"Though we may not survive it..."

[LadyMakaze†]

At Hawley's reply, Madelaine could feel her resolve dropping as she listened, watching the gun that now hung from his dropped hand. Looking back to face him, Madelaine realized that she did not know anything about him at all. Yet here she was, talking so brazenly at him as though she knew everything about him....

And to think that I trusted him with my life...even now, I guess I still do.

Just as she as about to reply, she stopped short of words, startled by an unfamiliar figure charging to lash out at Hawley, uttering angry words, stating that he would not let Hawley hurt her.

Madelaine stared in surprise as Hawley stumbled back, the unfamiliar boy rushing over to retrieve the fallen gun to aim it at Hawley. Her confusion intensified as the boy began referring to her as Beth...if he was referring to her at all. Was this boy insane or something?

But it was non of her concern. Stepping forward yet again, Madelaine immediately put herself between Hawley and the stranger. At the same time, she with drew her gun and pointed it towards the newcomer. Sure, she might be standing within point blank range right now, but what did she care? It was not as though she was out to survive in any case. Besides, it was time to stop sitting on the fence. She had friends to protect after all.

Looking at the newcomer's face, she did not recognize him, for she had never met him until now.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" Madelaine asked him with harsh words. "Do you think you'll end up some sort of hero, running out of nowhere like that, lashing out at people, and pointing that thing everywhere like that?"

[Cactus]

As the action happened, Adam took a step back and collapsed on a large rock, sitting down, his face hollow. His mind was sure being toyed with lately, and it seemed like this rollercoaster ride was nowhere close to over. He looked at Hawley and just looked at the boy, shaking his head slightly.

"...and I trusted you...you were going to shoot me..."

~~~

Several feet behind Adam, Amanda stood holding the shotgun. She felt that she was probably in a bit better of a mindset than the majority in the little area, yet she didn't really know what to make of the situation. She tried looking at it logically, unemotionally. Adam was in a bad place right now, and he wouldn't be much help if they had to defend themselves. Madelaine seemed in control, but if anyone shot that she kept stepping in front of, she might not be around for much longer. As for Hawley, he seemed to be out of his mind. The new arrival spoke, and Amanda couldn't help but jolt herself out of her thoughts.

Beth...? Who's Beth?

As she pointed the shotgun at the mass of people, she stepped forward.

"Okay, let's just all relax here, okay? First of all, Hawley... Adam's been as much a friend to you as he's been to me, which is a damn good one. You KNOW he'd never hurt you, he'd never hurt Madelaine, he'd never hurt me. So I don't understand where this is coming from. Did you hit your head or something, because you really aren't making any goddamn sense!

And you...who's Beth!? And who are YOU?"

[Swoosh*]

And just like that, the candle burning with rage was snuffed out. Callum blinked. Taking his eyes off Hawley, he turned to face the girl.

She was aiming a gun at him?? But what happened to her needing him to save her... this... was not Beth. He had saved the wrong girl.

Well, that would explain the apparent confusion he'd caused. Standing up, he looked between the two girls, ruffling his hair with his free hand in an embarrassed manner.

"Um..." Callum really didn't know where to begin. He'd just attacked a complete stranger for apparently no reason. He lowered his gun slowly, and looked at 'Beth', or whoever she was.

"I'm Callum... and, um... I thought you were someone I.... knew," he finished lamely. What could he say? I thought you were someone who I see every now and again, and who needs my help, but I've never met her, spoken to her, or even really seen her?

He shrugged, and carried on. "I thought you were in trouble, it looked like you needed help. I'm sorry."

Looking at the floor, he blushed a little. How odd. He'd potentially saved a girl from being shot, and all he felt was embarrassment? It really was a mark of the bizareness that was his life at the moment.

[riserugu†]

Watching as Madelaine stepped before him, pointing her own gun toward the boy he frowned pushing himself back onto his feet shaking off some of the water on his arms before looking toward Amanda lightly, flinching as he heard Adam speak.

“When I heard the gunshots… I thought someone had killed both Madeline and you. I blamed myself at that point, because I walked away from to clearly injured people, I would be the reason that you two where dead because I hadn’t used enough common sense to just keep close.” Sighing lightly, he ran a wet hand through his hair a little casting his eyes to the ground.

“Amanda, you’re the most important person to Adam on this island, and probably the whole damn world and you probably feel the same for him. And if you had died, well… just take all your feelings if he was dead. That’s probably the same way he’d feel, and then if he ever figured I had walked away from you while you were unable to do anything to protect yourself against a attack. I figured he would have hated me… so I decided it be best to untie myself from a group, and the only person I ever considered a true friend to me.”

Lifting his hand he pinched down on the bridge of his nose, “I let my stupid thoughts get the best of me… I let my fear get too me. Here I am talking about betrayal, and breaking of trust when it’s really me that the one that can’t be trusted.” Sighing again, he glanced at Adam lightly. “I made a promise to you I would never turn my gun on you, because I considered you a friend. But even though I’ve always wanted friends, I can’t be a good friend… I broke my promise and for that I can offer nothing more than how sorry I am. I know that isn't much, and I know you'll probably never trust me again... but it's all I can do.”

Glancing off once more, he looked at the other boy… Callum was it? Explaining his mistake in girls between this Beth he was talking about, and the Madeline that stood before him pointing a gun.

[LadyMakaze†]

Madelaine narrowed her eyes cautiously at the newcomer, who had introduced himself as Callum. For a while, she kept an unfaltering aim at him while he explained himself. However, looking at the expression of confusion and embarrassment on his face, as well as his quiet, awkward tone of voice, Madelaine finally let out a sigh and dropped her arm, still holding onto the gun. The boy did not seem dangerous...not the type who would kill indiscriminately at least... and it did seem that he felt chastised for his actions. She finally calmed, though still somewhat unsettled.

She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, a slight frown on her face. "It would not seem that we have met before. And just for the record, I was doing fine when you showed up." She paused for a moment, before adding in a kinder voice. "But thank you anyways..."

Looking over her shoulder to glance at Hawley, she told Callum halfheartedly, "Just give him back the gun, alright? Don't shoot any of us, or anything..."

Turning her back on him, she walked over to Hawley as she replaced the gun back in her pocket. She looked him over for a wordless moment, gazing at him with a cool, unreadable expression on her face. Her words were just as expressionless.

"We've never met before this happened, have we? I don't know who you are, what you've been though, or what you are thinking and feeling right now. So I can't say I've ever understood you at all, and I still don't, so I'll not say any words of advice for you. I'll not pretend to understand you.

That said, I still trusted you with my life. I even trusted you not to shoot me back then. Even after all that's been said and done, I still trust you now.

What you do now is your choice. But in case you've already decided on leaving..." By now, her tone of voice had softened slightly, but she was not smiling this time. "...always know that you can come back to us. As long as its in peace, you'll find at least some acceptance here. That's all I have to say."

[Cactus]

Adam looked at Hawley and sighed. After all that he'd been through, after what he'd been saying to Amanda, he could almost empathize with the poor guy. Clearing his throat, some colour restoring to his face, he sighed again.

"Hawley...when I said earlier on...like a few days ago...when I said that I was going to get off of this island...I didn't mean just me. I meant me...I meant you...I meant Amanda...I meant Madelaine. I didn't just mean me. You know that, dude. So we've known each other for a few days...it doesn't matter. Dude...I consider you a friend. I don't know what's going through your head now, but to be honest...all of you...all three of you, I...I don't know if I could go on without. I just...I don't know."

Adam cleared his throat again and looked at them all.

"Since I got lost, I've been come upon when I was taking a shower, I've found the body...the body of my best friend, I've broken a couple cameras, I've lost my temper...and I just killed someone. So Hawley...what's going on in your head...my friend...you never know...I might just be able to understand just what the fuck you're thinking."

Adam sighed for a third time, and then fell silent.

[riserugu†]

Hawley lightly sighed, nodding his head as Adam spoke. “I’ll suppose I should try to be a bit more open… instead of keeping everything bottled up and waiting for it to all explode. Like it did just now, I never wanted to point a gun at you or at any of you…”

Sighing lightly, he rubbed one of his hands against the fabric of his jeans holding it out to Adam as he glanced down at the ground once more, sighing. “I don’t want to be alone here, I don’t want to be alone again…” He said, smiling lightly. “I promise to never, ever do anything to hurt any of you… I’d rather die than ever do that again.”

They’ll just kill you, kill you like the other boy over there.

Shaking his head, he smirked. ‘No they won’t, because I trust them all with every part of my being.’ He mused back in thought…

[Cactus]

Amanda couldn't help but blink in surprise. It had been quite an eventful last few minutes, and the situation definitely called for her to lower the shotgun. As such, she did, still a little hesitant about doing so. Hawley may have been someone that Adam and Madelaine trusted, but she still...she didn't know. Then again, she was probably just being a little overprotective.

Wow, we've been a couple for a grand total of about ten minutes and I'm already overprotective. Amazing.

Looking around the area, her eyes instantly fell on Adam's injured arm. Her eyes widening in alarm, she looked over at Hawley.

"Hawley...would it be too much to ask if you could take a look at Adam's arm? It's bleeding..."

Exhaling sharply, she glanced over at Madelaine.

"Are you all right? You don't look it."

[LadyMakaze†]

Watching and listening silently to the words of both Adam and Hawley, Madelaine gave a small sigh as she stepped away from them to pace about in silent contemplation. It seemed that the situation was being resolved. The sigh that Madelaine let out was a relieved one. In truth, she was happy to see that things seemed to have resolved amongst the group...but she did not smile.

Rather, she turned away from everyone else, and bit on the curve of of her finger, looking somewhat troubled. Though there had no shortage of surprises and unsettling moments since the minute she awoke, something continued to nag at the edge of her mind like a darting shadow. Was it worry? Was it fear? Or was it a sense of forboding.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost did not notice Amanda addressing her, expressing her concern for Madelaine. Awkwardly, Madelaine rubbed the back of her hair, casting her eyes towards the ground.

"Oh...I'm fine," she murmured, trying to sound cheerful, though her voice seemed to trail off as she noticed the shotgun in Amanda's hands. Looking back at Amanda, she tried to smile, but after struggling for a moment, she gave up. Madelaine was never one to smile unless the smile truly meant something...and now it seemed almost pointless to even try. She wondered if this was the effect the game was having on her, draining away at her until she no longer possessed the energy to even smile.

She tasted a bit of blood on her lips. Looking at her fingers, she saw thet the one she had bitten on had a line of red running across the curve. Quickly, she tucked her fingers behind her sleeve to hide it, wiping at it as she maintain her composure.

"So um..." she said quietly. Her voice sounded unusually quiet, and almost coarse. Was she losing her voice? "Yeah...we were going to the Lookout Point, were we? Unless it's occupied already..."

[Swoosh*]

Callum had not said much since his somewhat haphazard introduction, and was feeling more and more as if he had just walked into (or more, charged into) something quite important. Feeling distinctly voyeuristic, he instead just watched the scene unfold quietly, giving him time to gather his own thoughts.

So this wasn't Beth, he had decided. Beth was still out there somewhere. Looking around him, he began to feel desperate again. Where was she? How could he find her? In this potential labirynth of death and destruction, he had to find just one girl... but how?

Skip patted him on the back. "Hey, kiddo, I got something to tell you."
Callum turned around. "Oh, hey Sk-"
"You can't be the hero. Don't try."

Callum's heart sank at these words. "Skip?..."
Skip looked Callum directly in the eyes. "Come on. Beth's in trouble, possibly dying, and what have you done so far? You've met all of seven people, not one of them Beth, you've almost gotten drunk, you've almost gotten shot, and now you dally with these people?" Skip snorted in disgust. "You're no hero, and you know it."

Callum pressed his hand to his ears. "No... I won't listen to it... I will save Beth..." Tears began to fill his eyes as his best friend, the one who was always there to clear things up when they got bad, ripped his heart out. Skip smirked as he walked over to where Madelaine was stood.

"And for your information, Helen Keller, Beth has long hair. All the times she's come to you, she's had long hair. It's one of her most distinguishing features. In fact," Skip added in amused tones, "I'd say it's her only distinguishing feature. This girl," he said, jabbing his finger in the direction of Madelaine, "quite obviously does not have long hair."

Skip walked over to Callum, who was stood, numb with shock at the harshness of his best friend. Skip gave a small chuckle and patted Callum almost consolingly on the back.

"See you around, kiddo."

Callum sank to the floor, the gun falling to the ground with him, placing both hands firmly on his ears. He began to cry, rocking back and forth slightly, as if trying to comfort himself.

"No... I will save her... I will save her... I will save her...I WILL SAVE HER!"

[LadyMakaze†]

((Actually, Madelaine does have long hair ^^;; It's just not shown in her student picture because its tied in a low tail, as mentioned in her description. However, it is only little past shoulder length so....))

((Edit: Ah gotcha. ^^;; Nevermind then! @_@))

[Swoosh*]

((Ah, but Beth has LONG hair. Like, waist length.))

[riserugu†]

Blinking from where he had been looking to the ground he looked toward Amanda as she spoke to him about looking at Adam’s wound on his arm. Hawley glanced toward the one in question; finally remembering the wound he had seen when he had first came in.

“Oh, yeah… Of course.” He said lightly, sifting the daypack so he could unzip it dropping down and searching through for one of the first aid kits, removing a small bottle of liquid medicine as well as one of the syringes leaving the bag on the ground. Hawley also took one of the shirts so to clean the blood away from the wound and moved toward where the other sat.

Glancing lightly to Madeline he shook his head, “There was someone up there with some kind of weapon when David and I got there…” He muttered, blinking as he took note that he had left David back there when he had came back here…

Thoughts faded when he heard the male that had attacked him start talking, but after a minute… it almost didn’t seem as if he was talking to them. And instead to someone else that wasn’t here or that they couldn’t see. He unable to figure out what to say to this as he collapsed to the ground crying, and rocking lightly as the sat there…

[LadyMakaze†]

Taking note of Hawley's reply, Madelaine contemplated this for a moment, frowning in thought. It seemed as though everywhere they turned, always, always there would be danger. It was as though there was never a moment's peace in a place like this. They were never completely safe, no matter where they went.

"Not the Lookout Point either, huh...?" Madelaine said quietly, placing the bend of her already bleeding finger to her lip. Realizing what she was doing, she removed it. Already it was becoming a bad habit, something she did automatically out of nervousness. She turned back towards the group.

"Well...for now I think it's best if we stay here, at least until Adam's wound is taken care of. Either way, it'll be best if we stay together," she told them.

Especially after what had happened....she thought to herself grimly, glancing over at Blaine's corpse with a chill running down her spine. Or rather...what might have happened...

Her attention turned towards the fallen Callum, who had collapsed and was now crying aloud after addressing some unknown person who did not seem to be in sight...

Though confused, she approached him and knelt down in front of him, placing a hand over his shoulder and lowering her head, trying to look at his face.


"Hey...get ahold of yourself," she told him gently. "You're looking for someone, aren't you?"

[OnceForgotten†]

While the group conversed, a soft wheezing cough could be heard from a patch of bushes near the river. Marcus could not help but feel a sense of impending doom as he watched his friends argue in front of him. It seemed as if the bond that the others shared was breaking. Marcus himself had never really felt a part of it. Frankly, he had never really felt a part of anything. It was obvious, though, that fear and paranoia was starting to seep in. Marcus had respected Hawley as the leader for as long as he had been with him, but his breakdown...It was a sighn of weakness, and a leader in this situation cannot be weak. Weakness is the first step to instablility, and there is no room for instability when one misstep could cause someones death. Marcus knew that he had a decision to make. He could either stay with them through the continually eroding alliance, or he could go off on his own.

As much as he wanted it to be, it was not really a choice. He was to hurt to think of going solo again. And besides, his last solo adventure ended with him getting whipped like a Greek slave.
"Why dont you cry?" Cody asked, wiping the blood from his face. "This is fun though. Maybe we can do it again sometime" With that, Cody dropped the third stick and walked away, whistling a tune that sounded desturbingly like "Breakfast at Tiffanie's"
Marcus shuddered. He hoped the next time he met that kid, he had Adam and his shotgun with him. Marcus' mind was made up
"Hey g-g-g-guys, S-s-s-some h-h-h-help over h-h-h-here?"