Survival Of The Fittest

((Nadia Riva continued from The Latest Story That I Know is the One That I'm Supposed to Go Out With))

Nadia pushed the door to the roof open and took a moment to breathe in the air. It had that post-rain smell that she wished she could bottle up. She stepped out onto the roof and looked at the surrounding area. It was slightly chilly, causing Nadia to pull her cardigan closer in order to give herself some warmth. Either way, she wanted to be outside.

After Caedyn murdered Bridgette, Nadia made her way to the asylum and spent the day hiding in one of the rooms. She blocked the door with a chair and was content to spend the day doing nothing. Well, she tried some things to pass the time, such as some yoga and playing word games with herself, but mostly it was the sort of thing she could do to keep quiet. She needed to be alone after seeing Bridgette die, and she'd rather take a day of boredom than spend more time in the vicinity of murderers and would-be murderers.

She awoke to the sound of the announcements the next morning. Caedyn's kill was the first of the day. Nancy Kyle and Isabel Ramirez killed again. There were some surprises as well. Will McKinley had murdered Darius Van Dyke. That wasn't the sort of action Nadia figured he'd take after their talk, but considering there was little context offered as to why Will killed Darius (was that intentional?), she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. That didn't mean she wanted to see him again, but it meant she had to keep her eye out for him.

Even more (or less) surprising was that Jerry got a kill. Toby was that girl he ran off with when they separated the other day, and now he killed her. The words "crime of passion" and "furious" painted a clear picture of how that scene probably went down. Nadia should have felt more upset that Toby was murdered, but all she could feel was relief that she had left Jerry when she did. Who's to say he wouldn't have stabbed her instead, or that he would have tried to kill her after killing Toby?

Nadia walked to a flat part of the roof and sat on the ground. The concrete was still slightly damp, but she didn't really mind. She was learning to give and take with certain levels of discomfort. She could reach her limit on not brushing her teeth now that she had pilfered the toothbrush and toothpaste from Bridgette. Being cold and slightly wet would have its limits, but she could hold out a bit longer with that. It was just nice to be outside for a bit.

Nadia lay back, keeping the chair leg close to her chest and stared up at the sky. The sky was clear, and she could hear the faint sound of seagulls in the distance. In a way, it had felt weird. To realize that nature and life would continue while she and the rest of her high school class were in this death game. If anything, it did contextualize the situation a bit, making it certain the world would keep going long after this had passed.

Nadia rubbed her forehead and groaned. She didn't want to get too deep into navel gazing. That would probably just put her in a sour mood for the rest of the day, anyways. Granted, she was already feeling sour having spent five days in this game with no sign of rescue or relief. At the very least, she could try to enjoy her time alone. She never really liked being around her classmates back in Kingman, but now more than ever she was glad to be away from them.

Nadia slowly closed her eyes, taking in the sound of everything around her. From the sound of seagulls nearby to the crashing of waves along the cliffs, to what may or may not be a gunshot in the distance. She slowly breathed in and out. She started to wonder if lying perfectly still would make anyone who came across her think she was dead. Maybe they'd leave her alone if they thought so. Then again, that would only work for so long. They'd see the raising and lowering of her chest or catch an eyelid twitch, then it would be exposed.

At the very least, Nadia hoped she could continue to remain in this state. It was the closest she'd get to meditation on the island, and she was going to make the most of it. She'd just keep a tight grip on the chair leg in case.

((Ty Yazzie Continued From Drip))

The announcements were still blaring in his ears while they climbed the steps to the top of the asylum. All he'd said when it was over was that they needed to get high up. Didn't wait for the others to ask questions. Didn't respond if he did. Just marched his ass up those stairs to see what's what. He needed to see. Height might help him find that miserable little bastard and...no. There weren't even words for what he was gonna do to him when he found him. Nothing he could think of even started to explain it. It was just a pulsing, red wall of anger in his head. Pounding. Screaming.

As the neared the door he whirled around on the pair behind him. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill him," he growled suddenly. "I'm gonna fuckin' find him and I'm gonna fuckin' kill him and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to stop me. And I wanna make that real fuckin' clear right now, 'cuz if either of you've got a problem with that, you're gonna wanna get the fuck outta my way right quick."

The snarled sentences were barely coherent. He didn't care, and he didn't wait for a response. Ty tore through the door at the top of the stairs as fast as he could and headed for the nearest edge of the roof to try and get a view. Any view would do. Something to make him feel like he was making progress towards putting this right. His whole body felt like it was shaking apart. That energy needed to go somewhere.

Ty hadn't cried in a long time. Then again, hadn't been this much of a gigantic goddamn failure in a long time either. Maybe he was about due.

(Keith Bauer continued from Drip))

Things weren't going well at all. Sure, the main thing Keith was dreading, that they might find Nancy after all and then be forced into a confrontation, hadn't happened. That was definitely a good thing, since encountering a gun-toting maniac who had managed to kill another couple people probably wouldn't go well.

More importantly, Ty's girlfriend had died and now someone else had been added to their kill list. Keith was pretty sure it was Brendan, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. If they did come across Brendan he'd wait for someone else to make the first move, rather than just starting shit himself. Just in case he was wrong, and more importantly because he still thought that getting in fights was a bad idea.

He wasn't sure how to help Ty either. He didn't really know Ty, and while the last couple days had taught him that Ty wasn't a bad guy, it still wasn't much to go on. Keith wasn't really good at comforting people anyway. He briefly wondered if Lizzie still had the weed, but also figured that suggesting Ty smoke away his very reasonable grief probably wouldn't do anything good.

He could see the island out in front of him. It seemed a lot smaller from up here.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it.

There was no damn point.

As Nadia closed her eyes, a lot of images passed through her mind. She figured if she was to do anything while doing nothing, it would be to think of the places she had been as fashion editorials. It allowed her to think of something pleasant compared to everything else she had seen so far.

She saw herself handcuffed to the desk in the one-on-one rooms in a striped dress, her eyes covered in heavy black mascara and eyeliner.

She saw herself lying on a rug in front of the hunting cabin's roaring fireplace in nothing but a fur coat, holding the glass shard Brendan offered her to her mouth.

She saw herself in the doctor's office, wearing a tattered doctor's robe over a short black dress, with Asuka's gun pointing at a human anatomical diagram on the wall. She couldn't remember if there was one hanging on the walls, but it was there in her mind.

She saw herself with her back to the cliffs, wearing a blood-stained white gown that spread out along the grass. It was supposed to be an homage to Rea and her relationship with Will.

She saw herself standing at the edge of the bridge, a broken bottle in her hand held close to her green, tattered dress. This one was a tribute to Bridgette and how she died on the grass.

Finally, she saw herself lying like Ophelia from Hamlet on the roof, dressed in a large, flowing gray gown. Gray to match the sky and the rooftop. The chair leg was held in her hands like a bouquet of flowers.

It was strange to think of all these horrible places and moments as photo shoots, but it was somewhat comforting to her. It let her feel creative for once on this island, even if it meant she'd never take a picture again.

Unfortunately, that distraction was taken from her by the loud sound of the door to the roof swinging open. Nadia's eyes burst open and she quickly sat up. She rolled onto her side and got onto her feet. She held the chair leg in front of herself, waiting to see who was on the roof, and if they'd come towards her.

Ty caught movement everywhere. Trees and trash and dust in the wind, all over his damn sight line with his head pounding too hard to stop and make sense of it. Somebody rolling and brandishing something that looked a hell of a lot like either a weapon or an invitation to get their ass kicked. Maybe both. Didn't give a fuck. Caught Keith behind him, safe and sound, and that meant he could...

Wait.

Keith. Just Keith. Not a sign of Liz behind him. Ty stopped for a moment and tried to listen over the rage throbbing at his temples. For a few moments, he calmed down enough to hear if there was somebody else coming up the stairs. He didn't look at Keith, or whoever was over there jumping out of their skin. They could wait.

Just silence. Then the rage came pouring back harder than ever. His head snapped to Keith with a frustrated growl. Must have been a sight; his eyes lit up all wild, face twisted up in some kinda freaky intersection of shame and disappointment and fury. "Where the fuck is she?" That hate pumping through his veins carried him forward before he even realized he was moving. For a second it might look like he was gonna take it out on the other boy, but he just snarled and kept moving right past him.

Useless. Fuckin' useless.

Ty wasn't real sure whether the thought was directed at Keith or at himself. Right about now it could go either way.

((Ty Yazzie Continued In With Blood and Rage of Crimson Red, Ripped From A Corpse So Freshly Dead))

She was right behind him obviously. He turned his head back a little, just to catch a glimpse and okay that wasn't enough. He turned more. Lizzie wasn't there. Shit.

"Uh..."

Well this was just stupid. Why would Lizzie have run off on them? More importantly, why was it Keith's job to keep track of everyone? Ty was being stupid and Keith was about to say something about it when Ty rushed past him.

He sighed. That really stopped things.

He followed.

(Keith Bauer continued in With Blood and Rage of Crimson Red, Ripped From A Corpse So Freshly Dead)

Nothing happened. Nadia couldn't see who was on the roof, but as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared. Nadia waited a few seconds as she heard them head back to the door. After a few minutes of silence, she walked over to the door. No one was there. Nadia sighed in relief.

"Well, that was a waste of tension," Nadia muttered to herself.

Nadia put her back to the stairwell door and lowered herself to the floor. She wasn't getting much done here, but it felt better than being down in the midst of the chaos. She removed her cardigan and threw it over her head.

"There," she said to herself. "Now no one will be able to find me."

Nadia weakly hit her head against the door. Even with the view and the serenity of the roof, she wasn't going to get any peace, would she?

---

A few hours later, the sun was nearly gone from view. Nadia had remained in place, barely moving except to stay in shady spots, and barely doing much of anything. She was already feeling drained from remaining still and conserving energy. Most of her time was spent thinking of whatever could come to mind, from her family, to her boyfriend, to whatever random piece of information somehow drifted in.

She finally stood up, her body sore from staying inert. If anything, she had proven she could spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing. Granted, it meant she was sore and she was slightly sun burned from being on the roof. But on the other hand, it meant she was still alive.

But with nothing to show for it.

Nadia shook her head. She figured it didn't matter. She was going to find a room inside the asylum to lock herself in for the evening. She could find something productive to do in the meantime.

((Nadia Riva continued in How Easy it was to Lie to Strangers))