Hour 4
This game...this fucking game...is only around because of the patriarchy. This is just another way to systematically oppress us all. How the fuck can they do this? There needs to be rallies and protests to this. Fuck the patriarchy. Fuck the system.
Ethel Greene (Girl #5) was, to say the least, not very happy. She had been very vocal about how much she detested The Program. She had made many fliers about it and was constantly posting and ranting about it online. No one had taken this feisty girl seriously, but she knew she was damn serious about all of her opinions. She also knew that she was right.
Ethel continued to think about ways she could escape as she carefully made her way around the tall buildings of the metropolis area. She needed a headquarters where she could plan her escape operations. She didn't want a building that was too small, but she didn't want a building that was too obvious either. Ethel had first entered a gas station and had decided to stay there. It was then that she had discovered Armando's dead body and had left. Ethel had wandered around a bit more before hearing footsteps and running into an alley. She had hidden in a dumpster and had found a switchblade in there (one of the prizes that was scattered throughout the island). It would do much better than the sock she had been assigned as a weapon. Ethel had stayed in the dumpster thinking about how she could escape. Once she could no longer stand the smell, she had left.
Now, Ethel had her eyes on a building off in the distance. It appeared to be a library.
The wind was picking up and Ethel's short hair was slightly blowing in the breeze. It was hard for her to make out certain objects in the darkness, but the light from one of the street lights allowed her to see a shadow in one of the alleys. Ethel decided to walk slowly and carefully as to avoid whoever was there. Suddenly, the shadow rushed forward and straight in Ethel's direction.
The girl quickly fumbled around for her switchblade and flicked the blade out. Ethel ran over to a street light and stood underneath it so that she could see properly. The figure of a scrawny, small kid came into view. His long, greasy hair was a mess and his glasses were slightly crooked. Ethel knew instantly that it was Shadrach Smith (Boy #19).
Shadrach stood with a menacing smile on his face. He held a bloody box cutter in his hand. He could tell that Ethel was drawn to the blood on the end of it.
"Hey dyke," Said Shadrach. He put the box cutter up to his lips and began to lick the blood off of the end of it.
Ethel took a step back. She knew how crazy Shadrach was. Hell, everyone knew how crazy he was. Shadrach had serious issues and was never afraid to let his classmates know. He would mutilate his body and then proudly parade around school showing everyone. He had almost been suspended when one of the hamsters from Mrs. Mason's class had gone missing and then found later with its eyes ripped out and its organs dissected. Everyone suspected Shadrach, but there was not enough evidence. Shadrach would threaten to shoot up the school at least every other week. His threats had become so common that no one bothered to take him seriously anymore. And now, he was face to face with the self-proclaimed "badass feminist bitch" of the class.
The overweight girl knew that she couldn't get away. She was a slow runner and there wasn't anywhere nearby to hide. Ethel was still too choked up to respond.
"I know you're wondering where the blood came from, and no I haven't killed anyone. Yet."
Ethel tried to come up with a response but still found herself at a loss for words.
Shadrach held up his arm. There were many cuts up and down his wrist. Ethel could tell that many of them were fresh.
"Why...why did you do that?" Ethel finally managed to choke out as she tightened the grip on her switchblade.
"I got bored," He replied. Shadrach quickly rushed forward and aimed his box cutter at Ethel. Thinking quickly, Ethel lifted her pack from her shoulder and hit Shadrach in the face with it. His glasses shattered and he fell to the ground. Ethel quickly booked it towards the library.'
"GET BACK HERE YOU DUMB CUNT! DYKE! FUCKING BITCH!" Screamed Shadrach angrily as he tried to fumble around on the ground. He luckily had a pair of spare glasses on him, but he couldn't see well enough to reach into his pack.
Ethel quickly entered the library and shut the door. She looked around for something heavy. Ethel knew she wouldn't be able to block all the doors that led into the library, so she just knew she needed to find a place to hide. Ethel ran upstairs and ran to the back of the library. She hid behind a bookshelf and simply waited.
She was proud of herself. Ethel hadn't even had to use her switchblade to overpower that misogynist. Ethel prayed he wouldn't be able to find her. She would be the savior of this game. She would be the one who would find a way to escape.
For now, Ethel just needed to wait. And she was surrounded by books, which she loved. Ethel knew it could be a lot worse.
It wasn't so much that the gays and blacks had ruined the nation, that wasn't a huge issue. Those troublemakers were bound to destroy everything, that's just in their nature. No, the problem was that normal Americans were allowing bad things to happen. The agenda of these people were always being pushed on others. Enough was enough! America needed to go back to the way it was. That wasn't just an opinion, that was a fact.
At least that was the opinion of Jed Moore (Boy #17). The boy had his viewpoints and he chose to live his life according to them. Jed had been raised to stand by his opinions and views, but he constantly felt as though he was being pushed down. People like Ethel Greene were constantly trying to silence him. But no more of that.
Jed marched through the forest with his head held high. He had has Spas-12 shotgun in his hand. Jed had been handed one of the most valuable weapons in the game, and he was going to use it to finally make his voice heard. He knew the targets he had in mind and he knew what he had to do. Jed would kill those whom he despised. Ethel was at the top of his list. That dumb dyke would constantly just spew about her cancerous feminazi bullshit propaganda. Perry Singel (Boy #14) was also very high on Jed's hit list. Jed smiled as he imagined himself firing off one shot and blasting Perry's head clean off. He also wanted to kill Darren Tabor (Boy #5) for being an entitled prick, and Tiger Hembrow (Boy #3) for his crazy hippie views. Jed would no longer have to do with those who disagreed with him.
He was lost in his thoughts and didn't realize that he was no longer surrounded by trees in the forest. He had reached the residential area. Jed had been searching for shelter since the beginning of the game, but had had trouble reading his map. Jed just happened to stumble into the area he was looking for.
Jed ran over to the first house he saw and quickly entered the door. It wasn't even locked. Jed scanned the room with his gun at the ready. He wouldn't be taken by surprise.
Jed locked the door. He wouldn't let someone else enter that house as easily as he had. He started to regret choosing the first house that he had seen, but he didn't want to change his position now.
Jed went upstairs and checked around the different rooms. Nothing of any use.
Jed didn't necessarily like the idea of killing people, he more liked the idea of killing off their ideas. He had no problem hunting and killing animals, so he just needed to picture his human victims as animals. Jed knew his parents would be watching him and he couldn't let them down. They were proud supporters of anything that the government of The United States of America did. His family would sometimes sit down and watch The Program together. Jed never really had a strong opinion about it. His dad was a pretty big fan, but the rest of his family mostly just watched casually. Jed would have preferred to watch other shows, but The Program was fine. The idea that real kids with actual lives and families were dying was sickening. But The Program wasn't about that. The Program just showed the kids as nothing more than contestants. Nothing more than mere pawns that people placed bets on and watched for the hell of it. It was just another cheap reality show that everyone loved for some reason.
The microwave in the kitchen read 4:42. Jed was very tired and he decided he should get some sleep. He would have some time to think everything over. Jed would think about how great it would be to never have to hear Ethel or any of the others speak again. He would think about how he would go about finding them. Jed had lots of things to think about.
He left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to one of the bedrooms. Jed saw a picture hanging on the wall which he hadn't noticed before. It was a family portrait. Jed knew it was the family that had lived in the house before this game had started. He turned the picture around so that he didn't have to look at it. This made Jed feel better.
Jed entered one of the bedrooms and put his gun and pack down on the bed. It was then that his stomach rumbled. He thought about reaching into his pack and getting a ration of food, but then he decided against it. Jed had never checked the refrigerator! He quickly ran back down the stairs. They had to have something in there! Anything would do. Some fruits, some vegetables, cheese, maybe even some-
The closet door of the hallway opened and Horatio Washington (Boy #20) ran out and bolted into the kitchen. Before Jed even had a chance to react, Horatio had hit him hard in the head with Red's Desert Eagle.
Jed fell to the floor and yelled in pain. Horatio quickly wrapped his arms around Jed's neck and strangled the life from him. Jed struggled to break free. He grasped Horatio's arms and tried to pry them off of his neck, but he could quickly feel his strength leaving him. Jed looked up into Horatio's face. He had a smile on his face, but not one of craziness. He had a smile that emoted full happiness.
There was no need to waste bullets on this racist asshole. There was no need to waste bullets at all. Mr. Parsons had stated that guns were a rarity in this edition of The Program, so bullets were also precious. Horatio could just use his strength to slowly choke the life out of this stupid, useless asshole.
A swift kick to the crotch was all it took for Jed to break free. It was a last ditch effort and a low blow, but in this case Jed didn't care. Horatio's grip loosened and Jed got up. He ran into the next room screaming. Where the hell was his shotgun?
Horatio ignored the throbbing pain in his crotch and ran at Jed. Jed bolted towards the stairs with Horatio close behind. Horatio reached out and grabbed Jed's leg. The boy fell flat on his face. Horatio twirled Jed around and hurled him back down the stairs. Jed landed painfully onto the ground, his body crumpled.
"Stop! Stop! Fuck you! Leave me alone!" Screamed Jed.
Horatio pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired one shot. Bullseye.
The bullet hit Jed in between his eyes. He was dead instantly. His plans would never come to fruition.
"We're so proud of you, Horatio," He could imagine his mom saying.
"That's my boy," His dad would say as Horatio accepted the honor of winner of The Program.
Horatio smiled to himself as he searched around for Jed's pack. He couldn't find it anywhere. Horatio figured that Jed had left his pack upstairs since he had been running from him that way. Horatio climbed up the stairs and checked one of the rooms. Score! Horatio now had four weapons, and two of them were guns! He had four rations of food and water. There was absolutely no way anyone could defeat him.
He knew he had to leave this house because someone would hear the gunshot and probably come. Horatio left through the back door and hopped the fence into the backyard of the neighboring house.
Horatio knew he would be a favorite to win. He had this game in the bag.
43 Students Remaining
