Anyone out there?

[Fiori]

((Anton Chevalier continued from Dance-Off on the Prairie))

Before long, Anton and his group were within sight of the ghost town, the trio having made quick progress as they marched across the prairie at a steady pace.

So far, their search for life amongst the dry countryside had proven to be mostly fruitless. Apart from the odd overhead bird and scurrying lizard, there didn't seem to be a human being in sight for hundreds of miles. For a brief moment a part of Anton wondered if they were the only ones out here, only to then recall what Tania had said about encountering a bunch of scared people in the town. Most likely, everyone was too scared to do what he was doing, which would also mean that getting everyone together might be a tricker task than he'd of hoped. If what Tito had said was right, then there might be people out there who would be scared enough to treat everyone they know as a potential threat. And if they happened to have a gun themselves, then that made them all the more dangerous.

Still, despite this very likely possibility, Anton was still feeling optimistic. It made sense that everyone would be scared, but outright murdering each other? Anton highly doubted anyone in his class had what it took to do that, especially just because some guy with a Texan accent told them to. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the whole "the collars will kill you" thing was a complete load of bull. He could probably tug it off without any problem whatsoever.

Not that he was willing to put that theory to the test.

"Damn, my back is killing me..." Anton said, breaking the silence. He took his bag off and opened it, rummaging through the contents. "The hell is in this bag anyway?"

Almost immediately, he found himself clutching the handle of a large object, which he quickly removed in order to give it a proper inspection. The young man was surprised to find himself holding a large pitchfork, one which made him wonder how on earth someone was able to fit it in his relatively small bag.

In any case, Anton couldn't hide his surprise at having been given a pitchfork as his intended weapon.

"Woah man, look at this! They gave me a goddamn pitchfork! What, do they expect me to jab people to death with this or something?" he said, still trying to maintain a light-hearted tone despite the fact that deep inside the thought that he WAS expected to kill his friends with this was an incredibly disturbing one.

[Aura]

(BIG MIKE Gibraltar continued from Dance-Off on the Prairie)

Big Mike finally reached the city, following right after Anton. They had traveled for quite a while in the desert amongst the sand and cacti, and it had been a long and, at least in Mike's opinion, pretty boring journey.

The two boys now stood in a dusty street running through the middle of a ghost town. Buildings all around them were in various states of disrepair, and some were ruined entirely. The outsides of some buildings were marked with posts, presumably to tie a horse to while its rider was inside. Out of the corner of his eye, Mike could see an old west saloon. He almost expected John Wayne to walk out at any moment to fight some outlaws, which would be pretty cool. The atmosphere was that of an old spaghetti western flick. A tumbleweed rolled by Mike's feet, and the setting was complete.

Dang, now I wish that I'd gotten a cowboy hat instead of a stupid cake.

Damn, my back is killing me...

Mike took notice as Anton took off his pack and removed his assigned weapon...a freaking pitchfork.

Anton was clearly surprised by this turn of events, as was Mike. Anton had actually gotten something that he could defend himself with, and he had...a cake.

Stupid cake. He thought to himself. Of all the things that I could have gotten, it had to be a cake. What am I supposed to do, throw it at someone? I wasn't aware that I was living in a slapstick comedy. Is this a joke? If it is, then let me tell you something, Mr. Sheriff. You have a crappy sense of humor.

Mike moved his thoughts to another issue, and stopped mentally complaining about his joke of a weapon. He wasn't going to play anyway! What did he care what weapon he had? He and Anton had a job to do, dang it, and it was gonna get done!

Mike looked up and down the street, eyeing multiple buildings of interest. Other students could be hiding out anywhere. If he could find some of his friends from theater or the hockey team, then he could probably get them to help their cause, and the more students they had, the better shot they had to succeed.

"So, you wanna look around here for a little while?" Mike inquired, awaiting his pitchfork-wielding friend's response.

[Lord_Shadow]

((Tania Chell continued from Assessment))

How she had managed to avoid running into anyone else on her run to and from the river was a mystery. But at the moment, the girl's mind was on everything but that mystery. She ran and ran for so long that her arms and legs burned, her breath came in gasps and wheezes, the heat was unbearable and she was covered in sweat. And still she ran. She ran until she reached the town. As soon as she reached the streets she finally allowed herself to stop.

She really shouldn't have, she thought, as she doubled over in pain. She collapsed on the ground and cried, but no tears came. "Oh god. Oh god." It hurt to talk, to cry, to do anything. But she didn't want to stop. The pain let her know she was still alive, not dead. Not dead like Tito.

He was so nice. Stubborn but nice. Why did he have to go out like that? Why did she have to stumble across him and completely lose her composure like that? Nietzsche was right after all. Never mind that he wasn't a nihilist and all that was wrongly attributed to him. Tania honestly didn't give a damn that she was falling into that misconception in her moment of weakness.

She sobbed and sobbed. But the sobbing soon stopped, and she started moving again. She slowly got up and forced herself to move on. She could see two people a ways away, almost on the other side of the town. She started on her way to them. By god, if he existed or didn't, she would run some more if those people were like the one's that cost Tito his life.

[Fiori]

After giving it a few practice swings, Anton quickly quietened down as they neared the deserted town's boarders.

After all, as much a he doubted that anyone would try to ambush them or something, it didn't hurt to be careful about this. Who knows what else could be lurking there. What was to stop some weird drifter from wondering into their supposed battleground and taking camp inside the saloon or something? Well, probably a lot, but still.

Damn, there ain't a soul in sight. Then again, I guess it'd be a pretty disappointing ghost town if there were.

"So, you wanna look around here for a little while?"

Anton paused for a moment, taking the opportunity to observe his surroundings. Whilst there didn't seem to be any obvious signs of life, Anton had a gut feeling that they were being watched by someone. Possibly even by more than one person. This was the only settlement in the entire map, right? So chances are, they were probably far from the only people to decide to come here. Which probably wasn't that bad a thing, seeing as Anton's main intention was to unite all his classmates, but at the same time that also meant that he had to stay on guard at all times. Great. Look who's getting paranoid now?

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. I'd say that we split up and look for clues, but to be honest I'd kinda prefer it if we were to stick together, you know what I mean?"

[Aura]

Mike listened as Anton answered his question regarding whether or not to explore the streets. He said that they should probably split up, but he would prefer if they could stick together. A tough choice, but Mike figured out a nice compromise.

"Well, if we split up, we don't have to go to different parts of town." Mike spoke up. "How about we each look at a different side of the street? I'll take the left, and you take the right. That way, if we find someone, or if something bad happens, we'll still be within shouting distance. Hell, maybe even talking distance. How about that?"

As Mike waited for a response, he suddenly heard a voice coming from seemingly nowhere. It sounded kind of familiar, in fact. Then the identity of the mystery voice dawned on him.

That freaking sheriff.

The sheriff began listing off the names of the students who had died, along with their killers. Mike couldn't believe it. Some of his classmates had actually given in to the game. The thought made him sick to his stomach. Kids that he had gone to school with were now murdering each other. Each name on the list was just another shock to the gentle giant's system, but one name hit him the hardest.

"Rebecca Clark made good use of her arrows again when she killed Tito Simonin."

Tito Simonin.

Mike recoiled in shock. Tito...he couldn't be dead, he just couldn't! They had seen him just a few hours ago! They were going to work together! They were going to beat the sheriff and bring down the game! This can't be happening!

Mike turned to Anton once again. "Anton...Tito's dead."

[Lord_Shadow]

The announcements blared and with each paired killer and victim, Tania's stomach churned. She tried to block it out, focus on finding out if the figures in the streets were friend or foe, but she couldn't block the names out. She had gone with these people to school and know they were killing each other. It made her want to scream.

Then she heard Tito's name mentioned, and the image of his dead body flashed before her eyes. She froze, eyes wide, shuddering. Why couldn't she just get over it. Why was his death such a focal point for her mind.

She dropped to her knees, opened her pack and took our her designated weapon. Somehow, the bottle only got away with a minor crack and some spilled liquid. She was considering just taking it down and hoping it would rid her of this waking nightmare. As she got a better look into her pack, and what the spilled liquid had done to the contents, she decided against it. Grand panacea, it wasn't.

"Just end. Please." She still shook. But that's all she could do. It was a pathetic sight, a young girl just slouched on the ground, holding a bottle of god-know-what, shivering despite the heat. She couldn't take it anymore. It had to end, it had to. This wasn't real.

"NO AMOUNT OF PHILOSOPHY IS HELPING. WHAT THE HELL GOOD IS ALL HUMANITY'S BULLSHIT IF IT CAN'T KEEP MY MIND OFF THIS GODDAMN NIGHTMARE. FUCK WHY WON'T SOMEONE MAKE IT ALL GO AWAY." She screamed in her head.

"Make it go away." She whispered to herself, over and over.

[Pippi]

((Amelia Lennon continued from It's not like it's for real or anything, right?))

Day had turned to night and the heat of the desert had been replaced with a much cooler breeze by the time Amelia reached the outskirts of the town. She’d been walking ever since she’d left the trading post, and had only stopped briefly a few times after stumbling and falling. She had ignored her thirst and any hunger pangs. She just wanted to get as far away as possible from... well, everything, she supposed. She had walked back the way she’d originally come from; following the train tracks and past the ranch. The ground had been uneven and rough; Amelia had stumbled often, and had actually fallen more times than necessary. Whenever this happened, she felt, for a moment, like curling up into a ball where she was and crying. Soon though, the feeling would pass, and Amelia would carry on walking.

And now here she was, at the very edge of the town, which, according to the map, was on almost completely the other side of this place to the trading post. She was covered in bruises and cuts, several of which were still bleeding. Her clothes were dusty, her cardigan ridiculously so, and goddamn was she thirsty. Amelia’s needs could wait for a moment though. At least, she hoped so. As soon as she was in the actual town, then she could tend to things.

A brief walk later, and Amelia was wandering the actual streets of the town. She had planned to go inside one of the houses for safety, but there was a cut on her left arm that was much larger than she’d first thought and it was getting increasingly painful. As well as that, the only light she had was the moon, and she knew there was a flashlight somewhere in her pack. Amelia walked towards a row of houses, and slumped against the wall, leaning the pickaxe up next to her.

First things first... get the canteen... then deal with the cuts and stuff... Wearily, Amelia removed the pack off her back, and opened it, fishing around inside for the metal canteen. As soon as she found it, she removed it and gratefully took a drink from it. Whilst doing so, however, she heard a voice, one she recognised, that sounded so close by that Amelia ended up spitting half of the water onto the ground. She soon realised who it was, however; the voice belonged to that sheriff guy from before. Amelia mentally cursed herself as she listened to what the voice had to say.

The man didn’t waste any time with extra words or padding. His words were straight and to the point. As soon as Amelia heard Rebecca’s name, her heart jolted at the thought that her friend, probably her best friend, had been killed. But the sheriff went on, saying that Rebecca had been the one doing the killing. The announcement just went on and on, and the names just kept on coming. Aside from Becky, Simon M, the quiet kid, and Delilah, the French-Canadian girl from theatre, had also killed. Amelia felt sick to her stomach when Martha’s name was read out, and the feeling intensified when she heard Patrick, Ramona, Trevor and Bruce get called out.

Eventually, the announcement finished, and Amelia was left to her own thoughts once again. She hadn’t expected so many people to have died. There was a weird feeling inside of her-at first, Amelia guessed it was horror or despair, but no... It was more as if she was relieved that there were less people left, giving her a better chance of survival. Wait... what? No, stop thinking that! I can... I’m gonna escape... I... there’s...

Amelia looked up at the night sky. She couldn’t escape. She knew that now. She’d tried to escape with Martha and Trevor, and now they were both dead. The people who had been trying to kill were still alive, and everyone else was either dead, or soon to be. Amelia didn’t want to believe it, but fuck it, she knew what she had to do. She had to find Becky, though. She couldn’t let her get hurt. Rebecca was the only person Amelia would actively seek out for.

Now that the announcement had stopped, however, Amelia could hear another sound. It was faint, very faint, but definitely there. It sounded to her like someone whispering, and whoever it was was close by. Instinctively, Amelia got to her feet, still holding the water canteen. Whilst doing so, however, she managed to brush against the pickaxe. Slowly, slowly, it slid against the wall, making a scraping sound, before clattering to the floor. Oh, fuuuck. Well, whoever it is, they’re sure to have heard all of that.

[Lord_Shadow]

(Apologies for skipping, but death deadline is approaching)

The scrape of metal against wood caught Tania's attention, followed shortly by the clatter of said metal against the ground. She jerked her head up, once more fully alert. Her worst fears had been realized.

Someone was there to kill her.

"Who's there?" She called out, clutching the bottle tighter and shivering more violently. Some liquid spilled from the small crack in the side, missing her hands but splashing on the ground. The hiss and burn indicated that the substance was not something to get on one's skin.

"S-stay back. I-I'm a really tough killer with a good weapon and I'm not a-afraid to use it." Tania stammered out. Who was she trying to fool? She was easy prey. There was no way anyone would buy her scared words. She just hoped that whoever it was would just leave her alone.

[Fiori]

Anton nodded in agreement to Mike's suggestion, and was about to reply when suddenly from out of nowhere a voice began to speak to them. A strange, albeit somewhat familiar voice at that.

"Jesus, the hell is that coming from?!?"

After a while, it quickly became apparent that the voice was none other than the sociopathic sheriff who had kidnapped them all and put them on the island to kill each other. How in god's name he was transmitting his voice all across the desert however was anyone's guess. Anton assumed that there must have been hidden mics somewhere, but at the same time a part of him was unsure about that being the case. There was something odd about the voice. Something Anton couldn't really put his finger on, but at the same time he couldn't deny that there was something seriously amiss.

However, his thoughts were quickly distracted when the sheriff began to list the names of all his friend who had decided to...

.....

...Dear god, no! This can't be right?!?

So much for blind optimism. As it turned out, a ton of his fellow classmates had decided to play. Some of whom were people he never dreamed would ever do such a thing. Each name that got listed out felt like a punch to the gut, almost as if some sadistic force wanted to punish him for believing for a second that his friends wouldn't do anything so horrible.

"Delilah... How could you?"

At first, Anton thought that hearing about Ramona's death would hurt the most. After all, the two of them had always been very close friends in particular, so to hear that she'd met such a horrific fate was virtually heartrending. But then a certain name caused Anton to almost freeze on the spot...

Shit, Tito too?!?

"Anton...Tito's dead."

"F... Fuck man. Just..... Fuck."

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, suddenly Tania began reacting badly to some strange sound in the distance. Oh shit, I nearly forgot about her!

"Woahwoah, hold on there girl. Its okay! We'll go check it out..." he said, motioning Mike to follow him as he approached the direction of the sound.

"Hey, you out there! You can come out now! Don't worry, we ain't playin' or anything. We're just as scared as you are... Lets not do anything rash now, okay?"

So says the guy who's just gone and told someone who could turn out to be a total psycho that he ain't a threat...

[Pippi]

Amelia quickly grabbed the pickaxe lying on the floor. If there was someone around, and they were armed, Amelia would rather have had a pickaxe and the knife than just one. She clutched its wooden handle tight, her cuts, bruises and fatigue forgotten for the moment.

“Who’s there?”

A voice. Definitely a voice, female too, and vaguely familiar. That wasn’t exactly a good thing. There was only one way out of this situation, and Amelia knew she had to take it, but the closer she was to someone, the harder the whole thing would be. If it’s Katie, or fuck, if it’s Becky... would I still be able to do this? Actually... can I do this, full stop? I... I just want to live, but I know all of these people...

A hissing sound suddenly pierced the air. The hell was that? It sounded like some sort of acid to Amelia, like the sort she occasionally used in chemistry. What the hell does this girl actually have? And is she actually planning to use it... whatever it is? Fuck, I don’t even fucking know any m-

And then Tania spoke again, and Amelia’s heart froze. The girl had a weapon, she had just said she had a weapon, a weapon she was planning to use. Was it Delilah round the corner, waiting for some unsuspecting schoolmate to run into her trap and become one of her victims? Fuck it. No more second guessing. Get this whole thing over with, as quickly as possible.

Amelia put her back to the wall, taking deep breaths to try and compose herself for what she was about to do. There was a noise in the background, from far away. Amelia blocked it out, ignored Anton’s words. She closed her eyes, took one last deep breath.

I’m sorry, I am so fucking sorry whoever you are, but... I... I just want out.

And with that, Amelia opened her eyes, and turned the corner. The girl was directly in front of her, knelt on the ground, unrecognisable in the darkness of the night. Amelia kept running towards her, and using every last ounce of her strength, swung the pickaxe in a wide arc. Up, up and around, and then down, straight towards the girl lying on the ground.

[Lord_Shadow]

The killer rounded the corner quickly and ran straight toward her. Tania just continued to shake violently, spilling more of the dangerous liquid on the ground around her. Her mind screamed at her to run, to get out of there. But she couldn't move. All she could do was sit there and shake.

Her killer approached closer and closer, faster and faster. Pickaxe in hand, she raised the weapon and let it down. The metal implement easily pierced the girl's head. It landed with a soft squish followed quickly by a sickening crack.

Tania's limbs went limp, her head drooped forward with the impact, and her hands let go of their possession. The 'miracle elixir' dropped to the ground at her knees, shattering on impact and splashing the acid within on the dead girl's legs. The dangerous liquid quickly started breaking down the fresh corpse, eating through skin and letting blood flow freely.

But Tania didn't mind. She didn't mind because she was dead and gone with the first and only hit. Tania had an answer to every philosopher's query, an answer to every man's greatest mystery. She knew what happened at the moment of death. But she would never be able to share her knowledge. That was the funny thing.

She took that knowledge to her grave.

F03 - Tania Chell: ELIMINATED

[Aura]

Mike was in complete and utter disbelief after the announcements ended. They hadn't just lost Tito to the game, but a lot of Mike's friends were also gone. Patrick, Ramona, and Warren all died. And in case that wasn't bad enough, Delilah had killed two people. The thought of his friends betraying and killing each other was too unbearable to think about, but it was happening. They were giving into the game. He turned to Anton and Tania, the only people that, at this moment, he knew he could trust.

I can't let them down. I won't give in to the game.

Suddenly, Mike heard a something that sounded like a metal object hitting the ground. Tania looked terrified, and Anton tried to comfort her. Mike looked in the direction of the noise. Even if he didn't have a real weapon, he could still defend himself if he had to. His concentration was broken, however, when he heard a hissing sound coming from the ground beside him. He stepped back and looked at the ground. Apparently, the bottle Tania was holding had a crack in it, and some liquid had dripped out. It had burned the ground on contact. Mike was taken aback by this realization.

Whoa! Is that ACID? What the hell?

Mike made sure to stay away from the corrovive stain on the ground. He didn't really feel like having his flesh burned off today. Tania warned the unseen stranger that she was a killer with a good weapon. This was bad. Tania was no killer, and even though she had a pretty effective weapon in the bottle of acid, it's pretty much gone after one use, especially with a crack in it. Anton, on the other hand, took a more diplomatic approach, and tried to reason with the newcomer.

"Hey, you out there! You can come out now! Don't worry, we ain't playin' or anything. We're just as scared as you are... Let's not do anything rash now, okay?"

The next few seconds happened in slow motion. The person, who turned out to be a girl, rushed out from behind the corner whilst carrying a large pickaxe. She hefted the pickaxe over her head and brought it down...right on Tania's head. Tania went limp on impact, and she fell forward. All Mike could do was scream.

"Tania!"

Her bottle shattered, spreading the acid all over her legs. She bled extensively as her body began to dissolve. It was the most horrible thing that Mike had ever seen. Tania, who was completely innocent, had been killed in cold blood, and was now being eaten away by acid. For some reason, Mike didn't feel anger as much as he felt sadness. He was supposed to protect his friends, and now one of them had been killed before his eyes. Mike had to force himself to look away from the dead girl, instead focusing his attention on the girl with the pickaxe. With tears beginning to form in his eyes, he finally spoke, asking the girl a simple question.

"Why did you do this? What did she ever do to you? Do you really think that she deserved to die?"

[Pippi]

((Apologies for skipping. I just want to leave something for AMF to reply to whilst I'm gone, so this thread doesn't grind to a standstill.))

There. It was over. It was done. The girl was dead. Killed with the first blow from the pickaxe. Amelia didn’t know what to feel. She didn’t feel triumphant, or despairing, or any real recognisable feelings. She just felt hollow. She’d done what she had to do to survive. Amelia wasn’t proud of it, but neither was she repulsed.

And then Mike yelled out, and everything turned on its head. Everything from the outside world, everything that wasn’t Amelia, the pickaxe, or the now dead Tania, suddenly returned to focus. Amelia could clearly hear Mike yelling now, yelling at her. There was another sound though, a familiar one too. A sort of hissing noise...

Oh, God... her weapon...

Amelia looked down, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness. The bottle that Tania had been holding had shattered, the liquid inside spreading over her legs. The hissing noise continued, as the acid slowly started to eat away at the dead girl’s lower body. Oh... Oh my God! That’s... Jesus Christ, that’s... horrific...

By instinct, Amelia recoiled, still holding the pickaxe firmly. As she did so, the tip of the pickaxe, embedded in Tania’s head, broke free. Amelia heard a sickening shattering, crunching sound accompanied with the sound of liquid splattering the surroundings. Instinctively, Amelia quickly turned to look at the source of the sound.

Oh... Jesus...

Even if it had been broad daylight, Amelia wouldn’t have been able to recognise Tania now. Her face was almost cleaved in two, a huge gash residing where her facial features had once been. Blood and flesh were clearly visible, with bits of bone glinting in the moonlight. Smaller pieces of bone had been ripped away, and droplets of blood had splattered Tania’s body and Amelia’s jeans.

Gripping onto the pickaxe as if it were the only thing left in the world, Amelia let out a horrified yell, and fell backwards against the wall of the house. She felt like throwing up, but she hadn’t eaten all day. Amelia felt tears welling up in her eyes, like Mike’s. Why the fuck was that happening? You just killed her for Christ’s sake! That’s one step closer to freedom! Be fucking thankful that wasn’t you!

But the tear’s started to fall, no matter what Amelia’s mind was telling her. For the first time, she looked up at the figures of Mike and Anton, and tried to answer Mike’s questions.

“Oh God... Oh my fucking God, no... I-I... of course she didn’t deserve to die! No-one here deserves that! B-but...” Amelia faltered, thinking. She was being hysterical, she needed to calm down and explain everything. “I tried to escape, with Martha and Trevor. You remember them? You know what our plan led to? Martha getting shot, and Trevor getting killed by my best fucking friend, that’s what. I... I just want to live! I just want to fucking live, is that so fucking wrong? And there’s only one way to do that here... But... Oh, God... I just wanted it to be quick... painless... I... I...”

Amelia stopped, wiped away her tears and looked down. Barely audible, she said “... I just want to live...”

[Aura]

Mike listened to the girl's answers. She admitted that Tania didn't deserve to die, so that was a start. She didn't want to kill anyone, from the sound of it, but she did because she was scared. Scared like him and Anton. Scared like Tania had been. Scared just like every single other person here was. She was just like them. She had tried to escape with some other students, but the rest of her group got killed. Apparently they weren't the only ones trying to get out of the game. Someone else had tried, and apparently they had paid the price for it.

But...even though this girl had had such a tough time here, did that really justify killing someone? She had given in. She had played. Was she even worth saving anymore? Even if they escaped, she would never be able to escape the fact that she had killed someone in cold blood. Was that a burden that anyone could live with?

"Look. I know that you're scared, but that doesn't mean that it's OK for you to kill someone. That girl you just axed? She was my friend. You took her away, just like your friends were taken away. Do you really want to spread that pain?"

Mike spoke clearly and solemnly. He meant every word that had just come out of his mouth. This girl had killed. That wasn't something that he would get over very easily.

...But on the other hand, Mike couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl. She had seen people get killed, her best friend was a killer, and now she even had blood on her own hands. She must be a psychological wreck right now. She hadn't meant to kill Tania. Did that mean that she had some humanity left in her? Perhaps a chance at redemption?

Mike looked to Anton, face as stoic as it had ever been in his life. he whispered something in a low voice, just loud enough for Anton to hear, but soft enough so that the mystery girl couldn't.

"So what do we do? Should we help her out, or leave her out here on her own?"

[Fiori]

Anton was completely speechless.

Within seconds, everything that Anton was trying to achieve shattered along with Tania's skull. Never did he even dream that he'd live to see the day that Amelia would kill one of her own classmates in a fashion as brutal as what he had just witnessed.

It was just... Sickening. Both physically and mentally. How could she? She was harmless! Tania never meant to harm anyone! How could Amelia have even considered the idea of hurting her?!? Not to mention the fact that moments before her death Tania was probably feeling the worst she had ever felt in her entire life. As instantaneous as her death was, the fact that she never got a chance to calm down and achieve inner peace just made her meaningless death all the more horrible.

God have mercy on her soul...

The usually talkative Anton found himself without anything to say. After all, what COULD he say? All his hopes and prayers that his classmates wouldn't kill each other had been thoroughly thrashed. They really WERE all out there, killing and maiming each other for no reason whatsoever. All Anton wanted to do was curl up into a ball and wish he never woke up.

It wasn't until Mike began to ask him what they should do with Amelia that he finally snapped out of his state of shock and realised that the supposed killer was currently in the process of breaking down herself. Well, at least she isn't trying to kill us too...

Anton stood there a while longer, truly unsure as to what to do. Any pragmatic person would probably kill Amelia on the spot right there and then. That said, Anton wasn't exactly pragmatic. And as angry as he was with Amelia, the last thing he wanted was to stoop to her level.

"I... I don't think there's much we can do for her....." he eventually whispered back, his eyes firmly planted on the tearful girl before him. His voice was significantly more monotone than usual, and any signs of his usual jocular demeanour were long gone.

"We.... We should probably be on our way."