Survival Of The Fittest

Cassie couldn't understand how Madeleine made it all look so easy.

((Cassie Chao continued from Shutdown))

It had been several hours since the two of them had left the relative warmth of the campground behind them, coming around to the afternoon as they slowly made their way through the mountainous trail.

The route they were taking to the mining town looked so straightforward when they had planned it out. According to the map it was almost right next to them, neither of them even having to use their compass that much as they simply followed along the dirt path leading out from the campground, only needing to consult a map when they came across a fork in the road. Even then the road signs they came across made it clear which way the town was, leaving her certain that they would be there within an hour or so at most.

She failed however to take the mountain into consideration.

The most direct path to the mining town took them up along said mountain, winding through a steep and narrow pass that took a lot more effort to travel through than Cassie had anticipated. At one point she suggested that they double back and find another way around, but the alternatives weren't ideal. They could try to hug the northern coastline, but there weren't any paths to follow, the route likely taking three times as long assuming they didn't end up getting lost. Or they could go the long way around, but that would take even longer and take them to the research station instead. Like it or not, this was the only realistic route they could take if they wanted to reach the town before nightfall. 

Madeleine didn't seem to be having as much trouble with it, though she was an experienced hiker. She was probably used to rough mountain trails such as this. Cassie on the other hand found the idea of walking to school from home daunting, and often struggled to keep up or go for very long without taking a short break. The fact that she wasn't too great about heights didn't exactly help either.

They made a brief stop at one point to have lunch, though calling it that was generous. Cassie wasn't looking forward to her future diet of bread, crackers and survival ration bars, not that she really had much of a choice in the matter. She did notice signs of wildlife, such as deer and mountain goats, though the thought of actually trying to hunt such beautiful creatures made her skin crawl.

She tried to imagine she was tucking into a delicious burger as she munched into her bread. Just a small piece and a cracker, at her behest. They had to make their rations last as long as they could after all, and she suspected the bread would go bad long before any of the ration bars. She wasn't much of a survivalist, but she did know a thing or two about food preservation.

Once they were done with lunch - and more importantly, caught their breath - they would continue on along that narrow pathway, Cassie hugging the mountain and staying as far from that steep slope as she could. The thought of slipping and tumbling down was... Not one she really wanted to dwell on. Fortunately, she wouldn't be dwelling on it for very long.

Unfortunately, the reason for that was that she spotted someone up ahead. Two someones in fact, a pair of blonde girls she didn't recognise at this distance, her innate reaction being to duck behind a rock and motion Madeleine to be quiet with a finger to her lips.

((Madeleine Molliqaj continued from Shutdown))

Well, they were in a death game and they'd probably ran into someone who'd just killed their friend. But if Madeleine closed her eyes and ignored the tightness around her throat, the butterflies in her stomach and the urge that she'd managed to fully suppress halfway up the mountain to made sure they weren't being followed by Connie, it was kind of like the good days this summer where her and Dad had went hiking.

But, really, it was far too cold to pretend it was the summer, the path was a little too treacherous to close her eyes and instead of Dad, she had Cassie. Although she was good company and Madeleine was grateful that she wasn't alone with her thoughts!

Really, if she hadn't had a collar around her neck and a terrorist madman telling her and what, maybe a hundred other kids that all had to kill each other to get out of here, Madeleine would have hiked this willingly. It would probably be kinda tough for someone like Cassie who didn't do this for fun, but some of the sights up here would take Madeleine's breath away if the atmosphere wasn't already doing that job. But as it was, she had Cassie (although again, she was good company) and it was a little slow going lest she fall off the mountain.

Lost in her own thoughts, she'd forgotten to mention her suspicions to Cassie and indeed, didn't even notice the two girls until Cassie stopped and motioned her over to the rock. Madeleine was quick to join her, poking her head over the rock as subtly as she could to watch them. "Do you wanna wait? I don't see any weapons." She whispered, her grip on the weird sword suddenly feeling clammy.

Medea opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. What exactly did she have in mind? She was so excited over the prospect about duct tape that she got a little ahead of herself. Escape, maybe? Was that something she could pull off? From what she remembered, not many people have pulled that off in Survival of the Fittest. In theory it was doable, but any betting person would put their money on the clandestine terrorist organization than the plucky teenage heroes.

Medea hummed in thought, tapping the map idly as she mulled over her thoughts. She had more technical skills than most folks, but she would be lying if she said she was confident that her knowledge on electronics could trump the systems and devices that had been refined over the years. Given their situation, would it be so wrong to at least make the attempt? She knew the worst case scenario was that they died, but death was already a possibility even if she didn’t try.

She folded up the map and stuffed it back into her bag.

“Not too sure,” she admitted. “I will need to check on some stuff first. It is why I wanted to go to that set of buildings! I wanna see if I can scrounge up something useful first before I settle on anything.”

She heard some noise nearby, she turned her vision towards it for a moment. She stood silent for a few seconds, then relaxed. Probably nothing.

June didn't believe in nothings.

There'd been the scattering of pebbles, and either the whispering of wind or just plain old whispers. It sent shivers up her spine either way.

"Hello? Who's out there?" she called out.

She called in the same position she'd been in earlier, still just opposite Medea, head turned behind to where the sounds had emanated from. Still frozen in place.

More than anything, she really, really wished Medea hadn't thrown out her weapon.

A small head peeped up from behind a rock further down the path, let out a meep of fright, before ducking back down.

"I-I-I think they might have seen us!" Cassie stuttered quietly, clutching her ice skate close to her chest.

In an ideal world, they would have turned around and gone back, seek out some alternate route through the mountain. Anything to avoid a potential confrontation, knowing that anyone they came across could potentially be Olive's killer. She was well aware however that wasn't really an option, given how narrow that mountain pass was and how long it took them to get this far in the first place. As much as she hated to admit it, the only way they were going to get to the other side of that mountain before nightfall was by... Interacting with strangers.

The sheer horror.

That said, as Madeleine pointed out they didn't appear to be armed, and the same couldn't be said about them. Well, Madeleine was armed anyway, she wasn't really sure if her shoe counted even with the steel blade protruding from it's sole. Nevertheless it meant they had a certain degree of control over the situation, so if they really had no choice but to reveal themselves, they could at least do so knowing they had the advantage if things went... Badly.

"I... I think we're going to have say hello back..." she whimpered, with the same sense of dread one might have about having to wade through sewage.

It looked like they'd have the advantage if things went south, but that didn't mean that the two girls didn't maybe have a gun or something hidden that they'd pull and shoot if someone popped out. Still, they couldn't exactly go back. And even if they had met one probably-murderous classmate, that didn't mean that they'd somehow manage to meet two more murderous classmates on their path away from the first one.

"Stay here, alright?" Madeleine whispered, glancing at Cassie. "If anything happens, just uh, go back the way we came, not like that'll happen, aha." Even if her brain spoke with surety, the nervous gaze of Madeleine and the gentle trembling betrayed what her soul truly thought. With a sigh and closed eyes, trying to push that anxiety and worry back down to somewhere where it could wait to be processed with another million emotions, Madeleine sprang out, holding the weird sword with the blade pointed down.

"Hey! I'm just, uh, passing by. Don't mean any harm!" If they did decide to shoot her, at least her wording would hopefully make them think there was only one. But, but she totally wouldn't run straight into a bunch of murderers right after fleeing another one! That would just be really bad luck. And hey, Madeleine was pretty sure she'd used up all her bad luck getting stuck here anyhow.

June called out, and Medea shuffled anxiously. She was really hoping that she had only imagined hearing things, but if June heard something then there was definitely something out there. While she wasn’t afraid of people, her adrenaline was raised up from that half hour-long run from the town and up a mountain, so she was feeling much more nervous than she felt she normally would.

But someone did appear, a girl with a tan complexion with what she assumed were Greek facial features, though Medea was never good at knowing those sorts of things.

"Hey! I'm just, uh, passing by. Don't mean any harm!"

Medea blinked, looking at the newcomer curiously for a moment. She didn’t know what June would think of that claim, but Medea didn’t doubt the sincerity of it. It hadn’t been that long and she doubted everyone would lose their moral integrity. Besides, she felt that if she didn’t give people the benefit of the doubt then she would be in a worse position overall.

“Oh! Hello there!” She called out, waving her hand and smiling. “I’m Medea! Not sure if you, uh, knew that or not.” She chuckled awkwardly. She then gestured over to June, “And this is my friend June!”

Better the devil you knew. That was why June had called out, because if someone had been lurking in the bushes, waiting to murder them, she would've rather known their odds rather cower and risk being shot in the back.

The person they were facing now, however, was this waifish girl, some paddle with sharp blades trembling in her hands, one of the model UN people. And, seeing her quake like that, it just,

June kneaded her hands desperately, rolls of congealed blood and dirt flaking off.

Madeleine probably wasn't any harm, even if she had the deadliest, the only weapon among the three. June could tell just in the way she held herself. But, there was this creeping thought, what if she'd looked at June's hands, what if she knew? Was that why she was so scared? She'd come from over the mountain, while June and Medea had come from the foothills, so she couldn't have been at the church, right? Was she scared of her? Was this just how all of her classmates would treat her now?

There was a bit of a cloud over her, static beginning to fill her mind. She'd done a horrible thing to Iris in the church. She'd done that. And maybe Medea didn't realize it, since June hadn't exactly been able to spell out detail by detail what had happened, or maybe she was thinking up the most charitable interpretation possible because she was Medea, but aside from her and K, almost nobody else would give her that much benefit of the doubt.

Everything was just so embarrassing. Not that she'd ever let Medea or anyone else know, but she almost wished they were actually facing someone out to kill, rather than Madeleine. At least then she wouldn't be the guiltiest party of the trio, at least then she wouldn't be the threat.

Medea was trying her best to put in a good word for the both of them though, and June would've felt even worse putting that work to waste. So, with her puffy eyes and her ragged voice, she chirped out a small 'Hey.'

She didn't wave her hand.

And then, she pushed things a bit further. Again, she wanted to know her odds.

"We don't mean any harm either but just, who were you whispering to earlier?"

Cassie nodded her head when Madeleine offered to speak on their behalf, more than happy to lay low for the meantime.

Saying that, there was a small part of her that felt somewhat ashamed for letting Madeleine risk herself like this, whilst she cowered behind a rock ready to flee if something went wrong. She was already feeling bad enough as it was for slowing Madeleine down, unable to shake the feeling that she was holding her back somehow. Despite her reservations, she didn't want to be a hindrance, didn't want people to think she was useless or unable to chip in.

Nevertheless, she remained hidden. Or at least she did until it became clear they were also aware of her presence, and not wanting to put Madeleine in a bind, her head would peep out from behind that rock again as she gave the two girls a wave.

"H-hey, um, don't mind me..." she says, the top half of her head poking up from behind that rock, feeling deeply ashamed for the sheer audacity of existing in the same vicinity as another person.

Her eyes flicked between the two blonde girls up the road. Neither of whom she knew very well, though Medea at least seemed pretty friendly. June... Less so.

"W-we were just heading to town. Sorry for, um... Intruding... Just that the path is very narrow, and... Stuff... Sorry!"

Medea and June. Madeleine recognised Medea, she was a similiarly friendly sort! She'd never had the chance to sit down and talk with her in any way other than smiling and politely exchanging greetings in the hallway, but it didn't seem like SOTF had crushed her spirit any. Between the shakiness of her own hands and how unsure she still felt, and how June looked like she'd just been sobbing, Madeleine desperately wished that she could leech some of that somehow still positive energy from her. At least, she thought to herself, it seemed like she was the best-armed person on that little path.

June, on the other hand, seemed a little more wary of her, having sussed out that someone else was there. Cassie then popped out, skittish as ever, already apologising. 'We were whispering because we were worried that you might be murderers and we were debating turning around to avoid you' sounded like it might not help smooth things over, and honestly Madeleine didn't want to admit that she had been wary of Medea. If she'd recognised her, she wouln't have been so worried. So instead, Madeleine smiled. "Oh, uh, Cassie was just worried. We just got away from someone who I'm, uh, 90% certain killed someone so we're a little jumpy, haha!" It wasn't really a lie. Connie had frazzled her brain a little, and now that she wasn't here - Madeleine looked over her shoulder just to be sure - and they were with normal, non-creepy people, Madeleine let herself relax.

"How, uh, how are you guys doing? Run into anyone who's uhm, acting weird?"

When a second person popped up, Medea instinctively smiled at her. One of them was named Cassie while the other… Medea wasn’t sure. She didn’t get a name. They looked familiar at least so it is only a matter of narrowing the name down. Them trying to get away from someone who might have killed someone else put a bit of a damper on her mood. It made her sad that people were being hurt, but she had to remind herself that she needed to be strong. She could cry later for the dead, pray for them even. For now, she needed to be in the moment.

“Um, I’m afraid I have not seen anyone ‘weird’” Medea answered. “But I am fortunate enough to meet a few friendly faces! That gives me some hope!”

She looked off to the distance, seeing the position of the sun and frowning.

“Now, I don’t mean to rush us through this, but time is of the essence?” She said meekly. She looked from them to June, giving her friend a smile before turning back to them. “You guys can come with us! We could work together if you want! More hands on deck and all that.”

She picked up her bag and began walking towards them, determined to head back down the mountain. It was a return trip she was not exactly eager after all that running. Her muscles were sore as heck, but she needed to keep moving if they wanted to get through this. Maybe they could go back to town for the rest of the day to rest, but they would need to get to their destination eventually.

“Rightio, let’s get off this mountain! I don’t want to be up here any longer than I need to!” She said, beginning the march back down the rocky and snow covered slopes.

((Medea Parth continued Daylight…))

The other girl, Cassie, revealed herself quickly enough. Not that it mattered, given Medea, with her roller coaster of a demeanor, had suddenly decided the time to leave the scene was yesterday. Not that June had wanted to leave Cassie and Madeleine hanging, because even if June wanted to, she couldn't possibly guess what Medea was so excited about anyways. And not that June even wanted them to come, she guessed, because if they hadn't yet figured out she was the one 'acting weird,' that she was the threat among the four of them, they might figure it out tomorrow morning, when the terrorists did their announcements.

She followed quickly, left without a word. Only bothered glancing back to make sure they weren't following, sneaking behind. Only looked at their feet, not their faces. If she didn't look them in the eyes, then she wouldn't have the chance to see the fear in their eyes if, when they realized what she was.

((June Madison continues in Everyone's Asleep In The House But Me))

Oh... 

It seemed that Medea was in a hurry to go somewhere. That's fine, Cassie didn't want to hold her up or anything, although the two of them seemed to be heading in the same direction they were going. Which put them in the awkward spot of having to follow them in order to continue their path down the mountain road, much to Cassie's chagrin.

They could of course join up with them. The offer was there, after all, though June seemed as keen on the idea as Cassie. The idea of intruding on others made her feel physically ill, not to mention her general squeamishness about the idea of grouping up with too many people. Bigger groups meant more security, sure, but they also increased the chances of a bad apple ruining the bunch.

Medea at least had a genuine kindness about her. June however, she wasn't so sure. Cassie wasn't that great at reading people, but even she could tell there was something off about the way June looked at them. She had been around enough people who had given her similar looks to know that usually meant she was an unwelcome presence. 

Still... Regardless of her own thoughts on the matter, she felt like she could probably trust Medea at least, and she already had more trust in Madeleine than she did for most of their classmates. To a certain degree, it was kinda up to Madeleine as to whether or not they took Medea's offer, since she was even less keen on the idea of going it alone.

"Do... Do you think we should f-follow them?" she asks, clinging onto her boot tightly as she moves out from behind that rock, slowly making her way along that road as they continued onwards.

Regardless of their decision, the sun wasn't going to wait on them. Either way, she just hoped they could find some shelter before nightfall.

((Cassie Chao continued Home))

"I think it's best we go our own way once we, uh, find a fork or whatever."

((Madeleine Molliqaj continued in Little Things))