Survival Of The Fittest

It clicked, then—this was that Janice, from the announcements he hadn't paid much attention to. Suddenly the tense guns-drawn standoff made a bit more sense. One end didn't seem very put together, and the other was asking how everyone slept. First, though, she asked about the helmets. He tried to take a breathe before firing off a one-liner, like the others had; but, while he wasn't looking, all of the air had gone out of the room, and, breathless, he choked on his words.

Ren could still breathe, though, could still talk, could inch the spark further along the fuse. Now there was no mistaking this Janice for any other. The funny part was, if Janice's sleep was worsened at all, K. still probably had it harder.

He still held the mace up high, but K.'s arm had begun to hurt. For no other reason than wanting a break from the showdown, K. finally found his air.

"What do you want, Janice?" K. asked, acting as if he really already knew who she was, and like he was with the others. "We know who you are; you'll find no shelter here."

There was a click (actually, lower, heavier than "click" would imply), as a bullet entered its chamber. Meena paused, keeping the gun pointed down.

What did she want? What did she want? That was a good question.

"Allies. I'm in search for allies."

Yeah. That was her gut instinct. Salem abandoned her. She abandoned Dave.

As for the sleeping question, she wasn't sure about how to answer that. Would she slept better if she hadn't killed? Who knew. Sleep must suck for all.

Ren's eyes widened at the click of Meena's gun, and they drew themself to the side, out of the way. Things were happening faster than they could process--first with Meena readying his gun, and had they heard Janice correctly? Her words didn't compute at all for Ren--who would jump straight to asking for allies after being accused of murder? Where was the excuse, the explanation?

Never mind. It would be just like Ren to die as a firefight broke out, looking for the answer to a question that didn't even matter. They willed their heart to speed up, for the adrenaline to flow. Goddammit!

Something else clicked, this time outside of K.'s head. He turned and realized his position, standing in the middle of the line of fire. Janice wasn't making sense, and Ren and Meena weren't even trying.

"Now," he said, "let's not do anything that we're going to regret."

And then he turned and ran as fast as he could through the nearest open doorway out of the room, out of the building, until he was with the trees and the wind, and the thought that he had left all of his things sans mace behind in that shattering room was breathlessly sprinting to catch him.

[K. Emerson continued elsewhere.]

Meena held the gun for a while, but refused to raise it. Not even as Janice gave an answer that was both the weirdest and most understandable (if not relatable) thing she could have said. Not even as K. ran the fuck out (smart).

It wasn't that it took a while to sink in. For once, Meena heard everyone loud and clear the first time. He was just stewing on it.

Allies. Maybe it was one of those wishes Janice's heart made that she didn't expect to be fulfilled, because he had a hard time believing she was dumb enough to think she'd get it. Not even because she murdered anyone necessarily, just look at the lengths Ren was willing to go to for Kitty, who had the same body count. Probably more, at this rate (an uncharitable thought, proving Meena was no better than his classmates).

(But, it takes one to know one.)

His hands shook as they reached for the safety. He let its activation hang in the air, for a moment. A moment, before he burst into laughter.

Okay maybe calling it laughter was overly charitable. It was hollow. It sounded faked but, much like when he smiled for photos, Meena was laughing.

"Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa..."

He turned his back, (the movement must be to blame for why that laughter sounded like a growl, for just a moment) an instinctive desire to hide his twitching-into-existence grin (grimace?) from the others in the room. The others would just ask unwanted questions that he had no intention of answering, as he walked out the door.

[Meena Kumar continued in Soul Gem]

Ren stood, frozen, as first K. and then Meena left--they were rooted to the spot, still mentally preparing themself for a fight that was now, it seemed, never going to happen. Not unless Ren decided to start it.

They realized, staring at Janice, that they had been hoping that someone else would pull the trigger.

They could still shoot her, of course. Two kills, and every likelihood that she would remain a threat if allowed to live. She had a knife, Ren had a gun. They could do it.

[...]

They backed away, turned, and left. After all, Meena would be in danger if a fight broke out and Ren didn't put down Janice quickly, they told themself. His back would be turned, and it wasn't implausible that Janice had her own gun stowed somewhere. And it wasn't impossible, either, that her kills had been accident, or mercy, or self-defense (isn't that something you're supposed to not care about, anymore?).

Right. Ren knew themself well enough to know that they were making excuses.

[[Ren Vu continued in Soul Gem ]]

She was lucky. Just like she was when she woke up before Tana.

Maybe the others had respect for her. Or lack thereof.

Whatever it was, she felt powerful.

She picked up an intact helmet from the ground and decided to wear it. It may have looked stupid, but it would be useful. The mountains were steep, there were a lot of opportunities to injure your head on this island. Either by the environment or by other people.

Janice with a helmet left the room as well.

((Janice Cresner continued elsewhere))