Situated on the outskirts of the forest, south of the school, Meli Atalie was doing her best to remain hidden amongst the leaves of one of the sturdier trees that happened to be available. Going by the logic that most of her classmates, would head straight for the nearest building to seek refuge, she took the opposite approach, staking out a place where no pampered college kid would ever think of hiding. Upon bolting from the school, her supplied duffel bag in tow, she weaved her way through the island's forest until she reached the edge of the tree line near the southeastern coast. It had taken a while for her to pick out a tree that she could climb, but climb she did as she now looked over the forest from the tree's canopy.

As she unzipped her bag, Meli almost dropped it out of shock upon discovering her supplied weapon. While she was none too happy with the whole premise of this game, she had hoped to be given a tame weapon, perhaps something like a knife or a taser. Instead, she found several boxes of bullets and a gun, a Derringer .22 Double High Standard pistol, to be precise. All doubt in her mind that everything going on was real vanished in mere seconds as her fingertips graced the cold metal of her Derringer. If this was the weapon she had gotten, there were certainly bound to be others on the island with similar guns, perhaps guns that were more powerful. She'd never even fired a gun before, and yet she had been given one with which to defend herself.

As she held the firearm in her hands, she couldn't help but shudder. Every fiber of her being felt that violence was inherently wrong. Every conflict could be resolved through peaceful deliberation, or so she thought. Now, her whole way of looking on the world had been turned upside down. Deliberation would mean nothing so long as each and every one of her classmates was out for blood. That was a bit of an exaggeration, of course. Meli felt in her heart that if anything, the girls of the class would play the same way as she did, quietly and non-violently. A girl couldn't possibly be a killer, least of all a killer in this sort of game. They would certainly be peaceful. It was the boys who would take this game to heart and play for keeps. That was simply their nature.

A breeze blew through the trees, lifting Meli's skirt slightly as the leaves rustled around her. Caught off guard, still within her thoughts of the game being played all around her, Meli lost her grip on the tree trunk, slipping from her position high in the treetops and falling to the ground. Landing several yards below, she heard a snapping sound and screamed as intense pain shot through her body. Her neck was fine, thankfully she hadn't broken it, or else she'd be a sitting duck, paralyzed and unable to protect herself. Instead, she could see by the way her arm was bent that it was broken. She tried to move the damaged limb, but the pain only increased, making her scream once more. Checking for other injuries, she was fortunate enough to have remained relatively unharmed from a fall of such magnitude. Aside from the broken arm, the only other wound she'd received was a small gash on her thigh. Still, that broken arm was certainly going to complicate matters.

From close by, the sound of running footsteps reached Meli's ears, the pain quickly being replaced by the feeling of fear. Her good arm stretched for her bag, fighting through the sharp, digging pain from her broken bone. The bag was still open, its contents scattered on the forest floor, but still, her fingertips crawled toward the Derringer. As she touched the metal, her arm twitched, recoiling with disgust at the thought of impending violence. No matter her situation, Meli simply couldn't bring herself to use that gun. As she scooped up the contents of her bag, the footsteps grew louder and faster, clearly those of someone running. In her mind, all she could do was chastise herself for having fallen and given away her safe position as she feebly scooted backwards, pinning herself up against a tree as she awaited the inevitable.

From the trees burst three large boys, each one alone looking particularly frightening. On the left side of the group, Antwon Banks stood, crouched slightly with a hunting knife in hand, his eyes darting for a minute before focusing on Meli. On the right, Tyrone Cisneros hefted a large machete, seeming to miss the vulnerable girl before him entirely. In the center of the group, standing a few steps farther forward than his buddies, was Russell Anderson, definitely looking the most intimidating with a Colt Government Model .45 Revolver aimed directly at the helpless pacifist. Meli trembled, raising her good arm to cover her face as she started to cry, terrified. Her fear manifested itself throughout her body as she lost control and felt warmth growing in her crotch. The boys all seemed a bit embarrassed, turning away to avoid frightening the poor girl further as she wet herself.

"Uh…hey…" Tyrone spoke up as the voice of his group, "Uh…you okay…?"

"P-P-P-P-Please don't kill me…I d-d-d-don't wanna d-d-d-d-d-d-d-die…"

"Hey, hey…we're not gonna kill anyone. Russell, Antwon and I ain't playin' the game, man. We teamed up because you gotta stick together in times like this."

"I don't wanna die…"

"Uh…was that you screamin' earlier? You uh…you need to be more careful about that sort of thing…"

"I fell…and I hurt my arm…"

"Which arm?"

Tyrone reached out and touched her broken arm, a little harder than he'd wanted, and Meli screamed in pain once again. Shocked, he jumped back, not wanting to make her do that again. He turned to his friends, both of whom simply gave him looks of confusion. No one had any idea what to do in this game. It wasn't like there was any sort of precedent for the students to follow in order to win. Tyrone turned his attention back to Meli, who was once again cowering against the tree, terrified and in agony. He felt sorry for her, even though by all accounts, he had no idea who she even was. Aside from Antwon and Russell, he had no idea who any of his classmates were. He was a nice enough guy, but he just didn't pay enough attention in class to get to know anyone. He basically just knew who people were from brief memories, like the black girl that talked too much, or the weird girl with the white hair. This girl, whoever she was, didn't even stand out enough to trigger a memory in Tyrone.

"My name's Tyrone…uh…you can call me Ty if you want, but friends call me Wingnuts…what's uh…what's your name?"

"M-M-M-Meli…"

"Well Meli…uh…I think your arm's broken."

"No shit…"

"Uh…I could make you a sling if you want…it'd probably help you keep from moving it too much…"

Meli simply closed her eyes and nodded, her cheeks puffy from crying and her underwear soaked and starting to stick. She felt gross just being in the situation, but as long as she wasn't dead, she was happy enough. Tyrone pulled off his jacket and his shirt, ripping the fabric until he could fashion a sling for Meli's broken arm. He offered her the jacket to bite down on as he propped her arm up and tied it off. She screamed, but at least the sound was muffled. Helping her up, he did his best to offer a friendly smile, but smiling when you knew that you could die at any moment was a difficult task to accomplish. He made sure she was able to stand before leaving her by the tree to confer with his friends about what to do.

"I think we should take her with us," he whispered, "I mean, we can't just leave her out here. She's hurt."

"That's exactly why we SHOULD leave her," responded Russell, "she'll only slow us down."

"Oh," scoffed Tyrone, "so if you get shot or something, we should leave you behind?"

"That's not the same thing," Russell growled, "We know where our loyalties stand. We don't even know who this girl IS."

"That ain't a good reason."

"The hell it isn't!"

"Ant, what do you think? Take the crippled girl who could kill us in our sleep, or leave her here?"

"Well," Antwon said, speaking up for the first time and trying to remain level-headed, "If she's injured, it's not like she's a threat to us."

"Exactly my point!" Tyrone responded triumphantly, "She's not gonna hurt us. There's no reason NOT to bring her along."

"I can't believe you guys," Russell cried, exasperated, "just because you feel sorry for her and you've got the hots for her doesn't mean we should put ourselves at risk!"

"Dude," Tyrone replied, "I just think that we, as strong, capable guys, should protect a girl when she's hurt. No wonder you can't get laid, Russ."

"Whatever," Russell growled once again, "do whatever the fuck you want. But I'm fuckin' shooting her if she pulls anything."

Returning their attention to Meli, the group discovered that she wasn't even around anymore. For a few moments, the boys grew worried, Russell in particular, but the sound of feminine grunts coming from behind the tree where she'd last been seen put them at ease. Tyrone approached slowly, but as he stepped closer, the grunts stopped, and Meli's voice began stammering in response to his motions.

"Uh…p-please don't come back here…I'm almost done…"

"What…" Tyrone asked, extremely confused at that point, "What are you doing?"

"Just…please stay away for a minute…please…"

He stood there, his mind flooding with possibilities of what she could possibly be doing, his male brain immediately thinking of the dirtiest one possible. After a few minutes of images running through his head, Meli emerged from behind the tree, her face flushed as her hand in her bag, pushing something inside. She looked at him, clearly embarrassed, and found herself unable to speak. Also blushing, Tyrone offered her his hand, only to pull back upon realizing that he'd gone for her bad hand. Not knowing what else to do, he walked her over to his friends and introduced them.

"Ant, Russell, this is Meli. Meli, this is Antwon and Russell."

"It's nice to meet you," Meli said quietly, trying to be polite, "I'm Meli."

"Nice to meet you too," said Antwon, " I sit behind you in class, don't I?"

"I don't…I don't know…"

"Yeah," Russell responded curtly, "whatever. Let's just go. The other two decided that you're coming with us, Meli."

"Coming with you?"

"Yeah, so let's go."

"It's gonna be okay," Tyrone assured her, "I've got your back. Don't worry. You'll be safer with us. We're gonna head to one of those hotels on the southern part of the island. We should be safe there."

"A building?"

Meli was going to offer her thoughts on why heading toward a more civilized hiding place was not the best idea, but she wasn't about to argue with three guys who were much bigger than her. It wasn't so bad; they did seem like they wanted to protect her. Her arm was still killing her, but at least that boy, Ty, had stopped it from dangling and moving around. With a broken arm, perhaps it was for the best to head some place with a bed where she could at least rest comfortably for a little while. Ty stayed back to walk with her as the other two boys ran ahead, making their way through the forest on the way to their inevitable destination.