1: The Rules
A buzzing sound is emitted as the fluorescent lighting charges up. One by one each of the fluorescent lights glows brighter lighting up the room. The newly lit room reveals, to what seems to be, a really run-down hospital. A couple of gurneys were pushed to the side and two hospital beds as well. It seems like this hospital has been abandoned considering most of the paint had been chipped off the walls and most of the metal were covered with rust.
Sprawled across the floor were forty-two students. All the guys were now wearing blue, cotton pants and a white, long-sleeved button down shirt with a blue and white sweater vest on top. All the girls were now wearing blue skirts with a white trim, a white, long-sleeved button down shirt with a blue and white sweater vest on top.
A group of soldiers barge into the room dragging a chalkboard. The wheels squeak each time the board turns slightly. Ms. Carrillo and Mrs. Paine are right behind them. Ms. Carrillo looks over to Mrs. Paine giving her the signal to start. Mrs. Paine takes out a small silver whistle. She slowly brings it up to her lips. She blows hard to expel the high pitched call.
The high pitched tone reverberates around the room waking up all the students. As each one slowly opens their eyes they realize something is off. An uproar of noise escaped their mouths.
"Where are we?!"
"What's going on?!"
"What are we wearing?"
"Why are we on the floor?"
"What the fuck is going on?"
Mrs. Paine blows on the whistle again. Mrs. Paine then yells with a forceful voice, which was different than anything they heard before, "QUEIT!!" It was different. It was weird. It was mean. The class went silent after hearing their favorite teacher yell.
One of the girls raises her hand. Ryan Foley (Female Student #16) emerges from the group of confused students. Ryan is very articulate. You can tell just by looking at her. She got elected to be next years class president. She should be able to figure out the problem. As she spoke her voiced remained very calm, "What is going on, Mrs. Paine? Who are these people?"
Mrs. Paine gives out a smirk, "I'm glad you asked. It's time you guys get what you deserve. The president decided to bring the BR Act to America." The students look to each other in confusion. No one knew what she meant from this statement.
While everyone looks to the other to give them the answer Uzuki Kimura (Female Student #10) turns pale. Sweat rolls down her face out of fear and anger. She picks up and old book left on one of the shelves and whips it at Mrs. Paine. It misses her and the soldiers aim their guns at Uzuki. "NO! This can't be happening." Everyone stares at Uzuki, her head shaking in denial as she yells, "My parents warned me of this game. It's the reason why we escaped out of Japan. You can't make us do this! This is America! It is against the law."
Ms. Carrillo, who has been watching Mrs. Paine do her thing, steps out, "Laws can change."
"Well since you know so much, Uzuki, why don't you tell your classmates what they will be doing." Mrs. Paine says in her cheerful voice. It was a different kind of cheerful, more like an eerie kind.
From the way Uzuki reacted everyone became more uneasy then they were before. Some students shifted awkwardly as others twiddled with their thumbs. Everyone had their eyes fixed on Uzuki's jet black hair. Uzuki takes a deep breath, "They want us…They want us to kill each other till one survives."
It was the silence before the storm. Everyone was stunned with what she just said. Then a flood of emotions overcame everyone. As the cries of disbelieve, anger, and fear filled the classroom Zeek Hamilton (Male Student #14) moves over to his twin brother Brett Hamilton (Male Student #15) and whispers in his ear. The only way you could tell the difference between the two, especially now that they are wearing the same thing, would be their hair styles. Zeek chose to spike his hair up in the front while Brett decided to push his hair forward as if a high power fan was blowing from behind. Zeek stands up followed by Brett. "You can't force us to play." Zeek shouted out.
Brett soon followed, "Yeah! We all will just not play!"
"This game won't fly in the U.S if we don't follow your rules!" Zeek said.
"You fool. There are five other BR games happening as we speak. So even if you don't play…one of them will." Mrs. Paine's surprisingly strong voice pierces though each one of their souls. "Let's start the rules." Mrs. Paine moves toward the blackboard. "Each one of you will be supplied with a military bag. This bag will contain food, water, a flashlight, a map, and a random weapon. Whether it be something useless as a drawing pencil or as deadly as a shotgun. It's the luck of the draw. Oh, and have fun with those weapons and don't be shy to have a little creativity with them.
A chill runs down Stanley Pirie's (Male Student #21) back. He lifts himself off the floor. A couple of tears roll down his face. His long bangs started to stick to his cheeks due to the tears coming out. His voice became very wobbly as he spoke, "Mrs. Paine, what happened to you? Why are you doing this?"
"Because I've got sick of you pieces of shit! It's about time a Battle Royale takes place here and it's gonna be my pleasure to see all of you die." Again it was uncomfortable to hear Mrs. Paine be mean.
All of a sudden Michelle Taylor (Female Student #21), the star quarterback, springs out of the chair she was sitting in and lunges at Ms. Carrillo, "It's all your fault!" Within a blink of an eye Ms. Carrillo grabs Michelle by the neck and slams her into the wall. Surprisingly Ms. Carrillo had great strength and she lifts Michelle up by the throat. Michelle flails a bit as she tries to grasp for air, her legs dangling in midair. Her face starts to turn blue and Ms. Carrillo releases her making Michelle fall to the floor.
"You didn't expect that, did you?" Ms. Carrillo stares at Michelle collapsed on the floor, her hands wrapped around her neck. Her friend and football teammate Amanda Hawkins immediately dashed to her side. "You should be more careful. You don't want that collar of yours to go off, do you?" It was at this point that everybody notices there is a cold, metal collar around their neck. A few start to tug at their collars. "I wouldn't do that unless you feel like dieing early." Immediately those who where touching their collars let go in fear.
Strange enough a huge laugh comes from the back of the room. Shannon Gibson (Female Student #14) couldn't control her laughter anymore. "I get it now! I get it!" Shannon gives out another big laugh. "We're on some kind of T.V prank show. Is it High School High Jinks? I love that show!" She gives out another laugh. "This is good you had us going! So where is the host? Let me guess the "guns" are the cameras. Think about it people this has to be some kind of hoax. Nothing will happen if I take off this collar." She gives out another laugh. "See watch!" Shannon pulls really hard on the silver choker around her neck. If your hearing was above average you could hear the small click of the collar exploding as Shannon's head was dislocated over her body. Blood covered all the students near Shannon's body. There was a moment's hesitation before her body fell to the floor.
The room was deathly silent, "Now does anyone else think this is a practical joke?" Mrs. Paine spoke loud and firm. No one responded. Blood continued to ooze out of where Shannon's head used to be. "No?...Good. Now we can finally get to the rules." Mrs. Paine walks over to the blackboard. She starts to draw a grid across the board. "This island will be divided into multiple zones. As time goes by more and more zones will become what we call danger zones. If you are…" Mrs. Paine stops mid-sentence. She walks strongly to the back of the room, kicking Shannon's dead body on the way. Everyone gets out of her way as she makes her way across the room. David Ellis (Male Student #18) remains underneath one of the beds covering his eyes. Mrs. Paine grabs David's thick, curly hair and drags him out in the open. "This is not something you can escape from. So pay attention." Mrs. Paine makes her way back to the front. "Where was I? Oh! If you are caught in one of the danger zones your collar will detonate just like Shannon's did when she tried to take it off. Also if you decide to go with the golden boys plan to not kill anyone." She walks right up to Zeek and Brett and stares them in the face, streaking Brett's face with her white chalk before she continued walking. "In twenty-four hours if no one is killed all your collars will blow. You will get ten minutes of warning to find someone to kill in the event that happens. Which according to previous games in other countries it's less than 1. This game continues till only one survives." She makes her way back to the chalkboard and she writes on the board Sector F-6. "Last but not least. Each one of you will leave this hospital one by one every two minutes. Once the last person leaves twenty minutes later Sector F-6, where we are, will become the first danger zone. That's it for the rules everything else is free game. Now let the game begin!" Ms. Carrillo hands Mrs. Paine a bag. "Now let's see who is leaving first. Oh, one more thing. If anyone decides to loiter in the hall or attacks one of the guards you will be shot on sight." Mrs. Paine reaches into the bag and pulls out a piece a paper, "Oh, Male Student #7 Vincent Chen, ironic it being one of the few Asian kids in the class, you will be the first to leave."
Vincent doesn't move. The soldiers point their guns at him. He quickly brings himself up. The soldiers throw a military bag at Vincent's face. He takes one more look at the class before he exited into the hall. One after another each student leaves the room, fourteen minutes go by, "Female student #10 Uzuki Kimura." Uzuki grabs one of the military bags and storms out of the room. Two more minutes go by, "Male Student #11 Ayato Takahashi."
Ayato slowly rises as he brushes through his black hair, shifting it to the left. As he grabs his military bag he turns back to the class, "If anyone wants to know I won't be playing." Then he continues to leave the room.
Zoe Martin (Female Student #11) stares at Ayato leave. Her eyes fixated on every step that Ayato made. Tears start to well up in her eyes. She stands up preparing herself to be next.
Two more minutes go by, "Female Student #11 Zoe Martin"
Zoe grabs a bag and runs out of the room tears flowing down her face.
More and more classmates leave the room. The room starts to become empty. "Male Student #6 Wayne Kennedy." Wayne grabs his bag and leaves the room. Now only Faith Harper (Female Student #6) remained in the room.
It was still to unbelievable to Faith that she might never see any of her classmates again. Faith looked around the room; she looked at the soldiers standing with their backs perfectly straight, she looked at the headless body of Shannon lying in a pool of blood. Her heart cringed in pain as she thinks of how some of the classmates left the room. How Michelle Taylor pushed one of the soldiers as she left. The amount of tears coming out of people's eyes like the amount Stanley Pirie and Serena Kwayera (Female Student #4) shed. Justin Huxley (Male Student #16) was the only one to hug his friends, Chelsea Butler (Female Student #2) and Cameron Weiss (Female Student #5), goodbye. Was everyone scared of everyone else? The seconds tick away. Faith didn't know if she wanted the two minutes to be over quickly or slowly so she can feel safe in this room.
"Last but not least Female Student #6 Faith Harper."
Faith's heart jumps slightly. She makes her way to the front of the room where Ms. Carrillo and Mrs. Paine stood handing out military bags. As she grabs one of the two remaining bags she catches a glance Mrs. Paine gives her. It felt like the old Mrs. Paine.
A gun gets pointed at Faith's head. The guard yells, "Move!" Faith didn't hesitate and quickly left the room.
A few moments of silence as the soldiers leave the room to go their posts. Ms. Carrillo turns to Mrs. Paine, who had lost all her strong composure and was now crying heavily, "You did well. You really got them believing you hate them. Keep it up."
Mrs. Paine starts to leave the room but before she does she turns around, "What you are doing to them is horrible."
Ms. Carrillo gives out a laugh, "You'll get over it."
Mrs. Paine whips the tears off her face but it is followed by more tears. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing any of her students die, yet alone witnessing them kill each other. She takes one more look at Shannon's body. A chill runs down her back that was so horrible it actually gave her pain. She then makes her way out of the room.
41 Students Remaining