Battle Royale: Season 1

Chapter 1: It's A Mercy

Chapter One

It's a mercy

He's wielding a hammer above his head.

Denise "Dee-Dee" Cartwright (girl number five) puts a hand to her mouth as she witnesses this. He brings it down on the other boys head and there is a crunch, like someone breaking an egg shell with their bare hand. Brent Ramos (boy number four) goes down quickly, his pack sliding off of a broad shoulder. He falls to his side, his dark hair matted with blood that shines in the moonlight. Dee-Dee hadn't meant to stick around; she only wanted to wait for her sister, then find a place to hide out. In some ways, she hadn't taken this thing too seriously. Her exit from the school had been a bit languid, almost leisurely. As soon as the island's air touched her skin, she heard footsteps from the hall behind her. She banked on the woman to have read the names alphabetically, so that Deidre Cartwright (girl number eight) would come out next, but first a boy would come out and she wasn't sure who it could be. So, on a whim, holding her pack close so it wouldn't make any noise, she took a few long strides toward the darkness, before her fear of the woods could develop. She ducked behind a tall tree, crouching as she looked past the bark. It was then that she saw Brent Ramos turn the corner of the school and look directly into her direction. She nearly stumbled back at this.

Brent Ramos shouldn't have scared her. He was five three and weighed a hundred twenty soaking wet but there was something about that Joker grin that could have given Heath Ledger a run for his money. In kindergarten, Brent would dig in his nose and tease Deidre and Dee-Dee with his boogers. He was the type of kid who's class drawings contained a lot of red. And when their kindergarten teacher announced that the class hamster had gone missing, everyone cried. Dee-Dee just happened to see Brent smile briefly beneath his tears. He only got creepier from that. Now, at eighteen, Dee-Dee was surprised that he'd never gotten arrested for anything or locked up. He passed his grades well and kept to himself for the most part. Some of the guys stole his clothes from the locker room last year making it so he had to run across campus with nothing but a towel but that was the extent of any sort of bullying. He wasn't liked but was more of a fixture that you poked every once in a while to make sure it still entertained you.

Dee-Dee held her breath when she saw that Joker grin again. Only this time, the grin was accompanied with a crossbow. He raised it, probably centering it between her eyes. She didn't move, couldn't move. So, this is it? She thought.

And then, the hammer comes down.

Brent releases the arrow but misses his target by a few feet. His collapse on the ground is like a dropped bag of potatoes. Blinking in the dirt, he sputters something under his breath and his entire body seems to convulse. Behind him, holding a hammer with blood dripping off the end of it, is Axel Erickson (boy number five), who looks as if he's been struck himself. Brent makes some sort of crawl toward his crossbow, although it doesn't seem like he's going to get too far. Axel, the contents spilling out of his empty pack, makes a mad dash for the crossbow. He swipes it from the ground and points it wildly toward the woods.

"Who's there?" He calls out.

Dee-Dee thanks every god she can think of that he hasn't seen her. She closes her eyes and continues to pray, pressing her palms against the bark of the tree. There are more echoes of footsteps. Axel looks behind him, his face ashen in the security lights. Scrambling for his fallen items, he puts as many things in the bag as he possibly can, then, still waving the crossbow with his hand, he nearly trips over his two feet as he runs in the opposite direction.

Dee-Dee moves further back into the darkness, praying that Deidre would be the next girl out but when the door opens, it's not Deidre. Tania Gallegos (girl number six) pushes open the door with one hand, the twenty pound pack slung over her shoulder like a body. She freezes, frowns when she sees Brent, sprawled in a growing pool of blood. He's muttering something incoherently. She lowers herself to his side, presses her fingers against his neck. Dee-Dee takes another step back, this time cracking a twig underneath the heel of her shoe. Tania looks up like a startled deer. "Who is that?" She calls out.