...I've stared straight into the sun...

[Cactus]

((Continued from: I've Been Wandering Sideways...))

Beaches. Man, how he hated beaches. Adam supposed that it wasn't exactly the beaches that he didn't like, but rather the hot sun. At this point though, hot sun wasn't something he needed to worry about. In fact, he found that it was rather the opposite. As his kicked his way down the sandy beach, shotgun in hand, it was evident to Adam that there was absolutely no one here, not even at all. Looking around, he simply saw more woods behind the shore, and above him he saw what looked like the lookout point he had started this sick game on.

This shit really a game? It's more like a travesty against mankind.

"Fuckers."

That was what he said aloud. Personally, he wasn't usually into revealing his position, but the word that he spat out to describe his captors really seemed fitting, especially in this tranquil-seeming place. In fact, it seemed like the kind of beach that you'd find at your usual summer-camp. It had a canoe, a nice beach, a couple of rocks you could snorkel near, a broken wheelchair lying around, a great view of the surroundings...

Adam's heart literally skipped a beat as he surveyed the surrounding area and his eyes came upon a broken-looking wheelchair that had been washed up on some rocks a few meters out from shore. The tide was up, and as such, the water had risen, but Adam couldn't help but stare at the wheelchair.

Could that be...

The thought scared him, and yet, he needed to know for certain. The wheelchair could just be a remnant of whatever people had lived on this island before this sick game took hold of it...

Dropping the shotgun and his knapsack, Adam kicked off his shoes and his socks and waded into the water. In ordinary circumstances, Adam was not comfortable at all in the water. He had almost drowned several years prior, and ever since then hadn't been comfortable swimming. Still, at this point, he needed to know one way or another. As he swam over to the rocks that the wheelchair rested up against, so many different thoughts overcame him, so many different things went through his head.

Pulling himself up onto the rock, he looked at the wheelchair. To his disappointment, it didn't seem to be very old. In fact, it looked brand new. Feeling around in the pockets of the wheelchair, Adam found a surprised look on his face to find in the rightmost pocket of the decimated wheelchair a Mauser M2 pistol. It looked loaded, and looked like it had not been fired. Removing the pistol and what looked like a whole bunch of spare ammunition from the pocket of the chair, he stuffed each into his own pocket. This was a hell of a find, providing that the wheelchair hadn't been the one that Lipson had been sitting in. Adam sighed, and looked back up the shore. To his surprise, he saw something on shore that he hadn't taken notice of before. It seemed that something had washed up on shore on the other side of the red canoe. Adam hadn't seen it before, as he had come in from the other side of the canoe and as such hadn't seen the object. Diving back in the water, he swam back to shore, making sure that the pistol and the ammunition didn't come loose. The gun probably wouldn't work very well wet, so he'd have to wait a little before he was able to fire it - if he even needed to. The swim wasn't as long as Adam had thought it would be, as the wind was blowing with him as he was able to successfully make it back to shore. Stepping over the mushy areas on the sand, he put his socks and shoes back on and grabbed his knapsack and shotgun before wandering over to the shape.

As Adam got closer to the shape, its features began to come into focus.

No...no, it can't be...

As Adam's pace slowed, he looked at the shape beside the canoe, which had come into full form, and full detail.

Adam had found his best friend, Andrew Lipson.

At least, what was left of him.

Andrew's dead face was a pale grey, and almost seemed to be a shade of green. His eyes were open in a last look out to sea, and his cell phone...his cell phone was fused to his hand, which looked to be burnt beyond all recognition. Looking at what used to be his best friend turned Adam's stomach. Falling to his knees, he covered his mouth with his right hand, stumbling backwards.

Unlike at the house, where Adam had done his best to keep his feeling inside, things finally caught up to Adam Dodd, and for once, for the first time in this game, in this sick, demented game, Adam Dodd wept freely. Through his tears, to no one in particular, his haunted-sounding voice sang out, the sound echoing through the rocks and the ocean, and floating away into the rain:

"On a cobweb afternoon
In a room of emptiness
By a freeway I confess
I was lost in the pages
Of a book full of death
Reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good we'll lay to rest
Anywhere we want to go

In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone I'll wait for you there
Alone

On my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan to anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The win was bled
And there you led me on

In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone I'll wait for you there
Alone

And on I read
Until the day was gone
And I sat in regret
Of all the things I've done
For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wonder on

In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone I'll wait for you there
Alone"

Sniffing once more, Adam stood up, and turned away from the body of his best friend. Looking around furiously, he searched for something...something specific, something particular. Finally, after the third scan of the area, he found it. A lone, solitary camera, mounted on an old boating shed. With the mix of the rain and tears streaming down his face, Adam walked towards the camera with a purpose. He stood right in front of it, and as the camera was panning to the left, away from him, he reached out and smacked it. The camera itself reacted almost in surprise, as it snapped to look at Adam, who was wearing a deadly serious expression on his face.

"Hey...hey FUCKHEADS. Yeah, it's Adam Dodd. Yeah, what's up. Just wanted to, ah, you know, send you guys a little message. More specifically, send your superior, Mr. Danya, a little message. I hope to God he's watching, or I hope to God that you guys know how to work a fucking VCR, because here's what I've got to say. It's actually more of a question, really. I know you guys don't answer us, because we're all expendable as fuck to you all, but I've got to know - why put a guy in a wheelchair on the island? Why kidnap a guy who can't even walk, a guy who's been dealt a shit hand to begin with, and why subject him to the same kind of bullshit that you're putting us through? Fine, I can understand why some of us are here. Let's be honest, there are some people in my high school who are quite simply a waste of breathing space. But WHY LIPSON? HM? It doesn't make any FUCKING sense to me. Then again, you're terrorists. Why should it make sense? Maybe the US isn't going to save us. Maybe we'll have to play it to the end. Be that as it may, I am personally promising you, Danny - yeah, that's right, you forget, I pay attention to your little shitty jokes - well, Danny, I promise you - the person who stands before you at the end of thie game will be me. The person who stares you down, and points a gun at your forehead will be me. The person who makes you beg for your life like a little bitch - that'll be me, too. And then the person who puts a bullet into your forehead, to remind you how people like Andrew Lipson felt before they died? That motherfucker will be me as well. You've written your own fucking death sentence here, Danny. If I EVER lay my eyes on you, you are a fucking dead man. You hear me? You're a fucking dead man. Your own life - that's forfeit. The fact that you're too much of a pussy to show your face on this island speaks volumes to that. I just wanted to let you know - it's going to be me who gets to you. You're probably feeling pretty goddamned proud of yourself, now aren't you? You know what? Go ahead. Sit on your cushy leather couch and smoke your big fat cigars. You feel proud. Go ahead. Because I promise you that the sense of pride you feel will be nothing compared to the feeling that I get when I'm about to put a bullet between your beady little eyes. I hope you're paying attention, motherfucker. God, I hope you're listening. It'd be a shame if you weren't, and when it happens, you didn't even know it was coming. I'm an honourable man - at least I'm letting you know in advance. You're going to die, and I'm going to be the one who kills you."

Taking a step back, Adam reaches into his pocket and removed the Mauser from it. Aiming it at the camera, he fires a single bullet into the lens of the camera. Glancing over at a sudden flash of movement, he looks at another camera that has moved that is attached to a nearby tree. Disgusted, Adam steps away from the broken camera and stands by the ocean, looking out into freedom.

God, he hated beaches.

((Continued in: ...Still I Don't Know Why You're Dying...))