Sin

[Megami†]

((Continued from The Will to Live))

The faint sound of water dribbling down from the fountain seemed to be the only noise eminating from the entire park.  Even the crickets weren't chirping.  Whitney Acosta shivered slightly as she and Ricky Callahan made their way through the area.  The sounds of their footsteps crunching along through the grass were the only audible noises she'd heard in quite a while.

"It's so quiet..." she whispered, almost afraid that the sound of her voice reverberating through the silence would cause the corpses around her to spring to life.

When this game -- Survival of the Fittest -- first started, over one hundred students from four different schools had been placed on this island to fight for survival.  Now, only a handful of those students remained.  Up until now, she hadn't been reminded of that fact.  Now, though, walking through the desolate park, the mutilated corpses of the dead sprawled around the area served as a horrific reminder.

The sole of Ricky's shoe implanted itself in the grass and the screeching caw that reverberated throughout the park caused Whitney to shriek in fear.  In front of them, a large black crow flew away from the body it had been feasting on.  Ricky shook his head, stamping his foot on the ground once more and sending the remainder of the flock off into the air.

"Dear God..." Whitney uttered, her trail of vision fixating on the half-eaten body that lay in front of her.

Ricky looked at the corpse in disgust and continued to move on, but Whitney stood still, fixating on the body.  Even though the body had been picked over, chunks of flesh stripped clean off the bone in places, she could still -- just barely -- identify the body.

"Beth..."

The bolt from a crossbow stuck out from the center of the girl's forehead and her eyes still opened wide in horror.  Her eyes locked in with Beth's for just a moment, and Whitney found herself unable to move.  She closed her eyes, but she could still see Beth's, piercing deep into her mind.  She wanted to scream, or cry, or throw up, or do something, but all she could do was stand there.  Finally, Ricky's voice burst the silence that was slowly suffocating her.

"Come on, we need to keep moving."

"All these people," Whitney choked out shakily, "They all used to be alive... they used to be happy... we used to sit in class and talk and laugh and... and..."

Whitney glanced down at her hands and noticed that she was shaking violently.  At this point, she couldn't tell if it was from the cool twilight breeze or fear or simply the mental anguish that the program had put her through.  Reluctantly, Ricky's hands wrapped themselves around her arms, and the shaking ceased somewhat.  She forced her gaze away from Beth's hafl-eaten corpse, and instead, it fell on another girl's.  This one adorned a Gilroy uniform.  An unsteady sigh escaped Whitney's lips and she attempted to look past the girl.

"Whitney..." Ricky stated quietly.

"What are we supposed to do?" she whispered hoarsely, "What are we supposed to do?  Everyone's dead... dying... only one can win.  Only one, Ricky... one..."

Ricky sighed audibly.  For what seemed like the entire game, Whitney had been so strong.  The game had taken a mental toll on everyone who participated in it, even driving some to insanity before their final moments, and now, standing in the corpse-littered park, Whitney seemed to be reaching her mental breaking point, and there was nothing that he could say or do.

"It's okay..." he muttered calmly, "Everything's gonna be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" she shot back, "Both of us aren't going to survive this, Ricky.  We're out of time.  We can't escape.  We can't do anything.  We're going to die."

"No... no, we aren't," he responded, "... I am."

Whitney shot him a questioning look.  It wasn't the first time Ricky had said that he'd make sure she'd survive the game, but somehow, Whitney had never thought that it would wind up being an issue of self-sacrifice.  It wasn't that she didn't want to go home, but he had fought so hard, throughout the entire game, and if he killed himself so she could live, she just didn't know if she could go on living, knowing what had to be done for her to go back home.

"But why?" she stammered in confusion.

"I love you," he stated simply, "Don't think I'd sacrifice myself for some stupid high school crush.  You're... worth it, though."

"How can you say that?" she chastised, "Nobody should have to die because of me."

"I'm a murderer," he stated coldly, "I killed Eric.  And... I'll keep killing.  I'll kill everybody I have to, and when they're all dead, I'll... kill myself, too.  Don't think I'm crazy, Whit, because I'm not.  I know what I'm saying.  I'm already going to hell, I may as well seal my own fate in blood.  You shouldn't have to stain your hands too."

"Ricky..."

Whitney backed away a bit, almost afraid that Ricky had completely snapped, but one look at the other contestant's eyes told her that his words were completely genuine, and the pain and sadness that he unintentionally conveyed told her that he knew exactly what he was saying, and he knew what the consequences of his actions would be.  Something about that chilled her to the very bone, but she couldn't find the words to speak, and she couldn't have talked him out of it if she'd wanted to.

"You don't have to do this," she finally uttered.

"I know that," he responded, "There's no way I could live with myself outside of this island.  I'm not who I used to be... this place, it's changed me.  It's done things to me... it's made me do terrible things, and it's just... better... if I don't survive this.  I'll get you out of here, if it's the last thing I do..."

His choice of words was ironic, to say the least.  Whitney couldn't find the right words to say, so she simply nodded.  He seemed so resigned to his fate that it almost made her sad, and her trail of vision once again hit the ground and cast itself in the direction of Beth Ebert.  Except, Beth wasn't Beth anymore.  All she could see was Ricky, lying there, eaten by wild animals, with a steel bolt embedded in his forehead.  The click of the clip being loaded into Ricky's gun shot her back to reality, and she looked at him questioningly.

"What are you doing?" she inquired.

"We're going back to the school," he responded, "They'll be looking for shelter, they won't come to the park."

"We're tracking down the others...?" she asked hesitantly.

"Better us tracking them than them tracking us," he replied with a forelorn smile, "Let's get going."

((Continued at the school.))