Kiriyama grinned. He remembered when they came for him. How they had carried his bruised and bleeding body from the fiery wreckage caused by the bomb. How they had repaired his neck and head from the explosion. How they had remade his eyes. He remembered how they took him to this place, lined with countless empty vats. They placed him in the foremost one, a position of honour, designated for him. He remembered. And he grinned.
His clothes had not been replaced. They had not been cleaned. Upon them, the blood of his victims stained the once clean fabric. Where the clothes had once been pristine, they were now ruined. He still bore the scars from the operations. They had faded now, become less gruesome, due to the healing process that had taken place in the vat. His mind was untouched, unchanged and still remembered the thrill that the Battle Royale sent coursing through his veins to meet with adrenaline and catch up with euphoria. His heart was still beating faithfully behind a reinforced ribcage. A thick layer of bone now protected his chest, protecting him from harm. But the children in front of him did not know this.
He surveyed them, taking in each individual before moving onto the next. The first, smaller than the rest with short ginger hair, stood closest to him. His eyes told him that this boy was not yet hardened against the brutality of the game. For that was what it was to him, a game, a sport to be enjoyed at the expense of others. He was the hunter, and before him stood his prey. He moved on. The next, a taller boy with messy blond hair, held a .44 magnum. He had seen a movie once where the lead had one. It was the type of gun that would blow a normal mans head off but Kiriyama was new and improved. Human point two. That's if you could call him human though. Some said he was far beyond human. He was quite inclined to agree with them. He wasn't human anymore.
The third boy, broad with messy hair and a gunshot wound to the arm, was a threat. The way he held himself and did not panic. That was the threat. The others, they were panicking. This one was not. He was experienced, no doubt about it. But he was wounded. That was an advantage to him. As if he needed any more advantages. His augmented muscles rippled from his uniform. He could snap any one of these boy's backs like a twig if he was so inclined. But there were still things to be done. A forth boy stood in front of him.
This one, taller than the others, though not by much, stood at the back of the group. Long hair that partially hid his eyes covered him and he was weighed down by the packs of the others. He was eyeing the exit. The only way out was up the stairs that they had just descended from. If that door was sealed then they would be trapped. That was how he would do it. He would play a little with these children before putting them out of their misery. Perhaps they would even be grateful to die. To leave the torment of the game to whatever lay beyond. It was strange that he didn't know what happened after death. He had died. But he had done what no one had ever done before. He had been brought back. Not just back from heart failure by an electric shock but back from total death. He had been resurrected. So had the others. After his healing he had witnessed other bodies being brought in and being placed in each separate tank. They were full now. Every single contestant of every single battle royal was here. But something had gone wrong. They were not as intelligent as he was. But they obeyed him. They were little more than walking corpses. But they obeyed him. He called them forth now, shrieking wildly. In unison the tanks broke and the bodies steeped out. They gathered around Kiriyama, like an army rallies around their general. There was a silence. Then it was broken.
'Holy shit' breathed Tom. The others would have said the same had they not been frozen by fear.
'Vinny, give me a fucking gun!' DC practically screamed. Heck who could blame him? He was the only one unarmed and Vinny had a spare gun. He was passed the shotgun. The corpse army took a step towards them.
'That one' Kiriyama said in Japanese, pointing at Tom. 'Bring me him. He must be alive. He needn't be intact. Kill the rest!'
'Split up!' yelled Tom. He took of down one corridor while Michael ran down another. Vinny and DC went together. The Corpse army split also. The majority went after Tom and the rest chased the others. Kiriyama strode over to the doors and twisted the handles into a makeshift lock. No one was escaping now.
'Oh shitohshitohshitohshit oh fucking shit!' Michael tore down the dark corridor. He turned countless times. A groaning told him he was still being followed. He ran straight into a fence.' Shit' he breathed. He turned. The corpses shuffled towards him. Some had their arms stretched out, as if they could pull him closer by grasping the air. He raised his magnum. He pulled the trigger once, twice, three times. Nothing happened. He looked at the gun, touched every inch of it. He heard a click. He raised the gun again. He fired. Once. The gun slid out of his hand as he fell to the floor. His blood smeared the fence. He had died on his own terms. He had chosen his passing.
37 students remaining
Vinny and DC heard the shot. Somehow they knew. They didn't need to say. They just knew.
'Look up there' Vinny pointed. A thin catwalk had been set in place, maybe as a safe spot for scientists.
'Help me up' Dc crouched down and boosted Vinny onto the catwalk. He set aside his equipment and reached down for Dc. Then the creatures came.
'Oh shit!' they both cried. Vinny loaded his rifle and crouched down. Dc pumped the shotgun. He didn't know whether it would work but that was what the movies did.Vinny fired; hit one of the things in the shoulder. It kept coming. He realigned the crosshairs. This time he hit it in the face. The face promptly exploded and the body fell. Vinny called down to Dc 'Aim for the head!' then resumed firing. He had to stop the creatures from reaching Dc. He fired again and again, sometimes getting a headshot but never missing completely. There were too many for that. A resounding click echoed through the lab. He was out of bullets.
Dc was shaking. Vinny had stopped firing. He had slowed them but they were still coming. He raised his shotgun. Fired. He was too far to cause any damage. He pumped the shotgun. Took aim again. Waited. They were close now. He fired. This time he brought some down. Two fell and some others staggered but another was in reach. It reached out, grabbed him and was blown away. Dc turned. Vinny was standing, smoking rifle in hand. Dc waved his hand. That was his mistake. His eyes off the creatures he failed to see how close they were. He was jerked back as they tore at his flesh. He screamed until his throat was gone. Soon only his legs, kicking in a futile attempt at breaking free remained visible. Then they were covered. Vinny turned away. Watching those things eat his friend was too much. Then he heard more gunshots. He saw them and scuttled across the catwalk, out of reach of the dead hands, towards the sound. Maybe one of his friends was still alive.