I picked up the pistol. It felt very light in my hands. To my left stood Kaylee, the girl I fingered once and fucked once, and to my right stood Maria, the woman who manipulated me to do what she wanted and asked me to fuck a girl who clearly didn’t want it. Clearly, the one I should shoot was obvious, but I desperately needed Maria to get off this island. There was a theory that had been running through my head, and I needed a way to prove it.

The timer on my watch was counting down, and it hit the 11-minute mark right when I lifted up the pistol.

“A little bit quicker if you can Alex,” Maria said. “We all have better things to do rather than showing ourselves on the beach.”

I pointed the gun at her.

There was a faint reaction - a little shift in the eyebrow and a curl of her mouth in contempt.

“All it took was just one fuck, Alex,” Maria hung her shoulders. “One fuck and you already like her?”

I counted the seconds that passed, then slowly moved towards her. And there it was - the same confidence I’ve always seen ever since I met her on the island. I stepped close, and Maria didn’t move, but she angled her gun toward Tara. She could take a shot at her anytime, and if I wanted to keep her occupied, I had to keep her talking.

And I knew exactly what to talk about.

“I have a question before I shoot you dead.”

“Ah, curious now are we?”

“Why is it every time we’re in trouble there is always some miracle to save us? How come you know everything about this place, even the game, when we are still in the dark?”

“Perhaps I listen instead of being horny all the time.”

“No, you are always quick to draw conclusions, you always knew we had to climb that hill, even after you did you kept your eyes fixed on that abandoned building almost as if you knew it was there. When Amy stripped you and Luke was about to shoot me that monster jumped in at the exact time-”

“Coincidences Alex, or we are having a lot of good luck, sad that your sister didn’t.”

I probed further. I noticed the little twitch on her eyes and I knew I was on the right track.

“Even knowing the bathroom in the abandoned building had a shower?”

“Every bathroom has a shower, you idiot! I don’t know where you are going with this. If you are going to shoot me then get on with it.”

My fingers were on the trigger. All I had to do was to pull it and I’d be killing another pro player in Unet. But even when my fingers brushed the trigger I saw the same confidence in Maria’s eyes.

Think….

All this time she could have easily won this game if she knew a way out of the island. I recalled the events of Amy’s attack.

Don’t hurt my son…

So obsessed…on protecting me. But why?

I’ll find out myself.

I pulled back the gun and aimed it at my head. The frown on Maria’s brows faded.

“What are you doing?“

“I’m going to count to five and I’m going to shoot myself.”

Her face changed. The same face she had when Amy tore off her bra. The face she gets when things don’t go her way.

“No you stupid fuck!” she snapped. “You are meant to shoot me or Kaylee. Just get it on so it can be over.”

“Alex,” Tara’s voice came above her own. “Don’t you dare do that-”

“Alex,” Kaylee snapped. “Stop that bullshit!”

“Five….Four….”

I looked into Maria’s eyes all the while I counted. They hardened, trying to hold something back. Her hands were still on the shotgun.

“Three…”

There was a scuffle from behind. There was a grunt from Kaylee. I didn’t turn. I prayed for whatever gods existed to keep Tara alive. I didn’t know who I would be shooting if she was injured.

“Two…”

Maria lowered her gun.

“One…”

“You are too tough boy,” she muttered, then pulled my hands and aimed the gun at her forehead. There was a bang and I felt something fly towards me. It hit the gun and the force made my hand twitch. The pistol fell to the sandy ground, and there was another gunshot at the same time. The moment I recovered I turned to see Tara’s hand holding the pistol. Kaylee was on the floor, clutching her belly while her clothes were soaked red.

“Kaylee-” I muttered.

She looked at me with two innocent eyes. Not the eyes she had when she first got into the Audi with that dumb boyfriend of hers, nor the eyes she had when she entered the cruise with Maria. It was something different. Something that looked too tired. They were fixed on me, and in a moment, they became lifeless.

It took me a moment to process everything that happened. Tara had scuffled with Kaylee for the gun while I was focused on Maria, and she had shot her. But who shot me? I turned back. Maria’s face was grim.

“You fucking idiot!” she snapped, dropping the shotgun. “I should have let you kill yourself.”

“No one is shooting him,” Tara walked beside me and pointed the gun at her. “I’m going to kill you.”

Maria chuckled, then gave a cold glare. “Go on.”

“No,” I lowered the pistol. My guesses were right all along. All this time there was someone protecting Maria. “You are not a normal player in this death game, are you?”

“No, and if you two want to be alive you’ll stay the fuck away from me for the rest of the game,” Maria picked back her shotgun. “I attached myself too much to you, Alex. And that’s a bad thing. I don’t want you in my sight for the rest of the game. Thank you for killing my niece.”

“Who was that sniper?” I asked. “Was that shot meant to kill me?”

“If that shot meant to kill you then you wouldn’t be alive. He isn’t the type to miss.”

“Maria,” I asked just before she was out of hearing range. “Are you an Unet Mod?”

She chuckled. “No, someone else. Something I cannot talk about. I’ll see you after the games end Alex.”

I watched her walk back to the forest. She moved past her niece’s corpse like it meant nothing to her, then faded into the shadows.

“Who the fuck is she?” Tara muttered.

“Doesn’t matter,” I grabbed her pistol. “Let’s find a way to save my sister.”