Survival Of The Fittest

"Hey. Hey, wake up! Wake up!"

Eicca felt like he had been hit by a truck. His head was throbbing, he was frankly very tired, and had no idea what the fuck was going on.

He looked up to see a kid that he remembered from school. Nick... something or other. But he remembered him from school. Eicca went to a few GSA meetings to see what they were like and saw Nick there. Plus, since they were both a part of music, they ran into each other a lot.

"Hey, are you alright?"
Eicca groaned a bit and finally got up, or at least up enough so that he could gather his thoughts before realizing his headache was really pounding him.
"I remember being awake, finding my way here, then--"
"I ran into you, being all psychotic at being in a danger zone, crashing into you hard, and you fell to the floor, hit your head, and went unconscious?"
Eicca paused for a moment.
"So, that's what that was."

Nick laughed for a brief bit.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I was in a frenzy cause my collar was beeping, and... yeah."

Eicca just continued rubbing the back of his head. It really did hurt like a bitch. But, at least he knew the kid well enough to know that it wasn't out of malicious intent.

"One question, though. Why did you stick around? You could have left, or killed me."

Nick knew Eicca was a fairly gentle person. the only act of aggression he had ever seen from him was when he was playing Apocalyptica songs on the cello, which are pretty fast and violent themselves, but never saw any malevolence in him.

"The only thing you could possibly hurt is your cello, Eicca. You're as soft as powderpuff, and twice as gentle."

Eicca however did have one more question.

"You've killed someone, haven't you?"

Nick looked rather disapproving of the fact that what he said was true. Not to mention he couldn't deny it, what with having a chainsaw on his person at the time.

But Eicca motioned that he'd rather not have the question answered.

"So, what now?"
"Well," started Nick, "big, strong guy like you could handle himself quite easily in this, maybe we--"
"I'm not killing anyone."

The answer should have been expected. It's like asking what two plus two is fourty times and expecting a different answer. Eicca was well known for not having a near violent bone in his body, despite him being an undisputed juggernaut in form.

"Well, we can at least stick together. There aren't too many people around here that I trust, but I'd rather stick by the Big Friendly Giant."
"Gee, thanks for the title... just one thing."
"What?"
"...you got any aspirin?"

Eris had spent much time wandering away from the other students, trying to find a good, nice place for a lookout... and just get away from all the headache-inducers. She was about ready to just start killing people off just to get them to stop whining and griping and being so damned loud all of the time. She just did not understand teenagers at all... Let us forget that she is also a teenager. Her parents always did say she was a spinster from birth, and frankly, she didn't care.

Bottle of Vodka in one hand, and her pack in another, she'd stood silently in the shadows listening to the two boys talk. For some reason, they weren't as annoying as the others so she was fine with making herself known. They were talking about allies... and she was quite aware that allies could be both a blessing and a worry. Never hurt to try though... Or could it? Well, if they pissed her off enough, she could just whack them in the heads with her bottle.

Instead, she silently moved out of the shadows into sight and then shoved the bottle of vodka in front of Eicca's face. She'd heard he played the cello. Anyone who had an appreciation for the finer arts was okay in her book.

"Couldn't help but overhear," she said with a shrug, "When out of aspirin, alcohol does wonders, or so I've been told."

Eicca and Nick were taken by surprise by the girl, Eris, but kept calm immediately afterwards. Eicca didn't really think that they should be worried about her, but that was only because he's one of those people who seems to have faith in humanity, and the people of the world at large.

"I can drink to that," Eicca said, taking the bottle and sniffing the contents... just to be sure.

Nick had the fortitude to stay at an attack stance in case the contents really are poisonous. You can't believe someone will just hand you vodka here on this island, honestly!

But, after a nice, big swig, Eicca seemed to be okay.

"So, who are you? I don't remember," Eicca started. "Or, maybe we've met, just someone caused me to black out and maybe caused me to suffer memory loss," he added with a smile at Nick.

"I hope I'm as funny as you are someday, Eicca."

"Eris Marquis," she said lightly... well, as lightly as she could say for someone so uptight. "I'm pretty much a background player at the school. Don't like to involve myself in most teenage activities."

She shrugged a shoulder with an air of indifference. She gave no pretense of joking. She wasn't a funny person. Well, unless she was really exasperated, then people laughed at her actions.

"Eicca the celloist, Nick the gay guy, and Eris the loner. Wonder where Doc and Dopey are," mentioned Nick himself, trying to make some light humor out of their current situation.

While Eicca continued drinking the alcohol as if he was diabetic and the drink was insulin.

"This is some bad vodka... but, hey, beggars and choosers and whatnot."

((Jake cont'd from Thanks, Mom!))

Even though he had not been running long, Jake was winded again. Looking at his map, he saw that he was approaching the Quarry. He stood still, breathing heavily. He saw some people near the large rock formation.

Dammit...

The area was too open for him to sneak by, like usual. He'd have to walk right through. Jake squinted. He recognized the three people, and he also recognized the bottle that they were passing around. They were getting drunk?

Jake chuckled to himself as he rifled through his bag, removing his weapon: a Manriki-tiki-freaky something or other, he had no idea. He had read the instructions that came with it, but they really didn't do much for him. He just wanted the weapon out just in case. Just as Jake was about to zip his bag closed, a thought occured to him.

Did they really take everything electronic?

Jake opened his bag he brought for the trip. There were his clothes, a toothbrush and tooth paste, socks, underwear...

"Oh, God fucking damn shit...FUCK! I can't believe they'd take that!"

Everything had been there, except his Gameboy Colour in which he had the first Megaman game. They were priceless to him, and now they were gone. He wasn't really expecting to find it, but the fact that his beloved Megaman was now probably in the posession of some terrorist's brat was irritating as hell.

Sighing, Jake replaced the items in his larger duffle bag, and gripped his Manriki...whatever. He wrapped the long chain once tightly around his right hand, then looped it over once more, loosely. He didn't want to hold it with both hands in case it looked like he was on the attack. With one final glance around him, Jake went to approach the group cautiously.

"H-hello? Listen guys, I'm not sticking around, I just need your help for like two seconds, okay?"

He took the group's silence as a yes.

"Alright, uh, have any of you seen Trish McCarroll, or know where she might be on the island?"

The three kids looked at eachother. They probably had no idea who he was talking about.

"Just...you know what, forget it. Thanks anyways." Jake motioned at the bottle in Eicca's hand. "That's probably a bad idea."

And with that, Jake was running, again.

((Continued in Silent Waters))

Eicca was in a bit of shock for a moment, as the random moment that just passed by made him look at the bottle and hand it back to it's owner.

"I'm not even drunk and already I've had a what the fuck moment. I think that's quite enough".

He looked at his partner in crime who was getting weary of this place.

"So, what's say the three of us get out of here and try to find something to do. Make a plan, or something?"

Urgh. What's going on...ow, there's something poking in my back. What? A rock? Where am...oh. Of course. How could I forget? Stuck on an island, tasked with killing my way to survival. Well, at least I don't have to kill people I like. What's in this? Crackers...water...a club? What the hell am I meant to do with a club? I'm not a sealer.

Oh well. Best hole up and wait for the numbers to drop. There's...announcements, yes. I'll listen to those. Work out who the competition is. Play it smart, Leo, play it smart.

Play it smart.

These were the words Leo Curtis, B91, lived by. Sitting in a little nook in the wall of the hundred-feet-deep quarry, Leo pondered these words and the relevance they had in his current situation - something he'd been doing in the four days since he'd woken up, sluggish, dirty and with a small bag and a designated task of killing.

Such philosophical musing was cut short by the sound of people. Noxious, probably death-seeking people. People had come down to the quarry before - Leo knew, he'd been camping out there since he woke up. However, they'd all seemed to run away pretty quickly. Except for that one who fell to his death. That was amusing, and it proved Leo's assumption that the senior body at Southridge High was made up of imbeciles. However, it had also been a reminder that Leo, too, could end up a bleeding pancake in the quarry lake unless he played his cards right and paid careful attention to everything.

Back to the people, Leo thought, and focussed his thoughts back on the two people who'd just arrived. They were at the top of the quarry, and Leo couldn't see them from the cave he was in, but he could definitely hear what they were saying - the area had great acoustics.

"The only thing you could possibly hurt is your cello, Eicca. You're as soft as powderpuff, and twice as gentle."

Leo smiled. He knew who most people were in the student body - keeping politically active meant knowing who people were around you. But that didn't mean he liked them. Eicca Hietala, he was more or less ambivalent about. Pacifist, cellist, but well-built. He could pose...a problem.

The person speaking had a fairly distinctive voice, and Leo recognising it immediately as Nick Jones. The animal-loving vegan homosexual. It's not that Leo wasn't progressive or tolerant - he was a Democrat, it was his duty to be those things - but he just didn't like Nick. And he would have no problem getting rid of him if he had to.

"You've killed someone, haven't you?"

Nick hadn't killed anyone. Leo had been paying close attention to the announcements - and the diary and pen the organisers of this excursion had left in his bag definitely helped.

Leo heard another voice. Someone else?

"Couldn't help but overhear. When out of aspirin, alcohol does wonders, or so I've been told."

Eris Marquis. School council. Philosophy nut. Frosty. Uptight. "Perfect," Leo whispered. "She'll be an easy one to manipulate, hopefully."

A fourth voice, one Leo didn't recognise. The fourth speaker came and went, and Leo shrugged it off. Probably some socially-inept nerd or whiny emo kid, he thought nastily.

"So, what's say the three of us get out of here and try to find something to do. Make a plan, or something?"

Oh, really? Leo smiled and slung his daypack over his shoulder, gripping the club tightly with his left hand. He listened carefully, staying out of sight in the cave. The ones with the group plans always came undone quickest. And he'd be there to clean up the mess once it happened. Have no doubts about that.

Eris raised an eyebrow at the kid who came, had his spiel and then left quite quickly. "I think.... that before this is all over I might become a drunk myself," she said slowly. "Because... wow. Just wow."

Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose in complete and utter irritation. An act that clearly said, 'I AM THE VICTIM HERE!'.

"I just don't understand some of the kids these days."

She took the bottle from Eicca, glad that it wasn't all gone, to be honest. She had plans for this little sucker. Lots of Plan A's, and B's and everything in between. If there was one thing she could do, she could make a pretty mean plan.

"Here's what I suggest," she said, "We should stay here for a little while longer. Keep alert, in case anyone else comes along or is hiding out listening in. Make a plan here, and then leave and act upon it. Nothing is worse then heading out into a warzone without a plan. Any ideas, anyone?"

{{OOC: I'm moving Leo out of here so that he doesn't end up becoming inactive and stuff. Not that he was doing anything anyway.}}

Leo leaned back against the wall of his little cave, twiddling his thumbs. Jones, Marquis and Heitala were coming up with a plan, Leo knew it, but he couldn't hear them for the life of him. This is very disappointing. And here I thought there'd be some easy pickings. Oh well, best get out of here.

Leo peeked out of the cave. He couldn't see the group, which meant the group probably couldn't see him. There was a nice little path Leo had noticed when he first woke up, leading straight from the cave to the top of the quarry, and Leo, daypack slung around one shoulder, club in the other, clambered up it to the top. The trio appeared not to have noticed. Leo looked back at them briefly. They all looked very vulnerable.

Play it smart, Leo. There's three of them and one of you. Find stragglers, fractious groups. We'll be off here soon.

Leo smiled - an unnaturally bloodthirsty smile that did not sit well on Leo's classically handsome face.

Leo ran off into The Jungle, to see what he could find.

{{Leo Curtis continued at Desperation}}

Strangely, Nick had found himself enjoying the last few hours he'd spent with Eicca and Eris around the quarry, but for the last few minutes he'd begun to feel steadily more uneasy. He felt like someone or something was watching him, to which the other two were obviously completely oblivious. Nevertheless, the feelings of suspicion eventually overtook him and he found himself moving away from the others and peeking around the rock formations.

He swore he could hear footsteps around, but as quickly as they'd appeared they'd disappeared, and so had whoever they belonged to. Nick, however, wasn't satisfied. He wasn't exactly keen on the idea that somebody was spying on him, especially given the things he'd had to endure from some of the school's more active "jocks" back in the ninth grade, and had as such become slightly paranoid.

"Hey guys, stay here...I'm gonna go check something out," he offered jauntily, forcing a smile at the other two before heading out into the jungle in search of whoever he'd just heard.

(Nick Jones continued elsewhere)

Eicca's head was swimming. He didn't know quite what had happened, but the rest of the group was gone and he lay on the hard rocks of the quarry, soaked and cold. The rocks dug into his back, and as he tried to get up, a spike of pain erupted from his forehead. It seemed to be bleeding, and he brought his hand up to check. It was sore, a nasty wound.

Now he remembered. As the rest of them left, Eicca stayed behind for a few moments, and must've slipped and fell. He didn't know how long he was out for, hopefully not too long. The group couldn't be too far, could they?

"Ouch... I miss that terrible vodka right now..."

With a sigh, he walked off into the jungle, his head swimming. What he didn't realize is that he was walking in the opposite direction that any of the others had gone.

((Eicca continued elsewhere))

((OCC: Eris was still left in the thread, so I made this post to go before Eicca's exit))

"Hey guys, stay here...I'm gonna go check something out."

Eris Marquis' icy eyes followed Nick's retreating figure. They narrowed, mostly due to the headache that was still antagonizing her.

Right. I'll just sit here with Eic-...ah.

Eicca was unconcious on the wet, rocky ground. It looked uncomfortable. Eris snorted. However, her amusement was short-lived once she realized that there was only half the bottle of vodka left. She'd never given him permission to drink nearly a quarter of her alcohol!

She had no intention of staying with that slob anyways. Eris took a greedy gulp from the bottle. It tasted corrosive; and her headache was still raging on, refusing to be drowned in the depressant.

As she pursed her lips in disapproval, Eris noticed that her they felt rather numb.

This horrid rain is making my face cold, she thought, annoyed. Funny though, I feel warm as well...

Being the type to shun parties, especially those with underage drinking, Eris had quite the formidable tolerance to alcohol. Formidable compared to a weasel, that is.

Eicca was still lying on the hard, wet ground. Squinting and bending at her waist over him to better see, she saw a bloody bruise on his forehead. He'd probably be fine.

She raised her eyebrows slightly and turned on her heel, wobbling slightly. Her skull throbbed a little in protest. Eris frowned at the half-empty bottle. How much alcohol is "enough"? She still had a headache; did that mean that she was still mostly sober?

Trial and error, I suppose.

Again the bottle was at her lips. Swallowing and twisting the cap on; Eris Marquis walked away, leaving Eicca to lay in the quarry stones.

((Eris Marquis continued elsewhere))