Survival Of The Fittest

((Myles Roux continued from This entire area is quite dank.))

Hot take: camping sucked.

Hotter take: this entire island sucked.

Myles's surroundings? Terrible. His classmates? Extra terrible. This food? The worst. The wildlife? Even worse than that.

Myles had never been much of an animal person, and now he was about five seconds and one wrong move by any of these stupid monkeys that he'd glimpsed in the trees from hurling the closest thing at hand and hoping it knocked one of them out. He had a nice few minutes imagining that this was a cartoon and the law of physics could be freely defied so that he could just pick Adonis up and toss him through the canopy. That would have been cathartic.

Adonis was... okay, well, he hadn't been a hindrance in the past day or so, and him being there to negotiate might have been the difference between whoever just assaulting Myles and straight up cutting his throat for his belongings. That didn't count for a lot, but it counted for something. Myles had cuddled up to him as they tried to make themselves comfortable sleeping on the ground, despite the fact that they were both starting to smell kind of terrible after four or five days without a shower. He kept his arm looped through Adonis's now as they walked, running his fingertips along the inside of Adonis's arm every now and then.

He had liked Adonis before all of this. That hadn't just vanished, as much of an annoyance and complication as Adonis had been. Myles could still get something out of him, either use or comfort. Adonis's great big mess-up that Myles was still intent on not thinking too hard about seemed to have cured him of getting any big ideas about acting on his own. Myles just had to play it smart now, keep pointing Adonis in the right direction when they had a problem that needed solving, and stay alert.

He had calmed since the previous day, given some time to bandage up his neck and stew over his lost hat. He'd even devoted some time to helping wrap up Adonis's hand after their ungraceful exit through the window. Planning on the fly was hard, but he'd had a bit of time in-between all the disasters to think.

Math wasn't his strong suit, but they'd been here for a while now. All he really needed to know about the numbers was that they were going down. What was more important were the names, both the ones that did get mentioned and the ones sliding under the radar. Something like an equation was forming in Myles's head.

He couldn't share it with Adonis, though. Maybe not at all, but definitely not right now. Instead, he said, "I think the beach is this way, if the map is right. Not the one we were at the other day, a different one. Wanna go?" He squeezed Adonis's bicep gently. They'd already been headed down the meager path for a while since waking up, but their progress was slow. Myles preferred to take lots of breaks.

((Adonis continued from This entire area is quite dank.))

Adonis had been thankful for Myles' company and he felt like Myles wasn't going to leave him any time soon. He hadn't noticed that he was shivering a little from Myles' touch and it was almost a good distraction from his thoughts. Almost. He hadn't been sleeping that well through the night as he keep on seeing blood-soaked images of Tristan and Regina in his head and he didn't have the courage to talk to Myles about how badly it was messing with his head. He still didn't want to try to be a heroic person anymore. He had to be kept under control as he was afraid of hurting someone else and he selfishly needed Myles more than ever now.

The beach.... It would be a nice break from all this madness and death. I want to at least have some normalcy in my life with him. I don't want to think about.... Don't, Adonis. Everything will be fine, everything will be fine, everything will be-

A small, genuine smile formed onto Adonis' slightly pale face and he couldn't really remember when was the last time that he had eaten something. He knew that he hadn't really eaten anything since Tristan's death and now his stomach was tying up in knots over how hungry he currently was. He really needed to keep up his strength if he was going to try to protect Myles from getting hurt or jumped on again. He needed to be better for Myles. The other boy was his priority now.

"I would like to go. Maybe it won't be so bad there." He said honestly as they continued to walk forward, step by step at a slow pace that he was thankful for. He didn't feel like rushing to get there.

Myles smiled and squeezed Adonis's arm again. "Great, let's go see what's there." He hadn't expected any answer other than agreement, of course. What, was Adonis going to come up with a better idea?

He wasn't looking so hot though, relatively speaking. Thinking back now, Myles wasn't sure he could remember Adonis actually eating anything when Myles needed to stop for a meal break, or "meal" break, as it were. They should probably fix that whenever they stopped next. Maybe everything at the beach wouldn't be terrible, and they could have a little makeshift picnic with their sad rations, though that idea actually got more depressing the more he thought about it. Whatever, they'd figure it out. Having Adonis pass out because he hadn't been bothering to eat and having to drag him around wasn't something Myles wanted to deal with.

There were a lot of things he didn't want to deal with. The only way he could handle this situation as a whole was by picking and choosing which parts of it he dealt with at a time. So there were ideas bouncing around in his head, but he only acknowledged them fleetingly. There were things nagging at him, creeping up and breathing down his neck, but he ignored them. He stayed alert for movement and approaching sounds, unwilling to be caught out again, but right now he wasn't dwelling on any of that. Right now, it was just him and a guy he'd kind of liked before, wandering down the overgrown path to the beach. The rain had stopped yesterday.

Adonis was glad that it wasn't raining anymore as he was getting sick and tired of it and he was glad to not be shivering anymore from how cold it had been. He felt himself looking at Myles' head and he kind of missed seeing Myles' hat on his head as it felt like it was a special part of the other boy. They had lost it back at the building and he hoped that he could find it if he decided to go back there. Would Myles be willing to go back one day? He just didn't want to made the guy feel like he was being reckless or too risky again. He was feeling more lost than ever before when he felt like he had a good goal in helping others and now he just had Myles. It didn't feel right to just stick with Myles and there were other people that he wanted to find out there. But he couldn't talk to Myles about it. He couldn't say that he wanted to find Regina to say goodbye to him. Even if he desperately wanted to do so.

Adonis was silent as they continued to walk for a while and the silence was starting to get to him, making him stop in his tracks briefly. "Myles, I.... I need to talk to you about something." He said quietly and he was looking more and more dejected than normal. "It's important. Maybe.... I-I don't know...."

"Hm? What is it?" Myles glanced around as they stopped, just to make sure he couldn't spot anyone lurking, and then back up at Adonis. There were any number of things Adonis could want to talk about, but Myles had a suspicion that they might have different definitions of what was "important" right now.

"Do you need to take another break? We can find a place to sit down. You should probably eat something and drink some water." He'd wanted to wait on that, but maybe it would be better to do it here with some cover than out in the open on the beach. If Adonis's important issue was that he felt crummy, then that would fix him right up and they could get going again.

Keep moving.

Don't turn around.

Get away.


It was the only plan Ivy had. When she turned around and saw no one following her, the only thing she could think to do was keep moving.

>> Ivy Langley continued from The Tower

She wished she'd dragged Amelia along. It would have been a bad idea, most likely, and she almost certainly would have tired of her company within a couple of hours, but at least her presence would provide some amount of safety. At least her presence would be a presence. An irritatingly naive wide-eyed presence who she'd barely said two words to despite spending a night in her company, and yet still so, so much better than nothing. Her heartbeat was too loud in her ears. She kept turning and finding no one there to speak to.

She'd taken Ace's company for granted. She'd taken it for granted that if the worst happened at least it would happen where it could hurt someone. If she had to die she wanted to be cried over. Mourned properly. It was stupid to consider because she wouldn't, she would claw her way through whatever she had to, but the dead air around her made thoughts darker than she'd like climb out of her head.

She took the long route around the village and headed north.

It took hours. It was hard to say how long, minutes stretched by like days in silence, she found herself mumbling under her breath once in a while, replying to some ongoing train of conversation in her head. It was better. Anything was better. Pain helped, too, pain was a good distraction, especially when she took breaks, when she sat down and her rib protested the motion and her vision would white out for a moment and she'd whimper pathetically for the benefit of no one. It was better.

She reached a new treeline as the light started to fade.


The usual nightly routine. She couldn't shower this time, the rain had finally stopped, her hair slightly damp from the morning's drizzle and the oppressive humidity, but she had deodorant and roll-on perfume and toothpaste and her hairbrush. She sat on a rock, alone, like Amelia had been when she'd found her. Brushing her hair. The ugly ripping noises where her hair was too knotted to cooperate with the brush broke the silence of the night. They might as well have been gunshots. She expected any moment for someone to come running. She kept brushing.

Ponytail, hair pushed back behind her ears, for the time being having working depth perception was more important than hiding her injuries. She glanced at her reflection in her compact but not for very long. She was so tired. The bags under her left eye practically matched the bruising on her right.

She missed Ace. She missed Wyatt. She missed Myles.

She laid out the blanket from her first aid kit to protect her from the dirt as she laid down to sleep, curled up in fetal position, staring into her knees.

At some point she fell asleep, maybe, in that in-between hazy way she sometimes slept when she was worried about a test, or a recital, or when she'd drunk not quite enough to just pass out. Her memories of the night were dotted by noises in the trees.

She might never wake up, she thought, but despite the corpses she'd seen, rotting on the infirmary beds, the concept was too far away in her sleep-deprived haze to hurt her.

The loneliness was worse.


She gave up on sleep when the first rays of light started to slice through the trees.

When she sat up she was dizzy, and it occurred to her how little water she'd drank over the last day. Her supply of it was running low. She missed that stupid fucking Gatorade that Lori had tainted and thinking about that reignited the shadows in the corners of her vision she thought she'd gotten rid of. But only for a moment. She glared in their general direction and then they were gone.

She drank some water, took a couple aspirin too many, ate half an energy bar. She could rest still, if she couldn't sleep. She needed to conserve energy, or something. Her food stores were still reasonably robust, she'd never eaten much in the best of times and the ache in her side was a distraction from the gnawing pain in her stomach. She should eat more, probably, but she stared blankly at the other half of the bar before putting it back in the bag.

She wondered if this was what dying felt like. Exhausted, dizzy, her limbs only semi-responsive when she told them to move. Her head was throbbing. Her breathing sounded wrong. It would be fine. It would have to be fine because she didn't have any way to fix it, did she, she had barely made it here and couldn't imagine making it anywhere else, she'd have to hide, find some corner of the forest to make her home, hope no one found her, but that was basically the same thing as rolling over and dying, wasn't it?

No, she needed to do something proactive. She drained a bottle of water, ignored that she only had one left. She'd find a way to refill them. She choked down the rest of the stupid energy bar.

She would find something.

She heard—something.

She knew.

It was far away, the voice, just audible enough to be recognizable as "probably human speech". She couldn't interpret the words, just the cadence. The flow.

It was enough. She knew. No amount of pain could stop her from dragging herself to her feet.

She followed. If it was a hallucination, she'd allow herself a few minutes to hope.

Adonis was still confused over why Myles would care about his well-being and then he realized that they had a strange relationship with each other. He didn't want to be alone and he felt he had selfishly clanged himself onto Myles as a crutch. Was that the same reason why Myles was staying with him? Would Myles abandon him if he ever found any of his friends? Did Adonis even have anyone else who cared about him anymore? Was he really going to be hunted down for what he did to Tristan? He knew the answer to the last question himself and the thought of it really scared him. How much longer until he completely broke again from the nightmares about Tristan and Regina? He didn't know anymore and he felt like he was going to cry over how weak and useless he was. Why did Myles want him at all?

Adonis felt a weak smile form onto his face and his eyes glazed over for a moment; his mind had gone blank for a few seconds. "Uh.... I guess I am a bit hungry. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. It's about something else-" Adonis hesitated in speaking as his lowly stomach growled with hunger quietly and he felt a wave of embarrassment over. "...Maybe we could stop for ten minutes or so."

He glanced around wearily as he was sure that he had heard something in the distance and he shook his head at the silly thought. He was possibly just being paranoid now over what Brandon had done to Myles and he knew that he couldn't let anyone hurt Myles again.

"Let's make sure to stay hidden. I...I don't want anyone to see us." He said honestly with a low mumble of exhaustion.

"Sure, come on." Myles used his hold on Adonis's arm to lead him a few steps off the path and into the treeline. Not too far, though; he remembered the lesson he'd learned on the first day about wandering too far into the woods.

"Find a seat, I'll handle the stuff." He dropped Adonis's arm to slide his bag off of his shoulder and held his free hand out for Adonis's as well. Supplies weren't running dangerously low yet, he didn't think, but losing Tristan's bag to whoever had assaulted him yesterday and the missing food bars that Myles had never bothered to retrieve had left a noticeable impact. He could probably get away with using just a bit more of Adonis's food and water than his own.

Being hungry sucked, but water was the real concern. Myles hadn't thought to try refilling their water bottles with rainwater, and you weren't supposed to drink that anyway, right? Wherever they were probably had jungle parasites in the lake water, and drinking ocean water would make you go crazy and die or something. What would be really nice right now would be to come across a body with some unattended supplies, and wow, that was a thought. It'd have to be something alongside a body, though. Myles had heard enough of the announcements to know that there was some water tampering going on. They couldn't trust anything they just found without good evidence that it was safe.

He was in the middle of laying out their pitiful meal when the breeze carried a faint scent to him. It was barely there, but it still made him freeze up for a few seconds, head snapping up in near disbelief. He didn't see anything or anyone immediately around them, but he knew.

"Did you smell something-?"

He knew, because Ivy had worn the same perfume-body wash-deodorant combo that smelled of basically nothing but pure sugar since middle school, and of course she'd still be wearing it here because that was Ivy, but maybe his senses had decided it was a good time to play tricks on him. He inhaled and thought that maybe he could detect it again, but he wasn't sure.

Myles almost called her name out on instinct, but he bit his lip instead. Was she nearby? Was it his imagination? He wanted to see her so badly, and he didn't want to see her at all.

"Uh- what was... the thing you wanted to talk about...?"

The first thing Ivy noticed was that his hat was gone.

It was a stupid, irrelevant thing to notice, but it wasn't. She remembered the hotel, when it had gone missing, how angry he'd been, how sad. They'd gone on a trip to a fancy DC boutique that specialized in hats, she'd bought him a couple that cost easily ten times as much as the one he'd lost, but that one had been special. He'd been so happy when he'd found it again. It was a stupid, irrelevant thing, like her perfume, like her daily habit of brushing her hair, it didn't matter but it did. The most tenuous ties to home.

She didn't have time to notice anything else before she slammed into him, a pastel bullet darting through the forest, her bags dropped behind her in the trees. Not enough strength in her to knock them over, just enough to knock him back a step, she opened her mouth to say something but she was already sobbing into his shirt.

Ivy clung to him like a teddy bear, like a security blanket, like the only thing left in the world to matter.

That's all it was.

For a few seconds she was home.

Adonis had somehow found himself sitting on a chopped, rotting log and he didn't care if his butt was getting dirt or bugs or whatever else on it. He was still feeling like he was not really all there and he needed more time to get himself out of his flunk. He remembered after the horrid break-up with Emmett... He didn't get out of his bed for a few days before the trip and he had hardly eaten anything on those days. He had to be forced to get up and eat because of his concerned and loving family and right now he wished that he could be home with them. But they would never forgive him for what he did to Tristan and he felt the guilt overwhelming his heart again.

Before Adonis could even think of responding to Myles; a sudden blur of candy floss pink-like hair came through the trees and they attacked Myles with a hug and.... crying. He needed a few seconds to realize that it was Ivy and Adonis bit down on his lower lip nervously. He wished that he wasn't already feeling like a third wheel once again and he shook his head in disapproval for that stupid thought. He should be happy that Myles and Ivy have been reunited. Because they were.... best friends.

He felt the stab at his heart as he thought about Regina and he turned his head away from the other two hugging, staring at the tree that was a few feet in front of him with a sad expression present on his face. He couldn't break, he couldn't break, he couldn't break....

He dug his nails into his thigh to try to distract himself from sad thoughts and because he deserved the slight pain he was causing to himself.

So at some point Myles had probably had a plan for when (if) he ran into Ivy. Whatever it had been, it all went up on smoke as soon as she appeared from out of the trees and latched onto him, cotton candy sugar invading his nose and for a moment obscuring all the evidence that she too had been hanging around a grimy island for five days with no showers.

His arms reflexively closed around her, and he stumbled back a step, but kept his balance. Good. If he fell over and concussed himself on a log, he'd have been kinda mad about it even if Ivy was the one responsible.

She was crying before Myles could even say anything. Just flat out bawling, really. Myles couldn't think of anything to say that would help, so he just squeezed her tight, hiding his face in her hair.

Emotion welled up, and he didn't push it away this time. God, he'd missed her. Even here.

"Hey babe," he finally choked out, surprised that there were real tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

Everything Ivy could think to say felt incredibly stupid. "I missed you"? Obviously. "You're not dead"? Obviously. She almost opened her mouth and said them anyway because the connection between her brain and her mouth was kind of tenuous at the moment judging by the ugly crying sounds it was currently making. Not the most dignified of reunions, certainly, and the funny thing was that she didn't care at all.

His voice snapped her out of it, or snapped her out of it enough that she sniffed theatrically and stopped shaking quite so hard. She didn't want to pull away from him, comfortable as she was, here, like there was a spell hanging in the air that would be broken the moment she could feel anything but his heartbeat against her cheek.

He smelled like five days of damp woods and no showers and she didn't care about that either.

A few more breaths.

Stalling.

"Hey Myley," she whispered into his chest and didn't choke on the words, which she thought was good enough, all things considered.

She pulled back then, because she had to, eventually, and glanced up at him, and he looked like himself, tired, yes, but they'd seen each other after their worst hangovers so that wasn't really that new. But she frowned, hand delicately moving toward his neck.

"Oh," her voice still too quiet, like she might burst a bubble if she spoke too loud, "what happened?" Her fingers brushed a bandage and for a moment it was nothing, he'd tripped, he was hiding a hickey, it was some weird accessory he'd come up with and she'd have to talk him out of.

Everything was normal.

(( Marco Volker continued from Giving Good Advice at Being Bad.))

Marco had a very uneventful morning. Once he had woken up, he started to make his way back to Ariana’s group to finish what she started, but alas he was unable to find any of those broke dick motherfuckers. To be quite honest that night was kind of a downer for Marco. Like yeah, he got to give some potential rivals some advice but like, their existence itself reminded him of how lonely he was. Even if they died at least they had someone who’d care when they passed. Marco didn’t. His existence was only acknowledged when he was fucking shit up, fucking people up. Sure, it was a pretty bitchin’ way of being acknowledged but he wasn’t gonna have anyone there to hold him in his last moments, except maybe his eventual killer.

Marco had only just realized how desperate he was for human contact when he remembered he tried to get Lucas to ally with him after the little shit tried to steal his stuff and kill him. What in the fuck was wrong with him? Goddamn he didn’t realize how pathetic that is in hindsight, holy shit. Marco wanted to find someone and fuck up their day now just to get that off his mind. He hoped he could find someone who wasn’t a pussy. He wanted an actual fight this time, and not some dumbass who’s surprised that a saw beats a gun in melee range. He didn’t care who, he’d even take Colin whom he’d rather save for last, he just wanted someone who could hurt him. Someone to triumph against. He wanted to kill someone who was a threat.

Marco heard voices in the distance and they were decidedly NOT a threat. He was still gonna check it out and fuck with them, just because he didn’t like those two, but he wasn’t gonna pretend it was anything more than pettiness or spite. Marco got closer to the voices, Ivy and Myles and just watched. God, he despised those sparkly rainbow fuckers. He felt his face twist into a scowl. Yeah, this wouldn’t be a fight at all, but at least it’d be damn funny.

He didn’t even have to kill them. Just pop out of the tree line, wave his chainsaw around, and yell raggle fraggle, and they’d be panicking all over each other. Marco bet that Myles would use Ivy as a meat shield, only for Ivy to trip him up and leave him for dead. All that lovey dovey shit, and they would turn on each other at the drop of a hat. That just reinforces him not having to waste either of them.They’re both two faced enough to do something like that, and that’s just incredibly funny. Marco looked at a nearby camera to see if the people behind it were thinking what he’s thinking. Probably not... Truth be told, they were probably just expecting him to walk out there and slice them the fuck up, yelling some Khorne ass ’Blud 4 teh blud ged’ shit. People he knew tended to not get him, even if he spelled it out right in front of their face, so he doubted a bunch of randos on the interwebs would.

He caught another figure in the corner of his eye though. Someone very familiar. Now, Marco had a dilemma. Adonis was there. He was probably allied with those two. Marco wouldn’t be able to just run out their now without spooking Adonis too. He doubted that Adonis would take Marco up on his word when he went all ‘Its just a prank bro!’ as an excuse. Marco watched Adonis. Damn, he looked miserable. Damn he wanted to mess with Myles and Ivy so bad.

Fuck it, doing it for the lulz isn’t worth pissing off the only person he could talk to here. Marco changed his route. He began to sneak up behind Adonis, doing a pretty good job at masking his footsteps, like back when they dabbed on Jeff. That seemed like an eternity ago.

When Marco got close enough he reached his hand out and tapped Adonis on the shoulder.

“Boo.”

Adonis wasn't really following the conversation that Myles and Ivy were having with each other and he was trying to imagine Regina being in front of him with a caring smile. But it was hurting too much to think about her being by his side and he knew that he had to not fall into despair over her more. He had wanted to talk about her with Myles but then they possibly would have added Tristan to the talk and Adonis was still feeling heavy about his death. Killing someone... He never thought that he would do something so horrifying. He honestly thought that Emmett would be more likely to start killing people that he hated in the school.... Emmett was definitely a better person than him and Adonis kind of hoped that Emmett wouldn't have to do what he had done. Adonis-

"Boo."

Adonis gasped and he jumped a little, feeling the tap on his shoulder as well. He recognized the voice and he turned his head to look at the boy who had spooked him. It really was Marco and he definitely looked a lot more different from the last time he had seen him. Adonis needed a second to sort out his jumbled thoughts and he wasn't sure if he could talk out in the open with Myles and Ivy right there. It didn't look that they had noticed what was happening yet and Adonis was going to keep it that way.

Sorry, Myles. I have to go for a while. Forgive me....

"Marco, you look... uh, well, not that great. Ha, ha." Adonis whispered quietly with a hearty chuckle and he felt like his heaviness in his heart was going away a little. How odd. He got up to his feet, making sure that he had his belongings on him and he sneaked into the shadows of the trees with Marco. "We should go before they see you, Marco. I need to talk to you alone."

((Adonis Cohen continued in Paradise is Nowhere))

Private? Okay... sounds like a good idea. He figured Myles and Ivy would flip shit at his appearance and go through the whole ‘omg murderer’ spiel.

“Very well.”

(Marco Volker continued elsewhere.))