Survival Of The Fittest

"New 'Mission'? Fuck that shit!" Matthew exclaimed as he shoved his friend in the shoulder. "Yea, you're friend got his shit fucked, but for christ sake, calm the fuck down!"

He turned to the girls, gave an 'I'm sorry' look and took a step away so he could talk to Rob and not be over heard.

"You need to chill out man. Yea, things are getting taken away, sure, but you can't go thinking you're going to be the be all to end all in this place. If you go out there, you're just as much a gonner as your pal. Smarten the fuck up."

He stepped back to the girls, reajusting his pack to hang more comfortably so the stuff inside wouldn't press into him while they were walking. With the dangerzones boxing them in even more now, he had to make sure they could walk and get out of anywhere quickly.

"The school it is."

Jana took the opportunity that arose when the announcements came on to talk to Sera without the two boys hearing. She wanted to keep tabs on her brother, so she kept an ear open for his name. As much as she appreciated Sera looking out for her, she was beginning to feel like a total liability.

"Sera, these guys are going to get all four of us killed," she whispered. "They're idiots." The list of deceased concluded without any mention at all of Eric Brown or anyone else she knew, except for Kevin, but he didn't count.

Rob was growing extremely impatient. He knew Matt was right, but what the hell else was there to do out here. Though he said he'd get the girls safely to the school he really didn't want to. He wanted to find Roland Kelly and kill him. No, not just kill him. Slowly kill him. Make him realize that he had taken something away from Rob.

No. Matt's right. I can't be thinking like that. I can't let myself get angry like that. If I'm not thinking straight for even one minute out here, I could be killed.

Rob pulled Matty back again as to not be overheard, and also because the girls were doing the same.

"You know what dude. You're right," Rob said, "But right now, I think it's best if I just take a walk to clear my mind, and I gotta take a piss. So I'll be back soon."

Rob turned from the group, and made his way back to the bushes, going behind them so that the girls would not see him urinating. As he was urinating he heard the sound of movement to his left. There was another boy moving through the path that ran the perimeter of the park, heading in the direction of the botanical gardens. In his hand he was carrying a Glock 27.

I know that kid...its Felix.

Rob finished up, and immediately started to head in the same direction as Felix. He knew Matt could handle the girls until the school, and Felix would be a good person to have with them. Granted Felix wasn't the friendliest person at Hobbsborough, he was still a damn strong person.

((Rob and Felix will continue elsewhere))

((Sorry for the delay, schedule conflicts haven't allowed me to post.))

Just as Sera had anticipated, Jana was opposed to heading to the school with Matt and Rob.  Then again, was she really so wrong for being opposed to traveling with these two?  They did just kill their former traveling companion.  That thought popped into Sera's mind once again and her line of vision trailed over to Kevin's corpse momentarily.  Maybe, just maybe, Sera was the crazy one for thinking that these guys -- guys that had just murdered somebody in cold blood -- that they'd protect them.

Still, what did they have to lose?

Just their lives, but that seemed fickle and irrelevant given the circumstances.  Of the four of them standing around pondering in the park, the odds that even one of them would survive, at this moment, were something like 1/30.  Having to contend with lecherous, murderous young men didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.  In fact, it wasn't as enthralling as it had been during the very beginning of the game.  Killing just seemed so trivial now... Sera needed something a lot more challenging.

"Listen, Jana..." she whispered in a low tone, "What have we got to lose?  If they were gonna kill us, they'd have done it by now... they aren't the type to try to gain someone's friendship and stab them in the back... if they were, Kevin wouldn't be dead."

She offered her redheaded companion a light smile.

"Besides, we're more likely to find your brother if there are four of us than if it's just us two, right?  I really think we should go with them."

Maybe it was crazy on her part, but Sera genuinely thought that was the best course of action.  Lots of guys will willingly do lots of things for a pretty face.  She couldn't quite decide if these two fit the bill or not, but if worse came to worse, the Saiga-12 secured in her daypack ensured that she had the upper hand.  It was quite the little trump card, and the best part was that nobody, not even Jana, knew about it.

She caught the boys saying something about any hope of escape being dashed when the name "Dan Johnson" was announced over the PA system.  She found herself shaking her head amusedly.

"That's pretty rash," she stated flatly, "So happens, my friend here's brother might be able to get us out of this mess too.  It's just a matter of finding him... you know, if you're willing to help us."

She almost felt like the two owed it to them, since they murdered their other meatshield and all.  She flashed them a smile, then turned back to Jana and gave her a wink.  The redhead seemed far less willing overall to go with the flow on this one, but Sera was just sort of rolling with things.  As they say, when life gives you lemons... that thinking was what had pulled her this far through the game.

Her attention turned back to Matt and Rob, the latter of which seemed to have disappeared somewhere, and she gave Matt a questioning look.

"Where'd he disappear to?"

Jana still wasn't convinced, but what choice did she have, really? Sera was set on joining up with Beavis and Butthead over there. Jana wouldn't last long on the island by herself, besides, what if they did try to pull something on her friend? She couldn't just take leave of the trio and hope that the others didn't pull a doublecross on Sera. She owed it to her.

She finally returned Sera a modest smile and said, "Ok. I'll give them a chance."

'I'll be watching both of them like a...wait, where did--'

Rob had dissappeared.

((OOC: Sorry about the oober long time it's been taking me to post..))

For the first time since being on the island, Matt could admit he was finally feeling awkward. Rob said he wanted to take a walk, though when he took a quick look around to see if he was on his way back, he couldn't help but notice he was gone.

"That bastard..."

Turning from the girls and taking a few steps around to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he found was right and had to turn back to the girls with the bad news.

"Seems like our womanly douche bag of the pal ditched us ladies. We better move before something else goes wrong."

Looking back and forth and then making sure he had everything with him, he motioned to the girls to get going.

"You guys lead and I'll follow. If we stick together we have a chance.. and that's all we can go on for right now."

"Mm..." Sera responded quietly at Matt's confirmation of Rob's disappearance.

She figured that Matt would soon depart as well to find his missing companion.  When he expressed ideas of heading out before something else went wrong, though, it almost caught her offguard.  A slight smile formed on the corners of her lips and she nodded her head in response.

She cast another glance over to Jana, who, despite agreeing to give Matt and Rob a chance, still didn't seem to be completely at peace with the two boys.  Then again, she couldn't really blame her.  Sera just couldn't seem to figure those two out.  What sort of game were they trying to play, anyway?

"You're probably right," she confirmed, "Your friend knows where to find us, anyway.  He knew where we were headed... I'm sure he'll turn up, eventually."

Or we'll run across his corpse along the way...

It was a morbid thought, but one that was probably true.  She shrugged her shoulders lightly when Matt insisted that they lead the way and checked the clip on her gun once again to confirm that she had enough ammunition in case they ran into some... unwanted company.  After checking her map once again to confirm the direction of the school, she set off, assuming the other two were right behind her.

((Continued in Schoolhouse Rock))

'Am I missing something?' Jana thought to herself as Matt simply shrugged off his friends dissappearance as he had done with Kevin's exploding head. Everyone here was so desensitized...so distant...

...but then again sticking highschool kids in a warzone did that to them, didn't it...

Although she was still apprehensive about their present company, Jana was all for a change of scenery. The school sounded great.

"Wait up!"

((continued in Schoolhouse Rock))