Chapter 7
A new terror
Taeung wheezed slightly as he slowly ran up the hill. He paused, breathing in deeply. His portly body was nowhere near ideal for this situation. He had been given a handgun, looked quite new. He had no idea what type it was, only that it was quite heavy to hold, and it certainly looked like it would kill very easily.
But Taeung hoped it wouldn't come to that. He couldn't say many of the people were his friends- but then again few were enemies either. Yeah, he'd been bullied, who hadn't? Just as long as none of those people decided to come looking for him he could be aright. He wasn't what you'd call a very fat boy- however he had carried the mantle of being the largest boy in the class- mainly due to his size during the first school years. But he'd worked hard to loose weight- even got interested in sports and made a few friends.
And now he was being asked to kill them. People he had known for years turning in an instant from friends to enemies. People he had cared about now becoming nothing more then objects to fear.
He paused before reaching the hill summit. He rose one arm, pressing a small button on a cheap looking watch. It lit up slightly. 7:30. They'd left at roughly six. An hour and a half till the first danger zone. Then a few more hours of peace. He hoped. Just give him a few more hours...
He let the light switch off, and turned to run up the hill. He didn't get far before running into someone, falling to the ground before seeing who it was. His bags flew across the ground, the gun landing at the feet of the person. Taeung was frozen, unable to move. All he could see where the shoes and trousers- one of the boys. Standing in front of him.
A hand reached down and picked up the gun. Slowly it rose up above the fallen Taeung.
"Well what do we have here?"
"P-please" started Taeung, "Please don't hurt me."
"I'm not the one waltzing around the island with a gun in the dark."
"I just kept it, just in case…"
A hand reached down, grabbing one of Taeung's hands tightly. Carefully, but powerfully, he was pulled to his feet. Ryo, in his new blond haired glory stood in front of him. He nodded at the boy. Taeung smiled. Ryo wouldn't hurt anyone, he was one of the good ones of the class- friends with almost everyone, kind, smart even useful in some sports.
But he was still holding the gun…
"Promise me you wont go psycho on us?"
"Yes!" said Taeung gladly, "I won't do anything like that…us?"
Ryo handed the gun back to its uneasy owner. He took it, looking unhappy at having to hold the gun once more. Ryo then turned. "Megumi, it's fine to come out now!"
The small girl slowly stepped out of the dense foliage, brushing twigs and leaves off of her uniform. She walked forwards, waving nervously at Taeung who blushed.
"Wait…you thought I was a threat?" Taeung surprised himself by suddenly laughing. "Me? A threat? I feel guilty about killing a fly, let alone one of my…well friends I guess."
"Well you can't think that there aren't any people who are willing to kill" replied Ryo, "In a situation like this the only person you can even begin to trust is yourself."
---
Over an hour without seeing anyone and I have to run into these psychotic fucks first thought Mehdi as he ran desperately, trying to escape. He just had to throw whatever weapon he might have got away didn't he. Just had to have misplaced trust in his fellow students.
"Shit!" he gasped as he continued to run.
For the first time in seemingly years Kensuke was excited. The boy, Mehdi, wasn't far ahead of him, and he didn't have the stamina to keep going for much longer. Hell, even if he did have some stamina Kensuke was one of the fastest boys in the class. Aside from Kondo of course. But then again that kid had been described as a sports prodigy on more then one occasion.
It was all Kensuke could do to stop himself yelling out excitedly, being on the hunt for the first time. He was going to enjoy this. This island gave him the chance to let out his inner demons- show everyone they were wrong for ignoring him, thinking of him as a piece of dirt.
Dante seemed much calmer. In fact he seemed almost disinterested, merely following Kensuke because he had nothing else to do- much as had been the case. Poor Dante, always the led. Surely he didn't believe his dear friend Kensuke wouldn't turn on him, the first time he needed to? Who knew what he thought? Who cared?
By now that had reached a straight area of path. Mehdi was directly in front of them, constantly slowing down. He yelled, threw his personal bag away and continued running. Kensuke would and could run for much longer. And then it was over. Mehdi tripped, yelling in desperation as he fell to the ground, one hand collapsing and snapping under his body.
Kensuke stood over the boy and kicked him onto his back. He was going to look in the face of the person as he killed him. He wasn't no fucking coward. The boy held up his useless hand, all four fingers snapped back, hanging loose.
"Why?" groaned Mehdi.
"Nothing personal. It's just a game. And I like to win."
"But what did I do to you?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just be glad its casual indifference, and not anger I feel towards you. If it were the second option- you'd have wished you were gunned down trying to run back to the main building."
"What makes you think he won't do this to you Dante?"
"Shut up" replied Dante without emotion.
Kensuke rose the axe and swung down, tearing through the flesh and striking the bone of Mehdi's right arm, snapping it. Mehdi couldn't resist the urge and screamed loudly.
"Sorry about that- just a practice shot. I've never killed someone with an axe before."
Kensuke swung down again, ripping through Mehdi's stomach, cutting deep into the bowels.
"Woah, what did you have to eat?" asked Kensuke as a foul smell filled the air.
Bang!
"What the fuck was that?"
Dante grabbed one of Kensuke's long sleeves, pulling on it. Kensuke turned, and Dante pointed.
"It's Yuichi."
Yuichi Nakata, the baby faced member of the class stood with a gun pointing up into the air. He was quite small, and little threat- but he did have a gun. He looked at the scene with a look of confusion and horror.
"What are you doing?" he called out.
"Just playing a game" replied Kensuke, lifting up the gore covered axe. "Just following class orders. Always do what teacher tells you."
"You're killing Mehdi?!"
"Hey, why not?"
Yuichi lowered the gun, pointing it towards Kensuke. Kensuke stood still, just looking at the small boy. He started to grin.
"And what do you plan on doing with that thing huh? It's almost as small as you!"
"Shut up!"
Taking Kensuke by surprise, Yuichi opened fire. The third shot hit Kensuke in the shoulder, merely glancing, stinging but nothing much. The rest missed. Now Yuichi was unarmed, out of bullets. Kensuke swung the axe, flinging off some of the blood. He looked up at the small boy menacingly.
"Well. Now what are you going to do?"
Yuichi turned to run as Kensuke ran up the small rising to chase him. Dante looked down at Mehdi, who was still, eyes unblinking and decided to follow Kensuke. As he left, Mehdi blinked, tears slowly passing down his face onto the ground. He tried to move once, but was gripped by powerful burning sensations that ran the length of his torso. He coughed once and looked up towards the night sky.
Yuichi had surprised himself. He never thought he could run this fast. If only he'd found out while he was still at school. He ran along the ground, slowly disappearing into the darkness. The land here was uneven, dunes could hide him from view, as well as vegetation. Already he called hear the frenzied running dying down. A few more minutes and he might even make it.
Then try and find other people.
Yes other people could help.
But for now run.
Nothingness.
The solid ground suddenly disappeared from beneath Yuichi's feet. He fell; into a deep hole an entrance to a rudimentary mine dug by one of the locals years before. As he fell his head collided with the solid wall, snapping his head back.
He merely gasped in surprise as his neck snapped, vertebrae thrusting up through his throat, ripping through the soft flesh. It was strange, all this darkness. Darkness all around. Just the darkness of the deep mine? Death?
He was dead before he smashed into the floor.
Dante stood, looking down into the mine. Kensuke soon arrived, the two having split up. Kensuke still held his axe, but Dante had already placed the machete back in his bag.
"Where did he go?"
"Down there- he fell. There's no way he could survive that fall."
"Guess it's lucky he did come along" said Kensuke, "If he hadn't, we could have ended up in that mine."
"Well now what?"
"Better get going. We can't rely on everyone to kill themselves."
