I can't believe it, he really killed her with just one swift move. I moved closer to Christine's body and poked her head with a stick.
"Now aren't you being a little rude?"
Huh? Who's being rude? Me? I was just testing if she really is dead but of course she is. Now that I see clearly the spear struck right through her heart.
"You just fucking killed her and you're calling me rude?"
He stared at me, no rather he glared at me and then took steps forward... 1..2 exactly 3 steps towards me before the sound of a cannon being fired enveloped the whole forest. If I remember correctly, that was the cue, that was our signal that someone died.
"Just be grateful that you're not dead"
He then walked past me, I looked back and saw that he was entering the forest just on the opposite side from where I saw Iavan and Miisa are. I shook my head, I could've never got what that guy was thinking. I threw another glance at Christine's body and decided to recon her bag and tools. Who knows they might come in handy.
After securing the perimeter I rushed to the left side of the forest to search for Iavan and Miisa, and luckily it wasn't that hard to find them. They were sitting under a tree, its large roots just enough to hide their crouching bodies. If someone from the opposite direction came they wouldn't have seen them unless they were near. It's times like this that I'm actually thankful for both of their height.
"So what.. is this like Thalia's tree in Percy Jackson and the Olympians?"
Iavan grimaced and crossed her arms.
"Do you need to correlate every single thing with a book description? Think that makes you superior"
I shrugged and grinned at her as I sat beside them and placed the things I brought down.
"You really did took a lot tho"
Miisa noted and took a quick glance at the three bags that I just carried. I laid everything out as we tried to take an inventory of what we got.
"Wait till you see what the other kids got"
"What did they get?"
"Oh nothing fancy just some high-class killing gears"
Upon making that retort, I think I stepped on a landmine because they eventually went quiet. I silently cursed at myself for even thinking that was such a smart comeback.
"You think we should split up?"
I looked at Miisa and stepped closer to her, I hugged her and ran my fingers through her hair. Out of the three of us, Miisa was the most delicate, I doubt she could even harm a fly let alone another human being.
"There will be 10 winners and we're only three, we can make it through this"
"But if you think about it, the moment you win here it doesn't end does it?"
They were right, what lies beyond us is just another arena waiting to be entered, more people waiting to be killed, and more killers whose bloodlust is even stronger than the present because they were honed through the roughest time.
"At the very least we can enjoy the present, what will come in the future is something we'll soon see. So tell us Miisa about this place. A little intel won't hurt right?"
She smiled sadly at me before drawing a map using twigs on the ground. She drew three lines one slightly bigger than the other.
"The main buildings are all located in the middle part of the city and so are the houses, around it lies the forest and beyond the forest is a river that separates this city from another city"
"So it only has a basic structure, that makes it less complex as it may seem"
"All of our classmates are sure to enter the city since that's what we can consider as a safe zone"
"You're right, after all, none of us were raised in the woods"
None of us even got the chance to be in the woods. The government had strict orders about going outside of your own city. It was forbidden unless you worked for the government yourself.
I took a look at our things. The three bags have enough food to last about three days and six bottled waters. There's rope, one blanket, a thermal mat, a bottle of gasoline and a flint striker, no matches of course, they intend for us to do this the hard way. Seven throwing knives and a shortsword that I took from Christine.
"Hey, Maia are we… going to kill too?"
I looked at Miisa who was staring at the knife, whether she asked that subconsciously or not, the answer is still as vague as before.
"If they attack first then we will, it will always be one-sided"
"Yeah but the others, aren't they the same as us? They're also fighting if they see a threat, it's also one-sided"
Not everyone.
I wanna tell them but I don't have the guts. How can I just tell them right off the bat that someone wanted to kill me just a minute ago and that someone just saved me from near-death? That I saw some of our quiet classmates bashing another one's head on the cobblestone? I couldn't possibly tell them that.
"Everyone is just doing it to survive, you can just think of it that way, Miisa. You just need to focus on surviving."
It was Iavan who answered her. I glanced at her and nodded, Iavan might have seen some of it earlier and just decided to not tell Miisa.
"I think we'll be good in here for a while but just to be sure, do you know any place here in the woods where we could hide?"
I asked Miisa while scanning the entire area just to see if there was a treehouse somewhere here but all I could see were trees.
"The only place that comes to mind is the trees, I don't think they'll come handy though"
She was right, none of us can climb trees and it's worse on my part because of my Acrophobia. The damned Acrophobia that I didn't even know how I got.
"Guess we're stuck in here"
I was about to say something when multiple canon shots were heard. 1..2..3..4..8..14..20. Does that mean 20 people have died already? Almost half of us? No, if we try to add up Christine she'll be the 21st.
"There will be a recap later at night right?"
"You mean this night"
And as if they were playing a trick on us, the night shifted in swiftly. Every suspicion I had in my body dissipated. The whole arena IS INDEED covered with a holographic barrier. Mom's voice rang through my ear once again.
"Make sure to strike it through my love"
"Means they really can see us right?"
Miisa's voice broke through my reverie and I let out a deep breath to calm myself.
"That's already a given fact"
I clenched my fist, I really hate them, the government. Finding entertainment while kids kill each other, they just don't have any conscience. A little while later, the first picture began to flash up in the sky. One after the other, all of those that we saw around the classroom are now dead. Strangers, classmates that we knew by their names but never by their history. Classmates that from day 1 we viewed as enemies never friends. And that was the cycle of every child's fate.
"28? This is worst than a blood bath"
"It's like a massacre"
"And as expected, all of the guys are still alive"
I'm glad that I didn't kill Simon, although I doubt a shot in the leg would kill him. I don't even think I could live with myself if I think about how I could have accidentally shot his head. I may have been tough when I told Miisa having to kill for self-defense but all of that was just an act.
I don't have it in me to live with the knowledge of having killed someone, another person's child all because they were trying to kill me.
I took one pack of crackers from one of the bags earlier and divided it among three before giving it to Iavan and Miisa.
"Let's divide up everything in the bag, two bottled water for each of us"
We worked in silence as we ate. The food was fairly divided among us, two bottled waters each, the thermal mat at Iavan's and the blanket at Miisa's. I took the rope, the gasoline and the flint striker and then gave the shortsword to Miisa. At first she looked reluctant but then Iavan told her.
"You won't have any need to use that, we'll make sure of it. Just for your self-defense"
She took it and we taught her how to fasten it's belt around her waist. I gave the seven knives along with it's belt towards Iavan and kept the bow and arrow for myself. I'm much more comfortable using these than the knives and Iavan is better than any of us in throwing it.
After eating I offered to be the first watch for the night, a good thing they didn't argue because all the thinking had eaten up my energy. I sat near them and looked up at the sky, the cold wind blew making my skin twitch. Once again, I was reminded that we were no longer in our safe place.
No longer at the comfort of our home, or at the warmth of our beds. No longer able to sleep soundly and safely. No, we were already one foot deep in hell.
Come to think of it, Damian could've killed me earlier too, I wonder why he didn't. What if, I shook my head, no that's not even possible. The only time that we actually had a conversation was back in 9th grade during chemistry class and earlier when he found me rude for poking Christine's head with a twig.
I stared at Iavan and Miisa and sighed. What am I even thinking right now, nothing else matters for me besides these two. I want them to survive this even if their chances of living a happy life are at 10%. I want to bet on that 10 percent rather than seeing them die.
Besides the nin that I have will save them and I am betting on that.
I don't know if hours passed or it was just minutes but when the sun rose, I got up on my feet and woke both of them up.
"What's the big deal?"
"We're moving"
"Eh? But this place is pretty good to hide isn't it?"
I shook my head at Iavan and made sure that both the thermal mat and blanket were on their bags before pulling them both up.
"Not for long, pretty sure those guys would go hunting for their prey right now that's why we're moving. I doubt they'll stay hidden in the buildings now that the sun is up."
"But where will we go?"
"To the heart of the forest"