Once we all made it to the cafeteria, it looked almost too normal. Definitely too normal for this situation. We all took our seats at the same table, but Cyrus looked pretty disinterested in conversation and Louis definitely seemed like he wouldn’t be much help with how much he was shaking. Keon put himself in the middle of the group and spoke.
“Alright. So, first things first. Let’s take a look through this handboo-”
Alex came in and interrupted Keon mid-sentence.
“What would you all like for lunch? I’m sure you’re all hungry after such an eventful morning.”
“Shut up you psycho! Don’t even try to talk to us!” Carmen stood up and shouted while pointing a finger in Alex’s face.
“I just work here. I’m here to serve you all while you’re staying here.” Alex said, his blank expression unchanged.
“Levi said that you are all armed! There’s no way we can trust any of you! Those guns are meant to be used on us after all, so why the hell would we try to act buddy-buddy with you?!” Carmen retorted.
“We’re only here to make your stay more comfortable.” Alex said, throwing his hands up lazily. “I think we’re being quite generous. This is all free after all.”
“Yeah, thanks for the free kidnapping, fuckwad. Just leave us alone,” Sienna said while checking her nails.
“Looks like food will be the chef's choice for today. It’ll be up a jiffy,” Alex said. He then walked away towards the kitchen.
“These fucking weirdos better not try to talk to me again because my nail fucking broke and I do not need their shit today,” Sienna said, still examining her nails.
Sienna definitely didn’t seem like the type to have such a “colorful” vocabulary, so her comment took me a little off guard. She definitely was a little unpleasant during our first meeting though.
“Back to the task at hand, let’s look through the handbook,” Keon said.
Opening my own handbook, I saw that the first screen was a map of the building with a selected button that showed we were looking at the first floor. The button labeled “2nd Floor” was grayed out and I could not select it. The same went for the floors above it as well.
“Well, looking at the map we don’t gain a whole lot of new information, but one important fact that we have gained is-” Keon was interrupted yet again, this time by Emma.
“The number of floors,” she said.
“Precisely…” Keon said seemingly not too happy about being interrupted again. “It looks like there are six floors total, and with Levi insinuating that new floors won’t be opened unless there are less people here-”
“Unless people die…” Amber said looking at her shoes, obviously frightened. Keon continued.
“...We can also see that there will most likely be some of us left by the time we get to the top if the absolute worst-case scenario happens. When one person is killed and the one responsible is found, we will then gain access to another floor. At least that’s my theory.”
“That would mean there would be six people that would make it to the top, if that’s true,” Emma added.
“Can we really assume that’s how this works?” Amber asked.
“Logically, it’s what makes the most sense. I doubt that they want all of us dead. If they did there would be no point dragging this out. There has to be a rhyme or reason to the way this is formatted,” Keon said.
“It’s peculiar as to why they want us to kill each other, rather than doing it themselves. There has to be a reason for that,” Atticus added with his usual smug grin.
“That could then mean that them being armed could be a bluff. Like they are just trying to scare us into submission but actually can’t kill us for one reason or another. Pendejos…” Carmen said, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed.
“While there might be some truth in some of these theories, this is all conjecture at the end of the day. There’s no way to test this without risking somebody’s life,” Keon said.
“Why don’t we sacrifice Mr. Lucky Boy?” Maya said while pointing at me.
I had no idea why she would single me out, but part of me thought it was because of my lack of talent. I couldn’t muster a response and only sat in my chair. Who knows what kind of expression I was actually making, but I was certainly nervous.
“Knowing whether or not they actually will use their guns is a very important thing to know, so why not see if his luck is the real deal? Maybe they won’t hit anything vital,” Mia was tugging on Maya’s sleeve and whispering to her while she was talking.
Suddenly, a loud voice from a not-so-loud person rang through the cafeteria.
“NO!” screamed Sabrina as she slammed her fists on the table.
Everyone was taken aback by her sudden outburst. Especially since she wasn’t adding much to the conversation since we’ve been here. A moment of silence passed, and I caught the look on Sabrina’s face which I could only describe as rage.
“Yeah! There’s no way we’re sacrificing anyone!” Marin said, breaking the brief silence.
“I’m sorry about Maya. I promise she was just joking,” Mia said softly, bowing her head to me while Maya pouted in her seat.
“Yes. While it would be very educational…There’s no way we can risk an able body before we know more about the situation. Now, let’s go over the rest of the handbook,” Keon said.
Everyone put their eyes back on their tablet and went to the next page. The second page of the handbook was a list of rules.
Rule 1: Curfew is at 10pm which will be announced over the intercom to inform students. The cafeteria will be closed at this time.
“They say there’s a curfew, but it looks like we’re not required to actually stay in our dorms during these times,” Emma said.
“It would be prime time to plan a murder,” Cyrus said, finally joining the conversation.
“Don’t say that!” Marin yelled at him.
“Blind trust will get you all killed. There will absolutely be a murder within the next couple days, I guarantee it. If conditions are even a little bit off, humans will go towards their animalistic instincts and do what they can to escape that situation. It’s human nature after all,” Cyrus said, throwing his arms behind his head. He looked very relaxed.
“If there’s no trust, then we have no advantages here,” Keon said while looking at Cyrus with disdain in his eyes. “Trust is required in this situation. You are not going to drive us down this dark path you have planned out.”
“For someone saying that trust is required, you don’t seem to trust me very much,” Cyrus said mockingly. Keon gave him an icy stare.
“Boys. Stop your pissing match, and let's get back to the task at hand. I’ll read the next rule,” Carmen interjected, eyeing both of them.
Keon gave a gruff sigh as Cyrus sat back lazily in his chair with a sense of self-satisfaction plastered on his face.
Rule 2: Meals will only be served during breakfast, lunch and dinner which are at 8am, 12pm, and 6pm, respectively. There will be drinks and snacks available in the cafeteria as well in between these times and up until 8pm.
“So, we have access to food up until 8pm, but the cafeteria doesn’t close until 10pm…” Marin said, slightly confused.
“It’s definitely another way to make a murder opportunity,” Atticus stated confidently, pushing up his glasses. “I’m sure there are plenty of murder weapons available in the kitchen, and with two hours at night where no one will have a reason to go there, it’s a perfect place for a murderer to go looking for supplies.”
“That fact also means it is the best place to catch would-be murderers. We should make sure to have at least two people guard the cafeteria from 8pm to 10pm so they can turn away anyone who might try and get in after food stops being available,” Keon added.
“So much for trust, huh Keon?” Cyrus grinned. “If there is so much trust between you all then there should be no need for guards.”
“Well, with the way you’re talking, it would mostly be to prevent you,” Keon retorted.
“Ha! Well, I promise not to kill anyone unless I have to. You won’t see me gathering weapons. I have everything I need already.” Cyrus said with his eyes closed still reclining in his seat.
“What the hell does that mean?!” Keon snarled.
“There’re weapons all over our dorms, bud. You just have to know how to use them.” Cyrus said, unbothered.
The fact was that most everyday objects can be used as a weapon, so I imagine there are definitely some potential murder weapons in almost every spot of this building. You could probably murder someone with a shirt if you really wanted to.
“Something’s bothering me though…” Amber said. “If we do have two people camped out in front of the cafeteria, would they be able to work together to kill someone?”
That was something I didn’t consider myself. The idea of there being a group of killers was definitely a terrifying thought.
“That’s a question we really need an answer to-”
Keon was once again interrupted, and once again, it was by Alex who was heading towards us with an insane number of plates topped high with food being carried in his arms. He’d definitely put some waiters to shame with him being able to carry sixteen full plates at once.
“Here’s lunch. I hope everyone enjoys,” Alex said, putting plates down in front of each of us.
“We have a question for you, cook,” Keon stated.
“What can I do for you?” Alex asked.
“Can two people be considered murderers if they conspire?” Keon said.
“No. There can only be one murderer. If they got away with it, only the one who actually made the killing blow would be the one to be able to graduate.”
“Okay. You can go away now,” Keon said.
Alex walked away while mumbling something under his breath I couldn’t quite pick up.
“So, no one gains anything from working with someone else on a murder. That’s crucial information,” Atticus said.
“Having guards at the cafeteria during the night would work then.” Amber looked like she felt safer when she said this.
“What if one guard murders the other instead?” Miles asked.
“I think it would then be pretty obvious who did it then. Let’s not ask stupid questions,” Atticus responded.
“Hey, shut up man! You’re not hot enough to be talking to me like that,” Miles growled.
“Well, you don’t do a whole lot for me either, imbecile,” Atticus retorted.
Tensions seemed to be rising between a lot of different people during this meeting. While it is true that trust between us all would make us much safer in a horrible situation like this, Cyrus also has a point in saying it’s likely someone will try to escape through the one escape method they’ve awarded us, especially with tempers already flaring within our group. You can’t know what’s going on in someone’s head after meeting them for only a few hours.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Cool it you two,” Carmen said as she came back into the conversation. “Fighting is doing no one any good at all, so quit it.”
“Let’s all focus,” Keon said, commanding everyone’s attention again. “We’re only going to need a lookout for the two hours that the cafeteria will still be open, so would anyone like to volunteer for tonight’s watch? We’ll have two people keep watch tonight, then the next night we’ll have two different people, then two more, etcetera.”
“I’ll do it,” Conrad said.
“Wonderful. Anyone else who would like to volunteer?”
“Not me. I need my beauty sleep,” Sienna said with her chin nestled in her palm.
“Everyone will have to do it eventually. We need to work as a team to make sure and prevent any unnecessary deaths,” Keon responded. “Also, it’s just for two hours. We can all make that sacrifice.”
“Ugh, fine. Stop your bitchin’,” Sienna said, rolling her eyes. “I’m still not going tonight though.”
“I’ll stand with him,” Emma said.
“Great. Looks like that’s settled. Also, since you and Conrad are in the same dorm room, why don’t we just pick the next lookouts that way? Going clockwise from Conrad and Emma’s dorm we’ll have a schedule for the pairs that will be on lookout duty.” Everyone nodded their heads.
“That means we’ll be going tomorrow night,” Marin whispered to me. I nodded.
“Alright. Now, onto the next rule,” Keon said.
Rule 3: Any violence towards headmaster Levi and the rest of the university staff is strictly prohibited. Breaking this rule will result in an appropriate punishment.
This definitely seems like a rule that wouldn’t need to be said, but with how meticulous this has been so far, I wouldn’t put it past them for this rule to have implications that I cannot figure out yet.
“That rule seems pretty straightforward,” Amber said.
“Yeah, although they don’t mention what would be considered an “appropriate punishment,” I think we can imagine what that might entail,” Keon said. “On to the next rule.”
Rule 4: Leaving university grounds for any reason is not allowed to any non-graduated student.
Sounds like we’ll have to be very secretive if we do end up finding an escape route. It’ll be difficult if the intensive surveillance is not just a bluff though.
“Well, that’s an obvious one,” Carmen said while throwing her hands in the air.
“It’s definitely just a scare tactic. Let’s move on,” Keon said.
Rule 5: Anyone who kills a fellow student will be able to graduate and leave the university as long as they are not discovered during the class trial.
I’m not sure how a class trial is going to go if we’re unlucky enough to get to that point, but none of us are master detectives as far as I can tell, so I would be a little scared if we did have to try to find a killer out of the sixteen of us.
“That’s definitely the easiest way to get out of here. It’s going to be hard to stop everyone from taking their opportunities if one comes up,” Cyrus said.
“There won’t be any opportunities,” Keon rebuked with a determined look in his eyes. “If anyone gets any ideas, they will be stopped as long as we all work together.”
“Blind trust will be your and everyone else’s downfall if you keep trying to create this pseudo-utopian society.”
“Okay, then what do you suggest we do then?! Since you obviously seem to have everything figured out!” Miles yelled out.
“It’s simple. Look out for yourselves. Trust is going to be used as a weapon between you and your eventual murderers. I feel like I’m the only rational one here…” Cyrus answered.
“I-I c-can’t trust anyone h-here,” Louis said under his breath. “E-everyone’s out to g-get me.”
“Case in point. Just look at this guy,” Cyrus said, pointing at Louis, who was rocking back and forth wrapped in his own arms.
“Louis, are you okay? No one’s going to hurt you, I promise,” Amber said, trying to console him.
“N-no, no! G-get away from me!” Lucus said while shielding his eyes.
“I really have to be roommates with this spaz?” Maya said. “Hey, fitness jerk. Switch me roommates.”
“Hell no!” Miles howled. “I am not switching with anyone unless they’re giving me Conrad, Amber, Emma, Mia or Sienna in exchange!”
“My, how forward,” Emma said.
“In your dreams jackass,” Sienna snarled.
“I told you I don’t swing that way dude!” Conrad added.
“You better not lay a finger on my sister, or our first trial will be here before you know it, fuckface,” Maya said.
“Ouch! I’m not feeling the love guys,” Miles said, pretending to be hurt.
“Louis, you need to stay strong. We can’t have any weak links in this situation,” Keon pleaded.
Louis didn’t respond. He only kept holding his head and shaking.
“...Let’s move on,” Keon said, sounding slightly deflated.
Rule 6: Once a murder happens, there will be a class trial shortly after. All surviving students must participate, or they will be punished.
Looks like I can’t take a raincheck on going to a trial, nor can anyone else. I suppose it’s kind of comforting knowing that everyone will be there to help find the truth, but of course that also means that the killer will be there subtly trying to throw us off the whole time during the trial. You’d think that would make it easier to tell who the murderer is but if they’re clever enough, it might be very difficult.
“I guess there’s no way to get out of participating. If the occasion arises,” Cyrus said. “Not like I’d miss the festivities anyway.”
“This isn’t a joke,” Keon said with an agitated tone.
“We shouldn’t allow anyone to skip out on a trial anyway,” Amber adds. “We’ll need everyone working together to help get through it.”
Amber didn’t seem to hold the same amount of hope that she did previously regarding whether or not a murder could be avoided. I could hear it in her voice. The fighting amongst us was probably a big factor. I wasn’t sure if I held the same amount of hope either.
“Moving on,” Keon said, “This looks to be the last rule.”
Rule 7: The killer may only murder two people total during any given day. If a third person is killed by the same person within a 24-hour period, they will be punished accordingly.
Reading this made me both relieved and terrified at the same time because while they could only kill two people in a day…they could kill TWO people in a day. There are some very large and powerful looking people here who definitely look like they could take most, if not all of us out within a day, so I guess in the end it is a good thing to have a limit but damn I don’t want to think about the possibility of multiple murders being carried out at the same time.
“Fuck me…” mumbled Miles under his breath.
“Well, on the bright side at least there’s no way everybody can get killed by one person,” Emma said.
“Unless they’re really good at hiding bodies,” Cyrus added.
“Shut up, blödian!” Carmen yelled. Cyrus looked more confused than offended at her insult.
“There’s no way we wouldn’t discover anyone missing for an entire day,” Keon interjected. “There is nothing to be afraid of anyway. We’ll just have to have a strict set of our own rules to make murder impossible.”
“How are you going to make sure that everyone follows them?” Cyrus said.
“It’s not going to be optional,” Keon responded.
“That almost sounds like a threat,” Cyrus retorted.
With that last remark it was definitely plain to see that Cyrus was not going to make this easy for any of us if we do develop a set of rules. In the end though, he does have a point. There’s no way to make everyone agree wholeheartedly to the strict terms Keon comes up with. If it were something we all devised together maybe it would be different, so I guess we’ll just have to see how this plays out. That’s all I can do now in this fucked up situation.
“Rule number one: There will be guards posted outside the cafeteria during the hours where food is not being served. Guard teams will rotate dorm to dorm in a clockwise motion. The guards will have to log any suspicious activity they see and turn away any who try to enter the cafeteria. I believe that’s a rule we can all agree on.”
“Who’s going to monitor the monitors?” Cyrus added.
“What do you mean?” Keon responded.
“What if some pairs of roommates gain such a bond with one another that they decide to kill together? Maybe we have some real charmers here,” Cyrus was looking over at Miles when he said this. Miles looked uncomfortable.
“We already went over this. There’d be nothing to gain if only one of them gets out and the other will die if they do,” Keon said.
“People murder for strange reasons, Keon. I guess we’ll just have to see,” Cyrus said.
I can’t tell if Cyrus is just a prick trying to ruin our lives or if he’s the only one seeing the big picture here, but either way I can’t go along with his way of thinking. Keon is trying to instill order in this situation. Even if there are some things we can’t defend against, Cyrus seems to be just trying to find holes in Keon’s reasoning no matter what. Still, I can’t help but think that his interjections are for a reason other than just trying to tear us apart, even if that’s all it seems to be doing.
“Does anyone object to rule one?” Keon asked.
Everyone not named Louis and Cyrus nodded their heads, so it was safe to say that that rule was a hit.
“Rule two: There will be a headcount every night at 10pm after which every person must remain in their dorm until morning comes. Everyone must attend, no exceptions.” He was looking right at Cyrus when he said that last line.
“I’ll play along with your headcount. Wouldn’t wanna make life difficult for you,” Cyrus said with an obnoxious smile plastered on his face.
“What if our roommate’s a disgusting perv-murderer?” Maya said while Louis was still cowering in his seat.
“If anyone is having problems with their roommates, come to me with your concerns and we will come to an agreement that satisfies you both,” Keon said.
“That’s an ultimate negotiator for you!” Marin said. “You can also come to me with any problems with your roommates. I’ll always lend an ear.”
“Everyone needs to get along with your roommates the best that you can or at least stay on friendly terms. I doubt they’ll let us switch around our roommates even if we wanted to, and I’m sure it would just cause animosity between people in our group anyway,” Keon continued.
The fact that we were assigned these dorms makes this situation so much more complicated than it could’ve been. With these dorms being co-ed, I can think of so many situations where there might be misunderstandings, and with the dire situation we are in, who knows how hostile those situations might turn. I don’t think that Marin and I will have any problems, but I can’t say the same for the rest.
“Is everyone okay with rule two?” Keon asked. All the people he was truly asking nodded their heads.
“Okay, rule 3: Everyone must go through their dorms and pick out all of the easily weaponized objects so that we may dispose of them. I am not sure whether or not all dorms are the same so we will do our own sweeps as teams of two and meet at a designated time to report our findings.”
“‘Easily weaponized?’” Carmen questioned. “What are we supposed to consider easily weaponized? Most things can be used as a weapon if used in the correct way.”
“We’ll have a better answer to this question after we do our respective sweeps. As of now, I would consider something that can be used to maim someone relatively easily like a sharp or blunt object,” Keon said.
“If there’s any makeup equipment that you consider ‘easily weaponized,' I'm sorry, but I’m not giving it up,” Sienna said.
“That’s something we can discuss when the time comes,” Keon said.
“I feel the same about exercise equipment!” Miles added.
“I can think of hundreds of ways exercise equipment can be used as a weapon, dumbass,” Atticus said, crossing his arms.
“I have to agree with Atticus,” Keon said.
“C’mon, man! How am I going to stay fit in this hellhole?!” Miles said.
“There are plenty of exercises you can do on your own without any equipment, pretty boy. You of all people should know that,” Carmen said.
“I know a good exercise two people can do together…” Miles responded in a seductive tone.
“Zip it. Never gonna happen,” Carmen said with a slight bit of disgust to her tone.
“But you said I was pretty…” Miles said dejectedly.
“Focus, people,” Keon said. “Does anyone have any problems with rule three? There will be some final deliberation about what can and can’t be kept as a group once we finish our searches.”
Everyone seemed to be on board with this rule as well. I guess being a master negotiator has its perks. I was expecting a lot more resistance, but his plans definitely make a lot of sense for keeping everyone safe and making murder as hard as possible.
“Alright, then here's the last rule as of right now. Everyone must come to the cafeteria every morning by 8am with their roommates. We must keep track of each other and if anyone is missing then there will be an immediate search party. Luckily, with there being two people per room, we have two keys for getting into each room, so we should be able to find any stragglers.”
With the cafeteria opening at 8am it looks like 7am will be our time to get up every morning. There should be plenty of time to take a shower and lay around thinking about how fucked up this all is before we all meet up for breakfast.
“Why would I want to be a babysitter for my roommate?!” Maya said.
“I’m not asking you to drag them out of your room by force. Just keep tabs on them and if they’re still in the room let us know during breakfast and we’ll get them out. That goes for everyone, because attendance is not optional,” Keon responded. “Does everyone agree with rule four?”
“What if I want to sleep in?” Robbie said. “I’ve never considered myself to be an early bird. You kids have it so easy with your youth and ability to do anything off of a measly nine hours of sleep.”
“We’re all the same age.” Emma said.
“How do you figure? Robbie asked.
“Those invited to Fortune’s Favor are only new high school graduates. The only person who could be older would be Ryder because he’s the chosen lucky student. Anyone over 18 who adheres to the requirements can enter the raffle,” Emma answered.
“That’s some good detective work! It’s a good thing they didn’t have you on the force or I might’ve gotten caught a lot sooner!” Robbie said with an exaggerated laugh.
“It’s some pretty basic stuff. I’m sure we all knew that,” Emma said.
I sure didn’t.
“Well, then riddle me this,” Robbie said, now with a serious look. “How do you know he really is the lucky student?”
“What do you mean?” Keon asked. He was slightly taken aback by the question.
“Anyone could lie about their talent. In fact, we don’t even know this squirt’s supposed talent,” Robbie said while pointing at Cyrus.
“We don’t need to overcomplicate things even more,” Keon said. “Someone’s age hardly matters. These rules are non-negotiable. I will have you at that 10pm headcount and 8am meeting every day until we get out of here.”
Keon had a scary look in his eyes when he said that. Seems like trying to herd us all like sheep in a horrible situation like this is tiring at the end of the day, even for a master negotiator. Robbie hadn’t spoken much since his introduction to me, but while occasionally glancing at him during our earlier discussions, I noticed him looking deep in thought with a very serious expression on his face quite often.
“That’s the last rule I have. Are there any questions?”
No one said anything.
“Good. Now let’s all go to our dorms and do the inspections then so we can finally start our investigation on how to get out of this place.”