Walking in Circles

[Slayer†]

OOC: Reeves continued from Freiheit unerreichbar. I'll have more time to worry about better posts (considering this one's just been kind of thrown up) when I'm NOT desperately trying to save my characters. I swear, I finally get time to do any writing at all and I'm told my characters are about to be killed the second I wake up. XD
IC:

Nothing had gone as planned in Reeves' attack on the girls at the field. Not only had that Cooper asshole show up at the last second to pull their butts out of the fire, but Reeves hadn't even killed Cooper either. Then there was the fact that the field had subsequently turned into a danger zone, causing him to have to flee for his life. The only good thing that had come out of it was that he'd gotten out alive, though so had everyone else. They didn't seem to have noticed who he was, so at least he had that advantage.

When the latest announcement had gone off, Adam Reeves' reaction was rather different than that of most people. Already used to the horror of the game, he wasn't as much sickened as relieved, but also very confused. He could tell he was very close to the end of the game, but still, he couldn't help but wonder why Danya wasn't announcing the killers anymore, or how so many people seemed to have spontaneously died in one day.

That bastard Dodd's dead? I suppose that's one less thing to worry about, but I wanted my revenge...

Adam recognised most of the names on the announcements, and couldn't help but wonder how all of them had managed to simply die, especially since he remembered a lot of them as having been very tough. Still, he couldn't afford to dwell on it, he had to keep moving. Every death was one step closer to winning SOTF. So what if he had only killed one person, he thought while his feet crushed the dirt and mud of the trail under his feet, it seemed the rest of the class was perfectly willing to do so for him.

Not exactly the glorious victory I had in mind, but all that matters at the end of the day is that I'm alive.

Adam had been hoping for an action-packed game, where he slaughtered his way through the rest of his classmates, but it seemed that wasn't to be yet. Still, as long as he was still alive, he was happy, and he could fight. The battle could wait, it'd come eventually. He didn't even notice that he now looked like hell, drenched with water and mud and sweat while both hair and beard were matted and tangled, leaves and dirt (among other things) stuck in the mass. There was very little to break the monotony of the jungle and trail, but he had gotten used to that over the ten days or so of the game.

Tree, rock, log, tree, tree, fallen tree, quicksand? Anyway, another tree, another log...wait, didn't I walk past that log a few minutes ago?

He didn't know why he'd recognised that particular log, but something about the moss covering it had caused it to be familiar to him, and it was only then that he realised he had been walking in circles for the past hour.

"God DAMN it! I'm lost, aren't I?"

[Mandy Rin†]

((Amanda Redder continued from Secret Tunnel. Sorry about this, but you're practically the only thread that hasn't been privatized, and Amanda's looking for a last hurrah.))

"God DAMN it! I'm lost, aren't I?"

Finally emerging from one of the many entrances to the caves, Amanda was greeted with a familiar yet unwelcome voice. Peering through the bushes, a quick glance confirmed her suspicions. Adam Reeves. 'The Other Adam'. The psycho, tank of a man.

She didn't like him. Did anyone? Everything about him seemed to scream 'danger', and not in the cool, sexy way that girls typically like. In the creepy, gun-toting, abusive boyfriend way. In the 'get the fuck away if you value your virtue' way.

He deserved to win like Gandhi deserved death.

She recalled Rick and Dawson. They were playing - they were participating in this sick, twisted game of Musical Chairs. They were pushing and shoving, but only those that didn't deserve to win. This guy would count, right? Violent, scary Reeves. Yet... no-one deserves death. But if you don't deserve to win, the only alternative is death.

She could talk to him. Try to form an alliance. Sleep with one eye open and both hands on her weapon. But if she called out to him and things went bad... if he was playing, she'd be dead before she could scream 'truce'. Sure, she was quick and agile, and perhaps she could play the Westley to his Fezzik a la The Princess Bride, but she didn't want to take that chance.

She could just walk away. Hide, like she's been doing this entire game. It's seemed to work. But sooner or later she'd have to face conflict. And what better time than now? This was a game of survival. Sooner or later, she would have to kill, if she were to survive. No matter how repulsive it was to her. Dog eat dog. Student kill student. She knew that now - the announcement had only served to remind and reinforce this knowledge.

This is it. The music's stopped. Time to find a chair. What will it be, Amanda? Sit out or play on?

Quietly, stealthily, drawing on all her experience in mock-combat, she aimed her weapon. 'Has to be done. Don't think about it. Don't think. Don't think.' A squeeze of the trigger, and a grenade flew directly at Reeves' feet, exploding on impact.

[Slayer†]

Oddly enough, Adam received a response almost as soon as the words left his mouth, though the response was nonverbal. In the early morning, the part of the jungle he stood in was unusually quiet, so his ears were able to pick up on the sound of the bushes to his right rustling some, as if something (someone?) were moving through them. This made him curious, and he tossed his sword to the side so that it was in the treeline and out of the way, dropping the pack to the ground as he cautiously pulled his pistol from his pocket and turned towards the source of the noise. He was pretty sure it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him this time, gripping his gun in both hands but not yet raising it.

What's in that bush? An animal? A student? Maybe they're not playing, I can use them as a meatshield or something.

A few seconds passed. First there was nothing, and Adam squinted, an annoyed expression crossing his features at the thought of him getting worked up over nothing. Then there was the sound of movement again, and something started to be pushed through the bushes. That something turned out to be the barrel of some kind of weapon, and his eyes widened in shock.

SHIT! It's a player! They've got a gun!

Once this was all over, a part of Adam's mind would find it ironic that he'd be ambushed only a day after ambushing two people himself, but at the moment all he could think of was getting the hell out of there. Turning around and sprinting as hard as he could, he was able to put enough distance between himself and the attacker to duck behind a tree just as the explosion rang out, the tree being repeatedly smacked by shrapnel.

A grenade launcher? This isn't good, this is not fucking good! No...calm down, Adam. You never won a tournament by panicking, did you? You can do this, it's either kill or be killed. Whoever this kid is, they ain't lettin' you go in one piece.

Adam suddenly felt a cold sweat run down his body at the thought. This wasn't like with Kathleen, or the two girls at the field. This time he really didn't have a choice. Poking his head back out around the tree he'd taken cover behind, he tried to see the bush that the person had fired from and tried to ignore the partially-shredded pack. He couldn't see the exact one, but he had to guess. The motion was almost too natural, the pistol swinging up as his finger wrapped around the trigger. Once he'd taken aim at the general area of the bush he thought the shooter was hiding in, he let two shots loose, ducking back behind the tree.

[Mandy Rin†]

Fuck!

How had he done that? Who dodges a grenade?! What kind of freak dodges a grenade?! By all rights he should be in pieces!

The dust that had been kicked up from the explosion distracted her for a minute, and the next thing Amanda knew, Adam was heading for the trees. He peeked out from behind the trunk, and for a split second she though he would run. She took aim again, ready to turn his cover into firewood. Two loud bangs, and she dropped on instinct. 'Well fuck me with a chainsaw, Tank Man has a gun.' The first bullet whizzed wide, but the second one came too close for comfort, cutting through a nearby branch and showering her cheeks with splinters.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, damn.' She should just run now. Cut her losses and run. This is stupid, insane, what on earth was she thinking?!

Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she ignored it. Instead, she aimed and fired at the tree that had sheltered him, maintaining her crouch as she herself relocated behind a tree.

[Slayer†]

Adam had gotten lucky when he'd managed to reach the tree before the grenade blew, but apparently he hadn't downed the hostile, as shortly after he'd ducked back behind the tree it, well, exploded. The enemy had fired another grenade, and it'd hit the tree right above where Adam's head was, sending leaves and wood splinters everywhere. Forcing down a shout of surprise and some pain (as a good few splinters and shrapnel fragments gave him shallow cuts), he leaned out from the now blown-in-half tree again and took aim. The opponent was gone, but he fired a shot just to trick them into putting their head down before running across to another, sturdier, tree.

Where the fuck is this idiot?

Firing into the bush hadn't worked, so either he'd simply missed or the opponent moved. Fighting to regain control of his breathing, all he could think about was where that asshole could possibly be. He had to draw them out of cover or something, but how could he do that?

Maybe it's time to just shut up and listen.

Had there not been a murderous classmate out for his blood, he would've chuckled. Instead, Adam did his best to remain deathly quiet, focusing on the sounds around him in the hopes that he'd be able to pick up something that might give him a clue as to where the player was.

[Mandy Rin†]

You know what Amanda missed?

She missed painball guns. She missed teammates. She missed time outs and ice cream and Coke. But what pissed her off most of all was that once again, she missed Adam Fucking Reeves.

The tree was taken care of rather spectacularly, though she was upset at her lack of foresight – next time, she was to aim just above the roots. More chance of collateral damage. Another gunshot, and she flinched, jerking slightly back behind the tree, but only obscuring her view for a moment. When one hears a gunshot, it's generally too late to do any dodging, so really, what was the point? Yet she couldn't control the involuntary twitch as the bang resounded throughout the area. From the looks of it, he was shooting blindly. Maybe he'd run out of bullet. Maybe he'd panic. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

She saw him flit behind a tree, just a momentary glimpse, but she was sure it was him and if it wasn't then she had just lost her advantage and she might as well eat a grenade and call it a day. He had found another tree – a thicker tree. He would need a thicker tree – he was a large guy, and difficult to hide. The grenades should be able to make short work of this one as well... but should she take a chance? She wasn't meant to be making bark chips, here.

Amanda crouched behind the tree, using the nearby bushes as additional cover. She took careful, quiet aim again, quickly this time, aiming for the ground just behind the tree where Adam hid. Even if she was wrong, she should deal some severe damage. She tree behind Reeves might even come down, if she was lucky. One grenade launched, a quick adjustment of aim, and another. And if he came out of this one without a scratch, then she'd start worrying.

[Slayer†]

By now, Adam was fighting hard to stop the feeling of terror from taking his mind over. There was someone with a grenade launcher trying to kill him, he had no idea where they were, they apparently knew exactly where he was, and all he had was a handgun. His ears were ringing from the explosions and his own shots, but he wasn't entirely deafened yet. Not hearing anything from the player, he'd crouched down and started moving quickly but quietly into the treeline and jungle next to the tree he'd hid behind when the explosions rang out.

Two grenades landed right where he'd just been, shrapnel gouging past his leg and a couple pieces lodging into the meat of his thigh as the tree crashed to the ground with its roots blown out. The noise this created masked Adam's howl of pain as blood rushed down his left leg, which was good for him as he desperately tried to move further into the tree cover. As far as he could tell at the moment, they were only flesh wounds, but he wouldn't really be able to tell for a while, all he knew was that it hurt like fuck and he had to keep going.

They won't see me as easily in here, I can get my bearings.

Adam had moved far enough back that, while he could see the trail, there'd be enough cover from the shade and trees that seeing him would become more difficult unless he stepped out from cover or the shooter was also there with him. Of course, he knew the opponent would still see him if they looked directly at him, and the tradeoff was that Adam wouldn't be able to see them as well either, but it'd buy him some time. He wasn't stupid, though, they'd be able to tell he wasn't dead and would probably start looking for him before long. Once they weren't hiding and shooting at him for more than a couple seconds, he'd at least be able to make out their outline, more if they moved into the treeline.

And an outline's all I need to send some bullets their way. Come on, prick, take the bait!

Slowly peeking his head out to look ahead, he didn't see any movement, sidestepping to the next tree to his left while bringing up the gun. His back to the tree bark, he again looked out, trying to ignore the blood flowing from his leg as he took aim, steeling himself to shoot at the first humanoid figure he saw passing through the trees. He'd probably have to keep moving, but at least where he was there was a chance to at least pick up on the sound of the opponent's movement.

[Mandy Rin†]

She thought she heard a howl of pain as the tree toppled, but the explosion and aftermath caused too much noise to be sure. It was likely that she was just imagining it. If it was real, that meant Adam was most likely still Adam-shaped, and nobody wanted that. Well, nobody whose opinion mattered. It was possible that she was hearing things – her mind sometimes liked to prey on her fears like that. Either way, she'd have to confirm the kill. She'd seen enough horror movies to know that.

A rustle, another, and she was certain that he was on the move, and thus not dead. For a second she thought she had lost him, the disturbance of the falling tree giving him too much cover. But he kept moving after things had more or less settled, and she picked up his trail. She could see branches sway every now and again, but once she thought she had a lock on his location, he'd retreat further into the jungle. He wasn't a stealthy guy, so she could follow him with her eyes if she focused, utilizing every hint and tip and trick she had ever learnt when splattering friends with paint pellets. It was very fortunate for her that stealth was so crucial here – he was as stealthy as an elephant.

Which just made her failure to secure a kill shot all the more frustrating and now, she'd admit, concerning. 'Come on! He's a slow, huge-ass target, and you've had a million paintball and airsoft sessions! This is not hard!'

It took all her willpower not to step out from behind the trees. Searching while hiding was difficult – if she were playing paintball, she would have taken a chance here and dashed toward a different tree for a better view. Should she take a chance? Did he have any clue as to her location? No, he couldn't – he would have fired by now if he did. Maybe he couldn't fire – maybe she blew off his arms. But then there would be more groaning and moaning and less running, so maybe not. Maybe he had a head wound and was dizzy – she could quickly come up behind him, grab his gun, shot to the head... No, no, that was stupid. Stop being stupid, Amanda – this isn't a game.

She had a rather accurate idea of where her prey was hiding - further into the trees. Amanda was glad that her weapon was so generalized in its destructive capabilities – she didn't have to be one hundred percent accurate, or have a clear view of the victim. 'Victim'. Funny word for a classmate.

Quickly this time, she just poked out from behind her tree and sent a grenade just behind and to the left of the tree she suspected he was hiding behind, hoping that if she was wrong, he was at least in that area, immediately and sending another one to the right of the tree, hoping against hope that she hadn't just given away her position.

[Slayer†]

Adam had just ducked back behind the tree from looking out at the trail when the trees in front of his exploded. The mysterious shooter had hit them both with grenades, causing one to be knocked over and the other to be reduced to a shower of shrapnel and splinters that threatened to tear right through Adam's cover. That, needless to say, came as a surprise, but Adam knew full well he'd never been the most stealthy of people. He was just too big, too loud, and too impatient, all of which were things that were biting him in the ass at the moment. Once the storm of fragments settled down, Adam shifted his position while forcing down another howl from the pain in his leg, taking aim and firing two rounds at a random spot. The sound of the opponent's weapon had seemed like it was coming from the direction he fired at, so he hoped he'd either suppress or hit the opponent.

No time to worry about that, gotta keep going.

This player had taught Adam one important thing; always keep moving in a firefight. So once he'd fired, he got into a crouching stance and ran towards some trees further down the "line" (for lack of a better term) of trees he was in. Stopping about four trees down, he hunkered down behind the tree he'd reached and favoured his leg. He'd have to wash it and stuff once the fight was over. Looking back out, for a second he could've sworn he'd seen a person's outline, or at least a flash of movement. Not willing to take any chances, he took the gun up and fired three shots there, hoping that if it wasn't his attacker he'd at least keep them too distracted to level another shot.

[Mandy Rin†]

((Editing post 'cause I gotta die.))

The dust settled. It was quiet. If anyone were to wander across them now, it would look as though Amanda were merely taking out some target practice on the trees, or was experimenting with a new method of cutting and splitting logs. That was until two shots rang out – both whizzing past, one hitting a trunk two trees away. Looked like he now had a vague idea of where he should be aiming. Yay.

There was more rustling, and she watched warily as Adam lumbered to her right, four trees down from his original position... and now at the perfect angle to see her. She stared at him for a moment, in a sluggish, surreal kind of shock, before she ducked around her tree, just as Adam's gun discharged three more times. One bullet hit the tree, but the second burrowed into her right breast and out just to the left of her spine, causing her to barely notice as the third nicked the trunk, newly crafted splinters informing her that that was way, way, WAY too close for comfort Her cheeks stung from the impact of the shards, and she dazedly had to put her fingers to her face to check that she wasn't bleeding, but her fingers came away red, and was that from her face or from the bullet wound?

'Fuck. Woah. Ow, ow, ow, ow, fuckity, ow. So dizzy. Stay alert. This is fine... Just a little blood... You're fine... Just need to... lie down a little... after kill him... little bit of rest...'

Panic and pain enveloped her, and she could feel her chest constricting, her heart beating faster than it ever had on the soccer field, pumping blood out the meat tunnel that ran through her. Previously, it had occurred to her that she could very well get shot here, and that getting shot would most likely hurt. Amanda thought that maybe she could deal with dying, but pain terrified her. And this hurt. She looked around and discovered that somehow she had ended up on the ground, leaning against the trunk, without noticing it, and briefly her pain-addled mind wondered what else had occurred in her life without her noticing it, before she clamped down on that line of thinking as 'depressing thinking people think before they die'. And she wasn't going to die.

Amanda lent around the left side of the tree, poking the end of her weapon around the trunk, where a low branch met the tree. Now they both knew where each other was, more or less. She had to move.

Again, she fired just one grenade this time, aiming for just behind Adam's tree. Not bothering to stay and watch the pretty explosion, she used the explosion for cover and staggered, half crawling, for the trees further away from the trail, blocking out everything but her pounding heart, growling a little in determination as she tried to pull her vision into focus. Zig-zagging as a drunken man from tree to tree for support and stopping for a few seconds behind a smaller tree to fire at what she thought was Adam moving, she finally collapsed behind an oak bit to the left and about three trees back, her legs unwilling to carry her further.

'Gotta run. Gotta run. Gotta hide. Gonna die. Not gonna die. Don't wanna die... Don't wanna... Don't wanna...'

There was something warm running down her face, and she wondered if those damn splinters had gotten her after all.

'Don't wanna kill.'

She flopped around the trunk and emptied her grenade launcher at the last place she had seen him, explosion after explosion steadily demolishing the surrounding area. It was almost mechanical - the last ditch actions of a body that had forgotten any other way. Finally, she was forced to drop the weapon because it was suddenly too heavy. Just as well - her fingers weren't cooperating with her anymore, and she was beginning to wonder who the genius was that made that trigger so damn tough to pull, but her mind was too scattered to dwell on it for long.

She stared down at her red shirt, her neck too tired to pull her head up proud. She couldn't help but laugh, even though it hurt like a bitch and caused blood to bubble up through her lips and stain her teeth, choking her. Red shirt. Expendable. An extra. A side note in someone else's story. She couldn't remember where she knew that from. Jeff? No. Dad? Dad. Dad's dead. Maybe he could tell her what it's like, so she's not so scared to die. Dad's good at stuff like that. Amanda put her hand to the barely discernible hole tearing through the slogan 'I Fight Like A Girl', now disguised by her innards spilling out.

'So how about it Dad? You coming to hold my hand? I held your hand when you died - it's only fair... Shouldn't... leave me 'lone... bad Dad... Where are you? Need you... 'm sorry... Dad? 's it black? Dun like black... 'm scared... Daddy...?'

Her face was still bleeding.

Things got dark.

Amanda was afraid of the dark.



G70 AMANDA REDDER - DECEASED

[Slayer†]

Adam was getting pretty sick of explosions. The chaos, the noise, the shrapnel and fragments of ex-trees flying about, it was all starting to wear a bit thin on him, especially as he preferred to not be turned into gibs. He'd clearly hit her with a shot, but everything still went to hell after a few seconds of awkwardness. The standoff ended with another grenade hitting a tree behind him, though he'd been able to avoid that, and the chase continued, a blood trail enabling him to at least keep some track. Occasionally a grenade would be fired off, and he'd return fire, but nothing came of these.

Who the hell is this, anyway?

Just before shooting his assailant, he had been able to get a good look at them, but only long enough to notice that they were female. Not recognising them, there wasn't a personal edge to the chase, though he found himself increasingly curious as to who had the balls to try to murder him. Really should've seen it coming though, he wasn't exactly liked in Southridge. Still, to randomly attack him with grenades, they had to have some grudge.

Eventually, he thought he'd caught up, but was only barely able to avoid being blown up when the attacker decided to fire at every tree in the immediate area. A hail of shrapnel and fragments erupting around him, he felt scratches and cuts cropping up all over, but was able to find some cover and weather the storm. By the time he pinned down the location of the shots, the attacker was dead, as he found out when he rounded the tree.

Surprisingly, the sight of a dead body close up wasn't as disgusting as he thought it'd be, despite the hole in the girl's chest and the innards poking out, or the steadily growing pool of blood. Now that he'd gotten a second to think, he finally recognised her; Amanda Redder. He didn't know what her problem was, but now she was dead, and he wasn't. Maybe it was the stress of the game so far, maybe it was the pain of the wound in his leg and scratches all over his body, maybe it was the blood loss, but he didn't react with the horror he had felt in the first few days, or even the numbness of when he'd killed Kathleen. Instead? He laughed.

"Heh, haha...hehehe...haHA! SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU CAN'T TAKE ME! NONE OF YOU FAGGOTS CAN!" he screamed, emptying the remaining magazine into the corpse's head and chest as his laughter continued, reloading and firing a couple more shots. "I'm the fucking BEST! I'm gonna be the one who gets off this island! You thought YOU could kill me?! You thought WRONG!"

Calming down, but still breathing heavily and wincing from pain, he noticed the grenade launcher at the corpse's side. That was the gun that'd given him so much trouble, but now he had an edge. Pocketing his handgun and grabbing the weapon, he searched the body for any remaining shells, but only turned up two. He was barely able to hide his frustration, but there wasn't time to worry about it now. Loading one into the launcher and placing the other in the waistband of his pants, he limped back to the trail and found his pack and sword, putting the spare ammo he still had into the shrapnel-scarred yet still intact bag while retrieving his medical supplies.

A few hours later, convinced he'd taken care of himself at least adequately, Reeves picked up all his things and limped off, careful not to put too much weight on the newly-bandaged leg and trying to ignore the other scratches and cuts he had treated.

One down, God knows how many more to go.

OOC: Continued in Stranger Than Fiction.