Survival Of The Fittest

When Elizabeth responded to James, he froze. He was unsure of what to do, honestly. I mean, how often do you think about getting in this situation? He was reminded of a show he used to watch long ago. "Worst Case Scenario." They had all kinds of strange situations. He was sure a situation like this might even be a big episode highlight.

But it wasn't Worst Case Scenario. It was Survival of the Fittest, James reminded himself. "It'll be okay, hang on..", James told the girl, digging through his duffel bag for anything to help.

He stopped when she asked about her brother and requested for him to tell the others to stop. "Alright.", He said to her, standing up. He was turning towards Lenny when the sound of three loud bangs filled his ears. James was filled with confusion, trying to piece together what had happened. Someone had been shot. It wasn't for a few idle moments later that James realized that not just anyone had been shot...It was him. Three times in his midsection.

It started as a piercing burn and eventually spread out in a terrible pain, something he had never felt before. Sure, he had broken bones and got a concussion or two in his childhood...But nothing quite felt like this.

James let out a quick gasp, too afraid to move. He didn't want to look down to see his wounds. He didn't want to face this reality. He wasn't even sure if they were fatal or not. However, breathing was painful and ragged, so he assumed at least one bullet punctured a lung. The other two...He couldn't even pinpoint it. All he knew was it hurt like hell.

He was trying to convince himself that he was fine. Okay. Great. Dandy. But he couldn't do it. He sunk down to his knees, his arms wrapped around his middle as if he was holding something terrible inside, to keep it from spilling out. Spots of deep crimson blood were staining the front of his disgustingly dirty shirt.

Was he dying? James didn't know. If he was...What should he be doing? Thinking back on his life? "I regret not watching that movie I promised my friend I'd watch..I regret not going camping when I was a child. I regret not..."

James realized it was unlikely he would have ever been able to do these things anyway. It all pointed back to this game. Deep in his mind, he always knew there was a big chance of him dying. A huge dinosaur-sized chance. Heck. James didn't have a chance in Hell. And even if he did win, by chance, would it be worth living without Bree?

Bree...Was she even out there? Keep on truckin' Bree. Maybe you'll have a better chance than me, James thought. He was surprised at his nonchalant thoughts towards Bree. He loved her. Why wasn't he more sad?

But it came as a surprise. Sort of. James realized in this moment, Bree didn't really matter. I mean, yes, she did...But Bree didn't save him from Lenny. Bree didn't make James feel better when his situation was looking grim. Bree did nothing for him.

He still loved her, that didn't change. But in this situation, Bree was insignificant. Shameeca mattered. Elizabeth mattered. Even Heath and Rob mattered. They actually came to his aid. But this gunfight..That wasn't supposed to happen. Now, Elizabeth was injured.

But why did Lenny shoot him? Meh. That thought didn't even matter to James. Everyone has their reasons for something...At this point, James was getting a little lightheaded from the blood loss and wasn't thinking exactly straight. But he could get one thought through.

James risked his life for Elizabeth. A girl. A girl that wasn't Bree. He didn't realize the outcome of his actions would leave him with three bullet holes in his body.

Forgetting himself and Elizabeth, even Shameeca risked her life to save James. He sure did meet some awesome people, He thought.

Then reality came crashing down. He was on the grass near Elizabeth, blood pouring from the gunshot wounds. He heard several shots being fired from Lenny's gun. He was screaming too. James wasn't really paying attention. Lenny didn't matter anymore.

"Hey..", James croaked out to Elizabeth. "..", He paused. He was going to say something like everyone always says before they die, 'Say thanks to Shameeca for saving me, if you see Bree, tell her I loved her and thanks for everything. Blah. Yadda yada. Blah.'

He'd save himself the drama. "Never mind.", He said quietly. Besides, he was going to make it right? Why would he die? He was the incredible James. He knew Judo and stuff. He was...

The last thing James saw before shutting his eyes was Elizabeth, Lenny, the wet grass and the rainy sky. So vivid.

JAMES MARTINEK - ELIMINATED

The charge towards Lenny was a happening extremely slowly. Amazingly, during that, Heath's mind was focused on a single prospect: Lenny's death. Heath never felt this way before. To be frank, Heath could never recall a time before SotF where he wished someone's death so much.

This rage was cut sort by Lenny's bullets. Every single one of them impacted, one in the neck. It was the most excuriating thing he ever felt. And for what seemed like forever, Heath crashed to the ground. His body turned towards the shore, away from the carnage he created. When he was still he felt nothing. Though Heath was something of an airhead, he felt weird at that moment. Like he wasn't even part of his body. He couldn't help but note how nice the view.

All he could do was think as he lay there. I think… I think, that Lenny got hit. Yeah…just him, just him. The reassurance sound extremely hollow, sinking Heath deeper into the glum. When the logic set in, so did the melancholy. A pain coursed through his body. It was from his whimpering.

What the hell? I'm trying to justify that? I might have gotten Lenny killed…but what about James or Shamecca or Bobby. Lenny's sister even? She looked innocent enough. And she was standing right next to him. How many people did I drag down because of my stupidity?

Some shield I turned out to be, huh, Rob? Well, looks like I fucked up big time in that department. I hope you all make it okay. I know that it no longer matters, I know that you may no longer care what a dickshit such as myself thinks… but I understand now, Bobby. I…forgive you. Yeah.

Heath closed his eyes, his body wracked with pain, but mostly a cold calm. Tritely so, his life began to flash before his eyes. Strangely, he was unable to recall anything past the last week. Yet again, not much happaned to this point. When he was able to remember something, it was of a skinny middle schooler with messy black hair. Yo, Noah. Sorry, I could make it through. I bet you lost a lot of money on my part. Well, I hope I see you again

Heath's vision was slowly but surely blurring by the last lingering mental image. He recognized it on sight. Hey, Petra. It'd be cool to see you again, ya know.

The daydreamer found himself in his final reverie, no longer having to deal with pain, loss, or despair ever again.

HEATH TRENNOBY- ELIMINATED

Anna was feeling nauseas. No one was shooting at them (at least that's what she gathered), this was for certain. The sight of others killing each other made her tense. Funny. When she thought about killing and tried to imagine an act of murder in her head, she didn't even so much as shiver with disgust. Now however, with all the bullets going off, she felt sick. She was worried not for herself (oh lord not for herself) but for Lulu and everyone else. It was at this moment when the mental strain of the game hit Anna like a blow, without any warning. In that single moment, Anna felt vulnerable.

"Uhh..." Anna wasn't paying attention to Lulu. She was much more concerned with what was happening. She was still trying to get a grip on the situation. "Yes, right, right, indeed…"

What was she to do? She's been standing on the sidelines for too long. Forget the fact that it was considered suicide or whether she really wanted to or not; she was going out there one way or another. But… What could she ever do? Would it even be possible for her to do anything at all?

Anna sat in silence for a moment…

She turned to Lulu and smiled. "Listen… I'll be right back. I…" She stopped herself and walked away. After all, if she had told Lulu of all people about her plan, she would want to stop Anna.

What she was about to do was considered by many to be a rick and appeared quite foolish. Not to mention that once she was in the middle of getting it done, everyone's attention would be directed right at her. Anna never liked being the center of attention but of all the things she could ponder she didn't think about how everyone was going to react. She knew for certain that someone was going to be mad at her.

Slowly she crept along the edge of the trees. She wasn't a very sly girl but with the sun having set only an hour before, it was hard for anyone to see her. Then again this made it hard for her to see anyone under the shade of the trees. However she could see James and Elizabeth. Her eyes edged over the body on the sand, crumpled on the sand in a miserable way, coated in blood. The light rain was making slight holes in the sand around him. It was a dreadful sight to behold. Anna felt a tear form on her face – or was that a drop of rain that hit her eye? Whatever, it mattered not. It didn't matter at all. What Anna was about to do was going to matter quite a bit.

((Meh, not in a posting mood, holding things up though.))

There wasn't time to be shocked or stunned by what happened. Rob saw both Lizzy and Lenny go down, but it was clear that neither had been killed, especially as Lenny started shooting everybody in sight.

Fuck! Heath! James! Jesus Christ! They're both... FUCK!

Bobby felt three hard impacts to his stomach and he folded over, half in pain, half in defence. He rolled away swiftly, using the uneven sands to give himself nominal cover.

"You saved my ass again," Rob muttered, looking to his vest as he reloaded the Saeur. "That's getting to be too much of habit,"

((Sorry to break posting order but I got to help with a deadline))

Lenny was in a special state of mind right now. The adrenaline pumping throughout his body was temporarily taking away the pain of the wounds that he now has, and it fogged his mind. Heath was down, James was down. How did Lenny feel about this?

Great. Now there was just Bobby and Shameeca, both armed and both wanting him dead. They had shot his sister. They must want her dead too.

Keep shooting? Lenny wanted to. He wanted to unload his entire clip into Bobby and Shameeca, but he couldn't. He had to worry about his sister, she was top priority. Lenny didn't notice Anna's suspicious movements, but he saw Lulu and Lauren behind him. He needed them now. To get out from behind his cover to run to his sister would spell certain death for him, but he could get the girls to help him.

Lenny didn't believe that Bobby Jacks was good now. Not a bit. Someone with that many kills was a killer through and through, and Lenny knew he would look back on this shootout and smile. He got to tango with the Bobby Jacks. His mind raced back to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth flinched as James died, right before her. How could this have happened? She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, but she felt numb, as none of the emotions came to her. The pain tore through her body, and she knew she needed help, and soon. Where was Lenny? Elizabeth Priestly never before hated her brother so much, but at the same time never loved him so much. She knew what he was doing he was doing for her, and she felt a pang of sick guilt. Like she was so sort of murderer as well.

"James...James..."

She wished to go back in time, and never have Lenny take James hostage. Then they wouldn't be here. What was shooting at each other accomplishing anyways? In the end they all died.

In the end they all died.

Lenny Priestly, in a crouch moved as fast as he could to Lauren and Lulu and said quickly at them, "Listen! We need to get my sister! You two need to help me!"

It seemed as though the gunfire had died down a little since Anna had left. Not completely, but just a little. Enough that it might be safe to move around and get out of the area.

Anna was already out of sight, doing whatever it was that she had planned. For a moment Lauren had been afraid that the other girl was trying to get away from the fight on her own, but she had quickly dismissed those fears as being foolish. Anna wouldn't leave like that and there wasn't anything to be gained by leaving Lauren and Lulu behind, either. In a few minutes, she would be back and then the three of them would go elsewhere, away from the fighting. It sounded like the other two girls were opposed to going back to the tree, but there were plenty of places on the island that they could go.

Maybe it would be for the best if they were to go somewhere else. Carson was an okay person, but Liam had seemed a little arrogant back at the tree, and that other girl was too much of an uncertainty to be completely trusted. Still, it seemed as though Liam had been right that something had been going on with James and the Priestly twins (either that, or Shameeca had managed to find quite a few friends to help her come after James, which didn't really fit with what Lenny had told them). Perhaps she would apologize to him the next time she saw him. If she ever saw him again.

Something caught Lauren's attention from the side, so she turned to see what it was. It was Lenny, and he was alone. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, huh? He was moving quickly and keeping low, so it looked like the area was still a dangerous place to be. At least it was only Lenny and not one of the others...

Where was Elizabeth?

"Listen! We need to get my sister! You two help me!"

Elizabeth was in trouble? Lauren looked out toward where the fighting had been, but couldn't make out anything for sure. It looked like someone's body was on the ground, but she wasn't positive about that. If Elizabeth was still out there, then Lenny was right. They needed to get her out of there.

She started toward Lenny, but changed her mind shortly. So far she had trusted everybody, and so far she had been right all the time. What if she was wrong? There was no doubt that someone here couldn't be trusted. There wouldn't be guns going of if it were otherwise. Lauren needed to start thinking differently. She needed to think the way Amanda or Liam would think. Was Lenny telling the truth? There wasn't any way to tell from here, and there wasn't the time to go over to see if Elizabeth was really in trouble. Besides, that was exactly what Lenny wanted. There needed to be another way to figure out if he was telling the truth, and she needed to make up her mind fast.

She didn't know the Priestlys that well. In fact, she didn't know Lenny at all, and was only lightly acquainted with Elizabeth. She'd heard that the two were close, though. If Lauren's brother Eric had been hurt like Lenny was, she wouldn't have left him alone, no matter how well they were getting along at the time. If Lenny was here alone, it must mean that either Elizabeth was already safely out of the area, or that she was already beyond saving.

"Help you?" she asked, "How do we know we can even trust you?"

It was a valid question, and under normal circumstances she probably would have stopped at that. Unfortunately, lack of sleep, allies getting shot, losing half of their original group at various points around the island, and a thousand other things about the situation were making her a little bad tempered, and so she ended up saying some things that she wouldn't have said normally.

"Besides, this whole thing is probably your fault anyway."

Lulu was standing a little farther back from the fighting with Anna and Lauren. With her duffel bag strung around one shoulder and her delicate long fingers wrapped around her scythe, Lulu looked like she was all dressed up with no place to go, so to speak.

Were they leaving or were they staying? Personally, Lulu wanted to leave. Bullets were going off in all directions up ahead and the trees obscured what was happening. Were people actually getting shot? She thought she could see a few vague shapes on the ground, which could have possibly been people. Were they injured? Dead? Lulu didn't know and was far too exhausted to be completely shocked.

But Anna...Yes, Anna was acting strange. Lulu had a feeling that she hadn't been listening to what she was saying and that was fine. Who would really want to listen to the little red head when a freakin' shoot out was occurring right nearby?

"Wait, what? You'll be right back? Where are you going? What are you going to do?", Lulu asked, sounding slightly frantic. She didn't want any harm to come to Anna...But if Anna really did have some sort of plan, Lulu didn't exactly want to interfere either. She just stayed back, sighing. She stared down at her wet shoes.

"Guess it's just us, Lauren..", Lulu told the other girl, giggling slightly. It was a nervous giggle though, and sounded a tad bit out of place.

That was when Lulu noticed Lenny moving towards them in a crouch. He was asking for help. The first thing Lulu noticed was that Lenny was injured. It didn't cross her mind for a second that Lenny could be betraying them or lying to them or anything. Well, it did cross her mind, but Lulu wasn't exactly thinking of it. Besides, if he tried anything funny, Lulu did have a weapon...Whether she was capable of using it or not, she did not know.

"Hey, are you okay?", Lulu asked, eying his injuries. He must have gotten shot in the fight going on up ahead. "What's going on?", She asked. He wanted their help to get his sister. Was she injured too? Geez, she hoped not.

Lulu was a little apprehensive. Of course she wanted to help, it was her nature. Helping another girl that seemed fairly innocent also seemed like a good idea. However, she glanced over at Lauren to see what she thought.

Lauren didn't seem like she could trust Lenny. Maybe they couldn't. She decided to go with Lauren on this. Maybe Lenny couldn't be trusted. But maybe he could.

"Wait wait..Lauren don't go blamin' everything on Lenny. We don't really know what's going on..", Lulu said calmly. "I'm sorry, we're just trying to be careful.", She told Lenny, still thinking. It was hard to figure out who you could trust and who you couldn't. She was split down the middle.

They didn't look like they were moving at all. Heath just lay there on the floor, his body still after being hit by the bullets. Her eyes stung with hot tears at the sides as the person she had met just recently, someone she had known for only a short amount of time lay there on the floor, probably dead and for what? She had gotten him into this, in her driven need to save James and that was Oh my god, James! she saw him being shot after running towards Elizabeth. He was probably only going to help her, he was like that, even when they first met, that same caring streak had made him protect her and thus get them into this mess. He was probably one of the most nicest people she had met and now he had been killed for probably trying to help someone. It wasn't right. They had been so close to winning, so close to beating Lenny and all getting away safely for a while. They were going to find Bree and then they were all going to have a few days of peace. It was all so well planned out in her head. What a shame that those plans would never come to be put into place.

As Lenny fired the bullets at them she hardly even noticed. She just stood there, frozen in her shock as bullets flew past her. Suddenly she reacted as a slice of fire ran up her arm as a bullet sliced her arm up the shoulder. Shameeca didn't even register how deep it was, but it hurt like hell. She didn't drop the gun, but instead she dropped a little to make herself a smaller target from the bullets. To her side she saw Rob fall down and suddenly she got a flash of anger. Heath, James and now Rob, she wasn't going to let him get away with this.

Cocking the gun, despite the pain shooting from her shoulder, she drew the bolt back and fired a bullet towards the trees where she could see Lenny trying to move. In her desperation to get him, she didn't realise that she was probably only helping Lennys story that they were crazy killers trying to win the game in any way possible. This didn't enter her mind as she fired her fifth bullet of the fight. She would have to stop soon, as there was only seven bullets left for her rifle.

"Besides, this whole thing is probably your fault anyway."

Those words stung into Lenny like the bullets that had hit him earlier.

"It is not my fault!"

Lenny screamed at the girl, then realized letting his anger take over now wouldn't serve his purpose. He needed her to help him get Elizabeth to safety, then Lulu came forward. She seemed to have a more level head, or at least was more open to ideas.

If Lenny was going to get help in retrieving his sister, he would need Lulu's help to get Lauren to join in too. Gripping his handgun, he was going to say something when a bullet whizzed by. Lenny ducked down and said, "See! They're trying to kill you guys too now. I just want to get my sister and get out of here."

Lenny wanted to raise his gun and aim it at Lauren's legs. He wanted to shoot them and watch her being stuck on the ground. He wanted then to tell her that's what his sister felt like, and while Lauren was helplessly on the ground Lenny would shoot Lulu. Why? No reason, except that he had no control anymore. He seemed to lose every bit of humanity he fought to keep. Now that his sister was hurt and so was he, there was no need to be kind anymore. What did it do? Lenny struggled to be kind, and it just caused him getting shot.

He wouldn't shoot Lauren or Lulu though. No, Lenny needed them. Elizabeth needed them. He looked at Lulu and said, "Listen, this isn't a trick. I can't go out there and get her or they'll shoot me. You and Lauren though, you might be able to."

Lenny looked at Lauren and said, "It's not my fault. Got it? Now are you going to help or not?"

"It is not my fault!"

Lenny was angry. Was he going to kill her anyway? If he did, then maybe Lulu would have a chance to take him out, not that it would be very helpful to Lauren.

"Wait wait...Lauren don't go blamin' everything on Lenny. We don't really know what's going on... I'm sorry, we're just trying to be careful."

Lulu's trying to calm him down. Lauren wouldn't have been surprised if it didn't work. Forget about being angry, Lenny was seriously pissed off. Any minute now, he would start firing his gun, she needed to get out of there...

Why wasn't he firing? Was he telling the truth? If he really wanted to kill the two of them, there was no reason for him to hold back. He was telling the truth, and from the looks of how angry he was, Elizabeth must have been hurt pretty badly.

"I-" Lauren started to apologize, but was interrupted by a gunshot off in the distance. Despite the fact that guns had been going off sporadically for the past few minutes, this one seemed... louder, somehow. Maybe it was because it was only one shot, or maybe whoever was firing was closer than before.

A second later, Lauren's leg spontaneously exploded with pain. She looked down to see blood flowing out of her right thigh. That bastard Lenny shot me just as I was about to agree to help him!

"Listen, this isn't a trick. I can't go out there and get her or they'll shoot me. You and Lauren though, you might be able to."

Lenny was talking to Lulu at the moment. He was still holding his gun at his side and didn't even seem to notice that she was injured. He hadn't shot her after all.

"It's not my fault. Got it? Now are you going to help or not?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'll hel-"

Lauren's leg gave way and she fell to the ground, twisting the ankle on her other leg in the process. Damn, that ankle just healed from last time. She clamped her hands over the wound on her leg, trying very hard to ignore the fact that they were already starting to feel numb.

Lulu flinched when Lenny screamed about it not being his fault. She could tell he was really angry. She glanced nervously over at Lauren, but said nothing. It wasn't really her place to say anything.

However, when the bullet came flying by, Lulu suddenly panicked. They were shooting over here trying to kill them?! But Lauren and Lulu hadn't done anything!! She screamed slightly, ducking. She definitely didn't want to get shot, it didn't look pleasant. When Lenny said (random I know, but a lot of L names. XD Lenny, Lauren and Lulu, haha.) he just wanted to get his sister and leave, it made Lulu think. If she went out in the open like that to get his sister, wouldn't that leave her more liable to being shot? She didn't exactly want to risk her life to a stranger she didn't know at all.

On the other hand, saying no flat out just seemed so selfish to Lulu. She decided she'd have to help at least a little. If she died in the process, well...It was the thought that counts. Lulu definitely shivered at that thought.

Lulu sent another glance over at Lauren. "Alright..I believe we could try.", She told Lenny, slight apprehension in her voice.

That's when Lulu realized that Lauren had been shot. She looked around frantically, trying to figure out where it came from. Probably the shooters up ahead. She screamed slightly, but it sounded more like a squeak. "Are you okay?!", She asked, hurrying over to Lauren. Oh geez. Oh geez. "Maybe we should..", She started, then stopped. She was about to say, 'maybe we should leave this area..' but realize she couldn't do that. She made an agreement to help Lenny's sister. She sighed. What had she gotten herself into?

Then Lauren fell to the ground. Lulu knelt down beside her, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she looked at Lauren. "Uh-oh...", Lulu muttered. 'Uh-oh' seemed about the only thing she could think of. She looked over at Lenny.

"What do we do? What do we do? Lauren got shot!!"

Lenny wasn't quite expecting Lauren to fall down, right as she was apologizing and probably going to agree to help. He had horrible luck lately, and when he looked to see what had happened, he saw she was shot. His world was crashing down before him, and Lenny felt like he was losing control. He couldn't lose control, no he had to be in charge.

Lenny Priestly watched as Lulu did what he expected her to do, he ran to Lauren's side, asking her pointless questions like if she was alright, and then asking him what they should do. Lenny thought over his options. He could try to help Lauren, after all her wound wasn't life threatening at all, it would just make it hard for her to move. Though every second he wasted with these two girls, his sister was in danger, and she was most important. He needed their help to go rescue her, and now that Lauren was out of the picture, it was up to Lulu to go out and bring Elizabeth to safety.

Though Lulu wouldn't go if Lauren was bleeding and shot and not cared for right? Lenny could do the thing his sister would want him to do. He could do the 'right' thing and prove to the world he was a good guy. The truth though, was that the boat sailed a long time ago for that. Lenny showed his true colors when he killed Anna. He has just been doing a good job at hiding that part of him. Though now, it was out. Lenny wouldn't even make an effort to hide it anymore. He would go to the ends of the Earth to save his sister, and if that meant people had to die, then so be it.

Lenny aimed his handgun at Lauren's stomach and said, "Sorry about this. Blood's thicker than water and all that jazz."

Lenny pulled the trigger three times and then aimed his gun at Lulu.

"There, now we don't have to worry about her. If you want to live I suggest you find a way to go out into that clearing and bring my sister back here safely. If you don't I will not hesitate to pull this trigger, got it?"

Lenny Priestly was beyond saving.

Lauren knew she was in trouble. No matter how hard she pressed her hand against the wound on her leg, it wasn't enough. Her hands were now drenched in her own blood.

"Are you okay?

She wasn't okay, but that wasn't important at the moment. Help Elizabeth, she wanted to say. She wanted to, but she couldn't.

Was she going to die? It was just a bullet to the leg, she should be fine with a bandage. Right? Not that it really mattered. She couldn't win the game with that kind of injury even if she wanted to, and any hopes of escaping with such a handicap were even more laughable. Escape... how long ago had it been? That day in the jungle, when she had first met up with Anna, Lulu, and Amanda to discuss possible ways to get out of this nightmare alive.

"Sorry about this. Blood's thicker than water and all that jazz." Lauren looked up just in time to see Lenny standing over her with a handgun.

You bastard.

LAUREN HOWARD - ELIMINATED

From afar, Anna could hear voices speaking, and gunshots. She could only imagine what could have happened. She couldn't see anyone except for Elizabeth... so her mind began to draw it's own conclusions. She imagined Lenny killing both Lulu and Lauren, and the image stuck in her mind like glue. A lump was stuck in her throat, forcing her to gasp for air. She was afraid, deeply afraid of what was going to happen.

He's a monster... a true, cold-blooded, lying bastard of a man.

Anna wished it didn't have to come to this. Lenny has gone too far... or at least this was the only form of reason she could conjure up. By no means did Anna want to be a bad guy, but this felt like the only thing that she could do. The girl was just sitting there, possibly in more pain than anyone else. Anna was actually sad for her, but her own desires overrode her feelings. Yes... it was quite obvious what Anna had to do.

As quickly as she could, she made her way over to the fallen girl. She took her sword into her hand with one swipe, and slowly began to hover above the girl from behind. She let out a soft sigh and grasped Elizabeth's hair by her open hand. Quite forcefully too.

"Sorry dear, but I'm a little peeved and I rather you not resist, so..."

She used all of her strength in her left hand to lift Elizabeth's head by her hair, took the butt end of the katana with her other and brought it against the back of her head. She did it with enough force that on impact the battered girl would lose consciousness. This is exactly what Anna wanted. She didn't want Elizabeth to say no. Would she have said no? Probably not. Who would have wanted to ever stay with a psychopathic killer? Certainly not Anna, certainly not.

It was time to make Lenny pay. Anna wanted to see him sob like a child, especially with what she was about to do. He was going to regret what he did to all of these people... as strange as it was, she was beginning to believe in what Liam told her. Though she still thought he was a huge nutcase, but for every bit of a loon that he was, Lenny had twice the amount.

Karma could be such a bitch... when it wanted to.

Lulu screamed louder than she ever had when Lenny shot Lauren. She covered her mouth, eyes widening, subconsciously moving away from Lauren and Lenny. She kept looking from Lenny to Lauren, Lauren to Lenny over and over again, as if she didn't believe what just happened.

"Lauren?! LAUREN?", Lulu screamed. Lauren wasn't moving anymore. Lulu was too afraid to check if Lauren was dead. She probably was, which was the scariest thing. It was one thing to witness a death from a distance a ways, but it was an entirely different thing to have someone killed right in front of you. No, right beside you! Lauren was so close, Lulu had been touching her and she had been killed!

Lulu started to sob, not removing her hand from her mouth. She didn't realize that Lenny's gun was aimed at her now. Why did he do it? Why?! Lulu wanted to ask him that, but couldn't find the courage to do so. She was shaking slightly, not taking her eyes off of Lauren's body. The last thing Lenny said to Lauren was still ringing in her head. It made her shake more.

Where was Anna? Where was she?! Why wasn't Anna here to save Lauren? It wasn't fair. Lulu started frantically looking around at her, before she caught sight of Lenny's gun aimed right at her.

She removed her hand from her mouth and raised both hands, as if telling him not to shoot. She was backing up slightly. She wanted to run far away. But if she ran, he'd shoot, wouldn't he?

Lenny had wiped Lauren from existence just like this. Just because he wanted to. He thought her injury would be a hassle. Lulu would have objected to helping Lenny, but she didn't have a choice now, did she? It was either die or help.

"R..R..Right..Okay..Got it..", Lulu whispered numbly, walking through the trees to where Elizabeth was. She was shaking the whole way, imagining Lenny behind her with the gun. Her glasses were nearly fogging with all the tears she was crying.

Even though she didn't know Lauren too well...In a way, she felt like she did. It was only a few days, but Lauren's death definitely opened reality to Lulu. You could be living, then be dead in a matter of seconds. Everyone in this game had the ability to erase someone from existence. Even Lulu did, if she utilized it.

But now she wouldn't. Couldn't. She'd have to help someone stay in existence. She wouldn't hold a grudge against Lenny's sister for her brother's actions. Or at least, she would try not to.

As she slowly made the descent towards Elizabeth, her scythe clutched in her spindly fingers, when she noticed something strange. Elizabeth wasn't alone. Was that...Anna?!

Oh god. Oh geez. Anna was taking Elizabeth hostage! Anna lifted Elizabeth by the hair, then knocked her out with the sword she was holding. Lulu wasn't sure whether to run away or stay put. If Lenny came back and saw that Anna had knocked out his sister, he wouldn't hesitate to shoot them.

"Anna, what are you doing?!", Lulu whispered frantically. She felt like now would be an inappropriate time to share that Lauren had just been killed. She kept making backwards glances.

"Lenny told me to come get Elizabeth or he'd shoot me..", She told Anna, looking down at the dirt. "I have to take her back to Lenny..", Lulu explained, sounding half-hearted.