"It's over."
Joseph surveyed the landscape as he triumphantly pushed away Evelyn's limp body onto one of the storm drains. He silently congratulated himself for manipulating the pieces right, finishing the game with nary a scar on him. It was easy enough to deceive everyone, and then steal their hopes and dreams away by swallowing the only key to the collars.
From there, Joseph had automatically become a trophy to be sought. Wars were waged and friendships were broken just for his sole survival. For the most part, he hid from them back at his favourite utility closet. Of course Ronald never made it because he was instantly persecuted for being Joseph's accomplice. But Joseph didn't care anymore. Since the whole fiasco with Charles and Richard, he was convinced of how human nature can be so easily manipulated given the circumstances.
Killing Evelyn was the hardest part, which wasn't really much. All he had to do was finish her off with whatever weapons he easily found lying around. There were shards of broken glass and metal all over the place. When the fighting stopped, Benjamin Hall was a broken battlefield and Evelyn was on all fours pointing to the sky.
Where was her god now?
And it was there did Joseph end her. Slashing- or was it strangling...he didn't know anymore. He wasn't certain but there was some kicking and resistance involved. The job was done a long time ago. Game over.
"Izz not overyet bitch!"
A lone figure made itself visible from one of the thought-to-be-empty classrooms. It was hard to figure out who he was because of all the smoke and smell of fire and brimstone. Two things were very certain though: his pearly white smile, which seemed to stretch maniacally from ear to ear, and a glisteningly long samurai sword protruding from his right hand side. The voice though, was unmistakably obvious:
"You're just LAME!"
Dirk.
Joseph didn't flinch and stood his ground. His tradeMarcus smile made an appearance once again as Dirk was too obsessed with his newfound samurai sword to realize what Joseph had left under his sleeve.
"I was going to slice people up with this thing I found in one of the secret stashes," Dirk began. "But then you already killed everyone else. Hehehehehh...," Dirk's eyes locked onto Joseph now, as his mouth ran on its own. "Guess who's next?"
"Hm," Joseph scoffed. "Do you know what day it is, Dirk?"
And as if on cue, the infallible plot device of death made itself known once more.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Dirk froze in place. How careless could he have been?
"It's the last day." Joseph declared, permanently sealing Dirk's fate.
"RAAAGH!" Broken rage overwhelmed Dirk as he tossed his words aside and lunged forward. As Dirk did this however, he hadn't actually considered wielding the sword and didn't account for its realistic weight. This prompted him to fall faster than usual. Joseph began heading upstairs in order to stall for time.
BEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEE-
"Time's running out hahahahah," Joseph teased.
"Shut up!" Dirk argued as he got back up and left the sword in the grass. He quickly grabbed some of the lighter glass shards and began throwing them in Joseph's direction.
"Shit," Joseph cussed to himself as the jagged edges narrowly missed him, with one of the shards nearly impaling his face and instead gashing him on the right cheek. He quickly slumped down behind a pillar to nurse his wound, and silently count down to the collar's demise. He tried to shut out everything Dirk was shouting until he realized the voices began getting stronger and stronger.
He was now right beside him.
BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP
Before Joseph could make a run for it, Dirk grabbed him by the shoulders and hit him with a strong right hook and pin him to the ground. Joseph was now half-awake, struggling for his very life on the deep conscious end. Every nerve in his body, from the twitches in his fingers, to the pang in his stomach was begging for his adrenaline to kick in. Dirk immediately assumed the position and began strangling his downed victim. Joseph tried kicking away but Dirk was simply too heavy.
It would've been nice to die painlessly and immediately at this point. It would've been the greatest run in any student's life at this point. But Joseph had to have to dishonour of looking directly at the winner as he did. The gag reflex caused by the forceful choking kept Joseph awake in an open-eyed, deeply breathing trance. Every second passed was extremely painful, and Dirk himself relished the moments.
That's what hurt the most.
"Die faster!" Dirk pleaded, about to cut it close with the infernal beeping around his neck. "JUST DIE!"
Surely, those last few moments were the most agonizing. Surely, Joseph looked on in excruciating agony, and try as he might to break free it was no use.
It was too late.
"Hey..."
Or was it too soon?
"HEY..."
All the numbness dissipated at the command of that one booming voice. His eyes opened, his posture straightened up, and his mouth engulfed the surrounding air. It certainly wasn't Dirk's voice that woke him up so suddenly. And it certainly wasn't a death knell. The pain was still there however, albeit lower than the throat area. Was it the chest now...?
"...WAKE UP!"
SLAM went the fist down on his chest as he regained consciousness and unfortunately searing pain. Fortunately, it was one of those moments where he was glad to be able to feel something. It was hard to explain it but he felt a sense of endearing joy from surviving his nightmare. He was still alive, that was the good news.
"Oh thank god. I thought you were gone as well,"
The bad news: he was still alive.
No sooner did he come into consciousness of his surroundings did the hard edge of reality bite him back as well. He was in a game, a mad killing game of epic proportions. There were collars, deaths, tricks and puzzles, bells and whistles in play. He remembered living to see those things, watching from afar, observing them. He remembered having a plan of some sort to escape from all this mess...
"Dude, I don't mean to alarm you but you just fell off some twelve meters. The trees saved your fall but I think the rocks below must've been what knocked you out. You've just been lying around here for days. Kind of a miracle. Somewhat cool," the voice of reason paused for a minute as he tried catching his breath. It took a short while before he continued in a slightly panicky tone. "...shit, this is harder than I thought. How am I supposed to-"
Of course: His escape plan to use the cellular phone to try and reach out. Marcus could barely make out what he was thinking as his senses were still in a daze. He could barely see anything save for a fuzzy outline of his supposed rescuer.
Boy #21: Vic Worthy
"The Cell Phone. I almost forgot about it...," Marcus finally said. "...was I able to...?"
No response.
"I remember dialling the number, but the bars on it were kinda low. Did you find...?" he asked weakly.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Marcus. But we have to get out of here first. Something's going to go down and we don't want to be caught in the crossfire when it happens! So...can you move or not? Come on, we have to go now!"
"Wait," Marcus blurted. "I had a dream. Joseph and Dirk were the last two people standing. And...god, I-it felt like a nightmare...,"
Marcus's eyes widened in horror at the very words he was about to say.
"...Dirk was clearly winning!"
Day 13
It's been raining for a long while now. Vic had mentioned something about a typhoon passing by days ago. He simply shrugged soon after and chalked it up to despair. Days were irrelevant now. With the power out, and the sky unchanging in hue and colour, it was nigh impossible to tell the time, or how many days it's been.
For some reason, even if Marcus distinctly remembered falling back first, his forehead was bleeding when he woke up. In his mind, he tried to picture the many ways his body must've contracted and contorted as gravity did its dirty work, slamming his lifeless ragdoll self against the bark and branches of the world's most red-ant-infested tree. Realizing that other parts may have been broken, Marcus shrivelled back in disgust as he just focused on getting his legs to work for the time being, with a little help from Vic of course. He wished he wouldn't have to guess which body part was working for the moment and which was.
On the way upstairs, there wasn't a single soul in sight. Vic trudged on, slinging Marcus's arm over his shoulder, seemingly aware of this fact. It looked like the place had truly seen better days now, as the faint smell of blood filled Marcus's nostrils. And he could've sworn-or maybe it was just his imagination- that if he tried hard enough he could also smell fire and brimstone emanating from around the corner somehow.
But that scent was immediately overruled by the most pungent of smells, as it attacked Marcus's nose. The clincher was that it smelled so familiar.
"It's urine," Vic said, reading Marcus's facial expression. "Peeing on the mattress deters any intruders," The horrid smell reached its peak as the pair neared one of the rooms at the very end of the hallway. "Took me awhile to drag the mattress here...but it was worth it. These days, you can just steal things around here if no one sees you. That is, if no one catches you and tries to kill you,"
Marcus was confused at what Vic had just said. Try to kill? They've actually succeeded? Vic had just said it as if it were nothing. Has he killed as well?
"I got food that'll last us another week or so...once again, if we're lucky."
"You've got to be kidding me. How long was I knocked out?" Marcus forcibly chuckled, trying to hide his bleeding gums. "You've all gone insane. Everything was still in one piece when I last left this place."
Vic sighed in exasperation. "Things have changed around here. Joseph is turning into desperation-"Vic was interrupted by Marcus's sudden attention to detail: another person had appeared within their radar.
Over the distance she stood, just staring into blank space. Her glasses were completely shattered, yet she still wore the frames as if nothing was broken. Her tattered skirt blew in the general direction of the wind, slowly getting caught up in the torrents of air and debris once in awhile. Honestly her whole image felt like watching some kind of demented perfume commercial in slow motion.
"RE-" Marcus's mouth was immediately covered up by Vic's palm as he pulled him over into the nearby utility closet. Even though Vic was smaller in size, he still managed to pin Marcus down on the corner by the shelf full of cleaning detergents. Marcus squirmed as the stronger smell of urine and Vic's inadvertent cutting off of his air supply caught him by surprise. After a minute of restraint, Vic soon gave his words of warning:
"You do not call Regina, OKAY! Nobody calls her, talks to her, or even looks at her. She's PSYCHO!" Marcus calmed down as his oxygen started to regulate, and could only gasp at what Vic was trying to tell him. "It's kind of hard to explain...," Vic mused. "...but for now, just leave her alone. You can do that, right?" Vic pleaded.
Finally Marcus managed to wrestle Vic's arm away as he sat up in protest. "Did something happen to her?" It only took a few seconds of guessing before noticing something was amiss. "Liam's missing..."
"Dead," Vic declared, beginning to become accustomed to finishing Marcus's sentences for him. "I don't know if you were awake when you saw what Holly did to Charles when Richard died but in this case it's exactly the same,"
"But we didn't kill Liam. Or did you kill him," Marcus recoiled as Vic raised an eyebrow is assurance. With the way things looked, there could be dozens of other that could've done it. Vic was definitely not on that list.
"How would you feel if you lost the love of your life in a deadly game of 'kill or be killed'?"
"I've seen her kill people, okay?" Vic continued. "Joanna and Juste are dead because of her. Everyone thinks its batshit insane but I don't see them trying to get near her. She did it man, she's got some kind of...," Vic trailed off, feeling his credibility failing. "...weapon,"
"Then let's take her down together. Without killing her I mean," Marcus jokingly concluded.
"I wish...," Vic said to himself. He slowly poked his head out of the doorway, carefully not bringing any attention to himself. "...but it's impossible,"
She was gone.
Vic sighed in relief as Marcus squirmed in the closet, attempting to get comfortable. He couldn't help but feel bored out of his skull. "So now what?" Marcus asked.
"I think there's a first aid kit around here. We could try patching up that eye of yours," Marcus could've sworn he heard it right, as Vic said it almost too quickly.
"My what?"
"How's the eye, Marcus?" Vic immediately responded.
"My...," but just before Vic could finish his sentence yet again, his hand was already running itself over to where his left eyebrow was. Vic didn't say anything as he proceeded to lock the utility closet door shut and grab the nearest piece of cloth he could find. Marcus's hand was now over his left eye.
Or at least, what was left of it.
"JOSEPH!"
Meanwhile, by the central atrium Evelyn stood by the eye of the storm. Nobody exactly knew where the open-aired Atrium began and ended, so when she gazed around the place it seemed like it could be a vast battlefield. The storm wasn't helping either, as it blurred her vision even more with what seemed to be the bastard some of fog and malevolent breeze. For a minute, a sliver of sanity popped into her mind: "Why am I out here? Why am I drenched in rainwater and the blood of others?" and as quick witted she was to always have an answer to everything, she proceeded to pique her own curious nature with an answer of her own:
"I know you're here, Joseph. I'm here to talk a deal. I've got Ronald with me right now,"
True enough, Ronald was present and accounted for. He was gagged with what seemed to be a torn sleeve, and tied up with extension cord wires behind his back. But he was there, nonetheless.
Evelyn didn't need to wait any longer. It was obvious she was fed up of waiting, of not saying anything until things were too late. And in her mind she could only imagine the amount of value she is able to redeem if she can only get that last piece of the puzzle.
"Give us the key, Joseph...or your codebreaker dies!"
Only when she gets the collar key can she find herself in the arms of her friends again. Then everyone will listen to her just like before...just like it's always been. Ronald squirmed and shook the rag in his mouth free. He tried to scream but the cold rain had already caused his entire face to numb, as he fell forward on his knees onto the lawn. Teary-eyed and tired, he was obviously in pain on the inside, and begging to be freed. Evelyn said nothing. She had already blocked out the disciplinary acts a long time ago.
Lightning flashed a minute later, momentarily revealing Joseph entering from the other side. Evelyn sighed a breathe of relief. Her bluff had actually worked.
"So you've found Ronald...?" Joseph managed to say, his voice no longer the playfully sadistic leader he once was. If Evelyn didn't know any better, she could've sworn Joseph had turned inherently evil.
As soon as Joseph appeared, Ronald quickly threw the last of his energies in his direction, shouting with all his might: "JOSEPH! What are you waiting for? I don't want to die! Just let me go already. I don't want to get hurt anymore!
It was barely audible, but it was there, and it was unavoidably annoying as it was pitiful. Evelyn shrivelled inside, starting to slip on her conscience. Perhaps it was wrong for her to try and stoop down to the unscrupulous villain. Perhaps it was just better to have gone and played by Joseph's rules for a bit longer.
"JOSEPH!"
Perhaps she was mistaken.
"JOSEEEEEEPH!"
Over at Joseph's side, he was alone. The key was still strung around his neck, and in his hands were two things. One was a "parting gift" he had stolen from a corpse way back in the first few days of the game:
Item #30: Pocket Watch
And the other...was Grace's pistol.
"JOOOOO-"
Bang. The noise was gone.
Evelyn jumped back, completely taken by surprise.
"I don't need some stupid code to live. Trading a codebreaker for the answer? That's the stupidest bargain you've made yet!"
Joseph stepped forward now, refusing to drop his aim. Evelyn stepped backward, attempting to reach for something in the rain.
"Oh, maybe you knew it's cos' me and Ronald are close and all that I'd feel some kind of sympathy...is that it? Was I suppose to fall for that? You are sadly mistaken, Evelyn! Your negotiation skills FAIL!"
"AAAAAGGGHHH!"
Suddenly, something brushed Joseph's side and pushed him to the ground. It made no attempts to knock him further down and proceeded to disarm him, wrestling the gun out of his hand. Evelyn ran as fast as she could at this opportunistic turn of events. The gun was all over the place now, swinging back and forth between the aggressive attacker, and Joseph. After several seconds of rolling on the grass, he finally came face to face with his assailant.
"K...kill ME!
Grace.
"CARLY'S GONE! LIFE IS MEANINGLESS NOW!"
Her broken banshee-like screams didn't debilitate Joseph one bit. Her small frame was nothing compared to the adrenaline of hatred Joseph was feeling right now, as he simply pushed her away. Picking himself up, Grace attempted to run him down again but this time Joseph was ready as he pistol whipped her squarely on the jaw.
"Umph...hic...hic...hhhuuh...,"
Grace was down in a fetal position, her head at an angle. She was breathing but it was faint and rapidly pacing to a stop. She was crying her heart out in the rain as it poured on and soaked her in her own blood, which was already trickling down her mouth.
"BITCH!" Joseph shouted before turning his attention at Evelyn, who had her own trick up her sleeve.
"Now!" Evelyn shouted as Albert cranked the valve on the fire cabinet, forcing out a strong jet stream of water pushing Joseph out of the way, and knocking off the key pendant a few meters away from where Evelyn stood. Joseph was blind now, as he tried to get up, only to slip and slide on the mud patch he had fallen into. He shouted something incomprehensible while waving his gun in random directions. This was the opportunity Evelyn had been waiting for.
BEEP. BEEP.
Joseph squinted. Evelyn's heart skipped a beat.
BEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEE...
Evelyn quickly turned in horror to see Albert's collar activate itself. He was next. At the same distance in the other side, Joseph was getting his bearings back and his gun was pointed in the proper direction...at Evelyn.
"No...no...why now?"
The key was in plain sight. It was now or never as Jan ran past Evelyn, who had grabbed a nearby shiny rock from one of the garden fixtures.
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
It was now or never. Someone had to die.
The rest was just flashes of desperation now: a shot was fired. Evelyn remembered ducking down and releasing her grip on the stone. The projectile had struck Jan as he fell mere inches from the key. For awhile, he attempted to grab it as he crawled a few more centimetres on the ground, ignoring the pain at the back of his neck.
"Show yourself, Evelyn!"
He could feel the outline of a cylindrical shape on the face of his palm as he closed it into a fist. Slowly, Albert tried to turn and sit up, but his muscles refused to respond. His eyelids were getting heavy as well and soon, as he saw his own pool of blood inches from his face, he realized it was the end.
Evelyn just stood there close to one of the pillars, shocked at what she had done. With the noise gone, Joseph muddled off in retreat, clutching onto what he thought was his own key but was just a small pebble of the same shape. The rain had also calmed down a bit now, as the haze gradually dissipated into thin air. Taking a few steps closer, Evelyn could only laugh at what she had done: the smooth rock she had thrown at Albert...had inadvertently hit the larger panel at the back of his collar. The rock had deactivated the collar.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the only thing deactivated.
Results:
14th - Ronald: Kill the Noise
13th - Albert: ZOMG IM NEXT!