(The picture above is how I imagined Duncan and Grace, but you can imagine them the way you like)

I stood in our orange box and waited, stumbling backwards a little when a built guy with pitch black hair purposefully bumped into me on his way to a blue box. I soon recognized him as the one I'd killed from D3, it seemed he'd hold a grudge. After looking at me coldly for a moment long enough for me to get the point, he walked to his group who were already congratulating each other. He and one other person were left out of the celebration.

"He giving you trouble?" Duncan asked as he approached me from behind.

"No, just a bad sport. That's all," I replied, looking back at him fondly. "You did pretty good," I said.

"Not as good as you and Victoria," he retorted. "She seemed unfazed by it all!" He looked astounded and I couldn't resist the laughter that welled inside of me. "What?" he asked again in a somewhat defensive tone, but mostly filled with humor.

"Unfazed by what? The pain, hunger, thirst, and exhaustion? Was it not as great as you expected it to be?" I asked jokingly.

"No, that was pretty good. Just a little intense at times, but she didn't seem to notice," he clarified.

"She's pretty hardcore," I noted. Someone rested a hand on my shoulder and I spun to see who it was.

"Glad to hear you guys have such high thoughts of me," Victoria herself commented. I flushed at my ignorance, she was right there. What if she'd taken our comments the wrong way? I tried not to overthink all the 'what ifs' because she hadn't seemed bothered.

Before I could apologize, a representative walked towards us and instructed us to follow her. We fell in line with the other groups who'd dropped like flies at each building. When we reached the building labeled "D" us and the three other groups followed to our respective buildings. The first floor was just a cafeteria and living space, we reached the third floor and claimed our rooms. Parker and Amberline walked off to a large room with only two beds, it figured that they weren't the most social people ever. That left Duncan, Victoria, and I to the last room available. Our stuff had been dropped off into our living room and we were now unpacking.

"You didn't have to risk yourself for Parker, he would have gotten ahold of himself after a respawning," Victoria told me.

"If I hadn't, both he and I probably would have been eliminated sooner," I replied swiftly. I wasn't one for leaving a member behind, and I truly couldn't have made it as far as I did without him. He proved to me he was a decent player, he had just become nervous.

"She has a point," added Duncan. "Plus it was the right thing to do, both for our team and Parker himself." He had just finished unpacking and pulled himself onto the top bunk. I quickly finished and followed his example, choosing the bed under his because it seemed Victoria had already claimed the other one.

"Whatever," said Victoria. "Was just saying." She shut off the light and we all drifted into sleep, getting some rest after a long day.

*  *  *

I woke in the middle of the night from a dream about the competition, still fatigued from the simulation. Although we only felt the pain hunger and thirst in the game, we were still moving around in our cubicle; the exhaustion was inevitable. I got up and quietly made my way to the bathroom to grab a small plastic cup of water.

This place was like a really good hotel, it was fancy but still had only the basic necessities of a home. The flat seemed brighter in the dark because everything was white, I made it to the small living area and was surprised to find Parker sitting on the plush white couch. His face buried in his hands, I could tell he was distressed.

I sat on the couch next to him, "What's wrong?" I asked, he shot up apparently not noticing my arrival.

"I don't belong here, that's what's wrong," He replied coldly. I hated that he was beating himself up over something so small.

"Of course you belong here, you passed all the tests didn't you? Just like the rest of us, you were accepted," I pointed out. His shoulders heaved then as he took that in.

"Everybody hates me now, Amberline couldn't shut up about my faltering," He said. "Don't tell me the others hadn't talked about it. I wouldn't doubt you were complaining about me too."

"I actually defended you," I told him. He gave me an 'I told you so' look and I shook my head. "It wasn't everybody, just Victoria. And she was more upset with me because I helped you instead of letting you figure it out yourself; something tells me she thought that because of her life before this competition. Duncan agreed with my decision, he doesn't blame you."

He looked like he was troubled in a way he would only be able to sort out by himself, mostly because he seemed unwilling to tell me what was really going on in his head. "He's just trying to look good for you. Of course he blames me," he stated, though his earlier confidence that everyone was against him had weakened.

"Well, I'm tired. Remember, Duncan and I don't blame you. You can either side with those who'll hurt you, or us who'll help you," I got up and went back to my room, putting the remainder of my water on my bedside table. I meant what I'd said, and honestly, it was only practice. It's not like there were any stakes attached to the game earlier. I slowly fell asleep and had no more interruptions the rest of the night.

I awoke that morning and was relieved to see that Parker had retired back to his room earlier that night. After I got ready, I went to the living area to see Victoria was sprawled on the couch watching some TV show; while Amberline had picked up a book regarding the weapons in the games we were to play. I had to remind myself to look into that later.

"Look at this," I got their attention and crouched down to pick up the envelope that lay on the floor by the door. The girls were quick to gather. "Addressed to D2, regarding today's competition," informed them, reading the front of the envelope.

"I'll go get the guys," Volunteered Victoria anxiously. She was just as excited as I was, and I could see Amberlines face light up immediately. She urged me to open the envelope before everyone else arrived but I insisted we wait, I reminded her that we were a team so we would open our letters as a team.

Victoria hadn't let the boys get around before she dragged them out of their rooms, I felt bad for letting Victoria wake them but it was too late to change anything now. "What's the big news?" Duncan asked groggily. He put his hand through his hair, which was much curlier now than it is after he gets ready.

"We all got a letter from the people in charge," I explained briefly.

"Can we open it now?" Amberline asked anxiously, I was made happier by her tone of voice. She wasn't playing the act I've seen in her so often.

I opened the envelope and quickly pulled out the thick white paper. The words inside were surrounded by numerous colorful boxes. My team leaned over my shoulder to read ahead, I still read it aloud anyway. "It reads; Dear Gamers, it makes us proud to let you try our newest technology for the first time since it was developed," I tried to ignore the fact that they only said that for the tv. We obviously used it yesterday, and I would assume the creators had test runs before they let us use it. Nevertheless, I continued reading. "It makes us proud to finally see our creation used, so let's not waste time and get to the competition. It's called Last Man Standing. You will all have two lives, and you will fight to the death until there's only one team left. You have until noon to be at your positions in the Lobby. Good luck, gamers."

"That's it?" Asked Duncan, I could tell he wasn't trying to be rude. Maybe he was just expecting more.

"It's eleven," commented Amberline. She gave the boys an expecting look but when they hadn't understood her point she explained, "And there's only one bathroom." The two boys looked at each other and made quick arrangements; both claiming they could both take quick showers.

Still, noon approached rapidly and we had to rush Parker by the end. Again, Amberline wanted to leave without him but I reminded her that we were a team and she had shut up. We ended up needing to run to our spots, camera crew watching our struggle. The teams around us were laughing, though some looked disappointed that we wouldn't be disqualified.

"The competition will begin," someone in charge said on the speakers. The same process from yesterday had begun. Darkened lighting, smoke on the floor, orange lights on the ground blinded us as the secret door opened. Everyone was well aware of the terms on our contract, so we all mimicked yesterdays reaction for the cameras.

We walked into our cubicles again and did the ritual, putting on the headphones and taking the injection. I soon found myself in the world of virtual reality, trying to ignore the fact that people all over the country were watching. After I chose my weapon and suit, I was sent into waiting. Only Parker was there and he was nervously messing with his gun. "It's alright. Pretend we're not being watched, okay?" I told him. He nodded but didn't speak. The red light had started to flash as my teammates popped up around me, this time the game wouldn't be practice. This was for real, and people would be watching us the whole time.