SOTF Mini

((Sarah Miller continued from The Lone Gunman))

So Cody had had just as much of a shitastic time as she did. Meeting up with Clair (dead) and Lance (also dead) only to be left alone. Which reminded her: Katarina Konipaski and Saachi Nidal - AVOID AT ALL COSTS THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Snake, no, Aria, was dead. Sarah would have felt worse about it had the guy not shot at her. At present, she almost wanted to thank Natali. Almost.

Why in the hell didn't Cody have any weed on him? She really needed to loosen up. Okay, so the last guy to smoke weed in this situation got shot by that version's Barbie doll, but still.

"Cody, is there anything you've been thinking about doing while we're here? I mean I wanna live too, but what's your contingency plan?"

((Bunny Barlowe continued from The Snakes of Ireland))

Now, see this? This right here? You see this situation right here that Bunny had found herself slap bang in the middle of? This was why she wished she'd been able to memorise the island map by now.

It had become abundantly clear after leaving the mess hall that, yet again, she would need to urgently attend to her most recent injuries. A shot and a smack to the legs wasn't as bad an injury to, oh, y'know, getting shot in the stomach; she'd cleaned the wound up pretty nicely and there was only a pinprick of blood staining the bandages wrapped around her ankle now. Still though, she would have kicked herself when she got to the pearly gates, if an untreated leg wound had been the thing to do her in. So Bunny had remembered safety first and fixed up her leg around the far side of the mess hall.

With that done, the only real worry she was facing was running out of bandages.

Well, that and the fact that she'd traipsed the exact wrong way. Bunny stood with her hands on her hips, staring at the great massive giant big huge large humongous hole carved out of the earth in front of her. This wasn't a building. This was a quarry. This was the place where the stuff to make buildings was made. But not a freaking building itself!

Bunny huffed. She must have disorientated herself when she tried to fix her leg up or something. It didn't really matter. What was done was done, and now here she was. At the quarry. Great. And she was still exhausted! If she didn't get some rest soon, there was a chance she could trip over and hit her head on a rock and die! Or something like that! And it would suck to go out like that!

She pouted, then blew a jet of air out of the corner of her mouth, sending a strand of hair tumbling in the breeze, before continuing forwards. Maybe there would be a hut or a tool shed or something around here.

((Cody Jenkins continued from The Lone Gunman))

Damn, compared to Sarah, he'd been pretty lucky so far. If he had come upon so many dead classmates in as short a time as she did, he'd be itching for a smoke too. Cody groaned as he put a hand in his pocket, feeling around for it for what felt like the hundredth time, as if hundred and first time would reveal a hidden stash that he had somehow forgot that he had on him. A sigh escaped his lips as took a seat on a nearby rock, looking up at Sarah.

“A contingency plan for what? Do you mean for if I die? What am I supposed to do, dig my own grave?”

He chuckled bitterly.

“No thanks, I don’t have time for that.”

Sarah looked at Cody. Dig a grave? Did he think they had been kidnapped by a cartel? Sarah shook her head.

"No, no, not like that. I mean like a bucket list. Since our chances of surviving the week seem to align more with henchmen, zombie apocalypse survivors, and centenarians, I was figuring that you'd have something to want do before you died. Say some words, fuck a chick, fuck a dude, whatever." Likely not the last one, but if Cody did want to, Sarah wasn't going to judge. She looked around and saw a dot. A moving dot. Someone else was here.

"Codes. We got someone. Doesn't seem to be a problem yet." Sarah had seen the shotgun. It was a fuck of a lot more useful than a book if things went south.

Can't even read it without getting creeped out. Fuck you, Lovecraft.

Hey, so, you know what? You wanna know a super fun fact? A super cool fact that Bunny thought was totally easy to understand and appreciate and absolutely 100% possible? The fact that, all Bunny wanted, was some freaking rest. That was it! No people, no more altercations and people getting cheesed off at her for whatever reason they wanted to conjure up this time! Just… Just a little nap! That was all she wanted!

So of course, of course, she had the motherhecking, gosh darn, crappy crappy poopy crappy bad luck to run into people yet again! And here of all places! In a freaking quarry, for Pete’s sake! This was just a big hole in the ground! The only reason she could think of that you’d want to come here is if you were horribly lost. Or if you were, like, a stonemason! Who was also horribly lost.

But nope! Instead, there were two people in front of her, happy as Larry, just chatting away like they were hanging out at school or something. Bunny rolled her eyes to the heavens, and let out a sigh of resignation, before continuing on towards them. Hey, who knows? Maybe they could point her in the way of shelter? Maybe they’d be willing to spare some food or some more bandages with her?

Or maybe they wouldn’t, and she’d have to force them to be willing.

Bunny got even closer and that plan went right out the window the instant she saw the huge heck-off shotgun the guy was cradling. No chance for rest. Not even an opportunity to mess with these two a little bit. This sucked.

“Hey guys!” She said, with a chirpy wave, managing to punch a smile and a chipper tone of voice through her exhaustion and general hecked-off nature. “How’s things? What’re you doing here? Rockin’ out?”

Bunny gave her delightful little giggle again.

It was kind of a fun idea, but it looked like the bucket list would have to wait. Cody’s was way too long to go over in such a short time, anyway. Spending a lot of time on the internet gives you plenty of ideas in that regard. Maybe too many ideas, to be perfectly honest, but in any case, now really wasn’t the place to be going over his lifelong dream of sneaking into Area 51. Putting a hand to his eyes, he squinted as he watched the newcomer enter into view, with a fucking huge rifle strapped to her back.

It took a moment for Cody to recognize her. They didn’t exactly travel in the same social circles, but Bunny wasn’t exactly easy to forget. She was popular, pretty, energetic, and …

...a murderer. Cody swallowed hard, his mouth feeling as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in weeks. Definitely not a flattering combination, in any circumstances. He could already feel the luck he had accumulated over the past few days spiralling down the drain. The two of them had to take control of the situation before that girl added their names to her body count. She was way too happy for him to consider the possibility that she was not off her rocker.

Cody lifted the Jackhammer, his heart pounding in his chest as he pointed it at the girl standing before him. He undid the safety on the shotgun before speaking, framing his statements in the harsh, blunt tone of voice that he reserved for the circumstances when someone had really pissed him off.

“Alright, put the gun and the bag on the ground and step away, hands where I can see them. I don’t trust murderers.”

The spot came closer, and Sarah recognized Bunny Barlowe. A popular(?) girl who had guns. Not a gun, guns, plural. Didn't she kill someone earlier? And where was that blood coming from? Either she had become Wolverine with hemophilia, or she had been in a few more firefights than could be considered comfortable at the moment to be chipper about. Not even "I'm clearly attempting to put on a brave face to combat the pants-shitting fear" kind of chipper, but the "Blood? I don't see any blood" kind. Cody was already up, with his shotgun at the ready. Sarah just stepped to the side.

"Bitch, you're just creeping me out. Get out of here."

“Oh, come ON!”

Bunny took several steps back the instant Cody brought the shotgun up. She kept one hand tightly wrapped around the grip of her gun, pointing it straight down at the ground, raising her other hand into the air, looking from Cody to Sarah with a straight up pout on her face. She wasn’t about to argue with a shotgun; it was a heck of a lot better at winning debates than most people were, after all. But she also didn’t think it was exactly fair for Cody to keep his gun whilst she had to put hers down, y’know?

She’d learned from Bridgey. If someone told you to do something and you did it without questioning, then they all of a sudden had a tight grip on you. It gave them a sense of power. Made them feel like they should, oh, I dunno, pull the trigger whilst she was putting her stuff down on the ground.

Yeah. She knew the score.

“Like, seriously? I’ve been attacked a whole bunch and you’re pulling another gun on me! That’s super rude, you know!”

Somehow she’d missed the other score completely, namely that being chipper and bubbly and peppy, and being covered in other peoples gore, really didn’t mix well together.

“I’m not a murderer. I got attacked, I fought back, it’s not a difficult, like, algebra equation! I’m not here to hurt you, I just want some rest and maybe some medical supplies. Then I’ll be all outta your hair like I was never even here!”

She gave her biggest, perkiest smile, and she felt dried blood crack on her cheek.

“Pretty please?”

No fucking way.

This was so messed up. It was one thing watching footage of crazy killers on TV or on the internet, and something completely different to have one standing right in front of you. The whole situation felt unreal, as if this was happening to a completely different group of people, and he was just watching it from the outside.

Cody shook his head. If only that were the case.

Obviously, there wasn’t much information available concerning what to do when confronted by a murdering psychopath, but there was one thing that Cody remembered from the various survival guides that he had gotten his hands on over the years. When confronted by an bear on the trail, the first impulse of pretty much anyone would be to run away, but that would be a mistake. Predators like that instinctively see a running animal as a signal to attack. The correct course of action would be to make yourself as imposing as possible, scaring it into not messing with you.

Now, Bunny wasn’t an angry bear, obviously, but Cody could pretty much guarantee that she was closer to it than anything else he’d seen in his life. Straightening his back, he glared at the girl in front of him as he pointed his shotgun towards the sky.

“No. Either drop your weapons or get the hell out of here.”

He let the words hang in the air for a second before firing a warning shot.

She didn't get it. Bunny just did not realize just what was going on. Was she high? Did Bunny sneak drugs in and take them all? Yeah, that had to be it. Because right now, Bunny Barlowe was standing there as if nothing was wrong, aside from little Sally Shankerman stealing her juice box, even after Cody had fired a fucking gun into the air.

Yes. Surely they would lend medical supplies to that.

"Look. We're fine if you want to relax. We just want to relax all the way over there." Sarah waved over to the rest of the quarry.

There wasn’t really any dignified way to yelp in shock, especially not when a shotgun going off mere feet away from you was the cause behind it. Bunny liked to think that hers still held that essence of cuteness that she aspired to radiate in all of her actions, but… no, no it really didn’t. She had yelped in shock, her voice had cracked, and she had stumbled back even further from Cody and Sarah. Her heart felt like it had finally come to rest somewhere around her left knee after ricocheting around her insides, and now that the ringing in her ears had stopped, she realised just how heavily she was breathing.

Oh well. Cody hadn’t actually shot her, though! And what was most important was that she still had her good looks, and her… her…

…

Ugh. Forget it. Fuck it. She did not have the goddamn patience and energy to keep this perky, bubbly façade up any longer. She was tired. Tired of people acting like she was the worst person they’d ever heard of, tired of people telling her to piss off without even a moment’s hesitation or a second thought, just… just tired in general. Five minutes without somebody barging in like a big dumb asshole was apparently too much for this island, so desperate to turn her away and call her a murderer because it was the only thing that gave them sexual satisfaction or something.

“Fine, I get it, I get it!” Bunny said, shaking her head, backing off even further. “Geez Louise, calm your tits, I’m going!”

The temptation to flip the bird at them both was almost overwhelming, but given how Cody had reacted to her just, y’know, standing there, he might well decide that was a good enough excuse to pull the trigger again. Instead, she just turned around and strode off.

Bunny could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she walked away. It wasn’t until she was well out of earshot range, however, that she realised she was shaking. This was bullshit. This whole goddamn thing was bullshit. She was so sick and tired of people instantly suspecting her, no matter what. Stay cheerful and positive? Get a gun pulled on you. State your intentions plain and true? Get some spear thing pointed at you. She couldn’t win.

She turned to look back at the two, way off in the distance now. She felt her eyebrows furrow, and before she knew it, her SMG was lying on the ground, and the Dragunov was now in her arms.

They wanted to hate her? She was gonna give them a goddamn reason to hate her.

She knew how heavy the rifle was from carrying it on her back for a couple of days, but it still took her by surprise as she took hold of it in both hands, bringing it up to eye level, looking through the scope, arms already straining under the weight. The corner of her lip curled upwards, as her finger did the same around the trigger. The gun swung lazily between Cody and Sarah as she felt the rush of blood starting up again. This whole quarry trip had turned out to be fruitful in the end.

After all, Sarah and Cody had given her a chance to try out her new toy.

Bunny pulled the trigger, and let fate decide who she’d hit.

Thank fuck she was gone. At least they weren't going to have to with that batch of crazy with a gun. Just a batch of slightly annoyed with a gun. Either way, Bunny was gone and now they could actually relax.

"So, I think we should probably leave." Sarah looked at the retreating form. "At least then we can relax without anyone going all Babadook on us." She sighed as she picked up her bag. "Next time, at least give me some sort of warning before you shoot. You nearly blew "

BANG

Sarah stopped. The weight of her bag left her. Weird. She looked down to feel the wetness in her

Oh crap.

Sarah dropped without a word.

FEMALE STUDENT #32 - SARAH MILLER: ELIMINATED
31 STUDENTS REMAIN

Cody staggered back as the back of his gun slammed down into his chest. He definitely should have taken account of the recoil there instead of just firing into the air like an idiot, but there was no time for regrets. He had more important things to do at the moment, like trying not to die at the hands of the rifle-wielding psycho bitch who had just begun exchanging pellets of white hot lead at him and Sarah.

The next few moments were a blur. Adrenaline pumping through him, he brought his gun down in front of him, aiming it in Bunny's general direction. He let out an inarticulate yell before pumping a volley of semi-automatic shotgun blasts at her. An outside observer would have probably deemed this overkill, but when one's life is on the line, no amount of firepower is too much. That was Cody's policy, and for now, it wasn't up for debate. Another philosophical quandary that would be much better pondered over a lit joint rather than a firing gun.

He was so preoccupied by this course of action that he barely noticed Sarah dropping out of his peripheral vision. She was a smart girl, anyway, and could handle herself. He'd have to check up on her after he had finished saving both of their lives.

And, whoops, there Sarah dropped, and whoops, there went that rush of blood again, flowing through her, filling every little corner and crack and nook and cranny of her body as she heard her heartbeat pounding in her ears. There was a delightful grin on her face, and it was so very tempting to let out a whoop of joy, as she kept her eye pressed against the scope and swung her rifle round to point at Cody.

A few seconds passed, as Bunny lined the crosshairs up so they were criss-crossed over the middle of Cody’s forehead.

Then, as the blood slowly drained away and slinked off to where it was supposed to go, she lowered the scope from her eye, blinking as she adjusted to sight without Super-Enhanced-Zoom-Power-View again. She’d had her fun, this one kill in cold blood, this single unprovoked kill. Well. Mostly unprovoked. They’d both been super rude to her, after all! And now look where it had gotten them! But still, she didn’t need to go crazy. One was enough. More than enough, really.

It had felt good, though.

Bunny hummed merrily to herself as she lowered the rifle, allowing herself to yawn mid-tune, before she slipped the gun’s strap over her shoulder and hoisted it onto her back. Now that the adrenaline had all worn off, she was back to feeling exhausted again. Maybe now she would finally be able to find a place to rest! Nothing like venting your frustrations before taking a nice, peaceful nap. Those two had managed to step right on a nerve, and it wasn’t as if she’d cared about them at all back at school anyway. Sarah was almost out of her mind already as she turned to leave.

You heck off Bunny, you get the gunny.

She giggled to herself as she strolled off.

((Bunny Barlowe continued in The Bad Bitches Club))

Awesome, looked like he had scared her away.

Cody lowered his gun, panting as he watched Bunny's form shrink into the distance. As the pounding of his heart slowly returned to normal, he let out a sigh.

"Thank God that's over..."

Cody's newfound calm quickly evaporated at the strange lack of response from Sarah. He rapidly scanned the area, his eyes settling upon the prostrate form of a girl nearby, lying in a pool of blood.

His chest tightened. It wasn't that he couldn't believe it was happening. Oh, he was completely certain about what he was seeing. But still, there was a huge difference between watching LiveLeak footage of the previous "Survival of the Fittest", and having one of your friends get gunned down right beside you.

He stood there for a moment, staring at Sarah's contorted corpse. He wished he could have done something, anything, to make sure things didn't turn out like this. If only...

Cody shook his head. Feelings... there'd be time to cry over lost friends and loved ones after he got off this island. He was going to live, god damn it! If, no, when he got out of his place, he'd definitely make things up to her somehow. Now, however, he couldn't afford to let himself be slowed down.

Taking a deep breath, he shambled over to Sarah's bag and began rummaging through it, transferring all items of use into his own.

((Cody Jenkins continued in Die Hand Die Verletzt))