SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

The grip they held was nice and tight.

Ilya reached out his hand to Stephanie in turn once he lessened his grip. She clearly hesitated, but after a beat her hand was raised to meet his. They were a group now. Things were going to reach some level of okay, she thought. They just needed to find everyone else. Dave was one, for instance.

Lana nodded, seeing the suggestion that they should get out.

She picked up her rifle, examining it a bit more. This was what they expected her to kill with. She didn't think that it was what was going to happen, though. Lana wasn't a killing sort. Nor, she suspected, Ilya or Stephanie.

After picking up her things, Lana slowly stepped in one direction, towards what she expected was the exit. She didn't want to lose them, not so soon. The birds still laid scattered about, causing Lana to raise her feet to avoid touching them. This was, however, to no avail. Her shoes still occasionally brushed against the corpses, giving her somewhat of a slight jump.

The sooner they got out of here, the better.

Once they were away from the aviary, Lana turned around and waited for Ilya and Stephanie.

She smiled. She knew that even in SOTF, there was still a chance of hope.

((Lana Torres continued in The Unlucky Clover Field))

So that was that. Ilya shook hands and cemented his partnership with Batgirl and friend. It wasn't much, but it was something. Would it prove to be a last bastion of decency and hope among the world of savagery and murder, or would it just be a more gentle transition into their inevitable breakup and death? Only time would tell.

For now, Ilya just followed Lana out of the aviary.

((Ilya Volkov continued in The Unlucky Clover Field))

Stephanie found herself nodding to herself as they began leaving the aviary. She wasn't really sure why, but she felt like things would be okay in the company she was in. Things almost felt normal. She had the fortune of finding her best friend fairly quickly, and now that they had Ilya with them, she felt safe.

As she picked her way through the dead bodies of the birds that once inhabited the aviary, she couldn't help but hope that it would be the last time she saw anything dead on this island. She doubted it would be.

((Stephanie Chan continues in The Unlucky Cloverfield))