An 'Among Us' Short story

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"War does not determine who is right- only who is left " -Bertrand Russell

                            ****

   In 2057, a team of ten astronauts- all from different parts of the world - were sent into space to live on a spacecraft as part of an experiment to see if and how humanity would survive in outer space. It would answer the long existing question of "Are humans truly evolved and intelligent enough to start over or will our animalistic genes take over and prove that our title as 'Top of the Food chain' was all just an narcissistic illusion?"

  Because of the brutal and harsh nature of the experiment, coupled along with the rumors of volunteers mysteriously disappearing, the experiment was shut down by numerous governments and the experiment was continued in secret.

  The team that would be sent up would have everything they would need to begin a basic civilization among themselves such as food, water and other basic tools and necessities.
  Their only objective was to survive and keep the spacecraft in good condition to continue the experiment for as long as possible. Data and information would be sent back to headquarters via the captain of the ship (chosen by the observers) and a constant line of communication would be held.

We follow Group #231A or "Group Successful" that they are known as among the observers for being the longest lasting and most successful group so far in the experiment. Sadly the line of communication was cut off after a asteroid broke off the ship's satellites, forcing our crewmates to continue on alone for the time being.

  The tension became high as the crew realized that they were now completely alone and abandoned in space without any communication or help from anyone (or anything) outside the ship. They were prepare to face most problems as one would expect to find, such as crops dying or more asteroid attacks, but let me assure you:

  No one was prepared to find the dead body of one of their crewmates...

  ***

"We need to remain calm and look at this from a logical point of view" Dark Blue spoke in his usual leadership tone of voice.

The crew held an emergency meeting after Purple had found her brother, Brown, mutilated and dead.

   The youngest crewmate, set with short dark hair up to her chin and thin, almond-shaped eyes, was still in a shaking in her state of shock when Dark Blue had asked her to once again retell the sequence of events leading up to finding her brother.

   "I-I was doing my normal shifts and was walking towards N-Navigation, since was my next shift location.... and when I got there..." her lower lip quivered as her voice broke off. She put her face in her hands and sobbed. 
"Brown was there, on the ground" I finished quietly for her 
Blue nodded "And that's when you called us?" 

Another sobbing nod.

Blue pursed his lips and our eyes met for a brief moment.

Blue was the second oldest crewmember on the ship, he stood rather tall with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He had the good habit of always standing with the posture of a soldier and spoke with a voice that never seemed upset. He was kind, quiet and hardworking, the exact person who the observers would want in this experiment. Hence why it did not shock anyone why he was set to be our captain.
Although I was second in command, I was much less of a leader than Blue. He was the one who gave orders and could easily solve a problem without showing even a hint of fear. He was chosen by the observers to be our groups leader as quickly as day 2 into training and none of us argued with that choice.
He was the reason why we were dubbed "Group Successful", because he simply just knew how to get things done.

  "Maybe it was an accident" White then piped up with what was a weird kind of hopeful grin. Under the harsh lighting of the room, his white hair and pale skin looked even more ghostly than usual. 

The group looked at him with grim silence. 

"...or maybe not" he kept quiet after that. White had always had a poor sense of humor.

Dark Green was next to speak, his red hair was tied in a hasty pony low on his neck "So, what? Are you trying to say that he was murdered?? That one of us did that to him??"

The mere suggestion of this had the group erupt in discussion and argues at once. 

"Listen, Listen!" Blue interrupted with raise hands, everyone immediately stopped talking "Look, I'm not saying anything yet. This can be something that we haven't dealt with before, we're passing new territory, we don't know what lies outside, it would be foolish to just jump to conclusions. We follow the protocols as per training, that means that until we find the truth of what really happened, more cautions will have to be taken to ensure safety."

  "What about the person who murdered my brother? Did they suddenly just disappear??" Purple asked angerly. Her eyes were red and puffy but her anger was genuine. To her left, Orange was trying to comfort her. 
   Blue looked at her and paused. I stepped in "If there is a threat, whether it be from outside or among us...then yes, they are most likely still on this ship, but until we can prove that it was in fact a murder, we cant rule anything out."

This time there was no discussion, just a heavy silence.

   "We will have a proper burial for Brown tomorrow. He was still our crewmate and he was a good man. He deserves at least that" Blue then concluded, his tone switching to a smaller one, one that was more personal than business "You are all dismissed"   

And just like that, the meeting was over.

The grieving crew left without another remark -- the only sound being Purple's soft sobs and Orange's comforting words-- and I watched as Blue let out a heavy sigh and sink into his chair. For a second, he looked like he aged 10 years. He would never complain, but after you worked with someone for so long, you tend to pick up a thing or two "What are we going to do (y/n)?"

   I didn't know how to answer that. How does one just simply create a plan for preventing a possible murder-- or worse, murders-- among the people you've considered your family for 6 years?
"Cameras?" I suggested weakly, I couldn't think of something else.
Blue chewed the inside of his cheek "They only cover certain areas, but they have many blind spots"

I bounced my leg thought for a solid minute, thinking hard.
 "Maybe we can work in groups?" I then said.

He crossed his arms and sat back, showing he was interested "Explain"

I shifted in my chair.

  "Well, if there is something on this ship that killed Brown, we'll have to lessen it's opportunity to allow it to happen again, right? Brown was alone, the opportunity was there. We'll split the crewmates up in pairs of 2 and give everyone comms to communicate. We'll see what to do next from there."

  He slowly nodded. I knew he trusted me with these kinds of things.

"The buddy system" he grinned.

I grinned back. 

"Alright then, we'll go with your plan. Tomorrow, we'll have a meeting after Wake Up and you'll explain your plan to the crew."

He stood up and but hesitated when he get the the door. Again, he seemed to have aged by a decade.

"Good talk. Now, if you'll excuse me...I have to go figure out how to bury a friend"

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I know this chapter was super short but that was just an introduction! Hopefully I'll be able to make the rest of the chapters a bit longer but HOPE YOU ENJOYED THAT

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE/COMMENT/SAVE IF YOU LIKE THIS SHORT STORY

ALL ART (including the cover art) IS FROM -
Insta: @zxxsandoval ✨
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