With their second stick

Day 3

"How boring!" The voice boomed in the dark, and the lights flickered on and off, before finally turning uncomfortably bright. The prisoners were shocked awake by the loud exclamation and the rumbling of the room around them. "Not nearly enough strife! Where is all of the delicious drama?! You may have succeeded in yesterday's challenge, but only by abusing the charity of a single woman! You lot are nothing but a bunch of failures. I will give you all one last chance. Offer up to me one sacrifice, and I will forgive you for being so utterly boring during these past two days. I desire to watch you fight amongst yourselves. If no one is killed, you will all die at midnight!"

With that declaration, the lights flashed once more, and a terrifying quake rocked the room, flipping the table on its side and slamming the prisoners against one another. In the aftermath, the lights flickered back to their usual brightness, and a few pained groans and fearful whimpers could be heard around the room.

When everyone stood up and looked around, their eyes were filled by suspicion and fear.

Ed brushed himself off and spoke up first. "Let's all stay calm, now."

Leticia righted the table and started fixing the chairs spread across the room.

"Good idea," Ed said, helping her. "Let's all sit down and have a nice, civil, chat."

The others agreed, although many were hesitant. Jen, especially, held her daughter close to her as she sat down at the table. Frank took a seat at the edge of the table, near the wall. He wanted to be ready to purchase a weapon, if it came down to that.

Anne and Jack held hands and waited for Ed to start the discussion.

"So," he started, sweating, "It seems we'll have to choose someone to…"

No one finished the sentence.

"How?" Leticia finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

"That is... " Ed struggled to think of a good method. "A… vote?"

The others thought about it before answering. It seemed like the most obvious choice would be Greco, the angry burden on the rest of the group. But what if someone else was chosen, by some fluke? No one wanted to be that unlucky person.

"Well, let's talk some, first," Frank said. "If we did vote, how many of you would vote for the chief?"

When the others hesitated to speak, he added, "Show of hands," and then raised his own. Everyone else raised their hands with him, except Emery. "Then, that's it, isn't it?" Greco was bucking wildly and trying to peel off the tape over his mouth by rubbing it against the bars. He couldn't say anything to defend himself, but he saw them all agree to sacrifice him, and he wasn't about to lay down and die.

"Yes," Ed answered, ignoring Greco's thrashing. "But, we still have to decide, how, exactly."

Leticia clarified, "You mean, who?"

Ed hesitated. "I, suppose."

They sat in silence again, thinking. No one wanted to be the one to kill him.

Leticia laid her palms on the table. "I'll do it, then."

The others released their nervous breaths.

"Thanks again, Letty," Em said.

"Don't worry about it, kid," Letty replied, patting the girl on the head before rising. "I guess… I'll do it in the bathroom?"

The others looked at her with mixed reactions. Those who understood that she was worried about making a mess, were mostly repulsed at the image. Jen, who wasn't sure why Letty wanted to kill Greco in the bathroom, just asked, "But then, won't we just need a new bathroom?"

"I don't really know if we'll be able to get rid of the body afterwards," Letty mused.

"We can put it in a bag, and then, a coffin," Anne suggested. "It shouldn't smell if we get something airtight…" She trailed off, realizing what she was saying and becoming frightened at how easily she was dealing with the idea of helping to kill someone.

"Then, it should be fine. Em, can you play some music again?"

Em nodded and went for her radio. She wasn't sure what to play, given the mood. As Leticia dragged the struggling Greco into the bathroom, she picked one of the slower songs on the playlist, and pressed play.

In the bathroom, Leticia drew a knife out of the wall, and Greco moaned, beating out the noise of the radio even with the tape over his mouth. Em turned the volume up higher. Leticia brought the knife to Greco's neck, and the man craned himself away from it, as much as he could, with his body trapped beneath the weight of her knee. She took a deep breath, and then, thrust out her hand. The blood trickled down the shower drain, and eventually, Greco stopped moving.

Leticia brought the bloody knife to the wall and disposed of it, letting it slip out of her grasp and disappear through the screen. She bagged the body herself, and then asked Anne to help her find a good coffin, which they filled with the body bag, and then placed into a larger wooden box, and left in the corner of the room, replacing the cell after they got rid of that too.

For the rest of the day, the mood was dark. Nobody spoke to one another. Anne and Jack couldn't find the will to earn any points, but they no longer really had to, as Leticia had more than enough to spare to pay for everyone else's necessities. When they finally settled down for bed, nobody could really get to sleep. They all worried. If their captor hadn't been satisfied with the past two days, would they really be satisfied with what they'd done today? Someone had certainly been killed, but whether or not there was enough drama to satisfy the sick person behind the voice, they couldn't be sure.