For several seconds, Flaggy could only stare at the horrendous event in front of her. Thoughts raced through her mind, each one worst than the last. At the same time, it was like her brain had shut down. She couldn't move, or speak, or do anything.
Marshmallow finally stopped her unnecessarily gory act. Breathing heavily, she dropped the kitchen knife into TV's torso - the very same utensil used to slice off his arm three days previously. Several wires and other electronics were still gripped tightly in her left hand, but they were quickly let go the moment she looked up and saw Flaggy. Her insanity-filled expression cleared ever-so-slightly. "Err..."
Making eye contact with Marshmallow was enough to snap Flaggy out of her trance. She shook her head hard before looking back up. "S-stay where you are," she choked.
Marshmallow ran.
"HEY!" screamed Flaggy, immediately breaking into a sprint as well. "GET BACK HERE!!"
Both girls dashed out the side exit of the mess hall and into the morning drizzle. Marshmallow went east, towards the infirmary, but suddenly cut south and headed down the path that led to the lounge. Tears and raindrops began to blur Flaggy's vision somewhat, but determined, she wiped her wet hair out of her face and continued pursuing.
The lounge came into view. From ahead of Marsh, the door opened, and Marble stepped out. She hesitated when she saw the chase. "What?"
"MARBLE! IT'S MARSHMALLOW!" Flaggy shouted in desperation. "SHE- SHE KILLED TV!"
All it took was a quick glance at Marsh's blood-stained shirt to convince Marble, but before she could react, the murderous girl had already streamed past her, through the lounge and out the other door. Marble joined Flaggy in the chase.
Marshmallow took a hard left and Flaggy realized where she was going. Her cabin. Who knows what weapons she might have stashed in there? She did her best to increase her speed, but a sinking feeling told her that she wouldn't catch up in time.
Seconds before Marsh reached the door of Cabin 7, Cheesy dived out of the tree line and tackled her, football-style. They skidded through the mud in a flurry of limbs with Cheesy coming out on top. Pinning her to the ground, he began to punch her in the face mercilessly. "YOU— FUCKING— BITCH!" he screamed furiously between blows, tears starting to stream down his cheeks. "BOX NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU! WHY DID YOU KILL HIM? WHY!?"
"Cheesy, stop!!" cried Flaggy. But Cheesy didn't even hear her. He only ceased when Bone and Bottle came down the path and pulled him off of Marsh. Both kids were covered in mud. Marsh's face was a black-and-blue mess, bruises already forming where Cheesy had struck her. Her nose was clearly broken, the gushing blood mixing with the light rain on her face, and one of her eyes had already swollen shut.
Marble walked over, grabbed Marsh's arm, and yanked her to her feet, only to immediately slam her against the nearest tree. "I hope you appreciate what you've done, the hell that you've put us all through," she growled.
"Marble, stop." Flaggy wrenched the healthy girl away from the injured one. "It's... it's over. We've won, and we're alive. I-" Despite her tender throat, she took a deep, rattling breath, forcing her voice to stay steady. She desperately wanted to take out her anger as well, but she swallowed back several insults. "I want to get revenge, too, but any more violence is only going to worsen things." Now that Marshmallow had been stopped, she allowed the hot tears and rainwater to freely flow down her face.
"I couldn't have said it any better myself."
The five survivors turned around and were utterly unsurprised to see Oodle emerge from the dense forest holding a green umbrella. "This game is basically over," he agreed. "But first, let's give ol' Marshy Marsh a chance to explain how she dunnit all."
They looked back. Marshmallow coughed up some blood, having slid back down to the wet ground again but still leaning against the tree. "Oh, you want to know how I killed everyone?" She chuckled, then coughed again. "It would be my pleasure."
Marble groaned. "Please. We don't need any clichés."
Marsh ignored her and began to speak. "On that first night, when I took quesadillas to Barf Bag and Fireball, Barf Bag mentioned how Fireball should stay in the infirmary for the night to heal. It was so easy to sneak out later and find something lethal in the infirmary to inject her with."
"That day Dicey fell down the stairs - he really did just trip on his own, the clumsy little idiot. I left the arts and crafts cabin to get the others and found Barf Bag alone in the lounge. Now, I'd already swiped a pair of scissors from the A&C cabin when nobody was looking, and it was a risky move, but..." Marshmallow began to giggle.
"What's so funny?" demanded Bone.
She let it die off. "Oh, nothing. It's just..." Another quiet giggle escaped her split lips. "I guess you could say that killing Barf Bag was a roll of the dice."
The others would have groaned had the mood not been sour enough. "Jeez, tough crowd," Marsh muttered.
"Just get on with it," Cheesy spat.
"Yeah, yeah. For the record, me vomiting when I 'stumbled across' Barf Bag's body was totally real, as was me recovering the next day. Buuuut, I quickly got used to the blood. Anyways, y'all know how the archery range is really close to Cabin 2? You can get there and back within five minutes if you cut though the woods. The morning after I was sick, I got up early, went there to grab a bow and arrow, and waited until Box left the cabin to go kill Conditioner. Stubborn girl didn't die the first time, so I had to shoot her twice. Then I just walked to the showers and took a quick one as an alibi."
So she DID have hidden strength, Flaggy thought to herself.
Marshmallow chuckled again. "Man, the discussion for that kill sure was a train wreck. It had its uses, though. I know my own strength, and I know those bows would have been nearly impossible for anyone else to draw back. Box-" Cheesy choked out a sob at the mention of the younger kid's name. "-made it extra easy by wanting to be alone for a while in the A&C cabin; all I had to do was sneak past Bottle, shoot the kid, and get out. She wasn't hard to get by. Your 'detective work' did the rest during the discussion."
Bone put his face in his hands as the murderer continued. "I will say, Marble, your disappearance and reappearance into and from the woods did concern me. I was the one who snuck into your cabin while you slept and stole the laptop."
"Rrrrr..." Marble growled again.
"You all already know that my attempt to hack TV's arm nearly worked, but I had to help save Flaggy to keep up appearances. I was stupid to stay around at the time. Too many people there. Looking back on it, it's pretty ironic that my own life was almost ended by my own means, in a roundabout way."
"As for Flower, I had kept an eye on her for the whole game. The moment I realized she had a showering schedule, I knew she was dead. Stealing TV's arm back was such a cinch — you guys should really be better at securing your cabins. After that, I only had to go back to the lounge and pretend to be asleep on the floor."
"Shut up shut up shut UP" Cheesy whimpered, hands on the sides of his head. Bottle placed a palm on his back for support.
Marshmallow's face darkened. "God, I'm STILL pissed at Bowling Ball and Suitcase for offing themselves like that. They were my best alibis." Nobody knew how to even respond to such a horrendous statement. "My anger and frustration yesterday at that was completely real, but it was also a good front to get rid of that meddling Brain. He almost caught me, too. Of course I had to get the smart one as a cabin mate."
"And TV?" Flaggy prompted, unsure if she actually wanted the answer or not.
"Oh, I just killed him so that his escape plan couldn't be formed."
Bone gaped at her. "But... why!? If we had managed to figure something out, you could have escaped as well!!"
Marsh smiled a creepy smile at him through the strands of wet hair half-covering her face. "Haven't you figured it out yet? There was no 'escape plan.' At least, not one that would have worked. Even if we somehow managed to get outside the invisible barrier surrounding this place, Oodle's higher-ups would just order him to teleport us back. Or worse. The only way out of this game is for the killer to kill, and the killer is me. I hold all the power here!"
A laugh bubbled up from inside her. It started quietly at first, but rapidly grew into something resembling maniacal. And in that moment, the others realized what had truly happened to her. Marshmallow may have been fine mentally when she got here, but Bowling Ball's and Suitcase's deaths were the last straw. Any remaining thread of sanity Marsh may have possessed had snapped in the previous night's storm. She'd been driven off the edge of insanity.
The unnerving cackling eventually petered off, replaced by more coughing. In turn, Oodle cleared his throat. "Well. We're... almost... done here. But there's still a couple things to do before I send you guys back home."
"Are you SERIOUS?" complained Marble. "I know you don't like doing this, but can't you just let us GO already?"
"I'm still as bound by the rules as you are," Oodle replied sadly. He pulled out a regular 6-sided die and everyone's eyes widened. "The murderer has been outed. Now we have to choose who'll end the life of one who ended so many others."
"Poetic," Bone muttered, his eyes crimson.
Oodle dropped the die on the muddy grass unceremoniously. Flaggy saw her face flash by, as well as everybody else's, even Marshmallow's (although hers was X'ed out). Finally, it settled. The face-up face was kind; one who always smiled and saw the best in others, even if it was a little goofy at times.
The person in question stared at it uncomprehendingly, a smile frozen on their face. "What?"
The lines on Oodle's face only deepened as he handed his revolver to Bottle. Even he didn't have any words to this.
Bottle took the revolver before she fully realized what was happening. Her smile began to falter. "B-but I... I... I can't shoot someone. That's not preventing death..."
"You know what happens if you don't."
Smile gone completely now, Bottle turned to Marshmallow and lifted the weapon almost in a trance. She hesitated, obviously reluctant. The others tensed.
"Well?" Marshmallow croaked. She spat blood onto the grass. "Do it."
Bottle remained silent and frozen. Rolling her eyes, Marshmallow slowly got to her feet, groaning in pain the whole way, then swiftly thrust her forehead in front the barrel. "DO IT!!!" she shrieked, loud enough to make Bottle flinch and
bang
pull the trigger.
Marshmallow fell to the grass, dead. A fresh hole in her head began to add to the already existing pool of blood on the path.
Bottle's hands shook. The gun slipped from her fingers. "I... I..."
"Hey." Voice quiet, Cheesy placed a hand on her shoulder. He no longer looked angry at anything, only sad. "It's ok. It's alright."
Bottle looked at him. "No. It's- it's not ok." She put a hand to her forehead and chuckled nervously, unsettlingly. Her eyes were crazed. "All my life, I've been dedicated to helping save other's lives. I have saved other's lives. Prevented death. But now I've created it. What does that make me? A hypocrite?"
"No, no! Not in the slightest! It-"
Cheesy cut himself off as he witnessed the mad smile form on Bottle's face. When she looked him in the eye, what he saw there terrified him. "I'm a murderer, aren't I?" she whispered.
He opened his mouth to rebuke her, to remind her that she had been forced into it, but she wrenched away from his grasp and paced in circles, muttering inanely to herself.
Bone carefully approached Cheesy. "She'll... she'll heal eventually. I'm sure of it."
"I'm not sure of anything anymore," he whispered back. Tears were leaking down his face again, no longer mixed with raindrops. The light drizzling had stopped at some point. None of them were sure when.
Oodle picked up the now empty revolver from the ground and shook the mud off it. "Huh. Six bullets for six accused. I didn't even have to reload once."
Marble just looked at him. She didn't even seem angry anymore either, just tired and defeated. "Can we please go home now?"
"Almost." Oodle brightened as he remembered what he was about to say. "But I promise you guys that this last thing is good news."
"Anything related to this game can't possibly be good, unless you're about to send us-"
"I talked to my superiors and managed to convince them to revive someone."
That stopped Marble in her tracks. Flaggy gaped at Oodle as well. "What." Bone stated. "They can just... bring someone back??"
"Ayyyyyup."
"Then why put us in this pointless game?" Marble shouted, suddenly angry once again. "Why not just revive everybody who died, except for that murderous little bitch, and return us ALL to our homes??"
"The higher-ups prefer the term recover. And you already know why I can't just go against their orders."
Marble clammed up.
Oodle raised a finger into the air and slowly lowered it. "Flaggy," he said suddenly. "Since you're the one who figured it all out, you get to choose who comes back to life."
He pointed directly at the green-haired girl, taking her by surprise. "...are you serious?"
"Yes!"
"I... w... wow. Ok. Um." Flaggy began to think hard. TV jumped right to the front of her mind, but as tempted as she was to choose him right away, she kept pondering her options. Conditioner, 3D-Printed Naily, Envelope... there weren't many people she particularly wanted back. She also thought of Suitcase or Bowling Ball, but choosing one over the other would likely not result in a happy recovery. TV seemed like the best option.
Then she wondered, Who might the OTHERS want back?
And the second she looked and saw Cheesy's hopeful, pleading eyes, Flaggy knew her decision had already been made for her. She quickly turned to Oodle, saying only one word: "Box."
The counselor smiled warmly. He snapped his fingers and, out of thin air, Box materialized. The boy appeared confused at first, looking down at his hands, then gently patting his chest as if searching for a hole.
"B...Box?" Cheesy stuttered quietly.
The younger kid looked up as Cheesy stepped forwards and slowly, very carefully, touched Box's head to make sure he was real. "BOX!!" he shouted suddenly, grabbing the kid in a hug and lifting him off the ground. He was openly crying once more, this time out of jubilation, tears spilling onto Box's mess of dirty blond hair. "Oh my stars! I- I can't believe you're really alive!! Ahahahaha!! I missed ya, kid!"
Flaggy's eyes shone. Bone suddenly broke out in tears too, just from the sheer joy he was witnessing. Marble smiled a little and placed a hand on her hip. "I'm not really one for sappy stuff, but I gotta admit, that... does put a smile on my face." Even Bottle's eyes seemed to clear a little momentarily, but she quickly went back to quiet, incoherent rambles.
Cheesy set Box down suddenly and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Kid, I read your letter, and yes, I will absolutely come take you from your parents. Wow, that sounded bad. Your abusive parents. I'll take care of you like you really are my little bro, and-" He gasped. "I don't know your address! Quick, spell it out for me!"
Box spelled out the name of his address as fast as he could, which still wasn't very fast. "Alright. Alright, I'll remember that. I'll come by tonight, ok?" he promised. Box nodded back and Cheesy hugged him again. "God, I still can't believe you're really here."
Wiping his face, Cheesy stood up and turned to Oodle. "I think we're ready to go home."
"Yes, please," Marble agreed eagerly. "I never want to see another summer camp again in my life."
Oodle rubbed away a tear of his own. "Don't worry, it's time." He looked at them all. "For what it's worth, I... I really, truly am sorry about forcing you all into this horrible game. If I had any choice whatsoever, none of this would have happened. I can't change anything now, but... I hope you all at least understand that."
Flaggy glanced at the other survivors — Bottle, Cheesy, Marble, Bone, and Box. One from each school, she realized. "I... think I do," she said. "I don't like it, but I understand."
"Thank you."
Oodle raised his hands. Cheesy glanced over at Bottle, who was still chattering maniacally to herself, and whispered, "You helped me so much here. Once I get Box away from his shitty life, I'll find you, too, and repay you for all the help you've given me. I promise."
Bottle looked at him uncomprehendingly. Oodle brought his hands together, and with one tremendous clap, everyone's vision went black.
--------------------
Opening her eyes, Flaggy found herself in a familiar room, lying on a familiar bed. A cursory glance revealed that the room was the attic of her family's house - her bedroom.
The familiar surroundings instantly comforted her and made her feel more relaxed than she had been in over a week. Eight days of hell, finally over. She closed her eyes again momentarily, taking a deep, deep breath and absorbing the familiar musty smell that came with sleeping in an attic.
Was it all just a dream? she suddenly wondered in the most cliché way possible. She gently pressed against the side of her throat and winced. Nope. Still hurts. Not a dream.
"Flaggy?"
She quickly opened her eyes again and sat up to see her mom at the top of the stairs leading into the room. "M-mom?"
"Oh- oh my goodness, I-" Unable to form a proper sentence, her mom dropped the basket she was holding and rushed over, enveloping her daughter in a warm hug. "Where- what- how- no, that can wait. Oh, I'm so glad you're back!!"
Dumbfounded, but happier than ever, Flaggy slowly returned the embrace. Tears began to pour out of both of them, even though Flaggy thought she had already run dry after TV's death. But that didn't matter. Nothing else mattered at the moment.
She was home.
~~~~~~~~~~
ngl that ending is corny as hell lol
I'm curious, if any of you thought/figured out that it was Marshmallow before it was revealed in the previous chapter, what gave it away? Although it was definitely possible to figure out beforehand, I deliberately made the hints subtle, but I don't know if some of them were too subtle or not.
I suppose I don't really have much else to say here, except to thank Zapz, Funfunny, and my sister again for making the wonderful art of the cast. (If you want to look at it again, it's in the first chapter after the "Read Me" warning.)
Stay safe! :)
- Jabe