First The Sirens, Then The Lights...

[Aura]

Rhonda fumed on the ground. She could write up a whole list on things and people that she was angry at. The producers were still up there, of course, but now there was whoever that guy that shot Marion was. If it hadn't been for him, then she would still be alive, and they would have had more time to come up with a better plan for the collars instead of just winging it. And on that note, she was kind of mad at them for exactly that. Sure, they didn't have many options, but Marion was still dead because of the route that they had to take.

And she was also angry at herself for not having any better ideas, or having been present to keep Marion from getting shot in the first place.

She lifted herself up on Shoshanna's request and nodded. Marion did her best for them, so they might as well try to give her some dignity about it in the end. Rhonda crawled back over to Marion's body and took a place by her side, but taking one look down sent a shock to her system. Marion's throat was completely torn open from the collar's blast, and the area around it was a bloody, burned mess. She shut her eyes and looked skyward to avoid looking at it, but she had already resigned herself to helping move Marion's body. It was the least she could do to not flake out on it. So she took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Ready when you are." She responded affirmatively.

[Laurels]

The girls were in agreement. Shoshanna nodded, then walked over to Marion's body.

"Okay," she said. "Rhonda and I will lift. Nadine, get the door."

Shoshanna knelt down, and on the count of three, they had the body up.

"God, can't believe we're doing this twice in one day..." she muttered to herself.

As they made their way to the cabin, prepared to place Marion on another hammock, Shoshanna thought about what they had learned today. They learned one way to not remove the collars, but more importantly, they learned just how likely they were to die. Once again, they failed to defend the ship, were unprepared for challenges, and now someone else was dead.

Shoshanna felt her throat start to hurt. She knew escaping was hard in this game, but surviving was proving to be the real challenge.

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk continued in Born to Be Public))

[almostinhuman]

When Shoshanna offered for her and Rhonda to handle moving Marion inside, something akin to relief flickered within Nadine. Regaining her composure was difficult enough without having to touch Marion. Holding the door was just about what she could manage right now. She'd take whatever small mercies she could get.

She briskly moved to the door and pulled it open for the others. She held her breath as they passed, only barely able to bear such close proximity to Marion's limp and bloody form. Nadine could feel her stomach turn as she got another look at her body; even with the low light, she had to turn her head away. Having to be in an enclosed space with her felt suffocating. How they were supposed to sleep at all tonight with two dead bodies sharing the cabin was beyond her.

"Hey, uh, I'll come inside in a bit," she lied. "Don't feel the need to wait up."

Once they were in, she let the door shut behind them. She shuffled back to the edge of the ship, alone with the gentle waves as they glimmered in the dim light of the moon.

(Nadine Flores continued in Born to Be Public)

[Aura]

With a grunt, Rhonda got a tight grip on Marion's body and used her legs to lift her up. There was a natural grossness when it came to carrying a corpse, but Rhonda pushed that out of her mind, almost too easily in her opinion. Was she really starting to get desensitized to being surrounded by dead bodies? She certainly hoped not. However, she did think that just dumping Marion haphazardly on the ground would be a bigger insult than just leaving her lying there, so she swallowed down those uncomfortable feelings in her gut and told herself to keep holding on and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Rhonda had seen too many corpses in the last couple of days. Xander, Giselle, Jasper, and now Marion. Before she got kidnapped, she hadn't seen one since her mom's funeral. Back then she cried, but now she couldn't afford to do anything but acknowledge them and move on. Staying alive wasn't supposed to be this hard, and seeing people die wasn't supposed to be a common occurrence.

Rhonda respectfully placed Marion on one of the hammocks, then sat on the edge of one of the others, awash with stress and intensity. They were just one step from being free, from being able to move as they wished, to even being on the cusp of escape. And it all went away with one horrible screech.

Sometimes the world was a fucked-up, unfair place.

(Rhonda Rollins continued elsewhere...)