Survival Of The Fittest

It didn't take long for it to happen. A shove to one and shout from another. A scuffle with a knife in the middle. Tiny dude vs muscles. A shocker occurred.

The knife went in and more screams echoed out. He couldn't see it from his point, but blood was no doubt seeping out the wound.

Brandon's eyes widened. He crouched out from his spot and crept a bit closer using the trees for cover. Fingers clenched around his blade. Freak outs were in order and he kept in mind how close they were before deciding what he needed to do further.

Would a repeat happen here as it did the village and lighthouse? Will the other kid die as well?

If it did he might have a chance.

Adonis couldn't even register Myles' voice that was saying his and Tristan's names and all he could hear was ringing and static from all around him. He was staring away from his bloody hands at Tristan's face and he was trying to stay calm. Who was he trying to fool?! He couldn't be the Adonis that he was before he broke down at the prom and everything here was just making him a worst person. He always wanted to do the right thing for other people and when he tried to do something for himself for once in his idiotic life....

Tristan.

"I....I'm sorry, Tristan." He whispered weakly as he was staring into the glassy eyes of the dead boy and he reached over with a trembling hand, closing Tristan's eyes as a final gesture of kindness. "...I'm s-sorry."

Adonis was still sobbing softly like a complete mess and he reluctantly looked away from Tristan's corpse. God, he felt like he should have been the one to die instead of Tristan and now he couldn't take any of it all back. How could he even repay for what he had done? Tristan had deserved better. He should have been with Myles right now, not Adonis.

Adonis glanced over at Myles with a blurry tear-filled eyes.

"M...Myles." He choked out. "Tristan... Tristan's g-gone... I-I-I killed h....him...."

Ha. Haha. Funny joke. Like Myles didn't have eyes and ears, like he needed Adonis of all people to tell him what was right in front of him.

It was hard to breathe.

This wasn't how things were supposed to happen, okay, Myles had thought about it already, when he was sleeping with Tristan curled up against his back, feeling his strong, steady heartbeat. Everyone had to die. Everyone had to die if he was to live, even Tristan, but it wasn't supposed to happen so fast. He needed time to work himself up to accepting it, and when it happened, he didn't want to be the one who did it, but he was supposed to be there. He was supposed to hold Tristan's face and lie to him that he was going to be fine and everything was going to be okay, and whatever it was that actually killed him, Tristan would slip away peacefully. Myles would probably cry over it, but he'd pick himself up and move on, because it had to be this way.

His eyes were wide and glassy, but he wasn't crying now.

"You think I'm stupid? I can see what you did." His voice didn't come out strong like he wanted it to. There was a lump in his throat that it was impossible to swallow around.

"Now what? You gonna run away again? Huh?" Myles had the knife. He had all the weapons now, had to, because if Adonis had anything useful he wouldn't have started this stupid fight in the first place.

"I'm tired of chasing you and waiting on you. And now you did- this." Myles gestured at the mess in front of him with the blade.

"You can't keep taking from me, Adonis!" Everyone stealing from him, everyone thinking they could just-

Just-

Adonis couldn't make any excuses for what he had done. He had done the same thing that Caroline had done to him and right now he couldn't do a damned thing about it. Regina. Tristan. Gone. Just gone. He had to live with what he had done and he desperately didn't want to. But that was a selfish thought that he didn't need and he made himself bury it into the deepest, darkest part of his mind. Now what was he supposed to do...? He was going to have people mad for him for what he did to Tristan and he knew that they would either ask him why or just kill him or both of those two things.

Adonis needed to not have another breakdown as much as it was hard to not do so and his eyes were trying to focus on Myles. What could he even say to the other boy? He didn't have the energy to move from his spot beside Tristan and he could still see the blood in his field of vision. It looked like Myles had blood on him for a second or so; but when Adonis blinked his eyes in a bit of a panick... The red splatter on Myles was gone. Adonis realized that he was already starting to lose it.

"Myles..."

Adonis was trying to force his voice to sound normal again but it was really hard to do so in a situation like this and he just wanted to swivel up and die alone. God, he really wished that Tristan had taken his life away so that Tristan could have stayed with Myles and then Adonis could have been with Regina in the afterlife. But now he was never going to get that wish with Tristan's blood on his heads for real.

A lot of people were going to hate him.

Like Myles right now. He couldn't blame Myles honestly for feeling that way. He actually hated himself.... He had hated himself for a long time because he always thought that trying to be a good person would make him feel better about him and that he could be happier with other people. ...But that was all a lie. He was so, so tired of everything and he didn't want to live anymore. Why did he deserve to live? Why not Tristan? Why not Regina? Why not Caroline? Why him?

He was dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty. Filth, filth, filth. Scum, scum, scum. Murderer, murderer, murderer!

"I...."

He couldn't get any words out of his mouth and he felt like he was becoming a fragile shell of him. He felt like he was going to easily break again and he felt himself digging his fingernails into his palm deeply, wanting to make himself suffer and bleed. He wanted to punish himself for just existing. Why was he even here? Why, why, why, why, why?!

"I....I don't know what to do, M-Myles..."

His voice was barely a whisper and he still hadn't moved from where he was sitting. Myles seemed like he was struggling too and Adonis wished that he could do anything for him to stop him from feeling sad. Adonis had to stop his pitiful self-loathing and he had to be there for Myles for as long as he could. Since Tristan was now... gone, Adonis had to make up for his actions and Myles had to be the person that was his priority. Even if Myles might be hating him right now.

"...Myles...?"

Adonis forced himself up to his shaky feet and he glanced over at Myles with tired, sad-looking eyes, trying to breathe at a steady pace.

"...I won't run.... I will stay with you. Even if you... you don't w-want me to...."

For a minute, everything in Myles's head was horribly, deafeningly loud, and then he breathed out and it fell mercifully silent.

The expression on his face when he regarded Adonis properly again was, technically, a smile.

"Like you have a choice. Who's going to trust you now?"

Myles stepped forward and grabbed Adonis's arm, digging his nails in hard. "You fucked everything up, and now you can't have anyone but me. No more running off trying to save people who don't matter. They won't want you, anyway." He let go of Adonis's arm and reached up to his face, pulling Adonis's head down so their foreheads were nearly touching.

"Okay? Got it? You have to quit making mistakes."

He didn't look at Tristan. He couldn't look at Tristan. He was going to take Adonis, and they were going to walk away and leave Tristan on the ground like he was garbage and the birds and bugs would eat him, and the animals on the island would scatter his bones all over, and there would be nothing left.

The corpse on the ground wasn't the Tristan that Myles wanted to remember, so he wouldn't.

Adonis didn't even have the energy to argue or disagree with Myles as he knew that the other boy was right about everything and that no one was going to trust him again. Adonis was not a good person anymore and Tristan was the proof of that. He was now going to have to stay with Myles and... and... Do what..? He guessed they had to stay hidden from other people and wait until the numbers started to go down lower and lower until the end of this terrible game of their kidnappers. He couldn't even look away from Myles. He felt so weak.

"Okay." He whispered weakly.

He couldn't even promise Myles anything. He was sure that he would make more mistakes and he knew that he should snap out of it. He needed to be himself again. But who was he anymore? He didn't honestly have a clue of what his true self was and now he was just going to cling to Myles like a lost puppy. Even if Myles' word of truth had hurt him a lot more than he wanted to admit. He couldn't even see his friends anymore; he didn't want to see them at all.

Myles closed the fraction of an inch between them to lean his forehead against Adonis's. He closed his eyes; even with the rain beating down, Adonis felt clammy and sweaty. Myles could have killed for a working shower.

The corners of his mouth twitched up for just a second.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay." He made no effort to put sincerity into his words. He still didn't look down.

"But you have to listen to me, alright? Let me do the thinking." And that was a joke right there, wasn't it. Any operation that needed Myles to be the brains behind everything was going to be a mess before it even got started, even he knew that.

But this wasn't a puzzle or a math problem. Myles had always known that if people would just shut up and listen to him, just do what he knew they needed to, then everything would have worked out better for everyone. That was true back in school, and it was true now.

Honestly, if everyone hadn't up and left him on the very first day, they probably could have gotten to this point much sooner. Probably whenever Angie decided to get some kind of bright idea about how she had the gun, so she should be in charge. That would have been better. That wouldn't have hurt.

He moved his hand to cup the back of Adonis's neck, massaging at the tension there for a moment before stepping back. "We need to find somewhere to rest. I'm soaked." He turned his back then to retrieve his jacket, and after a moment's consideration, slipped it on properly. It wasn't much of an umbrella anyway. His hat would have to do the work until they found shelter.

"Grab all the stuff, and let's go."

He waited for Adonis to comply, and when they walked away, he didn't look back. They were long gone before it occurred to him that he hadn't said goodbye at all.

((Myles Roux continued in This entire area is quite dank.))

Adonis didn't feel any calmer but it kind of helped to have Myles ordering him around to do things and he really did need the distraction from what he had done. He just stayed silent and he nodded his head to agree with Myles' words. He didn't even have the energy to talk to him yet and he wondered if he was ever going to be okay again. No, he was never going to be okay anymore. He had to live with being a monster and try to do things the right way. But what was the right way? He wasn't sure yet. Maybe he would find out soon; he needed to focus on the path that was leading forward and he wondered if it was the light path or the dark path....

Adonis made sure that he had all of the belongings (including Tristan's own bags) and he took one final look back at Tristan, his heart was feeling full of guilt and regret. He didn't know how he was supposed to act on his messed-up emotions and he just wished that he could move forward without a lingering scent of self-hatred and self-loathing. He needed to be stronger. He needed to make himself take that step forward.

"I'm sorry, Tristan. G-Goodbye."

He then went to follow after Myles who was ahead of him.

((Adonis Cohen continued in This entire area is quite dank.))

As he stood behind the trees and watched, he was hoping for Myles to leave and make things easier. No, forget hoping, he was expecting him to leave after Adonis just murdered his friend. With the way he was yelling at first it was easy to suspect such a thing would happen

So color him suprised when somehow, this wasn't happening in front of him and instead they would keep going together with Myles in charge. He would find it emotional if it weren't infuriating.

Brandon kept himself low as the two grabbed their things and ventured out. He stood still for several seconds watching their retreating forms before deciding to get away from here. He didn't bother to check what Tristan had on him. It wasn't worth it.

As he walked away, in his mind he couldn't put it together exactly why, it couldn't be friendship since that seemed pretty broken. Not guilt nor forgiveness, this wasn't some fuck off anime trumpeting forgiving your enemies and then walking hand in hand towards a happy ending.

So that leaves usefulness which he could see. As long as you don't let him make choices as he looked behind briefly at the corpse of Tristan.

He would definitely keep that in mind.

((Brandon Murphy continued in This entire area is quite dank))