Among Us: Hosts

Ch. 9

"Why are you following me?" Kandor asked.
Chantelle stopped and crossed her arms. She leaned against the door frame of the reactor.

"What? You're okay after that just happened?"
Kandor stood up and put the grate back over the wires.
"I need to get to electrical now, okay? Don't follow me until you plan to kill me."

"Kandor. You need to calm down. We just let someone innocent die."
His eyes narrowed briefly. "We have to do what it takes to survive, or all of us will die."
"Seems like we're dying regardless," Chantelle paced towards him slowly, and he glanced back and paused.

The cabin turned red again.
"Code 2 emergency has been called. Please report to the cafeteria immediately."

A few minutes before this, Jessica was walking over through storage from Communications, when she heard a clunk behind her. She stopped for just a moment before turning back and seeing the silhouette of a crew member. The hallway was dark. The footsteps behind her paused, and she waited to see what the person would do. Within the thick of silence, she could her own heart hammering in her chest.
The footsteps resumed; Jessica didn't bother to wait around and find out who it was.

Her breath hitched as she walked faster; the lower cabin always made her uncomfortable with how comparatively cramped it was; besides, Raha had just died here. She quickened her pace and threw a glance back: Brown, Matias. He seemed to be following her at a distance, quickening pace when she did.

"Trying to catch me...?" She muttered in fear. She saw him gaining on her ever so slightly as she passed the door to admin, when the cabin went red with a siren and Code 2 announcement. With a breath of relief she walked over to Chiedza, and Matias followed in nonchalantly soon after.

The rest of the crew made its way to the cafeteria as well, and you could practically see them counting to tell if anyone was missing. Chiedza stood by the button, arms crossed.

"What happened?" Assisi asked.
"We need to talk. Seriously. We can't lose more people. Let's use our brains first, please. I don't want us turning on one another."

Everyone glanced at each other uncomfortably.
Chiedza started, "Well, I wanted to bring to your attention what a strange scene I saw in admin a little bit ago. I saw the someone's signature disappear from one hallway and reappear in another room instantly. Like teleportation. It was eerie."

"You're telling me... the imposter teleported?" Prem looked exasperated.
"Ah, maybe... it was the vents from earlier...?" Assisi ventured.

"The vents? They're way too tiny for us," Chantelle said, "except... I guess it's not for us."

"They shape-shift... so what's stopping them from shape shifting to another one of us? What if there's two Chiedza's out there?" Kandor asked.
"The system would catch that right away," Matias shook his head. "It sees our unique IDs, and it would immediately recognize a duplicate or deceased member."
Kandor nodded.

Chiedza continued, "Also, I found this next to my desk."

She put the patch in her hand on the cafeteria table. It was the patch for Vice Captain.
Kandor reached out to touch it, but Assisi grabbed it before he could and examined it.

"Wasn't this always with you after you demoted Gan?"
"No, Gan took it last night. But it was back there on my pillow this afternoon," Chiedza responded.
"So you think the imposter did that...?" Matias asked.

Chiedza shrugged, and Kandor raised an eyebrow, "But why?"
"As a warning?" Chantelle wondered. "As mockery?"

"But Chiedza..." Assisi wondered aloud, a glint in her eyes. "How do you know that Gan took the patch that night?"

She blinked and scrunched her eyebrows, "I briefly woke up and saw him toying with it and slip it into his pocket."
"You were awake?!"

"Wait, so you saw him leaving alone and didn't say anything?!" Prem screamed.
"I fell back asleep!" She retorted.

"So you didn't see who got up after to go kill him?" Assisi glared, "Or was it you that got up after him?"

Chiedza looked appalled, "You're overstepping. I was half asleep, and the patch was gone in the morning. It was back there soon after though, so either the imposter has a cruel sense of humor, or my observation skills have truly deteriorated." She took the patch from Assisi forcefully.

The AI spoke overhead, "Ready to vote?"

"Wait!" Jessica exclaimed, looking nervous. "Matias kept... following me around."
Matias whipped his head to look at her incredulously. "What?"
"It was weird... he kept gaining on me as I walked faster. It was dark and... he was acting suspicious. Right by where Raha died too."

Prem sucked in a breath.

"Jessica? I wasn't following you. I had a task to do in admin. You were going the same way."

"Why were you getting closer to me?" She asked back.
"Because I know you? You're my crew mate? A friend? Am I not allowed to talk to you?"
Kandor jumped in, "Please, Jessica, following you a little isn't suspicious. In that case, Chantelle could be the imposter too."
Chantelle threw up her hands, "Shut up, Kandor."

The AI boomed overhead. "Voting has begun."

Everyone looked around a bit before pressing into their wrist monitors. Once voting was over, the votes were announced.

Chiedza: 0 votes
Kandor: 0 votes
Assisi: 0 votes
Prem: Assisi
Chantelle: 0 votes
Jessica: 0 votes
Matias: Jessica
Skip: Chiedza, Kandor, Prem, Chantelle, Matias

"No one was selected to be ejected. The voting has been skipped."

The doors released and everyone stretched and got ready to go to the med bay to sleep. Defeat was etched on everyone's faces to some degree. As everyone walked into the med bay, Chiedza knocked into Prem and slipped something into his hand.
"Oops, sorry," Chiedza mumbled before walking to her bed.
Prem walked to his bed before discreetly opening his hand. It was the Vice Captain patch. Gan's patch. It didn't slip his gaze that there was a pink heart stitched clumsily into the back of the patch. Pink: Prem's color. Pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath before heading over to Gan's bed and slipping into his covers.

Assisi looked over at Prem and blinked a few times, before her eyes were brimming with tears. She also slipped into Simi's bed and pulled the covers over her head, shaking ever so slightly.