13

The first thing that Luke noticed as they emerged from the darkness was the smell that pervaded the darkness of the hallway. The pungent copper smell assaulted him, forced him to stop and turn away. He made a disgusting sound and coughed as he breathed it in. Aria and Levi behind him noticed it just after and performed similar movements.

"What the heck is that?" Luke asked, gagging as he spit whatever was in his mouth out on the ground.

"Over here," Sophie said from a little ways into the room. She and Simon were surrounding something lying on the ground.

As Luke picked himself up he felt lightheaded, his vision began to wane—the smell was overbearing. As he slowly made his approach the smell of rancid meat pervaded the blood. It stole his breath away and he had to stop again. It took everything in him to prevent everything in him from becoming everything that used to be in him. When he made the final step he saw Lucky just passed Simon and Sophie. He looked as if somebody had smashed him with a mallet. Luke’s eyes went wide as he saw the blood spilling from the circuits and flesh spilled out from between the metal shell’s cracked pieces. The rabbit’s face had been smashed in, brains spilled out the back of the headpiece. Its rear leg was broken at an odd angle and was only hanging on by a few stray ligaments. It had been too much for Luke. He turned and felt his stomach turn as his throat began to burn. It only added to the foul odor.

"What..." he said in between breaths. "What..."

"It seemed something killed him just after placing that note into the indentation. I’m not sure if it was because of that, but I assume that it is. The timing was too perfect for it to be just a coincidence. I have no guesses to how it happened. It’s not like it just self-destructed." Sophie said.

"Shit’s fucked," Simon stared at the rabbit. "What the hell do we do now? That stupid rabbit was our one point of contact."

"There was...something alive inside." Levi turned his head away. "Maybe a real rabbit as a sort of joke on our expense...I don’t know anything other than it is dead now."

"Stupid rabbit was alive all along..." Simon said.

"It’s a possibility, one I’m not too comfortable with granting just yet," Sophie wondered.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked. "You could clearly see that there was some sort of thing inside."

"Oh, I have no doubts about that. I mean I don’t fully believe that Lucky—the being that had been speaking to us was specifically that creature on the inside. It’s most plausible to believe that the rabbit—if we assume that the creature inside is one—had no idea in where it had been. The metal suit around it had probably been pulling its skeleton like puppet strings and outfitted with some sort of microphone."

"I guess that makes sense...well, not really, but more than a talking, living rabbit." Luke said.

Levi shrugged. "Maybe...we don’t have to participate in the decision phase? I mean..." He took a step back from the rabbit’s corpse. "I don’t get how that thing worked, but does it really matter? The only thing stopping us was its threats of punishment if we did anything wrong, right?"

"Is it?" Luke looked back to Aria, who up to this point had been all but silent. She gave him a look that seemed to say that she hadn’t been the one to speak the word. He saw a sort of shined metal up above them for a fraction of a second and took a step back.

"Guys..." The others followed his motion to see a golden songbird perched on one of the lights above. It was larger than any sort of bird he’d seen, at least six feet tall if not larger. It flaps its metal wings and descends down onto the podium that stood the center of the roulette game.

"You think you know all the answers, but you don’t know me yet."

"Who are you?" Simon asked.

"It’s probably safe to assume it’s under the command of whoever controlled Lucky," Sophie said.

"Lucky’s been bad," The bird said, ignoring Simon. "Real bad. Starting his shift early. I mean, that’s the kind of thing some jerrywonker does. He’s been breaking rules, starting games early. He had to be shut down...or did he?"

"Breaking rules?" Luke asked.

"My name is Answer, and I’m not here to clean garbage disposals. I beg pardon..." The bird cranes its neck from side to side as if scanning. "Ah, my dinner. I am so terribly sorry to eat in front of guests, but I must finish my dinner." It flapped its wings twice before landing just in front of them, it stood taller than everyone around it.

Luke and the rest backed up—all with their eyes on the bird who had been named Answer.

"I wonder, does a human soul taste like rabbits?" Answer asked, bending its head down—elongated beak prodding apart the metal shell that used to be Lucky. "Sometimes I ask myself that, but then I have my Answer." It picks out one of the creature’s eyeballs from the long string of tissue that connects to the brain and gobbled it up. "Sometimes I wonder if you all are made of the same insides, but I’ve never been given permission to check. Maybe soon."

Simon was the first to reel himself in, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Whoever is behind all of this...what is the point?!"

"Behind?" Answer asked. "I had thought you were all in front of this."

"That doesn’t make any goddamn sense!"

Answer stood up tall, extending out to its full wingspan, "I am here to facilitate this shift of the Roulette Game."

"You mentioned that, but Lucky had mentioned that as well," Luke said.

"That is correct. It is our way."

"And whose way would that be?" Levi asked, doing his best to stop shaking.

"I am your Answer."

"I...don’t understand." Levi said.

"Yet you stand above?" Answer replied.

"I think..." Aria had begun, taking a step toward the bird. "...it doesn’t respond to our questions. At least...it responds with whatever that nonsense is that doesn’t make any sense."

"That is correct," Answer said.

Luke looked from her to Answer. "Huh, that’s...interesting."

"Yes, I am quite interesting. My father told me so when I was young." Answer chimed, folding its wings back up. "I have tried to tell my children but you know kids these days."

"...Right. So, can we leave?" Simon asked.

"Simon, that’s a question," Luke said.

"Well...fuck. How could we get any answers if we can't ask questions?"

"I am your Answer."

"I fucking know that! Jesus..."

"Jesus was a man of many talents..." Answer trailed off.

Simon rubbed his temples. "I’m getting a fucking headache. You guys take over."

"So the next thing that we need to do is to participate in the Roulette Game," Sophie half asked, but taking careful note toward her phrasing.

"The roulette game shall had begin and end with death. That is the cycle. Now, if you pardon, I am very hungry, and these garbage disposal units aren’t going to clean themselves out."

"You...aren’t here to clean garbage disposal units." Luke said.

He had no idea where any of this was going, nor why he had even brought it up. It had simply felt right. Answer looked at him—stared at him even. It was a cold gaze that slowed his breath.

"There are others than these," Answer began. "There are others, there shall be others. It’s a round."

Sophie turned to the rest of them, "Let’s...just see if we could investigate and leave him alone. I don’t believe that he’ll be anymore help to us." She turned to step away and just as soon as she does a powerful force slams her in her back. Luke saw it all, as soon as she turned to walk away Answer picked up Lucky’s corpse and craned its neck back and launched the rotting meat container straight at her.

"You shall not leave the premises. You have no need for investigations. You shall play the Roulette Game."

Sophie’s arm twitched as she looked behind her at the bird. "..."

"You all shall. I shall eat early if you do not."

The meaning was clear. Throughout all of Answer’s rambling nonsense he had intended to kill them if they did not participate. It was any more a tangible threat than Lucky had been. And just when Luke had thought their own luck was turning around. Luke was the first to walk toward the chairs in the center. He noticed that there were only enough chairs seated now to fit all of them...one for the old woman had been removed. He was sure that Answer could make quick work of them, there was absolutely no reason to challenge him. Sophie looked at him for a moment before fully realizing their situation. She sighed and stood fully, slipping out of her jacket. She noticed the splash of blood and even a little of the flesh residue splotched on the back and tossed it aside, shuddering. Underneath she’s wearing a long sleeve shirt with some sort of band’s logo on it, "Death Undying."

Ironic.

"Fine, let’s all just do the smart thing. The rest of you understand?" She asked.

Aria nodded, "I...I can't be responsible for anyone else to die. Cooperate, of course."

Levi nodded, not saying anything.

"Simon?"

"Do you really expect me to do anything else other than the obvious?" He asked. "We’re in some serious shit now, ‘specially with this dumb bird now."

"Just making sure," Sophie said. She made her way toward the center as Aria and Levi had begun to follow. Simon looked up at Answer before making his way toward the center as well. Luke took his seat with Sophie taking one on his right side. Aria sat across from him and Levi to his left. Simon finished through with the seat just after Levi. Luke turned to Sophie, "Are you...uh, okay?"

She looked at him with a questioned look but then her face flashed with recognition. "Oh...I’m...fine."

Her response was only three words, but it said more to him based on how she said it. Nobody’d be okay with this situation, and he was starting to think that maybe the stone cold detective may be a little less stone than she wishes to show.

"I’m going to cooperate, you know," Luke said.

"Well, I certainly hope so," she said, regaining some of her composure and shaking the rest off.

"The Roulette Game shall continue...or shall it?" Answer called, and the restraints around them fasten tight around their bodies. "I cannot wait to see the results. Hopefully I’ll be allowed to-"

Luke did not hear the rest of what he said. There was a sharp ringing sound that blocked out all other sound inside his head. He looked down to see the syringe from before inject a new fluid into his system. He didn’t immediately feel faint, but he was close to toppling over. Right in front of him there was a screen. Looking out around him he could see the others in similar dazed states.

He found himself looking to Sophie. She was...pretty. His mind began to smile as he thought about making it out of this place alive. He awoke within himself instantly. This was not the time for his mind to drift. He looked back down to the screen and saw the two options laid out in front of him; Cooperate, or Defect. The words seemed to change before his eyes, melding and separating. They soon changed themselves to read "Sophie" and "Lucky".

This confused him; what had it been trying to ask? Certainly not who he would like to see? He knew that answer off of the bat.

But maybe it had instead been asking who he wanted to see die? It was equally as likely...he thought. There was something important about these two options in front of him he couldn’t recall...was it the drug? Was there a drug? He tried to think back but could only find Sophie in his head. Was she always there?

He tried to think back and he nodded his head. Yes, he had thought that she was rather pretty. She was smart too, and she wasn’t at all like Simon was. He was sure that Simon was smart in his own way, just a bit too mean-hearted. Sophie seemed like someone had hurt her and her only defense was to build up a wall.

Now that he thought about it, Lucky was pretty mean too. It hurt his head to think of the memory, it pounded his head, actually. His head felt like it was on fire, but then it felt like it was dipped underwater. Deep deep underwater and the only thing he could do was watch. Sophie didn’t give him that feeling. Neither did Aria or Levi. Lucky gave him that feeling. Answer gave him a similar feeling...but not that similar at all. He was sad for Answer. He did not know why.

He opened his eyes and looked at the screen, made the only choice that made him feel like he was above water, and then shut his eyes once more as the fluid feeling overtook the rest of his body. To numbness his mind went and to the cold feeling that overwhelmed him his body had fallen.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

14

Luke remembered dreaming...but he didn’t think that it was his dream, so to speak. It almost felt like he was spectating someone else’s dream...or maybe even their memories. The details seemed foggy at first, but as he began to regain consciousness they fled faster than they could be recalled. Come back! He called out to them. They did not listen. That’s when the shot rang out.

15

Luke opened his eyes with a startled scream. He had been hoping it was all an awful dream—that he’d wake up and he’d be back in his bed wherever he lived and he’d remember his life. That...had not been the case. Whatever hope that resided in him that this wasn’t some crazy nightmare had all but been dashed when he opened his eyes.

His first instinct was to look to his right. He saw Sophie looking around just as he had. Her eyes were wide until she caught him staring at her. She seemed to be okay. Aria had cooperated, it seemed. He was alive, that was a fact that he couldn’t write off. Sophie had cooperated with him as she said she would. He went down the circle, Levi was alive because Luke had pressed cooperate. Although, he recalled a foggy sensation hovering over him. He remembered how the options transformed in front of his eyes. He felt like he was hit was a dose of noxious gas that made him hallucinate.

Of course, it wasn’t noxious gas, but the drug that was injected into him, just like the first time he had sat in these chairs. However...unlike the last time he had memory of the events that happened previous. He remembered walking through the music room and he remembered Lucky’s terrible looking corpse. Simon was still breathing, it didn’t seem that the gunfire had woken him like it had the others, but that was when a terrible feeling sank in his chest. Process of elimination wasn’t a hard concept to grasp. He had heard a gunshot, that much he was sure of. And he knew the fates of four of the five participants.

He turned his head slowly until he finally rested his eyes on Aria’s limp body. Her head was blown back by the blast, there lies a cave where her left eye used to be. It drained whatever blood and brain matter that used to be resting in her head out onto the ground below. A lot of the fire sprayed blood on the ends of her hair. Luke’s chest tightened and he screamed. As the others grew more aware of their situation they each responded with their own level of fear, from Levi’s own panicked screams to Sophie’s break in composure. Each of them had been screaming. Except for Simon. Luke had known why. It wasn’t any mystery who caused the scene before them and it wasn’t wholly surprising.

"Do you really expect me to do anything other than the obvious?" was what he had said. Technically not a lie, but certainly not the whole truth either, and he’d felt stupid for falling for it. He thinks in any rational situation he would have immediately called Simon out on his vague statement considering his previous declaration, but he had no excuses. Everything had been so much and he hadn’t pressed further. This could have been avoided.

"Simon! What the hell?!" He asked. "You killed her!"

"And she killed her boyfriend’s dad," He said with no more concern than a casual conversation.

"She fought in self defense!" Luke yelled back. He didn’t care anymore about playing nice. Not with Simon. He was mad.

"I voted in self defense. How was I supposed to know that Levi would have voted the way he did?"

"That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!" Luke shouted. "We. Have. To. Trust. One. Another!"

"Ah, please stop screaming, you’re hurting my ears," Simon shakes off the relative discomfort. "Besides, that’s not the only way to get out of here, much less even the fastest."

"So that’s it then? You’re dedicated to defect every single round? How’s that going to work out for anybody if we defect against you?"

Simon shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, you’re absolutely free to, but that just means we’re all going to die here alone. If one of you defects then the others will be forced to defect. The cycle will never end. That’s exactly what the mastermind wants, correct?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? Does the fact that now two people have died here mean anything to you?" Luke asked.

"Those two? Not too terribly. The old bitch was past her prime anyways. Aria was idiotic for believing anything else other than the obvious would happen. People like her don’t deserve to be treated as anything else other than the scum that she is...was."

"People like her? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sophie asked.

"Someone without worth. Someone without status. I could smell it on her the moment she started talking—only confirmed by what she told us about in her story. Obviously she lied about it being about self defense, she killed the father to pass the riches to her arm candy. I could smell it on her as I could on any one of you."

"She already admitted to the murder, though," Sophie said. "I fail to see a reason on why she would choose to lie about that—the worst was already out of the bag."

"People of status make the world go round. People without would do anything to have that position, and the thing is, they’re cunning. Look at what she managed to do—admit to murder and still get your sympathies! What a pathetic lot, all of you. We’re the agents of change, and you best believe that once I’m out of here whoever is behind this bullshit game is going to wish they never even looked upon my face."

"I cannot believe you," Luke said.

"Hey, come off it," Simon looked directly at him. "You should have known that this was exactly this was going down the moment you all woke up. I didn’t lie to you. I told you straight that I was going to defect every round. If you made the choice to cooperate, you only have yourselves to blame. Besides, if it wasn’t me then one of you certainly would have done the very same. You all talk about being such perfect little angels, but when the cards come falling down and you’re backed into a wall you’d hit defect faster than you could rub your own twats."

"You are one sad little man," Sophie said, brushing off his comment. "To think that your social status—whatever that may even be—is even slightly relevant as a judge of your own worth." She looked over to Aria’s body and shuddered. "People like you are probably the reason I’m here in the first place..." She stared right back to him, "...And don’t you dare for even a second that you’re getting the opportunity to even touch the voting system again, much less vote."

"Heh, someone’s getting a little feisty," Simon said, a grin running across his face. "I’m sure killing someone here outside of the game’d be breaking the rules. Wouldn’t want to risk losing your own life for a personal game of revenge now, would you?"

"It won’t stop me," Levi said.

"Ah, but these restraints currently are working their magic, are they not?"

"They won’t for much longer," Levi said.

Luke could see Levi’s arms tense as he tried to push against them. It was most angry he’s seen Levi since they’d all woken up, he was a completely different person when he had adrenaline running through his system.

"I’ve only played by the rules of the game. If you have a problem with that, settle it in the game. Until then, I think we’ve got some results on that screen up there," Simon nodded his head upward.

Just as he had said it, a platform was lowering down from the abyssal ceiling above them with monitors facing outward on all sides. Answer was perched right on top of the forward-most screen.

"Results for the Roulette Game shall be posted here. We might as well see them...even if they are early."

Early...Answer had mentioned that before. Lucky had started his shift early. So it was always meant to be played? Whose idea was this? Why? It had to have some sort of purpose. The podium in the center begins to lower, catching all of their attention. The platform lowered and then stopped a moment, it had tried to recede into the ground before the floor below fully opened up. It rattled a clanging sound as the metal scraped against the floor until it finally was let through, closing the panel completely.

“Whoever is in charge must only want that gun around when it’s convenient for them to drop a body,” Sophie said.

The monitors began to light up one by one as text began to fill the screen with the new results from the last game.

LEVI: __ __ __ 11 __

LUKE: 13 __ __ __ __ __ __ __

SOPHIE: __ 01 __ 08 05 __

SIMON: __ __ __ 18 __ 19

ARIA: __ __ __ __ __

AI: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

"Well, it looked like I've caught back up and hey, look at that, you three have even gotten additional digits." Simon said.

Luke stepped closer to him, "You've crossed the line," he shook his head.

"There are many lines to follow," Answer called out. "Which ones will you see to their end?" This question silenced their argument. The restraints around all of them released and they fell to the ground like before. "There are others," Answer said.

"What are you going on about?" Levi turned to him, but then shakes his head, remembering his mistake. "Gah, damn it."

"I told you, I’m not here to clean that garbage disposal." Answer strutted over toward Aria’s body which had clumped to the ground in one lump mass.

"Get away from her body!" Luke called out, running up toward it.

Answer bent down, ignoring him before its beak jabbed into her body twice quickly, yanking her up each time it broke the skin.

Luke jumped on the creature’s wing in an effort to get it off of her.

"No, you mustn’t" Answer cocked its head toward him and uttered slowly, stretching its wings out to its full length. "You mustn’t. You mustn’t." It flapped backward once and tossed him off of the platform. He slid into a roll that tore at his sides. Answer opened his beak wider and snatched Aria’s corpse by the hips and had begun to fly upward with it, dropped of blood falling from the ceiling splash down onto the small pool below. Answer flew so high they lost sight of him, but the sounds of him eating echoed from above.

"Useless," Simon grunted, pulling himself up. "Why even waste your energy..."

Luke turned toward him, his anger hadn’t subsided. "Because she was a human being! She didn’t deserve to be gobbled up by that...that thing!"

"She’s gone. Get over it. I mean, you’re still alive, aren’t you?"

"For now," Sophie said. "That is, until you plan to kill every single one of us. You’re no better than whoever brought us here. It might as well be you."

Simon shakes his head, "Tch, if I wanted mouth I’d ask you to-" That was all he was able to get out before Levi slammed his fist straight into Simon’s face. His nose explodes into a burst of blood and snot and he crumpled to the floor.

"I don’t care if that kills me...punishment or not. That needed to be done," Levi said, shaking. Luke noticed that he was holding his fist, most likely out of wonder that it performed such an action rather than out of pain.

Sophie bent down and placed her finger along his neck and held it for a few seconds. "I wasn’t expecting him to be dead, but it’s better safe than sorry. Best case scenario is he’s out cold and won’t be able to defect."

"What if there’s a punishment for him not voting?" Luke asked.

"That’s on him," Sophie shakes her head. "After the shit he pulled it’s by the graces of God I don’t kill him here."

"Religious....are you?" Levi asked, half staring at his fist still. "I never was one for God..."

Sophie stood from her kneeling position, adjusting herself and stretching. "My father used to take me when I was small—to church I mean. Do I believe in God? I don’t know...maybe, but I can't say I don’t have fond memories associated."

"I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who would go to church," Levi said with his focus now finally draining from his hand. He regains his composure but his shake is still there. "You seem like a...how do you say it...science over faith kind of person?"

"You’d think..." Sophie said. "I don’t think I would have gone in my own time, I think it’s just because it was something for me and him to do."

Luke began to drown out the sound of their almost-casual conversation. It had been...strange to him how quickly they had been able to shift gears and act as if they’d just not experienced anything that had happened to them. Maybe...that was what was normal? Somewhere deep in his mind Luke knew that the human brain would do anything to protect its owner—even going so far as to release endorphins before the moment of death to release the body from pain. An instinct that is commonly associated with adrenaline boosts that which the one in danger may overcome the near death experience.

Where had that come from? He’d never thought anything that complicated or scientific since he had woken up. Could he possibly be the world’s youngest scientist somewhere in that memory that he can't seem to recall? Or maybe his parents—whoever they were—were government workers tasked with researching elements not of this planet.

He didn’t know what to think, but he did know that he was very aware of his inability to relate to the topics that the other two had been speaking on. He knew they knew it was serious—that someone had died and more could too. He knew that it was a mental reflex to distract the mind from the current dangerous situation—to instruct it to prepare for that fight or flight reaction, but he couldn’t help but want to take the two of them and shake them wildly and scream until he could scream no more.

16

It wasn’t as easy as just letting it go, his mind was latched on like a parasite to the scene he’d seen and wouldn’t let go. It played on a loop in his mind until a single sound clicked in his mind. He wasn’t sure if it only played for him as the others seemed to look around themselves as well.

"Maybe...the lock for the next door has come undone?" Levi asked.

"Let’s fan out and see which one it is!" Luke said, begging his body to do anything than to remain at rest. He jogged toward the door furthest behind him before the stinging pain in his sides flared up. His body was punishing him for taking the hit, but he didn’t know of anything else to do. He saw that the door’s lock had not changed from the others, he quickly looked back to Sophie and Levi checking out two other doors before moving on to the next ones in line. They must have been locked too. Every single door available to them had been locked—even the one that had led to Aria’s door. The sound then was the door locking which was a troublesome thought indeed. What were they to do next? It was then that it hit like a truck. Everything came out at once and Luke felt his legs lock up and he fell onto his back, landing on the hard floor below, staring up at the darkness above where Answer was somewhere tearing apart Aria’s body.

"Hey, are you okay?" Levi asked, walking over to him, extending a hand.

Luke shook off his offer, simply lying down. "No, no. This is all too much. It’s all so crazy! I don’t know how I went along with everything like it was all okay. I can’t...I can’t anymore," he said. "This is so crazy I cannot accept it. My body is tired, it’s hurt...and whoever this mastermind is wants us to just keep going? Keep tagging along as if we’re sheep being led to some sort of cliff side?" Luke had enough. "No, I refuse. We’ve only gone through one of these stupid doors and two people are dead. I can’t go forward and believe that this is normal...that this is okay," Luke sobbed as he banged his head against the ground underneath him.

"Hey, no, don’t do that, come here," Levi grabbed for his arm and yanked him up. "Come on. This isn’t normal, we see that. Someone real messed up is behind this all, but this kind of feeling is exactly what they’re looking for. They wouldn’t have made us vote to kill each other if it wasn’t."

Luke shook his head, "I don’t know anything!" He cried out, taking Levi by surprise. Luke shook his way off, putting his hands on his head. "No! I don’t know anything. I’m so scared and I can’t go on. I don’t know...I’m going to die and not know anything..."

Levi grabbed both of his arms and almost squeezed him together like a sandwich. "Okay, listen, calm down, okay? There’s nothing that’s okay with this situation, but that’s okay, you get me? I’m in the same boat as you. I may not have amnesia...but I know as little about why we’re here as you do on why you are, I’m sure Sophie is the same way," he looked back for her response, she nodded without saying a word. "Listen, it looks like we have some time on our hands, I don’t know when this next door will open, but we have to find some common ground—some solidarity or we’re not going to make it much farther."

"High words," Sophie said, "What do you intend?"

Levi let Luke go. "I think we take a page from Aria’s book," he turned back toward her. "We air out any dirty laundry we have. No judgments, clear the air—clear the suspicion." He turned to look at Luke, "And you can j-join in if you remember anything," the stutter threatened, but he swallowed it down.

Around them was a low ringing hum that slowed to a start, but it didn’t amount to much more than that. Luke could feel it shake his stomach, but not so much to make him sick. He let his breath come back to his chest as he slowed it with the rhythm of the vibrations around him. Clear the air...something concrete to hold onto...it sounded like a wonderful idea. He felt guilty that he had no memories of his own to share...but maybe that wasn’t the whole truth.