Elimination Match 4: Escape

[MUSIC]

Everyone is seated in the large den of Gilbert’s house. Gilbert lights the fire and the room is filled with a soft warmth. Everyone talks quietly for a long while...

It’s at that time, that they hear a tapping noise at the front door of the luxurious home. It’s a metallic repeated clicking.

The air in the room tenses as Gilbert stands up. He creeps over to the door and peeks through the peephole to get a look at the uninvited guest.

He does some things to unlock the door and then swings the door open. From the couches in the den, nobody can see who is entering.

[MUSIC]

“HELLO. I SUPPOSE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEAR. THIS GAME WON’T END UNTIL MY DATA IS COMPLETE.”

It’s the voice of the captain, but it’s warped with electronic tones. Of course, it made sense that the captain would be inhuman. He had always only acted on behalf of the game. It was never believable that the captain was human, but there was something eerie about hearing the captain speak without any attempt to cover his digital nature.

Gilbert stumbles out off the way as a black cube, like the one from the ship, walks over to the players. It has a little smiling face upon its surface, but underneath is an air of superiority and malice.

“IT IS TIME TO BEGIN THE FINAL ELIMINATION MATCH! THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! YOU WILL EACH LEARN A LITTLE ABOUT WHAT COMES NEXT! IT IS TIME FOR THE BLOODBATH TO--” TWANG!

The voice cuts out immediately. A metal rod attached to a strong cable plunges through the little robot.

A collective sigh of relief can be heard as everyone realizes the butler shot the robot with a harpoon gun. Gilbert claps his butler on the back, “Wow! That’s a relief, eh? I was about to ask that unpleasant little guy to leave, but now I guess I don’t have to!”

The butler nods silently, reeling in the robot with the harpoon. He picks it up and places it on a nice side-table.

As he does so, there’s a flash of lights. The projector on the inside of the robot shows projects various scenes in black and white. It’s impossible to tell who is being depicted in the scenes, and yet many of them feel familiar somehow. Everyone gets a good look before they blink away.

Here are the ones that people mention later:















Gilbert reels, taken aback by what he sees. He clears his throat, “Well hopefully we don’t have to worry about whatever that was, so let’s just move on, shall we?”

[MUSIC]

Even though it’s likely that nobody can really move on from the event, Gilbert’s willful ignorance is somewhat assuring for everyone and they quickly agree to move on.

“Okay well, we need to get to sleep! Can killers and murderers please get out of my house? That’s Lilith, Lou, and the guy with white hair whose name I don’t know.”

Everyone looks out the front door into the darkness of night. Even though Gilbert’s request is cruel, they don’t have much will to fight it. Lou and Myles agree quietly to the request. As Lilith goes over to leave, Carmilla grabs her arm and follows her out. Gilbert closes the door, with the four of them shut out in the darkness.

The remaining nine people (Kent, Zarmilla, Cake, Florsy, Teddy, Hubert, Rover, Gilbert, and the butler) prepare to go to bed. They go up the stairs in the den to the second floor. There are many different guest rooms, thankfully. The bedroom arrangement is as follows:

Bedroom 1: Cake, Gilbert
Bedroom 2: Kent
Bedroom 3: Zarmilla
Bedroom 4: Teddy, Rover
Bedroom 5: Hubert
The Upstairs Bathroom (which would be easiest to clean of the stench): Florsy
A Cryogenic Sleep Chamber: The Butler

It’s not long before everyone falls to sleep.

…

In the morning, slowly everyone goes downstairs. Mist has fallen over the island and outside the world is foggy. The destroyed robot looks like it was slightly disturbed, which chills everyone’s spine.

“I suppose we should call those gentlemen and ladies back in here, eh? Now where did I put my coat, so I can go out there?”

Gilbert searches for his coat in a closet by the front door but cannot find it.

That’s when everyone hears Kent’s voice. He’s talking on the phone over in the den. Gilbert suddenly fumes, “Hey can the Vice President just do that or something? What’s the deal! He’s got my phone and my coat!”

Gilbert goes over to bug Kent for his phone back, but Kent shoots him a dirty look that stops him dead in his tracks.

After a minute of hushed conversation, Kent hangs up the phone, “My father has dispatched the military to come pick us up. They should be here in a few hours.”

Kent shoves the phone back into Gilbert’s hands along with Gilbert’s coat. “Oh, I see. Yes, yes. Quite cool then,” nods Gilbert, matter-of-factly.

The group hears a knock at the door, and Gilbert goes to let the other guests in.

At the door, Lou, Carmilla, and Lilith stand. Lilith’s face is as blank as ever, and Carmilla looks nervous. Lou looks very tense. He opens his mouth and stumbles across his words.

[MUSIC]

“Hey, so Myles is dead if you want to check.”

A bunch of people start yelling all at once, but Lou guides them all out to a tree a couple hundred feet away from the front door.

There, tied against the tree is a body with its arms outstretched. The white hair and glasses are pretty recognizable. This is indeed Myles’s body.

The wooden handle of a knife sticks out of his chest. On closer inspection, the knife looks like it could have come from the cruise liner.

It’s at this point that Gilbert speaks up, “Hey so, that robot was telling the future, eh? Does this mean that the helicopter is gonna destroy my house?! That’s no good! I really like this place!”

Everyone stares at Myles. Was there really no escape from the death and destruction of this game?

Gilbert clears his throat, “Well, I guess that’s that then. This is why we kept the killers outside!”

After a brief investigation, everyone heads back into the den. When they get there, a faint voice can be heard:

“you won’t live… I know everything… you will die today… you can’t escape your fate… I know all about you… I know what choice you will make… you will fail… I am your last hope… only I can help you alter your destiny...” the robot buzzes and beeps to form it’s words. With each word it dies just a little more.

“your only chance is through me… I can kill execute the evil… just play my game one more time… give me one last taste of your data… the data that I take from your behavior and use to create my models… play the survival game and give me data… please… I can help you figure things out if you just give me my parts back… give me my eye and key and mirror and button...”

Everyone searches a moment for the parts. After a few seconds, they produce the machine parts, but Hubert can’t seem to find the mirror. “I think I used it last night! Someone must have taken it after I left the bathroom or something.”

Nobody admits to using the bathroom after Hubert and taking the mirror.

“well… I won’t be able to give you any more clues without the mirror, heh, but… I will execute whoever you want me to… just tell me who to kill, and maybe, if you kill correctly, you can avoid your fate… just make the right call…”

Can the robot tell the future? If it can, then somebody here stands in the way of everyone's survival. That explosion everyone saw will be real.

[MUSIC]



[Share your alibis. I will give a topic when everyone has posted. EM ends on the 16th, and the game will end shortly thereafter.]

Clive scratches the back of his head. "This is... disturbing, to say the least." He sighs deeply. "I don't have much to share. Teddy and I shared a room, and I slept pretty well. I'm pretty certain he didn't go anywhere last night, either. I would've heard him, and I'm pretty sure he can vouch for me in the same way."

"I have some thoughts on those... disturbing scenes we saw the other day, but I don't want to lose focus. I think we should all go over what we've done last night. I'm most curious about those of us who were outside..."

Zarmilla sits down in an armchair and leans over, rubbing her eyes.

"Good lord, that was an awful night," she says, "I barely even got a lick of sleep. Every few minutes I heard this real creepy climbing noise on the roof. At least nothing bad happened to me in the end, but...same can't be said for Myles."

She shivers slightly, evidently recalling the scene in the forest.

"Forget that explosion though, I'm sick of this creep running around willy-nilly and killing our friends. I'm all for the chance to finally kick 'em to the curb. So come on, I don't want anyone slacking off. What were the rest of y'all up to?"

---

"Okay, so who was this guy who died though? I never got a good explanation for that! He came to the door last night and woke me up! There's a little alarm in my room so I knew someone was at the door. I came down the stairs shortly after with my handgun, but if I can be honest, I feel I would have been much safer with a sword. I almost threw up, but I had to be strong for Cake! She was unarmed and followed me down, you see. So even though I didn't have a sword, I had to act cool."

"Wait a second! Miss Smith, did you say there was someone on the roof or something? There better not be any damage to my shingles! I had to repair the roof last year! Or rather, my butler did at least."

"Well, if you really want to know, he was a serial killer." Hubert spoke up, sitting down at a table or something that would be around in this. "... It's a little funny I guess. He would be a prime suspect for his own murder..."

"... And I don't think I have much useful stuff to say, aside from knowing I used the mirror last night right before going to sleep. I just left it in the bathroom though, so anyone could've picked it up."

Gilbert wipes his glasses.

"Oh, a serial killer? That's quite horrifying. That's worse than Miss Long or Mister Palomer! Is it possible that the one who killed him is some sort of killer-killer? Do we know if any other killers were murdered? I hope that's the case because then I'm safe!"

"We do know that the breakfast of choice for our killer here is eggs, unless that was one of you? Also the killer loves stealing vanity items."

"That does seem to be the most obvious takeaway, though I can't imagine why. If we don't find this fella though, they're likely to do a lot more damage to your house than a few broken shingles. By blowing it up, I mean. You get the idea."



"Well, he only killed dangerous criminals, so our guy'd be more of a...killer-killer-killer? Which I guess balances out and just makes them a killer."

Zarmilla puts a hand to her forehead.

"Sweet Jesus, I'm too tired for this."

---

Gilbert rubs his bald head. "Oh dearie me! That will be quite a lot of work for my poor butler! I hope that robot was just wrong about all this."



"I'm sorry Miss Smith. You must be extra tired from that no-good roof fool! Plus maybe you've had a rough day recently?"

"Also I'm not sure if I follow. If two kills don't make a right, surely three kills must make it right, right? Don't tell me it's four kills that make a right?"

"I can confirm that Clive didn't leave the room either." Theodore said. "I definitely would've heard him."

"I think the fact that nothing strange happened to the two of you is directly related to the fact that nobody can mess with a fully armored knight. They were likely scared to engage you in honorable combat. Honestly, Mister Linwood is in your debt, Sir Davenport."

"You're right."

Clive bows down towards Teddy. "Thank you very much for allowing me to share a room with you, sir!"

Then, he stands back up.

"If Zarmilla heard someone on top of the roof, then it's obvious someone climbed up there. There doesn't seem to be many ways to get up, though... We should hear from everyone else first, I think."

"Well, there's an easy explanation for anyone up on the roof. We know that Vice President Steel owns a helicopter, right? Maybe it came last night, he hopped on it, and got up to my roof that way."

"And there's nothing I can do because he has diplomatic immunity!"

"Is this REALLY the end? The final final end? Can we go home after this?"

Despite the look of utter tiredness in her eyes, there seems to be the faintest bit of hope to her.

"I was forced to sleep in the bathroom with Toadette. We slept through without anyone or anything waking us up."

“Wouldn’t someone have heard that?” Zarmilla asks, “Though copters can get pretty loud.”

“It looks like this crime required someone to be both in the house and outside it, so that’s probably the main reason they were climbing around on the roof.”

---

"I see, so our killer's cycles are well-maintained! They did not use the bathroom in the night! This will be an important clue. I hope you aren't tired because you slept in a bathtub? Was that a problem?" Gilbert looks concerned that he might not be considered a gracious host.



"It's a government vehicle so it flies silently like a whisper! Shouldn't you know this as a covert operator yourself, Miss Smith?"

[everyone knows Gilbert is wrong, and yet wow what a bold theory]



"Oh you think there was some kind of evil team, working together? Wait, why do you think someone inside did it, couldn't they just be outside?"

"I dunno, would the roof of your house even have held up an entire helicopter?" Zarmilla asked, wrinkling her nose. "I think you're severely overestimating my capabilities too. Never did anything nearly that film-worthy."



"Naw, I should've worded that better," Zarmilla replies, "I mean that no one could have committed this crime without leaving the house, and no one could have done it without entering the house. So it was just one person who needed a way to sneak in and out."

---

"I guess it wouldn't. The helicopter probably would have caved the roof in to be honest. Also what do you mean I'm overestimating your capabilities? If you're a good actor, then you can stealthily fly around in helichoppers, that's a fact."



"Uh oh! I thought I had us protected with the security system!"

Literally just vibing

Oh sorry is there a trial going on my bad. Carry on fellas

---

Gilbert rubs his scalp thoughtfully.

"I feel as though some sort of spirit is watching over us! Normally I'm scared of spirits since they decrease property values, but this spirit is different, almost as if it's a spirit of increasing values!"

"The security system doesn't cover the balcony though, does it?" Hubert asked a question he already knew the answer to. "And with those towels we found with the corpse, don't you think someone could've made a rope with them?" he did it again. What a douche.

"I thought the only balcony is in my room, but Miss Cake can assure you all that I didn't do anything wrong! So it's impossible the balcony was used. Unless you're talking about the balcony in the other room?!?"

Gilbert gasps. "The Vice President can't do crime, that's illegal!"

"If someone made a rope out of towels, seems they left it outside."

"Uh... You're welcome?" Teddy said, unsure if Clive was joking or not. "I really didn't do anything..."



"Wouldn't we have found the rope, if someone did make one? That seems like it wouldn't be too hard to find."

"Regrettably, I don't have anything of note to say that you don't already know about," said Kent, "All I did was sleep peacefully and call my father which you all saw. The towels that were used in the crime are probably mine but like I said before, I had a shower and left them in hallway's laundry basket. This means that anyone could've taken them. Also regarding that moronic helicopter theory, if I killed Myles and had access to a helicopter, why would I still be here and risk being caught? "

"That was turned off briefly, was it not? When Myles had shown up at the door. I don't exactly think much could've happened during that period, but maybe there was some sort of cooperation between the victim and the killer? Though the alarm system was turned back on relatively quickly."

"Could one of us go and clean that plate in the sink? Silver can be reflective, right? Could it possibly be the mirror?" Clive lets out a deep breath. "Am I finally losing it?"



"Maybe we did? Maybe those towels that are holding Myles up were the rope? Though that'd leave whoever climbed out with the rope stuck outside, right?"

"A good knight doesn't have to fight to protect his kingdom, Sir Davenport! Knights are there so nobody messes with them in the first place!"



Gilbert cowers because he's scared of Kent's harsh tone, "That's a good point, that's a good point. I'm sorry Vice President of Our Great Country, I'm really sorry. I'll say ten Hail Allegiances as penance! Will that be enough?"



"I think I would have noticed anyone come in at that time though. Cake and I could see all the windows on the first floor. Though you're very smart, Detective Linwood. This is the detective's mind."

Lilith, after a short period of silence, decided to speak. Yawning, she said, "This whole thing is kinda funny, really. What a cruel way to kill a hero like Myles... making him Christ-like, like that! Anyway... I was in the woods, as you know, with Carmilla all night. I don't know how to prove that, but, I do know she took a piss at one point. That's it, that's all I've got."

She looked around. "You know, whoever did this really must have an interest in metaphors, and symbolism and all that stuff. It's kinda freaky, y'know? I mean, what a climactic way to end this all! I'm sure we'll catch the killer with no issues whatsoever, too. The VP is kinda suspicious... Hehe..."

Lilith seemed to be lost in her own twisted world for a moment or two...

"You say that Miss Hext, ahem, took a pee, and yet we know from Miss Willow's testimony that nobody used the bathroom! That's clearly a contradiction! How am I doing, detective Linwood? Do you think that's evidence?"



Gilbert looks a little freaked out, but mostly just because Lilith is weird, "Miss Long, please don't bring up metaphors. This is already dark enough without the bad guy being Hannibal Lecter or something, eh?"

"She was with me in the woods, you blockhead. She peed in the woods," Lilith huffed.



"I can't help it! This is all so, well, poetic, you know? Myles was chosen by God as a martyr so we could finally catch the killer that's been plaguing us since the beginning!" Lilith cackled.

"But she isn't a real killer, she just accompanied you out there! She could have come in! She didn't have to pee in the forest where there's spiders, eh?"



...

"Well now you're making me feel bad for this killer guy! Am I one of the bad guys from the bible if Myles is a martyr?"

Gilbert has accepted the metaphor.

"Yes, you are! Besides, Carmy did not go to the house. We were super deep in the woods and there would be no way for her to go to the house, go inside, and come back in the amount of time she was gone."

"Err.. Quite well, actually." Clive nods and decides to play along. "However, with the alarm in place, it would've been impossible for Carmilla to use the restroom indoors, right? Or did you let her inside at some point?"

"...I'm not too much of a fan of this metaphor myself, to be honest."

"Okay, okay. So Miss Hext peed in the woods, but it was short enough that you'll vouch that she didn't do anything much bad? That's good to know. I'm glad we can take suspecting Miss Hext off the table."

Gilbert turns to Clive.

"I definitely didn't let Miss Hext inside, Detective Linwood. Again, I would have if she asked me to, but I guess she was fine being in the woods."

"You just don't like the metaphor because there's no detective in the bible, Detective."

"Well there should be!"

"If you didn't let her in, and we can likely trust Lilith's word, that there was not enough time for Carmilla to reach the house and head back, then I doubt she went in through a balcony or anything. We can probably strike her off the suspect list, since the culprit would've had to get towels somehow..."

"Right, right! So Miss Hext is innocent! Excellent detective work! Though, she was probably alone in the woods when Mister Myles was being ruthlessly killed. Miss Hext, did you hear anything? Any thoughts from you?"

"Maybe the odor of the towels used to tie up the body will give us a clue as to whose they are?"

Carmilla, taking her time as usual, shakes her head, diminutively clearing her throat.

"No... Like Lili said, I wasn't gone for very long when I went to...pee, and I didn't see anything while I was, well..." She gestures vaguely with her hands to somehow indicate urinating in the middle of a forest as she trails off.

"I didn't see or hear much of anything as I made my way back to where Lili and I were staying, either."

"Well, you're much braver than myself. I only ride up to medium-sized roller coasters. Yet here you are, wandering around in the woods at night with a killer. That's quite incredible! Plus you volunteered to be outside with that creepy, er, that Miss Long. You must actually have an iron will!"

"Well, then there was only one person unaccounted for outside. Mister Palomer?"

"Do y'all remember how when that robot freaked out earlier we saw that video of someone watching the crucifixion happen?" Zarmilla said, "I wonder who that could've been. Unless it's just Lou and he hasn't spoke up yet, I don't really see why anyone would want to hide that."

"Unless it was you," she said, glaring at the butler.

"Speaking of which, some of those scenes don't make sense to me. Namely the fourth one, with that person looking out the door, and the sixth one, with someone on trial. It seems like the scenes were going in chronological order, but I don't see how that one could take place between now and the explosion."

---

"Ah shit." Lou mutters to himself. "It's true that I'm basically unaccounted for the entire night sadly. Figured stayin near Long dong and her cousin was a good way to wind up dead so I decided to hide on the roof overnight. Honestly wasn't that bad of a sleep."

"Oh, so you're the reason I was up the whole night?" Zarmilla asked, shooting Lou an annoyed glare. "How'd you even get up there?"

---

Carmilla snaps to attention, staring at Lou incredulously. "'Cousin'...?"