Survival Of The Fittest

Ben's father used to call the lottery an "idiot tax". Big winnings, with next-to-impossible odds. Ben hadn't really believed it himself until he tried buying a ticket for a student council 50/50 draw in his freshman year. He was a lot more stupid back then, but it taught him that the majority of his classmates were also idiots. Semester after semester, the regular student council idiot tax proved that point.

That idiot tax was only a small amount of money every time. Now, they weren't betting a few dollars to win more money, they were betting their lives for what amounted to a miracle.

Back at Aurora, Ben would have been fine with letting his classmates gamble away their money. He even advocated continuing the proud tradition of the student council's lottery draws. Now, here on this island, he had to reconsider that stance. They weren't necessarily what he'd call friends, but people he could keep close and under his thumb were a lot more valuable than loose cannons running around the island and endangering everybody, including himself.

"Look Brianna, you're getting way ahead of yourself here," Ben grumbled. "We can't worry about how we're going to get off this goddamn island because first, we need to not get shot up by some psycho kid that got a gun and is on a power trip." His eyes traced over the scene Brianna had tried to take in, the buses and the school buildings. "You're right though, this place isn't half bad for a base. Let's first try to get some more people together so we can take down anyone that tries to screw with us. Then we can talk about-"

A loud yell pounded on the outside of the bus, whipping Ben into high tension. He rushed out the bus, tossing the stupid book to the floor, and drew himself up for a fight.

Not that he needed to. "Harlin!" he yelled to his teammate. Chris Harlin used to be a stand-up guy before, although he'd gotten a bit soft over senior year. Still, he was a much friendlier and more familiar face than the fag and his hag. "Awesome. Get over here, dude. Got a couple of others here and we're trying to make some plans."

((I think that once D/N gets here we should time-skip to day two for continuity))

Ben was quickly proving himself to be a competent team member. His head was in the right place about what they needed to do. Staying alive was key above all else. Even if Matt was going to feign interest in the escape plans, he could not intentionally put the people near him in danger. It would make it more likely that he would be in danger, as well.

Matt also agreed that the school busses would make a good base, but before he could say anything, he heard a call from outside.

Harlin. Fuck. Shit. God dammit. That was not somebody Matt wanted to meet up with. What happened to turn Matt into a bully magnet all of the sudden? What had been a two-to-one advantage before had now been leveled out, except Ben and Chris were much, much larger than Matt and Brianna. And Chris could have a weapon.

Ben didn't even hesitate to let him into the group. Matt still didn't trust Ben, even if he was making a whole lot of sense. How long until Ben decided that he was no longer worth keeping around, especially now that he had Harlin around? Matt didn't know. But he didn't want to make Ben upset, either. Having a group, even one built on shaky foundations, was worth it for now. Matt could ditch them in a day or two, probably. If he could get his hands on a gun, that would be even better.

"Who's with you, Harlin!" There was a bit more bite to it than Matt had intended. He just needed to make sure he wasn't getting himself into too dangerous a group.

((Solomir offered a better suggestion about how we'll deal with the time skip. I like his idea. Let's roll with it, yo.))

As much as Ben hated Brianna, he finally found some reason in her words. The idea of escape was a fantasy, but amassing numbers was something even the most pragmatic mindset could see benefit in. Though the words directly preceding them was another dig at her logic, Brianna still felt some satisfaction that he wouldn't quite give up on everyone else.

"Did I say that I had ideas of how to escape? I'm not going to lie and say that I have a plan here, guys." Brianna peered once more outside the window. The sun that had shown so brightly earlier now started sitting lower and lower in the sky. They were running out of time to make a move on the first day.No matter how much she wanted to enjoy her relative comfort, she couldn't shake the idea of those poor students running around in the cold dark woods. Scared and alone.
"What I do have is faith. I know that if we work together, we'll figure something out. But for now, let's focus on trying to save everyone that we can come across."

As if on cue, another voice called out from outside. How long had this person been listening? Brianna had no way of telling. The voice wasn't immediately familiar, but the introduction was chilling enough.

Chris Harlin.

Brianna knew the name from the GSA members. A complete and utter homophobe, he made the lives of many students at Aurora High miserable for no just reason. Sure he was suspended at some point for his behavior, but a simple disciplinary action wouldn't change the damage he caused in the past. And here he was, ready to repeat history.

Of course it had to be Chris Harlin, an ally of Ben Ward. The two were football players together, as Brianna could recall. They were the sole reason why the stereotype of the sadistic jock existed. The two of them combined sent chills down Brianna's spine.

"Matt..." Brianna choked on her sentence, yet managed to convey her anxieties through a distressed glance. Her flat black brows contorted towards the center of her face in an ugly fashion. By this point, Brianna had left the temporary comfort of her seat and stood by Matt at the driver's seat. Matt had the only known weapon between the three of them, yet Brianna positioned herself directly between the two jocks and her scrawny companion.

"We are not playing?" Brianna parroted Chris' words in a mutter.
Despite the assurance that no violence would befall them, the ambiguous "we" meant there could be plenty more jocks waiting in tow to take out the ill-equipped Matt and Brianna. She knew she'd have to approach this one carefully.

"I-I'm glad that you're not playing. None of us are either." Brianna composed herself while she started to descend down the bus stairs. Directly outside, Ben had rushed out in excitement to his fellow testa di cazzo. Though Ben had thrown down his "arms" the setting sun glinted off what the new boy had. An ice skate with a razor sharp edge.

Shit

Brianna continued where Ben left off. "We've decided that there's no way we're going to take up arms against each other. We were just in the middle of planning how to outreach when you came out." Brianna was speaking from the inside of the bus, trying to keep a comfortable distance away from the sharpened edge of the ice skate, as well as provide a blockade between the entrance of the doorway and from Matt's position on the bus. Unless Chris did some talking, there was no way she was letting him on the bus. Not over her dead body.

((I am good with that if you guys are_

Chris had started to wonder where Jesse had gotten too, as he was sure that the other boy had not been that far behind. However, as he stood near the buses, shouting out loud, he was glad to hear a friendly voice in return. Even though they had not been as close as they were back before he had started to sort all his shit out, Chris knew Ben was a decent guy. A year ago, he would have happily followed the footballer into a fist fight between teams or mocked the weaker kids with glee. Nowadays, things were not so simple but Chris knew that Ben was someone who he could get along with very well. As for who else was with him, Chris wouldn't be able to find out till he could get a closer look.

" Hey Ward man, glad to see a friendly face! It was me and Jesse Jennings, wherever he went too. He was following me, but he isn't as fast as he looks I guess"  he shouted as he walked over, bristling a little bit at the demanding tone to Matthews voice. He was someone else that Chris had made a lot of comments about in the past, none of them complimentary, although he didn't know why he would have been polite about him anyway. He used to be a chubby queer as Chris remembered, although he had lost the weight a while back. Fatty little faggot used to be a nickname Chris had used for him when they had shared a class, although it didn't last long as Chris had found funner targets than the nerd.

Even as he walked towards the bus, his mind was at ease between the odd collection of classmates. He knew they wouldn't be players, especially when he saw Brianna come down the stairs, although Chris couldn't remember if that was her name or Belinda. He barely knew her, although her name was familiar from being with the whole GSA group. Was she a lesbian? Chris couldn't remember, although he wouldn't have been surprised if she was. He hadn't even come out and he was still bumping into the queers like they could sense it off him. Or maybe they were just afraid of him? After all, it wouldn't be surprising that others would be jumpy like he had been.

"Yeah, we had been discussing the same thing. I found this place by the golf course, big old rich country club. That Carmen girl was there so she stayed behind while me and Jesse went looking for people to find to make it safe. Of course, I wanted to get there and back before it got too late but now that I found you guys, maybe we can share ideas and shit. Hell, I'd be happy to sit the hell down for five minutes, I have no idea how long I have been walking today" he said, walking closer to the bus, unaware that Brianna was dubious of his hand held weapon and his intentions for approaching the group.

"So Ben, seen any more of the team around? You are like, the third person I have seen all day, this island is much bigger than it looked on the map. Then again, might be a good thing I haven't met everyone yet, never know who has snapped and gone homicidal on us so I am all for the pacifist side of here right now" he replied, animatedly bouncing one of the skates, with its heel in his spare hand.

(Jesse Jennings continued from The Visionary)

"Don't you worry, Chris. I'm here."

What, where else would you expect him to be?

"I was checking out some stuff. Thought I heard someone over by the high school; didn't find anyone though.  Thanks for giving them the laydown."

Ben Ward. Football player. Jacked. Friend of Chris. Jesse knew him from the council. Could be an asshole sometimes. Not insane and murderous, because... duh.  These terrorists were morons.

Brianna Battaglia. Oh hell yeah. Another council kid. Jesse had known Brianna for a while. And she was going to be good to have.

And Matt. Var..., well he was pretty smart, Jesse thought.

This was good. This was way better than one other kid at the country club. Jesse raised his voice a bit and spread his arms. No harm intended here.

"But yeah, it's Jesse Jennings. And no way am I playing, and neither Chris or I have a weapon worth a damn. But I think the more of us that get together who aren't gonna kill, the better our chances are."

And Bree had said something as he came up. One word that was a sparkplug. Outreach.

"So if it's cool with you, maybe we call all just chill for a bit, think about what to do next. We've got the country club and it's hopefully secure, but we're open to any ideas you guys have. If you want to try getting the word out to the rest of the class, I've been thinking up some possibilities.."

Too bad for Carmina if they didn't get back in time. But hey, she'd be fine. Jesse was sure if it. The vision was still alive. More importantly, so was he.

(Permission to move Jesse out with the others)

"Whatever guys, we can talk about all that stuff later," Ben said, taking stock of his other classmates' reactions to each other. Brianna and Vartoogian seemed even more cautious than when they thought Ben was ten seconds from beating them up. It was kind of stupid, since Ben knew he could take on Chris Harlin if he even thought of actually fighting, and he knew that Chris knew that too. Nobody would be in any danger as long as nobody did anything stupid like act excessively paranoid or suspicious.

His head turned to look up at the two classmates still in the bus. They seemed comfortable enough with each other, and Ben doubted Vartoogian would try anything too extreme with Brianna watching him, much less with three other sets of eyes. He could trust them enough, at least for now.

"So, there're some people at some country club?" he asked Jesse, the blockhead who'd given up on the student council. Jesse Jennings was mostly a good guy, reliable and smart, but skirting student council responsibility was something Ben couldn't really forgive. At least, not when they were back at school. Now, Ben could see that the guy had never lost his responsibility. "Why don't you bring them here? The buses aren't all that much to talk about, but Brianna had said that they were mostly safe and at least there are padded seats to sleep on."

Ben looked back at Brianna. "You and Vartoogian can scout out the classrooms around here. The more people we can find, the more secure we can make this place. Also, see if there's any food anywhere around.

"Try to get back here before sunset. Then we can talk about any bigger plans. It's not like we're gonna try wandering this place at night, right?"

Ben grabbed his bag, carried it onto the bus and tossed it onto a vacant seat. As he left, he stopped for a moment to whisper to Vartoogian. "Keep her safe, 'kay? No funny business." No threats, but Ben let the weight of his words carry through.

His steps followed his friends, off on a road to find a country club.

((Ben Ward continued in Interstice of Time))

(Just to finish the thread; if anyone else wants to put in a last-minute exitpost feel free)

(Matt Vartoogian, Jesse Jennings, Chris Harlin, and Brianna Battaglia continued in Interstice of Time)

((I'm going to have to take you up on that offer, D/N. Brianna needs an exit post between Day 1 and Day 2.))

Jesse Jennings.

That's who "we" meant. When Chris Harlin had mentioned that there was a "we," Brianna's heart had skipped a beat. However, Jesse Jennings was not another threatening jock, nor a confrontational, inflammatory person. Jesse worked directly underneath Brianna during her Junior year reign as president. Despite winning the popular vote (ironically made up primarily of the "un-popular" kids), Brianna still needed help reaching out to the student body as a whole. Jesse's magnetic personality was helpful in this regard. He also tended to side with Brianna's petitions to allocate funds towards student interest groups, despite the contention that sired from the sports teams.

Brianna never thought that she'd ever get picked to be in such a situation. She lived such a mundane life before the  island. Without SotF, Brianna might have survived high school with no major incident to her name. However, they were on the island. They would have to fight to get off. However, out of everyone she could immediately name, Jesse Jennings was one of the best people she could think of to pool their resources together and help their group through unity, much like he'd done in the past. He was an ally through and through.

Group discussion followed Jesse's arrival. Not only did they have a few plans of their own, but they had a location; the clubhouse. It was probably a rundown shack, but it provided an extra base of operations for them. Upon unrolling the provided map and really studying their environment for sometime, their hell seemed a lot smaller than previously assumed.
The shack was close by to the hospital, the eastern inlet and the amusement park. All within a few hours of each other, these seemed to be major areas that could host more than a few hiding students, along with tools that they could use...somehow.
The final plan was something that they'd iron out. Brianna had no military mindset. She didn't know how they'd escape this island. She knew people, and that's what she focused on. There was an ember of hope now. It was something she could rally the students behind.

Perhaps they'd spoken for an hour or so, each student bouncing off ideas amongst each other. Ben Ward and Jesse Jennings, people whose core ideologies conflicted almost as much as her own belief system had with Ben, managed to cooperate and formulate a plan. Ben would accompany Chris and Jesse as they led a path back to the clubhouse. Meanwhile, it'd be up to Brianna and Matt to explore the adjacent school.

Brianna had emptied her backpack onto one of the front seats. Scattered on the padded cushion was her medications for the trip, a spare change of clothes, a small bag of airport chocolates which had been half devoured on the short section of consciousness she and her friends had on the plane, and a book. She tried to clear as much room in her bag as she could. They had a mission to scout and scavenge. If Brianna and Matt couldn't find anyone within the high school, she could at least make herself useful and find whatever they could.

For the first time since she had arrived on the island, Brianna wasn't concerned with her faith in humanity being tested. She gladly surrendered her mind to her mission. As the pair packed up, sharing one piece of protection between the two of them, Brianna turned on her heel to say goodbye to Ben. No. Goodbye isn't the right thing. I'll see him again. I'll see all of them again.

"Ben." Brianna swallowed a reply. "Be careful. You're going to owe me fifty bucks by the end of this." A morbid joke, very uncharacteristic of Brianna, but one that conveyed her belief that somehow, everything would turn out alright.

((Continued in Interstice of Time))