...

My head hurts...

-Hey! Hey, wait a minute! Noob woke up outside the main cabin, as if they had just woken up from a deep slumber. Where they must have fallen hurt a bit. Either way, they missed the cabin, and the fridge, and the food, and the beds... They couldn't WAIT to finally get in again! With how dark it was out, everyone was probably asleep. The lights were on, but they didn't sleep in the main cabin anyway, so sometimes the lights were left on.

Either that, or someone was sneaking around trying to nab something. Or everyone was awake. They were probably right with that second guess, because they could almost hear arguing from inside, though not very clearly. There wasn't any shouting.

And notably, there were six sentries outside the cabin, but that was something to think about later.

And so, they opened the door, and walked right in. Man, they sure had missed proper heati-

"-e not goin' ta come."

Everyone who had died was in there, and so were Builderman, who had said it, and Dusekkar. They stared at Noob like they were the most fascinating thing there was. There were a couple seconds of silence.

And then everyone lost their shit.

"I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! HAHAAA HAAHAHAH I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU! I! TOLD! YOU!"

"FUCK I THOUGHT I WON THAT BET..."

"C00LKIDD WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!"

"THIS WAS BUT A TEST OF OUR PATIENCE FROM THE SPAWN!"

"HOLY SHIT?"

...What?

Noob was beyond confused by the barrage of voices that came straight at them.

"...Uh?"

"FINALLY GODDAMNIT! AHH- Noob, haha, Noob... Ahem. Do you notice anything different about the cabin?"

Why did it feel like everyone in the cabin was desperately waiting for their response...? Whatever. They looked around. They didn't notice anything off or wrong. The chairs and sofa were still nestled in the same position next to the campfire, the railing upstairs looked fine, they didn't notice anything at all different.

"Everything l-looks the same to me."

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"I TOLD YOU! LOOK!"

"I GET YE TOLD ME, AIGHT?"

That was Chance repeating he had 'told Builderman so'. And that confused Noob even more. What the hell did they miss?

"...So is anyone going to explain what the celebration's for?-"

"Let's just say we won't have to deal with rounds for a good while," Elliot grinned.

They didn't believe that immediately. Was this some weirdly coordinated prank...? Though, they seemed serious, and it was unlikely they all would've agreed to this. And they looked so happy...

"Really?"

"YEAH! It's- man, how do I explain this... Well, we had 20 days to uh, protect the cabin, sort of. A weirdly long round. Against 1x1x1x1, Jason and John Doe. Things weren't really ahem... Going well, for us, but we would automatically win if we got all of us in the cabin before then. And you were the last of us...!"

"Oh!"

That was a pleasant surprise. But also, WHAT happened while they were gone?-

"You guys got a timer?"

"No, we held Jason hostage and Taph interrogated him."

"...You what."

"Yeah, turns out they both know sign language. But anyway!"

"You missed a lot but uh, we'll explain everything later," Shedletsky assured.

"No hey wait a minute how the hell did you kidnap Jason?"

"Taph 'n Dusekkar's tag teamin'," Builderman replied. Well that only raised more questions.

Either way, it was refreshing to see everyone genuinely happy for once. And properly housed. That didn't make Noob any more curious as to what happened, though. So after enough pestering, Builderman folded, and explained.

...

It was what should've been a regular round. As there were more than eight survivors now, every round, there were two survivors that were instead transported inside the cabin to wait for the next round. And that round, it was Dusekkar and Builderman.

They also should have been in the cabin. They were not.

Not by their own doing, of course. They simply appeared outside after the previous round, so seeing as they were outside, Builderman promptly tried to open the door.

Which was locked.

The hell?

Whatever. They could just wait the four minutes the round would last until everyone else got back, and they'd be fine again. Simple as that. And they could go to the other cabins!

So they did exactly that. And they were locked too. Alright, whatever The Spectre was up to now was most likely nothing more than some trick to annoy them. Of course, alright.

The round didn't seem to be ending anytime soon, but that was fine. Sometimes the timer decided to simply not show itself, it did that sometimes. Nothing to worry about. And besides, it was probably time just seeming to go slower than it really was.

So they waited.

And waited.

And waited...

And when the sky darkened they realised that SOMETHING was off. No one else was coming back. Which was concerning, but there was nothing they could do about it, so best not to worry.

The cabin was still locked, and it was getting colder. Which was an issue.

But the door was... Literally just made out of wood. It was probably quite flimsy, they could just bust it open, most likely.

So they tried that, and it didn't work. And besides, a broken door would make the whole cabin cold as well. So instead, they... Did something else.

"Er... Are you assured this idea most resourceful shall not end in you being remorseful...?"

"Work yer magic 'n I'll be fine," Builderman grunted, trying to climb up onto the window near the front of the building.

Dusekkar, although mildy concerned for the other's safety whilst climbing up the side of the cabin, complied, lifting and spinning his staff in the air before casting his protection magic onto Builderman.

He brought himself up to it, but lost grip on the side and let go.

"-Dangit!"

Dusekkar wanted to catch him, but that would mean he'd have to stop casting the protection magic, which would probably be more risky.

He fell just fine.

Dusekkar lowered his staff, the bright blue glow fading as he stopped the stream of magic again.

"That fall gave me quite the fright, may you confirm you are alright?"

"I'm better than ever, Dusekkar, don't worry 'bout me."

He went back to scaling the side of the cabin, gripping at the logs and clambering back onto the side. Dusekkar casted his protection magic again. It would be a higher fall if he fell right now...

Dusekkar spun his staff and casted the protection magic again.

And this time, Builderman got up. He didn't fully stand on the roof though, crouching instead, and going up to the window.

He fiddled with the frame of the window. From the inside, if you looked, or clambered up the bookcase for whatever reason, you could see that you could slide one window frame over to the other to open it. It was nice in the summer, since seasons still changed in this weird realm.

Unfortunately, they had nothing to grip the glass with to pull it and slide it over, so, as the stars were almost out by then, and they were absolutely not staying outside any longer, Builderman took the other route.

"Dusekkar, cover yer ears."

"I request, please repeat; the words of thine my ears did not meet."

"COVER YER EARS!"

"F-"

Dusekkar was cut off by the sound of Builderman shattering the window with his hammer.

"-I'm gonna step down 'n open the door, aight?"

"Beware the broken glass, it shall put you in danger to pass."

"Alright, I'll be careful."

"I shall wait before that wooden door."

And he did. He heard Builderman go through and land on the bookcase, before climbing down that too. He tried to open the door again, but it was still locked.

Weird. He'd never seen any kind of key anywhere in the cabin, and the door didn't even have a lock.

"I think yer gonna have to climb in through the window as well," Builderman shouted, fiddling with the door handle.

"But I wouldn't do it right; I am capable of floating, not flight."

"You have legs, don't'cha?"

"..."

"...I'll help ya up!"

"That will do, I thank you."

Builderman climbed back onto the bookcase and through the window, where Dusekkar was trying to climb up. Upon seeing Builderman, he let go, floating again and holding up his staff for Builderman to bring inside.

"-Would you mind bringing this inside? I would be grateful, and it would not take much time."

"Sure, gives it 'ere."

He reached out, with Dusekkar handing over his staff. Then he went back to trying to climb up. Usually he would simply float around, but that didn't mean he practically didn't have legs. He simply preferred to float because it was easier, and he enjoyed how it felt to be slightly up in the air. Still, he wasn't exactly the best at climbing. When he got close enough to the top, as he said, Builderman helped him up.

Well, that solved the housing problem.

Now you may be wondering, why didn't they just, y'know, break into the sleeping cabins instead?

Simple; those cabins were actually nice, and they didn't want to break any windows or doors there, because that would mean that when it was cold and snowy and windy, it would all go indoors. At least they only had to spend minutes at a time in the main cabin.

Either way, the two decided that, even without a measurement of time, it was probably around what most people would call bedtime. The sun's light had left the sky, and at this point the stars were already out, so they decided it was probably a good idea to sleep.

Ah, wait, that was it, wasn't it? he round had probably ended, and everyone else was sleeping in the sleeping cabins! Unfortunately, those were still locked...

So instead, they shared the couch. It wasn't too bad for the night, for their only nice option, anyway. And it was right next to the fireplace, which was warm!

...

The next morning was what caused them to realise that something was happening, and it definitely wasn't normal. Builderman had woken up first, so naturally, he tried to go outside, opening the door. I lied, he didn't open the door, because it was still locked without having a lock. But, there was a note stuck ON the door.

'You have one day to prepare.'

Wowwee wow, how very vague and ominous. As if that helped at all. Prepare for WHAT now? And why did they have a day? What the hell?

Builderman was not too fazed yet, but he knew that that note probably wasn't a very good thing. Scratch that, it DEFINITELY wasn't a good thing.

Spoiler alert: he was right.

Once Dusekkar woke up, he thought it was just as cryptic as Builderman thought it was. But that didn't mean they weren't going to 'prepare'.

Maybe someone or something was going to ambush them. A round in the cabins. The only way someone could (easily) get in was the window and the door. The door was the more likely option.

So long story short, they dragged the bookcase over to the door to barricade it. And, that way, if anyone came through the window, they would have to climb down first.

The rest of the day was just experimentation. They never stayed for long, so they never got to hang around and mess around, but now they got the chance to. They had some of the pizza from the pizza delivery guy for dinner that day. Turns out, the dance dance revolution machines needed a coin to be inserted to work, and the TV upstairs was still working somehow. Besides sitting at the tables downstairs and playing pool, there wasn't really anything else to do, if you didn't count talking to each other or deciding to read the books in the bookcase.

The day ended, and when they went to sleep again, they were woken up by an eyebleed green shockwave that phased straight through the bookcase covering the door. It was also accompanied by 1x1x1x1's voice rumbling from outside. He wasn't actually saying anything, they were moreso annoyed huffs. That was the only audible thing besides him furiously trying to claw through the door. By this point, both Builderman and Dusekkar were awake, and Builderman got to building a sentry.

Needless to say, 1x1x1x1 easily tore through the door and the bookcase, toppling it over and climbing over it. Which was fair. It was just processed tree and more processed tree. He probably would have started attacking the two, were it not for the bullets promptly shot at him, causing him to temporarily switch targets and break the sentry instead, before going for Builderman again. Or at least he tried. Dusekkar slowed him down and in that time Builderman had picked up one of the two chairs near the fireplace and used it to first shove 1x1x1x1 down onto the floor and then into the fireplace, keeping the chair in front of the fireplace to prevent 1x1x1x1 from getting out. And the only reason Builderman pulled that off was because 1x1x1x1 missed his entanglement.

"Okay, dude-"

He TRIED to say, but then he got cut off by violent coughing.

He had stopped trying to push the chair out. Probably because he was too busy coughing.

Dusekkar and Builderman looked at each other. Then the chair. Then each other again. Then the chair again.

"So are ya gonna explain why yer huntin' us in the cabins?"

He tried to say something? Or growl, or- SOMETHING, but he couldn't get anything out because he was still in his coughing fit getting burnt alive. Builderman wasn't moving the chair until 1x1x1x1 was dead. And eventually, the flames tore through his body and he fell. Good riddance. At least there was new fuel for the fire now.

Oh yeah, and the door was broken and snapped off its hinges, so now there's a more convenient entrance. Besides the bookcase blocking it, meaning you'd have to crawl through first.

What a morning.

They didn't really know what to do about 1x1x1x1's body yet, but they did decide to nick the daemonshank swords. They would definitely come in handy, even if they didn't really know how to properly wield a sword.

They also decided to try to lift the bookcase back up again, as now they probably actually DID need it to block the door. It was heavy, but not too heavy, and they successfully put it back up against the door. There were no other killers that tried to ambush them that day.

The next day went similarly. This time, however, it was John Doe who came for them. He used his spike arm to jab the bookcase and throw it down to the floor.

Builderman and Dusekkar were upstairs, trying to figure out why the daemonshank swords looked like they were on fire all the time but were somewhat cold to the touch.

Consequently, John Doe followed them upstairs, and started landing hits on them. They did hit him with the sword, twice, but after those four seconds were up he was back to chasing them again.

The one thing that was good about rounds was that the places they got hunted down were spacious, with twists and turns to help disorient the killer. And on top of that, the killers were only given three or four minutes to do their job.

But when it was in a closed-off area with no time limit? The survivors didn't stand a chance.

And they didn't.

John Doe's spikes and slashes ended up taking the two out, despite Dusekkar's magic and their attempts to block with furniture.

And they spawned back in the main cabin. Wonderful.

That time, it had been in the middle of the day instead of the morning. Didn't make it any more pleasant. Though, what was going on with everyone else?- Where were they? They weren't in the sleeping cabins, because they hadn't been opened since the initial 'round'. But they had to be SOMEWHERE.

That question was answered the next morning.

Instead of the loud calls from ones out to get them, they heard polite knocking at the battered door. Of course, were it not for the bookcase, they would be able to see who it was. But it could really be anyone, technically speaking, so it was best to be careful.

Wait a minute, the bookcase wasn't broken! And when they pushed it back to where it was before they moved it, the door wasn't broken.

It was locked, however.

Which meant that they would have to climb through the window again.

Except, when they went to do so, the glass was mended. Which would be nice, if the door was unlocked. Now they had to smash it open again.

But it was worth it! Turns out it was Taph who was knocking. Upon seeing them, his head wings fluttered slightly. He was as happy to see them as they were to see him.

The mood shifted slightly once they were all indoors and Taph explained where everyone else was. Especially considering the fact that Taph was killed in specific. Who would want to do that...?

It would probably be over in a couple of days, though. And then they would go back to rounds. That never changed.

But it did. And those first two attacks from the killers wouldn't be the last.