Survival Of The Fittest

((Blair Moore continued from Cucurrucucú paloma))

"Good idea."

Truthfully, Blair was not happy to be back in the asylum. She'd spent enough time here to know it was a thoroughly unpleasant place, made worse by the presence of corpses. Once upon a time, she might've been worried by the creepiness.

Now? She had other things to deal with.

At least Alba and Enzo were acceptable company. Blair was a little wary, but Enzo's candidness and Alba's general demeanor gave her some confidence that they weren't going to murder her. There'd not been much discussion about...anything, really. Quiet, compared to Noah and Rene.

No time to mourn, though. It was tragic and all that, and hurt more than she'd care to admit. Despite that, Blair was still alive, so she could deal with the sadness when her life wasn't in danger. Either from getting home, or being dead. Either way. Arriving at the location labeled 'Staff Lounge' on the wall, Blair pushed open the door and stepped inside.

She froze in the doorway. Three people stood within; one recognizable by the scars on her face (though her hair usually covered them), and two that took a moment to identify. Dorky Olivia and stuck-up Georgia Lee. Coleen was the only one whose name she'd heard before, though Blair didn't remember the context.

The gun came up, leveled at Coleen, a split second's startled expression on her face replaced by a weird sense of numbness.

"Don't move."

Georgia Lee could not handle this, regardless of Olivia's silent pleas. She didn't want things to be complicated. She didn't like when things were complicated and she couldn't figure them out. She had spent her entire life categorizing things and figuring out how they worked. She had figured out enough to know that the universe couldn't care less what Georgia Lee Day wanted and liked, of course. It had never done her any favors and she didn't expect it to start now. She had to rely on herself.

But one complication after another began to appear and coalesce into one giant, unpleasant mass. Blair was an unpleasant memory, an unpleasant person. Alba less so, but she was a murderer. Neither one was her friend. Neither deserved the benefit of the doubt like Coleen did, neither had any business just barging in here. She should have thought to barricade the door, but she hadn't... hadn't what? Hadn't wanted to lock herself in here with Coleen, her friend?

Her friend, who now had a gun leveled at her with no preamble, no warning, no benefit of the doubt.

Georgia Lee didn't know what to make of Coleen, true. But Coleen probably ranked above Alba and certainly above Blair, and there was no way that Georgia Lee wouldn't have to take sides in this confrontation.

She was well and truly among the jungle beasts now, and she couldn't show fear.

She didn't stand right away, but she sat up straighter in her chair, even though her stomach flipped over itself as she drew Blair's attention to her.

"What do you think you're doing? Put that away."

((Enzo continued from Cucurrucucú paloma))

Oh, good. Back where Enzo had had their number one rated murder talkshow with Kimiko. Hopefully she wasn't still there. That would have been straight up awkward, and maybe lethal? Kind of lethal. Kimiko hadn't killed Enzo, but then she'd killed since meeting Enzo, so...

Logic was hard. Murder logic was really hard, especially when it came to a mute girl you'd still somehow managed to hold a conversation with.

Alba and Blair weren't the most talkative pair. Enzo had tried to strike up a couple lines of conversation, but there was, well, there was kind of a dearth of topics to talk about.

'Hey, working on that killing spree?'

'How about that time you both murdered someone?'

'So, how's your sex life?'

Neither seemed like they were in the mood for any such shenanigans. Still, nice to have people around?

Sort of. In a lot of ways it just made Enzo miss Cameron even more.

"Hope you didn't bust my chair," Enzo remarked lightly in response to Alba, trailing along after Blair.

The brevity didn't last long. Up opened the door, up went the corners of Enzo's mouth.

"Goomba-"

Blair raised her gun. Enzo felt cold, and then warm, and then cold again.

"What the dick are you doing!?"

Yes! Exactly, other-person-oh-hey-it-was-Rainy.

Between cowering for her life under a couch, sympathy and concern for Fiyori, joy and then sorrow both courtesy of Georgia Lee, Coleen was starting to imagine that this day had become nothing more than a farcical roller coaster of emotions that reached its peak right around the time that Alba, Enzo and Blair had popped into the room.

Alba, who Coleen could never forgive for somehow staying with Brendan after what he did.

Enzo, who brought to her mind thoughts of home and her band mates who had possibly been spared this trip to hell.

Blair, who was currently pointing a gun directly at her!

The first thing that came to mind was to match armaments with the AK-47, but it had been put off to the side in favor of the spear draped across her lap and the couch cushion directly atop that, now hugged even tighter to her chest as if the musty, hard foam had a chance of stopping bullets. If Blair was going to shoot her, then nothing short of a miracle could prevent that before picking up her own gun. So instead, Coleen tucked up her knees and pressed her back into the couch.

"This is probably the reaction I'm going to get for the rest of it, huh?" she whimpered. "Can you... put that down? I'm not hurting anybody."

It wasn't like Olivia had never seen a gun before. Of course, there was Coleen, and Irene before that, but her father had a gun too. Always a 'just-in-case', just in case some robber decided to enter their house in the dead of night, just in case they needed to defend themselves. And it had been some big nothing, this just-in-case, because it was just that, some distant possibility you'd only hear about in the front pages and on the TV screens, some flash accompanied with a bang and red dye. But then Blair raised her gun, pointed it at someone.

Olivia couldn't breathe. This was so, so different. With Coleen, she'd set it aside, hid it in some bag, and Irene, well, she never used it, and she was Irene, she never would- no, never did that, and now here come these people barging in here, pointing guns, and she'd heard their names before, she'd heard them on the announcements and they were still here, so they all knew what that meant, and they were pointing a gun, and now Georgia Lee was speaking and Olivia wanted to grab her, tell her to stop speaking, move her, but all she could do was stay frozen, eyes locked on Blair, breath and words caught in throat.

Blair had taken charge in walking to the lounge, but raised her gun when she opened the door. Her tone sounded very threatening, so Alba moved closer to see what it was. Inside the room were three other girls. One was Sandra, who she hadn't seen since the cliffs a few days ago. Arthur had died recently too, so she must not have been doing well since then. She didn't know who one of the girls was, but she recognized another as Georgia from a few classes.

"Uh, hey," Alba said to the girls inside.

She turned to Blair. Why was Blair holding a gun to Sandra?

"Blair, what are you doing?" she asked. "Is she someone you were looking for?"

Alba kept her rifle by her side. She didn't want to have a fight with these girls, especially in such close quarters. Maybe one of the girls had info on the people they were looking for. After all, there were six here total, so they probably all had information to share.

Blair didn't hear a single word they said. Not one. She couldn't move. She could barely breathe.

She was frozen in place, gun trembling, suddenly overwhelmed by the ramifications of her actions hitting her like a sledgehammer. She had been a second from shooting them. This was different from pulling the gun on Alba; Alba's reaction had been placid, put her at ease. She'd been scared for a moment, but calmed down.

This wasn't calming. This was fearful. Blair's fear response was heightened by that of the others.

Her hands kept shaking. Her eyes darted between the faces of the others. Georgia Lee, Olivia, Coleen. She was paralyzed by ignorance; she didn't know if she could trust them to not attack as soon as she lowered her weapon. But at the same time she couldn't exactly stand here forever.

She took a step back, bumped into the door frame. Her fingers tightened, and she clenched her teeth to hold in a scream. She felt like she was about to explode.

Movement. Georgia Lee. Reaching for something. Something out of sight. Every muscle in Blair's body tensed. A word shot through her; 'Gun!'

Since her Smith & Wesson was a semi-automatic weapon, though she held down the trigger for almost a second after the bang, it only fired a single shot.

But that was enough.

This was absurd.

That was the first clear thought that went through Georgia Lee's head, and with it everything else fell back into place.

Whatever Blair was thinking, she clearly didn't have the support of her allies. Things might be tense between Georgia Lee, Olivia, and Coleen, but she could trust them far more than Blair, Alba, and Vincenzo trusted each other, as far as she could see. This could be handled. If Blair wanted to act like an animal, like Fiyori, Georgia Lee could treat her as one.

"Put that down and back away." Slowly, as deliberately as she could with the slight head rush and her faint trembling because she hadn't slept in over a day, Georgia Lee stood and reached for her bag, as though she had something hidden inside. It was just the shovel, but Blair couldn't see that. Lacking support from her companions, she was technically outnumbered. As far as Blair would be able to tell, she was outgunned. She would do what animals did and turn tail, she wasn't the one who was cornered-

The gunshot ripped through the room and Georgia Lee's scream followed not a split second later.

Her leg was on fire as it collapsed underneath her, damp warmth and a dark stain spreading on the inside of her thigh as though she'd had a particularly embarrassing accident, but there was a hole in her tights where there hadn't been and a hole in her flesh where there shouldn't be.

She dropped the bag to clutch at her leg, the shovel that she had half withdrawn as Blair moved and other contents spilling out. Coherent thought abandoned Georgia Lee even as she tried to claw it back, leaving her with nothing but confusion and pain.

Okay. Wow. How in the earthly (and unearthly) fuck had this gone from 'speak of the devil there's Coleen!' to 'I-do-not-trust-you-for-hitherto-unexplained-but-stupid-reasons' to some kind of a freaking stan-

Blair fired her gun, and if things hadn't been going to hell in a handbasket already, they were now sledding down satan's own skislope. This was not how teaming up with these two was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a group with an understanding, and hell, Enzo was the one going out of their way to extend trust, because it wasn't them who had killed people already. They were giving Blair and Alba the benefit of the doubt.

Blair wasn't supposed to take that benefit, snap it over her knee, then use it to stab someone.

Georgia went down, a scream went with her, and Enzo's estimation of this whole sorry shitshow went tumbling after.

"The fuck, Rocky!?"

Okay, enough shouting, enough just letting words try and handle it. If people weren't going to listen, then that was clearly a frigging problem. Georgia was hurt. Bad. And why? Because Blair couldn't freaking keep her itchy finger off the trigger?

Vincenzo went for Blair's gun hand, snapping out for her wrist, because screw being diplomatic, you did not get to keep your gun privileges if you shot someone in front of them.

It was happening all over again. Just like with Bern, who was murdered before her eyes and there was no way of stopping it. She was murdered before Alba's eyes too and yet there she was, looking on while it was happening again. And, just like last time, she did nothing to stop it.

The first shot froze Coleen's spine solid. Georgia Lee let loose a piercing shriek of pain that made her jaw quiver instantly, but assured her that at the very least, she was still alive. Blood was already seeping from the girl's leg, and Coleen told herself... repeatedly, insistently, that leg wounds weren't fatal. No matter what, Georgia Lee wasn't going to die.

Only then was she able to move.

It took every ounce of effort to fight the instinct to throw herself over GLD in order to protect her. That wouldn't do anybody any good, not when she could just be shot instead, and she wouldn't be able to protect anybody else if she was dead. That was beside the point, though. She'd admitted to herself by now that her goal, paced through and wrapped around her head so often it wore a path into her brain, was her own survival. For selfish reasons or to fulfill a promise, it made no difference to her - she had to survive. She HAD to.

And survival meant getting rid of the other gun in the room.

It was a small blessing that Enzo was struggling with Blair, because that gave Coleen the time she needed to dive for the AK that had been discarded off to the side. The spear was pushed off her lap and landed on the floor; she quickly forgot all about it as she grabbed the deadlier of the two weapons at her disposal and scrambled to hide behind the arm of the couch. Safety off. She should still have ammo in there. She hoped she still had ammo in the gun, anyway. It'd be a hassle to have to grab extra from her bag when she left it in the open the way she did.

Coleen opened her mouth to speak but the first attempt proved pointless. She was scared, scared for her own life and for Georgia's, guilty that nobody else's life took priority, struggling to steel herself to the cold reality of the game she was being asked to play. The second attempt discovered enough power in her lungs to call out.

"Everybody drop their weapons!" She tried to sound as insistent as one possibly could while cowering behind half-rotted vintage furniture. "On the count of three, because if I see a gun when I come out, I'm shooting you!"

Done. Fucking done having this bad day.

"ONE!"

Georgia Lee had never heard Coleen scream before. She didn't think she had ever seen Vincenzo angry at all, considering the little time she had spent with them.

The fact that they were both furious and shouting for her sake didn't quite parse before the shock set in and she fainted, eyes rolling back as she collapsed backwards.

Darkness.

---

Georgia Lee faintly heard more yelling, faintly felt someone touching her. Her leg throbbed with raw pain. She thought she heard Coleen, thought she saw her face. She thought that maybe she tried to say something to Coleen, but she couldn't quite get the words out.

Darkness.

---

The garden needed weeding. It was long overdue, really. She could make free time. If she just cleared out some of the overgrowth, that would cut the chances of Virginia accidentally setting it on fire and burning the whole neighborhood down in her carelessness.

There was still so much that she needed to do, wanted to do, but she could make time.

Darkness.

---

Georgia Lee opened her eyes to darkness.

Her head felt fuzzy. How much time had passed?

She had... she had been shot. Blair had shot her. She reached with one shaky hand and felt for her leg, finding a clumsy tourniquet and a swath of bandages that had been soaked through with blood despite the best efforts of whomever had tried to perform first aid on her.

Dizzy from exhaustion and blood loss, the realization that someone had found her life worth saving made Georgia Lee's chest ache. Her head ached too, and she was cold, hot and cold at the same time.

She... she needed fresh air. The area was absent of Blair and any other threats. Georgia Lee slid off of the sofa onto shaky legs, clinging to the sofa's arm as she gingerly put weight on her injured leg. It was too dark and she was too muddled to pause and make out who else was asleep in the room.

But whoever they were, they were friends.

Just a breath of fresh air out in the hall, though it would surely be stale and decaying just like the rest of the asylum. She just... just needed some air circulation at least. She needed to prove that she could still walk, she thought, and that gave her some clarity. She would be useless if she couldn't walk, both here and back home. She had been shot, yes, and robbed of her dignity and the security that she had built up for herself over the last week, but hateful girls like Blair had never been able to take away the body that Georgia Lee relied on despite taunts and threats over the years.

She could stand. That was a start. She could walk and get some fresh air, clear her head. If everyone else was asleep, then she would have to stay awake when she returned, especially since she wasn't sure that she could move anything to barricade the door in this state. But she could stand, and she could walk... sort of.

Georgia Lee hobbled to the door and out into the hall, leaning heavily on the furniture in her path and then on the wall, faintly aware that more blood was soaking through the bandage and her tights.

She would have to take care of that too, when she got back.

((Georgia Lee Day continued in I know exactly what I want and who I want to be.))

Panic and chaos.

Georgia Lee fell to the ground, not dead but bleeding.

Coleen raised her gun and started to count. Blair barely heard the first number.

Enzo's arm lashed out, grabbing at Blair. Instinctively, she swung her arm away, pulling the trigger again in the process, the bullet embedding itself in the ceiling.

She had to get out, get away, run.

She ran, her backpack slamming against her side as she ran from the room and, pausing only momentarily, back out towards the exit of this goddamned place.

((Blair Moore continued in The Plastic Ratio))

Alba never got her explanation from Blair. Before she knew it, Blair was aiming her gun at Georgia and firing. The girl fell to the ground with blood emerging from her leg. Alba let out a scream and jumped a bit back.

"Blair, what the hell?!?" she shouted.

Before she could do anything else, Enzo tried to free the gun from Blair's grasp, causing Blair to fire at the ceiling. Alba covered her ears and let out another scream, the rifle left dangling from the strap over her shoulder. How could it all fall apart this quickly?

As the tinnitus began to set in, Alba noticed Blair running away from the group. Her eyes widened in shock. She couldn't already get separated from a friend this soon after finding her. And she certainly couldn't let another friend lose control and fly off the deep end.

"Help them out," Alba said to Enzo. "I'll get Blair."

Alba picked the rifle up back into her hand and hurried down the hall after Blair. The ringing in her ears continued.

"Blair! Wait!" she shouted.

She had no idea if Blair could hear her, but she hoped she could catch up with Blair and get an explanation. She didn't want this to be a repeat of Brendan.

((Alba Reyes continued elsewhere))

Enzo would have liked to hope that Blair firing her gun when they grabbed her wrist was an accident. Just, y'know, shock and surprise contributing to squeezing the trigger. That was plausible, right?

'Cept it was bad enough that she'd fired in the first place. And at somebody, to boot, so fixing on whether the second shot was an accident was sort of like closing the stable door after you set the horse on fire.

Speaking of bolting, Blair did just that moments later. Enzo swore because it made them feel a little bit better, and also delayed the rising, crushing panic in their chest the tiniest amount.

Coleen was freaking out. Blair just shot someone and then ran. Georgia Lee was bleeding and hurt. Too much was happening at once. Had grabbing Blair been the right thing? Was it the right thing but too late? They'd only been travelling with her a short while but she hadn't looked set to go trigger happy then!

Vinny took a step after Blair, faltered. They wanted an explanation in the worst way, and hell, to make sure that Blair wasn't gonna go off shooting anyone else. But Coleen was right here, and right now. Rainy was here too. Enzo owed Cameron—Brady and BB and Vanessa—to calm things down with Coleen, make sure she was okay. Plus, they liked Rainy. Hadn't crossed paths too many times, sure, but it'd been an unexpected little gem of interaction every time.

Plus, honestly, someone was hurt and needed help. Whether Enzo liked them or not shouldn't have had any bearing on it.

Alba chased after Blair, told Enzo to stay put, and that settled it, pretty much.

They stood still, held both hands up, palms flat and fingers outstretched.

Coleen was counting.

"Two!"

Safety off. Hands trembling. Noises, shouting, footsteps. She suddenly realized there wasn't much stopping Blair from just running toward the couch with that gun, provided she could get away from...

"THREE!"

Coleen raised herself from behind the back of the couch, trusty rifle held tightly in both hands. The barrel was angled slightly upwards as the gun was pointed toward the door. In her sights, there was only Enzo. She gave herself one or two seconds of realization before lifting up on the weapon's aim away from anybody. Nobody else was getting shot yet, just so long as she didn't see another gun get raised.

"Where... is Blair...?" Coleen asked, adrenaline reaching its peak now that the situation had enough time to settle and weigh on her. "The two that you were- Alba, where did Blair and Alba go?" Her teeth clenched. She didn't want to be mad at Enzo when they hadn't done anything wrong, but Georgia Lee was bleeding on the floor and there was an assailant whose location was unknown. She brought the AK-47 around in a semi-circle almost, taking great pains not to have the barrel directed at Enzo, Olivia or even Georgia Lee, regardless of the fact that most of the vector between herself and her ailing friend was blocked by the couch. Keeping the weapon directed towards the floor, she slowly paced around the side of the couch, slowly letting her eyes slip from Enzo to Georgia Lee to assess the damage.