Chapter 5

Daphne looked around as the room burst into chatter.

"I think we should tell each other our roles first," Avery said.

"Why would we?" 1 asked. "It's not like we can't lie about our roles."

"Yes, but if someone does lie, then we can narrow it down to them, and make sure they're all voted off."

"That means that someone will die," Sophia growled. "And I'm not willing to be that person."

There were murmurs of agreement, and Daphne saw Eli, the second Murderer, stand up. "How about we split into groups of threes?" he suggested. "That way, there's no way the two Murderers can be left alone."

Everyone agreed and split up, finding another two people that they trusted. "Daphne," Eli motioned to her where he and William were standing. "Come on. The three of us are going to the kitchen."

Daphne followed hesitantly, thinking of what Creator had just said. She was a Murderer, which meant she would either kill the others to live or be killed by the others so that they can live. What was she going to do?

When they reached the kitchen, William told them that he would be heading to the toilet real quick, and would be right back. As William walked off, Eli turned to Daphne. "We need to make a plan."

"W-we aren't actually going to kill people, right?" Daphne stuttered.

"Do you know any other way to live?" Eli asked. Getting no answer, he continued, "You don't have to do the killing. Just act normally, and I'll take care of the killing myself. All you need to do is wait outside the room, back up my alibis, and pretend to be the role I tell you to be, okay?"

"O-okay." Daphne twiddled her thumbs, nervous about the whole ordeal. She didn't want to kill anyone, but she definitely didn't want to be killed.

"Hey guys," William came back. He looked at Daphne concernedly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm just scared."

William patted her head comfortingly. "It's okay to be scared." For a moment, he hesitated, before telling her, "I'm a Peasant, so I don't have any special powers. What about you?"

Daphne looked around and realized Eli was still sitting next to them. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about it here?"

William got the memo and nodded. "Okay. I'll go pre-heat dinner for all of us."

As William left, Eli got up and slipped one of the kitchen knives under his jacket. "Tonight, unless we decided differently during the vote, we're going to kill Avery."

"Why? Shouldn't we kill one of the numbered players first?"

"If we do, it'll be higher suspicion for any of us not numbered players."

Daphne bit her lip, not wanting to even play the game, but not wanting to die either.

William came back with the dinner, but just then, the rest of the players appeared at the kitchen, startling the three of them. "We don't trust you, so we came to check if you poisoned our food," 1 said.

Eli rolled his eyes. "We can't remember? We're not allowed to kill other players, or we'll face death."

That night, after dinner, everyone was gathered at the marble table as the clock said that it was 8:30.

"So, we're not voting anyone, right?" Pamela finally said.

"We have to vote, or we'll die," Eli pointed out.

"But I don't want to vote out anyone!" Daphne cried. She couldn't deal with the guilt that she would be killing her friends soon, she couldn't vote out people she knew were innocent as well.

"We don't have much of a choice," Sophie said. "Stop being so emotional. Whether the Civilians or Murderers wins, there will be deaths either way. You've already seen three people explode, haven't you? What's the difference this time?"

"But we weren't the cause of their deaths!"

"Remember, Daphne, voting someone out is the only way the Civilians win can win," Eli said soothingly.

"Why are you acting as if the Civilians will win?" 4 asked.

"What do you mean, 'acting as if the Civilians will win'?" Avery gasped. "Are you a Murderer?"

"What? No! I'm just saying, it's not a guarantee for the Civilians to win!" 4 snapped back.

"You're a Murderer!"

"You're jumping to conclusions!"

"Guys, calm down-"

"Reveal yourself! You're a Murderer, aren't you?"

"No, you're a Murderer!"

Avery and 4 started to accuse each other of being a Murderer, the rest getting caught up in the chaos as well. Eli made eye contact with Daphne, mouthing the words 'change of plans.'

[Voting time begins. 10... 9... 8...]

Everyone started to point at each other, not sure who to vote for.

[2... 1... Voting time is up. 4 has received the most votes, and will be eliminated.]

4 exploded, and all that was left of him was the blood on the floor and bits of his bones and skin.

"Wait! Was he a Murderer or not?" Avery yelled.

[That cannot be revealed.]

"I'll go and check if 4's room is actually locked," Eli said. "Anyone wants to check with me?"

Everyone was silent. After a few moments, Daphne said that she would go with him, and the two carried the bodies upstairs. Once they were out of earshot, Eli told Daphne, "Avery looks very suspicious for us, which makes him more useful alive than dead. Let's kill someone else instead. Kiana, maybe?"

"No!" Daphne cried out, before lowering her voice. "Not Kiana! She's my friend!"

"I'm here to survive, not to make friends and protect them. Doing that will just drag you down. Besides, you don't even know if she's pretending to be your friend just to backstab you."

"Just... not her, please?" Daphne pleaded.

"Fine. Pamela, okay?"

"O-O-okay," Daphne whispered.

When it was ten, everyone went back to their rooms. They were all awake, too afraid to sleep, not wanting to be killed, praying that the Murderers wouldn't choose to kill them.

At midnight, a shiver ran down everyone's backs as screams ring out from Pamela's room before it stopped, and the silence that filled the air after that was just as terrifying.