Survival Of The Fittest

Meera understood why he wanted to go after Theo, but as Garrett explained his plan she became worried.

"You shouldn't go off on your own, without any useful weapons," Meera said. "Your plan is very risky. Theo has a gun. Who's to say he won't just kill you? Or that someone else will? You shouldn't needlessly throw your life away."

But Garrett had sounded very, very committed to his course of action and Meera doubted she could convince him otherwise.

"If you have to do this, we should come with you. There's greater safety in numbers, right?"

Joey nodded again. He liked this group. They had different ideas of how to function, perhaps, but it seemed that they intended to stay together for the most part. Being alone was nearly as bad as being dead, being in a group meant common goals and motivation not to let others down.

It was why he'd loved football growing up. Then it became too competitive and too demanding, and Joey couldn't handle being the slowest on the team. He'd quit because he felt he was dragging them down, and that made him feel horribly guilty. Then he'd tried to come back to help the team out as water-boy, but that only instilled further feelings of inferiority.

This team was different. They were smaller, more cooperative, and more desperate. Relying on one another would be the only dependable resource they had. Despite the small trust they had among each other, that trust was worth infinitely more in this game. Now that they had a common goal of finding and calming down Theo, they'd be even more effective as a group.

"Dunno where he is, but I know what way he went. Let's go."

Kiki was lifted up out of the grass, and Joey's strap was adjusted over his thick shoulder as he moved away from the peak clearing.

He didn't know what was in store, but he had a goal, and that was enough to keep him distracted from the potential horrors lurking elsewhere.

((Joey Caputo continued in Where on the Island is Carmen Sandiego?))

Garrett shrugged at Meera's protests. "Death is a plausible consequence of this plan, but it's likely no matter what, isn't it? I'm not going to kill anyone, so even if I survive I'll just be thrown onto the next island. Those are the rules. So like I told Iselle, the threat of death lost its luster around the time people started waving guns at me."

He began to shake his head, about to object to the idea of them coming along when Joey saddled his gear and told them to follow along.

I suppose we've got a guide.

He grabbed his bag and nodded to Meera. "Right. I'm not comfortable asking anyone to come with me on this. I'll play with my life, but not someone else's. If you're set on this though, let's go. At least until we find Theo."

With that, he followed Joey out of the clearing, idly thumbing through the booklet he'd found.

((Garrett Wilde Continued in Where on the island is Carmen San Diego? ))

Meera knew that the plan was risky.

She knew it was likely she'd end up dead.

But she'd always been a risk taker. Meera was growing restless, and this new goal gave her purpose.

"Gotcha," she said, grinning. "Until we find Theo. Then...we'll see."

((Meera continued in Where on the island is Carmen Sandiego?))