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Alec thought he was about to pass out when he saw the duplexes peek from amongst the dense jungle walls, whether from relief or exhaustion from hiking and holding up the weakened girl. His head spun with worry, embarassment and anticipation as they climbed the stairs, each wince or cry from Kikue made him sick to his stomach to hear.

"Almost theh." He grimaced when she dropped her key, indicative of her poor state. "Aye, don't worreh 'bout i', ekay?" He replied in a kittery tone, fighting with his own shakey hands to open her door for her. Once he'd been successful, he gingerly brought her inside and towards her bed. Lying down would help.

"Sleep i' off." He instructed, with the only know-how he possessed. "an' mehbeh take a showeh t'cool off?" The irish teen looked back at Joli for somesort of affirming nod or support. "'Am Alec. 'Am in forteh-woon, Joli's in... twenteh.... tw-twenteh fav. Call if ye need 'elp." With all his nerves he'd nearly forgotten, but managed to muster his memory to remember Joli's duplex number.

Whether she was a new subject or not, Alec didn't care. He treated her as he would anyone else he felt responsible for, unable to think of any way else to help. He'd never rushed out of a room so fast as he exited her duplex straight past Joli and down the steps, heading for a nearby tree to sit underneath.

New RP

With an audible crack, Zach slammed his left hand, claws out wide, into the ground. A bulky lizard that had been zipping away from him was now impaled in three places, and as it bled its moving slowed to a standstill. He eyed the creature with hunger. This called for a lunch break.

He squeezed his eyes shut before he got started, not wanting to have to look at his meal. For the sake of some smoldering remains of decency - and the fact that it probably wouldn't all fit in his mouth at once - he chose to eat the lizard in several bites rather than one. Swallowing things whole was not pleasant, especially when his meals weren't as dead as he thought they were. It was uncomfortable. Faced with the possibility of starving to death, he'd let his instincts drive him toward whatever was edible. This list included, but was not limited to, lizards, rabbits, mice, and large insects.

He wasn't paying a lot of attention to the area around him. The part of the island he was on seemed to be very isolated, but he wasn't about to complain. He didn't really have much to do with the other islanders anyhow.

Zach heard footsteps, odd sounding ones, and quickly crammed the last of the lizard's tail into his mouth to finish off. While he chewed, he listened more closely. There seemed to be a third sound, the strike of a pole maybe. Or a crutch. His breath caught in his throat at the thought. Was the deranged snake-man back again? He didn't have his knives ready! He couldn't protect himself until he'd sharpened his salvaged deer bones into working blades.

He glanced over his shoulder with wide eyes, his muscles readying for a bounding run toward the jungle and its safe, safe trees. He was expecting a yellow and black thing to be springing at him, but instead all he saw was the lucid old man from a week before. Alone. No sign of the human cobra about him. He sighed with relief and turned the rest of his body around as he stood up. This guy was okay. Unlike most of the people on the island, last Zach had seen of him he hadn't been a resentful or bitter person.

"Oh, hey... Sssid, right?" he called back, tail making slow sweeps of the rock. A question nagged at him. "Um... what are you doing out here?"

Zach raised nonexistant eyebrows, noting the strange undertone to the older man's voice. He'd only assumed one could get lost between the village and this barren little spot. Looks like it was more than possible now. "Lossst, huh? I'd point you in the right direction if I knew it. The only thing I can sssee that looksss familiar is the mountain back there." He jerked a thumb toward the inactive volcano that peeked out from above the jungle. "Probably bessst if you follow that back."

Zach jumped backward a little when Sid started to lean. Every sudden movement looked threatening to his animal half. The lull in talking made things very awkward, so he glanced over the guy again to see if there was something he'd missed. Sid's face looked awfully red for a regular human's. "Are you feeling okay?" He forcefully pushed away notions that Sid was a wounded animal, perfect prey.

"Maybe you should sssit down? Here isss as good a placsse as any. Thisss weather isssn't good for walking." It wouldn't do to let Sid out of his sight now. Who knows what he could do if Zach looked away, even for a moment? crack his head clean open with that cane, most likely. He couldn't shake his suspicions, but he tried to be as hospitable as he could to the older guy. His eyes stayed mainly on the cane.

"Guesss I forgot to mention that before. Jussst about everything here is ******** up one way or another. You'll get usssed to it, eventually." Zach smiled bitterly.

"Wait... what?" Sid's last statement was far too shocking for him to take it all in at once. His brain rewound the statement in memory and re-listened, but still could not grasp it. Perhaps he'd misheard. Yes, that was it. Ear-holes on their own just weren't the same as ears.

Rabbit? Wolf? He hadn't met any rabbit islanders before, and the only wolf he'd ever seen was Ambrose. There was no significance to the 'who' aspect of Sid's story. Even pushing that aside, he just had to know more. How? How could the labs have made such a slip-up? There had never been a death before, which was one of the few comforts he had. Over and over he formulated that the rabbit may have been first, but he was next.

His expression implored Sid to continue as much as it screamed to have him take back what he'd said and never mention it again. It was unbelievable. He struggled for words. "And they- they didn't zap her?"

Zach joined Sid in sitting, though he stayed a good couple of feet away all the same. It hadn't hit him fully yet. That would come with reflection, alone where he had no one to discuss it with. "Zap. Yeah. There'sss... there'sss chipsss, back here..." With a shaky hand he pointed to the back of his neck, which was dominated by a large spiky ridge running down his spine. "They're the only thing that ssstands between usss and... and killing people. Or ssso I thought."

It wasn't like he could forget the accusations that he'd been the one who'd nearly killed Aubrey. Over time he'd gathered the story. The power was out and the chips had stopped working. Every time he'd nearly been killed, or almost killed others, it had been only a zapping that had intervened. He fidgeted a little and kept listening, though his eyes got wider and wider with each word Sid said. His mouth hung open - there was nothing he could say.

This was not possible. Not possible at all. It was disgusting. Disturbing. Horrifying. A death, murder, on the island... it seemed to make no sense at all. And yet, this man would not lie to him. What good would it do? He would never have been able to make something like that up. Because, simply enough, nothing had ever happened like this before. And this was to another islander, on top of everything.

"No more chip... she could kill anyone. Anyone." There was a nagging detail which set off every paranoid thought he'd had. The wolf clawed her own chip out. Unthinkable! Were they insane? The outcome was exactly what one could expect. For all the carnivores, predators, and others whose instincts told them to kill and kill again... the chips were their humanity.

This was getting him wound up. Zach heard a low growl. It took him several seconds to realize it was coming from himself. While he'd been lost in thought he'd started baring his teeth at Sid, and making the odd noise reminescant of a big cat. The lizard in him understood that there was no safety now, not with a de-chipped wolf girl running loose. He itched to run away, back to his cave, where it was dark and small and safe. He could work on his bone knives and protect himself. What had been suspicion before was now undeniable fact. It would be unspeakable carnage from one end of the island to the other. Death would take them all.

There was only one thing he could say to Sid. "I don't believe this."