Survival Of The Fittest

Much to Viki's relief, Gabe seemed more than willing to let her tag along with him. She inwardly hated herself for wanting to go find Kara, although she had very ulterior motives. She became lost in her own thoughts momentarily, wondering if wanting to go with Gabe simply for the sake of being around him made her a bad person. It was a laughable thought at best. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be with someone you cared about... even if the feeling wasn't quite so requited.

When Serenity suddenly spoke up, declaring that she felt fine and wanted to go with them, Viki frowned vaguely. Not enough to be noticeable, but she was somewhat disappointed that Serenity would be tagging along with them. She immediately chastised herself for the thought. Serenity was one of her very close friends. Why shouldn't she want her to come along? It was like there were two sides of her, and since she'd taken that tumble in the examination room a while ago, she hadn't quite felt right.

Her crankiness and irritability were probably being caused by lack of sleep and nourishment, not to mention the dehydration she was probably suffering from. The thought, however, didn't occur to Viki. Of course she wanted to curl up in that other room and rest for a while, but if Gabe was bent on going out onto the island, for whatever reason, she was determined to go with him. If he went out there and got hurt or killed, she wouldn't know what to do with herself.

Dan too spoke up, broadcasting that since he was patched up, he'd be taking his leave of the group as well. She simply nodded wearily at the other student as he gathered his things. He hadn't been with them long enough to actually feel like a part of their group. Her eyes turned to Evelyn momentarily. The silence from the football captain was starting to make her somewhat uncomfortable.

It was around that time that a loud cracking sound nearly caused Viki to jump out of her skin and look around wildly for the source of the noise. A moment later, it was followed by a booming voice -- the voice from the room they'd woken up in -- the man who called himself Mr. Danya. He joked and laughed for a moment as if the entire game was all one big prank... for a moment, Viki actually wanted to believe that it was. At least, until Danya started announcing the list of the dead.

So many people... all killed in such horrible ways. Josh Goodman... Viki remembered him from the bowling alley that night. He had been the guy who had approached her when she'd stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. He had been strange, for certain, and he'd tried to come onto her. Only, she just wasn't biting. Still, did that make him a bad person who deserved to be killed? Viki didn't think so, although she'd never gotten the chance to really get to know Josh. Heather Tilmitt, Lance Barrett... they'd always been outcasts, so to speak, but she knew Heather was pregnant with Lance's baby, and her pregnancy had caused the former thug to do a total 180.

Jason Foley... he didn't talk much, but he seemed like a nice guy. Tyson Neills... she didn't know him. Alex Steele... the name didn't ring a bell. Tegan Bianco... she'd been in Viki's chemistry class. She was always so quiet, but she seemed very sweet. Charlie Burchman... she knew of him, vaguely. Tanya Bonneville... such a sweet girl. Viki wanted to vomit. Her vision turned helplessly to Gabe and she fought back the urge to cry. So many people had died already, and they'd all died such horrible deaths.

She was about to say something, but before she could speak, Ianto asked them a question rather uncharacteristic of him.

Viki stared at Ianto for a moment, completely taken aback by his question. It wasn't necessary for her to answer, though, because it seemed like he had a lot more to say. He went on to tell them how foolish it was to wander out aimlessly on the island in search of their friends when they were all physically exhausted, dehydrated, and hungry. He went on to point out how Serenity and Viki had both broken down at the sight of the body in the examination room, and rhetorically asked Gabe if he thought he was capable of protecting the girls.

He concluded his rant by saying he would go with them, but he wanted them to rest at the hospital at least a little while longer. Viki sighed resignedly. She knew Ianto was one hundred percent right, and there was no arguing that fact. Her attention once again turned toward Gabe, though. Fatigue or not, dehydration or not, if he was leaving, she was going too. She wanted to rest, of course, but she had resolved to go with him.

"What do you want to do?" she asked quietly, unable to find any other words.

Gabe pondered the idea of staying a bit longer. He wondered if Ianto had felt like he was being ditched by everyone around him, or if he was genuinely concerned for their wellbeing that led him to speak up. Personally, Gabe wasn't sleepy at all. He doubted he'd ever be able to close his eyes while there were killers among them. Staying awake was no problem of Gabe's. He'd gone many a night awake during championship seasons; too restless to fall asleep and too excited to be tired. The alertness he felt now was caused by a feeling of being in danger, and that was MORE likely to keep him awake than excitement was if anything. As for food, he hadn't really thought of it up until now. His mind was so preoccupied, he didn't realize he hadn't eaten all day. He rummaged through his pack, pulled out a piece of bread, and started to eat it. He finally spoke to Ianto in a calm voice, crumbs flying out of his mouth as he did.

"Listen Ianto... I know you're worried about us, about being rested, about being healthy. I appreciate the thoughts man, I really do. But I don't think you understand where I'm coming from. There are people here", he said, swallowing the bread, "people who want to hurt us, and people who are playing the game". He put another piece in his mouth, and added a swig from his water bottle. "I know you won't understand what it's like to be in my shoes man, but you gotta understand..." He swallowed the bread again. "Those same people out there are out to kill... yes KILL... the people I love most in this world, and I absolutely CAN NOT wake up afetr a night's rest and hear their names being called on those DAMNED loudspeakers by that FUCKER Danya." He calmed himself down a bit. He was mad at the world, not Ianto. He didn't want to seem like he was mad at him, so he proceeded again in a calmer tone. "I can't let anything happen to them. And I can't sit around here wondering all damn day if they're ok. I'd bet solid money that they're probably out there looking for me. And if they aren't then they're probably wishing I were there with them, to keep them safe. I may not have a weapon, and I can't stop bullets, but I'll be DAMNED if I let them die!" A nervous twitch shot through his eye, as it did from time to time. His anger was rising again, so he settled down. "You stay here if you want, Ianto. Get all the rest and food you want. Bury the dead, if it makes you feel better about yourself. But I can't leave them out there alone. I refuse to turn my back on them". He knew now, there would be no convincing himself otherwise. He needed to hold Kara in his arms. He needed to be sure Steve and Evan weren't hurt.

Ianto was really starting to wonder if these people hit their heads a little too hard when they where thrown onto this island, glancing evenly toward Viki as she spoke to Gabe at what he wanted to do, before glancing to the said boy with a visible frown—wondering just where the other boy got his decision making from because it was clear though his intentions where good, a freaking hero in a situation like this, but there was no point in recklessly endangering his life as well as the girls that where more than willing to follow him along just because he was blind in this want to find his friends—something he understood too, hell he had people he wanted to find but Ianto knew he couldn't do that dead, which was what was going to damn well happen if he decided to pull what Gabe was pulling now.

Thankfully, Ianto was still a calm person, and simply remained still with his arms about his waist line as Gabe went on to speak—Ianto wondering now more than ever if he put any thought into anything before acting or speaking or was he really just this naïve? Though as the other ended, mentioning his want to bury the baby he couldn't help staring a little wide-eyed at first at what he said then narrowed, Ianto pretty sure he had never had such a flash of anger rise up in him expect at that one moment, though he simply allowed himself to close his eyes, count to some random number and sigh out—thinking over the words in his head for a moment before reopening his eyes and speaking once more.

"Alright then, allow me to ask you something—and just hold on, because this might be a bit hard for you to understand seeing that it didn't get through you before." He began, really-really just finding himself wanting to speak his mind right now more than anything. "I do understand what's it like to have people out there that I want to find, people that I care about and don't want to see hurt, who fucking doesn't? But you know what? I also know that if I recklessly go out there that I'm going to end up dead and of no use to them. Then what? Listen to what you're saying before you try and berate me, like you said… people are out there to kill. Not just the people you love, but all of us will die if we don't do a little something called thinking." He sighed at that point, tilting his head somewhat.

"It's great really—freaking wonderful really that you want to protect your friends, your loved ones. Really, it is… but you can not protect them on will and good intentions alone, you have to think, you've got to stay steps ahead of these players and even if you even want to find your friends, but then what? Things aren't going to get magically better when you find them, you need to have a plan, and you need to be prepared for whatever happens not only for yourself but the girls that are willing to follow you… Never once did I say to spend the day here, I said wait until the sun comes up, which should be in a little while and give yourself a chance to at least think of something because you don't seem to be doing a lot of it in this haze you have yourself in right now. Is that really so much to ask, thinking and looking out for you? It's once thing to endanger yourself, but it's pretty fucking heartless not to think of those around you, taking a moment to gather yourself and make sure you stay healthy isn't going to change you finding your friends any faster or not, but hell at least it'll keep alive a little longer, and I think that's a pretty swell thing."

Ianto moved finally, moving over to bag his pack off the ground near the door leading in the room with Heather's body and moving toward the front entrance, pausing a bit and glancing toward the boy with a narrowed glance. "And I'm not burying that body out there to make myself feel better about myself; I'm doing it because it's a fucking baby Gabe. And because apparently I still have a little humanity left in me."

He didn't bother sticking around to hear if the other boy had anything else to say because he was sure he would just get all the more upset, moving out through the door and making sure it closed softly enough behind him, no matter he was sure slamming it would help him out right now. Because unlike some he wasn't recklessly putting himself in danger from a player because they heard him slamming doors around, tossing his pack to the side of the building and moving to rest his rifle down against the ground as well. Undoing his pack and sifting around for a moment and removing one of his spare shirts that he had placed in her from his other back he had brought along on the bus, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath before moving toward the body he only recently found out to be Lance. Hating it really, but he simply didn't have the time or the strength to dig graves for the two bodies of his classmates, shaking his head and returning to look.

It didn't take long, to find the small body that Danya had spoken about, already all wrapped up in a shirt with a pale little arm sticking out… unsure how he found have managed to miss such a thing before. But he said nothing, moving over and trying to ignore the dry blood and pieces of bone and brain matter he was stepping on and over as he reached down and quickly wrapped the little thing up in his own shirt, frowning and making sure it was covered before, unable to bring himself to be able to look at it. "Poor little guy or girl… if anyone on this island didn't deserve this it was you." He mumbled lightly, just unable to believe that Danya would go so far as to actually put pregnant girls through something like this, glancing around somewhat before moving back to his pack, digging out the cracker tin and dumping them into his pack before moving off to the corner of hospital, kicking at the ground somewhat. Figuring that the body didn't need to be too buried too terribly deep, moving onto his knees and placing the wrapped body down and start getting to work picking at the ground.

"I can't believe this, I'm not even eighteen yet and I'm burying a body… a baby of all things. Un-freaking-believable…"

Gabe was abruptly shocked that Ianto had been so upfront with him. Frankly, few people stood up to Gabe. He was a pretty easy guy to get along with, and rarely did anything to upset anyone in any particular matter. And those that did have a problem with him often found themselves on the end of a fist, and little would be heard afterwards. Gabe wasn't afraid of a fight the way his friend Evan was. He played hockey a lot, and fighting was part of his life. But he didn't want to fight with Ianto; he'd been so accomodating up until now. Ianto's attitude upset Gabe a bit, and the fact that he wouldn't stick around to hear a rubuttal but instead went off to bury a fetus ate away at Gabe's mind.

Maybe he's right... it's not my place to put Viki and Serenity into danger like this. I can't protect them from the stuff that happened to Lance over here, or Heather in there. I can try, but I can't do it forever. But I need to go. I can't leave them out there. And abandoning my friends here will only make me worry about them when I find Steve, Kara, and Ev. Ianto's not the boss of me. I barely even know the guy. But he's got a point. I can't just expect to find my friends and everything will be ok. Wait a second...

A flash of insight caused Gabe to move over next to where Ianto had dug a small hole and buried Heather's now aborted fetus. "Ianto, if you're worried about us...", Gabe said, pausing to consider whether he really should be asking this or not, "...then let me have the gun..."

Serenity Followed Ianto out into the back of the hospital. She knelt beside him and placed a hand on the bundle of cloth that held the baby. She felt a tear fall down her cheek as she realized that this child's life hadn't even started before it was taken away. She shook her head and smiled at Ianto.

"You're right... we're all tired... But I can't help but worry... I want to make sure everyone's okay... It's hard to believe that anyone would kill like this... It's depressing I guess." She stood up and walked toward the door. "I'll talk to Gabe.... Okay?" She turned to smile at him before trying to go inside, but she was stopped by Gabe coming out and walking over to Ianto. He asked for the gun.

"Gabe! Don't you get it! We need to have a plan! We can't just expect a gun to keep us safe! I want to find them just as bad as you do... but I'd rather make sure I knew what I was doing before going out there and getting myself and my friends killed!" It was uncharacteristic of Serenity to yell, but she had a point to make, and god-damnnit Gabe was going to listen.

The announcements for Dan Wolfe only had one significance today, dangerzones, which it turned out, didn't affect him. However, Serenity's voice was starting to effect him in a bad way.

Oh how I want to cave that cheerleader's skull in with this wrench.

Dan had packed his bag back up while all the yelling was going on. He did not however want anything to do with the corpse of the baby. His aunt had given birth to a pre-mature child who ended up dying a few days after birth, and it was devastating to the family.

Dan's ears perked up when he heard Gabe ask Ianto for the gun. Depending on the answer, Dan couldn't help but think that he might have found a way to get himself a nice gun.

If Gabe gets the gun from him, I'll go with him and whoever else decides to take the adventure. They have to sleep eventually, so get them to trust you, steal the gun, have yourself a nice little shooting spree, then go hunt that Lawrence bitch. If he says no, well, then its back to square one.

Pressing the situation hopefully in Gabe's favour, Dan spoke before Gabe had a chance to answer Serenity's yelling,

"No, Serenity, you're actually quite wrong. I had two friends participating in the last version of this stupid game. Kevin Kapustiak was one of them. He tried to make due with a melee weapon, and guess what, someone with a lovely gun blew his brains all across the park. Gabe's right, either Ianto should go with you guys for protection purposes, or Gabe and him swap weapons. None of you truly understand what it is going to be like eventually. This is day fucking number one, and look at what has happened," Dan said in a low tone, pointing to the mess in the other room, "This is before everyone has really had a chance to let the game really get to them. I can guarantee you that tomorrow will be worse, and if any of us, and may whatever God you believe in help you in this, make it to the final days, it will be exponentially worse. You won't know your best friend anymore, and you won't even know yourself. The ONLY way you can fight that is by making sure you have a purpose. Gabe's made his purpose to protect these ladies, and find his friends. So Ianto, unless you have your own purpose in mind, I suggest making it one that helps these people stay alive."

Evelyn Richinson was only paying attention vaguely to these discussions of weapons and whether people where playing the game or not, the only thing that was going through Evelyn's mind was trying to control her own emotions. See, normally emotions in SOTF where very easy to comprehend there was doubt, as expressed by Ianto, there was a dependent confusion, as expressed by the two girls, and then there was love and hate, which mixed themselves nicely into the two remaining boys at the hospital; in the emotional no-mans land lied Evelyn Richinson.

Evelyn was an ambitious youth, determined, intelligent, and pretty, this in and of itself made her success pretty much guaranteed in anything she put her mind to it, but as the group moved to congregate by where Ianto was burying Lance's withdrawn seed Evelyn began to approach, however this time she drew out the scalpel and skipped lightly toward the group, overwhelmed with the idea that this game -if you could call it that was truly being played by everyone else and as she took a step something surprising happened to the agile football player. Something that had never happened before and believe me it was quite a new sensation, or at least it was for the brief moment it occurred in.

Evelyn's ankle buckled.

As her ankle buckled Evelyn was sent crashing to the ground, the way she fell was perhaps quite interesting; perhaps when you where a child your mother told you never to run with scissors? Well, Evelyn Richinson was about to prove the reason why this was ill advisable as when she landed, she landed with the scalpel being shoved into the soft neck of the star football player and an animalistic groan of pain was heard as Evelyn began screaming in pain and convulsion, but still the hole was deep as her own blood flooded her lungs. Eventually she became light headed as she drowned in her blood, at first the blood flooding her lungs, but then -shockingly enough- the puddle that was forming under her.

The lightheadedness as her vision turned black, maybe someone was helping her? Maybe the scalpel had long since been removed? Evelyn was oblivious, whether her slow and painful demise had taken five seconds or five hours was at loss to her.
---------
All American Football Players of the ‘06-'07 school year

Evelyn Marie Richinson
- First Female all American wide receiver.
-The current holder of several high school records.
- The youngest starting receiver in U.F. history.

Evelyn Richinson preformed great at the high school level and was supposed to be a main player in the NCAA, without a doubt Richinson was one of the most skilled players in the nation and anyone who had seen her play could definitely see Richinson leading a team to the super bowl one of these days. Unfortunately tragedy struck and Evelyn was a casualty of SOTF version three, in memory however the University of Florida has established a scholarship in Evelyn's name.

The White Flash of Highland Beach left the world far to soon.

G08-Evelyn Richinson-DEAD

Viki had half expected Ianto's reasoning to get through to Gabe. Of course, all thoughts of that happening were quickly shattered as Gabe withdrew a piece of bread and began chewing on it while giving Ianto the what and why of what he was planning to do. She could understand his point of view, but at the same time, Ianto was probably far more correct in his. It wasn't as if the school Vice-President had ever told Gabe that they absolutely weren't going to go look for Steve and company. Rather, Ianto just wanted them to wait until dawn before they did.

As reasonable as Ianto sounded, and as irrational as Gabe's words seemed, the fact was, she had long since made her choice in the matter. No sooner than Gabe had finished his speech, Ianto lashed out at him, apparently taking offense to some of the words Gabe had uttered. It was weird to see Gabe arguing with anyone, but perhaps more abnormal was the sight of Ianto getting frustrated. Back in school, both boys had been very laid-back, easygoing people. They definitely weren't two people that Viki would have ever thought she'd see at one another's throats.

Seeming to have had enough of the conversation, Ianto headed out the door of the hospital, supposedly to bury the fetus that Danya had mentioned in the announcements. Viki cringed at the thought of it. It was so horrible that a child had been taken from the world in such an awful manner... but given the state of its' parents' bodies, perhaps it had suffered the least of all. Viki's thoughts had gone somewhere else, though, to something that had been a lot more subtle in Danya's announcement.

Hospital group... he was talking directly to us... he indirectly told everybody on the island that there was a group of people hiding out in the hospital.

She wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing. Part of her wanted to remain optimistic and believe that the classmates that weren't playing would get the idea to come to the hospital and join up with their group. But, after the things she had born witness to over the past day on the island, part of her was scared that some ambitious player would take it as a cue to head over to the hospital and thin out the competition. Could Ianto really protect all six of them with one gun? Somebody was bound to die if they were attacked. That fact didn't sit well with Viki at all.

She didn't notice when Serenity left the building to follow Ianto. In fact, she wouldn't have noticed when Gabe, too, left the building, had it not been for Serenity's voice ringing out from somewhere on the other side of the door, practically screaming at Gabe. The dark-headed girl cringed as Serenity screamed. Yelling wasn't good for anybody, all it was going to do was attract a lot of attention that they probably didn't want. It was almost ironic how Serenity was screaming at the top of her lungs about how Gabe would be the one to get them all killed. If she kept screaming like a banshee, she'd draw attention to them a lot sooner.

Grabbing the pack that Ianto had set down before wrapping her arms loosely around her chest, Viki headed out the door and toward Gabe and Serenity, leaving Evelyn -- who had gone uncomfortably silent -- alone in the hospital. She walked up just as Dan -- who she hadn't noticed leave, but she'd been too lost in her own thoughts to pay attention -- chastised Serenity and agreed with Gabe. The things Dan was saying -- about how things were only going to get worse from here on out -- rang very true. Viki frowned and unfolded her arm long enough to brush a strand of hair away from her face.

It took her a moment to fully realize just what was going on outside. She wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed almost like everybody was lecturing Ianto on something he'd already fully agreed to do. He had already said that he'd come with them if they insisted on going, and now, the sun was flooding the entire island in a warm light. She hadn't gotten much sleep at all -- if you could even consider being unconscious as sleeping -- and she was feeling rather fatigued, but even so, the warm sunlight seemed to make her more alert.

"We shouldn't be fighting like this..." Viki protested in a low voice, "We're all working toward the same goal, aren't we? If we start turning on one another, we won't be able to trust anybody. Dan's right, you know? Things are only going to get worse from here on out, and if we're going to make it through this with our minds in tact, we're going to have to rely on one another for support. We can't do that when we're fighting amongst ourselves, right?"

No sooner than she'd finished speaking, she spotted Evelyn jogging toward them out of the corner of her eye. She felt bad for the football captain. After all, if her silence in the hospital had been any indication, she was quite lost in her own thoughts. Evelyn, just like everybody else in their group, probably had people she wanted to find... people she was worried about. But, unlike the rest of the group, Evelyn hadn't been adamantly insisting that they try to find her friends first. Instead, she'd put her own friends in the background while Gabe and Ianto squabbled about their departure time.

Casting another sidelong glance toward Evelyn, Viki immediately saw something completely horrifying. Evelyn seemed to have tripped or something, and the blonde-headed girl went sprawling out onto the ground. The fall itself hadn't looked that painful, but Viki witnessed the scalpel she'd been holding as it pierced her neck and seemed to hit a vein. In the next instant, the blonde was screaming in excruciating agony, a sea of blood seeming to pour from her wound and all down her body, even oozing onto the ground below. Completely horrified, Viki spun around and took a step backward, knocking into Gabe, who she'd been standing behind.

"Oh my God..." she choked out, finding herself completely paralyzed.

Dan gasped when the football captain tripped and had the scalpel driven into her.

I really didn't think someone could bleed that much.

Taking advantage of the situation, Dan knew that there was an opportunity underneath this tragic event. He could still see Evelyn gasping, but he also noticed that there was now a scalpel that was free to take. Putting on his best expression of utter concern, Dan rushed over to Evelyn and knelt beside her head. He then yelled to Gabe and anyone else in their area;

"Someone get in that room and get some damn towels or something. She's still breathing...GO!!!"

Slowly Dan brought his hand behind Evelyn's head and propped it up. Slowly he removed the scalpel from her neck, a squirt of blood introducing itself to Dan's shirt in the process. He quickly stowed it in his pocket, shielding the action from the others.

"Never mind, its too late." Dan said mournfully.

Certainly don't feel good about stealing a scalpel from a corpse, but so be it.

"Someone give me a hand moving her. She was a leader at our school, least we can do is giver her body some respect."

It was as if everything happened in slow motion. One minute Gabe was trying to resolve the conflict he'd been having with his peers, deciding who was coming and who was staying. The next minute he'd watch Evelyn trot over to Lance, trip, and fall. At first, Gabe just reacted the way he normally would if someone fell: he'd laugh. He was just about to let out a little chuckle when he saw the look of sheer horror on Evelyn's face. Something shiny and metallic was sticking out of her neck, and her eyes were wide open with fear. And the blood... so much blood... It was gushing out, absolutely terrifying Gabe as the notion that Evelyn was seriously hurt suddenly sunk in. She fell to the ground, and just as quickly Dan (who happened to be closest, he assumed) was at her side, screaming for help. It was as if Gabe had switched off, his mind still trying to sort out what to do. He was never the best person in a crisis. As he stood there, absolutely stunned, everyone around seemed to jump into action. But all he could do was stand there, mouth agape in shock.

The look on her face would be burned into his mind forever. There she was, captain of the football team. One of the people he admired most in his life for her brutish determination. The kind of person who would go far in this world... helpless and bleeding everywhere. The blood... never had he seen so much so fast. His heart almost stopped. Evelyn was a big player in Gabe's life. They'd spent so much time together, running plays, feeding each other passes, arguing with the coach... and now, she would never do it again.

Dan pronounced her dead almost immediately. Gabe would have broken down into a fit of tears, had he control over his body. But he didn't. All he could do was stand there, completely numb in both body and mind. The look on her face... he knew it would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. Evelyn, the girl Gabe had seen as a true equal, the girl he even had a bit of a crush on before he started dating Kara, was no more. Gabe collapsed to his knees. All he could do was watch, helpless. Everything running through his mind was gone; completely trivial now. He felt nothing.

(Bobby continued from: From Serenity to Shame)

Bobby qas moving at a fairly brisk jog after the flat-out sprint which had been required to get the hell away from the dangerzone which the lookout tower had become. As he went, Bobby muttered to himself - irritated by the timing of the announcement.

"Dammit Danya... you really could have picked a better time. Not only did you ruin that little hunt I had going, but you just had to twist the truth didn't you? Arguably, I killed Tyson is self-defence. Arguably."

Nevertheless, it no longer truly mattered. Danya had said what he had said, and it wasn't about to suddenly erase itself from the memories of those who had heard it. Even if that was a possibiilty. Earlier, Bobby had spent some time noting down a few names - those who were dead, and those who were playing (or at least, he could suspect were playing). Unfortunately, Bobby knew precisely none of them, save perhaps Gabriel - and only then due to his description as a giant. There were few people who stood taller than Bobby, and he most certainly noticed them if they did.

Bobby was snapped from his thoughts by the emergence of a building as he stepped past yet another constricting tree. Such was the nature of the area that you might not even notice such things until they were right on top of you. More important than the building, however, was the group of people standing out in front of it. Two guys were off to one side, whilst there was a more central group of, it seemed, four. Bobby squinted, it looked as if one of them was being cradled by another... had something happened to them?

Bobby was hesitant to get involved - it could mean getting into a fight that he couldn't muscle his way out of. There were five of them and one of him (that discounting the one on the ground) and it didn't exactly help that he had been described in a rather unflattering fashion in the announcement. Even though Bobby wasn't well known around school, all it took was a glimmer of recognition... Bobby's 'disguise' of letting his dreadlocks free was hardly a sophisticated method of concealment. He really had to scope out the situation first...

The boxer hovered around the fringes of the area, taking care that he could see what was going on without being immediately apparent to the casual observer. However, he also took the safety from his gun and primed it. No use taking any chances...

It was all swirling around her. Everything was wrong. Nothing was going right. It was all happening too fast. She was so conused. Evelyn was dead... Her neck was bleeding... gushing... It was sickining. Serenity could feel her head pounding. She needed to get out of there. Her pack had fallen from her shoulder. She scooped it up quickly from where it fell. The tears were flowing like rivers. She felt her whole body shaking. It was too much.

"No... N-no! I-I can't.... I have to... To go... Can't..." And with that Serenity turned on her heel and sprinted away from the area. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe. It was like she was suffocating. She needed to get out of there. Even if it meant leaving her friends, she had to get out.


((Continued in Ten Speed))

Ianto glanced toward Serenity and gave a bit of a sad frown over the sight of the girl and the tear that pressed down her cheek, returning back to his digging as she spoke and nodding softly, hoping perhaps that her, being a friend and all, might be able to get through that head because he had apparently failed at doing that. Listening to the silence in the area for the short moment and just continuing to dig until he got through the tougher, harder layer of dirt and finally gave up the tin to just using his hand and able to do a lot more in a lot shorter time. Of course at this time was when Gabe decided show up once more, glancing off briefly toward the said boy as he spoke—holding his tongue against mentioning he didn't care so much about them as he did the girls—though the what he asked of next rather stunned him for a moment.

He probably would have chuckled if he hadn't been in the midst of finishing digging a freaking grave of all things, taking a moment to pause and dust his hands off somewhat before finally glancing to Gabe, and now to Dan how was speaking as well as though he had all the answers to their situation. Smirking somewhat with a raised brow before turning and moving to lift the bundle off the ground and into the swallow grave, starting to push the dirt back in. "I got to admit, I give you props for the ballsy question but goodness, I'm starting to believe that you and the concept of actually listening to what is said are but nodding acquaintances." He muttered, unable to believe how insensitive he had managed to become in a single day spent in this place, but damn if he hadn't slept a wink or barely had anything to eat and drink and was no have to deal with all this.

"But I have to formally decline the both of you, first off I said no less than five minutes ago that I would happily go with all of you if you gave me the time to do this and if would take a moment for yourselves and the girls." The Vice-President stated as he continued pushing dirt over the fetus, "Secondly, if I had decided not to come with you why would I give up the one thing that would allow me to protect my friends, see there we have double-edged sword Gabe. Because though I care about the well-being of both Serenity and Viki and would absolutely hate if I heard their names on the announcements, I have people I want to protect too." At this point he had finished the task he had set out to finish, looking a bit sadly done at the grave before giving a soft sound and pushing his hands against his knees, pushing himself upright into a standing position.

Dusting his hands off he turned to the party forming outside and gave a small soft, "But good thing I'm coming with you yeah?"

At this point was when Viki had began speaking, and he couldn't help smiling lightly at her words, figuring that at least one of them had to remain calm in these times. Tempted to run his hand through his hair before remembering that his hands where more or less covered in dirt and grime, tisking a bit and about to respond to something or nothing. At this point really unable to remember just what he was going to say because right at that point was when Evelyn came jogging out of the hospital, watching her out of corner of his eye for a moment before turning back to Gabe and Dan. Though it was right at that moment that Evelyn collapsed to the ground, and having not seen the weapon, figured it had simply been because of exhaustion…

But as Evelyn started screaming that was when everything seemed to go into slow motion, like breaking a piece of fine china against the floor, suddenly everything was happening at once and Ianto found he just could not keep up. With Evelyn screaming, and Dan running to her aide—the only thing Ianto found he had been able to do was try and call out to Dan to not remove the scalpel until they had something that they could use to put pressure on the wound. But before Ianto could find his voice Dan had removed the weapon and then Evelyn was dead… just like that. Even though he had seen Heather's corpse in the hospital, and Lance's wasn't lying to far away—it was odd really to actually watch someone die, watch the blood drain from their face, from their blood… it was just-just he really couldn't find the words.

Before he had a chance to react though suddenly Serenity was talking and then taking off and Ianto found himself staring unsure between the party that was left and the girl that had just ran into the surrounding forestry, suddenly biting his lip and rushing over to his pack and gun, turning toward the group as he sprinted after her. "I'm following her before she gets herself killed."

And with that he turned back around, sprinting full speed into where Serenity had vanished off too, really hoping that nothing bad would befall the girl before he had the chance to catch up to her.

[[ Ianto Continued in Lost ]]

Bobby would very much have liked to continue scouting out the situation before charging in like an angered bull, but unfortunately, it appeared that time was not a luxury he was currently enjoying. Without warning, not one, but two of his potential targets had left the area - that cut the number of possible kills he could score to three. On the other hand, one of those who abandoned the group had been armed with a gun of some description. Although he would have liked to add that to his inventory, realistically, Bobby knew that in all likelyhood, he probably would have just been shot whilst trying to acquire it. For now, the carbine would suffice.

The boxer sighed, his brow creasing. Either he could keep looking for dangers the group could present him and risk even more of them slipping from his grasp, or he could do it the gung-ho way and hope to hells that he hadn't missed a sentry or some other form of nastiness. Considering the proclaimation of his status as a cold-blooded murderer Danya, Bobby saw no reason to agonise over the decision any longer.

Slowly and deliberately, Bobby began to walk towards the group standing outside the hospital. To have any chance of scoring a hit, he really had to close the gap. Although he had ammunition aplenty for the carbine, Bobby was opposed to the idea of simply blazing away with it. Not only was he a poor aim, and the carbine single-shot, but he had no means of knowing how many bullets he was going to need. A wasted shot here could prove very costly indeed further down the line.

This was going to be a game of nerve and risktaking... The longer Bobby waited before shooting, the better chances he had of hitting (and hopefully killing) somebody. However, if he left it too long, they were sure to flee, putting paid to Bobby's plan. If he fired too soon, then it would be an exercise in wasting ammo.

Easy does it... You don't recognise me... you don't recognise me...

Sweat was trickling down Bobby's face like he had just finished a particularly intense round. He didn't know whether it was anxiety or simply the heat on the island, but it was incredibly annoying, distracting him from what he was doing. Bobby did his best to appear unthreatening, although when you were as big and muscular and he was, it was questionable whether trying to look less intimidating would do any good. the carbine was at his side, held in a way that it appeared safe, but in actuality, could quickly be moved into firing position.

"I'm sorry it has to come to this" Bobby murmured softly, an involuntary tear trickling down one cheek unexpectedly. "I'm just not quite ready to die yet," the apology, he knew, would go unheard. For the first time, guilt struck Bobby. This wasn't him...

"It is now," Bobby growled to himself, brushing the tear away roughly and continuing on.

The insant Evelyn fell to the ground, Dan was at her side, ordering people around. She wanted desperately to run off into the hospital and find whatever she could to stop the bleeding, but before she could move more than three feet from her current spot, Dan declared that it wasn't necessary, because Evelyn was dead. The blood drained from Viki's face and she turned a pasty shade of white as she looked at the deceased girl.

Three minutes ago, she had been alive.

She didn't notice Dan as he subtly removed the scalpel from Evelyn's neck and slid it into his pocket. Instead, her attention turned immediately to Serenity, who appeared to be having a complete breakdown. Before Viki could say anything to her or approach the girl, she took off in a sprint away from the area.

"Serenity, wait!" Viki called out, to no avail.

Almost immediately thereafter, Ianto grabbed his belongings and started chasing after Serenity, declaring that he was going to go find her before she got herself killed. As strange and surreal as the thought of death was, it was surely starting to emerge all around them. Lance and Heather were dead, Evelyn was dead, and Ianto had just finished burying Heather's unborn baby.

She wanted to cry, but the tears didn't come. Instead, she kept standing there, completely dumbfounded, seemingly unable to act, or do anything. She felt like she was frozen in place and time was going in slow motion. All of a sudden, they had lost three people in their group -- one was dead and the other two had vanished off into the wilderness. Now, all that remained was herself, Gabe, and Dan.

But isn't this what you wanted? To be alone with him? I bet this wasn't what you had in mind, was it? Serenity's gone, and so is Ianto. Now, you all are completely defenseless. What're you gonna do? Scare somebody off with your fire extinguisher? Hope Gabe can get creative with that ski pole? Face it, Vik. If you think you're going to survive past today, your best bet is to go after Ianto.

The mocking and depreciative thoughts that ran through her mind made her angry, but there was nothing she could do to calm the words that kept echoing out in her head. She wanted to suggest that they bury Evelyn, but the sad fact was that they couldn't go around and try to bury every classmate they came across. It just wasn't plausible.

All of a sudden, it was like a lightbulb flashed on above her head, and she remembered a rather important thought she'd been having before the disaster of Evelyn's death occurred. Her attention immediately turned to Gabe, the blank expression she'd held before fading into a serious one.

"Gabe... we need to get out of here. In the announcement... Danya gave us away. Remember? When he addressed us directly, talking about burying that... that baby. He referred to us as the 'hospital group'. He told everybody listening that there was a group of people at the hospital. Nothing good can come of that... we need to get out of here now before we get picked off by somebody who's playing, okay?"

It was almost on cue that Bobby Jacks (although Viki didn't know his name) emerged from the surrounding vegetation, wielding a gun. He wasn't pointing it at them, but given Viki's already somewhat paranoid mindset, him having a weapon out at all certainly didn't help matters. Even better, he looked as though he was talking to himself. This definitely didn't sit right with Viki.

"We... we should run," she blurted out quietly, not taking her attention off the muscular boy walking toward them.