Predator and Prey At Night

[AnimeNerd]

He had nightmares.

[[RJ Blackburn continued from The Elm Street Sleeping Guide]]

Nightmares of a boy with a beauty mark under one eye spitting blood onto his face as he tried to strangle him to death. Nightmares of a girl with pink-tipped hair bashing his skull in with an oar. Nightmares of a boy with golden hair beating him with a board until he choked to death on the blood in his lungs. Nightmares of a pineapple girl berating him before shooting him with his own gun.

At best, he might've gotten about two hours of sleep before waking up and feeling a need to get out of there.

Maybe it was silly to then find another sailboat to rest at. The only notable difference from the previous one was the distance from the cruise ship changing. Maybe it could've been useful, if the danger zone limits were removed, and he could go and find a proper place to have a meltdown before passing out in a room no one was likely to search.

Until then, though, he was on a sailboat, just hoping that he'd get through this night without running into any more issues, and praying that the previous hope would jinx himself.

[Primrosette]

You know the truth, don't you?

"...."

Come on, girl. Stop lying to yourself.

"I know that I should."

Then why won't you? You know that they were no good for you.

"The Respects are my friends."

Friends that are better off without you in the way. You couldn't even take Ivan out of the picture for all of them.

"I know. Don't berate me for my actions. I'm not one of them anymore."

Correct! Now what are you truthfully, Bacchia?

"I'm one of Emmy's Selkies and I have to start acting like one right now. I have to either get a team win or just try to get the ten kills on my own. I have to start over."

((ES05: Dieffenbachia 'Bacchia' Rubus is restarting from With Malice))

Okay. Talking to herself for who knows how long was definitely not making Bacchia seem like she was losing her mind. Who was she really fooling? Of course, she was. She had been lucky enough to survive that fall from the ferry and she had been lucky enough to not knock herself out in that water. She had managed to swim her way over to a jetty with a lot of a painful struggle and she had handle onto the sword for dear life. She had been relieved that she hadn't dropped it when she landed roughly in the salty drink and she had made sure to rest easy for about thirty minutes or so.

She also made sure to change her wet clothing that she let dry for a while and she had dried herself with the towel that they had thankfully given her. She had replaced her clothes with the team's tank top, the track pants (as much as she did loathe them; they were easier for her to move in) and her black high heeled boots. She was not wearing any makeup, but that was fine for the time being. She could always redo her makeup (that she sneaked in on her person) in the morning and she honestly just wanted to find somewhere to rest. Her body was feeling the bruising that Ivan and Jasper had left on her and she honestly hoped that she was not about to die from internal bleeding or something.

Her hair was tied up in a side ponytail with her bandanna and it had a few slight curls from where it had dried on it own from the sea water. That was a small cut on her lower lip where she had bitten it in the short fight with Ivan and the slightly, longer cut across her collarbone still felt like it was stinging from who knows how long ago. She was using her flashlight to look around and all that she could see was a lot of boats.

Now she just had to choose one to rest on.

The silence was deafening and all that she could hear was her shallow breathing and low footsteps.

[AnimeNerd]

It was the bow of the boat, RJ believed, that he sat at. The front part that had a small railing to keep people from face-planting into the water and suffering the aquatic version of getting run over. His feet dangled off the edge as he stared forward, thoughts drifting to the last twenty-four hours.

Shooting out a window to possibly save someone's life.

Finding both Dale and Gus so quickly and easily on the cruise ship.

Gus getting shot in the face right in front of them.

RJ shooting Leo in a panic and watching him die.

Running into Anthony and thinking he had an ally before he nearly kill him.

Pippi trying to throw his gun in the ocean and telling him to fuck off after trying to keep them both alive.

Nightmares about people he thought were friends killing him.

Sounds of a girl's voice, with no replies being made before she went silent

...wait, what?

RJ quickly got to his feet, one hand fumbling for the flashlight in his bag-don't fucking drop it, it's your only light source don't screw yourself like that-while holding the De Lisle with the other hand. It didn't take too much effort to find the girl, what with her wearing so much white, but it still didn't say much about who she was. The flashlight wasn't really necessary, but he'd already gotten it out at this point, so he simply stuffed it into the pocket of his sweatshirt. Better to keep two hands on the riffle.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

"Who's there?"

The riffle wasn't pointed at her yet, but he was ready if he needed to be.

[Primrosette]

Someone had noticed her. She should have known that she wasn't going to be alone out here and she cursed herself for being so careless.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

She couldn't place it without seeing a face and she raised the flashlight towards where the voice had come from.

It was RJ Blackburn.

His name. It had been on the announcement. Shot his friend. She wasn't going to call him out for it. Sounded like it had been an accident after all and she honestly thought that was a tragic thing. Leo had been at the wrong place at the wrong time and having to live with the death of a friend.... She knew what it felt like but in a different way.

Also he had a gun on him. Freaking brilliant!

"It's Bacchia Rubus." She said simply as she brought the flashlight up to her own face for him to see her for a few seconds before focusing it back on him, making sure not to blind him with the light. "And you definitely heard my name before."

She paused briefly, hissing softly.

"Look, I don't want any trouble right now and I'm not gonna kill you. Frankly, I just want to hole myself up somewhere to rest since I feel like crap. Alright?"

[AnimeNerd]

For a second, RJ almost felt like he needed to do a double take. Bacchia? The Bacchia that was so goth that she regularly wore black skull earrings? The Bacchia that was brave enough to wear all black regularly in Florida heat? That Bacchia?

How the fuck had they gotten her to wear all white?

Granted, there was a multitude of ways that question could be answered. He clothes could've gotten bloody to the point that nobody could wear them. Maybe it was Occam's razor and she just fell off a boat into the ocean. Could've even been as simple as she just wanted to wear something else, feeling gross after wearing the same outfit two days in a row. But of all colors, she was in white? The only things that would've looked more wrong would've been hot pink, or bright yellow or something. It had to be her only choice, otherwise RJ was sure she would've worn-...

Jesus Christ, was he off topic of what was important.

Bacchia had been one of the first killers. Not first day, but first night. Calla had been the victim, and Ritzy had said some...concerning things about her death, but RJ pushed that aside. His classmates killing each other within twenty-four hours of the game starting? Believable. Resorting to cannibalism in those same first twenty-four hours? Pardon him for being skeptical, especially when the two girls had previously been friends.

Part of him thought that he should just let her go. He wasn't planning on killing her-if he ever had to do that again, it would be self-defense, and she didn't exactly have a gun to try and shoot him with. Would a part of him regret it later? Maybe, but it's not like he could predict anything there and then without sounding like a loon.

But another part of him couldn't help but think about things. Thinking about how they both were wearing clothes they never would've worn unless it was the only option. How they both had ended up killing people they were close to, even if he doubted the circumstances were very similar. How he doubted anyone would trust her, if not even some of his own friends wouldn't trust him after killing Leo, no matter the circumstances.

RJ sighed as he removed one hand from the De Lisle, finger behind the trigger this time.

"Well, I'm pretty much the only person on this boat. And I'm not exactly interested in killing anyone else, either."

'Plus, misery loves company,' he couldn't help but think.

[Primrosette]

Bacchia was relieved that RJ wasn't going start any shit with her and that he wasn't about to put a bullet through her skull. She didn't move from where she was standing as she felt like she didn't want to do anything to make him more uncomfortable around her and she was holding the sword with her bandaged hand at her side. In a non-threatening way.

"Good to know that we're on the same page." She said, rolled her shoulders a little and she instantly regretted that as her body was begging with her not to make unnecessary movements. "Ughh, shit..."

She was still concentrating on the boy not that far in front of her.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who got messed up a bit." She could see that RJ had gone through something and she felt like maybe she could actually talk to someone without being hostile towards him. "I am assuming that Leo didn't hurt you.... What happened?"

Are you really having a conversation with a guy that you don't trust, Bacchia?

She didn't respond to that thought.

RJ didn't need to see that she didn't like being alone without anyone to talk to. Emmy was still not back.

[AnimeNerd]

RJ couldn't help but wince at the pain Bacchia showed. Maybe she'd killed someone, but she was still human, and RJ still didn't find any joy in watching humans suffer. If he didn't know better, he would've been tempted to walk to her and try to help. But that would probably just end with him bleeding out in the ocean, so he stayed where he stood.

She took notice of his own injuries, and RJ couldn't help but instinctively look at his arms-the bandages were hidden by the sweatshirt, but the ones on his hand and head were most certainly visible. His mouth stretched into a line before he let out a breath.

"Various things, really. Mainly being an idiot. First I panicked and cut my hand with my fingernails. Then I tried to work with Amy, and she decided to wack me over the head and try to steal my gun. And after...Leo, I ended up running into Anthony, and he did this."

He pulled up his right sleeve at that, showing off the bandages on that arm.

"Watch out for him, by the way. Both of them, really, but Anthony might be losing it. Thinks he's on a crusade or some shit. Waited til I was sobbing my eyes out to try and bash my head in, and he doesn't even care what the story is if you killed."

As he pulled his sleeves back into place, RJ couldn't help but ask a question of his own.

"What about you? Calla put up a good fight or something?"

God, how weird was it that he felt more comfortable talking to a killer than some of his own friends?

[Primrosette]

Bacchia listened to him quietly and she was making note of a couple of things that he was telling her. First cutting his hand with his fingernails sounded strangely worse than her cutting hers with that stupid glass shiv. Thanks, Fisk. That was a brilliant plan. She barely even knew who the hell Amy was but she would keep an eye out just in case. She didn't want to get bonked on the head and end up losing her own weapon any time soon.

Anthony.... The anti-sotf guy who had been a thorn in her side at school when they had arguments about SOTF-TV in general. She had actually been ignoring the guy for months after she got tired of telling him why Karen Ruiz was very calculating with how she handled her ten kills and he was having none of it. She just walked away. Just like that. She was not actually surprised that Anthony was going to be a player hunter who was going to go down some vigilante path and she knew that his bad temper was either going to help feed his wrath or just make him too blinded and end up dying for nothing. Like Giselle.

Bacchia shifted a bit uncomfortably when RJ mentioned Calla and she knew that she had to answer about that soon or later.

"First off, I'm sorry that you got betrayed by people that you thought that you could trust here. Really, betrayal is always a pain here and being more cautious is going to come into play. Also Amy and Anthony can kindly go fuck themselves." She said with a more serious expression present on her face and she knew that she was a bit of a hypocrite herself. "Anthony was a friend, right?"

Friendship doesn't matter in a place like this, Bacchia. Even if you do care, everyone will die around you. Just accept it.

"From what I heard.... Sounds like you never meant to kill Leo on purpose and that honestly sounds like it was more of a tragedy. I'm sorry, RJ."

She genuinely meant her words there. She wasn't completely heartless and she needed to make up for how terrible she was to other people. She had never said a mean word about RJ as he had never been a bother to her in school, but she was sure he knew about her mean streak and how she had took pleasure in other's misfortune. Not now. She actually felt her insides crawling with doubt and guilt.

"Calla never did fight back. I think she was trying to make me leave The Respects who are being led by Fisk and I just stabbed her. Just like that. It had been so... easy. I killed a friend so easily. We've talked about being here before, well, it really happening. We've both said that if we ever had to kill each other, we both would have done it. Taking a life..."

She felt her vision getting a bit blurry and she blinked away the threatening tears that wanted to come out.

"I hated it honestly. Even if I do think that I should still take nine more lives right now... I'm going to try to find my teammates. For real this time. I want to see if I can work with others that are not going to get me killed so quickly. Being a part of The Respects had been a mistake and I'm going to try to be a better person. Well, as much as I can. I am still likely to make mistakes."

She stopped speaking and all she could hear was the waves once more.

"Sorry for rambling at you, RJ. If you want me to leave, just let me know and I'll disappear."

[AnimeNerd]

RJ listened, and...honestly, it was a lot to take in-especially the bit about Fisk and a gang called the Respects? That was a thing you could do?? He didn’t really see it as an impossibility, but he didn’t really expect team ups like that during a season where there explicitly were teams.

But that wasn’t the focus right then. The focus was...pretty much everything else Bacchia talked about.

The first part made him give a small smile and not really laugh, but that exhale out of the nose when people saw something funny, but didn’t find it funny enough to actually laugh. It was odd, hearing Bacchia show some genuine kindness, even if it was still insulting people. The two of them had never been on bad terms, of course, but the girl didn’t exactly have a reputation for kindness in their school.

“Not really your fault about those two, but thanks anyways. I appreciate the sentiments.” The smile faded. “Emphasis on ‘was’ there, yeah. Before today, I probably would’ve been upset to hear him on the announcements. Now I’d probably just hope someone else took him down instead of the other way around.”

Maybe it was cruel, but fuck it. The asshole had deliberately waited when he was at his most vulnerable, crying his eyes out, then tried beat his skull in. Seo-yun could add him to her quickly growing list of victims and he wouldn’t be too torn up about it.

RJ took a deep breath in, then let it out before responding to the Leo part.

“I don’t want to go into details, but...yeah. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. If I could go back in time and change it, I would, but unless time travel gets invented in our time, it just...is what is, I guess.”

He hated it. It was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. But he couldn’t focus on it. Not here. Not now. The more he focused on his mistakes like that, the more likely he was to get killed, and he was still very much not ready to die.

Honestly, RJ could take rambling. He would take any form of communication in that moment so long as it didn’t give way to threats or insults or just generally being nasty. He was just happy to not be alone, with the bonus of that person not trying to kill him.

“Don’t worry. I’ve had to hear worse things than rambling.

“And...I think I understand. Even if it was an accident, I just...I don’t think I can forgive myself. For what happened with Leo. Even if I had a right to be scared, I just...can’t see anyone but me being at fault. And even if your reasoning seemed right then, you have every right to feel awful now.

“We all have a right to regret things, even it won’t change much.”

Was it scary to be in the presence of someone who just stated she was going for the ten kill release? Kinda, yeah. But Bacchia did say she was exhausted herself, and at this point he doubted that she’d try to kill him when morning came. He was probably safe, and if he wasn’t...

Well, better to be stabbed in the front than the back this time.

[Primrosette]

"You might have to be the one to take Anthony at some point if he comes for you again. You have to show him no mercy if he does. It's gonna be either you or him that wants to live. Although...." Bacchia paused in her thoughts as she was keeping an eye on the boy and she was fighting to stop herself from yawning in exhaustion. "If I could go back. Hm, maybe I could have done things differently with Calla. But well, I just have to live with the regret and continue to live for as long as I can."

She guessed that this meant that RJ didn't want her to go away and leave him in peace. She wondered if she should go to another boat or if he wouldn't mind if she joined him. Right, she really wanted to join a guy who could likely put a bullet in her face? Sure, she honestly couldn't care anymore. She was tired and she wanted to sit down and rest for as long as she could.

"You okay with me joining you?" She asked calmly as she was glancing around carefully and she was hoping that no one else was around to start shit. "Just want to make sure that you're fine with someone like me."

Ugh. Bacchia, stop making it hard for yourself to talk to him!

[AnimeNerd]

...killing Anthony. Honestly? Before, when he was in what could best be described as a manic fight for his life? He probably would've done it without a second thought. Had he gotten his hands on the gun then, he would've unloaded it into Anthony until he was twitching on the floor, getting to meet the God he was so desperate to send RJ to. He doubted he would've even hesitated.

Actually getting a chance to think about it though, his head comparatively clearer? He couldn't help but dislike the idea. Bacchia had a point-Anthony could very well try and come after him again, and there was no chance the second meeting wouldn't end without one of them, or at least someone, dead. But Anthony had still been his friend at one point. Purposely killing a friend in the moment may not've been impossible, but it still wasn't the most appealing thing.

But this was Survival of the Fittest. He doubted anyone did anything they explicitly wanted to get out alive.

"If it comes to that, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'll...try not to throw away my shot, if it does come up."

The half-hearted chuckle only had three laughs before dying out.

"If you're fine with someone like me, then I don't mind. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm already on several peoples' shit lists, so I'm not exactly...'popular,' now."

It was maybe silly, but RJ couldn't help but think it. He was sure at least four people hated him at that point. He didn't even want to speculate on how many others were ready to stab, bash, shoot, or generally grievously injure him.

[Primrosette]

"Popularity doesn't matter here." Bacchia said simply. "You didn't kill someone on purpose like I did. So I should be saying that instead of you, RJ."

She shook her head slightly and she let out a small laugh of.... relief? De-stress? Calmness?

She wasn't sure what he would think about the possibility of The Respects trying to find her to get her to come back to them and she had a feeling she knew how the others would react to her just leaving and not going back. She didn't feel safe in that group anymore. Fisk has been personally letting her down as a leader, Vasily was someone who made her uncomfortable at times even if he did save them from the Jasper disastrous aftermath, Keegan was... Keegan is one of the good ones who deserved better than her or any of the others, Verity was untrustworthy as hell, Sofia was not someone that she knew personally so she couldn't comment on her really and James.... James was a fucking idiot who is a spineless coward who needed to man the fuck up.

"I'd say watch out for Ivan if you ever see him. But.... I think he's only after people who are in The Respects. Even if I just bailed on them, he will still be gunning for me."

She climbed onto the boat, trying not to irritate her aching body and she could now see him more closely. She moved the flashlight up and down his body to see if he was either more injured or if he had another weapon that he had keep hidden from her.

"Have you thought about what you wanted to do next?" She asked with an air of curiosity.

[AnimeNerd]

“Well, let’s hope that most everyone else is rational like you.” RJ said, a smile forming on his face again.

It was so...weird, having someone that trusted him again, and vice versa. Sure, maybe that trust was built entirely on the two of them being too beat up and tried to really try anything, but it still felt nice to have someone that didn’t immediately hate him, or wait until later to show they hated him.

Wait, no, that wording sounded presumptuous and kinda creepy, if only slightly. It felt nice that someone near him didn’t fall into those two options. Better.

He was tempted to ask about Ivan, but decided to wait a minute in favor of answering her question. It was a good question; what did he want to do next? So far, his main goal had just been survival, plain and simple. Not explicitly go for the win, but mainly to try and not die, which he had admittedly succeeded in by that point. But what about the future? What did he want after that moment?

“I...guess I can try finding some team mates. Going for the win that way. And if not that, then...”

An awful thought. A horrible thought.

RJ shrugged. He hated how the fear was still evident in his voice.

“Then I guess just...hoping I find a way to d-die that’s not...too awful.”

RJ wanted to live. He wanted to survive this show and never look back on it. Remember the friends he lost, and especially his own mistakes, but ultimately never think about it too often.

But he had killed one person and became a mess over it. He’d been taken advantage of and nearly killed twice at that point. He didn’t have that-that killer instinct someone needed to win a situation like this. Yeah, he’d bit Anthony, and fought tooth and nail against him, but that was basic survival instincts. Anyone would’ve done it if they were in that situation. So if he was on his own, and the only other option was trying to another nine people to escape alive?

He didn’t believe he could do it.

He didn’t want to think about this anymore. Subject change time.

“What did you do to piss Ivan off that badly?” RJ asked. “I figured he’d be the kind of person to just...go for ten kills and not care about who he goes after.”

It was mean, but it wasn’t exactly untrue. The guy was more than the average SOTF fan. He actually expected Ivan to be one of the more active killers, so the fact that he wasn’t and was going for specific people just seemed...weird.

[Primrosette]

Bacchia felt herself frowning at RJ wanting to die in a not horrible way. She preferred it more when he spoke about teammates over dying. That seemed like the safer option in a way, even if he would have to gain those people's trust after killing someone. She had to do the same herself if she wanted any of the other Selkies to not be scared of her. This meant that she had to play it nice and be more patient. If all the others died (plus Ivan who was going to be more of a pain in the ass), well, she would still have to go gunning for nine more people or.... Just win Season 67. It would be difficult, but she had to try. She didn't want to give up yet.

It seemed that RJ didn't want to talk about what he wanted to do anymore and that was honestly fine with her. If it was too upsetting, then she wasn't going to push it. She didn't want to put him on edge about something so depressing.

Bacchia felt herself chuckle softly when RJ was talking about Ivan and she would have thought the same about the brutal guy. "To be fair, I think he was going to go for the ten kills at first..." She tapped her foot slightly on the ground and she cleared her throat to sound more clear to RJ. "But The Respect, me included, lured him into a trap and we uh, almost beat him to death. We also took some of his stuff. Well, I didn't as I wasn't uncomfortable with taking a corpse's personal belongings. But...."

She leaned the sword against the side of the boat, hoping that it would stay balanced and not fall over like a sack of potatoes.

"We didn't find out that he was alive until the announcements and he killed Giselle not long after. I wasn't as close to her because, well, you know. I'm a fan, she wasn't. But anyway.... Ivan wants revenge, blah, blah. He and I got into a fight a few hours ago and I actually sliced him with my sword after he roughed me up a bit. Haha."

Her awkward laugh was sounding so cringey even to her.

[AnimeNerd]

Things he never thought he'd be incredibly grateful for: people not asking questions about concerning things. It was weird and RJ knew it, but he'd take it if it meant not crying anymore than he already had.

So Ivan was going for the ten kills, he had just been outsmarted by a big group. Honestly, if it was almost anyone else from their school, he might've been a little horrified. Almost getting beaten to death seemed like an especially bad thing to happen so early on, as well as being robbed. Considering who it actually was, though...

"I...don't think I can fully blame you," RJ said, before clarifying. "For trying to kill Ivan, I mean. Even if it was just to take out competition or something, he's...kind of got the biggest target on his back, really."

It was one thing to be a fan of SOTF. It was honestly a more normal thing, even if RJ himself wasn't in that crowd. But to actually want to be on the show? That either says that you want to kill you classmates and just want a legal loophole to get away with it, or are happy to kill people just for the chance of fifteen minutes of fame, and he was pretty sure he knew which box Ivan would fall into.

But judging by the awkward laughter Bacchia was giving, it might've been best to let this subject drop as well. No need to make things uncomfortable. At least there was a convenient new thing to focus on.

"I might be able to help with some injuries, if there's anything you think might need to be treated. Not exactly a medical professional, but something is better than nothing, right?"