Quantum Leap - Vol. 2 Exile Island (formerly Till Death Do Us Part)

C016 Three Little Pigs

"WHAT A FIND...!!! I COULD TAKE ALL THIS WITH ME...!!! HOPE I COULD FIND MORE USE FOR THE GUITAR STRINGS THOUGH..." I pondered to myself as I stuffed the spoils into the satchel bag as much as possible. After I had stuffed all the items into my satchel bag, I hung the machete on my belt and used the tablet to unlock by using various fingers on the assassin's left and right hand (security feature was disabled even after several failed attempts) and finally managed to unlock the device.

I was half thinking of cutting off the fingers so that I could unlock the device at a later stage but decided against doing so since the fingers which I would amputate would eventually rot over time. So the next best thing was to remove the security settings and then do away with the fingerprint ID recognition, face unlock and the numerical password altogether.

I changed the security settings on the tablet to be unlocked by using my right middle finger as its fingerprint ID. This way I could somehow 'cheat' and locate the rest of my friends even though it could only detect blips from 1km away. I pinched and zoom and found that the only blip on screen was the one belonging to mine.

"One down, two to go..." I muttered to myself as I showed my middle finger at the nearest camera that had captured the whole fight scene. I am sure that the bounty for my head had raised considerably. If this reality show was like a game, it would be in that manner for sure. 

I knew that the voice behind the loudspeakers was trailing whenever I go through the cameras that were scattered all over the forest. For sure, that f*****g bastard had seen that I had gathered the spoils of war from the dead Assassin's body and if he got the damn bloody technology, he would also be discovered that the settings for the tracking device on the tablet had been changed. The only that was not to my advantage was that I do not have the override codes to deactivate the explosive devices that were around the neck of my friends.

"Now to find my Kagome. Wait for me, babes...We would go through this together and get out of this place as soon as we can." I grabbed hold of the sickle and chain that laid beside the body and moved towards the misty forest made by several fires earlier by Kagome and our friends.

Darkness quickly fell around the jungle as Hideko was building a huge bonfire trying to keep herself warm and to ward off wild animals that came out when the darkness set in.

She had managed to find some wild cherry tomato plants growing in the bushes and thought to herself that it would be great to rest here and replenish her thirst and hunger. Although the tomatoes (cherry tomatoes type) were slightly sourish for some while being slightly green but sweet for the ripe ones; it was enough to be filling by eating more than a bunch. 

7 pieces of ripe cherry tomatoes would consist of 15 calories and 0.3% fat per serving and this would be enough to make one feel stuffed. Hideko soon picked some of the reddish-yellow ones and kept them inside her satchel bag along with the rest of the whatnot she had received upon waking up.

Although eating a bunch would bring adverse effects to the stomach but then it was considered a means of survival. With a roaring bonfire near her, she could even roast some rather than eating them raw and unwashed.

All these while, she had heard the voices over the loudspeaker and mentions of Megumi, Kagome as well as Kenzo. She knew she was not alone at this moment and can't wait to regroup with them soon. Somehow she realized that Kagome was making fires in the forest to form a blanket of smoke, screening the visibility of the cameras and at the same time warding off the gnats and mosquitoes from biting her. WHAT ELSE WOULD SHE BE MAKING FIRES ALL OVER THE FOREST FOR???

When she heard that Kenzo was able to fight and fend himself against an Assassin, she also wishes for Kenzo to be beside her right now, offering some comfort and solace. However, she felt that her friend, Kagome was fortunate enough to have Kenzo as her boyfriend instead.

In the meantime, the one that gave her comfort was a bunch of tomatoes and the bonfire as her means of solace and companion in the blanketing darkness.

An owl hooted in the darkness of the forest somewhere.

"HELLO...!!! ANYONE OUT THERE???"

Hideko suddenly heard some voices of a boy and girl calling out in her general direction. From the voices alone, it sure sounded from their age group and unmistakingly must be the peers that she recognised...! A flicker of hope jumped in her heart while she calls out to the voices and introduced who she was.

"HELLO...!!! ITS ME...HIDEKO. COME FORWARD TO THE FIRE I HAVE MADE. I HAVE SOME FOOD THAT WE CAN SHARE...!!!"

As soon as she had hollered her reply, some hurried footsteps could be heard trampling the forested ground underfoot as it came from two different directions and she immediately stood up. A few moments later, a peer from her group named Emiko fell into an embrace and the duo started to shed tears of joy and with the indescribable snot started flying everywhere once again. A boy named Genji soon joined the duo and all three were having a frenzied hugging, crying, snot flying kind of situation that carried on after a few minutes.

After cleaning up of snot on their faces.....

All three of them chatted like as if they had not seen each other for weeks even though a day or so had just passed. Three of them gathered around the welcoming bonfire that Hideko had made earlier and were enjoying bunches of raw and roasted tomatoes while adding a few more thick wood to the bonfire as the flames leapt higher up in the air and illuminate the surroundings.

They were thankful that they had survived the ordeal for one whole day and managed were able to chance upon each other for Hideko had made a bonfire that had become a pathfinder for hope. Also, by settling down next to a source of food, they would be able to replenish their thirst, hunger, and strength for the next few hours and able to store some of the fruits inside their individual satchel bags.

"Hideko...!!! What shall we do right now...? Shall we wait for the others to join us or we wait till the morning and make our way out of this forsaken place so that we could be able to rejoin with the rest? I am sick and tired of bashing through the jungle and what I wished for was to have some real food. I heard from the loudspeakers that Megumi and someone else had perished in this sicko reality tv show. That bastard behind the loudspeaker might be the mastermind behind this kidnapping...!!!"

Emiko voiced her thoughts to the rest of the group and wished for everyone to be able to regroup together and form a brainstorming team to get out from this predicament. Furthermore, they were somehow pinning their hopes of survival with Kenzo since he had managed to annihilate an Assassin with a single strike. They were wondering what kind of prowess Kenzo had that manages him to perform the unthinkable.

They chatted and exchanged their information about the mentioning of Kenzo, Kagome, Megumi and another unmentioned person through the loudspeakers in the day. As night quickly approached, the cameras around and the loudspeakers went dead as the voice behind it decides to sleep, I guess.

Somehow, there was a pair of eyes, gleaming in the dark, like a predator stalking and waiting for its prey to make its move as it watched from afar. 3 blips appeared on the tablet and from the plans of the owner's eyes, a scheme soon broke out and was formed inside the mind. Little did the trio -  Hideko, Genji, and Emiko knew of what's going to befall them in the next uneventful hours.

One hour passed... Another hour went past as well... And yet another hour slipped by...

An assassin awaited in the dark. Blending in the silhouette of the shadows dancing made by the bonfire... Waiting... For the right moment... To calculate his plan... Using the element of surprise... To maim... To hurt... To kill... Slowly but surely... Using twisted sadistic methods... Or professional direct hits... As he took out... A Snickers bar... Slowly unwrap it... And gently bite into it... 

The sweet taste of caramel and bits of nuts entered his mouth... He chews consistently...Savouring it... Making no sound... Or little sound as possible... Not to expose himself of his location... As he waited...and waited again... Patiently... For the right moment...like a hawk flying in the sky... Eyeing little cute furry rabbits scurrying in the meadows...  Suddenly as the Eagle swooped down... Bared its talons... AND READY TO STRIKE...!!! Boom...!!!

That's what the Assassin was thinking and trying hard not to fall easy prey for the kids. Even though 3 against one was almost against the odds but in the dead of the night, the silent of darkness; he would surely mark his targets well. He held the hilt of his curved daggers on his front utility belt and decided against using them.

However, as he had planned before, it was time for him to toy with his preys a little bit and also to raise his popularity rankings among the viewers of the live streaming that his Boss had been doing through the dark and underground website.

It was one of the ways to earn an illicit amount of money through paid subscribers to the dark Web of his Boss. Also, his Boss would rake in money on bets of who would die first and how they would die, albeit in the hands of an Assassin or through starvation, injuries or even accidents and suicide. The stakes are high and definitely, he wanted his Boss to reward him with an extra bonus during this live streaming...!

His Boss wanted to set up traps around the forest but then an Assassin voiced the objection as the traps might turn against them somehow. To play it safe, the idea of traps was then eventually scrapped.

Looking at the time on his tablet, it showed that it had already passed midnight. In a short while later, he would make his move while his preys were sleeping and snoring peacefully, oblivious of the next event that would befall them for sure.

Hideko, Genji and Emiko were totally exhausted from wandering around and theoretically speaking, were walking in circles and had totally lost their sense of direction. The water bottles that had been supplied together with the satchel bags had long been emptied and discarded.

The trio had no form of sustenance ever since they were taken away in the middle of the night at Shimizu campsite. All they had before they went to sleep was some Nissin instant cup noodles at the Convenience store back at the campsite.

After a round of humble raw and roasted tomatoes, the trio had managed to quench their thirst as well as satiate their hunger. They managed to store bunches of tomatoes in their satchel bags to eat along the way when they tried to trace the fires that Kagome had lighted during the day.

The warmth of the bonfire and their fullness made the trio sleepy as Hideko and Emiko cuddled each other to keep themselves warm. This also allowed each other to be comforted during their current dire situations. The only thing left in their minds was to rest early in order to replenish their energy for the day.

As the trio slept, light snores were soon accompanied by slow and steady breathing. Once these sounds were heard by the stalking Assassin, he slowly stood and walked towards the sleeping three little pigs....*Cough* the three unsuspecting sleeping victims...