Part 5 - Day One, 12:00 to 18:00

Good afternoon, my little murderers!

I think I saw some of you a little earlier when I popped out for my little helicopter jaunt. How good it was to see you're still okay. Some of you, anyway.

So, here's who's not playing our game any more, due to the fact they're no longer living. Unfortunate, that, but a fact of life, like taxes.

Anyway:

Student number 2, Svetlana Borimova - Killed by sweet Reiko Abe with a Gatling gun. Congratulations, Reiko, I never thought you had it in you! I'm surprised you had the strength to lift the gun barrel and not shoot your own foot off.

Students numbers 3 and 4, Tobias Clyffe and Will Collins. Killed by Leon and Paul Courtney with a boobytrap and a rifle. And number 9, Rainbow De'Ath, killed really nastily by the boys. Paul, I'm surprised, I thought you were screwing her. You don't think we have CCTV in the store cupboards? Oh well, all's fair in love and war. Everyone, watch out for those two survivors! They look mean, though the footage we're getting here is great.

Student number 13 Anneke Joostens, killed by me, on my air safari. Sorry about that Anneke, it wasn't personal. You're just - sorry, you were just - a little shit no-one'll miss anyway.

Student number 14 Chloe Karn, killed by my little precious Delilah Haddington in the most beautifully bloody way possible. But really, Delilah, your standards are dropping - you're letting the Courtneys beat you in the numbers game. Catch up, girl!

Student number 18 Marriah Moon, killed by Hannelore Wolfsberg-Schmidt. Very stylish, Hannelore, right out of a scene from a movie. It's just a shame it wasn't the other way around.

Student number 19 Anna Morgon, killed by our resident queen Park Lee-soo. Really, Park, you should have been more proud of yourself and not have run off bawling like the little shirt-lifter we know you are. And you can stop trying to pervert Natsume to your disgusting ways.

OK, pens at the ready, here are this period's danger zones: D4, D9. Yes, you heard me right, D9, where most of you are languishing now. You've got ten minutes to get out of there before click... shhhhhhhh... thump. Remember Sam? Don't want to end up like that, do you?

No group zone this period.

Message ends. Keep watching the skies, children.

<click>

Kyo was the only one in a fit enough state to mark the new danger zones off on the maps; Park, on the other hand, just wanted to curl up on the bed in that room and die, just forget about going to group zones or whatever, just stay here and die quietly in his love's arms, and choose not to participate any longer...

But another, tougher part of himself told him not to be so goddamn weak and pathetic, to protect the Japanese boy as he had promised to do. Harvey's hypocritical comments about Park's sexuality just bounced off him: he no longer found them enraging, just a sad and failed attempt to hurt someone who was truly accepting of what they were... even if in his past, he had used and exploited others just to gratify his own lusts.

"I... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Park whispered, "I didn't want to kill anyone... I swear to you. I wanted us to get out of this without having to kill anyone, and now I've got that girl's blood on my hands. I wanted to give up my life for you, not take someone else's. But I couldn't help it...." and he turned his tearful dark eyes pleadingly up to Kyo, "I couldn't help it."

The Korean finally knew the meaning of despair then; he was hungry, exhausted and heartworn, emotionally lost, just wanting to stay in Kyo's embrace forever, feeling ashamed and tortured and somehow stained by Anna Morgon's murder. Yes, he knew it was self-defence: yes, he also knew he would do anything at all to protect Kyo. But it didn't make him feel any better.

His wounded hand was bleeding freely, making a terrible mess of the bedcover and of his own dirty school uniform, and it took Park some minutes before he realised he was getting covered in blood.

"I... I should go see if this place has a shower, some hot water or something, try and stop my hand bleeding," he mumbled, swiping at his wet face, wondering if he ever would truly feel clean again. "Then you should sleep. I can look after you while you're sleeping. You haven't had a moment's rest," and he hugged Kyo to him harder than ever.

Somehow Kyo had found a deep, hidden reserve of strength, and it was pulling Park out of his depression; which at the moment, he was grateful for, because at this rate he'd be less than useless to his love.

However, he was afraid: if people only had ten minutes to leave the zone, wouldn't that mean - wouldn't that mean they would soon be running through here to try and escape?

"D-Delilah," he stammered, "In a few minutes there's gonna be loads of the others running through here!!! They'll kill us immediately if they see us!!!"

And he held the bazooka back out to Dev, cradling Jen's head in his lap carefully. "Help me try and find a way we can all get out of this together...?"

But just as Dev was about to reply, the announcement suddenly blared out of the radio; and in among Harvey's usual insults and the list of the kids who had been killed already by the bastards who had decided to play the game after all, or in self-defence in some few cases, was the information that the square the group were hiding in, D9, had just become a Danger Zone and they had ten minutes to escape!

"SHIT!!!" Reiko screamed, "We've got ten f**king minutes to get the hell out of here!!!" and all was chaos for a few seconds. Rei's first priority, saving the gun, was what she attended to, using all her meagre strength to uproot it and drag it behind her, all but ignoring Ryuji's attempts to lift Jennifer to carry her to safety.

"Dev, please!!! I can't carry Jen by myself... please help us," Ryu begged, trying to lift the dead weight of the unconscious girl over his shoulder and failing: he just didn't have the upper body strength to do it, and panic was setting in.

He couldn't quite believe what he'd just done, but this was such a strange situation, so removed from reality that anything seemed possible. Flustered and blushing he retreated to the nearby bathroom to look for something to bandage Park's wound.

Delilah rolled her eyes, "Not if you stay quiet and keep close to me." To punctuate her point she wrapped her arm around him, smiling reassuringly, "I'll kill anyone who tries to interfere with us." She continued resolutely, gauging his reaction.

Devon closed his eyes, torn between what he knew would be the outcome of teaming up with anyone, even Ryuji, Reiko and Jennifer whom he'd dearly have loved to save from all this, and helping them now.

It took only seconds for his mind to get made up, but he was left with a sinking feeling that he might regret his decision as he dropped his bag and board at Ryu's feet and took Jennifer from him, slinging her over his shoulder with little effort and taking off at top speed.

"Come on then! Reiko-chan, leave it...is a gun worth your life??" He called back, making for the zone's boundary.

Slowly the Korean got up, went into the bathroom, and caught the blushing Japanese boy's arms with both hands. "It's OK, Bukiyo," he said quietly, "I need to wash off all this blood anyhow, no need for you to do this..." and he glanced around, spotting a shower unit in the corner.

"You go rest, maybe find some food for us? I'll take a shower. I don't care if there's only cold water, I - I don't think all of this blood is just mine," and he grimaced painfully, unable to stop his sore eyes welling up again with burning tears. "Go on, I'll be OK..."

When the Japanese boy had gone, Park stripped off his gore-soaked school uniform, still crying, until he was naked save the ugly metal collar around his slender neck. He caught sight of himself in the mirror, realising that these pictures of him in the nude were going to go out on national TV, and not giving a shit about it.

He got the water running in the shower, but of course it was cold - but right now, he wouldn't have cared if it was icy. He just wanted to get the dirty feeling of having the blood of the girl he had killed off his skin, out of his head.

He stepped in, shivering, and scrubbed himself as clean as he could, wincing at the pain of the cool water in his wounded palm. It was so weird, seemed so crazy when he thought about it... almost like it was a normal thing for a half-Asian gay kid to do, break into someone's house and get in their shower after having committed a murder. The water in the shower tray was slowly becoming less pink, and when it ran clear, Park turned off the taps and went to get out...

But before he did, he spotted a dark figure at the bathroom door through the frosted shower screen, and froze. Again, he cursed his own stupidity for not being more watchful... but was glad he'd hung up his gun next to his uniform, on the wall next to the shower unit, within easy reach.

Silently the dripping wet boy retrieved the weapon, counted to three in his head, and then flung the shower door wide open, training his gun on the shadowy figure he'd seen through the frosted glass, shaking like a leaf...

But it was just Kyo, who had been watching him from the doorway, and who leapt backwards in shock. Park dropped his arms, his knees buckled and he fell out of the shower and onto the sleekly carpeted bathroom floor, the gun falling by his side, looking like a drowned rat and crying pitifully again.

"I'm sorry - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I didn't know who it was..."

However, as the pair of them emerged and began to approach the farm, the sound of running footsteps in their general direction alerted the catlike girl, and she shoved Sylvain out of the way as two girls came into view.

Karine Davide, the over-pierced French kid who was possibly the only friend Sylvain had made during his time at the Institute, was clearly injured, bleeding profusely, and was being carried over the shoulder of Lora Cruz, probably the only girl strong enough and butch enough in the entire school to be able to carry another girl single-handedly in a fireman's lift.

"Hey, Sylvain! Can you help us? Ami f**kin' Hodges was in a Land Rover and she nearly ran Karine down on our way here, Karine fell into the f**king river..." Lora called out, staggering slightly under the weight of the wounded girl.

"Of course, here, let me help you there," Sylvain managed, emerging from behind Delilah to try and give the girls some help... but he hadn't counted on quite how the transfer would react in this situation.

Spiteful bastard, she thought, scowling, He's trying to pay me back for not helping him with Princess. But she realised that at least no-one else could use the Gatling gun if it was going to remain in a danger zone, and that eased her concerns a little. They'd just have to find another weapon, that's all.

"Yeah, OK, I'll leave it Dev..." she said, sighing and shrugging her shoulders, "Even if it was our only defence."

Ryuji, however, wasn't thinking anything like what Reiko imagined: he was just too worried about Jen to think straight at all. He was running alongside them, carrying Dev's board and bag in one hand and the bazooka case in the other, until they all made it past the border.

But as they were sitting on the ground at a safe distance from the danger zone border, catching their breath and trying to decide what to do next (particularly since Jen was still out for the count - Dev had gently laid her down and her head was pillowed in Ryu's lap), Ryuji caught sight of a movement, so quick it was nearly invisible, in the bushes next to the spot where they were standing.

He thought he had spotted Hans Krueger there for a moment - whoever it was had blonde hair - but decided not to try and flush the stranger out of the bushes, in case they were better equipped with a weapon than any of them currently were, seeing as how the bazooka was still in its box.

"OK... well, it's up to you guys what happens now. You can either take your chances and try with me to get out of this mess - or you can go it alone," Ryu said very softly, so he wouldn't be overheard by any snooper nearby. "Either way, I'm going to have to walk a very long way - right over to the other side of town," and he pointed to square C1 on his map.

"I have no idea whether my theory will work or not, but there's only one way for me to find out. If you would rather take your chances in some other way, please don't feel like you have to come with me. I can do this alone, particularly with Dev's very kind gift to us, but if I do manage to escape, I would have rather my best friends could have escaped with me," he said plaintively.

"So... it's your decision. But make it now, 'cos I can't afford to wait around here - it's so far to go and the hour is getting late..."

It also didn't escape his notice that Park-- the guy he'd just kissed (in his mind, very brazenly) was utterly naked, still wet from the shower that he'd been caught observing. His head was bowed and his pale shoulders shook with grief, but for a long time Kyo couldn't get past the crippling embarrasment that was making his stomach churn and the aching sensation induced by his impulsive act of voyerism. Despite not having seen anything much until Park jumped out--

Eventually, when he could bear the soft, heart-breaking sounds of Park crying he grabbed a towel from the rail and knelt down, wrapping it round his friend cautiously, " I know, I know....gomenasai...I shouldn't have been there in the first place."

Kyo kept his distance, one hand resting lightly on Park's now covered shoulders.

Delilah eyed both girls warily, the one who was uninjured was no threat to her pet; at least not in 'that' sense anyway, but she looked quite formidable physically and Delilah resented that. Her own slender frame was swift and alluring, but lacked any real clout.

With a contrived smile she watched them, glad that her weapon was safely hidden-- hopefully she could trick the remaining girl into going to sleep and then slit her throat....if not...well a few more human shields never did anyone any harm.

"Sylvain." She called out, annoyed by his fumblings with the unconscious one, "Set her down over here."

As he complied wordlessly the tough-looking girl regarded Delilah with equal animosity. Her expression did however, falter when Delilah began checking the pair for injuries.

For now-- hunting could wait.

Devon shook his head, when it came down to important things he chose and course and stuck it out-- regardless of the results.

"Sorry man...." He gave Ryuji a smile, knowing the Japanese would hate him for this, but he'd already accepted that this place would be his burial ground.

"I'll stay as long as I can okay? But...I only have a few hours..." The meds appeared to be wearing off faster than he could've imagined-- maybe it was the effects of the gas they'd used on the class or just simple lack of regualr dosage, but already he was beginning to feel a strange confliction of thoughts....flitting between utter despair and anger.

Of course-- from the almost nonchalant expression on his face the others wouldn't be able to tell.

"I... I'll go find some bandages for your ankle" she whispered, standing up shakily. Her legs felt like jelly. She couldn't even begin to imagin how Hannelore must be feeling.

Somehow she found her way into the bathroom, gripping the wall to keep herself steady. Looking at herself in the mirror in disgust she quickly washed her face and arms as high up as she could.

"Was there someone near the road, f*** what if I hit someone?" she asked herself as she stared at herself in the mirror. Lost in thought she almost forgot about the girl in the other room. Almost. Remembering with a start. She quickly rummaged around in the cupboard and found some bandages and painkillers. She placed them gently on the sink.

Ami closed the cupboard, and looked in the mirror one more time. She loosened her now very dirty hair and pulled it back again, clearing her mind in the process. After clearing the sink to make sure there was no blood, she picked up the bandages and painkillers and made her way back to Hannelore.

By the time she found her way back into the room Hannelore had climbed out from behind the sofa. Ami knellt down beside her and smiled. "Are you ok?" she whispered as she sat herself gently next to her friend.

He had only realised too late how vulnerable and defenceless he had made himself - naked, no weapon easily to hand - anyone could have just walked in and stabbed him or shot him; and there were plenty of kids who would, too.

He didn't even think to ask himself why Kyo had been standing there in the first place; not while he was still crying, at least. But as the tears abated and he realised how much he was embarrassing Kyo with his nakedness (he had never had to think in this way before: in the past, he had flaunted his body quite shamelessly), he hurriedly removed the towel from his shoulders and wrapped it around his waist.

"I'm so sorry, Kyo... you scared the shit out of me. I thought someone had broken in and was just gonna kill me on the spot. I let my guard down again... I let you down again," Park muttered, pressing his hands to his eyes, but then looked up at the furiously blushing Japanese boy, who was averting his eyes and biting his lower lip.

"And I'm sorry I embarrassed you. Tend not to wear too much in the shower. Perhaps I should have put a shower cap over it before I leapt out like that..."

The little joke wasn't a good one, but it was something. The fact that it elicited no response whatsoever from the other boy raised Park's suspicions: he suddenly realised Kyo was not so embarrassed by seeing his friend naked, but from something else. And it suddenly dawned on him what the other boy had actually been doing out there... and Park was so happy then, his dark eyes wide. It confirmed everything he'd hoped for.

"You... you were watching me in the shower, weren't you?" the Korean said slowly, sitting up a bit more and moving closer to Kyo, putting his arm around his shoulders. "Jesus, Kyo, I - I don't know what to say. That's the best thing I've ever heard, I'm so flattered... please don't be embarrassed. If it had been you in there, I would have brought a camcorder in here!"

But before the Japanese boy had time to reply or even react, there was a sudden crash downstairs and a tinkle of glass which indicated someone was also breaking in here. Both boys were back on red alert, leaping to their feet and finding their guns, their hearts pounding again. They silently padded down the stairs, Park in the front still wet from the shower, Kyo behind, covering his back.

As they reached the bottom storey, they spotted their intruder in the kitchen, pulling out drawers madly - in an attempt to find some kind of knife, it would seem. It was the dorky ginger smartass kid, Gemma Shrap.

Park raised his gun to shoulder level. "Don't move," he said quietly, making her jump and scream, "Or I'll blow your f**king head off. What the f**k do you want?"

She put her hands up, facing both boys, trembling. "I - I - I was looking for something to defend myself with," she wailed, "I couldn't find a weapon anywhere - but then I saw this house, and I found this big knife -"

"How f**king stupid do you think we are, Gemma? How could you have 'just found' probably the only house that had people in it in this whole f**king town?" Park said stonily, dropping his arms as Kyo had his gun trained on her now, angry that she was trying to treat them like morons. But she wasn't one of those in the Institute for violent crime. "You followed us, didn't you," and he sighed heavily.

But before either boy could react, the sly girl had grabbed Park's arm and was now holding him in a surprisingly iron grip from behind, her knife to his throat. She had moved so startlingly quickly that Kyo simply hadn't had time to see it coming. Park cried out as the sharp knife drew a tiny drop of blood from his throat.

"Yeah, I followed you, you f**king freak," she hissed, "You corrupted my Bukiyo. It should be me who is with him, not you. He should have been mine, you evil motherf**ker. And now I'm gonna kill you and take him, and you can kiss my f**king ass, freak."

He tried to put her in the recovery position and check her airways and pulse, but his eyes were stinging with tears to see his poor friend fighting for her life, and he was fairly sure she wasn't going to make it. There was something in the way Delilah had grimaced when taking the girl's pulse, and she had shaken her head with alarming finality, that told Sylvain that Karine was dying. He knelt down with her, holding her in his arms to spend the last few minutes of her life with her, so she wouldn't die alone.

"J'suis si desole, ma pauvre Karine..." ("I'm so sorry, my poor Karine") he whispered, stroking her blonde hair with one hand, stained crimson in places by sticky patches of blood, and grasping her hand with the other. Hot tears dripped from his eyelashes onto her face. "I will try and find the evil, evil bitch that did this to you, I swear it. I will make her pay for this. Je te promets." ("I promise you.")

As Sylvain watched, Karine's broken and bloody body twitched a few times, and then she was gone. At least she had died fairly quickly and peacefully in his arms. He held her tightly then, and wept silently, feeling new rage and hate and pain filling his aching, empty heart.

Without looking up, he said to Delilah and Lora in a half-snarl, half-sob, "I will find Ami and I will kill her. For Karine's sake, pour le vengeance. If we see her, she's mine."

Student #8 Karine Davide dead, 16 TO GO

"I'm sorry too," the young Japanese said simply, and hugged the other boy on impulse. He knew what Dev must be going through: without knowing what the full implications were, he couldn't judge, but he knew they must be bad, by the way Devon was almost hinting that he only had mere hours left to live. "You do what you have to do, Dev. I just hoped we could all escape together, but I was blind to your problems, and I'm sorry."

Reiko wasn't really listening: she was intently studying the weapons clue-list and wondering what was still on offer, and what they might find on their travels. At the moment, she was just left with her crappy whip, but she knew that if she wanted to carry out her wishes, she'd need something a lot more... effective.

She also knew that to follow Ryu's route meant that they would not have much time to search for weapons. She needed to find something, and fast. But no matter how hard she racked her brains, the only thing she could think of was the supermarket they would be passing by - and unless they sold knives, or maybe a lethally strong jar of pickled eggs, she was screwed. There has to be something there... has to be, she thought furiously, angry that they couldn't get moving and get on with it.

However, Jen did appear to be coming round now, her face less grey and wan, and Ryu's attention was diverted back to her for the moment, leaning over her and watching as her eyelids painfully opened, and her confused blue eyes gazed up at him.

"Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?" he asked softly, stroking her face anxiously, "Want some water or something?"

And despite how much he wanted to protect Park his spirit still wasn't strong enough to handle killing, especially not someone he'd known before this insane game began.

Lowering the glock he held his other hand out to Gemma, his voice soft and entreating, "Please, Gemma-chan...this isn't the way....you don't want to kill Park...I know you're not like that...we can just talk about this right??"

The thought of Park dying-- of either of them dying sent a stray tear rolling down his now ashen cheek and he choked, begging the girl to show some mercy, "I'll do anything, just please, let him go."

Delilah watched mutely as Sylvain promised they dying girl to take vengance-- maybe she'd underestimated him, the kid had some guts that was sure. Whether he'd be able to carry out his vendetta was another matter. She pouted discreetly, it was such a shame that death had taken the girl-- she'd so wanted to finish the job Ami started.

With a faux expression of sympathy she knelt gathering Sylvain in her arms and hugged him tightly to her, "Whatever you want to do sweetheart...I will back you up."

What joy it would be to see her little pet draw blood.

Dev took a calming breath and sat down by Ryuji and Jennifer, watching her anxiously. As an afterthought he glanced at Reiko and smiled reassuringly, but the Japanese girl wasn't looking at him-- and the intense expression on her pale features made him shudder.

And he'd thought he was the only one with a problem. Excusing himself from Ryu and Jennifer he got up and approached her quietly, laying one trembling hand on her shoulder, "Reiko? You okay hun?"

At that time, Mr. Harvey was announcing the deaths and new danger zones. Hans frowned a bit when he heard that Tobias was among the fallen students but heck that’s life, he thought while marking the new danger zones. After putting the map back in his bag, he directed all his focus on the four by the gattling gun. There was no way they’d be able to get that thing away from this zone in 10 minutes, especially not with one person down. From where he was, he couldn’t see any injuries on the blonde girl, meaning she had most likely only lost conscious temporarily. He really wanted the bazooka however, and figured the best way would be following them and get it while they weren’t looking… or something… So, that’s what he did – followed them, saying as close to them as he dared without getting noticed.

Jennifer heard Ryuji’s voice but it sounded so distant, like he was standing miles away from her. She opened her eyes and almost got a shock when she saw he was only a few cm from her face. Devon was there too… but he wasn’t supposed to be here, was he? Didn’t he say…? She looked around and realized this is not where they were before she fainted. “Ryu,” she said with a weak voice, “what’s going on?”

Devon got up and walked over to Reiko, who, for some reason, didn’t look too happy. Jennifer couldn’t help wondering why. Did something happen while she was out…?

"I don't think any of us are OK, y'know? Man, I really didn't want to leave that gun behind, now all of us are almost completely defenceless... and having heard that announcement earlier, I'm afraid all the time now," she said, and the strain in her voice was not entirely faked. Even though there were people she genuinely wanted to get rid of - Paul Courtney for one - she was feeling the worry and fear of having no gun to hand now, and it wasn't a pleasant emotion. "I never realised there were so many evil bastards among us... it's certainly an eye-opener..."

Ryu, however, was otherwise engaged; he helped Jennifer sit up a way, giving her some water to help bring her round.

"It's nothing, Jen... you just fainted. Guess you were still tired after only getting a little sleep last night. God, I'm exhausted too," he mumbled, remembering he had had absolutely no sleep in almost 48 hours. "I'm gonna need to get my head down for a little while myself... Dev, can you look after Jen and Rei for a short while? I really need to get a quick sleep. I don't need much, just half an hour or so, but I need you guys to keep watch. I didn't sleep at all last night 'cos I was reading the maps and keeping watch on the girls..."

And as if to emphasise his point, he yawned hugely, showing everyone his back teeth before he could even put his hand in front of his mouth.

"Ryu... you sleep, I'm sure Devon and I can look after Jennifer," Rei said quietly, looking up at Devon and wishing she had some better weapon.

OK, so she was holding the box with the bazooka in it right now, but that was no kind of defence, or even really any kind of attack: it was useless at short range and would probably end up blowing off your own head if you tried to fire it at something... or indeed someone... at point blank range.

Either way, the four of them moved a way into the trees, into hiding so that Ryuji could grab thirty minutes' sleep: Reiko resolved to give him one of her precious amphetamines when he woke. He looked so pale and exhausted, and she felt sorry for him then - he was taking on too many stresses, playing at being leader.

However, after only twenty minutes or so, Ryuji scared the hell out of his silent friends by literally screaming in his sleep, jumping about a mile in the air and sitting bolt upright, sweating and shaking.

"Ryu!!! Ryu, what the hell is wrong?" Rei exclaimed, grabbing hold of the trembling boy by the arms. But he sprang to his feet, and nearly pulled Reiko over in his haste to pull her to her feet as well.

"Come with me... come with me. We have to talk, Rei. Dev... look after Jen for a minute, will you? I need to discuss something with Reiko," he mumbled, and the pair of them wandered a way off where the other two couldn't hear them.

"I'm sorry I scared you Rei... I had a terrible dream," Ryuji muttered, his face white as milk, rubbing his sore eyes with the back of his hand. "More of a - a premonition, I think... and I'm scared. I had a dream that I'm going to get killed, and it won't be long. I saw my own death... and it has something to do with a car. Maybe I'll get run over by Harvey, or some shit... I don't know. But I know I don't have much time left. I'm certain of that now."

Before Reiko could butt in and tell him it was just a dream, or that he was being silly and over-reacting, he continued quickly; but this time, he spoke to her in Japanese only, to give the people who were listening in problems with understanding what he was about to say. "Anyway, I want to tell you what I have planned... just in case something does happen to me in the meantime. It's no good my having sat up all night planning if I die before I get a chance to tell you."

"What you need to do is to get to square C1 on the map grid," and Ryu's fingertip gently traced the route on the map, showing Reiko the exact location of where they were heading.
"I worked out that there's a weak spot in the electric fencing around the borders of the game area: and that's where the fence intersects water. That part of the fence can't be electrified 'cos otherwise the whole thing would simply blow skyhigh."

"There'll be guardposts, but we can easily take them out with the rocket launcher. Thank God Dev arrived when he did: the only other way I could see round it was to try and blow out a post with the Gatling, but now it doesn't matter. We need to try not to use too many rockets - there are only six shells in the box, after all - and we'll need one to blast a hole in the fence itself. There's a bridge that flies over that water: we'll probably need to blast part of that down too, to stop the soldiers from taking shots at us from overhead..."

And he looked intensely at the skinny, pallid girl with the glittering black eyes, dark gaze meeting dark gaze. "You got all that, Rei? If anything happens to me... get yourself and Jen to safety, at least."

Reiko looked at her friend: there was no joking in his manner. He was deadly serious and absolutely convinced he was going to get murdered. She put her arms all around him and held him tightly, all jealousy gone for the moment, and they were two comrades in arms again.

"I love you lots, Ryu. You're not gonna get killed. You just had a bad dream because you were overtired, that's all. Here," and she gave him a pill, and a kiss. "Just some speed to keep you from feeling so tired. It'll help a little, especially since we've got a long way to go..."

"Love you too, Rei," he said quietly, dropping a kiss on the top of her head, and taking the pill she offered, dry-swallowing it. "Thanks for the pill, I really appreciate it. We better get moving, if Jennifer is OK to walk again. We may not have enough time to do this if we wait."

The pair of them rejoined the group, and Ryuji felt the effects of the drug kicking in, which allowed his exhaustion to lift a little, and he felt clearer-headed immediately.

"Jen, are you OK to get walking? I can help you... I just don't want to wait around for a long time. We'll get going again now," he said firmly but gently, and the group began to move off again, following the main Oxford Road in the general direction of Ratford, their intended destination.

"Gemma, put the knife down, for Christ's sake," he protested, his voice nothing but a mere frightened squeak, "Even if Kyo didn't want me, he wouldn't want you either - what do you think he got sent to the Institute for in the first place? It wasn't 'cos he's a f**king champion chess player and a credit to the Harvey Science department, it was 'cos he's gay. Homosexual, queer, perverted, call it what you will - he doesn't like girls. Any girls at all. There's absolutely no point in killing me whatsoever, it won't change that. Ask him. Go on, if you're so sure that by killing me you'll be able to have him instead, ask him."

Gemma was so flustered and upset by now her hand was wavering, creating nasty little cuts in the surface of Park's skin with the tip of the blade, but he didn't make a sound. The tension between the three of them was unbearable. The girl was clearly in complete denial; possibly the only person in the entire year who hadn't guessed Kyo was secretly gay.

"But... but it's not fair," she cried, "Bukiyo isn't like you. I know he's not. He... he's not one of the cool kids, like you, he's a geek like me. F**k, I even joined the f**king boring chess club to be near you, Bukiyo... and now this lying bastard is telling me you don't like girls? I.. I don't believe it. I'm not believing it. I don't know what hold he's got over you, but if I get rid of him, you can come with me... you won't have to go with him any more..."

"It could have just been an accident, you know," she said quietly, taking a look in Karine's backpack for anything which might be useful and only finding a roll of luxury violet toilet paper, which she put in her own bag along with the spare can of rice pudding and bottle of water. "I know that doesn't change anything, and Ami is, after all, responsible for Karine's death... but I don't want to go killing just for the sake of it. I want to try and get out of this f**king mess we're in..."

And she continued, "While we were making our way over, we stopped off at a house to get some food, and while we were there, we found out that the TV was still on and it was showing us on Channel 3. Might be useful information there, maybe. I saw Ami, and she was with Hannelore, hiding out in some farmhouse. I also saw the Courtneys - they're in the middle of nowhere, though, so I couldn't tell where they were. The two gay kids are hiding in a house together - we got to see Park naked in the shower, though," and she half-laughed, half-grimaced, "That's not something you see every day... and Ryuji was spouting off about some kind of escape plan..."

However, Delilah, still cuddling Sylvain's frail body close, shot Lora a murderous look which plainly said, cut to the f**king chase, dumbass. So Lora got to the point quickly. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if we could find our way back to this house, we could watch the others on TV, work out where they're hiding out, try and meet up with Ryuji maybe and see what kind of plan he's got. It might get us all out of here..."

She sighed heavily again, and put one of her big hands on Sylvain's shoulder, giving it a supportive squeeze. "I know Karine was your friend, Sylvain, and I'm sorry. I did everything I could for her. If you want to find Ami, you might get a clue off the TV."

Leon stared out of the window down at the quiet street below. The Courtneys had decided at the last minute to nix their journey through the marshes. Once the news that there was no Group Zone this period had reached them, they decided to restock their supplies and rest up.

They had broken into an out of the way house somewhere near Stokes Croft. They had planned to hit the supermarket for supplies sometime in the mid-afternoon. But until then, they rested.

They boarded up the back door and spread enough cans and broken crockery all over the back porch to ensure anyone entering would make enough noise to wake the dead, never mind the lightly-slumbering Paul. Deciding to make the house look unoccupied, the front door was protected soley by a tripwire and so to ensure their safety, the boys would need to take turns at guarding while the other slept.

It was Leon's shift now, the Colt lay propped up against the radiator, while Leon sat on the ample windowsill. He looked away from the window to take another look at the weapon list.

For his plan to succeed, he'd need something with a lot more stopping power than the Colt. He had narrowed it down to 2 possibilities. The gatling gun or the bazooka. Unfortunately He had no idea where either of these weapons where (of course he had no idea that the gatling gun was now harmlessly collecting dust for the remainder of the game)

Had somebody found them both already? Paul had told him at last check Reiko had the gatling gun. The only problem was, he had no idea where she was either.

There wasn't really much choice but to keep going until he found a lead or simply chanced upon either of the 2 weapons by dumb luck.

He sighed as he realised just how big a long shot this was. He checked out of the window again to make sure it was still clear, and then went to wake Paul. It was time to switch.

Devon followed the others, feeling increasingly sick and drained; he knew he looked awful already and was secretly horrified by the speed at which his drugs were wearing off. He'd have thought after so many years of medication they would have remained in his blood-stream much longer-- it was probably one of the effects of that damn gas.

Thankfully, he still retained his balance on the skateboard and skated along level with Reiko; trying to keep her spirits up with a winning smile.

"Hey, Rei." ^______^

"Gemma, please..." Kyo hesitated, his gaze falling to the floor.

"Park-kun is right, I was just kidding myself before." Looking up, to catch her fevered gaze again he declared with something near to pride, "I'm gay, but that doesn't mean we can't work together right?? I still want to be your friend."

Gemma laughed hysterically, her eyes slicking over with jealous, out-raged tears as the knife continued to slice thin slivers across Park's skin.

"You're lying!!! He told you to say that didn't he?? The filthy slut!!! You can't be gay, you can't be!!"

The Japanese felt his chest constricting with fear for both of them; the whole situation had clearly unhinged Gemma entirely and Park was her mercy unless he did something.

With a soft sigh he held his hands out, palm up to her without the gun, a gesture of compliance. "If you want me then I'll go with you, but leave Park out of this."

He heard a sharp gasp escape his companion, but ignored it, holding Gemma's gaze stead-fastly.

But, Gemma was, as she had said-- a geek and with that came a degree of intelligence, despite her blatant hysteria. She curled her lip at him, pushing Park aside like a broken toy.

"Liar!! You f**king liar....how could you do this to me?? I can see it in your eyes, you're his bitch now aren't you! Well if I can't have you then--" With a frustrated scream she lunged the small distance between them, her knife flashing in an arc of silver.

Bukiyo was caught utterly off-guard and fell onto his backside, snatching the gun from his pants before he even realised what he was doing.

A shot pierced the silence and Gemma landed in a heap, the blade clutched in her white-knuckled fingers grazing the side of his thigh as it embedded itself in the floor.

".....Buk---iyo..?" The girl choked and lay still, her last words echoing in the empty house.

Bukiyo looked down at the smoking gun in his hand and then to Park.

Student #23 Gemma Shrap dead, 15 TO GO

Delilah was surprised, maybe this girl was useful for something and she managed a smile free of avarice or spite, brief as it was.

"That sounds like a good idea hmmm sweetie?" Squeezing Sylvain she looked up at Lora and nodded, before helpnig the French kid up.

"Lead the way." She told Lora, retaining a slightly less frigid tone, but of course, Delilah knew who controlled this situation.

Park was too deep in shock to react for a moment or two. There were thin rivulets of blood coursing down his neck, but he wasn't even aware of them. His crush had killed his own friend to protect him, and gotten himself injured into the bargain... after making his confession finally that he was gay... and at last he sounded like he could accept the fact, even maybe a little proud of it.

He had already thought that the gunshot probably wouldn't attract any unwanted attention; the rest of the kids who were still alive had probably scattered. The only one who hadn't, Gemma, had of course had her own agenda here.

But Kyo was sitting on the floor with Gemma's bloody corpse sprawled over him, his face as white as milk, blood from his wounded thigh soaking into his uniform pants, the gun still smoking in his hand. Park's first reaction was to push the girl's lifeless body off Kyo and embrace him, because he knew how it felt to kill when it was against everything in your nature, and he was ready for Kyo to weep as he himself had done.

"Kyo... Kyo, oh God, you saved my life," he whispered, holding the other boy fiercely tight, both of them shaking with fear, "I... I was so scared, I'm so sorry for what's happened... I love you... I'm so sorry about Gemma, I had no idea she liked you like that too... and I put us both in danger again. I am so, so sorry. Please forgive me," and his whisper cracked with the strain, tears falling down his face again.

"Why is this happening to us? Why are they doing this to us? I just wanna be with you, we don't want to hurt anyone... I don't understand any of this!"

But when he realised Kyo was also in tears, that was enough to pull him out of his depression and inability to keep it together. His strength came back to him, and he bit his lip, wiping his own tears off angrily. "Did she hurt you, hon? Let me see..."

There was a knife-slash across Kyo's right thigh, but although the limply-held blade had cut right through his pants, the wound in his golden skin was hardly more than a scratch. Indeed, it had all but stopped bleeding anyway. "It's fine, babe. That'll heal up in no time, it's just a graze..."

And he cast a saddened look at Gemma's body, face-down and bleeding on the lino. "I'll... move her into the back garden. We can't bury her, but we can at least put her in the shed so that no animals can..." and he left that thought hanging, shuddering, knowing he definitely didn't want her corpse in the house with them while they slept, but unwilling to let the local wildlife chew her to bits either. "But first, let me clean that cut up for you in the bathroom..."

He wiped away Kyo's tears lovingly with the back of his index finger, and dropped two little kisses on his face, one onto each of his love's wet eyelids. "We're still alive," he whispered, "Let's make the most of what little time we have left together... 'cos everyone seems to be out gunning for us right now."

Lora gave Delilah a curt nod, still not trusting the hard-faced transfer student particularly, even if she was a beautiful piece of ass. Sure, she found the girl attractive - who the hell wouldn't? - but there was something so cold and harsh behind those dark eyes, like a feral cat that would scratch your eyeballs out if you got too close.

Lora worried about Sylvain's involvement with the girl too: he was clearly smitten, big time. But he was such a soft-hearted kid, she was no doubt playing some kind of messed-up game with him; but it wasn't for the big Spaniard to ask questions, merely to share some useful information that might help them to escape.

As they walked together in silence to the house in Penn Hill Road where the two girls had found the working TV, suddenly a figure leapt out in front of them, wielding what looked very much like a pen-knife, making all three of them jump backwards. It was Gordon Marx, the other computer boffin from their year, not a very popular lad but not particularly hated, either... just a kind of nothing guy who never did very much of any impact.

"What the f**k!" Sylvain cried, leaping in front of Delilah and Lora as if to protect them, shaking, his nerves shot to bits.

"Hey... hey. No stress, no trauma, only me. Sorry, Sylvain, ladies. Didn't mean to startle you," Gordon said with some relief, re-pocketing his crappy little knife.

"Thought it was those f**king Courtneys.. ah man, those f**king Courtney c**ts, I saw 'em blow up Toby and Rainbow, it was f**king horrible," and he grimaced, spitting on the sidewalk and shaking his black hair away from his pallid face. "I was tracking 'em for a while, but I lost the f**kers round here someplace. I think they ducked into a house. They're up to no good, I'm telling ya... they're definitely planning sommat. If you see 'em, stay well clear, 'kay?"

"Well, Lora found a house with a working TV so we can check where people are hiding, and maybe catch up with Ryuji's escape group," Sylvain shrugged, "It's just down here, we're going there now - do you wanna come along?"

But then he gave the transfer a sideways glance, nervous as to whether he should have made that invitation. "Is that OK with you, Delilah?"

"Ami - turn on the TV. I want to see if we can pick up the game."

Ami flicked on the set in the corner of the room. Picking up the cable TV remote, she flicked through the hundreds of available channels until she found channel 3 - labelled Battle TV - which was showing the daily highlights programme, narrated by, of all people, Craig Charles. Christ, thought Hannelore, why the hell did they put that w@nker on it? It was like the whole world was laughing at them. She relived her beating by Harvey and his gorillas from her perspective once more - though they missed out some of the more psychological moments. Then, overnight, where and how everyone bedded down. And the start of the group zone this morning - Christ, that looked hellish. She was glad she and Ami had found a quiet corner.

"Ami - you must be tired. Did you sleep much last night?"

Ami replied she hadn't - she'd been too worried about her friend and the game itself, and her impending death.

"Look, there's a group zone on the way in the next few hours. We got out of that last one lightly, but we need to rest. And anyone with access to a TV will at least be able to get clues to our whereabouts. We've got to be careful about what we say - don't give away any clues, 'kay? I think you, more than me, needs to sleep. We've got a couple of hours before Harvey's next announcement, and three more after that, if I'm right, before the start of the next group zone. You bed down, and I'll stand watch."

Ami expressed her reluctance, but the German insisted.

"There's beds upstairs. Get yourself out of those bloodstained clothes, take those chopsticks out of your hair and let it down, and get some sleep. You need it. And if anyone comes, I'll have the gun."

Ami agreed. It would be best to rest; they needed to be alert for the next Group Zone. She went upstairs with Hannelore, climbed out of her stiffening school uniform, put her hair down, and folded her garments up and placed them on a chair.

"You sleep. I'll be downstairs, watching out for you." Hannelore placed a kiss on her friend's forehead, and went downstairs.

After about an hour, Hannelore crept back into the bedroom. Checking Ami was asleep, she took her clothes and her chopsticks, climbed out of her own clothes and changed into Ami's rancid outfit. Pulling her hair back, she inserted the chopsticks into the bun, mimicking Ami's hairstyle. Then, rifling through a couple of drawers in what was clearly a boy's bedroom, she found a balaclava with two eyeholes. Good, she thought, that's just what I needed. Taking it and stuffing it in one of the skirt pockets, she crept carefully downstairs, taking the gun and the car keys, shutting the front door with barely more than a click on the way out.

Walking to the car, she loaded the shotgun. Two shots should do it, she thought, especially at close range. The message on her PDA had told her where to find the target. Driving down Abberd Way towards Oxford Road, she kept an eye out for any foes - the Courtneys, especially. From the TV she'd found out they were not to be messed with, and she really didn't want to run into them right now. She pulled over in the town centre, and rolled the balaclava down over her face, making sure it didn't dislodge the chopsticks and spoil the illusion. Indeed, accidentally she went one better - the topmost chopstick ends actually poked through the loose wool mesh of the balaclava.

Pulling away, she drove the wrong way down Curzon Street - what the hell did it matter now? - and towards Chilvester Hill. And there she saw them - on the right hand side of the road, Tsutsuno, Abe, Delonge, and Nilsson. Nilsson she would have to deal with later, after the matter in hand.

Pulling over on the left, she leant out of the window. The group were, if anything, rather surprised to see her.

"Hey, Ryu! It's me!". She beckoned him over with her right hand, her left firmly gripping the butt of the shotgun resting between her legs. Ryuji looked nervous, and consulted his friends. She beckoned again - she didn't want to spoil the illusion now by talking too much. Ryuji, still looking nervous, nevertheless started to cross the road. As he approached, Hannelore grabbed the gun with as much speed and dexterity as she could muster, poked it out the window, and fired at the approaching boy. He seemed to realise much too late what was going on, and only at the very last moment started to turn away. Both shells hit him full in the chest.

Hannelore pulled the weapon in, gunned the engine and, mounting the pavement, made a swift u-turn before the shock wore off and the others could react. She drove as fast as she was able almost all the way back to the house, before coming off the throttle so as not to wake Ami as she approached. She stealthily exited the vehicle, making sure she left it exactly where she was. She walked to the house, opened the door, shutting it silently and tiptoed up the stairs to the still sleeping Ami. She got out of Ami's uniform and folded it carefully back on the chair, making sure the chopsticks were in the same position. She changed back into her clothes and walked over to Ami, placing another kiss carefully on her forehead.

"Ami? You've had two hours' sleep. How are you feeling?"

It seemed to Reiko that the moment the girl in the balaclava lifted the shotgun, she was walking through treacle. Everything suddenly slipped into slow motion. Two explosions of fire and cordite, two hollow thuds, two holes appearing in her best friend's back.

She stopped on the pavement, and watched as the Land Rover with its murderous occupant, dressed in a bloodstained uniform, balaclava and chopsticks poking out of the top of the mask, squealed its tyres on the kerb and sped away, transfixed.

Ryuji never made a sound as his body hit the pavement. There was surprisingly little pain, but when he tried to breathe in, his lungs seemed to be a lot more difficult to inflate. His head hit the concrete, and his arms and legs splayed into the gutter, blood suddenly welling up in his throat. He coughed, and a wave of foaming blood flowed over his face.

"RYU????" Reiko screamed, her trance finally broken, weeping as she ran to him and fell down on her knees, as did Jennifer. Ryu just felt... so tired, as if he could sleep for a thousand years, but he knew he was dying and his time was done. Now the agony was tearing into him, rendering him almost unable to speak at all. He managed a few last whispers, so soft they could barely hear him, a great puddle of crimson pouring out of his chest and back and running down the gutter.

"R... rei," he croaked, "Remember what I told you. Save... save yourself. Save Jen and Dev..."

When Jennifer took his blood-stained hands then, sobbing, in total shock as Reiko had been, begging him to try and hold on, hot tears poured down his own face, mixed with the blood he had coughed up, and he whispered, "I... I love you Jennifer. Be strong for me. Win this game for me. I've always loved you..."

And everything went black and there was nothing but peace, and no pain.

Student #24 Ryuji Tsutsuno dead, 14 TO GO

Kyo took a deep, shuddering breath that twisted into a sob and wrapped his arms all the tighter around Park, "H-how could I h-have been so stupid?? All this time..."

For a few fraught minutes all he could do was cry, his fragile frame shaking in Park's arms. But, somehow this sudden outburst of the emotion he'd reined in so harshly for years seemed to purge him of the sadness and a little of the guilt that he'd felt for killing Gemma.

Afterall, in a contest between her life and Park's in Kyo's mind there was only one winner.

He smiled self-consciously, scrubbing the tear trails from his pale cheeks and almost without hesitating to consider it, leant over and kissed Park softly.

".....If we had more time....I know...I know I could love you too."

Leaving it at that he got up slowly and limped towards the bathroom.

Delilah groaned internally, now she would never get her time alone with Sylvain, but atleast the more there were of them the more protection she had to call upon...

Of course she wouldn't put it past the little brats to double cross her, but they wouldn't last long-- she'd see to that. With a nonchalant shrug she continued wordlessly towards the house.

Devon blinked, staring in horror at Ryuji lying in a rapidly expanding pool of crimson. The girls were clustered around his body, already crying; shocked into hysteria by his sudden and brutal death.

His own heart shattered in that moment and he a tear rolled down his sallow cheek, wetting the crumpled, already damp material of his collar. He was the man here now-- the one who should take charge, but something inside him had given way and all he could do was walk over and kneel at Reiko's side.

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