Pearl and Destiny

[D/N]

Carly didn't have much time to think about the situation. Actually, she hadn't even noticed the other two kids standing there. She just knew that for the first time since waking up, she was actually feeling sort of OK with herself. And it wasn't JUST because she had George here now, she wasn't THAT pathetic and helpless.

It took her a moment to realize that the first girl was addressing everyone with her question. Oh god. How had she gotten here, exactly? Her memory of all that blind panic stuff in the woods was kinda fuzzy.

"Well, I woke up in these woods, and I met Jimmy Brennan, and uh, whatwashisname, Marty Lovett there, but Jimmy Brennan, he was being totally crazy and screaming and stuff.

"I, I got away from there and saw a bunch of houses, but I didn't know how safe I'd be so I went around them and then I got here."

That sounded about right, at least. And it hopefully didn't sound too crazy or panicky or horrible.

Carly noticed that George was still holding her hand in his and smiled, tried to relax herself a bit. He was so sweet, he'd been looking for her even though it wasn't like they were officially dating or anything, but she didn't want to be some kind of godawful clingy crying girl, what would he think of her if she didn't try to relax a bit?

Then George mentioned Sebastien's name. Sebastien Fucking Decartes.

She gripped his hand a bit tighter. Just a bit tighter that's, all. She wouldn't freak out.

"Oh god, Sebastien's here?"

Sebastien? What the HELL was he doing on the trip anyway? It wasn't like he had any friends, because he was such a FUCKING JERK.

She was about to start crying again.

Come on Carly, you're better than that, don't start crying, don't freak out, just.... answer that question from the guy who talked weird!

"Weapons?" she stuttered. Yes, weapons Carly. Just answer it. "All I got was a vase or something, I didn't get an actual weapon, I don't know why, I don't know anything about this stupid thing."

With an effort, she pulled her hand out of George's. She wasn't freaking out, she just needed to breathe for a second. And another thing.

"Um, this is embarrassing. But did any of you see if there was like.... a washroom around here?"

[selphie_trabia†]

((Sarah continued from Filling Prescriptions.))

Sarah huffed and puffed as she ran up the dirt road towards the lighthouse. Her body wasn't used to keeping up a constant speed of running. She ran in quick bursts of speed, then slowing down between each burst. By now, the bursts of speed were fewer and further apart. Her chest hurt from the speed of her heartbeat and her vision was somewhat blurry around the edges.

The lighthouse was fixed in her line of sight, a beacon of home and friendship, but also one that reminded her of the urgency of her mission. By now, she was probably dehydrated and about to suffer from sunstroke, but she could self medicate later. She had to get back. She had to stop Stacy and Sapphire from killing each other.

This time, she hadn't even bothered to pass through the docks, taking the fastest way to the lighthouse by just cutting across the overgrown grassy hills towards it.

She ran onwards, suddenly tumbling over on the concrete path just outside the warehouses, scraping her stockings open, but leaving her knees intact. Instinctively, she put her hands out in front of her to cushion the fall, forgetting that she'd already cut them a little on fallen glass at the infirmary. Her open wounds scraped the rough concrete.

The pain was a shock to her system. She lay where she fell, whimpering for a few moments before getting up to check her injuries. Her knees were fine, but her hands were cut and bleeding. Sarah wiped her watering eyes dry with a sleeve and picked herself off the ground, half running, half stumbling around the warehouses so that she could get up the hill to the lighthouse.

Scenes of the fight she had just seen, of Charlotte's lifeless eyes and Jaclyn's battered body, flashed through her mind. She had to get there quickly. She had to stop the fight. Panting and sniffling, she began to climb the path that led to the clifftop where the lighthouse was.

[Brackie]

((Brendan Wallace continues from Filling Prescriptions))

Brendan Wallace was not prepared for this. He wasn't fit, he wasn't coordinated, he wasn't cut out for treking across the harsh lands of the island, period. But all these greivances weren't on his mind. What was on his mind was one mission: Save Sarah.

She'd left the clinic after missing the announcement, and now she was heading straight towards the lighthouse, towards certain death. There was always the chance she'd find out before she reached there, or that she'd find them running away, but he wasn't about to rely on chances when it came to someone's life.

He wasn't about to chicken out and run away any more.

Finally, after a lot, and he knew what a lot really meant now, of running north, he found it. The Warehouses, all packed into one single location. And right behind them, standing tall like a beacon to the world, was the Lighthouse. It was even further away than he imagined, but he couldn't stop, no matter how much his body ached, and hurt, and wanted to stop, he wasn't about to let this happen. Not to someone so small and unworthy of the punishment that stood before her like Sarah.

Come to think of it, he wasn't sure why he was actually doing this. He didn't know Sarah, or anyone really, enough to want to care about their wellbeing. One of the only reasons he'd been so happy, and so willing at the start, to step up and stay to protect Dutchy and Roland and everyone else (bar the guy he didn't know) was that he knew them, he was friends with them, though mainly aquantaince level for the most part. And if he'd found anyone else that he knew, like Jamie or Nik, or even the rest of the Activist Club, or even Sarah X's girlfriend's "Entourage" for god sakes, he would have been willing to put himself on the line to save their lives.

So why this scared little girl?

It must have been the way she acted, her willingness to help. She reminded him so much of Chase, who he still had to find, that it seemed to be that he just needed a clear purpose to remind him of why he was still kicking away. She was short, scared, and Chase was most likely too. She wasn't on the death list, which was a good sign. She wasn't mentioned at all by the announcements, that was even better.

Brendan needed to stop thinking, as he still had a girl to find.

As he approached the Warehouses, he became aware of the incline behind them leading up to the Lighthouse. There was a figure, slowly making its way up. A figure that he couldn't mistake since that time in the Infirmary, even from a distance.

It was her.

"SARAH! SARAH STOP!" Brendan screamed at the top of his lungs. His voice almost came coughing up through his throat and splattering itself on the ground. That level of yelling was something he'd never done before, even in his most dire of moments. When he wanted to get Allen away from Clio, he'd simply raised his voice. When he found his friends yesterday, he'd raised it only a bit moreso. But this was something he wasn't used to, and now he needed to get ready.

Continuing his sprint up the hill, the incline took its toll on Brendan's body. He wasn't at all made out for this, and that was boding on his mind as a list of grievances and reasons why he wouldn't survive to the end, which he'd ignored. But fitness be damned, he was gonna stop her from killing herself like this.

After a few more minutes, he finally gotten to what seemed to be the next most highest ledge of the hillface, so close to Sarah. Raising his voice again, he tried to get her attention.
Beep.
"Sarah! Stop! Don't go any further!"
Beep.

[Zabriel†]

Stacy heard a shout ring through the air, and without thinking she called out after it.

"Sarah? Sarah, I'm coming, where are you!" She knew that Sarah was coming back for her, and wanted to see her. She began to run in the direction of the shouting, slightly encumbered by all of her things. She knew that she couldn't get too close to the lighthouse, as it was a forbidden zone, but she also knew that if Sarah weren't thinking right, she might just blast right through to get to her.

She searched the area as she ran away from the warehouse, looking for any sign of her friend, calling out incautiously, just wanting to find her.

"Sarah! Come back!"

[Arscapi†]

Marion dutifully jotted down the information the others were sharing. George and Carly seemed happy to see each other and Marion wished that there was someone on the island she could be looking for. From the sounds of it Carly had good reason to be hiding. She absently bit the end of her pencil, trying to think of more questions to ask, when suddenly there was a commotion from outside.

She took a step forward then thought better of it, not sure was wanted to go rushing towards the screaming. Some reporter you're turning out to be, she thought to herself. First hiding behind George and now not going to investigate. She took another step forward and then the screaming became clear. Whoever was outside seemed to be yelling about a Sarah. Marion couldn't place a Sarah off hand. She delayed the decision by making more notes in her notebook. At this rate she was going to run out of paper. I knew I should have brought more with me.
"Wonder what that's all about," she wondered aloud.

[Hollyquin†]

[[OOC: It's far too close to 14 days for my liking. Sorry for the skip in post order! And sorry for the short post. Writer's block and such, I might fix it up a bit tomorrow.]]

Jasper-Declan listened patiently to the nervous girl, Carly, as she spoke, taking mental note of the things she said as Marion took the physical notes.

Jimmy Brennan...I believe I have heard that name before, but I cannot immediately place it. Many vulgar words seem to come to mind, though. I wonder why. And Marty Lovett...no, I do not believe I know him.

He frowned at her violent reaction to the Sebastian that George had mentioned previously. Another name I do not know. But if the name alone has elicited a visceral reaction from Carly...though she does seem to be the type to have a visceral reaction to nothing in particular. Perhaps this is simply an overreaction... His brow creased, just a tad. Yes, well, she did have an absolute conniption in response to the static from the speakers...for the moment I do not think this is something worth becoming concerned with. If we do come across this Sebastian in our travels...that will be a time for further inquiry. For now...

"Weapons? All I got was a vase or something, I didn't get an actual weapon, I don't know why, I don't know anything about this stupid thing."

His brow creased further.

I truly have been entrusted with something special. I shall always wonder why it was myself and not this girl, or any of the other unlucky individuals I have met in my past travels, to receive this gift. It is quite unfortunate that I will never have the opportunity to be given an answer...What answer is there to give? I am not privy to the weapon selection process the...organization who runs this game goes through. Perhaps it is all chosen at random.

Is there such thing as random? Can anything human ever truly be considered random?

Perhaps there was a method to the madness, as it were.

"Um, this is embarrassing. But did any of you see if there was like.... a washroom around here?"

Jasper-Declan blinked, his eyes opening in surprise. Surprise was a very funny look on the normally expressionless boy.

"Er...no, I cannot say that I have."

And then, shouting.

His exceptional hearing picked out most of the words shouted outside the warehouse. Not that hearing those words told him much- it was mostly just the name "Sarah", repeated by two different voices, one male and one female, along with various phrases of the 'stop' and 'where are you' and 'come back' variety. This meant nothing to Jasper-Declan, who was not close to anyone named Sarah.

"Wonder what that's all about."

He did not respond. What was there to say?

[blastinus]

George was a little nervous when the topic of weapons was brought up. Ever since he had revealed his wallet to Cisco, the thought had occurred to him that a wallet might seem a little suspicious, and that most people would be inclined to suspect that he was pulling a fast one on them. Goodness knows, it looked normal enough to pass for a standard wallet, and all he had to prove the point was the weird money inside it. In the end, he decided to stay quiet about it, and hope that nobody noticed that he wasn't contributing to the big round robin of reveals.

Carly had seemed antsy for a little bit while she was holding onto George's hand, and when she finally got him to let go, he learned the reason why that was. She needed to use a washroom, apparently, which he inferred to be a kind of a weird way to say bathroom. George scanned the general area with his flashlight for something that would look like a bathroom, but the more he looked around, the more it seemed that Carly may have to do it outside, which was going to be awkward for all those involved. He would have to be sure to avert his eyes.

Of course, what happened next obliterated any thoughts of going outside, at least for the moment. Through the open door, George saw people running past, shouting for somebody named Sarah. He wondered if it was a good idea to investigate what was going on before his brain responded less than a second later with a resounding No! George chose to follow his brain's advice, a first in this competition. While his brain was alive and active, something else occurred to him. "Wait a second..." George said, consulting his map. "...Say guys, what was Danya saying about the Lighthouse? I think those guys are running that way." He was certain that he had heard something about it, but he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He had been too busy reuniting with Carly.

I hope he was saying that the Lighthouse was full of candy or something like that, otherwise those people are gonna be screwed.

[selphie_trabia†]

Sarah winced as she continued up the path. She was extremely tired now, her mouth half-open from panting. She was midway to the lighthouse now, but heard voices calling out to her. She turned and saw Brendan. He was screaming something about danger zones. Someone else was calling out to her too, a girl. She was a little too out of breath and terrified to call out to them.

Stacy wasn't exactly amongst Sarah's school friends. The little girl had been a little too shy to make more than one or two regular friends and she had trouble with names. Although she hadn't spoken to Stacy before, she recognised the other girl's voice voice from the morning they spent together.

It was then that she heard the warning beep from her collar.

Sarah was no fool. She immediately turned and began to scarper back down the rocky mountainside, moving back down the hill as quickly as she could without tumbling over a second time. She leaned back slightly, allowing the grip of her well-made sport shoes to prevent her from sliding, but as the beeps became more frantic, Sarah threw all caution to the wind and started running, nearly colliding with Brendan as she did so.

A quick step and turn combination prevented the collision with Brendan, but Sarah still had a bit of momentum going. The tiny girl tripped over her own feet and stumbled a little, her arms flapping frantically as she attempted to get her balance again, or fly.

She smacked against the warehouse wall with an audible thump and groan.

[Brackie]

His feet reaffirmed their solid stance on the crumbling ground beneath him as he called out the second time, just barely registering the beeping emitting from his collar. It was supposed to scream out to him 'IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT, LISTEN NOW', but he had to get Sarah away first. He wasn't too far away, there was the chance that he could leap forward, yank her out of danger, but he was too exhausted. It took most of his strength to stand up on the incline befalling him, let alone try and save her life any more than he was doing now.

It seemed Brendan wasn't the only one to march to Sarah's aid, as a girl behind him near one of the warehouses was calling out Sarah's name similarly. It was one of the girls from the lighthouse, had to be, didn't it? Or possibly one of Sarah's friends, he still didn't know. But...it was working! Sarah had turned around and noticed his yelling, and also seemed to realise that her collar was also beeping. She was making her way down!

...tumbling like a very small missile straight towards him.

"Ohshit!" Brendan managed to make out, before he realised he was in no danger as she avoided him only just. He could feel her hair whip by his head as she started to barrel towards the other girl at the warehouse.

But she didn't stop, to Brendan's alarm, as she pummeled straight into the warehouse wall.

His eyes grew wide in fear as he saw the girl fall after crashing, and started to make his way back down as well, as fast as he could...which wasn't a good idea, as he failed to recognise, since the inclined ground beneath him started to crumble. Suddenly, his footing was lost, and he started to tumble over.

The world started to go out of vision as Brendan started to roll down the hill, the rocks beneath him jabbing painfully into his side as the warehouse fleetingly appeared every so often, intersperced with the ground. Finally, he came to a stop at the foot of the hill and the warehouse, his bag thrown in front of him next to the two girls.

For a while, he didn't realise anything was wrong as he steadied himself on his hands, trying to comprehend what stupid action lead him to his current situation. He seemed to be slightly hurt, his hands slightly grazed from the fall, but he quickly found a reason to cry for help now, cruelly twisting his role in the scene. Trying his best to stand up, he sharply exhaled when a sharp sting seemed to cripple his left foot.

Ohhhhshitshitshitshitshitshit, not now...

Bredndan pulled up his pants leg, all the while lifting his foot up into the air as to keep off pressure. He was no stranger to injuring this ankle in particular, so he knew what to do. Upon lifting up the cargo'd limb sleeve, he found the source of the pain. On his final fall, the moment when he was truly in the air, his leg had whipped itself around in his tumbling throes and cracked itself on a rock. Blood was seeping through his clean, brand-new socks, and Brendan's eyes went wide again. He hadn't twisted it, like he was so used to doing. He'd first known what to do in that situation after a tumble when he was 7, back when his father was flying for some obscure Laos airline, while trying to make his way through some thick grass in their back yard and stepping wrong. No, this was different. There was a gash, and although it hurt as much, no amount of rest and ice was going to fix this quickly.

His skin was actually cut open. Badly.

He turned, helplessly hopping around, to the two girls before him.

"Uhh..." Brendan muttered, with a sense of urgency in his voice "I hate to be a party-pooper or anything, but do either of you two know first aid or something?"

...yes, I just asked the girl who treated that girl at the clinic for her injuries whether she knew first aid. Ha ha ha.

[D/N]

Ugh. No bathroom? Well, she'd just need to hold it, she supposed. There was a sudden commotion outside, and Carly at first shrank back, not wanting to get involved.

Then George mentioned something about the lighthouse. Wait, what had that guy from the announcements said about that?

"Uh, didn't he say the lighthouse was one of those danger places or whatever?" she asked, then frowned. But if George had said that there were people running that way then that mean--

The words spilled out. "Oh god, do you think they're going there?! We... should we try to stop them?" Carly was starting to shake again. She suddenly wanted very much to be back in her hiding spot with no one else around. Then she could just stay there until... until what exactly? Until they made THIS place one of those danger spots and she just DIED there crying in the dark? Like they all probably EXPECTED her to die?

No. No. Carly clenched her fists, feeling the nails digging into her palms. She'd forgotten about her need to use the bathroom for now.

"We... we should try to stop them, shouldn't we George?" she said, then started to move towards the door. At least she could see if they were actually going there, and maybe they could all call them back together, and--

She got to the door just in time to see one girl crash into the warehouse side, while another boy was getting to his feet with blood all over his leg.

OH GAWD

Carly turned back to George and the other two in the warehouse. "S-Someone's hurt out there."

[Zabriel†]

Stacy found herself a little bewildered and didn't know just what to do. So she laughed. It wasn't that she found any of this comical, but the whole situation was so absurd. She just had to laugh.

Sarah had crashed into a wall and the boy had fallen down a hill. It was a little bit insane. She ignored the boy for a moment to go check on Sarah. She didn't know how bad his injuries were, but she needed to know that Sarah would be alright. She also wanted to see what Sarah had managed to gather at the clinic.

"Hey," Stacy murmured quietly to Sarah as she got close. "You okay?"

After a moment, the boy spoke up and drew attention to the fact that he was bleeding pretty badly. Stacy looked him over cringed a little.

"Oh damn. What've we got to work with? That's going to need to be cleaned and bandaged. Sarah, what did you manage to find at the clinic?" Stacy set her own bags down and started to look through Sarah's for alcohol or anything to clean wounds with.

[Arscapi†]

Marion rolled her eyes at the inaction that seemed to have grip the group. The biggest concern was for a washroom. A washroom, who talked like that anyway? She made way to the door just as Carly announced that there was someone hurt outside. Casting a glance back at the other two in the warehouse, she stuck her head out and peered at the pair outside.

"Hey," she said smiling at Stacy who was leaning over a boy she didn't recognize. "Anything we can do to help," she asked rummaging through her bag for the first aid kit she remembered seeing there. "Oh, and if you guys are heading to the lighthouse, you might want to think twice about it. I'm pretty sure the announcement said it was a danger zone."

She stopped in front of the pair offering them the first aid kit. "So, do you mind if I ask how you got hurt?"

[blastinus]

Judging by the thumps and the voices outside, a number of other people (or perhaps the same ones) had come by in a rather clumsy manner. Without any hesitation, George ran outside around the same time that Marion did and saw that a couple people had fallen against the warehouse's outer wall, and another was looking on with not-remotely disguised amusement. George was tempted to ask if they were okay, but stopped when the man who had fallen over pulled up his pants leg and revealed some deep cuts. The swimmer wasn't a medical student, but he had a hunch that this wasn't good, and he began to wonder whether he'd need to volunteer his medical kit to help the cut man and his friend.

Fortunately, Marion was already on top of things, running out to provide aid to the two people who injured themselves. As he watched her go to help them, a rather nasty thought was running through his mind. He wasn't sure that Carly would agree, but it was becoming obvious that having a group like this gathered in one spot was just inviting disaster. There'd have to be some sort of separation at some point or another, but he wasn't sure when that would be. He'd have to make sure that it happened soonish, before some maniac with a grenade tossed one into their midst.

In the meantime, he turned back to talk to Carly. "I think Marion's taking care of them," he said, missing no opportunity to state the obvious. "Stay here, okay? I'm gonna talk to...uh...that one." He gestured vaguely in the direction of the laughing girl, who had also begun to provide medical attention to her compatriots. He'd probably seen her before, but he couldn't place her, making things a little awkward so far as nomenclature was concerned.

"Hey, uh..." George said as he approached, still stumbling over Stacy's name. "Are you guys okay? Besides the obvious injuries, I mean. I mean, sure, it could have been a lot worse, what with running into a danger zone and all, but that still looks nasty and...uh..." George wasn't sure where he was going with this, so he decided to change the subject. "So...why were you going to the Lighthouse anyway? Anything good in there that would have been worth the trouble? 'Cause if you ask me, we could just wait until tomorrow, and the place would be safe again. Right?"

It's not like we have anywhere specific we need to get to right now.

[selphie_trabia†]

Sarah stood up and dusted herself off, shaking her head a little as she cleared the dizziness of crashing from it. Her first action was to run to Stacy and ensure that the other girl was uninjured. She still maintained the slightly worried expression on her face. Without any warning, Sarah grabbed Stacy's hands, turning them back and front a bit to ensure that the other girl had all her fingers, then just as suddenly let them go and put her hands on Stacy's shoulders, standing on tiptoes to scrutinise her face.

Once she had determined that the other girl was well and healthy, she began to answer Stacy's second question. Sarah slung her pack around from her side to the front with an odd hip-bumping movement, unzipping it to show Stacy what she had found. Before she could start explaining the various implements she had looted from the clinic's cabinet, she heard Brendan groan.

"Something... really bad happened at the clinic..." she began, but the groan made her spin around.

She rushed to Brendan's side, completely ignoring Marion, George and Stacy for the moment as she looked over his wound. Sarah's eyes narrowed. She gritted her teeth for a moment as she looked at the bleeding through the torn sock.

She was going to fix this.

"We need to clean it. Take off your sock." She said, her demeanour changing from frightened to determined.

She was going to make everything all better.

She pulled out the bottle of water she had in her pack as she pawed through the various objects she snagged from the clinic in her extra bag, trying to decide which chemicals would be best for cleaning and sterilising.

She was not going to let this boy end up like Charlotte and Jaclyn.

[Brackie]

Yep, turns out there were other people in the warehouses. They were big enough to hold anything, really, so there could be caged killers hiding in there as well. But luckily for him, there were friendly people. People who were being redundant in their worries about him going to the warehouses, but luckily also he wasn't really paying attention to it. What he was paying attention to was the fact that Sarah had now taken it upon herself to help him with his foot.

Oh, how the tides had turned.

Brendan found himself a flat rock to sit upon, on the hill and not that far away. After taking off his shoe and sock, extending his foot out to the air for the first time upon the island, he saw the extent of his injury. While the skin was cut open, it didn't look like it was going to be that bad, despite the amount of blood leaking out. He supposed that it would get worse without medical attention, but he left that to Sarah to work upon.

And then, the announcements came.

His voice, Danya's voice, his smug voice echoing throughout the island. He was a monster to Brendan, one who took such glee in listing the deceased. But he wasn't worried about his morality towards Danya.

What he was worried about was the fact that two of his friends were dead.

Dawne. The first on the roll. Died in a danger zone.

Jon. Someone he hadn't even bothered to think about because he was such a dick. Shot by Madeline Smith.

Brendan's hands stopped themselves from tearing out his hair by covering his mouth. His eyes...they couldn't have been more on fire, in pain. Fuck, Dawne? Jon? How...no. This wasn't really about him. He didn't know them as much as a certain other one of his friends. Chase...she was going to have a nervous breakdown! God, what was happening to her? Her friends, people who she knew more than he ever could, were dropping like flies in a gas storm. And he still hadn't found most of these people! He never would!

"Oh...oh god..." Brendan managed to make out, through the hand smothering his mouth.

It's...it's...it's...no. No please, please Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Muhammed, whoever's up there, just please let the rest of them be safe. Please?