“Our game today is one everyone should be familiar with.”

“It’s Musical Chairs, except, as always, we’re adding a little twist to it...” 

The next day, Mr. Isaac scanned the room of 39 students. His standard wicked grin was on his lips, though it has become more or less a constant feature that the students have, for better or for worse, gotten used to. 

“Most of you will be playing this game. Of course, as promised, eight of you will be exempted, though I don’t see why anyone will miss out on such a fun experience…” 

Sitting right beside Caitlin with her arm wrapped around the blonde, Katie couldn’t agree with the last statement more. Mr. Isaac’s gaze glanced across Katie, pausing briefly, before quickly moving on. 

The undead teacher waved his hand, and shadows quickly consumed the classroom. Before the students knew it, they were in a whole different environment. No longer were they in the familiar, and somewhat comforting, classroom. Now, they were in an open field with no boundaries as far as their eyes could see.

In the middle of the field was a circle of flames. Inside the circle, sat 30 chairs. 

“This time,” Mr. Isaac turned his head and scanned across the expressions of every single one of the students. “there will only be five winners to this game from the entire class.” 

“But, there are only 39 of us!” One of the girls yelped with tears flooding out of her eyes uncontrollably. “How can there only be 5 winners? That’s...that’s so unfair!”

“What?” Beside Katie, Caitlin found herself struck with disbelief as well. This...this just didn't make any sense. Yes. Mr. Isaac has been more or less a sadistic monster with terrifying powers, but his actions still matched a certain logic. He should be picking off the students piece by piece, not massacring them altogether!

Or...perhaps the trio’s trip to RCTV station yesterday pissed him off? Convinced him to cleanse most of the class? 

She turned and glanced at Vivian and could tell the girl was thinking a similar thing. Pale as a sheet, Caitlin turned back. In this dark world, only the presence of her friend could slightly comfort her. 

Katie didn't think that far at all. All she did was lean forward and wait for her teacher to proceed with his lecture like a good student. 

“Unfair?” Mr. Isaac smirked at the girl who spoke out. In fact, he didn't even bother with answering her naive and meaningless protests. All he did was continue with announcing the rules. “You know the rules, boys and girls. When the music is playing, you will walk around in a circle. Chairs will be removed in the process, and when the music stops, those of you still standing will be removed.”

“Removed?” Katie tossed her arms up. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Removed.” Mr. Isaac repeated. “Removed from the game.” Intimidation radiated from his eyes. Any other student would’ve shut her mouth by now, but Katie was an insistent individual, and she was damn proud of it.

“Yes, I get that part, but…”

Before she could continue, Mr. Isaac snapped his fingers, and most of the class, 31 students, to be exact, found themselves in the circle of flames right beside the 30 chairs. Outside the circle of flames was Mr. Isaac and eight other students. Those eight students, in the telephone game just yesterday, cold-bloodedly murdered eight fellow classmates. 

Now, with their hands stained in the blood of their own, they sat back in safety and watched as their own people, those who let their last pieces of morale hold them back from murdering, fight for their lives. 

“Rude!” Katie exclaimed as she was teleported. Her leg ran into one of the wooden chairs as she reappeared, and the impact brought a small smile onto her face.

Outside of the circle, Mr. Isaac heard her, but he turned to the side like he didn't. 

“Well, we’ve got the chairs.” Caitlin bit her lips and did her best to lighten up the mood. ”Now we just need the music…”

A loud rock music suddenly started blasting through the field, knocking almost all of the boys and girls off their feet. As if they were lit on flames, the students suddenly started running around the chairs at full speed. 

“Oh, there’s the music.” Katie and Caitlin started jogging along with the pack as well, although they weren’t quite sure why everyone was going so fast. This wasn’t a race!

As the students ran, Katie could hear voices coming from outside the circle of flames. Slowing down and annoying the hell out of the people behind her, who didn't have the guts to even form a complaint, Katie keenly realized the eight students outside have sat down with their legs crossed, and they were looking at the rest of the class with mocking grins. 

It didn't matter that they were no better than the rest of the class. All the eight students knew was that they would be safe for the day. And the weekend, in fact. As for what would happen after that? Who cares? Might as well have all the fun while they could. A few of them even opened cans of beers who they bought along with them in their backpacks and enjoyed themselves as they watched their own people run and fight for their lives, knowing only a handful of them would survive. 

Fear and despair have completely shattered their identity as human beings, transforming them into beasts. Animals. Monsters. 

The class was still on the run when, suddenly, the music came to a screeching halt. Most of them froze for at least a moment, and in that time, the quicker ones leaped for the chairs without a second thought. When the music stopped, Katie was still staring at the eight people outside the ring. If Caitlin didn't grab onto her arm and pull her onto an empty seat, she might’ve gotten out in the first round… 

When the dust settled, one of the classmates, a girl, found herself paralyzed. Really? Are you kidding me? There are 30 seats for 31 people and I’m the unlucky victim? Before she could say anything, everything went black…

...and she appeared outside of the ring. 

The music proceeded, and the 30 boys and girls stood back up and continued moving. As they were sprung into motion once again, Caitlin couldn’t help but frown. Even as roaring music tore through her eardrums, she sensed something was off with this whole game. It was as if something wasn’t what it seemed to be. But...what? 

Outside the ring, Kyle suddenly lifted his voice. 

“Run, bitches, run!” 

The smugness on his face was clear. Katie quietly made up her mind to have a friendly chat with him when this game was over. 

Five of the 30 chairs suddenly melted into the ground. Literally. Katie watched as a chair beside her simply decomposed and disappeared without a sight. In other words, five more people would be kicked out of the game this round. 

Before she could do anything else, the music stopped once again.

This time, the students were all prepared. Most of them leaped for the closest seat without another thought in the world. One of the girls was a few seconds too late and the seat she was going for was already occupied by a boy, but that didn't stop the girl from slamming into the boy. Caught off guard, the boy was woken from his false sense of security as he was knocked off the seat, which the girl proceeded to occupy. 

Before he could take back what once belonged to him, he was teleported outside of the ring. 

The girl took a breath of relief as she glanced at the boy, a tiny fragment of guilt in her eyes. But that guilt quickly disappeared and was replaced by resolve. At least she won this round...and she had a chance of winning this game, emerging as 1 of the 5 victors out of 31 unfortunate souls. 

Caitlin and Katie found their way to a seat as well. Katie was going for the same chair as another boy, but the moment the boy saw Katie, he froze up in fear. The image of Katie carving through zombies was too much for him to handle. That moment of hesitance cost him his chance in this game, and maybe even his life. 

Five more students lost the game. Two boys and three girls. Surprisingly, Terry was out as well. The tall boy got taken by surprise by one of his friends, who knocked him over without hesitation for a chance of victory. 

Reappearing outside the ring, the boy had a thousand curses at his lips, but ultimately, all of those curses formed together into a single silent sigh. 

Caitlin glanced to the side and was satisfied to see Katie was safe as well, but that wasn’t enough to ease this odd feeling at the bottom of her heart. Something was wrong, and she knew it! But...what? Distinctly, she knew this was something that, if she didn't realize sooner, would kill both her and Katie. 

But...what the hell was it? What was she missing? She...she had to figure it out!

On the side, Katie wasn’t as concerned. She has already made up her mind. If Caitlin lost the game and Mr. Isaac wanted to kill her, then she would be more than happy to make Mr. Isaac’s life a living hell. He couldn’t kill her and she couldn’t really kill him, but Katie swore she would have a great time ruining Mr. Isaac’s day and his so-called games. She was fairly confident the sheer threat of that could make Mr. Isaac rethink the results of this game. 

Another round began. This time, five more seats were removed. Five more students would be doomed with failure. 

Once again, Katie and Caitlin survived. This time, Eric was also knocked out. His money and influence meant nothing to his fellow classmates when it was a matter of life and death. 

As Caitlin was sent on the move once again, and five more chairs were gone, the girl finally had a chance to think. Doing her best to stay calm in the blaring sound, she moved back to the basics of her doubts. 

Mr. Isaac wanted to slowly pick the students off individually to maximize their fear and suffering, right? If what she deduced was correct, which was that Mr. Isaac was part of a greater organization, then he shouldn’t let a single attempt to escape by the students completely derail his plan. He couldn’t, right?

In other words, this game wasn’t meant to kill most of the class off. It maintained the same principle as all the games before, which was to kill a handful of students. That was...good to know. 

Ok. But...Mr. Isaac said only five seats would be left. Only five people would win this game. The rest would all be destroyed. So...was there some clever trick with those five seats? Maybe all the students could stack on top? No...that didn't feel like it. 

Another round came to an end. This time, Caitlin was surprised to see Vivian was among those removed. Fair enough...Vivian was smart, but she wasn’t the strongest girl out there. A single shove from a taller classmate could remove her, but...but as Caitlin looked at her, she didn't see any sense of fear or regret on her face. She harbored no hatred for the one who knocked him out. 

Seeing Caitlin looking over, Vivian gestured to the side. 

She gestured to the other classmates who were also knocked out, and who have joined the first eight classmates and Mr. Isaac outside of the ring of fire. 

There were only 10 seats left. 

Many of the classmates still inside the ring had bright smiles on their cheeks as they stood back up. One more round. One more round of elimination and they would emerge as the victors of this game! They would live to go back to the classroom! Go back to the world of the living! Oh...what they could do with two and a half days of utter free time! Movies? Drugs? Alcohol? Maybe some casual unpunished crimes on the side? 

A girl had a small smile on her lips. She only wanted one thing, and that was sleep. She hasn’t been able to sleep for days. Perhaps the weekend could give her the break she desperately needed. 

That was when Caitlin came to a sharp realization. 

A realization that sent chills down her spine. 

She knew it. She knew what she missed, and if she came to that conclusion one minute later, she and Katie would both be dead. 

Yes. Mr. Isaac did give them instructions, and he never turned against his own words, at least not technically. But that didn't mean he couldn’t twist them to his advantage to catch the students by surprise! For example, the time with the corrosive goo...Mr. Isaac promised the goo couldn’t see them if they could stand completely still. 

Sounds fair, right? Maybe it was a clue to survival? Except completely still referred to the molecular level, a feat that nothing, neither human beings nor most inanimate objects, could achieve. 

How many students died, believing that statement was true? How many students stood when they could’ve run and were slaughtered by that monster? They died in confusion, wondering why the hint didn't save their lives. 

Oh, she was so stupid! She should’ve learned! This time was no different. Mr. Isaac did give them instructions, and what did he say? Only five people could win this game of Musical Chairs! That was it! He never said if those five people would get to live or if the rest of the class had to die! 

In fact, knowing Mr. Isaac and his sense of irony, it was probably the other way around! In fact, it had to be! Anything less than that would kill the drama! 

Vivian saw through this, and that was why she left! 

The music stopped once again, and Caitlin watched in horror as Katie went for one of the chairs. Without a second thought, Caitlin grabbed onto her friend by the arm and yanked her back. 

Katie glanced at Caitlin. She didn't know why she did that, and guess what? She didn't care. If anything, she wondered how Mr. Isaac would try to kill her...and she truly hoped it was something creative. 

Another girl was standing behind the two girls. When Caitlin grabbed onto Katie, the girl found herself quite confused by what seemed like a suicide wish, but time was ticking, and she really wanted to live. Throwing aside her fear for Katie Lockwood, she leaped onto that seat and made contact at the last possible second. 

And then, Katie, Caitlin, and three other classmates disappeared from the ring. They joined the rest of the class and Mr. Isaac outside of the ring. 

Inside the ring, on the chairs, sat five students.

“Hmmm…” Katie looked around before resting her hand on the Knife in her pocket. She wondered what it would feel like to stick it into Mr. Isaac’s head...

Caitlin took a breath of relief. The more she thought about it, the more she believed this was the right thing to do. For the first time, she looked back at the five chairs. She never got a chance to really see who got out and who was left during the final rounds. 

Now that she was safe, she wanted to see who was fooled by this elaborate trap of Mr. Isaac’s. She just hoped it wasn’t anyone she knew. 

And then she saw Zach.