Survival Of The Fittest

(( Michael Crowe continued from 70's Horror Movies 2: New Wave Massacre))

"Okay, okay, okay! D-drop him here!" Michael and Maria tossed the large sack of shit to the corner. Fucking hell, even tiny unconscious people were heavy. Say whatever you will about strength, endurance, whatever... You try dragging a person from the rooftops of a three story asylum to the top floor of a bell tower.

That shit ain't easy!

Michael took some time to breath, before leaning his back on the railing, letting it have a satisfying pop. His gaze trailed towards the straight jacketed figure laying in the corner. Little shit probably didn't have any idea where he was at. Michael made sure of that one by tying his hoodie around his face.

"Al... You're heavy as a motherfucker! You needa' go on the fuckin' Paris Hilton diet..." Michael pantomimed putting his fingers down his throat, topped off with exaggerated facial expressions and very loud and annoying gagging noises.

It seemed like Michael wasn't the first one to come up with the idea of tossing people over the bell tower. Barry was dead inside the middle of it, with someone's shirt over his face. Michael was extremely unnerved by the fact his face was covered, but he had no clue why. Maybe the three-no four days of decomposition was it. He didn't know, just something about it was off. Familiar. He's sure he'd seen that shirt before...

It bothered him that the face being covered freaked him out more than the fact that someone who'd died four days ago was laying there. Michael couldn't help but feel like shit seeing someone like this, people deserved to be in a casket under ground four days after they died, not just laying there like that.

So this is where Alvaro got his first kill? Shit, when he hears the announcements tomorrow, he's gonna flip, provided he lives that long. Karma is a bitch, and so was Mike, motherfucker!

But first, a lil' break.

Michael unzipped his bag, and pulled out some energy bars and a drink. He took a few bites, then actually gagged. Eugh. This shit literally feels and tastes like mashed together tooth-plaque. Who thought these were a good idea?! Michael took larger bites and swallows, intentionally avoiding chewing to get that shit out of the way as fast as possible. He took a few drinks of water, lamenting the lack of  well... anything gourmet.

Would it kill them to just give them a pack of Lays or something? Lays are nasty in any other situation, but fuck, they'd be something better than this! Hell, ready to eat rations would be better than this. Fuckin' cheap ass terrorists man. Don't let murderin' teens stop 'em from penny pinchin'.

"God that shit is fucking nasty!" He took another moment to cringe and shake the bad taste out. He tossed the wrapper over the edge and looked towards Maria.

"Yo, should we wake sleepin' fuckface over there an' get it over with?"

((Maria Cucinotta continued from 70's Horror Movies 2: New Wave Massacre))

Maria had been exhausted from carrying Al up to the top of the bell tower with Michael. What was it with her and heights? Not that it really mattered to her that much. At least this was taking her mind off of Caleb for the time being. She needed to stay distracted away from knowing that she would never see him again. She didn't even want to think of Kimiko.

She and Michael had been lucky to get their hands onto Al again. It was perfect. Michael had told her on the way to the bell tower about who else had been on the announcements. Al had killed two people. Cameron and Henry. She had a feeling that he had for the obvious reason that he was covering in someone else's blood. Still.... What had caused Al to suddenly kill? She wanted to know.

She was panting a little and she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She got out a bottle and one of those crappy bar. She had to keep her energy and strength up. She gagged as she took a few bites out of the bar. It really did taste so awful. She put the half-eaten bar back into her bag that she had placed down onto the ground. Then she took a big gulp of water from her water bottle. That was better.

She put away the bottle as well and then she looked at Michael. He was asking her about Al. About waking him up. And then killing him. This was what they both wanted. They were going to do the right thing. She stared down at Al. She wanted to know. Just why?

"Yeah, we need to wake him up. But I also want to know why he killed Cameron and Henry.... I want to know what made him snap and take it out on two innocent people." She looked back at Michael in curiosity. "Don't you want to know?"

"I don't know about snappin'." Michael curled his lips into a sneer looking at the wormlike creature on the ground.

"You saw the way he stared at us... I think he was always like this, that a lot of these fuckers were." The act of snapping, well that added something new to the equation of shitfuck didn't it. It wasn't like it couldn't happen. Hell, a lot of people in a scenario like this would snap. Hell, maybe Michael snapped. Maybe? If he snapped he wouldn't be aware of it though, that was the thing.

That's what snapping meant. You broke. Gone loopy. Your brain took the pain train. Couldn't take it. Lights on, nobody's home. Buh bye. When you snapped you had no idea what in the fuck was goin' on. You called inanimate objects 'Wilfred'. You were told by some unnamed entity to do shit. The lines between good and bad blurred. You threw fecal matter cocktails at people outside your crazy cell. Those types of things.

Sure, maybe a few people snapped. Alex probably did, turnin' into the fuckin' Clarence 'Wananananana, blam, well give the man a hand!' Boddicker wannabe. Maybe Alvaro. Michael couldn't tell if Alvaro was looking at him or the wall beside him, but maybe Alvaro had a lazy eye or something. Maybe he was always derp-eyed like that and he never noticed. Still... That Ryan Gosling Driver stare was fuckin' creepy come to think of it.

Maybe... Maybe some people did snap. He wouldn't hold it against them for it, but shit, they still did what they did. They gotta be held accountable. Hell, might be a mercy killing more than anything. Maybe. Maybe, just maybe that the combined stress of not only the games, but the oppressing nature of high school itself! The fear of not following your overburdening parents' expectations, the class warfare of the grades and cliques that roam it's halls, or the apathetic teachers who really don't care at all what happens? Maybe it were the social teachings of the schools, how only the strong and pretty make it to the top. The ones on top who pushed others to the bottom for some likes on a social media website, or the growing fear that a single social faux pas would end up with you on said social media website for the world to mock, with no regards to how you'd ever live it down afterwords. Maybe they spent all their time looking behind them, afraid of confrontations. Afraid people like him... Maybe... Just maybe... It was partially his fault as well...






Naaaaaah. They were all just a buncha' assholes.







"Yeah. We could probably see what he has to say. I kinda' wanna see what stupid bullshit excuse he'd make this time."

Maria thought about what Michael had just said to her. Was he in a way right? That almost all the students here were just a crack away from breaking and killing others? Heck, even she had been thinking of killing someone else before Michael somewhat managed to change her mind. Being an avenger was better than being a player of this sick, twisted game, right? If she hadn't seen Michael at all..... Maybe she would on the announcements. Dead as a victim or alive as a killer.

She felt a shiver go through her body.

It was actually quite terrifying to think about. She never wanted any of this shit to happen. But they were just really unlucky. Those terrorists must really be enjoying the show. She wished that she could get her hands on them instead to make them pay. But the one who was going to pay right now was going to be Al.

She wasn't going to let him get away again. At least Alvaro was nowhere in site with that fucking gun of his. This was going to be a lot more easier for her and Michael. It was time for some payback.

"I want to actually hear him say a fucking word. I could always use my weapon to help him make a sound." Maria let out a small chuckle that didn't sound right. Even to her. Caleb's death had got to her more than she realized. "Okay, let's do this, Michael."

She moved closer to where Al was laying on the ground and she nudged his side with the tip of her shoe. She didn't do it too hard. She just give him a light tap. Even if she did want to break his bones. Just a little bit.

"Hey! Wake up, Al!"

"Nah, I didn't mean like... They were always crazy just-"

He stared at that pile of shit laying there. How careless he was, how fucking blank his face was. Like a goddamn robot, a Terminator.

"He wasn't crazy. He's as sane as you or me. Sane as anyone on this island. He knew what he was doin'. He just didn't care about it."

That- well that might've been the thing that disgusted him the most. This little motherfucker looked at him with a straight face. Lied right to him. No twitches, no signs of guilt, no irony whatsoever. He said it like he believed it, but he knew. Michael knew that Al knew what he did. He just didn't care.

Maria wanted him to talk. She was willing to cut him up to get him to-

"The fuck Maria?! Jeez, you're ice cold, y'know that?"

Michael had actually looked disgusted for a moment. It didn't take longer than that moment for him to start laughing.

"Hahahaeehehe! I almost got you there! Hahaha... Fuck nah, but seriously though, don't waste the effort on him. We ain't like those other creeps. Plus I got a better way of doin' it..."

He squatted by Al while Maria gave him a good tap to the ribs. He rummaged through Al's bag for a moment before grabbing out a bottle of water.

He faced Maria as he unscrewed the top from the bottle.

"Now, here's how you wake someone up!"

Michael placed his hand on where Al's forehead should be underneath the hoodie to hold him down. He started dumping the bottle on Al's face.

"Drrrrrrrrink up, motherfuckeeeeeeer!"

Maria could only watch in surprise as Michael got out one of Al's water bottles and then he was telling her a better way to wake Al up. Michael just started to pour the water onto the hoodie that was around Al's face. She assumed that he was aimming for Al's face. And she thought she was being harsh. Michael was more crueler for obvious reasons.

She felt amused by what Michael was doing. She couldn't help but smile at the view. She felt this was much better than her idea. She knew it was a fuck-up idea for her to cut someone with a sword to torture them. She didn't really mean any of it. She was just still feeling really bitter over Caleb's death. If she saw Kimiko.... She honestly didn't know how she would react.

"You're right. This is definitely a better way to wake him up!" She nodded in agreement and she let out a small chuckle. "....We can just kill him to serve as a warning to the scummy killers. To show that we won't be messed with. Yeah?"

(Audrey Reyes continued from Cold Cold Nights under Chrome and Glass.)

Tired, bleary-eyed, hungry as all hell, Audrey stood there at the top of the staircase, staring at Maria and Michaelas the one poked and prodded a seemingly unconscious Al while the other watched on. She blinked. Were they trying to wake him up? It seemed really silly for anyone to be sleeping up at the top of the bell tower of all places. Audrey took a chance in venturing outside of the asylum just to see what Alvaro did, how he could have ended up killing someone. She honestly did not expect there to be a stairway towards the top of the tower. She also did not expect there to be anyone else up here.

Audrey was out of breath, but she kept her breathing light. It didn't seem like either of them noticed her just yet. Was that a good thing or not?

... Okay. Now Michael was pouring an entire bottle of water on him. This was getting too weird. Audrey cleared her throat.

"Um."

She furrowed her brows. Audrey was still panting from the hike up the staircase.

"What the heck are you guys doing?"

((Alessio Rigano continued from Alone Again (Naturally)))

Al's head ached.

He opened his eyes and was trapped in a suit for crazy people. And he saw Michael with Maria. He breathed heavily and spit out water.

"Urrrgh."

He coughed.

He wanted to get up, but was too weak.

He looked at Michael's eyes, then looked back into the distance. A third person. Audrey. A buddy of Alessio. But Al was just confused. He had no clue what was happening right now.

Michael was jolted by an alien voice. Well, not quite alien, just not a voice he'd heard since he'd been here. This... was well, it was fuckin' awkward.

"Err..."

Michael hadn't even noticed that Alessio had peeped his head out of the hoodie covering his face. He was more focused on how to explain why he was waterboarding him awake in the first place.

"Well... uhhh."

Would Audrey be pissed about it? Probably. Alessio's probably gonna start screaming stupid shit too, so fuck it. Tell the truth.

"Well... I'ma start from the beginning; Me and Maria here, well, we're fed up with the same damn names comin' up on the announcements. So; we decided to change some things, right?"

"We found Al... you probably heard him on the announcements right?"

Michael shrugged, before tossing the empty water bottle off the tower.

" We figured we'd question why he did it first. Y'know, help us decide whether or not to toss him over on his head or on his feet. Depends on what answers he gives us."

Maria hadn't thought that someone would have come to the Bell tower. Well, it looked like she was wrong. Well, shit. It was Audrey. She didn't know the girl personally. But whatever. If this girl decided to try to stop them. Maria was not going to hold back on her. She did not want a repeat like with Alvaro beforehand.

She spoke after Michael finished talking, "I think we should just end his life. We don't want a piece of shit like him to go home. We want to hunt down some of the killers and stop their stupid reign of terror, you know?" She paused to let Audrey think about it. "He killed two innocent people. So we are planning on giving him a death sentence in a way. It will be justice...."

She gave Audrey a stern glare.

"....Al is a monster and he deserves this. Don't even think of trying to save him, Audrey."

Audrey's eyes met Alessio. He was coughing and sputtering. Perhaps if he hadn't killed a bunch of people Audrey might have felt pity. She... She really did not want to see Al like that. Al was always good to her. He was a killer, sure, but it was pretty obvious to her that they did not give Alessio much of a choice, coming up here.

She sighed. Okay, compartmentalize. Audrey did not know either Maria or Michael, but she knew Alessio.

"... So you're playing judge, jury and executioner."

One step forward. Her nunchaku was tucked into one of the pockets of her hoodie but they were as good as useless. Audrey pointed towards Alessio.

"Did you even bother to ask him?" Audrey asked. She took another step forward. "Ask him why he killed? Or did you just 'forget' to ask before you knocked him out?" She wagged a finger at Michael. "And don't act dumb; I was here. She was stepping on him before you opened that bottle of water. He was out cold!"

What if Alessio acted in self-defense? What if the terrorists were being hyperbolic, stretching the truth in order to encourage everyone? Because she just could not imagine Alessio as a 'monster'. True, she never thought Alvaro could kill anyone. But Al wasn't like Alvaro.

She was deluding herself.

Audrey glared back at Maria.

"... Or what? You'll kill me?"

((This isn't so much as a skip as it is swapping places with RC to move things along a little bit. Also GM'ing accepted from RC for Alessio.))

"Okay, okay! Everyone fuckin' relax!"

Michael couldn't believe he was the fuckin' mediator for this shit. How funny was it that he was the calmest in the room? Like for real, what in the fuck is happening?

"Cept you. You ain't got nothin' to be relaxin' about!" Michael grabbed Al's hair, shaking his head back and forth. Audrey and Maria's argument was pissing him off, but it was okay, nobody would mind if he took it out on this sick fuck for a little bit.

"Aight! Audrey, listen up, okay? I get it. You didn't experience even a tenth of the shit we did, that's okay! You don't get it, nothin' wrong with that; BUT Al most certainly does deserve this shit. It's a funny thing you mention askin' him. We did just that yesterday."

Michael wrapped his arms around Al's head. His hands wrapped around Alessio's jaw and cheeks. Michael started opening and closing his mouth like a macabre Kermit. Michael's already high pitched voice warped into an even more grating caricature fusion of Lemon Grab, Tommy Wiseau and Bobcat Goldwaith.

"Hnnnnnnggg! I deed nawt keel anywon Michael CrooOoweeeE! Heurr-durr!, I did naaaaaht! I am tooooooOOOoOOootaaaaAAaAaaallly innocent! 'Dis is just ketchup on my hoodie, nyeh-hurnnnnn~"

Michael let go of Al's head, and watched him fall back down with a comical thump.

"Little bastard lied right to our face, right? We'da got him talkin' earlier, but Alvaro fucked it all up like the shitbag he is. Murderer savin' another one, fancy that...  Hell, to start from the beginning, he walked in scarin' the shit out of the Hot Topic crew, and I had to go in to save 'em all, the ungrateful fucks. Back then he had a pickaxe. When me and Maria found him again, he had traded his pickaxe off for a toy gun, and a lot more blood. Motherfucker outright lied to us. He says he didn't do shit, covered in all that blood!"

Michael took the blood stained hoodie and tossed it at Audrey's feet.

"That ain't his."

He looked towards Al. He looked towards the outer edge of the bell tower. He looked back at Al.

"Speakin' a him..."

He grabbed Al by the collar of his straight jacket, hoisting him up on his feet.

He stopped and looked towards Audrey.

"Maria was a... well I'll admit, she was a bit aggressive towards you. No offense, Maria, but you were a real 'see-you-next-tuesday'! Aheheh! But listen to me Audrey, she is kinda right, very much so in fact, even if it was blunt as all hell. Don't try and stop us. We already had to deal with Alvaro's shit; 's why this little piddlefuck got away the first time. Ain't happenin' again..."

What in the hell was a piddlefuck?

"Lil' mofo didn't wanna talk then? Well, he's talkin' now!"

He stopped at the edge, his gaze fixated right on Alessio's eyes.

"I'ma make you a deal, okay?"

He brought his face in close. He paused for dramatic effect.

"When I toss you over, if ya' can fly, we won't hunt you down, okay!?"

That's it. Use a Sopranos quote. Nobody back home would notice too much would they?

He shoved Al over the edge, his hands still hanging onto the straight jacket.

Alessio was now dangling upside down from the bell tower, curled up in what is most likely an uncomfortable position.

"How's the view you shit?! Makin' you wanna talk now, eh?  Start talkin' an' maybe I'll let you go, ehehehehehehe!"

Michael raised his left hand, now the only thing keeping Al on the barrier was his own two legs, and Michael's right arm.

"What's wrong Al?! Don't wanna hang out with us anymore?! What? You ain't the type of gettin' high?! Well hang in there, buddy! After all! You aaaallllwaaays had yer' head in the clouds, right?!"

He shook his arm back and forth, Al started swaying left and right.

"This is my baaaad hand Al! Y'know, the one you took a big fuckin' chomp outta? Best start talkin', or I might jus' drop this conversation! AaaaAahaahahehehaaah!"

Aaand this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you interrogate someone! No pointy things needed.

What had they done to him, though? Alessio did not know.

He did not know if he wanted to know. He knew that he wanted to not be here anymore.

He knew that 'here' meant 'with Maria and Michael'. Audrey was a cool person to be around, given that she somehow trusted him. Mayhaps not totally, but she wouldn't treat him like Mike.

Him grabbing his jaw. Him throwing him out of the tower. Him making jokes.

He looked down the tower.

Alessio was fully awake now.

He could already imagine falling down. My god, the ground was getting closer the closer he looked. He sometimes thought what it was like to fall down a building. He empathised with people who died at the twin towers by jumping when that was a topic, and he knew that was not an experience he wanted to experience. Feeling air and then just falling on the ground to die.

Alessio did not want to talk. He'd rather die than-

No, he didn't wanna die.

"I'm scared. Please don't kill me."

How long could Michael catch him?

"I had reasons to kill. I had a reason. And I'm done- I'm done with killing."

He blended out the jokes, all he focused on was not dying.

Maria didn't get a chance to respond to Audrey's question as Michael started to manhandle Al and it was actually scaring the crap out of her. She thought she was losing it, but it was obvious that Michael was more unstable than her. She didn't even know how to react to the situation.

She lowered her sword to her side as she forgot that she was annoyed by Audrey and all she could do was watch the scene with Michael and Al unfold in front of her. She had to snap Michael out of it. He was going too far. He was actually scaring her a little.

"Hey, Michael, knock it-"

Al suddenly said something. Fucking finally! Maria didn't want Michael to drop him. She didn't want Al to die just yet. They could keep him alive a bit longer. They could use him as a human shield if it came to it. But....

Maria really wanted to know his reason. Just as long as it wasn't going to be a lie.

"Michael, come on. This is going too far. We-We need to calm down...." She moved closer to Michael and placed her free hand on his shoulder gently. "Al, if Michael stops doing this. Can you tell us the reason why you did what you did? And don't even think of lying to us, otherwise I will let Michael do what he wants to you."

She glanced at Al's face, trying not to feel somewhat bad for him. Shit, she couldn't feel sorry for a murderer, right?

".....Why did you kill them? Be honest with us for fuck's sake."

"No. No, this is wrong."

Perhaps it was the possibility that Jasper's shooting could have been an accident. Or the realization that they kidnapped Al going off so little information. Maybe it was the shiteatting grin on Michael Crowe's face. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the gut-churning sensation of seeing a friend in danger. It really did not matter what reason there was. Audrey was going to put her foot down.

"This is sick! What are you even trying to prove by doing this? Do you think that spooking some poor boy who's done nothing to you is going to make anything better? Because it's not, I can tell you that much!I have no idea what the hell happened to you, or Maria, b-but it doesn't matter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, justifies this!"

At least Alvaro had enough humanity in him to put Jasper out of his misery. That did not make what he did any better, but she would have thought far less of him had he just turned tail and left Jasper to bleed out.

At least Alvaro did not dangle his victim over the side of the bell tower, like a cat dangling a mouse by its tail.

At least Alvaro did not laugh.

Of course she was scared. She was scared that Michael was going to drop Al. Audrey could imagine him doing it . The way Michael was acting, it was unnatural. Barbaric. Not sadistic, but clearly deranged. That's the thing about fear though; you can push past it, muscle through it.

Audrey knew very little of Michael Crowe, but she was pretty sure he never acted like this back at school. Michael... wasn't listening.  She looked to Maria. who seemed pale in the face.

"Tell him to stop, Maria. Tell him to pull Al back. Please. You'll never get your answers if his grip slips and Al falls."