Oh, right, a dream.

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For some reason, I was on an extended hike.  There were six others, two women and four men.  I started having problems with one of the men, then two.  Eventually all four became... suspect.  A danger.  Not one, or two, of them would have been an issue.  But I realized, with all four of them being a problem, choices had to be made.

I sorted the most aggressive or dangerous, ordering the men as such.  And, then, since there were times were we would be separated, I took out the most aggressive, and the most dangerous.  Quietly, separately.  There was no evidence.  Their bodies, on the foggy mountain climb, simply were sent over edges, down slopes no one in the group would ever be.  Gone, for all intents and purposes.

There... was suspicion.  But the two remaining men were much less... actively... aggressive, much less dangerous.  They would have added to an all out four on one attack, but they wouldn't have led the attack, initiated it, nor would they have been the deadly part of it.

Oddly, it was the academic who was the most aggressive, if the farmer he got on his side who was the most dangerous.  The office workers weren't all that interested, other than living, one way or the other.  Probably glad they hadn't been, finally, able to be egged into doing something they weren't even sure was right.  But, sometimes, majority wins.  Many people will just go with the herd, even if they know it is wrong.

The women?  Didn't care.  They like winners.  Even if they don't like the particular winner.  Unless it costs them something, they just... don't care.  They might have a weaker justice system, but that can be subverted easily.  The more aggressive of the potential attackers was trying to get them on his side.  And, did, while he seemed to be winning.  When he disappeared, and the other went away, all aggressiveness from them ceased.

I would have gone my own way, but that was neither possible, nor functionally an option.  All of us had to go the same way.  There wasn't really a way to go separately.  And, there were reasons to stay together... from sharing pack weights, to sleep defense as there were wild animals, to simply company... along with there being no other path.

How did I kill them?  I simply squeezed their throats until they were dead, with one hand, keeping their hands busy with my other.  Odd how weak most even fully grown men really are.  They think they have more going on, more ability, than most of them really do.  He had a perm, and a mustache, I... the main aggressor... really didn't like him.  Still, wouldn't have killed him if I had been given a choice.  Still?  Done!  In a heartbeat... or... more like ten heartbeats.  That's all it takes for a lion, when he stalks his prey.