Any sense of security Sam had felt evaporated instantly.
A trio was one thing.
A duo was another entirely.
He was now effectively trapped alone with a potential murderer.
Her small, fragile frame hardly looked threatening, but Sam knew better than to trust appearances.
For all he knew, she possessed devastating, hidden powers just like Alice.
Neither of them said a word.
They simply stood there, locked in a heavy, unblinking stare.
The air felt thick, frozen in absolute silence.
Nobody moved.
“Ellie!” a frantic voice suddenly cried out from the hallway behind them.
A young woman burst into the room, shattering the silence.
She looked like a human, except for the pair of large, velvety white rabbit ears twitching atop her head.
“I found you!” she gasped, throwing her arms around the small blue-haired girl and pulling her into a fierce, protective embrace.
“Do you two know each other?” Sam asked, his tense posture relaxing just a fraction.
“Yep! We met during the very first game and got really close!” the rabbit girl responded, a bright smile spreading across her face as her long white ears twitched with nervous excitement.
Ellie pulled back from the hug, turning her milk-white eyes toward Sam before pointing a small finger at him.
“I think we can trust him, Bella.”
The rabbit girl blinked, looking between the two of them, her ears dropping slightly in concern.
“You’re really sure, Ellie?”
Ellie didn’t hesitate.
She gave a firm, reassuring nod.
“Okay then,” Bella said with a quiet sigh.
“If Ellie trusts you, then I do too.”
Bella stepped forward and extended her hand to Sam.
Sam looked at her outstretched hand, but the paranoia still lingered.
“You guys are both innocent… right?”
Bella let out a dry, slightly amused chuckle.
“Would you really believe us if we both said yes?”
“…Yeah. Fair enough.” Sam admitted with a faint smile.
He reached out and shook her hand.
“I reckon we should try to find the others before we start hunting for the exit.”
“Makes sense to me,” Bella agreed.
Beside her, Ellie gave another small, resolute nod.
With no map and no clear destination, they picked a direction at random and stepped into a long, yawning hallway.
As they traversed deeper into the corridor, Sam noticed a bizarre row of paintings lining both walls.
It was deeply unsettling.
“Your hair is weird,” Ellie said suddenly, breaking the heavy quiet.
“What?” Sam asked, completely caught off guard.
“It’s black,” she said simply, tilting her head as her milk-white eyes studied him.
“That’s weird.”
Sam couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
“That’s actually kind of funny. Because back in my world, it’s the exact opposite. Natural blue hair doesn’t exist there.”
“Hmm…” Ellie muttered, processing his words.
THUD!
“Argh! What the hell was that?!” Bella screamed, her large white ears instantly shooting straight up as she practically jumped out of her skin.
The trio spun around in a panic.
But there was no monster in the shadows.
Instead, one of the yellow paintings suddenly slipped from its rusted nail, clattering face down onto the dusty floorboards.
“Oh… it was just a stupid painting,” Bella wheezed, pressing a hand against her racing heart and letting out a massive sigh of relief.
Shaking off the adrenaline, they turned back around and continued down the corridor until the hallway finally dead-ended, forcing them to a halt at a sharp split in the path.
Left or right.
Which way do we go?
Sam wondered, staring down the dark corridors.
“I think we should split up,” Ellie suggested quietly.
Sam’s head snapped toward her.
“Split up?” Sam frowned.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? In a place like this?”
“We don’t know which path is reliable,” Ellie reasoned, her milk-white eyes completely calm.
“It is best to split up here. We can always call out and regroup if one of us encounters something dangerous… or helpful.”
“But there are three of us,” Sam countered, gesturing between them.
“Ellie and I can go left, and you can take the right,” Bella offered, her white rabbit ears twitching as she looked down the left corridor.
Sam hesitated.
The thought of travelling completely alone in the dark made his stomach churn.
But as he looked at the two of them, a cold, pragmatic thought cut through his fear.
If he was by himself, he was vulnerable to the mansion’s traps—but he was also completely safe from being backstabbed.
If either Ellie or Bella were the Killer, walking away from them now might actually be the safest option.
“Alright. I’ll see you guys again soon,” Sam said, offering a small wave.
“See you soon! Stay safe!” Bella called back.
The group parted ways, and Sam stepped into his chosen corridor.
Silence swallowed him almost immediately.
His gaze darted across the decaying walls and floor, searching for hidden traps.
But looking wasn’t enough. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Snap.
His boot caught a nearly invisible tripwire stretched across the floor.
Instantly, a violent mechanical thrum echoed from above, and a volley of iron-tipped arrows rained down from the ceiling.
Thanks to sheer luck and a desperate instinctive flinch, the deadly projectiles whistled past him, missing his face by barely a centimetre and thudding violently into the floorboards.
The iron heads punched clean through the rotten timber.
Sam froze, his heart hammering against his ribs.
He stared at the arrows, seriously considering turning back before the next trap killed him.
But then, a faint sound drifted down the corridor.
Voices.
Up ahead.
Realising that lingering in the trap-laden dark was suicide anyway, Sam abandoned all caution.
He bolted, sprinting full speed toward the sound.
As he barreled down the corridor, his boots tore through several more hair-thin tripwires in rapid succession.
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
A lethal storm of arrows rained from the ceiling while others burst from hidden slots in the walls.
Sam didn’t dare slow down.
His sheer, frantic momentum was the only thing keeping him a split-second ahead of the projectiles.
Then, a sudden, blinding flash of heat sliced across his triceps.
An arrow had grazed the back of his arm.
He winced, his teeth gritting through the sharp sting, but he refused to stop.
He couldn’t.
Just ahead, a faint light spilled into the corridor, marking the end of the hallway.
Driven by desperation alone, Sam threw his weight forward, diving blindly out of the tunnel.
He slammed hard onto his stomach, skidding across the dusty floorboards.
The impact knocked the wind from his lungs, sending a jolt of pain through his entire body.
The corridor fell silent.
Sam lay there for a heartbeat, struggling to breathe.
Then—
“Oh my god! Are you okay?!”
A familiar, frantic voice cut through the ringing in his ears.
Sam slowly pushed himself up, blinking past the dust, and looked straight into Alice’s face.
A weak, breathless smile broke through his exhaustion.
“I’ve never been so happy to hear your voice,” he wheezed.