Cast Your Votes

"And Wendy takes the plush." Kalea announced unenthusiastically. "Her team wins. Everyone report to the entrance."

Once the fourteen of them were at the entrance, Leonie appeared behind the three of them, clapping slowly.

"Gosh, you kids are just so dramatic!" She yelled manically. "That ending was some of the best drama I've seen yet! Oh, I can smell the ratings!"

"Is being a scumbag just fun to you?" Eric yelled, lurching forward, fist ready.

"Relax, Eric. You won. There's nothing to fear." Huang replied calmly, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Ooh, awfully relaxed for somebody on the chopping block." Leonie chuckled condescendingly. "You got nerves, kid, I can appreciate it."

"I doubt there's anything to fear." Huang replied.

"Well, we'll see soon enough. You have two hours to decide who you're gonna vote for. Have fun!"

Ulrich walked out of the arena, with a few thoughts filling his head. But one was the most important. Amber or Huang? Both tried to kill him, and both were more powerful. In a one-on-one scenario, Amber would probably win, but Huang had four other people with him. Amber didn't seem to have any allies, so if he wanted to get rid of her earlier, it would probably be easier.

"I must say, your play back there was excellent."

He didn't even need to turn around to see Huang.

"Thanks, I guess?" Ulrich responded coldly.

"I offered my apologies for the day one incident, but I suppose that wasn't enough."

"Funny how you call attempted murder an incident." Ulrich replied, turning around to glare at him.

"So you're voting for me, I take it?"

"Haven't decided yet."

"Well, I won't try to sway your view. You seem too far gone for that."

"Too far…the hell are you talking about?" Ulrich snapped.

"When animals are cornered, they attack everything in sight. And when people are desperate to survive, they'll kill others. There's always one in each game, sadly."

"Yeah, hope you get that publishing deal." Ulrich responded, rolling his eyes.

"It's a shame, really. The way you fought your way to the top and defeated me, it's all rather impressive. If I do die today, my final wish is for you not to follow your current path. You have the abilities to change the world. Any world. Don't squander it. And if I do leave this life before you, I'll be sure to convince Ishtar to salvage your soul."

"You do that." Ulrich sighed, walking away. "I'm getting some juice."

Amber lay on her bed. She was dead. Super dead. Everyone was gonna vote her off next. Just as she was anticipating her death, she got a knock on the door, and a message on her watch. From Micah.

'I'm outside your door. Open up, please.'

Amber did as instructed.

"What do you want?" She asked quickly.

"I want to discuss the votes." Micah replied coolly. "I'll be honest, it's not looking good for you."

"I'm aware, Micah. What's your point?"

"Well, I'm just offering an alliance. You make it through this, and I'll guarantee you survive the rest."

"And how will you manage that?"

"I know things, Amber." Micah replied. "And both in and out of the games, you have things you can provide me. And it seems you lack allies, anyway."

"Know what, exactly?" Amber asked. "You claiming to be the mole, or something?"

"Well, I'm not sure I can straight up confirm that…but I'm not denying it."

"So you know the whole deal I have with the game."

"I know you made a deal, but not the specifics."

"Cool, I'll let you in if I survive. How are we doing this?"

"The answer lies in Ulrich. There's a chance he'll vote for you, but a slightly bigger chance he'll vote for Huang. And we should follow him."

"That's twelve votes. Anyone else?"

"I'll see. The higher ups really aren't liking Wendy or Huang right now, so maybe we could fake some numbers, I'm not super sure. But anyway, I have others I'll try to convince, so I'll see you at the ceremony."

He left the room, looking back and nodding as he did so.

"So, who are we voting for?" Eric asked. He gathered Wendy, Vanessa and Yun-Yeong in his room, along with Huang.

"If I were to try to guarantee safety, I would say that voting off Amber would be the best course of action." "Huang replied.

"A-Amber?" Vanessa perked up. "I-I mean…do we need to vote for Amber? I don't think she's really gonna hurt anybody now that Lloyd's out of the picture. She seems harmless, really."

"Well, everyone else is gonna vote for her." Yun-Yeong replied calmly. "Silvia's probably doing it, so that means Seeta's doing it too. Cyrus, Valentina and Odebode are probably thinking about it. That's already ten votes against her."

"Yeah, but…I mean…"

"If you have any suggestions, I welcome it." Huang replied with a soft smile.

"We need to kill Ulrich!" Vanessa yelled. "He's the entire reason for this happening! He beat up Huang for this!"

"That makes sense." Wendy replied. "And when you think about it, his whole alien thing is kinda weird. Like, has anyone thought about how it might be a fake thing to make the show more interesting?"

"What's his story, again? Parallel universes or something? Yeah, seems kinda bullshit, actually." Eric replied. "Honestly, I'll vote either of them off. None of us got coins for solving Stargirls murder, so one of them did it."

"So we're voting off Ulrich, then?" Yun-Yeong replied. "I'm okay with that."

Yun-Yeong got a message on her watch. One from Micah.

'You have been invited to dinner at the Quinnade. I hope you consider.'

Micah, huh? Probably wanted to discuss the voting process. The restaurant was a five-minute walk from the housing facilities, so it probably couldn't hurt to see where he was going.

Once she got to the small blue burger shack, Micah was already waiting, eating a giant burger whose contents were on the verge of spilling out.

"Oh hey, you actually showed up." Micah said calmly when he saw her.

"Yeah. Any reason you wanted me to come here?" Yun-Yeong sighed, sitting beside him.

"Just wanted to discuss the votes." Micah asked. "Any idea on what you want to eat?"

"I don't know, a Still Burner?" Looking at the menu, it seemed to be a normal sized burger, with some basic tomato.

"Yeah, I just had one of those." Micah nodded. "Pretty good. Kinda spicy, though."

"Eh, I can take it." Yun-Yeong ordered the burger. It had more a kick than she was expecting, but nothing major.

"So, your squad decided on who you're voting off?" Micah asked casually, putting his hands under his chin as he faced her.

"Eh, some of us have." She sighed. "I still have a few names on my mind."

"Is Huang one of them?" Micah asked calmly.

Yun-Yeong almost choked on her burger when he said that.

"What? No!" She replied, wheezing between coughing fits. "Why would you even suggest that?"

"I mean, I have to be alive in order to save you, right? And your team has five people on it? This seems like an obvious decision while Huang is so vulnerable, is what I'm saying."

"Maybe I don't need your medicine. I don't need to survive for long, I need to survive for long enough."

"So you wouldn't die for the rest of the group, then?"

"No. I mean, maybe Eric and Wendy."

"I see. Well, let me show you something."

Micah silently sliced his thumb against the side of his index finger, producing a crimson blade. He snapped it off, flinching as he did so.

"This is for you." He started. "According to the rules, committing suicide in the middle of a challenge will end it instantly. You don't have much of a future, so you could save someone else's."

He left the blade on the table, and Yun-Yeong looked at it for a few seconds, before looking back at Micah.

"I'm not doing that." She replied, turning around and leaving. "Goodbye."

"Suit yourself. But still, think about it."

Just as Yun-Yeong left, she got a notification on her watch.

'Attention players, the voting will now commence.'

In the dining area, the fourteen contestants sat in their usual places while Leonie walked in, offering handshakes and hi-fives to anyone who wanted them. Which was nobody.

"Now, I hope everybody had a good talking period!" She yelled. "We're providing you with five minutes to decide who you're voting off. All votes for this round are anonymous, so trust your heart! The voting period begins now!"

Ulrich swiped between Amber and Huang. Huang's words about him 'changing the world' or whatever rang out in his mind. Was it valid? Was he on his way to doing something wrong? Screw it, he thought, pressing his icon. Guy's a cult leader, he's just trying to get in his head.

Yun-Yeong's thumb hovered over Ulrich's icon. She didn't even care about the guy. But all that stuff Micah was saying was echoing in her mind. She shook her head to get it out. This was a death game; people lie to get further ahead. She looked at the options again, pressing the icon she knew she had to.

"Every vote has been cast." Kalea sighed, already dreading the results. "Company says we have to drag this out, so let's see."

"And let's see who's safe!" Leonie continued, looking short of bursting into a damn musical number.

"All of Wendy's team are safe! So Wendy, Micah, Valentina, Eric, Silvia, Cyrus, Seeta, all of you are making it to the next round."

Wendy started breathing heavily and rested her head on the table. She was alive. Alive for another day.

"Now, all the votes went towards three people! So Vanessa, Odebode, Yun-Yeong, Andrei. All of you are safe."

She turned towards Ulrich, Huang, and Amber, a smug grin engraving itself on her face as she did so.

"My, my. Ulrich and Amber in the bottom three again. Someone's unpopular. But out of the three of you, Ulrich only got eight votes, so he's fine. Next up was someone who got ten votes. Hmm, seems that isn't a multiple of four. Amber. You survive another round."

"Huang, you have lost the game." Kalea finished.

"I see. That is unfortunate." Huang sighed. If the realization of death hit him, it wasn't showing.

"No. no no no no no no no." Vanessa mumbled, clutching her hands in her head. The urge to scratch was covering her body with every passing second.

"Well, I suppose that the rules no longer apply to me, then?" Huang asked, as polite as ever.

"Not for long anyway, why you asking?" Leonie replied smugly.

"Well, if I'm dying, I have a few minutes free reign." Huang stood up, walking towards Leonie, almost looking like he was gliding. Once he was up close, he landed a right hook to her face. Leonie stood still, looking at him in complete bewilderment, before he punched her again in her stomach.

"Kal!" She screamed as the punches landed. "Kal, help!"

"And interfere with the prime specimens?" She asked. "Killing him now while we look so…unready?" She scoffed, messing up her hair and dragging her shoe across the ground until the sole was detached.

Leonie eventually managed to kick Huang off her, pressing a button on her watch to shock him to the ground. She touched under her nose, and it was bleeding. Her eyes bulged open, and she started barking orders.

"Turn off the cameras! Turn off the cameras! Shit! Makeup, how long will this take to fix? What do you mean, you can't see? Oh, the cameras, right. But we're getting changed, and we want it done in fifteen minutes, got it? Got it?!" She stormed out of the room, covering her face.

"Say your goodbyes, Huang." Kalea warned calmly.