Chapter Fourteen

3:00 PM- 4:00 PM

The sun had now placed itself on a plane at an 80 degree angle with the Earth, its violently bright, yet warm, serene rays highlighting the magnificent features of its distant solar cousin. The heat caused by the terrific afternoon conditions could be seen dancing amongst the charcoal streets of the lonely island community, the repetitive barrage of ocean waves smashing against the rocky shore cycling in the background as if it were a broken record.

The idle footsteps of Dante Zolianis, Boy Number Five had slowed from the pitter-patter of a sprint to the half-hearted shuffle which he had taken up earlier in his state of depression.

The only thought that ran through his mind, as though it, too was on a broken record was that of his best friend, Ike Ferdez and his safety. 'Ike…!'

His chest heaved as he walked, his eyes set on the path from which he had came. His fists were clenched as though to repel any sort of surprise attack, though one thing that Dante hadn't counted on was the lack of his own weapon. After his storming out on his friends, he had completely forgotten to take his weapon, a spear, with him. All he could do was hope that he didn't run into anyone hostile, at least, until he had returned to Ike and the others.

Feeling rejuvenated enough to run again, Dante burst into a sprint, wondering, 'I can't be that far, can I?'

As he ran, new thoughts began to spawn in his head, thoughts of what exactly the reception by his friends may be… will they be accepting him, or will they push him away? He wasn't exactly friendly with Ike at the moment, considering they had both exchanged harsh words and Ike had clocked Dante in the jaw with an uppercut hard enough to cut open a fair amount of Dante's tongue, enough to make blood spill out of it for the next hour. At the moment, the gash had stopped bleeding, though massive trails of blood ran down Dante's chin, tainting his teeth with crimson, along with numerous spots among his clothes. Dante had up until this moment naturally assumed his friends would be waiting for him with open arms, but his reaching a state of leveling out after his outburst had caused him to think twice. After all, on top of quarrelling with Ike, he had spat accusations at his other two friends, Ryan and Ruby as well. How would Ruby feel about all this? Amidst all his attempts to impress the one he loved, he goes and pulls something like that? Dante felt as though an invisible fist clenched his intestines. Just the thought of Ruby rejecting him was enough to send his organs into a riot of nervousness and fear. After all, as the one who Dante had basically devoted the large portion of his life to, she basically was Dante's emotional puppeteer. If ever a day went by where Dante hadn't felt he had made a good impression on Ruby, he could never get the situation out of his head, and if ever a day went by where Ruby had been absent from school, hence Dante not seeing her, he would ponder for hours as to where Ruby would be and why she would not be at school, waiting for Dante's pathetic, though numerous attempts to impress her. Even at this moment, as he had finally calmed down, all he could think about were his friends.

And what about Ryan? The gentle tough guy, nice enough to make attempts at comforting even his most scorned of enemies when they were in fits of depression, though still rough enough to fight back for the ones he loved. Quite the contradiction, though, Dante used to think. 'What if the same enemy whom he had tried to comfort started to, uh, shoot everyone? What then, huh?' He had, after all, watched with pity at Dante as he laid on the ground in fits of sobbing after receiving news of his family's massacre. And, after that, he had stood with an expression of disappointment on his face at Dante's crude outburst toward his friends…

As much as Dante hated to think about it, they weren't going to accept him back… He had hurt feelings, and he knew it. It's not exactly a cakewalk trying to convince people you meant no harm after you threw a cheap shot at your best friend, let alone making an attempt at claiming you were still sane after cycling through four dissimilar emotions in a mere matter of minutes. Anger, sadness, determination, and madness, all in enough time for Dante to think, 'Why?'

With the thought of rejection settling into Dante's mind once more, he slowed his sprint into a walk, again taking up the incessant shuffling which he had now nearly perfected. His head hung low, Dante thought to himself, 'Where else can I go? What else is there to do? I've… I've tried nearl-'

The earsplitting roar of a gunshot blasted Dante's eardrums, as he felt a miniature gust of air twirl around his right foot. The hair on the back of his neck sticking out far enough that it felt as though it were fall off, Dante jumped what felt like twelve feet into the air, wondering if he had left his insides behind on the way up. 'Never,' Dante thought, 'Have I been that terrified in a mere matter of milliseconds.'

Dante frantically looked around for the source of the hostility, his eyes wide and his ears sensing almost any source of noise. Nothing stuck out, that's fo—

BLAM! Another thunderous roar ripped throughout the once tranquil field Dante was in as he saw the ground in front of him burst with the impact of a bullet. Again, Dante searched for the source of the long-range barrage he had now fallen siege to.

BLAM! At this point, Dante didn't even bother to think it over. Hearing the hair on his head shuffle past his ear was enough for him to realize he was in grave danger. Without a weapon, and completely unbeknownst as to the location of his assailant, Dante burst into a sprint towards where he thought his friends may be. 'If only I could reach them…!' he thought as he roared past a solitary tree in the middle of the field.

Another gunshot, and as Dante ran he saw a small tuft of grass burst into shreds in front of him. As he saw the somewhat comical shreds sway back to the ground as though they were from a cartoon, he gasped as he saw the ever-so-familiar clinic he had taken refuge in earlier come into view. Disappointed that his friends weren't waiting outside, and somewhat frantic, Dante sped up what was already an incredibly fast sprint in hopes that he'd be able to make it to the clinic before the mysterious assailant gunned him down. Though, as he ran, he noticed the gunshots had stopped. Now, all Dante could hear was the wind blowing as he ran by, his own frantic gasps as he gulped for air, and his feet stepping off of the bare, grassy Earth.

'Just… a little further!' Running harder than he had ever ran in his life, with some sort of inherent, hidden primal fear inside of him almost lifting him to the clinic, Dante burst through the front door, slamming into the plastic handle with his forearm. As the door swung open violently, Dante felt pain twinge in his arm, a tremendous BANG sounding as the door crashed into the inside wall of the clinic. Continuing to run at full speed, Dante slipped on the bare, solid floor, crashing chin-first into the ground. Pain coursing throughout the two bumps, the one on his chin and the one on his arm, Dante stood up, his feet clawing at the floor trying to get him running again. As he slid into the next room, he saw the three of them, Ike, Ryan, and Ruby all sitting in the chairs of the lobby. As soon as Dante entered, the three of them looked up at him.

None of them spoke. Dante looked at all three of them, his gaze averting from one to another every few seconds. His chest heaving, he panted heavily as he waited for one of them to say something. Suddenly, he realized why his chest was panting so heavily. Quickly, he said,

"Someone," the words literally burst out of his mouth as soon as he realized the predicament he was in which had led him here so quickly.

"What are you on about?" Ike asked, shaking his head as he examined Dante, who had the crimson stain of dried blood along his shirt, still making Dante look as though he were a blood-thirsty maniac.

"Someone," Dante gasped for air. Gulping, he stuttered, "Someone shot me, shooting at me. Someone outside shot me."

"Well, it doesn't look as if they hit you," Ruby said this time, with an expression of concern on her face.

"Yeah, I got away, they… they might still be outside."

"What the fuck are you waiting for?" Ryan, this time stood up, his fists clenched as he glared at Dante. "Go get yourself killed, you self-important prick."

Taken aback by Ryan's sudden outburst, though not surprised by the fact that if anyone were to have gotten mad at him, it were to have been Ryan, he replied,

"Look. I know I overreacted back there… well. No, I didn't overreact. Thing is, Ryan, I… I just had some shit I needed to take care of, okay? I didn't ask for my family to be decimated, but the thing is, I think my brother was a traitor now anyway. Fucking bastard, he's probably still alive, working for the Coalition."

"What?" Ike replied, frowning at Dante as though he were insane. "Kevin? Your brother, Kevin? Coalition? No fucking way. How would you have even figured this out, anyway?"

With Ike's retort, Dante realized he actually had no evidence whatsoever that could've helped enforce his absurd plight. All he had was a dream… but why was he so convinced that his brother stood up for the very thing that loomed over everyone on the face of the Earth's every move? Something which represented hate, terror, and anarchy.

"I… it's just a hunch, o-"

"Shut the fuck up," Ryan advanced on Dante, his fists at his sides, his face quivering with fury. "You're like a little girl, you know that?"

Dante said nothing, his face turning to his side, his hands swaying slowly by his sides. Thoughts of Kevin ran through his head, as well as twisted scenarios in which Dante was betrayed by his friends. 'Me? Betrayed? Yet, I was the one who left them… if anyone's to apologize here, it's m-'

BLAM! The thunderous roar of a gunshot surged throughout the calm afternoon air, searing through the pane of glass along the wall behind Dante, as the crystalloid symphony of the shattered glass falling to the ground rang throughout the small room. The three students immediately stuck their hands above their heads as the glass crashed to the floor. Ruby, who was sitting underneath the window had the broken shards fall all over her body, small cuts opening up on her hands and arms as she tried to bat away the falling shards of glass.

"Ruby!" Dante ran over to Ruby as she stood up, the glass settling to the floor. Ruby looked at her hands and forearms, as small trickles of blood oozed down them. She sighed and, using the one hand which had less cuts than the other, she grasped her other hand in it. Dante stood beside her, put his hands on her shoulders, and stared into her face.

"You alright?" He asked with an expression displaying utmost concern on his face.

"Yeah… it's just a flesh wound." Ruby said, looking up at Dante with the eyes he loved so much.

Dante smiled, chuckling to himself at Ruby's resiliency.

As the two stared into each other's eyes, Dante thought to himself, 'Maybe I have a c-'

BLAM! Another gunshot ripped into the clinic, ricocheting off of the opposite wall of the glass window. Dante relinquished his grip on Ruby, quickly ducking as the others did the same. As Dante buried his face in his hands, he could hear the super-fast bullet deflecting off of the clinic's many surfaces, until it seemed to suddenly stop.

'Why the fuck do these assholes keep interrupting me?'

This time, the four students didn't bother waiting for another gunshot. The four of them quickly followed Ike into the back room of the clinic, where they had stored their supplies, and of course their weapons. Though, what with all of them only wielding melee weapons, the long-range assailant could easily continue his barrage without a decent counterattack, not to mention the fact that he was still unseen.

Dante was the first to emerge wielding his two piece spear, still detached. Ike quickly followed, with his scissors. As the two stepped back into the clinic lobby which was now decorated with broken glass, Dante looked over at Ike and scoffed. Ike looked up at him, and as the twos eyes met, Dante said, "You look lame."

Ike replied with a sharp laugh, and the two turned around to see Ryan with his shuriken and Ruby with her hockey stick leave the back room.

"Ready?" Dante asked as the three of them stood at the back of the lobby.

"Okay! On three, we'll all run out there, guns' blazin'!" Ryan replied sarcastically as he smirked at Dante.

"That's not the idea, Ryan…" Dante said as he admired the shiny tip of his spear.

"Then what is?"

"Uhm…"

"Exactly. You're so full of shit."

"Yeah, you covered that."

"Well, we've gotta think something up," Ryan said as he rubbed a spot above his left eyebrow with the heel of his hand. "I really don't know how we're going to go about this though."

"I don't have any ideas," Ike said as he exhaled deeply.

Ruby, too, shook her head, raising her eyebrows. Dante stood with an odd expression on his face, as though he were probing the cosmic values of the meaning of life and at the same time wondering which flavor of jam he should spread on his toast. Well, that doesn't necessarily mean the two aren't the same thing…


Technically the youngest student in Class 1A of Cochrane High School, Zachary Schmidt had turned fifteen years old only a week before the field trip from hell began. Boy Number Twelve had come into the game in an odd state, not on top of the world though not exactly at rock bottom either. Zach lived in an artificial world; the only reason he figured he was so popular was because he was a laugh riot. He wasn't good looking; he was small and scrawny, with short, disheveled blonde hair, a slightly pimply face with lightly red cheeks, and a set of braces. He wasn't good at anything either. He sucked at sports, wasn't great at school and certainly wasn't good in the lady department.

Especially that one time… where Zach could've gotten it all in one night.

He and his best friend, his classmate Shane Appleby, were wandering around downtown Cochrane late one night on a way to a friend's house who lived up a hill from the east of Cochrane. The relationship Zach had between this friend was one of those mutual "spark-becoming-a-flame" feeling in laymen terms. She wasn't in Class 1A, though instead in Class 1B; Class 1A's rival class, the only other ninth grade class in Cochrane High, and naturally, every source of competition Class 1A could look for, whether it be in academics, athletics, or the coolest teachers.

Zach and this girl had met at an assembly for the Grade Nine students regarding an up-and-coming school dance, with which Zach and Shane had already planned an extreme caper to ruin the entire outing for everyone. Sure, it would've been cruel… things like those didn't come often in an isolated town such as Cochrane, though, that's one of those things you can look back on when you're old and decrepit with a smile on your face.

'I'm not even gonna be able to become old and decrepit.' Zach thought as he sat against a tree in the forests of C4. Taking his second bottle of water from his pack, he slowly un-twisted the lid, taking a couple slow sips. 'At this rate, I'm gonna be out of water in no time.'

Zach had spent all of his time throughout the game in the same zone, taking refugee in a somewhat-hidden ditch in-between a couple trees. He hadn't bothered trying to find anyone; in fact, he had pretty much given up hope. It hadn't occurred to him, however, that Shane may be looking for him, so he had spent his entire time sitting against a tree trying to find asleep. As lucky as he may not realize he actually was, Zach had not come across anyone in his extremely vulnerable state. Which made him all the more combat-incapable was his lousy weapon- a pair of chopsticks. Zach had almost come close enough to giving up that he had actually embraced an early death, though there was still something inside of Zach that was keeping him clinging on to wanting to continue to live. 'Funny,' he thought as he stared towards the tree opposite him. 'Class clown, goofiest guy in the grade, and now I'm giving up… oh well, what can ya' do?'

Zach again remembered the night which would've made everything so… cool. He almost got laid. It began with them heading to the school dance, him and Shane. After mingling with the fellow grade nine's for a while, Zach and Shane decided to go about their ultimate, mischievous plan. How it was to unfold was Shane was to complain about how the speakers in the gymnasium were to loud. As he got in an overly blatant argument with the teachers, Zach was to sneak in alcohol he and Shane had obtained from a twelfth-grader, using it to pour anonymously onto the ground. Then, while no one was looking… set it on fire. The plan was flawless. Zach and Shane's immaturity and thirst for adventure and something, to, well, talk about after the year was over easily caused them to overlook the glaringly obvious dangers, such as, well, almost anything happening…

Though, of course, Zach and Shane had taken the alcohol so they could keep some for themselves. This will have also been Zach's first time getting drunk, so it wouldn't take him much to get wasted, though Shane needed more, so all in all they didn't end up spending too much money. Zach was impressed with Shane's ability to seem like he was of a much older age while he was still only in grade nine. Not to mention the fact that Shane also had gotten laid before he had too. In a way, as much as Zach and Shane were best friends, Zach envied Shane… He was so… advanced.

The rest of the night became a complete joke; instead of lighting the alcohol on fire, Zach and Shane decided to anonymously slip the alcohol into someone's drinks to get them drunk… so, they chose James Crabbot, a loud, though good-intending boy who would never besmirch his reputation with the staff at Cochrane High with alcohol, though how could Zach and Shane let an opportunity like this slip? It was priceless.

They managed to pour some vodka into James' Sprite. Luckily, they managed to dilute the taste enough that it still tasted like normal Sprite, though alcoholic. Also, James was a carbonated-beverage maniac. James downed Sprite after Sprite, each of them managing to find some way to be tainted by Shane and Zach's mischievous crimes. Eventually, James began to stumble around the dance floor, happily slopping his drinks on everyone as he sang aloud to every song which began to play on the loud speakers. Zach was hysterical; what a fool! Shane, too, slapped his knees as he struggled to not throw up with how hard he was laughing; though, suddenly, everything became horrible. As they watched James stumble around the dance floor, they saw the principal come out from behind a crowd of students, seizing him by the arm.

"Who-hoa!" They heard James holler as he was dragged away by the principal. "Wheresh we goin'?" The principal said nothing as Shane and Zach watched in horror as James was taken to the principal's office.

All Zach could think of was, 'We fucked him over.'

Though, hey! The night ended up going by so fast that Zach forgot about it instantly anyway. As soon as the dance ended, Zach and Shane were invited over to the girl whom Zach was hoping to reach home plate with, the girl from Class 1B who was named Kayla Hutchings.

Zach and Shane managed to make their way up to Kaylas house, and as they entered, they entered upon a small party, with about ten or fifteen students all from grade nine, though, from the looks of it Zach and Shane appeared to be the only 1A students. Zach spent most of the night with Kayla, until finally Kayla invited Zach into her room…

'This was it,' was all Zach could think. 'I'm gonna get laiiiid…' He couldn't help but grin as he fathomed the possibility of him losing his virginity to a girl as hot as Kayla… Yeah…

As she invited him in, Kayla took off the first layer of clothing she had on, a hood, to which she revealed a t-shirt which exposed herself rather blatantly. Zach couldn't help but again think, 'Yeah, laiiiddd…'

"You're so cute," Kayla said as she beckoned for Zach to sit beside her on the bed as she herself slowly sat down.

Zach grinned even wider than he already was, if such was even possible, and sat beside her.

"So, what next?" She said as she stared ahead towards the other end of her room.

"I dunno," Though, Zach knew more than anyone; the only phrase running through his mind was, 'Gonna get laid….'

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, actually, one sec," Kayla said. She gave Zach a glowing look, stood up, then walked out of the room. Zach looked after her as she left, bedazzled. 'Gonna get laid, yeah yeah yeah…'

He began to look around Kayla's room, from her old stuffed animals to pictures of her from earlier years. Zach stood up off of the bed and—

An earsplitting screech rang through Zach's ears as he stepped on a large furry object. The hair on Zach's neck seemed to stand up taller than he did. He looked down to see what he had stepped on and it was—a cat? When did Kayla get a cat? The black cat hissed at him and growled as it laid there, and Zach quickly let his foot up. It mewed, then trotted away to where Kayla had went. Zach could hear it crying as it ran down the hall. Rolling his eyes, Zach continued to look at the pictures.

"Hey idiot!" Kayla returned holding the black kitty Zach had stepped on.

"Yeah?"

"You stepped on my fucking cat you dolt!"

"It was in my fucking way!"

"Get out of my room you perverted retard!"

"Fine!"

Zach stormed out of Kayla's room as Kayla stepped aside. 'Great. Now I'm not gonna get laid 'cause I stepped on an effing cat. Great.'

That's how Zach felt right now, oddly enough. It was the same feeling… he couldn't help but feel that both times he had been dicked over rather heartily. Oh well, whaddya gonna do?


Little did he realize he made someone pretty mad that night…

"Figured something out yet?"

"No."

"Well, the gunshots've stopped."

"They're probably waiting for us to come out…"

"What if they make the first strike?"

"Then that sucks."

"You suck, Dante."

"Hey, come on, I'm trying to think."

"Maybe we should just wait it out?"

"Well, that wouldn't be bad…"

"Well, think of something quick, or I'm outta here."

At this point, the other three students raised their heads quickly to examine Ryan as he stood alone at the other side of the room facing away from them.

"I'm sick of this," Ryan said, turning around. "I told you guys I was gonna try and meet her like, four hours ago, then this guy woke up and turned everything to shit."

Dante frowned and shook his hair at his mention.

"Honestly, I'm worried. I don't wanna spend anymore time thinking what could be happening to her."

Dante looked at Ryan, with an odd sort of smirk on his face. "I know what you mean."

Ryan grinned.

The four then looked down again trying to think of a plan in which they could fight back against whoever was attacking them.

"Ryan?" A deep, male voice sounded throughout the lobby as a tall, burly figure in a violet and gold jacket shimmied into the room.

"Jez!" Ryan grinned at his friend, Boy Number Two, Jesmund Bosworth as the two walked toward each other lightly pounding fists. The two grinned at each other as Jesmund looked over Ryan's shoulder to examine his cohorts.

"Yo, why you rollin' with these foo's?" Jesmund spoke in a whisper as he leant closely to Ryan.

"I've been with them pretty much since the game started," Ryan replied as he looked back at the other three students. "Someone's been attacking us for this last little while. Do you know who?"

"Who do you think it is, Ryan?" Jesmund laughed as he took out the gun he had in his jacket, a Luger PO8. "It was me. Just didn't know it was you, though."

Ryan frowned oddly at Jesmund. "What's the matter with you? You could've killed us. I don't think it's very funny."

"Well then y'all bettah take a comedy class or sumthin'," Jesmund grinned at Ryan. As he looked over Ryan's shoulder once more, he saw Dante and Ike, and he frowned upon meeting eyes with Dante.

"Actually, wait," Dante said as he stepped forward. Jesmund eyed him apprehensively as he did. "So you were the one who started shooting at me on my way here?"

"Nah, that was Nicole. We both got guns, see."

"That's convenient," Dante said. Jesmund frowned. "So what, what'd you think when she started shooting?"

"I let her shoot."

"So you're okay with me dying?"

"To sum things up, yeah."

"Bastard!"

Dante lunged forward with the blade part of his spear, wielding it like a short sword, though the handling of the weapon was awkward as the blade wasn't used so much for slicing as it was stabbing. Jesmund quickly dodged back as Dante lunged, and Ryan quickly pushed Dante back underneath his thrusting arms to get him away from Jesmund.

"Cool off, Dante," He said as he sighed. "Jesmund, what've you got against Dante?"

"He's a punk."

"I'm not a punk!" Dante said as he flipped Jesmund off.

"That's proof o' dat. Listen Ryan, I'm gonna get outta here and head back to Nicole. You're free to go, I know you want to go since I overheard, though these foo's are fair game, aight?"

"Don't attack them, okay?" Ryan said as he raised his eyebrows at Jesmund.

"I'll think about it, alright?" Jesmund put his hand on his shoulder as he led Ryan outside. "Come with us."

"No, I'm going alone..."

"Well… alright. I'll see you later, Ryan."

"Yeah, see ya Jesmund."

Jesmund walked out of the lobby through the front door, and as he walked, Dante saw him shrug his shoulders toward a bush in the field. Nicole Zimmel, Girl Number Fourteen stood up and raised her arms as though she were increasingly frustrated. Jesmund again shrugged and beckoned for Nicole to wait up. The two of them met up then walked away past the hill the students could see and out of sight.

"He left awfully fast," Dante said as he squinted out the window against the glaring sun.

"He's onto something," Ryan said as he too struggled to see clearly outside. "Be careful, alright?"

Ike was the first to speak up. "So you're leaving now?"

"Yep."

"Well… we'll miss you. Thanks, though, for Dante, and all. Yeah." Ike ruffled his hair in a similar matter Dante usually did, and reached out for Ryan to shake his hand. Ryan shook it, and he looked towards Ruby, who looked disappointed.

"You be careful too, okay?"

"I will," Ryan replied. "Give us a hug." He leant over and Ruby wrapped his arms around him as the two hugged.

Ryan released himself from Ruby and turned to Dante. He nodded, and reached out his hand for Dante to shake it as Ike had done for him. Dante accepted, nodded, and said, "Yeah, be careful, alright?"

Ryan nodded, saying, "Yeah. Wish me luck."

"Sure thing," Dante said. Ryan, with his shuriken, picked up his bag which was resting on one of the lobby chairs, and he left the room quickly. The three of them watched as their loyal friend walked over the hill the same way Jesmund and Nicole had, and out of sight.

"You don't suppose…?" Ike began.

"Nah, no way." Dante replied. "He was right though. Jesmund and Nicole are up to something… I know it." He sighed, and sat down in one of the lobby chairs.

BAM!

"No fucking way!" Dante jumped up as soon as the gunshot sounded, quickly picking up his spear as he looked out the window. Nicole stood atop the hill outside, wielding a gun of her own, but…?

BAM! BAM! RATATATATATATATATA!

What seemed like hundreds of shots sounded in a mere instant as the shots rang off throughout the small clinic, though as Dante stood in front of the window, he quickly realized two things; 'Wow, she's a terrible aim if she can't hit me with that thing when she's only a hundred feet away with a gun that fires like, a bazillion shots per second…' The other thing was, 'WHY THE FUCK AM I STANDING UP?'

Dante quickly ducked under the window of the clinic and out of Nicole's rang as he heard another round of the repetitive shots sound off. They sounded like a typewriter…

As the round stopped sounding, her turned around to see where Ruby and Ike were. Ruby was out of the room, probably in the back, while Ike was behind the front desk of the lobby. Dante saw the contents of what were once on top of the desk strewn about on the ground… Dante laughed in his head. 'Silly guy, he rolled over the table!'

As Dante laid on the ground, he heard the shouts of Jesmund and Nicole. Though, where was Ryan? They hadn't jumped him… had they?

'Fuck this.' Looking at the part of the spear he had with him, Dante thought to himself, 'This is going nowhere.'

"Ike! We're goin' huntin'!"

41 STUDENTS REMAINING