An Among Us Story - Live on The Skeld

BLACK

Defeat. The word crawls across my screen in big, red letters like huge spiders. Sighing, I rejoin the lobby, burying my face in my hands. Why, oh why, do I always lose?

Because you are always a Crewmate, a voice in my head suggests. If you are An Impostor, you will definitely win.

I uncover my face and look around. Hearing Red flex with his "lmao that was super easy... these noobs...", I realise that the voice in my head could be right. Impostors in this lobby literally have a 10 second cooldown. If I kill and vent 3 times and my partner does the same, the game is mine. Not to mention that the unsuspecting Crewmates may actually decide to cut off their own life supply by voting their fellow teammates out...

Huh. With these factors in mind, being An Impostor and winning seems MUCH easier than struggling through tasks as a Crewmate. If I were An Impostor, I would definitely make Electrical my main slaughterhouse...

"Black... Black!" A rather disgruntled voice jolts me back to reality. "Can you, like, start the game? We've been waiting for so long and people are threatening to leave the lobby..."

Urgh... Pink's voice... so annoying...

Nevertheless, I start the game quickly lest Pink and her cronies, Green and White, start to badger me.

Game starting in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

The 10 of us in the lobby watch, in astonishment, as the doors of the lobby open and a transport ship waits outside it (the transport ship transports us to The Skeld, where 2 Impostors try to kill 8 Crewmates who try to fight for their lives, do tasks and vote the Impostors out). The arrival of the transport ship never gets old for me... even though I have played countless real-life games of Among Us...

Everyone, including me, stands around the ship tensely, knowing that there would be 2 people in this ship who would turn against all of us and would try to wipe all of us out...

When the transport ship reaches its destination, all 10 of us shakily step into The Skeld, which is when I realise that I had been holding my breath throughout the entire journey (that could have been fatal because, after all, I am in outer space). Grounding myself, I shuffle to the Cafeteria table which holds the emergency button and the other 9 people follow suit. That is when a collective ringing sound resounds around Cafeteria as the usual face of a red-coloured alien pops up on all of our screens (oh, did I forget to mention before that everyone gets an IPad before the start of each game?), with his finger to his lips.

Then... Cafeteria grows quiet as we wait eagerly for our roles to be revealed on our screens. 3... 2... 1...

And... I am An Impostor. With Blue.

Oh my... after so many games, my wish has finally come true! Concealing a rather evil smile, I decide to watch everyone's movements. Almost immediately, the other 9 spring to action. As if on some unspoken cue, all of us take off our helmets.

I just hope that the others can't see the smirk on my face right now...

Red and Brown head towards MedBay while my partner Blue accompanies Orange and Yellow to... Weapons? Dang. That's not a very good place to start killing. Like, seriously. Everyone walks through Weapons... but eh. Hopefully, Blue would not be so dumb to actually kill Orange or Yellow and to try to blame it on the other Crewmate. That would build up suspicion on himself...

Hmm... a possible victim could be Purple, though. She starts off the game by downloading data in Cafeteria... alone. If I sabotage the lights, she would be a goner and by then, I would be running to Electrical to fix the lights. However, I run the risk of getting 'sussed' by Yellow who is now in Weapons, alone (hmm... where did Blue and Orange go?).

All of these wild thoughts whirl around in my head like a powerful whirlwind. In the end, I decide to instead follow Pink, Green and White to Admin for goodness knows what reason.

The moment I step into Admin, I can hear Pink and Green's overlapping voices as they swipe their cards. White, who has apparently finished swiping her card, is watching them swipe and laughing occasionally about what (or who) they are talking (or gossiping) about. I take my place opposite them, pretending to look hard at the Admin map and pretending to coolly ignore the gang. I mean, I can't swipe my card now because I can't fake a task in front of 3 Crewmates... so yeah...

I see, on the Admin map, that there are two people in Navigation. Ahh... so that is where Blue went, probably with Orange. That's smart... he can kill Orange and then maybe kill Yellow when Yellow walks into Navigation to check on the two of them. Maybe I can win this match easily after all...

One eternity later...

"Yay! We're all safe!" Pink squeals in that high-pitched voice of hers as Green finally finishes swiping her card (after many rejections from the machine). Gosh. So irritating.

All of a sudden, I can feel her staring at me as she sashays out of Admin with Green and White in hot pursuit. 'Prying' my eyes away from the map, I meet her gaze.

"Black?" Pink frowns at me. "Why aren't you swiping your card? You've been staring at the Admin map for so long... How much can it actually tell you?"

'Uhh... it can actually tell someone a lot... but okay?' I resist the urge to throw back at her. However, noticing that White is staring suspiciously at me, I clear my throat and smile, taking extra care not to expose my needle-tongue.

"Uhh... yeah, right! I was going to do just that, when you guys have finished," I chuckle nervously.

Anxiety engulfs me. On the outside, I think that I am putting up a pretty decent facade but on the inside, my heart is pounding. How long can I keep up my facade before it fades and I... go wild? Do they still 'sus' me? I don't want to die so early in the game and lose again...

I hold my breath (again :/), expecting the worst.

But then... Pink's countenance softens and she chortles.

"I was just messing with you!" She laughs. "Why do you look so serious? Lmao..."

OMG... that was freaking close... but I guess that would happen because knowing Pink... such an airhead...

In reply, I only laugh awkwardly (because what else can I do?).

"Let's go, gals! We should finish up our tasks..." Pink's obnoxious voice fades as she exits the room with Green. White follows them but I can feel her stare on the back of my head as I stroll towards the swipe card machine.

Then, the room is empty.

Okay, time to play it cool. Taking out my fake identity card from one of the pockets of my black spacesuit (it's actually my vent card which is designed to look like the Crewmates' identity cards... my vent card allows me to access the vents which Crewmates cannot access with their real identity cards), I swipe it multiple times and the card reader does not even entertain me by detecting the 'identity card'.

I stand there like an idiot, swiping a rectangular piece of plastic so that I can stand there for a reasonable amount of time that most Crewmates stand there for. Stifling my laughter, I am about to keep my 'Impostor' card and leave when...

Wait, what? Did I just see what I saw? Blinking rapidly, I stare.

What I am seeing right now... is a golden opportunity. I almost laugh out loud, for crying out loud.

This opportunity is priceless and it makes or breaks my victory, if I take it and use it well. This opportunity came in at a great time.

This opportunity... came in the form of a lone, unsuspecting Crewmate who has decided to upload data in the same room as me, An Impostor who is ready to dive in for the kill at any given moment... but not before I apply... tactics on her.