His eyes flitted open, he had spent the night in a cave as far from any danger zones he could find. But all of it was a danger zone now, wasn't it?
He shook his head vigorously. No time for that kind of thinking.
These people you had grown up with, spent every childhood memory with, they are no longer friends. They are trying to kill you. Just like you were them. That's the way it is now.
You want to go home.
You want to survive.
You will kill.
You will kill.
That's all there is to it.
The announcement played though the woods. Sensei reading off the names with a cruel glee.
It doesn't matter.
It just betters your chances.
He took out a pen and crossed out the names. Trying to forget that he knew them. Trying to pretend it was some grim news paper article. Sad but not touching him. Not his friends. Not his life changed. He stood and gathered his things. Packing the tea-pot he had gotten for his weapon (which had actually come to some use) and the butcher knife he had taken from Suki. Who had sat next to him in class.
Had.
But that was another life ago, wasn't it?
He crept in the bushes, trying to remain hidden at all times. If he was hidden he was safe. He didn't know where he was going, but his cave had recently been made a danger zone. The collar around his neck seemed to tighten every time he thought about it. Forget it.
Then he stopped cold. His heart, which had been racing, paused. The moment hung in time. Like in slow motion. There she was. Pinned to a tree, crucified by arrows. This girl who he had been in love with. Who every late night fantasy was centered around. Who he never had the courage to ask out. To even talk to . There she was. Dead and bleeding.
But wait.
He saw it.
A moment.
Was it wishful thinking?
No it wasn't, she had taken a breath.
A gasp.
If that?
He ran to her. Pulling her off her cross, yanking the arrows out. He wrists. Her chest. Her legs. The attacker had been an excellent marksmen. But she survived. She was alive. He clutched her close to his chest. Her blood flowing, his shirt absorbing it. He used his last bandages and wrapped all the points that she had been hit. He felt her breath on his cheek, short rasping breathes. Blood dripped from her mouth, her hair caked with dirt and blood. But she still looked like an angel. She was truly flawless.
But another person will weigh you down.
You'll never win carrying her on your back.
Dump her.
He shook his head again. What was he thinking? This game was taking over him. He didn't care if he won, she was with him. It could take him as long as he went down fighting for her. Her who would never had seen him, never noticed him, if he hadn't found her.
He carried her to the nearest cave. Laying her down and watching silently as she slept.
He awoke the next morning to find her gone. Only a bloody blanket left behind. A fast recovery… But she was gone. Was she? He stepped outside and glanced around. Seeing nothing. And he would see nothing.
A flash appeared before his eyes, a swirl of black. Hair? He couldn't think as pain seared through his chest. Suki's knife. He stumbled forward. His legs hardly able to hold him. He fell to his knees. He felt something warm drip down his cheek, warm and red dripping from his eye.
The last thing he saw was her, his love. Walking into the distance, crossing something off a sheet of paper.
Male Student #14,
Chiko Ho
You should have listened.
Stupid.