Lean on Me

[Namira]

((For continuity's sake, I'm assuming Kris left circa Yvaine's post and won't respond to Maxwell))

It was... it was okay? That hadn't been said, but being told to leave was what that said to Kris. It was okay, or okay for now, that she'd done what she'd done. ...No, that didn't make sense, that couldn't possibly make sense. Why'd they all say that? It wasn't like she could just be forgiven with a snap of the fingers. Kris' actions couldn't be atoned for, not in one conversation, not in a century.

But... wrong. Punishment? Where?

Things had made sense for an instant. The nightmare would be over. Reiko would have her revenge, Kris would be with Etain and they'd all be gone from the hell of the island in one fell swoop. One gunshot and one little push of a button, and that would have been it. She'd accepted that. In some ways she'd almost hoped for it. She... she didn't want to do this any more. Kris didn't want to be herself, know that... she was the person who fired because they could, or were too self-interested not to.

She didn't want any more skulls.

But that wasn't going to happen. Something else was. All of a sudden, Kris' chest tightened, stomach twisting into a knot as Etain started ushering her away. She was still crying, but... how could she... he'd want her to explain. She couldn't. There wasn't anything she could say, just like with Reiko. Kris was going to let his optimism down and god she didn't want to, not after this...

Being pulled away, Kris turned her head back to look at Reiko. Look at the gun. Kris blinked once, twice, then stared at her hand in a short of mute stupidity. She hadn't even realised she'd dropped it until that moment. Her palm had the imprints of the gun's grip on it, so hard and for so long she'd been clasping it. The gun... the gun was gone, after all that. She'd finally let it go.

But... too late, she knew.

Too late for repentence.

((Kris continued in Nothing But Soundwaves))

[Grim Wolf]

(Giving a slight delay in between Max's attack and Kris' and Etain's departure.)



And they were leaving.

It wasn't quite what Simon had in mind, to be honest. Reiko Ishida was the name that had stuck out for him--she had come up in the Announcements to many times for him to quite trust her. But hell, they were all just kids, weren't they?

The other two...would they go on to murder others? Would someone die as a result of Simon's reluctance to act?

I don't care. No one died here.

Focus. Stayed focused on the positive. Stay focused on the fact that there were no Hermione Miller's or Scott McGregor's here.

"Ishida!" he called, training his gun on her. "Hope I'm not bein' an asshole, but your name's come up a few times, so I'd prefer it if ya held tight for a moment." He stayed where he was, his eyes sliding over to Carol. "Carol," he mumbled "She's a friend of yours, right?" He swallowed. "You, uh...you think we can trust-"

His ears screamed in protest at that harsh blasts of several bullets. Without thinking Simon threw himself to his left, grabbing Carol as he moved and hauling her closer to the ground.

Where the who the what the FUCK!

Someone was firing a gun. Someone was firing at them. They had stopped, for now, and without thinking Simon struggled to his feet, hands around Carol as he pulled her after him and behind the truck. The gunfire started up again and Simon, who had just finished limping into place, sunk down.

"ISHIDA!" he yelled, no longer worried about her hurting them and only hoping, in some dim part of his head he'd barely acknowledged, that she'd made it out okay herself.

[KamiKaze]

Yes! They were leaving!

The two walked off, one chattering to them about the luck of the Irish and all that. Reiko was safe. Carol didn't have to hurt anyone after all. They were so close, though. But it wasn't as if Carol wanted to shoot anyone, even if they were her friends' murderer.

Did she?

Carol's grip on the gun tightened for a few seconds, before loosening. Lowering her gun, she went to take a look at Reiko.

"Hey, you alright-"

Her eyes widened. Although Carol had not noticed it before, Reiko... was a mess. In a way, she reminded her of an alley cat, that had been in many, many fights. Oh god, they had to do something about those.

"Oh god, Reiko! You're hurt! Did they do that to you? I mean-"

Simon added his thoughts.

"Ishida! Hope I'm not bein' an asshole, but your name's come up a few times, so I'd prefer it if ya held tight for a moment."

Oh god, what if he was going to hurt her? She already was hurt, for crying out loud. How was he going to explain to him that she was far from a bad person once you got to know her? Carol tensed up again. He might hurt her. He might decide she didn't deserve to live. What would she have to say to stop him if he thought that?

"Carol. She's a friend of yours, right? You, uh...you think we can trust-"

And suddenly, everything was a blur.

A few noises cracked, and suddenly she felt something tackle her to the ground. Were those gunshots? Was someone shooting at them? What if Kris and whoever that guy was had attacked them after all? What if they were- what was going on? She had no clue. She was being dragged and pulled around while the deafening sound of a gun played over and over.

And soon she was lifted from behind and dragged away behind some kind of object she couldn't process what right now. She heard Simon call out to Reiko directly behind her. So it was Simon who had pulled her along. But what about Reiko? Oh god, Reiko. She had spent all this time looking for her friends, she wasn't going to lose another one! Reiko, Reiko, oh god, did she make it out okay? Reiko!

"Reeeeeeeeeiko!" Carol called out, hoping she was alright.

Her head whipped around, feeling her eyes starting to tear up. She wasn't aware of anything right now, to be honest. Who was it who attacked them? Where were they? She couldn't tell.

[Yossarian†]

((Gary Griffith continued from Missing Those Lost))

Gary, who lacked any kind of boy scouts skills, never really realized how easily can someone get lost in the dense forest while being not extremely careful. And since Gary's senses were at ease for those few moments after he reunited with Rein, he didn't watch his feet and suddenly tripped, thanks to a little help from a nearby root sticking out of the ground. As he stood up and looked around, the rest of the team was not there. No sign of Rein or that girl, or even that guy with the gun.

Oh no... This is not happening... This is simply not happening...

Gary froze for a moment and tried to listen to any kind of rustling sound signaling the nearby presence. And indeed, he heard some voices, but he felt that they were going away from him with every second. Gary quickly shook off the dirt from his pants and shirt and followed the sound trail.

Several minutes later, he found a road of some kind. Before he left the shelter of the woods, he checked the map to actually see where he is. The only thing which looked like the right spot, was the logging road, a bit south from the felled forest they left some time ago.

Speaking of they, where are those gu- OHMYGOD!

The sound of multiple gunshot echoed through the area. Gary quickly got down to the ground. This wasn't good. Gary started to feel, that there is some kind of curse placed on him, which brings killers and/or death wherever he goes. As the gunshots stopped filling the air, Gary moved up his head up a little bit to see the situation. He managed to notice Rein's group, also getting down to the ground... Minus Rein, much to Gary's dismay. There was a girl with them as well, but Gary failed to notice who she was, but that wasn't really the most important issue at that point.

Who the hell is shooting? And WHERE the hell is Rein?

[Rocky†]

Reiko's aim didn't lower until the two were out of sight. Once they were, he arms fell to her side, the cumbersome weight of the firearm in her left hand. She looked at the weapon she was holding. This gun... this gun was probably the one that took her sister's, life. The black surface of the weapon which had so effortlessly ended Reika's life disgusted her, and she wanted nothing more than to throw the gun away... but no. She would keep it. She wasn't going to use it, oh no. She was going to save it. Save it until she met that bitch Kris again. What sweet irony to have the very instrument she used to end innocent lives turned on her. Yes, Kris hadn't seen the last of Reiko Ishida.

Reiko's head turned to look at Carol. Carol who was quite possibly the only person left on the island she could consider friendly. Well, other than Sarah. She was making a big fuss as usual, commenting on her appearance. She didn't look that bad did she? Sure, she was roughed up a bit, and her ribs hurt like a bitch, but surely it wasn't enough to fuss over was it? The guy that was with Carol started throwing accusations over her actions. Not that she could blame him. She had killed four people, in self defense... mostly.

Just as the small girl was going to answer, a short burst of gun fire sounded off nearby. Simon tackled Carol to the ground, then proceeded to drag her away from Reiko into cover. Reiko panicked for a brief second, thinking that this boy was taking her only ally away from her, until he turned and called her name his voice denoting some manner of concern. The firing had stopped, at least for the moment. Reiko would have returned fire, except that her body was refusing to move. At least she was out of line of sight for now. There wasn't much else she could do except hope that whoever fired at them was going to be on their merry way soon.

"I'm fine!" Reiko managed to call out, despite the pain in her ribs. Being sure to keep out of sight, Reiko began to painfully crawl towards Carol. She was damned if anyone was going to get in the way of her and her friend again.

[Fiori]

As usual, Maxwell was proven once more why trying to use two guns at once was an intrinsically pointless idea.

He ducked down behind the log once more to avoid any possible counter attack, tucking away his two pistols as he did so. It didn't take an idiot to figure out that he'd need something a little more threatening to take these idiots down, and as it happened he still had some spare ammunition for his machine pistol hidden in his bag.

However, as he unloaded his gun and unzipped his bag to fetch another magazine, he came to the realisation that he was quickly running out of bullets.

Two magazines?!? Damnit, considering how much ammo this thing wastes thats not a lot... No matter, should be more then enough to take care of these clowns.

He grabbed a magazine and loaded his gun, zipping up the bag and hoisting it over his shoulder. There was no way he was going to hit any of them from where he was, what with the truck blocking his view and everything. The only way he was going to get a clear shot would be to go out into the open. He couldn't see any decent cover to hid behind, other then the truck and the log he was already leaning against. The only tactic he could think of doing was making a dash for the truck and pelting them all with bullets before any of them can doing something about it. Only problem however, was that it would mean he'd be completely exposed...

Then again, what do I really have to worry about? I clearly have the upper hand here. I'M the one who has them hiding away like chickens! I'M the one whose keeping them down! So why should I be afraid? Most of them have probably not even been in a firefight before... It'll be easy to take them all out in one fell swoop before any of them even realised what was going on!

He shivered in excitement as he mentally prepared himself for the attack, his heart pumping and adrenaline flowing through his veins. It would be simple... Get behind the truck, take aim, and pull the trigger. Take them all out with one burst of machinegun fire... It was simple, really. But it was the anticipation of the attack that excited him the most. He was like a hunter lying in wait for the perfect moment to strike, to eliminate his prey quickly and efficiently.

Well, I think I've given them a long enough break... Time to make my move.

He cocked his gun, took a quick peek over the log to make sure no one was looking, and bolted over at breakneck speed as he raced towards the truck with his gun outreached. He sped along the field of fallen trees, making sure to not accidentally trip over any awkwardly places stumps on his way. It didn't take long until he'd reached the truck's side, slamming his back against it's door. He stood there for a brief second to catch his breath before running around the truck clockwise until he came face to face with his prey.

He smiled, an evil glint shining in his eyes as he lifted his weapon. And before he could even acknowledge the people standing before him, he pulled the trigger and emptied all twenty bullets in their direction.

[Grim Wolf]

"I'm fine!" Simon heard dimly, but there was pain behind the voice, and fear as well. Simon hesitated for just a fraction of a moment; he could not bring himself to believe that a small, unassuming girl like Reiko Ishida had been going around callously murdering her companions, but then...then Raidon had said he would murder, hadn't he? And his name coming up in the Announcements, there really couldn't be any...any...

Another set of gunshots, a long time ago. Nessie, screaming as he-

"Shit," cursed Simon, and then without thinking any further, he staggered to his feet and limped out into the open. He fire two warning shots in the direction of their assailant--had to make him keep his head down, one way or another, Simon was moving slow enough as it was. He pulled a hand under Ishida's shoulder and hauled her to her feet, pulling her to the truck as fast as he could limp along. His leg hadn't hurt so much, at first--it had just felt like a particularly strong punch, and a vague sensation of wrongness. Now, however, it was starting to burn. The more he moved, the hotter the fire burned, and it was becoming very difficult to think.

He slumped to the ground behind the truck, setting Reiko next to Ishida. "You...you can kill, so you can...you can take care of yourself, right?" he panted, not even looking at Ishida. "G-get her...get..." He trailed off and bit down on his tongue to suppress a yell as his leg throbbed with sudden intensity. He shot it only a fleeting look--saw blood streaming from a wound in his thigh. He wouldn't be able to run, and running was all they had left--against firepower like this guy had, they couldn't possibly...

He had an injured leg. They were pinned down behind cover. Their enemy had better weapons. They were going to get flushed out--their only hope was to move before he was ready.

He tried to force the pain out of his head, to little avail, but he succeeded in clearing his mind a little. "You two get out of here," Simon said simply, as he ejected his magazine, dug through his bag, and reloaded his gun. Eight bullets in the clip; the rest... "Take my bag," Simon said. "I'm not in a-any hurry to...but..." He gestured at his leg and smiled weakly. "I'd just slow you down."

Without looking at them--without listening to whatever objections they might have had--Simon hauled himself to his good leg, hissing through his teeth at the surge of fire that went coursing out from his wound. He knew, roughly, where the attack had come from, and without worrying he fired--seven shots in that direction, to force his erstwhile enemy to stay low.

When Simon, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes and his teeth gritted to resist the temptation to scream, sunk back to cover behind the truck, Ishida and Carol had fled.

Simon did not think for a little while--his mind was too much on his pain. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled bar of chocolate. The taste of simulated love mingled eerily with his pain, and left a discordant sense of fulfillment, anger, and fear.

He did not, he realized, want to die this way. In all honesty, he didn't want to die at all. He had only, it seemed, paid lip service to the idea of being a hero, of dying for others; that now, as the moment came--as he was left by himself on this godforsaken island, grimy with days of accumulated dirt and worn ragged by death and fear. He didn't want to be in this horrible place, with one of his former classmates on the opposite side of the truck, he didn't want...

Didn't I try to do good? he wondered. If it's just going to...if I'm just going to...what the fuck was the point?!

He closed his eyes.

Crunching footsteps, quick over the leaves. Simon almost didn't notice, wrapped up as he was in his own pain. He took one last bite of chocolate and tossed the wrapper to one side. It occurred to him, at that last moment, that someone could have fired at him from beneath the truck, thereby taking him out before he had a chance to defend himself. But before he could check something slammed into the truck--he felt the reverberations from the impact in his back. More steps, coming from his right, and Simon steadied his grip upon his gun.

A thought occurred to him, as he was readying himself. A question, to which an answer immediately came--did he have any regrets?

The answer, of course, was yes. The answer, of course, was that he regretted being here, that he regretted not being able to do more for Vanessa and his father, that he regretted that he was going to cause his family additional pain by dying and that he was going to be unable to do any good here besides die. To the best of his knowledge, all the previous versions of SotF had ended one way--with a single survivor.

The two people he'd saved, in that light, meant nothing. The numerous classmates-turned-killers he'd heard of--even Raidon--meant nothing. There would be only one survivor. His sacrifice was pointless.

And it was this fact that forced a smile onto Simon's face, almost against his will.

He hated being here. He hated having to die. He hated that there wasn't more he could do. But for one instant he loved himself and all his life, because he realized that while he could have done more good--a person can always do more good--his only wish was that he could have helped and saved more. It didn't matter that he was going to die, probably for no reason. It didn't matter that being here was pointless, that killing each other was pointless, that dying here was pointless.

"When the fall is all there is," Simon muttered under his breath, a little delirious from pain. "It matters."

Please stay safe.

Please stay safe, Kari, Gary, Rein, Carol, Ishida.

Please stay safe, Raidon.

Someone--Simon never quite saw who--stepped around the corner. Simon heard him coming, was already lifting his gun. His assailant had an automatic weapon of some kind, that much was clear, so Simon hadn't ever counted on having more than one shot.

He managed to pull the trigger, before the bullets raced home and obliterated his skull, smashed his brain into liquid, tore through one of his eyeballs, pierced a lung and shattered two rips, ripped straight through his arm and embedded themselves in his intestine. Managed to fire one last shot, before his life was consumed in one brief, flaring ecstasy of crimson agony and forced darkness.

I never was a hero. But, God help me, I tried.

B072 SIMON GREY: ELIMINATED

[KamiKaze]

"I'm fine!" Reiko yelled, as she attempted to crawl towards them.

Carol felt a pang of guilt, watching her crawl alongside the ground. Some part of her wanted to run out and get her, and drag her back. That would be dangerous, would it? But what if the attacker shot her? She couldn't leave Reiko lying there out in the open, dragging herself along! Carol could hardly look.

Simon ran out, and soon he got her, pulling her behind the truck as well. "You...you can kill, so you can...you can take care of yourself, right? G-get her...get..." he started to ask, but suddenly cried out in pain.

A look down at his leg, and Carol stated the obvious. "You're bleeding."

And indeed he was. A stream of blood was coming from his thigh, flowing like a river. Carol stared wide-eyed, wondering what to do. Oh god, Simon was bleeding. He needed to get some kind of help. They shot him. He might get infected, or bleed to death or-

Leave?

Was he serious?

Just run off without him?

They could do something about his injury. Lots of people lived with gunshot wounds, didn't they? They could patch him up and get him going again. It wasn't that hard, was it? He could live!

Footsteps. Someone was approaching.

"Simon-"

He said he'd only slow them down.

He insisted on staying, dealing with their attacker. There was no way to talk him out of it.

With tears in her eyes, Carol grabbed Reiko and slung her arm to her shoulder. She lifted Reiko up, hoping she was able to get away. It was going to be difficult, carrying her in addition to their supplies.

"C'mon Reiko..."

She gave one last look to Simon.

And that's when they fled.

The sound of further gunshots told her more than she wanted to know.

((Carol Burke continued Thank You For Being A Friend))

[Rocky†]

Everything was so frantic. First, the boy ran out and dragged her over behind the truck, saying something about going on without him. That was more than fine with her. Afterall, she had just met the guy, so it wasn't like she had any form of emotional attachment with him. Carol seemed slightly more reluctant, however in the end she too got ready to leave. The larger girl helped Reiko stand, before slinging her arm over her shoulder. The smaller girl took a moment to make sure she had her bag, in addition to grabbing the boy's bag. If she was going to be a burden for Carol, the least she could do is carry some of the weight.

The two left and, at least for Reiko, didn't look back. It was touching that he would do that an all, but the smaller girl couldn't help but realize the futility of it all. He may have saved their lives for now, but it was just a matter of time until they ran into whoever killed him. Or Maxwell. Or Kris. Or Clio. All killers who would no doubt relish the thought of ending their lives. They would try, but they would go through hell to do it. Reiko still had something to do before she died.

((Reiko Ishida continued in Thank You For Being a Friend))

[Fiori]

He only saw his target for a brief second. Only became aware of whom was firing at moments after he had already pulled the trigger, and fired a torrent of bullets at whom he had originally assumed to be Reiko Ishida. The little Japanese bitch who'd been a thorn in Maxwell's side ever since he first arrived on this accursed island...

Only, instead of the oriental bulldyke he had been expecting, Maxwell Lombardi was quite surprised when he found himself gunning down a much taller ginger-haired prick who seemed to be blocking his view...

What the!?! SHIT, its one of those armed morons I saw earlier! Son of a bit... JESUS FUCK!

He only noticed the gun in the ginger's hand for a brief second before it opened fire, the bullet whizzing past the right side Maxwell's face faster then he could even comprehend. He felt a sudden fiery pain in right cheek and ear as the bullet grazed him, a pain far greater then anything the young Brit had ever experienced in his whole life. A pain that made the struggles he endured with Reiko and Daniel pale in comparison as the right side of his face burned in agony.

After firing off his remaining bullets, Maxwell's free hand shot up and felt the right side of his face to get a picture of the extent of his wound. He felt fresh warm blood trickling down the side of his face, and a recently acquired graze which caused him to wince in pain as he lightly felt it with his fingers. But worst of all, as he touched his right ear, he realised that something was horribly wrong...

...His earlobe was missing.

That... That BASTARD! My fucking earlobe! HE SHOT OFF MY FUCKING EARLOBE! My face is RUINED, you horrible fucking cunt!

He looked over the bullet-riddled corpse that lay before him, briefly scorning the fact that his death had been relatively painless before turning his attention to the pair running away in the distance.

NO! NO! NO!!!

He lifted his gun and pulled the trigger, only to then be reminded of the fact that he'd used up the remaining ammunition on that Ginger who had mutilated him. Tossing it aside, he reached into his pocket and hastily fired off two shots at the fleeing pair. Both of which missed my a long margin, and before he even realised it they were already out of sight.

"DAMNIT! I can't believe this! Thats the THIRD time that dyke has had to audacity to run away like that! Selfish bitch... She can rot in hell for all I care."

He sighed, his anger from before slowly dying away as he came to terms with the situation. He unzipped his bag and took out a tissue, wiping away the blood on his neck and applying pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding. He still wasn't completely sure what was the exact extent of his injury... A part of his face had been grazed by the bullet and his right earlobe was gone, and that was about it. Apart from that, all he could tell was that it still hurt like a bitch.

He turned towards the ginger boy's corpse again, which at this moment was now laying in a growing pool of red blood. Lovely...

"Well, I know for a fact that's exactly what YOU'LL be doing for the next couple of months. Its a shame you had to die so quickly... I'd of loved to show you just how painful that injury was."

He walked over to the body and leaned over it, picking up the boy's pistol from his cold dead hands. "Still, at least I'll have the chance to put this gun to better use..." He inspected the weapon in his hands, shaking of the blood that had covered it. Out of boredom, he decided to test it out first on the ginger's corpse as he aimed down and pulled the trigger... Only to be met with an all-too familiar clicking sound. Huh, out of ammo. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to... Wait, where the heck is his bag?

......

...Oh, you smartass.

He kicked the corpse's face in irritation, dropping the gun back down beside him as he retrieved his trusty TEC-9 from the floor. He took the opportunity then to reload his weapon, removing the empty magazine and replacing it with a fresh one... And his last one too. Better make this one last... No more of this fully-automatic nonsense, short bursts only.

Anyway, time to make a move on. I've wasted enough of my time here as it is...

And with that, he creaked his head and headed southward through the endless forest of stumps and fallen logs, leaving the splattered corpse of Simon Grey far behind.

((Maxwell Lombardi continued in Out and In))

[Yossarian†]

Gary closed his eyes, and plugged his ears. Apparently, his scared mind thought for a moment, that it will make all the evil of the world go away. Obviously, that wasn't the deal, and the gunshot was loud enough to overcome the barrier of raven-haired boy's hands.

Finally the air gone silent again. Gary lied low for another few minutes, just to be sure that no gun toting maniac was waiting for his head to get out of his cover, and then he stood up. Silence and emptiness. Whoever was the shooter, he was gone. And from three people on the ground earlier, there was only one left. A dead body. A body of the guy who pointed his own weapon at Gary, when he found his group. He looked like a fine fellow, caring for his friends life. Who knows, maybe he died protecting the girls from the attacker.

All those thoughts would probably came through Gary's mind, if not for single, much more overwhelming one:

OMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODYOMGDEADBODY!

If not the fact, that he already lost all of the content of his stomach last time, when the girl exploded before his eyes, he would probably puke again.

Minutes ago, it was just a hunch. Now it was confirmed - The death followed him. It was going to kill everyone in a 10 foot radius from Gary before finally shortening his suffering. It's gonna find they guy who helped him get out of the Warehouse, those two playing guys, that girl, Rein...

"Oh my Go, REIN!"

Gary realized, that Rein was absent all along. Where did he go? Was he dead? Obviously he was not here at any time, because Gary would've noticed. So where?

"REIN!"

Gary shouted before entering the forest again.

"REIN!"

To hell with the wild animals, and other people hiding in the bushes to stalk him. Gary just found his best friend, and he's not going to lose him again so easily.

((Gary Griffith continued in False Hope))

((The thread is over))