Survival Of The Fittest

Raine felt Ridley's hand grasp hers and she felt a rush of warmth. Everything...Everything will be all right now that we're together. And we have Rena too. So...that's one person saved...

"One person saved..." Raine whispered under her breath, looking over to Ridley. "We have you, myself and Rena. We've all rescued each other so far so maybe it is possible we can help others. We can save them from those that have already lost their minds to the game." Slowly, Raine cracked a weak smile. "They have weak minds for succumbing to this madness but...maybe I have a weak mind for not facing reality."

She squeezed his hand tightly. "We won't let Eva happen again."

((Raine Schwarz continued elsewhere))

"Okay, new plan. Let's go for the tunnels. We might be able to hunker down in there for awhile if we're lucky. Until it becomes a danger zone, anyway."

Well it was certainly better than the giant hunk of nothing Rena had come up with. She nodded in agreement. "The tunnels sound good." She took out some water and took a rather large gulp.

Rena heard Raine whisper something under her breath, or at least she thought she did. Rena couldn't quite make out the words, but it didn't seem to matter as Raine began to speak out loud.

"We have you, myself and Rena. We've all rescued each other so far so maybe it is possible we can help others. We can save them from those that have already lost their minds to the game. They have weak minds for succumbing to this madness but...maybe I have a weak mind for not facing reality."

Rena blinked. There wasn't exactly a way to respond to that, was there? What was she suggesting? It seemed like she was saying they could help each other...but the whole "facing reality" thing was throwing Rena for a loop. Rena very much liked pretending that it was certain that she would get home, because deep down she knew that her chances of living through this game were slim to none. In order to win she would have to kill someone, and that just wasn't something she was ready or willing to do. What was Raine getting at? Was she admitting that she would have to succumb to the madness in order to survive? Or that they would all end up like Eva regardless of what happened? Or that people would just keep killing people, and that there was nothing they could do to keep this game from taking away all of their friends?

Rena shook her head. She wasn't going to "succumb to the madness" or "face reality". She was going to go to the tunnels, and get some sleep, and maybe have something to eat. She was going to talk to her new friends, and bury a stranger. She was going to see tomorrow. She wasn't going to kill anyone and she wasn't going to die. Ever. Simple as that.

"We won't let Eva happen again."

She can't make that promise, and she knows that. I guess that just makes her a dirty little lair, huh? The ever pessimistic side of Rena was still cackling, and still sounding too much like her older brother for comfort.

"All right then. Let's get out of here."

Rena began to head out after Ridley and Raine, Raine's words still echoing in her head. "We won't let Eva happen again."

She really hoped that Raine could keep that promise.

((Rena Peters continued in It Knows nothing of Whim))

Autumn ran. Running was all that she knew to do. Her legs swiftly pumped back and forth, carrying her straight and fast to nowhere. She wasn't running to anywhere in particular nor was she running from any one enemy. All she knew was it was harder to hit a moving target. No one could get her if she ran. It wasn't the best course of action, but at least it held some semblance of a plan and gave the appearance of productivity. She breathed heavily, every once in a while her right hand swung to her waistband just have the reassuring brush of metal scrape against her nails.

She had gotten separated from the group she had seen back near the house of mirrors. That was fine. She didn't need them. In fact, she was better off like this. There was no telling when people in this game would become animals and turn on each other. They would eat each other, just like she always knew they could. Running helped her push pause on all the feeling she might have had at the moment. She felt no fear, no sadness, all she felt was the dirt under her shoes. What would she feel if she stopped running? Autumn preferred not to find out. And then suddenly she didn't feel the dirt under her shoes either. Her foot hit the ground and the earth crumbled. Autumn's stomach sank along with her feet and she screamed. For a moment she thought that perhaps Hell had opened up and decided to have at her early. She didn't have long to think though as she was quickly swallowed by the island.

((Autumn O'Leary continued in The Cloud Minders))