Survival Of The Fittest

Though the bleeding had apparently been stopped, the pain was still excruciating. Any attempt at facial movement was like knives being jammed under her skin. Laeil tried not to move as she listened to Eddie putting the blame on himself and the game. But no, it was her fault. She was the one that allowed herself to turn into this. She was the one that had to act like a total bitch, and then go and fuck with the wrong person. Same old pushover. How was he ever going to deal with Wade if he kept this up?

Still...

"Thank you..." She said, smiling weakly, sincerely. When was the last time she'd smiled like that? She couldn't remember. Laeil...no, Lyn. That persona, she'd taken it up as a motivator. A reminder that even a reviled nobody like her could make something of herself; could stand up against all the hardships she faced. Instead, it had turned her into a monster, who's only thought was revenge, and everyone else was either an obstacle in her way, or a tool she could use to achieve her goals. As she cast it aside, she felt strangely liberated.

"The guy that did this..." Lyn said, remembering that Eddie had asked who did all this. "It was Rizzolo...he said he'd killed seven people...he must've...killed some when Danya wasn't listing killers..."

It took a moment to notice, but she finally realized that the pain was starting to fade, and she was feeling more and more tired. It was to be expected; she'd been awake for a day and a half now, getting into two fights, and now this. It was hard to keep her remaining eye open.

"So tired...I'm just going to...get some rest..." That was all she needed. Just some rest. It'd probably be hard to move around for a while, but she'd manage. There was just about 20 or 30 people left. She was so close to the end. Things would surely get harder from here on out, but she'd worry about that when the time came.

"I'll be fine...in the morning..."

As she began to drift off, she had no idea that things had gone horribly wrong. Nicole had done her absolute best, to be sure, but the sad reality was that Lyn had simply lost too much blood. As she closed her eyes, Lyn went into cardiac arrest, and try as Eddie and Nicole might, they wouldn't be able to restart her heart.

Completely unaware of her fate, Lyn Burbank breathed her last breath, and quietly faded away.

G53: Lyn Burbank - DECEASED















Lyn made her way through the hallways of Southridge. She passed by classrooms, open textbooks and various pieces of homework lying on the desks, the whiteboards imparting various pieces of knowledges, like the quadratic equation, important names from the French Revolution, and various tips on how to write an effective persuasive essay. She passed by lockers, some of them open, revealing the personal contents within. She passed by a window overlooking the parking lot, various cars belonging to faculty and students alike parked outside.

The problem? There was nobody there. Try as she might, she could not find a single living soul in the building. She checked classrooms, bathrooms, even the faculty offices, and she did it several times over, but it was as if every single person at the school had just vanished where they were. She continued to look, getting more and more desperate, more panicked. She had to find someone; ANYONE. She had begun to feel a sort of intense, soul-crushing loneliness; like she was the only person in the world.

As Lyn rounded the corner, entering one of the hallways from the cafeteria, she spotted a figure in the distance. It was...

No, it couldn't be.

...could it?

She approached the figure. Slowly at first, but soon she began to pick up the pace, moving from a slow walk to a hurried walk, to rapid jog, to all out sprinting. The hallway seemed to stretch for far longer than it should, and it seemed like she was running for an eternity; but eventually, she reached the end, she was absolutely certain of who the figure was. It was-

"AAH!"

Just as she closes the last of the distance between them, she stepped on a loose shoelace, falling hard onto the tile floor.

"Ow...fuck..."

Her head was throbbing where she'd hit it against the floor. She started to get back up, getting up onto her hands and knees, when she felt a hand resting against her head, gently stroking where she'd hit the ground.

"Are you okay? You should really be more careful, you know?"

She looked up at the figure, kneeling down in front of her. It was really her, wasn't it? She reached up and touched her hand. It felt warm. It felt real.

In an instant Lyn dove towards the figure, embracing her tightly. "Maggie..." She said, on the verge of tears. "I...I never thought I'd see you again.

"It's okay." Maggie said, with the same comforting voice she'd come to know and love. "I'm right here."

"All the things I did, all the things I said...I'm so sorry..."

"It's o-"

"I don't care if you feel the same way about me. I don't care if you EVER feel the same way about me."

"It's oka-"

"I just want to be near you. That's all I want. I can't live without yo-"

Lyn was stopped midsentence as Maggie put her arms around Lyn, returning the embrace. She finally took a good look at Maggie's face. She wore a soft smile, and a look of complete understanding. Nothing more was said. Nothing more NEEDED to be said.

Finally, the tears came; but they were tears of joy, not sadness. She held onto Maggie tightly, as if loosening her grip would cause her to disappear forever. She'd never felt happier in all her life then she did at that moment. In fact, happiness was all she felt now. She knew that there were horrible things that had happened to her in the past, but she couldn't remember what they were. Soon, she couldn't even remember that the horrible things had even happened. And soon after that, she couldn't even fathom the concept of horrible things.

Just her and Maggie. That's all there was. That's all that mattered.

"Come on." Maggie finally said. "Let's go home."

A hand closed around Eddie's neck, cutting off his air supply. He couldn't manage but short, quiet gasps through the gentle sobs that rocked his shoulders. With an effort of will, Eddie brought his weeping to an end and forced the rock forming in his throat back down into his chest. The mass of anger, guilt and sorrow settled uncomfortably in his core, aching in his heart and his bones. Clenching his free hand into a fist and gnawing at his lower lip, Eddie cursed himself.

You know this was your fault. If you had followed Lyn, instead of letting her go off on her own, this might not have happened. If he hadn't been such a coward, if he'd really cared, he could have gone after her. He could have saved her. He shook his head. No. No, that wasn't right, was it? It was a comforting lie he'd begun building. The truth of the matter was that if Eddie had been with her, he'd be just as bad off as Lyn. Maybe worse.

The meek, unimpressive young man simply wasn't equipped to deal with any sort of threat. He'd been with Jimmy, when danger had struck, and the situation took no less dire a turn. He'd been watching Jodene, too, when she was brutalized alongside the others. And now Lyn was following the trend. Eddie wiped at his eyes with the back of his fist as a gust of wind brought the flames of the burning hangar to roaring new life. It seemed that no matter what the boy did, nothing would help any of the people he wanted to protect.

He listened carefully as Lyn explained about Rizzolo and his rather impressive kill count. Eddie shook his head, his teeth clenched. He couldn't believe what was happening. Wade was dead, but another monster had risen to take his place. What had happened to his classmates? Where did these monsters with human faces come from? Such things were supposed to be relegated to horror movies and children's closets. Terrors like this should have only been found in nightmares that left their dreamer in a cold sweat. Eddie knew this, and still had trouble staring at the cold truth of the situation. His classmates were far worse than any monster he had feared as a child. Lacking fang or claw, they made up for their weaknesses with coldhearted bloodshed and complete insanity.

Lyn mumbled about being tired, her words already beginning to slur together as if she'd had a few too many drinks. Eddie wasn't as well versed in medical treatment as Nicole, but he was no idiot, either. The broken girl's request for sleep was both out of the question and a bad sign. "No!" Eddie spat, quickly raising her legs a little higher, "No, Lyn you can't go to sleep." Nicole was already moving, snagging up a bony wrist to check its pulse. "Lyn, listen to me, you can't go to sleep. Sleep is bad."

"I'll be fine...in the morning..." Lyn's eyes slid close. Eddie quickly leaned down to listen for a heartbeat. The weak thudding was erratic now, sounding off at odd intervals. He told Nicole so. The redhead planted a hand on his shoulder and shoved him away, before hurriedly going to work on Lyn. Eddie watched as Nicole counted out three compressions before breathing into her patient's mouth. A few lungfuls of air and it was back to compressions. Eddie watched and chewed at his nails.

Nicole checked for a pulse. Readjusting her grip she frantically searched the wrist before moving to Lyn's neck. The compressions and breathing came faster, now. More frantic, more terrified, more desperate. With each renewed effort, Eddie became more and more assured. Letting Lyn's legs down, he gingerly lifted her arm. Carefully, he searched for the major vein that the detectives in his books always checked on corpses. He couldn't feel anything beneath the delicate, pale skin. He wasn't shocked or terrified. He'd been expecting that. Instead, he felt tired.

He lowered her arm to the ground. Lyn's was still warm. "She's dead, isn't she?" Nicole didn't answer, still determinedly performing her ritual, tears streaking down her cheeks. As the redhead moved to begin compressions once more, Eddie dropped a hand on her shoulder. "Nicole," he said in the most comforting voice he could manage, "She's dead."

(Alexis Machina continued from Demon Days)

Lex found herself pumped with new motivation after the events that had taken place at the hospital. The hefty weight of the shotgun in her hands gave her a new sense of security that she hadn't felt before, and with the remainder of the group from the showers disposed of she felt a sick sense of satisfaction. A few hours ago the fact that she'd predicted their decimation correctly had bothered her. Now...it made her confident.

The unusual spring placed in her step kept her going as she walked briskly down the trail, the cool night atmosphere giving way to the first cracks of sunlight that crept over the horizon. Dawn was coming, and as if on cue the trail broke into a big open clearing - a deadly combination that was sure to blow her cover. She ducked, scanning her surroundings intently and discovering that she'd happened across the Airfield.

In the distance she spotted two figures crouched over a body. She couldn't make them out from this far away, but fortunately for her they had their backs to her. She planned on taking advantage of that. Lex made her way along the treeline until the back of the only remaining hangar was closest to her, and after making sure that the others weren't looking she broke away from the foliage, jogging as quickly as she could to take cover behind the building.

Fortunately, her maneuver seemed successful. She took cover behind the building, her eyes carefully peeking out every few seconds as she waited for an opportunity to jump the two.

Nicole didn't want to stop, her continuous compressions becoming more and more frantic. Eddie didn't blame her. Maybe she thought that, with enough effort, enough determination or desire, she could bring Lyn back. She knew she couldn't, just as Eddie did, but it didn't stop her from trying. After several minutes of coaxing, Eddie finally convinced the sniffling young woman to bring her hopeless ritual to an end. He watched as she slowly drew away from the corpse, her hands moving from Lyn's deathly still chest.

Nicole curled up, quietly sniffing as she tried to force herself to stop crying. Her watery gaze drifted down to her hands. It had almost worked. She'd almost brought Lyn back. It should have worked. Eddie watched as the girl wrestled with the reality of the situation. He didn't say anything, instead leaving her to her thoughts. She would need time to think about things on her own. Moving to gather his own belongings, Eddie cast a short glance back at Nicole. She looked so much smaller, now.

Nicole couldn't draw her gaze from her hands. She'd done everything right, hadn't she? Everything had been done just the way it should have, but it hadn't made any difference. Exhaustion suddenly slammed into her with the force of a freight train. She'd been running on empty for so long, she'd forgotten what it felt like to be anything but weary and afraid. Crossing her arms across her knees, she hunched over, allowing her head rest on her forearms. She just wanted some sort of respite. She needed a break.

By the time Eddie organized his things, he found Nicole had fallen fast asleep. She should have looked cute while she slept. She didn't. She looked tired, even as she took her rest. Anxious, even in sleep. How depressing. Pulling his attention away from the redhead, Eddie set about wringing the water from the white shirt he'd used as a smoke mask. With a quick twist, the garment released what little moisture still remained. It was a bit damp, but Eddie still found his work to be satisfactory.

Placing the shirt to one side, he began emptying his day pack, setting the food, ammunition and medical supplies aside, into a neat pile. Balling up the slightly damp garment, he placed it inside the empty bag, before folding the pack around the mass. He hefted the small wad, testing its firmness in his hands. It would do. In her sleep, Nicole made a distressed noise. Bad dreams seemed to be the order of the day.

Moving to Nicole's side, Eddie knelt down. Moving carefully, he slowly worked his hands beneath her knees and across her shoulders. Deliberately keeping steady, to keep her from waking, he slowly lifted the lightly dozing girl away from the corpse and all of its unpleasantness. She wasn't as heavy as he'd expected. Finding a suitable spot, near the edge of the clearing, Eddie gingerly lowered the girl onto his makeshift shirt-pillow. He wished he had something to act as a blanket.

Eddie returned to his equipment, sitting roughly on the ground. Examining his rifle, he heaved a heavy sigh, his gaze drifting to the body next to him. "Lyn, what happened? How does it always seem to turn out like this?" The girl with the ruined eye had nothing to say. "I can't help but feel," Eddie continued, undeterred, "like this is my fault. It's egotistical, I know. Kinda selfish to think that so many lives might have depended on me. But maybe…. For some reason, I just can't shake the feeling that, if we never met, you'd still be alive. You and Jimmy. Maybe some of the others, too." While he spoke, he checked the rifle and ammunition, making sure everything was as it should be.

"You know, I wish I could bury you, or something, but I don't have a shovel. You at least deserve a shroud, like those people back in the jungle, but I'm running out of clothes." To prove his point, he tugged at the front of his wifebeater, frowning as he did so. He never liked the term "wifebeater." It seemed needlessly coarse.

And so, Eddie spent his time thinking, talking to a dead girl, and watching over Nicole. It wasn't long before she began to stir. At least, it didn't seem that long to Eddie. Of course, it might have been hours. He wasn't quite sure anymore. Time had a funny way of getting away from him.

As the redhead woke, he called out to her. "Hey, you ok?" Another stupid question. He seemed to be asking a lot of those lately. He chalked it up to engaging in more social interaction than normal. For a moment, he thought about how fucked up that was, but only for a moment. He decided it was best not to dwell on the issue. It was too depressing.

"Uhm...w-we should g-get g-going." Piling all of his supplies into Nicole's bag, Eddie got to his feet. Pack slung over his shoulder and rifle in hand, he offered to help the redhead to her feet. For a long moment she simply stared at the boy's extended hand. The moment passed as she accepted the aid and allowed Eddie to pull her to her feet. She checked the waist of her pants, feeling the reassuring presence of the two pistols there.

"S-so, where d-do you think we should g-go?" Eddie was looking away from her again. She wondered if it was for the same reasons as before. "Do you really think it matters?" she answered, in a voice she barely recognized as her own. Without waiting for a response, she led the way into the jungle. Maybe she was being unduly harsh, or distant, but she was entitled to that for a little while, wasn't she?

Eddie couldn't wait to leave. There was nothing left here. In fact, for some reason, he felt profoundly ill at ease. Tension filled the muscles in his shoulders and back. The airfield was definitely not a good place to be. Looking back at Lyn, he felt profound sense of guilt, leaving the girl in such a place. He tried to convince himself that the broken thing in the dirt wasn't Lyn Burbank. It didn't help much.

With Nicole leading the way, the two disappeared into the jungle.

((Eddie Sullivan and Nicole Husher continued elsewhere))

((Adam Reeves continued from Moment of Clarity))

Reeves emerged at the airfield just in time to witness a jiggling mass that could only have been a heavily armed and curiously bipedal hippopotamus dart across his field of vision.

Alexis Machina. I was just thinking about you, babe. It seemed to Adam that the Fates were just raining good fortune down upon him today. His path was set in stone by some Higher Power and he took no issue with that. All that was left to do now was enjoy the home stretch. As the girl moved, he followed a parallel path through the trees, drawing the pistol from his waistband en route. Finally she stopped and he began a much slower, muted approach. The gelatinous girl peered tensely around the edge of the hangar, peering perilously at some prey. Adam mimicked her behavior several yards away. Finally she relaxed, her quarry seeming to have escaped. Adam smiled. He would have better luck.

"Hey there, sweetcheeks!" He realized the comedic effect his jack-in-the-box appearance from the underbrush probably held. He chuckled inwardly at it. He was anxious to see Lex's reaction. But to his slight dismay, his whole purpose was to prevent reaction; he'd have to find his entertainment in whatever the corpse chose to preserve. He leveled the pistol, and fired.

Lex hid for a moment, making sure to keep out of sight so the two didn't catch wind of her presence. She didn't even risk peeking out for fear of being caught. Every muscle in her body ached in anticipation. Killing had evolved from being a hinderance to a necessity, and finally, in the twisted remains of her sanity, a pass-time. She couldn't wait to see the paralyzed fear and agony embedded into the pair's face.

She couldn't wait another second.

Pumping the shotgun, Lex burst around the corner and raised it towards the now empty airfield. The faint outline of Eddie and Nicole disappearing into the jungle greeted her vision.

"...Fuck," she muttered grievedly. "God damnit."

"Hey there, sweetcheeks!"

A low baritone broke the silence, followed by the piercing sound of a pistol-round being fired, which quickly soared a few feet wide of her and into the outer wall of the hangar. Lex took a quick glance over her shoulder and noticed Adam Reeves on the outer edge of the treeline, his gun aimed towards her and a stupidly playful smirk on his face.

Without hesitation, Lex sprinted around the corner as fast as her hobbly legs would take her and took cover inside the hangar. The shotgun she'd taken from Noah would have no use at such a distance, so her only hope was to let Adam come to her.

"It had to be fucking Reeves, didn't it? The only fucker left that's bigger than me."

Her own adrenaline and fear kicking in, Lex did her best to keep her breathing shallow and quiet as she ducked against the inner wall of the hangar.

"Fucker!"

Adam was both amazed and angered at how he could have missed so wide a target. It seemed that he had again put too much faith in his aim. Or maybe the fat whore was simply so gargantuan that she had her own gravitational field that sent his bullet astray. Either way, he'd have to get a little more up-close-and-personal with this one. Not so bad a consolation prize, he thought.

He suppressed a laugh as he watched the girl's not-quite-graceful twirl around the side of the hangar. He started his own trudge through the thinning underbrush.

"Hey, thunderthighs, looks like you've lost some weight. No luck tracking down any Twinkies, huh?"

He began to slink against the side of the hangar as stealthily as possible, following Lex's apparent path.

"Or maybe it's all that corpse-fucking you've been doing. Just out of curiosity, who was better, Lancer or the Noah kid? What about that Lang chick? She was a fox, wasn't she?"

Reeves was disappointed to not see the fat cow stampeding towards him already. Maybe she was too busy casting a spell with her Wiccan Magicks.

Adam pivoted around the corner to face the edge of the hangar's gaping entrance. There were fresh indentations in the mud leading in. There was a gust of wind at the back of his head as the wind changed as if to confirm his suspicion and justify his elation. He had her. He inched slowly towards the door, making as little sound as possible (though his weight caused wet slaps against the ground despite his best efforts). He raised the Mauser, swung in through the hangar's entrance, braced himself, and let his beste Freunde of a German semi-automatic work its magic.

Bullets clattered against wood and metal and concrete, but there was no satisfying flash of red or the screams he had so looked forward to. With a scowl, he began to retreat back behind the safety of the hangar's wall. But at that moment, the Fates betrayed him. His eyes were suddenly stung by a black fire. He let in a shocked gasp and filled his lungs with the dark plumes as well. The smoke caught him in its grip and left him choking and sputtering in the hangar's open mouth.

"Hey, thunderthighs, looks like you've lost some weight. No luck tracking down any Twinkies, huh?"

Lex heaved slightly louder as Reeves taunted her, but the better part of her ego told her not to cave in to his provocation. Fortunately for her, Noah had already used the same recycled tactic. She didn't fall for it the first time, and she most certainly wouldn't fall for it the second. She was no fool.

"Or maybe it's all that corpse-fucking you've been doing. Just out of curiousity, who was better, Lancer or the Noah kid? What about that Lang chick? She was a fox, wasn't she?"

In an attempt to throw Adam off, however, Lex decided that his second taunt was worth responding to.

"Dawn was pretty good," she groaned with faux lust. "I made Johnny watch."

Reeves went silent.

Lex's blood raced as she stifled her breathing, her mind racing with anticipation as she awaited his imminent attack. It couldn't be long now. As silent as possible and with her back against the wall, Lex slid downwards until her rump hit the ground, the Remington pointed towards the open shaft of the hangar.

Unfortunately for her, just as she was getting prepared, Reeves seized his opportunity to attack. Without nay warning and in a completely panic she pulled her head down between her knees. Fortunately for her it seemed that his attacks had been rather blind, because as the sounds of gunfire died down and the click of an empty chamber rang out against the stale air, Lex looked back up to notice that all the bullets had soared clean over her head.

Choking sounds rang out in the night, and combined with the sound of Reeves' weapon emptying, Lex knew that this was her one and only chance. Without hesitation she propelled herself off the ground, slipping out of the hangar with her already-pumped shotgun raised in front of her as she fired a buckshot towards Adam's midsection.

The deep scream that erupted from the shocked boy's mouth and echoed through the spacious hangar was enough to leave even his own pained ears ringing. The pain roared from an area that was familiar with being pained, from kicks from little girls in the playground years ago to cheap shots received from more malicious combatants more recently in his life. But this was far, far more intense, as if all of these blows had come out of their encore all at once. His hands shot town to the impacted region as he doubled over. Instead of the comforting gesture of intact jeans, he found a swamp of gore and a forceful spurt from just below it.

Lex's aim had faltered slightly, but had done more than enough damage. Adam Reeves had received the choirboy's tonsure. His genitals were no more.

Adam's fogging eyes rolled up to meet Lex's in some semblance of a glare. His lips moved to say something. Before the words could be forced out, the eyes instead rolled backwards and took the rest of the boy with them. He collapsed heavily onto the concrete floor and began to squirm in a quickly flooding pool of his own blood.

Lex quickly pumped the shotgun a second time after delivering the first blow, but before she squeezed the trigger she realized her first blow had connected exactly how she'd hoped. Well, maybe not exactly, but it definitely got the job done. Adam's hulking form swayed and rocked in the moonlight, and eventually the titan collapsed backwards onto the ground.

A playful smile danced across Lex's lips as she approached the boy, immediately making sure to kick the handgun far out of his reach. She had no use for it, after all. Her eyes flashed around the area for a moment, catching faint glimpses of the billowing smoke and dying fire that had engulfed the hangar on the opposite end of the runway. The beacon that had given Adam away was like a glorious sign of her victory.

She took a deep, cleansing breath of the poisonous fumes and watched for a few moments as Reeves moaned and squirmed around on the ground like a helpless child.

"What was that you were saying about Twinkies...?" she piped up eventually, her eyes downcasting themselves towards Adam's decimated genitalia before a haunting, booming laugh burst out of her larynx. None of her kills yet had been this satisfying.

After her laughter died out and receded into a high pitched sigh, Lex made a point to stomp down on Adam's chest, crushing her shoe down against him with all the force she could muster. She raised the shotgun in front of her, directing it into Reeves' petrified face.

"Dawn was good...but I'm gonna have so much fun with you."

Her sneer burning its way into Adam's mind, she depressed the trigger of the Remington.

Reeves could almost hear the smile in her step as Lex approached where he lay, even through the fog of his pain (was it a fog really? No, fogs were soft, calm, not as painful and engulfing as this. A storm, maybe. But storms had eyes, didn't they? This storm had no eye or point of weakness. Just the opposite, actually; it had a point of far more intensity that radiated out to the rest of him. There were no descriptors to describe this pain, it was just

P
A
I
N

). He reached weakly for his comrade the gun. He knew he had no chance of survival, fuck, he wasn't sure survival was what he wanted with his particular injury, but he was going to take this bitch down with him if it was the last thing he-

There was the clatter of metal off to his right.

"What was that you were saying about Twinkies...?" And then a horrible, disgusting laugh.

you whore you fucking whore you'll pay you'll fucking die you rancid piece of shit you

A new surge of pain erupted in his chest heralded by a sickening inward crack. All thought, malicious and otherwise, was replaced with pain and anger. A red-gloved hand came weakly up from his right. We would fucking kill her. He would drag her down with him. There was still a chance.

Two black orbs filled his vision to accompany the already present black dots dancing around his eyeballs. Pain was replaced with panic. Behind the almost solid sockets begging to eject, erupt, discharge, ejaculate, emit, expel, vomit flaming meteors into his brains, he saw a smirk. It was the image of his very own Reaper.

"Dawn was good... but I'm gonna have so much fun with you."

our father who art in heaven hallowed by the name thy kingdom come thy will be d

B84 ADAM REEVES: DECEASED. 9 STUDENTS REMAINING.

Adam's head exploded, showering Lex's twisted face with specks of blood and brain matter that rained upwards from the heavy force of the shotgun blast. The grey massed stained cerebral fluid all over her face, but she didn't seem to mind. The spoils of victory, she surmised.

Her gaze unfaltering, she let the shotgun hang loosely forward from its sling as she casually brushed her hair out of her face, taking only a small fraction of the brain matter away with it. The tainted girl's next move was to make her way towards Adam's Mauser. She didn't have any use for it, but she wasn't one to let it lie around for somebody else to use against her.

Without much thought she approached the burning wreckage of the former second hangar and gingerly tossed the pistol inside, making sure to get away as fast as possible incase the bullets reacted to the flames. Either way, nobody would be making use of that gun again.

Her job finished, Lex retreated from the airfield and headed back into the jungle, her smeared and stained smile never leaving her face.

(Alexis Machina continued elsewhere)