The Thirteenth Announcement

[Cactus]

There really was no other way around it - today had absolutely SUCKED.

It wasn't enough that Dorian had found himself concentrating on what was perhaps the most important job that Danya could have assigned him, but that his erstwhile boss would stick his head out of his office every few hours, do a circle of the "pit" as the technicians found themselves calling their working area, and find a reason to yell at someone. He'd carry on for a few minutes, and then retreat back into his office, scowling all the way. On his better days, Dorian found Danya to be an intimidating and somewhat frightening person, but today he managed to be downright terrifying. There had been absolutely no word from any of the men that he'd sent out to the island on patrol duty, and while the game continued on its merry way, it became increasingly likely that something sinister had occurred on the island itself.

I'm sure that it would ABSOLUTELY make his day if I had nothing at all to show for all of the work that I've been pouring into this seemingly impossible task...

With a sudden jolt of shame, Dorian put his head down and continued his work. It was a very prominent thought within his mind that he was the one who was at fault for this whole mess in the first place. If he hadn't decided to go through Kaige's things, then he wouldn't have infected the system with the virus; the cameras wouldn't have gone down, and the unexplained explosion would likely be...well, explainable! It helped that Danya had absolutely no idea that he was to blame, but it wouldn't stay that way if he couldn't fix this mess, and Cecily got in Danya's ear. Garnett had managed to keep the vicious she-bitch at bay for a day or so, but he hadn't returned yet from his foray to the island, and being that nobody was responding to anything on the radio, it seemed as though maybe he never would.

I wonder what could have happened? Did someone discover the island? Maybe there was some sort of undetonated bomb that...detonated?! God, this is feeling more and more like a bad dream every single day.

Self-doubt beginning to creep into his mind, Dorian wondered what Danya would do when he came out and finally decided to check on HIS own work. It wasn't that Dorian was incompetent - in fact, far from it. He was probably one of the premier computer technicians in the entire Survival of the Fittest operation, and he'd managed to impliment more safeguards and security programs than he knew even existed. He was sure that some of the programs that he designed were up to the level of high-profile security organizations around the world, and maybe even some that were used by British and American Intelligence agencies. Danya didn't like to surround himself with incompetence, and while Dorian could sometime be a stammering fool, and wasn't the most confident person ever, he knew that the reason that he'd managed to stay alive and involved in this for so long - despite his own misgivings about it, was that he was good at what he did when he needed to be. It hadn't been hard to reconstruct the security systems that had been damaged by the virus. No, that was the easy part. He'd managed to pick up a great deal of the data that they'd lost, and had restored the maps, health indicators on the main screens, and had fixed what could have been a potentially embarrassing error in the danger zone grid. The missing camera data had been easy to locate and he'd been able to put most of it back together, but the big problem was a very complex (and impressive) encryption system that had gone in and password protected the missing files as a side-effect of the virus.

Dorian was impressed enough to be worried about a repeat attack on the system, but he knew that as long as nobody else touched that flash drive, that wouldn't happen. Jack O'Connor was long dead, and Dorian knew of very few people talented enough to be able to write that kind of encryption software. The kid had obviously been a computer genius, and Dorian felt a regret in his chest about his demise. This game was such a needless waste of life, and a waste of potential. This system was so good that it didn't allow the use of a dictionary file to crack a password, which was what Dorian had been trying to do for the past six hours. He'd tried all kinds of different words, none of which were coming up as the right combination. At first, he'd looked through Jack's file to see if he could figure out what it might be, but that had led him absolutely nowhere, and now he was just trying to enter anything that really came into his mind. The problem - and he knew that this was likely the case, if the password used any combination of numbers and letters, it could be absolutely impossible to figure out.

Glancing at the clock, he sighed. It was very close to the beginning of what he assumed would likely be the final day - day thirteen. Danya would be emerging to make his customary announcement soon, and given the fact that there were only six students left alive, Mr. Danya would instruct them all towards one final zone, and have them fight to the death. The standard stuff, really.

Yeah, and then he comes over, and finds out that you still haven't fixed the problem...and then he decides to toss you on the island...or beats you to death with a computer monitor...or feeds you to a gigantic snake...or maybe a - HOLY SHIT!

His finger had slipped.

That was all that it had been - a slip of the finger, but apparently, that had been all that was needed to solve one of the biggest mysteries of HIS day. With a tsunami of relief washing over him, Dorian shook his head at the password - 'SNAK3' was not something that he would have guessed, especially with the number in the password, but it meant that Danya might hold off feeding him to the pigs, and that made him truly relieved. Getting through the rest of the rudimentary protection, Dorian clicked on one of the recorded files, and watched, hoping to figure out what on Earth had happened to cause such a disturbance. As he watched on, the feeling of relief slowly turned to unease, and as he continued on, the feeling of unease turned to dread. The colour drained out of his face as he watched what was on the tapes, and he was so throttled by what he was witnessing on the tapes, that he didn't even notice Danya open the door from his office, take a menacing look around at the technicians, none of whom was willing to meet his glare, and storm over to the announcement room, ready to "brighten" the spirits of those left alive for what would likely be their final day.

---

"Weeeelll, good morning, kiddies! Today marks day thirteen of our wonderful little game, and I can positively say that overall, I'm very impressed with your progress! This is by FAR and away the longest SOTF game that we've had, and you vicious little kiddies have ensured that it's the most bloody!"

Pausing for a moment, Danya examined the death report that had been placed in the announcement room before him. He couldn't say that he was thrilled with the progress, especially as compared to the other days, but he had come to expect a slowdown when it came to the final ten. Nonetheless, five deaths was better than no deaths, because it meant that the game was finally ready to end. Of this, he was relieved, as SOTF v3 had been fraught with technical blunders and unexpected events. It made good television, but it was sure difficult for them to keep a lid on the whole situation. Clearing his throat, he looked at the list in front of him.

"You'll be happy to know that thanks to the relentlessness of you kiddies, we're finally down to the last four! That's right, we've gone from two hundred students all the way down to FOUR! I know that I'm impressed with the bloodthirst, but let's get on with it, shall we?"

Smiling, he paused for effect.

"Finishing in ninth place was none other than one of the bigger fan-favourites out there, the indefatiguable Mr. Steve Digaetano! It seems that Mr. Digaetano holed up in the hospital with Ryan Atwell, and the two of them whispered sweet nothings into each other's ears until Adam Reeves came across them and tossed a few live grenades their way! They managed to get out of the way in time, but didn't do the smart thing, and get out of the hospital...which came crashing down around them! Ever resilient, Ryan managed to survive the impromptu-demolition, and found Steve in the rubble, dragging him to the airfield. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as Steve bled to death in the airfield, after a final speech that moved us all to tears! Or not. In fact, Ryan found himself so moved by Steve's death throes that he decided that he couldn't take it anymore, and succumbed to a bullet wound that seemed to appear out of nowhere."

Glancing down the page, Danya smirked.

"Upon further review, the fatal shot came from the gun of Eris Marquis, managing a kill about a day after she died. Nicely done, dead person!"

Cackling, Danya moved on down the list; the sound sending shivers down anyone who was close enough to hear it.

"Shortly after Ryan and Steve departed this mortal coil, we bore witness to another bout of sheer desperation and angst! John Rizzolo and Eddie Sullivan were obviously both out for the other's blood, and engaged each other in what I would qualify as a classic example of a deathmatch! These two put every force of their being into this fight, and in the end, John Rizzolo came out on top when he managed to drown Eddie. A creative way to finish off your opponent, Mr. Rizzolo. We here were impressed. It was certainly a fight none of us here at SOTF will be forgetting anytime soon!"

Pausing for a moment, he looked at the most recent deaths on his list. These ones had come suddenly, and had barely made the deadline for this announcement. It was nice though, it set everything up for a fantastic finale.

"Finally, our sixth place finisher was James Brown, of acid-trip fame. A popular one amongst our viewers, Mr. Brown managed to take some more of his magical pills before ending up on the wrong end of a shotgun blast courtesy of Alexis Machina, who's been a real killing machine as of late. I'd congratulate her, but then Ms. Machina got in a fight with James Brown's enraged and possibly lovestruck friend, Trish McCarroll, who was so angry at Alexis that she beat her face in with the butt of an AK-47! Now that was a pretty picture, Ms. McCarroll!"

Crumpling the paper, Danya closed his eyes for a minute before continuing. The final four was a diverse array of characters, and for maybe the first time in ages, he had no idea who was going to come out on top. With Dodd, he'd known that Jenson was really his only competition, and he was basically dying anyways; and Calvert had been in such a rage at the loss of his woman that none of the others really had a chance. But this time...this time it would be interesting.

"So that leaves us with only four. Our first finalist, Ms. Trish McCarroll, has seen her fair share of death on the island, and just about every person that she's come into contact with has died shortly thereafter. I have to say, Ms. McCarroll, I took you for cannon fodder when the game began, but you certainly have proven me wrong! Why, not only have you managed four kills of your own, you even managed to get all of your closest friends killed! How's that for a piece of art?" Danya chuckled, satisfied with his jest.

Shuffling his papers, Danya smirked a little as he brought up the next profile. "And joining our lovely artist we have Mr. Lenny Priestly, the incestuous pursuer of justice! Or was that blood? It's impossible to tell with you, Lenny. Although, I must wonder; now that poor little Lizzie's rotting in hell, what's stopping you from joining her? So much for only killing to protect your sister, Mr. Priestly! Not that I'm complaining."

Pulling up the third profile, Danya continued his elaborate charade. "The third member of our illustrious quadrumvirate is one J.R. Rizzolo, whose name just keeps coming up over these speakers it seems! With your superior kill count and lack of inhibitions you boast quite an impressive resume, J.R! Of course, now that you've made such a name for yourself, you may as well have drawn a bullseye right on your back! You know what they say, J.R. If you can't take the heat...murder innocent teenagers!"

"And finally, in what is probably our most surprising twist, the fourth student still gracing the island is the lovely Louise Altaire! Managing to survive by leeching off her friends, Miss Altaire has never found herself without support, even now! Don't be fooled though, children; poor little Lulu's got some blood on those tiny little hands, too! I wonder, Miss Altaire; if poor Mister Priestly just can't take grieving over little Lizzie anymore and does himself in, do you think you could make it on your own? And what would you have to do? I really hope your grandmother is enjoying the amazing little murderer you've become!"

Glancing at the map of the area, he saw that more or less, the students were all in different zones, which made for it to be somewhat of a chore to make them all go to a zone for the finals. Danya knew that he wanted a wide-open zone for the final battle - less of a place to hide, and he'd had one in mind from the get-go. The fact that one of the finalists was already there made it that much easier for him to make the decision.

"So now, final four, you will all proceed to the Airfield, where your final battle will take place! All finalists are to make their way to the airfield IMMEDIATELY - once all four finalists are in the airfield, everywhere else will be a danger zone, where you all will remain until we have a winner! Remember kiddies, this is it! You haven't lasted thirteen days to come in second place! I expect you all to be battling until your very last breath...only ONE can be named the winner..."

---

As Danya completed the announcement, he was rather surprised to exit the announcement booth and see a lack of staffing in the "pit" area. Furrowing his brow and aware that he was likely going to have to scream and yell at someone, Danya looked around in a bit of confusion. It wasn't like his staff to just up and vanish like this. He had made sure to rule with an iron fist, and he found that fear was an excellent motivator. This, though...this, was odd. Glancing around, his eyebrows shot up in surprise as he saw EVERYONE - down to a single person, standing around a computer at the far end of the room, all intensely focused upon the screen. Scowling, he marched over quickly, and glared at the staffers, who it appeared had just finished watching whatever it was that had captivated their attention. In the center of them all, sitting in the chair, was Dorian, his face pale and sickly-looking as ever. Clearing his throat loudly, everyone's attention went from the screen to Mr. Danya, and the collective expressions of the technicians all went to one of utter despair. No one, however, said a word.

"Dorian...what IS GOING ON HERE?!"

His voice was icy cool, but betrayed a sense of rage; just enough to get his message across. Gulping, Dorian stood slowly, and the technicians cleared out of the way a bit. Stepping forward, Dorian stammered an answer.

"S-sir, I-I found...I cracked the...I found the missing v-video."

Danya opened his mouth to say something, but was shocked when Dorian interrupted him. That NEVER happened!

"You...you REALLY need to see this, sir."

Something about the man's voice commanded Danya - something that was as rare as ever, and somewhat surprisingly, Danya walked over and sat down in the chair that Dorian had just occupied without a word to the contrary. On the screen, all he saw was a box that had a field to enter a password, with the title "???". Looking up at Dorian, Danya said nothing but narrowed his eyes.

"The password is 'SNAK3'. Enter that, and then click the first camera..." His voice trailed off, an almost panic seeming to set in.

With little hesitation, and only a small wonder at what had spooked the technicians so much, Danya entered the password, and clicked the first camera, unaware of what he was about to see...

---

OOC:

Well, folks. Here we are, final four. I'd like to congratulate all of those who are in the finals, and all of those who're still with us. We're back in gear now, and we can promise that things are going to get crazy from here. There isn't a whole lot to say that needs to be said, aside from really answering a few questions that some of us may have. In which case...if you want to see what Danya's seeing, click on the link below...

'The Big Snake': aka: The Missing Video Feeds

Click on the Dilapidated Barracks and find #1...it's a good start. You'll need to enter the password into all the protected forums to be able to browse all of the 'footage'...