Among Us
A flash fiction story from the Preternatural Chronicles
The hunt has always given me goosebumps while simultaneously providing an anxious feeling of hot air drifting up my spine to make the hairs on my neck stand on end. It always felt like someone was watching whenever I stalked my prey. Tonight was no different.
I, the super sexy and ultra-buff vampire, John Cook, was about to kill someone I called a friend; and it was exciting in a way that was hard to put to words. I knew I should feel guilty, but this was too much fun.
Ahead of me was Warden Broadway, who made the mistake of accusing me of killing another from our group of friends, almost getting me executed in the process. Only Depweg came to my defense, convincing the others that Hayley couldn’t have seen me do what I absolutely did do. What can I say? Killing is in my nature.
The big metal door hisses open and she steps in, unaware that I am behind her with no witnesses around. The time is now. She will pay for betraying me.
Before she even knows I am there, my hands squeeze her head and jerk until her neck pops, and her body topples to the floor in front of me.
The door hisses once more, and the bottom drops out of my stomach as I slowly turn to see Ludvig staring with wide eyes as I stand over his girlfriend’s corpse.
Without a word, Ludvig does a 180 and sprints toward the others, ready to turn me in for my crimes. I can’t let him live now. Too bad, I really liked him.
I take off, hot on his trails, dodging and weaving with absolute grace as I watch him bang into walls and doors in his urgent, uncoordinated haste. It’s almost as if his brain is having trouble sending the commands to the rest of his body.
I can see the group ahead of us completing their assigned tasks. Ludvig is almost to them when he catches himself on the doors edge, halting his progress enough to let me close the distance.
I summon a knife, seemingly from nowhere, and stab him repeatedly in the back. A trembling hand reaches out for the group just ahead of us before falling to the floor, lifeless.
“Sorry buddy,” I say under my breath as I turn and flee the scene.
I walk around, uninterested in completing any tasks accept to kill. It’s as if I am possessed and can’t help myself.
Depweg and I pass one another, and my breath catches for a moment as I realize he will find Ludvig and figure out it was me. Then I relax as I remember that he had my back before, and would probably do it again, so there’s no reason to kill him.
As expected, Depweg comes across the very dead Ludvig and reports the body to the group.
Come on buddy, I silently pray to myself. Don’t turn me in.
An emergency meeting is called and the group collects around a table to discuss the dead body. Depweg has the floor since he is the one who found the stabbed corpse.
“Where’s Hayley?” he asks the group.
“Haven’t seen her,” I chime in before chastising myself. Sometimes it is better to remain quiet and let others blame one another.
“Where did you find the body?” Locke asks.
“Just outside of this room.”
“Who do you think it is?” Magni asks, clearly nervous.
“I was with Depweg, so I don’t think it was him,” I say confidently before adding a thoughtful, “Hmmm” so the rest of the group knows I’m trying to figure out who the murderer is.
“Actually, John, I saw you heading away from where I found the body. Care to explain?”
Lilith damn it, Deppyweg! I curse inwardly. “I didn’t see anything when I walked by there…until you that is. Plus you vetted me earlier, but I didn’t see you. I thought it was odd that you covered for me.”
“So you think the killer is Depweg?” Locke asks.
“WHAT!?” Depweg demands. “I’m the one who reported the freaking body!”
“That is exactly what I would have done, Depweg. Kill the body and frame someone I saw running by themselves. But you made the mistake of telling everyone I wasn’t it last time. So that means it’s you!”
“I…no!”
“Okay, so vote Depweg?” Locke asks.
“There’s only four of us left, so if we are wrong…” I point out.
“I’ll vote who you tell me to,” Magni added, clearly unsure.
“Guys! It’s John!” Depweg pleads.
“Nice try,” Locke slides in, “John’s right. You vetted him earlier, but he didn’t clear you.”
“John will kill you if you execute me.”
“Yeah. It’s Depweg. That’s exactly what I would say if I were the killer,” I say while inwardly grinning at my own genius.
“Guys! Don’t!” Depweg tries one last time.
“Too late. Already voted,” Locke admits.
“Yeah. Me too,” Magni says.
As I prepare to cast my friend into the flames and end his life, I say to the group, “I can’t wait to kill you, Locke,” as I click the button and watch as Depweg is thrown into boiling lava.
“WHAT!?” Locke cries out, right as the meeting is over and I casually walk up to where he is cowering into the wall with nowhere to go.
I click the Kill button and my avatar shoots out a spine from his mouth and pierces Locke’s skull, ending his life.
The screen goes black and shows me standing alone with the word Victory hovering above my name. Though, to my friends, their phone screens say Defeat.
“God damn it!” Locke cries out from where he is sitting on the couch.
Depweg drops his phone to his lap and stares daggers at me, as does the rest of the group.
“I can’t believe you let me kill all of you soooo easily,” I victoriously announce while throwing my fists above my head. “Good game!”