Saturday, July 17, 2010. Local time: 7:17 AM

Vicky had always thought that she was unafraid of her classmates. But, she discovered, anyone can look threatening on the other end of a gun. Neil could have shot her just as easily as she could have shot Kurt and Lily.

Wait, she thought, why DIDN'T I shoot Kurt and Lily? They would have been two easy kills. No no, Neil would have shot me at that second.

Hang on, why didn't I just shoot Neil? Sure I shot at him once, but it was a panic shot. I could have kept a cool head and killed him, so why didn't I?

The more Vicky thought, the closer she came to the inevitable conclusion: despite her reputation as a badass, she did not have what it takes to kill another person. Even in this life-or-death game, she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger.

Don't go soft now girl! Not now! Not EVER, but ESPECIALLY not now! They're afraid of you at school, they'll be afraid of you here!

Vicky was now on a mission. Not just to win, but to prove to herself that she WAS the badass everyone has come to believe she is. That she COULD take a classmate's life.

Bernie and Manny were resting, seated on a fallen tree trunk in a small clearing.

"Hey Manny," Bernie said after a long silence between the two.

"Yeah?" Manny responded.

"Why aren't you on the basketball team? You're one of the tallest kids in the grade, you could be great! We could use someone as tall as you."

Manny smirked. "I tried out freshman year, but I didn't make the cut. The coach said to me, 'I've never seen a black kid suck at basketball so hard'."

Bernie stared. "The coach actually said that to you?"

Manny nodded.

"Wasn't that a little..." Bernie paused. "...racist?"

Manny shrugged. "I guess maybe, a little, but I was more upset at the fact that he was right."

"You didn't report him?"

"Nah. He'd probably deny it anyway. And it could have become a big news thing, and I'm pretty camera-shy."

He paused. "Of course, I may never see him again. Or anyone else in America for that matter."

"Don't say that man," Bernie said, ever optimistic, "we'll get out of here."

Vicky secretly listened in on Bernie and Manny's conversation. From where she was hiding, she could see their guns, and realized they could probably defend themselves; if she shot one, the other could have time to run off, and possibly shoot back, and Vicky, having no gun-wielding experience, doubted she could hit a moving target.

She needed the guns away from them.

"DROP THE GUNS!" Vicky yelled out.

Shocked, Bernie and Manny stood up, and dropped their guns on the ground.

"Kick them away!" Vicky said, emerging from her hiding place. The boys immediately obliged.

Vicky walked towards them, pointing her Colt M1911. "Sorry boys, but I'm playing to win."

"Don't do this!" Bernie blurted out nervously. "We don't want to play. We want to figure out a way off this island."

"That's impossible, you annoying fuck. One person lives, and I'm not dying here. You should make peace with that now."

"We want to at least try. Please, just let us go." Bernie was close to crying at this point.

"Sorry you little bitch, but it's over-"

"Drop the gun Vicky," a calm, female voice suddenly called out. Vicky, Bernie, and Manny all looked in the direction of the voice (with Vicky backing away in case either of the boys tried anything).

They saw Jennifer Springer (Girl #2), a popular and strong field hockey player, nicknamed the "Ginger Ninja" due to her dark red hair on top of her tough, tomboyish nature and refusal to back down from a fight. Despite the fact that Vicky held a gun, Jennifer was coolly walking towards her with a fairly small knife. Both boys admired her courage, but also thought she seemed pretty dumb walking towards Vicky, who could shoot her at any moment. She held her knife at a downward angle, as if to stab down at someone.

"Are you serious right now?" Vicky said, incredulous that Jennifer was trying to stand up to her with a comparatively lame knife. "I'm killing these guys, and then I'm gonna kill you too."

"Trust me Vicky," Jennifer said, still calm, "I don't wanna hurt you. But I'll kill you where you stand if you don't back off those two."

"Are you kidding me?" Vicky was shocked at Jennifer's tenacity. "Why should I be afraid of you, you dike bitch?"

Bernie and Manny looked at Jennifer, thinking she'd be mad now, but her calm expression remained.

"I can kill you Vicky. But I don't want to. Drop the gun. Now." Bernie and Manny both realized that Jennifer hadn't even blinked since this exchange started, or if she did, they didn't notice.

"Oh fuck you!" Vicky turned and pointed her gun at Jennifer.

Bernie and Manny thought they knew what was gonna happen next. But they were wrong. The second before Vicky pulled the trigger, the real reason Jennifer held her knife at that angle was explained: there was a button on the bottom of it. She aimed it directly at Vicky's head and pressed the button, launching the blade into Vicky's forehead, about half of an inch above her left eye, killing her almost instantly. Her body hit the ground before the boys could figure out what just happened.

Manny stared in disbelief at the blade sticking out of her head, while Bernie looked at Jennifer in awe.

"What the fuck was that?" Manny asked, still in shock.

"It's called a ballistic knife," Jennifer said, still borderline unnervingly calm. "It's used by Russian special forces."

Bernie was impressed. "How do you know that?"

"It was in the manual," Jennifer said with a smirk.

Bernie nodded and grinned.

"When I found it in my bag," Jennifer continued, "I read the manual and practiced launching the blade into a tree. After about an hour or so, I realized I could get the blade within an area roughly the size of a person's head. But believe me when I say I didn't want to kill Vicky."

"Well," Manny finally spoke, "thanks for doing it. We owe you one."

Jennifer smiled. "It was nothing." After pausing, she continued. "Were you serious about what you said Bernie?"

"What do you mean?" Bernie responded.

"About trying to escape."

Bernie nodded. "Yes, I was. I wanna get some people together and see what we can do. We should at least talk things out as a group."

"If there's one person I wanna find," Manny jumped in, "it's Mr. Hawley. I don't think anyone could shoot him. And I know he hasn't lost it yet. Not like Vicky did."

"I don't care who we find," Bernie added, "I just hope they don't try to kill us when we find them."

"You guys have had guns this whole time?" Jennifer said, annoyed at seeing the guns by the boys' feet.

"Well," Bernie replied, "she snuck up on us and forced us to drop them."

Jennifer nodded. "Fair enough I guess."

"Which way should we go?" Manny asked, changing the subject.

"I was headed for the library in the northeast," Jennifer said, "let's head that way."

"All right," Bernie nodded, "let's go!"

The boys picked up their guns, and headed north.

Dead

Boys

#14, #15, #18, #17

Girls

#17, #5, #19, #21

Eliminated

Vicky Rivas

34 Contestants Remaining

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, I'm sorry I took a year to update this, but I've been busy in school and have only just recently gotten back to these stories, and I've spent most of my time so far working on my other story, SaveHouse Royale. I'll be working on both as much as possible, and even if it takes 10 years, both stories will wrap up.)