Survival Of The Fittest

THe Jackie Felix had met, a new student, timid and somewhat foolhardy about his new surroundings, didn't show himself again, and Felix had to admire that. This island was a lot like highschool was normally - only with much higher stakes. Jackie held on to what his goal was, what he was committed to. He had the right idea, in Felix's mind, there probably was a way to get off the island. But Felix didn't trust Jackie to find it, and wasn't about to stick his head looking for it, for fear of losing it. He walked forward, towards them, at a steady pace, closing the gap between them.

"Whispers and that knife don't say much for your argument, champ." Felix saw that Kayla was trying to leave. Good for both them, probably, but Jackie seemed resolute to stay and try and talk Felix into joining up with them.

Naturally, Kayla didn't react well. When the blonde said something to her -Felix picked up the word 'go' from her lips- Kayla reacted in a way Felix found typical.

---

"I am not going to leave him here with this psycho!"

Kayla seemed offended at the very idea. She knew Felix probably better than anyone -definately better than anyone- and she knew he was certaintly out to kill to survive. He didn't have a problem stepping on people for himself, Survival of the Fittest was something that he'd enjoy 'testing' himself in or whatever. Kayla wa snot about to let the only friend she'd seen on the island get killed by confronting him one on one.

Kayla turned to stand her ground against Felix. If Jackie would stay, so would she. Felix addressed her next, he had stopped in his approach.

"Kayla, you still don't know what the fuck you're talking about." He said, and that perfectly crafted face of absolute hopelessness would have sold his case to anyone else.

"I know what you did to me, and I know what you're willing to do to everyone else, and I know you're fucked up in the head enough to kill people here, so that's why you should just-" Kayla didn't get a chance to finish it, Felix cut her off.

"What I did to you? You're still spewing that bullshit?" In a rare occurance, Felix actually seemed angry to Kayla. Only a little, but that cool exterior was breaking. Did that mean she was right? Was he sensitive to her sharing the truth with everyone around?

"It's not bullshit, Felix, you just took from me, like you do everyone else, but you wanted quite a bit more from me, didn't you?!" Kayla wanted to sound knowing, to keep hold of the situation, because in her experience when you look like you're in control people believed you were in control. If she kept her friends behind her, maybe Felix would leave, he didn't seem to have a weapon that could let him win a three or four on one fight. Felix still hadn't kept coming forward. Instead, he seemed to let out a soft breath, and regain his composure. Had he noticed that she was reading him?

"Go ahead and shout it all over the island then, why don't you?"

---

Felix noticed his speech slipping, a slight accent pronounced itself in his words as he looked for a way to calm Kayla down and sort this mess out. He hadn't succeeded in two months, but it was time to diffuse her now. On the island it was critical she not make problems for him.

"You're right, why don't I?" Kayla asked, mockingly. "It's not my job to cover your ass, so don't take that tone with me. Maybe, Felix, if you didn't want to get in trouble for it, you shouldn't have forced me to have sex with you."

It was back to that point. Felix wouldn't rise this time. She hadn't stopped saying it despite all his efforts, and it was a particular hazard here. If she used that to turn people against him, he would have a serious problem surviving. Did that mean that he would have to kill her?

That marked the first time that the thought of murder actually disturbed Felix. Responding, Felix looked Kayla dead in the eye as he stepped forward again. He hoped it could create a good effect -Stepping forward put the sun behind him, the sunlight wouldn't glint off his eyes, like he normally made sure it did.- for his only rebuttal. Speaking as softly as possible, the slight accent coming through clearly.

"Kayka, you're shouting, making stupid accusations about stupid things and completely losing control. You're losing your mind, and this is not a good place to do that." Felix didn't feel his point was made, so he continued to try and hammer it in. "Kayla, get a fucking grip."

---

Felix looked serious.

Not frustrated, or angry, or exasperated or defeated like he usually did when they had a shouting match. He just looked serious, like he was talking to a stubborn child. That lack of reaction, the way he didn't give her any sign that she had beaten him, made him feel horrible, set Kayla off. He wasn't taking her seriously, and if he didn't respect her, he might try to kill her.

As soon as Kayla came to that conclusion her hand shot inside of her bag and the bag dropped. She had her boomerang. Maybe she'd get lucky with it. She threw it as hard as she could and it flew in a straight path to Felix, but before it reached him in started wobbling in the air, climbing a littl ebit to the level of Felix's head, floundering dangerously. Felix moved his head back to acoid cathcing one of the ends in the face before snatching it out of the air. He smiled at her. That stupid, goofy, charming, know-it-all smile. He held the boomerang in his left hand.

"Kayla... there's a trick to these. First off, this is a right handed boomerang you are left handed." He launched into a sort of 'explanation voice' that steadily held her attention, making throwing a boomerang seem like the most interesting thing in the world. "That doesn' t mean you cna't use your left hand, you just have to hold it differently. Bring it straight down, at an angle-" Felix demonstrated slowly. "It'll fly off the way you're pointing it. For this boomerang, it'll go off to the left and should point that way accordingly. Watch."

She didn't even see his arm as it moved, but she did see the boomerang take off from his hand, staying perfeclty flat in the air and following a circular path, back to himself. Except, wasn't she in the way?

For some reason that thought didn't carry the implication she knew it should, and she didn't react quickly enough to stop the boomerang from colliding with her arm, which caused a very sudden surprising amount of pain. The boomerang clattered to the ground and Kayla fell to her knees as her left hand shot towards her right shoulder to comfort the point of impact.

"You son of a BITCH!" She screamed uncontrollably. "You just tried to take my fucking arm off!"

Jackie looked on awkwardly as Kayla and Felix argued, he tried to remain stern, but was fairly certain that he just looked shocked at the whole scenario. He tried to interject a few times, raising his arms and making the typical 'settle down' motion often made by kindergarten teachers and politicians. As the fight continued to escalate, he nearly threw himself into the middle of it, pleading for the two to stop. Then the weapons started coming out.

~

Gail watched hopelessly, tugging at Kayla's arm like an impatient child in a supermarket. She could see where this was going, but what could she do? She was probably the weakest link on the whole island, if not for the others she may have been picked off already. She had to do something, up until now she'd just been tagging along; it was time to prove her worth.

Gail let go off Kayla's sleeve, and stopped murmuring to Jackie, these three were past the point of reconciliation. She picked up her own discarded pack and took off, abandoning the strength of the group in search of someone who could stop this. Whether it be Ricky or John, someone would be able to help. At least she hoped...

It was doubtful that any of the three noticed the slight young lady jaunt around the corner of a nearby homestead. Gail's light form turned around the corner in the direction she thought Ricky had gone off to, and her gossamer platinum blonde form bound off across the residential district, in search of salvation...

~

The boomerang spun quickly about in the air, Jackie threw himself in between Kayla and Felix just as it swung back and nailed Kayla in the arm. A shout escaped him just as the boomerang took off.

"Kayla, NO!"

His shoelace came loose as Jackie leapt towards Felix. He stumbled forward, arms locked forward to brace himself. He fell towards Felix, his jackknife still in hand, his other hand held out to brace himself. In such a position that the knife would painfully graze Felix's shoulder and his hand would push him back away from Kayla. He didn't mean for it to happen, but he was slipping and his first reaction was to reach out to brace himself.

Somewhere inside himself, Jackie could feel his wings melting away. His descent from grace would be unmerciful, as he plummeted towards the sea of fate, and towards the brutal reality of the game.

"Well, the thought might have occurred to me, but I really thought you'd have..." Felix trailed off as Jackie got between him and Kayla, apparently also seeing the boomerang thing as a direct assault. Jackie moved to attack Felix and Felix stepped back to get more ground to react, but got his feet tangled with Jackie's and only fell backwards with him, Jackie bracing himself for impact and pointing his knife forward at the same time at Felix's arm. It ripped through Felix's sleeve and dug into his arm as Felix hit the ground just below Jackie. Reacting despite the gash in his arm, Felix scrambled backwards before Jackie came down on top of him.

The pain set in and Felix grasped his arm with his free righthand as he climbed to his feet quickly. He was moving to attack. He used the knife. For all his talk, Jackie is ready to kill. Felix thought and began his assault at the same time, while Jackie was still on the ground Felix jumped a bit, wound up his right leg and kicked Jackie in the side of the head as he landed, and wihtout the jump repeated his kick again.

Felix's objective was clear. Kayla had set Jackie against him, he'd already attempted to kill Felix.

Kill or be killed. That's the story here.

---

Kayla had only noticed Gail's absence as Jackie started the fight with Felix. Disregarding her, she clambered up quickly and made to get invovled, but she didn't know what to do. Getting in the fight might only make things worse, what if she got Jackie hurt? What if SHE got hurt? Felix might kill her, but if she didn't do something he could kill Jackie. In her frustration, she took to screaming some more.

"Jackie, get up! He's going to kill you!" Not knowing exactly what she intended him to do, she hoped she oculd encourage him. "You can beat him!"

Kayla still pondered on how to best attack Felix. Maybe if he turned his back?

The dust billowed up off the abandoned sidewalk as flesh collided with concrete. The sound of tearing cloth resounded in his ear as his knees skidded up against the pavement. Reaching out with both hands, he had hardly remembered that the knife was in his hand. He felt the knife tear into flesh as he fell towards the ground and the warm splash of blood against his hand. He heard the screams echo behind him, and the sound of the wind rushing past as the present slipped by into the future.

Worst of all was the taste, the coppery wetness of blood and fear, and the smell of musk and stagnancy. Stagnancy that stuck around even after violence had ploughed through the dull residential setting.

He picked himself up off the ground, disarmed and dishevelled. Blood trickled down his hand as small pieces of gravel dislodged from his palm.

He stared off to the other boy and so far away; pulling himself up to his complete height. To Jackie Kovacs it seemed that the moment no longer existed in thoughts, but in his senses. He could still hear the sound of the screams behind him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

He looked back, he knew without thinking where this was all going, but he would stay so that others could go. He kept his voice calm; almost distant is if lost in the meditation of memory.

"Kayla. Run."

Looking onto the other boy, he made no movements at all, merely just stood there, his hands balled into fists. He hadn't meant for it to come to this, but it had, and now he had to clean up the mess he created. It had been an accident, but to Jackie, it was his fault and his responsibility.

You make the bed you sleep in, and all those other clichéd proverbs...

Run.

Could she leave him behind? Felix might not stop the violence with Jackie. Jackie looked determined, maybe he could win? Felix wasn't that impressive, but she knew he was a good fighter. Jackie, she wasn't so sure about. Then her thoughts went to Gail. She had run already, but she was friends with Jackie, so it seemed very cowardly.

Unless she went to find Ricky. Backup! Felix wouldn't fight two on one, four on one. Maybe that other guy Felix had walked into would help, too? Where was he?

Kayla had renewed hope, she took off in the direction Gail had.

---

Felix's arm was cut, slightly, but he let it bleed as his hands moved to his sides. Jackie stood up to his full height, still nearly an inch shorter than Felix, but with a similar wiry frame. They were both bleeding, but Jackie had taken the harder hit already, and Felix just knew he was better at dealing with injury. In fact, Jackie didn't seem like he knew much about combat at all, the way he held himself now showed Felix that he was steeling himself for the worst, he was afraid. Even if he dealt with it well, Jackie was still nervous and afraid.

Felix was in his element, however. He was alive for things like this. He smiled at Jackie. It might be murder, but damned if he wouldn't going to enjoy one of the things he did best.

"Bit of a waste, isn't it? Dying for her, I mean. She lied to you. Probably me too, sometime. I don't know what she's afraid of, but... I wouldn't die just because of it. Your funeral, though." Felix's smile went from friendly to dangerously sadistic, and he came at Jackie as fast as he could, so fast even he wasn't sure how fast his feet moved. His left fist moved with too much speed for he himself to see at Jackie's jaw, but he didn't stop moving forward, and jumped when he got close to Jackie, bringing up his right knee into Jackie's gut, letting his speed and the muscles that gave him that speed carry his natural weapons as fast as they could.

John could only look on as the scene unfolded, the screaming and the fighting were momentarily dulled as he watched Jackie slide at Felix and cut him the blood quickly becoming apparent. That red essence, life force, he hated it. But he had to fight, he had to do something. The blood was everywhere now, it was in his mind all over the street. He reached into his pocket and gripped the handle of those damned scissors.

"I gotta do this..." John mumbled to himself as he ran over to stand next to Jackie. He flipped the scissors open, the sharp edge apparent as they glinted in the sun. John stared intently ahead, his eyes not blinking, smile no longer apparent on his face.

"I'm right behind you Jackie!" John shouted. He wasn't fast enough though to stop Felix from running up to Jackie and kneeing him in the stomach.

"No!" John screamed as he brought his right leg up into Felix's own stomach.

The rush came on quicker than he ever could have expected.

Mares on a morning charge, spewing fire as they pant.

The knee jutted out and up into his gut. The air in his lungs escaped him.

Scattering like moths in the fires of calamity.

He buckled back once again, but he did not falter.

The bluffs except the blows of the sea, guards against the coming tide.

Bloodied hands held at the ready, waiting for the next onslaught

A watcher in the dusk, waits knowing the coming of midnight.

He could only do this to protect, he would not turn a hand on his peers with the intent to kill.

To lose sight of oneself is the greatest loss.

He looked back and saw John rushing in towards his aid.

Grimacing, he turned to Felix and he lifted his hands defensively, ready to intercept the next blow.

I don't want to do this, but I have to give the others a chance, a chance to escape.

Felix rounded to strike again at Jackie, Jackie braced himself for the hit, not having a chance to strike in retaliation. Felix took advantage of his opponent not counterattacking by stepping back to get his wind-up back. Jackie's arms were raised to block the punch, but Felix had time to go through or around the defense wihtout much trouble. He had abrely swung his fist when a head with black hair on top of a green shirt moved next to Jackie, throwing his leg at Felix. Felix was caught by surprise but instinctually grabbed the leg before it touched the ground.

Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle...

A fraction of a second passed as Felix evaluated the new contender. The boy he had run into earlier while he was trying to escape. Felix had turned his back to him, and as it turned out he was with their group, too. He certaintly had the element of surprise. Felix knew how to fight two-on-one. He had before, even recently. The trick was to incapacitate one quickly in the confusion. Felix had his opening already.

...there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all...

Holding the new boy's leg, Felix steadied himself from the blow before reacting. Felix moved towards his enemy, letting the leg go just as he attacked; he stomped down on the one leg that was holding all of the black-haired kid's weight, hi sleg still in the air. To help send him to the ground, Felix threw a punch immediately after at the boy's throat.

John gasped as he felt the ground leave him, his gaze turned upwards to the sky. He hit the pavement with a thud, almost knocking the air out of him. The world seemed to spin as he finally began to focus on the hurtling fist towards his throat. Now John was no idiot, this would severely incapacitate him. That was a thought that made him angry, angry enough to send the adrenaline hurtling through his body. The resulting rush was enough to send his own free hand forward to catch the fist in his hand. His other hand reaching out in a sweeping gesture with the scissors.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" John shouted as his eyes began to turn bloodshot, veins becoming apparent in his neck.

Felix nearly fell on top of the boy as he threw his punch, and for nothing; his target blocked it in his hand, and then seemed to go through a psychological change that Felix could only describe, mentally, as 'hulking out'. Suddenly wary of his new opponent Hulk, Felix scrambled back to his feet but was still hunched overtop of Hulk, as something thay appeared rusty and sharp -the only two relevant details- moved towards his midsection with incredible force. Felix couldn't stretch himself out of the way, and couldn't stand up straight with his body weight bent overtop of John. Felix only saw one option.

He dropped his left hand onto the ground, planting his palm to it, and kicked off the ground, his body going high enough that the blade grazed his shirt as he lifted off the ground. Felix arced his legs over the two bodies and supported himself on his hands, his balance off because of Hulk's hand helping to support Felix's weight. The result; Felix had front flipped over Hulk and avoided his weapon. Felix raised his leg into the air and stamped down on the spot that was shared by Hulk's head... looking down at  what appeared to be a very angry opponent.

His opponent descended upon him from above. Jackie took in a breath and stole himself for the blow to come. His lip now bloodied, his graceful features obscured by the blood, he threw a punch of his own the way of Felix. He didn't know if it connected, he honestly didn't really care, he just needed to subdue Felix so John could get out of here.

He worked up all his strength and surged forward, taking every blow and swing as Felix fought on and push himself onto Felix. With all his weight and momentum he planned to push him down to the ground, if only for a moment so that John could escape. He wasn't helping anyone by being here.

Jackie hit the ground, he felt a person underneath him, he must have been just getting his footing back after landing such a move on John. They were both bleeding as far as Jackie could tell. He could smell it. That horribly smell of stagnant iron and oozing fear.

He had the high ground, if only for a moment, he could have pinned Felix further, but he wasn't thinking about protecting himself. All he could think about was the others. They all deserved so much better than this. Clutching at death, paralyzed in the moment of fear and pain, this was not what anyone deserved, not even Felix.

Jackie lifted his head, his angelic face dribbled blood as he called out to John.

"Get out of here, John! Go get the others and just run away! Get out of this! Get out of this!"

He struggled to keep Felix pinned, surely he wouldn't stay down for long, but Jackie would do what he could. His thoughts called out, recalling memories and old friends.

I just want you to be ok again...

The attack was unexpected. Felix was caught off guard by an assailing Jackie, who'd attacked faster then Felix anticipated. A blow caught him in the head sfotly as Felix turned around to face him, and Jackie collided with him, sending them both to the ground again. Jackie's blows came at Felix's face as they fell but none met their mark. Knowing when they would hit the grund, Felix breathed out and avoided being winded on the collision, and as they landed he grabbed Jackie's head pulled it close to his body using his left hand, and used his right to assault Jackie's skull repeatedly as adrenaline truly started to set in, the high it gave empowering Felix as his world slowed down.

Jackie managed to free himself, now bleeding to shout at Hulk -John- to runa way. Why was he throwing away all of his allies? Felix figured that with john there hey were at least evenly matched, even with John's 'hulk out' trick he didn't seem particularly skilled a fighter though still dangerous through sheer force and Jackie all-around unskilled, two-on-one was still two-on-one.

Considering he was still trapped underneath Jackie so John could regroup and attack at any moment, a very disadvantageous position, Felix did not ponde rlong about the tactical errors his opponent was making. As he wound up his fist to catch Jackie while he was off guard, Felix's elbow hit Jackie's discarded knife, until that moment forgotten.

When written in chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters; one representing danger...

Felix didn't think twice. Though to him in his state of adrenaline it seemed an eternity, he grabbed the knife.

...the other representing 'oppurtunity'.

He jabbed it into Jackie's exposed left side, sliding it between his ribs as it penetrated the flesh. Felix locked eyes with Jackie and twisted the blade with a jerk. As the two sets of eyes met, Felix's face showed a mix of satisfaction and grimness.

I'm not really sorry about this, but you picked your fate. I'm more than willing to grant you a death wish, I'm just sorry you let Kayla sucker you into it.

Felix didn't have time to say it out loud, he needed to get back on his feet in case John was still around and his mind was set on survival, not the implications of murder. He pushed Jackie off and crawled out from under him, standing up as blood from Jackie's side covered his shoe, steadying himself for whatever was next, as he kicked Jackie in the ribs to speed up his death, in case he had any fight left in him.

Piercing pain sent a searing sharp feeling right into his brain. His whole body jolted straight and went still as the cold steel punctured his side and seemed to still him in shock and anticipation. There was a brief moment of pure and unaltered blankness as the knife pierced through the pink flesh and into the kidney. A moment of relief before the pain was realized and the world was flooded with thoughts and dreams once lost.

As his muscles tightened in pain, his body went limp and fell, bereft, to the ground. Jackie groaned as the pain surged through his body, he grasped at the wound in his side and felt warm viscous liquid flowing from his wound.

Blood.

So much blood. He didn't think you could bleed that much from a cut, but his internal organs surged forth gore and blood. The pain was excruciating, but Jackie could only go limp and stare at his hands as he grasped the wound.

He didn't even feel the kick from Felix; he was too far gone already. The pain captured his body, but his mind seemed to wander as he bled on the dusty sidewalk. It was as if he could feel his mind ascending and leaving his mortal body, as his life force faded away from him.

He looked up and saw John still standing nearby. His mind wandered back to his mother and his absentee father, to green fields and beautiful city streets. He looked back at John again, refocusing.

Faded lanterns on a midnight street, sitting on the edge of the sea, sitting... sitting with...

Jackie winced and reached out towards John, forcing himself to focus, he couldn't risk anyone else, they had to get out of here, and the loss wasn't worth the world. The world was worth the loss.

"John," Jackie muttered and winced, managing to project his voice a little more then he should have. "John, you have to get out of here. You have to help the others escape. You need to... You need..."

His eyes blinked in and out of focus, every time he re-opened then, it seemed a new and strange, but beautiful, world awaited him. Whether it was Felix standing on the abandoned sidewalk, or himself, standing on the ledge of the cliff that overlooks the city.

He wouldn't go just yet, but Jackie Kovacs knew in his soul that he was dying...

Jackie pleaded what would be his last words to John. John was a threat and a danger and Felix wanted to be away from those two things right now before he got tired of conflict. Jackie was dying, Felix had killed him, and now he wanted to find somewhere to hide before Kayla came back with the cavalry. Still... Jackie was conned into fighting him. It was foolish and stupid of him because Felix wasn't looking to kill anyone until someone came to kill him. But his bitch of an ex-girlfriend had a good plan that involved turning people against him and one of those was Jackie, and somewhere inside of him Felix wanted to give Jackie closure. He deserved it, even if it wasn't Felix's job to give it.

"Jackie..." Felix stood over Jackie, so close that he was standing in blood without noticing. "I feel bad for you, or as bad as I've ever felt for anyone, whatever that tells you. But I'm not sorry."

Was that enough? Probably not. But Felix turned and made to leave before addressing John.

"If you're still feeling the beatdown I gave you in a few hours, and you live long enough, I'll be alive for round two." Felix smiled, only showing half of it to John over his shoulder, playfully spinning Jackie's jackknife in his hand. "Huesta luegos, amigo." Felix took off, avoiding another fight.

(Continued Bloody Roses.)

John could only stare ahead, dumbfounded at what had happened. The blood really was everywhere now, Jackie was telling him to go. Every single part of him was telling him to go but all he could do was stay and watch what had happened.

"No...Jackie...I'm so sorry..." John whimpered before glaring in the direction Felix had ran off to he saw red, something in his mind bent and he began screaming to the heavens.

"I'LL KILL YOU FELIX! YOU HEAR ME?! YOUR DEATH WILL BE BY MY HANDS!" John roared with the bestial fury inside of him, he knew now the stakes of the game. He knew the chances of him getting out alive were slim, but he would get his revenge. For the person who actually trusted him even if it was for the shortest while.

John picked up his scissors and took one last look at the seemingly dead Jackie.

"I'll get him, for you" John said before turning and running off.

((Continued Elsewhere))