Survival Of The Fittest

((Continued from: Friendly (?) Reunion?))

Drew stumbled onto the Waterfall area, standing across from the waterfalls base. He panted, dirty from his last encounter with Tobs. His lteral last encounter. He actually killed his best friend; the person who loved like a brother had just fallen to his death. Drew tryed to engrave that Tobs was nothing but an imitation of the real Tobs. Some how the goverment took advantage of Drew and did a background check on him or something.... The possibility unfortunatly wasn't that high in his head and in his heart he knew that his friend has perished for irrational mistake Drew made. The thought just made him want to scream.


Standing there alone
the ship is waiting
all systems are go
are you sure?

He didn't understand, his life did not need to go this way. This is somethign that does not happen to a normal family, it just wasn't. tears started to escape from the paranoid orbs of sight, he couldn't stand it and now finally, finally the bow who vowed would keep it togeather has just lost it. Tobs was dead, and it was all his fault. Cassie was dead to, two people's lives have been vanished into thing air, all because of the boy who became crazy.


Control is not convinced
but the computer
has the evidence
"no need to abort"

However in his mind, his mind told him not to give up. His heart felt like failing but his mind kicked in. Its need and will to survive. He felt like his body was being taken over, he wanted to strive and get out of this hell hole. Even if he did, would it still be enough? Just because he lives......Will he still be able to live a normal life?

The countdown starts
watching in a trance
the crew is certain

Is living life and being normal will fix everything thats happened? Will he just forget everything? Will everything be resolved, his even knew it would not be the same. Drew already knew he was going completley bonkers, he knew that he'd be tossed into the lonny bin once he got back home. years of thearpy cannot fix this, nothing can fix this. Absolutly nothing.

Nothing left to chance
all is working
trying to relax
up in the capsule
"send me up a drink"
jokes Major Tom
the count goes on

The boy splashed water on his face, sniveling away trying to get ti togeather. But the pain of destorying an innocent life, that of his best friend. Not to mention Cassie, the girl he promised to protect. Thats two promises he broke to himself. But the numbers were dwindling, ten active players left. He is just ten people away from salvation, from living and finally get on the road to normal......

4



Just ten more people.....Just wait...They will kill themselves...



3


Yes...They will kill themselves. They will all kill each other, I just have to stay hidden.....



2

Drew held his gun, and looked at it, the symbol of all that he hated. Everything he despised. He felt sickened by holding it; a tool of death is what it is. But he had to use it, no matter how much he hated the fact. The only way he can make it up to them though was to live and repent for what he's done. He'll do naything to get his friends back anything...



1


Then something occured to him. he's past all of the obstacles, all of the trials that have got him to this point. He killed Cassie, he killed Tobs, his emotions. The people holding him back were gone and now nothing would stop Drew from going forth and winning Survival of the Fittest. Blessings in disguise, thats what they are, at least thats how Drew looked at it.

The countdown to the end has just begun.

Drifting.......Floating.....Falling.....Weightless.....

((Continued from: I swear it's everywhere, it's everything))

The ringing still hadn't left his ears.

Or, he supposed, his ear. As Adam Dodd stepped through the woods in a bit of a daze. Every so often, a trickle of blood would run down the side of his face and drop onto his jersey; in fact, the whole left side of it was stained in blood, thanks to the lack of any semblance of external ear. His eardrum had been miracuously unharmed in the gunshot, but it had hurt like hell, and had sent reverberations so far into his skull that he'd passed out almost instantaneously. It had been no wonder that the terrorist had figured him for dead - what with the blood that had been pouring out of his head and all. As he stepped along the path, almost unaware as to where he was going, Adam Dodd felt sapped. Completely drained, and utterly devoid of energy. He felt used. Of course, that was very aptly put, exactly what had been happened.

He'd been raped.

Adam still felt numb, as though he wanted to jump in some water and simply wash himself off, wash the grime, and the residue of the female terrorist off of his body. He felt so dirty, and he knew that the feeling would probably last for quite awhile, longer than any soap would be able to remove. Numbly, Adam though back to those last few moments...

He'd felt the woman on top of him, but didn't exactly feel anything at all, aside from a sense of disappointment. That, of course, was the only feeling that was managing to come through the layers and layers of walls that he'd erected upon his mind, already fragile enough from living through ten days of hell. But of course, as his body had collapsed and given in to the impulses and signals that he was experiencing, Adam was screaming at himself, yelling as loud as he could that things just weren't supposed to go this way, they just weren't.

Sex had always been something that Adam had figured would happen on his own terms, when he was ready for it. The fact of the matter was that he was sixteen years old, and certainly not ready for that kind of a relationship. Physically, maybe. Emotionally? Hell no.

Of course, as the woman had come to orgasm, and as he had as well, he felt as though she'd stolen a part of him, stolen something so very valuable from him, something that he'd never be able to retain. It was as though she was stealing a piece of him in her actions, and she'd eaten that piece of him, never allowing it to see the light of day again. Then, of course, she'd looked at him with that emotionless, almost icy stare that she had, and she'd aimed her pistol right at him.

Adam'd never been religious, he'd never seen the point in committing to one idea. As he'd stared down the barrel of that pistol, though, he'd wondered what was on the other side. He'd refused to shut his eyes, perferring the idea of meeting death head on, staring it right in the face. Of course, at the last second, her hand had wavered, and the bullet struck him in the side of the head, sending such pain through him that his body had just shut down.

He'd awakened about ten minutes later, still bound, his pants pulled down around his ankles, his head pounding and a ringing in his ears that was so fierce that he'd sworn there was some sick fucker with a siren hiding somewhere. Of course, after he'd taken a mental inventory, and taken a moment to scream out the word 'fuck' about twenty times as loud as he possibly could (which, given his circumstance, wasn't the smartest move), he began to try and work himself free of his restraints. This proved to be much more difficult than he had thought it might be. Luckily for him, though, they were simply fabric from a bag, and if he were able to reach his knife that he'd tucked in the back of his jeans, he'd be able to cut himself free. It had taken some serious stretching of his arms and his legs, and an intense pain almost all-round, but he'd finally managed to pick up the knife, and cut the restraints that held his hands in place. It'd been easy, after that, to cut the ones on his feet, and pull his pants up, as well as himself to his feet.

He'd been equally as shocked that the terrorist hadn't taken any of his things - she'd left his pack, as well as his shotgun in the places that he'd dropped them, and he'd scooped both of them up and attempted to press on, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. He'd realized, of course, that he was soon down to the singular form of the noun, when he'd felt something flowing from his face and put his hand to his ear, finding it to be gone. Adam had grimaced, and screamed in pain, almost collapsing to the ground. At that point, he'd stopped, and proceeded to find rubbing alcohol and pour it all over his head, causing his ear to burn, and again causing himself to scream out in agony. Of course, doing this would prevent the infection from getting too bad, and it also proved to curtail the bleeding a little.

So here he was, walking over to the waterfall, almost without much of a purpose, feeling as numb as he had since he'd discovered Amanda's body. Probably number. Of course, this time, anger hadn't flooded over him, and driven him to go after Kaige, on a mission of blood. This time, he'd simply sighed, and tried to continue on. He did, of course, feel like just sitting down and crying. He truly did. The only thing, in fact, that stopped him, was the announcement that he'd only been half-listening to, and the fact that Mr. Danya had finally mocked him back, and what was worse, made light of his rape. This hadn't infuriated Adam, but had simply just given him even more reason to become the last person standing. His emotions were being kept in check right now, and while he knew that they'd return to him in time, he still couldn't believe what had happened, and he felt so ashamed that he'd almost completely retreated inside of himself. All the while, he couldn't help but thinking:

It's the same as what happened to Madelaine...exactly the same...

...except that he hadn't died, something that he almost felt guilty about. Of course, it put him in the unique position that avenging her and Amanda's deaths at Cody's hand would be something he'd feel qualified to do, since he now knew what kind of private hell that he'd inflicted upon her.

Coming to the waterfall, he saw a boy, sitting with his back to him, holding onto a pistol, and washing his face in the water. Raising the shotgun, Adam resisted the urge to pull the trigger into the boy's back, and, like so many times before, called out to the boy.

"You playing? Then again, at this point, does it even really fucking matter? Most of us are half in the bag, anyways."

Drew looked over to the person who talked to him. Human contact? Is this another test? No its just another person, he dosn't seem hostile or anything but Drew decided to leave it then follow the urge which says to kill him. After what happened with Tobs he didn't wnat to have another emotional breakdown.

"Not unless someone attacks me..." he said. Drew choseh is words carefully, he didn't plan to create any shifty mood but he had to be cautious none of the less. Drew wasn't sure, his mindi sb roken in so many places. Its just a plain mess right now, but he pulled it togeather and still moved on.

Remember the plan, let everyone else kill each other.....

That was the gameplan, the map to hope. However Drew feared his plans would be screwed up by some dreadful twist. But he had to keep hope now and continue; He must defeat the test at hand in order to be worthy of life. Yes....Worthy of life.....

Adam shrugged as he walked down to the place where the water was, hoping to possibly wash the blood off of his face. He didn't have a mirror, but he assumed that he looked as though he'd been through an intense battle.

Who the hell am I kidding, I have!

"That's as good a way to look at it as any, I suppose."

Dropping his pack but holding onto the shotgun that he'd once again slung around himself, Adam leaned over into the pool of water, and plunged his head into the water. A cool sensation filled his face, and while his destroyed ear screamed in protest, Adam couldn't help but feel refreshed, at least a little bit. Raising his head out of the water, Adam shook his head a little, and ran his fingers through the grimey hair that hadn't been washed in some time. As his fingers travelled down to his face, he realized that the stubble that had lined his face was making the slow transition from heavy stubble to full-grown beard. Ten days, he hadn't shaved, and it was beginning to show. Letting the water drip down his body (some of it being red with his own blood), Adam then turned to look at the boy standing mere feet away from him.

"You wouldn't happen to be Cody Jenson, by any chance, would you?"

Cody Jenson...Cody Jenson.....It didn't ring any bells. The boy looked very gruff and very worn, to Drew he looked as if the boy had been attacked. That was probably the reson, everyone was being attacked nwo that its the final ten. The thought almost made Drew smile, shame shame he didn't die.

"My name is Drew......Drew.....Lynn..."

It took a second for Drew to remember his last name. he hadn't used it in what seemed like forever. He only remembered because the announcment said it if not he wouldn't have remembered. The space in hsi brain that held the knowledge of his last name was replaced by the knowledge of the island, Tobs, Cassie, and the enviorment around him.

"Why? Are you looking for him?"

Drew decided to make some conversation, he needed human contact other than fights and murders. He needed a normal conversation that would set him on the track to normal again; After all he didn't want to be thrown into a nut house when he got back home. He'd have to learn how to be civil once more if his life was ever to be 'normal' again.

Adam nodded. "In a manner of speaking, yeah. He raped and murdered a real close friend of mine, and then shot my girlfriend in the face, so yeah. I'm looking for him. I'm here to return the fucking favour with my shotgun."

Pausing for a second, he held out his hand to the other boy.

"Good to meet you, Drew. I'm Adam. Adam Dodd. You've probably heard my name about these announcements here and there. Apparently I've killed more people than anyone else, except for that terrorist. Who the fuck would've thought...? Hell, I should be returning some favours to that terrorist too. She almost killed me." Adam's voice had a hollow quality to it, something that was chilling, almost to the bone. This was a kid who had undoubtedly been through something very intense, something that was almost enough to destroy his spirit.

"Fucking bitch stole my ...'innocence'...as Chad would say." Adam shook his head. "Sorry, I'm just thinking aloud. Remembering friends, come and gone. There've been a lot of 'em, too. Lipson, died from lightning. Ain't that a bitch. Hawley, who took care of everyone but himself. David, who used himself as a distraction at the cost of his life. Good ol' Chad was lucky enough to miss this fun little trip. God, we were supposed to go to Florida. Believe that shit. Guess the weather's about the same, so two outta three ain't bad..."

Adam was clearly rambling, something ...off about him. He still looked the same, but his eyes were so much more haunted than they'd ever been. Clearly, he was just going on pure adrenaline.

"So...Drew. It's the final ten. Everyone's getting attacked left and fucking right. What're the odds that the guy I've been looking for, for the last like, four days, it seems, is still alive and well. By my count, if I've been listening right...well, there's you and I. Good ol' Sidney Crosby, who I got RAPED for, to save, damnit, he's still around. Lucinda Garnett, well, she's alive, because I haven't heard of her death yet. Who else...oh, my rapist. Yeah, she's alive still. Bet she had a nice little shock when she found out I wasn't dead."

Adam sighed a little.

"I'm rambling, I know. But I've just had my head twisted around, maybe like ten times. I feel as though I should be dead, but I'm not. I feel as though I know what my friends felt like before they died. Except, when they looked into the barrel of the gun and it was the last thing that they ever saw...I woke up with a Mick Foley makeover."

Wincing as he brought up his ear, he raised his hand and gingerly touched the destroyed piece of flesh.

"It's the final ten, and it just keeps getting more fucked up, you know?"

Drew just blinked as Adam rambled on. he wasn't prepared for this kind of conversation, but still go along with it. "I know what you mean...." he said as he splashed water on his face once more. He shook his hand and tryed to make a smile, but after what's happened it seems he's lost his nerve for that function in his face.

"I've been through some things with my friend. I don't know anyone in the final ten and I don't plan on returning any favours to anyone." he said looking at the clear water and hearing the rushing of the waterfall. "To tell you the truth I haven't really paid attention to the announcments....People are going to do anything to win now....." he said and a sigh.

The boy's mind started to get pieced togeather, his civil conversation part anyways. Slowly as the conversatino went on his mind became stiched with civilness, this is what he needed. Human contact. Non-hostile human contact....

"I don't plan on doing anything unless I am attacked. Even if I am attacked I'm not sure what I would do at this point. I'd just be preoccupied keeping myself alive...."

Adam chuckled a little at the forced-ly awkward conversation between the two boys. Upon meeting anyone for the first time, the odds were that conversation was bound to be awkward, but under these circumstances, with all that had happened - Adam couldn't help but find some insane sense of humour through it all. This boy seemed pointedly stuck on getting through the fact that he wouldn't attack anyone unless attacked first. Problem with that mindset was that if you got attacked first, and the first attack against you ended up killing you, then you were shit out of luck.

Of course, Adam wasn't about to point that out. He'd been surviving by simply measuring his options, and the pros and cons of situations. He wasn't about to kill anyone in cold blood - especially not when the game had first started, but now, it was different. Now, Adam was a changed man. He'd seen the horrors of war, he'd seen his friends' corpses pile up. Now, he was simply going on instincts. If he had to kill to keep himself alive, he probably wouldn't have a problem doing it - especially now that they were in the final ten group of people.

"That's good - don't do any favours. You'll probably live longer. God knows that I've been a lucky son of a bitch to get this far. I've seen my share of battles, that's for damn sure. An' ya know what? It sounds funny, but I'd seriously kill for a Coke and a big fat, fucking cheeseburger right about now. I'm just so tired of fighting, and I'm so tired of constantly having to look over my shoulder. It's like fucking prison-life."

Adam sighed deeply, grimaced a little as pain wracked through him, and then chuckled a little.

"Well, I guess that's my body's way of telling me that it's just about had enough of my bullshit. Which I suppose, it's got every right to. I've gone and gotten myself shot, stabbed, fish-hooked...I've lost so much weight in the past ten days that my clothes are almost falling off of my body...so if my body's finally starting to give in, I don't fuckin' blame it."

Adam looked at the boy, and picked up his pack from the rocks beside him.

"Well, Drew...it was good to get the chance to talk to you. If I do get out of here, you can be pretty damn assured that I'm gonna write some sort of tell-all about the hell that this was. But that aside - I've made it sort of a rule to not stay in one place too long. Also got that fucker Jenson to deal with, so...I'd best be on my way."

Taking a few steps past Drew, he turned around suddenly, and looked at Drew with a look of earnest seriousness.

"Hey, Drew? Next time - if there is a next time - that we meet each other, it may not be under the happiest of circumstances. You seem like a nice guy, so...good luck."

With that, Adam Dodd walked past Drew and out of the waterfall, heading for a destination that he silently hoped contained Cody Jenson.

((Continued in: The Original Fire has Died and Gone))

OOC: Okay y'all, that's it - I'm outta here for about a week.

Drew looked at him, not saying a word. He just let him go. Good, go get killed in the wild. He didn't really care at all. One less to go although it was nice to have talked to someone amidst the hell he's already been through. Like a normal person at least, it would be his first step to becoming civil once more. Normal, to be normal again.

Then reality sunk back in and the words that Adam has said sunk in, he decided that he should also not stay in one place. There weren't really that many places to go to left. Most of the island has become a danger zone, only a select few locations are left.

The boy picked up his things but not before splashing his face with the crystal clear water from the Waterfall. he went the opposite direction, he had a feeling that Adam would have certainly caused trouble and Drew's too close now to freedom to be careless. He went on in the opposite direction, vanishing into the jungle brush.

((Continued in: Gonna Stand Our Ground...))