Catherine's laughter echoed through the otherwise silent courtroom, bouncing off the walls and drilling into the brains of the onlookers. Even Monoputa was thrown for a loop; his jaw hanging open.
"That was nothing… I need more blood!" Catherine lunged for Devil Dog again but she quickly flew backwards.
"CATHERINE!" Monoputa snapped out of it, jumping up to his feet and stabbing a tiny finger at the nurse. "If you don't stop harassing Devil Dog, I'll execute you whether you're guilty or not!"
"Hehehe… hmph…" Catherine's chest heaved as she tried to calm down. "I… I can't help myself… we've been trapped in here for months… and I finally got to draw blood!"
"And that's all the blood you're gonna draw in this place!" Monoputa angrily toddled over to the deranged nurse. "I'm confiscating those needles from you! And I'm going to take all the ones in your office away too!"
"Wh-what? No! I-I need these!" Catherine twisted her body, trying to shield the needles from Monoputa's oncoming approach. As she did so, her eyes briefly locked with Sarah's. It was long enough for Sarah to see a lustful glint, signalling she would be next.
"Catherine!" Monoputa lunged at her, climbing her like a tree and snaking his way up her arm. "Give them to me!"
Catherine squirmed and flailed, letting out cries of distress while Monoputa, not losing his balance for a moment, perhaps defying physics, sat on her arm like it was his steed and pried one of the needles from her hand, tossing it away. It fell at Gunman's feet and the cactus jumped up and clung to the side of the podium like the sheer touch of it was toxic. Slowly, he bent down to grab it and held it behind his back, out of Catherine's sight.
While Gunman was taking care of that needle, Monoputa scrambled to Catherine's other arm and yanked the other one away. Despite Catherine tugging at the back of Monoputa's coat, he did not budge, his legs having a death grip around her limb.
"Hey, hot stuff!" Devil Dog snarled to Monoputa. She threw her pitchfork to him. "Catch this and kick her ass!"
Instantly Monoputa dropped the needle which landed with a little *tink* and began to roll away. Catherine made a start after it, her eyes crazed, but Monoputa caught Devil Dog's present and pressed the pointed end viciously against her neck. She stopped short, gasping for air and pulled at him even harder.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, or this goes through your THROAT!" Monoputa screeched enragedly.
Catherine's pupils grew twice their size and her arm weakly flopped to her side. Her face was getting redder by the second.
Revelling in the power, Monoputa waited a few torturous moments before continuing. "Now… we aren't going to have any more problems, are we, Catherine?!"
"...N...o…" The lizard creaked. "No… we won't…"
A sadistic smile later, Monoputa hopped to the floor and Catherine dropped to her knees, sucking in air like a vacuum cleaner. The prompter scooped up the runaway needle and looked around, puzzled.
"Er, senor Monoputa?" Gunman opened his palm and offered the other needle with an uncomfortable forced smile.
Monoputa winked as he took it, murmuring "Thanks, Gunshow." After tossing the pitchfork back to Devil Dog with a lovelorn sigh, he returned to his seat. "Alright you bastards, enough with the distractions! You just said that these two daddy-wannabes didn't put the guns in lost property, big whoop. Now sort out what happened to the kid! Let's get this going~!"
"S-senorita, we found evidence for this, yes?" Cactus Gunman looked at Sarah a bit nervously and she nodded.
"R-right." She tried to compose herself, still jittery from the ordeal. It didn't help when Catherine stood right beside her! "When we investigated Roulette Boy's room, Gunman and I found a crumpled up letter in his trash."
With a nervous side-glance to Catherine, she shakily pulled out the crumpled sheet of paper and read aloud its contents, receiving mixed reactions.
Roulette Boy,
For a while now I've watched you play alone and only seen you with company when Clock Master feels like joining you. You look so lonely. And I want to change that. I know the others will laugh when they see someone of my age playing with a kid, so how about you come and meet me in the playroom? Right now. If the others find this, I don't want them to mock me, so for now, I'll sign as:
Your secret friendmirerer~
Lowering the paper with a sigh, Sarah twirled a rebellious lock of hair that had escaped the constraints of her ponytail around her finger. "The murderer obviously wanted to take advantage of Roulette Boy's lonely state."
"And the little punk fell for that?!" Devil Dog seemed sickly amused. "Man, he walked right into that one! Hehehehe!"
"Quiet!" Clock Master snapped at her. "Roulette Boy was eight years old! There are no other children around for him to play with! It's no wonder he clung to that strand of hope!"
He sagged over his podium, his body language screaming regret. "And I should have stopped him…"
"O-oh, don't blame yourself, Clock Master," Steve soothed, forcing a smile. "You couldn't have known-"
Clock Master's neck snapped up faster than a strike of lightning. "But I DID! I… I met the boy on his way to visit this…!" He banged his fist on his podium. "This MURDERER!"
"Hm?" The revelation caused even Hell's Chef to muster a noise of surprise, his eyes flashing with interest. This whole ordeal was like one big recipe, stewing together…
"Huh? But that fleabag and I were… skulking around then too, and we never saw him." Gregory tilted his head in that creepy, questioning way of his.
"He was walking to the basement's second entrance while you two were in the lobby. You wouldn't have seen each other…" Clock Master's voice was laden with exhaustion and regret, and began to tremble. "But I did… He went so far as to tell me he was seeing a new friend! I took it for a new imaginary friend but I… I should have seen the signs! I… I even told him… To have a good time!" His hands moved to cover his face and he fell into a grief-stricken silence, oozing self-loathing.
"So that's why you organized the search party? Because of that, you were just worried for him?" Sarah clarified. How he even knew to summon the search had been gnawing at the back of her brain for some time now.
In response, a slow nod.
"You should have kept a better watch over him, my friend…" Gregory's eye glazed over as he leaned forward to give Clock Master a pointed look. "Don't you know you should learn from the mistakes of others?"
"Well, we know now that he definitely fell for that note," said Steve. He scratched his messy hair. "But where did it come from?"
"There was a pad of paper in the library…" Sarah added. "It had a big page torn out of it."
"Chef… this is yours?" Cactus Gunman nervously produced the pad of paper. "You use this for your recipes, no?"
"I didn't write the note!" Chef snapped. "I knew someone STOLE my notepad! If I did this, I wouldn't leave it right out in the open!" Chef unsheathed his knife and ran his finger along the dull side of the blade. "So many of you are thieves… when I find out who stole the notepad, I'll-"
"YOU'LL do nothing," Monoputa pointed at him, reclining back on his throne with a smirk. "Fun as it would be, I'M the one who does the killing!"
"You don't need to remind us…" Cactus Girl muttered with her arms crossed. She ground her teeth in anger that she could not do more to that wicked prompter. "So, Hell's Chef. What do you mean it was stolen? Stolen from where?"
"My kitchen, you fools!" Hell's Chef roared like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.
Steve put on his thinking cap. "W-well, that's not very secure, so... it's not a big surpri-"
Hell's Chef leered over the side of his podium and got in Steve's face. "If it's in the kitchen, it's mine. Anyone who takes from it will deal with ME!"
With a yelp of fright, Steve clattered to the floor. "W-wait, i-it wasn't me!"
"Hey." Cactus Girl threatened, blocking Chef's view of Steve and adopting a protective posture.
"Tubby, what did we just talk about~?" Monoputa's voice stayed cheery, but his expression showed he was near the end of his rope. "If I get one more violent outburst from any of you, votes will be cast immediately! And you don't want that, do you~?"
"Hrrgh…" Hell's Chef folded his arms.
"...Back on topic," Sarah ventured courageously. "You're saying you keep the notepad in the kitchen, Hell's Chef?"
"Yes…" Hell's Chef snarked.
"Then… what Steve said was right!" She deduced with a hint of pride. "Just like the nurse's office, the kitchen has no locks. So whoever wanted to use the notepad could have easily gone in and grabbed it, just like they did-" She abruptly broke off her excited rant with a wide-eyed glance at Catherine. She didn't want the word to perhaps trigger her into another fit.
"So the killer is also a thief on many accounts as well!" Clock Master glowered, dropping the side of his fist into an open palm with a satisfactory smack. "This wretch is certainly a bad apple. This makes things even more unforgivable!"
Sarah folded her arms in a vain attempt to give herself a feeling of security. She couldn't believe someone among them could be so despicable… Steve groaned and rubbed his arm uncomfortably.
"So much of this isn't tying together… Can we… Can we go over everything, just once?" He asked.
Cactus Girl smiled coolly at him. "I think that could do us all some good."
"Alright," Sarah nodded with acceptance, trying to forget the unease writhing in her stomach. "Well, it's obvious those things were stolen. The needles, I mean," she cast a quick, wary glance at Catherine, who instantly burst into a deep scarlet blush. "And... we established that the wounds on Roulette Boy weren't made by the needles, save for a few to pin it on Catherine."
"The… the nurse's office was in complete disarray…" Steve spoke up, scratching at his cheek and trying to do his part. "Even if it was dark and she was going on complete lack of sleep, Catherine knows that place like the back of her hand… I've seen her work."
"All of my drawers are labelled!" Catherine stated proudly. "Not that I need the labels, mind you. Like Steve said, I'm a professional."
"A professional who gets off on sticking her patients with needles…" Devil Dog hissed under her breath, rubbing the bloodied spot on her chest. "That's too twisted, even for me…"
"This… thief…" Hell's Chef squinted his glowing eyes and Sarah could practically see steam rising up from his collar.
"Do not forget, they stole my guns as well!" Cactus Gunman whined, tearing at his mustache.
"This was surely premeditated, no doubt about it," Gregory nodded sagely.
"There's more proof of that!" Sarah remembered, clicking her fingers like her thought sparking to life. "One of the books that Monoputa gave us all those weeks ago was in the library, and opened on Roulette Boy's page… whoever was in the library sure left in a hurry…"
"Wait!" Clock Master's eyes lit up. "Remember, Sarah? Some of us destroyed the books! I know I did; I threw it in the garbage pile once the garden was open."
"You're right…" Sarah smiled at Clock Master. "That will really narrow down the possible culprits!" Sarah's smile faded away and she felt a pang of sadness in her heart. "After Mummy Papa… I couldn't bear to look at the thing anymore. I threw it in the trash, too."
"I burned mine," Hell's Chef's baritone rumbled from his corner of the courtroom. "Right after getting it."
"Pfft, that idiot Angel Dog wouldn't let me keep the book!" Devil Dog stuck out her tongue in disgust at the mention of her alter ego. "No friggin' clue what she did with it, but I know it's not in our room anymore. I turned it inside out looking for it!"
"Catherine, I have seen your book in your office," Cactus Girl narrowed her eyes at the nurse. "You cannot deny it."
"Don't point your finger at me! You still keep yours in your room, sweetie!" Catherine reiterated. "I saw it with my own eyes when I came over to discuss…" Catherine paused to shoot Steve a quick, lecherous look. "...you know what."
"Big brother, I know you did not do this, but I have seen the book in your room as well," Cactus Girl arched her brows. "Care to explain?"
"S-self defense! I keep it for self defense purposes only!" Cactus Gunman shuddered. "I would never use it to kill someone else! Only to incapacitate them!"
Clock Master grunted angrily. "What about you, Steve and Gregory? What do you have to say for the locations of those heinous books?"
"I-it's uh… it's nowhere," Gregory stuttered. He felt like this was a flashback to an interrogation from Gregory Mama!
"Gregory." Clock Master stared at him seriously. "We have to know; for the sake of Roulette Boy and this trial!"
"My goodness! Alright, alright… It's in my room. I can't help it if I'm curious… Mama's weaknesses were particularly interesting," Gregory chuckled like a weight was off his chest. He shifted his gaze to Steve.
"Um…" Steve fumbled around with his fingers for a few heartbeats. "Okay, I-I also kept mine. I just wanted it out of anyone's sight! So I hid it in my room. I hope I never have to see that thing again…"
"Psh, so many of you just got rid of my hard work!" Monoputa clutched at his heart. "And after I went through so much trouble to keep on updating them! I'm wounded!"
"This doesn't really narrow things down…" Sarah sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "And what if someone stole someone else's book?"
"I would have noticed if mine was gone," Catherine flicked her tongue out. Everyone else who owned the books affirmed the same thing. That made Sarah raise her eyebrows; no one was lying about their book to pin it on someone else?
Things are already complicated enough…
"We might be… on the wrong track," Hell's Chef muttered.
"Then allow me to change to something more suitable. Cactus Gunman!" Clock Master puffed out his chest like an overconfident rooster, staring down Gunman in the most intimidating way he possibly could. "How do we know that you losing your guns wasn't an act? You have the most apparent motive for going after Roulette Boy. Him constantly threatening you and making rude remarks… they were all the empty threats of a child!"
"Unless…" Gregory's eyes widened. "Roulette Boy was in Cactus Gunman's nightmares…"
The entire courtroom seemed to shudder as everything went quiet. The mere mention of the nightmares made Sarah's knees shake. Every single night, she had horrifying dreams involving her housemates, usually Cactus Girl or Cactus Gunman. They became more and more horrible, her final few nightmares being downright unspeakable. Just thinking about them made Sarah feel like she swallowed a mouthful of cotton.
"I'm lucky I'm old and I've seen it all… there was nothing in those nightmares that wasn't already done to me by my mother…" Gregory chuckled darkly. "And Cactus Gunman's alibi still doesn't hold up. Him leaving early, right in the dead of night, so close to the time Roulette Boy died… and he is a gunman, after all. Does anyone else here know how to shoot a gun? I do, but it's been a long time… not to mention you all know where I was at the time of the murder."
"I don't," Clock Master shook his head. "If you put a gun in my hand, I wouldn't know what to do with it."
"I-I-I never even saw a gun in person before I came here!" Steve shook like a leaf. "I wouldn't b-b-be able to shoot one, and even if I wasn't shooting to kill… they're too loud…"
"Guns are so messy," Catherine gently stroked the bloodstains on the front of her uniform. "There are much more… elegant ways of drawing blood. It's such a waste to see something so beautiful splatter the floor like that…!"
"Guns are a waste," Hell's Chef didn't elaborate on that unnerving, stone cold statement.
"More fingers are pointing to you, Cactus Gunman…" Clock Master folded his arms and smirked. "What say you?"
"I… I…" Cactus Gunman spluttered, sweat pouring down his face.
Cactus Girl was quietly stewing in anger, but seeing her brother in distress finally pushed her over the edge.
"NO ME CHINGUES!" Cactus Girl screeched at Clock Master. Clock Master staggered backwards, caught off guard by the small girl's surprisingly harsh tone.
"I said it already and I'll say it again, my brother is not a good shot!" Cactus Girl slammed her fist on her podium. "You shouldn't suspect him! There were no failed bullets anywhere at the crime scene, no burned walls, no missed shots! Ayiyiyi, he is not faking either, I have known him my whole life and he could not hit a target if he had his gun pressed against it!"
"Some gunman you are, heheheh!" Devil Dog giggled.
Cactus Gunman turned beet red and pulled his poncho up over his nose, averting his eyes from everyone.
"I'm a much better shot than he is, even though I prefer my lasso. In our wild days, I used to have to snatch the gun from my brother and hit the shots he kept missing…" Cactus Girl smiled a bit at that memory. "Mierda! I swear, brother, you would be lost without me!"
"Oh seester, you…" Cactus Gunman wiped a tear from his eye, his poncho falling back to its proper place. "Thank you…"
"... Cactus Girl…" Sarah drummed her nails on her podium nervously. She had a gut feeling, and she didn't like it. "You said… you snatched your brother's guns a lot back when you were in reality?"
"She did, and I can attest to that…" Cactus Gunman sighed a bit. "I'm sure all of my targets were hit by her in the end…"
"And you want to protect your brother, more than anything. I can tell that much," Sarah made eye contact with Cactus Girl, whose lips were parted, but she saw no other hint of being fazed. "Is it possible that… you had nightmares about Roulette Boy hurting or killing your brother? And those instincts just kicked in?"
A low rumble started in Cactus Girl's throat. "No! I had no such nightmares! And I would never steal from my brother; how dare you accuse me of such a thing?! Wouldn't that make the blame go to him if the guns were found?!" Her face reddened. "You have no proof!"
"What are you doing, senorita?!" Cactus Gunman hissed at Sarah, his eyes crazed with fear. "Please-!"
"Planting the needles would have made the blame go to Catherine," Sarah observed, her voice smooth and cool like ice. "Putting the guns in the lost and found would make sense… anyone could have tossed them there. After seeing how Catherine behaved today, I can't imagine she was the one who did it. She wouldn't have been able to control herself with those needles, and she would have killed Roulette Boy with them, no matter how long it took…"
"No I wouldn't have!" Catherine wiped a bit of drool from her chin. "Although draining someone's blood like that would be… exhilarating… Roulette Boy was a mere child! I would never do something like that to someone so young! I wouldn't even think of hurting a child! What kind of depraved lizard do you take me for?!" Tapping her chin and briefly glancing at Steve, she said: "If it had been someone else… I wouldn't have used a gun, that's for sure."
"You still have no proof that the guns were used by me; I was never seen with them." Cactus Girl tossed a braid over her petite shoulder.
"She wasn't, so Sarah, please stop this…" Cactus Gunman urged.
Sarah frowned. "I'm not so su-"
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Steve blurted, tears streaming down his face. "I… I don't want to die! I can't die! And I saw the guns… in Cactus Girl's room! I'm sorry..." He added, his voice almost inaudible and his heart tearing from his chest, begging to run away.
"What?!" Cactus Gunman jumped back, his face turning a paler green.
Cactus Girl went very quiet, bowing her head and shadowing her face beneath her sombrero.
"W-we both had nightmares, we barely got any sleep, so we spent a night together…" It was clear talking about this was paining Steve. Sarah could only imagine how conflicted he felt. "I-I saw the guns in her drawer, when she was changing into her pajamas..."
"YOU WATCHED MY SEESTER CHANGE?! PENDEJO, VETE A LA VERGA-" Cactus Gunman began spouting Spanish like an angry, boiling geyser.
"Not now!" Sarah chastised, Gunman shut his mouth, but Sarah could clearly see him shaking with rage. Pushing that out of her mind, she exhaled and focused. "Go on."
"W-well, Roulette Boy died the next night, and the guns were in the lost and found… I just… I can't ignore it! I'm so sorry, Cactus Girl! I'm sorry!" Tears were flowing freely down Steve's face now.
Cactus Girl's head shot up and she whipped to face Steve. "How do you know the guns were not stolen from me?" Cactus Girl's rebuttal was quick, but she was grinding her teeth, clearly irritated at Steve's accusation.
"B-because I know you, Cactus Girl. I've… I've seen how upset you were whenever Roulette Boy would make fun of or… or threaten your brother. You… did you… take the guns so… Cactus Gunman wouldn't try to murder anyone with them?" After he finished speaking, Steve shoved his thumbnail into his quivering mouth and began to chew on it.
"Hah…" Cactus Girl pulled the brim of her sombrero down over her face again.
"Hey, that's right… you said you had to protect him back when you were in reality…" Catherine folded her arms. "You love your brother, that much is clear… do you love him so much that you would get rid of a person who was a danger to him, even if it meant you would die in his place?"
"..." Cactus Girl wasn't speaking.
"Roulette Boy wasn't a danger to anyone!" Clock Master protested. "He was a child! All of his threats were empty! They were jokes, pranks… he had no malice in his heart!"
"Actually, the fact that he was a kid might make him more dangerous!" Devil Dog cackled. "Kids are stupid. They don't realize that their actions have permanent consequences. Remember James? He went after Judgement Boy with a knife, so soon after we were given the first motive!"
Gregory paled but Devil Dog kept going.
"Hey, Cactus Girl, I know all the nightmares we've had play on our deepest, darkest fears…" Devil Dog leaned forward, a huge smirk on her face. "Losing your brother… that's the worst thing that could happen to you, right? Ha! Well, if you don't fess up, you'll lose him forever. Actually… you'll lose him either way! You can't be with him if you're dead!"
"Hah…" Cactus Girl said again, her head still down as she bunched up her skirt in her fists.
"Seester, please say something!" Cactus Gunman begged, his voice choked.
Cactus Girl's head snapped up and she pulled up the brim of her hat, revealing her face to the court. Her expression was indescribably terrifying; her eyes had glazed over and she seemed completely nonchalant, despite her accusations. Daintily folding her hands at her waist, she gazed into the distance, a faraway look in her eyes. Sarah couldn't believe she didn't notice it before, but Cactus Girl's eyes were ringed in dark circles. Are they there because…?
"I hated him," Cactus Girl's delicate, cruel statement pierced the silence of the courtroom.
"...hmm?" Hell's Chef's eyes widened a bit.
"Hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him HATED HIM HATED HIM HATED HIM HATED HIM HATED HIM HATED HIM!"
As Cactus Girl chanted those words, she got increasingly angrier. By the time she spat out the last two, she was tugging on her braids so hard Sarah feared she would rip them out.
"Roulette Boy… was the WORST kind of scum!" Cactus Girl shrieked. "People like that… people so heartless know no age! Everything he said felt like… like a claw in my brain! Saying such insulting things to my brother… every time I saw Roulette Boy, I just wanted to make him shut up for good!"
"You're… you're horrible…" Clock Master was too terrified to elaborate on his insult. His usually pinkened face had gone completely stark white.
"I am… used to it, you know." The faraway look was back in Cactus Girl's eyes. "Back in reality, I solved all of my problems with violence. Choking with a lasso, a shot through the head… anyone that so much looked at my brother wrong would be taken care of by me." Cactus Girl leaned forward, her face shadowed. "It is hard to let go of old habits. I tolerated that little Roulette Boy bastard for far too long."
"Seester… are you… you're…" Cactus Gunman spluttered, his red-rimmed eyes threatening tears.
"You're… confessing?" Steve squeaked. "I… I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"It's not your fault…" The corners of Catherine's mouth twitched.
"Cactus Girl… you're the only one who could have done this. The guns in your room… your motive… it all adds up…" It absolutely pained Sarah to say it, but there was no other way. "But… why? Why would you risk your brother's life? Why would you risk… all of our lives? I thought we were friends…"
"Fear… is part of nature, is it not?" Cactus Girl wasn't making eye contact with anyone, instead choosing to stare at the wall. "I have stared death in the face many times, yet I still fear it… but… I want to protect my brother, more than anything. He was all I had… before I came here. I remember that much." Cactus Girl sniffled a bit, but quickly bounced back to her terrifyingly neutral, glazed expression. "My dreams… were so real. Roulette Boy murdering my brother in front of me… and mocking me for failing to protect him. Saying that his stupidity and incompetence rubbed off on me… mierda, I woke up in tears every time. The dreams got more and more real. I could smell the blood. I could feel the sweat trickling down my face. Roulette Boy stabbed me in the leg in one dream… and I woke up with an intense pain in the same spot. These were no ordinary dreams. That… was a premonition, I know it was. It was too real… I had to stop it… for the sake of my brother, even if it meant… I would die in his place…"
"Uh, it totally wasn't a premonition!" Monoputa raised his hand. "I just know how to make 'em feel really real!"
"... w… h… a… t…?" Cactus Girl slowly turned to face Monoputa, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. "B...ut…!"
"Yep! It was all in your head, sister!" Monoputa winked with the most satisfied smile Sarah had ever seen. "The boss and I have a talent for this stuff. Everything, all of it, was a lie to get you kiddies to kill, kill, KILL! Ahahahahahaha!"
"That… Th...at… can't…" She fumbled.
"Oh yes it can~!" The prompter stood up and twirled on his chair. "And it looks like someone here totally FELL FOR IT!"
"I… I…" Cactus Girl lowered her head. "Hehe… hehehe… heheheheheHAHAHAHAHA!"
She leant back tremendously, her hands on her chest, tear droplets peaking out at the corner of her eyes as she laughed out the last ounce of her happiness and fell into a delirium. Then, she smiled a full blown smile that looked like it had been incorrectly plastered on her face. Her eyes bulging and voice giddy, she stared at Cactus Gunman. "Are you happy, brother?! Have I made you proud?! I did this all for YOU… To keep you SAFE! I wanted us to be happy together, like I know we were before! Before this hell hole! Before that brat! I wanted you to be safe over me! And I put everything I forged here in the dumpster to make that happen! Even Steve! And I did it for YOU!"
She tilted her head back to laugh. "And now… Hahahaha! Can you believe it? It was all for nothing! I was such a fool…! Oh, my naive stupidity… You always said I was embarrassing, brother, and you are right. I'll never be with the ones I love… Such a fool fool fool fool FOOL! Hehehehehe! I am a fool who deserves to die! Monoputa! Start the vote!"
"Cactus Girl… No…" Steve sobbed. He shakily reached out and grasped her arm. "I still… need you...!"
Cactus Girl's eyes were transfixed at Steve's hand and slowly, they travelled up his arm until she finally met his gaze. His helpless gaze. His helpless gaze begging her, pleading with her…
...And she swooped toward him, grabbing at his shirt and pulling him into a passionate kiss.
On Cactus Girl's other side, Devil Dog pointed inside her mouth and made fake vomiting noises while Hell's Chef rolled his eyes and pointedly turned his back to Steve. Sarah's heart leapt as Gunman broke out of his stunned trance and dashed out from behind Devil Dog to his sister. He wrenched her out of her loving embrace and pulled her into a tight hug. Steve, covered in scratches, clenched his fists.
"Brother…" Cactus Girl wrapped her arms around Gunman and buried her face into his poncho.
"Seester, I… I knew it was you from the start. Your handwriting… if you told me about this… if you told me about your worries-" Cactus Gunman's voice was heavy and choked.
Cactus Girl laughed in spite of everything. "You know I am not one to share my troubles. I made a stupid mistake, and I… I will pay the price… but brother… please, promise me two things."
Cactus Gunman released his sister from his embrace, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Anything."
"Please… get out of here alive. I… I did this to protect you. I don't want to die in vain… if… if I do, I'll beat you up when you join me in Hell!" Cactus Girl's eyes were filling up with fat tears.
Cactus Gunman followed suit, tears rolling down his face. He couldn't believe this was happening; his sister, his only memory of his life outside of this cursed place, his anchor, his only family… she was going to die. It still hadn't fully registered yet… still, his heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach. "I promise…"
Sarah couldn't help crying as well. Her vision completely blurred and she buried her face in her hands. She felt someone pat her on the back, followed by Catherine's voice murmuring "There, there…"
"And… and, don't remember Cactus Girl. Don't remember the one who lost her mind, the one who fell victim to nightmares she thought would happen…" Cactus Girl looked up at her brother and smiled a genuine, tearful smile. "Remember Evita Arias, your beloved little seester, who would do anything to protect you."
"Th-that's…" Cactus Gunman sobbed so loudly the floor shook and he pulled his sister back into a giant hug.
"That's ENOUGH, that's what that is!" Monoputa banged his gavel. "We're voting this instant! I'm sick of all this sappy bullcrap! Beer Master, return those stupid guns to 'brother' over here." Monoputa put on his best Cactus Girl impression at that word, sneering, while Clock Master obeyed. "It'll be a nice memory of your idiot sister's mistake!"
"H-how dare you…!" Cactus Gunman's fists clenched. His expression faltered as Clock Master tapped his shoulder with one of the guns, which he snatched back.
"Brother, it's okay…" Cactus Girl warned. "Don't do anything stupid…"
"We all know who the murderer is, so let's get this rolling!" Monoputa rubbed his hands together. "Please pull the lever in front of you and vote for who you know is the culprit!"
After an unanimous vote, the usual slot machine video was displayed on the enormous monitor, this time stopping on Cactus Girl's face. As the victorious music and applause played, Cactus Girl stepped back from her podium, bowed her head, and put her hands in the air.
"I am ready," she said quietly, closing her eyes.
"No…" Steve reached a shaky hand towards Cactus Girl. "No, no, NOOOOOO!"
"Let this be a lesson to you, Stevie-boy," Monoputa twirled his gavel as the big red button on its silver pedestal popped out in front of him. "In my world, there are no happily ever afters."
SLAM!
CACTUS GIRL HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. COMMENCING EXECUTION.
OFFING THE OUTLAW
In an instant, a long rope with a wide noose at the end flung out from a new opening in the rainbow wall. It fell down past Cactus Girl's sombrero, over her head and sat on her shoulders. Cactus Girl opened her mouth to comment when it tightened exponentially to fit around her neck. With a splutter, she was yanked back, into the rainbow striped passage and vanished out of sight.
"Move it, you bastards! Go, go, go~!" Monoputa shrieked joyously as he held an air guitar, performing cyclic strums with each 'go'.
Gregory lazily glanced down the passage. "Come again?"
"Urgh, FOLLOW THAT CACTUS!" He boomed in reply.
Cactus Girl herself grasped at the noose, tearing it away from her neck in the hopes of catching fleeting breaths. She barely noticed as the decoration change from rainbows to depictions of isolated sandy deserts.
The tunnel soon broke open into a vast, western ghost town that seemed eerily familiar. The sun beat down harshly and the buildings were run down and ruined. With a SMACK, Cactus Girl's back bashed into a hard wooden object that made her ache. She slid up the unknown object, or objects, until she hovered just above them, then was dropped lightly to her feet. She was standing on boxes.
Something that felt like disappointment welled inside her. Her head moved to the source of a nearby chuckle. There, Monoputa sat on a railing some ways above her with a knife in one hand and the cut end of her rope in the other. The rest trailed off into the distance.
"Don't get too comfortable, sister," Monoputa smirked as he tossed the knife into the sand. It's blade speared the sand and vibrated with the force. Monoputa tied her rope to the railing.
She smiled and closed her eyes. This was the death she deserved.
"Seester!"
"Cactus Girl!"
Her brother, Steve and all the others were running up to her, shouting her name. Monoputa finished her knot and warned them they would join her in death if they neared. In a confining semicircle, they spread, enclosing Cactus Girl in a ring of death.
"Wanna hear my Spanish, Cactus Girl?" Monoputa asked, jumping down in front of her and lying on his back. "Hasta la vista!"
His tiny, powerful legs kicked at the boxes beneath her and time seemed to slow down. She plummeted, and so did her regrets in huge downpours of tears. The noose tightened; choking, binding, crushing. She wrenched at it, trying to pry it from her constricted neck which began to get wetter and wetter from her crying. Everything began to fade and blur, and she heard a noise at the end of her dying world.
"What are you waiting for?!" Steve shoved Cactus Gunman's shoulder. "Shoot the rope! Now!"
The man gasped and fumbled at his holsters, sweat beading on his forehead. He brought his right gun out, cocked it, and aimed the best he could.
Monoputa, who returned to reclining on the railing, jumped up in shock and dove off at lightning speed, somersaulting at he made contact with the ground. He sprinted with all the power he could muster and flung himself at Gunman's arm. It dragged down right as he pulled the trigger and the bullet went off course…
...sinking through the soft flesh of Cactus Girl's forehead.
Her struggling ended, her face frozen in a look of shock. All life drained from her eyes, her cheek still slick with tears as her body swung from the rope, blood pouring out of the bullet wound and down her face. Her fingers were locked between her neck and the rope, in a permanent struggle for a lost freedom.
A heavy silence fell, and Monoputa's knife toppled to its side.
"Well even I didn't see that one coming! Ahahahahahaha!" Monoputa's aggravating, piercing laugh echoed and continued on for an eternity.
"Se-seester?" Gunman quavered softly.
"You…" Sarah peered at Steve through her tear-blurred vision. His voice with thick with emotion. "You… YOU BASTARD!"
He reeled back and swung his fist forcefully, powerfully connecting it with Gunman's face. The remaining cactus was flung to the ground, kicking up a plume of dust and when it settled, he was cradling his left cheek with nothing but horror on his face. Sarah wasn't sure whether it was horror at the loss of his sister or at Steve's aggressive actions. She settled for somewhere in between.
"I… I told you to save her!" Steve was shaking with emotion. It was clear to any onlooker he was in immense pain. "We were all counting on you, Gunman! You were the only one who could! For both of us! For her!"
Gunman blinked angrily. "But Monoputa-"
"Why couldn't you have been a better shot?! If you were actually good at what you did, you could have shot in time and you could have hit the rope! She could have still been here…! Right…now…!" Steve faltered, too overcome to continue and weakly trying to choke back sobs. He resorted to one last angry kick in the dust, splaying sand onto his enemy.
Gunman wanted to defend himself; somehow justify his own weakness to lessen the pain. In the end, there was nothing. His sister's death was really on him.
Sarah couldn't think of anything to say. What could she say? No words could hinder the twisting in her heart as Steve trudged up to Cactus Girl's corpse, blubbering apologies. In a last attempt for comfort, her feet lead her to Gunman and sat her down beside him she looked at him, their tear streaked faces a perfect match.
"Sarah…" Gunman murmured, his voice lost.
She pulled him in tight, resting her head in the brim of his sombrero, allowing a few more tears to fall. "I'm here."
"My my this is sad," Gregory casually surveyed his companions. "Can't say I haven't seen worse, of course," he chuckled.
Next to him, Clock Master had folded his arms with something like satisfaction or a sense of things having fallen into place. He stared at Steve using Monoputa's knife to cut down Cactus Girl's corpse. He felt Sarah's eyes and when he turned to her, his gaze softened into pity and sorrow, then hardened when he heard a fresh laugh. Devil Dog was snickering away, muttering to herself about "entertainment". Hell's Chef glared at her, but his death stare was interrupted by a sobbing Catherine asking him how he was coping.
Monoputa began to wheeze out of his laughter and straightened up with a happy smile.
"Ah, wasn't that lovely~? Whoa, whoa, HEY!" Monoputa jumped to his feet and charged to Steve who was cradling Cactus Girl's body. "Put the body down, kid! Those things are for me and Death to deal with!"
"The… body...?" Steve slowly turned his head to Monoputa, his face full of rage. "This isn't just a BODY-"
"IT IS NOW! She's dead, Snow White! D-E-A-D, dead! So her body goes with the rest of the DEAD folks!" Monoputa deeply exhaled and raised his voice. "Now the rest you who are still alive better head to the elevator until another one of you kicks it. That'll be fuuuun~! Until the next thrill!"
Monoputa nodded as everyone departed back through that wretched tunnel that lead Cactus Girl to her doom, and was now their path of escape. Sarah helped Gunman to his feet and he stared blankly at his sister while she lead him out. There, Catherine offered her hand to sobbing Steve, who took it and leaned on her for support.
"It… it was me… wasn't it, Sarah?" Gunman whispered faintly. "I… I did it."
She blinked sadly then resolutely shook her head. "No. Monoputa did it. If he hadn't moved your arm, you would have saved her."
"If… If I was better…" Gunman hiccuped. They entered the passage.
"You did the best you could," was all Sarah could say. "And… who knows what Monoputa would have done if you shot her down…"
"I would rather… have died in her place…" was the last thing Gunman said before falling silent.
Gunman bowed his head as he trudged on, tears rolling down his face.
He still wouldn't say a word, but he held Sarah close for the whole elevator trip.
8 PEOPLE STILL ALIVE