Part 65: Prelude to Mayhem

It's time to get started on another route!

In Round Two, Mouse will go explore with Sheep and Horse in the workout room and find a Major Trinket, and then the group votes to RUN once again. Back in the cafeteria, Sheep pulls Mouse aside and asks for advice on whether she thinks it's safe to be more trusting of the rest of the group. Mouse says that she should have faith in others, which Sheep takes to heart. From there, the group returns, sees the round results- everyone picked RUN, of course- and then begins to split into pairs again. For Round Three, Mouse decides to go explore with Dragon and Tiger, and the three go to the school gym, which results in them being able to find a supply closet full of weapons. They decide to warn the group about it when everyone groups up, and- after voting in side rooms- all return, only to witness the additional rules given after Round Three ends:

DETERMINED can only win if they finish first with no more than two other people, and SELFLESS wants to finish last, which will result in only the two of them surviving.

Like before, the Jade Emperor gives everyone 15 extra minutes to process this new information. And, like before, Tiger comes forward and confesses to having the selfless personality. However, the person with the determined personality does not step forward to match her. The group agrees the best course of action is to continue the Trinket Hunt, but before splitting up, Dragon and Tiger bring up the weapon closet. The group collectively agree a guard system is the quickest and safest way to ensure they aren't used by the hidden traitor, and ultimately Tiger is nominated as the guard. Like before, they decide it's safer to bring the weapons to the cafeteria so they can be openly monitored, rather than leaving them in the gym closet, which is in a corner of the school. With that, it's time to search for Trinkets once more...

[BGM: Rooster Style]


I think I'll search some of the nearby classrooms.

Ah! I'll join you.

Oh, oh, so will I.

Um, if it's okay with you, I'll help look this way too.

Woah, what's with my sudden popularity surge?

Due to recent events, I don't like the idea of searching on my own as much.

Me neither.

Is that why you guys are going with her? How strange.



I simply go this way because I choose to.

You all do what you want, I'm gonna search by myself.

If it's all the same to you guys, I'll also go by myself.

Look, people, if you want to work as a group, do so. If you don't, don't. We're all adults, we can make our own decisions. Let's just stop talking about searching and start searching.

Ox's definitive statement broke up the group and sent us all on our way. Like they said they would, Rooster, Pig and Sheep searched the nearby classrooms with me. As a group, searching rooms went by much quicker. We determined a certain room didn't have any clues in no time flat. We then began to search through the next classroom.

However, we weren't searching for long before an announcement started to play out of the speakers of our tablets.

[BGM: Steadfast Gallop]


Attention, animals. Attention, jurors. A Major Trinket has been used, and upon activation this announcement plays on all tablets.

Th-this can't be good.

Someone has activated the Butcher's Knife. With the Butcher's Knife in play, at the end of every round, the user will move an additional three spaces forwards for every corpse the knife has slashed.

Corpse?!

Of course, if a corpse already slashed by the Butcher's Knife is slashed again, the movement won't take place. To the innocent, I wish you luck. To the butcher, happy hunting.

Instead of elaborating, the tablet speakers went silent. What... what on earth was that about? It was one thing to play this creepy game with the threat of execution, but now all of the sudden it was a hunt? Who would activate such a crazy, batshit Major Trinket?



The others were also struggling with the news.

WHAT!! What. The. Hell!!!

There's no way, I can't run or hide, I don't want my life to end in a crappy retelling of a Richard Connell story. Actually, I wish it was like that! At least then I'd have half a chance of fighting back!

Hunting? Me?

I know I'm a fabulous catch, but this is going a little far.

Ah ha, hahaha, oh God I'm really going to die like this, aren't I?

You two, snap out of it! Seriously, I'm sick of this group just falling apart the moment things start to get a little scary.



I thought we already flushed this 'fear of death' thing out of our systems back in the cafeteria!

That... that announcement doesn't make any sense. This has got to be some sort of mistake!

Yeah, Sheep's right. Who would use that sort of item?

It has to be the person with the determined personality. To them, this must be their only hope at escaping.

No way!

For now, we need to gather everybody to the cafeteria. Three of us can retreat there, but the other one needs to go to the upper floors and tell everybody to meet back there.



So, who's gonna do it?

I-I'm not very fast, or smart... I don't think I'd be any good at this.

Oh, me neither! I can't run fast. And I'm short, which means my legs are short, which means less running. And I've got really bad asthma, so if things get intense I won't last too long. Oh, and also-

Sending me in would be a mistake. Why, you may ask? Ever heard of a little something called a pitch hitter?

Oh yeah, baby. In this little baseball game, I'll only go up to bat when we've got bases loaded, and right now? It's a foul ball. Two more strikes, and we're out.

...I feel like your metaphor fell apart there at the end.



So, I guess that leaves...

Seriously, guys?

I'm sure you'll do great, darling, you've got a real 'scrappy hero' look going for you, that means you'll surely survive!

Yeah, I'm sure you can do something like this way better than I could, Mouse!

Ugh... you babies. Whatever, might as well be me.

Great! Thank you!

Good luck, Mouse.

Quiet, Sheep, she doesn't need luck.

Yes I do!!



No you don't. Not when you've got my well wishes.

Wh-what's the difference?

...I'll be back as soon as I can.

I wasn't feeling particularly confident in this decision, but it seemed as if I had no choice but to go and find the others. I was very aware I might just be stabbed as I tried to find the others. But if we didn't group together, we'd be in a ton of danger. Someone needed to spread the news of where homebase was. That someone would have to be me.

[BGM: Silence]


I made my way up to the second floor. There, I found two people. However, telling them where the group would be wasn't the first thought on my mind.

I'm not moving.

Easy does it now. I don't want to hurt you, you don't want to hurt me.

Half true.

Don't tempt me!

I saw... Dog! He was holding up some sort of pistol with a silencer, and he had it aimed right at Horse's head. Horse, meanwhile, had his back turned to me, but he had his hands up, clearly not wanting to get shot. ...But I saw the handle of a dagger in his pocket. Then that meant the one who activated that item...

This... could be a problem.



Mouse!

Good to see a friendly face.

Mouse?

Don't turn around, you don't need to look at her.

Dog, Horse, what's going on?

It's pretty simple.

[BGM: A Bite That Persists]


Just before the announcement, I found this here pistol.

Pretty neat, don't you think?

Then that announcement came on over the tablet, and I became concerned. Not long after, I saw Horse brandishing a funny looking knife.

Now, normally I wouldn't care all that much, but I figured even I couldn't let everyone here get killed by this brute. So I started going after him and, well, we sort of ended up in this situation.

And now we're getting to the part where I ask him what he was thinking, taking that deal.

I don't need to tell you.

I don't need to not shoot you.

Double negative.

Damn, you got me.

…



So are you gonna answer my question, or am I just shooting you?

Horse? Did you seriously plan to hunt us all down?

...Present tense. ...I do.

What, did you think differently?

I just... I know you don't want to die, but to stay alive, you'd kill us all? Why are you that desperate to escape?

It's not that simple. I can't...

I can't tell you, but just know that I don't want this.



I tend to find not doing things you don't want to do leads to favorable results. ...Or getting fired from work, one of the two.

Talking like this is a waste of time.

Hey, we're in agreement! Real sorry dude, but if you're not changing your mind, I think I'm going to have to kill you.

I'm sorry, too.

He'd be better suited for this... I hate that it's come to this, but...

[BGM: Silence]


I couldn't see what was happening from my angle, but Horse took something out of his pocket and seemed to bring it to his face. Whatever it was, it startled Dog.

Woah, easy now, what exactly are y-

Too slow!

[BGM: Metal Horse]


After quipping in a tone very unlike himself, Horse slammed both his fists against his face. This visibly threw Dog off, not sure what to make of this. In that confusion, Horse suddenly lunged at him. He was a lumbering beast, and yet he moved with awe-inspiring speed. His legs were like cannons, shooting him forwards, closing the distance between the two.

To Dog's credit, he wasn't entirely idle in this. He got a shot off at Horse. Unfortunately, that shot was accounting for when Horse was standing fully up. In that lunge, he had leaned forward considerably, and so the bullet only grazed Horse's shoulder, sailing past him and landing in the wall uncomfortably close to me.

Before Dog could get a second shot in, Horse grabbed the arm he held the gun in with one hand, then punched it with the other. I swear I heard the sound of bones crunching as Dog howled and dropped the gun, sending it skittering across the floor. Before Dog could recover, Horse then punched him in the gut, sending him to the ground. Horse got on top of him and just started punching him, over and over again, absolutely brutalizing him. It was an incredible amount of brutality, a total beatdown, and all the while Horse sounded as if he was laughing.



Finally, things came to a head when Horse took out an ornate dagger from his pocket and slashed it across Dog's throat. I was stunned. I had just witnessed Horse beat Dog to death. It was nothing like I'd ever seen before. It was nothing like I'd ever seen before. My muscles locked as Horse seemed to take something off his face and put it in his pocket.'

He stood up. And as he turned around, I realized that I had to do something fast if I didn't want to have the same fate as Dog.



I would start to run if I were you.

I-

Don't waste the chance I just gave you.

Horse was right, though completely different in attitude than he had just been. I needed to run away, and run away quickly. But... the gun. That gun which had skittered to the ground would surely be an important piece. If Horse got his hands on it, things could be much worse. If I could grab it before him... I was closer, but he was faster. The alternative would be to just hightail it, make sure everyone knew what was coming. That way, we could at least make a plan as a group...