Survival Of The Fittest

(Teddie Boyd continued from My Hand is Cold Without You)

In an odd twist of events, Teddie ended up walking throughout the night which was new to him. When he made it to the research station he found more buildings than he expected, so in his infinite wisdom, he picked one in the dark and walked in.

Well more of crawled in.

He pushed his bag in first. Which on second thought wasn't the smartest idea. Teddie dug through his bag for his flashlight and lit up the inside of what was apparently a garage. "A-at least it's w-warm." Teddie was shivering, which saying that he spent the night walking in the cold made sense.

"H-hey Eden ho-" Teddie turned around and found that he was alone. 'It's fine they are just a bit behind me just give them a sec..' He thought, he just needed to stay calm. They didn't abandon him. They WOULDN'T abandon him!

Then the announcement came on and his fragile hope broke. 11 Deaths on the first day. People he knew were dead. People who he thought would NEVER hurt anyone had ended lives! Teddie felt weak and crumbled to the floor, then entered the fetal position he hugged himself, and cried. Even after he said he would be strong he was still weak. His friends abandoned him because they knew he was nothing but a burden. They must have heard it that people were really killing each other, and to protect him meant putting themselves in danger. "I'm sorry. please come back..!" he whispered in between sobs.

((Timothy Adams continued from among the pines and under new management))

Gamer Update: Timothy still had no idea where he was going or what he was doing. But that meant he was still alive and not running into anyone else doing target practice with their big ol' 9mm. So, clearly he was doing something right or at least marginally better than other people.

Not that Timothy was in much of a celebrating mood, though. He kept thinking about Kiera. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He was probably one of the last people she ever got to speak to. Maybe he should've followed her. Maybe Timothy could've stopped whatever happened. Maybe things could've been different. Maybe it could've been different for any of the other names called out.

Maybe it didn't matter.

He was going to stop thinking about it.

Anyway, here he was, the research station. It was about as good of a place as any and better than where he managed to stay the night. Maybe there was still cool stuff here and no one would mind him making off with some treasure. Or at least that was what he was thinking.

As he passed by the quarter-rolled up door of the garage, he could just barely make out the faint sound of crying. He thought about just walking on, but something compelled him to be a good neighbor and check on them. Empathy was rare these days even without, you know, right now. "Hey," Timothy called out in a loud but calm tone. He knocked his hand against the rollup door, rattling it like he was a gentle breeze. "Everything okay in there?"

((Eden Glass continued from My Hand Is Cold Without You))

Oh, jeez. Was all that Eden was thinking in that moment.

Teddie had managed to hurry on ahead of her and Ellis. It might have been because she had lagged a bit behind him to make sure that Ellis was still with them, and she had wanted to make sure that Ellis was still sound of mind. She didn't want to leave him behind since she had wanted to stay with him for a long as she could. She knew that she had to make sure that Teddie was going to be okay too. He was pretty emotional and a bit clingy, but that didn't really matter that much. She was more worried about getting a bullet in her brain or speared through the stomach by a javelin user or something. ...Actually, did anyone actually play javelin at their school? She wasn't a big sporty person. She was more into her freedom of parkour.

And-

A voice had suddenly echoed throughout the area and Eden almost jumped out of her skin, taking a few seconds to calm down her fragile heart. Oh, oh...! It was an announcement! She listened closely and her smile faded completely from her cold face, her hand moved up to cover her mouth that had turned into a shocked O. So many were really dead already. She knew that it would have happened, but just hearing it all confirmed.... It completely chilled her to the bone. She couldn't even think of a dumb joke to say to make things a bit more light-hearted. It felt like it would too wrong to do that, even as a coping mechanism.

She glanced ahead of her, and she lowered her head a little as she saw someone else in the area. She couldn't see who it was from behind, but she had heard a sobbing noise coming from the garage door that the guy was tapping on, and she could feel herself getting goosebumps all over. She realized that the crying was coming from Teddie, and she knew that she had to make sure that he was going to be okay.

She glanced back once more to make sure that Ellis was still there and then she made her way a bit more quickly over to where the guy was standing, making sure to hold the naginata in a non-threatening manner.

"H-Hey!" She managed to burst out in a friendly tone, and she had stopped herself a few feet away from the other boy. "Sorry about that. I'm with him. Teddie...?" She called out to the boy that was still crying on the inside.

Voices. Teddie was hearing voices. The first was unknown and sounded like a boy asking him if he was alright. "N-no." He managed to choke out between sobs, he was weak, dependent, and a burden.

Then he heard Eden's voice. "E-Eden?" he called out from inside the garage. Eyes red and puffy, snot running down his face, Teddie crawled under the door to be met with a boy he didn't know and.

"EDEN!" Teddie practically yelled as he ran at her. "You didn't abandon me!" Teddie pulled her into a hug as he cried. "SO MANY PEOPLE ARE DEAD! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! EVEN KATELYN KILLED SOMEONE!" Teddie was panicking he was even yelling and when the weight of his body was too much to bear Teddie began falling to his knees. Even so, he never let go of her "PLEASE! PLEASE...Don't leave me...I promise I won't be a burden! I just...I don't want to die alone. I miss Rambo." Teddie knew how pathetic he looked, but his nerves were so high and he was so stressed that it didn't matter to him anymore. The announcement had scared him so strongly that he was almost regressing. Teddie wanted to be back home and wanted to see Rambo again. Teddie just wanted to feel safe.

Timothy jumped three feet in the air at a girl's voice coming from behind him. He turned in place and threw his hands in the air and planted his feet in the ground ready to square up until he realized it was just Eden, Eden with a giant fuck-off Japanese spear. He hesitated before bringing his hands down back to his side. She wasn't in the list of killers and the blade didn't look like it'd seen much combat just yet or at least not in a very long time, so that was a good sign.

Teddie crawled out from under the rollup door, nearly knocking into Timothy before he quickly stepped to the side and watched their little reunion, at least their assumed reunion. From Teddie's reaction it was like Eden returned home from The War or something. There was kinda a lot going on.

A quiet confused hum sang from Timothy's mouth as he cocked an eyebrow and scratched at his own cheek with a finger. "A-am I interrupting something, or...?"

((Ellis Wheaton continued from My Hand is Cold Without You))

Okay, so it turns out Teddie couldn't lead them to shelter. They spent the entire night outside, barely getting anywhere, freezing their goodies out. Of course, Ellis, being horribly out of shape and having burned through a lot of energy from running from the lockers, was the worst off walking. His legs were horribly sore, his feet ached, and he didn't even want to imagine what his skin looked like underneath his clothes. The research station better have hot water and some lotion so he wouldn't be much of a wreck going forward.

As they walked, the announcements had kicked on. Ellis had somehow survived the first day, something his dickhead brothers probably would have assumed he wouldn't be able to do. It was wild to hear the names of the dead. Ellis wasn't particularly close to any of them, but knowing that they were kids back home made it feel real. People from various classes or goings-on around Salem were dead. Even worse, some people had already killed more than once. It sounded like there were some crazy girls named Katelyn and Janice who were already doing Satan's work to wipe out the class.

Ellis had paused to listen, but soon realized that Teddie and Eden were far ahead of him. He finally found the energy to keep moving and soon came outside what appeared to be an auto garage. Teddie was already in panic mode, screaming about Katelyn and Rambo, whatever that was. Teddie's own version of Armand, it appeared. There was another boy there as well who seemed quite confused.

"Hey, I'm here too," Ellis said. "Uh, sorry for falling behind."

He wasn't sure any of them cared to know he had arrived considering Teddie seemed to be worse off, but he wanted to at least assure them he wasn't going to be on the next announcement in case the thought came to their minds.

Eden had been caught off guard by Teddie's screaming words and him pulling her into a hug quickly. She almost felt what her sister and brother felt over her obsession with her tarot card readings that she did every day. Irritation. But this was more different from card readings. These were murders that had been caused by a group of terrorists who got a kick of chaos and destruction. She couldn't let herself get a bit snappy. Even if she did have her own limits. She had to keep herself in control. She had to be like a cool, big sis or something!

"Oh, uh.... It's going to be alright, Teddie. I wasn't going to leave you-"

She then heard Timothy's question and she knew that this was all looking so awkward as heck. She gave the other boy an awkward smile and then she mulled over what to say to Timothy.

"No, no! Of course not! Things have been just a bit emotional for everyone. Sorry if this seems all weird to you, Timothy." She answered honestly.

She was relieved to hear Ellis' voice and she turned her head to look at the other boy who had caught up to them. She wished that Teddie would get up soon.

"Hey, no worries, Ellis! You're cool!" She piped up with a warm, friendly smile.

Teddie is weak.
Teddie is pathetic.
And above all else, Teddie is going to die.

Teddie was breaking down not only in front of his allies but also on his allies. Teddie was so afraid of being abandoned by his friends that he was literally clinging to them in a desperate attempt to make them stay. Then Ellis came and made his presence known. Teddie was going to jump to him as well, in fact, he was already moving. Moving to cling onto Ellis, moving to make someone care for him. Halfway to Ellis with a half crawl half run, he stopped. Ellis wouldn't protect him. Nether would Eden. Well, they might protect him but wouldn't kill for him, or most importantly in this situation die for him. Teddie fell to the snow and curled up into a ball.

Teddie couldn't kill anyone and if he kept going like he was he would die. Eden would get tired of him, Her confusion when he first panicked was proof enough. Ellis didn't hold any real attachment to him, the most he would do is probably try to defend him if it got dire enough. He had to be stronger and more independent.

SOTF: Survival Of The Fittest. Being the strongest or the smartest doesn't matter. What matters is being adaptable. Teddie needs to adapt, he needs to adapt to better suit his situation. If Teddie did not adapt then he would continue to panic and cry, and sometime soon maybe today, maybe tomorrow(If he lived that long) they would get so sick of his constant breakdowns that they would find the first opportunity to throw him off to someone else or worse to a killer to save their own skin. They may even kill him themselves.

So Teddie needed to change and adapt. But he was afraid, the reason he needed to change was the same problem that halted his change.

But an idea appeared in his mind.

People wear masks all the time and over time the mask becomes them. What if Teddie pretended to be what the Island needed from him?

Someone strong.
Someone pragmatic.
Someone who has what it takes to live.

That is who Teddie needed to become. With tears in his eyes once again, snot mixing in and falling down his chin. He looked at Eden and Ellis and said "I-I'm sorry... Can you guys... Give me a minute or two?" Teddie needed a place to change and the only place that could even give him an ounce of privacy was the garage. "Just a couple of minutes I swear... Then I'll come out better... better than ever." His voice quivered at his words, and it sounded like he was trying to convince himself as he said it, as a single finger pointed toward the building. He wished he had Rambo or his parents. Anyone who could be there with him while he did something he was praying to every deity in the sky he wouldn't regret.

Timothy's eyes squinted harder to the point he could've been mistaken for French Stewart at a distance.

"...Uh huh...," he muttered under his breath, trying to determine if this actually was a weird scene or not for himself.

His eyes darted around the scene between Teddies clinging to his besties and himself for dear life, Eden standing there spear in hand like she was on the emperor's guard, and Ellis who was also here.

"Yeah, maybe go ahead and take a fiver, bud," he said to Teddie.

((Calvin Rawls continued from the Hot Spring))

Calvin Rawls strolled upon the garage, scythe in hand, wearing the EXTREME SWAGGER and carrying more wooden items he had picked up.

He really felt bad for being late, he hated being unreliable and he hoped Fey would be understanding, if she still was alive that is. He decided to make up for the lateness by planning to bring even more wood to her and Piper.

He arrived at the research station and there seemed to be a garage nearby. They had to have a wheelbarrowright? Then he would be able to carry even more wood!

The announcements had come on and he didn‘t know who Katelyn Graves was. Probably a bad thing, it was probably useful knowledge to know how she looked right now.

Also Ethan was dead. That was going to affect the chess world. Piper was also dead. Fey was alive, though.

Calvin really didn‘t stand the voice of the announcer, nor did he appreciate any of the jokes, it was pretty cringe over all. At least he wouldn‘t have to hear that awful voice and these awful jokes if he was dead. That was definitely something to look forward to.

Ready to get inside he opened the entrance and went in. There was a crowd, which shouldn‘t surprise him, he recognised the boy, Teddie, but it looked like the rest of them were just girls, barring the boy who wasn‘t Teddie.

„Is any one of you Katelyn Graves?“

No offense, he had to make sure.

Ellis watched as Teddie continued to crawl and cry. He really wasn't sure what to say or do here. This was definitely not something Ellis was used to dealing with. Back home, he was the one who would be crying while his dad called him a pussy, but calling Teddie that would be seriously wrong.

Teddie just asked for a moment to compose himself.

"Yeah, you can just go there," he said, pointing to the garage door.

"We can uh...."

He looked to Eden and Timothy.

"...talk?"

It was then he heard someone else talking.

Ellis turned and saw there was someone else. The person was asking if any of them were Katelyn.

"Uh, no. There's only one girl and her name is Eden."

Eden didn't want to admit that she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. By the murders, the murderers, missing her family, missing some of her friends who didn't come on the trip, Teddie's middle life crisis or whatever it was, her own mental health that was trying to not decline on itself. There was a lot for her to unpack. She wished that she could have time to breathe for herself. But she had to keep her positive energy uprising. No negativity here!! No, sir!

Eden noticed that Teddie seemed to want to take care of himself and the two other guys were both in agreement of him just doing that. "Yeah, that'll be a good idea, Teddie." She give him a reassuring smile of innocent-like sympathy.

Eden blinked when she heard a voice and she turned around as well to see who it was. Ah, Calvin Rawls. She didn't really know him personally. Mostly his name. Nothing else really.

"Oh, yeah. Hi!" She gave Calvin a small wave and then she rubbed her hand over her chin thoughtfully. "No other girls here, nope! I only know that Kitty has killed two people and well... uh.... yeah. It's definitely not going to be good for her as she's going to have people coming for her.... Being a killer and all. Yikes."

They all agreed with him. everyone agreed that Teddie should change, and while he knew that they had no idea about the greater implications. He couldn't say that he didn't want them to try to talk him out of it. For one of them to say "No Teddie you don't have to change yourself to survive! We are here for you and we will get out of here together!"

But Teddie knew that wouldn't happen.

Teddie nodded to all of the people that surrounded him. He grabbed his pack and moved to go back into the garage as he said "Y-Yeah just a minute or two... I'll be b-better. S-stronger, I'll be..." He stopped talking before he could finish. Someone else had come asking about Kitty but he couldn't bring himself to truly care.

After entering the garage for the second time Teddie knew what he had to do.

Kinda.

Teddie had no idea how to do what he was going to do. But Teddie knew he had to if he was going to survive. So first he grabbed his flashlight and lit up the area looking for a camera. Once he found one he moved over to it. Teddie was still crying, he stared into the lens for what felt like hours before finally speaking. "Mom, Dad. Uh Hey, I...I should have never gone on this trip." He stopped speaking for a second then began to chuckle to himself softly. "I bet that's what the people in the last games said too... I... I really don't want to be here, I want to hug both of you again. I miss really miss Rambo. And GOD do I wish I could talk to Janet. But I can't it's just me."

"I'm going to do something drastic. I'm not strong enough for this I know that!" Teddie was crying again the hardest he's cried yet. "I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE IT THROUGH THIS! I HAVE BEEN SO SCARED!" Teddie began to break down in front of the camera. Teddie would have kept going but this was not the time.

There was a time to greave. There was a time to cry and process. And there was a time to fight for your life.

"I'm going to try to survive and I can't do it as me. So I'm going to try as someone else." And with that Teddie reached into his pack and grabbed his med kit. Teddie then opened it and grabbed the scissors, while this wasn't their intended purpose it was all he had. Teddie began to cut his hair, he couldn't see what he was doing so he just had the hope it worked out. Snip snip snip. Teddie cut his hair shorter or at least that was his intent. He wished he had a mask but no such luck.

Then he realized that he needed a new name. He didn't feel comfortable calling himself Teddie when he was trying to be someone else. Teddie cared for people and like to animate. This new person was ruthless and would do what it takes to survive. After a bit he settled on the name Jack. After putting his med kit back save for the scissors, he could use them as a weapon worse comes to worse. Jack not Teddie exited the garage.

"Um Hi?" Was Jack's first words.

"...Mmm, yeah, mine's only an inch or two I guess but it's pretty thick."

Timothy perked up at the rattle of the garage door, keeping his arms crossed at an attempt to preserve body heat. Guess Teddie was done with-

Uhm.

His eyebrows danced with his eyes as he scanned across everyone else in the scene, trying to get a feel for if he should've said something or not about the new Teddie.

Or maybe someone else should've had the first word.

Calvin had to supress the urge to make a joke at the expense of Timothy's dick, because Teddie was having an episode.

Janet? Wasn't that a killer?

Anyway, Calvin stood there and watched Teddie.