5 Students Dead - 35 Students Remaining
When the last student (Pansy Parkinson, Female Student 9, Slytherin) had left the classroom and her assistants had cleaned up the body of Justin Finch-Fletchley, Professor Alexandra Phalanx headed to the classroom next door to check on the progress of the battle. This being the first Battle Royale, there was no telling how quickly the game would progress.
"Have they started?" she asked as she entered the classroom.
"Oh yeah," the young witch manning the main console replied. "Before they were even all out. Eager little group we got here. Four dead so far, not counting...um..."
"I needed to make an example, he singled himself out. Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility."
"Understood. The other four are right outside the school. Midgin, Goyle, Perks, and Thomas. Far as we can tell, Thomas wasn't fighting anyone, might be a suicide."
"Well we figured we'd have a few of those, didn't we? I doubt he'll be the last." Phalanx replied nonchalantly. "What about Potter?"
"Took off into the woods right after Goyle and Perks died. Might be injured."
"Fine, keep me posted."
"Professor," the young woman asked. "What if...what if Potter wins?"
Phalanx grinned tightly, rubbing the mark on her wrist, hidden beneath the cuff of her blouse.
"One thing at a time..."
35 Students Remaining
Padma Patil (Female Student 1, Ravenclaw) made her way up the sloping dirt road out of the main part of the village. The moon was full, but tall trees hung over the road, so it was dark enough that she didn't feel too exposed. Besides, she had a weapon. It was something similar to what Professor Phalanx had killed Justin with. That thought instantly let the image of Justin with a hole in his head, and images of Eloise Midgen lying dead with her back full of similar holes, into her mind - images she had been trying very hard to block. The instructions in the bag called the weapon a 'gun', specifically a CZ-75 Automatic Pistol. It didn't seem too hard to use, the little brass cylinders (the instructions called them 'bullets') went into a spring-loaded magazine that fit into the gun's handle. Then pulling the trigger fired. And firing punched holes in her classmates. That was the part Padma was having trouble with.
Well at least she had the gun if she was attacked. And given the bodies she had seen when she left the school, not only were people playing the game, but there were worse weapons than guns floating around. And there went a whole other torrent of images she didn't want in her mind. They were all various shots of Sally-Ann Perks and Goyle. Short of the darkest of spells, Padma couldn't think of anything that could do to a person what had been done to them. In any case, it was good to know she could defend herself. But for now, Padma had a different mission. She was looking for her sister.
Parvati had left way before her, she could be anywhere on the island. Padma had seen Harry Potter tell her something as she left. Most likely he was trying to gather the Gryffindors together. But there was no way of telling whether that plan had succeeded, and if it had, where they were. The fact that Sally-Ann was dead didn't speak well for it though. Which left Padma with no choice but to go out looking for Parvati on her own.
The school where they had started the game was in the center of the village. According to the map there was a pub on the western tip of the island, a clinic near the northern cliff face, and a few scattered houses and farms dotting the rest of the island. Most of it was forest with a few unpaved roads. Currently, Padma was following one of those roads through the woods, heading north toward the clinic. If she was extremely lucky, she might find Parvati or someone else friendly there, though that was probably too much to hope for. She was heading for the clinic because she wanted some medical supplies if she came across anyone in need of first aid.
She stopped when a rustling sound came from nearby. Someone was pushing through the forest, coming her way. A rush of hope went through her, but it was gone as soon as it came. How could she be sure the person approaching was a friend? She wanted to believe, but she kept seeing Eloise Midgin with holes in her back and Sally-Ann Perks torn open by god-knows-what. This was not the way to meet up. She wanted to be able to see who it was before speaking. The way things were now, she wouldn't see whoever was coming toward her until he (or she) was right there on the road. She couldn't risk that. She turned and ran the other way, abandoning the road.
A moment after Padma disappeared into the forest, Ron Weasley (Male Student 16, Gryffindor) burst out of the trees. He looked up and down the road, then back at the strange Muggle device he had found in his duffle bag. The instruction booklet called it a 'GPS Tracker'. It worked a bit like the Marauder's map, except it was made of plastic and had a bunch of buttons and a glowing screen. But that screen showed a detailed map of the entire island, complete with a little red dot for every student still alive. Unfortunately, unlike its parchment cousin, this map couldn't tell Ron whom each dot represented.
Whoever had been on the road just now had run off into the woods just before Ron got there. He didn't get too good a look, but he was fairly certain it was one of the Patil twins. He was mainly looking for Harry and Hermione, but anyone trustworthy would do. He toyed briefly with the idea of calling out to the fleeing girl, but he wasn't sure advertising his presence was such a good idea, considering that his 'weapon', though useful, was not something he could really defend himself with.
He had intended to wait for Harry and the other Gryffindors outside the school, but when Goyle attacked him (thankfully missing by a wide margin) he had no choice but to run. He had hidden in a small building that seemed to serve as town hall, police station, and fire department all in one. It was there that he opened his weapon bag and found the tracker. The first thing looking at it told him was that he was still inside sector B=4, which would become forbidden as soon as the last student cleared out. He couldn't head back to the school to meet up with Harry and Hermione because, as the shots that sounded every two minutes indicated, Goyle was still lurking there. So he headed the other way, out of the center of town and into the woods, where he had been wandering ever since. The sound of explosions back at the school had startled him, especially when two red dots on the map winked out. People were playing the game, and more of his classmates were dead.
Ron checked the map. Whoever the girl on the road was, she'd been heading north before she heard him approaching. There was only one logical place that could have been her destination: the clinic. She might double back to get there, in which case, if he got there first, he could meet up with her there. He just hoped she wasn't one of the people who had chosen to play.
35 Students Remaining
It had been easy following Harry's trail in the town, but out in the woods, where it was dark, it became much harder. Hermione finally had to take out her flashlight, hooding it with her hand so as not to advertise her presence to everyone on the island. She managed to locate the trail of blood fairly easily after that. Harry was heading west through the woods, moving erratically from the look of it. He still had a large enough head start on her that she couldn't hear him up ahead. Her only choice was to keep following the blood.
After stumbling around in the woods for half an hour, she came to the opposite edge. She was still on the trail, the drops of red led to a small thatched roof building near the tip of the island. A sign above the door said 'Rose and Thorn'. This had to be the pub marked on the map. Harry's trail led right inside.
Taking a quick look around to make sure she wasn't being followed, Hermione pushed open the door and ducked to one side, just in case. She had no way of knowing how paranoid Harry might be by now. No blows fell and no shots rang out, so that was good.
"Harry?" she called out softly. "Are you in here?"
"Hermione?"
Harry stood up from behind the bar. His left arm was still bleeding. The sleeve of his school robes had been burned and shredded and at least three shards of metal stuck out of his arm. In his right hand, he clutched what looked like a bottle of scotch. When he saw that it was her, he ran to her and hugged her tightly.
"Thank God you're all right!" he said.
"Harry, what happened to your arm?"
"Goyle," he replied. "He killed Eloise and stole her grenades. He's...he's dead now. And...Sally-Ann..."
"I know," Hermione said. "I saw it happen."
"Ron!" Harry said suddenly, "Did you see Ron?"
Hermione shook her head. "I figure Goyle was shooting at everybody who came out. I...I think he got away...I hope."
"He did," Harry assured her. "Goyle said Eloise was the only one he'd killed. I haven't heard any shots since I left the school. I'm...I'm sure Ron's fine."
"Yeah," Hermione nodded. She brushed off whatever doubts remained. "Here, let me take a look at that arm."
Gently, she pushed aside the tattered remains of Harry's sleeve. There was no burning she could see; evidently the robes had blocked most of that. In fact, the only visible damage she could see was from three pieces of shrapnel. It was just the blood everywhere that made the wound look worse than it really was. But it still needed to be cleaned and bandaged or it could become infected.
"I assume that's for disinfecting?" Hermione asked, indicating the scotch still clutched in Harry's fist.
"No I just thought I'd tip a few back, take the edge off."
He said it with such a straight face that at first Hermione thought he might be serious. Then his face broke into a smile and she laughed nervously. It seemed odd, making sarcastic jokes and laughing while their friends were dying. But they had both been living in stark terror since they woke up in the classroom. They were tired, hungry, and in Harry's case injured; and on top of that, neither knew how much longer they would be alive. They had to release the pressure somehow or they would go mad.
"I was about to bandage this," Harry finally said. "I thought the alcohol would be good for cleaning it."
"It is, but let's take these out first," Hermione said. She reached for the largest piece of shrapnel, but then thought better of it. Reaching into her back, she pulled out the small stake. "Maybe you'd better bite on this. I imagine this will hurt a great deal."
"I've had worse," he reminded her.
"Yes but if you scream like a girly man here, you'll attract the kind of attention we may not want."
"I don't scream like a girly man," Harry said, smiling. That was it, keep things light, don't think about which of your friends is taking a bullet right now.
"Have it your way," she reached for the metal. "On the count of three..."
"Right," Harry braced himself.
"One...two..." she ripped the shard free. To his credit, Harry managed not to cry out.
"That...wasn't...nice..."
"It hurts less if it's unexpected," Hermione replied. "Now let's get the other two."
"Before you do?" Harry stopped her.
"Yes?"
"Give me that stake."
35 Students Remaining
The southern edge of the island was a long beach sloping up to green hills. The hills then turned into thick forest, which terminated in tall cliffs that ran the length of the northern coast. It was on one of those cliffs that Susan Bones (Female Student 14, Hufflepuff) sat, swinging her legs over the edge. She had run from the school, narrowly avoiding death at the hands of Goyle. She had stumbled out of the school and seen the body of her friend Eloise Midgin lying in the middle of the blacktop. Immediately she turned and ran around the school. Out of luck, she found the back stairs and got away, though Goyle did manage to get a few shots off at her before she got away. (Though she had no way of knowing this, he then moved Eloise's body out of sight so that others would not be warned by seeing her.)
She had run, terrified, into the night. Every two minutes, shots rang out back at the school. But the sound of gunfire grew quieter as she moved through the woods. She finally reached the cliffs, where she had been sitting ever since. She had opened her duffle bag and found a gun, an Uzi submachine gun. Her father, a Muggle, had insisted that she learn how to use a gun in self defense but those classes had never covered Uzis. That didn't matter. If she was lucky, she wouldn't even have to fire it. She could just hide out and hope for the best. They couldn't go through with this game, and eventually someone would come rescue them. Their parents, or Professor Dumbledore. If she just stayed put and didn't fight, someone would save her.
Then again...
A rustling in the bushes behind her announced the presence of another student. She turned around to see Neville Longbottom (Male Student 17, Gryffindor) pushing through the foliage.
"Susan!" he said, sounding relieved.
"Stay back!" Susan shouted, standing up and aiming her gun at Neville. "Don't come any closer!"
"W-wait," Neville stuttered, throwing his hands over his head. "I don't want to fight!"
"Liar! You're here to kill me! You want to win, don't you?"
"Susan...this is me, Neville," he smiled nervously, trying to placate her. "I've never won anything in my life, why would I start now?"
"Well...maybe..." Susan was confused now. Why had she thought Neville would kill her? Neville would never hurt a fly. Would he?
"Just trust me," Neville took a step forward, "We can help each other."
No! That was wrong! Neville shouldn't be this calm. A little voice was whispering in Susan's head, telling her that Neville was different now. He'd gone crazy; he was out to kill her. Kill him! Before he can kill you!
"Listen, let's..."
He was too close! Without thinking, her finger almost acting on its own, Susan pulled the trigger. The sound of the Uzi wasn't like anything else she'd ever heard, somewhere between an old-fashioned typewriter and a jackhammer. The shots caught Neville square in the chest. He flew backwards and landed in the bushes. He was very still.
Susan stood there for a long moment. Tears sprung to her eyes. She had killed him...killed Neville. Sweet, clumsy Neville. Sobbing, she ran to his side. He lay still. He had died so quickly the holes in his chest weren't even bleeding. And he was...breathing?
Before she could register how odd that was, she heard a strange, wet, *thunk* sound, accompanied by an odd numbness in the back of her head. The numbness quickly became pressure, and the pressure turned into pain as a strange warmth trickled down the back of her robes. Suddenly she realized what had happened; someone had stabbed her in the head. In the same instant that the realization came to her, she died. Her body fell on top of Neville.
Draco Malfoy (Male Student 8, Slytherin) wrenched his provided weapon, a hatchet, out of Susan Bones' head and wiped her blood off on the back of her robes. He had to thank the little Mudblood bitch for taking Longbottom out for him, though he would have liked to kill the little idiot himself. Still, waste not... Best of all, he now had a long-range weapon. Muggles might be worthless, but they had some fantastic weapons. Ever since Professor Phalanx had killed Justin Finch-Fletchley, he had hoped he would get one of those Muggle killing sticks in his bag. Instead he got a hatchet. But now thanks to Susan, he had what he really wanted; plus extra food and water. Add whatever weapon Longbottom had in his bag, and things were looking up for Mrs. Malfoy's son Draco. He grabbed both bags and headed back into the woods before someone could follow the sound of the gunfire.
As a result, Malfoy wasn't there when the unconscious Neville Longbottom awoke, frantically disentangled himself from Susan's corpse, and ran away into the woods. He hadn't really expected the heavy vest to protect him, and he hadn't thought he would need protection from someone as nice as Susan Bones. But now he was glad he had chosen to wear the vest under his clothes after all. He had no idea who had killed Susan, but whoever it was had taken her weapon and Neville's bag. Not wanting to find out if that person was still around, Neville turned and ran, following the road south.
34 Students Remaining
To be continued...