Chapter 9

The part Ren hated the most about her job was waiting. Of course, she could stare at the wall all day long, finish other paperwork she had to do but she needed the action. There was still over 24 hours remaining and already she couldn't take it. The human mind was so predictable, by the psychological profiles she had read about the remaining survivors, some were probably already rushing to get to the school. Others would make their moves at night, some would arrive early and ambush the others and then there were those who'd wait at the last minute. She had seen all of it.

That's when things became interesting. Only a few hours after the announcement had been made over the speakers, Mike Théroux (Male Student no.26) and Olivier Fortin (Male Student no. 31) arrived at approximately the same time. Each of their teammates had been killed, Mike's team had been killed in the beginning of the game by the most violent group in the game and Oliver's, by an interesting turn of events. Mike was obviously in the worst condition a human could possibly be in. His clothes were ragged and torn. Through the holes in his shirt, Ren could see the bones jutting out of his side. His short brown hair was covered in dirt and leaves. His deep blue eyes, were now dull and void of emotions. He had come in silently, dragging his bag along the floor and sat silently at a desk, his head facing down. Ren couldn't help but feel a small pain in her heart. He had obviously been broken by the game. Olivier on his side, did have torn clothes, but what had stunned her most was the fact that he had been drenched in water when he had come in. His bag was nowhere to be seen, but her acute eyes had permitted her to see a bump jutting out of his pocket. Probably his army knife, Ren had said to herself. Olivier had given her one long stare before going to sit.

After those two had arrived, two hours had passed before the next people came through the door. Bianca Scatcherd (Female Student no. 6) had been the first girl to cross the door. Even though she was dirty and had torn clothes like the others, she was relatively in a good condition. Her hair had not lost their shine, meaning she had well eaten. Her bones were not jutting through her skin although Ren could see she had lost a bit of weight. This intrigued Ren, who made a mental note of checking Bianca's video captures. Bianca had slowly looked around to see who had made it and went to sit at the farthest desk away from Ren. This made her smirk with glee. Oh, they must all hate me now. It was their choice, though. She mused over this piece of information while she waited for the next contestants.

After 30 minutes of heavy silence, two teams had followed shortly. The first team was composed of Jordan Lemire (Male Student no. 18), Julien Fernandez (Male Student no 19), and Monika Park (Female Student no. 27). All three of them had lost weight, but although they were dirty and had torn clothes, they still had their bags which seemed bulkier than when they had gotten them before. The three of them went to sit in the corner of the classroom and as Ren was about to look away, she saw something. Jordan had a large dirty piece of tissue over one of his arms. He was also holding this arm very closely to his body and as he passed Olivier, he glared menacingly at him. Ren couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. That's getting interesting. Friends are becoming foes. Monika also seemed bulkier than usual in her clothes. She probably still has that vest she got. Good choice she had. Julien, apart from looking dazed, also seemed in relatively good shape compared to the others.

Silence returned shortly for a few minutes. Suddenly, a loud shot was heard outside of the school. Everyone in class jumped at the sound and Ren even heard some swore. Keeping her calm, she shifted her eyes towards the door and started counting mentally. As she had planned, after about 5 counts, three people busted into the hall and crashed on the floor, near the class doorway. Stacy Alain (Female Student no. 33), Kyria Descoteaux (Female student no. 23) and Valerie Gervais (Female Student no. 35) were piled up on the floor, trying to disentangle themselves. Ren frowned a little bit. She had already established the theory that at least one of the remaining team would stay outside and ambush the others but the chance of a team getting through the door was minimal. So, the question was: how had they managed to get through? When the three girls had finally untangled themselves and stood up, Ren examined them carefully. They seemed to have retained their health and apart from a few scratches and a few leaves in their hair and on their clothes, they were pretty much okay. None had any wounds and apart from a gleam of anger in their eyes, they all seemed okay. Ren once again searched through her mind, trying to figure out how they had made it. That's when she spotted Stacy stashing something small and black in her back pocket. Oh right! I remember now, Stacy has that GPS we wanted to try out in the Battle Royale system option. Maybe that's how they had managed to survive all this time. We'll have to revise using that GPS in our systems later.

While Ren was still in her speculations, Stacy was grumbling to herself as Valerie looked around the classroom. Kyria couldn't help but say: "Wow, we've changed a lot. Before people would greet us, now they're all looking at us like we're strangers." Valerie nodded as she took in the general state of the mood in class. "Things have changed." She simply answered back. They all went to sit at a front row and started whispering to each other. Shortly after the new arrivals, another shot was heard. This time it was followed by a scream and a thunk. After a few seconds, a team came in, this time composed of Kimberly Dubois-Capony (Female Student no. 22), Naomi Carson (Female Student no. 28) and Alison Hewko (Female Student no. 3). From the distance she was at, Ren could feel the hatred and rage burning in Kim's soul. The three girls were relatively in good shape although they each had a few scars and scrapes over their body. The only thing that bothered Ren was how Kim was looking around, her eyes squinted. Kim's whole position was one of a predator. My, my, this fierce kitten has become a fearsome tiger! The three girls went to sit.

Finally, the murder-hungry team made of Isabelle Dupont (Female Student no. 14), David Marcotte (Male Student no. 11) and Carolane Dupont (Female Student no 7) made their entrance. They were all in good shape although Isabelle had a nasty bruise covering her forehead. Their backpacks were filled with supplies from the people they had previously killed. Isabelle gave a murderous glance at Kim before going to sit with her team.

The hours dragged on as the last people to make it seemed to take their time. The classroom was growing restless and some of the students were filled with tension. At last, as Ren was about to announce the end of the day, Malika Faraj- Bégin (Female Student no. 25) and Savannah Perron (Female Student no. 32) erupted in the classroom, panting and obviously tired. They only had one backpack with them which seemed the lightest one. Ren frowned as she recognised the medium back pack that had once belonged to Kelly-Ann McFern (Female Student no. 21). Why they had kept her back pack was still a wonder.

Since everybody had arrived inside the delay time, there was no point in delaying anything. Ren smiled to herself and stood up. Every pair of eyes was on her now.

"So, since all of you guys have arrived earlier than expected, there's no point in keeping the suspense up. The rules have changed. You guys are down to half of what you all used to be. I want to congratulate each one of you for the efforts you've put in this… game." Ren paused for dramatic effect.

"Here's the deal, you will receive new food back packs, but no weapons. You get to keep everything you decided to bring with you in here. Oh and last thing, before I forget: there are no more teams. It's everyone is their own from now on." A few gasps and protests erupted in class. Waving her hand dismissively, Ren said, " You guys need to learn how to go by yourself. Anyways, for those who haven't realized it yet, the white collars were destined to protect you if you ever went solo. They'll all become useless from now until the end of the game. As we are speaking, the island is being rearranged in a new version for this semi-final."

Questions began to rise again. Ren frowned as she realized what she had said, Damn I, I shouldn't have said that. Better change the subject fast.

"Things will be different this time around for everyone. I'll set it straight for everyone. Everybody has gone solo, a new food pack will be given to all of you guys, you can keep the things you've gotten so far, white collars have become useless so you can get rid of them right now. What else am I missing, hmmm? Oh right, the ways to win. Here is the most important part of everything I've said so listen close. There is a timer. Doesn't mean you guys have gone solo that I want people to take vacations. When you guys will be out of this neutral area, 7 days from here, if nobody has won, everyone blows up. Simple isn't it? As for the ways to win, here they are: you're the last one standing, you get out by finding a teacher or… you bypass with an Easter egg. And for those who do not know what an Easter egg, too bad for you."

She could see people craning their necks to see who knew and who didn't. Over in the corner, Savannah and Malika lowered their heads and started whispering to each other. "You think what we got in Kelly-Ann's back pack is the Easter egg she's talking about?" Malika shrugged, "We'll check it out after we get out of this place." She replied.

Farther away in the classroom, Jordan lowered himself to Julien and Monika's level. "Even if the teams are over, we need to stay together. It'll be easier for each of us if we're the ones to live last." Julien snarled and replied, "Yes so it's gonna be easier for you to kill us when all of this is over." Jordan squinted, "I'll find a way to save you guys too. If not, well I'll make sure your death isn't painful. It can't be worse than you getting killed first thing when getting out of this place." Julien was about to reply when Monika said, "Guys just cut it. I'm in, we'll figure out a way."

Another team was making out its own plan. "We make such a good team, we can't give up." David whispered to the other two girls. Both of them nodded, "We just have to find a way to stay all of us alive to the end." Carolane replied. Isabelle looked around before saying, "We should try to figure out what's the easter egg. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like something useful for us."

Valérie, Kyria and Stacy began to work out their plan slowly. "We're gonna get out of here!" Kyria whispered excitedly. "Keep your voice down, we don't want to get caught." Stacy pointed out. Valerie nodded as she said, "We already figured out the place where we have to go. When we get out of here we have to get to Mr. Osterman fast. We'll have to protect him." "But what if it only saves one of us?" Stacy asked. The other two girls shrugged, "We'll find out a way to save all of us in time." Valerie said.

The last complete team began to talk to each other silently. "I just want to know who killed my best friend. Afterwards, the world can explode for all I care." Kimberley hissed as she looked around. "That person might not be alive anymore." Alison said. "I'm pretty sure that person is still alive. I'll figure out a way to kill that person." Naomi frowned. "Shouldn't we figure out a way to stay alive ourselves?" Kimberley looked at them and said in a dead tone, "We're not a team anymore remember?"

Ren cleared her throat and the whispers subsided. "One last thing before I let all of you go, I have a short videos to show to all of you." Ren moved aside as a white panel came down from the ceiling. The lights dimmed instantly as the video started.

The video then showed a series of pictures with all of those who had died, in order. After a moment, one picture became bigger than the other, Erika Hamel's picture, and she began to move and speak, "Kimberley, I'm counting on you to win this game. I died because of some very stupid bitches. They had us and we couldn't do anything. Please kill Isabelle's team for me. They deserve it believe it." After, Erika stopped talking and the picture went back to its original size, leaving another one to take its place. This time it was Kelly-Ann: "Girls I believe in you guys. Keep everything we gave each other and don't forget to trace back your paths. You'll need it." The picture slowly subsided to show another one: Alex's picture. "Mike, I'm placing my bet on you, you've got what it takes to win the game. Kill Big Bird for me; he's good but against you... He's no match." Alex smiled as the picture returned to a smaller size leaving another one to take its place: Dominic. "Dave, I want you to win this game. Kill those who killed me, they're the real idiots here. Isabelle, Carolane and David have gone crazy. Kill them before another team dies by their hands."

Through the video, as the accusations came, Ren started seeing disbelieved eyes staring at their classmates who seemed to be well alive and healthy enough. At the same time, people kept glaring at each other as the revelations came off. When the video finished off, everything exploded. Kimberley rose out of her seat and almost jumped at Carolane, who was sitting the closest to her. If it hadn't been for her ancient teammates, she would've probably gotten to her throat.

"You bitch! You killed my friend, my f-ing best friend! I'm gonna kill you!" Kimberley spat at Carolane, her eyes blazing with fury and resentment. Carolane looked at her with disgust as she replied calmly, "It's a game where the point is to kill or be killed. Better her than me." Kimberley's eyes widened for a moment before she lurched again at her. Cries of horror and screams arose as every other people started to swear and insult the team that had killed a lot, too much of their classmates. Carolane, Isabelle and David all looked at disdain at everyone before David rose up and spoke up, covering every other voice with his. "You guys can't be serious? You don't want to win this game and survive? I'm pretty sure none of you are innocent in this. We haven't killed everyone in this damn game. Some have been killed by others. Why it wasn't stated in this video is not my fault. I don't feel like dying here."

A voice rose up from all the cries of anger. "Is it worth it to kill people and make them suffer?" Julien asked.

Isabelle looked at him in disdain. "The only reason you have survived until now is because Jordan is overlooking you. Or else you would've died by now."

Before the situation grew out of hand, Malika spoke up. "What I would like to know is how come all those dead people are healthy looking and are placing bets on events that are happening after their death?"

A heavy silence replaced the cries of anger.

-18 students remaining-