Survival Of The Fittest

((Maria Cucinotta continued from Hang In There))

After Maria had left behind her only ally, which she was deeply regretting now as she had reacted irrationally. There was no way she could go back and apologize to Michael. They had both in the wrong. They had been taunting a murderer. Torturing him in a way that had made her uncomfortable. And she had run away like a fucking coward because she couldn't handle it any more.

"Fuck...."

She was tired and her legs were ready to collapse under her. She really needed to find somewhere where she could rest for a while. Just a little nap. And then she could continue on to wherever the hell she was going. She had no idea. She had to think of what to do after she had rested. Now she just needed to find a room to get some privacy.

She noticed a storage closet. She then hoped that she could find anything useful in there.

She opened the door and she took a step inside.

((Alessio Rigano continued from Advanced Darkness))

His nose burned.

He inhaled fresh air with his nose, but it just hurt.

Al walked through the asylum, through the familiar hallway and listened to the announcements as they went on. People died. He ignored it. He did not want to feel pity or remember the people that died. He did not want to get touched by memories of the past. They don't matter. What matters was the future. What matters was that Alvaro had killed Irene and therefore Al was glad he lost him. Alessio needed no ally. Alessio needed an ally. He actually needed one, but he would never find one.

Through the door, without his arms.

Now, he's here again. Now, he saw what he had done. Cameron. Dead.

Dead. His work. His cruel work.

Fuck. Poor Cameron. She did nothing wrong. Vanessa did everything wrong. Vanessa, not Cameron. Cameron payed for Vanessa, but- no. That murder was not about Vanessa, it was about killing people. It was about the message. It was about getting rid of people on the island to make the game end fast-

But, in front of Cameron was a girl that was not dead.

There was Maria. Again. It was as if there were just him, her and Michael on the island and the other people here didn't exist. How high are the chances of meeting her again?

"..."

Fuck. Why was he crying? He knew he was going to die now. He knew that he had no chance.

He knew Michael was behind him already.

How long had she been staring at Cameron's body? Maybe about ten minutes or so. She honestly had no clue. Just seeing one of those victims of Al's. Made her feel.... She didn't really know how she felt about it. She didn't make a move to drag Cameron's body out of the room to sleep in peace. No. She didn't want to be disrespectful to her. Even though, Cameron was long gone.

She listened to the announcements as they came on in complete silence. Hearing more names on the announcements made her want to lash out at someone. But there was no one for her to take it out on. She really needed to make Nancy and Isabel pay for their crimes. Things were really getting too out of control. Those two bitches definitely didn't deserve to go home.

"For fuck's sake.... This is getting too out of hand...." She muttered to herself through seething teeth and she had a firm grip on her sword. "I need to think of a plan. But what kind of plan...?"

She turned her head slightly towards the room's doorway and she almost jumped out of her skin. She hadn't suspected that someone was going to sneak up on her like that. Especially since it was Al.

"H-Holy shit, Al! Why the fuck are you here...?!"

He looked behind. There was no one.

"I."

Why was he here?

"I don't know."

He needed to find something to free himself.

"Where's Michael?"

What was she going to do? Al was powerless in this suit.

Maria was somewhat surprised that Al was actually crying and that he looked really terrified. Well, she would possibly be crying herself if Michael had done to her what he had done to Al. That was just so fucked-up. Now Al just looked like a pathetic, helpless mess. Even though, he was a known murderer now.

What the hell was she supposed to do now? He was asking her about Michael and she raised an eyebrow slightly. She guessed that she could have a conversation with him for now. No harm in it, right?

"I honestly have no clue where Michael is, Al. I haven't seen him at all since.... Well, you know." She shrugged her shoulders and stepped away from where Cameron's body was. "....Do you feel anything over seeing Cameron again...?"

She gave him a sideways glance.

"....Do you want me to move her out of your sight...?" She asked out of sheer curiosity.

Apparently, perhaps, Michael was not with Maria. Perhaps he was. He was not too sure.

"..."

Did he feel anything at seeing Cameron? Yes, perhaps. Did he want her to move Cameron. No, no. There was something else he'd like.

"I am tr-trapped in this suit and I have not eaten anything since you two put me into this."

He had hunger.

"I have other problems than seeing a corpse."

Ah. Looks like Al was trying to guilt trip her over what she and Michael did to him. And it was working a little. If Al hadn't killed anyone, then she wouldn't have worried about Al. She couldn't trust a murderer. And yet he was making her feel like an asshole.

Ugh.

"....Look, I can't really let you go just like that. You can still be a threat, you know. I can't really trust you, Al." She said honestly while she lowered her bag to the ground and then she glanced over at him. "Unless you can convince me otherwise."

Why was she giving him a chance? Maybe deep down, she did trust Al. And that obviously meant that she was very naive and foolish.

"Well, if you don't want to free me, fine."

What can he do? If she doesn't free him, he'll find someone else.

"But, could you feed me?"

Well, she was a cook, wasn't she?

Maria scoffed.

Al wanted her to cook for him? What was she? His housewife or something? She never wanted that to happen. That would so weird. Why was she even thinking about it? She must be out of her fricking mind. She must be losing it. It made sense that everything was obviously getting to her now. She would possibly have wanted to cook some food for him if they were back at home before all this shit happened. But no.... She didn't want to do anything like that for him.

"I could give you half of my bread, I guess." She suggested with a shrug and she placed her sword down beside her bag. "Would that be more fair?"

She was now trying to be nice. Maybe Al would be a more sane partner than Michael. She knew that he had killed people, but it didn't really matter that much in this situation right now. She wasn't as cruel as Michael. Even if she had considered to be a player before she met Michael on the roof.

"Well...?"

"You guys stole my food. It's not that fair, but I'm hungry."

He looked down.

"I also don't have any arms to eat with. So feed me, if you don't want to free me from this straightjacket."

Al was frustrated from this conversation. Why was he talking? He was hungry. Why was this conversation so frustrating for him? Why can't she just do what he wanted. Why couldn't she just make both of themselves happy?

Maria sighed out of frustration. Al was getting annoyed himself by the sound of it. He had a good point. Did she really want to feed him like he was a baby or something? No, not really. So she was about to make a decision that would possibly be a stupid one at that. But she was going to go for it anyway.

"Alright, fine. I'll get you out of that jacket. So don't try anything once I let you free. Got it, Al?"

She approached him very cautiously and she had to work hard to get the straightjacket off of him. It was a bit puzzling as Michael had been the one to do it before. She dropped it to the ground once she had done it.

"And there you go. Happy now?" She took a step back from him and she folded her arms across her chest, feeling unsure of her actions. "I hope you won't make me regret this."

Finally, Alessio could stretch himself. It kinda felt numb, but blood finally flew through the body parts he had not been able to move.

Alessio was not trying to do anything. Why would he? There was no need to cause trouble.

"Thank you."

Now, time to eat.

"You won't regret this. I'm not a monster. I have not kill-killed because of evilness. I had a reason. But that's over."

So, Alessio walked to Maria's bag. He saw the sword of Maria next to it, but decided to ignore it. All he focused on were the things inside the bag. He got onto his knees to pick things up. Energy bars. He put one out of the bag, put it out of its paper bag and put it into his mouth. He swallowed. Energy.

"Sh-shit happens, okay? Having killed someone is the past. You don't have to remind me of it."

Actually, the sword was good to have, so he wrapped his palms around the saber. Why should he not take it?

"Why do you even judge me? There are so many other people on this island who have killed. Why me?"

Everyone who was kind of smart has killed. Everyone with a survival instinct.

Maria accepted Al's apology. She accepted him approaching her bag and just taking a bar to eat. Even if they did taste fucking disgusting. She also accepted him trying to explain things to her. Did he have to kill them in self-defense? Who knows? Only Al knew the answer to that question. What she did not accept was him getting his hands on her sword. That just pissed her off for starters and now she was basely defenceless if he was about to attack her. It was her own fault for letting him go free. Why wouldn't she had just feed him in the first place?

Maria did not move from what she was standing. Was there anything that she could use as a distraction? There had to be something. She didn't want to die. She couldn't do anything to provoke him. She couldn't start yelling at him in case that only made him mad and angry at her. What the fuck was she supposed to do? What the fuck could she say to him?

"...."

She couldn't say anything. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't take her eyes off of him holding her weapon. She just stood there. She opened her mouth to speak.

"All of you equally needed to be judged. Not just you, Al. Alvaro, Brendan, Isabel, Nancy, others that I'm sure that I am forgetting. Even people who will kill in the next days or so. You all deserved to never go home." She clenched her hands into fists and she could feel them shaking. She was getting upset. "You should all fucking rot and die on this fucking island!"

Alessio stood up from the ground, in one hand the sword, on the other a new bar of energy snacks. A word, a break, a word, a break, a word.

"What? What? What?"

He was confused. He deserved to die? And all the other killers? Fuck, what? What?

"You, no. Don't. It doesn't make sense."

If no one would kill, everybody would die.

"No one here deserves to die. Not the innocent, not the killers, not even the terrorists."

God, what a world view must she have? Killing is evil, not-killing is good. That's some naive-fucked-up black-and-white world view.

"Death is not something people deserve."

Does that statement contradict him killing two people? He had no time to think about that in depth. Perhaps it's just the position of the Alessio before the trip, who was still in him deep down. Perhaps the Alessio before the trip was wrong and Mr. Prospector was right. But maybe it was the other way around.

There was no right or wrong, hands down. But what Maria said was fucking disgusting. As if no one here deserved to go back to Kingman.

Alessio bit into the bar. He breathed heavily. He was nervous, he was angry, he was confused, he was pissed.

He raised the sword to stare at the blade.

Maria moved back a bit more to get some distance from Al. Was he going to attack her? She shouldn't have snapped like that but she was just so pissed off at all this shit.

"....."

She was watching him unsurely. She couldn't trust him. She knew that she had to get away from him. She didn't even care about what he was saying to her anymore. She just wanted to live.

"....Al, just go away...."