The Quarantine

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Elizabeth swore, "You mean there are more of those things?" The group had dragged Ater out to question him as he sat on the cold hard ground.

The arrival of the mock Aye-aye had startled everyone out of their safe stupor, a long cut on Hai-rong's face a reminder of that.

The group's trust and agreeability were slowly dropping as they tried to press the cat more than what he knew, "Didn't you say that we'd just sort of go out and reach the village?!"

"There's only one or two cleaners, "Ater whined, "It's not like he's that much of a fucking deal. I'm sure if you all gang up it'll be fine. He just has a lot of pets." The giant Aye-aye wasn't a pet to the group, it was a monster of another calibre; An animal that could swallow a person in one sitting.

There was a gaping hole in their defence, one that would have left monsters stalking the cave if it weren't for the reset that would last some time. There was no sun, little light, and everyone was starting to get hungry - Even Elizabeth.

"That pet has stats beyond our imagination," Otto stated blandly, "Not to mention you said the cleaner has more than one. And wasn't this cave suppose to keep us safe?" The issue of the cave was unknown to Ater, this was usually the only time to escape for most players. The system was being rigged or changed.

"For the last time, I don't know shit 'bout the cave," Ater yelled out, irritated, "Now if this fucking place was normal, this cave is not only untraceable, but it's also completely 100% unbreakable. So stop asking me the same stupid questions, you idiots!" The anger prominent as Ater walked away from the barrage of questions to find someplace smoother and more comfortable place to lie down.

"What to do if Aye-aye come?" Adrian asked, "If Aye-aye comes then we will be in trouble." Hai-rong bit her lip as she ran scenarios in her head, she didn't particularly care much about the others, just Mei-wan. The cleaner also seemed like an issue as it was the 'master' of the horrifying Level 10 monster; It was most likely stronger and made getting caught more and more dangerous, "We can not stay."

"It's not a matter of whether or not we can stay," William said, "It's a matter of whether or not we can go out. None of us have actually, with intent, killed anything... Probably." The group turned to an unamused Otto as he flicked a pebble.

The cave was fairly easy to exit, they just had to command it to do so, but whether it would work was a mystery to Otto.

If the system changed that meant that Ater was outdated information and everyone knew that they couldn't have outdated information in a life or death situation, "Anyways, it's not just Otto, none of us really know each other's background and I doubt anyone's willing to share."

"I wouldn't mind that much," Elizabeth stated, "It's nothing horrible, just thefts and one mugging that I didn't really participate in, just watched. Was an old man with a walrus mustache. Looked like a guy in our textbook, something Marks." Klaus glanced at Elizabeth before crossing his arms and turning away in a form that was much like a petty child getting upset, "What?"

"His name was Otto Von Bismarck," Klaus muttered, "Not Marks, just like how my name isn't Klaus-Something." He seethed out to William, who didn't seem to care as much as Klaus did about his name, "Like Otto."

"Otto... Von Bismarck," William laughed, "You're famous, Otto! Not just for maybe murdering a kid and an old guy, but for the re-un-i-fi-ca-tion of Germany! Be proud m'dear." Chanting like some old man proud of his disciple, even reaching out to pat him on the back with a smile on his face. Otto swatted his arm away and pushed William away from himself.

"I didn't kill anyone," Otto bit out, "I was framed by someone." Everyone laughed at that, even Klaus. No killer, under the assumption of what everyone else believed was a killer, was going to admit it.

There was an unsaid burden to it, to say that someone killed someone for the minor prospect of money or advantage. It was something that made anyone sane uncomfortable - More so than a dozen petty crimes.

"Yeah, yeah," William muttered, "We believe you." The group chittered off and soon came back to the matter of the plan. There really was no plan. there was no idea, no thought, no pensiveness when it came to how to get to the village.

There was no food and it was getting colder, the hole that the small claw made created an opening for the freezing draft. The smell of blood was still fresh - a heavy reminder of the weight of their choices.

"We can't risk anyone dying," Elizabeth said, "Our party is small enough and we don't know what the villagers are like." Ater yawned and batted something imaginary, "Or we do, but it's not reliable. Things could've changed in a couple years. If the cave could be cracked, the villagers could be violent." William nodded with a wry grin.

"Rare chance to see Milly Mills say something with intellect. Good job, Milly Mills, good job."

"You really have to stop annoying Liz, Lindberg," Klaus said sternly, "You'll slow us down with the amount of bickering you two do. That goes for you too Liz." The two glared at each other before turning away from each other. There was a pop and a punch as Mei-wan patted the two hard on the head. They were the youngest, the most immature, and the most difficult to deal with.

"W-wait, why am I getting scolded?!" Elizabeth asked, "I was being antagonized!" Mei-wan clicked her tongue and patted her head a little harder to get her to be quiet. Hands-on hips and eyes cold as she spoke.

"You're in trouble for all the other stuff you did, including all the issues that you burdened Otto with to be with whatshername," Mei-wan was shorter than Elizabeth by an inch, but she made it up by going on her toes to appear taller, "He had to carry you from the camp only to meet some ruffians, deal with them and then deal with your whining."

"It wasn't that bad, met some Koreans too," Otto said under his breath, "She's just a bit heavy." Elizabeth's face turned red as William and Adrian laughed, the latter laughing more out of delight than malicious reasons, "She was a little heavy, just a little bit. It wasn't bad I'm serious."

"Y-you, shut up!" Elizabeth huffed out as momentarily the group's stress and problems were pulled away from their heads. Mei-wan knocked Elizabeth on the head again as Hai-rong looked forward impassively, and Klaus was scowling with a tiny smile.

The atmosphere lightened before it dropped significantly as a polite knock was on the wall. It was another person. Otto glanced at the wall and saw two dark red dots that had stitches of black surrounding them.

"Don't let them in," Otto whispered as the group quieted down, Hai-rong lowering her light, "They're red*." Everyone stood still as the rough sound came through, at first it was in a different language, but soon it was in English.

"Open the door," The voice paused, "Plea-se." The 'e' sound was dragged as the group outside, Otto counted five red dots and one blue one, knock on the wall, "We are cold and have an injured person with us." Otto tried to open the status of the blue dot, but it didn't work. He needed to see it, "Hello?" The voice asked again.

A brown eye peeked through the hole as the eye rolled around to look for something, possibly people. The group outside started to talk to each other in another language, though slightly slower.

[Party: Butai has been talking in another language for over a minute, do you wish for the system to translate what they are saying? Please answer with a yes or no]

"Yes," A flurry of voices entered Otto's head, their arguing showed both the irrationality and confusion at the weather, cold wore them down to nothing.

[There's no one in there.] The person who talked to them said, [But then, why can't we open the door? Tachihara kun said that unless there's no one in there, the door shouldn't be locked. Tachihara kun?] A smaller voice coming from the only blue dot spoke out, its small, timid look only proven when he spoke.

[The cave should appear to be open then.] A firm, but squeaky voice spoke, [Someone has to be in there.] The members of Strawberry Pudding* stuck close to where the light could not penetrate, fear of being found overriding any curiosity, [If you really want to be sure, burn the insides of the cave.]

[Can't you see players and whatnot?] Another voice rang, it was a woman's, [I thought you could tell if a party is inside something?! Shit, we'll freeze. Do you want to freeze, Tachihara kun? We already had to leave Fujinuma san because he was practically dead and no one here's a good enough mage to even help with the cold?!]

As the group outside continued to argue Otto bit his tongue, he couldn't warn the others as easily and for the party skill to work he had to actually say things. The small hole became traitorous as it gaped at them.

William glanced at Otto before he pushed Klaus over to make some more room, taking out the knives* and scratched something on the floor. The hard rock was difficult to impress into, but the sudden increase in strength moved the hard dirt around until a very clear question mark was visible.

[What was that?] Otto froze instinctively before he looked around at everyone, eying everything, looking for the source of the sound until he saw the question mark, [Tachibana kun, try to open the cave again] There was a small mutter as the smaller person tried to command the cave to open a door for them to go into it, but the cave stubbornly remained closed.

The other character's dots slowly grew bluer as their voices turned more and more worried, [We can't stay here like this. It's too cold. Let's go try the border again.]

Mei-wan held her breath in as she gripped the edges of her shirt tighter. Through the description that Ater gave, it appeared as if they needed to wait until most of the cold broke. She wasn't sure what the purpose of the storm was, or the reason for its arrival; it was cold and their situation was getting bleaker.

Ideally, she would've run off and left the others to fend for themselves, but now she didn't know where she was supposed to go, with only a vague description that Ater gave her. Ater stared at her, [I know].

Otto's head whipped over to Ater in confusion. There was a buzz in his head, although he didn't know what it was exactly he knew where it came from. Ater stuck his tongue out at him before Otto dismissed the slight buzz, and he focused back on the wall.

The voices had stopped and there didn't seem to be any more people, as if they walked away. There was silence before Elizabeth took in a breath, "I think... they're dead." No response, "Or gone, probably gone."

"Yeah," Hai-rong replied, "Either they left or are dead." William walked over to the hole and peeked through to see if anything was around. The fields were white and the trees barren as the ground was covered in snow. It appeared as if there was nothing living. Ater popped behind William, his hand flexing to pop the joints, "Is there anyone there?"*

"No," Ater interrupted William, "But we can leave this stupid place, the storm's over. It isn't cold anymore, or at least too cold."