Survival Of The Fittest

((continued from Bloody Roses))

Rob had not stopped running towards the mall from the Botanical Gardens. That broad in the gardens had freaked him out enough that he drew his weapon. He didn't turn it on the girl, but he drew it. That in itself showed Bobby that he may have been willing to shoot someone, and that meant he would play this game.

Fuck. I don't want to play this game but its inevitable. Eventually I'm going to have to use this weapon. You know, now that I think about it. This is a really good weapon in power sense, but a shitty weapon in stealth sense. It takes a sense of un-detectability to win this fucked up game, and I've got a god damn hand cannon.

Grinning slightly at the thought, Rob began to slow down as the mall came into view.

"Hey dickweed, we're here." He said, yelling over his shoulder to Matty Drew.

Jogging slightly behind Rob, Matthew couldn't help but think how erie the incounter with Venus had been. The fact that if he had been any more horny, he would have been the next main course for the earth worms.

In the distance, he could see the entrance of the mall. "Yea yea, buddy, try not to run so fast... You might choke on that skin flute of yours."

The next thing that would enter Matthew's mind, how safe was the mall exactly. There'd be tones of kids just like them, thinking the same thing... then what? What kind of blood bath were they about to get themselves into?

Slowing down a bit, Matty motioned Rob to come over to where he was. They were standing about 10 feet now, away from the exterior wall of the building, with the main doors just a couple meter away.

"Listen, we need to be careful," He whispered as he took out his weapon, baring one side that he broke in each hand. "He don't want to get jumped. I'll take one side of the wall, you take the other. Got it?"

"Wow. You had a good idea. I'll get you a cookie later." Rob said sarcastically.

They pulled open the front doors, and each took a wall. Rob motion to Matty to stop moving for a second, and listen.  Rob's hearing was above average according to the doctors, so he wanted to strain to try hear anything he could. After a blank bored look from Matt, and absolute silence, Rob motioned to continue. They came to what looked to be the center hub of the mall, with a map of the layout.

No wonder I couldn't hear anything, look at the fucking size of this place

"Dude, this place is huge. Good chance other people are here afterall, so we gotta be on top of things. And this time, don't think with your dick."

Rob looked at the map and found a hardware store located right behind where they were. He ran over, only to find that the store had been barred and welded. He looked around and noticed one more thing about the stores in the mall. All the stores that would harbor useful items were either barred and welded shut, or were stripped down to nothing but bare walls and a counter.

"Fuck. The bastards are smart. Every useful store that we could get supplies from is stripped. Like they can't leave us a hardware store, but they can leave us the fucking Gap. They fucking want us to be dressed like our mothers picked our clothes when we die?"

Rob then back into the wall and slid into a seated position with his head in his hands. His anger at the situation had caused Rob to experience a minor headache.

"Get up," Matthew said as he checked around another corner. "Stop acting like such a damn woman, and get your ass in gear."

So far, things were looking pretty safe. He hadn't heard anyone, nor did he see anyone. Everything was pretty much taken out of the mall, as far as survival gear goes. There might be something left in the fridges of the food court, but then again, there was no way to tell how long that would have been sitting there for.

Pointing towards a store up ahead, Matty called to Rob again to come join him.

"And as far my dick goes, at least mine works!" He couldn't help but laugh out loud, as he began to walk towards the store with this hips leading the way. "Yea, see, it works so well, I'm sure it'll find us something to..."

The sight of the mangled dead body of the floor was enough to stop Matthew dead in his tracks and stand him up straight. The boy was pretty messed up. Looked to him as if the kid had been beaten, cut and shot all together. There was even a clean cut across his face, connecting ear to ear.

Puts a new perspective of smiling big... Fuck, I feel like an ass...

Rob got up and walked around the corner.

"So, um, your dick leads us to corpses? Is this your way of telling me you're a necrophiliac? I mean, its cool and all if you wanna do your business, but just give me a heads up so I can leave the area."

Holy shit. This guy had it rough. I wonder who did this to him.

This was the first corpse Rob had seen on the island, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. He was surprised at little the sight of this dead body affected him. Normally he would show a little remorse, but today was different.

"Matty, if you aren't going to fuck him, lets keep moving. The person who killed your boyfriend here might still be close."

"Oh fuck off."

Matthew, though a bit put off by the grusome sight infront of him, didn't want to seem like he was scared. If the person, or even persons, who killed this boy were still around, it didn't seem likely that the two would stand much of a chance. By the wounds on the body, the killer(s) had a knife of some sort and a fucking powerful gun.

"Hey, Adams, seeing as you're probably used to being the Bitch, here's the plan. Cover your wall, I'll cover mine. Don't fall behind because you 'have a headache'. I don't care if you're passing an egg, you keep moving. We're going to head towards the other end of the mall, maybe there'll be a store with some clothes or something."

Matthew raised his weapon again, and headed on down the hall. Making sure he kept his eyes pealed and his ears open, he was confident that he was ready to handle someone attacking him.

"Hey, how much of this right now, reminds you of Dawn of the Dead?"

"No. Dawn of the Dead was a piece of shit. All it was was glorified gore to appeal to idiots who think O-M-G this is like totally awesome!"

Fuck Dawn of the Dead. This is the farthest thing from it. Zombies can't fucking think outside of primal instincts, but we're up against human beings here. A human, while following primal instincts, has the ability to use logic and reason, and if anyone on this island willing to play can use both effectively, they are our biggest threat. This fucking game, I hate being in it, but I do respect how these bastards forced us to think. Forced us to question ourselves and our motivations.

Rob continued silently along his wall. The once wonderfully immature teen, was now realizing the full effect of this games play on a person's mentality. You could be the most physically fit specimen ever, but if you had no head on your shoulders, well, you are fucked.

"Jesus Adams! You sound like you got something shoved up your ass besides the usual dick. Seriously dude, take it down a notch."

I still think Dawn of the Dead was a good movie... fuck him...

Matthew slowed down and motioned to the wall infront of them. It was time to turn either left or right. They had to choose, and it had to be quick.

"The whole point of being in this place was a quick in and out. Something I'm sure you're used too.... Come on, let's go right."

"I may have something up my ass, but at least I'm not the load my mom should have swallowed.  Moving on however lets go left. Last time we went right your dick found us a fucking corpse"

Rob and Matty walked down the corridor to the left. Finally they came to the GAP store at the end. It was open.

"See, I fucking told you they'd leave us the god damn GAP." Rob said angrily. Rob paced for a few seconds, then realized something.

"Dude, this actually might not be so bad. We're on a island, so we're bound to encounter some wierd weather. Grab some extra clothes and maybe a jacket if it will fit into your bag."

Rob moved into the store, and began to look around. He found some spare pairs of sweat pants. I can move better in these than in jeans and some camo colored shirts. He also found himself a black wind breaker jacket.

You know, I guess shopping aint to bad after all...When you don't have to pay for it.

This is fucking stupid. "go left" "I'm a pussy"... jesus, we should have gone right. Whatever. The GAP? Are you kidding me? Ahhh... Whatever.

"Just be quick about it." He said as he grabbed a wind breaker of his own. "I'm  hungry. Maybe there's some food around here."

After both had taken all they needed, they both walked out of the store, and discussed the plan to look for food.

"Dude, I really don't think they'd leave us food. Like clothes are one thing. But they are trying to get us killed. Giving us the opportunity to get more food, doesn't seem like a smart move on their part. Like they give us shitty bread and water. I don't think they'll leave a Burger King stand open where we can just find some cheeseburgers waiting for us. I'm not saying we won't check, but I think they are smarter than that. Lets go back and check the map to see where the food court is and we'll check. There might be some little stands with like bags of chips and stuff."

((Continued from Start for G5))

Fatigue had taken over Annabelle's body, the weight of her daypack's contents and the weapon in her arms causing her to slouch uncontrollably. After coming into the the mall, she had darted for the nearest sign to get directions to a clothing store. It showed that the mall was expansive, covering plenty of ground, and it seemed to have no real plan. Stores of all types littered the place; Hot Topic was placed directly beside Abercrombie and Fitch. In other words, the redheaded female was completely confused. At the sound of voices echoing in the darkness, Annabelle felt herself go rigid in place.

The voices were distinctly male, and the girl realized that she hadn't spoken to a boy since she had been on the island. In fact, she hadn't talked to boy since the plane ride began.

'Hmm... I wonder if they would help me. I really need someone to help me get through this horrible game. Of course, they could be some perverts.' she thought to herself, trying to think of what to do. She decided to give the boys a shot. Moving forward with the grace of a penguin, Annabelle waddled awkwardly in the direction of the voices.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she half-shrieked completely unintentionally. The green pack was making her breathing uncontrollable. "I could really use some help if someone's there. Please?"

"Hey, Rob, there's someone else here eh?"

Picking up his pace, towards the sound of the young girl cry for some help, he realized something. What if it was Venus? Would she have really followed them here? If it was her, she was either really desperate or she.. uh.. was really desperate? The only way to find out was to meet this lassy.

When Matthew came into view of the girl, he couldn't have been more thankful that it was a new face. It was a pretty face, with red hair. He liked red hair, though it seemed the colour only really suited a few.

"Hey, I'm Matty..." He reached his hand out to shake hers, hoping that maybe he'd make a good impression. As usual, woman had a hold on him. Maybe this one wouldn't seem like she wanted to kill him.

"...and if it makes you feel better, I'd love to help you."

Stupid bastard. What if its that girl? Rob thought while hurrying to catach up to Matty. For his own security Rob drew his gun out from his day pack, cocked it and got it ready. For all he knew Matty could die around that corner, and he'd be the next target.

Rob wheeled around the corner to find Matty approaching a girl who was not Venus. The girl looked harmless, except for the rather prominent sub-machine gun in her arms, but it was not raised. Rob made eye contact with her, and made sure she saw him lower his gun to ensure that she understood he meant no harm.

Fuck that. A chick with a fucking SMG calling for help. Probably the best opportunity we'll get to add one more person to our ranks, and with her wielding that weapon, we can take anyone.

"Hey, I'm Rob. We mean no harm, and yes we'd love to help you if we can."

Hopefully this time Matty will think with the right head though. I don't want to blow the opportunity to have this girl with this weapon, and I'm pretty sure, knowing Matty, he'll want the opportunity to blow him.

Here she was, struggling with a frickin' bag on her shoulders that must weigh three times as much as she, and yet the boys were just simply making introductions. Her first notion was to yell at them for being so clueless, but instead she held her tongue and smiled as best she could, though this looked more like a grimace with gritting teeth. It was obvious that the first boy was a pervert. 'Great. Just my luck.' she thought sadly. However, the second boy was promising in the fact that he held a gun in his arms. Annabelle was becoming less and less conservative, and more concerned with keeping herself alive. If she had allies then so be it.

Gasping still, Annabelle introduced herself daintily, "Hi boys. I-I'm Annabelle, and who might y-you be?" Her body felt as though it might collapse, so she interrupted the others' introductions to calmly ask a favor. "Could one of you help me with this bag? I've got plenty to eat if you'd like something. Just please, this thing is killing my spine." The redhead knew she sounded like a beggar, but the green horror was really doing a number on her body. Did the two not notice that horrible stench either? She was covered in coppery red and puke orange. Where had their eyes, or better yet, noses gone? She truly wondered.

'They seem harmless enough. Maybe I can use them to my advantage...'