"Goooooooood morning! It is now 7 a.m.! Daytime has officially begun!"

Who the heck is that?

I opened my eyes and slowly remembered everything that had happened the day before. Pikachu was displayed on the screen in my room, having just given the morning announcement. The screen clicked off and I was left to think about everything that had happened. Me and fifteen other students had been thrust into a killing game that we didn't want to play. So far, we hadn't found any way to escape the school we were enclosed in. However, we also hadn't technically initiated the killing game either.

We had agreed to meet in the cafeteria when morning came, so I figured I'd better head down there. I hadn't even bothered to take my clothes off before bed, so I quickly splashed my face with water and headed out. When I arrived, a few other students were still trickling in. Everyone kept their promise though and were present at the meeting.

"Well, we're all still alive," Blue said darkly.

"Of course we are!" Gold shouted, "Do you really think one of us would kill somebody?"

"All I'm saying is that it's possible," Blue defended himself.

"Stop arguing. We have to figure out what our next step is," Leaf said as she tried to calm them down.

"We should keep searching the school for a way out," Silver suggested.

"Of course. But where else can we search?" Bianca asked.

"We should go over the places we already searched and see if we missed anything. Everyone should gather here again just before the night time announcement," Gold said.

"We should split into teams," May added, "I know we all agreed not to play the killing game, but just to be safe we should all stay with at least two other people."

"I'll be searching on my own," Silver informed us.

"What? Why?" Dawn asked.

"Because to trust someone in this situation is to commit suicide. I value my life. You'd all best think about how much you value yours." With that, the red haired man walked out of the cafeteria.

"He's stubborn," Serena commented.

"Doesn't he realize how suspicious he's making himself seem?" Tierno asked.

"Never mind him," Gold said dismissively, "As long as the rest of us work together everything will be fine."

The rest of us all split into teams. Blue, Bianca, and Lyra decided to go search the kitchen and cafeteria. May, Rosa, Tierno, Gold, and Lucas decided to collectively search the gym as well as the locker rooms and workout room.

That left Leaf, Brenden, Dawn, Barry, Wally, Serena and myself. Dawn, Serena, and Brenden all decided to check the hallways and areas around the dorm rooms. That left myself, Leaf, Barry, and Wally to search the other hallways and the classroom I had woken up in.

Just as we were about to set out, Barry grabbed Wally by the back of his shirt, causing the short boy to let out a cry of surprise.

"What are you doing!" I shouted at him.

Barry ignored me and pulled a knife out of Wally's pocket. It was just like the one I had found in the drawer in my room.

"He has a knife on him," Barry told us darkly, "What were you planning to do?" he asked Wally menacingly.

"Nothing! I swear!" the boy cried fearfully, "I just wanted it for protection! I – I'm scared!"

"Let go of him, Barry," Leaf said gently. The golden-haired boy reluctantly let go of Wally's shirt.

"You shouldn't be carrying that around," Leaf told him, "If people notice it then they'll think you're a threat. That might make them target you."

Wally's eyes filled with tears.

"I didn't think of that…" he sniffled, 'But what can I do to feel safe?"

"Oh come on," Barry said, "You really believe him? What if he was planning to pull that knife on one of us?"

"Don't you think any of the others might be carrying a weapon right now too?" Wally challenged him, "If I had this knife in my room then I know everyone else did too. You really think I'm the only one carrying mine?"

Barry didn't answer.

"He's right, you know," I told them, "There was a knife in my room too."

"My room didn't have a knife," Barry told us, "But it did have a rope and instructions on how to… properly strangle someone."

"My room had a hefty lead pipe in it," Leaf admitted, "and instructions on where to bash a person's skull in."

"So there are several different weapons, but I'd bet everyone got something," Barry concluded. That seemed logical to me as well. My stomach churned at the idea that some of the others might be carrying weapons.

"All we can do for now is stick together and get to searching," Leaf said, "Our best chance of avoiding violence is if we find a way to escape before it happens."

We all agreed, though Barry still seemed warry of Wally, and we set out in the direction of the classroom. As we went along, we checked every sealed window in the hallways. We even went so far as to press on different areas of the walls, but nothing was discovered.

Inside the classroom, we checked the walls and windows but also searched for clues.

"Everything in here seems normal," I observed, "Nothing has changed since I woke up here."

"There aren't any papers in the teacher's desk or any supplies. It's like this school building hasn't been used in a long time. And yet there's an endless supply of food in the kitchen," Leaf observed.

She was right. That morning when we had gone to the cafeteria, there was a huge stock of food in the refrigerator and lining all of the shelves were various boxes of food as well. Whoever had brought us here was prepared to keep us for a long time, but could one person really have created such a setting? It didn't add up.

"I've been thinking…" Wally said quietly, "Do you guys think this might be Hope's Peak Academy?"

"This place?" Barry questioned, "No way! Hope's Peak Academy is the most prestigious school in the country! This place is abandoned and empty. It's unthinkable that a school like Hope's Peak could get taken over by anybody and turned into… whatever this is."

"However, Hope's Peak Academy would be something that we all have in common. Well, except for Red of course," Leaf pointed out. I felt my cheeks turn hot at the mention of my being different from everyone else. I had a feeling that was going to follow me around in a situation like this. I was an outsider. And outsiders aren't to be trusted.

"But if this really is Hope's Peak, then where are all the other students? And why isn't anyone trying to rescue us? I mean, it's a huge school that the whole world knows about. If someone put steel plates over all the windows like this then the whole city outside would notice and there'd be unending news reports and attempted rescue," Barry argued.

"I didn't think of that," Wally commented, "If that's the case, then it makes more sense if we're being held captive in the middle of nowhere or something."

"It's impossible to know for sure," I said, "We could be anywhere in the world right now. We could even be under the ground for all we know."

"Ugh. That makes me feel so claustrophobic," Barry whined.

"All we can do for now is try to cooperate with each other. Unless everybody works together, we'll never find a way out of this mess," Leaf stated.

"I agree, though some of the others might not see it that way. This whole killing game thing has everyone feeling distrustful," I reminded her.

"Especially that Silver guy!" Wally said forcefully, "He has me feeling really on edge!"

"For now I think he's harmless," Leaf said as she searched one of the shelves in the classroom, "However, we all must be cautious of him and anyone else who shows an unwillingness to stick together. Our lives are at stake, just like he said."

We all continued searching in silence for a while, but nothing was discovered.

"This seems like a dead end," Barry observed with a yawn, "Maybe we ought to head back now."

"There's one more place I think we should check," Leaf responded. We all exchanged looks of confusion, but followed her out into the hallway. The brunette journalist lead us to the part of the first floor where the restrooms were located.

"Nobody was assigned the restrooms, so I think we'd better check them," she said.

"Good idea," Barry praised her.

"I'll check the girls' room myself, while you guys check the boys' room."

"Will you be okay by yourself?" I asked her.

"It won't take long, so it should be fine," she said nonchalantly. I nodded and then followed Barry and Wally into the boys' restroom.

It didn't take long for us to check the stalls and the walls of the bathroom. Unfortunately we didn't discover anything of interest.

"This seems pointless, lets check back with Leaf," I suggested.

She was already waiting for us in the hallway.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"Not one bit," Barry answered, "How about you?"

"Nothing. Let's report back to the cafeteria. The others should be gathering there by now."

Their group was last to arrive. All the other groups had already gone back to the cafeteria and were looking pretty dejected.

"Any luck?" Gold asked as they entered.

"No," Barry replied glumly.

"Shit… we need to think of something and think of it soon!" Brendan declared.

"Fufufufufufu… you're wasting your time!" an ominously cheerful voice pitched in.

Everyone was startled by the sudden interruption. Pikachu popped up onto the cafeteria table and began pacing back and forth across the top.

"Surely some of you have already given up hope of escape. I promise you that there is no way out of this school, so instead of sitting around being a bunch of boring Bobs and Bobettes, you all should be planning how you're going to pull off a murder!"

"No way!" Ethan yelled.

"It doesn't matter how opposed you are to the idea, some of your fellow students will undoubtedly start the game sooner or later. Personally, I'd prefer sooner rather than later Mwahahahahaha!"

"I'm getting tired of listening to this creep talk about our lives like they're nothing!" Rosa said angrily.

"Well maybe you'll get lucky and be the first victim!" Pikachu declared as it walked up to where Rosa was sitting. She stared back at the creature furiously but had no rebuttal.

"Now, I have some very important information for all of you. You'll each get a special delivery tonight around 10 p.m. Make sure to check near your bedroom door. There will be a temporary rule tonight that no one can be outside their room after 10 p.m. Anyone who breaks this rule will immediately be disqualified from the game and receive punishment!"

"What kind of punishment?" Dawn asked.

"Are you slow or something, girly? Haven't you figured out that the only kind of punishment around here is a gruesome death? Nyahahahaha! See you all tonight!"

With that, Pikachu seemingly disappeared.

"I don't understand how he just disappears. Is it some kind of hologram?" Blue asked. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"What do you think the special deliveries will be?" Tierno asked.

"Who knows? Maybe something that will motivate us to start playing the game," Leaf said darkly.

Everyone stiffened up nervously. Everyone except for Silver.

"You all are a bunch of dumbasses," he said as he rose from his chair, "I'm not going to beat around the bush. I intend to escape this place and if that means killing one of you, then I won't hesitate to do it." With that, he left the cafeteria.

"So… what should we do about him?" Lyra asked dully.

"I think its safe to say that he's our biggest threat at the moment," Brenden chimed in.

"We can't just focus on him, though," Blue pointed out, "Anyone here could start the killing game. We need a plan that protects everyone, with special attention to Silver."

"How about this?" Barry suggested, "Obviously we can't do it tonight because of the delivery, but how about every night we station three people to watch Silver's room and patrol the hallways?"

"Why three people?" Lucas asked.

"With only two guards, one guard could murder the other. It also makes sense to have three people because of the way the dorms are set up. The hallways form a rectangle. If one person stands in each of the back corners, and one person stands on one side of where the halls open into the plaza, they'll be able to see each other and also see every door in the hallways. If anyone leaves their room, the guards will know, which will effectively cut down the list of suspects should a murder occur."

"So will we all stay in our rooms every night?" May asked.

"It would be the safest to make an agreement like that, but I don't know if it's completely necessary. How about we make it a rule, but a rule that can be broken if there's a good reason?

Or maybe people can go out at night but only if they stay together in a group of three?"

"I'll agree to this plan, though I think it would be best if we all just stayed in our rooms at night," Dawn said reluctantly.

"What if we sleep in each other's rooms in groups of three?" Brenden suggested slyly, "May and Rosa can come sleep in my room."

"Shut up, you pervert!" Rosa shouted.

"Of course you chose the two girls with the biggest boobs," Blue said bluntly.

"No I didn't! Bianca has the biggest boobs!"

"Stop staring at my boobs!" Bianca yelled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Heyyyy, I'm feeling a little overlooked here!" Dawn pouted, "My boobs are pretty flat but I have a better ass than anyone here!" she proclaimed.

"What is even going on right now?" I sighed.

"Just let them have fun. It's good that they can relax a little bit. It goes to show that Barry's idea has put everyone at ease," Leaf said happily.

"I'm glad to help," Barry said cheerily.

"Okay, it's getting close to 10:00, so lets all make sure to eat dinner and then turn in for the night," Gold reminded everyone. We all worked together to make a large meal and then went off to our rooms. I was left feeling conflicted, because it was beginning to feel like we were all friends, but I knew deep down inside that I couldn't get too comfortable trusting anyone.

-00-

I was laying on my bed as the clock ticked closer to 10:00 p.m. I wondered what the special delivery was going to be, since it was obviously something that we all needed to see individually.

"Special delivery!" a maniacal voice shouted. I screamed in surprise, not having expected Pikachu to show up for a few more minutes.

"Sorry I'm early, but Santa Claus has a lot of things to deliver tonight! Here's one for you, Red! Hohoho!"

I stood dumbfounded as he just disappeared, and I was left holding a manilla envelope with my name on it. He had such a happy go lucky demeanor. You'd think he'd have a darker personality for someone running a death match.

Once my shock wore off, I brought myself to open the envelope. Inside was a set of photographs. As I flipped through them, I broke into a cold sweat and trembled uncontrollably. The first was a picture of my house, the next was a picture of my mother, who had raised me on her own. She was smiling and I was reminded of how worried she must be right now. The next picture was of the street my house was on, but my house had disappeared. There were remnants of what looked like a house fire. The next picture was of my mother, tied to a chair with tape over her mouth and a blindfold over her eyes. In the background there were flames spreading across the room. The next picture showed the flames spreading closer, and closer, until finally in the last picture the hem of her dress was on fire and even though she was gagged and blindfolded I could still see the panic and fear on her face.

"No… this can't be real," I sobbed as I stared at the pictures. "They could be photoshopped. And if this really happened then why didn't they add a picture of her dead body? That's a rule in movies, right? You can't assume a character dead until you see a body. So yeah… she's alive, and totally okay."

I was talking to myself like a mad man. I was saying reassuring things to myself, but my mind couldn't be convinced. All I wanted now was to get out of this school as soon as possible no matter what.

Then a thought occurred to me. If this was the delivery I got, then the others had surely gotten a package equally as terrifying. I felt desperate to get out of here, but I knew that I couldn't kill someone to do it. But everyone else…

One thing was now crystal clear. The killing game would begin soon. Maybe even as soon as tomorrow, someone would be murdered in this prison of a school building. But which one of my new friends would have the guts to make the first move?

-00-

When we all gathered for breakfast the next morning, tension hung in the air like a thick fog. Silver was unaccounted for entirely. Nobody mentioned the special delivery. Only short sentences were exchanged and many people didn't speak at all.

"Guys, we have to talk about the delivery," Gold sighed.

"I agree," Leaf concurred, "It's too dangerous to just allow everyone's emotions to run rampant inside."

Some people still didn't seem to want to talk about it, but I could see relief in the eyes of others.

"Listen," I said, "Let's not force anyone to share exactly what they got, but can we just confirm that everyone received photos of someone important to them, and that in those photos that person appeared to be in serious danger?"

"That's what I got," Tierno admitted.

"Me too," Serena said quietly.

"Did anyone receive anything different?" Leaf asked. No one replied.

"Okay, so there's 2 possible answers here. Either all these photos are fake, or they're all real, in which case all of our loved ones are probably dead," Blue said bluntly.

"I wish it were that simple," Bianca stated, "but I have to ask… did anyone's pictures actually show a dead body?"

"Mine didn't," I answered. Everyone else agreed.

"Then isn't there a possibility that they are all alive but are still in danger? Like Pikachu has them held captive or is torturing them or something?" Bianca asked.

"It is a possibility," Leaf answered.

"There isn't any way for us to know if they're real or fake?" Lucas asked.

"Not really," Blue answered, "Technology has made it so that its nearly impossible to tell if a picture is real or not. Did anyone notice anything in their pictures that seemed off?"

Unfortunately, no one spoke up.

"We need to be more careful than ever now," Gold said firmly, "With everyone feeling this anxious and motivated to escape, we can't allow opportunities for a killing to happen!"

"Everyone needs to stay in groups during the day," Barry said, "and tonight we'll begin our plan to post guards in the hallways during night. I'll volunteer for tonight's shift, so we need two more people for tonight."

"I'll volunteer as well," Gold chipped in.

"Me too," I said as I raised my hand.

"Okay, the three of us need to make sure we get sleep today so we can stay up all night," Barry reminded us.

"Got it," I answered. I felt adrenaline pulsing through my body. No matter what, I would keep everyone safe, and if a murder did happen, we would catch the person red-handed for sure.

-00-

"Okay. Red will take the post at the corner of the boys' hallway, and Gold at the corner of the girls' hallway. I'll take the post in the entranceway. If anyone leaves their room, we ask them what they're doing. Anything that's not important, we send them back."

"Aye-aye, chief!" Gold said with a salute as Barry gave us the instructions. I nodded and walked toward my post. I had slept for a good portion of the day, so I felt pretty energetic. My job was especially important because I would be the one with an eye on Silver's room the entire time.

The beginning of our shift was boring. No one left their room and there was nothing suspicious to report. Gold looked pretty tired, but he was keeping himself awake by balancing his hat on the tip of his finger.

After a few hours, I heard some voices coming from the girls' hallway. Barry seemed to be talking to some of the girls about something. Gold went down the hallway to listen, which was fine since all the doors were still covered between the three of us. After a minute Gold came back to his post.

"Some of the girls needed to go to the supply room," Gold told me, "One of them's on their period but they wouldn't tell us who. It was Dawn, Serena, and Rosa who went."

"Well, that would be something that would require them to go to the supply room, and they're in a group of three so it should be fine," I shrugged.

Nothing else happened for a while. I was actually getting pretty tired when suddenly one of the doors in the boys' hallway opened. It was Silver's.

"I know you all are guarding the doors at night now, but I don't give a shit," he told me, "I'm free to go wherever the hell I want whenever the hell I want." With that he headed down the hallway into the main entrance. I heard him argue with Barry for a moment, but I knew that it wouldn't do any good. The guy was a loose cannon.

Okay, I told myself, We need to be very attentive now that Silver has left his room.

"Listen guys, I need to pee. I'm just going to go to the restroom around the corner," Barry said casually.

"Wait!" Gold shouted, "What about our coverage?" I'll just be a minute! Have one of you move to my position and one of you stay, then you can see all the doors!"

"Red, you move over to the entrance area and I'll patrol back and forth until Barry comes back. Jeez. His whole idea was that we would check each other. I could kill you right now if I wanted to."

"Please don't," I said as I walked down the boys' hallway. I thought it was kind of weird that Barry would choose to use the restroom around the corner when he had one in his dorm that was closer. Oh well, it wasn't that much farther.

Some time passed before Barry came back. Gold and I were starting to get a little anxious. It was so stupid of him to go off on his own when he knew that Silver was walking around out there unattended.

"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHAaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiigh!"

"Holy shit!" I shouted. Gold came sprinting down the hallway to my side.

"That was Barry, wasn't it?" he asked. I nodded silently, my chest pounding with fear. We immediately took off for the boys' restroom around the corner. We didn't make it that far though. As soon as we turned the corner, we were met with the sight of Barry's dead body laying in the middle of the hallway.