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'Fuck!' Mr Henderson span around in his chair. An aide was sent scurrying away after informing him of the explosion. He hadn't needed to be told. He had heard the blast. They all had. The shockwave had even knocked a perimeter guard from his fire step and broken his leg. The unfortunate soldier had been airlifted away to a hospital. He would be dispatched on the way though. No need to have any loose ends begging for compensation when they got back to civilisation.

'Sir!' another techie, vying for promotion most likely, stepped forward. 'Sir' the young man said again, 'the clinic is gone.'

'What do you mean gone? It can't just be gone! There must be something left.' He didn't give a rat's ass about the clinic but the lab underneath was important. Only he and one other knew about it. His boss. God he hated that bastard lording over them like god himself. He longed for the day where he would meet him face to face and then he would tell him just what he thought of him. But, then again, he would surely be eliminated for speaking out. Perhaps it would be best not to say anything. He turned his attention back to the matter in hand.

'How did the players get explosives on the island anyway? Or was it a gas leak?'

'It wasn't a gas leak sir, all the gas and power was shut off when we arrived.'

Not all of it Mr Henderson mused to himself, 'so it was explosives then. But how did they get it on the island? We didn't supply anyone with that kind of firepower'

'True sir but there was some last time'

'Last time?!' exclaimed Mr Henderson loudly, drawing looks from technicians trying to assess the damage.

'There was a Battle Royal held on this island previously, by the Republic of Island'

A loud, crackly voice sounded from a loudspeaker mounted on the wall, 'Mr Henderson a word in my office please'

It was the boss, the controller. He was summoning him in.

The controller sat behind a frosted glass screen. The controller was never seen. This hazy figure was in control of this Battle Royal Program. In charge of the secret laboratory underneath the hospital. The controller had had the idea to revive the past contestants. Their purpose was unknown and only a select few knew of their existence. What was unknown to everyone but the controller was that they were all failures. Except Kiriyama. He was different. He possessed the will to destroy all life. It was that that enabled him to return with his mind. His killer mind. However what was unknown to even the controller was that Kiriyama had survived the blast that had destroyed the lab.

Mr Henderson entered the room and sat down in the provided chair facing the frosted glass. A voice sounded from an unknown source.

'Mr Henderson' the voice barked angrily, 'Why was this allowed to happen. You know as well as I what was in that lab. How much it meant to us. To all of us. I have half a mind to detonate all the collars now, declare this Program a failure and have you dismissed. You know what happens when people are dismissed.'

Mr Henderson knew all too well the horrific fate that awaited those who were dismissed from the program. Some were killed mercifully but most had their tongue cut out along with their eyes and hands to prevent signing away secrets of the Program. Without any extremities to invent some sort code the unfortunate victim was dumped in an alley and left to die.

'I don't understand how this happened. One of my aides indicated that there may have been some explosives left over from a previous Battle Royal but the sweeper teams mustn't have found it.'

'You fucked up, Mr Henderson.'

The frosted glass screen began to lower with a hideous grating sound. A face came into view.

Mr Henderson almost collapsed from the shock. 'Oh my God! You're a, you're a…'