Survival Of The Fittest

((Simon Telamon continued from And Knowledge Itself, is Power))

((Title of thread from "M4 Part II" by Faunts))

Simon had been alone for about thirty-six hours. Most times when he was alone, it wasn't much of a big deal. He was capable of finding people or some form of entertainment that could keep himself occupied. Of course, they had taken away his stuff, and reading the same book was getting kind of boring. The previous two announcements didn't really help:

"... Tyler Franklin tangled with the wrong cripple, and as a result, got a tire iron upside the head, compliments of Simon Telamon ...

... Mike Jeffries made the mistake of turning his back on Nick LeMonde and took a ... hunga munga to the back of the head ...

... Bridget Connolly managed to turn Mia Kuiper into a spitted marshmallow ...

... Rein Bumgarner and Gareth Griffith managed to bury themselves alive under a mountain of boxes and screws ...

... Liz Polanski's reign of terror is at an end. Some friends of mine caught up with her ...

... Teo Weinstock shot Maxwell Crowe through the head with a crossbow ..."

Things were getting better and better: practically everyone he'd met on the island was either dead or a killer, although being a member of the second group, it was more of self-preservation that caused him to worry about that fact, and the only person who'd managed to mess with Danya's group had been killed ... by members of Danya's group.

"... you can mark The Tunnels off your list for the rest of the game ..." Simon's eyebrows went up momentarily. The first permanent Danger Zone in the game. He crossed the Tunnels off his map as he approached the small building ahead of him. The first sight was one that should have made him a bit queasy, but didn't: the two dead bodies by the entrance, both with their necks blown apart. As he approached them, he noticed the note in the boy's hand:

Here lies the body of Ethan Kent. He's a genuis, no bullshit. He deserved better. I don't really give a fuck why you came here. But if you come in, don't touch shit and KEEP QUIET. DON'T SAY ONE WORD. Of course. Danya had mentioned that Ethan had smashed some cameras. The other girl, he had no clue of her identity. Simon just walked inside, unable to do anything about it, and looked around.

The place was a mess, as if someone had decided to go all party-animal and trash the place. As he looked around, he noticed two regualation bags: the first marked "FEMALE STUDENT #43 - FEO ELERI SMITH" and the second marked "MALE STUDENT #2 - ETHAN KENT." Feo's bag had the usual stuff: some food, water, first aid supplies, etc. He transferred all the stuff that he could use into his bag. Ethan's bag held most of the same stuff, as well as a pair of binoculars, although the first aid kit was somewhat used. All of those went into Simon's bag as well.

Everything else was a wreck, and Simon looked around again, looking into the cameras ...

"... Ethan Kent decided to commit a little vandalism and broke some cameras. I'm afraid he won't be doing any more of that ..."

Where were they? Danya said that the cameras were broken, but all the cameras here were ... oh wait. Danya had sent people onto the island to "fix" the "problem." Simon just sighed and lay faceup on the couch for a second. He was in a hot zone again.

((Madeleine Smith continued from White Sparrows))

Madeleine Smith was lost.

Well, as lost as someone with no set destination could be. After she had left Ivan and the others, she managed to find her way out of the woods. From there she wandered from place to place, being sure to avoid dangerzones and generally keep out of trouble. It wasn't much, but with any luck she would run into someone. Hopefully one of the people she was looking for.

Either way, she had not found anyone for the last who knows how long. She walked, resting here and there, taking small bites of bread when she could. The announcements came and passed, and neither Violet or Anna came up. The girl let out a small sigh, thankful that the people she was looking for were still okay, then immediately felt bad because of the rest who had been senselessly slaughtered.

Shortly after the announcement finished, Maddy found herself outside of a small building. Her breath caught in her throat slightly at the sight of the two bodies near the door, but she forced herself to take a few breaths and keep going. Cautiously removing her weapon, she unfolded it into position and snapped a magazine in place.

Madeleine walked up to the door, trying her best to not look at the bodies. Opening the door slowly with one hand, the girl entered the building, closing the door behind her with a small click. The area inside was a mess, but other than that, Maddy couldn't see anything from her perspective. After a few deep breaths, she called out to see if anyone was already there.

"He-hello?"

((And, with help from Inky: the return of Female Student #69 - Clio Gabriella!))

Simon had rested his eyes for a second, but it had obviously been longer than that. When his eyes opened again, the couch felt much warmer under him, and his body protested a little as he got up to look for the bathroom or something. He walked into what looked like a bedroom, single bed, and a nightstand with a mirror mounted to it. Simon approached the mirror to look at himself.

He was, needless to say, quite the mess. He was covered in dirt, sweat, and bruises, his hair was ragged (of course, he hadn't put a comb to it in over a week), and his bread-and water diet meant that his clothes were starting to become loose on him, and

Wait. What was that?

As Simon looked closer at his neck, he noticed a small seam in the collar, nothing too much, but just enough to be exploited with a key. His eyes went straight to his pocket as he reached for the key in his pocket and held it in front of him, as if it were some gold doubloon, and put it to the seam in his collar, wriggling it about for a few seconds, removing a panel allowing the wiring to become visible. As he inspected the wiring on the collar, he put his hands, making a wild guess on his life.

Well, here goes nothing ...

He pulled. Nothing. He looked for anything that would seem like a sensor, and pulled at the lead going into the chip, and then at the wire going into the other chip he saw.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Simon screwed his eyes shut, preparing for the inevitable explosion.

...

He opened his eyes and pulled at his collar. The thing fell off his neck and clattered to the ground as Simon just stared at the now-useless piece of metal that had shackled him, as one thought came to his head:

I beat the system. I beat the system right in front of Danya!

"Funny. Or ... not so funny. I thought you of all people could do this Simon, you loved computers."

Simon was about to laugh when a familiar voice rang out. He lifted his head to the person lying on her side on the bed.

"What the ... Clio? How, but how are you here? Did you manage to heal yourself or ..." Clio Gabriella, Simon's (ex-)girlfriend, smiled briefly.

"... and yet, you aren't that smart up there, Simon. You can't heal bullet wounds, honey." Clio got up from the bed and sat up on the edge, running her hand through her smooth hair.

"Then what's happening? I just got the collar off, and you're here, even though you got shot, so what would that mean?" Simon was stumped. He had seen the bullet wound, watched her die in his arms. Even with her standing in front of him, he couldn't fully believe it as he took a step towards her.

"Simon, Simon, Simon. Not to be blunt here, but there was a reason I didn't stop you from running a week ago. You're too ... nice. And innocent." Clio paused, as she thought of the right way to break the truth: "This is a dream, honey."

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation as hard as he could. Nothing. "Γαμώτο." (Shit) "Well, not so much anymore. I killed someone. Just like you did." Clio just smirked at that.

"You're not like me, Simon. You know that. I know that. You know and I know what happened there, but that doesn't make you any more like me. And ... I'm sorry. I'm just sorry that you of all people had to do what you did. Like everyone I killed, I just got that little bit closer to knowing that sooner or later, I'd run into you again. First few days, it didn't bother me, but ... I started thinking. You made me happy, Simon. I never told you that, even ..." Clio lifted her shirt to reveal the bullet wound, now infected from being left untended to for about two and a half days, before letting it drop, "... when I died."

"Nice." Simon laughed without any humor. "So the one person whose ... life, or experience or whatever for the past week that I've improved is still dead. Almost everyone else here is either dead or a killer, myself included. So what happens now?" Clio's expression changed momentarily as she thought about the situation.

"Well, what do you want to happen, Simon?"

That answer was obvious. "I want to go home. But it would probably be stupid of me to say that I want to do it without adding to the body count with Maxwell Lombardi, Reiko Ishida, and other psycho killers I don't care to name running around. I could remove the collars, but with a death squad having killed the only person to even come close to doing it, that's out, too."

"This doesn't have to be a game of killing, you know. I chose that path, and ... well, it didn't turn out too good for me. And I assure you, it's not going to turn out good for the others either. They'll grow weak, they'll tire. They'll become too injured. And when it comes down to it ... they decay. But you can't take that road, Simon. You're not cut out for it. Just ... "

"Save the others? Wait it out? What if they don't want to be saved if I try to?" Those were really the only other two options left, and he didn't feel like stating that both of those seemed equally impossible. Clio must have known because she laughed incredulously at those ideas.

"Save them? You know better than that, Simon. How many friends do you have left here? Name them."

Simon wrack his brains to look for someone that qualified as a "friend." Stacy Hart ... no, she was dead. JJ Sturn? He was just barely an acquaintance, and he was dead anyway. Nick LeMonde actively tried to kill him. "Ray Dawson. Maybe. It would be the new guy and the computer geek, so yeah. Anyone I could consider a friend is either dead already or would actively try to kill me if they haven't done so already."

"Does he look like someone who needs saving, Simon? Is he worth your effort?" Simon furrowed his brow at that question. They'd been kind of the same in some ways - they'd never really talked to each other.

"N ... no. It's unnecessary at best, and at worst, he's just waiting to pounce."

"See? That's all you want to save, someone who can look after himself So why do it? You don't want to be a killer, you've learnt that. And you don't need to save anyone. So ... what's there left for you to do? I can think of several things, one of which ..." Clio slunk around behind Simon and whispered into his ear "... could be to join me if you like."

That was her idea. To end it right now on his own terms. At that moment, Simon's thought of the idea was "Hell, no." But then, the way she said it, it seemed valid, and almost right.

"Well, it seems that no matter what I do, that'll be the case." Simon turned to face Clio again. "You've hit the big question: now or later? Just give me the ..." He looked out the window, but then he realized that if he was dreaming, then it didn't matter what it looked like outside. "... whatever time of day it is right now to think about it." Simon looked down, then kissed Clio on the lips. It held for about five seconds before their lips parted. Clio just smiled and kissed him back as they embraced, and fell towards the bed.

Thud. Clang.

Simon looked at his surroundings as he opened his eyes and sat up. The couch, the tire iron were all there. He felt his neck with his hand to feel the cold metal that had been there for eight days, and only one word came out:

"Γαμώτο!" (Shit!)

Madeleine flinched as she heard someone yell out angrily. She didn't know what language it was, but they sounded upset about something. The girl stood at the threshold, weapon in hand, unsure of what to do. They sounded male, so they probably weren't Violet or Anna. This caused her to sigh. Another dead end. Still, maybe the person would have some information for her, so it couldn't hurt to talk to them.

"He-hello?" She called out again. "This is umm... Maddy. Smith. Umm.... C-can I come in?"

Wow, that sounded stupid. Maddy shook her head, trying to get rid of her nervousness. She didn't need someone trying to take advantage of her cause she was scared or something. Not that anyone would do that. Besides, she had a gun, and she'd used it already. What would stop her from using it again?

No. No, she needed to stop thinking about that. One was more than enough for her. If she hadn't killed Jonathan, then she wouldn't have to be looking for Anna. Because he'd still be alive. She let out another nervous sigh, waiting for a response from whoever was inside the building already.

"He-hello? This is umm... Maddy. Smith. Umm.... C-can I come in?"

Maddy Smith. As he got up and collected himself, Simon racked his brains for about a minute trying to figure out who that was, at which he remembered where it came from:

"... Next to go down was the one and the only Jonathan Jarocki, who somehow got it into his head that running around and yelling and firing his gun like some kind of cowboy was a good idea. Miss Madeleine Smith proved exactly why that was not the case." It explained why it took Simon so long to remember - that was Madeline's only kill, way back on either the first or the second day. That probably meant that she wasn't killing people on sight - one kill over eight days in this situation, especially when the kill was early on.

Simon picked up the tire iron and held it in his right hand as he adjusted his bags with his left and walked toward the door to notice the short girl and her gun.

Whoa. Okay, almost definitely not killing on sight. This was simply wishful thinking on Simon's part, as if it turned out that Maddy, as she called herself, decided to start shooting, he would almost certainly die, giving the large, mean-looking gun she was holding.

Don't piss her off. She won't attack you if you don't piss her off.

"Yeah. Go ahead. Only wish I could have been here for the party."

((Gracie Wainwright continued from Aching Chest and Blurry Sight ))

Gracie began to breathe easier the further she got away from the destroyed cell tower. They'd had a new addition to the group and Gracie still wasn't sure what she thought of the girl. She knew that she didn't like sharing her boys. Gracie smiled a little to herself, she wasn't sure when she'd decided they were hers, but they were.

She made her way down the mountain and saw a structure in the distance. On the off chance that lightning would strike twice and she would find water again, she headed that direction. She hoped that it wasn't already occupied, considering the last two times they'd met up with fellow students someone had died. She glanced down at her clothes and pulled at them noticing for the first time how baggy they'd become. Maybe the building would have a mirror and she could see just how much weight she'd lost.

Gracie focused on these thoughts instead of the fact that at least two of the people she was traveling with murders. And the fact that even though she knew this she was still traveling with them.

The building finally came into sight and Gracie could just make out movement from inside. She sighed. "Here we go again," she muttered. Heading for the door, she opened it knocking on it as she came into the room.

"Hi," she said with forced brightness.

((Inactivity avoidance post - will change as dictated))

Simon just looked at Maddy, when he heard a knock and a voice

"Hi." A girl. Didn't sound familiar, but that could mean anything. He peered over to the source of the voice.

Maddy hesitated a moment before entering the building a bit more, still keeping her distance from the other boy. Something about him told her to stay away, her grip on her weapon tightening. There was a lingering silence hanging between them, as the girl tried to find the words to break the silence.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the silence was broken by a third voice from outside. Maddy turned her head towards the new voice, silently cursing herself for getting in such a situation. She needed to figure out how to get out of there, before something bad happened.

"He-hello." Maddy said to the new voice, trying to act friendly, while still looking for a way out.

((Nick LeMonde continued from Aching Chest and Blurry Sight))

Nick walked hand in hand with Jessica behind the group. He held onto her protectively. It was nice having her with him. He knew she was safe like this. It was also a change in company, it was someone who knew him from before his life was a whirling mess of blood and blades. She knew the Nick from back home. When he looked at her, it was like he was back there for a second.

But that was only one half of it. The other half of it was that she would find out what he'd done. There was nothing wrong with what he'd done, no, not at all. He was just following the rules. Not everyone would see it like that though. It was impossible for him to know how she would react to something like that. Not letting on while trying to be protective was like a complicated juggling act.

Gracie went first into the shack they saw up ahead. Nick stepped carefully over the two dead bodies at the entrance.

He peeked in after Gracie, making sure the bulk of his broad body was in front of Jessica in case there was some attacker inside.

There was no attacker but it didn't take him long to conclude that his juggling act had just spilled all over the floor. Nick stood in silence, unsure of what to do now that they were face to face with Simon again.

((Cisco Vasquez continued from Aching Chest and Blurry Sight))

Hungry, check.

Tired, check.

Probably infected with something, check.

Paranoid, double check. Or was that uncheck. Justified paranoia was about as much an oxymoron as a pair of words could get.

"Then, Joe Rios exploded onto the charts, using a scythe to rip and reap Mike Maszer and Alan Rickhall."

There was absolutely nothing in Mister Danya's typically blunt wording of his daily announcements of who died at whose hand that did anything at all for a former second-string goalie that feared being reaped by the visual manifestation of the Grim Reaper. That such a manifestation actually got rid of his once-arch-nemesis quite violently only meant that he could now focus his attention solely on evading Death for as long as his body would carry, as compared to having to worry about more than one entity or manifestation after his immortal soul.

It had especially gotten to the point where this traditionally nihilistic second-string goalie now actually believed there was such a thing as a soul, let alone something he would guard with the pathetically-disguised weapon he lovingly referred to as his "sweet music." But that tended to happen to folks already three times delusional even before fatigue.

His walk was already starting to stagger, a grim pallor had begun to set in on his face.

But Cisco Vasquez at least tried to look like he wanted to keep going even after there was no "soul" left to keep him going, as he staggered toward the ranger station from up in the mountains. The only thing that gave him any direction were the others leaving what was apparently now a dangerzone.

It was ironic how he believed he needed company so badly to keep himself from running into a shapeshifter.

((Teo Weinstock continued from Aching Chest and Blurry Sight))

Teo had allowed Gracie, Nick and Jess to move ahead of him. Still in sight but far enough away to give him some space to think. It wasn't smart to increase their group size. Not for Teo anyway. Eventually they'd have to kill each other and someone teaming up against him at that stage would be bad. He took another bite in to the loaf of bread looked from Mike's backpack. It wasn't too long before he decided that he would need to separate the two or strike out on his own. That set another problem in Teo's mind. Gracie. What would she do with her? She seemed more than keen to play the role of the scavenger but now that they had to step up their game as it were Teo wasn't sure Gracie had the will to make a kill. His train of thought was interrupted by spotting the Ranger station up ahead and more important Gracie pushing the door open without even scouting the perimeter and Nick followed her.

You would think she would of learned by now and Nick! What are you thinking? Teo exasperatedly thought to himself. Breaking in to a sprint the boy leaped over an interceding rock to swing straight in to the Ranger station. Gracie was still alive but as Teo's eyes took in the room his eyes narrowed. Maddy was to one corner, someone he would not normally put down as a threat, but that submachine gun in her hands changed that immediately. The other person in the room was a totally different story. Teo let out a breath and felt his adrenaline kick in. Simon Telmon. The warehouse. He needed to think fast. His crossbow was still by his side and the room was far too small anyway. He could probably grab that gun from Maddy but that in itself had problems.

"Maddy, Simon's a killer! Shoot him."

Teo wasn't too confident in Maddy's resolution but hoped Nick or Gracie would subdue her if she decided to open fire. He would have to deal with Simon, subdue if if nothing else. Simon was a wrestler, but Teo had seen him fight before. Slow and methodical, looking for the grapple, relying on brute strength. Teo had 15 pounds on the boy and all of it muscle and he knew how to take down someone quickly. There was a little risk here but he was confident. Teo was playing and playing to win.

He lunged.

((Josée Trembley continued from The Awkward Moment When You Realise That Everyone You Love is Dead.))
((Sorry I'm late, Josée had to find out that her brother and best friend had died by hearing the seventh annoncement; and in doing so I've probably caused a massive time paradox but... Ho-hum, on with the show.))

It had taken a whole day of relentlessly running around in circles in a wild panic, looking for them. She wouldn't be able to bear it if that idiot Teo even laid a finger on Cisco, Cisco has done nothing but suffer during his time on the island, and in his current condition, it didn't seem like he would last long alone. But finally, Josée had finally found them. They seemed to be breaking into a small wooden house. Probably looking for more people to kill. Trying not to be spotted, Josée squinted at them in the distance, she could just about make out the figure of Cisco, still clutching his record, that was a good sign, it was doing a wonderful job at keeping him sane. But sanity was never any good to a dead person. Josée would have to act fast.

Waiting until they had all entered, Josée approached the door and stealthily leaned against the outside wall.

"Maddy, Simon's a killer! Shoot him."

Josée was slightly relieved that they didn't seem to be focusing on Cisco for the time being but it meant that it wouldn't be long until they open fire, and something told Josée that if a gunfight were to break out, Cisco wouldn't exactly be considered a civilian. Josée had to think fast, she could use this time to get Cisco out of the group while the others were distracted, but if Teo spotted her, then they would both immediately get their heads on the firing line, but if Josée did nothing, then she was sure that they would kill Cisco anyway, Josée refused to leave him behind, she would keep her promise and defend him to the death, if he was going to die, Josée wanted to die right by his side and at least say that she didn't run away when an innocent, insane boy was left to die at the hands of a real killer.

Keeping against the wall, Josée could see Cisco at the back of the group, the others all had their backs to the door, Josée had to make her move. "Cisco." she hissed as quietly as possible, hoping to get only his attention. "Cisco; it's me, come on." she gestured towards her frantically, sweat pouring down her arm and forehead. "Hurry, let's go before they hear me."

"He-hello." Maddy replied nervously. The new girl didn't seem like a threat - of course, she hadn't done anything yet aside from entering the building, nor had he heard of her in school, so it wasn't like Simon had anything to go by. However, Simon did have some data on the next person to enter the building.

Nick LeMonde. Had some weird sword and tried to use it on Simon way back on the first day. The head start that Nick had given Simon meant that there was a very small chance that Nick could be persuaded to back down.

"Maddy, Simon's a killer! Shoot him." And then Teo Weinstock entered the room. For the one second in between Teo's statement and when Teo charged towards him, one thought flashed through Simon's head.

Wait - Teo's telling Maddy to kill me based on the fact that I'm a killer ... when both he and Nick fit in the same category? As far as Simon knew, neither Mike Jeffries nor Maxwell Crowe had gotten even one kill, yet had been killed by Nick and Teo, respectively. Then came the next thought:

Teo's trying to kill me! I have to stay alive! Two or three days ago, Simon would have had no choice but to attempt to wrestle with Teo. Now, he had a different way to fight back: he stepped to his left and swung the tire iron in his hand directly at Teo's head. Teo quickly moved his right arm to block the blow, causing the tire iron to strike Teo's forearm, as Simon awkwardly stepped out of the way, gripping the tire iron in front of him in both hands, keeping an eye on both Teo and Nick, looking for a way out.

One after another, more and more people managed to find the building. With each new person entering, that was one more person Maddy would have to go through to get out of the house. She had a feeling they wouldn't let her go quietly. She was starting to feel a little nervous, but managed to keep herself in check.

Until one of them mentioned Simon was a killer. But so was she. It had been a long time granted, but she still killed that Jarocki kid. Not to mention she recalled hearing one of their names, Teo as she recognized him now, on the announcements as well. The fact that he was still standing narrowed down why pretty easily.

She didn't get much time to think before the mayhem started. Teo attacked Simon, who started to fight back. The other people were still at the doorway, and considering they were with Teo, that probably meant they were on his side as well. Would they attack her? She was holding a pretty dangerous weapon, not to mention they might assume that she was on Simon's side. There was no way of telling right now, so all she could do was wait and be ready. Just in case.

Standing there looking at Simon in those seconds was terrifying. His heart pumped so hard he could feel the beats in his palms and it felt like every inch of him was vibrating. His grip on Jessica's hand squeezed to a painful grasp. Finally Teo told the girl with the big honking gun that it was Simon who was the killer.

Was he a killer? It was impossible to remember with all those names listed off everyday. Maybe he was. All that mattered to him was that it gave everyone an excuse to rush into action without time to talk through what may or may not have happened. Jessica would leave him if she knew. Simon had to be quiet. Teo could make that happen. And Nick? Nick could help.

"Jessica! Watch out," he yelled and shoved her out the door at two people who were waiting just outside. They were the two from before. Nick slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, panting. He pulled the sword out and stood at the ready.

While standing in that cabin and looking at the fight, a series of unpleasant thoughts ran though his head. He shoved Jessica out to protect her. Or did he do it to protect himself? What if she was hurt now that they were separated?

No, there's a girl with a gun and a guy I know doesn't like me in here. She's safer out there. It was for her. True, I can't have her in here in case he talks, but it really was for Jessica. I'm not a selfish person. I'm good. I....I....It was for her.

He stood next to Gracie with his feet planted wide and the sword poised in front of him. His eyes narrowed at his former teammate.