Survival Of The Fittest

Meka held a hand to his chin and pondered. Could they find a way out? There had to be something they could do. Meka knew for a fact he couldn't get the collars off. He was an artist, not an engineer, and they knew too little about the security of the island to do anything brash. There had to be some way to get the location of the island out to the world so they could be rescued. There had to be a way to do so without the terrorists blowing his head off his neck, or at least a way where they'd do that but still get the location out.

Either way, Meka couldn't think here. Now he was realizing how loud the waterfall was behind the group. He hadn't noticed since their voices echoed in the cave, but it was going to be hard to think, at least this close to the waterfall. Besides, Ariana had been looking at him to give some input. He lowered her hand.

"Well, if we're going for aesthetic," he said, "I'd think a temple would be pretty aesthetic. Maybe Marceline would be drawn there by the spires and statues of whatever religion that temple belongs to."

Meka shrugged.

"And hey, maybe we could use some holy power while were here. Maybe there's some still there."

He had no idea how great a suggestion that was, even if it was just to find a place for some religion (which was a pretty daunting suggestion considering he didn't know the religious backgrounds of these girls), but if they at least had an idea where Dolly's friend was, maybe it'd be a good idea to chase a theory there. Besides, maybe there'd be similarly peaceful people drawn to the temple. It couldn't hurt to check.

Dolly looked at the faces of her three erstwhile companions, one after the other. She took in the lines of their brows and around their mouths, the shadows under their eyes, the moisture of the waterfall's spray misting their hair. For a moment, she allowed the yawning void to open up beneath her, and she thought about how all of them would be dead in two weeks at most, barring a miracle, and how she would join them.

Then, she smiled.

"A temple sounds like as good a place to go as any. I have to admit, it's been a while since I've been to church. Maybe I have some catching up to do." Nominally, her family was Catholic, but they really only went to Mass on the holidays. The word "temple" made her think that this wasn't going to be the kind of church she was used to at all, but one place of worship would serve Dolly as well as any other.

Dolly clasped her hands together in front of her, a common gesture that she had to adjust slightly to account for the knife that she was still holding. "I'd like to head for the temple," she said simply, and ghosted past the others to the vegetation-laden path that led up and away from the cave.

Peace wouldn't last long. If there was a time to reflect and confess, it would be soon, and they ought to take the opportunity for what it was worth.

G023 DOLORES UPTON: START

((Dolores Upton continued in Two Hearts))

Rhonda never used to go to church.

It was because of her mother, of course. After what happened with her birth father, there'd been a falling out with whatever church her mom used to go. Her father wasn't religious either; he took offense to the relationship between some religions, birth control, and the like. He'd never spoken of it much-he wasn't the type to gripe a lot, that was always her mom-but when he did, Rhonda took note.

She'd never been particularly spiritual herself. Maybe God existed, or some other faith was right, but none of them seemed to offer a way to fix problems right here on Earth. She'd always assumed she was on her own with that, whatever happened. That was probably still true here. But it was worth a shot, right? Anything was worth a shot. No, not anything, but the list was much smaller than at home.

She wanted to go home.

Rhonda was quiet as they decided, only nodding and adjusting the strap on her shoulder. The fan was still in her hand, which she'd forgotten. She was still tempted to throw it out through the veil of water, but it probably wasn't worth it. The others might get angry about it, and she didn't need that. They had to work together, and that meant not upsetting them as best she could.

((Rhonda followed.))

Meka nodded. It sounded like Dolly was indeed the Marceline Whisperer and seconded his opinion about the temple. It felt good to know that that idea was being agreed upon. It was early, but it actually felt like he was helping. This experience would require a lot of team work and input, and if he could barely protect his friends and allies with the crappy weapon he was assigned, he could at least add his intellect.

"Great. Let's get our prayer on," he said, following Dolly and Rhonda out of the cave.

As his eyes adjusted to the sunlight and he wiped some of the moisture off his forehead, Meka thought about what was to come. They weren't guaranteed to find Marceline or any of their other friends here. Meka was fortunate to have at least one friend with him, but they'd have greater things to focus on. It was pretty much certain people were going to die, and they were more likely to be in danger than be safe here.

As Meka followed the others away, he continued to ponder. There was a way out of this place, or at least a way to bring the US to this island. He couldn't do much with the collar on, but maybe there was a way to rebel without being seen.

They had a long walk to the temple. Maybe that was enough time to come up with an idea.

((Meka Gibson continued in Two Hearts))

So they were off to the Temple, it was decided. It wasn't exactly the choice she would have made herself - religious iconography always attracted a few nuts, especially in utterly batshit crazy situations like this, but if it was the consensus of the group, then she was okay with it. That was the entire focus of her mind at the moment - to do what was best for the group. Keep them safe. She wasn't letting anything else flood into her mind, either. Thinking of home, thinking of her father, of Ross? It didn't do anyone any good. If her mind was elsewhere, she risked becoming distracted and that could get one of them killed.

Killed. The word echoed in her mind as she followed along behind the rest of them, finally getting a reprieve from the constant cacophony of sound from the waterfall echoing into the cave. It was still utterly insane to think that here they were, instructed to be the instruments of one another's demise.

"Prayer, huh," she snarked as they headed up the path away from the cave. "We're gonna need all the help we can get, so why not?"

Her mind slipped back home once more, but this time, it was an almost odd feeling of comfort. After all of the times that she'd vowed that she would never follow in the footsteps of her mother, she had managed to land within a prison after all. It was a prison of a different type, but how different was it? She was told what to do, how to feel and how to conduct herself. There were expectations, rules that if not followed resulted in a punishment. Like prison, many of them here were never going to see the light of day again, and for any who did, they would be irrevocably changed by the experience.

When she had visited her mother, Ariana was always struck by how comfortable she seemed, how adapted to life inside she had been. Her entire life had been spent trying to distance herself from that woman, to be her own person.

Right now, she hoped that maybe she was more of her mother's daughter than she realized.

It might be her only chance at survival.

((Ariana Moretti continued in Two Hearts))