SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Raine watched silently as Rena freaked out about the body. In her heart, she knew Ridley was just trying to keep them moving and not focus on whatever it was that they found. Rena needed to know though what the water was. It was something Raine had picked on earlier when they had found her--Rena was not the type of person to leave things unfinished. Sure it was a character trait to be admired, but at the same time, aren't there things that are better to leave alone?

"Rena." Raine spoke firmly with her new friend. Slowly, she approached her and laid a hand softly on her shoulder. "Yes, it's a dead body. It's the dead body of a schoolmate that we will all terribly miss!" Raine turned Rena to face her and she looked at the girl straight in the eye. "There's something you should understand though. We can't do anything about it! Now it's obvious...the body was murdered...It isn't an accident."

It was hard to say those words.

"But we musn't scream. Whoever it was might still be around. What we can do...is prevent it from happening again." Raine swallowed hard. "...We have to stop whoever this person is from doing more harm to our other friends."

[[OOC: I'm still here, calm yo tits <3 Also- very good chance I'll edit this later. General content will be the same, though.]]

Frozen like a damn ice sculpture, that was Dustin Royal.

For a little while, anyway.

The sound faded away and disappeared completely after a while, but Dustin was still sitting there. Dead silence as the footsteps, the echoing footsteps, even they were gone. Obviously whoever had been here was leaving, and from the opposite side of the tunnel. So this tunnel had to lead somewhere, unless the others were just wandering blindly into oblivion. Which they very well could be.

Fuck. I should really just get out of here while I can. While I can still see daylight. But...there's nothing here. Wonder what's on the other side?

Besides, all that screaming could have been a damsel in distress. I'm not much of a hero, but hell, everyone knows what happens after the story ends.

He smirked for only his own benefit. Just that facial movement made him feel a bit more confident as he stood as quietly as he could manage. He strapped the guitar back across his back- quiet was the key here. Silence. If there was some dickhead in here stabbing people, at least he might catch them unawares.

Of course, he basically eliminated any chance of that by pulling out his flashlight.

But whatever. Anything was better than the all-consuming darkness.

---

It felt like hours. Maybe it was, even. But Dustin was sure something was wrong. He should have found something by now, even if it was just an abandoned water bottle or a burnt out fire or-

He shuddered at the thought.

Blood.

But no, there had been absolutely nothing. What the hell? Unless I was hallucinating or some shit back there, something definitely happened here, and close by t-

OH. Shit. The tunnels.

The sound had echoed through the tunnels. That was the only explanation that made sense. The sound echoed and reached his ears far more clearly than it would've otherwise. The shit he'd heard could have been miles down the tunnel for all knew.

I could walk all day and still find nothing.

Shit. I don't even know how far I've gone. Can't go back now though. Fucking...fucking tunnels.

Dustin touched his guitar nervously as he continued to walk, too nervous to actually play but wanting more than anything to do so.

---

"THAT'S NOT FUCKING WATER!"

FFFFF-

Dustin practically fell on his ass.

He had tuned out. Hours of walking in the dark will do that to you. That was his fucking problem, his fault, there was no way he could have missed the nearby presence of other people had he been paying attention. There had been footsteps, there had been speech, and he missed it all because he was deep in his happy place in the backseat of the motherfucking Supra and no one was going to wake him up except for this loud fucking girl.

"Fuck, what's it- who's there?" he muttered, then louder- "Who's there?"

Nothing. He kept walking. He didn't have to walk for long.

"Holy...holy fuck..."

Funny how even on Survival of the Fittest it's hard to get used to bodies.

Not that Dustin had had time to get used to them. He'd only seen one, before, and his reaction was less than fucking dignified, but this was so much worse. In the blackest of black, the red stuck out like nothing else can in his flashlight's glare. And the body...

Dustin would later mentally edit out his vomiting. It was really not attractive. Luckily he had the common sense to turn the flashlight off for that moment. No one would have seen it, and so it didn't happen.

He didn't want to turn the flashlight back on. He wanted to go running back to where he came from. Back into the fucking light. Back to where there wasn't blood on the fucking cave walls.

But there were people here. Dustin managed to look away from the body long enough to point the flashlight towards the other people here. And it was some guy and two girls. He couldn't concentrate. He just couldn't. He couldn't even tell who the girls were. Or if they were attractive. That was how you knew Dustin Royal was fucking terrified. He turned the flashlight back off and tried to say something.

"A-Ah..."

Nothing else came out.

Fuck...this is pathetic.

"THAT'S NOT FUCKING WATER!"

Ridley was blinded by the sudden bright light of Rena's flashlight, but then his sight was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of red liquid at their feet. He cringed at the sight and turned away just before he was able to completely get used to the light.

He grabbed Raine and held her so that she turned away from the body. "What the fuck are you doing, Rena? Christ! What does this accomplish?" He put up a hand to block his view of the corpse and looked over at Rena, though he still felt sick to his stomach. "Come on, let's go further in already!" A gurgling sound rose up in his throat, but it passed before the nausea set in. "Ugh. Fucking a..."

Just as he was about to go further into the tunnel, he spotted a figure in the darkness, just outside of the light of Rena's flashlight.

"A-Ah..."

The guy looked like he was scared out of his mind. Not like Ridley could blame him for that, though. Nevertheless, Ridley teased the hand grip of the gun in his pocket and managed to choke out, "Who are you?"

"Rena."

She sounds so far away. Rena blinked rapidly. Raine's voice slowly dragged her from her state of hysteria. She took several shallow and shaky breaths as the German girl continued.

"Yes, it's a dead body. It's the dead body of a schoolmate that we will all terribly miss!"

What? No. No. No, no, no. She's not...she's not going to do what I think she's going to do, is she? No. She can't!

"But we musn't scream. Whoever it was might still be around. What we can do...is prevent it from happening again...We have to stop whoever this person is from doing more harm to our other friends."

Rena shook her head. She wasn't hearing this. There was no way Raine was seriously saying those words to her. No way.

"What the fuck are you doing, Rena? Christ! What does this accomplish? Come on, let's go further in already!" Ridley's voice pierced Rena's ears, breaking her gaze from Raine to him.

"No." She shook her head. Those stupid bitches. Fuck them. They can't...no...

"NO!" She was shaking again, but not from fear. Now it was anger that drove her words. Anger that overtook her body. This wasn't happening. They couldn't seriously be so cold.

"I just stepped in a dead body. I just fucking stepped in a dead body! A body so badly mauled that I can't even tell if it's a boy or a girl! And you two are telling me to just shrug it off and get over it? Are you both robots or something? I can't believe you!"

She turned to face Raine. "You! Who the fuck do you think you are? You don't even know who this person is, don't pretend you'll miss them! They don't matter to you! And futhermore, you keep on making these damn promises! 'We won't let Eva happen again.' 'We have to prevent it from happening'! Newsflash! You can't make those promises! Everyone on this island is going to die, and you can't help them! Get it through your head! We're all fucking doomed!"

She whipped around to face Ridley, her anger coming to a point where she was certain that there was actual steam coming out of her ears. "And You! Who do you exactly think you are? 'What does this accomplish?' Stop acting like this isn't real! Neither of you fucking stepped in it! This guy is literally on my shoe! Think about that for a minute! I am not afraid of much in this world, but there is one thing, one fucking thing that I hate more than anything else- it's blood! And now I'm covered in it! It's everywhere! I stepped in someone, and you two act as if I saw a spider! Wake the fuck up! There's a mutilated body at our feet! Stop acting like none of this is real when it is! It's real, and we're doomed, and you two need to fucking face reality!"

"A-Ah..."

The new noise drew Rena out of her rant and towards the source. She pointed her flashlight at the figure- a person, who looked...vaguely familiar. If Rena wasn't in her hysteric state she might have come up with a name, but as it was, she wasn't exactly ready to think about that.

In fact, her only thought was that this person could only be one person. He had to be the one who killed the body lying at her feet. There was no one else here. This guy...this guy was a killer. And now he was going to do the same thing to them.

"Who are you?" Ridley had his gun out. Like it matters. He probably can't even shoot that thing. We're doomed. We're all gonna die. I just get to die now, I guess.

Or, you can run. Jake's voice came to her, and she could practically see that smug smile he always wore- the one he wore when he pushed her into the sandbox, when he made her all red. Like the dirty coward you are...

I can't leave Raine and Ridley. Not after everything they've done for me.

Why not? They're telling you to get over a dead body! They're acting so...inhuman. You barely know them. How can you really trust them? Why not run? Why not live to see another day?

Just then the screeching of the PA system overtook everything else. Nice timing.

But it wasn't Danya's voice. Wait- Mr. Kwong? What? He's...he's still alive...What the hell is going on?

"Should anybody successfully kill Liz Polanski, they will immediately be awarded a weapon from our very own stash of best kill prizes as a bounty."

Rena swallowed. They were offering a bounty...for a person? No one could do that...could they? She glanced down at her feet, at the pile of red beneath her. Someone did this... so why not?

"It has also come to our attention that Miss Polanski has recklessly destroyed one of our cameras, as a punishment, we will now detonate a collar. What!? No! I - you can't make me- I... I will be commencing this punishment now. B148, Daisuke Nagazawa, eliminated."

Just like that. Just like fucking that! One push of a button and a kid is dead. A teacher is a killer. Fuck. Fuck fuck fucking fuck fuck!

"Shit." Rena whispered, feeling chills run over her body. Something stung inside of her. This kid was dead now, and there was nothing she could do. But she wasn't going to be like him.

No more running. I am not going to be a killer. But I am not going to lay down and die. No fucking way.

Rena turned to face the new boy, shining her flashlight in his face.

"You. You did this?" She pointed the light breifly at the mangled corpse, refusing to look at it again for fear that she might start vomiting. "If you're the monster who did this, then fine. Kill us. Do what you're going to do-I'm not going to beg, because it won't change anything. But understand this. If you did kill this kid, if you kill us, then you better enjoy your next few days on this island. Because you will never rest again. You will be dragged down to hell by the people you killed. You're going to die on this island just like all of them- the only difference is that they won't die monsters. Even if you win, you'll be forced to face their families. Forced to live up with what you've done. If you're the monster who did this, and you run, and you don't kill us, then I will make it my personal mission to make you suffer a death more painful then any other in history."

She was a liar. She couldn't do that to this kid, even if he was a killer. But if she didn't know him, maybe he didn't know her. Maybe he didn't hear about her fear of blood. Maybe he would fall for her bluff.

"And if you didn't do this, then you have five seconds to tell us who you are and why you're here before my friend here pulls the trigger and you become just another name on the annoucements. And don't think about lying, because come morning we'll know anyway- and I don't like being lied too. So, who the hell are you?"

Rena swallowed shakily, praying that he bought it, praying that he would leave them alone.

"You got five seconds. Five..."

Raine at this point was choking back tears. She pressed her face to Ridley's chest, wetting it with her tears as she tried desperately to listen to Rena's words and to empathize with her rather than sympathize or feel pissed off. What bothered her though was what Rena had said. Am I really just making stupid promises I won't keep in the end? Is it really worth it to say such things? But...I'm holding onto them so desperately like I'm holding Ridley...Without those promises...Without Ridley...where am I in this bullshit game?

Raine took a deep breath and reached up to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

"And if you didn't do this, then you have five seconds to tell us who you are and why you're here before my friend here pulls the trigger and you become just another name on the annoucements. And don't think about lying, because come morning we'll know anyway- and I don't like being lied too. So, who the hell are you?"

"No....No one is shooting anyone right now!!" Raine turned to Rena, reached up with a hand and gave the girl a good slap. "Wake up!! You're falling Rena! You're falling into the game's traps!"

"Why...Why I keep making these promises...It's because without them what do I have!? What do I have to look forward to? More bodies? More bodies of people I barely even know!? I'm scared too..." Raine's voice seemed to drift off.

"Dying on this island, who's going to remember you? Slowly, bit by bit, we're going to disappear from our family's lives. Children will be born, clothes sold to charities, pictures being stored in the attic...and soon...even your name is just a few letters on a headstone..." Raine lowered her gaze, her fists clenching and unclenching. "Without those promises...I have nothing but that fear in my persona. I want to help..."

"I DON'T WANT TO BE FORGOTTEN!" Raine finally screamed, her body collapsing to her knees. "Not like Mum..." She whimpered, wrapping her arms around herself. "Not...li...like...Mum..."

"Who are you?"

Who am I? I'm Dustin fucking Royal.

That's what Dustin would have said, had he not been panicking majorly. As it were, he had time to figure out that it was a male voice and was thinking about how he was going to respond when-

The loudspeaker buzzed to life.

The fuck? I haven't been walking for THAT long, have I? Nah, no way, something's up...

That thought was confirmed by the voice coming from the speaker. It wasn't Danya. It was Mr. Kwong.

Dustin listened. Apparently some girl, Liz Polanski, had been fucking with her collar. And the terrorists were pissed about it. Weird how they were issuing a manhunt for her now, though. If she'd been stupid about it, they would have just blown her collar, but no. She was still alive and they weren't eliminating her.

Either she wasn't enough of a threat to eliminate...or she'd gotten her collar off. And if they were trying to get others to kill her...

But he didn't dwell on it. Whatever had happened, it didn't have to do with him now, particularly since one of the girls was now shouting at him.

"You. You did this?" The girl was shining a flashlight in his face now. He squinted, distracted for a moment, fumbled with his own flashlight and pointed it at her. He didn't recognize the girl- no wonder, wasn't like she was attractive or anything, she wasn't anyone he'd notice in any other circumstance. No, he did recognize her, Rena he thought her name was. They'd probably had a class together. He caught a glimpse at the other two as well- Raine and Ridley. Lots of fucking R's. She was cute, no one he'd ever talked to before but certainly attractive enough.

All those thoughts buzzed around in the back of his head where he didn't have to pay attention to them. He had other things on his mind.

"If you're the monster who did this, then fine. Kill us. Do what you're going to do-I'm not going to beg, because it won't change anything. But understand this. If you did kill this kid, if you kill us, then you better enjoy your next few days on this island. Because you will never rest again. You will be dragged down to hell by the people you killed. You're going to die on this island just like all of them- the only difference is that they won't die monsters. Even if you win, you'll be forced to face their families. Forced to live up with what you've done. If you're the monster who did this, and you run, and you don't kill us, then I will make it my personal mission to make you suffer a death more painful then any other in history."

And it took the entire length of that speech for Dustin to get the point.

Oh...Oh shit! They think this was me!

He opened his mouth to reply and was immediately interrupted by this girl going on again. The fuck is her problem? Gotta be on edge if she thinks it was me, I'm not even...bloody. He shivered. Let her rant for now, I guess. Wait for her to shut up.

"And if you didn't do this, then you have five seconds to tell us who you are and why you're here before my friend here pulls the trigger and you become just another name on the annoucements. And don't think about lying, because come morning we'll know anyway- and I don't like being lied too. So, who the hell are you?"

Jesus Christ, this crazy fucking bitch...

"You got five seconds. Five..."

Dustin snapped out of his thoughts and waved his hands wildly, suddenly back in panic, having noticed that there was a gun right there. "No no no no no, you've got the wrong-"

"No....No one is shooting anyone right now!!"

And Raine slapped Rena. It was a testament to Dustin's lack of working thought process right now that he didn't immediately pray for a catfight. He was more thankful that he had another moment of being shot.

Raine kept speaking. She was clearly a panicky mess, much like Dustin himself, not that he'd admit to it. She was having a breakdown and Dustin felt almost bad interrupting her, but hell, not getting shot was a priority right now. He waited for her to fall silent (relatively, at least) and cleared his throat.

"...I'm Dustin Royal. And this wasn't me. I just came down from the other end of the tunnel. I heard...it sounded like a few people. Some screams. Must've been...this."

"If you're the monster who did this, then fine. Kill us. Do what you're going to do-I'm not going to beg, because it won't change anything. But understand this. If you did kill this kid, if you kill us, then you better enjoy your next few days on this island. Because you will never rest again. You will be dragged down to hell by the people you killed. You're going to die on this island just like all of them- the only difference is that they won't die monsters. Even if you win, you'll be forced to face their families. Forced to live up with what you've done. If you're the monster who did this, and you run, and you don't kill us, then I will make it my personal mission to make you suffer a death more painful then any other in history."

Ridley could hardly keep to himself how stupid he thought that little speech was. She already ranted on about who Ridley thought he was, but look who's talking! He wasn't even aiming his gun at the poor guy and Rena was already going on about killing him with it!

Meanwhile, Raine was crying out more loudly than he gave her credit for. And then an announcement starring a teacher at the school came on and crowded the air with even more pointless noise. He wanted to improve the situation, but all of the shouting was enough to quell any concrete thoughts he tried to manifest.

"Would everyone just calm the fuck down?" Ridley said with a raised voice. For a moment, he thought that he was going to break into a full-on shout, but was glad that he was able to keep his voice below that. Even so, his voice echoed up and down the tunnel walls much more than he thought it would.

"...I'm Dustin Royal. And this wasn't me. I just came down from the other end of the tunnel. I heard...it sounded like a few people. Some screams. Must've been...this."

Ridley scanned Dustin up and down with the help of the light from Rena's flashlight. He didn't have a drop of blood on him; he was not the one responsible. "For fuck's sake, Rena, think before you make a fucking speech like that, alright? This guy's clean." He looked over at Dustin again. "Whatever. Empty your pockets and your bag. And do it slow. Let's see just how dangerous you really are." This time, he really did draw the gun from his pocket, aiming it at the guy's legs. Just in case.

Rena's cheek stung, and she felt tears spring to her eyes. How was she supposed to react to being smacked? She'd never been hit before. Ever. Believe it or not, Rena Peters was not the type of girl who got into a lot of fistfights. Maybe she deserved it. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she was becoming hysterical.

She glance down at the pile of lumped over red meat that was now covering her shoes.

No. She wasn't overreacting. Not in the fucking slightest.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE FORGOTTEN!"

Rena tore her gaze from the leftovers of her old classmate and back to Raine. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who felt the pressure getting to her. Rena wanted to offer an arm, a hug, something, but she wouldn't be much help, would she? She was in an even worse place than Raine, emotionally. Another slight glance down reminded Rena that she was in a worse place physically, too.

"Would everyone just calm the fuck down?"

Ridley? Rena looked at him, eyes narrowed. So his girlfriend was bawling her eyes out, sobbing about her mother or something, while they were standing in, not around, not near, but literally in a dead body- and he was still thinking that they were the ones acting weird? "It's like you're not even really human." Rena whispered under her breath, afraid that he might snap if he heard her.

"...I'm Dustin Royal. And this wasn't me. I just came down from the other end of the tunnel. I heard...it sounded like a few people. Some screams. Must've been...this."

Dustin Royal. She didn't really know him- but she knew of him. One of those "I am way cooler than you" guys. Apparently a real douchebag- although Rena really couldn't judge that well for herself. But, apparently, not a murderer. Always a plus to one's character when they aren't a crazy axe killer.

"For fuck's sake, Rena, think before you make a fucking speech like that, alright? This guy's clean."

Another quick glance at Dustin revealed that yes, in fact, he had no blood on him. Of course. Of course Rena was overreacting.

Another look down. That'snotwater. Another churl in her stomach, another deep swallow to keep the vomit down. No, no, no. Rena was acting perfectly normal considering the circumstances. Ridley was just being an asshole.

Ridley said something else, but Rena didn't really give a damn anymore. The vile anger that Raine's slap had temporarily subdued was now back like a forest fire.

"For fuck's sake Ridley!" Rena tried to put on as much of a mocking tone as she could manage. "What the hell is your problem? Your girlfriend is screaming over there, and you don't even give a damn? You...you..." She choked on her tears, her vomit, the hysteria rising from the pit of her stomach. Her heart was in her throat, and she was certain that another second in this tunnel and she would vomit her entire insides outside, until she was nothing but a pile of misshapen and unrecognizable guts on the floor, joining her classmate. "I. Am. Standing. In. A. Dead. Body. Do you get that? Do you understand that all I am seeing right now is blood?! That it didn't occur to me to check him for blood because, maybe, just maybe I was genuinely afraid that he was going to fucking kill me?!" Tears poured from her eyes, running through the dirt on her cheeks.

"I can't do this. I can't spend another fucking minute in this goddamned tunnel do you understand? Raine and I are breaking down, you're acting like some inhuman dick, and there is a pile of organs at our feet that used to be a student! So maybe, before you start yelling at me for not noticing things, you should take in your own damned surroundings! Maybe, just fucking maybe, we should get the fuck out of here before I vomit and start running!" Rena's voice pitched to a scream, which choked out and was swallowed by her sobs.

"Oh Christ. Oh Jesus Mother Fucking Christ. I can't do this. I can't stay in this tunnel anymore. I can't do this, I can't fucking do this." Rena sniffed in a large chunk of snot, gasping for breath. She took another shuddering breath, begging for composure that wasn't ever going to come.

"Can we please leave. Dustin...he's not going to kill anyone, I don't think. I don't care." Another shuddering breath, another sniff of snot, another glance down, another swallow of vomit.

"Just...please. Please. Please."

She couldn't say anything else.

Rena Peters was broken.

"Re....Re..."

Raine was incapable of speaking a single word. Everything in her head was swirling around in a giant mess. Was Ridley being inhuman by not doing anything about her? N-No...Ridley was doing what was needed desperately at this minute. He was trying to stay calm. Slowly, Raine opened her eyes and wiped them free of tears. It was then she got a strong whiff of copper. Raine's eyes widened as she hadn't realized in her hysterics that her hands had been in that pool of blood.

The smell combined with the idea of what just happened was enough to snap Raine out of her hysterics. Reaching up with a bloody hand, Raine grasped the wall of the tunnel and yanked herself up.

"I. Am. Standing. In. A. Dead. Body. Do you get that? Do you understand that all I am seeing right now is blood?! That it didn't occur to me to check him for blood because, maybe, just maybe I was genuinely afraid that he was going to fucking kill me?!"

"Then step off of the dead body Rena!!" Raine snapped at Rena. "How would you feel if someone stood on your dead body? Just...for Christ's sake...get off of them..." She kept shaking her head, Mr. Kwong's voice ringing in her ears now. Would he have wanted his students to act like this?

"I don't want to be forgotten..." Raine whispered, more like a mantra now than a pitiful whimper. "And....I do not want to forget."

Raine then turned to face Ridley. Ashamed that her facade of being optimistic was destroyed, Raine lowered her gaze pitifully. She couldn't even look her boyfriend in the eye. She didn't care if Dustin stayed or if Dustin went. She was seeking approval from Ridley just as she had sought approval from everyone else in her life. To her, approval meant they would remember her.

Not good. Panicking armed people are not good. Fuck, it figures I manage to avoid a killer and run into a psycho bitch festival instead.

Yeah, Dustin Royal, living the good life as usual.

So, to recap his day so far. He'd fallen asleep in a goddamn cave (he'd inexplicably gotten a good night's sleep, there was one plus), was rudely awakened by some fat asshole telling him how many of his classmates had murdered each other the day before while he was almost getting laid, heard the horrible death screams of the poor bastard whose entrails he was now stepping in. And hell, now he was stepping in entrails! Not to mention the boy who was being a complete twat, which he would be more willing to point out if that boy wasn't also currently pointing a gun at him. And that girl who'd flipped out on him was now flipping out on him. And the other girl was having a...a psychotic break or some shit.

Dustin was really sick of all this bullshit.

But there was that gun again.

"Whatever. Empty your pockets and your bag. And do it slow. Let's see just how dangerous you really are."

Whatever. He emptied his pockets and his bag and did it slow. What was this guy expecting, a corpse in his fucking bag? He had that sword, yeah, but he wasn't using it on anyone, and this boy was an even bigger dick than he'd originally thought if he was gonna leave him weaponless and helpless in this goddamn hellhole. The girl screaming at him- apparently the other girl, the one muttering to herself, was his girlfriend. Good job he'd done, dating a nutcase, though Dustin figured this place was enough to drive anyone insane.

Some moments he felt pretty close to the edge himself. This was one of those moments.

"Can we please leave. Dustin...he's not going to kill anyone, I don't think. I don't care."

Yeah, well, that was good, at least. The girl was practically begging the boy to leave, why she was asking him for permission to that end when she wasn't even with him Dustin had no idea. But he watched the boy for an answer as well. He wanted out of here, too.

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to wait. There was a gun pointed at him, after all.

((OOC: I'm skipping KingKamor because I'm getting close to inactivity and might not be able to post for a few days. Sorry for the breakage.))

Time ticked slower than it did before.

It wasn't a life shattering epiphany, or a monumental realization, or even really a discovery at all. It was more an acknowledgement of unchangeable and undeniable truths that Rena was forced to abide by.

Before she'd begged Ridely to leave, time seemed to pass at it's regular pace. Her thoughts, words, and actions went no faster or slower than they normally did. However, after her question, time ticked slower. It felt like hours, and yet no noise had entered the tunnels, no answer was given, no move was made to even recognize her plea. It occurred to her that Raine had said something- more jumbled things about not forgetting- but the words were not aimed at Rena, and further, there seemed to be a still unbearably long silence following their utterance.

It was this acknowledgement of the slowing time that allowed Rena to fix herself, somewhat. Raine's scathing snap about getting off of the dead body fell on deaf ears- being physically on the body no longer mattered, really. It was more the idea of having once been on the body- the fact that her shoes were now splattered with blood, that she had come face to face with the body of her classmate- that mattered more. In Rena's mind, she would always have been, at one point, stepping on a classmate, which meant that she was in the perfectly correct state of hysterics for the situation.

But as the time ticked abnormally, Rena was allowed to think about more things, to understand more, and she used her new understandings to pull herself out of her hysterics.

She shifted slightly off of the body, wondering if, come morning (should she even survive that long), she would be able to recognize their name on the announcements. Maybe it'd be better if I never knew a name...

She looked between the others in the tunnel, her last spoken words ringing in her ears.

Raine. Raine was crying, Raine was desperate, Raine did not want to be forgotten. Raine was nice. Raine was smart. Raine was...motherly, in an odd way. And yet, Raine was weaker than Rena had ever thought. She was turning towards Ridley, a look in her eyes that took several agonizingly long seconds for Rena to recognize. It was the same look Rena had given her parents so often- that begging approval look. The look that pleaded for the recipient to agree, to hug, to be proud of the giver. The look Rena so often gave and was so little rewarded for.

Raine needed approval. Why? What did she gain from it? Yes, maybe she loved Ridley. But Ridley was acting abnormal. Ridley was acting cold and rude. Why did Raine need his approval? If anything, he should be searching for Raine's as well. It was supposed to be a mutual thing, love. Wasn't it? Weren't they both supposed to support and approve of the other's actions, or at least seek the approval of the other?

Rena had never been in love. Maybe what she knew was wrong. But, at the same time, she knew something about Ridley and Raine, and that was the small fact that Ridley had spent a day looking for her, a day agonizing over where she was, following her throughout the island, and now, suddenly, he didn't seem to care what she was doing or feeling. It felt wrong.

The idea that he was trying to keep calm passed through Rena's thoughts, but she brushed it aside. He could be clam and caring, couldn't he?

Her eyes turned to the boy, carefully. She was not a leader- he was. He was the person with the gun. The person who taped up her leg, who helped her when she was down. She didn't want to leave without him. And yet, now, she wasn't so sure that he still was that boy who taped up her leg. Now someone he knew was dead. Now they had come face to face with a dead body. Now Survival of the Fittest had become frighteningly real. They reacted to it in different ways. Ridley acted cold, tried to keep his head high, tried to be logical. Raine pulled herself together, decided not to be forgotten, acted snippy because she needed to be like Ridley, needed to be calm.

And Rena? Rena freaked out. Because she didn't know what else to do. Because she wasn't Ridley or Raine, and she didn't really want to be them.

Now Ridley and Raine were changing, and Rena was staying the same. She was still the homely girl who blended into the backgrounds. She still couldn't handle blood, or death, or acting social very well. The only difference was that now she couldn't quite be so in denial. Now she had to face reality.

But she only had to face reality so long as reality was facing her. She only had to face reality so long as Ridley was still pointing his gun, so long as she was still near that body, so long as she was still in the tunnels, so long as the people she considered friends continued to change.

Rena Peters did not like change, nor did she like facing reality- at least not when her reality was as bleak as it was at the current moment.

So, as the time ticked slower, she decided that she was not going to wait for Ridley's approval. She was going to run.

"Sorry."

It was all she could say. It was all she could do to explain her reasoning behind everything. She figured that somehow, it would be enough.

And then she ran.

As she got farther and farther away from the body, and closer towards being out of the wretched tunnels, reality began to fade. Her beautiful, elegant walls of denial began to rebuild themselves, enclosing her in a warm and beautiful mental state.

Everything will be okay.

Everything will be okay, so long as you keep running.

Just pray to God that they don't catch up.

((Rena Peters, continued in Selfish))

The hand holding the gun remained steady as he turned off and pocketed his ipod, which had become useless thanks to Rena's flashlight. The only thing running through Ridley's mind was, Everything's alright, Rid. You've got this. Over and over again, even as he scanned through Dustin's belongings. Ridley had trouble picturing a student having to carry around such things as daily rations, a map, and a compass, but he quickly dismissed it before the negative thoughts set in. He did not want his calm to break-- not even Rena's shouts nor Raine's whimpering made him flinch, though his ears tensed up with each raise in volume.

"A sword? Seriously?" He said as he knelt down to examine the blade. It was a thin, curved weapon, probably from Asia or something, for what Ridley knew of weaponry. As he picked it up by the hilt-- surprisingly heavy for its size-- he noticed that it hadn't even been used as a weapon. Not a drop of blood was on the blade.

Ridley sucked in a mass of air-- tinged from the smell of the body behind him that he was still trying to ignore-- and let out a heavy sigh. "You're good. Sorry to put you through that." He pocketed his gun, though his hand remained on the handle, and a finger behind the trigger to avoid accidents. That's right, it's to avoid accidents, he thought to himself. "If you're willing to forgive us for being such ass holes, then--"

"Sorry."

The sound of footsteps beating against the wet tunnel floor snapped him out of it. As he turned around, he scarcely saw Rena turn the corner and speed out of the cave.

"FUCK! Rena, get back--" He grabbed Raine by the hand. It shook him a little once he saw how much she had been crying. He mentally kick himself in the head. "Sorry, but we have to go after her, right? You don't want her to be forgotten either, right?" He looked back over at Dustin. "Do whatever you want. Come with us, go somewhere else, what the fuck ever!" He pulled Raine by the hand with him as he made his way down the dark tunnel towards the exit.

((Ridley Landon, continued in Bloodgarden))

"Rena!!" Raine shouted after Rena as she sprinted off away from them. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, wanting to follow but yet wanting to give Rena her space. But then, wouldn't Rena be lost and possibly killed too? Raine then felt Ridley's hand in hers and she looked up to him.

She couldn't exactly put it into words...There was a look to Ridley's eyes that made Raine feel that he was apologetic for not doing anything for her. It had hurt her. There she had been crying and losing her mind and Ridley did nothing until now. However, now he was reaching out to her. Raine squeezed his hand gently in return.

"No...I don't want her forgotten either but..."

But before Raine could warn Ridley that Rena wouldn't want to be seen with them right now, she was being dragged off yet again. All she could do was bite her lip and hope to be the voice of reason as soon as she got her mind completely together. After all, Ridley and her are an item packaged together. So they should stay together, right?

((Raine Schwarz continued in Bloodgarden))

And suddenly everyone was gone.

What the fuck?

Dustin chewed on the inside of his cheek, considering. The first girl, the one who'd flipped out on him, she'd run off all of a sudden, and then that boy grabbed she-of-the-psychotic-break (his girlfriend, right? yeah) and ran off and told him to come with them or not or whatever, he didn't care. Of course, Dustin didn't process all of this quickly enough to actually go with them, particularly with his stuff lying on the ground.

Oh- oh, fucking gross...

His bag was sitting in a blood puddle. Dustin groaned rather theatrically as he picked the thing up, shaking it off best he could. It didn't do much, but it was better than nothing, he supposed. Not that this is gonna win me any new friends...fuck. Not good. Definitely not good.

Of course, standing around, alone, next to a corpse, surrounded by blood- also not good, and definitely not getting him anywhere. He slung the bag over his shoulder, carefully making sure the thing didn't touch his guitar, and began to walk. Slowly. He had no real desire to catch up to the others, but he really didn't want to be here anymore.

This has been a real shitty day so far.

[[Dustin Royal continued in Walk On Water Or Drown]]