Survival Of The Fittest

I want to go home... I want to go home... I want to go home... I want to go-

((Cassie Chao continued from Home))

Cassie wasn't sure how long she'd been walking for. Hours? Days, maybe? She had blotted out the world around her, not caring where she was going or who was still with her, her mind focused solely on getting as far away from that house as she could.

For a brief moment back there, she almost began to question whether any of them were truly in danger. After all, if Connie and Danya's words didn't align, then how could she trust anything she was being told? Maybe this whole game was a lie? Maybe her classmates wouldn't resort to turning on each other, that they could prove their captors wrong and make it through all this together?

But then she looked into that closet, and there it was. The ultimate proof that there was no hope for any of them. Connie's lies were one thing, but to see it in the flesh... That bundle of rags and coverings, soaked red, just barely hiding the distinctive shape of a person beneath them.

She found herself staggering, almost losing her footing. Partly because she'd been walking for so long, partly because the road she was travelling had become uneven. She seemed to have made her way down a path that had seen better days, even by the standards of the rest of that abandoned island, unsure really as to where it'd lead or what she was looking for. It appeared to be at higher elevation to the rest of the island, not quite to the extent of the northern pass but she could clearly see above a vast sea of trees just to the south of her.

In that brief moment of lucidity, Cassie realised it'd probably be a good idea to sit down and have a bite to eat, ambling slowly towards a fallen log to seat herself and unzip her bag. She shifted through her belongings and tore one of her loaves in half, lifting it up to bite into it.

She stared out there, at that sea of trees. Wondering how many of her classmates were hiding out there, looking for people like her. How many bodies were hidden away, left bloodied and at the mercy of the elements. How long until her own would end up amongst them...

It was at that point, as she was about to take another bite, that her bread slipped from her shaky fingers and fell onto the ground below her.

She stooped her head, staring down at her lunch as it lay there in the mud.

Then, she started screaming.

((Madeleine Molliqaj continued from Dum Dum Spiro))

A voice rang out through the mountain, barely audible admidst Cassie's own screaming.

"CASSIE? ARE YOU OK?"

Madeleine didn't know what had happened. Cassie had just left, Madeleine had assumed she just wanted some fresh air or something but when she didn't come back she got worried and went to check stuff out. Fortunately with all the footprints in the snow, it wasn't hard to follow her. Had she decided to leave Madeleine? She wasn't gonna be upset if she wanted to go on her own, but Madeleine wished she'd have at least let her know if she did. Like normal when she went on hikes, she got lost in her own head. But instead of idle thoughts about the environment, about the natural beauty she was seeing with her eyes, about her dad's rambling about back home, her thoughts were filled with dread. Worry.

And when Cassie's screams echoed through the air, all of those thoughts were instantly validated. Maybe Connie had been stalking them, waiting for the right time. Maybe it was someone else who'd already killed and saw another victim. It didn't matter. Madeleine raced towards her distant friend, Aztec sword firmly gripped, ready to do whatever she had to do.

Cassie barely acknowledged Madeleine as she screamed at the top of her lungs, head buried in her hands as she rocked back and forth. She clawed at her hair, body shuddering as she tried to wish herself back home like Dorothy and her ruby slippers.

I want to go home! I want to go home! I want to go home! I WANT TO GO HOME!

But no matter how many times she cried those words, every time she opened her eyes all she could see what her precious loaf of bread soaking in the muddy water below her feet.

And whenever she closed her eyes, all she could see were those bloodied sheets and the barely concealed figure beneath them.

She cried harshly, tears seeping between her fingers as she wailed until her voice turned hoarse. It was only when she heard Madeleine's approaching footsteps that she dared to look up, her eyes red and bloodshot, cheeks soaking wet as she tried to calm herself enough to address her.

"M... m-m-m-m-mmm-m..." she stammered, eventually pointing a shaky finger downwards. "M-my bread... I..."

She sniffled, blushing from embarrassment. "I-I-It's r-ruined... I-I can't ee-eat it now, it's t-t-tainted... B-b-but I NEED it! It was mine, I... I don't h-have much, I needed every l-l-last bite, o-o-or..."

Cassie was well aware that she was overreacting. Even with her health anxiety, under normal circumstances she'd of never reacted so severally to something so mundane. She couldn't help but mentally savage herself as she let out all those feelings she'd been bottling away, especially in front of a relative stranger. Madeleine must of thought she was so pathetic. Must resent being stuck with someone who couldn't even drop a loaf of bread without having a mental breakdown.

"I... I-I..." she stuttered, tears welling up again. "I don't want to die... I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." she whimpered, rapidly repeating those words over and over as she buried her face in her hands.

"I don't want to end up like her."

Eventually Madeleine broke through the tree clearing to reach Cassie, her heart racing and brain busy pumping out a detailed and itemised list of every horrible thing that could happen to her and/or Cassie at that very moment.

So when she saw Cassie just sitting there and crying, a loaf of bread on the floor, Madeleine was so relieved. Her friend was OK, and in that moment, she wouldn't have cared what she was crying about, just that she was alive and she wasn't hurt. Rushing over, the Aztec sword abandoned to form a mark in the snow, Madeleine wrapped her arms around her friend.

"It's alright, Cassie, it's OK. We can share. I'm not gonna let you starve, alright?" Smiling at the girl, Madeleine did admittedly feel a little apprehensive about sharing their already limited food supplies. They weren't going to go hungry, sure, but she knew these games could last weeks. What would happen if they ran out of food and water? A darker thought crept into her mind, that if they were alive to run out of food and water there'd be plenty of backpacks lying around by that point, and Madeleine quickly flushed it out of her mind as soon as it hit her.

But, there was still the matter of why Cassie had left. She was mumbling about not wanting to die and not ending up like 'her', but who was her? She'd went upstairs and then ran off, so did she see a... oh, shit, they'd slept in a house with a dead body hadn't they? "What, uh," Madeleine chose her words carefully, "what did you see when you went up the stairs?" She knew the answer, the only one that made sense in this hole of an island, but she dreaded what the response would be.

Cassie tensed up as Madeleine wrapped her arms around her, her natural aversion to close contact kicking in.

A part of her wanted to scream again. To flail and struggle free, push Madeleine away from her. She just barely endured recieving hugs from her family and closest friends, let alone folk she barely knew.

And yet, she was also deeply relieved that Madeleine wasn't yelling at her. She'd fully expected the other girl to be angry at her for making such a fuss over nothing, for overreacting and making her walk all this way from their shelter. The fact that Madeleine was trying to comfort her, when she had every right to chew her out, was enough to make Cassie relax just a little bit.

"Y... You don't have to, I..." she sniffled, not exactly returning the hug but not prying herself away either. "I-I-It was only a chunk, I... You don't have to..."

She tensed up again as Madeleine brought up the house, thinking back to that bedroom as she slowly pulled away, looking down as she held onto her knees and took a deep breath.

"I... I saw..." she gulped, thinking back to the moment she tried so hard to blot out, as though she was trying to validate her memories and confirm what she saw to herself. Reassure herself that she hadn't overreacted to the sight of a bundle of rags dumped in the closet and let her imagination run wild.

"Th-there was..." she continued, trepidation dripping from her voice. "A body... A girl, I think, wrapped up in a b-bl-bloody blanket... I couldn't tell who, I..."

She slowly looked back up at Madeleine, feeling ashamed of herself for dragging her all the way out there, instead of just telling her what she saw like a normal person.

"Sss-ss-sorry..." she gulped, looking back down again.

Madeleine just nodded and listened to Cassie. The bread didn't matter right now, but the offer of sharing seemed to cheer Cassie up. They didn't have enough, but as she tearfully stuttered, it was only a chunk. It wasn't going to hurt her to share some of that bread, anyway. It was gluten free and they had nothing to really put on it, so it was just dry bread. Not very appealing. She knew the kill award people got better food, so maybe that would be an incentive for the more food-oriented of them.

There was a body in the house. The house that they'd slept in all night. A chill went down her spine, but she had to stay strong for Cassie. The poor girl seemed very... susceptible to other people's emotions, and having Madeleine panic or worry would probably just make her worry.

"Jesus. I don't know if I coulda stayed in that house myself. Though, next time you're gonna do that at least gimme a heads up, alright? You got me all worried." Despite the chastising nature of her words, Madeleine still couldn't hide the relieved smile on her face. She'd imagined the worst had happened when she heard that scream; that someone could have found her and killed her. If she had... Madeleine glanced back at her Aztec sword, letting go of Cassie to go pick it up.

"Don't worry about it. I was just... hearing you start screaming, I was just worried that..." Someone was killing you. "...you'd fallen and hurt yourself or something. Inexperienced hikers can sometimes like, trip or sprain an ankle going down paths they're not used to." Madeleine hid her true worry, giving Cassie a smile. "But you're all good. We're all good." She repeated to herself, nodding to confirm that things were, indeed, all good.

Cassie nodded her head as Madeleine pulled away from her, gripping her knees tightly as she allowed herself to breathe.

Despite her fragility when it came to criticism, if anything she felt like Madeleine was letting her off easy. She had every right to be angry with her, to react more harshly for getting her so worried over nothing. Maybe she was angrier than she let on, but was just good at hiding it. That she was bottling up her resentment for sticking with a useless girl like Cassie, that deep down she found her just as pathetic and pitiful as Cassie knew herself to be.

Though if that were the case, and she really did resent her so much, why would she have come all this way? She could have just let her wander off, go their separate ways. Instead Madeleine had left their shelter behind and followed her all the way out into the cold, all to comfort her and check that she was okay, not even calling her out for overreacting to something so ridiculous.

Cassie wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. Not ones that had anything to do with that stupid chunk of bread, but ones that were brought about by Madeleine's kindness towards her. Kindness that she didn't deserve, and yet was offered nevertheless. She somehow managed to feel both relieved to have met someone so thoughtful, and ashamed to be such a useless ally. Madeleine deserved better friends than herself. She was smart, resourceful, had an infinitely more interesting life than Cassie had ever lived. It just didn't seem fair that she should be stuck with a useless anchor like Cassie wrapped around her neck.

Although, maybe it didn't have to be that way? Maybe she could be stronger, pull her own weight, make up for making Madeleine go through so much trouble over her? It wasn't too late to make amends after all, to repay her kindness and prove to both of them that she was more than a useless bundle of nerves with crippling anxiety issues.

"Mmm..." she replied, sliding off that log onto her feet. "I... I won't let that happen again, I promise" she said, looking up at Madeleine. "I-I-I'll try harder to... To be stronger. I... I don't want to be a..."

She gulped, struggling to find the word she was looking for.

"A burden."

"Hey. You're not a burden. Don't talk like that, alright? There's... there's enough hatred and misery on this island. Enough pain and sadness. If by helping you I can turn some of the vibes here into something better and happier and more productive, then that's what I'll do." Madeleine remembered some of Dad's stories about the war, about how the refugees fleeing south were helped despite how little the people who took them into her homes had to spare. Madeleine remembered when she came here for the first time, how helpful everyone had been. Her ESL teacher, the kids she played with — tag seemed to be a universal thing — they all helped her become comfortable with this whole new world she was living in.

If she could, in a way, do the same with Cassie, help her feel more comfortable and safe in this place, then Madeleine resolved that was what she would do. She'd keep her safe, no matter who or what came at them.

"So, uh, do you know where we are?" Changing the topic, Madeleine glanced around. The trees looming forebodingly over them didn't really provide much of a landmark. Although, they could maybe retrace their footsteps? If they hadn't been filled in already, of course. They'd been given compasses and a map, so they could always figure out where east was, head that way and they'd be back at the town again. Although maybe heading back there would be a bad idea, what with Cassie having just ran away from it.

Pulling off her bag, Madeleine began to hunt for the compass and map.

"O-okay, yeah" Cassie replied, trying to stand up straight and feign self-confidence. No more self-pity and freaking out over nothing, from now on she was going to put on a brave face and prove that she can be a valuable ally!

Granted, that feigned confidence faltered almost immediately once Madeleine asked where they were. "Um... G-good question..." she muttered, trying to retrace her steps. She had been in such a daze that she didn't really pay much attention, long as she ended up anywhere but that house.

Seeing Madeleine rummage for her map and compass prompted her to follow suite, sitting back down to clumsily unfold her own and try to piece it all together. They were above the treeline, that was obvious enough from their vantage point, with the mountain stretching out in the opposite direction. Looking at the map that meant they were probably somewhere in between? Either along the road marked or somewhere just above it, given that the pass didn't seem all that well maintained compared to the other roads they had traversed thus far.

"Uuuum... Somewhere around here, I think?" she suggested, making a rough circle with her finger around an area just west of the town right below the mountain.

"That's what I was thinking." Madeleine nodded. She had kept going towards the mountain in the pursuit of Cassie, heading west and away from the town. So, logically, they could probably cut south if they wanted to head over to the researchs station and find a path - they could maybe take the road, or find a more accessible pass over the mountain. Or head back east and go back to the town, which seemed like the better solution for now.

"So, uh, I think if we head east we can go back to town... or we can try and find a path leading us to the other side of the mountain? I'm good with either, I think if we go south enough we can hit that road and it'll be a lot easier than trying to go over the mountain again." She was curious about the research station, but Madeleine suggested trying the other side of the island because she didn't want to go back to the town if it'll get Cassie all worried. There was still Connie to worry about - seriously, what was up with her? Why lie about seeing Olive dead? It was weird, but not something that Madeleine wanted particularly to think about right now.

Putting her map back in her backpack, Madeleine straightened up, stretching a little. Waking up and having to run after your friend almost immediately without any stretches was gonna make her cramp like a motherfucker. Good workout, though. At least one benefit of this place was that you'd get cardio quickly.

"Hmmm..." Cassied hummed, pondering over the two options presented. There was a voice at the back of her head that wanted to suggest maybe heading further south to the spot marked as the trapping camp, but she decided against it in the end. Much as she wanted to find somewhere isolated to hide away from it all, the fact that it was marked on the map meant that others likely had the same idea.

"Um... M-maybe we can check out the research station? Maybe there might be... Something, there, I guess?" she replied, folding her map and zipping up her bag, before looking back up at Madeleine.

There was another voice at the back of her mind, one that that whispered doubts in her ears. Asking questions she wanted to ask, but didn't have the heart to give any real thought to. What do they do in the long run? Were they destined to just keep travelling from place to place, hiding here and there, avoiding the others until they eventually...

More importantly, if they did somehow make it through all this without bumping into anyone... If a rescue or something didn't arrive, and it ended up just being herself and Madeleine... Then what? How determined was she to survive? Was she determined enough to actually... Hurt someone? In self-defence, maybe, but what about people like Madeleine or Medea? People who only wanted to help? If it came to just herself or Madeleine, would she be able to...

She thought back to when she and Madeleine first met, when she rummaged through her things and discovered her ice skate. She wondered what would have happened if she'd found a real gun instead, how differently things would have panned out.

Cassie shivered. It was way too cold outside. "Sh-should we go?"

"Yeah. Let's get out of here. If we head south, the road should make it a lot easier for us to get there." Nodding at Cassie, Madeleine took off. Hey, a research station in the snow. Kinda like that one movie, but she couldn't remember the name right now.

((Madeleine Molliqaj and Cassie Chao continued in Little Things))