Survival Of The Fittest

Kousaka watched the boy run off with his belongings and began to pout. it was not like him at all.

"I wish I hadn't ever been such a mean ass!!!" He slammed his fist down hard and meemorioes flashed before his eyes. "I do not wish to die this way!!!!! NO you can't take my life, SPARE ME!!!"

He began to actually shed tears which he had not done in several years. He looked at all the others in utter sadness. He just broke down adn had his face buried in his hands the next minute.

"Why why why!? Why does it have to end this way!!!?"

As Kousaka attempted a futile escape by jumping backwards, which also failed due to the gun behind him, Takara brought the knife up and pressed it against his throat as he screamed. “Don’t. Scream. It’s not very, becoming you know.”

Listening to Chance speak to the boy, Taka merely tilted her head to the left, as if trying to listen a bit better, but really, she was just looking to see where would be the best place to make the cut should she have to. In fact, she was thinking of starting on the right side, and cutting straight through to the left, which would take out most of his throat, in a clean way.

As soon as the bag hit the ground, she went to kick it closer to Tobs, and before she even acted, Vince had grabbed it and ran.

“God fucking damnt!”

Then hearing the shots, Takara felt as if the blood in her veins had just frozen. It was almost as if Kousaka wasn’t even in front of her anymore, all that remained was the roar of the bullets, one of which she was certain would hit her.

It was then she felt Tobs grab her arm, tearing her out of her frozen state, and felt herself being hurled to the ground with another most likely to land on her, most unsettling in her mind. ><

Hearing a bullet whiz past, her breath caught in her throat, knowing exactly who that would have hit had she not being pulled down with Tobs. She shook, visibly.

That… that could have been me… fuck…

That’s when Tobs leg got hit, even if she wasn’t aware of it yet. You see, her eyes were shut, tightly. It was then that she heard Tobs growl out his words, liking the thought of that very much. When Tobs spoke to her, she seemed to growl slightly, finally realizing most of the danger was gone.

“Alright?! We were just fucking shot at! And if not for your… your idiocy, you wouldn’t be fucking saying that!”

Seeming to have anger boiling off her in waves, Takara forced herself to calm down, taking in deep breaths and releasing them. Finally she asked, “What about yourself, Tobs?”

That’s when Kousaka’s voice tore into her mind, and she audibly groaned. “I was hoping he would have been hit.”

Rising to her feet, Takara looked for her knife, and found it not far from where she had landed with Tobs. Picking it up, she walked over to Kousaka, her expression far different from before. Collective, yet not cold, rather it was more of a sympathetic look, but in her own odd way.

“You should have just left like we told you. It’s your own fault that this has fallen upon you. Now, I can either kill you quickly and painlessly without a second thought of remorse, or, you can leave with no weapon what-so-ever and be killed by someone else in a far more cruel manner. Which do you choose?”

When the shooting had started, Sidney had instinctively thrown himself to the ground, in the hopes of quickly getting out of the way of any bullets that might happen to come his way. What he wasn't expecting, however, was the fact that as he tossed himself down to the ground, that he was actually throwing himself INTO a bullet, and as one struck him in the foot, he screamed in pain, and internally felt any chance of him ever playing hockey again flying out of the proverbial window. As the sharp pain knifed through his foot and up his leg, he glanced down at his shoe, and silently felt a small sense of relief as he saw that the bullet had only seemed to hit him in the bottom of his shoe. Such a wound wasn't life-threatening, but would make walking a chore, and would undoubtedly hurt like hell.

As he heard the sounds of movement, and finally a long silence before Takara said something to Toby, Sidney tried pulling himself to his feet, and winced in agony. Hobbling over to where Toby and Takara stood, looking at the new arrival (who had thusfar not proved to be much more than a hinderance), he looked at his two companions and spit into the dirt behind him.

"You guys get hit? What the hell happened?"

He hated to admit it, but he had stopped paying attention as the shooting had begun, almost dozing off and thinking of other things, much like some of the others were undoubtedly distracted with other things.

Kousaka gulped. "Please just leave me empty handed, please! I am not ready to die this way. I still have to find Rendou!"

He was still on the ground with the blade to his throat. "Just... let me go." He began to shiver as a breeze nipped at him.

Tobs blinked. Did I seriously just get shot? I mean...shouldn't it hurt more? He couldn't really believe what had happened. Whoever that kid had been... he'd had the guts to do what he did. If he were still here, with Tobs, it would take God Himself to hold Tobs back from drilling his neck into nothingness. It had been years, simply YEARS, since he'd been this angry. Where he to sleep anytime soon, he'd certainly dream of meeting that bastard kid again. However, things aside from his rage took precidence.

He was dimly aware of Takara's shaking, and felt as though he should do something. Thing is, was there anything he could do? How do you comfort anyone after they've been shot at, especially when someone near them was hit, especially when the comforter themselves is a tad out of it? He couldn't think of a way; hell, he didn't know if it was even possible, given what had just happened.

He laughed lightly at what Takara said to him. That was what everyone had known him as, back in Michigan: friendly idiot. I get the feeling, if this whole fucking 'game' never existed, and we went to the same school, we'd have gotten along pretty well. It was true; he had actually laughed at her comment. The first genuine laugh of his since he'd moved from Michigan. Upon realizing this, he laughed again, harder now. Takara and Sid are gonna think I'm nuts... A little voice in his head told him to stop laughing, that this was a serious life-death situation, but he couldn't.
Not only was this his first real laugh in years, but it was a fit of laughing.

As her more concerned words reached his ears, he took a breath. His laughter began to slow...now, it had stopped. He rolled to his back, pulling his leg to his chest, and looking at the blood spot that had begun to form.

"What the fuck?" There was no exit wound, but he had full use of his leg. The bullet hadn't hit the bone, then...and he sincerely doubted a bullet would get stuck in his leg. It should have blown out the other side. He brought a hand up to the wound, brushing his fingers against it. It stung like a total bitch, but ...nothing else. He folded his leg in, looking directly at the wound.

"...you're fucking kidding. There's no way in HELL I'm that lucky." His eyes were wide, and he looked to where his leg had been. He brushed his hand against the ground...
There. His finger found a slight depression in the ground. A hole. And around it...were splinters of wood. "What are the chances of that happening?" He spoke aloud, yet to himself. Tobs was truely amazed.

Oh, and he noticed the small depression was about an inch from where he'd been laying. Had he moved another half-foot over or so, it would have most likely hit center back and killed him. His eyes couldn't be wider.

"I think..." Upon looking closer at the wound, he saw something sticking out. He placed a finger on it, instantly regretting it. The pain knifed through his leg as the foreign object moved while still lodged just inside his leg. "...wooden shrapnel. My God, I'm so fucking lucky."

The bullet, he concluded, had hit the ground at an incredibly shallow angle. Upon impact, it had splintered several wood chips on the ground, and one of said splinters hit him.

Grinning, he placed two fingers around the piece of 'shrapnel,' and pulled straight out. He hissed through his teeth, as wrenching something out of your skin is not generally a very comfortable action, but held the piece of wood in front of his eyes now. He laughed once more, before throwing it aside.

"Yeah, apparently, I'm fine. Just gonna sting like a bitch for a while."

He stood slowly, looking at his leg. It didn't buckle...it was fine. Moving it stung, but nothing major. "Holy shit, I finally had some good luck."

It was at this point Kousaka's breakdown entered his ears, and he growled. He walked to him, and gave him a rather angry (yet somehow, sad) glare.

"Calm the FUCK down. The more noise you make, the better chances we have of some psycho coming and killing us. This whole area's unsafe now, thanks to Mr. Fucker firing off his gun, so we all have to clear out. You're going the opposite direction as us." He was dangerously close to smacking Kousaka, since really, they all had enough problems. No one needed to break down about it.

...it was at this point Takara approached Kousaka, giving him his choices. He blinked at her apparent harshness, but nodded slowly. She was right. If he was hit badly, and knew he wouldn't live long, he'd probably ask one of his new-found buddies to get it over with. Better to die among friends, quickly and painlessly, than among enemies who cared not about your comfort level as you slowly bleed out at their feet.

When she was finished, and Kousaka replied, he shook his head. "You don't get it. If you stay here, you will be killed. We can't stay here either, since Mr. Fucker had to go ahead and make so much noise." He realized he was calling Vince Mr. Fucker without thinking about it. Well, whatever. He spoke the way he spoke, no changing that.
"Now, get out of here. Find somewhere else to hide, away from us."

It was at this point Sidney limped over into his vision, and he turned. Oh, shit... He ran over to Sid, looking at the wound. It wasn't pretty, but to die from it ...would take some skill. And luck shittier than anything. "Sid, what the fuck happened? You got nicked?" His gaze shifted from the wound to his face, back to the wound, and finishing on his face. "No, I'm fine. I think. Seriously though, you okay?" Oh, just great. Already the little 'group' has taken some injuries. We're gonna last REAL long at this rate.

At this point, Tobs decided it would be a good time to check the wound. He could get infected...it was probably a long shot, though. Aside from that, he knew of no other problems with it...he brushed his fingers against it, coming away with less blood than before. Okay, good sign. Already, the bleeding was going down. Still, Tobs' wound was nothing compared to Sid. Shit.

[ha! surprise! >>;
Dude, this is one of my longest posts. I think. Sweet.]

Hearing Tobs start laughing, Takara blinked and stared at him a moment. It seemed as if he were truly laughing at a hilarious comment a friend had made, but surely it wasn't because of her, was it? Then watching as his laughing grew into a fit, she couldn't help but shake her head and grin softly to herself.

If Tobs and I had met under different circumstances, I think we would have gotten along well.

Then lLooking down at Kousaka without emotion, Takara pressed the blade a bit more to his throat, enough to make a small flesh wound, but nothing serious. She didn't ever spare a glance towards Sidney when he asked if they had been hit. Narrowing her eyes slightly, her eyes shifted to spare Tobs a glance, but quickly returned to Kousaka, oh how she wanted to just kill him and be done with it.

"Look, even if you find this Rendou, what guarantees that he's even alive yet? For all you know he could have been killed alright. Besides, even if you do find him, you have no weapon. What if he's in trouble? You can't help him. You'll both die then."

Now, she took the time to look over at Sidney as he limped over to her and Tobs. She drew in a small breath and glanced down at his foot. Wincing slightly, she considered quickly slitting Kousaka's throath and going to help Sidney, but no, that wouldn't be right. She'd wait for Kousaka's response before she did anything.

"Tobs, Sidney, both of you will need to have a but of... patching up... once this guy is gone."

He smiled at the pain, man he was a freak. But his smile slightly faded as he relized the situation. He looked her in the eyes.

"I will gladly die by his side if he still alive! He is my brother, the only one who I could trust! I won't have him die before me!!! No way, no how! And if he is dead,,,,, then I will let you yourself have dibs on my life." He said placing a hand on his chest and looking very determined. His silver eyes closed off his emotional wave length to all around him. His eye reflected no light. Blood dripped a little from the wound as he spoke.

Chance had been caught completely off-guard as Vince suddenly bolted from the area, firing some one or two shots towards the group. Now, how had cursed himself for not reacting sooner, knowing that he would have gotten shot, or perhaps even killed...

And now, two of their number were injured, Sidney and Tobs namely. For sure this would prove to be something of a setback. He looked in the direction towards where the shooter had gone off running, and looked back with a look of slight disdain towards he-who-would-not-shut-up.

Inwardly, he wished that Takara would just get on with it and shut him up.

Quickly, he reached into his back and brought out the first aid kit and opened it, crouching against the ground to properly examine its contents. Bandages, disinfectants of a few sorts, gauze... Chance smiled a bit. He had worked with his mother, a journalist and a volunteer medic, in several foreign countries, and she had taught him the very basics of tending injuries.

"The Lady can take care of 'im for a while," Chance said, pulling the kit towards them. He motioned towards Sidney first, and winced slightly as he looked at the blood coming out from the bottom of his foot. "That looks like one Hell of a pain."

He glanced with contempt towards Kousaka, who seemed to be speaking out a rant of sorts.

"Dibs on your life, huh? I'm seriously considering the offer..." Chance told him coldly. "If you're out looking for your brother, then shoo. Go on. There's no use standing around if he's somewhere out there, in danger."

Kousaka picked himself up and nodded at Chance. He didn't feel like dying now. He had to run. he ran off into the shadows never to be seen in the area again.

((Continued in: Sunshower))

Tobs was, compared to Sid, completely uninjured. Thankfully, none of their number had been hit directly, but ...a shot to the foot was pretty bad luck. If this was for karma, they were in for a lot more; Tobs had amassed a lot of negative karma, he thought inwardly with a chuckle.
...he could only shudder at how much bad karma Takara may have. >>;

"I...I don't really need any patching up." He grinned, and watched closely as Chance went about his medical work. As Chance spoke so coldly to Kousaka, he got a slight chill. Chance had ...he hadn't been so cold upon their meeting. He almost asked him what was wrong, but then again, he remembered, Chance had known the raped girl.
That was reason enough for anyone to crack in this situation, and if you don't agree, well...that's scary.

He sighed with relief as Kousaka ran off; a major source of noise had been removed, and a possible enemy. Good.

"We need to get out of here, though...Sid, can you walk? D'ya need help?" He approached him, looking between Sid and Chance. "I think we should just head in the opposite direction as those two."

Off in the distance, the extreme treble of a pistol shot seemed to float along the air, and Tobs shook his head. "And away from that."

He didn't know it, but the shots he'd heard had been the ones directed at his friend, Drew. The friend he didn't know was here.

As soon as Chance gave Kousaka the chance to run, Takara narrowed her eyes in annoyance, watching as the pathetic boy ran away just like a dog with his tail between his legs. With a roll of her eyes, she placed her knife back into her bag and with the cold manner wiped from her face she walked over to Sidney and Tobs, sparing a quick glance over at Chance.

"Come on, let's get somewhere safer before we fix that. Who knows what else will come running here with intentions of killing. This place has seen enough death..."

As the sound of the pistol rang off in the distance, she looked up and over in the direction it had come from. She couldn't help but wonder what poor soul would fall victim to those shots and whether or not they'd survive.

"Why go away from it? If those shots were aimed to kill someone, then whoever did the killing would be about to leave. Which, if that's the case, then really, it'd be a safer area to go to... wouldn't it?"

Takara was all for getting away from the river and into a more concealed area. Though, her wonderment was focused intently on where the shots had come from. Who had they been aimed at? And did the person survive? Was it someone she knew? The questions continued to pester and nag at her every thought. It became rather annoying. >.>

As Sidney tried blocking out his pain when Danya's familiar voice thundered through the area, his clenched teeth quickly turned into an expression of shock as Danya let them all know that there was under forty people left alive, out of one hundred twenty.

Whatever he was trying to do, it's working to perfection...

Sid frowned at the amount of people that were left. He couldn't believe there were under forty people alive.

Me, Chance, Tobs, Takara, that makes four...that girl we just left is five. Adam, that guy who snapped and went off on his own is six, and those two others who left after him are seven and eight. Almost one fourth of the game are standing here, still...

And as Danya let them all in on some new information - the fact that the danger zones had shifted, Sidney's eyes widened and the blood drained from his face, causing his pulsating foot wound to hurt even more. The River was the newest place where NOT to be, and it seemed that they had very little time to get the hell out of dodge. He looked alarmingly at Chance, and tried his best to start hobbling towards the path that Adam and the others had left from earlier.

"Guys, not to mince words, but we really have to get out of here, NOW! We can tend to our wounds later, right? Come on, guys...let's go!"

((Continued in: In Sight of a Sanctuary))

Chance raised an eyebrow towards Takara as she told the group her suggestion, that it would be wisest to leave the area now and seek safety elsewhere, lest a potentially hostile person would end up walking in on them. Chance bit his lip slightly at the suggestion, realizing Takara's point, but more uneasy with the fact that two of their company were wounded, Sidney Crosby to a more serious degree. His injury seemed as though it would impair his walking somewhat, and Chance wasn't about to let him fall behind should the group see fit to move from the area. And besides, if they didn't get it treated soon...

"I see what you mean," Chance told her as he rummaged through the contents of the first-aid kid. "Just give me a jiffy to get these two patched up, and then we'll get going. No reason to leave right away unless this place becomes a Danger Zone-"

His last two words intermingled with the sound of the electronically distorted voice of Mr. Danya. As if on cue to Chance's remark, another announcement was being delivered. Chance pursed his lips at being interrupted, but listened intently. His face remained ocean-smooth as he heard the list of fallen ones being read out, though his eyebrow flickered slightly at Danya's crude remark towards the late Madelaine.

Beneath his calmness, the faces of the now dead students flashed through his mind in turn, each like a brief slide, the notorious Jacob Starr, the twins Fredrik and Glenn Hughes, Amanda and David... the total number just kept rising and rising.

And then the Danger Zones were announced. But in his mind, Chance already knew, somehow...that the area that would fall under the new Danger Zone would be where he and the rest of his group were all standing in right now: The River.

He cursed under his breath. "Briliant timing." He nodded towards the rest at the group at Sid's remark. "That's right...better split." He shut the kit and tossed it into his daypack, about to bolt out of there when he stopped at the sight of the two graves before him, freshly dug and covered.

I guess this is goodbye then. You'll forgive me, won't you? A serene smile crossed his features.

His attention turned towards the injured Sid, who was limping along the path that led away from the area. Chance realized that at that sort of pace, the odds of getting out before the Danger Zone was set up was not pleasing in the least... but still, Chance wasn't about to leave his comrade behind.

Without another second of deliberation, Chance hurried over towards Sid and stood in front of him. Without a word of explaination, he crouched down and whisked his arm behind Sid's left knee, letting it wind around to grab his friend's arm. He stood up, now carrying his friend on his back. Though it looked effortless, Chance's knees nearly buckled at the weight.

"This is called a Fireman's Carry, by the way," He remarked offhandedly, breaking into something of a run along the path, struggling to keep up with his comrades with Sid on his back.

(Continued at the Makeshift Hospital; In Sight of a Sanctuary. I would think that it's safe to say that Tobs, Takara, and Sid are following Chance, since Asano and Kuro are both away at the moment.)

[Y'know, this place is draining my posting skills. =/ I can't think of a big post. Sorry, guys, but blargh.]

Tobs shook his head after hearing Danya's announcement. Any doubt in his mind of Danya being a sick bastard was expunged, though for that to happen, one must assume he had a doubt of that.
...he didn't.

As Chance carried Sid off, he waited for Takara, waving his hand for her to follow, and treked off.

[ToT This sucks >_< Sorry for shortness and crappiness x_x;
Mind powers...being leeched...by SOTF]

((Continued in: In Sight of a Sanctuary))

As Danya listed off those that had been killed, Takara found her anger building, yet she also found herself growing even a little bit afraid. Listening to the rest of the announcements, her eyes grew wide, and she didn't have to be told twice what to do.

Watching as Chance carried off Sid, she looked all around her before he gaze fell directly on Tobs. It was then that she saw him wave for her to follow; she didn't hesistate. With one last look at the area, she jogged to catch up to the others before she lost them.

[Sucky post. Whatever. I needed to get this in here quick. x.x;;]