Survival Of The Fittest

((Matt Vartoogian continued from Glory and Gore))

Matt ended his weaving through the town well out of the danger zone, finding himself once again at the rows of houses once gated off from the rest of their community. Matt frowned; he was still on edge.

On edge was the only emotion he felt at this point. He'd felt nothing from killing Tyler the day before, and he'd felt nothing when he'd heard Finn's name on the announcement other than a vague satisfaction that he had been right. Had he always felt nothing like this? He certainly didn't remember feeling anything when he'd heard Theo or Bri on the announcements. Those were his friends, too. All he felt was unnerved at how the fight with Zubin had gone. How it had happened at all. He could feel the bruises on his chest and limbs from the struggle; he could feel his shirt stretched from Zubin's kicking. He couldn't let that happen again. Not if he wanted to live. Did all this make him a sociopath? Had he always been like this, so self-serving?

It didn't help that he had a sinking feeling that today wasn't going to go so well. The terrorists had started it off by announcing that only ten of them were left. He was so close, but so was everyone else. He'd even managed to remember everyone who was left, save one person. Still, the fact that he'd had to move from his great hiding spot was a bad omen of what was to come. Matt didn't like bad omens, especially when they ruined his well-laid plans.

He needed to get inside one of these houses. He could hide out, stall things out. Kill anyone who came too close. It was a pretty simple plan, and it was one that had worked for so long. Matt moved towards one of the houses that still looked relatively in tact, but wasn't the nicest one. People would go to the nicest house, not the one just nice enough to provide decent cover. He got to the door and opened it slowly, hoping not to make too much noise as he entered.

((Amaranta Montalvo continued from Under This Killing Moon))

Mara was never a runner. She hated running and even when coaxed to the gym by others, she preferred to just walk on a tread mill next to her gym partner. It was sweaty, exhausting work that taxed her heart and lungs and she hated the burning feeling in her chest and legs.

But now she ran. She felt unlike she had ever before. A determination possessed her and lifted her up, gave her wings. She felt like she wasn't running, but hovered just above the ground.

I'll kill Katarina. She'll be dead before the end of the day, I swear it. I'll kill her. I'll kill her...

Suddenly a noise cut into her thoughts and she stopped, gun up, eyes searching. A door closed. She turned on a dime and rushed towards the houses. Mara threw open the door to the first house with her gun ready. It was empty. Carefully she stepped inside, sweeping around with the gun, making sure no one was in a corner.

It wasn't until she looked over and saw movement in the neighboring house that her nerves sparked to life. She started shooting, riddling the window across the way with holes.

Matt dropped to the ground as soon as the gun resonated throughout the area. Glass shattered, wood splintered, and bullets soared above him.

Someone was shooting from outside the house, and they had a huge positional advantage on him. That was just about the last position Matt wanted to be in at this point. He needed to find something to leverage.

The other person didn't know where he was.

It was the only thing he could think to do in this circumstance, fall back to a position to gain informational advantage. Crawling on the floor, Matt made his way towards the nearest doorway, making sure to stay out of sight of the window.

Whoever it was was either hit or went down to avoid the barrage. She inspected the other house from her position for a few seconds, squinting through the dust she'd kicked up with her volley of shots.

Without hesitation she ran from her building and jumped down the steps landing hard, with the gun still firmly in hand. She sprinted up the steps of the other building and kicked the door in, trigger ready as she looked into the ruined home.

Halfway into another room she saw a leg. She marched up to the figure.

"Matt" she said bluntly, confirming who the other person was to herself. She'd seen him at the pond where she'd left Finn. One would assume he wasn't too faithful of a companion given how things worked out, however he hadn't given her any trouble when she left. It gained him a few slim points in his favor, but her aim would not be denied.

"I'm looking for someone," she said in a sweet sing song voice. "And the last time I did this people hemmed and hawed and wanted to talk it out and ask if that was really what I wanted, but you saw how that ended. I am done playing games with all you fucking people so I'm going to ask this once and if I don't like your answer I'll shoot you," she said, tipping her gun up slightly. "Do you know where Katarina is?"  

"Sorry, I have no idea where she is," Matt responded. Kat was one of the few people left on the island he hadn't run into at all, yet, and he was hoping to keep it that way. She was probably bruised and battered and close to dead, but she still was on the list of people he'd hoped someone else would deal with before he had to.

Matt was kicking himself for not having his gun drawn. It sat by his side as Mara stood right before him. He couldn't pull it up and shoot her, remove part of the competition. Fuck, she was probably going to do the same to him once they were done here. He had to stay calm, though. She'd spared him once before when she could have easily taken him out; she wasn't simply removing every threat to her survival as she moved through the island.

He was surprised someone like that could not only survive, but even be arguably one of the favorites to go home at the end of all this.

"Also, I'm sorry about Finn," Matt added. He felt he owed her something here. He was the one who'd watched out for Finn and kept him safe for so long. "He wanted to start hunting people, taking out the competition. I told him it was smarter to hold our position, but he didn't listen. He decided to leave."

Matt paused for a second before deciding to add one last thought to it all.

"I'm not sure I'd have saved him if I'd followed."

"Sorry, I have no idea-"

That was enough for Mara to disengage. She stopped listening, lowered the gun slightly and began moving backwards.

No need to waste more time here, her obsession hissed.


She started thinking of Maynard of all things. A flash of him, like a jump cut appeared instead of Matt. She tilted her head to the side and thought about his plea to her, desperate for someone who understood him. She was wrapped up in her own feelings at the time and dismissed it as him trying to gain her favor, maybe hoping for a protector. Now, she started reexamining the encounter, though he was long dead. She could relate now and saw that she'd been more closed to his request. If she could go back, would she do something different? Maybe not, she wasn't a great comforter. Maybe she would feel differently though, said a token nice thing perhaps.

Mara was nearly at the door when he said something to pull her back into the present. "Finn…" she said quietly.

"He wasn't that smart. That's a dumb plan. See these wounds?" she nodded towards her bandaged hands and turned up her cheek. "I got them all from people who were trying to kill me. They're all dead now. I killed them. That should teach you something about trying to kill people just to clear them out. If I tried to get rid of every person I saw…....I know I'm not that strong or fast or good with weapons. I'd be hamburger meat by now and our dear Finn is currently worm food . 'Randa tried to kill Stacey and she got killed for it."

She seemed to consider something for a moment. Mara raised the gun at Matt, scanned him, eyed the gun on the floor noticeably, but ultimately lowered it again. If she missed or he didn't die it would be over for her. She recalled how Summer was able to still be partially alive after a grenade explosion.

"Finn wasn't that smart, but we cared …about each other. I don't blame you. He made his choices and Katarina made hers."

She stepped out the still open door, stepped down onto the porch and left.

((Amaranta Montalvo continued in Dominoes))

Matt grimaced as Mara pulled her gun on him. He readied his muscles to jump for his gun to retaliate, should she try anything. He could feel his heart beat at 200 beats per minute as he waited in anticipation. He couldn't die, not here. Not when he was so close and doing so well.

But she lowered her weapon, spoke, and left. For a girl that tried to dispose of a gun by gently kicking it into a pond, she was pretty fucking smart. Still, Matt could have grabbed his gun, chased her down, but he didn't. It wasn't worth risking going outside to remove someone who wasn't an immediate threat. Hopefully she'd kill KK and go get herself killed before he saw her again. That was Matt's ideal outcome at this point, have everyone else kill each other while he sat back and lived.

So Matt was going to hide out for another day, try to stall everything out some more. He went into the bedroom the furthest from the door to the home, staying on the first floor so that he could jump out a window should he need to escape. He could wait here until the terrorists told him he couldn't anymore

((Kathryn Nguyen continued from Love and Marriage))

As it turned out Kathryn's wandering was more directed than she'd imagined. Most of the places were danger zones, so her options were limited. She soon found herself heading back towards the houses. Back towards the mansion where she'd lost Iselle.

She rolled her shoulders and adjusted her grip on the rifle which she now held in front of her. She wasn't going to be caught off guard again. Her eyes swept the houses nervously.

Matt had moved to the front room, shotgun in hand, watching out the window for anyone who might come to disturb him. He'd been there a while, who knew how long at this point, sitting by in his paranoia. He had to stay calm, he had to hold his ground. He kept surveying the area in front of him, waiting for some moving figure to trigger that he was once again in danger. Matt's vision was good, probably better than anyone else's out here. He had good reflex, good awareness. He wouldn't get snuck up on.

So he eventually saw a figure, first at a distance, but then moving towards him. He couldn't tell who it was, but the person didn't seem to see him straight away. He kept his head low, eyes just above the bottom of the window as he scanned. He eventually could make out that it was a girl, and short. If Matt had thought things through, he would have been able to deduce that it was Kathryn, but he didn't. He was a bit too tired, a bit too on edge to work through the logic that would have gotten him there.

Instead, once the figure got close enough, Matt raised his gun and fired.

Kathryn dove for the ground as a shot rang out. Breathing heavily, she lay still scanning the street with her eyes to find where the shot had come from. She knew that she couldn't lay in the street forever. Making her best guess as to where the shot had come from, she pulled the rifle from beside her and fired. Kathryn pushed herself off the ground and took off at a run towards the other side of the street, leaving Iselle's stick where it'd fallen beside her.

Kathryn's shot was way off it's mark, embedding itself in the wall several feet away. He pumped and lined up another shot, shooting as she got up to run.

Not waiting to see if his shot had hit its mark, he moved to the door to begin chasing her.

Kathryn had almost made to the house, when another blast came. She gasped as she felt something hit her side. She made it to the door of one of the houses and spun around hoping to find who was shooting. Kathryn could just make him out as he moved. She levered the rifle, expelling the cartridge, took aim, and fired. She spun on her heel and slipped into the house, closing the door behind her. Kathryn rested against the door frame and looked down in dismay at the growing stain of red on her shirt.

Matt left the house and flinched as he heard another bang. The shot sailed high and to the side. He could make out a door across the street closing, so Matt began running. He was well enough fed and rested that he still had most of his speed, and he needed to bridge the gap before she could fire at him again. Adrenaline pumped as he sprinted.

But he didn't hear another shot, and he'd made it across the street. He wanted to open the door, but he couldn't risk walking into a trap. Instead of opening the door, Matt stood and fired through the frame.

Kathryn let out a scream and staggered away from the door as the frame nearest her exploded, sending tiny pieces of shrapnel into her leg. She hobbled forward, knowing that whoever was after her had to be close by. Ratcheting the lever again, she turned and fired through the door.

Matt heard a scream. He sighed. He had her, that was it. He could turn around and turtle up again...

He hadn't noticed that it was a scream of fear, not of pain.

That realization came as the bang of the rifle resonated at the same time as Matt felt something graze his left thigh. He held back the scream, barely. Were it not for the fear and excitement and everything else he was feeling, he would have been on the ground wailing. But he wasn't, and he had to finish this, quickly. Before someone else came.

He pointed the gun at the emerging figure and fired again.