Thanks to SovietKitty for his/her review of the story. About the murders: I'm not trying to copy you, promise on that! I just ran out of murder ideas, so I took some of yours and changed them around a bit. And next time, I will ask permission. (Thanks for not getting angry.) Also, if you think the chapters are too fast, yeah. I get it. I have a habit of hating slow things and just Blitzkrieg-ing through.

My train of thought about this story will be revealed at the very end. Enjoy this longer chapter!


Chapter 11

"5 Little Tanks try to make a stand

One is cut down,

And then there were 4."

"4 Little Tanks begin to cook

One gets burned,

And then there were 3."

"But how?" Erwin asked.

"What's going on?" came Miho's voice.

She ran in, followed by Yukari and Anzu.

"Anzu, why is your shirt wet?" Akio asked. "And why are you only wearing one slipper?"

"I spilt some water on it when I was getting a drink. I don't know where the slipper is," she answered. Erwin wasn't convinced.

Akio just narrowed his eyes at her.

"You, little-" he began but was cut off by Yukari.

"Hold your Panzers," she said.

"Har, har, very funny," Akio rolled his eyes. He gave Anzu the I'm-going-to-kill-you-once-I-find-out-for-sure stare. Anzu took a step back.

"How is this person getting around?" Miho asked.

"That's very funny," Akio sneered, still in a bad mood. "Weren't you the one that suggested secret passages?"

"Well, we didn't find any, so I ditched the idea," she said.

"Right now, that's our only explanation," Erwin said. "I think we should keep looking for these passageways.

"One big group, from now on," Akio said. "The little groups aren't working."

So, the remaining five went into the bathroom. They emptied the water from Noriko's lungs and placed her on her bed. Then they turned the bathroom inside out. Nothing was discovered until Miho found a doorway. She opened it.

"Guys?" Miho asked. "I think that I found something!"

The other four immediately rushed to take a look. Yes, there was a passage way. Miho stepped in, followed by Akio, Erwin, Yukari, and Anzu in that order.

"How'd you find it?" Akio asked.

"Part of it was still open," Miho answered. "It's very well disguised."

"Makes you wonder if the murderer did it on purpose," Erwin said.

"The murderer very possibly might've been in a hurry, and didn't shut it correctly," Yukari said.

"Well, I'm going with Erwin on this one," Akio said. "Better safe than sorry."

"Whatever- oof!" Miho suddenly tripped. "What was that?"

Akio bent over to pick it up. It was a slipper. Akio glanced at Anzu's feet. The two slippers matched.

"Caught red-handed, now are we?" Akio said. His voice was calm, but that was what made it scary to the diminutive girl.

"I swear, I didn't do it," Anzu stammered.

"You little maggot!" Akio shouted. "You killed my sister and another nine people! Are you sadistic?"

"No, I'm not!" Anzu managed. Akio was advancing on her. She looked to the others for help. No one moved except for Erwin.

"Akio, don't," She put a hand on his shoulder. "She's not worth it, you'll probably just get yourself landed in jail or worse."

"Fine," Akio said. "But if I catch her again, I'm going to use my gun to solve the problem."

"Guys, let's leave," Yukari said. "This place is creepy. And too damp. Way too damp."

The five exited with Anzu trailing behind the other four. Akio glanced at the clock.

"It's ten forty-five, I'm going to bed," Akio said.

"Me too," Miho said.

"And barricade your doors with something. A strong chair under the doorknob should help. And we saw that passage way. It only led to one room," Akio shot Anzu a glare.

"Then how did some of the other murders happen?" Miho asked.

"No idea," Erwin said.

Akio climbed into bed. He readied his weapon. He shoved the desk against the door and bolted the door shut. Tonight was going to be a long night.

Erwin was in her room. She had stacked something along almost every inch of her walls just to be safe. She didn't have a weapon, so she decided that a heavy book would do just fine.

Anzu just sat in her room, not caring about the death. She just stared at the door, which remained unlocked.

Yukari and Miho, once again, were in one room. They just stared at one another, praying that the next victim wasn't them. They sat on the bed, lights on. They were completely silent.

"Miho-san, do you want to go to sleep?" Yukari asked.

"I do, but I can't," Miho said.

"I can't either," Yukari whispered.

"I can't wait to- do you hear that?" Miho asked.

"What?"

THUMP!

Yukari and Miho just stared at each other.

"We have to check on the others!" Miho shouted.

The two zoomed down the hall the Akio's room. Miho tried but failed to open the door.

"Who's out there?" Akio shouted from inside the room.

"Just us!" Miho and Yukari said at the same time.

Akio creaked the door open just a little bit. "What do you want?" Akio snapped.

"We heard a thump," Miho said.

"So?"

"We thought it might be a murder," Yukari explained.

"We should check it out," Akio said. "Erwin, are you in there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Erwin said quietly. "Why?"

"We heard a thump. Stay here and we'll investigate," Miho said.

Anzu's room, however, was empty.

"I'm sure that she's up to something," Akio growled.

"Who knows?" Yukari sighed.

On the fireplace, only four tanks remained. Akio rolled his eyes.

Nice try, not falling for that one, he thought.

In her room, Erwin was waiting for the results of the search. She heard a loud rumble of thunder outside.

"We need to split up! We'll cover more ground that way!" Miho shouted. "I'll look by the house near the cliff!"

"I've the beach!" Yukari shouted.

"I'll take the other areas!" Akio bellowed above the howling wind. He held on to his field marshal cap so it wouldn't blow away. That would be a problem.

Thunder and lightning made a terrible sounding chorus of song. The wind picked up to a scream, several times almost knocking Yukari over.

She couldn't seem to find the Anzu anywhere. The beach was completely deserted, save for herself.

It didn't make sense. The island was only so big! There weren't any hiding spots. Or were there? Maybe some sort of- was that smoke?

The sharp tang of smoke interrupted Yukari's thoughts. What on earth? She trudged back up the hill to see a fiery glow from behind the house. Who in their right mind would set a fire?

A pained scream filled the air.

"What the-?" Yukari wondered.

Another scream.

"Yukari!" It was Erwin. "Get up here, help me put this out!" Yukari, scared now, charged the up the hill. Akio also barged up the other side, carrying a bucket of water. There was a clearing, the fire laid on a large piece of wood. A ring of fire was set around the wood. Worst of all, Miho was tied down on the wood.

"Who did this?" Akio shouted to Miho. There was a muffled answer, but no one heard.

It was horrible, the sight. Yukari tried to put the flames out with a bucket of water as Akio tried to get through it.

Miho emitted another scream. Akio shuddered. The sound would haunt him forever.

"Put it out! Put it out!" In desperation, Erwin tried to stomp it out. She only succeeded in setting her shoe on fire.

Miho screamed her final scream. The fires consumed everything left.

When the smoke cleared, the smell of burning flesh filled the area. Yukari promptly vomited.

Pinching her nose, Akio moved the body into the house with Erwin's help. Yukari stayed outside for some air.

Akio couldn't believe it. Anzu had slipped through their fingers!

"I need to take a walk," Yukari said from outside. "The smell is killing me."

"You can," Erwin said.

In truth, Yukari was running away. She bolted at full speed down to the beach. There, she cried. Her last surviving teammate was dead. The wind slapped her face, blowing her hair all over the place.

She couldn't go on. She didn't want to.

She cried. Her warm tears fell into the cold waves that lapped at her feet.

The sun rose, sending a few warm rays through the storm clouds. The sea continued to churn and shout. Yukari just sat there.

She didn't hear the snap of a branch behind her.


Ah! A disappearance and a murder! You should be happy! I gave you double today. See? The storm is back. Trust me, at the very end of the chapter, it will be awesome. And long. And very different from "10 Little Soldiers." One thing will be similar.

Thank you for reading and reviewing! One more thing before I go. I'm about to start another fic, completely my own idea. It was inspired by the Casablanca scene of "La Marsaillaisie. (Sorry French people if that's misspelled.) I would like the people from Chi-Ha tan, Maginot, Koala, Bonple, Waffle, and what countries they are modeled after. Then, what tanks they use. Thank you so so much!