Metanoia

[Cake]

The situation seemed to diffuse somewhat with Sterling's help and Shawn's own action of laying the gun down. Things seemed to calm significantly.

Hot babe was first to answer, said her name was Amber. It wasn't the girl who killed Holly, although something in Shawn's mind clicked. He heard that name, from the announcements maybe? Right, it was from the announcements. An Amber had been the one named for killing Silver Dragon student, Lou Becker with a hatchet or a machete or something. At first Shawn was a little annoyed. The girl had killed someone first and yet she was there scolding him about the same thing, when her kill method sounded a little more... messy than his. At least Jaszmine looked clean and untouched. Almost as if she was only taking a nap on the floor.

"Amber? ... Didn't you kill someone too? Maybe it was a different Am-"

Through his peripheral vision, Shawn noticed movement from his side. Ben moved forward and bent down in front of him for

"I'm sorry, We can't give up our advantage. I don't want to have to fire..."

The Gun.

"What are you doing Ben-o!?"

Shawn's eyes widened as he backed away from his partner Ben. He was doing the same exact thing that Jaszmine, the girl who Shawn had just strangled to protect him, did in using that gun to threaten people. At that moment the image of the boa constrictor lassoing around Ben's throat flashed before Shawn's eyes. Whatever diffusion had started between the two parties has completely flew out the window, as Bobby the boy from grey team started going off on them, mostly at Ben.

Bobby started shouting louder now, surprisingly still answering Shawn's questions. He introduced his name and the name of someone else outside. He also bragged about fighting off Karen Ruiz. Hold on a minute, the name of his partner outside was familiar... Bren... Brennan! One of the friends Alicia was looking for, he was here, or at least right outside.

"Brennan?! His friend... Alicia, is looking for a Brennan!" But Bobby was busy yelling.

"Your victim on the floor there is Jaszmine Johnson: My Girlfriend!" Girlfriend? Ok now I feel more like sh-

"Oh my god! She... she’s dead!"

Yet another three people popped into the Resort Hotel, at the most perfect of moments acting audience to his recent kill. Cool.

A girl, yellow bandanna, wearing some neat costume and another boy with a purple bandanna. The boy started talking, threatening Ben and himself with a gun, for threatening his purple team. Bobby did the same. This wasn't great. They had far outnumbered both of gold and also now had a gun with them and who knows what else?

Then another voice from behind the larger boys came up. To Shawn's surprise, allied among this group of unknown Detroit kids was a very familiar student from Silver Dragon Academy.

"Simon?"

Fortunately for Shawn, Simon went to bat for him as soon as he saw him; attempting to calm the aggressive Detroiters down and attempting to make the boy (Cesar) lower his gun. At this point Shawn had been distracted enough that he didn't realize that Sterling was now standing behind both he and Ben-o, holding a hatchet. They were surrounded at all sides. They were screwed.

At this moment the announcements started playing again. Shawn was surprised, was it midnight already? Things seemed to quiet down a smidge as the students listened.

---

The first two names shocked him. Something had happened at the shack. Mae and Alicia had killed another girl together. He really, really needed to go back. He was already running late. He needed to go now and see what was going on with the rest of his team, but the announcements kept him frozen. Zach killed more people, had he snapped too? That stranger Karen had continued her spree. More names he knew from his school and some names he didn't know from the other.

Then his own kill.

The young new age hippie looked back at the saddened expression on Sterling's face.
Shawn knew that expression. Sterling had lost someone close to him, maybe a friend like he did with Holly.

"Just get out of here." Sterling said stern and softly.

Shawn nodded at the only level headed Detroit kid. "Ok, I'll go. Thanks."

He put on his acoustic guitar and issued bag, fortunately already stuffed with Brian Eno and some of Jaszmine's supplies, especially the spare bullets. Then he turned back to look at the rest of the kids in the building. There was one thing he'd leave. He looked at Bobby.

"You're right. She was your friend and we have no right laying a hand on her."
Shawn gently placed Jaszmine's blue bandanna, on her chest and then stepped away. "She's yours."

Before turning to walk out as Sterling had ordered, Shawn remembered Brennan and Simon.
"If anyone of you are named Brennan or Brenda, you can follow me if you want - your friend Alicia is looking for you... and Simon, you can always follow too."

He looked at the less hostile Detroit faces; those of Sterling and the two girls, Amber and whatever the other girl's name was.

"I'm sorry. If it was a different situation, maybe we could have been friends? Or at least if we do see each other again, hopefully it's on friendlier terms."

Shawn lifted his mouth into a bright and friendly smile toward the three, but quickly shut his lips, not wanting to look demented for smiling after what he did to their classmate. His intent was to leave the building with a friendly gesture, for them to remember him by rather than what he did to Jaszmine.

Finally there was Ben, still holding the gun, shaking in his hands. Not sure of what psychological state his wing-man was in, Shawn did his best to talk to him.
"Ben-o? You alright man? Let's get outta here."

Still not sure whether anyone would follow him; Shawn began walking toward the hall in the direction of the pool side exit, hoping he wouldn't be shot.

[Fiori]

A lot of things happened over the course of five minutes or so, during which for the most part Amber was too confused to say or do anything.

The first being that Shawn just HAD to go ahead and remind her of the fact that she was a killer, which caused a wave of guilt to crash over her as she replayed the terrible event again in her mind. Not to mention the fact that just thinking about that fateful moment reminded was making her feel somewhat hypocritical for scolding this boy for the exact same thing, although in her case she defintiely knew for certain that she did NOT mean to kill Lou.

Yeah right...

She was about to respond to his accusation when the other boy went ahead and grabbed the gun, aiming it right in their direction. Amber's eyes widened in fear as she stared down the barrel of the pistol, worried that any second the stupid boy might accidentally pull the trigger and either herself or one of her friends in the chest.

Then, as if things weren't bad enough already, Bobby actually went ahead and started PROVOKING them! Jesus Christ Bobby, what the hell do you think you're doing?!? Do you WANT him to kill us?!?

She wasn't quite sure whether she should be feeling concerned for Bobby's well-being or furious with him for putting their lives in danger. After all, this was far from the first time that he'd ever made a scene of himself, his outburst back in the Skyler's party immediately coming to mind. It was admirable, to a certain extent, just how brave he was to stand up for himself in the face of danger. And it wasn't as if he didn't have a justified reason for being so righteously pissed off. But for the most part, it just struck Amber that trying to tell the guy with the gun to get out had to be one of the STUPIDEST things you could do in this situation.

He's a liability! He's too dangerous to hang around with anymore! He only ever makes things worse! He isn't even on your team!

In an attempt to stop Bobby from exacerbating the situation any further, Amber tried to convince him that the hotel wasn't worth getting shot over. But before Bobby could even reply, something very unexpected happened.

“Oh! Oh my god! She... she’s dead! She's dead, isn't she? She's... she.... ”

Who the heck is... Wait, I know that voice. Could it......

The terrified young girl immediately turned her head around to confirm that her suspicions were correct, and was taken aback by the sight that she didn't even realise that her mouth was gaping open in sheer astonishment.

Odile!

She just couldn't believe what she was seeing. Here was Odile, one of the very people on this island who Amber was looking for! If it wasn't for the fact that she was currently in the middle of a one-sided Mexican stand-off, she'd of run up to Odile and given her a bear hug right there on the spot. But as it happened, for now, she had to worry about the nervous guy with a twitchy trigger finger.

Deal with the situation first, happy reunions later...

There were two other people who'd joined the party alongside Odile, namely Cesar and a boy whom Amber guessed was from the other school. Shawn seemed to recognize him anyway, addressing him as Simon or something. At any rate, he seemed to be more rational then Shawn's other friend.

Speaking of which, Amber was surprised when she realised that Sterling had managed to outflank them during all the chaos. Wow, way to go Sterling! Damn, wish i'd thought of that...

It was at this point that, to top everything off, that the announcement began to play out and shut everyone up. Amber listened to it with baited breath, praying to god that she wouldn't hear the names of any more of her friends.

The first thing that struck a cord after realising that Panya had been killed was the fact that Odile had killed TWO people rather then just one person. Shit, really? Jesus, how could... No. There has to be a decent explanation. There is NO way she'd kill anyone unless she was just trying to defend herself, right?

What makes you so sure about that?

...Shut up!

The next couple of names came as quite a shock as well. Turns out that not only had Jaszmine died, but Devonte and Tiffany had bitten the dust as well. Amber wasn't quite sure how she should be feeling about the fact that three of her classmates whom she didn't particularly like in the first place were now dead. To a certain degree, she was glad that her friends were still alright, but that didn't mean that she was glad to hear that the people who weren't her friends were now rotting corpses!

And eventually, the announcement confirmed what everyone already knew. Namely that Jaszmine Johnston had been killed by Shawn, or strangled to be more exact. I'm still calling bullshit on the whole "accidental" thing. How the fuck are you supposed to ACCIDENTALLY choke someone to death with a snake? A fucking SNAKE for crying out loud!

Thankfully though, Shawn seemed content with the idea of heading out. He, he seemed surprisingly calm despite all the hateful looks he was getting. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that they were on opposing sides in the middle of the deadliest game on the planet, Amber would have probably liked him a lot. But as things looked now, Amber was more than happy to see Shawn and Ben leave the building.

As the two boys left the building, Amber just stood there for another ten seconds or so with a scornful look on her face as she tucked the machete back into her belt. Once she was absolutely certain that they had left, her look of hatred dissipated as she turned around and ran towards Odile, wrapping her arms around the taller girl and embracing her with tears still flowing from her eyes.

"Oh god Odile, you have absolutely NO idea how glad I am to see you right now!"

She didn't care at that moment that Odile had already killed two people, nor did she care about the fact that Odile wasn't on the same team as her. For now, all she cared about was the fact that Odile was safe and sound, along with Bobby and all her other friends.

She could worry about all that other stuff later.

[Pippi]

((Glen Bole continued from If You Can't Stand The Heat))

Well. That had been a less than pleasant journey. The rainforest had been just as humid and full of branches on the way out as it had on the way in. Glen had lost sight of Jonas almost immediately. Dude had better be keeping up. I don’t want to go to the other side of the fucking island to rescue him.

As usual, Glen’s thoughts were more than slightly hypocritical. He’d managed to get lost several times on the way to the hotel. Once, he’d found himself going the complete opposite direction he was supposed to. The seemingly endless walking had made Glen almost as hot and tired as the volcano had, but he didn’t dare take his hoody off now. Not after his mentor’s announcement.

Finally, Glen had reached the hotel. It was dark, and the announcements had started playing, but at least he’d reached his destination. Glen leant against one of the outside walls to listen to the announcement, shotgun and tree branch placed on the floor.

Most of the people were either stupid fuckers Glen had never heard of, or stupid fuckers Glen didn’t care about. Still, three names caught his attention. Suzanne had died, killed herself in a lake or something. Glen shook his head at this, a faint smile appearing. “What’d I tell you? Dead girl walking.” He said quietly. The announcer mentioned Todd’s death, and Glen was glad to hear he’d been just as bewildered as Glen had. Finally, there was news that Kevin fucking Fielding had died too. “Thank God!” Glen said, slightly louder than he’d intended. At least one asshole that was out for my blood’s out of the running now.

The announcement over, Glen picked his weapons up, and headed inside the building. To his annoyance, it wasn’t empty, like he’d hoped, far from it. Glen could hardly hear himself think due to the amount of yelling and arguing going on further inside the building. He didn’t want to go and investigate what the fuck was going on, in case some of them had actual weapons, and he couldn’t fire into the crowd in case he hit someone on pink team.

Then what the fuck am I supposed to do? Wait here until they all fall asleep?

A brainwave suddenly hit Glen. If he couldn’t join or kill any of them, then he could at least cause some havoc. Maybe if they all start panicking and running, I’ll be able to see what teams they’re on, see whether Vincent’s in there.

Glen dropped the tree branch, and held the shotgun in both hands, aiming at a nearby window. He pulled the trigger, and a deafening crack filled the air, along with the shattering of glass. Not wanting to stay and be caught, he hurriedly picked up the branch and dashed out the door, a huge grin on his face. This’ll get those fuckers moving.

[Mungo*]

There was nothing more Ben hated then drawing attention to himself. Of course, when grabbing the gun, he knew he'd do just that. First, one of the Detroit kids introduced himself, yelling and confirming Ben's guess that he had known the dead girl. Continuing to brandish the gun, Ben took a step further backward as the other boy moved closer and pointed the rod in his face. He flinched when told to leave, hands sweating around the weapon. He didn't make any other move, though, eyes then flicking towards Shawn.

Then, yet another newcomer, voice reverberating around the lobby. Ben looked over, only to be greeted with the sight of a second new person who seemed rather sorrowful over the dead girl's--Jaszmine's--death.

Ben never would have understood these territorial rights. Did he claim the hut back on the beach? No, not really. Used it for the time being, but nothing more then that. Now wasn't the time to think of such things, however.

Cesar spoke to him, aiming a firearm right back. With narrowed gaze, Ben listened, and took a few more steps away. He'd almost reached the wall now. But at the end of the other boy's speech, he lowered the gun off to the side. Closely he watched the bunch, paranoid they might try to tackle him or something.

Ben realized again that he should say something, suddenly aware of how crazy a silent kid with a gun might look. "Fine," he muttered.

Sterling spoke and changed positions. Ben stared, nearly raising the firearm once more. Unexpectedly, Simon came next, rising to his and Shawn's defense. Though Ben might have been grateful, he felt claustrophobic instead. There were far too many people in the lobby.

The announcements started playing and Ben paid close attention as usual. Alicia and Mae had killed someone on the beach. Otherwise, he supposed he'd been lucky to not yet recognize any names. This time was different. Suzanne had drowned herself. Ben hadn't known the girl well, had only had one strained conversation. But hearing news of her death made Ben shake and close his eyes for a moment.

Marion then...poisoned by Zach. Ben's expression scrunched together and his knuckles turned white around the gun. Why? Ben hadn't thought Marion a player. True, he'd spoken to her about as much as Suzanne. But what reason could Marion have given Zach to poison her?

Ben let a long breath outward. Shawn was talking to the others and Ben only looked upward when directly addressed.

"I--" he said, glancing away. He steeled himself, then just nodded. Unlike Shawn, he didn't care about trying to change the way the Detroit kids remembered him. And as he began following Shawn, he kept an eye on them.

Before they could depart, the deafening blast of a gun and breaking glass. Feeling the ring in his ears, Ben bent low. "Cover," he said to Shawn, saying it a bit too loud. He then proceeded for one of the nearby offices, checking back to see if Shawn was safe and following.

[The Bearded One*]

Before even a pair breaths had passed after his ultimatum, Odile, Cesar, and Simon entered the hotel lobby. Odile sobbed when she caught sight of Jaszmine (She's just pretending to sob; don't fall for her act again, Bobby!), Cesar aimed a pistol right back at the dark-haired boy, and Simon tried to speak up on behalf of the two Gold team members.

Oh, this is going to be such a disaster, Bobby thought. He took two steps toward the breakfast nook and well out of the line of fire should Cesar and the other kid start a shootout. He noticed that Sterling had moved through the same nook and was readying his hatchet, flanking the Gold team boys.

The announcements played. Panya was dead. Devonte was dead (good riddance). Karen killed Tiffany (that makes, what? three for Karen? four?). And yes, Shawn was being honest: he did strangle Jaszmine to death... with a snake!?

The intimidations might have worked, as Shawn and the other Gold team boy prepared to leave the hotel. Bobby breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Sterling. "I really need to talk to you about something important," he said quietly.

Before he could say more, he heard a shotgun blast accompanied by the shattering of a glass window. Bobby dove to the floor, behind only a small wood table and a trio of wood chairs. The wound in his right side flared up painfully, causing him to grimace. He spotted the door to the hotel's kitchen and gestured in that direction to Sterling, then started crawling that way, hoping Sterling would follow him.

Who the hell has a shotgun among this group? And who would shoot in this crowded a room and miss everyone?

[Kitten*]

((GMing approved))

Aww, things were moving along nicely. People were talking about their problems, people were leaving peacefully.

How boring.

It was for the best, of course. Once things calmed down and Bobby got his panties unbunched about the dead chick, he was bound to start having a little cry about how much of a meanie Odile was, and how she planned to kill them all. When that happened, it was definitely better for Holly's ex-friends to not be hanging about.

Had scaring Bobby been a good idea? It had gotten him out of her hair for a while, and had somehow gotten rid of Brennan. Plus, he'd thought her plenty dangerous anyway, and time spent trying to convince him otherwise would just've been wasted. Still, now she had to deal with him for longer than expected, and having him think of her as some cold-blooded would get old, fast.

Time for reconciliations? She'd think about it.

Then, huggings. She's missed Amber, probably more than she cared to admit. There were questions that needed to be asked, probably on both sides, but for now Odile just enjoed the contact.

It was good to have her friend back.

And then something exploded.

Glass shattered; fell. Odile did the same. Was that a gunshot? It sounded like it, but loud. When she'd shot beachboy it hadn't been near as loud as this, and the gun then had been two feet from her ears. This person was close, then. They were close, and packing something big.

Wow, there was a turn of phrase. People were shooting, and that was where her brain went? Christ. Priorities, woman.

Stay calm. Keep focused. Stop thinking with your cunt. You'll be fine.

Running out on firefights seemed to be a bad habit of hers, what with ditching Tiffany the minute Father Fucktard showed up. It was embarrassing to be sure, but not half as embarrassing as having your head blown off.

For starters, her outfit wouldn't even make sense without the hat. Headless tuxedo girl? Worst. Costume. Ever.

Odile seemed to be having trouble with the "stay focused" part of her plan. She'd work on that, but later. For now? Time to go.

She grabbed Amber's hand, clutching it tight and almost dragging her along. It had been amazing to see her best friend here, and there was no way that Odile was going to let her go so soon after.

"We have to go, now!" she shouted at Amber, probably louder than she needed to. Odile's ears were still ringing from the loud of the shot.

There was a door, open, on the side of the room that Odile was 90% sure was away from whatever was exploding at her. She rose into a crouch and half-ran toward it, ungainly with her stupid pack on her back. Taking Holly's shit had seemed like a good idea at the time, but her pack was way too heavy for this kind of running about. At the very least, she should have Cesar carrying. Odile turned, calling out to him.

"Cesar! Time to make an exit."

She snatched some pens from a desk without breaking stride, stuffing them into one of her jacket's pockets. There didn't seem to be much other stationary about, but Odile was sure she could find something to write on.The ground? Her arm? Those stupid weapon manuals? It'd be fine, she was sure of it.

Leaving was annoying, really. Just when this place was getting interesting too. Still, at least she had Amber, now, and Odile supposed there was nothing interesting about being dead.

She pulled her friend out the door with her, not stopping to look back.

((Odile Jones continued in Peers; Amber Lyons and Cesar Perdomo continued in The Bagman's Gambit))

[Acidic*]

Before Sterling could reply to the other Texas brat a window shattered at the command of a gun shot, and a loud one at that. He hid behind a wall away from where he believed the window was, while chaos took the room. He saw Bobby motion and then crawl towards another door. Sterling elected to follow him in a crouched walk (crawling would've put more weight on Sterling's injured arm than he would've liked) to the door. Moving he felt like there was someone...

Wait, what about Amber?

"Shit!" Sterling turned, and ran back to the area they were too find her. When he couldn't find her Sterling went back to Bobby. "I can't find Amber."' Some breathing took place before he added, "Odile and Cesar are gone too. Lets hope they're together." He peaked into the kitchen, and it seemed safe. Hatchet ready Sterling entered the room.

As Sterling looked around he remembered the circumstances that Amber and him separated from Bobby under. It was a better time than never to apologize.

"By the way, man. I'm sorry for leaving you with Karen like that. Amber ran off, and I didn't want her to be alone out here." Sure, she was gone now, but probably in the same building. They'd meet up again, Sterling was sure. Or hoped. Sterling walked to another doorway hoping to find her.

[Little Boy*]

[[Jonas continues from If You Can't Stand The Heat

Panya Bishara was double teamed by one Mae St. Claire and one Alicia White.

Panya Bishara was double teamed by one Mae St. Claire and one Alicia White.

Panya Bishara was double teamed by one Mae St. Claire and one Alicia White.

Panya Bishara was double teamed by one Mae St. Claire and one Alicia White.

And just like that, Jonas had lost his only friend.

Panya had always been the leader, always been the one in charge. Jonas was her hapless but always happy accomplice. She was obsessed with fame- he figured she would excel in the game. He prayed to God that they'd at least be put on the same team. But none of that mattered any more. Panya could be Purple or Red or White or fucking Team Rainbow Unicorn Sparklefuck.

She was dead. Panya was dead, and Jonas felt sad.

What now?

The question pounded in his mind, increasing in urgency.

She's dead. She was the one who'd come up with a plan. You're all alone with Glen. What now?

He hadn't seen her die. He wasn't even sure who Mae St. Clair was. He was going to kill her, he knew that much. He doubted he'd stomach killing two girls, but Panya would've appreciated him at least making an effort to avenge her.

Panya Bishara was double teamed by one Mae St. Claire and one Alicia White.

Alicia White, the scatterbrained fairy girl, the one with even less sense then him. She'd killed Panya, his best friend since God knew when, and now he was alone with Glen Bole on an Island, and he was lost and very sad, and a tear was just star-

And then the silence was ripped apart. A gunshot. A gunshot, very close by. More specifically, a shotgun.

Glen.

Jonas looked up, taking his surroundings in. Glen was nowhere to be seen. He'd been following Glen and as soon as the announcements had hit him, he'd zoned out.

And Glen was in a firefight. Glen, the only one he could trust to get him out alive, was in trouble.

Jonas eyes bulged, and he ran forward.

It was just a short sprint to Glen's position, but by the time he saw his Teammate, his relief was so intense it brought him to his knees.

Can't waste any time- he wants me to prove my worth right? Well- motherfuckers well- you want worth? I got that. They killed Panya, I gotta kill motherfuckers! Yes! Kill motherfuckers!

Jonas brought up his Uzi, squinting down the sights. From near as he could tell, Glen was aiming for a window. Was Vincent inside? Another unlucky contestant? His adrenaline was going now. Jonas gritted his teeth and steeled himself.

WHO THE FUCK CARES. THEY KILLED PANYA. OPEN UP ON THEM MOTHERFUCKERS. DETROIT HUSTLE, BLAH FUCKIN' BLAH, KILL 'EM FOR PANYA. YOU PUMPED YET? DOESN'T MATTER WHO THEY ARE! OPENUPOPENUPOPENUPOPENUP-

Jonas squeezed the trigger and felt the recoil. This time however he knew what to expect, jolting back slightly, he still managed to keep position.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
"MOTHERFUCKKKKKKKERRRRRRR!!!!"
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

He fired until he was empty, blasting hot death toward the building, back and forth, spraying like a mad man. He wasn't sure if it was effective or not, but all too soon he heard the click click of his Uzi.

Coughing, Jonas slide the magazine out, fumbling in his pack for another one. He was out of breath, his war cry had left him feeling empty, but better about the situation. He supposed that was enough he could hope for. As he grabbed at another magazine, he finally fought to turn to Glen.

"He-Hey. I- Shots- Gunshots, heard them. What're we- what're we doin'?"

[Fiori]

(Shitty Leopold post ahoy! Will improve this later when I'm not tired as hell)

((Leopold Sutherland continued from Rock Lobster))

Meanwhile, as the situation in the Resort Hotel grew steadily worse with each passing second, a certain Leopold Sutherland was peeking from behind a nearby tree. Watching the events as they unfolded from a safe distance.

When he first arrived, there was already a lot of shouting and threats being thrown about, so waltzing in and introducing himself was completely out of the question. No, he was more content to sit and watch, praying that they all shoot each other and get it all over with. Sadly though, judging from the gradually decreasing amount of shouting, things seemed to be calming down.

Until of course some unseen third party started shooting up the place. Well it's about freaking time that somebody started DOING something.

Of course, this just added the growing list of reasons why he should keep quiet and out of sight. Last thing he needed was to find himself killed during the crossfire, right? Besides, once the coast was clear and everyone was either dead or running away, he had this hotel all to himself.

Provided of course that whoever wins decided not to stay. But Leopold was perfectly willing to wait and see the outcome of this potentially deadly conflict.

Patience was its own reward, after all.

[Fenrir]

Things had been going so well, why did that always seem to prelude things going to hell? As soon as the window had exploded inwards Simon had hit the ground and started moving away from the windows and towards one of the rooms; apparently not a moment too soon as the loud boom was soon followed by lots of little pops. Two different kinds of shots meant one of two things; either two shooters, or one guy with two guns, i.e. a killer. Simon couldn’t tell which was worse for them.

Odile, Cesar and one of the other girls had disappeared as soon as the shots were fired and while Simon considered Odile being somewhere else both a blessing and a screw up on his part, he was less than happy to have lost Cesar’s gun in this new fire fight.

Simon made it back to the room where everything had been happening before and found Bobby and another guy from Detroit there; Bobby he thought he could trust, enough to work with him now, while the second boy obviously knew Bobby enough that he could be worked with as well. The gunfire finally trailed off with one last shout of obscenities as Simon tried to catch the two Detroit students attention.

Speaking loud enough to be heard over any remaining gunfire, but hopefully not loud enough to be heard by those outside, Simon tried to fill them both in on his thoughts. “Hey, I don’t know who’s shooting at us but it’s either two guys with big guns or one killer with two; either way that’s bad for us. I don’t know about you two, b-but I don’t want to try and make a run for it with him still out there. I’ve only got a Stun Gun, but if I c-can get close enough maybe I can take them out long enough for us to get away. I… I n-need you two to distract him so I can get a clean shot at him. This thing doesn’t have a lot of range, definitely less th-than his shotgun”

Simon didn’t know why he was volunteering for this when he could just as easily give his weapon to one of them and let them do it. Actually… yes he did; in this plan he was either the shooter, or the distraction, and he didn’t want to be the distraction.

[Cake]

[[OOC Note: Since Pippin is away for two weeks, it's probably in everyone's best interest to skip in order to keep your characters from being inactive. If your characters are not interacting with others, your group may have your own post cycle, til then. PM me if you have any questions.]]

Everything seemed to go well. That is, until the earth shattering boom erupted into the area he had just left.

This was the first time in his three days on the island that he'd ever heard a gun shot close by and it was unbearably loud. Why was it so dang loud!? It's like someone shot a cannon rather than the small gun Ben or that other guy had. What was happening anyway? Did a fire-fight break out as soon as he left? His ears were ringing, the shattering of glass didn't help at all. At least he wasn't in that lobby anymore-

Oh sh- BEN!

Shawn turned around ready to go back into the fray for Ben once more, but Ben was already sprinting down the hallway toward him with the gun in hand. Ben's mouth moved to say something as he ran past, but Shawn didn't hear any of it due to the feeling of surprise and deafness in his ears. It made him dizzy too, maybe in combo with the high he had just an hour ago? Well whatever it was, Shawn's had a headache and -

BangBangBangBangBangBang"MOTHERFUCKERRRRRR!!!"BangBangBangBangBangBang

"Oh Eff this man!" Shawn was getting out of here, but where the heck was Ben? He must've ran away while Shawn had stood there like some idiot stoner-missing-a-brain-cell or more. Much more. Well the point is, that Shawn needed to do the same. Get his rear moving out of here! Ben was safe, yeah really. He had left the building right? It's what they agreed on earlier.

If anything happens (like this) head back to the shack.

He really wished Ben had done that, because Shawn wasn't sure if he could save him this time. If Ben was hiding here, Shawn would have to find him and finding people took time. Time he couldn't risk with people with guns in this hotel and outside. Not when he had only a guitar, a frying pan, and a dead freaking snake as his only weapons. Sure, the snake had done him well before, but these weapons were no match against a pair of guns head on.

There was a difference between being a hero and being stupid. As Brian Eno's mysterious advice had told him before, he couldn't risk "going all in, unless you have a winning hand." Shawn was a bust. Besides if Ben-o was still here, he was the one who had an ace up his sleeve with that gun of his, he could make them fold.

Criminey Jeeze... Why am I thinking in gambling terminology metaphors?

So Shawn followed the hall down the direction he had been heading before the still ongoing shots had started toward the pool side exit and -

Other Sean. Hanging. Dead. Go. Now.

Shawn sprinted away from the Resort Hotel, trying to blink that image of Other Sean's hanging corpse on display out of his mind. He needed water.

He stopped, near a few trees. He pulled out his water bottle, unknowingly dropping a joint in the process before taking several huge chugs, which were suddenly audible once the shooting near the building stopped. He poured some water onto his hands, rubbed them on his face and took a quick breather. Too much crap happened at once in that short amount of time.

Everything seemed eerily silent now. Shawn thought he heard something near the trees, but that was probably just his mind playing tricks with him after all the commotion just moments ago.

Shawn spotted the marijuana roll he'd dropped from his bag. The Waxing Gibbous's moonlight, made the white of the paper glow over the dark grass, with some contrasting visibility. The spliff had rolled down the foot long slope of land toward the trees. Yeah he should probably be running away now, back to the shack with Alicia and Mae and possibly-hopefully Ben-o too. But-but he couldn't just leave the pot there. He might need that later and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Besides it would only take a second, then he'd go.

He reached out crawling on his knees toward it.

[Cake]

A voice echoes very quietly from Bobby's collar...

"Bobby, I like you kid, because you listen. Listening will get you far, with me. Knowing your enemy is important so I'll fill you in on some valuable info. You're dealing with two people on the same team. The bad news, is they are both heavily armed and dangerous. The good news is that from what I've observed, the two shooters are incompetent nimrods. MarWIN signing off."

[Cake]

A voice also echoes quietly from Ben's collar...

"Oh, hey um, Ben. I thought I would just, um, let you know, that the people shooting, they're your real team mates. Don't shoot them, please? Uh, you be careful."

[Mungo*]

Ben managed to make his way into the office which had a desk, a filing cabinet, and a chair. Bent towards the floor, he headed for the relative safety of the space below the desk's top. Holding his knees against his chest he noted that Shawn had not followed. But he too remembered their agreement, to return to the beach if things got chaotic. Events couldn't get more chaotic then now.

Ben breathed heavily, hearing the gunshots ring through the nearby lobby. He still had his own gun his hands, but he didn't think it would be much match to whomever the aggressors might be.

Unexpectedly a voice from his collar filled him in on who the shooters were.

Ben had forgotten about the mentors. "Oh...okay," he said, as if the voice might reply.

From the bottom of the desk, he peeked around. No one moved through the hallway and he supposed he could escape if he so wished. Shawn, he guessed and hoped, would probably have headed back for the shack. But shouldn't he at least see who else bore a pink bandana?

Exhaling, Ben thought of the gold team and debated his options. After going without seeing them for a few days, Ben hadn't anticipated or really prepared himself for meeting his pink squad mates. A question returned: Whether trying to pretend to be gold would be a viable strategy to the end. Shaking his head, Ben decided to wait. If everything continued to worsen, he could hopefully escape to the resort beach again.

[The Bearded One*]

The shattering glass forced everyone in the hotel into action of some sort. Odile grabbed Amber and fled the hotel with her, Cesar tagging along with them. Bobby briefly thought about going after them to try to rescue Amber, but there was a burst of small-caliber machine-gun fire that sprayed through the lobby.

Bobby headed into the kitchen area followed quickly by Sterling. The other boy had noticed that Amber was missing, but he thought she was safe in Odile's company. "I'm sorry for leaving you with Karen like that. Amber ran off, and I didn't want her to be alone out here," he added.

Bobby felt the ache in his right side and right leg as he stood back up. It was very small for a hotel kitchen, but it had all the tile and metal fittings that he'd been hoping for. He's apologizing for that? It happened, what, a day and a half ago? He scoffed. "Dude, if I'd known then what I know now, I'd have tried harder to kill her. As it is, I think I gave her a busted arm... but not her gun arm, sadly."

The door opened and Bobby whirled around to ready his rod for a fight, but saw that it was just Simon ducking into the kitchen after them. For some reason, Simon decided to volunteer to act as a decoy to let Sterling and Bobby get away. He also revealed that his weapon was a stun gun.

Bobby shook his head at Simon's suggestion. "No, if there's two shooters out there, you'll get killed. I won't have that happen if I can help it. As puny as this kitchen is, it's the closest thing we're likely to find to a bulletproof room. There's just the one door where we came in, and the emergency exit that I bet can't be used as an entrance from the outside.

"If they try to come in here, they have to go through the bottleneck of that door there," he gestured at the door Simon had just used. "If we feel outgunned from that side, we can flee through the exit that way," he pointed to the opposite side of the room.

"In the meantime, we should just chill here. Maybe I can find a better weapon...." Bobby started looking around through the cupboards and cabinets around him; there was disappointingly little remaining.

Bobby's collar spoke up quietly again, this time giving him a smidge of information about the two shooters outside and calling them 'nimrods'.

That reminded him that he was going to warn Sterling before the shooting started, and decided to include Simon as well. "Oh, and before all that gunfire, I was going to tell you that Odile is a player. She lied to make her two kills seem like accidents, but she's definitely a murderess on at least one of those kills." He met Sterling's gaze. "That means that Amber is not safe with her. We need to rescue her when we get out of here."