Chapter 5: The First Victim

Naomi laid on the bed, alone in the infirmary. It's been awhile since Seiko, Dashi, and Tweak went out to look for Yuka. She was getting worried.

Finally unable to stand the wait any longer, Naomi got up from the bed and went to the closed door. Naomi put her hand on the door and tried to open it… but it was locked.

"Why's the door locked?" She wondered.

On closer inspection, Naomi noticed there was no visible bolt keeping the door closed, nor any other evidence that it's been locked at all.

"What?" She cried. "But if it's not locked… then why won't it open?!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of laughing children echoing through the room. Naomi gasped and looked around, trying to find the source of the laughter.

"Are those… children?" She gulped.

Suddenly, another voice spoke. It was the voice of a woman. There was nobody else in the room with Naomi, and she was starting to freak out.

"Let's all go on a field trip together over summer vacation." Suggested the voice.

"Who… What?" Naomi gulped, searching around the room frantically.

Suddenly, Naomi's ear started to ring. She cringed as she put her hand over her ear.

"My head hurts so bad." She whimpered. "I can't stop this ringing in my ear."

The laughter of children echoed again and Naomi looked over to the door. She gulped at what she saw.

The door was latticed with countless strands of black hair, rooting it in place. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, then they went out completely. Through the blackness, there was another sound.

"Is… is someone there?" Naomi gulped.

The sound continued through the room. It sounded like a ball-point pen scribbling away on a sheet of paper. Slowly, Naomi turned to the desk that was in the room. She slowly approached the desk, but she saw nothing.

"Sachi." Replied the voice again. "Have you come to find me?"

Suddenly, a black spirit appeared in front of Naomi. Naomi gasped and screamed, running around the room as the spirit chased her. As Naomi ran, the floor opened up with more holes. Naomi ran to the door, trying to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. Naomi tried to burn the hair off the door using the matches she had in her pocket, but the hair wouldn't light. Naomi looked over to the medicine cabinet. Inside there would be bottles of alcohol. She could use that to drench the hair and then the hair would light.

Avoiding the black spirit, Naomi ran to the medicine cabinet, grabbed the alcohol, and ran back to the door. After hastily splashing alcohol all along the edges of the door, Naomi lit a match in an attempt to burn through the seemingly endless strands of hair.

With a sizable whoosh and a waft of foul-smelling heat, the hair lit up, then hardened and fell away, freeing the door and allowing it to open. Naomi threw the door open and ran outside, slamming the door behind her in an attempt to lock the black spirit inside.

Naomi backed away from the door as the spirit continued to bang on it.

"I'm going to kill you." It said from inside.

Naomi screamed and ran away to the end of the hall, where she collapsed and vomited. Suddenly, Seiko, Tweak, and Dashi came down the hall to see the mess.

"Naomi!" Seiko cried upon seeing her best friend in these conditions.

"What happened?" Tweak asked.

"Are you alright?" Dashi added.

Naomi looked up at the girls as they approached.

"Seiko, Tweak, Dashi?" She coughed. "Sorry for the mess."

"What are you talking about? Don't apologize for barfing." Seiko insisted. "You poor girl."

Naomi doubled over and vomited again.

"Everything's ok. You'll feel better now that you got it all out of your system." Dashi comforted.

"Do you need us to rub your back?" Tweak offered.

"... I think I'll be fine." Naomi answered. "Thanks though. Did you guys find Yuka?"

"No." Seiko sighed.

"Looks like we really are the only ones here." Tweak shook her head.

"The only ones living anyway." Dashi sighed.

Naomi sighed before everything went quiet. Seiko perked up.

"What about you Naomi?" She asked. "Is your leg any better? Are you OK to be up and about?"

"That's the thing." Naomi began. "While I was resting, I was attacked by this creepy black spirit thing."

"What?!" Dashi gasped.

"Oh my god, are you alright?!" Seiko asked with concern.

"I think so." Naomi nodded. "But I think we should consider that room off limits from here on out."

"That's fine. We're just glad you're ok." Tweak sighed.

"But now that it's not safe in the infirmary, and Naomi is still not better and was just attacked, now we really need Peso's help." Dashi frowned.

"I guess we better get moving then." Seiko nodded. "Can you stand, Naomi?"

"Yeah." Naomi nodded as she stood up. "But where are we supposed to go?"

The girls hummed in thought. Naomi growled in frustration.

"We've been to pretty much everywhere in this godforsaken school!" She growled. "And the only people we've come across are all dead!"

The others sighed as they realized she was right.

"It's hopeless! We're finished!" Naomi continued. "And I'm so tired."

"Naomi, come on. It's not that bad." Seiko tried to brighten things up. "We'll figure something out."

Naomi stayed silent as Seiko tried her best to brighten things up, talking about plans they could do tomorrow when they got out.

"Naomi, are you like super-duper tired or something?" Seiko asked when she's realized her friend's silence. "This is so not like you."

"Come on, raise that chin!" Tweak assured. "The only thing we need to fear is fear itself."

"What the hell's got you so chipper, Seiko?!" Naomi suddenly burst.

Seiko blinked in confusion as Tweak and Dashi watched in shock.

"You just keep smiling and laughing." Naomi continued.

"I do?" Seiko raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me, how long is it going to last if it turns out we can never go back home?!" Naomi growled. "Have you given that any thought at all?! 'We'll figure something out'. That's a crock and you know it."

"Naomi..." Dashi tried to calm the human down.

"And you two!" Naomi glared at the girl Octonauts. "You said that you and the other Octonauts were brought here for a mission. Well, what mission?! So far, nothing has happened that tells us what it is you're supposed to be doing here. Maybe you guys are just nuisances to us humans. No wonder why we hunt you."

Dashi and Tweak stood there in silence, not knowing what to say to something like that.

"Our families will surely be worried." Naomi continued to rant and rave. "They'll search for us. They'll search and search and search. It'll be a terrible burden for them."

Seiko frowned and approached her ranting friend.

"You're wrong." She protested.

"How so?" Naomi challenged.

"About it being a burden." Seiko added. "When you lose a loved one, you cherish their memories. It's never a burden."

"Seiko's right, Naomi." Dashi nodded.

"You just want to do whatever you can." Tweak continued. "Whatever you can to make her proud. You just want to, so you do."

Naomi sighed and she looked at the ground. Of course she should know this, as Seiko's mother just passed away a few months ago.

"That's how I think the people we leave are going to feel." Seiko continued.

"I don't know how it is for your families, but normal people just don't work that way!" Naomi protested.

"Naomi..." The other girls gasped.

"... I'm sorry." Naomi sighed. "How about we just split up? We'll cover more ground. And maybe we'll find a clue on how to get out of here."

The girls were silent until Seiko cried.

"Who says things like that?!" She shouted. "I want to get home just as much as you do! Back to my dad, and Yuu, and everybody else. And I sure as hell don't want to make them worry. And I'm sure Dashi and Tweak feel the same way."

"Girls, calm down!" Dashi frowned. "This school is getting to you."

"But most of all..." Seiko continued, ignoring the dog's warning. "I don't want you, out of all people, to speak to me that way."

Naomi gulped and opened her mouth to say something. Seiko, Tweak, and Dashi leaned in to hear what she was trying to say, but she just couldn't get the words out.

"I'm sorry too." Seiko sighed. "But it's OK. If that's what you think we should do, then let's split up."

"But there's no way we're leaving Naomi alone." Tweak shook her head. "Not after what just happened."

"Alright then," Seiko nodded. "You two stay with Naomi then. I'll go this way."

With that, Seiko went down the hall, leaving the other girls behind.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Naomi said to herself. "I couldn't even say I'm sorry."

"Come on." Tweak sighed. "We better go find Seiko."

"Yeah, I don't like her being all alone out in those halls." Dashi agreed. "Who knows what could happen?"

"Yeah," Naomi nodded. "Yeah, you're right. We better go find her. Then maybe I can apologize properly."

The girls all nodded, then started down through the halls to find Seiko. They ran and ran, frantically looking for her. They kept calling her name over and over again. Eventually, they found themselves standing in the third floor hallway.

"Seiko?! Seiko!" Naomi cried.

"Where could she be?" Dashi wondered.

Naomi suddenly dropped to the floor, sobbing for her best friend.

"Don't worry Naomi." Tweak comforted her. "We'll find her."

"Yeah, she can't get away from us that easily." Dashi joked.

Suddenly, the three of them heard a loud banging sound at the end of the hallway, like something heavy banging against wood.

"Seiko? Is that you?" Naomi asked.

Another banging sound helped Tweak figure out where it was coming from.

"It's coming from the girls bathroom." She answered.

Hesitantly, the girls slowly approached the girls bathroom. When they went inside, they noticed that the banging was coming from one of the stalls.

Slowly, but surely, they approached the stall, and quickly swung the door open. What they saw made them give off such a shrilling scream, you would think it would damage their vocal chords.

Inside the stall was Seiko, but she was hanging in the air, with a noose tightly tied around her neck. She was choking to death.

"Don't worry Seiko!" Dashi cried. "We're gonna get you down!"

The girls all approached the strangling Japanese girl. They tried to get her down, but they only managed to choke her even more.

"Sorry, sorry!" Naomi was quick to apologize.

The noose around Seiko's neck is attached directly to the ceiling, and there's nothing at her feet. All attempts to help her are only strangling her further.

"Oh my god, what do we do?!" Naomi screamed.

"Hey!" Dashi suddenly cried. "I remember seeing a bucket outside in the hall, maybe we can use that for her to stand on!"

"Good idea Dashi, let's go get it." Tweak nodded.

Naomi agreed and the three of them ran out to the hall to grab the bucket Dashi had seen.

Inside the bucket was an unidentifiable kind of meat, and it was crawling with maggots. Naomi picked up the bucket, trying not to puke.

"It's revolting." She admitted. "But at least it will save Seiko."

With a disgusting splash, Naomi dumped the contents out of the bucket onto the floor. Once it was empty, the girls ran back into the restroom to save Seiko.

"Seiko, we're back." Naomi called. "And we got something that will help."

But, when they reached the stall, they stopped and stared in horror. Naomi dropped the bucket and the three of them screamed once more.

With blank eyes, Seiko swung back and forth slowly in her noose. All life had been drained completely from her face.

The girls screamed and cried at the lost of their friend, but no one was more upset than Naomi.

"Why?! Why would you hang yourself?!" She screamed. "You were smiling and laughing just awhile ago! Didn't you say we'd find a way out of here together?!"

The girls continued to cry, crying out Seiko's name.

"I want to apologize, for everything I said." Naomi cried. "I just, can't believe that this is real. I refuse to accept it!"

Tweak sniffed and looked up, staring at Seiko's lifeless body.

"Well, now we know what our mission is." She gulped.

Dashi and Naomi sniffed and looked up, waiting for the rabbit to continue. Tweak gulped before speaking.

"Find a way to get everyone out of here... Alive."