Clockworks

[Swoosh*]

((Coming from Memory Lane))

Even for someone who had seen what she had seen, who had experienced what she had- the view that lay before Cassie Webber as she approached the wreckage of the open field still left her stunned. Although she had figured she'd be prepared for anything, the site of the crashed helicopter, the blood and gore oozing out from under it (that Cassie could only assume belonged to a former classmate) and the dead body in front of it; a boy Cassie didn't quite recognise, although the state he was in, she'd be surprised if anyone could.

Glancing around for any potential live students, Cassie took tentative steps towards the helicopter remains. It looked like there was no one here- for now, anyway. She was well aware that this was a prime spot for kids 'wanting to go home', or in normal terms, killing the terrorists Danya had unleashed onto the island. She didn't think that many kids would be here, though. The terrorist announcement had been a while ago, and it would only be natural that they'd have moved on by now. Cassie had hoped that most kids would realise that, and had therefore factored the crash site for the safest place for now.

But then was 'safe' what they needed right now? The group 'mission' at present was to find Jeremy, wherever he might be on the island. Nevera and Scott seemed convinced it was the best choice of action, and to a certain extent Cassie agreed with them. However, trawling around the entire island looking for one person was not only extremely difficult, but also left them highly vunerable to running into someone playing. Cassie bit her lip. In any other situation, the choice would be easy. But she wasn't in 'any other situation', she was in a fight for her life; and worse, she had to think about the other three. The others looked to her to make the important descisions, as much as it pained her to admit.

Peering into the dark cabin of the helicopter, Cassie sighed. She hadn't been expecting Jeremy to just be sitting, waiting for them. Nonetheless, it was frustrating not knowing where he was, or even where to start looking. Turning to face the others, she shrugged half heartedly.

"He's not here, guys."

((I'm assuming Andrew Klock is in another part of the field, before anyone snarks on me XDD))

[Albel Nox†]

((continued from Memory Lane

Nevera had come up shortly behind Cassie. She looked at her surroundings and cocked her head to one side. She had seen so many places of this island in less than a day, maybe even less than that. She thought about all the things that had happened so far, and it seemed that she had been here for what seemed to be years. Reality can play tricks on one's mind when they are lost in turmoil.

She looked over at Scott as a fresh set of tears began to roll down her cheeks. Once again, she fell to her knees as she hid her face in her hands. It wasn't like her to cry like this, especially this much.

[asano*]

((Continued from: Memory Lane))

{Coming from ...yeah. See above. ">>}

Drew followed Cassie into the area, and the first thing that struck him as odd was the helicopter crashed in the field. In fact, Drew's thoughts had been something related to this:
God, karma hates me. This is gonna be a great week, I can tell. Shit. ...the hell? A chopper? Why the hell's a chopper in the ground here? And...the hell's around it? What is that, blood? Oh, shit, I'm gonna be sick. And ...who the HELL is that?! Oh, man...don't puke, don't puke, come on, Drew, don't puke. ><

He didn't, thankfully, but was still rather disgusted. I mean, come on. Dead body smashed into a pulp. What's worse? Dead body crushed into almost nothing by a HELICOPTER. Who the HELL landed -crashed- a CHOPPER on a PERSON?! That's pretty damn hard to do. Those things just didn't fall out of the sky, that kid shoulda moved. This was only more proof as to how incredibly screwed up this whole thing was.
And how incredibly sickening it was that they were actually DOING it. There were people participating in the game, like whoever had busted that poor kid up. Looked like some...blunt weapon, too. Oh so pleasant, no? His thoughts returned to how horrid the situation was.

There was nothing graceful in his thoughts, nothing like 'People are falling into their base instincts' or anything. No, it his thoughts were not as lined up and nice as that; his thoughts were stuck in his own base emotions. Disgust at students actually killing students. He'd pointed a gun at someone, so he was a perfect example. Not to say Drew was a hypocrite, he'd never had any intention to shoot them.
...had he?

He shook his head. This was as much a psychological test as a physical test in every sense. And it was sickening in how well it was working.

As Cassie spoke, he shook his head. Well, great. And they were in an open field, too. Well, relatively open. Agh. ><

Seeing nothing better to do, Drew moved over to the chopper. Away from the body, away from the blood-soaked ground around it, but he was still moving to the chopper. Opposite side from all that crap. x.x; Then, he simply leaned against it. Right now, there was one large problem on his mind.
To sit or not to sit.

The problem of the Island had taken a back seat. If he kept thinking about it, he'd snap.

"We...may want to get out of this field, then," he offered, not sure what everyone else wanted to do. Bugging out could be good (Yay! Cover! Won't get SHOT so easily!), but if they stayed, this other guy just may show up. And five was a better number for defense than four. ...a trustworthy five, I mean.
[Excuse suckiness, my mind's still dead. ><]

[Swoosh*]

((Screw it. It's been over a week, I'll be damned if I'm waiting any longer, yo? ))

"Cover, yeah." Cassie murmured distractedly. As vile and disgusting as it was, she couldn't help but keep her gaze fixated on the... the mess that was her former classmate. It was morbid, but she found she couldn't pull her gaze away.

Jeremy wasn't here. He was somewhere that wasn't with them. He'd gone.

Blood... there was so much blood.

"And that'll be you..." she kept her voice just above a mumble.

----------------------------------------

"Cassie? Sweetie? Come out, please Cassie. I'd like to ta-"

The door was flung open and Cassie stood, defiant and angry.

"Come on then Mom, let's talk. Let's hear the theraputic speech."

Cassie's mother bit her lip tentatively. "Cassie..."

"Are all people like this?" Her voice was demanding; it was almost an order. "Just when you think you've got an attatchment, a connection... they just leave. Do they all leave?"

"Cassie, sweetie..."

"I don't want you to CODDLE ME!" Cassie was shouting now. "I'd go to see that fucking quack psychologist if a hug and some chocolate was what I needed!"

Mrs Webber blinked. "Cassie, please don't swear-"

But the door had been slammed shut once more. Cassie didn't want to hear any more. You couldn't put your trust in anyone, they'd just take it and hurt you.

-----------------------------------------

All of that way of thinking had been buried in Cassie's subconscious; months of therapy had helped her on the way to recovery. But it all came rushing back... the game had that effect on people.

They'll just leave... they'll hurt you. But it won't matter as long as you hurt them first...

"Hurt them first," she mumbled. Looking back up around the group, she eyed every one of them carefully. They'd hurt her, unless she hurt them first. This wasn't a class trip, this wasn't an expedition; this was Survival of the Fittest. Whatever she'd believed before, whatever she'd hoped for- it was all a delusion. It was all wishful thinking. There wasn't room for a group of friends- this game drove them apart. There was one winner. One.

Basic subtraction- four minus three...

"Drew's right, we should go somewhere else. Jeremy's not here, and standing here's not gonna help us find him. We should go."

Just before turning off, she looked at the baton in her hand. Holding it up, she addressed the group.

"Since I'm sort of the leader, and I'm sort of going into the fray, into the thick of things, so to speak, would anyone mind if I swapped weapons with them? I don't fancy coming up against a huge guy with a shotgun with only a baton to defend us..."

They looked to her as the group 'leader'? That would prove to be a mistake indeed. A fatal one? Perhaps.

[Bloody_Fists†]

((Continued from: Memory Lane))

Was she their leader? No. She wasnt, she was just another paranoid girl lucky enough to be thrown into this mess and let her thoughts run wild. All the time they had been here he had just been sitting on some debre from the crash, Staring constantly at the mashed up corpse that lay on the grass.

Icould of done that, that could of been jeremy. If he didnt knock seven shades of shit out of me i could of beat him to death....Fuck

His thoughts were also running wild, What he could have so easily turned into if jeremy and nev had'nt helped him out. He could be out roaming the island with maybe a dozen kills to his name, All the people with there own life's, family and friends, Just turned into cold messy corpses thanks to him. But that wasnt the case, he'd chosen the path of the 'hero' And was now roaming the island looking for someone he barely knew. He barely knew these people as it were, yeah he saw them in the school corridors once in a while but no more than a smile was thrown there way.

He looked up as cassie spoke about swapping weapons, Not really the best thing anyway one could do here, Give away there weapon that is, especially if its a gun for a baton.

He looked around the area, His weapon was gone, not that it was any good anyway and now was the time to get a new one.
He kicked a sheet of metal aside, A large metallic thud echoed through the helicopter. He reached down and picked up a pole, Maybe two and a half foot long? It would do, untill he died or found something better.

"This is my weapon." He said rasing and lowering the pole quickly. "Not really a good swap is it?"

He looked over at drew, He had the gun and therefore the best swap, If he gave that one up....well he didnt know what would happen but the girl was damn sure getting paranoid.

[asano*]

Drew watched as the other guy of the group went inside the helicopter, and as that boy found his 'weapon,' Drew found himself unconsciously tracing a finger along the pistol's grip. He didn't even know why. Hell, he didn't know he was doing it. The only thing he knew was that he was being asked to trade a pistol for a beating stick.

Her argument seemed logical enough. She had been the one leading, right? She'd been on point position, and point was one of the more obviously dangerous areas to be. Thinking logically, Drew should have handed the gun to her with a big grin on his face.

Drew was not thinking logically.

His thoughts were disturbingly like Cassie's, in the fact that he knew the others could strike at him. He had not gone so far, however, to think about a preemptive strike. However, he did think that the idea could have crossed her mind. Which immediately shot down any chance of him so much as taking the gun out, much less handing it to her.

His finger came off the grip, and then his whole arm hung at his side.

"I'll...er, take point, in that case," he offered, wholly serious. While taking point didn't thrill him, being killed by someone who you didn't know would be quite a bit less traumatic than Cassie turning around and shooting him in the head.

Not like Drew was actually thinking of it in that way. In all truth, he was only thinking about making sure he was secure. Drew only trusted himself with the pistol. Not either girl, not the guy, none of them. There was only one person in the world (well, two) that he'd trust with a gun in this situation. One was in Michigan, the other was in Arizona. That settled that, as far as Drew was concerned.

[Albel Nox†]

((You stole my signature word, yo!!! lol))

Nevera sighed as she wiped away her tears. She hate crying adn making herself a burden. She hid her face from the others till the tears had all been drained. With a slight wipe and quick half turn, she faced Drew with a half smile.

"We must press onward for our cause." She said boldly. She turned her gaze to Scott and then to Cassie. "We must prevail and all survive this horror!"

[Swoosh*]

((*grins* I said "yo" way before you joined! I just don't say it as much. It's still yours, don't worry! And sorry this is short- I have a ton of work to be doing, not to mention 2 other RPs, I'm just falling a little behind. XD))

Cassie looked plainly at Drew.

"No... I really think I should lead. Come on, give me the gun," she took a step towards him, holding her hand out.

Get them before they get you. That was all that mattered. People had already died because they were fools, or just unlucky. She had avoided death's grasp once before, and she knew she could do it again.

She had to.

She bit her lip. Drew hadn't said anything, but was looking quite uncomfortable.

Cassie... what are you doing. These people are your friends...

"Come on, Drew, don't make me take it from you," she said, taking another step forward, a maniacal glint in her eye.

But that was just the thing about this game. It destroyed everything, like a poison - there was no room for friends or trust in this game. Both just ended with death.

She had realised that now, and she had to act before it was too late.

[Albel Nox†]

((No I meant because of Reno! He always says that, lmao!))

Nevera blinked as she heard Cassie. "What?"

She wasn't sure of who the leader was gonna be. but in all seriousness, she didn't want to have a leader. What if the leader were to turn against them. Nev sighed and walked up to Scott and tugged at his arm.

"Scott, we have to stop them! No one can lead us! We must all work together!"

[asano*]

Come on, give me the gun.

...don't make me take it from you.

Drew took a step back, her words echoing in his mind. His finger was back to tracing the grip of his pistol, but instead it was joined by his middle finger. And ring finger. He didn't like being approached, not in this way, not about a firearm.

He searched her eyes for clues. His books had always 'informed' him of how much of a give-away the eyes were, if you could manage to read them. He wasn't able to, not well. But he caught something that scared him. A glint, a something in her eyes, and it frightened him.

He took two very wide, very slow steps backward. Followed by two slightly shorter, yet faster steps backward. He made sure she was quite far away. Outside of whatever distance he judged to be lunging distance.

Which, thanks to his slight paranoia inflaming at her actions, was quite far.

"Cassie...I'll lead. I'm more...expendable, I'm not as good with snap decisions. The true leader goes in the middle," he said, both using his knowledge from books and a lie in the same sentence, though covering up the lie with a solid, sure voice.
Like hell I'm expendable. This wasn't a military operation or anything. Everyone was just as expendable as everyone else.

And that was the horror of the situation.

[Bloody_Fists†]

He couldent beleive, They were making the same mistake as he did. They were giving into to paranoia, and we all know what that does to a person. He knew nothing of the two, But they must have some sort of trusting relationship if they were traveling together, I mean why would you walk around with someone who could potential bash your brains skull in?

He crouched down, His head placed in both his hands and his fingers pushing his hair back. He listened to nev and completely disagreed with her. Of course they could help but if they did it could mean two shiney bullets being lodged into both of their hearts, Better yet He himself might just give in and murder the two, And if he murders them why not just murder nev? It would take away the responsibility of protecting her.

Why oh why must we go through this shit?

They had to because they had no fucking choice. Everyone was falling in love with the game and once that happened you could just let it go.
His nails started to dig into his forehead. He hardly felt the pain, The despair and frustration was too overwhealming.

His head sharply turned up to face them, He grabbed the pole and stood up. The pole was swung into the side of the helicopter and a deafening metallic echo run through the feild.

"What the fuck are we doing here? cant we trust each other with the weapons? Fuck, i had nothing and still i trusted drew on the offchance that he would be kind enough to let me live."
His head swung downwards, Looking to the floor, His arms held laxily by his side. He calmed down slightly now
"Fuck sake, wouldent it be best if we just all calmed down and worked this out together? I dont know any of you at all but id rather have you all live than murder each other in front of me"

He shook his head. He turned and leaned on the side of the chopper, His back slowly slid down it, He lent his arms on his knee's, the weapon held loosely in his hand.

"Just a little trust.......Thats all i ask"

Trust is easy to say, But a fuck load harder to do, especially in these type circumstances.
It would probally be best if he and nev just set of on their own again.

[Swoosh*]

The metallic clang got her attention and she turned around to face Scott. Maybe it was a good thing, as well; despite the fact that Drew had made a considerable distance between them, she was still prepared to do anything to get the gun.

"Trust?" Cassie repeated, not troubling to keep the derisive tone out of her voice. "We've got to trust each other?"

She laughed, swinging her baton idly in her hand. The old Cassie - the Cassie who had been excited to come on the trip, the Cassie who was looking forward to spending time with her friends... the Cassie who had sworn she could never lose to this game, the Cassie who had been so sure she'd rather die than hurt anyone, she'd gone somewhere and she couldn't come back.

Hurt them before they hurt you...

Still looking at Scott, she threw up her baton lightly and caught it again as she spoke.

"You don't TRUST. There's no room for it. You see that?" she jerked her head towards the mess that was formerly Amber Philips. "You wanna end up like that? You're going the right way about it."

Obviously she had all gotten their attention.

"You trust no one. Where's trust going to get you? There's only room for one winner... I don't know how you two've figured out the end to be like... but two's just not gonna cut it."

She threw up her baton slightly higher this time and caught it in the middle, before looking around at the group.

"You trust, you die. You play the game... you've got some chance of getting off this island alive. If you guys wanna bury your heads in the sand, then that's fine... but I know the game for what it really is, and I've made my decision. I'm playing to win."

She grinned as she finished her little speech.

"And if you guys wanna run, now would be a good time."

The baton may not have been the most threatening of weapons... but the enormity of Cassie's sudden transformation was what was most worrying of all.

[asano*]

[This post is begging me to make it like Toby. Damn Drew's...not-Toby ness >_<]

Cue another step back. And another. He took steps to the side as well, positioning himself beside Scott. Not behind, certainly not in front, but just beside him. It was surreal. The boy he'd almost shot was backing him up, in a way.

The clange of metal against metal had hurt his ears, yes, but he ignored it. A baton up against the head would hurt a lot more. One against the neck would be worse.

As Cassie finished her speech, his hand finally grasped his handgun. It shook lightly, and he began to pull it out. The muzzle cleared his pants, and his elbow bent. I can't...fucking believe...I'm doing... The gun was clearly shaking, his knuckles white around the black grip. From his closer position, and the fact that this was now the second time he saw it like this, Scott should be able to tell that Drew was not doing this out of want.

His arm came up, the gun aiming in Cassie's general direction. Drew would never be able to relax around her again, never be able to trust her. He...he thought he trusted Scott. Scott seemed to trust him.
Cassie was now the one on the wrong end. Just hours ago, it'd been Nev and Scott. But they'd cleared themselves.

In Drew's mind, Cassie's words had forever destroyed his ability to trust her.

"I'm...," he began, swallowing hard, "...going to worry about the end...when I get there, and n-no sooner." Drew swallowed again, his eyes going between his weapon and her. His finger, he realized, was inside the trigger guard. It was resting against the trigger...no, it wasn't resting. It was ready.

He couldn't believe himself. But he had to continue. This was no longer for himself, but for the others. He had the gun. He had to protect them. He'd worry about the end at the end.

With a final gulp, and a muffled curse, Drew spoke his final words. He was doing, what he and Tobs called, 'the Atheist equivalent to prayer,' in his mind. Praying that she would not do anything stupid, praying his finger would not have to move back, what, two centimetres? One?

"I'm...we're," he spoke for the others now, "...not going to run...if you want to play, you..." He paused, collecting his wits. He couldn't believe he was saying this.

"If you want to play, you run." His voice was steady, calm, secure. It held no threat, no indication that the second she turned he'd pull the trigger. He probably wouldn't. But it also held a tone that one didn't argue with. The 'don't test me' tone.

That's...that's all it really is. Pull my finger back...one centimetre...and this all ends. All of it. It's so easy...dammit, why can't I just DO IT?!

[Albel Nox†]

Nevera looked at Scott and then from Drew to Cassie. She held her head as the noise got to her.

"STOP IT!" She cried as she fell to her knees. "Stop this bickering! It's not going to get us anywhere, maybe we should have never met up, maybe we should all just seperate! Me and Scott, I dunno if I can even trust him! He did leave this scar on my forehead!" She pointed her finger at Cassie. "You have been falsely trusting Drew and him the same to you!"

She really just couldn't take it anymore. She stood, gathered her bag and staff, and began to run off away from the others. "If you can't trust each other, then why should I trust any of you!"

[Bloody_Fists†]

He would have to find a new strategy. Cassie's words about trust were correct in some sense, You need to find the right people to trust, and that could take forever to find that person, It's like finding your friggen soulmate, you search and search and in the end you wind up with some bitch who goes behind your back and sleeps with anything that isnt you.

Drew was also right, if she wanted to play then she'd better run, she wasnt in no position to fuck around with any of them. It would be three on one and there side had a gun.

"Im not fucking around anymore!" He spoke up "You want to play? Im fucking game, Im not going to stand around anymore and watch everyone else do all the work." He Stood up and walked closer to cassie, He was just in her reach, If she could be bothered to lunge that far, but she was playing now, anything was to be expected from her.
"....So, YOU, Better get out of here"

He looked at her with a cold stare, Anyone could see that the pressure was getting to him, especially cassie. He tightened his grip around the shoddy pole that he called a weapon.
Yes, He was damn nervous but he couldent let that show. Not now.