Castus Libo (Boy #8) swaggered down the street, pistol in hand. He had a smug grin on his face as his feet touched pavement, and the moon cast a silvery glow on his face, as well as the faint red tinge in the sky from a distance. Morning had nearly arrived. He had nearly survived until daylight, and he knew that it was almost a certainty that others hadn't. And besides, at least one name was going to be called out at the 6:00 announcements: Italia. He wondered if they would say how she died, or who killed her. Castus could just picture it now. Dew's voice ringing out, telling the account of how Italia's life was so easily cut short.

Part of him did feel bad, but in the abstract sense of guilt felt when someone accidentally killed a bug without meaning to; fleeting, and meaningless. After all, how well did he really know his class? Enough to value their lives over his? No way in hell. Sure, he had a couple of friends here and there, but nothing close. Nothing to cause him some sort of turmoil over. He would sleep easy.

Castus slowed his pace, and yawned. A wave of drowsiness had suddenly taken over him. But it was entirely understandable, considering he hadn't stopped moving since the moment he left that hovercraft. And killing Italia wasn't as effortless as he had liked it to be either. He had to find somewhere to rest.

With his mind made up, Castus turned onto the next street. It looked identical to the last one, with the exception of being on the edge of the huge woodland park area that encompassed the starting area, and the only Danger Zone as of now. Castus had marked it off pretty early, and had the map, compass, list of students, and pen in the pouch hanging off his neck. Easier to access that way. He smiled. So far, one name had been crossed from that list. He hoped for more in a couple of hours. Since if the Hunger Games had taught him anything, it was that the first body count was always the highest. Granted, it was only going to be six hours' worth of dead students, but he was hoping for a large amount. Maybe ten or so. Yeah, that would be a good number. One third eliminated in the opening hours of the game. It would be amazing to see.

However, that depended on how willing other students were to play as well. Castus didn't know for sure who would and wouldn't play. Perhaps those that had someone close to them in the class; perhaps a pair of lovebirds, or even better, the Pupius twins. Castus felt a rush of excited joy at the prospect of the two red-heads taking on the class. Oh, how satisfying it would be to snap their necks, or blast bullets through their faces, or stab them until they bled out. So many possibilities. And if there were onlookers, it would appear to be an act of justice. That would help keep up Castus' image of an innocent.

In the real world, Castus was far from a violent killer; he didn't even take Peacekeeper classes. He was known as a light-hearted, delicate soul who was compassionate about everyone, and always had a calm, albeit mildly aloof, attitude towards life. In a way, that was still true about now. He didn't really care how the events played out, except for one thing: that he was the only one left alive at the end of it all.

Castus yawned. Man, was he more tired than he originally thought. He had to find somewhere to sleep soon; he could not risk being deprived of any more sleep than necessary. It wasn't exactly that hard to find somewhere, though; he was surrounded by countless buildings that were twenty floors plus. He could easily lose himself in one, and avoid detection from other students whilst he rested. But at the same time, if he slept in, then there was a chance that this zone could go Danger Zone, and he wouldn't be able to get out of the building in time to flee. So despite how tempting the buildings were, he was going to have to sleep outside. Sleeping on the streets would be a stupid idea, which only left the trees. Castus walked down the empty, silent street to the tree line, his footsteps sounding out louder than what they should be, and stopped a few feet before the trees. It looked safe, but he didn't know if all trees were part of the Danger Zone or not. He pulled out his map, and looked at it. He was in the bottom third of F-8, just above the starting zone. Safe.

With this decided, Castus walked over to the trees, and slumped down against one. Bushes surrounded him from all angles, making it that much harder to see him. He placed his gun on his lap, and began to doze off.


The sky was now turning a definite shade of faint red as the time slowly ticked onwards. A faint glow was now present on the eerily empty streets of the arena, casting deep shadows, and giving everything an almost sepia-like quality to it. Hiding in the shadows was quickly becoming a thing of the past.

For two students in particular, this meant moving on.

Marius Drusus (Boy #3), and Epria Terentius (Girl #14) carefully walked down the next street they turned on to. Epria hugged the walls of the buildings, whilst Marius stayed closer to the roadside. He had his randomly assigned weapon, a slick, heavy crowbar, in his hands, gripping it tightly. He continually kept looking around in the early morning light, his eyes peeled for any signs of life. So far, nothing.

The two of them had been pretty fortunate so far. Both had met up fairly early on in the game, and neither of them had seen anyone else yet. But that meant nothing; there were thirty of them, and it was fairly easy to hide in this place, as evident in both the Hunger Games, and now. And with the addition of Danger Zones, the number of hiding places would just continue to shrink, until day three, when it would be game over one way or another.

Marius glanced over at Epria. Her pale violet hair, normally kept pristinely straight, was a wild mess. Marius wasn't one to care about his appearance, but his spiked brown hair was now laying flat from a combination of several factors. But he was more bothered about Epria than himself. To call the two of them best friends, or even lovers, would be an insult to their relationship. The two of them had been around each other since infancy; their parents lived next to each other, and as such, the pair of kids had done literally everything together. The only thing they didn't share in fact was their birthdays, but even then, they always celebrated each other's birthdays with such gusto. Neither of them could envision a life without the other close by. Even now, with both of them having made up their minds about their future careers; Epria wanted to train to be a stylist, whilst Marius wanted to join the Peacekeeper force, the two of them were as close as possible.

So of course this Battle Royale had broken the two of them. Because, at the end of the day, only one of them was permitted to continue to roam the realm of the living once the three days were up. Only one of them. And of course, straight away, Marius had made the begrudging decision: it would be Epria. She would be the one to survive, not him. He would devote the rest of his life to protecting her, even if it meant certain death. But he didn't care about himself dying; what upset him more was the thought of Epria's promising, hopeful life being brutally cut short. It was too tragic for words.

Epria suddenly stumbled on a crack in the pavement, causing her to let out a light yelp. Almost immediately, Marius tensed up, and looked right at her. He relaxed once it was evident that Epria was in no danger, but he didn't stop checking. It was too risky to even be the victim of an accidental fall; that could be the dividing point on the line between life and death at the end of this all. They had to remain in as perfect health as possible to live.

"Marius?" Epria said quietly. Her eyes were wide, and she was still trembling even now, four hours on. It didn't help that Marius was training to deal with these situations, but the sight of her so terrified and vulnerable just broke his heart. Despite his tall, broad appearance, Marius was actually quite caring when it came to it.

"Yeah, Epria?" Marius replied softly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Me?" Marius said. "I'm fine. Honestly. My only thought here is to make sure that you are completely and utterly safe, and so long as that is the case, I am fine." He flashed a reassuring smile at the frail girl. She seemed to relax ever so slightly.

"And another thing..." she began saying, but was cut off by a particularly loud yawn. Marius' eyes darted around the area, making sure nobody was there to here. "I'm starting to get tired."

"Really?" Marius said, suddenly feeling the welcoming temptation of sleep. "Well, so am I."

"Do you want to call it a night for a little bit?" Epria asked.

"You can," Marius responded immediately. "I'll stay up whilst you sleep, making sure you're okay."

"But Marius," she said. "What about you? You need sleep as well!" She walked closer towards him.

"I know I do," he said, hesitating. "But I just can't sleep with you so vulnerable; it would be like I'm letting you down."

"Listen to me, Marius," Epria said. "I'm not some damsel in distress here; I'm more than capable of looking after myself when push comes to shove. Don't treat me like some precious china doll you have to continually keep looking on to make sure a sudden chip hasn't appeared."

"I-I-"

"But it's fine," Epria said with a light giggle. "I find it kind of charming in a way. You're like my knight in shining armour, there for me. My own personal guardian angel."

"Heh, yeah," Marius said bashfully. He smiled sheepishly at her. "And I will keep doing so until my dying breath."

"And another thing: don't say that," Epria said. "You're making it sound like people in our class will start killing. And believe me, I know them well enough to be one hundred percent certain that nobody will deliberately go out of their way to end the life of another."

"Yeah, you're kind of right there," Marius said. "Trust me to forget you're one of the most socially knowledgeable people in our class."

"It's completely okay," Epria said lightly. "This whole stressful situation is reason enough for it to slip your mind." She smiled warmly at him, an innocent, hopeful smile. In Marius' eyes, she was too precious and innocent to be thrown into this game, yet here she was, supposedly fighting for her life.

"But ignoring that," Marius said. "I suppose we will have to find somewhere to sleep then."

"Glad you changed your mind," Epria responded. "But before we decide that, how about we see where we are?"

"Good idea," Marius said. He reached into the pouch containing the map, and pulled it out. He looked over it, and quickly determined their location before putting it away again. "We're in the lower section of F-8."

"That's cutting it pretty close to the Danger Zone," Epria said, concerned.

"Not really," Marius said. "There's a couple hundred feet of trees before the zone border, Epria."

"I suppose so," she said. "And those trees do sound like a good place to hide out."

"Yeah," he replied. "They could easily hide us." Seeing Epria's expression to his statement, he quickly added more. "You know, if we have to."

"So it's settled," Epria said. "We head towards the trees."

"Not that we have far to walk," Marius said, pointing to the line of trees at the end of the street.

"Hey, you're right!" Epria exclaimed with a wide grin. She took off down the street. "Come on, Marius!"

Marius began to run after her, feeling confidence flow through him. It was all going to be okay; Epria's positivity had some truth to it, after all. How many of their classmates would truly kill? He shook his head at the thought, and began to run at Epria's side. Close enough so that he could easily shield her from any attacker. Close enough so that he could see the smile on her face vanish in a heartbeat.

Close enough so that he could see the bullet exit through the back of her skull.

Epria slumped to the ground, a pool of blood pouring from the hole in her head. Marius stood there, looking over the fresh corpse. A dull shock had paralysed his body, preventing him from looking away. But his mind hadn't slowed down, and the realisation slapped him around the face. Epria was dead. She was dead. As in, laying on the ground, lifeless. The spark of life had left her. She had gone. He had failed to protect her.

A noise that sounded like a mixture between a wail and a sob came from Marius' mouth; a sound of pure anguish. The person he was closest to had just been gunned down like cannon fodder right in front of him. Tears dripped from his eyes, and Marius lowered his head. This simple action allowed for the second bullet to harmlessly sail over him.

Marius slowly turned his head to the left, and saw a figure standing in the middle of the road, smiling widely. His auburn hair was a scruffy mess, and his blue eyes had narrowed as he looked at Marius. It was Castus Libo, of all people. Marius had to do a double take there. In no way could Castus have been the one to end Epria's life. Castus was laid-back, and caring. He was there for everyone; a true friend. Not a heartless killer that stood in front of Marius now.

"Hey there, Mar," Castus said in a low voice. "How goes it?" He was still projecting himself as the casual, caring guy everyone knew him to be, even after committing this sin.

"You..." Marius said, finding that his voice had betrayed him. "You, you killed Epria." His voice was devoid of all emotion. Disbelief didn't even come close. "You killed someone!" Emotion was now welling up rapidly inside Marius.

"Yeah, big deal," Castus said with a shrug. "Add her to the pile."

"Pile?!" Marius replied, his voice climbing to a yell. "You've killed others?!"
"Yeah," Castus replied, twirling his pistol. "Italia. How else could I have snagged such a sweet weapon?"

"You mean to tell me that you're responsible for two murders?!" Marius exclaimed. "How could you?!"

"Simple, really," Castus said, indifferent. "I sort of just figured that they had to go if I wanted to go home."
"But they were your friends! Our friends!"

"Well they were just obstacles in this game, Marius," Castus said, his tone betraying zero remorse or anger. "Surely you, an amateur Peacekeeper, would realise that?"

"Of course I do," he spat. "But that doesn't mean I can freely kill my friends!"

"God, man, you are so slow," Castus said. He cocked his gun. "Killing is a thing we kind of have to do now: get with the Program." He chuckled. "Get it? Program?" Castus aimed the gun. "Anyway, see ya, softy."

However, before Castus could even fire, he was tackled to the ground by the larger boy. The wind was taken out of him as his head hit the pavement. Marius stood over him, pure fury in his eyes.

"You monster!" he screamed. "You heartless monster!" Castus didn't reply, and instead delivered a punch to Marius' jaw. The bigger boy stumbled back, allowing Castus to get free. He looked coldly at Marius; he wasn't worth the bullet.

Still disoriented, Marius didn't stand a chance when he was grabbed by the throat. Castus had an iron grip around him. Even though Marius had more muscle on him, Castus was still the same height as him. And as such, Marius was powerless as he was shoved into a building. But he wasn't going to let this killer take him down as well. He began to kick at Castus aimlessly, suddenly forgetting all the combat training. His only thought was to take the monster down. Take him down, and avenge his fallen friends. And especially Epria; even if it meant having blood on his hands, Marius wouldn't let Castus walk free.

Marius went to deliver a powerful punch to Castus, but the auburn haired boy simply kneed him in the crotch. He howled in agony, and fell to his knees, cringing in agony. Castus then grabbed Marius by the hair, and rammed his head into the solid wall of the building. Immense pain flooded through his head with each slam, and his thought process slowly began to jumble. Castus didn't relent though, tearing hair from his head, and staining the building with fresh blood. Marius began to go limp, and finally stopped struggling, slumping to the ground, his final thought being a burning shame that he didn't manage to protect Epria.

Castus stood away from the two bodies for just a moment, catching his breath, before picking up the crowbar from the floor. Marius had a pretty decent weapon, actually. In the right hands, this could cause some serious damage. Like Castus, for example. He could easily take out someone with this weapon; it was an excellent backup to his pistol.

However, before the decision could be made, Epria's bag caught Castus' eye. He sauntered over to it, and crouched down, unzipping it. He stuck his hand into the bag, but at first, it seemed to be devoid of any weapon. However, he gripped something soft and round in shape. He began to lift it out of the bag when-

Squeak.

Castus gasped in shock at the sudden sound. However, he then pulled out what was in the bag, and laughed softly. It was a small rubber duck. A piece of yellow plastic that squeaked. Entirely outrageous. He squeezed it again.

Squeeak.

"Hehe," he laughed. This was pretty fun. He squeezed it with the other hand.

Squeeeak.

"Hehehe." This was way more entertaining than it should be.

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.

He knew he should stop, but he couldn't bring himself to. But perhaps he could have even more fun. Castus reached over, and lifted Epria's dead hand. He wrapped her still warm fingers around the bath toy, and pressed down again, harder.

Squeeeeeeeeaaak.

Castus was beside himself with laughter. He had turned Epria into a puppet for his amusement. It was priceless. But still, all this noise could cause a problem.

He stood up, away from the body, and pulled out his pistol. He aimed at the hand, and fired.

Blam.

Chunks of plastic and blood burst across the floor, ending the life of the joke weapon. And also Epria's left hand as well, but that wasn't really important. Castus smiled. As fun as it was to screw around with the duck, it was way more satisfying blasting it to pieces.

He walked away from the bodies, without a second glance, and returned to his hiding place, looking forward to a good, satisfying rest, in the knowledge that he had once more helped lower the competition. This was just too fun.


TIME ELAPSED: 04:13

TIME REMAINING: 67:47

PLAYERS ELIMINATED: 4

PLAYERS REMAINING: 26

ELIMINATIONS:

TERENTIUS, EPRIA (GIRL #14)

DRUSUS, MARIUS (BOY #3)