Extinguishing the Light of the Future

[T-Fox†]

((B008 - Peter McCue: Start))

Everything hurt. That was the first and only thing that Mr. McCue felt as he slowly began to come to. His back hurt, his neck was stiff, his arms were achy, and it felt like he had a ton and a half strapped to his shoulders.

Oh wait. That last one was actually the case. Being an extremely small boy, Peter wasn't the best equipped to carry large amounts. Granted; he was an eagle scout, so it wasn't like he hadn't carried the occasional over-sized day pack in his time. However with recent finals he was out of practice, and out of shape.

Not a good thing.

He groaned, opening his eyes, rolling on to his aching arms. At least he thought he had opened his eyes. Even with the lids pulled right back, everything was black. He squinted, wondering if maybe he had somehow gone blind since he had gotten knocked out on the bus.

The boy spent no time attempting to recollect what had occurred. He knew all too well. He was on Survival of the Fittest, one of the most atrocious creations known to man. He was expected to kill his peers, his friends, his classmates. His thoughts wandered to Ridley and Luke. Were they alive? They were his only two true friends in the admittedly massive Bayview senior class. And while karmic retribution sounded nice on a level, his head shook vigorously in an attempt to waive those thoughts from his head. A low whisper emanated from his throat, as he brought a dirty fingertip to touch the metallic band on his neck. "I won't stoop to their level... I'll act for what is right." Cliche, without a doubt, and he could never fathom the hundreds who had died sticking by that promise; or lost their minds attempting to keep it so. However he was here, he was in hell, and he could do this the way he wanted.

He was getting out.

He felt the duffel on the ground right next to them. At least this Danya character had been courteous enough to leave him close enough to find his supplies, even if he did have to dump him in a tunnel.

Wait! Is my stuff still here? He reached to his pockets, finding his house keys readily available. Yes!

That was the other nice thing about being an Eagle Scout. He was always prepared, even if he didn't know the situation he was getting into. He knew he was camping, so his backpack already contained his small first aid kit, flashlight, clothes, canteen, and myriad of other things. Survival off of the land wouldn't be an issue, assuming the bag that was making it hard to sit up was his own. However for now, an examination of the duffel was in order. A small light clicked to life from the end of his key chain, a small emergency light attached. Unfortunately, the keys jingled as he adjusted them, his eyes going wide.

I'd better be alone...

Disregarding the noise as lost in the echoes of the tunnel, he flashed the light around. The walls were dank and disgusting, but there was no sign of anyone else. And most importantly, he didn't see anywhere to hide.

To anyone watching, it would appear as if the light had been drunkenly dancing to bad techno. Peter's subconscious was doing it's best to convince him that he was calm and collected, but in reality his body was shaking. His observation of the area was truly haphazard, and the light wouldn't keep still. However he did indeed do a quick check of his new bag, noticing a small watch in the very bottom, almost as if one of the terrorist had accidentally dropped it into the bag during packing time. However he shrugged it off, continuing to rifle through the bag. First things first, inventory. Then, shoot for somewhere that didn't require artificial light to see.

Sadly, that was probably a better plan than most of his classmates had.

[GameMaker†]

(G048- Kaitlin Anderheim- Start)

Kaitlin's head hurt. It was the first thing she noticed, and it was woke her up. Then, with a surprisingly quick pace, she realized where she was. On the island. She remembered everything, it flashing through her head. The teachers trying to escape, being gunned down. The man, his cool but joyful tone as he explained that they'd have to murder each other. The video- that horrible video. The boy- Rizzolo, she thought his name was- killing that girl. She reached up, and she felt the cold metal of the collars that both of the people in the video wore.

Kaitlin screamed.

She had never seen the show before, her mom would have killer her if she had. But she had heard whispers about it in the school. It was awful- people- kids- forced to kill each other. But... that boy, that boy on the video. He had been forced to too, surely, but... he looked like he had enjoyed himself. Could there be someone like that in her school? Someone who would attack her like that?

There couldn't be! She couldn't think that... sure, she didn't know the people who went to her school that well, but they seemed... they seemed like good people. No one would hurt her, she'd be fine. She... she couldn't die. Nobody would hurt her. No one would hurt. They couldn't... they couldn't!

Are you so sure, Kaitlin? What about the kids who sneak off to do drugs? What about the kids who have been mean to other people, the ones you've seen? What about people you wouldn't expect? How can you be so sure?

She couldn't think about this right now. It was bringing her down a bad train of thought, and she couldn't think like that. Even if some were bad... she'd, she'd find some good people. But what... wait... it was a show, wasn't it? People were watching... her father. She could talk to her father.

She stood up, and she gathered her thoughts. What should she say? What... what could she say? How could she express how she felt? Eventually, she simply decided to speak whatever came to her mind. She just had to hope that he was listening.

"Dad... Dad, if you're there, it's me, Kaitlin. Kaitlin Anderheim." What now? What should we say? "You- you left me and mom when I was only three years old." She wouldn't say anything what Mom had said... this was about her. Not her mother. Her mother had taken control of many things in her life, but if this might be her only chance to speak to her father, she would let her mother taken control of it.

"But you left me the teddy bear- you remember? Mr. Theodore Bear?" She looked behind her, looked frantically for her bag. She'd brought it with her, but what if- she saw it, lying on the ground. Quickly unzipping it, she was overjoyed to see that Theo was sitting there at the top, his marble eyes staring back up at her, a comforting smile on his face. She gave him a tight hug before lifting him up, lifting him to what she hoped was the camera here.

"I used to play with him all the time... tea parties at first, and then as I got older, more fairy tale stuff. He'd by my gallant knight, and I'd be the princess he had to save from the fierce dragon." She felt the emotion pouring into her voice, and the tears beginning to build up. But she couldn't cry now, not until she was done talking. "It was the best gift I ever got in my life- I love Theo."

"But I miss you, Dad- I miss you so much. I wish you could have been there for all those years." And now the words just began to pour out from Kaitlin, and she couldn't stop them. "I wish you were there when I had my first crush, or when I got my first A, and when I scraped my knee the first time I tried riding a bike. I wish you could have been there so I could talked with you, hugged you, laughed with you- I wish I could have seen you smile. I wish you were there all the times I needed a shoulder to cry on, and I wish you were here now, so you could hold me and protect me and tell me everything's gonna be alright."

"I... I love you so much, Daddy." This was the last thing that Kaitlin said, and then the tears began to pour.

[T-Fox†]

The school's student body "Genius", the sixteen year old senior, was quite the oblivious person. A normal trait for most people that intelligent though. Stereotypically, it's lots of book smarts, no common sense, oblivious to the world. However, the soft, almost haunting wailing of a female voice reverberating through the tunnel he could hardly see made him snap his head from the new day pack that was present. Anyone who had come here to "see the sights" would assume it was a haunted tunnel. 'The souls of the dead miners who crafted this blah blah blah...' Peter was a boy of Science. Ghosts weren't real.

This had to be someone else from Bayview.

Someone scared. Lonely.

A quick zip echoed softly, although it may have just been his imagination that it was even loud enough to reach the walls. His flashlight turned towards the source, even though he still couldn't see the girl. Some straining allowed him to make out the odd word here and there.

"...you left me the teddy bear- you remember? Mr. Theodore..."

A sob choked out the rest of her sentence. Was she praying? Either way, the poor girl sounded terrified. It was almost as if she was saying her final goodbyes already. How many people were actually doing that right now? Making piece with their God, convinced that this was the end of their life?

"...you, Dad- I miss you so much. I wish you could have been there for all those years."

She was praying... to her father? Or talking to him on the Cameras? He sat and listened intently, quietly hoisting his bags to his back, clipping his own personal day pack around his waist. I don't want to interrupt her... I'd want to be left alone while I said my goodbyes too...

And so he quietly listened. He waited until the words became sobs, the sobs eventually becoming choked, the chokes eventually becoming whimpers, gently fading away through the tunnel, only to be heard by the two of them. It was then that he stood. He pocked the flash light and blinked, attempting to adjust his eyes.

And then he called out in the most sympathetic voice he could muster. He didn't want this poor girl to be afraid.

"Hello?" What would he say to her? He had never been good at talking when he was in relaxed situations, never mind this!

"I... I'm Peter. I don't know who you are... You sound scared though." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steeling himself to make his own proposition, and awaiting the response it brought.

"I don't want to play this game. I want to go home, just like you do." His words were genuine, sincere. A tear rolled down his cheek as reality began to hit him. What if Ridley and Luke were already dead? What if someone had shot them while they were asleep?

"W...Would you like to be friends?" His words echoed, almost as if taunting him with the depravity and morbidity of the question that he asked. Friends... They were all supposed to be dead in less than two weeks time.

Supposed to was the key word though. "Let's get out of this tunnel and find somewhere a little brighter." He hoped the double entendre wasn't lost on the poor terrified girl, although even just in the literal it should seem good enough. He really just wanted to go home. And he wanted to save people along the way. Danya had said that was impossible. That "better people than you had tried."

Danya didn't know who he was messing with.

[Yossarian†]

((B019 Maxwell Crowe begins))

Play it smart... Play it smart my ass, GODDAMNIT! I cannot even find a way out of this tunnel...

Maxwell Crowe, usually one of the most cheerful people around, now was close to exploding. He could make himself feel a bit better if he would just turn on the music on his iPod, but he decided not to. Even though he charged the batteries before the trip, he knew that abusing his only source of music too much will end up badly very soon. He decided to use it only in (or after if impossible outright) especially stressful situation and before sleeping.

And so he wandered through extremely dark corridors with flashlight in one hand, his designated weapon - Auto Mag handgun - in the other, and his mood got worse and worse with every turn leading to even more and more tunnels. His observing skills meant shit when he could hardly see anything at all. What's more he started to hear voices.

At first he dismissed them as the creation of his mind. He always felt uneasy if he was separated from music for too long, so hearing voices in that kind of stressful situation would be normal. But as he traveled through the dark tunnels, the voices were getting louder or more quiet depending on his position, so he figured there HAS to be someone nearby. And who knows, maybe they will lead him out of this hellhole.

He slowed down his steps as he the voices got loud enough to catch some single words. Whatever those people were talking about, interrupting them would be a stupid idea. At best he would disturb some random conversation, but at worst he could attract the attention of one of the many kids out for blood. And despite acting cool and rational, deep down in his heart Max was scared as hell. He didn't want to die (who did?). His parents were waiting for him, so did his friends from outside of the school.

What about those INSIDE? They are here as well. Maria, Duncan and others? Damn, will I see the ever again?

Finally, He saw a glimpse of light coming out of another turn he would pass in a minute by going forward, and the voices were finally loud enough to understand them clearly. He quickly turned off the flashlight and as silently as he could, he stuck his back to the murky wall just around the corner. And then he started listening. Were the owners of those voices friends or enemies? The time will tell. He tightened the grip on his handgun just to reassure himself, that he's not hopeless even in the worst case scenario.

---

Someone who named himself Peter was talking to someone. He clearly declared not wanting to play and offering alliance, no, friendship to that other person. Good sign for Max. Maybe he could join in and they would escape this place together. But some part of his mind was still skeptic.

What if he's just trying to deceit that other person?

He decided to stay silent and wait for the second persons answer.

[GameMaker†]

Kaitlin cried, and it felt like an eternity, but when she was done, she felt a strange sense of relief. It was one thing that was at least semi good about this game- a chance to finally get a message out to her father. She always tried to follow one of her mother's sayings, to find the silver lining of the darkest cloud. Her mother, of course, didn't exactly follow this saying- but then again, there were few she did follow. Unless of course, early to bed and early to rise meant a night of binge drinking followed by waking up at noon with a hangover an alcoholic frat boy would be ashamed to have.

"Hello. I... I'm Peter." She looked up, and saw a small, slight boy standing above her. She recognized him at once- Peter McCrue, the boy who was supposed to be a genius. He was a year younger than most of the seniors (and two years younger than the rest, like her), but he seemed very nice. And besides, he was kinda cute...

He spoke about she seemed scared, and he was right, she was terrified. He talked about how he didn't want to play, how he just wanted to go home, and Kaitlin watched a tear makes it slow journey down its face as he did. Her heart went out to him, as she realized a crucial part of the agony the other kids were feeling- she had no real friends on the island, no one who she had known very closely, who she really loved, but other people did. It must be a torture for them, not knowing what the friends were doing, whether they were in pain right now, wondering whether they were hurt and what they were doing. It was a feeling that was no stranger to Kaitlin- she had spent many nights awake in her dark room wondering about her father, not knowing if he was happy or sad, wondering if he thought about his daughter as much as she thought about him.

He wanted to be friends, and he wanted to leave the tunnel. He looked at her, and she guessed that he wanted to look something like a hero- but in the darkness of the tunnel, his face obscured by Kaitlin's tears, he just looked like a sad, tired boy. A boy who desperately wants to go home, and hasn't quite grasped that he has no idea how to. Kaitlin felt like she would cry again, and she did the only thing she thought would stop it.

She reached out to him, and pulled him close, and hugged him. There were no words passed in the embrace, but they weren't necessary. It was the simple gentle softness and warmth of another human being, the reassuring soothing feeling of another person that was buried deep in the human mind, underneath even the most basic savage urges. She didn't think of anything, not her arguments with her mother, not that terrible video they'd seen, not the sick philosophy of that monster Danya. She simply basked in the simple yet immense power of another's persons caring touch, and even her darkest thoughts withered in its wake.

"Peter, I'm Kaitlin Anderheim." she said, stepping back out of the hug with a smile on her face. "Thank you... thank you so much. For being so kind. And yes, lets be friends. You'll be my first friend in the school, actually." She grinned at this, and actually laughed a little. "Let's get out of here, and lets find some other good people. We'll find a way off this island, and we'll go home. We can stop at Carvel's on the way- ice cream sundaes on me."

[T-Fox†]

His eyes were closed when he finished his little speech about trying to go home. He really did have every intention of getting off the island without killing anyone; and not by himself either. He just had absolutely no idea how he was going to accomplish that. He wanted nothing more than to make it home... See his mom again, no matter how much he was normally at odds with the woman... His lower lip sucked in as he tried to hold back the tears. The girl in front of him needed to see him at his strongest. Not his weakest. If there was to be any hope of escape, whether or not it were possible, he needed to be strong. And it almost appeared to be a battle he could win.

Until he felt a warm, soft pair of arms drape around him. A body press against his own frail form. He took a sharp, pained breath, his lungs filling with the dank tunnel air; his cheeks begin to turn a bright scarlet. A choked sob escaped his tightening throat as he finally lost that composure he was clinging oh so tightly to. And instead, he clung to something different. Something a little more real, something that some on the island would actually call worth clinging to. His arms wrapped themselves around her waist, interlocking over each other behind her back. Tears began to roll down his cheeks in earnest, and his head fell to her shoulder. And he wept. He wept for his parents, and what they must be going through. He wept for his friends, for his teachers. He wept for those who had passed in the previous versions of the game, and he even wept for Adam Dodd and Bryan Calvert; even though he didn't know who they were. Pure, raw emotion flowed from his visage as he sobbed. The absolute last person to cross his mind was himself. The fact that he might die on this rock, the fact he would feel pain beyond belief. And it felt like the tears would never end.

Fortunately for her though, they finally did. He looked up, his own eyes locking with her soft visage.

"Peter, I'm Kaitlin Anderheim. Thank you... thank you so much. For being so kind. And yes, lets be friends. You'll be my first friend in the school, actually."

He reluctantly let his arms part, watching her step back. His awkward grin met her genuine one, and his eyes went wide as he realized exactly what had just happened. He glanced at the floor, his feet stumbling, betraying him as he tried to follow her example and take a step back as well.

"Let's get out of here, and lets find some other good people. We'll find a way off this island, and we'll go home. We can stop at Carvel's on the way- ice cream sundaes on me."

He only nodded at first, before he realized exactly how little the lighting situation in the tunnel actually portrayed. "Yeah, that sounds good." His feet scuffed on the dirt as his fingers slid in and out of the loop of his backpack. For a moment, he had almost forgotten about the island, the pressure on him involved in talking to someone he'd never spoken to before filling his mental capacity. Again, unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and as he looked over his shoulder reality rushed back to him.

Right. Survival of the Fittest. His eyes closed as he sighed hard, gripping the daypack dangling from his fingers tight. He really couldn't think of a single thing to say to this girl without boring her, or annoying her, or sounding like a complete and total dweeb. So he went with the best option out of those available to him.

"Let's get the heck out of here."

[Yossarian†]

Max wasn't really sure what happened next, as Peter and the girl were completely silent. He could sense the slight movement though. Whatever that was, it probably wasn't Maxwell's business, as long as Peter didn't attempt to choke the girl or something.

Finally, the girl spoke and introduced herself as Kaitlin. She sounded unbearably optimistic about running away from this hellhole, Max was sure it wouldn't be nowhere as easy as it would sound from Kaitlin's words, but... Still a better thing to do rather than pointing his pistol and pulling the trigger at every moving object around and hope he'll be the last man standing.

Since both Peter and Kaitlin apparently finished their conversation and wanted to find a way out of here, Max decided, nay, was forced to expose his presence or else it would lead to unnecessary tense situation if they would stumble upon him while searching for exit.

"Uhm..." He looked for the right words to start the conversation while still being behind the corner. "If you're searching for more people looking to get away from this rock, then you have already found one." He turned on and off the flashlight in his left hand to let both Peter and Kaitlin pinpoint Max's location, and finally, still with a pistol in one hand, he moved away from the corner and appeared before the pair.

"My name is Max. Maxwell Crowe. I got lost in those tunnels before hearing your voices. Sorry for eavesdropping you. I needed to know beforehand if none of you is a player."

As he spoke, he noticed that he still held his gun tightly in his right hand, and it of course drew the attention.

"Oh, and about this..." He raised his right hand, pointed the gun upward and put away his fingers from the trigger as far as possible. "I guess, I was the lucky one to draw a gun. I don't plan to use this anytime soon... But it's better to have one rather than not..."

[SRJJJB†]

((Cyrille LaBlanche continued from The 8-Ball Knows))

Cyrille enjoyed the long walk she and her allies were having. It reminded her of the walks she took back home. Something she used to do. The only differences were that for one she wasn't on a island where her friends were trying to kill her, and second she actually where she was going. For some reason or another her group must of taken a wrong turn because they were no where near close to the so call Ranger Station.

"Saul let me ask you again... You're sure you know where we are going?" She asked. "Because I'm sure as hell that we're not going the right way."

She stop for a minute and looked around. They were lost and that much was certain. Of course what bother her more was that that they had no idea where they were. They were practicly sitting ducks here. Worst of all it was just making things harder for her to find Violetta. Then she noticed something that stood out.

"Look! A cave!" She annouced to her allies. She ignored wherever they were about to say as she dash off into the cave. Mix of excitement and an actual place to rest was enough to convince the girl to enter the place. Her next thought was to shout out into the cave to see if anyone was inside. If she did she was obviously annoucing her presence which was bad so it was out of question. Instead she walk inside investigating the place. After a short while she notice the place kept going as if it was a tunnel. With the lack of human contact she went ahead to call her group.

"GUYS! PLACE SEEMS EMPTY!" She called out to them.

[JamesRenard†]

((Garry Villette and Miranda Merchant continued from The 8-Ball Knows))

'So this must be what a wolf feels like, walking through the forest with his pack,' Garry thought as he gazed around at the trees, keeping a look out for other people who could be out to kill them. A sudden itch on his neck made him raise his hand up to scratch the irritated spot, resulting in him accidentally grasping the collar. It wasn't enough to accidentally detonate it, but he still flung his hand away in horror as he remembered the explosive around his neck. 'God damn it, I could've killed myself just because of a stupid itch. I gotta stay focused,' he mentally growled.

While Garry gently scratched at the itch, Miranda was beginning to have doubts with Saul's map-reading skills. 'It can't take us that long to reach this place, surely,' she thought. Cyrille had to have been thinking along the same lines, for she spoke up and claimed that they were going the wrong way.

"I'm with Cyrille on this," Miranda stated, setting her bag down on the ground and pulling the map out from her bag. It was crinkled and creased up from being in the duffel bag most of the time, but the details on it were still legible. "The ranger station is only here, we should have reached it by now," she said, pointing at the building marked on the piece of paper

Cyrille then shouted out rather loudly that there was a cave nearby. "Oh no, we're not going in that cave," Miranda exclaimed. Garry nodded with Miranda then started to speak himself.

"Cyrille, I thought we already explained that it wasn't that much of a good idea to-Cyrille!" To Garry's shock, Cyrille seemed to ignore him and ran off to enter the cave all by herself. "She's going to get herself killed," Garry grumbled to himself, dashing after her while holding the ji. With cat ears, Cyrille was defenseless. And if a murderer was indeed inside, she was just going to end up as his or her victim. Fortunately, after the girl ventured deeper inside, she shouted out that it was empty. 'Well that's a relief,' Garry thought.

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Miranda was standing there, unsure what to do. "This is going to end badly, I just know it," she sighed, looking towards the dark mouth of the cave. After hearing Cyrille call out that the place was empty, she took a deep breath and started to march towards the opening. "I guess we'd better go in after them," she said.

[Unknown Kadath†]

((Saul Fetteralf continued from The 8-Ball Knows))

"Fuck," Saul muttered, looking at he map. He knew he was lost. He chewed his lip, continuing his march, his companions in tow. Then, he heard Cyrille pipe up again, asking once more if he was sure he knew where they were going, Miranda adding in her two cents. Attempting to keep his head cool, he turned around and calmly said, "Honestly, Cyrille, Miranda, no. I have no clue where we are. Map reading isn't as easy as I thought it was."

He sighed, turning back around. The truth was, he had no clue what he was doing. He was wandering around, hoping he was following the compass properly. He was scared. Scared he was leading them to somewhere more dangerous. He stopped, leaning against a tree to let them catch up, when he heard Cyrille's excited voice. He turned his head, seeing her run into and disappear into the mouth of a cave she found. Fucking hell, he thought, what is her deal?

He rushed to where Garry and Miranda were standing, seeing Garry disappear in after her, and gave an exasperated groan, "Did I not tell her about fucking ca-"

His complaint was cut short by Cyrille's call from inside the cave, hearing her voice echo against the walls. He gritted his teeth, nodding to Miranda's statement. "They're gonna get themselves killed," he responded, stepping into the cave mouth, his hand against the rough rock wall.

He soon caught up with the two and gave a growling whisper, "Cyrille, keep your voice down! Just because it looks empty, doesn't mean it is! What if a player is in here?"

[Yossarian†]

((It's been almost 14 days, so I'm going to break the post order to avoid inactivity. Sorry for that))

Before Peter or Kaitlin even managed to answer, another set of voices, at least 3 different voices as far as he could distinguish at this distance and with this kind of echo, filled the cave. Someone was out there.

Maybe they are at the exit and could lead us out of here?

That would be awesome, but it would be also too easy. Instead of marching toward the source of the voices, Max lowered his hand with a gun, tightened the grip on his Auto Mag just to be more confident, and started watching carefully the tunnel entrance he came in, as he kept listening to the voices. He was good ad dividing attention. Too bad that no music around also made him more nervous. As seconds were passing by, a single drop of sweat came out from his temple and slowly made it's way to the bottom of his face and finally hit the ground.

[SRJJJB†]

(Got to get Cyrille out of here D:)

Cyrille look at her three allies and realized her action might had cost their lives if someone was waiting to ambush them. Feeling ashamed she walked outside the cave and back to her companions.

"Sorry guys... I was just... Sorta excited... It was a really stupid mistake. Look I'm sorry can we just move on to the station then?" She asked her friends. She started to wander off at the edge of the forests, and presumed that her friends would follow. She was slightly lost in thoughts and forgot Garry was still inside the cave.

(Cyrille continued to Out Of The Darknes And Into The Light)

[JamesRenard†]

((OOC: Got to get Garry out of here as well))

Miranda watched on in bemusement as Cyrille suddenly exited the tunnel, immediately apologised to her and Saul, and then proceeded to walk away into the forest before she had time to register what exactly just happened. 'What the hell?' Miranda thought. 'She just came out of the cave like that, and then she walks away without waiting for us?'

"Cyrille, wait for us!" Garry called out in the general direction that the girl had walked in, running out of the tunnel to join the other two members of their group. "Why does she keep on doing that? We need to follow her and make sure she doesn't get into trouble," he stated, trying to look for Cyrille's form through the trees.

"No," Miranda just blurted out, drawing a shocked look from the hockey player. "I'm sorry, but that girl is only going to get herself killed if she does stuff like that all the time," Miranda spoke. "If we follow her, we're just going to get ourselves killed as well, so I'm out."

"You... you can't be serious, Miranda," Garry said, feeling and sounding hurt at her cold comments "We assured her we'd find Violetta, her girlfriend for crying out loud. Don't you have a freaking heart?" he retorted.

"I do, but I have a brain as well, and I know that Cyrille's little quest is going to be the death of us." Garry just continued to glare at her as she spoke, unwilling to satisfy her with a reply. "Fine, you can go and follow Cyrille, search for Violetta while risking all your lives in the process, but you can leave me out of this. I only joined your group because I thought I'd be safe in a group, but I guess I was dead wrong."

"Oh we will follow Cyrille and we will find Violetta," Garry said as he glared at the swimmer. "And we don't need you. You can just go where you like, do what you like, just as long as you don't interfere in what we're trying to do. If I do somehow see you again, and quite frankly I hope I don't, I won't kill you, I won't even attack you. I will just walk away and leave you alone. I am not teaming up with you again, even if you're on your knees and begging."

Miranda just glared heatedly at Garry for several seconds, breathing heavily before turning her back to him and striding off towards the trees in a different direction to Cyrille, the branch still in her hand. Soon, she was out of sight, hidden from Garry's view by the multitude of tree trunks that marked the forest edge. She did not look back at him or Saul once.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Garry growled, then looked in the direction that Cyrille went. "C'mon Saul, let's go find Cyrille before she gets too far ahead," he spoke, starting to walk into the forest with the ji slung over his shoulder.

((Miranda Merchant continued in No News is Good News))
((Garry Villette continued in Out Of The Darkness And Into The Light))

[T-Fox†]

((Breaking post order to avoid inactivity.))

"Umm..." Called out from behind a corner, the terrible lighting of this man made cavern really reaking havoc with all of his senses. "If you're searching for more people looking to get away from this rock, then you have already found one." Not a moment before, the boy was enthralled by the presence of another, someone willing to be nice to someone as awkward as he. He felt a smidge of heroism, having just made a promise to his new friend that he would save her from this abomination. Now he had just jumped about a foot back out of pants shitting terror. Thankfully for him, the less than ideal lighting concealed his contorted, fearful face.

A bright flash of light shone onto the tunnel wall opposite the pair, before whipping around the corner to blind the already distraught Senior.

"My name is Max. Maxwell Crowe. I got lost in those tunnels before hearing your voices. Sorry for eavesdropping you. I needed to know beforehand if none of you is a player. Oh, and about this...

His arm went to shield his eyes from the bright light. Through the sudden shift in brightness, Peter could barely see Max's face, nevermind whatever he happened to be indicating to. About to open his mouth to respond, he was cut off by two things, one directly after the other.

"I guess, I was the lucky one to draw a gun. I don't plan to use this anytime soon... But it's better to have one rather than not..."

And then as soon as Max's finished explaining away his randomly assigned weapon, another set of voices echoed down the cavern. His eyes went wide at both of these revelations. Not only did this new kid have a gun, there were more people on the way. There was a decision that needed to be made, right then and there. They needed to run, but could he trust Max not to shoot them in the back?

And for the second time in twenty minutes, he mentally slapped himself. No one would actually play this game for the sake of playing the game. The only people who would actually fight were those who did it out of fear, out of the tensions that this situation naturally built. The fact that Max was already calm meant that he wouldn't randomly shoot later; no one in Bayview was THAT depraved. At least he seriously hoped.

"M..Max, I'm Peter. I just... We really need to get out of here, there's more people coming. I don't wanna chance getting into a scrape." With the light still shone on him, he indicated the opposite direction. "I can't see the map at all like this, but we can take care of that once we can't hear them anymore." He let out an involuntary, nervous chuckle, looking around at his companions expectantly. "We need to really go." While he couldn't put into words why, he hoped that his friends would see the reason for the fear behind meeting this second group.

[Unknown Kadath†]

((Sorry for inactivity. Hope we can get back on track.))

Saul watched Cyrille excite, following her apology. He sighed heavily, "It's fine, just..." he trailed off, deciding not to make a big thing of it.

Making his way towards the light, he heard Miranda and Garry speaking to one another, their tones making it seem as if they were arguing. The distorted sounds bounced off the rough walls of the tunnel, masking the exact words being spoken. Focusing on the light above, Saul failed to take note of his steps. Clubbing his foot against an elevated part of the tunnel floor, Saul was sent sprawling onto the ground, landing on his left side with a 'THWUMP!'

Saul hissed in pain, placing his right hand onto the uneven floor to push his upper half off of the filthy bottom of the tunnel. He then moved his legs under himself in a crouching position and pushed upwards, righting himself. He stepped into the light, brushing his clothes off, keeping his eyes on the ground. "What was that, Gar?" he asked before looking up, seeing nobody there to reply.

Saul was alone at the entrance of the cave.