Survival Of The Fittest

"Well, we did find some slippers over there," Sophie told Grace, pointing over to the slipper display. "It's not like I wanted to walk barefoot either, I just didn't have any shoes and we thought there'd be some here."

Alex then mentioned taking a quick nap, lying on the bed. Sophie was a little surprised that he would try to nap right now, but then again, they were forced awake by the announcements, so he might have been a little drowsy.

That's when Sophie noticed that Megan was crying into Gavin's arms. She figured the overwhelming feeling of everything was making her weep, but Sophie still wanted to see if she was okay.

"Hey, Megan," Sophie said, "it's okay. You've found your friend, and I'm sure the five of us can all stick together and wait out this game."

"O...O-o-okay..." Megan had to tell Gavin everything, but without being able to get her words out, she was going to have to go for an alternate solution.

Oh, right. The notebook.

She backed out of Gavin's hug and wiped away the tears and snot with her sleeve. "...Wait h-h-here," she said with a shaky voice and doubled back to the beds.

Megan went to her duffel bag and searched through it. It seemed Alex, Sophie, and Grace were hitting it off rather well from what she made out. It was going to be okay. Maybe, at least until tomorrow or if Megan decided to tell everyone beforehand.

But first, she had to see what Gavin thought. He was the only person besides her brother she could talk to about anything - if he reacted badly to what she was going to say, she didn't know what to do. Run away again?

One thing was for sure, though; she should say something while looking for this book. Megan paused and turned to Sophie, who was still barefoot. "...Yeah, th-that's good, waiting the g-g-game out, I mean." She sniffled and went back to digging. "...You'll still need shoes, th-th-though."

At that moment, she found what she was looking for. "...This...this will only take a minute," Megan said as she walked away again.

Megan uncapped the pen, jotted down what she needed, and handed the ripped-out page to Gavin. She folded her arms and rested her head, facing away from Gavin, on her palm. She didn't want to see his face - she couldn't watch his face.

I killed Francis St Ledger but it was an accident.
I abandoned Bella Strong.
I'll be in the announcements tomorrow.

Gavin was reluctant to let Megan go. He resisted as she pulled away, but only for as long as it took to confirm that she really was serious about wanting to be released. In a way he was glad; he wasn't sure how much longer he could've kept up a stolid facade in the face of her emotional turmoil.

While he waited for Megan to return, Gavin took stock of the situation. He hadn't been eager to release her, yet he was also somewhat proud of the fact that she had managed to hold her composure despite the obvious distress she was experiencing. She was clearly hurting a great deal, but despite her pain she hadn't let herself devolve into a blubbering wreck incapable of productive action. Silk hiding steel, he thought to himself.

It suddenly occurred to Gavin that while he'd been distracted by his reunion with Megan, he had let events pass him by somewhat. A brief moment of panic at the discovery of an empty concourse was countered when he saw that Grace had slipped past him and entered the store Megan had originally emerged from. She and the other two members of the group that had been here before them seemed to be getting along well enough. That was good news, at least.

Gavin didn't have to wait long after that for Megan to reappear. She came carrying a notebook, a sight which made him painfully aware of the crumpled piece of paper tucked into his pocket. That piece of paper could be his key off the island... but did he feel safe enough to show it to her?

Lets just handle one potential catastrophe before starting another in motion, he decided as he held out a hand to accept the scribbled note that Megan handed him. The way she turned from him as he unfolded it worried him, causing him to hesitate before he allowed his eyes to travel down to the shaky confession in his hand.

Wait, what.

He read the words again. The incriminating words. The words he did not, could not believe had been written by the same girl that had clung to him so earnestly mere moments before.

Gavin's expression never changed as he crushed the note into a ball the size of a pea and let it drop to the floor. He swallowed, then took a deep, calming breath.

There was no emotion in him any longer. Just a kind of quiet, cold determination as he stepped forwards a pace and put a hand on Megan's shoulder, just gently.

"I understand now," he whispered very quietly to her. "As I see it, you've got two choices. You can either try and live with what happened and accept that it's going to get worse before it gets better, or you can collapse and let this consume you from the inside. I'll be here for you in either case, but I believe you're strong enough to cope, to keep on going and atone for what happened. It might not be evident to you now, but there are ways. Just try and stay strong. Stay Megan. Stay with me, and know that I don't blame you."

Gavin delivered the entire brief lecture in the same calm, level, and reassuring tones. He wasn't angry with her. He wasn't anything at that moment. Instead, he was completely operating on logic, keeping any emotions he had locked down as tightly as he could. Now that he knew her grief wasn't directly associated with him, he could manage that surprisingly well. It was clinical, calculating, but also far more sincere for Gavin than any sobbing outburst of sympathy ever could have been.

Alex had decided to take a nap while Sophie was trying to help comfort Megan. That left Grace sitting on a bed with nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs. It was a little irritating for her, to have so many people around but no one to talk to, but odds were, she would only be distubing if she went over to talk to Megan or Gavin.

She didn't like sitting around doing nothing and so despite her aching feet, she stood up, and decided to look around the store a bit. This was interesting for the half minute that linen could be interesting. She plonked herself back down back on the bed, staring intently at the couple. The two of them were being rather secretive, passing notes like middle schoolers.

It all seemed like a weird drama from where she was. A drama with the sound off. She plopped back down on the bed with a sigh. Perhaps Alex had the right idea. It didn't seem right to disturb them at all.

The conversation seemed to drop off soon after Alex lost himself in his imagination. The only things he could hear were sobbing and the shuffling of feet. Before the conversation ended Sophie had said something about waiting the game out. The thought was nice, but Alex didn't think it would be possible.

Somewhere in his mind Alex was almost sure that only one person would make it off of the island, but while he could he would hold onto the hope that escape was possible. He knew that he wouldn't want to make it off the island if it meant the deaths of any students and playing the terrorists' game.

More speech interrupted Alex's thoughts as he continued in his relaxed state. At this point he could no longer make out what was being said. Alex readjusted his body so that he was on his side and tried to relax further.

Sophie gave a small grin to Megan as she agreed to waiting out the game together. However, it seemed like Megan had something more urgent to share with Gavin. Whatever happened was apparently dire enough that she couldn't say it aloud. Sophie couldn't imagine what Megan wrote. Maybe she saw something terrible the other day and didn't want to mention it.

Gavin's reply to the note was very calm and reassuring. Megan apparently did something bad, but Gavin was encouraging her to be strong and to try and atone for her actions. Sophie nodded along with what Gavin said.

It might not be a good time to ask about what was on that paper. You know what, let's try to just get somewhere safe, see if we can find some friends. Let's move along.

Sophie moved closer to Gavin and Megan.

"Hey, it looks like the five of us can get along easily," Sophie said. "I say we try to stick together, find a safe place to hold up, and maybe try to avoid the cruelty of the game. Well, after I get some shoes of course."

Sophie flashed a smile. She realized that her teeth probably looked bad after not brushing them for a day or however long she was out before the game began, but she needed her expression to convey how she felt. It had to come through to them.

The silence was suffocating while waiting for Gavin's response. Perhaps if Megan had the courage to look at him, it would've been better. After all, things usually went better than expected. But this wasn't like confessing a summer romance or confronting someone about a lie. No, there was nothing like confessing to killing someone. Never in a million years did Megan expect this moment would happen.

The sound of paper crumpling and deep breathing came. Great, just great. This would go badly. She shouldn't have said anything. She should've just shut up and found an opportunity to sneak away and wait out the game like the piece of shit she was and-

Gavin grabbed her shoulder. He started talking, but Megan still couldn't face him. She just listened while focusing on that grip. It wasn't like when Francis tried to do the same thing - it was hard to explain, but it just felt different. Like, not a "bitch you better listen to me" kind of thing, but more like a "hey, listen for a sec" kind of thing. It was still forceful, but reassuring at the same time. Something else bothered her, though.

Seriously, Gavin, did you really understand? Understand that you were the last person someone ever saw? Understand that, because of you, said person won't ever be able to reread his Mortal Engine books, or be able to play the trombone again, or be able to do whatever the hell it was that he did? Understand that, come tomorrow, you would be a wanted person after being referred to in a sensationalized account of what happened?

Megan heard enough of Gavin's rousing speech. She turned her head towards him and whispered with a scowl on her face, "...'Know that I don't blame you' - How can you just say that? Were you there, Gavin? Did you see-"

They were interrupted by Sophie, who reiterated about sticking together and waiting the game out. Megan sighed. Now wasn't the time to call Gavin out on his bullshit about "living with it". He totally didn't get it, but whatever.

She bent down to get the ball of paper and held it in her hand with the notebook. Sophie was right, they should get going. Might as well stick around, anyway, since Bella and them probably left the school by now so there'd be no point going back there or just sitting around in here waiting to die alone.

Megan faced Sophie, who had a huge grin on her face. Megan couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah," she said while nodding her head, "let's do it. The five of us together." The smile quickly faded into a more melancholy expression. "There's, uhm, one..." She shook her head. "...Nevermind. It can wait."

Megan turned to Gavin and said while looking into his stern eyes, "We can talk about this later...but, okay. I'll stay with you, Gavin." She forced another smile.

Considering the circumstances, Gavin reflected that his speech worked about as well as it could've been expected to work. It had made Megan angry, but anger was more productive than misery. Everything else could wait until it's allotted time. He returned her smile, but his gaze was turned inwards.

That's the key to SoTF; put everything back to a later date. No time for mourning now, wait till after you're rescued. No time for fear now, use it to embellish your memoirs. No time for sorrow now, you have the rest of your life to shed your tears. Waiting to express your grief doesn't make it any less sincere, it's just pragmatism. Just. Pragmatism.

It took a lot of effort not to say these words aloud, but Gavin knew they wouldn't go down well. Megan was right; he didn't understand what she was going through. It wasn't just a lack of experience, it was also an issue of biology. No matter how much he lived with neurotypical people it would never change the fact that the way he reacted to situations was fundamentally different on a chemical level. He could no more relate to how a normal person felt than a Macintosh could run a program designed in Windows.

Of course, that's what keeps things interesting.

Gavin let out a soft sigh, more in relief than anything else. He could deal with this later; preferably after they'd gathered the supplies they needed and got on their way. For now, a curious sense of relaxation seemed to have descended over him. There were no immediate threats, and the new faces seemed like trustworthy enough souls. A bit naive perhaps, but nobody was perfect.

Shaking off the lingering bout of introspection, Gavin turned his attention to Sophie. Her suggestion that they should all stick together sounded reasonable on the surface, but he wondered if it was such a good idea or not. He allowed himself to linger over the issue for a few moments, his brow visibly furrowing as he ran through the possibilities.

"I think sticking together is a good idea," he said in a toughtful tone of voice. "But I don't intend to stay here much longer. We came here to gather supplies, but we were going to find somewhere to sleep in town. If you feel like lending a hand to carry things, I'd be happy to let you share in anything I might end up making. Maybe we could even see if the mansion has some intact beds to crash in."

Grace sat up again. She had planned on lying there much longer but somehow she just couldn't bring herself to relax. It was probably just paranoia and fear that was causing this, but knowing that didn't make her feel in anyway better.

Sophie had joined the couple and it seemed like the drama was over. Good. Even though it was a fact of daily life, Grace hated being involved in drama. It was far too easy to get cauht up on the wrong side of it.

She got up again and wandered over to the group.

"So, did I miss anything? " She looked at the three for a reaction. For a moment there was only doubt.

Oh. I am disturbing something, aren't I?

Alex began to sit up; everyone had left him and went over to a small group. It seemed that they had agreed to group up together. More people was great, but it would only mean greater disappointment later on in the game if they decided they couldn't escape. Alex ran his fingers through his hair as he thought.

Well, definitely more defense from a larger group. I hope that everyone is trustworthy.

Alex didn't want to disturb Megan and Gavin's reunion earlier, but it seemed that others already had so there was no reason for him not to anymore. His body fought him as he got up from the bed; it wanted him to stay in the comfort of the sheets. As he finally got up he slung his duffel over his shoulder and followed Grace over to the group of three.

This was great. Sophie and Alex had just gained three allies, and it looked like one of them actually had a plan on how to survive this game. There had to be some intervention from the military soon, so it would be best if they managed to stay together and stay strong. Sophie grinned.

"Yeah, I can easily help carry anything we find," she told Gavin, raising her thumbs up. "I'm also up for finding a good bed as well. And shoes. I need shoes."

Sophie adjusted her bag and stood straight.

"Alright. You seem to know what to look for, so I'll follow your lead."

Megan shook her head at Grace, who asked if she missed anything. "Nah, we're just talking about where to go next. Gavin wants to go into town, and that's about it. " Megan's eyes flickered down for a moment. Of course there was more going on, but Megan wasn't ready to spit it out. Sometime later today, or maybe before the announcement she would say something, but not now. Grace wasn't stupid, but hopefully that would satisfy her for the moment.

"...Oh. Let me get my duffel bag." She squeezed past Grace and Alex and made her way back to the beds. She threw the notebook and pen in the bag and flicked the ball of paper away. Not like anyone was ever going to be in here again, and come tomorrow everyone would know anyway so there was no point in holding onto it. Megan picked up the duffel and, after a moment to think about it, took a quick detour before rejoining the other four.

She emerged from the bedroom supplies area with a pair of slippers and displayed them in front of Sophie. "Here, I hope this is the right size; I just kinda took a guess." Megan shrugged. "I guess this is thanks for, ya know, staying positive.

"Anyway, I'm ready to go. I'm done with being enticed by bedsheets."

Everybody seemed ready to leave, which suited Gavin just fine. A slightly longer rest might have been preferable, but keeping the initiative was just as important. Plus, the sudden addition of three new people to his little band of potential resistance members was an exhilarating success in and of itself. He was also reunited with Megan. No matter what the circumstances surrounding that reunion had been, it still provided all the encouragement he needed to keep going another few hours.

Grace's bag was still where Gavin had left it, lying a few feet away in the middle of the concourse. He walked over to it, bent down to hefted it on one shoulder, then turned back to the rest of the group.

"You can all go on ahead if you like," he said. "I'll carry Grace's bag, since she's already walked a long way today. Anybody else who wants to help carry stuff, just leave your bag here and I'll fill it according to what you look like you could comfortably carry. There's four bags to five people, so we can take turns if anybody gets tired."

The message delivered, Gavin turned on his heel and marched deeper into the shopping centre. He knew the layout of the place by now, and thus knew this latest shopping spree was carried out with considerably more efficiency than the first one had. With four whole duffle bags worth of space to fill, Gavin let himself go a little crazy. He used a shopping trolley to speed up the process, piling the metal basket high with everything he could imagine might be useful. He took something of everything, from Styrofoam cups to aerosol canisters. He also visited the chemist's shop, something he had neglected to do the first time he had come here. When he was finally done, the shopping trolley practically groaned under the weight of the accumulated loot.

Gavin didn't bother explaining why he'd bought half of what he'd bought, just took the bags of each willing person in turn and carefully stowed away whatever he thought they were able to carry without discomfort. With any luck, none of them would need to carry their burdens more than a mile or so.

"That's it," he said at last, when the final item had been stored securely away. "We're ready to move out. Remember, if you get tired, we can stop for a break or redistribute the weight. Nobody overexert yourselves."

He gave the instructions professionally, his mind already heading down the road back to town. His own duffle bag was there, with all the supplies he'd already pilfered from the shopping centre on his earlier visit. He planned a quick detour once they got near there; retrieve what he needed from the southern town before heading north to rejoin everyone else. It shouldn't take long.

With one final glance behind to make sure everybody was ready, Gavin Hunter stepped forth into the sunlit car park that surrounded the shopping centre and began to trek back to town.

((Gavin Hunter continues his infamous machinations in Calamity.))

(Sorry for the delay guys)

And not a moment after she joined them, they were planning to move off. Gavin was busy, and it wasn't long before he was off to get the supplies that they needed. Grace felt bad, letting him do all the work, but she didn't know what he wanted to get and how to arrange them. In the end, she'd just be getting in the way.

She resigned herself to watching as Gavin placed the items from the shopping trolley into their bags, and when they left the shopping center, she wanted to ask him to let her carry her own bag. But she didn't. She was tired and selfish and upset that she was both. And so she had let him carry the bag. She merely followed him out, following her bag towards wherever Gavin had planned.

((Grace Faraday continued in I solemnly swear that I am up to no good))

As Alex listened in he heard the plans of leaving the area soon. They had spent a good amount of time there already so it was time to leave, and now they would be doing it with a group. Megan had grabbed a pair of slippers for Sophie and Gavin had said something about getting supplies and putting them in everyone's duffels. Alex was fine with this so he put his bag down in the pile for Gavin to fill up with stuff.

His bag was filled up mostly by the down comforter he had inside, but there was probably still enough room to put other things in there. When Gavin had come back with a bunch of stuff Alex's eyes slightly widened. It wasn't really too much, but he didn't know what a lot of it would be used for. They had to have had some use or Gavin wouldn't have grabbed them, but Alex was almost sure he wouldn't find out their uses until they were used.

Alex watched as the bags were filled up and then said, "Well, I guess you had quite a shopping list yourself." As Alex thought back he realized that it sounded stupid to say that, but he hadn't said anything in a while and just wanted to use his vocal cords. Alex then picked up his duffel as he watched others do the same.

Gavin looked back at everyone as he was about to leave so Alex gave a thumbs up and a smile to symbolize that he was ready to head out. After Gavin had turned back around Alex started following him outside.

((Alexander de Gaulle continued elsewhere))