Survival Of The Fittest

((Natalia Kowalski continued from Fanciful Surroundings))

It certainly wasn't a pleasant walk.

Even though she was accompanied and armed, Natalia was fearful of her surroundings. They could be ambushed by a classmate with a taste for blood, or maybe a classmate who only saw a way out by killing. Either way, they could've easily been toast on their way from the hotel to the hospital.

Miraculously, they weren't.

Instead of becoming an addition to a body count, they found themselves on the second floor of the hospital, more specifically inside a decrepit patient's room. She heard what she hoped to be a small animal scampering down the bottom floor, and otherwise they appeared to be alone.

Natalia took a second to breathe and relax, trying to find solace in the fact that they were safe, at least for now. She dropped her bag and turned around, partially checking if Joey was there.

"Okay, we're here. What do we do now?"

Joey immediately took the chance to sit down and relax. The walk from the hotel to the hospital was stressful and he was happy that they have finally arrive. So far they haven't met anyone yet and he wasn't too sure if that was a good thing or not. He knew the that there was properly other kids on the island playing the game. The risk of encountering one those of kids was likely. On the other hand, it was also likely they find other kids like them who aren't playing.

The real question that Joey had was what would they do after they met more kids? Would they stick together? Form like a super alliance? What would that accomplish? Joey had no idea how to escape and he very much doubted that any of the people he knew had an idea how to escape.

Would... Playing the game be his best chance to escape?

Joey stare at his companion for a bit. Even if he did want to escape... He couldn't kill someone. The whole idea was disgusting.

So in the end he was trap and lost on what to do.

"Okay, we're here. What do we do now?"

Joey look up to Natalia. What do we do now? Fuck like he had any idea. Then again sitting down was going to accomplish anything.

"Maybe... No not maybe. We should scavenge around quietly. See if we can find some stuff..." he suggested. All the excitement he had before in the hotel was long gone. The walk gave him time to think and made him realize this whole situation was a stupid idea. Like hell they find anything. Then again what else can they do?

Standing up, Joey started to look around the room in a nonchalant matter. He had no idea what they were doing here. He wasn't a leader or a thinker, but a doer. He hope Natalia would come up with an idea.

"Hey... What do we do if we find people?" He suddenly ask. "Like... Somebody we don't really know?"

Natalia mulled over Joey's question. Finding other people? Wasn't that what he came here to do? Again, finding other people wasn't the best thing in these circumstances, and Natalia's (and probably Joey's. No, most definitely Joey's) impending doom wasn't helping her outlook on other people. She didn't want to get killed, but she didn't want to kill either. She couldn't think of any way they could use swords and/or a dental explorer to maim someone without having them bleed to death, and she didn't fancy being labeled a participant (no, a murderer) in this game.

"Well..." Natalia began, trying not to make an uncomfortable pause. She ended up making one, and hastily answered Joey's answer after a minute. "...yeah, we should definitely scavenge." She didn't bother answering his question, hoping he'd sense her uncomfortableness and go along with it. The scavenging might buy her time to think.

She quickly knelt down and began stuffing the sheets into her backpack. If they get low on supplies, they could always use the sheets as bandages or possibly even a bindle. If they survived long enough to exhaust their supplies, of course.

"So... Anyone you would want to find on this island?" Joey ask.

He was wondering himself who he would want to find. His friends were scatter across the island and he personally didn't know where to start to look for them. He never really consider why Natalia would want to search for... If she would want to search for anyone.

He look around while glancing at her once in a while. He notice she grab some sheets. The boy wasn't too sure what she was planning to do with them, but if it helps then Joey is more then glad for the extra supplies.

"Also... Kind of weird we haven't met anyone yet huh?" He said. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. "Does that make us unlucky... Or lucky?"

Natalia tried to make it quick. The sooner she was finished, the less of a task scavenging was. If they had to make a quick getaway, it would be cumbersome if they were off gathering sheets or whatnot.

She hastily answered Joe's next question. "Lucky, most obviously. Less people to deal with. Less of a chance to get killed." She glanced over at him to see him standing there.

"Well? Don't just stand there. Scavenge! We'll need all the supplies we can get. Maybe there's some medicine lying around They didn't notice when cleaning up."

((Taking over for Joey))

Joey took in her response for a moment. The sheer morbidity of her tone sent a feeling of uneasiness through his body.

How can she say these things as if it is straight fact?

Joey almost immediately answered his own thought by concluding that she was likely right. They had been lucky to avoid conflict and others so far. How long could that last though? How long would it be before someone stumbled upon them in an unfriendly way.

Joey's head was swimming as he stammered, "Y-yeah. Sure thing."

He left the room and wandered down the hall. Despite being in a state of disrepair, Joey could still smell that hospital smell of disinfectant, medicine, and something that he just couldn't put his finger on. He glanced in some of the other rooms to see if he could see anything worth salvaging, but he was coming up empty. It didn't help that his head was still swimming from every form of doubt about his situation that his brain could muster.  

With a slight groan, Joey slumped himself against the wall and tried to figure out what to do. He didn't want to stay in this hospital. He knew his fighting skills were lacking, swords or no swords. He might be able to get by on intimidation thanks to them, but what if someone called his bluff? He didn't want to be responsible for not being able to defend Koala. He didn't want to let her down, but what could he do? Was he better off on his own, hoping that he could scavenge and hide the whole time?

"I DON'T KNOW!" He shouted as he rose to feet and pounded his fist on the wall of the hallway.

He slowly wandered back down to the room where Koala was still sorting their gear.  He walked over to where his bag was and picked it up.

"I-I'm going to check the bottom, first floor I mean. You never know right? I'll bring this with me in case I need to carry anything back up."

He scooped up the bag and his swords and darted out of the room quickly. He hastened his way down the stairs to the first floor, looking into the emergency rooms as he began his exploration of the floor. The blood stains left on the gurneys and floor made his head feel light and dizzy again. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be here.

With a glazed over focus in his eye, Joey slowly and almost mechanically made his way through to the lobby and reception area, and to the front door. He rested his hand for a moment on the handle, his thoughts still slamming around like a car crash. With a deep breath, he pushed open the door and made his way outside. He hated what he was doing, but what other choice was there? He was not going to be responsible for someone. He was not going to watch as someone else died because he couldn't do anything about it.

Joey continued walking out and into a dense brush area, no real intended path in mind.

(Joey continued in Not Like Any Previous Sleepovers)

Natalia absentmindedly nodded as she combed over the small room for any important medical supplies. She found a bottle of expired pills behind the bed, along with some cloth taken from the bed. It was a decent find, even if the pills expired ages ago. At least there was something.

Combing several other rooms yielded two other expired drugs, a ton of sheets and a small metal rod broken off from one of the beds. Natalia switched to the latter item as her primary weapon. Continuing down the hall yielded so many sheets that Natalia began to leave them and another bottle of expired medicine. She routinely opened a door and stepped in, expecting yet another hospital room.

Instead, she hit jackpot.

There was a pile of first aid kits on the floor, along with some bandages and syringes. Natalia's eyes lit up as she ran towards the first aid kits and grabbed two (one extra for her, one for Joey). She also grabbed a syringe and a handful of bandages, stuffing them into her bag.

"Oh my god, Joey! Come here!" She shouted gleefully down the hall, simultaneously tucking her extra first aid kit into her bag and waving Joey's around like a flag. She waited a moment before realizing that there was a chilling silence in the hospital. As if she was alone. For a second Natalia wondered what was taking him so long until the paranoid thoughts hit her.

What if he's dead?

What if he abandoned you?

What if he's planning to kill you and is hiding somewhere?

She gulped and called out again "J-Joey?" before darting into the nearest hospital room in case he was coming for her. After a painful couple of minutes Natalia stood up and sighed. Where was he?

She turned towards the stairwell. Should she even be going down there? If anything, Natalia wasn't prepared to see a dead body, but an injured Joey would be fine. She had first aid kits and bandages, after all! Fixing up Joey would be a cinch, even with her little training on basic first aid! All she hoped was that if he was injured, that the killer/offender wouldn't be there.

((Natalia Kowalski continued in Once Again))