Restless Nightmare- a Hermitcraft Murder Mystery

Chapter 6

"What another miserable day." Bdubs muttered, taking a seat on a picnic table. "Why did I ever agree to come here again?"

"Bdubs, you were the one who had the idea to host a camping trip." False giggled.

"Oh yeah-"

Mumbo, who was making breakfast along with Xisuma and Doc, passed Bdubs a sandwich as X slid the pie in the microwave oven.

"Hey y'all, do you need any help?" False questioned, taking a bite from her sandwich.

"No no it's fine, we're almost done anyway." Mumbo chuckled.

"Oh okay."

"So we're leaving today, right?" Ren asked stubbornly to False, the driver.

False froze.

She completely forgot about the gas running out in Beef's van. She hadn't told anyone yet, of course, in case they freaked out.

"Ha of course, we aren't staying here!" Xisuma replied.

"Uhh... about that..." False mumbled, nervously laughing.

All eyes turned to her.

"Huh?" X questioned, confused.

"The car's fuel ran out." She simply said.

"WHAT?!"

"But wait wait wait- I made a backup plan..." She began, "I told Joe to pick us up if we don't come back in two weeks, so don't worry!"

"Absolutely great."

"So we're stuck here the entire time?!"

"Pretty much."

"Just when the day couldn't get worse..."

"Y'all stop complaining and go eat your breakfast."

About ten minutes later, the fourteen were seated around a picnic table, all chatting and eating. The atmosphere was just a tad bit windy, but either than that, it was perfect. The sun was shining bright like always, annoyingly shining right on the picnic table.

From where the hermits were seated, they had a perfect view of the ocean that stretched for miles. However, most of the view was blocked by the forest covering most of the campsite. The food was pretty good, except for Doc's 'salad' which contained leaves dipped in chocolate, gummies, and a whole bag of sugar for some reason. He claims he 'accidentally' spilled it into the salad.

"Dang, I already miss those two..." Grian sighed, obviously referring to Cub and Iskall.

"I know right, and it's only been a day or something." Zedaph added. "Well, two, to be exact. Three if you're counting today."

There was a small silence.

"Honestly guys, do you think the killer is among us or hiding in the woods?" Cleo piped up randomly, breaking the long silence. The hermits stared at her, not sure what to think.

"It has to be someone lurking in the forest!" Ren exclaimed, "Why would any of us kill Cub or Iskall?"

"Yeah, probably." Tango agreed.

"He's right, we're being watched." Mumbo spoke up.

"Watched?" Grian spoke up, interested.

"I... honestly think it's one of us."

Everyone turned to the one who said that, Impulse.

"Me and a few others searched the forest, remember? We didn't find any trace of anyone else."

"He has a point," Bdubs spoke up, "Plus, when the lights went out and we found Iskall dead, we didn't hear any noise of someone walking through the forest or anything."

"Hell naw, you telling me someone here is a traitor?!" Stress blurted out.

"Well yes, but actually no- I mean maybe? Gosh I don't know ok-" Bdubs stammered, taking back what he just said.

Nobody noticed what he said, however, because they were all busy trying to answer a question stuck in their minds.

"Who's against us?"

The question ran through everyone's mind, causing a long silence once again.

A sudden movement caused everyone to snap back into reality. A loud thump.

Impulse, who was standing up, suddenly collapsed onto the floor without a warning, just out of the sudden.

"IMPULSE?!?" Tango shouted, dropping to his knees beside his friend.

"Is he okay..?" Grian asked nervously, peeking at the situation nearby.

"What happened to him?!" Zedaph yelled. He knocked over his coffee and jumped to the scene.

"IMPULSE?"

"IS HE BREATHING?!"

"Quick, take him to the tent!"

"What happened?"

Impulse was carried to his tent he shared with his closest friends. Zedaph and Tango returned to the picnic table, where they sighed and sat down. The group impatiently waited for him to wake up.

Around ten minutes later, Zed decided to check on him and left the area. He unzipped the tent and crawled inside, only to see Impulse in the same position as before.

Zedaph, obviously worried, placed his hand on Impulse's chest... and that's when he realized something.

Impulse wasn't breathing.

Zed's heart thumped as he double checked nervously, just to be certain. Sure enough, he didn't feel anything.

The boy froze. He slowly exited the tent and quietly sat at the picnic table before uttering out two simple, yet effective words.

"He's dead."