thearena | Bison stampede (open)

Who| Ian Chesterton and open - and featuring Lindsey McDonald
What| Ian's being trampled by a bison, Lindsey's taking advantage of it being distracted, plus anything else anyone might want to do to get involved
Where| Desert arena
When| Week 6
Warnings/Notes| Death

Ian could have sworn he hadn't done anything. He'd just been minding his own business, shivering despite the warmth of the day, and he'd come around a plant that looked a bit dead to find a bison. He wasn't very worried about one and thought nothing of it until he realised it was looking at him. And then it was coming at him.

Instinctively he froze for a moment. When he'd recovered his senses he hoped the bison wouldn't see him if he kept still, but it gave no indication of veering from its course towards him. His already shallow breaths and fast heartbeat grew faster, and at the last minute he hurled himself sideways.

He cried out as his bones, unprotected by any body fat, hit the ground hard. The bison's feet only just missed him, but kicked enough sand into his eyes to make them red and watery.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lindsey was getting to the point of nearly starving. His good run of food from the Cornucopia ran out a few days ago, leaving him having to go hunt for his own in this dismal landscape.

Nothing... until he heard a cry out. Somewhere close. He circled around the dune crafted by the sands and winds and... grinned. There was a man on the ground, an angry bison worrying at the man on the ground, and really, the guy looked like he was ready to be trampled by the beast.

An excellent opportunity.

As he the creature circled around, snorting angrily, Lindsey tried to move himself behind it and waited. As long as the bison's attention remained on its target, Lindsey had a chance of killing it.

Ian could hear the bison was still hanging around, so he didn't dare move from this position in case he put himself in its path. He wiped his eyes and managed to open them enough to see it.

Which turned out to be just in time as the bison charged at him. Ian rolled away, avoiding being trampled and then he saw the man. His vision was still too watery to tell who it was, but anyone would do.

"Help me!" Ian called out to him.

Lindsey stared back at the man, right to his face, then he looked away, attention back on the bison. There was no mistaking about it, Lindsey had both heard and acknowledged him, he simply wasn't helping.

The bison was in a maddened frenzy as if it was determined to trample down the human who had disturbed him, and Lindsey carefully tried to keep out of sight to the crazy, overgrown cow. Maybe in the moment the creature got what it wanted Lidnsey could strike.

It was a sad thing to waste a kill like this, but he needed food at the moment and there was no clean way to make the kill without losing his meal in a runaway animal sense.

Even in a place where they were expected to kill each other, Ian had still expected some human decency. So he was surprised at the other man deliberately ignoring him. Surprised enough that he'd taken his eyes off the bison and it came down on him.

He was lucky in that it landed on one of his legs, doing some damage, if not breaking it, and caught a glancing blow to his chest. It was enough that when Ian cried out in pain he then discovered that breathing was a lot harder than it was. He struggled to get a small amount of breath in before he coughed.

That just seemed to enrage the bison more.

Lindsey managed to not cringe when he saw the helpless man get mangled underfoot by bison hooves. Unfortunate for the man, the creature missed and his death got drawn out that much longer. It would have been far swifter if the bison actually stomped on him, probably crushing the ribcage, go through the lungs, and if he was lucky, he'd suffocate before he bled out.

Either way, if the bison didn't kill him, Lindsey would after.

Lindsey raised his scythe and waited. If the bison lowered its head to gouge at its victim, then it would be the perfect time for him to strike down.

Maybe the bison sensed that Ian wasn't going to be resisting any more. It did indeed put his head down. Probably more by accident than on purpose, it put a horn through Ian's throat.

Ian gurgled as he failed to breathe any air and he looked over at the other man, hoping that he'd at least feel guilty at not helping.

It didn't take him long to die after that.

No sign of guilt, not even remorse either. Perhaps there might be something that Ian could mistake as regret, though he would never guess that its source was due to Lindsey wishing he made the kill himself instead.

More than likely though, Lindsey's manic grin would be the last thing Ian saw.

And as the bison got busy with its kill, Lindsey came up and cleanly beheaded it. Looks like he will have meat enough to survive another week now.

Bison stampede (open)

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