Carmen turned to look at the weird necklace around Shane’s neck and Shane wrapped an arm around her. Shane’s mind started drifting off to an old memory as she recognized everything Helena was saying. It was just like in that movie she’d watched once… Battle Royale. She’d watched it with Hideki. Oniisan… ‘God, I miss you… what would you have done if you’d been here?’

“They’re waterproof, shockproof and they can not be taken off,” Helena continued. “They read your pulse and tell us where you are and what you are doing. If you stay too long in a danger-zone or do something you’re not allowed to do – we transmit a signal. An alarm will go off in the collar which then explodes!”

“Oh *****,” Dana said and swallowed hard. “You’re not serious.”

“Wanna bet?” Helena asked, grinning mischievously as she held a remote in her right hand, waving it in Dana’s direction. “Would you like me to use you as an example?”

Dana shook her head, looking like she was about to pee on herself.

“Then shut up and let me finish,” Helena said, obviously starting to get annoyed. “If you try to take it off it will also explode, so crying won’t do you any good. And there’s a time-limit: if no one has died for 24 hours, all the collars will explode and nobody wins! You must all fight and do your best to make sure that doesn’t happen! Any questions?”

At first there was only silence. Then Clive gathered the courage to raise his hand. “If I survive,” he said nervously, “does that mean I get to go home?”

“Well, yes,” Helena replied, “if you’re the last one alive,” and Clive seemed somewhat content with the response to his question.

“Where the ***** did she get the soldiers from?” Dana whispered to Alice.

“I guess you can get anything you want if you have the money to pay for it,” Alice replied and shook her head in annoyance. “Don’t you feel like shoving something up her stuck-up British *****?”

“Like what,” Dana asked with a pale smile. “The strap-on?”

Their little moment of fun in the midst of despair was interrupted by a cry from Tina. “What did you do to Angelica?!”