Battle Royale

To Find Kohza

After a while of mourning, we decided to go through our supplies and narrow down the bags we had to just two. It seemed to be essential things, some food to survive off of, material to wrap wounds, some flashlights and batteries, and some other knickknacks that included a lighter. We had decided to put the flashlights away with no batteries in them so they didn't accidentally turn on and the lighters were in front pockets to be easy to find.

Everything was split evenly, except when it came to weapons. I got another sword from one of the guys Saga killed and I kept the crossbow along with the bolts it had. Saga had been first given a war axe and he took Shuraiya's war axe as well and he also gained a bow with some arrows. The third guy that killed our friend had a crossbow, so I took the bolts and decided to fold it away in my bag, which was pretty much me dismantling it. If the one I had were to break, then I would use the other for parts. When we had everything split and we shoved an extra bag in the ones we had, we began to plan out everything.

"We need to find Kohza, so we should probably look around near a beach side."

"With a river nearby," Came my response as we knew that all of us were good at survival type of things.

I had known Saga longer than the other two, but after time we learned more about each other. Since we were boys, we loved to play outside in the woods behind my house and my father had supported it by letting us build tree houses that we considered forts. We had many scattered throughout the woods and not all of them were in trees. Something just caught our attention with being in the wild and surviving on our own. Of course, we always had the option of going to the house for supplies or a home cooked meal when we felt like it.

Out here, though, it wasn't like that. We didn't have an option to go home to gather supplies we needed or get a meal when we didn't want to hunt. Plus, we knew the land by a map given to us by my father and had boundaries, here we don't. Here on this island in the woods was complete wild. With no knowledge of the animals on this island and with scared shitless fourteen-fifteen year olds, it was hard to decipher on what to do. The only thing we could really do was be careful and watch out for one another because now—

No one can be trusted.

If I hadn't known Saga for long, then I don't think I could trust him either, but I know Saga and I know I cantrust him. We have each other's back through everything, whether it was a fight to get some punks away or we needed a partner for a school project or kendo match. We have always been there for each other and just thinking that there was a possibility of losing him made me strain with a rough swallow to the lump in my throat.

Now was not the time to be off my guard and now was not the time to think such foolish things. Thinking like that will get you killed and I need to think about surviving and not being the one hunted.

"You know more about this than I do, can you tell me anything?" Saga asked as out of our friends he was the only one to know about my father being part of the Battle Royale back when he was a sophomore.

"He never told me it all, but I know parts of it. Like with killing, you can't hesitate or regret because it leaves you defenseless." A nod left my friend as we sat on the branch, whispering the whole time so we could listen and not be heard. "Always be on guard, never think negative because it makes you weak. Collect what you can, but don't collect something if you don't know what it is. If something is unfamiliar don't take it or eat it incase it's poisonous or a trap. Remember that people are more liable to attack now that they need to survive, but also be weary of the ones wanting to friend because they are weaker." A pause found me as I thought back to when my father talked and then I remembered something that he said was very important. "My father…" I began as I thought about it a moment longer before looking straight into silver-like eyes. "My father told me that the only one I should ever trust is you or someone that I can from deep in my gut."

"Me?"

"Yeah, father always said that he was weary of Shuraiya and Kohza, which I mean he emphasized Kohza's name. It makes me bit unsure with him now because if you think about it…"

"He did mention he would want to be with that girl, Vivi, even after asking in this kind of scenario." Saga finished up for me and we looked to one another before he shook his head with a serious look finding him. "We still need to, Kohza is our friend."

"I know, but we should take father's words to heart and be a little guarded with him. If he asks, then just say it's the situation we are in."

"It will be odd, since we have been putting trust into him since younger and now…"

"No, you have."

"You never trusted Kohza?" Surprise sparked in his eyes and my hand waved out at him so he didn't get the wrong impression.

"I have a small trust in some things with him, but when father first met him… He was completely weary of him and told me that I shouldn't fully trust him." Saga eyed me for a moment before slowly nodding since my father was like another dad to him.

"Alright, I will keep an eye out as well." My hand found his shoulder, giving it a squeeze and giving a small smile.

"We should head towards the beach before dark reaches us."

"I will lead." His hand found my shoulder as he gave a smile and I gave a firm nod.

"I'm counting on you." We both shifted to get down from the tree and landed on the ground before Saga began listening for waves. The guy had better hearing than me and definitely better sense of direction than me. When he opened his eyes and gave a firm nod before moving, I followed with a sword already in hand and the crossbow ready to fire.

Be ready.

Survive.

Survive.

We will survive this Royale!