Survival Of The Fittest

As Xian woke up, she rubbed her head, blinking her eyes, which seemed a bit foggy and crusty. It took her a few seconds to clear out the cobwebs, but when she did, she sat bolt upright. Could it be true.....that horrible plane flight, that video...the boy with the fork. And what about her teachers, were they really...dead??

Xian sat on the grass, stalks of bamboo shooting up all around her, with her legs folded, and her arms hugging her knees. This couldn't be real..there was just no way. Noone would let a...game like this exist, it seemed impossible. But, that video, and that Mr Danya, they were very real. And, her teachers had been shot, she was sure of it.

It was then that Xian saw a pack lying at her feet, next to her own backpack. Gingerly, she reached out, and opened it. She peered inside and found a few bottles of water, a loaf of bread, a manual, and....what the fuck???

Xian held up the silver corkscrew and studied it. was this her weapon?? She cowered a bit, and hugged her knees tighter. 'No.its not fair...not fair...' she moaned to herself. 'Im...the smallest....not fair...no....' she continued moaning. Sniffling, she clipped the pack shut, and tucked the corkscrew in the waistband of her pants. Xian then opned her backpack, and checked. Spare clothes, undergarments, and her GameBoy. Xian slung both packs on her back, and keeping in a low crouch, Xian began to slowly crawl a bit further into the grove of bamboo, her heart racing, and her eyes wide open.

Crunch...crunch. Shuffle. Shuffle.
Xian wasn't the only one in the Bamboo Coppice. In fact, she had her own personal stalker, right there in the Bamboo Coppice. Her own smiling, happy guy, crawling through out the Coppice right after her, making hardly a noise, aside from the sound of him moving the bamboo aside to make space for him to move. And the name of Xian's personal stalker? Sydney Morvran. Or, rather, what was left of the short, positive boy.

Sydney was long gone. In his place, was a twisted boy who had seen death after death. He had seen friends, and enemies alike die. He held in a chuckle, as he began to crawl closer, and closer to Xian. His weapons weren't out, but his goggles were on, concealing his wild eyes from view. The hood of his hoodie was pulled over his head, putting a shadow on the top half of his face. The goggles' lenses shone through the shadow, giving Sydney even more of a sickening, twisted look, coupled with the saliva dripping from his lips.

As Xian crawls along, working hard to push stalks of bamboo out of her way, she realises she has no idea where she is, or what she is doing. She stops, and carefully scrunches herself inbetween several thicker stalks of bamboo, hoping it will cover her up.

The space is very tight, and Xian knows she best not linger here long, because if someone finds her, she is trapped. With a bit of difficulty, she opens the pack, and takes out the map and compass.

'I knew I should have joined girlscouts,' she mumbles to herself, trying to make heads or tails of the map. If she is reading it right, there is an old schoolhouse, which seems not to far from her position. Replacing the map, she sets out, on all fours, the compass in hand, heading hopefully to the schoolhouse.

Closer, and closer.... Sydney held in his breath with excitement. She was so close now. He was glad that she had stopped to look at the map. What a stupid mistake for her to make...but, he didn't blame her. He probably would've done the same thing. He leapt out, launching himself at her like a lion pouncing onto its prey. "I've got you!!" He yelled out, spit flying out from his lips. If Xian had a good enough reaction time, she might be able to roll out of the way in time, but with the bamboo stalks surrounding them both, it would be rather hard to roll out of the way to safety.

'UUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' squeals Xian, as what feels like a boulder lands squarly on her back. Instantly, she is pinned, face first, to the hard ground, her mouth full of dirt and grass. The compass flies form her hand, and the corkscrew digs into her belly, but, thhakfully, does not puncture her.

Someone is on her, has her pinned down. Panic and adrenaline coarsing thorugh her, Xian begins to struggle madly, trying somehow to dislodge whoever it is on top of her. But, she fears, she is easily out classed here. She has struggled, but the assialnt remains firmly in place.

"Shh," Sydney said, trying to calm her down. "I'm not going to hurt you just yet. Tell me, girl, what's your weapon? It can't be a gun, can it?" He smirked. "We can be friends, we can be friends. All my friends are dead. I need a new one." He gently moved off of her, nudging her a little to give her a signal to roll over onto her back. "Friends, just friends." He lowered his hood, revealing his messy hair. He had been in the SOTF ACT for a while now. It was no wonder his face was dirty, and his hair was very roughed up. There was a thin, diagnol cut beneath his eye. He traced it with my free hand.

"See what the enemy does? If we're friends, we can look out for eachother, right? That's what my old friends did." He glared slightly. "But, they wound up killing eachother. Some friends, huh? That's why we're gonna be best of friends." Syd grinned, nodding his head up and down as an acknowledgement to his words.

As soon as the boy gets off of her, Xian quickly rolls over onto her back, and half sits up. She then crawls backwards about a foot, before coming up against the stalk of bamboo. Her eyes wide, she looks at the boy, her mouth agape.

Xian remembers back to when she was 8yo, and her father took her into the city with him. As they walked to his office, they passed a derelict in the street, who made strange noises. Looking at this boy now, Xian thinks back to that homeless man. She is afraid, but, yet....he's just a boy. A lonely, scared boy, one who has been hurt. Would she be any different after spending a few days alone out here, seeing friends die, getting attacked?? Slowly, Xian composes herself, sitting up fully, but bracing her legs under her, ready to spring up at a seconds notice.

M..my name is Xian....they left my class on this island. who...are you, how did you get here??

"Stop!" Tayli cried tears streaming from her now puffy eyes. Mascara ran down her cheeks. She had awoken only minutes before in coppice. She had been disoriented at first, but quickly remembered the horrible things that had conspired before she had lost consciousness. Mr. Danya, the horror of realizing what they were being forced to do... it was all too much. She had found the pistol, a Glock 9mm in her pack, and had taken no more than a dozen steps before she heard Xian and the other boy's exchange.

"Don't hurt her!" Tayli said. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on. Was this boy a threat to her and her classmates? She didn't bother to tell him as he eyed her over that she had no idea how to use the gun in her hand having not had time to read her instruction manual yet. She hoped it would be enough to avert any catastrophes... who was this strange boy.

"Xian are you okay? What happened? Who is he?"

Xian looked as puzzled as she.

"Who are you?" Tayli asked trembling.

Sydney's eyes widened as he saw Tayli approach them. He ignored her words completely, seeing only her gun, pulling a flashbang grenade off of his belt. He grabbed Xian's hand with his left hand. His left hand was wrapped up in bandages...he was missing his pinky and ring finger. Most likely, they had gotten chopped off during a fight he had during the SOTF ACT. "Xian, let's go!! Don't look back, just follow me." He pulled the pin out of the flashbang grenade, and threw it behind him, trying to drag Xian along with him.
"Let's go, let's go! She'll kill us, friend. She'll kill us, she'll kill us." The flashbang would go off in a few seconds now, creating a loud "BANG!!" noise when it exploded, and create a blinding flash. If Sydney had thrown it where he wanted to, then the flashbang would go off at Tayli's feet, and blind her. The effect would most likely last for an hour at the most...but, there was always the chance that he had missed his target, or she turned away to halfen the effects.

"Don't look back!"

((OOC: Since this little RP has gone three-way, I'm putting an order in to keep things nice and orderly. Kaishi (me) posts, then Yumi22, and then Tayli. Is that fine with you all? If it isn't, we can work something out.))

OOC: Sure that's fine with me... hopefully Xian will ask me to join the two of you... fun stuff so far.

Everything had happened so fast, Xian's head was spinning. Before she could speak to Tayli, the strange boy had hoisted her onto her feet, and began pulling her through the bamboo. She tried to get him to stop, but he didn't seem to hear her. But, when the grenade went off, thats when Xian screamed!!!


WHAT DID YOU DO????? SHE WASN'T GOING TO HURT US!!!!!!!!

Xian pulled back on the boy with all of her might, trying to get him to stop.

Please..listen to me. Her name is Tayli.....she's in my class. Its ok, she is a friend, she won't hurt me...hurt us. Please..we have to go back and get her!!!

Xian was desperate, she had to go back and help Tayli. She could be injured...or worse. Xian turned herself back in the direction in which they came, trying with all of her might to get back to Tayli.

Tayli stumbled around unable to see.

Oh no I'm blind! Someone help me or I'm going to die! I'll stumble into a forbidden zone.

"Please let everything be okay," she whispered, as if speaking to some higher power.

She fell to the ground and curled into a fetal position.

I don't want to die.

"But, but...Xian...she had a gun. She pointed it at us!" Syd bit his bottom lip, doubting his own words. He shoved his goggles into his pocket, and turned, wincing at the fading flash of light. It was going to draw people near, so they'd need to get out of there fast. "I'm sorry." No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! Xian and him were supposed to run from the enemy. Now Xian hated him, Sydney was sure of it. He would be without a friend. Again. He ran back to the direction of Tayli, crouching down to get to her. This way, if I help out the enemy, I'll still have a friend. ...Right? He looked over at Xian wondering about it all. He turned back to the obviously blinded Tayli.

"It's okay, it's okay." Syd didn't really know how to pick her up, or anything like that. "It's going to be fine..." Quite honestly, Sydney didn't really know what to do at all. He looked over at Xian again, hoping that his new friend would know.

Xian bit her lip, and tapped her foot..a nervous habit of hers.



Ok..ok.....gotta think..gotta think.[/COLOR]

She bit the tip of her finger, looking from the boy, to Tayli, and back to the boy. She didn't know what to do, but Tayli was out of it at the moment, and the boy looked lost.

Ok...look...boy, we need to get her out of here. That explosion will attract attention for sure. I hope to god noone in my class is going along with this...game, but right now, we can't chance it.

Xian bent down and rubbed Tayli's head.

Tay...its Xian...shhh.....its ok, Im here, we're going to help you. Ok...stand up, and put your hand...here...on my shoulder.

Xian then looks at the boy....


Ok...you, get her bags, and anything she dropped. Now, before you jumped on me, I was trying to head to a schoolhouse I saw on the map. Do you know where it is?

"I know where it is..." He pointed to his forehead with his thumb. "I've memorized this place up and down...sort of. Note that I don't have a pack with me." He forced a laugh, trying to lighten up the mood. Syd bent down, picking up Tayli's stuff. He contemplated shoving the gun into the bag, but decided against it. Click. He turned off the safety with a loud click. Although he didn't have the instruction manual for the Glock, he knew enough to turn off the safety. With a smirk, he waved the Glock infront of him.
"My name is Sydney, by the way. My friends call me Syd, though..." He looked over to Xian with a nod, giving her the direct permission to call him Syd. "Just follow me, Xian."

((OOC: Should the next post just be at the School building, or should we continue our little "walk" to the School here?
BTW...if you're wondering why I posted, Yumi, it's because Tayli gave me the okay via AIM. ^_^;;))