"I've set up this barrier to ensure that no one goes beyond the school grounds." Herobrine gestured to the glowing, blue wall that surrounded the school and stretched up as far as the eye could see. "Otherwise, the only places that are off limits will be the dormitories and the locked doors. Understood?" There was a chorus of acknowledgement, which Oliver heard only faintly. His gaze was fastened on the force field. So they really were trapped here.

"I'll need a volunteer to seek first," Herobrine went on, and Cray's hand shot up before he could even finish talking. "Very well, Cray, you may go first." The creeper broke into a devious grin. "There will be multiple rounds," Herobrine went on, "not only to give everyone a turn, but to allow you to explore different strategies. You are caught as soon as 'it' sees you and calls you out. There will be no running or chasing- we'll save that for another time." There were a couple of murmurs at that, but Herobrine hushed them.

"You will be graded on a curve based on who is caught first, and when you are caught you must remain in that place until you hear the horn blow twice to signify the end of the round." Herobrine continued. "I will be watching to ensure the rules are followed. Cray, stand by me. The others will be given a minute to hide." The creeper sauntered over to him, and Oliver snapped to attention, running through his mind any possible hiding places. There was a good amount of the school that he hadn't explored yet, but most of the monsters were probably thinking the same thing. Would it be smart to forfeit a potentially better hiding place in favor of being unexpected?

"On your marks, hiders." Herobrine raised a goat horn in one hand, resting the other on Cray's shoulder. "Get set, go." Oliver bolted.

His heart was pounding as he snaked around the side of the building, choosing to find a hiding place outside rather than in- hopefully that would give him a better chance, and being trapped in an enclosed space being hunted by monsters was a literal nightmare of his. Oliver bitterly wondered if Herobrine had considered this at all, but concluded a moment later that he probably didn't care.

It seemed like most of his classmates had gone inside, Oliver heard only a bit of noise other than his short, anxious breaths as he searched for a place to hide. There were a couple of trees within the barrier, but he only had a minute, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get up there in time, so he ditched that idea for now. Maybe in a future round.

Cray really was… the worst possible one of his classmates to be picked first. He was crazy, and violent, and he was willing to pick a fight with a zombie piglin with an axe, how much more would he be willing to hurt a player? Oliver didn't have any special powers, or weapons, or- or anything!

Finally, he found a corner that was mostly blocked off by vegetation, and crammed himself through the bushes into the small space. Sinking to the ground, Oliver hunched himself up in the corner as small as possible, covering his mouth with his hands to reduce the sound of his breathing. Moments after he'd gotten settled, the long, low drone of a goat horn rang out over the schoolhouse. Cray was hunting.

Oliver stayed perfectly still, willing his heart to stop beating out of his chest. Before Cray, he'd never met a creeper in person, but he'd heard enough to know that they were called creepers because they were silent. They could be an inch behind someone and they wouldn't know until they heard a hiss, which was a warning that they planned to explode in the next five seconds. Would Cray do that? Surely Herobrine had threatened him into behaving by now?

Oliver swallowed thickly, trying not to freak out. He hated this. This was the kind of situation that people would tell horror stories about, and he was supposed to endure it every week? For the rest of the school year?! And even when class didn't involve him being hunted by deadly monsters, Cray still seemed determined to make his life Nether, and Oliver was sure that the others would do the same if given the chance. Maybe not Fade. He seemed to be a stickler for the rules.

A foot crunched in the grass nearby, and Oliver seized with terror a moment before a red eye appeared between the leaves.

"Gotcha, player."

Oliver shrieked, and Cray popped up out of the bush, cackling.

"Don't move!" He shouted as Oliver tried to scramble up. "Mr. Herobrine said stay right there!" With that, he dashed off again. Oliver blinked after him, his heartrate starting to slow as he pushed himself up and brushed off his knees. Well, that wasn't… so bad. Cray seemed to care more about winning than bothering him.

Oliver stood stiffly in his spot for a few more minutes, before the horn finally blew twice to mark the end of the round. He then pushed his way out of the bushes and hurried back to the front of the school, where his classmates were gathering. Cray was standing beside Herobrine with a crap-eating grin on his face.

"Good job," Herobrine praised, not looking up from where he was writing on a clipboard. Oliver craned his neck to catch a glimpse of it, and found that the teacher was writing down scores. Oliver had been the third-to-last to be caught. "I need another volunteer to seek."

As Silvia was selected next, Oliver could feel a spark of excitement in his chest. Maybe this wouldn't be as terrible as he'd thought? Even Cray just wanted to play the game, and he was insane, so… probably it would be okay?

This time, when Herobrine counted them off, Oliver ran into the school.

He quickly ditched the rest of the group, turning down a hallway he hadn't visited before. He tried one door, found it locked, then moved on to the next and found himself in some kind of storage room. Even though it was a fairly obvious hiding place, Oliver was running out of time, so he hauled himself up onto the top of a large shelf and crammed himself back into the corner just as he heard the horn go off.

Scrunching himself into the smallest ball he could manage, Oliver fell silent and still, heart pounding from anticipation this time rather than fear. At least he knew Silvia wouldn't eat him- she'd had plenty of opportunity for that already. Oliver stared at the open door, the only source of light in the small space.

After a tense few minutes, he saw a shadow appear in the hall. A moment later, Silvia passed by, prowling to the end of the hall before coming back. She poked her head into the closet, her red eyes glowing bright in the darkness, but evidently didn't see him as she soon crept off again.

It was a few more minutes, during which Oliver heard more than a few indignant yells from his classmates, before Silvia doubled back to the closet. This time, he was treated to a display of her crawling up the walls before she spotted him.

"Oliver!" She cried out. "There you are!" Oliver gave her a hesitant grin, crawling out of his hiding place.

"Am I the last one?"

"Well, no, I still haven't found Kai." Silvia dropped off the wall. "But almost! Stay right there!" She scuttled out of the room again, and Oliver sat upright, swinging his legs over the side of the shelf. It looked like he was doing pretty well, even if he didn't have any special powers.

A few minutes later, the horn blew twice again, and Oliver hopped down from the shelf with a small grunt. Mr. Herobrine had said he was grading on a curve, surely he was doing well. Oliver didn't know how many rounds he intended to play, but getting third and second place in the first two would definitely bump up his score.

By the time he made it outside, he was feeling a bit more confident. Almost like he wasn't sharing this activity with a bunch of flesh-eating monster children. After marking down their scores, Herobrine selected the slime boy- Jace, he was pretty sure - to be 'it' next, and sent the rest of them off to hide again. This time, Oliver headed up a staircase into the upper floor of the school, finding a large cupboard and tucking himself inside.

He heard the horn go off, muffled by the cupboard door, and settled in for what he expected to be a long wait. To his surprise, though, he almost immediately heard slow, measured footsteps coming up the stairs. Olvier held his breath as they came closer, unease beginning to turn his stomach. Did he… somehow know where he was?

His fears were confirmed a moment later when the cupboard door flew open, Jace's yellow eyes glinting in the dark.

"Hello, player." He hissed as Oliver flinched, staring in bewilderment. Had he heard him somehow? What powers did a slime even have? "Get up." Jace beckoned him up, and Oliver blinked.

"Mr. Herobrine said-"

"And I said get up." Jace snapped, cutting him off. A sliver of fear running through him, Oliver obeyed, crawling out of the tight space and getting to his feet. He stood stiffly in front of the cupboard as the slime looked him up and down and crossed his arms.

"Why are you even here, player?" He asked, his tone scornful. "You make up the worst and weakest traits of every other student." Oliver bristled.

"Well I didn't choose to be here, did I?" He snapped back. If it were any of the other students, he probably would've just stammered something and hid again, but he wasn't really that afraid of a slime. "What's your problem, anyway? Shouldn't you be looking for the others?"

"I know where they are." Jace brushed him off. "Same way I knew where to find you." Oliver blinked, suddenly feeling dread begin to pool in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, you've found me, good job." Oliver lifted a hand to push him back. "You should go, you're probably losing points-" before he could finish, Jace seized him by the wrist and slammed his arm back against the cupboard, making him stumble back. Jace's skin felt like cold rubber, and his grip was tight enough that Oliver couldn't escape no matter how much he tried to twist away.

"You should go home." Jace took a step closer, leaning uncomfortably close. "Now." Oliver gritted his teeth.

"I can't."

"Well figure it out! Because no one wants you here." Jace's hand seemed to morph around his wrist, his fingers melting into a solid mass. "Otherwise you might get hurt."

Abruptly, the slime jerked his hand free, turning away and leaving the room. Oliver stood stunned for a few moments, his heart thudding as he watched him leave, then finally he sunk down to sit on the ground. Surely that was against the rules, right? Surely Herobrine would do something about it?

By the time the horn blew at the end of the round, though, there was no sign of their teacher.