Post by Zetsu on Jun 12, 2015 23:55:07 GMT -5
Part 1: Jay
Chapter 0: The Opening Act
Chapter 0: The Opening Act
My alarm screamed at me to wake up and get out of bed. I didn't want to, but it knew I had to work today and so it was adamant on waking me up. After a few minutes of struggling with the alarm clock, I finally pulled myself out of the bed and headed to the bathroom. I threw on some old clothes, put on some deodorant, brushed my teeth, and fixed my hair. I quickly looked down at my phone. 9:13am. June 12, 2015. At least it was a Friday. I went upstairs, where my mother and brother were waiting on me. My truck had broken down last night, so they were my only ride to work. Oh well, I guess it’s better than nothing. I fixed a quick breakfast of cheese and a doughnut before getting in my mother’s truck.
On the way, we stopped by my mother’s friend’s house to pick her up. Apparently the three of them were going to see the new Jurassic Park movie while I was stuck working seven hours just to try and save up some pocket change for college. College. Just two more months and I will be in Texas, starting my education in physics! The months could not go by fast enough!
When we pulled up at my place of employment, I told everyone goodbye and went straight to the break room. It was only 10:03am and my shift didn't start until 11. Great. Now I had to find time to kill. So, I took out my handy smartphone and went to man’s best friend: the internet. I opened my bookmarks and found the one labeled ‘Rabbit Doubt Games’. Rabbit Doubt Games is this site based off of one of my favorite mangas where a set number of the players are murderers and the innocents have to find the murderers before they all die. It was one of my favorite ways to pass the time. It seemed a new post had been made in the ‘Current Game’ section. Had the new round been posted? I clicked it and there it was: ‘Game 132: Round 2’. It didn't take long before I saw the first round of the post, ‘Jay’. In Rabbit Doubt, seeing your name in the post in bold usually is a bad thing. Sure enough, I had been killed off by a wolf. Well that was a wonderful way to start off the day.
After my shift ended at 6pm, I promptly went outside and waited for my mother to pick me up. Then I noticed it. The one thing that would brighten my day: the snow cone vendor. So, I walked up to her, handed her my card, and asked for a medium cotton candy flavored snow cone. I proceeded to enjoy my shaved ice until my mother finally arrived. I decided to check Rabbit Doubt again on my way home. There’s this thing called ‘Dead Chat’ where the dead players could talk about the current game. It was sometimes quite interesting. However, something caught my eye. I had a new message. So, I promptly clicked the ‘Messages’ tab. All the subject had was a question mark. I checked the username: ‘X’. This was getting weird. I had never heard of X before. Maybe he was just a new player? So, I clicked the message.
‘Hello, Jay. I have been watching you for quite some time now. You have been on this site for almost a year. You are quite an active player and you are pretty good at the game. But, what is the fun of playing behind a screen? I will be seeing you soon.’
That was extremely weird. I quickly deleted the message and tried to get it out of my mind. It was probably just some creep who gets his jollies from trying to scare people online. Is this how people had their fun nowadays? Oh well. No use worrying about it. I quickly went back to my snow cone and put my headphones in.
It was 2am when I finally started getting ready for bed. I had finished talking to some of the people in the Rabbit Doubt Skype group. Amie, Yuki, Trin, Degree, Zeref, Venelop3 and I had some very interesting conversations. But, it was time to get some sleep. So, I turned off all the lights and curled up with my dog.
There was a sharp pain in my head. I had never woken up with a sharp pain before. I started to force my eyes open but it was difficult to remain conscious. The world spun around me and my vision was blurry. I felt around me. Where was my bed? All I felt was cold, hard cement. Cement? I tried to raise myself to my legs, but I immediately fell back down. The lighting was dim, but I could tell that the walls were concrete, with only a metal door as a way out. Then, I noticed it; there was something on the wall. I forced every muscle in my body to co-operate. After a few minutes of struggling, I managed to crawl my way over to the wall. I was about to pass out, but I had to see what it was. I was in extreme pain as I focused my eyes on the red on the wall. Then, I could finally make it out:
On the way, we stopped by my mother’s friend’s house to pick her up. Apparently the three of them were going to see the new Jurassic Park movie while I was stuck working seven hours just to try and save up some pocket change for college. College. Just two more months and I will be in Texas, starting my education in physics! The months could not go by fast enough!
When we pulled up at my place of employment, I told everyone goodbye and went straight to the break room. It was only 10:03am and my shift didn't start until 11. Great. Now I had to find time to kill. So, I took out my handy smartphone and went to man’s best friend: the internet. I opened my bookmarks and found the one labeled ‘Rabbit Doubt Games’. Rabbit Doubt Games is this site based off of one of my favorite mangas where a set number of the players are murderers and the innocents have to find the murderers before they all die. It was one of my favorite ways to pass the time. It seemed a new post had been made in the ‘Current Game’ section. Had the new round been posted? I clicked it and there it was: ‘Game 132: Round 2’. It didn't take long before I saw the first round of the post, ‘Jay’. In Rabbit Doubt, seeing your name in the post in bold usually is a bad thing. Sure enough, I had been killed off by a wolf. Well that was a wonderful way to start off the day.
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After my shift ended at 6pm, I promptly went outside and waited for my mother to pick me up. Then I noticed it. The one thing that would brighten my day: the snow cone vendor. So, I walked up to her, handed her my card, and asked for a medium cotton candy flavored snow cone. I proceeded to enjoy my shaved ice until my mother finally arrived. I decided to check Rabbit Doubt again on my way home. There’s this thing called ‘Dead Chat’ where the dead players could talk about the current game. It was sometimes quite interesting. However, something caught my eye. I had a new message. So, I promptly clicked the ‘Messages’ tab. All the subject had was a question mark. I checked the username: ‘X’. This was getting weird. I had never heard of X before. Maybe he was just a new player? So, I clicked the message.
‘Hello, Jay. I have been watching you for quite some time now. You have been on this site for almost a year. You are quite an active player and you are pretty good at the game. But, what is the fun of playing behind a screen? I will be seeing you soon.’
That was extremely weird. I quickly deleted the message and tried to get it out of my mind. It was probably just some creep who gets his jollies from trying to scare people online. Is this how people had their fun nowadays? Oh well. No use worrying about it. I quickly went back to my snow cone and put my headphones in.
----------------------------------------------
It was 2am when I finally started getting ready for bed. I had finished talking to some of the people in the Rabbit Doubt Skype group. Amie, Yuki, Trin, Degree, Zeref, Venelop3 and I had some very interesting conversations. But, it was time to get some sleep. So, I turned off all the lights and curled up with my dog.
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There was a sharp pain in my head. I had never woken up with a sharp pain before. I started to force my eyes open but it was difficult to remain conscious. The world spun around me and my vision was blurry. I felt around me. Where was my bed? All I felt was cold, hard cement. Cement? I tried to raise myself to my legs, but I immediately fell back down. The lighting was dim, but I could tell that the walls were concrete, with only a metal door as a way out. Then, I noticed it; there was something on the wall. I forced every muscle in my body to co-operate. After a few minutes of struggling, I managed to crawl my way over to the wall. I was about to pass out, but I had to see what it was. I was in extreme pain as I focused my eyes on the red on the wall. Then, I could finally make it out:
Welcome, Jay
~X
Then, the world turned black once more.Chapter 1: The Cast Arrives
When I regained consciousness, I noticed something new in the room. My vision was still a little fuzzy, but I could make out the shape. It appeared to be one of those rabbit masks that cover the entire head. I crawled over to it and noticed a piece of paper lying beside it. I picked it up and began to read it.
‘I hope you enjoyed your slumber. The others should be waking up soon as well. I have gathered you all here to play a little game. A game you should be familiar with: Rabbit Doubt. I will go in depth soon, but there are some basic rules I need you to abide by. First, you will be required to wear the rabbit mask found in front of you. After placing it on your head, you should lock the back of it so that there is no chance of it coming off without the key. I have cameras installed all over the place, so I will not let you out until this is done. I would have done it myself, but I have a flare for the dramatic. Second, you may only refer to yourself by your given username. In this case, yours will be ‘Jay’. Third, tampering with any of my equipment (cameras, computers, etc.) is strictly prohibited. The punishment for breaking any of the core rules is automatic death. Do not disappoint me.’
Death? I could feel my hand begin to shake and I dropped the note. He wasn’t really going to kill us, was he? I struggled to get to my feet and examined the mask intently. Why was this happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? I guess I only have one choice if I have any hope of making it out of here alive. I placed the mask over my head and fumbled with the lock in back. I tightened the mechanism so that it closed around my neck; there was no way this was coming off without that key. Then, the lock slid into place, sealing my fate.
Then, I noticed something else in the room. There was a mirror in the corner, just barely illuminated by the light. I stepped in front and took a look at myself. My gym shorts and shirt had been changed out for a gray jump suit. I felt around the back for the zipper, only to come to the realization that it had been designed to only be removed if the lock in the back that connected the two halves of the zipper had been removed. Guess I was stuck wearing this for a while.
I walked over to the door and tried pushing it open; of course, it was locked. I began to search every square inch of the room. Maybe there was something of use. I fumbled around for quite some time before almost giving up. Then, I head a clicking sound. I made my way back over to the door and pushed it. It swung open, revealing the next room.
This next room was a large, open space. It had a high ceiling and about twenty doors similar to mine lining the walls. In the center was a group of ten chairs all facing a large television screen. Below the television was an old DVD player and what looked like an envelope. On the far end of the room was a set of metal double doors. I began to make my way towards the envelope, when the other doors began to open. Nine doors opened and nine people stepped into the room. All of them had on gray jumpsuits and rabbit masks. We met up at the chairs and everyone began talking at once.
“Where are we?”
“Why are we here?”
“Who is X?”
“What does X want from us?”
“I want to go home.”
“Did anyone else get the note? About death?”
“Death? This has to be a joke.”
Then, one of the others spoke up. “Guys,” he said. “Everybody turn around.” At first, we were reluctant, but we finally did. However, there was nothing behind us but a cement wall. Then, I noticed it. The person in front of me had a name on the back of their jumpsuit: Amie. Amie? She was one of the new GM’s on the Rabbit Doubt site! I began looking around the room at everyone else’s jumpsuits. Kuro. Trinity. Lock. Shiro. Kit. Yuki. Degree.
I was the next to speak up. “Well, it appears we are all from the Rabbit Doubt site. Did all of you get a creepy message from X on the site?” Everyone was quick to agree and make comments. Once everything calmed down, we made our introductions. This was the first time I had actually met any of them in person. I had wanted to meet them eventually, but not under these circumstances.
Yuki was the next to act, walking over to the envelope and taking a peek inside. She pulled out a DVD and quickly placed it in the DVD player. The TV roared to life and a video began to play.
Somebody in a suit and wolf mask walked up to the camera. “Greetings, players. My name is X. I have gathered you all here today to play a little game of Rabbit Doubt. As you all know, the game is played by a group of rabbits. Except, one of the rabbits isn’t who they seem to be. This wolf in disguise then goes around, chopping off innocents heads until either every innocent is dead. Now, it was a little difficult trying to convince one of you to murder all of your friends, but a little convincing goes a long way. Do not trust the people around you. One of you is a Kuro and will not think twice about slitting your throat. You may have noticed by now that there are ten chairs in the room, but only nine players. Well, I had to make an example out of somebody.” The scene shifted to a library. Among the many rows of books was somebody in a rabbit mask. They were tied up to a chair, looking at the camera. Then, the camera shifted back to X. “She isn’t dead. At least not yet, anyways. But, I would get to her before I become too impatient. It would be a shame if something were to happen to her. Also, consider this a special game of Rabbit Doubt. I know how much you guys enjoy special games. There are some challenges you will have to complete along the way. Depending on your performance, they will either help you or hinder your progress. Be careful. I am not a very forgiving person.” With that, the video ended. Everybody began shouting at once.
“This can’t be real.”
“Who would actually resort to murdering us?”
“Who is that in the library?”
“How do we get out of here?”
“I just want to go home.”
Yuki spoke up above the shouting. “Guys, I found something else inside the envelope. It was a key. Maybe it will open the double doors.” We all walked cautiously with Yuki to the double doors. She put the key in the lock and turned it; it unlocked with a satisfying click. “Well, here goes nothing.” She pushed open the doors and the game began.
‘I hope you enjoyed your slumber. The others should be waking up soon as well. I have gathered you all here to play a little game. A game you should be familiar with: Rabbit Doubt. I will go in depth soon, but there are some basic rules I need you to abide by. First, you will be required to wear the rabbit mask found in front of you. After placing it on your head, you should lock the back of it so that there is no chance of it coming off without the key. I have cameras installed all over the place, so I will not let you out until this is done. I would have done it myself, but I have a flare for the dramatic. Second, you may only refer to yourself by your given username. In this case, yours will be ‘Jay’. Third, tampering with any of my equipment (cameras, computers, etc.) is strictly prohibited. The punishment for breaking any of the core rules is automatic death. Do not disappoint me.’
Death? I could feel my hand begin to shake and I dropped the note. He wasn’t really going to kill us, was he? I struggled to get to my feet and examined the mask intently. Why was this happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? I guess I only have one choice if I have any hope of making it out of here alive. I placed the mask over my head and fumbled with the lock in back. I tightened the mechanism so that it closed around my neck; there was no way this was coming off without that key. Then, the lock slid into place, sealing my fate.
Then, I noticed something else in the room. There was a mirror in the corner, just barely illuminated by the light. I stepped in front and took a look at myself. My gym shorts and shirt had been changed out for a gray jump suit. I felt around the back for the zipper, only to come to the realization that it had been designed to only be removed if the lock in the back that connected the two halves of the zipper had been removed. Guess I was stuck wearing this for a while.
I walked over to the door and tried pushing it open; of course, it was locked. I began to search every square inch of the room. Maybe there was something of use. I fumbled around for quite some time before almost giving up. Then, I head a clicking sound. I made my way back over to the door and pushed it. It swung open, revealing the next room.
This next room was a large, open space. It had a high ceiling and about twenty doors similar to mine lining the walls. In the center was a group of ten chairs all facing a large television screen. Below the television was an old DVD player and what looked like an envelope. On the far end of the room was a set of metal double doors. I began to make my way towards the envelope, when the other doors began to open. Nine doors opened and nine people stepped into the room. All of them had on gray jumpsuits and rabbit masks. We met up at the chairs and everyone began talking at once.
“Where are we?”
“Why are we here?”
“Who is X?”
“What does X want from us?”
“I want to go home.”
“Did anyone else get the note? About death?”
“Death? This has to be a joke.”
Then, one of the others spoke up. “Guys,” he said. “Everybody turn around.” At first, we were reluctant, but we finally did. However, there was nothing behind us but a cement wall. Then, I noticed it. The person in front of me had a name on the back of their jumpsuit: Amie. Amie? She was one of the new GM’s on the Rabbit Doubt site! I began looking around the room at everyone else’s jumpsuits. Kuro. Trinity. Lock. Shiro. Kit. Yuki. Degree.
I was the next to speak up. “Well, it appears we are all from the Rabbit Doubt site. Did all of you get a creepy message from X on the site?” Everyone was quick to agree and make comments. Once everything calmed down, we made our introductions. This was the first time I had actually met any of them in person. I had wanted to meet them eventually, but not under these circumstances.
Yuki was the next to act, walking over to the envelope and taking a peek inside. She pulled out a DVD and quickly placed it in the DVD player. The TV roared to life and a video began to play.
Somebody in a suit and wolf mask walked up to the camera. “Greetings, players. My name is X. I have gathered you all here today to play a little game of Rabbit Doubt. As you all know, the game is played by a group of rabbits. Except, one of the rabbits isn’t who they seem to be. This wolf in disguise then goes around, chopping off innocents heads until either every innocent is dead. Now, it was a little difficult trying to convince one of you to murder all of your friends, but a little convincing goes a long way. Do not trust the people around you. One of you is a Kuro and will not think twice about slitting your throat. You may have noticed by now that there are ten chairs in the room, but only nine players. Well, I had to make an example out of somebody.” The scene shifted to a library. Among the many rows of books was somebody in a rabbit mask. They were tied up to a chair, looking at the camera. Then, the camera shifted back to X. “She isn’t dead. At least not yet, anyways. But, I would get to her before I become too impatient. It would be a shame if something were to happen to her. Also, consider this a special game of Rabbit Doubt. I know how much you guys enjoy special games. There are some challenges you will have to complete along the way. Depending on your performance, they will either help you or hinder your progress. Be careful. I am not a very forgiving person.” With that, the video ended. Everybody began shouting at once.
“This can’t be real.”
“Who would actually resort to murdering us?”
“Who is that in the library?”
“How do we get out of here?”
“I just want to go home.”
Yuki spoke up above the shouting. “Guys, I found something else inside the envelope. It was a key. Maybe it will open the double doors.” We all walked cautiously with Yuki to the double doors. She put the key in the lock and turned it; it unlocked with a satisfying click. “Well, here goes nothing.” She pushed open the doors and the game began.
Chapter 2: A Performance to Remember
We all flooded into the next room, expecting the worst. Instead, what we found was another concrete room with a clock in the center; it appeared to have stopped at 3:05. Guess that wouldn’t be of much use now. On the left wall was a set of double doors. On the right wall were two open doorways that appeared to lead to restrooms. In front of us were two separate metal doors.
“What do you think X meant by challenges,” Degree began. “Do you think he’s going to force us to compete in a three-legged race or something?”
Trinity quickly turned her head towards him. “Degree. This isn’t the time for your jokes. We are in here with a murderer for Christ’s sake!”
“Sheesh. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Well, knock it off.”
We decided it was best for us to go to the bathrooms first, since they were unlocked. However, there was nothing of value in there. Just old toilets and sinks. We returned to the main room and decided to check the two metal doors in front first. They were both locked. Great. There was only one more room to check. We gathered in front of the double doors and Kuro opened them with ease. Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland could be heard through the doorway. We all stepped through and what we found amazed us. It was an entire concert hall. Rows and rows of velvet covered seats. A massive wooden stage complete with the best lighting equipment. Red carpeting that looked to be of an extremely expensive material. Why was such a luxurious concert hall in such a place? It seemed quite odd. I took a step forward and felt a piece of wire come across my legs before it snapped. As soon as it snapped, a recording began to play.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Rabbit Doubt Concert Hall! Tonight, we have a very special performance! Today, we will have a solo performance by one of our rabbit guests! Except this isn’t a normal performance. No, that would be too un-original. Instead, this is a competition. Our guest will be competing for a wonderful prize tonight. He will play a selection, and our systems will register his notes. If he messes up, the system will know, and he will instead be punished. So, let’s welcome the start of the show: Jay.”
I froze in place out of fear. The very first challenge and I was the one chosen for it. The fate of everyone here rested on my shoulders. I became extremely anxious and began to shake. As I made my way to the stage, I felt everyone’s eyes on me. Why me? Why now?
“Now, Jay will play a little selection from the Bach Cello Suites on his viola. Bourrée one and two from the third suite.” I began to shake now more than ever. I always played this wonderfully by myself. But, whenever it came to playing it in front of people, my nerves always got the better of me. There was no way I could do this. “Now, if Jay would come up on stage.” I made my way up the stairs and noticed the stand and the viola center-stage. I picked up the instrument and bow before realizing it was mine. X must have taken it when he kidnapped me! I looked at the stand and noticed the book on it. It was my copy of the cello suites. Opened up to the exact page I’ve practiced hundreds of times before. “Jay, you could always opt out if you wish, but you will not receive my help in finding a way out. Who will you put first? The group or yourself?”
“Guys…I can’t do this.” Tears began to swell in my eyes. “I can’t do this.”
Lock looked at me and what came next surprised me. “Jay, I know you can do this. We all believe in you. We don’t care if you mess up. We will still-“
Degree interrupted her. “Actually, we will be pretty upset if you fail. Considering we could all be murdered and all. No pressure.”
Trinity turned towards him. “Degree! You are not helping at all!
“Well, it’s true.”
“Then, do you want to give it a shot?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“That’s what I thought.”
I was about to chicken out, but then I realized how much these people needed me. If I didn’t do this, we would all die for sure. So, I placed the viola on my shoulder and picked up the bow in my right hand. I had to give this a shot. With much reluctance, I began the piece. The notes flowed from my fingers with great precision and the sound echoed through the concert hall. I was entranced in the beauty that I was creating. My nerves quickly went away as I went through the first part. Everyone was in awe and I continued to play with much vigor. But, then it hit me. As I was playing the second movement, I began to feel anxious. My hands began to shake and I feared what would happen if I messed up. Then, it happened. As I was ascending one of the scales in the second part, my fingers fumbled. I ended up playing an extra note that wasn’t there. Before I could even react, the light turned out.
“What a shame,” boomed X. “Our little birdy has failed us. Time to deal out the punishment.”
“No,” I screamed in retaliation. “This isn’t-“
But, before I could finish, I felt as if the floor had been taken out from under me. I began to plummet downwards, only to land on what appeared to be a mattress. But, when the power came back on, the ceiling was solid and the only way out appeared to be a door on the far wall. I had screwed up the song yet again. Then, I noticed the broken viola on the floor beside me. Well, there went a wasted $2000. I actually liked that instrument. Then, I realized something. If I was in here with a murderer, it might be best to be equipped with something to protect me. So, I picked up the bow and made my way to the door. As soon as I opened it, another recording began.
“Welcome, Jay, to the encore performance! This is your chance at redemption! The rules of the game are quite simple. At the end of this hallway is the door that will lead you back to the group. But, you cannot just walk up to the door. That would be too easy. Instead, music will be playing. And not just any music! The song that let your fellow players down! All you have to do is move while it is playing! If the music stops, so do you. The halls are covered in gasoline. All it would take is a single match to burn you to death. As long as you obey the rules, then no match will be lit. Maybe you can at least do this part correctly.”
The music began to play, and I made my way down the hallway. If I messed up this time, I was dead for sure. All I could think about were the people who needed me most, and I let them down. Tears began to swell in my eyes as I thought about them. Eight of them were innocent, and the other was planning to kill them all. I had been their hope, and I had let them down. Then, the music suddenly stopped.
Every muscle in my body froze. If I even moved incorrectly, I would be light on fire and would die a slow, painful death. Death. If I didn’t get back to the group soon, it could all be too late. Every second I spent down here was another second that the killer could take the life of an innocent. The music began to play again.
I began walking toward the door again; this time, I picked up the pace some. I was not going to let them down again. None of them deserved this. None of them. And I was not going to let them all go down because I made a mistake. The music stopped again and I froze. This went on for what seemed like an eternity before I finally reached the door. I opened it and was met by a staircase. I began to climb it in a hurry. There wasn’t much time. At the top was another door. It was locked. But, unlike the others, this one had a deadbolt on it. I quickly unlocked the door and stepped through.
It appeared to be an old dressing room. There was a long mirror with lights all along the right wall. Below them was a series of desks and chairs. Along the other wall was an empty coat rack. I made my way through the room, to the door on the other side. It was locked. However, this one didn’t have a deadbolt. There must be a key somewhere.
I began opening the desk drawers in search of the key. After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. There was no key in this room. If X wanted to punish me, why would he make it that easy? Then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. On top of the mirror was something shiny. I stood on top of one of the desks and reached for it. It was a key. I made my way back down and to the door. As soon as it unlocked, the door to the stairs slammed shut and I could hear a faint locking sound. These doors must be linked on some network or something. I pushed the door open and stepped through.
In front of me was a red curtain of sorts. A red curtain? A red curtain! I lifted it up and slid underneath it. I was back on stage, with three masks looking back at me.
“Jay,” Amie exclaimed. She ran up on stage and hugged me tight. “We thought you were dead.”
“Me too,” I responded.
“The other five went to go search the other rooms for a clue or something. Anything to get us out of this place. If you could help, that would be great.” So, I went with Amie to help search the rows and rows of chairs in the concert hall. After a few minutes of searching, Degree came running into the room.
“Guys! I found something! I got bored and started messing with the hands of that old clock in the other room, and I ended up turning all the hands to point at 12. Then, I heard a clicking sound. Like a door unlocking.” We all rushed back to the other room to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, the door on the left was wide open. “Well, what are we waiting for? Standing here isn’t helping us escape.” So, we all went through the door, unsure of what horrible challenges awaited us on the other side.
“What do you think X meant by challenges,” Degree began. “Do you think he’s going to force us to compete in a three-legged race or something?”
Trinity quickly turned her head towards him. “Degree. This isn’t the time for your jokes. We are in here with a murderer for Christ’s sake!”
“Sheesh. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Well, knock it off.”
We decided it was best for us to go to the bathrooms first, since they were unlocked. However, there was nothing of value in there. Just old toilets and sinks. We returned to the main room and decided to check the two metal doors in front first. They were both locked. Great. There was only one more room to check. We gathered in front of the double doors and Kuro opened them with ease. Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland could be heard through the doorway. We all stepped through and what we found amazed us. It was an entire concert hall. Rows and rows of velvet covered seats. A massive wooden stage complete with the best lighting equipment. Red carpeting that looked to be of an extremely expensive material. Why was such a luxurious concert hall in such a place? It seemed quite odd. I took a step forward and felt a piece of wire come across my legs before it snapped. As soon as it snapped, a recording began to play.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Rabbit Doubt Concert Hall! Tonight, we have a very special performance! Today, we will have a solo performance by one of our rabbit guests! Except this isn’t a normal performance. No, that would be too un-original. Instead, this is a competition. Our guest will be competing for a wonderful prize tonight. He will play a selection, and our systems will register his notes. If he messes up, the system will know, and he will instead be punished. So, let’s welcome the start of the show: Jay.”
I froze in place out of fear. The very first challenge and I was the one chosen for it. The fate of everyone here rested on my shoulders. I became extremely anxious and began to shake. As I made my way to the stage, I felt everyone’s eyes on me. Why me? Why now?
“Now, Jay will play a little selection from the Bach Cello Suites on his viola. Bourrée one and two from the third suite.” I began to shake now more than ever. I always played this wonderfully by myself. But, whenever it came to playing it in front of people, my nerves always got the better of me. There was no way I could do this. “Now, if Jay would come up on stage.” I made my way up the stairs and noticed the stand and the viola center-stage. I picked up the instrument and bow before realizing it was mine. X must have taken it when he kidnapped me! I looked at the stand and noticed the book on it. It was my copy of the cello suites. Opened up to the exact page I’ve practiced hundreds of times before. “Jay, you could always opt out if you wish, but you will not receive my help in finding a way out. Who will you put first? The group or yourself?”
“Guys…I can’t do this.” Tears began to swell in my eyes. “I can’t do this.”
Lock looked at me and what came next surprised me. “Jay, I know you can do this. We all believe in you. We don’t care if you mess up. We will still-“
Degree interrupted her. “Actually, we will be pretty upset if you fail. Considering we could all be murdered and all. No pressure.”
Trinity turned towards him. “Degree! You are not helping at all!
“Well, it’s true.”
“Then, do you want to give it a shot?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“That’s what I thought.”
I was about to chicken out, but then I realized how much these people needed me. If I didn’t do this, we would all die for sure. So, I placed the viola on my shoulder and picked up the bow in my right hand. I had to give this a shot. With much reluctance, I began the piece. The notes flowed from my fingers with great precision and the sound echoed through the concert hall. I was entranced in the beauty that I was creating. My nerves quickly went away as I went through the first part. Everyone was in awe and I continued to play with much vigor. But, then it hit me. As I was playing the second movement, I began to feel anxious. My hands began to shake and I feared what would happen if I messed up. Then, it happened. As I was ascending one of the scales in the second part, my fingers fumbled. I ended up playing an extra note that wasn’t there. Before I could even react, the light turned out.
“What a shame,” boomed X. “Our little birdy has failed us. Time to deal out the punishment.”
“No,” I screamed in retaliation. “This isn’t-“
But, before I could finish, I felt as if the floor had been taken out from under me. I began to plummet downwards, only to land on what appeared to be a mattress. But, when the power came back on, the ceiling was solid and the only way out appeared to be a door on the far wall. I had screwed up the song yet again. Then, I noticed the broken viola on the floor beside me. Well, there went a wasted $2000. I actually liked that instrument. Then, I realized something. If I was in here with a murderer, it might be best to be equipped with something to protect me. So, I picked up the bow and made my way to the door. As soon as I opened it, another recording began.
“Welcome, Jay, to the encore performance! This is your chance at redemption! The rules of the game are quite simple. At the end of this hallway is the door that will lead you back to the group. But, you cannot just walk up to the door. That would be too easy. Instead, music will be playing. And not just any music! The song that let your fellow players down! All you have to do is move while it is playing! If the music stops, so do you. The halls are covered in gasoline. All it would take is a single match to burn you to death. As long as you obey the rules, then no match will be lit. Maybe you can at least do this part correctly.”
The music began to play, and I made my way down the hallway. If I messed up this time, I was dead for sure. All I could think about were the people who needed me most, and I let them down. Tears began to swell in my eyes as I thought about them. Eight of them were innocent, and the other was planning to kill them all. I had been their hope, and I had let them down. Then, the music suddenly stopped.
Every muscle in my body froze. If I even moved incorrectly, I would be light on fire and would die a slow, painful death. Death. If I didn’t get back to the group soon, it could all be too late. Every second I spent down here was another second that the killer could take the life of an innocent. The music began to play again.
I began walking toward the door again; this time, I picked up the pace some. I was not going to let them down again. None of them deserved this. None of them. And I was not going to let them all go down because I made a mistake. The music stopped again and I froze. This went on for what seemed like an eternity before I finally reached the door. I opened it and was met by a staircase. I began to climb it in a hurry. There wasn’t much time. At the top was another door. It was locked. But, unlike the others, this one had a deadbolt on it. I quickly unlocked the door and stepped through.
It appeared to be an old dressing room. There was a long mirror with lights all along the right wall. Below them was a series of desks and chairs. Along the other wall was an empty coat rack. I made my way through the room, to the door on the other side. It was locked. However, this one didn’t have a deadbolt. There must be a key somewhere.
I began opening the desk drawers in search of the key. After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. There was no key in this room. If X wanted to punish me, why would he make it that easy? Then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. On top of the mirror was something shiny. I stood on top of one of the desks and reached for it. It was a key. I made my way back down and to the door. As soon as it unlocked, the door to the stairs slammed shut and I could hear a faint locking sound. These doors must be linked on some network or something. I pushed the door open and stepped through.
In front of me was a red curtain of sorts. A red curtain? A red curtain! I lifted it up and slid underneath it. I was back on stage, with three masks looking back at me.
“Jay,” Amie exclaimed. She ran up on stage and hugged me tight. “We thought you were dead.”
“Me too,” I responded.
“The other five went to go search the other rooms for a clue or something. Anything to get us out of this place. If you could help, that would be great.” So, I went with Amie to help search the rows and rows of chairs in the concert hall. After a few minutes of searching, Degree came running into the room.
“Guys! I found something! I got bored and started messing with the hands of that old clock in the other room, and I ended up turning all the hands to point at 12. Then, I heard a clicking sound. Like a door unlocking.” We all rushed back to the other room to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, the door on the left was wide open. “Well, what are we waiting for? Standing here isn’t helping us escape.” So, we all went through the door, unsure of what horrible challenges awaited us on the other side.
Chapter 3: The Blood of an Innocent
We all stepped into the hallway. It was kind of small, but we all squeezed through. We made it to the other end and opened the doorway. We stepped through into a smaller room with two doors on the left and one in front. In the middle was a desk with a computer. Why didn’t this place have any windows?
Kit and I walked over to the computer and tried to access it. The password screen popped up. “Well,” Kit began. “Looks like we aren’t getting access to this thing.”
Kuro tried the door in front, but it was locked. Shiro tried to one on the left and it opened with ease. “Guys, over here.” We promptly followed Shiro through the door.
On the other side was complete darkness. We stumbled to try and find a light with no success. Then, to make things worse, the door locked behind us. We were trapped.
“Greetings,” boomed X. “It seems you guys have arrived to the second challenge. This is where things get juicy. When I turn on the lights, a mirror maze will be revealed. The prize for making it through the maze is a hint at the password for the computer in the previous room. The punishment for not making it out is being trapped in a mirror maze with a crazed murderer. I wish you all the best of luck.” As if on cue, the lights came on. In front of us were about five different entrances for the maze.
“There’s no way I’m going through there alone,” Amie chimed in. “And there’s no way I’m going in with someone who could be a possible murderer.”
“Then, we travel in groups of three,” Kuro spoke up. “That way, nobody is ever alone with anyone else.” Everyone agreed with his idea and split up into three groups. I went with Amie and Shiro. Kuro went with Lock and Kit. Trinity went with Degree and Yuki. With our groups made, we split up and went our separate paths.
The maze was actually kind of creepy; despite there being a murderer among us and all. “So,” I broke the silence. “Who do you guys think it is?”
Amie turned to look at me. “Jay, I don’t feel comfortable talking about this right now.”
“Sorry, I just thought that-“
“Well then don’t think. It’s making me uncomfortable.”
We walked a little farther before Shiro spoke up. “I just want to go home. Back to my family and friends. Back to the people I care about.”
“We will,” Amie comforted her. “We will all go home nice and safe and we will have a nice laugh about it. But for now we need to focus on getting out of this maze. I promise, we will make it out of here.”
I turned and looked at Amie. “I hope you’re right.”
We walked a little further before my stomach started to hurt. When was the last time we had even eaten? “Guys, I hope there is some food up ahead. I don’t know how much longer I can go without eating.”
Amie agreed. “We can’t keep going like this. We need food and water or we will die.”
“Well, we have the sinks for water.”
“Ew. Do you know how disgusting that water could be? I’m not trying to contract and infection or anything.
“You’re probably right.”
We walked for a few more minutes before someone spoke up again. “Guys,” Shiro spoke up. “I feel like we are lost.
"
“We aren’t lost,” Amie replied. “As long as we keep following the right wall, we will reach an exit eventually.”
“Does that actually work,” I asked.
“I don’t know, Jay. But it’s all we have right now. Do you have a better plan?” I shook my head. “That’s what I thought.”
So, onwards we went. We were about to give up when we noticed it: a room. The room had a sofa and a coffee table.
“Is this is,” Amie asked.
“I guess so,” I told her, not quite sure myself. Then, I noticed a note on the coffee table.
‘The throne awaits it’s queen’.
“Is this the clue to the password?”
Amie shrugged her shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Then, what queen is it referring to?”
“Queen Mary? Queen Elizabeth? The band Queen? I don’t know, Jay. But, if this is the last room, where’s the door to the exit? It looks like a dead end.”
“You have a point.” I stuck the note in my pocket and sat down on the sofa. I was exhausted. “Can we just take a small break?”
“Fine, but only a short one.” Amie and Shiro followed suit and sat on the sofa beside me. We rested for a good ten minutes before the lights started to flicker. “What’s going on?”
“I’m scared,” Shiro said, holding onto Amie tight. Then, the lights went completely out.
“Great. How are we supposed to find our way out now?” We began stumbling in the darkness, trying to find the way we had come through. Then, a girl’s scream broke through the darkness. I gripped my bow tightly in my hand. “Come on.” We followed Amie through the darkness, towards the source of the screams. Somebody bumped into me and I fell behind.
“Wait up guys.” I got back to my feet, but nobody was around me. Another scream happened and I ran towards it, bumping into plenty of walls along the way. Then, I tripped over something. What was it? I went to go pick it up when the lights came on. I felt an instant wave of nausea come over me. Lying in the floor was Yuki, covered in her own blood. Her throat had been slit by what looked like a shard of the broken mirror behind her. Written down the walls in what appeared to be her blood was a simple message: ‘Queen of Dead Chat’. The note must have been referring to her. Was X and the murderer working together? Did they have all of the deaths planned out ahead of time?
Kit must have entered the room shortly after I did because I heard him gagging and mumbling under his breath. Within a few minutes, everyone was staring at the body.
“Who could have done such a thing?”
“No! Yuki!”
“If I find out whoever did this…”
“I can’t believe someone is actually dead.”
“I just want out of this place.”
“I’m going to kill X if I ever find out who he is.”
Trinity and Amie rushed to Yuki’s side. The tried everything in their power to bring Yuki back but it was no use. “Yuki,” Amie said, obviously crying. “Yuki. Please come back. Yuki, stop playing around. Please. We need you. Please don’t do this Yuki…” Kuro had to pull her away to try and calm her down.
“That’s it,” Kuro said. “We leave this place as a group. No more splitting up.”
“Leave?” Trinity turned to face him. “We can’t just leave Yuki here like this.”
“Look at her, Trinity! She’s dead! There’s nothing we can do!”
“You aren’t even phased by her death, Kuro?”
“Trinity! You know that isn’t true. I’m on the verge of tears myself. But if we stay here, more innocents are going to die. And I don’t want any more of you guys dying. I couldn’t handle that.”
“You’re right…”
So, we all made our way through the maze of mirrors. It must of taken hours before we finally found the exit. On the door was posted another note. ‘What can withstand tremendous amounts of stress, but can be crushed by a single event?’ Trinity put the note in her pocket and turned the deadbolt on the lock. It was the door in the front of the computer room. We were back where we started. But at least we had the clue now. But Yuki was dead. The group was under a lot of stress right now. And nobody had any idea of what the password could be. Not only that, but we needed food and water soon or we wouldn’t last much longer. With that, we began to sit on the floor and think.
Kit and I walked over to the computer and tried to access it. The password screen popped up. “Well,” Kit began. “Looks like we aren’t getting access to this thing.”
Kuro tried the door in front, but it was locked. Shiro tried to one on the left and it opened with ease. “Guys, over here.” We promptly followed Shiro through the door.
On the other side was complete darkness. We stumbled to try and find a light with no success. Then, to make things worse, the door locked behind us. We were trapped.
“Greetings,” boomed X. “It seems you guys have arrived to the second challenge. This is where things get juicy. When I turn on the lights, a mirror maze will be revealed. The prize for making it through the maze is a hint at the password for the computer in the previous room. The punishment for not making it out is being trapped in a mirror maze with a crazed murderer. I wish you all the best of luck.” As if on cue, the lights came on. In front of us were about five different entrances for the maze.
“There’s no way I’m going through there alone,” Amie chimed in. “And there’s no way I’m going in with someone who could be a possible murderer.”
“Then, we travel in groups of three,” Kuro spoke up. “That way, nobody is ever alone with anyone else.” Everyone agreed with his idea and split up into three groups. I went with Amie and Shiro. Kuro went with Lock and Kit. Trinity went with Degree and Yuki. With our groups made, we split up and went our separate paths.
The maze was actually kind of creepy; despite there being a murderer among us and all. “So,” I broke the silence. “Who do you guys think it is?”
Amie turned to look at me. “Jay, I don’t feel comfortable talking about this right now.”
“Sorry, I just thought that-“
“Well then don’t think. It’s making me uncomfortable.”
We walked a little farther before Shiro spoke up. “I just want to go home. Back to my family and friends. Back to the people I care about.”
“We will,” Amie comforted her. “We will all go home nice and safe and we will have a nice laugh about it. But for now we need to focus on getting out of this maze. I promise, we will make it out of here.”
I turned and looked at Amie. “I hope you’re right.”
We walked a little further before my stomach started to hurt. When was the last time we had even eaten? “Guys, I hope there is some food up ahead. I don’t know how much longer I can go without eating.”
Amie agreed. “We can’t keep going like this. We need food and water or we will die.”
“Well, we have the sinks for water.”
“Ew. Do you know how disgusting that water could be? I’m not trying to contract and infection or anything.
“You’re probably right.”
We walked for a few more minutes before someone spoke up again. “Guys,” Shiro spoke up. “I feel like we are lost.
"
“We aren’t lost,” Amie replied. “As long as we keep following the right wall, we will reach an exit eventually.”
“Does that actually work,” I asked.
“I don’t know, Jay. But it’s all we have right now. Do you have a better plan?” I shook my head. “That’s what I thought.”
So, onwards we went. We were about to give up when we noticed it: a room. The room had a sofa and a coffee table.
“Is this is,” Amie asked.
“I guess so,” I told her, not quite sure myself. Then, I noticed a note on the coffee table.
‘The throne awaits it’s queen’.
“Is this the clue to the password?”
Amie shrugged her shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Then, what queen is it referring to?”
“Queen Mary? Queen Elizabeth? The band Queen? I don’t know, Jay. But, if this is the last room, where’s the door to the exit? It looks like a dead end.”
“You have a point.” I stuck the note in my pocket and sat down on the sofa. I was exhausted. “Can we just take a small break?”
“Fine, but only a short one.” Amie and Shiro followed suit and sat on the sofa beside me. We rested for a good ten minutes before the lights started to flicker. “What’s going on?”
“I’m scared,” Shiro said, holding onto Amie tight. Then, the lights went completely out.
“Great. How are we supposed to find our way out now?” We began stumbling in the darkness, trying to find the way we had come through. Then, a girl’s scream broke through the darkness. I gripped my bow tightly in my hand. “Come on.” We followed Amie through the darkness, towards the source of the screams. Somebody bumped into me and I fell behind.
“Wait up guys.” I got back to my feet, but nobody was around me. Another scream happened and I ran towards it, bumping into plenty of walls along the way. Then, I tripped over something. What was it? I went to go pick it up when the lights came on. I felt an instant wave of nausea come over me. Lying in the floor was Yuki, covered in her own blood. Her throat had been slit by what looked like a shard of the broken mirror behind her. Written down the walls in what appeared to be her blood was a simple message: ‘Queen of Dead Chat’. The note must have been referring to her. Was X and the murderer working together? Did they have all of the deaths planned out ahead of time?
Kit must have entered the room shortly after I did because I heard him gagging and mumbling under his breath. Within a few minutes, everyone was staring at the body.
“Who could have done such a thing?”
“No! Yuki!”
“If I find out whoever did this…”
“I can’t believe someone is actually dead.”
“I just want out of this place.”
“I’m going to kill X if I ever find out who he is.”
Trinity and Amie rushed to Yuki’s side. The tried everything in their power to bring Yuki back but it was no use. “Yuki,” Amie said, obviously crying. “Yuki. Please come back. Yuki, stop playing around. Please. We need you. Please don’t do this Yuki…” Kuro had to pull her away to try and calm her down.
“That’s it,” Kuro said. “We leave this place as a group. No more splitting up.”
“Leave?” Trinity turned to face him. “We can’t just leave Yuki here like this.”
“Look at her, Trinity! She’s dead! There’s nothing we can do!”
“You aren’t even phased by her death, Kuro?”
“Trinity! You know that isn’t true. I’m on the verge of tears myself. But if we stay here, more innocents are going to die. And I don’t want any more of you guys dying. I couldn’t handle that.”
“You’re right…”
So, we all made our way through the maze of mirrors. It must of taken hours before we finally found the exit. On the door was posted another note. ‘What can withstand tremendous amounts of stress, but can be crushed by a single event?’ Trinity put the note in her pocket and turned the deadbolt on the lock. It was the door in the front of the computer room. We were back where we started. But at least we had the clue now. But Yuki was dead. The group was under a lot of stress right now. And nobody had any idea of what the password could be. Not only that, but we needed food and water soon or we wouldn’t last much longer. With that, we began to sit on the floor and think.
Chapter 4: The Caged Bird Sings
We spent forever trying to figure out the answer to the riddle.
“Us,” guessed Degree. The computer responded with an angry beep.
“Fragiles.”
“Hope.”
One after another, we took guesses as to what the password was. None of them were successful. There was something we were missing.
“Maybe this is all for nothing,” said a frustrated Trinity.
“Trin,” shouted Kuro. “I can’t believe you are giving up so easily. I thought you were better than that!”
Trin gave him a scowl. “Kuro. This isn’t like one of your games on Rabbit Doubt! People are dying! Real people! They can’t just join next game, because they are dead!”
“Don’t you think I know that? But at least I’m trying to save us! All you are doing is sitting around complaining!”
“Complaining? I’ve been trying this whole time! You aren’t the only one! Wake up, Kuro. This isn’t all about you.”
“All about me?”
“Yeah! You always act like you are the better GM! Always have to be in control of everything!”
“So, that’s what you really think of me?” Kuro’s hands balled into fists, ready to strike. “Well, you know what, Trin? I will show you-“
“Degree and Kit got between them and worked on trying to calm them down. This isn’t what we needed right now. This was not going to help us get out of here at all. We were all on edge, and we were already starting to fall apart at the seams.
I walked over to Shiro and Amie. “How are you guys holding up?”
“Okay, I guess,” responded Amie.
“I’m starving,” added Shiro.
“Don’t worry, Shiro. I promise, we will get some food and get out of here.”
Shiro hugged Amie. We could both tell that Shiro was still in shock from the murder. “I believe you, Amie.”
Kuro approached us, with a look of pure frustration. “Can you believe her?”
Amie glared at Kuro. “Her? Can you not see that we are all scared and worried? Personally, I don’t know how much more stress my heart could take.”
“Your heart,” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s a common expression meaning-“
“I know what it means. But, where have we heard stress used before?”
Amie took a second to think before responding. “The clue!”
“Exactly! The heart can take a lot of stress without failing!”
“And heartbreak can occur after a single event!” We both gave each other a look of excitement and hurried over to the keyboard. She typed in ‘heart’ and the screen unlocked. On the screen was what appeared to be a video. The rest of the group gathered around the monitor as Amie clicked the video.
X came on the screen in his wolf mask and suit. “Hello, rabbits. I bet you guys are starving by this point. But, do not fret! The dining hall is just ahead! Alas, it would be unfair for me to just give you free food. You must earn what you receive. So, I have designed the next challenge to determine whether you are worthy or not. At the conclusion of this video, the other door in the clock room will be unlocked, and you guys will be able to proceed to the next challenge. This is where things become…exciting.” With that, the screen turned black and a faint clicking sound was heard coming from the direction of the clock room.
“Well,” said Degree. “What are you guys waiting for? Maybe there are oranges! Or pizza! Or cake! Or waffles!” With that, he took off running towards the now unlocked door. The rest of us were soon to follow.
When we arrived in the clock room, it appeared that Degree had already gone ahead of the group, driven by his stomach and not rational thought. Going to places alone was a nice way to end up dead. We walked through the open doorway and ascended a flight of stairs. At the top was another open door; we went through it and ended up in a large room. Degree was standing in the middle, looking around for a possible exit. There were none.
“What is this,” said the distraught Degree. “He said there would be foo-“
He was interrupted by a large cage falling from the ceiling, trapping him inside.
Lock and Kit ran to the cage, but the bars were too big for anyone to fit through. After a few seconds of trying to lift the cage up, what appeared to be a camera came down behind Degree and scanned the name on his jump-suit; then, it ascended back into the ceiling.
“Degree. It appears you got excited and ran ahead of the group. As a consequence, you will be the main performer in this challenge. As you know, Rabbit Doubt is comprised of two rounds. In one round, a murder is made. In the other, the remaining players try to find the murderer and vote them out of the game. This is where you come into play.” A hole opened in front of Degree and what appeared to be a keypad rose out of the hole; however, upon further inspection, I could see a list of all of the players with buttons beside them. “The rules of this game are simple. If you guess the killer correctly, you will earn your freedom and the truth will be revealed. However, if you are incorrect, then you will not be continuing with the game.” A look of pure horror came across Degree’s face. “Let the game begin.”
“I don’t know who to vote,” Degree said, hoping for some sort of hint from the crowd around him.
“Not me.”
“I’m innocent.”
“It couldn’t have been me.”
The entire crowd began shouting at Degree about how they were all innocent, fighting for their lives. Then, the accusations began.
“Maybe it was Kuro,” Trinity said. “He obviously has anger problems.”
“Anger problems?” Anger filled his voice as he approached Trin. “As I recall, you were the one just sitting around, waiting for us all to die.”
“Guys,” interrupted Amie. “Are you really this ready to kill us all off? You are both over-reacting!”
Trin gave Amie a look of disgust. “Over-reacting? It seems some of us aren’t willing to take the proper steps to keep the innocents alive. Whose side are you on?”
“I’m on the side of the innocents! Why do you think I’m trying not to get Degree killed?”
Degree started shouting at the group. “It is easy for you guys to point fingers at each other when your life is not on the line! If I get this wrong, I will be slaughtered!”
I looked around the room before speaking up. “Guys. We should handle this in a-“
“Maybe it was Jay!” Kuro pointed a finger at me. “The first challenge was specifically for him. And it was not designed to automatically kill him. Not only that, but he managed to find out the clue to the password and knew not to run ahead.” The group fell silent and all turned towards me.
“Jay does seem like the most likely candidate,” Trin agreed.”
Shiro hid behind me and Amie spoke up. “No. It couldn’t have been him! He was with Shiro and I when Yuki was killed.”
“Was he,” Kuro asked. “You guys weren’t separated at all? If that was the case, then how was he the first one to the body, when neither of you were around?”
“I...I don’t know…”
“Exactly! Degree! Vote Jay!”
I knew if I let Degree go through with this, he would not survive. “No! Degree! If you vote me…you won’t make it! Think about this before you push the button!
“Jay,” Degree said, with sorrow in his voice. “You were always one to try talking your way out of votes without providing any actual counter-arguments. Unfortunately, the rest of the group is right. You are the most suspicious.”
“Please don’t do this! I can’t stand to see another innocent die!”
“I’m sorry, Jay.” With that, he pushed the button.
X’s voice boomed through the room once more. “Congratulations, Degree! You have just won!” A look of excitement came across Degree’s face; however, it soon dissipated as the group turned to face me. Kit grabbed my wrists and Kuro prepared to punch me in the gut before X interrupted. “Your prize, for finding one of the innocents, is death!” The ground beneath Degree began to life him and the cage into the air. After reaching the halfway point between the floor and the ceiling, it stopped moving.
“Degree!” Kuro tried reaching for the cage, but it was too high. “Degree! I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
Degree began to panic and tried everything in his power to try and escape the cage. After a few useless attempts, he slouched down in defeat. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you. You tried your hardest.”
Then, what appeared to be a shotgun was lowered from the ceiling by a robotic arm. Three more followed it, one on each side of the cage. They all took aim at Degree. We all shouted and tried to reach the cage, but it was just too high. Then, the shots rang out. At first, there was silence; then, the blood began to pour from the cage and the group began to cry and scream out for Degree. The entire group was in shock. Another innocent was dead.
“Us,” guessed Degree. The computer responded with an angry beep.
“Fragiles.”
“Hope.”
One after another, we took guesses as to what the password was. None of them were successful. There was something we were missing.
“Maybe this is all for nothing,” said a frustrated Trinity.
“Trin,” shouted Kuro. “I can’t believe you are giving up so easily. I thought you were better than that!”
Trin gave him a scowl. “Kuro. This isn’t like one of your games on Rabbit Doubt! People are dying! Real people! They can’t just join next game, because they are dead!”
“Don’t you think I know that? But at least I’m trying to save us! All you are doing is sitting around complaining!”
“Complaining? I’ve been trying this whole time! You aren’t the only one! Wake up, Kuro. This isn’t all about you.”
“All about me?”
“Yeah! You always act like you are the better GM! Always have to be in control of everything!”
“So, that’s what you really think of me?” Kuro’s hands balled into fists, ready to strike. “Well, you know what, Trin? I will show you-“
“Degree and Kit got between them and worked on trying to calm them down. This isn’t what we needed right now. This was not going to help us get out of here at all. We were all on edge, and we were already starting to fall apart at the seams.
I walked over to Shiro and Amie. “How are you guys holding up?”
“Okay, I guess,” responded Amie.
“I’m starving,” added Shiro.
“Don’t worry, Shiro. I promise, we will get some food and get out of here.”
Shiro hugged Amie. We could both tell that Shiro was still in shock from the murder. “I believe you, Amie.”
Kuro approached us, with a look of pure frustration. “Can you believe her?”
Amie glared at Kuro. “Her? Can you not see that we are all scared and worried? Personally, I don’t know how much more stress my heart could take.”
“Your heart,” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s a common expression meaning-“
“I know what it means. But, where have we heard stress used before?”
Amie took a second to think before responding. “The clue!”
“Exactly! The heart can take a lot of stress without failing!”
“And heartbreak can occur after a single event!” We both gave each other a look of excitement and hurried over to the keyboard. She typed in ‘heart’ and the screen unlocked. On the screen was what appeared to be a video. The rest of the group gathered around the monitor as Amie clicked the video.
X came on the screen in his wolf mask and suit. “Hello, rabbits. I bet you guys are starving by this point. But, do not fret! The dining hall is just ahead! Alas, it would be unfair for me to just give you free food. You must earn what you receive. So, I have designed the next challenge to determine whether you are worthy or not. At the conclusion of this video, the other door in the clock room will be unlocked, and you guys will be able to proceed to the next challenge. This is where things become…exciting.” With that, the screen turned black and a faint clicking sound was heard coming from the direction of the clock room.
“Well,” said Degree. “What are you guys waiting for? Maybe there are oranges! Or pizza! Or cake! Or waffles!” With that, he took off running towards the now unlocked door. The rest of us were soon to follow.
When we arrived in the clock room, it appeared that Degree had already gone ahead of the group, driven by his stomach and not rational thought. Going to places alone was a nice way to end up dead. We walked through the open doorway and ascended a flight of stairs. At the top was another open door; we went through it and ended up in a large room. Degree was standing in the middle, looking around for a possible exit. There were none.
“What is this,” said the distraught Degree. “He said there would be foo-“
He was interrupted by a large cage falling from the ceiling, trapping him inside.
Lock and Kit ran to the cage, but the bars were too big for anyone to fit through. After a few seconds of trying to lift the cage up, what appeared to be a camera came down behind Degree and scanned the name on his jump-suit; then, it ascended back into the ceiling.
“Degree. It appears you got excited and ran ahead of the group. As a consequence, you will be the main performer in this challenge. As you know, Rabbit Doubt is comprised of two rounds. In one round, a murder is made. In the other, the remaining players try to find the murderer and vote them out of the game. This is where you come into play.” A hole opened in front of Degree and what appeared to be a keypad rose out of the hole; however, upon further inspection, I could see a list of all of the players with buttons beside them. “The rules of this game are simple. If you guess the killer correctly, you will earn your freedom and the truth will be revealed. However, if you are incorrect, then you will not be continuing with the game.” A look of pure horror came across Degree’s face. “Let the game begin.”
“I don’t know who to vote,” Degree said, hoping for some sort of hint from the crowd around him.
“Not me.”
“I’m innocent.”
“It couldn’t have been me.”
The entire crowd began shouting at Degree about how they were all innocent, fighting for their lives. Then, the accusations began.
“Maybe it was Kuro,” Trinity said. “He obviously has anger problems.”
“Anger problems?” Anger filled his voice as he approached Trin. “As I recall, you were the one just sitting around, waiting for us all to die.”
“Guys,” interrupted Amie. “Are you really this ready to kill us all off? You are both over-reacting!”
Trin gave Amie a look of disgust. “Over-reacting? It seems some of us aren’t willing to take the proper steps to keep the innocents alive. Whose side are you on?”
“I’m on the side of the innocents! Why do you think I’m trying not to get Degree killed?”
Degree started shouting at the group. “It is easy for you guys to point fingers at each other when your life is not on the line! If I get this wrong, I will be slaughtered!”
I looked around the room before speaking up. “Guys. We should handle this in a-“
“Maybe it was Jay!” Kuro pointed a finger at me. “The first challenge was specifically for him. And it was not designed to automatically kill him. Not only that, but he managed to find out the clue to the password and knew not to run ahead.” The group fell silent and all turned towards me.
“Jay does seem like the most likely candidate,” Trin agreed.”
Shiro hid behind me and Amie spoke up. “No. It couldn’t have been him! He was with Shiro and I when Yuki was killed.”
“Was he,” Kuro asked. “You guys weren’t separated at all? If that was the case, then how was he the first one to the body, when neither of you were around?”
“I...I don’t know…”
“Exactly! Degree! Vote Jay!”
I knew if I let Degree go through with this, he would not survive. “No! Degree! If you vote me…you won’t make it! Think about this before you push the button!
“Jay,” Degree said, with sorrow in his voice. “You were always one to try talking your way out of votes without providing any actual counter-arguments. Unfortunately, the rest of the group is right. You are the most suspicious.”
“Please don’t do this! I can’t stand to see another innocent die!”
“I’m sorry, Jay.” With that, he pushed the button.
X’s voice boomed through the room once more. “Congratulations, Degree! You have just won!” A look of excitement came across Degree’s face; however, it soon dissipated as the group turned to face me. Kit grabbed my wrists and Kuro prepared to punch me in the gut before X interrupted. “Your prize, for finding one of the innocents, is death!” The ground beneath Degree began to life him and the cage into the air. After reaching the halfway point between the floor and the ceiling, it stopped moving.
“Degree!” Kuro tried reaching for the cage, but it was too high. “Degree! I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
Degree began to panic and tried everything in his power to try and escape the cage. After a few useless attempts, he slouched down in defeat. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you. You tried your hardest.”
Then, what appeared to be a shotgun was lowered from the ceiling by a robotic arm. Three more followed it, one on each side of the cage. They all took aim at Degree. We all shouted and tried to reach the cage, but it was just too high. Then, the shots rang out. At first, there was silence; then, the blood began to pour from the cage and the group began to cry and scream out for Degree. The entire group was in shock. Another innocent was dead.
Chapter 5: Eat Your Heart Out
X’s voice broke through the sorrow. “What a shame. I always thought he was a few degrees short of a full thermometer. Shots fired…literally. Enough puns and jokes. I promised access to the food, and I always keep my promises.” The wall in front of us opened up, exposing a long hallway.
“We should get going,” said Kit.
“Yeah,” agreed Trinity, with tears in her eye.
We all walked somberly to the end of the hallway; it seemed like an eternity when we reached the door at the end. We opened it and stepped through. Inside were old fashioned lunch tables that you would see in a school building. On the far end of the room was a long counter, with paper lunch bags on it. Beside each bag was a drink, each one different. Upon further inspection, each lunch bag had a person’s name written on it. I grabbed my bag and the water that was beside it before sitting down. When I opened it, I was taken by surprise. It was a Veggie Delight from Subway. It was made of untoasted wheat bread, American cheese, lettuce, bell peppers, banana peppers, pickles, salt, pepper, and sweet onion sauce. How did X know exactly what I ordered from Subway? The others were also surprised when they removed their favorite foods from their bags. How long had X been following us for? Yuki’s and Degree’s bags sat on the counter, untouched.
We sat and ate our food in silence, not quite sure what to say. It was Lock who broke the silence. “Guys, why do we get to live and they don’t?” None of us knew how to respond to that. “I guess it’s better this way. Maybe they were just too good for this world.”
“Yuki and Degree didn’t deserve any of that,” Trin said somberly. At the sound of her voice, Kuro stormed off into the direction of the only other door in the room. “Kuro…” He ignored her and kept walking. “Jay…”
“I’m on it,” I replied with a sigh. I followed Kuro through the door, gripping the bow tightly in the hand. I didn’t really think I would have to use it, but you could never be too sure. The door led to a small, dimly lit hallway. Kuro was nowhere in sight. “Kuro! I just want to talk! It’s me, Jay!” No reply. The end of the hall had two doors, one on each side. I stood at the end of the hallway in complete silence until I heard rustling coming from the door on the left. I grabbed the doorknob and opened it slowly, tightening the grip on the bow.
The room seemed like a storage closet. There were mops, brooms, and various other cleaning supplied scattered around the room. Some were on shelving units and others had just been dumped on the floor haphazardly. “Kuro?” I made my way to the back corner, which was hidden from view by a fully-loading shelving unit. However, when I finally reached the corner, he was nowhere in sight. I quickly turned around and headed towards the door; but, a hand pulled me back and threw me on the ground. The figure was fast enough so that they could pin me to the ground without me even having a chance to fend them off. The figure grabbed the bow as it fell from my hand and brought their rabbit mask close to mine.
“Jay,” Kuro said. “I need you to be extremely quiet. We know for sure you are innocent. And you and I both know who is the most suspicious of us all.”
“But I don’t suspect Trinity! She hasn’t done any-“
“Wake up, Jay bird! She was in Yuki’s group when she was murdered. And she was quick to point fingers at other people.”
“She is upset! Two of her friends just-“
“Friends? Friends, Jay? How can she be friends with people who talk to her from the other side of a computer screen? She could have easily pretended to be nice and caring to them, only to lure them to this sick and twisted place.”
“But, what about Lock? She has been oddly quiet this entire time!”
“I have my suspicions on her as well. I wish she would speak up more. Silence is the worst thing we could have in a situation like this. However, the others I trust. At least for now.”
“Poor Shiro. She is traumatized by all this. And Amie is trying her best to hold it together so that Shiro will remain strong, but I don’t think Amie can handle it much longer. A person can only be strong for so long.”
“I agree, Jay. That’s why I’m glad you came in here and nobody else did. You and I have a lot in common. We are smart. We could sort this out on our own. I just need your co-operation.”
I was hesitant for a moment. “Listen, Kuro. I agree that she seems a little suspicious. Hell, we all do. But we can’t just go around pointing fingers at everyone. We need to find a way to find out and do it before any more people get killed. Just, make sure nobody is alone with Trinity.”
“That’s my boy, Jay. That’s why we are the most likely to survive! We take initiative! The others just sit around and hope nobody else dies, but we step up and take action.” With that, he stood up and handed me my bow. Then, he helped me to my feet. “We can do this.” All eyes were on us as we returned to the mess hall.
“Guys,” I spoke up. “There was a storage closet that wasn’t of much use, but there was another door we haven’t checked yet. It may be our only way out of here.”
“Then, what are we waiting for,” Kit asked as he walked towards me and Kuro. The rest of the group was soon to follow.
We made our way down the hallway and stood at the door on the right. Nobody wanted to go ahead, because it meant more people were going to die. But, seeing as it was our only way out of this place, we had no choice. I reached out my hand and opened the door. On the other side was a large room with what appeared to be two flat screen televisions on opposite walls. Underneath each television was a heavy metal door. The group split in half and each half went to check a door; unfortunately, both doors were shut tight. Then, before the group could get back together, the entry door closed tight and a large Plexiglas wall descended from the ceiling, separating the two groups. Amie, Kit, Lock and I were on the right and Kuro, Trinity and Shiro were on the left. After a few seconds of confusion, the televisions cut on, showing X in his wolf mask and suit once more.
“Hello, those of you who remain. Unfortunately, I am growing bored of how slowly you guys are progressing. So, to make things more interesting, I am introducing a new mechanic to the game! From this point on, you guys will be in a more open area! You guys can try and find a way out of the facility or you can be brutally murdered by your wolf friend! Whatever your heart desires! However, there are still a few challenge rooms, but they are extremely rare and hard to find. And these are more like traps than actual challenge rooms. So…yeah. Go back to the murdering!” With that, the televisions turned back off. Almost immediately, Trinity and Kuro began arguing. Shiro managed to get in-between them, but I knew that sooner or later, there would be no stopping it. We needed to get out of here before it reached that point.
A clicking sound was heard and both the doors opened. The groups entered their respective doors; the doors led to long hallways with multiple doors. Instead of going through each door one at a time, we split up to cover more ground. I took the door at the far right of the hallway. Inside were what appeared to be a desk and a rack of suits with wolf masks. Could this be one of the rooms that X used? But why would he need so many suits and masks? Could it be possible that he had people helping him?
I made my way over to the desk, but all of the drawers were locked tight. Maybe the suits had something left in the pockets. I began to search each pocket in every suit until I managed to found something: a piece of paper. The paper appeared to have been ripped in half, but I could tell it had been a list of names; they were all names that I recognized with ease. Gabriel, Zeref, and BoyM4st3r. They were all players from Rabbit Doubt. But, why were their names on the list? They were nowhere in sight! Could one of them have been disguised as a woman and actually be the girl in the library? Although, why would only one of them be in here if they were all on the same list? I hid the note in my pocket and was about to leave, when the lights went out again. I stumbled around for a while before finally making my way back to the door. I held my bow tightly in my hand, just in case. Then, I opened the door and stumbled into the hallway.
The lights must have been off in the entire facility, because I couldn’t see anything. Then, I heard it, a girl’s scream. I frantically began to stumble into rooms, but without lighting, it was impossible to navigate this place. After a few minutes of stumbling, the lights finally came back on. I was back in the hallway and was about to investigate the next room, when Lock came running out of one of the doors. “Jay,” she said, urgency filling her voice. “This way!” I followed her through the door, which actually led to another hallway. After a few twists and turns, we reached another room.
Inside was what appeared to be a lounge area. There were coffee makers, vending machines, a fridge, and various tables and chairs. But, we weren’t concerned with any of that. In the middle of the room was Shiro, lying on the ground and bleeding out. Trinity was by her side, trying everything in her power to save her. I could barely hear Shiro muttering Amie’s name. I went to go help, when the others made their way to the room.
Amie let out a scream and ran to Shiro’s side. “Shiro!”
Shiro turned to look at Amie, reaching her hand out for Amie to hold. “Amie…”
Amie kneeled beside her and took Shiro’s hand. “I’m so sorry Shiro. I should have done more. I should have done so much more.” Her voice began to crack and it was obvious she was crying under her mask.
“You promised…we would…make it…”
“I know, Shiro. I’m so sorry! Please don’t go! I need you! We all need you! We can still make it!”
“No…it’s too late. You promised…but I forgive you.” With that, Shiro drew her last breath as Amie brought her close to her chest.
“We should get going,” said Kit.
“Yeah,” agreed Trinity, with tears in her eye.
We all walked somberly to the end of the hallway; it seemed like an eternity when we reached the door at the end. We opened it and stepped through. Inside were old fashioned lunch tables that you would see in a school building. On the far end of the room was a long counter, with paper lunch bags on it. Beside each bag was a drink, each one different. Upon further inspection, each lunch bag had a person’s name written on it. I grabbed my bag and the water that was beside it before sitting down. When I opened it, I was taken by surprise. It was a Veggie Delight from Subway. It was made of untoasted wheat bread, American cheese, lettuce, bell peppers, banana peppers, pickles, salt, pepper, and sweet onion sauce. How did X know exactly what I ordered from Subway? The others were also surprised when they removed their favorite foods from their bags. How long had X been following us for? Yuki’s and Degree’s bags sat on the counter, untouched.
We sat and ate our food in silence, not quite sure what to say. It was Lock who broke the silence. “Guys, why do we get to live and they don’t?” None of us knew how to respond to that. “I guess it’s better this way. Maybe they were just too good for this world.”
“Yuki and Degree didn’t deserve any of that,” Trin said somberly. At the sound of her voice, Kuro stormed off into the direction of the only other door in the room. “Kuro…” He ignored her and kept walking. “Jay…”
“I’m on it,” I replied with a sigh. I followed Kuro through the door, gripping the bow tightly in the hand. I didn’t really think I would have to use it, but you could never be too sure. The door led to a small, dimly lit hallway. Kuro was nowhere in sight. “Kuro! I just want to talk! It’s me, Jay!” No reply. The end of the hall had two doors, one on each side. I stood at the end of the hallway in complete silence until I heard rustling coming from the door on the left. I grabbed the doorknob and opened it slowly, tightening the grip on the bow.
The room seemed like a storage closet. There were mops, brooms, and various other cleaning supplied scattered around the room. Some were on shelving units and others had just been dumped on the floor haphazardly. “Kuro?” I made my way to the back corner, which was hidden from view by a fully-loading shelving unit. However, when I finally reached the corner, he was nowhere in sight. I quickly turned around and headed towards the door; but, a hand pulled me back and threw me on the ground. The figure was fast enough so that they could pin me to the ground without me even having a chance to fend them off. The figure grabbed the bow as it fell from my hand and brought their rabbit mask close to mine.
“Jay,” Kuro said. “I need you to be extremely quiet. We know for sure you are innocent. And you and I both know who is the most suspicious of us all.”
“But I don’t suspect Trinity! She hasn’t done any-“
“Wake up, Jay bird! She was in Yuki’s group when she was murdered. And she was quick to point fingers at other people.”
“She is upset! Two of her friends just-“
“Friends? Friends, Jay? How can she be friends with people who talk to her from the other side of a computer screen? She could have easily pretended to be nice and caring to them, only to lure them to this sick and twisted place.”
“But, what about Lock? She has been oddly quiet this entire time!”
“I have my suspicions on her as well. I wish she would speak up more. Silence is the worst thing we could have in a situation like this. However, the others I trust. At least for now.”
“Poor Shiro. She is traumatized by all this. And Amie is trying her best to hold it together so that Shiro will remain strong, but I don’t think Amie can handle it much longer. A person can only be strong for so long.”
“I agree, Jay. That’s why I’m glad you came in here and nobody else did. You and I have a lot in common. We are smart. We could sort this out on our own. I just need your co-operation.”
I was hesitant for a moment. “Listen, Kuro. I agree that she seems a little suspicious. Hell, we all do. But we can’t just go around pointing fingers at everyone. We need to find a way to find out and do it before any more people get killed. Just, make sure nobody is alone with Trinity.”
“That’s my boy, Jay. That’s why we are the most likely to survive! We take initiative! The others just sit around and hope nobody else dies, but we step up and take action.” With that, he stood up and handed me my bow. Then, he helped me to my feet. “We can do this.” All eyes were on us as we returned to the mess hall.
“Guys,” I spoke up. “There was a storage closet that wasn’t of much use, but there was another door we haven’t checked yet. It may be our only way out of here.”
“Then, what are we waiting for,” Kit asked as he walked towards me and Kuro. The rest of the group was soon to follow.
We made our way down the hallway and stood at the door on the right. Nobody wanted to go ahead, because it meant more people were going to die. But, seeing as it was our only way out of this place, we had no choice. I reached out my hand and opened the door. On the other side was a large room with what appeared to be two flat screen televisions on opposite walls. Underneath each television was a heavy metal door. The group split in half and each half went to check a door; unfortunately, both doors were shut tight. Then, before the group could get back together, the entry door closed tight and a large Plexiglas wall descended from the ceiling, separating the two groups. Amie, Kit, Lock and I were on the right and Kuro, Trinity and Shiro were on the left. After a few seconds of confusion, the televisions cut on, showing X in his wolf mask and suit once more.
“Hello, those of you who remain. Unfortunately, I am growing bored of how slowly you guys are progressing. So, to make things more interesting, I am introducing a new mechanic to the game! From this point on, you guys will be in a more open area! You guys can try and find a way out of the facility or you can be brutally murdered by your wolf friend! Whatever your heart desires! However, there are still a few challenge rooms, but they are extremely rare and hard to find. And these are more like traps than actual challenge rooms. So…yeah. Go back to the murdering!” With that, the televisions turned back off. Almost immediately, Trinity and Kuro began arguing. Shiro managed to get in-between them, but I knew that sooner or later, there would be no stopping it. We needed to get out of here before it reached that point.
A clicking sound was heard and both the doors opened. The groups entered their respective doors; the doors led to long hallways with multiple doors. Instead of going through each door one at a time, we split up to cover more ground. I took the door at the far right of the hallway. Inside were what appeared to be a desk and a rack of suits with wolf masks. Could this be one of the rooms that X used? But why would he need so many suits and masks? Could it be possible that he had people helping him?
I made my way over to the desk, but all of the drawers were locked tight. Maybe the suits had something left in the pockets. I began to search each pocket in every suit until I managed to found something: a piece of paper. The paper appeared to have been ripped in half, but I could tell it had been a list of names; they were all names that I recognized with ease. Gabriel, Zeref, and BoyM4st3r. They were all players from Rabbit Doubt. But, why were their names on the list? They were nowhere in sight! Could one of them have been disguised as a woman and actually be the girl in the library? Although, why would only one of them be in here if they were all on the same list? I hid the note in my pocket and was about to leave, when the lights went out again. I stumbled around for a while before finally making my way back to the door. I held my bow tightly in my hand, just in case. Then, I opened the door and stumbled into the hallway.
The lights must have been off in the entire facility, because I couldn’t see anything. Then, I heard it, a girl’s scream. I frantically began to stumble into rooms, but without lighting, it was impossible to navigate this place. After a few minutes of stumbling, the lights finally came back on. I was back in the hallway and was about to investigate the next room, when Lock came running out of one of the doors. “Jay,” she said, urgency filling her voice. “This way!” I followed her through the door, which actually led to another hallway. After a few twists and turns, we reached another room.
Inside was what appeared to be a lounge area. There were coffee makers, vending machines, a fridge, and various tables and chairs. But, we weren’t concerned with any of that. In the middle of the room was Shiro, lying on the ground and bleeding out. Trinity was by her side, trying everything in her power to save her. I could barely hear Shiro muttering Amie’s name. I went to go help, when the others made their way to the room.
Amie let out a scream and ran to Shiro’s side. “Shiro!”
Shiro turned to look at Amie, reaching her hand out for Amie to hold. “Amie…”
Amie kneeled beside her and took Shiro’s hand. “I’m so sorry Shiro. I should have done more. I should have done so much more.” Her voice began to crack and it was obvious she was crying under her mask.
“You promised…we would…make it…”
“I know, Shiro. I’m so sorry! Please don’t go! I need you! We all need you! We can still make it!”
“No…it’s too late. You promised…but I forgive you.” With that, Shiro drew her last breath as Amie brought her close to her chest.
Chapter 6: The Pot Is Brought To A Boil
We just sat there in silence. The minutes passed by and we just sat there, unable to talk about what had happened. Amie, Trinity, Kuro, Lock, Kit and I just sat in a circle, unable to say a word. We had left the room that Shiro was in and were now in an empty room. Three people were dead now and we still had no leads on the person in the library. Not only that, but now I knew that Zeref, Gabriel and BoyM4st3r were all involved; I couldn’t trust any of them, however. This was a secret I had to keep just a little longer. I twisted the viola bow around in my hands as I thought about what to do next.
I had such a great future ahead of me. I was going to attend the University of Texas for the next four years. I was going to major in physics. I was going to meet all new friends and get started on my life. I was going to be successful and loved. Most of all, I was going to be happy. But now, I was stuck in some facility with people I’ve only played games with online and one of them was out to kill us all. I had planned out my future, all for nothing.
“What’s next,” Trinity asked, finally breaking the silence.
“What’s next,” asked Kuro sarcastically? “What’s next? What about you continue to kill us off one by one?”
“What are you talking about?”
“All the evidence points to you Trin! Face it! We’ve caught you red handed! You were the first one to find Shiro’s body!”
“Yeah. I found her body. That doesn’t mean I did it. If I had killed Shiro, do you really think I would have stayed around? That would have just made me look suspicious.”
Kuro stood up, balled his right hand into a fist and approached Trinity. He reeled back and went to punch, but Kit got in the way and took the blow. “Kit. Why the frick would you do that? Can’t you see how guilty she is?”
“Guilty,” Kit asked. “Sure, she has a lot going against her, but there’s no proof she-“
“No proof? That’s what Rabbit Doubt is all about! Have you guys lost your way? Rabbit Doubt isn’t about proof. It’s about finding the most suspicious person! You know what? You guys can stay here and get killed off, but I’m escaping this place.” With that, Kuro stormed out of the room.
“I’ll get it,” I told everyone.
“Jay,” Trin began. “You don’t have to.”
“Yes I do, Trin. Kuro is not himself. It could end up getting somebody killed.” With that, I went off after Kuro.
I started investigating room after room. Some were completely empty. Others had chairs or sofas. Some even had decorations. It wasn’t until I opened the door to a small bedroom that I found Kuro. He was sitting on the bed, shaking his head. When I walked in, he turned to face me. “Jay. How can everyone be so blind?”
“Kuro, you can’t just punch whoever you want just because you find them suspicious.”
“Jay…” Kuro got up and walked towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me against the wall. Then, he pinned me and leaned in close, our masks touching. “You and I both know what has to be done. I didn’t confide in you because I knew you were innocent. I did it because I know how great of a player you are. You are smart, charismatic, and can spot a suspicious player. We found Trinity with Shiro’s body, Jay. I want to get out of here. I have family and friends I actually care about. I have a life I want to get back to.” For a second, I even thought he was crying. “Jay. Please. We have to do something. I’m trying to stay strong. But, it’s hard to do when people keep dying. Eventually, it’s going to be my turn. And I refuse to let it come to that.”
“Kuro. I’m not killing Trin.”
“No. We don’t have to kill her. We just have to trap her. She can’t kill anyone if she is locked up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jay. I found a room on my way here. It has a bunch of medieval torture stuff. We just have to get her in that room and then we trap her in there. Then, the rest of us can make our escape! It’s foolproof!”
“Kuro…”
“Do you trust me?”
I looked away from him and gripped the bow tightly.
“Jay. Do. You. Trust. Me.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Yes, Kuro.”
“Good.”
I let my hand loosen on the bow, which was my mistake. Kuro stole it with ease. Then, I noticed the open safe behind him. He turned around, tossed it in, closed the door, and twisted the dial.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“Jay. You have been holding that thing this whole time and haven’t used it. I did that for you. Listen, I have a plan. Just go along with it. We will be out of here in no time.”
“Okay, Kuro.”
He led the way back to the room that the others were sitting in. “Guys. I would like to apologize for my actions before. It was wrong of me to resort to violence. I am so sorry Trinity.”
Trin was hesitant, but she forgave Kuro. “It’s fine. I understand. I probably would have done the same thing in your position.”
Kuro walked over and helped Trin up. “Good. Because Jay and I found a lead on the way out of here.”
“Really,” asked Lock. “I am so ready to be out of this place for good.”
“Yeah. Just follow me.” We all followed Kuro as he led the way down multiple hallways, deeper into the facility. Then, he stopped and entered on of the doors. Inside were a bunch of torture devices: an iron maiden, a bronze bull, a stretching machine, a metal weight, a sword mounted to the wall, and the stock in the center.
“Kuro,” Trinity began. “Are you sure this was the right way? This doesn’t look like-“
Kuro was quick to knock her off balance. She tried to swing at him, but it was no use. He pushed her towards the stock. However, Trinity managed to elbow him in the gut. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Kuro grabbed her wrists and pulled her into the stock, quickly fastening it on her. Then, he locked it tight.
“Kuro,” I began. “Do you even know where the key is? That wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Plan,” asked Trinity furiously. “You and Kuro planned this, Jay?”
“No. I didn’t agree to this. I didn’t agree to locking you up.”
Lock began to try and release Trinity from the stock, but it was no use. “Kuro. Let her out this instant.”
Kuro approached Trinity calmly. “Not until she confesses. I will stay here all day if I have to.”
I walked over and stood beside Kuro. “This isn’t the way, Kuro. I don’t care if she is our biggest suspect-“
“Suspect,” Trinity asked. “You mean you were working with him this whole time, Jay?”
“No. I mean, not really. I-“
“Don’t even bother, Jay. You are just like him. Why don’t you two just prance off into the sunset together? I thought you were better than that. Better than him.”
The anger began to show in Kuro’s voice. “What was that? Do you want to say that to my face?”
“Sure. You are so egotistical that you have to be the hero of the story. But, you can’t see the truth in front of you.”
“Egotistical?” His hands began to ball into fists.
“You always act like you are better than everyone else. Even back on the site. You always had to be the better GM. You wanted to be the big shot. You wanted to control everything about the site.”
Kuro’s temper began to rise. “I am not controlling.”
Trinity let out a laugh. “If that was the case, I wouldn’t be locked up right now. I feel so sorry for people like you. Maybe when we get out of here, you can get the help you need.”
He seemed like he was about to hit her, but then he became calm and collected once more. “Let’s just go. Leave her. She can’t hurt anyone if she is locked in here.”
“That’s right, Kuro. Just walk away like the coward you are.”
“Coward? I will show you coward.” Kuro made his way to the sword mounted on the wall.
“Kuro,” Amie said. “Don’t even think about it.”
Lock tried everything to get the stock open to no anvil. Kit made is way over to Kuro and put his hand on Kuro’s shoulder, but Kuro turned around and kneed him in the crotch, sending him to the ground. Then, he reached up and ripped the sword from the mounts that had held it to the wall.
“Kuro,” I pleaded. “Don’t do this!”
I ran towards him, but he hit me in the gut with the hilt of the sword. I crumpled over, gasping for air.
“Trinity. All you had to do was stay quiet and I would have let you stay here. Now, you’ve left me no choice.”
Trinity let out another laugh. “Jay, this is what you’ve helped. This is what you’ve caused. I hope you are happy, following Kuro in his footsteps. You’re both cowards. Especially you Kuro.”
He raised the sword above her head. “I may be the coward, but I’m also the one who still has his head.” With that, he sent the sword flying through Trinity’s neck like a knife through butter. In that moment, I realized what exactly this place had done to us. It had turned innocent rabbits into murderous wolves. No matter how innocent Kuro was before this, he had been forced into killing. Was this going to happen to us all? Were we going to just toss our morals aside for just a sliver of hope of freedom? Before I could finish my thought, Lock had picked up the weight and swung it straight for Kuro’s head. It hit with a loud thump and he was sent to the ground, knocked unconscious. It didn’t matter who was the wolf and who was the rabbit anymore. We all had a little bit of wolf in us all.
I had such a great future ahead of me. I was going to attend the University of Texas for the next four years. I was going to major in physics. I was going to meet all new friends and get started on my life. I was going to be successful and loved. Most of all, I was going to be happy. But now, I was stuck in some facility with people I’ve only played games with online and one of them was out to kill us all. I had planned out my future, all for nothing.
“What’s next,” Trinity asked, finally breaking the silence.
“What’s next,” asked Kuro sarcastically? “What’s next? What about you continue to kill us off one by one?”
“What are you talking about?”
“All the evidence points to you Trin! Face it! We’ve caught you red handed! You were the first one to find Shiro’s body!”
“Yeah. I found her body. That doesn’t mean I did it. If I had killed Shiro, do you really think I would have stayed around? That would have just made me look suspicious.”
Kuro stood up, balled his right hand into a fist and approached Trinity. He reeled back and went to punch, but Kit got in the way and took the blow. “Kit. Why the frick would you do that? Can’t you see how guilty she is?”
“Guilty,” Kit asked. “Sure, she has a lot going against her, but there’s no proof she-“
“No proof? That’s what Rabbit Doubt is all about! Have you guys lost your way? Rabbit Doubt isn’t about proof. It’s about finding the most suspicious person! You know what? You guys can stay here and get killed off, but I’m escaping this place.” With that, Kuro stormed out of the room.
“I’ll get it,” I told everyone.
“Jay,” Trin began. “You don’t have to.”
“Yes I do, Trin. Kuro is not himself. It could end up getting somebody killed.” With that, I went off after Kuro.
I started investigating room after room. Some were completely empty. Others had chairs or sofas. Some even had decorations. It wasn’t until I opened the door to a small bedroom that I found Kuro. He was sitting on the bed, shaking his head. When I walked in, he turned to face me. “Jay. How can everyone be so blind?”
“Kuro, you can’t just punch whoever you want just because you find them suspicious.”
“Jay…” Kuro got up and walked towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me against the wall. Then, he pinned me and leaned in close, our masks touching. “You and I both know what has to be done. I didn’t confide in you because I knew you were innocent. I did it because I know how great of a player you are. You are smart, charismatic, and can spot a suspicious player. We found Trinity with Shiro’s body, Jay. I want to get out of here. I have family and friends I actually care about. I have a life I want to get back to.” For a second, I even thought he was crying. “Jay. Please. We have to do something. I’m trying to stay strong. But, it’s hard to do when people keep dying. Eventually, it’s going to be my turn. And I refuse to let it come to that.”
“Kuro. I’m not killing Trin.”
“No. We don’t have to kill her. We just have to trap her. She can’t kill anyone if she is locked up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jay. I found a room on my way here. It has a bunch of medieval torture stuff. We just have to get her in that room and then we trap her in there. Then, the rest of us can make our escape! It’s foolproof!”
“Kuro…”
“Do you trust me?”
I looked away from him and gripped the bow tightly.
“Jay. Do. You. Trust. Me.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Yes, Kuro.”
“Good.”
I let my hand loosen on the bow, which was my mistake. Kuro stole it with ease. Then, I noticed the open safe behind him. He turned around, tossed it in, closed the door, and twisted the dial.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“Jay. You have been holding that thing this whole time and haven’t used it. I did that for you. Listen, I have a plan. Just go along with it. We will be out of here in no time.”
“Okay, Kuro.”
He led the way back to the room that the others were sitting in. “Guys. I would like to apologize for my actions before. It was wrong of me to resort to violence. I am so sorry Trinity.”
Trin was hesitant, but she forgave Kuro. “It’s fine. I understand. I probably would have done the same thing in your position.”
Kuro walked over and helped Trin up. “Good. Because Jay and I found a lead on the way out of here.”
“Really,” asked Lock. “I am so ready to be out of this place for good.”
“Yeah. Just follow me.” We all followed Kuro as he led the way down multiple hallways, deeper into the facility. Then, he stopped and entered on of the doors. Inside were a bunch of torture devices: an iron maiden, a bronze bull, a stretching machine, a metal weight, a sword mounted to the wall, and the stock in the center.
“Kuro,” Trinity began. “Are you sure this was the right way? This doesn’t look like-“
Kuro was quick to knock her off balance. She tried to swing at him, but it was no use. He pushed her towards the stock. However, Trinity managed to elbow him in the gut. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Kuro grabbed her wrists and pulled her into the stock, quickly fastening it on her. Then, he locked it tight.
“Kuro,” I began. “Do you even know where the key is? That wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Plan,” asked Trinity furiously. “You and Kuro planned this, Jay?”
“No. I didn’t agree to this. I didn’t agree to locking you up.”
Lock began to try and release Trinity from the stock, but it was no use. “Kuro. Let her out this instant.”
Kuro approached Trinity calmly. “Not until she confesses. I will stay here all day if I have to.”
I walked over and stood beside Kuro. “This isn’t the way, Kuro. I don’t care if she is our biggest suspect-“
“Suspect,” Trinity asked. “You mean you were working with him this whole time, Jay?”
“No. I mean, not really. I-“
“Don’t even bother, Jay. You are just like him. Why don’t you two just prance off into the sunset together? I thought you were better than that. Better than him.”
The anger began to show in Kuro’s voice. “What was that? Do you want to say that to my face?”
“Sure. You are so egotistical that you have to be the hero of the story. But, you can’t see the truth in front of you.”
“Egotistical?” His hands began to ball into fists.
“You always act like you are better than everyone else. Even back on the site. You always had to be the better GM. You wanted to be the big shot. You wanted to control everything about the site.”
Kuro’s temper began to rise. “I am not controlling.”
Trinity let out a laugh. “If that was the case, I wouldn’t be locked up right now. I feel so sorry for people like you. Maybe when we get out of here, you can get the help you need.”
He seemed like he was about to hit her, but then he became calm and collected once more. “Let’s just go. Leave her. She can’t hurt anyone if she is locked in here.”
“That’s right, Kuro. Just walk away like the coward you are.”
“Coward? I will show you coward.” Kuro made his way to the sword mounted on the wall.
“Kuro,” Amie said. “Don’t even think about it.”
Lock tried everything to get the stock open to no anvil. Kit made is way over to Kuro and put his hand on Kuro’s shoulder, but Kuro turned around and kneed him in the crotch, sending him to the ground. Then, he reached up and ripped the sword from the mounts that had held it to the wall.
“Kuro,” I pleaded. “Don’t do this!”
I ran towards him, but he hit me in the gut with the hilt of the sword. I crumpled over, gasping for air.
“Trinity. All you had to do was stay quiet and I would have let you stay here. Now, you’ve left me no choice.”
Trinity let out another laugh. “Jay, this is what you’ve helped. This is what you’ve caused. I hope you are happy, following Kuro in his footsteps. You’re both cowards. Especially you Kuro.”
He raised the sword above her head. “I may be the coward, but I’m also the one who still has his head.” With that, he sent the sword flying through Trinity’s neck like a knife through butter. In that moment, I realized what exactly this place had done to us. It had turned innocent rabbits into murderous wolves. No matter how innocent Kuro was before this, he had been forced into killing. Was this going to happen to us all? Were we going to just toss our morals aside for just a sliver of hope of freedom? Before I could finish my thought, Lock had picked up the weight and swung it straight for Kuro’s head. It hit with a loud thump and he was sent to the ground, knocked unconscious. It didn’t matter who was the wolf and who was the rabbit anymore. We all had a little bit of wolf in us all.
Chapter 7: First Contact
The whole scene happened so fast, I barely had time to process it all. Kuro was unconscious, Trinity was dead, and the rest of us were too shocked to speak. We just kind of stood there in eerie silence. One of our own had resorted to murder to try and find the wolf. We were all tainted now. We were rabbits who had resorted to killing their own brethren to stay alive. Kill everyone else before they can kill you.
I started to walk over to the stock when Lock aimed Kuro’s sword at me. “Jay. You were part of this. I don’t care how innocent you are, you still have to prove yourself. No more secret alliances. No more traps. No more killing.”
“I didn’t know-“
“You didn’t know? You couldn’t tell? He was becoming increasingly violent! It was extremely obvious!”
“I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? Sorry isn’t going to attach Trinity’s head back to her shoulders. Listen, if you are really sorry then make yourself useful. We need to restrain Kuro. Since you are the only person who we know for sure is innocent, then you are the best choice to go hunt down something to restrain him with. With three of us in here, it’s unlikely the killer will strike while you are gone.”
I wanted to say more. I wanted to set things right. I never wanted Trinity to die. I didn’t want any of them to die. All I wanted was to go back to my normal, uneventful life. I wanted to go to Texas and further my education in physics. I wanted my life back. But, I could only form one word, “Okay”.
I walked into the hallway and began my search. I searched room after room, but found nothing that would restrain Kuro. I knew that I had to hurry, because he wouldn’t stay unconscious forever. Just when I was about to give up, I found a room of importance. It looked like an old security room of sorts. There was a desk and chair on the far wall. Sitting on the desk was an old fashioned radio. On the left wall was a pair of handcuffs and a wolf mask with a business suit. Handcuffs! I ran over and picked them up. I began digging around in the suit pockets and sure enough, there were the keys. I tried them on the cuffs just to make sure. It worked like a charm.
I was about to leave when I heard static coming from the radio. I walked over to it and leaned in close to the microphone. I pressed the button and began to speak. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?” Nothing but static. “Hello?” Nothing.
I started to walk away when I heard a voice. “Jay…” It was difficult to make out through the static, but I was positive I had heard it. “Jay...Zeref…X…thatoneguy090…Rabbit Doubt…”
“Who is this?”
“I…help…don’t trust…”
“I can’t hear you. Speak up.”
“The wolf is…get out…”
“There’s too much static. I can’t understand what you are saying.”
“…connection weak…escape…death…” With that, the radio cut out. Who was that? It sounded like a male voice from what I could tell. But, with all of the static, it was difficult to make out for sure. I needed to get back to Kuro anyways. He would be waking up any minute now.
When I made it back, everyone was in their separate corners, yelling at each other. One of them was a murderer and they were throwing suspicions left and right.
“Maybe it was you, Kit,” accused Lock, pointing the sword at him.
“Me? What about you? You have been pretty quiet this whole time.”
Amie butted in, “I thought we were going to focus on Kuro. Isn’t that why we sent Jay to get something?”
Lock turned to face Amie. “Kuro just decapitated Trinity right in front of us. He is the most suspicious at this point. Even if he isn’t the murderer, he needs to be punished for resorting to murder.”
“But…how do we know Trinity wasn’t the murderer?”
“Because, Kit didn’t find a murder weapon on her.”
“She could have dumped it somewhere, Lock.”
“True…well, even if she was the wolf, locking Kuro up until we can find a way out won’t hurt. But, just know that I refuse to be alone with anyone but Jay. Nobody can be trusted.” The other two nodded in agreement. Then, they noticed me. “Oh, hey Jay. Did you find something?”
“Yeah. I found a pair of handcuffs and they had the key with them.” I handed them to Lock and she cuffed Kuro to a loop on the bottom of the iron maiden. “This thing weighs a ton. He won’t be going anywhere without the key.” With that, she put the key in the pocket of her jumpsuit and held tightly onto the sword.
“So, why do you get the sword,” Amie asked.
“Because I don’t trust you or Kit. I thought we’ve been over this. Come on guys. We need to find the exit.” We followed her out of the room just as Kuro began to move.
Amie nudged me and we fell back from the group some. “Jay. I…I’m scared.”
“Me too. I just want to go home.”
“I’m so exhausted. We haven’t slept the whole time we’ve been here. It’s been hours since we’ve woken up and I’m so tired.”
“We just have a little further. Then we can rest.”
“I sure hope so.”
After a few minutes of walking, we entered what appeared to be a chapel. Rows of pews leading up to a stage complete with a choir section and a podium.
“A church,” asked Kit. “Why the heck do they need a church down here?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet,” asked Lock. “This place wasn’t designed to be used. The path is linear. No facility is going to have a linear path and this weird of a set up. There are no windows or doors to the outside. My guess is that there is only one way out. Maybe this whole place was built just for this occasion.”
“What occasion? Murdering people?”
“Maybe that’s how X gets his kicks. From watching people die. Some people are sick like that.”
“I guess you’re right. In any case, maybe we should sit down and rest some.”
“Rest,” Amie asked. “Finally.”
We all sat down in the pews and took a moment to relax and actually rest for once. We couldn’t sleep until we escaped this place, but at least we could lie down for once. The effects of exhaustion were beginning to set in and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up. We just needed to hold on a little bit longer.
We rested for what seemed like an hour before the lights began to flicker and then went out. “Guys,” I asked. “Is everyone alright?”
“Get off of me,” screamed Lock. There was the sound of metal hitting the floor and more screaming. I made my way over to where the screaming was and was knocked back by someone. It took me a minute before I regained by balance. Then, the lights flickered back to life. Lock was on the stage, completely sliced in half. Blood poured down the steps leading up on stage. Amie and Kit stood nearby. Then, they began making accusations at each other. After a few minutes of arguing, I finally made my way up to the stage and reached into Lock’s pocket, pulling out the handcuff key. Then, I took off running back to Kuro. I didn’t even care if they were behind me. One of them was a killer and that was enough to keep me running.
When I reached the room, I heard Kuro’s laughter. I quickly turned around and closed the door behind me. “Jay. So, convinced of my innocence now? But, by the looks of it, I guess I was wrong about Trin. Mind letting me out of these cuffs?” I ran over and let Kuro out. I would never forgive him for what he did to Trin, but having him on my side would make it easier to make my escape. That’s the only thing that was on my mind now.
“Kuro. You know I don’t condone what you did to-“
“You don’t think I feel guilt about it? I’ve been stuck in this room with her body. I’ve had to look at what I caused. I…I have to live with that for the rest of my life. I was so sure it was her.” His voice began to crack. “I just wanted to save everyone. I’m so sorry Trin.” He walked over and kneeled beside her body. “I’m so so sorry.” Then, I heard the tears. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder. I turned him around and gave him a long hug.
“She was such a nice and caring person, Kuro. I can’t believe you did that to-” He held onto me tighter. How had someone who had been so strong earlier turned into someone who could barely hold himself together? I guess the saying really is true. People can only be strong for so long.
I started to walk over to the stock when Lock aimed Kuro’s sword at me. “Jay. You were part of this. I don’t care how innocent you are, you still have to prove yourself. No more secret alliances. No more traps. No more killing.”
“I didn’t know-“
“You didn’t know? You couldn’t tell? He was becoming increasingly violent! It was extremely obvious!”
“I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? Sorry isn’t going to attach Trinity’s head back to her shoulders. Listen, if you are really sorry then make yourself useful. We need to restrain Kuro. Since you are the only person who we know for sure is innocent, then you are the best choice to go hunt down something to restrain him with. With three of us in here, it’s unlikely the killer will strike while you are gone.”
I wanted to say more. I wanted to set things right. I never wanted Trinity to die. I didn’t want any of them to die. All I wanted was to go back to my normal, uneventful life. I wanted to go to Texas and further my education in physics. I wanted my life back. But, I could only form one word, “Okay”.
I walked into the hallway and began my search. I searched room after room, but found nothing that would restrain Kuro. I knew that I had to hurry, because he wouldn’t stay unconscious forever. Just when I was about to give up, I found a room of importance. It looked like an old security room of sorts. There was a desk and chair on the far wall. Sitting on the desk was an old fashioned radio. On the left wall was a pair of handcuffs and a wolf mask with a business suit. Handcuffs! I ran over and picked them up. I began digging around in the suit pockets and sure enough, there were the keys. I tried them on the cuffs just to make sure. It worked like a charm.
I was about to leave when I heard static coming from the radio. I walked over to it and leaned in close to the microphone. I pressed the button and began to speak. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?” Nothing but static. “Hello?” Nothing.
I started to walk away when I heard a voice. “Jay…” It was difficult to make out through the static, but I was positive I had heard it. “Jay...Zeref…X…thatoneguy090…Rabbit Doubt…”
“Who is this?”
“I…help…don’t trust…”
“I can’t hear you. Speak up.”
“The wolf is…get out…”
“There’s too much static. I can’t understand what you are saying.”
“…connection weak…escape…death…” With that, the radio cut out. Who was that? It sounded like a male voice from what I could tell. But, with all of the static, it was difficult to make out for sure. I needed to get back to Kuro anyways. He would be waking up any minute now.
When I made it back, everyone was in their separate corners, yelling at each other. One of them was a murderer and they were throwing suspicions left and right.
“Maybe it was you, Kit,” accused Lock, pointing the sword at him.
“Me? What about you? You have been pretty quiet this whole time.”
Amie butted in, “I thought we were going to focus on Kuro. Isn’t that why we sent Jay to get something?”
Lock turned to face Amie. “Kuro just decapitated Trinity right in front of us. He is the most suspicious at this point. Even if he isn’t the murderer, he needs to be punished for resorting to murder.”
“But…how do we know Trinity wasn’t the murderer?”
“Because, Kit didn’t find a murder weapon on her.”
“She could have dumped it somewhere, Lock.”
“True…well, even if she was the wolf, locking Kuro up until we can find a way out won’t hurt. But, just know that I refuse to be alone with anyone but Jay. Nobody can be trusted.” The other two nodded in agreement. Then, they noticed me. “Oh, hey Jay. Did you find something?”
“Yeah. I found a pair of handcuffs and they had the key with them.” I handed them to Lock and she cuffed Kuro to a loop on the bottom of the iron maiden. “This thing weighs a ton. He won’t be going anywhere without the key.” With that, she put the key in the pocket of her jumpsuit and held tightly onto the sword.
“So, why do you get the sword,” Amie asked.
“Because I don’t trust you or Kit. I thought we’ve been over this. Come on guys. We need to find the exit.” We followed her out of the room just as Kuro began to move.
Amie nudged me and we fell back from the group some. “Jay. I…I’m scared.”
“Me too. I just want to go home.”
“I’m so exhausted. We haven’t slept the whole time we’ve been here. It’s been hours since we’ve woken up and I’m so tired.”
“We just have a little further. Then we can rest.”
“I sure hope so.”
After a few minutes of walking, we entered what appeared to be a chapel. Rows of pews leading up to a stage complete with a choir section and a podium.
“A church,” asked Kit. “Why the heck do they need a church down here?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet,” asked Lock. “This place wasn’t designed to be used. The path is linear. No facility is going to have a linear path and this weird of a set up. There are no windows or doors to the outside. My guess is that there is only one way out. Maybe this whole place was built just for this occasion.”
“What occasion? Murdering people?”
“Maybe that’s how X gets his kicks. From watching people die. Some people are sick like that.”
“I guess you’re right. In any case, maybe we should sit down and rest some.”
“Rest,” Amie asked. “Finally.”
We all sat down in the pews and took a moment to relax and actually rest for once. We couldn’t sleep until we escaped this place, but at least we could lie down for once. The effects of exhaustion were beginning to set in and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up. We just needed to hold on a little bit longer.
We rested for what seemed like an hour before the lights began to flicker and then went out. “Guys,” I asked. “Is everyone alright?”
“Get off of me,” screamed Lock. There was the sound of metal hitting the floor and more screaming. I made my way over to where the screaming was and was knocked back by someone. It took me a minute before I regained by balance. Then, the lights flickered back to life. Lock was on the stage, completely sliced in half. Blood poured down the steps leading up on stage. Amie and Kit stood nearby. Then, they began making accusations at each other. After a few minutes of arguing, I finally made my way up to the stage and reached into Lock’s pocket, pulling out the handcuff key. Then, I took off running back to Kuro. I didn’t even care if they were behind me. One of them was a killer and that was enough to keep me running.
When I reached the room, I heard Kuro’s laughter. I quickly turned around and closed the door behind me. “Jay. So, convinced of my innocence now? But, by the looks of it, I guess I was wrong about Trin. Mind letting me out of these cuffs?” I ran over and let Kuro out. I would never forgive him for what he did to Trin, but having him on my side would make it easier to make my escape. That’s the only thing that was on my mind now.
“Kuro. You know I don’t condone what you did to-“
“You don’t think I feel guilt about it? I’ve been stuck in this room with her body. I’ve had to look at what I caused. I…I have to live with that for the rest of my life. I was so sure it was her.” His voice began to crack. “I just wanted to save everyone. I’m so sorry Trin.” He walked over and kneeled beside her body. “I’m so so sorry.” Then, I heard the tears. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder. I turned him around and gave him a long hug.
“She was such a nice and caring person, Kuro. I can’t believe you did that to-” He held onto me tighter. How had someone who had been so strong earlier turned into someone who could barely hold himself together? I guess the saying really is true. People can only be strong for so long.
Chapter 8: The Wolf Among Us
Kuro and I looked at each other and decided what to do next. Either Amie or Kit was a murderer and they were both somewhere in the facility. I doubt they would still be in the chapel. I felt bad for whichever one was innocent. They were trapped with a murderer, and the only way Kuro and I would know they were innocent was if they ended up dead. There had to be some other way to find out who was innocent. There had to be a way to save them.
“Jay. Maybe we should just focus on finding the exit first.”
“What about the other innocent? Amie or Kit?”
“What can we do, Jay? Our hands are tied.”
“There has to be something Kuro. We can’t just let another innocent die.”
“Another innocent? We weren’t able to save Yuki. We weren’t able to save Degree. We weren’t able to save Shiro. We weren’t able to save Lock. And I freaking murdered Trinity! What makes you think we could actually save somebody?”
“I…I don’t know. But we have to try something.”
“We can think of something after we find the exit. Alright?”
“Fine.”
I began leading Kuro down the path to the chapel. When we arrived, my suspicions had been confirmed. The only person in here was Lock, still split in half and still pretty dead. We hadn’t seen Amie or Kit on the way here, so they must have went deeper into the facility, closer to freedom. At least it meant that one of them wasn’t dead, yet.
“Jay…what happened here?”
“I’m not exactly sure, Kuro. The lights went off. When they came back on, Lock was in two pieces and her sword was gone.”
“She was cut in half?”
“Yeah. Can we just get out of here? It’s starting to creep me out.”
This is where we started to split up. We each took a side of the wall and investigated all of the room in search for the next hallway. This went on for quite some time before I found another room with a radio on a table with a chair. The wolf masks and suits were on the wall beside it. I began to speak into it.
“This is Jay speaking! Is anyone out there? We need help!”
The signal was a little clearer this time, but static could still be heard.
“I repeat, this is Jay. Is anyone out the-“
The familiar voice was back. “Jay! Listen, it’s me, Zeref. I…help you. Kuro is…innocent. Be careful. The murderer…Amie. Kit is…danger. Please be careful. I’m trying to…out. Get to the library. The girl is…Please be careful. Trust…” Then, it went back to static.
“Zeref? Zeref!” Nothing but static.
“Who are you talking to,” asked Kuro as he stepped in the door. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“I thought I heard someone on the radio. I must have been mistaken.”
“Alright. Listen, I think we are getting close to the exit. I found the next hallway.”
He led me to the correct door. We continued investigating rooms and going down hallways. How big was this facility? We still knew nothing about where we were. Why were we here? Why was someone killing all of us? Where were we? Who was X? A million questions went through my head.
I wasn’t paying attention when it happened; I stepped through a door and a Plexiglas tube fell from the ceiling, trapping me underneath. I tried lifting it, but it was too heavy. I tried yelling for Kuro, but it was no use. I banged on the tube, hoping for anyone to notice, but I was all alone. This must have been one of the traps X had mentioned. Had I just came all this way only to die here? So close, yet so far away? Then, the power went out. A few moments later, I heard screaming. It sounded like a guy.
“Kuro! Kuro! Where are you?” I fell to my knees. Was another innocent player going to die? Were any of us going to make it out of here? Were we all going to die? No. I refuse to let that happen. I rammed my whole body into the tube. Nothing. I tried again, harder. Nothing. This time, I put all the anger, betrayal, remorse, and all the other emotions I had boiling inside of me into the tube. The tube fell over, leaving me standing there. Almost on cue, the lights came back on.
“Kuro?” I started walking down the hallway. Door after door, the dread became unbearable. Each room caused more weight to be added to the pain I felt inside. Everyone was dying and there had been nothing I could do about it and soon, it would be my turn. Maybe this was it. Maybe my life had no greater purpose than this. No future. No success. No college. No boyfriend. No wedding. No child. No family. Nothing. Just death in some sick and twisted game.
“Kuro…” I took a deep sigh and continued going deeper into the facility. After a few minutes, I heard something behind me. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” I raised my fists, prepared to strike. “I’m warning you!”
“It’s alright, Jay.” Kuro came out of one of the doors holding his arms in the air. “It’s me.”
“Was that you screaming?”
“No.”
“It must have been Kit! We have to hurry!”
Kuro stopped me before I could move forwards. “Where did you go? I was so worried that it had been you.”
“I was trapped. There was nothing I could do. I tried calling for help, but you must not have heard me.” That’s when it hit me. If I had been yelling and nobody had heard me, how loud did Kit have to scream for me to be able to hear him? It sounded like such an inhumane sound. I was surprised someone could even make that sound.
“Oh. I’m sorry for leaving you. I thought you had gone on ahead.”
“It’s alright, Kuro. Let’s just stay close together from now on.”
“Agreed.”
I felt bad for Kuro. He had to live the rest of his life with the choices he had made in here. In a way, he had been responsible for Degree’s death by pointing him to the incorrect person. Then Trinity’s death. I don’t think I could live with myself after all that. I was afraid of what he might try to do.
After a few more minutes of searching doors, we were about to take a break. “Just one more,” Kuro said. “We can’t give up.”
I sighed. “Fine. One more door.” I opened it and just stood, looking in shock. There was Amie, huddled over Kit’s dead body. He was face down with what appeared to be a stab wound to the back of the head. In Amie’s right hand was what appeared to be the murder weapon: a bloody knife.
“Amie…” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The sweet girl who had cried over everyone’s deaths was the murderer all along. Amie. The last person I ever expected.
“Jay. Maybe we should just focus on finding the exit first.”
“What about the other innocent? Amie or Kit?”
“What can we do, Jay? Our hands are tied.”
“There has to be something Kuro. We can’t just let another innocent die.”
“Another innocent? We weren’t able to save Yuki. We weren’t able to save Degree. We weren’t able to save Shiro. We weren’t able to save Lock. And I freaking murdered Trinity! What makes you think we could actually save somebody?”
“I…I don’t know. But we have to try something.”
“We can think of something after we find the exit. Alright?”
“Fine.”
I began leading Kuro down the path to the chapel. When we arrived, my suspicions had been confirmed. The only person in here was Lock, still split in half and still pretty dead. We hadn’t seen Amie or Kit on the way here, so they must have went deeper into the facility, closer to freedom. At least it meant that one of them wasn’t dead, yet.
“Jay…what happened here?”
“I’m not exactly sure, Kuro. The lights went off. When they came back on, Lock was in two pieces and her sword was gone.”
“She was cut in half?”
“Yeah. Can we just get out of here? It’s starting to creep me out.”
This is where we started to split up. We each took a side of the wall and investigated all of the room in search for the next hallway. This went on for quite some time before I found another room with a radio on a table with a chair. The wolf masks and suits were on the wall beside it. I began to speak into it.
“This is Jay speaking! Is anyone out there? We need help!”
The signal was a little clearer this time, but static could still be heard.
“I repeat, this is Jay. Is anyone out the-“
The familiar voice was back. “Jay! Listen, it’s me, Zeref. I…help you. Kuro is…innocent. Be careful. The murderer…Amie. Kit is…danger. Please be careful. I’m trying to…out. Get to the library. The girl is…Please be careful. Trust…” Then, it went back to static.
“Zeref? Zeref!” Nothing but static.
“Who are you talking to,” asked Kuro as he stepped in the door. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“I thought I heard someone on the radio. I must have been mistaken.”
“Alright. Listen, I think we are getting close to the exit. I found the next hallway.”
He led me to the correct door. We continued investigating rooms and going down hallways. How big was this facility? We still knew nothing about where we were. Why were we here? Why was someone killing all of us? Where were we? Who was X? A million questions went through my head.
I wasn’t paying attention when it happened; I stepped through a door and a Plexiglas tube fell from the ceiling, trapping me underneath. I tried lifting it, but it was too heavy. I tried yelling for Kuro, but it was no use. I banged on the tube, hoping for anyone to notice, but I was all alone. This must have been one of the traps X had mentioned. Had I just came all this way only to die here? So close, yet so far away? Then, the power went out. A few moments later, I heard screaming. It sounded like a guy.
“Kuro! Kuro! Where are you?” I fell to my knees. Was another innocent player going to die? Were any of us going to make it out of here? Were we all going to die? No. I refuse to let that happen. I rammed my whole body into the tube. Nothing. I tried again, harder. Nothing. This time, I put all the anger, betrayal, remorse, and all the other emotions I had boiling inside of me into the tube. The tube fell over, leaving me standing there. Almost on cue, the lights came back on.
“Kuro?” I started walking down the hallway. Door after door, the dread became unbearable. Each room caused more weight to be added to the pain I felt inside. Everyone was dying and there had been nothing I could do about it and soon, it would be my turn. Maybe this was it. Maybe my life had no greater purpose than this. No future. No success. No college. No boyfriend. No wedding. No child. No family. Nothing. Just death in some sick and twisted game.
“Kuro…” I took a deep sigh and continued going deeper into the facility. After a few minutes, I heard something behind me. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” I raised my fists, prepared to strike. “I’m warning you!”
“It’s alright, Jay.” Kuro came out of one of the doors holding his arms in the air. “It’s me.”
“Was that you screaming?”
“No.”
“It must have been Kit! We have to hurry!”
Kuro stopped me before I could move forwards. “Where did you go? I was so worried that it had been you.”
“I was trapped. There was nothing I could do. I tried calling for help, but you must not have heard me.” That’s when it hit me. If I had been yelling and nobody had heard me, how loud did Kit have to scream for me to be able to hear him? It sounded like such an inhumane sound. I was surprised someone could even make that sound.
“Oh. I’m sorry for leaving you. I thought you had gone on ahead.”
“It’s alright, Kuro. Let’s just stay close together from now on.”
“Agreed.”
I felt bad for Kuro. He had to live the rest of his life with the choices he had made in here. In a way, he had been responsible for Degree’s death by pointing him to the incorrect person. Then Trinity’s death. I don’t think I could live with myself after all that. I was afraid of what he might try to do.
After a few more minutes of searching doors, we were about to take a break. “Just one more,” Kuro said. “We can’t give up.”
I sighed. “Fine. One more door.” I opened it and just stood, looking in shock. There was Amie, huddled over Kit’s dead body. He was face down with what appeared to be a stab wound to the back of the head. In Amie’s right hand was what appeared to be the murder weapon: a bloody knife.
“Amie…” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The sweet girl who had cried over everyone’s deaths was the murderer all along. Amie. The last person I ever expected.
Chapter 9: Books, Death, and Freedom
“Jay,” Kuro spoke up. “I think we need to go. Now.”
I was still in shock from what I had seen. Nothing was processing correctly. Amie? The wolf? No, that couldn’t be true. But there she was, holding the knife that had Kit’s blood dripping from it. “Amie…”
“Jay,” Amie pleaded. “It wasn’t me. I just found Kit like this. You have to believe me. I-“
“Don’t fall for it,” Kuro interrupted. “Unless you want to be next.”
“Let’s go, Kuro,” I agreed. I didn’t want to be in the room with Amie any longer. I couldn’t even stand thinking about her. She had murdered four people and had gotten Degree killed. Trinity would still be alive is she hadn’t helped X with all of this.
Kuro grabbed my wrist and we began running through doors, frantically trying to find the hallways to go deeper into the facility. At one point, we heard footsteps behind up, but we just kept running. We couldn’t let her catch up to us. Even though there were two of us, we didn’t want to risk anything. X could have given Amie something to ensure that she would kill us all. We were so close to the end. We couldn’t afford to mess up now. When we were sure we had lost Amie, Kuro stopped me.
“Jay. There’s something that’s been on my mind.”
“Kuro, can we talk about this after we get out of this place?”
“No. I really need to talk about it now.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Don’t worry. We have time.”
I started to get a sinking feeling in my gut. “What do you mean?”
Kuro pulled a knife out of his jumpsuit. “What I mean is that now I have you all alone, and it will be much easier to dispatch you. But, I feel the need to tell you the truth first.”
“Get away from me!” I began to back down the hallway, further away from Kuro. However, he kept pace with me, holding the knife tightly in his right hand.
“Jay. I thought we were a team. Remember how we killed Trinity?”
“We? That was all you!”
“Let’s start with Yuki. She was the easiest. I’ve had a remote on me this entire time that would allow me to control the power. When I turned it off, the groups panicked and separated. That’s when I went in and slit her pretty little throat.”
“You evil monster.”
“Then, Degree took care of himself. All it took was a little convincing and all the sudden everyone believed you were the wolf. That was, until Degree’s death proved you innocent. But, I figured that I could use that to my advantage.
“Then came Shiro. She was so timid. It was so easy to take her out. Especially with everyone split up trying to find an exit. My blade went straight through her. It felt so invigorating.”
“You’re sick, Kuro! You freakin animal!”
“Next was Trinity. You helped me with that one. That was when my plan really started to take off. I had to publically execute her to convince you guys to lock me up. Which brings me to Lock’s death. What you guys didn’t know was that I had a key to every room, handcuff, and any other lock in this facility. It was created for the sole purpose of a game of Rabbit Doubt. So, it’s natural that the wolf gets the advantage.
“When everyone left, I let myself out of the handcuff. Then, I followed you guys to the chapel, where I cut the power yet again. Lock and I struggled back and forth for the sword, but I knocked her out, make it so much easier. Then, I raised it high above my head and struck her in the stomach, effectively cutting her in half. It’s amazing what can happen with one well planned cut and such a sharp knife. It went right through her vertebrae like butter. I got such a rush from that one.”
“Do you not feel anything for those people?”
“No. Now don’t interrupt. Next was Kit, which was a little more complicated. I had to make sure you got trapped in the tube so that you couldn’t interfere. Then, I cut the power and snuck off to find Amie and Kit. It didn’t really matter which I killed because then I could frame the other one. Then, I bumped into Kit. By the time he processed that he had bumped into someone, the knife was already in his chest.
“Then, I quickly made my way back to you and restored the power. By the time we had run into each other, Amie had found Kit and was probably trying everything she could to try and save him. Then, we came in after she had tried pulling the knife out, allowing me to frame her with ease. You were too scared and confused to process anything, which made it that much easier to convince you to follow me, where we could be alone.”
“But…why?”
“Simple, Jay. I’m not Kuro. I’m X.”
I backed up into a door and immediately grabbed the handle. X continued to advance towards me.
“I created all of this. I wanted to play a little game. I’ve been watching you all for quite some time now. Then, I used some hacking and tracking to find your locations using your IP addresses. After that, I got my men to kidnap you all and bring you here. I put on this jumpsuit and a special rabbit mask. The difference between my mask and everyone else’s is that I have a voice modifier in it. I had the real Kuro kidnapped and tortured until I got the voice sample I needed. Then, I put the modifier in the mask and all the sudden I sounded like Kuro! I couldn’t risk anyone recognizing voices and messing everything up.”
“So…was that really everyone in those masks? If you aren’t really Kuro then-“
“Yup. They all died. The end. They were really who they said they were. Yuki, Degree, Trinity, Lock, Kit, and Shiro. All dead.”
We had been tricked. None of us had been the wolf. It had been X all along. “Then, how did you make the announcements and all?”
“They were all recordings. I had them rigged to play when certain events occurred.”
“But…Degree’s specifically mentioned him.”
“And if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed the camera scanning his name. I had made a recording for each and every one of you. That way, it would be even easier for you guys to believe that I was not in here with you.”
X was just a few feet away; I had to act fast. I opened the door and locked it tight behind me. Then, I remembered that X had a key. I began looking around the room. Books, everywhere. Books? I must be in the library! That’s when I noticed her: the girl from the footage. I ran to her side and began to untie her.
“It’s going to be alright,” I said, trying to comfort her. She seemed to have trouble keeping her head upright, evident by the slight tilt of her mask. She must have been drugged or must be malnourished. When I got here bondages off, I stood her up and looked at the name tag: Venelop3. “Venelope?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “They’ve been feeding me and giving me water. The men in the wolf masks. But, they keep me…sedated. So I don’t try to…escape.”
“It’s alright now. I’ve-“
X unlocked the door and burst in. “So, you found my little surprise, huh? Do you feel accomplished now, Jay? Now I can kill you both together!” He began to advance towards us. I looked around the room, but all I could see were books. I picked up the closest one and threw it at X. All that did was manage to piss him off even more. “Just face it, Jay. You lost.”
Then, Amie snuck in the door, holding the bloody knife in her hand. She came up behind X while he was focused on Venelop3 and I; she went to stab him in the back, but he must have heard her and quickly turned around. The knife ended up going into his shoulder instead. However, when he was distracted, she kicked him in the groin, sending him to the ground.
“Jay,” Amie said, running up and hugging me like she had in the concert hall. “I’m so glad you’re still alive.” Then, she noticed Venelope. “And who might this be?”
“I…I’m Venelope.”
Amie hugged her as well. “We better get out of here before he gets back up.”
“Where,” I asked. “This hall was a dead end to the library. I don’t even think there were any other doors on that hallway.” I looked around the room and noticed a ladder leading up to a second floor of the library, with even more books. “Follow me.”
I led Amie and Venelop3 to the ladder. “Amie, you go first. Then, we help Venelope up. She has been sedated, so she can’t climb it alone.”
“Alright.” She began to ascend the ladder. X started to stand back up; we didn’t have much time left. After Amie reached the top, she grabbed a railing with her left and lowered her right hand for Venelope to grab. I helped to support Venelope as she climbed high enough to reach Amie. When she had finally grabbed her hand, it became easier for her to climb. In a few seconds, we had managed to get Venelope up the ladder as well. Now, it was my turn. I began to ascend the ladder and was nearing the top when someone grabbed my ankle, pulling me back to the ground. “Jay!”
X stood above me, the knife ready to slit my throat. “You thought…you thought you could…defeat me? I’m X. The mighty…mighty wolf. This is my facility. Nobody…nobody leaves without my permissi-“
Then, a baseball bat came down on his back, sending him to the ground once more. Standing above him was a face that I recognized from his Skype profile picture: Zeref. “Jay. Listen. We need to go, now!”
I quickly got back to my feet and climbed the ladder. Zeref followed quickly behind me. “Amie and Venelope. Listen, we need to get out of here and then I will explain everything.” Amie, Venelope and I followed behind him as he led us through a door and down some more hallways. Why wasn’t he in a jumpsuit or rabbit mask? What was he doing here at all? Then, I remembered. His voice had been the one I heard on the radio calls. He had been trying to warn me about X this whole time. He had been trying to save us. After a few minutes, we finally reached a large metal door. “Guys. I must warn you. This isn’t the end. I went through so much to get you guys out of there. The others…they did everything in their power to help. This is just the beginning.” He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pushed some buttons. The door began to slide open and sunlight filled the hallway. “Welcome to Rabbit Island.”
I was still in shock from what I had seen. Nothing was processing correctly. Amie? The wolf? No, that couldn’t be true. But there she was, holding the knife that had Kit’s blood dripping from it. “Amie…”
“Jay,” Amie pleaded. “It wasn’t me. I just found Kit like this. You have to believe me. I-“
“Don’t fall for it,” Kuro interrupted. “Unless you want to be next.”
“Let’s go, Kuro,” I agreed. I didn’t want to be in the room with Amie any longer. I couldn’t even stand thinking about her. She had murdered four people and had gotten Degree killed. Trinity would still be alive is she hadn’t helped X with all of this.
Kuro grabbed my wrist and we began running through doors, frantically trying to find the hallways to go deeper into the facility. At one point, we heard footsteps behind up, but we just kept running. We couldn’t let her catch up to us. Even though there were two of us, we didn’t want to risk anything. X could have given Amie something to ensure that she would kill us all. We were so close to the end. We couldn’t afford to mess up now. When we were sure we had lost Amie, Kuro stopped me.
“Jay. There’s something that’s been on my mind.”
“Kuro, can we talk about this after we get out of this place?”
“No. I really need to talk about it now.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Don’t worry. We have time.”
I started to get a sinking feeling in my gut. “What do you mean?”
Kuro pulled a knife out of his jumpsuit. “What I mean is that now I have you all alone, and it will be much easier to dispatch you. But, I feel the need to tell you the truth first.”
“Get away from me!” I began to back down the hallway, further away from Kuro. However, he kept pace with me, holding the knife tightly in his right hand.
“Jay. I thought we were a team. Remember how we killed Trinity?”
“We? That was all you!”
“Let’s start with Yuki. She was the easiest. I’ve had a remote on me this entire time that would allow me to control the power. When I turned it off, the groups panicked and separated. That’s when I went in and slit her pretty little throat.”
“You evil monster.”
“Then, Degree took care of himself. All it took was a little convincing and all the sudden everyone believed you were the wolf. That was, until Degree’s death proved you innocent. But, I figured that I could use that to my advantage.
“Then came Shiro. She was so timid. It was so easy to take her out. Especially with everyone split up trying to find an exit. My blade went straight through her. It felt so invigorating.”
“You’re sick, Kuro! You freakin animal!”
“Next was Trinity. You helped me with that one. That was when my plan really started to take off. I had to publically execute her to convince you guys to lock me up. Which brings me to Lock’s death. What you guys didn’t know was that I had a key to every room, handcuff, and any other lock in this facility. It was created for the sole purpose of a game of Rabbit Doubt. So, it’s natural that the wolf gets the advantage.
“When everyone left, I let myself out of the handcuff. Then, I followed you guys to the chapel, where I cut the power yet again. Lock and I struggled back and forth for the sword, but I knocked her out, make it so much easier. Then, I raised it high above my head and struck her in the stomach, effectively cutting her in half. It’s amazing what can happen with one well planned cut and such a sharp knife. It went right through her vertebrae like butter. I got such a rush from that one.”
“Do you not feel anything for those people?”
“No. Now don’t interrupt. Next was Kit, which was a little more complicated. I had to make sure you got trapped in the tube so that you couldn’t interfere. Then, I cut the power and snuck off to find Amie and Kit. It didn’t really matter which I killed because then I could frame the other one. Then, I bumped into Kit. By the time he processed that he had bumped into someone, the knife was already in his chest.
“Then, I quickly made my way back to you and restored the power. By the time we had run into each other, Amie had found Kit and was probably trying everything she could to try and save him. Then, we came in after she had tried pulling the knife out, allowing me to frame her with ease. You were too scared and confused to process anything, which made it that much easier to convince you to follow me, where we could be alone.”
“But…why?”
“Simple, Jay. I’m not Kuro. I’m X.”
I backed up into a door and immediately grabbed the handle. X continued to advance towards me.
“I created all of this. I wanted to play a little game. I’ve been watching you all for quite some time now. Then, I used some hacking and tracking to find your locations using your IP addresses. After that, I got my men to kidnap you all and bring you here. I put on this jumpsuit and a special rabbit mask. The difference between my mask and everyone else’s is that I have a voice modifier in it. I had the real Kuro kidnapped and tortured until I got the voice sample I needed. Then, I put the modifier in the mask and all the sudden I sounded like Kuro! I couldn’t risk anyone recognizing voices and messing everything up.”
“So…was that really everyone in those masks? If you aren’t really Kuro then-“
“Yup. They all died. The end. They were really who they said they were. Yuki, Degree, Trinity, Lock, Kit, and Shiro. All dead.”
We had been tricked. None of us had been the wolf. It had been X all along. “Then, how did you make the announcements and all?”
“They were all recordings. I had them rigged to play when certain events occurred.”
“But…Degree’s specifically mentioned him.”
“And if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed the camera scanning his name. I had made a recording for each and every one of you. That way, it would be even easier for you guys to believe that I was not in here with you.”
X was just a few feet away; I had to act fast. I opened the door and locked it tight behind me. Then, I remembered that X had a key. I began looking around the room. Books, everywhere. Books? I must be in the library! That’s when I noticed her: the girl from the footage. I ran to her side and began to untie her.
“It’s going to be alright,” I said, trying to comfort her. She seemed to have trouble keeping her head upright, evident by the slight tilt of her mask. She must have been drugged or must be malnourished. When I got here bondages off, I stood her up and looked at the name tag: Venelop3. “Venelope?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “They’ve been feeding me and giving me water. The men in the wolf masks. But, they keep me…sedated. So I don’t try to…escape.”
“It’s alright now. I’ve-“
X unlocked the door and burst in. “So, you found my little surprise, huh? Do you feel accomplished now, Jay? Now I can kill you both together!” He began to advance towards us. I looked around the room, but all I could see were books. I picked up the closest one and threw it at X. All that did was manage to piss him off even more. “Just face it, Jay. You lost.”
Then, Amie snuck in the door, holding the bloody knife in her hand. She came up behind X while he was focused on Venelop3 and I; she went to stab him in the back, but he must have heard her and quickly turned around. The knife ended up going into his shoulder instead. However, when he was distracted, she kicked him in the groin, sending him to the ground.
“Jay,” Amie said, running up and hugging me like she had in the concert hall. “I’m so glad you’re still alive.” Then, she noticed Venelope. “And who might this be?”
“I…I’m Venelope.”
Amie hugged her as well. “We better get out of here before he gets back up.”
“Where,” I asked. “This hall was a dead end to the library. I don’t even think there were any other doors on that hallway.” I looked around the room and noticed a ladder leading up to a second floor of the library, with even more books. “Follow me.”
I led Amie and Venelop3 to the ladder. “Amie, you go first. Then, we help Venelope up. She has been sedated, so she can’t climb it alone.”
“Alright.” She began to ascend the ladder. X started to stand back up; we didn’t have much time left. After Amie reached the top, she grabbed a railing with her left and lowered her right hand for Venelope to grab. I helped to support Venelope as she climbed high enough to reach Amie. When she had finally grabbed her hand, it became easier for her to climb. In a few seconds, we had managed to get Venelope up the ladder as well. Now, it was my turn. I began to ascend the ladder and was nearing the top when someone grabbed my ankle, pulling me back to the ground. “Jay!”
X stood above me, the knife ready to slit my throat. “You thought…you thought you could…defeat me? I’m X. The mighty…mighty wolf. This is my facility. Nobody…nobody leaves without my permissi-“
Then, a baseball bat came down on his back, sending him to the ground once more. Standing above him was a face that I recognized from his Skype profile picture: Zeref. “Jay. Listen. We need to go, now!”
I quickly got back to my feet and climbed the ladder. Zeref followed quickly behind me. “Amie and Venelope. Listen, we need to get out of here and then I will explain everything.” Amie, Venelope and I followed behind him as he led us through a door and down some more hallways. Why wasn’t he in a jumpsuit or rabbit mask? What was he doing here at all? Then, I remembered. His voice had been the one I heard on the radio calls. He had been trying to warn me about X this whole time. He had been trying to save us. After a few minutes, we finally reached a large metal door. “Guys. I must warn you. This isn’t the end. I went through so much to get you guys out of there. The others…they did everything in their power to help. This is just the beginning.” He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pushed some buttons. The door began to slide open and sunlight filled the hallway. “Welcome to Rabbit Island.”
End of Part One
Part 2: Zeref
Chapter 10: Burial at Sea
The scent of salt water filled my nostrils, a slight mist entering my lungs. Everything was dark. I could feel rough wood on my back, but I could not move. It was almost as if I was paralyzed. I couldn’t remember anything besides my name: Zeref. Or at least that’s what I think my name is. It is the only thing that I remember, so I would just have to go by that for now.
After some struggling, I finally managed to open my eyes. The room I was in was mostly dark, except for a small amount of light coming from a hole in the wall. I was lying on a rough, wooden floor and was surrounded by metal walls. It took me a few tries, but I finally managed to stand up.
My legs brought me over to the source of the light, only to realize it was a window on a metal door. I tried to open the door, but it was locked tight. Whoever had put me in here obviously didn’t want me leaving. Looking out of the door, I realized that I was in a hallway full of similar doors as this one. However, since the windows were small, I was unable to see inside of the other room. Then, I heard footsteps coming before I saw two people pass by wearing security guard outfits and large wolf masks that covered their entire head.
“Has the game been set up,” said one of them, a woman’s voice.
“Yes,” said the other, a male. “Everything is as X planned.”
“So the first batch was alright?”
“Very much so.”
“And the girl?”
The two of them stopped walking and lowered their voice slightly. “She is tied up in the library. Why did X want her there?”
“Who knows. It’s best not to question these things. The boss wants what the boss wants.”
Then, the footsteps resumed as they left the hallway. I was once again alone. Who were these people that had captured me? What game had they set up? Who was X? And what about that girl they were talking about? Could there be someone else here in the same situation I am in? Then, my focus went on something in the room that I had missed. There was a pipe running from the top of the room to the bottom.
I ran over to it and tried pulling it; the middle section of the pipe felt loose. After giving it a few tugs, it popped off, allowing water to start spilling onto the floor. The pipe was light, but thick. If I needed to defend myself, this would be the perfect option. As I was examining the pipe, I heard a voice from the room across the hall. “Come over here.” It sounded like a man’s voice.
Sure enough, a guy was looking at me through the small window of the cell across the hall, trapped just like I was. I looked back at him and said, “Do you know what is going on?”
“Unfortunately, not. I just kind of woke up here. In fact, the only thing I can remember is the word Gabriel.”
“Same here, except all I can remember is the word Zeref.”
“Then, I guess I should call you Zeref.” He gave me a small smile.
I gave him a small smile back. “Right back at you, Gabriel.”
Gabriel looked like he was about to say something else, when a door at the end of the hall opened. There was the sound of footsteps, but it only sounded like one person this time. However, the guy that passed by this time had a machine gun hanging from his shoulder. I did not want to upset that guard, so I promptly ducked down and hid out of view. As long as he thought I was still asleep, he wouldn’t even care about me. Unfortunately, the guard stopped in front of Gabriel’s door. There was a loud crash from the other side. The guard quickly unlocked Gabriel’s door and walked inside; the machine gun was raised and he looked ready to shoot Gabriel if Gabriel even breathed the wrong way. The small window on my door blocked my vision, but I could hear another loud sound as if someone hit something heavy. There was, what I can only assume, to be somebody repeatedly bashing two things together before everything was quiet again.
After a few seconds, I finally got the courage to speak up. “Gabriel? Are you okay?”
A few moments passed before I saw Gabriel exit his room, wearing the wolf guard’s uniform, and holding the machine gun in his hands. He quickly ran over and used a set of keys to unlock my door. Gabriel swiftly opened the door and I stepped into the hallway, finally getting a good perspective of the hall we were inside. There were about twenty or so rooms, with ten on each side. At each end of the hall was a metal door, leading out of the hallway. I looked over at Gabriel’s cell and noticed the body of the guard, now without his clothes.
“Is he…alright?” I didn’t necessarily want him to be alright. It was more of me trying to get reassurance that Gabriel hadn’t killed the man.
Gabriel let out a sigh. “Don’t worry. He is just knocked out.”
“So, what now? You just plan on walking out there and shooting everyone else with that gun of yours? Do you even have a plan?”
“Nope. Just kind of winging it at the moment.” That was definitely not reassuring at all. “Zeref, we need to check the other rooms just in case.”
I knew exactly what he meant; he wanted to make sure if there were any other survivors in them. “Let’s get started.”
It didn’t take long before we found six other people locked in different rooms. One by one, they all said the same things. None of them remembered anything besides their names. BoyM4st3r, who preferred to go by Boy. ThatOneGuy090, who wanted to just be called That One Guy. Simpl1, who we called Simple. Shadow Equinox. Solisravon. And Xiulan.
After everyone had introduced themselves, Gabriel spoke up again. “We do not have much time. The next guards should be making another round soon, especially if they notice the guard I knocked out hasn’t returned yet. But, I think I have a plan.”
Solisravon did not seem very convinced. “You think you have a plan? You don’t seem very certain about it.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Do you have a better plan?” After a few moments of silence had passed, he spoke back up. “Didn’t think so. Anyways, I’m going to slip the wolf mask on my head. With the wolf mask, guard’s uniform, and weapon, I can go out there and distract the guards while you guys try and find a way out of here.”
Simpl1 was quick to snap at Gabriel. “What? You just want us to walk around, defenseless, ready to be shot down by wolf guards?”
“No. That isn’t what I-“
Boy seemed to be on the same page as Simple. “We are basically sitting ducks if you leave us.”
“Guys just li-“
Shadow Equinox was the next to butt in. “Just listen? Your plan is going to get us all killed.”
Xiulan finally spoke up. “Even so, we can’t stay here. There is an unconscious guard missing his mask, clothes, and weapon. The other guards aren’t going to just let us waltz out of here.
That One Guy nodded in agreement. “Xiulan has a point.”
Simple and Boy sighed, but realized there was no other choice. Gabriel ran over to the guard’s body and took of his wolf mask. He then put it on his own head, and walked back over to us. “You guys know the plan, right?”
I shook my head. “The plan is to not die.”
“Good! Then let’s get started!” He ran off down the hallway and opened the door at the end. With one swift movement, he had already gone out the door. The rest of us followed soon after. That One Guy peeked out of the door to make sure the coast was clear. Once he gave us the thumbs up, we all walked through the door, but Gabriel was already gone.
Shadow Equinox walked ahead of the group and turned down a hallway; the rest of us quickly followed behind, not wanting to be stuck here with the rest of the guards. We rounded a few more corners before my shirt got caught on door handle. It took me a while to get it unstuck and by the time I had, I had lost the group. I quickly ran through the hallways to try to catch up when I hear a loud explosion. I stopped in my tracks and could feel the entire building swaying. After a few seconds, a burst of water started rushing into the hallway. I picked up the pace and ran up a flight of stairs.
After what seemed like ages, I managed to find a door; it led outside. My suspicions had been confirmed, we were on a large boat. There were a few guards running around, but they were all focused on the explosion that happened. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, another explosion went off, killing a few of them.
I walked out onto the deck, breathing in the salty air. The sun was just now setting, so the sky looked beautiful, despite the circumstances. There was also an island in the distance. Maybe if we found a lifeboat we could manage to get to the island and get help. I started looking around when I spotted Xiulan and That One Guy.
“Hey,” I shouted to them. Both turned to look at me.
Xiulan spoke up first. “We can’t find the others.”
“I got split up-“ I was cut short by another explosion along with some gun fire. “What do we do?”
That One Guy responded with, “I’m not sure. Should we keep looking for the others?”
“Well we can’t just leave them behind. Especially not since Gabriel risked his own life to try and save us.
A heavy sigh escaped from Xiulan’s lungs. “Fine. Let’s hurry u-“
There was another explosion, closer to us. In fact, it was so close that it threw us all to the ground. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my eyes and pain in my forehead from the impact. What seemed like an eternity went by before I finally stood up and looked around. Xiulan was already on her feet, looking down at something. When my eyes met what she was looking at, I almost vomited. On the deck was That One Guy, impaled by a large piece of metal. He was lying in a pool of his own blood, not moving.
Xiulan looked as bad as I felt. “Zeref. We need to leave now!”
“I know.” We started running around the perimeter of the ship. That’s when we found the lifeboat. “Look!”
Another explosion happened in the distance and it was now noticeable that the ship was sinking, and fast. “We need to leave.”
“We can’t just leave them all behind!”
“Zeref. Either we leave now or nobody is going to survive this mess. We can always come back and loo-“ She was interrupted by another loud explosion that happened right next to us. It sent me flying into the metal wall behind me. The force was so large that on impact, I immediately lost consciousness.
After some struggling, I finally managed to open my eyes. The room I was in was mostly dark, except for a small amount of light coming from a hole in the wall. I was lying on a rough, wooden floor and was surrounded by metal walls. It took me a few tries, but I finally managed to stand up.
My legs brought me over to the source of the light, only to realize it was a window on a metal door. I tried to open the door, but it was locked tight. Whoever had put me in here obviously didn’t want me leaving. Looking out of the door, I realized that I was in a hallway full of similar doors as this one. However, since the windows were small, I was unable to see inside of the other room. Then, I heard footsteps coming before I saw two people pass by wearing security guard outfits and large wolf masks that covered their entire head.
“Has the game been set up,” said one of them, a woman’s voice.
“Yes,” said the other, a male. “Everything is as X planned.”
“So the first batch was alright?”
“Very much so.”
“And the girl?”
The two of them stopped walking and lowered their voice slightly. “She is tied up in the library. Why did X want her there?”
“Who knows. It’s best not to question these things. The boss wants what the boss wants.”
Then, the footsteps resumed as they left the hallway. I was once again alone. Who were these people that had captured me? What game had they set up? Who was X? And what about that girl they were talking about? Could there be someone else here in the same situation I am in? Then, my focus went on something in the room that I had missed. There was a pipe running from the top of the room to the bottom.
I ran over to it and tried pulling it; the middle section of the pipe felt loose. After giving it a few tugs, it popped off, allowing water to start spilling onto the floor. The pipe was light, but thick. If I needed to defend myself, this would be the perfect option. As I was examining the pipe, I heard a voice from the room across the hall. “Come over here.” It sounded like a man’s voice.
Sure enough, a guy was looking at me through the small window of the cell across the hall, trapped just like I was. I looked back at him and said, “Do you know what is going on?”
“Unfortunately, not. I just kind of woke up here. In fact, the only thing I can remember is the word Gabriel.”
“Same here, except all I can remember is the word Zeref.”
“Then, I guess I should call you Zeref.” He gave me a small smile.
I gave him a small smile back. “Right back at you, Gabriel.”
Gabriel looked like he was about to say something else, when a door at the end of the hall opened. There was the sound of footsteps, but it only sounded like one person this time. However, the guy that passed by this time had a machine gun hanging from his shoulder. I did not want to upset that guard, so I promptly ducked down and hid out of view. As long as he thought I was still asleep, he wouldn’t even care about me. Unfortunately, the guard stopped in front of Gabriel’s door. There was a loud crash from the other side. The guard quickly unlocked Gabriel’s door and walked inside; the machine gun was raised and he looked ready to shoot Gabriel if Gabriel even breathed the wrong way. The small window on my door blocked my vision, but I could hear another loud sound as if someone hit something heavy. There was, what I can only assume, to be somebody repeatedly bashing two things together before everything was quiet again.
After a few seconds, I finally got the courage to speak up. “Gabriel? Are you okay?”
A few moments passed before I saw Gabriel exit his room, wearing the wolf guard’s uniform, and holding the machine gun in his hands. He quickly ran over and used a set of keys to unlock my door. Gabriel swiftly opened the door and I stepped into the hallway, finally getting a good perspective of the hall we were inside. There were about twenty or so rooms, with ten on each side. At each end of the hall was a metal door, leading out of the hallway. I looked over at Gabriel’s cell and noticed the body of the guard, now without his clothes.
“Is he…alright?” I didn’t necessarily want him to be alright. It was more of me trying to get reassurance that Gabriel hadn’t killed the man.
Gabriel let out a sigh. “Don’t worry. He is just knocked out.”
“So, what now? You just plan on walking out there and shooting everyone else with that gun of yours? Do you even have a plan?”
“Nope. Just kind of winging it at the moment.” That was definitely not reassuring at all. “Zeref, we need to check the other rooms just in case.”
I knew exactly what he meant; he wanted to make sure if there were any other survivors in them. “Let’s get started.”
It didn’t take long before we found six other people locked in different rooms. One by one, they all said the same things. None of them remembered anything besides their names. BoyM4st3r, who preferred to go by Boy. ThatOneGuy090, who wanted to just be called That One Guy. Simpl1, who we called Simple. Shadow Equinox. Solisravon. And Xiulan.
After everyone had introduced themselves, Gabriel spoke up again. “We do not have much time. The next guards should be making another round soon, especially if they notice the guard I knocked out hasn’t returned yet. But, I think I have a plan.”
Solisravon did not seem very convinced. “You think you have a plan? You don’t seem very certain about it.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Do you have a better plan?” After a few moments of silence had passed, he spoke back up. “Didn’t think so. Anyways, I’m going to slip the wolf mask on my head. With the wolf mask, guard’s uniform, and weapon, I can go out there and distract the guards while you guys try and find a way out of here.”
Simpl1 was quick to snap at Gabriel. “What? You just want us to walk around, defenseless, ready to be shot down by wolf guards?”
“No. That isn’t what I-“
Boy seemed to be on the same page as Simple. “We are basically sitting ducks if you leave us.”
“Guys just li-“
Shadow Equinox was the next to butt in. “Just listen? Your plan is going to get us all killed.”
Xiulan finally spoke up. “Even so, we can’t stay here. There is an unconscious guard missing his mask, clothes, and weapon. The other guards aren’t going to just let us waltz out of here.
That One Guy nodded in agreement. “Xiulan has a point.”
Simple and Boy sighed, but realized there was no other choice. Gabriel ran over to the guard’s body and took of his wolf mask. He then put it on his own head, and walked back over to us. “You guys know the plan, right?”
I shook my head. “The plan is to not die.”
“Good! Then let’s get started!” He ran off down the hallway and opened the door at the end. With one swift movement, he had already gone out the door. The rest of us followed soon after. That One Guy peeked out of the door to make sure the coast was clear. Once he gave us the thumbs up, we all walked through the door, but Gabriel was already gone.
Shadow Equinox walked ahead of the group and turned down a hallway; the rest of us quickly followed behind, not wanting to be stuck here with the rest of the guards. We rounded a few more corners before my shirt got caught on door handle. It took me a while to get it unstuck and by the time I had, I had lost the group. I quickly ran through the hallways to try to catch up when I hear a loud explosion. I stopped in my tracks and could feel the entire building swaying. After a few seconds, a burst of water started rushing into the hallway. I picked up the pace and ran up a flight of stairs.
After what seemed like ages, I managed to find a door; it led outside. My suspicions had been confirmed, we were on a large boat. There were a few guards running around, but they were all focused on the explosion that happened. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, another explosion went off, killing a few of them.
I walked out onto the deck, breathing in the salty air. The sun was just now setting, so the sky looked beautiful, despite the circumstances. There was also an island in the distance. Maybe if we found a lifeboat we could manage to get to the island and get help. I started looking around when I spotted Xiulan and That One Guy.
“Hey,” I shouted to them. Both turned to look at me.
Xiulan spoke up first. “We can’t find the others.”
“I got split up-“ I was cut short by another explosion along with some gun fire. “What do we do?”
That One Guy responded with, “I’m not sure. Should we keep looking for the others?”
“Well we can’t just leave them behind. Especially not since Gabriel risked his own life to try and save us.
A heavy sigh escaped from Xiulan’s lungs. “Fine. Let’s hurry u-“
There was another explosion, closer to us. In fact, it was so close that it threw us all to the ground. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my eyes and pain in my forehead from the impact. What seemed like an eternity went by before I finally stood up and looked around. Xiulan was already on her feet, looking down at something. When my eyes met what she was looking at, I almost vomited. On the deck was That One Guy, impaled by a large piece of metal. He was lying in a pool of his own blood, not moving.
Xiulan looked as bad as I felt. “Zeref. We need to leave now!”
“I know.” We started running around the perimeter of the ship. That’s when we found the lifeboat. “Look!”
Another explosion happened in the distance and it was now noticeable that the ship was sinking, and fast. “We need to leave.”
“We can’t just leave them all behind!”
“Zeref. Either we leave now or nobody is going to survive this mess. We can always come back and loo-“ She was interrupted by another loud explosion that happened right next to us. It sent me flying into the metal wall behind me. The force was so large that on impact, I immediately lost consciousness.
