Epilogue

"The game is simple. Be the last one alive and we will let you go."

Of course, he had tried all kind of method and strategy his praised mind could think of, but this wasn't like all those cases. There weren't any complicated codes and puzzles, no gimmicks and of course, no laws. Only innocent people driven to to kill out of desperation, and and the distant promise of freedom.

He woke up confused and cladded in nothing but a hospital gown in an empty room, with no idea how he got there and where all of his things went. A single, flickering light bulb was the only light source in the stuffy room and a note with those haunting words scribbled on and stuck on a door, the only way to leave the room apparently. Wide eyes scanned the room, and quickly landed on a corner in which a loaf of bread and an axe sat in a plastic bag. Taunting him. Now that note made some sense to what he was supposed to do.

The only way out was to kill.


As he roamed the dark halls silently, one hand clutching all the food he found in a bag and the other gripping his bloody weapon, he tried to keep his sanity by thinking of the last thing he could remember before he was kidnapped and placed in this abandoned building. There was the trip to that one amusement park with Ran... the murder on the roller coaster then those drug dealers whom he tracked down and reported before he went to investigate a complicated case requested by another detective. Unrecognizable and rotting corpses had been found throughout the world, seemingly killed somewhere else before being scattered everywhere. He had some idea now where they'd came from now, having stepped on a lot of wet and sticky, sometime even slightly warm substances that he was glad that it was too dark to see.

There was a scream nearby, and he quickly fumbled his way into a room and locked the door. All the bulbs had fused out by now.

How long had it been? Mornings and lights no longer existed in this purgatory, only darkness that blended together into a timeless blur. The stank of death and blood had not became any better despite how long he felt like he was in there. He found it hard breath and think honestly, and much to his horror corpses seemed to be everywhere. There was no escape, no safety in this place. The rooms were mostly broken into and intact doors were rare now, but he would still only kill when he absolutely had to. Which was a lot. He couldn't remember (or rather he tried not to) how many lives he had taken.


A single piece of moldy bread left and he couldn't help but shove all of it into his mouth.


But she was only a small girl. She couldn't even fight back because of how sickly and malnourished she was. And he killed her, because there was no another way. The longer she lived the longer this sick game went on. He could still hear her soft cries as she asked him to hold her because she was scared, then told him to end it quickly. His bony fingers weakly grasped around her neck as he whispered some meaningless words in as an attempt comfort her, before quickly breaking her neck with a flick of the wrists. He could still feel her small frame went limp and the mental and physical fatigue suddenly rushed in when the adrenaline ran out. Feel the scream and cry that bubbled up in him though he knew he couldn't let anything out because if he did they'd come and find him and kill him in in no time.

Quickly he felt around and found a packet of biscuits and a machete, which was probably for the girl. Both were kept.


" 'm... s-sorry... so sorry..." His eyes burned and tears stung his cheeks as he swung his axe around, aiming at where he heard the footsteps and feeling the impact. The bones scrunched under the force of his weapon as he swung it repeatedly until he could no longer hear anything other than his own breathing and erratic heartbeat. He knew he was drenched in blood.

" s-sorry. .. soo...rry... m' s-s-so ..." He just wanted live.


Left... right... left... right...

In... out... in... out...

Just keep walking. Just keep breathing. It had to be over soon. No one had been near him for a while now.

He was afraid that if he stopped moving he would die.


Someone was in front of him. Their irregular breathing was deafening to his ear.

But he couldn't move anymore, having collapsed there before he noticed that there was someone else. It seemed like they had stopped moving too though, and he cried as he held on because he was so so so so close. Ran was waiting at home for him, his parents too and Conan was probably spamming his phone with curious questions and cases. Just hold on for a while more, just a while more please.

He listened as the other man gasped for breath, struggling on his own to regain consciousness but he needed to win. He had to win. A choke, a sob, then silence.

"The winner is number 34! Congratulation!" A distorted voice spoke through speakers, and he laughed, and cried and scream because he was so so so so glad that he survived but he was just as much, if not more, guilty.


"Kudo-san... we found your son in- A-ah yes he is alive... but currently in very bad condition. We are bringing him to the Central hospital right now. Ah... Kudo-san? Hello-"