No One Checks in Unless Their Name is Smith

[Laurels]

G05: Amber Whimsy: START

The first thing Amber felt was the scratchy carpet on her face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the green carpet her face was currently pressed against. She was sure she had a print on her face.

She slowly pushed herself off the ground and looked around. She realized she was in a hotel room. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. The wallpaper was faded and peeling. Cobwebs covered the desk and chair. The mattress on the bed was free of sheets and gaining a moldy yellow color.

Amber stood up and began to stretch her body. That's when Amber felt it. She creaked her neck to adjust from the uncomfortable sleeping position, when she felt something cold and metal against her neck.

It suddenly flooded back to her. The bus running low on gas. The man named Danya. Kiel.

Amber began to shake. She held her hands to her shoulders and quickly looked around the room again. That's when she realized there was a bag next to her.

They said we would get weapons. Oh god, what did I get.

Amber picked the bag up and set it on the bed. After unzipping it, she began to search through the contents. Bread. Crackers. Water. First Aid Kit. An mp3 player?

Amber picked up the small device. She quickly turned it on and began to flip through the options.

"Party Rock Anthem"

"Moves Like Jagger"

"The Edge of Glory"

"You Make Me Feel"

On and on, all songs by the same artist. Kidz Bop.

Amber set the mp3 player down and completely emptied the bag. There was nothing else. They were expecting her to kill her classmates with fucking Kidz Bop.

Amber fell to her knees, lowering her face onto the bed as she began to cry.

"Ms. A's Obituary: Killed while trying to defend herself with Party Rock!" she said to herself.

Well, it's not like they will actually try to kill me, right? These are my friends! I'm sure if I find Paige and Carol, everything will be okay. It's got to be. Or maybe the government will find us. As soon as the bus failed to show up, someone has to have gone looking for us. If it's been over forty-eight hours since our disappearance, they have to look for us.

In fact, if anyone tries to save you, I'll detonate all the collars.

Amber froze.

I'm going to die.

Amber continued to cry. She didn't know what else to do.

[KamiKaze]

Carol sat in a completely different hotel room, in thought.

Well... she didn't know what to think.

It seems as if someone had kidnapped them and was now... making them kill each other? They murdered Kiel. Just like that. All he did was stand up to them. They were murderers. And now? They were supposed to fight to the death.

Carol didn't want to fight. She had a family and friends. She didn't want to hurt her friends! That was horrible! Why would she do that? And why would they want to hurt her?

At first she felt the familiar warmth of tears, pushing against her eyes. But as she thought...

Maybe they'd get rescued. It wasn't too far-fetched! Seriously, it'll turn out fine. She didn't think that any of her classmates would actually "play". Even the not-so-nice ones! No one was that cruel, were they? Carol knew of no one at school that horrible. Not Glen. Not Sidney. Not Adam. Not Timothy. No one. Whatsoever. Especially her friends. No one was that cruel! She believed in her classmates. She knew they were going to do the right thing.

But not only that, but they were going to be rescued as well. They wouldn't get away with this so easily. That she knew.

Even in her terror, she took comfort in this. People weren't bad. Far from it.

What snapped her out of her thoughts was a sound of sobbing and what sounded like a muffled voice. Lifting herself off the carpet and reaching for her bag, she quietly pushed the door open. As she looked up and down the halls, she felt herself become nervous again.

But it was alright. Whoever it was, she had the feeling they wouldn't hurt her.

Slowly, she approached the sound, and pushed aside the door it was behind. As she peered inside, she dropped her bag.

"Amber, is that you?" she called in.

Without warning, she rushed inside.

"Oh god, Amber!"

The familiar warmth pushed from her eyes again.

Amber was safe.

[Laurels]

Amber continued sobbing. It was getting hard to breathe with her face down on the mattress and the collar around her throat, but Amber stopped caring. Death was knocking on her door, and soon she would be entering the afterlife.

Wait, is someone coming in?

Amber, is that you? Oh god, Amber!

Amber quickly lifted her head up. She recognized that voice and the green hair of the girl in front of her.

"Carol!" Amber shouted as she got up and ran towards her friend. Amber quickly wrapped her arms around the girl and began to cry into her shoulder.

"Carol, what are we going to do? They expect us to kill each other, but I don't think I can. I don't know how they expect me to kill anyways. They gave me a Kidz Bop mp3 player to fight with."

Amber pulled herself back to give Carol some space.

"What about you? Are you doing any better than I am?"

[KamiKaze]

"Amber..."

She returned the hug, holding her as tight as she could. Safe. Amber was all right. Carol felt herself tear up.

Everything was going to be okay.

She just knew it.

As Amber pulled back, she asked a flurry of questions.

"I... I think it's going to be alright. Trust me. They would be stopped. And I don't think any of our classmates would play! Not even the not-nice ones! I mean, I can't think of anyone I could seriously see..."

Carol reached up to rub her moist eyes a bit.

It was fine.

Just fine! Amber was here, and they could go look for all their friends, and then they could team up and just hang out until they get rescued! She was sure it was going to happen. They... were just trying to scare them by saying they'd kill them if someone did come to rescue!

Wait, she had a weapon, didn't she?

Something she was supposed to kill with.

Carol knew that no matter what, she didn't want to kill. Besides, she still doubted anyone could play. But even then, she still felt hesitant opening the bag to figure out what she got. A weapon meant death. Apparently Amber got an MP3 player with a bunch of Kidz Bop on it. She'd laugh if it wasn't something so... you know.

[Laurels]

Carol tried to assure Amber that their classmates wouldn't play. Amber was glad Carol was trying to stay optimistic. She really needed it. Still, it seemed like Carol hated to admit that any of her classmates might even try to kill them.

Amber sat down on the bed.

"Well, we got to do something. I'm in favor of trying to wait until rescue comes. We ought to settle down and make this hotel our fortress, or at least part of one. Maybe we should barricade the door and try to stay quiet."

Amber brushed her hair back and adjusted her headband.

"Although, it might be best to move closer to the hotel exit. That Danya guy said they would blow us up if we stayed in certain areas. This hotel has got to have lots of rooms, but we need to orient ourselves with this place. Know where the exits are. Know where we can go if we have to flee. We also need to see if we can find anything to defend ourselves with."

Amber turned to Carol.

"I know you don't think anyone will play, but we have to be ready. In high stress situations, people tend to lose their composure and act recklessly. Obviously, this mp3 player isn't going to help, so I need a new weapon."

Amber looked around the room before focusing on the chair at the desk.

"Let me try something."

Amber walked over and picked the chair up. It was an old chair. It creaked when it moved, and looked like it would fall apart from the slightest amount of pressure. Amber raised it above her head and smashed it against the desk. Nothing. Amber lifted it up again before colliding it with the desk. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Success.

The chair quickly fell apart. Amber then picked up one of the chair legs, one that had a small rusty nail still sticking out of the end.

"It's not much, but I need to have something."

Amber knelt down and grabbed another chair leg, holding it out towards Carol.

"You better take one as well. For safe measure."

[CondorTalon]

B03 - Karl Chalmers: START

Karl had been staring at the ground for about five minutes now, looking at the bag that was given to him, and his weapon. His mind was still processing what had happened before he had found himself sprawled out in the hallway of a building he didn't recognize. He remembered the bus ride, how it had suddenly been hijacked on the way to the park. He remembered Kiel, how he had to speak up. He had gotten death as a reward. That was when Karl knew this was serious. And now he was sitting, looking at the weapon he'd received.

He laughed out loud.

There was no way this was for real, right? They wouldn't get away with this. Someone would notice that the bus hadn't arrived at its location. They were going to be rescued, definitely. They'd be rescued and the sick freaks who did this would get arrested.

So why did Karl feel so uneasy?

Maybe it was the metallic object he felt around his neck. Danya should it would explode if he tried anything funny. What if the rescue is botched because of that?

Karl stood, glancing at the bag and shotgun. He was expected to shoot this thing. At people. He wanted to believe that no one would be that stupid. He knew these people, right? And then it dawned on him that he actually didn't, that he only knew of these people. He didn't know wheher they would snap. Even worse, they didn't know whether they would go after him.

"Damn it!" he shouted, punching the wall.

He didn't realize that the wall was the only thing separating him from two other classmates.

Also, his hand hurt like hell.

[KamiKaze]

Sticking here? Okay. But... oh. Carol had completely forgotten about the collars. She instinctively reached her hand to her neck as Amber mentioned not going to certain areas, feeling the cool metallic against her fingertips. They all had what was pretty much a bomb around their necks. That didn't make Carol feel good. Then again, bombs around necks generally aren't a pleasant experience.

Amber, however, thought that people were going to act recklessly, and that they needed something other than an MP3 player. But they wouldn't be that reckless, would they? A little scared, but maybe that would be it. Fear? Certainly.

Without warning, Amber approached one of the chairs, and, after mentioning she was about to try something, suddenly began smashing it against the desk. Carol jumped.

"Wait-" Carol started, but wasn't sure what to say.

So here she was, watching her friend smash a chair against the desk. She wasn't sure what she was doing. All she could see was that the chair was repeatedly hitting the desk, until-

CRACK.

The chair broke apart, breaking off some of the legs. Amber said that she needed a weapon. So that was it, then? Getting something to defend yourself with?

After she reached for the other chair leg, Carol stared at it while she held it in her hands. There appeared to be a few splinters sticking out, and what appeared to be the remains of a nail. She remained silent for a second, staring at the broken piece of wood.

She looked up.

"Oh, thanks", she said. "Uh... towards the exit, then?"

Carol had formed an awkward smile on her face, but only just before a loud noise banged through the room. It was as if someone was hitting against the wall in the other room? She also thought she heard someone swearing. Oh, so someone else was in here?

"Hey. Hear that?", she whispered.

[Laurels]

"Y-yeah, I heard that."

Amber was frozen in place. Her hands tightened around the chair leg. Amber bit her lip.

Okay, most likely, it's just someone who is scared like us. Come on Amber, don't be so crazy already. You might have freaked them out by smashing that chair.

Amber's eyes moved towards the door of the room.

"Okay, I think that person's just scared like us. We could use all the help, so I say we try to check them out. I'll go look. Wait here."

Amber made her way to the door.

"Carol, if anything goes wrong, get out. Find Paige. Try to survive."

Amber peaked out the hallway. Empty. Thank God.

She slowly made her way over to the room next door. She gulped as she raised her hand up and knocked on the door. She then moved closer to the door and spoke.

"Hey, are you okay? It's Amber Whimsy. Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to find my friends."

Live or die Amber. Time to find out.

[CondorTalon]

Well, punching the wall hadn't really done anything to alleviate the situation he was in, and so he slumped back to the ground.

Okay, he needed to figure a plan if he was going to survive. He had a good draw, but going up against everyone by himself was suicide. He didn't have any real potential allies, either. He buried his head in his hands.

He heard the knocking on the door. He raised his head, and slowly got to his feet.

"Hey, are you okay? It's Amber Whimsy. Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to find my friends."

Karl's eyes narrowed. As nice as it was that she identified herself, he didn't completely buy that she wasn't going to hurt him. And he didn't want to be caught off guard this early on.

"Okay. Amber? This is Karl. Karl Chalmers. I'm not playing this game either, but I have a gun. Just warning you in advance, so you don't try anything funny."

He was simply extending the same courtesy to her that she showed him. He grabbed the gun, making sure to keep it toward the ground.

"I think we can help each other. I'm sure we'd have a better chance of surviving if we stick together."

He slowly made his way to the door.

"I'm going to open the door. I'm keeping the gun down, so there are no accidents, but if you try anything, I'll bring it up. Alright?"

Karl was nervous. Had he said too much? Well, it was too late now. He brought his hand to the doorknob, turned it, and pulled, making sure to open it in such a way as to keep the door between her and him.

[KamiKaze]

Carol nervously nodded as Amber went to investigate.

What if she got hurt? Even though she didn't think people would actually do that, the idea lingered in her mind as Amber went off. It didn't help that she was now holding a piece of wood that she was supposed to... yeah. Hit people with. Could she do that? Would people really panic as much?

All she could really do right now was do what Amber said, and just wait. Get out if anything happened. Find Paige. All that. Just do what she said, and it'll be alright. But could she leave Amber behind if something happened to her? Carol wasn't sure.

Amber was her friend, after all.

As she disappeared into the hallway, Carol heard her knock on the door, and a male voice reply. Karl? Karl! She wasn't sure if Amber still disliked him after the incident in the classroom that one time, where he called them out for passing notes and brought the teacher's attention to Amber. To be fair, it was a boring lesson, and frankly, there was only so much gay innuendo one could take. But anyways, Karl was a good guy. She still thought that Karl's problem was that he was too much of a good guy, what with his hobby of following rules and such. But it wasn't a bad thing. She couldn't hate him for it. Who could? And that made her feel better. Because Karl was probably the last person who would decide to hurt someone.

He seemed nervous, judging by the tone. And apparently, he had a gun. He seemed to not be planning to use it unless something happened, though.

So Carol waited. She wasn't sure if she could run away without Amber if something happened. Maybe she could jump out with that piece of wood if it did? But Amber said not to. But it was Karl. It was highly unlikely that he wasn't telling the truth.

[Laurels]

Amber quietly waited for a response. Anything would do, except a gunshot through the door.

Okay. Amber? This is Karl. Karl Chalmers. I'm not playing this game either, but I have a gun. Just warning you in advance, so you don't try anything funny.

Karl. That dick who had to call Amber out for passing a note to Carol. Of course he was here. But frankly, Amber didn't really care. Karl may be a stick in the mud, but the situation trumps his character. She was just glad to get an ally, especially one who has a gun.

"No prob Karl. Just gonna keep my arms by my side."

I think we can help each other. I'm sure we'd have a better chance of surviving if we stick together.

"Glad you're willing to help."

I'm going to open the door. I'm keeping the gun down, so there are no accidents, but if you try anything, I'll bring it up. Alright?

"By all means, go ahead."

Amber watched as Karl slowly opened the door. He must have still had some doubts about her honesty. Whatever, she didn't need to pull any crazy shit to the guy with the shotgun in his hands.

"Hey Karl. So Carol and I were hoping to maybe defend ourselves here in the hotel. Seeing as how you're already here and have a pretty nice gun, you are welcome to join us."

Amber held the chair leg up and rested it against her right shoulder.

"Whatya say? Wanna turn this place into a fortress?"

[CondorTalon]

A fortress?

Karl tossed the idea around his head. Sure, in this kind of situation it would be a better idea to let any players come to their location, rather than venturing out and possibly being hunted down by an enemy they couldn't see. It would be safer to wait here until they got rescued.

If they got rescued.

The problem was, then, what would happen if they didn't. If outside circumstances forced them to leave. They might be in trouble, then.

However, exposing them to danger now would be worse than later.

"Fine," he said, "I think for now that's the best course of action."

He shifted his feet.

"But... if anything happens to make this plan more dangerous than helpful, I'm bailing. Alright?"

[KamiKaze]

Carol slowly stepped towards the door as the conversation continued. Amber was mentioning that she was there, and that they were planning on making the place into a fortress.

Karl agreed, saying he was going to bail if something went wrong, but he was alright with it.

Carol felt it was safe to come out. Maybe? She wasn't sure. But it seemed alright.

Slowly, she peeked her head out from the doorway, and looked down the hall. She could see them, and she decided to speak.

"Hey Karl", she whispered. "Things going well?"

She smiled a little bit. Smiling made people feel comfortable. She just needed to be friendly, and then he won't freak out.

Carol didn't want him to freak out. He had that gun, after all. And she didn't like it when people freaked out. She liked it when people got along well.

And although Amber was mad at him for the whole note thing for a while, she was agreeing to team up with him. And he was, too.

And that was good.

[Laurels]

Okay, Karl is in agreement. Awesome. Three Musketeers all the way.

"I don't mind if you leave. We pretty much are set on having an escape clause. But hopefully you won't have to run away."

Carol moved into the hallway and greeted Karl. From Karl's immediate reaction, it seemed like he was cool with Carol as well. This gave Amber some relief, since she sort of lied to him at the door.

"Okay, so I figure we ought to ensure no one can come to the hotel and attack us, if anyone does. Now, I figure the best way would be to check all the immediate exits on the first floor. If we can barricade most of them, we might be able to stay safe. Of course, one has to be easy to get through in case we have to flee the hotel, which does run a risk of letting someone in."

"The other issue is that the hotel is large, the three of us are gonna have to cover it, and we have only one gun, two chair legs, and Kidz Bop to fight with. We might not be able to completely seal off the outside, but maybe we can find a specific area to hide in."

"So, I say we start by checking the ground level. Any issues?"

Amber waited for a response. She was worried that she was being a bit bossy, but she knew that she had to keep her friends and allies alive should any of her classmates decide to kill.

I hope this is the right thing. If I get Karl or Carol killed, I don't know how I could live with myself.

[CondorTalon]

"Hey Karl. Things going well?"

He turned his head towards the source of the voice. Of course, since Amber did say that Carol was here, he wasn't really surprised. He raised his free hand in a sort of half-wave.

Amber was laying down a whole bunch of words; her plans on getting this so called fortress of hers set up. Karl simply listened carefully. What she was saying made sense. Securing exits, find a safe place to hole up as long as possible. There was a mention of Kidz Bop which made Karl raise his eyebrow. That must have been her weapon. He got a gun. She got music.

That was... great.

"So, I say we start by checking the ground level. Any issues?"

Karl shook his head.

"Not really, no. But how are we going to do this? If we split up, we can cover ground faster, but it leaves us more open to attack. If we stick together it'll be slower but we can more reliably protect ourselves."

However they did this, one thing was clear. They had to be careful in doing this. It wouldn't do good for them to be caught off guard because of a missed fire exit or something.