All Battles Are Fought By Scared Men Who'd Rather Be Some Place Else

[Emprexx Plush]

((Garrett Wilde continued from Prayer for the Someone Who is Somewhere Dying))

((GMing approved))

At some point, he had to stop moving. He ran out of land. It was strangely inevitable that when he did, he'd find another body.

There was no attempt at identification. He couldn't deal with it right now. Instead, he turned around and found Bella catching up to him, still trying to get his attention. He finally allowed her to catch him, allowed himself to reach out for her and whisper, "I'm sorry...I couldn't..."

Once again, he found himself wanting to get lost in the moment with her. They'd spent so long searching for each other, but they hadn't had a spare moment to truly be together and try to work through everything they'd experienced since he'd found her screaming in the streets. They were terrified for each other. She'd bitten back more questions than she'd asked, he knew that, and he hadn't even come close to working out what she'd been through over the last few days. Those slim moments in the streets and the hospital lobby had been the closest they'd come to comforting conversation, and even that was all painfully one-sided. Their support was mostly silent or functional at this point, with so little sign of the openness and tenderness he'd come to value with her.

But even as he went to take her in his arms and lean on her, a glance over her shoulder forced his mind back into the harsh reality around them. Ami was following her, and whether Bella was aware of that or not, they were likely in for another confrontation. It was best to figure out her intentions as quickly as possible, though.

"Ami? Why did you follow us?"

A hand slipped into Bella's for support as the vulnerability slipped out of his demeanor. He had to get back in control, especially since it seemed Matt had been left behind. He and Bella were all each other had right now. If he couldn't keep calm for himself, he could at least do it for her.

[Sansa]

((Mirabella Strong continued from Prayer for the Someone Who Is Somewhere Dying))

The last time Bella had ran through the island she'd been running from something, something she couldn't quite pinpoint. It was an idea, some loose, intangible thing that'd driven her away from her only solid allies and thrown her into the arms of her Garrett once more. The experience had been terrifying, more so than anything she'd ever encountered before - or ever dreamed of encountering - though its payoff had been more than enough to make up for it.

She could only hope that the second time would reap similar results.

Bella's heart was drumming violently within her chest as she finally caught up with Garrett, the adrenaline that'd staved off exhaustion during her first run having long since fled her system. She could feel the beginnings of blisters on the soles of her feet, the dull ache within them only exacerbated by the increasingly poor condition of her sneakers. They were almost entirely in tatters now, held together by only the strongest of stitches - and even those were threatening to snap at any second.

It was a silly thing to linger on, but without it she'd fall back into the pit of introspection she'd let herself be caught in before. She'd managed to claw herself back out of it, in no small part due to her Garrett, her precious Garrett. If anything, it was only for him that she'd forced herself out of the steadily mounting despair building inside her. That's why she'd changed her mindset when it came to killers; that's why she'd ran from the hospital after him; that's why she'd pushed herself almost to the brink of her physical limits in an attempt to catch up to him. He was all he had left now, and she wasn't going to let her increasing fatigue stop her from staying with him. There was nothing she wouldn't do to stay with him, and continuing to chase after him despite a painful stitch tearing up her insides was small change compared to the other lengths she would've gone to.

She swatted away a blade of grass that'd stuck to her leg as she finally caught up to Garrett, having moved a little way from him for most of their trek. She nodded as he muttered something at her, the words scarcely audible beyond the beating of her heart and the raggedness behind his delivery, and went to offer the same soothing rubs she'd given back at the hospital - before he alerted her to another new arrival.

Ami had followed them. Bella had suspected someone might've been on their tail, but had put that down mostly to paranoia and stress more than anything else. She didn't mind that the girl had followed them, but being unaware as to her motivations sent shivers of unease through her system, set her mind into overdrive as she considered all of the possibilities for Ami joining them - all of which were awful and horrendous. She was about to speak up, ask questions and take the lead in lieu of Garrett; not wanting him to over exert himself anymore than he already had, but before she could say anything he'd already spoken up, asking exactly what Bella was thinking and taking her hand in his.

She couldn't have been prouder of him. If she was in his position, then she would've no doubt been doubled over on the grass, desperately struggling to breathe properly. But instead he'd been able to pick himself up straight away and get back to work. A small part of her wondered whether that was the right thing, the healthy thing, to do - but she snuffed it out as she always did, vowing to never entertain such a thought again. Garrett was all she had, and there was no way she was letting her own stupid doubts, or anything else for that matter, get in the way.

[Emprexx Plush]

(Ami Flynn continued from Prayer for the Someone Who Is Somewhere Dying)

Ami Flynn stood there for a long time, hair slicked over her shoulders. She looked at Garrett, then over at Mirabella. She frowned.

The rain cleared up soon after she left the hospital, no chance of her getting sick. But even the slightest amount of water seemed to help the stains across her Oxford shirt sink deeper into the fabric. The whole front of her shirt was stained a numb red. Ami had noticed this and it was mildly disconcerting. She didn't do anything about it though. Her mind remained still, completely focused on trailing Garrett and Mirabella.

It turned out that trailing them proved to be incredibly easy. A little too easy, Ami realized. With the shirt as stained as it was, it should have been pretty easy to spot her. The only reason they had noticed her was that she chose to reveal herself. The notion that nagged at her was that, perhaps, she had been followed too. She looked over her shoulder. No one. Good.

Garrett asked why. Like before, Ami did not answer right away. She kept her head turned away, as she did in the hospital. The Converse soles sank into the mud beneath her as she shuffled in place, leaving flat impressions into the earth.

She didn't want to answer, but this time she could not choose to ignore him. The real answer was muddled, so much so that Ami could not adequately put it to words. There had to be some sort of explanation though. She didn't owe Garrett any back in the hospital, but he sure as hell deserved one now.

Ami soon turned back, half-forced. She examined Garrett and Bella each before looking down at her gun.

"You guys don't have a weapon," she said, looking back up. "Walking around, you could have been sitting ducks."

She let the sentence hang there, acting as the replacement for the answer she could not provide. While she did not have a complete, clear-cut answer for Garrett, she had remembered something else.

Ami turned to Bella, noticing for the first time that she had cut her hair. Why didn't Ami notice that before?

"Look, Mira," she heaved a sighed, "I'm... I'm sorry. About all of that stuff I said back there? I didn't mean any of it. I just, I've been having a bad week. I took it out on you, I had no right to. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

The hollow chasm in her chest still ached, but apologizing to Bella made it feel better.

There was nothing else that she had to say, so she just stood there, lapsing back into silence. She felt silly, following them for Lord knows how long just so she could apologize. In hindsight, it was irrational, stupid, she could have been picked off and there would have been no one to help her.

"If you'd rather I leave, that's fine."

[NotAFlyingToy]

He'd seen them before they'd seen him, and that was key.

((Hansel Williams, Learned something from yesterday.)

Hansel didn't have his P90 on him as he stepped out from behind a tree, the FAMAS gripped between his hands as he watched the grouping of three, taking two large steps away from where he had emerged. He meant to say something, do something. Be aggressive in some way, scare them off, maybe try to angle to get Garrett alone.

But he just stood there, gripping his gun, glaring at them. If the past couple of days were about exorcising demons, and Theo was the first on that hit list, then it seemed almost natural - fated - to find Garrett here.

He didn't open fire, he didn't run away, and yet both impulses were strong. So he stood, in the interim, and watched.

Waited.

[Ciel†]

"Ami, I-"

There'd been a long, probing set of questions in bound. They hadn't finished their discussion in the hospital because of his weakness, and he needed to correct that. Making sure Ami was safe to keep around was his top priority.

At least until Hansel Williams came into view at the bottom of the cliff. The moment he saw him, striding across the wet grass, gun in hand, everything shifted. He cut off his sentence, dropped Bella's hand, and moved forward, pausing only to look into Ami's eyes as he nodded downhill and whispered quietly.

"Stay. Stay right here. Stay right here and don't let him anywhere near her. I'm trusting you with that. I'm going to try to talk to him, but if he gets past me, or if anything happens...getting her out is what matters, understand? Don't wait for me."

He was jittery. The words weren't coming right, but there was no time. This wasn't like Jaq, or even like running into Ami. Hansel was the island's most dangerous living killer, with a weapon to back-up his reputation. He could open fire at any second, but for some reason he wasn't. He wanted something. So Garrett was going to give it to him.

He shielded his movement's behind Ami and shifted the knife out of the bag into his back-pocket. Armed, he walked calmly and slowly past Ami down the cliff. There was no hesitation or anxiety this time. He didn't have any questions to ask or confirmation to seek.

Despite Bella's early protests, Garrett knew exactly what Hansel was, and he was going to put him down.

[NotAFlyingToy]

Hansel wasn't really sure what he expected the reaction to be, but it wasn't Garret marching down to face him. As the distance closed between them, he felt the change in him, the change in Garrett, widening. They had been here for six days - six short days - and already they couldn't claim they were the same people that had roamed the Aurora halls.

And suddenly, as if no time had passed at all, Garrett was mere meters from him. Hansel shifted the gun higher, pointed it at the other boy's chest, as if to say close enough.

Leaning slightly, he glanced back over his own shoulder - a quick peek - before taking Garrett in fully.

"Dunno about you," he began, his voice habitually lowering, chin raising, "but I've h-had a terrible week."

[Emprexx Plush]

He was just a few steps away from Hansel when he started speaking. In spite of the gun at his chest, he couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"No. I can't say it's been a great time. I've heard you've been busy."

The knife slid into his palm and he brought it to his side. He hadn't cleaned the blade well enough. There were still a few small, visible blood stains.

"Me too. Care to talk about it?"

[NotAFlyingToy]

Hansel lifted a shoulder, his face grim. The only response he could think of, at that moment.

He shifted again, his eyes darting to the treeline, then back up the cliff to where Garrett's companions stood. He could just make them out over his shoulder, semi-obscured by his head. The knife in Garrett's hand, the flecks of blood on it, shone in the sun, danced over his eyes as he fully took his once-rival in.

The way they stood, face to face, reminded him of a word that had been tossed around the schoolyard when he first moved to Seattle.

Thunderdome.

"So," he said, drawing the vowel out as he pointed his chin at the knife, and the specks of blood upon it, "you puh-hut that there, or did someone else do it f-for you?"

[Emprexx Plush]

Garrett couldn't help but notice the contrast between their first meeting and this moment. Then, Hansel had been bold. Roaring. Physical. Now though...he kept a safe distance. He gauged his movements. He regarded him like a threat.

At some point Hansel Williams had lost his confidence. Now, if there was still that familiar disdain for Garrett, it was buried underneath his fear.

Let's escalate that.

"It was me. Did it yesterday morning. Almost did it again this morning, but turned out that was a misunderstanding."

In his peripheral vision, he watched the gun. The second it wavered from him, he was making his move. He just needed to get an opening.

"Does that surprise you?"

[NotAFlyingToy]

When Hansel had first heard the word thunderdome, he had assumed that it was some kind of place in Seattle, a hotspot that he, as a new addition to the community, would discover after a while. But then it was utilized as a verb. Thunderdoming. To thunderdome. One who thunderdomes.

As for Garrett... well, he always did talk too much. He mentioned killing, and to that, Hansel shrugged again, letting the silence linger as he studied Garrett's face, eyes flitting back and forth between left and right eye.

"You aren't a saint," he said, by way of explanation.

Garrett was harder, though. He had a knife, and was harder. Two things that Hansel didn't trust. That, coupled with who he assumed was Bella standing within eyesight...

He should just shoot the prick. Put him down, here and now. He'd killed people who had hurt him less. Fuck, he'd murdered people he had hardly known.

And yet...

"That supposed t-to put us on - what? Even k-keel?"

[Emprexx Plush]

Garrett shrugged back. "I'm not. I'm someone who does what needs to be done."

His suspicions had been confirmed. There was a time when Hansel probably would have shot him on sight and not lost a moment of sleep over it, but that wasn't now. Now, he was searching for something, even if he wasn't sure what it was. Garrett could use that.

"Are we even? Why don't you tell me, Hansel? How different do we really look right now?"

[NotAFlyingToy]

The mystery of the word thunderdome had been finally solved for Hansel when he had been walking home from school, and had witnessed a defining sight. Two young boys stood in a circle of their peers, in the middle of the street, and had beaten the hell out of each other while the crowd had jeered and laughed. He'd approached, mesmerized, stood quietly for a moment, before asking what they were fighting about.

Ain't a fight, man. They're thunderdoming. Like boxin', only no hits to the face. Two men enter, one man leaves, you know?

Hansel lifted a brow - a disbelieving brow - at Garrett, then.

Two men enter.

"What has to be done," he repeated, mockery filling his voice, nodding sympathetically.

One man leaves.

"Always were full of shit, Wilde. P-pretty words, and shit."

As he said the words, the FAMAS lowered, pointing towards the grass at their feet.

[Emprexx Plush]

"Really? I apologize. No more words, then."

Before the sentence had even fully left his mouth, Garrett dropped the bag from his shoulder and pounced, slamming his shoulder hard into Hansel's chest. The gun dipping had been his cue. That brief moment of weakness and distraction was all he would need.

He kept pressing forward, forcing them down with momentum and trying to push the gun away with his legs. As they fell onto the moist turf, he narrowed his focus on Hansel's throat. There was a flash from the sunlight catching the dimly stained blade.

He drove it down hard.

[NotAFlyingToy]

Hansel's one advantage was size, and Garrett's surprise attack had taken that from him. The only conscious thought was twice in two days as yet another assailant had gotten the drop on him, disarmed him.

But this time, his reaction was up to par as he released the FAMAS the second Garrett drilled into him, and folded it up as the smaller boy landed atop him. He was ready for the knife strike, and caught the boy's wrist in his grasp, with his right hand, utilizing his longer reach to snag it before it became dangerous.

With a vicious twist, he attempted to curl Garrett's hand up and around, trying to get him to drop the knife as the blade knicked the skin of his forearm. Simultaneously, he swung his left elbow, catching Garrett on the chin with a resounding clunk, accompanied by a stabbing pain that lanced up to his shoulder.

[Emprexx Plush]

The wet smack he was waiting for never came. Instead, pain exploded in his wrist and his chin as Hansel's strength worked against him. He struggled against it, trying to keep his grip and drive the blade home, but he couldn't find the strength.

Instead, he shifted focus. With an angry snarl he simultaneously dropped the knife and swung his knee up into Hansel's stomach. Then he did it again, and again, ramming as hard as he could to try and free his hands.

There was an look of grim determination in his face as he inched them towards Hansel's neck. Adrenaline coursed through his body along side the throbbing pain that began in his arm and face and ebbed all the way through him. He ached from the strain, but he couldn't stop. He was so close. If he could just cut off his air...