Piece By Piece

[Shiola]

((Erika Stieglitz continued from Little By Little))

It took her a few attempts given the humidity, but eventually Erika was able to coax flame from the end of her lighter. Short puffs in helped evenly scorch the end of the long-overdue joint. A small cloud of smoke emerged from the dilapidated, makeshift shelter she’d helped set up in the woods some days before. The smell of cannabis was an incredible reprieve from the near-constant foul aroma that hung across the island by now. As she took another short drag, Erika stared down at the body lying across from her.

"...a good old fashioned team kill...”

Connor Lorenzen, George Hunter’s star sportsball-player and her hotel rooftop confidant. Shot twice in the chest by his teammate, now lying dead against a tree with eyes wide open. From the look of things, the guy had enough time to know what had happened to him, and why.

Since waking up and finding him here, she’d been unable to fully look away from the body, fixated on it almost. It wasn’t grief at his loss; he was a fixture in their school and their lives before all of this, and she had no more energy left to mourn. It was something else. Decay hadn’t yet warped his expression; it wasn’t easy to place and she couldn’t sort it into the part of her mind that Dead Connor needed to go. She was unable to just take stock of it and move on.

The guy seemed at peace, and that didn’t seem right. Not when she knew how he’d died.

This seems wrong, for you.

What Ace did was no worse than her own string of lethal betrayals. Of all the people still alive on this island, she more than anyone had no right to judge what he’d done. Yet she’d spent so much time hating herself for the same, she couldn’t find it in herself not to look at something like this and feel a hint of rage. Connor should’ve gone down trying to save someone from somebody like her, not killed by his friend and teammate. That would’ve been a better story and for Connor-

-the story that folks were gonna tell meant a lot.

Talking to corpses was becoming a habit. What she said to them seemed to help silence parts of her mind that she couldn’t afford to listen to. Erika spoke at the body, but her words were meant more for the lingering spirit of Connor that still stood with her on that hotel rooftop.

“Your buddy Ace did this, huh? I’ll keep it in mind.”

That didn’t seem right either. The Connor in Erika’s mind shot her a sideways glance. The stiff breeze of the rooftop kept blowing his hair into his eyes, but she could see the frustration in them. Not what he wanted to hear, especially not from her.

She paused for a second, taking a short toke. Trying to remember the last thing he’d said to her back then, when they were still who they were supposed to be. After a second or two the memory came back to her. It felt lucky, like she caught the words as they sailed through the air.

“You got this far and didn't hurt anyone. My guess is, they’re only gonna have good things to say about you, dude. Not the legacy you wanted but like, it’s one you could be proud of.”

Her eyes fell to the bloody cross in Connor’s hand. Erika felt a surge of envy.

[Ryuki]

(Zachary Beck, continued from At Least It’s Not A Microwave)

Zach walked through the forest, his mind fixated on the announcements from that morning. He munched on a protein bar as he carried on. The fish he stole and ate didn’t sit well with his stomach last night. He had bad gas all morning, so he figured maybe a protein bar would calm his bowels.

The first name to catch his attention was Sakurako, who had been killed by Justin. Damn, that guy just won’t stop. If Zach ever finds him, he won’t hesitate to end Justin’s killing spree. It was the least he could do after what happened to Sean.

Next, that weeb Garren Mortimer was shot to death. Even though Zach wasn’t big on anime, he enjoyed being a shithead with Garren. Poor bastard.

Then, there was Michael, killed by the same person who killed Garren. Well, sucks to be him.

The last name to catch Zach’s attention was Katrina’s. She was also killed by Justin. That explains why she wasn’t with Willow when he found her again last night.

Blaise had claimed two more victims. Plus the lake and waterfall were now off limits. Zach was a bit jealous that the bitch who killed Garren and Michael got to have some ribs and root beer, while Zach had to settle for eating undercooked fish. There weren’t that many people left, so the more people who died, the faster Zach could get home. It was simple to understand.

[Super Weegee]

((Matthew Hunt continued from Meet Me in the City))

Matthew's stomach growled at him as he passed another tree, temporarily interrupting his thoughts. On top of barely having any food left even with the rationing he's been doing, the waterfall and lake became danger zones. His one source for water is gone and all he has left are his four thankfully full bottles of water.

Only three areas left. Just fucking brilliant.

Justin's been continuing on with his war path, killing Sakurako and Katrina. Jesus fuck, he needs to find him as soon as possible so he can put him down for good. Angie and Shauna apparently weren't good enough for him yesterday, so he decided that two more girls would satisfy him. Did he pull that same 'pretend to be dead' shtick from before too? He'll make sure Justin won't be playing pretend on that front.

Surprisingly enough, Arizona finally managed to kill this Michael guy, even if it took her a goddamn century. She also killed this Garren guy after he apparently 'grew a spine.' What the hell did that mean, that he refused to go along with whatever Arizona was doing and paid the price for it? It's vague as usual, and she seemed like someone who won't shoot his head off on sight, but he's going to have to stay on his guard around her. Maybe he'll ask her about it when they meet again. If they meet again.

The last guy to be declared dead was Connor Lorenzen, the coward he had trouble putting a name on for a good chunk of time. Apparently stabbed in the back by Ace, his own teammate back at school. A team kill could mean a lot of things and it could be an accident for all he knows. However, that makes four people that Ace killed already. He wouldn't be surprised if he did betray Connor.

Karma's a bitch, isn't it?

As soon as those words entered his mind, Matthew immediately regretted doing so, wincing all the while. Honestly, he would be lying to himself if he said he didn't feel a little satisfied at his death. Running off from a group is one thing, but killing your own allies who trusted you? If Ace wasn't going to hell for that, he definitely is now. Of course, it's all assumptions, the terrorists could be lying for all Matthew knew, but they're three-fourths of the way through this. Backstabs are bound to happen eventually. The only question is when.

In the end, the only person he can fully trust is himself.

Matthew's grip on the shotgun tightened as he mentally made plans to head to the temple and actually go inside it this time. As open as the woods are, he wasn't going to make progress finding Justin or anybody else just waltzing through the woods. With how much of the island is locked down, it's not like they have a lot of options for places to hide-

He heard footsteps. They sounded close.

Eyes widening, Matthew almost raises his shotgun when a figure enters his vision. Blonde hair with a Caucasian face and very short in height, he recognized the guy almost immediately.

Ugh. Zach's still around?

Zach unfortunately spotted him just as quickly, so he couldn't just hide behind a tree and hope he goes away. After a couple seconds of staring at each other in silence, Matthew decided to speak first.

"Hey, shorty."

[Shiola]

She didn’t smoke the whole joint. Pinching it halfway, she deposited it back in the medicine bottle she’d been carrying it around in. Originally, she saved it in anticipation of her last day on the island; either for victory, or defeat. She knew she’d need something that would help to dull the pain and quell her nerves for what came next, whether that was surviving SOTF or meeting her end.

Yet somewhere in the early morning, she found she just couldn’t help herself. Running through the jungle the night before did nothing to help the persistent pain, hunger, and exhaustion that now seemed just as much a threat as the remaining twenty-odd classmates she had to contend with. Not to mention giant centipedes, which were apparently something she had to worry about, too. The feeling of legs crawling across her arm continued to linger, as did the mental image of getting shot because of such a stupid mistake.

Another part of her worried it would impair her, throw off her aim or calm her down too much. Any impairment seemed like price enough to pay if it numbed her to the pain, softened the tremors. Both threatened to make the work ahead of her all the more difficult. She couldn't help but feel the need to test herself.

Holding the Hi-Power at arm’s length, she stared down the iron sights. The lighter was balanced precariously on the top of the front sight. Pulling the trigger on an empty chamber, she watched as the lighter wobbled slightly, but stayed on top of the gun. Picking the lighter off, she re-cocked the pistol and then carefully placed it back on the end of the front sights once again. Pulled the trigger, watched it wobble, and reset. After the fifth time she felt confident enough to stop. Racking a live round into the chamber, she flipped on the pistol’s safety and tucked it into her waistband.

Her hands were steady, and the pain had faded a bit. Not gone, but it felt less bracing. Hunger was still gnawing at her, and the weed certainly wasn’t going to do anything good about that. Still, Erika felt more focused than she had in days. Nothing approaching normalcy, but the prospect of pressing on to the end felt feasible, at least. This could end, all she had to do was keep going.

It can end... where, exactly?

[Ryuki]

“Oh. Hey, Matt,” Zach said awkwardly.

Zach stopped when he recognized Matthew Hunt. He wasn’t sure if he was unhappy to see Matt, but Zach wasn’t thrilled to see him either. Zach had pranked Matt a few times back home, so he couldn’t say he was in Matt’s good graces. Then again, he didn’t recall Matt being mentioned as a killer during any of the announcements. That could change if Matt decided to strike Zach down, here and now.

“So, uhh, how’s it going?”, Zach said.

Zach saw that Matt had a few strong looking weapons on him. Most notably, the shotgun in his hands. Zach’s new gun might not be enough to put up a good fight against Matt’s arsenal. With no other option, Zach decided to try and appeal to Matt.

“Things could be better on my end,” Zach continued, trying keep it casual, “I had some bad fish last night.”

[Super Weegee]

"Bad fish." Matthew said with an unimpressed tone, "What a fucking nightmare."

At least Zach's not going out of his way to annoy the living daylights out of him. Being on a death island can do that to a guy.

Still, Matthew couldn't help but throw a jab in at his expense.

"Your subscription count is probably skyrocketing by now. I can just see the title-" his voice rose in pitch, "-'I got kidnapped by Survival of the Fittest, gone wrong!'"

After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and sighed. That was more funny in his head.

"It's been a rough couple days. I'll just cut to the chase and get out of your hair. Do you know where Justin is?"

[Ryuki]

“No, I don’t,” Zach said, “In fact, I was looking for him too.”

Zach didn’t have time to joke around. He would have snarked back at Matt jab at Zach’s subscriber count, but when he mentioned Justin, that’s when Zach’s mood soured.

“Well, since we’re both on the hunt for him, why not team up?”, Zach asked, “I need to fuck him up for Sean’s sake.”

[Super Weegee]

Matthew's eyebrow involuntarily raised. Teaming up with Zach to hunt Justin down? He's not the most reliable teammate in the world considering that he let Joey Quintero, the fucking snitch, find out about the prank they were planning to do on Wyatt. Granted, that was the only time he joined forces with him, but that's still not a great first impression.

On the other hand, he could've been stuck with worse partners and it's not like Zach's out for blood. What was that saying again, don't look a gift horse in the mouth?

"Sure, why not." Matthew responded, "He needs to die for Shauna, Angie, Sean, and everybody else he killed in cold blood."

And attempting to kill me, especially.

With the team-up solidified more or less, he continued.

"Last time I saw him, Shauna fucked him up pretty good. He lost plenty of blood, but he still managed to get right back up and shoot the two girls I was with dead."

Matthew grimaced at the memory.

"It's not going to be easy to take him down even with the two of us."

[Shiola]

Finding herself staring down at Connor's corpse once again, Erika shuddered and turned away.

It was time to leave; yet, there were few places really left to go. The terrorists needed to funnel people into smaller and smaller locales to ensure they kept killing one another. If she had to guess, the comparatively vast woods would be marked as a danger zone sooner rather than later. She didn't relish the idea of heading to somewhere more exposed; there were more than enough people better armed than she was, and some who still gathered in small groups.

Walking the woods with the radar switched on was probably the safest option. At best, she didn't run into anyone. Just as well, given how prodigiously Justin and Blaise had been running down classmates the last few days. If she did run into someone, Erika could at least hope for the element of surprise.

Retrieving the Martini-Henry from underneath the makeshift shelter, she hooked it under her arm and turned to walk away. Erika took only a few paces before she stopped, frozen in place. Where she expected to meet the familiar expanse of jungle, she had very suddenly found a set of unfamiliar faces staring back at her. It had been a while since she’d checked the radar. She’d been too far into her own head to hear them over the din of the jungle. And she was impaired.

Surprise.

Both were armed. She recognized the short one - Zach was hard to mistake, given his height. How he was still alive at this point, she didn’t want to guess. The other one wore a bright blue shirt, standing out against the green backdrop of the jungle. It made it all the more jarring that she’d missed the two of them on approach. Her grip tightened on the Martini-Henry, though she didn’t raise it yet. A single shot wasn't enough, not here. They had no such limitation, she could tell, but they hadn't raised theirs yet either.

“Looking for someone?”

[Ryuki]

“Don’t worry,” Zach said, smirking, “I got this.”

Zach held up his revolver-rifle. He hadn’t had the chance to use it just yet, but he was hoping to use it on someone who deserved it. Zach was confident this weapon could take him to the end, he just needed to play his cards right.

Just then, he heard a voice from the distance. He turned to see a girl, dirtied, bandaged, and packing heat. Her hair was tied back with a green bandanna, but Zach recognized the colors. It was Erika Stieglitz! No way he wouldn’t recognize that crazy hair of her’s. And he knew she was one of the island’s top killers.

Zach and Matt just stared at Erika silently for a brief moment. His eyes darted back and forth between Matt and Erika, contemplating what to do about this deadly killer. He looked at his weapon. Zach felt something well up inside him, akin to a fire. Perhaps, she’ll make good practice for Justin.

“Matt,” Zach whispered, “that’s Erika. You think we’d get a reward for taking out one of the island’s biggest killers?”

[Super Weegee]

Well, Zach seems eager, even with his...odd gun. Matthew can't tell if that's supposed to be a revolver, a shotgun, or some kind of hybrid. Guess he'll get his answer soon enough.

He heard a woman's voice call out and he turned around to see yet another unfamiliar face. A stranger that's been through some rough shit by the looks of her. She had bloodshot eyes, bandages on her arm, and she looks like as though she neglected to at least rinse herself off with water for days. Dirt covers her shirt and pants, along with the all-too-familiar sight of stained blood.

Either she's been in a lot of fights or she got her ass kicked recently. Maybe both. Regardless, she has serious firepower if her rifle and bandolier is anything to go by.

After a brief moment of awkward silence, he did his best to smile and spoke up with the only thing that he could come up with.

"You smell like shit."

It didn't answer her question, but hey, it was the truth-

"Matt, that's Erika. You think we'd get a reward for taking out one of the island's biggest killers?"

Matthew's eyes widened as soon as Zach mentioned her name and he took a step back on instinct. She's Erika?! No fucking wonder why she looks the way she does! But why would she walk up to them and strike up a conversation with them? Is she not in the mood to shoot people today for some reason? Convenient, he supposed. All he needed right now was to be quicker on raising his gun and she'll go down like a sack of potatoes.

Right now, though, he could use some information, and as long as Erika's talking to them...

"Cool your freaking jets for one second." Matthew whispered back to Zach.

He then turned his attention back to Erika.

"We're...we're looking for Justin. Have you seen him anywhere?"

[Shiola]

Though she was sure they saw her doing it, Erika slowly backed away as they spoke to her and at one another. While one hand gripped the Martini-Henry under her arm, the other crept slowly to the pistol tucked in her waistband.

Her mind, in comparison, was running something of a marathon.

What the hell? Of course it smells terrible, did you miss the hundred thirty corpses scattered around this fucking place? You think that’s me, big guy? It might be me. Is that an actual Nock Gun? I didn't think you'd answer with words but you're actually just fucking standing there. This guy's got a shotgun, does he know how to use it? They must know what I am, and they're asking me about Justin instead of shooting? Round in the chamber, can't forget the safety. Are they stalling too? Did I not kill enough of their friends? The ground dips a bit behind me. Space to dive. Gotta make sure not to land on my bad side. What's that dipshit done that I haven't? Did he do worse? Did they just not give a shit about anyone I killed? I gave a shit. Not enough to not kill them. Can I put them down before they fire back? Not at this distance, not fast enough. Move laterally, control the engagement. Did anyone else even bother to come after me?

Erika stared back at the two of them, confusion and alarm drawn across her face. She struggled to make out the words, focused more on the dip in the terrain she knew to be only a few feet behind her. By now, she’d made some distance between herself and the others but not nearly enough.

“Uh… Justin. No, umm - no, I...”

Her left hand met the grip of the pistol in her waistband; it was pointed in the wrong direction, making drawing it all the more awkward. The other gripped the Martini-Henry, finger inside the trigger guard and hovering above the trigger. There was no way to raise it and fire and hope to hit anything, but she hoped if she had to, it would send them scattering.

I’m not ready for this, not now.

Through it all, the injuries in her leg and side continued to howl, the cost of failure in a situation like this clearer than ever.

I was never ready for this. Didn't stop me before.

Erika’s expression hardened, and she stopped in place.

“Do you think he’d be alive if I’d seen him?”

[Ryuki]

Matt whispered to Zach to hold off on shooting Erika. But, come the fuck on! She’s right there! One shot was all it took to knock out of the most dangerous players on the island. Did Matt really think they could reason with her?

Anyway, Matt questioned her for the whereabouts of Justin. With that brief distraction from Matt, Zach was able to see Erika go for her pistol. All the more reason to get this over with. Zach slowly cocked his gun as she retorted.

“Do you think he’d be alive if I’d seen him?”

“Fair enough,” Zach said as he aimed his weapon.

Zach squeezed the triggered and in an instant, a loud boom rang through the forest. Not only that, but a large puff of smoke of the gun as it fired. The kickback was so strong, that for a shorty like Zach, it felt as if he’d been knocked to the ground by a powerful punch.

*Hack* *Cough* *Gasp*

As Zach tried to catch his breath, the sound of more gunfire echoed throughout the area. Zach remained low, trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

[Super Weegee]

Matthew was starting to notice Erika's hand on her waistband when Zach raised his gun. A loud boom soon followed, causing his ears to ring, along with a ton of smoke from the gun. Before he can react, some of the smoke got into his eyes and mouth, effectively blinding him.

He let out a hacking cough, trying to get the smoke out of his lungs, and let go of the fore-end of the shotgun to wave the fumes away. Letting his guard down like that turned out to be a mistake when Erika fired back at them, the bullet whizzing past them!

"Shit!" Matthew yelled out, almost jumping out of his skin. It was next to impossible to see anything due to the smoke, but he put his hand back on the fore-end and raised it back up towards her presumed location. This time, he was prepared for the kick as he pulled the trigger, although he still grimaced from the stock kicking back towards his still-bruised shoulder.

More shots rang out. Whether it's from Zach or Erika, he didn't know. Matthew fired another shot in her direction and sprinted behind one of the trees, his breathing becoming rapid.

"Oh shit, oh fuck, oh my fucking god!" Matthew said to himself, taking a second to look out and see where Erika ran off to, which was still a difficult task due to the smoke from before now covering the area around him and Zach. As he scanned the area around him, he took note of how many bullets he has left in the gun before he had to reload.

Three shots left...right?

Looking at his side, he saw Zach close to him and spoke up.

"Do you see her?!"

[Shiola]

Her guess was that Zach was the skittish one. Blue Shirt seemed to want to avoid a confrontation, at least with Erika. He’d picked poor company and an even worse place to be if that was the case.

As Zach spoke, she saw him start to move. Nock guns were supposed to be heavy, seven barrels and all. Some part of her wanted to assume that the flintlock wouldn’t fire after days in the jungle, but she had no intention of testing that assumption. As she dove down and to the left, she saw the flash of powder spark in the pan. It was quickly followed by the deafening report of all seven barrels going off at once, an unreasonable amount of lead tearing through the foliage and blasting through tree branches. It no doubt laid low at least a good part of the makeshift shelter.

Erika hit the ground hard, the impact on her left side still sending reverberations of pain through her right. Having fallen into a bed of ferns, she found her vision was obscured by both the leaves and the smoke slowly settling onto the ground. Reaching up with the Martini-Henry, she fired back blindly, the rifle belching out its own pillar of black powder smoke as the round no doubt sailed harmlessly past the two boys. She just needed to keep their heads down.

Scrambling to her knees, Erika couldn’t stop herself from letting out a scream. The exertion taxed the limits of her pain tolerance, but not her willpower. Her guttural expression of anguish quickly turned to mantras, completely inaudible through the sound of gunfire.

“Come on. Get up, get the fuck up! Keep going. I can do this. Fire back. I can beat them. Don’t stop, don’t stop now.”

Drawing the pistol from her waistband, she continued firing vaguely in their direction as she scurried across the forest floor to a shallow berm. A shot tore through the air above her, followed by another. Erika only stopped returning fire once she had reached cover.

Normally she’d hear the clink of brass ejecting out of the Martini-Henry’s ejection port, but as she reloaded all she could hear was the sound of her ears ringing. Setting the loaded rifle on the ground beside her, she readied her pistol once again and peeked over the berm towards where she thought the two of them might still be.

Smoke seemed to fill in the gaps between the leaves and the branches, hanging in the humid air. Besides that, there was almost no sign of them.