Survival Of The Fittest

((Adam continued from: Starting Place for B#54))

As Adam Dodd collapsed on his hands and knees, he knew several things. The first thing was that he had succeeded in getting Amanda Jones out of the Warehouse and into safer territory. That much was obvious, mainly due to the collapsed girl with the shotgun similarily out of breath beside him. The second thing that he knew was that he was back at the river area, back at the scene of the crime. That crime being the murders of Marcus Roddy and Blaine Eno. For him, he knew he was guilty, and now that the announcement had gone off, so did everyone else. It was unfortunate, but it was going to have to be something that he dealt with. The third thing that Adam Dodd realized was that while he had returned to the place he had spent most of the day at, as the sun began to rise, he realized that he was indeed, not alone. Amanda was at his side, but just ahead of him stood four people, all looking somewhat armed. He couldn't make them out, but it seemed to be one girl and three guys, one wearing a hockey jersey, the others just seemed to be shapeless.

Man, if they come over and want to start a fight, I'm fucked. I can't even breathe...

Looking back, he wondered what had become of his other three allies...

Exhausted and winded, Jill doubled over as Adam and Amanda finally reappeared in her vision. Her hands fell to her knees and she stood there, struggling to breathe. For all the running she had done in track, she had never had to run that fast or that hard in such a short amount of time. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, causing a few strands of hair to stick to it. Still out of breath, she slowly approached the duo kneeling on the ground trying to regain their own.

Somehow, being around Adam just was not quite the same anymore. Her perception had changed a bit. He had killed someone. He had killed someone and yet he had lied to her about it. Or at least, she thought he had. But... as Jill recollected their encounter from earlier, her pitiful attempt to interrogate Adam about the blood all over his arm, and his reponses, she realized that he never told her he had not killed, either.

Part of her was fuming. She was angry, upset, and confused. She wanted to scream, yell, point fingers, and throw the temper tantrum of the century. Jill did not like lies, and she didn't like half-truths, either. Even so, he was one of her friends... and as much as she would have liked to do those things, Jill barely had the energy to continue standing, much less yell. Kneeling down beside the two, she fixated her eyes on the ground, feeling uneasy. Somehow, she didn't want to ask this question... she didn't want to know the answer.

"Look," Jill said, her tone seeming rather harsh, "You told me that you wouldn't kill anyone without good reason, right?"

Jill paused momentarily, still huffing lightly. Before she had kneeled down, she had not realized just how much exhaustion had taken its toll on her already. Placing her hands on the ground, she propped herself up lightly.

"And... I want to give you the benefit of a doubt, Adam. I really do, but..." her voice was becoming louder as she spoke, clearly showing her frustration at this matter, "I want to know why. Why'd you kill those people? What'd they do to you?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the two people sitting beside her. This whole situation had left her frustrated, confused, and feeling quite vulnerable. As she cast an uneasy glance toward the two, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A large group of people were standing some distance from them, and they appeared to be armed. Maybe these people were friendly. Or... maybe Adam had just lead them out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Madelaine had blindly followed Amanda and Adam in a swift run, coming to a winded halt as she dropped against the ground. She remembered running like this only a few hours before, escaping from certain death. At that time, Hawley and Amanda was with her...

Talk about a case of deja vu....she thought to herself wearily, looking around at her surroundings. As she took note of them, she thought further, And speaking of which....

It did not take her long to realize that they were back at the River, not long after departing it. All along, Madelaine had personally wished that they would never come back here, but as fate would have it, she was utterly disappointed.

It was as though the things that she had done and witnessed here would perpetually haunt her for the duration of her time on this island. She could see the forms of Marcus and Blain not far off, as well as the marker upon Hawley's grave. (It's still standing, she thought to herself, relieved. That's good...) And then, there was the corpse of her fallen friend, Nanami Nishida, proof of a death to Madelaine's name.

Her breathing shook slightly as she struggled to relax her nerves, struggling to clear the wave of guilt and despair that clouded her mind at the moment. She looked towards Jill, Adam, and Amanda.

Listening to Jill's harsh tones, and faintly recognizing the girl from the swim meet, she murmured slightly, "It wasn't his fault...he did what he had to do..."

At the edge of her vision, something caught her notice: A group of strangers, standing together. She looked towards them warily, wondering if they had just wandered into another perilous situation.

Fuck...

Adam winced inwardly as Jill began to lay into him about the information that she had heard during the announcement. He knew that it was coming. He knew that as soon as Danya spoke on the loudspeakers, that people would now warily look at him as a threat, rather than just 'that friendly guy from school'. And of course, his friends on the island that hadn't seen him yet...a lot of them might think that he'd gone crazy.

Well in essence, could they really blame me? I mean, look at the situation we're in. But regardless, that means that some of them might try and put a bullet in me...which doesn't exactly appeal to me...

As he gazed blankly at Jill, he was slightly aware that the blank stare he was giving her likely didn't help matters. In fact, if Adam had been aware of how much it was likely disturbing the other girl, he would have stopped. Alas, he was trying to muster up some form of explaination for his friend, and was surprised when Madelaine (who he hadn't even noticed had showed up) mumbled her own brand of explanation.

Thank god for that little seguway, but still, how do I explain this without making her want to kill me? At least, Marcus...

He figured that any explaination was better than none, and as such, set out to try.

"Okay, look...like Madelaine said..." He exhaled deeply. "I didn't have much of a choice. Blaine..." He stopped, his eyes closed as he recalled the scene. "Blaine was standing over Amanda, a meat cleaver, or axe, or something raised over his head. He began to bring it down, basically...well, my guess was to plunge it into her stomach. I mean, really...you don't stand over someone like that just to scare them. So I took out my gun and I shot him."

Adam wiped one of his eyes. The memory of what he'd done was strong, especially since they were standing before the very spot that the actions had been carried out.

"He got up and came at me with his axe, or whatever it was. Gave me this..." He indicated to his damaged arm. "I managed to get this baseball bat out of my pack; I'd taken it from someone's body earlier on, and I thwapped him across the head something good." He paused, although he figured it was more for effect than anything.

"Then I walked up to him, put my shotgun...the one that Amanda there is holding...I put it under his chin and blew his head off."

He looked at Jill, his eyes red.

"Marcus...Marcus was a different story. Marcus was a friend of ours. I don't know exactly what happened but he was tortured by some kid. I wish I knew who, I would have fucked him up right nicely, but he had some sort of head injury. Anyway, we kind of got busy doing other things; namely burying Hawley, and when we finished off, we realized Marcus was brain dead."

Adam grimaced at the memory, which, all things considering, wasn't all that long ago. Glancing over at the corpse of Marcus that was lying in the river area, he looked back at Jill as a tear ran down his face.

"So rather than have someone come upon him and torture him to death, or whatever..." Adam looked at the ground. "...I made the decision that he needed to be put down. Yeah, put down. Like some wild fucking animal. I know. It's ridiculous...but it had to be done. We couldn't just leave him there. He was as good as dead."

Glancing at Amanda, his eyes revealed the guilt that he was carrying on his shoulders.

"I can say it's not a decision that everyone agreed with, but hey, that's one of the perks of taking leadership, right? You've got to make the shitty decisions, the ones that not everyone likes, and you have to deal with the consequences."

Looking back over at Jill again, he wiped his eyes again. This time, though, his eyes showed the full burden of the mental mass that Adam carried upon him, and anyone looking into his eyes would likely be chilled to the bone at the sight that they'd see.

"So yeah. Before you judge me, before you say anything, trust me, I've said it to myself; I've judged myself ten ways from Monday. So...go ahead, think whatever you want to. Yeah, I told you that I wouldn't kill anyone in cold blood. I won't. Did I say that I hadn't killed anyone? No."

No, you didn't. Because then you'd be lying, and you'd be lying if you said you wouldn't kill anyone again. If the circumstances were right, you would, and you know it.

The sad thing was, that as much as Adam disagreed with many of the things that came from his internal monologue, he knew that in this instance, it was right. It was right, and no amount of yelling, screaming, carrying on, or anything else could change that. Shaking his head, he looked at Jill, squarely in the eyes.

"So there's your explaination. I don't know if it's what you were looking for, all I know is that it's the truth. So think what you will, because, god damnit, you asked."

If it suddenly ended tomorrow, well, I could adjust to it all. Good times, and ritches, and son of a bitches, I've seen more than I can recall. It's those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same. And through all of our running, and all of our cunning...if we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

And at that, Adam Dodd smiled a sad smile, and laughed to himself as he walked off to peer into the River.

((Continued from: Starting Place for B#54))

Having taken a bit longer than the rest (he’d never been much of a runner in school, then again he did go to a school where the main focus was the arts… not your health).

When he finally reached where the rest of everyone had stopped, he allowed himself to fall against his knees before leaning back a little, trying to get his breath back. Hardly noticing the group of strangers in the new distance…

At this point where he had come in though, had been in the middle of Jill’s questioning… questions he himself wanted to know, and sitting back behind them a little he listened as Adam began his expiation as to what led him to do such things as kill someone…

‘’e was trying to protect someone… and the other he did out of good feelings. Yes… ‘e did kill them, but ‘ell I still can’t find it in me to call ‘im a dirty, no-good murderer. Probably because ‘e isn’t…’

Watching as the other man got up and begun to walk away, Martyn found himself sighing a little as he bowed his head. ‘I thought I had it bad… coming onto this island not knowing a single person. Everyone from the school I had heard about,

I figured where the lucky ones…

they’d group together and be safe from everyone else ‘ere. But looking at it now… not even these people are safe… their own schoolmates want to kill ‘em. That has to be worst than anything… this Blaine and Marcus… could well both ‘ad been schoolmates of theirs as well. And they ‘ad buried someone.’

“If it means anything Adam.” He found himself starting slowly, glancing up a little as he adjusted his glasses. “I still just trust you… ‘ell my mates back ‘ome are probably calling me ‘bout crazy… but I trust you. You’ve been to ‘ell and back, and then right back it seems. And the fact you can still smile… even if it’s not now. I still believe you’re… a good person.”

As Madelaine wandered about the area to relax her nerves and calm her breathing a bit, she listened quietly as Adam explained himself to Jill, the things he did and the reasons behind them. Aside from providing a synopsis of the events she had played witness to, it was like a window into the burdens of Adam's conscience. She felt something sting inside her chest as the events were recounted, having reason to empathize with Adam.

After all, she had a death to her name...Nanami Nishida, her best friend. The announcement even said so. 'G26, Nanami Nishida, killed by her own best friend, Madelaine Shirohara.' Madelaine supposed that her new allies would put this to mind, once they figured out who she was. It was hardly a cheering thought, knowing that you'd be branded a murderer for the rest of your life, having to live with someone's death imprinted on your conscience.

In something of a reply to Martyn's comment, though talking to no one in particular, she murmured, "We're all good people. All of us....we've been through a lot. Everyone has. But I think everyone is still good at heart. Some are just stronger than most." She seemed to indicate towards Adam as she spoke.

"The thing is, these kinds of circumstances, they tend to bring out the absolute worst in people. It's not a sin or anything...it's just the instinct to survive, something that can't be helped anymore..."

As she wandered about, she found herself stopping before Nanami's corpse. Her fallen friend, now pale, as though completely drained of blood, lay motionless, the red stain on her uniform dired up. By this time, the pool of blood that had formed beneath her had soaked completely into the ground, leaving patches of red beneath her.

And to think... Madelaine thought with bitter irony. ...that only moments ago, you were cursing me, saying how much you hated me, and how you were going to kill me. Friendship is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

"And that's how it is in this game. It strips away all that you've got up front until only the bare essentials are left. That's what the real tragedy is. People aren't dying as the people that they anticipated dying as. We all die, that much is certain. The problem is that we're dying as these raw visages of what we used to be, of what we are underneath."

Amanda Jones stepped forward, shotgun in hand as she looked at the others in the valley. She had been perhaps the most opposed to what had happened with Marcus, and had left before she would have been a witness to anything. Amanda hadn't said much since they left the warehouse, and for her to open her mouth now, especially around the newer arrivals of Martyn and Jill, was something that she wasn't used to. She had become somewhat distant in the recent time, something that she attributed to the stress of her situation.

"Danya's constructed this game probably as a way to fight back at the United States, likely to make them see their children die. What better way to get back at those in power than to punish the innocent? So by broadcasting this on national television, he pushes an entire nation to their knees all at once, and in the blink of an eye. Such an act of terrorism isn't something that somebody who's sane would do, not at all. But then again, I guess that none of us were really discussing Danya's sanity, now were we. We were discussing our own."

Amanda paused, and watched as the group of four that was hesitantly making its way towards them came into clearer focus. Disregarding them, she continued talking.

"What Adam does or does not do is his own choice, really. He's been carefully weighing the choices that he's made for quite awhile now. What he's trying to do is trying to get everyone here out alive. We don't have any specific plan yet, but every action that Adam does is for the good of everyone. If he hadn't killed Blaine, Madelaine and I would likely be dead, and that's not the kind of outcome that I would have liked to have happen. Then again, that's just me. I can't say for the rest of you, but I'm pretty sure everyone here likes being alive, right?"

Amanda was about to continue on talking, when the group of four stopped suddenly. It became very apparent that they had not seen Amanda and her group, and now they were beginning to realize that they were not alone.

~~~

((Continued from: B121 - START))

Sidney Crosby couldn't believe his dirty, rotten luck. He wouldn't have normally considered such luck to be dirty, nor rotten, but the fact that he had essentially just walked into what could possibly be his last few moments on Earth was a fact that both scared him and pissed him off.

How the hell could I have been so dumb? I should have been looking, not just sauntering along like an idiot. Now I'm standing here in the middle of a big valley, and, oh look...there's about five other people here, and they've all got guns.

As he had turned a corner and accidentally wandered right into what seemed like a meeting between the afformentioned group, he had weakly held onto his knife, knowing that in a tense situation, his knife, Toby's drill, and whatever else Chance and Takara had probably wouldn't help against the shotgun that was now levelled squarely at his chest. The blood draining from his face, Sidney tried to squeak out the smallest of greetings, and it came out, betraying all of the emotion that he had been trying to keep off of his normally stoic face.

"Uh...hi...uh...please, please don't shoot me..." His eyes going to the knife in his hand, he dropped it right away, knowing full well that if the girl with the shotgun decided to pull the trigger, it would be curtains for him, knife or not.

What a day it had been for Sid the Kid. He'd been listening to the announcement earlier on, and the gravity of the situation seemed to truly hit him, and hit him hard. He'd had to run over the announcement in his head several times before he really understood what was happening, and was actually able to accept that kids were out here killing each other. Trying to remember the names of repeat killers, he'd only really remembered a few that stood out at him. A girl named Clemence, some guy named Adam Dodd, and another girl named Daphne who'd apparently died soon after. The way he figured, as long as none of them were in this group, he would be able to stay alive.

Although the longer that shotgun's pointed at you, the lesser the chance of that happening...

~~~

The emotions that Adam Dodd had running through his head were generally the kind of emotions that one saved for a rainy day, when you had a day off that you didn't need to worry about talking to anyone, and just sat down with a bag of pretzels and a good video game. At least, that was what Adam liked to do when he felt glum, and glum was definitely a word that could be used to describe the mindset that he was going through right now. He'd walked to the treeline that bordered the river, and was currently tossing stones into the river, reminiscing on the places that he'd been, and the experiences that he'd had.

If I don't do this before I die, then I won't be able to remember what my life meant, if anything at all. By remember who I've been, and what I've become, I can verify to myself that my time on this Earth was spent being useful, being someone who actually mattered.

As he tossed yet another stone into the rushing brook that stood before him, he heard some speaking and an unfamilar voice break into the area. Raising an eyebrow and removing a pistol from his pocket, he slowly moved back towards the pathway. Shaking his head, he mentally cursed to himself.

Damnit, I should've been paying more attention. Fuck, I saw that other group and I didn't do a damn thing...goddamnit, so much for my emotions not controlling me...

As he peered out towards the path, he instantly relaxed. He saw that it was only one of the other group that had accidentally wandered into the path of his group, and at this point, it seemed that the other boy was quite non-threatening. His hands were held up in a 'don't shoot!' gesture, and Adam could see the sweat that stained his grey baseball cap. This guy's nervous, though...if Amanda were pointing that shotgun at me, I probably would be too... As he studied the other boy, though, Adam couldn't help but think that he knew him from somewhere.

Quickly, he did a mental inventory of all the students he knew from Barry Coleson. This boy was certainly not among them. Then why was it that he seemed so familiar? Adam couldn't tell, not now, anyways. Instead, he stayed at his perch in the bushes and watched the situation play out. It'd be great if he could figure out who the boy was, but for some reason, his mind seemed to not be functioning correctly.

Damnit, this is going to bug me now...I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid, like get himself killed before I can ask him...hell, at least he's a hockey fan, that wins him points in my book...

As he noted the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jersey that the boy wore, he sighed. If nothing else, he owed it to the other boy, if only for the fact that he'd seen too much death lately, that he didn't want to see anyone else die. Reneiging on his previous vow to stay hidden, he stepped out from the bushes, his gun pointed carefully at the newcomer.

"Hey Amanda...put it down, I don't think this guy's a threat...poor guy's practically shaking in his boots..."

Adam then looked at his allies, wondering what the reactions would be on the faces of Martyn, Jill, and Madelaine. They'd been through so much already, now how were things going to go?

OOC: this is a post that I think needs to be here. Cody would be upset to know that he could have accomplished all his goals at once if he would have stopped here.


Roooaaarrrring from The Warehouse ((Starting Place for B#54)), by way of the woods along the river.


Cody let the announcement cycle over and over in his head as he rode. He only caught bits and peices of it, but from what he had gathered from the confusion in the warehouse, he had attacked two girls who were the property of one Adam Dodd, and he was a force to be reckoned with.

He killed the big one, the one I softened up. Even so, that kid would have been tough to take down, he was like a bear...

His name did not come up on the announcement, and for that he was grateful. He did not want his name blaring all over the Island, because if HE was here, HE would hear it. Cody wanted the total advantage of suprise in that situation.

HE is not here, that was a dream, you can't seriously believe a delusion you had while you were knocked out, can you?

Cody heard the pesky dissenting voice, almost a complete stranger to him know. It was his conscience, his rationality talking, but Cody had began to ignore it after his injury. It was especially unexpected in his current situation. Cody shook it off. The dream was not a dream, it was destiny. HE was here. Cody would find him and kill him. Then Cody would find and kill those two girls, and if the Adam kid got in the way, so be it. Cody loved challenges.

Cody once again found himself overly emotional, and tears began streaming down his face. He knew he had a long journey ahead of him, but the end would be so rewarding.

Sometimes, the juice is worth the squeeze, you know.

((Roaaarrring on to: Showdown at the Woods))

She had not said much since her interrogation of Dodd and the aftermath that had followed. What could she say? It was at that moment that Jill understood the full brunt of what had went on in this place. She had remained seated, even after Martyn had appeared and Dodd had walked off. Something made her want to apologize, but for what? She had told him that she had not lost faith in him, and she had told him that she believed him when he said he did not kill anyone without just cause... and she did.

If I were in that situation... what would I have done? Could I have let somebody kill the only allies I had, the most important people in my life at this point? No, of course not. But, could I have taken that person's life? I don't think I can. I don't think I'm strong enough to be here... not physically, not emotionally. I just want to go home. I just want everything to go back to normal. Not even a week ago we were all out at the movies having a blast and now... now we're forced to take the lives of the same people we saw every day in school and... and even kids that we don't even know. This is fucked up.

Jill brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head against them. She had dropped the terrorist-issued daypack a few feet from her, and she fingered the strap absent-mindedly with her left hand. She was a part of this game, just as much as Adam was... and Madelaine, and Amanda, and everyone else. She now recognized Madelaine vaguely. They were on the swim team together, but Jill had never gotten the chance to get to know her. Did it really matter now?

She remained silent, lost in contemplation, until the arrival of the new boy from the group the had been warily eyeing earlier snapped her back into her present reality. She was startled by his "sudden" appearance. She sprung to her feet, caught somewhat off-guard by the whole scenario. The new boy did not appear to be a threat, in fact, he looked more scared than anything. Still... Jill found herself wary of the newcomers. Even if they were not hostile... she glanced around at the ragtag band that had already assembled at the river. Adam, Amanda, Madelaine, Martyn, and herself already... it was quite a large group. And now, there were more coming. Even if they were friendly, was that really such a good thing?

The loud roar that echoed near the river distracted her momentarily. What was that noise? Inwardly, Jill hoped that it was not the sound of someone's weapon. It was a scary thought. Despite that, the noise came and went, and the ragtag band that she was with was still stuck in a not-so-promising situation. If the other three were hostile, a major fight could ensue. If they were not, then their group had a good possibility of becoming nine instead of five. Which was worse, really?

Martyn found himself listening lightly as both Amanda and Madelaine talked, he frowning a bit at coming to terms with the fact of how little he knew about this game, and how little he knew of what was going to happen to him in the future coming on this island.

Odd though… now at a time this, his parents and siblings where the first thing to pop into his mind, people he had hated and had more than happy to get away from when he had been accepted to Belenus. It had been well over two hundred miles from there home… He’d spend a majority of the year there, and only had to be around his family in the summer months.

Sighing a bit, trying to drain the thoughts of the people from his mind he relaxed into a sitting position against the ground. Moving off his knees, and removing the daypack from his back. Letting it slide against the dirt covered ground, glancing about a bit as the other three went about their own ways. Martyn shot Jill a quick look, wondering a bit to how she was handling Adam’s answer to her question about his reason for killing.

Martyn himself was still unsure on his viewpoint on it all… yes, if it had been his friends in the place of those two. About to be killed by some nut with an axe, he’d do everything in his power to keep it from happening… but would he be able to kill a person.

Just to end someone’s life on the drop of a hat?

Sighing a bit, “Probably not.” Was the only answer his mind would give to him at this moment, he glancing downward again as he began to fiddle around with the end of his jacket’s sleeve. Pushing away the world his was currently in, and diving into the memories of the life he had, had back home. But his was brought out of his thoughts when one of the boys he had remembered seeing in the other group earlier approached, and the Amanda girl quickly taking charge of the situation as she lifted the shotgun in her hands to the other one’s chest.

Gulping a bit, he found himself reaching blinding for his jacket pocket and grasping at the handle of the gun, but not bringing it out as Adam’s voice rang out, telling Amanda to drop her aim off him. Martyn almost sighing in relief over it, he personally did not want to see what someone’s chest looked like after taking a blast from a shotgun.

The roar of what sounded almost like the dirtbike of friend of his back home owned, allowed his attention to wonder off. Wondering as to who that had been... and what the hell did they have.

Madelaine quietly listened to the discussion on her own, saying not much, but still silently agreeing with Amanda. It was true that Adam had killed not once, but twice in the game's duration, but one case was simply for the sake of preserving the life of another. The other case was simply out of good intentions. Truly, that did not make Adam a bad person, Madelaine believed this fully. But then the thought occurred to her...what if she was just trying to make allowance for her own actions? After all, Nanami's death may as well have been prevented, but as for certain circumstances that took place at the time...

All in all, Madelaine simply did all she could do to stop Nanami from killing her friend, Amanda, and what resulted in that in the end was Nanami's death. How strange...it was as though through Madelaine, one life had been traded for another. One friend lives as another dies. Hardly the best thought to ease Madelaine's conscience, now burdened with the aftermath of her sin.

Her troubles were interrupted yet again by a newfound presence who had just walked in on their group. Seeing that Amanda had taken it in her own hands to see that the situation was more or less under control, she looked towards the newcomer with uncertainty. She felt a tinge of pity for the boy, remembering her own experiences at having the same shotgun being pointed at her. She remembered being in the boy's position, not knowing whether or not to trust, yet hoping that others would trust her. From what she could remember, it was hardly a pleasant position to be in, and quickly she found herself hoping that nothing unsightly would come out of this situation.

From somewhere behind her, Madelaine suddenly felt another unfamiliar presence. Immediately she swirled around to face the newcomer, drawing her gun and aiming it towards him.

"Oy...easy there," the lanky, light haired, youth told her. "This isn't the archery range anymore, you know."

It took Madelaine a while to recognize her fellow schoolmate. But once she did, her aim faltered slightly, and she felt a sense of relief swell up inside her. "Hey...Mr. Burton's son, Chance, isn't it?" she asked tentatively, smiling a bit. "Your father helped my family out lots..."

"Yeah, was hoping you'd remember me," he said, grinning towards her, with a calm expression on his face, despite having had a gun being pointed at him. "Fancy meeting you here, no? Relax, Sid here is a friend of mine, and so is Tobs somewhere back there." He motioned casually to Sid, who was looking quite frightened and tentative, quite the opposite of the cool and collected Chance. "Don't worry, we've absolutely no intention of playing."

Madelaine nodded to him. "Alright....I trust you," she said, feeling relief at having discovered yet another familiar presence on this island. Feeling elated, she looked towards the others, "Hey, guys...it's alright, I trust him."

((Chance continued from: Boy 121 - START))

Only moments after the first boy had appeared on the scene, another somewhat unwelcome sound was heard. It was the voice of a second boy, and he had apparently walked up behind Madelaine. Much to Jill's surprise, Madelaine had greeted the young man with an unusually warm welcome. Apparently, they knew one another. Looking the young man over herself, she could not quite place a name to his face. Then again, that was not so unusual, Barry Coleson High School was relatively large in size.

As Madelaine reassured the group that she trusted this newcomer, Chance, as she had called him, Jill felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Did this mean that they were going to take the other four along with them? Jill did not completely understand why she was so skeptical about the fact, after all, Dodd had pretty much accepted her into his little entourage with open arms, but somehow the idea of such a massive group moving around the island did not set well with Jill.

At this point she had positioned herself relatively far from the other group. Almost reluctantly, she picked up her dufflebag and moved toward them, finally settling on a position next to where Martyn was standing. Glancing toward him lightly, she could not help but wonder if he was having the same doubts, fears, and concerns as she was. Somehow she just could not bring herself to ask him, especially not while she was standing right in front of all the faces in the little crowd that was starting to gather around.

I must look silly. Here I am, looking all sad and worried, when we just met up with even more kids. More kids means a bigger alliance. Maybe together, we'll all find a way off this island. And then we can go home...

Home... it sounded like a distant and far away place from a fairytale, even now. Jill felt somewhat sad as she thought back to that place. Even if they went back now, things would never be the same. They would never go back to normal. What would happen if they ever did make it back to the United States? Fifty innocent high school children were dead now, and so many of the students had helped to kill them... including Adam and Madelaine... if they did go home, what would happen to them? After all, in some bizarre way, they had aided the terrorists... they had played the game to survive.

Beads of sweat rolled down Jill's forehead as she ran her hand over it and through her dark hair. There was no point in fretting over such trivial things now. Right now, she was safe. Sure, their group size had a drastic chance of nearly doubling, but there is safety in numbers, right? Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Jill forced a smile as she looked around the crew assembling in front of them. Two new boys were there, the Sid boy and Chance. Would their friends be coming along soon? Jill wondered silently if they were as friendly as Chance had been... or maybe as nervous as Sidney had appeared.

Looking with interest over the group he had just bumped into, Chance let out an impressed whistle, smiling towards Madelaine, "Quite a crowd you've gathered, and I thought you were the quiet, shy type." At this Madelaine blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head a bit, looking absently towards her friends, and smiling a bit herself.

"Yeah...I trust them," she remarked. She was on speaking terms with Chance, seeing as their parents knew eachother. They didn't know eachother too well, but they were still on speaking terms with eachother. Unfortunately, what with Chance travelling a lot, they've never had much time to associate with one another. Regretfully, Madelaine thought to herself subconciously.

Chance took it upon himself to introduce himself properly to the group.

"Hello there," he said cheerfully, waving a bit towards them. His sea-green eyes inclined more towards Adam Dodd. "Oy, fancy meeting you here, Dodd. We've met, haven't we?" This he added hopefully, wondering if the redheaded boy would somehow recognize him from school.

Madelaine knew Chance well enough to trust him to handle introductions on his own, so she turned away a bit and decided to wander off a bit, away from the large group. She was a bit uncomfortable when it came to crowds...even though it appeared that they were friendly, but still, there was also the trouble of travelling in a large group that came to mind, especially with the current circumstances.

Distancing herself away from the group, she found herself once again between the corpse of Nanami Nishida, and the grave of Hawley Faust. Both friends, both dead.

She gave an inward sigh, as feelings of nostalgia, remorse and pain welled up inside her. To think that only a few hours before, they were both alive and well, talking and breathing, speaking of their hope to leave this island alive... and to think that it took this much to demonstrate the fragility of life.

Letting out a soft sigh, Madelaine quietly looked towards the clouds above, letting her mind wander in silent contemplation. For sure, there was a lot for her to think about right now, especially while she had time to think of such things.

Madelaine, in her state of remorse and pensiveness, did not notice until the last second the dirty, bloody hand that wrapped itself over her mouth.

"Hey bitch, remember me?"

* * *

((ROOOAAARRRING from: Drifting...))

Cody found that riding was more meditative than he had first anticipated. His headache almost disappeared when he was concentrating on tearing through the woods. The wind shreaked in his ears as he rode, and his scarf billowed out behind him. He found the river again, and decided to follow it for a while.

Cody's head began pounding, and he felt dizzy. He slowed the bike to a stop, and realized that he was also gasping for breath. He felt a wave of nausea pass over him and jumped off the bike quickly, scrambling over to a tree. He watched as the water and bread he had just eaten not a couple of hours ago expunged itself from his body. As he leaned there heaving, he wondered if, perhaps, he was dying.

What if I...don't have alot of time left?

The thought frightened Cody. He did not think often about his own mortality because it WAS frightening to him. He began pacing, hands rapidly opening and closing. Between clenched teeth, he hissed "I'm not dying" to himself over and over again.

Aaaand I'm over it.

He decided to refill his water bottles. The river looked pure, and its not like there were any chemical contaminants in the area. It was also free flowing, which would keep the ecoli to a minimum. As he approached, he heard murmors of a large group off in the distance. He immediatly became wary, and drew his pistol, creeping slowly towards the whispering brook. As his vision swept through the trees around him, he cought a flash of brunette hair. His eyes widened, could it be...Lyndi?

You know there is no possible way she beat you here...

Cody crept closer. He noticed a small mound which she seemed to be directing her attention to. It looked like...a grave? No, it couldn't be. No one would spend that much time...caring. Especially in this environment.

Cody crept closer. He then saw that the girl that he was slowly approaching was a bit smaller in stature than Lyndi. His heart fell. As much as it was improbable, he had hoped...

Cody crept closer. She was in clear sight to him now. It was...Holy fuck. Cody stopped in his tracks. The girl that hit him in the warehouse. Cody's hands began shaking. He looked around, and saw no one else in sight.

What he was going to do with her...A thin smile crossed his lips at the thought.

Madelaine was suddenly shaken out of her contemplative state with a sudden jolt, as something suddenly clamped tightly over her mouth, forcing her head back a bit. She winced, almost forgetting to inhale. The scent of bloodstained flesh found her as she suddenly heard the low, ominous words behind her.

Wh-who...? She thought in a panic, wonder who in the world it could be. For a moment, her mind lingered back to that other boy, back in the warehouse...the one she had struck in the head with her Tire Iron....it was the only possibility, unless another event escaped her.

Oh God...If it was someone hostile...she was as good as dead.

In defiance, she struggled against the stranger behind her, her fingers plunging into her pocket to reach for the pistol in her hand. Struggling to get a decent grip as the gun threatened to slide from her fingers, numb with panic, she turned her arm back, struggling to aim blindly. She wasn't about to die now. Not like this.