What you are, I was.

[Theseus†]

((Sorry about that Clueless, my bad))

When the boy managed to not get hit by Rick's bullets, he decided to take it easy. Maybe shooting him wasn't the best option right now. Rick kept his gun trained on Dorian though. Rick stood, and said, "You can talk to her, but you keep your distance. Any move to hurt her or anyone else, and I won't miss again. Got it?"

Rick saw Dacey in the distance, and gave her a nod, then focused back on the unfolding scene.

He had to keep all of his attention on the scene in front of him. One mistake and innocent people could die.

Rick couldn't live with that.

[Pigeon Army†]

"You can talk to her, but you keep your distance. Any move to hurt her or anyone else, and I won't miss again. Got it?"

Dorian ignored the personified bravado holding the gun and turned to Madison, thinking angrily, Goddamn it, if I weren't preaching non-violence and in danger of making myself a hypocrite, I would gun down his smug arse.

"Shut up! Just shut up! You had that 'gun' aimed at us, and then you were coming at us waving that knife around! What the fuck are you doing aiming a gun at us?!! You can't lie to me goddamn it, I saw you with my own two eyes."

"Wait, gun?" Dorian blinked. "You mean this gun?"

Anyone who knew Dorian knew that he was prone to fucking up the small things and dwelling obsessively over them later. He could blow up a country, and yet five years later, the only thing that he would regret was swearing at the man who pressed the button to blow the country up for him. Dorian didn't think his actions through regularly, and his mind was often racked with guilt and regret because of it.

Little did Dorian know, the mistake he was about to make wasn't small at all. Dorian was also unaware that once he made the mistake, he wouldn't be regretting it for very long, and not for the reason he would've thought.

Dorian pulled the submachine gun around to the front of him, the leather strap gliding around. He held it up.

"This gun? Why would I point this gun at anyone? It's fucking empty! Look!"

Had Dorian thought this through, he would've decided against pointing the gun at Madison and pulling the trigger, because he would've realised that Madison was in too unstable a condition to believe him, and he would've recognised that Madison would kill him if he even remotely threatened her.

Unfortunately for Dorian, he didn't think it through, as he put the gun up to his shoulder, pointed it at Madison, and pulled the trigger that would've released the bullet in the barrel if there was any.

[Ciel†]

(slight godmod here just to get things moving)

Madison had gone into a state of shock, as it were. Not as though she really wasn't paying attention to what Dorian was going to do, whether he was foolish enough to attack her with a gun and a scythe aimed for his neck. It was more do to lack of sleep, making her a little slow. Or at least slow enough not to shoot Dorian right away, even though her finger was on the trigger.

A thought occurred to Madison - even though this guy was waving a knife around beforehand, he certainly didn't act like someone who had lost it. Maybe Madison was wrong. Maybe he really wasn't aiming it at anyone but just holding it out. That had to be it. Dorian just didn't fit the profile of a crazy killer... one that Madison had filled days before, when she thought killing was required.

She lowered the gun down just as Dorian pulled the gun out and aimed it at her body and pulled the trigger all in one swift movement.

At this moment no one would have blame Madison for unknowing firing the gun. Three bullets went out of the machinegun, one of them digging into Dorian's calf and the other two flying right past. Madison cringed and slid back, her whole body shaking...

That was when she realized that Dorian hadn't fired anything, and that was when Madison's face changed from fear to pure dread.

"Oh Jesus, I-I'm Sorry!!!!" She said loudly, looking at his leg. She almost felt like vomiting.

[Pigeon Army†]

Dorian pulled the trigger.

BANG BANG BANG.

Wait, there weren't any bullets in this...

No sooner had Dorian completed that thought than his left leg jerked backwards, forcing him off balance and face first into the ground. He collided with the muddy ground with a squelch, but that wasn't what was bothering him. What was bothering him was the unbelievable pain Madison had caused in his left leg.

Unfortunately for Madison, her shooting him, causing a large chunk to be blown out of Dorian's leg, had triggered a furious rage within the boy. He snapped back to the homicidal state of mind that had consumed him briefly just moments earlier, and the intense pain ensured he wasn't getting out of it any time soon.

"FUCKADAY!" he screamed, tears welling up in his eyes. He turned to Madison and glared, choking on his words. "What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK?!"

He began dragging himself towards Madison, the butcher's knife in his hand providing ample grip on the slick ground.

"What is going on in that fucking mind of yours, you sick bitch? Do you even half-seriously think I would've shot you? With two guns and a scythe trained on me? Are you mad?"

Dorian's quiet, stuttered diatribe continued as he got closer to Madison, the anger all-consuming. Dorian knew his temper was bad, and he would've reigned himself in in any other situation, but this was different. He had been shot, and he was singularly occupied with the aggressor in front of him.

Dorian grabbed hold of her legs and dragged himself up her, until he was eye-to-eye with her, mere centimetres from her face. "Get this, bitch," he spat at her, "I've spent my entire time on the island trying to save us all, trying to be a good person, and this is how I get repaid for it. Nobody listens to me, people try to kill me, and then, you blow off my fucking leg. My leg."

Dorian's grip on the butcher's knife got tighter.

"Well, fuck that shit."

Dorian, overwhelmed with self-righteousness and fury, lifted up the butcher's knife with the last of his strength and swung it at Madison's neck.

As he swung, a faint recollection of an old thought flitted through his conscious, gone as soon as it came.

21 kills...what the fuck is wrong with us?

[ZombiexCreame†]

Like Rick, Lulu also kept a discerning eye on Dorian and Madison. Her scythe was still a bit lowered but she could easily use it if the situation called for it.

Lulu's eyes widened slightly when Dorian pulled his gun around to his front. So Madison was right. He did have a gun! He claimed it was empty, but was that the truth or not? Lulu honestly didn't know. She nervously re-gripped her scythe since her hands were getting a bit sweaty.

Then she realized that Dorian put the gun to his shoulder and aimed it right at Madison. She could hear the click as he pulled the trigger, but before she could react and glance over at Madison, she heard the sound of three rapid shots firing, and not from Dorian's gun either. It must have been Madison's.

So Dorian's gun was empty after all. Before Lulu could think of all the how's and why's of the situation, she realized that he had gotten shot.

Lulu was frozen where she stood, unsure of what to do. It was just like with Anna, another situation that she couldn't do much about. She just wasn't brave or bold enough to help in situations like these and she hated herself for it.

Merely holding this scythe wasn't a heroic action in itself, but she couldn't convince herself to do anything else.

Lulu blinked as Madison was apologizing over shooting Dorian. "Don't apologize, he provoked you.." Lulu whispered. She jumped a bit as Dorian started cursing and yelling.

But when he started dragging himself towards Madison, Lulu's eyebrows raised a bit. He sure didn't give up easily. But she had underestimated Dorian's ability. She had assumed that because his leg was shot, he wouldn't try to attack them again. But she was wrong. Dorian was able to drag himself up to Madison, swinging his knife at Madison's neck. Lulu's eyes widened.

"No!"

[Ciel†]

Madison Conner felt so bad about what had happened. She was so certain... but yet she thought... no, Dorian was perfectly fine. He was one of the good guys! Why had Madison been so stupid to think otherwise?!! Why couldn't she have trusted him when he said he was just standing there?!!

Madison yelled loudly, trying to apologize.

"Oh jesus I'm Sorry! Oh my god I'm sorry! I-I really thought! I-I mean I - Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sooorrry!"

She was crying at the top of lungs, mumbling an apology every single time she wheezed. She was just trying to survive! She didn't mean it! Had she known he was alright she wouldn't have shot him the way she did! She would have hesitated, she would have let him come along, she wouldn't have shot his leg off! She was so sorry, oh so very sorry but she couldn't stop Dorian. She couldn't make him stop, she couldn't make him forget about his leg. Nothing she could do was going to make him forget what had happened but she just kept apologizing to him, thinking that it would make a difference.

And then came the inevitable. Dorian had grabbed ahold of her and he was getting even closer. Madison knew exactly what Dorian was planning to do, and the stream of tears came even harder and faster. She started shrieking.

"Oh Fuck! Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Please, Please have mercy on me! I wanna live, I don't wanna die! Please don't kill me! It was a misunderstanding, I-I didnt mean to hit you, it was an accident! Please! Please! I wanna live! I WANNA LIVE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

And then before the knife came down, Madison knew what she had to tell everyone. She had to tell them. She would have told them had she lived longer. She would have told it to everyone on TV. But now it was obvious that this was the time where she had to get it out. The time was now.

"Please wait! I know something! My mother, she is t-"

But then the knife buried itself into her neck, cutting her vocal chords in one clean swipe. The pain was intense, hitting her whole body with the intensity of a thousand shots of lightning. Her mouth opened in a way that suggested that she was letting out one last scream of pain, one last cry but nothing came from her lungs. Her eyes shook, her hand lost it's grip on her gun and with one last movement she pushed Dorian back with all of her strength. Pushing him off of her, onto the ground and away from her.

And then everything became light. Rainbows appeared in the clouded sky, the sun was rising, there were unicorns flying overhead.

This was when Madison realized that death was a wonderful thing.

It's... so... beautiful...

G01: Madison Conner - DECEASED

~~~

Elana Conner, the biological mother of the girl who had just been slaughtered, at the TV for a long moment. A tear formed in her eye as she watched her own daughter die. This tear meant nothing. In fact, Elana wiped it away quickly. All she needed was her eyes to be blackened, and her makeup to get messy. She was most likely going to have visitors in the next couple of minutes. Elana had to look the part after all - the part of the grieving mother of a murdered child.

Would it have been a lie if Elana had felt happy about all that had transpired?

Yes, it was. Elana was upset.

Would it have been a lie to say that Elana was glad that her daughter was dead?

No, it wouldn't have. In fact, the only thing that upset Elana was the fact that she didn't get further, hadn't done anything else to get into the spotlight. Then again it was to be expected - Madison was always just a quiet loser.e

The girl had always been mentally unbalanced, ever since her father left. And when her friend died the way she did, killing herself, Madison became even more unsettled. It was a surprised she hadn't killed herself simply because she had went insane, although technically Madison had lost her marbles months ago. She was a meek girl though, the kind that had no backbone. The kind that would do anything that was asked of her. Ask her to jump and she would do it without asking how high. Elana liked that - it made things easer: but there were so many things that she had to work out just so this girl didn't flip out and kill herself.

And that... that would have been very dirty, something that Elana couldn't overturn no matter what she did. People would come uninvited to her house, pedaling something about investigating her activities, probably just to see what kind of a mother Elana had been. She didn't want that at all, oh certainly not.

So in a way, Madison could be compared to a pest.

A rat. That needed to die.

But maybe Elana had been too judgmental. Maybe her daughter had alot more backbone than she led on. After all, her daughter had went much father than anyone would have guessed. In fact Elana was starting to fear that Madison would have come out on top... that would have been very inconvenient. Doubly so. For that Elana was glad that Madison had died, especially how her daughter went out. So tragic... Certainly people would be very sorry. Gifts, flowers, money - those sorts of things would be coming to Elana in the next couple of months. That was the best part. It was like she was being rewarded for losing her daughter. The money she didn't care for in the least. It wasn't like Elana was on welfare - she had a job. A well-paying one. More money anyone could ever imagine.

But the gifts, and the attention...

Elana smiled. No one could ever imagine that she was shallow enough to not only forget her daughter's death but rejoice over it.

Deep down inside she knew that she wouldn't miss the bitch one bit. She loved her but it was only an admiration sort of love, not the real kind. In truth she wouldn't miss her daughter. Madison was an accident - a break in a condom.

There was a knock on the door, a very loud pounding. Elana's head turned slightly. Right on time she had thought. It had to be some of the neighbors hoping to comfort Elana, and from the rather loud collection of murmurs that were radiating from the door, there were many people outside. Elana took the mask she had on off and put one on that showed an immense feeling of sadness. The mask always fooled everyone - everyone except, maybe, her ex-husband.

"Coming!" she yelped in a loud painful cry. Crocodile tears were forced out, finally staining her makeup. Oh yes, she certainly looked the part right now.

She got up very slowly from the couch and made her way to the door. She took the knob to the door in her hand and turned it.

And nothing of value was lost. Elana had everything to gain.

[ZombiexCreame†]

Lulu continued to listen to Madison's babble, apology after apology. It made her heart heavy to hear. But then the apologies ceased to be apologies. They became frantic begs. Begs for her life.

"No no no no no!" Lulu kept whispering. This situation was going bad fast. Why had Lulu chosen to come to this place after Anna's death? Was no where safe? If they had chosen to go anywhere but here...would this situation even have occurred?

Lulu kept watching with a pained look in her eyes, fear fluttering in her heart. She raised her scythe. Was it too late to save her? Even if Lulu had chosen to act now, would it all be for null?

But before the knife came down, Madison quickly claimed she knew something and started speaking, but before she could finish her sentence, Dorian's knife hit, slicing through Madison's neck like butter.

Lulu flinched, her mouth dropping open. Another death. Right in front of her. Her eyes trailed slowly downward at Madison. She was lying on the ground, dead, and Lulu felt truly alone in this game. Of course Lulu had felt alone when Anna had died, and when Lauren had died, but at least having a companion by her side...it had softened the blow of death a bit.

As tears spilled down her face, she wiped them with a single hand swipe. Now wasn't the time to cry. Madison's killer was right here in front of her. She couldn't let this slide. Anger was welling up like she'd never felt before.

At first, Lulu just merely looked annoyed. She took off her glasses, wiped the lenses clean, then put them back on her face. Then she suddenly pulled her scythe back like it was a boomerang and chucked it in Dorian's direction with as much strength as she could muster. Without watching to see where it had gone, or if it had hit or not, she leaned down beside Madison's corpse and picked up her gun, holding it tightly in both hands.

"How could you..? How could you?! What did we ever do to you?! Huh?! Th..this just doesn't even..it's not.." Lulu was so angry that she kept stuttering and couldn't get her words out. Typical. Lulu never was the type to rage and rant. Usually, she got all flustered and wound up. Today was no different.

She only knew Madison for a short while. That short while from when she fell down the steps. Then Anna and Lulu carried her to the cottage. It was a short while, and after Anna's death, Lulu had gotten attached to her new traveling companion. (Even if their travel was merely from the cottage to this flower field) But now, Lulu was alone. All alone.

"You're..you're.. You are a dead man." It was the only thing Lulu could manage to say after being silent for several moments, lost in her thoughts. She felt ashamed that she wasn't able to think up an anger filled, lengthy monologue on Madison's death but she was just too overwhelmed. Aiming Madison's gun at Dorian, she pulled the trigger without any remorse.

[Namira]

((Don't sweat it guys.))

Dacey had been keeping low ever since she had spotted the figure in the distance, but now that she had a gun in her hand (which her mind just wouldn't let her forget where she'd got it from), Dacey was feeling a little more secure. But only a little. She had mixed feelings about getting out of her crouch to get her bearings. Whilst the plant life offered her concealment so long as she kept low, Dacey couldn't actually see past her own cover. Sure, she could just turn around and leave, or at least retreat until Rick arrived, but what if he was already there? Dacey could go right past him and never realise it. It might prove impossible for them to find one another again.

Eventually, Dacey decided to take the middle ground - she'd have a quick look, just in case Rick had caught up already, then head back for the treeline to wait. Holding tight to the firearm that she didn't even know how to use, Dacey slowly raised her head so that her eyes were just above the level of the majority of the flowers. The sight that greeted her filled her with equal parts relief and dread. Rick had managed to make his way there, although apparently he'd reached the field from a different direction than Dacey. However, the figure Dacey had earlier spotted had been joined by another, and they were facing off against somebody else...

Dacey stood and began to make her way through the flowers, hoping that whatever the dispute was, it would sort itself out, but she hadn't made it five steps before shots rang out.

Oh no... not again.

Dacey had, by now, had her fill of getting into scrapes. So far, she'd been shot at by somebody she wasn't even looking at (on two separate occasions, shot at by somebody she was looking at and desperately wanted to get away from, narrowly avoided getting caught in a dangerzone and been assaulted with a hatchet. The last thing she wanted was more violence. But with things getting down to the wire as they were, it really wasn't all that surprising. There weren't that many people left alive. What were the odds that there were still people amongst the living that weren't willing to kill?

Am I?

Even as Dacey flinched away from the gunfire, going to ground instinctively, the thought began chasing itself around her head. Was she? Was she? Was she? For her, sticking with Rick had long ceased to be all about taking down the players. It was some measure of protection and some measure of... attraction. When it came down to it, Dacey had never really subscribed to the entire idea of their group. It had seemed worthwhile enough at the time, but her enthusiasm had been half-hearted at best. Her eyes had been one Rick and Jim's guns, not their objective.

It was noble and all, but I wasn't taken in.

Tch...

I'm the one that needs the shield, I should never have gone along with anybody proposing that we held it.


Dacey cautiously picked herself up. There hadn't been any more shooting, so hopefully things had either blown over or... she hit the deck moments later as further gunshots rang out. This time they didn't just fade away, they were replaced with shouts of pain. Sure, people had been yelling earlier, but that was clear anger. Somebody had been shot... could it have been Rick? Once again, she got to her feet. One of the figures had gone down and another was standing there with a hand weapon of some kind. Even as she looked on though, the person Dacey had originally spotted brought a gun to bear and begun firing.

I feel like such a spectator... why it have to happen all the way over there? I could have done... something.

As it was, all Dacey could do was stare in horror at the violence being dealt out on the other side of the field. The distance couldn't have been huge, but it might as well have been the moon for all the good Dacey was capable of...

[Pigeon Army†]

In Greek Theatre, there is a technical term for what Dorian Sanders had just experienced. Dorian knew the term well, given his impressive grades in Drama back at high school. The term was peripatea. It means reversal of fortune - a shift in the narrative. When the tragic hero goes too far down the road to ever turn back.

As the knife plunged into Madison Conner's neck, it didn't dawn on Dorian that he'd been traveling that road. Even though he had now experienced his own peripatea, he didn't know it. However, the next step in any Greek tragedy - the anagnorsis, or recognition of one's own self-destruction - was about to arrive, and Dorian Sanders was becoming very aware of it.

Madison pushed him off her as her life slipped away on her, and Dorian screamed, the pushing forcing his bloodied and mutilated leg backwards faster than was comfortable. He fell to the ground, watching the girl with the knife in her throat die, and the heinousness of the act he had just perpetrated hit him like a bull crushing a Pamplonan runner.

"What have I done?" he whispered. I dedicated myself to trying to save all these people, to killing no-one, to...oh fuck...fuck, what have I done...fuck, what have I done?

Dorian lay on the ground, lost in his own anagnorsis, feeling both disgusted by his actions and stunned that he could do such a thing. He didn't even notice the hypocritical screeching of the girl that had been traveling, and nor did he notice her throw a scythe at him but miss by a wide amount. As the girl picked up the gun, he continued staring at the dark, drizzling sky, losing himself in his own recognition.

I'm a fucking failure. I try, and I fail. I'm a hypocritical, blind failure.

I'm finished.

BANG. BANG.

B085 - DORIAN SANDERS: ELIMINATED.

[Theseus†]

Damn.

Rick Holeman stood silent, watching as the scene unfolded before him, and before he knew it, there were two dead bodies.

Rick backed up, his Desert Eagle pointed at Lulu.

"You did what you had to do."

Rick still saw her as a threat as long as she held her gun though.

"Lower the gun ok? I'm moving on."

Rick looked over his shoulder and saw where Dacey was. Backing up, his gun trained on Lulu, he made his way over to Dacey.

"Shame about the girl...but at least that's another killer off this island. I...."

Rick looked at Lulu. He felt bad about leaving her, though she was armed. She just killed someone. He was confident she could hold her own, but for how long? How long could any one person survive on this island?

No, that wasn't Rick's problem.

He would find the killers.

The worst of the worst.

He would kill them.

Then he would die. That was how it would be. That was how it would be.

[ZombiexCreame†]

Lulu watched Dorian fall to the ground. He was dead. That was it. It didn't seem like he suffered slow, painful death. Maybe Dorian didn't even know he had died.

Of course she felt remorse. She didn't want to kill anyone. She wasn't a player. She only wanted to survive. But sometimes surviving meant doing extreme things.

Lulu really hadn't thought the whole ordeal out. She was angry about Madison's death, angry about Anna's death..everyone was dying around her. There wasn't any real excuse about Dorian's murder.

She was mad because he was a murderer and when she became caught in her own anger, she murdered as well.

But now, Lulu only wanted to sit around and have a good cry. Was the game worth playing anymore? "Well, you've lasted this long, Lu. Why give up now?"

Taking a long, ragged breath, Lulu walked through the field to gather her scythe. Over the past few days, or however long this game had lasted, she had gotten attached to it, strangely, and didn't want to just leave it here. But then she heard Rick's voice.

Oh right. There was someone else here. She turned to look at him and realized he had his gun pointed at her. That's when it also clicked that he saw her kill someone. That probably didn't look good at all.

When he told her to lower the gun, she stared down at Madison's powerful gun for a few seconds. Of course Lulu complied. She immediately lowered the gun and shoved it into her bag. "S-sorry..I really don't want to..scare anyone," she muttered, sounding very dejected. She picked up her scythe and walked over to Madison's corpse.

"Madison.." Lulu rubbed the tears from her eyes, from behind her glasses. She sat down beside the murdered girl, placing her scythe and bag down in the grass.

She figured she might as well say some parting words before he left. Her voice was shaky but she managed to say, "Um..well good luck..s-s..stay safe."

Lulu didn't move from Madison's side. She didn't know this girl very well at all, but the stress from the situation was making Lulu a little confused. She wanted to stay and protect Madison's corpse for a little longer. Besides, she had no where to go really.

[Namira]

After what she had just witnessed, Dacey just wanted to sit amongst the flowers and cry. It wasn't supposed to go like this. It was meant to be clear-cut: there's the killer, the pair of them tried to deal with him. But when somebody was retaliating for their friend... well, how the hell were they supposed to figure it out?

Two people were dead and she'd watched it happen, frozen in place. Why'd she do that? Dacey could have... should have... there must have been... something. But no, she hadn't budged an inch and maybe because of that, things had turned out the way they did.

No.

No. No. No.

That was not my fault.

What was I supposed to do about that? It was so far away it might as well have been happening on the moon for all the good I could have done.

I was right to be cautious... I was right. I was right dammit!

Not my fault. Not my... fault.

Dacey bit down on her knuckle, the pain helping her to focus. This wasn't the time to start panicking. Somebody had just been stabbed and another gunned down, and in case she had forgotten, the perpetrator of the latter was still hanging around the place. For that matter, so was Rick. Her concern was but momentary though. If this was some sort of killing spree the girl had embarked on, then it was a very slow one. Soon enough, Rick made his way over to her and she returned to the body she had taken the gun from.

"You deserved better than this," Dacey muttered to the dead boy. It didn't matter who he was, if he was a nice guy or an asshole: nobody deserved death before they'd even started really living. Dacey removed the kid's pack, took what ammo and rations she found and transferred them to her own. At the same time, she let the pack she'd taken from her brief ally: Herman, drop onto the ground. It wasn't worth carrying around any more. All it contained was shells for a weapon Dacey didn't possess.

We're winding down...

Then as if to confirm the thought, the announcement came on. Day 11. God, had she really survived this long? How was it even possible that with so many dead, Dacey Ashcroft well... wasn't? It seemed ridiculous. Then, just as Dacey was noting that some big killers had been taken out, Danya once again announced the worst thing that he could: Dangerzones.

"Aw... you're fucking kidding me,"

Dacey started towards the edges of the field, checked herself, turned. She hesitated a moment, then crossed over to Rick and gave him a companionable hug - nothing like the borderline sexual one she'd given him before. After a moment, she kissed him on the cheek too.

"Listen, it's a big jungle and well... there aren't many of us left. Rick... don't get hurt okay? For me?" Dacey then blushed at how stupid that sounded and broke the embrace, making for the treeline at a swift jog.

... We're going to die ...


((continued in The Hardest Button to Button))

[Theseus†]

Rick pondered on what Dacey said.

He knew he would die on this island, he knew it from the beginning, and he felt like he sealed the deal when he decided to go out hunting the players.

Yet here, now, he felt a little...scared.

No, not scared, Rick Holeman would accept death when it came, he just didn't want it to happen yet. He had to protect Dacey. He had to protect as many as he could. For if he failed, what kind of man was he? People were back home, his family, watching him. Fellow marines were watching him. Rick Holeman couldn't let them down. He had to prove to them he was a good guy.

He would die helping his friends.

They had to go. Danya made that clear, so Rick Holeman trailed after Dacey, his gun in hand.

((Rick Holeman continued in The Hardest Button to Button))

[ZombiexCreame†]

Lulu was sitting in a daze beside the corpse of Madison, not making a single move. The thoughts in her head bounced around inside of her skull and she couldn't stay focused on the situation before her. She knew she'd have to snap out of this and get moving. Being a sitting duck was the path to getting killed.

Lulu knew she had made it this far. Why get killed now because she's sitting around like some loser? Gathering her stuff, she suddenly paused. It was the announcements. She listened carefully, her mind picking out certain things Danya had said. Fifteen percent? One and a half weeks?

She couldn't believe she had lasted this long. She didn't think she had it in her. She smiled very slightly at her triumph, but the smile only lasted a moment. The deaths were being listed.

Lulu's eyebrows flew up when she heard Amanda's name. Amanda was the first girl she met on this island. The girl Lulu had apparently betrayed. She remembered how angry Amanda had gotten. But now she was gone.

Lulu's heart lurched when she heard Anna's name, but she didn't have the time to grieve again. Elizabeth's name was the one that piqued her interest. Gabe McCallum killed her? Maybe her memories were fuzzy, but Lulu remembered Anna stabbing Elizabeth with that sword...But Lulu left shortly after Anna's death. By then, Elizabeth wasn't dead. Maybe something else had happened, which was definitely unfortunate.

And then there was another few familiar names. Madison and Dorian. She subconsciously looked up at the sky when she heard her name, 'Miss Alaire'. Danya mentioned her grandmother...

Lulu raised her eyebrows. This was probably the first time in the whole game she had thought about her grandmother. She had been so preoccupied with fearing for her life, that she had barely shed her beloved Grannie a single thought. She felt a little ashamed and couldn't help but wonder what her grandmother was thinking. Was she proud? Or was she ashamed? Lulu didn't know, her grandmother was very unpredictable. Maybe she would forgive Lulu or maybe she would burn down Lulu's small part of the family tree.

Thinking of her grandmother inevitably led to thoughts of her parents. They were so busy, they probably didn't even know Survival of the Fittest existed, let alone their own daughter being on it.

Lulu broke out of her cage of thoughts and stood up when she realized that the field of flowers was a danger zone. Picking up her bag and her scythe, she turned and left.

((Lulu Altaire continued in Wild International))