A/N: Hey guys C:! I am going to not be able to update for a while (10 days) so here is the next chapter a bit early C:

I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it! It's super action filled and next chapter is even better!

A special thanks to spamlionofdoom103 for following and The Knees of Bees for her lovely review and encouragement C:

-DI

Perception

Chapter 3

"Feel the savagery, the utter savagery had closed round him, -all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men." – Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I used to be someone who believed in something, in peace and humanity but now I see myself to have believed in ignorance. Nothing but ignorance. Now I could feel myself transforming slowly into someone that I did not know, someone that is me, but not myself. As a child that once thought the world was pure grows into an adult through the realization that the core of humanity is selfishness, I too grew into someone who realized world peace is never possible with conflicting ideals. I too had to adapt to survive, as many before me, I was once a child, transformed by the savagery of the wild. Oh and how dark the wild truly was!

"GooooOOOD Morning Mother Fuckers and welcome to my cruise ship!" He shot another round.

By some bout of courage I snuck a peak over the side of the pool ledge. My fingers tightened and I took a sharp breath, there were so many men holding guns, the main one with the pistol was in the shadows so I couldn't get a good look at him

"Mi amigos here" he flung around the gun motioning to his 'friends' "Will escort you out of your cabins." He gave a barking laugh of a madman as if he just gave the funniest joke in the book.

I ducked down quickly as a black boot came within a foot of where I was peaking.

"Shit!" I swore under my breath "Shit shit shit!" I looked at Vivian. "There must be about 70 of them" I whispered to her.

She looked like she was about to cry, her eyes going glossy all over. "I'm going to die, you're going to die." She looked at me tears welling up about to spill over. "Joe we are going to die" as if it hit her suddenly she grabbed her hair "Oh God! I'm not ready to die! I still haven't graduated or-or done anything with my life." She started speaking faster and faster anxiety rushing over her.

I grabbed her shoulders shaking her a bit "Viv!" I whispered to her "We are not going to die! We just need a plan! Okay? Let's think of a plan, you can do that right? You are smart remember? All we need is a plan."

As if resurfacing to reality she nodded her head. "Okay, okay." We both observed our areas

"Okay, maybe if we quietly swim out that side of the pool, by chance we can make it to that wall out of their sight."

"Joe, I can't go off of a 'maybe'! This is my life we are talking about!"

I turned to her "Damnit Viv! This is the best and only option we have, so if you can think of anything better please let me know"

She held her hands up as if to allay me "Okay" she breathed in and then out calming herself "Sorry, let's do this."

We quietly made our way over, I don't even think one of us breathed a breath of air in fear it would tip someone off to our location. We exited the water, our shoes and wrap skirts forgotten by the deep end of the pool.

So far so good.

I was in front of Vivian making the path of our escape, our steps did not make a noise, we stayed low and quiet, stealthier than either had ever been before in our lives.

We were turning the corner out of sight I was looking back to make sure Viv was okay when I immediately ran into something hard but soft feeling strangely like….damnit!

I looked up, eyes scanning the red material.

"Hey Vaas!" the intruder yelled and my body moved on its own out of desperation. Before my brain could understand what exactly I was doing, as if I was possessed by a soul other than my own, my fist went flying and a loud 'smack' sounded when my knuckles connected with the man's nose.

"Fuck!" he yelled holding his nose with one hand and with the other he started to grab for me, I was frozen, my hands shook, I couldn't believe what I just did, that violence came to me so naturally, that it just flowed out of me. I was distracted in my own horror and he would have successfully grabbed me if it wasn't for Vivian moved faster, her body diving into natural instinct to defend me and in one swift motion she kicked him right in his crotch. He gave a pained yell as he melted into a puddle of defeated man on the ground holding his precious items. I didn't waste any time grabbing Viv's arm and making a run for it, adrenaline pushing my every step farther, adrenaline rushing through my veins, my hand that I hit the guy with only a distant dull throb for now.

Vaas heard one of his men call his name and then a couple of other yells after that. Vaas excitedly jogged over to the man that called him earlier, he was on the ground in obvious pain. Vaas's eyebrows rose, he leaned down tilting his head like a curious puppy would.

"What the hell happened here?"

Vaas grabbed the man on the ground's shirt lifting him up, forcing him on his feet, blood gushed from his nose that was no doubt broken.

The man looked at the ground in shame, "A girl-"

Vaas gave a loud barking laughter and everyone else joined in, when Vaas was done laughing he flung his gun around at the others his eyes suddenly dangerously enraged "Ey! Shut ta fuck up! This man is trying to speak you rude fuckers!" it was immediately silent as the man continued.

"A girl in a bikini… with big boobs she came around the corner and she punched me, and then kicked me in the groin and ran away."

Everyone blanched and the guy frowned.

"I'm not kidding!"

Vaas leaned down so that they were eye-to-eye

"Let me get this right,…You let a.. girl beat you amigo?"

The guy shamefully averted his eyes to the ground and nodded.

Vaas let out another laugh, cocking his gun, he then turned to his cronies pointing at one of them.

"You. Go punch him." He said waving his gun in the general direction of the man who got beat by a girl.

After the man punched the already beaten man Vaas turned to the one who was now dripping blood from not only his nose but now also his lip.

"There, feel like a man now?" He didn't wait for the guy to respond "good." He then turned to his workers again.

Vaas flung his arms up "Now let's give these fuckers a real welcome!"

On his command all of his minions dashed about as if hells gates were broken open and they were his demon's bursting forth, looking to create as much chaos as possible. They flung around guns, kicking open doors, dragging people out of their rooms, shooting the ones who didn't obey their commands. The once beautiful dream finder had turned into a man's nightmare plagued with chaos and blood splatters, moms screaming reaching out to their babies that were taken away from them, Husbands trying to defend their family only to get metal in their skull. In that dark day tears fell harder than rain, but blood out ruled them all.

At that time I was running with Vivian in hand. We were not athletes, I tried soccer once but I wasn't any good so I quit, but in this moment Vivian and I ran faster than a cheetah, with more endurance than the prey running from the cheetah.

We ran to our room locking it and double locking it, but we knew there was no amount of locks able to keep these men out.

"We have to find somewhere to hide!" I said to her. I knew in the long run it wouldn't help us, but some ignorant hope in me wanted to believe it would.

"The closet isn't going to fit both of us." She said with more seriousness than I've ever heard her have in her life. "You take the closet and I'll hide under the bed." She said already going to hide. I nodded and immediately after there was one loud "Bang!" against the door. I scurried into the closet.

It only took one more bang until the crash of the door onto the ground was heard.

In the complete darkness of the closet I heard the man's heavy steps as he inspected the room.

"I guess no one's home." He said to himself, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

Then a shrill scream sounded and I peeked out of the closet. He was dragging Viv out from the bottom of the bed by her hair. She clung to the foot of the bed.

"You thought you could outsmart me you little shit? Ha! You forgot to hide your red hair stupid bitch!"

Vivian in danger fueled my adrenaline, her panicked scream jumpstarted something that ran like liquid napalm throughout my veins; anger. This man would not hurt my friend, not while I was here. For the first time in my life 'equality' had been shattered, everything I believed in was starting to crack under the pressure of cold hard reality, I jumped from my hiding spot right onto the red shirted man, this threw him off his balance and he fell straight on his face. In shock he let go of Viv's hair, who moved to the farthest corner. As I sat on top of his back I immediately grabbed his pistol from his holster before he could think about going for it, I then cocked it and pressed it to the back of his head so he knew that I had the upper hand. I knew what I was doing, I knew it was wrong, so why didn't I stop? My hand shook violently and my eyes watered, my lips were chapped and my chest heaving. I was a monster.

"Now, you are going to listen to every word I say and only answer when I tell you to, okay?" he nodded. I silently thanked anyone listening that my voice didn't waver.

"I don't take orders from a stupid bitch!" he spit angrily in a thick accent.

I slapped him across the back of the head with the gun, not hard enough to do any real damage but just enough to remind him of his current situation.

I turned to Vivian "Viv go get three silk scarves of yours and some hairspray." She left to do what I said.

"Who are you people and why are you raiding our ship?" I asked him.

"We are pirates," he answered in an annoyed tone that grated on my ears. "We work under Vaas, our job is to capture tourists and hold them for ransom."

When Vivian returned with the items I turned back to the guy. "Now you are going to do exactly what I say okay?"

He didn't answer but grumbled some swears under his breath.

"Vivian hand me the scarves" she handed me it "Thanks." I said, I then tied one around the man's mouth as a gag so no one could hear him yell, it would give away my plan. I got up off of his back, gun still trained to his head.

"Now, take off your clothes" He looked at me with confused wide eyes.

I was getting annoyed of his stuck up princess act. Vivian had only a matter of time before the next pirate came around this part of the cruise ship and if they walked in now, Vivian and Joe would be in deep shit.

"I'm sorry did I fucking stutter?" He immediately started taking off his clothes when he reached to take off his underwear I quickly stopped him "No that's good enough"

He gave a sneer.

I then threw the clothes at Vivian "Get dressed" I said, she smiled already figuring out part of my plan.

As she got dressed in his clothes over her bikini, I tied his hands and feet together with the other scarves.

"Do you still need the hairspray?" she asked when she was done. I shook my head.

"No, I was only going to use that if he resisted."

"Make him suffocate on hairspray?" she joked, I frowned.

"No, I was going to melt his face off with that lovely lighter he had in his pocket." Vivian shrugged.

I got up from crouching next to the guy and looked at her "Here, help me put him in this closet."

"Gladly." She agreed and helped me put him in the closet.

"Hey" Vivian said after we shut the doors. "Hold the doors closed real quick" I did as she told me and she returned with a metal rod that held the towels up in the bathroom, she then slid it in the handles of the door so there was no way he could get out of the closet.

"Were you really going to melt his face off?" she asked eyebrow raised, curious.

I looked at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "Hell no! Do you think I'm that crazy Viv?!"

She shrugged dismissing it "So what's the rest of your plan?" she asked me.

"Okay well now that you're dressed as him we can sneak around and find a way out of this."

She frowned "What about the rest of the people?"

I blanched, realization suddenly hitting me like a semi-truck, how could I forget about everyone else? Looking back on today I can't believe what I have done, my fear created tunnel vision of survival, holy shit!

Viv saw the absolute horror on my face and put a hand on my back.

"Hey, hey, don't think about this shit, we did what we had to do to survive, if it's up to them, they would have killed us without blinking." Somehow her words did not help but rather made the realization of my situation deepen.

The stunning realization that to me, my life was more important than a strangers, that in the core of myself I was selfish, just like everyone else. In the wilderness, in the savage, we were all the same, we were all wild things, and a wild thing is not easily again tamed.

"Demons
Come on
You've got a vision
You're on a mission

Demons
Live on
And when I die, hang me high

They're gonna bury you
They're gonna finish
They're gonna stand em up six by six by six
You pull the hood back
I wanna know
Which way will the heavenly go?"

–Demons by SleighBells

AN: Hope you liked it, action finally here and next chapter is crazy C; It's one of my favorites where Joe and Vaas finally meet!- DI