Survival Of The Fittest

Being obeyed without question for so long was evidently too good to last. Again it was good that Beth didn't need to hide her body language, and could essentially choose how she wanted to portray her emotions to Przemyslaw. She was already a fairly good actor, but only needing to use her voice certainly made it easier. So she made sure to layer in just a slight amount of the irritation she was beginning to feel as she responded. No need to alienate the boy.

"Sure. But we have no idea where they're are, do we? Not to mention that it's rapidly getting darker outside, not that you could've known."

Just a light touch of reminding him that he needed her too, for good measure.

"I could go looking, but I can't protect you if I do."

What Bethany said made sense to Przemek. The ‚not that you could have known‘ felt condescending but he was sure Bethany didn‘t meant it that way.

„Okay, where to?“

It had been several hours since the incident with Calvin, and Shawn was still feeling bitter about how it went down.

((Shawn Bellamy continued from Elbert))

He regretted not stashing some of his more useful belongings first, like his medkit and rations. Now all he had to show for his trouble were a couple extra clothes that were too small for him to wear, and an angry acquaintance who probably wouldn't react too kindly if they ever crossed paths again.

Well, odds are he was going to get himself killed trying to get his stuff back, or end up stuck there until the hot spring became a danger zone. One less competitor to worry about either way, in a manner that would leave the rest of the island none the wiser. Not to mention without having to get his hands bloody, wouldn't be HIS fault if Calvin did something stupid to remedy his situation, right? The ball was now in his court.

Regardless, now he needed to rest. The sun was long gone and his legs were just about ready to give up on him. In the end he opted to avoid the town, too likely to be full of trigger happy punks fighting over the real estate, so instead he went for what seemed to be his next best option: The Mine.

He picked the largest of the buildings on offer, mostly because it was the first he came across, and he was too tired and paranoid about drawing attention to spend too long looking for somewhere smaller. 

A chill ran down his spine as he entered it, the temperature inside unfortunately not differing too much from the outside, what with all the broken windows exposing it to the elements. He was a little overwhelmed at first by the maze of pipes and conveyor belts that stretched out before him, like something out of a cheap 70s sci-fi movie. A part of him still couldn't believe that he was going to have to rough it in a place like this, make the best of what he could find like some fucking hobo.

Well, beggars can't be choosers. With any luck half the island won't be waking up tomorrow, with the cold doing most of the work for him.

He slowly and cautiously made his way along the central walkway, his flashlight turned on as he searched for a nice little secluded spot to annex for the night. Somewhere relatively hidden away, like a storage room or an office or...

Hang on. Were those... Voices?

At least one of which he recognised near instantly.

Being accustomed to the interior gloom, the sudden appearance of unnatural light was rather immediately jarring. Bethany quickly raised a hand to shush Przemek… then quietly actually shushed him. Instincts, as ever, died hard. Then she hefted the pickaxe, and crept towards a better vantage point.

A short way above her, she made out the source. With the comparatively blinding beam pointing in her general direction, it was impossible to make out the silhouette behind the flashlight.

“Someone’s here,” she hissed to her companion, unsure what she expected him to do with that information. Hit the deck? Hide? Even just obfuscating that there were two of them seemed like a wise move, maybe if anyone had heard them talking… no, they’d assume at least two people. Or one that had already snapped and started taking to themself. New plan.

“Stay here, uh, keep low.”

Beth didn’t wait for a response. Of course, barely being able to see a few inches from her face made her ensuing movement necessarily slow. She too kept low, right hand tightly gripping the pickaxe just below the business end, left fumbling for walls and machinery to stay behind. The idea was to circle around some, make some noise to draw attention away from where Przemyslaw was hiding, then… improvise something. She couldn’t see much of anything, but she’d at least spent a non-zero amount of time in the facility and the opposition was giving away their position by way of light source. That was an advantage, right?

So after a short while of building distance, Beth whacked the flat edge of her new weapon against something metal, as if she’d accidentally bumped it.

Przemek said nothing and stood still.

When he heard the metallic echo he wasn‘t sure who caused it.

The voices stopped. 

Shit.

Shawn gulped as he fumbled the flashlight in his hand, slowly reaching down for the beer bottle tucked away into his jacket pocket. Did that voice really belong to who he thought it was? He was so tired, exhausted even after travelling from one side of the island to the other, probably why he had been so careless about his arrival. He couldn't rule out the possibility that he simply misheard, like he was desperate to hear a familiar voice, especially one belonging to one of the few real friends he had on that island.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. Godfuckingdamnit, he felt like an idiot for not being more careful. He should have figured other folk would have the same idea as him, avoid the town and rough it somewhere a bit more out of the spotlight.

Well, not much he can do to change that. He considered turning that flashlight off, maybe try to hide, but the last thing he wanted was to take a tumble over the edge of that precarious walkway. Besides, he needed to see who it was he had stumbled across, to confirm if that really was...

Shawn leapt out of his skin when he heard a clang of metal upon metal, his light flashing in it's direction, before turning back down the other end of the walkway in case it was a distraction. He was sweating profusely now, teeth jittering, hand shaking. He wanted to get the hell out of there, run away just like he'd done back at the research station. But he wasn't sure if that was an option this time, especially as it sounded like he was possibly surrounded, stuck on that walkway with only two exits and at least two competitors to worry about.

Fuck it. It was a risk, but with the jig already up, he had to take it. Had to know for sure.

"Bethany?" he asked, shining his light at any sign of movement he could sense, his chest tightening up as he gripped his bottle tightly.

CLANG

The sound was thoroughly unpleasant. Beth had been expecting it and it still made her wince as it struck her ears. The interloper's light swung around, seemingly in panic. Good. That was the idea. Any advantage she could get. Still, as far as she knew, they could have a gun, so just pressing the advantage and trying to get the drop on them was too big of a risk just yet, she'd have to...

"Bethany?"

Oh.

Well that changed things.

Still, just to be on the safe side, she stayed out of sight while answering, in case she was wrong.

"Shawn?"

Then, for Przemyslaw's benefit, in case he didn't recognise the boy quite so easily, "Shawn Bellamy, is that you?"

Sean.......

Przemek imagined some irish dude with a fluffy ginger beard and red hair.

This was how he imagined what Sean Bellamy looked like.

Yeah. There was no mistaking that voice now.

"Y-yeah, it's me!" Shawn replied, keeping his eyes out for any further signs of trouble.

He was still in something of a state of disbelief. After all, out of the 130-something students who had come along on that trip, there were but a tiny handful he could really call his friends, and only one who he knew long before he ever attended JEM: Bethany Lyon.

The two of them went way back, their parents knowing each other through politics and community organisations. In a way she was kind of like the sister he never had, the two being only children from well-off Massachusetts families, even going so far joining her whenever her father arranged another of his infamous camping trips. She was part of the reason why he ended up studying at JEM, back when his family realised they couldn't afford to send him to a private institution, instead settling for what they saw as the next best thing.

And now, here they were, trapped together on murder island. Contestants in a deadly game that only allowed for one winner.

"I, uh..." he adds, with a gulp. "I'm not in danger right now, am I?"

She didn’t believe in “manifesting”, or whatever it was the witchy kids called it. The idea that wishing for something hard enough made it so. There was prayer, of course, but that wasn’t a conscious imposition of one’s will on the world, it was putting faith in the Lord to provide not what you want, but what you need.

In any case, Bethany wondered if Przemek had prayed for or tried to manifest Shawn’s arrival. Because it was incredibly fortuitous.

“In danger?”

Beth stepped out into the light, still holding her pickaxe, but not in a threatening way. Her stance said peace, her weapon said willing to defend that peace.

“Not from me, at least. It’s a real relief to see another friendly face.”

Well. Hear a friendly voice.

It was still unfortunately hard to make out whether Shawn was armed. She trusted him enough not to just shoot her dead at the drop of a hat, if he indeed had a gun, but that didn’t mean she assumed she was in no danger at all. She hadn’t expected Aracelis to go feral so quickly either, and yet.

“Am I?”

Shawn blinked from behind those rectangular glasses in response to Bethany's question.

"No, of course not" he replied with a disarming chuckle, pocketing his beer bottle as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just a little..." he says, wiping his brow as he leant slightly back against the handrail. "For a moment there, I thought I was going to get trapped in a pincer movement or something" he continues, unable to help but glance back the opposite way to make sure he hadn't just tempted fate.

“You might be giving our classmates too much credit,” Bethany offered, with a slight snort that spoke of mild humour but larger distaste. The memory of Przemyslaw being attacked head on with two bystanders was still plenty fresh in her mind.

The fact the attacker had gotten away with bruises at worst still stung, moreso than the dull, faintly present ache where Ethan had accidentally hit her with her own ski.

Before falling to his (presumed) death, that is.

Shawn must’ve heard her speaking, to have picked out her voice and assumed she had company, but she still avoided directly touching on the subject of Przemyslaw. Maybe she was safe, maybe she wasn’t, but there was no sense putting the blind boy at risk until she was more certain.

He seemed casual, but as to whether he was armed, that was still a big unknown. So Bethany approached, slowly, unthreatening. Whatever he had or didn’t have, she was at her best advantage either far away, or about at arm’s length. Or rather, at pick’s swing.

“I assume you’re looking for someplace to sleep too?”

Shawn scoffs in response to her comment about their classmates. "After some of the sh... Stuff I've seen today, I've no idea what to expect anymore."

Realising that Bethany was probably struggling to see in the dark, he angled his torch to light the way for her, taking the opportunity to take note of the nasty looking pickaxe she was wielding. Just as well really that he revealed himself, poor communication kills on an island like this, especially when someone has the ability to cave your skull in with ease.

Assuming of course that Bethany would've even contemplated such a thing, but one can never be too cautious when your life was on the line.

He nodded in response to her next question. "Yeah, I figured that there were probably less folk fighting for somewhere to crash out here compared to town... Seems like great minds think alike."

So he was also on the run, so to speak. And as best Bethany could tell, no, not armed.

She could kill him.

It would be easy.

She could choreograph it in her head like a dance number. Her lead, how she anticipated his follow, what that meant for her next. Beth had always been taught how to follow in traditional dance, that’s what girls did after all. But there were no such expectations here, she’s Peter Pan, she’s Rufio, she’s whatever hero she wants to be. She’d open with a thrust to the gut, a surprise. He’d double over, probably drop his flashlight. Then she would take a step back, a mighty swing, no more Shawn.

But why?

He’s no threat. Hardly a heroic choice. Just murder.

So why do the thoughts keep coming to her?

Probably Aracelis’ fault. Easy to blame her for everything.

Something about great minds. Their similar decisions to look for shelter here rather than more obviously attractive spots? Probably. She’d been distracted.

“Apparently so. But this was less of a choice for me. For us.”

Bethany stopped walking closer to Shawn, she was close enough if he tried anything, and reasonably sure she herself wouldn’t try anything herself. Reasonably sure. Shawn was good people. A good friend and confidante. Surely she could trust him? Reasonably surely.

“Want to tell me your war story, I’ll tell you mine?”

Shawn puffed his cheeks and ran a hand through his hair, his other remaining firmly gripped around the beer bottle in his jacket pocket.

"Oh Jesus, where do I even begin..." he gasps, before taking a deep breath. "So, I had barely been awake for, like, an hour or so before that metalhead idiot Spike came along and kicked my door in! Started trashing the place before turning his attention on me, for NO reason! Almost caved my fucking head in with a TV set!"

He stopped and cleared his throat "Um, excuse my French..." he added, calming down slightly after getting himself worked up. Shawn generally avoided foul language around Bethany, an old habit from his childhood that never really went away, even when they started spending more time away from their respective parents.

"Where was I... So yeah, I managed to get away from him, only to bump into that junky fella, Andrew whatevathefff... We poked around for a bit, discovered that we had woken up at the research station. Before long we had bumped into a couple more folk, turns out there were quite a few of us bundled together in the same spot."

He gulps nervously. "There was this one girl, she started throwing up... Blood. Like she was dying, or something..." he continues, pulling his glasses off to wipe his eyes before putting them back on. "I tried to help, but this guy... Pink haired fella, dunno what his name was... He stomped right down on her neck! Tried to choke her out, right there in front of everyone!"

"But you know what happened next?" he says with a nervous chuckle, as if he still couldn't believe what he saw. "Turns out she had a knife on her! Started stabbing the guy up, craziest thing I'd ever seen!"

He pauses for a second to adjust his glasses again. "At that point I bailed, got myself as far away from that madhouse as I could... Eventually found myself up at this hot spring, thought I could catch my breath, make some sense of it all..."

"That's when I saw him."

At that point his face turned ghostly white. He didn't even need to play it up for effect. "A... A dead body. Just lying there, crumpled and broken at the bottom of the mountain. I'd never seen anything like it in my entire..."

He took another long deep breath, letting the moment linger, before gritting his teeth. "Then... Calvin, that mother FUCKER - sorry - came out of nowhere, and started chasing after me with a scythe! Butt naked, I might add! Guy had completely lost it, tried to kill me! Was probably the same crazy bastard who offed the other fella too..."

Shawn stops, leans back against the handrail, and let out a long exhale. "And then, after giving him the slip... I eventually ended up here" he sighs, before turning back to Bethany with an exacerbated look on his face.

"So yeah, what about you? How's your day been?"