Survival Of The Fittest

Leona had the inclination to go check on Cassidy now that Matt had Travis well in hand, but she was rooted to her spot.  The unwelcome novelty of the situation gave her pause.

Everything but her hand.  She had pulled the quarters out after all as she watched the events unfold.  Apparently nerves were not the magician's strong suit.  The quarters danced their calming orbit around her knuckles as she wondered why she couldn't bring herself to do anything.

Travis Webster was trying to kill her. She could only look at him, scared and shocked as he slowly killer her.

"HEY!"

Matt's voice sounded far away, but it was enough to get her heart beating harder. She weakly tried to croak out a call to him. Travis began to flail as Cassidy's hulking boyfriend dragged him away and hurled him away. She sat up and crawled back, coughing and gasping for air that stung her throat.

Matt was going to let Travis have it now. The little scumbag was about to get crushed like a bug. She would have felt bad for him if he hadn't just tried to choke the life out of her. Her mouth opened to call for an end to the violence. That wasn't the world they lived in now. She coughed again, her neck was going to be covered in bruises and hickeys, and Travis Webster was going to get what he deserved.

She saw the sword laying next to her, and grabbed for it.

((GMing of Travis Webster approved by Delroy))

Matt didn't really put any finesse into it when he tackled Travis to the ground.  The only two things we was trying to achieve were to get Travis away from Cassidy, which he had succeeded in doing, and to pacify Travis, which he was in the process of doing.

He transitioned to a position behind Travis and wrapped his arm around the other boy's neck.  The lanky stoner thrashed around, but Matt held firm as he tried to get his other arm into position to apply a sleeper hold.  The sleeper wouldn't take too long to knock Travis out, but he just needed to lock it in and wait a few more seconds before the effect took hold, and it didn't seem likely that Travis was just going to sit there and let him do that.

Matt managed to lock in the hold, and Travis' flailing became less violent.  Although he could feel his body weakening, Travis refused to give up.  In a last-ditch attack, he pulled a pen out of his pocket.  He had kept it stashed away in case he needed an emergency weapon, and he figured that now was as good a time as ever to try it out.  He summoned his remaining strength and swung his arm around, stabbing the pen into Matt's arm.

Matt let out a cry of pain, but refused to release Travis.  Travis responded by continuing his assault, repeatedly stabbing Matt in the arm, trailing up from the forearm to the shoulder.  Matt was having much more difficulty maintaining his grip as his arm was being punctured, but he barely managed to hang on.  Finally, Travis' strategy of moving further upward with each stab reached it's apex, and his pen pierced Matt's neck.  The carotid artery, to be specific.  

Matt roared in shock and pain as blood began to flow heavily out of the wound in his neck.  Unable to verbally express his desire for Cassidy to escape, he instead held on to Travis for as long as he could with his rapidly fading grip strength.  Eventually, the blood loss became too much, and Matt couldn't keep hold of Travis any longer, his arms losing strength and allowing Travis to force his way out.

Matt lay on the ground, staring straight up at the sky.  His vision was getting foggier and foggier as the world faded out around him.  However, while this was going on, there was one image that suddenly appeared and seemed to become clearer with time.  In the center of his field of vision stood a familiar girl with blonde hair, ratty jeans, and a white shirt.  Her face seemed full of life, and her arms were free of bruises and bandages, unlike the last time he'd seen her.  He knew who this girl was, he just couldn't believe that he was seeing her again.

Angel?

She reached out a hand towards Matt.  He lifted his own arm, which now felt surprisingly light and free of resistance, and grasped her hand.  At that moment, his entire body felt weightless, as though gravity had released its grip on him.

Matt Masters left to catch up with an old friend.

No... This is not how it ends!

In his desperation, Travis had fished out a pen from his pocket. In a display of sheer tenacity and rage he had begun jabbing the pen into the powerful arm that was around his neck. He could feel the blood spatter, he could hear the yells and grunts of Matt, but the boy would not let go. He was slowly slipping away into unconsciousness. With his final strength, however, he managed to hit Matt in his neck. Over and over.

Thwack.

Thwack.

Suddenly he was covered in blood. Matt had not yet let go of his hold on Travis, despite growing weaker by the second. Travis had front-row seats, his head being pressed towards the bulk of Matt's body. He could feel his hair getting wet, the vile red liquid running down his neck, all over his shirt... Until he finally broke loose!

He began violently coughing, standing on all fours like an animal. He looked over at the boy who was gurgling blood behind him.

"You... You fucking... Ah... Shit... Fuck... God fucking..."

He began stumbling and slipping as he tried to run. He was still having trouble breathing. There were two others there, and he had no strength left to fight. He ran directly for the bushes, grabbing his bags in a hurry, heading back toward the school buildings and the woodlands. He needed refuge desperately. Behind him echoed the panicked screams of Matt's companions.

Several hours later, he still heard them in his mind. And that infernal sound of choking on blood would simply not go away.

((Travis Webster continued in For What Happened to Daisy))

His arms loosened their grip on Travis as blood trickled down towards his elbows. The pen dotted it's path up the arm towards Matt's clavicle, leaving a red, drippy line. A terrible roar let lose as the writing utensil punctured the side of his neck.

She screamed too. Their agony harmonized.

Both of them dropped to the ground, drenched in Matt's blood. The sabre trembled in Cassidy's hand. Everything looked cloudy and all she could hear was ringing. Her lips twitched and her throat clicked, standing there in total disbelief. Matt Masters, that understanding and benevolent guy, was slipping away.

Then a rumbling pain formed in her head, she felt herself falling backwards, and she was unconscious.

It was better than one of Leona's tricks, really.

Some misdirection, a little razzle dazzle as the boys grappled on the ground.  Next thing she knew, Matt was dead, the crazy kid was gone, and Cassidy was unconscious.  Absently, she wondered if the invisible audience from earlier had caught the whole show.  It was something to see.

Leona took shaky steps toward Cassidy, wondering when Matt would spring up, take a boy, get his applause.  Man, this was a great setup.

All the while, the quarters danced their dance in her hand.  Her feet took her next to Cassidy.  She looked down at her.

Eventually she sat down in the grass next to the two, waiting for the illusion to end.

Her head throbbed. Her throat burned. Her chest heaved. Her eyes stung. Her nose was running and it was getting hard to breathe around all the crying.

Cassidy had hardly come to before the scene was replaying before her. A red, gushing montage of gore and terror, a falling hero... and Travis Webster. He'd just shown up, attacked her, stabbed Matt, and then vanished. For no reason, out of nowhere!

She'd once believed in karma. She'd once believed in a lot of things. Cassidy blinked away her blurred vision and reached out for him. His dead hand was "cooler" than she'd always remembered. It didn't grab her hand back, either. It would never embrace or comfort her again. She shook her head and tried to shake reality away, to reroll the dice, but it wasn't working. It didn't matter they'd only dated for a few months, they were supposed to be together.

Her hands withdrew. Cassidy laid on her side with her arms folded across her chest. The first few drops of rain began to fall.

If only the world would just drown.

The rain fell, in cascading, increasingly fat drops.  Cassidy drew into herself.

The trick didn't end.  There was no reveal, no payoff.

Leona laid a hand on Cassidy's shoulder.  It seemed the only thing worth doing.

Reality had broken through the illusion.  For Leona, someone had finally pulled the curtain.  And she didn't care for what she could now see.

There was a hand on her shoulder. A comforting gesture from a friendly being, as if to say "it's all going to be okay."

Cassidy's eyes closed as she breathed in fury. Her rage built and she cursed naivety. The hand on her shoulder grew heavier as it sat there purposelessly. She shook shoulders, hoping the hand would fall off. Then she swatted it away like it were a yellow jacket.

"Leave me alone."

They didn't get to have friends anymore. This island was only going to let one person go. You didn't get to leave with your bff, you didn't get to take your boyfriend with you. There was only life for one and death for all of the others. Cassidy had seen enough friends die.

Her head reared around to yell. "Go away, Fifty-Five!" Her red eyes and running nose struggled to face the magician-in-training. "Please, leave."

Leona reeled back from Cassidy's outburst, as if slapped.  When her number, the indication that she had become a statistic, was thrust at her, she realized she had lost all leverage here.

Leona took the hand back, and stood up.  She looked over Cassidy for a moment, then to the distance.  She hadn't a clue what was ahead, but whatever it was, she was going alone.

"Take care of yourself, then."  Leona said, and then she was scarce.

(Leona Van Kamp continued Exposure)

Leona left, and Cassidy was finally alone again. It would have been nicer if she could be in her room. She could hug a familiar pillow, write in her journal, cry unashamed. This wasn't the typical high-school-girl-losing-a-boyfriend deal. She hugged her knees up to her chest and pressed her aching eyes into her knees.

((Cassidy Kant continued in Glass Castles and Kingdoms by the Sea))