You won't be caged in the call of the wild

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait, don’t shoot me!” Gina wailed, waving her open hand frantically as Dani leveled the rifle at her face. It took some doing given that they were still joined together at the wrist.

Dani rolled her eyes. “Come on, Gina, it’s just a game. Don’t make such a big deal out of this. It’s pretty simple. We’re stuck together, and if we stay like that, no way either of us can win. But if you’re eliminated, the handcuffs will go with you. So… yeah.”

Gina didn’t have a gun of her own anymore, it had gotten kicked away in the skirmish. Right now, she was entirely at Dani’s mercy.

Now that the struggle with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was finished and Dani was reunited with Carly, she was in a much better mood. She didn’t hold a grudge against the punk girl anymore for everything that had happened, not even for the two of them ending up in this situation. Now that she’d had the chance to calm down (except for sexually, thanks to the aphrodisiacs) she could embrace what she said.

It was just a game. No need to hold any grudges or get angry.

Still, Gina had to go.

“Come on, Carly, don’t let her shoot me!” Gina tried to plead for mercy with the cosplayer.

Carly laughed a little. “Um… look, Dani’s not wrong though. It’s just a game. It’s not like you can wiggle your way out of those handcuffs, right? As long as the two of you are together, you’re stuck like that, so you’re both kinda…”

“Well, useless,” Marley bluntly stated, placing her hands on her hips. “You two are going to drag each other down. And since it seems like we’re going up against Vivian, Rose, and Ella as a team somehow, having you drag Dani down isn’t going to be good for anybody.”

“But… but I can help!” Gina said. “Come on, it’s three against three now!”

“Right, but Marley is our third, not you,” Dani pointed out.

“But Marley can’t go anywhere without Carly, so she doesn’t really count as an extra person!” Gina pointed out right back.

Dani just stared at her. Then she slowly lifted her wrist and shook it in Gina’s face, making the handcuff jangle.

“…Okay, fair point,” Gina admitted, wincing.

“Sorry, Gina, but them’s the breaks,” Dani said, shrugging. “Gotta cut the dead weight loose if we wanna win, you’d do the same.”

“Yep, I probably would,” Gina admitted with a sigh. “…But out of the two of us, I think it’s pretty clear that you’re the dead weight right now, Dani.”

Dani’s jaw dropped. She was so stunned by Gina’s declaration that the thought of shooting her had momentarily slipped from her mind.

“What!?”

Gina crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side. Dani barely even noticed her own arm being yanked up she was still so stunned.

“You heard me,” the punk girl said firmly. “How much of that aphrodisiac did you get doused with when you were soaked by that grenade, hmm? And what about all the times Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin smacked you with that umbrella? …Oh, and I know for a fact you were peeking when I rolled up my sleeve, too!”

Dani’s face lit up. “I was not!”

“…Oh.” Gina almost seemed disappointed. But she quickly rebounded. “…Still though! You’re obviously really aroused! How many shots could you even take before you orgasmed on the spot?”

Dani bit her lip, feeling defensive for a moment. Because… Gina wasn’t wrong. Worked-up as she was, she could still think rationally, but she also knew a lot about her body. And that’s how she that, even though the crisis had passed and this should have been the time for her to calm down and stop being so worked-up and aroused, her body wasn’t listening to her because of the aphrodisiacs.

She was sweaty and hot, and felt like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff. As much as Dani hated to admit it… Gina was right.

Dani gulped and shook her head.

“It… it’s not what you think,” she stammered weakly, trying to come up with some sort of excuse. But Gina wasn’t buying.

“Oh, no?”

“Gina, I’m well aware of the fact that Dani’s been doused with aphrodisiacs,” Carly said, coming to her girlfriend’s defense. “But I still have faith in her ability to pull this off. I’m sorry, but… if I have to pick between the two of you, I’d rather have Dani on my team.”

“Yeah, because you’re dating her!” Gina whined. She rolled her eyes and let her arms drop to her sides. “Okay, well… if that’s how it’s gonna be, then I suppose I should make it a little easier on you two, then,” she relented, reaching down to the handcuff and fiddling with the side.

Then to Dani’s surprise, the chain actually started to extend, like a tape-measurer, as Gina stepped away from her.

“Wait, it can grow!?” Dani gasped.

“The chain can stretch out to about a foot long to allow for more positions in bed,” Gina explained. “Believe me, Nick and I tested it out a lot.” She winked at the girls and Dani blushed, while Carly giggled. Marley just rolled her eyes. She was already scanning the forest, waiting for an ambush from the other girls.

Gina shrugged. “So this way, it should be much easier to line up a shot, right?” She pointed out. “Just make it quick.”

She closed her eyes and held out her arms to the sides to show that she had nothing to hide.

Dani glowered suspiciously at her. What was the punk girl playing at?

“Are you messing with me?” She asked.

“No!” Gina shook her head. “Of course not! Go ahead, finish me off! Like you said, it’s just a game.”

“Maybe she’s trying to bait you into losing popularity?” Marley wondered. “I mean, that would be really dumb since it’s just a game, and you’re already at the bottom of the polls, so…”

“Gee, thanks,” Dani said, rolling her eyes.

Gina was still talking, much to everyone’s mild annoyance. “It’s too bad I gave up smoking,” she sighed. “That’s the custom for a firing squad, right? A blindfold and a joint?”

“It’s a cigarette, actually,” Carly chimed in.

“Yep, don’t have any of those here,” Gina said, shaking her head. “But… can I at least have one last drink before you finish me off?”

Dani raised her eyebrow.

“You brought booze with you?” Marley asked incredulously. “I thought you were trying to be better about that stuff? Like Amelia said?”

“Nope, no booze,” Gina said, digging into her pocket. “I actually found this on the ground a few minutes ago, while we were rolling around trying to get away from Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

She produced a small capsule filled with white liquid.

From the stage, Kim’s eyes widened. “Hey!” She gasped, pointing at the screen. “That’s my-! Gina must have found my last medical salve, after I dropped it!”

“Oh my, how convenient,” Dakota said, her smirk nearly breaking her face in half.

“What’s that?” Marley squinted. Carly shrugged.

Dani recognized it, though.

“That… that’s the healing item!” She stammered.

“Healing item?” Carly questioned.

Dani nodded. “It can reset the aphrodisiac and purge it from your system, bringing your arousal back to the baseline. Sylvia gave me one, it’s how I recovered from getting flung into that puddle…”

Gina must have seen that. It had to have been why she picked up Kim’s discarded vial.

“Oh? Is it? Why, how about that?” Gina said, smirking. She pinched the vial between two fingers and waggled it back and forth. “Well, I suppose it’s as good of a last drink as anything. Shame though. I’m still mostly fine, even after all that stuff with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… still have that arousal from our early exchange though. So it’ll help a bit. It’s gonna be pretty inconvenient for you trying to kill me though, right?”

Dani glowered at her. She could tell by the amused expression on Gina’s face that the other girl knew exactly what she was doing.

“Gee, I wonder if there’s someone who needs this a lot more than me?” Gina questioned, rolling the vial across her palm. “Say, someone on the brink of orgasm, who could really use a good reset on their arousal levels? Know anybody like that, Dani?”

Dani lowered her rifle. “You have GOT to be kidding me. Are you seriously trying to use that as a bargaining chip right now?”

Gina shrugged. “Well, it’s the only one I’ve got, right? I don’t wanna leave yet, I’m having a ton of fun here!”

“How fun do you think it’s going to be if we stay handcuffed together like this?!” Dani demanded, shaking her wrist. “Sorry, but this is nonnegotiable, Gina, you’ve gotta get eliminated, I’m not going through the rest of the game handcuffed to you!”

“Well… you kinda have to,” Gina grinned. “I mean, if not, well… all it’ll take is a couple good hits and then you’re out of the game anyway, right?”

She bit off the cap of the vial, and tilted it towards her mouth, threatening to drink it.

“This is extortion,” Dani grumbled.

“I prefer to think of it as cementing our group dynamic!” Gina chirped. “Look, I get it, you guys don’t want me on your team, I’m not stupid here.”

“Hey, we didn’t say that!” Carly protested. “It’s just, well… handcuffed together like this…”

“So here’s the deal. I’ll give this to you, Dani,” Gina said, shaking the vial, “and the three of us can take down the other girls. Then once that’s done, if you two still want to deal with me, well… it’s not like I’m going to be able to argue, right?”

“So you’re just going to tag along so you can stab us in the back?” Dani raised her eyebrow. Gina may not care about winning the game, but that didn’t mean Dani was going to trust her.

And the punk girl didn’t deny it, either.

“Look, I just want to have fun,” Gina admitted. “The last time we had a challenge like this, I got eliminated right away. So can’t you just let me stick around? I’m a decent enough shot, and I won’t drag you down!”

“You are dragging me down in the most literal meaning of the term,” Dani bluntly replied, once again shaking her wrist and making the handcuff jangle.

“…But that was an accident.”

“Dani, maybe we should hear her out,” Marley said, trying to be the voice of reason. “You could really use an aphrodisiac reset.”

“Yeah… I know,” Dani grumbled. That was the worst part of this whole thing. If Dani could reset her arousal, that would be just the push she needed to give their side the edge. They had all the girls’ discarded guns, whatever ammo was left over, everything they needed to take down Vivian, Rose, and Ella, even with the horse.

But a single errant shot from one of them might mean curtains for Dani, and she didn’t want to risk that. Even if it was just a game and she wasn’t that concerned with winning, this was still the smart choice at the end of the day.

Wasn’t it?

“…I know I’m gonna regret this,” Dani sighed. “But fine. I promise, I’m not going to eliminate you until we deal with the others. But then you’re gone. Deal?”

“Third place?” Gina flashed a toothy grin. “That sounds just swell to me! Shake on it?”

She stuck out her hand, which was still connected to Dani’s. It was an awkward gesture to say the least.

Dani rolled her eyes and accepted the handshake, then took the vial. It was their last healing item, and who knows if they would ever find another one?

They needed to play this out smart, even if it meant dragging along Gina for the ride. At least it gave them a pseudo-numerical advantage over the other girls.

…And Dani never said she wouldn’t use the punk as a human shield if need be.

As the relaxing effects of the medicine washed over her, Dani was already starting to feel her confidence return. This was exactly what she’d needed to clear her thoughts and get back in the game!

“Okay, that’s better,” she said with a relieved sigh. “Now then, let’s grab as much stuff as we can, and see what we can work with. Then we’ll go find the others.”

How difficult could it be to track down a horse in the forest?

“I can’t believe you brought a horse into the forest!” Rose’s eyes were sparkling. “That’s so cool! You’re so smart, Vivian, getting a tactical advantage like that!”

“Well, what can I say? I’ve been riding horses since I was a little lady,” Vivian said proudly from up on Toffee’s back.

She was enjoying Rose’s praise so much that one could almost think that the only reason Vivian had teamed up with the actress was so she could have a sycophant.

Ella, in contrast, was far warier of the situation.

“Um… are you sure we should have gone off like that?” She stammered, fumbling for the rubber-band on her wrist.

“THWAP!”

“Why, did you want to stay?” Vivian turned and looked back at her. “The only thing you’ve got is that knife, right? They’d have shot you up with that minigun!”

Ella blushed, playing with the knife on her hip.

“B-but, that… that’s what I’m saying,” she grumbled. “I only have the knife. And Rose’s gun… it doesn’t have any bullets. And neither does yours!”

Ella remembered all the guns littering the clearing, and the clips of ammo. Weapons that would have definitely turned the tide in their favor.

“We should have grabbed more stuff to use…” she mumbled, looking down.

“Ah, yeah, I get your point,” Vivian nodded. “But you’re forgetting, I’ve got Toffee here!” She reached down and rubbed the mane of the brown horse. “With him, I can cover way more distance than those girls can, and that means we can find even more stuff! We’ll have rearmed before you know it, Ella, don’t worry!”

Ella nodded hesitantly. “Well… if you say so,” she relented.

Still, she wasn’t fully convinced.

“I do say so,” Vivian said firmly. She clapped her hands together. “Now then, let’s get a move on! Toffee, we’ve got some guns and ammo to find!”

“Here, here!” Rose agreed, nodding.

Ella could feel her chest churning with doubt. She wasn’t so sure about this, but she wanted to trust the other girls.

She just needed to keep her anxiety from overwhelming her.

I don’t want to do a team fight or anything, I just want to run and hide! She groaned internally. Was that such a bad thing? It was how she had planned to win this whole game, or at the very least, get far in it. And she’d made it longer than half the other girls!

Maybe she should just go, and leave these two to their own devices.

Ella had just about decided to do that when a shock of gold appeared in front of her. She looked up, eyes wide, and found herself face to face with a frowning Rose.

“Uh…”

“Everything alright, Ella?” Rose asked. “You still look a little distracted.”

Ella gulped. Vivian was looking at her now, too, and that had her on the back foot.

“I just… I’m not sure that this is the best strategy,” she mumbled. “That girl, Dani… you saw her against Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… and even with Gina handcuffed to her, she’s still dangerous. And then… those two, the twins… with that gun… and remember what Dakota said in the beginning?! Marley, she’s basically an invincible shield! You two… really think we can fight that?”

Ella had only accompanied them because she’d gotten caught up in the momentum from Vivian’s forceful personality. But if someone took a step back and analyzed the situation, it was obvious which side she should choose.

“I… I just want to go,” she mumbled, taking a step back, away from the girls. “I’ll be safer that way. I-I’ll keep my head down, while everyone is fighting, and then… that’s going to get me way more points. More than if I fought… if we go up against them, I’m absolutely going to go out first! I’m the only one here without a gun!”

“We’ll find you a gun,” Rose assured her. “Come on, you saw Dani earlier, she’s definitely going to finish off Gina as soon as she gets the chance.”

“Then she won’t be handcuffed anymore! How is that better!?” Ella demanded.

“Because, it’ll be three against three!” Vivian chirped. “And we’ve got Toffee.”

Ella seethed. “That stupid horse isn’t going to help us win, though!” She wailed.

Vivian frowned. “That wasn’t nice to say,” she pouted. “Toffee has feelings too, you know!”

Ella winced. “I… Okay, you’re right, sorry. That was uncalled for. But… I don’t think we can beat them! No, fighting is the wrong move, hiding-”

“Hiding won’t get you anywhere,” Vivian said firmly, shaking her head. “You won’t win that way. You won’t win without a fight!”

“I don’t want to fight!” Ella wailed. “I wanna live!”

“Vivian, we can’t just make her take our side,” Rose agreed, glum as she was about it.

Vivian nodded. “Yes, Ella, Rose is right. You’re free to do whatever you want. So what are you going to do with that freedom? Run away?”

“Yes!” Ella bluntly exclaimed. “Run and live to the end of the game!” She knew she would get eliminated eventually, but she’d definitely last longer than these two morons.

Vivian nodded again. She let Toffee on a trot, pacing the horse back and forth in front of the two girls. “Aye, fight, and you may die. Run, and you’ll live. At least a while. And dying in your bed, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days, from this day ‘til that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom?”

Ella stared blankly at her.

Rose just gave Vivian a look. “Isn’t that from Braveheart?” She asked.

“Yes but that doesn’t make the sentiment any less meaningful,” Vivian said proudly.

“I’m pretty sure the English are the villains in that movie, though…”

“Details, details,” Vivian scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Let’s not quibble about whose people subjugated whose, let’s focus on accomplishing what we need to accomplish, declaring a mutual pact against the Americans! English, French, and, um…”

She gave Ella a scrutinizing look.

“…I wanna say Colombian?”

“I was born in the U.S.!” Ella exclaimed, her face heating up.

“Ah, whatever. The point is, you need to stop running away, Ella! Be brave! Is anyone really going to be impressed if you get a high score just from running and hiding?” Vivian pushed her.

Ella bit her lip. Anxiety pounded in her breast, but she couldn’t bring herself to dismiss Vivian’s point.

Maybe… maybe…!

“I… okay!” She finally relented, hanging her head. “I’ll… I’ll do it. I’ll help…”

She snapped her rubber-band a few times. “THWAP! THWAP!”

…And hoped that she could keep her doubts and anxiety in check long enough to make it to the end.