Silence

You don't hear anything. Which is odd. When you left, Will had been humming to himself a kicking his feet through the water, occasionally splashing or skipping a rock. Now, you hear nothing. Something must be wrong. A shiver goes down your spine, and the peace you'd been feeling earlier is long gone. You brandish your rifle and hold it at the ready, slowly moving toward the pool. As you get closer, you hear a low voice speaking. You can't make out what is being said, nor can you tell if it's Ryan or Will that's talking. You get a bit closer and see that Ryan is standing behind Will, saying something too low for you to make out. Will is unnaturally still. Something is definitely wrong. You begin moving toward Ryan faster, when he steps to the side, finally revealing the situation to you fully. Ryan has his pistol pressed to the temple of your friend's head.

"Ryan, please, you don't have to do this."

"I gave you an option to play this my way, and you and your idiot friend fucked it up for me."

"People are gonna ask questions. Ben will hear the shot. You won't get away with this."

"It won't matter, because I'll shoot him too before we go back. I'll just tell everyone that there was some huge thing that attacked us and I was the only one to get away. They'll never even look for your bodies as long as I tell them it's too dangerous. Especially since your rifles will be conveniently 'left behind' in the struggle. They won't dare try to look for you with only a couple of pistols and one rifle."

"Why are you doing this? There's so few of us left and you're just gonna kill two people?"

"You're too weak to keep us alive. You couldn't even make the right decision with the pilot. I'm not gonna let you take me down with you. Ben, for what it's worth, would have been useful, but there's no way he'd let me get away with shooting you. Call him collateral damage, if you will."

"But why? That doesn't make any fucking sense! What do you gain from killing me? I'm not even the one making decisions any more! That's Alyssa!"

"That bitch is only calling the shots because of your friend, and trust me, she won't be for long. I'll be in charge once I take control of the other two guns, and I won't have you two screwing things up for me. I was a nobody on Earth. I had to stow away just to get on this fucking ship. I won't be a nobody here. I'm going to live like a fucking king. And I might as well make sure that I have fewer men to compete with for the affection of our lovely ladies back home."

"Please -"

"Fuck you. I've made my decision. I don't have time to listen to you whine. Ben will be back soon, and I have to make sure I've taken you out before he comes running with another rifle."

Will screws his eyes shut, and although you can't make out the words he mouths silently, you know he is whispering a final prayer. With hatred in his eyes, Ryan squeezes the trigger...

Click.

Ryan looks around, bewildered.

Click. Click.

He frantically pulls the trigger again and again.

Click. Click. Click-click-click.

Will is equally surprised, when you finally decide to make your presence known.

"I loaded your pistol with one of the faulty cartridges."

The two of them snap around toward you, Will with overwhelming relief, Ryan with rage.

"Wha-? How? Why the FUCK did you do that?!"

"Call it a hunch. I had a feeling you'd try something stupid like this. Looks like I was right."

You see his eyes dart toward Will's rifle on the ground nearby. You level your rifle at his chest.

"Don't even think about it. I'll put a hole in you before you can even get near that thing. And don't worry, this one is loaded for real. Will, now would be a great time to pick that up before our friend here decides to get real stupid."

Will jumps to his feet and picks up the rifle, turning on Ryan with a snarl.

"On your knees, Ryan," you order. Before he can move, Will hits him between the shoulder blades with the butt of his rifle, knocking him to the ground.

"Please - " Ryan squeaks, before Will hits him viciously, this time in the head.

"Please...I'm begging you..." he says again, softer this time. "Don't kill me..."

"You think we're fucking animals, like you?!" Will roars. "We aren't going to fucking execute you like you planned to do to us. We're taking you back to the fucking camp and letting everyone know what a fucking snake you are. Then we'll let Alyssa decide your fate."

Will's words ring true in your ears, and you are searching for something to tie him up with, when you see it. A look. Brief, almost imperceptible, but a look, nonetheless, in Ryan's eyes: victory. No sooner does it cross his face than it has vanished, but in that one fleeting moment everything becomes clear.

"Will, we can't."

"What? What do you mean?"

"We can't let him come back?"

"We can't kill him, Ben. I won't stoop to his level."

"We have to."

"I won't!"

"Will, we HAVE to!"

"WHY?!"

"Because right now we have leverage. You and I are the only ones who heard him in the armory. We're the only ones who know what he is. If we bring him back at gunpoint, with cuts and bruises, he'll just say we attacked him. He'll make up some story about us wanting to keep all the guns, and that he wouldn't go along with it, so we tried to frame him."

"They'd never believe that."

"Really? They wouldn't? Look at the EVIDENCE, Will. You and I publicly worked to make sure I was in charge of all the weapons. We went out here alone with him. He is the only one with any bruises, any injuries. We made sure he was the only one on this expedition without a rifle. And to top it all off, we made sure his gun wasn't even loaded. The whole thing is his word against ours. The only evidence that exists is circumstantial, and it all points toward us. We can't bring him back."

Cold realization settles across Will's face, while a look of contempt crosses Ryan's. "Hope you're ready to pull that trigger, Ben, because your friend is too weak to do it. I put a gun to his fucking head and he still won't do it. He's gonna get you killed one of these days because of that weakness. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday. So go ahead and get it over with. I'll see you both in hell soon enough."

Will is in anguish over the impossible situation in front of you.

"GET IT OVER WITH YOU COWARDS!!!"

"Will, we have to make a decision."

"I- I can't..."

"Alright then..."