SOTF Mini

((Brigid Paxton continued from Little Fires Everywhere))

Brigid pushed open the door of the Mess Hall. She was pleased it was no longer a Danger Zone and that it looked like she and Chris were the first to arrive since it reopened. She knew there was a risk in coming to a building, but after four days spent in the wilderness, it felt nice to break things up by going inside. Maybe there was some running water to clean up a bit. At the very least, they could hunker down a bit for the day.

The rest of Day 3 had been uneventful. Brigid loaded the gun she took off Jasmine with spare ammo from the bag. She and Chris had spent their time wandering the woods, but didn't find anyone else. Maybe it was because they had a gun and taken out a dangerous person, but Brigid felt slightly better about the situation. Maybe she and Chris could last the whole nine yards if they played smart and knew who to engage.

The announcements that morning were a bit hard to take. More people were dead, more people were killing, and now the island knew Brigid was a killer. They didn't frame her in such a bad light, declaring it "karmic justice," so maybe people wouldn't come to kill her like some of the other early killers.

Brigid looked around the Mess Hall. She had the gun in her coat pocket and the bec de corbin in her hand, standing upright.

"Okay," she said to Chris, "I think we better make sure we're secure."

((Christopher Schwartz continued from Little Fires Everywhere.))

Finally, the great indoors.

Well, as much as it could be called that, really. This place was missing the big things that Chris would need for a building to be considered "comfy".

Well... a good Internet connection, for one. A nice, warm bed, for another.

Yeah, this was a far stretch from that.

Anyway, they had somehow survived another day on the island. Maybe they could actually make it to the end, if things kept going like this. Then... well, Chris hadn't really thought about that. Right now he just had to worry about getting to that point.

Brigid said that they should make sure the place was secure. Chris nodded. He was about to follow up with words, when suddenly something else made itself known. Something that he couldn't ignore.

"Um, actually, before that," he said, "I need to... ah... answer the call of nature."

Brigid understood what he meant when he said he needed to answer nature's call. She turned slightly away from Chris.

"Yeah, go ahead," she said. "Just be careful."

She started to look around the mess hall. Maybe they could block the doors with some of the tables and chairs. At the very least, there had to be some part of the place where they could rest easy for a bit.

((Bunny Barlowe continued from Or Te!))

Her good mood hadn’t lasted long.

Bunny was fairly convinced now that her wounds weren’t gonna be the death of her. Which was nice, and all! She’d had to sleep outside once again, but she’d found a line of trees that protected her from the wind, and she’d had plenty of time to re-bandage her wounds, and wipe away her tears from the sting of the rubbing alcohol. She was still coated in blood, her hair was still a horrible mess in desperate need of a shower, but she was still alive!

She also still hurt all over like a motherhecker.

Walking was a desperately slow process. She winced at every other step, the Dragunov beating a steady drumline against her back, her bag doing the same to her side, and at every hidden tree root and unmarked pothole, she had to stop for several minutes, biting her tongue, trying not to cry and cry out as the pain shook through her.

There was no injury without insult, of course, and Danya telling the world that she had been hit with a fish definitely fit that criteria. People were going to be suspicious of her now, thanks to her name being painted with the ‘killer’ tag. She would much prefer to be known for that, rather than known as the butt of a joke.

By the time Bunny reached the Mess Hall, she felt like she was about to pass out. Every inch of skin felt like it was dripping with sweat. Her head pounded and her legs ached. The bruises and bullet holes studding her body were feeling fresh and new, like she’d been targeted by snipers on the walk towards the building.

She glanced up and groaned. The entrance couldn’t have been more than a few metres away, but she was certain she wasn’t gonna make it right now.

Bunny put her hand against the wall of the mess hall and her other hand on her knees, as she took deep, slow breaths, trying desperately not to throw up all over her feet.

"Same to you," Chris said, before he wandered around, looking for a bathroom.

Well, it sure as hell wasn't in this large room. Maybe there was one somewhere else in the building.

He left the Brigid behind. He was only going to be gone for a few minutes. He was confident that she'd be able to keep herself safe.

Brigid watched as Chris walked out of the dining room and towards the bathrooms. She looked around the room. There were a lot of benches in the mess hall, so maybe they could be used to prop against the door or something.

She walked over to the nearest bench and tried to lift it with her free hand. To her dismay, it wouldn't budge. She could look down and see the legs of the bench were actually bolted into the floor. She sighed and gripped the bec de corbin.

"Maybe I can get it out with this?" she muttered to herself.

Bunny managed to avoid throwing up on her shoes. The grass beside her wasn’t so lucky.

“Gugh…”

She stood up straight and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, flapping it in the brisk air to dry the moisture clinging to it. She actually felt better, now, like all the gross stuff inside of her had been expelled with the… y’know. Physically gross stuff. She still felt exhausted, and the pounding of her injuries like a hammer to an anvil was still going strong, but the dizziness was gone at least! Sometimes it was the little things that made everything worthwhile.

Letting out a little, cheerful sigh, Bunny jostled her bag slightly, and began the long trek to the entrance of the mess hall. Her head drooped as she walked. Gosh, she was tired. She just wanted to rest somewhere in (relative) comfort and solitude for a bit, somewhere where there weren’t sticks poking into her back, or the horrifying intrusive thought of ants crawling up her shirt.

Bunny stepped into the mess hall, looked up, and let out an involuntary gasp of surprise as she saw someone else in front of her. Of course there was someone else here. This place was sheltered, secure, sturdy; the perfect place to bunker down for a little bit! She let out a sigh, as her heartbeat returned to its normal pace. The girl, Brigid, if Bunny remembered right, was holding some sort of speary, pickaxey, spikey thing; intimidating, but not so scary when you compared it to the heat Bunny was packing.

“Oh, uh… hey,” Bunny said, failing to inject her usual enthusiasm into her voice.

Man, what were the odds that Brigid wouldn’t recognise her? Almost certainly too small to care about.

Brigid didn't have much more time to contemplate the benches, because the door had been breached. She turned, keeping a tight grip on the bec de corbin, and she saw a girl standing there. A girl covered in blood. A girl whose name had even been on the most recent announcements.

Bunny Barlowe. Just seeing another noted killer made her feel queasy. She could think back to Jasmine on the beach. The sight of the girl crushing Paris' ribcage. The same girl's head caving in from the bec de corbin.

And here Bunny was just waltzing in so casually. Brigid stared down Bunny.

"Hello, Bunny."

That was enough for the other girl.

Yep. There it was. There was the inevitable voice of distrust coupled with the stare that she was all too familiar with at this point, the stare that Brigid and Scarlett and Everett and Simon had all shared. This was something Bunny knew she’d have to tread carefully around from here-on out. She was still a fantastic actor, especially when her audience was just a little bit dim like poor old Tania, but there were gonna be people who would hear every single name on the announcement and immediately consider them a hardened, remorseless killer.

Being covered in blood, only some of which was her own, from head to toe probably did her no favours either.

Bunny sighed. Normally, she would have put on a perky little smile and a wave, ask Brigid why she was being so stern and serious, make some silly little joke about how if they were all trapped on murder island, at least they could look pretty and cheerful whilst doing so. Oooh, or maybe instantly turn on the waterworks instead, put on the ‘scared little girl’ act, beg for forgiveness and safety because she’d just had no choice, you see, she was so so so sorry.

She did none of that. She took a step forwards instead. Brigid’s appearance had taken her by surprise, before she’d had time to put any of her masks on. They’d both made terse, quick ‘greetings’. The air was beginning to crackle.

And, God, she was just so exhausted. She couldn’t find the energy to make crocodile tears or dress herself up in confidence. Her brain still felt like it was a few hours behind the rest of her.

So Bunny just spoke.

“I’m not here for trouble, all right? I just want to rest. Look at me, I’ve been f… I’ve been through a freakin’ lot. Tessa died inches away from me. People keep on threatening me and I just wanna lie down for a little bit. You’d let me get a tiny little bit of beauty sleep, right?”

She just couldn’t resist that little coy remark. She started to trudge closer to Brigid.

Bunny didn't care. She must not have cared what Brigid's reaction to her was. The girl must have been trying to play off her crimes. Someone who commits murder and then walks around covered in what is presumably her victim's blood shouldn't get to joke around a bit. Even Brigid, who still had some of Jasmine's blood on her coat, didn't even try to act like it was nothing.

Brigid stood her ground and pointed the bec de corbin's sharp tip towards Bunny.

"You can sleep somewhere else," Brigid said.

"I know who you are and what you did. I'm not willing to break bread with someone like you, so please turn around and walk away."

Brigid stared the girl down.

"I hope I don't have to tell you again."

Brigid hoped the girl would go away. Chris was still in the bathroom, and if Bunny was dangerous, she needed to leave before he came back.

Bunny felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as her eyes briefly flickered down to glance at the sharp tip of Brigid’s spear-thingy, sunlight glinting off of it, before they snapped back up to focus on the other girl.

“Seriously? I told you, I’m not…”

She sighed, cut herself off, and shook her head. What was it she’d described Brigid as being earlier? All serious and stoic? Yeah, that was coming into play right about now. There was a 100% chance that she would push that spear into Bunny’s stomach if she took another step closer.

“Fine. Fine, whatever, I’m going.”

She made a noise of disgust, then turned around and made to walk back the way she’d come. Total bullcrap, that’s what this was. Brigid was just being a super paranoid and distrusting binch, and, well, yeah, okay, she was justified in being so, but she’d had no idea of what had gone down with Everett! She hadn’t been there! They’d both been on the announcement, too, and…

Hmm…

Bunny paused, glanced over her shoulder, and smiled, wanting to get in one parting shot of some kind.

“We both heard the announcements, y’know. Are you scared, Bridgey? And what are you scared of? Me? Or that those violent tendencies will spring up again if you hang around people too long?”

Bunny gave a pitch perfect impression of her trademark giggle, then carried on walking to the exit.

“I’ll be hearing your name soon enough, Bridgey!”

Brigid raised and eyebrow at Bunny's questioning. Yes, Brigid was on the announcement, but she knew for a fact she was there for a good reason. Bunny didn't look to have a good one. Not with the amount of blood on her.

After a poorly chosen mocking name, Bunny was prepared to turn away and walk out. Brigid was glad Bunny would be easy to drive away. The girl didn't even both to explain why she killed the guy or try to plea with Brigid. She just decided to be pedantic and walk out. Bunny probably was guilty after all.

As Brigid saw the girl walk away, a thought came to her. She and Chris let Jasmine go and that resulted in the death of two boys. Bunny killed someone, and she was likely to kill again. Brigid had decided to kill Jasmine because she knew Jasmine would keep killing, and it would be better for everyone. Bunny was a blood-drenched murderer with no desire to play nice or even try to be polite. What would happen if she let Bunny walk out?

Brigid reached into her coat pocket. She could feel Jasmine's gun. Maybe Brigid was supposed to take out people if the opportunity arose. She wasn't playing the game, she was helping the good people. She turned the safety off in her pocket. This was what she had to do.

Brigid pulled the gun out, aimed it towards Bunny, and pulled the trigger.

Bunny sighed as she got closer to the exit, and more and more sunlight filled her vision. Right, well, that had been a total bust, all because some pathetic little girl had wanted to play queen of the castle. Whatever. Forget about it. She needed to focus on what was now the most important thing for her to do; find somewhere else to rest. She wished she’d memorised what the map looked like. She still had it on her, but it was such a pain to keep on digging it out of her bag every time she wanted to check where she needed to go. Plus, she didn’t wanna linger around here for any longer than necessary; if Bridgey saw her try and open her bag, knowing the girl’s limited mental capacity, she’d probably assume Bunny was going to pull out another weapon or something. Maybe she could just go and find a tall hill and look around for any buildi-

Bunny’s thoughts were discarded and scattered to the winds, as the familiar, melodic crack of gunfire rippled through the mess hall. She let out a yelp of shock at the sound, and then one of blinding pain as she felt the bullet skim against her ankle. Nothing serious, nothing more than a graze, but a graze at several hundred miles per hour still hurt like a

“Motherfucker!” Bunny yelled and spun round, raising her SMG as she did so, hearing blood splatter against the floor. She pulled the trigger and stumbled backwards, the recoil almost toppling over, the fog of pain clouding her aiming. Bunny scampered out of the door and pressed herself against the wall, panting, the pang of her bleeding leg bringing tears to her eyes.

“You lying shit!” she cried again, sending off another salvo of bullets through the open entrance. “You just wanted to add another corpse to your collection, didn’t you?”

Despite the pain, Bunny still felt poised, tensed up like a sprinter at the starting blocks. Oh, she was ready. She was more than fucking ready for whatever Brigid had to throw at her. The maschinenpistole felt warm in her hands as she readied herself to raise it.

Crud. Brigid's aim was a lot lower than she thought. She managed to graze Bunny's ankle, but all that did was make the other girl scream and return fire. A lot more fire.

Brigid quickly moved to the side, dragging the bec de corbin with her. She managed to avoid a few of the shots, although she was surprised by the amount of wood chips scattering in the air as bullets hit tables and benches all around her.

Brigid threw herself to the ground, dropping the bec de corbin. Bunny was outside, so Brigid needed cover. She quickly crawled under one of the tables and kept the gun in her hand.

Bunny was shouting about Brigid wanting to add another corpse to her pile.

"It's better than letting murderers like you run around!" Brigid shouted.

Brigid could have sworn Bunny was about to move in to shoot again, so she fired another low shot towards the door.

Bunny poked her head around the edge of the doorframe, ready to fire back another insult, something about how, y’know, Brigid was just as much a ‘murderer’ as she was, because apparently Bunny was the only person around here who could count past one. The only thing that ended up coming out of her mouth was another yelp in terror, as another bullet whizzed past her, millimetres away from smashing into her leg, and she ducked back to press herself against the wall again.

This was only going to end one way, wasn’t it? With one, or both of them, dead. And only one of those options was even halfway tempting to Bunny. For heck’s sake. The one time she legitimately wasn’t looking for trouble and trouble still came chasing after her. She could barely even feel the adrenaline coursing through her as her knuckles whitened around the SMG, the exhaustion and pain desperately trying to take over.

Bunny grit her teeth and, without looking, fired a wild spray of bullets into the building. She was here now, and she wasn’t gonna get out of this without more blood being spilled. It sure as hell wasn’t gonna be hers, and if Brigid oh-so-tragically died in her self-righteous ego trip?

One more person down. One person closer to the win.

She couldn’t stay where she was, though. Every time she needed to fire at Brigid, she would have to expose herself, and there were plenty of tables to use as cover. She had to draw her away from the main building. Which, if she was hellbent on getting ‘justice’…

Bunny turned and attempted to run and immediately realised she might have made a mistake as her bleeding leg seized up and she stumbled. Each step hurt like hell, and she couldn’t muster more than a hobbling jog, as she looked back at the mess hall and fired again, true fear in her eyes.