EnderOni Loop One,

Chapter Eight:

He's gonna do it.

-...-

     Sub finally decided to go get Ty and Bashur as they were the closest to him. Just down the hall, he gave them a fright when he banged on the door. Brice calmed Sub down while Ty and Bashur were forced to go get Jason's body. The mess in the hallway didn't make anything better for Bashur, whom was already slipping into some sort of mental state. 

    Jason was rested on the bed across from Ant. A few minutes later, Mitch and his group ran into the room, asking all sorts of questions about the blood in the hallway. Ty pointed them to Jason and they quickly shut up. 

   Sub had almost forgotten about why he was sent down in the first place. That was until Jerome had asked about where Sky, Seto, and Tyler were. Sub found a sheet of paper and wrote down a few answers. It was agreed that they would all go up together. 

"But who will stay here with Brice?" Ian asked. 

"I'm going too." Brice said, lifting himself off the bed. Ty walked over to help Brice, whom had to feel around with his feet to tell what was around him. 

"Are you sure you can do it?" Bashur asked weakly.

"With some help, i'll be fine." Brice sighed. "I won't let this disability overcome me." 

 "Alright."

   The group slowly got up to the 5th floor, Sub leading the way. When they got to the 5th floor, Sub had to nudge them in for the blood on the walls. The group was shocked to see what was inside. Tyler, Sky, and Seto looked up from their spots to see everyone. 

"Finally. We were getting worried." Tyler said. 

"Good to see you all made it up here." Seto said, walking over to help Ty with Brice. 

"Well, Actually, Seto..." Bashur began, but then Sky frowned. 

"Where is Jason?" Sky asked. 

"That's just it." Mitch motioned over to Sub. "Jason's dead."

"NO!" Sky felt anger spread through his body. 

    Seto gasped and looked at Sub, whom was looking at the ground. Tyler stood in the middle of the circle like deer in headlights.

"Jason?" Seto breathed. 

"He and Sub were attacked heading down." Ty said. 

"I should have gone with them, dammit!" Sky hissed under his breath. 

"The Oni left a 2 out of blood, just like he left a 1 for Ant." Bodil added. 

Tyler looked down at the bloody clock drawn out on the ground. 

"The Oni is leaving the numbers behind, probably to represent those whom have died. If Ant is 1 O'clock, and Jason is 2 O'clock, then whomever the Oni targets next is 3 O'clock." He said.

"What is that?" Mitch asked. 

"We think it's some sort of puzzle." Sky said, walking back over to the paper on the wall. He cleared his throat and read it aloud. "The clock strikes one, one goes down. The clock strikes two, one goes down. So on, so forth. But once the clock strikes twelve, another one falls. The clock can strike one again, but the loop has restarted and all shall fall again. One is left alive each time. That is, unless the clock is broken." 

    Those whom just came in started walking about the room, looking around. Mitch and Ty went over to the paper, Sub staying near the door. Seto helped Brice and Bashur kept as far away from the bloody clock as possible. Jerome and everyone else inspected the clock and it's numbers. 

"Odd." Jerome mumbled. 

"So far we think The Clock strikes one, one goes down, and so forth, represents each person killed. It would also make sense with the numbers." Seto said.

"And the clock only shows 12 hours, meaning 12 people." Tyler continued. "Which means, the puzzle claims only 12 of us can die."

"But there are 13 of us. Well, were." Jerome spoke up.

"Right!" Tyler pointed to Jerome. "The clock is passing 2 o'clock. The Oni killed it's second victim and has ten more to go." 

"So the puzzle claims one of us will live?" Brice asked. 

"We can't just assume the puzzle says what's actually going to happen to us." Mitch said. 

"True." Tyler nodded his head. 

"And It said something about a loop." Ian said. " And all shall fall again?" 

"So is it saying we'll all die again? Like we're going to be revived and killed off again?" Bashur said, his voice cracking. 

"What else does it mean?" Ty frowned. 

"It could mean the EnderOni will trick twelve more into his house of horrors." Bodil suggested. "Who says we arn't the first?"

"This is why we are taught to analyze text in school, huh?" Ian sighed. 

"Unless the clock is broken..." Brice repeated the last part.

"Now I'm confused on that part." Sky turned around to face the others. "It goes one is left alive each time. That is, unless the clock is broken. Does that mean the clock will save our lives or-"

"Or does it enable the thirteenth person's ability to be killed off as well?" Ty continued. 

"That can be debated." Seto replied. 

"And which clock are we talking about here?" Asked Mitch. "There are many clocks in this place."

"If it's talking about the one on the floor, then how the hell are we going to break the floor?" Ty added.

"Hold on. Hold on." 

    Tyler spoke loudly, suddenly walking over to Jerome. He pulled Jerome to stand above the nearest number, Jerome confused as to what the younger one was doing.  Tyler then went over to Mitch and pulled him over a number. He did the same with everyone until he got to Bashur. They had realized by now that Tyler was making a visual, but Bashur didn't want to be a part of it.

"I don't want to stand above the three." Bashur backed away. 

"It's just for visuals, Bashur. You arn't going to be number three." Tyler reassured the melon. 

"There won't be a third one." Mitch, whom stood above the 12, told bashur. "I won't let it."

"We said there wasn't going to be a second death and look what happened!" Bashur exclaimed. 

Tyler stepped back from the melon. 

"You don't look so hot. Are you okay?" Tyler asked. 

Bashur shook his head. "I don't feel like myself anymore."

"You arn't acting like yourself either." Ty added.

"Never mind." Tyler turned away. "You can sit down."

    Tyler walked back to the clock, taking the book in his hands and placing it down on top of the three. He walked back to the middle and took a look around. Bashur watched, sitting down against the wall. His hands were locked, his knees to his chest. He felt cold and dizzy. Ever since that moment he threw up by the stairs when Ant died, he didn't feel the same. A death normally didn't cause him this much harm. But how could he be sure?

"So whomever is left alive is the thirteenth person." Sky, standing on the 8, spoke up. "So like, based on our guesses, is he whom wins like the winner of this? Is this like, a game to the Oni?" 

"But then the Oni can choose who wins and who dies. I can't be a game because he decides who wins from the beginning." Ian, standing on the 6, said.

"Ah, but lots of games work like that. And maybe the game for him is to watch us fall?" Jerome, standing on the 10, replied. 

"I'm going to assume that each time he kills one of us, he'll leave a number behind." Seto, standing on 7, spoke.

"Yes?" Tyler turned to Seto.

"And with that, what if someone dies, but he isn't the killer?" Seto asked. "Will there be a number then? Will that death count?"

Sky scoffed. "How else would we die in here?"

"I don't think anything could fall on us from a shelf, though I do remember the floor being weak in the lounge room on the 4th floor. Which would mean we should be careful in the piano room right below." Seto said.

"And the leaver!" Tyler added.

"Oh yes." Seto turned to everyone else. "There is a leaver in the lounge room. DO NOT PULL IT. We don't know what it's connected to." 

"Was there anything else you found?" Ian asked. 

Sky shook his head. "There is a big, red, comfy chair in one of the rooms."

"By the way, did your group find anything?" Seto asked Mitch.

"We found a bunch of hallways and rooms in the basement. It looks like an abandoned secret meeting area. It's got rooms that look like meeting rooms, as well as a jail cell." Mitch said.

"Jerome found a door that was locked, but he claims it smells like dirt and air on the other side." Bodil, standing on the 4, added.

"I did." Jerome nodded.

"We couldn't bust through though. The dust nearly chocked us each time Mitch disturbed it." Ian said.

"So you think that maybe, beyond that door, is our escape?" Ty, standing on 11, asked.

"I wouldn't assume so quickly." Brice added, sitting down on the 9 on the floor, and Sub, whom sat down  on the 5, nodded his head. 

"It's still worth a look." Mitch sighed. 

"Another suggestion." Jerome added. "Is to look for more weapons."

"Wooden spears break with force. We only have two swords. One bow and a few arrows." Bodil named them off. 

"There are a few knives in the kitchen, but they arn't the sharpest." Ty added. 

"We'll find some or make some later. As soon as we are done with this." Seto said.

"How many bandages do we have left from that first aid kit, too? We need to save those." Tyler added. Tyler still had on the ones Ian first put on him. 

"We'll find supplies soon enough. More keys as well." Seto said. "We'll also explore the Annex too."

"Alright."

    Tyler said the puzzle a few times in his head, looking around. Nobody really had much input on the puzzle after all that was suggested. Everyone had their ideas on the meaning of the puzzle, all different is some sort of way. After a few more moments of thinking, Tyler let them all get off the numbers. 

"I think this is something we should come back too. There isn't anything else here to help us." Sky said.

"And the black door is locked. Going back downstairs to search around would make better use of time." Ian said. 

"Let's go back down to the 4th floor then." Seto said. 

"We can take Brice back to the safe room too. Maybe Sub and Bashur would like some rest?" Sky offered.

"I don't know about Sub and Bashur, but i would like to walk around still." Brice said.

"It's fine with me what you want to do." Seto sighed. 

    Sub walked over and helped Brice up, Ty helping. One by one, they all began to walk out of the room. Tyler helped Bashur up from sitting down and they were the last two out. walking down the stairs, they stopped on the 4th floor, feeling a draft of air. It felt cold. It wasn't hard to find the source. An open window, just straight ahead. 

"The window!" 

    Seto, Sky, Bodil, Mitch, and Tyler approached it. Sky looked out of it, feeling the air brush against him. The sky was blue, the trees were dancing in the wind. But then he looked down. 

"Could we escape from it!?" Bodil asked. 

Sky turned around to the group. "We're on the forth floor, and due to the height of each floor, is very very high up." 

Mitch looked out the window. He then looked back and nodded his head. "Anybody who falls isn't going to survive it." 

 "Well then we can do what the prison escapees do and build a rope down with bed sheets!" Bodil shouted. 

"The myth was tested and came out to be true! Why not!?" Brice said. 

"How long would it need to be? How strong does it need to be?" Seto asked. 

"We'll get to that later. If we act quickly, this could save our behinds!" Ian said. 

"This could be our only chance!"  Tyler smiled, making his way away from the window.

"That is to say that the door in the basement is nothing at all." Jerome added. 

"Why are we standing around? Let's go!" Sky said, following. 

   Some began to walk towards the Lounge room, knowing two beds were in there. Some began to turn towards the stairs. 

"Wait!" Mitch made everyone halt. " Some of us need to stay here to make sure the window dosn't get bolted up or anything. We have no clue what we could return to." 

"Good thinking Biggums.."  Said Jerome "I'll stay with whomev-"

 "I'M GONNA DO IT!"

  Suddenly everyone paused and turned to Bashur, whom was the one who yelled. They noticed he was shaking. His glasses were slipping down his face, just enough so that you could see his eyes, which had turned from bright blue to neon purple. His hands were clenched, and he was sweating. 

"Bashur, you look sick." Jerome began to walk towards him. "Maybe you should lay dow-"

"I-I'm gonna do it!" Bashur said loudly again, his voice breaking. 

He gulped. His mind racing. His mind overheating. What could force him to make this decision? It was unlike him. He couldn't stop himself though. He was gonna do it. 

-...-