Scavengers

[BROseidon†]

((Cassandra Black continued from Shit Happens))

Cassandra followed Alex to the broadcasting tower. The entire way over, Cassandra could not help but think how pointless this all was. Of course the terrorists removed the broadcasting equipment. They would not be some dumb as to let that slide. That would be such a monumentally dumb thing to do, to leave anything in the tower.

Still, it was not like Cassandra had anywhere better to be. The company was nice, too, even if she was on edge. Cassandra was on edge, too, but she did not want it to show. Also, Alex was not killing her.

Once the pair entered the tower, Cassandra dropped her two bags. They were heavy. Really, really heavy. Cassandra was not going to be able to carry everything around. She was going to have to consolidate everything she needed into one bag.

"Ugh, so heavy." Cassandra said, groaning. "Anyways, what's the plan?" Want to look for broadcasting equipment first, or a power source first?"

[Slam]

((Alex King continued from Shit Happens))

Alex hadn't said anything the way over: she was too busy running the numbers of the plan in her head. There definitely wouldn't be any power leftover, but if she could just get enough juice into any equipment still there, then hopefully that would be enough to get a message out to the military or anyone else listening. What would happen after that was as good a guess as any, but fuck if she was going to just sit around looking at that tower and twiddling her thumbs in the goddamn sunshine when she had an actual hope of escaping.

"Broadcasting equipment. We can't do shit without power running to it, but why the fuck should we waste time trying to get it running when we don't even know what we have to work with?" She didn't look at Cassandra as she spoke to her, instead looking towards the door to the building's staircase, and the elevator next to it.

She pushed the call button on the elevator, but of course there was no response, confirming what she already knew. It still pissed her off though, as now she had all those stairs to look forward to.

"Come on." She called back to Cassandra, heading through the doors to the stairs and making her ascent.

[BROseidon†]

Stairs. Those were just about the last thing Cassandra wanted to see right then. Alex had just about confirmed that there was no electricity in this place, so they would be walking to the top. Oh well, she could lighten her load once they reached the top.

She followed Alex up the stairs. Considering how badly she'd been coughing before, Alex was doing a decent job pushing her way up the stairwell. She must have been excited about the prospect of there maybe being broadcast equipment. Cassandra was excited about it, too, despite her constant skepticism. She did her best to keep up, but she was tiring out quickly. Years of physical complacency were quickly catching up to her; maybe she should have actually played a sport.

The pair reached the top of the stairs, and they were greeted by an empty room. The desks that surrounded the room were all empty, the computers once there having been removed by the terrorists. The barren sight caused Cassandra to feel a little empty inside.

"Well, damn," she said. She dropped her two bags, which landed with a soft thud. "This looks bust. Let's at least look around and see if they left anything."

[Slam]

The hike up the stairs was hard, but Alex was far too focused to let it slow her down any more than her crappy endurance already did. The plan had a few holes in it, sure, but it could actually fucking work, and then she'd be off this shit hole before the sun even set on the first day.

When she saw the threadbare room, however, she was honest to god shocked.

Her face screwed up, even more blood rushing to her face that was already flushed from the climb up. She clenched her hands into fists, grating her teeth against each other as she looked around the barren room.

"Shit!" she shouted, oblivious to Cassandra's lax attitude about the matter. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

She was grabbing her head in her hand and shaking it back and forth in disbelief, collapsing to her knees and staring at the floor. This wasn't meant to happen, not at all! She had a plan! It was a simple plan, and there were loads of kinks to work out, but fuck it she had a plan! That was better than probably half of the fucktards running around the island who were getting ready to plug their own or somebody else's or her head in with a bullet! But there she was, staring at the empty room that gave her unbreakable plan the middle finger just by being empty.

"God fucking damn it!" she kept shouting, pounding the floor. The fact that her plan had fallen apart was one thing, but what stung even more was that it had fallen apart due to something so goddamn simple that she should've seen it coming a mile off.

[BROseidon†]

Cassandra did not really know how to respond to Alex's meltdown. Being comforting was probably not the best approach here; Alex would not take kindly to, "Oh, yes, it's okay that the terrorists removed the equipment that could have saved us. Everything will be fine." The reality was that nothing would be fine. The little hope that the broadcasting tower had given them was utterly crushed.

Cassandra was quickly growing irritated herself, though. Alex's breakdown was juvenile. Yes, she had a right to be upset. They all were upset. None of them could have expected that their class trip was going to get highjacked by a group of terrorists asking them to kill each other. What Alex could have expected, and should have expected, was that once the terrorists did abduct them and put them on an island, that they would remove anything that could be used against them. Like radio equipment.

"Look, Alex. Were you really expecting them not to have taken the stuff? Like, hoping for a long shot is fine and all. Hell, I was hoping they'd fucked up, but these guys organized an abduction of over a hundred fifty people. They probably combed the island for shit that could be used for an escape."

Cassandra paused for a second to try to collect herself. She did not want to lose her temper; her temper could cost her gravely now.

"We are no worse off than we were ten minutes ago. Might as well try to do things that will help towards the goal of not dying, right?"

[Slam]

Oh, here we go. Here we fucking go.

"Wow, Cassandra, where the fuck was this ten minutes ago? I didn't hear you mention any of this on the way over!"

Alex was back on her feet now, and her shouting was aimed squarely at Cassandra's face. Her throat was beginning to burn again, but it did little to deter her from shoving Cassandra's 'I told you so' back in her face.

"Because, fuck, I had totally thought of that too! I just came up here to see the fucking sunshine, but I didn't want to say anything, you know?!" Jesus Christ, she had to put up with this shit again in the best fucking place. If there was one thing in this world she hated (and there were a lot of things that Alex hated), people bragging about hindsight as if they were a goddamn psychic were right up there with everything else.

"But no, really, you pointing out the fucking obvious now that we can all see it just makes my life so much easier! Thanks for telling me things that I just couldn't fucking figure out on my own!"

At that point, her throat was failing her again. She wanted to shout more at Cassandra, but it fell victim to more choking of her hoarse voice box. She scrunched her face and gripped her throat again, as she swapped her screaming back from vocal to mental.

[BROseidon†]

Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm not pointing out the obvious now to make life easier. I'm pointing it out to try to get you to calm the fuck down, because your reaction was pretty terrible. Most people don't freak out when they see something they expect." Cassandra's voice was growing sterner. Louder. More assertive. But Cassandra was not yelling. Not yet, at least.

Alex was starting to wear thin on Cassandra's nerves. Whenever she said anything the other girl did not like, she got screaming right back at her face. It was tiring. They were about to die anyways. There was not much they could really do about it. Maybe they would get rescued, but that was a long shot. They were dead. What was the point of yelling, of wasting energy?

If this is what Cassandra could expect for the next several days, maybe she should have just left. However, Alex was not killing her. She could not guarantee the same for anyone else that she would run into from this point forward. That was enough to keep Cassandra nearby.

"The broadcasting tower was bust, but maybe the terrorists missed something. Maybe we get rescued anyways. Probably not. We are probably dead, but we might as well still hope, right? Negativity can only make things worse. Now if you would stop yelling and have yourself another drink, we can see if there is anything around for us to scavenge."

Hopefully Alex would calm down. Cassandra was getting close to yelling herself.

[Jilly]

((Megan Emerson continued from: The Despair Game))

After what seemed like forever, the pair that made up Bella Strong and Megan Emerson finally made it to the airstrip's control tower. It was going to be a stretch, but maybe...just maybe, they could find a radio, or maybe one of their friends, or maybe even something that would help them defend themselves more than with prop blood. Megan had no clue what to expect...just something, really. Anything, as long as "anything" was anything but...well, yeah.

Megan led the way into the tower, closing the door after Bella went through. It looked like the building had no power, which made sense considering the state of what was left of the airplanes here. She pushed the call button on the elevator to be sure, but nothing happened. Just great.

Megan scratched her forehead. "This elevator's not going up anytime soon." She looked towards the doors that went into the stairwell. "We'll have to take the stairs if we want to get anywhere." Megan swallowed spit at the thought.

"Well..." she said with a heavy sigh, "no time like the present. Let's do this, Bella." With those words, Megan reluctantly began the long ascent to whatever was above.

[Sansa]

((Mirabella Strong continued from The Despair Game))

One of the things Bella had disliked about high school was climbing the stairs between classes. Years of dancing and swimming lessened the strain on her legs, but ascending the steps had always been annoying to her; they were a strenuous exercise for students frazzled over assignments or trying to get to class before the teacher barked at them. She'd gotten used to it after a while, hardly noticing it, but when she faced the metallic steps that was their only way of reaching the upper floors of the control tower, she was reminded of them again.

The place was so sterile, so clean. It was unsettling, to think that an island that'd be soom drenched in blood could have a place so spotless on it. Megan's outer sigh as she began to climb the stairwell mirrored Bella's inner one. They'd have to find something here, surely? Be it a friendly face, or even extra materials like food or paper.

"This seems like a safe enough place," she said, clambering up the stairs as gracefully as she could, her bags swinging as she did so. "If there aren't any trigger-happy people in the area then we should be safe for a little while at least."

[Slam]

"Okay, seriously. 'We're probably dead, but negativity can't help'? Fuck you, just fuck you."

Alex's throat was still burning, but it was the least of her concerns. Cassandra was already a retard, but now she was a retard on a high horse. If she had any strength left in her throat, she would've told her to fuck off a lot more royally than she already had done, but for now flipping her off as she walked across the room would have to do.

Still rubbing her throat, she stared out the window of the tower, mind working again. Signalling was a bust, or at least they weren't going to find anything in here: the terrorists may be assholes, but she doubted they would just skimp around searching a room like this. If that was true they'd be really retarded assholes, and she could never accept being kidnapped by someone like that. No, regardless of whatever Cassandra hoped to find in the room, it was time for a new plan, one that wouldn't be so easy to screw up.

What was she supposed to do about Cassandra, though? Well, it wasn't really a question of what she should do; it was just a matter of whether she could leave her to soak in her own retard juices. On one hand, she really could use another set of hands if any heavy lifting came up. Cassandra may not have looked like much, but better to have her do the grunt work than have to do it herself. On the other hand, she was annoying as balls. Both were valid concerns.

She had to get a new plan in motion: I would be easier to decide how much she needed Cassandra then. She reached into her bag, grabbing another gulp of water before pulling out her map, getting the lay of the land, looking for any weaknesses in the terrorists' master plan.

[BROseidon†]

"Well fuck you too!" Cassandra was yelling. She'd had enough of Alex. Enough of her and her shitty attitude. Enough of her being hyper-angsty and upset and just generally being a whiny bitch.

"We are going to fucking die out here. You know that, I know that, there is no reason for us to skirt the issue. But we do have the choice about how we spend our final days. And I do not need to spend it with someone who is going to make everything worse!"

Cassandra did not need to be there. She could leave. She could wander the island alone and wait for some psycho to find her and shoot a hole through her. Or something. Cassandra did not really want to think about the details of her demise.

She picked up her bags and opened the door to the stairwell. Footsteps. Voices. People. It was faint, but Cassandra could just barely hear them. Alex was not killing her. They might.

Cassandra quickly closed the door as gently as she could. Not that it mattered, they probably heard her yelling, but maybe they had not. She dropped her bags and unzipped the black duffle. She dug around until she found the kama, which she pulled out and held in her right hand.

"People are coming."

[Jilly]

"Yeah..." was the only response Megan could verbalize. Using the traffic control tower as a hideout actually was a very smart idea. Since the elevator doesn't work, probably the only way to reach the top would be to use the stairs like they were doing now. No one would just stumble here and climb these stairs without at least some sort of motive. Plus, with the windows, they could scout the area and know when people are approaching.

That one word was all she could muster out, though, as her breathing became heavy. If there was any day where Megan wished she had taken gym class more seriously, it would be today. It might have been less strenuous if she weren't carrying two bags, but whatever.

As the pair got closer to the top, Megan slowed down to a stop. She muffled her mouth with her hand to get the least amount of auditory interference and, lo and behold, there were human voices coming from above. Really dampened voices, but they were unmistakable.

"Did you hear that?" Megan whispered to Bella as Megan started walking at a slower pace. "I don't think we're gonna be alone."

[Sansa]

Bella overtook Megan by a few steps before stopping and turning towards the other girl as she caught her breath. She nodded as Megan whispered to her. So there are actual people up there. Well, at least I'm not hallucinating yet.

"And they were shouting as well...although that's somewhat understandable - this isn't the most stress-free of situations, so it doesn't necessarily mean that they're antagonistic. Maybe we should be a little extra-cautious."

She stepped forward and extended a hand to the other girl to help her up the next few steps.

"I...I still think we should check it out. But...I guess it wouldn't do to go barging in there," Bella took another step forward, and cupped her hands to her mouth. He voice was heightened in volume, but not so much that she was shouting her next words.

"Hello? We know you're in there, and we promise you that we mean no harm. It's Mirabella Strong, and I've got Megan Emerson with me. We were thinking of hiding out in the tower, and if it's alright with you, could making allies be a possibility?"

Bella knew the second she finished that she'd done everything wrong. She'd just failed her own advice, she hadn't even consulted Megan as to what she was going to do next, and her words had been so...uneloquent. She didn't even know who the voices belonged to - female, she thought, but you could never be too sure. Her thoughts flashed to the pill bottles in her bag. How long had they been knocked out, exactly? She crossed her fingers and closed her eyes, praying that whatever she'd just done would not lead to a bullet in either Megan's head or her own.

[Slam]

Cassandra was contradicting herself faster than a US Senator. All her criticism of Alex's negativity followed straight up with announcing how they were all going to die, just because a bunch of terrorists stole an airplane, put bombs around their neck and told everyone that they'd die if they didn't start killing? Alex would've laughed at it, if it wasn't so goddamn annoying.

Alex had read her share of psychology pages on Wikipedia during the lonely hours spent staring at her laptop screen. Milgram, Zimbardwo, stuff like that about how everyone would kill each other just because someone told them to. She'd never bought into that sort of thing, or indeed, psychology in general. People were their own people, and didn't all act the same way just because some artificial situations said they do. By all inner city statistics, she should've been some drug popping junkie who was in a gang and cutting up bluds.

Whatever Cassandra thought was going to happen, be that mass murder or whatever, she didn't buy into it. People were going to do things their own way and, as much as everyone at Aurora sucked, she didn't know many who'd out and out murder. Of course, she still planned on doing things her own way too, and she was going to get the fuck out of there ASAP.

Cassandra could talk all she wanted about leaving, anyway. If she did, then Alex just wouldn't have to decide for herself if she needed to keep her around or not, and that'd save her one more headache. If she decided to stay, then she could just laugh at how she kept contradicting herself. It had suddenly become a win-win situation, which, given the circumstances, was about due.

She was looking over the map on the ground again, an idea taking shape in her brain, when she heard Cassandra calling back about the incoming strangers.

Shit; she wasn't prepared for that.

She grabbed her knife out of her pocket, getting back to her feet and staring at the door. Bella called back through the door, but she didn't buy into it. Cassandra wasn't meant to be there in the first place, she was just putting up with it because she couldn't be bothered to get rid of her. Letting more people in would only be more people to put up with.

"Don't let them in, we don't need company."

[BROseidon†]

Cassandra did not know either girl well; she did not even recognize Megan's name. Mirabella she had had a few classes with. The girl always seemed nice enough, but how much did that count for out here? They could be armed and dangerous and ready to kill. They could have been coming from the mangled corpse of someone that they had just killed.

Or they could be more pleasant company than Alex.

Alex had already made up her mind, but Cassandra was less sure. Then again, Alex was not killing her. They might.

"Um, sorry. We don't need company right now. Go find somewhere else to hide." As she was saying this, she realized that she had not actually given them a reason not to come in. If either of them had a gun, they could just force their way in past Cassandra and Alex's blades.

"I have a gun pointing at the door right now. If I see it open, I shoot."

It was a shitty bluff, but it was something. Only an idiot would think about entering. Cassandra quietly stepped forward so she could slash at any guns she saw.

It would have helped to know that bullets can penetrate wood.