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Last night was their latest supply run, he was put on Duncan's group along with a few others but more importantly with Noah. He feels like he can't remember much from that night. Just remembering Noah's face as a force pulled him towards the group. ‘The larger group is better’ his head spoke as he walked away from Noah, his friend. It made him sick remembering the face he made. The want, the need to go over to him to hug him, to stay. But his legs moved further and further away. The only memory he has after that is carrying things for the others.
When they finally got back to the camp he felt like he was on autopilot. Change, wash, get to bed, sleep. But sleep never came. He laid in his bed, the bottom bunk. Normally the top bunk was taken by Noah, his legs would hang off the side while he slept. The bed layed empty, and no leg fell over the side.
There was also no ruffle of blankets or crinkling of pages of a book. Some nights when Noah thought he was asleep and he couldn't, he'd read. Cody knew because he was awake, but too tired to move or talk or get up with Noah, go to the dock and listen to Noah read, or Noah would rant about what he liked or hated about the book. Then he'd fall asleep to Noah soft mumbles, scoffs or laughs from the book; but tonight it was quiet. No mumbles, no pages, just the snores from the others as he laid wide awake staring at the wood above him.
He didn't know when, but he eventually fell asleep. After a few hours he awoke to the sun blaring into his eyes as it rose. The boards nailed on the windows would have to be fixed if he wanted to get more sleep, and just not be awoken to sun baring in his eyes. He sits up, rubbing his eyes, not a pleasant way to wake up. He moved to dangle his legs over the edge of the bed, yawning as he stood up with a pop of his joints, he took a look around the room. Everyone was still asleep but the bunk above him was still empty.
He pauses, then walks to the dresser. Three drawers, three people for each dresser. He goes to his drawer, he shares a dresser with Harold and Geoff, grabs a random shirt, pants and everything else he needs to change into, then heads to the bathroom, keeping his head down as he makes his way outside then in. He puts the old clothes in a basket when he finishes changing, then walks outside. He stands there for a few moments taking in the sun, just a little bit more visible than before. He started walking forward, his head focused on the plants while he walked, clovers, grass and some assortment of flowers sprinkling there and no particular order.
He lets his legs take him to wherever it is, pining his attention on the ground, looking at the different colours of flowers, some have yet to bloom. He pays attention to those buds wondering what colours they would be, as he keeps his attention on those until the grass slowly turns to sand. He finally looks up and finds himself at the start of the docks. Pausing, he felt something pulling him towards the end. He takes a breath looking back at the cabins, he sees people getting up and walking to the bathroom, going to other places and doing their morning routine, he sees the bright green hair of Duncan and the bright red hair of Izzy.
He turns toward the docks once more, and steps, steps, steps, till he stands at the end of the docks. It's quiet, the lake is full of dirty water, the wind rippling against his skin and the water causing calming sounds that fill the air around the island. The water looked a bit cleaner than when they first got here, probably due to the lack of a certain host and a certain friend of said host. The water that was once murky is now less so, he’s actually able to look down and see fish.
.
.
.
Or someone looking back at him.
There are eyes, not fish eyes, the eyes of someone else looking at him, muddy eyes, that same face he’d spent nights looking at the features of. the hooked nose and the umber skin. The eyes draw him back, the once lively brown eyes had turned dull like he's knocking on death's door, the skin of what used to be a beautiful light umber that Cody remembered now is tainted a sienna colour, his faces looks bloated, instead of the usual slightly sunken cheeks from the weeks they’d spent with not enough food.
Cody stares into the water and Noah stares back.
He stands there, for what felt like so long, before his brain finally came back to him, he let out a scream, a loud cry of anguish as he fell to his knees with a loud thud, and sticks his hands into the water grabbing Noah's face and bringing his face above the waterline, and with as much strength he can put into his body he pull and pull, trying to get him out, to get him onto the dock so he would be okay, he will be okay.
The body gets pulled out of the water with the help of people who now surround him, as he lays Noah down on the docks, tears filling his eyes, holding onto his face, looking for any sign that he's alive, he is, Cody knows he is, he can't die, no he can't, he can't! Blood is rushing to his ears, and he can't hear the talking and someone is hurling behind him, he only focuses on Noah, in his lap.
His eyes look around the body, he sees bruising there, and rope burns on the throat, where is the rope now? Maybe under the dock, not now. There's a stab wound on his chest, staining the skin around with a crimson colour, that same liquid continues to flow through the shirt staining it. His arms have small cuts, some bigger, but bleeding non the less. There are also bruises on his arms, some look like hand marks. His hand runs over the big stab-like wound, holding down and putting pressure on it to try and stop it from bleeding, he feels the sticky fluid of the blood on his hands, the smell, the feeling, the sight, everything about this is burning in his mind as he sobs and mumble incoherent sentences.
There's a strange sound that catches his ears, a strangled cough and breathing, he looks down to Noah, coughing up blood, and water, sucking in air greedily. It stops and he sobs once more as he holds onto the sides of his face, tears falling onto Noah's face. He hears someone else talking “Cody! he’s waking up” someone says putting a hand on his shoulder. He sits up straighter, looking down at Noah's face, his eyes are open once again and he sobs in relief? Or something else he doesn't know.
Part of him knows Noah will die, he knew since he left him alone in the forest.
“Noah? Noah!” he sobs, and Noah's eyes close once more. His hands make their way to Noah's face to cradle it, much softer than the hold he held before. “Noah please stay awake, please wake up” he begs as he holds onto the face. “Cody, he's dying” a voice says, he thinks it's Gwen, and the hand that rests on his shoulder might also be hers, she sits beside him.
The eyes open again, but this time it seems more aware, and muddy eyes lock onto blue “Noah?” Cody says, his voice is sore from crying and the screaming. The eyes unfocus for what feels like forever before they focus back onto him, Noah's mouth opening and closing, then he speaks “Cody?” His voice is hoarse, and barely audible to him, but everything around him seemed to be deathly silent. Noah's face takes on a pained expression, and his eyes close once more “Noah? Noah! Stay awake, please you're gonna be okay!” Cody sobs, holding onto him tighter, he feels his knuckles clench around Noah's shirt and he bets his knuckles are white from the grip he has.
“‘M tired” the voice says, and it breaks him so much more “No no no! Noah, don't close your eyes, stay awake!” Cody wailed
“It hurts”
“I know, but don't close your eyes”
“It hurts alot”
“...”
“I want it to stop”
Cody pauses and sobs, there is talking all around him as the silence breaks, whispers and eyes and it's all so much and the hand on his shoulder feels too much and everything is too much and Noah's dying. He can't hear what's happening around him as he sobs, the only thing keeping him from curling in on himself is the weight in his lap. People are talking and he hears Noah's voice somewhere in between the other voices, some he can make out, Gwen, Courtney, Duncan. But others morph together into a garbled mess.
He doesn't know what is said or who said it but suddenly the silence comes back, he feels his breath caught in his throat, a voice, Noah's voice breaks through the brief but tense silence, “I'm dying. It hurts”. Cody sobs for the hundredth time that day “no, no, no you’re not dying, you’re gonna be okay” his voice is shaky as he speaks, it's a lie but he wants to believe it, he knows it's not true, everyone knew Noah was as good as dead when he didn't come back last night.
People are talking as he whispers to himself, trying to assure himself that Noah will be fine, he has to be! Someone calls his name, and the hand on his shoulder isn't as comforting as it was before, a harsh tug pulls at his shoulder trying to remove him from the docks, from Noah. He wails as two sets of arms hook under his shoulders and pull him off, as he grabs and screams at the air, trying to stay, wanting, needing to hold Noah, to comfort him, and himself, he can't leave he can’t!
But the arms pull him away, his vision clouded with tears as he screams and cries, grabbing at the hands that hold him back trying to get away, to get back to the docks, back to Noah. He tries to wiggle and squirm out of the hold, but the arms are too strong, and he's much too weak. Not sure what to do and the unbearable urge to get out and run, he bites down on one of the arms holding him till a sick coppery taste fills his mouth, the arms let go “Oh my fucking god! He bit me!” someone yells as he falls to the ground.
He stumbles on the ground for only a moment before getting to his feet and running, his hands go up to his face to clear the tears out of his eyes so he can see.
And he sees.
Duncan raises an axe, above his head and aiming to Noah's body laying on the docks, people are beside him, Gwen and Courtney, they both look pale and sickly watching what is about to happen, as the axe swings down in a chop, it hacks off only half of the neck with a sickening sound, he retracts the axe and swings it back up, then down. Cutting off Noah's head from his body.
He hears someone throw up, but he doesn't care, he runs over to the body, grabbing the decapitated head “you killed him!” he sobs, holding the head to his chest “You're a murder! He would have been fine, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead” he wails, his fingers digging into the flesh of the severed head that he holds. He feels sticky and wet, his hands, shirt and body drenched with crimson. There is blood around his own lip, which he can still taste, and the smell mixed with the taste makes him sick, he leans over to the left and gags a few times before his contents leave his stomach, burning on the way out.
He sits there and sobs till his throat goes dry and no tears are left to cry, he stays there on the docks holding onto the head while someone comes with a bag to dispose of the body. He stays there till everyone is long gone and so is the body. He stays there clutching the head of Noah till he passes out from exhaustion.
—
He wakes up in the cabin, in his bed. His clothes changed, and his body cleaned from the blood, but he can still feel it lingering on his skin.
He lays there, staring at the wood, ‘how did I get here?’ floods his mind. He feels nothing, calm, at peace, like in the eye of a hurricane, calm for just one moment. Before the feeling of blood settles on his hands once more, reminding him of the death of a friend, a loved one.
He lays there for so long, till the smell of copper gets too much to bear, and so does the blood stuck underneath his nails, he knows it's not there, but it feels like it, he’ll never be clean, never truly clean from the blood. He hurriedly sits up, bonking his head on the wood, he winces at the brief pain, but it's a distraction from the thoughts for only a short time. He stands up and walks out of the room, looking straight ahead, though not taking in what he sees.
He makes it to the bathroom, and it's empty. He walks to the sink and turns on the water, then grabs soap and starts scrubbing at his hand. He washes and washes, tearing at his skin on his hands till they're red and sore, but the blood is still there. It's not enough, it will never be enough.
Tears slip past his eyelids as he scrubs till he bleeds, and then he feels even worse. He doesn't care though, he can't care. Heading to the towels he rubs and rubs them dry till there are red spots all over that once white towel. He doesn't even look at the blood that might stain the sink, or the blood left on the towel that will stain. He just leaves, he needs to go somewhere far away.
He walks out of the bathroom, almost stumbling over his feet. He frantically looks around for the nearest spot into the forest. He sees a little opening in the trees and he walks over there, the only thing on his mind is leaving, he needs to go far, far away from here. He makes it to the forest line and he stops. He steps on a stick causing a cracking noise to flood his ears, reminding him of Noah's neck that was broken through with the axe.
He tries to shake the image out of his head, grabbing at his hair and tugging as the vivid memory appears back into his mind. The blood, the smell of it, the feeling of it under his nails, on his hands, in his mouth. It was everywhere. He felt tears start to roll down his face, he rubs his eyes taking a deeper breath and trying to ignore the thoughts, the feelings, everything he can try and manage to get out of his mind.
He forces himself to try and stop crying, but he can't. He doesn't want to be seen crying again, and he needs to leave. So he runs into the forest, rubbing at his eyes to try and clear his vision so he can see but it doesn't work. Running in a forest blind is another not great idea that Cody has had today, as you can't see where you are going, and can’t see if there's a cliff.
He blindly runs through the forest until his foot gets caught on something, a tree root, or maybe a hand. He falls to the ground face first. but his face doesn't collide with anything, but his stomach does, and it does hard, making him wheeze, at a loss of breath. He hangs off what looks like a steep drop only by the root that holds his ankle. It hurts so much, only being held up by the end of his foot, he feels like it’ll pop right off, or dislocate. But it doesn't.
Someone's hand is on his ankle, grabbing it with a tight grip. There are nails that feel like they’ll dig into his skin, it might cause bruises and maybe blood to come from it. He closes his eyes, gasping for breath while he hears a noise like metal on metal, then feels the cold of a blade dig against his skin, cutting into his ankle and through the root that kept him up. He holds his hands out in front of him, preparing to fall, but the hand doesn't let go. He feels tears leave his eyes as he feels blood pour from the cut in his leg.
The hand starts to pull him up, the nails rake against his skin as the body pulls him until only his head is hanging off the cliff. He uses his hand to pull himself as far from the edge as he can, sitting on his ass and scooting back with his legs and arms. A soft chuckle fills the air around him, Cody snaps his neck over to look in the direction of where the laugh came from.
He sees a vivid blue colour, his? her? Their eyes glowing unnaturally. The person's hair is long and wavy, falling over their shoulder and down to their chest, stopping just under the breast muscle. Their skin is an unnatural pale colour, almost as if they were dead or dying.
“Hello” The person's voice was soft, almost comforting with a smile plastered on their face. Cody just kinda stares, tears in his eyes. The person cocks their head to the left “No hello?” they say. “Oh uhm, sorry, hello, who are you?” he asks a bit warily, the pain in his ankle disregarded
“My name's Lorn, what’s yours?”
“Im cody”
“Nice to meet you Cody, what are you doing out here?”
“I could ask you the same”
“But I asked first”
“Oh… My friend died” he wipes his eyes, trying to stop the tears. “And I guess I needed to get away”.
The person, Lorn, chuckles. Odd.
”That is definitely something”
“Mhm” he hums “why are you here?”
Lorn thinks for a moment “I'm an intern, or was”
“For Chris?”
“Mhm, for Chris.”
“And he left you here with a killer on the loose?” he sniffles “what about the other interns?”
“I was the only intern he could get for the first few episodes”
“Hmm” Cody hums, they both sit in silence for only a few moments before Lorn speaks again.
“Cody?”
“Yes?”
“What do you want?”
“...” he pauses thinking “I don't know, I don't want to be here anymore”
“I could help you”
Cody looks at Lorn, he smiles wider, a sweet, caring smile. He seems kind.
“How?”
“Do you want to be with Noah?”
He feels tears start to form in his eyes at the memory of Noah, and all the others. He sniffs and quickly wipes at them.
“I guess I do..” he whispers
“I can help you!”
He looks back up at Lorn, his smile looks sickening sweet this time, but it's the same, was it always like this? Was Lorn the murderer? “You're the murderer?” he asks more than states, not completely sure of himself “Aren't you” he sniffs. Great, now he's gonna die, well he was gonna kill himself or something, this just makes it easier? Scarier? Cody can hear that same chuckle from them.
He sighs “how are you gonna..” he trails off “kill me?” he mutters.
“I can do it quick and painless, or I could do it long and painful, or I can help you do it yourself” they smile at him, Cody feels sick, help him do it himself?
He pauses, trying to think. He won't be able to leave this alive logically. Cody has seen the killer in full, their eyes, their face, their voice. And he knows their name, Lorn. He could ask questions but he doubts they will play along before getting bored.
“Can I ask a few questions before I die?” He's met with a thoughtful hum as they appear to be thinking. “You seem smart, you do know that you will not make it out alive right?” they say, Cody nods. “Then I guess I can humour you, for a little, lets say, two questions” Lorn decides
“three?” Cody retorts
“Don't push your luck.”
Cody hums thoughtfully, not really caring about the threat, he knows he will die so it doesn't really matter to be scared. Even if he is sitting in the middle of the woods, a bruised and bleeding leg, next to a cliff, with a murderer beside him with a knife and probably a lot more than just that.
“Why are you doing this?” He starts off with a very basic question.
“Kinda a boring question to start with” Lorn hums. “Well, because I can? I've killed things before, now this was a great opportunity to do it to people, a show, on an island far away from civilization and help”
Okay so the dude was crazy, already knew they were probably 99% sure but now it's 100% sure. But that's good to have it nailed down. Honestly he's blanking on questions, what should he ask? He's always been curious and now he can be but…
“Okay, I know I said two but no more, I'm tired and not as fun as I was hoping” He looks at them and for once they're not smiling, it feels more unsettling than when they were.
“I wasn't planning on killing anyone yet! I don't have a creative plan!” Lorn speaks dramatically with a pout on their face as they stand up, reaching out a hand for Cody to take. Cody hesitantly takes it, he didn't notice he was shaking till then. He gets pulled up, a surprising strength for someone who is that thin. But then again, they are a murderer.
Lorn looks him up and down a few times, then grabs something from his pocket. A gun, they press the cold metal into the palm of Cody’s hand. “Kill yourself and i’ll take care of the rest”.
So he does.
He shakily looks at the gun, fiddling with it in his hands as he stares at the metal all over it. The gun has intricate markings all over it making it look oddly, beautiful. There are designs carved into the metal and the other material he doesn't know what it is. He's not a gun expert.
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes and he holds onto the grip with sweaty palms, holding it up to his temple. He peaks his eyes open, Lorn stands back a bit, with a creepy smile. Oddly they do two thumbs up, like they are encouraging him. He pulls the trigger and stands for a few seconds, before tumbling to the ground.
Black fills his vision as he passes out.
—