When Kyle brought up the idea to purge once again, even Caitlin had to give way.

After all, this was only Wednesday morning. At this current trend, the entire class would be gone by Friday.

Caitlin didn't want to kill the innocent unless she had to, but this was one of the situations where she definitely had to. This became clear to the rest of the class as well, which was now down to 29 students.

Finally, the decision was made. The hotel was to be purged, with every employee inside killed or chased off the premise. The students would leave no survivors in the building. If any employee managed to survive the shots, they were likely the wraith and would be accused.

After a brief period of planning, the students were divided into two groups. The first group was the kill teams. This group included everyone from Eric to Kyle to Katie to Caitlin. It was their task to hunt down and exterminate the hotel employees. They formed groups of two to three, with five groups in total.

Groups of this size would ensure the students wouldn’t be defenseless against the wraith, as one could accuse the wraith if the other was attacked, but it still provided enough kill teams to cover sufficient ground and carry out the executions efficiently.

The second group included the 14 students left. They were mostly girls whose only weapons were things like kitchen knives or scissors. They weren’t the most physically or mentally capable either. They were instructed to stay in the Presidential Suite. The wraith did get more powerful, but it should still be a while until it could take out a dozen students head on. If the wraith was capable of that, then the students would’ve lost already.

There was a moment of silence inside the Suite. Terry checked the rounds in his shotgun for the ninth time that hour. Eric gripped onto his assault rifle like it was his only love in this world. Katie has returned her Knife into her pocket. In terms of executing defenseless civilians, handguns were better than knives. Caitlin joined Katie on the sofa, sitting right next to her girlfriend. She was holding onto a handgun.

Just as Katie was about to say something to Caitlin, a girl suddenly sat down beside Caitlin. This made Katie frown. What was her name again? Abigail or something? All she knew was Abigail has been chatting with Caitlin rather frequently. Immediately, for practically no reason at all, a sense of jealousy appeared in her heart. She didn't bend Caitlin so another girl could take her!

“Well, so it has come down to this, huh?” Abigail sat there. She was holding onto some sort of revolver. “Forcing us to kill the innocent to survive. This...this really sounds like something Mr. Isaac does. Do you think it’s the right way out?”

Caitlin sighed in frustration. “I don’t know. I really don’t. There are just so many missing pieces in this puzzle. I don't know what makes sense anymore. I just feel...I feel powerless. I suppose that’s also what that monster wants.”

Before Caitlin could say anything else, Katie reached out and grabbed onto her hand in comfort. The blonde tossed Katie a quick smile. Abigail glanced across the two lovers, and for a second, she turned away.

“So,” Still holding onto Caitlin, as if making a declaration, Katie turned to Abigail and eyed the revolver in her hand. “you’re in the hunting party too? Wow. Didn't imagine you as a killer. You definitely don’t look like one.”

Caitlin tucked on Katie’s hand. Really, Katie?

Abigail stared into Katie’s eyes. It took her a while to return the provocation. “You don’t look like one either, Katie.”

“What? Am I too hot to be a killer?”

Before the two could continue with their bickering, Eric stood up in front of the class, still holding tightly onto his rifle. “It’s time.” He said solemnly. “Stick to the plan, and we will live through this...”

Before he could even finish, Kyle stood up and interrupted his declaration with a snicker, something that he made sure everyone saw. Without another word, he turned to the class. Unlike Eric, he made no attempt to rally the morale. All he did was make a single order. "Form into groups!"

All the members of the kill team stood up and quickly formed into groups. Katie and Caitlin were in a group of two, per Katie’s request. After all, if she couldn’t defeat the enemy, adding another teenager wouldn’t change anything at all. She didn't quite want the world to know of her supernatural powers either. Abigail was paired with two other girls, who she quickly joined, but not before giving Caitlin a reassuring smile.

The students to be left in the Suite turned their gaze to the kill teams as well. There was a rarely seen look of respect on their face as they sent the kill teams out of the Suite like wives would send their husbands to war. Except this wasn’t going to be a war. This was going to be a slaughter.

Like a small army, the students moved out of the Presidential Suite and into the carpeted hallway. They took the stairs down to the first floor, As they moved, they all had earphones plugged in their ears. All the students were linked on a group call that served as a communication channel for this operation.

As they stepped down from floor to floor, the students didn't exchange a word. None of them had anything to say. Not Eric. Not Kyle. And not even Katie.

Together, in silence, the students reached the first floor. As they were about to get out of the staircase, they ran into a woman who wasn’t in the class. A hotel maid, just minding her job.

She became the first victim.

Katie was the one that claimed that kill. She has been blue-balled for way too long to let this one go. As if a signal was given, following the gunshots of the Walther PK380, the students charged into the main hall. They gunned down the clerks at the front desk before they even had any idea what was happening. One of the kill teams remained at the stairs as the others advanced into all the rooms and halls of the first floor, shooting anyone that wasn’t a student on sight.

The interesting thing was that the students had neither the resources nor the need to completely seal off all the exits to the building. The wraith couldn’t leave the hotel, so if any employee made it out of the hotel, he or she was automatically cleared.

Instead, the students simply ensured that there was no way the employees could hide in the building by blocking out the staircases and the elevators. As for the rest...it was just a massacre.

After the first floor was cleared, the students would move onto the second floor, and then the third.

For nearly a full twenty minutes, gunshots rang nonstop through the building. Automatic rifles. Pistols. Revolvers. Shotguns. The hotel employees were definitely messed with psychologically by Mr. Isaac so they would ignore the illogical things that were going on, but in the end, they were still human beings. Defenseless human beings. They didn't stand a chance against the armed students.

If some of the students were a little hesitant to pull the trigger at first, then that became less and less of an issue as time passed. More and more frequently, the students opened fire with a level of zeal and satisfaction that was truly concerning. They have just seen so many atrocities that the fact that these employees died quickly was considered mercy to them. Plus, almost all of them have killed during the token game, just not at such a scale.

Bodies kept on dropping as floor after floor was cleared. From what was going on in the communication channel, Kyle was extremely fierce. On one hand, shooting those who couldn't shoot back, yay! On the other hand, if he wanted to be the leader of the class, then he had to prove his strength. Was shooting innocent people a testament to his strength? Kyle thought so.

“Die, you scum!” He screamed as shotgun blasts rang in the background, covering the words and cries of everyone else.

Kyle and Caitlin were actually rather quiet through all the shooting. Yeah, they did kill a lot of employees, but all of Katie’s shots were uncharacteristically quick and deadly while the others were blasting away. One hit to the head/heart, and that was it. As much as it hurt, Katie suppressed her urges to take her time with her victims.

Finally, as the last gunshots died down, it became clear that the entire hotel staff was purged, though that might not necessarily be good news.

“Has anyone seen the wraith?” Kyle demanded. The killing was all nice and fun, but it was never the end goal. Finding the wraith was. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but he had no intention of dying if he could live.

“All units, report!” At this moment of crisis, Eric demanded as if he still had the authority, cutting Kyle off. He wanted to make sure the wraith didn't just massacre a squad of students and then went into hiding at the area that squad was supposed to cover, but as all the groups reported in, it became clear that was not the case.

“So...have we been wrong?” One of the boys asked uncertainly. “Maybe the wraith is not among the employees?”

“That…” Kyle froze at the possibility. If that was true, then all his plans were wrong! His authority would take a great plunge because of this! “That is impossible! It can't be! We must’ve missed him! Gather at the stairs and do another sweep of the floors! Now!”

At this point, all the students were back on the fifth floor. They started on the first floor and moved up. It was totally possible that a few employees managed to hide in the corners and evade the students.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Before the students could even converge, a scream suddenly filled the communication channel.

“No! Run! It’s here! It’s…grrrrrah!” The girl's words were quickly transformed into a chilling scream.

“It’s the wraith!” Another completely different voice suddenly cried out. Katie keenly noticed Caitlin freezing up in concern. It was Abigail talking. “It’s the wraith! It’s here! Run!”

Before she even finished, another voice called out. It was a student from another team.

“It’s over here as well! The hands! They’re coming out of everywhere! How! No! No! Ah!”

“Accuse it! You’re the wraith! You’re the...why is it not working? Shit!”

“Oh god…” Caitlin whispered, partially because of the screams, and also partially because on the walls around her, countless hands appeared out of nowhere. All of them looked identical, with cuts all over them. Now that she was so close to the hands, Caitlin realized that inside all these cuts were glass shards. Glass shards that buried themselves in the otherwise soft hand, turning it from pretty into Katie's version of pretty.

Just as the hands were about to reach out, Katie stepped forward. This time, she was using her Knife. A single swipe severed two of those hands with little obstruction. Branches darted out of her body, whipping countless more of those hands into oblivion. Caitlin quickly recovered from the surprise and opened fire. Unfortunately, her handgun bullets did very little. Next to nothing, in fact.

One of the hands managed to break through all the branches and the Knife and reached out straight for Caitlin. It never made it, because at the last moment, Katie put herself between Caitlin and harm’s way like she has done so many times before. At this point, being a human shield has become part of her instincts.

The wraith’s hand grabbed onto her arm and started pulling on her. Once...twice...four times later, the hand finally realized it wasn’t nearly strong enough to yank Katie into the walls…that was when Katie finally cut that hand in half, ending this assault.

Unfortunately, as the screams in the communication channel were joined by the countless gunshots across the building, it soon became clear that the wraith was only getting started. Knowing how desperate the situation was, without even trying to consult the opinions of others, Caitlin grabbed onto Katie’s hand and started going for the Presidential Suite.

“This purge has been a mistake!” She cried out as she ran. “It only made the wraith stronger! The wraith must be somehow feeding on the dead! Damn you Kyle you damn idiot! How did I not realize this before?”

The wraith continued its attempts to take out the two girls, but honestly, it also made a mistake. It was trying to terminate all the students out in the open, all at once. This meant its power was completely limited, and the branches coming out of Katie also caught the wraith by surprise.

In an attempt to stop Katie, the wraith diverted more power to Katie's position, only for Katie and Caitlin to still break through. Even the wraith had little success in stopping the unstoppable berserker that was Katie. Making matters worse, with its power stretched thin, the wraith failed to stop the other students as well. It was this miscalculation by the wraith that ensured most of the kill team members made it back to the Presidential Suite alive.

The students back in the Suite already heard all the hell that was unleashed from the communication channel. As soon as the survivors of the kill teams arrived, they opened the door for them to enter before shutting it behind them.

Finally, the students were safe again, even if this safety might be temporary. As of the moment, for some unidentified reason, the wraith couldn't storm the Suite itself.

But none of the students were satisfied. Caitlin’s worst fear has come true. Purging the hotel wasn’t the way to surviving. If anything, it was the path to a much quicker fall. The death of all the employees somehow made the wraith countless times stronger, allowing it to take on over a dozen students at the same time. It no longer had a kill limit either.

Speaking of kills…

“Who have we lost?” She turned back to the students who were still catching their breath.

The students left quickly went through the casualties, and the numbers told a gruesome story. Out of the 15 students that made up the kill team, 7 of them never returned. Abigail and Eric lost their entire teams, but they were fine themselves, somehow. If Katie didn't take the wraith by surprise, a lot more students could’ve died.

Still, in mere minutes, seven students were pulled into the walls by the deadly wraith, with even their bodies lost to the world.

But even now, things weren’t looking too well for the students. Despair started to grow inside the hearts of the boys and girls. They have made the wrong decision, and now, this hotel might be the end of their entire class. This game would be their last.

Eric sat there in silence. Both of the boys he hired were dead. According to his story, they were dragged into the walls by the bloody hands while he himself was fast enough to flee on foot. Was it the truth? No one knew and no one cared.

A distance away from Eric, Caitlin clutched onto her long blonde hair in utter frustration. Beside her was Vivian, doing pretty much the same thing. What was the way out? There had to be one! But...but what was it? They needed more clues!

That was when some commotion appeared. Caitlin didn't have too much time to spare, but she still stole a glance at what was happening there. Apparently, a handful of students blamed Kyle for this disaster. After all, without his proposal to purge the hotel, the students would still be perfectly fine. Perhaps a portion of them would die, but a portion was always better than all.

The more these students praised Kyle’s plan a few hours ago, the more they hated him now. As these students swore and cursed, none of them considered that when the decision was made, they also offered Kyle their support.

Their argument was technically correct, but both Caitlin and Vivian knew there was no point in placing blames. That was when the commotion took a weird turn.

“You have never wanted us to get out of this alive!” One of the students cried. “You know what? I think you are the wraith!”

And then the entire Suite went silent.

That particular student froze in paralyzing fear as he realized what he just did. He just made an accusation toward Kyle! His lips moved, as if he was about to take back his words, but it was too late.

The class watched as his head slowly fell off his neck. Another one bit the dust.

In front of him, Kyle was as surprised as he was happy. That’s what you get for coming after me, idiot!

The death was...unfortunate, but it wasn’t the gore that caught the attention of the two girls. It was the meaning behind it. They turned around and glanced at each other and saw the look of realization in the eyes of each other.

Everything made sense now. It was at that moment that they understood the culprit behind this entire game and the biggest trap.

“Katie.” Caitlin turned to her bodyguard, who was wondering if she should marvel at the beheaded body up close or stay with Caitlin. “Come with me. I...I need to make a phone call.”

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