Locked Away

Chapter 7

Max's (Mithzan) POV
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"Are you sure we going the right way?" Ross asked me, turning in my ever so frustrated direction.

"Do you think I have ANY idea what we're supposed to do?!" I replied, half shouting. I was so pissed off, and it was getting close to dinnertime. I guess some can say that I was hangry at the time. We were wandering aimlessly for the most part of this "exploration" time, and we didn't find anything worthwhile.

"C'mon," Ross told me, "Let's call it a day. I think we both had enough of exploring for the day."

"You THINK?!" I blurted. Ross nodded, and walked the other way. I growled in frustration, but followed. We made our way back to the dining hall, which a few people were already back, grabbing a bite from the fridge. I look around, seeing who was back and who wasn't. The fort guys were nowhere to be seen, the 2 guys that don't like each other were trying to noogie each other, and Mark and Jack were just talking about some random sh*t I didn't care to know. But someone caught my eye. It was the dude in the hockey mask, and he was sitting there at the end of the table. He was a mess: his short hair was all over the place, his jacket was dirty, and he wasn't eating anything. Maybe it was because he didn't want anyone to see what mess lied under the mask. I took my thoughts off the guy fairly quickly, though, as my stomach growled. I went over to the fridge, which is f*cking huge, and opened it to look for something good.

There was pre-made food in plastic wrapping, as well as quick meals and, in case someone gets the erg to cook, ingredients. I wasn't up to waiting any longer to feed myself, so I grabbed a bowl of mac and cheese. I heat it up in the nearby microwave, and when it was done, I devoured the thing. Ross stared at me in slight fright with how savage I was to a bowl of mac and cheese, but come on, I hadn't eaten since 8 in the morning, and it was 9:45 PM now, according to the analog clock hanging up by the microwave. Ross got up to get food for himself. I felt a bit better knowing that I finally ate something after what, over 12 hours? I felt a little drowsy, but was interrupted when the door flew open. About time, I thought. But something was off, or moreover, someone was missing from their party. Almost everyone looked their way, hoping they would give some form of answer. They were incredibly shaken up by something, but we didn't know what. Cory then broke the ice.

"Um, so, you guys want to know what happened..right?" He asked, half shaky. We all nodded. Cory didn't say anything, but rather pulled something out of his pocket. Ross came back, and his eyes widen slightly. My eyes widened a bit, too, considering who was the only person here that actually wore shades.

"Oh my f*cking god, get to the point, or I reserve all rights to call you camera face from now on." Leafy demanded, annoyed.  Cory shot him a dirty look.

"Ian-Well, I don't really know what happened to him after this, but we saw him get dragged away by that cat, so we can only assume that he's-" Cory didn't say anymore. And he really didn't need to, we filled in the rest. I was astonished. Ian was the toughest of us all! How in the world did he-? I thought, exchanging a glance at Ross.

"Ross," I tell him, "can you scoot closer? I need to tell you something." Ross nodded, and scooted closer to me, and leaning slightly so that i could tell him right in his ear. I cover part of his ear with my hand, so that the word wouldn't spread.

"I have a few theories as to why Ian died," I tell him.

"Yeah, what's your theories?" Ross asked, intrigued.

"Well, I have two main ones. The first one, maybe Ian knew he was the toughest, but he got too cocky, and that bit him in the butt?" I tell him, "Or, maybe Cory...pushed him in there with that cat, stole Ian's shades when they were knocked off his face, and shut the door on Ian? And he's is playing the innocent guy so that more people side with him, letting him pluck us off one by one with the cat as his aid?" Ross nodded, interested with the theories I told him. He looked at Cory, then turned to me.

"I won't tell Cory, FYI, if you won't." Ross bargained. I nodded. As if I was going to tell Cory I was suspicious of him. He would try to defend himself, and you know how his defenses tend to work: we're onto him, he tries to defend himself, then some crazy sh*t happens to prosecute the prosecutor. I've seen two examples thus far. The masked guy accused Cory, the cat showed up and tried to kill him. Ian has told many of us that he didn't like Cory all that much, and he planned to buddy up with him to keep a close eye on him. Then, what do you know, Ian's missing, probably killed by that cat's claws and teeth. 

Then out of nowhere, the panda hat guy tackled the masked guy. He was glad to see him again, but also mad that he didn't stay put, meaning that Ian's death was in vain.

"Delirious, don't you DARE do that again!" Panda shouted at him, "you gave me a f*cking heart attack!"

"Okay, okay, chill down, man. I didn't know you were going to search for me." Delirious told Panda, "and can you please get off of me? This is kinda awkward." Panda got off of him quickly, acting like that never happened. Delirious, on the other hand, shot "You didn't see anything" looks at everyone. I was about to say something, but I got interrupted by Mark.

"I think I speak for almost everyone here, but where's the group that held down the fort?" Mark remarked, "Also, where's the last exploration party?" I shot him a dirty look. But, the pink gal walked in the dining hall right when he said that.

"We're all here, thank you..well, most of us." she told us all as she looked around. "We lost Yellow to that cat. He was tricked into trying to be its friend...Wait, where's Ian? Wasn't he with Cory and Panda last time I saw him?"

"Ian's dead, Pink," Cory confessed, "He was dragged off by that cat. All I could salvage from him was his shades." Cory showed her the shades.

"Well that's just great," she said, rolling her eyes, "both Ian and Yellow are gone in a span of a single day. How can this thing even do that?"

I didn't really know, but something told me that I really shouldn't know.