Among Us

Chapter 17

I took out my screwdriver with a shaky hand and knelt down.

I unscrewed the screws as quietly as possible and opened the vent, slowly and careful not to make any noise.

I couldn't take any chances. If Jacks was the killer and knew I was on to him, he would probably kill me.

Based on his reluctance to confess he had been kissing me during the meeting, I knew he didn't truly love me. No way he did. 

"Jacks, I'm going to the restroom!" I said. Jacks was in the hallway somewhere, but I knew he was head-fist in an electrical compartment, and on the opposite way of the hallway. 

The second I spoke, I knew my lie wouldn't be enough.  I would be at serious risk of being killed If I went alone. He would probably offer to some with m-. 

"Okay! Don't go far!"

I froze, waist-deep in the vents.

He.... wasn't worried?

He didn't care?

Or maybe... maybe he knew there was nothing to worry about.

I shook my head and tried resisting the tears. No. It couldn't be him.

I plopped down and cringed at the soft clank my thick boots made when connecting with the cold metal. I then closed the vent and started crawling. 

Sure enough, there was a small arrow pointing to the two nearest rooms. I followed one, which was not labeled but a bright, important-looking blue. After many twists and turns, I found a dead end.

Of course. 

The killer was smarter than that. No way he would hide his valuables, kill to hide them, and then draw a bright blue arrow pointing at the things he was smuggling.

But then, where would he hide them? 

I thought for a second and then decided to follow the arrows. I would visit every single room and look for anything unusual.

I passed engines and heard the usual loud rumbling, the magnitude amplified by the hollow tunnels. I kept going. Nothing odd anywhere. Veery room had the same, uniform, metal tunnels, that wooshed with gusts of wind, echoing like a ghost's wail. I passed Cafeteria, my knees burning. Nothing.

I turned to admin.

I followed the tunnel and reached a place near the card swipe. I sighed and began unscrewing the vents. I was keeping quiet, but I wasn't too worried about someone seeing me.  Aron and Cain were in Engines. They had no reason to be here. 

I was unscrewing the vent from the inside when my screwdriver fell, making a hollow clank as it bounced off the floor and then off the wall. I cursed quietly and picked it up, then stopped.

It was hollow?

 I ran my hand through the entire floor, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. I checked the wall. My hands slid over the smooth metal, only to feel a slight bump near the middle of the vent. I prodded at it. I slid it to the side. I pushed at it. I tried grabbing the slight bump with my nails to no avail. Finally, I pushed it inwards and slid it to the side, and the entire panel popped open. 

No smoke came flowing out. The lights didn't dim. The rocket didn't shake. The vents didn't cave in. There seemed to be nothing in the small compartment. Nothing important. Just an ordinary compartment, a foot wide, probably just a defect. An extra space with nothing to fill it.

I was about to close it when I noticed the slight change of light near the corner. I reached in and felt the wall, but it was closer than it appeared. The real wall was behind whatever I was touching. It was like there was a small box there, made from the same materials as the room it was in. Made specifically to blend in. 

I had found it. 

I had found the killer's stash. 

I grabbed hold of it and pulled it out. Sure enough, it was a small metal cube. 

It fit snuggly in the palm of my hand, shining innocently in the dim light. 

This is what people were being murdered over?

I ran my hand over it's cold, smooth surface and noticed the slight grooves in its side. It was what I had noticed reflecting light. I ran my hand over it again and again.

My fingers stopped suddenly.

It was brail. A language long forgotten, as people could just get surgery to fix blindness now, but a language I had learned for fun.  I ran over it again and again. 

U

The letter U.

Just one letter, but it brought chills down my spine. I reached my trembling hand back in the compartment and felt another cube, making me freeze. I gingerly touched the left side, hoping I was wrong. Praying I was being paranoid. But to my dismay, the side was embroiled with two letters.

Pu.

The world slowed down. All I could hear were my breaths and the rapid beating of my heart in my ears.

U and Pu.

Uranium and Plutonium.

The two elements used in the most destructive weapon of all time: 

The atomic bomb.