Chapter 8

"Oh shit!" With this simple exclamation out of his mouth, Dave Ruptash (Male Student No. 10) moved quickly towards the body he had accidentally shot down. Crouching over it, he stared in astonishment as the truth began to settle in. He had killed one of his teachers! Stammering to himself, he whispered, "What…What is, what is she…was doing here? What the hell?" His hands trembling, he turned over the corpse and discovered it was… Ms. Pelissier, his French teacher! Numerous bullet shots had pierced through her body, making the blood seep out of numerous holes. Her eyes were closed and her short brown hair was already soaked with blood. Her body was already going rigid but her hands felt limp. Why is she here? What was she doing down here? Oh my god, this is so sick! Gulping down air and trying to catch his breath, Dave closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his head.

Ms. Pelisser had been one of his favorite teachers at school. She'd let him sleep in the classroom (although occasionally she did wake him up) and her classes were always smooth going and stress free. For someone who hated school as much as him, it had been one of his best classes even if he hated French.

After having taken the time to calm down and get his nerves under control, Dave opened his eyes and let his brain work for him. Immediately, he spotted a bag not far away from his teacher. It's content laid strewn over the floor and as he bent down to pick them up, his eybrows shot up in surprise.

There obviously seemed to be a theme going on here. There were a few bottles of pepper spray, some cigarette lighters, some kind of black balls and a red colored gun that looked like a water gun. As he rummaged through the bag to find anything else, an envelope and a key dropped in his hands. Dave grinned a little bit. Of course, he was sad his teacher was dead but he did have to move on and find his friends. Maybe this small letter would provide insight as to what was the use of the teachers?

-oOo-

"Anybody there?" The unknown voice rang out again in the temple. Lydia Dufresne (Female Student No. 24) looked towards her two other teammates; Jessica Gelinas (Female Student No. 16) and Joanie Morin (Female Student No. 17) seemed as speechless as she was. Looking intently towards the door way, she could feel sweat pouring down her forehead. Taking out of her back pocket the Walther PPK 7.65mm Pistol, she suddenly felt really grateful she had chosen a heavier bag. She did know summarily how to use the gun since there had been a manual provided in the bag (it was also how she had come to learn the name of her pistol). Poised to shoot anybody dangerous that would come through, her finger was trembling slightly on the trigger.

She was getting freakin' scared. Like really, really scared. She was the only one with a good weapon in her team. Joanie had some sort of joke in the form of a make-up kit and Jessica, although her weapon was useful in other circumstances, was completely and utterly useless in this situation. That's when she heard the footsteps coming towards them. Gulping down some air, she positioned herself and that's when the floorboard under her creaked. Cringing at the sound, she was sure the person had heard it. Indeed, the footsteps had stopped.

"Who's there?" The voice spoke up again. Through the doorway, she could see three dark shadows approaching. Was it the adrenaline or the fear that coursed through her veins which made her press on the trigger? Nonetheless, the shot was fired and as if she was really far away, she heard a few screams. That,s when the pain shot through her stomach and as she bent down, she began to cough up a large amount of blood. Before her eyes blurred and she crashed to the floor, she could see blood slowly pouring down her stomach.

-oOo-

"Six people have died! That's incredible! I've never seen so much gore and wow! It's… you guys have to come see this!" One of the soldiers spoke up as he glanced intently at one of the monitors in front of him. A crowd of soldiers rushed towards the monitor the soldier was pointing at. Ren Sakamochi moved swiftly towards him and pushing him aside and the rest of the curious soliders, entered a few commands in the system. The monitor, following her will, replayed the scene that had happened only a few seconds ago in the temple. Three girls; Jessica, Joanie and Lydia, she remembered faintly from her notes had probably heard a noise. One of the girls; certainly Lydia had taken out her pistol and aimed at the doorway. Through the second monitor beside the first one, Ren could see three other people advancing through. Two guys and a short girl, probably Team 7 who were Clarence, a guy named Ben and another one named William. Ren frowned as she saw the action right before her eyes. On the first monitor, Lydia had shot her pistol. Probably because she had her finger on the trigger and she couldn't handle the stress. Amateur. The shot had gotten through the short girl who had collapsed. The two other boys had run in and sprayed the room with their own shots, from their own semi-automatic guns. Lydia had managed to shoot another time before collapsing to the floor. One of the guys had collapsed too and shortly after, the other one had been crippled by many successive shots. Ren frowned again as she registered the scene. How had the last guy been crippled by so many shots? As she was about to ask the question out loud to one of the soldier beside her, another one exclaimed, "Two new students have been killed!" Ren shook her head in surprise as she moved towards another monitor. Has every student given each other words to kill themselves today?

-oOo-

Bianca Scatcherd (Female Student No. 6) crawled towards a bush, hugging Janie's weapon to her chest. Tear welled up in her eyes and spilled over as she tried to control the sobs that were rising up her chest. Her teammates were dead! Before she could do anything else, she heard a familiar voice speak up, "Where is the other one? We managed to kill Janie and Jannah so where is the third teammate?" Bianca opened her eyes wide as she recognised who it was. Carolane Dupont (Female Student No. 7) had killed her teammates! Disbelief coursed through her body as she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She had to get away from here! She was going to die in an hour! Oh my god, it was all so unbelievable! Closing her eyes shut, she couldn't keep out what she heard next.

"At least we're getting closer to the half-game. It's about time too. I'm getting tired." Carolane spoke up as Bianca heard noises not far from her. "Well, we were lucky we managed to find them. I'm so eager to end this thing and return home." Her sister, Isabelle Dupont (Female Student No. 14) replied. "I'm pretty sure we'll win this!" David Marcotte (Male Student No. 11) exclaimed.

Trying to breathe in deeply, her breath felt laborious and her heart was pounding in her head. That's when a sudden flash of inspiration came to her. Removing gently and as silently as possible Janie's weapon from underneath her, she pointed it towards the sky. Closing her eyes and praying to Josh Ramsay, she squeezed the trigger. Her ears began to pop as a fluster of munitions came out from the machine gun. After what seemed like hours, her finger released the trigger and she let the machine gun drop. Standing up warily and peeking out from her bush, she didn't see anyone else. They had run away! She could still see her friend's corpse and the bags seemed to be missing, but she was alive! Joy coursed through her veins as she let out a long sigh of relief. It didn't last long because shortly afterwards, she realised something. She only had an hour to live and she had probably wasted some of her precious minutes just now!

-oOo-

Isabelle Dupont (Female Student No.14) felt the protective arms of David Marcotte (Female Student No. 11) around her as she sobbed. "We were so close to getting killed! I was so scared!" "It's okay, it's okay. We're alright." David whispered softly in her hair. Her sister, Carolane Dupont (Female Student No. 7) was sitting beside her with her eyes closed. She spoke up softly, keeping her eyes closed. "We were this close to dying. We shouldn't be so careless next time." Isabelle nodded as she buried her face in David's sweater. "We'll be alright, girls. Due to our great teamwork, we probably managed to get rid of a few students here and there. I'm pretty sure we're down to half of us. The announcements will be soon, so we have nothing to worry. We should even take a break and eat. I'm pretty sure we're save here." David said reassuringly. Isabelle nodded again as she let the warmth of the hug penetrate her. It made her resolve to stay alive grow stronger.

-oOo-

Dave Ruptash (Male Student No. 10) held his breath as he passed through the doorway. The air around him was thick with the smell of blood. The temple, which had been once beautiful, was now scarred by many bullet shots through its wall. Tapestries lay on the ground, soaking up the blood that was coming out from six people. The six people were strewn over the temple,s floor, their bodies in awkward positions. Some of the faces were completely disfigured and some body parts had been torn to shreds. Dave shook his head as he looked at Ben's body. His body was the worst. Since it had taken the full blown of his submachine, his body almost looked like a cheese grater. There was already a big pool of blood around him and he was almost unrecognisable. Of course, he was sorry for the guy, for having shot him and everything but he absolutely needed to be alone in the temple. The many shots had probably kept everyone else away from this temple, so he'd probably be alone in this area for the next few hours. Gripping the envelope in his hands and the key in the other he remembered the words he had found in the envelope that had belonged to his late teacher:

At the temple with the key,

You will find a way to be free.

Obviously, he had to find something where the key would fit. Looking around, it took him a moment to realize what his brain was trying to tell him. There was a camera that seemed to be aim towards a pillar. The deceased bodies of Joanie, Lydia and Jessica all seemed to be surrounding the pillar as if they had been protecting or searching for something. Following his instincts, he walked towards the temple and crouching, he stared at it. He could see a faint leaf symbol etched on the bottom of the pillar with a hole in it. Taking his key, he carefully inserted it in the hole and tried turning it every way he could find. Although the key did fit in the hole, it would not turn in either way as if it was jammed. Taking it back, he began a closer inspection of the pillar. That's when at a small distance of each other he found three other symbols: a small tornado, a flame, and a drop of water etched in the pillar. Each of them had holes in them. Hope was coursing through his veins as he inserted the key in the flame symbol. As he turned it, he heard a click and a grinding sound faraway. Something stung him on the back of his neck and he fell on the floor.

-oOo-

"There's one of the kids who found a way out! He managed to get the flame key in the hole!" One of the soldiers exclaimed. Ren rubbed her forehead as she moved towards the soldiers. "Tell me." She ordered. The soldier looked at her and said, "He seemed to have accidentally killed Ms. Pelissier, the Fire teacher. Ms. Pelissier had her storage supplies with her when she was killed. The kid took the stuff and made the link between the envelope and the key. He headed towards the temple and killed of one of the boys with his small submachine. He found the keyhole and turned it." So that's how one of the boys was killed, by his sumbmachine bullets! Ren nodded towards the soldier as she called out, "He won successfully. Go get him discretely please and set him up in one of the cells. I'll go get him when his sedative has faded out."

-oOo-

As he opened his eyes, he could make out he was no longer in the temple, but in a room. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he realized he was sitting on a comfy bed. Was all this a dream? Searching around for his glasses, he distinctly heard a click on his right and froze. A voice spoke up, "Guess you need these to see." Something plopped on his lap and as he looked down, there were his glasses! Turning towards the person who had spoken, he stared hard at Ren. "What are you doing here?" She was standing against the wall, her arms were crossed and she was smirking at him. "I have a few things to tell you." "Why don't you just go to hell?" Her grin widened as she said, "Oh, I was in hell before you were born, darling. Now it's your turn to listen. You're in no position to talk to me like this and you'd be better to shut up and hear me out." She motioned at him. Looking down, Dave could see he was no longer in his clothes but in a hospital gown. Frowning at Ren, he asked, "What the hell am I doing like this?" She smirked as she said, "So are you going to let me explain a few things here?" Dave grumbled as he shifted his weight and sat comfortably against his pillows. Ren raised a finger as she started, "Well I'm happy to tell you that you've won this game. Of course, you aren't the only winner, since there are still seventeen students out there fighting for their lives but…" "Then how did I win?" Dave blurted out. "I was getting to this. You remember when I told everybody that there were two ways to get out of this game? Well you have used the second one. You managed to reach the temple and get the Fire key in the right hole. You were sedated and brought here so I could speak to you."

After a moment of silence, Dave spoke up again, "What will happen to me, now…And to the others?" Ren sighed as she looked at him. "I know you will always hate me for what I have seemingly done to you and your friends, but I had no choice. I've been into this game too and I've suffered as much as you have. As for what will happen to you, you have several choices. I can kill you now, if it's too much to bear for your soul." Dave shook his head. "I didn't do all of this just to be killed when I win this game." Ren nodded, "You're a survivor. I like that. Now, your other choices. There are seventeen students remaining out there, which mean that in a few minutes, I will tell them to get back to the school for the semi-finals. This is where your choice will maybe affect the outcome of who stays alive or who doesn't. You can choose to go back home and forget all of this. You will sign a treaty stipulating that you will never speak of what happened to you and that you suffered from amnesia. We'll invent a scenario to cover up what happened here. If you ever speak of what happened here, you will be terminated. We will still be monitoring you closely."

"What's my other choice?" Dave asked as he looked at Ren straight in her face. Ren smiled a little bit as she said, "Your other choice. Right, you can choose to stay and play in the semi-finals. You will assist to the school meeting but you will be kept hidden from your other peers. You will also be subjected to the new rules I will announce at the school meeting. But since you've won this game already, you'll be fully restored and will be given a new pack and a choice of two weapons. Beware, if you choose to return to the game, you will have to stay all the way until you make your way back to the temple or you die. You will retain your key and your knowledge of the temple. By this, you can choose to save some of your friends and then go back home. It all depends on you."

"I have to choose now?" Dave asked. "Yes. I'm going to make the announcements over the speakers in a few moments. I need your answer. You know… In the game I once played, I never got the chance to choose. This could define your whole future. Choose well." Staring deep in Ren's eyes, he felt the right choice coming up. Ren, sensing he had chosen, asked, "So what will you decided?

-18 students remaining-