Survival Of The Fittest

"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw... this is NOT going to be a good day."

"My sentiments exactly," Ernest grinned. Despite crude vocabulary, it was an accurate representation of how the albino considered the current situation. One thing that hadn't occured to him was that people might actually want to stay on the damn island. It seemed so obvious that staying on the island was hazardous to one's health, sanity, and reputation that Ernest couldn't imagine a situation to which the Island was preferable. It was uncertain death, as opposed to certain death.  Vesa seemed to be so angry that he believed playing along with the terrorist's game was his only option. While Ernest whiled away the hours till he went insane, Vesa would be actively going insane. And to top off the irony, he was going willingly to his eventual doom.

The albino suspected that he'd never understand. Vesa was someone ruled by emotion rather than logic. Ernest was the opposite. It was like chalk trying to understand Wagner. Good morrow and fare-thee-well, for if we meet again, I will offer a terrifying aspect. If you think you slake your shame in blood, you are a fool. Pray we do not meet again; I am no fool.

However, there was a larger issue at stake. An intruder "stealthily" entered the area around the hosptial. Since there wasn't any evidence that this wasn't a player, Ernest felt a distinct pang for  Alex, and the sub-machine gun he was granted.  Twine really wasn't much to defend himself and any other occupants with.  Andi had a sickle, but Ernest doubted the boy's proficiency with the weapon.

"Well, Vesa ran off to kill sombody, venting some issues he had with his past the old fashioned way. The bloody way. It's a shame too, I could have used him to get most of us, the unwilling constestants, off the Island. Very self-centered of him, din't you think?" Ernest  let a half-smile play about his face, " This guy a friend of yours, Andi? I'm just checking to be thorough."

Andi noticed Ernest near him, but he was still focused on the boy who was intruding on their area.

"Ernest... if you can, I want you to guide him in here. Before the others get involved, let's see how's he is handling the island. If he's friendly, we'll let him walk away, but he can't stay here... too much paranoia as is."

He was wondering over what he could do if the kid wasn't friendly. Sure, Andi himself had a sickle that could cause major amounts of OUCH pain, but he had never really used it before, and wouldn't know how to handle it.

"I'll wait in here for him. If it's too much trouble for you, I can unlock the door, and bring him here."

((Continued from Headhunter))

It took him a while to get to the hospital, especially considering that he had a companion, but Peter Rosenthal was able to make it there without much fanfare, which was a good thing as he stopped to finish off the water bottle that he had opened earlier.  He tossed it aside and checked back to see how far Kristey was behind him; there was a considerable distance between him and the tall blonde girl as he looked for any sign of life.

Only the first person he saw was not Kristey Burrowell...

Peter gulped when he the boy pacing around outside the hospital...he could tell that he was tall, maybe a couple inches taller than him at first glance.  But there were two things that stood out on this kid...one was the fact that he had a knife clutched firmly in his right hand, which drew another gulp and a nervous shuffle into a nearby thicket of trees.  But the other was the long blonde hair that stood out against the black t-shirt he was wearing.  For some strange reason, this put the rotund boy at ease as he came out and called for his companion.

"Kristey?"

But then the blonde-haired boy began muttering something to himself, then the muttering turned into a deeper, louder voice...and his words were not in English as he swung the knife in front of him.

And then their eyes crossed...

Peter's arms were shaking as he had inadvertantly walked right into the crosshairs of an infuriated Vesa Turunen.  But then, they both stopped and eyed each other...but not as combatants ready to stage a fight to the death.  Rather, their looks were of confusion as they tried to figure each other out...as if they had seen each other before being thrown onto the island.  They stared at each other for a couple minutes before Vesa broke the silence.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.  It took Peter a while to figure it out himself, but the heavy accent was a giveaway as a gasp escaped from his mouth.


***************

"Great...now all I have to do is tell everyone that I'll be in the Bahamas for a week," said Peter as he sat at his computer, writing out the e-mail message to his friends in the other homerooms at Hobbsborough High that were not among the chosen ones to go on the class trip.  It was a trying year, especially after the merger of St. Andrew's and Southside High...and especially for Peter.  Everyone knew he was gay and he had everyone taking shots at him...from the Catholics that told him nonstop that he was going straight to hell for the simple fact that he was gay, to those that were either blind or stupid enough to throw insults and anti-homosexual slurs at him.

He had just started typing out the message when all of a sudden, he got an instant message.  "Great, what do you want?" muttered Peter when he heard the familiar sound of his AOL Instant Messenger go off, telling him that he had a new message.  When he saw who it was from, he grinned widely.  It was a student he knew that went to Franklyn...


Katti23: hey...
Katti23: just wanted to give a shout before you leave tomorrow.  hope you and andi have a good time.


"Ahh, so my...pen pal...is wishing me a happy flight..." he said to himself as he typed out a response.


Hobbscat128: Can't wait...though I'm gonna have to keep it down at night.
Katti23: lol
Hobbscat128: Told you that Andi and I are rooming together just the two of us.
Hobbscat128:


Peter had known this boy for a while; he had been e-mailing him back and forth for the past three years.  He knew that his pen pal was from Finland, loved playing hockey and liked to play guitar and go on excursions with his family in the vast northern wilderness.  And he got an earful of this when he saw the next response.


Katti23: i can't wait till i leave on monday...five days and nights of nothing but wilderness.  god i wish aki was here with me right now.
Hobbscat128: Aki?
Katti23: yeah my brother
Katti23: he's the one i told you about...just signed with oulun karpat in sm-liiga.
Hobbscat128: ?
Katti23: finland's version of the nhl
Hobbscat128: Oh yeah, I think you mentioned that.  Hope he does well.
Katti23: i don't think he'll be getting much playing time.  he's just a backup, though he might get some time cause backstrom's more than likely coming over here.
Katti23: damn swede :/


"Peter!  You'd better get some sleep!"  Peter groaned as those words came from his mother's mouth.  "Can't be tired for your big day tomorrow!"  A volley of whispered obscenities came from his mouth as he started to type something, but was stopped when a picture came up.  It was that of the boy along with a couple of his friends at the seaside amusement park after getting off the Hurricane, which was one of the park's roller coasters.  Deciding to engage in playful mischief, a grin formed on Peter's face as he leaned back in his chair.


Hobbscat128: Which one are you again?
Katti23: i'm the one on the far left...the one with the long hair
Hobbscat128: Oh.
Hobbscat128: Did I ever tell you that I think you're hot?
Katti23: lol
Katti23: i get that a lot, but your secrets safe with me.


"Peter!  It's eleven o'clock...we have to be at the airport no later than eight-thirty!"  His mother was pushing his patience.

"All right, Mom!  I'm getting off," he shouted back as he typed, "Christ!"


Hobbscat128: I have to get going now...flight leaves at 11:30.
Katti23: cya man.
Katti23: have fun in the bahamas.  perhaps when we get back, you wanna hook up at benson's or sweet bay?
Hobbscat128: Sounds like a plan...see ya.


With that, Peter signed out...little did he know that it would most likely be for the last time in his life...

***************


"I think you do..." said Peter as he walked over to where Vesa was.  "You sent me that picture of you and your friends at the park..."

"I thought so...you're Peter Rosenthal."  Another gasp came from his mouth as the taller boy continued to speak in that unmistakable Scandinavian accent.  "You probably just know me as Katti23...now you shall know me as Vesa..."  He offered Peter a hand to shake; naturally in this situation, he was hesitant as he saw the knife in the other hand, but then Vesa set it down.  "I know...I can't trust anyone here either.  But please, trust me enough for now..."  Vesa's voice softened a bit, which was enough to allow Peter's confidence to rise enough to take his hand and shake it.

"I don't think we've met face-to-face before, Vesa...nice meetin' ya."

"Don't fool yourself...the next time you hear my name, it's probably because I went off and butchered some kid beyond recognition."  Vesa turned as he heard footsteps approaching.  "If you're going inside, keep your guard up...there's some crazy kid in there that thinks he can get us out of here if he could get a hold of a cell phone.  That and there's another kid in there...don't think he's a threat but he's been talking to himself and hearing voices...you'd be best to watch your back..."

Matthew
Great. Even more people started showing up around the hospital. This made Matthew just a little bit more worried than before, adding to the fact that he saw a rather sketchy figure looking at him from a window inside the building. But that didn't matter much to him at the present time. He made his way to the door of the hospital, and fidgeted around with the handle a little bit to find that it was actually open.

Either they were too lazy to lock the door, or something was up, maybe they didn't know what the hell they were doing. He made his way inside, but made sure he was as silent as the grave.

Kristey
((Continued from Headhunter))
Kristey noticed Peter talking with a blonde boy, who came from the direction of the hospital, and then noticed him swiftly walk away.
"Mind telling me who the hell that was?"
She mounted the bat on her shoulder, and waited for a response.
She saw a face she recognized, but never met, looking through the window with shock on his face.
Hello, at last... big brother...

Andi
"Where the fuck is Vesa going?"
He noticed the blonde walking away, and gave a quick glance to the tall figure who just opened the door to the hospital. He then turned around, and gave his attention to Ernest.
"If I survive this day, remind me to take a few pills to relax afterwards."
He then turned back around to view the window's view, and saw two more figures.

A girl with blonde hair and a baseball bat was talking to...
It's...

And Siouxsie came up from behind him.
"Your beloved boyfriend."
He was in a state of shock, and she chuckled as she walked outside.

"Ahem."

Ernest gave his most winning smile as he tapped Matthew on the shoulder and passed him a note, "I'm afraid I don't know you... My name is Ernest."
---

Ernest had nodded to Andi and walked to the back door. He carefully unlocked the door and opened it silently. He ghosted through the portal and left the door unlocked, but still somewhat closed. He stepped into the woods and  moved to the path that circled around the Hospital. This was the route he'd used to find the little, broken down island clinic.

He saw Matthew try the door, and to his suprise, walk through. Ernest followed him in  and quietly snuck up behind him.  It really wasn't that difficult. The kid had his attention on everything in front of him, but wasn't too keen on looking behind him.  Ernest got out his pad and wrote a ew quick notes explaining what the most likely set-up for the terrorists to use was.
---

The note Ernest passed explained the ground rules.

*Everything you say will most likely be picked up. There are probably throat-mikes in the collars.

*Cameras most likely have a limited ability to pick up sound, mostly to give the sound engineers and easier time lining up the sounds from the throat mikes with the action.

*Anything you want to keep from the Terrorists, write down, and pass around to those the message is to be heard by.

*We might work out verbal codes later, but this is for now.

*We win by denying the Terrorists information, and getting information out that they can't detect. The information we need is fairly straight forward: The location of the Island, and a way of transmitting that information to a government.

*The Terrorists lose if they have to detonate all the collars, but then we lose worse because we would be dead.

*A lot of kids on the island don't want to get off the island. They actually want to participate, for whatever reason. If everyone either turns into those kids, or is forced to kill everyone... that is the Terrorist's victory.

"That?"  Peter said when Kristey asked him about Vesa, "Oh, that's just some kid I knew back home...never got to really know hi-..."  And then he saw him in the doorway...the one he had been looking for this whole time...the one that he loved so much that he would give his very life for.  Immediately, his jaw slackened before a shiver ran through his body and he took off at full speed toward where the boy was standing.

"ANDI!" he squealed, sounding more like an excited cheerleader than a big brute of a kid that received all-county honors in wrestling the year prior.  "Ohmygod, I've been so worried about you!"  Peter didn't give Andi much time to react before throwing his arms around him, struggling to keep himself from breaking down.  He had found his love...and things would be okay for the time being.

All of this happened while a figure watched from the banks of what looked to be a small stream that divided the island.  The boy, obviously a larger figure, didn't make a sound as he watched the reunion from a distance, wiping a tear from his eye as a smile came over his face.  Then he proceeded to brush the hair from in front of his face, revealing himself to be none other than Vesa as he folded his arms into his chest.

"Mission accomplished," he said to himself, "I hope you are happy now, Andi...you've got your friend back.  Now I must be off to find my own...or else...or else everyone will find out the meaning of..."  He paused for a moment before swinging the knife he carried in front of him as a grin formed of his face.  "...pelätä...Etsiä Katti..." (fear the Hunting Cat)  Then Vesa hopped over a narrow section of the river before dissapearing from view.


((Vesa continues in I do not like thee, Mr. Danya!, Peter remains.))

An unknown amount of happiness and sadness came to Andi as soon as he got the hug from Peter. He was utterly ecstatic due to the fact that he got to see Peter again, but knew what this meant... it meant that Peter was also being forced to participate, and that there is a good chance that he will be killed. A bittersweet reunion as it was, he couldn't help but continue to hug and hold his precious boy as much as he could, whilst Kirstey watched from a distance, and eventually put the two pieces together.

Great, my older brother's a faggot she thought to herself, as she rolled her eyes, and turned around to drink some water, and plans things out a little bit more.

All the reunion happiness was short lived, as Andi heard a noise of confrontation from inside of the hospital, and rushes inside to see the tall, handsome boy holding a gun to Ernest.

Matthew was utterly surprised by Ernest giving him the note earlier, and paranoid as he was, he wasn't about to take any chance that could lead to him being killed. he started yelling at Ernest.
"WHo are you? How do I know you're not out to kill me?!"
Adding in some inane babble within his lost sense of sanity, he took even more notice when another kid came in. He was average height, but was pretty well built, and seemed to be carrying a sickle.
Matthew, instatly, pointed the gun and fired in the direction of the kid, and then began to run off o a different section of the building. Because of his inexperience with a firearm, he was unable to wound Andi with a bullet, and Andi gave chase.

Kristey also heard the noises coming from inside, and decided to walk inside the hospital just to see what was going on. She sure could use a little violence, after all that lovey-dovey crap was over.

Matthew made his way into the room with all the medication, and shots. There was no way out of the room except for a window, and shouted obsenities when he realized he basically cornered himself.

Andi followed Matthew into the room, where Matthew instantly held the gun he had up to him again. Andi, not wanting to get shot, tried to level with the obviously freaked out, gun-toting hottie.

"Wait! We're not going to hurt you!"
Matthew just continued to take deep breaths, and didn't lower his gun at all.
"How do I know you're not lying"
"Why would I lie?"
"Because you're crazy and out to kill me, that's why?"
Yup, this guy is a few eggs short of a dozen

Kristey could see Andi in the doorway, and could tell that he was having a gun pointed at him, and although she smiled at the idea, she was not about to let him die at anyone's but her own. Without time she thought of a distraction.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" she screamed, in a random fit.
Andi quickly turned his head to see what it was, but Matthew took it as a sign of hostility, and fired another shot. This time, it just barely hit Andi's left arm. Andi fell to the floor, although it barely hit him, the gunshot still fucking hurt. Before Matthew could fire up another shot, Andi took his sickle and took a swipe at Matthew's leg, and managed to give him a good slash, that made him yell out, and grab his leg, to try and ease the pain.

Kristey was hearing even more signs of struggle, so she started to watch what was unfolding from a certain distance from the door, so that they couldn't really see her all that well.

Andi managed to get up from the floor, and ran towards Matthew, and tackled him to the ground, where a fists were exchanged between the two. Andi wasn't able to do much, since his left arm hurt every single ime he took a swing at the kid.

Eventually the two broke apart and Matthew prepared to fire the gun again, and Andi could tell.
He quickly looked around to see if there was anything he could use to try and stop Matthew quickly, and didn't care what. Matthew fired another shot, but Andi dodged it, and made towards the table with syringes in it. He took an empty one, and took the loading part out.

Matthew didn't even notice what Andi was doing at that time, and fired another shot. Andi, having dodged the shot again, charged at Matthew, and tackled Matthew once again, but this time, he didn't exchange fists, but rather he jabbed the syringe into Matthew's neck, and pumped the air into him.

Blinding pain. It made it's way through Matthew instantly. It was ungodly how much it hurt, as it coursed through him, from his neck, to the rest of his body, and ever so slowly. He started crying because of the pain, but also because he knew he had lost. The pain made it's way to one place, his chest, to his heart.
"Please, god, I--"
He took a giant gasp as he felt a huge pain in his chest. The air had made it's way to his heart... and that was all there was for his story.

B50: LAFFERTY, Matthew. STATUS: DECEASED

Kristey saw the whole thing unfold before her, and was rather shocked. She saw Andi as he stood there, without expression on his face as he watched the person slowly die a very painful death. He seemed emotionless, heartless, or inhuman. That was the moment where she experienced fear. She feared her own brother.

Meanwhile, Andi didn't know why he decided to instantly go for the kill, but he felt like he had no choice. He wasn't sorry, after all, the kid shot at him first, and thus was asking for it.

Yeah, that's right... he was asking for it.

((Dear lord, that took a while))

Peter didn't want the moment to end as he held Andi close to him, but then when he heard the commotion between Matthew and Ernest, he had no choice but to let him go.  He watched for a little bit before taking a breath when he realized that he had some unfinished business to take care of with Kristey.  "I have to do this..." he thought, "I should have come out to Kristey when I had the chance.  There will be no interruptions that will keep me from telling her the truth about me and Andi...not this time."  He took another deep breath as he walked over to where the tall girl was taking in the confrontation.

"Kristey..." he said, a little nervous but still holding his composure, "there's been something I needed to tell you.  I was gonna tell you over by that pagoda place when our collars went off.  But I can't keep you in the dark any more..."

Peter took in another deep breath as his nerves started to show up.  "There's something I've been meaning to tell you about me and..."

It was at that precise moment that he heard the shot...and he lost all sense of thought except for one thing.

"ANDI!" he shouted after hitting the deck, "Damn it, not again!"  The shot could have came from anywhere as there was a struggle between he and Matthew.  Peter heard another shot ring out and instinctively covered his head, not wanting his game to end prematurely as he lifted it to see what was going on when a third shot was fired.  Not wanting to take any chances, he remained crouched on the floor near the doorway until the struggle was over.

Then his thoughts turned to Andi as tears rolled down Peter's face.  He knew that others had been killed the day before as he went to look for him.

"Andi!  Please don't be dead!" he whimpered, trying his best not to break down there.  The only thing that would keep him from losing it was reassurance that he was okay...which he got when he saw him lying on the floor over the vanquished Matthew.

Peter shrieked again when he saw the wound on his arm.  "Andi!  Are you okay?"  It seemed like a silly and pointless question to ask as he threw down his pack and opened it to fish for his first-aid kit, but another thought came to him.  "God, what a fucking moron I am...this is a hospital.  I can find something to fix him up with in here."

He took to his feet again before yet another thought came to him.  Seizing the opportunity to upgrade his arsenal, Peter removed the handgun from Matthew's hand and stowed it, then rolled the dead boy over to remove his pack.  Opening it, the husky kid made a predictable move in seizing his rations and water while looking for more ammunition.  To his dismay, he found that aside from what was already in the pistol, there were only two rounds left and muttered something to himself.  He took them and set them in his pack before closing it up and tending to Andi.

"Where did he hit you?" he asked him, looking up to see if Kristey, or anyone else was coming for him.  "Hopefully it's not that bad..."

Andi was happy that he at least managed to survive, and see Peter come in and see if he was okay. He wasn't too sure if he like the idea of stealing from a corpse, he knew Peter had the right mindset when he took the kid's pack and weapon.

"I'm fine, Peter. It's just a small wound, it would've been a lot worse if he had had better aim."

Andi turned his head outside the window to see a girl.
"You know this girl, Peter?"

She couldn't really look at him. She grew to hate him, and made it her mission to destroy him, but Kristey was now dead afraid of her older brother. She never thought he would be capable of killing someone, and in such a way, without caring.

Ernest ran over to Andi, somewhat apalled by the whole debacle. It was pathetic in some senses. Ernest had been unable to save two people already. It was rather unfortunate, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. Life always got in the way of his plans.

"Andi! Are you alright?" Ernest yelled as he jogged over. "Oh, hell. I'm sorry." Andi had just killed somebody. He'd jabbed a syringe into the kid's neck. It was a big syringe, too; it'd need to be to get enough air into the heart to kill a kid. Either that or the kid was anemic.

He walked over, somewhat slowly, to Matthew's body. He looked at it fo a little while and turned to turned to Peter, "I'm afraid we haven't met before. My name is Ernest. I'm guessing that you and Andi are friends, and just out curiousity, do you know this kid's name? I didn't catch it..."

Ernest sighed as he was put into the shadows by the two guys. They had more important things to deal with  right. Ernest smiled and sucked down the dregs of his pride. It seemed he wasn't able to save anyone after all.

Peter glanced over in the direction he had last seen Kristey, then saw her out the window and rolled his shoulders.  "Her?  Not really..." he said, "we were just thrown into the same place and had gotten together...y'know, strength in numbers?"  He then looked back out the window again.  "That being said, there's a kid out there that wants us dead...all of us."

He then looked up and saw Ernest approaching them with an exasperated looked on his face, wondering why he was so upset about not saving a kid who, he thought, was asking for death.  He wasn't concerned much with whether or not this new kid was a threat; one, he had stored the derringer away in his pack and zipped it up, but also, he knew that Andi would step up and defend him if quick action was needed.

A half-assed smile came over Peter's face as Ernest introduced himself.  "I'm Peter...and I don't think I know who this boy is...or I guess it should be 'was' now that he's dead."  He looked over at the window again to see if Kristey was listening as a deep blush came over his face when Ernest asked if he and Andi were friends.  "And I guess you could say that about me and Andi.  He's..."  Peter gulped, not sure if he could gather the courage to say it when he had been saving for Kristey.

He took a deep breath and threw all care out the window.  "...he's...he's my boyfriend."

Well, gee, it couldn't have been more obvious, Peter, gathering how you reacted when you saw him Kristey thought to herself.

She was rather surprised though. The two were somewhat of a contrast to each other. You've got Peter, the smaller of the two, who was the nice, easygoing kid. She didn't really have anything against him, well, then again, she just used him to get to where she is now. And then he paired up with Andi... a big guy who obviously had no problem taking another kids life, at least Kristey had the decency to enjoy it, but he didn't even seem to have that.

But Andi was more concerned about how Ernest was going to react to the news of him and Peter being together. Peter always really had a certain sense of fear when it came to his sexuality, and why wouldn't he, they went to a school that was mostly catholic, but Andi never really had a problem with his sexuality. Then again, he didn't wear it on his sleeve like people think gay people do. He didn't attend rallies, he didn't have a limp wrist. He was pretty straight, if it weren't for the fact that he liked guys.

But, all that didn't change the fact that at school, they never really publicized their relationship. The only time they really ever showed each other affection was in private, which somewhat had to do with Andi's little fear of public affection.

But... to hell with it at this point. He was so happy to see Peter alive, and he kept thinking one of us, if not both, are going to die on this island that he turned Peter towards him, and gave him the biggest make out session he could have ever asked for.

Kristey just looked away.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Peter. I'm pretty sure I've seen you before, you went to Hobbsborough, right? Mrs. Saranna's homeroom?"

Ernest smiled a strange little smile. He'd never been one for social cues, but it was pretty obvious that they liked eachother, even to him Gays didn't bother him for any reason, really. On religious grounds, it really didn't mater. Ernest had a hard time with religion in general, thanks to his spartan Roman-Catholic upbringing. He'd rejected the Vatican by age 8 for druidism and found that lacking by age 10. It all ended up with him being spiritual but not religious, because he responded with bits and pieces of nearly every religion he came accross. In all honesty, most religions were pretty much the same, when you got right down to the basics.

"Well, in all honesty, I fail to see how it's an issue. You've clearly got some catching up to do, but... I've got to try to figure a few things regarding the plan. There's been a couple serious hitches." Ernest's face got a good deal more serious. Things weren't going well at all. He had less than 48 hours left till meltdown and no headway could be made.

The crystaline gears in his mind began to seriously work. There was a corpse, which could be used to gain information as to how the collars were made, with no risk to human life. There were scalpels in the clinic, as well as some other surgical tools. Ernest was very proficient with those tools. In fact, deadly precision would be the accurate way to portray it. He'd have to head into the clinic pick up the tools and let Andi or Peter have the gun.

Kristey wasn't exactly happy with herself. She spent all that time plotting and sceming to get to Andi, and kill him, but her she is, staring him in the face, but she's too afraid of her older brother to do anything to him.

He may have been a faggot, but he was a big, strong, and dangerous faggot, nonetheless, and that was something she didn't really expect. More like she half expected any person who identified as gay to be a feminine queen, but he was just... so terrifying.

Andi, meanwhile, was still so ecstatic over Peter being here. He, however, took a look at the gun that Peter pilfered from the kids lifeless body, and asked "What kind of gun is that, exactly?"

Because it fucking hurt like hell!

Peter unzipped his pack to pull out the small pistol and looked it over.  "I can't really tell," he said, turning it over and around to examine it, "I think it's some kind of derringer, but I'm not too sure.  All I found were two bullets that I'm assuming were for this weapon."  He pointed it at a window and tried to fire but nothing happened.

"Damn...must be empty.  That kid must've really wanted you dead, Andi."  Peter fiddled with the gun until he discharged a small clip that looked to hold no more than six rounds of the size of the two that were inside Matthew's pack.  "I thought that these things were only single-shots...he must've gotten lucky.  And believe me, I'm no gun expert."  He couldn't help but to put his arm around Andi, pulling him in close and holding him for a couple minutes...it was good to know that the one he loved was still alive and he didn't want to let go.  But eventually he did and looked around the room they were in.

"So...what now?"