I know, Long Time No See, huh? I'm so so so so so so sorry. I know I did promise for quicker updates and that this story wouldn't go on a hiatus well here I am almost six months later with the newest update. I wouldn't blame you if say you hate me. I deserve it. Just go easy on me though. I have my excuses and those were getting an acting agent and doing some film projects and auditions lately. Yay! Well I'm back and I want to finish this story. This chapter was a little hard to do because it was hard keeping Kazuo in character at times in this chapter.
Well here's an early,
Merry Christmas! :D
Robbie created another fire inside the barn and decided to take a nap. Claire sat in Trey's lap relaxing while he was playing with siri on his phone and Elizabeth was drawing spirals, tick tack toe, and odd circles spontaneously in the dirt floor with a stick.
Once "The Thunderer" anthem started everyone popped their heads up, even Kazuo's did and Robbie awoke from his nap. "Hello, first off I am so proud with how fast you are all killing each other off. After this announcement you can all rest for longer hours until morning comes. Now for the unfortunate ones lost, Girl # 25, Jenna Richards."
Claire and Elizabeth gasped when they heard that Jenna died. She was their friend.
"Boy # 23, Rhett Wilcox, Girl # 13, Vivian Roberts," Ms Ti continues. "Boy # 1 Kevin Coates, and last Boy # Mark Reeds. Well done today, perhaps we'll have a winner sooner then we think and that lucky person will go home. It seems like yesterday when-," Ms Ti stops and then starts to chuckle. "Well it was yesterday when half of you were still alive."
Elizabeth grimaces in anger, she didn't want to hear anymore of Ms Ti.
"And soon there will be no more of you but one or none at all." She chuckles again. "Now for the danger zones, A-5, D-9, B-8 and F-2. Keep up the killings and goodnight."
She was gone following with a last chuckle over the intercom. The group were starting to look over their maps. "We're not in a danger zone, I already checked where we are." Elizabeth said getting up and stretches her limbs.
"Well in that good news I'm tired." Claire said and Trey yawns afterwards. Claire looks up at him with awe.
"I'll keep watch on the nut job." Robbie said grabbing tightly onto his crossbow and Elizabeth without hesitation stops him by getting in his way.
"Robbie you still look tired, I'll keep watch." Elizabeth offers gently.
"What? Are you kidding me right now?" Robbie gawked at her. "You've gone long enough without sleep."
"Robbie please," Elizabeth stayed calm when she spoke and kept a straight face. "You know I need and want to know. Also I'm not even tired." She said raising an eyebrow.
Robbie is silent, and glares over at Kazuo. He kept to himself without looking back and didn't struggle in his bonds. Robbie heaves heavily looking back at Elizabeth. "If he does anything strange wake me up." He said handing her the crossbow.
Elizabeth took it gladly. She lied about not being tired, Elizabeth just didn't trust for Robbie or any of her friends alone with Kazuo. She began to walk towards Kazuo and squats down against a post across from him. "Don't count on it." She whispers in reply to Robbie making sure he was out of distance as to not hear her.
Kazuo winces at Elizabeth and she caught it and makes her face the same way back. "I wasn't talking to you. And I still want those answers." She said.
"Why do you consider it so damn important?" Kazuo said. "Don't you ever think that I might actually be a nice guy."
Elizabeth threw her head back and had herself a silent laugh. "I've seen you on TV, you're not even close to a nice guy. It's a good thing that didn't sound like a question."
Kazuo didn't reply, good, Elizabeth wasn't done talking anyways. "See I don't want to hurt anyone else, I feel bad enough already after killing someone myself today but Robbie, he can't wait to rid you. I really want to find out what you want from me."
"Because I'll soon be dead," Kazuo said in a slight chuckle and swallows before continuing. "And you won't know anything when I am. Well tell me this then." Kazuo tries to sit up more after he's been slouching. Elizabeth could tell that he was in a lot of pain sitting up. "What is the difference now between me and you and everyone else on this island?"
Elizabeth narrows her eyes. "Because I didn't make the choice to play a game to kill people. You have no emotion, no morals, no…" Elizabeth kept thinking of something to say. "You care for no one but yourself."
"Oh yeah well everyone now is fighting for their lives. They don't care about their friends or brothers and sisters, the emotion and morals that you speak of is now gone from everyone. If there is a winner that person will not be the same. No one who has ever won is. There's a chance that your friends will turn on you too or who knows maybe you will." Kazuo said and looked like he was going to say more and didn't.
Elizabeth knew that Kazuo also spoke the truth there, she had seen it in the media with previous winners and other stories of friends and siblings turning on each other for the sake of living. "At least I'll feel bad for what I did. Also once did." Elizabeth said.
"A person like you, you would still live with your gilt." Kazuo said and smirked. "What is it that you once did may I ask?"
Nothing else was swapped verbally, only stares every now and then and they would look away again. Elizabeth didn't know and couldn't process how such an intelligent and smart being like Kazuo could be such a bad guy. He acted ignorant but every word that came out of him was the exact opposite of that word.
Elizabeth looked over to her friends and they were all already sound asleep and was surprised to see Robbie get sleep really fast. She could feel herself start to drift off too and would occasionally pinch herself to wake up or opened her eyes when she would feel like she was falling. The world around her suddenly did feel like it was falling.
The next time Elizabeth opened her eyes she saw that her friends were gone from where they were sleeping.
She got up off the ground and noticed that Kazuo was gone from his post with the bonds cut in half. "Robbie! Claire!" She called and there was no answer.
Elizabeth picks up hay from where the fire used to and where the dirt was supposed to be too. "Robbie! Where are you guys?!"
She headed for the door that is wide open and then it seemed to close on its' own when she got to it. Elizabeth then pushed and kicked the door and it wouldn't budge. The moment she turns around she sees Kazuo standing in the center of the barn facing her.
"Where are my friends?" Elizabeth asked defensively.
"I took care of them," Kazuo said revealing a bloody machete from behind his back and twirls it with his fingers. "And I'm about to do the same to you."
Kazuo charges at Elizabeth and brings the machete down on her.
Elizabeth jolts up out of her sleep, her heart is racing at a tremendous speed. Looking ahead of her she sees Kazuo still tied up to the post and looks over to her friends who are still safe and sound asleep.
"Bad dream?"
Elizabeth looks to Kazuo and he smiles as she didn't reply. "You've been asleep for over an hour."
"And you don't sleep I take it," Elizabeth stated sarcastically.
All Kazuo did was shrug. "What did you mean by what you once did?"
"You never answer any of my questions so what makes you think I would answer yours?" Elizabeth leans on the post with her arms crossed.
"Why can't you just trust me?" Kazuo asked. "I didn't kill you did I."
"Well for one we just met," When Elizabeth saw a satisfied look on his face she knew Kazuo tricked her into answering a question from him.
"I'm only curious about you, that's my answer. Happy?" Kazuo gently kicks underneath Elizabeth's shoe when she didn't respond or looked at him.
"Why?" Elizabeth said without moving to look at him and pulled her legs closer to her chest out of Kazuo's reach.
"I don't know yet and I honestly can't answer that right now."
Elizabeth wanted so badly to go back to sleep but because of the nightmare involving Kazuo she couldn't. She felt trapped in each world as it was. But in reality it wasn't so scary with him as she had thought.
"So what you're saying is that you want to know me?" Elizabeth now looked at Kazuo with a confused lifted brow. "How? Just.."
Kazuo shook his head and leans his head back. Elizabeth couldn't tell if he was getting tired or was feeling weaker than he was. "You hungry or thirsty?" Elizabeth asked. Kazuo shakes his head again. "You have to be tired by now." She continued.
"I'm not." Kazuo said with a slight roll of his eyes, and his face emotionless like it always was.
They were quiet for a few minutes mainly because Elizabeth pondered deeply on a question she wanted to ask Kazuo. She didn't know how he would take it but she couldn't stand the silence and felt to be drifting off again.
She asked anyways regardless of the consequence. "Why is it that you don't feel?"
Kazuo squints at Elizabeth as though he didn't understand. Elizabeth added. "You know why don't you have any emotion?"
He didn't seem to look uncomfortable about the question as he grinned looking down.
"Everyone's always afraid to ask me that." Kazuo said. He thought for a few seconds to himself before speaking again. "The only person I could ever talk to and loved from what I can remember is my mother when she was still alive."
Elizabeth raises her eyes, a pain hit her right in the gut after hat he said. She then had thoughts swarming around if he was telling the truth or not. When she was about to ask another question it was as if Kazuo already knew ahead of time what she was going to say.
"She passed in a car crash, I was in the car too." Kazuo said. "I got injured and almost died myself."
"Is this why you became what you are?" Elizabeth asked cutting him off.
Kazuo frowns. "Forget it." He looked the other way inadequately.
Elizabeth suddenly felt bad, this was the first time she'd seen him react to something like a normal human being and it almost tore her apart. She didn't fully understand herself if he was truly a psychopath would he be reacting this way?
"What about your father, if I may ask," Elizabeth said softening her voice.
"He is never around," Kazuo said after he had calmed down.
Great, he was still talking to her and now she was going to rephrase her previous question different. "You weren't always this way were you?"
Kazuo smirks. "I just don't care anymore."
"Well if you don't care about anything then why do you keep saving me?"
"I already said, I find you, curious." He said gazing at Elizabeth with engaging eyes.
Elizabeth narrows her features at Kazuo, stands up walking toward him and kneels down in front of him at eye level. They stare for a long time at each other and Kazuo began to appear somewhat anxious. Elizabeth back slaps his cheekbone with her hand.
Kazuo looks down and gasps with a chuckle smiling. "Now you're just trying to turn me on." He then looks at her with a pleasing smile. "Do it again, I liked it." He hissed through his teeth.
Elizabeth still at his eye level looked on at Kazuo with sympathy and slowly shook her head feeling pity for him. "You really don't get it do you," Elizabeth wiped her eye to catch a tear that was about to fall and with the same hand she touches the side of his face smoothly.
Kazuo started to feel nervous at the subtle touch. "What are you doing?"
Elizabeth didn't answer him and brushed her fingers through the front area of his hair and bangs. She then made her way down to his chin with her hand and Kazuo felt a slight shiver. "Stop." He whispered. Elizabeth didn't listen to him. "I said stop!" Kazuo exclaimed.
Elizabeth took her hand away and backed off a tad. She looked to see that Robbie whimpered and tossed in his sleep but didn't fully wake up and neither did her other friends. She looks back at Kazuo, she didn't say anything and walked back to her post.
"I do get it, just don't do that ever again," Kazuo said to Elizabeth as she settled away from him.
Elizabeth knew that she was in the wrong for not stopping when he said so in the first place so she couldn't really be mad at him for getting on to her. Still he was so twisted to wanting to get slapped more and enjoyed it better than a simple caress and didn't like it.
"My mother used to do that." Kazuo continued. "I had forgotten how it felt and that was just too strange."
"Kazuo, I'm," Elizabeth was starting to say and at the same time felt her heart breaking. She felt like she was getting to know the real Kazuo Kiriyama. "Sorry." Elizabeth blurted out. Her heart felt like she need to say it.
Kazuo looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You must've had it hard a lot and what am I to judge, I'll stay out of your business." Elizabeth continued giving up on trying to understand more about Kazuo but she knew it would most likely not happen and really soon she had drifted off to sleep again and so did Kazuo.
In the control room Ms Ti avoided all the other cams focusing on the other students and only on Elizabeth's and Kazuo's converstation until they had stopped and fallen asleep.
She had a cigarette in one hand which she was smoking. "Oh Kazuo she still has you wrapped around her finger more than you do with her." She said to herself. "Boys!" She turns to her team. "I shall go and retire myself. Do not miss anything while I am away."
Ms Ti walks into a guarded room all by herself and instead of going straight to sleep she puts on a darker red shade of lipstick in front of the mirror and hides a handgun in her mini skirt.