Oh yeah, she’s got mental issues

Chapter nine

There was…a lot of blood, it looked like several dozen bottles of ketchup had gotten together and all spontaneously combusted. Except it wasn't ketchup…and there were bodies. Miriam passed out when she saw the blood, I held her close to my chest, scared the Minotaur might still be close. It took me a few moments to recognize the bodies, one was Luke, his ginger hair stained red instead of all Cheeto colored, and clothes torn to shreds, the other was Michel who seemed less battered. Penelope paused, "Do you hear that?" She whispered, I listened closely, hearing soft sobbing. Penelope , being the brave idiot that she is, moved forwards to investigate. I held my knife out in front of me, adjusting Miriam to be a bit more behind me, if she got hurt…I would never forgive myself. Penelope reached behind one of the large stalagmites that were in the cave-like area, pulling somebody out as they kicked and flailed. It was Victoria, her hair light brown was all frizzy and her dress was a little torn. I saw a small wound on her forearm and the area around her hazel eyes was puffy and red from crying. Victoria kicked at Penelope "Let me go!" She yelled through loud sobs, Penelope seemed unaffected, holding Victoria by the collar like a kitten. "Penelope , put her down, you're freaking her out," I instructed. Penelope grumbled, putting Victoria down on the ground, Victoria's eyes were bloodshot and red, she had clearly been crying a while. I kneeled down next to her "Hey, it's gonna be okay. We've got a base, we can take you there if you'd like?" I offered, Penelope shot me a glare. She clearly thought of Victoria as dead weight but I didn't care, she was a human being, a little girl. She needed our help or there was no way she could make it longer than a few days. Victoria nodded "P-Please" She sniffled. I slid my dagger back into my boot, holding Miriam more bridal style, Victoria's hand clutched the side of my dress as we headed back. I followed Penelope back to our base, she carefully winded up the string into a neat ball as we walked. Penelope seemed pretty pissed off, she would definitely argue about this when we got back but it would be fine. Miriam would fight to keep as many people with us as possible, she always said there was strength in numbers, Basil would probably vote to keep her with us, he had a bit of a soft spot for kids, and Elizabeth would take his side. She really seemed to like him…maybe a little too much. Basil was reasonably shocked when we got back, he and Elizabeth were sitting together on the fountain…holding hands. Oh my Goddess. Penelope paused looking at the two, I nearly dropped Miriam, Victoria looked up at me and Penelope confused. "Oh my Gods, you guys are making out" I gasped jokingly, Elizabeth blushed looking away "N-No we aren't" She was clearly embarrassed. Penelope looked over at me as if judging what to say "Yes you guys are, don't lie" She joked, Victoria laughed, smiling at the two. "Okay, whatever. What the Tartarus happened?" Basil rushed over looking between Victoria and Miriam "First game casualties, Luke and Michel" Penelope whispered. Basil paled, looking around the group and sighing, we all knew deep down this was going to happen but so quick, how long had it even been? There was no sunlight or way to tell how many days had passed since any of us had been above ground, we all just kind of passed out whenever we felt like. So there's been like what…two times we've passed out? I'm going to say that could be anywhere from two days to three and a half seeing as Miriam has a horrible sleep schedule, I don't really get tired, same with Basil, and Elizebeth seems to have…issues. "So…they're dead, huh, can I go check out the bodies?" Elizabeth asked, we all turned to look at her, except Victoria, she moved to hide behind me. "Are you mentally stable?" Penelope asked, Elizabeth shrugged "You would be surprised how many times people have asked me that. But I'm studying to be a mortician…or I was," There was a silence in the intersection. A small reminder none of us would be anything more than this. "Anyways, it could help us get an even better understanding of exactly what we're up against" Elizabeth explained "We can go together, we'll just stop by while we look for Opal" Penelope offered. "Who's Opal?" Penelope asked "She's my sister" Penelope explained "Ohhhhh, right. You've a sister, that ten year old who was being creepy and read my jacket" Elizabeth recalled. Penelope looked like she might punch Elizabeth for saying that, I wouldn't if she said that about Basil, is that an older sibling thing? Or do I just really not like Basil? "Come on" Penelope snapped, she headed down the hall, Elizabeth had to run a little bit to keep up. I placed Miriam down on one of the sleeping bags, tucking her in, I'd rather she didn't freeze thank you very much. Basil picked Victoria up from under the arms like Simba, putting her down on the edge of the fountain bed. "Alright, are you hurt anywhere?" He asked, Victoria shook her head "No…but my clothes are all wrecked" She frowned "I can tell" Basil chuckled slightly. "There isn't much we can do about that, I mean there could be a voted box with some clothes in it," We all looked up at the cameras in a creepy instinctive sort of way. Freaky "…preferably some for Basil too…no offense dude but seeing you without a shirt for this long is uncomfortable" I mentioned. "None taken, it's pretty cold in here anyways" Basils shivered "We could use the torches to start a large fire" Victoria looked over at the torches lining the walls. I sighed, moving Miriam's bangs out of her eyes, that was just the kind of thing she would suggest, or at least think about before deciding it was a bad idea. "That would suck out a lot of air in our room, that's a bad idea" I mentioned. "And it could spiral out of control while we're sleeping, better to quickly use some wood and the torches to cook stuff so we don't accidentally get some sort of food poisoning" Basil continued. Victoria seemed confused, "Where did you guys learn that?" She questioned "Miriam talks about it a lot" Basil frowned looking over at her nervously. "We spend a lot of time reading up in the library or other places looking at survival stuff or listening to her freaking out about it" I explained. Victoria looked down at Miriam "Oh…she's a little paranoid" Victoria said "It's pretty useful now…I'm glad we're with her of all people. If she's gonna die, I want to go too" I decided. Victoria thought to herself "I never thought I'd be in here" She sighed, bringing her knees to her chest. "None of us did" Basil agreed, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Nobody ever does…that's what makes things fun for them" He whispered, knowing that people were able to hear us at every moment. I took Miriam's hand, our fingers intertwined, I didn't want to lose her, were we really both going to die? "I-I'm going to sleep" I decided, curling up next to Miriam "Night" I heard Basil say as I passed out, the only thing really registering was Miriam's body next to mine, this was nice. Just a few moments of peace after…all that.