The Eighth Announcement

[Namira]

*ONE DAY PREVIOUSLY*

The face of Victor Danya held little more than a scowl. His mouth was closed, and the air hissed from his nostrils with a force that betrayed his towering fury. His gaze swept the charnel house that had been made of the technicians' room in the space of just a few short second.

Three corpses were strewn across the floor. One of the team he'd ordered come for Sparky had taken a shot to the chest and was lying spreadeagled on his back. Melvin Carter's head was a bloody ruin, the back of his skull decorating the carpet, blood and grey matter everywhere. Danya's eyes lingered on Carter for a while. This was one of his most trusted men, a hand-picked lieutenant of his organisation... and now he was dead. Killed not by some counter-terrorist, but one of - somebody who he thought was one of his own people.

Danya's smouldering stare settled on the bullet-ridden corpse of Brynn "Sparky" Lovell. She was even smiling, the little bitch, although how anybody with that much lead in them had managed to pull off a grin like that was anybody's guess. Gore was splattered everywhere, all over the floor, the chair, Sparky's desk... her work station had been completely destroyed by gunfire. Without question she was completely and utterly dead.

He turned to the man standing alongside him, an uncomfortable "Ace" Warren. The AT member still had his gun at his side, his expression still slightly hurt. Danya looked him up and down.

"Again."

Ace shifted uneasily. "Wilson picked up on the signal this morning. Sparky broadcasted... well, something. Unauthorized. When we got here... she had the gun on her desk, nobody thought to ask about it before... we've all got guns. She pulled it, shot Carter, Braden. We took her out."

Danya closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again and nodded.

"Understandable. That was ... unavoidable, I suppose," Danya took another look around the room. "We're starting to get severely goddamn short staffed here..." His eyes sharpened, focus suddenly returned to his face. "Somebody go grab Dorian, we'll need him. For once. We'll probably need Sonia too," one last look. "Clean this damn mess up."

Victor Danya turned and began to walk out.

Under his breath...

"How many fucking times have we done this? How long until we get through a version without screwing up...?"

~*~

"Good morning once again, kiddies," Danya said. He was trying to keep his voice cheery, though he was still was a bit shaken by the events of the past couple of days. Luckily, he had a lot of practice acting, and this was all set to be a short announcement. "Would you believe that there are less than one hundred of you left alive? Well, it's true. Congratulations to those of you still standing. You've come a long way. You only need to brutally murder a few more people, and then you'll be on a plane home. Isn't that a delightful thought? I bet you all miss your families. I'm sure they're rooting for you.

"Now then, those whose families will be mourning, instead:

"Alexander Campbell died of I-thought-it'd-be-fine-to-field-amputate-my-arm. This is a lesson: practice first aid before your wound starts growing green fuzz.

"Ricky Fortino and Francesca Fiametta both managed to get themselves caught in the tunnels, and exploded. Turns out wandering in the dark deep underground isn't such a great idea when you have to get out in a hurry.

"Mirabelle Nesa picked the wrong horse to bet on, and died defending Liz Polanski. That's what happnes to people who try to escape. Then, Harun Kemal and Rashid Hassan engaged in some touching buddy-to-buddy combat. Harun came out on top, and Rashid lost the top of his head.

"Timothy Questiare was stabbed to death by George Leidman. Then, Alice Blake sent Ash Morrison rolling down a hill. Spines are shockingly fragile.

"Peter Siu shot Jacquard Broughten, though it took her some time to die. Then, Joe Rios exploded onto the charts, using a scythe to rip and reap Mike Maszer and Alan Rickhall. Well, okay, the first was while he was trying to run, and the second was the result of the worst game of chicken ever, but we can pretend it was more exciting, can't we?

"David Meramac took a jog in a danger zone. Yawn. I swear, the collars and weapons are nothing but a formality and an expedient. If you kids went camping for a month, half of you would likely fall down crevasses.

"Milo Taylor and Melissa Li both were the subjects of collar experimentation, by Aileen Borden and Nick Reid respectively. Both died terrible, explosive deaths. You'd imagine after the fine example of our first death that you would have learned by now, but no. Then again, it's a pretty good way to kill someone. Trick them into thinking you're helping them, then give a little pull. Just be sure to watch your fingers.

"David Morrison just toppled over dead. Reviewing the footage, it seems he hadn't eaten in a while, so we'll put this down to dehydration. Or AIDS.

"Örn Ayers was shot by Liam Brooks, and bled to death. Finally, Samantha Ridley put a bullet in Adrian Staib.

"None of our kills today were half as interesting as Ms. Vernon's stifling of her friend yesterday, so we're giving her the prize. Step it up, kids.

"Ms. Vernon should proceed to the Gazebo to claim her prize.

"Everyone else, stay out of the Gazebo, the Warehouse, the Groundskeeper's Hut, the Destroyed Cell Tower, and the South-Eastern Woods. In fact, you can leave the South-Eastern Woods alone for the rest of the game.

"Talk to you tomorrow, assuming you survive that long."


~*~

BDA this month was an eleventh hour tie: Both storyspoiler and Sean receive roll nulls for their efforts.

Rolled characters:

#1 Raymond Dawson (outfoxd) (Casey, Roll Nullification Used)
#2 Annaliese Hansen (BeatKnight)
#3 Helen Wilson (xylophonefairy)
#4 Garrett Hunter (Hollyquin) - Jasper-Declan MacDermott (Hollyquin, Swap Card used)
#5 Zach Jamis (Ciel) (Tagabasa, Roll Nullification Used)
#6 Gracie Wainwright (Arscapi)
#7 Peter Siu (Solomir) - Rachel Gettys (Solomir, Swap Card used)
#8 Charlene Norris (Decoy)

As per usual, you'll have three days from this post, as in, the 9th to play cards. From there, you'll have a further seven days (the 16th) to get the job done.

Get to it.