3

Desolate spirits borrowed the boy’s mind and gleamed at his empty body. He felt the chill in the air as if he shed the warmth of his skin. Blankness spread as he fell under the current. It swept him underneath and carried him along its invisible path.

There was a particularly strong scent of flowers that wafted below the depths, drawing him closer. Suddenly a loud shot rang out pulling his consciousness from its slumber taut like a wire about to snap. He opened his eyes to see he was still strapped in the chair like before unable to move underneath the restraints. The chairs that surrounded him were now all filled with bodies.

There were two women to his left, the one directly next to him he couldn’t see too clearly, but the one just beside her looked to be young—maybe early twenties. Dark hair covered her head as it lay back, he hoped that the both of them were just unconscious. It had been the same with the men on his right—two of them, but he couldn’t make out any defining features as their heads were bobbed down. The closer had almost neck length brown hair while the further had shorter blackish. Finally there was another younger girl—probably in her teens—sitting directly across from Luke. Her hair was scarlet strewn across her face. Her head was bent back like all of the others. All told they were three men and three women. That seemed too perfect to be just a coincidence. With all the mysteries that surrounded everything he almost had to question if everything was by design.

"Hello? Is anyone-Oh…" A rushing pain came to his head. He didn't know how long he had been out, but it couldn't have been long...could it? He didn’t know how the other people got here...maybe they came from behind the other doors like he had? It was plausible, but if so, surely they would have seen him attached to this chair? Certainly one of them must have tried to help...he found it incredibly hard to believe that each of them would willingly sit as he had after seeing his mistake. So, he had to run with the assumption that they were carried here by whoever had brought him here...at least, if one or all of them wasn’t that very person or people.

A voice in his mind urged that it wasn’t likely...possible, yes, but not likely. Why would they subject themselves to their own trap? To convince him? Why would they need to convince him? Too much reaching would need to happen for it, he thought. It was best to assume that these others were trapped like he was. If he were wrong and one of them was responsible...well, it wasn’t like he could do anything about it now. He was still strapped into the chair, after all. He tried to work his way out of the restraints—he pushed and pulled, but nothing he tried worked; his arms chafed against the cords. He strained harder, but it was to no avail.

The young man furthest from him began to open his eyes; he was strapped to his chair just as Luke had been. He wasn’t as confused looking as Luke had thought he would be. His green eyes looked around him and he coughed once, the only sound he made.

"Who are you?" Luke tried to move against the restraints, but it only made it more uncomfortable. "Do you know why we’re here?"

"No. Are you kidding me?" His voice was coated with an accent Luke couldn't immediately place; it seemed Asian, but he didn't have enough context to be sure of which nationality. It had a second coat of coarseness, it definitely seemed strange that someone as...well, not big as he would have a voice as harsh. The confusion he’d originally been looking for had flooded into his face in furrowed eyebrows. The man's jaw met the floor as he looked from Luke back around to the people who—like him—were strapped in for the long haul. "Um...Hello?" Luke asked again. He was afraid he sounded too impatient. He wanted answers, yes, but it didn’t sit right in his stomach. He wanted answers. "...Sir?"

"For fuck’s sake..." he said, more to himself than Luke. "What are you looking at?"

"Excuse me?" Luke caught himself and took a deep breath. "I just woke up here myself. I’m sorry if I frightened you" Luke said.

"I asked you what you were looking at."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

He made a clicking sound with his tongue, "Of course not," he shook his head. “I’m tired of these increasing theatrics. Name your price and let’s move on."Why’d you kill her? That’s a new low."

"Theatrics…?" Luke furrowed his brow at the weird man. Kill? The man was talking absolute nonsense, but that was when the smell hit him like a truck. He realized that one of the people to his side was dead and bleeding profusely—the smell had been pungent; it couldn’t have been anything else. He didn't remember if he'd ever seen a dead body, but the fact that he could place the smell immediately suggests that he had to have at least once.

"W-Who...? I can't..." Luke craned his neck to see, but couldn’t get far enough either way.

The man shook his head and looked at Luke with a snarky sort of stare. He didn’t seem to be too old—maybe his early twenties at most.

"The old woman to your left—bullet through the brain. I don’t suppose you could have even lifted the kinda gun that’d do that, though."

The words pierced his brain as if they were bullets. To hear it so bluntly stated made him afraid to shift his eyes back to the body. He hadn't noticed it on the first glance, but as he turned his head he could see the slight glistening of blood.

"Oh...I'm going to puke," he said, making a vile sound.

"Save your weak stomach," the man said and rolled his eyes. "Now shut your trap so I can get some sleep here." He shimmied a little to make himself more comfortable and closed his eyes.

"Sleep?!" Luke looked at him incredulously. "How can you sleep when we’re stuck in this…this place and there’s a dead person!" Luke felt his voice squeak and it instantly brought back what the man had called him. Kid. How...old was he? It didn’t cross his mind until just then, but he had no real idea. Must be young...but old enough to be aware of things like dead bodies and how high pitched his voice was.

One eye opened and he sighed, "And how do you suggest we do that? Take it from me, we’re not going to be here long, might as well enjoy the scenery while we are."

"And how do you know that?" Luke asked, rubbing his neck a little harsh against the restraint.

"You both are so loud." A pained voice cut between the both of them. The girl right next to the dead body shook her head and opened her eyes slowly. As she came to she realized the situation they had been in almost instantly. "What the hell?" She looked over toward Luke and the other man, and then back to Luke. "Where’s...Where are we?"

"It’s like some weird building," Luke.

"What...are you stupid or something? Of course it’s some weird building. I don’t need help figuring that one out," She said, pushing against the restraints.

"I’m...sorry." Luke replied.

"Well, I wouldn’t expect you to be able to break out of those restraints. You probably couldn’t fight your way out of a paper bag in the rain," the man said and chuckled. "Don’t think your fire could burn it either." He kept his eyes on her, "What’s your name?"

She continued working at the restraints until she let it go, letting out a breath and looking toward him, "I’m really annoyed. You?" There was a smile that drove out a chuckle from Luke.

The man’s eyes were on him immediately, "You don’t look like you’re worth much at all…? You must know something that somebody doesn’t want you to...right?" The man asked. "I mean, who’d kidnap a nobody kid with a nobody mind?"

Luke took in a deep breath, "I don’t know anything about who I am or why I’m here besides my name. So I guess I don’t know how much I’m...um, worth."

The man shook his head, "An amnesiac? Yeah, sure." He clicked his tongue.

The girl turned to the side, muttering to herself. She turned back toward Luke. "What did you do?"

"I do…?" Luke parroted. "I’m not the one who kidnapped you both if that’s what you mean. Do you think I’d lock myself up here if I did?" He thought a moment more, "...and please don’t say I’d do it to make you think that..."

The girl sighed, looking back toward him with a look that didn’t seem as full of contempt. "Brown hair, short. Stupid nose and not older than thirteen. Is that enough for you?"

"You’re believing that crock?" The man asked, his eyebrows dipping.

"N-No...need to be so harsh," Luke recoiled. But this was important information. He was only near his teens? That seemed...wrong. Maybe he couldn’t remember anything because he was a part of some freak genetic testing of implanting human minds into younger bodies...oh gosh, what if he was behind it all and he couldn’t remember it? No, that seemed too silly...he had to keep a handle on reality. He was Lucas Gray, and he would figure out who he was.

"Kidnap..." Luke said, the word so foreign but so close to home in their situation. "You mentioned we were kidnapped." He looked up to the man. "You mean someone…?"

"Well, obviously." He began. "And there’s always a reason that people are kidnapped. It’s never by random chance someone takes you. Isn’t that obvious?"

"Are you saying you have a reason?" The girl asked.

He grinned, almost as if he was waiting for the question. "Well, of course. I’m Simon Nagatomi, and frankly, I could almost see this coming from a mile away." He rolled his eyes and sat back in the chair.

"I’m afraid...I don’t understand," Luke said.

"He’s probably rich...father’s money." The girl answered for him. "...Flaunts it every chance he can get and doesn’t let anyone forget it, is that about right?"

"Someone’s done their homework," he grinned.

"No, not really," the girl began, "...I just know your type. You’re so predictable..."

"Well, I guess you’re not as dumb as you look." He took an airy breath before continuing, "...it seems someone wants my father’s attention. Must be some pretty exciting if they’re willing to pay for all these theatrics."

"You mentioned something like that earlier," Luke said. "What did you mean?"

He nodded his head toward the body that lie upright next to Luke. "Obviously a prop set up by whoever brought us here, of course. They must have hired a stellar make-up artist. Whoever did this wants it to look convincing as possible." He looks around the bubble with as little interest as possible. "Can’t say I’m impressed with the environment, though. I’ve seen better."

"You’ve been kidnapped before?" Luke could barely keep his voice from cracking.

Simon groaned in return, "Let me break it to you slowly. My father runs a very...very reputable—he’s the CEO of the Genros Foundation. People that high in his line of work always have enemies." He let loose a breath with as much care as a breath of the wind. "...and whoever is behind this mess decided to get creative. ‘You know what would hurt him really bad and make him do whatever we want? Take his kid! It’s genius!’" He looked at them with a blank stare. "Absolutely brilliant. So much so that five other people have already tried it. People always underestimate my father’s determination in keeping what he adores close to him...these silly people always think they’re so smart. Listen to me, I’ve seen enough faked bodies strung up to frighten me. I’ve seen real ones drop. That’s nothing more than a prop set up to scare us—she’s probably the one who set this all up who’s just waiting to pop on out and say ‘surprise!’"

The girl looked at the woman—she had a clearer view of it than Luke had. She looked it up and down and shook her head slowly. "No, that’s a pretty open and closed case. If it’s a fake...it’s an extremely elaborate one, but I find it’s most likely a real woman." Her brow furrowed then. "...Why she’s here...well, I just woke up. I don’t have the slightest."

"What’s your name...?" Luke asked out of nowhere. He realized his thirst for answers got the better of him...he knew the man’s name as Simon now and it was bothering him inside that he was still missing information.

She gave him a strange look, "Excuse me, but I don’t think you gave yours. I don’t know either of you..." she turned to Simon, "Much less do I want to...but even so..."

"My name is Luke," he found himself saying. It wouldn’t hurt to tell the truth. He had to give answers to get answers.

She looked at him for a moment in silence. When she finally spoke, it was quiet, "Sophie."

Sophie and Simon...he had names, and at that moment that was enough.

"I’m going to trust you weren’t the ones who brought us here..." Sophie began. "You," she turned to Luke, "Well...you’re just a kid. I don’t think you could lift any one of us. You’re not a cyborg are you?"

"Well...I don’t remember. Obviously something like that’s crazy though, right?"

"It’s possible though, right?"

He looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "I...I don’t know? I think I would know if that were the case."

She shook her head, "It doesn’t matter, I wanted to ask."

"Seems a pointless question to ask," Simon said.

Sophie turned to Simon, "And you..." she furrowed her brow, "You seem too much like a pompous windbag upfront to be trying to hide any ill intentions. If you were behind it I’d say you were doing a very poor job..."

"Well thank you too, you self righteous bitch," he said, completely without tact. "I told you, this happens from time to time. I can’t see why someone would grab you two...almost pointless, really," Simon said.

"I wouldn’t know either," Sophie said. "...it seems our suspicions fall on those two," she says, nodding her head to the other man and woman that hadn’t woken up yet. The girl with the scarlet hair and the longer haired, older man.

Sophie looked around a moment longer, cursing under her breath, "Damn it...how could I have been so stupid..."

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"She probably realized how worthless she is...not any value to her name," he shook his head and clicked his tongue some more. "Me I don’t have to worry. All we have to do is wait until the mastermind behind this shit-show makes their grand entrance and gives their demands. Until that point we’re just chilling out."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"No...I don’t believe that things are going to work that smoothly," Sophie began. "...First of all, I’m going to run with the assumption that everyone here was kidnapped."

"How can you run with that so easily, brainiac? It’s just as much that one of them is the mastermind...if not both." Simon asked.

"Consider the old woman. We’ve pointed out she’s been killed and it’s plain to see the bullet hole in her head," she then looks to Luke, "You’ll have to trust me on this one."

"I still say she’s a prop or the mastermind laughing in her sleep."

"..." Sophie sighed and continued on, "Think...where is the murder weapon? We’re all strapped into these chairs and no gun is in sight. If someone is pulling the strings...it most likely isn’t any of us here."

She was right...he couldn’t see any gun around them. It seemed unlikely that one of them just tossed it before restraining themselves into the chair. It’d easily be found if they did get out of the restraints. If they weren’t intended to get out...well, none of anything would matter then anyway. They would simply sit there until they rotted away. Luke tried to think if he saw anything that resembled a gun in the room he woke up in...nothing. All he remembered were those drawings on the wall and the notebook...which he now noticed he was missing. There wasn’t any telling where it went. He looked back up to the two of them. Simon had tried his hardest not to look annoyed at her logic. It must have killed him to admit that she made a good point.

As he did the girl with the scarlet hair began to wake. She followed the same pattern of emotions that they all had previously: confusion, anger, fear, acceptance.

"My name…" she said, timid at first, but there was a hint of a french accent behind it, "...is Aria Fleur." She seemed much too extravagant to be trapped in a place like this...like the last rose to wilt before a bracing snowfall. Luke would be lying if he if he said she wasn't extremely pretty, much so that he would think she were fake if he saw a picture of her. She, like the rest of the group, had claimed she had no idea as to their reason for being kidnapped. The pattern continued with the man to the Luke’s right; he introduced himself as Levi Strauss. He had long brown hair and shook as he spoke. He seemed even more squeamish than me.

"Wh-What the hell is all of this!?" Levi's face looked like a balloon as he tried to break out of his restraints.

"Well, nothing about our situation had changed, so I would assume that either the correct time had not arrived yet or there's still something we need to do," Sophie mused with her eyes looking through each of them. "I can't quite figure out what that is, yet."

"You were this close to getting out of here!" A mechanical voice echoed from up above. Luke looked up as far as he could to see a figure descending from the darkness. As it came closer he could see it looked like a robot in the shape of a rabbit. Silver shining metal was wired around the frame with a stunning complexity. Its tiny legs dangled in the air, pivoting on their axis. The rabbit turned to each of them, its eyes glowed gold as it panned around the circle, stopping slowly at each person. It rested longest on Luke. Nobody said a word.

"You all feeling fine? I’m sure not!" The rabbit hopped to the center of the ring. "I'd been waiting on you to decide on which was the lovely murderer of this poor old woman, but none of you seemed to give me the answer I was looking for! And just to think...if one of you solved it you would have been able to go free! Oh what a sham!"

"Is th-that a talking rabbit?!" Levi screamed out.

"It...looks like a robot...are you a robot?" Aria replied, tilting her head.

"D-Don’t you mean...shame?" Luke asked, not wholly sure what it was he was seeing. Rabbits didn’t talk, and of course, he hadn’t known a lot of things, but he also believed that robots this advanced couldn’t exist yet.

"Hm? Someone say something?" The rabbit turned back to Luke. "Ah, Graybeard! No, I did not mean shame. I meant sham, as in farce, ploy, trick. I lied to you. Fortunately, you’re still going to be my lovely guests for a while longer. We’ve much to do and so very little time to do it in." The rabbit crossed both of its arms and nodded.

"Well, it’s obvious…" Simon said, "Who killed the old woman, I mean. It was you—we’re all restrained here and I’m not seeing any sort of gun here."

The rabbit nodded, putting its paw to its chin, "Hm, I see. Bold strategy. Pinning it on the rabbit...well, if you wanted to waste everyone's time by giving me the complete wrong answer, then yes! Good job!" It clapped its tiny paws together with a clanging sound.

"How could it have been anyone besides you?" Aria asked. Luke could hear the accent in her voice clearly this time. It was definitely French.

"Have you ever seen a rabbit fire a gun? No thumbs!" He jabbed his paws out in front of him.

Simon grinded his teeth. "You goddamn piece of junk!" He shouted. The composure that was in his face had fled immediately. "Just name your price and we can move this charade along."

"Well...I reckon I don’t understand yer high and mighty speech, pardner," The rabbit called out to Simon. "Price? Naw, you can’t buy your way out of this sitch-ee-ayshun here. So I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with these, oh how do they say it, caw-manners?" The rabbit bounced over toward Simon, the clanking metal echoed around them. "You’re stuck here pending further notice."

This didn’t please Simon at all. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell did you take me then…?!"

"I’m a rabbit, not a library. Find your answers elsewhere. My, no wonder it’s taken you so long to find the answer," the rabbit shook its head. "You’re so focused on the whys and the hows that you can’t see the most important question is the who."

"Well, you’re the one who gathered us here, so it only makes the most sense that it was you," Luke said.

The rabbit shook its head. "Nope nope! I already told you, I couldn’t even hold a gun if I wanted to."

"Obviously he meant to say the person controlling you...the man behind the curtain...the Wizard," Simon called back to the rabbit.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Oh, well if it was so obvious then I wouldn’t have misunderstood you. I don’t think you know what that word means...or maybe you’re just dumb?" He bent almost fully backward to emphasize the supposed hilarity of the situation. "He thinks he's smart. Get a load of that! Listen, leave the any brain activity to Miss Terrius, shall we? There’s nobody controlling me. My name’s Lucky, and I’m displeased to make your acquaintance."

"Her?! Why the hell should I?" Simon yelled.

"Why? Haha, she’s the only one so far to not ask me any dumb questions."

"Uh, did you f-forget about me?" Levi asked.

"Nope." Lucky said.

Sophie looked toward Lucky, "So, I’m going to break your poor heart now and ask a question-"

"Damn, can’t trust nobody no more!" Lucky called, feigning heartbreak.

Sophie ignored his outburst, "...if you didn't kill her—say we believe you—then who could it have been, and how would we be able to figure it out from our present situation? I mean, I figure that is the sole reason we’re tied up here, considering we seem to be trapped in this room regardless."

"Now, you are putting that brain to work Miss Terrius! You’re not a disappointment after all. It is quite simple to figure out who had killed this lovely old woman. The monster is one of you here in this room. In fact, I'm the only person that couldn't have killed her."

"And...how is that possible?" Aria called out, her eyes shifting between the old woman and the strange robotic rabbit.

"Because she died from a gunshot, silly! Can't you see the gaping hole in her forehead?"

"That doesn’t answer her question…" Luke said. He could find himself getting annoyed with the rabbit’s way of talking in circles.

"Graybeard! You’re missing the...wait a flash...do none of you remember?" Lucky’s smile dimmed. "That is something else...a terrible tragedy if nothing else. Ah well. It looks like it’s good I came out. You all would have argued here for hours with no clue if you were right or wrong!"

"That’s...crazy! You know what you’re saying, right?" Levi asked. "You’re saying that we all just c-conveniently forgot that one of us was a killer? T-That’s improbable at best..."

"You guys and your probabilities," Lucky tapped his foot twice on the ground. A mechanical whirring began underneath them, the metallic panel that Luke had fallen face first on before had begun to open up. Lucky jumped off to the side, just by Simon’s feet. The hatch opened and from it a podium from underneath began to rise up until it was about eye level with them. The floor sealed up around it tight and Luke could see that on top of the podium was a gun mounted by the butt solidly into the frame. It was currently pointed right at the old woman. "Your maybes and your most likelies aren’t going to help you in here. You’re overthinking it. This here is the gun that killed the old woman, and one of you is responsible for the trigger being pulled." He jumped on top of the podium just behind the gun, "This gun right here's mounted tight to this podium. That you can see. What you can’t, however, are the connections deep underneath that’s loaded directly through our the state of the art Arctic Systems infrastructure."

"Arctic Systems...is that where we are?" Luke asked.

"Graybeard! You keep missing the mountain for the molehill! You're here for what I like to call the Roulette Game! Remember? Oh, of course you wouldn't. You've all had your memory of the past hour wiped from your skulls like a bug on a windshield! Hahaha. So it’s not as unlikely as you would think. They must have decided the last round was too traumatic for you to remember...Or maybe that was me? Hahaha! It doesn’t really matter. We’re starting fresh!"

Simon looked like he had just about enough of Lucky. "Hold on...they? Who are they? Why do you have me locked up here?! I hope you know that my family's lawyers are going to be hunting down this Arctic Systems with a passion."

"Ooh, that's the sticky part." Lucky began as he cocked his tiny head. "You're all gonna be stuck in here until you finish this little game of ours. And don’t worry Simon says, I know about each of you thoroughly. Your family isn’t an issue."

"Not an…" Simon could barely understand the words he’d said.

"Now, you’re going to do as you’re told and listen for once. I hate repeating myself. You might not be able to see it in your current position, but just behind this platform is a computer terminal, and with that your possible escape."

"C-Computer terminal? How are we supposed to get out when we're all s-strapped in?" Levi asked, throwing himself against his restraints again.

"Maybe you should strangle yourself with yours and we'll get closer to finding out," Simon grunted under his breath.

"Simon says shut up." Lucky trotted over to him and bonked him on the nose with his outstretched paw. "I was getting to that point." He raised one paw in the air. "Anywho! On the terminal there are inputs for a password for each one of you. Each person has a different password and your goal is to obtain all the pieces of your password. Simple, right? Don’t get lost now. There are two phases to this game—two things you need to do in order to get pieces of your password—there’s the exploration phase and the decision phase. Each one is super fun and super important, so I'll go over each of them free of charge."

"How generous," Sophie said, her eyes focused on the rabbit.

"The exploration phase happens after the end of the decision phase, but it’s easier to explain first since you lot don’t remember the last decision phase." Lucky jumped down to the center by the podium once more, turning in a circle to face everyone in turn. "The sound of a gunshot will cause one of the six doors surrounding you to unlock. The restraints keeping you held up will similarly be released. Each of the doors leads to a different room. Your ultimate goal is to participate in the decision phase once again, so behind those doors shall be your key to do so. This is where you will obtain the pieces to your passwords."

"And the decision phase?" Luke called out.

"Truth...lies…it is a game of magnificent design if I do say so myself. I surely hope you enjoy it as much as I do! You see, each time the game is started up your destiny becomes linked to another player's choice, and theirs to another, and another, all the way around until you make a circle! Each player gets the choice to either Cooperate or Defect. Those who have a partner that cooperates with them shall receive one digit to their password. You'll be one step closer to leaving this place. But those whose partner decides to defect shall immediately be killed by this gun right here." He goes to pat it if it were a pet dog.

There was something with how nonchalantly murder was brought up that made Luke sick to his stomach. He was sure that he wasn’t the only one; he stole glances to the others around him and they looked equally as horrified—even Simon.

"It should also be mentioned that those that refuse to participate in this phase of the game will automatically cooperate. This can be willing or unwilling refusal, both are judged the same. The only thing about that is that a minimum of two players must participate in the decision phase. So no, there isn’t an easy way out to not just play. The only way true way to protect yourself from death by defection is to defect as well." Lucky finished, hopping off the podium.

"I...I don't quite understand why anyone would defect, though?" Aria asked, her breathing was heavy. "We get one key for cooperating each round if I’m understanding that right, so we just have to keep doing that and we're all out of here...right?"

Luke was nodding subconsciously to her question. It seemed simple enough...but there was still an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut.

"That is where the game definitely gets interesting. Some of you might know this setup as the Prisoner's Dilemma. I'm not going to lecture you if you don't know it—it isn't necessary to our game. If you do, great, give yourself a pat on the back. You know...metaphorically. Your hands are a little tied up at the moment anyhow. Heh. Anyway, there's one big change. We're playing in our very special circle here, so for example, say Miss Terrius were to cooperate with Jeans…"

Levi looked around, "...You mean me?"

"Again with your questions," Lucky spat off as he shook his head "Jeans would receive a nice and shiny password digit. In a normal Prisoner's Dilemma setup Jeans would then choose his action to do against Miss Terrius—it would be an equal action and reaction. Our game, however follows the circle. Miss Terrius’ action would affect Arial."

"Aria…" she corrected.

"Right, then Arial’s action would affect Simon says...so forth until we get back to Miss Terrius. Of course, this is only an example, but you get the idea."

Aria shook her head, "I still don't understand why anyone would defect. I get that the order's a bit different...or whatever, but I still don't know why anyone would do anything but the right thing."

"Ah, that is right. I had forgotten one vital detail. Defectors can gain up to two password digits per round instead of one if they successfully defect against a cooperating player."

The look around the room was universal, immediate interest followed by curiosity. Lucky continued, "If a player were to defect, and both people in front and behind them would cooperate they would receive one point for defecting against a cooperating partner and one point for the partner behind them cooperating with them. You can get out much quicker if you can pull off some sneaky defects! Of course, if you defected and the person before you defected and then the player after you defected it would only count the player who was last in the chain against the cooperator, if any."

"But if someone defected once, nobody would ever cooperate with that person ever again!" Luke called. "Nobody would willingly sacrifice their chance of getting out like that."

"Are you sure about that, Graybeard?" Lucky walked up to him and cocked his tiny head. Luke could see his reflection in the rabbit’s shined eyes. "Look around you. There is a body with a bullet currently calling it home, no? That’s evidence that someone here chose to defect against a cooperator—who happens to be our dearly departed."

Luke turned to look toward the old woman, but instinctively found himself flinching upon seeing her grayed hair strewn across her face.

"Like it or not folks the game has begun. And one of you, maybe more, are willing to play it the dirty way. That’s the strategy; this game is one of timing. The passwords can only be entered once into the computer terminal. You have one guess at your password. If you mess it up, you shall immediately be killed for trying to cheat the game. This also works in the reverse—passwords can only be accepted within the round that the first correct password is entered. That means that if someone, say hypothetical Player A manages to get the digits to their password and they input it correctly into the terminal, that didn't necessarily mean that they are the only one that gets to leave. If anyone else had enough digits to enter their password, they may also enter it into the terminal and leave within that same round."

"So we all could l-leave here alive?" Levi asked.

"Well, not all, but I’m sure you’ll all forget about this dead body, no? Going to be a bit difficult I find to trust one another without that fear of being stabbed in the back," Lucky looked toward the old woman. "Betrayal...it is not a fun feeling let me tell you…" He trailed off and stared into space. The others around were in a dead silence. And it was only interrupted when- "But those surviving...yes! You don't have to input a password immediately when you get enough digits. You could hold off for as long as you would like, but as soon as a single password is entered correctly, no more digits may be earned. If anyone tries to sneak out of this facility without the correct number of digits, you shall be killed. If you try to cheat the system, you shall be killed, oh, and if you try to tamper with any Arctic Systems technology to work some lame-brained loophole I haven't discussed here, you shall be killed. Any questions?" He held his paws behind his back and cocked his head expectantly.

"Uh...quite a few, actually," Luke said. "Who are you?"

"Not the right question Fifty Shades. My, you're bad at this."

"It's a lot of information to take in at once," Sophie cocked her head and had begun to stroke her chin with the end of her thumb. "Mind if I summarize to see if I have everything?"

"Oh, if you must."

* To escape from our current environment each player must collect digits to a password that shall be used on the computer terminal just beside the roulette. Digits could be received through the two phases of the Roulette Game: the Exploration Phase & the Decision Phase. The Decision Phase is an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma style game where Players A through F choose to either cooperate or defect with those next to them in the roulette.

* If Player A cooperates with Player B, then Player B receives 1 digit (Player A will receive 1 digit if Player F had cooperated with Player A).

* If Player A defects and Player B cooperates, then Player A gets 2 digits. Player B is then killed in the Roulette Game.

* If both Players A & B defect, then player A gets 0 digits.

* Votes are cast on a time limit. If a vote isn't placed within the time limit that player’s vote is automatically cast to cooperate. There is a minimum of two players that need to vote each round. These rules continue down the line for Players B, C, D, E, and F.

* After one round of the Decision Phase is played the Exploration Phase will begin. The locks on the doors around the room are set to only open if a gunshot is heard. The rooms that unlock must be explored thoroughly to find the key to play the Roulette Game again, if no doors are opened at the end of a round of the game, then a waiting period of one hour must occur before the game's next round had begun.

"That sounds about right!" Lucky said, nodding his head.

Levi felt a ball in his throat and tried his best to swallow hard, "Wh-what happens to us now? The old woman is d-dead. Does that mean we have to do this exploration t-thing?" Luke could hear his teeth chattering from across the circle.

"We can't explore anything if we're stuck here. Most you could get is exploring your own asshole." Simon groaned.

"Well, you're right on one thing." Lucky had begun, hopping from foot to foot. "I mentioned it before, but the first round of the decision phase had already concluded; the results are set right on that computer terminal over here...which brings me back to my original point of coming here. You all haven't figured out who killed her." As he said it, the restraints on each of the six bodies were released from their seats. The bodies fell to the ground—not expecting them to release so suddenly. The old woman's body fell face forward with a thud; blood spattered from the wound in her head. It made a disgusting sort of squishing noise that wouldn’t leave Luke’s mind anytime soon. Levi let out a small sound as he hit the ground. Luke tried his hardest not to scream out, but it was more than he could handle. It took him a moment more to find his balance. As he braced his knee to hold him up he found that it came a bit easier than it did before. His head spun quite a bit, but it centered just fine and it began to clear.

The others recovered at about the same pace, they each looked at each other for a moment. That was all it took for the feeling to pass between each and every one of them. We were in some real tough shit. This wasn’t any movie, not a prank, not even a ransom. This mysterious rabbit wanted...well, Luke wasn’t sure what he wanted aside from watching them suffer. The best he could do was try his best to keep up. He wasn’t going to give Lucky the satisfaction.

4

"Now that you've been freed I would like you all to follow me to the terminal," Lucky bounced passed them to a tower half Luke’s height built into the ground. He’s sure that it must have risen up alongside the podium. There was no way that he missed it when he initially looked through this room. The monitor on the top of the tower was wide enough that Luke could place both of his palms across its face if he wanted to. It displayed white text on a green background that gave him an unsettling feeling. He could feel his spine straighten as he looked down—there were names displayed for each player followed by several underlined spaces. However...there seemed to be an unequal amount of spaces for each person:

LEVI: __ __ __ __ __

LUKE: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

SOPHIE: __ 01 __ __ 05 __

SIMON: __ __ __ __ __ __

ARIA: __ __ __ __ __

AI: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

"What the..." Luke looked at his name and his confusion only grew. "Why is mine so much longer than everyone else's? That's unfair!"

Lucky laughed his question away with a shake of his paw. "Well that's because your password may contain some digits that are doubles. Just because you have eight spaces didn't necessarily mean you have to get eight different digits."

"I...see…" Luke said. He still felt that it was unfair that he had the longest password, but it wasn’t like his protests would change the outcome, so he let it go.

"T-This last name here…" Levi cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "AI? Is t-that your—"

"No, I already told you my name was Lucky."

"So then..." Sophie looked back toward the chairs, "...that name belongs to the old woman."

"Correct, Ai. It’s Japanese last I heard," Lucky stopped moving and turned his head to Simon.

Everyone followed suit. He stared holes back at them. "Oh, because all Japanese people are alike, huh? Real nice, guys."

"No...I wasn’t-" Luke had begun to stammer out, but Simon wasn’t having any of it.

"I don’t know who the old bitch is. Nor do I care what her goddamn name is. She’s dead and Sophie’s the one who benefits."

"What do you mean by that?" Luke asked.

"You mean how I have two digits already," Sophie crossed her arms, not displeased with her situation.

"You knoooow what that means?" Lucky asked, goading for the answer.

"It means I'm the closest person to getting out of here."

"You're the one who defected, he means," Simon said with his eyes trained on her.

Sophie could feel the eyes moving one by one to her, "None of you have any memories of what happened, right? I don't see how you could move to claim that as any truth when nobody here can remember what happened...save for the single most suspicious person here of course."

"Well...it didn't change the fact that you did choose to defect..." Aria said, she was holding her hands close to her chest, shaking her head. "All we had to do was cooperate and we could all get out of here together!"

"Yeah! Why would you—" Luke had begun, but was quickly interrupted.

"There's definitely a reason why I could have chosen to pick to defect that's not with murder as a motive," Sophie said.

Lucky had begun laughing loudly, interrupting all of the ensuing noise. "Ooh we're getting warmer here. If only you knew! Hey, Jeans, mind hitting that icon in the lower right hand corner of the terminal for me?" He looked directly at Levi, letting the nervous man look around the rest of the group. It was the kind of look that the little neighbor kid that just wouldn't get the hint that he wasn't liked by everyone else. Lucky was that annoying child, overstepping his boundaries and not caring if he was liked or not. The big difference was that it wasn't Lucky's objective to get the others to like him, he had some darker purpose that wasn't quite clear for doing the things he did, and that made him dangerous. He tried to imagine the voice on the other end of the line—whoever was holed up in some secret room talking into the microphone that led to Lucky's vocal processor. Huh...vocal processor? What kind of place had he lived in before this time where something like that came to him so easily? Maybe he was big on robotics.

"Uh...s-sure..." The sound of Levi’s voice brought Luke back to reality. He looked back to the monitor and noticed the small square icon that looked like an eye. He pressed his finger against it and watched the display change, new icons taking the place of the old, a box with a pixelated sort of design for what he could assume were the other players with the word "DEFECT" written beside each one except for the very last, Ai.

"What..."

Lucky began to shake its head as it hopped forward, "That there means that all of you besides Ai had chosen to defect. Every. Single. One."

"Now see?" Sophie uncrossed her arms and gave them all a look of vindication. The feeling was palpable in the room. "It isn't so great when you're all guilty and can't remember it, huh? It's like I said. I must have chosen to defect in self defense. If I'd chosen to cooperate it'd be me lying there dead on the ground." Sophie looked her way through everybody in a line. The way she stared wasn't a look that Luke was fond of, and he knew that deep inside of him he had felt bad for being so immediately suspicious.

"S-Sorry." Aria said, defeated. She looked away from all of them, blowing a stray hair out of her face. She looked like how he had felt.

"Yeah. Me too." Luke said, nodding. "I just...I don't understand why I would have chosen to defect," Luke raised his hands to his temples as he tries to massage the answer out of his brain. "I’m not here to kill anybody."

"E-Except the old w-woman," Levi was dragging his fingernails across his wrist. Whether he knew he was doing it or not it seemed to be in rhythm of his body's beat. "I-If you think about it...it could have been any one of us that made the killing vote...and the rest could have just chosen to defect in defense."

"That...sounds like it could be a possibility," Aria said.

"If I had any m-money to bet on someone choosing defect of their own free will…" Levi started slowly, "...I'd guess it would be you, Simon," His voice worked into its smoothness. Luke could tell that once his nerves were shot it took away from what presence he could have. It surprised him how he must be feeling.

Simon didn't take it as a huge surprise, as if it wouldn't be a shock to him. He answered with little more than a shrug. "And? What if it was me? It's not like you have proof or anything. None of us remember. And, it's like what she said, it didn't matter what happened in the first round. We're past that, now."

"That's an awful way to think about a body whose blood could be on your hands," Aria said. Luke looked toward her, she’d gotten back a bit of her voice.

Simon shook his head, "Who cares if the bitch is dead? Is it any of you? No. Her fault for picking to cooperate. Obviously there wasn't a lot of trust if everyone but her was willing to betray one another. I don't see that changing now, nor do I care to be honest. I'm looking to get out of here as quickly as possible. If that means I have to defect every round, that’s what I’m going to do."

"It doesn’t matter why we did or didn't do anything," Sophie sighed and looked to Lucky. "Am I right?”

"Haha! Yep! I’m so incredibly tired of hearing you all bicker and argue anyway...that’s best saved for the decision phase. We're already behind schedule for starting the exploration phase. Now, we're on a very tight schedule and really must keep the ball rolling," Lucky stood back to his feet and looked at each of them. “Plus, you all are so very annoying to listen to."

Levi looked to finally find his composure, "Well maybe you shouldn't have kidnapped us! I've got kids and a wife back home!" He yelled much louder than the others expected. Lucky was unphased.

"You're looking at the wrong bunny to blame, my friend." Then, on a dime he jumped over his head and landed on the other side of the roulette. "Come now, adventurers. The next door is about to open." A sound rang behind them all. It was a high pitched beeping sound that ended with the release of a door's lock. Luke turned to see it as it slowly had begun to shift to the side—sliding into the wall and revealing a long hallway on the other side.

"So what, we just go in there and look for some key without any indication on how to find it?" Simon looked back toward Lucky as if trying to out-stare him.

"Yessiree. Now go on, shoo! You've got a lot of time to make up. If you're all not in there in say...five minutes I'm going to start handing out penalties. Nobody wants that, now. Do you?"

That was a threat that nobody wanted to call a bluff on. They were all sure that whoever was controlling the rabbit had the opportunity to hand out these penalties whenever they felt like it. Even Simon lay silent to Lucky’s request. Luke thought about the terrifying possibilities as they walked like sheep toward the door. Just who could be behind something like this? Was it an individual, or was there some crazy government conspiracy behind whatever this was? It was possible that it could have been either, but he knows that whoever was responsible must have spent a pretty penny in order to set it all up. He found himself looking to Simon, but shook his head. Maybe his dad got sick of him getting kidnapped so he sought to do it himself. Yeah, because that makes sense. He rolled his eyes and scratched his head.

This facility they were trapped in didn't look like any building he could ever imagine. As far as he knew, most buildings worked off of a generally rectangular design, but everything he's seen of this room so far had been perfectly circular. Circular. Huh, that's been a recurring sort of shape here now, hasn't it been? He assumed there was some sort of meaning to it, but nothing came to mind when prompted. The hallway they stepped into was odd, too. It had cylindrical walls that stretched from the ceiling all the way across a stretch that lasted at least fifty feet. The tube was flat for the floor, making it only half-a-tube, to be perfectly fair. A red carpet was clasped tight to either end of the hallway, and it was a relief for Luke's aching feet, which up to this point had either been dangling from the air or resting on hard metal. On the other end of the hallway lies a door with a single word beveled on its face: "Aria"

"I'm...confused," She began. "Why is my name on this door here?"

"Maybe it's because that rabbit knows that you're the one that started the defect train," Simon said, slouching a little as the faintest grin passes his face. “It wouldn’t surprise me. You don’t look like you’re worth much. I could bet you’d not have much to lose” he shrugged.

"I wouldn't do that!" Aria raised her voice to him. Like with Levi it shocked Luke, although she got control of herself faster than he had, “I’m sorry. But I do have something to lose, and I wouldn’t throw that away doing something so vile.”

“You say you say,” Simon said.

"Nobody would! I keep telling you it wouldn’t make any sense..." she lost most of her conviction mid-sentence. She hadn’t forgotten Ai. "I wouldn't..."

Sophie grabbed the handle on the face of the door. "It doesn’t matter why it’s here, at least, not at the current moment. All we need to know is if this door opens or not. Can we not let every little thing hang us up? We’ve little time to waste."

"Well, go on,” Simon waved his hand as if he were introducing a magic trick. “...Stop jerking our dicks around and open it already."

Sophie looked back from him and brushed his comment aside. Luke steadied himself as he prepared his mind for whatever trap Lucky had in store for them. Maybe there was a trick to getting out that he wasn’t telling them, or maybe they just had to trust each other through every round. It sounded like it would be difficult, but he was willing to try. No matter what it would be he would try his hardest to make sure that every single one of them left this place alive. Nobody deserved to die down here.