Survival 101 - (Lost Game and Traitors)

Survival 101 - Lost Game and Traitors
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 7

Alice seemed to take quite a while getting dressed downstairs, but as she came back to enter the conversation about what had just happened with Miguel, neither Ryan nor Damien commented on it. Either that or they truly had not noticed she had been gone for quite longer then she should have been. Nevertheless, despite the situation, she seemed nearly radiant, if not happy, with a soft smile crossing her lips.

It was not very long until Miguel himself showed up, passing the team and sitting on a random chair. Alice was not very surprised to see he had escaped his bounds, and neither did his two packmates, who knew him quite well. Miguel looked exhausted, but whatever injuries he had suffered seemed to have either disappeared or did not bother him at all. Only Alice was staring at him as if waiting for something, or was it just another lustful gaze she was throwing at him?

Little was said - although the mention of Miguel's death rage did steer him a bit - until Miguel sprung from his seat as if he had been stabbed from under. His hands roamed through his pockets in what seemed like sheer panic. Alice raised an eyebrow, looking at him questioningly, but also observing his movements. Damien and Ryan looked at him oddly, even came to ask what was wrong, but Miguel was already gone, running downstairs. The woman, with her hands behind her back, watched him run downstairs in a hurry. A look of mischief and amusement went through her, having a good idea why Miguel had become so suddenly agitated. Without a word, Miguel ran back upstairs and outside... then back inside and up into his room. Still, the woman followed his running with sheer interest, while the other men wondered what had gotten to Miguel like so. The fear of having him go into Death Rage once more came to mind as well.

"Who went into my room?!", Miguel's enraged voice echoed from up the stairs.

Alice walked forward, not intimidated by the man's anger at all, and even smiled as she told him nothing but the truth: she had gone into his room, yes. She had also gone into Ryan's room, and had also put Mike's room upside down to look for a decent weapon to save her life and probably those of that very pack. She made sure to remind him how he had gone into Death Rage, and as she did so, that damned grin, the same she had used on Killy a little while back, radiated on her pretty features. But that seemed to irritate Miguel that much more as he clearly believed she was lying and trying to look good in front of his packmates. He accused her of looking through his journal next. Oh, she had, that she had, but had found nothing of interest. She shrugged it off, saying she had had little interest in his boyish fantasies while her life had been at stake.

Perhaps it was Damien's intervention that changed Miguel's mind when he went up the stairs with heavy and angry steps.

He trailed the Irraka back to his room, finding him to be even more furious about the situation. Killy's family picture had vanished from his pockets! Alice had gone through his things! What if she had found a way to read his journal? He knew Killy had come back to the get his precious photograph, but who could have given its location away? Well, with Mike gone again, Miguel's rage came to such a point he believed he had been the one to let Killy know Miguel was holding onto the picture. And why the hell not? Why wouldn't he let the Cahalith know of it, if it were not just to sit back and enjoy seeing someone struggle again? Because Mike seemed to enjoy that so much that, in the end, it had cost Miguel and Killy near brotherhood to come to an abrupt end.

"He's dead! If I find him first, he's dead! I'll slash his chest and slit his throat myself", Miguel raged about how he would get to Mike, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! In fact... I don't think I can trust any of you anymore!"

Damien's own rageous, deep voice cut him in his tracks, stepping forward and hard on the wooden floor, "Why is it that whenever someone disapears they immediatly become traitors?!"

Miguel glared at him through half closed eyelids, opening his mouth to spat back at his packmate. Damien rose his large hands in front of Miguel to hush him before he would go on, then Damien pointed at Miguel's left side, asking him what it was. Though Miguel attempted to argue how ridiculous the Blood Talon was being, Damien still repeated himself, this time raising his voice a notch, pointing at Miguel's left side once again. When Miguel answered it was a sword he held in its shakle to the left, Damien pointed to Miguel's right, to his second sword. When Miguel agreed it was there, his voice lowered slightly.

"Well both of those were in ME!", Damien exclaimed, "I don't care if you don't remember it, because I sure do! Now, you wanna stop associating me with traitors? Because the list seems to be growing."

And to that, Miguel said nothing, lowering his head with shame and understanding, but still keeping his eyecontact with Damien nevertheless. There was still a bit of pride left to Miguel after all, and he was not about to be fully defeated yet. He would hold to his beliefs strongly, his hatred for what he believed Mike had done never leaving his eyes. Although he saw Damien's point clearly, doubts about his packmates were still present, and were not about to leave anytime soon.

Damien shook his head, sighing heavily. If that had not been enough to reason with Miguel, then nothing was going to work. Damien had probably had enough of Miguel's behaviour up to that point, and the fact that he had gone into Death Rage and attacked his own packmates had also ticked him off. It had not been Miguel's fault, obviously, but he could still feel the cold steel of the blades deep in his chest... and that, he enjoyed no more then bullets.

He then went back downstairs where Ryan and Alice were still patiently waiting.... Alice was still smiling with mischeaf, but since she seemed to do that often, there were no questions asked.

Eventually, Miguel followed back downstairs without so much of a word, his features cold as ice. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, and watched the rest of them talk about the trip to the forest, the newspaper, and eventually, how they could not leave without Mike.

And all the while, Alice looked at Miguel with that same, sinful, mischeavous and lust filled smile...


To be continued....