Chapter 6 - Oscar

Oscar was more uneasy than glad that Will was trying so desperately to befriend him. He himself had considered pointing a gun (which he didn't have) at Hannah's head while ratting out another team, but Will beat him to it, without the gun. Now, Will was the one with the worst reputation, so frankly Oscar had no idea how easily the rest of the group complied with his ideas. Perhaps Will's tongue was sharper than Oscar had expected.

"Well, this game is also a matter of trust. Even though betraying to the other team is dumb, everybody would feel better if the big shots were under control, right?" Will pointed to Ren. "That guy is too predictable, so it would be simple to get somebody to watch over him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, but we still have one murderer on the loose. Besides, you all wouldn't mind if a serial killer died, right?"

"It's not right to kill people, even if you hate them," Emma muttered under her breath, which everybody promptly ignored because they were all serial killers.

"...Are you sure this will work?" Willow asked. "I'm fine with… being the protectee. I'm an adult, I can protect myself too."

"Sure, you look like a middle schooler," Ren replied, rolling his eyes.

"I-I'm nineteen!" Willow shot back.

"Yeah, and you can't even go to a bar yet. What's your point?"

"Ugh, guys, shut up!" Will snapped. "We have less than three minutes left and I'm not done. We need a decoy, which obviously is going to be Willow."

"W-What??"

"Hey, it's a good plan, okay? You act as the decoy and we send out a few people while leaving two to protect the decoy here at the base. Listen -" Will leaned in closer to nothing in particular and said in a whisper, "the intercom man said we can't kill them, not that we can't harm them. Just knock them unconscious one by one and drag them back here, alright? We can interrogate them later."

Scarlett nodded. "That's.. A good plan. I'll volunteer to stay behind." Will smiled and gave her a thumbs up, which made Oscar cringe slightly. He turned away from the conversation and looked at the glass maze, touching the walls. With his breath, he drew a little sad face, barely listening, until Will grabbed his hand once more and dragged him to wherever he was planning to be. It was the only thing good about Will – he just brings Oscar to where he's supposed to be.

"Bye you crazy blonde boys," Emma called after them. Oscar looked behind him, the timer above their container showing seventy one hours instead of the ten minute countdown. Three days. Hopefully things would be resolved before three days and he could go back to the dormitory.

"Where are we going?" Oscar asked. Will shrugged, his left hand holding onto Oscar's, his right brushing against the glass walls of the maze and he ran past the tables and pots of plants.

"Just getting to know the area," he hummed. "Oh, Oscar, we need weapons. You see that big ass tree in the middle?" Will pointed to a tree that had suddenly appeared when the round started. It was old, its gnarly roots carving into the dirt, the only place that was grass instead of concrete. "It probably has some loot or something, so we're heading there."

"...Alright." Oscar grabbed a hoe leaning on the side of the glass, following Will, who had slowed to a walk.

There was a knock on the glass as Oscar flinched, turning behind him. A girl with bright red looked at them through the wall, waving and smiling a little. Oscar nodded, waving back.

"Hey!" the girl shouted, causing Will to turn around too. "You're group eight, right?"

"Well, what else can we be?" Will replied, letting go of Oscar's hand and walking towards the glass.

"Y'have an angry short kid in your group? Around this tall." She motioned with her hands. "He's a ginger like me too."

…Axel?

"Depends, what's your relationship with him?" Will asked, crossing his arms. The girl's green eyes widened.

"Hah! I knew it! Bring him to me right now!" She grabbed a shovel from the ground, pointing it at the glass. "My little bro must be crying about me right now, so I wanna see him." 

Will shrugged. "What's his name? There are a lot of short angry red-heads out there." The girl sighed, growing impatient.

"Sammy! Samuel Bryan. Y'know, he's crazy about his girlfriend. Won't even look his big sis in the eye, that insane ass." With a softer expression, she said, "I just… I want to see him. Even if he's annoying and obsessed, he's still my brother. This is a killing game, y'know? Who knows when I'll see anybody for the last time?"

Oscar looked at Will, whose face was unreadable. He looked away from the girl, avoid any problems like he always had, blocking out the conversation. He turned around, back towards the plants, when Will yanked his arm back.

"Ma'am…" Will muttered. He was trembling now. "I'm sorry, that boy… he was killed." Tears started forming from his eyes as Oscar looked at him in shock, unable to do anything. What was he supposed to do now? Agree with him? Tell the girl that Will was Axel's murderer?

Will's grasp on Oscar's arm tightened as Oscar winced.

"This man… he was the one who killed your brother." Will looked away as the girl gasped, glaring at Oscar in shock.

Oscar opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He looked towards Will, but his head was turned away. The girl was screaming now, tears rolling out of her eyes as she struck the wall angrily with the shovel. Oscar was afraid the glass would break. If it did… 

The glass shattered to pieces as the girl lunged towards him with the shovel. The two were split, Will flung to the other side, into a pile of plants and tools. As the girl struck at him with the shovel, he rolled over, grabbing his hoe and covering his head with the other hand as she swung the shovel randomly, anger in her eyes.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed. "How could you? Even if you hated him, how could you kill another person??" From the glass maze, three other eyes were on them. Two from the opposing team, and one from theirs, although Oscar couldn't see clearly in the chaos of glass and dirt. He smacked her chest with the hoe but she grabbed his neck, throwing him to the ground. Glass shards dug into his back along with her nails at his throat and he gagged. 

Temporarily, the image of his mother replaced the girl. He was laid on the floor, wine spilt on his face as the glass dug farther into his palms. Her screams pierced his ears as her tears dropped onto his cheeks.

Then, a figure behind them brought down a flower pot on the girls head and she gasped. Will smashed it against her skull as blood from her mouth flew into Oscar's face. He rolled to the side, holding onto the wall to stand up, as she laid lifeless on the ground. His arms trembled as he clutched his throat, gasping for air.

"Number three hundred and one. Ten years additional for the death of number two hundred sixty."