[4 / 10]
As the stormy clouds finally calmed down, and the moon starts to fall down. Four was already awake, early as ever.
He ran towards the window. Trying to see how was the weather outside.
As he popped his head out of the window he was greeted by the morning sun. The sun shines brightly into his eyes from the horizon, as a smile just as bright as the sun appeared on his face.
"Fuck yes." He said,
"Finally, the storm's gone. Ah, I've been wanting to take a morning run since yesterday." He said, putting on his leather boots.
Ten suddenly awake, seeing her master planning to go outside.
"What is it, Master?" She said, rubbing her eyes still half asleep.
"Don't worry, I'm just going to do some morning routines," He answered, "You could just go back to sleep, it won't be long."
Hearing this, she immediately shook herself up from sleep, she pouted and said with a proud smile, "No! I shall come with you master, for I, am your humble servant."
He showed contempt on his face and sighed, "I've told you not to call me that, Ten."
Ten looked a bit surprised and embarrassed, hearing what he said, "I-I'm sorry, Four!" She fluttered, she stood up and gathered two iron swords from the table, neatly sheathed up.
She put the sheath over her shoulder and let the iron sword rests on her back. She handed the other sword to Four, who is ready to leave.
He looked at her with annoyance on his face. Ten understand this and knitted her eyebrows, staring back at Four's eyes.
"I understand that you don't like harming others, but going outside with a weapon is necessary since we can encounter the other contestants at any time."
Four rolled his eyes and took the sword from her, which Ten then replies with a satisfied smile. Four stared at her long brown hair as he put the sword around himself similarly to hers.
The swords were an arm-length iron swords but they were shorter than the long sword that Ten used to wield. Four was afraid that this would make her unable to perform fully.
"Let's scavenge for supplies." Four suggested, he stared at the rest of the group who were still asleep. Six, Twenty-Two and Twenty-Four.
"We shouldn't be away for long, they would probably wake up soon. Let's come back as soon as the sun was high enough to light the whole forest." He told her, she nodded in reply.
And then, they left the house.
The ground was wet and the trees were soaked, still reminding them about the storm last night. Sounds of dripping water can be heard slowly from the trees' leaves, in sync with their footsteps.
The two decided to explore the rest of the town since yesterday they didn't get a chance to. They explored the houses one by one. Opening chests and gathering supplies. They kept walking and walking until they eventually back at the field where they were fighting Fourteen yesterday.
They both paused and stared for a while. The blood from yesterday already washed away. And all the remaining was the cold lifeless right hand of Fourteen. Looking at it, Four feeling sick to his stomach.
"You were the one who cut that off, weren't you?" He asked Ten with a sigh, "Yes!" Ten exclaimed proudly in response. Four sighed again, getting annoyed by her even more every minute. He noticed the shattered pieces of Ten's former sword. He crouched near one of them and touched one of the metal chunks on the ground. He felt sudden sharp cold feeling from it.
Ten crouched next to him and stared at his hand, "You know, this sword was from my father…" She said a whisper.
"Hmm." Four responded, "Wait- How did you manage to bring it here?" He asked her.
She averted her eyes elsewhere, not wanting to answer.
"I thought weapons are forbidden!" He exclaimed, "It's not a weapon! It's a part of me!" She replied in disagreement. Four showed a confused expression.
"Anyway," He stood up, "I know you aren't feeling comfortable with your new sword since it's so different than your old one." She nodded. He smiled at her response.
"I know somebody that can make a brand new sword for you," He told her, putting a thumbs up, "I have a friend who is a blacksmith, he can make a new sword for you," Her face lit up, a wide smile appeared on her face.
"The problem is…" He rubbed the back of his head, "His close friend that doesn't really like me…"
"Doesn't really like you?" She repeated. Four walked around the field, looking around while Ten followed him from behind.
"Yeah, she's kinda… fucked up. I don't really like her either…" He told her, putting his hands into the pockets of his pants.
"What's wrong with her?" Ten asked, full of curiosity. "She's kinda, obsessed with him." Four answered, Ten stopped and think for a while.
"And that 'him' is your friend right?" She said, "Pretty much." Four replied. He turned away from the field, preparing to walk away, back towards the town. When he suddenly noticed something.
There was a strange stick-like object hidden underneath the grasses. Slightly camouflaged by the dirt stain around it. He walked closer to examine it, it was an arrow.
He paused for a brief moment, recalling the whole battle between him and Fourteen.
'That's right. We were not the only one there.' He thought as he looked over to nearby bushes. He remembered of the mysterious figure that hid somewhere inside the bushes before. An archer.
He was a part of neither of them. He was alone, from the way he attacked both me and Fourteen…
'And because of that I ignored him.'
"Ten." Four opened his mouth.
"Yes! Master?" She answered, with a slightly surprised tone.
"There was another guy here during the fight, right?" He asked.
"Um… Yes! I do seem to remember something about that…" She thought for a while, "Oh that's right! An archer!"
"Did you see where he had gone to after that?" Four asked again.
-:- -:- -:-
[7 / 14]
About a hundred blocks to the east, another duo was planning to scavenge as well. Seven and Fourteen.
But towns were nowhere to be seen, and chests are rare. So they decided to walk back to the spawn point.
"Are you sure this is the right decision, little girl?" Fourteen, the big muscular man asked from inside his mask. The girl sneered before looking at the man.
"Yes! Of course! There's no way that all of the chests are looted, there just not enough time when we first arrived. So I'm sure there'll be some leftovers!" She said with a convincing grin.
"So you say." Fourteen replied and continued walking behind her.
"Or so you thought, big guy…" Seven whispered silently.
'Looting those chests are not the only thing I have in mind. Once I get some good weapons that I can use. I'm going to start planning to kill you. Not only that, if there are people there- I could just run away and use you as bait~'
Seven started giggling silently.
And so, they arrived back where they started. The pile of chests surrounded by iron blocks that were supposed to be where the players come from.
They walked slowly towards the chests.
The man in the iron armor sways his head around as he looked around the area.
"This is where it all started…" He muttered silently.
The girl rummaged through the chests. The armored man noticed this and wanted to help, but before he comes any closer the girl stopped him.
"Don't," Seven shook her head, "You don't need to, let me do this, just stay on a lookout for any enemies." She said before returning a smile to him.
He stopped, he heard what she said- and so, he turned his back against her and scanned the area thoroughly. Watching out for any attacks.
After a few chests, the girl finally found something. A stone sword, it was one-edged and a bit curved at the end. A scimitar.
It was a good finding. But not like she was expecting. She swayed it around a bit, measuring the weight before looking at the man she had with him.
She examined him from head to toe and thinking about if the sword can kill him.
'Tsk.' She let out a sign of annoyance. It seems that the sword didn't suit her well.
It has no sheath so she then stabbed the sword into the ground to discard it.
It made a sound, and the man looked back.
"What is it? No good?" The man asked from the other side of the chest piles.
The girl opened another chest but immediately stopped after seeing what's inside.
A stiletto, a slender knife with an extremely pointed edge.
It was in perfectly good condition and the weight was just right, exactly like she wanted. She would bring it home if she could.
'But wait, can it be used to kill Fourteen?'
'The sharp edge would be useful to pierce through his thick armor but, I don't even know how thick it is. If it's too thick, the knife might bend or even break, and I'm sure he wouldn't let me go after that. But-'
She looked over to see Fourteen walking towards her, she hid the blade behind her and put on a smile.
"What's wrong? Why didn't you answer my call?" He walked up to her.
"Oh, no- It's nothing! I just found this stone sword that you may be able to use!" Seven said, patting the hilt of the sword that is stuck into the ground.
"Hmm." Fourteen examined it before pulling the sword from the ground with his left hand.
"Real men fights with bare hands,"
"No, they don't…"
"-but, since you got this for me I'll use it." Fourteen said.
"Now, let's go away from here. This area is too open, we're vulnerable to attacks…" Fourteen said, resting the sword on his left shoulder.
"Yes! Good idea!" Seven answered in a nervous tone. With one hand behind her back.
Fourteen noticed how she was acting weird and paused for a while, because of this Seven got alerted. She then put the blade in the back of her pants and pulled out her hands in front of her.
"What's wrong Fourteen?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"Nothing. Ready to go?" Fourteen walked away, towards the trees. Seven kept her back facing the other way as he walked in front of her.
After it was safe to say that Fourteen won't see her knife Seven let out a sigh of relief and pulled her knife out again. Wrapping the knife with the leftover bandages she had and tied it around her waist before hiding it under her cloak.
She quickly walked behind Fourteen to avoid suspicion.
She examined his armor and see the chainmail gaps on it. She sneered evilly,
"I can't wait to see your expression when I'm done with you…"
She giggled quietly,
"…"
"This girl," "I need to kill her, soon."
-:-
[32]
…
This kind of tranquility is considered rare. Especially, after what had happened.
In the forest, a figure was asleep, resting against a tree. It was a boy. His most distinguishable appearance is his white leather cap on his head.
His expression shows fear and sickness. It looks like he's having a horrible dream.
Right,
"What are you doing Steven,"
"Why did you let me die?"
"Why did you run away?"
Suddenly his eyes snapped open, he gasped and breathe rapidly. It seems that he just awoke from his nightmare. After a while he slowly calmed down, only to burst into tears right after that. He fell onto the dirt floor grasping and scratching the ground beneath him
"What else should I have done? Brother?"
His mourning over his brother was soon interrupted when he noticed the presence of the person in front him.
He hastily leaped towards and grabbed his bow in panic, pulling the string and aimed an arrow towards the figure. As his blurry vision slowly fades away, he soon recognized the stranger.
It was a girl, a contestant to be exact. She was unarmed and wounded, several cuts can be seen through her torn clothes. There was a severe wound on her shoulder that has blood spurting out of them. And blood can be seen flowing down her forehead. Her expressions signed that she was rather glad meeting him.
Still blue from the mourning he felt empathy towards her, he didn't remember who she was, but he had a feeling that she needs help.
"Are you okay-"
Loud footsteps were closing in on them from behind her. Horror struck her face before she ran and hid behind Thirty-Two.
"What are you doing?"
Two contestants emerged from behind the trees, confronting him and the girl. One of them was holding an axe he seems wounded quite badly on his arm as it was bleeding pretty badly, and the other is wielding an iron sword which has bloodstains on it.
Thirty-Two flinched and walked back.
"Shit, another contestant?" The man with the axe said with a sigh.
"It can't be helped then, let's kill him for supplies." The other man cocked his sword back, preparing a strike.
"Wait!"
Shit, what should I do. Thirty-Two thought.
If I'm quick enough I can dodge and use this girl as my shield instead
"Tch." The girl gritted her teeth. Unknowingly to Thirty-Two, she had smuggled something into his bag.
Before he managed to do anything, Thirty-Two was suddenly pushed by her towards the other two guys.
"Whoa!" He fell towards the two attackers, they stared as the girl ran away from them.
"AH! She ran away!"
"DAMN IT! This is all because of you!"
The man kicked Thirty-Two and made him rolled away, curled up in a ball. The man raised his sword over his head and let out a powerful attack downwards. Thirty-Two quickly rolled sideways to dodge it.
Swiftly he loaded an arrow into his bow and fire a rather accurate attack on them.
'THAK!' But the man deflected the arrow
Shit, shit, shit. What should I do now, I don't have any more arrows nor any melee weapons to fight with.
The only choice now is to run…
"Hm? You got no more arrows?" The man smirked before lunging his sword towards Thirty-Two. Thirty-Two barely dodge the strike. The man with the axe came in and joined in on the fight, swinging his axe towards Thirty-Two, which then Thirty-Two blocked with his bow, breaking it. The piece of wooden sticks fell on the ground. With nothing to use anymore, Thirty-Two takes off his bag and used it as a shield.
The man stabbed his sword towards him but instead, it was caught in the bag. Thirty-Two then violently threw his bag sideways, staggering the attacker before running away.
"Son of a-"
Suddenly the bag emits a blinding light.
'BOOM!'
"Hehe…" In a distant place, the girl from earlier was smiling, hearing the sign of her succeeded plan. The explosion erupting from the distance, followed by a couple of other explosions.
-:-
[8 / 13]
The sound of cannon caught my attention.
Number Twenty-Three has been slain.
Another sound soon followed, signaling another death.
Number Fifteen has been slain.
"Damn... a double kill?"
"Could it be near us?" I asked again as I took a bite off my dry bread.
"You're awfully calm after what had happened." Eight replied to me, ignoring my question.
"And you're AWFULLY creeping me out! What the hell have you been doing for this past night? You're not trying to lure me into a trap, are you?!"
"Don't say such unnecessary things…" He whispered and stood up, facing away from me.
"HUH?! WHAT WAS THAT?!" I yelled at him, raising a fist. He walked a few steps away from me and stopped.
"I've been examining the area around here for a while."
"Eh, you have?"
He nodded, "Unlike most people, I have enhanced senses. I've been trying to find tracks of them or any kind of marking that they might left."
"He's serious… Maybe all this time he has been working hard to find where Nine and Thirty might have gone…"
"And from all the things that I've gotten from around this area, they…" He raised an arm, pointing at the direction in front of him.
"They… didn't go this way."
"OF COURSE THEY DIDN'T! THAT WAS WHERE WE CAME FROM!"
Anger came over me as I turned my back against him, "Forget about it, we don't need to team up. If you can't help me find them, just get your face out of here before I kill you…" I said while walking away from him.
"I didn't say that I don't know where they have gone." He continued.
"Huh?"
"There, look-" He pointed towards blood stain on the side of a tree.
"We found them."
-:-
[3 / 5 / 27 ]
'SNAP! CRACK!'
The sounds of broken twigs.
I stared at the stranger as he hones his blade on a block of whetstone, the metal blade sizzles with every move of his hands.
I pulled out my own sword and compared it to before he sharpened it.
He's damn talented at this…
Even a dull stone sword can be resharpened by a man with enough skill…
I can imagine the durability has restored itself… *
'CRACK!'
Oh, and this girl.
She has been breaking wooden sticks and leaving a bunch of wooden pieces on the ground, making a mess.
"H-hey, mind if I ask you why are you doing that?" I asked her and made her stopped. She smiled and answered; "Because I like how it sounds!"
"How it sounds?"
"Yes! It reminds me of the sounds of breaking necks!"
"Uh-huh…"
Not the response I was looking for but that should do it.
"Oh and by the way…" She continued,
"For a killer, you're not really used to killing, aren't you?" She looked at me with a wry smile, before breaking another stick.
"What do you mean by that?" I replied back, glaring back at her. She remained silence and averted her head away from me.
I don't like this girl.
Why does she talk like she's used to killing people?
Something tells me she's someone to keep a lookout for.
It seems that the man has finished sharpening his weapons.
He gathered his tools and stored it before standing up. He looked towards me and the girl before waving his hand.
"Let's go, you guys ready?"
"Aye!"
"Eh? Where are we going?" I asked, both of them give me a confused expression in response.
"Shallow-minded aren't you?" The girl gives me a weird look.
"Of course, we're going to search for other contestants." The man answered me.
"Wait what? Why?" I asked again.
"Tsk, your stupidity irritates me so much!" The girl shouted, "Listen here, Dallas here wants to make all of you garbages' life better! So why won't you just shut up and follow him?!"
I've decided, I'll kill her when I got the chance.
"Calm down Five, and don't call me by my name. That's right, I haven't told you my real intention, have I?" He walked towards me.
"As you may know, a total of 32 contestants has been put here in this place and was told to kill each other," He said to me, "Whether out of their own decision or being forced by a third party, they are bound to do what they're told to do. And so, I've decided as a contestant myself, to gather the other contestants and bring peace. To prevent further killings and possibly create a normal life for all the contestants…" He finished.
"So basically, you wanted to just act like this killing game is not there in the first place?"
"Correct."
"THERE'S NO WAY THAT WOULD HAPPEN!"
My action caught them by surprise and made them froze.
"You piece a shit, HOW DARE YOU-" The man stopped the girl before she pulled out something.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked me.
"You think it could be done that easily?! If so, that he wouldn't have to…"
"Hmm?"
"A-anyway! What makes you think you could make these people listen to you? You got any sort of plan?" I asked him.
"I wish you'd let me finish. By overwhelming the contestants one-by-one and make them fear us, I thought that we would somehow able to keep them from hurting each other. By threatening them with punishments or banishing them from the group, it would surely lead to something good."
"And if that don't work?"
He paused and turned to face me before answering, "Well, it worked for you…"
His answer led me to believe that his plan would work somehow.
"Well, are you done?" He said.
"Um, sure. But just a second, first up, I would like to know the name of the person I'm teaming up with." I told them.
"Sure, I am Dallas. More known as number Three by the other contestants. And she is my… ally. Medea, or Five. Now it wouldn't be fair to keep your name to yourself, right?"
"Oh, yeah. My name is Elliot Graves, number Twenty-Seven."
"Graves, huh?" He stopped as if he was thinking about something.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," He said before walking away.
I have a feeling that things wouldn't end up well for me.
And even I have so little faith in my current team, but something tells me.
These two aren't somebody I want to consider an enemy.
-:-
Note: There's a durability system in this story, much like in Minecraft. Using an item too much will eventually break the item itself.
Additional Infos about the Characters:
Seven: A cunning beautiful girl in her teenage years. She has brown hazel eyes and long brown hair that matches her eyes. Wears short leather pants that reached down to her knee cap, leather boots, a cyan shirt and a light breastplate that covers her chest for small protection, and a short leather cloak that covers her entire back and down to her hips. She has bandages wrapped around her left eyes serving as an eyepatch. Her left eye was slashed by Twenty-Seven.
Fourteen: A tall muscular man that prioritizes manliness overall. Wears a bucket helmet almost every time. Has a magnificent beard under the helmet. Aren't good with talking, slow but durable. His whole body is covered with thick iron armor that has high durability. Even though he likes to fight, he doesn't like killing innocent people- unless they looked dangerous.