The morning sun on the second day crept shyly into the crevices of the rock cliff, illuminating faces that had lost their teenage innocence in just 24 hours.
Udin blinked repeatedly. His vision blurred for a moment before finally focusing on the damp stone ceiling. The pain in his left waist was still there, throbbing sharply every time he inhaled, but the burning heat from last night's fever had subsided. The expensive antibiotics bought with "blood" were working well.
He tried to sit up, wincing softly.
"Don't move too much yet," Alya's cold voice sounded.
Alya was sitting next to him, cleaning the remaining blood on her hands with rainwater collected in a taro leaf. Her face looked exhausted, dark circles under her eyes, but her gaze was sharp and alert.
"Am I... still alive?" Udin asked, his voice hoarse.
"Technically, yes. Your heart is still beating, your infection is contained," Alya answered without turning. "But you owe your life to two people."
Udin frowned, confused. "Two people? You mean Salim and Salma?"
"No," Salma approached. She sat beside Udin's feet. The Student Council President's face looked different. The rigid authority was gone. Replaced by exhaustion and the shadow of guilt darkening her eyes.
"Boni and Dika," Salma whispered softly.
Udin froze. He remembered those names. Kids from Group 12.
"They... what happened to them?"
Salim, who was standing at the mouth of the alcove monitoring the outside, turned around. He looked at Udin with a flat expression.
"They're dead, Din. Their collars exploded last night," Salim stated bluntly. No euphemisms. "Me, Salma, and Rehan ambushed them. We forcibly took their points until 10 minutes remained. Those points were used to buy your medicine and our food this morning."
Udin was stunned. His breath hitched. He stared at the bandage on his stomach, then at the leftover torn bread lying on the ground.
That bread was bought with lives. The medicine in his blood was paid for with the death of his classmates.
"I..." Udin looked down, his hands trembling. "I fed on my own friends..."
"You didn't feed on anyone," Salim cut in harshly, walking closer. He crouched in front of Udin, gripping his best friend's shoulders to make him look him in the eye. "You are a victim, Din. We are all victims. Boni and Dika died because this system forced us to choose: your life or theirs. And I chose you. I would choose you a thousand times over if I had to turn back time."
"But Salma..." Udin looked at Salma who was looking down. "You're the Student Council President, Sal. You must be destroyed doing that."
Salma lifted her face. Tears pooled there, but didn't spill.
"I am destroyed, Din," Salma admitted honestly. "Last night, I vomited after hearing their collars explode. I felt like the vilest criminal."
Salma wiped the corner of her eyes roughly.
"But then I saw you breathing again. I saw your fever go down. And I realized... my guilt is a fair price for your life. If I have to bear the sin so you can stay alive, I'm willing."
Udin clenched his fists tightly. Guilt hit him, but at the same time, emotion and loyalty swelled in his chest. His friends had sacrificed parts of their souls for him.
"I promise," Udin said, his voice heavy and full of determination. He looked at Salim, Salma, Alya, and Rehan. "I promise, this is the last time you dirty your hands for me. From now on... I am your sword. If someone needs killing, let me do it. Salma, you keep your heart clean. Let me bear the blood."
It was a pledge of allegiance. An oath binding Group 27 into an inseparable unit.
"Save the speech," Rehan said suddenly from the corner of the cave. He was holding his tablet connected to the cables of his homemade jammer—he was trying to modify the tablet antenna using components he dismantled from his pocket (the only tool that slipped through because it was small). "System update. And it's... bad."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Their five tablets vibrated in unison. The screens lit up red.
DAY 2 ANNOUNCEMENT
STATUS: 188/200 PARTICIPANTS.
12 ELIMINATED.
"Twelve people died last night..." Alya whispered in horror. "Including Boni and Dika."
The text on the screen scrolled again.
NEW FEATURES UNLOCKED:
1. GLOBAL CHAT (ANONYMOUS)
2. RED ZONE MAP (UPDATED)
3. BOUNTY BOARD
"Global Chat?" Salim muttered. He pressed the new icon that appeared.
Instantly, the screen was filled with a barrage of text messages from other participants. All anonymous, using aliases like User001, Hunter99, or SurvivorX.
User045: Who has water? I pay 50 points!
Killer21: Group 12 was so weak. Easy.
Anon: Help... my friend broke his leg... in Sector B...
Joker: Don't trust it! It's a trap!
Shadow: I heard explosions last night. You guys are crazy murderers!
"This is toxic," Rehan commented. "This feature is just to spread terror and psywar."
"Check Map," Salim ordered.
They opened the map. The forest area where they were (coastal outskirts) was now shaded in blinking light red.
WARNING: RED ZONE WILL ACTIVATE IN 2 HOURS. ANY LIFE FORM IN THE RED ZONE WILL BE ELIMINATED.
"Safe zone is shrinking," Salim analyzed, his finger tracing the map. "Look at the center of the circle. The safe zone is moving to the middle of the island."
Salim zoomed in on the map at the center of the island. There, satellite imagery showed gray boxy structures arranged neatly.
"That's not a forest," Salim said. "That's concrete. Buildings."
"A city?" Salma asked.
"Maybe an abandoned military complex or old factory," Salim answered. "What's clear is, the system is forcing us to leave the forest and enter that built-up area. Over there, battles will be tighter. Close Quarters."
"But that's not the most dangerous thing," Rehan interrupted, his voice sounding anxious. "Check the third menu. Bounty Board."
Salim opened the BOUNTY BOARD menu.
A list of names appeared. At the very top, with a profile photo taken from student ID data, was a very familiar face.
WANTED
TARGET: SALIM NUR HIDAYAH (GROUP 27)
REASON: DANGEROUS LEADER / STRATEGIC THREAT
REWARD: 5,000 POINTS + SAFE HOUSE KEY
REPORTER: ANONYMOUS
Salim's heart stopped beating for a second.
5,000 Points. That was equivalent to living for 3 more days. Plus a "Safe House Key"—whatever that meant, it sounded incredibly luxurious in this hell.
"Crazy..." Udin gaped. "Lim, your head is priced so high."
"Who reported this?" Salma asked angrily. "Who put a price on Salim's head?"
"Not just Salim," Rehan said, pointing down the list. "Salma is also there at third place. Price: 2,000 points."
Salim stared at his own photo on the screen. He had become Target Number One on this island. Now, 39 other groups wouldn't see him as "the poor scholarship kid." They would see him as a walking gold mine.
"Anonymous Reporter..." Salim muttered. His brain spun fast. "Who holds a grudge against me? Who considers me a strategic threat?"
"Septian?" Udin guessed. "He knows we escaped."
"Could be," Salim said. "But Septian is arrogant. He's the type who wants to kill me with his own hands, not hire others."
Salim looked at Rehan. "Han, can you track it? You said you could access dev mode a little bit?"
Rehan bit his lower lip, thinking hard. "I can't hack the central server to delete your name. But... I might be able to view the metadata of this Bounty post. Every data input leaves a sender ID trail in the tablet's local cache if I force sync."
"Do it," Salim ordered. "I want to know who wants me dead."
Rehan connected two tablets (his and Salim's) using copper wire he stripped from inside Dika's tablet casing (which they took last night). He typed a series of binary codes on the emergency terminal screen he accessed via a boot bug.
The screen flickered. Lines of code ran fast.
"Got it," Rehan said five minutes later. His face tense. "Reporter ID: K-37-LDR."
"K-37..." Salim repeated.
Group 37.
Everyone in Group 27 knew who led Group 37.
"Nadia," Salma hissed.
Salim smiled crookedly. A cold smile.
"Of course," Salim said. "Nadia. She doesn't just want to beat me in math exams. She wants to eliminate her competition permanently."
Nadia knew Salim's potential. Nadia knew that if Salim was left alive, Salim would dominate this game with his logic. So, Nadia used a pre-emptive strike. She made Salim the Public Enemy No. 1 so other groups would do the dirty work for her.
Smart. Cruel. Effective.
"We can't hide anymore," Udin said, checking the bandage on his waist. He picked up the sharpened wooden stick he whittled last night. "Everyone will be looking for us."
"Then we don't hide," Salim said. He stood up, looking toward the center of the island, toward the old building complex waiting there.
"We move to the Building Zone. Over there, lots of corridors, lots of tight spaces. Easier to set traps than in the open forest."
Salim looked at his friends.
"Nadia wants war? We give her war. But she forgot one thing. In mathematics, the most dangerous variable is the unpredictable variable."
"And we..." Salim looked at the cold Alya, the injured but savage Udin, the cunning Rehan, and Salma who was losing her morality. "...we are the biggest anomaly on this island."
"Rehan, broadcast a fake location on Global Chat. Say Group 27 is dying on the South Beach. Lure them away from our route to the island center."
"On it, Boss," Rehan smirked, his fingers starting to type in Global Chat with an anonymous account.
User666: I saw Salim at South Beach! His leg is broken! Rush him!
Salim led his group out of the cave. They no longer walked with heads down. They walked with purpose.
The survival goal had changed. Now, the goal was: Survive AND hunt Nadia.
In the distance, the Red Zone warning siren began to wail, forcing all the "rats" on the island to run toward a single meeting point: The Dead City.
There, amidst concrete ruins and rusty iron, a new chapter of slaughter would begin.