Chapter Eight

It was quiet. Emily was sleeping, and Lance was still off doing whatever it was he was doing. Leo was starting to feel like he couldn't trust Lance any more, and he hated it. What was he supposed to do? Alex hadn't come back, and he doubted he was going to at this point. Leo looked over to Emily. She hadn't left that bed since they got here, but they were going to need to move sooner or later. It was almost midnight, and they were going to get the new danger zones soon. So many people were dead, and Leo was starting to wonder how soon until their little group would have to do something. Emily was the only one with a weapon who could do any good with it. Twenty-one students were left, and soon there wouldn't even be that many. Who knows, there could even be less people than that right now. He looked at the clock, midnight.

"Good morning students! I'm here to tell you the new danger zones for the next day: at 6am D5, at noon A2, at 6pm D2 and at midnight A6. There's still twenty one of you out there, you need to get on it! No more slacking off!"

Leo marked the times on his map. Well, they had about four days left out here before everything became danger zones. Leo's best bet was to take Emily and try and find Frederic. Frederic knew how to fight, how to kill, Leo was sure of it. With who Frederic's father was, there was no way that boy didn't have the skills to survive out in this mess. If he wanted to live as long as possible, they needed to find him. If Frederic knew Alex had killed James, what there was no way he could know, then Alex would probably be dead soon. Leo didn't want to think about that.

He left the bedroom and walked over to Lance. "I want to go and look for Frederic. Sitting here isn't going to do anything," Leo explained. "And if I leave, Emily is coming with me. I know you hate Frederic, but we have to move either way."

"Why do we have to move? I mean, we're safe here. It's not going to be a danger zone any time soon, at least not for twenty four hours, and I can see when people are getting close," Lance said. He looked at the tracker, and noticed there were four people coming closer to them. "Give me Emily's gun; I'll go and take care of them," he said, getting up.

"I'm not taking away Emily's gun. She needs that and I'm sure she's a better shot than you are," Leo said. He didn't trust Lance with a gun. It was just a bad idea. He highly doubted Lance had ever used a gun in his life. Even with the state Emily was in, she wouldn't let herself be killed. Leo was sure of that. Even if it came down to her shooting that gun of hers, even if it meant killing someone she cared about. She was a survivor, and he wondered if Lance understood that as well as he did.

"She's not going to fire it! She hasn't left that bed since all of this started!" Lance screamed at him. He had his hand tightly around his tracker. "They're getting closer; something needs to be done!"

"Whoever they are going to hear you and-" Leo stopped mid sentence as a bullet went threw the widow Lance had been standing by and right through his shoulder blade. Lance screamed and sank to the flood, holding onto his arm. "Lance!" Leo ducked down to the floor. He looked at Lance's wound, and frowned. Lance was screaming in pain, and Leo knew that Lance was never going to be able to use that shoulder, probably the whole arm, again.

Emily ran out of the room, keeping herself lower to the ground. "What's going on?" she asked, panic laced in her voice. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Lance and all of the blood. She ran back into the bedroom. Leo assumed she was going to get her first aid kit to try and help Lance. He wasn't sure it would be worth it to do anything to help him at this point though. Whoever had shot him was going to be in this house in a few minuets. He was sure of it.

Even before Emily got back into the hallway and out of the bedroom, the front door was kicked in. In walked Frederic, followed by Luke, a badly injured Tobin, and Donnica. Frederic walked right over to Lance and put a gun to his temple. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you."

"Y-you fucking bastard-" Lance didn't get to finish, as Frederic pulled the trigger.

Emily screamed. "F-Frederic! Y-you just killed Lance!" she had tears running down her face.

Leo looked from Frederic to Lance and then to the rest of the people in the room. Luke was holding a sniper rifle. It was probably what got that first shot off on Lance. Frederic started to walk towards him and- Leo ran over to Emily and grabbed her gun from her hands. He then quickly grabbed Tobin and put the gun to his head. "Drop your guns or I'll shoot." He didn't want to be a part of this game. He didn't want to kill or hurt anyone. He wished Lance or Alex would had just killed him at the start of this whole thing, but now Lance was dead and Alex was who knows where and… Emily wouldn't be able to kill him. Leo never thought his own will to live would be so strong.

Growing up, Leo's life was chaotic. With his father's line of work, and with Frederic one of his only 'friends' for a while, he just always assumed that he would end up working in illegal jobs, like Frederic's father did, like the people his father worked for, and he just accepted that was going be his lot in life. He hung out with Frederic, not a lot, but enough that he saw things he never wanted to see at the other's house. He had seen people killed, or at least their bodies afterwards, and no one seemed to bat an eye at it. Leo just kept telling himself he'd get used to it.

That changed when he was working on group project with Evan, they had gotten put together because the teacher was sick of Evan and Ella always working together. He was at Evan's house, finishing up the last little bits of their project, and he overheard Evan's father speaking about the death of Tobin's mother and step-father. He was talking about the person he thought had done it, and Leo had recognized that name. It was one of the men who worked for Frederic's father, and the man who had been coming over to his own house because his father was going to represent him now. It was Frederic's father who killed Tobin's parents. Leo had been so sure of it. He didn't want anything to do with Frederic or his family any more. He didn't want to be apart of anyone who would let their family kill a family of a class mate.

After he was finished on that project, he went over to Emily's house. He got there just as Hannah, her partner for this thing, was leaving. "Emily, I need to talk with you," he said. Emily's mother and his mother had been friends all their lives, and so Leo and Emily had been having 'play dates' since they were infants. She was one of his closest friends.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Frederic… I think his father had something to do with the death of Tobin's parents," Leo said, shaking his head. "And… it scares me. He scares me."

Emily frowned. "Why would you think he had anything to do with that? I think he just gets a bad rap because people think his father is some gang leader or something like that. I think people need to mind their own businesses and leave the poor guy alone. I mean, his only friend because you is off in rehab. Rehab at our age! Wait, aren't you supposed to be his friend, why are you saying such horrible things about him?"

"Because, I know for a fact that his father is a gang leader. I've been there; I've seen the horrors that go on over there. You have to believe me Emily, I know Frederic's father had something to do with Tobin's parent's death. He was my friend, but he scares me so much now. I rather just hang out with you, Lance, and Alex instead of him," Leo explained to her. He didn't want to scare her. Didn't want to tell her anything more than he needed too. "Just believe me Emily."

Emily nodded. "Fine. I believe you, but just because his father might be some bad person, doesn't mean he is."

"No. I have a feeling that Frederic is just as bad as anyone else in his family. He just hides it better…"

And then Emily started to date Frederic. Leo didn't understand it. He had explained to her all of the horrible things he was sure Frederic was doing, all the help he was positive he was giving his father, everything. She wouldn't explain herself, and, after a little while of dating him, was sure she was in love with him. Leo didn't understand how she could be in love with a monster like Frederic.

Leo knew he could never do anything to hurt Emily. Somewhere in his heart, he loved her too. She was like a sister to him. She was closer to him than his father and his now alcoholic mother. He did the only thing he felt he could do, get someone else to break them up. He told Lance everything he knew, everything he thought he knew, anything to convince him that Frederic and Emily needed to break up. Maybe that was a bad idea, but Leo had to do something to save her from that monster that he still pretended to be friends with out of fear.

Now, here he was. A gun pointed to an injured man, more than ready to shoot him. Maybe after everything that happened, he was still destined to end up like this. He was always destined to be a killer and do horrible things. His father might even be proud of him if he made it through his mess and killed people to do it. More so if he killed Frederic.

"The moment you shoot, you're dead. I can promise you it will be slow and painful and you will wish you never laid a finger on him," Frederic growled out.

Leo had to saw, it felt nice to have the monster in a such a weak position. Frederic wouldn't do anything as long as Leo could kill Tobin; Luke wouldn't either. Donnica was just shaking, pleading for him to kill Tobin. "I said drop your weapons, now, and kick them over to me. I'm not going to ask again."

Tobin laughed, "Frederic. Just give me permission. It's okay. I'm fine with it, really. I hate all of this pain, and only person's going to make it out of here. I don't want it to be me, please."

Frederic frowned and pointed his gun at Tobin. "I give you permission to die." He then shot. Donnica screamed, and Frederic just nodded. Luke pulled up his gun and shot Donnica in the head. Frederic then turned to Leo, anger in his eyes. Anger the likes Leo had never seen before, and he was backing up. He should run, get out of here. They were going to kill him. He was sure of it. He looked over to Emily. Emily could talk Frederic out of killing him. Emily would do that for him… right?

Emily ran over and hid behind Frederic. Frederic pulled her into a quick hug and gave her a small kiss. "It's okay, I'm going to protect you now." He let go of her and started over to Leo. "I was thinking about keeping you alive for a little while longer, for Emily's sake and because I thought we were friends, but it's your fault Tobin is dead and now you have to die."

Leo felt his back hit a wall. Luke had the sniper rife pointed at him, and Leo knew his escape wasn't going to happen. Leo pointed his gun at Frederic. If he was going to die, then he was going to take Frederic with him. "Leo!" Emily yelled.

Leo looked away from Frederic to Emily and-

XxXxXx

Emily sank to the floor as she watched Leo's body fall to the floor. She couldn't even recognize the blood mass that that used to be his face. Frederic walked over and handed her back her gun. If she hadn't distracted Leo… Leo would have shot Frederic and Luke would have shot Leo. Then it would be just her and Luke left. If she couldn't save both of them, she'd save the one she could. She looked down at the gun her hands. It still hadn't been fired.

Frederic picked up Lance's tracker. "Does this do what I think it does?" he asked.

"Y-yes. It tell you where everyone is playing this game. It-it's how we've been safe so far. F-Frederic… Alex killed James." Emily knew what saying that would do. It would sign her last friend's death warrant. Frederic needed to know.

Frederic looked at the tracker, seeing if anyone was near them, before looking over to Emily. "We was going to die no matter what. Now that I know he was the one who did it, it won't be a painless death for him." He paused, "Are you going to be okay? I've lost two of my best friends. I'm not going to lose you or Luke. I won't. When we're the only three left, then we'll figure out what we'll do, but until then, you two can't die. I don't think I could take it…"

"I… I'll be okay. I-I'm not right now. I want to throw up. I want to hurt you for killing my two best friends, I want to-"

Frederic grabbed Emily's hand that held the gun and lifted it to his head. "If you want to kill me for killing these two, then do it. I won't stop you. I can't promise that Luke won't kill you as soon as you do it, but I won't stop you."

"Frederic!" Luke said, taking a step closer to them. He stopped when Frederic shook his head.

Emily started to cry and ripped her hand away from him, and hugged him, starting to sob. "I-I could never kill you Frederic. I love you. I love you so much. I… can we leave? I don't… I can't stay here with… with Lance and Leo… and Tobin and Donnica…"

Frederic nodded, standing up and dragging her up with him. "I'm going to grab your things and get everything out of all of the bags we can use. You just wait outside with Luke. Luke, protect her, okay? I'll be out there sooner."

Luke nodded, taking Emily's hand and pulling her outside the house. "Emily, you need to be careful. You might just be in shock and not processing what's going on. Let me or Frederic know if things get too hard for you." Emily could hear how bitter his voice was, how much anger it held, how much pain.

Emily looked down, "you're suffering just as much as I am, probably more. Lance and Leo… they were two of my best friends and I love… loved them dearly, but I love Frederic too. A-and…I was thinking as I sat in that bedroom day after day. Only one person can make it off of this island alive. I… I knew Lance or Leo wouldn't be that one. Leo… how he died was horrible. That's not how he is. He would have never killed Tobin… well, maybe he would have. It scared me. He scared me so much it hurts. When I thought about it though, Frederic has a chance. If anyone can make it out of this mess, it'll be him. I'm sure of it. And, since I don't think I'll make it out alive, all I can do is keep positive." She forced on a smile. "Who would want their lasts days alive to be filled with being depressed. Everyone is going to die, and I just hope that I can help Frederic as long as possible before the end comes. When it does, I hope he's the one who kills me."

Luke looked down. "I know how you feel, but I can't help but hate those that killed my friends. I can't help hating Leo for putting Frederic into a position he had to kill Tobin. Everyone is dying, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Something tells me that Frederic won't be the one who will make it out of this, but it would be nice if he was."

"Why don't you think Frederic will be the one who makes it out alive?" Emily asked. If anyone could do it, it had to be Frederic. Frederic… if he could just kill Lance and Leo without a second thought then he had what it takes to win this horrible game. She wasn't sure how many people in this class had it in them. So many people were dead, and so many more could be dying right now. It made her want to cry again, but it wouldn't help anything. She had done enough crying.

"Don't worry about it. We'll just see. I don't think I'll make it out of this game alive either." Luke laughed. "I guess that's just the way things work, right? I do believe that Frederic has one of the best chances on getting out of this mess, and that is why I have faith the two of us will make it along with him until we can't go on anymore."

Frederic walked out of the house and motioned them to follow him to the next house. He set the two bags down in front of the door. "Luke, hold onto this and come and get me if anyone gets close," Frederic said, handing the tracker to Luke. He grabbed onto Emily's hand and pulled her into the house and into the bedroom.

"Frederic?"

"We… we both can't live through this, I know, and I… I'm going to make love to you. I love you Emily, and I want to at least do this before I lose you forever," Frederic said, kissing her. "If we both could make it out of this alive, I would make it happen. I can't make any promises, knowing one of us has to die, but we'll live as long as possible. I'm going to do everything in my power to make it so."

Emily kissed him back. "I love you too. Promise me one thing. That you'll be the one who kills me. If it's you, I think it's okay."

"Emily…"

"Promise me! Th-then we can have sex."

Frederic sighed. "If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me. I promise you that."

Emily smiled, and started to undress. "Be gentle. I… it's my first time."

Frederic nodded. "I will be, don't worry."