Chapter 4

A long time went by. And the ill-fated students were yet to be found. Everyone who went on that field trip became hopeless. Food became scarce, and more people resorted to killing people for food. They were just that desperate. The only person who never stopped having a good time was Ryan, of course, who was still blissfully enjoying his so-called freedom. He made sure to terrorize other students with every chance he got. Even George, Gavin and Aaron were beginning to lose their joy in doing cruel stunts with Ryan. But none of them had the courage to take it up with Ryan, as they knew what Ryan was capable of, and they knew they would regret it at the very second they backtalked him. So they kept their mouths shut and played along. They couldn't find any more locations with hidden treasure either, so they forgot about the treasure hunt and moved on.

"So," Ryan said one day, "any thoughts?"

"Thoughts about what?" asked George.

"Are you stupid or something?" Ryan said in an incredulous tone. "Do you have any thoughts on what fun things we should do today?"

"Today… hm…" said George, "today… will be our break day! So that means we're just going to sit back and rest. We have all the time in the world to do 'exciting' things, right? So let's take today off, shall we?"

"That will be boring at the minimum," said Ryan.

"In George's defense," said Gavin, "we did tons of things during this trip. We're really running low on ideas."

"Maybe it's because you're all idiots," responded Ryan. "I led you guys. Most of the things we did were my ideas. Yet I can still come up with something."

"Which is what?" Aaron inquired.

"From my experience throughout this trip," said Ryan, "I learned that the younger you are, the wimpier you are."

"So what will we do about that?" asked George.

"Follow me," said Ryan. "I will tell you about the plan on our way to our… destined place."

Two girls were sitting around a flower and studying it. Ryan and his gang walked up to them. One of the girls politely waved at Ryan while the other girl put on a faux smile, saying to the other girl, "Let's go. There are more flowers over there."

"Uh, no, not so fast," said Ryan.

"Hi, do you need something?" the girl who waved at Ryan politely asked while the other girl continuously nudged the former as she wore an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Yes," said Ryan. "I want you to do something for me."

"Yeah, what do you want me to do?" asked the girl.

"Guys," said Ryan. George, Gavin and Aaron held up crossbows.

"What do you want from me?" the girl asked, beginning to feel tense.

"Take this rope," Ryan said while handing the girl a rope, "and give this rope" - Ryan handed the girl another rope - "to your friend right there."

The girl took the first rope but didn't give the second rope to the other girl.

"Hey," said Ryan, "you're going to do what I say, or my boys here will pump your tits full of crossbow bolts, and I'll rip it open and eat it. Now hand. The. Rope. To. Your. Friend. NOW."

The girl trembled and gave her the friend the other rope.

"Now do what I say," said Ryan. "Kill each other."

"No, you can't!" screamed the girl.

"Yes, I can. Remember what will happen if you disobey any of my commands. Now go. Kill each other. Kill. Each. Other."

The two girls wrapped the ropes around each other's necks and tightened them.

"Good. Do it harder," said Ryan.

The girls began to choke.

"Harder."

Both girls' eyes slowly closed.

"Harder!"

The girls seemed to be losing strength.

"HARDER!!"

The girls passed out.

When it was time for lunch, Ryan went to get what little food was left. Suddenly, another guy dashed towards him and tackled him, pinning him on the ground.

"Get off me!" yelled Ryan. "Get off! Get off! No! Help! Somebody help! SOMEBODY HELP!! HELP!!"

The guy held his hands in front of Ryan's neck, most likely planning to strangle him.

"THIS GUY IS GOING TO MURDER ME!!" Ryan screamed. "PLEASE!! HELP!! Hel--"

The guy was choking Ryan. All of a sudden, a blade poked through the person's head, killing him. Ryan got up. Aaron stood here, being the one who killed the guy to save Ryan.

"Don't do that again," Ryan said without any gratitude in his voice. "I can take care of my own shit."

"Whatever, dude, I just wanted to help," said Aaron. "Who was he and what did he want anyway?"

"I'm pretty sure he thought I had food or something, and he wanted to take it, so…" answered Ryan. He shook dirt and leaves off his clothes and obtained some bags of food from the food boxes. When he got back to the pile of hay, he tossed a couple of bags to the other boys, and they ate.

"What happened to your neck?" asked Gavin.

"It's none of your business, really," said Ryan.

"Some random dude attacked him and tried to kill him," said Aaron.

"Why?" asked George.

"The guy wanted to take food from Ryan," answered Aaron.

"We need to stick together from now on if we're going anywhere," said George. "As we all know, the food is running dangerously low. People are so desperate for food that many of them are killing whoever they think have any food supplies."

"I can handle my crap," said Ryan. "Don't try it."

"To be fair, you should take a look at the chaos around you. I know you think you're brave and all, but I seriously have to agree with George here," Gavin wanted to say. But the look on Ryan's face warned Gavin not to say any of that.

Suddenly, it was raining.

"Damn it," Ryan angrily said, "our food will get ruined."

"Should we eat inside the shed?" said Aaron.

"Why not… but we must run there as quick as possible," said Gavin. "Let's go, before the rain completely damages the food."

The gang sprinted as fast as they could to the shed. They swung the door open and slammed it shut.

"I almost forgot rain existed during this little adventure," said George.

"It better not last long," said Ryan. "Otherwise, we can't do any activities outside anymore. We will be stuck inside this shed for God knows how long."

"Yeah," said George.

"Will we sleep in here too?" asked Gavin.

"Obviously, because we won't be sleeping in the rain," said George.

The gang waited for hours to see if the rain would stop. It didn't. Ryan sighed, fearing that his fun would end there thanks to the rain. For the next three days, the rain continued pouring and pouring and pouring without showing any signs of stopping. George, Gavin and Aaron told stories and played guessing games while Ryan sat in the corner without saying a word to his gang.

"One night," said George (who was telling a horror story to Gavin and Aaron), "there was a boy called Michael who was casually playing the piano when he heard a knock on the door. He answered the door, but there was no one there. He looked down and saw a box of jigsaw puzzles."

"What happened?" asked Gavin.

"Just listen," said George. "So Michael took the box upstairs into his room and opened it. There were puzzle pieces in it, obviously. He started building the puzzle. After completing it almost halfway, he noticed the picture in the puzzle looked familiar. He briefly felt weirded out before shrugging and continuing the puzzle."

"What happens next?" asked Gavin.

"When he put almost all the pieces together," continued George, "he realized something disturbing. The picture was of him right at that moment building the puzzle. He gasped when he came to the realization. The only piece he had yet to put in was the window part. He looked and looked for it. After finally finding the piece, he placed it onto the nearly-finished puzzle… and the completed picture showed a man outside looking inside the window. He turned around, looked at the window… and was never seen again."

"Damn, I was really looking forward to having a good sleep tonight," said Aaron. "Thanks a lot."

When the third day came, the rain finally stopped. And so, Ryan and his gang went back to spending the majority of their time outdoors.

The very next day, Ryan woke up to see that George was gone. Curious to know where George went, Ryan got up too and wandered in the woods. As he passed by the food area, he saw George approaching the food supply.

"Hey you!" called a boy who was almost a foot taller than Ryan and George. Ryan hid behind a tree and peeked to see what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!" the boy yelled at George.

"Yeah, what's up?" asked George.

"Do you know anyone called Ryan Rhodes?" asked the boy.

"Yes, he's my… friend, I guess," answered George. "Why?"

"Describe your relation with him. Now," said the boy.

"Uh, okay, I've been sticking with him during this whole trip, and--"

"So you were one of them?"

"Who's them?"

"The guys who BURNED MY LITTLE BROTHER TO DEATH!!" screamed the boy as he struck George across the face.

"Okay, look here...!" George said, panicking.

"YOU MURDERED MY BROTHER!! NOW I'LL END YOU!!" the boy cried as he pulled out a knife.

"Oh great, they found the shed," Ryan said to himself.

The boy swung the knife, slitting George's throat. George gagged and struggled to breathe. He sprawled over onto the floor and briefly spasmed. He stopped moving. He was dead.

"One less person to look after, I guess," Ryan said apathetically. He returned to the hay pile, forgetting to grab any food.

"Where's George?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, he's dead," Ryan said casually.

"WHAT?!" Gavin and Aaron both exclaimed, shocked.

"Some guy is pissed because we burned his brother to death in that lodge, so he slit George's throat."

"Wait a minute," said Aaron. "You were there? You saw it happen?"

"Yeah, I watched that guy cut George's throat wide open."

"Y-- you didn't even try to save him? How could you?" Aaron responded while Gavin just sat down on his hay pile trying his best not to cry. "HOW COULD YOU?!"

Aaron slapped Ryan, and Ryan reacted by slamming Aaron against a tree.

"Do not fucking touch me like that ever again," said Ryan. "Without George, I get one less person to take care off. And each of us gets more food. Why do you care so much anyway? I take it you just want to be next? Okay, sure, I'll send that guy after you. Or do you not want to be next?"

Aaron gritted his teeth and slowly shook his head.

"Then stop complaining," Ryan said ominously. He let go of Aaron.

"Now, this is what we will do," said Ryan. "Based on what happened to George, I'm quite sure there are many people who just want to stick knives in us because we hurt their family members or dates or whatever. And like that isn't bad enough, the guy who killed George even found our shed. Because come on, where else could that guy have gotten the knife? So we will move as far from here as possible. Is that understood?"

Aaron slowly nodded.

"And you? Do you understand?" Ryan said to Gavin.

"Yeah," Gavin said quietly.

Ryan, Gavin and Aaron spent the whole day trekking through the woods. At midnight, as they were still walking, they heard the sound of running behind them.

"THEY'RE OVER THERE!!" someone was yelling. "THE GUYS WHO BURNED MY LITTLE BROTHER TO DEATH IS OVER THERE!!"

Ryan recognized the voice. It belonged to the person who killed George.

"They found us," said Ryan. He started running, and Gavin and Aaron ran after him.

"GET HIM!! I WANT HIM DEAD!! HE MURDERED MY SISTER!!" another voice was yelling.

Suddenly, an arrow hit Aaron from behind and pierced through his stomach.

"We have to save him!" Gavin said.

"No, leave him," said Ryan.

"He's our friend!" Gavin exclaimed.

"What do you mean friend?" Ryan replied.

"We stuck together all this time! I'm not leaving him!" said Gavin.

"...Except we only stuck together because I needed people to help me find food and shield me from possible danger and help me do things like, you know, all the 'activities' we did throughout this trip," said Ryan. "But if you want to save him that badly, then sure. Go ahead. Toodles."

Ryan took off as Gavin tried to pull the arrow out of Aaron. But before he could pull the whole thing out, he was shot with an arrow too. The angry and vengeful mob surrounded Gavin and Aaron and beat them with baseball bats until neither of them were breathing any longer.

Ryan finally reached a dead end, almost falling down a cliff… and then he realized. The woods were actually located on a cliff the whole time. He turned around, only to face the mob who cornered him already.

"SOMEBODY HELP!!" Ryan screamed cowardly. "I'M BEING ATTACKED!! AND I'M GOING TO GET KILLED ANYTIME!! NO!! NO!! NO!! NOOOOO!!"

The same person who slit George's throat knocked Ryan over with a rock, and the mob started beating Ryan from every angle.

"HELP!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" Ryan screamed, more cowardly than anyone he ever came into contact with. "GET OFF ME!! PLEASE!! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!"

Suddenly, two baseball bats hit Ryan's legs simultaneously. He felt both of his legs cracking.

"GAAAHH!!" he screamed. "FUCK YOU!! FUCK YOU!!! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!"

Finally, after hitting him several more times, the mob ran off and jumped down the cliff. Ryan's face was covered with blood.

"Serves them right," he said as he watched the mob jump off. He opened his mouth to laugh, revealing his bloodstained teeth. "Serves them right. Serves them-- OW!! MY LEGS!! I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!! FUCK THOSE PEOPLE!!"

Now, since Ryan never figured out why the mob killed themselves like that, I'll just tell you right here: unlike Ryan, the people in the mob were still humans. I do not mean that Ryan is not a human being. He is, but only physically. The mob, on the other hand, had loved ones who were murdered in cold blood. They were stuck in the woods with very little hope of being rescued. Many of them had to watch Ryan commit unspeakable acts of cruelty and were too scared to stop him at the moment. In the end, no one in the mob could bear the trauma and guilt anymore. So in their eyes, the best choice was to end it all.

Back to the story, Ryan heard sirens in the distance. He felt a mix of disappointment (because the fun was over) and glee (because he thought he would never face any punishment for what he had done).

"I think this one is still alive!" yelled a police officer from the distance. A group of ambulance drivers placed Ryan onto a stretcher and rolled it into an ambulance.

"Is that all?" Ryan heard a man ask.

"No, there's a young lady over there," another man answered.

Ryan reacted with shock at first but instantly calmed down.

"She won't talk," he quietly said to himself. As the ambulances and police cars drove out of the woods, Ryan smiled. He was going to get away with everything.

Two days passed. Ryan was still in the hospital. Meanwhile, in a morgue…

"Hey Carl?" a coroner said as he was viewing Estelle's corpse.

"Yes?" Carl answered.

"Come here for a second," said the coroner.

"Is everything okay?" asked Carl as he approached the coroner.

"I need to ask you something," said the coroner. "That kid... what was his name? Ryan or something? He told us that this young lady right here was bitten by snakes. But the injuries here indicate that she was sexually assaulted."

"What?" Carl responded. He picked up a magnifying glass and examined Estelle's body. "Good Lord."

Amelia was in a taxi being driven home. For the entire car ride, she couldn't think about anything except for all the horrors she witnessed during her time in the woods. She was nearly burned to death in a lodge by Ryan and his gang. She managed to escape from the back window, and she tried to save her burning schoolmates, but there were too many of them. Before she could even pull one person out of the window, everyone inside the lodge was burned to death. Then, she was forced by Ryan to strangle her best friend to death. Her friend was also forced to strangle her in return. Amelia managed to survive, but her friend, however, was not so lucky. Or at least most people would see her friend as unlucky. But Amelia couldn't help but wish she died too. She had to prepare herself for all the hard years that were to come.

When the taxi stopped at a red light, Amelia looked out the window. She watched a man drop his bag. Another man instantly ran up to the man and helped him pick the bag up. For a brief second, Amelia felt at piece as she witnessed the act of kindness. But it did not last long, as she almost promptly began to wonder how the supposedly kind man would have reacted to the person dropping his bag if there was no law - no authority figures to punish those who caused trouble. Would the man still have helped the other man? She looked at all the people walking outside. What if there were no police officers? No one to punish criminals? How would they be like?

Before the ill-fated field trip, Ryan seemed to be a normal person. He was rude and off-putting in nature but was still relatively normal overall. But did he remain that way once he was stranded in the woods where there was no law? Did he remain that way once he was stuck in a place where he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it? In fact, even without being stranded in the woods, what was Ryan up to whenever he wasn't being watched by people in authority? How was he like?

As Amelia observed the people outside the taxi - some of them greeted anyone they bumped into, some of them just minded their own businesses, some of them seemed crabby and sour - she wondered, Who's real and who's not?

The traffic lights turned green, and the taxi drove away into the sunset.

THE END