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Alpha Nine shook A-Eleven's hand and grinned. It was always good to make new friends; everyone here was so stressed and quarrelsome. Like Alpha One. The guy may be cool, doing the noble leader thing and all, but he was so grumpy.

Okay, yeah, waking up in a strange place with no memory; getting cryptic texts about how everyone was going to die save for but thirteen people; and that doom pony monster thing (whatever that was) -- maybe he had reason to be grumpy, she supposed, now that she really thought about it.

But still, it wasn't all bad.

Nine's train of thought was derailed by A-Eleven' sudden gasp. She turned to see what the other woman was looking at and winced at Fiver's slumping lifeless form. "Oh, that can't be good." she said.

She nodded to A-Eleven's comment. "Yep. Probably will only get crazier too." She frowned at Fiver's body. "Poor dude." She gave A-Eleven a wry smile which was lost behind her mask. "But maybe he's the lucky one."

She shrugged. "That horse thing only has one pendant. Any bets how long it'll be before everyone starts killing over that too?"

She bent and picked up a small stick of driftwood and began idly scratching abstract doodles into the wet sand. "I wonder if they'll bury him?"

The sudden grip around her arm forced Zeta Eight to stop where she was, her head snapping in Alpha Seven's direction, glancing down at the hand on her arm before lifting it to his mask. He couldn't see it, but there was likely a mildly questioning look in her eyes as she stared, perhaps the quirk of a delicate eyebrow that did not match the ice in her gaze. She didn't move towards nor away when he bent down closer, merely tilting her head so that the muzzle portion of his mask was near her ear, the distorted whisper so soft only she could hear it.

'We need to talk.'

The change in her demeanor would not have been noticeable to any who weren't looking for it. She didn't tense, nor look around as any paranoid person might do, especially given the situation. But Zeta Eight hadn't been reacting as a 'normal' person would have regardless. Breathing in slowly through her mask, her breath crackled as she did so, exhaling just as evenly.

"Agreed."

Z9 could only watch as the one branded A5 fell to the ground. Dead. Just like that.

She frowned behind her mask - this was crazy. And yet that... thing wanted more blood! Z9 was sure she wasnt built for this. A person can only take so much, and if this continued she may just have a breakdown.

Nine looked at the beast and shouted defiantly. "And how many more will we have to kill after this!? Who knows you're not just lying again. And anyway, you know just what will happen when we get this pendant: How the HELL do we decide just who gets it?" She let out a short, bitter laugh. "More bloodshed for you I guess. It makes no difference to you what happens..."

The zeta member sighed. She had been told she had, but could she really have possibly signed up out of free will for this?

Alpha Eleven stood, trying not to look at the body or the dragon-horse thing. Her insides felt twisted, she didn't know what to do. I don't want to die, but I don't want to kill anyone. What would happen now?

"Maybe he's the lucky one." That's what Alpha Nine had said. Alpha Eleven let that sink in. Perhaps she was right.
"It'll get a lot worse before it get's better," she nodded in agreement with A-Nine. "I don't know if we'll have time to bury him or anything..." she finished in a whisper, glancing at the giant creature before them.

That was when it spoke again.

The pit in her stomach grew at its words. Another. It wants more. The members of the other team began shouting the same thoughts she was having. It's going to keep asking.

Between the grief, numbness and fear growing inside her, a new emotion began to rise. Anger.

"It's going to keep asking. Until there is no one left. It wants us all dead. It is playing with us."

It had gone quickly, far too quickly, and now A-Five was down. Dead. Jesus. Dead, the guy was really dead. A-One felt sick. He hadn't eaten in - how long? Was there even anything in his stomach to throw up, mask aside? Why was he thinking about this? A-Five was dead, and the abstract knowledge of the thing hadn't even touched the reality.

At least now the test was over, and the horse would leave; A-One took a breath, shoving down the sense of rising nausea, and started to turn to A-Eight; they could at least patch up the - the survivors -

His head snapped around and he stared at the horse.

How could he have been this naive? Was that the kind of guy he was? Of course it wasn't ******** satisfied. Why hadn't he guessed that from the messages? This was some kind of sick, sadistic game, and it just figured that the rules would change in the ******** that. Plan B. A-One walked over to the goddamned horse with long, measured strides, and socked it in the leg, that being the only part he could really reach. So much for logical discussion.

(( A1 attacking the Death Pony.

Weapon: Melee
Damage to self: 0
Damage to opponent: 0 emotion_awesome
HP: 30 ))

Huh. Zeta Eleven had long ago let the gun fall to his side, simply watching the proceedings, studying them, both surprised and not surprised. So the big horses could talk. Creatures that were twenty-feet tall when they weren’t supposed to be could be expected to do unexpected things. So the already delicate alliance holding the group together shattered at the first sign of trouble. With this crack team of soldiers? Shocking! And one of them had actually died. Big ******** d-

Oh. Wait. He really was dead. They had killed someone. The first blood spilled. No longer of the living. Shed his mortal coil. He wasn’t breathing. Eleven tried desperately to rationalize the sickening emotions welling up in his chest, but no matter how many times he told himself that this was the point, that twenty was seven more than thirteen, that he didn’t even know the guy, he could not keep himself from staring at the lifeless body collapsed in the sand.

Until the horse spoke again. Gaze finally lifted from Alpha Five’s corpse, regarding the beast with dull eyes no one could see. Oh. They couldn’t trust the monster. Surprising.

“I…”

An opinion lingered on Eleven’s tongue, but didn’t move past his lips. Keeping one’s mouth shut was proving an immensely effective strategy. It seemed as if everyone who had the bright idea of sharing what was on their mind got a mace to the head… or a dagger or a fist or a … nun chuck? Really? Okay.

But, still, the facts were overwhelming. Cold, hard, wonderful facts. They had offered their sacrifice. The horse hadn’t made good on its deal. Therefore, it could not be expected to make good on any deal. Sweet, sweet logic. Everyone had to have realized this, and if they didn’t, Eleven felt himself unable to keep from making it known.

“… disagree.” He lifted his hand, aimed at the horse, and missed completely. Gun’s recoil was too much for his already unsteady arm, and sent bullet veering wildly away from his intended target. His one-liners still weren’t cool enough, apparently, but at least he had made his position on the matter of another sacrifice known. Nay!


Weapon being used: Gun! Pew pew!
Total damage to self: 0 HP
Total damage to Mr. Boss Man: 0 HP
Total HP value left: 30

"Of course it's just playing with us." Alpha Nine said to A-Eleven. "It's a giant death pony thing, it can do whatever it wants." She hunched down and continued doodling in the sand, watching as the waves crept up and washed away part of her drawing. "Hn." She tossed the stick aside.

There was movement a little further down the beach. "Uh oh, it looks like our fearless leader finally snapped." She watched Alpha One attack and chuckled, though there wasn't any mirth in the sound. "Did he really just punch it in the leg? Wow."

There were other people moving now, all seeming to have snapped out of the shock of Fiver's death at the giant pony's words, Nine supposed. A couple of the Zeta team were rushing up to attack the after Alpha One. Nine got up and dusted the sand off her pants. She shifted from foot to foot for a moment before coming to a decision. "Well, it's stupid, but may as well. I'd rather choose my own death than get back-stabbed or clubbed in the head, anyway." She pulled her stake out of her bag and clapped A-Eleven on the shoulder in a friendly sort of way. "Sorry, excuse me a moment."

Alpha Nine ran down the beach towards the pony. "Ahhhh!" She yelled and flailed about, kicking up sand as she went. She closed her eyes and jabbed out with her stake. Amazingly, she somehow managed not only to hit the pony in the leg, but not hurt herself in the process. "Huh," she said, taking a couple quick steps back. "That went better than I expected."

She turned around and called out to no one in particular. "Hey did you see?! I hit it! Yay!"

Weapon being used: Stake
Total damage to self: 0 HP
Total damage to opponent: 3 HP
Total HP value left: 30

Z9 is hit by flames. Hp: 13

This was insane. She helplessly watched with wide eyes as the enraged creature spilled flames around like a crimson torrent, scorching everyone. Z9 cried out in pain as the burning hit her, the armour of her uniform doing nothing.

s**t. What the hell were they supposed to do? Could they really trust this horse and murder another? Was there even a chance of them possibly defeating it?

And even if they did make this sacrafice and please the beast, it once again came back to the issue of who would even get the pendant. They would end up slaughtering each other out of fear and desperation.

It was hopeless. The situation was lose/lose either way. Nine could feel her legs beginning to shake underneath her, threating to give way any moment. She was losing health and strength fast. Her whole body hurt and the zeta member just wanted to lie down and give it up.

"Goddammit..." She growled through gritted teeth.

Her phone suddenly buzzed. Fumbling madly to get it out, she was dismayed to find it was not another hint. It simply referred to Deltas and Thetas (so there were even more teams?) and some sort of cove. Sighing, she put it away and returned back to the situation at hand.