Chapter 10- Test Of Wits 7

The trio walked down the quiet hallways with a heavy heart and a strong mind. It was occasions like this that they expected the killer to attack its next victim, but who that was, nobody knew.

Zon could come up with different scenarios in his head, contemplating the different possibilities of who the Red Tasker might be, but it just led to more suspicions. Of course, topping his list was the yellow-haired who walked next to him, a perfectly unreadable expression on his face.

'He gives me the creeps.' Zon thought as he looked away.

"Now that I think about it, you mentioned how you were classmates?" He broke the tense silence that had ensued as they got to a room, Paxton leading the way.

Bryan's gaze flickered for a moment, a strange emotion swirling within its depths when Paxton replied with a distinctively disinterested tone in his voice.

"And so?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering how nice it was for the both of you to arrive here at the same time."

Paxton halted in his tracks at the front door, a smirk on his lips.

"It could have been fate, who knows? But why bring this up now?"

"Well, it might be fate….after all, there's the case of Naomi and Risa as well."

Siblings brought for the Server test at the same time was a rare occurrence, so having them was a pleasant surprise….until a while ago.

."..it's funny really….two girls….one dead, the other missing…..It would be a shame if Naomi were really the killer."

His gaze suddenly locked on Paxton's, a palpable tension growing between them, and a rising discomfort in the atmosphere.

Bryan was able to pick up on this easily. He was someone who read the room as easily as it was to read him.

If you got to know him, then understanding how he feels on certain occasions would be child's play.

He raised his hands in the air, a dry chuckle escaping his lips as he said.

"Let's not get in our throat, please. Wherever she is…..if she really is the killer, then it's only a matter of time before she reveals herself, just as you said, Zon."

Zon turned towards him, his gaze narrowing as he walked into the door, leaving the two behind.

"Let's continue the exploration."

Without a word of confrontation, Paxton walked in, leaving Bryan, who sighed before following after them, his thoughts reeling in.

'It's only a matter of time, really.'

****

A figure's vision blurred as she awoke in a dark, spacious room, her mind reeling from pain and confusion.

Moans of agony pierced the darkness, and a sudden thud echoed, coughs following after.

"Hah….hah.."

Deep breaths were taken as the figure attempted to sit up, an eerie sound echoing loudly, blinding the perception of space and the atmosphere.

The figure shook and fell, breathing heavily again as they grasped their head in pain, muffled groans spreading loudly in the room.

"Wha–What is this pain?"

They wondered, finally gaining the strength to get to their feet.

They staggered, confusion and disorientation etched in her movements as they held the wooden walls as support.

"Whe–Where am I?"

The figure attempted to recollect its memories, but a ringing sound pierced through her head, causing her a sharp pain that stung like a needle.

She screamed in pain, unable to bear it, and fell to her knees.

"Hah….Risa?!" The figure called out, her female voice regaining composure.

"Risa! Where are you?!."

The figure, Naomi stood up again, shaking her head as she walked down the room, unable to tell left to right while she used the wooden wall for support.

Her shaky steps led to a door, and on it was a glistening sharp object that grabbed her attention in an instant.

'A knife?' She wondered, staring at it in a daze, the darkness hiding her figure within.

"What do you mean Zachary is the killer? You should stop jumping to conclusions when you're a suspect as well!"

Naomi flinched, shakingly striking her body on the wall in an attempt to flee as she fell to the floor.

'Voices?! Voices?! Why are there voices in my head?!.'

She thought in confusion, her breath shaky as a palpable fear gripped it.

"No! No! You need to listen to me, Goliath! He's too suspicious! Think about it! Why does he smirk so much?! He's definitely the killer!"

The Voices continued, causing a sudden spike in her emotions as she clasped her mouth, trying to even her breath.

'I must be going mad, what is wrong with me?!'

She wondered when she noticed the Voices increasing in volume as if they were getting louder….closer….physically so.

"He could be trying to throw us off our game, or he simply smiles that way. Don't read into everything so much…I bet you've never been in a relationship before."

Her head snapped in realization as she dropped her arms, flickering her haze in realization.

'Oh….those are…those are people. People? Those are People!.'

"How does that have to do with anything?!"

She stood up in a rush, pulling the knife out of the wall and pushed the door open, her breath suddenly seizing as space turned around in a spiral of images.

THUD.

Two males stood at a farther distance in the hallway, the sudden sound causing them to halt in their steps.

Goliath and Ferralo glanced back slowly, the painful female moans echoing within the hallway.

What they saw, though, was a scene right out of a horror movie.

On the ceiling was a trap door opened, and below that was Naomi, only a lot different, as if she had undergone a transformation.

Dried blood stuck to her skin like gum, her hair and clothes dipped in red and her face covered in a red mask.

Goliaths found this comical, sudden and most especially, dangerous. Not just because Naomi had shown up, basically revealing that she was the killer but also because Ferralo was at the end of his seat.

"Ow…my head."

Naomi muttered painfully as she looked up, her gaze landing on the two men and a smile slowly planting on her face.

Her head suddenly spun around, images of a wheat field under a windy evening playing in her head….

The sounds of laughter and conversations ringing melodic hues in her brain…

And a melodic tune cascading softly across her thoughts….

She felt at peace as memories she had forgotten returned slowly in place, but it was muddled, mixed together, images playing after the other, causing a splitting headache to escalate as a result.

She groaned, standing up to her feet, the knife on her arm pointed forward as she held her head firmly.

"Hah….What–What's going on with my head?" She muttered when loud footsteps and a loud voice rang in the hall.

"Ferralo, you bastard! What do you think you're doing?!"

Goliath attempted to walk after the paranoid man, but Ferralo shrugged him off, a deep scowl on his face as his gaze flickered in intensity.

Naomi looked up in confusion, her gaze landing on a barrel that was suddenly swung up to her head.

She stared at it in confusion; her brows furrowed as she looked up at Ferralo, her gaze meeting a bloodshot pair, shaking with intensity as his breath quickened.

"So you were the killer, Naomi?"

Ferralo muttered, his voice dripping with cold malice and a hunger for blood.

His bloodshot eyes revealed the hidden emotions he had tried to lock away, his barrel shaking in his hand.

"Wha–What do you mean?" Naomi asked in confusion, too distorted to realize her predicament.

"Goodbye."

"Wait! Ferralo, there's no way of knowing she's the killer!"

Ferralo narrowed his gaze, his thoughts reeling in as his hands trembled while he gripped the trigger tightly.

"We don't have the time to check." He muttered, his voice shaky. "If she's the killer, we're all dead."

Time seemed to have frozen as he took slow, steady breaths, a piercing ring in his head as he pulled it.

BANG!

A loud explosion rang through the walls of the mansion, an explosion of flesh occurring less than a second later.

Naomi's head was a mixture of flesh and blood, splattered into bits by the force of the bullet that ran through her skull.

Her lifeless body fell to the ground, easing the tension within Ferralo as he dropped the barrel, the sound alerting all those who heard it at the same time.

Dollina and Kenhi had just stepped out of their fifth room, their startled gazes looking up to the third floor.

"No….you're kidding. What happened now?"

Dollina's heart raced as her mind reeled with disbelief and panic. She rushed to the source of the scene, Kenhi giggling quietly, close behind as their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway.

Paxton, Bryan and Zon glanced at each other while they explored their third room, their surprise, palpable as Zon rushed out of the room, a tired groan escaping his lips.

Bryan and Paxton glanced at each other, their gazes speaking volumes of their emotions hidden within as they hurried after Zon.

Time remaining till the end of the Test;

35:04:50 –> 25:04:49