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'Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.'

Billy sat in the grass. He had been praying for deliverance into the kingdom of heaven for some time now. He asked the lord to call him to him but the lord had not answered him. He had prayed for death. That in itself felt like a sin. To plead to be allowed to leave God's world and enter paradise while avoiding the suffering of his brothers was selfish. He had to endure this trial that God had set before him. He was going to die. He just had to endure until the lord called him to heaven. He sat in the grass and waited.

Tom stood over the body of Will. He reached down and closed Will's eyes. He let out a sob. How could the country have come to this? How could the country that had once owned one quarter of the planet have resorted to killing its children for sport? They said it was to solve the problems that the children were causing but it wasn't that. How could it be? There were no problems. This was a test. If this worked then the program would become a multi-million pound business like it was in other countries. The advertising and gambling would sustain the economy through whatever slumps came its way in the coming years. And with British-French diplomatic relations strained due to policy in Iraq slumps seemed likely. It would probably amount to nothing but shares in major companies would decrease in value and the economy would 'suffer' leading to funding of the NHS being cut once again. Tom shook his head in disgust when a voice coming from behind him made him twist round, shotgun raised.

'Hello Tom' said Adam.

'Adam thank- what the fuck happened to your eye?'

'I had an accident'

'Jeez that must've been some accident. That looks infected. There used to be a hospital near here but it's gone now'

'Gone? Gone how?'

'It's a long story'

Adam sat down, avoiding Will's body. Tom joined him. They sat in silence for a moment. Tom thought of finding an ally who could help him beat the Program. Adam thought of revenge. Adam broke the silence.

' Have you seen Vinny? I need to talk to him about something.' Adam asked.

Tom, sensing that the something was actually someone, replied, 'Look Adam, he uh, he, didn't make it. that's why the hospital is gone. He blew it up trying to kill this thing. I can't explain what it is but it was killing us. Me, Vinny, Michael and DC went into this place, this lab beneath the hospital and there were these tanks. They had bodies in them. The bodies came alive. Michael went one way, Vinny and DC another and I drew the leader away from them. I heard a shot. Then I heard some more followed by DC screaming. Then the leader caught up with me. He was this close to me,' he indicated a small distance to Adam, 'and he said something. I couldn't understand what it was but then we started fighting. I was losing. I was going to die. And he saved me. He distracted this thing long enough for me to try and make a run for it. This thing broke his back and tossed him into a wall. I was sure he was dead. I grabbed his sniper rifle and shot this thing in the mouth. That was when Vinny started talking. He had a bomb with him. I left it here. He said he was going to blow it, to destroy the lab. He told me to run. And I did. I left him.. I left him to die. He killed himself. Fighting a greater evil than we know, he died fighting it. I'm not going to let anyone else die fighting it. I'm going to save us all. What do you say? Care to join me?'

Adam had remained silent for this whole exchange. One thing had stuck in his mind. Vinny was dead. He let out a small chuckle. Then a longer one. Then a small laugh. He kept laughing as he got up and walked away. Tom looked on dumbfounded as his wailing crescendo heralded his departure into the forest and away from sanity.

One student has lost his mind to the game. How many more will follow?