Siberian Breaks

[Courtography]

Shawn was glad she was okay! Well yeah he's not mean... But still good, yay. It was better than nothing. Especially since Shawn hadn't been shot by that crazy Mexican girl.

She let out a nervous laugh when Mason mentioned a hot tub and a thong of all things! Then Mae started talking about joining him, and oh geez Lexi didn't want this to be a whole group hot tub thing because she had no body to speak of.

That's when Renee spoke up that she wouldn't go either. Okay there was a chance! "Uhh yeah, umm I'd sit that out too." Good. Avoid embaressment, cool.

[Cake]

Mister cool basketball star, Mason Ross, casually entered the ski resort's lodge right away.

Well that was easy. They were making themselves at home already, Shawn could work with them.

Glancing to his right, he noticed Mae's face seemed awfully bothered about something. Had it been because he had opened the door and let other people in without warning? They were in a game show of kill or be killed anyway, he could understand that, he supposed. But then she must've also knew that these were people from their school right?

Safe People. Unlike the Detroit Monsters, who have made their lives here hell and couldn't be trusted.

They were both looking for Renée Carlson for much of their time on the island and once he heard her say who she was from the other side of the door along with their other two classmates whom she was with, he had gotten over-joyed. Maybe too hasty as well, but already they seemed to be proving that he made a good call by letting them in.

Mason had a gun, although worrisome, it didn't look like he wanted to cause any troubles. Renée seemed quite relaxed and Alexis even gave him a hug. Surely Mae couldn't stay upset for so long about him letting them in right?

Shawn stepped out of the way to allow the two girls to walk inside, along with Mason, who was warming up his, rather under-dressed self.

Mason suddenly spouted a one-liner about a hot tub and Shawn nearly broke out into an inadvertent smile. It was with the addition of the "leopard print thong" line which caught Shawn off guard, causing him to cough out a small laugh onto the back of his hand.

Where was he this whole time? Shawn really could have used Mason around. His time on the resort isle would have been considerably more fun, for sure.

Then Mae responded with mention of her itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow, or maybe just a polka dot bikini, with a bright red blush on her cheeks.

He looked at her, surprised for a short second, mouth agape.

Reaaaally Mae?

Shawn instantly felt a wave of incompetence and insecurity wash over him, with the blatant flirting Mae was giving the taller and more athletically inclined blonde dude in the jersey. He was so used to being "the" guy during his stay on the show, that he had almost forgotten how things were really like back home. He was just that eccentric hippie stoner guy who listened to hipster music and pretended to be a rock star. Not the school's most eligible bachelor.

Suddenly Shawn felt very stupid wearing that silly black fedora hat.

He uncapped it, held and fidgeted with it in one hand and ruffled his gold bandanna head band wrapped hair with the other, quietly, in the background. The smile slowly fading.

Now he knew how Zach felt when he had Mae's attention.

Alexis gave a nervous laugh and Shawn abruptly found himself doing the same next to her. Thank goodness for Renée saying something in an attempt to change the subject from awkwardness of the unexpected hot tub party idea.

Usually Shawn would be all for hot tub parties. Those were the best. Helped that he had a hot tub at his house too.

It just kept playing over and over in his mind that this wasn't home. People were getting killed. His best friend died not too long ago, and yet somehow he had grown conditioned to coping with all these deaths, and leaning back into normal life stuff to deal with it.

Heck he was falling into the whole trivial teenage high school drama thing he had promised and managed to avoid the past, was it five-days, up until now.

"Well uh, we didn't really look around the place too much. I mean, we were here once before. We found someone here - Peter. He was already... dead when we got here. This kid named Bobby helped us bury him. - He's gone now too."

Oh way to go. He turned the mood around from happy to bummer again. Quick! think of something fast.

"So yeah, you guys can look around the place." Through the side of his eye he looked over specifically at Mae and Mason. "If you find a hot tub, 'lemme know. I have my neon pink board shorts ready for some wearin' huha..."

Yeah that'll do.

He wasn't serious about the whole thing of course. He still needed to talk to Renée about the "getting off the island alive" thing she had said she seen on this show before, while the others looked around the place for whatever. Maybe they could even catch up on stuff.

[Lord_Shadow]

The snow was okay as cover, not the best but certainly not the worst. What really helped Timothy's advance was that no one seemed to be watching outside. Everyone that was inside was, as far as he could tell from his distance, facing away from the exterior of the Resort.

He crept closer and closer, then stopped. Coming in through the front would have to be the stupidest idea ever. What was he thinking? Surely there had to be a rear entrance, one that he could sneak in and take out everyone one by one like a monster in the dark.

He grinned wide.

He liked that idea, liked it a lot. He slowly started making his way around the Resort to the backside, still keeping low to ground. For a moment, he thought he glimpsed his hat on one of the figures inside. It was hard to tell from the distance he was at so he just chalked it up to having hats, and murder, on the brain. "Sure would look good to have that hat in blood to match the rest of the suit now."

He reached what pitiful excuse for a backdoor there was, and pressed himself back first against the wall next to it. He drew the knife and clutched it tight. "Party's over people. Time for some different fun." He opened the door as slowly and quietly as he could, and crept inside.

[Outfoxd]

Mason gave Mae a cheesy grin.

"That's what I like to hear. If it's teeny-weeny, then please believe we're in business."

Mason was only half joking about the hot tub. Cold as he was, it would have been welcome. Besides, half-naked girls and hot water combined would have kept him warm right quick.

"Damn shame, Renee. Anybody needs to relax, it's you, fearless leader." He took one of his hands off of his arm long enough to clap her on the back.

Even Hippie kid was getting in on it, but there was an almost imperceptible...something, underpinning his words.

He threw another glance around the resort. "Y'know, maybe not a hot tub. There a fireplace? Hot chocolate and marshmallows seems like what we're supposed to do around here. Maybe discuss our stock portfolios."

He turned from the group, walked a little farther in. His kneed bumped a padded, velvet chair, and he rested his free hand on it.

Just keep laughing. Laugh till it's over.

[Courtography]

(So I kind of don't like dangerzones so I'm skipping, especially since the internet at my house went out twice yesterday and the power three times.)

More jokes, oh geez this hot tub thing might actually happen. Please don't have one please don't have one please- The announcement had started. It was midnight. And that announcer guy was talking about some sick game? Well some other sick game. Okay she did not like this. She didn't like this in the first place, the least he could do was just get right to the deaths and stuff she needed to know.

Did he just say twenty one deaths? Oh no...this was bad. Everyone was dying. And the deaths were on their way, Karen had killed someone Lexi didn't know. Odile had killed another person. Then someone she hadn't heard of, red team. Red and green, Christmas spirit. Too bad this wasn't just a Christmas vacation with all them, this ski resort could really be fun then. Especially if her friends were there, but they weren't, and she was glad. They didn't have to die.

Dangerzone and Leopold getting killed by Karen. Wait did he say nine kills? Karen was almost off the island by that count, and if she had killed Shawn she would have had ten. But she hadn't, so what had happened at that beach? Was Karen dead? Then a few people she didn't know got killed and killed each other. Probably more bloodthirsty Detroit kids.

Wait. Did he just say Chelsea killed TWO people!? Oh geez and Chelsea was on her team. Didn't she listen to their mentor who said NOT to kill people? Of course it was the person Lexi didn't trust as much. It would have been so much better if David had lived instead of her. He didn't kill people, and he had been cute...

Wait, Karen had hit ten when she killed Zach. Didn't that mean she got to leave? Lexi didn't want Karen to live; she didn't deserve to. But on the other hand, at least she was gone then. Then a girl from her school shot another girl from her school. Crap, she had grown inattentive, and this was the best she had payed attention to an announcement yet. She shouldn't ruin it.

Oh, that Ferric guy was dead. Lexi didn't know him too well, but still, dead people were bad. Horrible. Sick. Wait and Chelsea had died? Well maybe she hadn't murdered them in cold blood...maybe they attacked her. There was no way to be sure. Some girl died. More Detroit violence. Wait and now Jake was dead? Wasn't he a friend of Shawn's? She glanced over in his direction.

Wait, some guy got his collar detonated for messing with Karen? That didn't sound fair...why kill someone for attacking a murderer? At least give him a chance, whoever he was. It's not like Karen was defenseless or anything like that. And Karen was definitely getting to leave then. Karen. Wait, Florida? Hmm, she didn't think they normally told people about location. Of course she didn't follow everything. Just escape attempts, but maybe it could help.

That guy started listing off danger zones, trying to get them down to a tiny area. Uh oh, the ski resort was in the danger zone. Great, now they had to leave. And they had just gotten inside!

She let out a sigh. "Okay I guess we should get going again." Right, five open areas, that beach where Sidney and David got shot, that hotel, the docks from earlier, a lake, and the cruise ship.

She started walking down the mountain.

(Alexis Allwell continued in Of Moons, Birds & Monsters)

[Lord_Shadow]

(Apologies for breaking post order, but it's time to say goodnight to a psycho)

There were a bunch of people inside, and he was pretty sure all of them were from Silver Dragon. Truthfully, Timothy didn't really care if they were his classmates or not, he'd gut them all just the same.

The thought of tearing the poor unsuspecting chumps up was almost too much to hold in. All he'd have to do was creep up slowly and catch them all by surprise.

But the announcements caught him by surprise. They just blared out from nowhere, causing him to lose his focus and stumble backward. He hoped that no one heard that and were too busy listening to the announcements. Those didn't matter to him anymore, all he wanted was to kill everyone here and get what he came for, to hell with how the game was going.

He watched as one of the girls started heading out into the cold again. "That won't do at all." Forgetting for a moment that he was armed only with a knife he rushed out from the darkness. He held the knife with intent to kill, looking for the first to slice open.

That's when he noticed that one of the girls there was Renée. What shred of critical thinking or logic now left him. He'd made his choice. Hero vs Villain time was here at last. "Ain't that kind of you, come to die with your boyfriend?"

He grinned wide, completely focused on the girl and no one else. "Wonder how your blood is going look on my suit mixed with his."

[MurderWeasel]

Renée listened to the announcement with a mixture of excitement and fear, relief and guilt. They had lost twenty-one people in a day. Eric was dead. Zach was dead. Sterling had killed. Karen was de—no, just gone, reaping the rewards of mass murder. Not much to feel good about, except that maybe there weren't many crazies left. Fifteen alive, and with Mason, Lexi, Shawn and Mae, that made them a third of the survivors. they just might have a chance.

Then came the real kicker. They were all in a danger zone. Everything else became secondary at that point. Security concerns didn't matter. It was time to clear out, quickly, because you could outrun a psychopath but no way could you outrun an explosion strapped to your neck. Lexi led the way. Renée moved to follow, until a flash of movement from the shadows to the side caught her eye. The voice that spoke chilled her. She could hear the self-satisfaction, the glee of contemplating the kill. She turned, her hand dropping to her pocket, fumbling for the razor, but she was nowhere near fast enough.

She stumbled backwards a step as Tim rushed her, knife at the ready, and prayed she could somehow manage to at least take him with her.

[Outfoxd]

The announcements were grim enough. 21 deaths. Sweet Jesus, what the hell was going on out there?

But then the kid with the suit and the knife showed up, and Mason had enough time to process that this was the one that Renee was looking for before he attacked her. Mason's eyes widened. In the moment the kid lunged, the murder clutched in Mason's fist came to bear.

Shortly after Mason had started travelling with Kevin so long ago, he had thumbed the safety on his weapon from "single shot" to "rock and roll", figuring he'd never fired a gun in his life and shooting three at a time would up his chances. You know, in case he actually had to shoot anybody. He'd forgotten about it since then.

So he was startled when he pulled the trigger and the weapon jumped three times, almost out of his hand. He was more surprised that all three rounds of the burst had found their way into Tim's body.

Mason stared, mouth hanging at his own handiwork.

[Lord_Shadow]

To say the impact of the bullets hurt would have been untrue. He barely noticed at the time they hit. To say that they weren't expected would have been an understatement. He hadn't even known he was going to get shot. To say that three shots to the chest was anything but deliciously just would have been cruel. Tim stood for but a moment, eyes wide and grin now a grimace, in complete disbelief.

He collapsed before he could get a word out. The knife slid harmlessly away as he fell to the ground and lost his grip on it. "No fair." He gurgled. It was difficult to speak. Suddenly he knew why Peter looked like he was in so much pain, because it hurt like a thousand drills just bored their way into his body.

He lay on the floor, made eye contact with Renée. He needed to, before he went. "Sorry." He squeaked, now accepting what he'd known all alone. He wasn't cool, he wasn't funny, he wasn't likeable, he wasn't efficient, he wasn't anything or anybody. He was a loser. A lonely, creepy, completely useless loser.

He looked at the guy holding his hat. He struggled to bring his left arm forward. His breath was fading, the life was leaving his blood. He knew he was going to die in the next few seconds. He held out his left hand. "I'd like... my hat back... please..."

Timothy Walker died before he received an answer.

W01 - TIMOTHY WALKER: ELIMINATED

---

The game was over. Somewhere along the way he had lost focus and just played by hand rather than watching the big picture. He went all in at a time he shouldn't have and now he was out. Out with the other losers. The men came and asked him to leave the table. He got up, adjusted his hat and shades, and left without a word. But he turned back, looked at one person at the table in particular. Looked at Renée. "Win it," was all he said.

They brought him out to the lobby, to meet the other players. A few had gone out with dignity, honor. A few had gone out in blazes of glory. A few went like him, miserable and humiliated. He knew where his place was. He walked past them all, to the elevator. Kathy, Peter, and Lynn watched him go by. He said a parting word to each.

To Lynn, it was, "Sorry for dragging you into this."

To Peter, "You deserved better."

To Kathy, "Forgive me."

He reached the elevator, stepped inside. The men in suits handed him a playing card. Ace, without a hint of irony in their handing it to him. He chuckled. "Ace huh? In what way?"

He pressed the only button inside, the one that took him to the basement floor, chuckling all the way down into the abyss.

[peregrineink*]

As usual, a lot of things happened very fast.

At first she just seemed to be flirting to lighten up the mood, have a little fun, she was glad to have Shawn join in and even better, everyone else was joking around too. Mae wasn't even sure she actually still had the bikini she wore back on that horrible beach that she felt like she spent a lifetime on, she wasn't sure if there was blood on it, or if it wasn't shoved next to a collar that she had decapitated a person for, but for a moment it felt really good to pretend, even if that time was over.

Then the announcements came.

And what announcements they were. Zach's name. Jake's name. It was certainly a line up.

"So many people."

And what's worse? The ski resort was no longer an option. She turned to Mason, a funny sort of forced smile on her face. "Rain check on the hot tub?"

Maybe he hadn't heard her, maybe it was the panic to get out of the danger zone...or maybe it was some kid that just showed up, was he holding a knife?! Mason had a gun, so so did Shawn and Mae. She threw a glance at Shawn and fumbled her her own weapons but it turned out to be too late. Three shots rang out, and three were enough. The body crumpled and Mason stood there, mouth agape.

Mae sprung into action.

"Mason, let's go. Process this later." She grabbed onto his sleeve and pulled as hard as she could. "You will die if you don't."

She looked at Shawn, her eyes wild with fear. Would he help? There wasn't much time.

[Cake]

Just as they were beginning to settle down in their snow lodge, the announcement, unexpectedly blared up through hidden speakers in the walls.

Twenty one people died in just one day. Good Lord. Unbelievable.

Shawn fell silent shaking his head in unquestionable disbielief. He wasn't paying as close attention to the announcements now, as he sat down in one of the chair, head down, just waiting for the guy's summary of how everyone died to be over.

He caught a few names of interest, however. Apparently Sterling, the Detroit boy with that small axe who let him go, killed somebody with that same axe not to long after he and Ben left the scene. Speaking of Ben, the name of his killer came up as well. Vincent Sullivan. He killed Ben with a sword and probably shot him too, from what he remembered after seeing Ben again at the hotel yesterday.

Vincent Sullivan. He'd remember that name.

As Shawn figured, it were those inhuman Detroit kids who made up the majority of the killers on the list. Turns out he was right not to trust them anymore.

There it was again. Vincent Sullivan. That guy was beginning to be a whole new Karen.

At one point, Shawn saw Alexis stare at him, as if trying to make out his expression. Shawn supposed it was because of hearing Jake's name on summary. He already witnessed the moment first hand, so it wasn't a shock to hear Jake's name, Zach's too. He even knew that Karen was gone as well, no surprise there.

What did surprise Shawn was hearing Madelyn's name not once, but twice. He wondered what might have happened there. But the fact that she was a close acquaintance of his and someone from Silver Dragon Academy, there was still a chance that Shawn could try to level with her about that.

Shawn jumped from his chair.

"Danger Zone?"

Just as they were getting comfortable too.

He saw Lexi open the front door and run out. That was his cue too, but first he needed to round everyone up and get his team's bags first. He made a run for the lodge's main room, but stopped in his tracks.

Three shots.

He turned around gun ready, pointed straight in front of him, ready for whatever was happening. What he saw made Shawn queasy once more.

Oh. Please. Not again...

Someone was on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. Three red holes in his torso, similar to the ones Peter had when Shawn found him.

It was Timothy Walker. How and when did he get here and what on earth happened? He was talking to Renée, whom he was laying right in front of, knife by his side and Shawn suddenly realized that Tim had planned to stab Renée. Then Tim looked up at Shawn.

"I'd like... my hat back... please..." His voice a gargled whisper.

Shawn stared at the fedora he had been wearing since he got here, the eyes of the boy staring blankly back at him. Shawn gazed back at the boy again and without a word, tossed the fedora onto him, the hat covering Tim's face.

Mae was suddenly talking trying to convince a very bewildered looking Mason to move out. She was right, they were losing time and Shawn was beginning to panic. Someone had their head blown up for not moving fast enough before.

"We need to get out of here! Mae, you guys follow Lexi out! I'll go get our stuff. Go! Move!"

[[GLD1: Mae St. Clair Continued To: Of Moons, Birds & Monsters.]]

Shawn ran into the room spotted Gold Team's weapons and packs then tossed their two bags over his shoulders, the extra two spares he held in his hands. He was running slowly now. The bags were very heavy together and were making him sway a bit.

A beeping sound started coming from his neck now, the collar, he assumed. Renee was still there. He couldn't leave without her... but he was scared.

"Renée, Come on!"

[[GLD4: Shawn Morrison Continued To: Of Moons, Birds & Monsters.]

[Outfoxd]

The gun was still smoking. His jaw was still open.

His collar was beeping. Mae was pulling him, and Mason resisted, for only a second. For only a second, he considered staying there. Paying for blood with blood.

It was him or Renee.

The thought, perched in the back of his head and gently nudging him, did more for his motivation than even the girl pulling on his arm couldn't match.

He turned on his heels, patted Renee on her shoulder to get her moving, and then he was heading back down the mountain.

((W05-Mason Ross continued in Of Moons, Birds & Monsters))

[MurderWeasel]

Tim never reached her. Three shots rang out, and he dropped to the ground in a pool of blood. Renée stumbled and nearly tipped over backwards, but managed to keep her balance. All thought of retrieving her weapon was lost as Tim lay there.

He looked up at her, met her eyes. He apologized.

No. No, that was wrong. Tim was crazy, a villain, a mad dog who had to be put down. He was a dangerous psychopath, someone who wanted nothing more than to kill. He was too far gone to reason with. That was, after all, why they'd gone hunting for him. Now, though, he was apologizing on his death bed, seeing the error of his ways. He was showing that, somewhere deep down, he was still human. Renée had seen this sort of thing on the show before, but she'd always written it off, always thought it was some last desperate sympathy ploy, some way to avoid leaving a tarnished legacy in the minds of friends and family, one last act of selfishness.

That didn't feel like what had just happened. Tim asked for his hat back. Shawn tossed it onto his face. Then he ran off and grabbed his bags. Mae split. Shawn and Mason followed shortly, telling Renée to hurry up. Her collar was beeping.

For a moment, she was alone.

"Sorry, Tim," she said.

Because, in the end, it sure wasn't his fault. Not if he had anything reasonable left in him. He'd only killed Peter. He hadn't cut a swath through the game. There was no way to know what had come over him then, but they had driven him off, had cast him out. They'd given up on him. Justice? No way. It was revenge. Justice wasn't a few dozen kids killing each other, and heroism wasn't shooting the ones who couldn't take the pressure. What was important was saving people, saving lives, and Renée had done precious little of that. Tim had probably spent the time since they had parted wandering, miserable and alone, hating her as she hated him. He'd still found it in himself to apologize. Renée felt pretty worthless about all that.

Mason had saved her life, though, had saved her at the probable cost of his own conscience. Her collar was beeping. She didn't want to die, and she sure couldn't stay here with Tim. She wished she could do something, bury him, make things better, even a little. She couldn't be angry at him anymore. No, her anger and disappointment was steadily mounting and brewing and focusing solidly on herself. She was the leader. She could have stopped this if she'd just kept him with her at the start. She could have avoided ever letting him have a shot at Peter and Kathy.

Time to muse later.

For now, she ran, slipping on the snow, flailing to keep her balance, rushing to catch up with the others.

((Renée Carlson continued in Of Moons, Birds & Monsters))