My eyes shifted back over to the motives tab. {NO MOTIVE CURRENTLY ACTIVE.} They expected us to kill each other? But why? Flipping over to the rule tab, my question was answered.

1. No attacking or harming the headmaster.
2. The morning announcement plays at 7 am, and the nighttime announcement plays at 10 pm. After nighttime and before morning, all water will be turned off.
3. Students are only allowed to sleep in dorms.
4. Students are not allowed to fight with each other unless in the case of murder.
5. Once a body is discovered by three students who are not involved with the murder, a body discovery announcement will play.
6. After a murder is committed, a class trial will commence. If the murderer is not discovered, they will be allowed free and the rest of the students will be punished. If the murderer is found, only they will be punished and the killing game will commence.

Well shit. The only way to escape this hellhole is to commit murder and get away with it. Looking around at the other students in my class, I could see the shock and disgust filling people's faces as they stared down at their Electro-IDs.

The silence was broken as Stella quietly spoke. "We should split up and investigate the school," she muttered.

"Good idea Stella. We can meet back at the cafeteria in an hour to discuss our findings." She looked back at me and nodded. The clock on my ID read 4:30 pm. There was no way to tell if the time was accurate due to metal plates blocking every window in the gym, but it was all we had to go off of.

Walking out of the gym, I pulled out my student ID card and opened the map menu. So far, unlocked and officially on the map, there was three classrooms, the gym, the cafeteria, the entrance hall, and a school store. There was also two rows of eight rooms facing across from each other, student dormitories. Each one had someone's last name on it, and mine was all the way at the end of the corridor on the left.

I decided to check out the entrance hall first. If there was anywhere we could exit from, that would be the first option. But a quick glance at the former entrance showed me that there would be no escaping that way.

A giant metal door covered the entrance hall. There were no guards. There was a security camera and a monitor high up on the wall above the door. So we really were sealed in here? But who sealed us in and how did they get out? There was nothing else much to find. I glanced down at the floor as something shiny caught my eye. It was a gold coin the size of a quieter with Carl on it. Suddenly, Carl popped up again.

"Congratulations Mike! You've found a Carl coin. These coins can be used to get prizes from a prize and vending machine in the school store. I've hidden various coins in the school. Puhuhuhu!" He popped back away. I guess I was going to see the school store next. I looked at the map. The school store was in the hallway with the classrooms. It was across from our dorm rooms and at the very end. I walked inside and came across Ames. He looked absorbed in getting prizes from the prize machine.

"Dangit! Stupid Carl Machine!" He kicked the machine and turned around. "Oh, hi Mike! Have you found any Carl coins yet?"

"Yeah. I just found one by the entrance hall."

"I found about 10 in my room. You have to look pretty closely to find them. Laters!" He hefted his bag of prizes over his shoulder and walked away. I looked at the prize machine. It was huge and had some pretty good prizes too. I put in my Carl coin and turned the handle. A giant capsule came down out of the machine, filled with hair scrunchies. Shoving them into my pocket, I continued to look around the room.

On the other side of the Carl machine, there was a sleek, metallic vending machine. Unlike the Carl machine, the vending machine items had different prices for different items. Some of the prizes were outrageous!! 50 coins and I had just found one! There was nothing else to see in the store except another monitor and camera, so I left.

Pulling up the map back on my Electro-ID, I took a look at the time displayed on there. It read 5:20 pm, ten minutes until everyone was going to meet up in the cafeteria. I made my way to the cafeteria, using the map to navigate my way there. So far, I had found no clues as to why we were here and how we could escape.

As I entered the cafeteria, I took a look around. There was one big table in the center with 16 seats around it (how convenient!), and circled around it were a few other smaller tables with 4 seats around them. To my left was a doorway that read kitchen, and to my right there was a doorway that read Washer/Dryer. I entered the kitchen first, finding Fritz and Chica using the cooking equipment. Fritz was frying potatoes, while Chica was chopping up tomatoes.

"Hey guys! What are you making!" Chica turned to face me.

"Hiya Mike! We're making patatas bravas for everyone when we meet up!" Chica scraped the tomatoes into a blender and set the speed to high. I looked around the kitchen. It looked fairly normal. In the center was an island where Chica was working, while Fritz worked on a side counter over the stove. A knife block stood on the island, with one knife missing that Chica appeared to be using. There was an oven underneath the stove, and a dishwasher to the right of that with a sink right next to a corner.

I opened the refrigerator, which was a few feet away from Fritz. It was fully stocked with fresh fruit, veggies, and meat. There were pantries above the counters, which seemed to be stocked with non perishable goodies.

"Hey Mike! Wanna try some?" I turned around to see Chica holding out a large platter of food. Patatas bravas, pan fried potatoes coated in a smooth, red tomato sauce. I popped one into my mouth and a burst of flavor spread into my mouth.

"Mmm! Tastes amazing!" Chica and Fritz both smiled.

"Well, it really was nothing," said Fritz, holding his chef hat at his chest.

"Let's bring it into the dining hall!" Chica carried the platter into the dining hall, while Fritz carried a stack of plates and a pile of forks. The other 12 spots of the table were already filled. I slid into the seat next to Stella and filled a plate with food.

"What's this?" Brenda asked, cautiously eyeing the potatoes.

"Patatas bravas, one of my specialties. Take a bite," Fritz insisted, taking the seat next to me. Chica sat next to him, and there were a few minutes of silence as almost everyone grabbed a plate of food and began eating.

I decided to start the conversation up. "So, what did everyone find while investigating?" Mary was the first one to speak up.

"I checked out the classrooms. Nothing seemed out of place, and they all had giant metal plates bolted across the windows." Mary made direct eye contact with me and smiled, and I felt myself blush. She was gorgeous...an amazing dancer with a really pretty voice. I looked down at my lap, my face burning.

"I checked out the gym," mumbled Bobby. "There was nothing special in there."

"I looked in the laundry room and the school store," Soren added on. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"The entrance is a bust too." Francis swallowed a bite of potatoes before continuing. "There's a giant metal door with machine guns guarding it. No way we would be able to get out."

"Ugh, bummer," Jeremy moaned. "And there was no way to get to the second floor, because all the stairways were blocked with metal gates!"

"Hey guys, don't get down!" Melanie smiled at the group. "We can meet back here in the morning and check again tomorrow!"

"What if I die before tomorrow?" Branden's voice quivered as he said what was on all our minds. What if tonight was our last?

"Don't think like that!" Melanie pulled Branden into a tight embrace. "We'll meet for breakfast after the morning announcement. No one's going to die."

"Let's go explore some more, get some rest, and meet back together in the morning," Freddy said. With those words, people began to leave. I got up and left the cafeteria, thinking about what Branden said. What if tonight was my last? What if a killer came after me?

What if...I decided to kill?

I shook the thought out of my head. There was no way I could even THINK of killing anyone, and I had no clue why I would even think that's the option. I wanted to go sleep, but there was still time until nighttime. Maybe I should go hang out with someone.