DAY TWO ; 9:15 A.M.

They'd taken it all. All except the vest. They took the guns and they took the food and they took the water and he just laid there, not moving, thinking about how Souda had shot Oowada's legs and how he'd carried him all the way to the clinic and how it hadn't mattered anyway. But now Junko Enoshima had the Uzi. And even now, even now with his legs shattered and his mind having to struggle to keep going, he knew that was a bad thing.

And for some reason – some reason – Mukuro Ikusaba hadn't killed him. She had to have known that he had a bulletproof vest. And even if she hadn't before she shot him, she would have after she shot him. Even if he hadn't been wearing a bulletproof vest, the bullet would have just hit him in the side – not a good place, no, getting shot wasn't good at all, but it wouldn't have killed him right away. His side ached. It felt bruised up and painful. But he wasn't bleeding. From that wound. He bled from his legs. He couldn't move without it hurting.

But if he stayed here. If he stayed here, out in the open, he would die. And Fujisaki was dead and Kuwata was dead and so he didn't have anything left to try and protect. Except maybe – wouldn't it be funny. If he were to not die. If everyone else were to die. And if he were to live. It was unlikely. But Oowada was dead. Fujisaki was dead. Kirigiri was dead. Souda was dead. Kuwata was dead. Naegi was dead. He was not dead. If he dragged himself farther into the trees. If he buried himself in bushes and sat there and hoped not to die. He might not.

So he turned over onto his stomach and bit down hard on his lip to keep from screaming. He would drag himself. By his fingertips. He would pretend it didn't hurt. He would drag himself. He would prop himself up. He would wait.

It was a slow process. Horrendously slow. He dug his fingers into the ground and he pulled, and he had to take a break because his legs were screaming even though he wouldn't let his mouth do so. So he waited, his forehead pressing into the ground and his breath rough and ragged, and then he pulled himself another inch. One of his fingernails tore off, but he kept going. He pulled himself another inch, and then another, and then he set himself in a pattern of pull, rest, pull, rest, pull, rest, try not to scream because ifyoudoyouwilldieyouwilldieyouwilldie.

He didn't know that he was in the trees until a bush scratched the back of his neck. He shook his head, tried to free it, but then just pulled himself forward a bit more. He ended up just a few feet into the trees, half of his fingernails gone and the rest ragged, the pain in his legs too much for anyone, too much for anyone he didn't know if he could do this, they hadn't left anything. He had nothing except the bulletproof vest.

And it had saved his life before.

He pulled himself up into a sitting position. Both Kirigiri and Fujisaki had been shorter than him, and Ikusaba hadn't moved up to hit his upper legs. Which was good, wasn't it? His shins were shattered. One of his kneecaps was knocked out of place, sickeningly at the side of his knee, poking out and hurting, hurting, hurting, both from being dragged across the ground and a good shot. So his femoral artery was fine. Fine. That was fine. He would possibly bleed out anyway. Depending on how long it took them. But.

Half of the buttons were pulled off of his shirt as he pulled it off, ripping it with his teeth into strips to make a few tourniquets. It was the only thing he could think to do. He sat there, the only thing covering his back the bulletproof vest, but he did not want this. Right? He did not want to bleed out. Can't be prime minister if you're dead, Ishimaru.

So he tied his legs above the knee. Both of them. Tight as he could. It still hurt. It hurt very much. But he felt better. About having done something. He'd done something. He'd had a problem and he had done something about it.

But now all he could do was wait.

8 STUDENTS REMAINING

I didn't actually realize until after like yesterday that this meant that Junko Enoshima had the Uzi, and when I did it was just kind of. Okay, wow, this is kind of a problem. But here we go! Two more chapters today!