Battle Royale Riverdale – Chapter 1
June 2030…
It was almost the end of the school year and the graduating class of Riverdale High were on a bus. They were on a field trip down to New York City.
"I can't wait to see the Statue of Liberty," Betty said.
"I'm more excited for all the restaurants," Jughead said.
"Screw the restaurants and the sites, I can't wait to go shopping!" Veronica exclaimed.
"What about you Archie?" Jughead asked.
Jughead turned to his best friend who was slumped against the window seemingly asleep.
"Archie?" Jughead asked against shaking his friend.
"Archie!" Veronica shouted.
Next to Veronica, Betty suddenly slumped over unconscious.
"Betty? Betty what's…?" Veronica started to ask but then she too slumped over unconscious.
Jughead looked around and noticed that everyone on the bus was passing out. He wondered if perhaps there was a problem with the bus's exhaust system and carbon monoxide was getting into the bus.
"Hey! Hey!" Jughead yelled to the bus driver.
It was then that Jughead noticed that the bus driver had a gas mask on. There was something wrong about that, but he was having a hard time figuring out why. Before Jughead could say another word he slumped to the floor of the bus unconscious like everyone else.
One day earlier…
Principal Weatherbee arrived at the school annoyed. He had received a call from the bus company that was taking the senior students on a trip to New York tomorrow saying that they had not received payment yet and wouldn't be sending a bus. Weatherbee knew that he had made the payment, he'd seen the money taken out of the school's account.
Weatherbee got to his office to find that his secretary Miss Phillips wasn't there. It was unusual, she was incredibly punctual and arrived before him almost everyday since she had been hired four years ago. Weatherbee didn't think much of it though, perhaps finally something had caused her to run late, it was bound to happen.
Weatherbee sat down at this desk and started up his computer. He logged on to check the financial records again. Just then the door to the office opened and Miss Phillips entered, however she wasn't wearing the usual blouse and skirt outfit that she normal wore to work but instead a military uniform. Weatherbee noticed the insignia on her uniform identified her a lieutenant.
Before Weatherbee could ask her anything a man followed her into the office, also in a military uniform; however his was that of a General. Weatherbee immediately recognized him as General Thomas Keller, the father of one of his students Kevin Keller.
"General Keller, what's going on here?" Weatherbee asked. "I'm a little busy at the moment with an issue of payment to the bus company over the school trip tomorrow."
"Do not concern yourself with it, a bus will be here tomorrow," Keller told him.
"But the company just said..." Weatherbee started to respond.
"That they didn't receive payment," Keller finished. "That's because your payment was intercepted by the military."
"What? Why?" Weatherbee asked.
"Your senior class has been chosen to participate in this year's Battle Royale," Keller informed him.
"But your son, he's a member of the senior class," Weatherbee said.
"We must all be willing to make sacrifices on behalf of our Great Leader Ivanka Trump," Keller replied.
"Hail Trump!" Miss Phillips declared holding out her arm in a salute.
"No, no I can't let you do this," Weatherbee said. "Those student, they all thought they were safe."
Weatherbee went to pick up his phone. However, Miss Phillips grabbed his wrist and twisted it causing him to let go and cry out in pain.
"That complacency is part of why they were chosen," Keller explained. "The Battle Royale serves many purposes. It is a source of entertainment, it was a way of suppressing teenage rebellion and at the same time filling the ranks of our military."
Just then four soldiers filed into the room. Weatherbee almost immediately recognized them all, Franklin "Fangs" Fogerty, Sue Stringly, Evelyn Evernever, and Ambrose Pipp. All four of them had dropped out of high school at some point. Students were allowed to drop out of school on one condition, they had to serve a minimum twenty-year stint in the military. Doing so meant that they were spared from having to participate in the Battle Royale.
"I see by the reaction on your face you recognize these four," Keller said. "Well over four years we've only had four students join the military. That's well below the national average. But whenever a class is sent to the Battle Royale we see up to a 400% increase in dropouts join the military. Although I suspect that here with such a low rate it will be even higher."
"You're insane!" Weatherbee exclaimed.
Suddenly all four of the young soldiers pointed weapons at Weatherbee. Keller raised a fist and they all lowered their weapons.
"I am simply fulfilling the will of our Supreme Leader Ivanka Trump," Keller said.
"Hail Trump!" the soldiers and Miss Phillips all declared as they saluted.
"Your defiance of her could be considered treason," Keller warned him. "And I'm sure I don't need to remind you of what the punishment for that is."
Weatherbee gulped nervously. He knew of plenty of people that had spoken out against the government who were sent off to work camps or simply disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Weatherbee gave a slight nod.
"Good, I expect the student to all get on the bus tomorrow as if nothing is out of the ordinary," Keller said.
Archie Andrews woke up to find himself lying on the floor. He looked around to see that he wasn't on the school bus anymore but in an empty room with brick walls except for a single large screen on one wall and only one door, a big heavy metal door with no handle or visible mechanism to open it. All around Archie saw his classmates who were also coming too.
Archie then noticed that Betty, who was immediately beside him, had a metal collar of some sort around her neck. He then realized that everyone was wearing one of these collars. Everyone began asking where they were and what the collar were.
Victor Johnson, who was one of the biggest strongest boys in the class tugged at the collar around his neck trying to remove it. Vic gave a yank and the collar cracked near his finger. However the moment it did the collar explode with enough force to sever Vic's head from his body. Ethel Muggs and Tomoko Yoshida who were near Vic both let out terrified screams and blood splattered on them.
Just then the screen suddenly came on showing a figure whose face was obscured by shadows so no features were visible.
"I would highly recommend that the rest of you do not attempt to remove your collars," the figure said, the voice scrambled so that it wasn't clear if the figure was male or female.
"Who are you? Where are we?" Veronica demanded.
"Your class has been chosen to participate in this years Battle Royale," the shadow figure replied.
There were horrified whispers throughout the room and some student began crying.
"I am sure you are all aware of the Battle Royale, but I shall explain the rules so that you have a level playing field," the figure said. "You have been brought to one of the Battle Royale islands. The island has been divided up into sectors, each hour one sector will become a danger zone. Enter these sectors will activate the bombs in the collars you all wear around your necks. Each of you will receive a backpack, in it you will find a randomly assigned weapon and a map of the island. The purpose of the Battle Royale is simple; kill all your classmates. The last one left wins. Hail the Supreme Leader Ivanka Trump!"
Some of the students gave weak salutes but most didn't.
Just then the door opened.
"When your name is called head out the door, you will find your backpack on the other side waiting for you," the voice said. "Do not attempt to leave if it is not your turn or else your collar will be detonated. The first student is Sayid Ali."
Sayid, a student whose parents were originally from the Middle East, got to his feet and headed to the door. As he stepped through the door slid shut behind him.
Five minutes later the door opened again.
"Next, Cheryl Blossom," the voice called out.
The statuesque red-head got up and confidently strode to the door. Unlike most of her classmates, Cheryl loved the Battle Royale and longed to compete. As she stepped through the door it closed behind her. On the ground in front of her was a backpack. Cheryl picked it up and looked inside. Inside she found the map of the island as well as a sickle with a very nasty looking curve. Cheryl ran her finger on the edge of the sickle to find that it was razor sharp. She gave a few practice swings and grinned.
Cheryl then continued forward out another door to find herself outside on the island. As Cheryl made her way along the path she noticed Sayid was doubling his way back towards the exit, no doubt planning to ambush whoever left next. Cheryl considered going after him until she saw that Sayid had a crossbow. Cheryl decided that a better plan would be to set up her own ambush and hopefully get a ranged weapon of her own off one of her classmates. Cheryl took a look at the map and then continued on.
Archie had been the next to be sent. In his backpack Archie found a frying pan. Archie was worried, he knew that there were often students that got far deadlier weapons like handguns and swords so his weapon was borderline useless.
As Archie emerged out onto the island he spotted something almost immediately. It was Sayid and he had a crossbow! Archie heard a whizzing noise and he instinctively ducked. A crossbow bolt passed overhead, just barely missing him. Archie quickly got to his feet and ran. Sayid chased after him while trying to reload at the same time. However Archie was faster and Sayid was slowed further by the difficulty of trying to reload. Sayid decided to go back and set up another ambush rather than chase after Archie.
Betty was next to be sent. As she looked in her backpack she found a pair of binocular. That had her quite worried, from the looks of the map there were a lot of wooded areas for people to hide in making the binocular rather useless.
As Betty exited from her bunker she saw Sayid walking back towards the entrance trying to reload his crossbow. Sayid raised his crossbow at Betty as she ran towards him. Betty grabbed the crossbow and the two of them struggled over it. The two of them fell to the ground as they fought over it.
"Let go!" Sayid shouted.
Betty didn't respond but instead kicked her leg out and ended up kneeing Sayid in the groin. Just then there was a snap as the crossbow fired and suddenly Sayid stopped struggling. Betty scrambled to her feet to see that Sayid had a crossbow bolt going up through the bottom of his jaw and into his skull. Sayid's own finger was still tightly grasping the trigger of the crossbow.
Betty stared at Sayid's corpse for a moment. She quickly came to her senses though and pried the crossbow from his hands and took the remaining bolts before running off down the path.
As Betty ran down the path she heard something in bushes. Frightened she raised the crossbow, even though it wasn't loaded. Suddenly Archie emerged from the bushes a frying pan in hand.
"Archie?" Betty asked.
"Betty!" Archie exclaimed, then he noticed the crossbow. "Is that Sayid's?"
Betty nodded.
"You killed him?" Archie asked.
Betty didn't reply but simply looked at the ground.
"Come on we've got to get out of here," Archie said. "There's going to be more people coming. We've got to find somewhere to hide."
The two of them continued on further the path into the interior of the Island.
The Battle Royale has just started and two students are already dead. Who will be next? Please review!