Showdown at the Woods

[Slayer†]

((Jacob continued from: Starting Point for Boy #54))
((David continued from: Starting Place for Boy #54))

OOC: Finally got around to posting the damn thing.

IC: David breathed heavily as he moved through the trees, doing his best to trail Jacob. Occasionally the other boy would turn around and fire potshots at him, running away again before David could get a good aim (though last time he thought he hit Jacob's leg). Maybe it was the adrenaline, but David never noticed how odd it was that Jacob seemed to be luring him deeper and deeper into the woods. As the first traces of light trickled through the branches, signaling the start of the fifth day of SOTF, David stopped and leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. He had lost Jacob, but he needed to catch his breath. He jumped noticeably as the new announcement flared up, listing the long death list (a few of which David already knew about) and showing that not only had Jacob killed another person (Garrett Langston), but Jason Andrews was playing the game and had killed two girls already.

Damn, I wasn't expecting him to play this game. I never thought he'd willingly kill. But maybe he didn't kill willingly? What if it was only self defense? No, I can't think about that right now. he thought, gasping as he heard the new Danger Zones: The warehouse and the Hospital.

Fuck! Adam and the girls are at the warehouse! Dammit, I can't do anything to help, I just have to hope they're al- his train of thought was interrupted as a knife hit right next to his ear, apparently thrown. Gathering his senses, he ducked behind the tree just in time to avoid being killed by three bullets that would've gone through his gut. Jacob had ambushed him. Leaning out from behind the tree, he fired two shots at Jacob, who returned another shot that brushed past his head. At nearly the same time, the two boys strafed in opposite directions, firing at each other as they did so. The bullets were constantly whistling through the air, stopping only when they had to reload. Trying to distract his enemy, David picked up a decent sized rock and hurled it in a pitching motion at the other boy's gut. Jacob let out a grunt of pain as the rock hit the side of his rib when he tried to avoid it. Fortunately, it caused David's shots to miss wildly though.


"Dammit Jacob, why are you doing this?! You told me you wanted to escape!" he shouted as he fired. He was met by five shots that pummeled the hard oak tree that he was currently hiding behind and a shout from his enemy.

"Playing the game is the only way. I don't have a choice, David." Two more shots came after, one hitting David in the thigh.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Jacob!" David retorted once he stumbled behind a bush, firing the five round he had left in the clip and frantically reloading. Rolling to fire at Jacob, he screamed in pain as another bullet (by itself this time, apparently Jacob was reloading) went into his ankle. Staggering to his feet, he felt the tingling sensation and excruciating pain of the blood flowing down his leg from the two bullet wounds. Even if Jacob missed, he has slowed David down.
"We don't have to do this, we don't have to kill each other!" he insisted as he fired a shot at the only spot of Jacob's body he could see: Jacob's left bicep. A shout of agony from the other student and the flash of red showed that he had hit the target, but Jacob soon turned around the tree and fired a flurry of rounds at him. Out of the five bullets, three hit him. He felt an extraordinary pain in his left and right arm (near the elbow joint) and a pressure on his neck. If he believed in God, he would have praised Him that the bullet intended for his head hit his collar and knocked him down a hill. His whole body got scraped and scratched and overall beat up ad he tumbled down the small hill after being hit on the collar. Blood now poured down the right side of his face after he gashed his forehead on a large rock as he struggled to his feet and limped to a nearby tree, trying to get his bearings before Jacob found him and started shooting again.

"Shit..." he cursed, realizing he'd have to go for the kill or Jacob would kill him just like his other victims. As he blinked the blood out of his eye, he remembered how helpful Jacob had been back in school. He had seemed like the last person who would kill someone without reason. On rare occasions he had even been outright friendly, and yet now he was trying to kill as many people as he could. Including David. He didn't know whether it was a pain-induced hallucination or what, but he suddenly remembered one time when Jacob had gone out of his way to help him.

David coughed as the boy's fist collided with his stomach. Then Rais grabbed him and threw him to the ground. The five boys were a well known "gang" (if by "gang" you meant "group of punks who make Mafia thugs look polite") of students, and David had pissed them off by insulting the head boy's haircut (really he had only said it was messy). David's face was now covered in bruises (so was the rest of his body), though the five boys had their fair share of marks too. Of course, David was pretty tough, but few people can win five against one. The tall, lanky kid with a bloodied nose walked up to him and put his foot on David's throat.

"Now you apologize for insulting the boss, you little son of a-" he started before a new voice rang out.

"What's going on here?" the boy stepped off David, allowing him to look up and see Jacob, clad in casual sweatclothes and carrying his books, walking towards them.

"I'll have you know fighting is not allowed on the premises." he continued. The lanky kid got in his face at that.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Jacob responded with a glare.
"You know I'm Jacob, Dylan. We are in the same English and Gym classes, after all." he responded. Then the largest kid, evidently the "boss", stepped up.

"You getting smart with us?" he asked, though it was more of a snarl.

"As smart as I can be with morons like you." Jacob answered, putting his books down. Dylan tried to grab him, but Jacob answered by kneeing him in the gut and dropping him with an elbow to the back of the head. Both Rais and a shorter kid (named Alex) advanced on him, but were dropped with a sweep kick followed by a stomp to the chest and a roundhouse kick and left hook respectively. David had already taking the opportunity to give the leader (Kenneth O'Connor, no relation to Jack) a low blow, dropping him. After they ran off (though Dylan, Alex and Kenneth had to be helped to their feet) Jacob helped David up.

"You alright?" he asked. David nodded affirmatively as he picked up his books. Jacob had already picked up and left when he finished cleaning everything up.
Footsteps and the sound of crushing leaves and twigs brought him out of his memories. Peering through the bloody haze that was his vison out of his right eye, he saw a trenchcoated figure approaching. Panicking, he dove out from the tree and fired rapidly at Jacob, his distorted vision causing him to miss most but clipping his ear (though he couldn't see how badly) with one. He staggered off before Jacob could draw a bead on him, though the return fire still came close to him and fired again. This time the return fire didn't miss. David screamed as six bullets entered him, three in the back, one in the back of his left arm (going straight through) and two in the thighs as he was running away. He landed near a tree, and dragged himself to it, turning over so he'd be facing Jacob when the other boy got to him. His right arm was one of the only parts of his body not paralyzed by pain and bloodloss now, but he didn't have the strength to check to see if there was any ammo left.

Months after the incident with Kenneth's gang, the final game of the State Champoinships was underway, Barry Coleson vs. Christian Brothers Academy. The bases were loaded at the bottom of the ninth, with the Barry Coleson team winning by exactly one point. Any pitcher would be stressed under such conditions, the fact that the CBA's star batter, Richard Burns, was up didn't help any. Just as he was walking ot the mound, he heard a familiar voice call him over to the fence. Walking over to see what Jacob wanted, he was surprised to see him motioning for him to listen.

"Calm down. Slow your breathing until it's perfectly steady. Concentrate on the target, then go for it. You have to keep a cool head or you'll miss." he had said and David nodded, walking to the mound. With a confident smile, he hurled a fastball down the line, which was instantly belted straight at him. Surprisingly, he caught it, getting one out, then he turned and shot the ball to Aaron, getting two outs, and then it was thrown to Ian, who tagged out the last runner and won the State Championship for BC High. The CBA players looked dejected and walked off while the Barry Coleson team and fans streamed onto the field with "We are the Champions" playing over the speakers. As they recieved the trophy David looked to the stands, where Jacob nodded at him before walking off, apparently not wanting any part of the celebration. David shook his head as the memory left him, washing away in the blood from his wounds. He couldn't remember the details. It hurt to remember. He saw Jacob up ahead, closing in. He probably looked dead from where Jacob was, but he was still barely alive. As Jacob stopped in front of him, he glared.
Sorry Amanda, it looks like I can't keep my promise to you anymore. But hey, I tried, didn't I? If only I hadn't been so fucking stupid, I wouldn't be in this mess, I'd be with you Adam and Madelaine, wherever you guys are. Do me a favor, will you? Don't die. Same goes to you, Adam, and be sure to put a cap in that motherfucker's ass for me... he thought as he tightened the grip of his pistol, looking up at Jacob who was now right in front of him.

"You... son of a bitch!" he shouted, raising the gun too slow. He didn't have time to register shock at the Browning's barrel shoved into his face before three point blank rounds reduced it to a bloody pulp.

Boy #18-David Jackson- DEAD.

Jacob sighed, breathing heavily after killing David and putting the gun away. Digging through the bag he stole from Garrett, he found the last of the dead boy's medical supplies, using the gauze to wrap a bandage around his bicep and lower ear (the lobe had been blasted off by David). Wincing as he stood up, he cast one last look at his dead friend.

"As I told you, I have no choice anymore." he said, making his way up the hill, stopping at David's dropped bag to take food water and medical supplies and taking his knife from the tree and walking away form the woods.

I chose the path of the killer, and now I'm damned to walk that path to the day I die.

OOC: Continued in Mortal Combat at the Gazebo

[OnceForgotten†]

((ROOAARRRRING in from The River; Back to the Scene of the Crime...))

Tears still slowly streamed down Codys face as he rode, but he was no longer sad. The only thing he was concentrating on at this point was avoiding trees, and it was quite exhilerating. He narrowly missed an overhanging branch with his head, and the quick motion of bringing it down brought on a dizzy spell. He slowed the bike to a stop, and decided that while he was here, he might as well rest for a bit. He had been going nonstop since he first found the bike, which was sometime last night.

He killed the bike with a flick of the switch on the right handlebar and dropped down the kickstand. The ground was too soft, though, and the bike kept sinking, so Cody was forced to find a suitable tree to lean it up against. He slowly wheeled the bike forward, surveying the quiet ambience of the woods in the early morning. A soft layer of fog seemed to hover several feet off the ground, and the silence was almost maddening.

As he cast his sight to his right, he noticed a good tree at the edge of a hill. He rolled the bike over and first tested the trees fortitude by slowly applying more and more pressure to the beam. When he was satisfied that it would aptly hold the weight, he let it settle and took a step back. He then turned his attention to the surrounding area again, looking for a suitable place to sit down. When he cast his sight over the valley behind the bike, he noticed a form at the bottom. Deciding quickly that it would not hurt to poke around a bit, he began slowly making his way down the hill, making sure to keep a wary eye on the surrounding area in case it was a trap of somekind.

He eventually reached the bottom, and saw that whoever it was, it was dead. The things face was so thoroughly destroyed that he could not draw even the gender from its appearance, but from the clothing, it was probobly a boy. He began examining the body, hoping to find something useful when he caught the glint of metal from the boys right side. Holstered in his belt like some western gunslinger was a pistol, and a nice one at that. Codys eyes lit up at the sight, and he quickly searched the rest of the body with more furvor. When he had completed his search, he had two clips of ammo and a Pistol. He stuck the pistol in the front of his pants, liking the sinister look it gave him.

Not a shotgun, but its a start...

Cody worked his way back up the hill, more confident this time. As he reached the top, he sat down for a second next to another tree in sight distance of Loretta. He began munching on one of the loaves of bread that had been placed in his bag, and slurped down some of the water. After he felt that he had rested for a significant amount of time, he placed everything back in his bag and slung his leg back over the bike. He gave it a kick, and it started with a satisfying roar.

Cody rode away humming a tune, happy once again.

Most would recognize it as Janie's got a Gun, by Aerosmith.

((Continued in: Drifting...))