As the yellow school bus disappeared from sight, the 34 students looked at each other, entirely unsure of what to do next. None of them wanted to be the first to make a move. They were right outside the doors of the hotel. Just steps away, in fact.
In other words, they were just steps away from a monster whose whole existence was designed to ensure their brutal death.
“I am not going in there.” One of the girls was shaking like crazy. Her name was Abigail. Caitlin sat beside her in a few classes. She has been a bystander throughout most of Mr. Isaac’s games, but she no longer had the privilege of sitting back this time. This time, like every other student, she was dragged into the fray.
Even now, in the eyes of the horrified girl, the glamorous hotel has taken the form of a haunted house. Its entrance was like the gaping hole of the beast’s mouth. The revolving glass doors looked like the fangs of the beast. She turned her head to the side, not even able to bear looking at the building.
A few other students shared the idea. Almost all of them had some sort of weapon, but this was a wraith inside the hotel! What could sticks and knives and revolvers and even rifles do against a wraith?
“We are technically inside the range of the hotel.” Vivian looked around. Even now, cars were cruising behind along the road not far away from the hotel, but she knew very well the moment she stepped onto that road would be the moment she die. Mr. Isaac never jokes around. “We can stay here, but...”
“We can stay here for a few hours at most, but Mr. Isaac is only coming over to pick us up on Friday.” Suddenly, on the side, Eric raised his voice and cut Vivian off. The man scanned across the students with a confident look.
“None of us prepared for this beforehand. We don’t have food. We don’t have shelter. There’s no way we can stay in the parking lot for five days, and do you really think Mr. Isaac will leave such a loophole for us? No! If we stay here, we will not last long! Either we will starve to death or the wraith will come out to us!”
“Our only chance...is inside the hotel.”
“But the wraith…” A student raised his voice, speaking what was going on in the heads of many other students.
“The wraith can be accused and taken out. Mr. Isaac wants us all dead, but it is not in his best interest to kill us all at once. Think about it! If he wants us all dead he would’ve done it a hundred times already!” Eric continued. “We still have a chance. If we can catch onto the clues and find out which one of the hotel workers is the wraith, then we can accuse it and take it out!”
“Come on, guys! We can live through this!”
As Eric gave his thrilling speech, Caitlin found herself quite impressed. Not at the speech itself. Well...at least not in the common sense. What Eric said was something many of the smarter students in the class realized. Her. Vivian. Katie...if she tried she could’ve come to that conclusion too. Then again, she really had no need to use her brain.
Speaking of Katie...
Either way, Eric has always been one of the cold-calculating students in the class. Caitlin didn't know his entire background. All she knew was he was rich, really rich, and after the games started, he was able to acquire assault rifles and bulletproof vests with ease. He also paid Katie a ton of money. Even with the help of the curse, that wasn’t too easy. Yet he did it either way.
This game wasn’t like any of the other ones. In the other games, as long as Eric was careful enough, he could’ve been fine. But this time, they were going to be at the mercy of some sort of ghost for five days, and Eric knew very well that neither his assault rifles nor the boys on his payroll could save him. To live to see another weekend, he needed more assets.
Assets like fellow classmates.
What Eric was doing here was establishing himself as a leader. He was showing his fellow classmates hope, hope that they could only grasp onto by following his lead. More classmates led into the hotel meant more victims for the wraith to kill. They also meant more manpower for whatever trick Eric might be able to think of. Even better, when it came to accusations, Eric could use these classmates to accuse the suspects he wasn’t too sure about.
Accuse correctly, and everyone would live. Accuse falsely, and Eric himself would still be perfectly fine.
Smart boy. Caitlin noted. Unfortunately, by doing so, Eric also put himself under the crosshair of the wraith. Perhaps he also knew that, but he was taking some risk. He was betting that the wraith wasn’t intelligent enough to target him specifically, or if it had a specific kill pattern.
But the other students didn't know that. All they knew was they saw a possibility of escaping this hell alive from Eric’s words. To these tormented souls, this was all that mattered. Caitlin already saw a few girls looking at Eric with adoring eyes.
“Showoff!” On the side, Kyle scoffed quietly, but even he kept it down.
“We should go in.” Eric gestured at the hotel door. He walked up to the revolving door before suddenly pausing, remembering something. He quickly stepped to the side and turned to the others. “Actually, I’ll stay here for now. I want to count everyone that gets in so nothing can infiltrate us and pretend to be one of us. We have 34 people, right?”
“Yeah.”
The boy beside Eric didn't think much of it. If anything, he respected Eric’s caution. The students in the class didn't necessarily know each other, especially since another class was merged in with the original one. If a wraith shape-shifted into a 35th student, at least Eric would see something was off.
Without another thought, the boy stepped across the glass door and into the hotel. A second one followed. Eric counted all of them. As the 20th student passed through, he discreetly stepped into the hotel across the glass door and continued counting.
Yes. He knew with almost complete confidence that there wouldn’t be any trap at the hotel gate, but no trap didn't mean completely safe. What if the wraith was marking the students as they entered? Maybe the first to enter would be the first to die?
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Why did he suddenly go through the doors? What if the last to enter would be the first to be targeted? This way, he would always have sufficient time to respond after the bodies start dropping. Of course, if the wraith decided to start from the middle of the line...he would at least go down screaming knowing he tried his best.
This was something even Caitlin didn't notice.
“30. 31. 32.” The students kept on crossing into the hotel until no one was left. The boy suddenly frowned as the line came to an end. Wait...there were 34 students here! Has the wraith already struck? Twice? Without anyone noticing? How?
Oh wait...he forgot to count himself! Eric sighed in slight embarrassment. Such a rookie error...but deep down he knew that was just another sign that despite his confidence, this game was already taking a psychological toll on him. He wasn't as calm and impervious as he tried to demonstrate to the rest of the class.
But...even that would only yield 33 students! Where was the last one?
He quickly snapped around to make sure the parking lot was completely empty. In his head, he did his best to remember who was the missing student. Vivian? No. Terry just went by. Abigail and Beatrice just walked in together. Louis was the first to enter. So did Caitlin, wait! Where is Katie Lockwood?
Eric has always been paying attention to Katie since the games first started. He saw her value on day 1, and that was why he paid her and invited her to his party. Even in this game, he expected her to be one of his most important assets, but...has she been taken out already?
Number 1 combatant killed in the first minute! How is he even supposed to work from there?
“Guys!” Barely concealing his fear, Eric turned and charged into the hotel. He went by a few steps before finding himself in a glamorous hall. Chandeliers hang down from the ceiling, lighting up the entire area. Soft carpet was laid out across the shiny floor. Eric quickly met up with the rest of the class.
In front of the students was a clerk in a suit and a tie. He was working at the front desk, and he smiled politely when he saw the students. He was followed by four other hotel employees, all of them with warm professional smiles on as they faced the guests.
Eric subconscious froze. He wouldn’t be surprised if any one of them, or even all four of them, suddenly pulled out bloody knives from under the table and started hunting them down. Anything could happen in this haunted hotel.
Thankfully, that never happened.
“Welcome to Masonville Hotel, ladies and gentlemen.” The leading clerk said with a welcoming voice. “This entire hotel has been reserved for your group for the entire week. There will be no other guests here. All the employees and infrastructures here will be at your service 24/7.”
He went on to explain the services the hotel could provide. There was an entire dining hall that served buffets 24/7. The hotel also offered a gym, a swimming pool, multiple conference rooms, and a dozen other features the students would never use in a million years. Throughout this entire conversation, Eric felt like he had a fire lit inside, a fire of fear, but he didn't dare interrupt the clerk. What if the clerk was the wraith? Interrupting a wraith? He wasn't crazy!
Finally, the clerk finished. “Would you like to choose your rooms now? We have a Presidential Suite, two-people rooms, and…”
“I’m sorry,” That was when Eric couldn’t help but speak up and cut him off. “I’m sorry, but...but my friends and I are a little hungry. Can we grab some food before eating?”
The clerk nodded politely. “Of course. I will lead you to the dining hall.”
The clerk walked out from behind the front desk and started taking the students down another hallway on the side. As they moved, Eric made his way to Caitlin.
“Caitlin! Katie is gone! Have you seen her?”
“I…”
“If they somehow took out Katie without us having the slightest clue, then we are in real trouble! This wraith likely has the capacity to deceive our senses...even sticking together won’t help us! It can pick us off one by one!”
“Actually…”
“There has to be a way out! My deduction can’t be wrong! That monster doesn’t want us all dead just yet! It can't! I know it!”
Eric found his heart accelerating in fear with every passing second. He has always considered himself to be a sensible person. A man who could face horror and danger alike and still find a way out with a clear mind. When his fellow classmates lost their hope and gave in to the corruption, he would be the one to rally their hope. But now, he finally understood how wrong he was.
His patience and confidence have been no more than a facade.
That was when he remembered a quote from Mike Tyson. “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. In this case, it was “Everyone has a plan until bodies start dropping or, in this case, disappearing.”
“Actually…” As Eric took a breather, Caitlin finally had a chance to speak up. At this point, the students have already reached the dining hall. The clerk opened the door, and the students found themselves facing one of the most luxurious buffets they have seen. The food sat on the rows of tables...they were more than the students could even count! Why would the hotel prepare this much food just for the class?
But the dining hall wasn’t empty.
Sitting at one of the tables, Katie quietly set down the bare bones of a steak…yes, steak. The Sect of Ascension was all nice and powerful, but she doubted it could infiltrate Mr. Isaac’s territories. Why? She just wiped out an entire location of the Sect and she had no idea how to kill Mr. Isaac. That was how.
Seeing her fellow classmates, she raised a glass of Sprite.
“Hello there. Took you long enough!”
“What…” Eric’s mouth hung open in shock. “what the...isn’t she…”
“I was going to tell you that.” Caitlin sighed. “While you were talking, Katie got bored, so she got into the hotel first. I asked the clerk and she told me Katie’s eating already.”
She quickly walked over and sat down beside her girlfriend, only to stand back up immediately to grab herself some food because, well, this was a buffet…she came to the same conclusion Katie did. There was no way this buffet could be under the influence of the Sect of Ascension.
The other students proceeded to get seated around the tables. Of course, all of them sat down as close to each other as possible. No one wanted to get snatched up into the shadows like a support character in a horror movie. These students have seen too many horror movies to fall for such amateur mistakes.
A few of the students already started grabbing food. Other more cautious ones sat back and kept their eyes on Katie to see if she was fine. Katie didn't know of their intentions, and if she did, she would only burst out laughing.
First of all, she was confident she could drink rat poison by the gallons and emerge perfectly fine. Secondly, if Mr. Isaac really went through all this trouble and set up all the suspense just to wipe the entire class out by poisoning their food...Katie would be as disappointed as a pair of Ivy League parents whose child failed high school.
On the side, Eric slowly sat down at one of the tables. He didn't grab any food. Instead, he found himself shaken to the core.
Yes. What happened with Katie was no more than an accident. An unfortunate misunderstanding. But that showed him the brutal truth. He was no savior. He was no hero. He wasn’t the mastermind who could sit back and manipulate other students so that he could survive. When danger struck, he was as vulnerable as anyone else and he knew it.
He could do as many clever subtle tricks as he wanted, but in the end, just like everyone else, he was still at the mercy of the beast.
That was when her eyes landed on Katie. The careless girl who put potentially poisoned food into her mouth. The “idiot” who challenged Mr. Isaac multiple times, and who was involved in almost every game, but somehow survived all the way up until now.
Correction. Almost everyone else.