Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gantz. It is owned by ADV Films and Dark Horse comics.

Chapter One: Selection

"There he is! Get 'em!"

"Haha! Gotcha! Serves you right, punk!"

*weak mumbling*

"Wha?" What the heck's he sayin'?"

"Who cares? Let's just finish him off and go home."

*unzipping*

"Yeah how do you like that, loser!"

"C'mon, this is boring now lets get outta here."

"Yeah, I'm startin' to get hungry."

*voices fade away*

*more weak muttering*

"Bastards... I'll... get you."

11 years later...

Eddie Morris stood at the gate of his new school. In eleven years he had been transferred out of six schools for fighting, injuring several boys in those fights. Now seventeen years old, Eddie had promised his parents that he would try not to get kicked out of this place. Eddie walked into the courtyard, observing his new environment and fellow students. He spotted some girls over by a brick wall and caught a bit of their conversation.

"... Never seen him before..."

"... New transfer student... you think..?"

"... kinda cute..."

Eddie smirked. He might like it here after all. As he finished the thought, two boys stepped in front of him. "Hey, hey, new kid. First day huh? Well no sweat, we'll show you the ropes around here. Who am I you ask? I'm Jay and this fat load behind me is Pete." The fat kid, Pete, peeked from behind Jay with a rather large snack cake in his hands and chocolate frosting on his fat face. Eddie was disgusted. "Nice to meet you fellas, my name is Eddie, and if you don't mind, I don't want to be late on my first day." As Eddie attempted to walk past the two boys, Jay shot his arm out. "Now, now. What's the rush? You're new here so I'll forgive your rudeness, but next time we're gonna need a little... compensation." Eddie smile right back in his stupid face. He hated guys like this. Well better to send a message early. Eddie grabbed Jay's arm and twisted it, then shoved him backward into a trash can. Looking down on Jay, Eddie pitied the kids who were actually bullied by such a weakling. "Listen up, "Jay". There's gonna be a few changes from now on. If i catch you or tubby picking on anyone around here, I'm gonna hospitalize you. Don't know what that means? It means I'll break whatever bone in your body I feel like, got it." He didn't wait for an answer, he knew the message was sent.

"Students, we have a new transfer student joining us today. I'd like you all to welcome Edward Morris." Eddie looked around at all the students. Very few were paying attention, which suited him just fine. "Nice to meet you all, and if you don't mind, I prefer to just be called Eddie." "Oh, well okay then, Eddie it is, haha." said the overly cheerful teacher. It was rare to see a teacher who actually enjoyed teaching, but this was a little... eerie. "Well now, Eddie why don't you take a seat right over there next to Erika. Erika, sweetie, would you please raise your hand." Eddie looked over to his right where he saw a girl with shoulder length brown hair raise her hand. "Oh, and Eddie," said the teacher "before I forget, I'm gonna need you to remove your, um... bandanna, is it? Yeah you're going to need to take that right off." The few students who weren't asleep giggled and Eddie grimaced. Taking off his bandanna, Eddie took his seat between the girl named Erika and the window. Great, he thought. I only have to do this ridiculous introduction three more times today. Looking out the window, he spotted the two goons from that morning, talking with a group of guys. Probably telling them all a different version of what happened. Eddie became vaguely aware of someone saying something to him. Turning he saw that Erika was trying to speak to him. He also figured out that up close, she was actually quite stunning, with her big brown eyes, full lips, and small freckles across her nose. "Hello? Can you hear me?" "Yeah, sorry i just kinda spaced out for a bit." said Eddie. "Oh" said Erika, "Well I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Erika." "Eddie Morris, nice to meetcha." He gave her his best smile, than stopped and wondered why he had done such a thing. "Well" she said, "If you need any help or find yourself lost around here, I'd be glad to help." "Wow, thanks. That's pretty decent of you." For the rest of that day, Eddie didn't mind introducing himself to a classroom of barely awake adolescents, in fact, for the first time in a while he felt pretty damn good.

The bell rang and kids ran out onto the courtyard, ready to walk home, grab their bikes, or just wait for friends to go waist time at the arcade or mall. Eddie started walking home which wasn't that far away from the school. As he walked by the local junkyard, Eddie felt a strong grip on his arm and was pulled into the junkyard. The stranger threw Eddie on the ground and kicked him in the stomach. Fighting through the pain in his midsection, he heard laughter above him, one voice sound very weasely and ver familiar. "You shoulda just paid up, kid. Now we're gonna hafta hurt you so you can learn your lesson." said Jay. Eddie spat out some blood and laughed. "The only thing I'm gonna learn is that you're a punk ass wimp who can't fight his own battles." Jay stepped closer. "What'd you sa-." He was cut off as Eddie's foot sank deep into his groin. Jay fell to his knees and Eddie stepped up, grabbing one the guys standing around him and tossing him into Jay. The two collided and lay squirming on the ground. Eddie ran to a brick wall and stood up against it. There were three guys advancing on him, one of which was Fatty. Eddie ran right at Fatty, and jumped up into the air. As he landed, he kicked out with his left foot and crushed Fatty's face beneath his heel. Fatty dropped like a sack of bricks; meanwhile, Eddie rolled into a crouch and faced his remaining attackers. He ran full speed towards a dumpster, know that the two assailants would follow on either side of him. Suddenly he stopped and stretched out his arms. The two thugs collided with his outstretched arms at full speed, fell and didn't get up. Panting heavily, Eddie walked over to where Jay still squirmed. Eddie grabbed Jay and held him in a choke hold. "Did you think you could beat me, you scum!" "Jay choked weakly in response. "I don't care how many guys you throw at me" said Eddie, "I'll take 'em all out! And you too!" A blinding pain intruded on Eddie's anger. Eddie let go of Jay and reached to the back of his head, the source of the pain. When he brought his hand back down, he saw a red liquid stain his fingers. "Is... this...blo..." Eddie fell to kis knees then lay on the dirt. Looking up he saw Jay choking nearby next to the guy he collided with earlier, who was holding a pipe that was coated in the same liquid that Eddie felt on his hand. Is that MY blood? Jay looked at Eddie, then retched.

"Oh, man. He's bleedin' all over the place. What the

#$% didya do that for, man?"

"What, you wanted me to let him choke you out?"

The voices were becoming fainter.

"What are we gonna do? $#!^!"

"I don't $%#in know! Lets just grab the others and get the hell outta here before someone sees us"

Wait. Don't. Don't go.

"C'mon, let's go, let's go!!"

Eddie heard footsteps nearby, then they became faint. Finally he didn't hear anything at all. He thought of his family, what they would think of when he didn't come home.

Please... don't leave me... I need help... It's not fair....

End of Chapter One.