair away from her face and flipped it, sending water droplets everywhere. She'd show everyone back home, Rebeca and mother and father, that she of course could handle herself. Of course.

Mara went back to the bag. Boys clothes that wouldn't fit her. Boy's deodorant. Other junk she didn't want. She had to go back and get her own bag, if only to be surrounded by her own things in this horrible place. "Listen Finn," she began. "I'm going to go back and get my bag. I stowed it on the first day which wasn't a good idea," she admitted, somewhat quietly.

"It'll be easier if I go on my own. I'll meet you tomorrow night." Mara remove the map from the bag and rolled it out on the bench, jabbing her finger to a location. "I'll meet you there. I'll need to move in the daytime so I can see things and won't miss the bag , but you try to travel at night so people won't see you. Find a building, board yourself up and sleep during the day if you can."

Mara squeezed his hand with her uninjured one for a few seconds before zipping the bag back up and getting up to leave. "Don't stand me up."

((Mara Montalvo continued in Out of the Frying Pan))

Mara didn't respond to Finn's question. Perhaps she didn't hear him or perhaps she had an answer that she knew Finn wouldn't want to hear. This discouraged him slightly, maybe he was being stupid thinking that they would be saved, and even if someone did come to save them, he'd probably be dead by then anyway.

As Mara put her shirt back on, Finn sat back and sighed as he looked out over the harbour. Without much thought, Finn grunted in agreement to Mara's statement about Nina. A few droplets of water hit Finn's face when Mara flicked her hair. He blinked a couple of times before wiping his face with his arm.

Finn's attention was brought back to Mara when she said his name. He turned to face her as she began telling him about her plan to get her bag back. Finn wanted to go with her, there's safety in numbers and Finn didn't want to spend another day on his own, but he didn't want to start arguing with her. When Mara unrolled the map, he looked at the place where she pointed and nodded.

"Okay."

Finn stared down at Mara's hand as she squeezed his before squeezing hers back with a smile.

"I won't let you down."

Staying seated, Finn waved goodbye to Mara as she walked off. After waiting for a couple more minutes, Finn got up and went back into the men's toilets. He picked up his bag and began walking in the direction Mara had told him to meet her.

((Finn Grant continued in A Classy Place to Meet))