Chapter two

"Damn it," James muttered to himself as he left the school building. It had only been four minuets before Emily had left the school, it shouldn't be that hard to find her, right? Yeah right. She was in good shape, she could have ran anywhere by now and-

James looked over to his right as an arrow landed next to him. It hadn't gotten close to hitting him, but James had no doubt in his mind that it was supposed to hit and probably kill him. He didn't have time for this. He was supposed to find Emily and go to where he was supposed to meet up with Frederic and the others. As the second arrow went at him, James was able to see where it was from. Not that far away, good. He quickly dug though his bag and pulled out his weapon. A hunting knife? He would have preferred something more… well, less personal method of killing. It looked like he was going to have a bow soon though. As he made his way to where the arrow had come from, careful to be as quiet as possible. It was dark, and he was guessing by the bad aim that whoever was firing at him didn't know what the hell they were doing with a bow.

James wondered who would be smart enough to sit here and try and pick off students right away. It would be a good idea, and if he had a gun or something he would stick around and do it, but even he wasn't stupid enough to do it with a bow. A bow would take time to reload, time to aim, and time that he wouldn't get another shot. Besides, he wasn't good enough with a bow to actually kill anyone with it with one shot. He doubted it would be Teven, Ella, maybe Evan though, Holly, Temperance, Nina, Mic or Donnica. He wouldn't put it past Quin or Sammi or Samuel. He knew for certain that it wouldn't be Emily. She was probably hiding somewhere.

Wait, it was Mic? James stopped in his tracks. Mic, the little nerdy kid was trying to kill him right now? Being a still target wasn't smart, and he soon felt an arrow go into his shoulder. "Damn it," he cursed. He took a deep breath and pulled it out. Well, he guessed even Mic's had the aim to hit him when he was this close. James jumped on top and soon had him pinned to the ground. "Sorry Mic, but I haven't been given permission to die yet." James held his knife tightly, getting ready to end this.

"James, I'm sorry… James, please, don't kill me," Mic was crying. It was a little late to beg him not to kill him, when that was just what Mic had been trying to do to James.

"Sorry." James cut his throat. He had used knives before. He already knew he was going to get covered in blood, but that was what he wanted. With his injured shoulder, thankfully it was his left one so he could still use his right arm just fine, Frederic might see him as a liability and just kill him. James figured he could lie about the blood from his own wound well enough. Damn did it hurt though. He wouldn't bleed to death because of this though, or at least he couldn't until he got to where Emily was and got her to Frederic.

James looked at the bow and arrow. There was no way he was going to be able to use that weapon with his shoulder messed up. He took his knife and cut the back of the bow, no one was going to use this against him. He then put the arrows in his bag, along with all of Mic's food and water. He could use that water to try and do something about the wound, make sure it didn't get infected, but he might not live long enough to care. Besides, right now he needed to find Emily. It was going to be a pain, as he lost a lot of time killing Mic. His eyes went back to the school, seeing Leo come out of the school. Leo? Well, he would try to figure out how long it had been between when he had left and now, but there didn't seem to be any order they're doing it in.

James took a deep breath. Leo and Emily were best friends, right? He'd know where she would go, or at least if they had a plan he would know it. If Leo didn't know, then James would kill him. Oh right, he was covered in blood wasn't he? Oh well. "Hey, Leo!" he called, making sure the knife was hidden in the back of his jeans, but within reach. Besides, Leo was too much of a pussy to actually try to kill him.

Leo tensed and turned to James. He looked like he was in shock or something. Well, people were going to die they shouldn't be surprised that it happened so quickly. "J-James… you're covered in blood…"

"Yeah, look we need to get moving. Where are you meeting up with Emily and the rest of your group?" James asked. He wouldn't mind killing Leo. Even though Frederic didn't mind him all that much, he was Emily's only friend he didn't mind, James didn't like the little rich boy.

"How do you know we're meeting up?" Leo asked.

"Because I'm sure that is what you're doing. Now, Frederic wants to make sure he can find Emily out here, and I'm going to help him. Now either take me to where you all are meeting or I'm going to kill you right here and now and I'm sure you don't want that." James almost thought it was funny that this wasn't the first time he had threatened to kill Leo, but the last time was because Leo got in the way of Frederic beating someone up. Stupid boy trying to play hero. James wouldn't have really killed him that time, but times were different now.

Leo was quiet a moment. "I have to find Emily. She's terrified out here probably and… we do both want the same thing, so follow me." Leo started to walk.

James couldn't help but smirk. They did both want the same thing, didn't they? Well, kind of. James wanted to keep Emily alive long enough to make it to Frederic. "What number were you?"

"What?"

"What name were you. I'm boy 10, what number are you?" James wanted to know how much time had passed and much many people would be out and about by now.

"Thirteen. I'm boy 13," Leo said, shuttering some as he said it.

So, that meant there were 26 people… 25 people out here at least, not to mention anyone else who came out. Alright, he could work with that. "What weapon did you get? Give it to me." James wouldn't let there be any option for Leo to turn on him.

"I'm not giving you my weapon, I don't even know what it is," Leo said.

"I said give it to me, or I'm going to fucking stab you." James was getting annoyed. Couldn't Leo just do what he wanted and damn did his shoulder hurt. Because of how much blood was on him he couldn't tell if it was still bleeding. The wound hadn't been all that deep, so it shouldn't be that bad. He'd have to thank Mic's lack of talent in anything physical for that. Leo though, if Leo tried James might have an issue. Leo could fight, if he wanted too, the stupid prick just never wanted to unless it was defending someone else.

Leo hesitated, but soon dug into his bag and gave James some kind of device. What the hell was it? It just had a button on it, nothing else, well the button was covered by something to make sure it couldn't be accidentally pressed. James lifted the plastic cover and pressed the button. Nothing. He failed to hear the explosion he had caused that just killed girl 11, Mossette Lawry. "Well, this is crap. Maybe you can throw it at someone," he said, giving it back to him. "I don't need worthless weapons right now."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, stopping when they got to a row of houses. "Emily's in one of those? You picked a residential area to meet? Are you insane? Everyone's going to want to come to his area to rest or something, and you're just…" James wanted to kill Leo right now, and he very well could, but first he had to find Emily. Chances were Alexander would be coming out soon, and he was sure he'd be coming over here too, or maybe Lance. James shoved Leo forward. "Start looking in houses, if you Emily bring her back here, we're going somewhere safer than here. I'll even try to wait until Alex and Lance get here, but only as long as we can. Now, get in there or I'll kill you right here, and don't try to run away because I'm your best bet to living right now." Well, at least live for a little while longer. The length of time that James wanted to deal with Leo was thinning.

"I'm not going to just go into houses and get myself killed. I'll try to look for her as quickly as I can, but I don't see any reason to come back up here," Leo said. Stupid son of a… Leo even told him he wasn't going to come back if he found her.

James took out his knife. He'd just kill Leo know he'd just… "Damn it!" James yelled, feeling a sharp pain go throw his leg. He quickly fell to the ground. "Who the fuck just shot me?" he yelled, looking around. Yelling was only going to draw attention to them, but if he was going to get killed he'd be damned if Leo didn't die after this too. … Frederic hadn't given him permission to die yet. He owed his life to Frederic, and he told him that life belonged to him then. James had always been okay with that, but now it looked like he couldn't keep that promise.

"Don't go waving a knife at my friend," Alexander said harshly, pointing a pistol at James' head. Alexander pulled the trigger.

XXXXXX

"Alex! You just killed him.. And… and…" Leo trailed off, looking at the body of James.

"Of course I killed him. He was going to kill you. Do you want to die?" Alex asked. Leo was so stupid. Alex took the knife and cleaned off the blood. "Here, use this. I don't know what your weapon is but-"

"It's nothing useful," Leo said, showing him some thing with a button on it. "James already pushed it, and I don't want the knife. I don't want to kill anyone."

Alex sighed. He pocketed the knife, and went through James' bag. Arrows? Well, Alex took them and all the food and water out of the bag. "Come on, we have to find Emily."

"Alex, you're a good shot with that gun. Since when did you know how to shoot?" Leo asked, as the two of them started to make their way to their first house.

"Why does it matter? My uncle owns a gun range and we-"

"He does not, I've met you uncle," Leo pointed out, much to Alex's dismay.

"Look, can we talk about it later. We need to find Emily and wait for Lance to find us," Alex said. He didn't think it mattered all that much why he knew how to shoot a gun, he just didn't want to admit that Frederic had taught him at one point. Frederic had wanted to teach Emily, when they first started dating, and Alex wouldn't let her go on her own. He wasn't as good of a shot as Leo seemed to think he was, he was just close enough that it didn't matter.

"Right," Leo said.

The two went into the first house. "Shh," Alex said softly. If someone was in here, and it wasn't Emily, then they had to be careful. The last thing they needed was to run into some here. Leo wouldn't fight, as much as it annoyed him, so everything rested on his shoulders right now. It was a pain, but he'd… he'd let Leo die if he had to. He'd have to at some point, and he knew that, but it could wait, right? Alex looked at his gun again, but soon stopped. No, not yet. What would he tell Lance if Leo was dead when he did it? It would be so simple to do it now…

"Emily!" Leo yelled, finding her hiding in the bedroom of the house. Alex wanted to just smack Leo. He told him not to yell! He told him to be quiet! What if someone heard them? Alex pushed Leo out of the way and went right over to Emily.

"Did they take anything from your bag, or do you have everything you came with?"

"I… well.." Emily took her hand out from under the blankets on the bed to show him a hand gun. "The weapon they gave me was a whip. What am I supposed to do with that?" she asked. Alex could see the engravings on her gun from here. To Emily With Love from Frederic. Who gave a girl a gun for their birthday anyway? "I also have my first aid kit. I also have a sewing kit."

"What's the use in a sewing kit?" Leo asked.

"In case you get sliced open, I'll be able sew you back up," Emily said. As Alex got closer, he noticed Emily had been crying again. "A-Alex. W-why do you have blood on you?"

Alex looked down at his jeans. Oh. He had blood and… he shouldn't have shot James so close. "Well, I had to kill someone. This is a game that only one person can make it out of alive. I had to kill someone," he said. He couldn't tell her that he killed James. James was one of Frederic's friends, and he was sure Emily would be upset that he killed him. Maybe. It worried him enough that he planned on telling her. "Now, we need to be quiet until Lance got here. He's smart; he'll find us." Or we'll move as soon as we hear Lance died.

"Who did you kill?"

"What?"

"Who did you kill Alex? Was it one of our friends? Was it-"

"It doesn't matter what I killed."

"He killed-" Leo started.

"Shut up Leo, it doesn't matter who I killed."

"I-if you're not telling me… then… then did you kill Frederic?" Emily started to cry.

Alex wished he had killed that son of a bitch, but he didn't think he could. From what he knew of Frederic, one thing that boy was good at was killing. If he could kill him, then it would be a lot better for himself in the long run. "I didn't killed Frederic, promise. I killed James okay? He was going to kill Leo."

Emily was quiet a moment. "Frederic is going to be sad when he hears… I miss Frederic. I-I don't want to die without seeing him." She kept crying. Alex didn't understand why she felt that way for an asshole like Frederic.

"It's okay Emily, we need to keep quiet for right now though," Leo told her, wrapping his arms around her. "Just calm down." As if just telling someone to calm down in a situation like this. Staying calm was important, but people were dying and who knew how many were already dead. What was odd was how calm Leo was. Leo had just almost been killed and he was so calm. He was being stupid, but calm. Alex always thought Leo was smart, so why was he being so stupid? Yelling, just about to let himself get killed by James? It wasn't right, but Alex wasn't going to do anything about it right now. If Leo kept doing stupid things, Alex would just kill him.

The thought struck him. Leo was one of his best friends. Even if he had to kill him sooner or later… if Leo was going to get them all killed… then it was okay to kill him for the good of keeping the group alive a little longer. He looked at his watch. Everyone would be out in the game now. They just had to wait for Lance.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to set something up so we can hear people coming," Alex said, getting up and leaving the room. He walked into the kitchen and went through everything he could find. It was funny. They hadn't actually looked into Emily's bag before they let her take it with her, letting her keep her gun and first aid kit, but there was little to nothing left in this house. Maybe the people running this thing just didn't believe girls would be carrying weapons around with them. Alex knew that Emily wouldn't have any other bullets for the gun on her, part of Alex was sure she had never actually fired it once she had it, so that might be a problem. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to use it for a while. Oh look, there were some empty cans. Alex took the cans and strung them onto some string he had also found, and walked outside. Carefully, and quietly, and quickly, he started to set up the cans around the house. Now, he should be able to hear things when someone was getting too close.

Alex had just finished with the cans when he heard some of them move. He quickly pulled the gun out of his pocket and started to walk to see who was there. This was stupid. He was going to find someone, and he'd have to kill them or they'd kill him. But, he hadn't told Leo and Emily about the cans. If nothing else, working together as a team until he killed them off would be smart and… He couldn't believe he was really thinking about killing his friends again. The idea made him sick, but right now he had to make sure that Leo and Emily didn't get killed.

Quietly, he walked over to where the sound had come from. His gun was drawn, and he was ready to shoot. And… "Oh, it's just you Lance. Leo and Emily are inside."

Lance paused, and looked at the blood on Alex. "You killed someone already? Was it James? I saw his body on the way down here."

"Yeah."

"Good. I hope to get Tobin, Luke, and Frederic. I hope they all die soon, if not by my hand," Lance said. He took out something that looked like a square. "This is what they gave me for a weapon. It tells me where people are. It's useful, but not to kill people. I see you got a gun," he said.

It was so stupid. Why would you go looking to get into something with Frederic right now? Lance was going to get himself killed too. Wait, they could use Lance's 'weapon' to keep themselves away from people. "Give it too me, and I'll give you a knife I took off of James."

"What? Why don't you just give me the knife so I can be useful?"

"Lance, come on. I'm only trying to be fair here, a trade." If Lance didn't have that thing then he couldn't go looking for Frederic and wouldn't get killed for a little while. Also, Alex planned on making it out of here alive and Lance's 'weapon' would help him more than a knife.

"Alright, here," Lance handed him the device and Alex gave him the knife. "Now, let's go and see Emily and Leo. Did they let Emily keep everything in her bag?"

"They did, but don't try to take it away from her. She's still upset about all of this and I won't let you make it worse."

Lance was quiet a moment. "Fine, let's just go in." Lance and Alex walked into the house. As Alex looked at the.. Whatever the hell this thing was, he noticed there were people in the other houses, just not moving. Well, they just meant they should move as soon as possible. They just needed to stay together, and worry about everything else as they needed too later.

Dead: Girl 11: Mossette Lawry. Boy 9: Mic Flanders. Boy 10: James Myhre. 39 left.