Among Us Avidan Shah

Among Us

Avidan Shah

I didn’t sign up for this.

As we stood around the bloodied remains of what used to be one of our crewmates, we realized that there was a major problem on our hands. This was supposed to be just another regular shipping flight with your runof-the-mill ten-man crew, not a horror movie.

It was Yellow who finally spoke up. “So, it seems like we have an Impostor among us. Maybe two, given the size of our crew.”

“Yeah, and by the looks of it, it’s probably you! You were the last person I saw with Purple, and now he’s dead! I say we boot Yellow out the airlock. Who’s with me?” Cyan was always quick to jump to conclusions.

We all directed our gaze towards Yellow, who didn’t even flinch. “I’m telling you guys, I was priming the Skeld’s shields, which is coincidentally nowhere near Electrical.”

“Ok guys, why don’t we all just calm down. There are nine of us left. No need to eject anyone yet. How about we all just go back to getting our tasks done for now and come back when we have concrete evidence?” Blue was usually the mediator of the group, and I appreciated him for that.

I finally spoke up. “That’s a great idea! Why don’t we pair up or group together as much as we can? That way, when someone dies, we’ll know it was their partner who did it.”

The others nodded their heads in approval. We voted to skip, the emergency shields separating us went down, and we all headed out of the cafeteria to continue our tasks. I decided to follow Yellow because he seemed to be the smartest out of the group.

As we headed towards Weapons, he turned to me and whispered, “Pink, to be honest, you’re the most trustworthy person here, and I don’t even trust you all that much. If we stick together the whole game, we can definitely make it o-”

All of a sudden, a warning sign flashed on our HUD: Low O2.

Crap. They must have sabotaged the oxygen supply.

“Hurry, Yellow! We need to restabilize the oxygen or we’ll all die!”

We sprinted towards the O2 room, praying someone else would fix the malfunctioning O2 regulator in Admin. Yellow punched in the temporary emergency code, and, in unison, we breathed a sigh of relief when the HUD read that we were in the clear.

“That was way too close, Pink. Two minutes more, and we’d all be dead.”

“Finish clearing out Asteroids, then let’s head to Electrical - I have to download some data on the recent surges.”

“Sounds good to me.”

We made our way over to Electrical, passing by Blue, Cyan, and Green on our way through Storage. As we entered, we were horrified to find two bodies in the back. I immediately reported it, and the crew regrouped in the cafeteria for an emergency meeting.

Cyan immediately turned to me, asking where the body was.

“I found Red’s body in the back of Electrical by the air vent. White was also dead next to him.”

“Damn. You think it was a double kill? It has been a while since we found Purple dead.”

“No idea.”

“Well, there’s one thing I’m almost certain of. It’s you. You definitely killed them and self-reported. You agree with me, right Lime?”

Lime turned to face me. “I think Cyan is a little aggressive, but we’re down to seven people. The impostors will have us dead soon. We need to vote. I’m down to vote you out if Cyan can propose some sort of actual evidence.”

Yellow suddenly spoke, standing up for me. “There’s no way Pink is Impostor. We were together the whole time, in shields. He’s clear.” He continued to speak, now turning towards Orange. “Orange, where were you when the meeting was called?”

“Uhh… um… Medbay. Yes, that’s it - Medbay! I was ... inspecting some biosamples.”

Yellow pressed forward with his interrogation. “So where were you before that? What were you doing? Was anyone with you?”

“Uh… well, I guess I enjoy peace and quiet, so I was just doing tasks by myself. I was fixing the engine alignment, restarting the reactor, and watching cameras in Security.”

“Did you see anything suspicious on the security footage?”

“Not particularly.”

“So let me get this straight. There were three people killed in the back of Electrical. For this entire trip, you were within one room from Electrical. You claim to be watching the cams, but you’ve found nothing conclusive. Most damning of all, you were in Medbay when the bodies were found by the vents in Electrical. Can anyone else connect the dots here? It’s so obviously Orange.”

Surprisingly, Cyan nodded his head, immediately voting to eject

Orange. “I don’t usually agree with you, Yellow, and I don’t particularly like you - in fact, I quite dislike you, but you’re making a hell of a lot of sense here. I say vote Orange. Pink is still suspicious, though.”

One by one, the other crewmates voted. I looked at Yellow, hesitant, and he gave me a nod of affirmation.

I pressed the button. The results were displayed on our tablets. 6 votes for Orange and one for Yellow.

“Wait, guys, you can still change your minds! I’m not an Impostor! I swear!”

Yellow visibly yawned. “Drag him to the airlock, boys.”

Orange struggled fiercely, but he was no match for 5 crew members. Each grabbed a limb, and Blue took hold of his head.

We made our way over to the airlock, where two buttons were situated on the wall to control the doors. Orange was still fighting back with all his strength, but the crewmates had him easily restrained. Yellow turned to me. “Pink, if you would be so kind as to do the honors?”

Is it really him?

I hesitated, then pressed the green button. The first door opened with a jarring creak. The rest of the crewmates tossed the screaming and struggling Orange in. Before he could get up, I pressed the green button again. The airlock slammed shut, and suddenly all we could hear was Orange banging on the door, slowly diminishing in speed and strength as he exhausted himself.

“Pink. Remove this scum from our ship.” “I-I- don’t think I can do it.”

Are we sure this isn’t a mistake?

Yellow grumbled in exasperation. “Fine. I guess I have to do everything myself.”

He immediately slammed the red button, causing everything inside the airlock to be jettisoned out into the vacuum of space.

Orange was dead. 6 of us remained.

After we closed the airlock, we went back to our routine tasks.

As I tagged along behind Yellow, I felt the need to thank him for his actions during the meeting. “Thanks for sticking up for me back there, man. I thought Cyan was going to get me killed.”

“Of course. I know you’re innocent. Remember what I said. You’re the only one I can trust.”

After finishing most of our tasks, we eventually headed over to Admin, as all I had left to do was upload the data I had collected in Electrical hours before. As we passed through the cafeteria, though, the lights went out. I lost sight of Yellow, calling his name and stumbling around in the dark. I followed my map of the ship towards Electrical and found the fuse box. All of the breakers were tripped.

Definitely the work of the other Impostor.

I quickly got to work, and within minutes the lights began to flicker back on. I rushed over to Admin to finish my final task, grouping up with Cyan in the storage room.

I entered Admin first, locking eyes with Blue. Lime’s bloody entrails were scattered all across the floor. He shot me a smile and gave a little wave, then hopped into the air vent.

Shit. If Cyan walks in now, he’s definitely going to think I’m the

Impostor. I have to re-

Cyan rushed into the room, eyes flicking from Lime’s dead body to mine. The damage had been done.

I reported, calling yet another emergency meeting. Only Cyan, Yellow, and Blue showed up. Looks like Green was also killed.

Cyan turned to me instantly. “PINK! I KNOW IT’S YOU! I saw you walk into Admin, only to see Lime’s butchered corpse a second later. There was nobody else in there!”

Blue eyed me suspiciously. “I, unlike Cyan, am a little bit reasonable, so how about you explain your side of the story.”

The audacity of this guy!

“The lights went out, and I fixed them! Right after that, I met up with Cyan in Storage, and we were both heading to Admin. When I walked in, I saw Lime’s body on the ground, and I saw you hop into a vent!”

Blue seemed utterly taken aback by my accusation. “Hold on, are you accusing me of being the Impostor?”

Near blinded by rage, I could barely get the words out of my mouth. “Absolutely. I saw you hop into the vent in Admin. Don’t lie. Where were you?”

“I was in the Medical bay, man. You’re lying. Cyan, you agree with me, right?”

“I knew that pink bastard was the Impostor from the start. I KNEW

IT!”

Blue voted for my ejection.

Yellow whispered something inaudible to Cyan. They both voted at the same time. I closed my eyes, beginning to drift off with the realization

that I was going to die.

This is it, isn’t it?

Yellow snapped at me, bringing me back to reality. “Pink, hurry up and vote already!”

Two votes for Blue popped up on the screen.

Blue whirled around to face Yellow and Cyan. “What the hell, guys! Pink killed Lime. He’s a dirty liar!”

I saw a hint of a smile break out on Yellow’s normally stoic face.

“Sorry, Blue, but did you pay attention to whether the cameras were on? You never know who might be watching you.”

Blue’s face went so pale, I thought he was White for a brief moment.

“Yep, that’s right. When you sabotaged the lights, I ran as fast as I could towards Security.” He turned to me. “Sorry, Pink, I kind of left you alone for a bit. Hope it wasn’t too scary in the dark!”

“Anyways, I saw Blue and Lime walk into Admin right before Pink reported the body. You must have killed Green much earlier. I know for a fact, though, that you weren’t in the MedBay when the body was discovered,” Yellow continued.

He motioned for me to vote Blue to be ejected from the ship. “Sorry, mate. The gig’s up. You tried your hardest.”

Blue was in such a state of shock that he didn’t even resist. He stared at me with lifeless eyes as I dragged him to the airlock, tossing him in.

I didn’t hesitate to press the button this time. Within seconds, Blue was no more.

Suddenly, Cyan spoke up. “What if we were wrong about Orange? If

Blue was definitely the Impostor, that still leaves one of you.”

I looked back and forth between the two remaining crewmates. As usual, Yellow displayed his scary lack of emotion. He steadily walked towards me as if hungering for something, maintaining eye contact the whole time.

“Don’t come any closer!”

He ignored me, picking up the pace of his stride. In a couple seconds, he would be too close to get away.

I thought I could trust you.

“Cyan! The button!”

“On it!”

As irritating as he was, Cyan was definitely quick on his feet. He leaped across the room, pressing the emergency meeting button that immediately locked all of our suits, forcing Yellow to stop moving.

Cyan turned to face me.

“Why do I have to be stuck with you of all people? Ugh. Let’s just get this over with.”

On my tablet, I saw one vote pop up - for Yellow.

I stared at Yellow with a sad expression on my face. He stared back. “Pink. We’ve been together this whole journey. We fixed the oxygen regulator. I stood up for you. How can you possibly think I’m the Impostor? Especially over the bastard who tried to kill you at every meeting!”

For the first time on this entire journey, he broke his calm visage. Visibly angry, he cast his vote for Cyan.

“You make a good point, I guess. I-I can trust you.” Trembling with

anxiety, I turned around to face Cyan. “G-give me one reason I shouldn’t send you flying out into space right now.”

“Yellow played the hero this whole journey. He was always conveniently at the right place at the right time. Always pushing the right people or saving you when you came under pressure. That seems like an experienced Impostor - someone who knows to build a rapport with a confirmed crewmate, so they always come out on top when it comes to situations like this. You and Yellow may think I’m an idiot, but I know what’s going on. I’ve secretly suspected him this whole time, not you. Sorry, but if he was suspicious of me, he would have killed me earlier. Pink, make the right decision. Kill this evil Impostor, and save the Skeld’s mission.”

Why does this have to be so complicated?

Yellow and Cyan both continued to loudly argue their cases. My head was throbbing. I couldn’t think clearly.

I’m running out of time. I’m sorry.

I voted.

“NO! Pink! You IDIOT! You’ve condemned us all! I thought you had half a brain ce-”

Cyan and I tossed the struggling Yellow into the airlock, and was quickly sucked out into the cold, dark clutches of space.

Yellow, my partner throughout this hellish journey, my apparent savior. No, my friend - was dead.

Cyan started laughing out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s over. We made it! The Skeld is docking right now!”

He started walking towards me, arms outstretched for a comforting hug.

Well, one of us made it. Cyan’s nervous laughter was quickly drowned out by silence. He didn’t even have time to scream as I devoured him.