Locked-In
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Ten people woke up in the middle of a mansion, unaware of how they got there and where they were. All they know is that they can't get out and someone is trying to kill them. Windows, doors, and exits were all locked. Someone is hunting them down, one by one. Who will escape?
Featuring...
Cheryl Distaso - @Twixela
June Nichols - @Boriiii
Amaia Amo - @GlowingLights
Wolf Quickdeath - @Wolfy
Alexis Sezna - @Phenix
Artemis Obsidian - @Technoscrub
Amena Costico - @BlueBunnie
Silas Ashton - @PepperPancake
Alexander Silver - @MeowMeowImACat
Charlotte Comprablas - @AnxiousExtrovert
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Ten people woke up in the middle of a mansion, unaware of how they got there and where they were. All they know is that they can't get out and someone is trying to kill them. Windows, doors, and exits were all locked. Someone is hunting them down, one by one. Who will escape?
Featuring...
Cheryl Distaso - @Twixela
June Nichols - @Boriiii
Amaia Amo - @GlowingLights
Wolf Quickdeath - @Wolfy
Alexis Sezna - @Phenix
Artemis Obsidian - @Technoscrub
Amena Costico - @BlueBunnie
Silas Ashton - @PepperPancake
Alexander Silver - @MeowMeowImACat
Charlotte Comprablas - @AnxiousExtrovert
The manor was as quiet as a whisper and as cold as the winter. There was barely any life inside it. That was, until these ten kids showed up. They lay there on the floor, wrapped up in blankets and pillows. They slept soundless until they heard the ear piercing screams.
Cheryl jolted up. “What the... ”. Everyone else looked around nervously.
“Uhm…”, Amaia’s voice was very shaky. “Was that screaming…?”
Wolf got up from the blankets and looked around. “No, it was whispers.” They said sarcastically. “Of course it was screaming, what else would it be?”. Alexis looked at Wolf.
“We just heard screaming, and you wanna be rude to people now?” Wolf gave her a death glare. “What’d you say to me? We don’t even know each other so mind your business.
Cheryl stepped in between the two. “None of us know each other, idiots. You’ve only just talked to each other and you’re at each other’s throats. We just heard a blood-curdling scream and you want to argue right now?”
Wolf growled. “Fine, have it your way.” They grabbed the flashlight in the middle of the floor and turned it on. They started to walk toward the steps onto the second level where they heard the scream.
June casually looked up at the ceiling, using her pointer finger to draw cartoons in the air. Even though they weren’t visible, it was as if she could see them clear as crystal.
Amaia yelled at Wolf. “And where do think you’re going with that?”. They crossed their arms and tapped their foot angrily. They were tempted to run up to them and snatch the flashlight out of their hands. “None of us have ever been here except me, meaning I should lead the way. WITH the flashlight.” They lied. Truth was, they had never been here before. They just wanted to have the flashlight with them.
Wolf turned back around. “Oh really now? I find that hard to believe.” They grinned.
Just as another fight was about to break out, Alexis felt an earpiece on their right ear. She messed with it, constantly poking it and trying to pull it off. “There’s something on my ear!” She shouted.
June was the second to notice that it was on her right ear as well. “It’s on mine as well.” She said as she felt it. She felt a button and pushed it. A small screen popped up in front of her eyes. It was tiny and somewhat see-through. Though, it wasn’t see-through enough to make it not readable.
“Welcome!” said the small screen.
She panicked. “Is this a prank?”
Cheryl found her button and pressed it. “It says the same thing for me too… but I think that this is no prank.” She turned her head towards Amaia. “You claim that you’ve been here. Now’s your time to prove it, little miss I’ve-been-here-before.”
Amaia let out an angrily sigh. “Fine then.” She snatched the flashlight from Wolf and marched forwards into the grand hallway. “Where am I supposed to take you?”
Wolf caught up to Amaia. “Hmm, maybe out this creepy mansion? Did you ever think of that even?” They attempted to snatch the flashlight back, but Amaia slapped their hand back.
Alexis looked at a window. “Can you shine the light over here? I think I found a window.” she said as she pulled off some cobwebs.
Amaia jumped up and down. “Woohoo! We’re free!”.
Alexis shook her head as she tried undoing the lock. She tried pulling on it, nothing would budge. “No, the window is locked shut. Even if it was unlocked, it probably is rusted shut. Looks like this place hasn’t been cleaned in ages.”
“Explains all the dust and cobwebs.” said June.
Meanwhile the three were trying to figure out how to open the window, Wolf messed around with their earpiece. They sat on the floor browsing through the device. Most of the information on the device was all blocked or inaccessible except for ‘announcements’ ‘deaths’ and ‘punishments’. They wondered what deaths and punishments had meant. There was also another category which left them in shock.
‘Information: Wolf Quickdeath
-Age is 21.
-Born in Las Vegas to a family.
-Crimes committed: Murder, Theft, Trespassing.
-Lived in Spain.’
Wolf was in disbelief. They never told anyone this, so how the heck did someone get this information? They started to panic but kept it to themself. A million thoughts rushed through their head but soon to be refused as Cheryl walked over.
“Browsing through your earpiece too, I assume?” She said calmly.
“And how are you so calm in a situation like this?”
“We haven’t seen any type of killer yet have we?” She replied.
“You honestly think there’s a killer here?” Wolf said. As soon as that was said, all of their earpieces turned on automatically. Weird messages started popping up in a language nobody knew.
“It’s Latin.” June said. “A dead language no one usually speaks because it isn’t taught to anyone anymore. So-”
Alexis cut her off. “So how does this person possibly know this? We don’t know what they're saying and there isn’t a way of translating it without technology. Even though we have this earpiece, we still can’t translate the messages.”
A message in English popped up. “Ten kids, one murderer, no way out. Every possible exit you could imagine is locked up. How will you escape me? How will you survive? Welcome to your graves, for this is the last place your souls will travel tonight.”
Everyone looked at each other, faces filled with horror, eyes filled with fright, and fists filled with anger.
Cheryl jolted up. “What the... ”. Everyone else looked around nervously.
“Uhm…”, Amaia’s voice was very shaky. “Was that screaming…?”
Wolf got up from the blankets and looked around. “No, it was whispers.” They said sarcastically. “Of course it was screaming, what else would it be?”. Alexis looked at Wolf.
“We just heard screaming, and you wanna be rude to people now?” Wolf gave her a death glare. “What’d you say to me? We don’t even know each other so mind your business.
Cheryl stepped in between the two. “None of us know each other, idiots. You’ve only just talked to each other and you’re at each other’s throats. We just heard a blood-curdling scream and you want to argue right now?”
Wolf growled. “Fine, have it your way.” They grabbed the flashlight in the middle of the floor and turned it on. They started to walk toward the steps onto the second level where they heard the scream.
June casually looked up at the ceiling, using her pointer finger to draw cartoons in the air. Even though they weren’t visible, it was as if she could see them clear as crystal.
Amaia yelled at Wolf. “And where do think you’re going with that?”. They crossed their arms and tapped their foot angrily. They were tempted to run up to them and snatch the flashlight out of their hands. “None of us have ever been here except me, meaning I should lead the way. WITH the flashlight.” They lied. Truth was, they had never been here before. They just wanted to have the flashlight with them.
Wolf turned back around. “Oh really now? I find that hard to believe.” They grinned.
Just as another fight was about to break out, Alexis felt an earpiece on their right ear. She messed with it, constantly poking it and trying to pull it off. “There’s something on my ear!” She shouted.
June was the second to notice that it was on her right ear as well. “It’s on mine as well.” She said as she felt it. She felt a button and pushed it. A small screen popped up in front of her eyes. It was tiny and somewhat see-through. Though, it wasn’t see-through enough to make it not readable.
“Welcome!” said the small screen.
She panicked. “Is this a prank?”
Cheryl found her button and pressed it. “It says the same thing for me too… but I think that this is no prank.” She turned her head towards Amaia. “You claim that you’ve been here. Now’s your time to prove it, little miss I’ve-been-here-before.”
Amaia let out an angrily sigh. “Fine then.” She snatched the flashlight from Wolf and marched forwards into the grand hallway. “Where am I supposed to take you?”
Wolf caught up to Amaia. “Hmm, maybe out this creepy mansion? Did you ever think of that even?” They attempted to snatch the flashlight back, but Amaia slapped their hand back.
Alexis looked at a window. “Can you shine the light over here? I think I found a window.” she said as she pulled off some cobwebs.
Amaia jumped up and down. “Woohoo! We’re free!”.
Alexis shook her head as she tried undoing the lock. She tried pulling on it, nothing would budge. “No, the window is locked shut. Even if it was unlocked, it probably is rusted shut. Looks like this place hasn’t been cleaned in ages.”
“Explains all the dust and cobwebs.” said June.
Meanwhile the three were trying to figure out how to open the window, Wolf messed around with their earpiece. They sat on the floor browsing through the device. Most of the information on the device was all blocked or inaccessible except for ‘announcements’ ‘deaths’ and ‘punishments’. They wondered what deaths and punishments had meant. There was also another category which left them in shock.
‘Information: Wolf Quickdeath
-Age is 21.
-Born in Las Vegas to a family.
-Crimes committed: Murder, Theft, Trespassing.
-Lived in Spain.’
Wolf was in disbelief. They never told anyone this, so how the heck did someone get this information? They started to panic but kept it to themself. A million thoughts rushed through their head but soon to be refused as Cheryl walked over.
“Browsing through your earpiece too, I assume?” She said calmly.
“And how are you so calm in a situation like this?”
“We haven’t seen any type of killer yet have we?” She replied.
“You honestly think there’s a killer here?” Wolf said. As soon as that was said, all of their earpieces turned on automatically. Weird messages started popping up in a language nobody knew.
“It’s Latin.” June said. “A dead language no one usually speaks because it isn’t taught to anyone anymore. So-”
Alexis cut her off. “So how does this person possibly know this? We don’t know what they're saying and there isn’t a way of translating it without technology. Even though we have this earpiece, we still can’t translate the messages.”
A message in English popped up. “Ten kids, one murderer, no way out. Every possible exit you could imagine is locked up. How will you escape me? How will you survive? Welcome to your graves, for this is the last place your souls will travel tonight.”
Everyone looked at each other, faces filled with horror, eyes filled with fright, and fists filled with anger.
Screams filled the air with a frightening feeling. Silas jumped up and stumbled back onto the dusty bed. “Hello!?” he yelled.
Amena sat upwards and looked around nervously. She stood up and tripped over something on the floor onto Artemis. She reached down to pick it up, quickly realizing it was a gun. “Uhh…”
Artemis rubbed his head. “Ow! What was that for?!”
She looked at him. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I never meant any harm, I swear-”
“-It’s alright.” He interrupted.
Silas looked around the room for a lamp. He brushed his hand over a desk, to find a candle. He put it in his pocket in case he ever found a source for it. He looked at the girl holding the gun in her hand. “Could I have that?” he asked calmly.
Amena looked down at her hand. “The gun? How will I know you won’t shoot me with it?”.
“I wouldn’t shoot you, not without a reason at least.” Silas replied. She shrugged and handed him the gun. Even though she wasn’t too sure about it, she had no use for it.
He looked at the gun, feeling what type of gun it was. His hand found the trigger. Artemis looked down and found another gun.
Alex snatched the gun from Artemis’s hand. “I’ll be taking that, thank you very much.”
“H-hey!” he said trying to get it back. He reached his hand out and jumped for it, but fell down to the floor. “Oww… why do you all try to hurt me?”.
Charlotte shook her head. “We aren’t trying to hurt you, it’s just an accident.” Alex threw the gun into the air and caught it with a grin.
“Alrighty then, let’s introduce ourselves.” He sat on the floor, hand motioning everyone to make a circle. One by one, they agreed and sat down. “We’ll also figure out where the heck we are. Anyways, to start us off I’m Alexander, call me Alex though.”
Each person went off stating their name, one by one until they heard more screaming. They all jumped up and ran to the corner, leaving Silas and Alex in the center. They pointed their guns at the room, fingers shaking on the trigger. Silas moved closer to the door, his gun still pointed out. He banged on the door and yelled: “Who’s there!?”.
More screaming followed the yelling. Amena covered her ears and bent down to the ground. Her fingers carefully traced an earpiece wrapped around her right ear. She started to panic. “Th-there’s something on my ear and I can’t get it off.” she said, her voice shaking.
Charlotte tried pulling it off. “It’s on mine too!”. She started to yank on it. She pulled on it with as much force as she could. That was, until she got electrocuted. She screamed then she collapsed.
Amena covered her mouth with her hands, afraid to touch her ear again. She gave a small scream as her breathing increased. “I-Is she dead!?” she yelled. Artemis crouched down to where Charlotte fainted. He checked her pulse and carefully laid her wrist on the floor.
“She isn’t dead.” He replied. “Yet…” he said in his breath.
Silas walked over and picked her up. “We’ve gotta get out of here, that’s one thing. Does anyone know where we are?”
Alex yelled, “Uhh, I’m the leader here so I’ll be making the decisions and asking the group questions. Understood? Yeah ok, great. We’re gonna try to escape. Look for any doors or windows that will lead outside. If you see anyone or ANYTHING yell, scream, shout, whatever it doesn’t matter.” He clapped his hands loudly. “Let’s go gang.”
The five kids out of the room, putting Silas and Alex first. The group had left Charlotte on the bed in the room to make it one less person to watch.
“How did we get here?” asked Alex trying to break the silence.
Amena shrugged. “Were we kidnapped?”
“We most likely were kidnapped, but by whom? I don’t see anyone else around here besides whoever was screaming. This place is as dead as my grandmother.” Artemis replied, as a tear fell from his eye.
They continued to travel down the dusty halls, walking into cobwebs. Paintings would be cracked or fallen on the floor. There wasn’t a single sign of life living inside it, so how is there screaming?
The screaming occurred once more, before the screaming turned into yells for help.
“Help me! Someone! Please, sir, I don’t want to die! Ma’am, sir, whoever you are, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you want me to do just please don’t-” There was one last scream, before the words vanished and the source of the screaming faded forever.
The four kids neared the room where they believe to have heard the screaming.
“I don’t think we should go in…” Amena said, practically hanging on to Silas. They inched closer to the door, guns pointed towards it.
Alex thought differently. “Let’s just open the door, and start to shoot. If we end up killing anyone, oh well.” He said, his hand gripping the doorknob.
Artemis shook his head. “Are you blind!? We’re trapped inside here, we heard screaming, someone was begging a murderer to spare their life and you just want to openly fire your gun into a room where someone could’ve died?! You’re talking about lives here, you idiot!” he yelled.
Amena whispered to Artemis. “Calm down. We could actually kill the person behind this crazy plan and end this. We could go home. Think about it.”
Artemis wanted to argue with her, but when he looked up at her face he knew he couldn’t. He sighed. “Fine, but just this once.” He hid behind Alex.
“On 3,” said Alex. “1… 2..., 3!”. He swung the door open and started to fire his gun rapidly. After a minute, the walls were filled with holes everywhere.
At the end of the room, hung a girl stabbed to a wall. Knives and arrows pierced her body, as her head drooped to the side. A puddle of blood sat below her. Amena screamed as she clung to Artemis.
Just as she stopped screaming, their earpieces turned on. Latin messages popped up on their screens until the device stopped when a message in English appeared.
“Turn around…” said the device. The group stood shocked in fear, as Amena started to silently cry. Silas gripped his gun, as he turned his hand around.
He rapidly fired his gun until it ran out of bullets. He waited to be shot, or stabbed but neither happened after five long minutes. He turned around and his eyes grew bigger. The rest of the group turned around as well.
Alex’s jaw dropped as he read the message aloud. “Forgetting someone?”.
Amena screamed. “Charlotte!”.
Amena sat upwards and looked around nervously. She stood up and tripped over something on the floor onto Artemis. She reached down to pick it up, quickly realizing it was a gun. “Uhh…”
Artemis rubbed his head. “Ow! What was that for?!”
She looked at him. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I never meant any harm, I swear-”
“-It’s alright.” He interrupted.
Silas looked around the room for a lamp. He brushed his hand over a desk, to find a candle. He put it in his pocket in case he ever found a source for it. He looked at the girl holding the gun in her hand. “Could I have that?” he asked calmly.
Amena looked down at her hand. “The gun? How will I know you won’t shoot me with it?”.
“I wouldn’t shoot you, not without a reason at least.” Silas replied. She shrugged and handed him the gun. Even though she wasn’t too sure about it, she had no use for it.
He looked at the gun, feeling what type of gun it was. His hand found the trigger. Artemis looked down and found another gun.
Alex snatched the gun from Artemis’s hand. “I’ll be taking that, thank you very much.”
“H-hey!” he said trying to get it back. He reached his hand out and jumped for it, but fell down to the floor. “Oww… why do you all try to hurt me?”.
Charlotte shook her head. “We aren’t trying to hurt you, it’s just an accident.” Alex threw the gun into the air and caught it with a grin.
“Alrighty then, let’s introduce ourselves.” He sat on the floor, hand motioning everyone to make a circle. One by one, they agreed and sat down. “We’ll also figure out where the heck we are. Anyways, to start us off I’m Alexander, call me Alex though.”
Each person went off stating their name, one by one until they heard more screaming. They all jumped up and ran to the corner, leaving Silas and Alex in the center. They pointed their guns at the room, fingers shaking on the trigger. Silas moved closer to the door, his gun still pointed out. He banged on the door and yelled: “Who’s there!?”.
More screaming followed the yelling. Amena covered her ears and bent down to the ground. Her fingers carefully traced an earpiece wrapped around her right ear. She started to panic. “Th-there’s something on my ear and I can’t get it off.” she said, her voice shaking.
Charlotte tried pulling it off. “It’s on mine too!”. She started to yank on it. She pulled on it with as much force as she could. That was, until she got electrocuted. She screamed then she collapsed.
Amena covered her mouth with her hands, afraid to touch her ear again. She gave a small scream as her breathing increased. “I-Is she dead!?” she yelled. Artemis crouched down to where Charlotte fainted. He checked her pulse and carefully laid her wrist on the floor.
“She isn’t dead.” He replied. “Yet…” he said in his breath.
Silas walked over and picked her up. “We’ve gotta get out of here, that’s one thing. Does anyone know where we are?”
Alex yelled, “Uhh, I’m the leader here so I’ll be making the decisions and asking the group questions. Understood? Yeah ok, great. We’re gonna try to escape. Look for any doors or windows that will lead outside. If you see anyone or ANYTHING yell, scream, shout, whatever it doesn’t matter.” He clapped his hands loudly. “Let’s go gang.”
The five kids out of the room, putting Silas and Alex first. The group had left Charlotte on the bed in the room to make it one less person to watch.
“How did we get here?” asked Alex trying to break the silence.
Amena shrugged. “Were we kidnapped?”
“We most likely were kidnapped, but by whom? I don’t see anyone else around here besides whoever was screaming. This place is as dead as my grandmother.” Artemis replied, as a tear fell from his eye.
They continued to travel down the dusty halls, walking into cobwebs. Paintings would be cracked or fallen on the floor. There wasn’t a single sign of life living inside it, so how is there screaming?
The screaming occurred once more, before the screaming turned into yells for help.
“Help me! Someone! Please, sir, I don’t want to die! Ma’am, sir, whoever you are, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you want me to do just please don’t-” There was one last scream, before the words vanished and the source of the screaming faded forever.
The four kids neared the room where they believe to have heard the screaming.
“I don’t think we should go in…” Amena said, practically hanging on to Silas. They inched closer to the door, guns pointed towards it.
Alex thought differently. “Let’s just open the door, and start to shoot. If we end up killing anyone, oh well.” He said, his hand gripping the doorknob.
Artemis shook his head. “Are you blind!? We’re trapped inside here, we heard screaming, someone was begging a murderer to spare their life and you just want to openly fire your gun into a room where someone could’ve died?! You’re talking about lives here, you idiot!” he yelled.
Amena whispered to Artemis. “Calm down. We could actually kill the person behind this crazy plan and end this. We could go home. Think about it.”
Artemis wanted to argue with her, but when he looked up at her face he knew he couldn’t. He sighed. “Fine, but just this once.” He hid behind Alex.
“On 3,” said Alex. “1… 2..., 3!”. He swung the door open and started to fire his gun rapidly. After a minute, the walls were filled with holes everywhere.
At the end of the room, hung a girl stabbed to a wall. Knives and arrows pierced her body, as her head drooped to the side. A puddle of blood sat below her. Amena screamed as she clung to Artemis.
Just as she stopped screaming, their earpieces turned on. Latin messages popped up on their screens until the device stopped when a message in English appeared.
“Turn around…” said the device. The group stood shocked in fear, as Amena started to silently cry. Silas gripped his gun, as he turned his hand around.
He rapidly fired his gun until it ran out of bullets. He waited to be shot, or stabbed but neither happened after five long minutes. He turned around and his eyes grew bigger. The rest of the group turned around as well.
Alex’s jaw dropped as he read the message aloud. “Forgetting someone?”.
Amena screamed. “Charlotte!”.
The group of five stood there in shock, fear, and anger. They all had the same facial expression. They made it look like they were ready to murder someone. The silence was soon broken by gunshots.
Alexis covered her ears and head. Cheryl put her hand on top of Alexis’s head. “It’ll be okay, just don’t do anything crazy.” Cheryl said, looking around.
Amaia pointed towards a room. “In there, quick.” they yelled, already running towards it. The group soon followed them and in less than a minute they were in the kitchen.
Wolf was the last to enter and closed all the entrances to the room. They snatched the flashlight from Amaia trying to find a lamp, candle, anything else that could provide light. They found a light switch, flipped it, and the lights began to shine. They flickered on and off every few seconds, but it was better than pure darkness.
“Alright. Where are we now?” June said, browsing through their earpiece trying to find a map.
“Don’t know where you grew up, but this is called a ‘kitchen’.” Wolf said sarcastically. Alexis got offended and punched Wolf. Wolf got back up and kicked her back to the wall. “Sit down kid.” Alexis got back up and was about to punch them but got interrupted by another series of gunshots. Except, these gunshots lasted for five minutes straight.
Cheryl looked around to find a box filled with knives. She picked a few up and slid them into her hoodie. She looked around the cabinets for any other weapons she could use.
“Let’s try to find some food. We’ve been here for a few hours by now, and I’m getting hungry.” Amaia said, swinging open another cabinet door. Wolf would stare at the door holding a sharp, pointy knife Cheryl gave them.
June opened a cabinet and found bread and jam. “Ooh, guys, I found some bread and jam we could all split.” She said opening the bread and screwing the lid off the jam. Cheryl handed her a knife she could use to spread the jam with. Amaia brought over five plates to the counter.
“Now we just need a table…” June said looking around the kitchen.
Wolf raised their eyebrows. “Or… we could just use the floor and improve the chance of us not getting murdered.” They plumped themselves down on the floor, already starting to eat.
The five sat in a circle on the floor, surrounded by cabinets and counters to ensure a better chance of not being shot or stabbed. They laughed and joked around, told stories while eating their bread. Amaia and Alexis went back to get the last two slices. As usual, Wolf tried to snatch Amaia’s but she and Alexis slapped them back down to the floor.
“Give me half at least.” Wolf replied, standing back up attempting to rip a piece of bread off. They stumbled back to the ground with a tiny piece. They shrugged and ate it in one bite.
They laughed at the mini bread fight until that laughter was ended with screaming. Someone above screamed and they all covered their ears. They hid into cabinets and turned off the lights. They waited twenty minutes before coming back out again.
“I thought the screaming had ended.” Cheryl said.
“Me too.” Amaia nodded.
“Well, in any case, grab some knives for defense and protection. We can’t risk going up there without some sort of weapon.” Wolf said, holding out the box of knives.
“I’m not going up there, no way, no thank you.” June backed away towards the cabinet she hid in again. “I’d like to keep my life if that’s fine with you.”
Wolf rolled their eyes. “Then you can be behind the rest of the group as the four of us go first, you can be in the back.” They held the box of knives to June.
June sighed and grabbed a pointed dagger. Everyone had chosen a weapon. Cheryl chose throwing knives, Amaia chose the sharpest knife in the box, June chose the dagger, and Alexis chose a pocket knife and Wolf chose throwing stars.
“I’m not sure about this…” Amaia said looking at their knife. The knife wasn’t the problem, it was risking her life to go find out the source of the screaming and gunshots.
Wolf was already unlocking one of the doors. “Oh you’ll be fine. You can be in the back with June.”
Alexis asked, “Could I be in the back also?”. Wolf rolled their eyes and nodded. The group started heading out the door, knives ready to attack anything and everything. They walked back to the ballroom where they had woken up. They found stairs to their left, meaning they had to walk through the grand hall again.
Amaia started to cough as Alexis shushed them. “Shh! The murderer could be anywhere at anytime!” She whispered. Amaia nodded and held back the urge to cough. Few moments later she started coughing again. Cheryl ran back to the kitchen as silent as possible to go get a glass of water.
Five minutes later, Cheryl had a glass of water running back to give to Amaia. “Here.” She handed them the glass of water. Amaia gulped it down, hoping to end the coughing.
They reached the stairs in only a minute. Wolf climbed one step but stopped in fear. They all heard whispers and small screams. They stood in shock and fright, readying their weapons. Nobody had to tell them to not talk but just to simply get ready to attack.
Without a warning, a shadow had ran by. Alexis had just got a glimpse of it, but it looked to be someone running down the hall. Somebody else was here. “The murderer just ran passed-” She stopped talking as another one ran by. “There are two?!”
As another shadow ran passed, Cheryl threw her knife hitting the arm of the shadow. They screamed and fell to the ground screaming: “Help, the murderer just hit me! Help me, help me!” The other two returned back to the one on the ground, as two more appeared. “It hurts, god, it hurts! Someone save me, I don’t want to die yet!” One of the other shadows, shushed them.
The group ran up the stairs, Cheryl and Wolf in front and Amaia, Alexis, and June in back. Just as Wolf was about to throw one of their stars, a girl pushed herself in front of them.
“Don’t hurt us anymore, please, I beg of you.” She cried, her arms making an x. The girl looked up to see the group of five. Her eyes widened. “There are five murderers!?”
Cheryl shook her head as Amaia joined her in the front. “No… but you are murderers?”
The boy on the ground shook his head. “Never, no. Quite the opposite actually. We woke up here in a bedroom all the way down the hall.” He pointed.” “Sorry for invading your home, we’ll leave as soon as you get these earpieces and locks off.”
Wolf was confused. “We woke up here too. And we’ve got the earpieces as well.” They moved their golden brown hair back to show their earpiece.
June interrupted. “It’s nice to know that we aren’t the only ones here though.” She tried to smile and comfort the girl in front of her. “I’m June.”.
She smiled back. “I’m Amena.”.
Cheryl bent down to the boy she had shot. “Sorry about that, thought you were a murderer.” The boy had a painful expression on his face.
“Yeah, thanks for that.” He said sarcastically.
“I’m Cheryl, and you are?” She asked.
“Alex.” He said. “I’d offer you a handshake, but as you can see you tried to cut my arm off earlier.”
“It was on accident, jeez.” She replied, rolling her eyes.
They all introduced themselves to one another, until all their earpieces popped up. There weren’t any Latin messages, or any big announcements. Or words at all. It was a map, with a glowing red dot. It was moving fast towards the stairs- towards them.
Silas yelled. “Everyone, follow me. We’re going to head up to the roof, quickly!” He sprinted down the hall with Charlotte on his back. Cheryl and Wolf both picked Alex up and ran with the rest of the group.
“My gun!” Alex shouted. He used his other hand to reach for it. He ended up using his foot to kick it into the air and have his free arm catch it. “Okay, let’s go, quickly!”
“What is that!?” Amena shouted.
Amaia ran with the flashlight as Artemis kept his earpiece screen up. “It’s the murderer, what else would it be? Just a running red dot!?” He shouted back.
“Sorry, jeez!” Amena replied.
They reached a room and headed inside it. They barricaded the door and looked around.
“There’s a door, over here!” Alexis pointed. “It looks like it leads to the roof or outside!”
Silas laid down Charlotte and Cheryl and Wolf laid down Alex beside her. Amena ran over to aid them with the materials and knowledge she’d gained from being a nurse.
Silas sat down next to them and held his gun at the door. Artemis kept his device screen up as Amaia looked for a light-switch. June and Alexis talked about how to open the door.
“It’s on the same level, but is having a smaller approach. We should have enough time to pick the lock on the door before they get here.” Artemis explained.
June shook her head. “There isn’t a lock on the door.”
Amena interrupted the conversation. “I think whenever we try to open a window or door or pull off our earpiece, it electrocutes us.”
Charlotte began to wake up. “Oh my god, am I in heaven!?” She yelled. Amena covered Charlotte’s mouth. “Shh!”
“Sorry!” Charlotte whispered. Amena was tending to Alex, trying to remove the knife from his arm and recover it.
“Anyone have bandages?” She asked.
Silas threw her some bandages. “There, use that. Found them in the bedroom under the bed.” Amena nodded and used them to bandage up Alex.
“Now just be careful when you move it. There’s just a big cut there and I used some of the loose thread from my sweatshirt so it won’t hold up very well if you’re using it way too much. But it’ll do.” She explained.
There was a bang on the door. Everyone screamed and ran for the door June and Alexis were trying to open. “We can’t open it!” Alexis yelled.
“We’re stuck!” Amaia screamed, holding her knife to the door.
“We need to get out but how?!” Alex panicked.
June stared at the door with tears in her eyes. “Back up!” She yelled gripping the handle. She started to tug as sparks from her head flew everywhere. She’d sacrifice herself for everyone to have a chance at getting out. Even if just one person escapes with their life, it’s worth it.
Alexis cried. “June, don’t! No, it isn’t worth it!” She tried pulling June back.
June screamed, twisting the door knob. Her earpiece started to electrocute her. She screamed more. “If sacrificing myself means you all have more of a chance of escaping this horrid place, so be it! I’ll happily give my life so you guys can leave!” Alexis tugged her away from the door as hard as she could.
One twist… two twists… the door unlocked. June fell to the ground as still as a statue. Her earpiece looked awfully burned up.
The entire group just stared at June, tears in their eyes. Alexis picked June up and ran outside the door. “Hurry up you idiots! Don’t just stare and let her sacrifice mean nothing!”.
They ran out the door, one by one. Artemis checked the earpiece file ‘deaths’. June’s name wasn’t listed. Yet...
Alexis covered her ears and head. Cheryl put her hand on top of Alexis’s head. “It’ll be okay, just don’t do anything crazy.” Cheryl said, looking around.
Amaia pointed towards a room. “In there, quick.” they yelled, already running towards it. The group soon followed them and in less than a minute they were in the kitchen.
Wolf was the last to enter and closed all the entrances to the room. They snatched the flashlight from Amaia trying to find a lamp, candle, anything else that could provide light. They found a light switch, flipped it, and the lights began to shine. They flickered on and off every few seconds, but it was better than pure darkness.
“Alright. Where are we now?” June said, browsing through their earpiece trying to find a map.
“Don’t know where you grew up, but this is called a ‘kitchen’.” Wolf said sarcastically. Alexis got offended and punched Wolf. Wolf got back up and kicked her back to the wall. “Sit down kid.” Alexis got back up and was about to punch them but got interrupted by another series of gunshots. Except, these gunshots lasted for five minutes straight.
Cheryl looked around to find a box filled with knives. She picked a few up and slid them into her hoodie. She looked around the cabinets for any other weapons she could use.
“Let’s try to find some food. We’ve been here for a few hours by now, and I’m getting hungry.” Amaia said, swinging open another cabinet door. Wolf would stare at the door holding a sharp, pointy knife Cheryl gave them.
June opened a cabinet and found bread and jam. “Ooh, guys, I found some bread and jam we could all split.” She said opening the bread and screwing the lid off the jam. Cheryl handed her a knife she could use to spread the jam with. Amaia brought over five plates to the counter.
“Now we just need a table…” June said looking around the kitchen.
Wolf raised their eyebrows. “Or… we could just use the floor and improve the chance of us not getting murdered.” They plumped themselves down on the floor, already starting to eat.
The five sat in a circle on the floor, surrounded by cabinets and counters to ensure a better chance of not being shot or stabbed. They laughed and joked around, told stories while eating their bread. Amaia and Alexis went back to get the last two slices. As usual, Wolf tried to snatch Amaia’s but she and Alexis slapped them back down to the floor.
“Give me half at least.” Wolf replied, standing back up attempting to rip a piece of bread off. They stumbled back to the ground with a tiny piece. They shrugged and ate it in one bite.
They laughed at the mini bread fight until that laughter was ended with screaming. Someone above screamed and they all covered their ears. They hid into cabinets and turned off the lights. They waited twenty minutes before coming back out again.
“I thought the screaming had ended.” Cheryl said.
“Me too.” Amaia nodded.
“Well, in any case, grab some knives for defense and protection. We can’t risk going up there without some sort of weapon.” Wolf said, holding out the box of knives.
“I’m not going up there, no way, no thank you.” June backed away towards the cabinet she hid in again. “I’d like to keep my life if that’s fine with you.”
Wolf rolled their eyes. “Then you can be behind the rest of the group as the four of us go first, you can be in the back.” They held the box of knives to June.
June sighed and grabbed a pointed dagger. Everyone had chosen a weapon. Cheryl chose throwing knives, Amaia chose the sharpest knife in the box, June chose the dagger, and Alexis chose a pocket knife and Wolf chose throwing stars.
“I’m not sure about this…” Amaia said looking at their knife. The knife wasn’t the problem, it was risking her life to go find out the source of the screaming and gunshots.
Wolf was already unlocking one of the doors. “Oh you’ll be fine. You can be in the back with June.”
Alexis asked, “Could I be in the back also?”. Wolf rolled their eyes and nodded. The group started heading out the door, knives ready to attack anything and everything. They walked back to the ballroom where they had woken up. They found stairs to their left, meaning they had to walk through the grand hall again.
Amaia started to cough as Alexis shushed them. “Shh! The murderer could be anywhere at anytime!” She whispered. Amaia nodded and held back the urge to cough. Few moments later she started coughing again. Cheryl ran back to the kitchen as silent as possible to go get a glass of water.
Five minutes later, Cheryl had a glass of water running back to give to Amaia. “Here.” She handed them the glass of water. Amaia gulped it down, hoping to end the coughing.
They reached the stairs in only a minute. Wolf climbed one step but stopped in fear. They all heard whispers and small screams. They stood in shock and fright, readying their weapons. Nobody had to tell them to not talk but just to simply get ready to attack.
Without a warning, a shadow had ran by. Alexis had just got a glimpse of it, but it looked to be someone running down the hall. Somebody else was here. “The murderer just ran passed-” She stopped talking as another one ran by. “There are two?!”
As another shadow ran passed, Cheryl threw her knife hitting the arm of the shadow. They screamed and fell to the ground screaming: “Help, the murderer just hit me! Help me, help me!” The other two returned back to the one on the ground, as two more appeared. “It hurts, god, it hurts! Someone save me, I don’t want to die yet!” One of the other shadows, shushed them.
The group ran up the stairs, Cheryl and Wolf in front and Amaia, Alexis, and June in back. Just as Wolf was about to throw one of their stars, a girl pushed herself in front of them.
“Don’t hurt us anymore, please, I beg of you.” She cried, her arms making an x. The girl looked up to see the group of five. Her eyes widened. “There are five murderers!?”
Cheryl shook her head as Amaia joined her in the front. “No… but you are murderers?”
The boy on the ground shook his head. “Never, no. Quite the opposite actually. We woke up here in a bedroom all the way down the hall.” He pointed.” “Sorry for invading your home, we’ll leave as soon as you get these earpieces and locks off.”
Wolf was confused. “We woke up here too. And we’ve got the earpieces as well.” They moved their golden brown hair back to show their earpiece.
June interrupted. “It’s nice to know that we aren’t the only ones here though.” She tried to smile and comfort the girl in front of her. “I’m June.”.
She smiled back. “I’m Amena.”.
Cheryl bent down to the boy she had shot. “Sorry about that, thought you were a murderer.” The boy had a painful expression on his face.
“Yeah, thanks for that.” He said sarcastically.
“I’m Cheryl, and you are?” She asked.
“Alex.” He said. “I’d offer you a handshake, but as you can see you tried to cut my arm off earlier.”
“It was on accident, jeez.” She replied, rolling her eyes.
They all introduced themselves to one another, until all their earpieces popped up. There weren’t any Latin messages, or any big announcements. Or words at all. It was a map, with a glowing red dot. It was moving fast towards the stairs- towards them.
Silas yelled. “Everyone, follow me. We’re going to head up to the roof, quickly!” He sprinted down the hall with Charlotte on his back. Cheryl and Wolf both picked Alex up and ran with the rest of the group.
“My gun!” Alex shouted. He used his other hand to reach for it. He ended up using his foot to kick it into the air and have his free arm catch it. “Okay, let’s go, quickly!”
“What is that!?” Amena shouted.
Amaia ran with the flashlight as Artemis kept his earpiece screen up. “It’s the murderer, what else would it be? Just a running red dot!?” He shouted back.
“Sorry, jeez!” Amena replied.
They reached a room and headed inside it. They barricaded the door and looked around.
“There’s a door, over here!” Alexis pointed. “It looks like it leads to the roof or outside!”
Silas laid down Charlotte and Cheryl and Wolf laid down Alex beside her. Amena ran over to aid them with the materials and knowledge she’d gained from being a nurse.
Silas sat down next to them and held his gun at the door. Artemis kept his device screen up as Amaia looked for a light-switch. June and Alexis talked about how to open the door.
“It’s on the same level, but is having a smaller approach. We should have enough time to pick the lock on the door before they get here.” Artemis explained.
June shook her head. “There isn’t a lock on the door.”
Amena interrupted the conversation. “I think whenever we try to open a window or door or pull off our earpiece, it electrocutes us.”
Charlotte began to wake up. “Oh my god, am I in heaven!?” She yelled. Amena covered Charlotte’s mouth. “Shh!”
“Sorry!” Charlotte whispered. Amena was tending to Alex, trying to remove the knife from his arm and recover it.
“Anyone have bandages?” She asked.
Silas threw her some bandages. “There, use that. Found them in the bedroom under the bed.” Amena nodded and used them to bandage up Alex.
“Now just be careful when you move it. There’s just a big cut there and I used some of the loose thread from my sweatshirt so it won’t hold up very well if you’re using it way too much. But it’ll do.” She explained.
There was a bang on the door. Everyone screamed and ran for the door June and Alexis were trying to open. “We can’t open it!” Alexis yelled.
“We’re stuck!” Amaia screamed, holding her knife to the door.
“We need to get out but how?!” Alex panicked.
June stared at the door with tears in her eyes. “Back up!” She yelled gripping the handle. She started to tug as sparks from her head flew everywhere. She’d sacrifice herself for everyone to have a chance at getting out. Even if just one person escapes with their life, it’s worth it.
Alexis cried. “June, don’t! No, it isn’t worth it!” She tried pulling June back.
June screamed, twisting the door knob. Her earpiece started to electrocute her. She screamed more. “If sacrificing myself means you all have more of a chance of escaping this horrid place, so be it! I’ll happily give my life so you guys can leave!” Alexis tugged her away from the door as hard as she could.
One twist… two twists… the door unlocked. June fell to the ground as still as a statue. Her earpiece looked awfully burned up.
The entire group just stared at June, tears in their eyes. Alexis picked June up and ran outside the door. “Hurry up you idiots! Don’t just stare and let her sacrifice mean nothing!”.
They ran out the door, one by one. Artemis checked the earpiece file ‘deaths’. June’s name wasn’t listed. Yet...
The group of nine raced to the top of the roof, Alexis first with June on her back. She ran ahead with anger and sadness in her eyes. But like a soldier with a battle wound, she carried on. She laid down June so she could see the sunrise.
“Please don’t go.” Alexis cried.
June just stared into the horizon. She finally found the strength to turn her head. Her dull, brown eyes stared into Alexis’s as her hazelnut hair blew in the breeze. She hugged Alexis tightly.
Alexis broke into tears. “You aren’t dying on me, no way.” As much as she enjoyed the hug, she got up and took Amena by the collar. She dragged her over to June.
“You’re gonna fix her up. ‘Cause if you let her die, I’ll fling you off this building.” She demanded in a serious tone. Amena felt threatened and nodded.
“H-hey.” Artemis said. “We get that your princess is dying, but all of our loved ones die. Sometimes you just gotta let them go so that way they aren’t in pain.”
Wolf interrupted. “So you want her to die? I’ll happily throw you off this building too, if that’s what you’re saying. So get yourself over there too, and help her.”
Artemis gave them a death glare, but gave in. He walked over to Amena and began to help out. He checked the ‘deaths’ section once more, nobody’s name listed. Yet.
Silas and Alex were talking about their next move on how to escape. They needed some sort of ladder to get down. Cheryl soon joined them.
“Talking about how to escape?” Cheryl interrupted, seating herself down on the edge next to them.
Silas nodded. “Trying to figure out how to get down. But, just by looking at the horizon this property goes on for miles. Borders and everything. We’re at the very backside of the manor, so we can’t walk on the roof to the other side. We’d need to get down and walk around.”
Alex broke out in laughter. Cheryl tilted her head a bit as if asking why are you laughing at a time like this. Once he pulled himself together, he spoke. “What if we took all our shirts and hoodies off, tied them together like a rope, and slid down them one by one.” He laughed again.
Silas was shocked. “That could work actually.”
Charlotte ran over. “Hey, uhh, whatever your name is, thanks for carrying me around I guess. Amena explained everything to me, so thanks. I owe you one.” She said.
He nodded his head. “Hey, just making sure everyone is alive.” He replied.
She sat down beside Cheryl. “Anyways, what’re y’all talking about?”.
Alex grinned. “Charlotte, ask everyone to take off their hoodies.”
Charlotte smiled. “Okay!” She yelled to everyone, asking them to take off their hoodies. Alexis took off hers, and helped June take hers off as well. Wolf argued, but then agreed if it meant escaping. Cheryl took off hers, along with Artemis.
Silas tied them all together, as if it were a rope. They hung it off the edge. “We just need one more.” He looked around and realized there weren’t anymore.
Alex grinned and took his shirt off. “Here.”. Silas sighed and tied to the bottom. It hung three feet away from the ground, enough for everyone to reach it.
“Anyone want to test it?” He offered. He looked at Charlotte. “You should try it out.” She nodded, and looked down. She shrugged away the thought of dying, and slid down screaming.
They all didn’t look down at the rope. Silas gave in and looked. Sure enough, Charlotte stood on the grass, surrounded by flowers, waving up. With a big smile on her face, a reassuring feeling fell upon all of them. One by one, they slid down the rope.
June slid down the rope while attached to Alexis’s back. When they got to the ground, unharmed, they had broken a part of the rope at the bottom, but Silas ended up fixing it.
Amaia stood at the top of the building. She gazed into the sunrise, as she looked around the rooftop. “Well, this is it.” She smiled at the thought of escaping. Looking down at the smiles of the others, it was a great moment.
That was, until the door leading to the rooftop was swung open… Amaia screamed.
The others looked up. They figured she was afraid of heights. They continued to have their conversations but Artemis browsed through his earpiece once more. He looked at the map, trying to find the red dot. There wasn’t just a red dot, there was also a black. The red and black stood at the top of the building, right where the rope made of rope was.
“Uh guys…” Artemis got worried.
Silas looked up. “Amaia, it’s okay, nine of us are safe and unharmed, don’t worry.” He yelled from the bottom.
The group had stopped talking as they looked at the top of the roof. Someone dressed in all black- black shirt, black hoodie, black ski mask, black shoes, black pants- stood at the top with a knife. He held someone by the neck in his hand.
Cheryl was the first to scream. Amaia hung from the black man’s hand, their hand gripped tightly around their neck.. Amaia had many stab wounds across their legs, arms, and one near their heart. He hung Amaia above the ground. Silas ran towards where Amaia would crash-land. He prepared himself to catch her.
Amaia fell at a high speed to the ground, luckily to be caught by Silas. The black man pulled out a gun, and shot towards Silas. He swiftly flung himself back. Alex grabbed his gun and rapidly fired it.
Amaia laid there, no movement or breathing. They only stared up at the sunrise. Their eyes gently closed moments later. Silas picked them up, and sat them against the wall. He tugged down all the hoodies, trying to make sure the black man couldn't get down. He covered them in the hoodies, wiping the blood away from them.
The group looked back at Amaia, crying. “You’ve escaped to a better place, my dear friend.” Wolf hugged them. “Thank you for everything. May you rest in peace.” They choked back tears, but let one slip by. They all turned around, and marched forward. Their earpieces all turned on.
"Sleep well, Amaia Amo. The first of many who will taste death."
“Please don’t go.” Alexis cried.
June just stared into the horizon. She finally found the strength to turn her head. Her dull, brown eyes stared into Alexis’s as her hazelnut hair blew in the breeze. She hugged Alexis tightly.
Alexis broke into tears. “You aren’t dying on me, no way.” As much as she enjoyed the hug, she got up and took Amena by the collar. She dragged her over to June.
“You’re gonna fix her up. ‘Cause if you let her die, I’ll fling you off this building.” She demanded in a serious tone. Amena felt threatened and nodded.
“H-hey.” Artemis said. “We get that your princess is dying, but all of our loved ones die. Sometimes you just gotta let them go so that way they aren’t in pain.”
Wolf interrupted. “So you want her to die? I’ll happily throw you off this building too, if that’s what you’re saying. So get yourself over there too, and help her.”
Artemis gave them a death glare, but gave in. He walked over to Amena and began to help out. He checked the ‘deaths’ section once more, nobody’s name listed. Yet.
Silas and Alex were talking about their next move on how to escape. They needed some sort of ladder to get down. Cheryl soon joined them.
“Talking about how to escape?” Cheryl interrupted, seating herself down on the edge next to them.
Silas nodded. “Trying to figure out how to get down. But, just by looking at the horizon this property goes on for miles. Borders and everything. We’re at the very backside of the manor, so we can’t walk on the roof to the other side. We’d need to get down and walk around.”
Alex broke out in laughter. Cheryl tilted her head a bit as if asking why are you laughing at a time like this. Once he pulled himself together, he spoke. “What if we took all our shirts and hoodies off, tied them together like a rope, and slid down them one by one.” He laughed again.
Silas was shocked. “That could work actually.”
Charlotte ran over. “Hey, uhh, whatever your name is, thanks for carrying me around I guess. Amena explained everything to me, so thanks. I owe you one.” She said.
He nodded his head. “Hey, just making sure everyone is alive.” He replied.
She sat down beside Cheryl. “Anyways, what’re y’all talking about?”.
Alex grinned. “Charlotte, ask everyone to take off their hoodies.”
Charlotte smiled. “Okay!” She yelled to everyone, asking them to take off their hoodies. Alexis took off hers, and helped June take hers off as well. Wolf argued, but then agreed if it meant escaping. Cheryl took off hers, along with Artemis.
Silas tied them all together, as if it were a rope. They hung it off the edge. “We just need one more.” He looked around and realized there weren’t anymore.
Alex grinned and took his shirt off. “Here.”. Silas sighed and tied to the bottom. It hung three feet away from the ground, enough for everyone to reach it.
“Anyone want to test it?” He offered. He looked at Charlotte. “You should try it out.” She nodded, and looked down. She shrugged away the thought of dying, and slid down screaming.
They all didn’t look down at the rope. Silas gave in and looked. Sure enough, Charlotte stood on the grass, surrounded by flowers, waving up. With a big smile on her face, a reassuring feeling fell upon all of them. One by one, they slid down the rope.
June slid down the rope while attached to Alexis’s back. When they got to the ground, unharmed, they had broken a part of the rope at the bottom, but Silas ended up fixing it.
Amaia stood at the top of the building. She gazed into the sunrise, as she looked around the rooftop. “Well, this is it.” She smiled at the thought of escaping. Looking down at the smiles of the others, it was a great moment.
That was, until the door leading to the rooftop was swung open… Amaia screamed.
The others looked up. They figured she was afraid of heights. They continued to have their conversations but Artemis browsed through his earpiece once more. He looked at the map, trying to find the red dot. There wasn’t just a red dot, there was also a black. The red and black stood at the top of the building, right where the rope made of rope was.
“Uh guys…” Artemis got worried.
Silas looked up. “Amaia, it’s okay, nine of us are safe and unharmed, don’t worry.” He yelled from the bottom.
The group had stopped talking as they looked at the top of the roof. Someone dressed in all black- black shirt, black hoodie, black ski mask, black shoes, black pants- stood at the top with a knife. He held someone by the neck in his hand.
Cheryl was the first to scream. Amaia hung from the black man’s hand, their hand gripped tightly around their neck.. Amaia had many stab wounds across their legs, arms, and one near their heart. He hung Amaia above the ground. Silas ran towards where Amaia would crash-land. He prepared himself to catch her.
Amaia fell at a high speed to the ground, luckily to be caught by Silas. The black man pulled out a gun, and shot towards Silas. He swiftly flung himself back. Alex grabbed his gun and rapidly fired it.
Amaia laid there, no movement or breathing. They only stared up at the sunrise. Their eyes gently closed moments later. Silas picked them up, and sat them against the wall. He tugged down all the hoodies, trying to make sure the black man couldn't get down. He covered them in the hoodies, wiping the blood away from them.
The group looked back at Amaia, crying. “You’ve escaped to a better place, my dear friend.” Wolf hugged them. “Thank you for everything. May you rest in peace.” They choked back tears, but let one slip by. They all turned around, and marched forward. Their earpieces all turned on.
"Sleep well, Amaia Amo. The first of many who will taste death."
The group of nine ran down into the courtyard. Sprinting as fast as they can while avoiding bullets. Artemis turned around to see the man wearing black was no longer there. They stopped running when they had reached a pavilion, leading into many different paths.
Artemis kept his device screen up, trying to find the red dot again. It didn’t appear anymore. The black dot representing Amaia stayed as still as a statue.
He remembered hearing Amaia scream and then be hung over the edge of the manor. Their feet dangled in the air, as their head laid on the hand of the murderer. Eyes as dull as the sky during a cloudy day. He thought about their laugh and smile and how that was all gone.
Wolf wiped a tear from their eye thinking about all the times they argued with Amaia. Behind all that arguing, they were close friends. But Wolf reminded themselves they had to move on. At least, that’s what Amaia would want, they thought. “We can’t keep socializing like we did at the outside walls of the manor. We’ve got to keep moving.” They addressed, looking at the other eight kids.
Alex disagreed. “There’s always time for socializing. Also, I’m the leader of this wolf pack, so back off will you? I lead this group.” He laughed. “Haha, that’s funny I didn’t even mean to say that.”
Wolf punched Alex in the mouth. “You back off. Artemis is right, we’re talking about lives and all you want to do it party. Open your eyes, dimwit. We’re gonna die if you’re still trying to socialize.”
He didn’t dare get back up because he knew that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if it meant saving the rest of the group. He sighed and sat back for Amena to check his arm again.
“Alexis, I’ll need to check-out June next.” She said while re-stitching Alex’s arm.
She nodded, bringing June over. Artemis, Cheryl, Wolf, Silas, and Charlotte talked about their next plan. Discussing all outcomes and if they should hide. They considered staying in the pavilion and taking watch during the night, but they knew that wouldn’t work. The murderer knew this place better than any of them.
Cheryl claimed that Amaia knew this place and was familiar with it, but she was dead which reminded everyone you aren’t safe. Anywhere.
“Well, that just blew our only way of navigating this place.” Silas said.
Artemis popped open the map. “Not quite, we have this. But it isn’t very helpful. It’s only at its best when the murderer adds themselves to it.” He explained.
“So we’re only allowed to use the map when the murderer is trying to attack us? Great.” Wolf said sarcastically.
Charlotte looked at the paths leading to different areas. “Maybe we should split up.” A few people gasped or just stared in shock. Nobody would want to split up while being hunted, no way.
Wolf raised their eyebrows. “Are you serious? How dumb are you actually?”
Alex interrupted. “Hey now, that’s a fair idea. There’s only one murderer right? They can’t catch nine people they’re all split up.”
“How is that a good idea to you?!” Cheryl shouted. She smacked her hand down on the table. “You know what, that’s a great idea. If it gets me farther away from you, I’ll agree to it.”
Alex slapped Cheryl. “RUDE.” Cheryl punched Alex off his seat.
“Let’s take a vote.” Cheryl declared. “Raise your hand if you’re willing to split up.” Five people raised their hand. “That’s majority. One person will be going solo, others will choose the person they rely on the most.”
Everyone talked among each other. They were picking partners and some said goodbye, thinking it would be the last time they see them. If someone were to find an exit out of the manor, they would fire a gun and/or shout “EXIT!”. Amena taught Alex how to stitch up his arm if it ever came undone. She also taught Alexis how to properly take care of June. Even though it was a brief explanation, it would be fine if they were to ever need it. Another signal would be if someone declared to re-group, they would shout: “REGROUP!”.
Cheryl and Wolf decided to partner up, seeing as they had the most experience with one another. They had woken up at the same place together, and since the fifth member of their group died, it was even. Alexis already called protecting June, so there wasn’t any point in trying to argue with her.
Alex and Charlotte agreed to partner up. It may have been surprising, but they both shared the same thoughts and ideas. They easily agreed with one another, so they had teamed up.
Artemis and Amena went together. They’d been friends since the first hour of this place, helping each other with worry and stress. They both had become better friends during the socialization hour on the stairs back inside the manor. Artemis chose Amena because she was the only healer, meanwhile he was great at puzzles and had intelligence.
Silas declared he’d go alone. He claimed that he could handle himself alone and would prefer that way. Nobody argued.
“Good-luck out there. Hope y’all make it back alive.” Amena said, rushing off into one pathway with Artemis.
Alex nodded. “Remember, if it’s night-time again we re-group. We shouldn’t stay split up always.” He ran off after Charlotte who was running towards adventure. He shouted for her to wait up.
Alexis carried June on her back again, walking off into a separate pathway. She didn’t have the feeling to say goodbye to anyone.
Wolf and Cheryl got the head-start and chose the first pathway. They were both eager to get out of here as quick as possible. Neither of them wanted to end up like Amaia.
Silas got the last route, not caring which path he got. He had his gun, and that’s all he needed to survive a night or two.
Cheryl had asked Wolf to slow down. “We’ve been running for hours, could we take a five minute break?” She shouted down to them.
They shook their head. “There’s a door down here, it could be the exit!” They shouted back. Cheryl instantly jumped up and took off. She could run for another hundred hours if it meant leaving.
They reached the door and ran through it. Cheryl squealed in excitement thinking about their escape. Only one death? That isn’t as bad as their earpiece had promised. But something still didn’t feel right. This felt too easy than what was promised.
They ran through the door. It almost looked like a secret garden. It was peaceful and reassuring. “Well this is nice.” Cheryl said.
“Too nice.” Wolf said. “Something’s off… just don’t know what.”
The artificial waterfall sound calmed them both, as it fell into a miniature river. At last, it reached a small pond with lily pads. Beautifully bloomed flowers surrounded them of a variety of colors. The two kids stood on lush green grass, as they turned around to see the door close.
They stood in shock and curiosity. Silence fell upon both of them, but soon to be broken by Wolf. “Uh, please tell me you closed that.”
Cheryl shook her head. She pulled out her knives. Wolf prepared them-self for combat. “Must’ve found the murderer. Get prepared.”
Their earpieces popped up with no Latin messages. “Two victims enter, one shall leave with their life. If you cherish your life, you will kill your partner. Or, your new opponent. Good-luck, victims.” The device screen turned off.
Cheryl and Wolf stared at one another, preparing for combat. Cheryl dropped all knives but one. Wolf readied them-self to slash at her.
Everyone’s earpieces turned on with ‘announcements’. “Cheryl Distaso vs. Wolf Quickdeath. Winner keeps their life.”.
Artemis kept his device screen up, trying to find the red dot again. It didn’t appear anymore. The black dot representing Amaia stayed as still as a statue.
He remembered hearing Amaia scream and then be hung over the edge of the manor. Their feet dangled in the air, as their head laid on the hand of the murderer. Eyes as dull as the sky during a cloudy day. He thought about their laugh and smile and how that was all gone.
Wolf wiped a tear from their eye thinking about all the times they argued with Amaia. Behind all that arguing, they were close friends. But Wolf reminded themselves they had to move on. At least, that’s what Amaia would want, they thought. “We can’t keep socializing like we did at the outside walls of the manor. We’ve got to keep moving.” They addressed, looking at the other eight kids.
Alex disagreed. “There’s always time for socializing. Also, I’m the leader of this wolf pack, so back off will you? I lead this group.” He laughed. “Haha, that’s funny I didn’t even mean to say that.”
Wolf punched Alex in the mouth. “You back off. Artemis is right, we’re talking about lives and all you want to do it party. Open your eyes, dimwit. We’re gonna die if you’re still trying to socialize.”
He didn’t dare get back up because he knew that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if it meant saving the rest of the group. He sighed and sat back for Amena to check his arm again.
“Alexis, I’ll need to check-out June next.” She said while re-stitching Alex’s arm.
She nodded, bringing June over. Artemis, Cheryl, Wolf, Silas, and Charlotte talked about their next plan. Discussing all outcomes and if they should hide. They considered staying in the pavilion and taking watch during the night, but they knew that wouldn’t work. The murderer knew this place better than any of them.
Cheryl claimed that Amaia knew this place and was familiar with it, but she was dead which reminded everyone you aren’t safe. Anywhere.
“Well, that just blew our only way of navigating this place.” Silas said.
Artemis popped open the map. “Not quite, we have this. But it isn’t very helpful. It’s only at its best when the murderer adds themselves to it.” He explained.
“So we’re only allowed to use the map when the murderer is trying to attack us? Great.” Wolf said sarcastically.
Charlotte looked at the paths leading to different areas. “Maybe we should split up.” A few people gasped or just stared in shock. Nobody would want to split up while being hunted, no way.
Wolf raised their eyebrows. “Are you serious? How dumb are you actually?”
Alex interrupted. “Hey now, that’s a fair idea. There’s only one murderer right? They can’t catch nine people they’re all split up.”
“How is that a good idea to you?!” Cheryl shouted. She smacked her hand down on the table. “You know what, that’s a great idea. If it gets me farther away from you, I’ll agree to it.”
Alex slapped Cheryl. “RUDE.” Cheryl punched Alex off his seat.
“Let’s take a vote.” Cheryl declared. “Raise your hand if you’re willing to split up.” Five people raised their hand. “That’s majority. One person will be going solo, others will choose the person they rely on the most.”
Everyone talked among each other. They were picking partners and some said goodbye, thinking it would be the last time they see them. If someone were to find an exit out of the manor, they would fire a gun and/or shout “EXIT!”. Amena taught Alex how to stitch up his arm if it ever came undone. She also taught Alexis how to properly take care of June. Even though it was a brief explanation, it would be fine if they were to ever need it. Another signal would be if someone declared to re-group, they would shout: “REGROUP!”.
Cheryl and Wolf decided to partner up, seeing as they had the most experience with one another. They had woken up at the same place together, and since the fifth member of their group died, it was even. Alexis already called protecting June, so there wasn’t any point in trying to argue with her.
Alex and Charlotte agreed to partner up. It may have been surprising, but they both shared the same thoughts and ideas. They easily agreed with one another, so they had teamed up.
Artemis and Amena went together. They’d been friends since the first hour of this place, helping each other with worry and stress. They both had become better friends during the socialization hour on the stairs back inside the manor. Artemis chose Amena because she was the only healer, meanwhile he was great at puzzles and had intelligence.
Silas declared he’d go alone. He claimed that he could handle himself alone and would prefer that way. Nobody argued.
“Good-luck out there. Hope y’all make it back alive.” Amena said, rushing off into one pathway with Artemis.
Alex nodded. “Remember, if it’s night-time again we re-group. We shouldn’t stay split up always.” He ran off after Charlotte who was running towards adventure. He shouted for her to wait up.
Alexis carried June on her back again, walking off into a separate pathway. She didn’t have the feeling to say goodbye to anyone.
Wolf and Cheryl got the head-start and chose the first pathway. They were both eager to get out of here as quick as possible. Neither of them wanted to end up like Amaia.
Silas got the last route, not caring which path he got. He had his gun, and that’s all he needed to survive a night or two.
Cheryl had asked Wolf to slow down. “We’ve been running for hours, could we take a five minute break?” She shouted down to them.
They shook their head. “There’s a door down here, it could be the exit!” They shouted back. Cheryl instantly jumped up and took off. She could run for another hundred hours if it meant leaving.
They reached the door and ran through it. Cheryl squealed in excitement thinking about their escape. Only one death? That isn’t as bad as their earpiece had promised. But something still didn’t feel right. This felt too easy than what was promised.
They ran through the door. It almost looked like a secret garden. It was peaceful and reassuring. “Well this is nice.” Cheryl said.
“Too nice.” Wolf said. “Something’s off… just don’t know what.”
The artificial waterfall sound calmed them both, as it fell into a miniature river. At last, it reached a small pond with lily pads. Beautifully bloomed flowers surrounded them of a variety of colors. The two kids stood on lush green grass, as they turned around to see the door close.
They stood in shock and curiosity. Silence fell upon both of them, but soon to be broken by Wolf. “Uh, please tell me you closed that.”
Cheryl shook her head. She pulled out her knives. Wolf prepared them-self for combat. “Must’ve found the murderer. Get prepared.”
Their earpieces popped up with no Latin messages. “Two victims enter, one shall leave with their life. If you cherish your life, you will kill your partner. Or, your new opponent. Good-luck, victims.” The device screen turned off.
Cheryl and Wolf stared at one another, preparing for combat. Cheryl dropped all knives but one. Wolf readied them-self to slash at her.
Everyone’s earpieces turned on with ‘announcements’. “Cheryl Distaso vs. Wolf Quickdeath. Winner keeps their life.”.
All the groups stood there in fear. They did not want to continue on their path. They all shouted and ran back to the pavilion. Charlotte tripped multiple times and held up her group. Alex picked her up and pulled her onto his back. “Okay, so, we can’t trust you to walk anymore, sound good?” He ran along the path towards the pavilion.
Alex and Charlotte slammed into the table once they arrived. Charlotte went flying into a bush, and got up with scratches. “Ouch…” She rubbed her arm to ease the pain.
June rolled her eyes and moved on. “We have to go save Cheryl and Wolf. Without either of them, we don’t stand a chance at survival.”
Artemis decided to add onto the scenario, and directed safety routes and how to properly climb on bushes- though it’s nearly impossible. He sighed and thought about the many deaths to come. He knew this was an unfair battle. They may have the numbers, but they don’t know this place. Nor the possible endless abilities the murderer could possess.
All nodded and followed June down the path. Silas ran ahead of June with the gun. He would occasionally look from side to side through the bushes to eye any movement from the black clothed man.
Meanwhile, back inside the path of Cheryl and Wolf began a fatal fight. Cheryl trembled in fear, holding her only knife. Wolf took a fighting stance, ready to dodge her first attack and make their move.
“Why are we even here…?” Cheryl asked, tears streaming down her eyes. “Did we do something, or just at random? How long have we been here? What are we for? How do we escape? There are just so many questions and just so little time.” Wolf lowered their guard and nodded. They too, realized this. With such little time, you can only focus on one thing. And that thing was surviving.
They sighed. “I understand you, it’s horrific. But we can only focus on one thing; surviving. It’s devastating to be forced to fight someone I’ve known for a short amount of time.”
Cheryl shook her head. “Don’t cry over me, it’s pointless. Consider it being forced to fight instead of actual fighting.”
Wolf turned their head to the side. “Well, that’s confusing.” Cheryl simply shook her head.
“You shouldn’t be sorry, you haven’t done anything. It’s me who will do something. And for that, I shall be sorry for.” She teared up, and wiped them away. She whispered something quietly to herself and took a deep breath.
Wolf started to get angry. “Stop being dramatic, it’s just a simple fight. You and me. Winner keeps their life. Simple. It isn’t complicated, so stop speaking silly riddles.” They reformed their stance, about to leap into the air and stab her.
Cheryl held her hand in the air. “Don’t.” Her voice was convincing. Her grip on the knife tightened. “Don’t move or fight. It’s pointless.”
Wolf yelled. “Stop speaking riddles, they’re stupid!” They gripped their weapon and slashed at Cheryl. “I’m not gonna let you control and kill me. Just make this a fair fight!”
Cheryl screamed in pain and dropped to the ground. It was a cut, not bad but deep enough to bleed. She got up, covering the cut. “It isn’t a fight. I won’t let it be.” She held her knife to her chest. “I’ll let you win.”
The knife tore through her chest, as screams filled the air. Wolf dropped all their weapons and bolted over. Cheryl lay as still as a rock. “Just promise me, you will lead the others to safety. Please, I care about them- not myself. So don’t bother to save me.” Her voice was raspy and faint, but Wolf could hear her words.
Another tear fell from Wolf’s eye. “No, not yet. No more deaths.” She picked her up and turned to the sky. “You wanna come fight me you coward!? I won’t fight her or anyone. I’m asking for a fair fight, you against me! One on one, others are left out.”.
There was no reply- Wolf kept on shouting. “Fight me yourself, coward! Or are you too afraid of a kid with a harmful weapon!?”.
Cheryl gave a faint smile. “Thank you, Wolf. I love you to death.” She laughed very faintly, until it vanished into nothing. She breathed her last breath, as her body gave way to death. Her blood stopped moving, her heart stopped beating, and her mind stopped thinking.
Wolf started to let the tears and sadness take over. “You may be dead, but you’re soul, sacrifice, and legacy will live on. As long as I’m alive.”. Wolf laid Cheryl down on the grass, and removed the knife from her chest. Instead, they placed the knife in Cheryl’s dead hand. They decorated her body in flowers and petals. Wolf took the knife and carved a gravestone for her.
“I may be dead, but my soul and legacy will live on. I fought. I cried. I sacrificed. And most importantly, I loved.” At the very end of the gravestone, it read; “May this goddess, rest in peace. We love you, Cheryl Distaso. -Wolf Quickdeath”.
As Wolf placed the stone at the dead feet of Cheryl, their ear-piece turned on.
“Wolf Quickdeath vs. Cheryl Distaso. Distaso sacrificed; Quickdeath lives on.” appeared on the screen in ‘announcements’. Everything about Cheryl was listed in ‘deaths’.
Alexis was the first one to break down to tears. Then Amena, then June. It went on until everyone was crying. “This isn’t fair.” Charlotte cried. “This isn’t right.”
Alex nodded. “It’s dumb, stupid, idiotic, and ridiculous.”. He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “But, let’s not make her sacrifice mean nothing. We have to get there.” The group nodded and kept on going. Tears flew behind them in the wind, but they had to move on. Tears and sadness had to wait.
They reached the corner and stopped straight in their tracks. They froze in fear, their breathing increased, and thoughts ran through their head at the speed of light. The green leaf bushes led down to a brown, wooden door which protected Wolf from any other path.
But in front of that wooden door, stood a figure. The black clothed man stood in front of the door, blocking them from their path. With a black ski mask, black jacket, black pants, black gloves, black shoes, black everything. But the one thing that stood out, were the five white throwing knives that sat in the black clothed man’s hands. They glowed as the moonlight hit each knife. They were decorated with roses.
June stuttered. “T-those are Ch-Cheryl’s…”. Alexis got on their feet quick, and picked June up. They both ran together towards the pavilion. The entire group followed.
Alex turned around and saw the black clothed man running after them. He screamed as the last thing he saw, was a knife being thrown his direction and the last thing to be heard- were the screams and cries of everyone around him.
Alex and Charlotte slammed into the table once they arrived. Charlotte went flying into a bush, and got up with scratches. “Ouch…” She rubbed her arm to ease the pain.
June rolled her eyes and moved on. “We have to go save Cheryl and Wolf. Without either of them, we don’t stand a chance at survival.”
Artemis decided to add onto the scenario, and directed safety routes and how to properly climb on bushes- though it’s nearly impossible. He sighed and thought about the many deaths to come. He knew this was an unfair battle. They may have the numbers, but they don’t know this place. Nor the possible endless abilities the murderer could possess.
All nodded and followed June down the path. Silas ran ahead of June with the gun. He would occasionally look from side to side through the bushes to eye any movement from the black clothed man.
Meanwhile, back inside the path of Cheryl and Wolf began a fatal fight. Cheryl trembled in fear, holding her only knife. Wolf took a fighting stance, ready to dodge her first attack and make their move.
“Why are we even here…?” Cheryl asked, tears streaming down her eyes. “Did we do something, or just at random? How long have we been here? What are we for? How do we escape? There are just so many questions and just so little time.” Wolf lowered their guard and nodded. They too, realized this. With such little time, you can only focus on one thing. And that thing was surviving.
They sighed. “I understand you, it’s horrific. But we can only focus on one thing; surviving. It’s devastating to be forced to fight someone I’ve known for a short amount of time.”
Cheryl shook her head. “Don’t cry over me, it’s pointless. Consider it being forced to fight instead of actual fighting.”
Wolf turned their head to the side. “Well, that’s confusing.” Cheryl simply shook her head.
“You shouldn’t be sorry, you haven’t done anything. It’s me who will do something. And for that, I shall be sorry for.” She teared up, and wiped them away. She whispered something quietly to herself and took a deep breath.
Wolf started to get angry. “Stop being dramatic, it’s just a simple fight. You and me. Winner keeps their life. Simple. It isn’t complicated, so stop speaking silly riddles.” They reformed their stance, about to leap into the air and stab her.
Cheryl held her hand in the air. “Don’t.” Her voice was convincing. Her grip on the knife tightened. “Don’t move or fight. It’s pointless.”
Wolf yelled. “Stop speaking riddles, they’re stupid!” They gripped their weapon and slashed at Cheryl. “I’m not gonna let you control and kill me. Just make this a fair fight!”
Cheryl screamed in pain and dropped to the ground. It was a cut, not bad but deep enough to bleed. She got up, covering the cut. “It isn’t a fight. I won’t let it be.” She held her knife to her chest. “I’ll let you win.”
The knife tore through her chest, as screams filled the air. Wolf dropped all their weapons and bolted over. Cheryl lay as still as a rock. “Just promise me, you will lead the others to safety. Please, I care about them- not myself. So don’t bother to save me.” Her voice was raspy and faint, but Wolf could hear her words.
Another tear fell from Wolf’s eye. “No, not yet. No more deaths.” She picked her up and turned to the sky. “You wanna come fight me you coward!? I won’t fight her or anyone. I’m asking for a fair fight, you against me! One on one, others are left out.”.
There was no reply- Wolf kept on shouting. “Fight me yourself, coward! Or are you too afraid of a kid with a harmful weapon!?”.
Cheryl gave a faint smile. “Thank you, Wolf. I love you to death.” She laughed very faintly, until it vanished into nothing. She breathed her last breath, as her body gave way to death. Her blood stopped moving, her heart stopped beating, and her mind stopped thinking.
Wolf started to let the tears and sadness take over. “You may be dead, but you’re soul, sacrifice, and legacy will live on. As long as I’m alive.”. Wolf laid Cheryl down on the grass, and removed the knife from her chest. Instead, they placed the knife in Cheryl’s dead hand. They decorated her body in flowers and petals. Wolf took the knife and carved a gravestone for her.
“I may be dead, but my soul and legacy will live on. I fought. I cried. I sacrificed. And most importantly, I loved.” At the very end of the gravestone, it read; “May this goddess, rest in peace. We love you, Cheryl Distaso. -Wolf Quickdeath”.
As Wolf placed the stone at the dead feet of Cheryl, their ear-piece turned on.
“Wolf Quickdeath vs. Cheryl Distaso. Distaso sacrificed; Quickdeath lives on.” appeared on the screen in ‘announcements’. Everything about Cheryl was listed in ‘deaths’.
Alexis was the first one to break down to tears. Then Amena, then June. It went on until everyone was crying. “This isn’t fair.” Charlotte cried. “This isn’t right.”
Alex nodded. “It’s dumb, stupid, idiotic, and ridiculous.”. He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “But, let’s not make her sacrifice mean nothing. We have to get there.” The group nodded and kept on going. Tears flew behind them in the wind, but they had to move on. Tears and sadness had to wait.
They reached the corner and stopped straight in their tracks. They froze in fear, their breathing increased, and thoughts ran through their head at the speed of light. The green leaf bushes led down to a brown, wooden door which protected Wolf from any other path.
But in front of that wooden door, stood a figure. The black clothed man stood in front of the door, blocking them from their path. With a black ski mask, black jacket, black pants, black gloves, black shoes, black everything. But the one thing that stood out, were the five white throwing knives that sat in the black clothed man’s hands. They glowed as the moonlight hit each knife. They were decorated with roses.
June stuttered. “T-those are Ch-Cheryl’s…”. Alexis got on their feet quick, and picked June up. They both ran together towards the pavilion. The entire group followed.
Alex turned around and saw the black clothed man running after them. He screamed as the last thing he saw, was a knife being thrown his direction and the last thing to be heard- were the screams and cries of everyone around him.
Everyone screamed and panicked. Alex lay there, on the ground as still as a statue. His eyes were wide open with fear, sweat dripping down his face. His breaths were quick and short, and his body trembled. He closed his eyes, praying that this was all a dream. He slapped himself. “Wake up, me, wake up!!”. He screamed and rolled around on the floor panicking.
Gunshots were fired, as someone grabbed Alex and dragged him around on the ground. Alex didn’t refuse, he just wanted to sit there quietly in peace. The black clothed man, still chasing them around, ran faster and faster with each swift step. His balance was impeccable and his swift movements were hard to keep up with. Dodging every shot, turning at every weapon; it’d be impossible to stop him.
Artemis kept running ahead of the group, shouting instructions. Since Alex was out cold, he kept the group running. Pointing to through the leafy maze, and shouting at the top of his lungs; he knew he couldn’t keep this up forever. Fear was the only thing keeping them alive right now, and he knew it.
Silas stayed at the back of the group and kept firing shots except the black clothed man kept dodging. “How is he not out of energy yet!?” He yelled.
Artemis shouted back. “It’s almost as if every shot we fire he increases his abilities-” He gasped and stopped running. Everyone from behind collapsed into him and they all fell into one pile. People yelled and shouted and cried.
“Get up! Artemis, you idiot! Now I’m gonna die, thanks to you!” shouted Alexis. She pulled June up from the pile and back onto her feet. Them two started running ahead, leaving the rest behind.
Artemis stopped the rest of the group from going after them. He pointed to the black clothed man, who still kept running towards them. He had one gun. And one bullet left.
He walked forward and held his hand out. His hand trembled with overwhelming fearing. Confronting a murderer without any protection or weapons? Smart.
“Stop.” Artemis said. The black clothed man did not stop, but increased. Artemis started to flail his arms around and scream like a little kid. He panicked until he took a deep breath. “Get yourself together, Artie.” he whispered to himself.
He shook his head and took another deep breath. “The more we move, hesitate, frustrate, and confused we get; the more you increase your abilities like agility, strength, dodging, etc.” He explained and turned back toward the group. “Stand like statues- that is, if you trust me and you want to live.”
The group obeyed and stood still. Silas tightened the grip around the gun and it’s trigger, in case Artemis was wrong. Majority of the group was angry and terrified, so they didn’t know what else to do except trust him.
The black clothed man stopped. He stood there and dropped his weapon. He slowly approached Artemis with an intimidating stare. All you could see was his dark brown eyes, nearly black. They almost glared into his frightened soul, every step terrified him more and more. That was, until he reached the feet of Artemis.
Artemis stood there as a statue. He stopped purposefully stopped breathing to prevent any movement if his theory was right. But, the shocking thing after another, this had shocked them all.
The black clothed man bowed down to Artemis. On the ground, bowed the cause of few deaths in the group. He simply sat there and waited. Crickets chirped, birds sang, and the trees rustled through the breeze. It was peaceful. The group watched the sun rise from it’s long slumber, and brighten the sky.
Everyone’s earpieces turned on and transferred to the ‘announcements’ section. They all cheered and celebrated as they read the messages.
“Congratulations! You beat a murderer!”. The earpieces turned off, as the group danced around. They cheered and laughed. This was the end? They thought to themselves.
Alex got up as Amena supported him while he found his balance again. “Everyone, onward towards the gate! We’ve got lives to return to!” They all laughed and followed Alex. They chatted, danced, and cheered as they started their new journey towards the gate.
“Hey Amena, uhm, how come I’m not dead? I saw a bullet go straight towards me.” He questioned. Amena’s expression darkened. A tear escaped her eye, as silence fell around the group.
Silas put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You’ve got a friend to thank for that.” He replied. Alex tilted his head in confusion.
“Huh?”
Amena broke down into tears and fell to the ground. She sobbed and cried on the ground. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. Artemis walked over to comfort her. The group bowed their heads and then looked up at the sky.
Alex started to get ticked off. “Someone explain this, please.”.
“Charlotte took a bullet for you.” Amena sobbed. “She’s dead because of you!” She pushed Alex down to the ground. “You killed her! You should be dead, not her! Charlotte is dead.” She broke down into tears as Artemis took her alongside.
Alex felt a feeling of depression wash over him. He is the reason his friend is dead. He is the reason someone died. Amena’s right; he should be dead, not Charlotte. He screamed of frustration. Tears of anger slipped from his eyes.
He thought back to the memories he had made with Charlotte. Accidentally slamming her into a table, laughing together, fighting together. It’s all over. All gone. He turned around and shouted.
“Someone kill me.” Alex stated as everyone gasped except Silas.
Wolf walked alone out the wooden door; opposite of the one they entered. They gripped one of Cheryl’s knives. Just then, their earpiece turned on and automatically transferred them to ‘deaths’. Listed under Cheryl’s name, was Charlotte’s. She died because she had taken a bullet for Alex.
They kicked a stone into a bush. “Next time I see that snarky and messed up boy I’m gonna kill him, I swear.” They muttered angrily. They kept on walking along the path, but stopped when they found a basket of well-made food.
They swung open the lid and started chowing down on a ham sandwich. Inside were cherry pies, soda cans, fruit, and sandwiches. Wolf’s eyes glistened in the sunlight with happiness. They started chomping down on the food with delight, that was until their earpiece turned on again.
It was in ‘announcements’.
“Congratulations! You beat a murderer!” The message appeared on the earpiece. Wolf shook their head and cursed. They pounded a pebble against their head, shouting. “Aah! I am so going to kill these kids when I get back to them!” They shouted at the top of their lungs.
They left the basket there, focusing more importantly on the task at hand. They sprinted through the path running out the driveway, as the group came out of their path.
Wolf slipped on the ground, and slid across the driveway. They got back up immediately and threw a soda can at them. “You idiots! You guys are dead to me!” They screamed.
June got confused. “What did we do? We stopped the murderer. Why are you mad at us?” She asked calmly.
Alex snapped. “We get that Cheryl is dead, but no need to make a big deal out of it. The bigger deal is that we stopped the murderer and get to go home!” He danced as Amena supported him.
Wolf screamed and punched him. “No you idiot! Pay more attention in school. You didn’t stop the murderer. You stopped a murderer!!”
Amena gasped. “Th-there are more!?”
Gunshots were fired, as someone grabbed Alex and dragged him around on the ground. Alex didn’t refuse, he just wanted to sit there quietly in peace. The black clothed man, still chasing them around, ran faster and faster with each swift step. His balance was impeccable and his swift movements were hard to keep up with. Dodging every shot, turning at every weapon; it’d be impossible to stop him.
Artemis kept running ahead of the group, shouting instructions. Since Alex was out cold, he kept the group running. Pointing to through the leafy maze, and shouting at the top of his lungs; he knew he couldn’t keep this up forever. Fear was the only thing keeping them alive right now, and he knew it.
Silas stayed at the back of the group and kept firing shots except the black clothed man kept dodging. “How is he not out of energy yet!?” He yelled.
Artemis shouted back. “It’s almost as if every shot we fire he increases his abilities-” He gasped and stopped running. Everyone from behind collapsed into him and they all fell into one pile. People yelled and shouted and cried.
“Get up! Artemis, you idiot! Now I’m gonna die, thanks to you!” shouted Alexis. She pulled June up from the pile and back onto her feet. Them two started running ahead, leaving the rest behind.
Artemis stopped the rest of the group from going after them. He pointed to the black clothed man, who still kept running towards them. He had one gun. And one bullet left.
He walked forward and held his hand out. His hand trembled with overwhelming fearing. Confronting a murderer without any protection or weapons? Smart.
“Stop.” Artemis said. The black clothed man did not stop, but increased. Artemis started to flail his arms around and scream like a little kid. He panicked until he took a deep breath. “Get yourself together, Artie.” he whispered to himself.
He shook his head and took another deep breath. “The more we move, hesitate, frustrate, and confused we get; the more you increase your abilities like agility, strength, dodging, etc.” He explained and turned back toward the group. “Stand like statues- that is, if you trust me and you want to live.”
The group obeyed and stood still. Silas tightened the grip around the gun and it’s trigger, in case Artemis was wrong. Majority of the group was angry and terrified, so they didn’t know what else to do except trust him.
The black clothed man stopped. He stood there and dropped his weapon. He slowly approached Artemis with an intimidating stare. All you could see was his dark brown eyes, nearly black. They almost glared into his frightened soul, every step terrified him more and more. That was, until he reached the feet of Artemis.
Artemis stood there as a statue. He stopped purposefully stopped breathing to prevent any movement if his theory was right. But, the shocking thing after another, this had shocked them all.
The black clothed man bowed down to Artemis. On the ground, bowed the cause of few deaths in the group. He simply sat there and waited. Crickets chirped, birds sang, and the trees rustled through the breeze. It was peaceful. The group watched the sun rise from it’s long slumber, and brighten the sky.
Everyone’s earpieces turned on and transferred to the ‘announcements’ section. They all cheered and celebrated as they read the messages.
“Congratulations! You beat a murderer!”. The earpieces turned off, as the group danced around. They cheered and laughed. This was the end? They thought to themselves.
Alex got up as Amena supported him while he found his balance again. “Everyone, onward towards the gate! We’ve got lives to return to!” They all laughed and followed Alex. They chatted, danced, and cheered as they started their new journey towards the gate.
“Hey Amena, uhm, how come I’m not dead? I saw a bullet go straight towards me.” He questioned. Amena’s expression darkened. A tear escaped her eye, as silence fell around the group.
Silas put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You’ve got a friend to thank for that.” He replied. Alex tilted his head in confusion.
“Huh?”
Amena broke down into tears and fell to the ground. She sobbed and cried on the ground. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. Artemis walked over to comfort her. The group bowed their heads and then looked up at the sky.
Alex started to get ticked off. “Someone explain this, please.”.
“Charlotte took a bullet for you.” Amena sobbed. “She’s dead because of you!” She pushed Alex down to the ground. “You killed her! You should be dead, not her! Charlotte is dead.” She broke down into tears as Artemis took her alongside.
Alex felt a feeling of depression wash over him. He is the reason his friend is dead. He is the reason someone died. Amena’s right; he should be dead, not Charlotte. He screamed of frustration. Tears of anger slipped from his eyes.
He thought back to the memories he had made with Charlotte. Accidentally slamming her into a table, laughing together, fighting together. It’s all over. All gone. He turned around and shouted.
“Someone kill me.” Alex stated as everyone gasped except Silas.
Wolf walked alone out the wooden door; opposite of the one they entered. They gripped one of Cheryl’s knives. Just then, their earpiece turned on and automatically transferred them to ‘deaths’. Listed under Cheryl’s name, was Charlotte’s. She died because she had taken a bullet for Alex.
They kicked a stone into a bush. “Next time I see that snarky and messed up boy I’m gonna kill him, I swear.” They muttered angrily. They kept on walking along the path, but stopped when they found a basket of well-made food.
They swung open the lid and started chowing down on a ham sandwich. Inside were cherry pies, soda cans, fruit, and sandwiches. Wolf’s eyes glistened in the sunlight with happiness. They started chomping down on the food with delight, that was until their earpiece turned on again.
It was in ‘announcements’.
“Congratulations! You beat a murderer!” The message appeared on the earpiece. Wolf shook their head and cursed. They pounded a pebble against their head, shouting. “Aah! I am so going to kill these kids when I get back to them!” They shouted at the top of their lungs.
They left the basket there, focusing more importantly on the task at hand. They sprinted through the path running out the driveway, as the group came out of their path.
Wolf slipped on the ground, and slid across the driveway. They got back up immediately and threw a soda can at them. “You idiots! You guys are dead to me!” They screamed.
June got confused. “What did we do? We stopped the murderer. Why are you mad at us?” She asked calmly.
Alex snapped. “We get that Cheryl is dead, but no need to make a big deal out of it. The bigger deal is that we stopped the murderer and get to go home!” He danced as Amena supported him.
Wolf screamed and punched him. “No you idiot! Pay more attention in school. You didn’t stop the murderer. You stopped a murderer!!”
Amena gasped. “Th-there are more!?”
The group now left with seven, sat there on the driveway left only to stare at the locked gate. Sure, there was always the option to climb over the bushes and attempt to escape that way; but knowing what’s happened the murderers are smarter than what the kids predict.
Artemis broke the silence. “We’ve got to think of a plan. We can’t risk another one dying.” He explained, trying to be the leader. It wasn’t in his personality though. Artemis was raised to be the odd one out, the kid who would sit alone doing next week’s math homework quietly in the corner. He was never invited to things, never attended parties, and didn’t have any friends.
Amena nodded. “No more sacrifices either. It brings more pain.” She went quiet, then gasped. “We should establish rules!”.
The group turned their heads. “Rules? Really, Amena?” Alexis asked. She seemed annoyed at the thought; she never enjoyed rules except breaking them. Raised as an abused child, she hated rules. She hated boundaries. In this world of hell, she was at least free to do what she pleased; inside the manor’s property, that is.
“It makes sense to establish rules. They’ll keep us safe.” Alex insisted.
Wolf shook their head and slapped him. “Yeah, they’ll totally ‘keep us safe’. Just add a rule that doesn’t allow the murderers to attack us, why don’t you?” They said sarcastically. They folded their arms and got up. “I’m going back into the path I came from. G’luck surviving without me.” They waved their hand and laughed walking back into the path.
Alex grinned, his hand still covering the redness from the slap. He giggled and whispered to the group. “How ‘bout we have some fun and go stalking for a bit, yeah?” He laughed and got up. The group giggled quietly and began to follow Wolf.
Wolf walked down the path, gripping their knife. Who knew what puzzle this next murderer would be. Maybe it would be a race, or a cool street-fight. They thought about the endless possibilities.
Alex and the group quietly tipped-toed behind Wolf, as they were lost in thought. Sometimes a member would accidentally step on a stick, and they would dive into the bushes soundlessly.
“And they brag how good their skills are, pfft.” Alex commented and kept walking in silence. The group eventually reached a big open area with soft, lush green grass and blooming pastel flowers. The slight breeze moved the grass and leaves in perfect sync. The flowers rustled as the wind touched their beautiful petals. Next to Wolf, sat a well-weaved picnic basket filled with delicious food. Wolf turned around, about to take a big bite out of a turkey sandwich.
“You stalkers.” Wolf said, biting their sandwich. Alex took a seat across from them, and grabbed a soda and popped it open. They all laughed and surrounded the basket, having a small little celebration.
“Now this is what I call a party!” Alex shouted, and got up to dance. He convinced Amena and June to go dance with him. “Hey Charlotte, wanna come dance with-.” He went silent. He realized that Charlotte was dead, and the haunting thought that he was the reason she was dead bothered him.
He went over to Silas and begged for the gun. “Please, Silas I need it. For Charlotte”. He whined. Silas shook his head and gripped the gun tighter.
“Why should I give a gun to some loser who’s gonna shoot himself because his dead girlfriend gave her life up for him?” He replied, cutting a slice of pie.
June joined the conversation. “Are you going to make her sacrifice pointless? Just so you can have the delight of getting rid of those horrid thoughts?”
“If so, you don’t deserve her sacrifice or love.” Wolf butted in. “You must be a bigger loser than I thought you were.” They got up and knocked him down to the ground. “I’ve wanted to murder you since we first met. But now, you don’t deserve death or the satisfaction of leaving. You get to stay in this hell with the rest of us. Remember, you voted to establish rules. You can’t make the exception of breaking them just ‘cause you created them.” They kicked him into a bush. Wolf went over and picked him up by his collar. “Are you really gonna take the coward’s way out? Or are you gonna be the leader you’ve wanted to be?”.
Alex shook his head, extending his arm out towards the gun. Wolf slapped it away and punched him once more again on the side of his cheek. He started to bleed and then gave in. “Fine, you win.” He struggled to get down. He asked Amena to help stop the bleeding. Wolf got upset and sat down away from the crowd.
Artemis explored the earpiece more. There appeared to be different settings, like the map. He enabled it, and took a look around it. There were three black dots each marking the exact location of where a dead body laid; Cheryl’s, Charlotte’s, and Amaia’s. He kept browsing.
Just as they were about to make a toast, all of their earpieces turned on. It was under the setting ‘map’. They gasped as they saw something moving. No no, it wasn’t a bad and scared gasp. It was a shocking gasp.
One of the black dots that used to be against the manor, was moving towards the right-side of the pavilion. It went at a fast pace for someone who was dead. But the thing that bothered Artemis the most, was that there wasn’t a red dot. Just three black ones.
Alexis didn’t believe it. “It has to be a trap. We can’t go.”. She demanded, sitting back down next to June. She reached over for another peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Amena disagreed. “But what if it isn’t? What if our friends are somehow alive?” She questioned. Alex and June nodded their heads.
“Even you, too, June!?” Alexis said shocked. She sighed and nodded as well. “Fine then, we’ll go.” She got up, helping June find her balance. Even though June could talk and walk, she had lost her ability to write and draw cartoons. She would need to go to the hospital to see if they could fix it, but Amena was doing quite well as the aid of the group.
Wolf was furious. “You all are that gullible!? Wow, y’all are a bunch of losers. I’ll go with you; just to save your sorry little butts.” They got up and grabbed their knife. Their map showed another black dot, as Amaia’s death dot stopped moving. It was Cheryl’s dot moving now- towards Amaia’s.
“We gotta go, quickly.” Alex demanded, leading the group. They ran towards the pavilion as speedy as possible. Once they reached their destination, they noticed that Charlotte’s had already moved when the group reached the pavilion. “That way.” Alex pointed.
Alexis shook her head. “Nope, other way idiot.” She started to run towards the path nobody took originally. Sprinting across the fields, dashing through bushes, and jumping over twigs they reached a small and stubby building. It appeared to be a shed.
“A shed…?” Amena asked, examining it from a far. She didn’t dare get close, who knows what lies inside it. Silas shot a bullet through the wall and heard shrieking.
“Oh my god, the murderer is here!!” A woman from inside shouted. The group ran inside, Silas first. His finger was steady on the trigger, ready to pull it whenever.
But their reaction was quite the opposite. Inside were rusty tools and shelves boxes sat upon. Many were broken or sagging. The wooden floorboards creaked and screeched with every footstep. Dust, mold, and cobwebs were spreading around the walls and roof.
An old woman was hiding in the corner, covering her head. She wept and cried silently, praying. She was covered with a grey hood and a dirty pink dress. She had grey hairs sticking out of the hood, and wore black muddy boots. She looked like she was 40 or 50.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but who are you and why are you here? How did you get here?” Amena asked impatiently. She was hoping this woman knew how to get out, but answered completely the opposite.
“I should be asking y’all the same questions. I was kidnapped- I think.” The woman replied. “The name is Mary.” She held her wrinkly hand out as a warm greeting. Her hand shook, still frightened from the shot.
“Ah, I’m Amena and these are my friends.” She listed each one of the group member’s names, one by one. “We were kidnapped too, by a murderer.”.
Wolf butted in. “Murderers, she means.” They grinned.
Mary gasped. “Oh my gosh, really? I’ve been dreading this place since I arrived here a few days ago.” She replied.
“A few days ago?” June asked.
She nodded. “I’ve been here since September 18th, 1985.”
The group gasped and their eyes widened. Mary got confused and tilted her head. Alex pushed through the crowd towards Mary. “Uhm, ma’am. Ah, I mean Mary. It’s erm, how do I say it…”
Mary asked what was wrong and the group stuttered. Alex finally spoke. “It’s 2018, not 1985. It’s been 32 years since then…” Mary gasped and sat in a corner.
“No… no. Connor died just yesterday! I swear on my life! He died September 21st, 1985.” Mary replied, doing math. “Or wait… maybe it was October 21st…”
“Ma’am, it’s year 2018. There isn’t anyone named Connor here.” Wolf asked.
She banged a pot against her head. “I’m so stupid sometimes, I guess I’ve been here so long I lost track of time.
June cut in. “Haha, it’s okay. But how have you survived so long? We’ve lost three members so far.” June replied, shaking Mary’s hand. They both chatted for a while, as Mary explained how her friends had died. Majority died because of suicide; not being able to stand it. But Mary had promised Connor she would escape, she swore she wouldn’t make his sacrifice pointless.
Wolf nudged Alex. “See? That’s why you shouldn’t die. Charlotte would want you to make her sacrifice useful and have some benefit towards you. She wouldn’t have did it, if she didn’t love you, ya know.” They replied, chomping down on the last bit of sandwich they carried in their pocket.
Just then, random moaning occurred. The group backed up out of the shed towards the exit. Mary then invited them back in. “Don’t worry! It’s just the darlings waking up, you silly fellas!” She exclaimed.
They all got confused. “Man, this woman must be crazy.” Silas commented.
But what sat on the table is what shocked them the most. On the table, sat three young children. One sat up and scratched their head. They had many bruises, scratches and cuts covering their body. They were wrapped in colorful hoodies, and one black shirt. Wolf cried and hugged them.
It was Amaia, alive and living. Cheryl and Charlotte sat up and rubbed their heads, too. Those who were thought to be dead, were alive. But how?
Artemis broke the silence. “We’ve got to think of a plan. We can’t risk another one dying.” He explained, trying to be the leader. It wasn’t in his personality though. Artemis was raised to be the odd one out, the kid who would sit alone doing next week’s math homework quietly in the corner. He was never invited to things, never attended parties, and didn’t have any friends.
Amena nodded. “No more sacrifices either. It brings more pain.” She went quiet, then gasped. “We should establish rules!”.
The group turned their heads. “Rules? Really, Amena?” Alexis asked. She seemed annoyed at the thought; she never enjoyed rules except breaking them. Raised as an abused child, she hated rules. She hated boundaries. In this world of hell, she was at least free to do what she pleased; inside the manor’s property, that is.
“It makes sense to establish rules. They’ll keep us safe.” Alex insisted.
Wolf shook their head and slapped him. “Yeah, they’ll totally ‘keep us safe’. Just add a rule that doesn’t allow the murderers to attack us, why don’t you?” They said sarcastically. They folded their arms and got up. “I’m going back into the path I came from. G’luck surviving without me.” They waved their hand and laughed walking back into the path.
Alex grinned, his hand still covering the redness from the slap. He giggled and whispered to the group. “How ‘bout we have some fun and go stalking for a bit, yeah?” He laughed and got up. The group giggled quietly and began to follow Wolf.
Wolf walked down the path, gripping their knife. Who knew what puzzle this next murderer would be. Maybe it would be a race, or a cool street-fight. They thought about the endless possibilities.
Alex and the group quietly tipped-toed behind Wolf, as they were lost in thought. Sometimes a member would accidentally step on a stick, and they would dive into the bushes soundlessly.
“And they brag how good their skills are, pfft.” Alex commented and kept walking in silence. The group eventually reached a big open area with soft, lush green grass and blooming pastel flowers. The slight breeze moved the grass and leaves in perfect sync. The flowers rustled as the wind touched their beautiful petals. Next to Wolf, sat a well-weaved picnic basket filled with delicious food. Wolf turned around, about to take a big bite out of a turkey sandwich.
“You stalkers.” Wolf said, biting their sandwich. Alex took a seat across from them, and grabbed a soda and popped it open. They all laughed and surrounded the basket, having a small little celebration.
“Now this is what I call a party!” Alex shouted, and got up to dance. He convinced Amena and June to go dance with him. “Hey Charlotte, wanna come dance with-.” He went silent. He realized that Charlotte was dead, and the haunting thought that he was the reason she was dead bothered him.
He went over to Silas and begged for the gun. “Please, Silas I need it. For Charlotte”. He whined. Silas shook his head and gripped the gun tighter.
“Why should I give a gun to some loser who’s gonna shoot himself because his dead girlfriend gave her life up for him?” He replied, cutting a slice of pie.
June joined the conversation. “Are you going to make her sacrifice pointless? Just so you can have the delight of getting rid of those horrid thoughts?”
“If so, you don’t deserve her sacrifice or love.” Wolf butted in. “You must be a bigger loser than I thought you were.” They got up and knocked him down to the ground. “I’ve wanted to murder you since we first met. But now, you don’t deserve death or the satisfaction of leaving. You get to stay in this hell with the rest of us. Remember, you voted to establish rules. You can’t make the exception of breaking them just ‘cause you created them.” They kicked him into a bush. Wolf went over and picked him up by his collar. “Are you really gonna take the coward’s way out? Or are you gonna be the leader you’ve wanted to be?”.
Alex shook his head, extending his arm out towards the gun. Wolf slapped it away and punched him once more again on the side of his cheek. He started to bleed and then gave in. “Fine, you win.” He struggled to get down. He asked Amena to help stop the bleeding. Wolf got upset and sat down away from the crowd.
Artemis explored the earpiece more. There appeared to be different settings, like the map. He enabled it, and took a look around it. There were three black dots each marking the exact location of where a dead body laid; Cheryl’s, Charlotte’s, and Amaia’s. He kept browsing.
Just as they were about to make a toast, all of their earpieces turned on. It was under the setting ‘map’. They gasped as they saw something moving. No no, it wasn’t a bad and scared gasp. It was a shocking gasp.
One of the black dots that used to be against the manor, was moving towards the right-side of the pavilion. It went at a fast pace for someone who was dead. But the thing that bothered Artemis the most, was that there wasn’t a red dot. Just three black ones.
Alexis didn’t believe it. “It has to be a trap. We can’t go.”. She demanded, sitting back down next to June. She reached over for another peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Amena disagreed. “But what if it isn’t? What if our friends are somehow alive?” She questioned. Alex and June nodded their heads.
“Even you, too, June!?” Alexis said shocked. She sighed and nodded as well. “Fine then, we’ll go.” She got up, helping June find her balance. Even though June could talk and walk, she had lost her ability to write and draw cartoons. She would need to go to the hospital to see if they could fix it, but Amena was doing quite well as the aid of the group.
Wolf was furious. “You all are that gullible!? Wow, y’all are a bunch of losers. I’ll go with you; just to save your sorry little butts.” They got up and grabbed their knife. Their map showed another black dot, as Amaia’s death dot stopped moving. It was Cheryl’s dot moving now- towards Amaia’s.
“We gotta go, quickly.” Alex demanded, leading the group. They ran towards the pavilion as speedy as possible. Once they reached their destination, they noticed that Charlotte’s had already moved when the group reached the pavilion. “That way.” Alex pointed.
Alexis shook her head. “Nope, other way idiot.” She started to run towards the path nobody took originally. Sprinting across the fields, dashing through bushes, and jumping over twigs they reached a small and stubby building. It appeared to be a shed.
“A shed…?” Amena asked, examining it from a far. She didn’t dare get close, who knows what lies inside it. Silas shot a bullet through the wall and heard shrieking.
“Oh my god, the murderer is here!!” A woman from inside shouted. The group ran inside, Silas first. His finger was steady on the trigger, ready to pull it whenever.
But their reaction was quite the opposite. Inside were rusty tools and shelves boxes sat upon. Many were broken or sagging. The wooden floorboards creaked and screeched with every footstep. Dust, mold, and cobwebs were spreading around the walls and roof.
An old woman was hiding in the corner, covering her head. She wept and cried silently, praying. She was covered with a grey hood and a dirty pink dress. She had grey hairs sticking out of the hood, and wore black muddy boots. She looked like she was 40 or 50.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but who are you and why are you here? How did you get here?” Amena asked impatiently. She was hoping this woman knew how to get out, but answered completely the opposite.
“I should be asking y’all the same questions. I was kidnapped- I think.” The woman replied. “The name is Mary.” She held her wrinkly hand out as a warm greeting. Her hand shook, still frightened from the shot.
“Ah, I’m Amena and these are my friends.” She listed each one of the group member’s names, one by one. “We were kidnapped too, by a murderer.”.
Wolf butted in. “Murderers, she means.” They grinned.
Mary gasped. “Oh my gosh, really? I’ve been dreading this place since I arrived here a few days ago.” She replied.
“A few days ago?” June asked.
She nodded. “I’ve been here since September 18th, 1985.”
The group gasped and their eyes widened. Mary got confused and tilted her head. Alex pushed through the crowd towards Mary. “Uhm, ma’am. Ah, I mean Mary. It’s erm, how do I say it…”
Mary asked what was wrong and the group stuttered. Alex finally spoke. “It’s 2018, not 1985. It’s been 32 years since then…” Mary gasped and sat in a corner.
“No… no. Connor died just yesterday! I swear on my life! He died September 21st, 1985.” Mary replied, doing math. “Or wait… maybe it was October 21st…”
“Ma’am, it’s year 2018. There isn’t anyone named Connor here.” Wolf asked.
She banged a pot against her head. “I’m so stupid sometimes, I guess I’ve been here so long I lost track of time.
June cut in. “Haha, it’s okay. But how have you survived so long? We’ve lost three members so far.” June replied, shaking Mary’s hand. They both chatted for a while, as Mary explained how her friends had died. Majority died because of suicide; not being able to stand it. But Mary had promised Connor she would escape, she swore she wouldn’t make his sacrifice pointless.
Wolf nudged Alex. “See? That’s why you shouldn’t die. Charlotte would want you to make her sacrifice useful and have some benefit towards you. She wouldn’t have did it, if she didn’t love you, ya know.” They replied, chomping down on the last bit of sandwich they carried in their pocket.
Just then, random moaning occurred. The group backed up out of the shed towards the exit. Mary then invited them back in. “Don’t worry! It’s just the darlings waking up, you silly fellas!” She exclaimed.
They all got confused. “Man, this woman must be crazy.” Silas commented.
But what sat on the table is what shocked them the most. On the table, sat three young children. One sat up and scratched their head. They had many bruises, scratches and cuts covering their body. They were wrapped in colorful hoodies, and one black shirt. Wolf cried and hugged them.
It was Amaia, alive and living. Cheryl and Charlotte sat up and rubbed their heads, too. Those who were thought to be dead, were alive. But how?
Amaia was the first to stand up. They looked around the ruins of the shed from years ago. They glanced at all their friends, the ones who didn’t even bother to try and help her from the black clothed man. Their entire body shook, and sat back down. They punched the table, and screamed. “Where have you guys been!? I’ve been shouting and wandering around for almost eternity! I thought you guys were dead!” They shoved Wolf.
Wolf shook their head. “Completely the opposite. You’ve been dead. For days, not an eternity. The black clothed man killed you, don’t you remember?” They tried to explain. They looked confused at Amaia, who was still shaking on the table.
Amaia shoved Wolf again to the floor. “You guys didn’t even help me! You screamed and cried, that’s it!!” They took a knife and tried stabbing Wolf.
Silas knocked Amaia down to the ground, and pinned them down. “Don’t attack, you fool. We already have a couple murderers chasing us down, one more isn’t welcomed.” He commanded.
Amaia shook their head. “There’s only one. Before I died, they said their name was the ‘black cloak’. He said I and I alone, can find him and kill him.” They replied, confidently. Truth was, that wasn’t the truth. All they knew, was that their name was the ‘black cloak’.
Alexis stepped forward, arms crossed. “Great information, but we gotta keep moving. Who knows…” She started to whisper, disallowing Mary to hear. “Mary could be the murderer…”.
The group looked at one another and nodded. “We have to keep moving, terribly sorry. We cannot risk anyone dying. Again…”. June apologized, everyone emptying the worn-down shed. Wolf pushed everyone out, carrying Cheryl on her back. Alex carried Charlotte.
Mary teared up. “Can I at least come? It’s been quite a while without seeing someone else besides the murderer.”. She tried going towards June, now able to stand. June backed up out of the doorway, as Alexis slammed the door on Mary who was running towards the group. Alexis ordered the group to run as fast as possible towards the driveway, as Mary opened the door and attempted to run as well.
Alexis, Silas, Wolf, and June stayed back to fight off Mary. “Ma’am, we cannot risk you being the murderer. We value your life and hospitality, yes, but we need to keep moving. Thank you, but goodbye.” Silas took off running. Mary screamed, limping towards the three remaining.
Three gunshots were heard, as more screaming occurred. The screams none other belonged to Mary, Wolf, June, and Alexis.
---
The group stopped in their tracks, after hearing the gunshots with the screams following. Silas bumped into Amena, knocking her into Artemis which knocked down all three of them. Stumbling into the ground, and rolling into bushes they got trapped in a similar room as the one Cheryl and Wolf got stuck in. Their earpieces turned on into ‘announcements’.
“It’s that time of day again, folks! Time for another horrid fight between comrades…! Our lucky competitors are… Silas Ashton. Amena Costico. Artemis Obsidian. The last one standing with their lives, keeps it! Happy fighting, contestants and may your deaths be tragic!” Each word appeared after the other on the transparent screen. The other group shook with fear. All that was left was Alex, Charlotte, and Amaia to run for their lives.
---
Alexis, Wolf, and June stared at the collapsing body of Mary. Three gunshots to the chest. Her body fell to the ground, and laid silently in the lush grass. Flowers bloomed around the corpse, covering up the blood stains. Running for years from the murderer's grasp, she finally died.
Alexis punched herself, and started to bleed. “I’m an idiot, someone kill me. Please, I practically just killed her! If I allowed her to come with us, she would’ve lived. I should be dead, not her.” She cried. She collapsed to the ground and sobbed.
June hugged her. “There, there. We don’t even know if it was the murderer who shot her, we didn’t see them.”
Wolf interrupted. “I did. They weren’t wearing their ‘black cloak’.” They folded their arms and bent down to the ground. June and Alexis tilted their heads. “They had long hair, and looked female. If I were to say, they resembled Cheryl.” They explained.
“Where even is Cheryl?” June asked. Wolf said that she had decided to go catch up with the rest of the group, and that she did not need help. She nodded understandingly. She comforted Alexis and helped her stand back up.
“We should, at least, decorate a grave stone for her hospitality towards us. It’d feel wrong to just leave her there.” Wolf said, walking towards Mary. Alexis jumped on Wolf and tackled them to the ground.
“Idiot! Mary just got shot, for god’s sake! The murderer could be right around the corner!” She slapped them. Wolf pushed her off into the table at the pavilion. June watched the fight break out, opening up her earpiece map.
June trembled in fear, as there was not a red dot near them. Instead, there were three red, glowing dots sprinting towards Alex, Charlotte, and Amaia. “Guys, uhh…. Open your maps.” The fight kept going. June screamed. “Open your maps before I kill you both!”
June had never made a threat like before, and screaming that felt wrong. Wolf and Alexis stared at her silently. They got up and opened their map.
“Crap, this is awful. We gotta move.” Wolf ordered, running after the murderers. Their knife beamed as the sunlight hit the shiny metal. The other two sprinted after them, trying to keep up.
Mary coughed and looked up at the sky, touching their earpiece. “Alright, we got them on edge. Finish your jobs, and kill them.” She grinned, gathering herself up and running back into the mansion.
---
Silas looked at Amena and Artemis. “I know now, what Cheryl and Wolf went through. It’s awful. Knowing that I’ll be killing two people…”
“Hey, hold on a second!” Artemis screeched. “Are you saying you are gonna win? Haha, in your dreams! You may be able to kill Amena, but you don’t have the wits to kill me!”
Amena shook, and scrambled herself to a back corner. Both of her comrades wanted to kill her. She prayed silently, tears streaming down her eyes. “Hurry up, and just do it.” She pointed to her forehead, asking Silas to shoot her there.
He nodded, and walked forward. The gun barely touched her forehead. It had a very cold feeling, an iron one. She shook, afraid of the pain that would soon shoot through her body. She never had really experienced pain, such as a gunshot. Maybe Mary would come back and save her… No, impossible, she thought to herself. Mary could be a potential murderer.
“What are you waiting for, god to give approval?! Just shoot me before I kill myself!!” She screamed, her body overwhelmed with emotions.
Silas’s finger shook on the trigger. That was, until something else happened. Artemis pulled out a pocket knife, and dove onto Silas. He slashed and tried to stab, as Silas rapid-fired his gun, missing every shot.
A fight broke out, one that might kill both. Amena sat there and watched, mentally breaking down. “Stop!!” She screeched, but it did no good. Her earpiece turned on.
“Congratulations, girlie! You get to choose who dies and who lives. The probability of you surviving is 99%. Depending on if you’d give your life… you will most likely survive. Choose your first victim.” The earpiece spoke. Two names appeared on her screen. “Silas Ashton or Artemis Obsidian.”.
Wolf shook their head. “Completely the opposite. You’ve been dead. For days, not an eternity. The black clothed man killed you, don’t you remember?” They tried to explain. They looked confused at Amaia, who was still shaking on the table.
Amaia shoved Wolf again to the floor. “You guys didn’t even help me! You screamed and cried, that’s it!!” They took a knife and tried stabbing Wolf.
Silas knocked Amaia down to the ground, and pinned them down. “Don’t attack, you fool. We already have a couple murderers chasing us down, one more isn’t welcomed.” He commanded.
Amaia shook their head. “There’s only one. Before I died, they said their name was the ‘black cloak’. He said I and I alone, can find him and kill him.” They replied, confidently. Truth was, that wasn’t the truth. All they knew, was that their name was the ‘black cloak’.
Alexis stepped forward, arms crossed. “Great information, but we gotta keep moving. Who knows…” She started to whisper, disallowing Mary to hear. “Mary could be the murderer…”.
The group looked at one another and nodded. “We have to keep moving, terribly sorry. We cannot risk anyone dying. Again…”. June apologized, everyone emptying the worn-down shed. Wolf pushed everyone out, carrying Cheryl on her back. Alex carried Charlotte.
Mary teared up. “Can I at least come? It’s been quite a while without seeing someone else besides the murderer.”. She tried going towards June, now able to stand. June backed up out of the doorway, as Alexis slammed the door on Mary who was running towards the group. Alexis ordered the group to run as fast as possible towards the driveway, as Mary opened the door and attempted to run as well.
Alexis, Silas, Wolf, and June stayed back to fight off Mary. “Ma’am, we cannot risk you being the murderer. We value your life and hospitality, yes, but we need to keep moving. Thank you, but goodbye.” Silas took off running. Mary screamed, limping towards the three remaining.
Three gunshots were heard, as more screaming occurred. The screams none other belonged to Mary, Wolf, June, and Alexis.
---
The group stopped in their tracks, after hearing the gunshots with the screams following. Silas bumped into Amena, knocking her into Artemis which knocked down all three of them. Stumbling into the ground, and rolling into bushes they got trapped in a similar room as the one Cheryl and Wolf got stuck in. Their earpieces turned on into ‘announcements’.
“It’s that time of day again, folks! Time for another horrid fight between comrades…! Our lucky competitors are… Silas Ashton. Amena Costico. Artemis Obsidian. The last one standing with their lives, keeps it! Happy fighting, contestants and may your deaths be tragic!” Each word appeared after the other on the transparent screen. The other group shook with fear. All that was left was Alex, Charlotte, and Amaia to run for their lives.
---
Alexis, Wolf, and June stared at the collapsing body of Mary. Three gunshots to the chest. Her body fell to the ground, and laid silently in the lush grass. Flowers bloomed around the corpse, covering up the blood stains. Running for years from the murderer's grasp, she finally died.
Alexis punched herself, and started to bleed. “I’m an idiot, someone kill me. Please, I practically just killed her! If I allowed her to come with us, she would’ve lived. I should be dead, not her.” She cried. She collapsed to the ground and sobbed.
June hugged her. “There, there. We don’t even know if it was the murderer who shot her, we didn’t see them.”
Wolf interrupted. “I did. They weren’t wearing their ‘black cloak’.” They folded their arms and bent down to the ground. June and Alexis tilted their heads. “They had long hair, and looked female. If I were to say, they resembled Cheryl.” They explained.
“Where even is Cheryl?” June asked. Wolf said that she had decided to go catch up with the rest of the group, and that she did not need help. She nodded understandingly. She comforted Alexis and helped her stand back up.
“We should, at least, decorate a grave stone for her hospitality towards us. It’d feel wrong to just leave her there.” Wolf said, walking towards Mary. Alexis jumped on Wolf and tackled them to the ground.
“Idiot! Mary just got shot, for god’s sake! The murderer could be right around the corner!” She slapped them. Wolf pushed her off into the table at the pavilion. June watched the fight break out, opening up her earpiece map.
June trembled in fear, as there was not a red dot near them. Instead, there were three red, glowing dots sprinting towards Alex, Charlotte, and Amaia. “Guys, uhh…. Open your maps.” The fight kept going. June screamed. “Open your maps before I kill you both!”
June had never made a threat like before, and screaming that felt wrong. Wolf and Alexis stared at her silently. They got up and opened their map.
“Crap, this is awful. We gotta move.” Wolf ordered, running after the murderers. Their knife beamed as the sunlight hit the shiny metal. The other two sprinted after them, trying to keep up.
Mary coughed and looked up at the sky, touching their earpiece. “Alright, we got them on edge. Finish your jobs, and kill them.” She grinned, gathering herself up and running back into the mansion.
---
Silas looked at Amena and Artemis. “I know now, what Cheryl and Wolf went through. It’s awful. Knowing that I’ll be killing two people…”
“Hey, hold on a second!” Artemis screeched. “Are you saying you are gonna win? Haha, in your dreams! You may be able to kill Amena, but you don’t have the wits to kill me!”
Amena shook, and scrambled herself to a back corner. Both of her comrades wanted to kill her. She prayed silently, tears streaming down her eyes. “Hurry up, and just do it.” She pointed to her forehead, asking Silas to shoot her there.
He nodded, and walked forward. The gun barely touched her forehead. It had a very cold feeling, an iron one. She shook, afraid of the pain that would soon shoot through her body. She never had really experienced pain, such as a gunshot. Maybe Mary would come back and save her… No, impossible, she thought to herself. Mary could be a potential murderer.
“What are you waiting for, god to give approval?! Just shoot me before I kill myself!!” She screamed, her body overwhelmed with emotions.
Silas’s finger shook on the trigger. That was, until something else happened. Artemis pulled out a pocket knife, and dove onto Silas. He slashed and tried to stab, as Silas rapid-fired his gun, missing every shot.
A fight broke out, one that might kill both. Amena sat there and watched, mentally breaking down. “Stop!!” She screeched, but it did no good. Her earpiece turned on.
“Congratulations, girlie! You get to choose who dies and who lives. The probability of you surviving is 99%. Depending on if you’d give your life… you will most likely survive. Choose your first victim.” The earpiece spoke. Two names appeared on her screen. “Silas Ashton or Artemis Obsidian.”.
I gazed at the sky as I took my final breaths. So many thoughts and questions with only one minute left. What would happen to my family, my friends, my future? Who would worry? How would the world go on? All these questions... and nobody will know- at least, I won’t know. I woke up in this strange building surrounded by people I hadn’t even met or seen. We were forced to work together. But the friendship and connections between were by choice. And those choices I now regret. If I had gone on my own, I wouldn’t be left with heartache. Literally, my best friend stabbed me! I was betrayed! Now they’re killing everyone. We’re all going to die. We were outplayed. How did we actually expect to beat a murderer at its own game? Ugh, I can’t even believe I’m gonna die here. I even solved everything and explained it to them too. Then they just straight up stabbed me! I took my last looks of the sunset, knowing that’d I would set with it. Except, I’d never come back. I felt the lush green grass in the palm of my hand. I listened to the chirps of the flying birds. My world slowly faded away, into pure darkness. This is my death. “Goodbye world.” I said faintly. Finally, I’m leaving this hell.
“I hate being up here.” June muttered, crossing her arms. She swung her legs off the rooftop. “Speaking of which, why did you bring us up here?”
Alexis sighed, and gazed at the sunset. “We’ll watch the world burn from afar. I don’t want you dying down there. Or me either.” She put her head on June’s shoulder.
June smiled faintly. It was a reassuring knowing that someone she cared about was safe and sound. She rested her head on Alexis’s. The wind blew against their hair, as screams of agony filled the evening sky. The chirps of birds went unheard. “Do you think we’ll leave together with our lives?” June asked nervously. As protective and strong Alexis was, June knew well that she alone couldn’t defeat murderers- especially at their own game. Even if June fought alongside Alexis, it’d be useless. If everyone fought? Now that’s something. Still doubtful though, June answered herself.
“Duh, I’m here. We’ll escape together, promise.” Alexis responded confidently. Her hand trembled as her head left June’s shoulder. She pushed herself a few inches away from June. June sighed and shook her head. She clenched her fist and closed her eyes tightly.
“Well… uhm,” June said shakily. She inhaled sharply. “You alone can’t beat the murderers. You're not the hero that’ll save us all, Alexis! We’re surrounded by who knows how many murderers.” June opened her eyes and exhaled. Alexis’s mouth gaped and her eyes widened.
“J-just watch me! I don’t need your help, no thank you!” Alexis yelled, getting furious. She stood up and looked down at June.
June stood up and stared at Alexis dead in the eye. She slapped her cheek slightly. “I wasn’t offering you my help! We barely survived the first puzzle. There might be hundreds more. We didn’t even ask Mary how she was able to survive for years!” She screamed in her face.
Alexis put her hand on the cheek June slapped. She slapped June back. “Mary isn’t our friend! I’m certain she’s the murderer- I’m positive!” Alexis yelled back. A tear escaped her eye. She was fighting with her best friend. “M stands for Mary, and murderer. Coincidence? I think not.”
A peculiar voice was heard from the distance. They both turned around with angering expressions, fists clenched, and saddened eyes. “My my, relationship issues huh?” The voice belonged to none other than Amaia.
“We are not in a relationship!” Alexis snapped, ready to punch Amaia. “Go away, will you?!”
Amaia shook their head. “My oh my, this will be interesting…” They mumbled, loud enough for the girls to hear.
June, finally calm, tilted her head. She lowered her fists to her side. “Are you alright, Amaia…?”
Amaia grinned. “Oh yes, I’m alright, my dear. It’s you, who is not alright.”.
“Ok, Amaia, you are not okay. Have you been uhm, drinking lately, maybe?” Alexis asked. Not sure how Amaia would’ve gotten a drink but it’s possible, she thought. She grabbed June’s arm and gently pulled her away from Amaia. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them,” Alexis whispered. “But they’re different somehow.”
June nodded. “Could it be the medicine or revival stuff Mary gave them?” She questioned quietly. “Maybe we should go back and see if Mary could fix Amaia.”
Alexis was alarmed by the name Mary. It was an untrustworthy name she hated to hear. “Don’t give the demon-witch credit! Besides, Mary is dead. We saw her, with our own eyes, get shot by the murderer.” She snapped.
June backed away from Alexis. “Are we really gonna start this again? We just got done arguing. It’s your choice to either appreciate Mary or to despise her. So don’t go yelling at me for my opinion!” She yelled back. June and Alexis were head to head, each furious. Their eyes beamed with anger. “We purposefully came up here to watch the rest of the world burn without any harm coming to us! And what do you do? Start arguing! Don’t bring that fire up here towards me, got it?” June turned her back towards Alexis and sobbed.
She hated this feeling. She wanted to jump off the top of this building and escape it. But if she did choose to escape, she wouldn’t be able to feel joy, or love, or even laughter. She covered her face and fell to her knees.
When June fell to the ground, it felt like a bullet went through Alexis’s heart. “I-I’m so… so sorry, June.” She rushed over to try and comfort June. She rolled away onto the other side of the roof.
“Don’t talk to me, either! Or are you going to argue with me on that, too?” She replied. She rolled her eyes and continued crying. She looked up to go join Amaia to look for the others. “Amaia?”
Amaia sat on the top of the chimney, spinning a knife on their index finger. They grinned devilishly. The two girls backed up, holding each other tightly. Seconds later, chaos on the rooftop broke out.
---
“They can’t seriously expect me to choose, can they? I wouldn’t dare!” Amena thought. She made her hands into fists. She began to breathe quickly. “Ok, ok. Slow down, Amena, you got this. Ju-just evaluate the situation! Yeah!” Amena tried to calm herself down.
She took a deep breath, and turned away from the fight between Artemis and Silas. “Silas, he’s protected me before. I practically owe him my life. He’d help us escape using physical strength. Meanwhile, Artemis…” She blushed when she said the name.
“He helped us get past the first puzzle! He’s got wits, knowledge, strategic thinking. He may not have protected me physically, but he’s saved most of us from puzzle one mentally…” She signed. “This is impossible!” She threw her hands into the air. She turned around to look at Artemis and Silas.
Artemis tumbled on the ground after Silas’s punch. Silas turned away and ran towards Amena, eager to kill her. No, eager to escape. Artemis got up quickly, and ran towards her too. He jumped on Silas’s back and threw fists at him constantly. He got thrown off and hit the back of a boulder. Silas took out his gun and stuck it to Artemis’s forehead. No words were spoken.
Amena’s heart ached. Her best friend was gonna die before her own eyes. She didn’t want to watch. She wanted to do something. She needed to do something. She opened up her earpiece. The next thing to happen, was to watch Silas drop dead to the ground.
---
“I gotcha, I gotcha. Just hang onto me, don’t worry about them.” Alex told Charlotte. She tightened her grip on Alex as he sprinted faster. They ran into the bush maze, trying to find the driveway. They had discussed how they would escape.
Alex would lift Charlotte onto the top of the gate. Alex would jump and grab Charlotte’s hands and climb up. Together, they would jump down and leave. Simple.
“Remember the plan?” He asked, trying to break silence. She nodded.
They ran into the spot where they had eaten lunch a few days ago. “Can we please stop? I know you’re getting tired, and we’re both hungry.” Charlotte asked. She got off of Alex’s back and sat on the picnic blanket.
Alex examined the sandwiches and blankets. “How is it that the blanket is clean and hasn’t moved, meanwhile the sandwiches are perfectly stacked and look fresh? I’m not complaining, but this doesn’t make sense.”
Charlotte shrugged. “Maybe the murderer refills and cleans them?” Alex shook his head. He picked up a corner of the picnic blanket and gasped.
It was all wired. Beneath the blanket was metal, wires, and electricity. He tried to pick up the basket but it was stuck to the ground. He had Charlotte get up and lifted the entire blanket. “I must be dreaming all this crap up.”
Alex tried to rub his eyes, but couldn’t reach them. “What the hell?” There was something covering them. It was clear, as if nothing were there but it was. He turned his earpiece on. Still couldn’t reach. He clicked the button on his ear and turned it off. Alex still couldn’t touch his eyes.
He realized, he couldn’t touch anything on his face. Not even his mouth, nose, hair, anything. Alex gasped and fell backwards.
Charlotte rushed over to help him sit up. “What happened!? Did you get a heart attack, couldn’t breathe, shot, hurt-”
“I had an idea, no- answer. I have the answer. I’m wearing a helmet.” Alex exclaimed. Charlotte tilted her head in confusion.
Charlotte hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t have a fever? Maybe a sickness of some sort?”
Alex shook his head. “Hear me out. But… I think we’re in a simulator. It explains everything. How Cheryl, Amaia, and you were able to come back from the dead. Why we are all here.” He took a breath. “And why the heck I’m wearing a helmet.”
Charlotte put her hands on her face with ease. “Hate to ruin your theory, but I’m not wearing a helmet…” She replied nervously.
Alex went up and put his hands on Charlotte’s face. Nothing stopped his hands from touching her face. He gently moved her head around, trying to find the invisible helmet. “No… maybe you got it taken off by the operators when you ‘died’. This is weird…” He replied, struggling to find the answer. “But that means if they took away your helmet, you usually can’t rejoin.”
Charlotte smirked. “Correct, but incorrect.” She replied casually. She walked over to the picnic basket to grab another sandwich.
Alex’s eye widened. His mouth dropped as he backed away. “You’re a computer. Mary never brought you back. She just made a computer version of you.”
Charlotte took a bite of the ham sandwich she took. “There’s more to that, Mr. Alexander Silver.” She said.
“You’re glitching.”
“Nope.” Charlotte took another bite. She threw it at Alex. “Try again.”
“Maybe this is a test?” Alex thought to himself. “No, that’s impossible.”
Charlotte’s grin grew wider as more time passed. She had him confused, which seemed to entertain her. “Think about the one old grinch who wasn’t here from the beginning.”
“Mary. That’s easy.” Alex said.
Charlotte nodded. Her grin faded away as she watched Alex figure it out.
“Mary’s the murderer. She surely would’ve been cut by the operators, if she was able to last their tests this long. But no, she’s been here because she was the murderer. Her ‘friends’ committed suicide because they were scared of her. That’s correct, isn’t it?” Alex hesitated, fear overwhelming him. The thought that he was talking to one of her minions, which supposedly may or may not be his best friend, was dreadful. “Wait no. Mary is the operator, murderer, and creator of this virtual prison, isn’t she?”
Charlotte looked down and grinned. “Correct, Mr. Silver. Now that you’ve figured it out, it’s my pleasure to briefly end your sad life.” Before Alex could react, there was a knife slicing his body in half.
There was yelling and screaming from in front of him. Wolf, he thought. Nobody could yell like them. Alex clicked on his earpiece, and browsed the system once more. There was a place open. ‘Notes’. “Man, this would’ve been most useful earlier.” Alex thought to himself.
He started a note and wrote his last sentences before dying and being cut by the operator, Mary. “Dear Diary, or whatever the heck I’m writing in.” He started. “I gazed at the sky as I took my final breaths. So many thoughts and questions with only one minute left. What would happen to my family, my friends, my future? Who would worry? How would the world go on? All these questions... and nobody will know- at least, I won’t know. I woke up in this strange building surrounded by people I hadn’t even met or seen. We were forced to work together. But the friendship and connections between were by choice. And those choices I now regret. If I had gone on my own, I wouldn’t be left with heartache. Literally, my best friend stabbed me! I was betrayed! Now they’re killing everyone. We’re all going to die. We were outplayed. How did we actually expect to beat a murderer at its own game? Ugh, I can’t even believe I’m gonna die here. I even solved everything and explained it to them too. Then they just straight up stabbed me! I took my last looks of the sunset, knowing that’d I would set with it. Except, I’d never come back. I felt the lush green grass in the palm of my hand. I listened to the chirps of the flying birds. My world slowly faded away, into pure darkness. This is my death. ‘Goodbye world.’ I said faintly. Finally, I’m leaving this hell.”
Alex’s earpiece automatically turned off. Wolf looked at Alex’s moveless body. Wolf muttered quietly. They took out one of Cheryl’s knives and threw it straight at Charlotte. It pierced her forehead, knocking her straight to the ground.
She squirmed on the grass, trying to escape them. Wolf took out a second knife and stabbed her in the stomach. “Oh shut up, you computer.” Wolf looked up at the sunset.
They ran towards the building, eager to find Alexis, June, and Amaia.
“If Charlotte was a computer, so are Amaia and Cheryl. And if that’s true, we’re all screwed.” Wolf cursed under their breath. “How are we supposed to beat a murderer at it’s own game that it controls?”
Alexis sighed, and gazed at the sunset. “We’ll watch the world burn from afar. I don’t want you dying down there. Or me either.” She put her head on June’s shoulder.
June smiled faintly. It was a reassuring knowing that someone she cared about was safe and sound. She rested her head on Alexis’s. The wind blew against their hair, as screams of agony filled the evening sky. The chirps of birds went unheard. “Do you think we’ll leave together with our lives?” June asked nervously. As protective and strong Alexis was, June knew well that she alone couldn’t defeat murderers- especially at their own game. Even if June fought alongside Alexis, it’d be useless. If everyone fought? Now that’s something. Still doubtful though, June answered herself.
“Duh, I’m here. We’ll escape together, promise.” Alexis responded confidently. Her hand trembled as her head left June’s shoulder. She pushed herself a few inches away from June. June sighed and shook her head. She clenched her fist and closed her eyes tightly.
“Well… uhm,” June said shakily. She inhaled sharply. “You alone can’t beat the murderers. You're not the hero that’ll save us all, Alexis! We’re surrounded by who knows how many murderers.” June opened her eyes and exhaled. Alexis’s mouth gaped and her eyes widened.
“J-just watch me! I don’t need your help, no thank you!” Alexis yelled, getting furious. She stood up and looked down at June.
June stood up and stared at Alexis dead in the eye. She slapped her cheek slightly. “I wasn’t offering you my help! We barely survived the first puzzle. There might be hundreds more. We didn’t even ask Mary how she was able to survive for years!” She screamed in her face.
Alexis put her hand on the cheek June slapped. She slapped June back. “Mary isn’t our friend! I’m certain she’s the murderer- I’m positive!” Alexis yelled back. A tear escaped her eye. She was fighting with her best friend. “M stands for Mary, and murderer. Coincidence? I think not.”
A peculiar voice was heard from the distance. They both turned around with angering expressions, fists clenched, and saddened eyes. “My my, relationship issues huh?” The voice belonged to none other than Amaia.
“We are not in a relationship!” Alexis snapped, ready to punch Amaia. “Go away, will you?!”
Amaia shook their head. “My oh my, this will be interesting…” They mumbled, loud enough for the girls to hear.
June, finally calm, tilted her head. She lowered her fists to her side. “Are you alright, Amaia…?”
Amaia grinned. “Oh yes, I’m alright, my dear. It’s you, who is not alright.”.
“Ok, Amaia, you are not okay. Have you been uhm, drinking lately, maybe?” Alexis asked. Not sure how Amaia would’ve gotten a drink but it’s possible, she thought. She grabbed June’s arm and gently pulled her away from Amaia. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them,” Alexis whispered. “But they’re different somehow.”
June nodded. “Could it be the medicine or revival stuff Mary gave them?” She questioned quietly. “Maybe we should go back and see if Mary could fix Amaia.”
Alexis was alarmed by the name Mary. It was an untrustworthy name she hated to hear. “Don’t give the demon-witch credit! Besides, Mary is dead. We saw her, with our own eyes, get shot by the murderer.” She snapped.
June backed away from Alexis. “Are we really gonna start this again? We just got done arguing. It’s your choice to either appreciate Mary or to despise her. So don’t go yelling at me for my opinion!” She yelled back. June and Alexis were head to head, each furious. Their eyes beamed with anger. “We purposefully came up here to watch the rest of the world burn without any harm coming to us! And what do you do? Start arguing! Don’t bring that fire up here towards me, got it?” June turned her back towards Alexis and sobbed.
She hated this feeling. She wanted to jump off the top of this building and escape it. But if she did choose to escape, she wouldn’t be able to feel joy, or love, or even laughter. She covered her face and fell to her knees.
When June fell to the ground, it felt like a bullet went through Alexis’s heart. “I-I’m so… so sorry, June.” She rushed over to try and comfort June. She rolled away onto the other side of the roof.
“Don’t talk to me, either! Or are you going to argue with me on that, too?” She replied. She rolled her eyes and continued crying. She looked up to go join Amaia to look for the others. “Amaia?”
Amaia sat on the top of the chimney, spinning a knife on their index finger. They grinned devilishly. The two girls backed up, holding each other tightly. Seconds later, chaos on the rooftop broke out.
---
“They can’t seriously expect me to choose, can they? I wouldn’t dare!” Amena thought. She made her hands into fists. She began to breathe quickly. “Ok, ok. Slow down, Amena, you got this. Ju-just evaluate the situation! Yeah!” Amena tried to calm herself down.
She took a deep breath, and turned away from the fight between Artemis and Silas. “Silas, he’s protected me before. I practically owe him my life. He’d help us escape using physical strength. Meanwhile, Artemis…” She blushed when she said the name.
“He helped us get past the first puzzle! He’s got wits, knowledge, strategic thinking. He may not have protected me physically, but he’s saved most of us from puzzle one mentally…” She signed. “This is impossible!” She threw her hands into the air. She turned around to look at Artemis and Silas.
Artemis tumbled on the ground after Silas’s punch. Silas turned away and ran towards Amena, eager to kill her. No, eager to escape. Artemis got up quickly, and ran towards her too. He jumped on Silas’s back and threw fists at him constantly. He got thrown off and hit the back of a boulder. Silas took out his gun and stuck it to Artemis’s forehead. No words were spoken.
Amena’s heart ached. Her best friend was gonna die before her own eyes. She didn’t want to watch. She wanted to do something. She needed to do something. She opened up her earpiece. The next thing to happen, was to watch Silas drop dead to the ground.
---
“I gotcha, I gotcha. Just hang onto me, don’t worry about them.” Alex told Charlotte. She tightened her grip on Alex as he sprinted faster. They ran into the bush maze, trying to find the driveway. They had discussed how they would escape.
Alex would lift Charlotte onto the top of the gate. Alex would jump and grab Charlotte’s hands and climb up. Together, they would jump down and leave. Simple.
“Remember the plan?” He asked, trying to break silence. She nodded.
They ran into the spot where they had eaten lunch a few days ago. “Can we please stop? I know you’re getting tired, and we’re both hungry.” Charlotte asked. She got off of Alex’s back and sat on the picnic blanket.
Alex examined the sandwiches and blankets. “How is it that the blanket is clean and hasn’t moved, meanwhile the sandwiches are perfectly stacked and look fresh? I’m not complaining, but this doesn’t make sense.”
Charlotte shrugged. “Maybe the murderer refills and cleans them?” Alex shook his head. He picked up a corner of the picnic blanket and gasped.
It was all wired. Beneath the blanket was metal, wires, and electricity. He tried to pick up the basket but it was stuck to the ground. He had Charlotte get up and lifted the entire blanket. “I must be dreaming all this crap up.”
Alex tried to rub his eyes, but couldn’t reach them. “What the hell?” There was something covering them. It was clear, as if nothing were there but it was. He turned his earpiece on. Still couldn’t reach. He clicked the button on his ear and turned it off. Alex still couldn’t touch his eyes.
He realized, he couldn’t touch anything on his face. Not even his mouth, nose, hair, anything. Alex gasped and fell backwards.
Charlotte rushed over to help him sit up. “What happened!? Did you get a heart attack, couldn’t breathe, shot, hurt-”
“I had an idea, no- answer. I have the answer. I’m wearing a helmet.” Alex exclaimed. Charlotte tilted her head in confusion.
Charlotte hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t have a fever? Maybe a sickness of some sort?”
Alex shook his head. “Hear me out. But… I think we’re in a simulator. It explains everything. How Cheryl, Amaia, and you were able to come back from the dead. Why we are all here.” He took a breath. “And why the heck I’m wearing a helmet.”
Charlotte put her hands on her face with ease. “Hate to ruin your theory, but I’m not wearing a helmet…” She replied nervously.
Alex went up and put his hands on Charlotte’s face. Nothing stopped his hands from touching her face. He gently moved her head around, trying to find the invisible helmet. “No… maybe you got it taken off by the operators when you ‘died’. This is weird…” He replied, struggling to find the answer. “But that means if they took away your helmet, you usually can’t rejoin.”
Charlotte smirked. “Correct, but incorrect.” She replied casually. She walked over to the picnic basket to grab another sandwich.
Alex’s eye widened. His mouth dropped as he backed away. “You’re a computer. Mary never brought you back. She just made a computer version of you.”
Charlotte took a bite of the ham sandwich she took. “There’s more to that, Mr. Alexander Silver.” She said.
“You’re glitching.”
“Nope.” Charlotte took another bite. She threw it at Alex. “Try again.”
“Maybe this is a test?” Alex thought to himself. “No, that’s impossible.”
Charlotte’s grin grew wider as more time passed. She had him confused, which seemed to entertain her. “Think about the one old grinch who wasn’t here from the beginning.”
“Mary. That’s easy.” Alex said.
Charlotte nodded. Her grin faded away as she watched Alex figure it out.
“Mary’s the murderer. She surely would’ve been cut by the operators, if she was able to last their tests this long. But no, she’s been here because she was the murderer. Her ‘friends’ committed suicide because they were scared of her. That’s correct, isn’t it?” Alex hesitated, fear overwhelming him. The thought that he was talking to one of her minions, which supposedly may or may not be his best friend, was dreadful. “Wait no. Mary is the operator, murderer, and creator of this virtual prison, isn’t she?”
Charlotte looked down and grinned. “Correct, Mr. Silver. Now that you’ve figured it out, it’s my pleasure to briefly end your sad life.” Before Alex could react, there was a knife slicing his body in half.
There was yelling and screaming from in front of him. Wolf, he thought. Nobody could yell like them. Alex clicked on his earpiece, and browsed the system once more. There was a place open. ‘Notes’. “Man, this would’ve been most useful earlier.” Alex thought to himself.
He started a note and wrote his last sentences before dying and being cut by the operator, Mary. “Dear Diary, or whatever the heck I’m writing in.” He started. “I gazed at the sky as I took my final breaths. So many thoughts and questions with only one minute left. What would happen to my family, my friends, my future? Who would worry? How would the world go on? All these questions... and nobody will know- at least, I won’t know. I woke up in this strange building surrounded by people I hadn’t even met or seen. We were forced to work together. But the friendship and connections between were by choice. And those choices I now regret. If I had gone on my own, I wouldn’t be left with heartache. Literally, my best friend stabbed me! I was betrayed! Now they’re killing everyone. We’re all going to die. We were outplayed. How did we actually expect to beat a murderer at its own game? Ugh, I can’t even believe I’m gonna die here. I even solved everything and explained it to them too. Then they just straight up stabbed me! I took my last looks of the sunset, knowing that’d I would set with it. Except, I’d never come back. I felt the lush green grass in the palm of my hand. I listened to the chirps of the flying birds. My world slowly faded away, into pure darkness. This is my death. ‘Goodbye world.’ I said faintly. Finally, I’m leaving this hell.”
Alex’s earpiece automatically turned off. Wolf looked at Alex’s moveless body. Wolf muttered quietly. They took out one of Cheryl’s knives and threw it straight at Charlotte. It pierced her forehead, knocking her straight to the ground.
She squirmed on the grass, trying to escape them. Wolf took out a second knife and stabbed her in the stomach. “Oh shut up, you computer.” Wolf looked up at the sunset.
They ran towards the building, eager to find Alexis, June, and Amaia.
“If Charlotte was a computer, so are Amaia and Cheryl. And if that’s true, we’re all screwed.” Wolf cursed under their breath. “How are we supposed to beat a murderer at it’s own game that it controls?”
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