Survival Of The Fittest

((Carson Baye continued from One by One))

Carson was running and still humming Lilium. As he got closer, he noticed the girls standing with a somewhat frightened, somewhat blank, and rather creepy expression on their faces.

He slowed down as he neared them. He decided to talk to them, as he figured this was the best way to get any idea of what the hell was going on.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked. He remembered what Liam told him, and before anyone could answer he decided to pass that on.

"Liam's still as okay as a wounded man can get. Eris is actually kinda cool, she didn't shoot me or Liam and she may end up joining up with us. Also, Liam wants you guys to come back, he has an idea for fucking the system and getting out of this mess."

Regardless of the fist of anxiety clenching at him, Rob remained (at least on the face of things) absolutely calm. The truth was though, he was feeling more apprehensive than ever. Sure, they'd made it on time, they had a bargaining chip in the form of a hostage, and heck, James was safe, so what was left to fret about?

Well... Heath, obviously. What was the point in saving one guy if a member of their group was killed in the rescue? As far as Rob could see, it would make the entire venture more or less worthless. From as cruelly clinical a standpoint as he could get, it would be an exchange of one, somewhat wounded person for another, more healthy guy, and thinking of it that way was just plain wrong.

"Funny business huh..." Bobby's eyes narrowed, and once he was sure James was behind him and out of immediate danger, he raised his voice to call to Lenny. "Don't try to make out you're on top here. Make a move on Heath and I'll blow your damn head off before you can pull the trigger."

It wasn't really his thing, threatening people, that was, but what other choice did he have? If Lenny thought for one second he could turn this on its head, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Best just to dissuade any thoughts he might have of doing just that.

((OOC: shit, I didn't realize that need to post. I'll post later, considering that everything that Heath would do is mental, it wouldn't a big deal if you just countinued.)

"Likewise, try anything and I will shoot Elizabeth. Now, on one, two, three!" Shameeca spoke aloud, still holding the other boy firmly in her sights whilst holding the gun at his sister. She didn't trust Lenny as far as she could throw him, yet she still had an even footing, plus Lenny had moved a bit. Shameeca would of shifted as well, yet next to her was a large tree and she couldn't walk through wood, no matter how much she wanted to. Instead she pushed the barell harder into the girls head in an effort to get her to move. Hopefully, Liz would get the message and walk over to her brother.

Once Heath was safe, then she really had two thoughts. One was too run like hell, yet the second was to start shooting. Neither looked good at this point, especially as she had no idea what this gun fired like. Not being the most beefy girl, how could she be sure that the recoil wouldn't send her flying from one shot, or the aim was off. Hell, she was only sure that she could pull the trigger to shoot it and that it was loaded with a few pieces of ammo. After that, she had no clue about the weaponry.

You even dare try anything she thought as her finger rested on he trigger, resisting the urge to squeeze.

James continued watching the whole hostage ordeal from behind Rob. Like Lenny, he didn't want to see any funny business either. "Please, both of you...Let go of Heath and Elizabeth..", James muttered, almost in a pleading voice. He definitely didn't want to see any unnecessary bloodshed.

James took another look at Elizabeth. Probably the millionth time he's looked at her in the past day. He still felt guilty for not standing by her side. But how could he? He was kidnapped and it would simply be downright strange if he didn't choose the side of his saviors. He made a mental note to thank them later, when this whole hostage situation was over. But if Elizabeth was shot now...James would feel even more guilty. Almost as if it were his fault. His fault that he didn't stand up for Elizabeth and save her. That he had given up and just went to stand over behind Rob without another word. But then again, what could he do? The situation was complicated.

James shrugged to himself and looked over at Rob. He seemed to be talking to Lenny. Rather, yelling it seemed. He nearly flinched when Rob delivered the death threat. He didn't even try to keep the peace or say anything this time. If it wasn't totally inappropriate, James would have sat on the ground, picking at the wet grass. But that would just be strange, so James just stood and listened.

James averted his eyes from Lenny, over to Shameeca. "Ick..please don't threaten Elizabeth..she hasn't done anything! Geez..", James thought to himself, frowning. But he was glad that Elizabeth wasn't in Shameeca's clutches, that she could return to her brother, however safe that may be.

Sure, James trusted Shameeca. She did manage to round up a few people to save him. She did manage to get here before dawn. He would have to put some faith into her. But James had to admit: Seeing Shameeca with that gun against Elizabeth Priestly's head was scary. Did she really kill to get that gun? Maybe James should steer clear of this chick.

But she did make a promise. Didn't she? The details were foggy, but James could have sworn that Shameeca sworn to save James and help him find Bree. But that felt like years ago, even though it was just yesterday.

Lulu heard a voice from behind that sounded distinctively male and familiar. Fearing it was Liam, she turned around with her scythe gripped firmly in her hands. Oh. Carson. He wasn't so bad. She wasn't sure what he wanted but decided to hear him out for now.

"Well...I'm not..entirely sure. The bunch up ahead..looks like Lenny took someone hostage..and then some other people showed up..and took Lenny's sister hostage. I'm just..really confused. We were thinking of leaving...", Lulu told him, scratching her head. She had no clue of the details, other than the fact that some strangers were aiming guns at others and screaming about something or another.

But then he made the proposition to go back to Liam. No way. No way in hell would Lulu go back to him. He scared her. But she had just said that she was planning on leaving. She decided to be honest. "Um..No offense, but I don't..really trust Liam. Or this, Eris..person. I don't know...", Lulu trailed off, adjusting her glasses and staring at the dirt.

Lenny believed Bobby. One wrong move and that boy would fire his gun. Lenny would easily be cut down. Though he didn't plan on any "funny business.". He planned to get Elizabeth and move on. He was done here, and in his mind, he won. Sure, no one died, but did that matter? Did there have to be bloodshed? Lenny wasn't crazy like Bobby. In his own mind he saw himself sane, just craving something barely out of his reach. He didn't need a high kill count.

Heath was free, and Lenny looked forward at his sister.

Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was free, and slowly stepped forward a bit. She half expected to be shot in the back.

She became more confident as she didn't feel anything sharp in her back. She continued to walk forward, not looking back, ignoring the sounds, feeling the rain press against her. She was free. Everyone was free. Could they all go now? She didn't look at James. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to look at him. He was safe now, and that was all that mattered.

When she reached her brother, Lenny stepped in front of her.

"So, now's the moment of truth I guess. What kind of people are you? Willing to go now? Or is there something else now...something darker. Did the island get to you Shameeca? Like it got to your new ally Bobby over there? Everyone will lose to this game, everyone. Some have lost more than others."

Lenny looked at Bobby, obviously directing the statement to the boy.

"So, I'm willing to walk away with me sister, no shooting. Though if you want a shootout, I promise you I'll bring one of you down with me."

Anna looked at Lulu for some time, trying to think of an answer. "Hmm... well, we know we're never going back to that tree. That's the last place I would want to go as long as there are dangerous people there - and I'm not even speaking about Liam, although he scares me deeply."

And almost like clockwork Carson came onto the scene. To say that Anna was surprised to see him alive would be a huge understatement. In fact Anna assured herself that Liam and Carson were killed by their own foolishness, but seeing the boy perfectly intact made her feel both relieved and disappointed at the same time. What was Carson doing here at a time like this? Wasn't he supposed to be staying with Liam? The first idea that came to Anna's mind was that Liam had been taken care of and Carson, having the sensibility of a child, must have thought to follow them here. This idea was dashed outright once Carson spoke.

"Liam's still as okay as a wounded man can get. Eris is actually kinda cool, she didn't shoot me or Liam and she may end up joining up with us. Also, Liam wants you guys to come back, he has an idea for fucking the system and getting out of this mess."

"...."

Anna found herself very close to laughing. It was a very rude gesture indeed but she could not help it. She glared at Carson coldly, biting her lip in an attempt to hold it in. Carson had come all the way from the tree just to tell them that Liam was fine? He was wounded. Why would Carson leave his side to begin with? Why would he leave Liam with a huge bloody wound in a ditch somewhere? Obviously Carson's decision-making skills were as unintelligent as Anna would have imagined. Why did she feel so bad for acting the way she did the last time they saw each other?

"Oh that's a laugh and a half." She said, brushing her hair back. "I must say I actually heard you say that Liam is wounded. He certainly deserves to be hurt, by the huge mess he was bound to get himself into."

She looked at Lulu as the girl spoke and Anna shook her head slightly. "Even if we could trust Liam and – well, whoever this Eris girl is (to be quite frank I don't remember there ever being a girl named Eris in this school), it wouldn't be a good idea just to go back there and leave Lenny to… well, leave these people to kill each other. I'm still trying to come up with an idea to stop the violence. As you can see Carson, we're rather busy with people who aren't walking targets."

Anna glimmered slightly, turning to Liam. "Here's an idea Liam – I mean - Carson. If you are so certain that Liam, the dimwitted fool that he is, has the right idea then by all means tell him to come to us. A boy like him could rush over here in less than a fortnight, after all for a wounded man he's certainly fine right?"

She smiled. "He is in no position to tell us what to do. If he wants to catch our attention, he should at least give us the benefit of the doubt that he's willing to come over here and speak with us, instead of sending his partner to speak for him (no offensive intended). But here's a question for you to ponder Carson – did Liam even tell you what his so-called plan is? Has he ever told you, or does he even HAVE an idea? If you can answer me that then I will have no choice believe it fully. I can be a trusting person during times like this."

Anna turned to Lauren. "What we need to do," she began, her eyes switching between the girl and the shore, "is to get everything settled down. I have a very bad feeling something bad is going to happen very soon and in all honesty I want to save as many people as possible. We don't have anything worthwhile, at least from an ammunition standpoint so just walking out there with our knives will kill us faster than anything else we could ever come up with. We might have to bluff our way out of this... give me a moment and I think I can come up with something..."

She closed her eyes and hummed to herself. Her hands rubbed vigorously at her temples, trying to come up with a course of action. Anything that didn't include sitting around waiting for things to happen.

Carson was severely not in his happy place at the moment. In fact, he was on the verge of punching Anna. He held his latent sociopathy back and decided to merely explain in further detail.

"Liam told me to go here and get you to come back. Had he not done so, I would still be in the hollow tree with him. I may be a bit of an ass, and I may not think things through entirely, but I am not an idiot. The plan thing was an aside he told me at the last second while I was leaving, you'd have to ask him for more detail." He sighed.

"And when I said he was fine, I meant he wasn't bleeding to death as far as either of us or Eris could tell. Not too sure if he can walk well with his injured leg, but if not I can help him. He may end up being even more of an asset now than he was, since he seemed to be getting along pretty decently with Eris when I left, and she has a gun." He turned around.

"I'll quit boring you with my incessant talking. Either you come to the hollow tree or I come back here, your choice." With that, he walked off.

((Carson Baye continued in One By One))

((OOC: Yes, I'm going all Dave Sim (minus the misogyny) on Heath))

The fact that he was released just as fast as he was captured was perplexing to the young adult. His mind was off somewhere else during the negotiations. His mind was still off somewhere else. When Heath heard Lenny rattle on about what was decided, that's when he started to get what was going on.

What? Wait, we're just going to let this bastard GO? No, that's not right. I mean he kill our fellow students…

Then what am I doing, then? I promised Bobby I'd protect him, though he did even worse apparently. None of this makes any sense, why did I decide to do that? I mean, yeah I wanted some justice for Petra's death. But I could get that just as well if I killed him and lived the rest of MY life in her memory.

So what the fuck?

Still, I can't kill Bobby. I'm not an oath breaker. But… I just can't have Lenny harm anyone else. I can't.

"Bullshit, liar!" Heath bellowed out. With that, Heath rushed towards Lenny, swiftly dishing out his pipewrench all the while. The loss of blood. The pain in his arm. All that was miniscule to Heath. Only anger. Against Lenny, Bobby, but mostly above all else, himself.

It had come so close to ending peacefully.

Needling comments from Lenny aside, Rob had just finally been considering relaxing. James had made it to safety, as had Elizabeth and Heath was making his way out of harm's path. Rob was glad indeed that they had brought the situation to a close without undue blooshed. He was under no illusions about what would happen, should they have started a fight. Lenny, much as he disliked the guy, was bang on the money. He had a gun, and that was bound to wreak some havoc. Unless either Rob or Shameeca could have taken Lenny out in one shot - without hitting either Heath or Elizabeth, then Lenny would have started blasting. Nobody except Bobby had any protection whatsoever, and with the area as crowded as it was, people being hit would have been inevitable. Rob was just about to let out the breath it felt as if he had been holding forever when it all went horribly wrong.

All of a sudden, Heath turned around and went lunging at Lenny, declaring him a liar in the process. It seemed, to Rob, to be happening almost in slow motion. A fight had been threatening to break out since they had arrived on the coast, and now, what anybody sane amongst them had been dreading came to pass. Bobby screamed inwardly, declaring Heath an idiot, a fool, every name under the sun. His mind raged at the sheer stupidity of his actions, railing at Heath for instigating the carnage that would ensue afterwards. But yet... there was a part of Rob looking on that favoured Heath's attack with a sage nod. Was this the intelligent, rational thing to do? No, no way in hell. Was it the right thing to do? ... Yes.

Bobby couldn't just let Heath run at Lenny, pipewrench or no pipewrench and just get slaughtered. He'd be gunned down in moments and the situation would move straight back to impasse, whereupon all hell was sure to break loose moments later. Decrying himself for as much a fool as Heath, Rob, with his sights already on Lenny, opened fire. As he pulled the trigger no less than fifteen times in a row, the recoil jerking his aim all over the place, Rob opened his mouth to let out a wordless roar of rage.

This... was not going to be pretty.

James felt relieved when Elizabeth was by Lenny's side. So she was safe now. Everyone was safe now, right? Lenny and Elizabeth were together and Heath was free from Lenny's clutches. Everything was good. He could leave and find Bree.

But Lenny spoke. Asking what kind of people they were. James blinked, thinking about it, but he didn't think too deeply. James was..well, James. He didn't think this island had changed him. Other than realizing he took life for granted, he was more or less the same person. He knew in his heart, the real reason he remained the same was for Bree. If he totally changed and forgot about her...Living wouldn't be worth it.

He wanted to live and be with her. He didn't want to change. He didn't want to take lives. He wanted to stay the same and go back to how life used to be. Even though he knew this was impossible, it really kept his sanity to a healthy level by believing this.

James heard the next statement from Lenny and blinked a few times. Oh. No no. James definitely didn't want a shootout. He just wanted to leave. "Yes yes..let's go..A shootout won't be necessary. Nope.", James muttered nervously, inching backwards.

And James was almost sure that he would get this moment of peace. He was sure he would be able to leave and go find Bree. But instead, Heath rushed forward, making like he was about to attack Lenny. It didn't look good. Heath was armed with a pipe wrench and Lenny with a gun...James bit his lip, unsure of what to do or how to react. The inevitable had came. A fight was going to break out.

Before James knew it, Rob had begun shooting at Lenny several times. He flinched every time he heard a shot, backing up farther and farther. He was half-covering his eyes, not wanting to see what was happening. He didn't want to see any of this. He didn't want to see a gun fight or anyone dead. Even though Lenny had taken him captive with malicious intent, James didn't want to see him dead. He didn't want to see anyone dead. This whole game really wasn't James' niche.

He was about to yell out to stop shooting, but decided that would be idiotic. Like Rob would listen to him. One of Rob's companions was in risk of getting killed, of course Rob would defend him. Telling Rob to stop shooting would risk Heath's death. This was all very complicated and James knew something. Something obvious. Someone was going to die.

Farther back in the forest, Lulu was standing beside Anna, her arms wrapped around her stomach lightly. She wasn't feeling very comfortable. This situation was just a little...awkward, to her. But she was very glad that Anna was taking hold of the situation. Anna may have been a tad bit strange, but she was very logical too, at the same time.

She glanced from Anna to Carson, then back to Anna and nodded. "I agree with Anna.", She told him. But this meant that Liam might possibly come here. That gave her the shivers.

After Carson finished his chatter about Liam's situation, she sighed, adjusting her glasses. "We..Me at least..refuse to go back to the hollow tree. Either he comes here..or he doesn't..But I'm definitely not coming.", Lulu muttered, watching him walk off. She leaned against a tree casually.

"Back then..When you called Carson, Liam. They are rather alike, aren't they?", Lulu asked Anna. She grinned slightly.

The inevitable had came.

Lenny wasn't into shootouts, not that he could say he has ever been in one.

He had only taken two lives on the island, and both were to satisfy some twisted urge he had. He felt he needed to do what he did. Though, he felt like he was a step above people like Bobby. They were killers who went for high kill counts.

Not Lenny.

He was different.

He wasn't a killer.

Protector?

Yes, that would suit him good. He liked that. Though, everything went downhill with Heath. Lenny would have thought of a lot of different reasons for this situation, this ticking time bomb to explode, but he wouldn't have put it on Heath. The boy's sudden and vicious attack caused Lenny to aim his handgun at him and pull the trigger four times.

Each pull of the trigger felt right, each one felt like it was supposed to happen. How dare he attack him? Lenny just wanted to be left alone with his sister now.

Then came the pain.

Two sharp jolts slammed into Lenny's left arm and he let out a grimace, knowing very well what had happened. He heard more shots though, a lot more, and while his head was spinning he tried to register if he was hit any more times.

Elizabeth.

She didn't mean to be Lenny's savior, but she was.

Bullets intended for Lenny, hit her instead, for she was making her was to him when the shooting happened.

The pain wasn't there yet, but she knew it would come. She felt a pain in her side, and in her leg.

She was hit at least twice then. Falling to the ground, she let out a scream and reached down to her side, only to look at her bloody hands. Would she die here? No, she couldn't, it couldn't be fatal. No no no, she would be fine. Her head spun, as her eyes searched desperately for Lenny. She saw blood on his arm. He had been hit too.

Elizabeth wanted to close her eyes and wish everything away.

Why?

Why did it come to this?

At first, Shameeca wasn't even aware that anything was wrong. Elizabeth was back with Lenny and they had James behind them, with Heath walking back. It was all going to end peacefully, with everyone getting away safe. She would have won and they would of found Bree and maybe have a little bit of peace, maybe even manage to last a few more days as a little group. This optimistic view of it all was shattered when she suddenly saw Heath turn on his heel and lunge at Lenny. No! thought the black haired girl as she saw that little fantasy vanish in one movement.

"Heath!!" she cried out, looking for her friend over the barrell of her raised weapon, not knowing whether to open fire or not. If she did, she could hurt Heath or Elizabeth, but if she did nothing, then Lenny might just kill them all as they stood. Shamee wasn't going to go out like a fish in a barrell, yet she was reluctant to even fire on them. What if she missed and hit an innocent person, What if she hit Lenny? For all her bluffing and aggresion, she didn't want to shot someone, take a life. Suddenly, she saw Lenny lift his gun and shoot at Heath. From her angle she couldn't tell if he had been hit or not, but she wasn't going to do nothing to that. Even Rob's shots sounded distant in her ears, everything seeming to go slower and more distant as her heart started racing even faster, her mind focusing on that shot to end his games.

Once.. Twice.. Three times she pulled the trigger and slid the bolt backwards to eject the bullet casing, the gun pushing back at her, making her stumble backwards for the last one and spin a little, sending her last shot miles to the side rather than towards the person she wished to hurt. She saw Elizabeth fall and she prayed that she had just dove on the floor out of the way. Whatever happened, somebody wouldn't make it out alive of here.

('Kay, sorry for breaking the post order but James has gotta kick the proverbial bucket pretty soon, haha.)

James flinched when Lenny began shooting at Heath. This wasn't supposed to happen! The deal was made and done. Why did bloodshed have to occur now of all times? In a way, James blamed Heath, but in another, he was sure that Heath had a reason for provoking Lenny.

Hopefully. But James just couldn't move. It was like he was in the exciting part of a novel. He just had to keep reading, or in his case, watching, what was going on until the very end. But he couldn't change anything. James found he couldn't even move. He just stared onward at this sight, as if staring through the glass of a window.

After a short amount of time, James realized Lenny had been shot. Before he could even mull over Lenny's injury, there were a few more shots and Elizabeth got injured. Elizabeth! He wasn't completely sure where she had gotten shot, but she definitely had. This was not good.

When Elizabeth's scream reached James' ear, he froze. It was a horrible sound, hearing a girl scream. James always, always had a soft spot for girls. Growing up, all throughout his life, he always tended to befriend girls. They were just more kind, more understanding, not so rough. It wasn't surprising that he had developed somewhat of a fondness for Shameeca and Elizabeth on his trek.

So hearing a girl scream out in pain was a terrible sound for James. He wanted to help her. He wouldn't let her die. He had to see if she was okay! If she died...James knew he would feel terrible. He had to help her. Had to. He didn't care if he was risking his life by running out in the area between Rob and Lenny. That didn't matter.

Glancing vaguely at Rob for a second, James immediately made a dash towards the fallen Elizabeth. The small sprint seemed like a life time, but he eventually dropped to his knees by Elizabeth's side. "Elizabeth!", He yelled, placing an arm on her shoulder. "Are you okay?!"

He sure hoped so. Elizabeth didn't deserve to be shot. He eagerly awaited her response. He didn't expect a, 'Yeah, I'm fine.' but any response would be okay, or comforting. He would try to help in any way he possibly could. Maybe the shooting would stop altogether. It was unlikely, but James couldn't help but hope.

If it wasn't for Elizabeth back there at the mess hall, Lenny might have shot Shameeca and James without thinking about it. Maybe, James honestly didn't know what his intentions were. In a way, Elizabeth saved them so he wanted to help her.

More shots.

Lenny lucked out big time this time, for Shameeca's shots came when he was kneeling down to find cover.

He didn't luck out totally however, for one bullet grazed his neck, enough to cause a burning pain, but not enough to put him out of the action. He was down, but not out. Instinct took over, and he felt the adrenaline rush in him. He had to let it go. He had to let the Lenny he knew he was out. Despite his promise to his sister, if he was going to live and protect her, he could show no mercy. He had to unleash it from it's cage.

Lenny's first instinct was to spin behind a fallen log behind him, but when he saw his sister was down he knew it had all gone wrong.

She had gotten shot and it was his fault. No, it was their fault.

Lenny didn't even check to see if his shots hit Heath, his focus was on his sister and trying to get her to safety. He would have to get out from behind cover to run after her, which almost certainly spelled death for him. Lenny felt a sting of pain as his body reminded him he was bleeding and shot. Bullets and guns. Who would have figured his own classmate did this to him. Lenny was about to bolt over the log to get his sister when he saw James break free and run at her.

Lenny let the rage take over.

He let the side of him that killed Anna and Keiji take over.

Lenny Priestly was back.

Elizabeth, laying on the ground, looked at her bloody hands. She had been shot. She struggled to breath, as she felt like she was going into shock. Her vision spun around, and faded from this world to blackness. Where was Lenny? She couldn't see him anymore. She silently cursed everything and everyone. She didn't want to die here. Why did her brother have to get her into this...why. He would rescue her though. He had to. He promised her.

When her blackness went away towards the light she saw James over her asking her if she was alright. She felt his hand on her, and she only looked up at him.

"I'm...I've been shot."

She had to take care of the wound. She had to get away from here.

"Where's...my brother? Tell them all to...stop."

James was a good guy. Elizabeth felt sorry for the lot he got stuck with, but the fact that he would come out during a gunfight to help her proved that he was a good guy. No one could argue it, no one. Her brother would spare him, especially now. He proved that he was a good guy.

Bang Bang Bang

Lenny had fired three shots at James Martinek.

Lenny had freed him, yet he came back.

He came back to attack Elizabeth, his sister no less!

Lenny Priestly wouldn't stand for that, so he fired his shots off and ducked back down behind the log and let out a primal scream.

"AHHHHHH!!!! COME AND GET ME!"

There was no going back now. Lenny ran in his head. He pulled the trigger what, 6 or 7 times? How many did the gun carry? 19?

He didn't have time to reload anyways, this was it. Lenny planned to kill everybody he had to. He would do it not only without mercy, but with happiness. They brought this upon themselves. He would get him and his sister out of here alive.