Part 32: The Ending Ritual

[BGM: Silence]


I read the bizarre note a few times, to try and understand. I noticed Rooster was looking over my shoulder, so I handed the paper to him, to see what he thought.

So? Thoughts?

Hmm.



Well, first impressions? This doesn't pass the Bechdel test. Like, not at all.

Would you get serious for a moment! If I'm interpreting this right, we just found a way to end this game right now!

Woah! Really?

Yes, really. I mean, if I'm interpreting that right. If we carry out what's written there, we'll all be 'brought to the final space'. That's gotta mean on the board.

And with that, we can all finish together.

I like your thinking, Mouse. It appears the end is in sight!

[BGM: That Pesky Rodent]


I guess. But that's only if we can even set this whole thing up. I doubt an easy cheat like this would be given by Brian. There's probably some catch.

Well, we should at least try to assemble it, right?

Absolutely. First things first, we need to arrange the chairs. The first will align with the red stars, huh? The hell could that mean?

I've no idea. It could be a metaphor.

Or a simile. I could never tell the difference.

It's not hard to remember, you use the two in pretty different contexts.

Well that's the problem, I presume.

Actually, stop.

Hm?



I sense a really dumb pun coming up, and frankly I'm just not about that right now.

Tch. I'll have you know it would've been a really cool pun. Anyways, what's Brian's obsession with red stars, anyways? First he scribbles them on the carpet, then he talks about it in a poem? Like, what's the deal? Stars aren't even red.

Wait, there are stars on the carpet?

I looked around on the floor, and sure enough, at the end of the room I saw four red marks at equal distance from each other.

This is it!

Without explaining myself, I grabbed a chair from one of the desks and aligned its legs with the marks on the floor. As expected, a perfect fit.

Okay, this is our starting position. The other chairs are each three feet from this, right? And we need to make a perfect circle?



Ooh, there's a yardstick over here! We can use this!

Good eye, Rooster!

From there, Rooster and I got to work. We pushed all the desks out of the way, and began measuring out the other chair positions. With a bit of work, we created the perfect ritual setup.

Okay, this is starting to look good. I'll need to sit on the chair with the red stars, and I guess everyone else will just sit in animal order. Oh, but there was that weird clause about Monkey and Sheep, right?

Yeah, that seemed a bit jarring. If I were to guess, there's probably a smart person reason for why Brian decided to include that.

Probably a reference to some book or something. Fucking nerd.

Anyways, it's not a big concern. It just means the order should be me, Ox, Tiger, Bunny, Dragon, Snake, Sheep, Horse, Rooster, Monkey, Dog, Pig, back to me. We'll all need to lock hands in darkness.



If that's the case, we should close the blinds, right?

Good thinking. Do that.

As I commanded, Rooster began to close all the blinds, even the one above the door's window.

We can save turning the lights off for later.

Right. Here's where things get tricky. We need a stool in the center of the circle.

Oh, there's one over there! I got it.

Without even being asked, Rooster moved the stool to the center of the circle. He seemed to be getting into decorating his very own ritual.



We need the needle, which I guess we're going to use to draw blood.

Ew.

Agreed. But necessary.

Rooster put the needle on the stool.

We also need a bucket.

Uh... Oh, there's a bucket of pencils on that teacher's desk!

Rooster walked over and grabbed the bucket of pencils off the desk, before pouring all the supplies in it out onto the floor.

The tricky thing is the oil.

[BGM: Bullfighter]


You think there's oil in this room?

Why would oil be in a classroom?

I dunno. Everything else was in the classroom.

I don't think we'll be so lucky. But there's gotta be oil in the school. If not, this whole thing would be a complete waste of time. ...I guess I wouldn't put that past Brian, but somehow, I doubt that's what's happening.

I took a pause to think. Where could I get oil? Unexpectedly, it was Rooster who came in with the save.



Say, on the first floor, there was something that looked like a generator room. You think we could find something useful there?

Ah, great thinking, Rooster! That's a great place to start.

Awesome.

Come on, let's go down and look.

We grabbed the bucket and made our way down to the first floor. Eventually, we got to the hallway that led to the generator room. It was poorly lit, and pretty dark at the end of the hallway.



Well... ladies first!

Rooster, do you not want to go in?

Actually, if I could just sort of stay down at this end of the hallway, that'd be great for me.

…

You know, I could keep watch! Keep guard! If anything comes up, I can alert you! In fact, we should come up with some sort of signaling system. Maybe a bird cry or something, we'll workshop.

You know what? Forget it. Stay here, I'll go grab the oil.

Okay, sounds like a plan.



Jeez, some action star. Afraid of the dark? Really?

I am not afraid of the dark! I just get bad vibes from that hallway!

Whatever you say.

Without Rooster, I walked down the hallway. Why does a school even have a place like this? Shouldn't this be locked away? Maybe it normally is. As I got to the end of the hallway, it got really dark. Surely there was a light switch somewhere or something? If I looked around the walls...

Ouch! I stubbed my toe on something. I bent down to see what I had hit, and grabbed something that felt like a canister. Is this it? It was tricky in the dark, but I was able to open it up. Normally it'd be a lot harder, but this canister had already been opened before. I dipped the bucket in, and before I knew it, it was filled with something. Something that didn't feel particularly nice, as it got on my hands.

I eagerly made my way out of the hallway. As I started to see better, I realized I had indeed gotten oil. Yes!

[BGM: Silence]


You got it?

You're damn right I did.

Bravissimo! With this, all that's left is to gather the others, correct?

Precisely.

[BGM: Queen of the Jungle]


And so, after dropping off the bucket by the stool, we did exactly that. Rooster and I went through the school and told people the long and short of it. There were a variety of reactions, but everyone agreed to try it out, and they all made their way to the classroom.

The only complication was Monkey. For this to work, we'd need everyone's cooperation. That included Monkey. However, Monkey expressed earnest interest in helping the group. ...Of course she did, she always had. It was agreed that she could be untied and allowed to participate. Tying her up was an excessive measure in the first place, especially since she clearly posed us no ill-will. She was the last to make her way up to the third floor.

And with that, everything was prepared. We had the chairs set up. Everyone was here. We all input our actions for the round right before entering the classroom. In the center, the bucket of oil and the needle. Was there anything we were missing? ...There must be. This felt too easy. Could we really end this whole nightmare just by doing something this simple? And yet, everything seemed to be in order. We had followed the note's instruction to the tee. The only thing that could stop us now would be if someone messed up the ritual.

And the only person who would benefit from something like that would be the other traitor. The one who hadn't outed themselves. But if they tried to sabotage us at this stage, they'd surely be found out. So, this was game set match... right? Pig echoed my thoughts.



So... We're good? We just follow what the note says and everything will end? Just like that?

Seems like it.

Isn't this super suspicious though? Are we sure we can trust this?

What's not to trust? The note was written out pretty clear.

Written out in blood!

You're a writer, aren't you Pig? Surely you've broken all your pencils before. I mean, who among us hasn't?



Weren't most of the notes typed out?

Then Brian was out of ink.

He could just get more ink.

Ink? In this economy? Didn't know you were living so good, Pig. Looks like journalism pays bigger bucks than I thought.

I legitimately can't tell if you're messing with me or not. This is high school all over again.

Um, Pig, I know what it's like to not believe things would really be this easy. Trust me, this seems too good to be true to me, too.



But that note was found in a safe, right? It was left by Brian. I don't think it's like him to lie about a note. So maybe we just got lucky?

Hah! Lucky! What a joke.

Can't you just look at things optimistically?

Yeah, Pig. Why you gotta look at everything glass half-poisoned?

That's not, I don't-

Pig stopped to take a breath and calm herself.



Come on, what's the harm in at least trying it out? If nothing comes of it, bummer. But if it does?

We can all escape together!

Well, not all of us can.

Oh, uh, sorry.

No need to apologize, I was simply stating a fact.

Right.



In truth, perhaps it is a good thing to be so bluntly reminded of my impending mortality. It's nice to know that the tragedy of my death will far be outshone by everyone else's joy in escaping.

…

So, why don't we give it a try, Pig?

Oh, alright. Fine.

Can we please just get on with it? We've been standing around here doing nothing for quite some time. I know you lot think we've found some sort of special shortcut, but I won't trust it until I see it with my own two eyes.

Ox is right. We should get started. First things first, everyone get to your places.



We all awkwardly shuffled over to the appropriate chairs.

Next, we need to link our hands.

I leaned over and grabbed the hands of both Pig and Ox.

Um, Mouse? Don't we need someone to go and turn off the lights?

Oh, shoot, right. I didn't think about that.

You're close to the light switch Bunny, why don't you be a doll and handle that for us?

Sure thing.

Bunny let go of Tiger and Dragon and walked over to the light switch.

[BGM: Silence]


With a simple flick, the room was engulfed in darkness. ...Well, it wasn't total darkness. After letting my eyes adjust, it's clear that the closed door and the window blinds could only do so much. Still, it was pretty hard to see nonetheless. I heard more sounds of footsteps. Eventually they stopped. Presumably, Bunny had made his way back to his seat and resumed his place in the hand-link.

[BGM: Exotics]


That assumption was confirmed when, moments later, creepy music began to play. Creepy music... that must be the 'choir of the damned' mentioned in the note. I wouldn't exactly call this a 'choir of the damned', but I guess Brian had some artistic license. The music was coming from above, but it didn't exactly sound like it was coming from the school's speakers. Weird.

I couldn't speak any of these thoughts, because with the music, the ritual had begun. No speaking allowed. I quickly realized that it was I who had to start things off. Right, right, of course. 'Around the Zodiac Calender, from the beginning' meant the Mouse would start things. Assured in my duties, I let go of Ox and Pig's hands, and began to make my way through the darkness to the stool in the middle of the room.

Had things been total darkness, I likely would've fumbled quite a bit. However, I was able to make out the general shape of the stool without too much trouble. ...However, finding the needle that was lying on the stool alongside the bucket required a bit more searching. After a bit of feeling around, I got a hold of it. Okay, now the hard part.



It was embarrassing to say, but I really wasn't looking forward to drawing blood from myself with a needle. I knew it wouldn't hurt that bad, but still. At least I was going first- things would get pretty gross later down the line. With my hand outstretched over the bucket, I gingerly pricked my fingertip with the needle.

My skin didn't break. Annoyed, I tried it again, with a bit too much force.

SHIT!

...So that was too much force. But I had successfully drawn blood, and ultimately that was what mattered. I heard it drip into the bucket, and I knew my work was complete. Deed done, I turned myself 180 degrees and slowly made my way back to my seat. I sat down, reached out, and eventually grabbed on to Ox and Pig's hands. However, I wouldn't be holding onto Ox's for long, as no sooner did I grabbed Ox's hand did he yank it away.



I heard footsteps to my left, and figured Ox was going to do his part in the ritual. After a time, Ox returned and grabbed my hand once more. Slowly and surely, under the trance of the choir, the darkened ritual took place. It was really quite dramatic, even for what had transpired up until now. Even though I was merely sitting still, I couldn't help but feel a ball of tension in the pit of my stomach. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Life had been throwing me many surprises recently.

But unfortunately, on this occasion, life lived up to my expectations. All of a sudden, the music began to blast loudly. The volume had dramatically increased.

Ox: AAGH?!

Moments later, I heard Ox scream out in confusion, along with another sound I couldn't quite interpret in the heat of the moment. Whatever had happened caused Ox to recoil, letting go of my hand. Shit, the ritual! If he let go, that would make things invalid. However, that soon became the least of my worries.

Because in the span of a second, the person to my left lit up in a humongous burst of flames.



Instantly, the room became filled with screams I couldn't interpret. I didn't have time to scream. I only had time to choose. My next choice was incredibly crucial.