There we all stood. In the lobby. Motionless. All our gazes fixated on the unrecognizable carcass that was once Frederick Lukas. Everything was so clear, so vivid. His body lied on the floor in a bloody mess.

At that moment, everything around me ceased to register besides the gruesome sight of the corpse. No sound reached my ears. No scent reached my nose.

My stomach churned in disgust, and a burning sensation ignited in my chest. As I backed away from the window, I clasped my hand over my chest to steady my ragged breathing. Meanwhile, multiple questions raced through my mind at that moment.

Was he dead? Was Frederick actually dead? If not, how could he survive a hailstorm of bullets? Was it all a hoax fabricated by Caius?

It had to be. It must’ve been a part of the game. Frederick’s death was all some cheap magic trick to get a rise out of everyone. It seemed like something Caius would do. I was only waiting for the moment when he would appear and shout out ‘just kidding.'

But, that moment never came to be.

The room remained utterly silent until someone finally spoke.

“That…was…so…awesome! Oh my god! Did you see the way his blood splattered all over the place? I’ve only seen shit like that in the movies!” The excited voice came from none other than Melanie.

Out of anyone that could’ve broken the silence. Out of any sentence that could’ve been said. It just had to be Melanie to speak. It just had to be her words to break the silence. That girl celebrated the death of Frederick. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that much. She was the only one that did so. It disgusted me to see how cheerful she acted over someone’s death.

Her eyes shone with excitement and glee. She pressed her face against the glass window as if to get a better look at the corpse that lied in the game room.

Horrid.

That’s how I described that sight. A teenage girl marveled at the sight of a corpse. Even if the body belonged to my mortal enemy—I’d never express such joy.

"Did you see it, Shades? Huh? Did you see it?" Melanie approached Nicholas and placed her hands on his shoulders. She shook the man that stood there, frozen, like a statue. The man's cheeks suddenly swelled up. He hunched over and hurled on Melanie's boots.

"Whoa! The fuck, Shades?! My boots!" Melanie complained. She gagged and backed away from the man.

"Sorry. I am not so good around blood." Nicholas apologized. He cleaned his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

"God damn it! These are my favorite pair of boots! Clean them up!"

"Are the boots seriously all you're worried about right now?!" Iris exclaimed. "Someone just died!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Melanie took a seat on the couch, grimacing at the sight of the puke that remained on her boots. "These boots were custom made! Clean them, Shades!"

“Is he dead? Is Frederick dead?” Elena called out to everyone with her eyes still closed. She had been very fortunate not to have witnessed such a brutal execution; no doubt in my mind that would've traumatized the poor girl.

“There’s no way that he’s alive. Not after being shot up like that. No human being could survive that.” Darius slowly shook his head and stepped away from the window as well. His face turned pale. His body trembled. He eventually lost control of himself and fell flat on his ass.

I looked around the room and took notice of everyone else’s reactions to Frederick’s death. Wyatt stood firmly in front of the window, a fierce scowl plastered on his face as his hands curled into fists.

Next was Salomon. He too remained in front of the window. His usual smirk was gone. He didn’t show any form of emotion as well. As a war veteran, I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. He’d been in battle and he’d most likely witnessed the deaths of hundreds. Maynard made expressions like him whenever he remembered his days back in the military.

Iris was crouched next to Elena, who had also dropped down to the floor like Darius. She hugged Elena in a desperate attempt to calm her down.

Henrika stayed on the sofa, hunched forward; her face concealed by her hands. Incoherent mumbling came from her. But, I decided to ignore them.

The last one was Zoey. Instead of standing in front of the window, she chose to direct her attention to the television screen. Unlike some of the others, she was calm and collected.

"This must be some dream, right? It's all a dream?" Elena desperately asked.

"More like a nightmare! Get me outta here! Get me outta here!" Darius yelled.

"Settle down," demanded Zoey as she looked over at the panicked boy. "Yelling and screaming won't solve anything."

"You got any better ideas?!" Darius snapped at the woman. "Because I would love to hear them right about now!"

“There is no way I can spend twelve days trapped in here. We have to leave this place first thing tomorrow.” Wyatt spoke with conviction as he turned to look at the surviving players. “The money is not worth it anymore. Not after witnessing what could happen to us if we continue to stay here in this death trap.”

“Do you think they’ll let us leave?” Henrika suddenly asked, removing her hands from her face. “We just witnessed a murder take place here. I doubt they’ll let us leave so quickly since we could inform the police of this incident once we escape.”

“Of course, they’ll let us leave. Caius said that we could leave tomorrow after we vote.” Iris nervously mentioned with a pale face. She forced herself to say those words. Caius’ words seemed like the only thing that we could all cling to as a means of escape.

“Besides, it is not like the police would believe that we were ever in a situation like this. Hell, even I am still having trouble believing it.” Wyatt shamefully admitted as he ran his hand through his hair.

“Well, you had better start believing it.” Salomon pulled out a cigar and then lit it. He took a long drag of it before blowing out the smoke. “This is the reality of our situation.” He indicated to the corpse lying in the game room.

Before anyone else could say anything, our attention was directed over to the other side of the room where Caius and Klara entered. Everyone’s eyes solely focused on Klara. The woman walked past everyone and headed for the door without saying a word.

"Hey!" Wyatt called out to her.

Klara stopped.

"Where do you think you're going? Don't you have something to say to the rest of us?" Wyatt demanded. Klara looked over her shoulder and stared at the doctor with vacant eyes. "Sticking with the silent treatment, huh? You just got someone killed and you have nothing to say about it?!"

Wyatt approached Klara. Henrika stepped in between them with her arms spread out.

"Leave her alone." The woman demanded.

"Why?!"

"Because Klara didn't do anything wrong. She didn't kill Frederick." Henrika set her arms down and glared over at Caius, who stood by the game wheel with a coy smile. "He's the one responsible."

Klara looked away from us and left the room without a word. No one bothered to stop her.

"As far as I see it, they're both responsible," Wyatt announced.

"Leave it alone. What's done is done." I said.

My words ignited something inside of the doctor. He sharply turned to face me; his face contorted in anger as he snapped, "What's done is done?! How can you just accept this situation?! A man was murdered!"

"Yeah, because he gambled all his GP and lost," I stated. In my mind, the one at fault was Frederick. Everyone was warned about the dangers of losing all our GP. Frederick decided to ignore that warning, which resulted in his death. It was his own damn fault.

"We were told from the beginning what would happen if we lost all our GP," Salomon added to my defense. "Frederick bet it all and came up short. That's all there is to it."

"Why're you so upset about anyway, Doc? Not like any of us even cared about Stains anyway." Melanie stated.

"It doesn't matter if anyone cared about him or not. A life is still a life." Wyatt said.

"Let it go already. He's dead."

Before the conversation could continue, all our attention moved to Caius once the man clapped his hands together. "That is enough, players. We must move on to the next order of business. The rankings."

"Rankings?" Darius asked.

"Yes. Once a game is completed, the rankings are updated. Check your bracelets." Caius ordered.

Everyone looked down to their bracelets. The screen turned on. I navigated to the rankings tab. A graph of the rankings appeared. In first place with twenty points was Klara. Suddenly, the holder of second place was Melanie with sixteen points.

"What the hell?! How come Melanie's in second place?! She didn't even play a game!" exclaimed Wyatt as he looked up from his bracelet. One by one, all eyes turned to the punk rock girl. She stood next to Caius with her mocking smile, waving the rule book in her hand.

"Nope, I sure didn't. But, I sure as hell made a gamble." Melanie said. "Guess none of you read up on the rules. Turns out other players can take bets on the ones playing a game. If the one you bet on wins, then you earn double the points you gambled."

Wyatt opened his rulebook and scans through the pages. He glanced up and scowled as he said, "Damn it! She's right!"

"Glad I played it smart and bet on Bookworm. But, it was still a close call. Never expected Stains to get a loaded die." Melanie shrugged her shoulders.

"How come you didn't tell anyone about this rule?" Iris asked.

"Do I look like your babysitter? Fuck off, Rainbows." Melanie flicked off the girl.

"Let this be a lesson to you all, players. The rules can be used to the advantage of anyone that follows them," Caius said. "Now then, it is time to lock down this room for the night. Everyone must leave. You are free to head anywhere else in the facility for the time being."

Caius quickly escorted everyone out of the room and locked the door. Everyone exchanged glances as we stood in the hallway, confused.

"He seemed kinda in a hurry to get rid of us," Darius commented.

"No kidding." Iris agreed.

"What'cha think he's gonna do with Stains' body?" Melanie asked.

"I don't think that's important," Wyatt said.

"So, what do we do now?" Elena asked.

"Nothing we can do for now. Let's get some sleep and prepare ourselves for tomorrow." Zoey suggested.

"I'm with Zoey. I'm getting tired." Henrika stretched her arms above her head and yawned. "Good night everyone. Try to get some sleep."

One by one, everyone separated, heading to their rooms. To even head to my room proved to be difficult. The horrid images of Frederick’s death flashed before my very eyes. Although his death was quick—for me, it felt as if it were an eternity. My feet carried me around the facility until I found the room with the number twelve on the door.

There lied the scanner right next to the door—just like the others. I placed my bracelet near the scanner then watched the screen turn from red to green. Afterward, I entered the room. I wandered over to the bed, then collapsed onto it. The soft bed eased some of my tension as I sank into the mattress.

It was real.

Everything.

The place was real. The people were real. And the danger of losing our lives was real. Trying to mentally deny that fact was futile considering I had watched Frederick get shot to death after his game.

Even though the dumb ass deserved it for gambling away all of his points in the first game, it still didn’t make his death any less horrifying. That’s what happened when one got too greedy. Regrettably, there was a lesson learned from Frederick's death.

Hopefully, the others would learn from that experience and vote to leave. It was a mistake for me to have agreed to compete in the games. Sure, I was desperate to win enough money to save the old man’s bar, but at what cost?

How far was I willing to go? How much was I ready to give to achieve my goal? Would I be willing to risk my life and the lives of the others over the bar? If I were to ask a question like that out loud to someone, I’m most confident that they would laugh at me.

But, the bar was my home, and I didn’t wish to lose it. However, I also didn’t want to risk losing my life by staying in the facility any longer.

My mind and thoughts were in shambles. I couldn’t think straight. I don’t know how much time I spent racking my brain trying to figure out what I was going to do. But, drowsiness took over, and I drifted off to sleep—relieving me from the stress—if only for a short period.

Hours passed.

My eyes abruptly snapped open upon hearing a loud chime echo throughout my room. It was the doorbell.

I ignored the racket and tried going back to sleep. My efforts were pointless. The chime continued — multiple times. I reluctantly got up from the bed, headed over to the door, then opened it. To my surprise and annoyance, my gaze rested on the person responsible for my irritation—player number nine, Iris Korinna.

“Good morning, Troy. How are you this fine day?” She politely asked before smiling.

“Ambrose,” I corrected her, “call me Ambrose.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Iris quickly apologized.

“What do you want?”

“It’s eight in the morning. Time to wake up for some delicious breakfast made by yours truly.” She brought her hands up close to her face then gave me the peace sign.

“Breakfast?”

She smiled at me and repeatedly nodded her head. “That’s right. I’ve taken the liberty of cooking breakfast for everyone today. I’m sure eating some pancakes, eggs, and bacon will cheer everyone up from yesterday’s disaster.”

“That’s…nice of you?” I rubbed the back of my neck. “If you don’t mind me asking, how can you be so cheerful after, you know, everything that happened yesterday?”

“Yesterday?” She blinked in confusion. A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Oh, you mean Frederick’s death. Yeah, that was horrible. However, that’s all in the past! Let’s focus more on the now! Carpe Diem!”

With great gusto, she threw her arms up in the air throughout her cheer.

“Yeah, I guess you have a point there.” I agreed.

“Huh? How come you didn’t do the cheer with me, Ambrose? Come on, do the cheer! Carpe Diem!” Iris’ arms lowered back down to her sides then tossed them back in the air in quick succession.

When I failed to copy her movements, she shot me a pleading look.

“I’m not doing that. Ever.” I sternly refused.

The girl’s shoulders dropped after the words left my mouth. She expressed her disappointment for only a moment before it got replaced with a cheerful one.

“Okay, fine. Stop by the cafeteria whenever you’re ready. You’ll want to have a full stomach before we leave this place today.” She turned around then walked down the hallway, eventually disappearing after turning the corner. I closed the door then let out a sigh of exhaustion. Despite having gotten a few hours of sleep, the effects of yesterday’s disaster still lingered.

And I was still unsure if I wanted to stay or leave when it came down to the votes. Perhaps an answer would come to me after I filled my stomach with food. I quickly straightened myself up then left my room, heading towards the cafeteria.

I entered the cafeteria and found five players sitting around in silence. Darius, Elena, and Henrika all had bags under their eyes. Salomon and Wyatt, however, seemed calm. Both ate their food on the other side of the room.

I glanced over at the table where seven remaining plates of food rested, just waiting to get taken. My stomach grumbled at the sight of it. I walked over to the table, grabbed my food, then found an empty table to eat. The food looked delicious.

The pancakes looked soft and fluffy. The bacon and eggs had been well-placed to form a perfect smiling face. It reminded me of my mother’s cooking when I was younger.

I made a mental note to thank Iris later.

I grabbed my fork then stuck it in the pancakes. But, before I could take my first bite, my attention was drawn over to the front of the room after I heard a familiar, loud, obnoxious voice.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What’s up with this gloomy atmosphere?” Melanie entered the cafeteria then scanned the room with her hands on her hips. She didn’t receive a response from anyone. But, that didn’t stop her from talking anyway. “How did you losers sleep last night? I slept like a rock.” She wandered over and collected a plate for herself.

It didn’t take her long to begin stuffing her face. I guess Frederick’s death didn’t affect her at all.

“I don’t understand how you could even sleep. After seeing Frederick get shot up like that, I couldn’t close my eyes for a second.” Darius sadly admitted as he picked at his food. He dropped his fork then brought his hands up to his face.

“I had trouble sleeping. So, I used my phone and called Iris. Halfway through our conversation, the phones shut off." Elena said.

"That must've been upsetting," Henrika commented.

"It was," Elena nodded her head and continued, "So, I left my room and went to Iris'. I knocked on her door for a while, but she never answered. I even used the doorbell, but that didn't work either."

"You sure you had the right room? It doesn't sound like Iris to ignore you." Darius said.

"I'm sure of it. She's player number nine, right?"

"Didn't you read the rulebook, Elena?" asked Henrika. "The reason your phone was cut off was because certain functions in the facility are shut off 12 A.M., like the doorbell."

"Oh, but that doesn't explain why she still didn't answer when I knocked," Elena said.

"Our rooms are soundproof. We can't hear a thing from the outside." 

"That's included in the rules too? Why is that even a thing?" Darius complained.

"No idea. But, I'd suggest reading up on the rules when you get the chance. We can't afford to get blindsided or get ourselves killed by accidentally breaking a rule." Henrika warned.

“I’m still hoping that it was all just a dream or some prank. Frederick wasn’t killed in front of us, right?” Elena desperately looked around the room for some assurance from the other players.

“Oh no, that dude’s dead. Didn’tcha see it? He got shot up so many times that he looked like Swiss cheese once it was all over.” Melanie reminded Elena, showing no qualms about speaking ill of the dead.

“Is that what the losers have to look forward to?” Elena sadly looked down at her plate.

Darius placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “Only if we do something stupid like gambling away all of our points.”

“Then let us hope no one else makes that mistake,” Nicholas, Iris, and Zoey entered the cafeteria, “what happened to Frederick was indeed tragic. Everyone should learn well from what happens when you allow your greed to cloud your better judgment.”

Darius nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, it gets you killed that’s for sure.”

“Well, at least now we know that they’re serious about taking our lives if we carelessly lose our GP,” Zoey said.

“It’s just all so stupid. If Frederick hadn’t done that, then he would be here today. Why didn't he listen to me?”

“I dunno why you’re all so worked up over his death. Didn’t he deserve it for being a dumb ass?” asked Melanie.

Iris turned her head in Melanie’s direction then harshly said, “It isn’t nice to speak ill of the dead. Cut it out already.”

Surprisingly, no immediate verbal response came from Melanie. She merely shrugged her shoulders before returning to her breakfast.

“Anyway, now that everyone has gathered here. Let us discuss our means of escaping this place.” Wyatt said as though he suddenly became the leader of the group.

I looked around the room and found something amiss. There were only ten of us in the cafeteria. “Isn’t Klara missing? Shouldn’t we wait for her?”

"Oh, that's right. She's not here." Elena looked around the room, not spotting Klara in any of the corners. "She's so quiet."

"Yeah, if you're not paying attention, you'd never know when she's around or not. She must be a ninja." Iris said.

"The way she flipped Frederick yesterday, I can see it." Darius agreed with the ridiculous statement.

Wyatt’s face contorted into a scowl after he heard her name mentioned. “That woman is responsible for the death of Frederick. I do not want her included in this conversation.”

“It’s not like she would respond to us anyway.” Darius shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought we already cleared this up," Henrika said, her tone tinged with irritation as she continued, "Caius was the one that killed Frederick."

"Well, she certainly didn't help the situation when she made the die roll that sealed his fate." Wyatt countered. Both used sound logic with their arguments. It was difficult to pick sides considering they were both correct.

Wyatt and Henrika engaged in a staredown. 

"That's not her fault," Salomon cut into the conversation. "Frederick was the one that gambled all his GP. Nothing Klara could've done to save him."

“Do we even need to have this meeting? Didn’t Caius mention something about voting to leave yesterday?” asked Elena, raising her hand to gain the attention of everyone.

“That’s right. He did mention that we could vote to leave.” Iris confirmed.

“Since that appears to be the case, there’s no need to have this meeting,” I concluded before returning to my breakfast.

“Though I do not wish to say this aloud, I believe that two of us will be voting to continue playing these games,” Wyatt said.

“Two of us?” questioned Nicholas.

“I have a suspicion that Klara will be one of the people to vote to continue playing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. She’s already in first place. She can’t make any more money than she has now.” Henrika revealed the holes in Wyatt’s statement.

“Yeah. There’s no need for her to vote to continue playing.” Darius stated.

Wyatt brought his hand to his chin, processing the statements given to him. They were right. Klara was in first place. If everyone voted to leave, she would part with one million dollars.

“You are right about that. Then the only person that I can imagine wanting to continue playing is…” Wyatt paused as he turned his head and looked over to Melanie.

Feeling everyone’s gaze on her, she looked up from her plate. She then waved at all of us with a mocking smile.

“You all suspecting me? I can’t guarantee that I’ll vote to leave. At first, I would’ve been fine if everyone left with nothing. But now that Bookworm is in the lead with one million dollars…” She intentionally trailed off, trying to leave us all in suspense.

“Moving back to Klara, we should do something about her," Wyatt suggested.

"What do you mean?" Darius asked.

“I do not feel comfortable being stuck in the same facility as that girl. After seeing how she got Frederick killed yesterday, it unnerved me.”

“Same here. She didn’t even blink after seeing him get shot up and killed.” Darius added.

“She just walked away from us as if nothing happened,” Elena added as well.

“Is there a need to be worried about her? I agree that her cold attitude is a bit intimidating, but I don’t think that she’s dangerous to be around.” Henrika said.

“I agree with Henrika. Klara wasn’t in the wrong for what happened to Frederick. He was at fault for being greedy,” Iris reminded everyone, “she didn’t kill him. He killed himself in a way.”

"Still, that woman--"

“Why do you keep mentioning Klara? What do you have against her?” Henrika inquired.

“I don't trust her. She gives off a bad vibe. I feel like it would be safe for all of us if she were not here anymore.” He replied with a harsh tone of voice.

“Let me warn you. It would be wise not to place a target on her back. She has already killed off one of us. Agitating her might make you the next target.” Salomon warned him.

“I'm not putting a target on her back. I'm just saying that our chances of escape would be better if she were gone.”

“Does the same apply to me, Doc? Do you think I’ll hinder your chances of returning to your dying wife?” Melanie taunted Wyatt. “You wouldn’t be wrong to think that.”

Wyatt clenched his hands into fists. “Back to the topic at hand, we know that we are inside some facility. If that is the case, no matter how hopeless it seems, there is certainly a way out of here.”

“You sound like a broken record. I’m not repeating myself.” Darius said.

“There’s no point in trying to escape. Every room has security cameras remember?” I reminded the players.

“Break them.” Melanie bluntly said.

“Break them? Wouldn’t that get us in trouble?” Darius asked.

Melanie shrugged her shoulders then answered, “Doubt it. I broke the security camera in my room last night. I wasn’t gonna let Caius see me sleep naked.”

“You sleep naked?”

“Yeah. What? You turned on now?” She playfully winked at Darius.

A grimace crossed his face as he looked away from her.

“That may not be the best course of action. I am sure that Caius is lenient since it was just one camera.” Wyatt said.

“If we were just suddenly to start rebelling and breaking all of the cameras, certainly we would be put to death by lethal injection.” Nicholas raised his handed and pointed to the bracelet on his wrist, “Though I seek to escape from this place as much as everyone else here, I do not want to cause a ruckus and die.”

Elena nodded her head in agreement with Nicholas’ statement. “Let’s just abide by the rules and remain alive until we all leave.”

“Good morning everyone! Did you all have pleasant dreams last night?” Everyone looked at the entrance where Caius and Klara stood.

“No, I didn’t! I don’t wish to be here anymore! I want to go home!” Elena demanded.

“Well then, you might be in luck. I have come to bring you to the voting room.” Caius happily announced.

“Are you serious? Thank god! We can finally head home!” Darius cheered.

“This is real, correct? You are going to let us go after everything that we have seen here?” Zoey asked.

“Of course! Now please follow after me!” Caius turned around and left the room with everyone following after him.

We all reached the voting room and looked around anxiously. Inside of the room was twelve booths in total. They were in two groups on either side of the walls. Each of them concealed by a black curtain.

“This is the voting room. Inside of these booths is where you will vote to either continue playing or head home.” Caius informed us.

“I’m guessing that we have to enter the booths matching our bracelet numbers?” I asked.

“Yes, you do. Now go ahead and place your votes. But be warned…temptation is very powerful in this room.” He grinned at us.

Ignoring his warnings, everyone split up and entered their respective booths. Inside of the booth was a small monitor. It appeared to be a touch screen since I didn’t see any buttons around it. The moment my hand loomed over the screen, it turned on. And to my annoyance, it featured Caius’ face with his signature grin.

A cold chill traveled down my spine as I waited for whatever was going to happen…to happen.

Caius’ face eventually shrunk as two buttons appeared on the screen. One button was green with the word ‘Leave’ on it. The other one was red with the word ‘Stay’ on it. The sight of these buttons made me remember that I had yet to make a definitive decision on whether or not I wanted to continue playing or not. If I chose to design playing, we would continue to play another high stake game for the day.

The chances of someone losing their life in the process would be rather slim, but not nonexistent. If I chose to leave and everyone else voted for the same thing, then everyone except for Klara would leave Serendipity with no money. And then it would be back to the drawing board for me. I would return to the same hopeless situation. The IRS would foreclose on my bar, my home, and I wouldn’t be able to save it.

My finger hovered over the ‘Stay’ button. Although it would betray the trust of everyone there, I so desperately needed the money. I couldn’t afford to lose my home. It was my one and final chance to earn enough money to save the bar.

I also recalled stating that I would do whatever it took to win the money no matter what. Without any further hesitation, I sealed my fate and the fate of others by pressing the “Stay” button.

Caius’ face on the screen winked at me.

Disgusting.

It then disappeared before the screen turned black. I stepped out from the booth and found that everyone else had completed making their votes.

“The voting is now complete! And the results are…” Caius paused, taking out his tablet. With a press of a button, he activated the surround speakers installed in the room. The sound of drum rolls thundered around the room. “Five out of the eleven remaining players have voted to continue playing! Congratulations! The games will continue for today!”

“What? Are you serious? Five people?” Wyatt exclaimed in shock. His body trembled as he attempted to contain his rage.

“No! No! No!” Elena placed her hands on her head as she dropped down to her knees in despair. Iris crouched down next to her and tried to comfort her again.

“Who were the five people that voted to continue playing?” Nicholas asked calmly.

My heart rate instantly increased at that moment. I could’ve sworn that it was pounding so loud that I nearly placed my hand over it just to shut it up. But, of course, I didn’t go through with it.

Such an action would’ve made others feel suspicious of me. After all, I was one of the five people that chose to continue playing the games. How stupid could I have been for not considering that someone would ask what everyone else voted on? If Caius revealed the votes to everyone, I could only assume the worst.

Caius’ eyes shifted from left to right. Was he going to do it? Was he going to give out the results of the votes to the other players? Would I immediately face retribution for my choice?

The game moderator leaned forward and brought his index finger to his lips. “That is a secret. If you wish to find that out, you will just have to investigate that matter on your own.”

“Well, I see no fun in that. I’ll just come out and admit that I voted to keep playing.” Melanie willingly revealed herself by raising her hand above her head.

I couldn’t understand her motives at all. What could she have gained from revealing herself like that to everyone?

“Now why am I not surprised to hear that?” Henrika turned her head then frowned at her.

“You bitch!” Wyatt angrily approached Melanie. He stopped inches in front of her, glaring intensely. “Do you understand what you have done? You have practically cost someone else here their lives! And for what? Money?”

Those words struck me right in the heart. As one of the people that voted to continue playing, I practically cost someone else their lives for money. While cruel as it may sound, I believed it to be a necessity. I wasn’t doing it for greed. Once I won enough money to do what I had to do, I swore that I would vote to leave Serendipity.

“That’s exactly it, Doc! I came here to play some games and win money! I’m not leaving this place until I win the one million dollars!” Melanie declared without fear.

Something inside of Wyatt must’ve snapped. His eyes bulged. The veins in his eyes became visible. He lost his composure and raised his fist. That idiot intended to punch the girl, knowing full well of what would happen to him if he did. Acting quickly, Zoey grabbed the man's fist.

"Idiot! Do you want to get killed?!" She exclaimed.

"Let go!" Wyatt demanded.

"Calm down! This is what she wants! If you hit her, you'll die!"

“Hey! Don’t interfere! Let the Doc do as he wants!” Melanie snapped at Zoey.

“You shut up!" Zoey glared at Melanie.

She returned the glare before eventually letting out a sigh of defeat. “Damn it; you’ve ruined my fun. I’m outta here.” She had waved everyone goodbye before she left the room.

“Are you just going to let her go?” Wyatt looked at us a flushed face. It seemed as if he would start swinging at us next.

“There is nothing we can do about her right now, Wyatt. Besides, it is not just her that voted to continue playing.” Nicholas said.

“Who else?” He whipped around then glared at the other players remaining in the room. “Who else voted to continue playing? Do you people not understand that the longer I stay here, the closer my wife is to certain death?”

Darius raised his hands up in front of him in a defensive manner. “Don’t look at me. I voted to leave.”

“Same here! I don’t wish to be here anymore!” Elena said.

“Me too!” Iris said.

“We can go around the room and make whatever claims that we please. But in the end, we are still trapped here for another day.” Zoey stated.

“I already know that! Which is why I am pissed that five people might be the cause of my wife’s death!” Wyatt looked down to the floor with tears forming in his eyes. The poor man looked like he would break down at any moment.

“What should we do now? We’re going to be forced to play another game for today.” Darius stated.

“All we can do now is play and hope for the best tomorrow,” I suggested.

My words were hollow and meaningless. What could they hope the best for if I wasn’t selected to play any games for that day? I would only vote to continue playing until I earned the money that I needed.

“No. That won’t solve anything. We have to find the five-people responsible for this incident.” Henrika announced.

“I agree! We should find those traitors among us!” Wyatt exclaimed.

“And what exactly are you planning to do after that? Even if we find them and confront them, it won’t change a thing.” I told him.

“Ambrose is right. Even if we find them, they’ll probably continue to vote to keep playing.” Darius added to my point.

“Then perhaps we should just kill them,” Wyatt cruelly suggested to everyone, “if we cannot persuade them to cease with their selfish behavior, then we should pass judgment onto them through the games and kill them.”

“Kill them? No way! That’s a crime! We can’t kill them!” Elena immediately refused the idea.

“I don’t want to be involved in this.” I voiced my input on the idea.

“You're just going to leave them be then? Even though they are keeping us here for another day?” Wyatt turned his glare on to me.

“I’m not going to leave them be. But I’m not going to kill them either. This isn’t a game about killing each other.” I declared.

“So cool.” Words of awe came from Darius, Elena, and Iris.

“Well whatever, if you are not going to help us then you are no good to us.” Wyatt decided to ignore me and focused his attention on the other players. “What do you think about this, Nicholas?”

“Finding them is one thing. Killing them is another. I wish to leave this place as soon as possible, but if we have to kill five other people to do it…”

“Listen to me everyone; there is a time when we must do whatever it takes to survive. And right now, five people among us are hindering our chances of survival. If we don't do something about this soon, then every one of us will…”

“That’s enough talk about murdering people!” Henrika raised her voice. Everyone in the room momentarily expressed their shock by the sudden outburst of anger. “It’s already bad enough that one of us has already died. Talking about killing others will only make it worse. Let’s work together so that we can all escape from this place alive.”

“It will be difficult due to the traitors. But certainly, we should be able to convince them to change their minds.” Zoey said.

All gazes slowly moved to Wyatt. No one appeared to be on his side throughout the discussion. He realized that and then calmed himself down. “You are right. I jumped the gun there. Forgive me. Forget everything that I said about murdering them.”

“Well…two of us will be playing one of the games today. Let’s hope for the best and pray that no one else dies today,” said Iris.

“Hopefully that won’t turn out to be the case. In the meantime, we have several hours to prepare ourselves for whatever Caius will throw at us.” Darius said.

“Knowing him, I’m sure that it won’t be anything good for us,” mentioned Elena.

“We will just have to be on our guard from now on,” Zoey warned everyone.

“Like that will be enough.” Wyatt exited the room with a solemn expression.

“I am going to go have a word with him to lift up his spirits. If anyone else needs me, I am always available to talk.” Nicholas had said before he exited the room.

Everyone else in the room exchanged glances with each other before we eventually left in silence. And thus, ended the first of possibly many voting rounds in Serendipity.