Survival Of The Fittest

((Ruby Forrester and Brian Zhdanovich continued from Good Day Sunshine))

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful.

Apart from informing one another about their actions up to their reunion and further fortifying the house they chose to stay in, the majority of the night was spent engaging in idle small talk. Ami in particular had been keen to find out more about what Mallory had been up to, seeing as the two of them happened to be good friends as well. And naturally Zubin had brought up the idea of forming an escape group on more than one occasion, often prompting Ruby to change the subject of their conversations.

Eventually, after setting up Ami's stinger in a similar manner to how it had been set up the previous night, they all decided to call it a day and rest until the next announcement. Like the night before, Brian was unable to get much sleep, so as a result he spent the majority of the night on watch with the stinger. There were too many thoughts running through his head for him get a moment's shuteye, as well as too many conflicted emotions and uncertain feelings about the events that had transpired that day.

He still couldn't believe that he had actually found Ruby. Well, technically speaking she had found him, but the point still remained. After two days of being uncertain as to whether they would ever see each other again they had finally reunited. Sure, they were probably no safer now than they were before, and Ruby wasn't exactly unhurt with her bandaged hand and all. But she was alive. Ruby Forrester was still alive, and Brian couldn't be more thankful about getting another chance to see her again.

And yet, a part of him still felt like there was something on his mind that prevented him from enjoying this reunion as much as he would have hoped to. Some train of thought that he was purposely avoiding, even though it truly pained him to do so. Was it the fact that Ruby had witnessed a murder? No, that can't be it. He knew Ruby was much stronger then that, although he did get the impression that there was something that Ruby had yet to tell him about. Something she had done or seen that had shook her to her very core. Maybe that's what he was so worried about?

Or perhaps he was just avoiding the fact that his feelings for her were a lot stronger than either of them had ever imagined, and it wasn't until now that their lives were in genuine danger that he realised just how much he truly cared about her?

This thoughts stuck with him throughout the night, and well into the following day. He hardly even acknowledged the second announcement, nor did he make as much effort to get as much done as he did the previous day. Not that he wasn't able to achieve anything that morning. He bounced escape ideas with Zubin, explored a few of the houses he'd neglected to check more thoroughly and he was even able to make a start on a temporary barricade for the gate entrance. It wasn't much, and most people would hardly even notice it, but given time and effort it could possibly be turned into something mildly decent.

However, despite having all the time in the world, it wasn't until the afternoon that he got the chance to do the one thing he genuinely wanted to do.

He was in the front courtyard strategically positioning a small wooden chair when he spotted Ruby on the balcony of a nearby house, thoughtfully looking down at him working on the gate with her weapon laying on the floor beside her. She offered him a smile when she realised that he had spotted her, a smile that Brian returned with one of his own. It was at that point that Brian realised that they had yet to talk to each other in private, and that the perfect opportunity to do so had just presented itself.

With nothing better to do, Brian dumped the chair on the floor and headed for the house, quickly making his way through the door and up the stairs to the very balcony that Ruby was leaning on.

"Hey Brian. How's the barricade going?" asked Ruby, whose eyes were still focused on the horizon ahead of her.

"Uh, slowly. Kinda wish I had some chains and a padlock or something to tie those gates together. So much for being a Russian MacGyver, huh?"

Ruby chuckled at the thought and briefly turned to face Brian, a smile on her face as she motioned him to come join her on the balcony. Brian quickly took her up on her offer and walked up beside her, leaning on the railing as he gazed at the surrounding scenery.

"Wow, nice view..." said Brian.

"Tell me about it." replied Ruby.

"So, uh... What's been on your mind recently?" asked Brian.

Ruby paused for a moment, biting her lip nervously as she continued to gaze into the distance. "Just... Stuff, I guess."

"What kind of stuff?"

"You know, stuff like the recent announcement..."

"Ah, right..." said Brian, trying to recall which names had been mentioned that morning. "Anyone in particular who're you're thinking about?"

"Sort of. A couple of the names mentioned were... Well, they weren't exactly anyone I particularly liked, but it's weird to learn that they've been going around killing people. It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago the worst they had ever done was tease their classmates and gossip about one another."

"I see..." replied Brian, who had a decent guess as to who Ruby was referring to. He knew fine well that there was a certain clique back at Aurora whom Ruby wasn't exactly fond of, three of whom had been mentioned during the announcement. Mara and Miranda as killers, and Naomi as a victim. He wasn't too fond of them himself to be entirely honest, but he completely agreed that the thought that people they actually knew were either killing people or getting themselves killed was too surreal to fully comprehend, regardless of what they were like back in Seattle.

"Didn't you and Ami see Miranda... Well, uh, you know..." Brian began, unable to finish the sentence.

"Ami did, I only saw the aftermath..." replied Ruby. "I remember it pretty vividly though. There she was, standing next to Kaitlyn's body with that bloody spear in her hands. I remember feeling so terrified at the thought of actually being in the presence of someone who'd just committed murder. Not just someone who'd killed someone else, or someone who intended to kill someone else, but someone who was literally standing over the body of the person that they had just straight up murdered.."

Ruby swallowed. "I also remember how... How angry I had been at Miranda for what she had done. I was... I can't even begin to explain it, but I don't think I'd ever been so pissed off with anyone in my entire life. So much so that I actually..."

She paused. It was at this point that Brian slowly began to realise what had been bothering his friend all this time.

"I... I tried to kill her. I aimed that stupid gun of mine at her, and pulled the trigger with the intention of gunning her down on the spot. If I hadn't missed, then my name would have been mentioned during that announcement alongside Miranda's. I was literally this close to having Miranda's blood on my hands, and I can't even argue that I did it in self defence."

She paused again to wipe her eyes, trying desperately to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears.

"But you know what the worst part was? Afterwards I actually felt bad that I had missed! The first thing I regretted was that I had failed in my attempt to end another human being's life! What the fuck is up with that? What kind of sick twisted fucking psychopath regrets not being able to kill someone?"

"Well..." Brian began after a moment's hesitance, unsure really as to what he should say. This was all pretty heavy stuff, and he wasn't entirely sure what to think of it himself. "It wasn't as if you tried to kill her for no reason, right?"

"I suppose. At the time I thought doing so might be able to stop her from killing anyone else, not that it'd of made any real difference in the long term. Anybody who I might of saved had I killed her would have probably died anyway at someone else's hand."

"Maybe. I don't think that necessarily means that what you tried to do was a bad thing..."

Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"I mean... Okay, yeah, killing people is wrong full stop. I get that, and trying to kill Miranda possibly wasn't the right thing to do. I don't know, I'm not exactly an expert on what the right or wrong reasons for killing people are."

Brian paused for a moment, trying to get his thoughts straight. "But what I'm saying is... You tried to shoot Miranda because you thought doing so would stop her from hurting more people, right?"

"True."

"Well, whilst I'd be lying if I said that I think you should have killed her, you didn't exactly try to do it for kicks did you? I mean, upset that you weren't able to kill someone? Kinda messed up, I'll give you that. But upset because more people might get hurt because you didn't kill someone who you just witnessed killing someone else? That sounds a little more justified if you ask me."

He nudged a little closer, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I mean, look on the bright side, maybe it's for the best that you missed. If you feel this bad about not killing someone, I'd hate to see what you'd be like if you had hit her! Besides, I think the fact that you feel terrible about attempting to do something that might not of even been the wrong thing to do in that situation is a pretty good indicator that you're anything but a sick twisted psychopath, right?"

Ruby sniffled, wiping away the last of her tears as her lips formed a smile. "I... I guess you're right. Th-Thanks Brian..."

On that note, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Brian looked at her for a few seconds in silence, wiping the cheek Ruby had kissed as he tried to hide the fact that he was blushing.

The two stood there in silence for a moment longer, content to just stare into the distance and contemplate their situation. It wasn't long though until Ruby then broke the silence.

"So, uh, what else are you up to? I saw you and Zubin talking a lot."

"Oh, uh, just stuff as well. Zubin and I are trying to put together an escape plan..."

Ruby raised her eyebrow again.

"Er, well okay we're not exactly thinking of a plan ourselves, but we're thinking that someone out there has to have some idea as to how to get off this island."

"Right, right..." Ruby began. "You do realise that escape's pretty much impossible, right?"

"Oh totally, yeah." Brian said, his answer genuinely surprising Ruby.

"Then... Why even bother if you know that you stand no chance of winning?"

Brian shrugged. "Well, if it's either that or becoming a mass murderer, I'd rather take my chances trying something crazy and stupid."

"I guess. I mean, I've no intention of becoming a mass murderer anytime soon either, but you have to admit that you're more likely to get yourself killed trying to escape than you are..." Ruby began, only to stop when she began to think about what she was going to say. "Well, okay, you're just as likely to die if you do absolutely nothing as well."

"Not necessarily. If you ask me, if you do nothing at all you're guaranteed to die, unless god does exist and really, really likes you. But if you try to escape, there's the off chance that you might find that one loophole those crazy terrorist bastards failed to spot. Sure, you're probably going to die anyway even if you do find a way to get the collars off, no doubt about it. But if it's a choice between certain death and almost certain death, which would you go for?"

Brian couldn't help but let out a light laugh. "Besides, I've already decided that if I am to die on this island, I may as well die fighting. It's not like I ever had any plans for the future anyway, right?"

Ruby couldn't help but let out a light chuckle of her own at Brian's gallows humour. "It's a shame not everyone share's your positive outlook on life..."

As she turned her attention back towards the gate, her smile disappeared almost instantaneously. "Fuck."

"What?"

"There are two people out there..."

Brian looked towards the gate, and sure enough down in the courtyard were two figures, one of whom was carrying a gun.

"Oh shit... You think they've seen us?"

"Almost certainly. Well, guess this means I have no choice but to say hi..."

On that note, Ruby bent down and picked up the gun down by her feet, flicked the settings from safety to semiautomatic and aimed it at the two newcomers down in the courtyard.

"Alright, that's close enough! Put yours hands where I can see them and tell me what you want, and maybe I'll consider not gunning you both down on the spot."

She briefly glanced at Brian, giving him a look that assured him that she had no real intention of killing the two classmates below them, to which Brian hesitantly nodded to in agreement.

Christ Ruby, I hope you know what you're doing...

With a soft grumble, she put her hands up.

Really, the amount of trouble they had gotten into recently was really, well, fucked up was a good phrasing for it?

((Lana Torres continued from Midnight, The Stars and You))

Some time passed since they had left the hotel in a fit of panic. And somewhere in there, Lana had an instinctive feeling Ilya was still there, and once she had calmed down, she realized that they pretty much abandoned him out of fright. What if someone had killed him? What then? Lana didn't want to dwell on it, but the thoughts kept coming up. He was possibly in the fight she had managed to hear. There was a chance he didn't make it. Lana felt herself grow dazed again. She wanted to suggest they go back and look, but it was too risky. It was clear the hotel wasn't safe, judging by those noises. But Ilya... Ilya...

She didn't want to leave her friend behind. But what can you do at that point?

But really, what could you have done at that point?

Lana tried to push all thoughts out of her mind as she and Stephanie walked, but it still remained difficult. Names and faces continued to press through her mind, even harder than before. Ilya was gone, or at least was close to it. It was hard not to be worried.

As the two approached the courtyard, suddenly someone had barked at them to put their hands up and state what they wanted, like some police officer. Lana's head snapped up, and as she squinted she saw that it was Ruby Forrester, on the balcony with a gun. Wasn't she a friend of Brian, the one with a Russian name? Or girlfriend? She was kind of mixed up on their relationship. Did it matter when there was a gun pointed at you? Speaking of which, Brian himself wasn't that far off.

Lana had become a bit more clear-headed now, in comparison from before. But it didn't really help the fear currently passing through her.

"Just passin' through!" she barked back.

She looked to Stephanie to get a reading of her facial expressions, and back at the gun.

((Stephanie Chan continued from Midnight, The Stars and You))

The trek from the hotel hadn't been a particularly long one, but between the urgency of their exit and her frantic mindset, Stephanie found herself to be rather on edge. Once they had slowed down, she felt herself practically jumping at every little rustle, thinking someone was going to pop out, guns blazing. She clung to the rifle, her hands resting along the barrel, giving her some form of comfort.

There were few words passed between her and Lana, but Stephanie had a feeling that they were thinking similar thoughts. Even if Ilya was still alive, she doubted that he would trust them enough to team up again, considering they ran at the slightest hint of trouble. If he was dead... well, that was something she didn't want to think about until it was a reality.

A voice yelled out at them, telling them to stop. Lana put her hands up, and Stephanie knew that the smart thing would be to follow suit. Reluctantly, she released her grip from the rifle, which hung off her from it's strap as she raised her hands high. From this distance she couldn't really make out who was yelling, but she didn't want to do anything too antagonizing just yet. Hopefully things would defuse quickly and they could move on.

If not, then she wasn't sure what was going to happen.

Now that she had their attention, Ruby was finally able to get a good look at the two newcomers, both of whom she quickly recognised.

The first newcomer she recognised was Stephanie Chan, a girl whom she admittedly wasn't that well acquainted with. All Ruby really knew about her was that she was an avid gamer, and even that was just a guess based on the number of times she saw Stephanie hanging around the local arcade. That said, she never gave Ruby any reason to dislike her either, nor did she seem the type who would be likely to go gung ho with the impressive rifle she was carrying.

In fact, she would have probably let her stay had she not then recognised who the other girl.

Oh shit, this is not good...

"You're Lana Torres, aren't you?" Ruby asked in an accusatory manner, tightening the grip on her gun as she aimed it in Lana's direction. "On second thoughts, you can both fuck right the hell off right now before I open fire."

Brian did a double-take in shock. Where the hell did that come from? He'd known Ruby to be somewhat harsh in the past, but he'd never seen her act in such an aggressive manner before.

"Ruby, what the fuck?"

"Didn't you hear the announcement Brian?" whispered Ruby, her focus still on the two girls below her. "Lana killed Venice. No way in hell I'm letting a confirmed killer anywhere near us."

Holy shit, she's right. I remember now...

Brian wasn't sure what to make of this. On the one hand, he could completely understand why Ruby wouldn't want a confirmed killer near their camp. After all, what if Lana intended to keep on killing? They had no way of knowing whether or not Venice's death was intentional or not, or if she had any weapons on her that they had yet to notice.

However, the fact that they had no idea whether she meant to kill Venice was also the very reason he wasn't so sure about the way Ruby was handling this situation. What if Lana had been acting out of self defence? What if it had been an accident? They had no way of knowing one way or the other, and it wasn't as if they could just ask if Lana had gone out of her way to murder someone. The fact that Ruby was also turning out Stephanie didn't exactly help, especially since the fact that Stephanie and Lana seemed to be travelling together seemed to at least suggest that Lana blindly attacking every living being in sight.

"I'll give you both to the count of ten, after which I'm pulling this trigger."

Wait, what?

"Ten..."

This can't be happening...

"Nine..."

She has to be bluffing, right?

"Eight..."

What if she isn't bluffing? Oh shit...

"Seven..."

Fuck fuck fuck fuck, what the hell do I do?

"Six..."

What if they don't leave? What if we're making a huge mistake?

"Five..."

I... I gotta do something, otherwise someone could actually get hurt here.

"Four..."

"Ruby wait! Maybe this isn't..."

"Shut up Brian!" snapped Ruby. "Three..."

"But what if we're making a mistake! For all we know..."

On impulse, Ruby briefly turned her head to face Brian, an intense look on her face as she looked him in the eyes.

"No Brian! I can't take that risk, not if it means putting you and Ami in..."

Lana felt herself breathe harder.

She knew that Ruby was point a gun on them, and any moment she could pull the trigger. It literally boiled down they would be shot at, or not. It meant that, in a way, their lives were in her hands. In a literal sense, actually. Ruby had her sights on them, and with just one pull of a trigger...

That was all it took. One pull. Lana remembered well.

Lana grimaced as Ruby said her name. It was clear that she wasn't happy. She then remembered that her name was on the announcement, and that good things probably weren't going through her mind right now.

That was confirmed by what came next. From what she got of it, Ruby had threatened them further with the gun, and was now counting down.

Lana looked to Stephanie again, and panicked. She looked back and forth between Stephanie and Ruby, trying to figure out what to do. Ruby was dead serious. If they didn't act, they were going to be shot at.

There had to be a way to convince her she wasn't dangerous. Even if she had thought about playing, she wasn't truly capable of hurting someone. She was scared, and desperate, and didn't have a clue what to do with herself. But she wasn't planning on it truly, she didn't think. She was just... you know. Hopeless. That was a word she hated to apply to herself, and she never again wanted to use it like that.

In the midst of the panic, the countdown reached four, right before Brian intervened. The two argued between themselves, as Lana took a deep breath.

"Steph."

Everything that Stephanie feared was happening. Lana had been recognized as a killer, and she was being treated poorly for it. In fact, the two of them were in extreme danger right now, another situation that she had feared. The girl, Ruby, had begun a countdown, trying to scare them off. Lana kept looking at her, and Stephanie began lowering her hands. She wasn't sure if anyone noticed her doing so, but as the countdown continued, Stephanie's resolve slowly became more firm.

She wanted to protect her friend.

Her hands gripped the rifle.

She would do anything it took to protect her.

The rifle stood in her unsteady hands.

She would make sure Lana remained safe.

Her hand contracted, and there was a loud pop.

From that point on, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

During the brief second that Ruby wasn't paying attention to the two newcomers, Stephanie decided to lift her own gun and aim it in their direction. Despite only glimpsing this movement in the corner of his eye, Brian saw enough to realise what was happening. Stephanie Chan was about to open fire on Ruby, and unless he did something now his best friend was going to get shot right before his eyes.

"Ruby, look out!"

With barely fractions of a second to come up with something, Brian grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and pushed her to the side, causing her to tumble over onto the floor and out of harm's way.

However, before Brian could duck down or leap to safety himself, a loud thunderous sound filled the area.

After which, he suddenly felt something hit him in the lung, striking him with such a velocity that he nearly fell over onto his side.

It took him a couple of seconds fully acknowledge what had just happened, seeing as his mind was unable to comprehend at first just how much pain he was suddenly in. It wasn't until he felt the area that got hit and looked down at the blood on his hand that he confirmed his worst suspicions.

He had been shot in the lung.

Well, shit.

He was surprised at how quickly he began to grow weak, his legs unable to completely support his full body weight. Despite his best efforts to stand upright, he found himself stumbling backwards, one hand clumsily trying to grip onto the railing as the other tried to stem the blood flowing from his wound. As he found himself stumbling closer towards the edge, he looked down at Ruby, who was already moving towards him.

The last thing he saw before he tumbled over the edge of the railing was Ruby's shocked and tear-soaked face, with her hand outreached and missing his by mere inches.

Thankfully, since this balcony was only on the upper floor of a two-story building the fall wasn't nearly as bad as he was expecting to be, especially since he happened to land in what was once a neatly tripped bush. Although, even with a bush cushioning his fall, Brian still found himself in a tremendous amount of pain as he lay strewn on the brambly undergrowth.

Of course, he was well aware that it didn't make a lick of difference. That gunshot wound wasn't the kind of think you could shake off. He doubted that he would survive even if he was whisked off to the best hospital in the country that very second. All he could do now was wait for nature to finish the job.

He could hardly tell what was going on around him anymore. His vision had gone blurry, and his hearing was an absolute mess. He could just about make out the sound of gunshots, although he was unable to pinpoint where they were coming from. Had Ruby been shot as well, or was she firing back at Stephanie and Lana?

Ruby. It was at that point that he began to truly realise that this was to be the end of his story. Everything he had ever done in life had lead up to this point, with him lying in a bush with a bullet in his lung. So much for fighting the system. He never did get a chance to even attempt to do something about the collars, or help Zubin find some way off the island. That kind of sucked, but not as much as the realisation that he would never get to speak to Ruby again.

There was so much he wanted to tell her! So much that he had not got around to saying, so much that he could have said to her! And now he would never get the chance, unless...

Wait, who was that? There was someone standing over him. A girl? Definitely a girl. She was clutching his hand now, and was obviously trying to tell him something. He couldn't make out who they were, or what they were saying.

Was it Ruby? It had to be Ruby! Who else could it possibly be?

Brian forced a smile. "Hey... S-Sorry about that, guess I wasn't quick enough to get out the way... Holy shit, this hurts..."

Don't pass out now you son of a bitch, not when you have so much to tell her...

"I'm pretty sure I ain't gonna get better from this. Don't worry about me though, I'm just happy you're okay. Shame I never got to fight the system, but hey, you can't have everything. Besides, getting shot off a balcony's a pretty badass way to go if you ask me."

He let out a brief laugh, which was then interrupted when he began to cough blood.

"Fuck me, this stings. Don't think I have long to go..."

He coughed again.

"Ruby, there's... There's something I've been meaning to tell you for quite some time now. Something I've never really been too sure about until now."

He paused for a moment, unsure really as to whether he should continue. Maybe telling Ruby would be a bad idea? Maybe it would be too painful for her to know the truth, and that she would be better off not knowing his true feelings?

"Ruby, I..."

Then again, now that he had gone this far, could he really back out now?

"Fuck it, I love you Ruby. I think i've always loved you, since the day we first met."

Keep going man, you don't have much time left...

"And... And whilst I know you could never love me back in the same way, I want you to know that I'm okay with that. As long as you're happy, I'll be happy too."

He tried to smile, his vision growing fainter with each passing second.

"I know that all sounds very mushy, but... I just wanted to let you know that everything's going to be alright. I may have been doomed from the start, but you? You actually stand a chance! You're a smart girl, I know you can survive this. And even when things look their worst, I want you to know that I'll always be there for you. Or, something, I don't know. God, I'm bad at this..."

He laughed again, this time without being interrupted by a horrible cough.

"Just... Just stay safe Ruby. Don't take any unnecessary risks, or accept candy from strangers. But most of all, don't you ever..."

He coughed again, his eyes slowly closing.

"Don't you ever... Give up..."


B038: BRIAN ZHDANOVICH - DECEASED

(Ami Flynn continued from Good Day Sunshine)

Ami said nothing as the boy talked.  She didn't laugh at any of his forced jokes.  When he told her he loved her though, she choked up.

No.  Not her.  Ruby.

Ami felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Don't you ever give up.

Ruby...

Ami was with Zubin when she heard the screaming.  She didn't know where it was coming so she rushed downstairs.  She heard the announcement, then the gunshot, then a cry.

When she saw Brian hit the ground through the window, she immediately went out and tried to help, consequences be damned.  Fear rushed into her veins as she quickly ran to the bush.  Her one hand reached for his while the other scrambled through her duffle bag.  Her mind was in seven different places at once.  What made it all worse was that he hit the bush, but she did not focus on that.  Her eyes glued themselves to the jagged-looking, ugly gaping.  It made her want to vomit.  

She saw two figures off in the courtyard, from the corner of her eye, far enough out of her vision to be unrecognizable but close enough to make out the gun.  

Then he started talking and... no.  No, no, he thought she was Ruby?  No, this was awful.  Ami stood there, watching someone she barely knew die right in front of her.  For the second time.  He kept talking though, telling her to take care.

Ami tried to tell him that she loved him back.  It only seemed right.  The words wouldn't come.

Then he stopped talking.  His eyes went blank.

Her mind did not arrive immediately at an impaled Kaitlyn, her second mistake, but instead her first.  Her memory shot back to a cold day in autumn, when she saw a dead deer splattered on grass and concrete.  Time perverted the memory however, adding more blood and exposed cavities until it looked more human than animal.  She understood the connection between the two was tenuous at best but it stabbed her nonetheless.

They were all deer in the headlights, just waiting to get shot.

Ami backed away from the boy and, in that moment, time began to slow down.  Everything moved in slow motion.  Her mind worked, trying to process everything, put it all into context.  

The first thing she noticed was the blood.  She had blood on her cardigan and hands. Closer to vomiting.

Then she heard gunshots from a familiar gun, in dull repetitions.  Ami shot her head up.

Ruby.  She was up there.  What if they shot Ruby too? Then Ami would be alone, she'd be all alone.

Where was Zubin?  Did he even hear the gunshots?  He had to be inside, with Ami's gun.  

She didn't have the gun with her.  Would she even be able to shoot it?

Worry about that later.

Ami was out in the open and it would be a good dash to the door.  Unsure if her attackers saw her, she quickly turned to look.

Lana Torres, she could see Lana.  She was on the announcement, wasn't she?   She killed someone, but her friend… Steph?  In her math class.  Steph had the gun.  She had the gun, she shot Brian.  Holy shit she actually shot someone.  How the hell could she do that?  Was she a pro or something??  That didn't make any sense!

Lana's name was just on the announcement though, she heard it.  No one knew Steph was a killer.

Ami could get shot.  She could die.  

The smart decision was to run back inside and get Zubin but that would leave Ruby out in the open.  She didn't know her friend's position on the balcony.  Was she in cover?

She didn't feel Brian's pulse.  He could still be alive.   If she left, even for a second, he could die.  

If there was a chance to save him, it had to be now.  But trying to stop the bleeding in the middle of a gun fight would be stupid.

Ami was the pawn in this fight.  She was weak.  If she ran up and tried to attack them head on, they would shoot her.  Then they would shoot Ruby and Zubin.

Logic told her to run back into the house, but Ruby could get shot, the boy could die, and it would be all her fault.  She missed something once before, she could not, would not, let it happen again, not to Ruby.

She had to think of what to do, and quick.  

But what?

Ami hated PE.  She made no secret/  It was the only class she struggled to get an A in, pathetic considering how easy everyone else in her class made it look.  Certain days of the week, however, PE didn't take place in the gym.  It took place in a classroom attached to the mat area, a small affair.  There the class watched videos, the cheesy kind about sex-ed and drugs.  Her mind journeyed back, age sixteen, to a class on assault.  Ms. Sanders taught the class, techniques on how to get away should a pursuer should attack.  Pepper-spray, distraction techniques, thinks like that.

What Ami remembered most was nothing so eccentric.  It was quite simple actually.

Ami Flynn made a snap decision.

She started screaming.

"HELP!  LANA IS TRYING TO KILL ME!"

She did not turn away.  She wanted them to hear her.  Ami screamed every little fiber in her being, frantic and frightened.  

"ZUBIN!  RUBY!" A sob caught in her throat.  "GAVIN!  CASSIDY!  ANYONE!  PLEASE, HELP ME!"  

The tears pouring down her face were genuine.  She had no idea what she was just doing.  Ami wasn't about to start running out waving her arms but… Holy shit she was going to get herself killed wasn't she…?

"LANA TORRES JUST KILLED MY FRIEND AND SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"  

Ami was dead.  She was drawing attention to herself.    They were going to shoot her in the head. That didn't matter to her.  In that moment, Ami could think of no one but Ruby, up in the balcony, about to get shot. She thought about Zubin who was still in the house.  Much later she would berate herself for being so stupid but if it could give Ruby and Zubin even a sliver of a second that would be enough for her.

((Zubin Wadia continued from Good Day Sunshine))

Night 2 was actually decent. Escape had been brought up, avoided, and summarily put down for the moment. Brian spent a lot of time talking to Ruby, Ami lent her huge-ass gun, placing it on the wall, and after setting up camp, Zubin fell asleep by the gun.

The next morning, Zubin awoke to two things - aches and pains in his back and neck, and the screeching of a speaker - Asshole Danya was back. A weird question popped back into his head (Why does he sound so different?) as he pulled out his pen and paper and started adding to the statistics.

Such a cold word

Jaquilyn had nearly killed someone, Miles had killed someone, Theodore Fletcher was now a triple-killer, and Naomi Bell was dead at the hands of Summer Simms - okay, that raised his eyebrows a little. Wasn't Summer one of those people who was nice to everyone, no matter what? Either way, everybody with a kill was still alive.

Once he had finished, Zubin attempted to close his eyes again, and got a moment's respite - this carpet was actually quite

BANG

Zubin's eyes snapped open. That was definitely a gunshot from upstairs, no doubt about that. Zubin raced down the stairs two by two, grabbing the rifle as he did so, leaving the door to see

Fuck me

Brian fall out the window and hit the ground. For a second, Zubin could have sworn that Brian was bleeding. He looked out, his eyes catching onto two figures. Zubin did the only thing he could now - he pointed the gun at them, finger on the trigger guard, ignoring the burn and the thoughts of HOLY FUCK THIS IS HEAVY and Shit, my hat's back with my bag.

"DROP THE GUN!"

"HELP! LANA IS TRYING TO KILL ME! ZUBIN! RUBY! GAVIN! CASSIDY! ANYONE! PLEASE, HELP ME! LANA TORRES JUST KILLED MY FRIEND AND SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Okay, maybe the timing could have been better. Who were those two going to hear better?

And here Lana was, among the chaos.

She wasn't sure what was going to happen next. There was a good chance of her being shot, and the arguing was only buying them more time. Lana wanted to run, but her feet couldn't move, as if they have been superglued to the ground. The breaths rapidly went through her body, gasping for comfort.

Her head swiftly turned back to Stephanie, and saw the gun. It lifted, and then-


The familiar crack came back.


Lana was stunned, and within a moment she heard Brian fall to the ground, crashing in some bushes. In that same moment, Lana felt a hard ache in her stomach. It was almost like being punched in the gut very hard. It was clear what just happened. But she was still shocked.

However, she had found the ability to run again.

She twisted herself around and ran in the opposite direction, as fast as she could go. Lana could hear loud screaming, part of which sounded like her name, but she didn't know what it said, nor did she wish to find out. She just kept running as far as possible, hoping Stephanie would be tailing close behind.

Once she stopped, Lana felt herself feel unwell. The running had taken a lot out of her, but she could live.

Her face felt wet though. All that was sweat. It had to be sweat. Of course it was. It couldn't possibly be something else.

((Lana Torres continued in The Sound A Sloth Makes))

It took Stephanie a moment to register what exactly she had done, and by the time she did it was too late for thinking. Bullets tore their way towards them, and it took everything she had to start running after Lana. Her breath quickly became ragged, and her legs burned, but she managed to not get hit from any of the bullets. She could hear shouting and some form of commotion behind her, but she wasn't concerned with any of that at that exact moment. Right now she just needed to get out of there.

There would be time for regrets later.

((Stephanie Chan continued in The Sound A Sloth Makes))

What the actual fuck just happened?

Whilst for Brian the past minute or so seemed like it had lasted an eternity, for Ruby everything had happened so quickly that she didn't realise what was going on until it was too late.

All she remembered was being shoved aside by Brian, followed by a loud bang not too different to the sound her gun had made when she had opened fire on Miranda. This time however, unlike her own attempt, Stephanie had not missed. As Ruby looked up from the floor, her eyes widened in horror as she saw the gun wound Brian was clutching as he stumbled back towards the edge of the balcony, a pained and confused look on his face as he looked back at her.

With no concern for her own safety whatsoever, Ruby rushed towards her friend as he began to tumble over the edge, her arm outreached as she attempted to grab him before it was too late. However, whether it was due to her not reacting quickly enough or just plain bad luck, we was unable to grab him by the wrist before he fell over the edge.

She stood at the edge of the balcony for a moment, looking down at her best friend's body as it lay strewn on the undergrowth below her. She could hardly believe her own eyes.

This... This had not just happened. There's no way it could have. They had only just reunited! It was only the third day! There's no way that something like this could have happened so soon, right?

Only, it had happened. There he was, lying there below her, slowly bleeding to death whilst his murderers were still...

Ruby clutched her weapon tightly.

With tears flowing down her cheeks, she turned towards Lana and Stephanie and opened fire without a second thought, screaming obscenities as pulled her gun's trigger over and over again. She didn't make any attempt to get into cover, or call for help, or anything resembling a rational decision. All she cared about at that particular moment in time was gunning down the two bastards who had just murdered her best friend.

However, much to her dismay not only were non of her shots actually hitting, it seemed as though Lana and Stephanie had decided to turn tail and run.

"Get back here you fucks! You think I'm going to let you get away with this? I'm going to track you both down and fucking slaughter you!"

Despite her best efforts, Lana and Stephanie both managed to escape, more-or-less unharmed from the looks of things. Ruby stood there for a moment longer, gazing out towards the gate with a hateful look in her eyes as her adrenaline rush began to die down. She was remembering how she had felt back at the nuclear living site. How furious she had been with Miranda back then, and that had been for someone she didn't even know that well. In this case...

Brian. Oh god, was he...

She ran back inside, making her way down the staircase as quickly as possible before heading out via the front door into the garden.

Sure enough, there he was, lying exactly where she had last seen him. She edged closer, hardly taking any notice of Ami or Zubin as she tried to process the information running through her head. A part of her hoped that maybe she had been wrong, that Stephanie's bullet had hit a whisky flask in Brian's pocket or something contrived like that.

But no, sure enough the moment she saw his face, there was not a shred of doubt in her mind. He wore the same pale, lifeless expression that Katelyn had.

Brian Zhdanovich was dead.

No, this... This did not just happen. Brian couldn't be, he... We only just met! He cannot possibly be...

Ruby felt physically ill. Up to that point, she assumed that she had come to terms with the fact that something like this was bound to happen eventually. That nothing short of a miracle would be able to save them from this fate. Now that Brian was gone, genuinely permanently gone, for the first time it truly dawned on her that they were all going to die on this island. That one by one they were all picking each other off, either through their own stupidity or because of their selfish desires to be the one lucky bastard who gets to go home. Maybe she hadn't been as cynical as thought she was. That deep down, she didn't really believe that they wouldn't get rescued. If she had any remaining hopes of returning to her old life, she sure as hell didn't have any now. Regardless of whether she made it off this island or not, her life would never be the same again, nor would the lives of any of her classmates.

And that fact made her blood boil with rage.

"How dare they..." she found herself saying out loud, tears running down her cheeks as she looked back at the gate.

"What did Brian do to deserve this?" she said through gritted teeth. "He was innocent! He's never harmed anyone in his entire life, and yet they... How fucking dare they!"

Admittedly, at this point she wasn't entirely sure whether she was referring to Stephanie and Lana, or to the terrorists who had put them in this mess to begin with. Either way, she sure as hell knew who she was going to take her rage out against.

Without even looking at Ami or Zubin, she began to make her way towards the gate.

They will pay for this. If it's the last thing I ever do, I will make them pay.

What started out as a slow march gradually began to quicken in pace, until Ruby found herself practically sprinting towards the open gate. She didn't bother looking back, nor did she even consider doing so. Right now, the only thing she cared about was making Brian's killers pay for what they had done.

And if that failed to bring her peace, then perhaps she would have to burn the whole fucking island to the ground.

((Ruby Forrester continued elsewhere...))

The two interlopers left. Zubin finally lowered his weapon as they disappeared. He looked back, checking to see if Brian was -

Oh, shit.

First he had to duck because somebody had decided to go all Rambo and fired a few hundred more bullets in the general direction of the former interlopers. When the deafening loudness finally passed, Zubin finally unplugged his ears and looked up to see Ruby passing him. He was about to call out to Ruby when he noticed what Ruby had been running from.

Brian was certainly accounted for, but he was very much dead. The bullet wound, as well as any injuries he had from the fall, had seen to that. Zubin just shook his head in some combination of confusion, grief, and anger as he went to get his stuff, given that there wasn't anything he could do for his former confidante except allow nature to reclaim him.

Two minutes later, Zubin came back out with his hat, plank, and bags in addition to the gun. He looked down at the body formerly known as Brian Zhdanovich. He needed to say something. About the fragility of life, or about how time was a reminder to leave your mark on society, no matter how small. Finally, he was able to get a word out.

"FUCK!"

((Zubin Wadia continued On the Edge))

Once Lana and Stephanie started running, Ami felt the energy in her body evaporate. She fell back against the wall, her legs straight out. The sweat on her back made the shirt stick to her skin, and it felt damp and slightly cool against the tile wall.  Panting, she swallowed, her mouth feeling dry.

In the end she wasn't sure if that had been her screaming that caused them to run away or not. She wanted to think so. In her mind she tried to convince herself. But she knew it probably had nothing to do with it. She had to do something though, with no gun and being a dozen meters away. That's what she told herself.

The loud rattling from the balcony above came after they were long gone. To Ami, they were only an echoed buzz around the edges of her ear, muting everything else. Ami's eyes closed shut for a moment. She sighed.

When she opened them again, Zubin was hovering nearby. How long had he been standing there? A little late to the party, but it was good he came. Ami tried to force a smile but gave up halfway. Too busy staring at Brian. Ami kept her head turned away.

Then Ruby came out. What little remained of a smile evaporated completely, leaving Ami in a vapid gape.  The boy whose name she could not recall, he was Ruby's friend. Ami barely knew him. But seeing Ruby with that strange expression reminded her of what he had said just before he died. Guilt filled her veins like poison, and her eyes were suddenly misted with tears.

"Ruby, I," Ami frowned, the muscles in her lips just as sore as her aching throat. "God, I'm so sorry Ruby."

A dull tingling raked her throat, and it caused her hand to move up and catch it. Ami rarely screamed, even when she was little. When she spoke, it was always in a soft register, loud enough to be heard and not a decibel higher. She felt uncomfortable raising her voice to anyone, let alone screaming. Right then her voice was low and cracked, like her vocal cords were rusted shut.

Ruby didn't listen. Blinded by rage, she started muttering to herself. She couldn't hear a single thing she was saying but Ami was worried regardless.  

"Ruby, please, don't- "

Ruby turned and started walking.

"Wait, stop."

Her friend didn't listen. What started out as a slow walk became a furious run. Ami let

"Ruby! Ru -" A cough forced it's way through her throat, and Ami hunched over. Her throat was sandpaper and she winced as it contracted. Lacking any other options she staggered away from the wall and tried again. "Stop, Ruby, come back! It's not worth it! Ruby, please!"

Ruby was going to get herself killed, she realized. If they didn't stop her, Ruby would be as good as dead.

"Zubin, get everything. We need to go after her."

Ami gave herself no time to second-guess. Just as she finished talking to Zubin, she broke out into a run, down the slope and out through the open gate.

(Ami Flynn continued in On the edge.)