Lin ran as fast as she could due right from the entrance of the school. Although she was the best runner from her sisters, she was the last of them called. While Elleanor and Nanashi were having their stare down, Tenchi wrote a note to all four of the sisters telling them to run to the right when they left the school. The first one who left, Rin, was instructed to wait for the rest at something that looked like a landmark. So far, Lin had seen nothing of the sort so she kept on running. Suddenly, a strong hand covered Lin's mouth and pulled her under the bushes. It was Tenchi, and the other three quadruplets were sitting near him.

"Hey there Lin, I was just about to go looking for you. You've lost your touch!" Tenchi's calming voice cut right through Lin's fears. She had let the game take over, but she forgot the people that she could count on. Tenchi and her three sisters were the best group members she could have asked for. If anyone would be able to find a way out of this merciless maze, it would be Tenchi. And she and her sisters were together before they were even born. They knew everything about each other and knew how to complement each one's talents and weaknesses. Even though Nanashi had said no one had lived who had fought the program had lived, but if anyone could do it they could.

"So, do we have a plan?" The look on Lin's sister's faces told her that they were thinking the same thing.

"Well, first lets see what we have to work with. What did you guys get for weapons?" The five of them each took out their weapon to show the others. Tenchi had gotten a bow with arrows (a regular bow, not a crossbow,) Rin had a pistol, Kin had a small leather pouch filled with twenty ornately carved throwing stars, Jin had three lottery tickets, and Lin had a sharp, mean looking knife.

"One gun for the five of us. I thought I heard gunshots earlier so we aren't the only ones. If we stick together, we can just use the weapons communally. Now we better get going. I don't want any more people to arrive here and find us. More kids might have had the bright idea of turning right, and they might not be up for playing nice. Just follow me ladies." Tenchi stood up and stretched like some magnificent animal. He was 5'8" and his pitch black hair was puffed up in self-holding spikes. The quadruplets followed. Each one was 5'5" and had their long black hair in two braids. Their glasses even matched, and the models they had were slim and produced an elegant look.

The small group walked through the woods, each one on their own thoughts. Kin smiled as she kept her mind on her plan. She quietly drew out one of her throwing stars and kept at the back of the group where she couldn't be seen. Then she chucked her star into the night where it made an audible noise. The other four jumped.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but it came from over there."

"It couldn't have been one of us.."

"I'll go and check it out."

The other four turned to Kin as she volunteered. Rin was the next to speak.

"I'll go too, if it's only one person we can outnumber him." Tenchi gave a nod to the pair.

"Ok, each of you take your own weapons. Good luck girls." Kin and Rin nodded before they set off. The remaining three huddled together for at least five minutes. Unknown to them, Elleanor was just at the reach of her tracking device when she saw the dots which represented them. She wasn't going to approach them now. If they were enemies she wouldn't stand a chance. Not with Kohaku in his current state. Just past the limits of the device, Rin was searching for something that could have made the earlier noise. As her mind was engrossed in the search, she felt her gun being pulled out of her hand. Before she could yell in protest, Kin squeezed the trigger and shot her dead.

The gunshot made the other three jump. Tenchi turned on his flashlight and they all rushed to the noise. When they got there, they saw Kin standing over Rin's dead body, shaking...

"She.. she tried to shoot me.. she was playing... she..." After Kin's stuttered out statement, Jin hugged her sister to console her. None of them suspected Kin might be lying, that Kin might be playing the game. Then Kin raised the gun once more, using the shadows to mask it, and shot Jin. She let out a scream and fell to the forest floor, dead. Kin stood up and her disguise fell. The emotionless look on her face told Lin and Tenchi that she was playing.

"Lin, run!" Tenchi's words hit Lin like a slap in the face. She paused for half a second to grab her bags and then took of towards the beach. Kin knew it was hopeless, she could only run half as fast as Lin on a good day. Instead she pointed the gun at Tenchi and fired.

The spiky-haired boy would have breathed a sigh of relief if he had the time. Kin had missed. She fired twice more but there was no hope for her to hit. Tenchi had already ran for the cover of foliage. Kin took a few steps up a climbable tree until she saw Tenchi. She pulled the trigger again but only heard a click. Out of ammo. There were more cartridges in her bag but by the time she slid down the tree, Tenchi was long gone. Well, two out of four wasn't bad, and now she had a gun to go with her stars and two extra servings of food. Smiling and humming a favorite tune of Jin's, Kin skipped back down the path with a smile on her face. There would be many more students who would need her to kill them. And when it was all over, she'd get to go back alone. None of the stupid quadruplet nonsense. It would just be Kin, Kin the individual. And nothing would make her happier.

35 Students remain

---End