Alice in Borderland

Chapter 115 - Witch hunt II

Following my stubborn tactics, I try to ignore and accept the events that I and the forensic scientist are leaving behind us. I have no idea how Kuina intends to hold her own against a swordsman with her bare hands, but judging by her determined demeanour, she probably has the confidence to do so to a certain extent.

At a brisk pace, we quickly reach the main hall and after a quick sweeping glance around, Ann doesn't slow down and approaches the dead body on the floor while I stop at the side of a pillar and check with my own eyes that the military squad hasn't set up a hidden post to catch the witch in the act.
I don't notice anything suspicious on the upper levels, so I slowly step out of the shadows and make my way to the centre of the entrance hall. We are about to part ways, but I want to accompany them at least on this step towards solving the game. Presumably the military squad is so focused on killing that they ignore the possible aspect of the witch returning to the scene of the crime. Not all of the military squad enjoy hunting down and slaughtering the inhabitants, but they are afraid of becoming targets themselves. If you refuse to kill innocents or hesitate too long, you end up next to them on the pyre.

I hear a disgustingly fleshy sound and look at Ann, who is trying to pull the knife out of the corpse with a cloth. The cloth is to prevent her own fingerprints from invalidating the evidence, and she grips it carefully by the metal attachment so as not to accidentally wipe away the existing marks. The problem with this is that she can't pull the knife out in one go, so she swings it a little to the right and left to loosen the blade and the sound makes me groan slightly.

'Wow, that should sound familiar,' I snort to myself, raising the back of my hand to my mouth as I suppress a gag reflex. I didn't have to pull a knife out of my heart during my first heart game, but it does have similarities to my task back then.
Iron-hard, Ann finally gets the knife out and with a slightly proud grin - still kneeling at the side of her body - looks at the murder weapon: 'We should get out of here.'
Nodding, I confirm her statement and together we run to the side stairs near the outside of the hotel, as the large main staircase is too dangerous and offers no protection whatsoever. But on the first floor, Ann stops behind me and as I turn round on the landing, the woman looks at me with a parting smile. I see, this is where we part ways.

'Ann,' the words come over my lips and for a moment the woman with the shoulder-length black hair stops, 'The military squad is working its way from top to bottom. If you need to leave quickly, the door to the outer area on the rear flank should be in the shadow of the sniper.'
'And you want to run straight into their arms?'
'Ah, tactical sequences always have a weakness,' I grin furtively, trying to convince both her and myself to make the right decision, 'Besides, most members of the military squad are not trained and while some are still hesitant to shoot, the others rely too much on their shooting skills.'
'See you at the end of the game?'
'Wait,' I say quietly and another spontaneous thought occurs to me, 'Have you seen Katsu or Yuudai?'
'Not since the game started in the lobby,' Ann shakes her head and I nod my thanks. 'Take care.'Suddenly walking alone through the corridors of the Beach hotel gives me goose bumps that spread quickly. I prick up my ears vigilantly so that I can recognise approaching danger as early as possible and take action, but by treading lightly on the carpeted floor, my position remains unnoticed by others due to the background noise surrounding us. Apart from the cries of panicked people outside and the floor above my current position, the only noises are my rustling breath and the sound of me running.

The horrors I could see on the monitors are nowhere near comparable to reality and the sight before me makes my heart heavy in my chest:
The Beach used to be a place where players gathered to band together and achieve the goal of collecting all the playing cards to find a way out of Borderland. In these corridors, they have formed friendships and partnerships, gathered with their friends after completing games and celebrated life.

These same corridors are now haunted by fear and death. Piled up on the floor are the lifeless bodies of people who tried to escape but were either too slow or were pursued by simply too many. In awe, I take one step in front of the other and look at the bodies on the ground, but none of them seem to be alive. The wounded have either fled or been executed by a fatal shot.