Survival Of The Fittest

((Lana Torres continued from Friends 'til the end))

The weather wasn't the best for it, but it was worth a shot anyways.

Lana stood on the rocks lining the coast, fishing reel in hand. The float remained several feet in front of her, being tossed around by the tide. She was somewhat nervous about falling down into the water, due to the fairly high tide at the moment, but she was careful enough, she was sure.

It had been a while since she had fished. The first time she had gone was a long time ago.



Her parents were protective of her, but they wanted to give her a happy childhood. So one summer, before she was in fifth grade, they planned out a camping trip. Lana, of course, was excited. There were plenty of places to hike, as well as a fishing hole. The car ride had been long, but once she got out she was bouncing all over the place. When it came time to set up the tent, Lana happily helped. A lot of the things still needed to be set up, though her father said he had everything.

Her mother smiled at her and said that it was a good moment to go down to the fishing hole.

When they had shown up, the afternoon sun was still hanging very brightly. Mother had taught her how to cast a line. Flick it over your shoulder, she had gestured, and try to avoid the hook. After a few tries, she got it. All they needed to do was wait for the fish. It was very calm, very peaceful, as the world had gone on. The water was serenely still, like a glass mirror.

Sure enough, she felt a tug. Her hands pulled the line, and out came a fish.

Lana proudly displayed her catch to her mother, who nodded and smiled.

That was a good camping trip.



She just never thought that the next time she would go fishing would be... something like now.

It had taken Lana a bit to remember what her mother had taught her that afternoon. But after recounting it a bit, she had remembered. Put the bait on the hook, flick it above your shoulder, wait for a fish. It had been a while, but it wasn't difficult. She just wasn't sure if they could catch something. If they did, could it be something edible? Lana didn't know much about what kind of fish would be here to begin with.

But both of them needed something other than the energy bars. Not just for nutrition, but for comfort. It had been a rough few days.

Lana had become more aware since the field, but sometimes she still felt herself blanking a bit. Sometimes she wonder whether or not she was getting used to the situation she and Stephanie had found themselves in. There was something disturbing about that.

Yesterday in particular was particularly harrowing. Once more, Lana had sat as close as possible to the nearest intercom, and listened. There was some sort of confirmation that Ilya had found himself in trouble. She didn't catch the name, but she knew what it meant. And much like her, the island knew what Stephanie did to Brian.

It wasn't helped by the sick joke their captors pulled on them. Before they rattled off the names, they told them that since no one had died that they were going to detonate their collars. A long moment had passed, but soon enough it was clear that they were just being cruel for the sake of being cruel. Then again, what did you expect from them at this point?

As the ocean went on around her, she tried to think. And she remembered a bit.

Ilya was on the wrestling team, much like her. They had grown close over time, and she told him about what she liked, and in turn he told her. One birthday he even commissioned a work for her: a bat and a bear, wrestling. She had enjoyed it a lot, and kept it on her wall. Ilya was a dedicated member of the team, she remembered. He had traveled all this time with him. Something still gnawed at her, how she left him to die.

Brandon Baxter was on the announcement too. Lana wasn't able to figure out if he killed or if he had been killed. But she did remember him too. Brandon was someone who she often worked out with. Sometimes she would see him in the gym, and they would talk while getting some exercise in. Both him dying and him killing didn't seem like a good outcome.

Mike, Mike. Her and Mike worked in volunteering to help others with hearing problems. At first, she wasn't sure if she was going to prom, but it had come up in a conversation with him, and they agreed to go. It was nothing extremely special, like, nothing romantic. Just two people going together. She was going to miss him too. He was a good guy, she recalled.

And Dave. Oh god. She was going to miss him too. He was her ex, after all. Did he still resent her over what happened at Starbucks? She had no clue that he wanted to go to prom with her. If she had known, she could have. And he was gone, too. She never got a chance to patch things up with him. Never again would they even talk.

Looking back, she didn't just want to patch things up. Maybe she still had feelings for him and didn't notice.

That wasn't even going into Brian and Venice. The memories of what happened to them stung even now. Venice collapsing to the ground, Brian falling off the balcony. It wasn't pleasant to remember.

It almost felt like her and Stephanie were the only ones left sometimes. There were still people out there, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to see any of them right now. They would probably react the way Ruby did. Maybe it was better if it was just the two of them.

Lana and Stephanie hadn't talked much after the left the gates. She understood what she was feeling. Lana herself had been there. But she kind of felt like she needed to say something. But what?

There was something relaxing about fishing. Lana always felt better when she had something to do, whenever she was stressed out. Perhaps they could catch two fish, if they were big enough. One for her, one for Stephanie. They could cook and clean them somehow, and they would have something other to eat than what the terrorists gave them.

Lana looked up. She was still a little concerned about the weather. It was looking somewhat grey out, as if it was going to rain. If it rained, she wasn't sure where they could hide out. Perhaps one of the caves? Was that safe?

((Double-posting to ward off inactivity. Excuse me))

You know, Lana had a lot of regrets. She regretted how things went between her and Dave at the Starbucks that day. She regretted how she hurt Venice. She regretted how Stephanie had to shoot Brian. She regretted how she had ran away from Ilya when he needed her most.

Most of all, she regretted being so weak.

Lana hated being weak. People wanted to dote over her, but she didn't want that. She prided herself on doing well at athletics, and how she at least tried to keep a cool head. But she was so powerless to stop anything. In the end, she was weak, and that's not what she wanted.

There were many options to stop being weak. But none of them seemed realistic.


She should stop on that train of thought. Instead, she should focus on fishing some more. It was still very relaxing, having something to do. At least she could do something, like get her and Stephanie something to eat instead of ration bars and crackers. It was strange what you took for granted sometimes.

The ocean still raged on near her, only seeming to get worse by the moment.

Stephanie, she wasn't sure what she could do. It was just the two of them right now, and frankly, it was going to probably be that way for a while.

((Stephanie Chan continued from Friends 'til the end ))

It had been a hell of a day.

When she was running she did her best not to think. It was easy to not think while she was running, since it took all her energy to just keep going, her laboured breaths escaping her body as she tried to keep up with Lana. While she was running, while she was moving, everything else seemed inconsequential. Maybe that's why so many people ran as a hobby. Stephanie never understood why people put themselves through it, but maybe now she could see where they were coming from.

When the finally did stop, the thoughts began to trickle in. The fact that she had most likely killed someone, and that she had done it so easily, scared her. She couldn't confirm that he was actually dead, not until the announcements happened. At the very least, he was seriously injured. Due to her own actions. The idea scared her, but she didn't mention anything to Lana. She wasn't sure if there would ever be a "right" time to talk about it, but it definitely wasn't right then.

Few words passed between the two, other than where they should go next. They determined that trying to put Stephanie's "weapon" to use would be a good idea. They camped out for the night rather uneventfully near the lighthouse area. The announcements woke her up, and confirmed that she had indeed killed Brian. Part of her knew she should feel bad, and she did, but there was another part of her that was relieved to finally know. She also heard Ilya's name, and while she felt really bad for him, her rational side told her that if they had stayed then she and Lana would just be two more bodies. The thought didn't make her feel any better. The dangerzone cleared, and now they were here.

Stephanie watched Lana, fishing rod in hand, no doubt lost in her own thoughts. The clouds overhead threatened rain, and with the currents as restless as they were, she wasn't sure if they were going to catch anything. Even so, it was nice to be away from it all, with no one around but themselves. At this point it really felt like it was them versus the world. She wasn't sure if she liked that, but at this point it was what they had to deal with.

Standing up, Stephanie walked over and stood next to her friend, watching the float get buffeted by the waves. She felt like she should say something, but she wasn't sure what she could even say at that point. So many thoughts came to mind, and none of them seemed right. In the end, she decided to go with the easiest route.

"How are you holding up?"

Lana had still been lost in her thoughts, so when Stephanie approached, needless to say she jumped a bit. Stephanie was harmless. Okay, not harmless, but not willing to do anything to her, that was a better phrasing. And yet, she still was startled. Was it always going to be like this? Jumping out of her skin at every little thing? Probably. Her entire life, even if she made it home, was going to be like that.

It was good that she didn't slip off the rocks, or let go of the rod, though. Letting go of the rod meant losing it in the depths, while slipping down might have meant- anyways.

How was she holding up? Still scared, still out of it sometimes, still regretful. Sometimes she was better than she was before, but other times she... wasn't. She knew how things were. Even now, sometimes she would still space out, unable to process everything around her.

Nothing seemed good, really. It was all a mess, and she knew it. It was the sort of mess she couldn't fix.

"I'm fine", she replied simply.

She focused on the float dancing in the waves, tossed about without a care.

After a bit of thought, she asked "You?"

Stephanie couldn't have been doing well after the gates. Lana knew how it felt, using that gun to hurt someone. It... wasn't a good feeling. Sometimes she would still see Venice when she closed her eyes. And yet, the temptation was still there. It was burrowing into her. Lana knew how taking a life was hard, so Stephanie doing it on purpose must have been worse. They hadn't talked too much at all since they first woke up at the aviary, she realized. That realization made things worse. What if Lana ran away from Stephanie like what happened at the hotel? Or the other way around? No, Stephanie wouldn't do that, or at least she thought.

Perhaps, as she thought before, it would always be the two of them from this point onward. Could she live with being that alone? Could she live with someone coming after them for Venice or Brian? Could either of them? It was a thought that she didn't like dwelling on, but there it was.

Part of her hoped that Lana wouldn't ask about her well being, but then again another part anticipated it. Stephanie had spent the last few hours thinking about how she felt. She was no doubt a marked target now. The announcements made certain of that. No one would believe her that it was in self defense. She wasn't even sure if what she did even counted as self defense, she was just trying to protect Lana. At the very least, she knew Lana wasn't going to attack her. She had plenty of opportunity for that and it hadn't happened. Chances were no one else would give her that.

She stood silent, watching the fishing line sway as the waves crashed against the rocks. She wasn't sure exactly how to answer the question. A lot of things had happened, and things were only going to get worse from here. They had both killed someone. Someone with friends and loved ones. Someone who was never going to go home again. They wouldn't get a proper burial or anything. Such was the fate for everyone except for one of them. How was one supposed to feel in this situation?

"Scared." She finally said. She didn't know how to follow it up, but that was the main emotion she was feeling right at that moment. She looked up at the sky, the clouds getting darker by the minute. They seemed to threaten rain, which would be unfortunate for them if it happened. As soon as that rain fell, then they would have to move, away from this small sanctuary and back towards the rest of their classmates. Back into the chaos of this "game", where they were just two more numbers, two more targets for opportunistic people, or people out for revenge. Maybe that was the best way to look at it. Everyone else was just a set of numbers, an end-goal for her and Lana to achieve.

It was thoughts like that which scared her the most.

Scared.

Scared was... something Lana was used to, herself. Kind of a given, really. It was still somewhat eerie how she got used to the feeling, of being on edge, of feeling yourself jump at every noise. Scared was a good response. It was probably one of the best. For Lana, it felt like every feeling she could possible feel had been replaced by fear. Fear and grief, actually, now that she thought about it.

The two of them were murderers. The one person who would be concerned about, they just left behind. And what if they ran into Ruby again? What if someone else were to find them and kill them in some kind of revenge? They were alone, and she knew it. Both of them did. Things were never going to go back to the way they were. Not without Dave, Mike, or possibly Baxter. Not without Ilya, and not without Venice and Brian. There was probably going to never be a time where she would not be scared. She would never see her family again, or see most of her classmates alive.

That was reality.

Lana bit her lip, trying to think of something else. This sort of thing wasn't something she liked to dwell on. She knew that they both were scared, no doubt.

Looking up, she saw the darkening clouds.

"It's going to rain soon", she said.

It was all that came to mind.

Still looking at the sky, Stephanie heard Lana mention rain. Part of her wanted to keep talking, to discuss everything that they had gone through up to that point, but she wasn't sure if she was ready. Truthfully, she didn't think she'd ever be ready. The dark clouds overhead almost seemed like an excuse to put it off longer, as if the world itself was giving them a reason to not talk.

"We should probably head up. Before it starts raining." Stephanie said, starting to walk away from the edge of the water. She picked up the rifle and bag from where she left them, turning to check on Lana. It was a shame they didn't manage to catch any fish, but she wasn't exactly expecting to really. Maybe they could find another place to get some food, maybe not. Either way, it wasn't like they were starved of supplies. There would always be another time.

At least she hoped.

((Stephanie Chan continued in It Looks Good On Paper))

Lana nodded, reeling up the line. The float swiftly pulled to the pole, going as far as it could go.

It was unfortunate that they didn't catch anything. Lana was somewhat disappointed at that. Though, to be honest, it would have been somewhat difficult to clean and prepare the fish for actually eating. Not impossible, just a bit harder. But that was alright. They still had a bit of food left, and it wasn't worth it to stick out in the rain. Maybe there was somewhere to hide, to keep dry and safe. She still wasn't sure if the caves were safe, and the lighthouse might not be ideal. But at the end of the day, they had to find someplace dry, and not at all filled with people who wanted to kill them.

Hopefully when the weather cleared up that they could try again. Presuming they survived that long, of course.

Lana gathered up the fishing supplies as well as her things, and followed Stephanie away from the water.

The thought that they were alone still remained with her. Lana felt lonely, scared, and still without a clue about what they could do. She hated a lot of things about this place, but maybe that was what she hated the most. There wasn't a clear answer about anything.

She decided to just focus on finding someplace dry for the time being.

((Lana Torres continued in It Looks Good on Paper))