The Mystery Eight

Chapter Six: In Numbers There's Death

A door on the left popped open, and the seven walked in slowly, unsure of what was going on. The door they entered was a room that had another door that connected to Brenden's side. Brenden exited his room and met them in the room they just entered, with his head down.

"Wh-what happened" Nissa asked in concern.

Brenden lifted up the tape recorder, and before he could hit play he started seizing and fell to the floor. The foam flowed out of his mouth, while is body violently spased. Devin rushed over to help,

"No, no, stay with us! Come on!" He was trying to hold him on his side, but he was already dead. Devim looked back at the others with waves of emotion crashing into him, "He-he's dead."

The air felt dense, goosebumps appeared on the arms of each person. The horrific sight left some in shock, others traumatized. This was only the first death amongst them, and that was a thought each of them shared.

Nissa walked over and bravely picked up the tape recorder and played it for everyone to hear. Once finished they all looked at each other and felt bad, but from the back of the group,

"Better him than me. That's how I see it." Jarvis said in a cocky manner. Everyone turned to him in disbelief,

"What?" He said looking back at everyone. "If it's survival of the fittest I've got myself. I'm not trusting any of you."

They all looked at him in disgust,

"What the hell, someone died and you are sitting up here acting like a cocky douche" Alexis sharply cut in.

Daniel backed up from them, trying to not get in between type of drama, and things escalated quickly. Jarvis and Alexis were going back and forth, then Damien stepped him, defending her.

"ENOUGH!!" Everyone froze where they were, and all looked down at Nissa.

"If you guys fight, it'll just tear us apart. We have to stick together and work as a unit, not as individuals. If we fight, more than likely there won't be a way out for anyone here! Daniel and I already have been into a room, and nearly died." She stood up and walked over to Daniel, "If we didn't stick together, we wouldn't be here now, and since Brenden made a noble choice we-"

"Or a stupid one." Jarvis interrupted her, "But his stupidity kept me alive, so I'm fine with that."

"Okay, I've had enough of your shit, shut your fucking mouth." Devin gritted his teeth "If I were you, I'd watch my ass. Now that you've shown who your true character is, if someone else gets the choice of picking someone again, it'll probably be you."

Jarvis didn't take what he had to say well, and got in Devin's face intimidating him, "Is that a threat, little bitch"

Devin's heart was racing, he was indeed scared but he made himself talk.

"It's a promise."

Jarvis turned away acting as if he let the words roll right off his shoulder, but swiftly spun around and punched Devin in his nose, knocking him down and causing him to bleed. Everyone backed up scared of what he would do next.

"Use this as an example to what may happen if you attempt to challenge me, or get in my way." Jarvis closed his fists and gave everyone an intimidating glare.

Nissa and Tara rushed over to Devin and helped him to his feet,

"Are you okay" Tara said concerned

"Ugh, it hurts like a bitch, but I think I should be fine." He was holding his face, and his nose was bleeding.

Suddenly the same voice from the tape recorder played through speakers that were in the corners near the ceiling,

"Hello, everyone. I'm sure you're all wondering what you're doing here, and why anyone would do this to you. As you can see, not all of you are going to make it out of here alive, or possibly, none of you. Two people will be sent to complete a task, either one, or none of you will come back. You guys are all connected in some way. It's up to you to figure out how you each know each other, or you will not be leaving. Good luck."

The voice no longer came through the speakers. Everyone looked around at each other trying to think, but nothing came to mind.

"I'll beat your fucking ass when I see you" Jarvis growled at the speaker.

"What does he mean by a task?" Tara asked

Daniel and Nissa had some kind of an idea, which they hated. Just even having to think of it bothered them.

"Well, Nissa and I had to defuse a bomb, as most of you know, and if we didn't, let's just say we wouldn't be here now. We had a timer, I don't know if that is how it is every time, but it really puts you on the spot, and if you don't complete it in time, I-I assume you die."

"Then what is the first challenge supposed to be? And how do we determine who is going in?" Damien questioned

"I have no idea." Nissa paused, then continued "We have only had to do something once to survive, we don't know exactly how everything works. But for whoever is going in, I think we all should vote, to keep it fair."

"I'm just saying now, none of you are making me do shit. If you try any slick shit, you will end up as bad, or maybe worse than him." Jarvis pointed over to Devin, who was still trying to stop the bleeding.

Everyone wanted to avoid Jarvis, and no one felt willing enough to attempt stopping him. Nobody thought anyone would have their backs if they did try.

Another door opened and each of them went through a short hall, that lead to a room with two separate sides. Glass split the rooms, so whoever wasn't picked, could see through each side. There was a sliver of space near the entrance of the room, and a doorway to each of the separate rooms. It looked like there was a chair in each, and a bunch of different puzzles on the walls behind the chair.

Tara looked over to the right, "Guys, why does this say 'four must go in'?"

They looked over and saw the writing in blood, "S-so four of us might die?" Alexis spoke timidly.

"Or maybe, two people go in each room, and one person from each pair has to to sit in the chair." Damien said observing the rooms.

"Well, everyone line up, and let's get to voting." Nissa said, trying to keep the group organized.

"And why should we do that?" Jarvis said with attitude.

"Well no matter what, four of us are going in, whether we like it or not." Devin spoke.

Everyone began to line up, excluding Jarvis, and Nissa took the lead and listed off the names for people to vote on.

"So we all get a total of four votes." She gulped, "Okay, who thinks Devin should go in."