—tom's pov—

the next morning, tom was awoken to the sound of mumbling. his black orbs fluttered open and an annoyed look was immediately pasted on his face. he turned his head to see edd whispering incoherent things in his sleep and twitching.

"edd." tom said, sitting up and flinching as he hit his head against the top of the small sleeping hut. "wake up." he ducked his head and tapped his friend's shoulder. edd's eyelids twitched but he didn't seem to wake up. he decided it would be better if edd slept in so he could spend less time worrying about matt.

tom crawled out and stood up, stretching each arm and leg in turn. he picked up his spear and treaded quietly into the forest. did i really hurt matt that much? he wondered guiltily as a bird called from somewhere far off. i shouldn't have said anything. tom dug his teeth into his bottom lip in an attempt to suppress the thoughts. it didn't work.

minutes passed of tom wandering aimlessly around the forest; he'd completely forgotten about hunting and was now torturing himself with dark possibilities of matt's disappearance. suddenly, he remembered what he'd told to edd:

"listen, edd, if matt got lost, tord would've found him. the island isn't that huge! i'm sure tord's keeping him safe."

"what if.. it's true?" tom furrowed his eyebrows, stopping in his tracks.

i need to find tord.

he began to quicken his pace towards the creek, accidentally stumbling over roots a few times. tom swiftly crossed the water and noticed how his breath hitched once the trees started to give way to the sand. oh, please, matt, please be okay.

the moment before he was going to burst out of the forest and call for matt, he heard a familiar obnoxious laugh. it belonged to tord, of course, but there was no other voice with him. confused, tom ducked behind the low hanging branch of a tree and peered through the leaves at tord's camp.

the norwegian was laughing all by himself, sitting criss-cross with a damp purple hoodie held in his hands.

tom felt his heart stop and analyzed the area one more time. still no sign of matt. he gripped his spear tighter until his knuckles turned a ghostly white. where's matt? despite every instinct in his body telling him to run, he stayed put and watched.

tord stood up and held out the hoodie in front of him before he walked to the base of the overhanging rock. he seemed to find a piece of rock jutting out as he hung the hoodie there by the hood, almost as if it were a... prize.

tom felt his stomach twist as the horrible truth hit him like a bus. matt's dead. tord killed him. he kept watching with wide eyes. that sick bastard seems to think this is some sort of game. tom sucked in a breath rather loudly.

all of a sudden, tord's head whipped up, staring straight in tom's direction.

tom's heart dropped to his stomach. he staggered backwards before turning and sprinting away as fast as he possibly could, tears whipped away by the wind rushing past him. matt's dead. matt's fucking dead and tord fucking killed him.

there were no pounding footsteps behind him, but tom couldn't get tord's sadistic expression out of his memory. he pressed on and almost fell in the creek as he hurriedly crossed it. "edd! edd!" tom yelled out for his friend as he neared their camp.

"tom!?" edd exclaimed, standing next to the unlit fire pit. "are you-?"

tom dropped his spear and tackled edd to the ground, pushing his face into his green hoodie and sobbing like he never had before.

"calm down! you're so out of breath- jesus christ- don't cry!" edd spoke quickly, clearly overwhelmed. "what did- what- what happened?" he furrowed his brows. "is it matt?"

tom pulled away and sat on his knees, catching his breath as he rubbed his eyes. he sniffled and looked up at edd. "matt's dead. tord killed him," he whispered softly.

edd's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "...you're kidding, right? tord killed him?" he asked, eyes shining as tears filled them.

"i- i saw tord holding matt's hoodie and he even hung it up," tom explained in a shaky tone of voice. "he was laughing. i know he did something, i just don't know what. but tord killed matt." he wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. "i want to strangle that commie bitch."

edd's bottom lip quivered before he suddenly burst into a fit of heavy sobs, his body shaking violently. tom wrapped an arm around his friend comfortingly, a few silent tears trailing down his face.

"it's okay. we've gotta get him back for what he did," tom muttered. "we have to kill tord."

"t- tom, we can't-"

"yes we can. i bet he didn't think twice before murdering matt."

"no!" edd yelled suddenly, catching tom by surprise. "we won't lower to his standards! we're not killing him! we'll just... avoid him." his fingers dug into the sand.

tom shut his eyes and sighed. "alright, edd." he replied calmly. "we won't kill him." he pursed his lips.

we won't. but i will.

—timeskip to the next night—

tom had managed to stay up most of the night, calmly sitting on the rock and gazing off at the ocean while snacking on a piece of rabbit meet. edd had gone to bed at sunset to get some rest from his depressing thoughts.

when the moon shone high and bright in the night sky, tom hopped off the rock and walked over to their sleeping hut. he knelt down next to edd and gazed at his relaxed expression for a few moments, black eyes duller than usual. the commie will be gone for good, edd. tom thought, standing up again and picking up his spear. he headed into the forest with a determined look.

—tord's pov—

tord sat wide awake next to his fire pit, as he had started to do more recently now. he stared up at the blanket of night sky stretched out above him, the moonlight bathing him in a silver light and casting his shadow in front of him.

he looked up at the overhanging rock and watched as matt's old hoodie hung on a piece of rock and swayed with the cool breeze. a smirk creeped onto his face. i wonder who's next. that ginger had it coming. tord messed with his pocketknife, whistling a tune as the fire crackled next to him.

there was a sudden movement in his peripheral vision. tord's eyes flitted to view his shadow; he swore something else had moved near him. he stilled his movements with his pocketknife and raised an eyebrow. "hm?" he glanced over his shoulder. it was almost impossible to see inside the darkness of the forest. assuming it was nothing but keeping his guard up anyway, he looked at the ocean.

there it was again.

tord looked at his shadow again and furrowed his eyebrows. he kept his lips pursed and muscles tensed.

the other shadow was there again; this time, it didn't disappear. it stood behind tord, a bit intimidatingly. the figure seemed lanky and short, with slight spikes at the top. it immediately gave away who his potential attacker was.

"jehovah's." tord chuckled, standing up and turning around to face a surprised-looking tom.

"how'd you see-" tom began.

"your shadow, thomas," he grinned. "you're even more of an idiot than i thought."

tom visibly tensed up and took a step forward, giving the taller male a scowl. "i know you killed matt."

"did i?" tord shrugged nonchalantly.

"how- no, why?" tom lifted his spear threateningly.

"it wasn't really all my fault. poor thing was sad and vulnerable because someone told him he was worthless, so he wanted to try and impress you," tord hummed in amusement, lifting his pocketknife and lightly tracing the tip of his finger down the edge. his green eyes glinted maliciously. "maybe he wouldn't have tried to steal my shit if you'd been a bit kinder."

tom's eyes widened, his grip on the spear loosening. "wait, but.." his voice trailed off.

tord chuckled at tom's helpless look. "it's all your fault, jehovah's. you thought you truly cared about your friends, but do you, really? maybe if you hadn't snitched on me we all would've been happy."

"i do care. i- i have to kill you to protect myself and edd, he's-"

a wolfish laugh left tord, head thrown back. "you really thought that coming here would protect you?" tord took a step towards the brit. "in less than ten minutes you'll be turned to a cold, dead body, left on the forest floor somewhere to decompose. next will be edd. no one will remember you, sweetheart. in fact, no one will care."

tom slowly shook his head, now completely vulnerable to attack with his guard down. it was quite easy for tord to put away his pocketknife, walk up to tom, and gently take the spear from his weak hands.

"take a seat, thomas." tord smiled brightly.

"i was such an ass to him." tom murmured as he sat down next to the fire, shoulders hunched. he sighed in defeat. "and now he's gone."

tord stood over the depressed male, holding the spear and letting out a psychotic giggle. "he is gone, isn't he~?" he leaned down to tom's ear and whispered huskily, "you'll be gone, too."

without warning, tord brought his arm back right before digging the spear straight through tom's back and twisting it around a couple times. blood spattered on tord's face as a squelching sound was heard.

tom's body collapsed forward onto the sand limply. tord effortlessly removed the spear from his back and rammed it down on tom's head this time, a loud crack resonating through the still air of the night. tord laughed uncontrollably as he removed the spear once again and threw it to the side, somehow finding the situation hilarious.

"classic, stupid tom." the norwegian sighed in amusement, taking tom's hoodie off of him. he tutted disappointedly at the realization that there was now a hole straight through the middle from the first stab.

tom's body laid still on the floor, blood seeping into the sand while his eyes were wide and empty of life.