Survival Of The Fittest

It was only really hitting now how much Leslie really should've networked more, or at least made a more concerted effort to remember names and not just burn faces into his memory. Those names meant nothing to him, though from the split second he made himself visible he could kind of see that it was the sporty girl with the knee brace and the other who had the sister that kept cosplaying as a cat, like unironically.

He stopped packing for a brief second and looked over at Aracelis, his brow furrowed and palms momentarily turned up in confusion and mouthing out a word before he went back to shoving as much shit into his bag as he could.

There was a backdoor they could use, but they had to figure out how to distract or get around the newcomers. But reclaiming everything that wasn't nailed down was the first step. He could think about it as he kept packing up.

Juanita mentally facepalmed. She didn't know Aracelis very well and didn't recognize the other kid in the brief second that they were visible, but somehow she doubted that the cheerleader was going to respond positively to Ash's bold recruiting strategy of calling her out as a murderer and recounting her most recent public humiliation.

She gave Ash the same meaningful look that her mother gave her brothers when they acted up too much in church, and cleared her throat. Aracelis' question hadn't been directed towards her, but someone had to try and salvage this dumpster fire.

"We just want to talk," Juanita called out, backing a little further away from the doors. Aracelis didn't sound friendly, and the announcements had suggested she was packing a baseball bat in addition to whatever she might have looted from her victim. "We can... you know... share information. Who we've seen, who's injured, that kind of thing."

Her next sentence was nominally addressed to Aracelis, but Juanita fixed her gaze directly on Ash to make good and sure she was hearing it. "It's better to have allies than enemies out here, right?"

Whatever Ash wanted was irrelevant. Everything she'd seen, breathed, otherwise carefully sifted through the grit of her five senses since yesterday morning, none of it had been particularly welcome. Aracelis, for example, had been particularly unwelcome with her bullshit during that little social experiment called cheer elections. Things happened as they would, regardless of if anyone wanted them to happen.

Ash had an inkling that even the people on the island who'd already started drawing their beads hadn't fully internalized the callousness of the world. Ash could think of one girl in particular who definitely hadn't. Poor sweet Kitty. So went the saying, the default procedurally generated line for your average JEM NPC.

Ash, meanwhile, knew that girl better than to pity. It was like trying to make a storyline out of a predator defending its territory on instinct. No Attenborough to be found out here.

She considered the situation in brief. She had little doubt this wasn't going to work- neither of them had leverage. They had a church full of allies but allies was a strong word- the bonds that tied them together were shallower than corpse breath. Ash, once more, found herself haunted deeply by the feminine (Salem phraseology) urge to get it over with. Ideally she wouldn't be dying like a bitch in the process but that was a want.

She riposted the look of reproach Juanita offered her with a raised eyebrow. A jerk of the thumb the way of the voices in the darkness. A finger drawn over the throat.

No move from her yet, but she was close to calling the play.

Allies, that was what they wanted and they were hammering that point home. Aracelis grimaced, the idea of joining up with Ashlyn was an unpleasant one, almost as bad as teaming up with Dani. But Ashlyn herself was a psycho bitch, she did carry a certain determination. But those same qualities were also the absolute worst things about her. Whenever Aracelis had spent more than a few minutes interacting with her she had always had the urge to bash her head in. Aracelis shook off the goosebumps that pricked up across her arms and the back of her neck.

She took her mind off it by looking over at Leslie. He was still trying to pack everything away and grab anything that may have possessed any future value. His movements were rushed and lacked any sort of fluidity and grace but he was getting there. Based on appearances he needed some more time to sort himself out. That meant Aracelis had to play for time, which meant more interacting with Ashlyn. She let out a low sigh and calmed herself down, focusing on what she was saying to make sure it wasn't overly blunt.

"Sure," She said loudly, giving a dismissive shrug to Leslie, "So who are your other allies? Who else you got?"

(skipped with permission)

Juanita's eyes widened. Her initial thought was to shake her head violently and try to get Ash to back the heck off. Charging in there like Leeroy Jenkins was a stupid idea, wasn't it?

Then again... something here didn't smell right. Thoughts crackled and lanced through her brain, trying to assess the situation, trying to make sense of the play. What was wrong about this picture? Aracelis' friend hadn't introduced himself, and Aracelis didn't seem keen on doing so either. Yeah. That was sus. The cheerleader was drilling for more information while keeping them in the dark. Maybe she wanted more to go on before she made a decision. Or maybe she wanted to know who'd be coming after her if she killed Juanita and Ash.

The ideal play here would have been to run back to the church for reinforcements and keep the two in the office pinned down, make a better show of force, and overwhelm them. But by the time they got back to the church and gathered the troops, Aracelis and her friend would be long gone, and they'd be armed with the knowledge that there was a faction housed in the church. It wasn't hard to imagine that people might be willing to join a counterattack if they knew what Juanita's team were planning.

Crap. She looked at Ash, hesitant, nervous. Were they actually going to do this? They were. They had to.

She adjusted her grip on the haladie. If they were gonna burst in, they'd need the element of surprise. So Juanita answered Aracelis' question by saying the one name that seemed like it'd throw Aracelis off her stride, give her pause for just that critical second or two that it'd take them to storm inside.

"Actually... we were sent here by Dani Bird."

Anyone who was anyone knew Dani, rich bitch, queen of the cosplay e-thots. Her name held cache.

Whatever cache meant. Maybe worth one eighth of a bullet. Depended on the person. Ash knew mortal ties would bind her- she wasn't that stupid or that done with life, not yet. If she found the right friend with the right problem at the wrong time she'd still be compelled to act on their behalf, if only because she didn't really know what else to do with the free time on her Doomsday Clock as it hovered a millisecond from midnight.

Nobody in that room was worth anything to her, except Juanita. Ash didn't think of herself as bloodthirsty. Everyone in this room was going to die- only difference it made if it was at her hand was that she'd be sure to make it quick. She didn't trust anybody else would be that considerate.

She held Juanita's look, nodded when the grip on the weapon strengthened. Bloodless knuckles, always the prelude to a good time. Ash began to stalk forward into the darkness, away from where the light peeked through the door they'd left open. Inches at a time, patiently keeping her eyes out for any sign of movement. She didn't need to pounce, not when she wasn't the one armed. Just keeping an eye out.

With a shake, shake, shake of his bag, Leslie was ready to go and fuck outta there; the mention of Dani didn't instill much confidence in him, either.

He shook his head at Aracelis and pantomimed running and pointing with his fingers towards the other side of the sheriff's office, where the exit was.

Then he made his move, duck walking along the side of the desk until there was enough distance between the newcomers and him (and Aracelis he guessed) to make a run for it. He clutched the taser for dear life, regardless.

Aracelis laughed, with no hint of mirth or joy, instead it was bitter and sharp.

At the edge of her vision, she caught Leslie's gesturing, he was finally ready. She nodded, there was a beat, and then he was moving. Crouching his way around the desk and closer to the exit door, they were going to be making their exit and not a moment too soon.

Dealing with Ashlyn would have been bad enough, but also dealing with Dani. Aracelis wasn't going to do that. Not even in a life-or-death situation was she going to subject herself to being around Dani and listening to her talk about how much she missed her mansion and all her luxury clothes. They were in the one place her wealth couldn't help her and Aracelis was not going to subject herself to taking orders from her in some kind of group. For once the playing field between them was leveled out, she wasn't giving that up.

"Yeah, fuck that." She called back, looping her arm through the strap of her bag. "You really think working under Dani's a good idea Ash?"

As Aracelis spoke she started to slide herself around the side of the desk, she didn't care about what Ashlyn's answer to the question would have been, it was just a play for time.

They were leaving.

"What can I say? I'm a team player."

Things could always change if shit hit the fan messily enough, but that was the part Ash had left out when buying into Juanita's vision of a murderhobo athletics department.

Absent the ability to see clearly, other senses took over. Not like listening to Aracelis with an extra sixth senses' worth of ears had been particularly pleasant, but as the ring of her voice dissipated Ash could hear footwork. Same way a body sloshed and thudded around when it was jockeying for position in the ring.

She glanced back, no words, at Juanita. A nod and a jerk of her thumb. They were moving.

Ash too, moved. She wasn't exactly badass or overpowered enough to do something ridiculous like figure out exactly where everyone else was or the velocity of their getaway plan. That was more a Kitty thing, bless her soul. But the desk was only so large, and the only alternative exit Ash was aware of would require them to clear a blind corner. One she could pop out of. Quick trip or double leg and nobody would be able to escape from the tangle of bodies. Juanita didn't need to react particularly fast. Just fast enough.

Well, at least someone out there didn't worship the ground that Dani walked on. It was a shame that she wasn't going to have the chance to bond with Aracelis over that.

Juanita nodded in response to Ash's signal. She followed hot on Ash's heels, mentally prepping herself to skewer Aracelis or her boyfriend with the haladie the second they came into view. If Ash could get them into a decent position, she'd step in and give the final blow. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

Leslie appeared properly from around the desk, nearly colliding into Ashlyn with all 150-something lbs of his weight.

And just like with Constance, he flipped the taser on and rammed it into Ashlyn's side. All tens of thousands of volts of electricity screeched through the oppressive air of the sheriff's station as the river of lightning scorched everything in its path.

Tasers could kill. Fuck the cops.

Ash was in no position to fight the power, obviously. A sound escaped her lips like air escaping a balloon, all at once, as her lungs forcefully evacuated. Every muscle in her body fired on all cylinders in the wrong direction, sending her bulky form flying back.

She hit the ground, all clench, no release. Eyes wide open, mouth jagged in a silent battle cry when she hadn't even gotten to throw a single punch.

"Crap!"

Juanita was following too close behind Ash to see the guy move until it was too late. Then Ash went down like a sacked quarterback, her body rigid. Like in the cartoons when somebody gets flash frozen and then keels over without moving.

She moved to intercept the boy who'd tased Ash, going for a stab. But her eyes hadn't adjusted to the interior yet. She misjudged the distance, caught her leg on some part of Ash. Stumbled. She hit the guy full tilt, her haladie going horizontal like a push bar instead of a spear. Wound up tripping and shoving him back all in one motion.

Then she was down, hitting the floor with her good knee and one elbow, and momentum kept her going; she fell onto her side, rolled and hit the wall spine first.

"Ungh!"

As it turned out Ashlyn and Juanita didn't want them to leave and had been taking steps to stop them. Aracelis hadn't actually realized and if it hadn't been for Leslie deciding to pick the time he did to move Ash would have been on top of her. But luckily he had made his break for freedom and Ashlyn had been in the perfect place for them to bump into each other. Leslie reacted first—somehow—and jabbed her with his taser and that was that. One threat down. Aracelis was shocked by how quickly it had all happened, although really she shouldn't have been. It was the first time she'd experienced it all as more of a spectator.

When Juanita stumbled into the scene, tripping over the collapsed body of Ashlyn as she did so Aracelis had already decided that the whole situation was fucked and they just needed to leave quickly. But anger suddenly flashed into existence when she saw the blade in Juanita's hand flash as it caught a stray beam of light. They had been intending to kill them. The pair of them had talked about working together, but that had been empty words. She should have seen it coming really. Ashlyn had never been trustworthy and Juanita clearly had no spine.

They could both go fuck themselves Aracelis decided. She and Leslie were getting away. Jumping up to her feet Aracelis grabbed Leslie and yanked him forward. She wasn't gentle as she pushed him towards the door but she wasn't thinking about him too much. Instead, her focus was on the other two girls who were in a heap on the floor. She hopped over the pile and turned to where Ashlyn lay, twitching slightly as the taser continued its work, her synapses shocked into submission.

Aracelis glared down at her for a moment and then lashed out with the toes of her shoe. She buried her kick into Ashlyn's chest and felt a strong sense of triumph and delight at their victory. A grin twitched across her lips as her foot withdrew.

"Puta." She spat down at the girl, before turning her attention to Leslie.

"Let's go," She ordered, excitement playing at the edge of her voice.

Then she turned and walked out of the shadows of the sheriff's office, and into the bright outdoors to bask in their victory.

((Aracelis Fuentes continued in Finders Keepers))

It was a true whirlwind in every sense of the word. One moment Leslie was shocking a girl and the next he kept getting ran into and pulled which every way by several others (not that he was complaining, or at least he wouldn't if this was Carnival and not Attempted-Murderpalooza).

He had to literally dig his feet into the ground to stop himself from colliding jnto the door after being flung like a discus by Aracelis. Girl had hell of an arm but on second thought who wouldn't when a couple of weirdos wandered in with probable intent to kill? Anyway he made note of that for later as he watched her kick the other girls squirming around on the floor like earthworms summoned from the rain.

Aracelis didn't have to tell him twice as he followed closely behind her in and out the door, his bag bobbing up and down as he hoofed it barely in pace with her.

((to be continued elsewhere))