Among Us Shorts

Shattered Mirror

The beating of my heart pounded in my ears and the buzzing of my tablet notified me that someone had been killed.

It was the curse of how Cyan thought it would be better if he just programed all of our tablets to be alerted when someone else died. And then he was the first one who was murdered by Red, and we were all stuck with the fact that we would all know when someone died.

I would have murdered Cyan again if it weren't for the fact that he also made it so that we could know when Red was in close vicinity to us. It had something to do with using the same general technology that the Admin table utilized by tracking the ID card of Red.

That was literally one of the only other ways that any of us could know that she was close by, as all of the lights had gone out, and I was unable to fix them, so everyone was stuck in the darkness, unable to see past the flashlight beams that only shone in one direction.

Only the grim thought of making it back to Earth kept us all from just ejecting ourselves out of the airlock and ending it all before we got eaten by Red.

And yes, eaten. When we first saw the Impostor inside Red awaken, the top half of Cyan's body was simply sliced off, gone in the quick movement of Red's tongue.

Or... I wasn't even sure what to call it. It wasn't actually Red's tongue, but it was like an appendage that sprouted from the middle of Red's stomach, one that had then grown jaws that were always open in a sadistic grin.

I wouldn't exactly know what it was, since any time someone tried to get close to Red, they got killed. And I wasn't one to be that stupid on purpose.

I heard the thumps of footsteps and covered my flashlight with my hand, tucking myself into the space between the engine and the wall. Thank goodness my suit color was black and blended in with the darkness better...

And how did I know that it was Red and not some other inconspicuous coworker of mine?

By the rock music that Cyan had decided would alert us to the difference.

And yes, this was another reason why I would murder him again. It had to be the most nerve-wracking, heart-pounding music ever. Don't worry about how we're already stressed, just make us even more anxious about whether or not Red would find us.

The electric guitar of the song blasted in my earbud, nearly drowning out the sound of my frantic heartbeat. I picked up my pet hamster, Hampton, and prayed that my buddy would understand to not move a single muscle...

The lights on the sides of Red's helmet were the first things that I saw, that and her taking purposeful, confident steps. Her kid was right behind her, somehow not killed by their own mother.

Then again, Red probably wasn't that far gone that she would murder her own kid. I felt bad for them, though. They probably would have a lot of trauma when everything was over and done with, since they always saw or heard the kill.

The kid turned their visor towards me and my breath caught in my throat. Don't rat me out, don't give me away-

My little hamster in a ball was just as still as I was as the kid turned back around and followed their mom down the hall towards MedBay.

I let out a breath and pet the ball that housed my little buddy. "It's okay," I whispered as the music subsided into a more tame version of the soundtrack. "We're safe-"

Faintly, I heard a roar and some thudding. There was a sinking feeling in my gut as there was a sudden shriek (Blue?) and the sound of running footsteps. My tablet buzzed again and that confirmed the death. Then the electric guitar started again.

Red stepped back in to let out another roar and her head whipped around to face me.

How? She didn't find me last time, she walked right past me! Did the kid rat me out?

I didn't have time to question it further when Red took in a deep breath and rushed at me, tongue impaling the wall behind me as I rolled away just in time, getting to my feet and running as fast as my legs could carry me.

As I past MedBay, I saw what remained of Blue's body, simply a set of legs and a torso in a blue suit. I stumbled, deja vu taking me back to how Cyan's body looked before I shook my head and ran into Cafeteria, clambering into the vent and closing the grate behind Hampton, who only rolled in just in time. Through the gaps in the metal, I saw Red standing above me, then let out a frustrated roar and went off somewhere else.

I quickly clambered through the vents, going towards an exit that was in the hallway between Navigation and Shields. There was another buzz on my tablet and I realized that Red was tracking us. If that was the case... how were we supposed to survive?

As I got out of the vent, I pulled out my tablet and checked how many people were still alive. To my horror, all of the crewmate icons except for one had been crossed out with a red line.

I could barely keep my hands still enough to help Hampton out of the vent. If everyone was dead, then that meant that when Red started tracking those who were alive-

The electric guitar of the music started screeching in my ears and I only had time to turn around before Red's tongue impaled me through the gut, then pulled out and left me to slam face-first into the floor, Hampton's ball rolling out of my hand and stopping against the kid's boot.

I forced myself to turn onto my side to look up at my murderer. My hand went and tentatively touched the wound, and yet I didn't feel the pain. My head felt light, like it could just detach from my body and float away. Maybe it would be bouncing around the hallways of Skeld, never to be seen again.

Red's kid picked up Hampton and almost seemed to be looking at me. Inside the translucent ball, Hampton was quivering with fear and all I wanted was to reach out and tell my little buddy that it would be okay-

Red's tongue impaled me again and the last thing I noticed before everything faded was the buzz of my tablet and the splattering of my own blood against the floor.

Inspired by Among Us' new mode, Hide n Seek.

Word count: 1150