Disclaimer: I don't own TDI or any of its characters. Nor do I own Battle Royale 2: Requiem and all the stuff I'm stealing from it.
Chapter 11
Heather had passed out sitting in that same corner. She awoke suddenly to a slight clicking noise. She opened her eyes to see Chris removing the collar off of her neck. He took the collar completely off from her neck. He then noticed Heather had awoken. "Oh, hi, you were already asleep when your turn came and I thought it'd be best if I just dismantled it in your sleep. Harold here helped me to make sure you wouldn't fidget or anything." Chris told her. Heather then looked over her shoulder to see Harold sitting right behind her. "But you didn't move an inch, and now it's all done." Chris said smugly before rising to his feet.
Heather remained speechless as she rubbed her newly collarless neck. Harold got to his feet, "I figured this would be the best way to get your collar removed, for both parties." He explained, "Come on, once Chris disposes of your collar he is finally going let us know what happens next."
It would take a few minutes for everyone to be woken. Soon everyone gathered in the main room on the fourth floor in full gear. "Welcome everyone," Chris greeted them, "Now that your collars are all disposed of and the army is no longer able to hear our plans I won't wait any longer in telling you what happens now.." He walked over to the far wall where there was a stack of crates. Slowly he began to remove them from the pile. Behind them there was a large tarp, reaching the full height of the wall and was about five meters wide. With one big pull he tore the whole tarp down exposing the entrance to a tunnel. "This is your escape route. It's an old tunnel that leads into mountain, stretching from back before the war. It goes all the way back to the mainland."
"And the government doesn't know about it?" Courtney asked.
"It was thought destroyed decades ago. We were able to dig it back up. The government doesn't know we restored it, or else they probably would have used it already. I need to make it clear that it's not going to be as simple as just travelling through it. They are going to be sending a squad of army personnel very soon and you need to cover up your tracks." He explained, "Now here is the plan. I will stay and cover your escape. A ways down the tunnel there is a large stash of dynamite, one of you has to retrieve it and bring the dynamite back. We will rig the whole back section of the complex with dynamite, and I will stay behind and blow it up so they won't be able to find the entrance."
"I'll get the dynamite and bring it back." Duncan volunteered immediately. He held onto his rifle tightly. Chris was not surprised.
"So wait? Chris, you're staying behind?" Gwen asked.
Chris nodded his head. "I am their primary target. They'll put a lot less effort in trying to locate you if I'm not with you. This has all been about me. Plus whoever detonates the dynamite should be on the outside or else the wires would lead the army to the inside of the tunnel. Now I want you all to listen closely to what I am about to say. That army squad could be coming any minute now. I won't be able to fight off a whole squad by myself. I need some of you to stay and fight with me, but you must know chances of survival will be very low. If you agree to stay, you are agreeing to a suicide mission." There was a long silence, as everyone didn't know how to react to the request. They all looked at each other, nobody really sure what to do.
"I'll stay."
Everyone turned and looked at Noah. He walked to the front of the group and stood next to Chris, who gave a nod of approval. Noah then turned and looked at Izzy for a second who had a shocked look on her face.
"I'm staying too,"
Everyone looked at the far right fringe of the group at Heather. She made no effort to walk to the front but instead sat down against the far wall. Chris appeared reluctant but eventually he nodded giving his approval, if only slightly.
More movement at the back of the group as Eva made her way to the front. Harold was very nervous and unsure, practically shaking. He ran in front of Eva stopping her momentarily. "What should I do?" Harold asked.
"Do what your heart tells you to do. I'm staying." Eva advised him. She then proceeded to walk around him and walk up next to Noah.
Still standing in the same place Harold became increasingly uneasy. Everyone stared at him wondering what he was doing. Finally Harold made a decision. He walked right up to LeShawna. "LeShawna, I… I always loved you. And I am staying." He immediately turned and walked to the front with Noah and Eva.
"Okay, that should be enough." Chris declared looking over his volunteers. "Just one last thing there is two entrances leading to the complex one on the left the other on the right. Each entrance is rigged with trigger mines but the triggers are down on the main level. They are to be used only when the army has entered the complex." His volunteers nodded understanding the reasoning. "Good, now say your goodbyes, they very well will be your last."
Duncan walked right up to Noah, he placed his hand on Noah's shoulder, Noah did the same. They both looked into each other's eyes, without saying anything they both nodded.
Geoff walked to Harold and shook his hand. "Every time I tormented you, I want you to know, I'm sorry. You were the bigger man. Good luck." Harold was stunned by Geoff's admission, and didn't know how to respond.
"Thank you," was all Harold could say.
Right next to them Bridgette walked up to Eva. "I hope you find what you've been looking for." Bridgette then proceeded to give Eva a hug. Eva was surprised, she was not used to that kind of physical contact. However she was very thankful for it.
Cody ran up to Noah and tackled him into a hug. "This can't be goodbye not after everything we've been through." Tears began to swell up in Cody's eyes.
"It's okay Cody," Noah tried to comfort his friend. "I hope this isn't goodbye either. But in case it is, I want you take care, don't forget me."
"I'll never forget you." Cody called out as he started to get a grip on his emotions. The two broke their embrace. Cody walked over to where the others were standing by the entrance to the tunnel. Once he joined them they all have one final look back at the five remaining in the complex.
"We'll never forget any of you." Bridgette felt she needed to say. With that she turned and headed into the tunnel. The others slowly turned and headed into the tunnel as well, Geoff, Duncan, Courtney, LeShawna, Trent, Gwen, Cody, until the only one left was Izzy. She just stood there, staring at Noah. She was looking as if she was going to say something but in the end just let out a sigh before walking into the tunnel and out of sight.
And so all those who remained were Chris, Noah, Heather, Eva, and Harold. They formed a circle in the middle of the main room of the complex. They all started looking over their equipment making sure they were locked and loaded. Chris waited little time before getting right down to business. "Alright, we set up those barricades out front so that anyone trying to get to the complex has one liner path to get there. That means they'll be easy targets. All along the front wall we have vantage points looking directly down at the path. None of them are perfect and you will be open for enemy fire. Those further to the left side give the better view but you're more open to attack. Pick your location wisely."
They began to move towards the front wall which wasn't much of a wall. The front of the complex like the guard posts before it had little actual concrete walls on the side. Most of the wall was made from makeshift sheets of steel. The walls only stretched about four meters high leaving a big open space between four meters and the ceiling. Harold took his position the furthest left giving him the best view but most prone to attack. He was okay with it though, he knew his chances of survival were almost zero. So might as well have the biggest impact you can.
About five meters to Harold's right was Eva, next to her was Chris, then Noah. The furthest right was Heather. However besides Chris, Heather was the best shot, so she was still very deadly.
"Hey Chris?" Noah called out once they were all in position. "I was just thinking? Why don't they just bomb this place?"
"This is reinforced concrete. This structure was built during the war to withstand bombings. It's also built into the mountain. They drop some very expensive bombs on this place they're still going have to send a squad to make sure they actually killed everyone. And since they weren't even willing to waste sending actually trained military personnel against us and sent you kids instead. I doubt they'd want to waste those valuable resources like missiles, which let me tell you are hell ah expensive." Chris explained to him.
Harold wondered for a second before asking, "But what about those collars? I mean they seemed like pretty sophisticated machinery, I doubt they could be made for cheap. Was reinstalling the TBR really cost efficient?"
"To be honest I have no idea why they decided to start up TBR again. When they were considering it before with the war against America there was plenty of debate and we had our informants on it right when somebody even pitched the idea. This time it seems to have come out of nowhere." Chris admitted.
"Maybe it was because of your bombings? Did you ever consider that?" Heather cynically called out from the back of the group. Everyone was surprised by her outburst.
It took a second before Chris responded, "Every fucking minute. But then I think about the thousands of classes that would have been participating if we hadn't put a stop to the war. Was it worth it? I try to convince myself so."
Silence fell over the group, each of them looked down their sights at the ground below. Up on the fourth floor they were able to see down the path up the hill, to the ruined buildings at the base, and the edge of the forest. Noticing a little scuffling between the trees Eva tightly gripped her rifle. "They're here."
Everyone's eyes were now glued to the edge of the forest, waiting for the first figures to appear. "Alright boys and girls, this is it!" Chris called out as he began to look down the sight of his sniper rifle. "Get ready to get some revenge."
Afterword
I know what you're thinking. "What the hell? You had to end the chapter there! Right before the action!" Sorry about that. It has been a while since there was any action. (all the way back to chapter 6! Wow!)
So yeah, after writing it, I will admit that the whole "tunnel to the mainland" is kind of weird and a bit of a copout. However this is not something I thought of, it is directly taken from BR2, in which they give even less explanation. I honestly was too lazy to think of any kind of alternative, so roll with it! It also allows some great scenes, like the goodbye scene in this chapter and another next chapter. I am curious to know what you thought of my choices of people to stay, were they good? were you surprised by who volunteered? did they make sense? let me know!
One of the problems of BR2 is that halfway through the film they completely switch the focus from the students to the rebels with the exception of the protagonist Takuma Aoi. The students left alive are stuck in the background with little exposition until the final battle at the end. There was nothing like the last two chapters in BR2. To rectify this in my story I made it so that there was only one rebel (left alive) instead of a whole army. By eliminating the rebels I was able to focus completely on the students and we'd grow greater attachment to them.
Finally to answer Vvam's question: I wanted it to be heavily heavily implied that they had sex but not directly said. The same thing with Geoff and Bridgette just a lot less obvious.
