“Awwwww~”

Katie screamed as Caitlin grabbed onto the last piece of shrapnel. Hearing Katie’s scream, Caitlin paused and looked at her friend in concern.

It has been close to half an hour since the two retrieved the first gold chip. Caitlin had to dig her way through Katie’s body and pull out the shrapnels, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. What made it worse was that Katie’s body healed itself quickly after Caitlin pulled the knife out, which meant she had to cut Katie open all the way from the beginning every time she paused.

Both girls’ shirts were soaked in blood and sweat. Katie was screaming the entire time, and Caitlin was sweating in stress. The sound of her friend in pain only made it worse.

Suddenly, at the moment of extreme pain, as her body was the most satisfied, Katie thought of an idea. Without another word, she grabbed onto the shrapnel and yanked it out brutally. Blood formed a beautiful puddle on the ground, but Katie didn't care.

“I have an idea, and no one is going to get hurt in the process.” Katie turned to Caitlin even as her body was still mending. “Remember? Back in the classroom, Mr. Isaac had a piece of gold chip with him as an example! It might still be there!”

“But Katie…it’s a far stretch.”

“It’s still possible!” Katie stood back up. She stumbled a little, but she still managed to stabilize herself. “I’m going back to the classroom to grab it. Wait here.”

Caitlin frowned. She didn't believe she would be so lucky, but she finally nodded. Obviously, she didn't want to die if she could live without hurting anyone innocent.

As Katie walked out of the gym, her expression turned ice cold. The excitement that was on her face was nowhere to be seen.

What she just said was bullshit. Why would Mr. Isaac leave such a loophole? He wanted the students to suffer inside, and anyone that refused to do so would be terminated. Why would he leave that example gold coin? To reward those that could think outside the box? Katie knew if she returned to the classroom, she would be disappointed.

But that wasn’t what she was doing at all. That was just what she told Caitlin she would do.

She silently pulled out her Glock and took out the emptied magazine. She grabbed onto a full magazine from her jacket’s inside pocket and loaded it.

Caitlin wanted to die before she hurts someone else. She wants to go down with her hands clean. Katie understands that, but she also knew she couldn’t let it happen.

At this point, Katie has lost nearly everything. Her parents couldn’t be trusted. Her fellow students wanted to kill her. Anyone outside the curse couldn’t understand what she was going through. Caitlin was the only person who she could talk to about her fears and her problems.

Between surviving the games and maintaining her true self from her growing desires, she needed Caitlin. Without her, she would descend into darkness. Before long, she would be controlled by her bodily desires.

She couldn’t let that happen.

In a sense, she was very selfish.

Katie ran into one of the other participants. He was holding onto a kitchen knife. Seeing Katie, he obviously panicked. He held his knife out with his right hand while keeping his left hand inside his pocket, holding tight onto something.

“Don’t come any closer.” He glanced nervously at Katie’s Glock. He has seen what Katie did in the class, and he had to admit he was frightened by the girl.

“Relax. Relax.” Katie waved her Glock before taking out her gold chip and flashing it. “I have a chip, so I don’t need to attack you. Now, show me yours so I know you won’t try to take mine.”

The boy thought about it briefly. Fair enough. His alertness dropped when he saw Katie’s chip. The students have been mentally twisted, but even they wouldn’t kill others and risk getting hurt in the process for no reason at all. He took out his own gold chip from his left pocket.

“Here.”

“Thank you.” Katie said before shooting the boy in the head.

As the boy hit the ground, Katie walked over and picked up the gold chip. She carefully wiped the boy’s blood off its flat surface before walking back to the gym.

Caitlin, if you want to be the holy angel, fine.

Let me be the demon.

---

When the hour was over, the remaining participants returned to the classroom. They each had a gold chip in their hand.

All of them survived the game, and they would likely have a peaceful weekend, but none of them looked thrilled. After all, almost all of them have killed an innocent student. To most of them, it was the first time they’ve killed, and it did not feel good.

But there were some interesting ones.

The girl that Katie met in the gym walked up to her. She had an ice-cold expression.

“After you maimed Alex, he knew he wouldn’t survive this game. He begged me to get him out of his misery. I had to jam this knife into his throat.”

She raised her hand and suddenly swung something out. Before Katie could realize it, a small knife hit her in the right shoulder. A pained expression appeared on Katie’s face, but it quickly turned into an interested look.

She turned back to the girl.

Caitlin pulled her pistol out and aimed at the girl.

“It can’t do anything and you know it.” Katie looked into the girl’s eyes. She knew Katie was shot by a shotgun and lived. What could a knife do?

“I know. I also know it’s not your fault that Alex died. He deserved it.” The girl reached forward and pulled the blade out. Katie smiled and didn't flinch as the girl continued. “But you have put me through a lot of pain, and I had to do something. That was something. Now, we’re clean.”

“Interesting view. I like it.” Katie wasn’t the least offended. In fact, she was impressed by how the girl handled this. The girl knew she couldn’t kill Katie, but she also knew she hated Katie. It was wiser to sort that hatred out by stabbing Katie now and call it even.

The girl turned and walked away.

Katie tapped her injury before turning her glance to another figure.

Kyle.

The boy’s pocket was full. Katie could see a revolver inside. His pants were loose, with the leather belt gone. He had a strange smirk on his face. He moved around like he was the king in the room.

There was something about Kyle that made Katie look. Before the game, Katie just felt like Kyle was a pathetic coward. Now, she felt like he might be a threat.

Kyle saw Katie looking at her.

“What’s up, girl?” He was obviously in a good mood. “You’ve got a nice body, by the way. You should show it more often.” A flirting smile was on his face.

It took Katie a few seconds to realize her clothing was almost completely torn by Alex’s shotgun shot. When Caitlin took the shrapnels out, she had to cut some more clothing off. Right now, Katie was pretty much in rag tags, which did a terrible job in covering her skin.

Of course, Kyle was the first person bold enough to flirt with her. The others were too busy getting intimidated.

“Oh. Thank you. I didn't notice.” Katie looked up and smiled before punching Kyle in the face. “But please don’t flirt with me. It makes me sick.”

“Uh.” Kyle groaned as he clutched onto his nose. “You b…”

“Please don’t say bitch. I’m really tired of hearing that word.”

Kyle reached inside his pocket and touched his revolver, but he didn't pull it out. He knew something was off with this girl. By the ways she did things, she was not someone he wanted to get on the wrong side of. If he decided to attack, he needed to land the killing blow. At this moment he didn't have the confidence to do that, so he chose to back off.

Finally, Mr. Isaac announced the results.

“Everyone in the room has a chip. The losers have all been terminated during the game. What a pity. I could’ve had a lot of fun with them.” Mr. Isaac glanced through the class and wasn’t surprised when he saw a similar dissatisfaction on Katie’s face. “Happy weekend, everyone!”

The students started to leave. Eric walked over. His body armor had dots of blood on it. His firearm was obviously used before.

“We’ll be at the same bar for the whole weekend. Feel free to join us. Caitlin, you should come too. Have some fun!”

“Will come.” Katie nodded. As Eric left, she turned to Caitlin. “Any plans for the weekend?”

“I want to find out how Mr. Isaac controlled Jessica and the other three students. He was in the classroom when he did that and some of the students were outside the school, but he was still able to reach them. If we can’t counter this power somehow, any resistance we do will be futile.” She glanced around and made sure no one was listening or watching. “I want to see if there are surveillance cameras or something that saw what happened.”

“Stay safe.” Katie nodded. “I can come with you if you want, but I might need to attend to something else. Eric is starting to use automatic weapons and body armors. It’s only a matter of time before the others follow. I want to get some rifles or machineguns as well.”

“How? Body armors and automatic weapons aren’t something you can find at Walmart. No one will sell them to you.”

“I have my ways.” Katie took out her wallet and glanced at the two debit cards inside. The one Eric gave to her had $10,000 inside. The one she had herself had around $2,500. She was confident she could afford the equipment.

In that case, the only problem would be getting access, and she knew just the person to go to.

---

“Hello Ben. How are ya doing?” After class, Katie returned to the black market gun store that belonged to Ben with a backpack on. The only difference was this time she had a fully loaded Glock in her pocket.

“Oh. It’s you.” Ben looked up from the counter. “How is that Glock working for you?”

“It’s actually done more work than you might think.” At this point, Katie has already fired the Glock a dozen times. She has shot an undead six times and killed/maimed two people. “That’s why I’m back for some more.”

Ben rose his eyebrows. “More what?”

“I want body armors and automatic weapons. Oh, and do you sell grenades here? Incinerator grenades, maybe?”

This time Ben was so much more hesitant. It was one thing to sell a handgun. It was another to sell military grade equipment. He wasn’t a good person. In fact, he has sold those equipment by the dozens. The only thing was that he only sold them to long time customers who he knew wouldn’t give him out. He knew next to nothing about this girl. If she was compromised and the police traced from her to him, he would need the best lawyer in the world to stay out of prison.

“I don’t have them.”

“Oh please! I’ll pay double the price!”

“You can triple that and I still won’t make the deal. It’s too risky for me.”

“That’s what you said when I bought the handgun.” Katie didn't budge. For her own safety, she should turn and leave at once, but Katie wasn’t the type that would give up easily...or at all. “By the way, I killed a person with this gun. Tell me, what would happen if I turn myself in.”

Ben’s smile disappeared.

“Are you blackmailing me?”

“Just saying. I need those weapons. If I don’t, I’ll probably die. Of course, before I die, I’ll probably do my best to spite everyone that’s responsible for my death, including you. How will you explain selling a firearm to an underage teenager, which resulted in a murder?”

Ben stood up from behind the counter. He was a giant figure, and he was obviously furious.

“You don’t know what you are talking about, girl. I like you, but you are getting too far.”

“Oh trust me. I know exactly what I’m talking about.” Katie didn't even flinch. The smile on her face was obvious. “Sell me those weapons or you’re going down.”

Ben did his best to put down his anger. His right hand touched the Remington shotgun behind the counter. He toyed with the idea of grabbing it and blasting Katie’s head open and then just bury the body once and for all. He liked the way she acted, but he didn't enjoy being blackmailed one bit.

Finally, he thought of something. A smile climbed back onto his face.

“Fine. I will sell those weapons to you, but you have to do something first.”

“What is it?” Katie loved a challenge.

“You told me you killed someone. It’s time to test that.” Ben reached inside his pocket and pulled out a file, which he tossed on the counter. Katie opened it. It was the name and address of a man.

“His name is Arnold, and he is my enemy. I want him and his whole family dead, and you will do it for me.”