“Bwahahahahahahaha! Oh, that’s hilarious! The looks on your faces right now, I mean!” Brian, who had just appeared in the room, cackled. “But I must congratulate you, killer. Mikad only died so recently, and yet, we have another body! Well, you must know what to do at this point. Get to it! See you later…!” Brian laughed ominously and vanished from the room. It took a while for anyone to move after he had left. They had only recently witnessed the deaths of Mikad and Michael, and they had yet to recover from it. Now, Gary lay right in front of them, dead, and their brain had a challenging time processing that fact. That is, everyone except Selena, who immediately began investigating while giving her thoughts on the matter in her usual manner.

“Good riddance, I’d say. If he wasn’t going to play the game, no need to have him participate at all,” Selena said snidely. “Now, which one of you will be doing the autopsy this time? I certainly won’t be getting my hands dirty with his blood,” she added with disdain.

“Have some decency, would you?” Axel interjected. “The man just died.”

“And what of it?” Selena replied. “He refused to play the game – it’s a miracle he lived past Erick. I take that back – I’m surprised he outlived Erick! The man locked himself in his room and did nothing in the investigations, and you all have the audacity to pity him and say he didn’t deserve it?”

“No one deserves to die… No one!” Navini screamed, tears welling in her eyes. “No matter who they are, nobody deserves to be murdered!”

“Oh really? Can you say that about the murderer?” Selena pointed out, her voice taking on a syrupy tone. “If the murderer were to reveal themselves right now, would you say that they don’t deserve death? Could you truly say that with a straight face?”

“Uh…” Navini looked confused. “Well, they’re a killer! A monster! They barely qualify as human!”

“Funny you should say that,” Selena interrupted. “I’m sure most of you consider me a monster, right? Someone who’s less than human? And yet, here I am, within my legal rights, my hands clean of any murder. Do I deserve to die?” Everyone was silent. No one had an answer to Selena’s question. After waiting a minute to see if anyone dared defy her, Selena continued. “That’s what I thought. Now shut up about morality and humanity and all that nonsense and focus on the investigation. I don’t think anyone here wants to die, do we?”

That was all it took. With Selena’s warning in mind, the others set out to investigating. Jason was still considering Selena’s last statement. Was that her own backwards way of encouraging the other? Of trying to get them to not give up, no matter the circumstances? Selena was off to the side, watching everyone and smiling. Her smile seemed to be both genuine and malicious at the same time, making it even harder to get a read on her. But she was right - Jason didn’t want to die, and the only way to ensure that was to investigate Gary’s corpse. Jason set out to the task of piecing together how Gary replaced Sir Francis’ corpse on the chair.

The first thing to note was the method of death – a camo combat knife through the heart, as usual. The killer’s modus operandi hadn’t changed for this particular murder, but Jason was convinced there had to be more to the murder. The only other thing of note on Gary’s body was that his clothes were disheveled and messy, the beret that usually rest on his head missing entirely. His smock was covered with stains of varying colors that Jason could only describe as spilled paint. One was definitely not paint – a trail of fresh blood was streaming down his smock from the hole in his heart. Aside from that, Gary didn’t appear to have any other external injury that Jason could identify. Another matter was more pressing to Jason than Gary’s corpse, however – the method of escape for the killer. When Jason had opened the door, the killer was still in the room. However, there hadn’t been anyone aside from Jason in the room when he discovered Gary’s body. Where had the killer gone, and how had they left? Suddenly, Jason remembered the flash of white and the bookshelf that had spun back into place. He decided to investigate the bookshelf once again, this time looking for an entrance to a secret passage of some kind. After all, this wasn’t the first secret passage hidden behind a bookshelf, and Jason wagered it wasn’t the last.

Jason looked for quite some time to no avail. The books didn’t hide any switch or lever, and none of the other ornaments had any other means of opening a door on them. But the bookshelf had to have opened somehow, so Jason looked elsewhere for a switch. The only potential place was on the desk, but even that turned out to be fruitless. It was then that Jason noticed something about Gary that he hadn’t before – his right palm was covered in green paint. Part of the leather chair was now covered in it as well. Jason looked for a second and surely enough, he found a button hidden in the leather, now being colored green. On the floor, he found a very thin yet extremely long needle that was also covered in the paint. Jason pushed the button and waited. The bookshelf at the back started creaking as it slowly spun around to reveal an entrance. Jason and all the others in the room watched it open with wide eyes. Everyone waited for a fraction of a second before going to investigate. That fraction had proved too long – the bookshelf spun back, closing the passage behind it. Something then had made itself obvious to Jason – it was impossible for someone to be next to the leather chair, positioned as it was, and to open the bookshelf passage and have enough time to escape through it.

“Hey, Navini,” Jason asked. Navini turned her head to look at Jason. “Could you open the passage for me? All you have to do is press on the button on the chair.”

“Uh, sure,” Navini agreed, unsure. Jason walked up to the bookshelf and waited for Navini to press the button. Selena, Alexandra and Lelina were also near the bookshelf, waiting for it to spin open. The second it did, the four rushed into the passage. Jason barely had enough time to go through before the bookshelf spun closed. For a moment, Jason couldn’t see or hear anything. The bookshelf had completely drowned out the chatter in the armory. After a second, lights came on in the hallway, illuminating a long, white corridor that looked like it belonged in a hospital. The floor, walls and ceiling were all uniformly bright white, with LED lights illuminating the way. Jason decided to see where it led – and immediately he tripped and fell.

“Ow…” Jason rubbed his arm, now bruised. “What did I trip on?”

“This, probably,” Lelina answered, picking up a large white cloth off the ground. Gary’s green beret slipped out of it and fell onto the floor. Jason observed the cloth for a second – it was probably large enough to cover an entire person if they were hunched over. Two holes had been cut, more than likely to serve as eyeholes, and a large, scarlet stain covered a part of the cloth. Lelina tossed it aside in disgust and picked up her toybox. The four continued to walk down the path, a seemingly endless corridor that winded and turned quite frequently, so much so that Jason had no idea where in the house they were located. They had not gone lower, however, so Jason was sure they were still on the ground floor. Every now and then, Jason noticed a faint red spot on the corridor, more than likely a drop of blood. Eventually, the corridor ended with a staircase that led to a wooden wall with a switch next to it. Selena pressed the switch and the four stepped back as the wooden wall began to spin. They exited the corridor – and entered Gary’s bedroom.

Gary’s room was very similar to Navini’s – it was covered in fabric, pins, needles and the likes. However, it lacked the extravagant ornaments that Navini also had scattered all over her room. What was different to Navini’s room was that one wall was covered with sketches for various outfits, particularly women’s dresses. A mannequin was knocked over in one corner of the room, a plain purple cloth with yellow stripes covering most of it. The color combination was like an assault of Jason’s eyes, and he had to wonder if anyone would wear such an outfit. The room was a mess – however, Jason didn’t think it was because of Gary’s messiness. The bed was neatly done, and all the pins, needles and buttons were neatly arranged on the desk. However, one section of the wall covered in sketches was filled with scraps, torn designs lying beneath them. The mannequin, aside from having been knocked over, was also covered in scratches, and there was a light bloodstain on the door, along with scratches covering the walls. Aside from that, nothing stood out to Jason. However, the simple fact that there was a hidden passageway leading straight to Gary’s room was a huge clue, if not an amazingly convenient one. Jason also noticed that there was a pretty large bloodstain on Gary’s pillow, though what from he didn’t know yet. Jason gave one last look around Gary’s room before leaving. He realized that the door to Gary’s room was still locked, so he unlocked it and headed out.

“I figured as much,” someone stated as Jason left the room. It was none other that Lavender, who had apparently been waiting outside Gary’s room. “I couldn’t find the key on Gary’s body, so I figured that the passage must have led here.”

“A k…key?” Lelina, who had also exited Gary’s room, stuttered. “Do you m…mean this one?” She asked, pulling a key out of her toybox. “Alexandra f…found it on the f…floor near the mannequin… D…Does it belong to Gary’s room?”

“Only one way to find out,” Lavender stated and closed the door. She tried to lock the door with the key, the key spinning in the lock with a click. “Hey, Selena? Could you try opening the door?”

“With or without unlocking it first, Sherlock Holmes?” Selena’s muffled voice came from the other side. “You know we can unlock it from this side.”

“But not from this side. Without unlocking it, please,” Lavender replied, apparently unfazed by Selena. A few seconds passed without Selena doing anything. “Could you please just cooperate?” Lavender asked, now beginning to show signs of irritation.

“Sigh… Very well. Just this once, Selena Coveny will lend you her god-like assistance,” Selena replied through the door. Lelina rolled her eyes, and the three outside the room waited in anticipation. The doorknob turned and stopped abruptly. Jason could hear Selena trying to rattle it from the other side. “Well, it’s definitely locked. What did this accomplish, exactly?” Selena asked. Jason could feel her gaze piercing through the door.

“It confirmed something for me. Thank you, Selena,” Lavender replied. She then proceeded to unlock the door and open it. An infuriated Selena greeted them, her expression saying that she wanted to know more. “It’s none of your business. It’s probably not related to this case,” Lavender smiled and walked away before Selena had a chance to reply.

“How… Dare she!” Selena screeched, outraged. “Not important to this case?! As if! Get back here and tell me what that was all about!” Selena stomped off. Jason chuckled a little – this was the first time he had seen Selena lose her cool in such a manner. He gave one last glance into Gary’s room before heading off.

Jason decided to return to the scene of the crime in order to investigate it a little more. Upon his return there, Navini came rushing up to him, along with Cole.

“Oh, uh, Jason!” Cole exclaimed. “Perfect timing. Navini and I just, um, finished our, uh, autopsy. Right, Navini?” Cole nudged Navini a little. For some reason, Navini looked more depressed than usual. She was staring at the floor before Cole nudged her. Surprised, her head shot up to look at Jason.

“Oh, right. Yeah, we looked at his body,” Navini stated glumly.

“Is everything all right, Navini?” Jason asked. Navini was acting very oddly considering her usual cheery demeanor. Navini didn’t answer immediately.

“Yeah, I’m… Fine, I guess…” Navini sighed. “Cole, do you mind telling Jason what we found?”

“Ok…” Cole replied, clearly worried about Navini. “So, uh, we, um, we found out that Gary died because of, the, um, knife. There’s, uh, no doubt about that. There were only, uh, two other external injuries, and they definitely deep enough to cause any, uh, permanent damage, ha, ha…” Cole summarized.

“Two other external injuries?” Jason asked. “What were they?”

“Well, uh, one was, um, a blow on his, um, head,” Cole stammered. “It looked like, um, blunt force trauma, but it wasn’t, uh, deep enough to kill, ha, ha. It might have knocked him, um, unconscious, but not more than that. The other was, um, a bit weirder. There was a very small, uh, hole in his, um hand. Like if he, uh, pricked himself with a needle. But a lot deeper that just a little prick, ha, ha…” Cole finished, mumbling something or other to himself. “Did I, um, miss anything, Navini?”

“No, that’s, uh… That’s all…” Navini answered, not really paying attention to the conversation at hand. Cole looked worryingly at her.

“Navini, you need to, uh, pay attention to this!” Cole exclaimed. “You need to! Or else you might… You know…!” Cole’s eyes lit up, reflecting a passion Jason had yet to see in him. As soon as it had come, though, it vanished, and Cole returned to his normal, mumbling self. “Or something like that, ha, ha…” Cole mumbled to himself. Navini didn’t seem to really hear him. She walked away towards the bookshelf, almost in a trance. “I’ll, um, keep an eye on her, ha, ha…” Cole stammered before rushing off after her. Jason continued to stare at the two. They made for an odd duo – Navini was a lot taller than Cole, and yet she looked like she was just letting Cole make all the decisions for her. Her staring down at the floor and Cole jumping up and down, trying his best to get her to cheer up, almost equalized their height. Jason also noticed that Navini wasn’t wearing her platform shoes, walking around barefoot instead. If it weren’t for her outlandish hairdo, she could have passed for a normal person. Suddenly, without warning, the speaker crackled to life.

Ding-Dong! “Hey, every-bzzt! Well, I’m getting bored. Shall we - bzzt! - get started? You know the – bzzt! – by now. Gather in the main hall! See you in a bit! Oh, and I better not catch you sharing any information!” Dong-Ding!

“What? Already?” Cole cried out. “But I didn’t get to investigate everywhere…” Suddenly, he looked very nervous. “Navini, are you going to be alright?” He looked at Navini, who didn’t reply.

“Huh? But I barely got to do anything!” Audrey whined.

“This wasn’t nearly enough time to get anything done,” Lavender complained. “I didn’t even get to investigate the secret passage behind the bookshelf…”

“You didn’t? But you know it leads to Gary’s room, so there’s not much more to know, if I’m being honest,” Jason told her. Lavender smiled politely and thanked him. She then headed to the main hall. Jason took one last look at Gary’s body and headed out to the hallway.

It had almost become routine at this point – the dread that came before each visit to that room. Today especially, people seemed extremely nervous. Dahinko was sweating bullets, and was clutching to Skyler for support, who looked only a little more sure of himself. Lelina was shaking uncontrollably, and looked like she could faint at any moment. Even the normally collected Lavender and Selena seemed more worried than usual. Only two people didn’t seem worried – Vivian, who was off her usual dream world, and Alexandra, who looked as emotionless as usual. Jason awaited with an anticipation closer to fear than excitement, waiting for Anne-Marie’s voice to sound through the speakers. While he was waiting, he couldn’t help but imagine who among them would no longer be here to see tomorrow. He knew he shouldn’t think such dark thoughts, but his mind couldn’t help itself, and think it did. It kept thinking scenarios that it had no right of thinking until the interminable wait was finally ended when the speakers crackled to life.

Ding-Dong! “Um… Hello once again, everyone. As much as I hate doing this, we need to, so…” … “Ow! Okay, okay, I’ll be more enthusiastic, brother. Alright, then… Dahinko Harvey.”

Dahinko nearly rocketed through the roof when his name was called. Steeling himself, he rushed into the room. A few minutes later, he emerged, looking paler than when he had entered. One by one, everyone went into the room, until at last Jason’s name was called. Bracing himself, he entered the room. He glanced around for a little bit before beginning to retell the story of Gary’s death.

Gary Shields was quietly working away on his latest masterpiece in his room. The interruption courtesy of Brian had certainly been annoying, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Besides, who cared about some dead eccentric, anyways? He had far more important things to worry about. Once he left this horrid mansion, he had to launch his newest line of clothes, and nothing was an excuse valid enough for him. He worked frantically, the pencil flying across the page as designs were created seemingly from nothing. When he was satisfied, the design was hung up on the wall. When he wasn’t, off to the garbage it went. He was so focused on his work that he didn’t even hear the wall open in his closet. It was more of a delayed reaction – his brain had heard it, yet he refused to take his attention off his work, so he didn’t care - luckily for the killer, who lurked in the closet, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. They were itching to murder once again – the death of Sir Francis had only been an appetizer. When Jason and the others had discovered the body, it had taken all the killer’s effort to not burst out in laughter. That was the surprise Brian had in store for them? Francis had been dead for some time now, and the killer figured that the corpse had been disposed of. Silently, they waited until Gary was at his most vulnerable. Gary continued to work at breakneck speed, the pencil seemingly never resting, as designs were created and hung up or trashed. Eventually, Gary did stop, if only for a moment. He was debating a certain color choice – would yellow or green clash less with purple? He decided he needed to try it out. He fumbled around in his room until he found purple cloth and yellow cloth, and he got to work. The dress completed, it hung on the mannequin in his room. Something seemed off, and so he decided to try green instead. However, he noticed that he lacked any green cloth. Remembering that he had some in his closet, he headed towards it, and that was when the killer decided to strike.

Upon opening the closet door, Gary didn’t immediately notice the figure lurking in the shadows. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts relating to fashion and the industry. However, it didn’t take long for him to notice the glint of metal that was reflecting from the knife the killer was holding. With this unforeseen problem arising, the killer decided to act now. They revealed themselves and lunged at Gary. In his panic, Gary jumped back into the room, clinging at anything he could find, tearing down some of his beloved designs. In a desperate attempt to fend off the killer, Gary took the mannequin and shoved it in the now-rapidly approaching killer. Of course, this wasn’t enough. The killer easily caught up to Gary as he was fumbling to unlock his door and, to prevent any more hiccups, used his own mannequin to knock him unconscious. To prevent anyone from discovering the hallway trick, the killer snatched Gary’s key and shoved it into the dress before haphazardly tossing the mannequin back into the corner. A bit of blood was trickling from Gary’s head, but thanks to his beret, the wound was obscured from sight, and the killer didn’t notice it. The killer left his body of the bed and proceeded to take the hidden passage back to the armory, where they noticed that Sir Francis’ body had disappeared. They arrived just in time for Brian’s announcement about the surprise he had in store.

The killer figured out what Brian wanted from them, and they knew this was their chance – they immediately ran back to the armory, careful not to let anyone see them. However, someone did see them – Selena Coveny, the world’s best linguist. For whatever reason, she chose to ignore them, instead watching the armory curiously, waiting to see the events unfold. Perhaps she even knew who the victim would be, and yet she did not act. Instead, she waited as the killer frantically rushed back to Gary’s room and began carrying the body back to the armory. As a precautionary measure, should they be seen, the killer wrapped themselves in Gary’s bedsheet and pierced eyeholes through it with their knife. With this, they were missing one last thing to complete their murder – a way of escape. They grabbed a needle from Gary’s room and some green paint and made their way to the armory, the unconscious Gary in tow. As they walked, blood dripped onto the hallway, but in their hurry, the killer didn’t notice. They put down Gary’s body for a moment to open the door, and in that moment, his beret slipped off and fell onto the floor. The killer, again, didn’t notice, and dragged Gary’s body into the armory, where they began their daring escape. They propped the limp Gary onto the chair and placed some paint beneath his right palm. Then, they waited. Finally, Jason walked into the room, but because of the lack of light, he didn’t notice the killer, silently waiting in their white cloth. Before leaving, they finished Gary off, stabbing him at long last with their signature weapon. Finally, they pierced a needle into his palm and propped it up against the button. Jason began fumbling around to find a light switch, but he wasn’t fast enough. The needle slipped thanks to the paint, and Gary’s palm came crashing down onto the button. The bookshelf opened, and the killer left the room, the lights only just coming back on as the bookshelf closed, allowing Jason to catch a glimpse of the killer. Relieved that their plan had gone off without a hitch (or so they thought), the killer discarded the bedsheet, where it landed on top of Gary’s beret. They heard the sound of trumpets through the bookshelf, and ran as fast as they could back to Gary’s room, unlocking it and emerging from the room into an empty hallway. They then locked the door and tossed the key in the crack under the door. Thankfully, no one saw them, and they let out a sigh of relief before rushing to meet up with the others and pretending like they were just as shocked as the others. Inside, they were cursing Brian for giving them so little time to carry out such an intricate murder, but they were relieved it had gone as planned.

“And that’s what happened,” Jason concluded. “As for why they chose Gary… The convenience of the tunnel and the fact that Gary was a relatively easy target must have been the reason.” Another reason lurked at the back of Jason’s mind, but he dared not utter it. Satisfied with his answer, Jason left the room.

“Selena Coveny,” Anne-Marie’s voice crackled as Jason left the room. Selena walked in, as confident as ever, and closed the door behind her. Jason decided to not yet confront her about witnessing the murderer, because he knew that denouncing the killer’s identity would be the easy way out for her, and she would never admit to knowing anything regardless. Unless, of course, she was the killer, which would complicate things even further. Jason headed to his room to await the verdict of the investigation. He waited for a while, hearing the name of everyone being called, until at last Vivian was called, and no other names were called afterwards.

Ding-Dong! “Hello every- bzzt! - How are you all doing today? Well, not that I care. Bwahahaha! Well, after this rapid-fire murder, I’m sure you’re all wondering who won immunity. I have to say, a lot of you figured the murder out, but your reason for the murder was bo-o-oring! Come on, guys, figure it out! It wasn’t that hard! Ah well. Immunity goes to… Selena Coveny! Congratulations! As for the rest of you, well… Sleep well! Cause it might be the last time you go to bed, ever! Bwahahahahahahaha! See ya!” Dong-Ding!

Jason was hit with a pang of worry. What had he gotten wrong, he wondered. It must have been the why. It was the reason Jason could not utter, for he could not stoop to that level, but it had been the real reason. Gary was killed not because he was an easy target or because of the incredibly convenient passageway, but because he was a boring player who didn’t do anything worthwhile to spice the game up. Selena’s twisted way of thinking had been correct this time, it seemed. Jason crashed on his bed, worried for what tomorrow might have in store. For the first time in a long while, he wasn’t safe, and that worried him. He lay on his bed for quite some time, unable to fall asleep. Eventually, he gave up trying, and got up to wander around the house.

The house was dark, and since everyone was either asleep or pretending to be, it was dead silent. Jason wandered around in the darkness, looking for something to occupy his time. As he approached the kitchen, he heard voices talking, and decided to eavesdrop. The conversation was between Audrey and Timothy, who were both sipping on some tea.

“Mmm! That’s the stuff!” Audrey said as she drank some of her tea. “Nothing like scalding-hot tea to soothe some nerves.”

“Ridiculous tea temperatures aside, shouldn’t you be a little worried?” Timothy asked. “You didn’t exactly do much during the investigation…”

“As if you did any more investigating than I did,” Audrey retorted. “But yeah, I am kind of worried. That’s the reason for the tea, you know!” she laughed a little. Despite her claim to the contrary, she didn’t exactly sound worried at all.

“If you say so,” Timothy sighed. “I think you should be a little more worried. Your life is on the line, here!” He sipped his tea nervously. “I keep thinking about how useless I am towards everyone, and then I wonder if anyone would care if I was punished or murdered.”

“That’s, uh, slightly dark,” Audrey replied, “but if you say so. I don’t worry too much about that! Who cares if people like you or not? Just be you!” Audrey giggled a little. Timothy gave her an odd look, as if he wasn’t sure someone like her could say something. Still, he looked somewhat relieved.

“Hmm… I suppose that helped. Well, thanks, I guess,” Timothy thanked Audrey. Jason noticed that throughout his conversation with Audrey, his suave, almost-British accent was completely absent. He politely excused himself and left Audrey to her thoughts. Jason managed to hide himself from Timothy as he walked back up to his room. Left alone to her thoughts, Audrey’s usual cheerful demeanor changed into a much more sombre one. She seemed to really be considering her potential death. She finished her tea in one big gulp and rushed out of the room, an idea having seemingly struck her. She dashed to the armory and slammed the door behind her. Jason looked at the armory for a few seconds before returning to his room and crashing on his bed. By sheer willpower alone, Jason coerced his body into falling asleep at last.

Jason was awoken the next morning by a very high-pitched buzzing. Dazed, he got up and started search for the source of the sound. Unsurprisingly, the buzzing came from the speaker in his room. Just as he was about to leave his room, Brian’s voice came alive in the speakers.

Ding-Dong! “Good morning everyone! How are – bzzt! – all doing today? Not like I care. Anyways! I woke you all up this morning to share some exciting news with you! I’ve managed to find a way to make the punishments more… Exciting, shall we say? As a bonus prize for our past immunity winners, they will get a chance to get a sneak peek at the newest punishment! So, Selena, Jason and Lavender, consider yourselves the lucky winners! Everyone else, your doors have been locked, so no getting out until I say so! The three of you, meet me at the front door! Toodles!” Dong-Ding!

A sneak peek? New punishments? Locked doors? So many questions flew through Jason’s mind, and yet he had no answers. The annoying buzzing sound had also stopped, its purpose of waking everyone up being complete. Hesitantly, he exited his room. Upon walking out into the hallway, he noticed Lavender had also just exited her room. The two of them ran up to each other.

“What did he mean by “more exciting punishments”?” Lavender asked.

“Why do we get a sneak peek?” Jason asked at the same time.

“So many questions, and yet so little answers,” Lavender sighed. “Oh well. I suppose we should head to the front door. If I had to guess, I’d say Selena’s already there, waiting for us.” Jason nodded, and the two headed off to the front door together.

“What took you two so long?” Selena complained as Jason and Lavender arrived at the front door. “And consider yourselves lucky for getting this reward at all; were I in charge, you two wouldn’t get this reward at all. Only I got immunity last night, after all.”

“Yeah, well, luckily for us, you aren’t,” Lavender replied sarcastically. “In any case, what now? We’re all here – what are we supposed to do?”

“Well, I went ahead and did some snooping while you two were busy doing whatever else, and I found something,” Selena stated with an air of superiority. She went up to the front door and placed her hand on it. “Observe,” she said, and pushed the door.

It opened.

As Lavender had predicted so many nights ago, the bridge to the mansion had been destroyed, meaning that they were well and truly isolated. On the other side of the bridge, the forest that Jason had gone through on the first night seemed to stretch on forever.

“Ah! I missed the fresh air,” Selena smiled.

“There aren’t any cameras here, right?” Jason asked.

“What an odd question to ask! But no, no cameras in sight. I suppose people weren’t meant to come out here much. I wonder what Brian has in store for us?” Selena smiled as if she knew perfectly well what was going to occur.

“Then I want to confront you about something,” Jason said. Selena’s eyebrow raised, her curiosity having piqued. “Yesterday, you witnessed the crime, right? And you saw who the killer was, right?” Selena stayed silent. The smile on her face had vanished, a look of dead seriousness having replaced it instead. “Then tell us: who is it?” Lavender seemed taken aback by this.

“Oh, you’re good, Jason Harlon,” Selena said slowly. “You’re really good at this. You noticed it, didn’t you? How careless of me,” she mumbled. “Then you must know what I plan to do with this information, right?”

“Tell no one. Of course. But you can only kill one of us at a time. If either Lavender or I die next, we know who the killer is. You’ll want to keep us quiet if you’re the murderer, and if you’re not, someone random will die. Think of this as a guarantee of sorts.”

“My, you trust Lavender a lot, don’t you?” Selena questioned. “And if I die next? What then, detective?”

“You won’t die next. Brian and the killer are almost relying on you to make this interesting. Without you-”

“Splendid! Yes, that’s exactly right!” Selena exclaimed, seemingly out of pure joy. “Oh, I’ll enjoy playing against you, Jason. I will very much enjoy our game. But know this – I will never reveal the killer. That would make things far too boring. But I will enjoy watching you guess the killer. You already have an idea, don’t you? Possible suspects?” Selena narrowed her eyes but kept the same, deadly smile she had plastered on her face. Jason remained silent, scared to reveal his true thoughts to Selena.

“Is it true, Jason?” Lavender asked. “Do you know who the killer is?”

“I have… Potential theories, but nothing concrete,” Jason disclosed. “There are a couple of people it could be, but there’s not enough evidence to accuse anyone definitively.” Lavender seemed disappointed, but comprehensive.

“Well, enough of this garbage,” Selena blurted out. “Let’s find what Brian wanted, shall we? Some sort of sneak peek?” Jason took one look around and couldn’t see anything worth his attention. “Considering his previous lack of subtlety, I doubt it’s anything we’ll have to look for too much.”

“Perhaps behind the house?” Lavender suggested. Selena shrugged, and Jason nodded in agreement, and the three of them headed around the house. It was then that Jason noticed how isolated they really were – the house was built high up on a cliff, with sharp rocks awaiting them in a churning, gray ocean. With no boat in sight and the only way off the island having been destroyed, it seemed that even if they could find the killer, they still had an enormous problem. Viewed from the outside, the house was far larger than Jason had initially assumed. Perhaps it was due to the blocked off areas, but the house seemed far smaller inside than outside. About halfway across, Jason noticed that the large, imposing, glass windows were boarded up, presumably to prevent anyone from seeing inside. It seemed that Brian or whoever oversaw this wasn’t ready for them to discover what was inside those windows. Perhaps with some help from A, Dexter and Arthur, they could investigate, but for now the windows remained boarded up. Eventually, they reached the other side of the house and stopped. Something had stopped all three of them in their tracks – a sort of impending doom, one they weren’t sure they were ready to greet.

“Shall we break the tension? What awaits us behind the house?” Selena, least tense of the three, pressed on and looked behind the house. “Oh. Well, that makes it a tad obvious, don’t you think, Brian?” Curiosity having finally gotten the better of him, Jason peeked behind the house.

There was a literal mountain of fireworks piled up outside, with one huge one in the middle. The large firework was about half the height of the manor, and definitely wide enough to shield anything behind it from view.

“Well, this is underwhelming,” Selena sighed. “Of course she was next. Try to surprise me next time, Brian.” With no idea what she was talking about, Jason circled to the other side of the mountain to see what was there.

Unconscious and strapped to the giant firework with rope, Jason found Audrey Burnswell, awaiting her fate.

“Whoops! Did I forget to mention that someone else got the privilege?” Brian materialized from seemingly nowhere to laugh at them. “And before you try anything, remember what happens if you interfere! Does death sound pleasant for you today, Lavender?” Lavender stopped. She had already begun climbing the mountain of fireworks (to little success) to try and rescue Audrey. Reluctantly, she backed away from the fireworks. “Little twerp tried to fight back, too. Got a shotgun from the armory and everything! But only one weapon in there still has bullets, and it wasn’t that one! Bwahahahaha! Oh man, that’s a good one. Anyways, before the show starts, I’ll let everyone out. See you in a bit!” With one last cackle, Brian faded out.

“Damnit…” Lavender sank to her knees, powerless.

“Don’t cry over spilled milk, right?” Selena smiled. “What’s done is done. This is her own fault – if she had paid any attention at all during the case, she wouldn’t be here, and someone else would be blasted to space. This does seem a little too ironic to not have been planned in advance, but whatever.”

“But it’s not done! She’s still alive! We can save her!” Jason protested.

“And get ourselves killed? No. Better only one person be punished than two, or three, even,” Selena replied. “And besides, I will not be allowing you two to be blasted to space, not after how entertaining you’re proving to be, Jason,” she smiled, her smile as warm as ice. Jason looked around, frustrated. It was then that he noticed the camera hidden on the tip of the largest firework – that explained Brian’s sudden appearance outside. A while passed with Jason and Lavender trying to figure out a way to save Audrey without endangering themselves, but to no avail. After a few minutes, Jason heard footsteps frantically racing towards them.

“Alright! Time for the show to start!” Brian had once again materialized, this time with a match in hand. He struck it and lit the rope at the end of the giant firework. The smoke from the rope began puffing upwards into Audrey’s face, who awoke with a start.

“Huh...? Where… Oh no!” Panic seized her face, and she began violently struggling against her bonds. It was at that exact moment that the other houseguests came racing to the back, only to discover that it was too late. “Help! Someone, help me!”

“Ah ah ah! No moving, or I’ll blow you to bits along with Audrey!” Brian addressed this to the others, who watched the scene unfold with horror.

“Damn…” A cursed.

“Why you…?” Timothy was on the verge of tears. “After last night, I thought… Why…?”

“No… No!” Navini screamed in horror and collapsed, unconscious. Arthur gently put down her sword and pick the limp Navini off the ground.

“You won’t get away with this!” Skyler yelled at Brian. “One day, we will end you!”

“Ooh, don’t you sound brave? Well then, go ahead! End me!” Brian taunted Skyler, who stood his ground, frustrated. He made a step towards Brian, but Dahinko held him back.

“No, Skyler! It’s way too dangerous!” Dahinko protested. Skyler nodded in frustration and reluctantly stepped down.

“W…we have to d…do something!” Lelina cried. “We c…can’t just l…let her die l…like this!”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do,” Dexter sighed. “I’m sorry, Audrey,” he apologized. Dexter looked away, unable to look Audrey in the eye.

“Guys, please! I don’t… I don’t want to die!” Audrey’s face was twisted in a sort of horrified panic. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Please! Pleeeeeeeeease!” She cried out just as the fuse finally reached the firework. The ground began to rumble, and the firework slowly lifted of the ground, taking Audrey with it. Brian’s projection began to falter, due to the camera also moving.

“Oops! Give me a second…” Brian raced around the mountain of fireworks, lighting every single possible firework before tossing the lit match into the pile. The giant firework rose further and further into the air, the sound of its liftoff muted by Audrey’s guttural screams. Some of the smaller, lighter fireworks rose ahead of it, some going off in random directions and exploding on their own, while others struck Audrey, who screeched in pain. Everyone watched in horror as the events unfolded. Eventually, the firework was high enough above the house that it muted Audrey’s screams, and finally, the firework exploded in a fury of different colors. Shielding his eyes, Jason could make out Audrey’s body, now a limp, airborne projectile, as it fell into the ocean and sank down to her watery grave.

SURVIVORS: 19