The warehouse was quiet and without movement. Nothing out of the ordinary for a warehouse. The number of people inside could also be called normal. The large number of cameras set up around the warehouse didn't make things strange. Now, adding in the fact that the people are all unconscious and haphazardly scattered around the floor, that makes things strange. The players slowly began to wake up, one by one. Groggy, they began to speak amongst themselves, filling the once silent building with a confused murmur.
"Where am I?" Fred muttered as he brought himself to his feet. His eyes adjusted to the dark as he took a look around. He seemed to be in a large room or building. There were no windows and there were rows of empty shelves. The only source of light was a dim lightbulb that cast its light on a noose. He caught sight of the gang not too far away.
"Shaggy! Shaggy! Get up!" Fred yelled as he violently shook Shaggy. "What did you put in our food?"
"Like, nothin' man," Shaggy mumbled, as he slowly regained consciousness. "Like, why would you even accuse me of that?" snapped Shaggy, now fully alert.
"Jeepers Shaggy, it's just a question. No need to get so angry," Daphne quietly points out as she stumbled over to the two and leaned against a wall.
"Daphne, you alright?" asked Fred as stood back up. "Any clue where we are?"
"Not a clue," she replied.
"Any one seen Scooby? Scooby Doo! Where are you?" Shaggy, now frantic, shouts to nobody in particular.
"He doesn't seem to be here Shaggy, now quiet down," Velma, now awake, replies. "Now, Fred, as to our location, have you considered asking them?" Velma pointed over to the group of people who were now silently watching the four of them.
One of them began to walk over to the gang. "Hello there!" he shouted, hand in the air, a smile on his face.
"You seem in a pretty good mood, all things considered," responded Velma. "Maybe because you know something that we don't? Where we are, maybe?" she questioned.
"Well, no," he quickly replied. "You guys are the last ones to wake up, so we were kind of hoping that you could tell us what's going on," he added on, gesturing over to the rest of the group.
"Why didn't all of you come over here?" Velma asked "Wouldn't it be more effective if we all talked as a group?"
"Relax Velma," Fred interrupted. "I'm sure they have a good reason," Fred, turned to the stranger. "Hi, my name's Fred, this is Velma, that's Daphne over there and he's Shaggy. Why don't we all walk over to the rest of the group and try to figure things out."
The man shrugged and the gang walked over to the rest of players. However, before they could speak, an old loudspeaker began to emit a loud static. The static quickly died down and a voice began speaking in a very excited voice.
"Excellent! You're all awake! Good, good, good. I'm sure you all have a great many questions and I hope to get them all knocked out so the fun can begin. To start, I gathered you all here. Before you ask, my name is not important, so I won't be sharing. Where you all are doesn't matter either. Next, I'm not present in the building. I am miles away watching this through the cameras. So don't get it in your head that you can stop this by finding me. The only way to stop it, is to win. So, what is all this? Easy. You're all going to play a game for my amusement."
"Yeah, not gonna happen," a man interrupted. "We aren't going to play anything, for anyone's amusement. Understand? So you can go ahead and just open the door, cause I ain't cooperating," he yelled in an irritated voice.
"Oh! Well aren't you important! Okay, let me just shut everything down, open the doors and let you all go! I'm so sorry for inconveniencing you all!" the voice mocked. "No. As I said. If you want out, you gotta win. So, hush it up and allow me to continue. I was saving this little piece of info for the end of my speech, but I suppose now would be a good time to drop it. Following my rules and listening to what I say, is enforced. How? Simple. Bombs. I've implanted bombs into all of you. Ignore me? You die. Break a rule? You die. Do something you shouldn't? You die."
"Callin' your bluff. I don't believe you," the man once again interrupted, angrier than before. "Implanting bombs in us? No way. That kind of thing doesn't happen in the real world. This is all some kind of prank, yeah? Well, I ain't fallin' for it," he shouted, his voice getting louder and louder.
"I'm gonna give you this one warning. Knock it off. I'd hate to off one of you before I've even explained the rules," the voice said in a much more serious tone.
"See, he's bluffing. If there were bombs, he'd have blown me up. I'd be dead," the man reasoned. A few players nodded their heads in agreement. "Now, come on, ignore the voice and let's find a way out of here. This joke has gone on too long."
"Everyone, I apologize. I was really hoping that I wouldn't actually need to use the bombs. As you all heard, I gave him a warning. Now, if you would, step away from him."
As those words were spoken, a muffled beeping sound could be heard from the man. His eyes grew wide, "H-he obviously just planted a speaker on me while I was out, right? This is all just a joke, right?" he stuttered nervously. Sweat began to form on his face as beeping got faster.
"Like, run!" Shaggy yelled at the top of his lungs.
The players scattered in all different directions, putting as much distance between them and the man as they could. Tears welled in the man's eyes, but before he could form anymore words, his chest burst open. The player waited as the ringing in their ears faded away. They turned to face the aftermath and were shocked to see the damage to his body wasn't too severe. His chest was wide open, ribcage shattered, a good amount of blood surrounding the immediate area around his body. The players were silent, unsure of what to do.
"Believe me now?" The loudspeaker breaking the silence. The players all quickly nodded their heads. "Good, very good. We don't want another outburst like that, do we?"
The players all shook their heads. "Excellent! You all understand. You get it now. Don't worry about the body, once we finish up the rules, I'll put you all out to get the body taken care of. So, back to the rules."
"Unfortunately, he won't be the last one to die. The body count will indeed rise! However! You can keep death to a minimum, should you play well. The game you're all going to play is a game of lies and deception. Most of you, are innocent, done nothing wrong. Among you, are killers, wolves in sheep's clothing. They know each other. Those of you who are innocent, your goal is to stop the killers. Killers, your goal is outnumber the innocent. Things are played out in phases. During the day phase, you're all awake and you discuss who among you is a killer. Once the majority comes to a decision on who they think a killer is, that player dies. Take note of the noose hanging in the middle of the room. After that, you all go to sleep. Night phase, the killers wake up and kill someone. Rinse, lather, repeat. Simple, right? Now, I'd like you all to take a look at your left legs. You'll notice a device on it. This enforces the two phases. Once a day phase is over, it injects you with a drug that puts you out, once you all wake back up, it's the next day phase. To finish off, the man who just died was innocent. Have fun!" The speaker fell silent.
The confusion the players had all felt shifted to suspicion and fear as they all watched one another, thinking about how to proceed. They felt a sharp pain in their legs as they lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Once again, the players woke up and as they looked around and realized where they were, the previous events all came rushing back to them.
"What happened to the body?" shouted Daphne as the remaining players looked around for it.
"It's as he said, he took care of it," answered Velma in a monotone voice.
"Well, like, what do we do now?" questioned Shaggy.
"Well gang we have a mystery on our hands," exclaimed Fred. "I think we should search the area for any kind of clue or escape route."
"Hey! Hello again!" said the friendly man from before as he walked to the gang. "I hate to interrupt, but we've all already searched. This place is locked up tight, no way out, aside from the doors. And they aren't opening any time soon."
"So, you're saying our only option is to go along with his game then," concludes Velma. "By the way, we never got your name."
"Well, about that. I don't think using our names is a good idea. According to the guy on the speaker, there are killers here. I don't think letting our names out is smart," he pointed out.
"Well, we gotta call you all something," reasoned Fred, crossing his arms, "Why not use nicknames then?"
"That works for me. Call me Snow Ghost."
"What about the rest of them?" questioned Fred.
A taller man stepped forward. "I'll go by Phantom Shadow."
A bearded man who desperately looked like he needed a cigarette simply said, "Miner Forty-Niner."
"I'll be Wax Phantom," said a shorter woman.
"Keeping it simple, I'll just be the Wolfman," said another man.
Another man chimes in with, "Simple. I like that, call me Creeper."
"G-ghost Clown," a nervous jumpy fellow stuttered.
"And we already know your names. You mentioned them earlier," added Snow Ghost.
"Well, with names out of the way, I suppose we need to figure who the killers are now," said Fred, beginning to pace.
"If I might say something," Phantom Shadow interrupted. "I don't think we should hurt anyone. In my opinion, the best course of action is to not play along with this madness."
"Yeah, no. Not a good move," Miner Forty-Niner retorted while searching his pockets in a pointless attempt at finding his missing pack of cigarettes. "I don't think that guy on the loudspeaker is playing around. I have no doubt that there are killers hiding among us. So look at it like this. We agree not to hang anyone, then what? We give the killers a free shot at us," Miner sighed as his attempts to find a cigarette failed. He sat down and leaned up against a wall.
"I vote for the Wolfman," Snow Ghost remarked.
"Woah, hold on a second. What did I do?" yelled the Wolfman.
"Nothing. But you're looking at me with a face that screams, 'I'm gonna kill you' So my vote stands," replied Snow Ghost. "I mean, we don't have much else to go off of right now anyway."
"Snow Ghost, I don't like what you're doing here," pointed out Velma. "We should take this very seriously. Innocent people will die if we don't play this carefully."
"Y-yeah! Snow Ghost, you're acting very suspicious right now!" Ghost Clown yelled, cutting off Velma. "I don't like what you're doing here! I vote for Snow Ghost!" he shouted pointing his finger.
"Pretty quick to jump on Snow Ghost, aren't you Ghost Clown?" brought up Wax Phantom. "I vote for Ghost Clown."
"What? But Snow Ghost isn't taking things seriously! Just look at him!" Ghost Clown yelled, pointing over at Snow Ghost leaning up against a wall with a big dopey grin. "No, I'm voting for you Wax Phantom, you're unfairly voting for me!"
As the other players continue to argue with Ghost Clown, the gang separates from the group.
"Ghost Clown looks really desperate to vote somebody," said Fred as he sits down on the floor. It doesn't look good on his part to jump around like that."
"Yeah, he's acting really strange," agrees Velma. "I'd guess he was hoping to end the day phase as soon as possible by jumping on anyone for whatever small reason, and hoping that everyone would pile on."
"If that was his plan, it backfired pretty badly," added Daphne.
"So you all think he's a killer? Should we like, vote for him?" questioned Shaggy.
"His actions are suspicious enough, I think he would be the best bet to vote for," concluded Velma.
The gang returned to the other players. Ghost Clown was still yelling at everyone, changing his vote every time someone questioned him.
"The four of us have decided that we all want to put our votes on Ghost Clown," Fred announced to the group.
Ghost Clown's eyes grew wide in fear. "They're the killers! It's obvious! They all know each other, and they just put four votes on me!" he screamed.
"Just stop. You're accusing everyone of being suspicious. It doesn't make you look any better, and I'd say you're the most suspicious of us all. I'm voting for you too," Miner Forty-Niner pointed out, standing up. "Looks like you're out Clown. At six votes, you've hit majority."
Miner Forty-Niner grabbed Ghost Clown and dragged him over to the rope. "Well, you have a choice. You can hang, or you can refuse, and get blown up. I know what I'd rather do," he comments as he began walking away.
Ghost Clown, eyes wet with tears, put head into the noose, and hung. The loudspeaker once again crackled to life as the voice announced that Ghost Clown was innocent. A sharp pain shoots up the player's legs as they once again sleep.
The players wake, afraid of what sight will meet them. The first thing they notice is that Ghost Clown's body had vanished, just like the man who exploded. The next thing they saw was the Phantom Shadow, a bullet through his head, a bag of medical supplies resting next to him. The loudspeaker announces that he was innocent. A short distance away was the Wolfman's body, also with a hole in his head. The loudspeaker announces that he was a killer. Finally, Velma's body was discovered. Brutally stabbed to death. She was innocent. The gang was speechless, unsure what to do. Things would only get worse from here.
"I vote for Shaggy," announces Creeper. "The whole bunch of you are suspicious. You broke away from the rest of us to discuss things in private, if you were innocent, you would have discussed it with the rest of us. The loudspeaker also mentioned that the killers know each other. You've made it painfully obvious that you do."
"Like, our friend just died, and she was innocent. That pretty much confirms the rest of us as innocent too!" Shaggy snapped.
"I'm with Creeper on this. She could have been the group's sacrificial lamb. She dies, comes back as innocent, and you have an argument that the rest of you are innocent," Wax Phantom reasons. "It's possible that you're all innocent, but you can't deny how bad Ghost Clown makes you look. All things considered, I also vote for Shaggy."
"Hold on, let's talk about this more. We're innocent, and you're making a mistake. This is just a misunderstanding," Daphne pleads.
"Can't argue with their logic, unless you guys can come up with a better theory, I'll vote Shaggy too," Miner Forty-Niner concludes.
"What about Wax Phantom?" Daphne challenged, pointing her finger at Wax Phantom. "She was the first to vote for Ghost Clown, so it would make sense for her to be a killer."
"I can see the logic, but I disagree. Sure, I threw my vote on him, but there was no clear target when I did, he wasn't in danger yet. After you all piled your votes on him, he only needed one more vote. The whole situation makes you all look the worst." Wax Phantom reasoned as she circled the gang, smile on her face.
"I'm really sorry to do it, but it seems this is the best action to take. If nothing else, we'll get a lot of information out of it." Snow Ghost chimed in. If Shaggy is innocent, I'd say you two are also innocent. In that case, once we wake up, we'll have ourselves a nice little chat with Creeper and Wax Phantom. I vote Shaggy too."
"That's majority. Sorry about this," said Creeper as he and Wax Phantom took Shaggy to the rope. With Shaggy's body hanging, the voice announced innocent as the player fall into another sleep.
As they woke up, the bodies from the previous day had gone, and a fresh new set of dead bodies replaced them. The first one to be seen was the Wax Phantom, bullet in her head. Loudspeaker confirms that she was a killer. Not far away, Miner Forty-Niner was dead, shot in the back of the head, a gun og his own laying at his side. The loudspeaker confirmed him as innocent. And finally, Daphne was brutally stabbed in a similar manner as Velma. She was also innocent.
"We're down to three," Fred spoke calmly. "Because the game hasn't ended, it's safe to say there is only one more killer. Between the two of you, I think Creeper is the killer. He started the movement on Shaggy, and Wax Phantom was quick to agree with him. I vote for Creeper."
"Like I said earlier, if Shaggy came back innocent, we needed to take a look at you Creeper," Snow Ghost pointed out. "Anything to say in defense?"
Creeper stood there in silence. Eyes closed.
"Alright. I also vote Creeper," said Snow Ghost. Snow Ghost dragged Creeper over to where the rope was. Creeper didn't show any resistance, but at the same time he didn't exactly cooperate either.
"You got one!" the voice declares. "Now, you may have noticed that doors have not unlocked yet. A way out has not shown itself! I'm sure you're all wondering why. Well, at least one of you," the voice chuckled. He was obviously thrilled about the current situation.
"What are you even talking about!" Fred exclaimed, his face a strange mix of confusion and anger. "Creeper had to be the last of the killers. If he wasn't, then we would have lost the majority and lost after the last night!"
The voice continued to laugh, amused at Fred's anger.
Snow Ghost sauntered on over to Fred and stood with a relaxed posture. "Well friend, looks like we are in quite the pickle, but I have this all figured out."
"You do? Well, what's going on then?" Fred quickly questioned.
"It's an easy answer. Your explanation makes a lot of sense, but it doesn't account for one very important detail," Snow Ghost explained as he walked around the area. "You didn't account for the possibility of an independent." Snow Ghost stopped walking, as he was positioned behind Fred. "Like, for example, a serial killer."
Snow Ghost quickly got a hold of Fred's ascot and pulled tight, using it as a makeshift garrote. Fred began struggling, clawing at his ascot, trying to loosen it up to get a breath of air while kicking behind him, in an attempt to hit Snow Ghost.
"Now you see, a serial killer's goal is to kill everyone. Innocent or killer doesn't matter. It's all about being the last one standing. So, taking a serial killer into account, you lost after the previous night. There was no way you could have won. We just had to figure out who between me and Creeper won," Snow Ghost quickly explained while strangling Fred.
Snow Ghost keeping a tight grip on the ascot, drew a knife and repeatedly stabbed Fred until all life, and with it, resistance had faded from Fred's body. As Fred's corpse fell to the ground, the loudspeaker's laughter ceased as he caught his breath.
"Congrats! You know, it's not often I see an independent win. If I was wearing a hat, it would be off to you," the loudspeaker claimed.
Snow Ghost made a finger gun and pointed it up at the speaker making a motion as if he was firing it. He turned around and left the warehouse, as it once again fell silent.