Everyone for Themselves

Chapter 4

January 2nd, 1991 

Charlotte's P.O.V

Dear Journal,

This is actually Serenity writing now. Charlotte is back out of the infirmary, but right now she is crying too hard to write. Trent said that since she is crying so hard and that she'll "get the book wet", I am "granted the privilege" of writing an entry for her. I hate that man.  

Maybe I should tell you why I'm writing in this thing. What happened today. Why I am trying so hard not to get teardrops all over this page. Yeah... I guess I'll tell you.

Well, it all started yesterday, when Charlotte got out of the infirmary. We were crowding around her, asking her if she was Ok and stuff, when Trent came, and, as usual, ruined everything.

"OK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," he announced loudly, making everyone stop talking, and the ones who hadn't been talking with Charlotte (aka, The bratty ones,) to look over. "TOMORROW, WE WILL BE HAVING OUR FIRST GAME. YOU WILL SLEEP IN UNTIL 9:00AM, AND NOT A MINUTE SOONER."

Oh my gosh... I felt SO bad for Charlotte. She looked as if her heart had just sunk and broken. I also saw a lot of people glancing at her as they walked past to go to their cabins.  

"Oh, don't worry, Charlotte," Ashley said soothingly as we started to walk back to the girl's cabin. "You'll be Ok... I promise."

Well, she was sort of right. But in a way... terribly, terribly wrong.

***

Well, the next day was the day of the game. Charlotte, Ashley, and me were all huddled in our beds, unable to sleep. I don't know how long they had been awake, but I woke up at about 8:00 and was unable to get back to sleep again. Poor Charlotte... I think she stayed up all night. We all trudged out of our rooms after we got ready.

I wore a pair of flexible jeans, a T-Shirt, and I tied up my hair in a ponytail, as did Charlotte and Ashley. We figured that it was the best way to dress for any running or dodging. As we went out, we saw a rather pretty girl strutting out to join us.

She had perfectly straight, light blonde hair that went to her waist. I couldn't believe what she was wearing! A sparkly dress with three pink bracelets on her left wrist, a sparkly pink headband, and and big, pink hoop earrings! And HIGH HEELS! What the heck?! I was TOTALLY sure that SHE was going to be the one to die first, unless the challenge was to see who's outfit was the craziest!

We all walked out to where Trent was waiting for us. Most of us were glaring at him, but I saw a kid with red hair and glasses looking wide-eyed at something else. I followed his gaze, as did many of the others when they saw him, and gasped. 

There was a huge cannon. But not any cannon... There was a big basket in the top. Now that is kind of lame, I know. But it was like, one of those things were if you fire the cannon, the thing in the basket gets shot out, you know? I forgot what those were called. But oh my gosh... The basket was filled with...  BOULDERS!

NO! I'M NOT KIDDING! REAL LIFE, ACTUAL, BOULDERS!

Luckily, I thought that it didn't fire very fast (which it didn't, at first,) and so I was going to use THAT to my advantage. Trent almost laughed when he saw our gazes... Again, I hate that man. So much. And the giant boulder cannon thing WASN'T helping.

"Alright, guys. Here's your first game," He spread his arms out to the gigantic cannon, a look of... Was it pride? ...On his face. "TO DODGE THE BOULDERS."

"Thanks, genius. I bet no one knew that." The girl in the high heels said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Or, at least, I think she did... Her eyes were hidden behind a huge pair of stylish gold sunglasses. Can you believe it?! I think some of the boys were ALREADY drooling over her. Yeah. I was almost certain that she was going to die in this challenge. An evil and mischievous grin spread across Trent's face.

"Stay here for 5 minutes, and let's see who survives." He pushed a small red button on a remote control that I CAN'T believe I didn't see before. "Let the games begin."

Fear clenched my belly as the boulder cannon turned to face us, roaring menacingly to life as it trembled and shook. Charlotte, Ashley and me all huddled together as we watched it.

"Good luck, guys." Ashley whispered.

We all three nodded silently, and braced ourselves for the first blow. We screamed loudly as the first boulder shot out... Straight at us! We all jumped out of the way, and that was the last time I saw them for the whole game.

After seeing that they didn't get hit, I realized that it was everyone for themselves. Everyone was looking at us, and I was looking at them, my cheeks flushing and red, so the red headed boy I saw earlier didn't even look over as a huge boulder shot out towards him.

I gasped, but smiled in relief as he turned around just in time and jumped out of the way. They all turned our attention back to the cannon, so I did too, my hands already shaking violently. Two more boulders shot out, and one almost hit the high-heeled girl, making me smirk.

Is it sick to smirk at that? I don't know anymore.

The other boulder almost hit a pretty hot guy. Wait. Did I seriously just write that? Well... I guess he IS kind of hot. You know what? Never mind. All I can say is that I'm SUPER glad that boulder didn't hit him.  

"4 MORE MINUTES LEFT!" Trent yelled from his place behind the cannon, and pressed the red button again.

4 MINUTES?! It had already seemed like the 5 had gone by! More boulders started shooting out again, faster this time. The cute guy suddenly looked over at me and yelled,

"HEY! LOOK OUT!" I snapped my head forward just in time to see a boulder aiming right for my head. I screamed and ducked frantically, my heart fluttering at the fact that he actually talked to me. ME!

Is that weird?

To be fighting for your life, and then your heart starts fluttering in the middle of it? I don't know... I really think that's pretty weird. 

Anyway, before I knew it, Trent had shouted out,"ONE MINUTE LEFT!"

The boulders were shooting out at high-speed now, and I was dodging them constantly, as were a lot of the other guys. As a boulder whizzed past the high-heeled girl, she snapped her head back sharply to dodge it. Her sunglasses fell off her face and clattered to the ground, and she screamed and leapt after them. Before she reached them however, another boulder bounced right on top of them, breaking them in a million little pieces. It took all my will power to keep from laughing.

"TIME'S UP!!" Trent finally announced, and pressed the button for the last time. I think I was the only one that noticed that there was still one more boulder in the basket.

"See, Charlotte?" Ashley said breathlessly. "You survived! We told you that you would s-" 

"ASHLEY!!!" Charlotte and I suddenly screamed at the same time.

It all went in slow motion from there. Ashley's turning head, the boulder aiming right for her, and the contact that it made with her jaw. It just... Knocked her down. Everything froze as she slammed into the ground.

I tried to save her, but... Oh my gosh... Hold on a sec... I'm starting to cry again...

Ok... Ok, I'm back... Sorry about that.

But... But that's why me and Charlotte are bawling our heads off, crying and crying until no end. Because Ashley didn't JUST get hit with that boulder.

No... She was the first one to die.

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Comments from Trent: Hey. If you die in the first challenge, you PROBABLY wouldn't make it 'till the end, anyway. It's just a waste of time.