Inside the cottage, Lance had finished his coffee, while N let his go cold. Once he finished, the first thing he did was check his weapon; a glass bottle. Initially disappointed, the first thing he decided was to break it off the edge of the table, making it a decent weapon for shanking. The next thing he decided to do was to scour the kitchen for any better weapons.

The search had been quick and simple; within one of the first drawer he searched was a collection of cutlery, and a long, butcher's knife amongst them. Although it was nowhere near as good as something such as a gun, it would certainly make a more usable weapon than glass bottle. He decided that the glass bottle would be second priority.

"What did you get?" Lance asked N, realizing the other man had been awfully quiet.

"Sorry, I'm keeping that private."

"Fair enough. Right now, it doesn't make a difference to me if it's good or useless", he muttered, thinking about his own less than adequate weapon.

Tossing his day pack over his shoulder, he clutched the butcher's knife with his right hand. He was about to say goodbye to N, when the door suddenly burst open. Both Lance and N froze, hoping they would be hidden in the darkness. They did expect messy confrontations soon, but not this soon.

"Is it okay to go in?" Trevor asked, sounding a little concerned about the fact that the door opened so easily.

"Yeah. The owner probably just forgot to-" Tierno began as he walked in, but froze.

When he properly entered the house, he saw the two silhouettes stand out in the darkness like a sore thumb. Even though he had only saw them briefly in the classroom, their eccentric hairstyles made them recognizable.

"Tierno? What's going on?" Trevor asked, walking up slowly behind him. He saw what had petrified Tierno, and let out a small whine.

Lance considered his options. He could let the kids run free, and strategize more. It was the safest option, and given the fact that they looked awfully young and weak, they would be dealt with eventually. His second option was to fulfill the purpose he had been brought here for; to kill those who were too weak willed to do that exact act. He had decided.

"I'll give you a head start. Run", he told them calmly.

Before he could even say the last word, the two boys had disappeared from the doorway. Even though Trevor was generally a painfully slow runner, he had taken off faster than anyone would have ever thought he could.

"Well, looks like it's beginning. Good luck, N. See you another time, probably", Lance said, and took off out the door. N merely watched him leave, and then went back to examine the weapon he received.

Outside, Tierno and Trevor had not stopped for any breaks. The cottage was becoming a mere speck in the distance, and although their lungs were screaming for air, they didn't dare to stop. Neither boy could believe their misfortune; they came across the one houseon the entire islandwhere the two most feared players were currently residing.

The feeling of horror was quickly beginning to reside once they had landed in a grassy patch. The grass was tall, and concealed Trevor completely. Tierno's head was visible through the top, but if he ducked down, they would be camouflaged. Briefly, they stopped, gulping in breaths of air.

"Are... we... safe?" Trevor panted.

Tierno took the risk of sticking his head out through the grass. In the very near distance, he could see Lance gaining speed on them. He was rapidly approaching the area that they were hiding in. Without another second of hesitation, Tierno grabbed the smaller boy's hand and dragged him through the grass. As he did, he accidentally stepped on the tiny tail of a Patrat, waking it from its nap. It let out a loud screech. Great. Give us away to the entire island!, he thought.

Ignoring the rodent, he continued to run, Trevor's hand slipping out of his own. He wasn't sure what they could do. They could try and get back to the school, and find some way to get Lance into the danger zone while they stayed out. How would that even work?!. Or, they could split up. Yeah, and he'll run after one of us, making one of us guaranteed death. Through his panicked mind, Tierno found that coming up with a plan to escape death on the spot was incredibly difficult.

He looked back over his shoulder at Trevor, the more clever of the pair. Surely he would have a plan. However, before he could even receive the boy's attention, Tierno's eyes were drawn to something completely different. His eyes widened in fear, and his mouth hung open.

While they took their grassy route, Lance had either taken a shortcut or picked up his pace, by the looks of things. He was almost directly behind Trevor, knife brandished. Tierno had no idea how Trevor didn't hear him. Then again, with how loud his own heart was beating, it must have been hard for the younger boy to hear anything too. Still, all he could hope was that he would hear his warning.

"He's right behind you!"

For a very brief moment, a look of horror dawned on Trevor's face, and for the first time, Tierno noticed the beads of sweat that had formed. Much to Tierno's dismay, the boy was beginning to slow down, possibly out of numbing fear. He was about to scream at him to run, but his words would never reach him.

Lance grabbed Trevor by the head, holding it in a tight lock. The small boy flailed, attempting to punch and kick, his hands curled up into weak fists. Lance paid no attention to his movements, and instead looked down at Trevor with wide eyes. He positioned the butcher's knife above the metallic collar. Pressing it to his throat, Lance swiped it across Trevor's throat in one quick swipe.

Trevor felt only a split second of pain, as he felt the process of his windpipe being sliced. After that brief moment, he no longer saw or felt anything. Blood spurted out of his neck, droplets spraying out onto the grass. Lance watched the process for a few seconds, and then dropped Trevor, leaving him like a discarded toy. With that, Trevor became the first person to officially leave the program.

Despite the fact that Tierno had previously been close to furious with Trevor for not running, he had stopped moving altogether upon seeing his closest friend have his throat cut open. He wanted to do many things at once in that moment. Scream, cry, mourn his best friend, hit Lance, kill Lance, or just wake up from whatever hellish nightmare this was.

Tierno didn't get the opportunity to do anything he wished to do. As soon as Lance had dropped Trevor, he moved towards Tierno with agile footsteps. Tierno, who was also agile and elegant-moving despite his weight, snapped back to reality and stepped away. He moved backwards, catching Lance off guard. He could have sworn that the boy was in a state of bewilderment.

This back-and-forth movement quickly ended. Tierno, who was stepping backwards, had no clue where he was going. He felt his foot stumble over something in the grass, causing his whole body to stop moving. To his horror, he realized it was Trevor's body. He wished he had time to mourn, but instead all he could was treat it like an obstacle, and-

"Sorry about your friend", Lance whispered from behind.

Tierno turned around. How did I miss him move?! Was he really more agile than me? I kept my eye on him nearly all the time, there's no way he could have-

Lance repeated the process in a quicker manner. Having found the perfect place to slice, he drew the knife quickly across Tierno's neck. This time, he stepped back to avoid being splattered with any blood. He dropped Tierno's body next to Trevor's.

For a moment, Lance stood there and looked down at the bodies. There's nothing to feel guilty about. I'm just doing everything I can do to survive, he tried to reassure himself. As he got over his momentary guilt, he knew that only one could survive, and unlike many of those on the island, he was not the type to selflessly die for the sake of others. He felt the most basic instinct: The will to survive.

The truth was that Lance was still at a loss as to why he was even in this program. He was just as ruthless as any of the men within that classroom. Like them, his plans had been ruined by children, but for some reason, he was out here, fighting amongst them. I should have been in there with them, watching over this game. Not fighting out here.

Brooding over his thoughts, Lance inserted the knife into his belt, before walking away. The stench of blood from the two bodies below him was irritating his nose.

25 Remaining.

Author's Note: Poor Trevor. I was tempted to let him live a little longer, but someone had to die soon.

I was going to put in some more characters, and what they were up to, but I felt that I'd leave the first killings as a chapter on their own. We'll get back to other characters in the next chapter! Oh, as always, please let me what you thought!