Among Us: Hosts

Ch. 8: Rules

The entire crew arrived at the cafeteria. The steam power-cleaning removed any dirt or blood on them rather discreetly before they entered.

Assisi took Simi's arm in hers and leaned on him, and Chantelle slightly pulled her from the other direction. It startled her, and she looked at her husband in confusion, who simply stared ahead, looking uncharacteristically pale.

Once everyone was seated and the doors sealed off, he stood up. "I called Code 1."
Everyone looked a little panicked, and suddenly the AI announced:

Crew-members codename Purple and White are dead. Warning: foreign organic matter has been detected onboard. Please address this immediately.

Prem stiffened visibly, and Matias shook a little. Chiedza took in a deep breath to ask, "What happened?"

"I found the body in—"
"It was him." Kandor interrupted Simi.
"No! I found the body in storage, by the garbage chute, after the emergency alarm started. I couldn't call a Code 1! I was scared!"

Assisi looked faint.
Chantelle blinked slowly, "Kandor and I saw him sitting over the body. We didn't see him do it, though."
Simi nodded, "I couldn't report it! There was an emergency! It was disorienting— The AI wouldn't respond properly! Believe me, I didn't do it!"

Assisi stood up, looking frazzled. "It could have happened before the meltdown! Prem walked to us from storage not very long before that!"
Prem finally spoke, gasping with the shock. "Raha? My closest friend?! Why would I kill her!"

Jessica flanked Simi on his other side. "Friendship means nothing to those creatures. And I... saw you arguing with her by the garbage chute right before we turned to go to electrical."
Assisi yelled, "Isn't it suspicious that the two people you were closest to were killed? How would it make any sense for it to be Simi?"

Simi put his arm around her shoulder and rubbed it to pacify her. "I was in Weapons before, and was heading to electrical when the emergency happened. I walked by storage and freaked out when I saw the blood. I didn't know what to do! I was going to call emergency but it didn't work until the meltdown cleared."

Assisi put a hand on his chest. "Believe me, there's no way it could be him. He had plenty opportunity to hurt me if he was really the imposter. I think it's Prem."

"Prem is suspicious," Jessica nodded.
Kandor looked exasperated, "Are you saying he never left you to go off alone on that planet?"
"Practically!" Assisi yelled. Jessica stiffened noticeably.

"You're lying, Assisi." Kandor said.
"Are you crazy?! Simi? He wouldn't hurt a fly! Prem has been acting strange this whole time!"
"Well, Gan just died, Assisi! Do you want me to skip down the hallways and giggle for you?" Prem defended himself.

"This is... it's not right! Simi found the body, but Prem was with Raha exactly where she found them dead! Kandor, you, you're acting awfully suspicious too! Why do you keep accusing people? Do you just want our numbers to dawdle?" Assisi stressed.
Kandor shrugged in irritation, "I'm looking out for us. That includes you."

Simi responded, "Don't lie, Kandor, you just want power. Dividing us. You got Raha out of the way, and now conveniently you're pushing me out of the way too."

"I'm just making the tough decisions the rest of you aren't making." Kandor glared.
"It's obvious what you're after," Assisi yelled with tears in her eyes, "but if you accuse him like this by ignoring the facts, it's murder!"

"Calm down! We need to think." Chiedza said, clenching her hand.

The crew all took a breath. "If we are voting for someone, it only makes sense for it to be Prem." Assisi said, "And if things went my way, we wouldn't be voting anyone off so easily."

"We practically caught him in the act." Kandor muttered.

The room fell silent. Prem hung his head. Assisi hugged Simi tightly.
Kandor crossed his arms. "AI, bring up a voting sheet for the crew."

Everyone's screens lit up. Every living crew member's name showed up, along with a large bold "SKIP" at the bottom.
After a minute, the screens blacked, and the results displayed on the screen in front of them.

Chiedza: 0 votes
Simi: Kandor, Chantelle, Matias
Kandor: Prem
Prem: Assisi, Simi
Assisi: 0 votes
Jessica: 0 votes
Chantelle: 0 votes
Matias: 0 votes
Skipped: Chiedza, Jessica

The AI announced, "Orange was voted to be ejected. Please step into the ejection pod."

Assisi immediately latched to Simi's suit, and he himself started hyperventilating.
"No!! This is ridiculous! Chiedza, you know how stupid this is! Why aren't you saying anything?!" Assisi screamed.

"It's not me! Please! You know how Tina's waiting for us at home! Please!" Simi pleaded.
"We have to find a better way to solve this!" Assisi was in tears.

"This is the only way we have right now," Chiedza looked defeated as Simi grasped her hand.

"Simi, you agreed to this... you suggested this." Chantelle said, looking away. Matias nodded.

The AI boomed, "Preparing to eject."
Assisi cried as she held onto his suit, and Simi took a deep breath and pressed his forehead to hers, with his hands on her shoulders.
"Honey, Assisi... you need to stay alive. For Tina. I love you."
"Simi..."
"I love you, and I love Tina. I love you so much."

Assisi fell to the floor, and Simi felt a shock go through his suit.
"Please go to the ejection pod, or the shocks will only increase in intensity." The AI spoke.

"Yeah, yeah! I got it." Simi grunted, dragging himself to the ejection pod into a circle in center of the room. Assisi tried to follow, but was held back by Chiedza and Chantelle.

"Sweet dreams," Simi said to Assisi, with a final smile on his face, and a glass container dropped down around him and locked itself, creating a tube. Simi closed his helmet on over his head as a gas filled the tube, and when nothing was visible, a loud zooming sound rattled in the glass and above their heads, and they all jumped at the suddenness.
When the gas cleared up, the tube was empty.

Assisi finally stopped crying and stepped forward to touch the glass tube. It retracted, and she spoke as her breathing hitched, "What... what's the status on the foreign matter, Ship."

The lights blinked and the AI responded. "There has been no change in the status of foreign organic matter onboard. Please address this immediately."

She slumped to the ground, along with a couple of others. Kandor rubbed his hand through his hair, and Chantelle stared ahead in shock, unblinkingly. Matias patted Jessica's shoulder, as she sat on the ground and shuddered.

Assisi turned around to glare at the rest of the cabin, her eyes red and round. "You... cowards!" She spat out.
"And some of you didn't even vote...! Kandor!" She got up and sprinted to him, grabbing him by the collar. He stared back with his brows furrowed, eyes unfocused.

The doors to the cafeteria opened. Assisi let go of Kandor and walked over to Prem. She grabbed his arm aggressively, making him wince and try to pull away unsuccessfully.
"You will not get away."
Prem scowled and wrenched his arm away with a sharp tug. "Fine. Follow me around, then."

The two turned and walked towards Weapons.
Kandor walked west towards the reactor, and Chantelle followed him slowly after a couple of moments.
"Don't just stay suspicious and neglect your tasks," Chiedza said, choked up with emotion. "We have work to be done."