Paper Dolls

[Fenrir]

Things were going better than expected, the girl was actually stepping forward to write her name in the dirt when he half expected her to just pull her gun on him rather than make the effort. He couldn’t see what she was writing from this far away but he wasn’t going to move closer to see what she had written until after she had finished and moved away; even though he wanted this to end peacefully he wasn’t going to take any stupid risks just yet.

It turns out this decision saved Simon’s life, for the time being at least. As soon as he saw that gun being raised he instinctively ducked back behind the tree next to him just as two shots rang out in the forest, the first bullet snapped past him and the second skimmed a layer of bark off of the tree. Not only was this girl trying to kill him now, she was also apparently a pretty good shot. Great.

He was just about to poke his head out and see if she was getting closer so that he could decide which way to run when he heard it, or maybe ‘felt’ would be a better term. The piecing sensation inside his skull that passed after only a second and left Simon’s legs feeling like jelly. For some strange reason he also felt like someone had just called his name.

“I… I guess you’re not willing to talk about this?”

[Rocky*]

He was on the run already. Ashlie was somewhat disappointed, but she couldn't really complain. A kill was a kill, which got her one more step towards winning. And she wasn't planning on doing anything but win. She would remove this pest, then find her way to the others, and kill them too.

The pink-haired girl pocketed her knife, holding her pistol in both hands and stepping towards the tree that her adversary had hidden behind. He wasn't showing any part of himself, which would make things a little harder, but not by much. The fact he hadn't returned fire was somewhat perplexing, but Ashlie gave no thought to the matter.

So what to do next? She could try to shoot through the tree, but it was too big for that. Waiting for him to come out would be bad, since it would give him time to plan. So her only option was to come to him. So come to him she would. Pulling the knife back out of her pocket, the girl moved around the tree, swinging her knife as she went.

If only it were that easy.

[Macha*]

Taryn was, understandably, agitated at the prospect of facing someone who was unkillable. Kate agreed, to an extent. What could they do if he tried to attack them? Kate kept the possibility running in the back of her mind, but she tried her best not to look threatening or hostile. It was a little hard, considering they'd spent the entire game trying to do just that, but she didn't think she did that bad a job of it.

He promised he wouldn't hurt them, though. That worked. That was what she needed, the little push that made her believe him. Whether she trusted him was another matter. Kate still wasn't sure if she entirely trusted Taryn, let alone the immortal man she’d just met. That was a question for later, though.

This wasn't helping. None of this had been. Kate was getting distracted, right when they both needed to focus. Focus. She kept using that word, but every time she used it she got more and more distracted. That was it, then. She needed to stop saying that she was trying to focus. Make it something subconscious, rather than drumming it into her head.

Khalid laid out a map, between them, marking off the line that crossed the island. Kate had wondered about that. Everything there had seemed so unnatural. It was a weird place, though it was the only place they been where they hadn't had to fight anyone off.

They'd found the naked corpse there, though. That was pretty harrowing, to say the least. Samantha. That was where they had met her, too. Then she left them to get blown up. Kate tried not to think about that. Samantha was just there with them, then she was gone. Another name on the announcements.

"That's where we've just come from..." She whispered.

The serum had caused it, apparently. A giant scar on the island caused by the same thing that had given her a natural dental plan and Taryn crystalised blood. Kate was a little apprehensive of that. It didn’t really make all that much sense. She listened anyway, though.

No hope of getting home. Ever. That was the second bombshell he dropped on them, though Kate had been struggling to believe they would just let them go since she had woken up, choosing to rely on blind optimism. That, it seemed, had served its purpose, and now it was time for Katherine Jennifer Black to face up to the fact that she- they needed to win. Even with Khalid on their side- for now- they still had people to get through, and if they hit Ashlie again, they needed to be prepared for her. Or anyone else they could run into, for that matter.

Even if she lived, how would Sammy cope if she never came home? Or Mom and Dad? That was what Kate was afraid of. Not that she herself would die. She could accept that. It was the thought that her family, the few friends she had left, everyone would have to deal with the fact that she'd just disappeared.

She thought back to everyone they'd met. Everyone Taryn had killed. They had families too, right? Even Ashlie had to have someone that would miss her when she was gone. And yet, none of this would ever be found out. They'd just go down as a name on a Disappeared Persons list, probably murdered but never identified.

Worrying. She couldn't worry. They just needed to finish this. Whatever was outside of the island had to be better than the island. Something would be better, at least. Food? Yeah. At least they'd be fed, even if they were forced into being test subjects. They'd be no use dead, right?

One by one, the layers she had built for herself were being torn down.

There was silence for a while, the few insects in the area chirping faintly the only sound, though Kate swore she heard a scream. Then, her thoughts collected, she slowly began to speak.

"I'm willing to risk it." Kate looked down at the ground, then back up. "To get out of here, I mean. I don't care if I can't get home- I mean, I'd work for them if I had to."

She paused. "I just want to get out."

[Carrion Queen]

Taryn slid her glance to Khalid and threw him side-eye. She took her eyes off of him for a fraction of a second to look down at the map where he was explaining the topography of the island. He promised not to hurt them and she wasn't one to trust him, but there wasn't anything to do for the moment other that to try and maintain the peace they'd developed.

"Interesting....I guess. So what does this have to do with us?"


And then he told them they'd never go home. Showing an outspokenness she didn't think possible, Kate told him that they wouldn't give up. Taryn nodded.

"That doesn't matter. It's better than dying. And even if they say they're going to keep us forever, I'll never stop trying to get home. If I live I've at least got the chance, even if it's small. We're not going to give up. Not now."

[Hallucinogenic*]

Khalid took it all in, every word. Their speeches proved just how wrong the scientists were about them, about how they were just subjects. The danger of what would come next, the fear it would instil them with - and they didn't even care. He couldn't help but grin, amazed at the sheer confidence these two had in themselves, and to a tiny extent, in him.

"Good," He replied.

"You'll need to hang on to that. That determination will keep you strong, keep you fighting. I... I admit, I let myself get lazy, settle in, but you two can't let that happen to yourselves. Even if one of you dies, you keep the other one in your memory and you promise them that you'll survive. You've got to do that, girls. It's going to be hard after today, but if you can keep a hold of this faith, this drive, then I swear to you-"

A breath; a sigh.

A whisper: "Maybe not right away - certainly not tomorrow - but someday all of this will mean something good, I promise."

"All this heartache, this suffering, the pain we endure, even if it leads to the end of the world just remember that there will be a light beyond those times. Always. We just have to make sure that it's lit by the time this nightmare ends."

[Fenrir]

No sounds followed the first couple of gunshots from the girl for a few moments, successfully building the tension up inside Simon the longer nothing happened. He considered just sticking his head out from behind the tree to see what was happening but that was a colossally stupid idea no matter what way you justified it.

It wouldn’t matter anyway; he knew she was coming towards him, moving closer the longer he stayed here. He just knew that at any second she was going to pop out in front of him and shoot him, he was just waiting for that final death bullet to find its mark.

He leaned back against the tree and slid down it, balancing on the tips of his feet and crouching at the base of the tree while he thought. He needed to decide what he was going to do. The choices were whether to break cover and make a run for it, and get shot, or stay where he was and wait for her to come to him… and get shot.

Okay. Okay… okay, here’s what he was going to do. *Thunk*

The tip of the knife embedded itself in the tree a foot above his head; if he hadn’t been crouching he would probably have a piece of metal pierced through one of his lungs right now.

Acting on a moments thought he pushed away from the tree with his elbows and tackled the girl around the waist, pushing her back and toppling them both onto the ground. He pulled back and sat up on his knees so that he was looming over the girl and reached out to grab her wrists, fully aware but not caring what his powers would do to someone with direct contact like that. It was about time this damn curse started paying it due.

[Rocky*]

Ashlie felt a painful shockwave shoot up her arm as the knife buried itself inside the tree a couple of inches. The boy was below her, but by the time she was able to register this and aim her gun, he tackled her. Her hand slipped off the grip of the knife, leaving it imbedded in the tree, while her gun was jostled out of her hand as he back hit the ground. The air rushed out of her lungs in a gasp, and Ashlie had to fight to breath for a few moments.

He was on top her now, leering down on her. Ashlie stared back at him, her face twisted in anger at this boy who had the upper hand on her. His hands reached out for her, and she tried to move away from them, but there wasn't very far for her to go.

Next thing she knew, it felt like her wrists were on fire. As soon as his hands came into contact with her wrists, she felt the fiery pain emanate from the contact. Ashlie screamed from this pain, the worst pain she had experienced in her life. She tried everything she could think of in her limited movement to get him off, or at least get his hands off her. There wasn't much she could do really, except maybe scream at him until he let go.

So she did. Ashlie screamed at the boy who was burning her with every curse, every insult she could think of, writhing her body in an attempt to throw him off. She needed to do something before her hands became useless from the injuries.

[Fenrir]

It was all going so well, Simon had successfully grabbed the girl’s arms and successfully averted death for the time being when, quite suddenly, the girl opened her mouth and pain overtook everything. His every sense, his every thought and soon all reality was drowned in a haze of agony emanating from deep within his skull.

And just as suddenly, it stopped, and Simon slowly became aware that he was lying on his back in the dirt as the pain slowly receded back to wherever it had come from. He bolted upright and began looking around, finding the girl sitting a few feet away and carefully examining the damage he had done to her wrists. They were red, bloodied and very painful looking but Simon had no time for guilt as what exactly had just happened clicked into place in his slowly recuperating head.

It explained the mysterious banshee comment on the announcements so long ago, why she didn’t want to speak earlier and why he had felt his legs turn to mush when she called his name. Her power much have been some kind of sound based attack and being screamed at point blank like that was about as bad as it could get; this didn’t leave many options for him since ‘up close and personal’ was pretty much all he could do. Guess it meant he was left with just ‘up close, personal and quick’ instead.

Looking around he saw where the girl had left her knife imbedded in the tree and ran to it, tearing the weapon free and continuing to run until her was safely behind another tree and couldn’t see the girl anymore. It wouldn’t be long before the knife he carried melted under the heat of his own ability but hopefully he could get a kill shot in before then. Hopefully she would come looking for revenge for her arms rather than do the smart thing and whistle him out of hiding.

[Rocky*]

The moment Simon was off her, Ashlie scrambled to her knees, looking at her bloodied wrists. The pain was more than she'd ever experienced before, and it took all her willpower not to let it effect her too much. By the time she looked up, rather than take advantage of her momentary lapse in judgement, Simon had ducked behind cover.

The pink haired girl crawled over to her gun, grabbing it and releasing the magazine. It was about half full, more than enough to finish off her opponent. She slammed the magazine back into the gun, standing up. the pain in her wrists began to subside as she moved, adrenaline from the battle numbing the feeling. Their little game of cat and mouse would continue, with the scared prey Simon running from the mighty predator.

Ashlie walked up to the tree Simon was behind, tapping her gun on the trunk in an attempt to flush him out. She even tried calling his name a few times. As she did this, she moved around the tree, hoping to get him moving. She was very confident in her ability to outlast her opponent if it came to it, given she was presumably better rested, not to mention her overall good stamina. The girl smiled. She could feel the end of this battle coming. Just as soon as she turned the corner and...

A flash of metal. A piercing pain in her lower arm. And a scream.

[Fenrir]

A flash of pain and nausea went through his head every time Ashlie called out, enough that he couldn’t even tell what she was saying, just that she was getting closer. No doubt she had the gun back in her hands now, meaning running was just going to get him shot down; he was stuck.

Then, all of a sudden there she was, tapping something metal – her gun – against the trunk of the tree he was leaning against. There was less than a foot of wood between them and it sent a chill up his spine to realise it. He tightened his grip on the knife, the plastic handle beginning to drip down his hand, as he waited for any sign of movement, any sign at all of her coming around the tree to get him; he kept turning his head from one side to the other and he just hoped he didn’t miss her.

Then, movement. A flash of metal. The sensation of pushing into and through something. A scream and the head splitting pain he’d come to associate with her voice.

He let go of the knife, fought with all of his might to stay on his feet and to focus his swimming vision. He needed to get his knife from his pocket, but he couldn’t focus enough to steady his hand. Plan B, grab her again, put these damn hands to use. Grab something. Grab anything!

[Rocky*]

As soon as Simon pulled away, Ashlie took a step back, looking down at the knife in her arm. The handle was misshapen, probably due to the boy's power, and even if she could pull it out, the dripping plastic told her that wouldn't be a good idea. The wound burned, differently from the ones on her wrists, but it burned. More distressing than that was her attempt to form a fist, her pinky and middle fingers not responding.

Ashlie didn't get much more time to look at the injury though, as her opponent was on the move again. He tried to grab her again, which the girl somehow managed to avoid. She needed to stay away from those hands at all cost. She also knew that this confrontation needed to end, and it needed to end quickly.

There was one advantage left to her. She still had her gun. Her ammo was unknown, but there was more in her bag. It would only take one shot to finish it though. One hit. One kill. Of course, Ashlie wasn't exactly the best shot in the most ideal circumstance. In a situation like this, she would have to get close.

Simon made another attempt to grab her again. This time, she let him, feeling the burning pain as his hands found her arm just above the knife. The skin peeled away under the contact, leaving yet another part of her raw and bleeding. This time she didn't scream though. Didn't make a single noise. She needed to make sure he stayed close.

Ashlie's other arm moved. The one with the gun. Through her pained expression, the pink-haired girl's face broke into a smile. This was the end for him. The weapon found it's home, resting on her adversary's chest. There would be no missing. Not this time. All that would be left was the victor. And this time, like so many times before her, it would be her.

[Fenrir]

Simon cheered internally when he managed to once again grab the girl by the arm and hold her in place and reached his other hand up to grab at her throat; it was one of the most vulnerable parts of the body and given that his powers were skewed more towards causing surface damage than anything else he would need to target something like that to have a chance of killing her.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered why she wasn’t crying out this time despite the immense pain she must have been in and when he felt something pressing against his chest he felt he knew the answer. He didn’t need to look down to know what it was, the pained smile on the pink haired girls face was enough to let him know that his assumption was right; he was going to die.

“Fuck”

The two following gunshots were quieter than he was expecting, sounding more like fire crackers than the loud booms you heard in the movies. They had the same effect though and as the pain blossomed out through his chest from the single point where the bullets had entered Simon found himself letting go of Ashlie’s arm and falling backwards without even realising it.

As he fell he reached tried to stop himself by grabbing hold of something, his hand finding the handle of the knife still sticking out of his killers arm and grabbing onto it. He felt it come free after a moment of resistance and his back hit the ground a few seconds later, the knife falling from his grip onto the dirt.

It hurt less than he expected; a burning followed by a numbness in his chest, but really he just felt tired more than anything. He realised that if he was going to saw any witty last words this was going to be his only chance, though when he opened his mouth he found himself gasping for breath. As his vision darkened except for one patch of pink near the edge of sight, one thought that basically summed up his time on the island went through his mind.

The past three days have been really… really… fucked up

Simon Matthews: Subject C05 Deceased

[Rocky*]

One down. Three to go.

Ashlie fell to her knees, leaning her back against the tree. Her fight with Simon had taken a lot out of her, so she needed a moment to catch her breath. After a couple minutes, the girl stood again, searching around the area for useful items. Her first item of interest was the medkits. It wouldn't do for her to die of blood loss or something after getting so far. She found Simon's bag, using her mostly uninjured left hand to flip it open and find his medical supplies.

Ashlie quickly located the bandages, and quickly began to unroll the material around her right arm. She had to use up almost the entire roll to adequately cover her injuries, but she managed to have just enough left over for the wound on her left wrist. This took her slightly longer, despite there being a smaller area to cover, due to two of her fingers refusing to work. She managed it though, and eventually she had all her new wounds covered, though there was blood very visible through the bandaging.

Next order of business was weapons. Her knife was pretty much useless now, but thankfully she still had another one. Not to mention yet another gun to add to her collection. The weapon in her hand was empty, so Ashlie took a moment to reload that with one of her spare magazines. Whatever happens next, she probably wouldn't have time to reload, so in essence she was down to her last two magazines. Which should be more than enough to put down three people.

Finally, going through Simon's and her own bag, she pooled all the food and water she could find between them. It wasn't much, but it was enough for a decent enough meal. She didn't exactly plan on this dragging out long enough for her to have to eat again, so she took a moment to eat until she was full for the first time since being thrown on this island.

Having finished everything she wanted to do, Ashlie got ready to leave. She left the bags behind, keeping whatever she needed on her person. One gun, safety on, in her pocket, her remaining knife, wrapped in cloth, occupying the same space, and her other gun gripped in her good hand. Now all she needed to do was find the rest of her victims.

All three of them.

[Carrion Queen]

Taryn stared open mouthed at the boy. She could have caught flies if there’d been any around.

He’d finished quite a long speech in the time that, unknown to her, Ashlie had been fighting with Simon and at its crux was quite a reveal.

Finally she closed her eyes, wiped her face and swallowed. The news had numbed her temporarily but now she was aware again of how hot it was. She smelled terrible and her short hair was stuck limply to her face.

“You’re serious?”

This boy had been working with “them,” whoever “them” was. The announcement people knew him. Was it a trick? He could have killed them already. What would be the point of lying to them?

She narrowed her eyes and looked him over critically. He didn’t seem to be displaying the tell-tale signs of a liar. She was a great liar and could spot another liar more often than not.

Don’t underestimate anyone.

Cautiously, she decided to trust him.

“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath. “Okay,” she repeated nervously.

She kept repeating the word with a slightly more trembling in her voice each time.

Taryn looked at Kate and a smile spread over her face. Her eyes were bright for this one moment despite the dark circles that gave away the trauma of the past few days. Then there was some noise from not far off. There was the sound of scuffling and the distinct, horrible pitch of Ashlie, though not as damaging to them at this distance.

Her smile melted. She grabbed her gun off the floor and got up from her seated position into a crouch. Taryn stared intently at the ground. It was clear she deep in thought, trying to work something out.

She held up a knife to Kate's throat, fully intending to kill. She succeeded in killing a lot of people. She took Samantha’s friend. She’d never listen to me anyway. If I so much as tried to be nice AGAIN she’d take the time to shout at me with her freakish voice and then stab me when I was down.

“We do what we have to do to survive,” she whispers, looking at the ground.

Taryn dug into her bag and pulled out a plastic wrapper with four slices of bread still in it. She tossed one to Kate and one to Khalid.

“I know they’re stupid and you hate them and this is totally weird, but stuff the bread in your ear holes. I don’t want to hear whining about bacteria. Just do it. Please,” she said, almost begging.

“This girl’s a killer,” she explained for Khalid’s benefit. “Her voice will make you sick. Though to be honest, I think it matches the rest of her very well,” she muttered.

Taryn stuffed her own ears and stood, looking around for any movement. “And don’t drop them. They don't block her completely but they help.”

The adrenaline was starting to light up her insides like she’d swallowed fireworks. She nodded slightly at Kate.

[Macha*]

Kate’s first thought was that nothing she had just heard Khalid say could possibly be true. The second, much more rational thought was that if he wasn’t telling the truth, they’d both be dead right now and he’d be sailing off to the finale with two more kills under his belt. So she believed him. It was a gamble, of course, but everything they’d done so far had been. What was one more risk, in the grand scheme of things?

A weary smile. Taryn believed him too. That was good; Kate couldn’t begin to imagine the problems one of them disbelieving would have caused. She shook her head. No use focusing on what could have happened. They were on the same page and that was what mattered. She couldn’t shake the uncertainty, though. The feeling in the back of her mind that Khalid had been speaking in half-truths, though. Or just plain not telling them something.

They’d put a lot of trust into him, and Kate just hoped, and prayed, that it would pay off.

What he had said meant they had a little bit more time to work with than Kate had initially expected- she didn’t have her watch with her, but it was starting to get much darker. The forest was already dark and Kate didn’t want to think about what it was going to be like when it got late.

Their temporary- Kate didn’t want to use the term, but still, they had to keep the possibility out there- alliance with Khalid had eliminated one person from their to-do list, but they still had one giant loose end left and a promise to Samantha that they had every intention of keeping. Skanky-feet Ashlie. The girl who’d almost slit her throat and succeeding in giving her the cut that still stung her. The girl who likely had the highest kill-count of everyone, living or dead. The last big- and god was she big- obstacle between them and the end.

The girl who was nearby and causing the now familiar nausea unsettling Kate’s empty stomach.

Taryn jumped up, and Kate quickly followed, emptying her pockets and hurriedly pulling her orange hoodie off- taking care that Sammy’s pendant wouldn’t fall off- and tying it tightly around her waist.

Her light blue shirt was soaked with sweat, but it’d be a lot easier to move around in it than a bulky sweater. It wasn’t as if the hoodie could stop a bullet, anyway. Kate stowed the gun in between her belt and her skirt, and the knife went in one of the pockets. If she could help it, she wasn’t going to use either. Not even against Ashlie. Taryn was the one who promised to kill her, not Kate.

Taryn handed Kate the slice of bread. Kate already knew where she was going with this.

“Alright,” she muttered. “Just this once.”

Kate pouted and shoved the lumps of bread into her ears. As much as she hated to admit it, Taryn was right. Kate had been on the floor in a puddle of her own puke last time they’d met Ashlie. She couldn’t make the same mistake this time. The food was of no use now, so Kate dropped the rest of the bread to the floor. Hell, most of the things in their packs now were long past being useful. Kate had gotten used to walking with it on her back, but she needed the mobility, so- with the exception of the flashlight now nestled in Kate’s hand- the supplies in her pack were left, abandoned, behind her as they walked forwards.

This time, they were prepared. Now, they knew what she could do. Ashlie was facing an entirely different beast than she’d encountered in the prison.

Taryn nodded and Kate nodded back. This time, things would go a bit differently.