Prison of the dead (Labyrinth of Monsters' sequel) A hermitcraft/3rd life fanfic

Chapter 12 - Grian

Silence.

Doc's standing there, grinning like a psycho. Scar's dead body lies at his feet. 

Murderer. 

I clench my hands tightly, before screaming. 

'F*** YOU! YOU F*****G MONSTER! YOU DESERVE TO DIE A THOUSAND F*****G DEATHS AS F*****G BAD AS THAT ONE. YOU UTTER F*****G, S******G MONSTER!'

'Language, Grian. Isn't that right, Xanthia?' Doc turns to the apparent leader.

'N...No, I'm going to accept it this time.'

'Why?!'

'Because this is horrible.'

'He attacked first.'

'That doesn't mean you have to murder him!' Skizz snaps back, crying. 

'This means war.' Martyn snarls, stepping forwards. 'You killed our friend. You're going to f*****g pay for it.'

''He was going to kill me!' Doc excuses furiously. 'He ambushed me when I was unarmed! Etho? Bdubs? Come on, back me up, this isn't my fault,'

Neither respond at first. Skizz and Bdubs look at each other for a moment, before the latter steps forwards. 

'You disgust me.' Bdubs spits. 'I thought you were my friend.'

'What? I still am, aren't I?'

'No... no you're not. You KILLED Scar for no reason. You could've let him live. Scar was my friend. And he was a better friend than you ever were.' 

'Well said, Bdubs.' Jimmy nods approvingly.

'Yeah. And if you want to join us, then you can.' Skizz adds. Doc's glaring at him, still holding the sword. Scar's sword. He'd F*****G killed Scar with his own weapon. 

'And... and I'm quitting the NHO. I don't care about AFK fish farms or whatever else you complain about. I don't need your stupid protection. I can look after myself, and so can Etho and Beef.'

'Fine! We don't need you.' Doc's clearly hurt by Bdubs's betrayal. 'Go off with these monsters. We won't accept you when you come crawling back. Etho? Are you also going to leave?' 

'I don't know.' Is all he replies. 'I really don't know.' 

'ETHO! Come on! You can't agree with these creatures. You know they hate you.' 

Silence for a moment, before Etho speaks again. 

'I'm gonna go.' He glances over at Xanthia, who lets him go. I watch as Skizz trips him as he passes, but he doesn't react, standing up and running away.

'Right. All of you, please go.' Xanthia orders. The remaining SO DEAD members looks around each other, before walking off. I follow behind, but stop, looking back at Bdubs. My small friend is clearly trying not to cry. I jog over.

'You did the right thing.' I say. 'Don't worry. You're too nice to be on Doc's side.'

He bursts into tears. I give him a comforting hug, as we make our way back to a place I recognise. We soon enter the main area, and I bring him to the side. As the others share the news, We sit down and I let him cry his eyes out. No one disturbs us, as word spreads like wildfire about Scar's death. It doesn't take long for everyone to be talking about it, more focused on that than Bdubs being upset. The first person to really notice me and Bdubs is Beef, who comes over. 

'What happened? I know that Scar died, but...'

'Doc.' I explain simply. 

Beef sits down on the other side of Bdubs. 

'Don't worry about Doc. You knew he was going to snap eventually.'

'Why did he have to kill my friend?' The builder snuffles. 'Scar didn't deserve to die.'

'I know.'

'And... and... I quit the NHO.'

'Oh.'

'I didn't want to be part of something with Doc in.' 

'That's fair...'

'I think Etho might as well, but Skizz and Martyn and Jimmy's group still hate him, and I don't want him to get killed, but I don't want to stop being their friends, because I know they're right to hate him and Doc and... and...' Bdubs starts to cry again, and Beef gives him a comforting hug. The ex-NHO member hugs back, and Beef signals to me that he's got everything covered. I nod back. 

'I... I'm going to check on how Hypno's doing. He's been alone a lot since we got out of the maze.' I excuse myself, and walk off, looking around for the other hermit. Eventually I spot him, alone as usual, at the archery area, and run over to him.

'Hey Hypno.' I greet, grabbing a bow. He looks over, almost surprised, 

'Oh, hey Grian. How're you doing?'

'Fine... how about you?'

'Slowly getting over Jevin's death. They haven't done anything here to make it easier. And they've kept the huge 'Jevin Stinks' that I wrote on the wall of our shared room.'

'Wow... I heard that Skizz was still sleeping in the room that he and Impulse shared as well. I mean- do they want us to get upset?' I mean it as a joke, but Hypno replies in all seriousness.

'Probably. Anything to aid their experiments. I mean... the guy who killed EX had the right idea.' 

'Do you have any idea who did it?' I ask. 

'No.' Hypno replies, suspiciously quickly. He sighs. 'I wish I could get out of this place. Before anyone else is killed. EX, Scar... who's next?'

'Probably Doc or Etho.'

'You think?'

'Yeah... anyway, I've been wondering about getting out as well. There doesn't seem to be any obvious exit. 

'No... what if this is all still part of the maze? What if this is all still the same world, but they've just made it look different. Maybe the 'deaths' aren't an accident... what if Jevin and Impulse and all of those lot were supposed to be killed?'

'Seriously?'

'Yes.' 

'Then the creators had better start explaining why they've told us they're not dead.' I shoot a furious arrow that misses the target by far. Hypno fires another couple of bullseyes. 

'Iskall, False and Wels made a group to discuss it, and try to break out of here. I was thinking of joining. You could as well if you wanted.'

'Yeah.' Distracted, I Look over at where False had just entered. Xanthia signals for me to come. 

'Looks like it's my turn to be interviewed... see you around Hypno.'

'Bye, Grian!'

With a final nod at Hypno, I run off, mind already racing with theories on EX's death and how I might escape this prison of the dead.

You know what I said about a hiatus? 

Screw it, I'm getting to chapter 15 first.