Chapter 1

He woke up. He couldn't remember where he was or how he got there. He couldn't even remember who he was. He was just there. In the middle of nowhere. He was absolutely befuddled as he slowly stood up and tried to observe the view around him. As his mind cleared, he saw approximately eighty other people walking around in the place that he was standing in. Some of them were panicking. Some of them were crying. Some of them wanted to look tough but were really feeling frightened and hopeless. And some of them were futilely screaming for help.

He rubbed his eyes and thought back. He suddenly remembered. It was March 1, 2018. He was going on a field trip with all the middle and high schoolers in his school district. They were going to explore a supposedly lost city. But on the way there, there was an accident on the highway. The teachers were separated from the students, and the students were left in the woods in an uncharted area. He thought further and remembered his name. It was Ryan Rhodes. He was an eighteen year old senior.

"We are going to die!" Ryan heard someone yelling. His head was spinning, so he strode up to a log and sat down. As he rubbed his forehead, a teenage boy walked up and sat next to him. The boy had brown hair, green eyes, fair skin, a varsity jacket, ripped jeans, and worn out sneakers.

"This is so fucked up," said the kid.

"Well, duh," Ryan replied. "Even that is a bit of an understatement. Who knows there aren't lions and bears around who can eat us anytime? Who knows there isn't any poison that can make us gruesomely cough out blood and die if we so much as touch it?"

"Yeah. I'm George, by the way."

"Okay?"

"Uh, yeah, so what's your name?"

"Not sure why you want to know, but it's Ryan..."

Another teenage kid sat down on the log next to Ryan. That kid had blond hair, blue eyes, leather shoes, and brown trousers. "Hey, er, I'm Gavin."

"Why are so many kids randomly introducing themselves to me?" Ryan complained under his breath. He put on a very cheesy smile. "I'm Ryan."

"No need to be rude, you know," Gavin responded.

"Whatever, if you're so desperate to crowd me, then go ahead. I don't give a shit," Ryan curtly answered.

Before Gavin could reply, another kid sat down on the log. That kid was younger than Ryan, George and Gavin. He had jet black hair, brown eyes, a leather jacket, and boots.

"Hey there, who might you be?" George asked.

"I'm Aaron," the kid said. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm George, this is Gavin, and that's Ryan."

Ryan rolled his eyes and groaned.

"What's wrong with him?" Aaron asked, pointing at Ryan.

"I don't know, I guess he's just cranky," Gavin said.

"This has nothing to do with being cranky. I just don't like it when people barge into my face like you're doing right now. That's all," Ryan said.

"Okay, geez," Aaron said. "So, do any of you guys know how and where to get food?"

"What kind of a stupid question is that?" Ryan snapped. "If we knew where the food was, we would be stuffing our faces right now. Are you just finding excuses to talk to me? Because if you are, then you've come to the wrong place."

"Chill, all I did was ask a question," said Aaron. "I'm not finding excuses for anything."

"Well, good, then," Ryan said in a rough tone. He got up and started walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Gavin called out.

"Um, where do you think I'm going?" Ryan replied. "I'm looking for food! I'm starving like hell!"

As he walked and looked around, George, Gavin and Aaron followed him. He made sure to carefully scrutinize anything that could be edible. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't find anything that was even remotely edible. He walked through bushes with berries. He sniffed the berries. They were rotten. He thought he heard some kind of animal scampering behind him. But when he turned around, hoping to catch and kill the animal for food, whatever he heard was already long gone. He saw a box of cheese lying on the ground. But when he opened the box, the food inside was rotten. He gagged and tossed the box away.

By the end of the day, he was completely worn out and exhausted. He couldn't find any food to eat, even in spite of his arduous search.

"Don't worry, we'll find food soon," Gavin tried to assure him.

"Shut the hell up. I'm trying to find a place to sleep," said Ryan. He squinted his eyes and saw a pile of hay in the distance. He ran up to it, fell on it, and closed his eyes. George, Gavin and Aaron went to sleep on the hay too, as the pile was big enough to fit four people. They were all asleep by midnight.

The next morning, Ryan prepared to leave without the other guys, but he was quick to realize something. Even though he wanted nothing to do with the other boys, they could still help him find food, protect him from danger, and be of great use to him in many other ways. He sighed and woke them up.

"George! Gavin! Aaron!" Ryan barked. "Wake up!" He kicked George. "Wake up!" The boys got up.

"Are we going to continue searching for food today?" Gavin asked.

"Yes, obviously?" Ryan answered. "Come on."

They carefully trod through the woods, once again observing closely for anything that could be eaten.

"Look over there!" Gavin exclaimed. The other guys looked up. There was a red shed half a mile away. They went up to the shed, and Ryan opened the door. The inside of the shed smelled like mud. There were knives, axes, hammers, baseball bats, frying pans and bow and arrows hung all over the walls. An enthusiastic grin formed on Ryan's face. He knew exactly how he was going to spend his time in the woods.

A group of freshmen were sitting in a circle next to an oak tree.

"I wonder if the authorities will ever find us," one of them said, pessimistic.

"I know they will. We are going to be found soon. Trust me," replied another person.

"I'm so scared, though!" another kid said.

Suddenly, Ryan, George, Gavin and Aaron popped up in the middle of nowhere and started beating the kids with hammers. They slammed the hammers down as hard as they could. Several of the kids spasmed before expiring, and several more quickly succumbed to their head injuries after being hit the first time. There was blood everywhere.

"Oh my God, that was dope!" Aaron exclaimed while giggling.

"That sure was!" Ryan replied. "We should try that again!"

"Guys, I think I just heard someone in the distance saying they found food," George said.

"Well, let's go then," said Gavin. The boys sprinted to an area where a crowd was standing. Ryan tiptoed to take a good look. There were large boxes of food - real food this time. There were even ice packs in the boxes to refrigerate the food.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Ryan yelled. He shoved many people out of the way and grabbed almost thirty full bags of vegetables and meat. The other boys went to get some food too.

"I can't believe this! I just can't!" George said, feeling overjoyed. "Now I know we're not gonna die."

"The food won't last forever, though," said Aaron.

"Must you ruin everything?!" Gavin exclaimed.

"Okay, sorry, I was just trying to be realistic."

The boys sat down on the same log they were sitting on the day before and ate. During their mealtime, the bliss of finding the food started to slip away from George.

"What's wrong, George?" Gavin asked, concerned. "You okay?"

"I've just been thinking," George said, "how do our parents feel right now?"

A feeling of strong annoyance at the mention of parents filled up in Ryan. He was stranded in the woods with no grown-ups or authority figures to watch him and spy on him all the time. He was free to do whatever he wanted to do. He saw zero reasons for George to ruin the fun by bringing up parents.

"Hey, how about you shut the fuck up?" Ryan rudely blurted out.

"What's your problem?" George said.

"Oh, 'What's your problem?' Look who's talking. Why would you mention anything that has to do with grown-ups, furthermore parents? All my stinking parents ever did was ask me how my day was when I obviously didn't want to talk about it, walk in to me when I was jerking off, read over my shoulders when I looked through my emails, and make me do stupid chores," Ryan pointed out. "So here's our deal: if anyone dares to mention anything that has to do with teachers, parents, or whatnot during this trip, then I'll slit your throats. Don't forget we have access to weapons now."

George wanted to argue back, but he was too scared to, so he went with the best option he had in mind, which was to keep his mouth shut and do nothing.

For the rest of the day, the boys did very little beyond chilling and hanging out. They swam in muddy water in the middle of the woods.

That night, as the boys approached their pile of hay to sleep, they heard two people conversing. They sneaked near them and eavesdropped while hiding behind bushes. The two people talking were Romeo and Estelle, two juniors who had been dating for a year already.

"I can't let you do this alone," Estelle said. "Let me go with you, please."

"No, I can't let you come with me. I just can't. It's too dangerous. But I've spent years climbing mountains and hiking. I know what I'm doing here."

"What's the problem with me going with you, though? You can always protect me if anything happens to me, right?"

"This is different, though. We are virtually in the middle of nowhere. I doubt I can protect you there. But this little area is safe, so you stay here in safety, and I'll go get the supplies."

"Romeo--"

Romeo left before Estelle could say another word. She buried her face and shivered. Ryan got out of the bushes and crept up to Estelle.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Ryan mockingly said. He whistled for George, Gavin and Aaron to come out of the bushes too.

From far away, the other students could hear Estelle screaming as Ryan and his friends cackled. The other students heard something unzipping before hearing another sound that resembled the noise of cloth being ripped in half. As they continued listening, they heard something that sounded like… humping? As soon as they realized what was going on, they wanted to go save Estelle, but they were far too scared to. They lay on the ground, frozen in fear. After some more humping and screaming, everything became silent before Ryan and his gang stepped into sight. George, Gavin and Aaron happily chatted while Ryan was still pulling up and zipping his pants. He was wearing a triumphant smile on his face.

"Let's get some sleep now," said Ryan. "I am goddamn exhausted."

The gang went to sleep on the pile of hay.

In the middle of the night, Romeo got back to where Estelle was, with clothes and food in his hands. But what he saw made him drop all of that. Estelle's corpse was lying on the ground, bruised and strangled. He collapsed and burst into tears.

The next morning, Ryan woke up before the other boys did, and he went to the food area to get, well, food. As he was walking through the woods, he heard someone cursing and screaming in agony.

"THEY KILLED ESTELLE!! THEY KILLED MY ESTELLE!! ONE OF YOU DID IT!! I KNOW YOU FUCKING DID!!" cried the voice.

"I swear, I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't see her all night!" another voice panically exclaimed.

"THEN WHO DID IT??!! WHO DID IT??!!"

Ryan grinned while thinking about the pain he caused before wondering how Romeo would get his revenge if he discovered who killed his girlfriend. Ryan felt slightly stressed and took a detour to the food area, hoping he wouldn't run into Romeo.

He grabbed twelve bags, four of them containing broccolis and carrots, four of them containing chicken wings, and four of them containing strawberries. He made his way back to the hay pile and woke his gang up.

As the gang ate, they discussed what they were going to do that day.

"How about we go burn all of the sixth graders alive?" Aaron suggested.

"Oh, I have a better idea," George said. "We should eat some girls. Like literally."

"Or how about--" Gavin started.

"Actually, before we do any of that, there's someone we may need to get rid of first," interrupted Ryan.

"And who might that someone be?" asked Gavin.

"Romeo, Estelle's boyfriend," Ryan answered. "He's gone completely mad. He found out that someone you-know-what-ed Estelle, and he's damn desperate for revenge. He'll probably rip my head off at the moment he finds the culprits."

"See? I told you we shouldn't have done that!" Aaron remarked.

"Uh, when did you ever say that?" George said in a very confused tone. "You enjoyed doing… that… too. You had no problems with it whatsoever."

"I still did say so, though," Aaron said.

"Well, none of us remember you saying that, so…"

"Guys, shut the hell up and listen," Ryan said. "If any of you sees Romeo, scream as loud as you can, and we'll surround him."

"Okay, then," said Aaron.

"I'm serious. If you don't, my head will be gone," Ryan added.

"I get it, you don't need to repeat it," said Aaron.

The gang separated and started walking around, looking for Romeo.

As he wandered around, Ryan saw a group of sixth grade girls petting a puppy.

"OMG, he's so adorable!" one of the girls exclaimed.

"Seems like this trip won't be so bad after all. At least we have this puppy to keep us company," said another girl.

"Pathetic," Ryan sneered. He held up his bow and arrow and shot the puppy. "Take that, bitches!" he yelled.

He shuffled away and turned around to see if anyone was standing behind him. No one was there. Suddenly, he saw someone run through the woods. He chased after the person, thinking it was Romeo.

"Hey!" Ryan yelled. "Hey, I'm right here, you pussy ass bitch!"

The person stopped running and turned around. It wasn't Romeo. It was just another twelfth grader who happened to resemble Romeo.

"What did you say?" the person said in a confronting tone.

"Hey, you're not gonna talk to me like that," said Ryan. He shot the person in the right leg. The guy screamed in pain. Ryan aimed his bow and arrow at the person's left arm and shot it. He fired some more arrows at the person's limbs before shooting him in the face. He was about to shoot the person's dead body, but he realized he had no arrows left.

"Damn it!" he yelled. He kicked the body and moved on.

All of a sudden, a guy twice his twice grabbed Ryan and put him in a headlock. It was Romeo.

"I'll kill you, I'll swear to God I'll kill you," Romeo growled as he choked Ryan.

"HELP!!" Ryan screamed, "HELP!! PLEASE!! HELP!!"

No one came.

"Say her name," said Romeo. "The girl you killed. Say her name. Say it. Say it or I swear I will break your skull open, you coward."

Romeo pulled a rock out of his left pocket and was about to strike Ryan with it when George, Gavin and Aaron grabbed Romeo and held him back. Ryan stood in front of Romeo.

"Not so scary now, huh?" Ryan sneered. "You know, you should have heard your girlfriend scream when I raped her to death."

Romeo furiously struggled to break free but was outnumbered.

"You guys got a knife anywhere?" Ryan asked.

"Here you go," said Aaron as he tossed Ryan a kitchen knife.

"I am feeling so sad," Ryan sarcastically said. "Your parents will live the rest of their lives without a son. Pity them."

He charged towards Romeo and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest.

"How do you like it? Does it feel good? Does it hurt? Or what?" Ryan mocked.

Romeo screamed in fury and pain as he choked and bled to death.

"His parents will be so sad," Gavin said while putting on a sarcastic crying face.

Ryan chuckled and put the knife in his pocket.