Part 91: Smoked Out

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


Bunny showed us to a fairly small looking room.

Dragon's hiding in there. So if Horse shows up, lead him in there.

Should we go update her on the plan?

I'd like to, but...

Bunny looked nervously at the nearby staircase.

It'd really suck if she revealed her hiding spot and Horse walked in on us.

Still, not informing her could lead to some potentially dangerous confusion.

Okay, how about this then?

[BGM: Silence]


Bunny looked around once more, then quickly opened the door.

Dragon, Mouse's pack is working with us don't kill them ok thanks bye!

Just like that he slammed the door shut.

That should take care of that.

Uh, well, I guess so.

I'll hide in a nearby room, then run in when the assault happens.

Why aren't you hiding in that room as well?

I don't know how well you can tell by just looking in the window, but that room's pretty small. There aren't two spaces to hide, and if Horse saw me, he'd realize this was an ambush.



And you're sure you're not using this as an excuse to run away when the fight started and leave the hard work to Dragon and Tiger?

Of course not! If I did that, and Horse won, I'd stand no chance on my own. It's a dumb move no matter how you look at it.

Jeez Ox, why do you have to be such a buzzkill all the time? Just trust Bunny, he's not the type to pull something shady off.



Okay.

Great! I imagine Horse is going to start looking for others, so just, uh, patrol around this floor. You'll run into him soon.

I believe in you!

With those inspiring(?) words, Bunny hid in the nearby room. Leaving us to lure out a huge, muscular guy into an ambush. Not exactly a fun situation, but we didn't have many choices.

So... what now?



I suspect Bunny's analysis is right. From what I got of Horse's character, it would not surprise me if he begins to proactively look for opponents soon.

You sure about that?

If he were smart, he would have no need to. It's easier to attack than defend, and with Sheep and Monkey's help he's in a good position to win the race. But that doesn't seem like Horse's style. I would guess that any minute... he'll...

...Ox?

Behind you.

I did, indeed, turn around behind me, and sure enough, Horse was standing there. Except...

[BGM: Metal Horse]


What's that on his face?

A skull mask?

Who cares about that, its time to fight!! Hey! Horse!! Get your ass over here, and let's settle this!

Instead of answering, Horse began to pick up speed as he approached us. It wasn't long before he was in a full sprint.

Uh, guys?

Quickly, in here!

Ox yanked my arm and brought me into the ambush room. Tiger followed after us. Entering, I looked for where Dragon would be hiding. But I didn't see any hiding spots that jumped out at me. Instead... the eye-catching thing was the stack of rags right in the corner next to the entrance. It was a surprisingly high pile, and they were covered in... is that grease? Oil?

I suddenly got a bad feeling.



Ox, we should–

Before I could finish my statement, Horse came barrelling in after us.

My, what cramped quarters you've chosen for our duel! If this is what you want your coffin to be, have at it!

Horse leapt forwards at Tiger, who knocked him back. But before that fight started in earnest, someone opened the door. ...Dragon?

Sorry, but this is how you fight a war.

With that, she held out a silver lighter with a Red Dragon emblem. She lit a rag and threw it onto the nearby stack. Then she slammed the door.

NO!!!

Ox, what is she doing?

She's using us as sacrifices. We're now trapped in a burning room.



The stack was burning at an incredible rate, already a full fire.

This room's pretty small. It'll be filled with smoke in no time, and we'll choke to death.

Ha! They think this can close me in?

Through the window, I saw Bunny and Dragon blocking the door with a trophy case. The two were pushing it from the other side, keeping us in.

Take this!

Horse slammed on the door, hard. There was a bit of leeway, but the barrier held surprisingly well.

Tch. Fine, let's try this.

He slammed his fist through the glass window of the door. He began to reach out, grasping at things outside. But all of a sudden, he let out a cry.

AAAAAGAHRGHGH!!



He reeled in pain and then fell limply to the ground.

What just happened?!

He's unconscious, maybe dead.

What?! Why??

How should I know? That's not important right now!

We've gotta get out of here.

I know that, the question is how?

First off, help me get Horse's body out of the way.

Ox and I tried to drag the corpse, but Tiger ended up doing most of the lifting. The path to the door was now clear. The amount of smoke had reached a point where I had to stay low. The fire was already spreading. Tiger tried pushing on the door, and while it did get pushed slightly open, it was soon pushed back in place. It was hard to tell, but I could guess all the members of Dragon's pack were doing their best to shut us in.

Dang it! What should I do?!

Tiger was clearly getting frustrated. There was no telling what might happen if I just let her do whatever. I needed to help out.



So, obviously there's a right and a wrong choice here It should also be pretty obvious what we SHOULDN'T tell Tiger to do here – if she tries to reach through the window like Horse did, she'll most likely have what happened to him happen to her, which is bad. Therefore...

Tiger, try knocking the door right off its hinges!

How will that clear a path?

Just do it!

There was no time to discuss. If we spent any more time in here, there was a serious danger of one of us dropping dead. Tiger began kicking the door near its hinges. With a few solid blows, the hinges came off.

Now, push the top of it!

Tiger obliged, pushing the top of the door. It came down on top of the trophy case, and Dragon's attempts to block the doorway were ineffective. The wide opening let plenty of smoke out. It also gave Tiger an opportunity. She took two steps back, then rushed forwards and leapt through the opening. Desperate to escape the crisis, Ox and I followed suit.

And like that, we had narrowly escaped the burning classroom with our lives. It was frankly a miracle – we were almost killed. Dragon almost killed us. Completely betrayed.



That group, Dragon, Snake, and Bunny, stood before us in the hall. Dragon was holding some loose piping she had gotten from who knows where. Bunny had a bat in his hand. Snake, on the other hand, was just holding a syringe. ...A syringe? He must have found some poison from the chemistry lab. Still, it didn't seem like a particularly good fighting weapon.

You jerks! What was that about?!

Simple. We wanted to kill two birds with one stone. It's your fault for believing us so easily.

Horse's group isn't the one with the 'victorious' personality. Hers is.

Dragon did nothing but smirk at this.

You think you can kill me off, just like that? You're not going to *cough cough* get away with *cough* this!

I looked nervously to Tiger. It was clear that the struggle with the door and the smoke had weakened her.

Heh. You want to settle this here and now? I'm game.



Dragon started to approach her, but Snake called out.

Dragon, wait!

God, what is it dude? Tiger's weakened! We're not going to get a better opportunity than this!

Perhaps, but it's still not going to be an easy fight. It'll injure us and leave us easy targets to the vultures.

Vultures?

Examine the situation carefully.

[BGM: Silence]


Dragon closed her eyes, lost in thought for a moment. When she opened them, she was in a much calmer state.

Fine. We'll settle this later.

And just like that, Dragon turned around and started walking away. Snake and Bunny followed her.

Hey! Where do you think you're going! You think we'll let you get away *cough* that easily?

Tiger, calm down. You're in no position to fight right now. And unfortunately, the two of us won't be much help. Let's retreat for now.

Grr... ...Fine.

Tiger looked sullen, but she turned around and made her way to the nearby stairwell. Ox and I followed her, but as we went down the hallway we saw people running away at the end of another hallway.

Hey, who was that?



Probably Rooster, Pig, and Dog. I imagine this is what Snake meant when he referred to 'vultures'. They might've opportunistically looked to take down the winner of the fight they heard.

Wait, does that make sense? Pig's pack should be working with Dragon's, right?

Maybe, but I don't know if Pig's pack knows that yet.

What are you two talking for? Let's get a move on.

Right. Let's.

We weakly made our way back to the cafeteria. The incident left us with low spirits and low energy. After all, we were utterly betrayed, and we saw Horse die.



I just realized. If Dragon's pack has the 'victorious' personality, Horse's group was actually on our side. Fuck.

So he died for nothing?

…

Dragon was right. It was nothing short of full-blown idiocy for us to just accept the fact that they didn't have the 'victorious' personality without proof. Some form of Bunny's convincing performance and my own poor-thinking brain. It's... entirely my fault.

Why?

I was supposed to catch things like that.

What, so it's just your responsibility to do the thinking around here?

No, I didn't mean–

Because as far as I see it, Tiger and I fell for it just as much as you did. So unless you think you're smarter than us, I don't see how you can say that 'you're supposed to catch things like that'.

[BGM: Lamb to the Slaughter]


You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just... frustrated.

We all are. But let's change that frustration into something useful. Because sitting around here and lamenting the past is going to do absolutely fuck all for us.

That's the spirit, Mouse! Let's find a way to kick Dragon's ass and survive together!

Just then, we noticed two figures entering the cafeteria.

Um... Mouse? Ox, Tiger? Can we talk?

I believe we have much to discuss.

Sure, come right in.



Mouse, are you sure?

What's there to question? They're on our side.

But do they know that?

We do. We weren't far from Horse when he chased after you. We kept our distance, for safety reasons, but we saw a lot of what was happening.

Jeez, how many spectators were just hiding on the sidelines when we were burning to death?

S-Sorry, we just thought that even if we tried to help, we'd just get knocked away by Dragon or Bunny.

That's probably correct.

Afterwards, we checked on Horse, and he w-was... he was...



Sheep wasn't able to finish her statement. She didn't need to.

I'm sorry, Sheep. We didn't know... well, we thought it was him or us.

We aren't here to pass judgment on you. You must grapple with what has happened on your own.

Then why are you here?

Are you here to join the fight?

In a way, but not how you think.

Huh?

Um... Did you guys... er, th-think about what would happen after Horse died?

...What do you mean?

Let me put it simply. Horse is in a state where he will be unable to input actions on his tablet. If he doesn't input an action this round, he will be executed.

And if anyone other than him uses his tablet, he will be executed. Even his partners can't use it.

Wait, but that means...



With these new rules, when one member of a pack is executed, the whole is executed. To put it simply... Sheep and I are dead women walking.