Chapter 4: 22nd July 2016 -01:06-

Girl #8, Jade Turner, hesitantly stepped out of the town hall, into the bitter night air. The white walls of modern, mass-produced housing caught the light of the moon and dominated her vision, threatening the prospect of snow blindness. All of the street lights were out, leaving everything else swallowed by darkness.

Her dark eyes nervously flitted around the area, searching for signs that those that left before her had hung around. Deep in Jade's chest, her heart hammered against her ribcage in a blistering rhythm.

The very idea of killing her friends was ludicrous and unthinkable. The worst thing that she could think of.

But that didn't mean that they would think the same. One of them could very well have been waiting outside the school, ready to kill anyone as they came out. Mr Freeman had explained the rules to them, but hadn't clarified when the "game" (Jade hated that word, but what else could she use to describe it — it was all so ridiculous) would begin. Surely then that meant that killing right out of the door was allowed. And that people would take that option; wanting to get it all over and done with, and go home.

If so, what then? Would she fight back? Kill the person that was trying to kill her?

Yes, she thought. If anyone tries to kill me then I have to!

The contents of the duffle bag dug into her chest, bruising her ribs, already battered on the other side by the thrum of her heart. She hugged the bag close to her, as if it were a safety blanket. As if there wasn't something contained within that was meant to take a life.

Taking several uneasy steps forwards, she moved out from beneath the canopy that shielded the community centre's entrance and swung her vision across the surroundings. To her left a sizeable car park opened up in a flat sea of Tarmac and luminous white lines. Beyond that was a wire mesh fence, slicing off the grounds of the public building from a sidewalk, and throwing a checker pattern over the faint visage of houses in the distance. Further still she could see the empty rolling of hills, peppered with the angular shapes of crops. Rising above the flat darkness of the houses, the rough outline of the crops resembled the scaly back of a dinosaur, emerging from a level sea.

Far off, visible through the gaps where the hills overlapped and intersected, she could see tiny pinpoints of light. Had her senses not been so hyper-focussed, Jade might have mistaken them for stars. The lights of homes winked at her through the darkness.

Jade imagined the families in them. So much like her own, they were probably all asleep. Like she should have been.

The weighty pressure of loss was heavy in her chest as she thought of her family: Their horror at finding out that they would never see her again. And if they did see her, then it came at a cost. It meant that everyone else would have been dead; that she had even killed some of them. And by then, would she have even been the same person?

No, she again thought. I wouldn't be the same. Nobody would be...

Another heavy set of footfalls rang out as her slightly round frame advanced further away from the large angular building. Having swept her gaze and attention around the area, it felt like she had been out in the open for a long time, when it reality it hadn't been more than a couple of seconds.

Urgency plucked at her and she picked up her pace. While nothing had been said about loitering in the area, before the zone became "Dead", Jade didn't want to try her chances. After she had left the hall and made her way down the corridor, she passed a room filled to the brim with soldiers. What struck her the most wasn't their numbers, though. It was the cold, empty look in their eyes.

Spurred by thoughts of the soldiers, Jade broke into a jog and crossed the road. She needed to get away; as far away as possible. Before someone found her.

Her head lurched back as someone grabbed a fistful of her hair. Reacting instinctively, Jade dropped her assigned bag and lifted both of her hands. She opened her mouth to scream.

Before she could let out a sound, the grip left her locks, leaving a large chunk of hair to fall from her head. Roughly, the same hand came around her face and clamped down over her mouth.

A burning sear suddenly ripped across her throat, almost as if fire were parting her skin. A wet sound filled her ears as her arteries were slashed, before a horrible crunch popped through the silence of the night, as the blade broke through her larynx.

Her voicebox collapsed, leaving her unable to scream. A whimpering mewl escaped her lips.

Pain tore through her body, numbing her to the sensation of blood waterfalling down her chest.

The hand left her mouth and grasped the wrist of her still-raised right hand. The now familiar sensation of the blade again pierced the skin of her wrist, slashing up along the inside length of her forearm.

This time blood fountained into the air, spurting out a great distance and spattering the wall of an overlooking building.

Every pulse of her terrified heart shot another stream of blood into the air, her terror only increasing the tempo and the speed at which she bled out.

Jade's legs lost sensation and buckled beneath her.

Now laying prostrate on the hard ground, the muscles in her arms and legs began to clench and tremble as her body went into shock.

Around her head, locks of silver-grey dyed hair glowed in the moonlight, like a perverse halo.

Stooping down and looping their arms under her armpits, Jade's assailant began to drag her away.

In their wake, nothing but blood remained.

-38 Students Remaining-