Survival Of The Fittest

((Isabel Ramirez continued from Paradies Naiv))

Isabel sat on one of the lumpy cots in a random doctor's office, looking over her hands again.

Upon making absolutely sure they were clean for the eighth time, she put her arms back down and sighed.

They had visited the shoreline very briefly to allow Isabel to clean herself off, and after they had finished they returned to the asylum. Now they were sitting in silence once again, with no explicit direction or purpose guiding either of them.

Dust floated through the air in front of her as she absentmindedly kicked her legs. Nothing really needed to be said between herself and Lily. Nothing that could be said was really all that important, and the only purpose it would serve would be inevitably driving a wedge further between them.

Deep down Isabel still wanted Lily to actually like and talk to her, but she knew that simply was not going to happen. Their partnership was born for pragmatic reasons, and it would inevitably die for pragmatic reasons. They weren't friends, they were simply two people stuck in a situation together; Lily made Isabel look better for the cameras, and Isabel kept Lily safe. That was all their partnership was and that was all it was ever going to be.

She looked up at Lily and away from her still kicking legs, almost opening her mouth to say something, before deciding against it.

There was nothing to be said.

((Lily Caldwell continued from Paradies Naiv.))

It just made no sense.

That's all Lily could think, or maybe it was the only subject her brain was comfortable touching. Better than innards and dying cousins. But not much better.

Lily curled up on one of the cots, staring at the wall.

"Why's it so easy for you?" she muttered under her breath, still not looking at Isabel. "Why does everything just…"

Honestly, she was angry. And not for the same, more legitimate reasons that she'd been angry at Isabel before. Because Isabel was, quite frankly, barely human. But she was thriving. She was doing well. No matter what happened, no matter how she rampaged like a bull in a china shop, it was always Isabel that won. And when she played the game, she was happy.

Why couldn't things be that easy for Lily?

It just made no sense that Isabel could even exist.

((Noah Whitley continued from Forklift Driver Klaus))

Noah sighed. He couldn't believe he was alone. Again. Why was it every time some asshole with a penchant for destruction showed up, it resulted in Noah losing track of all his friends? After fleeing the storehouse, he had run back to the asylum, which was apparently not where Hannah was going. Now he was wandering the halls of the asylum on his own, muttering curses at the crate pusher. Sure, he had avoided a potentially dangerous situation, but losing yet another ally was starting to bug him.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "At this point, my most stable relationship here is with Sawlaska Thunderfuck."

Noah looked at the slinger in his hand and shook his head.

"If this is my only serious relationship, at least let it be with something that can get me off, not something that can let me off people."

Noah sighed again and kept walking. It was getting late, so he'd probably have to find another room to lock himself in. Surely there was something he could use nearby. He could pass another night doing stretches and telling jokes to a camera. He may have to take count of his food and water. He had to be getting low, and he may need to find alternatives somewhere on the island.

As he walked, he slowed down when he heard a voice talking. He recognized the voice, causing him to smile a bit. He hadn't heard the voice since he was on the beach getting shot by Nancy-chan. If it was that person, maybe the others were with her too. Noah walked over to the door and pushed it open.

"Lily," he said. "Is that you?"

Noah looked in the room. His smile vanished the instant he saw who was in the room. Lily was there, but she wasn't accompanied by Rene and Blair like he had hoped. That would have been too good for Noah considering the trend that was occurring.

No, instead, she was sharing a room with the biggest killer on the island.

"Fuck," he muttered to himself.

Isabel opened her mouth to retort to Lily's mutterings, only to turn her head to face the new arrival.

She sprung up, whipping the sword in front of her, the blade a few inches from Noah's chest. "Sup, drag queen?" She hissed from between her teeth, her eyes narrowed. "Don't. Fucking. Move."

Why is it that she could never get some peace and quiet? Why was she always running into other people or having other people always run into her? Why couldn't they just keep to themselves and remove themselves from the gene pool quickly and quietly? Why did they always have to be a nuisance, and then put up a fuss when she got them out of the way?

This was just how it worked.

"Give up and I'll make your death quick. Struggle and I'll make sure it's as painful as I can manage."

She tilted her head to the side, sizing up the weapon that Noah had in his hand. Scanning it and potential ways of disarming him in case he tried anything.

Her gaze returned to Noah's face as she hissed out some final words, her voice malevolent. "Your choice."

God

Damn.

It.

Now Noah was here. Noah had followed her voice here, and now Lily had dragged him into the spider's nest. Lily curled up a little tighter as Isabel sprang to her feet and cut right to 'die' or 'die slowly.'

Could there not be one moment of calm? Could Isabel not rein in the hostility for one second? No, wait, she had. Once. For Lily. But the moment she saw Noah... immediate death threats.

Also bringing up details from their lives before the island struck Lily as rude, somehow.

"Can we just... not do this? For once?" Lily said tiredly. Sounding like a worn-out parent trying to talk their child out of their tenth tantrum for the day but resigned to the fact that it would not do any good.

((GMing approved))

Noah didn't even have time to react before Isabel was already leaping towards him and pointing a sword at his chest. He froze in place, his eyes widening and his teeth clenching. After six days and numerous murders, he shouldn't have been surprised Isabel Ramirez would immediately try to kill anyone who came her way. Still, it was not fun to be on the opposite side of her blade, and Noah now knew every second mattered.

Lily tried to speak up in Noah's defense, which he nodded to.

"Yes, I agree," he said. "I like being penetrated, but not like this. Ha ha."

His laugh was too nervous for his liking. Spouting jokes may not work in his favor. He didn't have much of a relationship with Isabel back in Kingman (not that he would have considering her personality), so his sense of humor was probably not to her liking. Heck, she called him "Drag Queen" like that was an ethnic or racial slur, so clearly she was not his fan.

"But yeah," he blurted. "We don't need to fight. I can very easily walk away from here, and you will never see me again. How's about that?"

Noah looked over Isabel. The last few days had been hell for her. She looked like enough people have tried to kill her, or that everyone she killed fought back as hard as they could before expiring. The glare in her eyes told Noah that she wanted him dead no matter what. He knew then that there wasn't going to be any chance of negotiating. This wasn't Nancy-chan on the beach who was looking for a reason to kill him. Isabel wanted him dead for the crime of existing. It was just like the majority of the Bible-thumping rednecks in America, but put into the body of this tiny ballerina before him.

He had to go. He was in the doorway so he could easily bolt back into the hall from whence he came. Then he could run as far away from Richard Ramirez's bastard daughter as he could. He needed a moment, however little, and he certainly didn't need her to chase him with that scary-ass sword.

Fortunately for him, he saw a moment. Isabel glanced over briefly to where Lily was, so Noah reacted. He tightened his grip on Sawlaska's handle and lifted it up as quickly as he could. Sawlaska hit Isabel's sword, pushing it away from his chest and off to the side. The moment he felt the connection, he stepped back and bolted down the hall.

"NOT TODAY, SATAN!" he shouted as he ran into the hall.

He turned back to see if Isabel was following him. He prayed his Bianca del Rio reference would actually save his life and not prove too ironic in his last moments of life. He was all for a joke, but not one like that.

So it was back to the Staff Area. Fiyori couldn't exactly point out what pulled her to the doctors office. Her path didn't follow any particular path. In fact, she could've at best called it a hunch, the thing that drove her to the place. They - Alba, Brendan and her - started their little voyage together at this location. Made sense if Fiyori began tracking Alba with the staff area as a start.

Had she been just a bit more superstitious, Fiyori would have proclaimed the place was beckoning her.

Either way, her search had become a huge success.

[[Fiyori Senay, continued from The Wicked Die Alone ]]

Fiyori clung to the wall. Just around the corner, just a bit farther ahead, was where she heard the unmistakable voice of Isabel. Again, threatening someone else.

It was a wonderful feeling. Her heart beat quickly. Her breathing gave away her excitement. Every muscle in her body was bursting with anticipation. Fiyori held her own arms tight, the sensation was so much more. So much more intense, so much more sensitive. She pet her own skin, and shuddered with delight.

She closed her eyes. She could see Danny, she could see him dying by Isabel's hand. Fiyori could see her own hands stretching out, grasping the fuckers neck and strangling her so long until even Isabel's neck broke under the pressure.

Someone, then, moved into the hallway. Fiyori peeked around the corner. Noah, huh?

"Hey! Get back here!"

All it took was one slight hesitation for Isabel's latest prey to knock her sword out of her hands and get some distance from her. She chased him down the hall, the short distance that the two of them were covering feeling like it took an eternity. Her knife blade was pulled out of her pocket and ready for more blood. She wasn't going to be defied like this. She wasn't going to let someone who could easily become a threat later get away when he was an easy kill.

All she had to do is get up to him and stab him a few times, make it hurt. Then she could go back into the office, sit down with Lily again, and pretend like nothing happened. Go back to relaxing, go back to thriving. It'd be easy, Noah was a complete joke, and she was the single most dangerous person on the entire island. Everyone who tried to resist her died, and even the injuries they inflicted on couldn't finish the job. Nobody else stood a chance against her. She was going to make it to the end like it was nothing, even if she had to kill every other person on this godforsaken rock.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Noah swung his weapon in her direction, and she felt cold steel press into her belly.

Lily did not immediately hurry to her feet when Isabel did. Honestly, her first instinct was to just stay put. She could probably just have a nap, for all the impact she'd likely have on what Isabel was doing. She wasn't the most useful limb.

But she was a limb nonetheless, and one that Isabel might cut off if she didn't at least stand there and be Isabel's witness to whatever Isabel thought she was doing.

Lily slowly rolled off the bunk to go peek out the door. It was only as she was heading to it that she remembered what Noah's weapon had been.

...Maybe that could—

She reached the door in time for metal to meet flesh.

Yep.

Lily stayed half-hidden behind the doorframe and watched.

(Scout Pfeiffer continued from If That's Who I Am, Then I'll Fight Who I Am..)

Scout was having a blank afternoon up until she heard a familiar voice screaming bloody murder. A blank day, actually.

After she bailed on Asuka the day previously, she kept to herself, though it certainly helped that she did not run into another living soul. It was awkward, really, spending nearly an entire day with someone and going back to being a lone wolf. She told herself she did not need her, 'her' being Asuka. Scout's choice of parting words could have been... less blunt. To say the least. Maybe. But she didn't need Asuka. She could make it all on her own.

Things changed with a gun though. It was a means of protection, justice and all that junk, but it painted a target on your back too. And without backup, Scout had to be the one to look after herself. Damn near taught herself to sleep with one eye open, a far cry from the night previous were she slept like a log. To say her lack of sleep dulled her senses would be an understatement.

The screaming sobered her right up though. Someone was screaming further down the corridor, screaming about Satan.

Was that Noah? Christ, maybe that was him.

A sudden, ominous fear raked across her spine. She broke out into a jog and soon she was running down the hallway at full speed. Noah wasn't a friend, but he sure as hell wasn't stirring up trouble either. He was innocent, a civvie, as far as she was concerned.

It wasn't just him though. What was on the other end of that screaming? Another voice, telling the first to 'get back here'. That had to be a sign that Scout was getting close. Her brisk run into an all-out dash.

There was an intersection coming up and she could hear the sounds coming from the hallway on the left. She reached into her bag and grabbed for her gun. She pulled the bolt back with a sickening crack and turned the corner -

- and skidded on her boots, nearly tumbling over like a fucking goober. Scout stared at the scrawny girl who was pressed up against the wall.

Scout held up the hand that wasn't holding the gun, mouthed "it's cool", because she was pretty damn sure they both heard the same commotion. Her breath came in quick, violent bursts. Her heart pounded against her chest.

Fuck it.

Fuck Jerry Fury. Fuck Matthew Moradi. Fuck Bart Cappotelli. Fuck this island. And fuck his fucking left eye.

He woke up in the same warehouse where he got 1-hit-KO'd. This time, for everyone's but his pleasure, without his backpack, without his infamous pipe and without a flashlight. Luckily he opened his eyes when the sun shined through a little aperture at the exit. Luckily?

Heh. Luck. Yeah. Fuck his luck too.

Alan Banks arose from the floor using the shelf to help himself. When he attempted to follow the little light that entered from the door, he slipped with a soapbox and hit the ground again. To the hell with the soap. Alan kicked the soap. FUCK THE SOAP.

Well that gratuitous blasphemy could make anyone think that Alan was furious. And sure he was, but this is getting kinda repetitive so fuck the blasphemy.

After hours in the darkness, the transition to a new sunny day hit him like a second punch. That's when he noticed that his eye and his face in general were killing him. Not in a literal way, but it did hurt him a lot. Somehow, the soft breeze relieved him while he was trying to think what to do next. At least he shouldn't worry about some dirt getting stuck on his eye.

He didn't really had anything to do.

Maybe he could walk it off and see what happens next.

((Alan Banks Continued From Let The Darkness Flow Through You))

And there she was. That bitch who could have contributed to his initial cause and decided she was too cool to join him. The same one he shooed off. Things could've been different if she decided to cooperate. Such a huge bitch. Huge bitch with a goddamn backpack who didn't seem to notice his presence. He could sprint and choke her. His big hands around her narrow neck. A beautiful end and Alan finally in the spotlight as a brand new killer.

But you know... That'd be too boring, right? Yeah, like, he could do much better.

That's why he followed Scout. He'd wait till she had to pee or something. He'd then appear stealing all her shit and would humiliate her until he got bored and killed her. Like the evil overlord he'd always been.

The thing is that he followed her. And then it looked like she was getting herself cornered on a room making things easier for Alan, but a voice interrupted him. The girl looked tired, but she ran towards the voice. Alan followed her running fast avoiding noise at all costs. He lost Scout behind a corner for some seconds and when he regained visual contact, ginger girl was holding a gun. That could only mean trouble.

Well, nobody really noticed Alan so trouble this time could mean backpack scavenging or an epic surprise attack. He could feel an adrenaline rush just by thinking about it. He rushed towards a room where he could see whatever happened without getting actually involved. Nobody seemed to notice him. Good move. He just had to hold his nervous laughter until he saw his chance. This was going to be fun.

Noah turned his head back as he heard Isabel shout at him. Crap, she was coming after him, and that sword wasn't the only tool she had to brutally murder him. Noah groaned a bit when he saw that she was coming after him. It looked like she really was as bad as the announcements made her out to be. He had suspected some parts of the announcements had to be exaggerated for shock value or to turn the tide of the game, but this clearly wasn't one of those cases. To Noah, Isabel was the FOX News of SOTF: just as bad as you'd expect it to be from the premise alone.

Noah tried to keep running, but he could tell Isabel was going to match his pace. They were running down a long hall, and he wasn't sure he could just duck in a room and shut the door before she came bursting in. Besides, that would just leave him trapped, and she'd probably find a way in no matter what he did. It wouldn't solve the fundamental issue at hand.

Noah's hand tightened around Sawlaska. He hadn't used Sawlaska against a living, breathing person yet. He had tested it a few times when he woke up and before going to bed during the third night, but this was different. He'd be taking a life to save his own. He'd be playing the game, as the terrorists wanted.

He quickly pushed all morality debates out of his mind. This was easy enough to settle on. Isabel was getting closer, and she was going to kill him. She wouldn't negotiate, she wouldn't stand reason, and she wouldn't just let him go now. If she killed him, she would then go on to murder anyone else she could find. The decision was made: Isabel was a threat, and Noah would have to man up and kill her. It would help his peers, and his family would surely understand.

Noah started to turn, changing his movements so he was now running backwards down the hall. He remembered the steps to using Sawlaska. At this point, it should be like turning on his webcam and recording a video: exactly what he was supposed to be doing with his life.

"Sorry!" he shouted as he swung Sawlaska back, then swung it forward.

Noah gritted his teeth as the blade flew through the air. Throwing the blade against random walls was challenging enough, but hitting a human being would be much harder. To Noah's surprise, it connected. It took only a split second, but the blade was now sticking out of Isabel's torso. His eyes widened and he let out a cry.

"Holy fuck, I got her," he muttered to himself.

He stared at Isabel, keeping Sawlaska pointed out slightly in front of him. Was that enough to kill her? Taking a saw blade to the chest couldn't be the easiest thing for a body to handle, so he prayed she'd drop to the floor quickly.

Isabel stopped in her tracks as she stared at the sawblade sticking out of her.

Small, choked noises escaped her lips as blood seeped out of the wound, the pain searing. Her hand came down and touched the skin near the wound, almost in disbelief, before bringing it away and staring at her now bloodied fingers.

She looked back up at Noah and was instantly filled with rage. She screamed as she charged at the boy, ignoring the fire that scorched her insides, tackling him to the ground in spite of his attempts to keep her back. Her knife sunk into his flesh over and over again, almost as if it was being driven by its own will as Noah struggled to throw her off. The sling that he had used to injure her came up to smack her in the face, but she remained undeterred. She kept stabbing, kept the boy pinned, made sure he knew what true pain was before his worthless consciousness faded from the world forever.

Blood oozed out of the boy as his body made noise after noise as the knife hit, each more sickening to the ears than the last.

"What. Gives. You. The. Right?" she screeched out, in between each stabbing. "Fuck you!"

Warm blood ran through her fingers and onto the ground below as each wound turned into a grisly, fleshy reminder of her wrath.

Once Noah was barely struggling, Isabel's rage subsided and she stood up off of him, smiling as the stench of copper enveloped the halls. "This is what... you... get..." Isabel muttered out, between exhausted breaths.

Her own blood dripped onto the ground below, joining that of Noah's. She hissed as she remembered the pain from the blade sticking out of her.

Noah chuckled and muttered something, and Isabel turned her head around in response, her eyes narrowing as two more targets approached her from down the hall.

Noah remained frozen as Isabel looked at the injury he gave her. The blood was starting to seep down her body, and like Noah, even she looked in complete disbelief at the nature of the injury. Noah slowly started to back away, hoping that she'd just drop to the ground and that would be it. However, to his dismay, she charged towards him. Noah quickly held Sawlaska out in front of him, hoping he could use it like a hockey stick and push her back, but the amount of force she brought onto it caused him to go tumbling to the ground with her.

Noah screamed out when Isabel's knife first plunged into his chest. Isabel prepared to stab him again, but quickly, he swung Sawlaska up and struck her in the face. He had hoped that would knock her off of him so that he could at least try and crawl away and deal with his injury, but it didn't work. She was pinned hard on top of him, and her stabbing continued. One stab hit him in the arm, causing him to let go of Sawlaska. Noah knew he had screwed up. He should have waited before charging into the office with Lily. He should have aimed better to kill Isabel instantly. He should have stayed closer to Hannah. He should have stayed with Scout. He should have run after the group instead of trying to hold off Nancy.

This was it. He was going to die. He would never go to college, never perform in stand-up bars and drag clubs all over the country, never open his own club, never get on TV, and never become someone. He was going to be added to the body count of SOTF #6, and that'd be the end. Sure, people would probably be able to find his videos, and maybe there'd be some tributes towards him and everyone else who died, but that'd be it.

He really hoped his family would be okay. His mom and grandparents had so much faith in him and his dreams, and it was all gone now. His dad had missed out on so much of his life, and now he'd be filled with regrets. He wondered how his sister was going to take all of this. She was mature for her age, but how would she handle this? He hoped his stepmom would take care of that. She was smart, so hopefully she'd know the way.

Noah stared up at Isabel as she finished stabbing him. He coughed up some blood. He probably only had a few moments left. The bitch was acting smug, although the saw blade in her chest made it clear she had limited time left. Noah glanced a little past Isabel, noticing that someone was coming. No, it was two people. He smiled, then started chuckling.

"Here's my last joke: you did all this, and now you're gonna die too. Have fun in Hell, bitch."

Isabel turned around as the two other girls came into frame. Noah continued to chuckle. Okay, maybe he wouldn't feel so bad dying now. The universe had a way of balancing things out, it seemed. Noah started to close his eyes as Isabel and the other girls began to move. He had done his part, so now he could go.

Things would probably be okay without him anyways.

















"Welp, looks like I'm out of a job too. Bye y'all."

Fiyori had become so enchanted, she hadn't even noticed at first. Scout's appearance, that is. Still, she tried her best not to get startled when she noticed, and it was a success for once. Fiyori glanced over to Scout. She had noticed the gun in her hands, and noticed Scout mouthing something at her. It wasn't quite clear what the other girl meant, but it felt good to see, so Fiyori flashed a smile back.

Who Scout was, or what she had done did not matter in the least to Fiyori. In that current moment, all she cared for was that Isabel would die.

A drop of saliva escaped the corner of her lips. Fiyori licked it away.

At the same time, however, she noticed that shit was going down around the corner. Couldn't see quite what was up, but from the sound of it Noah was getting stabbed to hell and back. Fiyori suppressed a hateful grunt, and with care took off the bag of hers. It made the most silent thump as it slid to the floor, but Fiyori was sure Isabel wouldn't hear it.

Fiyori turned around the corner.

What gives you the right?

Well, what did give Fiyori the right to kill another human being? What entitled her to do take a life? Something Fiyori pondered a lot the last few days. Complicated matter, and now matter how many answers she tried to create, all of them lacked something inherently important.

Regardless, as Fiyori took step after step, inching closer and closer, her resolution to kill only grew.

Then Isabel turned around, and Fiyori stopped. They locked eyes, and Isabel screamed something at her. In return, Fiyori began to laugh.

"Alright, fuck the navelgazing."

Fiyori laughed. Fiyori laughed. Fiyori charged.