I'm nervous as shit about this trip. Not because the teachers won't be there and we'll be staying alone in a private hotel - no one would have stood up to them anyway - but because I have a bad feeling about it. I can't explain it exactly but, fuck, I just know something's not right.
"Ray, are you okay?" Seth snaps me out of my thoughts. I'm glad that at least he's on my side. And Jenny.
"Yes, I'm just a little excited," I lie. Somehow I don't want to talk to him about my concerns, after all, there's no reason to.
The bus bumps along a few streets. I notice that the houses are getting fewer and further apart. The hotel must be very remote. Evelyn gives me the occasional dirty look, but I ignore her. I already knew that she wouldn't like the fact that I would be with Seth most of the time. I can almost taste her jealousy.
The hotel we stop in front of is a complex of three buildings and lawns in between. I already know that we're staying in the largest of the three buildings.
"Wow," says Mike with a grin. "Now that's what I call a trip."
Jenny pokes him in the side with her elbow. "What did you expect our parents to book?" It's noticeable that her mood isn't the best at the moment, I've been noticing it all day. I've suspected for hours that she might have the same bad feeling as me.
"Let's all go inside first," Seth instructs. I know he's always been kind of the leader of this group, and it's even more obvious when the rest of the class isn't around. I don't even understand why a trip like this is only allowed for residents of the west side apartments, no matter how much money you have in your bank account.
At the hotel, we all make our way to the reception, but my worries are probably confirmed here, because... There's no one there. The reception desk seems completely deserted.
"Ahem, hello...?" Sarah calls out. Even her face, which is usually brimming with confidence, now has some uncertain features. It's not normal for everything here to be empty.
She doesn't get an answer, but something else catches my eye instead. There is a laminated sheet of paper at the reception desk.
I pick it up and see that it says that we should go to the "common room", which is signposted to our left.
"Take a look at this," I say and wave Seth over to me. He looks at the writing with his brows furrowed. "Maybe we should go there first," I suggest.
"I don't think there's anything else we can do right now," Seth agrees. Everyone else seems just as perplexed and therefore doesn't question the whole thing any further.
This so-called common room is bigger than expected. There are four dark green velvet sofas in the middle, arranged in a square around a rectangular table. A huge flat screen hangs on one wall, too high up to reach by hand. The floor here is tiled in the same shade of sand as the rest of the hotel. The small red and white patterns in the tiles are pretty details, but I wish this money had gone more into the staff than the floor.
There are speakers at the corners of the ceiling, which suddenly make an announcement as the door slams shut behind us all with a loud bang.
"Please sit down," it echoes through the speakers. Our eyes widen in surprise, we comply with the request and sit down on the sofas. Each sofa seats three people. I sit next to Seth, who sits next to Sarah. Jenny sits opposite me, with Mike and Evelyn next to her.
"Welcome, dear guests, make yourselves comfortable and listen carefully to the following announcement. You will now be told the rules that you must follow during your stay.
The Rules:
1. The one who knows must be killed.
2. No one else may be killed or attacked outside the risk areas.
3. No aids or contact with the outside world are allowed.
4. Food is only eaten in the common room.
5. Going to the toilet is only permitted at certain times, with special exceptions. Anyone who goes outside of these times will be punished.
6. At certain times, some rooms are classified as risk areas; at these times, other players may be attacked and killed there.
7. The stay is limited to ten hours in order to win. Additional time is only granted through games that must be played in specified rooms.
8. Leaving the building is punishable by death.
9. If time runs out and the Knower has not yet been killed, all are eliminated except this one.
10. Rule violations are penalized differently depending on the weighting. The penalties are only announced when the rules are violated.
11. The inserted chips must not be removed or destroyed.
Good luck, dear guests, we wish you a pleasant stay."
Ten hours. A glance at the clock tells me that it's eleven o'clock in the morning, which means time runs out at nine. But what does that even mean? All these rules feel surreal and, damn it, isn't this supposed to be a hotel? A place to relax? But this sounds more like a game of life and death.
"Sick shit," says Mike. "Are they serious?" His voice sounds completely disbelieving and almost a little frightened, very different from usual.
"It doesn't matter right now," Seth interjects, and everyone looks at him in bewilderment - including me. "What do they mean by the last rule? What chips are they talking about?"
Only now do I realize what was actually said. And he's right; what chips? I think we'd be completely lost without Seth.
"You're right," Sarah says, looking at him. "Shit, what do they want from us..."
At that moment, small flaps open on the walls, revealing round holes from which something indefinable shoots out. Before anyone can say anything, the air is filled with our screams of pain. I grit my teeth and grab my ear. Something metallic has dug into the flesh at the back of the upper part of my ear. A few drops of blood fall from it. The others have also had a round, button-like metal plate shot into their ears. Like animals that have been chipped.
"What the hell is that?" Evelyn shrieks and lets out a few more shrill cries. Everyone else is still busy enduring the pain.
"Evelyn, fucking call your mom, that bitch arranged this trip!" yells Sarah back.
Evelyn lets out another scream, but this time it sounds very much like raging anger. "Why don't you call her yourself? I'm not interested in testing out what happens if we break these shitty rules!"
"Damn it, we've just been chipped like fucking animals!" Seth interrupts them both and everyone falls silent, not even a sound of pain can be heard. All eyes are on him. "Do you really think this is the time to argue? I know we'll always be rivals because of our parents, but it doesn't fucking matter now! Can't you see what's happening? No matter what we do, we have to try to get out of here alive and that won't work if we carry on as usual. Then we're all dead, so fuck all this rivalry and think!"
Everyone sinks into silence after this speech. I think everyone has now realized how right he is. But it still sends shivers down my spine when I think about who I'm going to be working with.
"But why the fuck did they chip us?" Jenny is the first to speak again. Her expression is frightened and uncertain. She's scared - for good reason.
"I think to monitor us," replies Seth, reaching for the chip in his ear at the same time. He carefully runs his finger over it. "They still could have at least sedated us beforehand, that hurt like shit."
"So we're going to go along with this?", I interject. "W-we're going to kill someone...?"
"I don't think we have a choice," Seth says, looking grim.
And that seals it, we're going to kill one of our own while working together at the same time. My bad feeling is more than confirmed.