SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

((Samantha Ridley continued from Leaving Me Lonely Still))

Sam hadn't seen a single person all day. She was hoping she could find Ishida before she arrived at the sawmill, but that wasn't going to happen.

Sam walked east toward the place she had agreed to return. She had chosen to stay off of the beaten path, and was walking along a hilly area.

Then her foot met a patch of loose soil, and she began to tumble down the hillside, the varied curses that were interspersed with cries of pain seemed to be chosen randomly rather than with any significance.

When she finally came to a stop she found that she wasn't the only thing that tumbled down the hillside; An uprooted stump had slid down with her, and now rested on top of her leg.

Finding that she couldn't move the stump she began to yell for help.

((Adrian Staib continued from Where Was My Brain))

The past two days hadn't been good for Adrian.

The first problem would be the lack of food and water. He was on his last bit of bread and his water was going the same way.

The second problem for most on this island would normally be crazy people with guns. Though he hadn't seen any of those, but then again, he hadn't seen anyone in days.

But being alone wasn't so bad. At least he was still alive.

If Danya could be trusted, just about every person that he had met on this island had died. Simon, Ben, Jacob, even Isaiah. All dead. Those who were still alive weren't much better. He remembered Rob and Sarah. Especially Sarah. Not for the first time, he wondered if all this could have been stopped if he had caught up with her. Of course not. But he couldn't help but think that way.

As he reached a hilly area, he took out his pack of tarot cards once more. Picking out a single card, he sighed. The Seven of Coins. Failure. No matter what divining method he used, it always gave the same answer. Defeat, Pain, Loss. He knew all these cards had a bright side to them, but it didn't stop him from feeling down.

The path began to meander around the hills. He wondered to himself what he was doing. He was just going to survive right? But how was he to do that? Thinking of the pistol stashed in his bag, he wondered if it would be better to take it out.

But these thought were soon banished as there was a loud scream of pain mixed in with a few curses from over one of the hills shortly followed by cries for help. Adrian began to run.

Reaching the top of the hill, he saw a girl sitting on the grass frantically trying to get a log off of her leg

"Are you OK?" he asked, before realizing that she obviously wasn't. "Um... let's try to get this thing off"

Adrian was on the verge of panicking. "Okay. Um, what to do, what to do? Maybe we push it on the count of three." he said more to himself than anything.

"Yeah, let's go with that. Um, ready? One, two, three." Adrian pushed against the log as hard as he could. It was much heavier than it looked. For a moment he thought it wouldn't budge but suddenly it moved, rolling off her leg and coming to a stop a little bit away.

"Um, are you alright?" he asked.

Hours passed...

Sam actions cycled between struggling, calling for help, and resting to restore her strength.

Sometime near dawn someone found her, finally.

"Are you OK?"

What the fuck do you think? She kept herself from saying it. She couldn't risk him deciding that it was risky to save someone's life during a blood sport.

"Um... let's try to get this thing off"

Oh no hurry, I was gonna wait until the announcements so that this could place could become a danger zone and my head could pop like a balloon. Again she held her tongue.

"Okay. Um, what to do, what to do? Maybe we push it on the count of three."

"Okay..." Sam said, moving her foot into a position that might hurt less when the stump was removed.

"Yeah, let's go with that. Um, ready? One, two, three."

Together they pushed at the object that pinned her leg to the ground, after some effort it rolled off.

"Um, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess... I'm a little bruised up, but nothing seems serious." She used the stump to help herself up. "... My ankle feels a little sore, though. I doubt it's sprained or twisted or anything, but I should probably find some place where I can rest just in case."

"I might need help with that, by the way. I'm sorry to bother you any more but.... What's your name anyway?"

The girl was in all certainty fine.

Or at least close enough to it. It was good enough for Adrian. A little bit of bruising, but nothing that would last. Besides, he knew nothing about first aid; he would be just about useless if she had sprained her ankle. The way things were, there was no need to pull out a first aid kit.

Standing up, he looked around. "A place to rest, huh?" It was mostly hills around here, with the occasional tree breaking the monotony. Could have been a great place for a picnic. You know, if it weren't on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Deciding upon a large tree on top of the nearby hill would be a good spot to rest, he extended his hand out towards her.

"Um, you asked for my name?" he asked. "It's Adrian. Yours?"

The boy looked around for a nearby spot to rest, when he spotted one he held his hand out towards Sam.

"Um, you asked for my name? It's Adrian. Yours?"

Sam grabbed Adrian's hand, "I'm Sam. Where are we headed to?"

"Just over there," he said, pointing at the chosen hill, pulling Sam up. Ah, this wouldn't be as easy as he thought. Why were people so heavy?

Their progress was slow, giving Adrian a lot of time to think. Sam. He had definitely heard that name many times before.

Was she a killer? He wouldn't know. It wasn't like he could remember every name from the announcements anyway. Well, even if she was, she wouldn't kill someone who had just helped her, right?

When he finally reached the tree, he let her down as gently as he could. And with that done, he just slumped against the tree, weary.

((Reiko Ishida continued from Suum Venite Faciamus Latere))

Reiko Ishida trudged through what was probably once a dense forest, looking at the stumps that littered the area. She wondered what the place had looked like before they cut down the trees for wood or paper or whatever they used them for. It was probably once teeming with life, from various birds and insects and squirrels, not to mention the larger animals like deer. Thinking about this reminded her of home, where she used to take her bike out to the forests outside of town, and spend the day just riding through, looking at all the wildlife.

If only she could go back to that. Not that she would make it very far. If through some miracle she managed to survive this hellish situation, she would no doubt be arrested and put on trial on the spot. She would probably get away with it, but it wouldn't do much for her aspirations in life. No one would ever sponsor her, which means she'd never achieve her dreams of competing at the Olympics. Her sister was dead, and so were all her friends. Her parents.... well, she wouldn't want to burden them.

Reiko was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of voices. She didn't recognize either of them, but pretty much anyone she was going to run into now wouldn't exactly be friendly. With her luck, whoever they were, they would have known at least one of her... victims. As much as the word sent a shiver up her spine, there was really nothing else you could call it. All she could do now was keep walking, and maybe she wouldn't get noticed.

Not likely.

A tree at the top of a hill? Not the most ideal location, but those places weren't nearby.

It wasn't easy getting to the top of a hill in her condition, even with help, but they managed it. The tree was larger than someone would expect to survive in an area where most of the trees had been cut down for lumber. The reason became apparent when she was was being gently helped to the ground; the tree survived because of location and luck. A highly faded orange mark indicated that the tree was scheduled to be cut down when the island was still populated, but the treacherous footing must have delayed it until everyone disappeared.

Sam sat up a little to get a better view of the area. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement.

"Hey is that a person down there?" She asked Adrian pointing in the general direction of what she saw.

Before long she grew impatient and called out to the person below, "Hey You! Down There!" Hopefully that would get their attention.

Adrian was just getting comfortable when Sam had pointed out the person walking below.

With a sigh he turned to look. It was a girl. He definitely recognized her from somewhere. And yet, he couldn't seem to place a name to that face.

Sam called out to her. He wasn't actually sure if it'd be better to be seen. Then again she had probably already seen them. Atop a hill was not the stealthiest place to be. So the whole thing didn't matter, did it?

Well, guess there's nothing better to do than to wait and see right?

Reiko stopped in her tracks, letting out a sigh as someone called out to her. She wasn't overly surprised that she was spotted, but it would have been nice if she hadn't been. There wasn't a soul on this island who didn't know her name by now, and most of them probably knew her face too. The size probably didn't help much either.

So what should she do? Go up to them? Keep walking? They didn't seem like they'd be harmful, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to approach them. Or at least acknowledge their existence. If she was lucky she wouldn't get lynched on sight.

"Hello!" Reiko called up, not moving from her spot. She didn't want to jump the gun on approaching them just in case they ended up being hostile.

The girl looked up at them and responded with a "Hello!" For a moment, Sam reflected on why she went on the trip in the first place. She had been so down that her family, and her best friend Ash, had practically forced her to go. Sam had always been a fairly outgoing person, but she'd been having trouble. Ash said she should go on this trip, unwind, and make some new friends.

Would it really be such a bad idea to keep going for that goal as well when anyone she could try to befriend might try to kill her?

Yes, yes it would. But that wasn't about to stop her, they'd all be dead soon enough anyway.


"Hey," She called down at to the other girl, "Come on up!"

The girl had called back with a simple hello.

On the other hand, Adrian was at a complete loss for words. Should he shout back at all? Luckily for him, the decision was quickly put aside as Sam called out to the girl again, this time to ask her to come over here.

Adrian sighed. Sam was definitely friendly. Calling out to a stranger like that. Would he actually have done it? Or would he have just waited there?

But now that she had called out to her, all Adrian needed to do is sit there waiting for the girl's reply.

That was a good thing, right?

Well, they seemed friendly enough. For now. Reiko was still apprehensive though. On the one hand, she wanted to see if she could find someone who would trust her. On the other, she should probably run now, and save her the inevitable trouble. That would be the smart thing to do. Actually the smart thing to do would have been to ignore the calls and keep walking, but she didn't.

Reiko sighed. She was already in this deep, might as well keep it going. Making sure she was as non-threatening as she could be, she began her ascent up the slope. She didn't know what was in store for her, but judging from her time on the island so far, she wasn't expecting very much.

((Skipping TDS))

Waiting wasn't so bad. She was already walking up the hill. The whole thing was surreally normal. Watching her climb up the slope, it was obvious how unstable the footing was. Choosing this hill was definitely no the best decision he had made.

"Sorry she called you up like that." Was that apology even necessary? He didn't even know either of them. "So, what are you doing around here? Are you looking for someone?"

(dodging inactivity a go go)

Reiko stopped a few feet away from the other two. She didn't quite recognize either one, at least not enough to give them a name. The faces looked familiar though. Either way, they didn't seem to be hostile, so that was good enough for her.

"No, it's fine." Reiko said in response to the boy's apology. He then asked if she was looking for someone. Was she looking for someone? Did she even have anyone left to look for? Her friends were all dead... so that just left Sarah.

"Yes, I'm looking for someone... have you by chance seen Sarah Xu at all?" she asked of the pair. It probably wouldn't yield any results, but it was worth the shot.