Survival Of The Fittest

Andy? Is this guy for real?

Andrew gave Shawn an incredulous look after hearing his name shortened like that; no one called him Andy, and those that did haven't done so in years, and they sure as shit were closer to him as people than fuckin' Shawn Bellamy of all.

"Fuckin'... alright, I'll check."

"Andy, huh..." He mumbled as he turned and started walking back to the stairs. Whoever was in the room was freaked by the noise. Pretty clear why all things considered, but what a damn pain having to go down those stairs again.

Well, whatever, just a quick check on what's going on and bail if it's someone getting eaten or something.

Wait, what was that sound?

Andrew stopped as his eyes widened at the noise that came from the stairs. Someone else was here, and "Andy" had no idea if they were friendly or not.

"Shawn, the stairs!" He shouted as he readied his bag in case someone was about to start shit; he'd chuck this motherfucker in whoever's face was down there.

Shit.

Adam froze in place. And his stealth approach was doing so well. Though he still had a chance to leave quietly, as an ear-piercing scream was now emitting from upstairs, overlapping with Shawn’s equally loud expletive. Jesus, this place was noisy.

Seconds after the screaming ended, Adam heard a much closer Andrew yell to Shawn about the stairs.

Shit.

Should he make a run for it? His legs shook from exhaustion. He may be on the track team, but making a circuit around a fucking island was too much even for him. He should just make peace with the two boys. Maybe he can get some use out of them.

Or maybe he just wanted someone to talk to. It’s been a while.

“Alright, alright! Don’t shoot!” Adam shouted back at Andrew, swivelling around and holding his hands up as a sign of surrender to Andrew’s non-existent gun.

So much was going on right now. A scream from downstairs, a corpse under the bed, and now somebody else was here. Wendy took a few deep breaths to try and calm down.

Wendy needed to get out of the room. She couldn’t stay in a room with a corpse. She quickly made her way to the bed, grabbed her things, the duffel bag, and the shield thingy.

“I don’t want to stay in here,” she said to the boy, who’s name was apparently Shawn. He was standing outside the door waiting for his friend, Andy, who went to investigate the noise.

She made her way to the hallway, with the weird shield stuffed in her duffel bag. She heard Andy and another boy talking.

“Who is it?,” she asked.

There was foam at the mouth of the body, and now, it was clearly gasping for air.

((Zhijuan start))

As she laid there, gasping for air, she found herself thinking about all of those people she watched die on YouTube. Or listened to on Spotify. Or read from Wikipedia. She felt the oxygen leaving her body. Making it harder and harder to think and to function.

(Zhijuan often prided herself with her ability to think and her ability to function. This was quite the opposite of what she was looking for in life.)

Hard to reach.

Distant.

Zhijuan vomited.

Every time Shawn thought he and Andrew had the situation under control, another curveball would come crashing through the window to throw everything off kilter again.

Andrew didn't get shot, which was ultimately a good thing as far as his own safety was concerned. The fact that Mr Pink was willing to throw his hands up and seemingly surrender to them was promising, though he still wasn't quite off the hook about the ruckus downstairs, and there was no guarantee that he wasn't readying himself to pull a fast one.

For the moment, Shawn let Andrew handle things with Mr Pink, instead turning to Wendy as she emerged from the room afraid and with her bag in hand. He couldn't help but notice that her instinct was to put her weapon away rather than start wielding it, which was... Reassuring, in a way, even if it meant he likely couldn't rely on her if things go to hell.

"It's, uh..." he'd reply when she asked about the newcomer, turning to the Pink guy down the corridor. "I don't know, some guy with pink hair? Ring any bells?"

He'd briefly glance past her at the body under the bed, gulping before then turning back to Wendy. "I take it you have no idea how the hell... They ended up under there?" he'd ask, gesturing towards the bedroom with his glass bottle.

Before Wendy could answer however, the corpse would let out a sudden gasp and start vomiting all over the floor.

"MOTHER FUCK!?!" he'd exclaim as he scrambled away from the doorframe, stumbling backwards with his bottle raised before almost bumping up against Andrew's back. "Holy shit, she was alive the whole time?!?"

A scream downstairs, and then homeboy shows up? And now there's somebody else in the room this entire time? Somebody Shawn had thought was dead?

Way too much was happening at once. Andrew would deal with this and let Shawn take the lead elsewhere.

But, in case he needed a push.

"Shawn, whatever it is, deal with it!" He briefly turned his head back towards Shawn and barked out. The dude better not flake out on him now, or he'd chase him down and dunk his head down a toilet.

"You!" He turned his head back and stared with narrowed eyes at the boy.

"Did you have anything to do with the scream downstairs? I ain't in the mood for bullshit!"

“What? No!” Adam retorted to Andrew’s question. What, is he being accused of murder? A crime he has yet to commit?

“I just ran the length of an island,” he let his legs wobble to prove a point, “and I got here after either you, Shawn or screamy down there did. There were footprints in the snow outside and a misplaced chair by the time I came in.”

A pause. Then, “Are you gonna let me come up there or what?”

It was dangerous to ask that. Andrew may not have a weapon on him, but what he did have was about two inches of height compared to Adam. Not to mention he was physically fit, and Adam knew next to nothing about him other than attaching a name to a face. Even if he got past Andrew, there was still Shawn and whoever they were talking to. He might be able to muscle through one guy, but three? Better to turn back now.

But Shawn had screamed once again about something prior to Andrew’s accusatory question, and that made Adam curious. And what was he if not a slave to his whims?

Water dripped off of Adam’s clothes, and an involuntary shiver shot through him.

Wendy turned around to see what Shawn was screaming at. To her surprise, the body under the bed wasn’t dead after all. And it just vomited.

“Oh-Oh my God!,” Wendy exclaimed.

This girl looked familiar. After taking a couple seconds to think, Wendy remembered her being the girl who spilled coffee on her at the mall. She looked like she was in pain. Wendy looked at Shawn, unsure of what to do.

“Should-Should we help her?,” Wendy asked Shawn.

Zhijuan's limbs contorted.

(Like a dancer. Or like a contortionist. More like the former, if Zhijuan had to guess.)

The flow of vomit didn't stop. It went from yellow to bile to red; bright red. Blood-spattered vomit covered the floor and the area, her body wracking into painful spasms.

(If she had to guess, she was in shock.)

Her body couldn't stop shaking. She wanted to say something like 'please' or 'help me' but the words were distant. She felt so faraway.

(Zhijuan guessed that dying felt like this.)

"Yeah yeah, I've got it!" Shawn replied, not exactly enthused about checking in on the girl emptying her guts all over the floor, but odds are she was likely less dangerous then the pink haired feller Andrew was dealing with.

He'd creep tentatively down along the corridor before stopping just outside the room, peeking around the corner to check in on her. His face turned pale the moment he laid his eyes on the ghoulish sight, covering his mouth and moving away as he shuddered in horror.

What the fuck was happening to her? Had she drunk a bottle of bleach? Poisoned? Possessed by fucking Lucifer? He'd never seen anything quite like it, all that blood, the convulsions, the...

Wendy asked if they should help her. In that moment Shawn would pause, hesitantly turning back around to take another look at the girl. She was clearly not having a good time, and though Shawn wasn't exactly a doctor he suspected that unless she got some serious help, she could very well be on her way out.

"I... I think she might be beyond saving..." he'd say quietly, making sure only Wendy could hear him as he briefly glanced back towards Andrew to make sure he was still distracted.

"At this point, I... I think the only thing either of us can do to help her is..." he'd continue, gulping for effect as he looked at Wendy. "Is to ease her suffering, somehow."

Andrew crossed his arms and kept his stare on the boy. He was dripping all over the floor, and he could tell he was cold from the way he was acting, but Andrew didn't move to respond.

He's saying he's got nothing to do with the noise downstairs, apparently came in after someone else was outside, which could have been Shawn. But it could have been someone else entirely if what he said was true, but he could be lying.

There was more screaming down the hall, and Andrew needed to know what was going on over there, at least before they peg how dangerous pinky here was.

"You can get in if you keep your hands up and close to the wall." He said, keeping his eyes on him, with a brief glance down the hall towards Shawn to see the girl out of the room, too far away to tell who she was yet.

"Don't try anything now, or I'll get mad."

Keep your hands up and close to the wall, is this guy for real?

“Fine, fine,” Adam did as he was told, approaching the wall with his hands still raised. He slowly made his way up the rest of the stairwell and past Andrew, keeping his eyes locked on him.

Adam stayed next to a wall for a moment too long, then stepped away and gave Andrew a short bow, “Happy now?”

The scream from upstairs revealed herself as Wendy, yet another person here Adam barely knew about. He couldn't pull out his list now, not with so many eyes on him, but he didn’t need to. Wendy was given a…what the hell was that? Some sort of shield thing? Whatever it was, it had a blade attached to it, and that wasn't a good sign.

Still, Wendy was short and looked out of shape, so if he could just lure her away from Shawn and Andrew…

Shawn and Wendy were in conversation; a fifth person was here, someone who was apparently dying. Change of plans.

“Everything alright?” he called out to the pair, masking his voice with concern, “What’s going on in there?”

Wendy grimaced. Was Shawn seriously suggesting putting this girl out of her misery? Even if she, nor anyone else present for that matter, had any idea how to help this girl, Wendy didn't want to have to resort to... that.

The boy on the stairs Andy was talking to asked what was going on.

"Uh-um, there's a girl in there," Wendy said, pointing to the room, "She's not looking good. We, uh, don't think she's... going to be okay."

(She once walked next to a black cat for 13 miles before thanking her luck.)

(It felt like the same.)

(Was she God or just a circulation of her blood?)

(Was she melting or just rolling in the mud?)

(Figure-eighting.)

Zhijuan's body started to move. She tried to prop herself from off the ground when she heard someone comment about putting her down.

(She won't even feel anything.)

Zhijuan shook her head.

Judging from the look on Wendy's face, she wasn't all that keen on what Shawn was inferring. He could hardly blame her, but perhaps with a little extra coaxing and a dash of emotional blackmail, she might be convinced to not let the poor girl there continue suffering unnecessarily. 

And if not? Well, the girl was probably going to die anyway, with or without anyone expediting the process. As nice as it would be to frame Wendy and paint a big target on her back, he wasn't too fussed if he at least made sure neither of them did anything to help her. One less competitor to worry about either way, without him having to so much as lift a finger.

He wasn't aware of course that Zhijuan was currently trying to assert that she wasn't dying anytime soon, but frankly he didn't care much about what she had to say on the matter.

Unfortunately, Mr Pink decided to butt in, with Wendy turning to address him and alert the others of the situation. Well, so much for that idea. Much as he doubted that either Andrew or Pinky could do much to save the girl, he wasn't keen on letting them think they had a shot at doing so. That'd just be counterproductive, after all.

"That's an understatement..." he added, with a snort. "Poor girl's writhing in agony, puking blood everywhere. No idea why, like she's been... Poisoned, or something..."

He covered his mouth, taking advantage of his genuine queesiness about the gruesome sight to sell his point.

"I'm gonna be frank with you, I think..." he gulped. "I think she's a goner. Unless either of you have a doctorate stashed away, I don't think there's anything we can-"

It was at that point that there was another loud scream from downstairs, Shawn jolting once again before turning to Pinky with an alarmed look in his eyes. "Jesus, fffuckin... You any idea what the hell is going on down there?!?" he asked, more than happy to change the subject.