Twists and turns

[decoy73]

While Trevor and Gary (but mostly Trevor) planned on the inevitable fight, Simon kept on going to his right, looking around as he tested (and failed to open) the locks on the boxes.

They're on my ass. Have to hurry. He was going quickly and getting frantic, so he started to skip over locks (Simon didn't know it, but it didn't matter all that much. The lock that the key did open wasn't in the building). As Simon reached the corner, he stopped and peeked around, noticing a figure.

Oh, shit. It's Trevor. (The figure in question was in fact Trevor, who was ready to fight and had just started moving from his position, although Simon had merely assumed) Simon quickly backpedaled and ran for the other side. All he had to do was not screw it up. Right now, he had three functions: find the locker, find Clio, escape. That was it.

As Simon rounded the other corner, he started to test the locks on the other side. Again, in his focus to move quickly and quietly, Simon missed a few locks (Still, it didn't matter. Simon was in the wrong building). As he tested key to (most of) the locks, Simon didn't notice the skinny guy (Gary) until he bumped into him (while enough to actually make an impact, it wasn't enough to knock anyone down). Simon scrabbled back, hands up, key once again visible. He didn't want to fight, he just wanted to find out if the key actually opened anything.

"Oh shit. Stay away. I don't want to fight you, but I will if you have to."

[VinnyMcQ†]

(Yoss hasn't actually moved Gary behind Simon judging by his last post, I'm not going to reference the collision just in case)

Trevor made his way forwards, trying to keep calm as he did so. This whole situation has just gone to shit. Things could seriously kick off here, and then what do I do? If he stopped to think rationally he might have thought Simon would have just been given a gun, rather than having to jump through hoops for it. But Trevor was of course not thinking rationally. He was jumping to conclusions and being quite paranoid. It was a recipe for disaster. Trevor didn't see Simon's head poking around the corner but since that was the only turn available he ended up following him anyway.

Trevor picked up his pace. I have to find him quickly, and then I can worry about what to do once I've caught him. Trevor imagined himself as a dog chasing a car. He spotted Simon just as he disappeared around a corner and ran after him, his coat flapping and his footfalls loud. There goes the element of surprise. Maybe that's a good thing. If he caught me sneaking up on him he might flip out. Trevor would have preferred to approach the situation calmly, take some time to think some appropriate last thoughts just in case but then resolve it without a fight. As it stood he was panicking, his thoughts were worry after worry and there was a real chance that it could come to blows.

The wildcard was Gary. He could make or break the situation. If he chose to fight then Simon was going down hard. If he was a peacemaker then maybe he could escape without bloodshed. Trevor stopped to catch his breath, then turned the corner and came face to back with Simon, who was luckily looking the other way.

[Yossarian†]

The dreadful feeling of paranoia started to overwhelm Gary. Trevor went ahead, 'Simon' was somewhere out there, the corridors made out of giant cargo boxes looked like they were tightening with each second.

The black haired boy started to breath heavily. He wasn't prepared for this. Sure, thanks to Rein and his dangerous hobby, he faced danger more than once and learned how operate in tight situations... But this was different. Goddamn maze, possibly filled with enemies out there to attack and strangle you. The feeling, that every single step made in the wrong direction maybe the last one, uncertainty, unknown face of the possible hostile, and... And this thick air which was hard to breath with. It all made Gary feel like he was going to show his gastric juices to the world.

And yet he went forward, even though Trevor, the last thing that was giving him the faintest feeling of security (ok, there was a nightstick, but Gary doubted he could really use it in the combat effectively), was gone.

Suddenly, a deja vu feeling hit Gareth, as someone AGAIN appeared just outside of the corner to bump with him. Once again, startled, Gary took a few steps back, while the other guy started to speak something incomprehensible for black haired boy's ears. The guy (probably 'Simon') sounded more aggressive than Trevor though, which wasn't really helping with Gary's current mental state.

And then he snapped. Too much tension and pressure suddenly decided to leave his body in one attack of tears which made him fall down on his knees. Prepared to be hit, he dropped his weapon and started covering his head with his hands

"S-STOP!" Gary started to speak with his shaken voice as tears kept escaping from his eyes. "Don't kill me. Why are you even doing it? C-Can't we just talk peacefully instead of... H-hurting each other." The boy had a problem with speaking as his breath became even more ragged and tears found the way toward his throat via opened mouth. The whole outburst was pretty pointless, as 'Simon' probably wasn't going to attack him in the first place, but consumed by the pressure, he didn't know that.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Loud cry echoed through the warehouse.

[decoy73]

The skinny guy that Simon bumped into did seem quite dangerous - he held some sort of club in one of his hands. (Simon didn't realize it just yet, but Gary was in fact the least dangerous of the three people inside, being the least athletic and the most rational of the group). So Simon was a little shocked when Gary took the least expected course of action (to Simon, at least. A neutral observer wouldn't be very surprised at all): Gary dropped his club, fell to his knees, and started bawling.

"S-STOP! Don't kill me. Why are you even doing it? C-Can't we just talk peacefully instead of... H-hurting each other?"

Wait. He isn't playing? While Simon didn't fully know if Gary was acting (he wasn't), it did calm Simon down enough to the point of being kind of rational. Like Gary, Simon had no desire to get into a fight. He just wanted to find the correct lock, get something more useful than a key, find Clio and his friends from the wrestling team, and get off the island.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Simon hastily stepped back, trying not to fall on his ass. Did I just break him? Simon put his hands up.

"No. No! I'm not playing! I don't want to hurt you. Just ... stop screaming! That Trevor guy might think that something's actually happening!" Simon quickly ran out what he needed to say, trying to be loud enough for Gary to hear him over his bawling from a distance of seven feet, but quietly enough so that Trevor wouldn't find him.

Come on, calm down! If Trevor finds us like this, he'll take me out!

[Fanatic†]

((Teo Weinstock continued from Resolve))

It had been a relatively short jog to reach the buildings Teo had spotted in the distance. At first according to his map he was sure that they would be in town by now but as the large shapes loomed closer he realised that he had somehow got turned around and ended up closer to the warehouses. There wasn't much point in staying long but there might be something of use in one of the crates. May as well have a quick look around, see if anything, or anyone inside could help. Hopefully if the duo was fast enough they could make it to town and hole up somewhere by nightfall.

Heading over to a staff door closest to the path that Nick and Teo had followed the boys pushed up against the wall. Teo took a quick look at the door itself. The lock had been smashed open with something heavy, splinters of wood were scattered all around the area. Someone had broken in here and they hadn't been subtle about it. Truth be told the smashed lock was the entrance that Danya's sweepers had used to gain access to the warehouse itself but Teo was convinced instead that one of the other students was wielding something hefty, and was very much not afraid to use it. Motioning to the door Teo smiled at Nick thinly. "We'll at least they don't have a gun right?"

Gently pushing the door open with his foot Teo quickly took two steps back, Crossbow at the ready. The place was pitch black. Motioning for Nick to take out his flashlight Teo scanned the entrance for signs of movement or noise. There was a clattering noise as Nick fumbled with the flashlight and dropped it on to the hard pavement. Teo gave him a quick annoyed look and then rolled his eyes before tilting his head towards the doorway. Flicking the beam on the two boys stepped carefully in to the darkness, the beam of light illuminating large red and blue crates as far as the light allowed them. Reaching out with his spare hand Teo flicked the light switches near the doorway on and off. Nothing. Cursing softly he drew along side of Nick as the echo-y voices of the three boys already deep within the warehouse wafted towards them. Neither of the two could make out what anyone was saying, the reverberation and size of the building distorting the sound in to incomprehensible jargon. Leaning towards Nick Teo furrowed his brow.

"Should we go check that out? If you want to, you take the lead and I'll cover you with the crossbow, just watch your corners." Teo looked to the side, his eyes starting to adjust to the dimmer lighting of the building. "Or we could get out and try and make it to town before nightfall. Either way, I've got your back."

for now he thought to himself as he awaited Nick's response.

[Ruggahissy]

((Nick LeMonde continued from Resolve))

Nick took a moment to recover once they were outside of the building. He wiped his forehead and crept silently after Teo, trying his best not to make any unfortunate mistakes that would give them away. His streak was broken however, when he reached for his flashlight, fumbled and sent it rolling around on the floor. He smiled apologetically at Teo and picked up as quickly as he could. Inside he walked carefully around the building, looking at the stacks of crates. He walked up to one of the crates and pushed it gently. It didn't seem to contain anything.

The soft waves of echoing voices floated into the room. Nick could make out two, maybe three voices, but there was no telling how many people were deeper inside the warehouse.

"Should we go check that out? If you want to, you take the lead and I'll cover you with the crossbow, just watch your corners. Or we could get out and try and make it to town before nightfall. Either way, I've got your back."

Nick nodded and leaned in close.

"Let's go check it out quickly. If we don't see anything worth hanging around for or if we walk into something we'd be better off not being involved in, we'll leave. Maybe we can make it to that town like you said. I'll go in first since I got the.....this thing and you got the range weapon," he said hefting up his hunga munga.

Nick clicked off his flashlight, blinked a few times trying to adjust better to the dimmer light, and walked heel to toe trying to be quiet. As he got closer, one of the voices stood out to Nick from the others.

"I think I know one of them," he whispered back at Teo.

[selphie_trabia†]

((Sarah Tan arrives from Jack Sparrow Irony))

Sarah scarpered down the tiny trail that led from the lighthouse to the warehouses, a small cloud of dirt, dust and rocks spinning up from under her shoes. She took a moment to look around, assessing her location.

"Hm..." she thought as she consulted her map.

As far as she knew, so long as she kept hugging the shoreline to her left, she should be able to find her way to the infirmary. The sun was already midway through the sky by the time she arrived at the warehouses – she'd have to hurry if she were to make it back to the lighthouse at the time she promised.

She looked around, spotting Nick and Teo's retreating backs as they entered the warehouses. The boys were too far away for her to recognise either of them, but she did see the glint of light bounce off Nick's weapon as he disappeared through the warehouse door.

Seeing the boys made Sarah realise that she wasn't really all that alone on the island. She was starting to regret not bringing any further lower-body coverings, but she'd only brought skirts on the trip and they wouldn't have been any good if she were making a quick getaway. They'd snag on things at inopportune moments - she'd watched enough TV to know that much. Still, she was a little embarrassed.

Since she'd arrived at the warehouses, she must be pointed in the right direction. Sarah followed the shoreline and continued on her way.

((Sarah Tan continues on in Walkabout.))

[VinnyMcQ†]

Trevor could hear voices all over the warehouse. I should have known people would bunch up in buildings. Safer than being outside. Except now that everyone's doing it its no safer at all! Fuck, I need to get out of here. But I can't just abandon Gary. Trevor looked forwards. At the end of the box corridor he could see Simon standing over the fallen figure of Gary. And Gary was crying, pleading for his life by the sound of it. Trevor had to act fast. This was no time for being stealthy. Goddamn it all this time I thought we had the drop on him. We could sort it out quickly, no need for anyone to get hurt. And all this time he was hunting us. And those others, they're going to come here and, and who knows what'll happen. I have to end this now .

Trevor swung the hoe hard into the nearest container. If the loud noise wasn't enough to distract Simon he added to it by yelling at the top of his voice.

'Hey Simon! Leave him alone. You wanna fight someone you can fight me!'

He took off running full pelt towards Simon. Never mind that all he had was a hoe. Or that they were clearly no longer alone and he should high tail it out of there as fast as possible. Never mind he was about to do exactly what Danya wanted. Maybe if he'd been a football player this would have been the smartest move. Trevor was about to get within arms reach of someone he certainly didn't want to be in arms reach of. Thinking quick Trevor swung his back towards Simon's face. It wasn't heavy enough to knock him over, but maybe he wouldn't find himself him a chokehold as soon as he reached him.

'Here, catch!'

[Yossarian†]

After a few seconds, Gary, still a bit choking thanks to the salty tears, started calming down a bit. Partly because 'Simon' didn't attack him and instead tried to stop the flow of tears from Gary, and partly because Gareth realized something.

Come on Gary. You are currently live broadcasted on the national TV, and you look like a terrible crybaby. LITERALLY!

Finally the river of tears stopped and Gary tried to take a few deep breaths to stop the shaking of his body. And then...

"Hey Simon! Leave him alone. You wanna fight someone you can fight me!"

...Trevor suddenly appeared and attacked 'Simon'. That was too much.

"JESUS CHRIST!" Gary shouted as the scuffle began.

Gary already knew the taste of life threatening situations during bike trips, climbing, diving and a few other things, all thanks to Rein. And now he could add the cat and mouse games in a claustrophobic environment to the collection, even if the situation was a complete misunderstanding. To every dangerous situation, there was a solution, or at least a useful trick to help you stay alive. In this case, as Gary noticed, it was 'Run away as far as you can during the first occasion possible'. Fight between Trevor and 'Simon' was the first occasion possible. He knew that Trevor attacked to protect him, and now in addition to a crybaby, he'll also look like a coward in people's eyes, but that didn't matter. He just wanted to live, and fast escape had the best chance of achieving the goal.

Gary picked up his nightstick from the ground, stood up and without giving the fight a second look, he ran. He ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where he should run so he just took random turns. If he had some less luck he would probably get terribly lost in the tight corridors, but somehow Gary managed to reach the exit after some time.

Only, it wasn't over, as he stumbled upon two other people who just entered the warehouse. And one of them had a crossbow. Not good. Gary quickly put his hands in the air, still holding the nightstick.

"S-s-stop! Don't shoot!"

Oh God, please not again...

[decoy73]

((GMing of Trevor Duncan approved by VinnyMcQ))

As Simon watched Gary blubber over the nonexistent threat of getting beaten to death, he started hearing voices outside. He almost didn't hear them because of a nearby clang. Simon turned towards the source of the noise.

"Hey Simon! Leave him alone. You wanna fight someone you can fight me!" There stood the taller skinny guy known as Trevor, with his bags around his shoulder, and what seemed to be a long stick in his hand (On closer inspection, one could note that it was a hoe). Simon was about to attempt to explain his side of the story when Trevor started to run towards him.

"Here, catch!" Simon did the only thing he could as Trevor turned his back towards him: he crouched down and charged directly towards Trevor. As Trevor went into arms reach of Simon, Simon wrapped his arms around Trevor's legs, picked him up and ran the two of them into the wall of containers behind Trevor. As they made contact with the boxes, both Simon and Trevor let out a deep breath upon contact before they hit the floor, temporarily stunned from the force of the impact ...

As Simon blinked the stars out of his eyes, he looked around. He was lying on his back, perpendicular to the wall, his feet about a foot away from the containers. As he craned his neck up, he could see a metallic glint on the floor near his right foot. His key. To his left, he could hear a low moaning. He looked to his left to see Trevor stirring from his five second period of unconsciousness. On a good note, Trevor had dropped his hoe, however, due to their positions when they had struck the wall, Trevor was now lying on top of Simon's prosthetic leg.

Immediately, Simon sat up, and pushed Trevor off (Due to his left leg being prosthetic, he was less able to simply pull it out as opposed to his natural right leg). As Simon looked at Trevor's face, he almost noted the nosebleed Trevor had obtained from striking the containers. Of course, he wasn't really thinking about that. He simply picked up his key, and ran out (As Simon's bags had been around his shoulders the entire time, they had managed to stay in that position) as fast as he could away from Trevor (Simon didn't realize it, but he was going in the same general direction as Gary, who had cleared out at the first possible opportunity). The only real sign of an exit was the voices of the other people (of course, Simon's thoughts were along the line of "get the hell out," rather than "don't get caught getting the hell out"). As Simon saw the light, he ran, only to notice three people there: one was Gary, the guy at the door with the crossbow he didn't know, but the tall brown haired guy with the weird scythe thingy ...

"Nick?"

[Fanatic†]

Teo was beginning to think that every one of his classmates had somehow lost all their common sense given the interactions he had experienced. Half of them were running around screaming and pleading not to be killed, the other simply taking the whole thing a joke. He had started to let his guard down now that he hadn't actually seen anyone who he could imagine pose any threat whatsoever to his safety, plus the appearance of the blood covered Liz had made everything seem a little off kilter.

So when the two boys appeared around the corner, the first one surrendering within seconds, the second one staring dumbfounded at the two boys Teo neither relaxed, nor squeezed the trigger of the crossbow.

When Simon called out to Nick Teo looked at his companion.

"Wrestling buddy Nick?"

Slowly moving his crossbow between Gary and Simon Teo's face took on a steely expression. "You know, we really should sort out if we're playing or not. All this tension is definitely not good for anyone. So I think I have to ask: either of you got anything useful you'd like to contribute? Cause now is the time to say it if so."

Teo had quite frankly had enough of everything on this island. People were being stupid - what was the point of surrendering in a situation like this, it was kill or be killed. If someone threatening wanted to they would of killed them by now and moved on, if not, there wasn't any point in surrendering in the first place, you gave away that you were weak and spineless. Teo was a man of action, he hated not doing things, and worst of all he hated not being in control. The nagging competitive streak he always had in him was gnawing away at the moral justifications that he had put in place when he initially decided not to play. Everyone he met was a buffoon and had nothing to contribute. If there was no chance, why not play?

Hell his people had suffered persecution before and what did they get out of it? Nothing, that's what. You got to do what you need to to survive and Teo Weinstock wasn't about to be brought low by a bunch of cowards and nutters.

"So speak up then."

[Ruggahissy]

More crashing and yelling swept down the hall from somewhere further inside the darkened warehouse. A figure suddenly came down the hall way; out of pure reaction Nick took a few large strides forward and swung his weapon.

"S-s-stop! Don't shoot!"

He stopped his three blades all perilously close to the boy's chest.

"Dude, you shouldn't run around screaming like that."

Why was that my first reaction? Why? I almost buried a metal rod with all kinds of pointy sharpness right into him. Because that girl....it's a game of death. People are going to go around killing each other. Maybe I don't have a choice, or maybe that's all I have. Live or die. I want to live. No one can blame me for that.

"Nick?"

He looked past the nervous boy and squinted at the new figure that had arrived.

"Hi Simon," he said, now with only the slightest touch of his usual cheerful greetings.

"Uh hu, we're on wrestling together..." he said in reply to Teo.

No one would blame him for killing, it was all very understandable. Either kill or wait to be killed. It was simple. The rules were explained. The rules don't care about you and the rules say that you must kill. They had to kill, but just because they had to kill, that didn't mean they still couldn't be civil about it. No mutilation, no excessive pain, no taunting, respect any last request.

"Yeah. Let's take 'em out," he croaked out through his dry throat. "We'll take this guy first, give Simon a head start. Cause he's a friend."

[VinnyMcQ†]

Once again Trevor found himself flat on his back on the warehouse floor. Except this time he hurt all over. What the hell happened there? He wasn't used to pain, the worst he'd got was sitting in on a Thai class and having to block the kicks of a paramedic built like a brick shit house. His whole leg had bruised for a week. Trevor felt a warmth trickle down his face. Gingerly he reached up. Blood. Did I break my nose? No, did /he/ break my nose? It doesn't feel broken, hurts like hell though. Maybe that means it is? Trevor wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve and pinched his nose. This stops the bleeding right? How long's it been? Years since I had a nosebleed. And they always just happened, not anything like this.

Trevor leant against the containers and caught his breath. It was useless to go after Simon now. If Gary was lucky he'd made it out while he'd been distracted for all of two minutes. Next time I think I'll just shoot him. If I get a gun. Trevor wanted nothing more than to just leave. To escape the humiliation he'd just been dealt. He's got one fucking leg! He's a one legged short guy and he just took you down no sweat. How the fuck did that happen? With a groan Trevor got up. He could hear voices and it wouldn't do him any good to sit and seethe silently while yet more people entered the warehouse. Eventually he'd never be able to get out unnoticed. Whoever it is I hope they gut you Simon. And Gary if you didn't fucking escape after all that then what the fuck man. I can't help you.

Scooping up his pack and 'weapon' Trevor walked away from the voices. They were hurting his head anyway. He just needed to get somewhere quiet and rest. Get to grips with the situation. Regroup and come back stronger from it. I'm making too big a deal about this. I was so sure I was going to kick his ass though. Now I'm not sure about anything. I can't even look after myself let alone anyone else. Eventually he reached a door and heavily pushed it open.

He stepped out onto the island.


(Trevor Duncan continued in Morning Comes Slowly)

[Yossarian†]

Oh my God, I should have stay with Trevor. This is way worse than before...

Gary stared at the crossbow guy, and the other boy wielding some weirdly shaped... Spear thingy of African origin as far as Gary remembered from history lessons. It was still meant to kill though, so the threat from it was just as real as from sudden bolt to the chest.

Soon, Simon (now confirmed by the guy wielding the spear who was apparently called Nick) joined him and stared at the armed visitors. Trevor was nowhere to be found, although Gary doubted Trevor would want to see him again after such an act of cowardice.

And then, came the even worse: They were talking about taking him and Simon out. Gary realized, in how much fucked up situation he was. He was smaller, weaker, and at least one of the attackers was ALSO a wrestler. The only way he could survive, would be to use Simon as a distraction an run away, or try to persuade Nick and the other guy to stop this madness. Since Nick suggested taking out Gary first, option #1 was highly unlikable.

"W-wait!" Gary said. "Y-you don't need to do this. You don't want to be a killers just because D-Danya said so, right?"

Every single word he spouted was giving away a clear signal: 'Gary Griffith is scared like fuck'.

[decoy73]

((GMing of Nick LeMonde done with permission from Ruggahissy))

Simon was actually feeling slightly relieved. Nick was the first person he'd met on the island who seemed to be considering the idea of teaming up. It was then that the guy with the crossbow (Teo, although the name didn't immediately come to mind) decided to speak up, first asking if Nick knew Simon, which Nick confirmed, although he sounded ... off. He didn't sound very happy to meet Simon. Then Teo spoke up again, moving his aim between Simon to Gary.

"You know, we really should sort out if we're playing or not. All this tension is definitely not good for anyone. So I think I have to ask: either of you got anything useful you'd like to contribute? Cause now is the time to say it if so. So speak up then."

"Uh, I've got a key. It probably opens something on the island. All we have to find is a locker marked '361.' Who knows? There could be something useful there ..." Simon showed the key in his right hand.

"Yeah. Let's take 'em out. We'll take this guy first, give Simon a head start. Cause he's a friend."

"Nick, come on! This is serious! Look at me! I'm big, I'm strong, I can help out. And besides, we're friends! Friends don't kill friends! It's not honorable!" Nick just swung the hand with the scythe in a controlled motion, from his left to his right. The signal was clear: Simon was going to have to fight to leave alive. Simon just put his key in his pocket and raised his hands, keeping his eyes on Nick the whole time. Simon was already planning his escape. He had to make sure of every possible contingency - just like preventing a bug in an iPhone app.

"Okay. Point taken." He looked at Gary for a second before bringing his eyes back to Nick. "No secrets between friends: if I die here, burn my body. Always wanted the urn-burial." Simon still had his copy of the Iliad with him. The death and burial of Patroclus did bring a tear to his eye. Simon could have thought about that story all day had a sharp crackling not filled the air, followed by a slow clap.

"Kids, I have to say that I'm truly impressed with your first day showing. Blood! Tragedy! Explosions! Mayhem! You've utterly SMASHED the record for first day kills; it makes an old man proud to see you all taking his instructions so thoroughly to heart! Congratulations to those of you that are still alive, because you've already outlasted 19 of your classmates."

Danya decided to speak up for his daily announcement. It was then that Simon sprung into action (a little sooner than planned, but the announcement actually made for a welcome distraction) - while everyone was distracted, Simon charged forward in a bull rush towards Nick. When he was about five feet away, Nick caught Simon's movement and reflexively swung his blade(s). Simon didn't even have to duck to avoid it as he tackled Nick, wrapping his arms around Nick's legs (If Simon weren't so focused on the task at hand, he'd be wondering if he was going to be making a habit out of tackling people). As it were, Simon's only thought was shouted out as loud as possible:

"GARY GET OUT OF HERE!"