“I want to report...” Blue's voice was shaky, she wasn't very good at suppressing her emotion. You watched how her fists clenched, hẻ gloves tightened on the table as her head hung low. She exhaled sharply, “Yellow's dead body. I think everyone had already saw her...”
You fell asleep earlier in security but was woken by the loud siren noise that tore through the air. Your head was numb from the amount of headache you had experienced for the time. Everyone was at the table. You sat to the right of Red, you took a glance at him.
His head was up and looking but he seemed to zone out. The tensed air was contributed of heavy breathing, occasional sniffs from Blue. You looked across the table, Purple was shaking. Although it wasn't from grief like how Blue's shoulders were, but rather agitation. A constant light tapping in the background made by him drew Orange's attention.
“Who did it?” the first to spoke up was Orange. His suit expanded then compressed, the loud breathing was the result of the action. You turned to him with your tired eyes that you were sure had turned puffy and red from crying.
No answer was given. Blue hiccup made your stomach turned, it was funny how the the quiet sound was louder than the siren that rang earlier. Time drastically dragged itself as you watched Orange's eyes travelled slowly at each person. You closed your eyes subconsciously when his eyes landed on you.
The air you sucked in burned your lungs, it scratched roughly against your throat. It was forcing you to gag, to throw up the disgusting reality. Yellow, the one that was more than just someone that saved your life. She was the mother figure, she was the one that looked after everyone when disaster happened. However, no one looked out for Yellow when dismay came for her.
Another tear built up in the corner of your eye that you didn't know you were still capable of crying at this point. It stung as you felt it rolled down, losing its heat and by the time it reached the edge of your cheek it was as cold as the lonely look Yellow had when you saw her.
“Purple was with Blue walking from the left side of the ship. I was already in electrical before that and,” you instinctively looked up and out of the corner of your eyes, Red mirrored the same action as Orange continued, “it leaves...”
“Me, her and Yellow. We came from the right side of the ship,” Red mumbled, his head buried into his gloved hand. You tilted your head backward, forcing back another tear that was thrashing its way out. You couldn't bare to allow your weakness to show right now.
“Exactly.”
“God… I think I'm going to lose my damn mind,” you breathed out, “It is true that I exited admin with Red but if I tried something he would have noticed right away. We were literally less than 10 steps away.”
“She's right,” Purple spoke up, his voice was dry, “It would work perfectly if Red was the killer as well.”
“I agree with you Purple. It would work but the only case left that would pull Red and White out suspicious while someone… or something to commit such a bloody scene is for them to work together. A murderous duo,” the guy said, standing up from his seat. Hands slammed onto the table. You could feel his burning gaze looking down at you with disgust, his tongue spat like a snake with sharp fangs bared at you viciously.
“Listen Orange,” Red demanded as he also stood up. Blue had stopped sobbing as she listened intensely, you watched one of her hand gripped the material of her suit where her heart was supposed to be. You could easily tell, the poor girl was one of those with a fragile glass heart. She had already witnessed the bloody death and now she was forced to sit through the argument involving those she loved dearly regarding the matter of life or death.
“First off, we met with Yellow in cafeteria and we all have card swipe. I had download task so I left the ladies and Yellow to guide her at the card swipe machine. It was indeed around 10 steps away and light was on,” Red explained, “Even when the light went off then I would be able to hear Yellow's scream for help so therefore, the incident... happens afterwards.”
“I don't know... I don't know anymore,” Orange shook his head, letting himself falling back onto the bench. Fists balled, he mumbled, “Still, I don't have a good feeling about Red and White...”
You turned to Red. He did retell the story although he forgot an important piece that has the ability to overturn all suspicious towards you and you only. You were gone when light was off for sometime and if you were indeed an imposter, a monster to be exact, the damage you could inflict would be more than just something on the surface. The wounds on Yellow's body was the perfect reflection of what the imposter was capable of.
“Alright Orange, what makes you innocent since you're suspicious of us? Blue and Purple, and you know we were walking as a team. Who would say it wasn't your doing?” Red sighed and sat down, leaning back. You frowned, a hint of confident flashed through his voice until he cleared his voice right away. Why would he sound so assure? He was one of the pair that was on the verge of getting eject.
“What do you mean it could be me? What is this you are trying to pull Red? I was at electrical way before that. If I kill Yellow, I would have to pass you both,” you could feel the glaring Orange was darting at the guy sitting next to you, “And surely you wouldn't let me pass with blood dripping on my suit. Would you… killer?”
“Orange!” Blue voiced desperately, you couldn't help but glanced at her pitiful figure, “You can't say that! It's not Red and White. They wouldn't do such a thing to Yellow.”
“One of us isn't be truthful. The imposter killed Yellow and I can say it wasn't me nor my partner. With the wounds on Yellow, the imposter can't be a normal person. It's simply impossible and I'm sure we've all seen it,” Red sighed, “The imposter is dressing to be one of us but they must have special ability as well. Even to say it's not one of us, who walked our ways to electrical. They must have some sort of teleportation destination to appear from one place to another at such speed or a tool that had been disguised on the ship.”
“And what are you suggesting?” Purple asked.
“Things that can connect chambers together...” you mumbled. Something in you switched. He couldn't be indicating the vents... Where could he has gotten an idea of all this?
“Air ventilation system,” Blue looked up, horror cleared as daylight in her voice. Her hand failed to hide the look on her face behind the reflection. You stared at her for a second, tried to see through the blank space. Nothing was in your vision.
“You're crazy!” Orange spat, “This is insanely ridiculous. The system is something every single ship has beside no one could use this ship's vents to go around like that-”
“Have you seen this ship's vent?” you simply asked, “You could definitely pass through it easily if you are skilled enough.”
“You guys are teaming on me...”
“We're not,” you inhaled deeply.
“I think we'll need some proof. I agree with Orange that all of this seems to be quite farfetch. I don't mean to blame you and Red for Yellow's death but,” Purple tried to explain, “I myself find it hard to believe that someone can actually go through the vents. The other vents that I have seen on other spaceship are small in size and machineries inside pose as a challenge to pass through them.”
“Blue, do you have any big boxes?” Red asked, you tailed him as he walked over to vent at the corner of cafeteria, “One that might be as big as this vent?”
“I think so. We use them to transport food so we might have one around here…” the girl shakily stood up. You watched as she dragged her inanimated legs, her body swayed each steps she took. Your eyes followed, half relieved she was willing to oblige instead of arguing back while the other half was filled with worrisome.
“What are you trying to do Red?” the words fell out of your mouth but no sound was made. The guy in red glanced at you, caught your mouthing. Through the obscured view on his helmet, you could feel his eyes. Determined, strong and they were calculating something that would help you both.
The box hit the table with a small thud, you gulped. Orange folded his arms in a challenging manner. It was obvious that the cardboard box was much smaller than his body frame. The cafeteria's space filled with silence, eyes from everywhere focused solely on the guy who stood up calmly.
“Orange,” Red called out, he stood onto the vent by the far side of the room. Half hovered, half standing, you anxiously watched as Orange approached Red. Each steps he took were a firm thud: he was sure the win was his and it was simply too easy.
The second guy took the cardboard box from the first guy, they exchanged a knowing glance. No word was spoken. Orange raised the frame above his head, he carefully slid it through his helmet. The side of the material twitched and bent to adjust, it went through his helmet.
Heavy breathings that were more closely to pants heaved to a stop when Orange shrugged his shoulders. Arms fell from the box to his side. He was done. To everyone who was watching, the result was clear as day. The frame stuck, dangled on one side of his shoulder. It looked tight and uncomfortable on him with the bodysuit.
“Well Red,” you flinched at Orange's voice, desperation ran through your veins. It was over for you and for him. You looked up at Blue, eyes darting back to Purple. Your voiceless look pleaded for dear life that was destined and indefinitely going to take away. You would be eject out of the spaceship and left at God's mercy.
“It's pretty obvious you're wrong,” Orange's lips stretched into a cocky smirk, confidence exerted from his posture. He clicked his tongue, his gaze met yours, “If only you didn't stand up for your fellow friend, we could have had a harder time figuring the other to your impostor duo. However... I guess there is no need now.”
“Red… is that true?” Purple's fingers balled into a fist, his voice low and suspicion was radiating in the air. You could imagine his face with the tone of hurt: eyes dilated in disgust, face sour with distrust.
“You've been with us for such a long time. Since the start of all of this... It can't be!” despised Blue's effort to hide the shock, her own voice betrayed her.
“Well… I guess we'll have to eject-”
Thud.
The frame of the box that was previously hanging on Orange's shoulders for support had landed on the floor, to be more exact the vent. Everything happened so swiftly that you thought you missed the action through layer of your lashes. Nonetheless, you didn't blink and you were sure no one else did as you were once again met with silence.
“You were saying Orange?” Red lifted his head up to the sound. A small victorious smile played on his lips.
“Red you bastard,” the name was rudely spat out through gritted teeth that he bared. Orange's fists balled tightly while his eyes directly glaring at the other guy, piercing through the solid atmosphere, “You set all of this up yourself! You knew all of this from the beginning and you are going to blame it all on me!”
“It can't be Red... he wasn't the one that chose the box so he couldn't have tamper with the result,” Purple commented. In the quick second, you saw the life sucked out of Blue when she whipped her head towards the guy who was speaking, “But again... it can't be Blue either, I was with her the whole time.”
“I guess we can safely say that Blue and Purple clear each other,” you spoke up, Orange's attention immediately fell on you, “I was with Red and Orange was the only one who was alone.”
“But it's not me I swear! The ventilation system that connects together only go through certain rooms. The one that connects admin also go through the one in cafeteria and the hallway on the right hand side of the ship,” Orange paused, taking everyone's facial changes, “The one that I was in the room with was electrical. It connects with medbay and security. Beside even if I manage to kill Yellow and vent back, I won't make it in time.”
“It makes sense I guess…” Red folded his arms, “With that being said, we'll need to count the vote for who to be eject out of the ship. The impostor is too dangerous to be keep alive on the ship.”
“I'm voting White,” Orange mumbled. You frowned, watching him.
“I'm skipping,” Blue sighed, she shook her head and stood up from the table, “I'm taking a break after this.”
“I'm voting Orange,” you looked away, eyes followed Blue's exhausted figure. You stood up after her, “I'm going to check up with Blue.”
“I'm skipping as well. All of this is making my head hurts,” Purple said. Everyone's voice was getting fainter as you approached Blue by her side. Her lips tightened into a forced smile and she mumbled a thank you.
“I'm skipping too,” it was Red's voice and the rest of the conversation whisked through your ears like a blurr.
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Well well well, we've reached over 10,000 words hehe my braincells are fried so this marks the end of part 1: Imposter Among Us. I'll be taking a short break but I won't drop the story. Promise.
Thank you for all of your support. Spam the comment section, vote and add this book of whatever it is to your library.
Much love.