Survival Of The Fittest

((G037 - Casey Malkovich: Start))

The rooms of the hospital were grim, and a putrid stench that Casey did not even want to think about radiated from the sheets. But it wasn't such an awful place, now was it? For one thing, she was alone. Casey didn't exactly dislike being around other people in normal circumstances, but none of this was a "normal circumstance", and like hell she was going to treat this game like a fucking meet-and-greet.

Casey Malkovich knew enough about Survival of the Fittest to know that if you didn't watch your back, a knife was bound to find its way into it. And their orientation certainly didn't assuage her fears. Sure, she didn't want to be too quick to believe the words of terrorist murderers, but they hadn't seemed to have lied about anything else. As far as Casey could tell, there was a one hundred percent chance she was stuck in a dog-eat-dog death match with no way out.

Oh, God, what the hell?

She expected to scream, cry, vomit, bang on the wall. To curse Danya or God or her own dumb self for going on this trip in the first place. But instead Casey found herself sitting on a disgusting bed and staring at her own feet. Nothing interesting, really, just those stupid fucking boots that she insisted on wearing. God, the whole world could see her and she was dressed like some kind of freak. It hadn't been so bad when she thought she was just going to be at Disneyland, among thousands of people busy with other stuff and her own good friends, but here…Well, there's some advice for the viewers at home: Don't listen to the people you met online.

Suddenly, Casey snapped upright. People at home were seeing this, that's what those terrorists had said. That meant…Probably her parents. Siblings. Friends. It was kind of surreal; the idea that they were at their houses, watching her sit on a hospital bed, doing nothing. And they were probably worried, wouldn't they be? If it was her sibling or friend, Casey sure as hell would be worried. So, should she…say something for them? Maybe? God, it wasn't like there were online guides on what to do if terrorists forced you enter a battle royale with your classmates.

Okay, positive thinking, Casey. There was no reason not to do it. Who cared if her idea was dumb? Casey was just going to die here, anyway.

Positive thinking had backfired pretty quickly.

She turned to face the camera, unsure of how she should start. Talking to herself rubbed Casey as kind of weird, even if she knew there was someone at the other end who could see her. And should she be serious or light-hearted about the whole thing? Casey didn't feel very light-hearted right now, but she might be able to force it if she tried. She had always been good at faking a smile, although this situation was so much of an outlier that who knew how the fuck she would respond? Maybe serious was the better option, after all.

Right. Just fucking do it. "Uh…Hey." Casey's voice sounded odd even to her own ears. Weaker than it should be. Younger, somehow, than she was. And even though she had only said one real word, she felt like energy was being drained out of her body. It had been a bad idea after all, but that did not mean she wasn't going to plow right ahead and keep trying. Perseverance, that was the key! Once more, Casey! You can do it!

God, this whole thing was such bullshit.

"It's me, uh, Casey Malkovich." Come to think of it, she had friends, good friends, that wouldn't bat an eye at that name. People that knew she was named Casey and that she lived in Washington, but not much more than that. "Some of you guys know me as Penemue too, huh? I…" And where exactly was she supposed to go from there?  "I guess you all know what this Survival of the Fittest thing is. So, um, if you're going to watch this to see what happens to me…"

Her head felt like it was home to a small colony of bees. Her face was turning red from an effort not to cry, because, sure as sure, the situation Casey was in had finally hit her. "J-just stop! Okay? I don't want you to see this. Pretend I'm still lost, that you don't know what happened to me. I don't care, just stop!"

All Casey's energy was gone. She turned away from the camera, hid her face in her dumb stupid fucking hat as she cried. Not fair, not fair, she had dreams. Survival of the Fittest had been stopped. It was over, done with. People like her were supposed to grow up safely and have jobs and lives and all that stuff Casey had thought she didn't care about. Everyone had said it was safe. The president had said it was safe.

Casey reached down and pulled her still unopened bag unto the bed. The collar she hadn't really noticed before was suddenly the heaviest damn thing in the world, and she was beginning to perspire.

Alright. Calm down. She was going to figure this out. Casey was going to get off this bed and look in her pack and find her friends and figure out what she was supposed to do. Not kill anyone, of course, but there had to be something else. Something that she was going to find and understand and do. They weren't getting the best of Casey Malkovich, no matter what. Even if it did eventually mean dying on the awful island, they weren't getting the best of her.

At least that's what Casey thought to herself as she wiped her face dry with one uncovered arm. But as soon as she blinked the world back into clear view, it was  too much for her, and she felt herself begin to sob again.

Sure, Casey Malkovich was going to find her way in this damned place. She'd show them all. Just…Just give her a minute.

It must seem almost comical from the viewer's position, sitting at home, watching what was unfolding. Casey Malkovich, a young girl thrown into a life-or-death situation, tries desperately to hold back her tears as she sends a message to those she loves.  Finally she can't contain herself, and she starts crying.  She's having an emotional breakdown on national television, alone, on a bed in an abandoned hospital...

And then some Filipino loser walks in and stops dead in his tracks, with an expression that can only be described as absolute shock.

Granted, Carlos Lazaro (Boy 015) was sneaking around, despite having boots.  The trick was to move slowly, touching the heel of his shoe down first before bringing the rest of the weight down.  This worked pretty well with the marmoleum floor that had seen better days, but damn did it make him look silly.  He looked like a cartoon prison mate sneaking out of his cell.  It didn't help that Casey's sudden outburst made him practically leap into the air.

He was definitely surprised though; this was all too clear from the genuine shock on his face (his normal facial expressions ranged from true neutral to chaotic irritated).  He didn't know someone was up here crying!  

Carlos wasn't around to hear what she was talking about, but he knew why she was crying.  You'd have to be crazy to not see the problem!  It was just... really surreal, wandering into a room and seeing someone in an incredibly silly outfit crying on a bed.  Brown vest, white shirt with a tie, boots...  Had to be Casey Malkovich.  She was wearing that exact same setup the day of.  Carlos damn near went up and scolded her when he saw what she was wearing.  That was not the sort of thing you wore to Disney Land.  That was the sort of thing a gangster would wear, a gangster with no style

Not that he... had a passing interest in fashion.

Now, Carlos wasn't the kind of guy who "reached out" to others.  He wasn't the best socially and most of what he knew about his fellow classmates came from gossip.  That having been said,  Casey... was mostly an unknown.  Carlos ran through what he knew off-hand.  Stage crew for the Drama club.  Worked at a grocery store.  Into Crafts...  That was all he knew about her.  Before Child Death Island Carlos just figured her for a Shrinking Violet and left it at that.  So, yeah, running into a sobbing Casey Malkovich dressed up as 20's accountant?  Definitely not part of the plan.

Carlos had a plan, by the way.  He totally did.

He found himself frozen in place, unable to move.  Also not part of the plan.  Casey didn't seem to notice him coming into the room, or if she did, she definitely didn't react.  That made things... awkward.  Shit.  He couldn't just walk out, could he?  Even if he did manage to get out without her noticing... she was crying!   She was alone!  Carlos might have been a jerk but he couldn't just walk out.  So he tried engaging her...

"Uhh," he said, eyes squinting.  "Yo?  You okay?"

It was a start.

God, should have been great. What about Disneyland? And friends? And getting on all the good rides twice and buying cotton candy and some overpriced keychain too? Casey knew it was useless to think of what might have been, but she couldn't help herself.  She had made this hat recently, and the feel of the fabric had been familiar. Like Casey was back at home and would see her normal bedroom when she pulled it away from her face.

She wasn't idealistic enough to believe this whole thing was a dream, certainly not. But Casey still gave the world one last chance to prove her wrong. She had suppressed her tears and counted to ten, almost like she was a child playing hide-and-go-seek. The exercise was supposed to calm her nerves, but it didn't do much good. At least Casey seemed to have stopped crying.

Okay, moment of truth.

As Casey wiped her last tears away, she saw the same hospital room that she had been sitting in before her minor breakdown. She wasn't surprised by that, not really. It wasn't like she was some dumb kid who thought everything was going to be alright. Casey knew that from now on all she had to look forward to was this game of death and fear. So why did it feel as if something in her had died when she saw bare wall instead of her own posters and corkboard?  

Wait, holy shit. Was somebody talking to her?

Casey turned around to see the figure of another classmate. Before she could even begin to process who this new person was or what he was saying, she scooted back against the wall and pulled the pack with her. They had all gotten a weapon, haven't they? Maybe Casey's was a gun. Maybe if this guy was going to try and start the game up proper she would be able to fight back. Even a good knife would do, probably. Casey didn't know a damn thing about weaponry, but if her life was going to be on the line, then she'd just have to hope that she was a fast learner.

But before she opened her pack to see what the psychos had given her, Casey realized what the intruder was saying. He was asking her if she was okay. The guy had found himself in the same unbearable situation as they all were in, and he was asking her if she was okay.  Casey felt a twinge of shame that her first thought had been how to end his life if he would have attacked her.

But it was probably best not to dwell on her embarrassment, and instead try to assess the situation from this new point of reference. Casey recognized the student as Carlos Lazaro, though she honestly didn't know much about him. He was on the volunteer club and worked at a similar job as her, but Casey had never really spoken to the guy. Apparently he got all pissy and started insulting people when they tried to have conversations with him. Not exactly the type of person a nervous girl wants to approach. And what was up with that attitude anyway? Did he think he was better than the rest of them or something?

Back at school, it was possible that Casey's pent up aggression would cause her to snap at Carlos. But this wasn't the same thing. Now that she had found herself in a game where herself and a lot of the people she cared about were going to die, Casey couldn't be angry at the boy standing there with a weird expression on his face if she wanted to. For all her idle thoughts about the benefits of being alone and the possibility of betrayal...It was good to see him, somehow.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Casey stated, almost reflexively. That's what she said when people asked if she was fine. That's what she always said. "Uh, I mean, no. No, I'm really not." It didn't make much sense, but Casey felt herself the tiniest bit lighter from those couple of words. "And how are you doing? After all of that…"

((Alice Gilman: continued from Wish I Could Breathe))

The first floor of the hospital hadn't proved very fruitful, though it had definitely succeeded in unnerving Alice. The emergency room, in particular, with bloodstained gurneys still proudly on display. While Alice did not believe in the supernatural, she was not willing to completely rule out their existence, and had felt incredibly on edge since the moment she first set foot into the hospital.

Of course, that could very well just be a side effect of watching out for crazed classmates behind every corner.

Horror aside, there had been no supplies to be found, so Alice had continued on to the second floor. Before she had started exploring in earnest, the sound of voices reached her ears. A quick internal debate on whether or not to turn back was quickly quelled when Alice recognized the voice of Casey, along with that of a male student who seemed familiar, though she could not place his name at the moment.

Going to the hospital was a wise choice after all, I guess.

Casey was, along with being a fellow steampunk enthusiast, a member of both the Volunteer Club and Alice's tabletop gaming group. The two girls got along well, and Alice was happy to consider Casey one of her few friends. Smiling, Alice still proceeded with caution. Didn't want to catch anyone by surprise and catch a bullet to the skull, after all. After locating the location of the voices (one of the patient's quarters) Alice stopped a safe distance away, then loudly knocked on the wall.

After a short pause, Alice spoke up. "Hey, it's Alice. I'm entering your room, so, uh, please don't shoot me?" After this, Alice entered the room, which allowed her to identify the male voice. Carlos Lazaro, a fellow member of the volunteer club. While Alice had never been fond of his attitude, there were worse people to run into on the island. Alice nodded politely at him, then turned to Casey. "Glad I found you." She smiled. "It'd be a shame if I'd never been able to see your kickass outfit."

Oh, well.  If Casey said so.

Carlos noted her backtracking, but he didn't think much of it.  Frankly he would have responded the same way if the tables were turned.  He immediately relaxed, with his face returning to his normal, neutral state.  Casey had asked him the same in return but he didn't respond right away.  He tilted of his head, closed his eyes, then shrugged.

"Could be better," he said, rather flatly, almost irritably.

The time for freaking out was over.  Carlos was panicking when he first woke up but that was a while ago.  He was quick to adapt to the situation... though he certainly wished he had received something other than a stupid saw.  

The saw was big enough to look slightly intimidating and it had a handle for him to hold.  He could imagine himself defending himself with it, but from far away it looked more like a big chisel than a saw.  He figured he should try to hang onto it.   Better than nothing.  He kept it sheathed inside one of the side pockets of his jeans. 

His original plan had included avoiding everyone altogether until he found something to defend himself with but, well, that plan fell apart when he heard Casey crying.  He would have to think of something else.

Thankfully Casey didn't appear to be a danger, not that he would have suspected otherwise.  Casey didn't look like the playing type.  However, that did not mean Carlos was about to let his guard down.  When he heard another voice, he spun around quickly to face the door, fumbling for his saw.  What the voice was saying was lost on him, but all that he knew was that he didn't hear them coming.

Then Alice walked into the room and he felt incredibly silly.  Smooth, Carlos. 

Carlos let his saw rest in his pocket.  He tried to play the last fifteen seconds off like a fluke.  He responded to her nod with another nod.

"Alice."

Carlos rolled his eyes at the 'kickass' comment.  He made sure to turn himself away so that Alice couldn't see it though.  If he had to die, he didn't want it to be over a stupid dress.  Carlos was Internet savvy but he didn't know a thing about Steampunk.  He felt like the odd one out.

"Did you see anyone else in this dump?" he asked Alice without meeting her eyes.

Carlos looked towards the doorway, as if there a bus load of kids waiting outside and Alice just happened to be the first one out.

Could be better. Yeah, he had that one right.

Carlos seemed to be relaxing, even though his words carried a tint of "I'm pissed off" with them. Casey could sympathize with that kind of attitude. And despite everything she knew about Survival of the Fittest, despite the warnings of their orientation, she didn't feel frightened by Carlos Lazaro. In fact, Casey's earlier panic was leaving her.

Casey Malkovich was not going to live long if she trusted random people like this, but what the hell. She wasn't going to live forever anyway. And besides that, what was the point of spending what would undoubtedly be her last days acting like a scared rabbit? Hell no, she wasn't going to do that!

Fine words now, but she had been singing a different tune a couple of minutes ago. Casey's emotions weren't working correctly. Kill to live? Face her end with her remaining dignity? Those concepts were way too out that for Casey to really understand them right now. She just wanted to curl up under her bed covers and watch tv shows on her laptop. It would be better to just forget about familiar things, but Casey just couldn't make herself.

Before she could say anything more, the sound of a different voice entered the room. Carlos jumped at it, but Casey found herself too drained to really respond. She felt better then she had a few moments ago, but certainly was not operating at anything close to a normal level. But it turned out that the new student probably wasn't going to pose an immediate danger to them anyway.

Casey knew Alice Gilman fairly well, certainly better than she knew Carlos Lazaro. She was a volunteer, tabletop gamer, and steampunk fan. In other words, enough of their interests lined up that the two had started to spend time together. At the current time, Casey considered Alice to be a friend and hoped the other girl felt the same way. Of all the people who could have walked through that door, Alice was among those that Casey would have been most happy about seeing.

At the other girl's words, Casey felt her face heat up and redden. Dammit, Alice had to bring up her silly looking outfit. And here she thought that if she didn't bring attention to her clothes, maybe nobody else would even mention them. But now it was out in the open, and Casey sure as hell wasn't going to look at Carlos to see how he responded to the compliment.

But at the same time, she felt a stupid grin spread across her face because one of her friends had called something she made ‘kickass'.

Casey stood up and put her hat back on, making sure it was straight on her head. She didn't bother to hide her smile. "T-thanks Alice. I'm glad I got to see you too."

That kind of sentiment was too much to just leave hanging in the air in this place, though. She gestured toward the camera and looked back at Alice and Carlos. "They're all watching, huh? At home, I mean. If you've got something to say…"

"First floor's deserted. Didn't see anyone on this floor, either." Alice shrugged, turning to face Carlos, who seemed curiously on edge. Well, not exactly odd, considering the situation, but the deliberate avoidance of eye contact was definitely noteworthy. Probably didn't mean anything, but Alice made sure to keep it in mind. "Could be people on the third floor, but probably safe to assume we're alone."

Alice turned back to face her friend, smiling again as she considered how lucky she was at the moment. Bigger picture notwithstanding, of course. It was nice to simply be with Casey again for a little while before things inevitably went to hell. Alice knew that she couldn't stay together with her forever. Alice had no desire to see Casey die, and witnessing her death was certainly not a fate she'd wish on Casey. As much as she disliked thinking about it, they'd need to separate eventually. It was best for everyone.

For now, though, Alice could just enjoy the moment. Enjoy one of the last traces of her normal school life she'd ever experience. The fragile illusion of normalcy, however, was immediately shattered when Casey gestured to the camera on the wall. This might be Alice's last opportunity to talk to her family as a normal girl. "...Yeah. Got something to say, but I'd rather not say it in front of you guys. Private."

It was a bit silly to worry about privacy when there would be countless strangers watching her every move, but Alice still wanted to be alone when she addressed her family. It was the thought behind it that counted in Alice's mind. There were other things to worry about at the moment, though. Alice leaned back against the wall, facing the other two.

"So, uh. You guys got anything specific in mind? Can't stay in this room forever, unfortunately."

Carlos turned to Casey.

"I... heard you talking from down the hall.  Were you... like, talking to the camera?"

There was a note of hesitation in his voice.  It wasn't a literal hesitation, more like an intended pregnant pause when one was stepping over a verbal minefield.  It was an appropriate metaphor, really, because Carlos didn't want Casey to get the wrong idea.

It wasn't like he was listening to her!  Honestly he didn't even notice  It was only now that he had remembered someone talking.  Before that, all he could recall was the loud screaming that made him jump back.  And the crying.  

It was funny.  Carlos didn't cry.  He didn't cry when he woke up on this island.  He hasn't cried and years.  And he never thought about that before... until he was faced with Casey.  That didn't mean he was abnormal, certainly not but...

He frowned suddenly, crossing his arms.  Call him Grumpy the Dwarf all you like but Casey's warm smile made him feel slightly bitter.  Jealous, even.    He didn't know Alice or Casey all that well, considering Casey's attire and Alice's approval had surprised him.  He knew rumors about many of the others, but take that away... they were all the same.

Christ, why did he go on this trip again?

Oh, yeah, that's right.  To mend the bridges he had managed to burn and to not end his high school career a complete loner with no friends.  

Also, Disneyland, but that goes without saying.

Needless to say, Carlos was mentally kicking himself.  Alice said something along the lines of this place being deserted.  He wanted to argue, lash out at Alice.  He was looking on both floors too and he sure as hell didn't see anyone either!  And that was only minutes ago!  Why didn't he see her, Ms. I-Didn't-See-Anything?  But he knew that was futile.  Alice was only answering the question, a question HE had asked her.

At Alice's response to the cameras... Was she asking for them to leave?  Maybe he was taking things too literally.  Carlos pressed his palm over his face.  He felt a headache coming on.  Did he forget to take his meds when he left for the trip?  He can't remember.  Maybe they'll help him to not to blurt out the first things that come to mind.

However, Carlos did perk up at the mention of... anything specific?  He wasn't sure what that meant.  Carlos took a moment to think about what he was going to say.

"I have a plan, actually."

Carlos looked away.  Had, rather.  He had a plan, but it was slowly slipping away from him.  It involved not getting involved with other people and... well, he sort of broke that rule over his knee when he found Casey.

He had no intention on telling them that though.  He wasn't sure how they'd take that.  Carlos could not afford to shove his foot in his mouth, not here.

"Doesn't involve playing though." he admitted, then chuckled.  "Tch, even if I wanted to play, I probably wouldn't have it in me."

Carlos pressed himself up against a nearby wall.  He crossed his arms, looking between Alice and Casey.

"You guys have seen the show, right?"  he asked suddenly.  "I know Danya and that ponytail guy explained how everything works but do you know anything past that?"

Casey nodded at Carlos' words, steadying her voice the very best she could. "That's right. I figured that there's people on the other end of those things. Like, you know…" She was trailing off an awful lot, especially when she wanted to mention home. Maybe Casey just wasn't ready to talk about it. Maybe Casey just wasn't ready for any of this.

"Yeah, I understand," she responded to Alice's wish for privacy. The sentiments in that request were understanable. It wasn't as if Casey would have been comfortable with other people listening in on her last chance to speak to her family and friends. Then again, she had already panicked and completely blown that chance, so it didn't really matter either way. But hell, maybe that whole thing had turned out for the best. What would Casey have said, anyway? I love you guys? I'm happy enough with the time I had? Don't worry about me? It wasn't as if any of the trite words she would have come up with would have changed anything.

But thinking about that wasn't going to help them here. Casey looked around the room again, noticing that Carlos seemed to be developing a headache. Well, that certainly wasn't any good. All the medicine in this place looked like it had been there for years, and she hadn't been possessed with the foresight to bring any on the trip. Not like Casey even knew if the people who kidnapped them had really left that with their stuff. She didn't know anything about them or their aims.

Well, even if she couldn't offer anything helpful, at least Casey could check if he was okay. "Hey, are you feeling al-" Casey started, quietly enough that Carlos probably could barely hear it. Before she could finish the thought, however, Alice asked if they had any specific ideas on what to do and Carlos said that he did. Now that was something. Casey was unaware that there was such a thing as a good plan in this place. As far as she could tell, all anyone could do was try not to die, and that was going to be hard when people actually started killing each other.

Since Casey didn't have anything else to offer on the whole planning thing, she waited for Carlos to elaborate. He didn't seem to want to add more on the subject, expect mentioning that his plan didn't involve playing.

"Yeah, there's no point in that kind of thing, anyway." Casey tried to sound determined, but that was probably a lost cause. "It just puts a target on your back, and you'd have to k-kill a lot of people." She looked at her feet. "Anyway, I don't think I could do it either." Admitting weakness on Survival of the Fittest did not seem like the greatest of ideas, but the words had come out before Casey could really think about them.

Watched the show, huh? Casey knew about it, but a person would have had to live under a rock in the Sahara desert not to know about it. Sure, on some websites, Survival of the Fittest was a sensation like no others, but Casey and her friends on Stewards were pretty removed from that kind of thing. As far as she had been concerned, the actual videos could stay in the dark corners of the internet where she didn't have to see them.

Casey shook her head. "I know whatever's common knowledge about it, but probably not much more then that. It just wasn't a thing I wanted any part of. I mean-fuck! It's Survival of the Fittest!" She had no idea what she meant by that, so she just sighed. "Sorry. I'm not going to be much help on that end." Dammit. Casey couldn't help plan, didn't know shit about the show? What the hell was she even doing here?

Alice's hopes had risen slightly when Carlos mentioned that he did, indeed, have a plan, only to fall again when he completely failed to elaborate, except for an assurance that it didn't involve playing. Not much of an assurance at all, really. Anyone who did plan on playing certainly wouldn't let their intentions be known if they had any sense at all.

While it would be nice to think that none of her fellow classmates had already decided to go along with the terrorist's rules, it'd simply be idiotic to assume. Anyone who wasn't blinded by hopeless optimism would've already realized that escape was impossible, the only way to make it out alive killing at least one of their fellow students.

Alice adjusted her glasses and sighed, trying to avoid thinking of that topic for the moment. "Players never survive. One got murdered after they escaped their game, right? Even without the obvious moral issues, it's a pragmatic one as well. Don't wanna kill anyone, so it's a moot point anyway." A sentiment that Carlos and Casey seemed to share.

Even if Alice had been willing to kill, she'd have no means to do so. A small, physically unimposing girl, armed with only a ridiculous potato-peeling device? She'd be dead within a minute.

Alice's frown deepened as Carlos continued on to ask if either of the girls had seen the show. As much as she hated to admit it, after most of the media coverage surrounding Version Four had died down Alice's curiosity had driven her to tracking down a clip of the show, just to see exactly what it was.

A garden full of bloody corpses had been the first thing Alice saw. She had simply stared blankly at her screen for what seemed an eternity, then calmly shut her computer down and collapsed into bed, trying to forget what she had seen. She didn't succeed, and had vivid nightmares for a few days afterward.

Needless to say, that was the last time Alice ever tried to view SOTF.

"Um, haven't seen it. Don't know anything more than you. Sorry." The lie was less due to Alice worrying about what the others thought, and more simply trying to avoid thinking about the gruesome sight, especially now that scenes like that were going to become an everyday reality for the remainder of Alice's life.

"Care to share the rest of your plan, Carlos?" Alice asked, turning to face him. The sooner they left this place which contained death in its very essence, the better.

Carlos suddenly felt a little uneasy.  Alice was insistent on hearing his plan, and it made Carlos realize that he had never intended to tell anyone about it.  It was HIS plan after all, and he wasn't exactly perfect material to lead a rebellion.  He shifted against the wall behind him, looking back over at Casey.  He couldn't meet Alice's eyes.

"It's alright.  I was, uhh... sort of a fan?"  He swallowed harshly, remembering that Casey knew next to little about it and Alice was visibly disgusted by what she's seen.  Carlos spun his head around to look at Alice.  "Hey, hey, I only saw the last one!   I-I thought it was fake when I first saw it!  I was over in the Philippines and I had never heard of it before.  And then everyone kept saying it was over and I just thought - there was no harm?"

Wait.  Why was he trying to explain himself?  They didn't care.  Why should they?

Carlos cut himself off.  He tried to compose himself as best he could.  He really needed his pills.  Carlos gestured to Alice.

"You're right.  Anyone who kills right away are pretty much marked for death.   Anyone who is smart would keep their heads low, or hide.  There was this one guy - I forget his name - who just manipulated everyone he came across.  Real Bateman shit.  He was hiding in plain sight, he never killed anyone until all of his friends were dead!  So I thought..."

Jesus, this wasn't sounding too good.  Carlos tensed up.  He held his hands up defensively.

"Look, I'm not Mr. Perfect, and I'm pretty sure half of the people here hate my guts.  I'm not really good at fighting, or lying, or being a duplicitous bastard.  So I can't be like that at all but... I couldn't just lay down and die!   So I figured that if I just kept moving, I could just let everyone go nuts.  It's not like an escape plan or anything but... that makes sense, right?"

Carlos trailed off.  He looked over at Casey.

"Though I heard you crying so..."  he laughed.  "the plan went out the window pretty quickly."

It seemed that Alice was as adverse to the idea of killing as Casey and Carlos were, and that was a relief. Maybe things would change between them later, but for now Casey would choose to believe that the other two weren't lying. She still didn't want to let her guard down one hundred percent, despite that fact that both Alice and Carlos gave logical reasons why they wouldn't play, but Casey could at least be able to relax a little more.

And, to be totally honest, it wasn't as if Casey would be able to effectively fight them even if she wanted to. She was small, unarmed, and frankly not mentally prepared to kill her friends. The best idea right now was probably just to let it go. You shouldn't worry yourself over things you have to control over, like the actions of other people.

Shit, she didn't even believe that. Whatever. Carlos is talking now, listen to Carlos.

A fan of Survival of the Fittest, huh? Casey knew that they existed, but somehow she only connected that idea to faceless lines of text on her computer screen. She didn't expect that she went to school with a fan of it, and certainly never guessed that she'd be on the show with one. At the same time…that didn't mean he was a bad guy, did it? Casey just decided that she'd trust Carlos; she didn't want to throw that away so suddenly over nothing but words. Besides, he hadn't attacked her when they first met, so it had to be alright to believe him. It had to be.

"Not knowing it was real…" And that wasn't something Casey had ever considered. "That's fucked up, man. Not you, I mean, just…seeing it like that." She couldn't help but to feel a tad sickened at the idea.

And the example he mentioned, that was way out there for Casey as well. Manipulate her classmates? People who were probably on the brink of panic already? She had lines, she had to have fucking lines, and all that shit was way past them. "That's not something I could do either. Probably wouldn't even be any good at it." Of course, Casey had no clue if she'd be good at it or not, but she sure as hell didn't want to find out right now.

The next idea he had seemed to be more up her alley. "Yeah, just trying to stay out of this whole thing, that's alright. Other kids have gotten rescued from this before, haven't they? Hell, maybe we'll get that lucky. And if not," Casey paused. "Well, I don't want to just give up and die either. But killing and manipulation? I'd rather just…stay out of it. Take things as they come." She hadn't be awake nearly long enough to come up with any sort of plan herself, so just avoiding death as she tried to figure things out seemed good to Casey.

She turned to meet Carlos after he stopped. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you did." Casey didn't realize she was smiling until after she finished speaking, and she quickly tried to compose herself. No, she could trust them and be glad that they were there, but Casey knew that the more fond she got of Alice and Carlos, the more this whole thing was going to hurt. She might not be able to stop herself from getting more attached to them, but she could sure as hell try and stop them from caring too much about her, right?

Alice frowned, gazing at Carlos while he revealed that he had been a fan of Survival of the Fittest, remaining silent as he tried to justify himself. Alice hadn't even thought of the possibility that anyone could watch SOTF without knowing what they were getting into. The new information didn't change anything, really. One's choice in media, however distressing, had no real bearing on their behavior.

Despite her relative unfamiliarity with him, Alice found herself trusting Carlos. Not as much as she trusted Casey, of course, but he seemed sincere when he expressed his reluctance to kill. Besides, if he had been planning to attack, he would've already and there wouldn't be a damn thing Alice could do about it.

"Couldn't manipulate my way out of a wet paper bag. Just manage to piss everyone off, probably." Alice said, sighing. While normally Alice didn't give her lack of social skills much thought, in a situation like this where diplomacy was key, the possibility of making a lethal mistake and saying exactly the wrong thing was distressingly high.

She paused for a moment, considering Carlos's plan. It was pretty much what Alice had planned on doing, anyway. "Plan seems good to me." Alice nodded. "Ride out the storm, pray for some manner of deus ex machina, try not to die." While the possibility of rescue was still existent, Alice didn't really consider it a valid possibility. Their captors had had several years to plug every potential hole, after all. Like it or not, only one person would be making it off alive, and it certainly wouldn't be Alice. No point in giving up already, though.

Alice's respect for Carlos went up a notch as he mentioned that he had heard Casey crying, with his first instinct apparently being making sure she was okay. It spoke well of Carlos's character that he hadn't taken advantage of the opening. Definitely couldn't expect the same from many other of their classmates. Alice did feel a small pang of guilt at the thought of not being there for her friend. Casey seemed fine enough at the moment, but it had surely been a different story when she had first woken up.

Best to start getting a move on. Leave this godforsaken hospital behind.

Alice vocalized her thoughts of what their little group should do next. "Should move away from the town. Grab whatever's useful in the hospital then head somewhere nice and out of the way. The lighthouse or the power plant seem good to me. Objections?"

Alice might have known that it was possible that someone could watch SotF and assume it was fake.  Carlos knew too, obviously.  But did Carlos know that Alice knew?  Heck no.  Back in school, Carlos didn't bat an eyelash at what people thought of him.  The reason why he didn't go telling people that he had been a fan was that everyone thought SotF was over.   It wasn't the sort of topic people brought up lightly either, and with good reason.  

In hindsight, that was pretty fucked up of him.  At the time Carlos didn't think very hard about it.  On the island, in the middle of Survival of the Fittest (season 5, colloquially known as V5), things were different.  If you went around telling people this kind of stuff, they would think you were a sociopath masochist!  And coupled with his reputation for being a rumor spreading bitch, yeah, he had every reason to be worried.  

Not that it really mattered if he committed social suicide.  You know, considering the circumstances.

It was funny.  The reason why he thought it was all fake was because SotF as a whole felt... not real.  Surreal, more like it.  It was like a scripted reality show, with teens as paid actors.  Things happened way too perfectly, kills had ridiculous amounts of blood, and the way the students acted, the way they spoke, how they died, how they lived.  Carlos had witnessed it all, from season three to four, and it didn't feel real to him.  It took until he moved back to the states, when the whole country was breathing a collective sight of relieve, for it to click that it was all real. Even then he always had some doubt.

But Carlos understood perfectly why everything seemed 'neat', and why all the students acted so odd.  It made Carlos guilty, like it was his fault that they were kidnapped.  

The guilt was beginning to die down... but then it all came back when he saw Casey flashing a smile.  It only lasted for a second and yet...

Carlos blinked.  He didn't smile back.  In fact, he did the exact opposite.  Carlos remembered his first reaction when he heard Casey screaming and it sure wasn't pity or remorse.  There was no heroism on his part, he didn't do anything to help her.  So he didn't feel like he deserved a brief smile, much less any sort of respect.

Carlos brushed the smile away with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it," he said.  "I just did what anyone else would have done, y'know?"

He turned back to Alice, swallowing back an apology that was on the bridge of his tongue.  Alice's plan was sound.  Yes, he was going to focus on that.

"Didn't even know there was a Power Plant," he said, shouldering his bag again.  It seemed out of place, considering how decrepit everything else was.  Did it even still work?  "Alright.  I'm down with your idea."

He glanced at Casey again, an unintended pregnant pause hanging in the air.

"So... does that mean we'll be sticking together then?"

Trying not to die, as Alice had put it, seemed to be the general philosophy of their little group so far. An idea that Casey had certainly gotten behind, at the least. As the other two spoke, she tried to think of anything better to do, but her mind was completely blank on that topic. Funny. All her report cards and teacher conferences has toted Casey as an ‘intelligent young girl', but she sure didn't feel like that was true right now. But did that really matter, in the end? Even if Casey was Ethan-Fucking-Kent, which she certainly was not, the terrorists had surely been careful not to underestimate their captives this time.

An unbreakable game. Casey Malkovich was a stubborn sort of girl, the type of person who should have taken that as a challenge. On her roleplaying site, she spent days trying to think her characters out of situations, concur every difficult problem the moderators set in front of her. In those hypothetical situations, it had been exhilarating to simply attempt the unthinkable, success or failure. It had been fun.

This was not fun. Casey wasn't filled with that same urge to break the game down; she just wanted to run and hide.

Back in the real world, Carlos was looking as uncomfortable with the situation as Casey had been. It might be best for both of them  to drop the subject, but at the same time she didn't want to brush away his kindness the way Carlos himself had. Back at school, Casey wouldn't have thought she would be put into a position of feeling grateful to Carlos Lazaro, but the world did throw curveballs sometimes. At least this one was better than the whole kidnapping thing.

"Wasn't what everyone else would have done. Isn't what everyone else is gonna do." Unfamiliar with the show as she was, Casey knew the score well enough. There were killers out there right now. "But I'm alright now."

Alice suggested they get the hell out of Dodge, which seemed to be as good an idea as any. Casey probably would have preferred a plan where they stayed away from anything that looked important enough for others to check it out, but those were her baser instincts calling. It wasn't like it was safe anywhere on the island, and checking out places that could have useful items or could be easy to shelter and hide in was a good idea. Besides, Casey trusted Alice and knew she would have reasoning for her ideas.

"Lighthouse or Power Plant, sounds like a plan to me. It'll do us some good to get out of this place." Casey frowned at the run-down hospital room. "It's like a set of a horror movie or something in here. Keeping on the move is good. If we can scavenge some stuff, get to know the lay of the land, even better."

And there was Carlos with the million-dollar question. It seemed clear from their discussion that they were going to be traveling as a group, but there was more the inquiry than that. Sticking together could be beneficial to all of them, but it was also a risk. It meant taking a leap. Tuth be told, however, Casey had already made up her mind earlier.

"Yeah." Simple enough to say, that one word was. "I'll watch your backs." It probably wouldn't do them much good in the long run, but the sentiment was there.