The Island of the Slaughtered | TDI AU

Fighting Words

Hey, it's Noah again. Didn't get enough of me or what? Either way, you've heard my spiel already...

Owen forgot DJ's little rule about saving the food, again. You'd think it would have stuck in his brain after he got Sadie killed.

But no.

Oh, do I sound annoyed? Sorry, it's hard not to when you truly become stuck on the island. I'm just filling you in on what you missed, since I'm dead now. Big whoop, we all saw it coming a mile away. The difference is, I'm not letting my story go untold... maybe I realized I wanted to be somebody... or maybe I just realized I owe it to Cody.

There's a lot of people I'm going to blame. In a way, it's all of our faults. A single decision could have saved me, but it didn't. Now I'm dead and there's no way to undo it.

After Owen being stupidly hungry, the next wrong decision was probably the group I decided to stick with. Courtney and Duncan insisted they went alone, but Gwen suggested a couple more people join them. What could go wrong with that? I decided to go since I was now down a book and had nothing better to do, so it wasn't long before Cody volunteered as well.

The four of us ventured into the night, with nothing more than one of Cody's lit matches, since I guess we didn't have a lantern. Though, it was a lot better that we had something since it was practically pitch black. Cody insisted on holding my hand since Duncan was holding Courtney's but I only responded with an eye roll.

After a while, I couldn't help but notice that we had passed by the same bush over and over, which was something all of us should have noticed, given it was the same bush Lindsay had been pushed into when we found her body.

"Duncan, do you even know where you're going?" I tapped Duncan on his shoulder, letting go of Cody's hand so I could.

"What makes you think I don't?" Duncan stopped and turned back defensively. Courtney rolled her eyes at this. "I have a keen sense of-"

"We've passed by the same bush like twenty times now."

"All bushes look the same."

"Not this one..." I grabbed the match from Cody's hand and walked over to the bush, causing the others to follow close behind. You would've thought we knew what was lurking in the dark... "If you look at the way the branches are broken, and, oh, I don't know, take note of the fact that we're near the cliff-diving cliff, you'd know that this is Lindsay's bush. Every time we passed it, I noticed. We're going in a big circle."

"Yeah, whatever nerd..." Duncan rolled his eyes and took the match from me, "You think you could do any better? Whenever you're walking in the group, your nose is shoved somewhere else."

"He has a point, Duncan." Courtney looked at him before walking closer to the bush. She pulled out a little piece of fabric from the inside before showing it to him.

"So you noticed too and didn't say anything?" He snapped at her, though she didn't have a reaction.

"Duncan, what is your deal?" She furrowed her eyebrows before crossing her arms.

"I'm just sick of this fucking island." The group glanced at each other when he cursed, though I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Cody elbowed my ribs for this, but when I glanced back up at Duncan, he looked as if he could have popped a blood vessel.

Realistically, I probably should have shut my mouth then... but I didn't. Though, the others didn't defend me much either.

"Noah, lead the way." He shoved the match into my chest before pushing me ahead of the others.

"Okay well, first of all, I'm going to actually go forward instead of taking a left every mile or so..." I looked back towards the group, "But I-"

"That's what I thought." He took the match back from me, "You think you're so much better than everyone else, but you can't even lead a group of toddlers. Look, I know I can be sarcastic but-"

"Duncan, you should probably stop waving that around..." Cody raised his finger.

"Noah, your sarcasm has literally been pissing off every single being on this island"

"Okay then." Cody smiled awkwardly before cowering over to Courtney. What made the entire situation worse was how incredibly close we had to be to stay in the small light provided by the match... I was so close I could smell Duncan's fish breath.

"As much as I'd love to sit here and argue with you, I'm sure your girlfriend would like to get back to camp. It's past midnight and we both know the killer seems to love to stalk at this hour." I rolled my eyes.

"I know you're not talking about 'girlfriends' when the closest one you've ever had was Cody." I turned to Cody as Duncan motioned to him. His face had gone red, making my stomach drop in embarrassment.

"That's not true..." I stared at Cody before turning back to Duncan once he spoke again.

"Courtney and I barely speak, but we're the ones together when you two have practically made out."

"We didn't make out, Duncan." I couldn't look at him when I said this, which probably made him even snobbier. And before you ask, no, Cody and I seriously have never touched lips.

"Duncan, seriously back off-" Courtney tried to calm him down but he put his hand up to shut her up.

"You're seriously going to deny it in front of your little boy toy?" He stuck his pierced lip out. Cody looked as tense as I felt.

"I don't care for Cody like that..."

"Huh?" He put his hand to his ear.

"I don't care for Cody."

"Aw, that must have hurt, huh Cody?" I looked over at him to see he was staring at the ground, "If I were him I'd be even more embarrassed than you... though he doesn't seem to mind whenever he sees Gwen, huh?"

"And neither do you." I muttered, causing Duncan to push me into the dark. I quickly stepped back in.

"Nuh-unh," he shooed me back, "you can come back when you've learned to stop pestering me. Let's go." He turned before starting to walk off with the match.

"Noah... Duncan, he'll die out there!" Cody insisted, staring back at me.

"No seriously Duncan, we can't just leave him-"

"Courtney, if you don't-..." the two of them started to go at it while they walked off. Cody kept glancing at me as he followed, clearly torn on what to do. Eventually he motioned to his pocket before committing to following the two.

The pit in my stomach only grew as I searched in my pocket for something that might help me. I didn't want to be in these woods any longer than I already had been, so I started to walk in the opposite direction while I continued to dig through my pockets while cursing to myself. After a while, I found a match, though I struggled to light it.

I remember at first thinking how pissed I was at Cody... was the least he could do was pass me a match? But I get it now... I probably hurt him a little. We have a strange relationship, so I probably should have been more aware of it.

The entire situation was stupid.

It was a stupid way to die.

It was especially stupid since the moment I lit the match, I realized I was face to face with the killer.

It didn't take long for him to put a noose over my neck. The next thing I knew, I was lying face down in the ocean towards the docks. I tried to move, but as I did, I grew physically colder.

I had moved outside of my body.

I had become a spirit.

Like I said, this was probably the stupidest way to die, especially since there were so many ways it could have been prevented. Owen could have thought with his brain instead of his gut... I could have been easier on Duncan... Courtney could have been tougher on Duncan, since we've all seen her do it... and Cody, though he tried, could have done more.

Though, I'll never blame Cody. I don't know why, but I'd rather blame myself a million times before I ever point a finger at Cody. He's truly the sweetest person I've ever met.

And he only grew sweeter after he found me the next morning...