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She's dead. The thought rang endlessly in Gaius's head, bouncing around as it multiplied, taking everything over. She's dead she's dead she's dead...

Outwardly, Gaius's face was blank, staring past both Nita and Newt. How... How did this happen? Why hadn't the labs been there? Couldn't they see everything?

Sabin had been there.

Gaius shook himself out of his thoughts, noticing the green guy for the first time. He looked positively shaken, but Gaius's first concern was the girl beside him. She's spoken their names... From that much, he could gather she had known them.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I'm sorry." It was all he could offer her.

Under the circumstances, Nita was hardly about to notice something as trivial as Newt's wet pants. The smell and sight of the path was suddenly too much for her; Nita leapt to her feet and threw up in the bushes so recently inhabited by Newt.

She stumbled a few feet and sat down in the grass, out of the immediate presence of too many bodily emissions. "Ugh," she choked, scrubbing at her face. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she buried her face in her knees and wept, choking and shuddering.

"Th-they are, th-they are.... th-they are but they didn't st-stop him..." Newt murmured, his already weak voice wavering even worse. He watched them both uselessly, arms hugging eachother- despite the fact he often felt hot and chafed in his clothing, right then he felt cold. Horribly cold. He wanted to go hide in his muddy bathtub.

Gaius's stomach clenched as he turned wide-eyes on Nita. "They were friends?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He didn't need to. Her face had told him enough. His fists clenched, tendons showing out against skin as horror turned to anger.

"They... The labs... Didn't stop them. They didn't stop this, when they were the ones who started it!" He raised his head to glare up the road, nostrils flaring in an angry snort. "The wolf... Annie... Didn't kill Fee. Moreau killed her. Moreau killed Fee." He spoke with finality. This was Moreau's doing. Yes. Moreau had taken away their humanity, turned them into animals. He'd seen the mess that called himself Billy, had seen a girl cannibalize her best friend. It terrified him to the point of fury. Would he be next? Would he turn on Marshall? On Antony? He couldn't believe it was Annie's own behavior that had led to this. It was too horrible for him to handle.

"It's his fault."

Replaying.

The crunch of bones and muscles.

A buzzing.

Too much blood.

"I.. I think they tried to stop her," Nita said, remembering in spite of herself. She reached up to touch the base of her neck. "Annie tore her own chip out."

Her hand fell into her lap; she stared at it, unseeing, clearly in shock. Nita gulped. "She tore the chip out and killed Fee."

Newt sat in a more humanish position- far more human than he had thought himself capable for months now, and gently fidgeted with the patch in question. It had gotten dirty, so dirty like the rest of his jumpers... but no blood.. hopefully there never would be blood. Snakes- Thom... he remembered feeling so terrified- everytime he had seen Cassie... but they seemed nice, but what if they suddenly grew hungry for frog? What if with the next change he could be next? Or anyone? The labs should have known- did they even care? His enormous eyes glistened with tears, dribbling down his sallow, skinny, amphibious face.

Gaius's resolve finally broke. Oh God, why were they on this island? He'd never realized the full extent of the horror in which he was quickly sinking. Being turned into animal-creatures was one thing, but losing themselves to the point of hunting each other as predator and prey...

He didn't let himself break down, though. He was alone there with a furry girl on the brink of breaking down, and the green fellow was crying his massive eyes out. No, he had to be the strong one. Sucking in his own emotions with a deep breathe, Gaius went over to kneel beside Nita, wrapping his arms around her in an attempt at a comforting hug. "Shhh. Shhh... Take it easy. Deep breaths..."

Glancing up from his position, he looked over at Newt with concerned eyes. "Are you okay, pal?"

Nita's body sagged against Gaius, no longer willing to support itself. She sniffled a few times and wiped her face, which was visibly red and puffy, even through her fur.

"Thanks," she whispered between breaths.

In. Out. In. Hold. Out. Try not to hyperventilate. Slow. Calm.

Pulling away from Gaius, Nita shoved damp tendrils of hair out of her eyes and mouth. Finally pulling herself together enough to pay attention to her surrounding, the red panda girl finally noticed Newt as more than something periphery.

The poor guy was always so nervous, and it was obvious he had also been a witness to the atrocity. Nita tugged his hand to stop his scratching. He'd only hurt himself.