Survival Of The Fittest

Tobs shook his head. His calm, cool composure was beginning to crack. He just couldn't keep himself turned off like that, not around TWO CORPSES.
God damn. Tobs understood death would always happen; he understood that the Military had to deal with it, of all. But, there was such a huge difference between a soldier dying ...and a kid being killed. Shit, the difference was enourmous.

And to have the kid...raped...and killed...the difference was unfathomable. It was uncomprehendable. He just couldn't even think about it. Raped and killed?
And people asked me why my faith in humanity was so fucking low. Shit, man. If you come out of this 'game,' thinking humanity is good ...you deserve to be shot in the ass.

He looked over at Takara, something new in his eyes. He'd made his choice. It was decidedly unlike him to ...decide...xD on this course of action, but to not do so would be worse than anything he'd ever done.

"No...I...I am going to bury both if I have to use by bare fucking hands." If anyone things you should use respectful language around the dead, Tobs ...doesn't. >>;
"I don't know them at all, but others did. And I'm not going to let them fucking ROT like this." He didn't raise his voice, because he at least remember not to shout. Still, though, it was tense.
"If you don't want to help, then fine, but I...I just can't let them stay like this. There's no fucking way in hell that I could do that."

As Jill spoke, he bristled. He hated that line of thought. If someone was dead, they were dead, right? So why drag it out? It was beyond disrespectful to leave them like this. It was beyond wrong. It was sick.
"No...I hear you, but I can't agree. We leave them ...and...whatever wants to will be able to tear them apart. I can't let them become some crow's food. Fuck, I can't...I can't not bury them. I'm sorry." As she walked away, he barely paid her a second glance.
He didn't even think of the fact that he may never see her again. He was consumed with the want...need...to give both girls the dignity that death had taken from them. The raped one more than the other one, as...there was nothing that invaded your privacy and stole your dignity like rape...
She died with her dignity stolen, and it looks like the other died with no knowledge of it. There's no fucking way I won't give, at the very least, the raped girl some dignity in a burial. Obviously, Tobs was very decided on this. The only thing that would force him away from it would be someone with a gun.

As the guy with the laptop offered some advice, Tobs poked his hand into the bag. He withdrew a tin of crackers, looking at it slowly. I'm hungry...not now, dammit.
"Thanks for the idea, man. And ...good luck to you." He would have grinned, but...no. His voice was a bit shaky, but that was understandable. If Tobs had been able to make it through the full damn burial without cracking a single tear, than...Tobs = scary.

He walked over to Madelaine's body. As stated earlier, at the very least, he'd fully cover her. No one should die like that, and not be covered or anything.

He knelt down a bit away from the body, breathing through his mouth just in case the smell had started yet. It hadn't, thankfully, but he never wanted to smell a corpse. With tin in hand, he began to dig at the ground.

This would take several hours by himself. Well into the night, possibly past then.

"Takara, I'd appreciate it if you help...or at least, stand watch for me. Either way, I'm going to dig these fucking graves and give these girls some fucking dignity if it's the last thing I do."

This struck a chord with Tobs. What chord, I don't know, but it was a chord. It had resonated in him, and angered him greatly. Not in Dodd's way of anger, no...less lethal, his anger was.
>>;

Whatever Chance was thinking at the moment about the deaths of Madelaine and Amanda, he kept to himself under an ice-smooth surface, though the tension in the air hinted that this calm, outward behaviour could break at any time. Being someone with a journalist as a parent, and travelling with them to foreign countries, he had seen plenty of things in his life, and took pride in being able to experience and see things no one else ever did.

But to look at what remained of these two girls, and to realize what happened to Madelaine was more than he ever wanted to see in his entire life.

She's dead....and I wasn't there for her.

Then again, I was never around to begin with.

When Dodd had directed his outburst first towards Sid, and then towards the rest of the group, as well as whoever might be still around, Chance wasn't the least bit startled. Or if he was, he did nothing to show it. Rather, he listened to Dodd, taking in his intent, how he had promised to lead his friends to safety, only to find them in ruin, and how his new goal was to give the murderer of these two girls a world of hell...and make it stick. In the face of pure anger and conviction, Chance merely gazed calmly at Adam's back, one or two thoughts melding in his own mind.

But as Adam turned away, his form intently departing the river with a sense of purpose, shotgun raised, Chance gave what looked like a slight nod...and an approving smile.

The world needs more people like him. Good luck, friend.

He showed no sign of contempt or disproval as some of the group began to disperse themselves, and depart the area as Adam had done.

But a look of mild surprise came over him when Tobs vehemently promised to bury these two girls, and at least preserve what dignity they still had, particularly that of Madelaine.

It then occurred to him that he was still holding onto the book that Madelaine had once held onto herself. He realized that no doubt this was her pocket journal, and what he was going to do with it....well, he would have time to deliberate later. He slipped the journal into his pocket.

Silently, with an unreadable expression on his face, he reached into his daypack, feeling for the nearest tin of crackers. His fingers ran over the cylindrical shapes of the hand grenades in his pack. A thought ran through his mind concerning them, but he set it aside....for the time being. For now, the most important thing to him was burying these two girls.

He took out the nearest tin of crackers, opening it and letting the contents spill to the ground, almost carelessly.

Not like I'm going to finish them anyways...

He carefully worked alongside Tobs, remaining silent as he had done for a while now, his eyes calm and thoughtful. But once in a while, his eyes would stray towards the remains of Madelaine, now covered. For someone for whom he was 'never around', burying her was the least he could do.

Without looking at Tobs, he murmured quietly, "Thanks. I really appreciate this, you know? To me, Madelaine was..."

He smiled and closed his eyes a bit, shaking his head incredulously.

"What I mean is, thanks a bunch."

When the girl Jill began saying how she couldn't bury the two girls, Takara gave her a rather dirty look.

"Would you rather they stay out in the open for the crows to eat?! To rot?! To let EVERYONE see what happened to them?!" She paused, letting her voice settle, yes, her voice. "... or would you rather give them at least some dignity?"

She didn't know if the girl would listen to her or not, but the next thing she knew, Jill was leaving, and Takara was almost glad to see her go. Someone who refused to believe someone was dead wasn't exactly someone she wanted to be around.

Hearing Martyn's suggestion on how to dig the grave, she gave a small bow of her head, watching as the boy grabbed his laptop and went off with the girl Jill. "Good luck mate!" She called after him as he vanished in the direction of the girl.

Going over to the girl Madelaine, Takara dropped her bag to the ground and slowly knelt beside her as well, across from Toby. Opening her bag, she took out a tin of crackers, emptying the contents into her bag as she looked over at Toby as she cast off her jacket behind her to keep it from getting too dirty.

"I'll help. It'll get done a bit quicker this way. But you can't restore their dignity. At least your giving them a proper burial... well, for the most part."

As soon as she began to dig, she noticed Chance approach them. Throughout everything, he had remained rather calm, as if he were used to things like this. His words didn't shake her as much as they did Tobs, but she knew what he meant, and she gave a small smile as if to say 'no problem.'

That's when she heard the sounds of what seemed to be thunder coming from the Eastern shore. "What the fuck is that?"

It wasn't until the last rounds that she finally realized what it was, her eyes clearly widening as her entire body tensed up. "Shit shit shit shit..."

She hated guns, with an absolute passion unless she was the one wielding it. Shaking, she let the tin in the ground, half full with dirt. As their sound increased, she found that she shook more and more. A stray thought crossed her mind about how much like a scardy cat she must look right about now, and she heard herself emit a soft whimper.

The sounds brought back memories of her father, before he had killed himself. He had been so strong, had promised to keep her safe from anything and anyone, and now here she was, about a month or two after his death.

"No... I can't die here... not now, not now!" Her eyes clenched shut, and a terrible tremble ran down her spine.

"Good god... please not now, please not now..." She muttered softly to herself, hoping Tobs, Chance, or Sidney wouldn't hear her, though the way she was shaking, it was bound to be noticed that something was troubling her.

And then came one of the louder shots. First, Takara jumped, emitting a small scream as well, and when the seond one came, she jumped again, this time emitting a small growl of panic and frustration. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but obviously she was gonna wait and make sure the shots were done.

Sidney Crosby didn't know what was worse: the fact that he was staring at two corpses, or the absolute thrashing that he'd been given, courtesy of Adam Dodd. As Adam had picked him up, shaken him, screamed at him, threatened him, and then tossed him to the side like a rag doll, Sidney had felt absolutely powerless to stop him. Then again, who was he to even try? Adam had seen so many people die, the boy had seen so much more than Sidney could even begin to imagine, and for that, he was likely a much different person than he'd been when this game had began.

Am I going to turn out like that if I survive? Are we all doomed to turn out like him? Bitter, disgruntled, and vengeful? Is surviving as bad a curse as dying is?

Snapping out of his delerium, he realized that the rest of his companions were burying the bodies of the two girls. Shuddering to himself, he reached into his bag and dumped the tin of crackers out, albeit into his bag as opposed to the ground.

We still need food...

Moving over to a position beside Takara, he knealt down and began to dig with the tin, his mind still in a haze. In a way, Sidney couldn't get over the fact that he was burying a dead body, albeit it belonged to someone that he didn't even know.

It just doesn't make any sense; why we're here, and all that. It just...doesn't make sense...

Tobs himself failed to notice whatever surprise may have shown on Chance's face. He was just digging, nothing else. He jammed the tin into the dirt, throwing it out behind him, spraying dirt into the river. Tin in the ground, throw it out, rince and repeat. Within the first couple dozen times, he'd begun to fall into the routine...sadly, though, he'd made little progress.
I'll fucking stay here all night if I have to. He was determined...to die was bad enough. To die stripped of your dignity was worse. To die, stripped of dignity, and be left out for the animals to get at...
He shook his head, small tears finally beginning to form. It was such a horrible thing he found himself thinking. He couldn't believe it, but a tear dripped off his face and onto the ground.

As Chance neared him, dropping the crackers on the ground, Tobs found his like for the boy increasing. Then again, that wasn't hard to manage, but still. As he spoke to Tobs, he felt something icy and cold grip his heart...he didn't know why, but there was definitely something gnawing at his heart and mind.
"To me, Madelaine was..." ...wait...does that mean...oh, no. Oh, holy fuck, no. It took several seconds to register in his mind, but he finally came to his own conclusion. Did he...did he like her? Did he...love her? With this thought, and what it entailed, his grip on the tin faltered enough for it to become stuck in the dirt.

Quickly, he grabbed it, shovelling faster to cover for this drop in composure. Chance's statement...had forced a very unwelcome thought into his head. Something that made this far worse then it should have been for Tobs.
What if...what would I be doing...if it wasn't just some girl, but...her? He wondered. He only imagined he'd be doing this...no, he'd bury her for sure...and then, most likely, go off like that other guy.

Still, he forceably shoved the thought away from his mind, selfish as it seemed to him. Why are you thinking about yourself here? HE's in the situation YOU were worried about. Dammit, DIG.

"...thanks a bunch." He nodded slowly, doing his best to retain his ability to dig, which at the moment balanced on a knife's point. If his composure broke, so would his digging. However, for now, it held strong...and he continued to dig.

He listened as he heard Takara pretty much blow up on Jill. Even though she was a bit more forceful with her opinion, he nodded lightly in agreement. Leaving them...no way.

In the distance, there was a rumbling. Thunder...? No, far too much treble. More like...gunshots. Again. Tobs would get used to them sooner or later.
Thing is, they were...shit. The origin was so far away he couldn't make good sense of them, but...yeah, they were definitely not from a pistol. It almost sounded like...an automatic?

________
Almost 20 or 30 minutes later, when the hole was just starting to form (more like a depression at this point) in the dirt, there was a cracking noise. Unlike the 'thunder' heard earlier, this was much closer (Tobs didn't know it, but closer meant more towards land). The same weapon fired repeatedly...yeah, it sounded just like the games. And movies.

It sounded like a gunner, walking his bullets to the target. He almost expected a bullet to come whizzing through the trees to find his heart and take him from this shithole of an island, but none came. There was another burst of gunfire from the same gun...Tobs was able to say with some certainty that it was a machine gun, which he guessed was not given to the students. Meaning...he was safe?

During this whole incident, he completely failed to notice Takara. His world has shrunk from its normal size down to the sound of the machine gun. Not until she started to make more noise (relatively, of course) than the guns did he realize she was ...freaking out. To say the least. He looked at her, wondering how someone that had struck him as so...he didn't know what, really... could be so freaked by the gunshots. No matter; that was a mystery for a time when he wasn't burying dead girls.

After ducking for a little bit, he waited for silence. No gunshots drifted over the island for another 10 minutes, and Tobs resumed digging, as if nothing had happened. Hopefully, his silence in the matter would prompt the others to not yell or anything when hearing the multiple bursts of gunfire from a machine gun.

Bet it was a warning... He thought abstent-mindedly as he kept on digging. This would take a while...

As soon as the rounds had stopped, and everything had grown silent, Takara remained tense, rigid, and shaking. She had her eyes closed, and her hands tightly gripped the cup. Taking a deep shuddering breath, she continued to scoop the dirt and toss it behind her. The expression she plastered on her face was blank, void of any and all emotion. Whether she'd speak of why the rounds had freaked her so, was a completely different issue.

Staring at her hands as she dug, she grew unusually quiet, even someone who didn't know her all that well would pick that up. All that went through her mind currently was to scoop up the dirt, and throw it out behind her. She didn't even register the fact that Sidney was beside her digging as well, she seemed but an empty shell.

Nothing's gonna be the same after this. Nothing. Then again... nothing's been the same since she left him...

Sighing softly, Takara faltered for a moment, stray thoughts and memories entering her mind. For a moment, she merely stared at the dirt, a clear image of her father coming to mind, before her mother left him, when everything had been happy, when nothing seemed to go wrong, everything was perfect for her. Then, one day, her mother left her and her father with another man, breaking apart her time and life of perfection. Not too long after that, her father had committed suicide, devastated by her mother's actions.

That time in her life had been difficult, and now she was here. On this blasted, hell-hole of an island, where it's kill or be killed. What rotten luck this girl had, and now she had no choice but to fight the ones playing, and to keep her hide alive as well at that of the others. But for now, she concentrated on digging the grave as she once again picked up her tin.

The expression upon Chance's face remained ever calm, ever placid, ever unreadable. He continued to dig at a relaxed, yet steady and productive pace, a continuous rhythm that faltered not once, even as gunshots thundered out through the tense silence of the valley. But every now and then... his eyes would wander, to gaze silently at the shell of what had once been Madelaine Shirohara, as if she had been someone important to him.

For a while he seemed lost in his own thoughts as he continued carving into the ground. Indeed, he was remembering something from the past, a memory he never paid much mind to until now.

---

He had been around fourteen at the time, on an exchange trip in Kyoto, Japan. School had just ended, and he was wandering about the area, exploring the area abit out of curiosity. It was then that he had come across a small shrine at the edge of one of the botanical gardens.

Chance had never been one for superstition, though that of foreign culture interested him somewhat... supposedly, he heard, that it was here that wishes and prayers were said along with an offering, and that fortunes were dispensed. Well, he thought. Why not give it a try?

Problem was, he had no idea what to do. Looking around, he saw various people, mostly young people in school uniforms, washing their hands in fountains, standing in front of the shrines, carving into wooden blocks. Chance looked towards them with uncertainty, he was completely lost.

It was then that he heard the rustling of a bell at the small shrine not far off. A girl about his own age was standing there, from her dress and appearance, and Chance instantly recognized her as one the girls in his new class.

A younger Madelaine had short hair back then, having cut it to chin length as to stem the attention coming from the boys in her school. Not part of any swim team at the time, her skin was light coloured.

After letting go of the rope from which the bells were suspended, the girl clapped two times distinctively and recited her prayer.

"Please help me do well on my exams this year. Please let me and my family live together happily. Please let Miriam grow up well and healthy. Please let me meet a wonderful person who will be my husband one day. Please let Nanami and me be friends forever. My offering, as usual, is a five yen piece."

With a satisfied expression on her face, the girl bowed in front of the shrine.

"If you're looking for that 'wonderful person', that's one wish granted already," Chance called out to her, as a casual joke. The girl turned around in surprise, casting him a suspicious expression that seemed almost tense. Chance's smile faded and he thought in a panic, Oh wow, did I make her mad?

But what surprised him was the fact that she suddenly started laughing out loud, hands on her knees, wiping tears of mirth away from her eyes. Chance could only stare at her, bewildered, with some unknown feeling inside him...one that he could not quite name...

The girl recovered and looked at him with a smile on her face, still struggling to keep herself from laughing. "Exchange student...from New York, right?" she asked him kindly. "Are you here to pray?"

She didn't sound as though the idea was remotely unusual, Chance thought with mild relief. For the first time, as far as he could remember, he felt somewhat flustered, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that...except, I'm not really sure what to do...."

"Oh, here, I'll show you."

Chance had a momentary, fleeting feeling of bewilderment as the girl took his hand cheerfully and set him in front of the shrine.

"Just bow like this." She instructed him with a demonstration of her own. "Ring the bell, clap your hands twice, and make a wish. You can make an offering if you want."

Smiling a bit to himself, Chance did as he was instructed, though he found himself casting glances towards the smiling girl again and again absently. He cleared his throat and spoke out loud.

"Please help me see all there is to see in the world. Please let me travel everywhere in the world, see new sights, and experience new things, and meet new people before I die."

He could feel the now silent girl's eyes on him as he spoke. Smiling to himself wryly, he concluded his prayer with a bit of humour, picking up a block of wood and a carving stone. "My offering...is hereby recorded as an IOU."

Chance could hear the girl laughing again.

---

Meanwhile, an older, more experienced Chance awoke to the real world around him, blinking slightly as though in a daze, and readjusting himself to his present surroundings. Oddly enough, he found that his eyes were moist, welling up with water, on the verge to spill over and run down his face.

"There, that should do it," he said, more to himself than anyone in particular. "These should be big enough...someone should get the other one."

Taking care not to meet the eyes of the others, he walked over to the fallen Madelaine, still lying in a patch of red where the pool of blood had soaked into the ground. Covered, with her eyes closed, she looked almost peaceful now, as though she were merely sleeping.

How I wish she were only sleeping, Chance found himself thinking as he carefully lifted Madelaine's body. She was unexpectedly light now, and somewhat stiff and rigid. Chance felt as though he were holding a damaged mannequin.

A droplet of what looked like water had somehow found its way upon Madelaine's snow-white cheek as Chance lowered her, slowly, gently into the earth.

As Sid had stepped back and watched as Chance lowered Madelaine's body into the ground, he couldn't help but wonder if Madelaine had meant something to his new friend, for the boy had been quieter than he'd seen him up until this point. As Chance had muttered something about the other body, Sidney had snapped back into reality for a bit, realizing that it had essentially been his fault that Amanda had died, and as the bullets were meant for him...the responsibility of burying her should fall upon him.

Standing up from his current position and wiping the dirt off of his pants, Sidney stepped into the brush and looked down at the body of Amanda Jones. Where the girl had fallen, it seemed to be a small thicket, and she lay off to the side of a small green bush. Sighing, he leaned over and grabbed the dead girl around the waist, lifting her without too much effort. Amanda had been a tall girl, but had been slim and athletic, and as such didn't weigh all that much. Sidney carried her limp body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry position, and as he stepped out of the forest, he silently cursed himself.

Damnit, Sid! It was supposed to be you! Those bullets had been meant for you! If you hadn't have ducked, if you had maybe stood your ground and taken one of them, this girl wouldn't be dead, she'd still be here today, and maybe Cody Jensen wouldn't. It's his damn fault, but Sid, you've got as much blood on your hands as he does, and you know it. She had a shotgun, after all, she could have blown the cocksucker away...

As Sidney lowerered Amanda's body into the grave they had dug, he couldn't help but wonder what they were going to do next. Martyn and Jill had left, Adam had left, and now it was just down to the original four of them, again. Takara seemed to be shaken up by something, and while the girl had never been all that forthcoming as it was, she still appeared distracted. Chance seemed really upset, maybe it was Madelaine, maybe it was just the death that messed with him; Sidney didn't know. As for Toby...the boy seemed lost in his own thoughts, trying to block out any and all semblance of the real world, of what their reality was now.

As he set Amanda in the hole and stood up, he realized that whatever they did next, it should be along the lines of finding a way to escape. Getting off should be their top priority, at least, he thought it should be. As he started to cover Amanda's body with dirt, he wondered if he'd ever see home again.

((Continued from: Remembering Rendou))

Kousaka came into the area. He had his silver eyes turned to the skies as he kept his other senses around him. He nibbled on a small piece of bread. He was happy to see that his rations were still barely touched. He wasn't too far from the action now, but getting a little closer by the minute. A chill ran down his spine and a cool breeze followed the daemonic youth. His stomach rumbled as he finished his small piece.

"I suppose one more piece wouldn't hurt." He said ripping off a new yet smaller piece than before.

Little did he know that he was about to be in some serious shit when he reached others. Yet he still felt quite comtempt about what was to come, he hadn't made a kill yet, so he was in a rage of bloodlust and vengence.

A stretch of silence had long since filled the entire atmosphere of the area for a while, as Chance watched Sidney lowering Amanda into her own grave The churning torrent of the river's current reached his ears, but he barely heard any of it. Rather, he was lost in his own thoughts, his vision coming to rest on Madelaine's fallen form, lying in the indentation in the earth.

Sighing a bit, he began to work. Gently pulling Madelaine's lifeless arms from underneath her, he found that whoever had...attacked her, that Cody Jensen person, had bound her wrists together behind her back, undoubtedly to make sure that she was unable to struggle against him.

The scarf, wrapped so tightly around her wrists, was stained with a thin line of blood, the sign of a painful struggle. Gritting his teeth slightly, Chance removed the scarf from her wrists, revealing the dark imprints and bruises underneath, upon Madelaine's pale skin.

Letting the scarf rest against the ground, Chance carefully folded Madelaine's hands over the coat that was concealing her lifeless form. At least now, he thought to himself. There would be no more pain for her...no need to struggle anymore. Perhaps she could even be at peace right now.

Still...Madelaine didn't have to die the way she did...

Chance felt almost shameful, having to lay her to rest beneath the earth like this...but still, Chance knew, as he continued to fill the graves with dirt, that it had to be done. For Madelaine, and for that other girl too. As he worked, Chance looked towards the scarf on the ground, stained with blood. He grinned slightly, in a manner that was almost cold. As long as he was on this island, alive and walking...he would personally make sure this scarf was returned to its owner.

If nothing else, for you Madelaine.

Just as he had finished with Madelaine's grave, he caught with the sense of his intuition the presence of a newcomer approaching from behind. Automatically, his hand rested against his day pack as he cast a sidelong glance towards the others, not looking behind him.

"....We have a guest," he informed them coolly, in a low whisper.

Tobs had been standing, watching silently. He had taken up the job of watchman as the others did the final digging and the ...the burying...

Of all things, Tobs had had to take a break from it. If not, he'd probably have started to break down once the ...not bodies, the girls... were being placed in the graves. The holes.
All they get are holes. Fucking holes. Not even graves, really. And worse, this barely counts as a burial. Shit. That guy better find the bastard who did this.

In his thoughts, he had done exactly what many a watchman in his books did. Not notice the approaching enemy. Hearing Chance, he looked.

Yet another thing from the books. If in hostile territory, if you didn't know who it was for a concrete fact, assume hostile.
...if there was a God, Tobs was thanking Him for the books.

He placed his hand on his pants, slipping a finger through the belt loop. With a small move, small enough to be imperciptible, he flipped on the power switch to the drill.

Oh, hell no. Someone wants to interrupt a burial of a raped girl on this island, and I swear to God...

He walked to Chance, acting as if nothing was wrong. He looked down at him, mouthing words. Chance, those grenades...don't use them unless you have to.
To emphasize what he said, he looked (not pointed; pointing was too easy to see from far away) to the bag and shook his head. He let his eyes drift to Sid, then to his drill, and he nodded.

There was no way anyone but Chance could get what he'd done, mainly because only Chance was close enough to see his eyes. So, for anyone else (even Sid, though he was closer), it would look as if he had disagreed with something, and agreed with something. Nothing special.

He crouched down with Chance, trying to make the 'guest' thing this was normal. He said, in a normal yet strained voice, "Would you like to say anything...for them? For either?"
Whether the strain was from emotions or from tension was impossible to tell.

He shook his head, looking at Madelaine's body in the ...grave.
If there's another fight here...there can't be. Please, no.

His right hand rested on the ground, balancing him...and just a few inches from the drill, which almost rested on the ground, as well, since it was dragging his pants down.
Stupid heavy drill. ><

Kousaka grinned as he came to the view of others.

"Finally, people." His sense of self was rather a calm outlook, but inside his blood was boiling with bloodlust.

A shiver took hold of his right arm as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. That cold grin screamed hunger of death as he came closer to the battle scene.

"You need food, aw that's so sweet! Maybe, just maybe, I could give you some." He said placing a finger upon his bottom lip.

((Continued from: Earned in Blood))

Vince Samsa was not a very complex individual; he was a very scared one though. He almost felt guilty for leaving Lyndi behind… but it was Survival Of The Fittest and guilt got you nowhere. Has he approached the river he couldn’t help but think of himself and Jenson, he had been so naïve…. It is funny how things work, he could have been the one who was killed Fred.

Thinking back on the recent events he had realized that he had lost all hope for survival the moment he had been hit by Cody. This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom. "It's only after you've lost everything," Vince said quietly "that you're free to do anything." He had a small smile on his face as he recalled the endings of Cody’s rampage…nothing was solved when the fight was over, but nothing mattered. Well, except that Vince was living, and that he had a few scars on him.

Only in death where you free from the madness that was Survival Of The Fittest. In this aspect he envied Fred and pitied Cody and Lyndi. And Danya, he couldn’t be such a bad guy Survival Of The Fittest sort of made sense when you thought about it, you have to show these kids freedom by enslaving them, and show them courage by frightening them. Vince was being overly analytical due to his AP Literature and Composition class… he was always being over analytical… if he wasn’t Fred would still be alive and imprisoned.

Vince finally reached the river only to notice that it was inhabited. Great he thought silently. He would have muttered a few words, but why try anymore. You see the strongest and the smartest men who have ever lived... and these men are pumping gas and waiting tables. In Vince’s case his fate would be dying here on this wonderful Island… he had found himself on this island.

Things where totally gone for him has he stood on the outskirts of the group, gun in hand. He didn’t bother to aim it at anyone, he didn’t bother to get into a defensive stance… he just stood there.

As Chance lowered Madelaine into the grave they had dug for her, Takara bowed her head in due respect to the girl. She didn't know her, nor would she ever now, but she could at least give her the respect she deserved at a burial. For a moment, she closed her eyes, taking a brief moment to think about all that had happened, all that she had seen thus far. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give her the will to kill without remorse should it come down to it.

Behind them, she heard a small crunch of dirt beneath a shoe, and without a second thought, lowered her hand to her bag, seemingly just reaching for a tin of crackers or water, but she didn't. Rather, her hand came to rest on the cool, wooden handle of the butchers knife, an impassive, not to mention cold, expression covering her face. To her, it didn't matter anymore, she had nothing back home to even want to return to, and she wasn't about to let the others have a guilty conscience when most of them had something to go home to.

That's when she heard Chance whisper that they weren't along. Slowly, Takara rose to her feet, bringing her bag up with her, having slung it on her shoulder. The knife remained within the bag, as well as her hand which tightly grasped the handle.

"We should... greet... our guest." Her voice was just above a whisper, barely audible to even those closet to her, though, her voice was by far colder than it had been before the guest arrived.

Slipping the knife out of her bag, she glanced at Tobs, Chance, and Sidney. Tobs was ready with his drill, and Chance with his grenades, which she hoped he wouldn't use yet, and Sidney, whom she hoped wouldn't have to get involved violently, especially considering his last encounter with Cody. Flashing a quick smile, which looked really odd on a face plastered in a cold, almost cruel manner.

Before the others could tell her otherwise, Takara slipped the knife under her jacket so she'd have easy access to it, and turned around to face Kousaka, the cold cruelty gone, replaced with a sweet, almost seductive smile. Taking a few steps towards him, putting one foot in front of the other, causing her hips to sway more than usual, as well as causing her skirt to ride up slightly.

Everything about screamed 'touch me,' and holding her head high, yet chin down, she gave a small bat of her eyelashes before taking another step forward. Each curve was perfectly placed, her hips round and delicate, her waist small and thin, and her chest large, but not too large. Over all, she was gonna try and use her looks to her advantage before resorting to more... drastic measures.

A small smile alighting on her face, "Hello there...," she greeted him warmly, giving a few more bats of her eyelashes as she gently rested her weight on her right leg, placing her left hand on her hip delicately.

Kousaka's grin faded as the young woman approached him. (Damn a Mitsuko! >.<) He half smiled as to say, let's play along with her game. His expression was pretty harsh even for the situation.

"Well, well, a little missy here to entertain me, huh?" He said sharply lifting his chin to the air.

He replaced his goggles upon his head and placed a hand on her shoulder, with a light but firm grip.

"You sure you wanna be doing this, little girl?" A gleam sortof shined in his silver eyes.