Burning
Shouta steps from the room different. There's no immediate tell to what is different, just that he is.
He responds to Yamada and Shinsou on auto-pilot, barely paying them any heed at all. He drops Eri's hand with the excuse to survey around.
A steady gait - the thump thumping of his feet against metallic flooring. The nervous chatter of the people around him fade away, the only sounds not drowned out are only sounds that he makes.
Something squirms, coils, itches and hungers under his skin.
His eyes scan the group of people and it's just prey, prey, prey- until they land on a woman in maroon. Her eyes are on him as well, and she's predator.
She's different. Like him.
The silent acknowledgement between them passes in an instant, and Shouta steps further into the room.
Prey they may be - but that would mean they were strongest when they were in danger, when they were together. Shouta would need to be careful - so he plays along like nothing's wrong.
This was survival, after all.
He scouts out the ship with Yamada, committing every detail to memory. He memorizes all the nooks and crannies, all the spots where he can tuck away into - where he could tuck remains into - spaces between the observing cameras and where the lights couldn't quite reach.
Muscles coiled and insides scrambled. There's something about him eager and hungry but ever so patient as he effortlessly sabotages the ship to separate their group. Something about him that lurks just under the flesh as he strides his way to his selected hunting ground.
Shouta's background as an underground hero suits him well now. Instinct and experience work in unison as he works on setting up an ambush.
Red would be his first target. The young man simply knew too much - would be able to sniff him out and rally the others against him. Red was a threat, and therefore would be the first to go.
Perching on one of the electrical cabinets towards the back, he sabotages the lights.
A quick virus sent through his tablet, and soon only he and Maroon would be able to see more than a few feet in front of them. He wonders if this is what a cat's world is like, once the night has bathed it in darkness.
Red is the first to arrive and the first to die.
His insides are suddenly outside - warped and twisted into something distinctly non-human. They writhe and thrash with a mind of their own, twisting and tearing his prey in an instant.
Blood drips from his sickle-laden tentacles like dew from a rose's thorns.
He kills. He consumes. Again and again and again. Until four people have succumbed to his trap - their bodies rendered to shreds and the remaining organs and bones strewn about.
The room glistens with blood and viscera, and pride in his skills leaves him wanting more.
The way the monster rends (b̴l̷oom̶s̵) from his form - the way he rends (b̴l̷o̵o̷m̶s̵) from his form (spider lilies grow where there's death) - is such a pleasant pain. Sweet like cyanide. A living rot.
A wicked smile bares his teeth as he takes a moment to bask in the euphoria.
Oh how sweet he thinks.
Everytime he lets the thing inside loose, there is always a moment of recovery afterward. A moment for his human mask to breathe.
It's in this cooldown that he hears a pair of footsteps come his way.
(Even without his teeth, he was still dangerous. He could easily overwhelm the two even unarmed, kill them - )
It's Shinsou and Eri that step into the room, and the world comes crashing down around him. Ice floods his veins and it's like Shouta has suddenly come back to his senses. What had he done?! What had he done -
"Shinsou! Eri!" He cries and runs up to them. At the back of his mind, he grows keenly aware of the bodies stacked in the corner. At this angle, they wouldn't be able to see them. Of all people to find his mess, it shouldn't be children anyway.
(And if they do see them, his mind hisses, you will have to kill them.)
He nearly snarls at the idea. Shaking it out of his mind he asks, "Are you two okay? Where are the others?"
Shinsou, from where he had been hunched over from the near-heart attack that Shouta's sudden appearance must have startled from him, finishes composing himself.
Before he can provide him an answer, a horn blares and Shouta grits his teeth in extreme discomfort. Lights come on, so bright and flashing that he almost wants to break them.
Shinsou and Eri don't show this same discomfort.
Quickly schooling his features, he perks his ear as Shinsou speaks up - face going pale.
"A body has been reported." The teen looks up at him, eyes wide, "An emergency meeting's been called, we're to report to the cafeteria."
Shouta swallows, Eri moving to press into his side. He rests a hand against her back, feather-light.
"We best hurry then."
Before they can even set another foot, metallic rings materialize from the backs of their suits and move to hover over their heads. Bright light bathes them, and through it he can just make out their bodies dematerializing.
When he opens his mouth to scream for the others, he finds himself gasping at the cafeteria table - Shinsou and Eri looking just as horrified. He collects himself instantly, looking around the table to see the others had been teleported there too.
The other survivors, that is.
Of the fifteen people that started, five had already perished. Four to his own hands.
Four people that he's killed.
A humming noise has him whipping his head around. Robots, not unlike those of UA, pull a cart hosting several bodies - all wrapped in sleek black body bags.
He's killed people.
Shouta's quick to keep Eri from turning around and looking. Shinsou curses something under his breath from his right.
He's killed people!
Swallowing the sudden dryness from his throat, Shouta watches in horror as the robots pile the bodies into the airlock. He slaps a hand over his mouth and haunches in on himself, quickly turning away from his victims. (Surprisingly, the squirming thing inside - it sits still, likely stunned by whatever strobing effect the emergency meeting inflicted.)
"Oh god-" He murmurs.
Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.
Eri wraps her hand around his wrist, and suddenly he schools his features.
Something was wrong with him. He wasn't acting logically. Something was wrong with him and he needed to confess or who knows what he would do next-
"Everything's fine." He lies without thought.
I need to confess. I will kill more!
Dull eyes staring straight ahead, he waits patiently for the meeting to truly begin. The airlock whooshes as the robots trigger the button. All the living remain frozen. Silent.
"I don't think they are actually dead." Brown blurts.
Instantly, the table erupts on the man. To his left, Yamada is leaning over the table, arguing that that is not a safe way to think. Most are quick to back him up. Others look like they are on the fence.
A passive observer, Shouta lets them feud.
Their optimism was admirable, but in the face of reality it was obscuring their judgment. Shouta was no better.
Curiously, Maroon is the one person subtly backing Brown up. Attempting to get the others to be more lax? More prone to taking risks? It was a good play, and maybe one Shouta himself would have helped instigate, if he hadn't still been reeling from the idea of becoming a murderer.
So, he remains composed and silent. Watching as the others grow heated.
Someone finally broaches the topic of who could have killed them. Surprisingly, no fingers are pointed. Everyone gives alibi's and no one knows enough about the ship or anything about it to narrow it down. Not yet.
And then Tan says, "At least one of the killers was within Eraserhead's group."
The hair on the back of his neck stands on end, and he can barely hide the snarl creeping onto his face. Arms crossed, he fixes the man a cold glare.
"Care to elaborate?"
Tan quickly tosses up his hands, "No, that's not an accusation against the heroes. Someone from the group you led had to have been the killer. White was found by Green in Security. Even though we don't know the location of the other four who died, we can assume they were also in the southern end of the ship due to the alibi's of everyone else."
Tan was smart.
Shouta would have to kill him the first chance he got. Maroon catches his eye, and something unspoken passes in her steely gaze.
Tan was hers.
Like Yamada and Shinsou and Eri were his. People they didn't want to kill. They were special.
In the end, this would only bring heartbreak.
Ignoring that for now, he looks away from her challenging gaze and settles down.
"Unless one of the pairs from Present Mic's group was lying, most of the people from that group filtered to the southern end of the ship and were killed there." Tan continues.
"Lying, huh?" Yamada's eyes are drawn to a smudge on the table which he unconsciously picks at with his thumb. It was obvious he didn't like the idea of a betrayer.
Shinsou clears his throat, "There's also the chance that the imposters vented - meaning they can fit in the airducts to travel room to room. I don't know how it would apply in real-life, but a lot of this stuff here has been stretching to make things fit like in the game."
A collective wince passed through the more active speakers.
Green, eyes puffy from mourning her husband, looks up, "Oh dear."
Groaning, Brown rhetorically asks, "Any more bad news we should know about?"
Cyan raises her hand. The action is more astonishing than most had likely been expecting considering the previous outbursts of discussion, and the resulting silence spurs her to speak.
"Um, not to add on more bad news-" She bites her lip and lowers her hand back down, "But I checked the oxygen supplies and it says we only have five more days worth."
Immediately, several people stand from their seats in panic.
"We have a limited supply?!"
"We should be able to finish well before then-"
"What if the oxygen is sabotaged-"
Shouta ignores all the angry voices, focusing on something new - or rather, the lack of something.
The gentle hum of the ship - something that had long since settled into background noise - was now quiet. He cranes his head around, looking out the massive window.
Once creeping ever so slowly by, the stars no longer move with their passage.
"The ship has stalled?" He breathes. It draws the attention of a few others, and they too turn to look out the window.
Yamada squawks a "You're kidding!?"
"Oh, well if that isn't just peachy." Brown grumbles out.
"Maybe we just need to finish a specific task to get the engines started again?" Coral pulls up her tablet, "I have one there and in the reactors…?"
"It's the emergency meeting-" Shinsou says, looking like the breath had been punched out of him, "All the energy on the ship is being funneled here."
At the realization, the crew falls silent.
"So," Tan pinches the bridge of his nose, "We end the meeting. Travel together in one big group for our tasks. Get it all done in, what, a little over a day or two?"
It would mean working through the night, but theoretically they could fix the ship like that.
And then what would happen to him and Maroon?
Something squirms in agitation behind his abdominal wall. From her spot across from him, Maroon visibly pales.
They couldn't win this.
Someone distantly asks what would keep them from being separated again, but it sounds far off. Like his head was underwater. He processes none of it. Shouta actively fights to keep his breathing normal - what could he say to that and not sound like he was acting against them? They couldn't win this.
Maroon stands from her seat - and Shouta knows she is about to blow their cover. Before she can open her mouth, the lights shut off with a heavy click.
Instantly everyone checks their tablets, and when Shouta leans over to look at Shinsou's it shows the same image as his.
"Emergency Meeting Ended. Entering Rest Period."
Shinsou parrots the last sentence back, "Entering rest period?" He taps at his tablet and finds it unresponsive, "This wasn't in the game. I can't pull up any info on our tasks or even the ship itself."
With a bone-weary sigh fitting her age, Green says, "It does feel pretty late."
Yamada, from where he had also been fiddling with his tablet, sighs too. He was growing frustrated, "It doesn't look like we can access anything. I don't think we can do anything during this 'night cycle'."
Unwanted relief floods through Shouta - they still had a chance at this.
His own tablet having entered its own resting period state (meaning neither he nor Maroon could access their sabotage system), he looks at the little countdown clock until this night cycle ended. Exhaling the last of his stress through his nose, his eyes draw to the gathered table.
"Eight hours." His voice is quiet, but the group falls to attention anyway. "Eight hours until we can begin again."
Thank you so much for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed!
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Round one survivors:
Aizawa & Eri -Black
Yamada - Yellow
Shinsou - Lilac
Tan (young office man), Maroon (young office woman)
Brown(salaryman)
Green(bee grandma)
Coral(young woman)
Cyan(college girl)