Three Down, Seventeen to Go

"The challenge is over!"

The seventeen of them all heard the news over a loudspeaker, with Lloyd managing to become the first back, after finding a decent route there quickly behind the containers. Wendy and Vanessa were second. Gemma and Andrei came afterward. Following them were Seeta and Huang.

"Ah, Vanessa. Good to see you survived." Huang exclaimed.

"Where were you?" She yelled out. "I was looking everywhere for you!"

Huang's smile faltered slightly. "Oh. Well, I hid in my starting place, and I assumed you also did that."

"I wonder if Kapil did that." Seeta muttered to herself.

"Your brother, right? Wonder how he's doing?" Andrei wondered.

Valentina and Odebode showed up next.

"Seems Cyrus isn't here." Was the first thing Valentina said when she arrived.

"He seems durable enough, I wouldn't worry." Odebode replied nonchalantly.

"Hey…have either of you seen Kapil?" Seeta asked, her voice getting shakier.

"Passed him near the start, I think. Haven't seen him since then." Odebode replied, putting his hand on his chin.

"Hm, considering how willing he was to jump in front of Leonie…" Valentina whispered, looking up at Seeta's terrified face. "But I'm sure he's fine! His power seems perfect for fighting the smilers!"

Next were Amber, Ulrich, and Silvia. Silvia scanned the area of survivors, saw Lloyd, and rolled her eyes.

"Silvia!" Seeta yelled out as soon as she saw her. "Where's Kapil?" Her voice getting remarkably shaky.

"Is he…not with you?" Silvia replied with a worried expression. She watched as Seeta's nerves got worse and worse, and looked towards the other two. Amber just as pained, and Ulrich just shrugged.

"Hey, he's probably out there! Like hell a bunch of smilers could just kill him like that!" Silvia yelled, grasping her shoulders.

Eric and Yun-Yeong made their way to the front, Yun-Yeong sitting on the floor as they got there, with Eric spotting Wendy and greeting her, noticing the black gunk on her hoodie.

"Oh, shit! Wendy, did you have to fight one of those things off?"

"Nah, found this pole and fought it myself."

"You did…what?" Eric said back, sounding confused.

"Hey, I knew I could take it!" Wendy yelled back. "Vanessa saw me!"

"You didn't know anything!" Eric yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You're fifteen! First, it's smilers, then it's the…"

"Excuse me." Huang interrupted. "Can you save the discipline for later? There's enough stress as is."

Eric gave him a dirty look out of the corner of his eye but honoured the request.

"Hey everyone!" Aurora yelled out, chipper as ever. "How we all doing?"

"You've seen Kapil, right?" Seeta yelled out.

"I heard an explosion near where I was, but I didn't see anything."

Seeta started breathing heavily and Silvia put an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, she didn't say who it was. Look, He'll come out any second now, and it'll be that loser with the glasses who exploded."

"Excuse me?"

Micah appeared, adjusting his glasses. "I didn't explode."

"Cyrus exploded. I meant to say that Cyrus exploded."

"No I didn't." Cyrus sighed. "I just stayed in the starting zone."

"I-I…I mean…he's alive, Seeta." Silvia moved her mouth, desperately trying to say something to calm Seeta down, but it didn't work.

"Leonie was making her way through the challenge site, and she got taken out! Right, Aurora?"

"Not quite, my dear!"

The metal block melted, formed behind Leonie and Kalea, and the two stepped out before them.

"Yes, Kapil Tamboli is the third kill of the game!"

Seeta started breathing heavily, and Silvia backed away. Seeta looked up towards the ceiling, letting out an anguished scream, summoning her axe and leaping straight for Leonie. Andrei put a leg up, summoning his greaves, which managed to clash off the axe at the last second. Cyrus blocked with his bones as Aurora stepped back. Andrei leapt in, putting her hands by her sides and putting her in a bear hug, while she desperately kicked his shins.

"Great work as always, Andrei!" Leonie clapped. "Hey, how about some bodyguard work if you survive this?"

"Excuse me?" Andrei replied, straightening his posture.

"I'll tell you the details later, but anyway, let's go!"

The seventeen of them made their way through the city, the dim neon lights hitting their eyes.

"Hey, Aurora?" Amber asked.

"What's up, babe?"

"You said you heard Kapil die, right. Any idea if anyone was nearby?"

"Nah, I just stayed in the starting area. Why?"

"Well, the fact you were nearby and not even aware of who it was…did he make any noises?"

"Well, I heard screaming, but I wouldn't place whose they were." Aurora lied.

"Right, right." Amber said, scratching her hair. "So you think he just got caught and died?"

"I mean, he did lose an arm. If I were to bet, I'd say he lost his balance, fell, broke his neck, and then a smiler got him."

"That…all checks out, I guess. Thanks, I'm about to head out."

Once back in the dorms, Andrei put Seeta down, and she silently went back to her room.

"Thanks for that, man." Silvia sighed, scanning her hand on the way in, and hearing screams and smashing noises from inside.

"You'd think these places would be soundproof." Micah mumbled to himself before walking into his room.

"They're meant to be." Kalea replied wearily.

The door automatically locked with Silvia still in the halls, looking at the remaining people listening to the carnage.

"She'll get tired eventually, I'd just let it happen." Odebode exhaled.

"You need me to knock her out?" Eric asked wearily.

"Uh, no." Silvia replied, seeing Yun-Yeong next to him. "You want the knife back?"

"Oh, right!" Yun-Yeong yelled as Silvia took the switchblade out from under her hat, giving it back to her. "Sorry about forgetting."

"It's fine, I lived. Anyway, see you later."

The two waved goodbye as Yun-Yeong went back into her room, leaving Silvia in an empty hallway, with only the sound of Seeta's rampage to break the silence. She checked her watch, and it was ten minutes since it began. A few seconds later, silence entered the hallways, and Silvia scanned her hand again, cautiously entering the room.

Pretty much everything was destroyed. All zero of the things Silvia liked about the room were gone, with bits of shelves and mattress littering the ground, with Seeta sobbing in the middle of the room, looking away from her.

"Hey, lass. You…you doing okay?" She asked slowly.

Seeta turned to Silvia, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Silvia questioned.

"Why did Kapil have to die?"

"I…I don't know, sorry." Silvia responded, looking at the floor.

"So…can you make me a promise?"

"I can do that. Whatever you want."

"Don't die. Please don't die."

Silvia sat down next to her, embracing her as she did.

"I swear, both of us are surviving this, no matter what."

"Thanks." Seeta said between sobs.

"Oh yeah, Seeta?" Silvia asked.

"Yes." She asked.

"It...it's nothing, I forgot."

"Yo, Birdman." Eric announced. "I'm gonna need you to talk to Yun-Yeong."

"About what, exactly?" Huang replied.

"No clue, just do me this solid."

Eric knocked on the door, and Yun-Yeong opened it.

"Birdman wants to talk to you." Eric pointed to Huang, who waved politely.

Yun-Yeong followed Huang into his room, and Eric entered hers, where Wendy was wiping down the metal pole.

"Oh, hey Eric." She waved to him.

"We need to talk."

"About what?" Wendy replied, letting a small shock out of her.

"Your little stunt with killing the smiler."

"That was the challenge, dude."

"The challenge was surviving them!" Eric screamed out at them, causing Wendy to drop the pole and let a shock out. Eric leaned on the wall and looked at Wendy's pole.

"Look, Wendy, I don't want to bring this up, but your sister gave me her request to protect you should she...you know..."

"Right, right." Wendy replied.

"So...don't do anything stupid like that again, okay."

"I...I won't" Wendy replied quietly.

"Okay, good talk." Eric whispered with a soft smile. "See you later."