Survival Of The Fittest

"Oh, sure," Rachael weakly said as Stacy went inside the house.

Rachael walked over to the wall next to the side of the door and leaned against it. She removed the bags from her shoulder and held them in front of her. She closed her eyes and briefly sighed. She slowly opened them as she turned her head towards the sky. This had been such a terrible day, and nothing would ever be the same. She was an accessory to murder, and she couldn't deny that she had seen death. Miranda and Katarin were dead, which only reinforced the reality of the deaths of her friends.

Rachael lowered her head and stared at her feet. She could feel tears welling up as she heard a sound coming from the door. She looked up and saw two people running out of the house. A girl was dragging a boy by the wrist and they were running far away. Rachael felt a chill. Why were they running? She didn't hear anything, so it wasn't likely that Stacy shot at them. That's when she felt her heart grow heavy and her eyes widen.

Miles.

Rachael shifted the bags into one hand and ran inside the house.

"Stacy? Miles?" she shouted as she ran in. "Is everything okay?"

Rachael found herself in the room. Miles was on the floor, with Stacy by him. Her mind began to race with all the possibilities, all of which pointed to the worst outcome. She had to know.

"W-what happened?" she asked Stacy.

Before either Madeline or R.J had time to fully respond to Stacy, Madeline began hastily pulling R.J out of the house. Stacy frowned and her lips parted slightly in confusion. They couldn't just leave Miles like this, he needed help.

"Wait!" Stacy called out to the fleeing pair.

But they didn't wait. Madeline didn't even give them a second look, all Stacy received was a few meaningless apologies from R.J. From what Stacy could work out before R.J was dragged away, someone had come in here before them and done this to Miles. She knelt down beside Miles and briefly looked him over. It didn't look like he'd been shot or stabbed, besides the stab wound he already had, so it was likely whoever did this to him didn't intend on killing him. Unless of course they just didn't have enough time to because they were interrupted by Madeline and R.J. She needed Rachael in here, she hadn't anticipated on this happening.

"Ra-" Stacy began to shout, but before she could finish, Rachael had already entered the room.

"I'm not sure." Stacy responded to Rachael. She then looked back down at Miles. "Are you all right?"

What a stupid question to ask.

It was so stupid, that Miles didn't bother answering Stacy's inquiry out loud, not even with any sarcastic response about how dumb it was. Instead, he placed a palm to his face and shook his head, letting loose something halfway between a groan and a sigh.

Well, he would have been somewhat alright, if Ruth Roger, the guy who ran Joe off and Madeline Wilcox, the girl who actually knew some first aide was still here to help him, but no, Stacy just had to come back just in time to scare them away and ruin it before Madeline even had the chance to start the first aid. Now he was still there, still lying on the dusty white carpet with specks of his own blood, sore and in so much pain.

Impeccable timing, Stacy and Rachael. Just, impeccable.

"It was Joe Carrasco. Kid gave me a cheap shot and began wailing on me. RJ and Maddie were going to help me, and then you came in."

He shut his eyelids and rolled his eyes beneath them as he said that last part. He opened his eyes and looked at Stacy and Rachael briefly. Something was wrong there, even in one glance they looked like a mess compared to earlier, but he didn't ponder about it too long.

"Question is, are - you two - alright?" Miles echoed Stacy's own words back to both of them. "What happened."

Miles didn't really wait for them to answer after he asked the questions, as his own situation seemed much more pressing to him at the moment. Were they going to do something and help him or what? He most definitely wasn't going anywhere, like this.

Through his pain, Miles managed to pull himself up and dragged himself onto the lounge seat from earlier and laid still. He was now completely exhausted from the short ordeal and constant aching through his entire being that he could hardly move anymore after that. Miles pushed his head back onto the cushion and sighed again, then took in a breath a long, deep one for some extra air.

"God, I need a latte."

Maybe some regular coffee at least.

((Timeskip and GM approved by all))

Miles was attacked by Joe Carrasco, that guy who wanted to be a doctor. Why would he attack Miles? It didn't matter, since they needed to help Miles, and it looked like those other two kids were gone.

Miles asked what happened to them. He must have noticed the additional weapons. Rachael turned her gaze to the floor.

"We...... ran into trouble...." she said.

She bit her lip. How were they going to explain that two girls were dead because of their meddling?

---

The next morning, Rachael was attending to Stacy's injuries. Stacy had some cuts on her forearms and her lower back from yesterday that they forgot about. Rachael didn't know a whole lot about first aid, but she had to try. Miles was still in no condition to do much, and Stacy was still vulnerable to infection. Somehow, Rachael was the only one without any injuries in their little triumvirate. Rachael stayed quiet as she tried to disinfect the wounds and put bandages on Stacy.

The announcements had played a little while ago. These announcements were the worst ones yet. Four kids had their collars blown for trying to escape. Summer Simms killed two people before being shot. Hansel killed another person. The announcer also mentioned Katarin and Miranda's deaths, making it sound like Stacy shot them without any hesitation or resistance. Katarin's brother apparently died the same day, something that made Rachael feel terrible. Most families were losing one kid, but how horrible would it be to lose two kids in one day?

Still, Michael, Tim, and Corey weren't on the announcements. There was still no sign of where those guys went, but at least they were alive, but for how much longer? There had to be at least sixty or seventy dead classmates by this point? They had been here for almost a week, and there was no sign of it stopping. This whole thing would probably end with everyone except one person dead.

Rachael finished putting bandages on Stacy's back and walked away from the girl. She leaned against a wall near a window. The house had been a good temporary hideout, and they had no issues since they returned the day before. She was tired, and the images of Katarin and Miranda dying were still on her mind. She felt sick just thinking about it.

Alright, sure. They ran into trouble.

That was good enough, the answer would suffice, so Miles let it be, because he was too preoccupied with his own problems to really have the time to care about what happened with Stacy and Rachael too much. They wanted to leave immediately, but Miles made it clear that he was in no condition to move so soon after that encounter with Joe. In the end the ladies relented and the three stayed at the furnished home overnight.

With the doors locked, this time.

Miles managed some pleasant sleep, despite things, including the mediocre first aid they provided, but at least it was something. The medicine, made him feel a bit cloudy-minded and the girls kept mostly silent, compared to before which didn't bother him. Quiet was good.

He'd laid on the long lounge chair he'd already called his own as Rachael tended to Stacy's injuries which he hadn't quite noticed the day before. Eventually he pulled himself up and went exploring the house some more to retrieve his things, including his bag and that Hunga Munga of his from the wardrobe. He didn't like it all that much; especially after what happened yesterday, but that thing was his only main method of defense.

In the kitchen, Miles smirked in satisfaction when he found a completely sealed can of instant coffee. It wasn't his favorite, but he really needed some after a few days of hell. He stuffed it in his pack, when the quiet suddenly ended. The second announcement Miles has ever paid attention to during his time here started up and it worse that the last.

Classmates who wanted to escape were blown up by the terrorists for even attempting such a thing.

He plopped down onto a dining chair.

Mara had killed again, this time, Summer Simms, her own best friend. Though it seemed like Summer herself had snapped when the host, whom Miles assumed was the terrorist leader, noted that Mara had to "put her down", after Summer had killed two other with grenades. It's was another unbelievable thing to consider, so maybe he was interpreting it wrong.

Now Summer was gone and he sank his face into his palms.

She always called him Smiles.

However, it was the last part of the announcement that had Miles staring back up, with stilted breath. The terrorist had mentioned a rampage that ended in the deaths of Miranda Millers and Kat Tolstoff, by a Ms. Ramsey. A Ms. Stacy Ramsey, to be precise.

Miles had stuck frozen onto this dining chair for who knows how long.

Stacy, had killed two people, one of them whom she had sure motive in, since Kat had attacked him and Stacy had witnessed it, but what about Miranda. Was she just collateral damage or something else? He had to know what the heck was happening, that was changing every single one of his friends into killers.

Miles crept with rigid, gloomy steps as if he were heading to a concentration camp to the doorway of the room Stacy and Rachael were in. He peeked in and leaned somewhat weakly against the wall.

"What happened, yesterday," Miles spoke in a soft tone, before his voice rose ever so slightly.

His temperature was a tad warm, and it wasn't just the small fever or sickness he had going on, this time either.

"Tell me exactly, what the fuck that was, about a rampage and those two dead girls on the announcement. No actually, you know what; tell me why you two didn't want to mention this before those bastards did."

Stacy was glad that Rachael avoided telling Miles exactly what happened the previous day. Thankfully, Miles didn't press any other questions about what had happened. Stacy wasn't in the right state of mind to explain in detail what had happened at the mansions and then have to deal with Miles's reaction. She needed time to calm down. However, it was day six now, which meant the announcement would be on soon and Stacy was dreading for when her name would be read out. They'd spent the night in the house they left Miles in, much to Stacy's displeasure. She wanted to get as far away from the mansions as she could.

Currently, Stacy was sat on the floor in the lounge with Rachael sat behind her tending to the wounds on her back. She'd taken her jacket off and was sat with her tank top lifted up around her neck to stop it from getting in the way of the wounds. Her leather jacket had prevented her from getting any injuries from the vase on her upper back, but her lower back had several cuts across it. Once Rachael had finished putting bandages on Stacy's wounds, she got up and went to the other side of the room, whilst Stacy stayed sat on the floor. She pulled her tank top back down and sat staring at the patterns in the carpet.

Not long after Miles left room, the morning announcement came on. Stacy's heart stopped. She slowly lifted her head up and stared at Rachael with dread in her eyes. The longer the announcement went on, Stacy started become more hopeful. Perhaps they'd forgotten to put her on the list and she wouldn't have to face Miles – no one would think she was a murderer. But, as the announcement came to a close, Stacy's name echoed around the room. They'd made it seem like she'd barged in and killed them without any provocation, which was almost the exact opposite of what had happened.

Then, she heard footsteps from one of the other rooms. Mile was coming. Stacy turned her head towards the door as Miles came into the room. At first, Miles spoke rather calmly, which made Stacy feel a tad better; he wasn't as mad as she thought he would be. However, as he continued to talk, Miles's voice got louder and angrier. Stacy felt a lump form in her throat. She knew he'd get like this.

"I was upset, Miles." Stacy hissed, trying to fight back tears. "I don't know if you realised, but it was kind of a traumatic experience for me and I wasn't feeling up for telling you right away."

Stacy swallowed, but the lump in her throat wouldn't go away. She looked down at the carpet again and continued to speak.

"We were looking around those mansions up there and then we heard people talking in one of the rooms. We went in the room to see who it was and Kat and Miranda were in there. So basically as soon as we came in, Kat started pointing her knife at me. Then Miranda chucked a vase at me and started charging towards us with her spear."

Stacy looked back up at Miles and took a deep breath to try and calm herself.  

"I didn't know what to do, she was gonna kill us, so I- I had to shoot her. But Kat jumped in the way and it hit her instead. Then because of that, Miranda lunged at me and tried to kill me with her spear. I managed to get her off of me and I had to shoot her too." Stacy finished off quickly.

Staring at the ceiling, Stacy blinked a couple of times to clear the tears starting to form in her eyes. Continuing to stare at the sealing, Stacy carried on.

"I did what I had to do to survive. If I didn't, then Rachael and I would be dead right now. I'm sure you would have done the same thing."

Once Stacy had finished telling Miles what had happened, she stared down at her lap, avoiding making eye contact with him.

Rachael kept her gaze held to the floor. She could hear Miles walking back to the room. He surely heard the announcement, and now was going to confront them. It made perfect sense. He stayed silent the previous day about it. She assumed he thought they were shell shocked about something. They couldn't deny what happened now. Miles wasn't deaf, and he wasn't passed out from blood loss. He heard this announcement, and they had to explain to him.

He was angry. His tone started calm, but she noticed the increase in fowl language. Rachael felt her eyes start to water up. She kept her gaze on the floor. Her back was pressed against the wall, with her hands kept behind her back. She listened as Stacy explained the situation to Miles. Rachael was surprised Stacy first began by explaining why didn't tell him. Stacy went with the shell shocked explanation. She could agree with that. She didn't want to talk much after what happened in the mansion.

Rachael barely listened as Stacy explained the event to Miles. Tears were falling down her cheeks. Ever word Stacy said brought images of Katarin and Miranda to her mind. The way those girls attacked, the way Rachael watched, the way Stacy took action and shot them all flooded her mind. Then there was the silence that followed. The two of them walking silently back to Miles, the quiet in the house as they collected themselves. It was maddening.

Rachael grit her teeth as Stacy finished her explanation.

I did what I had to do to survive. If I didn't, then Rachael and I would be dead right now. I'm sure you would have done the same thing.

Then, she spoke:

"What good is being alive any more?"

She felt her heartbeat start to increase. Her jaw started to shake as she continued to speak. She couldn't be silent any more.

"How are we any better off for being alive? If they killed us, we could finally be done with this stupid game! But we're alive, and all that will do is lead us to more misery and pain! We've been here nearly a week! No one is coming to save us! We're just waiting for the moment when someone kills us!"

She couldn't stop talking. Six days worth of anxieties and fears began to pour out.

"There's nothing good about staying alive! All it means is that the longer we live, the longer we have to see our friends die! I mean, God, everyone I love is dying! Daniel, Naomi, Arthur, and so many other good people I knew back in Seattle! All horribly killed! And worst of all: there's not a single damn reason for it!"

Rachael slid down to the floor keeping her back to the wall. She put her face into her knees and started sobbing.

"I hate this place!" she shouted. "I just want to be done with everything!"

What the hell did she just say?

No, he didn't believe her. She was on meltdown mode and she was talking a whole bunch of nonsense.

This was the part he was to say it was all okay, correct - to console them, to understand them, but frankly no, it wasn't. He could not stand the wailing of these women. All it did was make him livid.

"Oh piss off, psycho, how dare you say that. You've lost your mind. Why don't you ask Stacy to shoot you too then? You're crazy - you both are."

Miles opened his mouth to say something more, to retort in response to everything they said, but he didn't. Not after his eyes widened at the sight of the spear and the knife, the same knife which had previously been in Kat's possession, now in Rachael's possession. It was the same knife that had cut into his own abdomen and seeing it again suddenly made his side flare up and burn again for some reason.

Instead, Miles shut his mouth tightly, lifted a hand in dismissal and turned away.

They were both wrong anyway. He wouldn't have done what Stacy did. Kat attacked him before and he had a chance to put an end to her, but he chose not to. Plus no, Miles Strickland wasn't done. There was every reason to live. There was still a bright future ahead of him. There were friends and family still around and not just on the island either. There was even his cat, Mister to feed. Maybe they wanted to go crazy or get killed, but Miles wanted to remain civilized and live.

As he marched out of their presence and over to the kitchen door despite the re-injured wound, with his things conveniently packed and ready, Miles continued to shake his head in utter contempt.

It was one known multi-murderer and one girl who had practically snapped and became suicidal right in front of his face. He didn't have to deal with this riffraff any longer. Not his problem. There were others out there on this island that would be less risky to be with like his friends or his cousin, whom he felt he could probably depend on without the headache they were giving him right now, in addition to the heat of this light-feverish sickness he was experiencing.

He was thankful for their help, but his bleeding gut instinct was telling him that it was in his best interest, to move on.

The door slammed shut. There was nothing more he had to say to them.

[[Miles Strickland Continued To: Routine Malaise.]]

((GMing approved))

Stacy was surprised when Rachael started to speak. She turned her head and stared at her with furrowed eyebrows. She was confused as to why she was being so negative. Stacy would much rather be alive than dead, she couldn't understand where Rachael was coming from. Sure, they wouldn't have to deal with being on the island anymore, but at least they'd still had a chance of getting back home if they were alive. As for the people who Rachael claimed weren't coming to save them, if they had done it before then they could do it again. Stacy still had hope even if Rachael didn't.  Rachael seemed to be having a mental break down, and it wasn't exactly the best timing to do so.

Something Rachael said caused Stacy to take in a sharp breath of air and stare at her wide eyed. She said Naomi's name. She just told Miles that Naomi was dead. Stacy couldn't believe Rachael had just said that. She was planning to let him down gently, not in the middle of a psychotic rant.

Stacy glimpsed to the side to see Miles's reaction before quickly looking back at Rachael. She didn't want him to see her face in case she gave anything away. Hopefully if Miles didn't hear her, then Stacy could play it cool and act like nothing happened. However, this obviously wasn't going to happen when Miles began to respond.

As Miles started shouting insults at Rachael, Stacy stared up at him meekly, like a dog that was getting told off. Rachael and pissed him off big time, and what was even worse was that Stacy was getting part of the blame for it too. It was like a sucker punch to the face when Miles called her crazy. On the bright side, Miles didn't seem to believe what Rachael said about Naomi. On the negative side, he was now marching out of the room. When Stacy heard the door slam, she turned back to Rachael and stared with daggers in her eyes.

"You stupid girl." Stacy said through grated teeth.

Rage filled Stacy as she got up from the floor and stormed towards Rachael. She raised her hand in the air and brought it down hard across Rachael's face. The sharp sound of skin to skin contact rang in Stacy's ears. Her hand stung as it hand made contact with Rachel's cheek. She stood for a moment, staring down into Rachael's eyes and breathing heavily. She couldn't believe that she had just slapped Rachael. Stacy was probably just as shocked as Rachael was. But Stacy quickly brushed off this feeling and focused on the current situation.

"Why did you just do that?" Stacy asked hysterically. "Look what you've done." Stacy gestured towards the door Miles had just walked out of. "You're lucky he didn't believe you, because god knows what he would have done then."

Taking a few steps back from Rachael, Stacy took in a large breath in order to compose herself. She pushed her hair out of the way of her face and looked towards the door, then back at Rachael. She wanted to say sorry for slapping her, but she was too angry to apologise.

"I'm gonna go find Miles." Stacy said emotionlessly.

Stacy walked towards the corner of the room and picked up her belongings. She then made her way out of the lounge, through the kitchen and out of the door Miles had exited through. Briefly scanning the area, Stacy saw Miles storming off in the distance. Securing her bag over her shoulder, Stacy took off after Miles.

((Stacy Ramsey continued in Routine Malaise))

When Miles spoke up, Rachael snapped back to reality. He was furious. She quickly stood back up, keeping her gaze on him. She didn't expect him to get so angry at her, but that's when she realized what she had just said. She blurted the names of all her dead friends, Naomi included. It was then that she felt her heart sink.

She wanted to apologize. She wanted to say something. All she could do was stutter. Miles hurried out of the room, taking his bag. She tried to call out, but couldn't call out in time. The door slammed, and he was gone. All she could do was stare in shock. What had she done?

You stupid girl.

Rachael slowly turned to face Stacy. The other girl was heading towards her in anger. She stayed still as Stacy slapped her hand across Rachael's cheek. Rachael's head jerked to the side. She stared off towards the floor, holding her hand to her cheek. Stacy chewed her out for her behavior before saying she'd go after Miles. Rachael didn't respond.

Rachael looked back up as Stacy grabbed her bag and went after him, following him the same way he left. That gesture was enough for Rachael to understand them. They didn't want her around any more. If they did, they would have left their bags behind or asked her to wait for them. Then again, why should she expect them to stay with her? They weren't friends back in Seattle, and their alliance was built on being in the same place at the same time.

"I'm such an idiot..." she muttered.

She wiped her eyes and sniffled. She walked over and picked up her bag. Miles and Stacy were probably not coming back, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't want her around. Rachael was sure of it.

She swung her bag over her shoulder and put Katarin's knife in her front pocket. She made her way to the front door and pushed it open. As she stepped outside, where the rain was starting to fall, she had realized a truth about her time here: for the first time since falling through the barn hayloft, she was truly alone on this island. No friends, no allies, just her and empty air.

Rachael made her way down the street and away from the neighborhood, her head hanging low as she walked. She wasn't sure where she was going to go, but as long as she stayed away from Miles and Stacy, she was sure they'd be much happier with her gone.

Perhaps the rest of her peers would be happier if she was gone as well.

((Rachael Langdon continued in Norwegian Wood))