When the other three caught up with Damon and witnessed the same peculiarity, their stoic expression turned to that of utter horror.

"W-what happened?" Maddie was the first one to break the silence. "She was here a half hour ago..."

The sound of Damon's pissed off grunt, followed by the loud slamming of his fist against the wall surprised the others. "We got tricked!" He punched the wall again. "You were right. Ashlyn is the Game Master."

"She is?" Maddie blinked her eyes, trying to make sense of it. "But—"

"She faked her death. That's the only logical explanation." Damon brushed his hand over his hair, slightly pulling it. His knuckles were red and bruised, but that wasn't his main concern. "We fell for her lie."

"But how can that be? I killed her... I made sure she was dead," Jay unconsciously blurted out last night's crime.

Maddie turned to him, completely frightened. She squeezed Ethan's hand harder and shielded herself behind him. Yet, both were too petrified to respond to the murderer's confession. Judging on Damon's calm demeanor, perhaps he was an accomplice.

"Are you sure you killed her? Tell me what you did," Damon urged, pushing the younger guy against the wall and smashing the empty space beside Jay's head.

"I... I used a damp cloth and held it against her mouth and nose to block the air. She wasn't breathing by the time I left. I made sure of it," Jay answered.

"You idiot! She probably fainted. Or maybe her body was experiencing some sort of shock and appeared lifeless for a moment," Damon explained, annoyance clearly embedded in his tone.

"So what does this mean? Is Ashlyn still alive?" Maddie questioned carefully. She should be happy about this fact, but why was she frightened instead? Ashlyn's features resembled a corpse earlier, a beautiful one. Damon said her body was cold. Was the dead raised to life, or were they truly fooled?

"Now that we know her identity as the Game Master, do you think she is going to sit idle and let us roam around freely? We need to get out of here," Damon instructed. This time he sounded rushed and headed off elsewhere.

"She's gonna kill us..." Jay muttered, paranoia struck over him. His face was completely blanched, and he was shaking terribly like a person frozen in the absence of heat. "She's gonna kill me first. I tried to hurt her. I'm next."

"We don't know that yet. We need to find a way out of here, quick." Ethan nudged him with slight force to knock some sense back into his head. "Let's tell Bree what happened."

"Wait!" Maddie quickly stopped him. "Let me grab some things before we go."

She had a feeling they were on their path to escape this place. So she quickly rushed to her room to grab the one thing she would need as proof—something to convince police officers what had happened to them if she testified. She grabbed her bagpack and quickly stuffed the black notebook inside.

"Ready?" Ethan asked as he had been waiting by the door. He kept a constant watch on the lookout, making sure nothing suspicious would try to harm them.

"Yes."

With Maddie's hand in his, Ethan ascended the stairs, careful so she wouldn't trip. They headed to the dining room where they had played their final game to pick up the other female who had remained there in utter disgust towards herself.

"Bree, we—"

His words were cut short when he stared at yet another murder scene in front of his eyes.

Bree was still crouched on the floor and her upper body reached out to something on top of the table. Her effort were met relentless when death got to her first. A pencil was stabbing the side of her neck. It tore her white porcelain skin, puncturing a hole within, and exposed the red flesh to the eye of the beholder. Dark colored blood was dripping from her neck and mouth simultaneously, still fresh.

There was such fear written in her eyes. One could barely identify whether she was afraid of death that called out to her, or her living state that encaged her. There was fear but relief at the same time, as if a part of her was glad to be put out of torment.

"Did Ashlyn kill her?" Maddie's voice failed to mask the trembling fear within. She nearly clamped her nails into Ethan's palm, shutting her eyes to avoid the horrific sight.

"I really don't know," Ethan said. "It's better if we get out of here."

"But Bree..."

"There is nothing we can do about her. We need to find our way out." Ethan suddenly fished something out of his pocket and opened the palm of his hand to reveal a wrapped up candy inside.

"What is this?" Maddie asked, looking up to meet his eyes. She noticed he tried his best to seem calm and reliable, just to reassure her everything would be fine.

"These are charcoal infused candies. It helps to keep you calm despite any emotional stress," Ethan explained.

"Does that even exist? I never heard of this therapy in psychology." Maddie never failed to use her logic even when a nightmare presented itself before the eye.

Ethan took the candy out of its wrapper, revealing a black colored round confectionary. He gently opened her mouth by squeezing her cheeks to part her lips, and inserted the candy inside. Before she could question him, he took another candy for himself and ate it.

"It helps against the stress," he reassured her once again. Then he laced his fingers within hers and pulled her away with him. She obeyed and followed him, like she always did.

***

Damon was already at the door at the darkest end of the west wing's first floor. It was the same olden style door made of the poorest but most durable looking wood. Splinters stuck out everywhere that made knocking or pushing it not an option. The golden door handle was latched with silver chains, locked with a specially customized letter lock against it. There were seven empty slots on the lock where the letters were supposed to go to.

Behind this door was freedom.

He retrieved the torn up notepad from his back pocket. He never said anything out loud as the others foolishly did, and continued making mental notes to himself before he jotted all information down on a notepad back at his room. He was ready to convert everything into an alphabetical letter.

Out of everyone, he was the only one with the correct equation for the very first zodiac game. He knew the true symbol of Harvey's clue. The answer was 22. The 22nd letter of the alphabet was a V, and Damon liked to assume the Game Master used an ordinary cryptogram to decipher the numeric lock.

His fingers quickly rotated the available alphabet letters, soon finding the letter V. He heard something click internally and hoped he was right.

On the far distance, he couldn't hear any footsteps approaching. He was still alone. He could try to unlock the door, escape, and keep the rest of them locked in forever. He could be the sole winner.

The second game was the Russian Roulette where no one had died, unfortunately. The number received was 18, which converted to the letter R.

The third game was the deadlier version of tag, where he had murdered his very first victim hands on. Oliver was the lucky one. But it also marked the start of Ginny's diabolical awakening, killing Shirley in the process.They obtained the number 7, which meant the third letter was a G.

The fourth game was hide and seek. He had successfully influenced Jay to choose Natasha's room which led to Mark's death. Damon realized he was very skilled at influencing and provoking others like the catalyst he had become. They got the number 14, which was an N.

The fifth game was the memory game, find the pair. He'd rather not think of this—not because of Natasha's slow and torturous death—but because Ginny lost her hearing, courtesy of Jay. They had obtained the number 5 at that sacrifice, which was the letter E.

The sixth game was some sort of jeopardy trivia quiz kind of game. He despised this round the most since they lost Ginny here. He would never forgive himself for her death. It was his fault. He felt immense guilt. Therefore he had to escape anything that reminded him of that guilt. Number 5, letter E, again.

The seventh and final game was the crossword puzzle that perfectly recapped everything they had played thus far. The game never gave them a number even though they had answered all five questions correctly before time was up.

He stared at the lock in silence. He had entered all six letters. One more left, but he had no idea what it was. It was racking his brain.

"What are you doing?" Maddie's voice interrupted his train of thoughts, and luckily, Damon was trained enough to remain static even when he flinched inwardly.

"I was getting a head start," Damon said. He stared at the two meddling youngsters walking hand in hand. He could manipulate them too, take advantage of them first before leaving them as he escaped. "Say, do you happen to know the final number of the crossword game?"

Maddie and Ethan stared at each other, equally confused.

"They never showed us a number," Ethan then remembered. Though going back to retrieve the iPad now wasn't a viable option. They'd rather not witness Bree in that bloody state for the second time.

"But what does phaif mean? It couldn't be a random nonsense word, could it?" Maddie squinted her eyes at the assumption.

"Wait," Ethan held his finger up. "Say that again."

"What? That it couldn't be—"

"Before that."

"What does phaif mean?"

"That's it." Ethan snapped his finger. "It's using the same method as the wendy chicks clue."

"Phaif... Phaif..." Maddie repeated the word several times using different intonations, emphasizing different letters. Then she gasped out loud.

"The number five!"

Damon widened his eyes with interest. These two were smarter than he gave them credit for. Maybe he should spare their lives instead of letting them become Ashlyn's playmate by keeping them locked here.

He entered the last code and translated the number five into yet another E. All seven letters were in place now. He should be able to open it. He pulled on the lock, expecting to hear a click.

But it did nothing.

The three frowned in confusion. They did everything correctly.

"Wait, the first number is wrong!" Maddie remarked with widened eyes. Of course she would consider it wrong. She was a victim to Damon's deceitful lie, and calculated the equation using the wrong symbol.

He wanted to get out as quick as possible, and it seemed these two could actually aid him. He had to come clean.

"I lied to you all and changed Harvey's symbol back then." He ignored the jaw dropping reaction by the other two. "The correct equation would lead to a 22, which is a V."

"Then what are we doing wrong? Why won't it open?" Maddie asked.

"Maybe we're missing something. Are we overlooking something?" Ethan questioned, his tone more hurried as seconds ticked by.

At this time, Jay appeared to them. His hair was a complete mess, disheveled to all directions. The eye bags underneath his eyes were more visible. There was a crooked smile engraved on his lips.

"What are you guys up to?" He asked, and even his voice had morphed into this emotionally detached sound. It was airy and nonsensical, like he tried too hard to sound overly friendly despite having confessed he had tried to kill someone. It sounded like a lunatic.

"Trying to figure out the combination," Ethan explained to him briefly.

"We need to hurry before Ashlyn finds us," Damon added.

"What if she is just waiting for us on the other side of the door with an axe in her hand?" Maddie suddenly planted the image of a psychotic killer in their mind. That was a likely possibility.

"Then we better make sure we outmatch her," Damon said. He then stared at Jay once again. "Where have you been?"

"I was hiding from Ashlyn," Jay said, and again, his fearful tone did not match that crooked grin lifting the corners of his lips. All of a sudden, he resembled the psychopath instead.

"Where's Bree?" Damon questioned again. He wasn't worried about her well-being, but he was concerned she might be planning something against him. They never really liked each other anyway.

Ethan and Maddie exchanged a frown with each other, wondering how to deliver the news of what they saw at the dining room.

"Ashlyn killed her," Jay beat them to it.

"She did?" Maddie asked, utterly terrified. "You saw her?"

"Yeah. She was so fast and showed Bree no mercy," Jay said. It was supposed to be a terrifying situation, and yet he retold the story as if it was a normal daily occurrence.

"All the more reason to escape this wretched place." Damon tried the locks once again, but it wouldn't budge. He was sure they were overlooking something, but what?

"Since the Game Master is using all seven games as the key to solve the lock, maybe we should revisit the games again and find some clues there," Maddie suggested.

"Like go to the location of each game?" Ethan asked, frowning his eyebrows. If Ashlyn was really on the loose, this wouldn't be the wisest idea she had come up with.

"Yes?" She became hesitant when she saw the worried glint in his eyes. Maybe it was a bad idea. "There must be something we can use as a clue though?"

"What about those mission cards?" Jay suddenly remarked, seeing one of the black cards stick out from Ethan's back pocket. "Maybe they form a letter if we combine them together."

"Oh! We did receive one for every game. Maybe it has a meaning!" Maddie said, looking at the one that Jung Kook now held in his hand.

At this, Damon began to cackle a maniac laughter of desperation. "We're so stupid," he muttered.

"Why?"

"Ashlyn never intended for us to escape in the first place. She wants to keep us locked up here forever," Damon realized. He was so frustrated he could only sound a small laughter. "The codes were fake to begin with."

The others looked so dejected at once. In a stressful situation like this, they found their hearts starting to believe whatever was thrown at them. What if Damon was right?

"No, there is a way out," Ethan suddenly interrupted the silence. He held the mission card in his hand, intently studying it. "The answer is on these cards."

Almost intuitively, they glanced down to the card in his hand, as if the answer would be written in big blatant letters. But it was still the same black elegant design as before, consisting of nothing but those mission poems.

"Did you figure it out?" Maddie asked, and the guy nodded.

"We need to collect all the cards first. Do you know where the others are?" Ethan instructed them.

The rest thought about it.

"Shirley used to have them, but I think Bree took them afterwards. Maybe it's in her room," Maddie remarked.

"Ollie kept some as well," Jay remembered. "Should we take it?"

Again, it was a situation where they let themselves be convinced by any theories. Especially when the theory led to possible freedom, one was willing to take it. All except for one.

Damon took Ethan by the collar and suddenly pushed him against the wall next to the locked door. Maddie shrieked, but he ignored her. He was only focused on the you her guy.

"How are you so sure this is the right answer? Are you trying to send us away so we'd encounter Ashlyn? Are you her accomplice?" Damon questioned

Ethan was extremely calm, glaring at the elder for throwing such an accusation. He slowly pushed Damon's hand away from himself, and the look in his eyes hardened.

"An accomplice? I've been playing this game with the purpose of saving you all. You are the one who keeps killing people." He shot back.

Damon blinked his eyes and stepped back. He knew about his crimes?

"So we better solve this code and escape here as soon as possible. That is, after all, what we want, right?" The question was mainly intended towards Damon. His irrational behavior made one question his true motive.

"Fine," he surrendered and swung his hand midair. "Let's do as you say."

The sneer and mockery in his tone did not go unnoticed, but Ethan refused to let it affect him. He had to stay calm. So he turned to Maddie and Jay who were awaiting any commands on what to do next.

"Let's find those mission cards."