Survival Of The Fittest

((Marshall West continued from They Don't Stop Comin'))

So he was on the top of a mountain now. Chloe was most likely still in the vicinity of the town. Richard was in the vicinity of the research station. That meant that sending others to either of them... well, he had to cover the space in between. And what space is more between than the giant mountain?

Or maybe he just wanted to use his legs. So that they'd pound as much as his ears had ever since he heard that day's announcements. The announcements of that morning, the next lot of classmates that he couldn't do anything for, just like Jess, had echoed in his head. Dominiqua gone, never to do laps with him around the field again. Micah would never return to body improvement club, and would leave the other four of the quintets. Another member from the same club, Juanita, too. She'd killed. And Kitty continued to kill.

...Kitty. She posed the biggest obstacle. She was playing this game like it was a race. If Marshall could find her, could he stop her? Talk her down and convince her that there was still a second chance for her, even now? If he persuaded her... then he could persuade any player, because they'd all know he was for real if he could give Kitty a second chance. Kai would know that Marshall hadn't been lying.

Kai hadn't been on the announcement. That was... something. Marshall rubbed the arm he'd dunked in the lake, trying to stay warm.

He couldn't think about freezing. He had to think about how he climbed the mountain instead. His lungs hurt, but in a good way. Forget failure. This was a victory. Now time to get back down.

But first.

Marshall inhaled. He cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hello--"

His voice cracked, and came out little more than a whimper. Marshall inhaled and exhaled a few times, doubling over and pressing his arms into his knees.

"Coach voice. Coach voice," he murmured.

He straightened up, cupped the hands around his mouth once more, and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"HELLO! ATTENTION, PEOPLE ON MOUNTAIN! THIS IS MARSHALL WEST! THERE IS A SAFEHOUSE IN TOWN! I HAVE LEFT MY NAME ON THE DOOR! PLEASE GO THERE!"

His lungs had never hurt more than in that moment. But yelling felt good.

He inhaled again, and kept shouting.

"ATTENTION, PEOPLE ON MOUNTAIN--"

((Dani Bird continued from A Hot Spring in the Old Town Tonight))

Another day, another trek up this godforsaken mountain. As her muscles ached from all the movement, Dani had to ponder to herself what possessed her to come back this way. It wasn’t to use the hot spring again. After yesterday she quickly learned that get wet then stepping out into the cold again without a good way to dry off and/or get warm quickly fucking sucked. It's her fault, she realized, for not dressing in more weather suited clothing, but she will not apologize for style.

Still, she was going up the mountain again. Going up further than yesterday. Part way through she realized this was a terrible idea, but at that point she was stuck in the sunk cost fallacy and was committed to going to the top. Not that it was easy. She’s slipped a few times, nearly fell off a probably deadly drop, got startled by a fucking goat of all things and nearly flailed over an edge. She was glad she was in shape or this probably would have been way worse.

Not that she was enjoying it.

She still wondered why she came up this way. Frankly, she didn't even remember her reasons. Maybe it was just to get away from people. Maybe it was to enjoy the nature and natural beauty of the island.

…No it was definitely to get the hell away from people.

Announcements had come and gone. Juanita had killed someone, which was great for the whole team situation but Dani resented the fact she still didn't have a weapon. And none of the others seemed very keen on remedying that situation. Hard to be a team player on the Murder Team when you don't have a means to be a team player.

It was frustrating.

So she was putting some distance between them and herself for the time being. Some time to be alone with her thoughts. But as she approached the summit of the mountain — mentally noting that people who do mountain climbing were idiots, because this sucked — her thoughts were interrupted by someone yelling. Specifically Marshall West.

As she approached the source of the yelling, he came into view.

"ATTENTION, PEOPLE ON MOUNTAIN--"

“Hey, you know there are people with guns running around, right?!” Dani yelled from behind.

“AAAH!”

He hadn’t realised someone was behind him until she yelled back at him. Somehow, he was expecting the yells to echo back at him or something. Marshall half-ducked, waving his arms around until he regained his balance.

“How’d you sneak up on-- Oh! Dani!”

Danielle Bird was someone that frustrated Marshall often, for all that he’d known her at least in passing for a very long time. As well as the acquaintancy that came with leading lacrosse and cheer team respectively, their fathers both dealt in car dealerships back in the day and ran in similar circles. They hadn’t been friends, but he’d known her by sight for longer than most of his classmates – though with a long gap after he’d been put in public school. When she arrived at John Endecott he’d assumed, for a while, that her family had hit bad financial straits too. Her constant insistence that her clothes were of the highest expense had corrected him on this.

Mostly, he just got frustrated with how hard she flaunted her wealth. He worried that if she built so much of her importance on being wealthy that she’d build herself up for a bigger fall if something went wrong with her money. (Also once she’d nearly torn him in two for slut-shaming – he hadn’t been shaming, he’d just wanted her to know the risks!)

But! He was happy to see her safe, and she looked like she hadn’t been injured. Badly clothed for this high up in the mountains – not really unusual for her, the amount of times Marshall had lectured her on that – but considering he’d lost half his layers, Marshall couldn’t complain about that.

“Hold that thought.” He cupped his hands again over his mouth. “I’M NOT BEING ATTACKED, IT’S FINE!”

Then he skidded a bit back down the rocks until he was in front of Dani.

“I know they could, but how am I supposed to direct people if they don’t know I’m here?”

He tried to smile. It didn’t work initially. Marshall reached up and gave himself a quick few smacks on the face like he was trying to psych himself up before he fixed his usual grin back on his face with a significantly higher level of rigor mortis than usual.

“I’m glad you’re here! How are you not freezing? I’m freezing! Do you need my jacket?” He regretted offering the moment it was out of his mouth – he really couldn’t afford to give away that jacket, but taking it back would just be rude.

((DeMarcus Miller continued from Floyd's Tomb))

Ostensibly, DeMarcus had chosen the more punishing and difficult path up the mountain because it seemed to be the best place to get a vantage point of the island and scope out the map, so to speak. That was the surface of it, the reason he told himself that made good old-fashioned common sense. But, he would not admit, hell, did not even know, that he was using it as a test. A test of the boundaries, the limits of what he had figured out back at the cave.

His real reasons were more evident in every look he stole back at Fred. Fred, who was still following him, still hobbling along after him as they took a path the injured boy had no business taking. Fred was still there even after the announcement, and that meant something profound to DeMarcus.

They were close to the end of the path, and the burning in his lungs told DeMarcus it was time for another break. The part they were on was relatively flat, so he squatted on his haunches.

"Let's take a moment. I think we're almost there."

As soon as he finished talking, someone screamed out about safehouse and towns and helpfully identified themselves as Marshall West. DeMarcus only knew him by reputation. One of those gym-rat motherfuckers that was in half the activities the school. Judging by his announcement he was adding being some kinda self-appointed savior to his activities. A girl's voice, one he didn't recognize, also intelligently berated them.

"You know who the girl is?" DeMarcus said, just loud enough for Fred to hear.

Dani gave him a look, her eyes narrowing a little in a way that silently and sarcastically asked if he was serious.

“No, I think I am good.” She said, folding her arms. In truth, she was pretty cold. Probably not helped by how cold it was at the mountain summit, but also by her attire. She was proud to say she had a pretty decent tolerance for the cold, but even she had her limits. Plus, she wasn’t about to admit to being really cold to Marshall. She didn’t dislike Marshall, but the number of times he had commented on her attire did irk her. Whether it was because of how expensive her clothes were or how revealing they were, she heard it from him. If she admitted she was freezing right now then that would mean he wins! Dani would rather she lose than Marshall win.

Was that perhaps not the wisest idea? Yes.

Was this motivated by some level of pettiness over him (unintentionally) slutshaming her a while back? Also, yes.

“So… What’s this about a safehouse?”

“Oh! Yes, so… me and Chloe are trying to gather everyone together. Well...” Marshall put a hand on his hip, looking down with a slight frown. “We had some disagreements over the specifics. But she’s not playing! That much is sure! And we split up to gather people, and also to… find people who wandered off...”

Marshall tailed off, lowering his head and hugging himself, trying to rub the warmth back into his arms.

Smile. He had to smile. If he couldn’t, no-one could.

He fixed the grin back on his face.

“Iris, Richard and Darryl are at the research station, too! So I’m sure they’re helping to make it safe there while Chloe makes it safer in town. She’s armed, so… she should be okay, I hope. And I’m up here in the mountains, trying to find people before they fr-freeze.”

Only a slight fumble. Confidence. Project confidence.

“I’m glad you’re alive. How… how has the game been for you?”

For the umpteenth time that morning, DeMarcus glanced back at him, and Fred had to wipe the scowl off his face.

((Fred Hobbes continued from Floyd’s Tomb))

Fred hadn’t asked why they were climbing the mountain and heading further into the wilderness. The uneven terrain kept threatening to roll his ankle all over again, but he kept following. The pain wasn’t so bad now that he’d finally gotten some rest. He’d slept so deeply that night he almost missed the announcements. Almost.

He wished he had.

He hadn’t asked DeMarcus anything else either. Hadn’t asked why he killed Dom instead of Kai, or why he lied about it. He just kept following. There was nothing else to do now. If he could have left without DeMarcus killing him too, he’d have no allies and no way to defend himself. He had to follow, had to ignore the small voice reminding him how kind Dom had been to him, telling him he should try and avenge her or something, or at least not keep acting as a lackey for her murderer. Telling him that maybe he could have even saved her, if he’d tried. It had probably been a slow death; she must have limped away or something, since her body hadn’t dropped where she was shot outside the cave. It wasn’t like he knew first aid or anything, but there might have been something he could have done. Instead he’d just slunk off at DeMarcus’s heel. The guilt swished about in his stomach with every undulation in the mountain pass.

The guilt got a chance to settle when DeMarcus squatted down and motioned for Fred to do the same. He eased himself onto the rocks and had just enough time to relax slightly before a booming voice came bouncing off the walls of the mountain pass. Fred groaned. Marshall was a colossal pain to deal with, he was the self-righteous asshole who took it upon himself to guard the booze at Dani’s Halloween party. He was always inserting himself into your business, always judging you. If underage drinking set him on edge he probably wouldn’t approve of DeMarcus’s recent activities either, and Fred was eager to avoid another fight.

On the subject of Dani’s Halloween party, Fred was reasonably confident he knew who the other voice was. It wasn’t like Dani talked to him often, but he paid attention when she did.

“Uh, it kind of sounds like Dani.”

DeMarcus raised his eyes up toward where Marshall's voice had come from, where presumably Dani was too. "Oh, that ho." He said, almost offhandedly.

He had seen some some of the pics the girl had online. Another one of those people for which engagement was the goal. Even if that was by thirst traps. Idly, DeMarcus wondered if she was one of the ones that started up some OnlyFans account the minute she turned 18 so she could start monetizing her ass. Probably. He wasn't gonna lie; he liked what he had seen.

"Sounds like a couple of winners up there." DeMarcus said. His head rolled back slowly, almost lazily, to Fred. "Think we might should see what all this is about a safehouse. What about you?"

His thumb gently stroked the handle of the weapon while he awaited Fred's answer.

Dani frowned a little as she heard Chloé’s name. Chloé was one of the other cheerleaders that she actually rather liked. She was rather pleasant to talk to and hang out with. Much more so than Aracelis at any rate. Sure, she felt some level of bitterness coming in third for Homecoming Queen while Chloé got to be the runner up, but she was able to look past that. After a while. Chloé was someone she did consider a friend — one that she liked enough to loan out one of her past cosplay to for her costume party even. So hearing she was involved with… whatever Marshall was doing made her feel strangely sad, and she wasn’t entirely sure why.

Shrugging it off, she noted he mentioned other names. Iris, Richard and Darryl. So between him and Chloé, they rounded the group to five. Seems others were grouping up. Dani almost wanted to laugh at the irony that she was on Team Murder and Marshall was on Team Nice Guys, and they were both at the top of the mountain.

And his group was armed, apparently.

Dani gave a low, bitter chuckle. Just her luck. More people with weapons while she was still lugging around goddamn bracelets.

Still, if the white hats were rolling folks into one location in town she may as well try to be a team player and get some information out of this exchange.

“Well, gotta be honest, it could be better.” She admitted with a wry smile. “Sounds like things are coming up Marshall though. You said you guys have weapons? What exactly do you all have?”

“...Yeah, just… just… coming up...”

Trying to smile, that only worked because he was still focusing on what could go right. But Marshall had never been able to lie.

Marshall’s smile cracked.

“Nothing’s coming up well. I can’t find anyone. People keep dying. I lost Jess and she froze to death. I lost Kai and I still can’t find him.”

Louder.

“Richard rolled his ankle! Chloé’s talking about how we have to treat killers and I left her with a gun because I don’t have the training!”

Louder.

“I’m on top of a mountain, when the person I most need to stop is somewhere in town picking up a fresh meal and a gun! And I’m cold because half my clothes are in the lake!”

Words were just coming out, with a strong edge of panic. Faster and faster, until Marshall inhaled sharply.

Quiet.

“Dani... I have no idea what I’m doing.”

He shouldn’t have stood still for so long. He should have outrun these thoughts.

[Andrew Lapson has put a whole lot of Daylight between himself and the beach.]

A whole day had passed without incident. It was weird to think it, but it had also been by design. What else was Andrew meant to do? Keep looking for people who were just going to up and run as soon as it was starting to look like he was in good company? Nah. Fuck that. So he'd taken the day to reflect. That's what he called it. Mostly it was spent trying to stay warm and trying to avoid human contact for the time being.

The end result? Well, his pack was a bit lighter. And he'd realised he was utterly fucked. A non-weapon would've been enough of a signpost that he wasn't going to "win" even if he wanted to murder his way home, at least a weird gimmick might've been funny, but no, they'd even seen fit to literally give him a suicide pill. Complete with instructions to inform him that that was exactly what it was. Ha ha. Very funny.

It was a short way into his aimless trek around the centre of the island, far away from what he estimated to be the likely hotspots around pre-existing man-made shelter, that Andrew heard something weird.

Now who in the hell would be yelling at the top of their lungs up on a mountain? Was that Marshall? Something about a safehouse, and then terrified screaming. That didn't seem like a good sign. Andrew was equal parts curious and concerned, and fuck it, what did he have to lose? He started moving closer. Carefully. The disembodied voice returned to loudly inform the general vicinity that he wasn't being attacked. So that was good. The lack of further yelling suggested he'd been startled by someone, but now he was talking to them or something. So Marshall and friend. Sounded good. Maybe this time they wouldn't instantly dip. The safehouse thing sounded like he at least had some sort of plan too, maybe that was something Andrew could get in on. Be helpful, stave off the existential dread. What did he have to lose?

Only, as he got closer, it got increasingly easy to hear what Marshall was saying to his new companion - was that Dani Bird? looked like her, and she sure was distinctive looking to say the least - and what he was saying sounded less and less like a man with a plan. Babbling about everything that had gone wrong, names and places and events and ways people had died. Shit. On balance, being alone because people merely kept leaving wasn't anywhere near as bad.

What exactly do you say to someone at a time like this?

Andrew didn't know. He'd never really done "friend having a breakdown" before. Was Marshall even a friend? They had like... two things in common.

So he just walked into view, offering a wave.

Fuck it, he should say something.

"You two good?"

Of course they weren't. God he could do with a smoke right about now.

“Sounds, uh, sounds good.”

Fred noticed DeMarcus’ finger on the gun and grimaced. He knew now all too well DeMarcus wasn’t making idle threats when he waved that thing around. As he pulled himself up again and shuffled towards the commotion, Fred weighed up the chances of another violent confrontation. Marshall’s words, ever increasing in volume, didn’t present him as any kind of threat, except to Fred’s eardrums. He sounded vulnerable. He said he left his gun with Chloé because he didn’t know how to use it. Whether DeMarcus actually knew how to use his own gun was still up for debate, especially if Dom’s death had been an accident, but they still had the material advantage over Marshall. If the lacrosse captain was smart he'd do what they said and not risk escalating anything.

But what about Dani? She was harder to hear, and not as open about her situation. Could she be packing more heat than just her looks? How willing would she be to use it? At least DeMarcus would be the first target if everything went to shit. Hopefully Fred would have time to throw his hands in the air and surrender before Dani turned any hypothetical gunfire on him. With that in mind, he stopped short of his companion and waited for DeMarcus's lead.

"Dumb motherfucker can't keep his mouth closed." DeMarcus muttered. Marshall was popping off with a list of complaints this time instead of a plan. Sounded like he had lost his mind or something, was unloading himself to Dani and the whole world. It set DeMarcus on edge. People that were coming apart were more likely to do something stupid.

"Let's take it slow." DeMarcus said, then put his words into immediate practice. He pushed himself out of his squat and started back up the path, moving gradually. Except for his weapon, he was being as nonthreatening as he could manage. He didn't want to have to waste ammo on someone but if he had to, he would. Right now he was more concerned about getting some supplies or even a weapon, however he had to get it.

There were three of them by the time DeMarcus and Fred got toward the top. The new addition made DeMarcus even more leery than he had been before. He couldn't see any weapons from here, though Marshall had at least confirmed it for himself. He wasn't too worried considering the little darling he had been given, but it never hurt to be a little more cautious.

"Fred, you go ahead in front." He said, a sudden and novel idea coming to the forefront. "If something goes sideways I got you, but I think they'll be less spooked if it's you hobbling up, y'know?"

Dani shifted uncomfortably as Marshall spoke, getting louder and louder as he vocalized his breakdown. He had clearly been holding this back for sometime and the moment there was a crack in the dam holding it back, it all came gushing out. And here she thought she had it rough when she got dragged across the frozen hellscape that was this island on day 1. Marshall had, apparently, been having it way, way worse than she did. She felt some level of pity for the poor guy, but at the same time she really did feel some level of relief that she was apparently having it way better than somebody.

And somewhat annoyed that her question was ignored.

“I mean, I don’t think anyone knows what they are doing.” Dani said, shifting awkwardly. “Seems like you might be doing better than most so… You have that going for you?”

She sighed.

“Look at me, trying to be positive…”

She tried to think of what else to say. Perhaps asking about the weapons again?

She was about to speak when someone walked into her field of view and started talking.

“Gah!” She yelped, spinning to face the newcomer. Her heart raced, her eyes glued on him as her mind flashbacked to the first day when Joey Gun Guy kidnapped her. “Jesus, don’t just walk up on people like that!”

“Positivity’s all there is, isn’t there?” Marshall said, his voice dour. “If we don’t believe there’s a way out of this, then we’d start hurting people like the rest. I just want everyone to be okay.”

If he was doing better than most, there was no reason he shouldn’t be able to help people. The means to convince Kai or find Jess, or…

Andrew calling out gave him a nudge out of his own head. But Dani’s yelp shot through his skull like a gunshot.

Marshall slipped past her and hopped a few feet down in front of her, between Dani and Andrew. Doing so broke her eyeline with the guy, and would hopefully help with whatever problem she had with him. Marshall didn’t know Andrew well – they both lifted weights? But he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

“We’re good! It’s fine!” Or at least no-one’s fighting! Right? Right?” he said, voice pitching up a little, still not quite recovered from his brief, embarrassing breakdown but attempting to retain its former energy. He looked back and forth between the two. “Everything--” Look one way. “Is all--” Look the other way. “Fine.”

His gas mask nearly slipped off his head from him rampantly turning back and forth, and he reached up to haul it back on.