Scavengers

[Jilly]

When Bella offered her hand, Megan just shook her head and refused. "Nah, don't worry; I'm fine. Thanks, though." She stayed behind Bella until trading places with her again after Bella announced their arrival sans fanfare.

It wasn't exactly what Megan was thinking, but whatever. Assuming the acoustics of the stairwell were pretty isolated, the only people who would have heard Bella shouting would have to have been in the stairwell or the room nearby. As long as they could get down the stairs quickly enough to escape it would be fine, but hopefully it would not come to that.

Just as expected, whoever was in that room (a girl?) was not going to just let them waltz right in there. Great. If it were under normal circumstances, Megan would have just left them alone and avoid confrontation.

Maybe it was the irritation from climbing all of these stairs, or seeing a weapon be stolen from right under her nose, or waking up with a fucking collar around her neck, but Megan was not going to have it. No. The two of them came too damn far to just turn back now without at least trying.

Megan turned to Bella and pressed her index finger to her lips. "Stay behind me," she whispered. "I'm gonna try a different approach, but if anything happens, you better run like a Kenyan, got me?" After a few more seconds to calm her breathing, Megan snuck the short distance to the now visible door, motioning Bella to follow along.

Megan pressed against the wall by the door like Solid Snake. Assuming the lone person (wait, no, she said "we", so there was at least two of them) was not bluffing, it would be the closest she could get without being right in front of the door. As long as the gun was aimed in the middle or by the unhinged side, it would be fine.

With a pounding heart Megan knocked on the door with the back of her hand, took a breath, and began her plea.

"Hey, I have no clue who y'all are, but just listen for a sec. This is Megan Emerson, and I'm here with Bella Strong. We don't have any weapons; I got jacked by luck and Bella got...well, straight up jacked. We just came here to see if maybe there was communication equipment (which is kind of a stupid idea now that I think about it but whatever), or possibly one of our friends or maybe a decent weapon so we can defend ourselves with something more than a bottle of prop blood. Anyway, you don't have to let us in if you don't want to; just tell me one little thing, and we'll be out of your hair.

"Tell us your names... I just want to at least know others we could trust. I mean, you seem trustworthy enough; you haven't stepped out here and, ya know, murdered us in cold blood knowing we were in here."

Megan flashed a thumbs up while still facing the door. God, she hoped this would work.

[Sansa]

Bella immediately recognised one of the voices that had replied - Cassandra, with whom she took French and a few other subjects. The other girl was more unfamiliar, almost unrecognisable. Still, Cassandra seemed a nice girl from the few times they'd talked, if not a little bit aggressive. Surely she wouldn't be too adverse to them-

Oh. Well, if both of them wanted her and Megan to leave, Bella had no problems. She could understand that they were scared, and scared people could do horrible things. Aria had stolen her weapon and fled when she'd tried to be as friendly as possible. These two girls didn't seem as petrified as Aria was, she didn't know what they'd been through, and they might be better armed. Bella was tossing up the possibilities in her head. On one hand the room could contain valuable information the others hadn't discovered. It might even help them escape! Escape? I had scarcely thought of that possibility until now. But...is it even a possibility? I'm sure others will try, and they'll be a lot more successful than me.

But on the other hand...getting shot in the head wasn't the most desirable option either. Bella was all too glad that her spur-of-the-moment greeting hadn't gotten her or Megan killed. Her next choice mightn't be too lucky - the confirmation of a gun on the other side made joining up with the pair seem a little bit too optimistic. But without optimism, we'll succumb to what they want, won't we? If we don't hold out hope then it'll be the terrorists that win. They'll win the second someone even considers doing that. No. Not that. It's killing. That's what's going to happen. We're not all going to get out of this unscathed. I'd better get used to the word.

But maybe not yet. Bella was pleased that Megan had her own idea on where to proceed, and she nodded as Megan began to talk. One thing she said lingered in her mind, though. "Run like a Kenyan." Bella could understand that - she wasn't going to fight back when she had nothing to defend herself with - but...Megan was in the firing line...

"If anything happens..."

Bella closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Megan began her speech, a much better one than Bella's half-panicked rush of words. If this didn't convince the others that they were harmless, then running like a Kenyan might be the next thing (and possibly last thing) she'd do.

[Slam]

This was total bullshit.

Alex had started walking over to the door herself, moving to mirror Megan's position by pressing herself against the wall next the door. "They're full of shit." She had muttered to Cassandra as she passed her by.

It wasn't like giving out their names was going to make them all suddenly BFF's who weren't supposed to be murdering each other. It would be stupid to start acting all buddy buddy, not to mention completely meaningless, and as such she had no intention of doing so.

With her own back against the wall, she gripped the handle of her knife as she looked to Cassandra, holding up a hand to indicate that she should wait a moment. She didn't want to let them in, and she didn't need the retarded Cassandra to think that that was her intention. No, against the wall she at least had the element of surprise if they came in guns blazing. She didn't want to have to stab anyone, but, in all fairness, she didn't want to get shot up either. If people weren't going to respect her wishes, well then that was their price to pay for.

Cassandra, meanwhile, was probably screwed if they tried that. Hey, at least Alex could stab them whilst they were busy shooting Cassandra.

Her chain of thought was starting to sound as bullshitty as the situation they found herself in. The hand that held her knife was already trembling as the danger sunk in, and she'd probably get shot before she even had a chance to stab once. All she could hope for was that it wouldn't come to that, and even if it did, then maybe she'd at least get a chance to fuck someone's day up first.

"Fuck off!" she shouted out through the door, before turning back to look at Cassandra, letting her take the next move.

[BROseidon†]

"Yeah, probably," Cassandra muttered back. She was not entirely sure whether she believed what she was saying. They probably were not dangerous. Alex and Cassandra could let them in and Alex would probably still be the biggest liability in the room.

But there was always that chance...

Cassandra did not want to take that chance, at least not here. Not where she could not run away. Not while her weapon could not defend herself effectively. Cassandra would just have to suffer with Alex a bit longer, then they could leave the tower and go their separate ways.

Alex's yelling probably did not help. Maybe it would scare the pair off, but Cassandra had already tried to bluff with a gun. Once Megan revealed why they were there, Cassandra had an idea.

"Look, Megan, we came here to check for communication equipment as well. The assholes removed it. The room is empty. Just go, leave us be. We do not want the company." Cassandra was surprised that she had stressed the "not."

[Jilly]

And with that, this conversation tree was done. That door could have been bolted shut for all Megan cared; there was no way to get in other than to kick the damn thing down. Whatever; at least part of her and Bella's goal was accomplished, and that would be the largest victory they could get other than managing to stay alive until this point.

But Jesus, they didn't need to be so vicious about it. Especially that off-hand "Fuck off!" comment; that was what really irked Megan.

Megan answered the less-hostile comment. "Fine; if that's what you really want, fine. I wouldn't want the company of someone who tells me to 'fuck off'."

Megan gently placed her duffel bag on the ground and slowly zipped it open to dampen the sounds. She groped the inside of the bag for the map of the island and the compass. After finding what she needed, she zipped the bag closed and lifted it off the ground with her free hand.

"Thanks, anyways, whoever decided to be helpful."

By manipulating her fingers, Megan was able to get the folded map in between two and handed it to Bella. "Here, you choose where we should 'fuck off' to. Apparently only black-hearted bitches are allowed, so who the fuck knows what we're doing here," Megan said, half hoping the girls that were holed up in the room heard her.

With compass in hand Megan stormed down the stairs, fighting off the urge to return to the top with the alternate comebacks that were now synthesizing in her head.

((Megan Emerson continued in The Real Folk Blues))

[Sansa]

Bella winced in reply to the swearing. Well, that settled it then. It was a pity, Bella thought, but also good in a way - at least they hadn't tried to force an alliance that was likely liable to collapse at any given obstacle. And they'd achieved what they'd come for as well, even if the answer hadn't been what she would've liked.

As Megan thrust the map into Bella's hands and began to descend the steps, Bella murmered a small word of encouragement to the girls. Amiable they weren't, but deserving to survive, they were. Nobody deserved to die here. But they would. As long as it wasn't her friends or herself, then Bella could cope with it.

Or so she told herself. Over and over and over again. When it came down to it, she just didn't know what'd happen. What she'd do if she heard Garrett's name over the announcements. As the killed or the killer. I am smart. I've doubted that countless times over the years, but it's the goddamned truth. I'll find Garrett and we'll get off this island. Together. We'll find a way. I've fought too hard not to let that happen. Here's just not the place, is all.

Following Megan down the steps, Bella's eyes traced over the map. To think that this place had once been called "Home", and now it was going to be a gravesite for innocents. But that wasn't something to think about now. Right now there was one priority in Bella's mind: Garrett. I have no idea where he is. Where do I even start looking?

((Mirabella Strong continued in The Real Folk Blues))

[Slam]

Alex breathed out a quiet sigh of relief as the two girls on the other side of the door left.

"There, see? Full of shit." She said to Cassandra, making as much of a show of dropping her guard, relaxing, and strutting back towards her map as possible, as Megan shouted insults from beyond the door. The fact that she was safe for a moment longer was one less headache to worry about, and considering the two that were leaving on the other side of the door, she was doing pretty well. There was no reason to let Cassandra in on the fact that she had just been shitting herself and spoil it all.

Yes, the fact that Megan had taken rejection so poorly just proved what she'd thought. If she thought shouting petty insults was the way to get things done, then she'd be totally useless as a teammate. She hadn't even been trying that hard to get in, so it was doubtful that they really wanted a look inside. After all, Cassandra could've been lying out of her ass about the room being empty, and they could've been lying out of their asses about having a plan that involved the communication equipment. Hell, she could've just saved them both from a nasty ambush, so Cassandra should've been grateful as shit.

Anyway, they were gone now, and she could get back to her plan. Getting back on the ground to scour her map again, she continued running the numbers in her head. With any luck, even if she never had such a thing, she could be back home by tomorrow.

[BROseidon†]

"Yeah, I guess so," Cassandra responded to Alex. Megan's little outburst revealed that maybe she would not have been the best company, either; Cassandra was having a difficult enough time containing herself with Alex's pleasant company, and too much yelling was not going to help anyone.

Alex was intent on looking at the map. Cassandra had not given it a look at all, yet, so put her kama back in the bag and withdrew the map. The island itself seemed fairly small, but they would either have to cut through the vast wooded area or take the long way around the north shore to get anywhere far. Neither of those sounded like particularly fun options. Cassandra saw that there was a school and a nuclear plant, and that made her wonder where they were. Who had been on this island previously? What had happened to those people? Where were they, even? Cassandra would probably never find out the answer to any of those questions.

"So, where do you think we should go?" Cassandra asked. Alex was probably going to keep looking for something they could use to get them off the island, and it was not a bad idea. It was probably doomed to fail. Still, Cassandra was not going to kill anybody; she would not force anybody else to bear the scars of losing a loved one. And it was not like there was anything else to do.

[Slam]

"Okay, so this is where we are now." Alex pointed out on the map, as Cassandra headed over to her. "And I'm looking here, here, and - well, just those two."

The first place she had pointed to was the nuclear reactor. What a nuclear reactor was doing on such a tiny island like this was a total mystery, but where there was a nuclear reactor, there were a few things she could probably take advantage of. Unlike a communications tower, removing everything she could use from the building would've been a lot harder, if not out and out impossible. Unfortunately, her knowledge of nuclear physics was fuck-all, but she didn't need to know anything about the science to get what she had planned done.

The second place was, unlike the nuclear reactor, much larger, and located outdoors. It would basically be the alternative setting of her first plan, except a lot more risky to take advantage of it. The good news was that, unlike anywhere else on the island, the terrorists had absolutely no fucking way of screwing up this plan. Hell, she could see what she needed out through the communication tower's window.

"So, yeah, that's where I'm going. Unless you want to sit here and wait for 'inevitable deaths', you should come with." She said as she gathered up her map, barely even weaving more than a basic sarcastic tone in to her words. She was too focused on her full-proof escape plan to be bitter to Cassandra at the moment, and as that previous encounter had demonstrated, she at least helped in getting rid of people, if not getting shot instead of her. Whether Cassandra actually wanted to follow her, or was just going to wallow in her own hypocritical negativity, was up to her.

As she headed to the control tower's door, she dug her arm into her own backpack to make sure she still had the key part of the whole scheme. As if her luck couldn't keep improving in the middle of a kidnapping/murder, both it and her pack of Marlboros were still stored in the bag. It would be a gift from the terrorist bastards that they'd definitely regret giving her.

((Alex King continued in Now I'm radiocative! That can't be good!))

[BROseidon†]

Cassandra nodded while Alex spoke to her, but she did not understand exactly Alex wanted to do. The nuclear reactor made a lot of sense, as far as places to go went. Maybe there was some evidence of where they were, or some useful supplies that they could use later. The second place, however, Cassandra could not quite understand why they would want to go there. There was not going to be anything useful there, yet Alex still wanted to go there. She did not articulate why, either.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming," Cassandra said in response to Alex. The girl was angry all the time, and yet still wanted Cassandra around for some reason. Maybe Alex was also afraid of going out there alone? Cassandra did not care to dwell on it for too long.

Instead, Cassandra picked up both her bags, weighted down by the two heavy bags. Alex had not even given her a chance to consolidate her bags, and she was now going to have to drag the two heavy bags along. She would have to deal with this later, though. Cassandra struggled to keep up with Alex.

((Cassandra Black continued elsewhere))