Part 68: Divided and Conquered

[BGM: Rat's Awakening]


Paranoia and desperation were rampant within my brain. I went up the stairs and ran down the third floor hallway. Eventually, I found the group. Explaining what had happened to them did not calm things down.



We're gonna die, we're gonna die!

Is there anything we can do? Any way at all to stop him?!

As a matter of fact, I believe we are not completely without options yet.

She held out the dual pistols. We weren't completely out of weapons.

So what should we do with them?

I don't know. Put them to good use.

With that, Monkey started to walk away from us.

Wait! Where are you going?



I am aware of my strengths well enough to know that I'd be of no use here. I'm also aware of my mental state enough to know that if I see anyone die with my own eyes, I'll likely be scarred, experiencing trauma that would take years and years to heal from.

A therapist can't exactly be scarred, no? So, for my livelihood and life, I shall flee. ...Also, the round is nearing its end, we all need to input our moves once more.

Hey, wait up! That sounds like a bunch of cowardly talk to justify running and hiding!

Actually, I think Monkey's plan sounds pretty cool. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Know that my winning spirit is with you. Cheers.

Rooster started to speedwalk away.

Hey, cut it out! You're really just going to hide? How do you even know that's going to work?

Don't worry, I'm sure it will. After all, I've been invisible to casting directors for years!

Ha ha ha. Ha.

Cretins.

[BGM: Silence]


Can we just hide and let others deal with Horse? Because if that's the case I want to do that as well.

Pig ran along down the hallway.

We can't split up like this!

Ox started chasing those three down, shouting at them not to flee. Ironically, in trying to bring the group together, Ox also split off from the group. The only ones left were myself, Sheep. Tiger, and Bunny. The situation had only gotten grimmer and grimmer. We briefly split up so we could press the RUN buttons on our tablets without being executed. I half-expected the others to be gone when I returned. They weren't.

But Ox, Pig, Rooster, and Monkey still were.

[BGM: Bullfighter]


...We're in trouble, aren't we?

Screw that! You think just because others have failed, I will too?

I am an Abadi, unbreakable spirit, Olympian champion, record breaker in all things! I will have a life worth two hundred of itself!

If some bodybuilder homicidal douchebag thinks he'll be the end of me, he's got another thing coming!

Jeez... I guess if you're that serious, I need to get into shape too, right? Fine then. Let's get serious.

But what can we do that hasn't been tried already?

We're going to do what the others haven't: be smart. Let's try and think about this rationally.



Mouse, you said that when Horse puts on that skull mask, he starts to act like a different person? A wild one, obsessed with fighting?

Yeah, seems to be.

God, that's really dumb. But if it's true, we can use it to our advantage.

If we stay in the third floor hallway for long enough, eventually he'll find us. That's when you, Tiger, should challenge the “masked him” to a fight without weapons.

A fight without weapons?

If it's really like a different person when he's wearing the mask, he might agree to it. Mouse's description painted him as an honor-bound warrior nutcase who might go for it.

And Tiger, you're also dumb enough for it to be believable that you'd lay down this challenge.

Point is, we're gonna hope, and I stress hope that Horse goes for that.



So it's gonna be up to me to take him down in a one-on-one fight?

God no. You might be strong, but just physically speaking Horse is stronger.

You don't know how strong I really am!

No, but I can guess. And either way, it's also clear that Horse has more fighting experience, which honestly matters more in the long run.

So if you're not relying on Tiger to win, what's the plan?

I'll be hiding in a closet further down the hallway Tiger will wait at. Once the fight starts, I'll pop out wielding the dual pistols and take him by surprise. Unlike a lot of you, I actually know how to use guns like this.

For a big brute like that, I won't miss. And in a hallway like that, he'll have nowhere to hide. It'll be an execution.

Sounds good, but what if Horse refuses and decides to shoot her?



If he's smart, after shooting her he'll walk to check her body.

When he leans down over her, he'll be wide open.

What?! Your plan is to sacrifice Tiger to kill Horse?!

At this point, losing one more to save the other seven is worth it, especially if that one was going to die anyways.

Tiger, are you okay with this?

If that's what it takes... then you all will just need to live my 200 lives for me! I've probably got 80 done by now, so divide the remaining 120 amongst yourselves. Which means for each of you, um, that's like... 20 lives a piece?

What?

Besides, it won't come to that. I won't die! If I know Horse, he's gonna honor my one on one fight. And then I'm gonna win!



No, you're going to let me pop out and shoot him to death.

I could take him!

We've established that you could not.

But lying about having a no-weapons, one on one duel, then shooting from behind- isn't that a total dick move?

You know what's also a dick move? Deciding to massacre 11 innocent people to save your own ass.

I guess. Still, it doesn't sit right with me.

Well you'll just have to find some way to deal with it. As for the two of you, Sheep and Mouse, I hate to say it but I think you're just going to be burdens on this whole operation more than anything.

A burden?

[68-10]

You two can wait nearby in the computer lab. That way, you can watch how the whole thing goes, maybe step in if need be, run away if it really goes south.

Though, if this, our fourth plan, still doesn't work, I think we're all just dead. So... sound like a plan?

I guess.

Yeah.

Alright, let's do this!

It would be a stretch to say I was feeling good about this. In truth, I was feeling very, very bad about this. But what else were we going to do? This was the plan now. We headed over to the computer lab to wait and watch. Not much else to do, after all.

[BGM: Silence]


Do you think this will work?

I feel like I've asked and answered that so many times now. At this point, it better work.

That's not a very confidence-inspiring answer.

Inspire your own confidence.

How?

If I told you, then it wouldn't be you doing the inspiring, now would it?

Sheep fell silent. I felt a little bad about getting snippy with her, but not that bad. There were a lot of other things I was feeling worse about.



Eventually, I heard noises. I leaned out to sneak a peek at what was happening, and sure enough, Horse was there. And by the look of things, he had indeed been lured into a one-on-one fight. His weapons were thrown to the floor and his skull mask was on.

You sure you want to do it like this? It'll be a lot of fun for me, a lot of pain for you.

Ha! More like, it'll be the other way around with you being the one who gets the pain! Let's do this!!

[BGM: Rabid Rabbit]


Tiger started charging at Horse, but Horse leaped over to the side and toppled a nearby trophy closet. He sent it crashing down, blocking the closet door. ...Blocking the closet door Bunny was hiding in. Why? How? How the fuck?!

Huh?

What's wrong? Nervous that your friend isn't gonna be able to give you backup now? It was you who made this a one versus one, right?

There's no way ! How could you have known that was our plan?!

Easy. I could hear him breathing.

You... heard him breathing?

My ears are very finely tuned. Although, I was listening for it- after all, at this point I didn't buy for a minute that you didn't have something up your sleeve.

Should've laid your trap better. Now there's no way he's gonna be able to end the fight that easily.

I wouldn't be so sure about that!



Tiger once again rushed at Horse, for once catching him by surprise. She pinned him against the blocked off door, holding both his arms down to either side of the wall.

Now, Bunny! Fire through the door!

It must've taken Bunny a second to realize what she meant by this, because there was a pause before bullets started whizzing through. Horse, however, realized what this meant instantly, and made to escape by headbutting Tiger and rushing away. In the past, this sort of evasive tactic would have resulted in Horse making a clean escape, right before he would turn around and kill his attackers. Not this time.

Horse was hit in the side by the very first bullet. It wasn't anything crucial, but it clearly weakened him. As Horse gripped his side, Tiger grabbed onto the trophy case blocking the door and shoved it aside. The sound of the heavy closet moving away was enough to notify Bunny that he could now kick the door open.

Finish him!

Die, you fuck!



Bunny started firing both pistols at Horse. Before the first bullet was shot, Horse had already leaped up and at Bunny. The bulky man somehow jumped with the height of a gymnast. Yet even he wasn't able to fully get out of the way of the barrage. Two bullets hit his left leg, blood splattering onto the ground. In Horse's mind, this might've been a small price to pay. After all, with the jump he was able to get right up to Bunny.

In a clean sweep he grabbed onto both of Bunny's hands. He squeezed so hard I could hear the bones breaking from down the hall. Bunny cried out in pain and dropped both pistols. Horse then swung the smaller man like he was nothing more than a prop, tossing him down the hall. Bunny limply skidded across the hallway.

Horse looked as though he meant to finish Bunny off, but Tiger wasn't having that. She kicked right at Horse's head. Again, normally Horse should've been able to dodge that sort of strike, but instead the blow solidly landed with a nasty THUNK. I wasn't sure if Tiger was particularly speedy, matching Horse's reflexes, or if Horse was simply starting to feel fatigue. Either way, the attack on Horse did nothing but make him an enraged punching machine.



Left hook, right hook, left straight, right straight. Horse unleashed a barrage of powerful fists at Tiger, each punch powerful enough to crack stone. But Tiger kept pace, blocking and dodging each and every one. And while Tiger was being pushed back, Bunny was starting to recover. He slowly got to his feet, reached down, and picked up one of the pistols. He tried to aim at Horse, but the two combatants were fighting too fast, and Tiger was squarely in the way.

What's the matter, Bunny? Why not shoot me?

…

Oh wait, you can't! Nearly forgot.

Oh yeah?

With that, Bunny aimed his gun and...



He shot right through Tiger! He shot her right through the stomach! What the hell?! But, in theory, this might've been a worthy sacrifice. Horse's sight was blocked by Tiger, so he shouldn't have been able to see the oncoming bullet. ...And yet, some how, when the bullet came barrelling through Tiger's chest, it did not hit Horse, but rather, the dagger he held in front of him. The fuck? Sure, the flat side of the dagger was rather wise, but still, to use something that small to block a bullet you couldn't see coming...

Then, Horse wound up his arm, like he was a pitcher. Right as Tiger fell to one knee from the bullet wound, he let his dagger fly forwards, right at Bunny. It struck him right in the throat, and immediately Bunny started to clutch at his neck and painfully choke. Tiger, to her credit, refused to go down from one bullet wound. But as she determinedly stayed on one knee, trying to get up, Horse put his hands together and struck down with killing intent.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, even though I had seen it so many times.



Under impossible circumstances, Horse still managed to turn the tables and kill his attackers. He couldn't be beat. He was unstoppable. He was inevitable. He could do nothing, would do nothing except kill. He'd murder each and every last one of us. We were going to die. There was nothing we could do. Death was inevitable-

[BGM: Silence]


Mouse! Snap out of it!

Sheep tugged hard on my sleeve, trying to stop me from just blankly staring at the carnage.

We've got to run and get out of here before Horse finishes with that!

Again? What's the point...!

Mouse, I don't have time for this!



She closed her eyes and raised her hand. It shook in the air, and then came right at my face. Sheep, in a moment of desperation, slapped me.

S-sorry! I know, I'm horrible, I just-

No, no... I, uh, I needed that. You're right. Let's get out of here.

My heart was still at the bottom of my stomach, but wallowing in that would certainly lead to death. Running still might not. In this race, I was the mouse. No, I was the rat. And I would survive by fleeing like one.

That's all I could do.