The Impostor Among Us - an "Among Us" story

Chapter 7

Seven astronauts remaining, with one impostor in their midst, surrounded the Commander's lifeless body. The Commander's forehead has a bloody bullet hole. His glassy eye stared at the ceiling. Poor Emily buried her head in Olivia's shoulder, traumatized. Amaya and Aaron examined the Commander while everyone stood around. William tried to mimic the astronauts' shocked faces.

Amaya stood up straight and cleared her throat, trying to demonstrate leadership. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to say something.

"Someone in this room killed the Commander," Amaya addressed to everyone, her voice quaking a bit. She stared at everyone as if she was trying to find out who this mysterious killer was. "Luke, go notify NASA about this right now."

The purple astronaut rushed out of the Admin room. A few minutes later, he ran back in, trying to catch his breath. "The comms center is disabled permanently. I can't fix it." Luke said, panting.

Ethan turned to Amaya. "Luke's a tech genius. If he couldn't fix it, that means we can't contact Earth about this." He said, his tenor voice slightly quivering with fear.

"Whoever the killer is, I'll gladly give them all my finest bottles of wine. Never really liked the old man anyway." Aaron joked.

Nobody laughed.

"The killer's good. Sabotaged the comms system so we can't report back to Nasa." Amaya said, trying to lure the impostor out of hiding.

"Amaya, what should we do?" Emily trembled.

"I have a plan."

All pairs of eyes turned to Finn. He gulped, not used to the attention he is getting.

Finn cleared his throat. "Um, so, we all have tasks here, right? The killer in this room won't do their tasks because they are focused on sabotaging this ship."

"No shit, Sherlock," Aaron said, mildly ticked off by the fact that Amaya and Finn were the ones showing leadership.

"Let me finish." Finn asserted, his confidence growing. William was shocked; he saw Finn as a vulnerable, empathetic person. But seeing the way that he spoke to Aaron, he started doubting whether he really knew Finn at all. "We keep an eye out for each other. Keep doing your tasks, and if you see anybody acting suspicious and not doing their tasks, press the emergency button. Since one of us here is the murderer of the Commander, it is possible for them to fake doing tasks." Finn continued.

Olivia raised her hand. "But what about him?" She said, pointing her finger at William. "He doesn't have any tasks to do. What is he going to do then?"

"Leave him to me," Finn said. Ethan looked at Finn suspiciously. "He can help out with some tasks. I'm pretty sure he knows what to do since he is an astronaut himself." Finn grinned, a tint of pink forming on his cheeks.

William sighed with relief. At least he didn't look suspicious for now. Everyone seemed to agree with Finn's idea.

"Hey, whatever your name is, I think that sounds like a good idea. But what happens if we suspect somebody? What should we do with that person then?" Amaya asked Finn.

"I say we use the Voting System." Aaron chimed in.

All the crewmates widened their eyes in astonishment. It seems that William was the only one who didn't know what the "Voting System" is.

"What is the Voting System?" William asked.

Aaron ignored him. "Whoever we think is suspicious or is potentially the killer, we vote them out."

"Uh, throwing someone out of the Skeld and letting them suffocate in space? Terrible idea." Olivia ridiculed.

Oh. So THAT'S what the voting system is.

"Aaron, that is a terrible idea. What if we throw an innocent person out without knowing? Our lives would be in even more danger because of your reckless idea." Amaya argued.

Sounds like a good idea to me. My mission will be over in a matter of seconds, I'll get my money and fame, and I'll be doing a good deed to my planet without actually doing anything. William thought.

Aaron ignored her question. "Alright. All in favour of the Voting System, raise your hand."

Everyone raised their hands except for Amaya and Olivia.

"Okay. Voting System it is." Aaron concluded.

"That is literally the worst way to find a murderer," Olivia argued. "As I asked, what if we throw an innocent person out without knowing? That's also murder. It's like fighting fire with fire, only with an idiot in a green spacesuit."

Olivia seems smart. She will find out that the killer is me, Al thought. Maybe she should die first.

Aaron sighed. "Fine. Whoever we throw out, provide them with an oxygen tank and their helmet so the killer dies slowly."

Amaya groaned.

Before Olivia could open her mouth to scold, Aaron was already dismissing everyone like a classroom teacher. "Alright guys, go finish your tasks. Now that the Commander is gone, I'm officially the commander now, remember? Luke, figure out what to do with the body."

Only Olivia, Emily, and William stayed. Olivia shot him one last threatening glare and stormed out of the Admin room. Emily took a deep breath and walked up to Aaron.

"Aaron, I'm sorry that I kissed him. I know it was a wrong thing to do, but it was just one time, I swear. We did not go beyond that at all." Emily said quietly.

Aaron refused to look at her. "You lied to me. You said that you were refuelling the gas tank in Upper Engine, but instead, you were making out with... with him."

Who's him?

"So what? You are a crappy boyfriend. You'd always make sadistic, dark jokes and treat me like an object for you to play around with." Emily shot back.

"You are my girlfriend for a reason. I have the right to do whatever the hell I want with you." Aaron retorted.

"I am your girlfriend, not your property!"

"You kissed Ethan, and now you call yourself my girlfriend?" Aaron barked. He turned around to face Emily, eyes welling with tears. "Get you and your ugly fish-lips out of this room now. I don't want to see you again."

Emily slapped Aaron, leaving a red mark on his face.

"You are a prick, Aaron. You clearly know that I changed my entire face and body just so I can fit into your expectations of a 'perfect girlfriend.' You called me a pig and an ugly witch, and I go out of my way to get surgery for you. I spent my money to fix my appearance for you, and you have the nerve to call me ugly?" Emily accused, tears rolling down her face.

"I was giving you constructive criticism, so you don't make a fool of yourself, you bitch. You are a disappointment, and you should be lucky that I even care the slightest bit of you. " Aaron seethed.

"And you wonder why I love Ethan more than you. Ethan loves me for who I am, and he isn't a controlling asshole like you. We're over." Emily cried, running out of the room sniffling. She put on her yellow helmet to hide her tears.

Aaron rolled his eyes and scoffed; he was confident that Emily would come running back to him. He noticed William, who observed the entire fight between Green and Yellow.

"What are you looking at, pretty boy?" Aaron snapped, giving William the same dirty look when William first entered the Skeld. He kicked one of the chairs in frustration and left.

William made his way to the storage room to pack his things and move into Finn and Ethan's dorm room. As he rummaged through his things, he strategically planned who he should kill next. He could feel his Proximean tongue feeling a tad sharper than usual.

Al formed an evil grin with his human mouth. Replaying the fight scene between Aaron and Emily in his head, he knew who the next dead astronaut is going to be.