Chapter 4: Burning Questions with No Answer Part 2

"Attention all contestants." Poppy was interrupted by the booming voice over the Loudspeakers, instantly shutting us all up out of fear. "I have come to announce that the gate next to the Cell Block, and the one in the cell block is now unlocked, and you may now explore those areas. Enjoy yourselves." Was all they said, before the Loudspeakers shut off. We were left in silence for a second, before someone spoke up.

"There was a gate in the cell block?!" Poppy exclaimed.

"I...I had no idea that there was one either." Mia said, genuinely surprised at herself.

"Do we want to split into groups to explore?" Akira asked.

"I call dibs on the one in the cell block!" Urkstin called out.

"Oi, I call the one next to the cell block!" Poppy added as well. Pretty soon we were all calling out where we were going, and we headed off to our destinations. For me, that was going into the Cell Block to find our new passage.

As I entered the Cell Block, I noticed Urkstin heading to the right, so I caught up to him and found an open door leading into a hallway.

"This is the new passage?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yep! Did you wanna look around together?" Urkstin asked, looking like an excited child in a toy store. I nodded in response and walked with him, talking along the way.

"So, can I ask you something Aka?"

"What's up?"

"Are you… and Poppy-"

"No, we aren't like that. I don't know why you guys keep assuming that."

"I...was just gonna ask if you guys were free later today to hang out."

"...Oh."

"What did you think I was gonna-"

"Oh hey look it's a door!" I spouted out, drawing attention aware from my embarrassed self, and to the door on our right. We entered the room, and were surprised to see some sort of infirmary.

The infirmary didn't give off any sort of healthy or caring atmosphere. It was more of a dingy, decayed, and lonely room. There were two 'beds', which were better explained as mattresses laid upon rusted metal frames, that barely seemed to hold itself together. There was a large cabinet full of medical supplies, alongside small, empty filing cabinets next to it. Besides that, there was nothing else of extreme interest immediately.

Urkstin and I searched around the room anyway, looking for any secrets or items. I searched under the mattresses, which were terrible quality, most likely worn out from age, and I was upset to see that my efforts did not garner any success. The only thing I did gain from searching under them was a pair of sticky hands, to which I did not want to question what made them like that.

"Hey Aka, come over here! I found some medical supplies!" Urkstin called out, interrupting my disgusted thoughts. I approached him searching through the supply closet and looked with him.

"First aid kits, bandages, rubbing alcohol, this has a lot of useful stuff." I proclaimed, "If anyone gets hurt we'll be able to patch them up quickly." While I said that, I pocketed some bandages, and continued looking. Urkstin let out an excited squeal, before holding up a blowtorch.

"Woah Mama! This is a heavy piece of equipment!" Urkstin said, holding it like a prized possession.

"Maybe you should put that down…" I said, worried about someone getting burned by it.

"Aw come on Aka, these don't light unless you have something to light it with ding dong!" Urkstin corrected me, before putting the blowtorch back on the shelf. "Wonder why they even have this in here."

"Probably some sort of makeshift way to cauterize wounds." I suggested, "It's a bit unprofessional, but the dickhead on the loudspeaker could've replaced the professional cauterizer with this blowtorch."

"Why would they do that?" Urkstin questioned, and I replied with a shrug.

"They're entirely messed up in the head obviously, their goals are beyond our understanding." I responded, justified and bitter towards the one behind all of this. Urkstin simply nodded in response, and I led him out of the infirmary, and continued down the hallway, in silence. We continued walking until we ran into another locked gate.

"I see, so they're trying to bait us with more rooms to try and kill each other."I explained out loud, peering through the gate.

"Well… They won't be able to make us kill again, right?" Urkstin asked, like an innocent child.

"I hope so." I replied, before walking back to the cell block with him, thinking to myself the whole way there. Once we made it back, we headed to the other unlocked area, walking down another long hallway.

"How do you like to have fun Aka?"

"Huh?"

"You just seem really under the weather ever since we met, so I wanna get to know you better!"

"Oh well, I always like watching game shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, usually just because of how much I always know. I always try to challenge myself and see how many answers I can get in a row. What about you Urkstin?"

"Well there's the usual racing obviously! But I also really like painting, and seeing if I can make something pretty, or improve from the last one I made!" Urkstin said, with a goofy smile on his face.

"Well, maybe there'll be an art room in here for you to show off your skills with." I replied, showing a smile of my own. Urkstin happily talked about his experiences with painting as we wall, until we found a room on our left. We entered, and were greeted to a small gym, with barely any equipment, besides weights and punching bags. Liam and Jambo were in here, looking around for anything useful for an escape.

"Well now this place is speaking my language." Jambo quipped, picking up a pair of boxing gloves, "I might actually enjoy staying in this shithole now."

"I may want to spend my next few free hours here as well." Liam spoke, lifting a weight, struggling very apparently, "A good physical stature is a pleasant idea for surviving in this prison."

"I don't see you as the fighting type Liam." Urkstin added, picking up a pair of boxing gloves as well, putting them on and throwing a few punches, "But you're not wrong! Maybe teaching everyone how to defend themselves would be a good idea."

"I am increasingly surprised at the condition of all of the things in this prison. These metal lifting weights are in impeccable quality, not a single inch of rust on them!" Liam explained, examining a five pound weight, his arms shaking in a struggle to keep it lifted.

"How kind of the Loudspeaker asshole." I said sarcastically, "It's good to know that they care more about the quality of life in here rather than the murdering aspect." As Urkstin and I finished looking around the gym, we waved goodbye to Liam and Jambo, and we continued down the hallway, seeing another door on our left quickly after.

Behind door number three was a room heavily contrasting the gym. This room was a large library, tall bookshelves filled with books covering every wall. There were also tables and chairs for relaxing and reading, where Risa, Mia, and Poppy were sitting.

"Oh, hey y'all!" Poppy announced, being the only one in the group who was not reading. Mia and Risa both looked up shortly after, and waved to us nonchalantly as we approached.

"We were just looking through the selection of books here hun. Care to join us?" Risa asked, in her strangely seductive tone.

"Correction, Risa and I are looking through the books. Hale is just here for the ride." Mia corrected, pointing at Poppy, who was eagerly bouncing in her seat.

"Well, what have you found so far?" Urkstin asked, pulling a chair over and sitting.

"Mostly the usual novels, recreational books, and a few children's books. Most of the novels are written by the same guy though." Mia explained, holding a book up to show us the binder with the author's name.

"Most of them are written by this 'Toddy Howard' guy?" I asked, to which Risa and Mia both nodded.

"I feel like I've heard of him before." I thought aloud, trying to think of why it was so familiar.

"H-He has written a lot of books, so you most likely heard it from there hun." Risa retorted, a bit quickly. I nodded in response, and patted on Urkstin's back.

"I'm gonna go check around the rest of the area. You coming?"

"Oh, I'm ok! I'm fine with Risa and Poppy!" Urkstin answered, smiling, knowing he left out Mia in the group. I smiled back and left them to their devices, continuing down the hallway of the new area. While I walked, I started thinking to myself.

Maybe I should ask around to see if anyone else has had nightmares like me. That could just lead to more teasing like Poppy has been doing to me.

It's worth the risk if I can get some sort of explanation on why I'm having those kinds of twisted memories as nightmares. And if no one has had them, then I'll be seen as crazy.

This is all your- Alright that's enough thinking to myself.

I turned a corner and was not surprised to see another gate in my way. Through the gate, I could see a door on the left and right, however that was all I could see. I turned away from the gate and flipped off the air, hoping that the cameras picked them up, and made my way back to the library.

"That was quick." Mia said, seeing me enter.

"Yeah, there weren't any more rooms past there, just another locked gate." I explained, before Mia continued her passive aggressiveness.

"And we can trust your word this time?" She asked, with a condescending smile and her trademark glare. I had no way to answer, so I simply stared back at her, trying to match the coldness in her glare. We stayed like that for a couple seconds before Poppy jumped in to deter the tension in the room.

"Weeeeeeell you can go check it yaself, Missing In Action, I'm outta here," She

announced, slapping a book closed and standing up, "I ain't the nerd type, so I won't be stickin' around here long."

"That's alright hun, hopefully we'll see you later." Risa called out, smiling and

leaning on her arm. Poppy nodded back to her and left the room, tapping my shoulder to gesture me to come with.

"I'm gonna make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." I said, pointing back to the departing redhead. Everyone nodded to me, and I followed her out, catching up as she walked in stride.

"Oh, what's up crAkatoa?" She asked, surprised to see me following behind.

"Just wanted to make sure you don't do anything stupid." I admitted.

"Well that don't make no sense, since all of the stupid is in you!" She shot back, slapping my back.

"Oh you think you're funny?" I asked rhetorically.

"It is my specialty, so yessir." She retorted, clearly enjoying the joking.

"Ah damn, you got me there. Where were you heading?" I moved the topic, no longer able to think of any other jokes.

"I was gonna take a shower. Why… wanna join me?" Poppy asked, flashing the most smirky grin possible.

"Wh- N-no, I was just-" I stuttered, flustered at her bluntness. Poppy stared at my embarrassed face, for a second before bursting into laughter.

"Awww, ya so cute when yer red like that! I was kiddin' anyways...unless?" She said, glancing my way as she finished her statement.

"Unless what?" I questioned, scared at where this was going.

"I dunno, maybe if ya actually do wanna join me, I'll be waitin'." She said, smirking hard, before speeding her walk up so I wouldn't be able to catch her. I had to make a choice then, by myself. Who was I going to hang out with today, Poppy, or someone else?