“Are we completely free to go? Or do you still want to have someone watch over us?” River was half out of the door as he asked, but didn’t forget about it. A glance around told him that there was no one else than this man here, at least.
“Uhm, you’re not under surveillance or anything… But I guess everyone would be more comfortable if you weren’t wandering around on your own?”
“Makes sense. Would you accompany us to the infirmary then? I would like to talk to Selene, Vanessa and Logan.”
Selene was, as to be expected considering there was another corpse, in the side room.
Even the open window couldn’t hide the bloody smell, but not everyone was around – the person who had lost their limbs was missing.
Aspen shared the thought, but his eyes merely wandered off to the side room before returning.
He was most likely right.
This place had no intention at all of calling an ambulance or letting anyone out. Even if there was a medical professional here, wounds like Vanessa’s and Logan’s were already doubtful to handle without side effects.
For someone who had lost all four limbs in this setting, their survival rate was beyond small. River imagined that the wounds must have been cauterized just like with the other victims for them to survive the night at all, but they were most certainly in critical state, if not dead by now.
Not to mention the rough treatment if the limbs had been punishment instead of sacrifice.
Iris, Logan and the young traveler with the blindfold were in a state of numb shock.
Only Vanessa reacted to River’s and Aspen’s entrance at all, but she did so while her breathing was oddly shallow and slow, like someone constantly monitoring it to keep themselves from hyperventilating.
“Oh, you’re out! It was complete nonsense, you having done anything. You two are alright? Safe?”
River rushed to grab her outstretched hands. “Completely unharmed. Vanessa, I… I know we are suspicious, so let me be blunt.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He fed her the exact same lie.
Cr la aegcfv bea, Njcfrrj mbeiv cba mjgf ifrr.
Vtf tfiv Elnfg’r tjcv, yea atlr alwf tfg uglq kjr j vfafgwlcfv bcf.
“P’nf tfjgv la”, rtf rjlv egufcais. “Ktfs rjlv kf mjccba ifjnf. Po rbwfbcf aglfr ab ifjnf jujlc, atlr yelivlcu… Ktlcur klii ub yjvis obg jii bo er. Rbcf bo er tjnf jcs lvfj ktja’r tjqqfclcu, atf rajoo lr agslcu ab reqqbga er lc ilnlcu jr cbgwjiis jr qbrrlyif, yea kf jii xcbk atfgf’r j tecalcu yfjra lc beg wlvra. Lbk mjc kf rajs mjiw?”
How in the world did cults brainwash their members so thoroughly that they’d not see the truth when it was smacked into their faces?
River had always scoffed whenever he watched documentaries about cults, but seeing it first-hand was truly horrifying.
“There’s someone, or several, murderers in here. We are all normal people, none of us have ever been in a situation like this. You’re here to investigate, surely you can help find them? I’m afraid they will not let us go, even after the time is over…”
“We’re gathering clues already. Tell me everything you know about yesterday and this morning.”
There was only today, as well as tomorrow until midnight left.
They could guess around on where to conduct the ritual and how to kill them, but having only a single chance didn’t exactly make River interested in taking risks.
After River and Aspen had been locked up, things calmed down for the rest of the day. There was a bit of outrage, sure, but overall people were certain that with the murderers locked away, they could resume their original event.
Then in the morning, the two newest victims had appeared.
The poor traveler who had lost his eyes didn’t get too much attention, but even he himself wasn’t too focused on that when it became clear that right next to him, there was the corpse of a teenage girl.
Tendentially, humans freak out more if the victim is a child. The girl wasn’t that young, but she was indeed a minor, not to mention a slender and small one.
People had panicked enough that a decent chunk ran down the stairs, attempting to leave the building. Several got injured during the stampede, though not too terribly, because the door had started to beep in the suspicious rhythm of what you’d call a movie bomb timer when pulled.
That froze everyone up, holding their breaths.
Shortly after, the staff got them back up, where Miles explained with a sad face that they couldn’t leave before the time was over and that if they tried, things would go badly.
Someone had shouted whether Miles had found a bomb, and the silence he got as an answer caused the scared frenzy to return.
Most of the day was spent like that. Vanessa mentioned off-handedly that while she couldn’t go out, people ended up coming to her to seek comfort in her reading out stories.
“We have storybooks here?”, Aspen threw in, surprised.
“We do.” Vanessa pointed to a shelf on the side, which featured several books. Only one had a brown binding without a title.
Suspicious, River squinted at it. “Why’s that book different?”
“Oh, I didn’t have anything to print on the binding with.” Vanessa smiled, momentarily happy, then quickly downcast. “…I guess I’ll never be able to finish it completely.”
She took a deep breath.
“Anyway, that was yesterday. There were several fights, as people tried to decide what to do. Some wondered if you two had gotten out, but you hadn’t. It was this morning, when there were two more victims that people turned… resigned. No one was interested in watching over you two anymore. Even when we were looking out, people got hurt, and we are stuck here.”
Obviously people got hurt if the bunch of brainwashed individuals decided to follow the beautiful night rule.
River noted blankly that he often thought games were ridiculous for having the NPCs follow stupid rules as if they were normal, but here he was, seeing it in reality. Not that odd after all.
“Can you tell me what Acorn did in the meantime? As well as Soot and Papyrus?”
“Well, Soot wasn’t around. I’m not sure where she was. Papyrus was stopping people’s fights from getting too violent, and Acorn was supporting Miles with calming everyone down.”
So Soot was still investigating.
River lamented the missed time. They knew the method now, but still not which individual and where. He was somewhat sure that the “where” would be related to the seventh floor where they had evenings with Miles, but that area was locked off.
They had to check it out today. Tomorrow morning at the latest!
“Alright. We will go and talk to some others now. Thanks Vanessa.”
“Please keep us informed. It’s not… nice to be in this state, not even knowing why it happened.” A sad smile crossed her face.
River gave her some reassuring words, then grabbed Aspen’s hand as they left the room.
“How confident are you in keeping an eye on Papyrus and Acorn?”, he asked under his breath.
“Under any other circumstances? Not at all. With people watching? Somewhat.”
“Good. If I run into Soot, I should be able to handle her, but not those two.” River paused, then grimaced. “…Wait, I don’t know how to open locks.”
Aspen snickered and hugged him from the side. “Let’s hurry where you want in and I’ll do it while you keep lookout. I can leave after that.”
It was quick thing.
The door of the seventh floor wasn’t special, and gave in easily. Aspen raised an eyebrow. “Not sure if it’s of any importance, but I want to say that these locks are… bad. As in, anyone with a book on how it works could probably open these. Beginner level.”
“They want us to be able to open them?”
“Maybe?” Aspen shrugged. “I’m off. See you soon.”
With a short kiss on the cheek, the smaller guy hopped back to the staircase, making his way down to start his surveillance.
