FYI, I had no idea there were a lot of Suzy fans anticipating Suzy's chapters, so I'm happy to reveal this to the ones who have been waiting.

THERE WERE footsteps heading her direction, the shoes squished and squeaked against the floor. Suzy hid herself by crouching behind a water fountain and waited quietly until she could see who was approaching. When she saw Bomi, drenched and shivering with an annoyed expression on her face, Suzy sprinted towards her.

“Bomi!” She was excited but also very upset. Bomi continued to walk, her teeth clattering and her fists balled. “I just got a text message that Ilhoon is dead.” Suzy whined, “Our poor Ilhoon, he liked you so much. I can’t stand this course.”

Bomi finally stopped and looked at Suzy. Her lips had turned a pale blue and she looked cold to the core. Suzy took off her tracksuit jacket and wrapped it around Bomi’s shoulders but the girl let it fall off.

“I don’t need it.” She stated sharply when Suzy went to put it around her again. “Do you know why our Ilhoon is dead?” She sneered, “That’s the consequences of being weak.”

Suzy gawked and shook her head horrified. “Bomi, are you forcing yourself to be desensitized? I think we should all link up and work together to find a way out. That’s the only way-“

“Stupid.” The words had been quiet, but she could hear her. Bomi walked on and Suzy followed.

“Bomi, what’s happened to you?”

She snapped, “Me? I’ve always been like this. You Kids that are taking this Course like there’s a chance at more than one surviving; you didn’t pay attention to history class, did you?”

It may have been Suzy’s naivety that made her blind to Bomi’s harsh nature, but the Course definitely had a role in the Bomi she was seeing at that moment. The Bomi who looked like she stared death in the face and escaped. The Bomi who had been a cute and sweet girl even amidst their dire situation in the mines, but had gotten along with everyone and told jokes. The Bomi who had allowed the Kid Ilhoon to be by her side because they had both become very attached to each other, but didn’t have the heart to confess their feelings otherwise it’d make their reality all the more tragic.

“Bomi,” Suzy smiled at her gently, “It’s ok to not be ok.”

Bomi grimaced. Suzy patted the shorter girl’s shoulder and wrapped her tracksuit jacket around her once again.

“We’ve been through tough times, you and I. Truthfully, I’d say us girls have had it worse than the males in the Tundra, but that’s only made us stronger.”

“Strong?” Bomi laughed at the words and took Suzy’s jacket from around her shoulders for the last time and threw it down. She stepped on it spitefully and Suzy backed away, suddenly afraid of Bomi’s demeanor as she maliciously gazed at her.

“Do yourself a favor, Suzy.” She said tauntingly, “The next flight of stairs you come across, I suggest you hurl yourself down to save yourself some heartache.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Bomi’s smile went away and she looked aggravated again. “Stop talking to me.”

“You’re not well. We should go together.”

“Stop!”

Suzy was not up for leaving Bomi by herself, who had been scared and alone and playing up an act, but Suzy also didn’t want Bomi to think she was a threat, which she seemed to do as she pushed Suzy aggressively against a wall locker. She heaved as the impact from the steel lockers jammed into her back. Bomi worked the Lines so of course she had strength. Suzy let out a groan. Bomi looked at her grimly.

She warned, “Unless you want to die you had better steer clear from my sight.” She drew herself away and Suzy slid down as her own weight felt heavier after being handled by Bomi. She was stupefied at their exchanged, but she still couldn’t allow for Bomi to leave. Her heart sank and she was more afraid than she ever been. She found it difficult to speak loudly.

“Bomi,”

“Shut up!” Bomi looked at Suzy incredulously and covered her ears. She backed away when Suzy extended her arm out. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You’re annoying!”

“Bomi, please stop!” She shut her eyes when she yelled. It was cowardly of her, because she knew her words would not reach Bomi in time. When it got quiet, the silence depressingly overwhelming, Suzy slowly opened her eyes and saw the hallway clear. She spotted the wire trigger near the wall she saw Bomi stepping on, and then she looked on the other side of the hall, the wall where Bomi had been pinned to. It was a harpoon impaled in the middle of the girl’s chest. She died instantly with fiery red eyes. Suzy’s phone vibrated and that’s when reality kicked in. She crawled backwards and breathed heavily. Her eyes couldn’t detach themselves from the scene of Bomi’s death. Her breathing turned to wheezing, and then wheezing into screams. She stumbled to her feet and ran. She was running but she wasn’t looking. She couldn’t dare to look at anything else obscene. Then she fell over.

She knew she had ran up a few flight of stairs. She may have even ran past someone, but she didn’t know where she had gone. The items she tripped over were large and wet. They were bulky but softy. Suzy lifted herself weakly and looked at her hands stained in red. She looked at both and then looked beneath her horrified. There were two bodies, flesh mangled and soaked in blood. She covered and crawled backwards. She got back up to her feet and started running again. She ran down and heard other Kids and avoided them. She could see every trap there was laid out clearly as thought they were blatant.  She evaded every single one without having to pay too much mind to them until she bumped into another person. The person was walking aimlessly, their head hung low and headed toward a trap. Suzy ran into them and bumped him out of the way.

“Sorry,” Suzy apologized, “Are you ok?”

Suzy tilted her head to look up at the face hiding behind white hair. Her eyes widened as she saw the dull escaped look in Ren’s own eyes as well as his face smeared in someone else’s blood. She finally noticed the switchblade in his hand and backed away. He made no acknowledgment toward her. He continued to walk with his head hung low, walking aimlessly.

“What’s going on?” Suzy suddenly felt tired. More mental than physical. She looked up and saw the sharpened flag tips hanging like chandeliers above her and the trigger that would set them off just a few paces away, hidden underneath a water fountain. She slowly walked toward it, her mind blank by ready for the chain reaction that was about to take place. And then someone whispered in her ear,

 “I wouldn’t go near that, if I were you.”

She could almost feel the words softly but aggressively tugging her back to reality. Suzy spun around and saw Sohyun observing her. She didn’t know what to think of it. She had clearly seen Sohyun break away from the group early on in the Course, obviously an active participant that would do whatever it took to win, and had the calculative tools to do so. Suzy knew Sohyun was a cold and detached individual. She knew Sohyun was capable of killing, but she also knew she was capable of saving. Suzy rapidly felt floored with emotions as she looked at the girl with lifeless eyes, the same eyes that had saved her in the mines, and she embraced her.

She was allowed to sob, hug and wipe her snot on Sohyun. When she was finished, she felt relieved, and then Sohyun walked away without a word. Suzy trailed behind her quietly and watched her turned the corner. Sohyun went up to a classroom door and promptly locked it. Suzy fathomed that Sohyun had been doing that for quite some time now. Sohyun looked at her.

“What?”

Suzy was one of the tallest girls in the group, but she had never felt so small. Sohyun was nearly a foot shorter than her, and arguably the shortest person in the ’94 line up, but she had always been strangely and terrifying strong. Suzy suddenly remembered her times in the mines, and the day she was meant to die like most Kids in the mines did.

“Is it ok if I stick with you?” She pleaded. Sohyun slammed a door shut, causing Suzy to quietly yelp.

“Why?” Sohyun continued to give her typical one-word responses as she locked another door. Suzy hesitated but she stepped forward to face Sohyun directly.

“I just,” She paused, “I don’t want to be alone.”

Sohyun gave Suzy one last cryptic look and then eyed the ground, as if remembering something. After a moment that felt like forever she went up to another door.

“Fine.” She locked it.

CHILDREN ELIMINATED FROM COURSE

NAMES: BOMI