Thunder rolled in the distance, bright purple lightning split the sky. It was going to be rough today. Jax was ready. Months of training had prepared him for this, and now it was his shot. Only one survives. The Battle Bus slowly drifted through the sky, reaching clearer blue skies-the jump zone. Quickly, Jax thanked the bus driver, and then dove, waiting until he was twenty feet from the ground to deploy his glider. This was going to be his day. He could feel it.

The familiar but unfamiliar feel of the ground hitting his feet startled him. The simulators had prepared him for the landing, but not well enough, as his knee collided with his chin, sending a shock of pain through his entire face. He cursed, and then got to his feet, sprinting for the nearest house. He needed supplies.

As he ran inside the house, he realized that he wasn't the only one inside. A girl was already looting a chest. Luckily she hadn't noticed him, but unlucky for Jax, was that he only had a pickaxe. Before she could see him, he sprinted up behind her, rapidly striking with the inner force that his trainer had taught him. In no time at all, the girl was trying to escape, crawling on her knees, almost finished. Jax delivered the deathblow, and she disappeared, leaving behind her shotgun, and pickaxe, the only things she had.

"Let's go!" Jax emoted, before realizing that he had to lock in if he wanted to survive. This was a life or death situation, and also televised to everyone in the city. He needed to win. A voice crackled over the intercom.

"One minute until the storm shrinks." Jax had to hurry up if he didn't want to be caught in the blistering winds and shocks of lightning. He hurried on his way, the safe circle up in the distance. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Flowberry Fizz! His trainer had told him to get it at whatever cost he could. Still, the storm was off in the distance, Jax could almost feel the time ticking down until it started on its way toward him. Finally deciding, he ran off course, and picked up the shield potion. The sound of gunshots sounded in the distance, and names started appearing in the sky, accompanied by who had killed them. Jax glanced up, and saw that his kill was the first one, almost record time. Something whizzed past his ear, and Jax looked to see a figure approaching. More bullets came his way, flying wildly. Jax switched to the shotgun, and immediately hit the figure off in the distance.

A few more shots later, and Jax was picking up what the man had dropped. The intercom crackled again.

"The storm is moving in."

"Holy-" Jax looked off into the distance to see the storm approaching, surely but steadily, obliterating anything in its way, leaving nothing left behind. Jax knew he would only survive a few seconds in it. Taking off at record speed, the barrier of the safe zone neared, but so did the storm, never letting up. Jax risked another glance back to see it was only one hundred meters away. He ran like he never had before, legs burning, adrenaline fueling him. Acid rain grazed his leg, and he dove.

Jax blinked his eyes open. The storm was inches away from his feet, but had stopped. He was safe, at least for now. He struggled to his feet, pain shooting up and down his leg where the rain hit.

"That's going to be a liability," he thought aloud. He got to his feet, and looked around. No one was in sight. He was in the Classified Canyon area, the large walls of sandstone sloping steeply down into valleys. Multiple items glowed down there, but none he was looking for. He needed a bandage.

Several minutes of stumbling on his hurt leg, blood seeping from the open wound, he found a medical kit. Quickly using it, he helped himself and immediately felt better. Something sunk into the ground right in front of him, and then more started flying toward him. Bullets! Jax sprinted, mantling a large stone, and crouching behind. Shots continued going over the top of the stone. He only had a few moments before he was found. Grabbing an assault rifle from the ground, he jumped up, and immediately started shooting. In no time at all, the other man had disappeared, leaving behind his supplies. None of it was good, so Jax continued on his way.

After a long time of walking, Jax emerged out of a forest at Wonkeeland. The amusement park was deserted, except for the rides. Needing somewhere to rest, Jax sat down in an alcove, and slept.

Jax woke to the sound of gunfire. He peeked out from his hiding place and saw a girl firing shots at a man who only had a pickaxe. Jumping into action, Jax leapt from his hiding place, and mid-slide, one-pumped the girl, and finished off the man.

"This has got to be on the highlight reel even if I don't survive." Jax thought aloud. Needing supplies, Jax chopped down some trees, and started sky-basing. Before he could finish, though, an alarm sounded and Jax looked off into the distance. The mass of clouds and lightning was moving slowly toward him. Was he ever going to escape this storm. Abandoning his sky-base, he sprinted for safety, making it with plenty of time to spare. Legs burning, and breath caught in his throat, he collapsed and passed out.

He awoke five minutes later, to find a woman looking down on him, gun trained on his head.

"Who are y-"Jax started but was cut off.

"Don't ask questions if you want to keep your life," the woman said, "I'm the only one who asks questions. Now who are you, and why shouldn't I kill you?" Jax stammered, thinking of an answer. The woman looked down on him. Now he realized that she was about his age, long wavy brown hair framing her face, and an athletic build. She was the most beautiful person Jax had ever seen.

"Uhh, I'm Jax Mandrils. I think that we could make a pretty good team. I have four kills already, and you look like you could use some help." He gestured to a gash on her left leg. She looked down, a look of disgust disguising her model-like face.

"I'm fine," she responded, "I'm leading the arena in kills right now. How are you going to help me out?" Jax looked for the right words, afraid that if he just barely misspoke, his life would be ended.

"I could have your back. You know that you can't stop three people if you get surrounded. We could help each other out in that way. We don't have to be friends, but we can be allies." Jax wanted to be more than allies, but he was afraid that being allies was already too much of an ask. The woman raised her gun and thought for a second, a quizzical look on her face. After a few seconds of thinking, she turned to him, and offered her hand to help him up.

"Fine," she responded, "But don't think that I won't think twice before killing you if we are the only ones left." Jax gulped. He knew that she was probably a better shot than him, but he had more strength. Anyway, he would cross that bridge later, if it happened.

"I'm Nalia, by the way," the girl told him, "I was forced in here when I refused to marry the man my parents had arranged for me." Jax silently wished that he didn't end up like that man. Nalia was probably going to do bad things to him if she got out. Suddenly, Jax felt small, wet drops of rain on his head. He looked up to see the storm slowly approaching overhead.

"Run!" he yelled, Nalia was already sprinting for safety.

Jax ran until his lungs burned, and he couldn't breathe anymore, and then he collapsed, gulping in big breaths of air, and hoping he was in the safe zone. He started hallucinating, seeing images of a pretty girl approaching him, a medical kit in hand.

"Here, take this," she said.

"Thank you," he responded, voice slurred, eyes blurry, and half closed. Then he blacked out.

Jax woke up, in a similar position he was earlier, but this time, the girl didn't have her gun on him. He took in his surroundings, tall trees, and red rock cliffs.

"How are you doing?" the girl asked. Everything came back to Jax at the voice. Nalia. He turned toward her, the sun shining down on her elegant face.

"How long was I out for?" Jax asked, voice groggy but a little bit better.

"Not too long, only about ten minutes," Nalia responded, looking into the distance, "but the storm will be coming soon, and some people are nearby. We can't fight them with you in this condition."

"Let's go then," Jax responded, struggling to his feet. Nalia rushed over to aid him, and placed his arm around her waist, so he could rest his weight on her until the medical kit started kicking in. Then they continued on their way, the unknown ahead.

"I should be fine now," Jax grunted as he almost fell to his feet. His legs weren't fully healed yet.

"I don't think you are yet," Nalia commented, catching him as he almost fell to the ground. Jax waved her off.

"Seriously, I'll be fine," He took a few shaky steps on his own, his weak legs quivering under him, but the medical kit was helping, and he was getting better by the second. Nalia offered him her shoulder for support. Jax used it, letting his arm hang around them. He managed a few more steps, but collapsed, needing a break.

"Could we just stay here for a few minutes?" he asked, leaning his back against a sheer rock wall. Nalia hesitated, and then agreed.

"Sure," was her response, "but only for a few minutes. The storm is about to move in, and we're not in the safe zone yet." Suddenly, a burst of adrenaline shot through Jax's body like a shock wave. He bolted upright, the medical kit finally working. He was all better now.

"Are you good?" Nalia asked him, a concerned look showed on her face.

"Yeah," he responded, getting to his feet, "That was just the medical kit doing its job. Let's go." They gathered together their supplies, and continued on their way, walking side-by-side.

"Have you ever wondered what happens to the winners of these things?" Nalila asked him, taking him by surprise, "Like, you never see them in the news afterward, or hear about them. They kind of just, disappear." Jax thought about that for a second.

"I don't know. My great-grandpa won one of them. I wasn't born yet, but I heard that he was taken into captivity, and forced to work in the army." They walked past the last rock face, and emerged into a valley overflowing with green.

'This would be kind of romantic, if I knew that one of us wouldn't be killing the other, or at least dying,' Jax thought to himself. The barrier of the safe zone appeared in front of them, and they stepped through, getting out of the path of the storm. Suddenly, Nalia dropped to the ground, a red stain on her shirt, blood seeping from the wound. Jax immediately whirled around, looking for the person who had shot her.

'It must have been a suppressed gun," Jax thought aloud. A groan from Nalia, pulled him away from his search, and he knelt by her side.

"How bad is it?" he asked her. Her pretty face was now very white and pale. Jax cupped her face in his hand, the other in hers.

"Bad," was all Nalia responded, coughing in the process. She suddenly looked less like a queen, and more like one of the peasants around where Jax lived. Her shirt was soaked in blood, her hair messy and knotted. He turned from her, not able to look any longer.

'I need to help her.' Jax thought, 'She helped me, I need to repay the favor.' He once again, looked around for anyone, but couldn't see a person. Just as he was about to give up, shots whizzed past his head. Jax whirled on his foot, and saw a figure crouch behind a rock. Just like an expert, Jax pulled out his pistol, and started firing, shots striking inches away from the man, but not hitting. Jax sprinted, and dove behind a rock as the man fired more shots at him. He obviously had a shield up, but how would Jax break it. He thought back to his time at the training center, preparing himslef for situations like this, and yet he couldn't think. What gun would work best. The answer came to him in a heartbeat. A shotgun! Why couldn't he think. Searching through what he had, he found a shotgun he had picked up earlier. He peeked up from his hiding place, and saw the figure above Nalia, his pistol aimed at her head.

"No!" Jax shouted, and the man looked in his direction. Jax immediately went to work, firing over and over, until the figure was done. Sprinting, Jax made it to Nalia, and felt her pulse. She was still alive, but no longer conscious. The other man's loot was floating above the ground, and Jax saw what he needed, a chug cannon. Grabbing it, he leaned it against Nalia's lips until it was empty. Then he waited.