Part 3 - Day One, 0:00 to 6:00

Line up, in any order. Take your bags which are labelled with your name, and leave.

I shall be in contact with you at 6am. Your transistor radios will be activated automatically.

May the best potential Good Citizen emerge victorious.

... and don't forget, smile for the cameras!

As soon as Harvey barked at the students to form an orderly line, Park almost pulled Kyo's arm off to be at the front of the queue.

"This way," he whispered to the little Japanese, clinging grimly onto the other boy's hand,"We get a head start on everybody else and no-one can attack us while we leave. I know theseguys are supposed to be our friends, but..." and he shrugged helplessly, giving his new friend a look, the meaning of which was pretty obvious.

"When we get clear of the building, just run, OK? I know I'm probably a bit quicker than you, but I'll keep my speed down a bit. Just - just don't let go of my hand at any point..." and he gave the other boy a different look then; one of pure fear.

As they grabbed their bags and slung them across their backs, Park felt his stomach tense up in knots. This wasn't a dream, this was really for real. They were all going to die at the hands of each other - partly for their perceived "crimes against the Regime", but also for the bastard TV channel's entertainment ratings. The thought sickened the Korean to his
stomach. They never televised any other BR, to the best of his knowledge... only the stinking British would do something so tasteless, so brutal...

The tears stung Park's eyelids again and he became hyper-aware of the weight of the vicious metal collar around his neck, booby-trapped with poison and loaded with hi-res TV cameras, so that even if the kids decided to spend the last few moments of their lives happily, maybe f**ing each other's brains out or shooting drugs or whatever, it was all going to be
splashed all over the TV as a justification for their deaths. He knew better than to try and fiddle with it or else... or else he would go the same way as the Warner kid, and the very thought sent an icy chill down his spine.

The adrenaline rush of the truth finally sinking in made Park feel slightly dizzy, but tensed and ready to get running, just like before a big race... and in a lot of ways, this was no different. Park often thought that if it hadn't been for the fact that he was a born track star (and idolised by the rest of the school team, at that) he would have probably had the shit beaten out of him every single day of his life. He couldn't help his effeminacy, it was something he'd always had in his behaviour even before he'd realised (and accepted) that he was only attracted to other boys. His skills had saved him so far... but did he really know if his sexuality was generally accepted, or whether in this situation, it would be held against him?

As the heavily barred door creaked open, dragged apart by several armed soldiers, Park and Kyo each took a deep breath; Park's hand squeezed Kyo's hard; and they took off, running as fast as they could out of the long glass-walled corridor, blindly away, following the line of the main road, not knowing - or caring - in which direction they were going, their chests heaving and their hearts thundering.

After a solid fifteen minutes of running, and seeing how badly Kyo was suffering, Park pulled back and slowed down to a walk. Clearly the other boy was suffering from a stitch, and they were still following the main road, slightly too open for Park's liking, but heading into the town; more and more houses and buildings were appearing the further they went.

"Are you OK, babe?" Park said softly, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he stopped completely. Kyo was doubled over, out of breath and grimacing, but he nodded, wheezing an 'I'm OK' out enough for the Korean to hear. Park was glad to see they were going in the right direction, as far as he was concerned: there would be houses to hide in, maybe things which they could use to defend themselves with, even spare food...

Ami thought about what Hannelore had said. She was sure that what had happened to her had something to do with 'Harvey's friend', shaking her hair out of her face she stood up. 'If she wanted to tell me she would.' she thought. 'I guess I'll go with her, its not like I would really have anyone elses to go with.....and like she said, noone can make it alone.....only one of us can make it fullstop.' She shook that thought away.

She smiled at Hannelore and nodded. "Ich werde mit dir kommen." She laughed slightly, then used the chopsticks she still had in her hand to pull her slightly dirty, auburn hair back into a loose bun. it wasn't the neatest bun, but then again it didn't need to be.

She walked over to where the bags were, and found both her own and Hannelore's. Contamplating the dilemma she now found herself in, she turned to the German girl. "Ich kann deine Tasche tragen, aber ich kann nicht beide tragen und dich stuetzen. Kannst do laufen?"

---

Translations:
"I'll come with you"
"I kann carry your bag, but I can't carry both bags and support you. Can you walk?"

As the small group of three students watched the retreating backs of Park and Bukiyo running away at top speed, they too grabbed their backpacks, and set out from the HQ - not quite as quickly as the first two students, but still at a fairly brisk pace.

Ryuji, in particular, felt that planning which route they should take - instead of just running without thought of where they should be heading - was a better idea, so he dug around in his pack and eventually found two maps. One was a road map, outlining most of the smaller routes in the area; the other was less detailed, but showed a wider picture of the region. Both were marked with places of interest.

But the last thing Ryu wanted to do was to follow Park and Bukiyo. He knew Kyo didn't have an ounce of harm in him - and really Park was a soft-hearted kid too, despite all his bravado and his occasionally short temper - so he didn't want them to think the three of them were stalking them.

Ryu studied the larger map closely, and eventually sighed and held it out so Jennifer and Rei could see it, pointing out a possible route. "I think we should head in the direction of the old sand pit. Look, there's a farm right next door to it, if nothing else we can maybe find some machinery or weapons there. What do you think? It says there's a concrete works too. Perhaps a factory might be a good hideout for us..."

Rei shrugged listlessly, constantly checking over her shoulder to make sure no-one was following them. She lifted her pack a little higher up her back; it was heavy, and hurt her shoulders a little. "You're the boss, Ryu. Seems like a good idea to me - it's not too far, and really I wanna get this pack off, maybe find something to eat... there might be something at that farm for us..."

Really, what Rei had in the back of her mind was: what kind of weapon might we be able to find there? An old clay-pigeon shooting gun? A chainsaw? Axes? Even agricultural machinery could be dismantled for its blades.

Rei had made up her mind: she was not going without a fight. And she would defend Ryu and Jen, of course she would - even if Ryu would be more interested in defending the pretty Swedish girl than her - but at the same time, she was drawing up a little mental list of her most hated enemies... and thinking that they'd better be watching out for themselves.

"What do you think, Jen?" Ryu asked softly. Being so close to her made him blush, made him feel a bit shaky, but he tried to concentrate on leading them all to safety.

Hannelore was grateful. She'd thought with the other pupils of the Institute she'd burned her bridges many times over.

She was sure though, after all these months, she'd be a target. She really hoped in her bag there was enough just at least to defend herself. Right now, her first priority would be to find a large, stout branch which she could break off and use to support herself as she walked.

She tried to raise herself. "SCHEISSE!" she yelled, as the pain from her right ankle radiated up her leg. She looked down at the source of the pain: the ankle was swollen, but bruised, and for the first time she hoped it may not be broken.

As Amy walked over to the bags, she took a few tentative steps. Sure, she could hobble, but it was excruciating and slow.

"Ami - i kann schon laufn, aber mit Schwierigkeit und langsam. Komm, gib' mir die Tasche. I hab' meene eigne hier, und i will was in der neuen stelln."

She took the items from her school bag and transferred them into the rather plain dark blue BR bag, with her name stencilled on the front.

"Ami, i nehm' meine Tasche mit, aber danke. Du brauchst mir nicht zu helfen - aber i will dich begleitn, wenn das geht. I muass was findn, um mich zu stuetzen. Gehn wir?"

Hannelore staggered as quickly as she could towards the door. What more tricks did Harvey have up his sleeve for her?

As she and Ami left the school and emerged into the carpark, Hannelore spotted some darkness to her left, unilluminated by the streetlights. She reckoned it must be undeveloped land, and therefore cover. She desperately wanted a branch or something to help support herself, and she didn't want to have to rely on Ami all this time.

"I need a walking stick. I want to head over there, see if there's trees there. Then, how about the chemical works? Might find something useful there."

----------------

Ami - I can walk, but with difficulty and slowly. Look, give me the bag. I've got my own one here, and I want to put something in the new one.

Ami, I'll take my bag with me, but thanks. You don't need to help me, but I'd like to come with you, if that's OK. I need to find something to support me. Shall we go?

Leon snapped his fingers to get Paul's attention. He gestured to the door. let's get the hell outta here Leon figured it was better to leave as near the front of the pack as possible and a worrying number of students had left already. Leon picked up his bag and hefted it. It felt reassuringly heavy. he hoped beyond all else there was a gun in there. Even better would be a rifle. Once he had one of those, Leon felt sure he could pick off anyone who came within 200 metres of him with ease. His main concern was the fact that the game rules stipulated only one survivor. They needed to get away and hatch a plan.....fast!

Another concern was the possiblity of getting seperated. The announcements were gonna be made by radio?!? thanks a f*cking bunch(!) He'd need to stick to Paul like glue. The Courtneys as a team again, just like before.

His last, and probably biggest concern was the fact they were in a strange town and neither of them knew how to read maps!

Paul grabbed his bag. It was pretty light. hell, I guess it's a blessing in the long run Paul had concerns too. he had noticed the look that stick-thin Japanese girl had given him. Didn't she used to have a thing for Leon? Paul grinned, that was his shield right there.

There was still some cause for worry though, Paul knew he had basically painted a big target on his back. He had treated quite a few of the students like sh*t. This game would give some of the ballsier ones to get even, all they needed was to find a decent weapon to even the odds.

Paul shook his head to clear the negativity, it wasn't helping anyone. Ah hell with it, he'd just have to find something bigger. And even if he didn't, his dad had taught him some useful "DIY tips"
First step should be to put as much distance between the brothers and this building as possible. Then they could figure out just where the f*ck they were in this sh*tty little town.

The brothers stepped from the building and ran for some cover where they could sort their plan of action..

Devon watched the others leave with a heavy heart-- he was alone now and had probably isolated himself from the only friends he'd known since he was forced into The Harvey.

As each student grabbed their things and ran from the building, some in terror, others with an obvious instinct to survive he waited.

Until the room was empty of pupils and he listlessly got to his feet, plastering a hopeful smile onto his lips. Maybe he could do some good here-- maybe.

Retrieving his skateboard he took the last bag and slung it over his free shoulder, dropping the board to the floor he sped out into the town.

His faith in the others not to give in to this ridiculous game was not absolute, but for now he chose only to pass them by on the road, sharing fleeting glances, until finally he was out of sight.

About half of the students had left when Hans decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He got up, grabbed his bag and took one last look at the room before heading out. At the moment, he figured it’d be best to stay away from the city and decided to head south, while trying to find the maps in his bag. He pulled out three pieces of papers. The first one was definitely not a map, it was a pamphlet. “So you’re going to die,” he read out loud and frowned. Talk about tasteless… He shook his head and put it back in the bag, not giving it another thought.
The street map pointed out a hospital in the south. Hopefully it would have walls and a roof, which was all he needed at the moment. At least, it’s a lot safer than running around in the open, while figuring out what to do. At the hospital he could sit back and, kind of, relax while planning his next move… assuming nothing comes up.

Delilah watched a fed up boy sulking in the corner of the room and eventually grew tired of his stoic determination to be the last to leave. Poor pathetic creatures, he probably believed he could help somehow-- an empty gesture and one mistake she'd be happy to correct.

Snatching Sylvain's hand she pulled him to barge into the orderly queue and gathered up their bags quickly, before leading the slightly awe-struck kid outside with one final chilling smile to the other players.

With a feline grace only hampered by Sylvain's prescence Delilah shot into the nearest cover to discover if she'd been favoured by the hands of fate in this battle. With or without a decent weapon she would win, in her mind there was no doubt.

Kyo gulped down a couple more lungfuls of air and then straightened up, glancing round nervously, until his fear drove him to grab Park's arm, clinging to him like a lost child.

"Where do we go?? I don't want-to-die-not yet." He shook his head furiously, feeling himself going to pieces, but unable to resist the hysteria building in his chest.

Unlike Delilah he hadn't even thought to look in his bag and when Devon flew past on his skatebord he hid behind Park, letting out a sharp yelp.

As soon as the Canadian appeared however, he was gone.

Park didn't really jump when Devon flew by, mainly because he was more concerned with comforting Kyo, who was now beginning to get seriously freaked out, and he knew he had to try and calm the other boy down before he just wigged out and took off.

So the Korean blew out a big, painful sigh, stopped dead and took the little Japanese by the shoulders, looking into the other boy's big, dewy brown eyes streaked with tears, with an intense, dark gaze which was supposed to convey sincerity but actually probably conveyed a great deal more than that.

"Kyo - you're not going to die. I promised you I would protect you, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I want you to go on and win this f***ing thing, to go on and survive. You deserve it more than any of that lot, 'cos you've not done anything wrong..." and he sighed again painfully, squeezing Kyo's shoulders hard.

"Harvey was right in a lot of ways, you know - I don't really deserve a chance, I've done a lot of shitty things in my life. OK, I've never sold myself, I have more pride than that, but I've still been no angel. And now..." and he thought for a moment of how to phrase his messed-up thoughts, "... Now I have a chance to, y'know, make amends. And I'll do anything to keep you safe. Anything at all."

And as he spoke, he moved closer and closer to the other boy, but although he longed to kiss him, their faces only an inch or two apart, he was too unsure of the shy Japanese's reaction, so he waited, hoping for a sign that his romantic advances would be welcomed and not violently rejected. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten Kyo into running off and endangering himself.

However, he didn't count on the other boy's shyness, which meant that hell would freeze over before Kyo would make any kind of first move; so Park merely gave the other boy a hug, and murmured, "Let's get back on the road and pick up the pace a bit. I don't wanna hang round with some of those others behind us... specially that nasty-looking transfer bitch..." and the two boys began walking again, holding hands tightly.

As they continued, across a small roundabout and passing some more derelict school buildings, both of them unnerved by the eerie silence of no people and no traffic, Park suddenly spotted the town's police station, on the other side of the road, and realised that there could be some really useful stuff in there... maybe a baton, or even a firearm of some kind.

"C'mon babe, let's check out what's in there, there might be something we can use as weapons," he said softly, gesturing towards the imposing red-brick buildings, and the two of them went inside.

However, the first thing Park did when he went up to the counter was to take a quick look inside his bag to see if he'd already been blessed with something to defend his crush with...

... and he snorted with offended disgust when he found out quite what his extra item was.

"And they say the items are issued randomly... yeah, right," Park sneered, holding up a pack of Kotex sanitary towels to show to Kyo, before flinging them away over his shoulder. "They weren't supposed to be taking the piss out of me at all, were they," and he sighed again. "What did you get, hon? Whatever it is, I hope it's better than that shit..."

Sylvain was astonished to find himself being dragged along by the hand by this... incredibly beautiful woman. In truth, he was more than a little taken aback, and more than a little flustered at how she seemed to... maybe... like him the same way he liked her. She certainly seemed keen by the way she had latched onto him and flirted with him so easily.

So wordlessly he followed her, the pair of them darting into cover to check the contents of their bags. What Sylvain found in his, though, embarrassed him so much he could barely bring himself to tell the transfer what he'd been gifted with, let alone show it to her. His usually milky-pale face flushed crimson, and he stammered, "Er, I, er, didn't get anything useful at all, sorry," trying desperately to shove the crumpled copy of Horny Housewives Monthly into the bottom of his bag so she wouldn't see it.

But before she could get a chance to cross-examine him on what he had been given, Chloe Karn appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and stood in front of Sylvain and Delilah.

"Huh, you're a f***ing lot of use, aren't you, French freak. I thought you were supposed to be coming with me, not this old slapper here," she sneered, "Don't think I haven't seen the way he looks at me, bitch. He's mine..."

And the shorter girl pulled at Sylvain's arm insistently, almost pulling the slight French boy off his feet. "So f***ing hurry up, Sylvain. Who knows, if you defend me against all those other shitheads I might even let you f**k me..." Poor Sylvain was by now so flummoxed he was shaking, almost being pulled in half by the two girls in a kind of bitchy tug-of-war.

The group of three made their way cross-country to the concrete works and sand pit, Rei keeping a watch on Ryu and Jen from behind in case someone jumped their backs. And when they arrived at the deserted dunes, the three of them took a break to rest their weary legs, before they began investigating their immediate environs. And all three of them checked the contents of their packs, mainly at Rei's insistence.

As Rei checked her own bag, she found that she had been given a weapon: a fairly useless weapon, but a weapon for all that.

"What is this thing? It looks like a whip of some sort," she asked non-plussedly, hefting the black leather handle fringed with long shiny leather thongs to see if it was actually worth keeping.

"I think it's a cat o' nine tails," Ryuji shrugged, "Might help if someone attacked you, but not much I don't think... it's not much of a defense item..."

And he dug in his own bag, which felt too heavy for his liking, only to find that his supplied item was a great big old-fashioned leather-bound book.

"Das Kapital," he read out, his expression one of exasperation, and threw the thing into the small stream they were sitting alongside. "Give the suspected terrorist a Communist treatise, that'd be about right. I think Harvey may have had a hand in what went into whose bag here..."

And he looked hopefully at the pretty blonde next to him, trying to catch her eye, still feeling flustered to have spent so much time with her, before asking, "What did you get, Jen?"

Jennifer dug around in her bag after her extra item. At first she thought they had forgotten to put anything in there and was about to give up when she felt something. She pulled it out and looked at it, a bit disappointed. “What is this?” she asked the other two while holding up a knuckle-duster. Could be good to hit people in the head with (perhaps it could cause some lethal damage?), but she didn’t want to get close enough to anyone to give it a shot. Hopefully they’d find a better weapon around here somewhere. Maybe a firearm... That she knew how to use, the question was if she’d manage to pull the trigger.

Ryu looked at the shiny metal object clasped tightly in Jen's soft palm, and carefully opened her fingers so he could get a better look at it; although he also had the ulterior motive of actually being able to touch her hand for the first time, and that made him feel slightly tongue-tied.

He glanced into her wide blue eyes, and saw neither warmth or irritation there, just a blank, inscrutable stare that made his heart sink a little. Maybe his advances were too shy, or just not obvious enough, or maybe she was deliberately ignoring them - he had no way of telling. But he hoped that his sincere efforts to protect her would maybe - just maybe - soften her heart to him a little.

"It's, er, it's a knuckleduster. Nice one, too. Could do a lot of damage to someone's face with that," he remarked, trying not to stammer, "Definitely, if someone attacked you and they didn't have a gun or anything, you could really knock out a few teeth or break a nose with that thing."

Rei glanced at the heavy bronze object, and thought exactly the same thing; she felt a sudden surge of annoyed jealousy that the Swedish girl not only had a worshipful boy to protect her, but also a really decent weapon too. And that made her feel resentful... this damn princess was getting all the breaks in this stinking game, and ordinary girls like her were getting diddly squat.

She narrowed her shining black eyes, and said nothing, but just watched the other girl closely for awhile.

Paul rifled through his bag with distaste. "Sh*t, I don't think that bastard Harvey's but anything in here!" he spat. A few seconds later he discovered his "prize" a box of matches!

he turned to Leon who was keeping watch. "I think they're taking the piss!" They had already gone through Leon's bag and discovered why it was so heavy. Leon had been lugging around a brick! He had hefted it through the nearest car windscreen and was now travelling light.

"Oh well, at least they're red tips" Paul muttered. There was always some use for matches. Not much good for a weapon though.

He pulled out a leaflet. It was a list of weapons they might stumble across. He indicated the AK-47 "Whoever gets that bad-boy will have the game sewn up. I want it!" Leon scanned the list. He'd prefer something a little more discreet, like that crossbow.

Some of the weapons had clues to their location. Neither the AK or the Crossbow had clues that the brothers could figure out.

Suddenly, Leon smirked. He pointed at the weapon list, and tapped a square on the map.

A few minutes later the boys had re-packed their bags and were headed for the Mill.

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