Survival Of The Fittest

“Jonathan! Stop!”


(( Emmett Bunnell continued from Reborn))

His worst fears were confirmed, seeing Jonathan attack Willow with his chainsaw. Adonis’ chainsaw. Marco’s chainsaw. Even though he wasn’t previously superstitious he had more than enough proof from recent events that the damn thing was probably cursed, though, through a reality check, Emmett knew the blame for Jonathan turning was squarely on Emmett’s own shoulders.

Emmett abandoned Jon to follow a quest he never had any intention of completing, and now someone else was suffering because of that. Once again, people were hurt because Emmett didn’t step up to do the right thing when he should have.

Emmett raised the rifle. He didn’t want to use it, but if he had to so be it. Today would finally be the day he did something right.

“I’m not gonna let you fuck up like this Jon! Just put that thing down and walk away.”

Katrina remained in place as Willow and Jonathan talked. Both of them were throwing out terms that would result in one person's death. Katrina stayed in place, keeping a tight grip on the nodachi as the two talked. It clearly wasn't going well, so Katrina removed a little more of the sword out of its sheathe. It wasn't until they finally went for the attack that Katrina pulled the entire sword out.

She clutched the handle and watched. Willow got a hit on him with the whip, but Jonathan brute forced his way back. Katrina winced with each hit. All she could think with each nudge and kick about how bad it must have hurt. But it wasn't until Willow got kicked in the stomach that Katrina really reacted.

"Stop! She's pregnant!"

But Jon probably didn't hear. He turned his chainsaw on, and Katrina listened to the familiar sound that eviscerated Sierra. Okay, forget their pact. Katrina had to do something.

Unfortunately for her, someone else was determined to stop the fight. Emmett appeared, rifle aimed at Jonathan. She didn't know much about him or what he could do, but maybe he could ensure Willow wouldn't die here.

Jonathan heard the voice that he had been looking for and he was hesitating in caving the saw into Willow's skull. He turned his head a little to see the boy with the rifle and he felt himself grimacing. Was Emmett trying to be a hero now? Wasn't Jonathan trying to do the hero part? He guessed he had failed in that with his fuck-up with Sierra and he had just been seeing Emmett then. He really had messed things up.

"She's.... What...? What?!"

Katrina called out that Willow was pregnant and Jonathan felt himself falter in what he was doing to Willow. He took a few steps back away from the girl he had fought with awkwardly and he lowered the chainsaw in front of him. He wasn't going to let her get away, but first he had to take away the problem that was now here.

Emmett....

Jonathan turned to his side and now he was just concentrating on the boy with the gun in front of him. Not that far away from him. "Trying to be the hero now, huh?" He said more or less bitter and he gritted his teeth out of a case of nervous nerves. "....You're too late now, Emmett. I can't let you get in my way. So you should leave instead."

Oh.

Mhm.

Willow rolled her eyes when Jonathan stepped back. She kinda wanted to get chainsaw'ed a bit just to know how it would feels. It wouldn't be the day to get new sutures, tragically. She tried to get up but her body refused. She wanted to curl up and vomit her guts out but at the same time, there was a knot in her throat that stopped her from breathing.

She kept laughing with her gagging noises mixed with them. She reached out to Katrina.

"Help me," she gabbled, "helpmehelpme."

It sounded more desperate than she would have liked but it had to do for now. Her fingers dug at the whip, pushing herself back. The tree she had slammed into was still there, greeting her back with pain. She was probably a bit more than just bruised and scratched up than she'd like to admit, but she felt good.

She felt real fucking good to know that the emptiness was pushed away into a new corner.

"Kat, please."

Katrina watched as the boys spoke. Jonathan did seem shaken by Willow's pregnancy, and Emmett was still holding the gun on Jonathan. Katrina sighed a bit, finally feeling like she could breathe for a moment.

It was just for a moment, of course, because she could hear Willow.

Willow was reaching out for Katrina, begging for help. Katrina nodded and hurried over to her friend.

She knelt down and put one arm around Willow's chest and began to hoist her up. As she did, she turned back to the boys. Her other arm still had the nodachi, so she raised it in their general direction. She wasn't sure what good it would be against a chainsaw and a rifle, but she had to at least show she was serious.

"Okay," she whispered to Willow. "We should try to go. Once we get the chance."

Oh God, Aw fuck, she’s pregnant too? What the fuck, Jon? What the fuck did you get yourself into?

There was some sense of relief when he turned to face Emmett, and Emmett saw the realization on his face. Jonathan was shocked with the news as much as Emmett was. There was still hope that maybe he could deescalate this.

He felt sick at Jon’s words though, considering the last thing he told him when he left him behind. This was Emmett’s fault, and he had to face up to that. “J-Jonathan... I was wrong. Things weren’t great for me, they still aren’t; but I was wrong, and I get that now... I don’t know what happened to you while I was gone, but I know whatever is going on right now is also wrong, and I know this isn’t you. You’re better than this, please don’t waste your life like this. Don’t make me do this.”

Weapon aimed at Jonathan, he turned his head to Katrina. “Hey... Get her out of here, if things get messy I’ll cover you.”

Jonathan knew that what he was doing was wrong and that he was not going to be able to take back what he was doing. But Emmett's words were pissing him off and Jonathan didn't like that Emmett was trying to be the voice of reason now. He felt so bitter after Emmett left to go on a so-called murder spree that was supposed to end with Emmett killing himself. Jon needed a friend. And now Emmett was trying to be that after everything that happened.

"....Heh."

Jonathan was staring at the weapon in Emmett's hands and he didn't dare more from where he was standing, the saw was still on in his hands.

"It's too late trying to be the good guy, Emmett! You don't get to play that role anymore..." He snapped at him with a look of sheer anger and on the inside, he just wanted to get Emmett out of his sight. He didn't need anyone anymore. The only one who cared about him was Declyn and now he was just gone. Jonathan had wanted to try to be good for people, but he messed up by not being good at connection. "You don't know me at all, Emmett. I'm not better than this. I wanted to kill Willow. I wanted to kill Sierra. I want to kill you, Emmett."

"Leave... Leave, now!" Emmett could tell this wasn't going to end the way he hoped. With the way he was talking, it was reminding him a lot of Adonis. Emmett was in this exact situation before, and it got Cecil killed. Emil. Sapphire. If he failed now, three more lives were at stake, not including his own.

He turned back to Jon. "Yeah, well... I was wrong then, and I may be wrong now, but from my time with you, I'm thinking what you're saying is a load of shit. You don't want to do this, you say you do, but you really don't...." Emmett lowered the gun, keeping at ready if he needed to draw, but he'd rather Jon look at his eyes than the seven barrels of his volley gun. "Believe me, because I know what you're going through, and it's not the end. Whatever you're feeling, I felt it too, and I know for a fact that you don't want to kill them..."

The barrel pointed up again, leveled at Jonathan's chest.

"But if you want someone to blame, I'm here, and I get it. If you really wanna kill someone, and it's me, then so be it, but I'm warning you; I'm not going to die for nothing. I hesitated before and it cost me everything, and I'm not going to hesitate again. If there's one thing I'm going to do before I die, it's going to be the right thing, and I've lost too much and survived to long to throw it all away for nothing now!" Emmett stared Jonathan in the eyes.

"I'm going to give you until the count of three. Either you put your weapon down before then, or I shoot you. Either we can all walk away, or me, or you, or both of us die, but no matter what, Willow and Katrina walk away from this. You aren't going to hurt them, Jon."

Emmett's finger tightened around the trigger.

"One..."

"I can't let you have all the fun, Emmett." Jonathan felt like his body was feeling more heavier than normal and he knew that he had to move fast. But he couldn't just rush at Emmett. That was suicidal. "If you don't stop me now.... I'll just go and kill Ivy to make Myles suffer. So you don't get to win here. You can chase me if you want.... Like how I was trying to chase after you after you abandoned me. I buried Declyn with my bare hands. H-Haha..."

He just stared at Emmett with a blank stare, feeling the exhaustion and irritation sinking in more.

"If you want to stop me, Emmett. Try harder!"

He then dashed to the side towards the trees and he stumbled through some bushes, making sure to stay hidden about the trees. Stopping to take a breather behind a tree and he turned off the chainsaw so Emmett wouldn't know where he was. He had to make sure that he had the advantage this time and he just didn't want to get shot at again. Emmett was right about him not wanting to do this. But he wasn't sure if it was just a trap. What if Emmett was trying to be the good guy for now and then later he would just murder everyone anyway?

"Dammit.... I don't know what to believe anymore."

He could only hear silence for now. Did Emmett not come after him...?

"Hey, Emmett! Come on!!" He yelled out into the forest and he felt like his voice was echoing everywhere. He honestly wondered if he was losing his mind a little. He didn't know anymore and he didn't care in that moment. He just wanted Emmett all to himself. "ONLY ONE OF US IS GETTING OUT OF THIS!! Don't be a coward and take responsibility for once in your life!"

"Two..."

Emmett was going to have to do it. Fuck it. Remember this was your fault, Emmett, you did this.

"Thre- FUCK!" Jonathan ran off. He looked at Willow and Katrina, and lowered his gun. "I..." He had to look away. He wanted to tell them it was his fault. He wanted to apologize. There was a lot he wanted to say. He didn't have time. Fuck it! "Get to safety!" was the only thing he had time to say as he sprinted off into the treeline after Jon.

He ran from tree to tree, looking left and right for any sign of movement. He didn't hear Jonathan's chainsaw. He heard his voice though, taunting him. He was close. He slowed to a walk and raised his weapon. Only one of them, he said. Take responsibility...

Kill your weakness.

Emmett cocked his neck. "That's what I'm here to do, Jon. Since I been here, I've done nothing but fuck things up, and get my friends killed... Today that ends." He inhaled, his breath was shaky, and it wasn't from running. "I gave you a choice, we didn't have to do this, but you chose this, so one way or another, this ends!" He crossed a path, looked left and right, saw no sign of Jon. He wouldn't hesitate this time. Not like Adonis, not like Myles. This didn't feel right, but Jon made it clear that death was the only way.

"I was wrong, Jon! You did all you could, what happened to Cecil and Declyn, that wasn't your fault, and I'm sorry this ended up the way it did, but you're out of line now. Whatever you were doing back there, whatever you did to Sierra, that was on you, you were wrong, and if you're going to do it again, I can't let you leave this place alive!" Another tree, no sign of him. "You want to finish this, Jon? Then show yourself!"

He turned another corner, nothing. He looked up and saw one of Danya's cameras looking right at him. He stepped closer, and saw his reflection through it. Emmett looked awful. He felt as though he'd aged twenty years, and from his reflection, he looked it too. He could barely recognize himself, he was nothing more than a ghoul, a walking corpse. Emmett wanted to cry.

From the corner of the reflection, Emmett saw movement.

"No," she cracked, "I want to watch."

On her third try, she managed to get off the ground. She wobbled, her legs still feeling too weak to run. Katrina's grip on her was unfaltering even though if Willow just wanted to sit down.

Her eyes scanned for her stun gun. Her head shook around until she spotted the metal slug lying next to a conveniently placed rock. Willow laughed, she hadn't Sierra again. She turned her head, looking at both Jon and Em.

They were having a moment. Normally, Willow would kinda want to intrude and fuck around, but she wasn't physically able to right now.

She knew she was bleeding from somewhere, but it wasn't too bad. If only she couldn't feel the fresh blood staining her shirt on her back, that was annoying as shit.

"I ruined my shirt, Kat." She coughed out. "I ruined my fucking shirt."

Katrina paused when Willow said she wanted to watch. It sounded pretty creepy, but Katrina could understand. They needed to see what happened between the boys. If Emmett died, Jonathan would come after them, and they needed to be ready if that happened.

"Okay, we'll wait."

Willow then complained about her shirt being ruined. Katrina smirked a bit. She was back in her monogrammed shirt after Yuka ruined her Kennedy Center shirt.

"Yeah, we're not doing well on spare shirts. We should find more if we can."

Katrina sighed a bit, then her face returned to a neutral expression. They had to be ready in case Jonathan came back. Katrina had an idea of what that meant.

"Hey, Willow," she said, setting the nodachi on the ground.

She moved Sierra's gun off her shoulder and into her hands.

"Help me figure out how this works."

Jonathan was trying not to listen to Emmett's words to him and it was getting harder for him to block out the truth. He still felt like it had been his fault for not being there to stop Cecil from dying at the mansion. All because he was too distracted by a rotting corpse of a girl that he didn't need to feel sorry for in that moment. He even blamed himself for Adonis having to die too. He felt bad that Emmett had been the one who had to take Adonis out and then.... Everything just went more downhill after that.

Declyn died alone and I knew that Myles had been a bad person. I'm a terrible person for not warning Declyn because of how happy he was. Why didn't I just say anything?!

He glanced down at the chainsaw in his hands and he let out a quiet, shaky breath.

I can't back out of this now. I made my choice. I have to kill him....

He noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye and he noticed that Emmett was staring at something. A camera...? Why...? Emmett's back was to him and now it was his chance to take the other boy out of the game for good. He needed to move quickly and quietly as he didn't want Emmett to notice his movements or hearing his footsteps behind him. Jonathan couldn't afford to lose this fight now.

He moved around the tree slowly and he started to creep behind Emmett who was about ten steps in front of him, a look of discomfort was etched onto his face of guilt.

Emmett spun a 180.

The crack of the volleygun firing reverberated across the forest.

Jonathan had managed to dodge roll to the side into a bush and he had been lucky that he had already been moving to the side before Emmett could even shot him. He felt his body shaking as he was laying behind the bush and his breathing was getting a bit panicky. He needed to cal-

He felt something stinging.

He looked down at his free hand.

His pinky finger was missing.

And now he was bleeding onto the forest ground.

"Motherfuc…."

He hissed in sheer pain and he got himself up into a sitting position, making sure to crawl his way over to a tree to hide and recuperate.

"You almost got me there, Emmett! Nice try...!"