SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

“Could you bring him to me instead?,” asked Zach, “I really need to sit down.”

Zach dropped his duffel bag onto the ground and sat in the dirt. He was feeling a bit light headed.

“I hardly got any sleep last night,” he continued, “I was...worried about being killed...in my sleep.”

Zach didn’t want to bring up the events of the lighthouse, partially because he was still reeling from the shock, and because he didn’t want to give away that he killed somebody. If he were to talk about it, he’d rather do that with someone he trusted.

Desiree shouted to Thomas from a window nearby. Whatever she wanted, she sounded pretty excited. Zach couldn’t care less, and turned his attention back to Lucas.

“So,” Zach said, “Seen any other weird shit before getting here?”

Well, seemed like they were all chill with this Zach guy showing up. Great. One more way in which Lucas could feel out of sync and step with the rest of the increasingly Cloutless Gang. He sat down and made himself comfortable on the ground, asking to be shown to Sean. Fine. If Zach totally just murdered Sean all of a sudden, who would be around to even remotely care about it? Certainly not Lucas, nope. Lucas didn't give two fucks about anyone in this group that wasn't Desiree. Not even himself. And yeah, it was a bit of a beta orbiter thing to be fixated on her, he understood that, but it wasn't (just) because he thought she was cute. She was genuinely kind to him while the other two were just busy talking behind his back. Maybe he could convince her to ditch the group when she found out that Zach was here, because as far as he knew the two didn't get along all too well at all.

Desiree announced that she found some pens. Now, that was interesting. If there were pens, then paper was probably near by. There was nothing Lucas wanted more than to write, right now. It would offer a good escape from all this nonsense. He could take just one pen, just a few sheets of paper, say his goodbyes, and leave this earthly fucking realm as soon as possible. That was all he wanted to do, truly, but Zach had other ideas, trying to engage Lucas in a conversation while Desiree beckoned Thomas specifically (ugh) over towards her. Yuck. Yikes. Big oof.

"Weird shit?" Lucas repeated, slouching a little, "Well, I know that someone got dealt an entire shopping cart as their starting gear, so, I guess that's some weird shit. Also, there are a bunch of shoes on the beach, for some reason. I guess that's weird."

He waved his hand back and forth as if dispelling a fart from the air. For a moment, he glanced up at the sky. Clouds were gathering, suggesting rain. Like it or not, if they wanted to take shelter, they'd have to pile into the building with the corpse. Lucas shivered at the thought.

"Anyway, you said you were scared of getting merked in your sleep, right? Did something happen to you? I didn't hear your name in the announcements this morning, so it's not like you killed somebody. I mean, unless you did earlier today. I guess I wouldn't really know, in that case."

Zach wanted Thomas to go fetch Sean for him? Seemed kind of weird, like, the kind of thing a person asked a servant for. Besides, there were better seats inside. It wasn’t worth getting worked up over anyway.

He was about to suggest that he could head back in and tell Sean about Zach’s arrival, but he found himself cut off by a call from the storeroom window. Desiree had found some pens! Holy crap!

Thomas’s heart felt as though it might leap straight from his chest. Something was going right. Even here, something could go right.

“Um, sorry, I’ll be right back.” He said quickly to the pair with him before rushing off to the window, where he found the girl holding a box of pens.

“Oh holy crap. Thanks, Desiree.” He said, smiling, perhaps the sincerest smile he’d worn since even before he ended up on this hellhole.

So excited was he as he attempted to take the box from her, that Thomas forgot that he was holding a loaded gun in one hand. He only remembered this fact, just as the weight of the box shifted into his arms, leading to him fumbling with the box and dropping it to the ground outside. After a moment, looking down at the product of his own folly, Thomas looked up at Desiree, rather embarrassed.

“I um… I should get that.”

Holy shit! Desiree actually found pens in this place. Sean had been sure that with how it had been going for them, it'd probably be on the other side of this shitty place, but no. Luck was on their side on this matter. Sean felt a smile come to his face as he made his way close to the room Desiree was in and took a look.

Yep, that was a box alright. And it was full of pens. Thomas wsa probably full of joy now which would be a nice change from the usual.

Once she called out to him and he heard footsteps outside, Sean peered back and started making his way across the room.

...And like the butterfingers Thomas seemed, he dropped the box. A pen or two fleed from their cardboard prison and onto the ground.

"Great job!" Desiree smirked, tapping the solo pen in her hand against the edge of the window.

An entire shopping cart? Zach couldn’t tell if Lucas was being serious or not. Did he mean that someone got a shopping cart’s worth of stuff, or a literal shopping cart? Then again, considering the items he’s seen people were given, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that the terrorists would give somebody something like a shopping cart, whether it was for a cheap laugh or because they thought someone could make use of one.

Still, something about the shoes on the beach part felt eerie to him. Why would a bunch of shoes be left on the beach of an abandoned island? Did some students go for a swim, or try to swim off the island? If that was the case, it’s amazing how fucking stupid some of Zach’s classmates were. They’re on a fucking island in the middle of the fucking ocean! There’s no way they’d get very far, considering the explosive collars on their necks. If those don’t detonate first, then they’d probably drown or get eaten by sharks.

Or maybe, drowning was the point. It could have been a group suicide. That’s fucked up. Then again, there’s no way out of this hopeless situation other than...

Zach shook his head. His mind was going to some dark places, and he didn’t want to lose it. He already had enough on his mind currently. His attention turned back to Lucas, who questioned if something happened to keep him from slumber. Zach’s eyes darted a bit as he tried to think of a something to say without giving away what happened before dawn.

“Uh, well...”, Zach trailed off before he could give a coherent answer.

Zach wasn't giving him a straight answer? Whatever. Fuck it. Lucas didn't really care. It probably wasn't anything interesting. Probably just the kind of guy who wet the bed a lot as a kid proving that old habits die hard. It didn't really matter. Behind him, Thomas dropped the thing of pens. A whole box? Lucas needed to go over and get his hands on one of those before Thomas, in all his irreplaceable genius, managed to light the whole fucking thing on fire, too.

"Everything alright over there?" Lucas asked, turning towards Thomas and Desiree.

As Thomas bent over to pick up the box, Lucas called out to him, and he made a quick response.

“Everything's alright. I jus-”

It was then that a loud noise erupted from somewhere behind Thomas



A crack.



An explosion.



A gunshot.



Thomas hit the ground. Hard.

There was a flash and a crack in the distance.

The agony from the bullet passed as quick as it came rending apart her skull.

And then Desiree was no more.

“Oh God oh fuck oh shit! Someone’s shooting! Someone’s shooting!”

Thomas scrambled up onto his ass, back to the infirmary wall, jittery hands fumbling with the pistol as he attempted to aim at whatever the hell had shot at them.

He couldn’t even remember if the safety was still off as he put his finger to the trigger and squeezed, producing a loud BANG as the gun recoiled so hard that Thomas nearly lost his hold on the thing.

But his grip was like iron while his legs felt like lead.

Had he been shot? He didn’t feel any pain, but he couldn’t move his own legs. Was this just shock? Oh shit oh fuck.

A moment had passed as Thomas continued to curse under his breath, and yet no return shots seemed to come from… wherever the first one had come from.

“Oh shit! W-Who shot at us?!” He cried out in a panic, looking around wildly, hands still shaking, feeling like he was about to start tearing up all over again.

“I-Is everyone okay? Desiree?” He called out to the others.

It wouldn't be right to describe what Sean did as stopping in his tracks, rather his legs gave out under him as the shot rang out in the air and he crawled for some sort of cover under a nearby bed. For a second he'd been worried that he'd gotten hit only for the sound of a thump from the other room to call out to him.

Sean stopped breathing. There was another shot outside and screaming. What was going on? An attack? Ambush? An accident? What the fuck was going on?

Those were the thoughts that should be going through his head, but instead he found himself getting up into a sort of Crouch-walk as he slowly made his way to the room Desiree was in. He had shunted those thoughts aside for one.

There was a chance. There had to be.

As he reached the room and looked inside, he saw a glimpse of her on the floor. There was blood on the floor and on the walls. He closed his eyes and grabbed her by the head, placing both hands to the side of it and dragged her out. Slowly, but surely.

After he felt that they had gotten away from the room by the feeling of a bed in his back, he opened his eyes and looked at Desiree.

There was a saying about looking into the abyss and it looks back right? Well, Sean felt that now as he looked into the hole where most of her face was supposed to be. Blood was leaking from it through the hole in the back, staining his hands and much of the floor that he had dragged her across. He could see bits of her left on it.

He put her head down and forced himself up on unsteady feet as he tried to walk towards a corner, only to topple over as the feeling of bile ovetook him and decided on an early exit through his mouth.

She had no chance. None of them did.

The all too familiar burst of gunfire echoed in the air. Zach scrambled on the ground and laid flat with his hands over his head.

“OH SHIT!,” shouted Zach, “NOT AGAIN!”

Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck...

Zach’s mind became sporadic with thought. Somebody shot! Where did it come from!? Were they nearby!? Did Thomas fire his gun? What were they shooting at!? This is gonna turn out just like with Mikki!

Just then, the little voice in his head, who had been his only companion up until now, came back.

Get to cover, fuckhead!

Zach reached for his duffel bag, got up quickly, and ran into the infirmary. He ran towards one of the rooms as fast as his legs could carry him. What he saw next was unexpected.

Sean was dragging Desiree by the head, then he fucking puked. Zach entered the room Sean and the clearly dead Desiree (now that he had a better look at her), and stood next to the doorway.

“Sean?,” Zach whimpered, “What the fuck is going on?”

Just in time to see it. The shot. Lucas saw the shot, and heard it, and breathed it. Thomas just barely ducked it. It missed him as he was bending down, and he hadn't even meant to, but he survived it. It didn't even skim him, but there was someone on the other side of that window, and someone that he knew, and someone who was he didn't know for sure just yet but it was someone who was all too likely Lucas was following Zach into the building now just moments behind him and Desiree was the one person that was kind to him of this whole group and she was now sure Thomas tried he tried all he could but he didn't try hard enough the best he had wasn't as good as what Desiree is was is was is was

she was gone.

The foam sword fell from Lucas' grip. His fingers curled into a fist. Lucas couldn't believe what he was seeing. It wasn't supposed to be her. It was supposed to be anyone but her. It was supposed to be Thomas. It was supposed to be Zach. It was supposed to be Sean. It was supposed to be him. It wasn't supposed to be her.

Lucas found that part of him had something to say, at this. The words came quietly at first.

"Zach."

"Hey, Zach."

"Zach."

"I want your sword."

"Zach."

"Give me your sword."

“Holy crap… Holy fuck…”

Thomas breathed heavily as he gazed off into the distance. Still no second shot. Had he just imagined everything? Then why wasn’t everyone coming out to see what was going on?

No, he’d heard Zach shout… something, right?

However, as he looked over to where Zach and Lucas had stood moments ago, they were nowhere to be seen. Vanished, like whatever peace had hung over this little corner of hell until that shot rang out.

Maybe they ran off. Maybe they all ran off. Maybe they left you.

No, no. They would have said something, called out to him. Made some kind of attempt.

Would they? None of them are your friends. You have a gun. You were convenient, and perhaps you aren’t so convenient anymore.

Thomas felt as though he’d vomit right then. Alone in the loneliest place in the world. Maybe he’d lose his mind. Maybe he’d off himself.

It was then that he heard voices of the others from inside the building, their words indistinct. His instinct was to run in to them, to take whatever security he could in the group, but his legs would not move. The feeling had returned to them by now, flesh and muscle rather than stone and steel, but he could not gather the will to stand up.

What if the only reason another shot wasn’t fired, was because the shooter had somehow lost sight of him? What if the moment he stood up, he’d find his brains scattered against the wall?

“Oh shit… shit… Desiree? Sean? Lucas? Zach? Somebody?! Can somebody tell me what the hell is happening?!” He called out to the others, shaking, tearing up.

For a second all Sean coukd hear was the sound of his own vomit hitting the loor of the infirmary till a voice called out to him. He turned his head a bit and strained his watering eyes to see who it was, it was difficult to tell, but he coulkd never mistake the voice. Smaller though it was at the moment.

"Za-zach? I...I don't know." He said in between breaths, or at least tried to say. At this point his vomiting had stopped, but he was dry heaving. His right hand found it's way to the bed he was next to and struggled to get up. Especially once the next words echoed through the room. Small they were at first, but increased in sound after each repetition.

Lucas asking for a sword. No. Not asking. Demanding.

Nothing good would come from that Sean thought to himself as he tried to stand on unsteady legs, putting both bloody hands on the bed for support.