Fifth Hour – 43 Students Remaining
Ever since he had left the mass hall and the game had officially started for him, Edward Caldwell, a.k.a. B7, had been mentally preparing himself for the things he expected to encounter in the game. He expected to run into the dead bodies of the classmates he had known for years, people he cared about, he was ready for that. He expected to have those same people attack and try to kill him, the idea still unnerved him, but he was ready for that. He even expected to have to be the one to turn those aforementioned classmates into those bodies; that, he still wasn't ready for, but as he thought of the switchblade that currently sat in his pocket he hoped that he would be when the time came to use it.
Looking up, he could just see the first rays of light hitting the tops of the trees around him; he must have been out here for a while now. He wondered how long it would be until the first announcement was given. Rustling in the trees to his side caught his attention and brought his focus back to the matter at hand. He turned in the direction of the noise and waited quietly for a few seconds to see if it happened again, or if he had simply imagined it, but nothing else came. He retrieved the knife from his pocket and walked toward where the sound had originated from, ducking under any low hanging tree branches to avoid making any noise.
Another sound ahead of him made him stop; whatever had made the sound earlier was just on the other side of the foliage in front of him. Hoping to take whoever or whatever it was by surprise, he quietly pushed aside the branch in front of him and crept forward, holding the knife ahead of him only to freeze in place at the sight of what was on the other side.
Standing about ten feet in front of him was a girl staring transfixed at the sky above her like he had been a minute ago. She turned to face him as he stepped forward, apparently not doing a good enough job of staying quiet, and he was surprised by how small and childlike she looked.
She looked familiar, but Edward couldn't seem to remember her name. She couldn't have been brought to the island with the rest of them, she was far too young to be one of his classmates - but still she looked familiar. After a few seconds, he finally recognised her; Alice Young. It seemed strange that he wouldn't recognise someone from his own class, but then again it was very easy to forget about Alice. He'd remembered seeing her in class and around school. She was a very quiet girl on top of being quite a bit shorter and younger-looking than the other girls of the same age, meaning she tended to go unnoticed in a large group such as in a classroom or school hallway. Seeing her then he wouldn't have thought twice, but here her appearance surprised him. She seemed a harmless, innocent figure that was so out of place given the situation. He realised that he'd basically just been staring at her for the past minute or so, and she'd been staring back just as blankly, so he took a step forward and spoke up.
"Um, Alice? It's me, Elliot. Are you ok?"
Her eyes moved down to his hand and as his followed he realised that he was still holding the knife in front of him. He quickly moved it to his side and tried to hide it from view, slipping it into his pocket as he spoke.
"Don't worry; I don't plan on killing anyone if I don't have to. What weapon did you get?"
Without saying a word, Alice swung her pack round to her side and reached inside of it to retrieve her weapon. Edward tensed just in case she planned to use it on him but relaxed once he saw that all she was given was a pair of bright red boxing gloves.
"Well, that's something at least…"
He couldn't quite place it but something just seemed… off, about Alice. Not the fact that she had yet to say anything, that was pretty normal from what he could remember. No, she was too calm, too subdued, as if she wasn't quite aware of how serious the current situation was. It was possible with the shock of everything that had happened - being kidnapped, seeing Mr Edwards killed and the revelation of being placed in this game - had simply traumatised her. She certainly couldn't be the only one to have that reaction; frankly, he was surprised he was handling things so well. Whatever the case he couldn't just leave her alone out here now that he had found her.
"I don't think it's safe to go anywhere alone in this game. We'd probably have a better chance if we team up; Help each other live through this. What do you say?"
Edward let out and involuntary sigh as, once again, Alice just stared back at him without giving any reaction. He realised that if she really was not responding because she was traumatised, then it would probably be better to just take her with him.
He turned and dropped the pack from his shoulder to the ground so that he was facing sideways to her, opening it up to retrieve the map and compass. He hadn't used them much yet other than to get his bearings at the start of the game, planning on first just getting clear of the starting point before doing anything else, but if he was going to have someone with him it would be a good idea to find somewhere to hole up.
Once he found the items he began pouring over the map and using the compass as a reference. If he had read it correctly at the start of the game he had gone more less south since then, which just put him somewhere beneath the mess hall on the map. He was so absorbed in the details of what he was doing that he didn't spot Alice move out of the corner of his eye.
"Looks like the closing places to us are a doctor's clinic and an old school building. Either one sounds good to me, what do you think?"
While it was probably pointless he felt that he should still ask Alice's opinion on these things. He turned to see how she would respond only to see that she wasn't there anymore. He turned from side to side trying to find her and began to stand up, only for his search to be cut short as he blacked out when something very solid hit him very hard on the back of the head.
****
As Edwards limp body fell to the ground in front of her, Alice Young, a.k.a G9, dropped the now blood-dripping rock from her hand. She knelt down beside his body and reached into his pocket to retrieve his switchblade, holding it up in front of her and pressing the button on the grip to open the blade.
She turned the knife around in her hands, the metal glinting as it caught the growing light from the rising sun, occasionally reflecting her own visage in its surface. It was a much better weapon than the boxing gloves that had been provided for her. She ran her finger along the edge of the blade to test its sharpness, watching as a drop of blood stained the metal.
She turned her attention back to Edward as he began to stir on the ground in front of her, lifting himself up off the ground with one hand and reaching round to the back of his head with the other. Before he could fully regain his senses however, he fell back to the ground as Alice drove the switchblade into his lower back and pain erupted across his body.
As Alice pulled the knife out of him, he pushed himself over onto his back and began trying to crawl backwards away from her. He gave up, however, as she just stood up and walked the small distance he had managed to cover. He could feel his blood slowly running out onto the dirt below him as he lay there looking up at his attacker.
"Why do this?"
"Can't be helped. Those are just the rules of the game. It was nice of you to try and help me but I need a good weapon more than I need a protector"
As she said this she raised the hand holding the switchblade above her head and brought it down, piecing Edward's chest. His eyes opened wide in shock as he felt the his chest get tighter and it became harder to breath. He looked back up at Alice to see her staring back at him.
"If you were of more use to me I would have let you live"
With that Edward's head fell backwards and his breathing stopped, though blood still leaked out the wound in his chest past the knife. Alice pulled the switchblade out of his chest and wiped the blood off on his shirt before closing the blade and putting it in her pocket. She walked over to where her pack lay and picked it back up, leaving the boxing gloves lying on the ground, and walking off through the trees.
****
Heather Richardson, a.k.a G17, was looking out of the doorway of the building she was currently taking refuge in when the first rays of light hit her. The sun finally rising high enough above the horizon that it could shine on the west side of the island. She shielded her eyes with her hand as the light prevented her from seeing anything before giving up and retreating back inside.
It had been maybe an hour or so since she had found the church, time she had since spent exploring it and the surrounding area to make sure she was completely safe for the time being. So far she had only found two ways in; the large front, wooden doors, which she had left open for now, and a smaller door at the back which she had closed shut with a wooden beam that slid into place. An old fashioned method but she doubted anyone would be getting in that way. Unless they had an axe or a chainsaw or something. Quickly dispelling that unpleasant thought, Heather tried to occupy her mind by looking around the inside of the church once more to see if she missed anything important earlier.
The church was fairly average in appearance, though smaller than many of the ones she'd seen. It had the high ceiling and stained-glass windows complete with poorly rendered visages of saints, at least she assumed that's what they were supposed to be, that was usual of most churches. At the front sat a raised platform on which stood the altar, facing which were several rows of pews, enough to seat maybe twenty or thirty people. At the back of the church, to the side of the platform, was a wooden door which led to the back rooms of the church. They included a small office, a storage closet and a hallway with the door she had blocked off earlier.
Heather walked back over to the front of the church by the altar where she had left her pack. She sat down next to it and checked her watch; there was less than half an hour until the first announcement was broadcast and she would find out which, if any, of the other students had died.
She dreaded it, not because she feared that someone she cared about might be on the list, but more the possibility that it would confirm that people were indeed going along with the idea of killing each other. She realised people would be scared, afraid of dying and tempted to kill if it meant they might live but she still refused to believe anybody would actually do it. She realised that if the announcement came on and nobody had died then she knew that it would be okay, that nobody would feel threatened and nobody would be forced to play this twisted game.
But, if even one person gave in, if one person started killing, then it would force others to play as well. After that it was only a matter of time before they all wound up dead. Heather reached into the open pack next to her and pulled her weapon into her lap, the serrated edge of the hacksaw's blade looking ugly and wicked to her eyes. If that happened, she would be forced to do something she'd rather not.
