KH-Vids Royale: Remake [chapter #11]

KH-Vids Royale
Alex Trimmer
Koushun Takami

On August 14th, 2006, the first chapter of KH-Vids Royale was released.
Within 24 hours, it had received approximately 800 replies.
The success it gained led to a sequel that was never finished.
This story is not a sequel, nor is it a remake.
It tells the tale of members from KH-Vids.net, forced into a game of life and death.
This is the way it was meant to be told.

Boys Girls
1. Cin 1. Misty
2. Xaldin 2. Angel
3. Darkwatch 3. Hissora
4. Darkandroid 4. Element
5. Arc 5. HigherBeing
6. RoxasvsRiku 6. Anniexo
7. Boris the Blade 7. Kitty
8. Trigger 8. Catch the Rain
9. Vivi 9. Alice
10. Soushirei 10. Jade Rhade
11. Roxas 11. Sara
12. Tallian 12. Mish
13. Xehsin 13. Mari
14. Xekvin 14. Rosey
15. Libregkd 15. Roxas-chan
16. NRA 16. Lipz
17. Sora 17. Rufus
18. Cronoking 18. Laurence
19. Shadowjak 19. Madiyasha
20. Deathspank 20. Rikku

KH-Vids Royale Week Long Updates
Monday - New Chapter
Tuesday - New Manga Chapter
Wednesday - Character Sheet
Thursday - New Chapter
Friday - New Manga Chapter
Sunday - Special

Introduction - KH-Vids Royale is the epic story of 40 members of KH-Vids pit against each other in a game of life and death. As you read, you may find yourself rooting for your character. Whatever you do, don’t stop reading when your character has been “disqualified” from the Royale. I’m sure you all want to find out who the winner is, anyway…

Foreword

A foreword and an introduction? I’m really milking this beginning for everything it’s got before I let you dive into the story. Most of you reading this had the pleasure and displeasure of knowing my respectable and immature sides respectively, and I hope you’re the ones most actively involved in theorizing and reading this new KH-Vids Royale story. At the same time, I hope that many new members that have not read the original or sequel can enjoy this brand new story.
I’m not really sure why I wanted to write a new story. I originally wrote KH-Vids Royale because the forum was falling to its knees. The lack of excitement was devastating. KH-Vids Royale came out of the blue and sucked the forum back in. This time around, I just want to write a legendary story. Yeah, you can tell me that KH-Vids Royale is still stickied in the Creativity Corner and that makes it legendary enough, but it had its ups and downs. Even now, it gets a total of one new reply every five or six months. It’s hardly legendary in my book, and I want to write a massive story filled with character development and relationships far beyond the ones seen in the original.
In the five or so months that I have been banned, I met a new teacher that was able to appreciate my writing. I have yet to show her KH-Vids Royale but she gave me full credit on a short story I wrote entitled “The Dead Ones.” “The Dead Ones” began with a mysterious man tumbling from a tree. After slamming to the ground, he gets up and looks into the tree he was tossed from. In the tree are three children: Roxas, Cin, and Mish. They greet the man who they know as Arc and begin a conversation. The air is frigid as the story talks about the sins they have committed, and Roxas duly notes, “…Hopefully, we’re in Heaven. Or maybe Hell, which would explain this biting cold.”
I found a great interest in sharing KH-Vids Royale with others, even if they had no clue who Arc, Roxas, Cin, and Mish were. It made me wonder what it would be like to write about Arc’s suicide again, or Mish’s horrible and infamous death. In the end I knew that I had to write another KH-Vids Royale, but this time I would share it with the world. The following story began writing on November 12th, 2007, and finished [insert finishing date here.]
I hope that you read KH-Vids Royale even if you’re not one of the participants. If you are, then I wish you the best of luck. There’s a piece of advice that I learned long ago, and it’s the only advice that I can give to those forced to play the game.
It’s that life is a game. So fight for survival, and see if you’re worth it.

- Roxas
0​

Alex Trimmer couldn't believe that he was interacting with people he had never met in real life. He had met them all through an internet forum. It was like his best friend Nathan had always told him, “You aren't friends with these people. You've never met them. They're members of a Kingdom Hearts forum. They aren't your friends; they're your internet friends.” Nathan was right, but still, when the opportunity arose for all the members of KH-Vids to meet in Los Angeles for a banquet, Roxas jumped at the chance. It had taken everything for him to convince his parents to fly out from Michigan, but they finally gave in, and the family would treat it as a vacation. His mother, father and sister were at Disneyland, and would be returning to the hotel at about ten that night. Roxas would attend the banquet alone, since the hotel was just down the street from the dining hall. So now, here he was, at the table with his closest forum friends Cin, Mish and Darkwatch.
Each table in the dining hall held four people. Alex guessed there were around fifty people here, which was mind-blowing. He was finally meeting these people that had sadly been a huge part of his life for the past two years. The banquet was in honor KH-Vids’ second birthday, and Roxas had followed the dramas of KH-Vids since day one. As one of the original members, he felt a special connection with the site. “Roxas?” He looked at Mish, who had spoken his name. “Are you listening?” she asked. Roxas smiled, “Yeah, sorry, can you repeat that?”
Mish laughed gently and repeated what she had said. Another early member of the site, Roxas was excited to meet one of the few good looking girls on the forum. Actually, looking at her, good looking was an understatement. Even Nathan had admitted that Mish was hot. She was everything a typical guy wanted; tall, blonde, big in certain areas, and funny. A fly landed on her shoulder and she stopped in mid-sentence. She brushed her hand near it and it flew away. “Why wouldn't you just smash it?” Darkwatch said to her from across the table. Mish shrugged, ‘I don't know. He didn't do anything to me. I don't feel a need to kill something for no reason at all.” Darkwatch nodded and continued to chew on his pork. Of the four of them, he had talked the least. Darkwatch's real name was George, and Roxas and he had formed a bond over a like sense of humor and similar taste in music. Unlike the others, Darkwatch hadn't seemed as happy and excited as everyone else. Roxas was distracted from his thoughts by Cin, who was talking to him across the table.
“Honey, pass the salt,” he smiled. There was no doubt; Cin was Roxas' best friend on the site. They even got married on the forum as a joke, though Nathan once admitted Roxas' relationship with Cin had him questioning their sexual orientations. Roxas handed Cin the salt and looked around at the other forum members excitedly chatting with each other. It was a very social evening despite everyone having just met each other. To Roxas and the others at the table, it was nothing short of a miracle.
“This is gross,” Mish whined letting chewed up pork fall back onto her plate. “I mean, just gross! Why did Deathspank choose this crappy food? We could have gone to, like, Burge King or something.”
“Burger King?” asked Cin, raising an eyebrow. “Mish, I know you’re in America for the first time, but we eat at places other than Burger King.” Mish replied, “Oh, I know. But Burger King and McDonald’s are pretty much ten times better over here. Maybe even eleven times better, I’m not sure. I just hope I don’t get fat.”
“Roxas!”
Madiyasha screamed and ran up to Roxas with a napkin. “I brought my autograph book for you to sign!” she squealed, jumping up and down. “That’s… a dinner napkin,” Roxas mentioned queerly. “But if you’ve got a pen, then, uh, I guess I can sign it.” Madi ripped a pen from her pocket and thrust it into Roxas hands. He signed the napkin and handed it back to her, smiling.
“Oh my god, thank you! Will you be performing the KH-Vids Song tonight?” she asked quickly. “I’m sure I will,” replied Roxas. Madi cheered and then ran back to her table. “You know,” he began, “I was hoping to take Mish back to my hotel room tonight, but that would probably end in tears, so I’ll be taking her.”
“What about me!?” shouted Cin.
“Can I watch?” asked Mish.
“Woah!” defended Roxas, “I’m not taking anyone back now. Not if Mish is watching, and Cin, I mean - just shut up.” Cin hung his head in shame.
“Testing, one two three, testing,” spoke a deep voice through the loudspeakers surrounding the gold-painted ballroom. Heads turned to see Deathspank standing at the front, shuffling papers and coughing into the microphone. “Hello, everyone,” he said. The room clapped and cheered. “Well, my name is Kyle, but you all know me as Deathspank. I’m glad we can all be here. I never thought the site would have come this far by its 2nd birthday; I didn’t think it’d last up to a 2nd birthday. We’ve got some old members here like Roxas, Cin, and Mish. I’m glad to have you guys here. There are some newer favorites too, like Catch the Rain and Anniexo, although I personally wouldn’t call Anniexo a favorite.”
Everyone laughed, because everyone agreed.
“Anyway, I’m sure we’ll all have a great time tonight. We have other fun things to do over the weekend. I know we’re all only here for about three days, but let’s make it the most fun three days of our lives!” The room cheered. “Well, I really have to pee, so I’m off to the bathroom. I’ll see you guys in a minute!” Deathspank ran from the room, his hands pressing down on his crotch.
“I think I’m an old favorite!” complained Rikku, wearing a kitten headband and donned in cat shoes and a Hello Kitty! shirt. It wouldn’t have surprised Roxas if she had a bag of cat nip in her pocket. The group had settled back down to their own conversations.
“So like, did you bring a condom?” asked Cin to Roxas. “What, do you think I’m going to get you pregnant?” asked Roxas incredulously. Mish complained, “I want to watch!”
“What are you guys implying!?” shouted Roxas. “Cin is not gay, I think. And neither am I. Just shut up Mish!” Mish just laughed. “It sounds like you’re going through the first stage - denial,” she said. Roxas just pushed back his chair, trying to hide the smile from his face. “If you don’t shut up,” he said. “J-J-Just… just shut up…” his words mixed together. He began to slur his words. “Just shuddup Mish, I don’ wanna h-have to…” His knees bent forwards and his head slammed against the edge of the table as he hit the floor.
“No!” Mish moaned. She had meant to shout, but the words had slipped out in an indistinguishable mumble. “You… fool…” Her head slumped forward into her food. Cin and Darky had already fallen asleep.
Waiters in gas masks entered the dining hall. Many of them picked up the students and dragged them into a separate room. It wasn’t long before the students were stripped and then redressed in special uniforms, stuck on a plane, and sent to the Detroit Metro Airport. From there they were driven eight hours up to Mackinac City and then taken by boat to Mackinac Island. Their fates had been sealed from the minute they stepped off the plane and onto the soil of Los Angeles.

40 members remaining


1


Deathspank (Boy No. 20, KH-Vids.net administrator) inhaled a breath of frigid air. His insides turned to ice as he awoke from a deep sleep. A burning sensation consumed his throat and evaporated just as quickly as he swallowed. Yellow paste kept his eyelids sealed together, and he peeled it off uncomfortably as his pupils began to adjust to the darkness. The first thing he saw through the abyss was his own stale breath illuminating the air in front of him. His arm peeled from the surface it was resting on like gum from the underside of a desk. ‘Where am I, an ice freezer?’ he thought, looking around. The darkness had vanished; he was left with only a veiled view of the room. To his left was a boy, his head slumped across his crossed arms. On his right was a girl, her arms hanging limp from her sides mimicking those of a dead body laid across a doctor’s table. Inhaling for the second time, he felt his as if his neck and throat were cut off by some sort of choker. Reaching up to his neck, his hands grasped a firm, metal ring. He gave it a slight tug but was unable to move it. The more he pulled, the tighter it got. Choking, he let go and the aluminum band relaxed around his neck.
By this point, Deathspank’s eyes had completely adjusted to the darkness. A small clock hung above a school board at the far end of the room. Looking down, he realized that he had woken up on top of a wooden desk. Other desks, draped with girls and boys, were littered about the classroom. Turning to face the clock once again, Deathspank was able to make out a time of 1:17. Judging by the lack of light filtering in through the windows, he reckoned that it was the middle of the night.
A hand smacked against his left thigh. Deathspank let out a little yip and turned to see Misty (Girl No. 1) stirring from her sleep. Her eyes opened and her pupils immediately expanded like wet sponges. She cursed and tried to lift up her head but it was plastered to the desk by a small glob of spit that had frozen to her lips. “I’ll help you out,” Deathspank motioned, using the edge of his shirt to rub the spit away. He was adorned with a white polo shirt and black slacks, a uniform worn by all the boys currently in the room. The girls were wearing a white blouse over a white top. Below the belly was a black skirt that reached most of their knees. For some, the skirt led to a revealing appearance.
“Thanks,” Misty murmured as she stared around the room. Other people were starting to stir and wake. Most made a comment about the cold. Others simply looked for people they knew. “What’s going on?” asked Misty. “One second we were eating dinner and the next-”
Deathspank interrupted her, shuffling his feet as he spoke. “It can’t be good,” he began. “Look at the time: 1:20. What would we be doing here at 1:20, all dressed in the same clothing? And what about these collars around our necks?” Several people heard him say this, and they all rose their hands and grabbed their necks. One girl screamed as she found the metal ring around her throat. Others just put their hands back down, keeping quiet. Deathspank began to walk around, seeing the familiar faces of those at the banquet. It was as if the celebratory banquet had ended abruptly, days back; yet the memory of it was so vivid that it felt as if it had occurred only moments ago. He could remember laughing and talking with Arc (Boy No. 5), as well as engaging in a rather boring discussion of horses with Sara (Girl No. 11). Roxas (Boy No. 11) had planned to play the “KH-Vids Song” but something had stopped him from doing so. He had run to the bathroom, desperate to pee. His memory ended with the vision of himself flushing the toilet.
“Where are we?” asked Rufus (Girl No. 17) hurriedly from a corner of the room. Deathspank, too, was wondering where they were. He wandered across the room again, making sure everyone was there. It seemed as if everyone from the banquet was in the room; no more, no less. “I’m not sure where we are,” replied Kitty (Girl No.7), “But wouldn’t looking outside help? I mean, we don’t know where we are. If we look outside, we can at least get acquainted with our surroundings.” Everyone stood up at this, wandering towards the windows. Deathspank followed suit. Sora (Boy No. 17) drew open one of the window curtains. A giant, yellow moon met their curious gazes. “It’s beautiful,” Sora whispered breathlessly.
“Now’s not the time for this!” Shadowjak (Boy No. 19) shouted from the back of the crowd. “We should be looking for a way out of this room!” Several people nodded in agreement, but Sora returned their attention to the window when he said, “Guys, look; there’s a beach. I can see lots of boats out on the water. I can even see the lights of a distant shore, but they’re way far out there. No chance of getting there from here. Do you think this is an island?” A murmur rippled throughout the crowd.
Shadowjak spoke again. “How about getting out of here?” he impatiently commanded. “It’s freezing cold and I want to find a jacket.”
“Do you think it’s going to be any warmer outside, even with a jacket?” retaliated Xehsin (Boy No. 13), stepping from the crowd. “We were put here for a reason. Let’s just sit here and wait for something to happen.” Shadowjak just scoffed. “Wait like sitting ducks? Please, Xehsin, give me a break.” The argument ended there as the far-off sound of whipping blades begin to filter through the ceiling. A small light was visible out over the water. Its light got brighter as it came closer to the room.
“Is it a helicopter?” asked Element (Girl No. 4), looking around for support. “Yes, it is!” exclaimed Xehsin as the helicopter turned to the side. Its whipping blades were invisible through the nighttime sky, but they could be heard clearly throughout the room. “I told you we should have waited!” Xehsin said to Shadowjak. Shadowjak simply rolled his eyes. Reluctantly, he continued to watch as the helicopter touched down on the ground. Its long descent led to an anticlimactic arrival; they saw one man hop out of the helicopter and walk towards the school. “Excellent,” murmured Rosey (Girl No. 14). “They send one man to try and explain to us what’s going on. He better know what he’s talking about.”
The members of kh-vids.net stood by the windows in silence as they waited for the man to enter the room. No visible doors were apparent on the outer edges of what most would have considered a classroom. A white board equipped with markers and erasers hung at the front of the room. Unorganized desks were strewn about the white-tiled floor. A large television was on a cart at the back corner of the room. This cart was next to the teacher’s desk, which looked barren bar one empty coffee cup. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, but were turned off. The group began to get restless, waiting for the man to enter the room. “He’s not coming,” Rosey complained, sighing and sitting down.
As if on cue, the lights flickered on. Deathspank wasn’t able to shield his eyes from the glare of the fluorescent lights, his pupils retracting to the size of pinpricks. Many of the others in the room groaned. One of the lights let out a high-pitched ring. Another flickered every two or three seconds. As the clock above the board turned to 1:25, a mysterious man walked into the room. To his left and right were army soldiers carrying large rifles and machine guns. They spread out around the interior of the room, forcing the forum members away from the windows. Many fell into desks, though some found themselves sprawled on the floor. As the clock struck 1:26, the soldiers finished entering the room. In unison, they all turned and faced the center of the room. Those gathered in the center looked around, bewildered and scared. Some were still recovering from the glare of the lights.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” cheered the man at the front of the room, doing a small skip. “I see you’ve all made yourselves at home. If you’d like to sit in a desk that’s currently unoccupied, feel free to do so. Be a gentleman and let a lady have your seat if you must!” He snapped his fingers and spun once, finishing with his body towards the board. The enigma whipped up a marker and ripped open its top, writing on the board the words “Impertinent Youths Annihilation Act.” He quickly erased “act” and replaced it with the word “program.” Everyone just sat in silence, staring at him. “Welcome to the program!” he announced. “I’m sure you’ll all have a great time.” He set down the marker and turned towards the group. “So, does anyone have any questions?”
Most people were just staring at him, bewildered looks on their faces. Alice (Girl No. 9) slowly raised her hand as if the air above her was littered with bear traps. The man pointed at her and then leaned on his desk; his chin in his palm. “I’m just wondering,” began Alice. “W-Who are you? A-And, where are we?” She stuttered, but it wasn’t out of nervousness; the room hadn’t warmed up despite the arrival of near 15 extra people.
“Good questions!” exclaimed the man, throwing up his arms. “Well, to answer your first question, I’m a guy you might all know.” He chuckled at his own inside joke. “My name is Monkey. Some of you may know me as an animal, but others know that I’m actually a news reporter at KHInsider. One of the best in the business, I’d say.” With the last sentence in mind, he stared at Xaldin (Boy No. 2). Monkey continued, “Trust me, I’m not here to hurt you. I won’t be doing a single thing to hurt any of you. Now, what was your second question, Miss…? Miss…?”
“Alice,” finished Alice, “And I wanted to know where we are.”
“Oh, right,” Monkey smiled. “Well, I’m sure Roxas and yourself have been here before. We’re currently on Mackinac Island; the one and only!” He glanced back and forth between Roxas’ and Alice’s bewildered glances. “So I guess you two have a bit of an advantage over the competition.” His lips curled upwards at the mention of the word “competition.” Everyone began to look at each other.
“Did you know about this? What’s going on? Did he just say “competition?”
“Before you **** yourselves with fright, I guess I’ll explain how this competition works,” Monkey grinned. “You heard me right; this is a competition. We’re currently on an island. You can’t escape. If my words won’t stop you from trying, the guard boats will. The collars around your necks-” many who had not yet discovered the collars around their necks reached up and felt them when he said this “-will inform us of your position at all times. It also tracks your pulse, so if you are killed you will disappear from our screens and we’ll know you’re dead. That’s right, kids. Today’s forum thread - you all kill each other until one is remaining.”
“DEAD!?” roared Darkwatch (Boy No. 3). “KILL!?” Chatter spread throughout the room like wildfire. “Get me out of here!” screamed Madiyasha (Girl No. 19), who got up and ran for the door. A soldier smacked her across the face with the butt of his gun and she sprawled to the floor, blood spraying from her mouth. Wiping the blood off her cheek, she crawled back into the mass of forum members herded into the center of the room.
“Don’t try and leave,” Monkey said. “Or I’ll have to blow up your collar.” More people screamed at this. “I’m doing too much explaining myself,” Monkey sighed, taking a small remote out of his pocket. “I’ll let this video finish off the lecture. You might know the person presenting it to you.” He pressed a small button and the television flickered to life. A short, brown-haired girl sat smiling at the screen. Behind her, painted on the wall, were the words “KH-Vids Royale.”
“Hello!” she said, smiling. “Welcome to the IYAP H01-BX7. I, Muffin, will be telling you what you’re going to be doing over the next three days. This Program was created by the government to get rid of vile children ruining their perfect world. Over the next three days, you’ll be living with each other in next to perfect harmony.” The camera angle changed, and a muscular black boy walked up behind her. A small duffel bag was draped over his shoulder, and he removed it and handed it to Muffin. “Thanks, Ghettoxemnas!” Muffin smiled, taking the bag. She placed it on a table in front of her. “You’ll each be getting a bag just like this (she pointed to the bag). Listen up now. It’s very important to utilize what’s in these bags to the best of your advantage. Let’s see what’s inside.”
Muffin unzipped the bag and removed a small zip bag. “In this bag is a compass, a map of the island, and a list of the forum members participating in H01-BX7. As they die, you can cross them off your list.” She pulled out some more items, including a bottle of water and bread. Muffin didn’t dwell on them too long, moving on to the main item included in the duffel bag.
“Finally,” she began, “is your random weapon. Each bag has a different weapon; no two are the same. The goal of this game is to kill each other until only one is remaining.” The air was already freezing, but it managed to get a little colder when she said this. Deathspank felt a drop of sweat drip from his chin, despite Monkey having mentioned this before. Everything was moving too fast. He had no time to think about what Muffin was saying. Half the words went in one ear and out the other. His fingers clenched together and his knuckles went white. He was about to stand up when Muffin continued, “Don’t try and hurt Monkey or the soldiers. They can blow up your collars at any moment. Speaking of the collars, I better tell you about danger zones. Every six hours, Monkey will announce the new danger zones as well as the names of those who have died since the last announcement. Danger zones can be found on the maps in your duffel bags. Make sure to mark where each danger zone is, because if you walk into them your collar will explode! They will also be blown up if you try and escape the island, but the guard ships will shoot you down first. If you have any questions, ask them now.”
The room echoed with silence. A slight cough reverberated off the walls, spiraling continuously over the heads of those gathered in the room’s center. Mari (Girl No. 13) raised her hand. Monkey pointed at her. “W-Why do we have to do this?” asked Mari. Monkey replied, “You have to do it because the government says so. IYAP was passed for a reason. Obey the law. It’s what the youth should have done in the first place.”
Tallian (Boy No. 12) was the next to raise his hand. “What happens to the winner?” he asked quietly. Monkey laughed. “The winner,” he explained, “goes home. They get to see their family again. There will only be one winner.” Tallian stuttered as he asked his second question. “How do you win?”
“You have to be the last one remaining,” Monkey replied ominously. “Once everyone else is dead, you can go home. And you can’t band together and refuse to kill each other. After three days have passed, each and every collar will explode, killing anyone remaining in the game. The collars will also explode if no one is killed within 24 hours.” Deathspank could see it now; groups of people banding together, allying and making plans to escape. Eventually, with the 24 hour limit in place, someone would crack. Someone would decide to kill the others in their group. The government had them cornered. The only way out was to play their game.
“It’s currently 1:47-” (‘time flies,’ thought Deathspank) “-and we will be calling your names in numeric order. You will walk up here, grab a bag, and exit the room. After two more minutes have elapsed the next person will be called up. No more questions may be asked. The game begins as soon as you exit this school. Five minutes after you leave this school your collar will recognize the zone it is in as a danger zone, so I’d get out quickly if I were you. We’re going to start calling your names now.”
“Boy Number 1, Cin,” said Muffin from the television. Deathspank watched as the clock turned to 1:48. Cin strode quickly to the front of the room and picked up a bag. He looked back at the crowd, a blank expression on his face. Looking at the floor, he left the room. His footsteps got fainter and fainter as he walked down the hallway leading away from the classroom. The classroom itself felt paused in time, but the two minutes elapsed quickly.
“Girl Number 1, Misty.”
Misty ran to the front of the room wiping tears from her eyes. Her long, black hair bounced in curls as she grabbed a bag and charged into the hallway. Many other girls were wiping away their tears. Deathspank looked around and noticed that some of the boys were crying, too.
“Boy Number 2, Xaldin.”
A blond haired boy walked slowly to the front of the room. He turned around and winked at Alice who smiled back at him. Grabbing a bag with bold movements, he walked down the hallway and out into the night.
“Girl Number 2, Angel.”
Angel stumbled as she got up, half-falling to the front of the room. Monkey just smiled at her. “Good luck,” he grinned. Angel just snorted and ran from the room, bag swinging behind her. Deathspank watched as Darkwatch made his way to the front of the room with weak knees. Hissora (Girl No. 3) followed suit, missing the duffel bag on her first grab. Darkandroid (Boy No. 4) seemed more confident than others, but Deathspank saw him wipe something off his cheek as he turned into the hallway.
“Girl Number 4, Element.”
Element was Misty’s best friend. She was short and skinny, with dark skin and long, black hair. Compared to the rest of the girls in the room she looked frail.
“Boy Number 5, Arc.”
Arc had once been an administrator at kh-vids. Deathspank hadn’t really gotten to know him, but knew his ex-girlfriend Sara well. Arc kissed his new girlfriend Anniexo (Girl No. 6) before grabbing a bag and exiting the room. HigherBeing (Girl No. 5) was next. Like Angel, HigherBeing stumbled to the front of the room and sheepishly grabbed a bag before running into the hallway. RvR (Boy No. 6) mimicked the moves of Xaldin, casually walking up to the front of the room before leaving. ‘I wonder who’s next,’ Deathspank thought. He looked around to see the faces of his friends turned towards the ground.
“Girl Number 6, Anniexo.”
Anniexo brushed away her tears and walked to the front of the room. As she walked down the hallway, she burst into wild sobs that could be heard through the walls. A small smile spread across Alice’s face.
“Boy Number 7, Boris the Blade.”
Deathspank watched as one of kh-vids.net’s most infamous ex-administrators walked calmly to the front of the room. Most of the members knew little about Boris. His administrative skills were excellent, but the ruthless way he used them when he gained power were shunned by the whole forum. Boris grabbed a bag and left the room, chewing on a bit of loose skin in his mouth. He had remained silent and isolated at the big banquet that held been held just hours ago.
Kitty (Girl No. 7) got her bag, and was followed by Trigger (Boy No. 8) and CtR (Girl No. 8). The amount of people in the room was noticeably smaller. ‘I wonder what number I am,’ Deathspank wondered. ‘Am I next up? How long will it be?’ Then another thought entered his head. It was too persistent for him to ignore. ‘Who here will play the game?’ he thought. Boris was his first guess. The man had a grudge against the forum. Xaldin had also looked pretty confident when he left the room…
“Boy Number 9, Vivi.”
‘Vivi looks pretty harmless,’ Deathspank said to himself. ‘He’s just a normal kid. I don’t see what harm he could do, to me at least.’ Alice was next. ‘She might do something,’ Deathspank thought, ‘especially if she was given the right weapon.’ Soushirei (Boy No. 10) grabbed his bag next. Nothing about him made him stand out as dangerous. Jade (Girl No. 10) quickly followed. Behind her was Roxas who had already been to the island. Alice had, too. They could both use it to their advantage.
“Girl Number 11, Sara.”
Deathspank turned his head to look at Sara. Tears were rolling down her pale cheeks. She had been one of KH-Vids’ longest running staff members. Many respected her as an administrator, but only few knew her as a friend. She wiped away her tears and tucked her hands into her blouse. She left the room quickly, her skirt flapping behind her. Tallian took the next bag, running down the hallway and out into the night. Mish (Girl No. 12) followed. She had long blond hair and a pretty face. To most of the boys on the site she was simply eye candy. Deathspank couldn’t help but admit that she was quite beautiful. Xehsin’s turn came quickly. He stared at Monkey as he grabbed his bag. It seemed as if words were struggling to leave his mouth, but he kept it closed and hurried out of the room. Mari, an ex-staff member, quickly ran up and grabbed her bag. She looked back at the room. “Goodbye,” she whispered before making the sign of a cross over her heart.
“Boy Number 14, Xekvin.”
A short, wiry boy walked to the front of the room. He walked on his toes, which supported skinny legs. His skin was very pale and his hair was messy. Bravely, he stuck his tongue out at Monkey before running down the hall. Rosey didn’t stick her tongue out, but her movements mimicked those of Xekvin’s as she left the room. Deathspank looked around and noticed that only nine other members sat in the room with him. Most were shaking from the cold. Others had their head buried in their arms. The shock still hadn’t set in for him. He still believed that he’d wake up sweating in his bed at home.
“Boy Number 15, Libregkd.”
Muffin pronounced Libregkd as lib-reg-K-D. “I’m just going to call you Libreg,” Monkey said to him. “I can actually pronounce Libreg. I don’t even know what Libregkd means, but it looks like ‘lubricated ****.’” Monkey laughed. Libregkd just frowned at him, grabbing his bag and leaving. Roxas-chan, another ex-staff member, sniffled as she walked to the front of the room. NRA (Boy No. 16) stifled his own sniffles as he walked to the front of the room. He looked younger than many of them there. Deathspank did not know his actual age. Lipz (Girl No. 16) was called from the roster next. She slowly walked to the front of the room, her long, blond hair dangling at her sides. Deathspank noticed that she kept making failed attempts to pull down her skirt. Sora was next, and he ran up to the front of the room. He grabbed his bag and ran for the doorway but slipped. Screaming, he grabbed the pack back up and ran out of the hallway. Rufus took a more calm approach when getting her bag, walking up and leaving without commotion.
“Boy Number 18, Cronoking.”
Deathspank wondered if he would be next. He and Shadowjak were the only two boys left to be picked. He watched as Cronoking grabbed his bag and walked from the room. Cronoking scared him. He’d heard many stories of Cronoking’s “intimate” chats with some of the girls on the forum. Nevertheless, Crono had seemed like a nice person in real life.
“Girl Number 18, Laurence.”
Yet another girl was down. Deathspank took a head count on the four people left. It was himself, Shadowjak, Madiyasha, and Rikku (Girl No. 20) left in the room. If he wasn’t called next, then he’d be the last boy to exit.
“Boy Number 19, Shadowjak.”
The soldiers began to look restless, playing with the straps on their guns. Deathspank was too absorbed in the calling of members to get tired. Looking at the clock, he noticed that it was 3:00 A.M. Monkey’s first death and danger zone announcement was at 6:00 A.M. Deathspank had been in the room for almost two hours. He watched tirelessly as Madiyasha grabbed her bag and left the room. The clock ticked by until it hit 3:04, and Muffin called his name.
Deathspank slowly rose to his knees, looking around at the soldiers that surrounded him. They all stared back at him with blank looks on their faces. He looked down at Rikku, who was crying into her arms. “Come on!” shouted Monkey from across the room. Deathspank turned to look at him and walked over to grab his bag. It felt light. ‘Big things come in small packages,’ he thought, turning into the hallway. As he walked down the hallway, it began to get warmer and warmer. At the end of the hall was a small door, and he pushed it open to reveal that he was on the side of a dirt road. The warm air washed over his body and he realized that the classroom had been made to be cold. To his left was a forest, and to his right the shadows of a large hill. He took off running into the woods, his duffel bag flying along behind him.

40 members remaining

2

Rikku felt the stares of Monkey and the soldiers as she sat in the classroom. “Girl Number 20, Rikku,” called Muffin. Rikku stood up at stumbled towards the cart of duffel bags. Only one was left. She picked it up and looked at Monkey. “You’re the last one out,” he said. “Let’s hope that Deathspank isn’t waiting outside the door.” Rikku tensed up, walking out into the hallway in fear. She stared at the small door at the end of the hallway, her heart rising into her throat. With slow steps she approached the doorway. After reaching it, she grabbed the handle and turned it slowly. Warm air rushed over her body and she emerged into the moonlight snapping her head around wildly. Rikku half expected a knife to come flying at her. She stood still for several minutes before taking a single, cautious step. Nothing happened, so she began to run down a small, dirt road.
As she ran, a small pendant bounced on her neck. It was a silver cat with sapphire eyes, which glinted in the moonlight. The necklace continued to slap against her chest, so she removed it and put it into her blouse pocket for safekeeping. At home, she had a small golden-furred cat named Pipkin. As she thought of Pipkin, images of her home rushed into her head. ‘Will I ever see that place again?’ she thought, tears forming in her eyes. She turned a corner and emerged in front of a small neighborhood of houses. Each house had a brown roof and white walls. The houses were rather large, each at least two stories tall. Rikku ran into the small cul-de-sac of houses and walked up to the front door of the nearest one. The house was numbered ‘182,’ and its lights were off. Looking around to see if anyone had followed her, she turned the doorknob of the house. Rikku heard a click and looked down to see that the door had opened. Surprised, she slowly wandered into the house.
Shadows danced across the halls as she slowly walked into the empty home. She didn’t want to be there. The emptiness and silence of the home was sickening. ‘People once lived here,’ she thought. ‘Maybe a family, with a girl just like me. They could have had a cat, too. I wonder where they’ve gone now…’
She entered a small kitchen, its cupboards and counters decorated with the swinging branches of the trees outside. Each shadow bounced to its own rhythm; some to those of the wind, and others to different elements. Rikku carefully tiptoed across the wooden floor to the nearest cupboard. She opened it up and stared at the different cups it contained. Pulling out one decorated with kittens, she turned on the tap to fill it up. Water sloshed into the sink, echoing throughout the halls of the empty house. “Crap,” she whispered through clenched teeth, shutting it off. Just as she had when she left the school, she stood in silence. Being the last one out of the school, anyone armed and dangerous could be walking around outside. My weapon!
Rikku slid the duffel bag from her shoulder and onto the counter top. She unzipped it and pulled out the compass and map, placing it to the side of the bag. Before continuing, she removed the cat necklace from her pocket and put it next to the item filled Ziploc bag. Next out was the bread and water. She licked the bread to find the outside as hard as a brick. Spitting into the sink, she put the bread down next to the water. Finally, she pulled a tin box from the bag. It was the size of her palm. From the top, two metal sticks stood erect towards the ceiling. On the side of the tin box was a small button. Using her forefinger, she pressed it down. Electricity shot between the two rods and she screamed, dropping it to the ground. The electricity ended as soon as her finger lifted off the button.
It slammed against the floor and bounced under the table. Rikku pulled herself back against the counter, breathing deeply. Calming herself down, she peeked under the table and saw the weapon lying harmlessly on the floor. Getting down on her knees, she crawled towards it and picked it up. Pressing the button again, her mind became absorbed in the electricity that shot between the two rods. Holding the stun gun in front of her, she felt as if she could fend off any opponent.
Meow!
Rikku snapped her head to the right. The noise had come from outside a window above the kitchen sink. Stun gun in hand, she tiptoed to the window and peered outside.
At first she just saw darkness. Without warning, a blond haired figure charged through the back yard, his or her hair billowing in the wind. Rikku almost screamed but covered her mouth in time, bending to the ground. She heard the cat meow again, its meow more noticeable and louder than before.
Scrambling to her feet, she ran down the hallway towards the front door. A shadowy figure was visible in the window, but it moved away as soon as Rikku came into view. Hyperventilating, Rikku looked to her side to find a small closet. She ripped open the door and ducked inside. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she closed the door and held the stun gun in front of her.
The front door slowly creaked open. Small footsteps patted across the hallway towards the closet door.
“Come on kitty, go on in. Find that girl,” said a woman’s voice. Rikku started shaking. She heard the small pattering go by the closet door. Then, heavier footsteps of a person went by. Rikku covered her mouth and closed her eyes. The footsteps entered the kitchen and then stopped. She heard another meow.
“Find her, kitty. I know I saw someone come in here.”
The patting of the cat’s paws came closer to the door. Rikku held her breath as the steps stopped. Skkkrrrtch-skrrrtch. The claws of the cat scratched against the door of the closet. Rikku began to shake violently. Outside the door, she could hear the cat meowing. Heavy footsteps made their way to the front of the door.
“Oh, she’s in here, is she?”
The doorway opened and Rikku screamed, pressing the button on her stun gun. She charged out of the doorway and into the blond haired girl outside of it. The girl was electrocuted and fell back against the wall. Rikku stood back for a second and looked at the girl. It was Mish, and she was shaking her arm furiously.

“What are you doing!?” screamed Mish. She fell back against the wall, her arm falling limp to her side. In the other arm was a shovel. Rikku noticed it instantly and ripped it from Mish’s hand. “Rikku, calm down!” screamed Mish. Rikku’s eyes were blind with fear, and she whacked Mish across the face. Mish attempted to stop her fall with her arm, but it just got squashed under her body. A tingling feeling spread to her fingers and she felt warmth return to her palm. The stun effect was wearing off.
She looked up at Rikku, but her gaze was met with that of a shovel. Rikku, what are you doing!? I don’t want to hurt- The shovel smashed into her face again. Mish could feel her arm fully now. To her left, the cut stood in complete fear. Mish saw the cat necklace in her head, and picked up the cat, holding it in front of her. Blood had seeped into her eyes and she found it hard to see Rikku.
“Rikku!” she screamed. “Just look at this cat! Do you want to hurt it?” She felt the shovel smash against her fingers and then the cat and it flew out of her hands and into the wall. Rikku had killed the animal instantly. Mish wiped the blood from her eyes and crawled backwards as Rikku raised the shovel above her head. With a second of time, she turned and scrambled for the kitchen, running inside and diving behind the counter.
“You can’t run! You’ll just kill me when you get another chance!”
Mish couldn’t believe the psychotic state Rikku had been pulled into by the Program. It was as if a switch had flipped inside her head and turned her into a psycho. One of them was going to leave the house alive, and Mish knew that it had to be her. Quickly, she stood up and turned to face Rikku. The shovel swiped towards her head and she ducked. Rikku hadn’t expected this, and the shovel flew from her hands and stabbed into the wall.
“Rikku, honestly, I don’t want-” Mish was unable to finish her sentence, as Rikku had struck the stun gun across her face. She couldn’t blink or move her lips. Rikku made a move for the shovel, but Mish grabbed it and faced Rikku.
You idiot, Rikku. I wish I could talk to you right now. I want us both to live. I guess I’ll have to knock you out with this ****ty shovel I got.
Rikku screamed and charged at Mish. Mish simply closed her eyes and moved the shovel towards Rikku’s head. Her eyelids closed in slow-motion. She saw Rikku’s anger-ridden face lunging towards her, the stun gun flashing its static power menacingly in her direction. Her eyelids snapped shut and she head the sound of paper being ripped. It wasn’t long before a splattering noise echoed throughout the kitchen.
Mish opened her eyes to see Rikku falling back, her throat slit open by the sharp end of the shovel. Meaning to hit Rikku’s head with the flat blade of the shovel, she had accidentally slit Rikku’s throat. The scene rushed through her mind, unable to comprehend what was happening. Rikku fell back, blood spraying from her throat. She grabbed at it, shocking herself with the stun gun. Blood began to drip from her eyes and she fell backwards onto the floor, collapsing into a heap, the stun gun flickering out.
“I…” Mish fell to her knees. “I…”
She crawled over to Rikku’s dead body. “Rikku…”
Rikku’s eyes slowly turned in Mish’s direction. The blood had turned to tears, which ran down the sides of Rikku’s face. “You… you ****ing idiot!” shouted Mish, slamming her fists on the kitchen floor. “I wasn’t here to do anything wrong! Why!? What’s your problem!? Why, Rikku? It’s all your fault!” Mish broke into an uncontrollable fit of sobs, her tears gushing onto Rikku’s cat shirt. She slowly brought her face up to Rikku, whose eyes had rolled into the back of her head. Blood had stopped gushing from her windpipe, and her lifeless body lay empty in the moonlight cast through the kitchen window.
“It’s all your fault, you stupid girl!” cried Mish, falling back against the kitchen counter. “All your fault…”

From outside, a camera filmed the entire scene. The forum members didn’t know, nor did the soldiers or Monkey, but they were being filmed. The Program was being broadcast live around the world, viewed by everyone. Over 1 billion people had watched Mish kill Rikku, and they were now watching her cry in the moonlight…

39 members remaining


3


Laurence and Rosey made their way over beach after beach, treading lightly as they ran. A tall, slim lighthouse was vaguely visible in the distance. Its light had been turned off, but one light was already on in the lowest level of the tower. In the classroom, they had mentioned to Madiyasha, Jade, and Rosey to meet in the lighthouse that they could see from the classroom’s windows. Unfortunately, the term ‘looks can be deceiving’ applied, because the trip to the lighthouse had been quite a hike. The two jogged towards the base of the lighthouse, their duffel bags bouncing on their shoulders. The lighthouse itself lay on a massive piece of stone that jutted from the edge of the island. A pavement led up to the door of the lighthouse, and the two made their way up to the door and went in without knocking.

Jade put her head between her knees, waiting for the two girls to rush into the house. She and CtR were ready with the weapons in case any unwanted intruders followed them. They had the clattering of feet and peered over the counter to see two girls slamming the door.
“Turn off the light!” screamed Laurence as she ran into the lighthouse. CtR poked her head over a metallic chef’s counter and pointed a gun at them. Laurence backed away before realizing that it was CtR. “What are you thinking?” scolded Laurence. “Anyone could see the light!”
“The light switch is just to your left, Rosey,” Jade said calmly. Laurence really needs to take a chill pill. Rosey looked to her left and found the light switch, turning off the light. She turned around and faced the rest of the girls.
“Who’s here?” asked Laurence, walking into the dark room. She glanced behind the counter to see Jade sitting there with a giant meat cleaver. “The only one not here is Madiyasha,” informed Jade, looking up. “Do you know what number girl she was?”
“I was girl 18,” Laurence said, tilting her head towards the ceiling. “So I guess that Madi was either 19 or 20. She should be here soon.” On cue, there was a knock on the lighthouse door. Laurence looked outside to see Madiyasha standing there with her duffel bag.
“Let her in!” shouted Jade, who had risen to see who the person at the door was. Rosey quickly opened the door and let Madiyasha into the lighthouse. “Close it!” Jade screamed, paranoid about someone else barging in on them. “Don’t worry,” laughed Madiyasha. “No one was following me.” Even so, Rosey didn’t waste any time shutting the door. She locked it and turned around. The girls stood in silence, bags over their shoulders, staring at one another as Jade walked into their circle.
“What next?” asked CtR. Laurence quickly answered, “Let’s board it up!”
“Board it up?” asked Jade.
“The doors and the windows!” replied Laurence. “We can board them up so no one will get inside.” The girls quickly looked around the kitchen and found several pots and pans but nothing of real value.
“I’ll check upstairs,” said Laurence. “Rosey, look around in this room a bit more. CtR, come upstairs with me. Jade, you and Madi should check out the rest of this lighthouse below ground.” The group dispersed. Laurence walked up the spiral staircase that led to the second floor. Only one small room with a bed and a calendar from 2005 was on the floor above them. The third floor contained several small rooms. Laurence walked into the first to find several anchors, buoys, and anchors. The next room contained planks of wood and several bags of different chemicals. Laurence saw bags marked with ‘S’ and ‘Cl.’ Taking mark of the planks of wood, she continued on to the next room.
The first thing she noticed as she walked in was an enormous, wooden workbench that stretched from one wall to the next. A pirate ship was half-built in a small, glass bottle on the bench. Above it hung nails, screws, saws, and hammers. She had found the perfect items needed to board up the lighthouse.
“CtR!” she called. CtR turned the corner and looked in the room. A smile slowly spread across her face. “Alright,” said Laurence, “I’ll take the saw, the nails, the screws, and a couple of hammers. You get the wooden planks from the room next door. Then we can board up any doors we need to!” The duo gathered their things and went back downstairs. Meanwhile, Jade was searching the first floor for any sign of a basement. No doors led to a basement. “Chances are, there isn’t even one,” moaned Madiyasha. Exhausted, the girls trudged back into the kitchen.
“Did you find anything downstairs?” CtR asked Jade and Madiyasha as she and Laurence walked out from the stairwell. “There is no downstairs,” replied Jade, “But I see that you found what we need to board this place up.” CtR threw the wooden planks onto the table. They clattered to a halt, and Laurence passed out the nails to Jade and Madiyasha. “Madi, Jade, you two get ready to nail in the planks. Rosey, CtR, hammer them in. I’ll hold up the boards.” Like a single unit, the group moved towards the door. Laurence held up the boards and Madiyasha and Jade swiftly nailed them over the entrance. “There’s one more entrance,” Jade said when they were done. “It’s at the back of the lighthouse. Come on.”
She led them down a small hallway leading away from the main kitchen and towards another room. Along the hallway were several bedrooms equipped with beds. Perfect for us, thought Jade. The hallway ended and opened into a furnished living room. A three person couch, a television, and a fireplace were located in three corners of the room. The other held a small coffee table. Laurence whistled.
“Let’s board up the door, quick!” CtR shouted. The group quickly got to work boarding up the back door. Jade held up the nails as Rosey hammered them in, swiftly moving from one section of the board to the next. Within minutes the door was covered with wooden planks. It was no longer visible except for the shiny, brass doorknob on its right side. The girls stood back and admired their work.
“Just to make sure…” murmured Jade, who pushed the couch up against the door. “I think we should do that with the metal table at the front door too.” Walking back into the front kitchen, the group pushed the metal table against the door. They then boarded up all the windows on the first floor of the lighthouse before sitting down in the living room.
“I don’t feel as safe here,” Madi said. “I mean, yeah, we’ve boarded up the first floor and everything, but no one’s going to come in through the back door. But from the front door, maybe.” Rosey just smiled. “Madi, it’s going to be okay,” she comforted, patting Madiyasha on the leg.
“Let’s check out our duffel bags,” suggested CtR. “I got a gun in mine. It came with quite a lot of ammo.” The girls began to open their bags. Rosey pulled out a switchblade. The girls admired it, but it was nothing compared to the uzi Laurence pulled out of her bag. Everyone stared in awe at the beastly weapon.
“It’s massive!” cried Madiyasha. As Laurence tilted the gun, a ray of light shot up its sharp, metallic edges. Madiyasha ended up getting an automatic pistol, similar to that of CtR’s. Jade watched in silence as the girls showed off their flashy weapons.
“Well,” CtR laughed, “It looks as if we all got great weapons. Very great weapons, I guess. How many forum members do you think got guns?”
“CtR,” Jade said quietly, “You say it like you’re planning to use your gun to kill someone. I think we should just stay here for all three days, and die together…”
“Nah,” CtR said. “Maybe we could use these good weapons to launch an attack on the school. Take down Monkey and the soldiers, and the system itself. Then we could escape! All of us; and no one would have to play! I mean, come on, we all want to go home, right? None of us want to kill another member, right? Why not destroy the school and escape the island?”
“What about the guard boats?” asked Rosey. CtR quickly replied, “That’s easy. We escape at night. Just think about it for a second; if the computer system was shut down the guard boats couldn’t track us through our collars as we swam through the water. We can all see the lights of the nearby shore in the distance. I think that I could swim it if I tried. It’s easy.”
“That part is easy,” sighed Jade. “But what about blowing up the school?” CtR looked up at the ceiling and tapped her chin. “Well…” she thought out loud. “I mean, we could just sort of blow it up. With a bomb. We could spend time gathering materials, and then, boom! Blow it up! We could throw the bomb in a slingshot or just drive a car into it and jump out at the last second. And if we had to go inside the danger zone, we could blow it up quickly before our collars detonated.”
“And how quickly do the collars explode? Instantly, or after a bit of time?” asked Jade No one could answer her question.
“Is anyone tired?” asked Rosey. This question, however, could be answered.
“Yes,” mumbled the rest of the group at the same time.
“Good answer,” laughed Rosey. “I’m tired too. But we should have someone keep guard on the upper balcony of the lighthouse, to make sure no one’s coming and everything.”
“I’ll go,” volunteered Jade, standing up from the couch. “Just let me take the uzi.” Laurence handed it to her. “Sleep tight,” smiled Jade, before turning towards the hallway. She walked through the hall and up the spiral staircase, emerging on top of the lighthouse. It was quite breezy up top, and she grabbed the thin, steel railing to keep her balance.
Starting at the corners of her lips, a slow smile spread across Jade’s face. No one had asked her what her weapon was. Despite CtR being the first of them to leave the school, Jade had reached the lighthouse before her. Her weapon had been a bottle of potassium cyanide. She had quickly slipped the KCN in her pocket as CtR had entered the room. When CtR asked her what her weapon was, she had picked up a meat cleaver on a nearby shelf.
She didn’t mind them knowing about the poison, but she felt relief knowing it was hers. If someone else tried to barge in on their group and were allowed to join, she could poison their group. And then there was Laurence. She thinks she’s the leader. I won’t let her take her powers too far. If she wants to rule, she can rule. But she won’t make every decision for our group. Not out here. Not in this situation.
Jade sat against the edge of the wall that was surrounded by the metal platform and looked out across the large island. She could imagine herself painting the image she saw. It was truly beautiful.
I better take it all in.
This is probably the last thing I’ll ever see that is this beautiful.

Libreg walked through the dense forest leading from the schoolhouse. In his shaking hands was the provided map of the island. His eyes moved back and forth between the trunks of trees, looking for the flickering shadows of other members. He wasn’t sure if he wanted the comfort of another member with him, or if he thought of the others as threats. Throwing his bag against a tree trunk, he unzipped it and bent down. Inside the pack were his three throwing knives. Libreg drooled over them. This has to be lucky.
Something stirred behind him. He grabbed a throwing knife in each hand, leaving one in his bag. Spinning around, he stared at the bushes that had moved. Was it a person? Libreg slowly stepped towards the plants. They seemed to get farther away with each step. He reached the plant and looked inside of it. It was too dense to see inside, but he saw something glint beneath the greens and slashed at the bush. His knives *****ed on metal, and a crazed boy jumped at him with a hatchet.
“****!” shouted Libreg, jumping back. “What is wrong with you?” The mysterious boy just screamed and charged at him again. Libreg raised a knife, stopping the hatchet inches from his face. Sparks showered from the collision of the two weapons. Libreg held himself up, staring at the face of the boy in front of him.
“Libreg?” The voice surprised Libreg, who stared at the boy in front of him. Whoever it was, he was harmless; the boy lowered his hatchet and smiled. “Libreg!” he laughed. “It’s me, Shadowjak. Man, I’m glad I’ve found you! And look at our weapons; they’re amazing! God, I am so glad to see you, man. I’ve wanted someone to be with this whole time. I… I thought you’d attacked me back in that bush over there. Sorry…”
Libreg just stared at him, a queer look plastered across his face. “Well… right,” he said, turning around. “You mean you only attacked me because I attacked you? I thought you were after me, especially after you snuck up on me in the bushes like that.”
“I was just looking for a partner, to be real with you,” Shadowjak said, scratching the back of his neck. “So you don’t mind if I tag along?”
Libreg shook his head. “No, man. It’s cool. I mean, I agree with you about looking for a partner. This isn’t the best place to be caught alone.”
“No, no, it’s not,” Shadowjak sighed, slipping his hatchet between his jeans and his pants. “Anyway, I’ve got an idea. I need a partner to do it, too. I think we should try and escape from this island.”
“You heard about the collars,” Libreg said. “They can blow them up if we try and leave the island.”
“That’s why I say we build a boat! How great would that be? Although, it’s really a pretty bad idea. It’s too farfetched, y’know?”
“No, it really isn’t,” Libreg said, his eyes lighting up. “Shadowjak… I think you could be on to something. Imagine building a boat and then flying out at night across the water. But, wait… what about the guard boats?”
“Easy, we build a boat fast enough to escape them.”
“And what about our collars? Couldn’t Monkey just detonate them?”
“Like I said before, we build a boat fast enough to escape the guard boats. Hopefully it’ll be fast enough to escape the radius of the collars. Come on, Libreg, it’s genius! And it’ll be fun, too. We could call it the Shadowjak.”
“I think we should call it the Libregkd,” smiled Libreg, “Wanna race for it?”
“Nerd…” sighed Shadowjak, suddenly taking on a more serious posture. He bent down and picked up his bag. “Either way, show me your map. We’re going to have to pick a place to find supplies.”

Roxas blinked once. He fluttered his eyes, opening them wide. Blinking several more times, he stretched out his arms and yawned. What a sick dream. He looked to his right to see dirt. On his left was a pile of leaves. Reality hit him hard, and he realized that the dream he had had the night before was real. The previous hour flooded back to him; he had run from the school and into the woods. After running for what felt like a mile, he had slipped down a large hill and woken up where he was now.
Roxas sighed and stared up. The leaves of the trees were blowing wildly above him. The distant sound of the waves crashing against the beach filtered through the clearing. He sat up and stretched his back, feeling his spine crack. Pushing forward, he placed his hands on the ground and stood up. The blood rushed from his head and static filled his eyes. He groaned and waited for it to pass. The static cleared, and Roxas let out another yawn. On the ground was his duffel bag, and he picked it up to find his weapon. Roxas pulled out the usual bag with its compass and map, his food, and his water. The bag was empty. This can’t be right. He tipped the bag upside down and turned it inside out, trying to find his random weapon. “Did they not give me one?” he said out loud.
“No, they gave you one,” said a familiar voice behind him. It was a voice he had heard many times on the phone. He spun around to see Cin standing there, pointing a butterfly knife at him. He gasped, unknowing if Cin was joking or a serious threat. “I found you lying there and thought I’d check it out.” Cin began to walk circles around Roxas, keeping the knife pointed at him. “It was too perfect to pass up. I’m glad I found you, because I got this weapon.” He stopped walking. “…And my first kill.”
Cin swiftly turned and pointed the knife at Roxas. Roxas froze, staring at Cin.
“…Are you okay?” Roxas asked after sitting still for nearly 15 seconds. A smile cracked over Cin’s face. “Roxas!” he screamed, bending down and hugging Roxas. “Get off me!” shouted Roxas, pushing him away. “And give me my knife!” Cin threw the weapon into Roxas’s lap. “Seriously, you freaked me out, Cin. I thought you were really going to kill me.”
“Oh, come on!” shouted Cin, sitting down. “I just wanted to scare you.”
“It was real funny,” Roxas said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He slowly picked up his weapon and held it up towards the trees. “This thing is wicked,” he admired. “I guess I got pretty lucky.”
“Me, not so much…” Cin said quietly. Roxas motioned for him to open his bag. “Do you really want to see it?” asked Cin. Roxas nodded. Cin grabbed his duffel bag, sighing and undoing the zipper.

Shadowjak bent down and picked up Libreg’s map. “Here,” pointed Libreg, “The Clinic. That sounds like a good place to get gasoline and other things. Then we could go to the docks in the village by Mackinac Island. They’ve probably removed all the boats at the docks but we might be able to find parts in an old house or renting station. Finally, we’ll head over to the wood mill and find wood to build the actual boat. If we start now, it should take about two days.”
The bushes rustled behind them, and they turned around immediately. Shadowjak ripped the hatchet from his pants and pointed it forward.
“Who’s there!?” he shouted, elbowing Libreg to get out his knives. For Libreg, the rustling bush was one big déjà vu. The two held their breath, pointing their weapons at the forest.
Xekvin slowly walked from the bushes, his duffel bag around his shoulder. Shadowjak slowly backed up, as did Libreg. It wasn’t the bag that was scaring them, but Xekvin’s weapon: a chainsaw. The two boys stared at Xekvin in horror. Shadowjak broke the silence. “Oh my god!” he screamed. “Go away! Please! We don’t mean any harm!” Xekvin kept walking forward, unaware of how scared the two boys were.
Libreg screamed like a girl and ran into the woods, leaving Shadowjak standing on his own. He too screamed and ran, unable to hear Xekvin shout “Wait up!” as he went. Libreg and Shadowjak ran side-by-side until they reached the edge of the forest. In front of them was a small asphalt bike road. They jumped to the ground and turned around to see Xekvin right behind them.
“Guys, I don’t-”
Xekvin was kicked to the ground and Shadowjak placed the hatchet by his neck. “Do you like the taste of steel!?” he asked wickedly. Xekvin shouted, “No, seriously! What’s wrong with you?” This time, Libreg heard him and pushed away Shadowjak’s hatchet. Xekvin rolled over and groaned. Libreg and Shadowjak glanced at each other quickly.
“What a waste of 15 seconds,” grumbled Xekvin, brushing himself off as he stood up. “You really need to calm down. Not everyone on this island is willing to play the game. Just because I have a chainsaw doesn’t mean I’m going to use it on you, which is the reason I wanted to talk to you guys.”
“Why?” asked Shadowjak, looking rather embarrassed.
“This chainsaw doesn’t work without gas,” replied Xekvin, “And I heard you guys talking about traveling to the Clinic to get gasoline. So I thought to myself, why not go with you guys? I think we’re a lot safer in groups, anyway. The more of us there are, the easier it’ll be to survive.”
“Not with a broken chainsaw,” said Libreg with spite in his voice. “You can come along, but you’re leaving us as soon as we reach the Clinic.” He didn’t want Xekvin to know of their plan. He was also rather embarrassed at the girly scream he had let out moments ago.
“Fair enough,” smiled Xekvin. “I’m glad I can go with you guys. I feel safer now.”
“So do I,” said Shadowjak. “Hopefully you’ll scare people off with that chainsaw of yours. Just like it scared me, and moreover how it made Libreg scream.”
Libreg’s cheeks flared. “Please don’t mention that again.”
The group began walking down the pavement past sandy beaches and rock formations all lit by the glowing moon. “I won’t,” said Shadowjak quietly. “Not that I’ll really have a chance to, anyway. I don’t think anyone out here cares. No one cares anymore.”
“I’m sure there are people who care,” added Xekvin. “I care about all this. I don’t think I’d kill a person. Maybe if they attacked me, but I truly don’t think I could kill someone. I still care though. I care about the others dying. There are going to be people who play the game. Those people might just succeed in killing everyone else. That, to me, is what I care about the most. If it was up to me, I’d make it so that we all die right now. One person surviving just isn’t right.”
Libreg and Shadowjak nodded in agreement. “Also,” Shadowjak began, “It depends on both the person and the weapon. If you got a machine gun, wouldn’t you be more inclined to shoot people?”
Libreg mumbled, “Yeah, I guess…” Xekvin agreed.
“You kill them,” said Shadowjak, “And you win, because luck was on your side. You don’t have to be physically powerful and smarter than the others. It helps, but it’s the weapon that matters most. That’s what I believe.”

Cin pulled a boomerang from his bag. Roxas stared at it, bewildered.
“A… a boomerang?” he asked, stunned. “Yeah…” replied Cin, “And I don’t even know how to use it.” Cin chucked the boomerang across the clearing, but instead of spinning around and coming back at him it just collided with a tree and fell to the floor. “Pretty lame.”
“I guess this knife evens things up, if we get attacked,” Roxas said. “You can use the boomerang to distract them, and then I can stab them in the stomach. It sounds like an awful thing to do, though. Killing someone. People might be dead already. Boris looked like he was ready to play.”
“I gotta agree with you, Boris looked ready to play. If he got a gun he’d be willing to kill. Speaking of guns, we haven’t heard any gunshots yet. That’s a pretty good sign.”
Roxas took his knife and stuck it into the dirt. “Who do you think will die first?” he said suddenly. Cin thought about it.
“A girl.”
“You are so sexist.”
“Well, they seem the most likely to just… die. Or maybe I’m wrong. You can’t think straight in a situation like this. Anyone could die first and anyone could kill first.” Roxas nodded in agreement. Then Cin asked, “Want to do something? I mean, make a difference. We must be able to do something, anything, to stop this.”
“Not together,” Roxas interrupted. Cin looked taken aback. “What do you mean, not together? Roxas, you want someone to be with, right? Why not me?”
“I want to see someone,” replied Roxas. “I’m sorry, Cin. I know how you feel about this, but there’s someone I want to meet up with. I just have to see them.”
“Who?” asked Cin. “Who is it?”
“It’s a girl. I’m not going to tell you. Just don’t follow me. I’ll stay with you until the first announcement, though.” Cin sat in silence. Roxas saw how hurt he was. “It’s not you, Cin,” he said. “It’s her. I need to see her once before I die. To talk to her.” Cin just sat quietly. He gave a slight nod. “Cheer up!” exclaimed Roxas. “We can at least play with your boomerang before I go.” Cin flashed a small smile, but it was only to be polite.

There was a pause in Libreg, Shadowjak, and Xekvin’s conversation as they continued to walk along the road. The trio continued to walk around the island. Xekvin looked down and pointed out something on the side of the road. To the left of the path was an abandoned bike. It was missing a tire on its front wheel. The group stopped and stared at it.
“Do you think it works?” asked Shadowjak. Libreg just shrugged. Xekvin nodded.
“Well, yeah,” said Xekvin, “But the missing tire would make it very uncomfortable and also very loud. Not worth it. It’s not like we could all fit on it, anyway.”
“This must have been a bike path,” suggested Shadowjak. “It probably goes around the entire island. In that case, it probably isn’t a very safe place to be.”
“Nah,” interrupted Xekvin. “Most people will head to the center of the island.” He whipped out his map, pointing at different objects. “Like here, Fort Mackinac. It’s right in front of the village and the docks. I’m sure loads of fighting will go on there. And, here, out at the Wood Mill (Libreg stole a nervous glance at Shadowjak); it’s the perfect spot for more fighting. Of course, there’s the various neighborhoods and stuff like that. Not to mention both the Mission Pointe and Grand Hotels. Anywhere in the woods or away from these centers is a safe place to be.”
“To be perfectly honest with you, I’d like to hide in a house,” noted Libreg. “Especially if it had a basement. You could just sort of… live there. There might be canned foods in the cupboards. Working water in the sink, a microwave, everything…”
“Way to attract attention to yourself,” grinned Shadowjak. “I’m sure a microwave is the perfect thing to use when hiding.”
“You know,” Libreg said, “We’re smiling, cracking jokes, laughing, yet, well… look where we are. Look around. Analyze our predicament. I don’t think we’re in any position to laugh. Some of our friends could be dead right now. Yet, I get this feeling, like I’ve forgotten all about the program already. It’s sort of like, I dunno, I’ve accepted my fate? So I might as well make the best of my last days. Do you guys have the same feeling as me?”
“Totally,” Xekvin sighed. “Totally, man, and it sucks. I feel bad about smiling knowing that someone could be dead out there. And I know them. And I know who killed them.” Shadowjak just stayed quiet.
“It’s sick,” said Libreg. “Whatever, let’s get to the Clinic safely. At the rate we’re going it’ll be dawn by the time we get there.” The trio heeded his comments and picked up the pace, making quick tracks for the Clinic.

39 members remaining


4


Xaldin perked his head up at the sound of music filtering across the island. He and Alice were hiding in a small house inside Mackinac Fort. The music was rather cheery; a classical song that sounded vaguely familiar. Alice was sitting against the opposite wall. She began to open her eyes, yawning as the music grew in volume. Xaldin beckoned her over to the window he was it. Wiping her eyes, she slowly got up and groggily wandered in his direction.
“Alice, look!” he said, pointing out the window. She looked to see a flagpole sticking from the middle of the fort. In the small sunlight of the dawn, it was clearly visible. When they had arrived the night before it was unable to be seen. Atop the flagpole were several sets of large speakers, blasting the music across the island.
Alice had wandered from the school aimlessly. Her duffel bag felt heavy, but she was afraid to open it outside the school. She had heard a voice calling from behind her, and had turned around to see Xaldin waiting in the bushes a short distance off. Alice had run to him, and the two had made their way through the dense forest towards the fort. They had known the consequences of going to such a stronghold. Nevertheless, the sun was peaking over the sea and the two were still alive.
The music cut short in mid beat. Xaldin and Alice quickly looked at each other, smiling.
“Good morning, good morning, good morning!” announced an overly cheerful voice. Xaldin instantly recognized it as that of Monkey, the formidable program leader. “Wake up sleepyheads! You don’t want to get caught by a killer while sleeping!” Monkey laughed. “Enough of that. You all need to get up and have some breakfast. How about some of that tasty, stale bread? Actually, I’d skip if I were you. Just starve yourselves and die! It’s better than being shot up by a gun, anyway. God, I’m so mean, aren’t I?” Xaldin sighed and shook his head. “I’m not finished teasing you guys yet! Don’t you remember the rules of my announcements? I’ll refresh you all. Every six hours I’ll announce the names of the people that have died and the new danger zones. So, quick, get out your maps! You’ll want to mark off the danger zones.” Alice and Xaldin fished around in their duffel bags, moving their weapons aside to grab their maps.
“Alright, I’ll start with the dead one. You heard me right; one. Girl Number 20, Rikku, was the first to die in this wonderful game. That’s sad, isn’t it? No, not really; it increases all of your chances! She’s gone now, passed on to a better place. But at the same time, I’m disappointed in you all. If you want to start doing a good job in this game, you’ve got to kill! I know some of you want to win this game; we know who killed Rikku. So go on, defeat more people! Speaking of which, hopefully these will kill a few of you. That’s right; it’s time for the danger zones. Now, it’s much less exciting than one forum member killing another but that’s beside the point. These danger zones will herd you into a smaller fighting area. Plus, if you don’t move, you could get trapped inside four danger zones. Now, the first danger zones of the game are B-4, D-2, and F-3. That’s B-4, D-2, and F-3. Now, when I come in at lunch time I expect at least three or four more deaths. If not, I’ll be very disappointed. Anyway, you all have fun now! I’ve got to go have my breakfast; the smell of waffles and maple syrup wafting into this room is making my taste buds rattle. So long!”
There was a click like a telephone hanging up and the island went silent.
“He has a very interesting way of making his announcements,” frowned Alice, fully awake now. “It’s a bit… scary. Like he’s a bit high when he’s announcing them. A bit giddy, if you know what I mean.” Xaldin laughed. “Oh, Alice,” he swooned, “You never fail to amuse me.” Alice smiled and turned away from him.
“So…” she said, wiping her hand across the top of the house’s fireplace. It was a very antique room equipped with all sorts of old things. Its main purpose was for tourism, but tourists wouldn’t be coming to the island for a very long time. “…Do you have a plan, Xaldin? Are we just going to sit here until we die or at least move around?” Her stomach rumbled. “We could at least get some food other than this crusty bread.”
“Well,” Xaldin motioned, pulling out his map. The danger zones were crossed off with big X’s. “Let’s avoid the danger zones and make our way towards the Fudge Shoppe.”
“Fudge for breakfast,” Alice smiled, rolling her eyes. “By the way, the fudge there is excellent. JoAnne’s, right?”
“Yep,” replied Xaldin. “Let’s head out, then. I say we take the back exit out of this place just to be safe. You can see the front entrance from practically anywhere in the town.” Alice agreed with him. The two gathered up their things and walked out of the small house. Outside, the sky was a lush pink. “It’s beautiful,” Xaldin sighed. “Just like you, Alice.” Xaldin turned to look at Alice. He was smiling, but it immediately changed to a look of horror when he saw the scene in front of him. Arc was holding Alice by her neck, a pistol against her temple.
“Xaldin!” screamed Alice. “Xaldin, help me!” Her face was distraught and her eyes were beginning to well up. Xaldin tried to speak but couldn’t. He finally managed to choke out the words, “A-Arc, what are you doing?”
“I’ll do the talking.” Xaldin looked towards the tree that the voice had come from. It was a woman’s voice, not Arc’s. Anniexo stepped from behind a tree with a stapler in her hand. She walked with a powerful stride, controlling the space between her and Xaldin. “I don’t want Arc to say something stupid,” she continued. “We’re not here to hurt you. We just want to see your weapons.”
“Give us the weapons!” shouted Arc. He looked nervous holding the gun to Alice’s temple. His hand was shaking and his cheeks were red. Tears were rolling down Alice cheeks and onto the grass below her. “Don’t let him kill me,” she whimpered. “Please, don’t let him hurt me.”
“Don’t give them to us yet,” Anniexo added on to Arc’s command. “We just want to see them. We don’t mean any trouble, Xaldin. Neither of us is here to kill anyone, but both of us are here to gain. We’re looking out for ourselves. You should be too. Either way, we want to see the weapons. Now.”
“L-Look,” stuttered Xaldin. “You guys don’t have to hurt anyone. Just Alice go and we’ll-” Anniexo interrupted him sharply. “Alice is our little guarantee,” she smiled, mocking Xaldin. “Now, show us what you got.” The sky above them had gotten a little bluer since Alice and Xaldin had walked out of the house. The sun was visible, peaking over the edge of the horizon. Xaldin slowly lowered his duffel bag to the ground.
“I’m just lowering it,” he explained, bending down. “I’m just going to set it down, okay?”
“Hurry!” Anniexo shouted. Arc added on, “Just hurry up, Xaldin. You know that I don’t want to hurt Alice. You know that we’re just making sure we’re as safe as we can be. Please, show us your weapons and get this over with.”
“I am!” Xaldin shouted, frustrated. “I said I was putting down the bag! Then I’ll take my weapon out! Is that hard to understand?” Xaldin began to breathe deeply, kneeling to the ground. He slowly reached into his duffel bag, feeling around for his weapon. It was a small golf club, about a yard in length. It had a rubber grip and a shiny, new head. Xaldin placed his hands firmly around the handle of the weapon, waiting to strike at Arc. “Look,” he reassured. “I’m just trying to find it. It’s not that bad. Honestly, I’m trying to get it right now. I’m going to take it out and slowly set it down. Then you can take it. Alright, I’ve got it.”
Xaldin ripped the golf club from the bag and charged at Arc. He raised the golf club above his head and jumped towards him. Arc cocked the gun, but he had no need to do so. A blunt object smacked Xaldin in the face and he was knocked cold, falling limp to the grass. Anniexo had whipped one end of the stapler at him, forcing the other end to fly out like a slingshot and whack him on the nose. Bloodied and unconscious, Xaldin fell to the grass flailing his arms.
“Why does he have to make it so difficult?” Anniexo whined. “I mean, please! All I want is for him to give us his golf club. Did I ask for a fight? No. Did I want to hurt him? No. He’s such an idiot. Everybody makes things so difficult these days.”
“Ditto,” laughed Arc. “Now grab Alice’s duffel bag. I want to see what’s inside it.” Anniexo grabbed Alice’s duffel bag off the grass where she had dropped it. Unzipping it, she pulled out a set of nail clippers. “Useless!” screamed Anniexo. “Completely useless! Well, on a more positive note, this golf club is useful for something.” Anniexo whipped around and smashed Alice in the face with the golf club. Alice blacked out and fell to the ground, landing on Xaldin’s body.
“How long will it be before the wake up?” asked Arc. Anniexo sighed. “Not long enough,” she drawled, throwing the nail clippers on top of Alice. “Let’s get out of here. We got what we wanted, right? We’ll just leave these two for dead and be on our way.”
“Can I use the golf club?” asked Arc. “I’ve played a bit of golf before.”
Anniexo laughed, “Arc, please. I’m the brains of this operation. You just point and shoot that gun for me, okay? That’s all you’re good for.” She placed the golf club on her shoulder and walked towards the front entrance of the fort. “Follow me, babe.” Arc just hung his head and followed her, putting the gun in his pocket. He looked back at Alice’s limp body. He felt like a puppet. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, yet Anniexo had made him. She’s doing this all wrong. I don’t want to hurt people. She says that neither of us does but it’s clear that she wants to cause pain. I don’t think she realizes that the person going through the most pain right now is me.
Arc turned and followed her out of Fort Mackinac. They walked down the giant ramp leading towards the football field-sized garden at the bottom. Turning the corner, Anniexo quickly remarked, “Let’s get some fudge. Alice said it was good.” She laughed to herself and continued on towards the town.

Arc and Sara sat in a dimly lit restaurant, slowly eating their meals. It had all begun with Arc calling Sara. “We need to talk,” he had said quietly. Sara had a feeling that she knew what he was talking about, but she needed to hear him say it. She couldn’t believe it unless he said it.
Arc had been quiet for almost the whole evening. Sara just picked at her meal. She picked up her fork and stabbed it into her spaghetti, slowly turning it. A lump welled up in her throat. She wanted to say something to him, but was unable to find the words. Every time she tried to speak her throat would stop her from talking. Slowly raising the fork to her lips, she slipped the spaghetti into her mouth and began to chew on it furiously. Tears formed in her eyes, but she blinked them away. Arc sighed and sat back, taking a swig of water.
Sara let the fork drop to the plate. It hit the china with a loud clatter and bounced onto the table. “Arc…” she whimpered. “Just… say it.” Arc sat in silence. “Arc,” she continued, “You brought me here because you wanted to tell me something. Please, just tell me.” She looked up at Arc. He avoided eye contact with her. “Arc?”
Arc just exhaled slowly and picked up his glass. He took a sip of water and swirled it around in his mouth before swallowing it. Sara continued to stare at him, the pain rising in her throat. “Arc, I’ve been waiting this whole meal. Just tell me the truth. What is it?” Sara knew that she was asking him to answer a question she already knew the answer to. Arc slowly raised his eyes until they met hers.
“You know what I’m going to say,” he said softly. “I’m sorry to have hurt you like this.”
That settled it. Sara slowly nodded, letting a tear gently slide down her cheek. The pain in her throat was gone, but inside she ached harder. Slowly, she pushed back her chair and stood up. Grabbing her coat from the back of the chair, she slipped it on her shoulders and looked at Arc. It was time to pass some of the pain on to him.
“Arc…”
He looked up at her.
“I’m pregnant.”
Without another word, she turned and left the restaurant. She didn’t look back at him once as she got into her car and turned on the ignition. Reversing out of her parking space, she turned onto the main road and drove towards her home. Tears blurred her vision as she drove. It was cold outside, and the heating in her car was broken. Her hands stuck to the steering wheel as she drove. Slowly coming to a stop at a red light, she looked at the picture that was hanging from her rearview mirror. It was her and Arc, smiling and holding hands.
Sara burst into tears and ripped the picture from the mirror, opening her window and tossing it into the snow. Finally, she reached her house and ran inside, burying her head into a pillow on the couch and crying until she fell asleep.
Arc was walking out of the restaurant, looking around the parking lot. Sara had been her ride home. I guess I’ll have to walk. Arc turned left and began to walk down the sidewalk on the main road. He passed several freezing beggars, who he passed on no money to. Feeling around in his pockets, he was unable to find any loose change. He kept walking in silence, stopping only at a busy crossroad.
The cars were crisscrossing the road in front of him. He stared at the red hand which meant “no walking” waiting for it to turn to a walking man. Lifting his head towards the sky, he saw a giant, gray tyrant moving quickly through the air. It filled up all of the sky, dampening the light from the sun. Hanging his head, he took a quick glance at the pavement. A familiar piece of paper was sticking out of a patch of snow, flapping in the wind. Arc bent down and picked it up, staring at it in shock.
He was on the picture. He was holding Sara at the waist and smiling. Turning it over, the words “I love you so much! - Arc” were written on the back. Arc stood staring at the pictures for several cycles of the red hand-white man before throwing the picture into a garbage can. Sara meant nothing to him anymore. They had dated for over one and a half years, and he had enjoyed every moment of it until he had met Anniexo.
For Sara, the scars of her relationship with Arc never healed. Arc was never able to forget Sara’s last words. The two both slept alone that night. They wouldn’t see each other again until they were brought into the IYAP, ten months later.

Sara peered from the bushes as Arc and Anniexo walked away from her. She’s using him. It’s just… it’s just so clear. Why, Arc? Why are you staying with her right now? Just run! If you don’t have the guts to get away from her, then I’ll make you.
She slowly crept from the bushes and tiptoed after them. Darting into a small shop, she watched as they walked down the street.
“The Clinic’s just up here!”
Sara heard the voice and spun around to see Xekvin, Shadowjak, and Libreg walking across the garden in front of the fort. She slunk back into the shadows of the shop and watched as the group walked by. The group laughed and continued to walk past. Sara peeked around the corner to see that Anniexo and Arc had disappeared around a building and out into the town.
She looked at the pavement, wondering what to do. Loosening the duffel bag around her shoulder, she quietly followed the voices of Xekvin, Shadowjak, and Libreg as they also turned into the town.
“I can’t wait to get some gas for this chainsaw!” Xekvin said jovially. Sara darted behind a building as Libreg looked over his shoulder. Libreg’s the only one on his guard. Libreg turned back and began to talk about Xekvin’s weapon. Sara breathed a sigh of relief. If he saw me, would he mistake me for a killer? Either way, I need to follow Arc. I need to find him and save him, even if it means killing Anniexo…

39 members remaining


5

Monkey cracked open another bag of Doritos and leaned back in his big rocking chair. Inside the schoolhouse, he and many other soldiers had set up a computer station. Several televisions showed the locations of all the members on one giant map of the island. Others closed-in and showed views of members surrounded by others. One in particular caught Monkey’s eye. A group of three members were walking through the town, being slowly followed by one other member. Not far ahead of them was a duo that had incapacitated Xaldin and Alice. Xaldin and Alice had still not moved from their position, so Monkey reckoned that they had been tied up or knocked out.
“Come on, guys!” he moaned to no one in particular. “I want to see some action! Just start killing each other!”
“Really,” murmured a soldier watching a television monitoring the position of the guard boats. “A bit of action is exciting. We’ve still yet to hear a gun go off throughout the island. I’m sure that’ll be exciting.”
“Yeah!” agreed the soldier sitting next to him. “It’ll remind me of the good days in the War. Not this lame ‘Program.’”
“Hey!” barked Monkey. “No one said you had to be here. Go home if you want. Just know that you won’t be getting your pay if you do so, and you there’s no higher salary in the working in the Program. Do you think I like being the Director of a game in which a bunch of kids kill each other? Of course not! It’s the money that I’m doing this for. I might get caught up in the fun every once in awhile, but it’s really about the money. None of us want to see kids die, right?” The soldiers murmured in agreement. “Of course I’m right. It makes sense. These kids deserve to live, but if they die then we make some real cash. I’m looking out for myself, here.”
A woman wearing an apron and a small, white hat walked up to Monkey. She was carrying a plate loaded with waffles and bacon. “Are the waffles swimming in syrup?” asked Monkey. “Just as you requested,” replied the woman quietly. She bowed and quickly walked away, her long, black hair trailing behind her. “You know,” grinned Monkey, “She’s pretty hot. I’d like to get a bit of that before these three days are over with. It’s a bit early in the morning right now, but tonight will be great! Here that, honey! Tonight!” The woman turned around and gave him a nasty look. One of the soldiers slapped her on the butt, and she blushed and strode from the room. “She’s going to be a hard one,” sighed Monkey. “So, Raku, how are danger zones going?”
“Well, no one’s really close to them right now,” replied Raku. “It seems as if people are really avoiding those places. As for cluttered zones, it seems as if C-2 and B-8 are pretty populated. B-8 is the town, of course. C-2 has six people in it, all stationed in the lighthouse.”
“Don’t make those danger zones next,” Monkey stated. “We want to keep the zones fresh. Make a beach a danger zone, and maybe part of the ocean. Just for laughs on our part. There’ll only be two new danger zones after this. Sound good?”
“Yep,” replied Raku, turning back to his laptop. Monkey stretched back in his seat, putting his legs up on a table. He grabbed a piece of bacon and brought it up to his mouth, smiling. “Life is a game, kiddies,” he began. “Show me that you’re worth it.”

“Shut up!” shouted Cronoking, shaking his hands at Sora. Sora waved his scythe threateningly at Cronoking. “Don’t tell me what to do!” Sora said jokingly. Tallian placed his steel baseball bat between the two. Cronoking had his boxing gloves raised in front of his face. He was already bopping about, grinning at Sora. “Guys, stop it,” said Tallian. “We’ve got to wake these two up.”
The trio looked down at Xaldin and Alice, who were lying on top of each other. “Alice had probably seen better days,” mentioned Cronoking. “Xaldin doesn’t look too good either.” Cronoking bent down and brushed Alice’s hair out of her face. “So beautiful…” he whispered, brushing her cheek with the back of his hand as he stood up.
“That’s creepy, man,” Sora said nervously. “Imagine if she was awake.” Tallian stifled a laugh as he recomposed his serious posture. “Guys,” he began, “Let’s take these two into a building and work from there, okay?” Cronoking nodded. He grabbed Alice from behind the arms and pulled her up. “That one over there,” he said, pointing at the house Xaldin and Alice had left from. The group grabbed the two unconscious bodies into the house. Cronoking sat down on a giant bed, Sora leaned against the doorpost, and Tallian sat against a wall.
“Why did I come with you again?” Sora asked Cronoking. “Because you like me. I’m strong, fit, smart, and contagiously dashing. I wonder what Alice will say when she sees me. She didn’t talk to me at the banquet. She hasn’t talked to me yet. I’ve gotten to know her so well. I just can’t wait until she wakes up,” replied Cronoking. Tallian started to giggle. “What?” asked Cronoking, offended. Tallian looked up at him, “You sound like a creepy internet stalker, Crono. Just shut up.” Tallian laughed again. “You’re giggling like a ****ing horny girl conceiving her first child,” Cronoking spat.
“Watch the language,” Sora said calmly. “And the horny girl thing… whatever that was. You’re still just an immature fool, aren’t you? Death doesn’t scare you? People you’ve talked to dying? What about Alice dying?”
“Well, that would affect me greatly,” replied Cronoking. “Then I’d have no one to marry.” Tallian rolled his eyes. Cronoking looked down at Alice, whose eyes slowly opened. “Where… am…?” she muttered before Cronoking rushed in and interrupted her. “Alice! You’re awake!” he shouted, holding her up in his arms. “Those people were about to bash your head in and I came and fought them off! Oh, I saved you! I’m so glad we could both make it.”
“Is that so?” asked Alice, a smile drawing across her face. “If that’s the case, then who knocked me out?”
“U-Uh…” stuttered Cronoking. “Um… I can’t remember.”
“You don’t have to pretend that you saved me, Crono,” she said, pushing herself out of his arms. “And I heard that ‘marrying me’ stuff. I’m not sure what’s going on in your head. Only one can win, remember?”
“But Alice!” he pleaded, “We can escape the island together; just the two of us. Imagine finding a way to take off these collars and then swimming away and escaping from this hell hole. We could even start a family.” Alice just shrugged, “You’re talking out of your ass, Crono. Those things aren’t going to happen.”
“Hey,” Tallian gasped, “Look at Xaldin!” The foursome turned their attention to Xaldin’s body as he stirred on the floor. Xaldin coughed and dry-heaved, getting up onto his forearms. He bent over the wooden floors, coughing up air. “He doesn’t look so good,” Sora thought aloud. Xaldin slowly turned his head towards Sora, his eyes half-closed. “God, Alice,” he said, “Anniexo must have really hit me hard. You sound like a dude.”
“I am a ‘dude,’” laughed Sora. “We found your body. Now get up and dump your head in a sink or something.” Sora stared at Crono. Anger flashed across his face but disappeared just as quickly as Alice looked at him. Xaldin stood up and staggered to the window. “It’s still morning?” he asked. “How long were we out for?”
“I’m guessing thirty minutes tops,” suggested Alice. “Give or take a few. Thank god these guys came to pick us up. We’d be cannon fodder, otherwise.” Cronoking just laughed, “Oh, no problem, Alice. I’d do anything to help you.” Xaldin quickly glanced at Alice.
“Well,” said Xaldin. “Thanks for helping us, but Alice and I better be off. We’ve got plans.”
“Plans?!”
Cronoking had immediately stood up, facing Xaldin. “What do you mean, ‘plans’?” he asked. “You two don’t have plans. We’re on a friggin’ island, trapped, with nothing to do. I’m not letting you two just wander off.”
“Crono,” began Alice, “Just leave Xaldin and me alone. We don’t want anyone else joining us. I don’t want to be rude about it but I want you to stay away.” Cronoking’s cheeks were fiery. “Calm down, Crono. Xaldin and I have decided what we’re going to do. Just leave us be.”
Cronoking just stood there, shaking. “Are you okay?” asked Tallian. Cronoking continued to shake, his eyes closed and his teeth clenched.
“NO, I am not okay!” he screamed. “Alice, please! I just want to spend time with you! To hold you! To kiss you! Please, Alice! Are you listening to me?”
“I don’t know you,” Alice shouted.
“You don’t know Xaldin, either!”
“Xaldin isn’t creeping me out with talk about marrying me!” she screamed. Cronoking stood back and narrowed his eyes. “What if Xaldin was gone?” he asked. The room went silent.
“What are you thinking of doing?” asked Tallian from the corner. He looked to the bed to see his steel baseball bat, but it was too late. Cronoking had grabbed it. “Don’t do it!” Tallian screamed.
“Why not?” asked Crono. “I love her! Xaldin doesn’t love her! He won’t protect her like I will!”
“You’re ****ed up!” screamed Alice. “I don’t want to be with you anyway!” Cronoking roared and spun to face Xaldin. “Cronoking, stop it,” Xaldin pleaded, trying to calm Crono down. “What you’re doing isn’t helping. It isn’t making you look any better in the eyes of Alice. Just put down the bat and calm down.”
“I can’t let you!” Cronoking shouted, half sobbing. “I can’t let you touch her!” Cronoking raised the bat above his head and ran at Xaldin. Tallian jumped to try and stop him, but it was too late. Cronoking brought the bat down on Xaldin’s face. A sick splitting noise echoed through the walls of the house, followed by a mushy squash. Breathing hard, Cronoking pulled the bat away from Xaldin’s smashed face to reveal a bleeding, messy pulp composed of broken teeth and a smashed nose. Blood splattered against Cronoking’s face and he took in several deep breaths. The room was frozen in silence. Alice had her hand raised in the direction of Cronoking and Alice, but she let it down slowly. Sora stood in the doorway, mouth agape. Tallian was mere feet from Cronoking.
“What… what have you done?” asked Tallian. Cronoking glanced over at him, and then back at Xaldin’s face. Xaldin spluttered blood on Crono’s shirt as he said, “W-Why have you done this t-t-to me? I never did anything to you, C-Crono.” His words came soft and slow. Crono just smiled at him and raised the bat for another strike.
“You fu-” began Tallian, but he cut off his own words as he jumped and tackled Crono to the ground. Sora ran in to aid Tallian, standing in front of Xaldin. Tallian wrestled Crono to the ground, pinning him down. “What in the world did you do that for?” screamed Tallian. “He’s going to die soon, you idiot. You’re such an idiot. You’re such a ****ing idiot, Crono. Sora and I trusted you, and you ruined it. You ****ed it up, and you did a good job ****ing it up.” Tallian turned and looked at Sora. “Get his left arm,” he said. Sora got under Xaldin’s left arm and hoisted him off the window sill he was resting on.
Tallian grabbed the bat from Crono’s hands and threw it across the room. “Sora and I are taking Xaldin to the Clinic. I don’t want to see you again,” he spat. Crono didn’t blink.
Tallian stood up and walked over to Sora, hoisting Xaldin’s right arm up and over his shoulder. “We’re out,” he said. “We’re going to save Xaldin. You can come with us, Alice.” Alice began to walk towards them, but Crono jumped and grabbed her arm. “Please… stay with me,” he begged pathetically. Alice wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at him.
“I would,” she began, “I really would, Crono. But after what you did to Xaldin, I’d rather not see your bloody face again. Stay away from me and Xaldin.”
She turned and walked towards Sora and Tallian, grabbing the steel baseball bat on the way. Sora had his scythe slipped into his pants. “Let’s go,” she muttered.

Crono lay on the floor, watching the upside down as they walked away. Tears rolled down his forehead and into his matted hair. If I had a gun right now, I’d shoot myself. Alice had faith in me, but I destroyed all of that. He slowly pulled himself up, blood-filled tears coating his face. I won’t leave you, Alice. You may think you’ve gotten rid of me, but I’ll prove it to you that I’m worth your time.
He pulled on the boxing gloves and made his way to the exit of the house.

39 members remaining


6

The curtains cast sinister shadows across the dirty cabin floor. Darky and Trigger sat eating the stale bread given to them.
“This is awful,” Darky groaned. “I mean, really, really awful. It’s so chewy and gross.” Trigger didn’t say anything, but continued to eat. “What’s even more awful is my weapon; a hammer and some nails?”
“I think my pot lid wins the worst weapon award,” Trigger frowned, holding up his weapon. The two sat in silence, nibbling on their food.
“You know, I kind of wanted to do something with my life,” Darky said out of the blue. “Have a life. Be happy. Have kids. Enjoy my time with my family. Get a job. If you asked me if I’d wanted a job yesterday, I would have said no. But now, I kind of feel like I just want to go out and live a normal life and have a good time with it. It’s so weird; because every night before I went to bed I’d think about what it would be like to be dead. Well, I’m staring death straight in the face and it’s almost… serene. It’s not how I imagined it would be.”
“The weirdest thing,” Trigger mentioned, “Is that I’m going to probably die with someone who I met on the internet. What a great social life I have. We’ll get to know each other a bit better over the next couple of days, at least. And we got to know each other a little at the banquet, too…”

Nametags littered the white tables spread out evenly across the room. A large stage with deep, maroon curtains was fixed into the back wall. The golden walls shone from the brass candles set on each table. People were laughing and smiling, shaking hands and talking to each other in low voices. Darky walked around looking for his nametag, and found it next to Cin’s. He was slightly dismayed, as he had hoped to be sitting next to Trigger. Looking up, he saw Trigger waving to him across the room. Darky smiled and waved, running over to Trigger. “Hey,” he said, his voice wavering out of anxiety. Trigger looked up at him with a smile. He too was nervous, but Darky paid no attention to it as he sat down next to him. “Well,” Darky said, “We’ve known each other for a while now, huh? I didn’t think it would be this nerve racking when we met.”
“Neither did I,” Trigger laughed. “I mean, I’m laughing, but it’s not even funny. I guess I’m just unbelievably happy right now. I’m not even sure what to say to you.” Darky nodded. “Well, we talk enough on-line,” he added. “It’s just so different now, to be honest…”

“Interesting you mentioned the banquet,” Darky said, putting down his bread and moving his duffel bag to the side in an OCD-like manner. “I felt like we made no real connection there beyond simple greetings. Either way, it was interesting, to say the least. Especially our run-in with Hissora and Mari…”
“It caused quite the ruckus,” laughed Trigger. “It was Mari’s fault, though! She’s the one who got so angry over nothing. Why did Deathspank put her at my table, anyway?”
“It’s not like he knew,” replied Darky. “It’s a surprise she even came. It’s a surprise any of us came. I’m sure we all regret it now…”

Several speeches had been made by prominent members of the forum community before Mari got riled up at Darky. Supposedly, Darky had taken her napkin that she had drawn some clever doodles on. “Darky, I didn’t say you could take it!” she screamed. Darky had gone over to his table with Cin and Mish before returning to Trigger’s, only to find Hissora and Mari waiting for him.
“Yeah, she never said that!” Hissora agreed, more of a lackey to Mari than a friend.
“Well, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble…” Darky murmured sheepishly.
“Well, you did!” Mari screamed, poking him in the chest. Darky found her very annoying. “I worked hard on those drawings, and now they’re ruined!” Darky just sighed, “Look, Mari, I didn’t do anything to the napkin. It’s in perfect condition.” He took the napkin out of his pocket and handed it to her. She examined it closely before pointing out several smudges on it. “Take a look at that!” she said, pointing to one of her drawings. A small line was slightly blurred where Darky had touched it.
“What’s the big deal?” asked Darky. “It’s a damn napkin.” Mari began to cry, so Darky just looked at Trigger and then walked back to his table.
“What the hell just happened?” asked Roxas, who was trying to fold his napkin over his legs. Darky slumped down next to Cin, crossing his arms and sighing. “Mari’s going ape **** over a napkin,” he replied. “She had drawn all over it, and I thought me and her were friends, so I picked it up awhile ago and then she went crazy. Does she have to do that? I don’t think so.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Mish said. “Maybe she’s on her period or something.”
“I swear,” said Darky. “If someone gave me the chance to kill her, I’d take it.”
“I’ll hold you to that, man,” smiled Roxas.

“Wait, you said that!?” shouted Trigger.
“Well, I didn’t think I’d actually get the chance to do it!” Darky replied. “It was supposed to be funny at the time, but now… well, it’s really not. Obviously…”
“No, it’s obviously not funny!” Trigger said sternly. “This is so unlucky, though. We were meant to die, man. We’re just cannon fodder.”
“It’s okay, Trigger. Let’s make the best out of it.”
There was a knock at the door. The two boys’ heads snapped in the direction of the doorway. Trigger got up to answer the door, but Darky held out his hand to signal “stop.” He slowly got up and walked across the dirty floor, past his daypack and Trigger, up to the ominous door that separated the duo from a potential friend, or an enemy. Darky stood on his tiptoes to reach the peek hole in the door, and quickly put his eye to the small glass opening.
“Holy ****!” he mouthed, pulling away from the door. Trigger quickly got up. “It’s Mari!” whispered Darky. Instinctively, Trigger grabbed the pot lid and held it up in front of him.
“This thing is useless!” he whispered, but held onto it anyway. Darky moved his hand slowly towards the bolt on the door. Holding up three fingers, he put them down one by one as if to count down from three. When no fingers were left, he unlatched the door and ripped it open. Sunlight streamed into the dark room, filtering through dust and dirt hanging in the air. Trigger held up his arm to block the sun and looked out the door. Darky poked his head round the entrance and looked outside. Mari was smiling, but when she saw Darky she let out an ear-splitting howl. She charged into the room and slashed a giant machete at Darky. He ducked but felt the blade skim the top of his head.
“Mari, stop!” screamed Trigger.
“I hate you, Darky!” screamed Mari. She ran at him and swiped the machete again, but Darky swiftly moved outside. In front of him, Mari slowly trudged along the soil. “I hate you. I’m going to kill you, Darky,” she breathed. “This is for all the times you told me how useless I was. You had little old Hissy, and you even had that great old Mish. You ‘loved’ her, didn’t you? But what about me? All the times we fought, it was unacceptable.”
“Uh… Mari,” bargained Darky. “Look, it was all on-line. We can still be friends in real life. What’s wrong with you?” Mari wasn’t listening. She ran at Darky with the machete pointed forward. Darky ducked and covered his face. Mari’s shadow loomed over him. The blade slowly arced towards his hands.
Thud!
Mari dropped the sword and collapsed on top of him. Behind her, Trigger was standing with the pot lid raised. “Hey, this did come in handy!” he remarked, showing it off in the sunlight.
“Thank god you saved me,” Darky moaned, pushing Mari off of him and standing up. “That would have been one less forum member left on this island if you hadn’t used that awful pot lid.”
“Well,” Trigger murmured, looking down at Mari’s unconscious body. “She just tried to kill you, dude. Now here she is, completely defenseless. You did say you would kill her if you got the chance…”
“I did, didn’t I?” Darky said flatly. His eyes darkened as he looked at her. “But…”
“It’s one less person for us to deal with.”
“Trigger, I know that. But we were just talking about how horrible it would be for us to die. Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical to kill someone after that?”
“Dude, if you’re not going to get rid of her, then I will. She just tried to kill you. She wants you dead.” Darky looked at Trigger. Trigger didn’t look vicious or psychopathic, but Darky could sense the fear in his eyes. “Trigger,” he began, “This girl does not deserve to die. Not today. Not by-”
There was a sick, squelching sound, and Darky looked down to see Mari, her eyes bloodshot, pulling her machete out of his leg. At first, the wound remained a clean cut. Darky looked in horror at the 3-inch deep gash in his shin. Mari began to laugh as blood spurted from the hole, and Darky screamed in pain, falling to the ground.
“Trigger!” he screamed.
“I-I’ll get the nails!” Trigger shouted back, running towards the house. Darky crawled away from Mari, who was struggling to stand up. Trigger ran into the house and quickly came out, the hammer in his right hand. Mari stood up, but Trigger quickly came up behind her.
“You won’t touch him again!” seethed Trigger. He held up the hammer, but flipped it around so that the nail removing side was facing Mari. She looked at him and tried to put her arm up, but it was too late. Trigger drove the back of the hammer into Mari’s eye, and she howled and fell back onto the ground with a sickening thud. Trigger ripped the hammer from her eye, pink slime trailing from the metal head.
“I-Is she alive? Is she alive, Trigger?” Darky asked nervously, several feet away. Trigger nodded. “Yeah, man. She’s alive. It won’t be for long, though.” The cliché lines ended as Trigger slammed the hammer down onto Mari’s face. He looked away as the hammer connected with her head, shattering her skull. Without looking back, he turned towards Darky.
“Your leg…”
He walked over and sat down next to Darky.
“It’s gonna be okay. I’ll get you bandaged up.” Trigger propped Darky up and then bent towards the ground. Groaning, Darky fell onto Trigger’s back. Straightening up, Trigger carried Darky over to Mari’s body. He picked up the machete and then began to walk towards the house.
“I bet you wanted that kill,” Trigger said.
“I guess I did,” Darky groaned. Trigger could feel the blood dripping from Darky’s leg landing on his hands as he carried him piggy-back style.
“I’m sorry I took it from you, bro. But your leg… it all happened so fast. Do you think it was really possible for her to hold a grudge for so long?” He walked into the house and grabbed one of the daypacks. Trigger gently set Darky down. Taking all the things from Darky’s daypack, he stuffed them into his own. Next, he grabbed all the food they’d left out and put it in the bag. Finally, he grabbed one of the maps and gave it to Darky.
“You’re directing me to the Clinic. I’m awful at directions,” Trigger said. “It looks like we’re here, near Arch Rock.” He helped Darky up and then slung the daypack over his back. “Hop on,” he said, bending down. Darky hopped onto his back again, and the two made their way out of the house.
“Where do I go now?” asked Trigger. There was no answer. “Darky?” A hundred thoughts shot through his head; is Darky dead? His question was answered when he heard a short intake of breath and then a loud, bellowing snore. “Question answered,” he smiled, rolling his eyes.

Mari’s breaths got slower and slower as she watched the two walk away. It was Trigger… Darky never meant me any harm. He even said it, too. What have I done, now? I can’t believe this…
Her one remaining eye was slowly covered by blood as her breathing stopped short.

38 members remaining


7

Boris slumped back in his chair, letting his hair fall back and out of his eyes as he stared up at the faintly lit ceiling of the banquet hall. The voices of members, the clanging of the plates, the movement and all the activity around him seemed so foreign and distant. The whole experience was surreal. Deathspank had posted the update on the front page, prompting a laugh from Boris. For a few days he though about showing up before deciding that it would be funny. As far as he knew he was unwelcome to the site, banned by Sara and her many little “demons.” Despite his hatred for her, he came knowing that a few people had accepted him for the nice guy hidden behind the menace.
The delightful surprise had ended there, as the flight had been long and painful. Even worse was that he’d wasted so much money and time to come to a weekend of awkward glances, small social interaction, and isolation. Everyone seemed to be as surprised as he was that he was there, so whenever he was approached by one of his peers their voice was overcome by an air of “Oh…you’re here?”
And so he sat alone at the banquet; except for the quirky little Asian scribbling on his napkin across the table. Soushirei had been writing and mumbling to himself for most of the night, despite the many members who had attempted to start a conversation with him. To Boris, Soushirei seemed like the kind of person that was extremely popular, but didn’t really have that many friends. Boris sat up straight as the lights from the chandeliers began to burn into his retinas. Staring across the table, he decided to end the awkward silence that hung between them.
“So, er… Soushirei was it? What are you writing about?” Soushirei stopped immediately and jerked his head up to look at Boris.
“Oh… it’s really nothing. I’m just chronicling the night, I suppose. Sitting here in this room, everyone enjoying themselves; I just though it’d be a nice thing to write about. A good atmosphere like this is always good inspiration.” Soushirei faked a smile and looked back down at the napkin.
Boris was surprised by the complexity of the answer. He had expected an, “Oh…nothing, I-oh look, my shoelace is untied…” as Soushirei bent forward and stealthily slunk away. As hard as it was to believe, the tactic had been tried on him once before that night.
“So, you like to write then?” Boris said, hoping to stem more conversation.
“Yeah, I’m trying to become a professional author, actually. At least…that’s what I’m going to school for. I’m not sure what major yet, though. It’s going to be journalism or poetry, though. Unfortunately, this trip set me back quite a bit so I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford to go to school next year.” Boris smiled at the joke. He opened his mouth to speak, but Soushirei continued before he could make a sound. “All this…” Soushirei looked around the hall, “…It’s really just the beginning.” He grabbed the napkin and crumpled it up. “I’m going to become famous, I’m going to leave this world knowing that I made a difference, or at least wrote a good book.” He laughed at his own statement. “And when I die, it’ll be for a good reason. I’ll make sure of that.”
Boris’s jawed dropped a few millimeters. If this experience had been awkward before, then this was purely ridiculous. It wasn’t everyday that he heard a personal monologue from someone he’d only just met. Soushirei looked around a little bit, embarrassed at Boris’s reaction. He grabbed another napkin and started scribbling on it. Boris noticed his reaction and attempted to salvage the conversation before it was lost to the calamity of the night.
“That’s…um…that’s really-” Boris said, raising his voice a little. Soushirei had kept his head down while Boris had started talking. Did he hear me?
“Soushirei… hello?” Boris stood up as Soushirei’s head fell forward into his plate of food. “Soushirei!?” Boris looked around frantically for some form of help, but everyone else seemed to be succumbing to sleep like Soushirei just had. Everyone around him seemed dead to the world. Some had their heads in their plates. Others had fallen out of their chairs. Several seemed to have collapsed during a trip around the room.
Boris took a step to walk around the table and try to wake Soushirei, but as soon as the bottom of his foot met the marble floors vertigo set in. The room seemed to be spinning like he was in some cheesy rip-off of the tornado scene from the Wizard of Oz. Every movement was dramatic; the chandeliers that had set such a wonderful ambiance became smudges of light surrounded by blurry orbs. Boris stumbled a bit as he tried to step forward. Blinking the clouds away to make sure they were real, he walked up to the podium.
Boris screamed as he dropped to his knees. Footsteps approached behind him. He tried to turn his head, aware of the booming sounds coming his way, but found it too much of a struggle. Falling to the floor, he turned and faced the ceiling. A man walked over to Boris, and as the man came into focus a gun and a gasmask were clearly visible. The man removed his mask to reveal an older teen, bags under his eyes.
“There obviously isn’t enough…” the boy said, smiling. The last thing Boris remembered seeing was the butt of the man’s gun fly into the side of his head.

Boris swung with all his might, smashing the rock into the lock of the shed, listening as the click of the lock was followed by a thud on the ground directly below. After nearly an hour of lock picking, smashing, throwing, yelling, and one quick, short break to cry a little, Boris had opened the lock. Hiding in the shed was his only real chance at survival. His weapon, a roll of toilet paper, was NOT going to get him very far in a game of cat and mouse.
Boris ran from the school, into the woods, and over a hill before finding a back yard to what seemed like a massive mansion. Running into the shadows and leaning against a wall, Boris took a few minutes to catch his breath and take in the surroundings. Several yards away was a blue shed with a large metal lock keeping the door tightly shut. Boris sighed and bent down to open his duffel bag. The loaf of bread, although stale looking, turned out to be far more like a rock then he’d expected. Boris bit down and yelped, immediately wishing he had knocked on it first. Boris spit blood from his mouth and reached further into the duffel bag, finding his map and a pencil. Boris ripped off a corner of the map and wadded it up into a ball before pressing it into the gap where he had cut his lip. Boris reached even further into the duffel bag and pulled out a roll of toilet paper.
“Well…I suppose they aren’t entirely cruel.” Boris said to himself, trying to find some sort of bright side to this horrible situation. Boris set the roll of toilet paper to the side before reaching into the duffle bag one more time. Pulling out nothing, he once again reached inside in an attempt to find his weapon. “That’s it!? Where’s my weapon!?” Boris yelled, turning the duffel bag inside out. Boris looked through the set of necessities he’d already pulled out, hoping he’d pulled out an AK-47 and mistook it for a bottle of water. Tragically, there was nothing deadly nor dangerous that might help him survive an encounter with another member. Then Muffin’s words hit him. She had never said anything about toilet paper…
“This can’t be my weapon… honestly. No way. This… this piece of crap is my weapon? Is this a joke? Dammit!” Boris grabbed the roll and chucked it in what he thought was the direction of the school. “**** you!” Boris yelled, sliding his back against the wall, and finally breaking down behind the mansion under the sea of stars. They looked down mockingly at him, free to watch him sulk and sob. As the chandeliers of the banquet hall had blurred with his weary eyes, the stars too blurred by the tears that swelled and ran down his cheeks.
After a few hours of sobbing, an idea hit Boris - the shed, on this island at this time, wouldn’t be locked unless it had something inside it that the members could use to gain an unfair advantage. Boris’ state of mind had dwindled to that of a frightened toddler in the past few hours, and he wasn’t exactly the most physically fit member of the forum. Boris knew the only way to win this game was to attack and kill, and he couldn’t stomach something like that. He decided to defend and die alone. The shed, whatever it had inside it, would be a nice place to hide away.
Hours later Boris hopped in front of the open door to the shed. He calmed himself down and regained the small amount of composure he’d managed to hold on to since stepping out of the school. Boris’s joy was cut short as the disappointment set in. Through the dust and the musty smell, Boris could make out the shapes on the floor; a roll of string, a garden shovel, a pen, and a coil of steel rope.
Boris smashed his fist against the wall in frustration. “Ridiculous! How could I be so stupid? It was just a locked shed. No big deal. God, I’m such an idiot!”
“Hello? Who’s there?”
Boris heard the call from a few yards away, outside the shed. He flattened himself against the wall, hiding as much as his protruding belly would allow. He heard the person approach the shed, their thudding footsteps so loud and heavy. The only thing louder was the beating of Boris’s heart.
“W-Who’s there?” the voice quivered. Boris heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, the footsteps growing in volume with the voice.
“You’re probably just hearing things, man. It’s really stressful, you can’t trust anyone, mind playing tricks, not gonna die, not gonna die here, that type of stuff, y’know? You got it, man.” However insane Boris had become, he knew that he was nowhere near as crazy as the boy outside.
The footsteps finally started getting quieter. Boris could tell that the person had slowly started to walk away, content with the fact that his outburst was nothing more then an audible illusion caused by the situation he was in. Boris relaxed a bit, sitting down in the shed.
“That was way too close…” Boris whispered to himself. He brought his knees close to his stomach and wrapped his arms around them, letting his head fall back against the wall of the shed. The shed wall was cracked in places and light shined in through the gaps in the boards, illuminating the room and the dust inside. Boris looked back at the floor, recounting the items inside.
“Face it, dude… you’re not safe here. Then again, nowhere is safe here... I’ve got to team up with someone, escape this damn island, or dig a hole and sit in it until I die.” Stop talking to yourself, man. You don’t want to sound like a nut job. Just start out easy. Grab the items in here, and set off for some other place. It’s better than this musty shed, that’s for sure.
Boris grabbed his duffel bag and the items in the shed, sprinting as fast as his stubby legs could go. He threw his brain into overdrive, thinking about every possible way to survive with what he’d been given. Boris grabbed the pen and ripped off a square of toilet paper, making a list of what he had to do.

1. No one likes you. Anyone who sees you will probably try to kill you, or will run away thinking you want to kill them. Avoid contact.

2. You have no real weapons, so fighting is out of the question. The deadliest thing you have is a garden shovel, and maybe a pen. Both could be used for stabbing, but if someone has a gun then you’re screwed. You could also dig using the shovel. The string can be used for traps, if needed.

3. Consider danger zones before finding a spot. Try to find a dense place to hide. It lowers the chances of people finding you, and Monkey will be less likely to announce it as a danger zones if it’s just you inside of it.


Boris settled into a spot on the north side of the forest, far away from any form of civilization, and got to work. Using his list, he came up with a plan, and then set it to work. He dug a hole in the ground at the base of a tree, and used all the string as a make-shift security system. He tied the strings to many different trees and set up a large perimeter of criss-crossing strings, a complex spider web that all led back to Boris in his little hole. At the center of the string-trap, Boris tied bits of paper on all the strings, which were taught enough so that if someone touched one from 30 yards away, Boris could see the string wiggle from where he was. The bits of toilet paper made it easier to tell the strings apart. Boris wrote the cardinal directions on the pieces of paper, so that if he saw a string move, he’d know which way to run in order to escape. After it was all said and done, Boris rested in the hole and stared up at the net of strings above his head.
Whatever came his way, Boris would be able to escape and survive till the end of the final day. And when the 3rd day came, Boris would find some way to overcome the exploding collars.
He himself did not know where this sudden confidence and drive had come from, but it may have been the passerby near the mansion. Maybe Boris knew he wasn’t the only one who felt like he was going insane, or maybe it was Soushirei’s words from the night before: “When I die, it’ll be for a good reason, I’ll make sure of that.”
If that mumbling little Asian across the table could have such a strong will, so could Boris, and that’s all Boris needed to survive. He didn’t have such a huge cult following on the internet because he cut his mouth on bread and cried because a lock wouldn’t open, it was that he was a strong-willed leader, and one who knew how to get the job done. He was smart and cunning and he would persevere. I just can’t die here.
These inspirational thoughts could have been written on Hallmark cards, mostly because Boris kept repeating them in his head, and each time they seemed to grow more poetic. Boris spent then next few hours in his little hole, studying the topography of the map, thinking about other ways he could use the materials he had for survival. For some strange reason he couldn’t figure out anything to do with the steel rope; the only thing he could come up with would be that he could use it to start fires, but it was the middle of summer and the night before had been perfectly fine temperature wise. He concluded that he’d just keep it close to him in case he had to make a quick escape.
Through all this deep thought he almost didn’t notice the south-east string wiggle around, the toilet paper strip bouncing up and down above his head. Despite his newfound confidence and comfort in his traps, he had not become any less cautious. His head snapped up from the map. The second he saw a movement of white, he leapt out of the hole like a spring, grabbing the duffel bag, and began running in the opposite direction.
Boris had only been running for a few seconds before he heard a gunshot and saw a hole appear in a tree to his left. Woodchips and bark splintered to the forest floor, leaving of cloud of dust hovering in their wake. A gun?!
Another bullet narrowly missed Boris, sending a shower of sparks flying from a tree to his right. Wait - I’ll run between the trees so that he can’t shoot me. It’s so easy! It’ll just leave more trees for the bullet to penetrate, and then…well, I hope I can come up with something good.
His plan failed - Boris had forgotten to take into account his massive weight and lack of athletic ability. The person behind him was faster then he was, and swerving in between trees while his opponent ran in a straight line was not helping. The closer Boris’s pursuer got, the better his aim. Boris had only been using his swerving method for about 15 seconds before a bullet flew under his ear. He felt the air and the heat of it for only a second, but the running blood he felt far longer. Boris didn’t know if he’d been shot or if his eardrum had been split by the sonic speed of the bullet. Keep going, man. You can still run, so you’re still alive.
Boris looked back for the first time to see who was chasing him, but he only got a glimpse of a short-spiky haired boy before he had the wind knocked out of him.
Boris was delirious for a few seconds, the world spinning around him. Through his blurry vision, the light that shined through the canopy of leaves far above his head looked like chandeliers, stars, and the cracks in the wall of the shed. Looking up, he saw a large, oak tree standing erect in front of him.
The lights were blacked out by a dark figure, panting furiously.
“I’ve finally caught you, you quick little fat-ass,” quipped the figure. It leaned over and grabbed Boris by the collar. “I’ve been tracking you for hours. Thankfully, you left a trail of string to follow.” The figure lifted Boris up, but the affect was lost when the skinny figure struggled to bring Boris’s face closer to his. As the face came into focus, Boris finally made out who the spiky-haired boy was.
“S-Soushirei? What the hell are you doing?”
“Killing you before you kill me!” Soushirei yelled. Boris could feel drops of spit hit his face. Even through his blurry vision he could see that the pupils of Soushirei’s eyes were far too small to be healthy.
“Soushirei, what are you talking about. I would never kill anyone!”
“Then who were you yelling at in the shed? What was that banging? Why do you have dried blood all over your shirt?!” Soushirei shouted frantically, pointing at the gash in Boris’s mouth. “I cut my-” A sudden realization hit Boris.
“You were the one that walked past the shed, weren’t you?” he asked. Soushirei’s grip seemed to be loosening as he struggled to keep Boris’s weight up. “You were the one who was mumbling, the one wh-”
Soushirei dropped Boris altogether, stopping him halfway through his sentence.
“Stop changing the subject! Who did you hurt?! Who did you kill?!”
Soushirei stood tall and pointed the gun at Boris’s head. Boris acted quickly and rolled to the side, accidentally throwing his weight into Soushirei’s left leg. As Soushirei pulled on the trigger he lost his balance and fell over. The two scrambled to their feet and were now face to face with each other.
“Who did you kill, Boris? Who was it? Were you the one who killed Rikku? Or did you murder someone else that they’ve yet to announce?” Soushirei rambled, pointing the gun at Boris. Boris’s hands were raised in defense as if ready to slap away an oncoming bullet.
“Soushirei, what’s wrong with you? Are you crazy, man?!” Boris screamed the word “crazy” as Soushirei pulled the trigger again. Boris dived behind a tree to his left, dodging the bullet and tripping over a root. Soushirei swung around the tree, the gun still pointed at Boris’s head.
“I… am not… crazy,” he seethed, his words slow and loud for emphasis, his face contorting and twitching as he spoke each word. “I’m just doing what I need to do to survive! I won’t die here because of your blood lust! I won’t die!!”
Boris scrambled to his feet once more and grabbed the steel rope at his waist. He’d stored the 30 foot long cable in one of his belt loops. Boris threw one end of it at Soushirei’s face as he fired another shot at Boris. This time, the bullet grazed his left shoulder, setting Boris off balance. He fell back but regained his stance, ignoring the sharp pain cutting through his arm. He ran around to the opposite side of the tree to hide from Soushirei while he was distracted by the cable whip.
“Oh, real smart Boris! A steel rope will kill me, no problem at all! Too bad I dodged it, huh?”
Soushirei began to mumble his threats as Boris left his sight, a large tree between them. Boris could hear crackling leaves as Soushirei slowly stepped around the tree, He realized that his ear drum had indeed been popped, and with only one good ear he couldn’t figure out the direction from which the crackling was coming from. Boris didn’t know which way to run to keep around the tree - which way to run to get away from Soushirei. It was down to luck. Either he ran one way and evaded Soushirei for a few more seconds, or he ran another and came face to face with him, dying at the hands of the insane, trigger-happy Asian.
Boris went right. And to his luck he found that Soushirei had gone right as well, Boris had postponed his death. All he could hear was the crackling of leaves; all he could see in front of him was the trunk of a tree and the head of his steel rope on the ground. An idea popped into Boris’s head and he looked down at his belt. The steel rope was still there, trailing around the tree, from his belt, around Soushirei, and leading to the end he saw before him. Boris grabbed the rope on the forest floor and pulled hard and fast. The wire released a humming sound as it snapped around the tree, Soushirei on the other side.
“Boris, what’re you-”
Boris could hear Soushirei’s yell, feel him struggling on the other side of the tree to free himself. He pushed his back against the tree and tightened his grip on the steel rope, pulling harder.
“Please…”
Boris couldn’t say a word; all his force was channeled into pulling on the rope.
“Please… it’s so…”
Boris pulled tighter as Soushirei’s movements began to get weaker and weaker.
“Boris, this hurts. It…it hurts. Stop, please!”
Boris could hear Soushirei’s voice weakening.
“Man…please l-let go. It hurts. I…can’t die here. Can’t…” Boris gave one final tug on the rope. He heard something crack, followed by a short thud.
He tied a knot in the steel rope to keep Soushirei in place. He let go of the newly-knotted rope and began to walk around to the other side of the tree. Rounding the tree trunk, he gasped.
Soushirei was dead and tied to the tree, the steel rope pressed tightly against his broken neck and hands. A thick red line was smeared across his crushed windpipe. His eyes looked wide and shocked, bugging from his head.
Boris fell to his knees at Soushirei’s body, teardrops falling to the forest floor. He couldn’t find his own words, so he simply cried. Nothing described his shock or lack of thought. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and the whole surreal experience left him staring up at Soushirei’s lifeless face, the look of fear and terror in his wide eyes, his nostrils flared, and his mouth filled with a purple, swelled tongue.
Boris kneeled and wept for a long time, wondering what to do. He’d taken a life, albeit it being a game of murder. Minutes passed like hours as he wept at the base of Soushirei’s body. Sadly, Boris knew he only had so much time to cry. He needed to get up and move on. Boris looked down at the base of the tree and spotted the gun. He had a weapon now.
He grabbed the pistol and stood up, putting it in his back pocket. Boris took the rest of the steel rope out of his belt loops and left it at Soushirei’s feet. Picking up the duffel bag, Boris tried to come up with a new plan. Offense was an option now, and he had come to the conclusion that it was his only option. Defense had gotten him no where, and he couldn’t survive until the third day unless he was the only one alive.
Offense - it’s the only way to survive. You know it, man. You’ve got the best weapon of all, too.
He slowly looked down at the gun in his hand. This is it. You’ve secretly wanted this. Stop weeping for Soushirei. The game is on.
Boris stood silent, checking the area around him. A smile slowly spread across his face. You’ve got it. You’ve got it! You’ve finally got it! He wasn’t going to play games with himself anymore. He turned and faced Soushirei’s dead body, pointing the gun at it. Aim…
“Bang,” he said monotonously, lifting up the gun as if he had fired a bullet.
Game over.

37 members remaining


8

Ryuuga cried into his hands. He was choking through his tears, trying his best to breathe. It was the middle of the day on a Sunday, and he had just watched three people get brutally murdered. One of the deaths had been an accident, the other an act of revenge, but both were equally sick to Ryuuga. The other was brought on by the threatening of someone’s life, and it had ended in a sick and disturbing way.
In the outside world, all heads were turned towards the IYAP, which was being broadcast live via every television channel in the world. Countries had turned their heads in America’s direction. Russia’s nuclear missiles were all aimed at the US. There were riots in the streets. People had gathered in city lots to watch the game on giant televisions. The world had fallen into chaos. No one had seen the IYAP coming. It was cruel and awful. Almost fifteen percent of America’s armed forces were stationed around Mackinac Island to stop people from disrupting the game.
Ryuuga turned his head away from the television and ran into the bathroom. Bending over, he slowly vomited into the toilet. Standing up, he flushed it and looked at himself in the mirror. It was as if he himself was playing the game; his hair was matted and his eyes were red and wet. Despite these awkward feelings, he couldn’t help but watch the game. The whole world was reacting the same way.
Walking back into the living room, Ryuuga saw March of the Dogs with his eyes closed, leaning back against the couch. March of the Dogs was best friends with Roxas, and Ryuuga knew them both well. This game brought him and March of the Dogs closer, but it wasn’t for the better. The cost of becoming better friends was losing another. Ryuuga slumped down into his chair and stared at March of the Dogs. He opened his eyes and looked at Ryuuga.
“My mouth is so dry,” he mumbled. Standing up, he staggered into the kitchen for a glass of water. Minutes later, he walked back in and sat back down in the couch. “I can’t believe this,” he said to Ryuuga. “Look at this… we know these people. Well, sort of… but that’s beside the point. We’ve conversed with them, and now we’re watching them die.”
“Yeah…” Ryuuga half-heartedly responded, lost for words. “You know, Nate… I don’t wanna watch this. It’s awful. But, knowing these people… I can’t help but feel that I’m meant to be watching it.” The two sat in silence, unable to say anything else. On the TV, Trigger was walking away with Darky on his back. The camera changed, and Vivi was shown for the first time. He checked over his shoulder, peering around for any outsiders. Slowly, he inched towards a house. Checking over his shoulder one last time, he quickly opened the door and then slammed it shut behind him.

The house was quiet, but the sun lit up its darkest corners well. Vivi could see the house perfectly. It was a quaint thing, with small rooms, antique items, and wooden furniture. The smell of cat lingered throughout the air. Everything was covered in dust. It was as if the place had not been touched by human hands for centuries.
Instinctively, Vivi checked all the rooms around the house. Despite each room being empty each time he looked, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he found that no one was there.
Minutes later, he was filling up an empty water bottle with fresh water from a well. The water smelled rank; a metallic tang filtered through raw egg. Thankfully, the water tasted fine. Vivi sat back against the wall and began to sip the water.
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it, Vivi?” he asked himself. “Look at that bright, blue sky. Not a cloud in sight, is there? Oh, there goes a pretty bird!” He laughed at his own life commentary. He knew that he wasn’t going insane; he was just amusing himself as the first day dragged on. It was eventless for him, and he wished it would be so for the rest of his time on the island.
“Hey, what is that?” he asked to no one in particular. “It’s a bug!” Vivi knelt down to the ground, peering at a small ladybug perched on a blade of grass. “Hello, Jeremy. Can I call you Jeremy? Well, you are a lady. I suppose I’ll call you Jemima. Fair enough? I sure think so.” The ladybug flew to a different blade of grass. “Going shopping, are you? What are you going to buy? If I could, I’d buy you a nice towel so you could keep free of all this annoying dirt.”
Vivi sat back and stared at the sky again. “God dammit,” he sighed. “What am I doing here…?” His thoughts ran wild as he slumped towards the ground. Why did I even go to that KH-Vids convention? The site’s gone downhill for ages. And it cost me a year of friggin’ allowance. God job, man! Dammit, this really sucks. Here I am on my deathbed, and my killer will most likely be someone I met on the internet. Aren’t I cool? But, what if I could fight back? I’d kill someone if I had to. In fact, I wouldn’t mind winning this game. I kind of wish I had a better weapon than this, though…
Vivi reached behind his back and grabbed the paper fan that was clipped to his belt. Its edges rippled in the soft breeze, clattering against each other. Oh, lord. With a wind like that, this thing’s going to rip. He clipped it back onto his belt and stood up. His long hair blew wildly about in the wind that was only getting stronger and stronger.
If someone attacks me, I’ve made a short list of what I’ll do. If I have to fight, I’m sure I can kill the person. Of course, if they’re a trained warrior, I’m ****ed, but I don’t think that applies to anyone from KH-Vids. And if I kill enough people, I can go home. Another option is to run like hell, but that’s only if I’m in an encounter with one of those warriors. I guess I could try and make negotiations, but that’ll probably just end up in tears, blood, and missing limbs. Oh, yeah, I don’t have to attack. I guess I could just die on my own by hiding out until the three day limit came around. But what about those danger zones? Man, I’m just a guinea pig in this neo-aged disaster.
Vivi stopped walking. Oh, ****. I better not walk into one of those. He ran back towards the house, slamming open the back door and running inside. Through a small hallway was an equally small kitchen, which he quickly entered and grabbed his daypack. Fishing around, he pulled out his map. My god!
Vivi had been steps away from entering a danger zone. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed the white line that was painted across the ground. Looking out the window, he noticed that the danger zone began at a thick line of bushes and trees. The line was invisible beneath them.
Seconds away from death, Vivi jumps from its jaws and lands in a safety net craftily planted by yours truly! He smiled at his own thoughts and jumped a little, dropping his map onto the floor.
“Lame.”
Vivi jumped at the voice, not only because of its surprising entry but its flat tone. He turned around to see Hissora standing there, staring at him with steely eyes. Her reason for being there was clear. In her right hand she held a giant meat cleaver.
“Hissora?” he asked, surprised. She replied, “Yes, you stupid boy. Do I look like anyone else?” Vivi stumbled over his words. “Um, well…” She lunged at him with the knife.

The TV screen turned to static. March of the Dogs and Ryuuga had screamed when Hissora had jumped at Vivi, but it was over now. The television simply showed white and black static bouncing from corner to corner. Ryuuga’s speakers whined with a droning noise.
“What the hell just happened?” asked March of the Dogs.
His question was answered: the static turned to a pitch black screen.
May 5th, 2008
The words appeared in bold, white letters. More quickly followed.
Broadcast Feed… LIVE.
Exchanging network addresses…
Connection Found.
LIVE… 5…4…
3…2…1…
“Hello, America. Possibly even the western hemisphere. Nah, I’ll give the whole world a chance! My name is Devin. As you can tell by my voice, I am a girl. To my right, your left, of course, is the dead body of Freddie. On my left is George, but we like to call him the Whistle Blower. No, you can’t see us. Of course you can’t. But you can hear us, and that’s enough. Wait, Tom, take off the lens cap.”
There was some fuddling with something, and then three silhouettes came into view. The middle one was sitting in a chair. Their faces were indistinguishable in the shadows. In bold, white text, the website address www.jumpingrooftops.co.nr appeared.
“What the hell is going on?” asked March of the Dogs.
“Our name is Jumping Rooftops. Most of you have heard of us. For a while now, we’ve peacefully staged protests, despite the government’s best efforts to make it look otherwise. It’s different, now. You’re all watching it, we know you are. We were too. Deep within the internet, there is a website called KH-Vids. Members of this community are now killing each other. Jumping Rooftops won’t stand for this.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Ryuuga said. “They’re on the news a lot. They don’t seem like they do anything wrong…”
“So now, we’re taking action. It won’t be long before your skyscrapers are gone, and your president’s head is buried beneath the ruins of a city. The world is ours, now. You may not walk into the streets and shout your support for Jumping Rooftops, but you know that the IYAP is wrong. Visit our website at the bottom of this screen, and show us your support. It won’t be long before-”
Connection Failed.
The screen returned to static. The last thing to fade out was the website address, www.jumpingrooftops.co.nr.
“Ryuuga…” Nathan said calmly, half in awe. “Get your computer, man. Get it right now.”

37 members remaining


9

“I decided to call it quits. I’m sorry, but she didn’t give me head once, even after 15 months of dating! It just got boring. Even if I had wanted to take it to the next level, she would have called bullshit on me. I’m glad I got rid of her, in the end. Do you think it was a good choice?”
“Well,” replied Darkandroid, “Did you ever talk to her about it?” RvR sat there, silent.
“Er… no,” he said. “Maybe I should have. Maybe she would have done something if I had just asked her. That could have been the ticket to, you know.”
“That would have been one awkward conversation.”
“And an awkward blowjob.”
They wanted to laugh. They really did, but it was uncalled for in the current situation. The two had been walking since they had met up, which was not long after they left the school.
“So tell me about one of your girls,” RvR smiled. “I’ve heard stories that you and Mish met in real life, hmm? Anything… saucy happen?” A smile cracked on Darkandroid’s face. He shuffled his feet, falling slightly behind RvR.
“You naughty *******,” he replied. “And no, nothing happened. We sort of went out for lunch.”
“Did you pay for it?”
“Yeah, I paid for it. Why?”
“So it was a date!”
“No, no, not at all. I was just being… I dunno, polite? Hostly? Is hostly even a word?”
“I dunno,” RvR shrugged. “Hostly, as in, an adjective to describe ones act to that similar or synonymous with host?”
“I suppose…”
“That’s great though, dude. I mean, you took the Mish out. She’s the most beloved girl on the whole site. As lame as it is, you lived many a members’ dream.”
“I know I did, and I really don’t think much of it. We met, ate lunch, spent the day together, then she left. It was kind of sad when she had to go. I felt like we really connected.”
“A romantic connection?”
“I’m not sure, RvR. I mean, I want to say it was romantic, but it’s too hard to call. For one, she’s way out of my league. She is so much more attractive in real life than those pictures on the internet. It blew my mind! I was stunned for a few seconds, but quickly pulled my act together. Didn’t want to come off as a creeper or anything like that.”
“I probably would have screamed and jumped up and down,” RvR said flatly.
“Exactly. That’s the creeper thing I was just talking about,” blurted Darkandroid. RvR grinned.
“Darkandroid, I believe you and her connected on that fateful day. I don’t know much about it, but I bet you two just wanted to ram each other like no tomorrow. And there’s pretty much no tomorrow now. Maybe you should look out for her?”
“Are you saying we go find her?” asked Darkandroid. He paused to think about the situation. Deep inside, he really wanted to find and meet Mish, but he wasn’t about to let these feelings slip to RvR.
“It’s your choice,” RvR replied. Darkandroid had no answer.
Silent, the pair edged towards the crest of a hill. Their shins rustled through the flowerbed perched on top of it, the daisies listing rhythmically. The sun’s rays illuminated a shiny, massive object at the bottom of the hill. RvR, shielding his eyes, asked, “What the hell is that?” A cloud hovered in front of the sun. Momentarily, the giant object became visible in the shade. It took several seconds to register in the eyes of RvR and Darkandroid, but they both knew that what they were looking at was unmistakable; a gas station with a two-car garage lay at the bottom of the hill.
At the same time, the two both said, “Woah.”
“Wait…” Darkandroid quickly followed, “What if… what if there’s candy inside?!”
“And gas, and soda, and energy drinks!”
“And a gun to protect the cashier?”
“And magazines!”
“A-And Porn!”
“I have you for that.”
“Oh, sorry.”
The two cheered and ran down the hill towards the gas station. It was massive, its shadows cast meters past the edge of the road it was connected to. A small, tin-roofed two-car garage was connected to the quick shop. Four gas-filling machines stood erect, just taller than the two boys. Forgetting the environment, they ran up to the front doors of the gas station. Darkandroid grabbed the doors. Pulling on them, they held tight. He shook them several times before sighing and letting his hands down.
“That was to be expected,” RvR mentioned, putting his hands on his hips. “It would be pretty stupid of them to not lock the doors - especially when it’s full of such goodies!”
“Let’s break it open, then,” suggested Darkandroid. Looking around, he spotted a wooden crate a short distance off. Walking over to it, he pulled out a few wooden planks, rusty nails, and stacks of paper. He lifted it up and carried it over to RvR.
“You grab that side, and I’ll lift up this one. Then, we charge at the glass.”
“Dude, wouldn’t the wooden planks work bet-”
“Charge!”
Darkandroid lunged at the glass doors with the crate, pulling RvR along. The crate connected with the glass frame, shattering the glass instantly. Dropping the crate, Darkandroid dusted off his hands before pulling it away.
“Easy,” he said, “Although a little less noise would have been nice.”
RvR was the first to run in. He quickly ransacked a shelf of candy bars before finding a cabinet full of Monster Energy drinks. Ripping out a can, he smashed it open on a countertop and began to down it.
“This is so invigorating!”
Darkandroid served himself an ICEE from the ice machine, guzzling it instantly. He ran down several isles, eyeing cookies, chips, drinks, candy, and chocolate. His taste buds began to water, saliva dripping from his lips. He licked them as he stared at a pack of Oreos dangling from a shelf. I’ve always loved Oreos. Oh, yes, Oreos, come here. He grabbed the pack and ripped it open, pouring the Oreos into his mouth.
“This place is heaven!” he shouted, raising his arms. “We are so lucky right now, dude!”
“Yes, quite lucky, at least if you ignore the fact that we’ll probably be dead in 3 days!” responded RvR despite the six bags of chips clenched between his teeth.
Grabbing an armful of sodas each, the two boys crossed over to the tables placed conveniently next to an in-store Subway. “Do you want to just stay here for the rest of the game?” asked Darkandroid. “We can just sit here, basking in the glory of our find. A Subway, man, and all this pop and snacks, it’s just so amazing. I mean, look at it all! YES! This is paradise!”
“This place is perfect,” smiled RvR. “Especially for me, I’m starving right now! That bread was terrible. It tasted like…” RvR’s voice trailed off, his eyes staring straight ahead. They were fixed on something behind Darkandroid.
“W-What is it?” stuttered Darkandroid, afraid to turn around. RvR’s lip began to quiver, his eyes growing wide. “Darkandroid…” he said slowly. “It’s, it’s…” Darkandroid cautiously began to turn around. He half expected the nozzle of a .45 to be pointing between his eyes.
“CAR KEYS!” RvR sprang up, running past Darkandroid. Darkandroid quickly followed suit. On the table behind them was a set of car keys, presumably left behind in the evacuation of the island. RvR whipped them up, spinning them around his finger.
“This is too perfect,” he grinned. “I mean, all this food, and now a car! This is amazing! Wanna go see if there’s a car in that garage? I do! Yeah! Let’s go drive that car.”
“Dude, let me just grab a drink,” Darkandroid said, turning around and grabbing an unopened Monster. “Alright, I’m ready.”
They walked outside and looked around. The small, two car garage was connected to shopping mart. It had a simple, tin roof, and the door was slightly ajar. “Let’s go check it out,” suggested Darkandroid. They walked over to the garage, peering under the door. It was dark inside, so Darkandroid lifted up the garage door. Light spilled into the garage, illuminating a small Honda Civic.
“Holy ****.”
The car looked untouched. Its paintjob was completely new. It looked as if it hadn’t been driven once. RvR lifted up the car keys and pressed the unlock button, prompting flashing lights and a few beeps from the car.
“Shotgun!” shouted Darkandroid.
“Dude, there’s only two of us here,” laughed RvR. Darkandroid smiled and walked over to the passenger’s seat, opening the door and climbing in. “Wait… you don’t mean to actually drive it, do you? I mean, it’s kind of scary. We’d be the only ones on this island.”
“We might as well!” responded Darkandroid from inside the car. “I mean, this thing is amazing! The seats are so soft. This is going to be hilarious. People will probably hear us driving by. We’ve gotta be careful of danger zones though. It would be pretty lame if we drove into one of those. It’s going to be great. We can go as fast as we want, too.”
RvR reluctantly plopped into the driver’s seat next to him. “It’s kind of creepy,” he mentioned. “I wonder where the other car went. What if we can find that one, too? Then we can race.” He put the car keys into the slot, revving the engine with the gas pedal. “Sweet! This engine rocks. I am so pumped. Was it that energy drink? The candy? Maybe I’m thinking of you and Mish right now. Haha!”
“Alright, let’s go already, ******nozzle,” urged Darkandroid anxiously. RvR put the car into reverse and began to back up. The car slowly exited the garage. Darkandroid watched in his rear view mirror. A trash can was getting dangerously close to the back of the car.
“Um, there’s a…”
Crash!
Trash bags sprawled across the road. Pieces of paper fluttered behind the back window. Darkandroid slowly lifted his head and stared at RvR. “Did you even... take any classes-?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“So, you got into the driver’s seat without any training? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Pretty much,” RvR choked. He wasn’t sure if Darkandroid was actually angry at him or was just being sarcastic.
“Well… I guess I should drive,” Darkandroid said, opening his door. RvR complied, opening his and walking around, handing the keys to Darkandroid. He solemnly sat down in the passenger’s seat. “Dude, what were you thinking?” RvR sat rigid. “Although, I mean, that was pretty funny.” A smile cracked over Darkandroid’s face, and RvR let out a deep breath. Relieved, he smiled back.
“This was my one chance to drive!” he exclaimed. Skillfully, Darkandroid stuck the keys into the ignition, turning on the car. He quickly reversed and then put the car into drive, heading down towards the road.
“Thank god I didn’t let you take it. Looks like we’ll be saying goodbye to this gas station for a little bit. Buckle up, dude. I don’t want you to get hurt or anything. I’m still pumped about this whole driving thing. I mean, seriously… this is so amazing.”
Darkandroid pulled out onto the road and took a right. The two sped past trees and cliffs as they dashed towards the lake side.
“You know, this island really isn’t that big when you’re in a car,” noted RvR. “Just look at it. I mean, it’ll probably take us 10 minutes to get from one side to the other.”
“Well, we are driving along at 90 miles per hour. That could have something to do with it.” They drove past groves of trees. The tips of Fort Mackinac could be seen in the distance.
“Dude…” RvR said softly. “Is that… another car?” He pointed forward. Not far in front of them was another vehicle, driving straight for them. It honked its horn and flashed its headlights. Fear welled up in RvR’s throat. “Who the **** is that, Darkandroid?”
Darkandroid looked out the front window. He saw the car, and his eyes grew wide with fear.
“****!” he exclaimed. He slammed his foot on the brake and turned to the side, pointing his door at the car. The other car flashed its lights again and sped up. “GET DOWN!” screamed RvR, ducking. Darkandroid ducked, awaiting impact. He looked up to see RvR’s eyes wide with terror, his mouth open in shock.
Within a matter of seconds, Darkandroid felt his head fly back and slam into the door. He flew forward and smashed his teeth on the steering wheel. Glass rained upon them, and the car was thrown wildly across the road. It rolled for a few seconds before landing on its wheels. Inside the car, the airbags exploded above the boys as they ducked down. Their seatbelts taught, smoke drifted from the car and up towards the sky. Darkandroid listened as the sound of the engine of the other car slowly faded away.
“Oh my god, oh my god…” RvR said repeatedly, tears streaming down his face. “N-N-No way, oh my god, w-who the hell… no… who the hell was that?”
Darkandroid lifted up his hands in front of his face. Glass shards stuck out of them at all angles, each one covered in blood. Even more blood ran down his arms. The steering wheel had red handprints on it, as did the seatbelt. One of his teeth stuck out of the steering wheel, and pieces of a few more littered the floor.
“This is so bad,” Darkandroid muttered. “This is so bad. I’m so screwed. Who the hell was that? Who the hell was that, man? I can’t believe this. My mind is spinning. My eyes are spotted with white. I’m freaking out right now, dude.” He spoke in a fever. “I’m gonna go check it out. It’s worth it. I can’t believe it. We were just driving. Why would someone do this? My god…”
Darkandroid tried to open his door, but it was stuck. He finally sat back and kicked the door open with his legs. The door had a massive dent in it, which gleamed in the sunlight as the door flew back. Pieces of its window fell to the cement like icicles, shattering loudly upon impact. Darkandroid lumbered out of the car and staggered forward, putting one hand on the door. A few pieces of glass that remained cut into his fingers, and he whipped his hand up, pushing the door back to a closed position.
“You should probably keep that door open, man,” said RvR. “We don’t know when that psycho’s going to come back. You want to get in here, don’t you? Or maybe, get out… that’s a good idea. Then we can run for the hills.” The tears had stopped rolling. The feeling had returned to his leg, and he looked down to see it cut open. Blood poured onto the floor of the car, soaking the carpet. The pain in his leg was nothing compared to Darkandroid’s, who felt as if he had glass sticking out of every part of his body.
RvR looked up and out of the window. Darkandroid was looking in at him, pain smeared across his face. “Dude,” he muttered. “All this ****ing glass… what the hell…?”
“It’s going to be okay,” replied RvR. Darkandroid sounded dazed.
“I don’t think so, man-” Behind Darkandroid, RvR saw the familiar flashing of lights. The car was upon them within seconds. RvR caught a glimpse of the face, but couldn’t tell who it was. “This is so messed up,” Darkandroid murmured. “I’m going to go find-”
RvR screamed as Darkandroid’s sentence was cut short. Blood splattered over the windshield and the chairs. The top half of Darkandroid’s body flew across the car and landed on RvR. Intestines wrapped themselves around the driver’s door as the car crushed Darkandroid’s legs against it. The car flipped again, Darkandroid’s top half tossed around, constantly battering against RvR. RvR screamed and cried as the car rolled endlessly.
The car came to a sudden halt. RvR, bruised and bloodied, screamed and thrashed to get Darkandroid off him.
“This can’t be happening. Oh my god, this can’t be happening. Darkandroid, you have to wake up, man. Mish, she’s out there, she’s waiting for you.” His eyes met those of the headlights of the other car. It was approaching him once again.
Shouting, he ripped off his seatbelt and jumped across to the driver’s seat, the lump in his mouth forcing him to cough and splatter mucus all over the driving wheel. Raising his arm, he tried to wipe the tears from his eyes, but instead wiped blood across his face. Shards of glass impaled his legs and arms, and he screamed wildly as he slammed on the accelerator. The car’s back wheels screeched and moved from side to side.
“No, no, no, no, work, ****ing work you piece of ****! Why is this happening? I don’t know. I don’t know!”
The mysterious car smashed into the back of the Honda Civic. RvR watched as it sped towards a hillside. His head was thrown back and he felt as if his neck snapped. Looking forward, the hill approached all too quickly and the car was thrown over the edge.
“My god, no, no-” His vision went black.
The car, no longer recognizable, slammed into a boulder at the bottom of the hill.

Minutes later, Boris stepped from his van and stared down the hill. He could no longer see the car that RvR was in through the thick trees, but black smoke was filtering through the treetops not far in front of him. A smile slowly spread across his face as he threw his own car keys down the hill towards the black smoke.
“Useless van,” he muttered. “Couldn’t take the two out in one hit…”
He stuffed one hand into his pocket, the other holding the gun, and began to walk in the direction of the gas station.

36 members remaining


10

“Lame.”
Vivi jumped and whirled around to see Hissora standing behind him with the knife.
“Hissora?” he asked. “Yes,” she replied. “Stupid boy, who else do I look like?”
The knife slashed towards his face. He ducked and spun to the side and the knife slammed into the kitchen counter. It crunched into the wood and stuck.
“Hissora, is this a joke?” he asked. Hissora’s hair fell down into her face. From underneath the hair, he heard a barely audible “no.” He slowly asked, “Then what’s wrong with you?”
She roared and grabbed the knife, tearing it from the counter. Vivi screamed and dodged to the side as she came charging at him. He had seconds to decide on two escape routes - the stairs, or outside.
Alright, alright, key into your senses now. Look around… what’s best? Outside? Upstairs? Holy **** she’s coming right at me. Go outside!
Vivi scrambled outside, tripping onto the grass. His face smashed into the dirt, bruising the cartilage in his nose. Groaning, he turned towards the sky. The sun was dancing circles around his head. Hissora’s face appeared in front of his, staring down at him.
Vivi couldn’t help but feel a slight tinge of nostalgia in his situation. A cricket bat popped into his head, but he had no reason why. His thoughts were interrupted when Hissora spoke, “Vivi, you’ve gone quite insane.”
“You’ve gone insane, Hissora!” he shouted back. The words were amplified in his head, but the pain from before was subsiding. “I was just hanging on my own back there. You could have just avoided me.”
Hissora just laughed. “Oh, you’re so wrong,” she said. “You see, I am not insane. I want to play this game. You are the insane one, for not wanting to go out and kill others. Don’t you want to live? Don’t you realize that sitting around doing nothing will just get you killed?”
“You’re really spelling it out for me,” he grunted, rolling to the side. Hissora was surprised but didn’t flinch, and stabbed at him again. Vivi tripped as he was getting up, and the knife cut into his forearm. Forgetting the pain, he ran towards the house and feel against the wall. Hissora slowly approached him, a silhouette in the sun.
“You look kinda pathetic,” she said, tilting her head. It crept Vivi out; the casual tone to her voice, the way her hair fell down one side of her body, the lack of features on her face due to the bright sun in the sky above, the corners of her mouth barely visible but bending upwards into a disturbing, maniacal grin. Leaning against the brick wall, he pushed upward with his legs. The cut in his arm had drained a lot of energy out of him in such a short space, and his back scraped against the hard, choppy rock.
Vivi grabbed his arm, feeling blood trickle between his fingers. Hissora began walking towards him. He half-fell to the side and lurched forward, trying to keep balance with his weakening legs. Pain began to seep into his consciousness as he realized that he was about to faint.
You faint and you die. She’ll chop you into tiny bits if you don’t get out of here. Vivi stumbled towards the forest, Hissora slowly walking behind him.
“You’ve got your back turned,” she laughed. “I’ll stab you in the spine and rip it out.” Vivi ignored this and continued to walk, trying to pick up the pace. One of his legs bent and collapsed underneath him, and he went down with it. Please help me, lord. I can’t take this anymore. I don’t want to die with no spine!
He turned around and saw Hissora looming over him. “Pathetic,” she repeated before falling onto her knees. She was straddling him now, pinning him to the ground. “Look at that wound,” she continued. “It won’t be long until you faint. But until then…”
Hissora slowly leaned her face towards his. Her hair brushed against his skin, tingling but slightly itchy. Vivi’s eyes panned across her face, seeking emotions, but there was only one he could find.
Attraction.
He tried to smack her off him, but she held his arms down as her lips edged closer to his. “No, no,” he said, turning her head, but she pressed her lips onto his, locking him in place. The backyard of the house went eerily silent; the wind stopped, the birds shut up, and Vivi could have sworn he heard the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
She kissed him once, then again, moving her lips over his continuously. He was holding his breath, unable to take another one as she unromantically stuck her tongue into his mouth. Sweat began to trickle down his forehead. Her thighs and crotch were pressing against his own where she was sitting on him, his heart racing to keep the blood flow steady in his penis, her body forcing the blood to a place he didn’t want it to go. A new fear shot through his head as he realized that the worst was yet to come.
Summoning all his energy, Vivi managed to free his good arm from Hissora’s grasp. As a man, he didn’t want to do it; as a boy, he knew it would save his life, and he whipped his arm up and smacked Hissora across the face. Without making a noise, her head flew back and stopped as her back straightened. Her hair fell across her face once again, and Vivi couldn’t see the expression on it.
You can get out of this, man. You can-
Hissora screamed and lifted up the knife. She thrust it towards Vivi’s face. Her arm came down swiftly through the air, the point of the blade poised to spear Vivi’s exposed flesh. He closed his eyes and screamed.

It was a late night for Vivi, who was five hours ahead of most of KH-Vids. He was talking to Cin on an instant messenger service, trying to pass the time until he got tired enough to slip into bed and actually fall asleep.
A new window popped up on his computer screen. It was from Hissora. He clicked the flashing orange tab and the box opened onto the screen.
“Hiya!”
Vivi smiled and replied, “Hey, Hissora. What’s up?”
“Oh… just something.” This piqued Vivi’s interest. He told Cin he’d be back in a minute and then went back to the conversation with Hissora.
“Are you going to tell me what that is?” he asked her. She replied, “It’s a secret. Do you promise you can keep a secret?”
Vivi was extremely interested at this point, and said, “Yeah, of course I can. Now please tell me!” She didn’t reply for about five minutes. Songs played through Vivi’s speakers as he sat staring at the screen in front of him. He knew what she was going to say. He’d suspected it for awhile.
“I… I think I love you. And I want to start dating.”
Vivi sighed and put his head into his hands. He liked Hissora a lot, but he wasn’t keen on the on-line dating thing at all. At the same time, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he replied, “Hissora, you know how I feel about the whole on-line dating thing. It’s just not going to happen. I’m really sorry.”
It didn’t take long for Hissora to reply, “Craig! Please, let’s just try this…”
“My friends will think I’m a loser. My parents will, too. Even I’ll feel a little sorry for myself. It’s not happening.” He felt bad about saying it so bluntly, but it had to be done.
“Vivi, are you calling me a loser? Come on, please! You don’t have to tell anyone. It can be a secret that we only know!” As Vivi read this, he sighed again. He didn’t really know what to say back to her.
“Well…” he began, “…I don’t want to do it. I really like you, but I don’t know you. People are different on the internet than they are in real life. Someone’s on-line username could simply be a persona that they hide behind. It might not be the real them, and when you truly get to know them, it’s not what you expected. I’m sorry, but I’m saying no.”
Hissora quickly retaliated, “Vivi, I see how you really think of me now. It’s very clear. You think I’m a loser. You probably think I’m some stupid loser who sits on the computer all day. But this tiny conversation has showed me a small snippet of who you really are, and it’s someone I don’t want to get to know any more than I already do.”
Hissora signed off then, and she never logged back on.

Vivi’s eyes closed, he could feel the blade coming towards his face. He didn’t know its target, whether it would be a cheek, his eye, his forehead, or his neck, but he wanted it to be over quickly and painlessly.
Bang!
The loud noise surprised Vivi, and he opened his eyes in shock. Above him, Hissora was flying backwards, something spraying from her head. It looked black, its color hidden by the sun directly behind it as it flew through the air. Blood streaked down Hissora’s head and pink goo scattered across the ground.
Her body collapsed to the floor on the side, and Vivi sharply inhaled, scooting backwards. His eyes were wide with fear as Hissora’s dead corpse rolled to the side. He looked to the right, where the shot had come from. A figure stood holding a gun, and as the smoke cleared Vivi saw an unmistakable face.
“Deathspank?”
The creator of KH-Vids himself stepped from the tree line, putting the gun away.
Deathspank put his hands into his pockets as he walked over. He removed a hand from his pocket and held it out to Vivi. Still shocked, Vivi precariously took Deathspank’s hand and stood up.
“Um… thanks,” Vivi said, rubbing the back of his head. He looked over at Hissora’s dead body lying face down in the grass.
“Don’t throw up on me,” Deathspank said, “But that is pretty revolting. I kind of want to get away from that body. Let’s get out of here before it starts to stink.”
Vivi followed Deathspank, still dazed.
“Deathspank… you just shot her like that, and you’re cool with it? You’re acting so… calm.”
“No, I’m not cool with it at all. I want to cry.”
“Are you being serious?”
Deathspank missed a step. “I suppose I am being serious. I just don’t want to cry in front of you. She’s dead, from one of my bullets. It’s my fault. But I saved your life, and she was going to kill you, and this is all so ****ed up, and I just… she’s dead. Because of me. I want to forget it, Vivi.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “But isn’t it justifiable if I’m saving you? She looked like an absolute nut job, making out with you, then she was going to kill you, and I just raised the gun, closed my eyes and fired… and I wanted to act cool with it, in front of you. Impressive, I suppose.”
He looked back at Vivi. “This game, this pressure, this whole situation, it just made my decisions for me, and I lifted up that gun and pulled the trigger. I hate myself for it.” The tears were coming faster now. “But it’s this ****ed up game. It’s all so ****ed up. Why am I telling you this? I’ve never talked to you before. But I guess I saved your life. I’m not sure. I took another to save yours. Maybe, maybe she wasn’t even going to kill you!”
Deathspank collapsed to his knees. “What have I done?” he cried.
“Don’t say that,” comforted Vivi, sitting down next to Deathspank. “I think you did the right thing. She was insane. I guess it was the game that affected her as well, but I don’t know… you saved me though, man. Thanks for that.”
“I killed someone. Took their ****ing life. It’s not right.”
“It was hardly your choice, dude…” Vivi felt like the dad consoling his lost son. He didn’t really know what to say to Deathspank that could cheer him up.
“Hello kids! Don’t be so sad, the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day to be killing each other!”
The voice echoed throughout the yard, and it took Vivi a second to realize that it was one of Monkey’s announcements.
“It must be noon,” mentioned Deathspank, whose crying had subsided.
“It’s time for my next announcement, as you may have guessed,” Monkey said. “I’ll start with the danger zones. It’s not too bad; I’ll be nice to you and only give you two. First is B-6, A-1, and E-2. Cross them off on your maps! Now, there are quite a few more dead people since the 6 A.M. announcement. You’ve all been very busy, I see. The first to die since my last announcement was Mari. Shortly following her was Soushirei, and after him Darkandroid. Finally, Hissora was killed just minutes ago. There 35 of you remaining, so if you want to win this game then you better get to work before the three days are up! This is Monkey…”

“…signing out.”
Laurence turned her head and stared at Jade. They were sitting over a bowl of plain rice, which had been preserved in barrels inside the hotel.
“Four more killed,” Jade murmured. “It’s so sad.”
Rosey walked in. “Girls,” she said. “We really need help in here…”
The two got up and followed her into the living room. CtR was in tears on the floor. “Why did Hissora have to die?!” she wailed. As Jade went over to hug CtR, Laurence ran passed her and wrapped her arms around CtR’s neck.
“Oh, it’s going to be okay,” Laurence said. “We’re all sad she’s dead, but there’s nothing we can do now.”
“But we could have done something!” CtR cried. “We’re all just sitting here doing nothing, while our friends are out there dying!” CtR pointed down the hallway towards the kitchen. Laurence hugged her even tighter and smiled.
“Please calm down, CtR. You’re so worked up over this, and it’s very hard for everyone but like I said before, we can’t do anything for her now. She’s gone, and we should respect her death by building the bomb and, you know…”
Jade looked away in distaste. She should have been the one comforting CtR, but Laurence had pushed her out of the way. It had spoiled her lunch, too.
“You’ll be okay,” Madi said, getting up from the couch. “Once we destroy the school and we all escape, it’ll be so much better.” CtR began to quiet down, crying less.
“Well,” CtR sniffled, “I suppose you two are right. Let’s get back to work.”
It was Jade’s job to sort the chemicals into different piles. Bags, barrels, and crates of chemicals lay strewn about the floor. She had to make sure none got mixed up with the others, or else it would stop the bomb from working properly.
She felt like she had been in this job for weeks before. She slaved over the chemicals, bored, sorting them, wiping her forehead, sorting more chemicals, wiping her hands, sorting more chemicals, sulfur here, gun powder there, wondering why charcoal was part of the job if she was sorting “chemicals.” It was her last three days on Earth, and she was sorting powder into piles based on color.
“Hey, Jade, we need to talk.”
Jade slowly turned her head to see Laurence standing at the doorway, smiling. She quickly smiled back, putting down a small sifter and walking over. The smell of sulfur trailed behind her as she leaned against the wall next to Laurence.
“You made a great breakfast this morning,” congratulated Laurence, patting Jade on the head. Jade laughed, “Oh, it was nothing. I’d actually never made pancakes and… well, pancakes and rice before.”
“Yeah… the thing is, don’t do it again. We need to save the rice for lunch and dinner. Got it?” All friendliness had left Laurence’s voice. Jade was taken aback.
“Sure…” she muttered, looking past Laurence. “Okay…”
“Good,” Laurence said, turning and walking away. Jade kept staring straight ahead. What is her problem? She… she hates me. She thinks I want to sabotage this bomb or something. Kill everyone. I don’t, but she’s just so mean. I was the one who was supposed to help out, not you, Laurence. You didn’t cook the breakfast either, you *****. I wanted to try something new. Next time, you can take your pancake and shove it up your-
“Madi, do you need help?”
Rosey was standing in front of her. She blinked several times before shaking her head and staring at Rosey. “Are… you okay?” Rosey asked.
“I think I’m fine,” Jade said. “I feel fine. So I guess I am fine.”
“Good,” Rosey grinned. “Now let’s get this sorting out done before dinner.”
Jade nodded, turning around. Rosey entered the room, turning and slowly closing the door behind her.

35 members remaining


11

May 5th, 2008

est. 2:30 A.M.

I don’t know what the date is. It could be the 4th, a Saturday. The banquet was on a Friday night, and they took our bodies somewhere. I’m going to guess the 5th, a Sunday, since it would be impossible for them to take our bodies from California to Michigan in about 4 hours. It might be possible. But I doubt it.
I have taken refuge in an abandoned house, although the whole island seems abandoned. You may be wondering who I am. If you’re reading these notes, then you’re one lucky person. My name is Diego, but I go by the name of NRA on KH-Vids. It’s not my job to tell the person that finds my body, presumably dead, to publish this diary over the next three days, but I think they should.
I would.
Writing is always something I have liked to do. I even have an internet blog, and I try to update it every day. Not to sound bigheaded, but I feel like the days of journal writing then will help me out immensely now. It’s kind of sad to know that that on-line blog thing, which all my friends read, is going to rest forgotten.
No, I’m not going to play this game. You wouldn’t. It’s terrible. When I got into this room, I could see the video cameras in the corners. I broke them. No one on the outside is going to know what happened to me apart from what is read in these journals. That’s why they must be published. In a book. On the internet. I don’t know. Just do it. If you have any heart at all, you’ll do it.
I had a girlfriend. Her name was Beverly. That relationship was a rollercoaster ride, havoc around every turn. I got through it. We got through it, Beverly. I know that you and I had a lot of mishaps along the way, but you’d sit there and listen. I’ll admit that I was attracted to you by your appearance, but you would just listen to me, and reply. You were so smart.
It sucks for me, though, girl. I want to be holding you right now. Like when we watched There Will Be Blood. Three hours of people staring off into the distance. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention. I was kind of making sure I cuddled you the right way.
And that time you took me to that sightseeing spot over the city. We sat there and listened to Beautiful Morning With You by the Pillows, and we made love. It was amazing, and although we hadn’t gone out for long, I felt like I knew you more than I knew myself. If only I could see you one more time before I die.
It’s pathetic, really.
Monkey from KHInsider explained all the rules of this game to us. The collars. The danger zones. Half of it went over my head. If this house doesn’t become a danger zone, then I’ll stay here forever.
If only you were here. Forever.
I ran from the school with my bag, into the forest, and crouched down beneath the trees. It was kind of scary. Now, I feel fine. I’m sitting in this completely locked up house and all the blinds are already shut. No problems there. But in the forest I felt vulnerable. I opened up my bag and saw that my weapon was an Automatic Pistol.
Is that lucky?
I have it tucked away now. I hope I don’t have to use it. At least, not on anyone else.
Maybe myself, though. It’s not a big deal to me. When I first pulled it out of my bag, suicide was the first thing that came to mind. I will not play this game at all. You guys know me. I would never do it. You know I wouldn’t.
Would I, Beverly?
So I ran to this house and came inside. I smashed every camera except for the ones in the basement. There is a basement, but I’m not going down there in the middle of the night. Hell no. I know it sounds silly, but I’m still afraid of the closet in this room.
How the hell am I supposed to sleep? I guess, as I’ve been writing I’ve been sinking into a more comfortable mindset. I’m going to try to sleep now. If I can’t sleep, I’ll write a bit more.

May 5th, 2008

7:00 A.M.

It’s about 7 AM I believe. Wanna know how I know? Well, if you’re watching the cameras then I guess you’d know about Monkey’s announcements. Also, if you didn’t notice, I definitely fell asleep when I crawled into bed. Not my intention, but whatever.
Monkey’s barking announcement woke me up about an hour ago. I fell out of bed, bewildered for a moment. I forgot about this whole IYAP ****. After unwrapping myself from blue bed covers twisted around me, I pulled my pants on and walked downstairs.
Beverly and I made love about two nights ago.
You, Beverly. You… and me. I dreamt about it, not the love part, but the song, everything about the moment, the moon, the view, the stars…
Now it’s just a Beautiful Morning Without You.
I’m making pancakes right now. They kind of look like fat cows. Ugly ones. Is that right? I’m definitely doing something wrong. I mean, come on, cows. Not that it matters at this point. I’ve already given up. But this is a document of my survival.
A document of my fall.
This place has a shower, but I’m too scared to turn it on. Ever seen the movie Psycho? Now that I’ve seen it, every time I turn my head and see that shower curtain I piss myself. It’s okay though. I’m in the shower.
If anything, the shower would be a lot more helpful for my mind than for my body. I feel clean. But my mind, the thoughts, and the random things I want to write down, they’re not clean at all.
Okay, sorry, I kind of forgot my train of thought there. The pancakes started to burn. So what was I talking about? Oh, whatever.
Rikku’s dead. I never really knew her. Actually, I barely knew her. It’s sad that she’s dead, but I’m not going to cry about it. I don’t want to ruin the paper, anyway.
The gun, it’s still there. I’m not going to forget about it at all. It’s almost as if it’s festering at the back of my mind, and it won’t go away, and I need it there, and without it I’ll feel lost, and alone, and scared, and trapped in this hell-hole of a situation. It’s the bear trap I’ll always have placed at the front door, the bucket of acid on the bedroom door that falls on my enemy’s head when they open it, the Home Alone style bowling ball that flies and hits them in the face as they walk upstairs.
Yeah.

May 5th, 2008

est. 10:00 A.M.

Didn’t honestly think it would be this boring. Seriously.
I guess I’ll tell you a little bit about my website. All my friends knew about it. It was just a blog, a diary of sorts. I don’t like to call it a diary though. It sounds kind of fruity.
So my friends would go and read about my life. Of course, I didn’t tell them everything. Not all of it was meant for their ears.
I’m sitting on the toilet right now. Sorry to go totally off-topic on you. That’s what these things are about though. My situation. My thoughts. My mind. And my mind is always thinking of Beverly.
That would be you, my love. I cried over my cow pancakes at breakfast. I’ll never see you again. But… but my voice will reach you through these journals. This ****ing tragedy will reach your eyes, your ears, you will see it, you will hear it, as if I am there, but I won’t be. Not physically.
I’m going to wrap this up now. There are too many tears getting on these pages.

35 members remaining

 

I read these two chapters already D:<
Give me something new hoe D:<

GO NRA! KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!

btw, I liked it when I read it before everybody else :D

 

So it was finally posted it in public :3.

Anyway I enjoy reading it so far, and I must say I loled at my intro xD

 

Mm... Another KHV Royale story. Of course I'm going to be reading this one. [copy, paste into wordpad, edits grammar mistakes]

[coughawwnoLAXInternaltionalAirportcough]

For some reason. I wanna make a PDF downloadable version XD (If anyone wants it)

 

Hmm, I feel there shall be some foreshadowing from the first chapter, if I had to guess I'd say there shall be som conflict between me and DS, since he said I was harmless looking, anyone else got any theories?

 

=D

Roxas, you son of a *****, how are you such a god damn great writer?

I lol'ed at Madi's part and at GX's becuase of how brief and stuff it was.
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"Element was Misty’s best friend. She was short and skinny, with dark skin and long, black hair. Compared to the rest of the girls in the room she looked frail. "


LIES.
I can beat the crap out of you. :D

*formally know as Element*

 

Much love to NRA for pointing me in KHVR's direction. :'3

I love the gay banter I had with Roxas. xD oh and everything else. Please to be posting moar soon.

 

Lol. Already read it, but still really great xD *thumbs up* Love how you make the charactors come alive :3

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*stickies*

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Great work as always.

All I can say is bring on the next chapter. =D

 

OMG LIEK ROXAZ I CAN HAZ UR AUTOGRAPH?


This is some awesome sh!t, man.
Keep it up, I'm looking forward to it.

 

I loved the first chapters Roxas, even if you've given me them before... I can't wait for the next chapters. I hope there's a death or something in the next one, just to kick things off. I want more chapters now!

And to reply to Vivi, about theorizing, I think it's too hard to make any solid theories right now. I'm thinking Roxas will end up in the final few since he's writing it though.

 

Eh, not so sure about Roxas being in the final few. He killed himself off about halfway through the last one, so I don't think the fact that he's writing it is going to effect when he decides to make his character die. I hope there is something between Vivi and DS, that would be VERY entertaining.
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Well, I'm not as involved as I'd like to be. (The couple mentions of "Nathan" in chapter 0, I'm Nathan) It's still a pretty decent story. I look forward to the rest.

EDIT: About theorizing, I wrote the first paragraph, so I tried to set up some potential confrontations with the limited writing space I had.

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I also know who kills Roxas.

 

The camera angle changed, and a muscular black boy walked up behind her. A small duffel bag was draped over his shoulder, and he removed it and handed it to Muffin. “Thanks, Ghettoxemnas!â€

"If I don't do nuthin' I'ma ball! Countin' all day like the clock on the wall, so go n' get ya' money lil' duffle bag boy! Yeah go n' get ya' money lil' duffle bag boy!" xD

I may not have appeared much, but I liked my little part. Keep up the good work Roxas.

 

Thanks alot, now I know he's going to die >_>

I loved your into more than mine xDDD

For the record, I'm older than most of the people on that list. Roxas thought I was 13 or something. And I don't sniffle, I have never been able to cry or sniffle >_>

 

[cough] I followed through on that PDF thing I wanted to do...



Dunno if I'll post it up or not but if anyone wants it...Sure, I'll be willing to.

Gosh... I do odd things when I'm bored. X]

 

That's what posting in white text is for.

I kind of already figured he'd die, though, it'd be weird if he made himself win.
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It's awright...

NAH! I kid, this rocks!

When will the next chapter (or chapters) be posted Cin?

AND THE MANGA! When will that see the light of day?

 

*raises hand* I know when the next chapter is!

The next chapter will be posted on monday.

IDK about the manga though, probably whatever's on the schedule..

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