(A/N: Hello my lovely, lovely readers. It's been a while since I've updated… I know. Like about… a year, am I right? I have no excuse, I'm a horrible person I'm sorry. I just got so wrapped up in school that I forgot to post and… There's no excuse. I'm a total poop. Anyway, here's the next chapter! Review, Review, Review!)

I've got a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water,

And pictures of you and I'm not coming out

Until this is all over

And I'm looking through the glass where the light bends

At the cracks

And I'm screaming at the top of my lungs pretending

The echoes belong to someone

Someone I used to know

And we become silhouettes when our bodies finally go

I wanted to walk through the empty streets

And feel something constant under my feet,

But all the news reports recommended that

I stay indoors

Because the air outside will make our cells

Divide at an alarming rate until our shells

Simply cannot hold all our insides in,

And that's when we'll explode

(and it won't be a pretty sight)

And we'll become silhouettes when our bodies finally go

-"We Will Become Silhouettes", the Postal Service

Zoe POV

Zoe Baxter curled her body into Vincent's chest, trying to be gentle, as she didn't want to disturb his sleep. It was dark outside again, and raining heavily; enough to cause a flood in lower latitudes on the island. She sighed, running a hand down her boyfriend's chest. She didn't want to be the only one awake. She tried shutting her eyes; tried to concentrate on the sound of Vincent's breaths, or the sound of the rain outside. But every time she did so, the bloodied image of her attacker being struck down by the arrow fluttered behind her eyelids. The image of his shocked face as he stumbled off. The image of his friend's fear and worry. Sure, on some, superficial level she was glad that it was him, not her. But she still felt guilty. Horribly, gnawingly guilty. If Ada hadn't come to her rescue, that boy would have still been fine. She would have been dead, and he would have been fine. She wondered if he would have felt such guilt over her passing. She wondered if he was one of the students who had died in the night.

"Zoe?"

She rolled over to see Kennedy Lipton on the bed next to her, her normally straight black hair mussed and curly. She was rather pretty, with honeyed brown skin and large, globe-like eyes. She was the head cheerleader, and proud of it. She was almost as proud that status as she was ashamed of being in the "at risk" group. Zoe had never been very friendly with her, or any of her 'preppy' friends. Actually, no one in the program was very friendly with them. They all acted like they were above the rest of them, because they weren't poor. They were all deemed "at risk" because of things they had done… not because of the area they lived in, or their financial situation. In fact, Kennedy was the daughter of a senator; a fact she had always made painfully obvious. Zoe had always considered her something of a bitch. So she wasn't really sure why she was trying to talk to her now.

"You don't think Heather's really dead, right? I mean, like how could she be? My father would never let this sort of thing happen. Never."

Zoe was at a loss for words, feelings of sympathy and annoyance swirling around in her head. Of course she's dead, idiot! This is REAL! She thought. But secretly she wished that she could believe that this was a fake like Kennedy did. Wished she could pass this all off as a cruel joke. I'm so sorry, she wanted to say, I couldn't imagine loosing Harley or Hanna like you lost Heather. But instead she stuttered;

"I, I don't know. I… Guess not."

Heather smiled quickly, but it never reached her eyes.

"Thanks," She said. Zoe could tell she meant it.

The silence was interrupted by a hollow knocking at the door. Zoe sat up, causing Vincent to stir slightly.

"Wha- what's going on-?"

Zoe put a finger to his lips as the knocking sounded again. She thought she could hear muffled sobs between the raps. She stood up slowly, shooting Kennedy a look as she protested. She crept up to the door, feeling Vincent's steps creaking behind her. She placed her hand on the knob, suddenly unsure.

What if it's the other class? If I open the door, they could slaughter all my friends. Or it could be that new girl.

She shivered at the thought.

There was a third bout of knocking, and several students were up now. She wrenched open the door, cringing.

It was Hanna and Dave.

"Oh Jesus!" she gasped, running into her friend's arms. She stayed there for a moment, not noticing Dave's stiff reaction. But Hanna pulled her off of him fast enough, just in time for the boy to groan and collapse onto her. She gasped; Dave's side was bleeding heavily. Vincent grabbed him from her, laying him onto the bed. She looked towards Hanna, her eyes asking for an explanation. Then she blushed heavily; of course Hanna couldn't tell her what had happened.

By now everyone was crowded around the bed, their eyes all fixed on Dave. Zoe heard Harley wail, and surprisingly she collapsed into the transfer's arms; not Jackson's. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, motioning for everyone to move out of the way. Everyone but Harley, Jackson, Hanna, and Riley responded. Zoe thought briefly about telling Riley to mind her own business, but seeing the desperate way Harley was clinging onto her, she thought better of it.

Dave was bleeding bad, and Zoe gritted her teeth as she peeled his shirt away from the skin. It was some sort of laceration wound, and she judged it to not be too deep.

"Vince, babe, your shirt."

Vincent obliged, and Zoe poured some of her water on to the shirt. Hanna seemed to understand what she was about to do, and put her hands on Dave's chest in an attempt to hold him down. But Dave hardly moved when she started to press on the wound, his eyes fluttering.

"C'mon D, keep those eyes open… Focus on me."

"Zoe?"

"Yeah, sweetie, I'm right here-"

"She's not human- she, she-"

Zoe placed a finger over Dave's lips, effectively shushing him. She shivered slightly, her eyes traveling over to the trickling gap in his side. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't a doctor, but she knew that without treatment her friend would bleed out. She looked up at Vincent, her eyes desperate in askance. His lips opened as if to say something, a comfort perhaps. But he just closed them. He was just as lost as her.

A sharp crack emanated through the room, and Kennedy fell onto her back, a rosette of blood forming on her shirt. Zoe's eyes widened as the room broke into chaos, people screaming and running over each-other. James was knelt down by Heather, shaking her desperately. The only one who was still beside herself was Hanna, whose pale face was blank, her eyes empty. The first words in ten years that came out of Hanna's mouth were;

"She's here."

Jackson POV

Jackson jumped at the sound of the shot, his eyes instantly searching for Harley. He sighed in relief as he saw her head bobbing around after Riley, scared but not hurt. He tried to make his way over to her through his panicked throng of friends, his sole concern making sure she wasn't injured. She was NOT going to be hurt, not while he was still alive.

He followed her and Riley out the back door, not missing the scream as the unseen shooter struck twice again, quieting James' cries and sending Zion crashing to the ground, blood oozing from a hole in his head. He pushed through his fear and kept running, his short stint as a member of the track team paying off.

He couldn't for the life of him understand why Harley was putting so much faith into the manipulative blonde. She was obviously a killer, her story about having won the games for survival obviously a ruse. He had never known Harley to be a pushover of any sort; the way she allowed the girl to lead her on was totally out of character.

Someone grabbed on to the back of his t-shirt, sending him tumbling back a few steps. He whirled around ready to punch them in the face, but relaxed as he recognized Charlie. Her pierced face was streaked with thick, greasy mascara tears; her eyes wide in fear.

"Ada! I can't find Ada, she's gone! I can only find two bodies and there were three shots and Ada, she's gone and-"

"That way," Jackson said, pointing to his left; where he was almost sure he had seen a streak of thick red hair disappear into the brush, "I think I saw her go that way."

And in the kindest, most awkward gesture Charlie had ever made toward him, she kissed his cheek quickly; uttering the sincere 'thank-you' of desperation, and disappeared into the woods after her girlfriend.

When Jackson turned back around, Harley was gone.

Ayumi POV

Ayumi was cold.

It was the darkest, rainiest night she could remember, and wrapping up the small blanket provided by her pack was not enough to keep out the bone-numbing rain. As she walked along, she wished Marcus were here, or Daichi… Or anyone. But no one was there, and Ayumi had to figure out what to do on her own. She couldn't go to the Japanese camp, certainly not. It was the one place she had thought to tell Marcus NOT to go. She would be shot on sight by the Americans, and wandering alone she would surely starve to death. Without Marcus to protect her she was left defenseless, a damsel in distress waiting for her Prince.

Ayumi bit back a scream of frustration, instead kicking in at a rock on the ground. Stupid, Stupid girl! Since when did you become so useless? Ayumi had never been the star of the sports team, or a champion runner; but she was by no accounts weak. And here she was, waiting around helpless for her or Marcus to die.

She flopped back onto the ground, pulling the stick of Jerky out of her soggy pack and biting in. She hated this, hated it more then she could say. She was going to die. Alone. Without Marcus, without her father and mother. Briefly she wondered about things such as what her corpse would look like. If her mother would know that she wanted Chopin to play as they buried her.

Crack!

Ayumi leapt onto her feet, slinging her pack over her shoulder, and sliding a hand into the pocket of her harem pants to feel for the single grenade she had been given. Her eyes darted around; searching for the cause of the noise, but all was silent.

"Shit!"

More crashing noises emanated from the trees and Ayumi slowly began to back away from the noise, willing herself to stay calm. But what she saw stopped her.

It was Daichi, his tiny form pressing a tall, well-muscled blonde boy up against a tree. His normally carefree smile was set into a fierce hard line, his soft jovial eyes glittering dangerously. In his hand was held a small Swiss army knife that Ayumi had known him to carry his whole life… But she had never imagined it was so… sharp.

"What did you say she looked like?"

Ayumi blanched, she didn't know her friend could speak English… let alone with a perfect American accent.

"I don't know, man, I don't know. She was fucking fast, okay? She took out half my camp, man! She killed my girlfriend, she killed Kennedy!"

Daichi laughed softly, if you could call the harsh sound that passed between his lips such.

"I do not care what she did to your whore. I WANT to know What. She. Looked. Like."

The boy struggled slightly against his grip, making a choking sound as his movements caused the knife to bite ever so slightly into the skin of his neck.

"Chill, dude, chill! She was tall, okay! With brown hair and… Shit, um a ponytail?"

"Tattoo?"

"What?"

"A tattoo. Did she have one? On her shoulder, a string of numbers?"

"I don't know!"

The knife dug deeper.

"Yeah! Yeah, I think so, numbers, yeah! Like 0014 something, I thi-"

The boy was cut off as Daichi snapped his neck, letting his limp form fall to the ground unceremoniously. He smirked slightly, slicking his rain-soaked hair back out of his face.

"Thanks."

Ayumi began to back up again, not wanting to raise the attention of her friend. She cried out in shock as her foot caught on a stone, causing her to go tumbling backwards. She put a hand over her mouth, looking up in fear, but it was too late.

Daichi looked up at her, smirk instantly falling from his face. His lips moved to form a word, but nothing came out. She began to scramble backwards, stumbling several times before she managed to arrive on her feet. She heard him call her name as she ran, branches whipping across her face and torso. But she didn't turn around.

Daichi POV

Daichi cursed under his breath, wiping the blood off of his hands as he watched her form retreat into the forest. He hadn't ever meant for her to see him like that, never in a million years. She was the only one he wanted to keep his past hidden from, the only one who's opinion really mattered. And now she was gone, probably forever. Daichi knew better than most what surviving in the arena took, and he knew his friend didn't have it. No matter how many Americans she had on her side, she wouldn't stand a chance against his sister. Or the machine, Girl Zero, parading around in her skin.

Daichi had been born in California, not Japan like his classmates believed. He had spent all of his memorable life in foster care, until he was adopted at age nine by the rich Madeline Greenwalt. He had felt lucky; elated, even. Things could not have been more perfect. Madeline had daughter his age, Brooklyn; a dog, a pool in the backyard. He was finally safe; finally had a warm, loving family. A home.

Things changed when he turned twelve. Madeline was killed in a car accident, her head bashed in by the windshield. Of course Daichi had grieved, but it was Brooke that was truly changed by it. She became mean, angry; got in fights at school. Things escalated until eventually she stabbed one of her classmates in the eye, permanently blinding them. That was around the time that she got the letter.

A letter from a scientific college interested in studying teens fourteen to sixteen with extreme anger management issues. They were working on a new, cutting edge medicine that would short circuit her emotions when they became too intense. They wanted Brooklyn as a test subject. As a payment, they promised to have her absolved of all charges. It was that, or trial as an adult, so she went; Daichi following along to take care of her.

Little did they know that the 'scientific group' was the American Government trying to make an Emotionless Soldier. Because who wouldn't fight better with no emotions?

While Daichi was forced to watch Brooklyn become less and less human, he was kept in holding, like an animal waiting to be shipped off to a zoo. He spent his spare time teaching himself how to fight, how to stand up for himself. He became so good that they sent him into the Battle Royale as a Transfer. Called him "Boy Zero"

When they sent him undercover to spy on this year's 'transfer', he hadn't expected to get attached. He had practically been able to train himself out of his feelings like his sister. But Ayumi was different. Sweeter, smarter, kinder than anyone he had ever met. The feelings he developed for her were stronger than any he could remember feeling. Stronger even than his love for Brooke. Still, he stayed a reasonable distance away from the girl, becoming only her acquaintance. Because he knew she would not survive her first battle. In fact, that was her purpose. To die, and to make Marcus go crazy. So the audience could watch him make the kills they had craved to see in the victor's first battle.

"Daichi Kobayashi."

Daichi turned at the sound of the dead pan voice, prepared for what was to come. It was Brooke, alright, her cold amber eyes boring into his. She pulled out her gun, aiming it at his forehead.

Daichi felt himself relaxing slightly, a dark smile playing at his lips.

"Hey, 'lil sister."

(A/NWell, that's all for today folks… 24 left to go, 9 Americans, 14 Japanese. Damn, America's hurting. What do you all think? I told you Daichi was a transfer for a reason! Does his history make sense? Did I kill too many Americans at once? Riley and Harley: Dose H have a crush? Should R end up ACTUALLY falling for her? Is H being an ass to Jackson? Review with your opinions!)

Italics= dead

*=died during prologue

Girl Zero: No Name (Searching for Daichi Kobayashi)

Boy One: Kevin Finch (Shot at the American Camp by Girl Zero)

Girl One: Heather White (Shot multiple times by Girl Zero.)

Boy Two: Julian Cole (Neck snapped by Daichi Kobayashi)

Girl Two: Zoe Baxter (Fleeing the American Camp with Hanna and Vincent)

Boy Three: Tadaharu Ito

Girl Three: Hanna Everett (Fleeing camp with Zoe and Vincent)

Boy Four: Vincent Shields (Fleeing camp with Zoe and Hanna)

Girl Four: Amayo Akemi

Boy Five: Marcus Blackwell (By the lake, searching for Ayumi Sato)

Girl Five: Yoshiko Akemi

Boy Six: James Calvin (Shot by Girl Zero at the American Camp)

Girl Six: Charlene Further (Fleeing American Camp)

Boy Seven: David Marcoccia (Stabbed by Girl Zero on way to camp)

Girl Seven: Ayano Maruyama

Boy Eight: Kaoru Taminaka

Girl Eight: Tomomi Oono (Fell off a cliff during fight with Marcus Blackwell)

Boy Nine: Benjirou Daichi

Girl Nine: Maiko Ando

Boy Ten: Fumio Tanada (Jumped off a cliff after Tomomi Oono)

Girl Ten: Minori Yoshido

Boy Eleven: Akihiro Settae

Girl Eleven: Keiko Nishimura

Boy Twelve: Zion Little (Shot by Girl Zero)

Girl Twelve: Kennedy Lipton (Shot by girl zero)

Boy Thirteen: Daichi Kobayashi (Talking to his Sister, girl Zero)

Girl Thirteen: Yoshiko Akemi

Boy Fourteen: Jotaro Nozaki

Girl Fourteen: Riley Kramer (Fleeing camp with Harley Alexander.)

Boy Fifteen: Hiraga Nozaki (shot with arrows by Adelaide Angelus)

Girl Fifteen: Harley Alexander (Fleeing camp with Riley Kramer)

Boy Sixteen: Richie Williams (gunned down by Yoshiko Akemi)

Girl Sixteen: Mana Chikifuji (shot and stabbed by Riley Kramer)

Boy Seventeen: Ito Settae* (exploded by Setsuko Ogawa)

Girl Seventeen: Adelaide Angelus (fleeing the American Camp)

Boy Eighteen: Zion Little (Shot by Girl Zero At the American Camp)

Girl Eighteen: Zara Mckenzie* (shot down by soldiers)

Boy Eighteen: Jackson Riddleston (Fleeing after Harley Alexander.)

Boy Nineteen: Harrison McBride* (Shot down by soldiers)

Girl Nineteen: Ayumi Sato (Running from Daichi Kobayashi)

Boy Twenty: Taketo Yeshimoto (Shot down by soldiers)

Girl Twenty: Jun Ishi (died of starvation)