Everyone had gathered around Navini’s bed, silently observing the pale figure. It was a while before anyone moved or said anything. Cole had been trying to check for a pulse for a few minutes now, but still felt nothing. Slowly, however, Jason noticed that Navini was regaining her colour, and her face no longer seemed as pale. Everyone’s nerves were on edge, waiting to hear whether they had lost another friend or not. That is, everyone except –

“So, is she dead, or can I continue with my life?” Selena, as per usual, seemed to not care that someone was dying or dead. “I don’t even have to pretend to care with this one – suicide? What a boring way to go. Where’s the fun in that?”

“Can you, like, actually shut your fuckin’ trap?” Rose turned around and looked at Selena.

“And why should I? Give me one reason-” Selena never got to finish her sentence. Rose socked her directly in the jaw, knocking Selena onto the floor.

“There’s a reason. Now shut up.” Rose barely even looked at Selena. Selena stayed on the floor, outraged and speechless. Jason almost felt bad for Selena, but she had been asking for it ever since she set foot in the manor. It had only been a matter of time before someone acted. For a moment, everyone looked at Rose, stunned that she had hit Selena. Rose barely seemed to notice, but Jason could swear he saw a hint of a smirk on Rose’s lips. Selena picked herself up and stomped out of the room, leaving the others in awe of Rose. “Not gonna lie – that felt real good.” Rose finally allowed herself to smile a little.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Timothy smiled as well. “The amount of times I’ve wanted to do that to her must be in the triple digits by now.”

“She won’t be forgetting that, you know,” Alexandra sighed. “She will find a way to get her revenge on you.

“Well, if I’m the next dead, you all know who to target, right?” Rose smirked.

“Uh, guys?” Cole murmured. No one heard him.

“That’s bold of you, Rose,” Lavender smiled. “I suppose you are right, though.”

“G…guys?” Cole said, a little louder. Still, no one heard him.

“The bitch had it coming! She can’t keep acting like a total degenerate and then pretend she’s better than us! Who does she think she is, the goddamn Queen?” Rose complained.

“PLEASE LISTEN!” Cole shouted. Everyone turned around to look at him, and his face turned bright red. “Uh, um, ha, ha, I mean, uh, um,” he stuttered, seemingly having lost the ability to speak coherently.

“What is it, Cole?” Mary asked. Cole mumbled something incoherent and far too quiet for anyone to hear. “Please speak louder, otherwise we will not be able to hear you,” Mary sighed.

“I, uh, said that, uh, I found a, um, pulse, ha, ha,” Cole mumbled. It was as if a gun had gone off in the room. Everyone darted to Navini’s side, all trying to feel for a pulse. “Guys, come on, you, uh, can’t be this aggressive, um, it might, uh, upset her, ha, ha, ha…” Cole tried to warn them, but it was no use. Everyone sighed a collective sigh of relief when they had found a pulse.

“Oh, thank God,” Mary prayed, “that Navini has come back to us. The Lord has allowed her more time at our side.” She held up her cross and began muttering things in Latin.

“She’s going to live?” Arthur asked. Out of everyone, she seemed most worried for Navini’s safety. Jason could understand why – Arthur had been the one assigned to watch the mentally-fragile Navini, and in her one slip of attention, Navini had almost taken her own life. Arthur let out a long sigh before kneeling in front of Navini. “I swear to never let you down again. I have failed you and I have my duties and honour as a knight, and I will never live this down,” she apologized. For the first time, Jason saw her tough exterior melt away, and tears formed in her eyes.

“Okay, uh, now everyone should, um, leave, ha, ha…” Cole said. “Navini, uh, needs rest more, um, than anything, so, uh, yeah… I’ll stay, uh, by her side to, um, make sure she, uh, recovers.”

“I shall guard you two,” Arthur rose and declared. “Navini is an extremely easy target at the moment, and I will ensure nothing happens to her.

“Then we entrust their safety to you, Arthur,” Dexter nodded. “Come, everyone. We should let her rest. This has been a very tense day for all of us, so perhaps we should also rest.”

“Agreed. I’m… yawn… Really tired,” Jessica agreed.

“When aren’t you tired?” Axel asked her. The tension seemed to lift from the room, and everyone allowed themselves to laugh a little. Jason cast one last look at Navini before leaving the room to get some much-needed rest.

Jason awoke the next morning feeling oddly refreshed. For a long time, he had been unable to sleep for more than a few hours, but now he felt that he had slept deeply and profoundly. He had a smile on his face that he was unable to wipe off. He caught himself humming a tune in the shower, and upon exiting his room, all felt right in the world. He went downstairs with this same joy only to have it smashed in front of him. Rose was puking into a bucket next to her, and Lelina was awkwardly patting her back, trying her best to not get any vomit on her.

“What’s happening here?” Jason asked, slightly disgusted by the sight of Rose.

“Rose has b…been puking a…all morning and I don’t k…know why…” Lelina stuttered. “S…she had b…breakfast and this started h…happening…”

“Ugh! This ain’t great,” Rose lifted her head to talk to Jason. Her face was incredibly pale, and traces of green had formed in her complexion. “I just had a toast, man… What the hell is happening to me?” Rose cursed. “Oh… I feel it coming up again!” Rose’s head dipped back down into the bucket, and Lelina continued to awkwardly pat her. At that moment, Cole stepped out of the kitchen, holding a glass with a sunset orange drink in it.

“Here you are, Ms. Stravor!” Cole smiled. “This is, uh, a homemade stomach ache cure, um, that I made. This should, uh, help!” He handed her the drink. Rose took one look at it and puked a bit more.

“How the hell is this gonna help me?! It just looks like cheap fruit juice!” Rose exclaimed before returning to her bucket. Tears began to well in Cole’s eyes. Rose seemed to immediately feel guilty, and she quickly added: “Then again, nothing could make this worse, so… Bottoms up!” Forcing herself up, she grabbed the drink from Cole’s hands and chugged it down in one go. “God, what the hell is in this thing?! It tastes like ass!”

“I, uh, know the taste isn’t, um, very pleasant, but it, uh, works very quickly, ha, ha… You should feel better in, uh, about 5 minutes, ha, ha…” Cole mumbled.

“Five minutes? What on Earth is in this thing?” Jason asked. “No stomach ache cure should work that quickly…”

“Well, it’s not really, uh, a stomach ache cure, ha, ha…” Cole whispered. “She was, uh, poisoned, and I, um, found the antidote in the, um, mini-fridge in, uh, Sir Francis’ study, ha, ha…”

“Poisoned?” Jason whispered back. “With what?” Jason walked into the kitchen. On the counter lay an opened jar of peanut butter and a butter knife with some of the peanut butter still on it. Jason sniffed the peanut butter and immediately gagged. It smelled unbelievably rotten, which Jason didn’t think was possible for peanut butter.

“Like I, uh, said, poison, ha, ha… Rose, um, put some of this on her toast, and it, uh, caused this to happen, ha, ha…” Cole explained, having followed Jason into the kitchen. “The poison was, uh, clearly, um…” Cole seemed to have a tough time remembering. “Ah, right! It was, uh, E-52, right, ha, ha…”

“E-52?” Jason had worked for a long time as a detective, and even he had no idea what that was.

“I don’t know what that actually, um, is, but, uh, that’s what it’s, uh, labeled as, ha, ha…” Cole stuttered.

“Labeled? Wait… You mean you actually found the poison used here? Could you show me?” Jason asked. Cole nodded, and he led him to the armory. “You mentioned Sir Francis’ minifridge, but I don’t recall actually seeing one…”

“That’s, uh, cause it’s, um, quite hidden, ha, ha…” Cole explained. A switch, barely visible under Helmsburg’s desk, allowed access to a secret compartment behind the wall. How Cole knew this was there, Jason didn’t think to ask. A minifridge stocked with various bottles lay in the compartment. Cole pointed to one of the bottles. “So, uh, this is the, um, poison, I mean, the E-52 one, and this blue, um, bottle is, uh, the antidote… All I did was, uh, mix it in some orange juice, um, and Rose drank, uh, the whole thing, ha, ha… It’s a basic, um, psychology trick, I guess…” Jason picked up the bottle labeled E-52 and read the description.

E-52

Lethal: Only if inhaled

Effects: If ingested in small doses, causes headaches, extreme nausea and vomiting. Large quantities will cause blood vomiting before knocking the victim unconscious. Not fatal if ingested. If inhaled as a gas, kills within one minute of exposure.

Antidote: Yes (see E-52-A)

Keep refrigerated until use

“Why not just give her the antidote?” Jason asked.

“I figured it would, um, be better if people, uh, didn’t know about the poisons, ha, ha…” Cole muttered. “Poisons are, uh, a lot easier to, um, kill with, ha, ha…”

“Huh. That’s actually pretty smart,” Jason commented. Cole smiled, looking extremely proud of himself. “How did you know this was the one?”

“This one, uh, was the only one that, um, caused nausea and vomiting, uh, and wasn’t lethal, so I kind of, um, just prayed it was, uh, the right one, ha, ha…” Cole stammered.

“Guess we’ll find out, huh?” Jason sighed. The two headed back into the kitchen, making sure to hide the minifridge once more. Rose looked much better than she had initially and was now able to hold her head up for more than 10 seconds without puking.

“Damn, Cole, I don’t know what that was, but it really did the trick!” Rose smiled and slapped Cole on the back, knocking him to his knees. “Oops, sorry about that. But I mean it! Well done, kid,” she laughed. Cole got back up and smiled awkwardly. Jason decided to head to the kitchen to throw out the peanut butter before someone else had any. There, he met none other than Selena, who was smiling venomously, as usual.

“I’d appreciate it if you stopped ruining my fun from now on, Jason,” she warned. Jason noticed that she had a highly pronounced bruise on her chin. “But my point was made. Don’t mess with Selena Coveny – unless you want to die, that is.” She laughed maniacally to herself before waltzing out of the room. Jason had a feeling she had been the cause of this, and yet he was still surprised that she would poison someone. Granted, she hadn’t given Rose enough poison to kill her, but it showed the lengths Selena was willing to go for something so petty. Disgusted, he chucked the poisoned peanut butter into the garbage and left the kitchen, where a scene was unfolding.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Rose exploded in anger. Selena, smiling as venomously as ever, almost seemed to be enjoying the show. “Maybe I didn’t hit you hard enough yesterday. Alright, get ready!”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself quite clear,” Selena responded, not flinching from Rose cracking her knuckles. “I can always just put more poison next time. Or try a more lethal one.”

“So you’d kill me then, huh? Good fucking luck with that one,” Rose laughed.

“And who will stop me? Hm? What if one of us kills another? Then what?” Selena leaned in, her smile fading. “Let me make this perfectly clear: I am not afraid to kill. Got it? There’s nothing stopping me from doing it except human morality, and I believe I’ve made it clear that I am not unwilling to discard that,” she warned before swiftly turning and walking away.

“What a bitch!” Rose scowled and spat in the bucket in front of her in disgust. “Is she like this all the time? Because how does anyone stand her?”

“N…no idea…” Lelina mumbled back. “A…are you f…feeling better, R…Rose?”

“Oh yeah, way better!” Rose grinned at Cole. “Seriously, nice job, kiddo! Do they teach that kinda stuff in therapy school?”

“Um, I don’t, uh, think so, ha, ha… Let’s just, um, say that, uh, I’ve had, um, a lot of, uh, stomach-aches, ha, ha…” Cole stammered.

“Well if you say so,” Rose shrugged. “I’m feeling a lot better right now! Like, wow! I feel like I could take on the world! I’m going for a swim. Who’s with me?” Rose rocketed up.

“D…do you h…have a b…bathing suit?” Lelina asked.

“I’ll just swim in my underwear. I don’t care!” Rose grinned before sprinting off to her room.

“S…She sure has a l…lot of energy a…all of a sudden, huh?” Lelina sighed. “W…what was in t…that drink y…you gave her?” Lelina eyed Cole.

“N-Nothing, I swear!” Cole suddenly looked extremely nervous. “I, uh, think I’ll, um, go swimming with, um, Rose, yeah, ha, ha…” Cole added before sprinting off as well.

“He k…knows she’ll be in h…her underwear, r…right?” Lelina shook her head before heading off as well. Jason was left alone in the dining room. He grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading off as well. He wandered around and decided that a good swim would cool him off as well. He began to head to head to the pool.

He heard a scream.

Trumpets began blaring.

Jason began running. Running. Running. Ru-

He burst into the pool. Lelina, Cole and Rose were gathered around something. Jason shoved his way into the circle and got to see what they had screamed at.

There was a body. It was slouched, the head drooping, obscuring the victim’s face. Their hair had fallen to cover their eyes, but there was no doubt that they were dead. The signature camo knife was jutting out of their chest, as loud as a siren. Oddly, Jason didn’t see any other injuries besides the knife. Still, there was no doubt that they were dead. Rose growled at the body.

“Damnit! So soon?” she scowled. Lelina collapsed to her knees in shock, her hands covering her mouth. Cole started bawling loudly.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh” Cole tried to form a sentence.

“Why?” Jason finished.

In front of them lay Alexandra Toriah, the telekinetic, dead.

It didn’t take long for others to rush into the room. Selena was the first to arrive, out of breath from sprinting to the scene of the crime. Lavender soon followed, and Dahinko and Skyler weren’t far behind.

“AHHHHHHH!” Dahinko screamed upon seeing the body. He collapsed into Skyler’s arms.

“It begins again…” Lavender sighed.

“Now this is a surprise. Alexandra, of all people? One of this game’s finest competitors, gone. Honestly, I was expecting Navini to be next, but-” Selena didn’t get to finish her sentence. Lavender smacked her across the face, making a loud slapping sound that resonated in the pool area. Selena looked stunned for a moment, then she glared at Lavender.

“I’m begin to be sick of your shit, Selena,” Lavender glared at Selena. Jason was momentarily taken aback by this – Lavender wasn’t the kind to show such brashness and emotion. Selena seemed taken aback as well – she was left speechless, quietly glaring at Lavender. “Still, I suppose we should begin, shouldn’t we?”

“Hang on – somethin’ ain’t right…” Rose started madly sniffing in the air. “Yup – I don’t smell any blood from her.”

“No blood? How is that possible?” Jason asked. Rose was right though – there wasn’t a trace of blood near her. Lavender leaned down to investigate, thoroughly scanning the wound.

“It does seem like there should be blood… Hmm…” Lavender reached down to move Alexandra’s hair aside.

Her hand went straight through Alexandra’s head.

“What?” Lavender retreated her hand in shock. “There’s no way…”

“Uh, what’s, um, wrong?” Cole asked nervously.

“My hand… It just…” Lavender waved her hand through Alexandra’s head. The part of her head she waved through went fuzzy for a bit before it came back to normal. “It just goes straight through her.”

“What…?” Skyler looked stunned. Everyone looked at Alexandra’s body, confused. Suddenly, Brian appeared, cackling away.

“Bwahahahahahahaha! Oh my God, you guys should see the looks on your faces! Priceless!” Brian had to stop every two words to breathe. He laughed for a little bit more and calmed himself down. “Okay, I’m good, I’m good. So! I bet you’re all just a little confused about Alexandra, hmm?”

“That’s an understatement,” Selena confirmed. Even she looked taken aback. “Alexandra’s a hologram?”

“Yup! And no, I didn’t just turn her into a hologram. She has been from the start!”

“From the s…start?” Lelina stuttered. “S…she was never a…alive?”

“Bingo dingo!” Brian replied. “Honestly, I’m kind of amazed you didn’t figure it out beforehand. I mean, telekinesis? What kind of a talent?”

“But we saw her… Ah, the carpet in the recreation room is a hologram as well? The pot from the first night too?” Lavender realized.

“Yup! You have me to thank for that little trick. Alright, but enough small talk! She may not have really been alive, but she was certainly just killed, so you know what to do! Bwahahahahahahaha!” Brian cackled and fizzled out.

“Well, that would explain her lack of emotions, wouldn’t it?” Selena sighed. “But how are we supposed to investigate the death of a hologram? It hardly sounds fair.”

“This whole thing isn’t fair!” Dahinko protested. “There’s no wounds to investigate! How can we do an autopsy without a body?”

“Something isn’t quite right here…” Skyler look concerned. “There’s something else afoot here, I’m sure of it.

“B…But what?” Lelina stammered. “What e…else is th…there?”

“I, uh, don’t know and I, um, don’t want to know, ha, ha…” Cole mumbled.

“Still, we should begin the investigation, shouldn’t we?” Selena shrugged.

“Yeah… Let’s do it.” Jason confirmed. Everyone started to look around for clues. Jason first began by investigating Alexandra’s ‘corpse’. Aside from the knife in her chest, there wasn’t anything unusual about her. The pool seemed tame as well – nothing out of the ordinary. This was looking to be a lot simpler than other cases. Alexandra was stabbed in the pool’s vicinity, end of story. Jason had a feeling Brian wouldn’t let that be the end of it, and so he decided to interview the people who had arrived here before him – Rose, Lelina and Cole.

“AHHHHHHHH! What-what-what do you want, Mr. Harlon?” Cole shrieked when Jason approached him. “I-I-I-I-I didn’t do iiiiiiiit! Waaaaaaaaah!” Cole started bawling like a toddler. Jason hadn’t even asked him anything and Cole had become a crying wreck.

“Relax, Cole. I don’t suspect you of anything,” Jason reassured him. This wasn’t 100% true, but for Cole’s sake, Jason lied a little.

“Sniff… Really?” Cole stopped crying for a little while. “I mean, uh, of course, ha, ha… I, um, didn’t do, uh, anything, ha, ha…”

“I just want to know what happened when you discovered the body. It was you who shrieked like that, right?”

“Yeah… I know, I’m such a, uh, waste, ha, ha… No man should scream like that…” Cole suddenly looked very angry towards himself.

“O…kay?” Jason was puzzled. Cole clearly had some major issues, but now was neither the time nor place to bring them up. “Does that mean you were the first to discover the body?” Cole looked at Jason for what seemed like a long time, hesitating.

“Yes… It was, uh, me that, um, got here first, ha, ha…” Cole finally managed to mumble. “Lelina got here second and, uh, Rose, and then, um, you… You know the rest, ha, ha…” Cole mumbled quietly.

“You got here first? But Rose left before you…” Jason inquired.

“I-I-I-I-I don’t know anything! Waaaaaaaaah!” Cole started crying again. Jason sighed. Trying to find out anything through Cole would just take longer than needed, and so he decided to ask Rose for more information.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Rose asked upon seeing that Jason wanted to talk to her.

“I wanted to talk to you about the discovery of the body… Did you get here first?” Jason asked.

“Nah… I got here after Cole and Lelina did,” Rose replied.

“About that… Why is that? You left for the pool before Cole and Lelina did, and yet they got here before you did?”

“What are you tryin’ to say…?” Rose glared at Jason. “Bah! Not like I care. I just went to change, that’s all.”

“Wait, you had a swimsuit?” Jason inquired.

“Nope! I just changed into an old pair of underwear to go swimming in. That’s all. I must have been in my room for… ‘bout two minutes, maybe? Two minutes tops, that’s for sure,” Rose explained. “Then I ran back here, and immediately heard Cole screamin’. When I walked in, Cole was nearly passed out and Lelina had dropped to the floor.”

“Hmm… Alright then,” Jason made a mental note of what he had heard. He then went to talk to Lelina.

“Y…yeah? What d…do you want?” Lelina stuttered. Her words were tinged with anger and shock.

“I was just going to ask you about Alexandra… You were second to discover the body, right?”

“Y…yeah… W…what of it?” Lelina spat back.

“Did you see anything unusual?” Jason asked. Lelina’s sour attitude was understandable in this kind of situation, but it was no less irritating.

“Y…you mean besides A…Alexandra being a h…hologram? No, n…nothing unusual…” Lelina snapped.

“Well, thanks anyways,” Jason replied, eager to end the conversation there. Lelina was remarkably unhelpful in helping to solve the case.

After having talked to the three of them, Jason now had an idea of the series of events before he had discovered Alexandra’s ‘corpse’. Rose had left the kitchen to get changed, which took roughly two minutes. Cole and Lelina had headed straight to the swimming pool, where Cole was the first to discover the body, shrieking in the process. Afterwards, Lelina rushed over, followed closely by Rose, and then he, Selena, Lavender, Dahinko and Skyler arrived. None of the others had yet to arrive. Maybe they were still looking for the scene of the crime? It was then that Cole shrieked again, before dropping to his knees.

“What now?” Lavender sighed. “Cole, what happened? Why did you scream?” Cole’s head shot up, his face paralyzed in terror.

“Can you speak, or do we need to force it out of you?” Selena threatened. “Go on, you’re not a child. Use your words, please,” she chastised. But Cole seemed unable to speak. Instead, he shakily raised his arm and pointed to above the pool.

Above. The. Pool.

It had never occurred to any of them to pay attention to the diving board, but now they all began to regret that decision. There was a fishing net hanging from the diving board, slowly but surely sliding off the diving board. Of course, the fishing net was not empty. Something – or rather, someone – was contained in it. The fishing net finished its slide off the diving board and came crashing into the pool, the weight of the body sinking it further and further below. No one said or did a thing while this all happened. They all stood there, shocked. The body finally touched the bottom of the pool, resting at last.

Even from outside of the pool, Jason could see the camo combat knife sticking out of their chest. It was also possible to see the identity of the person in the pool.

Axel Rider, the world’s finest race car driver, had just come crashing to his watery grave.

SURVIVORS: 17